FEATURE: The Modern Queens of Pop: Reacting to the BRIT Awards Nominees

FEATURE:

 

 

The Modern Queens of Pop

IN THIS PHOTO: Olivia Dean received five BRIT nominations, including Pop Act, and Album of the Year for The Art of Loving

Reacting to the BRIT Awards Nominees

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WHETHER you see it…

IN THIS PHOTO: Lily Allen is nominated for several BRIT Awards, including Album of the Year for West End Girl/PHOTO CREDIT: Nieves González

as one of the more important and major music award ceremonies of the year or not, you cannot deny the importance of the BRIT Awards in terms of celebrating the best of British music. There are always takeaways and positives. One of the most interesting thing is that Jarvis Cocker attends an award ceremony that, thirty years ago, stirred controversy when he invaded the stage during Michael Jackson's performance and got a lot of heat from the press. Fortunately or not, there will be nothing as interesting or controversial this year. It will be a more muted affair, though it must be strange marking the thirtyish anniversary of a strange moment for the Pulp lead. In terms of the categories, there is gender balance in most of them. Group of the Year sees long-serving legends like Wolf Alice and Pulp set against newer acts like Wet Leg and The Last Dinner Party. There are snubs here and there – which is what happens when you have to narrow things down -, but there is also nothing particularly controversial. However, as The Guardian note in this feature, there is still an issue. If the Group and Artist categories have addressed huge gender and there is a step forward, this observation caught my eye: “Of the 116 albums eligible for British album of the year – those that reached the UK Top 30 – only 41 were by female acts or mixed-gender groups, and of those 41, only 25 were solely female”:

“Olivia Dean and Lola Young have cemented their breakthroughs to the front rank of British pop by topping the nominations for the 2026 Brit awards.

The singer-songwriters earned five nominations each. Dean is nominated for artist and album of the year, pop act, and has two chances at winning song of the year for Man I Need and Rein Me In, the latter thanks to a guest spot with Sam Fender.

The 26-year-old Dean already had a good measure of success from her 2023 debut album Messy, but the follow-up The Art of Loving – featuring songs about the confounding and joyous business of being in love, in a sophisticated range of styles from bossa nova to neo-soul – has been a global sensation, topping the UK charts and currently sitting at No 3 in the US. Lead single Man I Need has barely been out of the UK Top 10 since its release in August and reached No 1.

Dean is the first announced performer at the awards ceremony, held for the first time in Manchester, at the city’s Co-op Live arena on Saturday 28 February and broadcast on ITV, with Jack Whitehall hosting.

Young, 25, is up for artist of the year, breakthrough artist (renamed from best new artist) and appears in two of the genre categories, for alternative/rock and pop, reflecting her deft grasp of different styles on 2025 album I’m Only F**king Myself: a charismatic and magnificently sweary portrait of addiction, romantic frustration and more. She is also nominated for song of the year for Messy, which was released back in May 2024 but continued its commercial success right through the awards’ eligibility period: it spent four weeks at No 1 and 60 weeks on the chart in total. Both Young and Dean are up for best new artist at next month’s Grammy awards.

As well as the nod for Rein Me In with Dean, Sam Fender is nominated three more times, including for artist and album of the year, thanks to his social-realist portraiture on UK No 1 album People Watching which won the 2025 Mercury prize.

Lily Allen caps one of the most remarkable re-entries into British pop with three nominations, including artist and album of the year. After four albums which had earned nine Brit nominations between them (including a 2010 win in the now-defunct British female solo artist category), she stepped away to focus on acting and podcasting, but returned in 2025 with West End Girl: a portrait of a failing open marriage, including huge resonances with her own personal life. The ultra-candid lyrics – featuring sex toys, hook-up apps and heartbreakingly toxic relationship dynamics – ensured it became massively discussed, and a commercial hit.

Also with three nominations each are two of the brightest talents in British rap. Dave is up for artist and album of the year, after releasing the typically self-searching The Boy Who Played the Harp in October, which went to No 1, as did its single Raindance. One of Dave’s regular collaborators rises out of the underground to join him: Jim Legxacy, a rapper, singer, songwriter and producer who co-produced Dave and Central Cee’s huge Brit-nominated hit Sprinter in 2023, and returned to work with him on The Boy Who Played the Harp. He is nominated for his own work, the mixtape Black British Music (2025), earning nods in th rap, R&B and breakthrough artist categories.

Rockers Wolf Alice round out the album of the year nominations on their way to three nods overall, and dance star Fred Again, who had a major hit with Skepta and PlaqueBoyMax collaboration Victory Lap and continued his sweatily received live sets, was also nominated three times.

Also in the running for artist of the year are Jade, Little Simz, PinkPantheress and Self Esteem: one demonstration of how well represented women are in this year’s nominations. There has been consternation in previous years at how male-dominated the Brit awards could be, including as recently as 2023 when all the artist of the year nominees were men. But this year, 70% of nominees are female or non-binary, or mixed-gender groups”.

What is clear is that there have been improvements. It has taken long enough, but I do think that a few things remain clear. The Hip-Hop/Rap/Grime category is still hugely male-dominated. It shows that the genre is very much guarded by and open to male artists. There are some incredible female British acts who should have been included, though for some reason there is only one female nominee of the four: Little Simz. The BRIT Awards is also not a ceremony that is going to dig dep or spend too much time with rising artists or name coming through. It is pretty mainstream for the most part, so all of the nominees for Hip-Hop/Rap/Grime are pretty established. Well, maybe Jim Legaxcy is the only exception. In terms of Pop, it is entirely comprised of female acts. One might say that this is as bad as a male-heavy category but the fact is that women have dominated Pop for years. The last year or two has been the first time when gender imbalance has changed and the BRIT Awards have addressed so many problems – though not all. I am excited that both Olivia Dean and Lola Young have five nominees each. Olivia Dean’s The Art of Loving was one of the best of last year. Dean set records by becoming the first female solo artist in U.K. chart history to have four Top 10 singles simultaneously (late-2025) and the first British solo female artist to top the UK Albums and Singles charts together since Adele in 2021. Lola Young’s Messy has surpassed a billion streams on Spotify and is a huge song that continues to touch people. She is one of our best talents! The Album of the Year category is especially strong. Included is Lily Allen’s West End Girl. Lily Allen, JADE, Lola Young, Olivia Dean and RAYE are in the Pop category. Even if RAYE and Lola Young have not released a load of music in the past year, I guess their impact and popularity remains strong. It is a category that could have easily included a lot of other amazing women. It shows women are leading Pop and making the best music of the most commercial and popular genre.

It is a shame that there is still some gender imbalance here and there, though the BRIT Awards have done better. They had to! The categories are really strong, though I think that – quite rightly – most of the conversation will be around the women nominated. Especially Olivia Dean, RAYE, Lola Young and Lily Allen. I like how PinkPantheress, Self Esteem, JADE and Little Simz are also in the Artist of the Year category. Some of the finest artists in the world right now. We will find out who wins what on 28th February. I don’t think that we will get anything special at the ceremony in terms of controversy or any trouble. I am surprised that the BRIT Awards have not widened to include more categories. Especially when it comes to new artists and those coming through. Also, live performances and the best tours. Given how an Oasis nomination would have been huge, it is a shame there has not been expansion and consideration. However, I am sure Oasis will be nominated when NME host their awards. However, it is a positive year in terms of the calibre of artists and the fact that there is less gender imbalance. One hopes that 2027 is one where genre like Grime and Rap see more women nominated. It will be remarkable seeing these British and international artists honoured. In terms of International Artist, CMAT and ROSALÍA are in the mix. Such strong competition! I think the Breakthrough category is interesting, as some of thew artists can’t really be seen as breaking through – including Lola Young. It would have been nice to include more genuinely newer artists. However, I feel Skye Newman will win the award, as she is one of the best artists we have and is a star of the future. I am looking forward to the ceremony next month and especially keen to celebrate great Pop queens like Lily Allen, Lola Young and Olivia Dean. Steps forward being made, there is still a way to go. However, the nominations announced today show that British artists are very much producing some of the…

BEST music in the world.

FEATURE: Then Work Came and Made Us Free: Manic Street Preachers’ A Design for Life at Thirty

FEATURE:

 

 

Then Work Came and Made Us Free

Manic Street Preachers’ A Design for Life at Thirty

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THIS is undoubtably…

IN THIS PHOTO: Manic Street Preachers’ Nicky Wire (left), James Dean Bradfield and Sean Moore in 1996, shot for the cover of Melody Maker/PHOTO CREDIT: Tom Sheehan

one of the most important songs of the 1990s. The lead single from Manic Street Preachers’ fourth studio album, Everything Must Go, this was the first without Richey Edwards. He went missing in February 1995. It was a huge shock for the band. Not only Manic Street Preachers’ lyricist and rhythm guitarist, he was also a dear friend. You can feel the stress and tragedy of his loss on Everything Must Go. Some of his lyrics appear, whilst other songs talk about the Welsh band making changes and dealing with this loss. On 15th April, A Design for Life was released. It is one of Manic Street Preachers’ greatest songs. This towering with the trio (James Dean Bradfield, Sean Moore, Nicky Wire) credit as songwriters, it reached number two in the U.K. Everything Must Go was released in May 1996 and was a massive critical and commercial success. Its lead single is one of the best lead singles ever. Not only announcing this new direction and sound – a slightly shift from 1994’s The Holy Bible -, it is a song that is widely played to this day. Such stunning lyrics that are so thought-provoking. As this stunning song turns thirty on 15th April, I want to explore it and understand the background/history of the song. I am starting out with a 2014 article from God Is in the TV:

“Libraries gave us power/Then work came and made us free/What price now for a shallow piece of dignity?!” Hollers James Dean Bradfield impassioned with eyes closed, above a backdrop of tumbling arpeggios, cavernous drums and Spector-ish widescreen production that’s steepling strings sway, crescendo and sigh with sadness. This is the unforgettable intro to  ‘A Design for Life’ the Manic Street Preacher‘s definitive 90s statement. Tackling the theme of working class identity bassist(lyricist and chief dress wearer) Nicky Wire delivers a staunch defence of the community where he grew up and a belief in the importance of resilience, self-improvement and solidarity as political power attempts to oppress you at every turn– ‘libraries gave us power’ indeed. The memorable video is intercut with quotes and scenes like fox hunting and Royal Ascot to represent what the band saw as class privilege.

This was set against a backdrop of the decimation of their hometown Blackwood, as Thatcher destroyed its mining industry in the 1980s and the economic decline of the early 1990s and many think the miners scars are referenced here with the lines: “I wish I had a bottle/Right here in my dirty face to wear the scars/To show from where I came”.

The bizarre sight of friends arm in arm singing along to its key line ‘We don’t talk about love / We only wanna get drunk’ is an ironic one – are the Manics highlighting the hypocrisy of a working class that only wants to drink and fight, or are they defending its right to do so? I’ll leave that up to you. Regardless, it’s a powerful first statement from the band as a three piece and a epic first single with a elegantly bombastic rock chorus that at the time represented a surprising shift from a band who had musically up until that point dealt only in politically charged glam rock and incendiary proto post punk. It was rather like the shift from Joy Division to New Order…

ADFL bursts to number 2 in the hit parade in 1996, and broke the three Welsh fellas’ album (Everything Must Go) into the mainstream at their time of heaviest loss. Their lyricist and childhood friend Richard James Edwards went missing in 1994 and remains unfound.

In a scene dominated by slogans, crowd like chants and sometimes cartoonish flag waving, Carry on imagery, The Manics were in contrast a band plugged into their surroundings, the working class and their own mythology ‘A Design for Life’ was an epic political statement and stands toe to toe with Pulp‘s superlative ‘Common People’ as the most socially conscious statement of the era. Nicky Wire explained the song’s meaning in an interview with Q magazine April 2011: “It was originally a two-page poem. One side was called A Pure Motive and the other A Design For Life. The song was inspired by what I perceived as the middle classes trying to hijack working-class culture. That was typified by Blur’s Girls and Boys,” the greyhound image on their Parklife cover. It was me saying, ‘This is the truth. GET IT.'”

Drenched in magnificent strings arranged by Martin Greene, and shot with a regret, defiance and a kind of redemption of somehow getting through a tragedy so close to home, the Mike Hedges-produced Everything Must Go recorded in a Normandy Chateaux, was warm and cocooned in its own orbit and quite unlike any other release that year, yet for a very short period the Manics became mainstream, Nicky draped his amp in the Welsh flag at the Brits which was surprising given his views on Wales prior to that, they played a the classic Hillsborough tribute show and rubbed shoulders with Oasis and the like. James Dean Bradfield went onto produce the likes of Northern Uproar and Kylie lending this anthemic string tinged pop sound to them both,  the outsiders had become establishment.

The long player Everything Must Go was their most immediate work and struck a chord with a wider public in a way none of their previous albums had. Yet it was tinged with tragedy, regret and a new found functionalism(C&A jeans and t-shirts now replaced feather boas and eye liner)artwork now minimal, as they bravely soldiered on despite still dealing with the grief of the loss of their friend and creative driving force Richard James Edwards”.

There are a couple of interviews I am going to end with. Where Manic Street Preachers speak about A Design of Life and why it is so important. It is a song that must have been emotional to see released into the world after the disappearance of Richey Edwards the year before. I am going to move to this blog post and their examination of the sweeping, epic and wonderful A Design for Life:

“The song’s lyrics are usually thought to be themed around working class solidarity, and make specific reference to the value of libraries, which have historically allowed poorer people to learn on their own terms through books – by contrast, owning books has historically been the preserve of the educated rich (and books of course remain expensive today, particularly factual ones). This line was directly inspired by the band’s time in public libraries when they were young. The lines “we don’t talk about love / we only want to get drunk” are a play on upper class assumptions about poor people – the idea that the lives of “the proles” are dominated by idle pursuits like drinking and that they ostensibly don’t have a capacity for philosophy or independent thought. Naturally, the Manics rail against this narrow-minded idea. By contrast, the song was famously misunderstood by some at the time, who saw the song as a kind of laddish drinking anthem.

Like ‘Motorcycle Emptiness’ before it, ‘A Design For Life’ began as two songs – one written under that title designed to play up the positive aspects of working class life and another, named ‘The Pure Motive’ which was about the darker side and was inspired by ‘To Be A Somebody’, a 1994 episode of Jimmy McGovern’s crime series Cracker. In the episode, Robert Carlyle plays a killer working to avenge the deaths of those who died in the Hillsborough disaster in 1989. This event would itself be the inspiration for a later Manics track, ‘S.Y.M.M.’, the closing track on This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours. Parts of ‘The Pure Motive’ were absorbed into ‘A Design For Life’, resulting in the final version.

Owing to its major impact on popular culture, ‘A Design For Life’ was memorably referenced in the final track of The Man Who, the very successful 1999 album by Scottish band Travis. The song, ‘Slide Show’ refers to the song in the first line of its chorus, which also alludes to ‘Wonderwall’ by Oasis (which it is actually musically based on to some extent) and ‘Devil’s Haircut’ by Beck. Musically, ‘A Design For Life’ was also reflected in the Manics’ own much later single ‘Indian Summer’ – the band initially hesitated to release the song due to it sounding similar, but eventually decided to release it for exactly that reason.

Although it is arguably a little harder to enjoy now due to the enormous airplay it has received over the years, ‘A Design For Life’ is still undoubtedly one of the key Manics singles, a live staple, and a significant touchpoint in their discography”.

Before ending with a 2021 interview from the BBC, I want to flip to 2016 and this interview from The Quietus. They spoke with Manic Street Preachers in 2016, twenty years after the release of A Design for Life. I recall when the song came out. I was familiar with Manic Street Preachers at that point. I bought Everything Must Go and was completely fascinated by A Design for Life:

“I was really struck by seeing the video for ‘A Design For Life’ during the Royal Albert Hall gig, with the footage of Last Night Of The Proms, filmed in the same place, and thinking, ‘Here we are’, in the actual place…

“Here we are!” Wire smiles. “Entertain us… Yeah, the first time we played the Albert Hall, in 1996, I hated it. I was in a right old fucking mood, and I did not enjoy it one bit. But I loved it this time. The gig in Liverpool was amazing, really special, and we invited all the families of the Hillsborough 96. From the very first gig, in Tallinn in Estonia, it’s been spot-on, right through.”

A lot of the songs on the album have been in or around the setlist for years, of course.

“Yeah,” concedes James, “but there’s stuff like ‘The Girl Who Wanted To Be God’, ‘Removables’ we haven’t played that much, or ‘Interiors’, and we haven’t played ‘Australia’ much since the late Nineties, and ‘Further Away’ we haven’t played much. But you’re right, stuff like ‘No Surface All Feeling’, ‘A Design For Life’, ‘Everything Must Go’, ‘Kevin Carter’, ‘Small Black Flowers’, we’ve played the hell out of.”

“That album just breathes, sonically and lyrically,” says Wire. “It’s a communal intake with less intensity than some Manics gigs, if you know what I mean. But we ramp it up so much in the second set, with the production and the visuals which are fucking stunning. It has the scale that we always wanted. And knowing you’ve got that second set in your back pocket, doing ‘You’re Tender And You’re Tired’ which we haven’t done for fucking ever. and… ‘NatWest Barclays Midlands Lloyds’…”

When I saw ‘NatWest’ on the setlist for the second half of the gig, I thought ‘Really?!’ Of all the songs on Generation Terrorists, I’d never have chosen that one. But in the flesh, it properly rocks. I was surprised.

“I actually feel really proud doing that, as well,” says Wire. “Because you still get all these fucking idiots in the broadsheets saying ‘Oh it’s clunky…’ It IS clunky, because we’re dealing with a massive topic (the banking system’s ruinous effects on people’s lives), which we foresaw, and you didn’t!”

The choice of Mike Hedges as producer was crucial to the album’s sound. “We’d been through the thing of Richey’s disappearance,” James remembers, “and subsequently deciding that we needed to do something, so we wrote the song. ‘A Design For Life’, which started the ball rolling. Then we got in touch with Mike Hedges, who came to Cardiff with us. We’d wanted to work with him on The Holy Bible, but he wasn’t available. Meeting him was so brilliant, because he’d done so many records I loved. ‘Swimming Horses’ by the Banshees – what a fucking record that is! I remember there was a kid at school who was, let’s say, not unhinged but definitely on edge. And he’d gone goth-punk, and he brought a copy of ‘Swimming Horses’ 12 inch to school and I sat on it by mistake. And he wanted to kill me. And I remember thinking ‘You really care about that record. I’m gonna have to chase that record down…’ And Mike had also done the Associates and ‘Story Of The Blues’ by Wah!, I’m talking about the records he’d done with strings on. So it was a no-brainer that we wanted him to do Everything Must Go”.

In 2021, BBC spoke with Manic Street Preachers’ lead, James Dean Bradfield, about A Design for Life. How the song saved the band. It would have been incredibly tense releasing a single from an album that was released after the disappearance of Richey Edwardsd. How it would be received and whether long-term Manic Street Preacher fans would bond with it:

“We were just coming out of our own trauma at that point," Bradfield continues. "Design for Life was proving to be something that kept us going as a band, that validated us, that took us past the procedure of not knowing whether we could be in the Manics any more.

"It kind of solved a lot of really awkward emotional riddles for us. We were on our way to something, reaffirming ourselves and staving off having to think about really serious, damaging things with regards to Richey and his family."

'Snow globe moment'

A Design for Life is what Bradfield describes as a "Trojan horse Manics" tune - using epic radio-friendly rock to carry a political message.

Using similar tactics, they managed to subsequently smuggle If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next and The Masses Against the Classes to the top of the UK singles chart. (The former tackled the Spanish Civil War, while the latter contained quotes from both Noam Chomsky and Albert Camus.)

On their 14th and latest album, their trademark big guitar sound has been largely replaced by Abba-inspired, piano-driven pop melodies. Bradfield, the band's main musical force, learned to play piano properly in lockdown after inheriting one from another Edwards - a 105-year-old Mrs Edwards in Cardiff, external.

"It felt like a special gift being stowed upon us", he says. And he soon began to find new joy in the old chords.

"I had that lovely experience on the piano of just tooling around and going, 'Oh my God, I have to call Billy Joel. If the band don't want this he will!'" he laughs.

A Design for Life for was only narrowly kept off top spot by Mark Morrison's Return of the Mack”.

On 15th April, it will be thirty years since A Design for Life came out. Though it should have reached number one, the fact it was kept off the top of the single chart by Mark Morrison is no shame. However, I do think that A Design for Life is a better song than Return of the Mack. A more important one. Released a month before Everything Must Go, a hugely acclaimed album, this song still stirs the soul and holds this incredible power. 1996 found Manic Street Preachers rebuilding and recalibrating after the disappearance of Richey Edwards. The trio figuring just…

HOW to move on.

FEATURE: Stuck Inside These Four Walls… Inside the Paul McCartney: Man on the Run Documentary

FEATURE:

 

 

Stuck Inside These Four Walls…

Inside the Paul McCartney: Man on the Run Documentary

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IT is always great when…

a new Paul McCartney-related project comes along. There seems to be one every year. That is a good thing. Most of the focus is on The Beatles. We have a big album anniversary later this year when the masterpiece that is Revolver turns sixty. I am sure there will be more Beatles documentaries and things from the archives released. Maybe new books and all sort of things. I feel this is going to be the case for many years to come. In terms of Paul McCartney’s solo career, there has not been a new album for five years, though you get reissues and there is always discussion. I do really hope that we see another Paul McCartney solo album at some point, as it is always a treat when he puts music out. The greatest songwriter ever always brilliant and different. However, there is probably less discussion around Wings. Forming the band must have been monumentally emotional. I think McCartney was the most dedicated and devoted to The Beatles. John Lennon perhaps a little more detached. Same with George Harrison. Ringo Starr speaks proudly about the band. However, you feel Paul McCartney is the biggest fan of the group. So going to a new group when The Beatles broke up would have been devastating and hugely challenging. On 7th December, their debut album, Wild Life, turns fifty-five. Perhaps not their most acclaimed and popular album, I think it is an amazing album. I am ending with a Wings playlist, and I will feature some songs from Wild Life. The seventh and final album was 1979’s Back to the Egg. About the same lifespan as The Beatles – in terms of their recorded output -, McCartney must have been bereft once more when the band split. However, he continued his solo career and released McCartney II in 1980.

There have not been that many documentaries and books around Wings. Most of the focus comes on The Beatles. However, the importance of Wings cannot be overstated. 1973’s Band on the Run is one of my favourite albums ever. Although the documentary premiered at the Telluride Film Festival on 30th August, 2025, Paul McCartney: Man on the Run will be released on Prime Video on 25th February with a limited theatrical release preceding it. I will come to the documentary soon. Though I would recommend people to pick up the book. Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run. You can order it here. Here’s what you need to know about a must-read for any fans of Wings and Paul McCartney:

“I’m so very happy to be transported back to the time that was Wings and relive some of our madcap adventures through this book. Starting from scratch after The Beatles felt crazy at times. There were some very difficult moments and I often questioned my decision. But as we got better I thought, ‘OK this is really good.’  We proved Wings could be a really good band. To play to huge audiences in the same way The Beatles had and have an impact in a different way. It was a huge buzz.”—Paul McCartney

As the Sixties came to a close, Paul was faced with the daunting prospect of being a solo artist for the first time. Wings’ ascension to the top of the charts with classic albums including Band on the Run, Venus and Mars and At the Speed of Sound, along with the band’s stadium-filling live shows would prove to critics and fans that not all great acts are impossible to follow. Wings:The Story of a Band on the Run is a rousing, stereophonic celebration of the songs, collaborations and performances that would shape the soundtrack of the late 20th century.

Drawn from over 500,000 words, based on dozens of hours of interviews with Paul and numerous key players in the band’s orbit, Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run weaves together the improbable trajectory of Paul McCartney and his newly formed band (featuring co-founding members Linda McCartney and Denny Laine) across the technicolor 1970s until their dissolution in 1981.

Edited by the prize-winning historian Ted Widmer and organized around nine Wings albums, the oral history sheds new light on the immediate aftermath of the seismic global impact of The Beatles’ break-up, as the musical landscape and tastes began to splinter and diverge along with societal views. The narrative follows the various incarnations of the band as they survive a mugging in Nigeria, appear unannounced at UK university halls, tour in a sheared-off school bus with their children, while producing some of the most indelible and acclaimed music of the decade, including: “Mull of Kintyre,” “Live and Let Die,” “Band on the Run,” “My Love,” “Jet,” “With a Little Luck,” “Silly Love Songs,” “Let ‘Em In,” “Junior’s Farm” and more.

With more than 100 black-and-white and color photographs, many never seen before, Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run is part of a larger reexamination and appreciation of the group and their catalog, including the 2024 theatrical release of the rare Wings live-in-studio performance film One Hand Clapping and its accompanying album; 50th anniversary editions of the Wings albums Band on the Run (released February 2024) and Venus and Mars (releasing March 2025); and a forthcoming documentary on Paul McCartney’s solo and Wings-related musical work of the 1970s from Academy Award-winning filmmaker, Morgan Neville”.

There will be a lot of new reviews when the documentary is released on 25th February. I want to move next to a review from IndieWire from last year. Though they do note it is a drawback that we do not see Paul McCartney sat down discussing the band – it is done in voiceovers -, it still manages to be for diehard fans and causals alike. It is fast-paced, informative but something that will definitely appeal to a wide spectrum of fans:

“But just as the Beatles loomed over everything McCartney did — a montage in the film features a succession of press audio snippets of “Beatles,” “The Beatles,” “Beatles” — “Man on the Run” can’t quite escape but be about the Beatles in its own way either.

We open in 1969, just five short years after the Sullivan performance, the band on the fritz, all off on their own. Speculation of a breakup is rampant but the news is not yet public. In this opening moment, McCartney’s voiceover recounts how he internalized the blame for the band’s breakup. We never see McCartney or any other contemporary interviewee onscreen as a talking head, a decision which opens up the wealth of archival footage from the era to take center stage. McCartney is seen in this footage, holed up on a remote farm in Scotland with his wife Linda and their kids along with some sheep and horses. An archival news report on the property highlights how strange a sight that one of the most famous and beloved pop stars of the ’60s now spends his days in a modest cottage with various structural elements in mild disrepair.

McCartney eventually bites the bullet and publicly acknowledges that the Beatles are in fact over. Expectedly, this leaves him with the lion’s share of the blame (“Don’t shoot the messenger” is an adage due to the frequency of prior shootings.) McCartney — who sat down for seven interviews with Neville for the film — mostly blames bandmate John Lennon as the actual instigator for the breakup, citing how Lennon privately told the bandmates in 1969 that he was leaving. However, he is clear to mention at any opportunity that he loves him as a brother, and also that when they fought, which was frequently, it was also as brothers.

The first act of “Man on the Run” takes its time laying the seeds for this breakup, a major part of which involves McCartney’s reticence about Allen Klein takin over as manager for the deceased Brian Epstein. McCartney recalls Lennon telling him that while “he is a son of a bitch, he’s our son of a bitch.”

McCartney was unmoved. Later, Lennon is seen publicly admitting on camera to press that McCartney was right about Klein all along — a clip you can’t help but sense McCartney feels vindicated is included in the final cut. But this realization came too late, and so each member embarked on their own solo musical journeys.

McCartney says he initially thought he’d never pick up a guitar again after arriving in Scotland at this moment when the future of the Beatles was in serious jeopardy. But, after a brief stint drowning his sorrows in scotch — a rare moment of darkness in the film — McCartney began noodling around on an old four-track (the lo-fi machine also makes an appearance in fellow Telluride world premiere, “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere”), recording each instrument himself. His first solo album, made in collaboration with his wife Linda, quickly follows. Linda was a photographer, not a singer, but her lack of musical training intrigued him. Her voice felt raw and real to him. But fans could only view Linda as a direct replacement of Lennon, and she was mistreated in the press and by fans, showcasing an open misogyny that calls to mind Yoko Ono’s mistreatment.

McCartney views songwriting as the “ultimate therapy,” and this first album allowed him to process his complicated feelings at the time. Festival programs often contain loose thematic throughlines, and fellow Telluride world premiere “Hamnet” also examines artmaking as therapy — in that instance it works to alleviate grief.

The limited footage shown of an unfortunate Wings TV special from 1973 is more than enough to elicit second-hand embarrassment for all involved. McCartney and Linda’s “Ram” from 1971 was initially panned by critics, including by future Springsteen manager Jon Landau, whose particularly harsh words in “Rolling Stone” are splayed across the screen. Over time, the album has been reassessed as a masterpiece, and in an ironic twist, is even now included on “Rolling Stone”’s Greatest Albums of All Time list.

Archival movie clips illustrate a stark shift from the 1960s into the harsher realities of the 1970s. The times changed and McCartney’s “conservative” demeanor, as one interviewee describes him, was simply no longer in vogue. Meanwhile, Lennon’s willingness to be political endeared him to the press throughout his career. But McCartney’s inherent uncoolness affords his discography a timelessness, which accounts for that eventual “Ram” reassessment.

The chief draw of “Man on the Run” is the copious amounts of archival footage it delivers from this era, much of it being seen for the first time. Linda was a photographer, which meant scores of beautiful 35mm photos to feature, and McCartney always seemed to be wielding a 16mm camera himself. McCartney also took his own photographs and their similarity in photographic styles is presented as evidence of their unbreakable kinship. Every big moment in McCartney’s life from this period on seems to have been captured on film: Wings’ first rehearsal, their first scrappy college tour, their final show in 1979, recording sessions in a barn with a horse milling about, and so on. Documentaries often “cheat” by using archival or movie clips from an era to fill space where no footage of actual events exist, but “Man on the Run” need not lean on this technique for the most part, because they simply have the footage.

A documentary veteran, Neville’s Best Documentary Feature Oscar win for “20 Feet from Stardom” is now over a decade in the past. In the time since, the prolific documentarian has bounced from profiling Anthony Bourdain to directing an animated Lego documentary on Pharrell Williams (which, like “Man on the Run,” also premiered at Telluride). Made over four years, “Man on the Run” is made with a patience that allowed Neville to sit down with McCartney so many times, and it also leads to a final cut that is as well-made and polished as documentaries come. This sheen and attention to detail elevates it above your traditional music biodoc.

One question a post-Beatles film must answer is how much context a viewer requires on the Beatles. Truth be told, if you find yourself watching a Wings-era Paul McCartney documentary, you’re more than likely carrying a rudimentary knowledge of preceding events. “Man on the Run” still chooses to briefly tackle their history, not in some “let’s get this out of the way” perfunctory manner, but with real verve and invention. An animated montage consisting of collage photographs takes us through the broad strokes in rapid succession: Ed Sullivan, India, Sgt. Pepper’s rebrand, Yoko, and so forth. It’s a clear highlight early in the film, promising plenty more visual flair.

“Man on the Run” works best as a linear accounting of these post-Beatles McCartney years more than it does as a portrait of McCartney. More than once — so you know it’s a theme — McCartney reiterates the unusual circumstances of his life journey, which lead him to rural Scotland with his family. After his schooling, he joins a band which quickly ascended to the top of the world, and now at 27, that band is no more. He feels lost and is forced to finally “grow up” he repeats. Yet “Man on the Run” misses out on the opportunity to interrogate deeply just how he was forced to grow up. The presentation of his relationship to his wife and kids is seen as wholesome and genuine. That heavy drinking in the early days of the breakup is briefly discussed but not lingered upon. And while Wings went through a succession of different lineups over the years, the reasoning for members leaving is touched upon but only somewhat satisfactorily.

Despite having what one assumes is the pick of the litter with A-list celebrities willing to lend their insights on McCartney, Wings and the Beatles, Neville wisely chooses to keep the outside voices to a minimum. Mick Jagger pops up and lends a few thoughts. Lennon’s son, Sean Ono Lennon, lets McCartney off the hook for a rare bad press moment in which McCartney appears nonplussed discussing Lennon’s murder to the media. Like Nick Dunne’s poorly timed smile in “Gone Girl,” one imagines McCartney now regrets wildly chomping on gum while commenting on camera on the death of his best friend and former band mate. McCartney reflects that one of the “greatest blessings” in his life was that he and Lennon made up shortly before Lennon’s murder. The details of that reconciliation are disappointedly not included. But with otherwise such strong access to McCartney alongside this wealth of archival clips, the omissions or glossed over subjects — one assumes at McCartney’s behest — while present, never feel glaring.

Music documentaries often come with the promise of salacious, tell-all revelations, a trend which might be a lingering byproduct of VH1’s influential “Behind the Music” series. But that is largely absent in “Man on the Run,” for a few possible reasons. One is that McCartney is too guarded and media savvy to ever say something to the effect of: “Yeah, I broke up the Beatles! So what?” The Beatles were always experts at managing the press, even in their early days. And the other is that by all accounts, McCartney mostly appears to be a normal guy. His family-first Scottish farm-life doesn’t appear performative. This does not seem to be a man with skeletons in his closet and those hunting for them here will leave disappointed. It does lead to a documentary lacking a certain edge, and the pacing likewise begins to drag late in the film as Wings’ albums are covered, one by one.

The central question in a musical documentary of this nature is whether it is for the real “heads,” or if a casual fan can follow along. “Man on the Run” successfully satisfies both demographics. Longtime Beatles and McCartney fans will eat up the wealth of intimate footage of McCartney and Linda’s working and domestic life, and casual fans can track his career throughout this period with a newfound curiosity, coming out better informed on McCartney’s ethos more so as a musician than as a man. But when this man is Paul McCartney, one of, if not, the greatest songwriters of all-time, it’s a compromise that will certainly do”.

It is an important year. Fifty-five years since Wings released Wild Life, this documentary takes us inside the band and their career. I keep coming back to that time after The Beatles split and when Paul McCartney was lost. Stuck inside four walls. Like a bereavement, it must have seemed impossible to record new music, let alone with a whole new band! It is why Wings’ success, however brief, is amazing. This new project that was not The Beatles and there was not the same expectation and dynamic. I don’t think that Wings get the credit and attention they deserve. It is clear that Paul McCartney: Man on the Run will be…

FASCINATING to see.

FEATURE: Plastic Roses: The Continuing Issue of A.I. Artists and the Problems They Cause

FEATURE:

 

 

Plastic Roses

IN THIS PHOTO: Sienna Rose has been flagged as a probable A.I. artist by Deezer (many of her songs and albums are suspected to be A.I. music)

The Continuing Issue of A.I. Artists and the Problems They Cause

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I guess you can detect an A.I. artist…

if they do not have a lot of photos or there is little in the way of promotion. However, a lot of new artists might be in that situation. Especially on Instagram, if there are very few photos or something looks suspicious, then alarm bells would ring. I was following an A.I. artist myself and found out through a comment from an Instagram user. Rather than her being this rather fake or A.I.-sounding artist, there was a rawness and authenticity to her voice that had me – and many others – fooled. It was embarrassing but also angering. At a time when so many real artists are struggling for attention and have their music on streaming sites and hardy get paid anything, there are A.I.-generated artists that are getting more attention and payment. This brings us to the case of a fake and plastic musical flower. Sienna Rose. As Rolling Stone U.K. reveal in their article, it is more problematic than her being inauthentic and almost hoodwinking artist. A Black artist who was gaining traction and being seen as this great new R&B/Neo-Soul hope revealed to be a fake:

“These days, artists don’t even need to be real to become a sensation. At least, that seems to be the case for neo-soul “musician” Sienna Rose. This week, the “singer” became a topic of discussion as listeners and observers online debated the high possibility that Rose is, in fact, an artist created by artificial intelligence. They are likely to be correct.

In a statement to Rolling Stone, the streaming platform Deezer confirmed “that many of Sienna Rose’s albums and songs are detected and flagged as AI on Deezer.”

Sienna Rose has been the subject of this debate for about a year now. But it all got reignited after the Golden Globes awards ceremony when Selena Gomez posted an Instagram carousel from the event, using Rose’s “Where Your Warmth Begins.” (The song has since been removed from Gomez’s post.) Since then, folks on the internet have turned their attention on the musician with a critical eye.

Cannot overstate how deeply insidious this is, especially considering that we recently lost D’Angelo (a true artist who revolutionized the very genres that “Sienna Rose” is a stolen generic ass patchwork of)
“Sienna Rose” is a modern iteration in a long history of Black artists… https://t.co/T8MLKoySdZ

— Caroline (@carolinekwan) January 13, 2026

Sienna Rose’s Spotify profile was the greatest point of speculation. For starters, Rose’s biography describes her as “an anonymous neo-soul singer whose music blends the elegance of classic soul with vulnerability of modern R&B.” The operative word here being “anonymous,” a strange move for an artist in the 21st century when visibility feeds into fame. Despite Sienna Rose’s anonymity, the singer has 2.6 million monthly listeners on Spotify. On top of that, she’s also managed to get three songs (‘Into the Blue,’ ‘Safe With You,’ and ‘Where Your Warmth Begins’) on Spotify’s Viral 50 – USA playlist.

Then there’s the music of it all. Sienna Rose’s AI-generated music seems to be inspired by real artists like Olivia Dean and Alicia Keys with lush vocals and delicate pianos. But some listeners have noted the “generic” sound of the music. One X user posted about their listening experience: “Started listening to Olivia Dean (fantastic). Within two days Spotify recommended Sienna Rose, who has a similar, but more generic sound. Took me a few songs to realise she’s AI. Is this how Spotify plans to maintain leverage over artists? Cloning sound and stealing listeners?”

Another user on Threads had similar complaints. “Sienna Rose is the ultimate case study in AI music finally becoming good enough. It’s not just about the tech anymore, it’s about the fact that it can now pass the test for the average listener & Spotify algo[rithm],” they wrote, adding, “When a track is polished enough to fool someone like Selena Gomez and millions of daily listeners, the algorithm stops being a tool for discovery. It becomes a delivery system for statistically perfect sound.”

On the other hand, another X user seemed to enjoy Rose’s songs. “I just discovered Sienna Rose?! 10/10 ma’am come and get your flowers! Such beautiful music, my goodness,” they wrote. Still, one X user was skeptical about any praise on the social media platform, noting, “Don’t fall for these blue checks attempting to legitimise Sienna Rose.”

Additionally, Sienna Rose also doesn’t have a social media presence — she’s anonymous, remember? Some users on Reddit found this component suspicious. “I couldn’t find her on any socials — or just any info on Google in general,” wrote one user. “I was just thinking how soothing this sounded but then found it weird I couldn’t find this ‘artist’ on socials…I’m cooked LOL,” wrote another.

Sienna Rose is the latest artist to make listeners online and beyond debate the issue of AI-generated music and artists. Last summer, the Velvet Sundown sparked debate and extensive media coverage when they debuted on popular Spotify playlists and insisted they were not AI-generated. Finally, the band’s Spotify bio clarified that they were indeed “visualised with the support of artificial intelligence”.

If the likes of Bandcamp have banned A.I. artists from their platform, Deezer, Spotify and others have not. It does show that there is this massive issue in terms of controlling A.I. artists. They are also becoming more sophisticated in terms of being able to convince people. It is a worrying trend. Velvet Sundown another case of an artist/band who have earned a lot of conversation and there is debate as to whether they are real music and what their worth is. Although they are not a huge streaming success and there is never going to be this longevity where their music endures, it does all seem rather creepy and pointless. In terms of Sienna Rose, a lot of the backlash comes when you consider she is a Black artist and a sort of anticipation and excitement around her. In an industry where there are fewer Black artists at the forefront and there is still inequality, there is more sting and disappointment with the realisation that she is A.I.-generated. It does seem to be insulting and toxic. Part of the problem with A.I. artists is that they will get found out. They cannot tour and there will be publicity from them. Fans are unlikely to stick with an artist long-term if all they get are A.I.-generated tracks and there is nothing else. However, with more and more of them being spawned, it does make it difficult for genuine artists to stand out at times. Some A.I. artists appear authentic and gain this press, only for it to be revealed their music is not genuine. If A.I. artists cannot produce the sort of real and human emotions that defined so many of last year’s best albums, it is this thing of artist royalties and existing music being used to make A.I. music. Even if it can mean more royalties, many artist and record labels are worried. I shall come to an article that explores that. However, in December, Alexis Petridis for The Guardian argued how 2025’s best was defined by grief, loss and resilience. This is something A.I. can’t, or ever will, be able to feel and replicate:

“The most acclaimed albums of 2025 make for impressively eclectic listening. Surveying them does not reveal much in the way of obvious musical trends. There’s very little similarity between Rosalía’s heady classical approach to pop on Lux and Lily Allen’s conversational disclosures on West End Girl. You could broadly group CMAT’s Euro-Country, Bon Iver’s Sable, Fable and the Tubs’ Cotton Crown together as alternative rock but they don’t sound anything like each other. And the year’s best-of lists are sprinkled with albums that brilliantly defy classification: Blood Orange’s Essex Honey leaps from old-fashioned indie to Prince-y funk; on Black British Music, Jim Legxacy sees no reason why UK rap can’t coexist with distorted guitars, pop R&B and acoustic bedroom pop.

But it’s hard not to notice how similar they are thematically: a large swathe of the Guardian’s albums of the year seem consumed by loss. There are straightforward explorations of failed relationships: for all its religious imagery, there’s a prosaic breakup at the heart of Rosalía’s Lux, while West End Girl’s lurid detailing of the collapse of Lily Allen’s marriage kept the tabloids in headlines for weeks. There are albums about more literal grief: a mother’s death informs Blood Orange’s Essex Honey and the Tubs’ Cotton Crown; Jim Legxacy references his late sister, while the brothers in august rap duo Clipse have seldom sounded as vulnerable as they do describing the deaths of their parents on their rightly heralded comeback Let God Sort ’Em Out. Euro-Country both memorialises a close friend on Lord, Let That Tesla Crash, while its title track examines the wave of suicides provoked by the Irish financial crisis of 2008.

In September, a US label reportedly paid $3m to sign Xavia Monet, an AI-generated R&B singer; Timbaland’s latest project is AI pop star TaTa Taktumi. By November, two AI-generated tracks had topped different US charts: Breaking Rust’s Walk My Walk made No 1 on the country digital song sales chart, while the equivalent gospel chart was topped by Solomon Ray’s Find Your Rest. The UK singles chart has also fallen victim. I Run by Haven began life with an AI-generated vocal seemingly designed to mimic that of R&B star Jorja Smith. It was banned by streaming services and removed from the UK chart after a week when record industry bodies issued takedown notices, but a new version with a re-recorded vocal was No 14 in the UK Top 40 at the time of writing.

This is all clearly the thin end of the wedge: there’s evidently plenty more to come. But if AI can make a fair copy of an old disco track, or a country record or a Jorja Smith song, the one thing it can’t do is experience the kind of human emotions that power the albums above. (The notion of an AI gospel track in particular seems to spectacularly miss the point.) These were not albums that people listened to just because they sounded nice, or had catchy hooks, but because they bought into the stories behind them, or felt moved by the feelings they expressed and the evident passion that had gone into making them, or saw their own lives reflected in the lyrics”.

There will be fallout from Sienna Rose. The latest artist to be outed as A.I., I do wonder what the long-term impact will be. Will people get better at detecting A.I. artists? Even if they do, Sienna Rose is still being listened to and streamed.  If a potential promising artist is revealed as a fraud, that will not stop people listening to the music. Royalties going to someone who is not a real artist. I think it is the tackiness of the visuals and music. What is the point of it all?! No A.I. artist will ever be able to enjoy any long-term success or have any sort of career. They cannot do the human part of music when it comes to tours and promotion. Will we see A.I.-generated artists streamed performing ‘live’, and will there be this fake interviews with these A.I. acts? It is a bit unsettling. Another thing is how some major labels are embracing A.I. and what this means for artists. Artists’ work being used to train A.I. In another article from The Guardian they write why there is division in the music world about the purpose and value of A.I. If it is a good or bad thing:

“But what do musicians actually think of the prospect of their work being used to train AI, and reworked by the general public? “Everybody should be selling or licensing their voice and their skills to these companies,” Dave Stewart of Eurythmics argued to me this week. “Otherwise they’re just going to take it anyway.” That view is directly countered by the major labels and AI companies, who have insisted artists and songwriters get to opt in to have their music made available, and if they do, get royalties when their music is used to train AI, or manipulated by users on platforms such as Udio, Suno and Klay.

Others take a grimmer view about how these companies might reshape the industry. Irving Azoff, legendarily forthright artist manager and founder of the Music Artists Coalition in the US, responded to the Universal/Udio deal with biting cynicism. “We’ve seen this before – everyone talks about ‘partnership,’ but artists end up on the sidelines with scraps,” he said. In the wake of the same deal, the Council of Music Makers in the UK accused the major labels of “spin” and called for a more robust set of artist-label agreements. And the European Composer and Songwriter Alliance says there is a disturbing “lack of transparency” around the deals (though more detail is likely to emerge on what users can do with any music they create, and any potential commercial uses of it).

Catherine Anne Davies, who records as the Anchoress and also sits on the board of directors at the Featured Artists Coalition (FAC), has many reservations here. “Most people don’t even want their work to be used for training AI,” she says. “I’m on the dystopian side, or maybe what I call the realist side of things. I’m interested in the way that AI can be assistive in the creative process – if it can make us more efficient, if it can streamline our processes. But generative AI for me, in terms of creative output, is a big no-no at the moment. I’m yet to be convinced.”

Musician Imogen Heap feels that AI itself is not to be feared as a tool – she uses an AI she calls Mogen to listen to every aspect of her life, with a view to it being a creative partner (as explored in a recent Guardian article). To help address some of the issues, she has created Auracles, an artist-led, non-profit platform she hopes will be the place where the rights and permissions around AI are set out. It’s not enough to say you’re happy with your music being used by AI, she says – instead, what’s needed are “permissions that grow and evolve over time”.

It is distressing that A.I. artists exist and they can seemingly get traction and a fanbase before they are rumbled. Even after that, some people have no issues supporting an A.I.-generated artist. Whilst it can never replace actual artists, I find it both creepy and damaging. The fact that there is not an actual human behind the music (well, not an artist anyway). And how I feel it has made people sceptical of new artists and whether they are real. New artists too having to compete with A.I. versions. Artists divided over whether A.I. is a useful tool and beneficial or dystopian and detrimental. The case of Sienna Rose is both shocking and disappointing. I have dropped in some of ‘her’ music to show that it is being listened to and, frankly, its popularity will wane and die. Authenticity and purity of human emotion will always resonate with listeners, but as long as A.I. artists can fool people or seem a sufficient alternative to real artists, I feel we all...

HAVE something to worry about.

FEATURE: The Digital Mixtape: Este Haim at Forty

FEATURE:

 

 

The Digital Mixtape

PHOTO CREDIT: Ian Gavan/Getty Images 

Este Haim at Forty

__________

THE amazing bass player and guitarist…

PHOTO CREDIT: Lea Garn

with  HAIM, I wanted to mark the upcoming fortieth birthday of a remarkable musician. Este Haim plays alongside her two sisters, Danielle and Alana, and she turns forty on 14th March. The Los Angeles trio are one of my favourite groups. They released their acclaimed debut album, Days Are Gone, in 2013. Their most recent album, I quit, came out last year. I have never seen HAIM live, though when they come to London, I shall try and get along, as I really love their music. Este Haim is also a fantastic and revered composer. Before coming to a mixtape featuring some of her compositional work and some brilliant HAIM tracks, I want to feature an interview from Spitfire Audio that was published in 2023:

“It's not all industry accolades and ice-cold limoncello though. Today Este is not on tour with Taylor Swift, recording a track for the Barbie soundtrack, or writing the fourth Haim album. She is in her living room in LA, drinking orange juice and recovering from a bout of low blood sugar brought on by her type 1 diabetes. In 2013, she fainted on stage at Glastonbury. Now she wears her condition on her sleeve, ready to educate anyone interested in finding out more. Including you, dear reader.

“We can wax philosophical about type 1 diabetes,” she continues. “I can give you all the info you want about blood sugar and glycemic index, but I don’t know if the Composer Magazine audience would want to hear about that.” In a way, she’s right. What I wanted to talk to her about was drum machines. And self-doubt. And archery.

Despite the morning setback, it hasn’t taken long for Este to hit full stride. She is gregarious and funny - a little sarcastic, a little self-deprecating, and generous with both her time and her stories. “I'm a real sucker for sonics,” she admits with characteristic pith, of the non-citrus variety. “If I could, I would go through snare tones for weeks.”

Hunched over a synthesiser or playing the guitar with a paintbrush are not images one might immediately associate with the rambunctious live performances of Haim’s resident bassist and self-avowed cheerleader. Este Haim is bridging worlds that don’t often look one another in the eye, but listen to tales from her childhood and it’s clear she always had a proclivity to break the mould. Her favourite Disney films are The Little Mermaid, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty … and Robin Hood. More on him later. For now, a little history.

Drum machines may not have run in the family, but music did. Este’s father was a drummer, her mother a guitarist, and it was something of a given that one-by-one the Haim sisters would have instruments pressed into their young hands. On the drums from age two, and upstaged by Danielle on guitar by age eight, Este (or “Depressed-y”, as her father called her at the time) was initially against the idea of playing the instrument she’d go on to make her own.

“My dad was like, ‘Why don’t you try playing the bass?’ And I was like, "Girls don't play bass. What girls play bass?" And he was like, ‘I know just the thing.’” Hours later they were at Blockbuster renting Talking Heads’ 1983 concert film Stop Making Sense. “I watched it and I saw Tina Weymouth play and I was mesmerised, transfixed, as an eight-year-old,” she enthuses. “I think partly because I thought she looked like Princess Peach from Super Mario. She was having the best time and I was like, that’s what I want to be.”

Throughout our interview, Este’s cultural references bounce between high and low like a vintage synth, just as happy to discuss Real Housewives as she is the work of Wim Wenders. In a matter of minutes, she’s run the gamut from her fated soccer career (“Sport? Not my thing! Performance? Absolutely”), her love of E.T. (“I wanted to be best friends with Elliott”), playing Brazilian carnival drums (she says there’s a video on YouTube, but I couldn’t find it), classical music (“I was really big into like Tchaikovsky”) and the joy of foley (“it looks like being a kid in a sandbox”).

At one point she jokes that “other than the drums, I think the cello is like the most beautiful, sexy instrument ever.” Especially in the hands of Arthur Russell, I offer. “Oh my god, the Arthur Russell of it all,” she exclaims. “The sound that he got out of his cello, and the textures and the timbre...” She trails off. “I wasn’t hip to Arthur Russell until late. I got to the party around 18 or 19. It blew my head off.”

It is a truth generally acknowledged that people conscientious enough to think they’re late to the party are usually bang on time. With almost a decade of band experience already to her name, Este took a degree in ethnomusicology with the intention of “studying the beginnings of music and where music came from”. She played sitar, she played tabla, she played gamelan, she sang in a Bulgarian choir. “I decided to look at it from an anthropological and sociological standpoint and learn how music worked,” she explains. Because why not?

The pop covers performed in charity concerts with her family may have grounded Este in the mechanics of a certain kind of songwriting, but there was something about Arthur Russell and Kate Bush, who she also became obsessed with at college, that flipped her interest towards production. “The world is your oyster in the studio,” she says. “Drum sounds, synth sounds, bass tones, those three things are my strong suits.” Sonics, atmosphere, levels, and mixing; are all concepts she now draws on more than ever in her work for film

There’s a lightness to Este’s manner which could be misinterpreted for frivolity, a charge that has been levelled at Haim in the past from the music industry’s largely male vibe police. It should really come as no surprise that an artist of her stature has such a wealth of musical knowledge, but pop stars are rarely afforded the luxury of complexity, let alone vulnerability. Este Haim is comfortable with both.

In 2021, Este was approached to score a Netflix drama Maid, about a woman rebuilding her life after an abusive relationship. Housebound by lockdown and unable to tour Haim’s third album Women in Music, Pt. III, Este jumped at the chance to try something new, despite the risks involved.

“I was like, I've never done this before. I'm a musician, I know I love music, I know I love music in film, I've hung out with Ludwig Göransson a couple of times, sure [she laughs], but the truth of the matter is I don’t know whether or not I'll be good at it. I'm going to put my best foot forward, and I’m going to work hard at it. I went on YouTube and tried to find every video on music composition for TV and film as I possibly could. I remember day one before meeting Stray [collaborator Christopher Stracey], I was like “OK Este, come on Haim, you gotta brush up!”.

It’s safe to say that as far as Haim is concerned, she has succeeded. When it comes to composing, however, Este is the first to admit that she is still finding her feet and was initially just pleased to discover how much she enjoyed the process. It’s also possible that being a rock-musician-turned-film-composer is, in its own way, something of a radical move.

“I think with time people have become more accepting of the idea that you can do both, or just do what you want,” she reflects. “Like, who gives a shit? This isn't a dress rehearsal. I don’t want to be on my deathbed and be like ‘fuck, I wish I'd done that’. That's kind of how I've always lived my life. I'm pretty fearless in that way.”

If Este Haim makes it sound easy, that’s because she has had to work for it. “I feel like I got my ten thousand hours by the time I turned eleven,” she says. “Every artist goes through bouts of self-doubt and imposter syndrome, but I like to think that as time goes on those voices get quieter,” I ask her whether being a beginner again in the world of film composition has allowed her to approach the task with something like intuition. I mention a book I was given recently on Zen Buddhism. To quote its author, Shunryo Suzuki: “In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few”.

When I write about HAIM in the future, I will discuss i quit and how their music has changed. The brilliance of their work and what acclaimed players they are. However, this is all about Este Haim, as she turns forty on 14th March and I wanted an excuse to write about her. A truly exceptional musician, composer, songwriter and human, this mixtape is her brilliant work as a composer and as one-third of HAIM. It shows that she is a truly staggering…

MUSICAL talent.

FEATURE: Tell Me How Have You Been? Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer at Forty

FEATURE:

 

 

Tell Me How Have You Been?

Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer at Forty

__________

I am casting forward…

to 14th April. That date marks forty years since Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer was released. The lead single from his fifth studio album, So, it was a number four success in the U.K. It reached number one in the U.S. People talk about Sledgehammer as much for its iconic video as they do for the song itself. Directed by the late Stephen R. Johnson, it won nine MTV Video Music Awards in 1987 and is considered one of the greatest music videos ever. In terms of its brilliance and innovation, I would say it is the greatest achievement in music video-making ever. Forty years later and it still looks mind-blowing. This stop-motion video that must have required a lot of patience from Peter Gabriel, I wanted to explore the song and video ahead of its fortieth anniversary. I am starting out with Sound on Sound in 2014. Sledgehammer was produced by Daniel Lanois and engineered by Kevin Killen and David Bascombe. Killen discussed the background of the track. How it came together and the technology and equipment used. I have selected sections from the interview:

“The words to Peter Gabriel's most commercial song and biggest international hit aren't exactly subtle. Sonically drawing on some of his previous numbers, like 'Games Without Frontiers' and 'Shock the Monkey', as well as 1960s American soul records by the likes of Otis Redding, 'Sledgehammer' is chock full of sexual innuendo: a steam train, an aeroplane, a big dipper, a bumper car, you name it.

Still, thanks to its infectious groove, contributions by the likes of legendary Stax house musicians the Memphis Horns and an iconic music video, it topped the American chart in July 1986 and climbed to number four in the UK.

'Sledgehammer' was the second track on So, Gabriel's fifth solo studio album and the biggest seller of his career, hitting the top spot in his native Britain where it was certified triple platinum and number two in the US where it went five-times platinum. Produced by Canadian musician Daniel Lanois, it melded Gabriel's world-music sensibilities and love of experimentation with Lanois' own ambient leanings to create a stone-cold classic.

"Peter would immerse himself in anything rhythmic, whereas Dan was very soulful as a producer,” says Kevin Killen, who took over as the album's engineer after David Bascombe — who'd recorded the basic tracks — left the project to work with Tears For Fears. "Beforehand, they'd worked on the soundtrack of the Alan Parker film, Birdy, re‑purposing and overdubbing on existing material that Peter had in his catalogue, and this had given them an interesting view into how they might work on So, enabling things to unfold naturally”.

"The basic tracks had mostly been recorded in long form, so the arrangements that we now hear weren't necessarily on the multitracks when I got involved. Some of them were almost the same, but others were really elongated; 'Sledgehammer' was close to 10 minutes, as opposed to the five minutes that ended up making it onto the single and the five minutes, 16 seconds on the album version. When they were tracking, they'd do these extended sections and extended vamps, because at the time Peter just had basic chord arrangements that he'd wanted to pursue. That also allowed the musicians freedom to explore new ideas, which sometimes ended up in the next take of the song.

"Lyrically, Peter likes to ponder his choices over a long period of time and he will play around with various ideas. Initially, he would come up with sounds for the basic track and try to fit key words into those sounds — he describes this process as Gabrielese — and then the lyrics would develop from there. When people came in to record overdubs, they might be playing to something that was still only partially formed or completely blank vocally. As a result, even if they came up with a great part, there was no guarantee it would stand the test of time. Peter was constantly upgrading his ideas, and so original parts would have to be replaced to accommodate the new arrangements.”

Unique Sounds

"The first song I heard on my arrival was 'Sledgehammer'. The drums, bass, guitar and keyboards had been recorded in their most basic form. Peter was working on a lyrical idea and he was trying to cement a melody for those lyrics. There was no lead vocal, no backing vocals, no horn parts, no organ. Even the bass part changed, going from a slightly different tone to what it became with Tony Levin's Boss octave pedal. In its extended version, it sounded like a really cool track that needed to be edited down into a more manageable form so that its great ideas could be presented in a more concise fashion, possibly with a view to being a single.

IN THIS PHOTO: Daniel Lanois and Kevin Killen in the Ashcombe House control room

"Peter recorded complete takes of the vocal and then we compiled. That wasn't true for all songs, but for 'Sledgehammer' we created a comp track. Shortly after I arrived, we'd started setting up for vocals and he had told me he normally sang through an SM57. Dan said, 'OK, we'll set up an SM57 but let's set up other microphones as well and do a blindfold test.' Peter was game enough to do that, so we had about six different mics set up in the control room, he put on the blindfold outside and walked in. He wasn't allowed to touch the microphones, and all the gains were set the same so that he couldn't tell which was which in terms of level. He went through each one, walking from one to the other, and the one he ended up picking was the Neumann U47.

"This particular Neumann had a really great, silky high end, but it didn't have as much bottom as Dan and I had expected. It had an unusual tone, and Peter has that lovely little rasp in his voice as well as a certain airiness. We thought the U47 sounded really good on him and then, just before we ready to record, our tech Neil Perry said something was shorting out in the cable connecting the mic to the power supply. After fixing the cable, we had Peter step back up to the microphone and it sounded different; much more full‑bodied. We liked that, but we pined for the airiness of the pre‑modified version. We asked Neil , 'Is there any way of mimicking that response? He did by removing the shield on a patch cord. Then he said, 'We should plug the microphone's input into a mult on the patch bay, take a regular patch cord out of that mult into a fader, and mult the dropped shield patch cord into a secondary fader. You'll have the normal 47 response with the modified 47 response on separate faders. You can use that to balance between the airiness and roundness of Peter's voice.'

"That became the way in which we approached the vocals. Peter likes to sing in the control room and to not be totally isolated with headphones. We had small NS10 monitors and a pair of Tannoys as well. So, we'd flip the phase on them, placing the U47 at the apex position from the speakers while monitoring at a moderate level, and then Peter would sing with a pair of Sennheisers around his neck. Afterwards I'd record a track at the same monitoring level of just the backing track minus the vocal. Then I'd comp with that backing track out of phase with the vocal to see if we could get it to cancel.

"In terms of vocal performances, Peter would usually take three, four, five passes to get a great end result. He's an incredibly great vocalist. It's rare that Peter sings out of tune and he's really got the most soulful sounding voice. It might take him a long time to arrive at a finished lyric that he's comfortable with, but once he gets there his delivery is impeccable...

"Personally, it was a life‑changing experience. Dan was gracious to invite me onto the project, and the challenges it presented allowed me to grow exponentially as a person and as an engineer. Meanwhile, Peter was incredibly gracious both as a person and as a performer, and he made me feel welcome from the first day. We were a competitive group, and this manifested itself in our daily games of boules, as well as our runs to Solsbury Hill with David Rhodes, PG and myself. There was exceptional humour and compassion, and enough creative tension to help maximise our contributions. I cannot imagine my life or career without that experience and the friendships that ensued”.

It is worth discussing the video for Sledgehammer. One wonders if this song would have such a huge and important legacy were it not for the video. Would it have charted as high, especially in the U.S. if the video were different? There is no doubting the brilliance of the song itself, yet the video tips it over the top. Music Radar reproached Sledgehammer last year. Peter Gabriel recalling how it was quite an intense process. He had to lie under glass for sixteen hours in one section of the video. However, the dedication and patience paid off. It is a masterpiece visual:

“Directed by Stephen R. Johnson and featuring the animation talents of the Brothers Quay and Aardman Animations, the video makes for compelling yet sometimes uneasy viewing - with Gabriel singing the track in a disjointed, frame-by-frame style as a whole manner of objects such as an orange and a model train orbit his head.

Shot one frame at a time, this required Gabriel to lie under glass for a total of 16 hours.

“It took a lot of hard work,” Gabriel recalled. “I was thinking at the time, ‘If anyone wants to try and copy this video, good luck to them’.”

In many ways, the Sledgehammer video is a fitting reflection of the song it sets out to evoke – striking, innovative and, as ever with Peter Gabriel, wholly unique.

Sledgehammer is the song on which the former Genesis singer shifted from prog to pop, albeit with left-field sensibilities to the fore. It’s also a track that would become his most commercial song and his biggest international hit.

Sledgehammer is the second track on Gabriel’s fifth studio album, So, and was the last one to be recorded.

The album was produced by Daniel Lanois and recorded at Gabriel’s home, Ashcombe House, near Bath.

The musicians on the album were actually packing up their gear to leave when Sledgehammer was presented to them. Drummer Manu Katché had just ordered a taxi on his return journey to Paris when Gabriel coaxed him back into the studio.

Katché nailed his drum part in one take and Tony Levin recorded his part on a fretless bass with a pick.

Soul music was a huge influence on Gabriel when writing the song, particularly the music that had come out of Stax in Memphis.

He recalled having seen Otis Redding in London and remembered the passion and excitement of Redding’s performance and his trumpet player that night, Wayne Jackson, a member of the Stax house band and one of the Memphis Horns.

“I began as a drummer, a pretty bad drummer,” Gabriel told Ray Hammond of Sound On Sound magazine in January 1987. “I used to play in a soul band and we used to do a lot of this type of material. It's still very exciting for me.

“The best gig of my life was when I went to the Ram Jam Club in Brixton to see Otis Redding in 1967. That hasn't ever been surpassed for me, it was an amazing night.”

Almost 20 years after that night, Gabriel contacted Wayne Jackson and asked him to assemble a horn section to play on Sledgehammer. Jackson recruited Mark Rivera on saxophone and Don Mikkelsen on trombone.

Gabriel wanted Jackson and the horn section to capture some of the intricacies of brass playing that were not possible to achieve on a synth. He highlighted as an example the slow brass swells in the second verse as the kind of feel that he required.

For Gabriel, the inclusion of musicians such as Wayne Shorter and Manu Katché was integral to Sledgehammer.

“I think there's still something magical that happens when you get the interaction between live players,” he said. “No amount of good programming can replace that.”

Lyrically, Sledgehammer is rich in sexual innuendo. As Gabriel sings: ”You could have a steam train/If you'd just lay down your tracks".

The euphemisms were acknowledged by Gabriel and he noted that many of the ’60s soul and R&B songs that inspired him also feature such references in the lyrics. “Sometimes sex can break through barriers when other forms of communication are not working too well,” he is quoted as saying, on the Songfacts website”.

Before getting to some critical reviews and impressions of how Sledgehammer is viewed, Stereogum wrote about this 1986 single for their The Number Ones feature. Even though it was number one for a single week in the U.S., its popularity and success was immense. One of the defining singles and videos of the 1980s. Perhaps Peter Gabriel’s most revered and loved song, it still sounds fresh forty years later. The video is not dated at all. How many artists would commit to a video like this in 2026? Even though So has other classics on it – Don’t Give Up, and Big Time among the others -, Sledgehammer is the standout:

“Before making that "Sledgehammer" video, director Stephen R. Johnson had made the similarly wild clip for the 1985 Talking Heads song "Road To Nowhere." That video, in particular its stop-motion sequences, were what attracted Gabriel to Johnson. Johnson, in the oral history I Want My MTV: "I didn't even like ['Sledgehammer'], frankly. I thought it was just another white boy trying to sound Black. But Peter Gabriel took me to dinner, got me drunk on wine, and I agreed to do it." With the "Sledgehammer" video, Johnson just went nuts, and Gabriel did everything necessary to bring Johnson's visions to life.

In making the video, Johnson enlisted the help of the groundbreaking experimental stop-motion animators the Brothers Quay. At Gabriel's behest, he also brought in Aardman Animations, the British production house that would later make the Wallace & Gromit films. Nick Park, who went on to create Wallace & Gromit, personally animated the bit in the "Sledgehammer" video where the two chickens dance. Park used real chicken carcasses, and they started to rot and stink while he was working on them. (Later on, Park co-directed the 2000 hit Chicken Run, so the experience apparently didn't put him off working with chickens.) In working on the video, Gabriel himself had to spend 16 hours laying underneath a sheet of glass, and he got a bunch of electric shocks while wearing a Christmas tree costume. It all worked out. Gabriel, Johnson, and all their collaborators made something immortal.

A spectacle as outsized and surreal and popular as the "Sledgehammer" video makes for a fitting peak of Peter Gabriel's career. Gabriel had been building to something like that for a long time. Gabriel, in his mid-thirties when he scored his one #1 hit, grew up in the English town of Surrey, and he became one of the founding members of Genesis as a teenager. From the very beginning, Gabriel was an unconventional frontman. On Genesis' early albums, he played flute and oboe. Later on, he started wearing outlandish costumes onstage, something that he never cleared with his bandmates beforehand. Gabriel was the one who had the big ideas that led to absurd, ambitious concept albums like the 1974 album The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway.

While Genesis were working on that album, William Friedkin, director of The French Connection and The Exorcist, approached Gabriel about working on a a screenplay, and he temporarily dropped out of the band, pissing off his bandmates in the process. After Genesis finished touring behind the LP, Gabriel announced his departure from the band, kicking off the chain of events that would lead Genesis drummer Phil Collins to unlikely global pop stardom. Soon afterward, Gabriel started off a solo career, releasing his first album in 1977. On his early albums, Gabriel played around with synths and textures and ideas.

All of Gabriel's first four solo albums were self-titled -- not exactly the kind of decision you make if you're aiming for pop stardom. Still, Gabriel's early singles did pretty well on the UK charts. In the US, Gabriel was less of a presence. A couple of tracks charted: 1977's "Solsbury Hill" at #68, 1980's "Games Without Frontiers" at #48. But Gabriel was more of a culty, esoteric figure until the advent of MTV made him harder to ignore. 1982's "Shock The Monkey" reached #29, largely on the strength of its memorably freaked-out video. Still, a song like "Sledgehammer" represented a real and self-conscious turn towards the pop mainstream.

Gabriel co-produced his 1986 album So, his first album with an actual title, with Daniel Lanois, a producer whose work will appear in this column again. Lanois and Gabriel had worked together on the soundtrack of the 1984 movie Birdy, and they made So together at Gabriel's Bath studio. Gabriel obsessed over the record's sound, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to painstakingly put it all together. For "Sledgehammer," he had an unlikely inspiration: Previous Number Ones artist Otis Redding.

In 1967, Gabriel had seen Redding play the London club Ram Jam, an experience that made him want to become a full-time musician. (Imagine how much confidence it must take for a 17-year-old white British kid to look at Otis Redding and think to himself that he could do that.) "Sledgehammer" is Gabriel's conscious attempt to salute Redding and his '60s soul contemporaries. That's why "Sledgehammer" is basically nothing but clumsy sex metaphors. Gabriel figured that he was working within a lineage. In the So press release, Gabriel wrote that the song was his attempt to replicate "the spirit and the style" of '60s soul: "The lyrics of many of those songs were full of playful sexual innuendo, and this is my contribution to that songwriting tradition. It is also about the use of sex as a means of getting through a breakdown in communication." (Gabriel's first marriage would end in divorce a year later.)

Judged as a '60s soul song, "Sledgehammer" is an abject failure, a total boondoggle. In its lyrics, Gabriel essentially compares the following things to his dick: a steam train, an airplane, a big dipper, and a bumper car. (I'll admit: I am now very curious what Peter Gabriel's dong looks like.) Gabriel also sings that you should show him 'round your fruit cage because he will be your honeybee. He wants to be your sledgehammer. Won't you call his name? It's all very dumb and silly, mostly in an endearing way.

As a singer, Gabriel is obviously no Otis Redding, but he's still pretty effective. His voice is a strained, chesty baritone grumble, and he pushes it hard on "Sledgehammer." Purely as a vocalist, Gabriel never had the effortless grace of his old bandmate Phil Collins, but that works out fine for him, since a song like "Sledgehammer" should be effortful. I like the interplay between Gabriel and the backup singers at the end of the song. He's not a soul singer, but he tries.

But "Sledgehammer" doesn't work because it's a soul song. It works because it's a slick, loud, fun '80s club song. The mix is huge and overwhelming, full of noises and tones that drop in out of nowhere. The opening flute-tootle has an uncanny sort of echo on it; it's an intro that lets you know you're about to be swept away. The sound came from an E-mu Emulator II sampler; Gabriel took it from a sound-test demo. Much of "Sledgehammer" is just as digital as the sample: The airless sheen, the giant drum sound, the Fairlight and Prophet synths that Gabriel plays on the song. But there's a nice mix of the electronic and the tangibly organic.

For the song, Gabriel brought in Wayne Jackson, the great Memphis trumpeter who played on tons of Stax Records tracks and who backed up Otis Redding that night that Gabriel saw him at the Ram Jam, along with Jackson's group the Memphis Horns. Gabriel has dismissed the notion, but it seems likely that Gabriel had noticed how much success his old bandmate Phil Collins was having when making records with Earth, Wind & Fire's Phenix Horns. On "Sledgehammer," the Memphis Horns do the same kind of work that the Phenix Horns had done on Collins' "Sussidio" the year before, and they give the song a similar adrenaline charge.

Gabriel has acknowledged that "Sledgehammer" owes much of its pop success to the video. It's one of those songs that's impossible to hear on its own, without visions of that video dancing across your brain. But on its own, "Sledgehammer" is a charmingly goofy dance-pop song with production that makes it sound fucking huge, like a spaceship taking off. Even without the video, it would've been a hit. Even without the video, it's a lot of fun.

"Sledgehammer" is by far Gabriel's biggest chart hit. Only one other Gabriel single, the ironic yuppie-clowning dance-funk follow-up "Big Time," even made the top 10. ("Big Time" peaked at #8. It's an 8.) Other Gabriel songs have lingered longer in the popular consciousness, though, mostly because they also pair nicely with other images. "Solsbury Hill" was in so many movie trailers that it became a meme in the early-YouTube days, while the So ballad "In Your Eyes" earned teen-movie immortality when Cameron Crowe used it in the climactic scene of 1989's Say Anything... ("In Your Eyes" peaked at #26, but it's by far Gabriel's best-known song today.)”.

There is a great and fascinating blog post that I want to highlight, which analyses the musical structure of Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer. I would urge people to read it, as it unpicks the track. Many might see it as a simple song that is all about the video. However, the sounds and musical elements of Sledgehammer are so unusual for the time. I am going to end with this 2022 article about the genius Sledgehammer. A song about sex that has all this depth and a truly awe-inspiring video, I am going to be interesting to see how people approach it close to its fortieth anniversary on 14th April:

“One of the things – among many – that make the song so uniquely fascinating was the use of a synthesized shakuhachi flute (a Japanese and ancient Chinese longitudinal, end-blown flute made of bamboo), generated with an E-mu Emulator II sampler. Gabriel said that the “cheap organ sound” was created from an expensive Prophet-5 synth, which he called “an old warhorse” sound tool. (Wikipedia) The great backing vocals were sung by P. P. Arnold, Coral “Chyna Whyne” Gordon, and Dee Lewis, who also sang backup on “Big Time”.

Ironically, “Sledgehammer” (which was Gabriel’s only song to reach #1 in the U.S.) replaced “Invisible Touch”, by his former band Genesis, at the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 (which was their only #1 hit in the U.S. as well). In a 2014 interview with The Guardian, Phil Collins remarked “I read recently that Peter Gabriel knocked us off the #1 spot with ‘Sledgehammer’. We weren’t aware of that at the time. If we had been, we’d probably have sent him a telegram saying: ‘Congratulations – bastard.'”

You could have a steam train

If you'd just lay down your tracks

You could have an aeroplane flying

If you bring your blue sky back

All you do is call me

I'll be anything you need

You could have a big dipper

Going up and down, all around the bends

You could have a bumper car, bumping

This amusement never ends

I want to be - your sledgehammer

Why don't you call my name

Oh  let me be your sledgehammer

This will be my testimony

Show me round your fruitcage

'Cos I will be your honey bee

Open up your fruitcage

Where the fruit is as sweet as can be

I want to be - your sledgehammer

Why don't you call my name

You'd better call the sledgehammer

Put your mind at rest

I'm going to be - the sledgehammer

This can be my testimony

I'm your sledgehammer

Let there be no doubt about it

Sledge Sledge Sledgehammer

I've kicked the habit, shed my skin

This is the new stuff, I go dancing in, we go dancing in

Oh won't you show for me and I will show for you

Show for me, I will show for you

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I do mean you, only you

You've been coming through

Going to build that power

Build, build up that power, hey

I've been feeding the rhythm

I've been feeding the rhythm

Going to feel that power build in you

Come on, come on, help me do

Come on, come on, help me do

Yeh, yeh, yeh, yeh, yeh, yeh , yeh, yeh, you

I've been feeding the rhythm

I've been feeding the rhythm

It's what we're doing, doing

All day and night”.

The stunning and world-conquering lead single from So, Sledgehammer turns forty on 14th April. Few songs are talked about mainly because of their video. So groundbreaking and innovative was the Stephen R. Johnson-directed video that we are still talking about it today. Few videos since 1986 have matched the brilliance of Sledgehammer. However, you can play the album and listen to Sledgehammer without the video and be swept away. The big vocal and incredible horns. The catchy and memorable chorus. The joy that it brings. That entire So album is so rich, varied and astonishingly nuanced and stunning. A masterpiece album from…

A songwriter in his own league.

FEATURE: You Say We’re Fantastic? Kate Bush’s Wow at Forty-Seven

FEATURE:

 

 

You Say We’re Fantastic?

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

Kate Bush’s Wow at Forty-Seven

__________

WHEN thinking about…

one of Kate Bush’s best singles, I am not going to repeat what I said before. I am going to include some resources I have used before but, in terms of framing, there is another direction I want to go in. Wow was the second single from Kate Bush’s second studio album, Lionheart. Released on 9th March, 1979, it turns forty-seven soon. It is important to learn a bit about the song. I have discussed aspects of this song for a recent feature. One where I explore characters in her songs, I mentioned Emily and The Actor from this song. Their roles and importance. However, stepping away from that, there are others things to spotlight. It was a number fourteen single in the U.K. I will talk about that. And critical reaction. However, here we get some interview archive from the Kate Bush Encycloepdia, where Kate Bush discussed one of her best songs:

“I’ve really enjoyed recording ‘Wow’. I’m very, very pleased with my vocal performance on that, because we did it a few times, and although it was all in tune and it was okay, there was just something missing. And we went back and did it again and it just happened, and I’ve really pleased with that, it was very satisfying.

Lionheart Promo Cassette, EMI Canada, 1978

‘Wow’ is a song about the music business, not just rock music but show business in general, including acting and theatre. People say that the music business is about ripoffs, the rat race, competition, strain, people trying to cut you down, and so on, and though that’s all there, there’s also the magic. It was sparked off when I sat down to try and write a Pink Floyd song, something spacey; Though I’m not surprised no-one has picked that up, it’s not really recognisable as that, in the same way as people haven’t noticed that ‘Kite’ is a Bob Marley song, and ‘Don’t Push Your Foot On The Heartbrake’ is a Patti Smith song. When I wrote it I didn’t envisage performing it – the performance when it happened was an interpretation of the words I’d already written. I first made up the visuals in a hotel room in New Zealand, when I had half an hour to make up a routine and prepare for a TV show. I sat down and listened to the song through once, and the whirling seemed to fit the music. Those who were at the last concert of the tour at Hammersmith must have noticed a frogman appear through the dry ice it was one of the crew’s many last night ‘pranks’ and was really amazing. I’d have liked to have had it in every show.

Kate Bush Club newsletter, Summer 1979”.

The first single and taste of music from 1979, it was an interesting period. Kate Bush released two albums in 1978. The Kick Inside, her debut, was a huge success. It spawned some incredible singles and sold over a million copies. There was not quite the same success and impact for Lionheart. Sort of rushed By EMI to capitalise on success Bush has accrued, Lionheart came out in November 1978. I think it is interesting the first single from Lionheart is Hammer Horror. The final track on the album, one would imagine that would be the second or third single. It is not a conventional lead single. Maybe Bush felt it was the biggest departure from The Kick Inside and it would be a more interesting release than anything else. Her chart positions were not great at this point. The Kick Inside was a big success. Wuthering Heights and The Man with the Child in His Eyes were released and were high-placing singles. International singles like Moving were also successful. The whole package of album and singles showed that Bush could be critically acclaimed and commercially viable. Few artists this original were selling as many units and seeing their singles do well in the charts. Maybe there was something about Lionheart that was different. Not to say the singles were a failure. Wow did pretty well, though it was not as big as what she saw on The Kick Inside. 1980’s Never for Ever would see some resurgence in terms of chart positions. Even though critics were sexist and insulting towards Kate Bush from the start, there did seem to be more love for The Kick Inside than Lionheart. Wow is an amazing song that deserved more respect. I did source it in the feature where I looked at the character in Wow, but reviews were pretty bad. Even the more positive ones came with a note of disappointment. Some of the reviews were plain misogynistic. Sounds included this in their review for Wow: “I realise that a lot of people would like to go to bed with her, but buying all her records seems a curious way of expressing such desires”.

There was this interesting shift in terms of critical appreciation. The Kick Inside got Kate Bush praise and affection, though there was sexism and mockery in some quarters. Lionheart was less well-received and many were cold towards it. Then 1979’s The Tour of Life was acclaimed and rapturously received by crowds. Never for Ever was her first number one album, yet the reviews were not universally positive. 1982’s was less commercially successful and the reviews were mixed. Then 1985’s Hounds of Love saw her embraced once more. With every new phase and shift, there was a new take on Kate Bush. Wow is a distinct, incredibly interesting and strong song. Yet, as 1978 and 1979 were years when Bush was a prime target for comedians and satirists, Wow played right into their hands. One of the last singles where Bush was very much in the mould of this hippy-dippy artist, Never for Ever’s first single, Breathing, was maybe a way of her to get away from some of that mockery. Even then, she could not escape press disapproval. In spite of some good reviews, Breathing was still dismissed by some. However, it is curious why Wow did not chart higher. Did press impressions of Bush affect the buying public? You could say Wow is not as strong as Wuthering Heights or The Man with the Child in His Eyes. Hammer Horror was perhaps not the right first single from Lionheart. However, Wow is Bush at her brilliant best! Maybe if Wow came out first it would have been a top ten. It was a top twenty single, so you can’t say it was a disaster at all. I do feel like the conversation around her was still dismissive. Looking at Wow now and we can recognise it is a brilliant single and one of her best. However, back in March 1979, there was not sure this positivity and appreciation. I think that Bush was given a bit of a rough ride for Lionheart. Some of it was to do with the hurried nature of the album. Even so, there are some great songs on the album. Wow is one of them. As it tuns forty-seven on 9th March, I wanted to revisit it. If you have not heard the song or haven’t in a while, then do go and check it out. It is one of Kate Bush’s best moments. If there has been more kindness towards the single in years since it was released, there was some critical coldness in 1979. Forty-seven years after its release and this Kate Bush single…

STILL sounds wonderful and entrancing.

FEATURE: Take Two: Imagining a Musical Life for Beloved Actors

FEATURE:

 

 

Take Two

IN THIS PHOTO: Rachel Zegler/PHOTO CREDIT: Diego Bendezu for Allure

Imagining a Musical Life for Beloved Actors

__________

THERE are plenty of examples…

IN THIS PHOTO: Jessie Buckley/PHOTO CREDIT: Nathaniel Goldberg for ELLE

of artists stepping into acting. Straddling those worlds. Charli xcx has a mockumentary coming out. Lady Gaga is an acclaimed artist. This has been the case for decades. Maybe seen as quite a natural move, I have written about artist appearing in films and on T.V. Although some are a little elitist when it comes to artists and preferring them to stay in their lane, most people embrace them. However, what about the other way around? Perhaps it seems less natural that actors would go into a music career. I will apply this to men but, for this feature, I have been thinking about a few women who are truly tremendous actors you would love to see embark on music careers. I have written about her before, and she will probably tire of it, but the national treasure that is Florence Pugh has a wonderful voice. This is not me manifesting these opportunities and trying to get these incredible women into music. Rather, it is recognising the talent they have and why perhaps there is a bit more reluctance for actors to jump into music compared to artists going into acting. It is great that actors like Kate Hudson have music careers. Whether they have been going for a while or are just releasing music, it is fascinating. You can say Will Smith and Jennifer Lopez were actors before they became artists. Keanu Reeves, Zooey Deschanel and Donald Glover have enjoyed music careers or varying success and notoriety. To me, I think actors step into music because they love it and not because of ego or using their fame to sell records. It is their first love but, for some reason or the other, they went into acting. With Florence Pugh, this is someone who I think has suggested an album. Something she was considering. One of the prolific and in-demand artists, I do hope that we hear music from her this year. In the few occasions where we have seen her sing on screen, she has been transfixing. Early SoundCloud recordings and cover versions displayed this early talent. I would love a Florence Pugh album of originals, as I don’t think there is anyone in the mainstream quite like her. As a versatile actor, she would not be confined by genre. She is masterful at accents, so she could be this artist that can shift between sounds but be completely herself.

I am holding out hope that we get some music offering from Pugh soon. Maybe she has other priorities at the moment. Building her acting career. Or starting a family at some point. However, it is clear that music is a huge love for her, and she clearly has a natural talent. Maybe there are some who turn their noses at famous actors releasing music. Like it is a hobby. However, why should their incredible voices and this passioned by confined to the screen or their own homes?! If an artist wants to act then they have the opportunity and lots do it. I have watched a bit of The Night Manager. The BBC series features in its cast the incredible Camila Morrone. The Los Angeles-born actor and model appeared in the 2023 series, Daisy Jones & The Six. It featured incredible performances. Singing from the amazing Riley Keogh. Another cast member is artist Suki Waterhouse. Someone I have covered before. The series is based on the titular Rock band in 1970s Los Angeles. Perhaps a touch of Fleetwood Mac to them. Rather than this being an acting job for Camila Morrone, you feel like this was a real passion. Someone who has expressed an interest in a career in music, she also has a fantastic voice. It would be amazing to hear her record an album. Again, many might see this as another actor trying to go into music. Instead, it is trying to uncover a potentially brilliant artist. Looking around at modern music, like Florence Pugh, you know that Camila Morrone would offer something different. There are these disciplines and skills actors acquire that translates into music. When it comes to performances and delivery. How they write and how they approach songs. I loved seeing Morrone in Daisy Jones & The Six, and I feel that all of the cast could have a successful music career. Suki Waterhouse has. Riley Keogh has performed songs before but not recorded an album. She is the granddaughter of Elvis Presley, so it would be so phenomenal hearing music from her. Such a wonderful cast from that short-lived series, I have been thinking about what Camila Morrone could give to the music world. Maybe this is not on her mind at the moment, though I do feel like she would be an incredible songwriter and singer. Far beyond the samey Pop that dominates a lot of current conservation.

PHOTO CREDIT: Carin Backoff for Interview Magazine

Before moving on, there is a 2023 interview with Glamour, where Camila Morrone talked about her character in Daisy Jones & the Six, Camila Dunne. She is the wife of the titular band’s frontman, Billy Dunne (Sam Claflin). As someone who builds a career as a photographer and is not just someone who dates a Rock star, it sort of reminds me of Paul and Linda McCartney in a sense. Linda as this amazing photographer but also a great singer and artist. Camila Morrone also expressed a hope of releasing music one day – never saying never:

“What was your relationship like with Riley? On the show, as Daisy, she’s your fellow creative but also maybe coming for your man.

Well, the problem with Riley is that she’s the cutest, sweetest person on earth. It’s kind of hard to hate her. She brought that element to Daisy too, because no matter what Daisy does in the series, she’s always lovable in her own tortured and broken artist kind of way. There’s not really any crazy scenes between Camila and Daisy, which I like, because what I liked about the writing was they didn’t pit these two women against each other. It wasn’t based in jealousy or rivalry or competition.

There was this underlying respect between Daisy and Camila that makes it all just even more painful, because these women love each other in a weird way. They both admire certain qualities that the other person has that they don’t contain. I think for Camila, watching Daisy be this incredible artist who’s sensual and passionate and talented and wild is an attribute that she doesn’t feel she can bring to Billy’s life.

And I think for Daisy, Camila’s got this grounded centeredness, put togetherness, motherhood…kind of everything that Daisy doesn’t have. It’s very interesting. They both were polar opposites but had this common theme of loving this man and respecting each other through it as much as they could.

How do you feel about the time period?

I had a very rudimentary understanding of the style and a basic textbook understanding of what was going on in the world. When I got the job, I dove deeper into the politics of the time to understand the world they were living in. But I’m also so familiar with the LA kind of hippie scene. I mean, I’ve lived around Laurel Canyon and am so familiar with these spots. So I think for me, the homework and history came from getting to know the music of that era.

I know that you’ve dabbled in guitar. Are you a musician yourself?

I definitely wouldn’t call myself a musician, but in the pandemic, I set a goal of learning one new thing and that happened to be guitar. I was looking at videos yesterday, and I was actually kind of getting good. I stopped in the last year because I was filming so much.

Now I’m sad that I've given it up, because there was a moment when I was definitely flowing with it. I love music. It’s a really big part of my life. I like anything in the arts, anything that’s creative. So I never say no to anything. I would totally be open to doing something in music one day.

What are you listening to right now?

I really love Rosalía. I just went to see her show in London. She’s so incredible. She’s got this flamenco…she incorporates tango. I’m Argentinian, and all her songs are in Spanish. So I’ve been having a really good time listening to her album”.

This is not a slight on male actors. However, I am thinking about some of the queens of the acting world and those who love music but have not had the same crossover as those like Jennifer Lopez or Lady Gaga. Emilia Clarke is someone whose acting I adore. One of the best actors in the world. Like Florence Pugh, another British treasure. I did post it on social media a while ago. How Emilia Clarke has sung on screen and there are recordings. She is this wonderful singer! Again, I feel she could just have this incredible music career. In 2020, for the My Life in a Mixtape for the BBC, Emilia Clarke talked about her favourite music and songs/albums important to her:

“An album that reminds me of my dad:

The Beatles - 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'

The Beatles are Emilia's one musical "true love" and their masterpiece of an eighth LP was "the most important album" to her growing up.

She explains: "It was the one that I found first in my dad’s collection and the one that me and my brother would listen to the most. The cover was so beautiful and had that pull-out [sleeve]. I learnt all the words to all the songs."

These days, it's a record that reminds Emilia of her late father, who sadly passed away four years ago. "I’ve listened to this a lot for him," she says, "but also to relive all of those beautiful memories."

The song I know all the words to:

Coolio - 'Gangsta’s Paradise'

"You might not be expecting this next one," Emilia warns before playing Coolio's Grammy-winning 1995 rap hit, adding that the song was the second song she remembers discovering as a kid.

While she can't quite recall who introduced her to the song ("My brother tells me that it was his CD, but my dad had a really amazing record collection"), she doe have vivid memories of learning the lyrics secretly in private "because I didn’t want my mum to shout at me, as I think there are a few rude words".

"I thought I was the only person who knew all the words to this song, and then realised that everyone knows all the words to this song," Emilia adds. "It was my introduction to rap and hip-hop and the music that I adore completely."

The song that reminds me of friends:

Kings of Leon - 'The Bucket'

Kings Of Leon's first records will always remind Emilia of her three years spent at drama school, she says. And there's no other music that brings her back so quickly to the place that she first heard it.

The Nashville band remain "a band I love so much" and was the first time she "discovered music that wasn’t encouraged by my brother".

Their song 'The Bucket' especially was the soundtrack for "the birth of some of my most treasured friendships", a time that also saw Emilia get really into the likes of LCD Soundsystem (“I had never heard anything like it”).

My newest music discovery:

Little Simz - '101 FM'

Glastonbury Festival is a place, for Emilia, where she is at "peak happiness". She says wholeheartedly: "My happiest time in life is at Glastonbury."

Everyone has their own stories of acts they've seen at the Worthy Farm fest that just stick with them and Emilia says that one big highlight for her came at last year's event, when she was surrounded by "all my dearest friends" while watching London rapper Little Simz.

"We had discovered her album prior to going to Glastonbury, saw that she was going to be there and it became the gig that we focused our whole [festival] experience around," Emilia says. "She did not disappoint. She’s the coolest girl I’ve ever seen."

An all-time favourite:

Bob Dylan - 'Don't Think Twice'

After an eclectic mixtape, Emilia wanted to end things with one of her all-time ultimate songs and artists. "This is an incredibly important song for me. It’s my past, my present, my future - the whole shebang," she said.

Liking Bob Dylan to olives ("When I was a kid, I didn’t like olives and now they’re my favourite food. But it took me a while to get there"), Emilia recalled how her father and brother loved the folk icon when she was younger but that she simply "didn't get it".

Things eventually clicked though, Emilia says. "The beauty of Bob Dylan is that when you do discover him, you don’t want to listen to anyone else. I’ve learnt in my later years that if you have any questions, if there’s anything you’re worried about, if you’re unsure as to where you’re going in life, you just need to ask Bob and he will come up with a very good answer. This is the one [song] that wins every time”.

This is someone who does have a remarkable voice and I genuinely feel would be this awesome and unique artist. Another very busy and desired actor who has a packed diary, could the supreme Emilla Clarke gift us with an album at some point?! She is right up there with those who I would really love to see release music.

There are two more actors to spotlight. Someone whose musical talents have been music more on show during her time performing Evita in London, Rachel Zegler is primarily known as an actor, even though she has recorded. Rather than defining her as someone who is operatic and theatrical, she has this much broader on-screen musical experience. I am going to bring in a 2023 interview from Variety, where Zegler discussed singing live on-set for Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and why that was important. She also appeared in West Side Story in 2021. Steven Spielberg’s version. It is clear that she has an incredible talent that I think could be adapted into an album. I shall discuss that a bit in a second:

“Regarding the power of live on-set performance, Zegler states that it simply “adds something audiences miss when it’s gone. Singing in a film and singing live onstage are two different types of performances, sure, but you should be able to demonstrate both in your art when you’re working in the world of both musicals and film. Singing live for every take five days a week is not easy. But it brings something alive to the world of a film.”
Pointing to the force of capturing “The Ballad of Lucy Gray Baird” on set, Zegler wanted badly to have its live element last all throughout the movie. “Dave’s music is like another character, filling in the gaps where dialogue does not do Lucy Gray justice,” she says. “And there’s a rawness to the music that truly fits in District 12— solace in the midst of the pain and suffering in a post-war society. Singing live added layers to a performance that canned vocals cannot.

“I was so moved singing ‘The Old Therebefore’, which is Lucy Gray’s last-ditch effort to survive snakes in the arena,” Zegler continues. “I had to pretend that where these venomous, neon-colored snakes were climbing up my dress while singing Suzanne’s beautiful words, and staring straight down the barrel of the lens. I had never felt so powerful or sure of myself on a set before. And that’s partly due to Francis being one of the best directors in the game, but also because I was able to bring a craft I have been training for half my life. That’s what it truly means to show up to work”.

Rachel Zegler does appear on Spotify, but on albums from films and theatre Whether as part of Evita, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes or singing Waiting on a Wish from Disney’s Snow White last year, maybe people would pigeonhole her. Her performances more theatrical and musical rather than anything that might naturally slot into the modern music mainstream. All the actors I have covered so far might be easily defined and labelled, though they could easily sing in any genre or in any way. The point is that they all love music and have this talent for performance and singing. If their songwriting potential is less visible or explored, I feel this would be something people would be fascinated to see realised. I really love Rachel Zegler, and she is this stunning actor. I feel she could have this concurrent music career. Perhaps this is something in the pipeline or being recorded at the moment. A debut studio album from the U.S. actor. Such a wonderful vocalist, could this be brought into the studio for original recordings? I feel it would be less exciting having these actors sing covers and approach music that way. However, a mix of covers and originals would be intriguing. I also said previously how Hannah Waddingham would also record a wonderful album. Like Zegler, she might be seen as someone more suited to Opera, show tunes or the theatre. That it might be a niche music career or she would not slot alongside what is in the mainstream. She did release Hannah Waddingham: Home for Christmas in 2023. It is a magnificent and magical album. She is another actor that would have a great career in music. Waddingham might not have that desire to be an artist or do that. However, considering what a stunning singer she is and how every time she has sung people’s jaws have dropped, it would seem like such a waste if that 2023 Christmas album was her sole offering. I do conceive her writing personal and revealing songs that could work their way intro an album. Maybe something sultry, smoky or Jazz-influenced, I am thinking of classic Jazz and Blues singers with a bit of Amy Winehouse in there. However, Hannah Waddingham is another busy actor and this might be at the back of her mind.

Finally, here is an award-winning actor who just picked up a Golden Globe for her role in Hamnet. She is also Academy Award-nominated for Best Actress. Jessie Buckley has a music career. She was in the 2018 film, Wild Rose. She plays Rose-Lynn Harlan, an aspiring Country singer. A single mother from Glasgow, it is her path and quest at becoming a professional artist. In the film, we see Rose-Lynn perform original song at Celtic Connections titled Glasgow (No Place Like Home), receiving raucous applause. In 2022, she recorded an album with Bernard Butler that was nominated for a Mercury Prize. For All Our Days That Tear the Heart is a phenomenal album that is not this case of an actor doing an album to show she can. It is someone who is as natural an artist as actor. That was four years ago. I do feel like Jessie Buckley has another album in her. Whether another collaboration or a solo, I want to end with a 2022 interview from The Guardian. Jessie Buckley and Bernard Butler talking about their musical unity and working together:

“Two years ago they were strangers, paired together by Buckley’s manager who sensed they were kindred spirits. They barely knew each other’s work: Buckley had loved the Butler-produced album Old Wow by the folk singer Sam Lee, Butler had loved Buckley’s mesmerising performance, on an American chatshow, of the song Glasgow from Wild Rose, Buckley’s Bafta-nominated starring role as a Glaswegian ex-con country singer with fierce dreams of Nashville glory.

Since then, she has been a galactically soaring star, an unconventional presence in often-disturbing dramas: traumatised wife in Chernobyl, confused student in I’m Thinking of Ending Things, murderous nurse in Fargo. In 2021, she thrilled as Sally Bowles in the London West End revival of Cabaret (alongside Eddie Redmayne as Emcee, the pair winning best actor and actress at Sunday’s Olivier awards), and a sexually charged Juliet in Sky Arts’ Romeo and Juliet alongside good pal Josh O’Connor. The Lost Daughter then brought this year’s Oscar nod, with Buckley stunningly authentic as a suffocated and sensual young mother, playing the younger version of Olivia Colman’s character.

The spotlight threatens to eclipse even as luminous a collaboration as Buckley and Butler’s, and when we are finally alone, we are off to a shaky start. Earlier, among her colleagues, Buckley had openly discussed this year’s Will Smith Oscars incident (consensus: a sad night for all concerned) but now, on the record, she won’t go there. “I don’t want to give it any more weight,” she says, warmly but firmly, loth to create music-obliterating headlines: “It’s sensationalist.”

She had a great night anyway in her pink satin frock, predominantly spent “in the bar”; she was so star-struck when Colman introduced her to Bill Murray, “who I love”, that she couldn’t speak. “I totally bottled it!” She would prefer an Oscars night where “we could all just wear tracksuits, have pizza and beer, that would be a great party”.

IN THIS PHOTO: Jessie Buckley and Bernard Butler/PHOTO CREDIT: Eva Vermandel

Sitting alongside her, sliding ever-downwards, Butler’s silent demeanour is set to thunderingly bored, tolerating what he clearly thinks is irrelevant showbiz nonsense. I invite him in, and ask if he’s ever worked with an Oscar nominee before. This isn’t the right question either. “I don’t usually ask,” he scoffs. I wonder if he finds the multi-talents of his latest, exceptionally gifted collaborator, verging on the outrageous? This jovial notion is, it seems, even worse.

“Honestly?” he considers. “We meet, we write songs, we judge each other on what we can create, in the purest way. We don’t sit writing lists of talents and ticking them off thinking: great, I think we’re there now, shall we write a song? We never talk about any of this stuff. We just didn’t. Don’t.” Jessie: “And it’s great!”

I wonder if they, too, think no one sings like Buckley does any more. They are both bewildered. “I have no idea,” says Buckley, while Butler says: “We just didn’t discuss it: again, it’s about the magic in the moment. I’m not thinking: is Jessie’s voice up to the standard of Ella Fitzgerald?”

To my ears, For All Our Days That Tear the Heart might be the most affecting musical collaboration of Butler’s life, sumptuously orchestral but so intimate you can hear the very fingerprints on acoustic guitar. This brooding soundscape is both haunting and joyous, from its opening echoes of Joni Mitchell on The Eagle and the Dove, to the rousing male choir in Footnotes on the Map, to the closing, delicately yearning Catch the Dust. Buckley’s lyrics tell human stories through visions of birds, beasts and water, stories of loneliness, regret and resolution, of skins shed, buttons undone and the madness of being alive.

Their connection was instantaneous. Buckley, from Killarney, south-west Ireland, the eldest of five in a boisterous and creative household (dad a part-time poet, mum a vocal coach/harpist), had no idea that Butler’s parents are Irish, from Dún Laoghaire. Inspiration ignited not only through music (notes swapped on Nina Simone, Beth Gibbons, Talk Talk, Patti Smith, Gram Parsons, Pentangle), but painting, poetry, flamenco dancing, caravan holidays in Ireland and one book in particular, Maurice O’Sullivan’s 1933 memoir 20 Years A-Growing, an ode to remote living on the Blasket islands, off the coast of County Kerry, a favourite book of Butler’s for 15 years and the all-time favourite of Buckley’s gran.

Buckley had rarely worked like they did, creating something new from nothing – the Wild Rose soundtrack mostly featured covers, and her interpretations of musical theatre numbers go back way beyond Cabaret to her 2008 breakthrough on Andrew Lloyd Webber-helmed talent show I’d Do Anything. “I was scared, it was raw, exposing,” she says of her start with Butler. “I was sitting on a man’s floor who I’d never met. I never thought we’d even make a song, let alone an album.”

“You ask for an awful lot of trust,” adds Butler, of his lifelong collaborative process. “I’m afraid, too. If [there’s] not fear, then you’re just jogging, aren’t you?”

It’s a wonder Buckley had the time to make music at all (she is, she laughs, a “do it all” person), also completing two intriguing films last year, back-to-back: Men, a high-concept horror movie populated by menacing male protagonists (all played by Rory Kinnear), and Women Talking (with Frances McDormand, Ben Whishaw and Claire Foy), the story of a Mennonite colony bedevilled by sexual assault. Instead of being tormented for months by scenes of toxic masculinity, she says she saw opportunities to learn, and has been drawn throughout her working life to dark and even frightening stories.

“Well, there’s frightening things happening,” she notes, ruefully. “I’m a pretty joyful person but when I want to understand something more, I’m not afraid to go wherever it requires me to go. There’s so much hoodwinking going on around us that I want to know the belly of the beast. It’s in all of us.”

Butler was a sensitive young man who found much of the 90s toxically masculine: to him a boorish, boozy, druggy celebration of what he called earlier this year the “rock’n’roll caricature”. A prodigious guitarist, he joined the fledgling Suede, and frontman Brett Anderson, at 19 and stormed away at 24. After some bombastic, peaks-and-troughs solo releases he finally found his identity in his 30s as a creative foil, working as a producer, songwriter or guitarist with artists ranging from Duffy and Sophie Ellis-Bextor to the Libertines and the Cribs.

“I had a very heightened experience when I was young,” he says. “People always said, ‘You’re too sensitive’ and I was, ‘Sorry, no I’m not’. Now I say, ‘Yeah, I’m fucking sensitive, yeah I’ve got senses!’ I feel them, express them and I wouldn’t be doing this for 30 years if people weren’t picking up on them. I’m happy that element is respected more now. I teach young people as well and that’s one thing I look out for, introversion and sensitivity, and really protect people who have that. Because I … wasn’t [protected]. But fuck it. I did all right. I’m incredibly lucky. To be here right now with Jessie, doing this. And anyone from that generation, who stamped down that expression and is now not getting that, more fool them. I win”.

These are just a few incredible actors who could offer something phenomenal to music. Each has experience of recording music, though each could record wonderful albums. Whether Jessie Buckley, Hannah Waddingham, Rachel Zegler, Camilla Morrone, Emilla Clarke and Florence Pugh have plans or not, it will be wonderful to see. I do think that these wonderful actors, who have added so much brilliance to the screen, could take that into the studio. There are no firm plans from any of them, though who knows what could come from them…

LATER in the year.

FEATURE: In Praise of Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Seeing Artists in a New Light

FEATURE:

 

 

In Praise of Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend

IMAGE CREDIT: Team Coco

Seeing Artists in a New Light

__________

A slight diversion…

IN THIS PHOTO: Conan O’Brien speaking with Tom Holland for The Rest Is History podcast in 2025

before getting onto a topic that is a little left-field, I guess. I recently wrote a feature where I said how it would be amazing to book an event in a great and iconic space like Abbey Road Studios. In 2031, it will be a century since they opened. I said how cool it would be if Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr took part and had a special role in the celebrations. I know Conan O’Brien is a massive fan of the band and I would advise checking out his chat with Peter Asher from 2023. He was recently at Abbey Road Studios to talk all things Beatles for The Rest Is History podcast. It would be amazing if O’Brien was part of the centenary celebrations. It is a long way off but, given the history of the studios and what could occur, it is exciting to look ahead to November 1931. However, I am sticking with Conan O’Brien. Follow Team Coco on Instagram, as this is his little empire. His brand. I wanted to shine a light on the brilliant Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend podcast, in the context of musicians. Hosted with Sona Movsesian and Matt Gourley, it is fantastic. Not only brilliantly funny and interesting, there is such a bond between the three. And the wonderful team. I love the interview on the podcast, though some of the most fascinating are with artists. Jack White sat down with them a while ago and it was this deep and funny conversation. I love music journalism and that is obviously something I do. However, it rare you get podcasts and YouTube channels where artists are interviewed regularly. Hearing different sides to them. A more humorous direction. We have The Adam Buxton Podcast, and he chats with artists, but not many visual ones.

Sticking with The Beatles, I am not sure whether Paul McCartney or Ringo Starr will appear on the podcast. One reason why I think we need more podcasts like this is because I think you get to discover new things about artists. I guess O’Brien interviews more actors than musicians for Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, though he has interviewed musicians, and it is always incredible. These long-form discussions where he will talk about the music, but it also goes off on tangents. I do tend to find a lot of interviews with musicians are quite dry or formulaic. Too much about the music and not especially original. Obviously, the music press is wonderful and you get these terrific interviews. However, it is rare when I listen to an interview or see a podcast where you see these new or established artists in the same setting as you get with Conan O’Brien, Sonia Movsesian and Matt Gourley. Obviously, from a practicality standpoint, it is not convenient for some artists to get their studios in California. They have done some remote interviews, though most of the chats are face-to-face. I am trying to think of British equivalents. Some cool podcasts here, though nothing has the same sense of wonder, occasion and high comedy than Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend. I do hope this year sees them chat with some incredible artists. There are so many I would love to see on there. The ones who have appeared have given me a whole new appreciation of them. I know O’Brien has interviewed Paul McCartney before, though I am not sure he has ever spoken with Ringo Starr. Not to be totally obsessed with The Beatles, but it is infectious when he talks about the band. Indeed, his interest in his guests is another highlight. I am not a big chat show fan, as you get this sofa with guests and it is all very, I don’t know, cloying. Lots of cheering, sycophancy and interviews that are not especially deep or worth listening to. It can feel hollow and grating. Especially with some U.S. chat shows. A podcast like Conan O’Brien’s offers something more intimate, focused and genuine. Less about stroking egos or it being part of the interview circuit. Not to take against British-based chat show hosts like Graham Norton, but I find the whole thing a bit too sickly.

When it comes to artists, they are not really featured on chat shows as much as actors. They are the music guests mostly rather than being the actual guests. If they do appear, I tend to find the line of questioning is too narrow. We have great stations in the U.K. like BBC Radio 6 Music where you get artists interviewed, though the podcast format lacks something here. It is hard to put into words. Maybe it is my love of Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend and what he does. People might have suggestions of filmed podcasts that offer something similar to what Conan O’Brien, Sonia Movsesian and Matt Gourley deliver. To be fair, little can match the idyllic surroundings of Larchmont in California. It seems perfect there! Before finishing off, I want to bring in an interview from Variety from 2019. The early days of the podcast, we get some insights about what makes it special and why guests love doing it:

“Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” is an irresistible mixture of philosophical discussions about art and life and pure zaniness. It’s a program from the late-night host turned podcasting ringmaster that defies easy characterization, and a show that manages to move seamlessly from moments of hilarity to unexpected instances of confession

What do celebrities like about doing the show?
It’s a chance for them to come in and have this intimate conversation. I remember Lisa Kudrow said to me, “Wait, no hair. No makeup. I’m there.” People can roll in on the way to pick up their kids or right after they’ve had a colonoscopy. That’s the secret: Interview them about two hours after their colonoscopy, when the twilight drugs are wearing off and they’ve been told they’re polyp-free.

You ask your guests a lot of questions about what drives them to achieve at a high level. Why does that interest you?
None of us really knows ourselves. Part of my obsession is I’ve always wanted to know what’s my deal? What’s my problem? If you could get in a time machine
and go back and look at me when I was 10 years old, you’d see a pretty intense kid. Why? Some of these people were really hard on themselves when they were kids, and they’re really hard on themselves now, except now they have Emmys and Oscars and Grammys. That’s remarkable, and maybe it will be helpful to people listening”.

I do think a lot of focus is on actors when it comes to podcasts and interviews. Or the most attention. Series where actors interview one another. Chat shows book them more over artists. Even through we have the music press, I don’t think there are enough platforms where artists are interviewed in a way that is both funny/zany and deep. It is a pity, as we see revealed new layers and aspects. That is why I wanted to shine a light on Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend. A decades-running masterful interviewer and former chat show host, it is a shining example of what podcasts should be. The importance of Sonia Movsesian and Matt Gourley and how they bounce off of one another. I feel this year is going to be another terrific one for the podcast, and I am excited to see what guests are included. More than anything, I am interested in the musicians booked. Not often considered to be as entertaining or worthy a guest as actors, comics or those in other areas of culture and the arts, I find artists to be incredible guests. We get to see them and their music in a new light. Watch some of the interviews that Conan O’Brien has done with musicians and you see that in full force! An absolutely wonderful podcast, I am a big fan of Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend. An essential and engrossing podcast…

LONG may it continue.

FEATURE: The Digital Mixtape: David Gilmour at Eighty

FEATURE:

 

 

The Digital Mixtape

PHOTO CREDIT: Anton Corbijn

David Gilmour at Eighty

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AS the extraordinary…

IN THIS PHOTO: Pink Floyd (David Gilmour is pictured second right) at Hakone Aphrodite, Kanagawa on 6th August, 1971/PHOTO CREDIT: Koh Hasebe/Shinko Music/Getty Images 

David Gilmour turns eighty on 6th March, I couldn’t pass that important date by. One of these titanic musicians and songwriters, many might only associate him with Pink Floyd. However, he has written for and worked with other artists and also released his own music. I am going to end this feature with a playlist of Pink Floyd songs he co-wrote/wrote and also played on, in addition to his solo material. Before that, AllMusic provided this extensive biography about the incredible David Gilmour:

“One of rock's pre-eminent guitarists, David Gilmour is known for his incisive, lyrical playing both as a member of British art-rock giants Pink Floyd and as a solo artist. After replacing Pink Floyd's founder, Syd Barrett, as singer/guitarist, Gilmour contributed heavily to landmark albums like The Dark Side of the Moon (1973) and Wish You Were Here (1975). Following a contentious fallout with chief songwriter Roger Waters, Gilmour assumed leadership of Pink Floyd in 1987 and guided them through a massively successful second act that involved several world tours and albums like 1994's The Division Bell. In addition to producing and doing session work for a range of acts from Kate Bush and the Dream Academy to Paul McCartney, Gilmour has also enjoyed a successful solo career with chart-topping albums like On an Island (2006) and Rattle That Lock (2015). His fifth album, 2024's Luck and Strange, featured collaborations with his family including wife, lyricist Polly Samson, and daughter, singer/harpist Romany Gilmour.

David Gilmour was born in Cambridge, England on March 6, 1946; his parents were both involved in education -- his father was a lecturer in Zoology at Cambridge University and his mother was a teacher -- and as a schoolboy, Gilmour struck up a friendship with a boy who attended the same grade school, Roger Barrett, who later gained the nickname Syd. Gilmour became re-acquainted with Barrett while they were studying at the Cambridgeshire College of Arts and Technology; both were interested in music and began learning to play guitar in their spare time, as did Barrett's friend Roger Waters. In 1963, Gilmour joined a rock group, Jokers Wild, which specialized in R&B covers; in 1965, he and Barrett took the summer off and spent several months busking and traveling through France, though the adventure didn't pay off financially. After returning to England, Gilmour played with a group called Flowers for a while, as well as a revamped version of Jokers Wild called Bullitt; meanwhile, Barrett and Waters teamed up with keyboardist Richard Wright and drummer Nick Mason to form a group called the Tea Set, which was later renamed Pink Floyd. In 1967, Pink Floyd was the toast of London's burgeoning psychedelic scene on the strength of the singles "Arnold Layne" and "See Emily Play," and the album Piper at the Gates of Dawn

However, Barrett's mental had declined and he became increasingly unstable, sometimes becoming catatonic on-stage or playing different songs than his bandmates. As his ability to perform was compromised, Gilmour was invited to join the group to help with guitar and vocals when Barrett was having trouble. However, after a few shows it became evident that Gilmour's reassuring presence wasn't enough to rescue Barrett, and the group's leader was let go. Gilmour became the band's new lead guitarist by default, though he would produce and play on Barrett's two solo albums before his friend retired from music.Gilmour made his recording debut with Pink Floyd on 1968's A Saucerful of Secrets, and over the next several years, the group's sound evolved from pop-friendly psychedelic to ambitious progressive and experimental rock. Gilmour's guitar became a key part of Pink Floyd's aural signature, and he played a larger role in the group's songwriting; their evolving approach culminated with 1973's The Dark Side of the Moon, which became a massive international hit and firmly established them as one of the biggest British acts of the day. Pink Floyd's success continued with 1975's Wish You Were Here, but as Waters began to dominate the group's songwriting and conceptualizing, Gilmour began looking for other opportunities to express himself. He'd already made guest appearances on albums by Roy Harper and Hawkwind, and during the recording of 1977's Animals, Gilmour began work on his first solo album, released in 1978 simply as David Gilmour. In 1978, he also co-produced Kate Bush's debut album, The Kick Inside, and he contributed guitar work to Wings' 1979 release Back to the Egg. 1979's The Wall became another massive success for Pink Floyd, and Gilmour co-wrote the stand-out track "Comfortably Numb," but tensions within the group grew during the recording of the album and after the long sessions which produced 1983's The Final Cut, Pink Floyd briefly fell apart.

Following the band's splintering, Gilmour released his second solo album, 1984's About Face, and he lent his talents as a guitarist to a number of projects, including albums by Paul McCartney, Bryan Ferry, Pete Townshend, and Supertramp, and produced the debut album for the Dream Academy. Waters made his solo debut with 1984's The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking, and he filed a lawsuit to dissolve Pink Floyd's legal partnership. However, the court found in favor of Gilmour, Wright, and Mason, and in 1987, Gilmour became Pink Floyd's new leader and principal songwriter as he relaunched the band with the album A Momentary Lapse of Reason. The band supported the album with a successful extended tour -- their first since a small handful of elaborate shows following The Wall -- and a live album from the shows, Delicate Sound of Thunder, was released in 1988. After coming off the road, Gilmour stayed busy with session work, making guest appearances with acts as diverse as Warren Zevon and Elton John, while writing material for the next Pink Floyd effort. While a few new pieces appeared on 1992's La Carrera Panamerica, a video documenting Gilmour and Mason's participation in an auto race in Mexico, Pink Floyd's next full album, The Division Bell, didn't arrive until 1994. Once again, a major international tour followed, and on many dates they performed The Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety, along with other material from their catalog; one such concert was documented on the 1995 live album Pulse. An archival album drawn from Pink Floyd's performances of The Wall in 1980 and 1981 appeared in 2000, but no new material was forthcoming. Gilmour reunited with Waters, Mason, and Wright for a one-off Pink Floyd performance at the 2005 Live 8 concert in London (a benefit to promote solutions to global poverty), but the band turned down lucrative offers for a new tour. Gilmour performed a critically lauded series of acoustic shows in London in 2002, and in 2006 he released a new solo album, On an Island. The album was followed with a major concert tour; Gilmour's London concert was videotaped for a 2007 DVD release, Remember That Night: Live at the Royal Albert Hall, while a show at the Gdansk shipyards with a full orchestra appeared on the 2008 album Live in Gdansk. In 2010, Gilmour teamed up with acclaimed ambient electronic act the Orb for a collaborative album, Metallic Spheres.

Following the 2008 death of bandmate Richard Wright, Gilmour decided to close the books on Pink Floyd in 2014, working with Nick Mason and producers Phil Manzanera, Youth, and Andy Jackson to complete tapes originally recorded in 1994. This project turned into The Endless River, an album released in November 2014. Next, Gilmour recorded his fourth solo album, reteaming with Manzanera for Rattle That Lock, released in September 2015 and peaked in the top spot in the Top 200. Outside of his musical pursuits, Gilmour has devoted much of his time to charitable causes, and when he put his London home on the market in 2003, he donated the 3.6 million pounds realized from the sale to Crisis, a group benefiting the homeless.

45 years after Pink Floyd filmed Live at Pompeii in the historic Roman Amphitheatre, Gilmour returned for two shows in July 2016, which were part of the year-long tour in support of Rattle That Lock. The performances were the first-ever rock concerts for an audience in the stone Roman amphitheater. The show was an audio-visual spectacle, featuring lasers, pyrotechnics, and a huge circular screen on which specially created films complemented selected songs. The music included selections from throughout Gilmour's career -- solo and with Pink Floyd, including "One of These Days," the only tune that was also performed at the 1971 Pink Floyd show. The program also included six songs from Rattle That Lock, and two from 2006's On an Island. Both concerts also saw performances of "The Great Gig in the Sky" from The Dark Side of the Moon. These shows were filmed in 4k by director Gavin Elder with art direction from Gilmour's wife, award-winning novelist Polly Samson. They were released in the fall of 2017 in various audio and video packages.

During the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in 2020, Gilmour released a series of intimate livestreams that featured he and his family playing acoustic covers of songs by Syd Barrett, Leonard Cohen, and others. A few months later, the standalone single, "Yes I Have Ghosts," was released, featuring his daughter, Romany Gilmour, on harp and vocals. Two years later, he and Mason briefly revived Pink Floyd for a one-off charity single, "Hey, Hey, Rise Up!," in support of the Ukraine after it was invaded by Russia. After this, he began recording his next solo album with producer Charlie Andrew. His first LP since 2015 and fifth overall, 2024's Luck and Strange was a highly collaborative affair featuring lyrics from Samson and contributions from his children Romany and Gabriel Gilmour. Also notable is a posthumous keyboard appearance by Wright on the title track, which was first recorded back in 2007”.

6th March is when we celebrate David Gilmnour’s eightieth birthday. This genius musician who I do hope records some new music at some point, I have compiled some Pink Floyd and solo tracks at the bottom of this feature. A true legend who I have probably not done proper justice to here, I wanted to wish David Gilmour…

MANY happy returns.

FEATURE: Groovelines: Janet Jackson – All for You

FEATURE:

 

Groovelines

Janet Jackson – All for You

__________

ONE of Janet Jackson’s…

biggest songs turns twenty-five on 6th March. All for You is a classic. A stunning song from one of the greatest artists ever. I am focusing on it for this Groovelines. The All for You album turns twenty-five on 16th April. The lead single from Jackson’s seventh studio album, there are a few different versions of the song. The L.P. version is over six minutes. The C.D. album version is 5:29.  The radio edit and single mix are around 4:29. So you do get these different takes depending on which version you hear. I will come to some reviews for All for You. Written by Janet Jackson, James Harris III, Terry Lewis, Wayne Garfield, David Romani and Mauro Malavasi, it reached number one in the U.S. and was a big chart success around the world. It is no surprise given how instant the song is. One of those tracks that hits you right away. In their The Number Ones feature, Stereogum explored Janet Jackson's All for You in 2022. Even though they hinted at some drawbacks and were balanced, there were positives from their review:

“As a new century dawned, Janet Jackson was still thriving. She'd just divorced her second husband René Elizondo Jr., but that divorce hadn't pushed her toward making heavier or more maudlin music. Instead, with the first single from her seventh album, Janet dug deep into the history of upbeat, joyous, forget-your-troubles dance music. The lyrics to "All For You" probably would've been too horny to fly in the late '70s or early '80s, but the music could've sprung straight from her brother Michael's classic Off The Wall. In the summer of 2001, Janet's flirty club-jam kept a kung-fu grip on the top of the Hot 100. At the time, nobody knew that something was ending.

When Janet Jackson came out with her All For You album, it had been nearly four years since her previous record, the deep and exploratory artistic triumph The Velvet Rope. Janet had spent a long time touring in between albums, and she'd also starred in Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, scoring another chart-topper with the soundtrack song "Doesn't Really Matter." She'd never really stopped being busy, even during her divorce. When Janet got to work on the next album with her regular collaborators Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, she wanted to leave behind the introspection of The Velvet Rope. She wanted to make something fun.

The song "All For You," like many of the hits from that era, started with a sample. When Janet Jackson was planning out the All For You album, she got together with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and they all listened to older songs for inspiration. Jimmy Jam pulled out a record that was new to Janet: "The Glow Of Love," a 1980 single from the Italian disco project Change. In Fred Bronson's Billboard Book Of Number 1 Hits, Jimmy Jam says, "She didn't know that song, and I was really shocked. I was DJing at the time that record was out, so that was a huge song in my life and one that I have always wanted to sample and bring back for people to hear."

Change was essentially a studio project. A group of producers based in Bologna had the idea to put together a rotating cast of musicians. They would write the songs and record the instrumental tracks in Italy, and then they would go to New York and find American singers to record the lead vocals. For "The Glow Of Life," the title track from Change's debut album, the lead singer was a not-yet-famous Luther Vandross, who was still singing commercial jingles and doing session backup vocal work at the time. "The Glow Of Love" didn't chart, but it still marked a breakout moment for Vandross, who released his debut album Never Too Much a year later. (Change's highest-charting single, 1980's "A Lover's Holiday," peaked at #40. Luther Vandross didn't sing on that one.).

Janet Jackson hadn't heard "The Glow Of Love" before Jimmy Jam played it, but she knew Luther Vandross. They'd worked together. In 1992, Janet and Luther recorded the duet "The Best Things In Life Are Free" for the soundtrack of the Damon Wayans movie Mo' Money. Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis produced it, and Bell Biv DeVoe and Ralph Tresvant sang backup. ("The Best Things In Life Are Free" peaked at #10. It's a 7. Luther Vandross' highest-charting single is the 1994 version of "Endless Love" that he recorded with Mariah Carey. That one peaked at #2, and it's a 5.) Janet also trusted her instincts, and "The Glow Of Love" made her want to dance.

Change might've been an Italian disco project, but they didn't belong to the mechanized, synth-heavy subgenre known as Italo-disco. Instead, Change were shooting for the same funky, limber live-band disco-funk sound as Chic. Their whole style was essentially a high-level Chic ripoff, and that's not a complaint. Chic were fucking incredible, and Change did a good job ripping their sound off. Janet Jackson co-produced "All For You" with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and they really just embellished on the groove from "The Glow Of Love." "All For You" has extra synths and harder-hitting drum machines, but Janet kept the playful sonic back-and-forth from "The Glow Of Love" -- the scratchy guitars, the strutting bassline, the great little descending piano riff. But Janet didn't keep the "Glow Of Love" melody or the mystical woo-woo lyrics. She had something else in mind.

Janet Jackson was dating for the first time in nearly a decade. She'd been famous before she met René Elizondo Jr., but that was nothing new. Janet had been famous since she was a little kid. As a newly single woman in her mid-thirties, though, Janet was a whole lot more famous than she'd been the last time around. She'd noticed that men were shy about approaching her. You can only imagine, right? How do you hit on a global superstar? What's your opening line? Janet wrote most of the lyrics for "All For You," and the whole point of the song is that you, the person being addressed, need to stop overthinking things and shoot your shot. Janet wants to have fun, and if you don't say anything to her, you'll miss out on that fun.

The line from "All For You" that everyone remembers is the raunchiest one: "Got a nice package, all right/ Guess I'm gonna have to ride tonight." You don't really need me to explain this one, do you? Janet Jackson is horny. She wants to fuck. She's out here evaluating dudes' crotches and then proceeding accordingly. I like how casual that line is; it's almost a shrug. At the time, it was pleasantly shocking to hear a pop star just straight-up singing about a man's dick size on a #1 hit, not cloaking it in any kind of innuendo. But why should it be? This column has covered plenty of songs that involve men lovingly describing women's asses. Janet Jackson should get to do her version of that, too.

The "nice package" line definitely stands out on "All For You." In mixing and arranging the track, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis put that line right up front, a cappella, working under the assumption that a new Janet Jackson song should really announce itself when it comes on the radio. But the "nice package" line isn't really the point of "All For You." Instead, "All For You" is a lighthearted, flirty song -- more about the exhilaration of being out in the world, looking for connection, than about the physical sensation that comes with that connection. On the first verse, Janet is almost teasing the guy: "I see you staring out the corner of my eye/ You seem uneasy, want to approach me, throw me a line/ But then something inside you grabs you, says, 'Who am I?'/ I know exactly 'cause it happens with all the guys." Your whole bashful act is nothing new to Janet Jackson. She's seen it all before.

Janet Jackson laughs a lot on "All For You." She might have the all-time greatest on-record laugh, a weightless and joyous sound about halfway between giggle and cackle. When she's not laughing, she's still smiling. "All For You" is a sort of fantasy wonderland of a song. The track doesn't admit to any possibility of darkness. Instead, it's Janet inviting you into a magical experience: "Tell me I'm the only one/ Soon, we'll be having fun." She's just waiting for you to let her know that you're into her”.

When assessing and reflecting on the album in 2021, this feature discussed the title track of All for You. Even if they see it as slightly lightweight, it was this essential Janet Jackson track. Ahead of its twenty-fifth anniversary, I wanted to look inside this classic:

“Right from the start, “All for You” transports fans back to the ‘80s when acid-washed jeans were all the rage, having a My Buddy doll was less creepy than today, and MTV played actual music videos all day.

The upbeat come-on is staged on opposite ends of the dance floor of a late-night spot, where Jackson has locked eyes with a timid romantic prospect. Her frothy and sunny tone here stirred as much interest in the pop sphere as popular teen sensations at the time, while her youthful appearance in the music video was akin to them, if not better.

Hearing the nostalgic beckon now, Jackson was doing everything imaginable to get this shy boy-toy, who is allusively well-endowed, to get him over to her side and back to her place for a bedroom rodeo. But she couldn’t blanket her celebrity status enough to break down the imposing walls of intimidation.

She tried to lessen his coyness on the second verse, singing, “Don’t try to be all clever, cute, or even sly / Don’t have to work that hard / Just be yourself and let that be your guide.”

The Dave Meyers-directed video opens with a shot of Jackson and a male passenger on a superficial train headed nowhere fast. At the next stop, Jackson, styled in trendy denim and a multi-colored halter top, joins a troop of female commuters on the railway platform to dance in unison.

The fashion and choreography evolve in other scenes like outside a 2D boardwalk and a resemblance of downtown Hollywood where a billboard of her showing her almost bare derrière is in lights. She spots the male transit once again in the club, getting a final wave in before she disappears in the night.

By the looks of it, the clean-cut specimen never found his way across the club and in the section of the smoking hot Jackson, but the pop phenom found herself immersed in acres of unrivaled accolades and success for “All for You.”

In March 2001, Jackson had the highest-debuting single (No. 14) on the Hot 100 since Billboard amended its rules for tracks without retail value to chart, thanks to airplay from an early leak in February.

Out the gate, the album’s title track had cross-format appeal, proving itself when it simultaneously controlled radio formats as diverse as pop, rhythmic and urban in one week. According to radio veteran Kevin McCabe, this was the best airplay move for a song of any kind, dubbing her as the Queen of Radio at the time.

Two weeks before retailers across the world stocked their shelves with the album All for You, the single unseated Crazy Town’s “Butterfly” from the Hot 100 hilltop, making it Jackson’s tenth chart-topper. It also headed other charts like the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks and the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Sales after tallying close to 30,000 in sales at core retailers.

Jackson enjoyed a jubilant seven-week run at the Hot 100 summit, sending her in the Billboard history books that year as the longest-running hit. She was the first solo female artist to lead the chart since Christina Aguilera’s “Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You)” in October 2000”.

I am going to end with a Wikipedia and their article of All for You. Their section where they spotlight the critical reaction. It is clear that there was a lot of love for this song. One of Janet Jackson’s very best. One that I remember coming out in 2001, it has lost none of its spark and brilliance. Always wonderful watching live versions where Janet Jackson performs the song:

“All for You" was described by Chuck Taylor from Billboard as a "veritable vitamin shot in the arm for the airwaves", and "as playful and joyous as the best from Jackson's deep uptempo catalog". He also wrote that the song "audaciously ignores top 40's current trend toward strict R&B inflection" and was "mainstream party pop at its best". Laviea Thomas of Clash commented that "from the funky bass plucks to her smooth vocal delivery", the song was one of Jackson's signature up-tempo tracks. Mark Lindores from Classic Pop wrote that the track was part of the "feelgood songs which are the beating heart of the album". Rolling Stone's Anthony DeCurtis praised the song for "swirl[ing] on the dizzying energy of a disco-era sample". Ethan Brown from New York opined that Jackson was at her best "riding great samples" from the disco era, while Wall of Sound's Gary Gruff wrote that it employs "old-school conventions without lapsing into retrograde". According to Cragg of The Guardian, the track "luxuriates in its post-disco influences, while lyrically it's Jackson at her cheeky best". For Cyd Jaymes from Dotmusic, "All for You" was a "dreamy slice of supremely steamy R&B", as well as "the soundtrack to some sweaty summer lovin'". Bianca Gracie, writing for Grammy.com, noted that Jackson's joyride was "near-tangible" on the song, and was "pure sunshine captured in a song". Stephen Thomas Erlewine, senior editor for AllMusic, said that the song would maintain Jackson and her producers' reputation as the "leading lights of contemporary urban soul". Piers Martin of NME called the song a "faultless funk affair”.

On 6th March, the lead single from All for You turns twenty-five. Its amazing tittle track is a gem. In 2021, The Guardian ranked it twelfth and said this: “Keen to return to the dancefloor after the introspection of The Velvet Rope, All for You feels like a throwback to the effortless, loved-up optimism of her 80s imperial phase. Dismissed by some critics as “frothy”, it luxuriates in its post-disco influences, while lyrically it’s Jackson at her cheeky best, not least when she shrugs at a guy with “a nice package” and says “guess I’m gonna have to ride it tonight”. Royalty Exchange placed it fifth in 2024: “With its upbeat and playful vibe, "All for You" became a summer anthem in the early 2000s. The song’s infectious groove and carefree lyrics made it a massive hit, earning Janet a Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording. It marked a new era of Janet’s career, further cementing her pop legacy”. Although there might not be celebration or spotlight of this track, All for You deserves applause ahead of 6th March. It is a true classic from…

A music icon.

FEATURE: The Digital Mixtape: Saluting the Brilliant Harry Styles

FEATURE:

 

 

The Digital Mixtape

Saluting the Brilliant Harry Styles

__________

AN artist who always…

releases really interesting work, earlier this week, it was confirmed Harry Styles is releasing a new album. Although the title suggests something romantic or Disco-themed/tinged, I was curious whether he was going to bring other artists in. A lot of major Pop artists collaborate with their peers. Usually their younger peers. I would have loved Styles to work with Stevie Nicks, Joni Mitchell and some true legends. However, I feel like his first album since 2022 might feature him pretty much solo. However, there might be a few guests in the mix. To celebrate the announcement of a new album from the incredible Harry Styles, I am ending with a career-spanning mix of his wonderful solo work. The regarded and known songs alongside some phenomenal deep cuts. However, before getting there, The Guardian published an article reacting to news of an album so many people are excited about. So much buzz and speculation on social media:

“Harry Styles announces fourth solo album, Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally

After a series of cryptic billboards teasing fans, the As It Was singer reveals the title and release date of his first record since 2022

After a brief teaser campaign in which billboards around the world promised “we belong together” and “see you very soon”, Harry Styles has announced his fourth solo album.

Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally will be released on 6 March. It was produced by Kid Harpoon, the British songwriter and producer who has worked on all of Styles’ previous albums. The artwork shows the 31-year-old pop star wearing sunglasses and ducking beneath a disco ball seemingly suspended from the night sky.

The 12-song track list has not been shared – nor any music – but Styles’ web store offered packages including vinyl, cassettes, T-shirts, what appears to be an analogue camera and a bum bag. The site seemed to immediately crash on the announcement.

The long-awaited album news followed Styles sending a voice note of him singing “we belong together” to fans who had signed up to a WhatsApp promo line earlier in the day.

It has been reported that Styles will give a second residency at Madison Square Garden in New York after playing 15 sold-out shows at the venue in 2022. It is also rumoured that Styles will hold a residency at the Co-op Live in Manchester, in which he is an investor. He has been tipped by bookies as a potential headliner of Glastonbury 2027 after the festival takes a fallow year this summer.

Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally comes four years after Harry’s House, which reached No 1 around the world and was certified triple platinum in the UK with more than 900,000 certified sales. It won the coveted album of the year at the 2023 Grammy awards in addition to two other categories. It was also named album of the year at the 2023 Brit awards and spawned the hit single As It Was, his most-streamed song on Spotify with 4.2bn streams.

The last new music Styles released was Forever, Forever, an eight-and-a-half minute instrumental song played on piano that he previously performed on the final date of his 2023 tour. Each of Styles’ previous albums was co-produced by Kid Harpoon and Tyler Johnson.

The album will be Styles’ first since the death of his former One Direction bandmate Liam Payne in October 2024 at the age of 31. Payne fell from the third-floor balcony of a hotel in Buenos Aries. In a statement released at the time, Styles said that Payne’s “greatest joy was making other people happy, and it was an honour to be alongside him as he did it”. One Direction were active from 2010 to 2016 after being formed on The X Factor.

Outside music, Styles has made headlines as a marathon runner. He finished the 2025 Tokyo marathon in three hours and 24 minutes in March, but blitzed his own time at the Berlin marathon in September, achieving a coveted sub-three-hour finish in two hours and 59 minutes. His lifestyle brand Pleasing also made the news last year when it launched a sex toy and lube, complementing the line’s apparel, accessories and beauty products.

In May, he was, mysteriously, spotted in Rome awaiting the announcement of the new pope, Leo XIV, wearing a cap emblazoned with “techno is my boyfriend”. If his new record contains religious themes, he will be in good company, after Rosalía’s Lux: released in November, the Catalan star’s fourth album referenced numerous saints from across history”.

I am sure that we will get a first taste of the new album. I really loved 2022’s Harry's House. From its stunning cover through to the brilliance of the music, there is going to be a lot of speculation as to what will be included on the fourth album. It is a year when Pop music will once again rule. You feel Harry Styles will release one of the year-best albums. Because of this, below is a mixtape of the biggest Harry Styles tracks…

AND some terrific deep cuts.

FEATURE: Remember the Days: In Celebration of Nelly Furtado

FEATURE:

 

 

Remember the Days

In Celebration of Nelly Furtado

__________

THIS is not especially tied…

to a big anniversary, though I am looking ahead to 25th April. That is when Nelly Furtado’s single, Promiscuous, turns twenty. The second single from her third studio album, Loose, is was a big shift from her previous album, Folklore. I think Furtado’s albums are hugely underrated considering how successful they are and how wonderful an artist she is. I am going to include a playlist featuring songs from her seven studio albums. I am going to come to her 2000 debut album, Woah, Nelly!, and why it is so important to me. Drop in some videos from the album too. I will start off by talking about the main reason for covering Nelly Furtado. Many might know her only from early singles like I’m Like a Bird (from Woah, Nelly!), but she had this varied and hugely exciting career. It is such a joyful and enriching experience listening to her music, I was compelled to spotlight her. I am not sure whether she has in mind a follow-up to 2024’s 7. Although critically acclaimed, it did feature quite a few other writers. Previous albums more streamlined, with Furtado’s songwriting voice much more central. However, perhaps after some slightly mixed reviews from critics for previous albums, there was a shift. However, Nelly Furtado’s albums are all fantastic. The way she shifts and grows between them and explores different themes and sounds. Promiscuous was one of the standouts from an album that saw her release something bolder and more sexual. A beautiful and hugely interesting album, Promiscuous certainly got a lot of coverage. I remember when the single came out. I had been a fan of Nelly Furtado for almost six years to that point and did not expect what she dropped with Promiscuous.

Last year, this incredible article told us the story behind Promiscuous. It was a new era for the amazing Canadian artist. With production from Timbaland, this track still sounds phenomenal nearly twenty years later. Though Woah, Nelly! Is my favourite album from her, I really love Loose. I will come to an interview with Furtado from 2006 before going back to her debut:

“Nelly Furtado emerged at the turn of the millennium, standing out by opting out of 2000’s dance-pop, nu-metal, and neo-soul trends. Rather, the Canadian-born singer’s debut album Whoa, Nelly! was a chilled fusion of pop, folk, Latin, and trip-hop. Featuring Top 10 singles “I’m Like a Bird” and “Turn Off The Light” (the former earning a Grammy award), Furtado was a refreshing alternative to the bubblegum pop princesses of the time.

The singer followed up with 2003’s Folklore, an exploration of her Portuguese heritage. It ultimately proved to be a sophomore slump compared to the double-Platinum success of Whoa, Nelly!. So she called on music’s secret weapon – producer/artist Timbaland – to re-launch her career. The result was 2006’s Loose, a celebration of female sexuality that meshed electronica, pop, hip-hop, reggaéton, and R&B. Its title is inspired by the off-the-wall ideas Timbaland, Danja (Timbaland’s protégé at the time), and Furtado conjured inside the studio.

The trio created hits like the electropop-inspired “Maneater,” the Grammy-nominated No. 1 “Say It Right,” and the introspective ballad “All Good Things (Come to an End).” But the album’s standout is lead single, “Promiscuous,” which set the tone for Furtado’s musical reinvention.

“Promiscuous” was a departure, swapping folk for in-your-face sex appeal. It’s a flirtatious duet between herself and Timbaland, both trading naughty one-liners atop a pulsating rap melody. And for the Director X-helmed video, Furtado took it to the nightclub. Along with the director himself, Justin Timberlake and Keri Hilson (frequent collaborators of Timbaland) make guest appearances.

“I remember being a bit shy to put it out. That was probably the content, the fact that it’s called ‘Promiscuous.’ I hadn’t done anything wrong but women are always judged,” Furtado told FADER in 2016. “I’ve since changed my mind about that. By the time ‘Promiscuous’ came out, I was super happy. I always felt like the male and female voices were equals. It was created in that tradition of a TLC or a Salt-N-Pepa song, where the women are assertive and just like, ‘I’m okay with my sexuality.’”

Furtado’s willingness to experiment led to her first No. 1 hit on Billboard’s Hot 100. The song was on top for six consecutive weeks. The single also earned a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals and won a Billboard Music Award for Pop 100 Single of the Year. “Promiscuous” had a resurgence in late 2020, entering Billboard’s Global 200 chart thanks to its popularity on TikTok”.

In June 2006, Entertainment Weekly spoke with Nelly Furtado about Loose. As they write, Furtado “talks about Paris Hilton, music contracts and touring with a baby”. Released on 7th June, 2006, I wonder whether Furtado will mark twenty years of Loose. Like all of her albums, I am so engrossed by its tracks. Other standouts such as Maneater and Te Busqué:

“After a debut CD, 2000’s Whoa, Nelly!, that sold 2 million copies and made her a worldwide star at 22, Furtado’s follow-up, Folklore, failed to click with listeners and sold just 500,000 units. ”It had a lot of cynicism,” she admits. ”People were wondering, ‘Where’s Nelly? Where’s the butterflies?”’

Nearly three years later, there’s still no sign of butterflies, but Furtado has emerged from her cocoon with the aptly named Loose (out June 20), a confidently sexy mix of party anthems and slow jams. As the first single, ”Promiscuous,” and its follow-up ”Maneater” (a song so hot a speaker caught fire while she was recording it) show, the 27-year-old isn’t beholden to fans of her airy breakthrough hit, ”I’m Like a Bird.” ”It’s not about how big my audience is,” she explains. ”It’s about having an audience that understands what I’m doing. I’m not faithful to one style? I’m a musically promiscuous girl.” And with the soaring popularity of ”Promiscuous” and its steamy video featuring Justin Timberlake, Furtado is proving an old maxim: Getting around can do a career good.

”To me, Nelly’s like Pat Benatar or Fleetwood Mac,” says rapper-producer Timothy ”Timbaland” Mosley, who co-piloted the making of Loose. ”She’s timeless and can do different kinds of styles.” That’s been evident since Whoa, Nelly!‘s quirky amalgam of pop, folk, bossa nova, and Latin sounds. Still, that album collected dust for several months before ”I’m Like a Bird” took flight up the charts and thrust Furtado into the spotlight. ”It was like being thrown into a circus,” she says of the experience. ”I matured really quickly. I think that’s why you see a lot of young entertainers getting engaged or settling down — they mature hyper-fast.”

Sure enough, Furtado soon fell in love with Jasper ”Lil’ Jaz” Gahunia, a DJ, and got pregnant in Dec. 2002. She wanted to keep recording, but the timing was curious: Furtado started work on Folklore five months into her pregnancy. ”Everyone — including my mother — thought it was ridiculous,” she says.

Even as her somber sophomore effort was confounding fans, the singer ”was in the coolest mood,” she says. ”Three weeks after I had my daughter, I had a fitting for The Tonight Show and I fit into like a size 14 pants, but I didn’t care. I had that glow.” With Folklore faring better abroad than in the U.S., Furtado decided to tour with baby — and daddy — in tow. ”I was breast-feeding Nevis and traveling like a gypsy,” Furtado recalls. ”Japan, France, Germany — we have lots to tell her when she’s older.”

Afterward, the Victoria, B.C., native retreated to Toronto and quiet domesticity. She could afford to idle in perpetuity, thanks to financial foresight. When she landed her first deal at age 20, Furtado sacrificed a one-time windfall to retain her publishing rights. “I’ve watched a lot of Behind the Music specials,” she says. “I didn’t want to be Elvis — you know, sign a record deal for a Cadillac.”

Still, a contractual cloud hung over her: She owed her label another album. But Furtado was in no rush to record, until she ended her four-year relationship with Gahunia. As she explains, “When you break up, this overwhelming rush of individualism comes over you — it can be very inspiring.” At the time, Furtado was being prodded by Interscope Records chief Jimmy Iovine to go upbeat. Once she relocated to Miami to write and record, that was a foregone conclusion. “I played with Nevis in the sunshine every day until 7 or 8 p.m., and then I’d hit the studio,” Furtado says.

Working with Timbaland was equally carefree. The two collaborated on the 2001 remix of Missy Elliott’s “Get Ur Freak On,” so Furtado trusted his ability to meld genres with syncopated rhythms and melodic stabs. “[Loose] has an ’80s feel with a new twist,” Timbaland says. “It’s old-school new-wave sounds with heavy beats”.

I am going to bring things more up to date. First, I am going to take things back to 2000. After 2006’s Loose and before 2024’s 7, we had a run of three wonderful albums in the form of 2009’s Mi Plan, 2012’s The Spirit Indestructible and 2017’s The Ride. With all of these albums, Furtado refused to play to type and repeat herself. Perhaps what confounded some critics. With everything, she released this incredibly rich music that warranted repeated plays. I especially like The Ride. The last video I will bring in is from 2024. I will get to an interview around that album. I would urge people to check out the three albums I have just mentioned and the videos. The videos are always so memorable! What struck me about the ones from 2000’s Woah, Nelly! is that sense of joy. Furtado singing and dancing in mud and then going to this bright and vibrant neighbourhood where she dances with people there. That was for Turn Off the Light. That single turns twenty-five on 2nd July. The lead single, I’m Like a Bird, has a lot of CG, but it is wonderful! Nelly Furtado dreamy and smiling throughout. Just delightful to watch her emote and sing. A beautifully shot video that stays in the mind. Shit on the Radio (Remember the Days) is bright and neon. Lots of quick cuts, that is quite different to I’m Like a Bird. Not only showing different sides to her sound and lyrics, the aesthetics and visual dynamics shifted. Furtado wrote solo many of the songs on her debut and co-wrote the remainder.

Actually, as there is not a lot in the way of press interviews from 2000, I will instead bring a review in for Woah, Nelly! I would urge people to watch this clip from 2024, where Furtado discussed with Woman’s Hour taking some time out from music and releasing the new album, 7. There is a bit to cover from 2024, as I think it marked a new era. In terms of her direction and where she was in life. However, Woah, Nelly! is one of my favourite albums ever. I was seventeen when it came out and I remember it being a big fixture in my life in 2000 and through 2001. I listen to the album now and it still blows me away! It is such a wonderful album with so many different sounds. Such an exceptional writer and vocalist, I had never heard anyone like her to that point. At a time when mainstream Pop was very samey, Woah, Nelly! was a huge breath of fresh air. In 2018, Flood Magazine wrote why Nelly Furtado's debut album was more radical than you thought – and was a sign of things to come:

“When Nelly Furtado’s Whoa, Nelly! came out in 2000, I was a fourth grader who still had the capacity to be shocked by swear words. That’s one of the first things I remember when I look back on the album’s release and its excellent second track “Shit on the Radio (Remember the Days).” I was one of millions who purchased the album—in my case, begging my mom to buy it for me from a Strawberries sometime after my tenth birthday—and listened to it over and over again, trying to wrap my head around the reaches of her voice, soaring at one point, scatting at another. Each song was sung with the subtle sort of smirk that proved Furtado, as vulnerable as she is in her work, can never really be pegged down.

Whoa, Nelly! is an aughts-era classic that signalled a shift in the kinds of pop stars radio listeners were willing to embrace. Nevertheless, it is often eclipsed in our public memory by Loose, Furtado’s third studio album, largely produced by Timbaland. For many, that album’s hit singles, “Promiscuous” and “Maneater,” marked the arrival of a sexier, more easily digestible Furtado, whom they found incompatible with the artist as they first came to know her. “They sound unlike Furtado not because they’re danceable or sexy—her first two albums were those things—but because they’re about dancing and fucking,” wrote Pitchfork of her new tunes at the time. Audiences loved this album even more than her first two, and Loose remains a critical favorite that has been increasingly appreciated and examined over time.

Contrastingly, the love for Whoa, Nelly!, recorded when Furtado was only twenty-one years old, is hard to come across on its eighteenth anniversary, even with our pervasive cultural nostalgia. That lack of admiration can’t be divorced from the fact that the Furtado we first met was hard to label. She was a pop star, but not a Christina or Britney analogue. Her debut was eclectic, drawing on her roots—her quavering, emotive voice evoking the pathos of traditional Portuguese fado music—among other pop, rock, and hip-hop influences collected from studying music and growing up in Victoria, British Columbia.

But Furtado wasn’t in the same sultry, exotic world Shakira exemplified with her 2001 English-language breakthrough single “Whenever, Wherever.” Furtado was too pop to be an indie music darling (she didn’t play guitar on stage), too eclectic and intriguing to be a pop starlet (she didn’t dance), both talented and unique, but not enough so to be remembered alongside ingenues like M.I.A. or Amy Winehouse. She’s not a Personality, having never been one for tabloids or reality shows, boasting an Instagram account with 126,000 followers and 0 pictures, whereas Shakira is a Guiness record-holder for her massive Facebook following. Her low-key style of fame is, by design, a feminist statement that can be traced directly back to the self she exposed on Whoa, Nelly!: an artist who stands firm in the belief that no person should be reduced to a one-dimensional front.

Listening to the album when I was still in grade school, its view of love, relationships, and individuality seemed to come from another world I was only just beginning to understand, far beyond the simplified schoolyard version of romance that flowed from the mouths of other Top 40 artists. “I’m Like a Bird” is a certified bop about fear of commitment and the threat of losing one’s self to loving another person. “Shit on the Radio” tells of dealing with a partner or friend too insecure to handle Furtado’s career success. “Turn Off the Light” covers the fallout after a breakup, the kind of self-questioning that happens after you lose someone you never even fully opened up to.

The album is a takeoff of the girl-power ethos that started with riot grrl and was co-opted by another group of idols from my youth—the Spice Girls. As Furtado explored specific interpersonal intricacies, she also marked a new era of empowering music by women that was as emotionally unguarded as it was danceable. There was something inherently political in the narratives Furtado weaved across the album, too. The line “I don’t want to be your baby girl” on the track “Baby Girl” was as much a statement to the music promotion machine as it was, within the song, directed at a patriarchal lover.

When I unearthed the CD from my parents’ basement a few years ago, I gave the album a relisten (via a streaming app on my phone) to see if it could enchant me again. And while it sounds less deliciously alien to me with eighteen years’ worth of broadened listening tastes, its expression of the complications inherent in being entwined with another person—how it’s almost never as clear-cut as “I love you” or “Now I don’t”—still feels like a revelation.

Today, pop feels less gatekept than it used to. Calling someone “pop” no longer relegates them to the realm of boy bands and J-14 magazine. Lady Gaga is pop. Mitski is pop. Even Cardi B is pop, now that hip-hop is the most popular genre in the country. But women in music are still burdened with pushing back against oversimplified media categorizations, particularly in a time where pithy headlines get more attention than whatever nuanced set of words will follow them.

Eighteen years later, Whoa, Nelly!’s subversiveness is easier to parse. Its influence has come into clearer focus, as female artists, queer artists, and genre-defying iconoclasts pummel expectations of how a popular artist should look and sound. Unlike Furtado, they have a safety net in the Wild West of the Internet that did not exist back when labels still dictated who became famous or didn’t. With her 2017 independent album The Ride, Furtado continues to be every bit as ungraspable as she was in 2000, veering away from the artist we knew on Loose, and embracing sounds as disparate as stripped-down indie rock and industrial-tinged dance music. Critics praised the effort, with Billboard going so far as to call it “the most slept-on release of 2017.” But that ability to experiment was truly honed at the turn of the century with her debut. Whoa, Nelly! may never be celebrated as the work of feminist rebellion that it is—but as Furtado expresses on the album, she wasn’t vying for our approval anyway”.

I am going to throw forward to 2024. I love 7 and the fact that Furtado did bring out new material seven years after The Ride. It is forward-looking and modern but also, as critics noted, an album that nodded back to her early-2000s sound. Nearly twenty-five years after her magnificent debut album, 7 sort of blended some of those early threads with where Nelly Furtado was in 2024. Looking and sounding truly incredible, this was a new phase and peak for the hugely inspiring artist. EUPHORIA. put out an amazing cover story for Furtado in 2024. They rightly noted how she turned heads in 2000 with a debut album that was so different to what was expected. Far removed from the homogenised and manufactured Pop of the time. Trip-Hop, Latin, Folk and Worldbeat all combined to magnificent effect:

“As her career evolved with albums such as the hip-hop-infused Loose, her first Spanish album Mi Plan, and the most recent, low-key indie release The Ride, Furtado continued to leave fans gripped for where she might take her sound next. And because of that motive, her artistry has been able to leave a long-lasting impression. That said, after laying low for many years, and her last album released in 2017, many wondered when or if Furtado would ever return to the scene. Explaining that her absence from the spotlight was necessary for her well-being and that she needed a break from the industry side of things, Furtado notes that it was never music itself that she shied away from.

“Never music,” she says enthusiastically. Furtado talks to EUPHORIA. via a video call while at home in Canada. “Music is like my medicine, without sounding cliche. It’s just what I do. It was always my form of escape. As a child, we had a piano and I would sit there and just zone out and go to another world. It is healing for me to make music and it feels so good.”

Fans’ prayers for new material were answered in the spring of 2023 when Furtado began to exhibit her comeback with the gritty club banger, “Eat Your Man.” Collaborating with Dom Dolla for the track, the singer came to know of the Australian DJ and producer after she saw his name on the poster for her first festival booking in six years. “He was on this poster for Beyond The Valley in Australia and immediately the name struck me. I was like, ‘Oh, who’s Dom Dolla?’ Then I listened, I was on vacation at the time, to a couple of records, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, I love this!’ Then I reached out for him to send me some music and the relationship was born,” Furtado says.

While Furtado’s breakthrough song, “I’m Like A Bird,” came in the form of a folk-pop ballad, some might be unaware that her roots started in the electronic music sphere during the ‘90s. “I started off making a lot of electronic music when I was in my late teens,” she says. A hit song wasn’t the only thing that came out of the link-up with Dolla. The opportunity also opened her eyes to how much the genre has evolved. “I think Dom had a really big impression on me, just meeting him and being around him and seeing what DJs are doing today. We met in 2023, but I’m a fast student. First of all, Dom films everything. His videographers are with him 24 hours a day, they’re always creating these magical moments online because the magic is also happening in real-time.”

The immediacy of electronic and DJ culture has also heavily impacted Furtado’s mindset. “The fact that you can remix something and put it out tomorrow and play it during your show for 20,000 people. And guess what? If they like it, it’s already churning. I’ve been really inspired over the past 18 months by that,” she says.

PHOTO CREDIT: Sami Drasin

Keeping things moving, Furtado arrived at the end of the summer with another joint effort. This time with close industry friends Timbaland and Justin Timberlake for the head-bopping “Keep Going Up.” The trio previously had fans in a chokehold when they dropped the diss track “Give It To Me” in 2007 and topped the charts globally. 16 years later, they were still able to capture the same allure listeners were hoping for. “He is one of my magical collaborators. We just vibe on a whole other level when we’re together,” Furtado says about Timbaland. “We really understand each other musically. Like our brains, it’s weird. We’re kind of cut from the same cloth on some frequency. It’s so beautiful when we’re together. It’s really elevated. And Justin, I’m so proud of. I’m really loving all the new music he’s putting out and it just feels really genuine and beautiful.”

Furtado’s latest single, out March 28, “Gala y Dali,” marks her first release of 2024 and sees her participate in another reunion with Latin star Juanes after they previously struck gold with the ballads “Fotografía” in 2002 and “Te Busque” in 2006. The third time’s a charm for Furtado and Juanes as nearly two decades later they team up again with a summery, sing-a-long song perfect for the beach. “We just have this remarkable history together and the first song we did together [‘Fotografía’] was so well received. It’s just such a loved song and I love putting it in my shows. Of course, we’ve performed it together several times, but it doesn’t end there. We’ve also performed other songs together live from his repertoire and then we did ‘Tu Busque’ and it just kind of took it to a whole other level,” she says.

The origin of how “Gala y Dali” came to life is a fascinating story. Furtado reveals that Juanes had the song over 20 years ago but had previously lost it in a backpack and hadn’t heard it since. “A friend had his backpack sitting around at his house all these years and he finally gave it back to him. Inside the backpack was this brilliant song. It wasn’t completed, so he asked me to record on it,” she explains. After helping develop the song, the pair went into the studio to record. “We recorded it in the same studio that we recorded ‘Te Busque’ as well, so it was a bit like a time warp,” Furtado adds. “There’s just so much nostalgia. We reference ‘Fotografía’ in the song, so we’re self-referencing, which I’m having so much fun with.”

Now, we know what you’re all thinking. After teasing listeners with three collaborations, when will fans finally get to hear Furtado’s long-awaited seventh studio album? The expected answer to that question is: Soon! But no, seriously. The lead single is said to be released in May while the cover art for the album is being shot next month. “That I’m excited about,” Furtado teases. “I can’t reveal too much, but it’s gonna be elevated.”

Having created over 200 songs for the project, Furtado is whittling down which will make the final cut. “We’re currently in the mixing space,” she says. Club bangers can be expected, as well as ballads. No stranger to a bilingual moment, Furtado will also be singing in Spanish. “This current version, it’s about 10 to 20 percent Spanish,” she insists. The motive she’s setting out this time around? Getting shit done. “We’re doing it right. We’re doing all the things,” Furtado says. “We have big plans and I’m so excited about it because I’m in a better head space than ever. I’ve never loved being an entertainer more. I feel like I’m really owning it.”

Her new-found admiration for the job has her enjoying every aspect that she may have previously doubted. “I’m a mom too, and so, as fun as it is being a mom, it can also be stressful. The moment you get to the studio, sometimes my kids come with me and it’s just so beautiful when you can be making music. Immediately, I feel more calm. I feel more myself. I realize that my brain makes so much more sense in the studio. I was officially diagnosed with ADHD a couple of years ago and in the studio, my ADHD feels like a superpower,” she says. The way the industry now navigates during the digital age is also something Furtado prefers. ”Art and commerce, they’ve never gone together,” she says before laughing. “I mean, we’ve done pretty well with it and we have come a long way. In today’s world, it’s all just one thing now.”

Reflecting on her come-up, Furtado states that “the world was a different place back then.” She continues: “The way we promoted records, the way we marketed them, it’s almost like the way we market music now is much more suitable to my personality because it’s way more about just instant moments, you know? Because I have ADHD, it’s like, ‘Okay, great. That’s over. What’s next?’ It’s perfect for me. Before you had to kind of just pick how you were gonna bring your music to people and then stick with it. You couldn’t switch it up or pivot. We have so much more control over how we promote things, which is so cool”.

I have been thinking a lot about Nelly Furtado’s music and the hugely uplifting effect it has on me. How she has released seven very different and magnificent albums. Let’s hope an eighth album comes along. She is differently in this new era. One that is among her very best. I will finish with a review for 7. This GRAMMY interview around the release of 7 is really interesting. How her daughter helped her get back to music. The importance of Furtado’s ADHD diagnosis and why she is having more fun than ever. I will stick with EUPHORIA. and their four-star review of 7:

“Nelly Furtado returns with her first album in seven years. Aptly titled 7, she arrives at a time when we need her the most. With Y2K nostalgia at an all-time high, the Canadian music maker delivers a modern-sounding record that still captures the essence of what we loved about her 2000s discography with a few nods to her fellow pop queens.

Setting the tone nicely with the moody dance anthem “Showstopper,” Furtado keeps up in the clubs with the bilingual “Corazón,” featuring Bomba Estéreo. Infused with Latin beats, reminiscent of 2006’s Loose, Furtado lets herself be free, singing, “We, we lose control / That’s how we are / De corazón, no puedo parar,” during the chorus. For the tasty collaboration with SG Lewis and Tove Lo, “Love Bites,” Furtado gets frisky on an electropop, house-inspired tune that wouldn’t sound out of place on Madonna’s Erotica.

Slowing the pace with multiple mid-tempos and ballads, Furtado knocked it out of the park with “Floodgate.” While barely over 2-minutes long, the dreamy, mellow song is escapism at its best. “Floodgate, open up the well / Full throttle, that love in the front seat / Back seat like it’s champagne drippin’ all over me,” she sings.

For the stripped-back piano ballad “All Comes Back,” Furtado pulls at the heartstrings as she and her collaborator Charlotte Day Wilson detail returning to something they originally walked away from. “Funny how we run to the danger / Like we got a lesson to learn / And we don’t think we deserve it / When happiness ain’t served.” Learning from her mistakes, Furtado recognizes her self-worth as she reveals she’s never been better after healing from past trauma on “Better Than Ever”: “I’m better than ever, you changed the weather / But you made me treasure that we’re not together / All of this pain, I went halfway insane / But I learned from the pain, put myself back together / I’m better than ever, not forever / But I’m better than ever, I’m better than ever.”

Despite a tracklist that is arguably all over the place, Furtado keeps us dancing in between the raw numbers with the Kylie Minogue-esque “Ready For Myself,” yodeling production of “Take Me Down,” which feels like a subtle reference to peer Gwen Stefani and her 2006 single “Wind It Up,” and the album’s third single, “Honesty,” which serves as a 2024 version of Madonna’s “Holiday.”

All in all, 7 is a testament to how diverse, unexpected, and fun Nelly Furtado albums can be. She could have easily sorely banked on nostalgia and asked Timbaland to produce the whole thing for old-time’s sake. Instead, she’s stayed true to the young woman who once sang “I’m not a one-trick pony” two decades ago by continuing to evolve and explore”.

I am a big fan of Nelly Furtado and I wonder what she has in store for this year. It is a shame that Furtado announced an indefinite break from live performance after she was body-shamed last year. This article reacted to that. Furtado looks absolutely fantastic but, as we still live in a horrible and disgusting world where artists, especially women, are expected to be this idea, thin or not be natural or themselves, the comments received have led to this. I do hope that she does perform again, as she is a remarkable live artist. Another album would definitely be incredible. I really love Nelly Furtado and wanted to celebrate her here. From 2024’s incredible 7, back to an album that is among my favourites 2000’s Woah, Nelly!, to 2006’s Loose. Promiscuous, its most-noted single, turns twenty in April. An artist always changing and releasing this stunning music, when it comes to Nelly Furtado, there are few…

AS phenomenal as her.

FEATURE: Purple Patches: The Similarities Between Kate Bush and the Iconic Prince

FEATURE:

 

 

Purple Patches

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1985/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari

The Similarities Between Kate Bush and the Iconic Prince

__________

THERE are some bittersweet and big…

IN THIS PHOTO: Prince in 1982/PHOTO CREDIT: Richard Avedon

anniversaries this year, as we remember the late Prince. On 31st March, it will be forty years since one of his best albums, Parade, was released.  On 30th July, it will be fifteen years since his final album, Welcome 2 America, came out. Sadly, we lost Prince on 21st April, 2016. Ahead of the tenth anniversary of his death, there will be a lot of retrospectives and new articles written. Tributes paid to The Purple One. I associate Prince’s best album, Purple Rain, with that colour obviously. That came out in 1984. In 1985, Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love was released. Purple in the cover. For some reason, I see the two artists as sharing a colour palette. There were a lot of similarities between the two. As we close on the tenth anniversary of his death, I will write more about their association. On 19th November, 1996, Prince released Emancipation. Kate Bush provides some backing vocals on the album, including on My Computer. Marking thirty years of that album later in the year, it will be a little sad. Prince worked with Bush on 1993’s The Red Shoes on Why Should I Love You? It is a shame that this track was a bit overloaded and Prince added so much to it. What could have been a brilliant collaboration – they were working remotely so never recorded in the same studio -, turned out to be something a little overcooked. However, there was mutual respect between the two. If many connect Bush with David Bowie and artists like that, I think the Prince connection is strongest. Although Bush never went into films and toured like Prince did, it is their control of the studio and work rate that bonded them. Both artists were born in 1958. Prince was born the month before Kate Bush. Their debut albums were released in 1978. Starting out their careers as incredible young artists, they both had this regency in the 1980s.

Although Prince’s 1980 album, Dirty Mind, is different to Kate Bush’s Never for Ever; 1982’s 1999 shares little common ground with The Dreaming; Around the World in a Day is not like Hounds of Love; Batman and The Sensual World are polls apart, they did put out albums in the same years – with Prince putting more out in the 1980s away from those albums – and they would have kept an eye on each other’s progress and career. Prince was an admirer. Although you can say that Prince was perhaps a bigger influence on Bush than the other way around, I actually think she had an effect on him. Prince once called Kate Bush his “favourite woman," and they bonded after meeting backstage at his Wembley concert in 1990. That independence and experimentation in the studio. No doubt they both drew inspiration from each other. Both released two promising early albums that sold well but were not as revered as their best work. They both hit an early peak in 1980. After his death in April 2016, Kate Bush did share a message:

“I am so sad and shocked to hear the tragic news about Prince. He was the most incredibly talented artist. A man in complete control of his work from writer and musician to producer and director. He was such an inspiration. Playful and mind-blowingly gifted. He was the most inventive and extraordinary live act I’ve seen. The world has lost someone truly magical. Goodnight dear Prince”.

 The two definitely had this connection and chemistry, even if they meet briefly and their recordings together were not in person. Bush would have admired Prince’s work ethic and how he managed to balance so many projects at once. She would have seen what he was doing in the 1980s in terms of doing something completely different with each album and getting more ambitious. In turn, as she was this independent female artist producing her own albums and writing her own songs, that would have struck a chord.

I wonder, ahead of 21st April, whether Kate Bush will share memories of Prince or do anything. Of course, though there were these common threads, the two did lead very different lives. Both were very shy and introverted but you suspected Prince wanted fame and adulation more than Kate Bush did. Also, Bush had family around her and was about to enjoy relationships and that support around her, whereas I always think as Prince as more solitary. What we can’t take away is that there was this enormous respect between the two. Even if the 1990s were not exactly peak decades for both artists – Prince released a couple of decent albums but nothing to the standard he did the decade before; Bush’s The Red Shoes her only album of the '90s -, their collaborations together happened then. I always think about their musical and production talents. How both could pretty much do anything and were so pioneering. Especially on the albums of the 1980s. This musical variation and using technology of the day to remarkable effect. Not traditional Pop artists of the time in terms of their compositions and videos. Both hugely arresting visual artists. Incredible fashion and wonderful looks. Songs like Bush's Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) and Prince's When Doves Cry shared innovative production touches, like stacked vocals and minimalist beats. The lack of bass too. Hounds of Love as an album did not lean heavily on bass. Utilising and pushing drum machines (like LinnDrum) and using them in such impactful and interesting ways. The legacy they both have. So many artists of today influenced by these groundbreaking artists who had this huge hunger and passion for what they did. Many artists you feel have half their heart in it or are not that driven. Kate Bush and Prince were completely dedicated to music. If Prince was more prolific in terms of the frequency of releasing albums, Bush was as committed to the studio and making sure her albums were as original and brilliant as possible. I picture them working at their own studios in the mid-1980s and building these little empires. Making work that will stand the test of time.

You can appreciate why they respected and loved one another so much. Maybe few women of the 1970s and 1980s were writing their own music and were like Kate Bush (maybe Madonna and a few other major Pop artists). Prince definitely admired Kate Bush and how she was taking care of each part of her music and it was very much her own vision. If he has not directly said Bush inspired him, you just know that she did! And vice versa. I will end in a minute. I have been thinking about Prince in relation to Kate Bush. I have written about the two before – as recently as this time last year -, but I wanted to revisit it. This great VICE article about the two meeting and Prince working on Kate Bush’s Why Should I Love You? A shame that these two geniuses did not do a lot of work together or appear on film together:

“Bush was in a strange place when she met the Purple One. Her close friend and guitarist Alan Murphy had just died of AIDS-related pneumonia, she was going through the motions of a relationship breakdown, and was teetering on the cusp of a break from music, which, when it came, would actually last for 12 years. Prince, on the other hand, was going through one of his many spiritual rebirths. He had just emerged from the murky shadows of The Black Album, a creation he withdrew a week after release because he was convinced it was an evil, omnipotent force. He vaulted out of that hole, into a period of making music that was upbeat, pop-tinged and pumped up. In essence, the two artists’ headspaces could not really have been in more opposite places; Prince, artistically baptised and ready to change the world, and Kate Bush, surrounded by a fog of melancholia and disarray.

Prince had been a huge Kate Bush admirer for years. In emails exchanged in 1995 between Prince’s then-engineer Michael Koppelman and Bush’s then-engineer Del Palmer, Koppelman says that Prince described her as his “favourite woman”. But despite both artists being active since the 70s, it wasn’t until 1990 that they actually met in real life. Bush attended a Prince gig at Wembley during his monumental Nude Tour, asked to meet him backstage, and the rest is God-like genius collaboration history.

Perhaps it was the sheer distance between their headspaces at the time that led to what happened. Bush asked Prince to contribute a few background vocals to a song called “Why Should I Love You”, which she had just recorded in full at Abbey Road Studios. But when Prince received the track, he ignored the intructions and dismantled the entire thing like a crazed mechanic taking apart old cars on his backyard. He wanted to inject himself into the very heart of it, weaving his sound amongst her sound, giving it a new soul entirely. As Koppelman explains, “We essentially created a new song on a new piece of tape and then flew all of Kate’s tracks back on top of it… Prince stacked a bunch of keys, guitars, bass, etc, on it, and then went to sing background vocals”.

I genuinely believe that Kate Bush inspired Prince. He lauded her incredible live performances and how innovative she was. Maybe referring to 1979’s The Tour of Life or her T.V. spots, some of that theatricality and ambition was put into his iconic live tours. Same with the videos and how Bush could command the screen. Both tirelessly pushing boundaries and crafting their music meticulously. Some would say they were both controlling and unable to work with other producers. However, both were visionaries who were at their best and most directly when working alone. No doubt the two shared a lot of traits. This incredible creative and commercial successful period in the 1980s. On 21st April, we will remember Prince, a decade after his untimely death. Kate Bush had great respect for him and felt that loss. He was a big fan of hers and was one of few artists that he collaborated with and possibly could trust to be on any of his records. I think about what would come if Prince were still here. Maybe the two working together again or meeting once more. It is both tantalising and heartbreaking to consider…

WHAT could have been.

FEATURE: Who Do You Think You Are? Reacting to Melanie C’s Comments About a 2026 Spice Girls Reunion

FEATURE:

 

 

Who Do You Think You Are?

IN THIS PHOTO: Spice Girls (from left: Geri Halliwell, Melanie C, Victoria Adams, Emma Bunton and Mel B)

Reacting to Melanie C’s Comments About a 2026 Spice Girls Reunion

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I know I have…

written about the Spice Girls a few times lately. Well, I marked Emma Bunton’s fiftieth birthday with a playlist of Spice Girls tracks and solo material. I am sharing that feature ahead of her birthday on 21st January. I also covered Wannabe recently, as it was recorded at the end of 1995. However, the thirtieth anniversary of its release is on 26th June. I, and so many others, will celebrate thirty years of that debut single nearer the time. It was a revelatory moment in Pop music! 1996 was a year when the music world was ready for Spice Girls. The previous few years were about Britpop and that dominance. Things needed to change. However, with the arrival of Wannabe and the Spice album, Emma Bunton, Victoria Adams, Melanie Brown, Melanie Chisholm and Geri Halliwell were an instant global phenomenon! Even if the group were short-lived and did not really last too long into the new century, their legacy is enormous. In terms of what they achieved commercially and the success they had. And how, as I wrote in a recent feature about modern girl groups, they continue to inspire. Each member has had their solo career. I was listening to Mel/Melanie C’s Northern Star (1999) recently and remembering what a great (and underrated) that album is! With varying degrees of prolificacy and positive reception, each of the five members have enjoyed success outside of Spice Girls. Mel C launches her Sweat album on 1st May. It comes five years after the Melanie C album. The upcoming album is about joy, dance culture, fitness, and resilience. It is this bright and big album that we really need now. It is not just Spice Girls that there is a desire for. I have also been thinking of All Saints. They are still active, though I do feel like the world also needs Shaznay Lewis, Melanie Blatt, Nicole Appleton and Natalie Appleton back together and touring. Maybe another album.

I guess there is this natural desire for brilliant and iconic groups of the 1990s to come together after Oasis’ recent stage reunion. I can’t see them heading into the studio anytime soon. We may get more tour dates. In their case, I think it was as much as Liam and Noel Gallagher buying the hatchet as marking thirty years of the (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? album. Their Britpop pomp. The Gallagher brothers seem keen to keep going and play together. Rather than it being about nostalgia, it is a chance for this band to bring their music to new and original fans alike. I think that is the benefit of a Spice Girls reunion. Instead of the group solely marking thirty years of Wannabe, there is this opportunity to do something special. Maybe tour and unite with other Pop queens and girl groups. Performing the entirety of the Spice album or even doing something conceptual. It seems that most of the members are throwing their weight behind a tour or reunion. Maybe Geri Halliwell-Horner and Victoria Beckhma might take more persuasion. Whether relations between Halliwell-Horner and Brown are okay. You need all the members happy and in line to make it work. In an interview with Rebecca Judd for Apple Music Melanie C discussed the fears of a reunion:

“Spice Girl Melanie C has said the famous girl band is “frightened” to do a reunion the wrong way, and added: “We are just waiting until we all decide on exactly the best way to do it.”

The singer, 52, also known to fans as Sporty Spice, addressed the possibility of a Spice Girls reunion with Rebecca Judd on her Apple Music show, following speculation around this year’s 30th anniversary of their hit single Wannabe.

The pop group, who formed in 1994, went on to dominate the charts with hits such as Who Do You Think You Are? and Viva Forever – and was comprised of Mel C, full name Melanie Chisholm, Melanie Brown, Emma Bunton, Lady Victoria Beckham and Geri Halliwell-Horner.

She told Judd: “I’m not going to throw anybody under the bus. We all are so proud, of course we are, of our legacy. It’s amazing. And it is 30 years and we do have to celebrate that in some way this year. I’m always optimistic.”

Chisholm described herself and singer Brown, or Mel B, as the “cheerleaders” pushing for a possible reunion.

She said: “Emma’s totally with us, but we all love it so much. I think it’s so precious to us.

“We’re frightened to do it the wrong way. Do you know what I mean? So it’s like we’re still working, we’re always talking, lines of communication are open and we are just waiting until we all decide on exactly the best way to do it.”

The girl group’s debut single Wannabe was released in 1996 and after two years at the top of the charts, Halliwell-Horner, nicknamed Ginger Spice, shocked the world when she left in 1998, citing “differences between us”.

In December 2000, the rest of the group went their separate ways, announcing an indefinite hiatus.

The Spice Girls reunited in 2012 for the closing ceremony of the London Summer Olympics and in 2019 for their Spice World tour – which did not feature Lady Beckham, who was also known as Posh Spice.

Since then, the chart-topping girl group has been the subject of speculation about their return to the stage.

In April 2024, Sir David Beckham sparked an online frenzy when he posted a video of the girl band singing and dancing onstage to their 1998 hit Stop at Lady Beckham’s 50th birthday party”.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Melanie C / Mel C (@melaniecmusic)

This is a massive year for sure and it is a time when Spice Girls would serve that desire of recapturing a bit of the past. They might not be able to replicate the thrill and explosion they did in 1996. However, you feel like there will be a lot of events. Maybe something around the Wannabe video. A reissue of Spice? You’d imagine there’d be a documentary. Perhaps a chance for the group to come together for a series of interviews. However, people are hankering to see them on the stage. It would be wrong if they had a big sponsor or it was about the money. I guess arenas would be their plan in terms of demand, though there are some amazing venues that are smaller that would be perfect for Spice Girls. A few great London spots and some further north. There have been rumours and what-ifs ever since they last performed on stage together. Having all five members together on stage would be a dream for fans of all ages. Would they go back into the studio together? The Wannabe/Spice tour 2026. It would look amazing. You would feel, if they were going to do something to mark their anniversary, it would need to happen soon. In terms of organising venues and getting something in place, has Melanie C and her group-mates already booked venues and this is a sort of tease?! I do hear genuine caution when Chisholm talks of the drawbacks of risks of doing a reunion the wrong way. If it was rushed, the members were forced or it was for the wrong reasons. Everything needs to align and be perfect. I was a teen when Wannabe was released. I recall the excitement at high school. This amazing girl group coming through.

Would a tour or brief reunion take them right back to 1996 in terms of the aesthetics and vibe? Perhaps the quintet would do a more modern-day version of their tour from the Spice era. You have to ask what are the biggest reasons for Spice Girls performing again. I think there has been a lot of anniversary-themed reunions lately and, whilst it is great, it is mainly nostalgia. Spice Girls know that 1996 was their year and it is thirty years since they came through. However, hurrying anything or misjudging it could backfire. It is encouraging that there does seem to be a real energy within the group to do something. Brown and Chisholm very much flying the flag. Bunton very keen. Getting the other two members full on board would need to happen because, if not everyone was completely invested, then fans would notice. However, they are all still friends and they realise what an impact they made. Perhaps the major reason for a reunion is that we can see in modern Pop who has been influenced by Spice Girls. Girl groups that followed them definitely took something from Spice Girls. So many modern Pop queens. Having this pioneering cultural phenomenon come back, if only for a short strong of gigs, would see them sell out venues around the world. Will they do something this year and wait until 2027 and tour to mark thirty years of Spiceworld? It is this daunting task doing something that clearly is right and fans would be behind, though there is such expectation that it could go wrong or not be as good as you’d want. Let’s hope that Melanie Chisholm, Melanie Brown, Emma Bunton, Geri Halliwell-Horner and Victoria Beckham are in discussion and they at least have a plan on the table. During this rubbish winter in a very violent and dark time around the world, the joy, colour, light and heat Spice Girls would give to the world thirty years after Wannabe was released. Imagine the possibilities of the legendary five together again on stage…

IN the summer.

FEATURE: The Great American Songbook: TLC

FEATURE:

 

 

The Great American Songbook

IN THIS PHOTO: TLC (Rozonda ‘Chilli’ Thomas, Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes and Tionne ‘T-Boz’ Watkins) for YSB, July 1994/PHOTO CREDIT: Jeffrey Henson Scales

TLC

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I have written about TLC…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Rozonda ‘Chilli’ Thomas (left) and Tionne ‘T-Boz’ Watkins in 2017/PHOTO CREDIT: Ramona Rosales for Billboard

before and their albums, but it has been a while since I did a playlist. The trio from Atlanta, Georgia, formed in 1990. The group's best-known line-up was composed of Tionne ‘T-Boz’ Watkins, Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes, and Rozonda ‘Chilli’ Thomas. Lopes sadly died in 2002. On 27th May, it would have been her fifty-fifth birthday. It was a tragedy when she died. Such a huge shock. However, what she did with TLC and as a solo artist (and in collaborations) was incredible. Crystal Jones was also a member at one point. The surviving duo released the TLC album in 2017. I wonder whether Watkins or Thomas will release another album at any point. However, it is clear that TLC have made their mark on music. Having sold over sixty-millions records and seen as one of the greatest trios/girl groups ever, they have inspired so many artists. An award-winning and hugely popular act, in 2022, TLC was inducted into the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame. I will get to a twenty-song mixtape of a tremendous American group. One that can sit alongside the U.S.-born artists I have already included in this series. I want to include some biography before doing that. AllMusic provide a wonderful and deep biography about an iconic group:

“One of the biggest-selling female groups of all time, TLC appeal equally to R&B and pop audiences by blending catchy hooks and bouncy funk with a playful and confident attitude. Rapper Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes and singers Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins and Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas rode a blend of post-new jack swing R&B and pop to stardom during the '90s. Their sound was reflected in their image, equal parts style and spirit, bolstered by a flamboyant, outrageous wardrobe. Ooooooohhh...On the TLC Tip (1992) proved that they also had substance with "Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg," "Baby-Baby-Baby," and "What About Your Friends" all Top Ten hits. TLC went supernova with CrazySexyCool (1994), a Grammy-winning, diamond-platinum return with four Top Ten singles including the chart-toppers "Creep" and "Waterfalls." After that, the group fell into disarray and took over four years to record their follow-up, FanMail (1999), though "No Scrubs" and "Unpretty" returned them to the top of the Hot 100. Their fourth platinum album, 3D (2002), arrived months after Lopes was killed in a car accident. Watkins and Thomas have since released the album TLC (2017) and have performed into the 2020s.

TLC formed in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1991, when Watkins and Lopes split off from another group. In short order, they met Thomas, locally based producer Dallas Austin, and singer, songwriter, and producer Pebbles, who became their manager. They quickly scored a record deal with L.A. Reid and Babyface's new label, LaFace, and in February 1992 issued their new jack-styled debut album, Ooooooohhh...On the TLC Tip. The video for the provocative and aggressive lead single, "Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg," established their quirky, colorful fashion sense, and true to her nickname, Lopes stirred up some attention by wearing a condom over her left eye to promote safe sex. The song became a Top Ten Hot 100 hit, as did its follow-ups, the ballad "Baby-Baby-Baby" (a number two hit) and "What About Your Friends."

The group's second album, CrazySexyCool, followed in November 1994 and was a blockbuster success. Taking a cue from Salt-n-Pepa's makeover on Very Necessary, CrazySexyCool toned down the boisterousness of their first album in favor of a smoother, more mature presentation. They were still strong and sexual, but now fully adult as well, and were more involved (especially Lopes) in crafting their own material. The slinky lead single, "Creep," became TLC's first number one pop hit, topping the chart for four weeks. It was followed by three more Top Five singles: "Red Light Special," "Waterfalls" (which became their biggest hit ever, spending seven weeks at number one), and "Diggin' on You." TLC were a bona fide phenomenon, and their stylish videos and live performances kept upping the ante for their outrageous fashion sense. CrazySexyCool eventually sold over 11 million copies in the U.S. alone, and won a Grammy for Best R&B Album.

TLC spent much of 1996 getting their financial affairs in order, and were set to re-enter the studio in the summer of 1997, but the sessions had trouble getting off the ground due to a public spat with Dallas Austin, who did wind up handling the vast majority of the sessions. Still, it took quite some time to put together. Lopes announced in the summer of 1998 that she was working on a solo album, and Watkins tried her hand at acting with an appearance in the Hype Williams-directed Belly. All the delays, tension, and side projects fueled rumors of an impending breakup. FanMail, TLC's hotly anticipated third album, was finally released in February 1999 and debuted at number one. Its first single, "No Scrubs" -- a dismissal of men who didn't measure up -- topped the Hot 100, as did the follow-up "Unpretty," which tackled unrealistic beauty standards. FanMail wound up going six-times platinum, and won another Best R&B Album Grammy. As TLC prepared to tour, tensions between the individual members spilled over into a public feud. Lopes blasted TLC's recent music and challenged her bandmates to record solo albums, so that fans could see who had the real talent. The blowup was only temporary, but rumors about the group's future continued to swirl.

In 2001, TLC nonetheless regrouped and entered the studio together to work on material for a new album. Meanwhile, Lopes' solo debut, Supernova, was scheduled for release and then scrapped on several occasions. It eventually came out overseas, but domestically Arista pulled the plug. Meanwhile, TLC's recording was halted when Watkins was hospitalized for complications with her anemia. At the beginning of 2002, Lopes announced that she had signed a solo deal with the infamous Suge Knight's new label, Tha Row, for which she would begin recording a follow-up to the unreleased Supernova under the name N.I.N.A. (New Identity Non-Applicable). She never got the chance. While vacationing in Honduras, Lopes lost control of a vehicle she was driving and died after a head trauma on April 25, 2002. The surviving members of TLC completed 3D, the album on which they had been working, and released it that November. Although none of its singles entered the Top Ten, the album itself debuted at number six and went double platinum.

Watkins and Thomas performed as TLC at New York radio station Z100's Zootropia concert in June 2003. Said to be TLC's last performance, the duo performed with a video projection of Lopes. Two years later, they co-starred in R U the Girl, a nine-episode reality television program on the UPN network, in which singers competed for the award of contributing to a TLC single. Tiffany "O'so Krispie" Baker won and subsequently appeared on "I Bet." Watkins and Thomas continued to perform together and occasionally recorded. The anniversary tie-in 20, an anthology released in October 2013, included the Ne-Yo collaboration "Meant to Be," which played during the closing credits of VH1's original movie CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story. After additional touring, TLC recorded a new album supported with crowdfunding. The self-titled set was released in 2017, led by the nostalgic single "Way Back," featuring Snoop Dogg. Watkins and Thomas continued to perform on occasion, and in 2024, they released a 30th anniversary edition of CrazySexyCool”.

Maybe we will not hear anything from TLC in terms of new music. However, incredible albums like Fanmail and CrazySexyCool are masterpieces that showcase their peerless talent. I hope that these albums are discussed for generations to come. Showing what a wonderful trio (or duo latterly) TLC are, the mixtape below is a twenty-song representation of their brilliance. Anyone who is not a fan of TLC really needs to…

PROPERLY explore their catalogue.

FEATURE: Spotlight: SACHA

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDITS: SASHA

SACHA

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I am not sure she will ever read this…

but there are many reasons why I wanted to spotlight SACHA. Usually, artists with single names – unless you are Adele – are quite hard to Google and locate! Or there are others sharing that name. However, when it comes to SACHA, there is no confusing her with anyone else! With this huge confidence, amazing raw talent and this phenomenal passion, it is hard to ignore her. There is something very relatable and down to earth about her. Sacha Taylor is a former hairdresser from Scotland, but she is now one of the most in-demand and captivating voices in Dance music. Someone who says she takes inspiration from the likes of Becky Hill and Ella Henderson, It got me thinking about classic Dance and the modern scene. SACHA is undeniably striking and stunning. Tattooed and super-cool, she has this incredible combination of sides and dynamics. Unlike so many artists who are filtered on Instagram and it is all about glamour, sexy shoots and that side of things, SACHA is very much real and authentic. She is someone who has collaborated with some amazing producers and artists, though I can envisage a solo album coming from her. Before getting to an older interview and something more recent, I did want to focus on that authenticity. Unfortunately, I have recently left a comment on an Instagram page for an artist (I shall not name them). It turns out that they were A.I.-generated. It is hard to tell judging by the photos, though alarm bells were perhaps raised retrospectively considering the glossy and slightly computer-generated feel of the photos and lack of interviews. However, the song vocals didn’t sound like your typical A.I.-generation stuff. What baffles me is why A.I. artists exist and what they hope to achieve. They will never feel the range of human emotions and be able to project the realness and authenticity you get from human singers. The Guardian explored this for a feature. That the sort of grief and heart-baring music that defined 2025 can never be understood and replicated by A.I. If artists like Dave Stewart have said we need to engage with A.I., most artists are wary about A.I. and it leaving them vulnerable. Taking away their rights and leaving them exposed to being stolen from.

I don’t think that music fans will ever flock to A.I. The most powerful and popular music is that with heart. When it comes to modern Dance music and incredible vocals at the front, what defines them is this incredible soulfulness, passion, heat and energy. SACHA has this incredibly powerful and soul-stirring voice. It can perfectly bring the heat of Ibiza and get clubs bouncing and uniting. It also has this adaptability and range that means it can bring the temperature and pace down for when the light goes down and people want to chill. When I was a child in the 1990s, some of my favourite music was the Dance tracks of the time. Often produced by male artists, it would have a woman at the front. Providing these incredible vocals. Often too, the female artist was not named or talked about, and they would also sometimes write on the track but never get the credit. I loved their incredibly potent and wonderful vocals, but always felt the fact they were marginalised or anonymous was brutal. I think things have shifted a bit, though does Dance still have a way to go when it comes to gender parity? Having interviewed a few female D.J.s in the genre, they say that there has been a step back. Many of the D.J.s are making their own music because they often collaborate with male producers and artists and do not get credit, or their contributions are diminished. I think that SACHA has had some great collaborations and partnerships, though I can see her going completely solo one day and putting out these wonderful albums. When you hear her sing, she is very much the genuine article! She has been in music a little while though, over the past year, she has really stepped up a notch. Getting stronger and more astonishing with every track, I do think this year is going to be pivotal. I would love to interview her one day to hear her take on the modern Dance scene and what her experiences are. The music she listened to growing up and her plans going forward. Before closing things up, there are some chats to get to. Some features. The first takes us back a little bit, but it does give you a sense of where SACHA started and where she headed. In 2024, The Courier shone the spotlight on this hairdresser who is now one of the most essential and important voices in U.K. Dance. Someone who is primed to be a global superstar very soon:

“Last time we spoke, in 2021, she was trying out the pop thing, and when we catch up now, she’s refreshingly unabashed about her pick-and-mix of a back catalogue.

“At that point I was still experimenting sound-wise,” says Sacha thoughtfully when we speak over Zoom.

She just back from the gym, but aside from speaking at “1,000 miles a minute”, she seems every bit the put-together starlet in her matching workout set.

“I went down the pop route and then a spent a while doing sort of rock-pop. Then I went to LA and did a lot more American-sounding music there.”

Sacha had her first proper taste of commercial success in 2022 when she ventured into dance music, providing vocals on a track called Hopeless Heart by German artist Keanu Silva and Austrian DJ Toby Romeo.

But she wasn’t done cutting her teeth.

“That song streamed really well,” Sacha says, modestly downplaying the more than 50 million Spotify streams. “But then everyone was trying to push me into dance music, and at the time I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do.”

I glean, during this call, that Sacha Taylor is not a woman who is easily pushed or rushed.

“I’ve always loved dance,” she continues. “It’s the perfect soundtrack for a holiday, or getting ready to go out with the girls. So now I’m exploring the dance sphere, and that’s really where my head’s at.”

Sacha going ‘Higher’ than ever with new track

Now that her fangs are sharpened, Sacha’s finally getting a bite of the real action.

This summer has seen her soaring to success in the dance scene with hit track Higher from chart-topping UK DJs Nathan Dawe and Joel Corry, released on Atlantic Records.

The track, which was released in August 2024 has already surpassed 700k streams on Spotify, and broke into the UK Top 100.

But even more excitingly for Sacha, it got her spontaneously flown out to the massive annual dance festival Ibiza Rocks – where she performed her first ever live gig.

“It was all very last minute,” laughs Sacha.

“It was two days before I was going on holiday with my family, so I was scrambling around, messaging stylists and trying to get all my stuff ready for the live performance.”

Ibiza Rocks was first ever live performance

Turning on a dime, Sacha rallied the troops, and three of her closest friends flew out to help her get ready.

“I had 25kg worth of clothes in my suitcase, and I swear I wore them all,” she chuckles.

After a whirlwind flight and packed content shooting day in Ibiza, where the social media teams for pop stars Rita Ora and Dua Lipa filmed Sacha, it was time for the show.

And for seasoned recording artist Sacha, the pressure was on to deliver live.

“I was so excited all day, and then reality struck,” she says. “I mean, it’s quite a tough first gig. It’s a big crowd, but not a huge venue. Plus it’s broad daylight, and a little early.

“Normally later on, people have had a few drinks and there’s less pressure. So that was nerve-wracking. But it was a brilliant crowd! They were super hyped and really supportive.

“I think about halfway through, I started to relax and really enjoy it. And as soon as I came off stage, I thought: ‘Oh God, I want to go right back on and do it again!'”

Mum Charlie ‘always knew’ Sacha would succeed

However, there was one thing missing from Sacha’s live debut – her family, including her “biggest supporter”, mum Charlie.

“They wanted to come, but for the first one, I just wanted a bit less pressure,” she smiles.

Indeed, it seems the only person more sure of Sacha’s success than herself is her mother.

“I’ve had this thing recently where I’m just being completely delusional, and thinking: ‘Whatever I want to happen, I will just make it happen,” Sacha says.

“And d’you know what? I think my mum is just as delusional as I am!

“She’s like: ‘Sacha, I’ve always known you were going to be a star. It was always going to happen, it was just a matter of time!’

Bold fashion is passion for singer

Sacha’s look is part and parcel of her artistry. With her slicked-back, bleach-blonde tresses, perfectly-laminated eyebrows, armful of ink and flamboyant fashion sense, she’s bombing into the dance scene like a sultry-voiced Bratz doll.

“I’ve always loved fashion,” she gushes, beaming when the conversation turns to her style.

“If, God forbid, something terrible happened and I couldn’t do music, I would be a stylist.

“I love clothes – the bright, the colourful, feathers, sequins – anything that’s standout and a bit outrageous”.

@sacha_sings Someone pinch me 🤯 #arminvanbuuren #SACHA #singer #setmefree #tour ♬ Set Me Free - Armin van Buuren & SACHA

In February 2025, LOOP wrote about how SACHA and Jack Fargo are primed to take over your playlists. Often, women in Dance and D.J.s are paired with male counterparts or not given their own articles. No offence to Jack Fargo – who is excellent -, but I am more interested in SACHA and what she has to offer. This is someone who is very much going to play some huge sets and stages:

“The London-based powerhouse, SACHA, is dropping tracks that feel like the love child of classic dance music. Inspired by legends like David Guetta, Tiësto, and Avicii, Sacha is shaping the next wave of “hands in the air” anthems.

“My main focus right now is dance music,” she says. “I’m obsessed with timeless anthems that still feel fresh today. I want to make that kind of impact.”

Her journey started in Scotland, working on lyrics and melodies with a local producer before making the move to London. Now? She’s writing four to five songs a week, stacking up bangers that are ready to set dancefloors and festivals.

“I’ve always been a melody-driven writer,” she explains. “That’s what I fell in love with first. Once you lock in the melodies, the lyrics almost write themselves. Sometimes I’ll start with a hook that just sticks in my head, and before I know it, the entire song takes shape around it.”

Her ability to connect is undeniable, and social media has been a game-changer. “After my last release with Joel Corry and Nathan Dawe, I realized just how much music can impact people,” she shares. “Seeing fans tattoo my lyrics? That’s next-level. Getting messages from people saying my song helped them through a tough time reminds me why I do this.”

And the best part? She’s just getting started. While she’s keeping details under wraps, she hints at major collaborations dropping in 2025. “I can’t say names yet, but let’s just say, these collabs are big.”

Performing live has also been a revelation for Sacha. “I performed for the first time last year in Ibiza, and it was surreal seeing people singing back the lyrics I wrote. That’s exactly why we write music, to create moments that bring people together.”

Fashion is another way Sacha expresses her artistry. “I’d say my style is loud,” she laughs. “I love turning heads and making statements. Some days, I’m all about sleek, futuristic looks; other days, I want something weird and experimental. That’s how I approach music, too—I love pushing boundaries.”

Looking ahead, she has her sights set on some of the biggest stages in the world. “A dream of mine? Performing at festivals like Coachella, Ultra, Tomorrowland. That’s the goal”.

My big desire regarding SASHA is for her to be solo. Not forever, but for a few songs or an album. So many of the Dance songs played on radio with women in are part of collaborations. SACHA is such a standout voice who I can see writing enduring tracks and putting down some incredibly distinct and personal music. She is an awesome songwriter. Hearing her life and stories laid down and her being the producer too. I think that is where she will head. However, the D.J.s and producers she has worked with have very much given the vocal spotlight to her. That being said, she is this genuine star and standout, rather than being part of a collaboration. Also, seeing her appearing in amazing videos, as she has this gravitas. Someone who is supremely watchable, cool and engaging. Like Becky Hill and artists she has shouted out, you can see SACHA collecting awards and releasing these chart-successful tracks and albums. Fellow Scottish artist and D.J. Hannah Laing is someone who many would like to see a collaboration with. Performing at Laing’s festival back in the summer, The Courier caught up with SACHA and asked about that appearance and working with an icon:

“Last weekend was a memorable one for Perth-born singer and songwriter Sacha Taylor as she took to the doof in the Park stage.

The former hairdresser told The Courier that “there’s nothing like a Scottish crowd” after performing at DJ Hannah Laing’s inaugural one-day music festival in Dundee.

Sacha, who is now based in London, performed with dance and trance icon Armin Van Buuren in front of an electric crowd at Camperdown Park on Saturday.

“That might be the biggest crowd I’ve sung to yet”, she says.

“I think you could ask any DJ in the world and they will always say the Scottish energy is unmatched.”

This was despite the decision to attend doof in the Park being made last-minute.

It was only after a concert in Ibiza with Van Buuren last week that the famous Dutch DJ and producer invited Sacha to play at the event.

“Last week I performed for the first time with Armin at Ushuaia”, she explains.

“He just goes ‘what are you doing next Saturday?’, obviously not knowing where I was from.

“He’s like ‘I’m, performing in a place called Dundee’.”

Perth-born singer collaborating with Dutch dance icon

When Sacha told Van Buuren where she was from he thought it was a “no-brainer” and a trip back to Tayside was suddenly on the cards.

Around 15,000 revellers descended on Camperdown on Saturday to watch 25 acts performing across three stages.

Sacha’s performance with Van Buuren in her “home town” comes as she embarks on a tour of Europe with the dance icon and is set to release a new single with him.

“What I thought was amazing as well is, a lot of times when you see DJs performing or people singing at venues, there’s so many phones out”, says Sacha.

“Whereas yesterday, the majority of people were just enjoying it and not stuck behind a screen, which was so nice to see.

“I’m doing some really big shows with Armin over the summer but so far that was the biggest and obviously it being Scotland was incredible.”

Van Buuren has been recognised as one of the best DJs in the world, enjoying success with hits such as ‘This Is What It Feels Like’ in 2013.

But how did they end up working on a single together and then going on tour?

“How it sort of works in the dance world is you go in the studio, write a song and then pitch it to DJs to kind of finish the song,” she explains.

“You collaborate on the finished product, and then they release it. You get to go and sing it with them.

“As soon as I’d written the upcoming single, there was a few people I had in mind.

“I felt Armin was the perfect person.”

“My manager had pitched it to his team and then we went back and forth with versions and now, it’s coming out at the end of the summer.

“I absolutely love dance music. When I go in the studio I try to make songs like Armin’s.

“Using some of his older music and then actually having the song end up with him is incredible.”

Could Sacha Taylor collaborate with Hannah Laing?

Sacha is already planning a return to Dundee as the big shows with Van Buuren become a reality.

It is also possible we could see she her collaborate with Hannah Laing.

The pair bumped into each other at Ibiza Airport after Sacha’s performance at Ushuaia, and she says what the Doof in the Park founder is doing is “inspiring”.

“The whole dance scene is somewhat unpredictable, you can’t necessarily plan”, says Sacha”.

On Instagram over the past week or two, SACHA has shared happy memories about 2025. The people she has worked with, where she has performed and all the highlights. There have been some amazing hook-ups and tracks with great D.J.s. I think his will continue but, for me, there is that hankering to see an E.P. or album. She is a brilliant songwriter and singer. Whether you brings in her own collaborators on that or goes solo, it will be exciting to see! As she is based in London, it would be great to see her perform at some point, though I am not sure what her diary is like and where she is heading. The summer is going to be a packed one for sure. A modern and distinctly brilliant artist, she also puts me in mind of the legends and greats I grew up listening to on these anthemic and timeless Dance cuts. She will play enormous European and U.S. festivals and be named among the most important queens of modern music. A supreme talent forging her own path and building this incredible career, I feel that this year…

View this post on Instagram

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IS going to be her year!

____________

Follow SACHA

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/sacha_sings/

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/1VP5hxNzge9bfbtDvCJwFG?si=YNU5CQqTTVS2hUe7XaQbaA

TikTok:

https://www.tiktok.com/@sacha_sings

FEATURE: Kate Bush’s The Kick Inside at Forty-Eight: The Nerves and the Confidence

FEATURE:

 

 

Kate Bush’s The Kick Inside at Forty-Eight

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: David Bailey

The Nerves and the Confidence

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I think I have covered…

The Kick Inside from a number of different angles throughout the years. However, Kate Bush’s debut album turns forty-eight on 17th February, so I do want to cover it again. I am going to bring in a words from Bush about the album. It was clearly something she wanted to do since she was a child. Put out an album. Looking at this resource from the Kate Bush Encyclopedia, and they collated some critical reaction to The Kick Inside. There was some bewilderment and those writing it off. In terms of the music of 1977 and early-1978, Kate Bush definitely was not like other artists. As I shall explore, The Kick Inside is this hugely confident and accomplished album. The examples of recollections and words from Kate Bush about The Kick Inside are interesting:

“Hello everyone. This is Kate Bush and I’m here with my new album The Kick Inside and I hope you enjoy it. The album is something that has not just suddenly happened. It’s been years of work because since I was a kid, I’ve always been writing songs and it was really just collecting together all the best songs that I had and putting them on the album, really years of preparation and inspiration that got it together. As a girl, really, I’ve always been into words as a form of communication. And even at school I was really into poetry and English and it just seemed to turn into music with the lyrics, that you can make poetry go with music so well. That it can actually become something more than just words; it can become something special. (Self Portrait, 1978)

There are thirteen tracks on this album. When we were getting it together, one of the most important things that was on all our mind was, that because there were so many, we wanted to try and get as much variation as we could. To a certain extent, the actual songs allowed this because of the tempo changes, but there were certain songs that had to have a funky rhythm and there were others that had to be very subtle. I was very greatly helped by my producer and arranger Andrew Powell, who really is quite incredible at tuning in to my songs. We made sure that there was one of the tracks, just me and the piano, to, again, give the variation. We’ve got a rock ‘n’ roll number in there, which again was important. And all the others there are just really the moods of the songs set with instruments, which for me is the most important thing, because you can so often get a beautiful song, but the arrangements can completely spoil it – they have to really work together. (Self Portrait, 1978)

I think it went a bit over the top [In being orientally influenced], actually. We had the kite, and as there is a song on the album by that name, and as the kite is traditionally Oriental, we painted the dragon on. But I think the lettering was just a bit too much. On the whole I was surprised at the amount of control I actually had with the album production. Though I didn’t choose the musicians. I thought they were terrific.
I was lucky to be able to express myself as much as I did, especially with this being a debut album. Andrew was really into working together, rather than pushing everyone around. I basically chose which tracks went on, put harmonies where I wanted them…
I was there throughout the entire mix. I feel that’s very important. Ideally, I would like to learn enough of the technical side of things to be able to produce my own stuff eventually. (The Blossoming Ms. Bush, 1978)”.

It must have been a strange experience. Putting together a debut album and considering everything. I have ever been keen on the cover. Not really representative of the sound and themes of The Kick Inside, it is interesting what Bush said about the production and mixing. Even though Bush did not produce the album herself (Andrew Powell produced The Kick Inside), she was truly immersed and invested. Wanting to be involved with every aspect. Reading Graeme Thomson’s Under the Ivy: The Life and Music of Kate Bush and what he says about The Kick Inside. Like with many artists, there was this dichotomy of the public and professional persona. This was not a brand-new thing for Kate Bush. She was used to recording demos and performing at her family home. She recorded her first professional songs at AIR Studios in June 1975. The Man with the Child in His Eyes and The Saxophone Song appeared on The Kick Inside but were recorded a couple of years before everything else. However, when she returned to AIR Studios in 1977, there was this combination of nerves and confidence. The songs about sex, lust, death, philosophy, ghosts and classic literature. If other artists of her generation were writing about love or very ordinary things, Bush was bringing in this material that was so deferent and bold. Maybe not confidence as such as to release a debut album like that. It was definitely brave. It could have been a commercial disaster or not understood by the public. Instead, The Kick Inside sold over a million copies and was did get a lot of positive reviews. If some were harsh towards it or did not know what to make of The Kick Inside, the music did connect with people. Debut single, Wuthering Heights, went to number one and was this audacious and brilliant introduction. In terms of the unique aspect of her lyrics and the cast of characters Bush brought into her songs, the musicians she worked with were struck by this confidence. How she was creating these incredible songs that were so strange and enchanting. Musicians like Ian Bairnson stunned. What would come next? They’d play a particular track and all of its wonders would hit them.

Then they’d record another song and it would be completely different. David Paton recalled how Bush was the first person to offer cups of tea and make sure everyone was okay. If the music suggested something that was amplified and the work of this experienced artist, that was not really the case. This special artist who knew what she wanted and was creatively comfortable and strong, this instantly assured and direct voice took many by surprise. How these songs came to life and Bush took care of everything. How she recorded these vocals and they were layered. That she would stick around for the mixes and she was truly committed. Even if she would record albums more acclaimed and better received, it was clear how important The Kick Inside was. I don’t think we talk about it enough as a truly special and hugely groundbreaking debut. For a female artist in 1978 to release an album like that. It was recalled by those who worked on the album how Bush, as a dancer, would limber up in the studio. Making sure she was physically prepared. However, she did largely stand still for the vocals. I always imagined her gesticulating and being very animated whilst recording, though it seemed she was very focused and disciplined. Not moving around and off microphone. She was also quite nervous. This was a big deal and she was working around experienced musicians. They would note this and try and diffuse and relax her with humour. Bush would smoke weed, maybe as a way to chill, and sometimes there would be a lot of that which threatened to derail sessions. However, what comes across most is this very eager and warm woman who was putting together this remarkable debut. There was no standing on ceremony More one of the lads – as she was recording entirely with male musicians -, it was not like they had to mind their language and there was this division. She was very hands-on and she would also lean on them. They could sense how she was an experienced artist but also someone very special who had this instant and natural gift.

The camaraderie and bond was incredible. The confidence was clear. Intelligent and forthright, Bush did know what she wanted and how the songs should sound. Explaining things to these experienced musicians and not being led and pushed down, that communication from her and respect of her led to this remarkable and happy recording period. However, Bush was not really revealing motives and insights into the songs. If other artists were rattling on about songs and lyrics, Bush was a bit more guarded. There was no improvisation or working on the fly. These songs were ready and honed before they were heard by the public. Something she had been working towards for years, it is also an album of contradictions and contrasts. Making the muse masculine, as Graeme Thomson notes, The Kick Inside is also “one of the most profoundly female albums ever made”. It is interesting too what Laura Snapes said in her review of The Kick Inside from 2018 for Pitchfork: “The Kick Inside was Bush’s first, the sound of a young woman getting what she wants. Despite her links to the 1970s’ ancien régime, she recognized the potential to pounce on synapses shocked into action by punk, and eschewed its nihilism to begin building something longer lasting. It is ornate music made in austere times, but unlike the pop sybarites to follow in the next decade, flaunting their wealth while Britain crumbled, Bush spun hers not from material trappings but the infinitely renewable resources of intellect and instinct: Her joyous debut measures the fullness of a woman’s life by what’s in her head”. Although the lyrics were definitely eye-opening and not what those experienced musicians were used to, there was no chit-chat about it or conversation in the canteen about what the songs were about. No doubt speculations regarding songs like Strange Phenomnea or L’Amour Looks Something Like You. However, for the most part, it was this mutual respect where Kate Bush explained the songs and have some directions and the musicians brought something out of her. Making her more confident and stable.

EMI were not really primed for the reaction to The Kick Inside. Expecting Kate Bush to become successful a few albums in and this being a slower burn, the fact her debut was a huge success and it was maybe a curse too. She did not have time or opportunity to commit to dance or catch up with family and friends. She was instantly on the treadmill of musical success and promotion. Pulled around the world and even expected to tour in the U.S. – she had no interest in this and did not want to break America; none of her post-The Kick Inside albums were released until after 1984 -, I wonder how her career would her career would have developed if The Kick Inside was a more moderate success and Bush was building and working towards something big. As she as an instant success, there was this demand and expectation. Trying to make something bigger, better and different to what went before. Bush hardly had a moment to rest through most of her career. However, what we can take from The Kick Inside is that, when it was released on 17th February, 1978, it was this astonishing and complete work. The lyrics explored throughout were not only advanced or unexpected from a teenage artist. It was unlike anything any artist was putting out. This cast of characters and tracks that went beyond the ordinary, you can feel the influence and impact The Kick Inside today. Artists like CMAT have cited the album and you can feel some of Bush’s debut album in her work. However, Bush couldn’t have imagined how it would explode. She was young and nervous. A shy and introverted person, she never wanted to be famous and wanted to write. She was promoting around the world and performing on T.V. Subjected to this whirlwind 1978, 1979 was a year when she was writing and recording, though there was no new album. She put out her second album, Lionheart, in November 1978. I think The Kick Inside is one of the greatest and most important debut albums ever. One of the most distinct too. It was the astonishing and incredibly original offering from…

A musical genius.

FEATURE: Stepping Across That Iconic Zebra Crossing… The Dream of Hiring a Prestigious Studio/Venue

FEATURE:

 

 

Stepping Across That Iconic Zebra Crossing…

The Dream of Hiring a Prestigious Studio/Venue

__________

IN November…

Abbey Road Studios turns ninety-five. This historic and hugely significant studio is where countless artists have stepped into and recorded amazing work. Made famous and synonymous by The Beatles, in years since, some true greats have recorded music here. I have stood outside the studios but never been in. I am thinking about 12th November, 1931. That is when Abbey Road Studios was opened. Although it is over five years away, I can imagine they are already thinking about that monumental anniversary. For one, remaining open and operational is a must, as the future of the studios has not always been secure and assured. There have been threats before, so we need to protect these studios forever. Given the contribution to music and culture, there is now way we can close Abbey Road Studios. What will they do in 2031? I hope that Beatles members Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr will be around to mark the century. Ringo Starr will be in his nineties by then; Paul McCartney in his late eighties. Having these two musicians step back into Abbey Road Studios to celebrate it turning one-hundred, alongside a host of celebrities, musicians and music fans would be mesmeric. Maybe they will hold a concert or this all-day celebration. I am sure a documentary will be made around that time that looks at the history of Abbey Road Studios. Mary McCartney (daughter of Paul McCartney) directed the film/documentary, If These Walls Could Sing where a host of musicians (including Celeste, Kate Bush and Elton John talked about the significance of the studios. It was released at the end of 2022 in the U.S. and January 2023 in the U.K. It gives us an insight into these sacred walls. Abbey Road - The Best Studio in the World is a brilliant book I would recommend people buy. An immersive and fascinating read.

I look forward to this November to see how Abbey Road Studios marks ninety-five years. Five years from then, one of the most important anniversaries and celebrations of our lifetime will happen. There is this endless fascination around the studio, as most of us will either never get to near to it or, like me, stand outside and dream of being inside. I guess one of the drawbacks is the high cost of hiring the space. I especially love Studio 2 – especially notable because The Beatles recorded there a lot -, but it is a large studio and can be pricey. I guess if you want to use it for entire day then it is going to cost a bit. For artists, it is a dream to work there, but maybe not feasible to record an entire album there. Studio 3 is smaller and more affordable, whereas the huge Studio 1 is the most expensive. Only right that such a prestigious studio charges what they are worth! If musicians dream of playing particular venues and I, as someone who would love to make an album, dreams of Electric Lady in New York, as a journalist, being at Abbey Road Studios is a huge desire. Maybe there would be an opportunity to do something there in 2031 if there is this massive anniversary celebration. I am very keen to do a Kate Bush celebration night. She recorded out of Abbey Road Studios and I have been looking around at venues. Being in studio 2 with fans and musicians indebted to her would be this amazing celebration. However, I am aware that the cost of everything would be in the tens of thousands. Also, the chance to interview someone like Paul McCartney out of Studio 2. Something filmed where he may well take to the piano or guitar and play some songs, again, that might be something for the one-hundredth anniversary. To me, there is something hallowed and historic that is a huge lure. Stand on the floor and look around that studio. Think about all the history. The memories bleeding into he walls and embedded in the ceiling. The visions and echoes of all the greats who have passed through there.

IN THIS PHOTO: An interior shot of The Roundhouse

It is not only Abbey Road that has that incredible pull and is a dream. I will stand outside Abbey Road Studios again and may go on a tour there if it is opened to the public sometime. However, the ambition is to film or broadcast out of there. The financial side of things is a barrier. I am not sure how to get around it. However, it would be marvellous to collaborate with them ahead of 2031 – when we mark a century of these iconic studios. Also, I have been thinking about The Roundhouse. A venue that is so iconic, it is situated near Chalk Farm tube. A short walk from there, it is one of the most sought-after venues in the country. O0riginally an engine shed in 1847, it was turned into a cultural venue in 1964. A year when The Beatles were touring, maybe there were plans for them to play there – though they never did. In 2029, they celebrate their sixty-fifth anniversary, so I wonder if they have plans there. Maybe not as huge as Abbey Road Studios, it is still going to be immense when The Roundhouse, as a venue, turns sixty-five. The sheer scale and beauty of The Roundhouse is majestic and attractive. Few venues in this country hold the same grandeur. Maybe Alexandra Palace and a few others around the U.K. have that same impact. However, the décor and warmth of The Roundhouse stands out. It is such a gorgeous and we-inspiring venue. Again, hiring the venue would be an expensive thing. Anywhere between £24,000-£30,000+ for a complete day, it is another dream to use that space one day. Rather than it being a burden of affordability, I guess the main takeaway is the importance of these venues. The Roundhouse is a dream location for so many artists. I am going to try and get there this year and see a gig as I live near there. There are venues and studios that are functional or modest. That are practical and unspectacular. One reason why The Roundhouse is my mind is because I am thinking about it as a performance space and that idea of bringing artists together. Maybe again to do with Kate Bush and celebrating her work, perhaps that ambition of hoisting an event there is out of reach. I am planning something for 2028 and thinking about budget. I do feel that Abbey Road Studios and The Roundhouse are the best studio and live venue in London. Abbey Road seems especially fascinating. I have been dreaming about being in there. Whether it will ever be realised. I cannot rule it out completely thought, for mere mortals, I think we just have to look from the outside and hope! Although I have a hope that this hope is turned into reality…

ONE day.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Smith & Liddle

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Eddy Maynard

Smith & Liddle

__________

I am not sure whether…

there are a whole load of duos out on the scene at the moment. I think we tend to think about bands and solo artists. Once was the time when there were a lot of Pop and R&B duos. Maybe in Country or Folk there are more examples. However, I think that there is something about a duo that you do not get from a band or a solo act. That dynamic, chemistry and blend. Smith & Liddle released the stunning debut album, Songs for the Desert, last October. It was hugely lauded and acclaimed for its sun-drenched West Coast sound. Some noting that their gorgeous harmonies were reminiscent of The Mamas & The Papas, Fleetwood Mac, and Doobie Brothers. I only just came across them because I was looking at BBC Introducing: North East and their tips for this year. Smith & Liddle were in the mix. And quite rightly! I do think that Songs for the Desert is worth of a Mercury Prize nomination later in the year, such is the brilliance of the album. Composed of Billy Smith (guitar and vocals) and Elizabeth Liddle (vocals and piano), you definitely need to listen to this duo! I love how they marry Soft Rock, Folk and Pop of the 1960s and 1970s. At a moment when modern Pop is ruling, there is something about what Smith & Liddle provide that is so much more evocative, long-lasting and warm. Listen to Songs for the Desert and you are transported! In terms of their aesthetics, too, they are brilliant. The album cover and promotional photos. Their music videos. They have really though about every single aspect. I do think they will release a load more albums and get some huge tour dates. I really love their music so wanted to spotlight them now. I am going to bring in some interviews with this exceptional duo. I will end with a review of Songs for the Desert, but it is important to get some insight into Smith & Liddle. A few interviews to highlight. Apologies if there is any repetition in terms of information and answers. However, as they only started releasing singles last year, there is going to be some limitations. There is no doubting the fact they are a fascinating duo.

I am going to start with a brief interview from NARC. from November. Listening to Billy Smith and Elizabeth Liddle singing together, their music gets right into the heart. I think their songs could perfectly fit into films and T.V. shows. They are so scenic and evocative. I only had to listen to a few minutes of Songs for the Desert and I was utterly invested:

“Elizabeth Liddle and Billy Smith write pristine, 70’s indebted classic and country rock: echoing the influence of Laurel Canyon and Fleetwood Mac, and more obscure West Coast rock and psych. Billy admits that is was their love of the music of the 1970s that brought them closer together- having orbited each other in other bands until they started writing together in 2023.

Eyes On You, was the impetus for the band to write more- a seam rich enough to develop over a whole record. ‘Songs For The Desert’ is a beautiful, melodically sumptuous record- elevated by glorious, harmonic songwriting influenced by The Mamas and The Papas and Crosby, Stills and Nash. Billy attributes producer Josh Ingledew’s influence on the sonic palette of the record, “the chilliest guy on the planet” who was happy to be a conduit for all of the band’s influences and ideas – “if the song needed a cheesy 80s synth or a 90 second guitar solo with a lengthy fade out, it was going to have it. Music is all about expressing who you are and we are both huge fans of everything created in the golden decades. He says ‘yes’ to crazy ideas but will also find the perfect sounds to bring your ideas to life.” Billy and Elizabeth relay that there wasn’t a “single stressful memory” in recording the album, and are grateful to the contribution of friends Robb Maynard on drums, Phil Richardson on organs, Emma Robson on some BV’s and Niles Krieger on the strings.

Eager to get the record out into the world, Smith and Liddle play shows in Germany and the Netherlands in early 2026- a year that Billy anticipated will include “a lot of driving, a lot of playing and a lot of good times”- so catch then while you can before this magnificent record finds the audience it deserves”.

I think some of the most original, interesting and promising artists are coming from the North East. I did mention the Mercury Prize earlier. Though not a new artist, Sam Fender hails from that part of the country, and he won the prize last year for People Watching. I do feel Smith & Liddle are bound for glory and huge long-terms success. NE Volume spoke with Smith & Liddle about a debut album that they are really proud of. You can see why. There are no weak moments to be heard. Everything blends perfectly. One of the most remarkable debut albums in recent memory:

“How does it feel to release your debut album, ‘Songs for the Desert’?

We’re just really proud of the entire album. We had some great musicians play on it – our drummer Robb Maynard, keyboard player Phil Richardson, and Emma Robson, a fantastic local musician. We’ve also got Niles Krieger from a band called The Often Herd, who played fiddle. We recorded it at Blank Studios in Newcastle with Josh Ingledew, and it’s out now.

Your last single was ‘Minute Ago’. What was the writing process like?

‘Minute Ago’ came out in September. It’s a song that Liz had the chorus idea for spinning around in her head for months last year. She just couldn’t find a way to finish it, so we sat down together and wrote the rest of it. It’s a bit like how Fleetwood Mac worked – Stevie Nicks would sing a song, then Lindsey Buckingham would sing a song, and then they’d write together. I guess this is Liz’s moment on the album – this is where she really shines. Our third single, ‘Eyes on You’, will be released the week before the album comes out.

What’s the story behind the album title? And how does it tie the songs together?

The story behind the title is quite funny. Basically, our drummer Robb would come into the studio while we were recording the album – which didn’t have a name at the time – and he’d forget all the song titles. He kept asking, “Is this the Camel song or the Desert song?” So we joked that we were writing songs for the desert here. Our idols came out of Laurel Canyon in ’70s California, and that whole desert sound from the era was what really inspired us. That’s why we called the album ‘Songs for the Desert’.

You’ve been releasing music videos alongside your singles, with a distinctive style. Is that something you’ll continue to develop?

Definitely. We try to capture that ’70s look in all of our videos and recreate the feel of those classic music shows where bands would come on and perform live. We’ve made videos for nearly every song.

We released ‘Piece of You’ – the first single from the album – back in May, and we filmed it in Saltburn’s Valley Gardens. We filmed ‘Minute Ago’ at the Social Room in Stockton. We’ve got two more music videos on the way, both in collaboration with Rob Irish”.

Released on Hallowe’en of last year, Songs for the Desert instantly connected with fans and the press. So much love out there for them. Just Listen to This sat down with Smith & Liddle to talk about their unforgettable debut album. I am going to try and see them play live if they are back in London again. I can imagine they are heart-stopping when you see them in the flesh. Truly, a duo that everyone needs to have in their lives:

“When did you begin songwriting?

Billy: “Both of us started writing songs from the early of 11-12. Elizabeth told me she would record her songs onto the old IPod, whereas I had an old tape recorder to use. There’s probably hundreds of songs in old books lying around in the loft.”

You have your debut album ‘Songs For The Desert’ which is released on 31st October 2025. How did you want to approach the making of the album?

Elizabeth: “We wanted to approach the album musically like our favourite 60s artists would but have a modern flavour on the production side. Everything you hear on the album is real instruments and even the synths are all analog. We just wanted to have fun with it and create something special to us. ‘Songs For The Desert’ has a collection of songs that we are so proud of.”

Where did you record the album and who produced it?

Billy: “Mostly, the album was recorded at Blank Studios in Newcastle, however we recorded different parts in other places like our bedrooms and garages. We produced this album with Josh Ingledew, whom we had many similarities to when it came to music. We spoke a lot about Todd Rundgren & The Beach Boys.”

Do you have any interesting, funny or memorable stories from the recording sessions?

Elizabeth: “In every studio session, Billy and Josh would have what I call “silly hour” where they would go off on a tangent and experiment with weird sounds that were 95% of the time never used. However, we did create the backwards guitars in ‘Piece Of You’ that sounded like seagulls and that was kept in the master track!”

Did you use any particular instruments, microphones, recording equipment to help you get a particular sound/tone for the record?

Billy: “One instrument that turned things around a lot was the Danelectro 12-string that I bought near the backend of recording. It added loads of thickness in the guitar tracks. In songs like ‘Down The Hole Again’, we took inspiration from ‘Pet Sounds’ and used lots of percussion like sleigh bells and cabasa to get that Beach Boys sound and we layered lots of vocal harmonies around a ribbon mic. I think we used the R84. In the west coasty tracks like New Day, the fender Rhodes with a phaser and the Juno were undeniable as always”

Which of your new album tracks hear you at your a) happiest, b) angriest and c) most reflective?

Elizabeth: “‘No Place’ is the last track of the album and is our happiest because its a track about where we picture ourselves in the future and the reason why we made this album in the first place. Angriest, we’ll say ‘In A Haze’, only because when we were writing the lyrics, I’d just had a tooth filling and in a lot of pain! ‘Eyes On You’ is the most reflective because it’s the first song we ever wrote together and lyrically is about reflecting.”

Where is your hometown and could you please describe it in five words?

Elizabeth: “I am from a small village in County Durham and Billy lives an hour down the road in Middlesbrough. I’ll describe my hometown as quiet, peaceful and very scenic. Billy describes his town as dark, rainy, full of life haha”

You are given the opportunity to write the score for a film adaptation of a novel that you enjoy. Which novel is it and why?

Billy: “any book written by Middlesbrough legend ‘Bob Mortimer’. If you haven’t read his autobiography, it’s hilarious. He talks about a lot of places near my house so it’s nice to read what it was like back in the day.”

Who are some of your musical influences? Do you have any recommendations?

Elizabeth: “Let us just name a lot of cool acts you might not of heard of: Barbara & Ernie, Dane Donahue, Chi Coltrane, Little Feat, Delaney & Bonnie. We’re going through an ‘America’ phase at the minute. Gerry Beckley, we want to meet you!”.

Just before I wrap things up, I do want to bring in this review from Get Ready to Rock. They were full of love and praise for the staggering Songs for the Desert. Given the beauty and quality of this album, I do hope that other sites and sources pick up on Smith & Liddle. They deserve widespread radio play and focus from some of the biggest music magazines and websites. Such an incredibly talented and close-knit pair who are so in tune with one another. You can feel the closeness between Billy Smith and Elizabeth Liddle:

“There must be something in the air at the moment, or at least this year. We’ve had excellent albums from Morganway, First Time Flyers, and now Smith & Liddle. The connecting theme is melodic classic pop rock with a rootsy/country undertow.

Smith & Liddle are Billy Smith and Elizabeth Liddle who combined forces in 2024 when Billy was looking for a vocalist.

The vibe on this album is unashamedly retro with some great songs and playing.

Opener ‘Piece Of You’ showcases the duo’s fine harmonies that could have come straight from the West Coast c.1971 replete with jangly guitars. They actually hail from the north-east coast (UK).

Several tunes are inevitably going to draw comparisons with mid-seventies Fleetwood Mac such as ‘Eyes On You’, ‘Stay A While’ and ‘Minute Ago’. In fact pretty much everything.

This might be a minor niggle: it’s an album that is a product of certain influences rather than pushing the envelope. But there’s time for that. With so much talk about AI recycling our musical heritage real life artists have surely to offer something different? In this example, and to stay period authentic, at least Smith & Liddle recorded everything using analogue techniques.

‘New Day’ reminds a little of a more jaunty Chris Rea (‘On The Beach’) whilst one of the standouts is ‘In A Haze’. Like much of the stuff on the album it seems the duo get a lot of their inspiration writing in the kitchen.

It would be a great shame if this album slipped through the cracks. Watch out for live dates and go lend your support. ****1/2”.

There is definitely this incredible pedigree in the North East of England. I recently wrote about Middlesbrough artist Loren Heat and their incredible music. They are an artist that you will also want to check out. Smith & Liddle are extraordinarily talented and make this soul-stirring music. I look forward to seeing where their careers take them. Just about to play a few dates in Germany before going to Netherlands on 21st January, let’s hope that Smith & Liddle get a lot of gigs this year. Their music should be heard by everyone! Truly one of the most wonderful and must-hear acts…

FOR 2026.

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