FEATURE: Spotlight: BETH

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

 

BETH

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THIS is a wonderful…

D.J. and artist who has released some gems this year. Keep It Movin’ and Hooked on You are diamonds from this Scottish D.J. and artist. There are not many interviews out there with her, but I do want to source them. BETH is a titan and queen who I think is up there with the best D.J.s around. An exceptional producer, I am starting out by sourcing some of this interview from The Night Bazaar. Them, alongside Beatportal – who I will come to soon – have been invaluable when it comes to interesting interviews with D.J.s. I would love to read or see an interview where BETH took us trough her record collection and we get an insight into her tastes and story. This interview was published in May. They write how “Ahead of her huge TRNSMT Festival appearance alongside Illyus Barrientos, BETH opens up about club culture, authenticity and building a career with longevity in mind”:

“What feels most different about BETH in 2026 compared to the early days?

I think the biggest difference is clarity. In earlier days I was very much in the phase of experimenting and trying to find where I fit, both as a DJ & producer. I feel more settled in my sound, my selections even the way I approach a set or track. I would also say my shift In confidence, before I was proving to myself that I could do it now I’m more focused on longevity and building something meaningful rather than reacting to opportunities as they come.

Your rise over the last year has felt incredibly organic. Has the pace of everything surprised you at all?

I would say yes and no because I have been grafting for years now so I feel like the rise over the past year has been earned so I almost feel like “about time” but I have always been quite patient with it all, so even though things have picked up , I still try to approach everything with the same mindset I had at the start.

Peggy Gou dropping your track during her Coachella set was a huge moment. Did that feel like a turning point for you personally?

Yeah it was a pretty big moment for sure. I had a lot of record labels contact me after they seen that, as a DJ picking one of my tunes to play at one of the most well known festivals in the world will always be a pinch me moment. Its made me realise my music is good enough.

How important is emotional connection in your music versus pure club energy?

The two go hand in hand I guess. The club energy is what draws people in but its the emotional connection that makes a track stay with them. I try to sit somewhere in the middle where there’s a strong groove and energy but also something underneath that people can connect with.

Dance music moves incredibly fast now through social media and algorithms. How do you stay grounded and avoid chasing trends?

Its definitely something you have to be conscious of because its so easy to get pulled into what’s working in the moment. Trends move fast and if you are constantly reacting to them you can lose your identify pretty quickly. For me staying grounded comes from having a clear sense of what I actually like and what I want my sound to be. I spend a lot of time just making music without thinking about how its going to perform, no socials, no pressure just focusing on what feels right.

There’s increasing pressure on DJs to also be content creators. How do you balance visibility with authenticity?

Yeah it’s definitely a real thing now, you’re not just a DJ/producer anymore your expected to exist online in a constant way. But I think the balance comes from being clear on what actually feels natural to you. I try not to force it, if something feels to staged or disconnected from who I am it usually comes across that way anyway, so I’d rather share moments that are genuine rather than trying to keep up with every trend”.

It is a shame that there have not been more interviews with BETH. I am fascinated to know more about her. Keep on Movin’ is such a phenomenal and entrancing track. I can imagine that her D.J.s set are a thing of wonder. Learning more about this phenomenal woman would be an advantage. I do want to finish off with Beatportal, as they spent time with BETH. We get to learn about her route to now. How she is considered ‘rising’, though she has been working hard for years so this exposure and suycecss seems earned. Hopefully, it will lead to more chats with someone who I find really fascinating. This interview was published ahead of her appearance at TRNSMT Festival in June. What we learn from this interview is how authenticity is key to everything that she does:

“I have been grafting for years now,” she says. “So, I feel like the rise over the past year has been earned. I almost feel like ‘about time’.”

That patience and persistence have helped shape a much clearer sense of identity, both musically and personally. Looking back at her earlier years trying to establish herself as both a DJ and producer, BETH admits things feel very different now.

“I think the biggest difference is clarity,” she explains. “In earlier days I was very much in the phase of experimenting and trying to find where I fit, both as a DJ and producer. I feel more settled in my sound, my selections, even the way I approach a set or track.”

For BETH, though, finding her sound hasn’t meant standing still creatively. “I think I have found the core of my sound,” she says. “There’s a certain energy that runs through everything I’m doing and I think you can hear that in my productions. But at the same time music is always evolving and I’m always exposed to new influences, new sounds and just growing as an artist.”

That balance between consistency and evolution is something she also thinks about in the studio. While dancefloor energy remains central to her process, she’s become more aware of how records can connect emotionally too. 

“The club energy is what draws people in,” she explains, “but it’s the emotional connection that makes a track stay with them. I try to sit somewhere in the middle where there’s a strong groove and energy but also something underneath that people can connect with.”

Away from the studio, BETH’s reputation as a DJ continues to grow rapidly, with appearances everywhere from intimate club spaces to major festival stages. Yet despite playing to increasingly large crowds, she admits her heart still belongs to smaller venues. “In real honesty, I love my intimate settings,” she says. “Give me a 300-cap, low-ceiling sweatbox and I will be there in my element.”

At the same time, she recognises the scale and emotion that festivals can bring. “Bigger festival settings have a place in my heart because getting to play to thousands of people is a massive moment.”

Still, authenticity remains non-negotiable. “If something feels too staged or disconnected from who I am, it usually comes across that way anyway,” she says. “I’d rather share moments that are genuine rather than trying to keep up with every trend”.

I have not yet included one fo the most notable sections of the interview: “More importantly, she says, her confidence has shifted too. “Before I was proving to myself that I could do it,” she says. “Now I’m more focused on longevity and building something meaningful rather than reacting to opportunities as they come”. Authenticity is at the top her list. Wanting to remain and enjoying this very long career. You can see it happening. Hopefully, there will be some new interviews. Have DJ Mag got BETH on their radar?! I would love to see a huge profile of her there. In the meantime, go and support and show love for her. Follow her on social media for news of more festivals and any opportunities to see her live. I wanted to show my affection for…

THIS dazzling D.J., artist and producer.

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Follow BETH

FEATURE: Spotlight: Lilly Palmer

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

 

Lilly Palmer

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I do think that…

there are so many incredible D.J.s that some people do not know about. I have highlighted a few, but I feel women are the most talented and passionate D.J.s in the world. Lilly Palmer up there with her fellow queens. I am going to jump to some 2026 interviews with this staggering talent. I am starting out with Beatportal. They say how “From Zurich's underground clubs to a solar eclipse in the mountains of Spain, Lilly Palmer reflects on belonging, transformation, Bigger Than Techno and the power of music to unite strangers”:

“Techno was the first place Lilly Palmer felt she truly belonged. The German DJ and producer has become one of the defining figures of contemporary peak-time techno, commanding festival main stages across the globe with sets that balance relentless energy, melodic emotion and trance-infused euphoria.

Yet despite the meteoric rise, Lilly insists that the essence of what drives her has remained unchanged since the early days playing intimate clubs in Zurich. "Honestly, the core of what drives me has never changed," she says. "It's always been about emotion and connection."

Long before the sold-out arenas and festival crowds stretching to the horizon, she was searching for the same thing she seeks today. "When I was playing small clubs in Zurich to maybe a hundred people, I was trying to take them somewhere, to create a moment where everyone in the room felt the same thing at the same time. That's still what I'm doing on a festival mainstage."

While the scale may have changed dramatically, the mission has not. "The scale changes, the production changes, but that hunger to genuinely move people? That's never wavered."

That desire is rooted in her own personal experience. "I grew up feeling like an outsider, and techno was the first space where I truly felt like I belonged, where nobody cared about who you were outside of those walls. I carry that feeling into every single set."

It is a theme that emerges repeatedly throughout the conversation: connection, belonging and transformation. But for Lilly, techno occupies a uniquely powerful emotional space. "Music has always meant freedom," she explains. "The freedom to express, process and transform emotions."

"What techno does that nothing else quite manages is that it gives you all of it at once: the joy, the catharsis, the relief from anger or pain, the melancholy, the pure physical release."

Those moments on the dancefloor, she believes, transcend music itself. "When I say 'bigger than techno,' I'm speaking about this indescribable feeling that takes over completely in those moments. Those moments when strangers become family, when the pain becomes colour, when time seems to stand still and the beat carries you upward into something almost spiritual." Then she pauses before adding: "Techno has saved me, genuinely and I see it save people in the crowd every single night."

That emotional depth is evident in her performances. Her sets are known for combining aggression and tenderness, often shifting between pounding techno rhythms and soaring melodic moments that catch audiences off guard. "It's both, always both," she says when asked whether her sets are carefully planned or instinctive reactions to the crowd. "I go into every set with a kind of emotional arc in mind. I know the journey I want to take people on, from the first beat to the last"

Also in this interview, Lilly Palmer talks about Astral Plane. Taking place in Spain between 10th and 12th August, you can visit their website here. I have never been to a festival like this, but there is the temptation to maybe do it one day. To see such talent on display in a gorgeous location is hard to resist:

“The more Lilly speaks about Astral Plane, the more it begins to sound like a physical manifestation of the ideas explored throughout Bigger Than Techno. Connection. Transformation. Transcendence.

Asked whether the festival's emphasis on cosmic energy and collective experience resonates with her understanding of techno, her answer arrives without hesitation. "Completely and deeply. Techno at its best is exactly that. It's a modern sanctuary where genuine thriving happens through music and community."

In a world that often feels increasingly fragmented, she sees dancefloors as rare spaces where genuine human connection still flourishes. "I believe we reclaim our capacity for connection in an increasingly isolated world every time a dance floor comes together with true shared intention."

Then she paints the scene awaiting festivalgoers in Spain. "An eclipse set in a mountain range at 1500 metres, day turning to night, 10,000 people unified by the same cosmic moment and the same music..." She pauses, as if imagining the moment herself. "That's not metaphor. That's the literal version of what I try to create every time I play. I cannot wait”.

Two more interviews I want to cover off. Back in January, DJ Mag spent time with one of the world’s truly great D.J.s. I am going to throw it over to them and start with their header: “The Amsterdam-based techno DJ was voted into last year’s Top 100 DJs poll at No. 57, one of the highest new entries, but in truth she’s been honing her craft for well over a decade. Like her DJ sets, her debut album ‘Bigger Than Techno’ moves through a selection of harder styles. It’s also the name of her events brand, a nod to her belief that techno can and should be a tool for connection and social progress. In her cover interview, Niamh O’Connor speaks to Palmer about her journey so far, facing her fears, and finding strength through techno”. It is quite an extensive interview, but we pick it up in 2019:

“In 2019, Lilly released on labels like Senso Sounds and Natura Viva Black, and played in London, Madrid, Zürich, Hamburg, Dubrovnik, and Mumbai, some of which were headline bookings. She had up to 15 shows per month lined up for the last three months of the year. “I tasted blood in those months,” she recalls. “I finally understood what it was like to be fully booked and on tour, and I really liked it.”

Then the pandemic happened. “For us, the world stopped. Many artists are partnered with someone who has a regular day job, but we were both artists — and together we lost everything,” she says. “It went from ‘We have these amazing careers’, to suddenly, zero income, and zero to do as well.”

“This is what techno makes me do, because I was this shy person with no confidence when I was younger, and techno gives me so much balls and so much strength.”

Too anxious to make music, Lilly and Egbert didn’t spend time in the studio and instead checked the news every day. A few weeks later, the couple decided, “OK, we can cry about it, or we can do something.” Lilly observed how, before the pandemic, videos and reels on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube had helped her to build an audience and fanbase. So the couple learnt how to set up a live stream, and Lilly recorded a mix from a beachside rooftop on the coast of Amsterdam. They uploaded the set and various clips on social media, and Lilly’s reach increased tenfold.

Egbert and Lilly occasionally produced music in their studio, but mostly, the couple remained busy setting up streams and took the concept further when they travelled to countries where a Covid-19 test wasn’t compulsory on arrival. This allowed them to record from idyllic locations in the Caribbean, Paris, and Iceland, all the while developing Lilly’s profile while clubs remained closed.

Their roving live-stream series ended when Egbert broke his ankle after a paragliding accident. It was December 2021, “the deepest point in the pandemic”, and feeling uninspired again, the couple downloaded the Age Of Empires video game and played it for one month straight. “We got really good at it,” laughs Lilly. “And then life got better after that.”

In 2022, Drumcode released Lilly’s EP ‘We Control’. Lilly and Egbert had produced it during the pandemic, using her own vocals on the title track. “At some point, we were like, ‘OK, we need a hit’ but without the pressure,” she says. “It was more like we were motivated; we felt, ‘OK, now we want to make a really great track’.” She sent the rolling techno EP to Adam Beyer, who recommended they hold off releasing it until clubs reopened.

On 8th April 2022, Drumcode dropped the EP and two days later, it went to No.1 on Beatport’s Techno (Peak Time / Driving) chart. Her booking requests multiplied. “It was my moment back then,” she says. “Finally, I could experience this real DJ life. I just really prepared for it. I was like a racehorse who couldn’t wait to do it.”

Since then, Lilly hasn’t looked back, and her debut album ‘Bigger Than Techno’ marks another pivotal moment. The 16-track collection pays tribute to the music and moments that encouraged her to step up and face her fears, from being an outsider oddball teen to playing F2F with Armin van Buuren at Ushuaïa Ibiza.

PHOTO CREDIT: Felix Rachor

“This is what techno makes me do, because I was this shy person with no confidence when I was younger, and techno gives me so much balls and so much strength,” she says. “So when I stand there on the stage in front of 50,000 people, and say, ‘Fuck it, have fun, live it and love it; this is bigger than techno’. I love this concept... it’s just perfect to describe the feeling of what music gives to me.”

Lilly’s album features collabs with Gregor Tresher, Maddix, Armin van Buuren, Danny Avila, Jose Bonetto, Space 92 and Vini Vici, plus a track with Egbert too. “In total, this album shows the full spectrum of the music which I love, and the people whom I love,” she says. “It’s very positive, and I can’t wait to release it.” Lilly and Egbert do not release tracks together too often, but they decided to collaborate on one for the album. ‘Rotterdam’ is the “super hard” track that honours the “roughness and realness” of the Rotterdam people, and Egbert’s hometown. It marks their first joint production since their rework of ‘We Will Survive’ by Warp Brothers, which Lilly released on Spannung Records in 2020, the same year she launched the label.

Speaking of which, Lilly says she has lined up releases by Nusha, Cristian Glitch and Jose Bonetto on Spannung Records, and she’d like to start curating label showcases again, but that won’t come until later down the line. As we carry on chatting on the call, we get to the subject of what keeps her grounded. Spending time with her horse and mucking out the stables tends to help. “Those animals, they just feel everything,” she says. “They know when you’re sad, when you’re stressed, and every other emotional sensation. So you can’t fake anything. You have to be authentic. You go there, and you just feel better.”

Before we end the call, Lilly has two pieces of advice for emerging artists. The first nugget is related to saying no. “I think this is something that every artist has to learn,” she says. “Your team should not only be out pleasing others and saying yes to everything, because I noticed a lot of agencies have this problem where they have so many DJs that they don’t want to risk relationships with promoters when saying no; that actually doesn’t help you as an artist. The key is to source a tight team, a ‘shark’ who is not afraid to lose and to face confrontations.” But at the same time, knowing you can always “go back to the safety of a situation where you can say, ‘Hey, I really don’t want to do this so I’d rather say no’. Then you actually raise the demand.”

The second part of Lilly’s advice is about toeing the line between confidence and self-criticism, something she admits she’s still learning. To strike that balance, you need a core support system, sans yes-men. For Lilly, that means receiving guidance from the people close to her: first and foremost, Karl and Egbert, teams like Armada Music and Kontor Records, and influential personalities like Armin.

“So keep your team small, with people you can trust and are in there for the experience and the desire to build something,” she says. “I don’t need to be the world’s top DJ — I need that team feeling. When we can honestly say, ‘We built this together and now we enjoy the results’, it becomes real. That’s the best job in the world”.

I am going to wrap up with The Night Bazaar and their conversation with Lilly Palmer. This year has been a busy one for her. She released the E.P., You’re the One, last month. Her album, Bigger Than Techno, came out in March. Such a prolific artist and D.J., her focus, dedication and passion has seen her blow up recently. Without doubt one of the most accomplished D.J.s in the world:

“Your rise over the last few years has been massive, when you look back at the small club gigs in Zurich, what do you think has stayed constant about you as an artist?

Honestly, the core of what drives me has never changed, it’s always been about emotion and connection. When I was playing small clubs in Zurich to maybe a hundred people, I was trying to take them somewhere, to create a moment where everyone in the room felt the same thing at the same time. That’s still what I’m doing on a festival mainstage. The scale changes, the production changes, but that hunger to genuinely move people? That’s never wavered. I grew up feeling like an outsider, and techno was the first space where I truly felt like I belonged, where nobody cared about who you were outside of those walls. I carry that feeling into every single set.

Your sets balance aggression, melody, trance and emotion. Do you consciously think about storytelling when building a set or is it very much spur of the moment decisions reacting to the crowd in front of you?

It’s both, always both. I go into every set with a kind of emotional arc in mind, I know the journey I want to take people on, from the first beat to the last. But the crowd tells you everything in real time. Their energy, their body language, you feel it back as clearly as they feel what you’re putting out. My sets grew from a more melodic deep house foundation in Zurich, and that DNA never fully left. Even at 150 BPM, I’m always looking for that melodic moment that cuts through the intensity and makes someone close their eyes. The aggression and the tenderness have to live together. That tension is actually where the magic is.

The title of your album Bigger Than Techno feels like a statement. What does that phrase mean to you personally?

People sometimes read it as an ego statement, like I think I’m bigger than techno. It’s actually the complete opposite. Bigger Than Techno is about techno itself being bigger than anything. Bigger than a genre label, bigger than a scene, bigger than any boundary you could put around it. Techno creates transformative experiences, it builds communities, it inspires people on a level that goes far beyond the dancefloor into the very fabric of human experience. For me the album is a heartfelt declaration of that. It’s me saying: look at everything this music can hold trance, psytrance, hard dance, raw emotion, spiritual depth. This is sacred space. This is where authentic self-expression flourishes without colour or constraint.

As a female artist in a still male-dominated scene, have things improved since you started or do you still feel you have to prove yourself more than others?

Things have genuinely improved and I want to acknowledge that, there are more women headlining, more conversations happening, more space being made. But the doubts that get thrown at female producers didn’t disappear overnight. I’ve had people question whether I actually make my own music. My response was never to get angry, it was to show my work, to post my process, to let the music speak for itself. That’s the same integrity I’d expect of any artist. What I will say is that coming from the outside, being adopted, feeling like an outsider at school, finding my tribe eventually with the death metal kids, gave me a resilience that I now consider one of my greatest assets. I’ve never needed everyone’s approval. I need to be true to what I create”.

I will end here. Already a major name, I haven’t written about Lilly Palmer, so I wanted to correct that. I absolutely love her sound and admire hugely her skill as a D.J. and her incredible artistry. Her new E.P. is stunning, and, as we can see, she is the middle of a run of dates at the moment. She plays Creamfields here on 28th August. If you get a chance to see her then you really should. Lilly Palmer is…

A modern-day icon.

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Follow Lilly Palmer

FEATURE: Spotlight: sillygirlcamrmen

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight


sillygirlcamrmen

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THERE is so such to admire…

when it comes to sillygirlcarmen. The world she has created as this D.J. and artist. Born in Detroit, she is one of the most important D.J.s in that city. Though she plays far beyond and has played to united and eager crowds around the world. I did want to spotlight some interviews with her. I wanted to explore her as a brilliant D.J. The End of Summer is her E.P. from last year. Itty Bitty Squad an incredible single. I do wonder if she will bring out an E.P. or album later this year or next. I want to start out with an introduction of this hypnotic and world-class talent:

“Carmen Johnson is an active DJ, singer, promoter and actress born in Detroit who performs under the name sillygirlcarmen. She’s played in many exclusive settings around the world. From Detroit to LA, NYC to Miami, Montreal to Paris. Playing at venues such as, Flash DC, Silo NYC, Djoon Paris, TV Lounge Detroit and Public Works San Francisco. And festivals such as Charivari Detroit, Movement, West Coast Weekender, MTL 24, Big Stomp and Miami Music Week.

Carmen is known to craft passionate sets that energize the room and ignite the dance floor. Highly requested, she has played alongside industry favorites such as Louie Vega, Moodymann, MK, Nora En Pure, DJ Minx, Rich Medina, Delano Smith, Will Clarke, Eats Everything, Gene Farris, Green Velvet and Osunlade. She is now focused on her production and original music releases from Nervous Records, Popgang Records, Soul Clap Records and her brand new label Sun & Sound Detroit. House Legends Karizma, Glenn Underground, Emmaculate and DJ Minx among others, have already crafted one of a kind remixes with her original works. Carmen is 100% passionate about music, arts, and all things involving creative expansion.

Sillygirlcarmen is a newgen idealist when shaping her sets. Her approach is unmarred by purists’ notions of what device or technology makes the DJ. Hers is a focused appreciation of the music, and its delivery in the mix, with the goal of making the audience center stage. It is the people on the dance floor and their connection with the track selections that will create the memory of the night. Your brand flourishes delivering these good times, and those present will tell the stories.

In a world where technology appears to make it possible that “anybody can be a DJ now” and at a time when everything musically is available to everyone, you must find your niche and something that sets you apart from your contemporaries. Just like each generation of DJs before, new DJs are brimming with fresh ideas and a unique perspective. As one of the newest members of the Detroit DJ legacy taking her seat at the table, Sillygirlcarmen is a glimpse of where the DJ world could be. She brings a multifarious Artistic approach to her direction as DJ/Producer/Graphic Artist/Actress/Model. Instead of likes and followers, the goal is authenticity and connection.

 

Sillygirlcarmen is uncompromising in her journey with the music and its history. She has youthful insistence and a voracious drive for consistent discovery of old music to present in the context of a contemporary mix while also keeping her finger on the pulse of new music. Each set that she delivers is more about the collective and experiential rather than the individual delivering. Detroit born sillygirlcarmen aka Carmen Johnson is the daughter of Todd Johnson, an early pioneer DJ and promoter of Detroit dance music culture and one of the principles of the annual Charivari Detroit Music Festival.  Her childhood was filled with full access to mixed CDs from the best of Detroit and many Detroit legends (Delano Smith, DWynn, Terrence Parker, Eddie Fowlkes and others are decades long family friends.)

Sillygirlcarmen passionately embraces the culture. A sillygirlcarmen set doesn’t flow with intent; it could be better described as unfolding more in reaction to her feeling in the moment. In these moments, is where her groove becomes more deliberate over time, more urgent, and sometimes intense while progressing. She makes selections to respond to the crowds movement as needed, at times sonically alluring and ambiguous, and other times absolutely in your face. The collision of DJ, music, and craft sparks a mesmerizing energy in her dance floors. She is always focused on the process while never losing sight of keeping the communication clear with those in motion. She delivers the soundtrack for the experience that you came to hear.  Sillygirlcarmen is one of the new DJs of this generation with a message that the legacy of this culture is in good hands to all those who care to listen. Sillygirl “ I’m looking forward to playing more, creating more, being a part of more. I’m so grateful for the chance to share my expression thru music and shared spaces. These are the most ideal moments for enjoying life.”

The future will see the scene shift and current and new Artists will musically lead the way. That process cannot be routine or always traditional, but more thoughtful about the different ways that this music and events can be presented. It will require a more inclusive approach along with leadership, partnership and community. DJ culture is an artistic route of creative music delivery that has strong collective histories and memories; but it’s also the path into new extraordinary articulations of music, dance floor magic and community possibility. Sillygirlcarmen is out there grinding and banging to be part of making the destination possible and audibly pleasing. And there is nothing silly about that”.

Prior to getting to some interviews, as we can see from the Press section of her official website, back in February last year, Mixmag bestowed a huge honour upon her. “As part of Blackout Mixmag, Dantiez Saunderson – son of techno pioneer Kevin Saunderson – selects 10 artists who are continuing the legacy of Detroit's innovative dance music scene into the new generation”:  

“Carmen Johnson, AKA sillygirlcarmen, is a DJ, producer, vocalist, and promoter making waves in Detroit. Her father is Todd Johnson, an early Detroit artist and a principal founder of the Charivari Detroit Music Festival, meaning Carmen was surrounded by legendary figures from the scene at an early age. She’s quickly become a fixture in local and international line-ups, and esteemed venues from LA to Paris, with a sound rooted in the soulful energy of house music with a disco-inspired flair. Carmen isn’t bound by old-skool purist rules – her philosophy is that it’s not about the gear, it’s about the vibe. She herself has said that she wants to prove “the legacy of this culture is in good hands” within the next generation, and importantly, is using her platform to push for inclusivity. In 2019 she helped inspire Charivari’s all-female stage showcasing women DJs, and continues to champion female talent through that initiative. On the community side, Carmen has spearheaded new inclusive movements with her Wonderful project, a platform for diversity and equality in the scene, introducing a novel model for festival programming”.

I have so much love and respect for sillygirlcarmen. I am not sure how much traction she has in the U.K., though I know there are a lot of folk here who would love to see her D.J. and perform as an artist. What an incredible woman. I think there are venues and clubs here that would love to host her for the night.

I am going to end with a fairly recent interview with Beatportal around a collaborative single. More on that later, I want to get to this Undrtone interview with a supreme talent. The Detroit D.J. talking about the city and vinyl culture. Learning about her has been really fascinating. Each D.J. has their own path and route into the profession. Their united passion is really infectious and inspiring:

“With the release of the ‘EASE’ EP, Detroit artist, DJ and vocalist sillygirlcarmen reaches an important milestone. Not just because it marks the first vinyl release on her Sun & Sound Detroit imprint, but because it captures the wider philosophy driving both the label and her own artistic direction right now.

Built around contributions from Glenn Underground, Coflo, Jon Dixon and Kevin Reynolds alongside her own collaboration with Coflo, the project feels less like a standard VA and more like a carefully assembled dialogue between generations, cities and different strands of house music culture. Deep house, jazz, soul and Detroit futurism all intersect naturally across the record, but nothing feels forced or overly conceptual. The warmth comes first.

“That’s exactly why this was the right project for the moment,” she explains. “It felt effortless, warm and fresh all at once. Calling on these artists created a really beautiful representation of house music’s historical soul and craftsmanship while still feeling future facing.”

For sillygirlcarmen, framing the release as a “vinyl conversation” between Detroit and Chicago was deeply personal. Her own sound has always existed somewhere between those two cities and their respective musical identities.

 

“My taste really sits right in the middle of those influences,” she says. “Some people look at Detroit and Chicago’s electronic music histories as a debate, but I see them more as a storyline of inspiration and reflection between each other.”

That sense of lineage runs throughout the project. The artists featured on ‘EASE’ span different generations, styles and perspectives, but the curation feels remarkably cohesive. Part of that comes from the close creative relationship she shares with her father, Todd Johnson, the long-standing Detroit promoter and Charivari co-founder.

“Working closely with my dad naturally brings together old school and new school energy,” she explains. “That joining of generations happens very naturally when we curate for the label because so many of those friendships already existed.”

Growing up within Detroit’s musical ecosystem clearly shaped that instinctive understanding of dance music culture from an early age. The city’s history still hangs heavily over her work, but more importantly, so does its mentality.

“Detroit gave me such a rich foundation for my music palate,” she says. “But beyond that, the energy of the city really instilled hustle and drive in me.”

That awareness of contributing to a larger cultural lineage brings responsibility too. “Having the opportunity to add to the culture and history of Detroit DJs makes me want to innovate, work hard and win,” she says.

Those influences reveal themselves differently depending on the environment she’s performing in. While she’s appeared at major events including Movement Festival, she speaks just as passionately about smaller, more intimate spaces”.

A couple of recent interview to finish off with. For The Night Bazaar, sillygirlcarmen “discusses her Ryan Sadorus collaboration ‘Wait For You’, finding creative freedom through her voice, and building the future of Sun & Sound Detroit”. This is someone who I would urge everyone to go and follow. One of the best D.J.s in the world, but also this accomplished artist and amazing actress too:

“Detroit is often associated with deep musical soul and innovation. Where do you think Wait For You fits within that tradition while still sounding contemporary?

There is definitely soul and warmth within this record, that I think resonates with the roots of Detroit. The innovation comes in when considering the collaboration and the new age approach to a record that feels so care free and fun.

Your career spans DJing, singing and producing. Which role feels most creatively fulfilling to you right now, and has that changed over the last few years?

I bounce back and forth between DJing and singing being the most fulfilling. Songwriting and singing, really allows me to stay grounded in my spirits itch to create and express, while DJing allows me to connect in the world and share my wide taste in music.

Your DJ sets are known for reacting to the energy of the crowd in real time. Does that same instinct influence the way you arrange your productions?

When I’m working on new music ideas, that thread of inspiration is coming from something beyond me.

It surely is spontaneous and spiritual. Whatever I am feeling or trying to inspire in the world comes through. But most often, the process is simply cathartic. I crave the opportunity to sing new melodies and play with new ideas.

Growing up surrounded by Detroit dance music pioneers gave you a unique education. How has that history influenced this release without making you feel tied to the past?

Detroit’s pioneers and history influence my courage to try something new and put it into the world every time. Simply leaning into who I truly am and being unafraid to give it my all comes from all I have observed of Detroit culture.

You talk about becoming part of the next chapter of Detroit’s musical legacy rather than simply preserving it. What does carrying that legacy forward actually mean to you in 2026?

Staying true to my roots, the music that truly moves me, the scene that has supported my growth, the venues and spaces that have allowed me to get stronger at my craft time and time again. These stories, these moments will forever be told in my story.

What excites you most about Sun & Sound Detroit over the next year, as an artist, but also as someone helping create opportunities for others?

The potential! I have so many ideas I would love to bloom under the Sun & Sound Detroit label. I am constantly plotting and planning on fun ways to make the next move. I am very hopeful and eager to see how many artists we will have the pleasure to have releases with in the future. Making a wider net with other creatives is a huge goal”.

I will end up with Beatportal, and a really great interview. Wait for You was released last month, but it is a track still getting a lot of love and interest. I do wonder whether sillygirlcarmen is going to focus on D.J. sets and that side of things for now or whether there will be more music coming from her. I love D.J.s who are also artists and producers, as they seem to bring something to the table that is not like something you’d get from a traditional musician:

“Music begins with feeling for Detroit-born DJ, singer and producer sillygirlcarmen. It’s an instinct that runs through her approach to DJing, songwriting and production.

This kind of openness to following an idea wherever it leads rather than deciding in advance exactly where a piece of music belongs is key to her workflow. “I always jump into music based on my initial resonance to the feeling,” she says. “Not everything I make will translate to the settings I most often play but I never feel pigeonholed by that. I am an artist first, if a song moves me, I’m running with it.”

That philosophy sits naturally at the heart of Wait For You, her new collaboration with fellow Detroit artist Ryan Sadorus, which is out now on her own Sun & Sound Detroit label. The track is built around a warm rolling groove, playful bass and Carmen’s vocal, balancing the immediacy of the dancefloor with an emotional undercurrent of longing, patience and connection.

The collaboration unfolded differently from Carmen’s usual creative process. Ryan Sadorus, a Detroit-based DJ and producer whose own musical history encompasses the city’s underground alongside influences gathered while living in Tokyo, arrived with a particularly clear idea of where he wanted the track to go. “Ryan came with a strong leading vision in mind,” Carmen explains. “This was a unique collaboration because I often like to sit with the track and flesh out melodies, but he sent me the track and lyrical content all at once. It resonated right away and was a fun process adding my voice and emotion.”

The result carries characteristics deeply associated with Detroit dance music while resisting any need to recreate its past. Its connection to the city lies as much in spirit as in sound. “There is defiantly soul and warmth within this record, that I think resonates with the roots of Detroit,” she says. “The innovation comes in when considering the collaboration and the new age approach to a record that feels so carefree and fun.”

Carmen’s creative identity has expanded beyond the DJ booth. Having played from Detroit to New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Montreal and Paris, she has built a reputation around sets that respond instinctively to the people in front of her. At the same time, her work as a singer, songwriter and producer has become an increasingly important means of expression, with releases connected to labels including Nervous Records, Popgang Records and Soul Clap Records alongside her own Sun & Sound Detroit.

Asked which part of her creative life feels most fulfilling, she finds herself moving between two worlds. “I bounce back and forth between DJing and singing being the most fulfilling,” she says. “Songwriting and singing, really allows me to stay grounded in my spirits itch to create and express, while DJing allows me to connect in the world and share my wide taste in music.”

In an era when technology is rapidly changing how electronic music can be made, Carmen also sees something fundamentally human at the centre of her work. “I think the main thing that will always be the common thread in my work, is the fact that I’m using my voice,” she says. “That is a part of me, literally, that cannot be replicated.”

It is an idea that connects many of the threads running through Carmen’s story: a deep awareness of where she comes from without being confined by it; a relationship with the dancefloor built around communication rather than ego; and an appetite for collaboration, experimentation and continual creative expansion.

With Wait For You, those threads meet in a record rooted in Detroit but looking outward, a collaboration built around groove, voice and feeling. And for Carmen, there is no suggestion that the process of defining her sound needs to arrive at a final destination. “I feel limitless in my interest to create,” she says. “I think my sound will be forever expanding”.

Wrapping up here, I am excited about sillygirlcarmen’s future. She is such a wonderful talent who I feel is going to keep growing and see her profile rise. She already has a huge following across social media and this enormous respect. Such a highly-regarded D.J., her social media links are below, so you can go and follow her. An investment and decision…

YOU won’t regret!

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Follow sillygirlcamrmen

FEATURE: Spotlight: Isabel van Gelder

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

  

Isabel van Gelder

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SHE has…

a million followers on Instagram, yet there are many who do not know about Isabel Van Gelder. This amazing Dutch artist is new to me, but I wanted to spotlight her, as she plays some dates in the U.K. in September. She plays in Birmingham and London. I think these dates are sold out, such is the demand to see her. I am going to come to some interviews with this spellbinding talent. Prior to getting there, here is a little bit of background:

“Isabel van Gelder is a 23-year-old singer-songwriter/pop artist from Amsterdam. Her angelic sound and presence shine through in her impressive songs: emotionally layered storytelling ballads, balanced with carefree, upbeat tracks. In both extremes, Isabel effortlessly weaves dreamy melodies with deeply personal lyrics, and audiences listen closely.

Since the release of her singles Die For You and My Silly Boy, it has become impossible to ignore Isabel. Her videos on Instagram and TikTok have amassed millions of views, while her debut EP ‘Minor Details’ has reached millions of streams on Spotify. When she announced her first European tour, it sold out within weeks. Now, she is announcing a brand-new and expanded European tour, featuring larger venues and many more cities”.

In January, she released her debut E.P., Minor Details. A play on words, it is a clever, captivating, singular and stunning work from someone who I do feel is such a fascinating person. Reading interviews with Isabel van Gelder, you hear such a passionate and intelligent voice. She is also a model as well as a musician. I think the modelling career is in the past, but transitioning between these two worlds. Modelling about looks and aesthetics; music more about depth and different elements.

In 2025, Forbes spoke with Isabel van Gelder around the release of the lyric video for Die for You. There has not been as much buzz about her in the U.K. press as you’d imagine, so I sort of missed out on her. Sold-out gigs around the country shows that there is this loyal fanbase here:

“Baltin: Do you find now that being a singer, people really want to know you personally versus modeling, where it's based more on looks?

van Gelder: Yeah, exactly. It's something that was really scary in the beginning because I was so used to getting praised or compliments about the way I looked. And when I started, I always, for some reason, had this belief of not necessarily that I was good enough to do this, but this is the first thing that I ever, when I was very young, felt so connected to and was so special to me that I always had this belief of like, “I'm just doing this, and hopefully people will care.” But I did in the beginning kind of think like, “What if people just want to look at my body and my face, and they don't really give a s**t about what I have to say?” But it turns out they do, which is so great.

Baltin: When you think of the songs that when you were a kid spoke to you about broken hearts are there any that really stand out? What were your favorites?

van Gelder: The first one I can recall loving when I was really young, I think I was like seven or eight, and I couldn't speak English so I didn't understand the lyrics, but I this was like my first vivid memory of how much music emotionally can do to you because I just remember as a little girl in the home of my parents. There was this little CD, and it had summer hits on it and one of the songs was “Hurt,” by Christina Aguilera. She makes great songs, but it's not like I listen to her that much now. But I just remember not even being able to understand what she was saying, but feeling such a pull from it, that I was like running around the room because I felt so much energy. This song gave me so much energy, and that's why I love music so much. I feel like it's the only thing that has ever really felt kind of magical in a way and so much bigger than me and just so special. I've never really experienced that with anything else.

Baltin: What other music did you listen to as a kid?

van Gelder: I grew up listening to a lot of Radiohead and a lot of Daft Punk. Radiohead, I don't know if they're necessarily heartbreak songs, but they're definitely sad songs that I loved. I always loved them. My mom was a big fan. Oh, and then George Michael has a couple of songs. “One More Try,” I love that song.

Baltin: What are the long-term plans?

van Gelder: I definitely have more songs coming out. I'm finishing my first EP right now. “Run” and “Die For You” are going to be the first two of that EP. And I have to say, I really don't know what will happen in the next couple of months. I do know that we're planning on doing a little international tour in Europe. But it's all very much a little bit unclear still because "Die For You" came as this surprise. My managers and I really believed that the song would do good, but we didn't expect it to take off this much because for me, this is a lot more than I've ever had streaming-wise or attention-wise. But we're definitely planning on doing a little Europe tour and then maybe afterwards, the States. It would be my dream to tour in the States or tour Europe or tour in general because I've only recently started performing live and I think it's one of the best things ever.

Baltin: Who would be the dream artist to tour with?

van Gelder: Probably Raye. I love Raye. She makes obviously way more soulful, jazzy music than I do, but she seems like the coolest person ever. She's so talented and gifted. She's such a great songwriter, such a great performer. That would be my answer, but I would jump at any opportunity to open up for any act or tour with anyone”.

Stardust spoke with the multi-talented and adored Dutch artist around the release of I Don’t Want to Fall in Love Again. Isabel van Gelder is already such an accomplished composer and artist. She is so level-headed and mature, so you know she will conduct her career with such grace and wisdom:

“I Don’t Want To Fall In Love Again” feels like it comes from a very specific emotional place. What was happening in your life or in your head when this song first started to take shape?

Isabel Van Gelder: I was in London in a session with Jake Gosling the day the song was created. The day started off a little rocky. I was having a hard time coming up with something to write about that I felt was good enough. In the last couple of hours, we still didn't have an idea, so I got in front of the mic and started freestyling some melodies. It ended up working; we got all the melodies in the first take. I stepped out of the booth and went straight into writing lyrics, and it was one of those songs that just fell out. I barely had to think about it. Altogether, the song was done within an hour.

What's strange is that at the time, I was still in a relationship. Although I hadn't admitted it to myself yet, we were in a very bad place. Looking back, I think the song was foreshadowing how I was really feeling on some unconscious level. I tend to emotionally check out when things get too difficult or painful, and I think I was somewhere in the middle of that process without realizing it. Maybe I was preparing myself for what was to come.

Your music tends to feel vocal-driven, and your voice carries so much of the emotion here. When you’re recording a song this vulnerable, do you think more about technical control or emotional truth?

Isabel Van Gelder: Emotional truth, for sure! I'm not a very technical singer. I don't have a lot of formal training, and when I personally listen to music, I always listen to the story and emotion first. Blanks, my friend and producer who I work with most, also worked on “I Don’t Want To Fall In Love Again,” actually told me that whenever he feels the vocals could be better, he just tells me to focus on the story. That always ends up producing the best takes. I think that says it all, really.

“I Don’t Want To Fall In Love Again” is also your first release with Columbia Records. How did it feel to begin this next chapter with a song that feels so personal?

Isabel Van Gelder: I'm incredibly excited about this new chapter; it genuinely feels like a dream come true to be working with a label that has been home to so many incredible artists over the decades. And I'm really happy that this is the song we're starting with. It feels personal and honest, which I think gives a good first impression of who I am as an artist. I can't wait to go even deeper with the songs that are coming next!

“Die for you” connected with listeners in such a major way, reaching millions of streams and bringing your music to a wider audience. Was there a specific moment when you realized how far the song had traveled?

Isabel Van Gelder: I think the first real moment it hit me was at my first headline show in London where the entire crowd knew every word. It's a feeling I genuinely can't describe. There's something almost surreal about standing in a room full of people singing back something you wrote in your bedroom at 17. It's incredible, really.

As you move into this new chapter, what do you want listeners to understand about who you are as an artist right now?

Isabel Van Gelder: I hope they know how genuinely grateful I am for all the support so far. I have a very close relationship with the people that follow me, and I hope I can keep creating things that they love and that mean something to them. I’ll always try to be as honest as I can in my music, and I can't wait to see where this journey takes us!”.

The more I read, the more I realised this is a true music sensation. Someone who I feel can go on to be as big as an artist like Taylor Swift. In terms of her future, I can see these massive tours and collaborations with huge artists. Hit Parader spoke with Isabel van Gelder this year. Someone who they predict will adorn their cover within a couple of years:

“Mark my words, Dutch singer/songwriter Isabel Van Gelder will be on the cover of Hit Parader within the next two years. True, I am the editor, and the insanely likable Van Gelder has become a friend through our frequent interviews, so I might seem biased. But when you have two different major industry figures/label presidents tell you how badly they wanted to sign her after she joins the storied history of Columbia Records alongside Rosalia, Harry Styles, and more, you know the hype is legitimate.

Like almost every artist, Van Gelder says songs coming to her like a thunderbolt is all too familiar to her. “In my experience personally, I do feel like the songs that I think are my best songs happen very quickly. And I think when you’re truly inspired, or you’re in this kind of flow state, sometimes you don’t really even know what’s happening, and it just happens. This song was definitely one of those moments,” she says. “I walked out of the studio, and I wasn’t even sure. I had to listen back to what we actually just made? And then I was like, ‘Hey, this is actually good.’”

For Van Gelder, signing with Columbia, which has also been home to legends such as Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Barbara Streisand, Miles Davis, and more, is the beginning of a new chapter she can’t wait to experience.

“It’s really exciting. All of this happening is obviously a dream come true. And if you had told me a year ago, I would not have ever thought that I’d be where I am right now, even though it’s still the start of everything. I’m very excited, and at the same time, I’m very eager, and I feel even more driven to work 10 times as hard, because I feel like having a deal right now only creates more opportunity in a way,” she says. “I just want to work as hard as I can and do everything I can to make this happen, of course. And I want to be back in the States as soon as I can.”

While Van Gelder might be setting up for a future run at the title “queen of heartbreak” musically, she is, again, far from that in her everyday life, as she proves with her tastes like YUNGBLUD and Bo Burnham.  “I feel like somebody that I’ve been following for a long time, and I think he does the sickest shows, is Yungblud. I’d love to see and crowd surf to one of his shows. I feel like it’s crazy and so much energy and just would be really fun,” she says. “I love Bo Burnham. I just think he’s so smart. Also, I just think he’s really funny. And then he’s a fantastic singer, like a musician really. And I loved his special that he made during COVID with all the songs. I just thought it was genius. Like the music is genius. I love him. And I think it’s really funny. He’s just my type of guy.”

You likely will not see crowd surfing at one of her shows, but between the tears, the songs might induce her to promise a lot of fun. “We’re definitely playing some upbeat songs, and I talk a lot. I tell a lot of stories. It feels pretty spontaneous. I think you really do get a feeling of who I am as a person. And I think that’s what I really want people to take away from coming to shows that they feel like they know me a little bit better,” she says.

Ahead of dates in the U.K. shortly, I wanted to shout out the absolutely wonderful Isabel van Gelder. I am already such a fan of hers and cannot wait to see where she heads. Such is her talent and incredible personality, you cannot help but to fall for her! I think we will be talking about her…

DECADES from now.

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Follow Isabel van Gelder

FEATURE: I've Changed Me Face, I've Changed My Name: Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush’s Don’t Give Up at Forty

FEATURE:

 

 

I've Changed Me Face, I've Changed My Name

  

Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush’s Don’t Give Up at Forty

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EVEN though it…

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in an outtake from The Whole Story shoot in 1986/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

is a Peter Gabriel song, Kate Bush is a key component. A duet between the two, Don’t Give Up featured on Gabriel’s 1986 album, So. The album’s third single was released on 27th October, 1986, so I am looking ahead to its fortieth anniversary. A top ten hit, this is arguably one of the most effecting duets ever. Peter Gabriel initially wanted Dolly Parton to sing with him but, after she turned it down, Kate Bush was approached. I think she did a better job than Parton would have done. In terms of her performance and the emotions we get from her voice. I will get to some writing about the song. However, I want to start out with this background from Peter Gabriel’s official website:

“Written by Peter Gabriel, the song was produced by Daniel Lanois and Peter and engineered by Kevin Killen and Lanois and features the guest vocals of Kate Bush. Bush had previously provided vocals for the tracks Games Without Frontiers and No Self Control on Peter’s third solo album.

The song was inspired by a Dorothea Lange photograph, but was also informed by the high levels of unemployment under the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher of the 1980s, as Peter told the NME at the time of the release of So:

“The catalyst for ‘Don’t Give Up’ was a photograph I saw by Dorothea Lange, inscribed ‘In This Proud Land’, which showed the dust-bowl conditions during the Great Depression in America. Without a climate of self-esteem it’s impossible to function”.

This is a song that has saved people’s lives. The messages of hope and holing on. Not to give up. So many people across the world have said how it has saved them. Given them new perspective. Whilst perhaps not powerful enough to rouse me from slumbers of depression, it at least does give me some focus. I listen to the song and get something from it each time. I am writing this on 26th July and sharing it closer to its anniversary on 27th October, as I have so many Kate Bush features so this joins the back of the queue.

In terms of when the single arrived, you could argue Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel were at the peak of their powers. Bush released Hounds of Love in 1985. Her greatest hits album, The Whole Story, would come out in November 1986 and be a massive-selling success. So was a huge commercial breakthrough for Peter Gabriel. Tow artists who first met in 1979 and shared a studio previously combining for a song that resonates to this day. It is still helping people and saving lives. Earlier this year, PROG took us inside a song that might not have happened were it not for a tragedy that occurred during Kate Bush’s The Tour of Life:

“When Kate Bush embarked on her groundbreaking The Tour Of Life in spring 1979, it turned the notion of a live concert on its head. Fully choreographed by Anthony Van Laast, the sold-out 28-date tour was a visualisation of her first two albums, The Kick Inside and Lionheart.

Much was made of the road trip costing up to £250,000 and employing 40 people. It took place at the cusp of touring being taken seriously. Such was the furore that BBC TV magazine show Nationwide reported on the opening night at Liverpool Empire.

But the experience was to be overshadowed by the tragic death of Bill Duffield, her 21-year-old lighting director. On April 2, after a warm-up gig at Poole Arts Centre, Duffield was undertaking the reoutine “idiot check,” where the final crew member in the venue inspects makes sure nothing has been left behind. He fell 17 feet through an unlit open stage panel onto a concrete floor, and died a week later from his injuries.

A memorial concert for was arranged for May 12 at Hammersmith Odeon. It was an emotional tour de force, with Bush joined by two artists who’d previously worked with Duffield – Peter Gabriel and Steve Harley. They joined Bush on Them Heavy People and The Man With The Child In His Eyes. Then Bush duetted with Gabriel on his yet-to-be released I Don’t Remember, and they all delivered The Beatles’ Let It Be to close.

If Duffield had not died, Bush and Gabriel would not have met that night. They hit it off immediately – his painstakingly free approach to his work was to inform her in a way few artists ever had. Within months she’d be singing on Gabriel’s third album, and through the sessions she first encountered the Fairlight CMI synthesiser.

Years later she accompanied him on one of his most powerful statements. An evocative ballad, Don’t Give Up was partially inspired by the startlingly evocative Dorothea Lange pictures of Americans during the Great Depression. Gabriel had initially envisioned Dolly Parton singing with him. But instead he turned to Bush, who was then enjoying huge commercial success in the wake of Hounds Of Love.

Over the gentle swell of Richard Tee’s gospel-influenced piano part, the song was a masterpiece of understatement that was in step with the straitened times lurking beneath the shiny veneer of the mid 80s, speaking directly to a disaffected population.

In 1981, British prime minister Margaret Thatcher’s employment secretary, Norman Tebbit, infamously used an analogy about his father being out of work in the 30s. Instead of rioting – as many were doing at the time – Tebbit Senior got on his bike and looked for work, said the politician. The quote was popularly interpreted as telling the unemployed to “get on their bikes” to find jobs.

Gabriel’s tale of a dispirited man at the end of his tether looking for work touched a raw nerve with millions of listeners in the UK and, latterly, the world. With Gabriel’s despair in the verses and Bush’s words of hope in the chorus, the 1986 single became arguably Gabriel’s most-loved composition. The fact that it had its roots in a union which grew from such tragedy only adds to its poignancy”.

There is not much written about Don’t Give Up. However, I think people have their own interpretations of the song and what it means to them. Even if Don’t Give Up was not especially personal to Peter Gabiriel, the way he delivers the song makes it feel deep within him. Kate Bush offering this comforting and soothing voice. But her voice has so much power to it. This article looks inside a song that still connects with people almost forty years after its release:

“Don’t Give Up,” a duet with Kate Bush, is an intimate look inside a marriage dealing with the husband’s layoff and unemployment as part of Thatcherism’s war on trade unions and its calculated transfer of wealth from the lower and middle classes to City of London bankers (see also, Elvis Costello’s Tramp the Dirt Down’s lyrics: [w]hen England was the whore of the world, Margaret was her madam; when they finally put you in the ground I will stand on your grave and tamp the dirt down).

Gabriel’s lyrics are searing:

No fight left or so it seems.
I am a man whose dreams have all deserted.
I've changed my face, I've changed my name.
But no one wants you when you lose.

Kate Bush’s sublime voice desperately seeks to reach him through the pain, to remind him of the love that filled his life and will fill it again if he can find a way up from the depths of his misery.

Don't give up, you still have us.
Don't give up, we don't need much of anything.
Don't give up, 'cause somewhere there's a place where we belong.

Sadly, our hero’s humiliation is complete. He had previously summoned all of his strength for a new start in a new place only to fail once more.

Moved on to another town,
Tried hard to settle down.
For every job, so many men.
So many men no-one needs.

Like life, the song refuses us the happiness we crave.

Got to walk out of here, I can't take any more.
Gonna stand on that bridge, keep my eyes down below.
Whatever may come and whatever may go,
That river's flowing, that river's flowing.

As the waters swallow our hero, Kate Bush frantically issues her final, desperate pleas to a sinking, depleted soul:

Don't give up 'cause you have friends.
Don't give up, you're not the only one.
Don't give up, no reason to be ashamed.
Don't give up, you still have us.
Don't give up now, we're proud of who you are.
Don't give up, you know it's never been easy.
Don't give up 'cause I believe there's a place.
There's a place where we belong.

The songs ends with a chorus singing “don’t give up,” fading, with our protagonist, into the murky depths”.

I am going to end things here. On 27th October, we mark forty years of Don’t Give Up. Not only one of Peter Gabriel’s best songs, it also features one of Kate Bush’s most affecting vocal performances. It is a song that means a lot to me, and I know it has helped so many people through the years. Elton John and the late Matthew Perry have spoken about the personal meaning of the track to them. For anyone who needs to find messages of support and resilience in a song to help them, they should listen to Don’t Give Up. This phenomenal song remains…

SUCH a powerful music moment.

FEATURE: Reaching Out: Kate Bush’s The Sensual World at Thirty-Seven

FEATURE:

 

 

Reaching Out

 

Kate Bush’s The Sensual World at Thirty-Seven

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AHEAD of its…

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1989/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari

thirty-seventh anniversary on 16th October, I wanted to write a feature about The Sensual World. Kate Bush’s sixth studio album reached number two in the U.K. I am going to pull in some reviews and features around this amazing album. Though I am leading out with an interview from 1989. I might have dropped this interview in for an earlier feature, though it warrants repeating to mark thirty-seven years of The Sensual World. I do want to start out with sections of a couple of different interviews where Kate Bush discussed making The Sensual World:

“I think this album for me, unlike the last album, say, Hounds of Love, where I saw that as two sides – one side being conceptual – this album is very much like short stories for me. Ten short stories that are just saying something different in each one and it was a bit like trying to paint the pictures accordingly. Each song has a different personality and so they each a need little bit of something here, a little bit of that there – just like people, you know, some people you can’t walk up to because you know they’re a bit edgy first thing in the morning. So you have to come up sideways to them, you know, and it’s kind of like how the songs are too. They have their own little personalities, and if it doesn’t want you to do it, it won’t let you.

The VH-1 interview, January 1990

I just felt that I was exploring my feminine energy more -musically. In the past I had wanted to emanate the kind of power that I’ve heard in male music. And I just felt maybe somewhere there is this female energy that’s powerful. It’s a subtle difference – male or female energy in art – but I think thereisa difference: little things, like using the Trio. And possibly some of the attitudes to my lyric writing on this album. I would say it was more accepting of being a female somehow.

John Diliberto, ‘Kate Bush’s Theatre Of The Senses’. Musician, February 1990”.

For Q in November 1989, Phil Sutcliffe spoke with Kate Bush. There are quite a few print interviews from this year. I feel this conversation is quite extensive, and insightful. It must have been exhaustive for Kate Bush promoting The Sensual World. She did not really get much time to rest that year, as she was doing promotion right near to the end of the year:

“She still can't take it in stride. She's equally put out by both the in-depth probe and the careless stereotype of her as the "sex symbol" or the "wacky hippy" whose every third word was "Wow!" or "Amazing!".

The life Kate Bush has created is governed by the cycles of her albums. Despite her early versing in cosmic philosophies, no-one's ever accused her of being "laid-back", and she once enunciated something adjacent to a motto: "In music you have to break your back before you even start to speak the emotion."

She went through all the usual turmoil on her way to completing The Sensual World. "It's really frightening to me the way each album has taken longer than the one before," she says. "The writing gets harder every time. The Sensual World took about two-and-a-half years to make in all, but with a lot of gaps. I was going quickly at first, thinking, Nah, piece of piss! Then it all seemed like rubbish and I had to stop for a while. There's tremendous self-doubt involved. You think, Oh, God, I'll never get it finished."

The problem was that she had started too soon after Hounds Of Love, she decided. "I'll come off promotion of one album, start on the next and if I'm not careful it's nothing but a continuation and I don't want that," she says. "It's important for me to create some kind of wall, shut it off."

In part, she does this by going back to dancing. While totally embroiled in the studio and consoling herself with chocolate, she gets out of shape -- cause of the intermittent chubbier cheeks and hint of extra chin which have launched a thousand press rumours of her "blowing up" to 18 or even 20 stone. She gives her fierce workouts at the barre and mirrors credit for refurbishing her mind as well as her body after The Dreaming.

This time round, apart from dancing and running, the panacea was the garden at the house she and Del moved into three years ago in Eltham, Southeast London (brother Jay and family live next door; her parents' home still only half an hour away). "I sometimes I think I might as well just be a brain and a big pair of ears on legs, stuck in front of a mixing desk," she says. "But when I took that break from The Sensual World I really got into gardening. I mean, it's literally a very down-to-earth thing, isn't it? Real air. Away from the artificial light. Very therapeutic."

Another renewable source of inspiration has been exotic instrumentation, usually provided by a visit to Dublin and various members of the staunchly traditional folk troupe, The Chieftains, or by turning to brother Paddy (who specialised in making medieval instruments at the London College of Furniture and will knock out the odd koto or strumento de porco as and when). But for The Sensual World she's leavened the Celtic skirl with a bit of Balkan. She first heard the Trio Bulgarka in '86 and was suitably astonished. A year later it dawned on her that their full-throated harmonies might suit her songs. Connections were made through Joe Boyd of Hannibal Records, their UK label, and Kate flew out to Sofia for an entrancing experience of world music.

"They couldn't speak a word of English and I couldn't speak a word of Bulgarian," she says. "Everything went through translators and it didn't matter at all. Lovely working with women, and especially them, they're very affectionate. We tended to communicate through cuddles rather than words. In fact, we could get on perfectly well without the translators. At one point we were talking away in the studio when the translator walked in and we all shut up because she'd suddenly made us self-conscious about what we were doing." The Trio can be heard on three tracks, including the strikingly unlikely setting of Deeper Understanding, a very modern-world song about an alienated woman and her relationship with her computer.

"This is definitely my most personal, honest album," she says. "And I think it's my most *feminine* album, in that I feel maybe I'm not trying to prove something in terms of a woman in a man's world -- God, here we go!" She seems to be wary of provoking a heavy debate about feminism. "On The Dreaming and Hounds Of Love, particularly from a production standpoint, I wanted to get a lot more weight and power, which I felt was a very male attitude. In some cases it worked very well, but.. . perhaps this time I felt braver as a woman, not trying to do the things that men do in music."

The Fog is a brave song. It co-stars Kate's dad on spoken vocals intoning with fatherly/doctorly reassurance, "Just put your feet down child/'Cos you're all grown-up now".

"I started with the idea of a relationship in deep water and thought I could parallel that with learning to swim, the moment of letting go," she says. "When my dad was teaching me to swim he'd hold both my hands, then say, Now, let go. So I would, then he'd take two paces back and say, Right, swim to me, and I'd be, Oo-er, blub, blub, blerb. But I though it was such a beautiful image of the father and child, all wrapped up in the idea of really loving someone, but letting them go, because that's a part of real love, don't you think, the letting go?"

So it's personal about Kate and her father then. It sounds as though it might be personal about her and Del too.

"Yes, it does, doesn't it?" She laughs, really amused by her professionally evasive reply. "Have you ever watched Woody Allen being interviewed? Obviously his films are very personal and when the interviewer asks him the 'Has this happened to you then?' question, he's all.. ." She cowers back into her chair, crosses and uncrosses her legs, thrashes about like a speared fish. "Then he'll say, Uh, well, no, I'm just acting out a role. It's ironic, but it's much easier to speak about very personal things to lots of people through a song, a poem or a film than it is to confront the world with them through someone asking questions. Maybe you worry because it's going to be indirectly reported."

Kate Bush leads a quiet, fairly limited life so her options on subject matter my be relatively restricted. Although she has ventured into political issues with Breathing (nuclear war) and The Dreaming (Aborigine rights), she generally declares her own ignorance and refrains from writing songs that would only prove it. But she will often borrow a story and make it her own -- from books (Wuthering Heights, obviously, and Cloudbusting, from Peter Reich's memoir of his father called A Book Of Dreams), TV (Pull Out The Pin was inspired by a documentary about the Viet Cong), or films (the idea for Get Out Of My House came from The Shining).

However, it was a story told by an older friend that sowed the seeds for Heads We're Dancing, a near-disco piece about a night out with Hitler. "Years ago this friend of mine went to a dinner and spent the whole evening chatting to this fascinating guy, incredibly charming, witty, well-read, but never found out his name," she says. "The next day he asked someone else who'd been there who it was. 'Oh, didn't you know? That's Oppenheimer, the man who invented the atomic bomb.' My friend was horrified because he thought he should have given the guy hell, attacked him, he didn't know what.

"But the point was one moment this person is charming, then when you find out who he is, he's completely different. So I thought, Who's the worst person you could possibly meet in those circumstances? Hitler! And the story developed. A woman at a dance before the war and this guy comes up to her tossing a coin with this cocky chat-up line, Heads we're dancing. She doesn't recognise him until she sees his face in the paper later on and then she's devastated. She thinks that if she'd known she might have been able to *get* him and change the course of history. But he was a person who fooled a tremendous number of people and I don't think they can be blamed. It worries me a bit that this song could be received wrongly, though.

It could well be that the musically extended family and extended home of Kate Bush even embrace her feelings for her songs themselves. She has an intimacy with them, a distinctive candour about sensuality and sexuality to which her present album title track is something of a natural conclusion.

It passed more or less unnoticed in her early days that she was casually breaking taboos in every other song. Tricky items on her agenda included incest (brother and sister in The Kick Inside, woman and young boy in The Infant Kiss), homosexuality (Wow, Kashka From Baghdad) and period pains (Strange Phenomena, Kites [sic]). Her sympathetic, non-judgmental approach was probably one of the less obvious reasons why she appealed so strongly to both sexes, but she would occasionally remark that she was grateful the tabloids didn't read lyric sheets. Otherwise she could have been up to her neck in bishops and Mrs. Whitehouse demanding that the nation's children be protected from this filth.

In fact, the moment anyone other than a fan thinks they've spotted a hint of sex in her songs she becomes very hesitant. Once, when she was working on Breathing, an EMI executive walked in to be greeted by the hypnotic "out-in, out-in, out-in" chant. Taking a firm hold on the wrong end of the stick, he asked her how she could even dream of releasing this pornography. The possibility of such gross misunderstandings shakes her faith in the "purity" -- a favourite word -- of what she's doing. But not enough to make her back off.

"Don't you think Art is a tremendous sensual-sexual expression? I feel that energy often.. . the driving force is probably not the right way to put it," she says, still trying to skirt the fnaarr-fnaarr potential of the topic.

Whether or not her speculation about the nature of Art is on the money, she made her own experience of the creative process quite clear with the cover of Never For Ever. A cornucopia of fantastic and real, beautiful and vile creatures -- the products of her imagination -- is shown swirling our from beneath her skirt. At the time, thinking about this and the steamy, masturbatory atmosphere of many of the songs she wrote in her teens such as The Man With The Child In His Eyes and Saxophone Song, she said: "It's not such an open thing for women to be physically attracted to the male body and fantasise about it. I can't understand that because to me the male body is absolutely beautiful.. . Physical masturbation, it's a feeling so bottled up you have to relieve it, as if you were crying." 

The Sensual World is a song that translates the old ache to a different level -- with the invaluable help of James Joyce. "I had a rhythm idea with a synth line I took home to work on one night," she says. "While I was playing it this repeated *Yes* came to me and made me think of Molly Bloom's speech right at the end of Ulysses -- which I *have* actually read all through! I went downstairs and read it again, this unending sentence punctuated with 'yeses', fantastic stuff, and it was uncanny, it fitted the rhythm of my song." (The last lines of Molly Bloom's great stream of consciousness read: "then he asked me would I yes to say yes my mountain flower and first I put my arms around him yes and drew him down to me so he could feel my breasts all perfume yes and his heart was going like mad and yes I said yes I will Yes.")

Although to Kate "it felt like it was meant to happen", when she applied through "official channels" (presumably the Joyce estate) for permission to use it, she was refused. But she wasn't to be deflected. "I tried to write it like Joyce," she says, smiling in self-mockery. "The rhythm at least I wanted to keep. Obviously I couldn't do his style. It became a song about Molly Bloom, the character, stepping out of the page -- black and white, two-dimensional, you see -- and into the real world, the sensual world. Touching things." She declaims exaggeratedly. "The grass underfoot! The mountain air! I know it sounds corny, but it's about the whole sensual experience, this wonderfully human thing. . ."

And lines like "his spark took life in my hand"?

"Yes, it is rather saucy. But not nearly as sexy as James Joyce." She looks concerned again. "I'd be really worried -- there's nothing I can do about it now because it's all part of the process -- but I would be worried if people felt this ambiguity between sensual and sexual.

"I definitely *became* a person when I left school and suddenly took control of my life," she says. "I felt like that was the first time I'd really been there. Do you.. .? It was the beginning of my life really.

"Now I think I get a tremendous amount of security from my work, through being able to write songs. Though perhaps I'm very insecure except when I'm working. There again I work so much.. . I'll have to think about this. I'll be thinking about it all day now. What I'm looking out for is to let go of being so damned obesessive about work that I just get sucked into it. It's important for me now for there to be some kind of, er, *lightness* about it.

"You know, it's only an album. That is what I keep saying to myself”.

There was a lot of warm critical praise in 1989 for The Sensual World. I will drop in some contemporary reviews. However, this is what Kristine Mckenna wrote for Musician (U.S.A): “A song cycle as rich and deep as this takes years to mature. Her original use of rhyme and metre, the wide frame of reference she draws on as a composer, and her inventive and fearless approach to singing fall into perfect sync on nearly every song”. In 2019, Pitchfork reviewed The Sensual World. They note how the album sees Kate Bush at her most grounded and in control:

“Even its most surreal songs are rooted in self-examination. “Heads We’re Dancing” seems like a dark joke—a young girl is charmed on to the dancefloor by a man she later learns is Adolf Hitler—but poses a troubling question: What does it say about you, if you couldn’t see through the devil’s disguise? Its discordant, skronky rhythms make it feel like a formal ball taking place in a fever dream, and Bush’s voice grows increasingly panicky as she realizes how badly she’s been duped. As far-fetched as its premise was, its inspiration lay close to home: A family friend had told Bush how shaken they’d been after they’d taken a shine to a dashing stranger at a dinner party, only to find out they’d been chatting to Robert Oppenheimer.

It’s more fanciful than most of The Sensual World’s little secrets. To hear someone recall formative childhood truths (the lush grandeur of “Reaching Out”) and lingering romantic pipedreams (the longing of “Never Be Mine”) is like being given a reel of their memory tapes and discovering what makes them tick. On “The Fog,” she’s paralyzed by fear until she remembers the childhood swimming lessons her father gave her, his voice cutting through the misty harps like an old ghost. Relationships on the album can be sticky and thorny. “Between a Man and a Woman” is half-dangerous and half-sultry, its snaking rhythms mirroring the round-in-circles squabbling of a couple. When a third party tries to interfere, they’re told to back off. This time, unlike on “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God),” there’s no point wishing for a helping hand from God.

But if there are no miracles, there are at least songs that sound like them. For “Rocket’s Tail,” Bush enlisted the help of Trio Bulgarka, who she fell in love with after hearing them on a tape Paddy gave her. The three Bulgarian women didn’t speak English and had no idea what they were singing about, but it didn’t matter. They sound more like mystics during its a capella first half, and when it eventually blows up into a glammy stomper with Dave Gilmour’s electric guitar caterwauling like a Catherine wheel, their vocals still come out on top: cackling like gleeful witches, whooping like they’re watching sparks explode in the night sky. Its weird, wonderful magic offered a simple message: Life is short, so enjoy moments of pleasure before they fizzle out.

Perhaps that’s why there are glimmers of hope even in the album’s most desperate circumstances. “Deeper Understanding” is a bleak sci-fi tale about a lonely person who turns to their computer for comfort, and in doing so isolates themselves even more. But while there’s an icy chill to the verses, Trio Bulgarka imbue the computer’s voice with golden warmth. Bush wanted it to sound like the “visitation of angels,” and hearing the chorus is like being wrapped in a celestial hug. She pulls off a similar trick on “This Woman’s Work,” which she wrote for John Hughes’ film She’s Having a Baby, although her vivid, devastating interpretation of its script has taken on a far greater life of its own. It captures a moment of crisis: a man about to be walloped with the sledgehammer of parental responsibilities, frozen by terror as he waits for his pregnant wife outside the delivery room, his brain a messy spiral of regrets and guilty thoughts. Yet Bush softens the song’s building panic attack with soft musical touches so it rushes and swirls like a dream, even as reality becomes a waking nightmare. “It’s the point where has to grow up,” said Bush. “He’d been such a wally.”

She didn’t need to prove her own steeliness to anyone, especially the male journalists who patronized her and harped on her childishness as a way of cutting her down to size. Instead, The Sensual World is the sound of someone deciding for themselves what growing up and grown-up pop should be, without being beholden to anyone else’s tedious definitions. It gave her a new template for the next two decades, inspiring both the smooth, stylish art-rock of 1993’s The Red Shoes and the picturesque beauty of 2005’s Aerial. Like Molly Bloom, Bush had set herself free into a world that wasn’t mundane, but alive with new, fertile possibility”.

I’ll end up with The Quietus. They wrote a detailed review to mark thirty years of The Sensual World in 2019. I like how they note it is this perfect autumnal record. Soundtrack to cooler and darker days. Leaves on the ground and a cool in the air:

“Everything about The Sensual World exudes autumnal beauty – from the elegant arrangements to its dusky, monochromatic cover portrait of a wide-eyed Kate Bush; from the album title’s rusty-leaf text to the bells that fade in like a tender alarm call on a crisp morning. Her voice, an instrument that bloomed on The Dreaming and Hounds Of Love, is exquisite throughout, alternately keening and soft, throaty and forceful.

Kate turned 30 during the making of the album and conceded that her personal circumstances influenced the mature themes of the album. "I think it’s a very important time from 28 to 32-ish, where there’s some kind of turning point," she told NME in 1989. "Someone said in your teens you get the physical puberty and between 28 and 32 mental puberty. Let’s face it, you’ve got to start growing up when you’re 30, it does make you feel differently, I feel very positive having gone through the last couple of years."

As such, it is an album of opposites, of dual nature – it speaks of loss and hope, of childhood and adulthood. It reflects the passing of time, and the contemplation of mortality, but also the freedom of exploration and the generous acceptance that comes with age. For an album with such themes, autumn is the perfect setting.

Gone is the light joy of summer, and the freshness of spring, but in its stead something more mature, more realised – perhaps still bristling with internal conflict, but with a newly-attained level of perspective. It is an album that suggests both the ending of childhood and the beginning of adulthood ("let’s face it, you’ve got to start growing up when you’re 30") and the bizarre hinterland between the two – the tension between cutting cords ("just put your feet down child, cos you’re all grown up now") and yearning for parental security ("reaching out for mama"), not to mention the prospect of parenthood of your own ("now starts the craft of the father").

‘The Sensual World’ itself sets out the album’s autumnal stall immediately – soft, pealing bells give way to an arrangement that incorporates pipes, warm synth washes, and an insistent drum pattern; its accompanying video, following the singer through a forest of crimson leaves, is as seamless a supplement as could be. She told International Musician in 1989 how she had "had this idea for about two years to use the words from Molly Bloom’s speech at the end of [James Joyce’s] Ulysses, which I think is the most superb piece of writing ever, to a piece of music. So Del [Palmer] had done a Fairlight pattern, and I’d done a DX riff over the top of it, and I was listening to it at home, and the words fitted absolutely perfectly. I thought, ‘God this is just ridiculous, just how well it’s come together.’"

The Sensual World is like an orchard, each song a ripened fruit. It has an insular atmosphere in keeping with her home studio set-up, and the music perfectly matches the mood evoked in the lyrics. It is the sound of Kate Bush more comfortable in her own skin, facing the complications of life. It looks forward while somehow looking back. It may be an album that personifies Molly Bloom and references Hitler, but it is also a deeply personal, sensual utopia. "This is definitely my most personal, honest album," she told Q. "And I think it’s my most feminine album, in that I feel maybe I’m not trying to prove something in terms of a woman in a man’s world… On The Dreaming and Hounds Of Love, particularly from a production standpoint, I wanted to get a lot more weight and power, which I felt was a very male attitude. In some cases it worked very well, but… perhaps this time I felt braver as a woman, not trying to do the things that men do in music."

Kate Bush albums are, of course, for all seasons, but there’s a reason why The Sensual World sounds just that little bit better in autumn. It is an album turning thirty years old as the leaves turn brown, the same age as its creator during the time of its recording. Time continues to pass, and the seasons continue to turn. I was talking about The Sensual World with my friend Alice recently; she remembers buying the cassette from Woolworth’s as soon as it came out and listening to it on her Walkman for weeks on end. We talked about how ‘The Fog’ (and even just talking about ‘The Fog’) continues to give us goosebumps, how ‘Never Be Mine’ has soundtracked relationships, ‘This Woman’s Work’ the birth of children. Many albums provide the backdrop to personal milestones, and for me, as a child of autumn, I have always thought of The Sensual World as something of my own birthstone album. I look forward, as every year, to plugging in the headphones and taking it on a long walk”.

On 16th October, we mark thirty-seven years of The Sensual World. Anybody who has not heard this Kate Bush masterpiece in full really needs to. Never really give the accolades Hounds of Love (1985) has enjoyed, I do fee we need to show more love to The Sensual World, as it is a truly extraordinary album from this masterful songwriter and producer. Thirty-seven years after its release and it still sounds so immersive. An album I will…

NEVER tire of hearing.

FEATURE: After Grand Confessions… What Next for Queen Madonna?

FEATURE:

 

 

After Grand Confessions…

PHOTO CREDIT: Nadia Lee Cohen for Interview Magazine

 

What Next for Queen Madonna?

__________

THIS year…

PHOTO CREDIT: Rafael Pavarotti

has been a busy one for Madonna. There has been a mix of the old and new. In terms of the old, we marked forty years of True Blue in June. That is one of her best albums, though one a lot of people might not have heard. Perhaps not ranked as high as Ray of Light or Like a Prayer. Confessions II came out earlier this month and got widespread acclaimed. A follow-up to 2005’s Confessions on a Dance Floor, Madonna proving still to the be the Queen of Pop. As we celebrate her sixty-eighth birthday on 16th August, what next for the best-selling female artist of all time? There have been rumours that she has booked Wembley Stadium for dates, nothing has been confirmed up to the time of me writing this feature (26th July). What is apparent is that Madonna is as vital and important as she has ever been. With everything she does, there is ageism and misogyny. The latter she has been dealing with since her career started in the 1980s. The latter she has faced for decades. She always hits back and does not put up with any of it. A magnetic performer, I have never seen her live, even though her music was deep in thew tapestry of my childhood music upbringing. With one of the greatest back catalogues in music history, I do want to start with a review of Confessions II. Arguably her best album since Confessions on a Dance Floor, this incredible album is going to sit alongside the best albums of this year too. The Guardian wrote a four-star review for, as they see it, Madonna’s most vital album in two decades:

‘Ask yourself this – what are you doing it for? / Is it for you? Is it for them?” ponders Madonna during Bring Your Love, a collaboration with Sabrina Carpenter from Confessions II. It’s a question you could ask of her decision to release a follow-up to 2005’s Confessions on a Dance Floor 21 years on.

The official line is, of course, that it’s for her. Confessions II was inspired by Madonna’s 2023 Celebration tour, a rampage through her back catalogue – with staging that recreated the videos for old hits including Don’t Tell Me and Human Nature – that apparently set the singer thinking about her past. Certainly, Confessions II is rich with references to Madonna’s history, and not only the album from which it borrows its title and its initial structure, a sequence of house-influenced tracks that segue into each other like a DJ mix. There’s also the trip-hop-inspired Madonna of Bedtime Stories (the album concludes with a suite of slower, more introspective material); the club-hopping, fame-hungry Madonna of her 1982 debut single Everybody, who keeps cropping up in the lyrics; and the maternal, spiritually inclined Madonna of Ray of Light. The Test, a duet with her daughter Lourdes, is an older, wiser sequel to that album’s lullaby-like Little Star, alluded to in its opening lines.

Equally, a more sceptical voice might suggest that Confessions II is for them – namely the fans who’ve bailed on Madonna over the last two decades. By common consent, Confessions on a Dance Floor was her last untrammelled triumph. Every subsequent album she’s released has sold half what its predecessor did: her last, 2019’s Madame X, shifted half a million copies compared to Confessions on a Dance Floor’s 10m. Here, Confessions II’s title seems to implicitly suggest, is the Madonna you used to love; a craven attempt to win back deserters.

There’s doubtless a grain of truth in that – but Confessions II doesn’t feel particularly craven. Its sound eschews cutting-edge developments in dance music in favour of more tried-and-tested stuff. There’s the odd hint of UK garage – a noticeable skip to the rhythms of both Fragile and Good for the Soul – a whisper of EDM in Everything’s heavy bassline, and of Euro pop-dance in Read My Lips’ cocktail of pacy beat, Spanish guitar and sampled batucada drums. But for the most part, its primary influences are defiantly old school: I Feel So Free is derived from Lil Louis’ old Chicago classic French Kiss; Bring Your Love borrows from Inner City’s Good Life; an acid line erupts midway through Love Without Words; there’s lovely, understated piano on One Step Away that recalls Mr Fingers’ deep house. Similarly, the downtempo tracks carry a distinctly 90s Mo’ Wax mood: breakbeats, misty atmospherics, crackling vinyl, muted orchestrations, a Gainsbourg-y bit of spoken word from Belgian rapper Stromae and an interpolation from Erik Satie’s Gnossienne No 1 on Betrayal (more artfully done than the chunk of Tchaikovsky unceremoniously dumped in the middle of 2019’s Dark Ballet).

This is music that Madonna – and indeed producer Stuart Price – is well versed in: she seems far more at home than she did incorporating trap on Rebel Heart or duetting with Maluma during Madame X’s game attempts to glom on to the Latin American pop vogue. A sense of confidence is audible in the album’s willingness to let Madonna-free instrumental passages run long in the style of a 12in remix and, more strikingly, in the lyrics. Clearly she feels comfortable enough to be vulnerable: there’s a bit of standard-issue Bitch-I’m-Madonna posturing, but more often the mood is reflective, even brittle and regretful.

The vignettes of her life in early 80s New York are fantastic. Danceteria paints a vivid picture of the titular club, namechecking not only artists Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring but doorman Haoui Montaug; it quotes Lou Reed’s Walk on the Wild Side, neatly linking different Manhattan demimondes. The vintage drum machine-driven LES Girl remembers a guitar-playing bohemian ex, who – not entirely unexpectedly – got the heave-ho when it became apparent he didn’t share her ambition. The most affecting song might be Fragile, an acoustic guitar-heavy eulogy to her late brother Christopher, with whom Madonna had a turbulent relationship – “we shared a fragile bond … don’t forget about me, don’t forget to be happy” – but The Test runs it close, filled with maternal remorse: “You didn’t ask for all the flashing lights.”

It’s not all good news. Confessions II is nearly 10 minutes longer than the original, and it doesn’t need to be: you could easily lose a couple of the less distinguished house tracks, Love Sensation and School among them. It lacks an undeniable, solid-gold pop banger along the lines of Hung Up, although Danceteria’s bright-hued disco house – one of two tracks co-written and produced by Andrew Watt and Cirkut – comes close. But if it’s not quite as good as Confessions on a Dance Floor, it’s unequivocally Madonna’s best album since Confessions on a Dance Floor, which you suspect will be more than enough for her fans, and might even beckon back some apostates: an accommodation with her past that bodes well for her future”.

This all bodes very well for the future. I am already interested to see where Madonna heads on her next album, which will be her sixteenth. That might be a while away, as she has left gaps between albums. Confessions II arrived six years after Madame X. However, this Queen of Pop will be releasing albums into her seventies. So many artists inspired by her. From Sabrina Carpenter to Charli xcx, you can see they channel elements of Madonna. To me, she is one of the most important artist in history. The career she has forged and all that she achieved. I was sad when the planned biopic with Julia Garner was shut down. An actress who resembles Madonna, especially in the mid-1980s, it would have been wonderful to see that biopic brought to life. I am going to end with an interview with Madonna from his year, as it is quite interesting. This amazing artist still inventing characters, switching sounds and remaining distinctly herself. Someone uncompromising and so assured. My biggest hope is that the biopic gets green-lit again. The budget was supposedly too high, but this is arguably one of the greatest stories in music history. I would be fascinated to see someone, possibly Julia Garner, cast as a young Madonna arriving in New York. Maybe having various actresses playing her. Maybe Mckenna Grace – who, at twenty, may be considered too young for the role, but she is a singer and a tremendous actor who could embody Madonna – could play Madonna in the early-'80s, and Julia Garner in the mid-‘80s. It is tragic that we may not see the biopic, though I hold out hope that it will come about. As Madonna celebrates her sixty-eight birthday on 16th August, there will be Instagram posts and worldwide celebrations. Perhaps she will play Wembley and mount this incredible show. She has teased she may headline Glastonbury next year. I think it is unlikely. As I have said before, Glastonbury has only ever had one woman over the age of forty headline the Pyramid Stage, so would they make an exception for Madonna? Also, her budget would be quite large, and I feel that it may be a costly slot. Though a Madonna headline slot would be amazing! I would love to see her lead an all-female Pyramid stage next year. You never know, she could already be locked in and confirmed for Glastonbury 2027 and is keeping quiet(ish) for now.

We desperately need to see that biopic. A great film that could feature cameos from artists like Sabrina Carpenter, if judged right, it could be one of the best biopics ever. There will be dates ahead, though I am not sure whether we will hear of any major London gigs quite yet. New music possibly in a couple or few years. It does mean there is availability for Madonna. Could she not get funding for a biopic or could Netflix bankroll it?! What is one of the most compelling stories of this genius Pop artist needs to be seen on the screen. Get Julia Garner back and have Madonna work with a screenwriter who would not take over, but could provide a useful sounding board and edit the script. I think another director should shoot the biopic, just a more experienced female director who could bring elements and layers to the story, as Madonna herself was mooted to direct. Whatever happens, we will keep hearing from Madonna, as she is never too far away. Keeping fans up to date across social media. Let’s end with snippets of an interview from Interview Magazine between Mel Ottenberg ana Madonna:

“OTTENBERG: Do you doomscroll?

MADONNA: Occasionally I open Instagram and something pops up that makes me go to the next visual. And then I go, “What am I doing? I have 5,000 things to do. Get off the phone.” I have a lot of discipline when it comes to social media, simply because I grew up without it. I didn’t have Instagram until 2018 or something. I grew up without TV. I’m not a person who gravitates toward distraction. Oh my god, I make lists every night, put Post-its everywhere, and then my day is filled with sometimes boring but also very exciting activities. And I do see, if I go on Instagram for more than 10 minutes, I get depressed, and I don’t want to go there. Why am I giving this nonexistent entity power over my soul, my brain, my vision of myself, my vision of the world? Time is precious, and that’s something I’ve known all my life. Time’s precious. What can I get done? What can I do?

OTTENBERG: Yes.

MADONNA: I keep journals. My manager gets them for me all the time. This one says “The Queen.” I go through probably three a week. I love to write. With my hand. I write all my lyrics. I see you write too…

OTTENBERG: I have to.

MADONNA: In the studio I have to write on paper and read from that paper when I’m singing. I scribble, make mistakes, rewrite, go to the next page. But I value those pages. They’re artifacts. The mind-hand connection is part of your soul in a way texting can never be. There’s no soul in texting.

OTTENBERG: There’s not.

MADONNA: I’m happy I grew up without all that, because it made me go to museums. That’s how I discovered Frida Kahlo. When you have to go out to learn and meet people, you have such a different experience in life.

 

OTTENBERG: Will you show me the album cover?

MADONNA: I only have it digitally.

OTTENBERG: Confessions is really one of my favorite album covers of all time.

MADONNA: Really? We didn’t think that one through too much, me and Steven [Klein], but it worked out really good.

OTTENBERG: And the Arianne [Phillips] styling, I was just like, “Oh my god.”

MADONNA: It was just my leotard and disco hair.

OTTENBERG: And not seeing the face but seeing the body and immediately knowing who it is. That outfit was so fresh, but not like anything that was in or cool in 2005. It went so hard because it was—

MADONNA: Unique.

OTTENBERG: You gave us something we didn’t know we needed.

MADONNA: Yeah. I’m looking for the cover. It references Confessions I, and I wear a lot of the same clothes, the YSL boots and the jackets Gucci made for me in every color. I don’t know if you remember that look.

OTTENBERG: Of course I remember. I’m obsessed with Confessions, forever.

MADONNA: I took it all out of my archives and brought it to the album cover photo shoot with Rafael Pavarotti.

OTTENBERG: Oh, fantastic.

MADONNA: We worked it into everything.

OTTENBERG: I love that. We were talking about A Clockwork Orange yesterday and you were telling me how that was a style reference for the “Hung Up” video.

MADONNA: Oh, yeah.

OTTENBERG: Fucking hot.

MADONNA: A Clockwork Orange also inspired Truth or Dare, when I’m singing the song “Keep It Together” and we have the bowler hats. If you go back and listen to that, I take a whole chunk of dialogue out of that movie and I say it on the microphone”.

I did just want to muse what comes next for Madonna. I am obsessed by that biopic and getting it on track. Whether rumoured dates at Wembley Stadium will materialise. If we are going to see any more singles come from Confessions II, and if there will be expanded edition. Perhaps Madonna getting someone to remix the album or covering songs for a sort of follow-up. If not a biopic, I would love to see a film with Madonna’s music at its heart. Maybe with an L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ love story at the centre, set in the 1980s or ‘90s. After the massive love shown for Confessions II, one would think Madonna has a blank cheque she can write. Following a hectic first half of this year, the summer will be quite busy for Madonna. Though I hope that she has opportunity to kick back and relax…

AT the end of this year.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Konyikeh

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

 

Konyikeh

__________

I am putting out…

a lot of Spotlight features at the moment. Though there are so many great artists who deserve recognition. I am looking at the brilliant music of U.K. Soul artist, Konyikeh. I am quite new to her music, so I have been looking at interviews around the release of her new E.P., Cinere. It is a remarkably body of work from an artist blessed with such an amazing voice. This classically-trained Essex artist is a true gem. The first interview I want to cover off is from The Culture Crypt. The emotional honesty that we get right through Cinere is moving and hugely powerful:

“Reared at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Konyikeh's foundation is rooted in classical discipline, but her artistry stretches far beyond it. As an Essex-bred singer, songwriter and violinist, she moves fluidly between worlds—drawing on orchestral training while shaping a sound grounded in soul, R&B and alternative textures.

Ahead of the release of her latest EP, Cinere, we sat down with Konyikeh to discuss its creation. Across seven tracks, the project deftly moves between softness and intensity, blending classical influences with contemporary production to create a sound that feels both grounded and atmospheric.

At its core, Cinere—deriving from the Latin phrase 'ex cinere', meaning 'from the ashes'—is deeply introspective. There is a sense of searching that runs throughout the record, whether that is navigating emotional vulnerability, questioning identity or sitting with feelings that do not always have clear answers. It is this tension between control and release that gives the project its emotional weight.

Having grown up surrounded by live music through choirs and orchestras, Konyikeh's return to the violin plays a subtle but defining role in shaping the EP's sonic identity. While many artists lean heavily into digital production, her process is informed by a strong understanding of instrumentation, allowing her to collaborate with producers in a way that feels both intentional and precise.

What version of yourself are we hearing on this project, and what did you have to let go of to create this EP?

"For this EP, I had to let go of any need for external validation. Growing up, I was used to validation coming from things like grades and achievements, so I carried that mindset for a long time. With this project, I had to shift that and trust my own instincts. If I didn't like something, it wasn't going out, regardless of what anyone else thought."

Does validation come from how you feel or from other people, and does that impact how you make music?

"It comes from me now. I think the way I create can seem quite selfish, but it's important that I trust myself. Even if a lot of people like something, if I don't, it's not happening. I've learnt to advocate for myself in the studio instead of just going along with things, and that's made a big difference in how I work."

Do you see Cinere as telling a continuous emotional story, or are the tracks more like individual moments of reflection?

"When I was writing, each track was its own individual moment, reflecting how I felt at that time. But when I started putting the tracklist together, I think subconsciously I shaped it into a continuous story. There's almost an A-side and B-side with the first half feeling more dramatic and production-heavy, while the second half is softer and more stripped back. The interlude sits in the middle as a reset for the listener."

What does this project represent for you at this stage in your life and career?

"This project feels like the most accurate representation of me as an artist right now. I'm proud of my previous work, but Cinere feels like the beginning of the sonic world I've always wanted to build. I hope it connects with people who appreciate the details in both the production and the lyrics”.

In June, Roiling Stone UK spoke with Konyikeh. This stunning voice and music that will stop you in your tracks, here is an artist that is going to enjoy a very long and bountiful career. I cannot see any forthcoming gigs, but I suspect that Koniykeh will be on the road soon enough. I for one would love to see her perform. A show that I suspect I will not forget in a hurry:

“There’s light and dark on this EP too. Big ballads, but also some fun moments. Does that reflect the duality of everything you were going through?

100 per cent and I’m glad that you picked up on that. I feel like this has an A&B side. The first three tracks are very full and dramatic and then the last two songs are a lot more stripped back. Even though it’s about a dark subject matter, it’s a bit more hopeful. I put ‘Miserere’ on there so it acts as a palette cleanser for the listener.

Let’s talk about ‘Buyers Remorse’. What does that title reflect?

It’s about the way I feel as a Black woman who plays classical music but listens to a lot of other genres from electronic to rap. I’ve been told I’m interesting as a person, but I feel like people don’t always get seen as a real human and it’s about that idea that if I do let someone in and be completely vulnerable, will they have remorse buying into me? Whether that’s investing in a financial sense through my music, but also investing into me emotionally as well and friendships and relationships. It’s about deconstructing myself as a concept and a proposition and how people see me as a human being.

The EP highlights your incredible voice too. Is there any you’d model your vocals on?

I still do get Nina Simone comparisons, and I used to be very self-conscious of that because Nina Simone is an icon and to me an untouchable force and she’s done everything. I’m very conscious to learn the difference between referencing and copying, because this is just the way I sound and in classical music you teach your muscles all of the stuff you need to sing classically. So that and and singing the way I sing now are two very different things.

But it genuinely is just the sound that comes out of my voice I’m not really referencing anyone.

And what’s your next steps?

There’s a lot more on the way. I have a real passion for live music, so everything is written and recorded with a live sound to it. I’ve got my own headline show on July 8 and I’m super excited about that. I’d just come off tour with Jalen Ngonda when I made this EP and it solidified the fact that I just love to perform live”.

I am going to wrap things up with NME and their conversation. On her third E.P., Konyikeh is breaking rules. As NME say in their header, the first couple of E.P.s were her learning the rules. I am going to drop in the second half of the interview, as I think the first half maybe repeats things we have already read. Go and check out thew whole chat, though:

“The shift extended far beyond the music itself. Konyikeh became deeply involved in every stage of the creative process, from production decisions and mixes to visual concepts, edits and creative direction. “If you speak to FAMM candidly, it was very much my way or the highway,” she laughs. Instead of being rooted in ego, her confidence came from finally trusting her instincts. She’d fiddle with instruments in the studio until a twang was tuned just right for her ears, and would build upon it until she had songs she loved.

That’s how ‘Mercenary’, a track inspired by gqom, amapiano and Arabic scales, came to be. While others around her initially struggled to understand what she was making, Konyikeh never wavered. “‘Mercenary’ made me feel something,” she offers. “After feeling so numb for a lot of 2024 and 2025, I realised it’s such a luxury to be able to feel emotion.” Throughout our conversation, she returns to that word again and again: feeling. It’s what guides her songwriting, production choices and listening habits. Whether she’s talking about Mariah The Scientist, Slayyyter or Mozart, the criteria remain remarkably consistent: “Sounding good and feeling good are the same thing.”

After resisting “the violin girl” tag for years, her classical training now sits proudly at the centre of her music, informing everything from arrangements to production choices. It’s the same confidence that led her to advocate for mixes, visuals and creative decisions throughout the making of ‘Cinere’, and the same confidence she credits with finally giving her faith in herself.

“I realised what my core beliefs are and how I want to do things. That’s why, in 2025, I was like, ‘No, I’m going to run a tight ship, and I’m going to do it my way,’” she says. “I developed a stronger sense of self. I developed a lot of autonomy. I realised I have no one to report to about myself.” It might have taken years for her to arrive at that understanding, but ‘Cinere’ shines for it, allowing the things she once tried to keep separate to exist together”.

In their review of Cinere, The Musical Road wrote this: “Vocally, Konyikeh delivers with intensity and nuance. Her voice is the emotional anchor of the EP—capable of tenderness, power, and quiet introspection within the same phrase. There’s a sense that every note is intentional, every lyric drawn from lived experience rather than abstraction. This sincerity makes the songs feel immediate and immersive. The songwriting itself is equally compelling, exploring identity, self-awareness, and growth without resorting to clichés. Instead, the EP unfolds like a series of emotional snapshots, each revealing a different facet of the artist’s journey. “Cinere” ultimately succeeds because of its authenticity. It’s not just a collection of songs—it’s a document of change, crafted with skill and emotional clarity. The result is an EP that doesn’t just invite listeners in—it stays with them, lingering long after the final note fades”. High compliments to one of our finest young artists. Who knows what comes next but, when it comes to the mesmeric Konyikeh, it is guaranteed to…

BE golden.

___________

Follow Konyikeh

FEATURE: Spotlight: Chanpan

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

  

Chanpan

__________

I have seen others…

PHOTO CREDIT: Oliver Leone

write about Chanpan, so I wanted to check them out and collate some interviews with them. Their recent single, i got a gun, is woozy and dreamy, but it is also fiery and has this air of darkness. Chanpan is an emerging N.Y.C. Asian-American band composed of Grace Dumdaw, identical twins, Lance and Matthew Tran. I love what they are putting out. NME recently interviewed them, so I want to end with that. There are a couple of other chats to get to beforehand. The Lunar Collective spoke with a trio who have been on the scene about eighteen months. Enjoyable music with a distinct sound and vibe, I have not heard them much on British radio. Another act worthy or wider investigation:

“United by their shared experiences of growing up in middle America and working in their family restaurants, their bond extends far beyond music and simultaneously adds depth to it. This deep-rooted connection fosters a profound mutual understanding, allowing them to create harmonious sounds that resonate with authenticity. Through their music, Chanpan weaves together the threads of their collective experiences, crafting a unique sonic tapestry that echoes their special backgrounds and perspectives. Their name itself, further proof of a beautiful partnership as Chanpan is a combination of the Chinese pronunciation of Lance and Matthew’s surname 陳  and part of Grace’s Kachin name “Seng Hkam Pan”.

Their lyricism is full of unbridled emotions and uninhibited storytelling that is sometimes heavily contemplative but works perfectly with their fun and lighthearted instrumentation because their approach to their overall artistry is not bound to any norms or expectations of what their sound ‘should’ be. ‘Jungle’ starts off with a mesmerizing orchestral sound and slowly crescendos into a drum-filled electronic sound, it is transcendent, and intense but is still fun. “ooweeooweeoo” is chaotic in the best way and the beat is an instant happy-pill.

LUNA: You often experiment with different genres and sounds between your songs and even within the composition and production of the songs themselves, what makes you create music in the manner that you do?

L. TRAN: Our sonic choices and creative freedom are a reflection of three people with diverse and expansive music tastes. We are pretty non-discriminatory listeners and we are not interested in being conventional. For the upright bass in our previous singles, I have always been obsessed with that sound. It was a nod to Herbie Hancock because we all love  jazz so much. I loved watching Jojo Mayers beating jungle drums with his hands and I was obsessed with trying to replicate that as a child. For other sounds, Hill, our manager, would point out that we liked using the bell kit and it would remind me of how I used to play that instrument in middle school. Our sound choices are usually made on a whim. We are always just trying out the thing that has not been tried before.

LUNA: You’re Asian-American artists in the United States and your band name is a way for you to embrace your identity or identities. Is there any way that your cultural backgrounds, heritage and ethnicities, influence your musicality or artistry?

DUMDAW: It absolutely influences everything. I am Kachin, which is an ethnic tribe in the north of Northern Myanmar, near China. And that ethnic identity has been a very important part of my life because Myanmar is home to the longest ongoing civil war in the world. And there's a bunch of different ethnic groups at war with an oppressive government. So that is a very big priority, and having a platform and wanting to be a good representative of my people, because there aren't many Kachin people with platforms who influenced me. And I think it's important to consider that whenever I'm making  music, because when the world hears Chanpan I feel like the world is hearing a Kachin person's music, and I want to honor my people with the sound that I'm making and the topics that I'm talking about. So that is always at the forefront of my decisions but that also comes with a lot of obstacles and boundaries and baggage. Kachin people are also really Christian. American and Swedish missionaries brought Christianity to us in the late 1800s and now it’s almost like 99% of our population is Christian. That is a challenge for me as someone who is a queer non-binary artist in 2024, who wants to talk about subject matter that is usually more taboo for that community”.

 

Chanpan’s E.P., autogratis, was released in June. A few years ago, the trio were busking on the streets of New York. Now, they are looking ahead to a string of North American dates and are going to be pretty busy. I would like to see them if they are coming to the U.K. at any point:

“Autogratis is dropping exactly one year after last year’s EP Endlessly. What has been fueling this prolific mindset?

Grace: After our first EP, it was a really big learning process to put all that out, see how it was received by our listeners, and just sit with it and process it. Being a performer and putting out music and emotional content that is so raw, you have to analyse how you’re being perceived, and how you want to be perceived. That’s the headspace we were in after it.

I think we’ve definitely grown a lot as artists and gotten a lot of agency with our creative ideas now that we’re also working with partners that help us elevate that vision to the highest ability. So going into EP2, I just feel really excited and confident in the music as a representation of us and the message that we’re trying to put out there and all the visual things we have lined up — that feels really good too.

Let’s go back to autogratis. Do you have a current favourite on the EP?

M: That’s such a hard question. It changes every day. Kind of like your children, you can’t pick a favourite. Actually, no, you do have favourite songs, they’re not like children. But I think the one that has brought me the most joy in terms of memories is jesus in china (overflow). There’s just something so magical about the one day session where we walked in without anything, and then we came out with that song. We made it with our now friends Taydex, an incredible producer, and Wes Singerman, an insane guitarist. And we had so much fun which completely translated into making that song. And it feels free and uninhibited. And it’s really fun to play. So that’s my favourite.

G: I can’t pick, but I think meaning wise, romantic is really personal to me, and I love that. It’s different because it’s really simple, compared to our really layered other songs. The mindset that I had going into that song was really gripping onto anything that would make me feel empowered during a time where I was feeling really scared, and just didn’t feel like I had much agency over my own safety. So that’s like the song that feels really good every time I listen to it because I love to feel a little evil at times.

L: I feel like Matthew and Grace’s picks were so emotional, semantic and meaningful. So I’ll give a more technical answer right now. I feel like confessions part iii — just for today — is my favourite. I also really like what’s under the hook, the drum part I’m playing is a callback to original funk drumming, like Dennis Chambers and the people who played with James Brown. So a lot of our songs have these tidbits that would show up with music history. But I guess you wouldn’t really know until you asked. So that’s my pick.

In the past, all of your music videos have such distinct visual words. I was wondering what world are you stepping into with this new era?

G: EP1 was a lot of world building. And this one is more like small vignettes that really fit closely with each song. So we had buzzin, which was like ‘sexy pillow fight, making out on TV type energy.’ We just worked on the video for I got a gun, which, you know, you can kind of draw your own conclusions from what to expect from that. And confessions part iii is really fun, and we have a break dancing child that just encapsulates the energy through an innocent approach to art and life. So we’re just jumping all around and building our own multifacetedness instead of going into a fantasy world. We’re just being really present in this one and being sexy, fun, and loose.

M: We’re having a lot more fun with it. And the breakdancing child’s name is Petro Politaiev, and he’s incredible. A lot of the collaborators we’re working with are super talented and cool, and it’s been really awesome to have them helping us create our vision. We’re getting to work with people like Patrick Linehan, Aaron Fenichell, and our friend Christopher Kim. So I’d also like to shout out our collaborators there too, and all the friends and people who help out with the visual stuff, because it really takes a million people in a village to create a piece of art like that.

Let’s finish off with a reflective question. Earlier you were saying how ‘romantic’ is a little different compared to your other songs — and it is a very good love track. So I was wondering what’s the best love advice you’ve given or you have received?

G: I was actually just thinking about this yesterday. I’ve had someone in my life for a few years now, where there’s romance involved, and I was thinking why I like him so much. I think I came to the conclusion that they’re very chalant, and I’m also chalant. And in dating, especially in New York, everyone’s extremely nonchalant sometimes, and I hate that. So my advice is be incredibly chalant, lean in, go for it. And then if it goes well, then it goes really well. And if it doesn’t, you get wrecked, and that’s okay. Because that’s just life, you got to fight through that and something beautiful is on the other side.

M: It’s become a meme to say that you read bell hooks to pretend to be something… but I think I read her writing as a 21 year old, and it did change the way I think about things. It put words to a lot of things that I was feeling as a young person, but it also helped me give language to express it to people that love is not just a sentiment, feeling or emotion, it’s not just a noun, but it’s a verb. And it includes so many things — being an active thing and something that you perform on a daily basis. And that requires intention, awareness, respect, accountability, honesty and openness. It’s really about how you are as a person to other people. Also bromance and love and these things can change over time. It doesn’t need to end where it started or not end, it’s about respect for another human being at the end of the day.

L: I would say to whoever’s reading that love is freedom. I would encourage anyone to think about, in a good way, melting the division between romantic and platonic love. Friendship to me is one of the highest forms of love. I don’t think romance is real or complete without that platonic friendship, you have to really actually like each other as people. And I don’t think that it’s healthy to have too many harsh expectations based on gender roles and whatever societal standards, just because you like each other romantically. The same decency, respect, kindness, and honesty that is a part of your most pure and loving platonic friendship should remain true for any romance that you’re experiencing. It’s a way to also protect yourself and protect the other person”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Bishop Elegino

I am going to end with that NME interview. They are putting out this unpredictable and exciting Alt-Pop music that is setting them apart from their peers. They spoke with NME about “embracing experimentation and the sense of duty they feel towards Asian communities around the globe”: Chanpan’s Grace Dumdaw, Lance and Matthew Tran spoke about their incredible work:

“All three of us grew up quite isolated from other huge pockets of Asian people,” begins Lance, recalling his excitement when he stumbled upon Bloc Party drummer Matt Tong. “Someone in London told us, ‘I’ve been waiting my entire life to see cool Asian people like you guys.’” “The door is so closed for children around the world to even get three square meals a day or live a full life,” adds Matthew. “I think about the rest of the Asian diaspora – how can we genuinely and meaningfully bring them along with us, too?”

“I think about the rest of the Asian diaspora – how can we genuinely and meaningfully bring them along with us, too?” – Matthew Tran

Dumdaw, who has Burmese heritage, agrees: “There’s so many artists that haven’t had the luck, information or the resources. Something that’s come up a lot is gatekeeping, especially in New York in the music industry. The gatekeepers looked at us as Asian people that are worthy to have access to these resources. Once the gatekeepers let me in, I felt safe enough to express myself, cut my hair, be more expressive about my gender and get face piercings.

Mirroring their volatile sound, Dumdaw stays on the move lyrically throughout ‘Autogratis’; they sing “I’m just running away” in ‘Los Angeles’ before “running to better days” on ‘Driving Away’. “I’m so avoidant, as a person,” they clarify. “A lot of life has been running towards the next thing. Now that we are on tour all the time, part of that has made me want to stay still and start putting down roots in my personal life.” By vocalising their avoidance, it transforms into accountability. “I feel like [the EP] is gratuitous to myself. Being part of Chanpan and all the life changes that came [have] made me extremely good at communicating.”

The subject matter of ‘Autogratis’ centres around relationships, romance and navigating this public-facing space that is accompanying Chanpan’s rise. The EP captures the sense of that whirlwind, flitting between sounds exactly like they trade answers today. Together, Chanpan have already laid the foundations to be this fluid creative vehicle. “We encourage each other to explore together,” says Lance. “You hear us stepping out of [traditional band] roles, and that’s what it means to embrace the spirit of experimentation”.

PHOTO CREDIT: 1883 Magazine

Actually, I want to slip in 1883 Magazine, who asked Chanpan eighteen questions. I am including a few of them here, as it is a good quick-fire interview, and you get a sense of their humour, bond and connection. I think this trio are going to have such a huge career:

“Where was the last place you travelled to?

G: Swarthmore, PA.  

M: Our European stint for playing shows! 

L: London! Wanker!

What was the last thing that made you laugh?

G: My best friend Ivie telling me a secret.

M: Opening my phone to a notification from any of my friends. 

L: I look into the mirror every morning and I see the greatest joke of all.
Who would be on your dream dinner party guest list?

G: PinkPantheress, Ayo Edebiri, Boots Riley, Snoop Dogg, Lady Gaga, Angelina Jolie.

M: I’d invite young Michael Jackson from the Jackson 5, Off the Wall era Michael Jackson, and end-of-career Michael Jackson to watch them interact. 

L: Mao Zedong, Vladimir Lenin, Ho Chi Minh, and Elon Musk in a straight jacket and ball gag unable to speak.

What is the major throughline on your forthcoming new EP, autogratis?

G: Having intimacy issues LOL.

M: Having fun and rocking out!

L: Experimentation and play.

What’s on your rider for a show?

G: Coconut water and vegetables.

M: Actually just healthy stuff because that is hard to get on the road

L: Pocari sweat! The optimal performance beverage.

What’s the secret to being good bandmates?

G: Being good friends. 

M: Communication!

L: Good hygiene—you get kicked out if you smell bad.

Finally, what is one thing you would like to manifest for the band and why?

G: A legendary LP1 so we can retire early!

M: Getting to see every country and culture in the world.

L: Everlasting happiness”.

This is such a thrilling trio with a really compelling story and path. How they started by busking and honing their craft and are now touring and being hailed as this act we all need to watch. I have been immediately struck by them and was compelled to write about them. Go and follow Chanpan and listen to their amazing music. A sensational trio you…

SHOULD not live without.

___________

Follow Chanpan

FEATURE: Spotlight: Tamta

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Lena Knappova

 

Tamta

__________

THIS artist…

PHOTO CREDIT: Pascal Schonlau

is someone who I heard through her recent single, AUTOTAPINOSI. Tamta is a Georgian-Greek songwriter who produces this incredibly powerful and punchy Pop music. I do want to come to some interviews with her, as they probably do a better job at describing her music and get insight from her. Hunger chatted with a  magnificent artist. Tamta spoke about “shedding two decades of commercial caution, embracing her inner chaos, and why it took her daughter turning 25 to finally make the music she always wanted to”:

“Expressive freedom has always pulsed beneath Tamta’s work. Born and raised in Tbilisi, she left behind her life, her friends and everything familiar, finding solace in music along the way. In 2004, she entered Greece’s Super Idol, the televised talent competition that would alter the course of her career, ultimately winning second place. The platform propelled her into pop stardom, leading to more than 250 million combined streams and views, and cementing her status as one of Europe’s most enduring pop figures. Since then, her career has stretched across global stages — from bringing Greek music to audiences through events like the Eurovision Song Contest, where she represented Cyprus, to commanding Pride stages with the same unapologetic energy.

For years, Tamta’s sound was rooted in conventional pop melodies, largely delivered in Greek and threaded with international influences that travelled far beyond national radio. But with the release of her 2023 album, Identity Crisis, a clear shift began to emerge. Darker textures crept in. Edges sharpened. The polished pop exterior gave way to something more experimental, more emotionally exposed, prompting one obvious question: where did this transformation come from? “I introduced myself as a new persona, but this persona was always inside me,” says Tamta. Leaning further into alt-pop, post-punk and electronic distortion, her latest single, ‘Autotapinosi’ (Greek for ‘self-humiliation’) captures that evolution perfectly.

Tell me a bit about your childhood and where you grew up. How did you decide to become a music artist?

My connection to music started very early. I was in a children’s singing group from the age of six. I also played the piano which was mandatory when growing up in the Soviet Union. Back then, I went through many auditions and singing competitions, so in a way I was well-trained and prepared from a very young age for what I’m doing now.

During my childhood I had a lot of intensity and big life changes which meant I had to grow up quite fast, both personally, because I had a huge responsibility of being a mother, and politically because of the situation in my country during the ’90s. So I think that shaped how I experience emotions and how I deal with things in general.

For that reason, for many years in my career, I didn’t touch those deeper emotional parts in my music. Maybe I was placed more in the space of a pop artist that mainly served an uplifting, lighter side of pop music. I loved it, but I stayed in that safety net for a long time.

Moving from Georgia, how did you situate yourself in the Greek music landscape?

I didn’t come to Greece to be a singer. I left my hometown for many reasons and just moved to Greece to be with my mom. I had no idea what I’m gonna do in Greece nor that I would have moved there permanently. One day, my mum came home and told me: “I’ve heard about an audition for Super Idol“. I was like, “Mum, are you crazy? I don’t even speak Greek”. She was like, “Please do it for me and you will see”. Those were her words.

I just went to the audition without knowing almost any Greek at all. At the time, a Greek singer did the remake of ‘Torn’ by Natalie Imbruglia in Greek. I decided to write down the Greek lyrics in Georgian and I was just holding them in front of me and singing the song during the audition. Not knowing Greek also helped me at some points during the process because it meant that I couldn’t understand the negative comments either. I was just happy to sing, really. That experience totally changed my life — I didn’t care about what people were saying. I was just living my dream.

In ‘Autotapinosi’ there are phrases like ‘I control’ and ‘obey’. What message did you want to convey here, and how does it fit into what female empowerment means to you?

It’s about female empowerment and also awareness — knowing what you’re doing and chasing your position in the dynamic. It’s about having ownership. Moving between control and surrender without losing yourself. As women, I feel like we’ve all somehow been in this situation at different points in our lives.

To be honest, with female empowerment, I can’t believe we’re still in this position. Personally, as a woman, I have been through things that I don’t think there is a man who could have handled. If we compare women with men, I honestly think that we’re more powerful. It’s not about the muscles and strength, but rather about what is inside.

You’ve given some great performances at Pride events. What does your musical presence at LGBTQ+ events mean to you?

It means a lot to me, because from the very beginning of my career, the community has supported me like no one else. I’ve always felt a real connection there. I’m a pop artist and there’s a level of openness and freedom in those spaces that feels very honest. I don’t take that for granted. We stand by each other with respect and support all the way.

What can we expect next from you?

I am coming back to London in October to perform at Colours Hoxton for the second time. Performing is part of my psychotherapy, because I’m not a very expressive person in my life. When I get on stage, I go through every emotion. It’s the place where I express myself honestly and freely, so I can’t wait for that.

At the moment, I am also performing at the Smut in Athens every other Sunday. It’s a queer techno club, which is something totally different from what Greek people are used to. I’m having the best time of my life there.

There is also my next album coming soon. This one will be mainly in English. It’s heavily inspired by heavy metal music, but as always, it remains pop at its core. I’m really excited to share it with all of you soon”.

There are a couple of other interviews that I want to cover off, as this is such a compelling and fascinating artist. Being fresh to her music, I am looking back at interviews and listening to her previous work. Le Mille chatted with Tamta last year. This is an artist that everyone needs to check out right away. We learn how “Tamta’s biography has often dominated the way her career is framed, particularly the story of leaving Georgia and rebuilding a life in Greece. The facts remain part of the context, yet her current work moves beyond origin stories. Identity here becomes a system in motion, shaped through cultural layering, instinct and experimentation”.

“Where did you feel more free to take risks — as the villain or the heroine?

As the Villain Heroine. The two aren’t opposites — they feed and complete each other. As long as I’m allowed to exist in both, risk becomes natural. That tension is where my freedom comes from.

Is there a genre or visual aesthetic that doesn’t feel right for you, even if they might work commercially?

I can’t quite pick a genre but what never felt right to me was a purely commercial approach: visually or musically. For many years, I was trying to balance my own creative instincts with the need to survive within a commercial system, without losing myself in the process.

Most of my discography is in the Greek language, while I have also worked in English at times—through fully English songs or by blending English lyrics into Greek ones. In recent years, I’ve allowed other elements that feel deeply personal to enter my work, especially Georgian influences, sometimes in the production, sometimes in the way I approach vocals, particularly when I sing in Georgian.
At the same time, the music I’ve been creating in Greek might not be considered disruptive on a global scale, but within the local context, I believe it represents something genuinely forward-thinking for the Greek pop scene. Now that I’m no longer creating from a place of survival, I feel freedom in my expression. That freedom has brought me a deeper sense of fulfilment, one that matters to me more than conventional ideas of success.

Imagine someone copying your aesthetic perfectly. What would they still get wrong?

In a world where images and sounds circulate constantly and are accessible to everyone, it’s natural that references overlap. We’re all exposed to the same stimuli, often unconsciously, and traces of existing work can surface without intention. That has always been the case, even before everything lived on a screen.

Of course, there are moments when imitation is intentional and obvious, and that can feel unfair to the depth of someone’s creativity and to the artist behind it. But for me, the real distinction isn’t about copying, it’s about approach. Inspiration can be respectful and even honouring, but it only becomes meaningful when it’s filtered through something personal. What matters is how you transform what you’ve absorbed, how much of yourself you allow into it, and whether it becomes something truly your own. My aesthetic is rooted in spontaneity and instinct and it often comes together in the moment and reflects where I am emotionally at that time. By the time something could be replicated, I’ve already moved on. If my work ends up inspiring other artists, I see that as something positive. It can only be taken as a compliment”.

There has been a lot of press around the single, AUTOTAPINOSI. Numéro Netherlands chatted with Tamta recently. I really love what she is doing and will try and catch her in London in October. I can imagine that her live shows are spectacular and really connect with the audience. She is making music that is getting a lot of reaction and love:

“With over 250 million streams and views across your career, how do you continue to challenge yourself creatively after so many milestones?

Numbers are amazing, and I’m grateful for that support, but they can’t be the main motivation. What keeps me excited creatively is curiosity. I like exploring new sounds, working with different collaborators, and experimenting with aesthetics that feel fresh to me. If something feels too comfortable, it’s usually a sign I should push a little further.

You’ve built a unique identity at the intersection of music, fashion, and queer culture. How do those worlds influence the way you approach your artistry?

Fashion, music, and queer culture have always been part of the same creative world. Music has its own power that inspires you to create a whole universe around it. Fashion helps translate the energy of the music into a visual identity, and queer culture allows you to feel free and be yourself. That’s why everything feels connected.

You’ve performed on massive stages, from the Eurovision Song Contest to major Pride events across Europe. How have those experiences shaped your connection with audiences?

Performing on big stages reminds me of the power of collective energy. It’s also my safe space, no matter how many people are watching. I express myself emotionally and physically much more freely on stage than in everyday life—it almost feels like therapy for me. In those moments, music goes beyond entertainment and turns into a space where people connect, celebrate identity, and share a sense of freedom.

Your previous album, “THE VILLAIN HEROINE” introduced a new era for you. How does “AUTOTAPINOSI” build on or push beyond that chapter?
Right now, I feel like I’m somewhere between chapters. My recent releases aren’t necessarily part of a bigger project yet. I’m experimenting—moving between melodic vocals and more aggressive beats—and using this time to shape what the next era might be. With “THE VILLAIN HEROINE,” I set a new bar for myself, and naturally I intend to surpass it.

You’re returning to London for a headline show at Colours Hoxton. What can fans expect from this next phase of your live performances?

People can expect a high-energy set where we truly connect with the audience. Last year in London, we created a very special moment alongside my four incredible performers, and we’re hoping to bring that same energy again this time. The performance is directed by Bill Roxenos, and together we developed a concept that I’m really proud of. So expect some new music and a few new moments on stage”.

Aside from playing in London on 9th October, I am not sure what the rest of the year holds. A lot of anticipation around a new album. I think that Tamta is an artist that deserves more airplay here. I guess she is played on certain station, but she warrants wider exposure. I feel she is one of the most talented and best artists….

IN the world.

___________

Follow Tamta

FEATURE: Spotlight: Ellen Benediktson

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Jolina Elish

 

Ellen Benediktson

__________

THERE is a lot of emphasis…

on Pop coming out of the U.K. and U.S. In terms of nations who have always produced the finest and most addictive Pop, Sweden is right up there. Whilst Ellen Benediktson might not consider herself a traditional or mainstream Pop act, she hails from a nation whose music is so rich and enduring. There are elements of Rave, Rock and Dance on her E.P., WID4L. Such energy and passion throughout. I am going to come to a fairly recent interview with this incredible artist. This feature from Metal Magazine was released a month before (April 2026) the arrival of a huge E.P. “From the release of her new single Jealousy today to stepping on stage tonight at Tallinn Music Week 2026 for her second gig in Europe, the Swedish artist moves through a series of defining moments without much pause in between”:

“Some emotions are easier left unspoken, softened at the edges or pushed aside before they fully take shape. On Jealousy, Benediktson leans straight into that discomfort, turning one of the least flattering feelings into the centre of the track and letting it stay there. “This is an ugly and personal song about my overthinking, anxious brain, and I hope you love it,” she says, setting the tone from the outset.

Following her debut EP Good Girl, the single marks a shift, though not in an obvious or dramatic way. Jealousy sits in a more exposed place, letting contradiction surface without trying to organise it. The focus moves closer to the feeling itself, catching it as it happens, even when it is uncomfortable to hold onto.

“I really want to genuinely celebrate other people’s success as much as I want them to celebrate mine,” she says. “I get so embarrassed when I’m nagged by jealousy. It’s ugly.” The way she puts it feels disarmingly honest, almost like catching a thought you were not supposed to say out loud. That discomfort is exactly what the track holds onto. It does not try to soften the feeling or push it into the background. The song keeps it in full view, letting it unfold in all its awkwardness, allowing that tension to exist without forcing it into something cleaner or easier to accept.

That same impulse runs through the wider world of WID4L, her upcoming EP arriving in just over a month. The project circles emotional states that rarely sit still, staying close to instinct and reaction rather than stepping back to analyse them”.

Better Music spoke with Ellen Benediktson in April around the release of the single, Jealousy. They write how, “After an early breakthrough that left her overwhelmed and disconnected, she’s now reclaiming her voice with clarity, confidence, and zero filters”. I cannot find any other chats from this year, but this is an important interview to highlight:

“Hi Ellen, how are you? What's your story?

I’m great, summer’s coming, and 2026 has already been really exciting. Short story: I’m a girl from Sweden who always wanted to be in music. I got “discovered” at 18 and was chosen to compete in the Swedish Eurovision Song Contest, which gave me my big break. It was extremely overwhelming, so I completely shut down, didn’t make music for a long time, and was generally really lost. Then in 2022, I started making my EP Good Girl, and suddenly I was back. Now I’ve just come home from my first show in Europe and I’m preparing for my second EP release, feeling extremely grateful and excited that I get to do this. There’s a lot more to say, but let’s cap it here haha…

How would you describe where you are right now, both personally and artistically?

I’m in a really good place. I feel more like myself than I have in a long time. It took me a while to find my place as an artist, and I got really confused along the way. But now I feel like I’ve found my way back, like I kept searching for something new when really I should’ve been looking back instead. I had it all along, it just got a little twisted. It feels really freeing.

You describe jealousy as something “ugly” and even embarrassing — was it difficult to be that honest and exposed in your writing?

I write with my friends, so in the moment it just kinda felt nice, like therapy with a friend, you know? And then when the song is done and polished up, it kinda becomes something different, like it’s more than just you, which makes it easier to share with the world. But yeah, I was feeling a little self-conscious that people might think I’m really pathetic haha…

There’s a strong theme of emotional impulsivity in your work. Do you see your music as a way to process those impulses, or to embrace them?

I definitely spent a lot of my early 20s embracing my impulses, not always in a healthy way… Over time I realized that I gravitate to being reactive rather than responsive and writing about it became a way to process it, which was way healthier.

Artists like Lady Gaga, Hayley Williams and Miley Cyrus have influenced you — what have you taken from them in terms of identity and artistic freedom?

Pushing boundaries, being fearless in music and identity, and creating a safe space with inclusivity and love.

What are your thoughts on today's music industry? If you could change one thing, what would it be?

We need more people who dare to take a chance on new artists. So many people in the industry want already-made artists and aren’t willing to put in the work to develop someone from the start. Artists are working so hard, we’re everything from singers and songwriters to social media managers and PR agents today. And in many ways that’s cool, because we have a lot of control and understand how things work. But at the same time, it’s kind of unreal that big labels want to step in and take a piece of the cake when we’ve done all the heavy lifting. That feels unfair. And it also feels boring, like I thought A&R’s were like passionate about finding new talents?

What biggest life lessons have you learned so far?

Things won’t turn out the way you expect, so just go with the flow.

What's next for you?

My EP WID4L is out May 15th, and I’m having a release show to celebrate it in Stockholm. I’m also writing for my album and planning more upcoming shows in Europe”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Jolina Elish

I did want to end with a couple of positive reviews for WID4L. This is one that may have passed some people by or slipped off their radar. It is big and bold Pop, with different sounds and genres thrown into the mix. Mystic Sons published their review and gave their thoughts on a huge work from an artist who has been on the scene for a while, but perhaps is still seen as coming through or not yet at her peak:

“Swedish artist Ellen Benediktson leans fully into emotional chaos on WID4L, a five-track EP that turns obsession, jealousy, self-sabotage, and destructive love into something both glamorous and unsettling. Blending indie-pop and electro-pop with darker, more volatile production, the project feels like a natural but riskier evolution from Good Girl.

The EP’s strongest moment is “Only Lovers,” a bittersweet focus track that captures the record’s central idea: romanticizing pain as proof that love was real. Its tense verses and euphoric chorus perfectly mirror the emotional highs and lows Benediktson explores throughout the project. Elsewhere, “Jealousy” stands out for its brutally honest writing, while “i’m that girl” pushes back against expectations of femininity with confidence and humor.

Visually and lyrically, WID4L is obsessed with the idea of emotions becoming physical — red-stained, messy, impossible to wash away. That gothic, high-fashion aesthetic gives the EP a strong identity without overshadowing the songwriting itself. Tracks like “WID4L” and “i tell my friends” lean further into impulsivity and self-destruction, balancing sensuality with self-awareness.

At times, the EP circles similar emotional themes a little too closely, but Benediktson’s honesty and clear artistic vision keep it compelling. WID4L doesn’t try to offer healing or resolution — it lives entirely in the space between knowing better and doing it anyway. Bold, cohesive, and emotionally messy in the best way, it’s her most confident release yet”.

I am finishing off with Pop Passion Blog and their takeaways from an E.P. that is quite a lot to digest upon first listen. It has that real impact. You then need to go back and listen to it again. An E.P. that I feel is among the best of this year, it should lead many people to the music of the wonderful Ellen Benediktson:

“The world’s intense and Ellen Benediktson matches that intensity with her rhythmic pulsing synths in "WID4L." From political events to celebrity drama to job applications, life seems overwhelming. In her latest single, "WID4L," Benediktson thrives in self-awareness, digging into her limits of love. Her yearning is totally rock ‘n’ roll bonded with the flashing lights on the club dancefloor. Her passion is raw and loud, and there’s no signs of keeping her quiet in "WID4L."

"WID4L" combines the grooves of popular 2000s dance hits with the quality of modern mastering. The hypnotic melody, tangled in electro-pop synths, zip and zap right to the heart. Each beat claps like a lightning bolt, and the technicality flows like the timing of thunder. Benediktson harnesses what it means to feel with her whole self. In an uncontrollable environment, she doesn’t give up, but she finds power in letting go. Letting the emotions run. Love takes over in "WID4L."

The Swedish singer-songwriter is known for her smashing beats powered by electro-pop melodies. Benediktson gained attention in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2013. The next year, she placed seventh in the Melodifestivalen. Her intelligence and sympathy for current events extends beyond "WID4L to her start." She released “When The Sun Comes Up” in association to the Swedish Feminist Initiative”.

I have not featured as many Swedish artists as I should, and that is an omission on my part. Too much focus on the U.K. and U.S. and me not going beyond that. Maybe Ellen Benediktson is perhaps not going to convert those who maybe are not fans of big and bold Pop, but she has the talent and drive to recruit so many new followers. We are seeing that, I hope she comes to the U.K. soon, as I would love to see her brilliant music…

BROUGHT to the stage.

___________

Follow Ellen Benediktson

FEATURE: Spotlight: ORKID

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

 

ORKID

__________

AS she put out…

the stunning E.P., In All of My Tomorrows, in April, I am shining a spotlight on ORKID. This is an artist I only discovered this year, but I do feel that everyone should know about her music. I am going to come to interviews with her. Originally from northern Sweden, I do know that, among other artist, she is a fan of Kate Bush, so that was a big draw for me! As someone who writes about her a lot, you can sort of detect the influence of Bush in ORKID. Though this is someone who is an original. She has a few dates coming in her native Sweden, but I wonder if she will be in the U.K. at any point this year or has plans to play here. I am going to come to a couple of interviews. I do want to source CLASH and their article about her latest E.P., as there is a lot of loss and grief in the E.P. However, I also feel there is a lot of strength and beauty. Resilience, wisdom and passion:

“Swedish pop hopeful ORKID has shared her new EP ‘In All Of My Tomorrows’ in full.

The songwriter lost her mother recently, and this profound experience of grief fuelled her extraordinary, revelatory debut EP. Assured in her performances, ORKID blended lyrics that spoke to warmth, loss, and the incredible bond that exists between mother and daughter, alongside an enchanting ear for melody.

Working with alacrity, second EP ‘In All My Tomorrows’ is out now, and it finds ORKID growing, and finding grief more manageable. The songs speak eloquently about recovery and renewal, while respecting the active role the past plays in our lives.

Part of a perfectly weighted emotional arc, ‘In All My Tomorrows’ is the moment ORKID lets the light in. She comments…

“My first EP was rooted in grief — a body of work that helped me begin to process something very personal. But grief doesn’t disappear; it changes shape. ‘In All Of My Tomorrows’ is about carrying that feeling forward while finding space for hope again”.

I am going to come on to Ones to Watch and their interview from earlier in the year. We get a bit more insight into ORKID’s new E.P. and who she is as an artist. I would love to see her perform live, as I can imagine In All of My Tomrorows translates well to the stage:

“What is In All of My Tomorrows about?

This song is for the person who became my anchor. Even when the shadows feel heavy, I will carry my grief with me into every new day. Yet within that grief lives hope, because they are with me now and in all of my tomorrows. And now I know I never have to face them alone. My first EP, Where Flowers Grow, was rooted in grief - a body of work that helped me begin to heal deep trauma. But grief never truly leaves us, it lingers, it evolves. This EP, In All Of My Tomorrows, is the continuation, the echo of that sorrow, shaped by the space between mourning and mending. It’s a tribute to everything that’s carried me through.

How’d you settle on your sound?

I didn’t really “settle” as much as I spiraled until I found it. I stopped comparing, stopped chasing reference points, and focused only on what felt true. When I found that feeling, I held onto it. Now I have a kind of anchor, so I’m not just floating around guessing. Though sometimes I still search… but I always know where home is.

Any collaborators? Who produced the EP?

Yeees all of my amazing friends and creatives. I wrote this EP with Husky X pug, Niklas Carson, Maria Hazell, Rhys, Rory James, Klaudy, Sebastian Furrer, on diff songs

Producers: Svidden, Sebastian Furrer, Niklas Carson, Albin Clern.

What's inspiring you right now outside of music?

The people in my life, getting to know this somewhat new version of myself. Being on ADHD medication has given me a new lens, so I’m kind of recalibrating what even inspires me right now. It’s a bit all over the place, like Jack Sparrow’s compass when it’s broken, but in a way that feels exciting. Lately it’s been a lot of gratitude for the people in my life but also that I’m getting to do what I’ve always dreamed of, which still feels kind of unreal. I’m also such a Pinterest girly, constantly making mood boards, playing new games, and I’m deep into fiction, anything with vampires, honestly. If I could walk through life with a Twilight filter on, I would”.

I want to move to this incredible interview that offers up some interesting exchanges. Being new to ORKID, finding out as much as possible has been beneficial. With such an incredible voice and this music that gets under the skin and you are really affected by, I would heartedly recommend her to everyone. A sublime artist:

“Sandra Myhrberg: Being described as one of the most exciting new voices on the Nordic music scene is a huge thing to hear so early in your career. How do you personally relate to that kind of attention and expectation?

ORKID: I’m very grateful for it. At the same time, I’ve always had extremely high expectations of myself, I’m very goal-oriented and deeply invested in what I do. I’ve been making music for over ten years now, so to finally see the hard work resonate with people feels so rewarding!

SM: Your music feels deeply personal, yet listeners often see their own lives reflected in it. When you’re writing, how do private emotions become something more universal?

O: I’ve always been drawn to songs that feel like mirrors rather than explanations. I love writing in “double meanings,” letting emotions exist between the lines instead of placing them directly in front of the listener. Sometimes it’s more about capturing a feeling for me than writing something on the nose.

SM: Growing up in northern Sweden and later moving to Stockholm must have shaped you in very different ways. How have those places influenced your storytelling, your sound and the person behind ORKID?

O: ORKID the name in itself stems from my hometowns flower “brunkulla” which originates from Orchids. It holds so much of who I am, so many beautiful memories as well as painful and I think that duality exists in my music too. Stockholm expanded my world creatively, but the north will always be the landscape my inner world is painted from.

PHOTO CREDIT: Sandra Myhrberg

SM: Across your new songs, there is a contrast between haunting, introspective moments and bigger, more anthemic sounds. Was that contrast something you were consciously searching for?

O: I actually wrote words on a chalkboard for a camp “unexpected,” “unharmonic,” “healing,” “metaphors,” “double meanings.” Healing itself is never linear, and I wanted the music to reflect that emotional push and pull.
Sometimes it’s fragile and quiet, sometimes overwhelming and explosive. Those contrasts were incredibly important to the sound of the project.

SM: In All Of My Tomorrows feels like the beginning of a new emotional chapter. What was the first feeling, idea or moment that started shaping this EP?

O: In All Of My Tomorrows was always meant to be the emotional continuation of my previous EP. I always write from wherever I am in life emotionally, so naturally the music evolves alongside me. The project grew out of the realization that healing doesn’t mean forgetting it just means learning how to carry things differently. Every song became a reflection of the environment and emotions I was living through at the time.

SM: The title In All Of My Tomorrows feels both intimate and cinematic. Where did that title come from, and what does it mean to you now after finishing the project?

O: For me it means “I’ll carry this with me in all of my tomorrows, but at least now I don’t have to face them alone” it’s a tribute to my partner who became my anchor”.

I do really feel that ORKID is going to be a global name very soon. Though she is beloved in Sweden, she has a fanbase around the world. Sources in the U.K. and U.S. recognising her brilliance. I would love to see her play in London and I am looking forwarding to hearing what comes next. Anyone who has not yet fallen under her spell, then go and listen to ORKID, as she is so wonderful. She is one of the most fascinating and talented artists in the world. She is making music that you will…

NOT forget.

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Follow ORKID

FEATURE: An Embarrassment of Riches… Albums That Could Be Shortlisted for the Mercury Prize

FEATURE:

 

 

An Embarrassment of Riches…

IN THIS PHOTO: Olivia Dean

 

Albums That Could Be Shortlisted for the Mercury Prize

__________

ON 30th July…

IN THIS PHOTO: Lily Allen

the twelve albums on the Mercury Prize shortlist will be announced. The ceremony will take place on 22nd October at the Utilita Arena in Newcastle. There has been such an embarrassment of riches when it comes to albums eligible. Tremendous work from British and Irish acts. To be eligible for the 2026 Mercury Prize, albums must be by British or Irish artists and officially released between 30th August, 2025, and 17th July, 2026. It means Charli xcx’s new album, Music, Fashion, Film, misses out, as it was released on 24th July. I don’t think it will matter, as she is twice-nominated and will probably be nominated next year for this album. I am including below the albums I feel will be announced on Thursday. I am usually good when it comes to predicting the winner, but as the award is so broad and hard to predict, some of those I am mentioning below will miss out, whereas albums I have not considered will be included. My prediction for the winner is Lily Allen with West End Girl. She was nominated in 2018 for No Shame. I do feel like she will win, though there is part of me who feels that may be too obvious. Maybe the judging panel feeling another artist deserves it more. Leading off with my winner prediction, below are twelve albums that could be shortlisted on 30th July. It will be interesting to know…

WHO makes the cut.

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Lily Allen – West End Girl

Release Date: 24th October, 2025 (digital release; 30th January, 2026 (physical release date)

Producers: Lily Allen/Alessandro Buccellati/Seb Chew/Leroy Clampitt/Chrome Sparks/Jason Evigan/Micah Jasper/Kito/Blue May/Oscar Scheller/Leon Vynehall

Label: BMG

Standout Song: Pussy Palace

Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/product/lily-allen/west-end-girl?algolia_query_id=c5b847764ca7e64d85103940d3cbb0ee&algolia_object_id=53712882303307&algolia_index=shopify_prod_products&algolia_position=2#53712882303307

Review:

“Her signature contemporary pop twinned with stark and witty lyrics has cultivated an entire sub-genre since the mid-00s. The current ‘Y2K’ revival on social media, spearheaded by people barely born during that time, is dominated by spoken word pop once dominated by Allen. There are countless pop girls wanting to replicate what she can do so effortlessly. As eloquently and simply put by singer and admirer PinkPantheress, “Lily Allen made sounding like yourself feel cool.”

The allure of Allen is that she has always been candidly truthful, and fittingly, there is absolutely no holding back on Allen’s first album in seven years. West End Girl seems to detail the breakdown of her marriage to Stranger Things actor David Harbour, gory details and all.

Opening with the title track, “West End Girl” is where the story begins. A 14 song tale, it walks through every grievance, revelation and epiphany possible, piecing together the unfurling heartbreak, it's a rarity in the streaming age – an album intending (nay, screaming) to be listened to in tracklist order.

Swirling into “Ruminating”, it tells of the spiralling around the unanswered questions brought on by Instagram doom-scrolling, overthinking, and doubts. “Sleepwalking” shows the beginning of the unravelling with the softly spoken lyric, “You won’t love me / You won’t leave me” laying out the internal confusion. “Tennis” is the moment Allen reads the texts from a mysterious “Madeline”, before rolling into the track introducing her and Allen’s imagined interaction over the infidelity.

There is a drip of defiance in the form of “Pussy Palace” with the bold lyric, “I didn’t know this was a Pussy Palace” referring to Allen’s marital home. On “Dallas Major”, Allen’s dating bio comes to life. “I’m here for validation and I probably should explain / That my marriage has been open since my husband went astray.” That, as well as the track “Nonmonogamummy”, excellently showcase the all-too-universal feeling of despair and disappointment with modern dating apps.

Written over an intense 10 days in Los Angeles, West End Girl is a quite literal outpouring of emotion, in every intricate detail – an outlet for the grieving of the relationship. The album details not just a break-up, but a shift in how relationships and human connection work in modern times. West End Girl is not only an example of pop brilliance, but also incredibly vulnerable, raw and honest, true to Allen’s form. Simply, the pop pioneer has created the break-up album for the modern generation” – The Line of Best Fit

KNEECAP –  FENIAN

Release Date: 1st May, 2026

Producer: Dan Carey

Label: Heavenly

Standout Song: Palestine (ft. Fawzi)

Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/product/kneecap/fenian?algolia_query_id=63929b2b10d0154e02d3f000109d92bc&algolia_object_id=57586130747723&algolia_index=shopify_prod_products&algolia_position=1#57586130747723

Review:

“Kneecap are often compared to the Sex Pistols for their ability to provoke a moral panic and have British MPs sputtering with rage at Westminster. But if the punk iconoclasts’ rapid rise serves as an inspiration, their rapid demise is a warning that nothing gets older faster than a rock band that has politicians foaming at the chops.

The daunting challenge the Belfast-Derry Irish-language rap trio therefore face with their second album, Fenian, is to prove that their talents go beyond annoying the worst people on social media. But they prove that they’re more than flash-in-the-pan outrage merchants with this brilliantly catchy and playful record, which you can enjoy regardless of your feelings about their politics, and which captures the glee and giddiness that have long been at the heart of their live shows.

Kneecap wrote and recorded the songs against the backdrop of the prosecution brought by the British state after one of the group allegedly waved a flag belonging to the proscribed terrorist organisation Hizbullah on stage.

Where less imaginative musicians might have played the victim or taken the easy route of woe-is-me lyrics, Kneecap are in an upbeat frame of mind throughout this extraordinary LP, where they throw up sparks with the Fontaines DC producer Dan Carey and collaborate with artists such as the London poet Kae Tempest and the Ramallah rapper Fawzi.

The vibe throughout is old-school gangsta rap mixed with the monster-truck onslaught of peak Prodigy. They also lean further into their use of the Irish language, starting with ethereal opener, Éire go Deo (“Ireland Forever”), where they sound like a trip-hop Enya.

Wispy grooves give way to ominous industrial beats on Smugglers & Scholars, where they cast a gimlet eye back on the Troubles and rhyme about “smugglers and scholars getting guns with American dollars”.

The circus around the prosecution in Britain is the subject of Carnival, in which a laid-back, Massive Attack-style rhythm is a counterpoint to their excoriation of the UK justice system. “This started in Coachella… a man tries to tell you: free Gaza… these lads are just nasty.”

The situation in Gaza itself is addressed on Palestine, where they trade rhymes with Fawzi on a superb song that dials into the diaphanous textures of SoundCloud rap – while name-dropping the “Paddy Losty” internet meme of a Dublin barfly who has sacrificed everything to a life of pints.

The best bands are often loved and loathed equally, and nothing on Fenian will assuage those who wonder why Kneecap talk at length about Gaza yet never mention Ukraine. But then the first mistake is to look to musicians for moral guidance. Twenty years ago, Irish artists were continually banging on about the Burmese politician Aung San Suu Kyi; before that, it was Free Tibet.

It’s great that they care, and they often do have an important message to impart, but in the end we should all really educate ourselves and make up our own minds.

The album outdoes itself with Cocaine Hill, a lamentation about the dark side of soaring success that is steeped in Pink Floyd-style prog guitars. The final fade to grey arrives with the gorgeous, piano-fuelled Kae Tempest duet Irish Goodbye – a melancholic farewell at the end of a knockout album” – The Irish Times

RAYE – THIS MUSIC MAY CONTAIN HOPE.

Release Date: 27th March, 2026

Producers: Pete Clements/Chris Hill/Punctual/RAYE/Tom Richards/Jordan Riley/Alex Robinson/Mike Sabath/Toneworld/Hans Zimmer

Label: Human Re Sources

Standout Song: WHERE IS MY HUSBAND!

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Review:

“Brevity has very evidently fallen out of RAYE’s immediate consciousness. Just look at the 17-long tracklist of the hour-plus ‘THIS MUSIC MAY CONTAIN HOPE.’ - her second album proper - or the characteristic exaggerated scale of her big-band styled live performances, complete with ever-flowing personal candour and energetic anecdotes that both frame songs and offer an immediately amiable tangent.

It’s all a stunning showcase of her ever-growing confidence, the resulting expanse of which bleeds into her recorded music - now a self-proclaimed attempt to separate the album from the studio, encapsulating the live feeling that has driven her sound since her major label split, and which has spearheaded her immeasurably successful step to go it alone. And ‘THIS MUSIC…’ does all that and more.

The swaggering soul of ‘WHERE IS MY HUSBAND!’ forms just a tiny part of this immense picture; one that balances the grandeur of this lead single with RAYE’s overt vulnerability. Her lyricism is beautifully clunky, a perfect paradox of near-symbolic poetry and spoken intros which, peppered throughout the record, brim with personality. “This is a sad song, though it feels happy,” she offers at the start of the Al Green-featuring ‘Goodbye Henry’, noting that “it is not happy at all, in fact, it makes me so sad, before admitting that to protect identities, the song isn’t even about a Henry. Few, if any, artists would ever think of an intro like this one, never mind be able make it work with so much sparkling charm.

It’s an allure that hasn’t just attracted the likes of soul legend Al, either. Record-breaking composer Hans Zimmer lends his ear to the soaring ‘Click Clack Symphony’, a track that transcends from darkness to a fitting cinematic coda. It joins a cluster that carries a post-euphoria darkness reminiscent of new-wave breakthrough ‘Escapism.’, including the claustrophobic, dark pop-jazz crossover ‘The WhatsApp Shakespeare’ and the heartbreak of ‘Winter Woman’.

But perhaps the biggest curveball on a record filled with them arrives courtesy of ‘Life Boat’, a Fred Again..-adjacent emotionally heavy rave banger accompanied by hopeful lyrical affirmations. Yet, in keeping with the ambition of the album, it breaks immediately into ‘I Hate The Way I Look Today’, a jangly homage to ‘40s bebop camp.

“We’ve made it to the end, the seventeenth song,” she declares, referring to her own verbosity on the Disney movie musical climax, which is completed by a dramatic flourish and a wide-reaching list of credits. Its spoken reference to hope pulls the absurdity of ‘THIS MUSIC…’ further together, ultimately suggesting that life is beautiful chaos.

In over an hour, RAYE traverses love, heartbreak, life, death, resilience, despondency, euphoria and the comedown, infidelity, and the powerful value of family - ‘Fields’ is a stunning collaboration with Grandad Michael, while the embellished ‘Joy’ features both RAYE’s sisters. Could it have been edited or cut down? Who cares. It’s huge, expansive, bonkers and brilliant. It’s RAYE at her very core, and it’s fantastic” – DIY

Dry Cleaning – Secret Love

Release Date: 9th January, 2026

Producer: Cate Le Bon

Label: 4AD

Standout Song: Cruise Ship Designer

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Review:

“It’s impossible not to see a direct meaning in the lyrics of ‘Blood’, as they oppose the social acceptance of globalatrocities as just another form of online content, including discourse around Gaza and Ukraine. “Blood on my skin / And hands and nails / And in my eyes as well”, calmly confides Shaw, adding, “Schools and hospitals and homes… / People are worse than you think”. These words are not just a maze of thoughts and ironic observations – they’re a declaration of personal stance, firmly sing-spoken over a The Flaming Lips-evoking tune. Timely and direct.

“I make sure there are hidden messages in my work”, Shaw states the obvious in ‘Cruise Ship Designer’. Sometimes it even seems as if she is mocking someone specific, as on this track. “Cruises are big business / I don’t personally like them / But I need to serve a useful purpose”, she utters with apparent similarity in pronunciation and wording to that of some billionaire. In the hypnagogic ‘I Need You’, built on chainsaw-like bass clarinet blasts, a rumination on longing for someone’s attention is compared to The Apprentice TV show. “And the finger coming down: you”, proclaims Shaw, hinting at the prominent phrase “You’re fired!”

‘Secret Love’ is politically charged and also full of personal fears and disappointments. Behind vivid imagery and deadpan puns, hundreds of hours of pondering are hidden. It’s evident that Shaw is pushing hard to find certainties about the world’s current state and the people in it by looking both outward and inward. We have all been occupied with the same exercise over the last few years or so. This mood is further emphasized by the gloomy and enigmatic rocker ‘Evil Evil Idiot’, with the chorus “I cannot feel it / The veil of black”, right out of the PJ Harvey or Sonic Youth playbook –one of Dry Cleaning’s darkest and bleakest songs.

At the same time, this is the most personal Shaw record to date. Along with her political stance, we also find out that she doesn’t want “to be lectured” and that she hates cleaning. “I like to sort, move my things around, colour coding / Everything has a home in my house / But I don’t like to clean, I find cleaning demeaning”, she reports in ‘My Soul / Half Pint’. Oh wait, here the personal is also intertwined with the social. In ‘Rocks’, a loud and rage-fuelled anthem, built around a ‘Lose Yourself’-evoking rhythm, she even mixes a reference to a “blob” from American political lore with her own dream symbols.

“Keep up with it all, be nice / Try to maintain high energy”, advised Shaw on the closing track ‘Every Day Carry’ from their debut album. A year later she repeated the trick on ‘Icebergs’ from the sophomore record, recommending: “Stay interested in the world around you / Keep the curiosity of a child if you can”. They just can’t leave listeners without a bit of positivity at the end, after taking us through a series of unpleasant images over the course of the record, and the closing track on ‘Secret Love’ is no exception. “It’s a horrorland / Destruction / Don’t give up on being sweet”, intones Shaw on ‘Joy’.

On surprisingly melodic tracks like ‘The Cute Things’, built around Iggy Popian punch-drunk guitar, Savages’ rawness, a tender chorus, and country-disguised synths, it’s easy to forget that you’re listening to a band that was singing about “a woman in aviators firing a bazooka” just five years ago. ‘Secret Love’ is Dry Cleaning’s most commercial record, likely to appeal to a much wider audience, yet it’s also their most experimental work.

This record is less rough and harsh, with angular guitars and rhythmic drums giving way to more upbeat-yet-moody and off-kilter tunes. With Le Bon’s help, the band has managed to smooth out the rough edges without losing their sonic identity. But what’s more important – this more mainstream-friendly, luscious-yet-intimate sound is a huge gamble for Dry Cleaning, and they came through this stress test shining, delivering their best work so far. Using their own found words, they definitely managed to squeeze some “blood from a stone” with their music.

9/10” – CLASH

Dove Ellis – Blizzard

Release Date: 5th December, 2025

Producer: Dove Ellis

Labels: AMF Records/Black Butter Records

Standout Song: Love Is

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Review:

“His debut album arrives with no biography and barely any information at all apart from the track listing and a few minor details. He doesn’t appear to have ever given an interview and in one song here scolds: “Keep their cameras off my face.” His publicist, whose job thus far seems solely to be sending out music, describes Ellis as a “an introverted character”.

One can piece together this: he’s 22 and from Galway but relocated to Manchester. The songs he posted on Bandcamp led to a bidding war, but he rejected the attentions of major labels to go with an independent. He recently opened for Geese on their US tour dates but otherwise seems to have been playing pubs and small venues in London (including the buzzy Windmill) and Manchester for a couple of years now. As recently as October he was opening the student night at Sheffield’s Sidney & Matilda, where he apparently went down the usual storm. His next London show (at the ICA on 9 December) sold out within an hour, but if his self-produced debut arrives to burgeoning expectations it’s entirely because of the quality of the music.

The few reviewers who have seen Ellis so far mostly compare him to Jeff Buckley or his father, Tim Buckley – fair comparisons given how Ellis’s remarkable vocals can settle into a dreamy falsetto so fragile he could be dancing on a pin, and then suddenly perform a handbrake turn into intensity, even anger. The way the arrangements (including saxophone and drums) dart around his voice in ornate little counter-melodies recalls fellow Irishman Van Morrison, and recent single To the Sandals noticeably nods to Joan Armatrading’s Love and Affection. Thom Yorke and Rufus Wainwright have also been mentioned, but none of these comparisons quite pin Ellis down, not least because he shifts shape so frequently.

Beautiful opener Little Left Hope begins as fragile as Nick Drake, but erupts into something much more rousing, the words capturing the rocky road to making music: “Maybe we’ll start a band / With the stranger you have to like / Cos he knows how to play the drums.” Ellis’s lyrics frequently seem to flutter between hope and despair, before building to a purifying conclusion. In the magically warm Pale Song, the past is a trouble which, perhaps, can be shaken off: “The past is like a sign / A sign it never talks / A sign you think you’ve lived / But it’s just stone with a little chalk.” In the singalong-friendly Love Is, he roars, “Love is not the antidote to all your problems,” but concludes, “Love is your last chance.” In Jaundice he uses the unlikely vehicle of rumbustious rock’n’roll infused with an Irish jig to seemingly rail against unfairness: “Sometimes a child is born without any face / At the breast of their own mother right out of place.”

Ellis has described To the Sandals – a Bandcamp release now mixed/spruced up by Big Thief producer Andrew Sarlo – as concerning “reflections on a failing shotgun marriage in Cancún”. Not that the unlikely subject of an ill-fated union hastened by pregnancy in Mexico is particularly obvious in lines such as: “From your grace / The sadist fails / Their red blade / A-rallying, tallying.”

Trying to unravel the songs’ meanings can become a parlour game, but it’s enough to savour his dazzling use of language or the sheer emotion in heart-swelling songs such as When You Tie Your Hair Up. The 10 tunes are so strong they seem as familiar as old friends, and if Ellis isn’t reinventing the wheel, he’s certainly giving the old thing a caring coat of varnish. His songs sound meticulously crafted but the recordings themselves have a beautifully intimate, unadorned, down-home feel. At times, the picked and strummed guitars, rolling 70s rock piano, wind instruments and clattering percussion are interspersed with random noises and distortion, but somehow everything seems to have fallen perfectly into place on a glorious debut” – The Guardian

Dave – The Boy Who Played the Harp

Release Date: 24th October, 2025

Producers: Dave/Dom Maker/Fraser T. Smith/James Blake/Jim Legxacy/Jo Caleb/Jonny Leslie/Kyle Evans/Nathan

Label: Neighbourhood

Standout Song: My 27th Birthday

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Review:

“The former Mercury Prize winner executes this perfectly on songs like ‘Selfish’, ‘Fairchild’ and ‘Chapter 16’ – launching listeners into cinematic vignettes, painting the most vivid scenes with the rawest words. On ‘Selfish’, assisted by James Blake’s ghostly production, Dave continues his quiet rebellion against masculine repression – turning therapy into theatre, and confession into courage. It’s a revolutionary act in itself: a man daring to name the emotions he was never taught to hold.

‘Chapter 16’ is a crowning moment, too. In the biblical story referenced throughout the album, King David is chosen by God through the prophet Samuel, and on this record, Kano takes on a role similar to the latter. Over a debonair instrumental, the two generations of UK rap sit across a dinner table trading fears like old friends – one wrestling with legacy, the other with longevity. Kano even anoints Dave as “the rap messiah” while sharing his observations of UK rap’s evolution, making the track a spiritual handover where the old guard blesses the new generation.

‘Fairchild’ is particularly striking as Dave and newcomer Nicole Blakk go back and forth, bringing hip-hop back to its spoken-word foundations. The latter’s chilling appearance gives a voice to women silenced by rape culture and femicide, sharing the bleak reality of those left unheard. Dave provides a nuanced male perspective: disgusted by red-pilled counterparts yet questioning his own complicity: “All know a victim, don’t know a perpetrator / Am I one of them? The men of the past.”

And yet, you can’t shake the sense that you’ve seen this film before. The major themes remain: trauma, therapy, confession, redemption, and social responsibility. The palette is more refined, but the movements feel familiar. Where his previous albums (2019’s ‘Psychodrama’ and 2021’s ‘We’re All Alone In This Together’) arrived in the moment and dominated the game, ‘The Boy Who Played The Harp’ realises Dave’s genius again rather than redefining it.

There are no album smashes like ‘Location’ or ‘Crash’ were for ‘Psychodrama’ and ‘We’re All Alone In This Together’, respectively. Even his groovier collaborations – the Isaiah 54:17-chanting ‘No Weapons’ with Legxacy, and the Tems-featuring Afro-house-inspired ‘Raindance’ – are slick and upbeat, but only offer a small moment of levity through a restrained groove rather than any seminal erupting moments. Dave’s delivery throughout is blunted by solemnness, as if he hoped to make an unrelenting thinkpiece over something anthemic. If that’s his purpose, he’s perfected it.

Dave’s music will always be regarded as high art, and ‘The Boy Who Played The Harp’ continues his stream of providing true slice-of-life depictions of a Black British man in London. However, some elements of his cathartic raps are starting to err on the predictable side. Although the record is vivid, striking and thought-provoking – with nearly every song on this album a deep, pensive sonic sulk – the south Londoner’s voice is beginning to slip further away from a generation he intended to represent: one that’s done overthinking and just wanting to feel” – NME

Olivia Dean – The Art of Loving

Release Date: 26th September, 2025

Producers: Julian Bunetta/Olivia Dean/Matt Hales/Bastian Langebæk/Leon Michels/Zach Nahome/John Ryan/Max Wolfgang/Matt Zara

Labels: Capitol/Island

Standout Song: Man I Need

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Review:

“It’s rare for music to be both deep and breezy, isn’t it? Minnie Riperton does it on “Lovin’ You” (1974) – all those casual la-la-la-las sinking into something profound. Corinne Bailey Rae did it too, with “Put Your Records On” (2006), flagging the nourishment of some much-needed downtime. Olivia Dean’s second album, The Art of Loving, manages the same feat. Her rich, intelligent voice casually blows through a range of plush soul-pop settings that shift the mood from the slow pour of the VIP lounge (all golden brass and richly upholstered string sections) to the barefoot chill of acoustic guitars at the beach bar.

In an interview with Elle over the summer, the 26-year-old Londoner – whose debut album Messy was shortlisted for the 2023 Mercury Prize – said the record was inspired by an exhibition she visited in LA by the artist Mickalene Thomas, titled All About Love. It was an homage to the late American author/activist bell hooks’ book of the same name: “That book is like the Bible,” Dean said. ‘Love is something that can feel quite mystical. It’s this thing we all crave but aren’t properly taught how to do. Why don’t we have a module at school? So the album was just me zooming into that and looking at the last two years of my life and everything I’ve learnt until now.”

The simple yet wise thesis is that love shouldn’t be so hard if we’re honest and take the pressure off of ourselves. Dean’s appealing message about dropping the games and relaxing into kindness runs through every song on this record, from beginning to end. Over the top-down strum of the opener, single “Nice to Each Other”, she sings of stepping outside of expectations and labels (“I don’t want a boyfriend”) and simply enjoying one another’s company. The peaceful closer "I've Seen It" finds an electric guitar tracing the familiar chord progression of Pachelbel’s Canon, while Dean muses over the places she’s noticed love. She’s found it in the films and books her parents shared with her; around the table with friends; “sat right across me on the tube, seen it miss a stop or two, seen it trying not to fall apart”. Towards the chorus, she borrows the melody from “Just The Two of Us” (1980) by Bill Withers, another master of the breezy-but-deep.

Sandwiched in between, you’ll find the slinky, sax-draped “Close Up” (“I feel stupid for wearing that dress/ I guess I saw something you didn’t”) with its nod to the prowling beats of Amy Winehouse. Also, the sweet-strummed “So Easy (To Fall In Love)”, on which she promises to be the perfect blend of “Saturday night and the rest of your life”. Backing vocals are layered like chiffon as cocktail piano notes shimmy around a Bacharach and David-indebted trumpet. Dean lays down her deal for a prospective lover: “There’s no need to hide if you’re into me/ Cos I’m into you quite intimately.”

She slips out of this conversational Jill Scott mode to dial up her inner Prince on the dramatic, lighters-aloft ballad “Let Alone the One You Love”. The centrepiece is the gorgeous single “Man I Need”, with its splashy-fun keyboard riff and upward inflected chorus. At a time when the pop charts are a little saturated with women (quite understandably) calling out toxic masculinity, there’s a lovely optimism in Dean’s sunny olive branch of a track. I loved the way this record de-complicates and de-escalates romance, particularly at a time when the climate feels so combative. Dean doesn’t downplay the challenges or the risks of heartbreak. But she offers sussed-up hope with a playful generosity of spirit. Deep’n’breezy does it” – The Independent

Suede – Antidepressants

Release Date: 5th September, 2025

Producers: BMG

Label: Ed Butler

Standout Song: Dancing with the Europeans

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Review:

“They could've even chosen to sideline the 2022 triumphant ‘comeback’ success of Autofiction’s punk energy and decided to settle. But instead they arrive with Antidepressants, a tenth studio album that feels less like a late-career coda and far more like a daring new beginning.

The band, for all their beautiful intimacy and orchestration, have always thrived on rawer sounding, more fractured songs that crack with a live electricity. Brett Anderson, when angry and anxious, seems to embrace the chaos in a way that feels assured and perversely safe. Antidepressants is deliberately darker, adopting a reverberating post-punk approach making “broken music for broken people,” but it’s exactly those people who will save the world.

From the thunderous opener “Disintegrate”, Suede fling themselves into the melee, with a visceral anthem that reframes fear and mortality. It’s a stark opening statement, glitching with little polish and pulsing with intent. It’s a heartbeat and the urgency isn’t accidental, they’ve honed their sound over time to communicate with fans directly through its umbilical tether. There is a real sense this time though that the cord could be cut at any moment, but not intentionally. Anderson's lyrics are laced with dread, paranoia, neurosis, and the dissonance of our disconnected age. This is a Suede album that doesn’t console us, it's deliberately confrontational – even dishing out a frustrated ‘tough love’. Kind of like saying wake up and do something, or fail. That may sound bleaker than it comes across in reality but with titles like, “Antidepressants,” “Broken Music for Broken People”, “Trance State”, “Life Is Endless, Life Is a Moment” it’s not entirely wrong. The band aren’t averse to surrender either, “come and disintegrate with me,” Anderson sings in a moment of solidarity and concession.

There’s a stark emotional gravity to the angular, icy guitar production of the title track as it interpolates Magazine’s “Shot By Both Sides”, and the sneer of The Teardrop Explodes literate pop. It’s a time machine directly into the turmoil of that post-punk era, but reflected through our contemporary mirror. Anderson’s voice is weathered, precise, and weary, perfect for this material. He has an ability to sound utterly shattered by age and experience, and then exude refined elegance on “Somewhere Between An Atom And A Star” and “Life Is Endless, Life Is a Moment”. The latter two are softer bookends to the harsher pressures in between. “Tance State” is suitably hypnotic, in that communal singalong sense. We must obey.

Throughout their career, Suede have evolved in phases, from deviant provocateurs of a Britpop-era they despised, to emotive anthem-makers, introspective dramatists, and visceral social commentators, album after album. There’s always been a defiance at play, too. Brett has said that even when they stretch out into experimental territory, it always snaps back to raw rock and that restlessness has been Suede’s secret engine.

There is something electrifying about watching a band exist so authentically in their present, not trapped in nostalgia or chasing youthful audacity. Suede’s life exists between glamour and grit, between intimacy and spectacle; now, they embrace that tension fully. Antidepressants is not about memory, it’s real life now, trembling in its own imperfection. Not necessarily healing, it’s just honest. And sometimes, that’s what we need most. As the languid chords of the final track drift away only the cold sounds of the outer atmosphere surround us. Time to contemplate. We’re adrift, weightless. After all, we're all just floating on a rock in space and we have to make the most of our time here” – The Line of Best Fit

Nia Archives - Emotional Junglist

Release Date: 17th July, 2026

Label: Island Records

Standout Song: Get Me Down (ft. Jorja Smith)

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Review:

“There was always a sense that Nia Archives was destined to take jungle somewhere new. Since bursting onto the scene, she's become the genre's most exciting modern ambassador, introducing breakbeats to audiences far beyond the underground without sacrificing the culture that shaped her. Emotional Junglist feels like the moment that ambition fully crystallises, pairing the frenetic energy of rave music with some of the most emotionally exposed songwriting of her career. If Silence Is Loud hinted at untapped potential, its successor delivers on every promise. Rather than leaning further into nostalgia, Archives broadens her sonic palette, weaving together jungle, indie rock, R&B, Britpop and electronic pop into a record that's remarkably cohesive despite its fearless experimentation. Collaborations with James Ford, Ethan P. Flynn, Sampha and Julia Michaels help expand her world without ever overshadowing the unmistakable identity at its centre. Conceptually, Emotional Junglist traces the full emotional arc of a relationship, from the intoxicating rush of new love to the devastation of heartbreak. Early highlights such as Danger and This Could Be... radiate excitement, wrapping fluttering guitars and restless breakbeats around lyrics filled with hope and anticipation. Archives has rarely sounded this carefree, allowing melody to breathe without losing the rhythmic urgency that's become her trademark. The album's emotional weight grows steadily heavier as it unfolds. Lovers Grief is quietly devastating, balancing gloomy indie textures against skittering drums while Archives delivers some of her most direct and affecting lyrics to date. Meanwhile, Tender, featuring Sampha, strips everything back to reveal a fragile honesty that's impossible to fake. By the time Boys In Blue arrives, its pounding percussion and snarling guitars transform personal trauma into an anthem of resilience rather than revenge. Even the guest appearances feel carefully chosen. Jorja Smith glides effortlessly through Get Me Down, their voices intertwining over shimmering basslines to create one of the album's warmest moments, while the live instrumentation throughout gives the record a scale that elevates it beyond club music without diluting its rave DNA. What makes Emotional Junglist so compelling is its refusal to choose between emotional vulnerability and dancefloor euphoria. Archives proves that jungle can carry intimate storytelling just as naturally as breakneck rhythms, expanding the genre's possibilities without abandoning its roots. Few artists manage to redefine their own sound on only a second album. Emotional Junglist does exactly that, establishing Nia Archives not simply as the future of jungle, but as one of Britain's most inventive and emotionally fearless artists” – gigshack

JADE – THAT’S SHOWBIZ BABY!

Release Date: 12th September, 2025

Label: RCA

Standout Song: Plastic Box

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Review:

“If it feels like this, the debut solo album from JADE - aka former Little Mixer, Gallagher mocker and national hun Jade Thirlwall - has been a long time coming, it’s because, well, it has. Announcing her as the single most exciting name in topline pop (bar, perhaps, Chappell Roan and Charli), lead single ‘Angel Of My Dreams’ first descended over a year ago, its madcap exploration of fame’s double-edged sword a show-stopping demonstration of her artistic ambition. And that was just the start: since then, the South Shields singer has kept everyone - fans and critics alike - well and truly on their toes, dropping appetite-whetting tracks that ran the gamut from pulsing, hot and heavy club numbers (‘IT girl’; ‘Midnight Cowboy’) to Lady Gaga-esque melodrama (‘FUFN’) and funk-flecked grooves (‘Fantasy’). Lyrically, too, she always seemed one step ahead: between the sex-positive, feel-good bangers were vulnerable admissions of insecurity amidst the fickle fame machine and eviscerating asides about exploitative industry types (well, one high-trousered, Dayglo-toothed exec in particular). Hers was a run of singles of such consistent quality that you couldn’t help but think - has JADE already played all the best cards in her hand?

In a word: no. The latter half of ‘THAT’S SHOWBIZ BABY!’ is a dizzying journey through genre, era, and Jekyll and Hyde dynamic shifts that more than lives up to the vitality of its previews. ‘Headache’, for example, has all the attitude of a heat-warped Pharrell 7”; ‘Natural At Disaster’, meanwhile, offsets earnest crooning with choral BVs and glitchy, video game-like effects, a Frankensteined collage of the shredded pop ballad blueprint. The album’s only slight stalls come with ‘Self Saboteur’ and ‘Lip Service’ - a pair of shimmering synth-led cuts which, while not bad by any stretch (both recall Caroline Polachek at best, The 1975 at worst) feel frustratingly safe next to the balls-to-the-wall experimentation of the rest of the record. Because, clearly, JADE thrives most when she’s throwing curveballs: namely, the gloriously ‘80s guitar pop of ‘Unconditional’ - which could sit shoulder to shoulder with Pet Shop Boys and Depeche Mode - and The Supremes-sampling ‘Before You Break My Heart’: an impossibly catchy instant-classic that casts her as the natural successor to Diana Ross’ girl-group-to-solo-superstar trajectory. After a career’s worth of constricting, prescriptive pop formula, she’s now finally concocted a recipe for success on her own terms - and it’s anything but vanilla” – DIY

Elmiene - sounds for someone

Release Date: 27th March, 2026

Label: Polydor Records

Standout Song: Reclusive

Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/product/elmiene/sounds-for-someone?algolia_query_id=3f620da1759d40e187b0f3cd31ae53df&algolia_object_id=56312068211019&algolia_index=shopify_prod_products&algolia_position=1#56312068211019

Review:

“Much has happened since Elmiene first shot to fame in 2021 as a university student covering the late great D’Angelo’s ‘Untitled (How Does It Feel)’ in his garden. Now, on his debut LP sounds for someone, influences like him, whom Elmiene wears on his sleeve, are weaved into a stunningly diverse record.

Take ‘Light By the Window’, which sounds like an extension of Lauryn Hill and D’Angelo’s ‘Nothing Even Matters’, such is Elmiene’s understanding of R&B sensibilities. Elsewhere, there are gospel influences on ‘Saviour’ and something markedly Sade-esque about the gorgeous vocals and orchestral elements of ‘Lonely People’.

The record is a showcase of both his dynamism as a vocalist – his range and control are astounding – and his adeptness at delving into various sounds. Each song is its own distinct musical journey, the final package never disjointed, each fabric and texture is stitched together by an expert curator.

There’s lyrical substance, too: Elmiene drifts from sugary love songs to themes of grief, longing and heartache. A highlight comes on ‘Cry Against the Wind’, as Elmiene wrestles with his guilt around the death of his father Jameel: “I think it’s really real that I hate you my Jameel, but I’d watch the whole world drown to see you cry again,” is a gut punch wrapped in velvet tones.

This is an extraordinarily talented young artist who proves that he can operate in any sonic lane he likes. That his next step is to find one which is his own is incredibly exciting” – Rolling Stone UK

The Coral – 388

Release Date: 21st May, 2026

Producers: Chris Taylor/The Coral

Label: Run on Records

Standout Song: Leave It in the Past

Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/product/the-coral/388?algolia_query_id=0f18368442bc4c22b2dbe7694a9d4fea&algolia_object_id=57231693021515&algolia_index=shopify_prod_products&algolia_position=2#57231693021515

Review:

“In these days of indie nostalgia it’s easy to look back on the 00s as some kind of halcyon era. Truth be told, a lot of groups peddled the same stuff – military jacket clad three chord gruel, which didn’t really have a lot of substance beyond the guestlist for the Bull & Gate. Citing dub, gypsy jazz, Captain Beefheart, and lot 60s psych records as influences, The Coral stood out a mile. Not a lot of groups did that back; not a lot of groups do that now.

New album – their thirteenth – ‘388’ finds The Coral spinning the creative dials once more. Since their five-year hiatus in the 2010s the band have been on a rich run of form, with 2021 concept record ‘Coral Island’ reaching No. 2 on the charts – Simon Cowell didn’t stand a chance.

‘388’ is proof of the band’s enduring creativity and their determination to buck the norms. Informed by Jamaican rocksteady and Ethiopian jazz – in addition to their beloved psych and beat records – it shifts their palette while dialling down on their songwriting prowess.

A concise 11 tracks, opener ‘Let The Music Play’ is a joyous introduction, its ska-tinged offbeat matched to a super James Skelly vocal. ‘Ride That Train’ is wonderfully infectious, while the nimble upright bass and piano combo on ‘Leave It In The Past’ is superbly organic.

The analogue production is refreshing without seeming retro, giving the songs a natural gloss. Each part of left to breathe a little, the band operating with marked maturity. ‘You And Me (And The Beautiful Sea)’ is a whimsical festival singalong that pulls at the heartstrings, while the dancefloor-oriented ‘Shame’ offers up some old-school R&B with its snapping guitar strings.

The Liverpool band have also have a wistful, melancholic edge, something that comes to the fore on the Autumnal baroque pop number ‘Yellow Moon’ or the sultry doo wop of ‘Sad Girl’. There’s little, too – the neat ‘High Tide’ or the pirate skank that underpins ‘Spirit Catcher’.

Closing with ‘Crossing The Sands’, you’re left to marvel at both the changes and consistencies in The Coral’s musicality. The syncopated beat and reverb effect could sit on their debut, but everything is moved forward, dialled up a notch. It’s a lucky number thirteen for fans – The Coral remain a band to cherish.

8/10” – CLASH

FEATURE: Spotlight: Trim

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

  

Trim

__________

EVEN though there…

is another Rap artist called Trim, there is no one else like this queen! She has been compared to Nicki Minaj, which seems lazy. There is a slight physical resemblance, which might account for it. However, Trim is worlds apart. For a start, she is not a Donald Trump supporter, so she instantly is elevated above the once-reputable rapper! You need to see Trim as her own artist. Her story and music is very much her own and owes a debt to nobody. Having released and collaborated on some amazing singles this year, I guess there is this hankering for an E.P. or mixtape. Something fulsome from this wonderful artist. I am going to highlight some interviews with her, just so we can learn a bit more. Before getting to some interview, addressing that elephant in the room is important. Those lazy comparisons to Nicki Minaj. Trim has come out and slammed that comparison:

“Fast-rising rapper Trim is sharing her thoughts on fans calling her the new “Princess of Rap,” and she slams critics comparing her to Nicki Minaj. The 19-year-old Charleston, South Carolina rapper recently spoke with NME about her skyrocketing career.

From her breakout single “Boat,” to the remixes featuring YK Niece and BunnaB, and Pooh Shiesty, to her song “Nobody” featuring Monaleo to her viral track “Coconut Water,” Trim, born Ahlaisha Kornickey, continues to quickly climb the charts and stairs to stardom.

However, her catchy lyrics, unique look, theatrical and fast flow, and variable tone — stemming from her Gullah Geechee accent — have some people quickly comparing her to Nicki Minaj, who is known for her charismatic rap personality.

According to Trim, she has a hard time finding the similarities outside of both being female rappers. Trim told NME, “Honestly… I don’t really get it. ‘Coconut Water’ don’t sound nothing like nobody. Not even Beyoncé.”

During the interview, Trim also spoke about fans dubbing her the new “Princess of Rap.” She shrugged and said, “The fans are calling me it. When you’re around legendary people, they don’t even have to call you the ‘princess of rap’. That already stands.”

Despite her larger-than-life personality, Trim recalled being that “shy kid who grew up in Charleston, South Carolina.” Recalling her younger years, she said, “I was very to myself.” She said she was very envious of others around her who were more outgoing. She said, “Everybody around me had explosive personalities. I had to learn how to gain that.”

Despite being shy back then, she’s become grateful for the time she had to build her confidence. Before venturing into rap, Trim said she wasn’t chasing fame. She only wanted to “find her purpose” — which she ended up discovering through music”.

At only nineteen, Trim is a prodigious young rapper. Still so fresh and new, she already sounds so assured and complete. You can imagine, in a decade or so – when she will still be in her twenties -, she will be a modern legend. Someone inspiring women coming through. Let’s get to the first of two 2026 chats with this phenomenon Rap talent. Coconut Water is a single that received co-signs from, among others, Doechii. It would be amazing if they collaborated. South Carolina’s Trim spoke with Billboard, as they named her their up-and-coming Hip-Hop artist of this May. Someone already making an impact:

“From Grammy-nominated MCs like Jeezy to late ‘00s/early ‘10s icons like Lil Ru (“The Nasty Song”) and newer cats such as Dro Kenji, South Carolina has been an underrated hip-hop state for several decades now. Armed with an innately melodic Gulla Geechee accent, zany beat selection and a knack for endlessly quotable hooks, Trim is looking to be the latest South Carolina rapper to wave her state’s flag in the hip-hop mainstream.

Born Ahlaisha Kornickey, 19, Trim started rapping last year. She didn’t grow up scribbling bars in an old notebook, nor did she come up trying to memorize her favorite verses in the back seat, but she knew she needed to find her purpose. So, she started freestyling in her backyard, uploading clips to TikTok and quickly accruing a fanbase that rallied around early singles like “Maybach” and “Rocket.” Through developing her rapid-fire flow and bending her malleable accent to achieve different intonation effects, Trim found her voice — and quickly found an audience willing to listen to her.

“[I started rapping] so people could listen to me and so I could express my feelings for real,” she tells Billboard. “When you don’t have a lot of people that listen to you in real life, you might try to find your purpose by being around somebody who will listen to you.”

Last April, Trim teamed up with fellow ascendant South Carolina rapper Ashswervo for “Timbs,” the song that truly blew her up locally and helped her land a distribution deal with BuVision, the label founded by record executive Abou “Bu” Thiam and now operating in partnership with Atlantic Music Group. After closing out 2025 with a steady stream of standalone singles — including breakthrough single “Boat,” a guest appearance on Sunshine Benzi’s “Trump the Bill” and a remix of Monaleo’s “Putting Ya Dine” — Trim’s star skyrocketed at the top of the new year.

Just before Christmas, Trim tapped YKNiece and BunnaB, two Atlanta female rappers who broke out in 2025, for a remix to “Boat” that helped the song go from buzzy social media track to streaming hit. Also aided by a later Pooh Shiesty remix (one of the Memphis rapper’s few post-prison collaborations before getting back in trouble with the law), “Boat” has garnered over 33.5 million official on-demand U.S. streams in 2026, according to Luminate, good for a No. 48 debut on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.

At the top of 2026, Trim scored another viral hit with the score-settling, Arctic Monkeys-nodding “Floor.” She maintained that momentum with “Guapo,” and a pair of eye-catching collaborations: “Chröme” (with Slayr) and “No Trick” (with Luh Tyler). Each of those tracks was a necessary step to “Coconut Water,” a dark horse contender for this year’s breakout summer hip-hop smash. Built around a hook that immediately lodges itself in your brain, the summery song got its live debut during Trim’s Rolling Loud set earlier this month (May 10).

Though that performance exposed some of the difficulties of balancing an explosive rise with the time and care necessary to craft a consistent stage show, Trim’s Rolling Loud debut made one thing clear: she’s hungry and coming for it all. And comparisons to more established MCs — or mean-spirited social media takedowns — aren’t getting in her way.

Below, Trim chats with Billboard about her fast-approaching Pass the Tiara EP, Zara Larsson being her biggest current performance inspiration, and why she’s claiming the Princess of Rap title with her chest.

You call yourself the “Princess of Rap.” Why do you think you deserve that title?

Well, when you’re putting in work every day, and you actually have a passion for rapping instead of letting people give you handouts and write for you — that’s why I deserve it. I don’t ask for handouts.

How would you describe your creative process? What does a typical writing or studio session look like for you?

I think of what I want to do in the moment and how I feel, and I put that in my songs. I freestyle and write. When I’m selecting beats, I listen for claps and a tropical vibe. Something with substance; something people can relate to.

Everyone from Doja Cat to Doechii to Odeal is co-signing “Coconut Water.” Did that song feel special when you recorded it?

No, it just felt like me. When you make your own songs, you know it’s you. People get songs written for them, so they know it’s automatically a hit. But when you expect [the] unexpected, that’s when you have a better outcome. All these celebrities like my songs because they come from me, and they can feel me. That’s why celebrities are not supporting people [who] don’t write their own music; they can’t relate to it, and they can’t feel it.

How did “Coconut Water” come together?

I freestyled [the first pass] because I knew what the topic was going to be, but when I wanted to make a catchier verse — since I already had my hook — I went back and wrote one part.

You’ve worked with Pooh Shiesty, Sunshine Benzi and Luh Tyler. Who are some other collaborators on your wish list?

I don’t have a wish list anymore, but I would say Michael Jackson if he [were] here. [I had one at first], but artists tend to lose their worth and value. I really don’t care to work with anybody unless they want to work with me.

Who are your hip-hop heroes?

I don’t have none. My only hero is my mom. That’s it.

She understood what I was rapping about, and she pushed me to keep rapping about things that I normally don’t do in real life. Growing up and becoming a woman, it’s things that you’re going to participate in, so she allowed me to rap about that so I can become bigger instead of judging me [based on] what I rap about. She pushed me because she knows it will be beneficial.

I didn’t want my family to be a part of my team, because the music industry is stressful, and I don’t want their life to be stressful. I’d rather just go through it myself, and they get the gold from it. I’ve done research on the music industry since I was 17, before I started rapping. I studied what goes on, and things have been exposed. Why would I want to put my family through that? And you shouldn’t mix family with business, first of all. I’d rather do it with somebody [who] already has experience and [whom] I feel comfortable with.

You played a few local shows before your Rolling Loud debut. What was that experience like?

I book my own venues, and I allow my supporters to come because you gotta gain power. If you let people book your venues, they take a percentage of what’s yours. Why not build my own show, so when I get in arenas I can rent out a damn arena; Imma be making way more money instead of people taking cuts from me. That’s why I started doing my mini shows.

You’re very business-minded. Where do you think that comes from?

From doing research and seeing what people don’t do. When you see mistakes other people make, you know not to make them yourself. And when you see things that people aren’t doing, I do it myself. Because why aren’t you doing it?

Do you have that same approach when it comes to people trying to compare you to more established artists, particularly those in the female rap arena?

Back in the day, those artists were [developed] way older. They were like 25-30 and had the experience of being a woman and being a man to have a good vocabulary. I like to have bars and a good vocabulary, but I really don’t care about those things right now because I am younger and I made it way younger than most of them. Some people are using ChatGPT, and they’re not actually writing; people be cheating and looking on the Internet for bars.

I didn’t go to college, but I did graduate high school. I didn’t graduate high school the proper way, so I don’t have these big words, but I know I can get them in the future. When people compare me to artists older than me, it don’t even make sense. I was 19 when I made it. My brain isn’t even as developed as theirs just yet. But I take it as a compliment because that means I’m on their mind.

How do you define success? What are your long-term goals?

My long-term goal is to make my own Super Bowl performance and not depend on anybody else. I want to do it myself. Some people may see it as impossible, but you have to think impossible to make it possible.

Who are some South Carolina rappers that we should know?

My crew, YTN [Young Turnt Nation], with 01Wavey and TrapStaxrC. TrapStaxrC was on my song “Bad Ho’s,” and me and Wavey are gonna have a song. That’s the only people you should look out for. That’s the male version of me, honestly.

[Before I blew up], the rap scene in South Carolina was about living the fast life and being outside. The energy reminds me of people from outside of the country, like Mexicans and Africans, because it’s so free-willed with the dancing, not caring what other people think. That’s how the people are in Charleston; it’s not like in Miami or L.A., where people care about how the world perceives them. We have more freedom, and we’re not scared to do what we want.

What excites you most about this era of hip-hop?

I honestly feel like the people [who] are so-called the big dogs should look into starting a business so they won’t get washed up. If you keep releasing music and it [comes and goes] because your heart isn’t in it, why not start your own label and invest in other artists and give them the opportunity to be under your wing? They should let other people take over now because that’s what I would do. And I wouldn’t even wait so long to do it. If I was LeBron, I wouldn’t play till I was 40, because it’s getting washed up. I would be after my prime. But sports is a different conversation.

Would you ever sign to a major label?

Not right now, no, because I want to have my own freedom, and money isn’t the biggest thing for me”.

I can’t source any of this chat from FADER – as they stupidly and unwisely do not allow copy-and-pasting -, but you can read it here. She is, in their words, someone who is “leading the charge into a collaborative new era for female rap”. I will come to an interview I can source. This is from NME. This teen is someone with a very bright future. In a genre I still feel is misogynistic and favours male artist, Trim has this amazing confidence and strength that is inspiring. NME heralded “Charleston's shyest kids to rap's fastest-rising star, the 19-year-old is building a career on fearlessness, instinct and unwavering self-belief”:

“It’s a title that would seem wildly premature for an artist yet to release a debut album. Trim, however, doesn’t seem remotely fazed by it. “The fans are calling me it,” she shrugs. “When you’re around legendary people, they don’t even have to call you the ‘princess of rap’. That already stands.”

It makes for an interesting contrast to the person behind the persona. Before millions of streams, viral one-liners and being christened as rap royalty, Trim was known as Ahlaisha Kornickey, a self-described shy kid growing up in Charleston, South Carolina. Home life, she says, followed a familiar routine of waking up, doing what needed to be done at school and heading straight back home”.

Rather than chase quick hits, she wants to make records that stay with people long after the first listen, and that resonate with her listeners. The message she wants them to take from the upcoming record? “Don’t think that just because you’re not doing what you’re supposed to do right now, that you’re a nobody. You should always feel comfortable within yourself, but always want more.”

That mindset naturally seeped into the way she began making music a year and a half ago. Trim doesn’t agonise over every lyric, preferring to freestyle and chase instinct before refining songs later. It’s an approach shaped, in part, by Young Thug, whose willingness to treat his voice as another instrument fundamentally changed how she thought about rap. Listening to him “drag” and “sing” over feverish trap beats, she naturally adopted that sound, but, rather than imitate him, Trim took permission to experiment. Across songs like ‘Nobody’ and ‘Coconut Water’, she darts between melodies, elastic flows and different vocal inflexions without ever sounding tied to one style. “I’m not afraid to try nothing new,” she says simply.

PHOTO CREDIT: nastyjpeg

Spend even a few minutes talking to Trim, and one thing becomes immediately obvious: she doesn’t think small. Ask where she sees herself in five years, and the answer arrives without hesitation. “A superstar.” There’s no laugh and no attempt to soften the statement. Yet her definition of superstardom has little to do with celebrity. “Being a superstar is showing up,” she says. “A superstar shows up for their fans with no excuses. Having no fears. Going all in.” Whether she’s releasing music, stepping onto a stage beside her influences or quietly preparing her debut album, doubt simply doesn’t seem to exist in her vocabulary.

Ask what she wants five years from now and, for the first time during our conversation, Trim stops talking about the future of her career and starts talking about herself. “I want to be the best version that Ahlaisha never got to be,” she says. “Ahlaisha was scared. Ahlaisha was shy. Ahlaisha wasn’t explosive. Ahlaisha always had the confidence to try. She just didn’t try early enough.” She laughs, before adding: “My goals are self-goals. I’m not trying to be bigger than nobody. If it happens organically… I’m sorry”.

There may be some who have not discovered Trim. She is someone very much pushing her talent and ability. Not hiding. That self-belief is amazing. Though others need to spread the word. I do wonder if Trim will perform in the U.K., as I can’t see any dates in her diary. I do hope that she comes and performs here. Amazing that this nineteen-year-old modern-day genius of Rap is sounding so remarkably assured this early. I feel she will soon be ranked alongside the best Rap artists in the world. A genre still struggling with gender equality and how women are seen, queens like Trim, Doechii and their peers are charging forward and helping to change the climate. A big reason why we all need to…

SHOW Trim love and support.

____________

Follow Trim

FEATURE: Spotlight: Maya J'an

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

 

Maya J'an

__________

BACK in May…

Maya J’an released the E.P., blindfaith county. This Los Angeles artist is truly amazing and awe-inspiring. I am going to come to some interviews from this year. However, I do want to start with Warner Records and their press about someone that you really do need to know about. I am not sure whether she will visit the U.K. here. I hope that she does, as she is someone who would get a lot of love here:

“It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. When Maya J’an first emerged, she was quickly positioned as a frontrunner for the next R&B-pop princess. Two nationwide tours followed, along with placements on highly anticipated films and collaborations with hip-hop heavyweights. On paper, it was all perfect — the dream arc for a young singer from East L.A., seemingly destined for a career in music. And yet, none of it felt right. “It’s like, everyone loves a love song, but do they like a love song where you are sleeping on top of a pocket knife?” she jokes, describing the back-and-forth surrounding her early artist identity. “I think we don’t give people enough credit — they’re capable of listening to music that’s not just, ‘I love you.’” If tragedy leads to transformation, Maya’s evolution was forged in successive reckonings. The first arrived with the pandemic, when she severed ties with her debut label and its prescribed vision. She responded by retreating inward, working quietly behind the scenes as a songwriter for other artists. Five years later, the Los Angeles fires brought another rupture. Grappling with heartbreak, the 26-year-old wrote “cul-de-sac,” a haunting love letter to her ravaged hometown of Pasadena. The song is an emotionally precise, ethereal example of bedroom pop, premiered with an intimate TikTok performance, seated in over-the-knee socks in front of a chain-link fence. Immediately upon posting the clip began to circulate, and Maya J’an’s return to center stage became inevitable. “It’s so important for me to get out everything inside my brain,” she explains. “Music has become that for me again. I genuinely feel like a kid when I go back into the studio, which I didn’t know was ever possible to find again.” Writing came naturally to Maya from a young age. She began journaling at eight, a practice she maintains religiously to this day, and one that became the foundation of her lyricism. Her musical education was equally layered: nearly a decade behind a drum kit, fronting a family band, all while honing her molten vocals in competitive choirs. By 13, she had turned to songwriting, stitching together pop songs at the piano. “I would go home after working at this pizza place and write songs — starting with lines, words, or melodies from songs that I liked because I didn’t know how to write,” Maya laughs. “I remember walking to my job, just looking at the mountains in Santa Clarita, and thinking, I have to make [music] work.

I need to figure it out.” To her family of essential workers — her father a Los Angeles County SWAT sergeant — music felt not only nonessential, but impractical. To meet her father’s expectations for her education, Maya enrolled in a local community college — though she spent more time in the library than in class, obsessively listening to new music and tracking down its creators to share her own demos. After failing her first semester “miserably,” Maya asked her father for a year: if nothing miraculous came of her music, she would walk away. By 19, she had signed a major label deal, spending the next three years collaborating with the likes of Pharrell and touring alongside Summer Walker. “A lot of beautiful things happened [with that deal], but because I was so young when I signed, I always felt like I was kind of playing a character. I was supposed to do what I thought people wanted me to do.” One of Maya’s earliest writing sessions paired her with Aqyila, resulting in “Bloom” — a song that would go on to win multiple Juno Awards and affirm Maya’s instincts as a lyricist. That success led her here, to Maya J’an, alt-pop’s ascending sprite, who defies genre and tradition. “That session reminded me why I started this, why I even picked up my journal when I was eight, why I even sat down at the piano in my dad’s garage. It’s because we have feelings and thoughts we need to release.” Alongside the release of “cul-de-sac,” Maya J’an wants to spotlight and direct support towards Altadena Girls, the teen-led organization founded in the wake of the fires to support the neighborhood and surrounding communities. She felt the song’s release would feel incomplete without engaging the young leaders driving that work — especially as public attention shifts. It’s a collaboration, like the song itself, that signals Maya’s return to her roots: as a singer, a lyricist, and the child who learned to process trauma through the written word. Now, it finally feels like the right moment for the world to meet Maya J’an — and this time, she knows it’s ready. “We’re all human,” she emphasizes. “We’ve all experienced the same things. Now, I’m trying to infuse my identity into my work”.

The first of two interviews I am bringing in is from Good Call Music. They spoke with her around the release of the single, cul-de-sac, and how the song “traces back to Maya’s upbringing in Pasadena and the strange mix of nostalgia, grief, and tenderness that comes with seeing familiar places changed or gone”:

“Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us. What’s your hometown, and where are you currently based?

I grew up between Pasadena and Santa Clarita, California. Two places that look really calm and golden from the outside, but hold a lot of complicated feelings for me growing up. I’m based in Los Angeles now, but emotionally I’m still very tethered to those suburbs. They’re kind of the heartbeat of everything I make.

Does the city you live in shape your songwriting, consciously or subconsciously?

Completely. I think LA gives me the language of dreams and ambition, but the suburbs gave me the emotional texture. The quiet, the loneliness, the waiting, the way nothing and everything happens at once. A lot of my writing lives in that in-between space.

Who first introduced you to music in a way that really stuck with you?

My family. Music was always playing in the house — gospel, R&B, reggaeton, movie soundtracks. It wasn’t treated like something background or elite. It was something you felt with your whole body and screamed with your whole chest. My mom put me in drum lessons when I was 7 or 8. I did for a few years. I started writing my own songs around that time too. They weren’t very good.

Looking ahead, when can we expect a full-length album, and how involved are you in the production side?

Sooner than people think. I’m deeply involved, not just in the songwriting, but in the sonics, emotional and visual world around it. The album feels like a place you walk into, not just a collection of songs. A lot of my favorite artists are world builders, and I can’t imagine doing this any other way.

Are there any non-music creatives you’d love to collaborate with?

I love filmmakers and visual artists who create worlds. People like Petra Collins or anyone who treats images like poetry — Paul Thomas Anderson. I’m really interested in blending music with storytelling and film, those are the first two that come to mind, but there’s so many incredible filmmakers and visual artists I’ve put on my reference board this year!

What do you think are the biggest challenges facing artists right now as we move into 2026?

Keeping humanity. Being human in a system that wants constant output. It’s hard to make meaningful work when everything moves so fast. That’s kind of the reason why I stepped away from music, because I realized that I’m making my life’s work and I didn’t feel proud of it. Being an artist or any creative is such a task. You really have to not know what else to do with your life. The greatest gift I think we can give ourselves is being imperfectly human as we tell our stories. Hopefully along the way comes great art”.

Let’s move to The Independent Creative and their interview with Maya J’an. Again, centred around cul-de-sac, “the pandemic severed ties with her debut label, prompting a pivot to songwriting. Five years and a Juno-winning co-write later, the Los Angeles fires inspired “cul-de-sac,” a haunting love letter to her ravaged hometown. Premiering on TikTok, the song’s enthusiastic reception confirmed her instincts, and made Maya’s return to center stage inevitable”:

“You describe your song “cul-de-sac” as a love letter to your hometown. What does the song mean to you personally?

That song is really emotional for me. I poured a lot of memories into it, and it was actually hard to write. I’m really excited to share my music, especially my writing style. I can get very detailed, and I usually write songs like they’re pages from a diary. “cul-de-sac” feels like my most vague song, and I think that’s because it was such a hard thing to put into words. At the beginning of last year, a family member’s house burned down in the fires. Three houses were damaged, and one was completely gone. It was a multi-generational home, so we had so many childhood memories there. It was a really strange and heavy time for my family. I’m very sentimental and nostalgic, so it paralyzed me for a while. About a month later, after I had been sitting with everything, I went into a session with my producer, Jonas Jurström. I told him what I had been going through and said I wanted to create something that felt like being inside a memory. That’s where “cul-de-sac” came from.

There’s a real vulnerability in your voice. It made me wonder, as a singer-songwriter, how does it feel to expose yourself like that?

My only goal is to show up as authentically as I can. It’s funny, when I dropped my last single, “pocket knife,” I literally lay in the fetal position on my bed because I felt so exposed. As a writer, I’m not hiding behind anything. I’m choosing to be honest and not add any frills to make it more digestible. It really is just my diary. I also try to write for myself first. There are times when I play songs for friends, family, or the label, and I catch myself digging my fingers into my legs like, oh god. But that’s how I know those songs are meant to come out. It’s because they mean so much to me. I want to look back and know I gave real pieces of myself. The artists I connect with most are the ones who feel pure and transparent in their writing. The Mitskis, the Lanas. Angel Olsen, Father John Misty. That kind of honesty.

I’d love to talk a little more about “pocket knife.” I can share what I took from it, and you can tell me if I’m completely off? When I listened to it, I felt this sense of playing with fire. It felt like a story about loving someone who embodies risk. The line about “sleeping on a pocket knife, dreaming about your life” gave me this feeling of being with someone who feels a little unsafe, but who’s also very intoxicating. You choose to fall in love.

I love hearing how you interpret it. It’s really close to how I intended it. “pocket knife” is a story about trust. Can we have love without trust, and can you have trust without love? Are they interconnected? Is it a package deal? I’ve always had trust issues. “pocket knife” is just me saying, “I love you. I see things with you, but I’m already preparing myself for you to stab me in the back. If you do that, I’m going to be prepared and stab you back.” Emotionally, of course, not physically. “pocket knife” is just a story of love and trust. You can have either one without the other. Whenever I trust someone, that’s how I know I love them. Whereas love can be a little harder to define. I could love someone and not trust them… Love is such a complex thing, but trust is explainable. It comes with its own set of rules.

Where do you see yourself in five years? You don’t need to be humble about it. It’s not that kind of interview.

I definitely see myself with a handful of Grammys. I see myself writing for myself and other friends, constantly in the studio and inspired, traveling with Ms. Yoko, my dog. And happy”.

I am going finish up with a review of blindfaith county from Ladygunn and their words on an incredible E.P. I am definitely going to follow Maya J’an closely and see where her career takes her. An artist who stays in the head and heart the minute you hear her music:

“Maya J’an finally opens the doors to her personal universe with the release of her long-awaited debut EP, “blindfaith county,” under the Soulpower Records/Warner Records label. This work is an immersive mini-opus where warm analog instrumentation and rich sonic textures complement lyrics that feel intimate and as vast as a cinematic dream.

The heart of this six-track project is the standout single “depends,” a folk-infused rock piece that showcases Maya’s most vulnerable side to date. The artist strips away external stimuli to focus on the internal psyche, exploring the uncertainty of starting each day without knowing if she will feel overwhelmed or inspired by the outside world. It is a journey through the complexity of our inner selves where, as she explains, “blindfaith county” is the place where you believe in something without knowing why, romanticizing every tick of the clock while waiting for a sign.

Although Maya has already proven her worth in the major leagues of songwriting, the arrival of this EP marks her artistic consolidation, as it is not something that emerged from nowhere. Before taking the lead, Maya collaborated with figures of the caliber of Pharrell, SAINT JHN, and Justine Skye, in addition to writing “Bloom” by Aqyila, winner of Contemporary R&B Recording of the Year at the 2025 JUNO Awards. It was precisely the fervent support of her followers after sharing a sketch of her hit “cul-de-sac” that pushed her to carve out a space of her own as a performer.

The path toward this debut has been paved by a series of critically acclaimed singles. From the nostalgia of “cul-de-sac,” an ode to her hometown, Pasadena, to the hauntingly idyllic “pocket knife,” which led outlets like Sweety High to name her a must-watch artist, and the reflective “new june,” Maya has built a solid foundation that already surpasses millions of streams.

With “blindfaith county,” Maya J’an delivers a musical project that invites us to inhabit her world. It is an aesthetic and emotional statement that balances softness and tension, stillness and release. In this way, we discover a formidable songwriter finally stepping into her own spotlight, proving that the most powerful alternative pop comes from a place of deep honesty”.

I shall wrap here. I am intrigued and amazed by Maya J’an. Having heard her E.P., I do wonder if she will release an album down the line. We would love to see her perform in the U.K., as I feel she would find a great deal of support here. It is clear that the future is very bright for…

A supreme talent.

____________

Follow Maya J'an

FEATURE: Spotlight: Brennan Wedl

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

 

Brennan Wedl

__________

IF you are new…

to the tremendous Breannan Wedl, then you really need to check out her music. This is an incredible U.S. artist who fuses Grunge and Country. A tremendous combination. Her eponymous album is released on 26th August. I am going to start with an interview from UCL Radio. A fantastic artist that I am new to, I am looking forward to her album coming out:

“Brennan Wedl is a Nashville-based singer-songwriter known for her distinct “grungetry” (that is, grunge and country) sound. They recently announced their upcoming album, Brennan Wedl, set to release August 21. Despite only recently signing to ANTI- Records for her self-titled record, Wedl is far from a music industry newbie.

Back in 2016, she co-founded the punk rock, queercore band Dazey and the Scouts, whose singular, angst-ridden album, Maggot, amassed online virality during the COVID-19 pandemic, despite the group disbanding in 2018. Lesser known than The Scouts is Brennan Wedl’s solo project, where they’ve been releasing tracks under their own name since 2019.

Wedl’s solo discography strikes a markedly different chord, distinguished by country influences and their raw, twangy vocals. Still, Wedl’s punk past endures in their personal ethos as well as their music, often incorporating noisy guitar riffs, distortion, and defiant lyricism — hence the “grungetry” label. Featuring production by alternative Americana act Waxahatchee (Katie Crutchfield) alongside indie rocker Snail Mail (Lindsey Jordan) on guitar, Brennan Wedl masterfully interweaves these seemingly opposing influences.

Wedl’s unique persona embodies her multifaceted sound. Her style, sporting a bleach-blonde pixie cut and tattooed sleeves, lends to an intimidatingly cool aura, but her charismatic charm and down-to-earth approachability betray this façade. Both parts cool and authentically kind, Brennan Wedl is well-equipped to become the alt folk scene’s next indie darling.

Dylan: I think that’s also something really interesting: this rising grungetry, alt folk wave with Wednesday, Jake, Katie, Geese– a lot of artists like you, but also with so many other distinct sounds. I think it’s interesting how it’s like– I don’t want to say “co-opting,” because I feel like there’s always been a lot of anti-establishment roots in folk and country artists — it’s not just the patriotic, MAGA stereotype that a lot of people think of when they think of country music — but I do think it’s interesting that there is such a strong movement now to more alternative folk scenes, with people that are so outspoken about Palestine and being queer and all these things that seem to be “incompatible” with Southern culture or American culture. I think that’s just a really interesting sentiment, hearing you say that as well, like wanting to have that tie-in of social justice in your art.

Brennan: Totally. You said it so well, that folk music is about sending your message. Storytelling. Punk music is storytelling– It’s all storytelling, and the stories we tell are really important. I’m realizing that more and more, and I think it’s our duty as artists to really be in touch with our hearts and our communities and work together to be the ones that change things. Because we can. The government isn’t gonna save us; we save us.

Dylan: Very true. And music has always been the tool for bringing people together, as long as humans have existed, and that’s what folk music is about. It’s about tradition and community, and I think that’s really cool to like almost [go] against that stereotype of what mainstream country music has become, especially to have more alternative people — AKA not straight white cis male people — telling those stories as well, because it kind of shows like the idea of America shouldn’t be incompatible with queerness and alternative cultures and stuff. This is such a random reference that just came to mind, but I love the movie Brokeback Mountain, because it really subverts the idea of the strong masculine cowboy [with] homosexual men being associated with femininity and the opposite of masculinity– The way that that film kind of subverts those two different identities and shows that these are the same people, we’re all Americans, we’re all cowboys, you know?

Brennan: I love that.

Dylan: It also makes sense, [the] tidbits of noise rock and grunge that like bleed through your songs, even as you’ve taken this more like Americana direction. [Punk and Americana] seem so different, but [they’re] really not.

Brennan: They like merge so well. Seeing a live show with both of those components [is] so cool: full band rocking, and then solo acoustic. It’s chef’s kiss.

Dylan: And I love that both of those things can exist in the same album, much less the same person. Listening to your record, it definitely explores both of those worlds, and I think you guys did a really good job of having that through line and incorporating all those elements in a way that sounds very consistent [and] thematic.

Brennan: Thank you. We set out to find the marriage between punk and Americana, and I’m just so, so happy we found somethin’.

Dylan: I know some of the songs on this upcoming self-titled album have already been released as singles in the past, but it sounds like all of them have been re-recorded for the album. How did the overall recording process go? Did you find that any of your older songs changed significantly? And over what span of time did you write these songs?

Brennan: I think the oldest song is probably “Scorpio.” I started writing it like eight years ago, and that’s the song that I have the most versions of. There’s like four to five different studio recordings of “Scorpio.” I think [in] bringing back some of the singles, our intent was I didn’t want them to live in singles world forever; I wanted them to live in a body of work. So they aren’t super different at all, but they live in the same world as the self-titled album. I love both versions so much. And just the creative freedom to say, “F*ck it, let’s do a new version of this old song,” was something I didn’t realize I could do. Katie was like, “Have you ever thought about bringing some of these old ones back?” And I was like, “No, but I like this idea.” So their titles are now like “Scorpio (Album Version),” “Fake Cowboy (Album version).” The old ones will still live online, because I love them, and they’re absolutely a part of my artist journey. I can’t imagine taking those away, because they’ve been out for so long, but it’s just like a creative exercise to see how we can reframe these old songs to put them in this new album. It was really fun.

Dylan: That makes perfect sense, and especially for this being your self-titled album, too. I don’t think it’s at all thematically off-base to bring back old songs and be like, “This is me, over a span of years,” and seeing those changes in your solo artistry throughout the album itself.

Brennan: Totally. I think there’s a few years difference in between the recordings of “I Wanna Be Your TV” and “2 Dollar Pistol,” et cetera. So hearing the time pass through the different versions is time travel, personally”.

I am going to move to Paste and their conversation with the unique and utterly brilliant Brennan Wedl. They urged one to inquire within if you like “Sheryl Crow singing punk songs, growing up Catholic in the Midwest, transcontinental DIY heroes, and queer Geminis”:

“Nashville is Wedl’s home now, but Boston still rents a big room in her heart. “When we work together, great things are possible,” she says of her scene there. “I was shown, time and time again, that we can really influence each other and help each other when we cheer for each other and we want our friends to win.” It’s not the full picture of the Boston music community, but Wedl’s experience was always collaborative, before the Great Scott was turned into a Taco Bell Cantina. “There were a lot of band members in multiple bands. People were going to shows. People were going out. Everybody was eager to see music. It was a beautiful time for that.”

They call Nashville a ten-year town, though TikTok has probably made it more like a five-year town. “It’s been quite Saturnian down here,” Wedl laughs. “There’s a sense of collaboration here, too, where, if you want to go for it, you go to Dino’s, you get a hamburger, you sit down, and you talk about it.” A lot of people there are doing some version of what Wedl is doing, and there’s a camaraderie in that. Your coworkers at your day-jobs are musicians. “I’ve played shows with coworkers, bosses, people I’ve met at the YMCA,” she adds. “It can be very cute, very kind. It’s been good to me so far.” She was curious about everything at the beginning, trying on a bunch of hats. Wedl tried commercial country co-songwriting, which she says required her to leave her insecurities at the door and be okay with hearing “no.” Now, she finds more joy in writing songs with friends in their home studios, and a few of those songs wound up on Brennan Wedl. “I think it works best for me when I approach it through friendship rather than through a mindset of ‘we’re going to the top with this one.’”

The rollout for Brennan Wedl began in 2024, when Wedl started sharing singles like “2 Dollar Pistol,” “Fake Cowboy,” and the aforementioned “Scorpio”—none of which sound alike. That was intentional. “I try not to write the same song twice,” she says. “Maybe in the future I’ll have an album where I do the exact reverse of it, but I’m a Gemini. I love the hats. I’m not trying to jump around genres. I’m trying to have a throughline, and that is the emotion.” Those singles were a good litmus test for connecting with people and playing live. It was empowering for Wedl, even if she never stays anywhere for too long. “Kudzu” didn’t make the record, because Wedl felt like it “wasn’t part of the world I’m working in now,” but it’s always going to show up in her live sets.

Snail Mail’s Lindsey Jordan is a presence is felt on Brennan Wedl. She brings unmistakable guitar chops to “Pretty Little Fantasy” and “Tasmanian Devil.” The tone is fairly incredible on the latter. Wedl says there was very little brainstorming or direction. “She came over one afternoon, when we had maybe four more days of tracking left out of ten,” Wedl remembers. “The feeling of the album was really there. We played her a few songs, and Brad was like, ‘Do you want to play some?’ And she said, ‘I mean, yeah.’ We started with ‘Tasmanian Devil,’ and she did that lead line. It completely reframes the song in a way that speaks to the improvisational nature of her playing. She came in and did some magic.”

Jordan also helped get Wedl’s music in front of Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield, texting her the song “I Wanna Be Your TV.” After “2 Dollar Pistol” dropped, Crutchfield shouted Wedl out on a Nashville radio show. A few DMs and emails later and they were hanging out at Homestate in Los Angeles. “Katie is such a timeless creative force,” Wedl beams. “To be in that orbit is endlessly inspiring.” Crutchfield was in the crowd during Wedl’s Paste set a year ago, singing and swaying along.

Wedl co-produced her new album with Crutchfield and indie super-producer Brad Cook. They brought an X-factor to the album, Wedl says: cohesion. “They were able to see my blind spots and identify things that were in the garden but weren’t getting the water they needed. They were in the garden with me, putting their gloves on and going through the dirt and helping me make a bouquet.” Wedl needed people like that, people who encouraged her to plunge deeper into her songwriting psyche. “They really saw me.” Wedl has coined her work as “grunge-try,” harnessing all her sides: punk, Americana, blues, and country. Crutchfield and Cook listened to her earlier works and wanted to marry those together. “It’s important to be very clear about what you want out of a recording,” Wedl says. “We spent a lot of time before tracking making sure we were all on the same page. We weren’t making a country album. We weren’t making a rock album. We were making something that could be all those things. I love to rock. I really do. But, sometimes, I don’t give enough credit to the quieter parts of my musicality.”

It’s one thing to say, “I want to make this album for you,” but Crutchfield and Cook also said, “We want you to play these songs on the road with us,” inviting Wedl to open for them on their recent national tour with MJ Lenderman. For a month, she workshopped her boldest work to new audiences, telling stories about the Midwest and Boston and Nashville in-between expertly sequenced confessionals. “I became fascinated by the difference between someone’s speaking voice and their singing voice,” she says. “I’ve always loved hearing artists talk. I’ve also fallen in love with Neil Young’s live albums because he’s constantly going off on tangents and making people laugh. I think storytelling adds another layer to the live show. I have a lot I want to share. You can personalize the experience. Make it one-of-one.” I ask her how monumental that gesture from Crutchfield and Cook was, and she doesn’t hesitate to call it priceless. “It’s instilled so many life lessons. One of the biggest ones is that I have this confidence in my thoughts and feelings more so than ever. It showed me that life itself can be a creative act.”

Almost seven years have passed since Wedl released Holy Water Branch. “How did you find the patience to let this record come when it was truly ready?” I ask her, thinking about our current music culture, which puts so much value in instant gratification. “That’s been the affirmation on the sticky note on my bathroom mirror for the last seven years: trust the timing,” she says, before clarifying: “I have not been patient. I think it’s been factors beyond my control, and maybe divine factors too, saying, ‘We’re going to kick this down the road a bit, or you’re going to have a mental breakdown.’ Life was happening, and I was growing and learning—gathering the intel to be prepared for this.” Wedl reveals to me that, if these opportunities had happened to her in her early twenties, she’s not sure she would have had the tools to be mentally okay with them. She’s spent this decade of her life working on self-preservation, preserving that spirit of her fifth-grade self learning to play guitar. COVID was definitely a factor, but she quickly figured out that listening to her body, her mind, and her spirit mattered more than what the industry might have expected from her.

Spirituality has always been a big part of Wedl’s life and her music. One of the first things she revealed about herself in our interview was that she was brought up Catholic, which was a major theme on Holy Water Branch especially. Now, it’s become an unbridled, unapologetic trust in her shadow—in the things that used to be sins when she was little. “I think becoming friends with the God of my own design—influenced by paganism and Catholicism—has really helped me take charge of my life. It’s helped me dream and helped me learn that the fruits are most delicious when everybody gets to eat them.” The community part of organized religion—the gathering—is now the central guiding force in her creative soul. “We’re gathering at concerts. We’re gathering in studios. We’re gathering to rehearse. Life is a big question mark, and I think together we get a lot more clarity when we talk about the harder, necessary things… when we’re able to use our talents for good, to bring the light in”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Daniel Topete

Brennan Wedl has a following here in the U.K. I think, when her new album arrives later this month, there will be more demand and fans heading her way. At the moment, she has tour dates in the U.S. heading into late-autumn. It would be great if she played here at some point. I am going to end with The Guardian and their interview. Laura Snapes asking the questions. The singer-songwriter explored “how sobriety and self-analysis powered her classic new Waxahatchee-produced album”:

“Music also helped Wedl see herself more clearly. Her album’s rockiest moment, Pretty Little Fantasy, attacks perceptions of her as “somebody’s daughter … prim and proper”. Growing up as the eldest and only girl, she says, “I wanted to be so helpful, and I think girls are taught that a lot. But then I was introduced to riot grrrl and Marina Abramović and disgraced women throughout history, and it took most of my 20s to come to the conclusion that I was still carrying the self-imposed life’s work of being delightful, and that doesn’t help anyone – actually, it really hurts me. I think ‘delightful’ is the mask I wore out of not dealing with my own shit – and so if I was a delight, no one would have to investigate further.”

On stage, Wedl cultivated being “dead serious about having fun – the ambition to live the life I want”. It filtered into the rehearsal space, then her everyday confidence. Recently, she was reminiscing on an earlier version of her solo project. “There was an upright bass player and an electric bass player because I didn’t want to hurt someone’s feelings by saying they couldn’t play,” she says, laughing. “I’m sure that sounded horrible!” That was 10 years ago now. “Being the leader of a band is a constant crash course in people-pleasing, self-assuredness and respect, and I’m so grateful that I get to learn these huge life lessons through music.”

She also credits “various 12-step programmes” with breaking these moulds. “Twenty-one has found me sober,” she sang on her last album, 2019’s Holy Water Branch. “A lot of my life boils down to: how do my daily habits make up who I am?” she says. “When I was drinking, I was really focused on the next time I was gonna do that, who was gonna be there – this mental obsession with the wrong things.” Quitting drinking didn’t erase her problems, but it made them clearer. She realised she had become someone who wasn’t writing, neglecting “this shortcut for when I couldn’t really explain what’s on my heart to others; I could explain it to my guitar and to my journal.”

Go and follow Brennan Wahl. Her eponymous album comes out on 21st August. I am new to her, though I have a feeling this is an artist who will grow and grow and play some enormous dates and major festivals. In the new U.K., perhaps she is less well-known, but her fan numbers are increasing here. Do go and follow…

THIS amazing artist.

____________

Follow Brennan Wedl

FEATURE: Spotlight: Hyd

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

 

Hyd

__________

I will end…

with a review of the extraordinary new album from Hyd. Hold onto Me Infinity is one of the most extraordinary albums of the year for a stunning talent everyone should know about. Many already know about Hyd, though I don’t think there is the same awareness in the U.K. (they have a date here in October) as there is in their native U.S. They are Hayden Frances Dunham, an American performance artist, designer, singer, songwriter and D.J.. They  grew up in Austin, Texas. There are interviews with Hyd from this year I want to come to. They were in conversation with Tourmaline for 032c. I am not including the entire thing, though there are aspects and part of the conversation that I am compelled to include:

“On the eve of the release of Hold Onto Me Infinity, Hyd was joined in conversation by activist, artist, filmmaker, and writer Tourmaline, who recently published Martha (2025), the first expansive biography on Marsha P. Johnson. Coming seven years after Happy Birthday, Marsha! (2018), the artist’s short film made in collaboration with Sasha Wortzel, the book is a continuation of Tourmaline’s two-decade research commitment to the life of the activist, performer, and cornerstone of the historic 1969 Stonewall Uprising and the subsequent founding of organizations such as the Gay Activists Alliance (GAA), the Gay Liberation Front (GLF), and the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR). Equally an extension of the visual work she’s shown at the Whitney and Venice Biennales, and in solo and group presentations at Kunsthalle Brandhorst, MASP Sao Paulo, MUDAM Luxembourg, MASS MoCA, the Tate Modern, and Chapter New York over the years, Marsha reflects the expansive, care-based practice of its author, as it does her conversation partner, Dunham.

Tourmaline: Are there particular tracks where you feel that in this album? Or, do you think a root system extends throughout the entire album?

Hyd: Making this body of work has been this incredible scaffolding for me to move through this time. Clearing operated in the same way. I made Clearing in a calm time in my life, but whenever it touched the air, it felt like a past version of me made it for a future version of me.

Hold Onto Me Infinity holds that for me too. [It’s] the thing that has been supportive of me connecting with and celebrating what it is to have a body. And as you know Tourmaline, I have not always been like this. I feel like I have been more in an airspace, an in-between space, or not fully embodied.

PHOTO CREDIT: Bobbi Salvör Menuez

Tourmaline: Do you feel like you can pinpoint any “aha” moments—I remember the end of 2019 was a moment where I was like, oh, everything is vibrational, and it was so overwhelming—for this place that you’re in now?

Hyd: 2016 is when I first started working on this song “Makeover.” The song came through really fast. Some of the lyrics are about becoming new again, like “1-800, this ain’t working at all.” There was a moment where I needed to be reminded that anything can change at any moment, towards expansion and and towards feeling really.

Then, strangely, almost 10 years later, I found the files for this song, opened them and found these additional lyrics that I had written in 2016 with SOPHIE. They were about moving between timelines. Like, after we leave Earth, do we get to come back again? Is life in that way we knew before complete, or do we get to change forms again? And I realized that this song wasn’t about a physical makeover. It was about, on a soul level, being able to come back again. This was a real lightning moment for me where I realized that, again, we’re not held into one specific timeline. We get to be more expansive than our singular one form.

That’s when I realized that this body of work had actually already come through. I had already received it. It was done. I just had to let it go, have soft hands, and trust and surrender to the process. Those surrender moments where you don’t know but you just choose to trust—that’s when really strange, freaky things can happen. And I think all this work is a teacher where I get to be a student listening and trying to be more sensitive. It’s not like a fantasy or something like that. It’s a real thing that is happening, Earth-side and beyond.

I have a question for you now. Something that I have witnessed you do over and over again throughout our friendship is having a wild vision and bringing it into the physical. Is there a practice that you have [for this]?

Tourmaline: What I found is, if I can conjure the emotion, everything else fills in around it. And that sounds so vague, but if I can have feeling, the whole thing speeds up. That’s really my process. How about for you?

Hyd: I’m having that experience right now with the album. I have never been naturally gifted, or there are a lot of things that I had never been before that I then became by just doing them. Sometimes the fear of not doing something right or well can keep you from doing it, but the practice of being willing to see yourself in a way that you haven’t before—and the way that you know is true, that is resonant on a deep level but can’t be seen—just becomes. That is true of this body of work, where sometimes you just have to keep moving through with faith, with holding the vision when it’s not clear to other people. It’s interesting to try to consolidate it into language because it’s this thing outside of language.

Tourmaline: It’s like a gardener having faith that the seed is going to turn into a fully-formed, beautiful flower. It’s a leap of faith, the belief that just because it hasn’t happened before or we weren’t living it before doesn’t mean that we can’t usher it in right now. I was having the same thought when I got out of the shower this morning, about the difference between where I was and where I am right now. So much of that [difference] is in just doing the thing even when it’s bad, or getting that first draft done, or showing up on set.

Hyd: 100%. At some point that seed will be able to push through the ground and touch the sun. You’re bringing the water to the seed, but also rain happens—there’s a part of it that you don’t have to do, that you just trust”.

Prior to coming to a review of the extraordinary experience that is Hold onto Me Infinity, METAL spent some time with a multi-hyphenated talent who is absolutely wonderful. I hope they grow a larger fanbase here, as so many should see Hyd perform. I am not sure if they are performing in the U.K. later this year:

“Across twelve carefully balanced songs, the sound becomes a kind of sensory physics: something designed not only to be heard, but to be felt at a cellular level - as in Light Span, an emotional limbo - where vibration replaces distance and listening becomes a bodily event. It’s a record shaped by questions that hover between metaphysics and embodiment: where do people go after they leave, and what does that absence feel like: buoyant, weightless, or somehow still present in another form? These are not abstract speculations so much as felt inquiries - as in Make Me Believe - approached from inside the body and mind, where listening becomes a way of sensing what cannot be seen. It is almost like developing a conceptual system for relating to what is no longer here.

Dunham’s sense of connection - as heard in Freak - and collaboration runs through the album, where relationships persist beyond physical proximity or even presence. Watch You Cry explores the act of witnessing emotion in others. Moments shared with SOPHIE remain active within the work, sometimes difficult to return to, yet still carrying a charge, like a voice suspended in time that continues to speak. Makeover becomes a kind of contemporary archival artifact of internet and pop culture history. Hyd describes the album as a multisensory dialogue, where the boundaries between seeing, hearing, and feeling begin to dissolve.

The record unfolds as an environment in motion, alive with echoes of collaboration and shared worlds built alongside artists including Benny Long, Saint Patrick, Finn Keane, Tjörvi, Marcus Andersson, Michael Bailey-Gates, Bobbi Salvör Menuez, and many others, each contributing to an ecosystem that is as relational as it is sonic. In conversation, Dunham returns again and again to the act of listening: as attention, as contact, as a way of staying close to what cannot be held. We are then transported into a space of discovery, a psychological surface where things can be felt differently.

Their concurrent exhibition Never Is Over, on view at Company Gallery in New York until the 13th of June, stages this directly: voices held in fragile vessels, light-sensitive materials that only reveal themselves through rupture, and sonic frequencies that seem to exist at the edge of perception. Together, these works suggest a continuous loop between presence and absence, as if each form is always becoming another.

What follows is an interview, taking place just before their North American tour, that traces these connections and references from Sally Ride to The Neverending Story, from their incredible method of verifying that you are indeed a freak to the significance of chocolate chip cookie buttons; between the intimate act of listening and the possibility that nothing, once felt, ever fully leaves.

Your new album is about to be released into the world. I’ve had the chance to listen to it and was completely blown away. The first thing that stood out to me was the production: it feels like a very particular kind of sound architecture, which is quite difficult to achieve nowadays within experimental or alternative pop soundscapes. How happy are you with the final result?

It’s kind of a miracle that it’s here to me. I was really close to putting it into a vessel and burying it in the ground, but somehow we’re here now.

There’s a huge sense of depth throughout the album: not just in its layers, but in something almost ethereal. There are so many details: the delicate percussion in both Freak and Make Me Believe, the synths in Take Care of Me, the textures in Light Span. What was the process of curating the album’s sonic world like?

It started with adding a matchstick to volcanic gas, leading to an air-forward bubbling up from underlayers of the earth. The bouncing kept getting bigger until it was more bodied and brash, even. But the truth about these big drums is that inside is a pretty soft and even tender voice. I wanted the sonic palette to be big but really, on a cellular level, make people vibrate. Or want to vibrate. I guess the sound could be described as alive.

“I love thinking about where people go after they leave here. If it is actually buoyant and bright, or does it feel weightless? Expansive or something else?”

In Freak, there’s a really compelling narrative about connecting with someone, whether as friendship or something deeper. It has so many layers of meaning, and I can clearly see a queer interpretation of it, especially in the way language and labels are reclaimed or transformed. What can you tell us about this song?

Yes. First off, I love freaks. Anyone who feels like they aren’t from around here, or haven’t found a way to connect into whatever is going on earthside. This song is about that moment where you think you find someone else who is like you, but in order to be sure you might have to look to a series of clues and receive help from a past or future version of yourself.

In my case, this song takes place in Texas, in high school, with my first crush, and realising that the only way I could be close to her was through proxies like becoming the boy she was kissing in her car. Or becoming the cake she delivered to my room at 4 am with a Flannery O’Connor story baked inside. The video, made with my dear friend Kelly McCormick, features a version of me as a quantum time-travelling villain helping out a past version of me to locate secret intel. Making this video felt like a rehearsal for the rest of my life in pure joy.

The video is fantastic. Watching it and reading about your work made me think about your solo art show at Company Gallery in New York. I was wondering how parallel the development of the exhibition and the album were, and if they influenced one another creatively.

It’s pretty wild: Hold Onto Me Infinity and Never Is Over happening at the same time. I love multisensory dialogues, when you get a taste in your mouth of something you’re looking at. When sound you hear becomes a texture you can see. Both bodies of work are extensions of this research.

In Never Is Over, your solo exhibition, unassuming vessels placed throughout the gallery contain recorded voices of the departed who have some connection to you. The accompanying text explains: “These sounds can only be heard if the objects themselves are broken open, the light-sensitive contents inside are unlocked by the sun, and the voices set free.” What has the response to this piece been like so far?

I love it when people spontaneously start crying. I mean, in all circumstances, I just love it. At the opening, I hid in the dark and watched people experiencing the piece, and this kind of stuff is something I love about exhibitions. You really get to use all senses to make something new. I worked with Saint Patrick on the score and the sound of black holes, and also people's voices who I love who are no longer here.

Then, the song with the same title on the album contains this verse: “Left me in a cloud of doubt / Even though you're not here / I still see you laughing at the piano / Saying 'it's okay to cry' / In the way that it's over / Never is really over.” When I looked up the lyrics more closely, it suddenly clicked, and I realised the song is about SOPHIE. It’s incredibly beautiful. In that sense, Makeover is not just a standout moment on the album, it feels like a piece of internet and pop culture history. If I'm correct, you worked on this song with SOPHIE, and it was first heard in Washington, D.C. around 2016. Listening to it now feels like a treat for many reasons, one of them being how incredible the two of you sound together. It's not the first time we've heard your collaborations, but this one feels especially fitting within Hold Onto Me Infinity. What was it like working with her on this song?

We started Makeover at home in LA one morning. Usually she would go out for a coffee and bring me back a chocolate chip cookie button. This morning I had been in sass level ten mode (aka almost lethal levels of sass) and said to her, ‘1-800, this ain’t working, at all,’ about her days-long open suitcase on the floor, and she started laughing, and that was the catalyst for the song. This kind of stuff was a big part of how we communicated.

The lyric “Are those your clothes sprawled out across the floor?” was also the landscape of our bedroom at the time. We had been in LA for maybe a year, and there was this idea about becoming new. Like that we get to choose to be a new version of ourselves at any time. And maybe that can happen through new choices or new practices or new things aka “New car, new body, new activewear, new everything…" but really Makeover held this other note. That at any moment you could make yourself new again.

Later, the lyrics became more broad strokes: do we get to return here again to earth, or do we only get one life here, or “do we get more,” as in can we come back again to earth after we leave. This was a special fixation for me for reasons I didn’t understand at the time, but then now I understand why.

Sometime last year, I was driving to meet her brother Benny Long, who is also a brilliant producer, and the Notes app on my phone from that original session appeared. I had just locked my car and thought, oh wow. And as I scrolled down, I saw the second verse. Sometimes I have a hard time going back into these spaces SOPHIE and I made together because it holds so much for me, but getting to hear her voice in that session really carries me. Sometimes in sessions when I open them, I can hear her laughing too just after a recording or things like that. It feels like a present hidden in time for this moment right now. That, or I choose to see it that way.

You're about to tour North America and present the album live. How are rehearsals going? Given your wider artistic practice, how have you approached conceiving the live show?

The live show might be my favourite part of making music. I love being in a room together singing. Rehearsals have involved vaporised metal, flashlights and clean white socks. I hope I can pull it off. There’s this element of going so far beyond what is physically possible that I almost can't do it that really gets exciting to me.

Looking back at your debut EP in 2021, how do you feel about the work you've developed over the last few years?

It feels like a conversation I have been having for years now that is held in a sonic format. Some of it was with SOPHIE, some of it was with myself, but a lot of it is with the universe at large. For a while it was just for me, but I feel really honored to get to share it with other people. I love my collaborators so much: SOPHIE, Benny Long, Hudson Mohawk, Finn Keane, Saint Patrick, Tjörvi, Chris Lyons, Marcus Andersson, Michael Bailey-Gates, Tourmaline, Bobbi Salvör Menuez, Aaron Chan, Hedia Maron, Jeff and Cascine, Aimee Goguen, Kelly McCormick, Azsa West. Just getting to make new worlds with my friends that then we get to live in. And I get to activate, it's very profound to me. And something that with PC Music, we have done together for such a long time. It's really special to get to witness people in their practice for all of these years”.

I am finishing up with a review of Hold onto Me Infinity. Brooklyn Vegan provided their take on a phenomenal album that I would urge anyone reading this to go and listen to. I feel we will be hearing a lot more from Hyd. So many years where they will evolve as an artist and do so much good in the music world:

“Hayden Dunham and SOPHIE were close collaborators and partners, and the presence of the iconic producer, who we lost in 2021, haunts Hold Onto Me Infinity, Dunham’s second album as Hyd. SOPHIE first premiered the audacious “Makeover” at a Washington DC set in 2016, and she’s also credited as a producer on the upbeat “Make Me Believe,” along with Hudson Mohawke, who worked on much of the album. Then there’s “Never Is Over,” with its lines, “I still see you laughing at the piano / Saying, ‘it’s okay to cry,'” which seem to directly reference SOPHIE’s 2017 single and Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides opening track. In addition to the loss of SOPHIE, Dunham’s brother was killed in a 2024 hit-and-run, and while these major losses leave traces all over Hold Onto Me Infinity, particularly in its lyrics, my main takeaway is how full of bangers it is. It starts with two of the most irresistible slices of art-pop I’ve heard all year and never lets up. “Angel” is all bright, ebullient synths and infectious melodies, while “Freak” revolves around its extremely quotable chorus, “that girl is a freak, yeah she’s just like me.” It’s my early choice for song of the summer; arriving on the eve of Memorial Day Weekend, this album is here just in time”.

There will be some people seeing this who have not heard of Hyd. They are such a singular talent, you do really need to follow Hyd on social media. I am quite new to their work, but I was immediately engrossed. The magnificent Hyd will stun and amaze…

FOR a very long time.

____________

Follow Hyd

FEATURE: The Digital Mixtape: Freddie Mercury at Eighty

FEATURE:

 

 

The Digital Mixtape

PHOTO CREDIT: A. Sawa/Mercury Songs Ltd.

 

Freddie Mercury at Eighty

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ONE of the greatest voices…

in music history left the world in 1991. The legendary Freddie Mercury died so young, yet his legacy lives on. One of the most powerful voices the world will ever hear, artists such as Alabama Shakes and Lady Gaga are inspired by him. Freddie Mercury’s eightieth birthday is on 5th September. Before getting to a mixtape of his best vocal performances with Queen, together with some solo cuts, I want to bring in some biography. His official website gives us a real insight into the life and legacy of Freddie Mercury:

“The life of Frederick Bulsara began on the East African island of Zanzibar on September 5, 1946. 25 years later in London under the name of Freddie Mercury he was fronting the now legendary rock group named Queen.

The son of Bomi and Jer Bulsara, Freddie spent the bulk of his childhood in India where he attended St. Peter’s boarding school. He began taking piano lessons at the age of seven. No one could foresee where a love of music would take him.

The Bulsara family moved to Middlesex in 1964 and from there Freddie joined up with a blues band called Wreckage while studying graphic design courses at Ealing College of Art. While singing for Wreckage, a fellow student introduced Freddie to Roger Taylor and Brian May, founder members of a band called Smile. Smile metamorphosed into Queen when Freddie joined Roger and Brian as the lead vocalist. The final member of the band, which was to stay together for the next 20 years, was bassist John Deacon, who joined the band on 1st of March 1971.

The immortal operatically styled single ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ was released in 1975 and proceeded to the top of the UK charts for 9 weeks. A song that was nearly never released due to its length and unusual style but which Freddie insisted would be played became the instantly recognisable hit. By this time Freddie’s unique talents were becoming clear, a voice with a remarkable range and a stage presence that gave Queen its colourful, unpredictable and flamboyant personality

Very soon Queen’s popularity extended beyond the shores of the UK as they charted and triumphed around Europe, Japan and the USA where in 1979 they topped the charts with Freddie’s song ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’.

Queen was always indisputably run as a democratic organisation. All four members are each responsible for having penned number one singles for the band. This massive writing strength combined with spectacular lights, the faultless sound, a sprinkling of theatricality and Freddie’s balletic movements made up Queen on stage and on film.

Through Freddie’s ability to project himself and the band’s music and image to the four corners of 70,000 seater venues they became known as the prime developers of stadium rock, a reputation perpetuated by their pioneering tactics in South America where in 1981 they performed to 231,000 fans in Sao Paulo, a world record at the time. They also became known as the key innovators of pop videos as their catalogue of 3-minute clips became more and more adventurous in style, size and content.

Their phenomenal success continued around the globe throughout the 80’s highlighted in 1985 by their show-stealing and unforgettable performance on stage at Live Aid.

In the mid 80’s, Freddie started concentrating on his solo career, which was to run in tandem with Queen (“the mothership”) for several albums commencing with the 1985 release of ‘Mr. Bad Guy’. Freddie’s much loved sense of self-parody reached a zenith with his cover version of The Platter’s song ‘The Great Pretender’ in 1987, the video of which recorded him descending a sweeping staircase among acres of identical cardboard cutouts of himself.

His first major collaboration outside Queen was with Dave Clark for the recording of London’s West End musical Time, in 1986. This was followed in 1987 with the realisation of one of Freddie’s long-term dreams; to record with the world revered opera diva Montserrat Caballé. The LP’s title song, ‘Barcelona’ went on to become an anthem for Señora Caballé’s home city and the theme for the Olympics in 1992.

While most publicly recognised as the front man to one of the most progressive rock bands of the 70’s, Freddie defied the stereotype. A taste for venturing into new territories – a trait that was to have a marked influence on the direction Queen would take – took Freddie to explore his interests in a wide spectrum of the arts, particularly in the areas of ballet, opera and theatre, even taking a participating role: in October1977 the sell-out audience of a charity gala at the London Coliseum organised by Royal Ballet Principal dance Wayne Eagling received the surprise of an unannounced appearance by a silver-sequinned leotard-clad Freddie performing an intricate routine choreographed for him by Eagling. In 1987 he made a one-night appearance in Dave Clarke’s Time at the Dominion Theatre, although legend has it Freddie occasionally turned up at the theatre to support friend Clarke’s musical, one night selling ice-creams in the stalls! Freddie would have loved the fact that The Dominion now plays host to the band’s phenomenally successful musical We Will Rock You which has now held the Dominion stage nearly seven years longer than Time’s two year run.

The legend is born

On November 24th, 1991, Freddie’s struggle against AIDS ended when he passed away just over 24 hours after he had publicly announced he had the disease. Musicians and fans from all over the world paid their highest respects as the passing of rock’s most innovative, flamboyant ambassador signified the end of an era at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert at Wembley Stadium on April 20, 1992 which gave birth to the Mercury Phoenix Trust, the AIDS charity set up in Freddie’s memory by the remaining members of Queen and Freddie’s Executor, Jim Beach.

Freddie Mercury, who majored in stardom while giving new meaning to the word showmanship, left a legacy of songs, which will never lose their stature as classics to live on forever. Some of the most poignant of these were immortalised on the Queen album ‘Made In Heaven’ released in November 1995. The sleeve of the album shows a view from Freddie’s Montreux home.

Despite twenty years having passed since Freddie lost his life to HIV complications, he remains in the minds of millions throughout the world as one of the greatest artists we will ever see. In September 2010 (coincidentally, around Freddie's 64th birthday) a poll carried out among rock fans saw him named the Greatest Rock Legend Of All Time, beating Elvis Presley to claim the title, and ahead of David Bowie, Jon Bon Jovi, Jimi Hendrix and Ozzy Osbourne.

September 5, 2010 saw The Mercury Phoenix Trust launch ‘Freddie For A Day’, a major annual initiative designed to celebrate Freddie’s life each year on his birthday and to support the on-going work of the Trust. The project encourages fans to dress as Freddie for a day and in doing so raise funds for MPT through sponsorship. No one could have imagined the extraordinary response which resulted, with fans from 24 countries around the world, from Argentina to Ukraine, seizing on the idea to pay their own special tribute to Freddie.

Some sent pictures strutting their stuff at home, singing into a microphone in their bedroom. Others took the plunge and spent the whole day as Freddie, including one US enthusiast who dressed herself as ‘Slightly Mad’ Freddie and then spent her day at the local mall and then at Columbus Zoo in Ohio with a penguin and a gorilla. Another took a TGV trip from France to Switzerland dressed in a harlequin leotard. The stories of extraordinary and fun days spent come in their hundreds, and as a result, Freddie For A Day is now an annual event”.

We mark Freddie Mercury’s eightieth birthday on 5th September. I hope there is celebration and commemoration. I hope too that his Queen bandmates pay tribute to him. It is amazing to think what would happen if he had lived and what he would have done in his career. I reckon he would still be performing live to this day. Even though he died almost thirty-five years ago, his brilliance lives on. There has never been anyone like…

THE God-like Freddie Mercury.

FEATURE: Stay Where You Are: A Love Letter to Lauren Laverne… Why I Have Been Affected Personally By the Broadcaster’s Recent News

FEATURE:

 

 

Stay Where You Are: A Love Letter to Lauren Laverne…

PHOTO CREDIT: Jonty Davies for Good Housekeeping

 

Why I Have Been Affected Personally By the Broadcaster’s Recent News

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THIS is going to start out…

PHOTO CREDIT: Sarah Jeynes/BBC

somewhat downbeat and negatively. It is going to turn into a salute and love letter to one of the world’s greatest broadcasters and human beings. Whilst she may not have time or opportunity to read this, I did want to write about someone who shared some recent health news that led to an outpouring of support and love. Lauren Laverne broadcasts on BBC Radio 6 Music weekday mornings, and she captains BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs. I shall come to an article that writes about something that she recently posted to her Instagram. Even though our lives and paths are vastly different, I can identify with Charli xcx. She posted earlier in the year that she was in the worst mental state of her life. Even more recently, in response to a question as to how she is feeling right now, Charli xcx said she was tired. On Friday (24th July), she has the release party for her new album, Music, Fashion, Film. The album is released in five days and it will gather a load of acclaim. Though, I can identify with her. ‘Tired’ being an understatement! Also, though I am living in the city I want to (London) and have the freedom to run my own site, I too am in the worst psychological state of my life. She is a megastar, and one of the most prolific artists in the world. I can only imagine the pressure on her and how rigorous her life is. I do worry about her and whether she will burn out or there is too much expectation! Arguably the greatest artist of our times, I do hope that she gets a chance to decompress and rest for a couple of months – though this may be naïve optimism! I am different. I have said in a previous blog piece how I have this dread of going to work…

I get the same sort of reaction that I had on a Sunday evening before going to school in the morning. The horrifying chirpiness of the Antiques Roadshow theme could well have been a Bernard Herrmann score in terms of its psychological impact! Now, I get that anxiety and huge depression. Although I can quit a job in the same way I could not quit school, being an adult – especially one living in an expensive city – has a different set of economics and challenges. If a major artist like Charli xcx is drained because of the demands of modern music and a sense of churn, my situation is a little removed from that – though not completely. I guess anyone in a job they hate has to weight up so much and cannot just quit without a parachute. For me, I recently expressed the stress of being an independent music journalist. I struggle to get traction with a lot of my features. Though I have a dedicated (yet small) audience who reads my Kate Bush features (1,420 at this stage), most of what I publish on my site is not about Kate Bush. Even though I do not have the skill and popularity of Alexis Petridis and Laura Snapes  (both of whom write for The Guardian and are considered among the most preeminent and prolific music journalists in the world), I am consistent. I am not sure how many journalists – I am guessing none? – have published at least one feature every day for over a decade. I do it, in part because of passion, but also that need to be seen and shared. And yet few artists I write about do. Aside from the odd artist who are very sweet and write me a thank you message (as Eaves Wilder did when I featured her), most of it does not get shared or liked. It is disheartening! You cannot force people to share stuff, though there is common sense and a politeness at least acknowledging someone for writing something very nice about your music. Yet, I can’t complain too much. Even if the six -or-so-thousand features have not received a tonne of interaction, I can afford to run my website solo and publish regularly. Though the fact I can never monetise it and it will never be a professional option saddens me.

Right now, as I write (on a Sunday afternoon), I am fearing getting up in the morning and going to work. It has been a bad day and I suspect the next week will be very tough. Though I have been given a shot of perspective lately. Back to the subject of this feature: the wonderful Lauren Laverne. Recent news she shared did lead to a wave of love and support on social media. The Guardian explains more:

“Lauren Laverne has announced she has been diagnosed with a blood and bone marrow disorder, less than two years after recovering from cancer.

The radio and TV presenter revealed she has smouldering myeloma, a condition characterised by an abnormal level of blood plasma cells in bone marrow, and said she made her diagnosis public out of a desire to help others. In August 2024, she announced she had been diagnosed with cancer, and received the all-clear three months later.

Laverne, 48, wrote on Instagram on Friday: “I’m quite a private person by nature, but am sharing this as one of the many things I’ve learned after going through health challenges in recent years is that talking about this stuff helps people.

“I’ve been diagnosed with something called smouldering myeloma (yes that is a weird name and no I’d never heard of it either). It’s an asymptomatic blood and bone marrow disorder that in some people can develop into blood cancer.

“Thankfully the risk of this happening in my case is pretty low.”

Laverne said she did not currently need treatment, adding the condition had “nothing to do” with her previous illness. She said: “Most people my age who have it have no idea – it tends to be cancer survivors like me who are diagnosed early, as we’re so carefully monitored.

“It is a chronic condition – no cure yet – and it does mean my immune system is a bit compromised, so I will need to take good care of myself and I will be carefully monitored with blood tests, MRIs and bone marrow biopsies (which I have recently discovered are even less fun than they sound).”

The broadcaster said she would take a “couple weeks holiday” before returning to work. Laverne, who was the lead singer of the alternative rock band Kenickie in the 90s, has been a BBC Radio 6 Music presenter since 2008 and has hosted Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs since 2018. She has also co-presented The One Show since 2023.

She wrote: “It’s been a lot, especially coming less than two years after my last diagnosis, but I know that seeing others in the public eye cope with comparable situations has helped me, so I thought I’d be upfront about it.

“I’ve had some difficult experiences in the last eight years, but I have learned more from them than some people do in a lifetime and that is helping me right now.

“I am so grateful for that.”

Laverne thanked her family, friends and colleagues along with her “wonderful” GP for detecting the condition early due to her low iron levels.

The charity Blood Cancer UK said in a statement: “There are more than 53,000 people across the UK on active monitoring for different blood cancers, including smouldering myeloma, so nobody should feel they are facing this alone.

“If Lauren’s story has prompted questions or concerns about smouldering myeloma or any type of blood cancer, we’re here for you. Our specialist nurses provide free, confidential support and information, helping people understand their diagnosis, make sense of active monitoring and find answers to any questions they may have”.

I am going to come to some interviews with Lauren Laverne, as this feature is a cross between a love letter to her importance and brilliance. But also my (somewhat long-winded) support. You can read her post of sharing the news here. Looking more relaxed and trying to respond to as many people’s message as possible, it has been a pretty shit last few weeks. After getting the cancer all-clear and now dealing with this, it has been challenging and distinctly unfair. I don’t believe that the universe throws things at people and has any impact over what happens in life – as it is too problematic and flawed if we scrutinise that idea -, but Laverne has received more than her fair share of bad vibes and crap the past few years or so. You do feel like she needs and deserves nothing but happiness going forward. I will write as to why I think that will be the case. Again, our situations are different, though my depression and dissatisfaction with the realities of being an independent music journalist is not as severe as other people’s live and issues. I have just listened to her Desert Island Discs interview with Shania Twain. Listening to Twain was another case of personal perspective. Her experiences of losing her parents in a crash and going through a divorce and health issues was sobering and remarkable. How she is this amazingly successful artist, yet she has had such a hard life. Her fortutiude, strength and resilience is inspiring! Other people have come to mind. One of her disc selections was Carpenters’ We’ve Only Just Begun. I recall when Shaun Keaveny played that song on his final BBC Radio 6 Music show on 10th September, 2021. Giving a teary send-off, I wondered what the future held and whether he would bounce back. Now, he is a staple on BBC Radio 2 (on Sounds of the 70s and The Rock Show), and he has broadcast across multiple stations. He also broadcasts on Community Garden Radio. Alongside Lauren Laverne, he is my favourite broadcaster (the two of them seriously need to co-host a radio show or do a podcast episode!). I guess things will work out in the end, even if they take time.

I did want to write about Lauren Laverne. I might write about her again in a couple of years but, given the news she has shared and what she has faced, I wanted to move to the positives and not make it a me-fest or something downbeat. I will find a way out of my struggles and depression, but I have naturally worried about Lauren Laverne. She has a loving family, close group of friends and the love of the 6 Music family behind her. I did want to cover off a couple of interviews, for anyone who may not know about her work. Or if you only know her in her past life as an artist (she was the lead of the ‘90s band, Kenickie). I want to drop in a Music Week interview from January last year:

“When Music Week encounters BBC Radio 6 Music star Lauren Laverne at the station’s HQ on a Friday morning in late May, she has just come off air, having delivered the last breakfast show of a busy week.

The night before we speak, she was in central London hosting the Ivors, taking a rare breather from the intense Glastonbury preparations that dominate her schedule at this time of year. Shortly before that, it was her own name in lights, as she triumphed in the Radio Show category at the Music Week Awards, reclaiming a trophy she won in 2019, when her breakfast show gig began.

It was a momentous victory and Laverne smiles as we start by reflecting on what it means to have won.

Congratulations on your latest Music Week Awards win! What do you think made your peers in the industry vote for you?

“Well, I still can’t quite believe it. The whole team works really, really hard to make sure that every day we are excited and we’re bringing a number of different elements together in a way that just feels easy, fun and accessible. It’s not a typical breakfast show, it’s not a conventional listen. But maybe that’s why people like it. I certainly hope so. I decided a long time ago that I just want to make programmes that feel like they’re doing something constructive in the world. That doesn’t always mean everything’s shiny and happy-clappy, it’s about hope, not optimism. It’s something positive in people’s day.”

How has the culture at 6 Music changed in your time there?

“As a station, it has always had a very positive outlook. If you think of the music that we play, that alternative space is very forward-looking and accepting. It’s a nice place to work with lovely people, and it always has been. In terms of direct cultural change, it’s always evolving, there’s always new voices coming in. There was a long, long time when I was one of the few women there and the only one on weekdays and I am glad that has evolved over time. There are wonderful people, Mary Anne Hobbs and Jamz Supernova doing such brilliant work. That’s nice because that’s your little group and you become friends and support each other. Sherelle [DJ and producer] was on my show, she was in covering for Mary Anne, she’s wonderful. There’s so much brilliant talent coming through. That’s great to see, culture-wise, but it has always been a great place to work. Then, in May, the boss [head of station Sam Moy] and a few others came up with Change The Tune [an initiative to raise awareness around the impact online abuse has on artists].”

What keeps you at 6 Music specifically?

“Well, I also love Radio 4 and The One Show. I only work with great teams and as you get older, that’s so important. I feel incredibly lucky for all of the places that I work, but 6 is my heart. It represents the kind of music fan I am. The life-long adventure of continuing to discover music and the frustration of knowing you will never get to the end of it. I mean, the ephemeral nature is what makes it special, and that is what 6 runs on, it’s all about that.”

Has doing Desert Island Discs changed your life? Or people’s perceptions of you?

“I don’t know. You don’t try and work out people’s perceptions of you, that’s their business. But I think it has, hopefully, changed me. There’s always opportunity to improve, but I think having those kinds of conversations week in, week out has made me more compassionate. It has made me a better listener and it has made me braver, I think, because it’s maybe the most high-profile thing I’ve done. I’m not a natural attention seeker, I always say radio is the place where people who like to show off in private go. So to be looking after something that is such a jewel in the crown is a big thing. But to know that we’re doing a good job, and continue to take care of something I loved so much as a listener, to take it up from Kirsty [Young, former host] who is my hero... It’s a real challenge, but it’s a joy to get there.”

Let’s move on to Glastonbury. The lack of veteran acts among the headliners has been criticised by some this year, but the ratio of women to men has improved markedly. Where do you stand on those arguments?

“It’s always going to generate conversation and that’s fine. That’s like any music event, you can’t really avoid it. With Glastonbury, you’re talking about how many acts? About 2,000? If you can’t find something that you like, among that, I think it might be you. But I think when you’ve got the biggest music and arts festival on the planet, if you’re just determined to moan about it and find fault, and you can’t find anything that you like, I think it might not be Glastonbury that is the problem. It’s all of the clichés, everybody has a different Glastonbury experience. You can go and never see a band and have an amazing Glastonbury. You can go and see music all weekend, none of which you have ever heard before in your life, and have an incredible time. It is so much more than the main headliners”.

There is a lot to take from that interview. How loved and amazing she is! I still bemoan the lack of established and legacy women booked as Glasto headliners. They have a massive gender issue and lack of credibility overlooking female headliners (was Kylie Minogue approached last year to headline?!), and only one woman over the age of forty has ever headlined Glastonbury (that was Shakespears Sister’s Marcella Detroit, who was a few days over forty when they headlined in 1992). I shall not rant again. What strikes me is how at home she is at BBC Radio 6 Music, and that she sound at her happiest and freest at the station!

Next March, BBC Radio 6 Music turns twenty-five. Lauren Laverne will be there, and I hope the station goes all-out to mark the quarter-century. I genuinely feel she will be at the station for decades more (horrifying to think the station was at threat of being cut at one point!). Whilst now might seem like an especially tough or bleak time because she cannot be on the air for a little while, you do know that she will be on BBC Radio 6 Music and BBC Radio 4 for a very long time. In a couple of years, she celebrates a big birthday. I am just looking ahead then because I feel it will be a time of personal reflection and a chance for all those who listen to her to show love and wish her the best. Though that is not until 2028. The rest of this year is going to see her return to the airwaves and, I hope, things being smooth and clear! Professional commitments such as hosting the Mercury Prize (I am posting my updated predictions ahead of the shortlist being announced on 30th July. The ceremony takes place Utilita Arena in Newcastle on Thursday, 22nd October. Before I bring in the second and final interview (again, from last year), I did want to give my personal support to Lauren Laverne. How she has helped put some things in my life in perspective, but also just wishing her the best. Just to finish off with her interview with Country & Town House. I like their quick-fire interview with a national treasure:

“What’s bringing you joy at the moment?

Music, which has always been a huge part of my life. Last year I had a period of illness and for a while couldn’t listen to it – it was just too much emotionally. When I found the joy in it again I knew I was getting better. Now I’m back on 6 Music every weekday 10am–1pm and discovering new music all the time. I love it more than ever.

What’s annoying you most right now?

That the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.

Advice you’d give to your 15-year-old self?

Keep going, you’re doing great. You’re capable of more than you know. Learn to sit with your feelings.

What keeps you awake at night?

Waiting for my 17-year-old son to get home.

Best life hack you can share with us?

If you’ve got something good to say, say it. Speak up for what you love, praise people when they deserve it, give compliments. It makes other people happy and it makes your own life better.

A moment that changed everything?

Meeting my husband. We worked together on a TV show. That day it was his job to throw a bread roll at my face (don’t ask) but for budgetary reasons the roll was stale. It cut my nose and we had to film the rest of the day in profile, but it did mean I noticed him.

Where do you go to escape?

Alexandra Park. Seven acres with the most beautiful views overlooking London. Having grown up with easy access to the beach I always loved the perspective sea views give you. This is my city equivalent.

What’s the best way to put a smile on your face?

Stick on some frightful oompty-boompty.

You wouldn’t know it but…

My private joy is HGTV. Give me Jasmine Roth remediating someone’s DIY plumbing disaster and I’m a happy woman.

What does sustainability mean to you?

In my own life it’s about keeping things simple, enjoying what I already have and understanding what ‘enough’ looks like. 

PHOTO CREDIT: BBC/Ray Burmiston

How can we save the world?

By choosing to. When I interviewed the climate scientist Corinne Le Quéré for her episode of Desert Island Discs she told me that we already have the scientific innovations and means, what we lack is the will to implement them.

Your greatest failure?

I didn’t go to university. I was supposed to take up a place at Durham University to read Medieval Studies but signed a record deal instead. I still daydream about going back sometimes.

Your greatest triumph?

My children. They bring me more joy than I could ever have dared to imagine.

What does a life in balance mean to you?

Embracing imperfection, enjoying what I can, being where my feet are.

Lauren Laverne’s Quick Fire Favourites

Scent… Frederic Malle Portrait of a Lady

Box Set… Mad Men

Chocolate… Green & Black’s 70%

Song… Fela Kuti, ‘Let’s Start’

Dish… My husband’s Sunday roast

Gadget… Lakeland heated airer

Restaurant… J Sheekey.

Holiday… Puglia with my best friend’s family”.

Apologies to write for so long – which may, incidentally, explain why my blog might be a little hard-going or like an assignment at times! -, but I was stunned and a little shaken by Lauren Laverne’s recent post about a health setback. Though, in a way, she has helped me and it has made me think more deeply about my own situation and plans going forward. I am excited to see her back on the air when she is well enough and, fingers crossed, having a relatively setback-free time going forward. Lots to look forward to. That BBC Radio 6 Music twenty-five next year. More awards and perhaps some exciting new professional opportunities. There is no doubt how much love there is out there, as Lauren Laverne is one of our best broadcasters. A queen that we all…

ADMIRE so much.

FEATURE: Kate Bush: Them Heavy People: The Extraordinary Characters in Her Songs: Houdini/Rosabel (Houdini)/Gurdjieff/Jesu (Them Heavy People)

FEATURE:

 

 

Kate Bush: Them Heavy People: The Extraordinary Characters in Her Songs

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1982/PHOTO CREDIT: Anton Corbijn

 

Houdini/Rosabel (Houdini)/Gurdjieff/Jesu (Them Heavy People)

__________

I am quite sad…

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz

that this is the final edition of this feature. I feel I have exhausted all characters in Kate Bush songs. Though I am finishing strong! I am ending with the song that inspired the title of this series. Them Heavy People is from Kate Bush’s debut album, The Kick Inside (1978). In it, she mentions teachers and philosophers who opened her mind. Those who were rolling the ball to her. I will write more succinctly and fully about this track soon. Before that, I am featuring characters from my favourite Kate Bush song. Houdini is the penultimate track from 1982’s The Dreaming. In terms of its concept and inspiration, I do feel that Houdini and Rosabel represent sides of Kate Bush. In terms of an escape. Her casting herself perhaps as someone trapped or locked in who was taking risks and was trying to pull off this spectacle. Maybe that is me overreaching, though the final song on The Dreaming, Get Out of My House, seems autobiographical. Even though it was influenced by Stephen king’s The Shining, that idea of Bush wailing and screaming out. What you hear on the song. The paranoia and anger. I do look at Houidini and feel it is a personal revelation. Though this is a track influenced by real people. There is a bit of a chart, as the unnamed character in the song is Houdini’s wife, Bess. Rosabel (often spelled Rosabelle) was not a person; it was the name of a popular 1800s song and the secret code-word used by the famous escape artist Harry Houdini and his wife, Bess Houdini. Rosabelle, Sweet Rosabelle was a romantic ballad Bess used to sing in her vaudeville act when the couple first fell in love at Coney Island in the late 1890s. However, I am going to mention Bess when writing about this track. I will discuss Kate Bush and how she transformed and prepared for this track.

In reading the inspiration behind it, it brings to mind subjects that I want to explore first of all. The Kate Bush Encycloppedia provide us with interview archive. I wanted to drop in these words from Kate Bush, as it is very eye-opening and interesting what she says. Why she chose to write Houdini:

“The side most people know of Houdini is that of the escapologist, but he spent many years of his life exposing mediums and seances as frauds. His mother had died, and in trying to make contact through such spiritual people, he realized how much pain was being inflicted on people already in sorrow, people who would part with money just for the chance of a few words from a past loved one. I feel he must have believed in the possibility of contact after death, and perhaps in his own way, by weeding out the frauds, he hoped to find just one that could not be proven to be a fake. He and his wife made a decision that if one of them should die and try to make contact, the other would know it was truly them through a code that only the two of them knew.

His wife would often help him with his escapes. Before he was bound up and sealed away inside a tank or some dark box, she would give him a parting kiss, and as their lips met, she would pass him the key which he would later use to unlock the padlocks that chained him. After he died, Mrs. Houdini did visit many mediums, and tried to make contact for years, with no luck – until one day a medium called Mr. Ford informed her that Houdini had come through. She visited him and he told her that he had a message for her from Houdini, and he spoke the only words that meant for her the proof of her husband’s presence. She was so convinced that she released an official statement to the fact that he had made contact with her through the medium, Ford.

It is such a beautiful and strange story that I thought I had very little to do, other than tell it like it was. But in fact it proved to be the most difficult lyric of all the songs and the most emotionally demanding. I was so aware of trying to do justice to the beauty of the subject, and trying to understand what it must have been like to have been in love with such an extraordinary man, and to have been loved by him. I worked for two or three nights just to find one line that was right. There were so many alternatives, but only a few were right for the song. Gradually it grew and began to piece together, and I found myself wrapped up in the feelings of the song – almost pining for Houdini. Singing the lead vocal was a matter of conjuring up that feeling again and as the clock whirrs and the song flashes back in time to when she watched him through the glass, he’s on the other side under water, and she hangs on to his every breath. We both wait.

Kate Bush Club newsletter, October 1982”.

It goes to show that Kate Bush thinks like no other songwriter, and yet she has inspired so many. I look at songs like Houdini and I can see the impact today. I have compared Charli xcx to Kate Bush. I know that she is a big fan of Kate Bush. Songs like Houdini seem like something Charli xcx would have written in 1982. You can hear some of her more modern stuff and trace it to tracks like this. Kate Bush is someone who has a very open mind. She has said before how she believes in ghosts and I feel like she is open to the idea of reincarnation and Heaven. Not devout, she has said how her going into music was a mission from God. She believes in unknown creatures or figures like a Yeti. You feel she believes in ghost and believes in astrology. Though I cannot share many of those beliefs – especially astrology -, I do like how this open-mindedness works creatively. It opens her palette and makes her sphere much wider. Going beyond the normal and human. Discussing a medium or person who was a fraudster. I don’t think it is controversial to say mediums are fraudsters. They have and cannot communicate with the dead. They pick up cues and make vague guesses and assumptions. Though people believe them and there is this belief from some. I do wonder how Bush feels about mediums and those who feel they can communicate with spirits. The idea of seances and mediums. Being twisted and adapted and going into this song. We cannot forget Bess. Though I have not mentioned her by name, she is really the one Kate Bush is casting herself as. Passing Houdini a key with a kiss. Houdini, I imagine, played by the late Del Palmer. They were dating at the time and he is on the cover of The Dreaming. The idea of Bush passing Palmer a key with a kiss. In the song, Del Palmer can be heard saying “Rosabel Believe”. Bess or Beatrice to give her her full name, is a fascinating human. This article gives us more information:

“Beatrice or Bess Houdini was born Wilhelmina Beatrice Rahner on January 23, 1876, in Brooklyn, New York. Like her famous husband, Bess came from a large German speaking immigrant family and was bitten by the showbiz bug in her teens.

Bess was working at Coney Island in a song and dance act called The Floral Sisters when she was first courted by Houdini's younger brother, Dash (aka Theo Hardeen). But it was the older Houdini brother, Harry, that she fell in love with and married on June 22, 1894.

Bess and Harry worked as The Houdinis for several years before Houdini hit it big as The Handcuff King. But he and Bess continued to occasionally perform the Metamorphosis. Bess also looked after their menagerie of pets, collected dolls, and made the costumes for Houdini's full evening show. She also said it was her duty to make sure her absent-minded husband was dressed well and had clean ears.

By all accounts, Bessie was strong-willed and very spirited. While her husband was a teetotaler, Bess enjoyed drinking and she also smoked. Following Houdini's death in 1926, Bess struggled with money, alcohol, and was the target of unethical spiritualists and journalists out to exploit her. She twice attempted suicide.

In 1930 Bess met Edward Saint who became her companion and manager (and some say secret husband). Together they moved to Hollywood where they held a Final Houdini Seance atop the roof of the Hollywood Knickerbocker Hotel. Bess also helped form the MagiGals, a group of female magicians and enthusiasts which included Gerri Larsen, the mother of Magic Castle co-founders Bill and Milt Larsen. In 1938 she appeared as herself in the film Religious Racketeers .

Bess remained a much loved and respected fixture at magic conventions until her death on February 11, 1943 aboard a train in Needles, California. She is buried in Gate of Heaven Cemetery in  Hawthorne, NY”.

I lead on to discussing Harry Houdini. Why he is someone who would have resonated with Kate Bush. Again, I see him in her. Bush feeling she needed to escape or was almost in a position where she was trying to fool the public. Though we have to talk about Bush preparing for this track and the sonic leaps from Never for Ever (1980). The final two songs on The Dreaming are the biggest examples of an artist evolving and changing. Again, I come back to someone like Charli xcx. Listen to songs on Never for Ever and Bush’s vocals. Breathing is indication of a rawness she would display on The Dreaming, though I fee The Dreaming is a more masculine and raw album. Get Out of My House is Bush at her most primal to that point. Though you can hear something almost demonic in her voice on Houdini. Going from soft and sweet to this guttural growl, she achieved this by drinking milk and easting chocolate. That gives songs this mucus. It is not wise for singer to do this. However, as a sole producer on The Dreaming, Bush was not having to listen to others. She could take her music and voice deeper. No boundaries or barriers. Less commercial than anything she has ever recorded, Houdini is truer to her vision of her being an artist rather than a Pop singer. I do feel Houdini is among her best songs. It is my favourite because of the subject matter and how phenomenal Bush sounds. Those beautiful strings written and arranged by Dave Lawson and Andrew Powell (who produced The Kick Inside and Lionheart). By the end of The Dreaming, it was clear this artist was vastly different to the one who debuted in 1978! Hounds of Love would arrive three years after The Dreaming. Though not as dark and heavy as The Dreaming, Bush’s voice and composition had this more masculine or deep quality. That would shift again for 1989’s The Sensual World. However, Houdini is this staggering example of Bush writing about something other artists would not even consider. Also, her performance on the song is among the most spectacular in music history. I read some of the lyrics as this being about Kate Bush and EMI. That relationship at the time: “He’s using code that only you and I know/This is no trick of his/This is your magic”, about the unusualness of her music and this idea of ‘fitting in’. “I’d catch the cues/Watching you/Hoping you’d do something wrong” perhaps about this idea people wanted her to fail or she was trying to perform this trick for the public. “Everybody thinks you’ll never make it/But every time/You escape: ‘Rosabel believe/Not even eternity/Can hold Houdini!’. I do sort of read between lines.

 

IN THIS PHOTO: Harry Houdini in chains, circa 1900/PHOTO CREDIT: Look and Learn/Bridgeman Images

Let’s end with the man in question. Harry Houdini was born Erik Weisz in Budapest, Hungary. When he was four years old, his family emigrated to the United States and settled in Appleton, Wisconsin. Learning about his extraordinary life and mysterious death makes him this perfect Kate Bush character. National Geographic looked at Harry Houdini’s wild life and his mysterious death in a compelling feature:

“Houdini’s talent for escape was matched only by his knack for self-promotion. The era loved a daredevil, and Houdini was the ultimate American success story. He was an early adopter of corporate sponsorships—for example, inviting beer companies to manufacture the barrels he’d escape from for cross-promotional opportunities—and used the press to plant stories, good and bad, about his act. Often, Houdini’s performances drew public derision from those who wanted to challenge him, although today it’s thought that he himself planted many of those challengers to drum up attention.

As Houdini’s fame grew, so did his bold public stunts. In 1908, he offered a $1,000 reward to anyone who could build a device that could successfully restrain him. (It appears no one ever claimed the prize.) A decade later, Houdini made an elephant disappear as he slowly turned the massive cabinet it stood in onstage at New York’s Hippodrome Theater. With the dawn of cinema, Houdini also dabbled in movies, appearing in several stunt-filled films. But he never became a screen star.

Houdini’s fame amplified his crusade against the spiritualist mediums popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His efforts would inspire generations of magicians to speak out against frauds and con artists, including religious figures claiming to channel spirits or possess mind-reading powers.

His stunts were not without real risk, and Houdini was often injured during his routines, once even rupturing his kidney when a longshoreman tied him up too tightly. But seemingly nothing could pierce his image of impermeability. Though Houdini was never considered as masterful in the art of technical magic as some of his contemporaries, his commitment to bold, daring stunts makes many remember him as the world’s greatest magician.

Houdini’s death on Halloween of 1926 was just as mysterious as his lifetime of tricks. His death is attributed to complications from appendicitis, which likely traced to a lecture at McGill University weeks earlier, where a student had challenged Houdini’s claim that he could withstand punches and hit him forcibly in the stomach. But no autopsy was performed, and rumors of his cause of death have continued to swirl. Some even speculate that enemies in the Spiritualism movement planned his assassination.

Although he never believed the spiritualists’ claims, Houdini did promise his wife, Bess, that he’d communicate a secret code to her from the beyond if he could. For a decade, Bess attended séances hoping for a signal from him, but his voice had been silenced by the grave”.

Let’s end this series by going back to the start of Kate Bush’s career. Them Heavy People is the song that influenced this series and its title. She mentions Gurdjieff (who you can read about here) and Jesu. I will come to words from Kate Bush about the song but, in writing about Them Heavy People, it takes me to her brief time in Japan. I also want to look back to 1978 and how unique she was. How the press perceived her. Also, why we should listen more to Bush’s earlier albums. Let’s start out with some background and explanation from Bush about this track. That takes me again to the Kate Bush Encyclopedia:

“The idea for ‘Heavy People’ came when I was just sitting one day in my parents’ house. I heard the phrase “Rolling the ball” in my head, and I thought that it would be a good way to start a song, so I ran in to the piano and played it and got the chords down. I then worked on it from there. It has lots of different people and ideas and things like that in it, and they came to me amazingly easily – it was a bit like ‘Oh England’, because in a way so much of it was what was happening at home at the time. My brother and my father were very much involved in talking about Gurdjieff and whirling Dervishes, and I was really getting into it, too. It was just like plucking out a bit of that and putting it into something that rhymed. And it happened so easily – in a way, too easily. I say that because normally it’s difficult to get it all to happen at once, but sometimes it does, and that can seem sort of wrong. Usually you have to work hard for things to happen, but it seems that the better you get at them the more likely you are to do something that is good without any effort. And because of that it’s always a surprise when something comes easily. I thought it was important not to be narrow-minded just because we talked about Gurdjieff. I knew that I didn’t mean his system was the only way, and that was why it was important to include whirling Dervishes and Jesus, because they are strong, too. Anyway, in the long run, although somebody might be into all of them, it’s really you that does it – they’re just the vehicle to get you there.
I always felt that ‘Heavy People’ should be a single, but I just had a feeling that it shouldn’t be a second single, although a lot of people wanted that. Maybe that’s why I had the feeling – because it was to happen a little later, and in fact I never really liked the album version much because it should be quite loose, you know: it’s a very human song. And I think, in fact, every time I do it, it gets even looser. I’ve danced and sung that song so many times now, but it’s still like a hymn to me when I sing it. I do sometimes get bored with the actual words I’m singing, but the meaning I put into them is still a comfort. It’s like a prayer, and it reminds me of direction. And it can’t help but help me when I’m singing those words. Subconsciously they must go in.

Kate Bush Club newsletter number 3, November 1979”.

It is a shame that Kate Bush did not like the studio version. I love it. Though the live performances during The Tour of Life – her one and only tour, it took place in 1979 and saw her perform in the U.K. and Europe – bring new life and layers out. A looser and perhaps livelier and interesting version. Songs like this were parodied. People think Kate Bush was this airy-headed singer waffling on about philosophy and niche things. Being arty and weird for the sake of it. Though this bravery to be true and uninhibited can be heard through her career. The Kick Inside was recorded and released when she was so young (she was nineteen when it came out on 17th February, 1978). Rather than write about love in a very commercial and ordinary way, this was an artist writing about so0 many interesting things. I do love Them Heavy People. Her fascination with Gurdjieff, Jesu and other teachers. Her brother John was a reader and poet and no doubt would have exposed his sister to these people. The end of this feature looks to Kate Bush now and me writing why we need to value more her earliest work. Even if Kate Bush herself perhaps feels it is not her best. I do want to include the invaluable Dreams of Orgonon – who have been so useful and present in these features and I offer huge thanks! -, and what they say about Them Heavy People:

“There is a cosmic law which says that every satisfaction must be paid for with a dissatisfaction.”
— G. I. Gurdjieff.

The philosopher-mystic G. I. Gurdjieff’s spiritual path The Fourth Way presents a response to three ways of enlightenment: disciplining the body, emotions, or mind (these are the paths of the fakir, the monk, and yogi, but this isn’t a theology blog). Rather than focusing on becoming one’s true self through just one of these channels, Gurdjieff taught a Fourth Way which prioritized all of them at once. This was a way for people to learn their true selves by engaging with this path in daily working life without undertaking John the Baptistian asceticism. Gurdjieff’s doctrine caught on with such figures as P. L. Travers, Robert Anton Wilson, Peter Brook, and became influential in its disparate, scattered way.

The reference to Gurdjieff in “Them Heavy People” is notable for how it tips an already offbeat song into esoterica. Like much of The Kick Inside, the song is Bush paying her debts to influences and teachers. A number of musicians of the time had spiritual gurus: Pete Townshend never stopped writing songs about Meher Baba, Dave Davies followed yoga teachings, and the Beatles famously lavished Maharishi Mahesh Yogi with attention for a period. Bush touches on this fad not by leaning exclusively on Gurdjieff but by discussing the wonders of influence and being taught.

Bush begins the song with a single phrase, “rolling the ball,” which she calls back and forth across the song’s intro like (fittingly) a ball. She proceeds to speak of having existed in a state of social and mental inertia (“I was hiding in a room in my mind,” “I’d shut the people out of my life”) until some instructive magi hoisted her out of her ennui. Bush is vague on the extent of her isolation, focusing more on how cool it is to be influenced by wise people (the “heavy people” of her title), “wonderful teachers ready to teach me.” The people helping her bring her out of her plight matter more than the spot she found herself in.

So what exactly did the heavy people do to Bush? Their treatments range from the scriptural (“they read me Gurdjieff and Jesu”) to the ascetic (“they build up my body/break me emotionally/it’s nearly killing me/but what a lovely feeling”) to ritual (“I love the whirling of the dervishes”). Bush conjures up a series of esoteric images, ideas keeping her alive mentally and physically as well as spiritually. She’s stepping forward from where she began the song, her eyes tracking a pendulum-like ball, or perhaps getting something started. Gurdjieff’s teachings are compatible with Bush’s aesthetic here: they unify the body with the mind, keeping both alive and in a constant dialogue with each other”.

Them Heavy People was released as a single in Japan and retitled Roiling the Ball. It was featured in a Seiko watch advert Bush appeared in. Dreams of Orgonon have also written about that trip of June 1978. It was a weird thing. Rolling the Ball peaked at number three on the Japanese Oricon Singles Chart. She was successful there for a brief period, though it was not a long-term relationship. Something about her music that resonated with people there. A philosophical or spiritual quality that connected with a more peaceful and curious nation compared to, say, America. Bush seen as too odd or uncommercial in the U.S. Even in this country, she was subjected to misogyny and ridicule. People feeling a track like Them Heavy People was ridiculous. The song expresses an insistent desire to learn as much as possible, while she is still young. That is a plaudit-worthy thing. Though, in 1978, New Wave and Punk were more popular, and artists were writing about politics and an anger and unrest. Pop artist discussing love and traditional subjects. Kate Bush offering something deeper and more interesting. When artists do this, they are open to scrutiny and criticism. Though I feel Kate Bush’s intelligence and bravery should be rewarded. What could have been a one-dimensional song about curiosity and discovering the teachings of people like Gurdjieff and Jesu has this depth and nuance. Again, people are connecting with Bush’s earlier work. So much attention given to Hounds of Love (1985) and that period. Though listen to songs like Them Heavy People. Pop artists of today I feel are taking elements, if not of that song directly, The Kick Inside as a whole. Kate Bush was not keen on her first few albums. Maybe writing them off at a point and feeling they were not her vision and instead something she was part of but not in control of, we need to reappraise. In terms of their power and influence. It is unfair to call them good or promising but not as worthy as later albums. Songs like Them Heavy People are as important and potent as anything she has released.

I want to end with an interview that highlights a few things. First, that she was subjected to creepy journalists who were more invested in her beauty than anything. Also, just how compelling and charming she is. The below interview was published in February 1978, the month The Kick Inside was released. Even though you hear about her sexiness and beauty – the lure and sleaze of ale journalists started very early! -, Bush’s answers and sheer joy is a reason why we need to spend more time with her early work. Dig out these interviews and learn more about this teenage artist who soon would conquer the world. I will wrap up with Kate Bush now. Though, this Evening News interview ("Sexy Kate Sings Like An Angel") is illuminating:

“Kate Bush was a wistful, wide-eyed 14 year-old schoolgirl when she first realised she was destined to become a star.

By the time she was 16, EMI Records had released it too and they advanced her L3,000 to live on while she developed her prodigious song-writing and singing talents.

Now, at 19, her first record - a plaintive, tormented song, "Wuthering Heights" - has just been released.

The record has jumped into the top twenty and I'll be astonished if it doesn't make No. 1 by the middle of next month.

Yet the song is merely the tip of a whole iceberg of talent.

And, having listened to Kate's album, The Kick Inside, and been charmed by her company I'm convinced she is the most important girl singer to have emerged in Britain for at least ten years.

SEXUAL

She's beautiful too and very sexy - al huge brown eyes and long, tangled auburn hair.

"But I'm not going to fall into the trap of doing the whole female thing, being a sex object," she says.

"I think a lot of woman are conditioned to want to look like that when they are young.

"But it's so dangerous to come on all sexual because straightaway you are label as a woman instead of an artist."

"I'm very interested, though, in people's emotions and their relationships. I'm intrigued by the way women use their power over men.

"They can use their bodies and they can use the obviously sexual way to get through but I just think that's wrong.

"That's relying on something that is fading and something that is purely material anyway - it's not really anything."

Kate's fascination with relationships prompted her to write "Wuthering Heights".

It is a strange, almost mystical song which is based around the part of the novel by Emily Bronte where Cathy wants to take Heathcliffe's soul so they can be together in the spiritual world.

"I developed a kind of fascination with Cathy after I saw the last 10 minutes of the television series where she was at the window and cutting herself with the glass. It always stuck in my brain.

"It was probably a lot to do with the fact that her name was Cathy - and I was always called that as a child.

"My feeling about it was so strong that it kept coming back to me again and again.

"Then I read the book and discovered that Emily Bronte had her birthday on the same day as me, July 30, and I really, really wanted to write a song about it all."

She is the daughter of a general practitioner and was brought up in a middle-class home at Plumbstead, in Kent.

"I have two older brothers and they were both very keen on musical instruments so I just grew up with music all around me," she says.

"When I was about 11 I just started poking around at the piano and started making up little songs.

"It was just an easy way to release all the energy I felt inside me. I never played Beatle songs or anything like. I was always just exploring the instrument.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz

"Then, when I was 14, I started taking it seriously and i began to treat the words to the songs as poetry. I'd always been keen on poetry at school and it was lovely to put the poems together with the music."

Her brothers were astute enough to realise that here's was a quite exceptional talent - but no record companies were interested when they were offered tapes of little Kate singing and playing the piano.

Eventually, via a friend of a friend, Dave Gilmour, Pink Floyd's millionaire guitarist, came to hear about this strange little girl who sang like an angel.

"I was really nervous about meeting Dave but he was so nice and kind," she says.

"He told me to go into a studio to make a finished demo tape and then to select the three best songs and to offer them to a record company.

"Dave took me into AIR London studios and put up the money for everything. It must have cost a fortune but he didn't want to get anything out of it.

"He's done the same sort of things with a couple of bands. He just discovers them and tries to help them. Since then he's always kept in touch and made sure everything is going OK."

EMI jumped at the chance of signing Kate up when they heard the tape.

"But," she says, "I was only just 16 and then and - though everyone had been telling me for a couple of years I was going to be a star I wasn't really capable of handling it. I needed time."

GIGGLES

So, spared from the drudgery of having to work by EMI's generous advance, Kate first studied mime under Lindsay Kemp - David Bowie's old tutor, then moved on to work at the Dance Centre, in Covent Garden.

"I couldn't believe how hopeless I was," she giggles.

"I went on thinking: 'Oh well I'll have this off in a week.' But after a year I realised that I didn't know anything - ten years and I might just be starting to get good. It really is so very difficult."

During this period she moved from her parents' home to a flat in a house owned by her father in Lewisham.

"It was good for me to be independent," she says.

"I didn't leave home because we were having home troubles. I did it because I wanted to maybe grow up a bit, to find out about the world - to be myself and not have the influence of my parents all the time.

"In fact my father owning the flat is a great situation because both my brothers have flats below me and they are always there when I need them."

She composes now on a honky-tonk piano she bought from a second-hand show in Woolwich.

"I feel as though I've built up a real relationship with the piano," she says. "It's almost like a person. Like, it's really comforting just to sit down and play it.

"And the piano almost dictates what my songs will be about.

"If I haven't got a particular idea I just sit down and play chords and then the chords almost dictate what the song should be about because they have their own moods”.

I am finishing off here, as I feel I have said everything I need to. I wonder what Kate Bush things of her earliest work and songs like Them Heavy People. I feel they are being discovered by a new generation. I have heard artists like Billie Eilish herald her earlier, ‘weirder’ music. It is as powerful and important now more than ever. I feel her songwriting is a big reason why. The characters she puts in her music was a reason I started this series. Ending with ‘them heavy people’ who hit her “in the soft spot”. This incredible young artist exploring beyond the ordinary and personal. Songs like Them Heavy People show she was a genius from the start. Why this work needs more exposure and discussion. Even though she has fans today and so many artists cite her as an influence, it is clear that there is...

NOBODY quite like her.