FEATURE: Kate Bush: The Whole Story: An Article and Interview from the Kate Bush Club Issue 16

FEATURE:

 

 

Kate Bush: The Whole Story

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush photographed in September 1983/PHOTO CREDIT: Michael Daines/Mirrorpix/Getty Images

An Article and Interview from the Kate Bush Club Issue 16

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THIS is a new Kate Bush series…

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1982, whilst making The Dreaming/PHOTO CREDIT: Åke Lundström

that does not require a lot of typing from me. It sort of combines the erstwhile The Kate Bush Interview Archive and Kate Bush: The Tour of Life. The latter is one I am continuing. Kate Bush: The Whole Story uncovers and explores some interviews, writing and periods of her life that, as the title implies, provides the whole story about Kate Bush. The greatest hits album that shares the name turns forty later in the year, so I will be doing features around that nearer the time. I wanted to run a new series where we get to see her career almost like a diary. These entries from various years. I was looking at this from Gaffaweb. I am going to dip into The Complete Kate Bush Club Newsletter/Writings of Kate Bush section, as these are archives that many Bush fans do not know about. For this inaugural Kate Bush: The Whole Story, I am highlighting her KBC (Kate Bush Club) article in Issue 16. I think that issue was published either late in 1983 or in 1984, as Bush was interviewed and asked if there will be any touring in 1984. You can see the incredible Kate Bush Club archive here. I will be returning to this too for future instalments:

“As spring arrives, the songs are being finished, and it's lyric time. I'm in Ireland, and it is incredibly beautiful; a very creative environment. It's not until you're somewhere this quiet, this peaceful, that you realise all the distractions there are at home. There is no television, no phone except for a wind-up one that is reluctant to produce an operator at the other end, and the nearest house is made of stone and has no roof and only three walls--it is bliss.

Having written most of the "tunes" for the album, and feeling like I'd done most of the hard work, I remember now how difficult it can be to work on the lyrics! And when that is finished, and I'm feeling smug, I'll suddenly remember all those wonderful problems that start when you begin to record--and I can't wait. It's been quite hard this time to decide which songs to use--not that there's a great choice, but it is still nice to be able to choose. However, there can be a time problem even when you have made your choice. The last link in the chain is definitely the weakest.

Even when you get a beautiful cut, after the record is mass-pressed in the factory the result can be heart-breaking, and the only way to help this situation is to cut down the time on each side, getting a deeper cut. Especially rock music has to heed this, as classical or acoustic music can get away with a slightly shallower cut because they don't usually have the kind of bass frequency that requires a deep cut. [Let's hope Kate doesn't let the limitations of this antiquated vinyl format induce her to shorten tracks on KBVI!]

I find this the ultimately frustrating part of the process. It seems wrong to me to have to cut down on tracks to get a great sound. Surely people pay enough for an album (and wait long enough in some cases) without finding there are only six or seven short tracks on the whole album. Until there is a universal compact disk, or everyone decides to change over to cassettes from records, unfortunately this can't be solved.

But this is the nitty-gritty of the Biz, and not much fun, and it couldn't be more remote from this spot in Ireland. It is like "Old" England--I've never stepped thro' a time-warp before--I definitely recommend it.

While we're here, I'm hoping to get together with Bill Whelan (who did the fantastic arrangements on Night of the Swallow), as I am hoping he will be able to do some arrangements on the coming album.

I am so pleased at the reaction, both to the video and the boxed set of The Single File. It was a buzz for me to get the video released, and to see five years sitting in a little green box, but the feedback to them is stunning. Thanks to all of you for feeding-back.

There were three dates planned for me to go to W.H. Smith and sign anything anyone had, but unfortunately only two of them were executed. The first was Cardiff, and I would like to take this opportunity to explain what happened. Without mentioning any names, a certain person representing EMI who accompanied me "misjudged" the train departure time, and I will never forget the look on their face as we walked thro' the gate and the train pulled away. The next half an hour consisted of running from platform to platform, and eventually ending up on a train which happened to be going the wrong direction! Now, we could say that my profession is renowned for a certain untogether reputation, and so unfortunately a great deal of presumption goes on. What can I say? At the second P.A. I ended up running the last mile to the shop. The clouds had opened and the streets had jammed with traffic, and I arrived somewhat wet and out of breath. And at the third P.A. everything was great--third time lucky, I guess.

Talking about "guessing", at last someone has discovered what's being said at the end of Leave It Open-- well done! But let me tell you about some of the fascinating encounters I've had. There is a Mr. John Reimers from the U.S.A. who has rung up once a week with his new version:

"Is it...?"

"Nope!"

"Well, is it...?"

"Nope!"

"Tell me! Tell me!"

John, you're terrific!

But I'm afraid this is just a mild case. One night I woke up to a tapping on the window. It was someone hanging from a nearby tree by their feet. In their hands was a card, and written on it was: "Is it 'We paint the penguins pink?'" I'm afraid I had to laugh, and shook my head. They burst into tears and ran off into the moonlight. But I think the cleverest was a phone call I had the other week.

"Hello, Kate?"

"Hello?"

"It's Jay here, how are you doing?"

He sounded a little squeaky to me. Then he said:

"You know, it's ridiculous. I was sitting here listening to the end of Leave It Open the other day, and I just couldn't remember what you said--I know it's crazy but--"

I interrupted.

"'We paint the penguins pink.'"

"Oh, yeah! Of course, how could I forget? See you soon--buy!"

Hmmm...see what I mean?...C-lever!

But seriously, I have enjoyed your guesses tremendously, but I have terrible dreams about your reactions now that the answer has been revealed. Do I hear cries of "You're kidding! But that's stupid!" or "Cor, that's pathetic--all our efforts over that?"

Well, I hope not...And remember to let the weirdness in.

Lots of love,

Kate xxx

Interview

What is Gaffa? What does Suspended in Gaffa mean?

"'Gaffa" is Gaffa Tape. It is thick industrial tape, mainly used for taping down and tidying up the millions of leads, and particularly useful in concert situations. Suspended in Gaffa is trying to simulate being trapped in a kind of web: everything is in slow motion, and the person feels like they're tied up. They can't move." defeat

Many of your songs contain references to occult and esoteric philosophy. Is this a particular interest of yours, or are you just widely read?

"I don't think I am particularly interested in gthe occult, but I do have an interest in the human mind, and the unusual situations that occur, or are said to occur, to human beings in extreme religious or spiritual states. But surely we all have a curiosity for things that we know little about."

How do you manage to do the guitar, bass and drum arrangements, as you don't play those instruments? Do you hear in your head what you want, and if so, how do you communicate it to the session musicians?

"Mostly I have a strong idea of what I want to hear. The sound aspect I would explain to the engineer, but musically I would suggest the mood, or any piano lines I wanted picked up. But usually I leave the musical content to the musician, and they always understand the atmosphere you want to create. With the drummer, we're now working a lot with drum machines. I originally explain the type of rhythm I want to Del, who then programmes the Linn. I demo the song using the rhythm, and then ask the drummer to replace the feel, adding his own subtle human adornments."

How do you choose which songs to include when you tour? I know some of them are obvious selections, but what about the rest? Have you any idea what songs you will include when you next tour? Any idea when that will be?

"I think the most important thing about choosing the songs is that the whole show will be sustained. Obviously we would try to pick the strongest songs, try to get a variety of moods, but build the show up to a climax. And the songs must adapt well visually: a show is visual as well as audial, so there must hopefully be a good blend of the two. I think we all know about the tour situation by now--It's really a matter of time, but how long? I don't know. [Four more years have passed since Kate wrote this.] This is the truth. So the safest thing to say: once this next album Hounds of Love ] is out, I have to promote and do videos, so time is already being eaten up this year; but once the album "project" is out of the way, I do plan to make another tour the next priority. [Hah!] I think also that because there will have been three albums since the last tour, we will not include any songs from the first two albums. But it's all a long way off at the moment, and who can really say what will happen?"

Any chance of a tour for '84?

"Let's just say 'Unlikely,' to be on the safe side."

Do you choose all the photos of you that appear in magazines?

"No, I don't. It does depend on the magazine, but most like take at least one of their own at the time of the interview, and if they have room for more photos, we supply them with our favourite shots."

Do you decide what records are going to be released in other countries, and what the picture sleeves are going to be?

"Apart from the U.S.A. releases, we normally know up front what's happening, if there's to be a special release. In the cases of the Irish Night of the Swallow, the U.S. mini-L.P., the European Suspended in Gaffa and the French Ne T'enfuis pas, we designed the bags, hoping they would particularly appeal to that market."

Why don't you release any twelve-inch singles?

"I'm afraid to say that EMI don't find them 'commercially viable propositions'. We very much wanted to release the single The Dreaming on a twelve-inch--we could have got a beautiful-sounding cut with that one. I could lend you my twelve-inch if you'd like to hear how good it is!"

As the lyrics to Violin are different on Never For Ever from the Tour version, could you please tell us the bits of the Tour version that are different?

"The lyrics on Violin at the beginning of the Tour were slightly different from those at the end. The odd word would move here and there, and to be honest, I don't remember them; except I know they weren't that great!"

I have just finished reading Shakespeare's Othello. In the scene just before Othello kills Desdamona, he says, "Put out the light/Then put out the light." I was wondering if this means the same thing in Blow Away.

"You're the first person in four years to pick up on this--so, thank you."

A couple of years ago I read that you were writing a book. Did this ever come out--as I've tried everywhere to get it--?

"It was planned at one time, but I just could not find the time amongst my album projects; and perhaps I am not yet ready to write a book about myself."

You obviously believe in keeping yourself as healthy as you can through exercise and eating the correct foods, etc. But it puzzles me and others as to why you continue to smoke.

"I can understand why it should surprise you, but unfortunately I am only human." [Bravo, Kate! Maybe that'll silence these obnoxious anti-smoking pests for a while, though it's unlikely.]

Have you ever considered doing a version of Number Nine Dream by John Lennon (which I know is your favourite single)?

"I think what would be nice is if they re-released it. It was well ahead of its time, and didn't really get the attention it deserved."

What was your favourite record of 1983?

"101 Damnations, by Scarlet Party."

About a year ago I purchased a U.S. promo record containing four tracks from The Dreaming. On the front was a sticker stating "Not for sale--For promotional purposes only." Is it illegal to possess such a record? How come I was able to buy it if it's not for sale?

"I shouldn't worry, you're not in any trouble for buying it, but unfortunately whoever sold it to you was making an illegal sale. Thanks for bringing it to our attention."

I understand you like Steely Dan. What is your favourite album of theirs?

"Gaucho. For me, each album got better, and I wish they hadn't split up."

Has anything ever happened while recording--say, a strange sound by mistake which you have decided is worth keeping in the track?

"A lot of accidents happen, but usually they're re-done for the master recordings. They seem to happen mostly at the demo stage: tracks leaking through, odd voice phrases, a synth that wasn't rubbed oof when it should have been. That sort of thing."

Is the single version of Sat In Your Lap mixed differently from the album version? The vocals on the album seem a lot louder than the instruments. Any special reason for this?

"Yes. The single mix is different from the album. We very much wanted to do another mix. The album has a definite flavour that was confirmed by the mixes, so we wanted Sat In Your Lap to be a part of that. The voice was also deliberately lifted, because we had quite a lot of feedback about the lead voice being a little quiet on the single version."

Do you actually read any of the letters sent to the Club? And how many staff work there?

"Yes, I do. Lisa runs the Club, but with the help of 'family' hands and friends."

What is your response to the poor airplay of your recent single releases?

"Disappointing. But it just shows how reliant you are on the people at the radio stations liking the singles, to get the airplay."

Is Paddy married, and if not would he marry my friend?

"No, he's not married, but I'll add your friend's name to the list (number 759)."

Is the man featured on The Dreaming's cover in the Houdini pose Del Palmer?

"That's for me to know and you to find out."

I was told recently that you appeared on Zaine Griff's album Figures. Is this true? And what did you do, B.V.s or keyboards?

"Yes, I did. Zaine had written a song for Lindsay Kemp called Flowers, and he asked me to sing B.V.s. It is a really lovely song. Zaine and I met years ago at Lindsay's classes, and as Lindsay was such a powerful influence on us both--as he is on anyone who is captured by his strong magic--it was a real pleasure to be a part of something dedicated to him."

Why do you always move your eyes right and left in your videos? It is very pleasant to watch, but it intrigues me. What is the idea behind it?

"I have to watch out for any demons that might be creeping up on me, and video shoots attract so many of them that I have to keep an extra eye out in case they trip me up while we're going for a take. You've seen what happens to Faith Brown because she doesn't look out for them." [Kate's referring to Brown's parody of her Wuthering Heights video, in which Brown trips and falls.]”.

It has been great bringing to light this writing to life. I was not aware of Kate Bush’s entries and diary entries for the fan club. You do not really get this anymore. Social media has replaced that. It makes me yearn for a Kate Bush Club today. Something that mixes that older version and brings it a little up to date. I think that many people would be interested. I hope that you have enjoyed the first edition of…

THIS new series.

FEATURE: Celebrating a Music Giant… John Robb at Sixty-Five

FEATURE:

 

 

Celebrating a Music Giant…

John Robb at Sixty-Five

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I normally write about…

artists for my blog. However, I do sometimes focus on those outside of that sphere. Important journalists and figures in the industry. Few are as important as John Robb. I will talk about him and why I want to include him here. However, here is some biography about a music great:

“Not just a well known face from TV but also a best selling author, musician, journalist,  presenter and pundit, music website boss, publisher, festival boss, Eco champion vegan behemoth and punk rock warlord as well as TV and radio talking head plus singer from post-punk critically acclaimed mainstays The Membranes.

John Robb is all these things and more.

His recently released book ‘The Art Of Darkness – the History Of Goth’ is a worldwide pop culture best seller and his soon to be launched ground-breaking new scheme – the Green Britain Academy, is set to train up people in thousands of Eco jobs whilst Borders Blurred is a gaming and music agency with a twist.

He grew up in Blackpool before punk rock came along and saved his life and he formed the Membranes – the highly influential post punk band whose current albums keep pushing forward with added choirs and textures and are critically acclaimed.

He was one of the leading post-punk fanzine writers in the UK with ‘Rox’ before he went on to write for the rock press with Sounds in the 80s. He was the first person to interview Nirvana and coined the expression Britpop and was instrumental in kick starting and documenting the Madchester scene with his writing. His music and culture website louderthanwar.com is currently one of the top 3 most read music and culture sites in the UK and at the front of diverse modern culture.

He is a constant on TV and radio commenting on music, culture and politics and one of the UK’s leading in conversation hosts who has his own successful youtube channel and his own books and music festival in Manchester every year called Louder Than Words.

He has written many books like best sellers like ‘Punk Rock – an Oral History’ and The Stone Roses and the Resurrection of British Pop’  and in 2022 a  book about the leading Eco energy boss Dale Vince from Ecotricity called ‘Manifesto’ and a collected works of his journalism”.

As an independent journalist, I am quite prolific and have put out quite a bit for almost fifteen years. However, John Robb is one of the most respected, prolific and important music journalists ever. “From the post punk fanzine era to the music press era of Sounds to running his own website Louder than War John Robb has remained at the forefront of pop culture. He was the first person to interview Nirvana, was key in launching the Stone Roses and made up the word Britpop and so much more. Louder Than War is a music and culture website and magazine focusing on mainly alternative arts news, reviews, and features. The site is an editorially independent publication that was started by the English musician and journalist John Robb in 2010 and is now co-run by a team of other journalists with a worldwide team of freelancers. There has been a print edition since 2015”. He is someone I look up to. He turns sixty-five on 4th May, so I wanted to salute him prior to that date. I hope that others in the music world will shout out this legend. You can buy John Robb’s books here. On 12th May, he releases his latest book, Punk Rock Ruined My Life: And Other Stories: “The irresistible story of a one-man cultural phenomenon. Minister for the Counterculture, Mancunian mainstay and alternative national treasure John Robb has lived a life in music. In this book he charts his adventures on the cultural frontline, chronicling the making of a DIY icon. Robb’s quest began in his hometown of Blackpool – where punk was a battle against the odds – and went international when he toured the world with his band. The first person to interview Nirvana, he also discovered The Stone Roses for weekly newspaper Sounds and did early interviews with The Jesus and Mary Chain and The Manics, before moving on to legends such as Mark E. Smith, Nick Cave and Patti Smith. Along the way, he became an on-screen commentator and author of bestselling books. Robb’s memoir tells of deep friendships with figures from Poly Styrene to Chris Packham. Packed with riotous stories, it provides an alternative account of British musical and cultural history and a triumphant blueprint for a punk rock life”.

I will move to RESOUND, who chatted with John Robb during his Do You Believe In The Power of Rock n Roll? spoken word tour. He discussed, among other things, being at the forefront of music for over four decades. I have taken selected exerts, though I would urge everyone to read the full interview:

“Around the late ’70s John also began writing about music “to try to understand why I liked some stuff I shouldn’t have”, setting his up his own fanzine, writing for various publications including SOUNDS and MELODY MAKER, and penning numerous books on music and culture including Punk Rock: An Oral History, The Stone Roses And The Resurrection of British Pop, The North Will Rise Again: Manchester Music City 1976-1996 and latest tome The Art Of Darkness: The History Of Goth. Now running music website Louder Than War, he says,

there’s something about the vibrations and sounds of music that are very powerful…it constantly takes you by surprise and you can overthink it, but sometimes you have to just cut the crap and admit that it sounds f**king great to you!”

One memory of his time at SOUNDS John won’t forget is interviewing Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain, the first interview the band had done. He laughs as he tells us “I remember going to my friend’s record shop to order the first Nirvana single (1988’s Love Buzz) and everyone saying ‘oh no, this isn’t a good as Mudhoney!’” But that didn’t faze John, who was drawn to Kurt’s vocals.

After arranging the interview, he rang Kurt up at his mum’s house, which in turn led to another interview with the band in New York nine months later when they were supporting fellow Sub Pop grunge outfit Tad, Nirvana unaware of the impact they were about to make on the music world.

John grins as he tells us he ended up crashing on the floor of the tiny flat the two bands were sharing and at the time thought it was all a bit of a drag, the Tad guys taking up most the the space. Of course, looking back he realises just how well he got to know Nirvana and how lucky he was to have a birds-eye view of their early days. But despite his pleas, and the fact that Nirvana’s record company were saying that they could be as big as Sonic Youth, Tad appeared on the cover of SOUNDS, taking precedence over Nirvana… Nevermind, the rest, as they say, is history.

Chatting about Kurt Cobain gets us on to the subject of Mark Lanegan, who The Membranes supported in 2019. During that tour John and Mark spoke about Kurt, who was a close friend of Mark’s, John recalling Mark telling him that on the day Kurt died, he’d gone round to his house and had never forgiven himself for not kicking his door down when he didn’t answer. “Mark said Kurt would always answer the door. They shared a house together when they lived in Seattle, all on heroin, listening to blues records and decked out in wedding dresses!” Ah, picture the scene…

If things had turned out differently, John reckons that Kurt’s musical style and path would have been similar to that of Mark’s. “His voice would’ve been similar as he got older, and I imagine he would have played more acoustically,” something which was hinted at in the infamous Nirvana MTV unplugged session. “I imagine he would’ve played intimate, powerful music – similar to Mark’s but to bigger crowds because of the Nirvana influence, but effectively occupying the same space.”

Around the late ‘80s John also coined the term Britpop, before the ’90s scene as we know it had even taken off, though writer and DJ Stuart Maconie also claims to have come up with the term. However, John acknowledges that Stuart “probably did make it up, unawares” a few years later, using it in SELECT magazine… maybe they should just put it down to a case of great minds and all that!

John confesses that he’d previously used ‘Britpop’ as a joke, going on to say “SOUNDS did a thing about a new British punk scene called Punk Core and I used the word Britpop as a joke on that really. Music’s really hard to describe, as Frank Zappa said. I mean, you can describe it but sometimes the words aren’t normal words. Anyway Britpop became a thing, as these things tend to…It’s the same with ‘goth’, it was coined by the NME as a joke, referring to the alternative music scene of the time in alternative clubs”.

Of course not every musician wants to be pigeonholed like this but as John explains, there are benefits to belonging to a certain scene. “There’s a duality to it… I don’t think bands mind being part of a scene which gets them out of the local pub and onto the national circuit but at the same time they don’t want to be imprisoned by that scene.” He goes on to say.

Of course, goth is a subject close to John’s heart, with the publication last year of his latest book The Art Of Darkness: The History of Goth, which has seen fans of the darker side of post-punk unite up and down the country to listen to him talk through the ins and outs of the scene. Inevitably this has led to some heated debates on what’s goth and what’s not, and it’s fair to say it’s not an argument that will be settled any time soon unless you’re a member of Fields Of The Nephilim. But anyone who went along to one of his chats on the book, which he’s still out touring in Europe, will be drawn into his latest tour which will no doubt have a dark flavour at times”.

In 2024, Sheffield Magazine sat down with John Robb for a great conversation. They spoke to him “about his latest book “Do You Believe in the Power of Rock & Roll?: Forty Years of Music Writing from the Frontline.” During our chat he told us, in great detail, about his love for this city of ours, along with his best stories from his time as a writer”:

“Keeping with the DIY ethos, do you think there has been a big shift across music in general and that in some cases maybe the DIY element has been lost?

"No, I don’t think that. Nobody who was truly DIY ever really ‘broke through.’ Some people did of course, but not many! It’s always been the underground of people creating this little network of music venues and music scenes of the music they want to listen too. That’s still there, it’s still here now, and it’s as strong as it ever was, if not stronger. I was thinking about this the other day, people were talking about all these venues closing down, but weirdly I’ve found there to be more venues now than there ever was. I don’t think it’s easy running a venue though, there are a lot of problems involved in it, but in the '80s you’d go to Birmingham for example and there would be one venue that you could perform at!"

"Now you have a choice, I think that now there’s more people in more bands and there’s more space for people to do stuff in. I do think now the problem is that there’s too many people in too many bands so therefore people’s expectations can’t be realised. You can’t have 10,000 bands all sustaining themselves. I do think it’s great though that everyone’s in a band, and it’s great that there’s still people creating this culture and stuff, but it makes it difficult if they all expect to make a living out of it you know, because it can’t stretch that far."

What’s your best story from your time as a writer? Whether that be when you ran your fanzine Rox or when you wrote for the music papers.

"I guess the story everyone always wants to hear is from when I interviewed Nirvana. I was the first person in the UK to interview them! I phoned them up at his (Kurt Cobain's) mum’s house before the first single came out, and I had no idea they hadn’t done an interview, but I also had no idea that anyone was going to like them! They were just a local band, they were signed to Subpop Records and most people though that they (Subpop Records) had done a misstep, as this band was not as good as the other bands."

"But I was sort of captivated by his (Cobain's) voice, he sounds like an 80-year-old man singing in an 18-year-olds body, it just sounded wise and teenage at the same time – that’s the first thing I thought was amazing. 9 months after this interview we flew out to New York to do a feature on them, and we went to the flat they were staying in at the time as they were supporting TAD on tour, and they were all staying in this one room, punk rock DIY style! We said to the PR guys, where are we staying? And they said you’re staying here. So, we slept on a floor for 5 days next to Nirvana – I didn’t have any sleeping stuff, so I had to sleep under my coat with my rucksack as a pillow! We got to know them pretty well as we were helping them carry the gear in and out the flat, and we went to the gigs. We saw them play at Maxwell’s in Hoboken and there was about 20 people watching, they were amazing! They trashed all the gear, and it was really exciting."

"But there was no idea that this band were going to be more than a weird cult band that I would write about in Sounds. There was no idea that they were going to be the biggest band in the world. Within 2 years, ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ comes out and it just goes insane. Looking back, you kind of get used to these things happening, it’s like of course Nirvana is massive, but at the time the jump they did was massive! Where I live in Manchester, I live right next to the University. I still see students wearing Nirvana T-shirts, and he does just look like a sort of Rock’n’roll Jesus, doesn’t he? I always think it’s funny as I walk past them as they have no idea that this weird looking old dude was the first person to interview that band on their T-shirt. It’s mad how well American bands do, like The Offspring sold 12 million albums which is just madness. But none of those bands could touch Nirvana, they were way way better than all those other bands. He just wrote really great songs, and they were just quite rough sounding, and his voice was amazing”.

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I am going to end with an NME interview from last year. When Oasis reformed and performed that run of acclaimed international dates, there were books published about them. John Robb discussed his Oasis book with NME. You can tell that was more of a labour of love than anything. Someone who has a deep respect for and fascination of Oasis:

“Robb recently published Live Forever: The Rise, Fall And Resurrection Of Oasis – featuring a new and exclusive interview with Noel Gallagher. After the returning Britpop legends kicked off their Live ’25 reunion tour in Cardiff last week, tonight (Friday July 11) sees the band continue with the first of their homecoming residency nights at Manchester’s Heaton Park.

Robb, himself a Manchester native, told us about the importance of the city in shaping the band and a vibrant music scene.

“There’s an attitude in Manchester. It’s there in the music scene as well,” he told NME. “The bands that were key stepping stones to Oasis were all Manchester bands: The Smiths, The Stone Roses, that lineage. What you have to think about Noel is that he’s almost like Johnny Marr’s younger brother in a way; they’re very similar. I always found it odd that Johnny Marr didn’t end up being their producer.”

NME: Hello John. Your book is pretty definitive, comprehensive and all-encompassing. You can’t be accused of throwing together a last-minute cash-in project…

“It was a pretty intense period of writing, with six months of 15-hour days. But then again, I’d already done the research in having being around from the beginning. I was next door at The Boardwalk and at the early gigs. I’d seen Noel around town when he was the Inspiral Carpets’ roadie. I knew what the vibe was around town and at gigs, so it was quite easy to describe.

“I didn’t have to interview anyone else for that stuff, I just had to remember.”

It was interesting when your 2024 interview with Noel ran just days before the reunion was announced, and his attitude towards Liam appeared to have visibly softened…

“Well it’s interesting, actually. That interview was filmed three months before. It looked like it was done with the reformation all in one block, but it was done back in June at Sifters [Records, Manchester]. I did put down a stipulation that it would be nice if he said nice things about Liam. The banter is funny, but it kinda gets in the way of the band sometimes.

“The stuff he said about Liam was great, and it was really heartfelt. At the end of the day, brothers fall out and they fight, but they still love each other. Siblings have complex relationships. The only problem is when you’re that famous, it becomes your only story. Everything about Oasis gets reduced to a tabloid story. I deal with that in the book, but the point is that’s just the tip of the iceberg. There’s something far more creative and interesting going on underneath the bonnet.”

Pulp and Blur have both pulled off very impressive records as more mature bands. You can’t help but wonder what ‘old man Oasis’ would sound like….

“Yes, it’s intriguing. Liam still feels like the eternal teenager. You don’t buy into Liam for songs about getting old. Maybe they could be the introspective Noel tracks and Liam’s could be raging against the light?

“It’s brilliant that Pulp got a Number One album [with ‘More’], but there’s a pressure on Oasis because they were so much bigger. People always forget that the last Oasis album got to Number Five in America, and they were getting quite big over there towards the end of their career. You don’t want to blemish that either. I was just hoping there would have been more gigs, weren’t you?”

As an Oasis biographer, how do you feel about the band’s post-2000 output that a lot of people see as a decline?

“I think their later albums are really underrated and overlooked. By the time you get to the last album [‘Dig Out Your Soul’, 2008], they’re doing something really interesting – it’s like an art-rock record. They would never say that, but they’ve got drum’n’bass loops, backwards guitars and bits of kraut-rock. A lot of people would just say, ‘Oh, they’re just doing The Beatles again’, but they’re not really. There’s a lot of different stuff on there. Rock’n’roll isn’t a fashionable form of music, but when bands are good at it, it’s really good.

“Put all that through the filter of pop, and no matter how off-piste they go, it’s always going to be a good record”.

On 4th May, John Robb turns sixty-five. I am not sure what he has planned for the day but, with a new book coming out days later, he will be busy prespring for that. As a journalist, I have so much respect for his work and legacy. One of the most important authors too. He is such a prolific and fascinating figure who you feel needs to be represented himself in terms of a documentary – or someone playing him on the screen. This is a salute and early happy birthday to the amazing John Robb. Let’s hope that we see many more books, work and words from a true great. Someone who has inspired countless artists and journalists through the decades. Through journalism and the music world, there are few that are…

AS important as him.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Naïka

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Jackson Ducasse for The Line of Best Fit

Naïka

__________

HER new album is out…

so it is a perfect time to discover and bond with Naïka. ECLESIA is an amazing and major statement from one of the most promising artists in music. I have said that about a couple of other artists recently, though I stand by those words. Naïka is someone that everyone needs to know! I am going to come to some interviews. However, first, here is some biography about an artist you will be hearing a lot more from in the coming year or two:

“Born to a French father and Haitian mother, Naïka embodies the new generation of global pop artists. Having lived and grown up between the Caribbean, South Pacific, Africa, France and the United States, Naïka has developed a sound that bridges cultures, a vibrant blend of Pop, R&B, and Afro-Caribbean influences anchored by her powerful voice and emotional storytelling.

Writing and singing in English, French, and Haitian Creole, Naïka brings a unique multicultural perspective to her art. Her music celebrates identity, resilience, and unity, turning her story into a symbol of connection across borders. As an independent artist, Naïka has built a worldwide community of over 2 million+ fans and surpassed 270 million streams across her three EPs Lost in Paradïse Pt. 1 (2020), Lost in Paradïse Pt. 2 (2021), and TRANSITIONS (2022). Her key tracks include Sauce (featured in an Apple commercial), Water (FIFA 21 soundtrack), 1+1, and 6:45.
Her upcoming debut album ECLESIA opens a new cinematic chapter, previewed by singles BLOOM, BLESSINGS, MATADOR, and ONE TRACK MIND.

Naïka’s rise has been exponentially building worldwide, with viral singles amassing hundreds of millions of streams, sold-out headline tours across Europe, North America and MENA, and major festival appearances. Her recent international tour sold out within 2 weeks of announcement in nearly every city, requiring venue upgrades and additional dates added in every city. Her influence continues to grow globally. Naïka was named Caribbean Fusion Artist of the Year at the 2025 Caribbean Music Awards, and her Grammy Reimagined cover of Doja Cat’s Woman became the most-viewed performance within 24 hours. Her music has charted on Spotify Viral and Shazam in over 40 territories, earning strong editorial support and covers on major DSP playlists.

Beyond music, Naïka is a dynamic force in fashion and visual storytelling. Known for her bold, eclectic aesthetic, she has collaborated with major luxury brands and cultural platforms including Jimmy Choo, Fendi, Jean Paul Gaultier, Burberry, Maison Margiela, Elle, Jamalouki Magazine, and more, building a visual universe as distinctive as her sound.

Furthermore, Naïka is deeply committed to giving back. She collaborates with organizations like Fleur de Vie, a Haitian NGO that focuses on improving education for children, with her ultimate goal of building a school in Haiti.

Naïka isn’t just an artist. She’s a world-builder, a storyteller, and the voice of a new global generation”.

In an interview from last year, The Line of Best Fit note how Naïka “used to see her multinational upbringing as a dilemma but in her seamless blend of pop, afrobeats and R&B sung in three languages she’s crafting anthems for a generation that finds home in a shared feeling”. I am bringing in parts of the interview where we learn about Naïka’s upbringing. Some of the lead-up to the remarkable ECLESIA:

“Born to a Haitian mother and French father, Naïka’s location was dictated by her father's work in renewable energy, which has seen her move between the Caribbean, Kenya, France, and South Africa. Every few years meant packing up and leaving to embark on a journey in a new country, as she tells me. Settling into a new school, learning a new language, and making new friends. "That's all I knew my whole life," she recalls. "We'd get somewhere, live there for three to four years, and then pack up and start over somewhere else." Unbeknownst to Naïka at the time, each move would add another layer to her identity, which she would ultimately come to appreciate wholly.

However, this all changed when Naïka’s father unexpectedly lost his job during her mid-teens. Her family settled in Miami, where Naïka was born but had never actually lived. Although Miami should have offered some level of familiarity, Naïka admits that it felt like arriving somewhere completely foreign. "For the first time, I had to come face to face with the question of my identity," she explains. "I was in a place that I was supposed to be from, and I felt so disconnected to and felt so lost and alien in."

"From that point on, there was always a bit of inner turmoil about where I belong, and who my community is. I never felt like I was enough of anything to be from somewhere,” she continues. “When I started making music, that was a bit of a stressful time, because I strive to be authentic. So, I was trying to figure out what angle I would take with my artistry and music. But little by little, with time, I started realising that instead of trying to find this one thing that doesn’t exist, I should just embrace all of it.”

Naïka’s desire to embrace every part of her experience has ultimately culminated in her debut album, ECLESIA, due for release in February. The name — suggested by her father — comes from an ancient Greek word meaning "a gathering, coming together of people,” as she tells me. “I thought that was so beautiful, and exactly the type of sentiment that I want to bring,” she smiles.

It’s fitting, as the album is eclectic by design. Across thirteen tracks, Naïka offers a thoughtful blend of pop sensibilities steeped in multicultural influences, sung across English, French, and Haitian Creole. "The album has a wide spectrum of different sounds, topics, and energies that fit so perfectly with who I am. ECLESIA is an introduction to what I truly have to bring to the table.”

The singles alone paint a vivid picture of the range within Naïka’s world. The smooth percussion of “Bloom” is punctuated by an almost buzzy key note against Naïka’s collected vocalising, creating something slightly off-kilter and engaging, an ode to her appreciation for subtle details. “Blessings” is drenched in tropical warmth, the production tinged with afrobeats influence. When Naïka sings, ”I should take my time, trust the signs, I decide all the blessings,” it feels meditative — a contrast to ”Matador”, which serves as a snappy, enticing curveball. It’s sung entirely in French, moving with quick, sleek rhythms.

Hearing Naïka navigate the language through her sound with such cool ease emphasises the artistry within her code-switching. It requires an intuitive gaze. Naïka’s multilingual approach to songwriting is organic; she doesn’t sit down and decide when a verse needs to be expressed in a different language in a calculated, organised way, but she lets the language emerge naturally from the emotion. Sometimes French captures a romantic inflection that English can't quite reach. Other times, a line demands the depth of Haitian Creole. "Different languages have their essence in a way," Naïka tells me. "Sometimes you can paint a more impactful picture with one language versus the other”.

I want to include parts of this interview from YUNG. They spotlighted Naïka because she was YUNG’s Breakthrough Artist of the Year in THE LIST 2025. Even though these are still early days for Naïka, I do feel like she is going to continue to rise and be this truly major artist touring the world and playing enormous stages:

“Her sound, a melting pot of pop, R&B, and global influences, reflects that emotional openness. Pop forms the foundation, she explains, but it’s shaped by the rhythms and textures she grew up with. “World music is quite a broad term,” she notes, “it’s the category my sound often falls into, even though what I’m actually doing is pulling from the cultures that shaped me.”

She keeps playlists not just of songs, but of sounds; percussions, synths, textures that spark something vis­ceral. “Sometimes it’s like, why don’t we try this element? Or that rhythm?” she says. The process is experi­mental, intuitive, moving by feeling rather than the rigid grammar of genre. Trial and error is the point.

There are a few references she keeps close, not as influences in the traditional sense, but as markers she checks in with. Bob Marley, for the way his music could hold joy and grief at the same time without ever forcing either. Cesária Évora, for the softness, for how longing could exist inside something almost bare. Somewhere between them sits the Haitian saying “konpa synth”, it surfaces instinctively. Together, they don’t point her in one direction so much as keep her oriented.

And what anchors it all is trust. Trust in her instincts, in her collaborators, and in the idea that emotion, when followed honestly, will always find its form. However, that wasn’t always the case for the singer. When she first moved to Los Angeles in 2018, she entered an industry that spoke in numbers, formulas, and expectations. It was a world where success came pre-packaged, melodies engineered for virality, songs built to fit radio logic, creativity measured by outcome.

“At the time, it felt very mathematical,” she recalls. “Everything was geared toward making hits, toward cook­ie-cutter success.” For someone whose process was rooted in instinct and emotion, the environment felt constricting. “I felt really caged,” she says. “What felt authentic to me didn’t feel like what was going to make money.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Fouad Tadros

She tried to adapt. Like many young artists finding their footing, she questioned her instincts, wondering whether they were too personal, too risky, too untranslatable. “Back then, I didn’t trust myself,” she admits. “I didn’t know what I was doing on my own.” The doubt lingered; not because her vision lacked clarity, but be­cause it hadn’t yet found support. “I also didn’t grow up in an environment that celebrated this kind of career.”

What changed wasn’t a single breakthrough, but a slow recalibration. Naïka began paying closer attention to what felt real rather than what felt acceptable. She stopped chasing validation and started listening inward. “Over time, I learned to really rely on my authenticity,” she says. “To trust what feels honest and true to me.”

Risk stopped feeling like a gamble and started feeling like honesty. The music she wanted to make was always capable of reaching people — it just didn’t arrive neatly pre-approved, wearing the right instructions. The EPs she released during that period became acts of exploration rather than destination points. They were spaces in which to experiment, to fail safely, to discover her sound in public. “That’s why I made EPs,” she explains. “I was figuring myself out — discovering who I was and how I wanted to present myself to the world.”

When Naïka speaks about Eclesia, her debut album, she’s quick to correct one assumption. This isn’t a pivot. It isn’t a new era manufactured for momentum. “It’s funny you mention that,” she tells YUNG, when the idea of reinvention comes up. “It’s not a different era. It’s me finally being able to show people that I’m here.”

The album’s foundation arrived early, long before the final tracklist took shape. It began with a single word. “The title came first,” she reveals. Eclesia. From the outset, she knew what the project needed to be: an intro­duction. Not just to her sound, but to her interior world. “I knew it was going to encapsulate all the different elements that make up who I am.”

Releasing in February of 2026, the album unfolds like a journey, moving through textures, moods, and emo­tional registers without asking for cohesion in the traditional sense. “It feels like travelling,” she says. “Different places, different topics, different sounds.”

If there’s a throughline that carries Naïka across cultures, genres, and phases, it’s that very same curiosity. Not ambition. Not certainty. Curiosity. “I’m a big observer,” she says. Having lived across drastically different envi­ronments, she learned early that no place — and no person — can be reduced to a single story. “Everywhere has layers, duality, contrast,” she explains. “There’s always a spectrum.”

That belief extends to faith. Naïka doesn’t follow a specific religion, but she maintains a strong spiritual ground­ing. “My biggest connection is with the universe, and with God,” she says. “I respect all religions, but I trust in energy, in a higher power. I can’t pretend to understand it — and that’s what grounds me”.

I am going to end with a new interview from NME. They write how Naïka pours herself into “her joyfully multicultural music to create a “universe” for herself and her community”. I am new to her music, though I did instantly connect with her music. Even if there are a lot of influences and sounds coming together, it all sounds so distinct and whole. A spectacular artist with a sound like no other:

‘Eclesia’ shifts seamlessly between Afro-Caribbean beats, Haitian konpa and South Pacific drums, between French, Creole and English throughout 13 vibrant and vulnerable tracks. On lead single ‘Bloom’ she declares “Island girls are blessing ‘til nobody can reach them” over a glitchy dance beat. The alluring ‘Matador’ explores what it means to defy societal standards imposed on women. In ‘Blessings’, she casts spells of positive affirmation, and atop the deceptively calming rhythm of ‘What A Day!’, she sings about war and injustice: “What a day for crime/ Kids are dying in Palestine/ Blood is paving Congolese mines/ And the world keeps going.”

For Naïka, responding to the violence in the world as an artist is natural, necessary and a basic responsibility. “I’m a human being and I care about other human beings’ lives and protection and freedom and basic rights,” she says. “I’ve always written songs about the world and how it’s affected me. It’s how I process what’s happening. Whether it’s ‘My Body, My Choice’ [that] I wrote about women’s rights, or ‘Before He Falls’, I wrote about the war in Syria, it’s something I’ve always done.”

Outside of her music, she also works as an ambassador for Fleur de Vie, a Haitian NGO focused on education and building safer schools. “I grew up in countries where I would see extreme poverty, and kids my age didn’t have shoes on and were in the street when I was on my way to school. I’ve been aware of the lottery of life from a very young age.” For Naïka, art may be a form of resistance, but it’s also how she heals. “Music has really strong frequencies. It’s a powerful art form,” she explains. “When I see songs I’ve created to express how I was feeling and my vulnerabilities, my emotions, my thoughts resonate with other people in a way that’s stuck with them, that’s the biggest thing in the world for me. Truly.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Tom J. Johnson

NME sees firsthand just how deeply Naïka’s music resonates with fans in a small room in New York City a month before the album’s release. Anthurium flowers decorate the microphone stand. A vintage rug, small couch, rattan furniture, and plants fill the compact stage. Naïka dances barefoot on the bar, to fans’ enthusiastic cheers, before gracefully moving to an ornamental platform inspired by a picture of her childhood apartment and her mother’s style, which she describes as “tropical vintage glam”. ‘Eclesia’ was always meant to be performed in a room full of people. “When I found the name, I looked up what it meant,” she says. “In ancient Greece, it meant a coming together of people. That was the ‘click’ for me. This is what I want this album to be called, because that’s really what I hope to do with my music.

“I feel like I’ve never belonged to one community. To see the audience and to see people from all different walks of life, all different religions, different genders… When I see this diversity, it really makes me feel at home.” Through her music, she wanted to create her own world, and her fans have joyfully joined her there. “I was like, ‘I’m not fully going to be accepted anywhere, so let me just make my own universe for my [feelings] and for others who feel the same way.’”

The ‘Eclesia’ tour’s last stop is in Miami, where both Naïka’s musical life and career began. “I didn’t even think about that until you just said it,” she says of the full-circle moment where she’ll play at the Miami Beach Bandshell next month. “What’s so funny is that it’s at a venue that every time we would drive past it, my dad would say, ‘One day I want to see you play there,’” she remembers. “The universe works in crazy ways sometimes”.

If you have not heard ECLESIA and are new to Naïka, then do go and follow her. There are artists who are proclaimed and heralded who then fade away. However, when it comes to this remarkable artist, you know that she is going to be putting out the very best music for…

YEARS more.

__________

Follow Naïka

PHOTO CREDIT: Fouad Tadros

Official:

https://www.naikaofficial.com/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/naika/

TikTok:

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

Twitter:

https://x.com/naikamusic

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMvZ4lsFM9kLYciwiB1Xq-w

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/4tk2WUKBOS9nKZj7bPQIXT?si=wkSemk9KQfmonRv97FT-Uw

FEATURE: Come Into My World: Is Kylie Minogue's Fever One of the Most Underrated Classics Ever?

FEATURE:

 

 

Come Into My World

Is Kylie Minogue's Fever One of the Most Underrated Classics Ever?

__________

SOME might say…

PHOTO CREDIT: Vincent Peters

that Kylie Minogue’s 2001 album, Fever, is a confirmed masterpiece. One of the most commercial successful and popular albums of the 2000s. It is exciting this year, as Fever turns twenty-five on 1st October. Its lead single, Can’t Get You Out of My Head, is twenty-five on 8th September. Reaching number one in the U.K., this song confirmed the continued relevance of Kylie Minogue in the twenty-first century. After the success of 2000’s Light Years, Fever was this remarkable follow-up. Can’t Get You Out of My Head was written by Cathy Dennis and Rob Davis. I will come to some reviews of Fever. In spite of the fact Fever contains some of Kylie Minogue’s best songs – including Come Into My World, In Your Eyes and Love at First Sight -, there were some critics who were cold and mixed towards the album. I cannot understand any of the apathy towards this Fever! Maybe 2001 was a strange year for Pop. Fever was released a few weeks after the 9/11 attacks. There was a sombre mood. Realising Can’t Get You Out of My Head came out three days before the attacks. In spite of quite a few positive reviews, there were some mixed ones. I feel Fever is one of the best Pop albums ever. It should have won five-star reviews across the board. It is a faultless album where the deep cuts are superb too. In terms of the videos for the singles too. It was this incredible period for Minogue. On Metacritic, Fever has a score of 68/100. I know it is a faulty metric, as it does not include every review. Even so, that is a remarkably low score for an album that was a massive worldwide success. In terms of its legacy, I am going to source Wikipedia and their page about the legacy of Fever:

“Fever is considered to be a prominent example of Minogue's constant "reinventions”. The image she adopted during this period was described by Baker as "slick, minimalist and postmodern", and it was seen as a step forward from the "camp-infused" tone of Light Years. Larissa Dubecki from The Age used the term "nu-disco diva" to describe Minogue during this period. Andy Battaglia from The A.V. Club opined that Minogue's public image and her persona in her music videos "presented herself as a mechanical muse whose every gesture snapped and locked into place with the sound of a vacuum seal". He further remarked that the singer's "hygienic coo summoned a cool sort of cyborg soul, and her videos showed her gliding through sleek futurescapes, tonguing the sweet-and-sour tang of a techno kiss"

Adrien Begrand from PopMatters felt that the simplicity of the album made it a "classy piece of work" and commented that Minogue's experience and choice of collaborators resulted in "the thirtysomething Minogue upstaging soulless, brainless music by younger American pop tarts like Britney [Spears] and Christina [Aguilera]". Robbie Daw from Idolator pointed out that Britney Spears's recording of her 2004 hit "Toxic", Madonna's comeback album Confessions on a Dance Floor (2005), Paris Hilton's musical debut Paris (2006), and radio stations' shift towards playing "more groove-oriented sounds" all followed the release of Fever, although he mentioned that "we have no way of knowing whether [Fever] was directly responsible for these pop happenings". Nick Levine from NME ranked Fever as the greatest album of Minogue's career, noting "the project’s effortless confidence and strength in depth."

I am going to bring in some of the reviews that were not completely effusive. In terms of influence, you can feel Fever resonating with artists such as Dua Lipa and Sabrina Carpenter. This is what The Guardian opinioned in their review of Fever in 2001:

“Let us imagine we have travelled back in time. It is September 1991. Your hair is hanging either side of your face in the currently modish "curtains" style. Your jeans are the handiwork of Joe Bloggs. You chuckle at the Mary Whitehouse Experience and worry that Bryan Adams's Everything I Do (I Do It for You) will be number one for the rest of your life. That aside, you goggle with excitement at music's future. Primal Scream's Screamadelica has just been released. So has Nirvana's Nevermind. The Happy Mondays' Pills 'n' Thrills & Bellyaches is seldom far from your CD player. The second Stone Roses album should arrive soon. The world is one of boundless musical possibilities.

But what if you were told that Primal Scream were about to stall, Kurt Cobain would be dead in three years and the Happy Mondays and Stone Roses would never make another decent record? How would you react to the suggestion that all those bands would be commercially outlived by Kylie Minogue? That in 10 years' time, the British media would be speculating not about Sean Ryder, but whether the Australian pop moppet's 33rd single would be another number one? You'd laugh so hard, your heat-sensitive Global Hypercolour t-shirt would turn a virulent shade of puce.

Back then, it was impossible to believe that Kylie Minogue was a harbinger. Before Kylie, female pop stars were tough R&B singers, squeaky pubescents or Madonna. Minogue was different: antiseptically sexy and curiously devoid of public personality, the puppet of all-powerful producers and songwriters, a media celebrity first and singer second.

If Minogue seemed lost during Britpop - her eponymous 1997 "indie" album flopped - she fitted in perfectly when Oasis's appeal faded. Camp, disposable pop, performed by antiseptically sexy media celebrities, the puppets of all-powerful producers and songwriters, now has a stranglehold on the charts. British music has come round to Kylie's way of thinking.

Her recent battle with Victoria Beckham has even afforded her artisitic credibility. Critics have fallen over themselves to garland her eighth album Fever and bash Posh's VB. One broadsheet proclaimed Minogue "a genuine artiste" discovering "a muse of her own". It's easy to see how judgments have become distorted. Compared with Beckham's malnourished R&B, Fever sounds as experimental as Captain Beefheart jamming with Can. Remove Posh's album from the equation, however, and you're left not with a challenging work of art, but a polished, radio-friendly pop album and a sense that some journalists should calm down a bit.

Fever is written and produced by a crack team of pop songwriters. Their motley ranks include former Mud guitarist Rob Davis, 1980s starlet Cathy Dennis and erstwhile New Radicals singer Gregg Alexander, still at large in society despite contributing to Geri Halliwell's last album. Their work here is startlingly slick, a combination of house beats, fashionable electronic effects largely borrowed from Daft Punk, and choruses designed to lodge in the brain after one listen.

Like Robbie Williams's songs, the tracks on Fever are big on easily digestible pop references. Love at First Sight features the same stuttering disco samples as Stardust's number one Music Sounds Better with You. Give It to Me sounds like Moloko. The lyrics of In Your Eyes cheekily tip a wink to Minogue's comeback hit Spinning Around. You can easily picture any of Fever's 12 tracks in the current top 10. A backhanded compliment, certainly - the current top 10 is hardly overburdened with works of musical genius - but you can only marvel at Fever's money-making efficiency.

Nevertheless, the album is not without flaws. The relentless four-to-the-floor beats eventually become numbing. Minogue's voice, meanwhile, is devoid of emotion. Her videos may flash acres of flesh - Minogue publicly exposes her buttocks with the fervour of a rugby-club drinking society - yet her actual records are curiously unsexy. A robot could deliver the lyrics to the come-hither title track more passionately.

But perhaps such criticisms are beside the point. No one buys a Kylie Minogue album expecting grit and passion. Complaining that Fever is soulless and manufactured is like complaining that Radiohead are kind of mopey. It's a mature pop album only in that it's aimed at the boozy girl's night out rather than the school disco. Mercifully, however, it has no pretensions to be anything else. Audibly packed with hits, Fever achieves exactly what it sets out to achieve. The odds on Kylie Minogue's career long outliving 2001's critically lauded rock bands must be as minuscule as the lady herself”.

I will come to some more respectable opinions. Fever is undeniably one of the biggest and most successful albums of the 2000s. I disagree that there is too much repetitiveness or lack of invention. Some truly iconic songs and videos. This is what SLANT wrote for their review of an album that I first in 2001. I was pretty much starting out at university:

“It’s a shame that Australia’s Kylie Minogue was sent back to the land of mindless dance-pop after the critical and commerical disappointment of 1997’s experimental Impossible Princess. The result was 2000’s Light Years and, now, the terminally cheesy Fever.

The album’s first single, the aptly titled “Can’t Get You Out of My Head,” has already topped the charts in 22 countries and is set to invade brains this side of the Atlantic. Co-penned by former dance pop songstress Cathy Dennis, the track is cheeky, soul-sucking fun, its la la la’s waiting and willing to lodge themselves in your psyche. Similarly, “In Your Eyes” and the bleepy “Give It to Me” are contagious potential club hits.

A trio of tracks take their titles from older, more famous songs; the neo-disco shuffler “More More More,” the campy “Fever” (“Hey doctor, just what do you diagnose…So now, shall I take off my clothes?”), and the acoustic guitar-infused “Burning Up” all make one yearn for their older, superior siblings (by Andrea True Connection, Peggy Lee, and Madonna, respectively). Minogue’s chirpy coos leave much to be desired and her articulation is painfully precise on tracks like “Love Affair”; what should be playful and sexy is often rendered mechanical and hollow. Armed with 10 producers, you’d think Minogue would be able to serve up something a little less monotonous”.

Before ending with some positive reviews, there is a promotional interview with The Guardian who were happy to praise Kylie Minogue when they interviewed her and talk up Fever but happy to overlook and almost dismiss it when they reviewed it! -, that is quite insightful. It was a whirlwind time for Minogue:

“She's here today to promote her eighth album, Fever, and what will be her thirty-fourth consecutive UK hit single, the hypnotic 'Can't Get You Out of My Head'.

Kylie knows it's good. With the previous album - her first for her new label, Parlophone - she was struggling to re-establish herself as a pop princess after a relatively disastrous period working with credible rock names such as The Manic Street Preachers. When the first Parlophone single, 'Spinning Around', went to number one last year, she cried with relief. But this time, there's just a quiet confidence.

'I feel like I'm on a wave and I actually know how to stand on the board at this point,' she says. 'I feel quite solid. I don't know where it's taking me, but everything feels really good.'

She's 33, and she's been famous for half her life. We talk about the way she'll turn on and 'become' Kylie. 'You have to,' she says. 'There's no way you could maintain that all the time. If you get up and do a Saturday morning kids show, you don't wake up and be that person. You go, you get ready, and 20 minutes beforehand, you start to become... It's no different to anyone else. I go to work as well.'

Her close friends don't call her Kylie. They call her Min. She says she sometimes feels guilty about those friends - how others get smiley Kylie, and they have to settle for grumpy Min. When you're always performing, she explains, 'home is the only place you can have a long face and really mope about'.

I point out that stroppy pop stars are the norm, that we like our celebrities to have attitude and angst. But Kylie is a trouper, an old-fashioned professional who believes that the show must go on: 'Perhaps I'm more old-school than my years in that respect. It's just where I came from, working in TV, where it's not about you, where you don't get anything done without everyone else.'

Kylie was 11 when she appeared in her first TV soap, 17 when she left school and entered our living rooms as the feisty mechanic Charlene in Neighbours . We've watched her grow up - making shiny, infectious production-line pop for Stock, Aitken and Waterman's south London Hit Factory, ditching the froufrou frocks for sleeker, sexier clothes, and finally taking control of her music as well as her image by leaving the SAW stable and signing to hip dance label DeConstruction.

Frequently derided in her early career, she has now become something of a national treasure, sitting next to Prince Charles at a charity dinner one night, hanging out in cool clubs the next, equally at home on the covers of Vogue and Smash Hits. We've seen her change her looks, change her music, change her boyfriends, change her record label (three times), reinvent herself. But through it all, Kylie has been careful to keep a little mystery back. Part of her appeal is that she has always been something of a blank canvas, a screen on which we can all project our Kylie fantasies.

This is why so many big-name artists and photographers agreed to contribute to her 1999 art-book, Kylie. Why designer Patrick Cox recently told Vogue: 'She's a living Barbie doll. All gay men want to play with her, dress her up, comb her hair.' Why there barely seems to be a band, songwriter or producer in Britain who hasn't clamoured to work with her at some point.

If you ask her about them, she will tell you about her relationships with Michael Hutchence and later with the photographer/director Stephane Sedanoui, but she tends to tell the same anecdotes each time. She has decided exactly how much to reveal. 'I'm aware that you have to give so much, because if you make yourself unavailable, people want it so much more. It's a very fine line. You have to hand over some of your private life, but pretty much the same stories get rehashed. People want to know if you've got a boyfriend, who he is, what he does.'

Her current relationship is with James Gooding, a 26-year-old model who has no interest in being part of any Kylie media circus. Which is why she is unwilling to talk too much about him, beyond saying that they are happy together. 'As far as being able to keep a lot of my private life private, I don't use any of that to exploit my career, and in a very subtle way, I think, the media understands that,' she says.

What she does enjoy talking about is the technicalities of her job. About how, in her last tour, she descended from the roof on a dazzling silver anchor that was actually 'a bit of MDF with shiny sticky-backed plastic on it'. After one of the London shows, the fashion designer Matthew Williamson came backstage wanting to know how she'd managed the frequent fast costume changes. They happily discussed press-studs and poppers and how she'd walk calmly to the side of the stage, then be enveloped by frantic dressers trying to strip off her outfit and fit the next one, like mechanics in a Grand Prix pit stop. 'I could have talked for ages about it,' she says, 'because here was someone who understood.'

Similarly, on another night a friend from the film world asked about the barely visible harness fixing her to the anchor. 'The rest of the world went away while I talked about how the harness was made in LA and was only two inches wide. These things are major triumphs in the show - you have no idea how many hours were spent talking about the harness, safety regulations, how we'd disguise it.'

Her last tour was a camp extravaganza, with elaborate choreography, glitzy costumes and sets straight out of a Fifties musical. Kylie has never seemed more at ease on stage. 'I will always be a bit camp. I call it being a showgirl, because what we call camp is what used to be called showy. Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell doing their Gentlemen Prefer Blondes kind of thing. And I still happen to be a big fan of it.'

Australians tend to be good at this kind of unabashed homage - take Baz Luhrmann's new film, Moulin Rouge , an energetic, Technicolor tribute to classic musicals and contemporary pop in which Kylie makes a short but memorable appearance as the green absinthe fairy. A huge fan of Luhrmann's work, Kylie was thrilled to be part of it. But then she tells me about seeing it for the first time, and you see that her new confidence is still mixed in with the old self-consciousness.

She'd flown out to Los Angeles for the premiere the day after her tour finished. Even though her part is brief, she says, 'I was just so nervous'. She knew that a lot of people involved in the project were sitting in the row behind her, and since they'd already seen the film, she thought they might be looking at her instead, to gauge her reactions. So she sat rigid throughout, taking none of it in. 'I was too scared to do anything. It's like when you're starving and you look at a menu and you can't focus on anything - I just wasn't completely there.'

She gets sent a lot of bad film scripts. 'And I've made really bad choices as well, but you learn that way.' Among the bad choices was the 1995 film-of-the-computer-game Streetfighter, and Bio-Dome, an unbelievably awful 1998 film starring Pauly Shore, who at the time seemed like America's next comic genius. Kylie claims she's never even seen the finished film. 'You know how with parents, you can do something that's not so great, and they'll tell you they loved it? My dad said, "I can't believe that you did that. That was just diabolical!" So I never watched it.'

At the age of 19, Kylie suffered what she now calls 'a kind of mini-breakdown'. Her schedule on Neighbours was punishing. They filmed all week, and then at weekends the younger cast members would plaster on their smiles and make appearances in shopping malls across Australia to boost the show's ratings. After she'd been ill, her dad sat her down and said, 'You can say no and the world's not going to fall apart. You don't have to please all these people.' She revisits those words from time to time. 'Saying no has never been that easy, but I'm starting to get better at it.'

She has always worked hard, in the belief that she'd eventually reach a point where things would get easier, but she's finally starting to see that success doesn't work that way. 'You actually have more opportunities available to you, so you have more things to say no to.' So she's starting to rethink. 'At the moment work's great, everything's going great, but I need to find more balance in my life. What am I doing all this for? Am I going to keep doing this till I'm 50? I don't know. I'm at this odd place where I couldn't wish for more in my career”.

There are a couple of features to illuminate. Stereogum wrote about Fever on its twentieth anniversary in 2021. I wonder whether Kylie Minogue will release an expended edition of Fever closer to its twenty-fifth anniversary on 1st October. I do genuinely think it is one of the most underrated albums ever. One that has influenced so many artists and has epic singles and these incredible album tracks:

“By 2000 she was resurgent. Minogue adapted to the Y2K-era global pop landscape on her seventh album Light Years, which critics hailed for introducing disco-pop to a younger crowd with a sophisticated edge. Light Years topped the Australian albums chart and became the design that launched Minogue toward her 2001 statement album. Fever would be the definitive release of her career, a euphoric metamorphosis so compelling that Americans couldn’t ignore it -- including me.

Before discovering that the foundations of disco were originated by queer Black artists during the 1970s, as a child, Fever was my second taste of the genre. (Ironically, my first was another Fever from Down Under: the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack by fellow Aussies the Bee Gees.) When I saw the Fever album cover on a promotional billboard outside my local, now-defunct Virgin Megastore, I was hypnotized by its minimalism and Minogue’s smoldering, icy gaze; like the song says, it was love at first sight. As a young Black girl who regularly opted for early-2000s hip-hop and R&B, Minogue was the first white artist I remember listening to unapologetically. While dance and electronica were worlds away from the genres I was used to, Fever opened my ears to a spectrum of experimental soundscapes from early-2000s international dance acts like Daft Punk, Jamiroquai, Basement Jaxx, and Röyksopp.

Though repetitive at times in production and lyrical content, Fever was an ultra-sleek turn into the wonders of millennial pop futurism. The aesthetic was best reflected by Fever’s rhapsodic lead single "Can’t Get You Out of My Head," the song that sent the dance-pop world into Minogue mania. Co-produced and co-written by former Mud glam-rock guitarist Rob Davis and British pop singer-songwriter Cathy Dennis, "Can't Get You Out of My Head" began in Davis' garage-turned-makeshift studio in South East England. They initially offered it to former British pop group S Club 7 and indie pop singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor, both of whom passed on the demo. It thus serendipitously landed on Minogue, who wanted the song within 20 seconds of hearing it.

Balancing in-your-face ubiquity with a more elusive seduction as it built to an infectious "la la la" refrain, "Can't Get You Out of My Head" launched Minogue into icon status. The song became her biggest hit in the US since "The Loco-Motion," peaking at #7, and her bestselling single overall, with worldwide sales of over five million copies. The visual for "Can’t Get You Out of My Head" looked just as glossy as the song sounded -- Minogue's razor-sharp jawline stole the show alongside robotic choreography by an army of clones with cutout tops that would give Mean Girls' Regina George a run for her money.

There was more where that came from. Veering towards discotheque futurism, Fever arguably made Minogue the global queen of nightclubbing. Opening track "More More More" throbbed with a rapturous, tech-y hotline tone and a deep house bassline courtesy of British producer Tommy D. Second track (and third single) "Love At First Sight" pulsated with an adrenaline rush of optimism as Minogue cooed about passionate reverie. The title track was an alluring, flirtatious escapade that brought the steamy album cover full circle.

Breathy vocals ran rampant throughout Fever, notably on the lush, nearly-inebriated sounding "In Your Eyes" and "Come Into My World," which won Best Dance Recording at the Grammys three years later. (It was released as a single in November 2002, placing it within the eligibility window for the February 2004 ceremony.) "Come Into My World" was a follow-up collaboration between Davis and Dennis, who spun it out into a hallucinogenic disco utopia, paving the way for releases decades in the future like Dua Lipa's Future Nostalgia”.

I am finishing off with Classic Pop and their incredible feature. I want to include their track-by-track guide to a classic. I am baffled by any reviews that were less than glowing and rapturous. There was definitely some misogyny in some of them. The media not respecting this Pop titan. Even if one or two songs are not as strong as the best moments, Fever has plenty of range and diversity to keep the listener engaged and engrossed from start to finish:

“1. More More More
Fun, frothy and flirty, More More More sets the agenda for the rest of the album. Spiritual brethren of the dirty disco of Andrea True Connection’s risqué track of the same name, the house-inflected opener, written and produced by Tommy D, sees Kylie at her most alluring. Very much capturing the carefree abandon of disco in its lyrics, the production gives it a modern twist.

2. Love At First Sight
Co-written by Kylie, Love At First Sight is a standout on the album, one of her personal favourites and a regular highlight of live shows. A breezy ode to the feeling of being in a new relationship, the song is elevated by its state-of-the-art dance production which evoked recent hits from Daft Punk, Modjo and Stardust’s Music Sounds Better With You. Released as the third single from Fever, Love At First Sight reached No.2 and became her third ever US hit.

3. Can’t Get You Out Of My Head
Thirteen years into her pop career and Kylie scored her biggest hit. The track saw Minogue embraced by the dance world, not only for the song in its minimal electro form, but in various remixes – the most popular of which was Erol Alkan’s mash-up of the vocal over the backing track of New Order’s Blue Monday, which was a staple of his sets at celebrated club night Trash. Kylie took the mix mainstream when she performed it at the BRITs in 2002. Stuart Crichton created an official remix of the track for the B-side of Love At First Sight.

4. Fever
Written by Greg Fitzgerald and Tom Nichols, Fever’s title track is a departure from the dance-pop sound that dominates much of the album, instead being an updated electro track inspired by the New Romantic sound of the early 80s. Lyrically, the song’s tongue-in-cheek flirtation between a ‘lovesick’ Kylie and her doctor gives it an air of ‘Carry On Kylie’, a narrative brought to life on ITV’s An Audience With Kylie, in which she performed it in a campy doctors and nurses scenario before an audience of bemused-looking celebs.

5. Give It To Me
Fever’s weakest song, Give It To Me’s hard electro-funk sounds out of place on the album and could have been replaced with some of the strong tracks relegated to B-side/bonus track status such as Tightrope (a hidden gem of her discography), Good Like That or Boy. Heavily treated with chopped-up vocals and an annoying recurrent telephone ringing, the song is an experiment that didn’t quite hit the mark.

6. Fragile
After the sonic chaos of Give It To Me, the soothing Fragile is a beautiful mid-tempo track with a dreamy vocal from Kylie perfectly capturing the essence of the song which details the feeling of vulnerability in a relationship, singing: “’Cause I’m fragile when I hear your name/ Fragile when you call/ This could be the nearest thing to love/ And I’m fragile when I hear you speak/ Fragile feeling small/ This could be the closest thing to love,” over a hypnotic soundscape.

7. Come Into My World
A last-minute addition to Fever and another triumph from Rob Davis and Cathy Dennis, Come Into My World treads a similar sonic path to Can’t Get You Out Of My Head. The fourth and final single from the album, it was re-recorded for the album’s deluxe edition and single release (apparently as Cathy Dennis’ backing vocal was too prominent on the original) though Kylie’s breathy vocal sounds flimsy in contrast to the stronger original. In 2004, Kylie won her first Grammy for this song for Best Dance Recording. Come Into My World was also the basis for one of Kylie’s best ever remixes when it was given an electroclash reworking by Fischerspooner.

8. In Your Eyes

A dance anthem, In Your Eyes is a sultry ode to lust across a crowded nightclub with an aggressive beat and infectious chorus and the perfect follow-up to Can’t Get You Out Of My Head. However, despite its release being pushed back by a month due to the endurance of its predecessor, In Your Eyes was still somewhat overshadowed. It was also notable for self-referencing, with Kylie imploring: “Is the world still Spinning Around?” The album’s second single, it reached No.3 in the UK and No.1 in Australia where it was also released as her first DVD single.

9. Dancefloor
Written by Cathy Dennis and long-time Kylie collaborator Steve Anderson, Dancefloor is the song that sounds most like a continuation of the classic disco sound of Light Years. A breakup track on which Kylie berates an ex for not treating her as well as she deserved and getting over him by hitting the dancefloor, the song’s message is fairly universal.

10. Love Affair
If Fever had produced a fifth single, Love Affair would almost certainly have been the main contender for release. A perfectly crafted slice of dance-pop with Kylie at her seductive best, Love Affair is a continuation of the narrative from In Your Eyes with a similar clubby style with trance-like inflections. An undeniable album highlight.

11. Your Love
Winding down the album, Your Love is another stunning mid-tempo number. Similar to Fragile, a lilting guitar lends the song a blissed-out Balearic feel. The sole track on the LP from Pascal Gabriel and Paul Statham, Your Love is from the same sonic palette as some of the other tracks on the album which, had they been recorded by other artists with a lesser identity than Kylie, risked sounded same-y rather than succeeding as a cohesive body of work.

12. Burning Up
An anomaly to close the album, Burning Up was again penned by Greg Fitzgerald and Tom Nichols who with this, along with the title track, provided two of the record’s best moments. Burning Up’s unusual teaming of an acoustic verse with an upbeat, dance-y chorus has been revived recently by Kylie who has deployed a similar structure to her recent hit Dancing. With its gentle, hazy chorus bursting into a bassline and chorus reminiscent of Nile Rodgers’ best work, Burning Up was a standout performance of her Fever Tour”.

I was excited when Fever arrived in 2001. I had heard Can’t Get You Out of My Head and there was this fascination. One of these singles and videos that created such an impact. I do associate Fever with a terrible year for world events. Whilst it did provide a lift and relief, maybe it was unfortunate timing. However, in years since its release, you can see all these artists impacted by Fever. I Wonder if Kylie Minogue plays any songs from the album on her tours. It is going to be exciting to see if there are anniversary celebrations later in the year. A phenomenal album that did remarkably get some two or three-star reviews. It is a masterful and astonishing album that still hits and gets into the heart…

A quarter-century later.

FEATURE: Beneath the Sleeve: Ariana Grande - Dangerous Woman

FEATURE:

 

 

Beneath the Sleeve

Ariana Grande - Dangerous Woman

__________

AS it turns ten…

on 20th May, I wanted to use the opportunity to dive inside Ariana Grande’s Dangerous Woman. Not only is Grande an incredible artist. She is a successful and acclaimed actor. Appearing in huge films like Wicked: For Good, Grande is one of the world’s biggest talents. In terms of studio albums, Ariana Grade’s most recent is 2024’s eternal sunshine. Dangerous Woman is Grande’s second studio album. I am going to end with a review for this amazing album that I feel has not gained as much credit as it deserves. Dangerous Woman and its singles were nominated for various accolades, including two Grammy Awards. It helped Grande win Artist of the Year at the American Music Awards. You can pick up Dangerous Woman on vinyl. There are some 2016 interview that I want to get to first before coming to some reviews. Grazia Daily spoke with an artist who they say was going big on her female activist calling:

‘I’m a woman so I face my fair share of double standards and misogyny and ignorance on a daily basis,’ Ariana says. Her message is simple. ‘A lot of women think of the stereotype that comes with the word “feminist”. But there’s not just one type of feminist.

You can be a feminist who gets their hair and make-up done, you can be a feminist who cuts their hair off and doesn’t wear any make-up. Who has lots of sex or who doesn’t. There’s no limit.’

Ariana has clearly warmed to the theme since she dropped that wisdom on Twitter last summer. Then, she described how women were ‘mostly referred to as a man’s past, present or future PROPERTY/ POSSESSION’, a view informed by her experience of dating rapper Big Sean. Her good-girl image also took a slating last year, in a bizarre and overblown story where she was caught on camera licking doughnuts on display in a bakery.

The frustration with all that judgement occasionally finds its way on to the new record, which mostly sounds like grown-up, genre-busting RnB pop, with the occasional insight into Ariana’s life. On Bad Decisions, an empowered twist on the old story of a good girl being led astray, Ariana sings, ‘Ain’t you ever seen a princess be a bad bitch?’ After some cajoling, she concedes that this line is personal. ‘I feel like people are always constantly trying to pin me down as a good girl or a bad girl but I think women can be whatever, and me too.’

It’s a difficulty acutely felt by the female teen star transitioning into adult artist – Ariana was trolled for wearing lingerie in the video for Dangerous Woman. ‘When a young male artist posts a shirtless picture on Instagram the comments will be like “Oh my God, heart eyes, so hot, babe alert!”,’ she says of stars like Justin Bieber who, in the week we meet, posted a nude picture. ‘Like, whatever. If a woman posts a suggestive photo or anything that expresses her own sexuality or confidence within her body, it’s a very different response.’

It’s clear Ariana’s education in female empowerment comes from growing up on a diet of The First Wives Club and pop pioneers like Madonna, whom she recently sang Unapologetic Bitch with. But the lessons started closer to home. She comes, she has noted, ‘from a long bloodline of female activists’, which included her aunt Judy Grande, a Pulitzer nominated Washington Post reporter. Ariana gets out her phone and shows a picture of Judy with renowned feminist Gloria Steinem.

‘I feel like I have to carry on her legacy,’ she says of her aunt, who died in 2008 from breast cancer. ‘I feel like it’s my responsibility to keep the fight going”.

Billboard featured Ariana Grande in May 2016. Like other artists, they say, Ariana Grande was “under pressure to not only prove herself grown and sexy, but that she's somehow lifting up herself and other women as she does”. Even if you are not a huge fan of Grande, you really need to hear Dangerous Woman. I think it is a remarkable album:

“As a matter of fact, Grande appears on the cover of Dangerous Woman in shiny black headgear with long ears. It looks like it was designed for American Horror Story by the cartoonists at Warner Bros. The Super Bunny “is my superhero, or supervillain — whatever I’m feeling on the day,” says Grande. “Whenever I doubt myself or question choices I know in my gut are right — because other people are telling me other things — I’m like, ‘What would that bad bitch Super Bunny do?’ She helps me call the shots.”

Whether owing to her gut, her team or her alter-egos, it has been a grand career for Grande so far. With her March hit “Dangerous Woman” — a sultry R&B track with a self-empowerment message and an arena-annihilating hook — Grande became the first artist in Billboard Hot 100 history to have the lead single of each of her first three albums debut in the top 10. She has sold 1.3 million albums in the United States, according to Nielsen Music; grossed $41.8 million on 2015’s Honeymoon Tour, according to Billboard Boxscore; claims 4 billion YouTube views; clocks in at fourth among all humans on Instagram (with 71.4 million followers) and 18th on Twitter (38.8 million); and will kick off her album release with a performance at the Billboard Music Awards on May 22. And, she says, “I feel like I’m still just getting started — a lot of people forget I’m only three years in.”

Grande’s challenge is with her quote unquote brand. Like all female pop stars entering adulthood these days, she’s under pressure to not only prove herself grown and sexy, but that she’s somehow lifting up herself and other women as she does it. And in her bid to be taken seriously, she has more to overcome than many of her peers. The world first met her as Cat Valentine, the adorably dopey character at the heart of two Nickelodeon teen sitcoms (the second, Sam & Cat, ended in 2014), and she hasn’t quite shaken off that childlike sheen. Her tiny stature (she’s just 5 feet tall), love of Harry Potter (she describes Super Bunny as “my patronus”) and all the animal-themed, Lolita-meets-S&M gear don’t exactly help. Neither did getting caught on a bakery security camera in 2015 licking pastries that weren’t hers while declaring, “I hate America.”

But Grande’s got a not-so-secret weapon in all this: showstopping talent. “She’s a pure singer,” says Macy Gray, 48, who appears on Dangerous Woman’s most soulful cut, “Leave Me Lonely.” “It’s similar to what Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston and Christina Aguilera have — that power thing. But I didn’t realize that. She does all these pop records where you can get a song across without showing your chops.”

And Grande’s talent is not merely as a singer. Her turn as SNL host in March garnered rave reviews. Steven Spielberg was so impressed he texted Lorne Michaels to say so. (“I can’t tell you how surreal and insane that is for me,” gushes Grande. “My second birthday party was Jaws-themed. My brain almost combusted when I heard it from Lorne.”) Her skits were great, but the real win was the monologue, in which Grande spun Doughnutgate into a showcase for her artistry and self-awareness, singing about her need for a proper adult scandal (“Miley’s had them, Bieber’s had them”) to take her career to the next level. “I was just so happy to be able to make fun of myself,” says Grande. “If you think you’re laughing at me, I promise I laughed first.”

When it comes to the delicate art of signaling her feminist awareness, Grande has proved less of a natural. Instagramming pictures of Maya Angelou, Coco Chanel and her journalist aunt Judy Grande with Gloria Steinem in the lead-up to the release of “Dangerous Woman” felt a bit on the nose when the constituents of Taylor Swift’s woke women’s consortium advertise their membership simply by appearing together on red carpets.

Still, Grande’s feminism is clearly no put-on. “Do you want to see something I saved to my phone because it upset me so much?” she asks me. It’s a collection of tweets from a U.K. radio station with a salacious streak — two praise Justin Bieber and Zayn Malik for showing skin, and two scold Miley Cyrus and Kim Kardashian for the same. “If you’re going to rave about how sexy a male artist looks with his shirt off,” says Grande, “and a woman decides to get in her panties or show her boobies for a photo shoot, she needs to be treated with the same awe and admiration. I will say it until I’m an old-ass lady with my tits out at Whole Foods. I’ll be in the produce aisle, naked at 95, with a sensible ponytail, one strand of hair left on my head and a Chanel bow. Mark my words. See you there with my 95 dogs.”

In June, Grande tweeted a screen grab of an essay she wrote about her budding independence, capped with a 1971 Steinem quote: “Any woman who chooses to behave like a full human being should be warned that the armies of the status quo will treat her as something of a dirty joke. She will need her sisterhood.”

Grande’s sisterhood includes her mother and nonna, managers Stephanie Simon and Jennifer Merlino (Grande parted ways with co-manager Scooter Braun in February, though he shares an A&R credit on Dangerous Woman with Republic Records EVP Wendy Goldstein), her fans the Arianators and old pals from Florida: Misha Lambert, now a self-published author, and Alexa Luria, who just graduated from the University of Florida and has 560,000 Instagram followers thanks to her BFF status with Grande.

“I have a bunch of really dope friends I’ve known since elementary school,” says Grande. “They think it’s funny that people want to take pictures with me at Starbucks, because it is — it’s weird. They’re going to keep me healthy and humble. I still feel like Ariana from Boca [Raton] who loves musical theater and dogs. I’m just working now”.

Prior to finishing up with a review from NME, this article expressed how Ariana Grande shed her Pop persona for Dangerous Woman. It is a work that saw her “moving into edgier territory and forging a new musical identity though genre exploration”. Ten years after its release and I feel that it still sounds powerful and meaningful. I wonder whether Ariana Grande will celebrate a decade of Dangerous Woman on 20th May:

“Entering dangerous new territory

The Dangerous Woman era started with the promotional single “Focus,” which was in October 2015. While “Focus” featured the same upbeat, horn-driven energy of Grande’s 2014 smash hit “Problem,” it also teed up the album’s first official single, as Grande coquettishly instructed listeners to “focus on me.”

Emerging five months later, the album’s title track found Grande venturing into moodier territory than the frothy pop of “Focus.” Sparked by an electric guitar, the singer climatically calls out, “Somethin’ ’bout you makes me feel like a dangerous woman!” throughout the track. We knew Grande could deliver arena-sized singalongs, and this slow jam channeled all the great power ballads of the 80s with a hook that promised, “All girls wanna be like that/Bad girls underneath, like that.”

On the other side of the spectrum, “Be Alright” offered a stark contrast to the slow tempo and sensuality of “Dangerous Woman.” Dipping into a deep house sound, Grande’s celebratory single was adopted as an anthem for the LGBTQ community.

Embracing collaborators

A month later, she’d embark on the new course that trap-R&B had laid out in mainstream music, dropping the hypnotic “Let Me Love You,” featuring Lil Wayne. This paved the way for the dance-pop perfection of “Into You,” which signaled that Grande was ready to storm the summer of 2016.

With a belting declaration of love that revolved around thudding EDM basslines, “Into You” is Grande and hitmaker Max Martin at their best. It contained all the hallmarks of a classic earworm, with Grande’s breathy falsetto floating over the thick beats. Grande finished off the album’s advance singles run with the retro-pop, uptown funk of “Greedy,” a song given away with digital pre-orders and which featured a choir of her exuberant vocals over a slick bassline.

Dangerous Woman opens with the swinging doo-wop ballad “Moonlight,” closely aligning with the sound Grande experimented with on Yours Truly. On the deep cut “Leave Me Lonely,” she brought Macy Gray back into the public eye, the latter expertly delivering some Nina Simone theatrics that fit in with the dramatic nature of the song.

A mature transition

Keeping in line with the album’s premise, Grande debuts her “adult” anthem, “Side To Side,” with help from hip-hop’s raunchiest queen, Nicki Minaj. Like many former child stars turned pop divas before her, Grande was consciously leaning into her “grown-up” phase, while at the same time side-stepping all the usual clichés that came with the territory.

One of the best pop and hip-hop collaborations of the decade, “Side To Side” capitalized on the dancehall trend of the time, with reggae riddims and plenty of sexual innuendo packaged in the campy imagery of the SoulCycle fitness craze. Just as Olivia Newton-John made her “body talk” in the iconic “Let’s Get Physical” music video, Grande and Minaj’s cardio-driven duet rode its way to the top of the charts, hitting No.4 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Grande followed “Side To Side” with another collaborative effort on the Future-assisted “Everyday.” As trap-influenced pop started to gain more traction in the mainstream, “Everyday” helped fuel its dominance, paving the way for the trap leanings on her subsequent albums Sweetener and thank u, next.

Evolving the pop formula

Much of Dangerous Woman sees Grande playing with tempos, genres, and time shifts. “I Don’t Care” finds her embracing orchestral R&B to forget a lost love, “Sometimes” ventures into more acoustic pop (a rarity for Grande), and “Bad Decision,” “Touch It,” “Knew Better/Forever Boy” and “Thinking Bout You” all rely on Grande’s powerful pipes and EDM synth-pop production.

With her third album, Ariana Grande found success in evolving the pop formula she’d already established while venturing into uncharted, edgier territory. The gamble paid off, with Dangerous Woman debuting at No.2 on the Billboard 200 charts and notching her first No.1 album in the UK. It was clear that the ascending pop queen was just getting started”.

I am going to finish with NME and their review of Dangerous Woman. 2016 was a remarkable year for music. Some of the best albums of the past few decades released then. I feel that many might have overlooked Ariana Grande or not given Dangerous Woman as much credit as it warranted. This is a reason why I wanted to spotlight it:

“Nine months ago, Ariana Grande‘s greatest act of rebellion was daring to lick a donut in a California bakery, then reacting to the piles of junk food in front of her with the doomed sentence, “I hate America”. Two disregarded apology videos and a Justin Bieber collaboration later, she emerges transformed, donning a leather bunny outfit for the cover of third album ‘Dangerous Woman’; in one of its more understated IDGAF moments she declares simply, “I love me.”

Her 38 million Twitter followers suggest she’s not the only one. Grande came to fame via her role on Nickelodeon’s teen sitcom Victorious and has since carved out a tween-friendly pop career almost as unblemished as Taylor Swift’s – but she’s spent the past few months publicly loosening up, showcasing pinpoint J-Law and Britney impressions on SNL in March and now, with ‘Dangerous Woman’, being what your nan might term ‘risqué’. Club anthem-to-be ‘Into You’ sees her informing a Stupid Boy, “A little less conversation and a little more touch my body“, and pushing her astoundingly malleable voice into what’s known as the whistle register. The frequent comparisons made between Mariah Carey and Grande are apt.

That track was co-written by hitmaker Max Martin, the Swede behind everything from The Weeknd’s ‘Can’t Feel My Face’ to Grande’s 2014 mega-smash ‘Problem’. His hand is in a variety of other tracks on the new album, including lusty disco cut ‘Greedy’ and the waltzing title track, on which she proclaims, “I’m bulletproof and I know what I’m doing”. Nudge-nudge moments come thick and fast throughout the album, most explicitly from collaborators – Nicki Minaj rides a “dick bicycle” on cheesy reggae cut ‘Side to Side’, Lil Wayne pictures her “grinding on this grande” on sultry slow-jam ‘Let Me Love You’.

It’s not only the consistent songwriting clout that elevates this album from recent efforts by Grande’s teen-star peers, Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez. Even if most of it is co-written, the modish message of empowerment feels honest coming from Grande, especially after an essay she shared last year that railed against the media’s description of her as Big Sean’s ex: “I do not belong to anyone but myself,” she wrote. By the time the sublime closer ‘I Don’t Care’ comes around, it’s genuinely satisfying to hear her put that sentiment on record so resoundingly. “I used to let some people tell me how to live and what to be,” she ponders, “But if I can’t be me, the fuck’s the point?”.

I am not sure whether Ariana Grande is working on a new album, though at the time I am writing this (21st March), there are hints. Fans think they have spotted things that suggest an eighth studio album is coming. By the time this feature is shared, Ariana Grande may have made an official announcement. Many might rank other albums of hers higher, but I feel that the incredible Dangerous Woman is…

UP there with her very best.

FEATURE: Groovelines: Radiohead – Burn the Witch

FEATURE:

 

 

Groovelines

Radiohead – Burn the Witch

__________

ON 8th May…

PHOTO CREDIT: Alex Lake

Radiohead’s most recent album, A Moon Shaped Pool, turns ten. Its lead single, Burn the Witch, was released five days earlier. To mark a decade of this powerful single, I wanted to explore it more for this Groovelines. Radiohead worked on Burn the Witch during the sessions for their albums Kid A (2000), Hail to the Thief (2003) and In Rainbows (2007). Thom Yorke mentioned the song in a 2005 post on Radiohead's blog and posted lyrics in 2007. On 3rd May, 2016, the world got this first taste of a new Radiohead album. The video for Burn the Witch is even more striking than the song itself. I will come to reviews of the single. To start, this Medium article provided some background to Burn the Witch, a song that had been in the making for a while:

“Radiohead spread Inklings of “Burn the Witch” in 2003 when the song’s title appeared on the cover artwork of Hail to the Thief, reports one Radiohead fan website. This, of course, means the song was in development as early as 2002 when the cover artwork for Hail to the Thief was painted by Stanley Donwood, Radiohead’s longtime album cover artist and college friend of frontman Thom Yorke. According to a 2006 article published in The Guardian, Donwood’s main concept for the album artwork came from various roadside advertisements in Los Angeles, though he did have some additional input from a mysterious collaborator called “Dr. Tchock,” a name many believe is a pseudonym for Thom Yorke.

Over the next five or so years, the band released more teasers of the single, posting excerpts of lyrics, short blog updates from Thom York regarding the status of the song, and even playing snippets of the intro at a few live shows. After 2008, however, it seemed that the trail had gone cold– until May 1, 2016, that is.

Just three days ago on May 1st, fans were shocked to discover that Radiohead had effectively erased their Internet presence. The band’s website was whited out, and all posts from the band’s social media accounts were deleted, including posts on Thom Yorke’s accounts. On Saturday, April 30 some fans reportedly received bizarre leaflets in the mail featuring artwork, the Radiohead logo, and the cryptic message, “Sing the song of sixpence that goes ‘Burn the Witch.’ We know where you live,” Billboard reported on May 1. While many suspected an imminent announcement, for the time being it would seem that Radiohead had dropped off the face of the earth.

Finally, on May 3, the culmination of thirteen years of waiting resulted in a claymation music video posted to Radiohead’s official YouTube channel featuring the single “Burn the Witch.” Rumors are spreading about a ninth studio album to be released later this year, but so far nothing is confirmed”.

You can get a sense of what the song is about when you hear it without a video. However, it is the video that visualises the powerful messages. The Guardian published an article in 2016 where they analysed the video. We live in a time when there is huge anti-immigrant sentiment. Burn the Witch seems more relevant now than it did in 2016:

“The animator of Radiohead’s Camberwick-Green-meets-The-Wicker-Man video for Burn the Witch has suggested the clip might have been a commentary on Europe’s refugee crisis.

In an interview with Billboard, Virpi Kettu said the band may have wanted to increase awareness of the issue, especially “the blaming of different people … the blaming of Muslims” that leads people to want to metaphorically “burn the witch”.

Kettu also referred to the postcard sent to Radiohead fans bearing the words: “We know where you live,” which she suggested reflected the insecurity promoted by politicians demanding a clampdown on the movement of refugees.

However, Radiohead – never ones to be second-guessed – appear to be damping down speculation. Billboard’s interview with Kettu is headed with a disclaimer insisting: “The opinions expressed in this article about Burn the Witch do not necessarily reflect those of the band, the video’s director or any of the band’s representatives.”

As of Thursday morning, the Burn the Witch video – launched at 4pm BST on Tuesday – had chalked up more than 6.6m views on YouTube. Using animation in the style of the Trumptonshire trilogy, the children’s animations made between 1966 and 1969 and set in an all-white, happy rural England, the video portrays a community where paranoia and rage go hand in hand with bucolic peace – the clip ends, seemingly, with an outsider being burned alive in a giant wicker man.

Kettu said the clip took two weeks to make from start to finish, with the team producing an average of 30 seconds of animation per day, compared with the 12 seconds that was typical when she worked at Aardman. She only learned the video had been released on Tuesday, the same time as the rest of the world”.

There are a few more things I want to include before wrapping up. For All Songs Considered, NPR spoke with Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood. They labelled A Moon Shaped Pool as Radiohead’s “quietest” record. That said, Burn the Witch has a tension, terror and sense of drama that is maybe not reflected across the album:

“A Moon Shaped Pool, Radiohead's ninth and quietest record, owes much of its sound to the band's visionary guitarist, violist, electronics wiz and arranger Jonny Greenwood. On this week's All Songs +1 podcast I talk with him about how A Moon Shaped Pool came to be.

Jonny Greenwood explains that Radiohead approaches each record with a different recording style or new technique. For this latest record, the group traded in "traditional Pro Tools" for an analog 8-track tape machine. "It's kind of a miracle," he says. "This is going to sound very conceited, but it's a surprise to me how well so many of these songs came out and the one or two frustrations I have are nothing compared to the eight or nine key things I'm just amazed we got good recordings of. We all feel really lucky and happy to have this as a record."

Greenwood on why Radiohead changes its process with each album:

"I guess it feels like every record we make, we finish and have a collective thought that we didn't quite mean to do it like that and the next one will be different and then we'll get it right. It's kind of like rewriting the same letter and getting each draft slightly wrong. So it's a good motivation force — it keeps us going."

On why he loves recording string sections:

"Our string days are just the most exciting days to record. I live for them. It's amazing, the whole excitement in the morning of putting out music on these empty stands and, you know, an orchestra are coming later that day and you'll only have them for four hours and you've got to make the most of it. It's really just the most exciting thing and then to sit in a room and hear them play it's really like nothing else".

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There are a couple of reviews I want to get to. The Guardian provided praise for a song from a band who put out their first new single in about five years. It was a big moment when Burn the Witch was released in 2016. A Moon Shaped Pool received a huge amount of praise. I wonder how people will assess the album a decade after its release:

“And finally the first music arrived. What seems to be the first track from Radiohead’s new album was launched on their website on Tuesday afternoon, accompanied by a video featuring animation in the style of Bob Bura and John Hardwick, the creators of Trumpton, Chigley and Camberwick Green. Burn the Witch had been trailed on Instagram, but the brief clips didn’t give much clue as to what music we might expect. But what arrived was thrilling – a burst of taut, tense music, driven by pizzicato strings, that had more in common with conventional rock than some hints had led us to believe – Brian Message, from their management firm, had claimed the new album will sound “like nothing you’ve ever heard”.

The rest of the album would have to be very different indeed from Burn the Witch for that claim to be true. Because Burn the Witch is like nothing you’ve ever heard only if you’ve never heard a rock band use a string section whose members have been ordered to convey brooding menace, or a two-chord pattern, or a voice jump to falsetto over a vaguely euphoric chord. There’s even a refrain – though Thom Yorke’s wailing admittedly lacks the kind of immediacy you get in the choruses of singles by, say, Olly Murs – in which the brooding menace descends into fully-fledged did-you-ever-hear-anyone-so-moody art rock.

As one might expect, then, Yorke hasn’t been raiding the poetry of Pam Ayres for songwriting inspiration: “Stay in the shadows / Cheer the gallows / This is a round-up,” he opens. The lyrics appear to be skirting around the surveillance society, but equally they might be meditating on the difficulties of open discussion in an age where thought is scrutinised and policed by the public itself on social media, where any idle thought runs the risk of seeing one condemned as #problematic: “Loose talk around tables / Abandon all reason / Avoid all eye contact / Do not react / Shoot the messenger / This is a low-flying panic attack.”

The dissonance between the pretty conventional music – no electronic skronk here, nothing to scare off the crowds at their festival headline slots this summer – and the mood of incipient dread is heightened by the video, in which it becomes apparent that the band haven’t remade Trumpton, but The Wicker Man.

The intriguing question now is whether this foreshadows the new album, or whether Message was right. It’s certainly the kind of return – bold and expansive, as well as dark and claustrophobic – that the world might have hoped for”.

I am going to finish off with this review for Burn the Witch. Radiohead played shows in the U.K. and Europe last year. Their first since 2018. They recently announced how they are playing a lot more from next year on. There is talk whether there is going to be another album. Will A Moon Shaped Pool be their final album together? It will be interesting to see where they head, musically and lyrically, if there is another album:

“Brisk strings attack the ears from the start. The musicians are using a technique called col legno which traditionally involves hitting the strings briskly with the back of the bow. But according to Jonny Greenwood, they are using guitar plectrums to do it. This is very Radiohead: do something almost unheard-of to create something brilliant.

So you prepare yourself for an orchestral piece. But this being Radiohead, it’s only a few seconds before a strange electronic texture joins underneath and then what seems like a voice that has been sampled and sped up to create a weird, slightly disturbing, strangely beguiling or comforting ‘eerrrrrr’ sound. Whether the drums are programmed or actually played by Phil Selway is unclear – they have also been affected in some subtle way.

Thom Yorke starts singing, warning us of the dangers of standing up for what’s right and what’s just. Don’t stand out, scream along with the crowd at the persecuted innocent, for fear of being singled out yourself.

There’s a variety of phrases used that evoke the time of witch-hunts:

Cheer at the gallows
Red crosses on wooden doors
If you float you burn

And my particular favourite, Yorke sings earlier on:

Sing a song on the jukebox that goes…

The witch-hunts are going on today, as well as in the past. Later, he changes it to:

Sing the song of sixpence that goes…

Considering Radiohead have made some of the most unsettling rock music of the last 20 years, Thom Yorke’s voice is an extraordinarily beautiful instrument in its own right. Here, this beautiful, angelic voice narrates a horror film, and when it gets to the economic chorus, his voice soars to the heavens as he sings “burn the witch” twice.

The second time he sings it, he adds syllables to it that makes it less recognizable but more affecting. He follows it with:

We know where you live

Just in case you were still thinking of speaking out for what’s right.

During the choruses the strings become more traditionally played in order for the arrangement of the song to keep you on your toes. At the end of the second chorus, the strings take over, building to an urgent, shrieking crescendo before an abrupt stop.

Radiohead have long been purveyors of the problems in society. With “Burn the Witch,” they managed to get a flawless balance of lyric, mood, and delivery that is as listenable as it is unsettling. The lyrics are a nursery rhyme, the arrangement is uneasy, queasily leading you to a worrying conclusion without answers.

The song would be enough without the video using the visual style of a beloved UK children’s TV program. With it, the outcome is one of the best collective artistic endeavors of the last 20 years.

“Burn the Witch” is urgent, catchy, different, and brilliantly conceived. It’s up there as one of Radiohead’s greatest moments”.

Radiohead themselves faced criticism for not condemning Israel and genocide. Seen as supporting the country. They issued a statement later to say they would never play in the country again. I do think they lost a lot of fans and respect for their initial position. However, no matter what you think of the band and their politics, there is no denying how their music is among the greatest ever released. On 3rd May, it will be ten years since Radiohead released Burn the Witch. It is a chilling masterpiece that is among…

THEIR greatest songs.

FEATURE: Spotlight: underscores

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Brendan Wixted for Wonderland.

underscores

__________

EVEN if…

this artist is not new on the block, I feel underscores can still be seen as a rising talent. The moniker of April Harper Grey, she just released the extraordinary U. One of the most interesting, original and brilliant Pop artists in many years, this is a period where underscores is building her fanbase and being discussed as among the finest and most promising artists of the moment. I am going to end with a review of U. I will come to some interviews before that. However, here is some brief background of underscores. If you have not heard her music yet then you will do soon enough. So many people talking about underscores as a major name in the making:

“Origin stories reenact familiar myths; this one begins with a kid alone in a bedroom, trying to make something no one has heard before. Hailing from San Francisco, Filipino-American artist April Harper Grey started making music as underscores in middle school, when years of noodling around on GarageBand culminated in the realization that, if taken seriously enough, this whole “trying to be like Skrillex” thing might amount to something great.

For years, underscores released a steady stream of one-offs via SoundCloud, which endeared her to like minded artists and a burgeoning community of fans, but it wasn’t until 2017, with the release of EP skin purifying treatment, that the project stepped out of its solitary origins and began to capture the attention of a much larger audience. In 2021, underscores released the debut underscores album, fishmonger, which was written and recorded in that same childhood bedroom amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

That collection launched underscores from recording vocals in a car to opening for 100 Gecs on the U.S. leg of the 10,000 Gecs tour. Before hitting the road, underscores released yet another collection, boneyard aka fearmonger, a collection of seven tracks that manages to sound like both the climax of and the morning after the craziest night of your life. On the heels of 10,000 Gecs, the first underscores mini-tour sold out in NY, LA, Chicago, and underscores’s hometown of San Francisco. Since then, underscores has played Lollapalooza’s Main Stage, Electric Forest, FVDED in the Park, and Corona Capital CDMX”.

I want to start out with one of the most recent interviews with underscores. NME. The Hyperpop artist spoke with them abut her escapist and phenomenal Dance-Pop gem, U, “amid industry pressures and the trappings of fame”. I am not sure whether she is planning on coming to the U.K. There are a strong of U.S. tour dates coming up, though I wonder whether there will be some dates here anytime soon:

“As a child, April Harper Grey didn’t play with toys. Instead, she had two main obsessions. The first was hotels: six-year-old Grey would pore over interior design books, and when she visited her grandparents in New York, her grandmother convinced the Hotel Gansevoort to let them peek inside a room. “That was one of the best days of my life,” she grins.

The second was her father’s computer. She’d create YouTube videos and mess about on GarageBand, eventually starting a small dubstep project called Underscores aged 12. Now 25, Underscores has become one of the biggest names from the online hyperpop community thanks to her 2021 debut ‘Fishmonger’ and 2023’s ‘Wallsocket’. On her upcoming third album ‘U’, she’s blending all the sounds from her last two albums to create an escapist “pop bible”.

‘U’ was written among the hoi polloi of megamalls, ritzy hotels and posh airports, as Grey attempted to “connect with what I was feeling really inspired [by] as a six-year-old”. “I knew at some point I would make a project that made sense in this fluorescent, consumerist architecture,” she tells NME. “I don’t want to glamorise this kind of architecture, but it has always inspired me since before I knew what its connotations were. And I don’t know – I like the luxurious vibe right now.”

When we spoke to Grey last year for The Cover, she was basking in the success of ‘Wallsocket’ and its intricately woven narrative. Since the record’s release in 2023, Grey has toured with EDM legend Porter Robinson and contributed to fellow Cover star Oklou’s breakout debut album, ‘Choke Enough’. Grey’s albums even revived Danny Brown’s love for electronic music, going on to collaborate with the rapper for his last album, ‘Stardust’. But despite these milestones, she told NME at the time that she was “fucking terrified” of making music, worried she was “going to constantly let down” her fans.

PHOTO CREDIT: Bailey Krawczyk

Exhausted from the labyrinthine lore of ‘Wallsocket’, Grey wrote ‘U’ – a self-titled of sorts, combining elements of her past albums to create a defining “thesis statement” on Underscores’ M.O. There’s storytelling, but no story, leaving Grey all the energy to indulge in her favourite pop sounds: “This time I wanted to focus on the music, because that’s what people come here for the most.”

The singles released from ‘U’ seem to establish a quintessential Underscores sound. Over a juddering, jackhammer bass, Grey coos on the cheeky but sincere ‘Music’: “Last night, I had a wet dream ’bout the perfect song”. It’s no surprise, then, when she reels off Jane Remover, 2hollis and Osamason as equally inspiring as Brandy, Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake while making ‘U’.

eing a popstar has always required some level of financial and reputational power, and on ‘U’, that relationship doesn’t go unnoticed. Grey playfully assumes the role of a celebrity negotiating a hookup on ‘Do It’ (which NME named one of the best songs of 2025), telling their prospective partner: “I’m tryna run a business here – come on, babe”. But they retreat from the relationship, justifying that they’re “married to the music”. Clearly, there’s more to marriage than just love.

Grey has consistently satirised the rich and the famous, even years before her come up as an unknown 21-year-old on ‘Fishmonger’. On one level, her fascination with celebrity culture was a form of wish fulfilment – “that’s where I saw myself, and I was confident about that,” she admits – but it also comes from a darkly psychological place. “I’ve always scrutinised myself like I was famous. I’ve always been like, ‘someone’s gonna pick my life apart to pieces someday, so I need to prepare for that’. But obviously some of that is some mental shit.”

Grey might be a star in the underground realm, but ‘U’ makes clear that being in that position isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. On ‘Spoiled Little Brat’, her biggest hit from ‘Fishmonger’, Grey proudly professes: “I get what I want”. Now, album opener ‘Tell Me (U Want It)” sees her backtrack: “I get what I want and then find out right after I get it, I don’t even want it”.

“‘Wallsocket’ was super conceptual, but it was still very personal – this feels more like I’m telling you upfront”

“I do think my relationship with making music has changed after being able to do it for a living,” Underscores professes. “There’s 10 other jobs that you have to do along with your dream job – which I’m perfectly fine with, but it does sometimes suck the fun out of it a little.”

Grey could choose to become complacent and pump out left-field dance-pop hits. But culture moves fast, and she predicts pop will experience a “twee revival” in three years’ time, citing artists like Brat Star as examples (think The Moldy Peaches, if they were “Bladee at the same time”).

“I think the true Kimya Dawson twee is impossible for our generation to access because we’re just so ironic and self-aware, but I do think some attempt to get to this millennial twee will result in something new,” she estimates.  Grey says she plans to become a hipster when that happens: she’ll go to bars, get into speciality coffee, maybe make a record reflecting her new life. For now, she’s going to savour the glory of ‘U’ and its full-circle vindication of hyperpop – just not for too long.

“I started [Underscores] when I was 12, and it’s gone through a lot of iterations over the years,” Grey tells us. “I tried to encapsulate as much as I could of [my] previous music, but I’ll probably switch up again after this – I tend to wring the sonic identity of each album dry until there’s nothing left. Then, I’ll move on”.

A couple of other new interviews before I get to a glowing review of one of the best albums of the year. Wonderland. explored how underscores mutates with each album. Always remarkable but never the same, this is an artist constantly evolving, questioning and searching. In terms of what U represents, Wonderland. muse that this is underscore’s “unadulterated pop era”. Such an exciting time for an artist primed to blow up very soon. Already she has this loyal fanbase, though U will see a lot of new people come her way:

“November 2025’s “Do It”, a second glimpse at the forthcoming LP, took April’s budding pop-fanaticism to a new acme. The choreography-heavy video would make Britney herself proud. Sonically, it borrows from K-pop and hyper-pop – amplified by January’s remix with Korean rising star Yves – fusing crowd-pleasing sheen with something sharper and more knowingly sexual. She interrogates her subject’s finances, their car, and if they like rough sex, before dismissing them entirely: she’s married to the music. For 25-year-old April, it reads as more than a sonic pivot, but a playful flex of sexuality and self-possession.

From the early SoundCloud-era electronic productions to the raw indie experimentation of her 2021 debut record fishmonger, to her second full-length, Wallsocket, a complex and challenging concept album, galvanic and restless jumps in April’s artistic core are nothing new. Much of this coming album’s shift in style lies in a stripping back of her creative process – embodied by the short, sharp song titles, and the use of a singular letter as the album’s title. “I liked the idea of doing a self-titled [project], but I don’t know if I’d call an album ‘underscores’,” she explains. “But I got obsessed with the idea of calling itU.”

The work is a trimming of musical indulgence and a decluttering of technical complication. It’s made in its entirety by April alone – from the writing to the production to the mixing and mastering. Because “my biggest tenet right now is to do it myself even if it’s a worse product. Like – this is as much from mybrain as it could be. If people don’t like my voice or they don’t like the production or the videos, at least it was all from me. At least I was being earnest.”

Much of the work was written nomadically, as she toured with DJ/producer Porter Robinson in the spring and during a stint supporting her mercurial collaborator Danny Brown at the backend of 2025. “Usually if I’mon the road, I don’t make music at all. I just wait until I get home to make everything,” she says. “But there’ve been many times where I didn’t know why I wasn’t just making music on the road. My setup has gotten way simpler: I reverted back to a [Focusrite] Scarlett interface and an SM7B [microphone] instead of anything too fancy, just because it’s easy to bring around and it’s rugged. It’ll survive in my backpack.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Brendan Wixted

A group of songs that she’s proud of but now feels difficult to revisit, April’s previous album Wallsocket is a dark and daring descent into the crevices of middle America. It was made in a “pretty good time” in her life, but “when things get good, that’s when philosophical thoughts start creeping in. You start asking, ‘Why am I here?’” U flips this instinct. Written against a more anxious world, it rejects the idea that profundity must equal heaviness. There’s power in lightness. In pleasure. In escape.

“Art has served different purposes for me over my life,” April says. “But there are certain times when people really want to escape into something and be out of the world for a minute. And I definitely feel that right now. On [Wallsocket], I wanted to reckon with the world through art. Whereas with [U], there feels like a need to step into something nice to be in, and that doesn’t make you feel bad about existing in the world. You don’t have to always ask these big questions; sometimes you just want something nice to put on.”

April’s soon-to-be-shared third album completes a trifecta tapestry of taste and influence that feels wholeheartedly unique in tone and approach. To listeners, the trilogy forms a shapeshifting tapestry. To her, they’re branches of the same tree. “Each project has a different sound, world, geographical location or architecture,” she murmurs, as if thinking aloud. “But I don’t know, for me it almost feels like I’m kind of making the same album every time. Taking another crack at the same thing and getting closer.”

Closer to what?

“I don’t know,” she contemplates. “Some kind of perfect package.” The search for artistic enlightenment is endless, and for April, defining her own version of pop stardom is the current driving force. Making music that’sboth inspired and inspiring is one thing, but bigger forces are at play. Mr Boyle, for instance. Aqua Dots, too – small plastic beads she once ate as a child and survived to tell the tale. But mainly, eyebrows.

“I wish more people would ask about my eyebrows,” she sighs.

Really? Why?

“Because I want to make a statement. We’re in a thin eyebrow – or no eyebrow–apocalypse. These,” she gestures to her thick, dark brows, “need to come back.”

You heard it here first. Vive la revolution!”.

The final interview I want to highlight is from CRACK. They open by saying (of U) “Inspired by the synthetic gloss of airports, hotels and shopping malls, underscores’ latest album… transports her glitchy electro-pop to liminal, urban spaces where dreams and waking life coalesce”. I am quite new to underscores. However, it only took a couple of songs from U to make me realise all the praise and proclamation are very much justified:

“Her lyrics on U – exploring love, desire and consumerism – feel playful and tongue-in-cheek, delivered in pitch-shifted vocals or quiet whispers. Even at its most polished, the record doesn’t abandon Grey’s signature experimentation. If U is a pop bible, then it’s one with flickering lights and scuffed edges. Its maelstrom of ornate hyperpop textures collide as Grey constructs feelings of confused desire from grating percussion, pixelated ripples and Auto-Tuned vocals.

" I wanted to be a little more shameless with this record. It feels way more luxurious”

Elsewhere, digital artifice is offset by the raw reproduction of ‘real-world’ sounds. The album ricochets from the brash confidence of opener Tell Me (U Want It) to the soft vulnerability of chiming synths that mimic the sound of plucked strings on Lovefield. Album closer Wish U Well merges wistful, strummed acoustic guitar with electronic intercom beeps, radio static and dial tones.

There is an ambivalence on this record that feels like a departure from the teen angst of her previous outings. “Now that I’m 25, I just want something that’s nice to be in and escape to,” she says. “I wanted to be a little more shameless with this record. It feels way more luxurious.”

Throughout underscores’ music, there is this tension between fantasy and reality, shame and desire. She is enjoying inhabiting this silver-plated dream of commercial perfection for now, using it as a canvas to stretch the limits of her pop imagination.

To Grey, hyperpop might feel more “designer” now, but her music still carries the messy, maximalist spirit of the internet music scenes she grew up with. Her sound shifts unpredictably, like moving through interconnected rooms in a recurring dream, following curiosity down strange hallways or across sprawling terrain – then, upon waking, striking out with total clarity”.

Let’s end with a review from The Guardian for U. Perhaps the greatest and most memorable work from underscores so far, you know this artist will continue to grow stronger and put out sensational work. Not that the Pop scene is repetitive or lacking standout artists. However, it is clear that artists like underscores are more compelling, richer and stand out more than many of the biggest mainstream Pop acts:

“There was no getting around the heavily-caffeinated pop thrills provoked by her best work, but while Wallsocket was bombarding you with distorted guitars, stammering vocal samples, dive-bombing brostep basslines, honking rave electronics, nu-metal riffs, heaving shoegaze textures, gunshot sound effects, vintage video-game bleeps, drums that split the difference between dancefloor pulse and the double-time thunder of hardcore punk, and vocals alternately delivered in a bratty drawl or a full-throated, heavily distorted scream, there were definitely moments when you wished Grey might consider the wisdom of the old adage about less sometimes being more.

Maybe she has done. No one is going to call the contents of U a masterclass in opaque subtlety. In the first few minutes alone you get fizzing EDM synth noise, vocals that are heavily AutoTuned and cut up, the sound of a DJ backspinning a record, plunges into silence punctuated by laughter, and booming drums dosed with reverse echo over which Grey repeats the title of opening track Tell Me (U Want It) in the kind of hoarse menacing whisper with which teenage campers tend to be addressed in horror films, shortly before the owner of said whisper impales them with a garden implement. Notice is thus served that we’re still dealing with an artist with a thing for maximalism and overload.

But nonetheless, a certain degree of paring back has taken place. U sounds substantially less hair-raising than her previous work, perhaps as the result of a distinct musical shift. The emo/punk influence is more-or-less absent: a faint suggestion of it lingers around the chugging rhythm of Bodyfeeling and The Peace, the latter a song you can somehow imagine set to distorted guitars, rather than its beatless, Imogen Heap-ish assemblage of sampled voices. Instead, U’s musical north star seems to be late 90s/early 00s R&B, the fertile, experimental period dominated by Timbaland, the Neptunes and Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins. You can pick out echoes of the era everywhere, from the bright, No Scrubs-y acoustic guitar samples that weave through Hollywood Forever and Wish U Well, to the staccato vocals of Music and the spare, bumping rhythm of Innuendo (I Get U) to Do It’s grinding synth blare, a distant, noisier relation of the sound that powers Justin Timberlake’s Sexyback.

Grey certainly isn’t the only artist to look to that genre, in that era, for inspiration, but her take on it works incredibly well: further tricked out with AutoTune-overloaded vocals, dubstep electronics, beats that keep changing gear into speedy pop-house and chattering acid lines, it feels entirely modern, resolutely not a retro recreation. Moreover, dialling her sound down at least a little reveals more clearly how skilled a pop songwriter Grey is, something it was easy to overlook amid the aural bombardment of her past work. A genuine auteur – everything on U was written, performed and produced by her – you find yourself musing that Bodyfeeling or Do It are the kind of songs other pop artists would happily pay vast teams of professional songwriters vast sums of money for.

The lyrics too feel a little dialled down compared to her previous work. The story behind Wallsocket was so complex that its construction apparently required the use of flowcharts and whiteboards – or “some corkboard detective shit”, as Grey put it – but here the songs stick pretty fast to the theme of love, albeit expressed via some winningly original conceits. The Peace charts the progress of a relationship through a series of shared cigarettes; Hollywood Forever and Do It wittily ponder the topic of dating while at least moderately famous: “Am I in your playlist?” demands the latter. “Do you have Spotify?”

It would be nice to suggest that dialling everything down from 11 has resulted in an album that could shift April Grey from the realms of the moderately famous – a critically acclaimed artist deep in pop’s leftfield – towards a more mainstream kind of stardom. But trying to predict those shifts is a fool’s errand in 2026, and, besides, perhaps she’s happy where she is, entirely in charge and working to her own plan. It’s a plan that appears to be coming off: U is certainly a more interesting, accomplished and better-written pop album than most major pop artists have dished up of late”.

I am going to leave it there. Go and follow underscores and listen to U. There are a lot of fans in the U.K., so it would be wonderful it she played here at some point. The musical alter ego of the compelling and hugely inspiring April Harper Grey, I wonder what the rest of this year holds for her. After some American tour dates, perhaps there will be thoughts of more music or new dates announced. U is rightly being hailed as this modern masterpiece. You cannot argue with that. Those Pop artists who are stagnating, lacking real flair and distinction, really do need to…

FOLLOW her lead.

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Follow underscores

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/underscores/

TikTok:

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

Twitter:

https://x.com/underscoresplus

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7Dr19bFdqkkfREMITgY9Vg

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/7HfUJxeVTgrvhk0eWHFzV7?si=1jW-v0VmRrOFuDsPKB2DiQ

FEATURE: Spotlight: Chanel Yates

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

Chanel Yates

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I really love…

Chanel Yates, though I am fairly new to her music. I am spotlighting her now, as this year is going to be a huge one for Yates. Last year, she put out singles such as Colourblind and Big Girl Boots. In January, BBC Introducing named their Yorkshire artists to look out for. Chanel Yates was among a glittering array of artists who are going to make a big impression on the music industry:

“This Country Pop Queen ticked off some bucket list-level accomplishments throughout 2025, including topping the bill on our very own BBC Introducing stage at Reading and Leeds.

But, knowing Chanel, there will be no signs of slowing down, with a sold-out headline show already booked for February.

Just being in her presence for a short time can lead to a marked improvement in your mood as she embodies the sort of kindness and positivity I have only ever seen in correspondence with the great Dolly Parton.

Currently based in London, but hailing from Sheffield, she lists Alanis Morrisette, Kacey Musgraves, Kelsea Ballerini, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift and Megan Moroney among her many influences”.

There is so much to admire about Chanel Yates. Her music is filled with personality and nuance. You are immedietyl hit by it but, with every new listen, you get some different. I have never seen her live, though I can imagine she is a remarkable and hugely engaging performer. After such a busy 2025, this year is one where a whole host of new people have connected with her work and will spread the word. Once, Country music was seen as quite niche or uncool. However, with huge artists releasing Country albums, it shines a spotlight on the whole genre.

There are a couple of interviews from last year that I want to come to. I am going to move first to some further biography of the tremendous Chanel Yates. If you have not connected with her yet, then I would strongly urge you to and listen to her music. This is someone who is going to stand alongside our best and most popular artists very soon. There are few in music that are as instantly awe-inspiring as her:

“Chanel Yates is the pocket sized cowgirl everyone’s talking about. With a fast growing global fanbase and support from BBC Introducing and BBC Radio 1’s Future Pop, Chanel’s honest, no filter songwriting has made her one of the most exciting new voices to watch in country music.

Rooted in real life moments, heartbreak and humour, Chanel’s girl power anthems have resonated with fans around the world, gaining millions of streams and landing on top editorial playlists across Spotify and Apple Music. Chanel is creating a huge buzz in the UK and overseas with her relatable lyrics paired with a viral line dance for one of her latest records “Big Girl Boots.”

On stage, she brings her signature style and infectious energy to life, lighting up festivals like C2C, Tramlines, Reading and Leeds Festival, and most recently hitting the road across the UK and Europe on tour with Alexandra Kay. Whether she is playing sold out headline shows or writing in Nashville, Chanel continues to break genre boundaries.

After a breakout year of sold out shows, major festivals, and with new music on the way this year, Chanel Yates is THE one to watch. She’s the sister you call after a breakup, and your new bestie in country music”.

Country in the UK sat down with Chanel Yates last year. Talking about her then-new single, Colourblind, and reflecting on a year where she played some huge and important festivals, it was clear that a very special artist was in our midst. One that I can see dominating some massive U.S. stages and festivals very soon. It will be really exciting seeing where Chanel Yates will go from here:

“2025 has been a huge year for Chanel Yates where she has cemented her place as one of the hottest emerging acts in country music on this side of the Atlantic with her infectious and catchy melodies along with charming and fun on-stage performances. Through the course of the year, she made her debut at C2C: Country to Country, opened for Alexandra Kay on her extensive UK tour, has had mainstream radio airplay on both BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 2, had viral success with her hit “Big Girl Boots” along with playing Reading and Leeds festivals which are two of the UK’s largest multi-genre events.
As the year draws to a close, Chanel has just released her latest track “Colourblind” and also announced her first headline show for February at The Grace in London so we had plenty to catchup on and look forward to when we hung out with her on Zoom.
How you doing girl?

“I'm good, I'm really good. My tickets went up for sale for my show today and we've sold out the pre-sale already which is very fun so have just been working on that this morning.”

Yay! Well done you, it’s main sale tomorrow isn’t it and it’s at The Grace in Highbury. It’s a cool venue, with a bit of WWE style steel cage like structure around the bar where you think it could be chaos if things get too rowdy. Selling out in the pre-sale is amazing but getting to do your first headline show somewhere like there is a really big thing and one of those things that really shows you how things are progressing.

“Yeah for sure, it's a good one, I'm very excited.”

I know I've seen you about a bunch at various things, but since we last like spoke properly, which was like in March, I guess, you've been super, super busy, so let's start with the one that really stands out to me. Reading and Leeds, which obviously is huge, it's  probably the biggest festival here outside of Glastonbury and although it's multi-genre, it's typically not somewhere that country, Americana and even commercial pop artists tend to feature too much. How was that in terms of playing and also, how was that as a crowd for an artist like you compared to what you're normally used to at country events?

“Yeah, it was really, really cool. I got to represent country music at a festival that, like you say is not really known for that. It was a very special moment and I got to play with a band with my new music which was amazing because I have the most talented friends. My friend Caleb on the drums, Tom on guitar and Ollie was on my playback for one of the shows. It was just crazy, it was really fun and Chappell Roan was headlining the big stage and it was a great crossover because her fans, I'd say are very similar to my fans so there's a really cool crossover there with people wearing cowboy hats, boots and everything. So, they stopped and saw me wearing a cowboy hat and boots where they were like, oh, this is my kind of music. It was really fun to be able to own the stage in that sense and headline on my first time playing Reading and Leeds, It was really fun.”

You mentioned you played with a band there, is that something that we're going to see at the show at The Grace?

“Yeah, I would say I'd expect a band. It's very fun to just have my boys on stage with me or the girls if I end up getting girls in the band. It’s too fun so definitely looking out for a band.”

Another cool thing this year, was going out on the road with Alexandra Kay and I thought you were great when I saw you at Shepherd’s Bush. We also love you neon sign and it looks so cool! I love AK, I got to chat with her in Berlin last year and she’s so much fun but what’s she like to tour with?

“She's really great, her team are amazing and I’m thankful for having the opportunity to be on the road with them and make really good friends with them. It's lovely to be in that environment and we played some really epic venues, like O2 Shepherd’s Bush has been on the bucket list for a while and we got to tick that off, which was so fun. It was me and Ollie, he controls all my playback and everything runs smooth. He's always watching and it was great, it was really fun time.”

As well as the headline show being announced, we’ve had some new music, so give us the backstory being “Colourblind” and where the idea came from.

“Yeah it came at a point of me just trying to write a lot of new music. I spent a lot of time in Nashville, then when I came back, we got in the studio and we were like, okay, well, I need a new record to put out, what could it be? We started writing “Colourblind” and I was kind of in a place where I'd released like a revenge anthem with “Shotgun Seat” and “Big Girl Boots” are very powerful anthems, and I thought, we need another. “Colourblind” is that don't get bitter, get better, kind of mindset. It's just like, I don't need to prove anything to you that I'm doing better than you, because clearly, I'm just doing better than you. I think it's just fun to be like the nonchalant big sister of all of the three songs that I've released this year. I love it because in the chorus, there is very playful lyricism with colour theory in there, so like, I saw red when you walked out then I was down and blue when I was crying on the couch. It just uses colour of a lot, I love colour and every corset was a different colour in my show so I just love incorporating colour and I think I got to do that with “Colourblind” so it's very fun.”

You'd said that this was the third of three songs this year, are we building towards something bigger and more extended with them?

“I'm not too sure yet. I'm working on a lot of stuff and I'm kind of compiling as it goes along, where whatever happens next year, happens next year, but I think there's a lot of new music that I will be putting out next year because I just love it. I think that “Big Girl Boots” and “Shotgun Seat” have set a really fun wave for my sound and I think it's just been so cool to be able to see them connect with my fans in a different way. So, yeah, I expect lots of new music next year. I'm not sure what it will look like but I have plans in my head and I'm very excited so we'll see where it goes”.

I am going to end with Headliner and their interview from last year. Focusing on a British Country-Pop artist making waves in a genre dominated by U.S. artists, there were so many reasons to be proud of Chanel Yates. As they say, she is a “fast-growing global fanbase and support from BBC Introducing and BBC Radio 1’s Future Pop, Yates’ honest, no-filter, girl-power songwriting has made her one of the most exciting new voices in country music”:

“Where did your love of country music come from?

My parents never listened to country music. It wasn’t a thing in our household. They loved pop; my mum’s a massive Take That fan, and so was my dad. The first albums that I got for Christmas were Black Eyed Peas and JLS. It was all very pop-related. Avril Lavigne, too – I had her on repeat. Let Go is one of the best albums ever.

Then I found Alanis Morissette, who was set in the pop space and completely dominated the songwriting from that perspective, and then I discovered Kacey Musgraves. That’s when I realised I wanted to be a songwriter. Jon Bellion is one of my favourite artists of all time, and I was the biggest die-hard One Direction fan. I’ve carried that into my music now. It’s pop-country. Country music is the core of it, but there are a lot of very poppy hooks that I include and try to blend.

Country music is having a huge resurgence in the mainstream UK charts thanks to artists like Beyoncé, Morgan Wallen, and Post Malone. How has it been to see that rise in mainstream popularity over here?

It’s the best thing in the world, because there are just so many country artists coming to the UK now. I got to tour with Alexandra Kay, and that was the biggest dream ever – being able to do that with a US country artist. It’s so cool to see it all happening. Jessie Murph, Megan Moroney coming over here, and Zach Bryan at Hyde Park – it’s amazing.

Your songwriting is based on your real experiences. Do you get used to revealing personal things about yourself through your music, especially if people you know can guess who the songs are written about?

I see music as therapy. All my songs are about something I’ve been through. People in my life go, “Oh, that’s about this person,” or “I know exactly who this song’s about.” People who don’t know you personally won’t know who it’s about, but they’ll know it’s about someone.

It’s great to be able to write about real things and to write what you’re going through. People relate to it because your experience isn’t unique. Somebody else has experienced it. Somebody else has been cheated on. Somebody else has been lied to. Somebody else has had a really toxic partner, or a really great partner, or been so in love. Those experiences are so universal. Songwriting ties it all together, especially in this genre. Storytelling is the core of it.

Colourblind is a post-breakup anthem celebrating confidence, self-worth, and growth. What were you thinking about when you wrote this song?

I just got back from Nashville, and I did a lot of sessions out there. I came back feeling really inspired and needed a song to follow Shotgun Seat. I wanted it to be a big anthem. We wrote this in the studio, and we all got goosebumps listening to it.

When you get that feeling, it’s very rare, so I just ran with it and created Colourblind. To me, the lyrics – “If you’re thinking that the grass is greener on the other side, baby, you’re colourblind – just made sense. The grass isn’t actually greener; it just looks different from what it is.

Big Girl Boots was a rage girl anthem; walking away from someone, putting on your big girl boots. Shotgun Seat was about setting fire to a car.

With Colourblind, I wanted something a bit more nonchalant. I wanted it to be like, “Yeah, well, you left me – joke’s on you, I’m the better person.” So to me, it’s that sassy, nonchalant big-sister energy in the song. It’s about someone thinking they’re better off without you, but really, they’re wrong.

What can you reveal about any upcoming new music?

What I can tell you is there’s a lot of new music on the way. 2026 is definitely going to be full of new stuff, and I’m really excited to put it out. Hopefully it connects – fingers crossed.

Away from music, what do you like to do?

My life is completely consumed by music; I don’t even know what I do outside of it. I play golf. It’s a nice time because you’re off your phone, just hitting balls. It’s really good for getting anger out, too. Honestly, if you’re angry, go to the golf course, smash some balls, and probably get even more frustrated because they don’t go where you want them to [laughs]. But I love that.

The gym is super important to me as well. I love to be strong. When you’re on the road, you need to be able to carry stuff, and of course, you need to be fit to run around on stage for an hour. So yeah, the gym and golf are my two little pastimes”.

You just know Chanel Yates is going to be a massive artist. We will see many albums and some headline shows for sure. I am writing this before the first taste of new music in 2026. Caputing so much attention and love right now, here is an immensely talented musician who should be…

ON your radar.

__________

Follow Chanel Yates

Official:

https://www.chanelyates.com/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/chanelyates_

TikTok:

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

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/ChanelYatesMusic

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLQNOfGIUzE_LJKYWjLqNbw

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/5YABtAJlBJAzqxfIJA4nQd?si=iZCPN-mwRx-MqXHwPyR3Vg

FEATURE: The Voice of Frank Sinatra: Why a Modern Interpretation of the Big Band Sound Could Work Today

FEATURE:

 

 

The Voice of Frank Sinatra

IN THIS PHOTO: Frank Sinatra

Why a Modern Interpretation of the Big Band Sound Could Work Today

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I missed the actual anniversary…

IN THIS PHOTO: Seth MacFarlane released Lush Life: The Lost Sinatra Arrangements in 2025/PHOTO CREDIT: Pamela Littky

but Frank Sinatra’s debut studio album, The Voice of Frank Sinatra, turned eighty on 4th March. Its anniversary month has made me think about that type of singer and how we do not really have a modern-day Frank Sinatra. Maybe more prevalent and relevant in the 1940s and 1950s, Pop groups like The Beatles and Rock & Roll artists like Buddy Holly revolutionised music and took it in a new direction. That might be an over-simplification, though there was a period and era where artists like Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. were at the forefront. I grew up listening to songs from these artists. Julie London too. Not a huge part of my upbringing, I do think that these artists often gets reduced to being seen as Easy Listening. When popular music changed and songs became shorter and sharper, perhaps artists like Sinatra seemed old hat. Today, Pop music is very much the dominant force. Though we have Jazz and Adult Contemporary artists who one could say channel the legends of decades past. If Easy Listening is not really a genre now, you can see a range of Adult Contemporary artists who, in some ways, provide a modern-day version of the crooners and icons of the past. One could say knowing Frank Sinatra is a generational thing. However, there is something about his voice and the gravitas that defies age and the time period. It is a shame that his music would be seen as niche or fringe now. Something that is very unlikely to be played by younger audiences. I have nothing against modern Pop. It is fantastic. However, there is this reliance on songs that are faster. If that is the right word. Listen to Frank Sinatra’s work and there are songs that unfolds. They have a particular dynamic and tempo. Not something you hear much in today’s Pop. Artists like Lady Gaga have gone in that direction. Her albums with the late Tony Bennett. Jazz standards. Modern artists like Samara Joy have that blend of nostalgic Jazz and Easy Listening with modern sensibilities.

Another reason why I was musing on this is because of someone in the contemporary climate who is very much influenced by Frank Sinatra. One might associate Seth MacFarlane with his comedy. However, he is a huge music fan with a fantastic voice. His debut album, Music Is Better Than Words, is fifteen in September. He has released nine studio albums. The most recent, 2025’s Lush Life: The Lost Sinatra Arrangements, is one I will focus on. It is a remarkable listen, and it made me wonder – having heard the richness of the performances – why the type of music Sinatra was famed for is dying. Is it seen as outdated or uncool? Music has evolved, so do audiences today have the patience or taste for Sinatra? I do love MacFarlane’s albums. There is something hopefully romantic and wonderful about the holiday albums he has released. So many major artists put out Christmas albums where they cover the standards. However, his holiday albums, especially 2023’s We Wish You the Merriest (with Elizabeth Gillies) are filled with so much warmth and joy. Hearing the two sing! I do wonder, for a possible tenth studio album (if he has one planned), whether MacFarlane will write some originals and marry his love of Big Band and Jazz. I guess that is the correct genre denomination. Rather than ‘Easy Listening’ it is ‘Big Band’. The rush and majesty; the cool of the orchestra and that rousing and spine-tingling sound they summon. You can hear Bobby Darin, Sammy Kaye, and Ella Fitzgerald in his voice too. I would love to hear him write some lyrics. I do feel there is a place for Big Band today. A modern version. So much of today’s Pop seems samey, stale or lacking in emotional richness and a certain spark. People assuming Big Band and Jazz is always slow or dull. That is not the case. Listening to Seth MacFarlane’s albums and how he interprets some of the greats. Puts his own stamp on them and really provokes a range of emotions and reactions.

Thinking of The Voice of Frank Sinatra and how it is now eighty. It made me wonder if we can revitalise or repurpose the sound of an artist who made his debut at a time when the world was still recovering from a World War. There are a couple of promotional interview with Seth MacFarlane that I want to bring in. Giving us an understanding why he embarked on the project and the meaning of these lost Frank Sinatra arrangements. Jazz Times sat down with MacFarlane around the album’s release last summer:

“Lush Life: The Lost Sinatra Arrangements (Fuzzy Door/Republic/Verve), the first fruits of his labor, started its journey when MacFarlane acquired the Sinatra music archive from the family estate of the Chairman of the Board and its fervent watchdog, Tina Sinatra, in 2018. Before taking hold on the sainted job of curating the Sinatra song legend, MacFarlane discovered that over 100 never-recorded or finished takes on arrangements from Nelson Riddle, Billy May and Don Costa were in the estate vaults, a series of “little black pencil dots on paper” that MacFarlane and his team brought to life.

As an artist working within the theatrical realm, the emotional drama and nuance of Sinatra’s finest vocal interpretive work is something that MacFarlane never takes for granted. “As a singer and an interpreter, no one can touch him,” he says.

“There’s a reason that he stands alone, still, amid a cast of characters from that era that were all truly great vocalists. There is just something in the way that Sinatra acts out a story, the way that he allows the role of the orchestrator and the band to play a part in the recording — an achievement only rivaled by Nat ‘King’ Cole — that makes his recordings a uniquely rich experience.”

Beyond Ol’ Blue Eyes

At no time during Lush Life or his other eight albums do you hear MacFarlane impersonating Ol’ Blue Eyes and his sauntering, clearly enunciated phrasing. Shared swagger aside, there is no imitating Sinatra — which is pretty great when you consider MacFarlane’s power of mimicry as an animation voiceover artist.

“I think that every vocalist post-1955 who does this music is influenced by, and indebted to, Sinatra in the same way that every animated television series post-1990 is influenced by The Simpsons,” Seth says, touching on a highlight of his day job. “We’re always going to be in the shadow of this towering figure who rewrote the vocal rulebook. I’m glad that I did this Sinatra album now because I’ve had time to settle into a style, a method of interpreting lyrics that brings my own vibe to the table.”

Besides, Sinatra is not the only object of MacFarlane’s reverence. Surprisingly, he brings up lounge singer Steve Lawrence as well as Gordon MacRae, the actor and booming baritone behind two of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s most masculine musicals, Oklahoma! and Carousel. “MacRae’s was a voice that I was in awe of because it’s always accessible even after a night of drinking — and then he’d end each song on a silky falsetto note that came from out of nowhere. He had the range of an opera singer at their peak, yet MacRae was singing pop music and showtunes. Steve Lawrence too is wildly underrated. This was a guy who sounded so relaxed and at ease, yet had a rich, natural instrument. He never phoned it in. When I record, that’s what I watch out for. They made it sound so easy, yet if you analyze the recordings, they’re never giving less than 100 percent. As Sinatra pointed out, there’s a big difference between crooning and singing. The swagger? It’s secondary. It’s garnish.”

The Inner Sanctum

Though forever bewitched by Sinatra, it was MacFarlane’s getting to know Tina and Frank Sinatra Jr. (who co-starred several times as himself on Family Guy) that brought him closer, in a literal and figurative sense.

“I had seen Frank Jr. on The Sopranos and thought if he had done that show, that maybe he would do ours,” says MacFarlane. “He did, and came in ready to go and up for anything. We wrote songs for him and he sang with Brian and Stewie, so that was a blast. He was also a walking encyclopedia of music from the big-band era and the golden age of vocal standards. The orchestras from that era that he turned me onto, that I’d never heard of, were amazing. Like the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra. Who were they? Frank Jr. knew, and he put them on my radar.” [Ed.: Eddie Sauter and Bill Finegan, both important composer-arrangers, co-led this sprawling, money-losing, quasi-Third Stream project throughout the 1950s.]

When Frank Jr. passed away, MacFarlane got closer to Tina. “She’s an amazing steward of her father’s legacy but also a great hang. She can smell bullshit and what she saw in me was a love of her father’s music. And on his 100th birthday, with an orchestra in tow, we got to sing many of Frank’s favorites — that’s a cool way to have a birthday party.”

At that very party, Tina gave MacFarlane a ring with the Sinatra family crest, of which there are fleetingly few. “Tony Bennett got one. I was immensely grateful… I wear it during every live show and recording I do.”
He was asked to acquire the Sinatra music archive from the family estate — some 1,800-plus charts and more — and MacFarlane grew interested in the songs written or arranged for Sinatra that fell by the wayside. Gathering MacFarlane’s longtime producer-arranger Joel McNeely, conductor John Wilson and engineer Rich Breen (who insisted on reel-to-reel tape), the team begin to dissect the once-lost arrangements of Nelson Riddle (nine), Billy May (two) and Don Costa (one).

“We knew that this was something we couldn’t screw up,” says MacFarlane. “It had to be done in the way Nelson Riddle would want these arrangements to be heard. And we had fun doing it.”

MacFarlane and the team were guided by Sinatra Enterprise archivist Charles Pignone when dealing with songs like Gus Kahn’s “Flying Down to Rio,” which was cut for the Come Fly with Me album but never used. There was a gorgeously odd Nelson Riddle arrangement of Johnny Mandel’s “The Shadow of Your Smile” that MacFarlane is planning for another volume. There was the melancholy “How Did She Look?” planned for the ruminating romance epic Only the Lonely but never cut. “There were 1,200 boxes of Sinatra’s that were mostly unmarked, so the only way to know what was there was to play them. So we got an orchestra to play them, and that was a real voyage of discovery.”

Riddle orchestrations such as “Shadows,” “Who’s in Your Arms Tonight” and the longing-filled “How Did She Look?” from 1958, as well as “When Joanna Loved Me” from 1977, are among the arranger’s finest moments. But it is Billy Strayhorn’s “Lush Life” that really tested Frank”.

Paste spoke with Seth MacFarlane last October about Lush Life: The Lost Sinatra Arrangements. It is not about impersonation or trying to replicate Frank Sinatra. I do feel like the authenticity and musicianship of a band or orchestra seems to be the anthesis of a lot of processed and digital music. I think this was the first MacFarlane album not recorded out of Abbey Road Studios. A cost and inaccessibility might put most artists off. Recording at a world-famous studio and hiring a lot of musicians is out of the reach of most. I have asked before why we do not have a modern equivalent of Steely Dan. The same reasons. Many days and weeks in a studio honing songs with multiple players. That said, listen to the results on Seth MacFarlane’s latest album, and it makes me yearn for more of it nearer the mainstream:

“It’s rare for anything in a contemporary space to have so many bodies—so many players—in the same room together like they are on Lush Life. How does this record compositionally compare to what you’ve done before? These songs—they’re pop standards, really—were composed by Nelson Riddle, Billy May, and Don Costa. What was the challenge for you when it came to stepping into them and embodying and honoring what they are?

It was twofold. Thank God I did this record now, instead of ten, fifteen years ago, because I really wouldn’t have known what to do with it. I hadn’t acquired the experience or the knowledge that I’ve learned from all of these musicians over the years that I’ve worked with, and certainly from Joel McNeely. But it was trying to figure out how to keep enough of myself and the tone and style that I had established over the eight or so albums that I had released over the past fifteen years present, and, at the same time, recognizing that this is music that was written for a particular instance, for a particular performer, by arrangers who had their own styles. Musically, a lot of it was looking for clues in a Billy May chart. He uses these wet-sounding sax lines; you hear it a lot on his arrangements. We would use that as an anchor, to figure out how fast or slow he might have wanted this chart to have been played. Sometimes, the dynamics on these score sheets literally say “uptempo,” which could mean 80 million different things, right? It’s up to you to figure it out.

And, with all these guys having passed away, it’s a lot of guesswork. You have to piece together what you know of their individual styles and cross-index it with what’s on these scores, that no one has ever played, and try to read their minds, basically. The same was true with Sinatra. Vocally, I was really trying to honor what it was that he would have wanted to hear, because he was so particular about his orchestrations. At the same time, I was making sure that it didn’t feel like a Vegas cover show, or that I was just doing an impression. It was this Goldilocks zone that I had to exist in, musically. Hopefully we pulled it off.

When it comes to craft, be it the craft of the charts or the craft of your interpretations of them, what do these songs best exhibit about that, by your approximation?

It’s really the art of the arrangement. It’s the art of orchestration, which, in many ways, is kind of lost for a number of reasons—one being for the same reason that melodic writing is lost: It just is of another time and of another world. It’s also just not necessary, in many ways, for the kind of music that we produce today. What always astounds me is that, if you pull Sinatra’s vocal out of the recording and you listen to just what’s going on with the orchestra, it’s amazingly intricate and amazingly detailed. And, in some cases, it sounds like you’re listening to a fucking symphony. On some of these ballads, it’s just amazing.

Probably the simplest litmus test that you can do is, if you go to a karaoke bar and listen to the “orchestration” or arrangement from your pick of pop songs today—to take nothing away from that music, it’s a different style—it’s comparatively simple. There’s a simplicity to it and a steadiness to it that doesn’t really deviate from itself a whole lot. Listening to something like “Spring is Here,” there’s an insane amount going on in that orchestra, even without Sinatra.

Craft-wise, it’s about 75-percent of the reason that I do this. I love orchestras. My favorite part of working on a film or working on a TV show is going to that soundstage and hearing the orchestra play, because it’s the one part of the process that I really have nothing to do with. A lot of times, I just get to go and listen. It’s the part that still has some mystique for me. Every other part of the filmmaking process, I now know the ingredients of the soup. I know how they’re doing it—and it’s helpful, because I have to, oftentimes, do it myself—but it takes away some of the excitement that I used to feel, going to the movies and having no idea how they’re doing these things. The one thing that still has that feeling of mystery is the musical process. When I give my composer a finished episode of a show or a finished film, and they come back, if it’s a film, eight weeks later with a full score that is just so astonishing and so intricate, and I hear the orchestra play it, I don’t really know how they’re doing it. And I certainly don’t know how they’re doing it that quickly. That part of the craft is still the most affecting for me. Again, some of this is because of ignorance—I’m able to preserve some of what I loved about making music and TV shows that’s now gone, because I do know how it all works.

I remember being thirteen years old and seeing the cover of Music Is Better Than Words for the first time. It was huge for me. I bought Chet Baker Sings on vinyl because it reminded me of that. When I was in high school, you were showing people my age how cool it was to sing standards by Rodgers and Hammerstein, or Lerner and Loewe. I don’t think I understood why that meant something back then, not until I went to and graduated from college. We had no idea back then. But so much of that style that you’d cultivated for yourself, and have been tending to since, was so often in response to Sinatra’s inventions and what groundwork he laid for vocalists seventy years ago. Between that first record of yours and Lush Life now, what’s your favorite thing that’s changed about your musicality?

I had the same experience when I was a kid too, because my parents introduced me to all of these old films and musicals—things that I was receptive to but didn’t really appreciate until I was in college and started to understand what it was that I had been hearing. More than anything, it’s an understanding of casting musicians, which is something I had really no clue about. Today, I at least have this skill of, like, “Okay, if we need a guitarist for this type of recording, is it Larry Koonse? Is it Graham Dechter? We need a drummer. We have Peter Erskine, we have Ryan Shaw. We need a woodwind player. Is it Dan Higgins? Is it Brian Scanlon?” These are names that I wasn’t really aware of fifteen years ago. I mean, I was aware of them, but I hadn’t dug in deep and hadn’t really gotten the education of each individual player and what their skill set is. It really is like casting an actor. It’s right down to the song. If you’re doing this kind of song, you probably want this trombonist.

It’s the art of orchestration. I was able to really learn about what it is that comprises the gears of this machinery, and why an orchestra sounds the way it does playing a particular piece of music, and why it is that old recordings sound the way they do, and why they have that warmth that’s so often hard to duplicate. If you hear somebody making a big band recording today, there’s a weird antiseptic quality to it. You can tell, instantly, that it was made today. There are a lot of little elements that we learned over the years that, by the time we got to Lush Life, we were able to use to make sure that this sounded as authentic as it could.

And that’s down to how you record it. Rather than recording digitally, we used reel-to-reel tape. They would haul these old reel-to-reel recorders out of the basement of Capitol Records or Abbey Road, wipe off the dust, and record it. That little hiss that you hear is actually part of it. It’s how you mic the band; how much vibrato the string players and woodwind players use when they’re recording; and, above all, it’s making the time to rehearse with the band. Even on film scores back in the forties, fifties, and sixties, you had all these contract orchestras that were just there every day. If you were a part of the Warner Brothers or MGM orchestras, you were sitting next to the same person every single day for years. So, what you had was an ensemble that could sometimes be ninety players that would have the tightness of nine, like a small jazz combo. Achieving that kind of sound is something that, in tiny increments, I learned over the course of the past fifteen years. And that’s why I’m very happy that this opportunity didn’t come about when Music Is Better Than Words came out, because I don’t think it would have been anywhere near as good”.

Eighty years after Frank Sinatra’s debut album, and you can feel his influence running through certain corners of music today. Whilst we do not have a modern Rat Pack (a 1960s group of entertainers led by Frank Sinatra, featuring Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop), you can detect the legacy and impact of Frank Sinatra on modern artists. Though perhaps not as prolifically and prevalently as when he was in his pomp. Seth MacFarlane’s music keeps alive the Big Band sound and that cool. Rather than mimic and replicate Ol’ Blue Eyes, MacFarlane keeps his spirit and genius alive, though he does it…

HIS way.

FEATURE: I’m Waiting for the Day: The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds at Sixty

FEATURE:

 

 

I’m Waiting for the Day

The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds at Sixty

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1966 was an incredible year for music…

IN THIS PHOTO: The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds photoshoot by George Jerman at San Diego Zoo, California, in February 1966/PHOTO CREDIT: Capitol Photo Archives (via TIME)

where two bands in particular were dominant. Bob Dylan was one of the most successful solo artists but, when it came to groups, The Beatles in the U.K. and The Beach Boys in the U.S. were ruling. The Beatles released one of their greatest albums, Revolver, in August 1966. An album inspired by The Beatles was The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds. That was released on 16th May, 1966. I want to mark sixty years of a masterpiece by exploring it in depth. Wouldn’t It Be Nice, Sloop John B, and God Only Knows are perhaps the best-known and admired songs from the album. A chart success and critically acclaimed, in years since its release, Pet Sounds is seen one of the most important albums ever. The production of Brian Wilson makes Pet Sounds what it is. In terms of his ambitious and vision. Symphonic, epic, beautiful and multi-layered, it is a big reason why Pet Sounds has endured for decades. Apologies if I have included this information in previous features. However, it is worth revisiting. I want to start with this feature and their view that Pet Sounds remains a work of art. Lacking any commercial ambition, it is this experimental album that arguably changed music:

“The Beach Boys were probably the last group on earth expected to start a musical revolution. After all, they had built their renown as clean-living all-American kids delivering harmonized hymns that worshipped surfing, girls, and hot rods – the holy trinity of Californian teenagers in the early 60s – over a rocking backbeat that bore a tangible trace of rock and roller Chuck Berry‘s musical DNA. And yet, in May 1966, the Hawthorne-hailing group – consisting of the Wilson brothers Brian, Carl, and Dennis, together with their cousin Mike Love and family friend Al Jardine – unleashed an audacious sonic experiment they called Pet Sounds. It was a collection of songs that would quickly cause a paradigm shift in pop.

Few pop albums – before or since – have enjoyed the notoriety of Pet Sounds, which for decades has been showered with almost every accolade imaginable and continues to be a high achiever in magazine polls ranking the best pop and rock LPs of all time. It is pop music’s equivalent to what Citizen Kane is to the world of cinema; a universally recognized masterpiece that defined a new era while simultaneously redefining the art form it represented.

Despite its fame, Pet Sounds still remains an unexplored country for some, who may have heard of the album but are unaware of its significance. For the uninitiated, then, this article intends to answer some of the fundamental questions about what is undoubtedly the Beach Boys’ – and possibly pop’s – greatest album.

Why is Pet Sounds so important?

Quite simply, Pet Sounds ushered in a new approach to album making that revolutionized popular music. It was shaped by the musical sensibilities of songwriter/producer Brian Wilson, whose collection of carefully crafted pocket pop symphonies was unlike anything the Beach Boys – or any band for that matter – had done before. It brought about seismic changes to the landscape of pop music with its unusual sonics, novel textures, and structural innovations.

Pet Sounds didn’t follow the format of conventional pop albums of the day; It wasn’t merely a collection of disparate songs that combined a couple of hit singles with reheated covers, as was the norm in the mid-’60s; rather. It was conceived as a coherent work of art where every song – even every note – counted. Nothing was inconsequential; even the album’s two instrumental tracks, “Let’s Go Away For A While” and “Pet Sounds,” were integral to the record’s narrative arc.

How and when did the album get written?

Brian Wilson began writing the material for the album alongside a new collaborator, lyricist Tony Asher, when the rest of The Beach Boys were performing in Japan and Hawaii in January 1966. (Wilson, a nervous flyer, had quit touring with the band a year earlier). One of the tracks that ended up on the album – “Sloop John B.,” an adaptation of a traditional Bahamian folk song – was already in the can, cut in 1965, but the remaining 12 songs were recorded at three Hollywood studios (United Western Recorders, Gold Star Studios, and Sunset Sound Recorders) between January 18 and April 13, 1966, with Chuck Blitz engineering.

What influences shaped the album?

Producer Phil Spector, famed for his signature “wall of sound” approach to making records, had a profound impact on Brian Wilson’s production style and directly influenced Pet Sounds‘ multi-layered recording technique as well as its cavernous reverb effects. Another, perhaps bigger, influence on Pet Sounds was The Beatles‘ groundbreaking Rubber Soul album. Wilson heard it in late 1965, and later described it in his autobiography, I Am Brian Wilson, as “probably the greatest record ever…where everything flows together and everything works.” Ultimately, however, Pet Sounds transcended its influences”.

I am going to come to Classic Rock and their feature from last year. Also heralding how this experimental album was not aiming for the charts or to be like any other Pop album, “Brian Wilson threw away his Beach Boys’ template, assembled a battalion of top session players, and began recording an all-time classic”. Sixty years after its release, can you say that any other album sounds like it? Even if The Beatles’ Revolver and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) revolutionised culture and defined the 1960s, I feel Pet Sounds has something special about it no other album does:

“I used to refer to him as the Stalin of the studio,” laughs Mike Love, Wilson’s cousin and who sang on many of the Beach Boys hits. “He was totally in command up to Pet Sounds and Smile [the legendarily aborted project Wilson undertook after Pet Sounds, with collaborator Van Dyke Parks]. After that, the influence of LSD made him withdrawn, a recluse almost.”

Wilson talks in terse monosyllables, at this moment eager to be anywhere else but here being interviewed about his most famous and most lauded work. At times he can seem like a fidgety, barely interested kid at school – Adult Child is the name of an unreleased album that Wilson worked on simultaneously to Smile (another unissued Wilson album, which came out in bootleg form in 1992, was titled Sweet Insanity) – but he focuses in fits and starts as he recalls the highlights of that momentous period.

Wouldn’t It Be Nice might have been the opener on Pet Sounds, but side one closer Sloop John B was the first track to completed. A cover of an old folk song, it was the anomaly on this song cycle about love and hope, regret and sorrow, and yet its lustrous orchestration was typical of the album.

The other Beach Boys – Brian’s brothers Carl (guitar) and Dennis (drums), plus Johnston, Love and Al Jardine (guitar) – may have barely contributed instrumentally to the album (That’s Not Me was one of their few showcases as musicians), but their signature vocal harmonies throughout are stunning: on the hymnal You Still Believe In Me they sound like a choir; the chord sequence for Don’t Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder) was so affecting it reduced Brian’s then-wife Marilyn to tears; I Know There’s An Answer was originally going to be called Hang On To Your Ego, but it was Love who apparently deemed it too weird and druggy and insisted on the change; I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times was the perfect title for this staggeringly beautiful song about alienation.

There were two instrumentals on Pet Sounds: Let’s Go Away For A While, which nodded to that other sublime 60s melodist Burt Bacharach, and the title track, briefly mooted as a James Bond theme (with the title Run James Run). Finally, there was Caroline, No, a deeply autobiographical song – the only one on the album to have lyrics written by Brian – full of yearning for a girl, and a past, that could never be recovered.

It was actually released as a Brian Wilson solo single, but, as he recalls, it barely charted. “It didn’t go over very well,” he says. “But it was a very pretty tune.”

Mike Love, who wrote the words for many of the Beach Boys’ songs before Pet Sounds, was a voracious reader himself. Although as a lyricist he’s best known for early hits such as Fun, Fun, Fun and California Girls, which crystallised the idea of the Beach Boys as frothy pleasure seekers, it was Love who, having listened to Wilson’s deeply sad music for the pre-Pet Sounds ballad The Warmth Of The Sun, wrote a poignant lyric for it about loss (it was written on the eve of the assassination of US president John F Kennedy). And it was Love who wrote the words to Pet Sounds songs Wouldn’t It Be Nice, I Know There’s An Answer and I’m Waiting For The Day, which essayed a sort of pop existentialism.

“I was reading just about every kind of philosophy there was, from Rosicrucian to Vedic, and poets such as Emerson,” Love recalls of the time. “I guess that’s what made me the songwriting partner for Brian, because I had a natural affinity for concepts and lyrics.”

Love would write the lyrics to Wilson’s next sonic departure, Good Vibrations, a boy-girl love song wrapped in LSD clothing, all psychedelic imagery and flower-power vibes. He notes the two factions in the Beach Boys: those who experimented with stimulants (the Wilson brothers), and the Love/Jardine/Johnston axis that didn’t”.

I will finish with this review from Treblezine, as it is a really interesting read. I wonder how people will write about Pet Sounds ahead of its sixtieth anniversary on 16th May. I must have heard songs from Pet Sounds  when I was a child. I could sense then how significant the album was:

“For most of my adult life, I haven’t been someone who cried often. It’s not a masculinity thing—that’s never mattered much to me. I don’t feel weird about telling friends I love them, giving them a warm embrace or sharing my insecurities, and perhaps that vulnerability can still come across as guarded. But my natural demeanor is low-key and easy-going, a quality that’s been an asset as a journalist—I tend to think I put interview subjects at ease—and during some of the most trying crises of young adulthood.

It wasn’t until my thirties that I began to notice a change. On an otherwise uneventful weekday morning I found myself tearing up while listening to Angel Olsen’s “Windows,” a song that’s delicate and beautiful in its simple message to find a positive ray of light to hang onto. I can’t explain exactly why it hit me so directly in that moment and burrowed directly into a part of myself that even I never see, but I couldn’t fight it. That cool exterior was starting to fracture, and I began to notice those high-pressure emotional leaks happening more often. Like whenever I watch Anya try and frustratedly fail to understand death and grieving in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode, “The Body.” Or when Tina shows up to Louise’s poetry reading on Bob’s Burgers‘ “The Plight Before Christmas.” I barely held it together while recently watching Ratboys perform the title track of their last album The Window, and then on the drive home felt that same catch in my throat when I heard Waxahatchee’s “Right Back to It.” It’s a weird thing to suddenly find yourself hostage to an image or a timbre or a melody or a harmony. I should probably be used to it now, but I’m still adjusting to this relatively new norm.

When I saw Brian Wilson perform The Beach Boys‘ landmark 1966 album Pet Sounds in its entirety in San Diego in 2016, however, I knew what was coming, and yet I still wasn’t prepared for it. For the first 11 songs, the legendary Beach Boys songwriter, backed by a band that also featured his former bandmate Al Jardine, kept it light and breezy, flipping through the group’s catalog of songs both beachy (“California Girls”) and baroque (“Heroes and Villains”), even leading a sing-along of “Row Your Boat” before kicking off the main event with “Wouldn’t It Be Nice?” In fact, he even rowed that very boat again just before “God Only Knows.” But once he sang that opening line—”I may not always love you/But as long as there are stars above you…“—my defenses collapsed on that warm summer evening, the dam not so much breaking as springing a leak that I haven’t been able to successfully patch.

If the songs Wilson wrote for [Pet Sounds‘] planned follow-up, Smile, were teenage symphonies to God, as he famously said, the songs on Pet Sounds comprise an operetta of disillusionment.

A quick survey on social media of friends and colleagues who attended the show reported very much the same thing. Brian Wilson, his voice weathered from age and decades of trauma, could still evoke such powerful emotional reactions in cynical millennial and Gen-X musicians and journalists. Pet Sounds, Wilson’s greatest achievement in a career of many highs, has that power.

There are millions, billions of words written about Pet Sounds for its innovations in pop-song arrangements and lyrical introspection—all of which are true. (Except for the ones decrying it as overrated, but such is the burden of a legendary set of music.) In that sense, it’s much like The Beatles’ Revolver, released that same year, one of two 1966 albums that forever changed the landscape of pop music and whose influence remains palpable in music made more than 50 years later. In fact, the two artists played a ping-ponging game of influencing each other, Wilson first taking inspiration from The Beatles’ own Rubber Soul, and then Paul McCartney being inspired to write “Here, There and Everywhere” after hearing “God Only Knows.”

There are perhaps just as many but arguably still not enough about how this is a record about feelings more than chord charts, about being saved by love and love that can’t be saved—about the unbearable weight of the world and perhaps the even more unbearable chasm of one’s own self worth. If the songs Wilson wrote for its planned follow-up, Smile, were teenage symphonies to God, as he famously said, the songs on Pet Sounds comprise an operetta of disillusionment. But it’s one still kissed by a Pacific Ocean breeze, carrying a sweetness that prevents it from ever tumbling into full-blown bummer.

In the early 1960s, Hawthorne, California’s Beach Boys—featuring brothers Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson, along with cousin Mike Love—became hitmakers on a string of singles that celebrated a beachy Southern California lifestyle. Their first three albums each feature “Surf” in the title, and two more include the word “Summer.” Though by only a few years in, Wilson’s aptitude for more intricate arrangements began to show through highlights like “All Summer Long,” and on standouts such as “In My Room,” he even showcased the kind of vulnerability and introspection that permeated the ballads of Pet Sounds. In hindsight, Pet Sounds seems inevitable, Wilson cultivating an open wound salted with baroque pop arrangements, but there’s something strangely intangible about its effect on a listener, something that’s better felt than analyzed.

The creative direction of Brian Wilson has led to frequent mention of Pet Sounds as being a solo album—a suggestion that’s both indisputable truth and miles from it. The album saw Wilson—increasingly dabbling in cannabis and psychedelics use—taking nearly complete creative control over the project, with songs that traveled far afield from the group’s typical fun-in-the-sun fare. Even its exotica-tinged instrumentals like “Let’s Go Away for a While” carry an undercurrent of melancholy, while the one song that very literally features the ocean as its mise-en-scène, a cover of Jamaican folk standard “Sloop John B,” is as much a litany of disappointment and dejection as anything else here. It’s single, “Caroline, No,” was even released as a Brian Wilson solo track, further reinforcing the idea of this being entirely a record of Wilson’s own vision.

And yet the album is a grand undertaking, featuring string and horn arrangements and dozens of musicians, including the famed session group The Wrecking Crew, which included bassist Carol Kaye, drummer Hal Blaine, and guitarist and country artist Glen Campbell, who took over Wilson’s vocal duties when the group’s leader ceased touring. Not to mention the countless curious details that arise throughout its 36 minutes: the harp plucks that open “Wouldn’t It Be Nice?”; the bicycle horn that honks at the close of “You Still Believe In Me”; the Theremin solo on “I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times.”

Pet Sounds is also propelled by the same driving force behind every prior Beach Boys album: the mesmerizing, intricate harmonies of the Beach Boys themselves. Despite the oft-mentioned lore of tension behind the scenes, Wilson’s change of direction on Pet Sounds took some getting used to for most members of the Beach Boys, but didn’t create major rifts, at least not initially. And Carl insisted that the group loved the album, despite suggestions to the contrary. Yet Mike Love was the most vocally averse to scrapping the easy pop hooks for something more nuanced and complex. “Mike’s a formula hound – if it doesn’t have a hook in it, if he can’t hear a hook in it, he doesn’t want to know about it,” Jardine said in an interview with Goldmine in 2000. However, Love was the only member who was consulted by Wilson and likewise heard early versions of the songs, which Wilson played for him over the phone.

Yet regardless of who we literally hear on Pet Sounds, we’re hearing Brian, whose own private world was increasingly growing unsteady as his marriage was falling apart and drug use was growing more frequent. At times it sounds hopeful, as on opener “Wouldn’t It Be Nice?”, which paints a picture of domestic bliss: “Wouldn’t it be nice to live together/In the kind of world where we belong?” But the subtext is what’s not being said, at least not so explicitly. As a friend of mine once retorted, “It would be nice—but it ain’t gonna happen.”

From there the feelings of sadness and inadequacy only intensify, highlighting things we perhaps all see in ourselves even if we’d rather not acknowledge them. “You Still Believe In Me” never fails to wreck me, underlining its confessions of low self-worth with gentle expressions of love and gratitude toward someone still providing the kind of support we all seek: “I know perfectly well I’m not where I should be/I’ve been very aware you’ve been patient with me.” By contrast, Wilson is the one providing support on the sweetly melancholy “Don’t Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)”. In closing side A with “Sloop John B,” the members of the group all get a chance to shine, swapping verses and engaging in the kind of group sing-along that connects it more directly to previous Beach Boys releases. Yet for how upbeat and joyous it feels, the overall takeaway is one of frustration and futility: “I feel so broke up, I wanna go home.”

A plink of organ and burst of French horn in the intro of “God Only Knows” kicks off the album’s second side, and with it, a complete 180-degree turn from the optimistic hopelessness of “Wouldn’t It Be Nice?” That it opens with the line “I may not always love you” suggests a kind of bleak resignation, but it’s the kind of head fake we also hear in a song like George Jones’ “He Stopped Loving Her Today.” For the rest of the first verse—”...but as long as there are stars above you/You need never to doubt it/I’ll make you so sure about it“—confirms that only the death of the universe itself would derail that devotion. It’s a heartachingly sweet song that merely sounds sad, a ray of light emanating from a field of despair—if it makes McCartney choke up, what chance would I have?

Yet just as Wilson and company allow that drop of sweetness to ripple, the bitterness returns. “I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times,” my personal favorite song on the album, glides on the wheeze of a harmonium as Wilson laments a timeline connected by disappointment after disappointment: “Each time things start to happen again/I think I got something going good for myself/But what goes wrong.” Decades later that very song scored one of the greatest moments in scripted television, the backdrop of a scene on Mad Men where Roger Stirling takes LSD with his wife Jane before their own marriage comes to its inevitable end. And on closing track “Caroline, No”—originally titled “Carol, I Know,” named for collaborator and lyricist Tony Asher’s ex-girlfriend, with whom he had recently broken up—the love that buoyed a broken man is ultimately gone for good: “Where is the girl I used to know? How could you lose that happy glow?“

There’s a certain interpretation of Pet Sounds as a concept album about a relationship that eventually comes to an end, though in its meticulous encapsulation of the spectrum of human emotion, it’s not nearly that linear. The estrangement in “Caroline, No” is evident from “Wouldn’t It Be Nice?” but not necessarily in “Don’t Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)” or “God Only Knows.” It’s an album about breakups in some sense, but it’s also about love, growing up and learning to understand yourself—your failures, faults and all. It’s maybe pop music’s most beautifully written document of personal frailties and insecurities, and if it makes you cry, well, you’re only human”.

A symphonic and groundbreaking album that transformed Pop music and what it could be, The Beatles would bring out Revolver three months after Pet Sounds. Sixty years after its release and Pet Sounds is still this glorious thing. If you have not played it in a while, then you really do need to immerse yourself in the album. Its genius and legacy is…

BEYOND words.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Ms Banks

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

Ms Banks

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EVEN if she has released…

mixtapes before, including 2022’s Bank Statement, SOUTH LDN LOVER GIRL is seen as her debut album. I am including Ms Banks in my Spotlight feature now, as this is a big moment. I have known about her music ever since 2014’s mixtape, Once Upon a Grind. Born Thyra Kigho Deshaun Oji in south London, here is one of our finest rappers putting out an incredible and accomplished debut album. Despite the fact in the past she cited Nicki Minaj as her biggest influence – given Minaj’s Donald Trump love, maybe that has dented her respect for Minaj -, this is a distinct and original artist who very much stands in her own lane. However, it would be great for her to hook up with Megan Thee Stallion or Ms. Lauryn Hill. I shall end with a couple of reviews for SOUTH LDN LOVER GIRL. Before that, there are some interviews to cover off. Music Week discussed the road to making her debut album. In the industry for over a decade, this might be her biggest and most important year:

“You started releasing music more than 10 years ago – why is now the right time for a debut album?

“I’ve always wanted to release an album. I could have probably released one ages ago. I started having a breakthrough moment in 2019 and I was quite eager to [put an album out], but I always had a lot of people in my ear making me feel like I wasn’t ready. I decided I was just gonna put out an album because I’m so tired of this narrative of, ‘You’re never going to be ready.’ But in all honesty, I don’t really regret my timing, because I feel like I’m in a place where I can be my most authentic self. I’m quite vulnerable on the album, and I feel like it’s taken years of growth – like I’ve finally just circled back to who I truly am at my core.”

Why did you choose to partner with Believe for the record?

“I really liked my A&R there [Bridie Asare, A&R manager]. I feel like she understood what I was trying to deliver. I liked her energy a lot, and I also felt like they had other artists prior to me that fit in my world, and they’ve had success with them. So I thought it would be a good match. I feel like they do believe in my vision.”

What would success with this album look like for you?

“Number one is cultural impact. Something that is timeless, that other young Black female rappers can look at in 10 years and be like, ‘Listen to Ms Banks’ South LDN Lover Girl if you want to know what a good or great album should sound like.’ Also, hopefully, some chart success. It would be nice to have a debut moment on the Official Charts – I would love that. But hey, I’ll definitely take the cultural impact first”.

Finally, you’ve played shows with Nicki Minaj, Megan Thee Stallion, Cardi B and more. You must have some memorable stories from the road?

“There’s so many! I really connected with Megan Thee Stallion. That was my first arena tour as a special guest, and it was amazing. We have a really good friendship outside of music, so we got to party together a lot after the shows and had a really good time in Amsterdam one night. She reminds me of myself, but from the US. She always says, ‘Banks, if I lived in the UK, you would be my best friend.’ I’m like, ‘You’re actually so cute, because I feel like we are similar in a sense, both tall, both Black,’ and I feel like she gets it as well. I’ve seen her go through a lot with the media and, as a Black woman, having her emotions or stories discounted and people not believing her for whatever reason. We had a good time just chopping it up. She’s also into fitness and she got me in that bag as well, which is cute, because when it came time to support on tour, I was arena-ready!”.

It would be great to see Ms Banks working on record with someone like Cardi B. However, I think one of the strengths of SOUTH LDN LOVER GIRL is how Ms Banks does not pack too many collaborators in there. It is her voice and vision that is focused on. If some feel that her best work is still ahead, I do think that her album that has just come out is amazing.

Prior to getting to some reviews of SOUTH LDN LOVER GIRL, there is one more interview to get to. Rolling Stone UK spoke with Ms Banks, who provided a track-by-track guide to the album. I have selected a few tracks to focus on.

“I really just wanted a strong start for the project. I took a lot of inspiration from Meek Mill’s ‘Dreams and Nightmares’ and Cardi B’s ‘Get Up 10’. I wanted something hard-hitting that captures you from the jump start and really build the scene of what a south London soundtrack would sound like in my mind.

‘WHY?’

I really just wanted to have a vulnerable moment and express the questions that go through my mind when I do sometimes feel down or defeated. I’m never the type to go through life being like, “Woe, is me” or, “Why me?” But sometimes I do question my circumstances. I always find a way to make the best of a bad situation and find a resolution and take accountability for my life where I can.

‘POV’

“Could you see my point of view, if I said 2 things could be true?” ‘POV’ is about the juxtaposition of being beautiful on the outside but having feelings and thoughts that aren’t so beautiful on the inside and seeing if a potential partner can accept you, flaws and all. Will you stick around when I’m not so done up? When I don’t feel so good? When you realise how much I need and how much patience I may not have… Can you? Will you?

‘SOUTH LDN LOVER GIRL’

The title track… whew, where do I start. This really is the glue to the project, inspired by two very true stories that are very close to home. On this track, we focus on romance crimes and domestic violence. South London girls tend to have a bad rep but all the girls I know from the ends have always had soft heart under a hard exterior. Due to not being shown what real love is, sometimes we fall in traps and end up giving the best parts of ourselves to people that don’t deserve it. No matter how tough we come across, most of us just want to love and be loved, the right way.

‘HEALING’

Keeping the afro/amapiano vibes high, ‘HEALING’ is a standout track for me. Coming to a close of the project, it’s like I’m having a real realisation of all the things I may need. I’m looking for all these things to make me feel better, whether it’s love or success. Within that, I realise the grace God has had in my life. I remember the day I’ve made this record, I just felt depleted. I don’t believe in writers block, but I just couldn’t come up with anything to really portray how I felt. Me freestyling on the mic is how the hook came to be and the rest was history”.

If you are unfamiliar with Ms Banks or only have heard her earliest work, I would urge you to check out SOUTH LDN LOVER GIRL. It is a stunning album from a modern great. I am going to move to Shatter the Standards and their opinions on SOUTH LDN LOVER GIRL. I am not sure if I have a standout track from the album, though the title track might be at the top of the list at the moment:

“Twelve years is a long time to call yourself an emerging artist. A mixtape in 2014, an EP, two more tapes, a number-one slot on the UK Hip-Hop and R&B Charts, opening for Cardi B, a MAGA Minaj co-sign that started with an unprompted tweet and ended with a spot on the NickiWrldTour, a BRIT Awards performance filling in alongside Little Mix, a Queen’s Jubilee set with Duran Duran and Nile Rodgers, a Fire in the Booth on 1Xtra that still gets cited as one of the best the segment has aired. All of that, and no album. Ms Banks, born Thyra Oji, raised on Walworth Road in Elephant and Castle to a Nigerian father and Ugandan mother, took her time. SOUTH LDN LOVER GIRL carries the weight of a career’s worth of unspent material, and it sounds like someone who decided that if the debut was finally coming, nothing would stay buried.

The album’s first words are a woman staring in a mirror and seeing a Black woman staring back. “Second generation,” she raps, “but first place for the cream.” Her nan came over and paved the way, and if the line don’t work, the trap won’t work, the lights won’t work. She doesn’t want a blue-collar shirt. The streets turned her into a thug, but all she wanted was to love. Two songs later, “Catch You Lackin’” picks up the same geography and sharpens it into pure menace. She grew up in South and it made her a soldier, she rolls with the youngers and fucks with the olders. And then the title track shows you what those streets can actually cost. A girl named Rih holds a gun for her boyfriend while he dodges the feds. She takes a cab to the West End to meet a friend, leaves the bag with the strap in the backseat, and gets arrested before he even makes it home. A second story follows a man called Jack with untreated mental health issues and weed-induced psychosis. He kills his girlfriend Pam, her mum, her nan, and her dad. The song closes with a line about migrants not being wanted in the United Kingdom. Banks recounts both stories in full, without commentary, letting the facts carry the horror.

On “WHY?,” she points the question at the whole system. Why is she more at risk in labour due to race? Why is she told it’d be better if she was light-skinned, that she’d have more global appeal? Why was a woman found dead in her house while police stayed outside for twenty minutes after neighbors called? The track runs as a series of questions with no one to answer them, and the refrain boils it down to seven words: stressed out, worked up, diamond in the rough. “WORK HARDER” picks up the thread. Sampling Layyah on the hook, “It’s hard being a woman, let alone one that is Black,: and Banks turns the verse personal. What does she say to her little sister when the workplace isn’t fucking with her? She went to Spain and her only souvenir was watching her brother sell sunglasses at the seashore. Banks declares she loves her country but wonders what happens when it doesn’t love her back. The upbeat “4C” flips the same anger into something brasher. Hair 4C, no BBL, no filler, she wears her Afro like a crown and calls out the lip filler trend with the confidence of someone who has settled the argument for herself. “POV” unsettles that confidence by asking a partner whether he’d still love her in the morning with no makeup, if she stopped doing music, if the stories he heard about her turned out to be true. She wants to know if two things can be true at the same time.

Scattered across the LP in different moods, the love songs pull in several directions at once. “NO LOVE” is the coldest of them—she only wants sex if it comes with a Rolex or big checks, she watches men like movies but doesn’t entertain them, and the hook asks what type of villain breaks hearts in the streets, while interpolating Shyne’s “Bad Boyz.” “S.O.S” is almost the opposite. “He feels like home,” she writes, and if they mess up they can do it over. “THE ONE” admits she doesn’t want to be alone. Those two positions, charge it to the game and please don’t leave me, exist on the same record without anyone picking a winner, and that honesty is the point. “IDK” brings Zinoleesky for a lighter cut about physical attraction that might be something deeper, and “WAR OUTSIDE” with Strandz poses the simplest version of the question: would you ride for me? The range between these songs is wider than most UK rap debuts would attempt, moving from transactional sex talk to quiet need within a few tracks.

“ME & YOU (OUTRO)” is the song the rest of the project has been protecting. Banks addresses herself as Tyra, her real name, and walks through her childhood on Penborough Estate—doing crime, smoking blem at ten with her white friends Tommy, Danny, Chelsea, and Alex, shotting a little weed. She and a friend shared a birthday and butted heads because they were both Aries. Then the song arrives at the disclosure everything else was circling:

“There was a night that he touched you
That time in Dad’s house, mentally and physically, he fucked you.”

She instructs herself not to talk about the taint of being abused, to become a shadow of yourself with nothing to lose. She labels the men who do this sadistic and adds that they treat you like a statistic. And then the track turns. She speaks directly to herself—“Yeah, Thyra, all the things you used to dream about, you live it, Thyra—and closes: “You done it, Thyra. I’m proud of you.” The specificity of those names, those streets, that abuse, lodges the song somewhere you can’t shake it. It is the most unguarded moment on any UK rap debut in recent memory. SOUTH LDN LOVER GIRL is a strong debut from someone who could’ve made a passable one years ago. Banks spent a decade in the conversation as a rapper. This LP proves something bigger. She’s a writer with range, nerve, and the willingness to say her own name out loud when it counts”.

The final thing I am including is a review from CLASH. Even if SOUTH LDN LOVER GIRL does have its heart in the U.K. Rap scene, there are new elements and layers to this album. Spoken word finding its way in. There are many more albums to come from this monumental talent. Someone who is inspiring so many others at the moment:

“Ms Banks – real name Thyra Kigho Deshaun Oji – has never shied away from having bold opinions; whether that’s advocating for equal pay for women, young black men’s mental health, or explicating what it means to be a second-generation African descendant in today’s myopic world. With a clean, clinical style that blends homegrown rap and R&B with Afrobeats, long-gestating new album ‘SOUTH LDN LOVER GIRL’ toes the line between commercial-leaning bangers and communal confessionals that dig deeper into her psyche.

The title track ‘SOUTH LDN LOVER GIRL’ opens the album as it means to go on, a slowed-down Afrobeats groove laced with samples and idioms that hit harder than the music first lets on. If heard in a café or from a car with the window down, you wouldn’t be wrong for thinking it was another calming rap number, but once you tune in to the caustic lyrics, you’ll find an angst-ridden cautionary tale of addiction and the how some are more predisposed to a life of crime than others. The track ends with a charged diatribe against anti-migrant sentiment, Ms Banks’ pride in her upbringing lifting the number above the usual radio fodder.

The album sticks to Ms Banks roots in the UK rap scene but sees her explore elements of spoken word, either by herself or through samples. Banks embraces the role of storyteller and how it can rouse the disenchanted. It’s these zoned-in, real-life and politicised moments that gives the project its heft – take the ‘Intro’ which ends with a news briefing of when Diane Abbott receiving a death threat from a powerful Tory donor.

‘Catch You Lackin’ hits like a warning shot, a heavy drill-inflected number where Ms Banks shuts down her detractors with the cool, unflinching confidence that has defined her earlier repertoire. The track ends with a touching 30-second rumination questioning what it means to be loved, contemplating whether she, or other South London girls like her, have actually ever been taught how to give and receive love. This moment halfway through the epitomises the duality of this record; the raw introspection and classic, club-honed sound that’s become her signature.

Ms Banks ensures ‘SOUTH LDN LOVER GIRL’ is a powerful paean for young black women. The song ‘4C’ relates to the curls and texture of Ms Banks’ hair – the curliest of curls on the spectrum – and how she’s found strength in her features. Referencing how other women get lip fillers to gain Afro-centric features whilst black women are racialised and vilified, Ms Banks layers whip-smart lyricism over propulsive dancing beat: There’s poetic pride in this anthem.

‘SOUTH LDN LOVER GIRL’ strikes just the right balance between feel-good anthemics and a bracing origin story birthed in the streets, between moments of confrontation and playfulness. It’s a premise we hope Ms Banks builds on as she progresses and evolves, peeling back the layers even further. For now, the album affirms Ms Banks as a true voice from the streets”.

We have some amazing British Rap/Hip-Hop queens that you should know. Alongside a modern great like Little Simz are Ivorian Doll and Cristale. I feel that Ms Banks stands with the very best. SOUTH LDN LOVER GIRL confirms that she is a major talent. It is exciting to see…

WHAT comes next for her.

___________

Follow Ms Banks

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/msbanks/

TikTok:

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

Twitter:

https://x.com/MsBanks

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/msbanks94/

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/4imxqng3RrOBmykL2DhIJC?si=PR3C0falQR67-dpfdcmNvA

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@MsBanks

FEATURE: No Sweat? A New Era and Huge Year for the Iconic Melanie C

FEATURE:

 

 

No Sweat?

PHOTO CREDIT: Oliver Begg for Stellar

A New Era and Huge Year for the Iconic Melanie C

__________

THERE are going to be…

PHOTO CREDIT: Charles Dennington

a few interviews dropped in here, in addition to a few of songs from Melanie C’s upcoming album, Sweat. That album arrives on 1st May. Whilst known as ‘Sporty Spice’ during her regency with the Spice Girls – more on them soon -, she is perhaps at her most energised and fit now. Looking sensational and delivering these high-intensity photos, you feel like Sweat has a double meaning. This icon, now fifty-two, in peak physical health and absolutely stunning; perhaps pushing back at ageism and sexism. Women in music seen as over the hill or irrelevant when they past forty. Though things have improved slightly the past few years, you still get stations with strict demographics. Songs from Sweat will not be played as wide as they should, even though they are from a legend of music who has had a hand in some of the most important Pop music of the past thirty years. Sweat is also a call to the Club. The sort of ecstasy and euphoria she experienced in the early part of the 1990s, before she found fame with Spice Girls. I have been a huge fan of Melanie C since the Spice Girls’ stunning debut single, Wannabe. I am going to come to interviews with Melanie C. Snippets from a couple from this year. An opinion piece that argues she is Pop’s most underrated icon. A Dance icon. We look at artists like Dua Lipa, Charli xcx and younger acts. Melanie C is right up there with the best and most relevant queens of Pop, I feel. I covered the Spice Girls recently when there was talk they may reunite. She revealed in a recent interview with Stellar in Australia how Spice Girls faced sexism early on. Ageism took. I am going to pop this interview in below, in addition to others. However, there are some important Spice Girls things to cover off.

This music queen is in a year where she is looking ahead and releasing stunning new music, but also there will be nostalgia and this huge anniversary coming up. Released in Japan on 26th June, 1996 and 8th July, 1996 in the U.K., this is an absolutely huge moment! I am not sure what is planned in terms of celebrations. However, it must be quite nerve-wracking, as people will ask about a Spice Girls reunion. Will they do some gigs to mark thirty years of Wannabe?! Their debut album, Spice, turns thirty on 19th September. I guess there will be a vinyl reissue and things around that. Melanie C has said how she and the rest of the group – Geri Halliwell-Horner, Emma Bunton, Melanie Brown and Victoria Beckham – are wary of doing a reunion wrong. Rushing it or it being seen as a cash-in. Maybe not giving the fans what they deserve. There has been talk for ages and reasons why they have not performed. The group not all on the same page. Some divisions maybe. However, in a year where they mark thirty years since their debut single arrives, fans from the 1990s and new alike crave this event to happen! It is impossible to mark that thirtieth without something happening. Unlike Oasis, I cannot see the five-piece going on a big tour – gauging fans with eye-watering ticket prices in the process – and that being that (though you feel the Gallaghers might get back on stage in the future). Perhaps a couple of gigs or a special one-off. You do feel like they all have their own stuff going on. That is especially true for Melanie C.

Embarking on this new album, Sweat, and getting that out there. Also, that fear of ageism and sexism lingers now. I feel like Sweat will be reviewed a certain way and restricted in terms of where it is played. Have Heart, Radio 1, Capital and other stations spun it? I do think that, when you are a woman over the age of thirty-five or forty, stations seen as ‘younger-focused’ overlook your music. I am sure these stations have played Melanie C recently, through given how incredible recent singles have been and how important she is, why has she not been given unquestioning airplay and respect?! I am eager to see what Spice Girls-related things happen later this year. Wannabe still sounds so fresh and vital today. You can hear major artists of today who, consciously or not, nod back to Spice Girls. Sabrina Carpenter is someone I imagine being a fa of the group. Addison Rae too. You can hear the whole interview below. However, this article notes how, personally, this is a happy time for Melanie C:

“This week, the former Spice Girl told the Stellar podcast her perspective on work/life balance has really changed since she met her now-partner, Australian model and filmmaker Chris Dingwall, a few years ago.

“The grass is always greener, isn’t it? As an artist, I love what I do and in the last couple of years since meeting my partner, I’ve really started to accept that my work is such a big part of my life,” she told Something To Talk About host Sarrah Le Marquand.

“Rather than separating work and life, I enjoy them both together, which has been a big shift for me,” she continued.

“I think that really happened after I met my partner, Chris. He is able to travel with me a lot. “He’s a screenwriter so he can often work from anywhere and that usually means with me, which is good for me.

“It’s just so beautiful to be able to enjoy the life I have with the person I love.”

It’s believed the couple first crossed paths in 2023 when Mel was touring around Australia as a DJ.

Speculation that the pair were dating increased after they posted similar photos from the same hotels to their respective Instagram accounts around the same time.

In July 2025, Mel confirmed their relationship, posting a carousel of loved-up photos from a recent holiday on her Instagram with the caption: “A slice of paradise”.

Elsewhere in the interview, the Never Be The Same Again singer opened up about the Spice Girls’ secret group chats.

“I’ve got in trouble for saying this in the past but all friendship groups have this,” she said.

“We have different ones with different people in [them].

“But the one that makes me laugh – it’s so funny, over the years we have this running joke where everything is Mel B’s idea.

“So the group chat that she started is called ‘My idea’ and she will definitely be the one sending the funny messages.

“I said to Emma [Bunton] once: you know, you’re the only person who’s not got a group chat without you in it. And she’s like, what do you mean? You’re so diplomatic.”

One of the things they’ve discussed on those group chats? A potential Australian reunion tour.

“It would be wonderful. It’s incredible to think ‘Spice Mania’, which is what I call the period between 1996 and 1998, was only two years,” she said.

“We went on tour in 1998 and we toured Europe and North America and they’re the only places we ended up getting to. America didn’t even see the original five Spice Girls because Geri had left by then.

“Our live performances were quite limited and that breaks my heart because that’s my favourite part – so I’d be the first person to put my hand up to tour Australia, followed closely by Mel B, probably”.

Apologies for lazily or oddly dropping in video interviews and songs in the middle of seemingly unconnected interviews. There is a tonne of stuff I want to include. It is clear that there is part of Melanie C always with the Spice Girls. This year is one where she is thinking back to 1996 and breaking through with the group. I can only imagine the pressure she must feel from those who want the group to get back on stage or do something special. However, it has to be right and they all have to agree.

However, she also is looking ahead to Sweat and tour dates. I will bring in a review for the title track soon. There are a couple of interviews from this year that I want to get to. Incidentally, go and follow Melanie C on Instagram, as it is fascinating seeing everything related to Sweat revealed. This is a massive year for her. I am pumped for new music but, as a fan of Spice Girls, that side of things too. I want to head back to earlier in the year when The Times spent time with Melanie C. Actually, they talked about Spice Girls and asked if a reunion as going to happen:

“Was that the Spice Girls’ experience? “No, we called the shots.” You did? “Oh yeah. But I was shocked. I did a panel a couple of years ago with Leigh-Anne [Pinnock] from Little Mix, Shaznay [Lewis] from All Saints, Nicola [Roberts] from Girls Aloud and Keisha [Buchanan] from the Sugababes. I was shocked to hear their stories. Their stories made my blood boil! The experiences they had? I went, ‘What the f***? The Spice Girls, did it mean nothing?’ We thought we were paving the way for everyone else.”

In what way? “When we started we were wet behind the ears. ‘We wanna be famous! We wanna be famous!’ Then people started saying things like, ‘Girls don’t really sell records, not like boy bands. You’ll never be on the cover of Smash Hits, because girls buy the magazine.’ And we were like, ‘F*** that!’ And we started talking about ‘girl power’. When you’re in a band you have to figure out who you are, and we were like, ‘We have to be a girl band, for girls.’ ” One that made the industry reconsider where women stood within it, how powerful they could be and how they deserved to be treated.

“I look back and I think, ‘Wow, you were lucky.’ But I also think we were petrifying. There was something about the energy of the five of us.” You think people were scared of you? “Yes, I do.” You were sort of unknowable, unpredictable, rogue, I say. Like that time Geri pinched Prince Charles’s bottom. “We’d quite revel in that. We were from majority working-class backgrounds, we were going to make music in this heavily male-dominated industry. We had to go in, all guns blazing, make the impact. Sometimes we laugh and go, ‘How did we get away with it?’ But it had to be done.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Claire Rothstein

Like pretty much every celebrity I have ever met, Melanie Chisholm has suffered on account of fame, perhaps as much as she has benefited from it. Perhaps more. “I’ve had some very lonely times in my life,” she tells me. “I’ve had some very difficult times.”

The Spice Girls fizzled out at the end of the Nineties, in a tangle of solo projects that followed the official departure of Geri Halliwell in 1998. In the months before the band’s demise, Chisholm developed issues related to eating, associated with the endless, cruel scrutiny of the tabloid press. “I was exercising more, eating less, getting smaller and smaller.”

Does she think that would have happened to her if she hadn’t been famous? “No, I don’t think it would.” I wonder if the other Spice Girls realised what was happening to her, if they tried to raise it. “Yes, absolutely, it was a very physical thing, very noticeable. When you’re with each other for so much time and your eating habits change, they’re aware. They did try to speak to me, but I wasn’t ready to hear it.”

Chisholm reached rock bottom, she says, after the band ended, when she was trying to find an identity and a career beyond Sporty Spice. She was devastatingly lonely, working and working and neglecting her social life to the point where “I’d come home, and it was just me”. By the millennium new year things had reached breaking point. “I was with my family in LA and I couldn’t get out of bed. I was crying and crying. I’d started having a binge-eating disorder, but I didn’t understand it.” Finally she sought professional help, was diagnosed with both clinical depression and disordered eating, and slowly began to heal.

“When I was pregnant with Scarlet [her daughter, now 16], that was such a huge moment, because for the first time in my life I was proud of my body. I was like, wow.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Claire Rothstein

Scarlet’s father is the property developer Thomas Starr. He and Chisholm were together for ten years before splitting in 2012, when Scarlet was three. Chisholm was in a seven-year relationship from 2015 with Joe Marshall, who was also her manager. “So that was complicated,” she says. For the past two years she has been in a relationship with the Australian model Chris Dingwall.

Are you in love? “I mean, of course!” They met on the celebrity dating app Raya. Is dating as a celebrity a nightmare? I don’t understand how famous people do it. “I don’t understand how anyone does it. When I found myself single, you know what it’s like. You’re like, ‘Not interested, I don’t want to meet anyone ever again.’ Did that for a bit. Then, a night out with the girlfriends, oh, you’ve got to get back in the game! Made me a profile.” She met Chris quickly — “luckily”, as she was already getting tired of men messaging her, “making references to, like, ‘Ooh, Spicy!’”

Dingwall was based in Sydney, Chisholm in north London, but “I had a DJ tour booked in Australia”. They met up, went for dinner, “Been together ever since.” He is good for her because he is incredibly calm, she says. Might she marry him? “You know what? It’s something I didn’t think would be part of my story. But I’m so happy with Chris. Maybe it is something that will be in my life. I just think, just do all the things. Do you know what I mean? Have all the experiences.”

And of course we talk about the Spice Girls. How close are you now? “With the other girls? It fluctuates. Like any friendship group. I’ve always been really close to Emma.”

Are they in a WhatsApp group? “I got in hot water recently. I did an interview with Emma and I said, ‘Oh, you know there’s always a WhatsApp group without you in it, right?’ And she was like, no! But what I was trying to say to Emma is, ‘You’re the only person who is in all the WhatsApps.’ She is that person. She’s never acting up. Everyone else is acting up at some point, but she’s the one who never acts up.”

When was the last time she acted up? “It’s going to be when all this press comes out.” I ask her to give me an example of a Spice Girls WhatsApp group name — one of the ones she’s in. “There’s one Mel [B] started, called My Idea, because everything’s always her idea, allegedly.”

She says she has watched the Victoria Beckham Netflix documentary: “We went to the premiere.” Was that the last time you were all together? Yes. What’s it like? “Well, that was a public event. It’s more fun when it’s just us, and we haven’t changed. It’s like family. You know when you go home and you just fall back into those roles?”

You hate them and you love them and you switch allegiances in a heartbeat and gang up against someone else because it’s funny? “Exactly. People say, ‘Oh, are you still friends?’ It’s more than that. It runs so much deeper. We drive each other mad, you know? Someone is often acting up, and they have to get pulled back into line, but we’d probably go [to war] for each other.”

Professionally, and personally, things seem pretty perfect for her. She tells me she loves DJing, “which I’ve been doing for the past eight years”, and which inspired this album of dance music. She says it’s like she’s picking up that love of raving from where she left off, just before the Spice Girls happened.

And of course I ask her about a future possible Spice reunion. Chisholm has told me that the 2019 reunion tour was wonderful, the first time they’d had the time, space and perspective of age to appreciate “the legacy we’d created. My personal view on this? It’s a public disservice for the Spice Girls to not get back on stage together. You’re speaking to the wrong person, because I’m there, you know?”

I guess there is still a lot of conversation around Spice Girls and their legacy. However, we also need to herald and recognise Melanie C as a phenomenal solo artist. Sweat is this new era. Rather than try to slot in with modern artists and the sound they are making, she is staying true to herself. However, there does seem to be this rise in Dance and Disco. Madonna returning to the dance floor this year for a follow up to her 2005 classic. Kylie Minogue’s previous couple of albums very much immersed in Dance and Disco (more the former I guess). Melanie C following on. However, there is personal resonance and relevance to Sweat and its sound. How she is nodding back to her pre-Spice days and the music she was immersed in. You can pre-order Sweat here:  “Before she became Mel C of the Spice Girls, Melanie Chisolm found herself swept up in the UK's burgeoning '90s rave scene partying to the sounds of Prodigy and Grooverider. Her new solo album Sweat is a love letter to those heady and formative days; an invitation to party, to find community on the dance floor and joy in a dark world. Recorded between London, Stockholm and Sydney, Sweat fuses her past and present - the sport and the spice, the forgotten teenage raver and the accomplished DJ”. Before closing things up, there is an article championing Melanie C and arguing why she is underrated. This is a very special and important artist we all should show more love for:

“When people talk about pop reinvention, the conversation almost always circles back to names like Madonna or Kylie Minogue. Artists who continually reshape their sound, their image, and their relationship with the dance floor.

But there’s another pop icon who deserves to be part of that conversation: Melanie C.

As she releases “Undefeated Champion”, the third single lifted off her forthcoming record, Sweat, it’s becoming increasingly clear that Melanie C has quietly been releasing some of the most compelling – and most underrated – dance-pop of the past five years.

For many listeners, Melanie C will always be synonymous with the global pop explosion of the Spice Girls. Yet if you trace her solo catalogue from the late ’90s to today, what emerges is one of the most fascinating genre journeys in mainstream pop: alternative rock, acoustic confessionals, euphoric trance, sleek disco-pop, and now a fully realised embrace of underground club culture.

And in many ways, it all comes back to the dance floor.

Long before DJ booths and Ibiza residencies, Melanie C already had one of the defining dance records of the early 2000s.

“I Turn To You” – from her debut album Northern Star – became a euphoric club anthem thanks to its thundering remix culture. The song’s propulsive trance production and emotional release captured the peak of turn-of-the-millennium dance music: ecstatic, cathartic, and built for 4am dance floors.

It wasn’t just a hit. It was a statement.

While many of her peers were leaning into R&B or radio-friendly pop, which, yes, the artist also known as Sporty Spice also flirted with, Melanie C embraced the energy of European club music – something that, in hindsight, foreshadowed the direction her career would eventually circle back to.

Fast forward two decades and the dance floor came calling again.

In 2018, a spontaneous DJ booking at the flamboyant London queer club night Sink The Pink reignited Melanie’s connection with club culture. What began as a one-off experiment quickly evolved into a genuine second act: DJ sets at iconic Ibiza venues like Pacha and Café Mambo, and festival appearances that placed her directly back in front of dance music audiences.

That energy fed directly into her 2020 self-titled album, Melanie C, one of the most purely enjoyable dance-pop records released that year. Tracks like “Who I Am,” “Blame It On Me,” and “In and Out of Love” pulsed with confidence: sleek house rhythms, disco shimmer, and hooks that felt both nostalgic and forward-facing. The album wasn’t trying to chase trends. It sounded like someone who had rediscovered the music that first made them fall in love with dancing.

And crucially, it sounded authentic.

Part of what makes Melanie C’s current era resonate so strongly is the space where it lives: queer nightlife. Dance music has always been inseparable from LGBTQ+ culture – a lineage that runs from underground house clubs to Pride main stages. By stepping into that world not just as a performer but as a DJ and participant, Melanie C positioned herself within that tradition rather than above it.

The connection feels organic. There’s a sense of shared joy in her music – the same feeling she describes when recalling nights spent dancing among strangers who suddenly felt like community.

It’s a quality that links her, spiritually at least, with icons like Kylie Minogue and Madonna: artists whose music thrives in queer spaces because it offers both liberation and escape.

Now comes Sweat.

If her 2020 album reintroduced Melanie C as a dance-pop artist, the new record looks set to double down on that identity – pulling together the threads of her life: the athlete’s discipline, the pop star’s instincts, the DJ’s understanding of rhythm, and the raver’s love of euphoria.

In a cultural moment that often feels defined by anxiety and global uncertainty, her instinct is simple: make joyful music.

It’s a philosophy that echoes the best dance music traditions. Clubs have always been spaces where people temporarily outrun the world’s chaos – where, for a few hours, rhythm and community take precedence over everything else.

If Sweat succeeds, it won’t just be another entry in Melanie C’s discography. It will be further proof that her career arc – from Spice Girl to club DJ to dance-pop architect – has been one of the most quietly fascinating evolutions in modern pop.

And perhaps it’s time the conversation caught up with that reality. Because when it comes to reinvention, resilience, and an instinctive understanding of the dance floor, Melanie C belongs in the same breath as Madonna and Kylie.

The only difference is that people don’t say it often enough”.

Rather than bring in any reviews or more interviews, I shall call time here. I wanted to talk about Melanie C’s huge year. Sweat coming out on 1st May. This worldwide tour in promotion of the album. I think she will be on the road when Spice turns thirty However, for Wannabe’s thirtieth (8th July if you are going by the U.K. date) there is nothing in the diary yet. One of our all-time great artists, I am excited to see how Sweat is received. I love the tracks she has put out so far, and it shows she is always adapting and evolving. Let’s hope that Melanie C keeps on releasing music for many years more. The future of Spice Girls and whether anything will happen this year. It is down to them I guess. However, Melanie C also need to focus on…

HER vital solo work.

FEATURE: Picture You: My Kink Is Karma: Why Chappell Roan’s Right to Privacy Should Be Respected

FEATURE:

 

 

Picture You

My Kink Is Karma: Why Chappell Roan’s Right to Privacy Should Be Respected

__________

BORN Kayleigh Rose Amstutz…

in Missouri, Chappell Roan is one of the most distinct, fascinating and talented artists we have seen over the past decade or so. Her debut album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, was released in 2023 to critical acclaim. More than your average Pop artist – if you could call her music purely Pop -, this exceptional songwriter is an incredible live performer, icon and role model. In terms of her cultural influences, we get a glimpse of it here:

“Roan's success has led her to be called a "queer pop icon", "a superstar in the making", and a "visionary performer". Roan has been credited with leading a "lesbian pop renaissance" on the music charts and within the cultural zeitgeist. Roan's music brought the concept of compulsory heterosexuality into the forefront of mainstream pop music. She has been praised for her "unapologetic authenticity" and "expression of her queerness and femininity" in her music and live performances, inspiring young women to embrace their own sexuality. She has also been applauded for her image "rejecting the male gaze" within the pop landscape. Roan has been praised for her "punkish" attitude towards the status quo for queer performers and applauded for "rewriting the rules of lovelorn pop". Rolling Stone described watching Roan's performances as "like watching Michelangelo craft the statue of David in real time".

In October 2025, Roan stopped in Kansas City in her home state of Missouri during her "Visions of Damsels & Other Dangerous Things Tour". The city celebrated her arrival, decorating several buildings in the downtown area in pink lighting, as well as a mural painted depicting Roan's The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess at the city's local Hamburger Mary's. Her shows also featured local drag performers as openers.

Roan launched the Midwest Princess Project in October 2025. A nonprofit organization, it aims to uplift trans youth and to protect other LGBTQ+ communities”.

There are these artists that go beyond music and use their platform to do good in the world. To help communities, get involved in politics and make the world a better place. Chappell Roan is one of those people. There are corners of the media that list her controversies and try and paint her in a bad light. That she is this diva – which can be an empowering and positive terms when we think of amazing women – who is aloof or rude. Someone who does not want fame and is horrified when her boundaries are violated and her privacy is threatened, this unfair impression that she is prima donna. This is the same sort of crap that has dogged women for decades. This internalised misogyny and sexism that Madonna had to face from the early days of her career. If a woman in music has an opinion, does not do what is expected of them or does not chase fame or the lure of the press, then they are seen as icy, unpleasant, cruel and this horrible person. I have spoken about Chappell Roan in the context of Kate Bush. Both artists are hugely inventive and have this huge L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ fanbase. Innovators and multi-talented artists, Kate Bush also says she never wanted to be famous. She even booted photographer Robin Kennedy, who later remarked, "I didn't think that anyone so small would be able to kick so hard". The altercation was considered out of character and was reportedly a reaction to a comment made by the photographer. That event in 1991 was totally justified. This takes me to Chappell Roan and how she takes to the press. A recent example of her turning the camera on photographers harassing her whilst she was trying to enjoy dinner, there was a divide in opinion. Some saying that she is high-profile and a popular artist who does not get to pick and choose what attention she gets and relies on photographers to get exposure and promote her work. There are those who say that artists should be allowed privacy and should not have to take it in their stride when the gutter press violate their requests for privacy. I obviously fall heavily down in the latter camp. I shall come to that. Artists like Chappell Roan should not have to face criticism if they turn the lens on the paparazzi. Doja Cat, whilst revealing her borderline personality disorder diagnosis, defended Roan and said, rightly, how she did not hurt anyone and had every right to set personal boundaries. In 2024, Chappell Roan was praised by fans after she yelled at a photographer who swore at her on the red carpet at the MTV Video Music Awards. That same year, Roan called out a sect of creepy fans who harassed her family and were overstepping boundaries.

It is something that women face more than their male peers. This harassment, abuse and fans’ obsessive and inappropriate behaviour. Constantly under the spotlight and glare of the media, it is bad enough that they have to work tirelessly and tour for ages in this exhausting reality and, on top of that, have to fends off press intrusion and their fans being unsettling and abusive on social media. Those getting too close and making them feel uncomfortable. I am going to come to a recent article that highlighted the recent incident of Chappell Roan filming the press when they tried to film her. Karma, it seems, is an absolute bitch! However, in 2024, The Face were quite precinct in their choice of words when they said how Chappell Roan is “staring into the abyss of superstardom”. It does very much seem like that. Artists wanting to release music and be themselves who also want to set boundaries. Required to be all over social media, tour around the world and always be seen and active, it does more damage and is like an abyss rather than it being pleasurable and beneficial. Even though there are obviously positives, the realities of being a popular artist seems quite toxic. An experience even worse for popular women in music:

“Yes, Chappell Roan has been talking to all the girls: Gaga, Charli, Sabrina, Lizzo, Katy. ​“I just got coffee with Lorde and Phoebe [Bridgers],” she says with a self-effacing grimace that indicates she knows how that sounds. ​“Tomorrow, I’m going over to see Lucy Dacus [of Bridgers’ side project boygenius].”
Everything – and by ​“everything”, we mean the femininomenonal ascent of Chappell to the summit of Pop Mountain, Summer ​’24 – started in early spring, when the Missouri-born singer-songwriter began shooting up the mainstream spine of awareness via an opening slot on the North American leg of Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts tour.

As spring gave way to Pride and festival season, a storm of viral performances from Coachella,The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, MTV and NPR’s Tiny Desk online gig series flooded social media with clips of Chappell performing her now inescapable queer anthems, including Good Luck, Babe!, and her music quickly began scaling the global charts.

To put things into context: last September, she dropped her debut album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, to little fanfare beyond her cult following. This August, it climbed to Number One on the UK Albums Chart – almost a full year after its original release.

At first, back in the spring, she didn’t understand why huge stars such as Gaga and Charli were suddenly checking in to see if she was OK. ​“I was like, ​‘Mmm, this isn’t that big. Everyone’s so dramatic!’” she says. Now, Chappell recognises the pop girls’ protectiveness as a lifeline. ​“They were immediately, immediately supportive,” she says, smacking her palms together for emphasis. ​“Immediately.” Her voice grows taut, almost aggressive, from a rush of emotion before melting back into the quiet admission of an overwhelmed 26-year-old: ​“It’s been so amazing, because I’m very scared and confused.”

I’m curious about the performance persona of Chappell Roan – which she’s often described as her drag project – and whether it stems from any specific childhood inspiration. As anyone who’s attended sleepaway church camp worship night can attest to, the American Bible Belt has quite the theatrical tradition. But she minimises the early influence of her Christian upbringing and even modern drag culture as subjects of direct study. ​“I didn’t start watching Drag Race until last October! I was really confused about the ​‘reading’. Like, that’s so mean!”

It is, then, difficult to extract a sense of what young Kayleigh was like and whether this streak for pageantry was in her all along. Wasn’t she at least the type of kid who put on cartwheel-inflected dances to Britney Spears in the family basement? Her whole face softens at the assumption. ​“I wish I was that girl,” she says. In reality, little Kayleigh was a ​“problem child”, constantly fighting, kicking holes in walls and going in and out of therapy.

Growing up, she felt isolated, not only within the rural Midwest but also her family and her own brain – she was finally diagnosed with bipolar II in 2022. ​“All I want in life is to feel like a good person, because I felt like such a bad person my whole life – the worst kid in the family, always so out of control and angry,” she says. ​“It’s been really hard to forgive, one, my parents for not knowing how to handle that correctly. And two, myself, for being like, dude, you were unmedicated, going through puberty and refused to believe you were anxious or depressed.”

The project of Chappell Roan, then, can be more wholly understood as a therapeutic experience, not only for fans who might have an idea of what those emotions feel like, but also for the artist’s younger self. ​“Now, I am the girl who does the Britney routine; I am the girl who plays dress-up. I’m making up for that time. When I realised that I should dedicate my career to honouring the childhood I never got, it got big quick.”

“Big” as in becoming a de-facto festival headliner in the US, touring through Europe this autumn and, hopefully, nabbing some music trophies. Nominations in multiple Grammy categories, including Best New Artist and Song of the Year, seem like a no-brainer. ​“My mom would love to go to the Grammys or the Brits,” she says. But Chappell is, at best, iffy on the whole awards thing. ​“I’m kind of hoping I don’t win, because then everyone will get off my ass: ​‘See guys, we did it and we didn’t win, bye’! I won’t have to do this again!”

What’s more important to Chappell is the long game. ​“I feel ambitious about making this sustainable,” she says. ​“That’s my biggest goal right now. My brain is like: quit right now, take next year off.” Her mouth forms a small, tense line again. ​“This industry and artistry fucking thrive on mental illness, burnout, overworking yourself, overextending yourself, not sleeping. You get bigger the more unhealthy you are. Isn’t that so fucked up?” It’s a problem within the music industry, she notes, but also its attendant attention machines – TikTok, Instagram, the entire internet – which all feed on manic self-compulsion. ​“The ambition is: how do I not hate myself, my job, my life, and do this?” she says. ​“Because right now, it’s not working. I’m just scrambling to try to feel healthy.

The Kayleigh side of her still craves the idyll of anonymity – off-hours, she’s been caught by fans practising somersaults in Central Park and racing shopping carts in Ikea. But such bursts of spontaneity are getting rarer. These days, she almost always has to wear a wig in public. She’s even had to let her therapist go, after realising they were no longer equipped to deal with her rapidly accelerating fame.

And it’s getting scary, actually. There are now paps, scalpers and obsessives who buy plane tickets just so they can wait at the gate for when she lands. For every unicorn of a young star with the power to command gigawatts of attention, there’s a seedy microeconomy sprouting around and glomming on”.

I am not sure if there is a second album coming from Chappell Roan at some point. She will take her time and release music when she is ready. I love The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, and instantly knew that this was a very special artist. I hope that she will forgive me comparing her to Kate Bush – not that she will be reading this feature! -, but it is a high compliment. Something about how she is a genius that is so different to everyone around her, yet is reliable and widely adored. A hugely positive role model and force for good, Chappell Roan played in Chile yesterday (15th March) and has a date in Brazil on 21st as part of a Lollapalooza double. This recent case of Chappell Roan being stalked by the press when she was going about her business. Even though it was during Paris Fashion Week, Roan had asked for her boundaries to be respected. The reaction from some was unhelpful. Boy George saying that she should own her fame. Practically telling her to smile and get on with it, no artist should have to deal with press harassment. He said this: “The trick is to own your fame. yes, it’s annoying at times but so is being ignored and told [you’re] a ‘has-been. Life is always now and I think Chappell looks great but cheer up girl. The world is at your feet stop kicking it! It takes so much more time to say no to a picture or a signature. Boundaries are boring. Break them with the magic of kindness!”. I think that Boy George is wrong. This idea of killing with kindness is not helpful when it comes to press and the fans! Artists should not have to have boundaries broken and be thankful they are being noticed! What is notable is this clear misogyny. People on social media branding Roan unlikable and hostile because she took a stand and defended her privacy. Male artists not exposed to the same sort of judgement and criticism. This Vogue reaction piece raises some interesting observations and truths:

“Earlier this week, Chappell Roan was filmed in Paris during fashion week filming the paparazzi with her phone. “I’m just trying to go to dinner, and I’ve asked these people several times to get away from me,” said Roan, 28, while swivelling her phone about in a circle, annoyed. “These are all the people that are completely disregarding my boundaries.” It’s not the first time the pop star has expressed her discomfort with the more parasitic side to fame. “Women do not owe you a reason why they don’t want to be touched or talked to,” she wrote in 2024 as part of a longer statement.

While not wanting to be hounded by paps or fans sounds fairly straightforward, Roan’s reaction appears to have gotten under a lot of people’s skin – my own TikTok FYP is currently full of fans and critics alike branding her “unlikeable”. The main crux of the argument seems to be this: if you do not enjoy the mechanics of fame, then why partake in the ecosystem? Adele, for example, manages to largely avoid the limelight by rarely attending pap-heavy spots. She has described herself as living an “ordinary life”. Roan, on the flip-side, went out for dinner at the height of fashion week, following a string of front row appearances with her equally famous pals.

I get the argument. Being worth multi-millions, and having your art consumed by the masses, often requires a Faustian bargain – one in which you must choose between being hassled nonstop or having to navigate public life like someone involved in professional espionage. But I also think it’s worth interrogating why this deal with the devil needs to exist. Is it possible that the boundary-crossing nature of the tabloids, and now also fans with camera phones, has become so normalised that it’s hard to imagine a world in which we push against it? Why shouldn’t Chappell go for dinner during fashion week without being harassed? Is that really such an insane request?

As to her being called “unlikeable”, I wonder whether there is indeed even a “right” way to be famous. Celebs are lambasted for saying or doing too little (Beyoncé, Harry Styles, Emma Watson). Or, like Chappell, they’re criticised for saying or doing too much. They’re rinsed for being nepo babies – though when a working class artist does manage to crawl their way to the top, they’re often torn to shreds regardless. Celebs are expected to be politically engaged and eloquent with it, while also not saying anything that might alienate fans. And while I don’t prescribe to the notion that artists are above critique – nor that they shouldn’t be politically active (art is inherently political) – I do think there needs to be some realism when it comes to our expectations of people who are, like us, simply human.

If I were famous, I know for a fact that I’d behave in more “unlikeable” ways than Chappell Roan (and, for the record, I don’t think any woman, famous or otherwise, needs to be likeable). I’d probably freak out on camera so often that I’d be turned into a reactive meme. I’d likely say the wrong thing, more than once, and then have to deliver a Notes app apology, which would then be dissected on TikTok for being so tone deaf”.

I refute the idea that major artists should have to avoid certain events and spots because they should be expected to be photographed endlessly. If any artist asks to be left alone then they should be! Whilst that might seem terrible naïve, it is plain harassment and, if you feel an artist has fewer rights than an average person in that regard, then you have to ask yourself some searching questions. Modern artists are allowed to record, tour and follow their dreams without having to deal with obsessive fans, disrespectful press, unhelpful and imbecilic music peers and attacks online. Support from Doja Cat and other corners is encouraging, though you feel Chappell Roan will always be labelled as awkward, demanding, unlikable and this egotistical and difficult diva. How many women through the music years have had to deal with that?! They can shrug it off and power through, but why the hell should they have to?! They should not have to avoid public events because they face being harassed by the press or not being able to have dinner in private. All of this should raise questions about artists today and the pressures they face. The mental health toll of exhausting touring and having to churn out music. Dealing with abuse, harassment, misogyny and threats online. Followed by the press and always judged on what they say (or do not). Chappell Roan is an amazing artist and human who does so much good in the world. She should be treated with respect and dignity. However, when she is not and she reacts, there is this criticism and judgment. Again, you can feel this endless, internalised and almost normalised double standard and misogyny. You’d hope lessons will be learned and the press and fans alike will give Roan the space and privacy that she rightly deserves. However, given the nature of celebrity and how everyone thinks they have the right to do and say what they like to artists that…

WE will be back at square one!

FEATURE: The Digital Mixtape: Alison Goldfrapp at Sixty

FEATURE:

 

 

The Digital Mixtape

Alison Goldfrapp at Sixty

__________

THIS is an artist…

whose work I have followed since the debut Goldfrapp album in 2000. Felt Mountain was this acclaimed and successful debut album from Will Gregory and Alison Goldfrapp. Even if it did not chart high, it was nominated for the Mercury Prize. As Alison Goldfrapp turns sixty on 13th May, it is an opportunity, not only to combine some Goldfrapp songs, but bring in some solo tracks too. Before getting to that playlist, here is some biography about one of the most distinct and brilliant artists in music:

“Thanks to her alluring, multi-octave voice and wide-ranging influences, Alison Goldfrapp has left an adventurous mark on electronic and pop music as a collaborator and solo artist. Working with Orbital and Tricky in the mid-'90s soon led to her partnership with composer Will Gregory as the multi-platinum-selling and award-winning duo Goldfrapp, where her quicksilver vocals held together a body of work that borrowed from folk, cabaret, classical, disco, techno, '80s pop, and glam rock. Though the duo's most danceable work was often their most successful -- 2005's Supernature and 2010's Head First both debuted in the Top Ten in the U.K. and earned Grammy nominations in the U.S. -- quieter albums like 2000's Felt Mountain and 2013's Tales of Us were just as powerful in their own right. In the 2020s, Alison Goldfrapp pursued a stylishly creative solo career, blending thoughts about aging and climate change with euphoric grooves on 2023's The Love Invention and returning to her synth pop roots on 2025's Flux.

Born in Enfield, London, Alison Goldfrapp was the youngest in a family of six children that moved frequently during her early years. Once they settled in Alton, Hampshire, she first studied at the Alton Convent School, where she sang in the choir, and then at Amery Hill School, where she stood out because of her punk outfits and love of disco. As a teen, she spent several years traveling Europe, absorbing music from artists including Donna Summer, T. Rex, Kate Bush, Iggy Pop, and Serge Gainsbourg. By the time she was 20, she had returned to the U.K.; as a fine art painting major at Middlesex University, she incorporated mixed sound, visuals, and performances in her installation pieces.

Along with writing her own songs, Alison Goldfrapp collaborated with other artists. In 1994, she appeared on Orbital's album Snivilisation and recorded two songs on Dreadzone's The Good the Bad and the Dread: The Best of Dreadzone. The following year, she lent her vocals to Stefan Girardet's music for the film The Confessional and Tricky's Maxinquaye. After a mutual friend gave some of her demos to composer/producer/multi-instrumentalist Will Gregory -- who studied Western orchestral and chamber music at the University of York and went on to perform with artists and ensembles including Tears for Fears, Peter Gabriel, the Cure, and the London Sinfonietta -- the pair decided to work together.

Taking Alison's surname as the moniker for their collaboration, Goldfrapp began their acclaimed, shape shifting career with their September 2000 debut album Felt Mountain. Though it reflected the trip-hop boom of its time, it also revealed more unexpected influences such as folk and cabaret, and its distinctively glamorous sound led to a gold certification in the U.K. as well as a place on the Mercury Prize shortlist. Goldfrapp leaned into their love of disco, glam-rock and techno on April 2003's seductive Black Cherry, which went platinum in the U.K. and spawned the Ivor Novello Award-winning hit single "Strict Machine." The duo doubled down on its dance leanings with their August 2005 breakthrough Supernature. Certified platinum in the U.K., the album earned a Grammy nomination for Best Electronic/Dance Album in 2007 (the album's glammy single "Ooh La La" snagged a Grammy nomination for Best Dance Recording). Goldfrapp moved in a drastically different direction with February 2008's The Seventh Tree, a set of soothing ambient and folk-tinged songs that was certified gold in the U.K. They switched gears again on March 2010's Head First, touching on the joyous sounds of the Pointer Sisters, Van Halen and Olivia Newton-John, and earning a Grammy nomination for Best Electronic/Dance Album in 2011; the single "Rocket" received a nomination for Best Dance Recording. The duo revisited the moody introspection of Felt Mountain and The Seventh Tree on September 2013's Tales of Us, a top five hit in the U.K. that also made the top ten in several European countries. On March 2017's Silver Eye, Goldfrapp balanced their danceable and reflective sides, resulting in another top ten chart placement in the U.K.

Following Silver Eye's release, the members of Goldfrapp took a break from their work as a duo, which earned them an Ivor Novello Inspiration Award in 2021. Gregory concentrated on composing, writing the music for the Royal Shakespeare Company's 2019 production of King John and scoring the 2022 thriller series Chloe (which also featured contributions from Alison Goldfrapp and Adrian Utley). Alison Goldfrapp focused on directing and photography before returning to music in the early 2020s. She sang on two songs from Röyksopp's Profound Mysteries album trilogy, a project that spurred her to build the home recording studio where she created much of her first solo album. Working with producers including Claptone, Paul Woolford, James Greenwood, and Head First collaborator Richard X, Alison Goldfrapp drew on Italo disco, bossa nova, and more for the smoothly grooving, club-oriented sounds of May 2023's The Love Invention. Another success, the album reached number six on the U.K. Albums Chart and topped the U.K. Independent Albums Chart. In mid-2024, Alison Goldfrapp launched her own record label A.G. Records with the release of the single "I Wanna Be Loved (Just a Little Bit Better)." The following April, she collaborated with Purple Disco Machine on "Dream Machine," then opened for Scissor Sisters' 25th anniversary tour of the U.K. and Ireland. For her second solo album, August 2025's Flux, she worked with Richard X and Sound of Arrows' Stefan Storm on romantic, escapist synth-pop”.

I do hope that there is celebration of Alison Goldfrapp’s music on 13th May. An incredible artist whose latest album, 2025’s Flux, is well worth digging out. Let’s hope there is more music from her down the line. Ahead of her sixtieth birthday, I wanted to show my appreciation of this incredible producer and artist. Someone whose music I have loved…

FOR over twenty-five years.

FEATURE: The Digital Mixtape: Matt Helders at Forty

FEATURE:

 

 

The Digital Mixtape

Matt Helders at Forty

__________

ONE of the best drummers…

alive today turns forty on 7th May. Matt Helders is the drummer with Arctic Monkeys. So many of their songs defined by the percussion. Helders is the one who provides that heartbeat and rush. Not only a powerful drummer, he has such nuance and technical ability. He has also released a studio album, and collaborated with artists such as Dean Fertita, Josh Homme and Iggy Pop. To mark his upcoming fortieth birthday, I am going to end with a selection of his drumming work with Arctic Monkeys. Prior to that, it is worth bringing in some biography:

“Helders has said that he ended up playing drums as "that was the only thing left. When we started the band none of us played anything. We just put it together. They all had guitars and I bought a drum kit after a bit." However, Helders has mentioned the influence rap music has had on the band, saying "We were rap fans at school more than now ... it still influences us in some ways; like for me, it's the drummin'. The groove element, like foon-keh music." In addition, Helders cites seeing Queens of the Stone Age as the biggest influence on his development as a drummer, saying "the one thing that changed me the most was seeing Queens of the Stone Age live at a festival ... as soon as they came off I was like – 'Fuck, I need to start hitting harder.'" Helders also explained the band's insistence on singing in their native Sheffield accent, saying, "when you talk between the songs at a gig and you're speakin' English in our normal accent, it seems a bit strange when you burst into song like you're from California or something ... it looks a bit daft."

In a similar fashion to other members of the band, Helders has remained true to his hometown roots, suggesting that seeing places all over the world makes him more appreciative of Sheffield, which still provides the basis for the band's lyrics. "And all around you, there's still plenty of things to write about. Touring lets you see a lot of places that you realise you wouldn't want to live in ... and when you come home, it's pretty easy to slip into your old ways, to all the places you've always gone." Helders also points out that despite the fame of the band, he can still avoid being mobbed in the street – "If we all go out together at night clubbing, it's difficult, but alone you don't get recognised much."  In ode to his Sheffield roots, Helders can sometimes be seen with the numbers "0114" on the front of his drum kit, which is the dialing code of his native Sheffield”.

I am not sure whether Arctic Monkeys will release any more music. They contributed to the Help(2) album recently with the song, Opening Night. You feel like they will perform together again but, in terms of albums, 2022’s The Car was their finale. Though you never know. However, Matt Hedlers will definitely continue to play and drum either on his own records or with other acts. Not only one of the best drummers of modern times, Helders surely sits alongside the all-time greatest. Such is his impact and talent, he is key to Arctic Monkeys’ sound and endurance, I feel. Even if Alex Turner’s lyrics and vocals are genius, there is something about Helders’s beats and incredible drumming that elevates the songs. As he turns forty on 7th May, I wanted to show my respect for…

A king of the kit.

FEATURE: Kate Bush: Them Heavy People: The Extraordinary Characters in Her Songs: Mrs. Bartolozzi (Mrs. Bartolozzi)/Pandora (Suspended in Gaffa)

FEATURE:

 

 

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

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush photographed in 2005 for Aerial/PHOTO CREDIT: Trevor Leighton

Mrs. Bartolozzi (Mrs. Bartolozzi)/Pandora (Suspended in Gaffa)

__________

THIS first song is one…

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1982/PHOTO CREDIT: Pierre Terrasson

that I have covered a few times already. I will approach it from different directions. That is Mrs. Bartolozzi from 2005’s Aerial. I will discuss this build up to that new album after twelve years. How fewer singles have been released from her most recent three albums, and how Mrs. Bartolozzi deserved a single release. I will also discuss the way Bush has always been seen as eccentric and silly, and why a song like Mrs. Bartolozzi united her present and past. The second song I am going to concentrate on is from 1982’s The Dreaming. On an album with relatively few characters, there is one in Suspended in Gaffa that gives me something to discuss. Pandora is mentioned. Let’s start out with Mrs. Bartolozzi. This is one of those songs where Bush might have coincidentally come across that surname. How it came to her mind. As she discussed in this interview, the subject and lyrics of Mrs. Bartolozzi reflected her domestic life at the time. A new son, Bertie, who was keeping the washing machine busy! Part autobiographical and fantastical, you can imagine Kate Bush bringing this song to mind pretty readily and quickly:

“Is it about a washing machine? I think it’s a song about Mrs. Bartolozzi. She’s this lady in the song who…does a lot of washing (laughs). It’s not me, but I wouldn’t have written the song if I didn’t spend a lot of time doing washing. But, um, it’s fictitious. I suppose, as soon as you have a child, the washing suddenly increases. And uh, what I like too is that a lot of people think it’s funny. I think that’s great, because I think that actually, it’s one of the heaviest songs I’ve ever written! (laughs)

Clothes are…very interesting things, aren’t they? Because they say such an enormous amount about the person that wears them. They have a little bit of that person all over them, little bits of skin cells and…what you wear says a lot about who you are, and who you think you are…

So I think clothes, in themselves are very interesting. And then it was the idea of this woman, who’s kind of sitting there looking at all the washing going around, and she’s got this new washing machine, and the idea of these clothes, sort of tumbling around in the water, and then the water becomes the sea and the clothes…and the sea…and the washing machine and the kitchen… I just thought it was an interesting idea to play with.

What I wanted to get was the sense of this journey, where you’re sitting in front of this washing machine, and then almost as if in a daydream, you’re suddenly standing in the sea.

Ken Bruce show, BBC Radio 2, 1 November 2005”.

That surname, Bartolozzi, is one that many might not know. Francesco Bartolozzi was an Italian engraver, whose most productive period was spent in London. He is noted for popularising the ‘crayon’ method of engraving. I do wonder if this is who Kate Bush had in mind when she was coming up for a name for her heroine. Before moving on to the topics I was going to cover, I remember when Aerial came out in November 2005 and being blown away by its scale. How it is this double album that has an album of more traditional songs and this conceptual second disc, A Sky of Honey. Mrs. Bartolozzi features on the first disc. If Aerial is seen as quite layered and grand in terms of its compositions, Mrs. Bartolozzi is one of its sparsest. Bush on the piano. I will mention this when discussing how the song married her past and present. King of the Mountain was a shrewd single choice from Kate Bush. Her first album single since 1994, that track is about Elvis Presley and fame. How the King of Rock and Roll might be alive somewhere on a mountain. I sort of think that it was more about Kate Bush and how many felt she was hidden away or this recluse off in a mansion somewhere. There was definitely a lot of speculation around Aerial. What form it would take and how it would compare to 1993’s The Red Shoes. There are few similarities between those albums. Bush started a family and gave birth to Bertie in 1998. In terms of her work schedule, it must have been quite a juggling act. Though the first songs were written before Bertie was born, he weas her priority from 1998. It would have been difficult looking after a new son and putting together a double album. I can’t remember the sort of speculation that was building towards the end of the 1990s and into the 2000s. Bush was not completely away from the spotlight in all that time. She did pick up an award at the Q Awards in 2001. In an interview around that, she revealed a new album would come.

That said, she was not in a position to give a date. In 2001, think about what was at the forefront. Kyllie Minogue’s Can't Get You Out of My Head was one of the biggest songs of that year. Pop artists like Britney Spears at the forefront. There was such a seismic shift in terms of music released that year. Whereas the 1990s might have been about Grunge, Britpop and other genres, more Electronic and Indie influence coming to the forefront in 2001. The Strokes' Is This It?, Radiohead's Amnesiac, Daft Punk's Discovery, Jay-Z's The Blueprint, and Björk's Vespertine among the standouts of the year. Did people feel that a Kate Bush album would arrive in 2001 and sit with what was out that year?! She would have been aware of what was around and how the music she was making was distinct and perhaps did not fit in. Bush had always been distinct and not necessarily looked to slot in with what was happening that year. In 2005, Aerial stood alone in terms of its sound and feel. Not that many other artists doing what she was doing. After 2001 and that Q appearance, there was certainly a lot of chatter and rumour regarding when an album would come and what it would be likely. I think it is telling how Bush promoted the album. The Red Shoes was the last time she did T.V. or any documentaries. Aerial’s promotion was for radio and print. There were promotional photographs, though most of them were shot from the waist up. There are a few exceptions, though Bush was possibly conscious about her looks. A new mother who had been away from the limelight for a while, her privacy was as important as ever. Maybe there was some self-consciousness considering the promotional photos and how she was self-conscious when shooting the video for King of the Mountain with director, Jimmy Murakami. I can understand why only that single was released. Not committing to more and further music videos, this trend continued for 2011’s Director’s Cut and 50 Words for Snow (Deeper Understanding and Wild Man the respective singles). King of the Mountain is the most recent time that Bush has appeared in a music video. I feel it will be the last we see of her filmed. I do feel like she should have released more singles from Aerial. Mrs. Bartolozzi is a choice option. I wrote in another feature how an actor could have played Mrs. Bartolozzi. Seeing the song visualised would have been a real treat. The lyrics speak of clothes entwined in the washing machine and wrapped in one another. Clothes on the line blowing in the breeze. A fantastic music video could have accompanied those lyrics, for sure.

I do feel like Bush wanted more control of her music and not wanting it to be about singles. Aerial is an album (a double) that she wanted people to experience as a single piece of work. Releasing singles takes away from that. Even though Mrs. Bartolozzi would have been a great single and would have done well on the charts, it sits on an album as part of a larger story. I think that it is significant that it appears after Bertie on the tracklisting. A song about her son. This joyous thing. A song that is about the domestic and the fantasy and mundanity of cleaning and filling the washing machine, there was this curious pairing. Bertie in her mind when it came to Mrs. Bartolozzi, perhaps. One could say that Mrs. Bartolozzi is one of those lost singles. How it could have come out and would have been marvellous. We will never know. I did read some reviews around Mrs. Bartolozzi. Whilst some were impressed by how it elevated the everyday to something truly stirring and emotional, others picked up on lyrics and wrote Bush off as eccentric. This was nothing new. However, in 2005, she was in her forties. No longer this very young artist who was seen as inexperienced or ingenue, this cliché and stereotype about Bush remained. How she was eccentric and odd. “Slooshy sloshy slooshy sloshy/Get that dirty shirty clean/Slooshy sloshy slooshy sloshy/Make those cuffs and collars gleam/Everything clean and shiny”. If some feel those lyrics are self-parody and ridiculous, I actually think they are charming and child-like. This wonder about something quite ordinary. One of the most notable elements of Kate Bush’s lyrics is how she can blend the poetic with the slightly absurd. Mrs. Bartolozzi is an example of that. It is almost classical and operatic in its potential. I could imagine it build up with strings and backing vocals. Bush could have done that. Rather, she kept it scaled-down and intimate. She does provide backing vocals, though it is the power of the piano that is key. The lyrics invite the listener to immerse themselves in the song. It is one of her greatest moments and a track that is not talked about as much as it should be. It is a pity that some wrote it off as this moment when Bush was being silly or parodying herself.

Evident on 50 Words for Snow especially, there was a melding of the past and present. In the sense you can hear themes and lyrics and feel they were from early albums like 1978’s The Kick Inside and Lionheart. Aerial’s Mrs. Bartolozzi is charged with the erotic and sexual. If you feel it is about household chores and a woman mopping a dirty floor and trying to get the laundry done, it is this sensual song where the heroine drifts off and lets her mind wander. We never see who Mrs. Bartolozzi is. Bush perhaps not wanting to put herself directly in the song. She did say in an interview with John Wilson in 2005 how the name was chosen at random - as it fitted better tthan ‘Brown’. However, Bush did say she was told about/aware of Therese Jansen Bartolozzi (ca. 1770 – 1843), who was a pianist whose career flourished in London around the end of the 18th century. She was the dedicatee of piano works by a number of famous composers. Bush did say how she was doing a lot of washing and stuff around the house. That naturally bled into her lyrics. How many other artists can make the domestic and almost trivial and turn it into a masterpiece song?! Bush showing why she was still leagues ahead and this innovator! There are fewer examples of the romantic and erotic in her music from 2005. Even so, 50 Words for Snow had Misty. A song about a woman that spends the night with a snowman. Mrs. Bartolozzi talks of these clothes tangled in the suds. On the line in the breeze. You can sense bodies in them. Rather than it being about laundry and fabric, human beings in those clothes. How it being Bush at her piano with no adornments adds this charge and sense of the intimate and tender. Many people might have feel this was unbecoming of an artist in her forties. Ageism and misogyny. Bush nodding back to her earliest days. Or just being her authentic self. Also, Aerial is an album where family and her setting was at the front. Illusions to her new family and cleaning for them: “They traipsed mud all over the house”. The symbolism of these lyrics could be about divided lovers or this fascinating with clothes and how they have the scent and memories of people in them: “My blouse wrapping itself around your trousers”. The water in the washing machine becoming the waves. So many lines step between fantastical and sexual: “Little fish swim between my legs”. Perhaps memories of someone gone who the heroine wished was here: “I think I see you standing outside/But it’s just your shirt”. In all of this, I wonder who Mrs. Bartolozzi is and whether Kate Bush had a specific person in mind. I would still love to see a video for this song. A modern actor or artist playing Mrs. Bartolozzi. Who would be a current first choice? Margaret Qualley. She has a resemblance to Kate Bush, and I also feel that she is a terrific actor who could do something wonderful in a video. It will never happen, though it is always nice to dream!

IN THIS IMAGE: A depiction of Pandora (the first human woman, she was created by Hephaestus on Zeus's orders as punishment for humanity)

Let’s go from 2005’s Aerial back to 1982’s The Dreaming. Different situations and recording processes. If Aerial is full of space and sky and Kate Bush was a new mother and was living away from London. I think she may have been in a clifftop mansion near East Portlemouth in Devon at this time. She also had a home in Berkshire, so perhaps this is where Mrs. Bartolozzi was written. However, with the sea being so close to her Devon house, you can envisage her casting her mind there. Suspended in Gaffa was written at a time when Kate Bush was in London and working between multiple studios. Spending long days and nights on the album, Suspended in Gaffa is actually one of the lightest and less anxious-sounding tracks on The Dreaming. It is one of those songs where a character/figure is named, yet it is not a song around them. Unlike Mrs. Bartolozzi, where this woman is at the centre and it is her song, Pandora is briefly mentioned in Suspended in Gaffa. Even so, it caught my eye. In Greek mythology, Pandora was the first human woman, created by Hephaestus on Zeus's orders as punishment for humanity. Gifted with beauty and curiosity, she is famous for opening a jar (often called a ‘box’) that released all evils and miseries into the world, leaving only hope trapped inside. The first thing to address about Suspended in Gaffa is how it is quite autobiographical in nature. Bush was not writing this way a lot previous to this. How does Pandora work around the inspiration behind Suspended in Gaffa? Here are some interview archives where Kate Bush discussed Suspended in Gaffa and it meaning:

“Whenever I’ve sung this song I’ve hoped that my breath would hold out for the first few phrases, as there is no gap to breathe in. When I wrote this track the words came at the same time, and this is one of the few songs where the lyrics were complete at such an early stage. The idea of the song is that of being given a glimpse of ‘God’ – something that we dearly want – but being told that unless we work for it, we will never see it again, and even then, we might not be worthy of it. Of course, everybody wants the reward without the toil, so people try to find a way out of the hard work, still hoping to claim the prize, but such is not the case. The choruses are meant to express the feeling of entering timelessness as you become ready for the experience, but only when you are ready.

Kate Bush Club newsletter, October 1982

I could explain some of it, if you want me to: Suspended in Gaffa is reasonably autobiographical, which most of my songs aren’t.  It’s about seeing something that you want–on any level–and not being able to get that thing unless you work hard and in the right way towards it. When I do that I become aware of so many obstacles, and then I want the thing without the work. And then when you achieve it you enter…a different level–everything will slightly change. It’s like going into a time warp which otherwise wouldn’t have existed.

Richard Cook, ‘My music sophisticated?…’. NME (UK), October 1982”.

It is interesting that notion of Bush seeking something and wanting it but not being able to achieve it. I do wonder if the song relates to her career ambitions at that stage. How she was trying to be a type of artist and work on her own terms and have some autonomy. However, having to work to a schedule and having a certain pressure, there were these obstacles. She made sacrifices when it came to The Dreaming. Spending so much time working on the album to ensure it was true to her. There are personal insights and revelations in the lyrics. These lines seem to give a glimpse into her mindset at the time: “But sometimes it’s hard/To know if I’m doing it right./Can I have it all?/Can I have it all now?/We can’t have it all”. Near the end of the song comes these lines: “I won’t open boxes/That I am told not to/I’m not a Pandora/I’m much more like/That girl in the mirror/Between you and me/She don’t stand a chance of getting anywhere at all/Not anywhere at all/No, not a thing/She can’t have it all”. Bush maybe being told to keep in her own lane. Not being too ambitious or experimental. An idea of opening boxes she was not supposed to perhaps a reaction to how she was seen as this one particular type of artist and was not encouraged to be different or experimental. If she did open the box or broke away, then there would be all these consequences. Perhaps one of the most revealing songs on The Dreaminmg, you do get a feeling Kate Bush was embodying Pandora. Except, rather than opening a box and all these evils coming out, perhaps a sense that a lot was bottled in and she could not really get this relief and release. This artist who could not have it all, very telling that Bush was sort of saying that she could not be the artist she wanted to be. Or be that and have a personal life too. A subject very relevant to modern music. How very few major artists can have it all in terms of the professional and personal. There is a bit of the oblique and mysterious in Suspended in Gaffa: “He’s gonna wangle/A way to get out of it/She’s an excuse/And a witness who’ll talk when he’s called”. A lot of the personal in the song. However, there are the more impersonal or detached lines that could be about Bush and her career. I do think of Bush casting herself as Pandora. Or the opposite. This box in front of her. If it is opened, which she might want to do, then the result could be damaging and determinantal. This quest for knowledge and achieving something. Obstacles being in the way. Rather than it being laziness and Bush wanting not to take risks, perhaps it is too dangerous and problematic taking risks.

A fascinating song, one of the most emotional lines actually connects with her mother, Hannah: “Mother, where are the angels?/I’m scared of the changes”. Perhaps vulnerable and feeling in need of protection, you get the sense of a woman in her twenties plunged deep into recording an album and feeling lost. At a point in her career when she was looking for something but being held back. Almost like Pandora standing over a bomb, there is rawness, emotion, philosophy, pondering and so much more in Suspended in Gaffa. What is particularly noteworthy is that the video for the song did feature, briefly, Kate Bush’s mother. It is a rare occasion when her parents featured. Of course, her brother Paddy was in quite a few of her videos. Few might have seen Kate Bush’s mother. If you see Suspended in Gaffa as a quest for God and enlightenment, I think there is more of the personal and tangible in there. Bush perhaps feeling adrift or in a difficult situation. The video for Suspended in Gaffa does contain a touching moment when Bush is hugged by her mother. What stands out regarding Suspended in Gaffa is the mixture of the deep and thought-provoking and something more child-like. That is not an insult. There is a whimsical or playful aspect to the song. Religions and theology. Religious imagery and symbolism sitting alongside mythology and Pandora. Quite relevant and striking mentioning her. A window into Kate Bush’s mind and feelings when recording The Dreaming. Or I might be reading too much into it. However, before finishing off and mentioning one more subject, there is a wonderful article from Dreams of Orgonon about Suspended in Gaffa:

“One perspective that appears throughout The Dreaming is that of childhood and play — it treats the untethering of the subconscious as revealing a small, confused child. From one perspective of maturity, people can be viewed as complex adult emotions and cynicism burying a repressed inner child. “Suspended in Gaffa” certainly lends itself to this reading. Panto-like in its musical qualities (and certainly in its music video, which we’ll get back to shortly), it’s a waltz in C major, playful and initially parsimonious. Par for the course in The Dreaming, the verse’s chord progressions follow the rhythm in shape, particularly with its descending patterns of two major chords followed by minor chords (V-IV-ii, then V-IV-vi-iii), with a result of nearly staccato chipperness and a less cheerful supertonic or submediant. Its buoyancy is something of a ploy though — Bush’s vocal, while acrobatic in its emphatic lunges towards certain syllables (“OUT/in the GARden/there’s HALF of a HEAVen”), maintains a certain reservation often running lyrics together (“Whenever I’ve sung this song I’ve hoped that my breath would hold out for the first few phrases, as there is no gap to breathe in,” Bush wrote later), as Bush sings primarily from the back of her throat with results that sound like she’s gulping the lyrics, likely a frustrating move to listeners with less patience for Bush’s sometimes unintelligible lyrics. “FEET Of MUD” and “IT ALL GOES SLO-MO” are certainly B.V.s for the ages.

Yet at the core of this excess, there’s a simplicity to “Suspended in Gaffa.” It has the same expansive and consumptive obsessions as its sister songs — youthful aporia, an obsession with an unreachable god, a desire to unite with the subconscious. Yet it filters this through a childlike, somewhat Carrollian filter, with a surfeit of internal rhymes, abstract nouns, and ambiguous pronouns like “out in the garden/there’s half of a heaven/and we’re only bluffing,” “I try to get nearer/but as it gets clearer/there’s something appears in the way,” “I pull out the plank and say/thankee for yanking me back/to the fact that there’s always something to distract.”

The lyric is an endless series of prevarications, often relating to knowledge, or the unattainability of it (see “Sat in Your Lap”). The refrain’s “not till I’m ready for you,” “can I have it all now?/we can’t have it all,” “but they’ve told us/unless we can prove that we’re doing it/we can’t have it all” speak to an “all or nothing” approach, not identifying exactly what’s at stake so much as its urgency. Desire gets codified as an end in itself, often for a god (“I caught a glimpse of a god/all shining and bright”) — “until I’m ready for you” gives away the game (constructive spiritual union with a deity is impossible if one is unready to consent). “The idea of the song is that of being given a glimpse of ‘God’ — something that we dearly want — but being told that unless we work for it, we will never see it again, and even then, we might not be worthy of it,” Bush explained to her fan club. Tapping into the subconscious is a difficulty — when one has a glimpse of something wondrous, there’s a desperation to retrieve the feelings associated with it. “Everything or nothing” can be a neurodivergent impulse, but it’s also how a taste of the sublime works.

The nature of aporia in “Suspended in Gaffa” is cinematic. There’s the title, obviously, referring to the line “am I suspended in gaffa?,” itself a reference to gaffer (or “gaffa”) tape, which is commonly used in film and stage productions. The laboriousness of cinema is inferred a few times (“it all goes slo-mo”), as reflections and manipulation, staples of cinema, get pulled into the mix. Bush even goes quasi-Lacanian at one point; nudging herself with “that girl in the mirror/between you and me/she don’t stand a chance of getting anywhere at all,” a moment of amusing self-deprecation.

The music video, while counterintuitively simple in its setup of Bush dancing on her own in a barn, is similarly weird. Bush’s hair is made up to twice the height of her head as she dances in a purple jumpsuit, slowly jogging in place and thrashing her arms on the floor like an adolescent Job on her rural ash pile. In a pleasantly domestic turn, Bush’s mother Hannah appears (shockingly) as Bush’s mother. The resulting video is both tender and discordant, the ethos of “Suspended in Gaffa” in microcosm.

Bush’s fight with aporia moves forward. She mixes religious metaphors like a hermeneuticist in a Westminster pub (“it’s a plank in me eye,” taken from Matthew 7:5, is adjuncted by “a camel/who’s trying to get through it,” a quiet subversion of the Talmudic “eye of a needle” axiom, cited by Christ in the Synoptic Gospels and additionally by the Qu’ran 7:40), grasping fragments of faiths, mediums, and metaphors in their simplest form. The results are crucially inchoate, as the perspective of a child so often is. Yet through that rudimentary perspective comes a different understanding of emotional truths than one usually finds from an adult point-of-view. Fragments and naïveté are by no means inherently less scholarly than a more mature perspective; sometimes, they’re the most efficacious tools a person has for exploring the ridiculous and sublime.

(Bush.) Personnel: Bush, K. — vocals, piano, strings. Elliott — drums. Palmer — bass. Bush, P. — strings, mandolin. Lawson — synclavier. Launay — engineer (backing tracks). Hardiman — engineer (overdubs). Cooper — engineer (mastering). Backing tacks recorded at May/June 1981 at Townhouse Studios, Shepherd’s Bush. Overdubs recorded at Odyssey Studios, Marylebone, West End and Advision Studios, Fitzrovia from August 1981 to January 1982, 4-and-a-half months. Mixed at the Townhouse from March to 21 May, 1982. Issued as a single 2 November 1982”.

In the case of Pandora, the act of opening this box released diseases, toil, and sorrow into the world, ending the Golden Age. Only Hope remained inside, as she managed to close the jar in time. I have said before how Bush brings in mythology and religion. Bush often brings archetypes, and folklore into her music, using these narratives to explore intense human emotions, transformation, and spiritual, mystical themes. Her music often invokes the ‘triple goddess’ archetype, blending paganism, Druid philosophy, and classical mythology. Consider the title track from 1985’s Hounds of Love. It is, in part, influenced by the myth of Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft and the dark moon. The "black she-dog" is associated with Hekabe, the Trojan queen, and Hecate's howling dogs, which are viewed as harbingers of death and ghosts. Hounds of Love’s Jig of Life also brings in Greek mythology. A fellow track on The Dreaming, Get Out of My House, has been interpreted as a reference to the myth of Hecuba (Hekabe) being driven mad by sorrow and transformed. Maybe we can trace her interest in Greek mythology back to 1970. Aged eleven/twelve, this website highlights how the seeds were planted early. An interest time of change and curiosity: “Kate follows her elder brother John and begins to develop her poetry. Her piano playing is an outlet for her frustration. She is heavily influenced by an interest in Greek mythology”. What I want to end by saying is how you can feel this young woman exploring and seeking. Sat in Your Lap critiques people who want the rewards of wisdom without doing the hard work, suggesting that true understanding requires effort, yet often reveals deeper layers of ignorance. I am curious whether Bush was thinking of particular people, like politicians, or reacting to a wider sect. She was tirelessly working and pushing. Bush saying about the track, this: “Suspended in Gaffa is trying to simulate being trapped in a kind of web: everything is in slow motion, and the person feels like they're tied up. They can't move”. I sort of feel like Bush was trying to achieve something and growing but was being held back or kept in a box. Maybe scared and exhausted, there is this song that is almost like poetry. In fact, this message board sees people analysing the lyrics and breaking them down. One of her most powerful and memorable songs, Suspended in Gaffa raises as many questions as it answers. This 2025 Medium article trying to get to the bottom of the song: “SongMeanings.net has some angles worth a look. One take says it’s her wrestling art — gaffa as the mess of ideas that won’t line up, “I want it all” her drive to break through. It fits; The Dreaming was her pushing limits, maybe battling her own mind. Another sees it as a shot at the suits — those “they” who demand she prove her worth. The plank in her eye? Noise from execs or life pulling her off track. It’s got teeth; she’s never bowed easy. Kate’s only hinted “gaffa” is about being held back — tape, sure, but bigger too. Her rules, our guesses”. Two compelling and different Kate Bush characters. From Mrs. Bartolozzi and this song about housework, laundry, cleaning the floor and the ordinary and mundane turning into something epic and sensual. We also have Pandora mentioned in a standout from The Dreaming. Both compelling and arresting, I did want to examine these two different figures and talk around them and explore other themes. A chance to dive deeper into…

THE work of Kate Bush.

FEATURE: And If You’re Coming, Jump… Kate Bush’s The Big Sky at Forty

FEATURE:

 

 

And If You’re Coming, Jump…

Kate Bush’s The Big Sky at Forty

__________

I have covered…

this track a fair few times through the year, so you will forgive me for repeating myself when it comes to the resources I bring in. In terms of interview archive where Kate Bush talks about the background to The Big Sky. My favourite track from her 1985 album, Hounds of Love, this was a difficult one to put together. Struggling to get it right or form, there was this struggle to get the song made. However, what we have seems effortless and completely natural. Testament to Kate Bush as a producer that she made this song that has no audible cracks, rough edges or sounds like it was pieced together or this mismatch. Arguably her most joyous and jubilant track, it is this child-like sense of wonder that comes through. Maybe people do not herald The Big Sky as much as other songs on Hounds of Love as they do not feel it is as serious or deep. I love everything about The Big Sky. How Bush fought to get this song made and it went through these changes. The composition especially is astonishing. Martin Glover (Youth) providing this wonderful bass part. So funky and pulsating, it gives this racing heartbeat to the song. Charlie Morgan sounding epic on the drums! Del Palmer and Charlie Morgan on handclaps. Paddy Bush is in the mix on the didgeridoo. Morris Pert providing some percussion, alongside Alan Murphy on guitars. There is a reason for coming back to The Big Sky. The fourth single released from Hounds of Love, it came out on 21st April, 1986. Marking forty years of the final single from her masterpiece. It reached thirty-seven in the U.K. It went to fifteen in Ireland. That is interesting, as Bush does mention Ireland in a lyric (a cloud that resembles the country). I am always surprised The Big Sky was not a top twenty. It is a song that has a commercial and accessible feel yet it is unmistakable distinct from anything that was out in 1986. This was the same sort of time as singles like Peter’s Gabriel’s Sledgehammer and Madonna’s Papa Don’t Preach (which came out in June 1986). It was an exciting time for music. Maybe people bought Hounds of Love so did not want to purchase The Big Sky separately.

I do feel that this classic track should get some new attention and admiration on its fortieth anniversary. Before I continue on, it is helpful to get some context from Kate Bush. How this difficult song started life and what Bush had to do to make it work. It is to the Kate Bush Encyclopedia for that invaluable information:

“Someone sitting looking at the sky, watching the clouds change. I used to do this a lot as a child, just watching the clouds go into different shapes. I think we forget these pleasures as adults. We don’t get as much time to enjoy those kinds of things, or think about them; we feel silly about what we used to do naturally. The song is also suggesting the coming of the next flood – how perhaps the “fools on the hills” will be the wise ones. (Kate Bush Club newsletter, Issue 18, 1985)

‘The Big Sky’ was a song that changed a lot between the first version of it on the demo and the end product on the master tapes. As I mentioned in the earlier magazine, the demos are the masters, in that we now work straight in the 24-track studio when I’m writing the songs; but the structure of this song changed quite a lot. I wanted to steam along, and with the help of musicians such as Alan Murphy on guitar and Youth on bass, we accomplished quite a rock-and-roll feel for the track. Although this song did undergo two different drafts and the aforementioned players changed their arrangements dramatically, this is unusual in the case of most of the songs. (Kate Bush Club newsletter, Issue 18, 1985)”.

One of my favourite details is that Kate Bush directed the video for The Big Sky. This was not her debut directional outing. She had assisted and co-directed videos prior to Hounds of Love. However, on an album where she was very happy and wanted to go into directing and have more say on her visuals, the title track was the first she directed. That was the third single from the album. After Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) and Cloudbusting came out, with Bush watching the directors and learning, she stepped out as a director. I love what she did for The Big Sky!

There is some debate as to whether The Big Sky came out on 21st or 28th April, 1986. I am taking the date from Music Week and their edition from 19th April, 1986. They selected new singles coming out that week. Recorded at Wickham Farm Home Studios (Welling, England) and Windmill Lane Studios (Dublin, Ireland), critics were positive towards the song. As I have written before, Sounds declared that The Big Sky was a “moment of real, mad bravado" and "the best and most threatening thing this bizarre talent has ever done”. The video is something that charms me every time! Bush in all these different outfits. This mad editing that cuts between all these seemingly random scenes. It is a kaleidoscope and smorgasbord of fascinating characters, colours and imaginative visions. After the video for Hounds of Love, which was perhaps more grounded and had a different feel (and was partly inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps), this was a chance for Bush to go sillier and bigger. Spending five weeks in the U.K. charts, most people will not realise that the B-side was Not This Time. An underrated and almost known track, it is important in the sense that The Big Sky was the final single from Hounds of Love. Not that Bush would leave a big gap until her next single came out. I will highlight it closer to the time but, later in 1986, she put out the greatest hits album, The Whole Story. Experiment IV  was a new single she included on that. It was a hectic time for her. 1985-1986 saw her do so much promotion and put out arguably her most enduring videos. Even if The Big Sky does not get mentioned in the same breath as Cloudbusting and Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God), I feel it is worthy of discussion. Highlight scenes from the video.

I love how Del Palmer features in it as an army major. Paddy Bush is in there too. We see finished videos but do not really know what it was like on set. Unique in terms of how fans were allowed access, the Kate Bush Encyclopedia also reveal how a select group of lucky fans were given the chance to be extras on the video: “The music video was directed by Bush herself. It was filmed on 19 March 1986 at Elstree Film Studios in the presence of a studio audience of about hundred fans. The Homeground fanzine was asked to get this audience together, and they did within two weeks. Two coaches took everyone from Manchester Square to Elstree studios early in the morning, after which the Homeground staff, who were cast as some of the aviators, were filmed, and finally the whole audience was admitted for the ‘crowd scenes’. The scenes were repeated until Kate had them as she wanted”. At such an epic filming location, I wonder how quickly the video came together. It is like a film in a way. The scale and characters in the video. Bush speaking with her crew to make sure she got the right shots. Those fans maybe having to wait around for a while, but having this extraordinary and memorable day! Filmed so close to the single release, this was a hard song to visualise, I am sure. You listen to Cloudbusting and Hounds of Love and there are more obvious synopsises. However, The Big Sky’s video could have been as troublesome as he song itself! Bush could have got another director to work on it. However, she cleared had a vision for this single and executed it brilliantly! I do feel that The Big Sky is the standout track from Hounds of Love. It is a song that I never tire of hearing. As it turns forty on 21st April, I did want to come back to it. Not many people have written about the song. It is one of Kate Bush’s best. So delightful and delighted, you can feel this audible sunshine and smile. Even if it was a pain in the studio and almost didn’t happen, the finished version is exceptional. I did mention in a recent feature how The Meteorological Mix featured on Best of the Other Sides. Kate Bush loved listening to the mix and picking up new things. A real headrush of a track, The Big Sky is…

PURE sunshine.

FEATURE: Modern-Day Queens: Rose Gray

FEATURE:

 

 

Modern-Day Queens

Rose Gray

__________

THIS artist…

IN THIS PHOTO: Rose Gray at the BRIT Awards at Manchester’s Co-Op Live Arena on 28th February, 2026/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

has appeared on my blog a few times now. I have raved about her debut album, Louder, Please. That was released last year. I felt it warranted a Mercury Prize nomination and a lot more love than it got. I spotlighted Gray in 2022 and again last year. I want to include her for a third time, as there have been developments since her last appearance. News of new music. Rose Gray is someone I can see having this incredibly long career. One that includes acting too. Maybe it is presumptuous to say she would make an amazing actor, though I do feel that she is has this untapped potential and talent that would translate to the screen. In terms of music, she is one of our finest songwriters. Hackney Wick is one of my favourite songs from the past few years. I have not seen her live yet, though I shall try and rectify that. I did forget to mention that Rose Gray was nominated for a BRIT. Nominated alongside Jacob Alon and Sienna Spiro in the Critics' Choice Award category, Alon won (and they are worthy of that honour). However, it does show that Rose Gray is a serious talent to watch. Looking at her tour dates, she does have some incredible dates coming up. On 14th May, she plays London’s KOKO. I am tempted to go to that. Five days after that and she will play in New York. Gray will soon conquer America and I can imagine her performing on huge U.S. chat shows and appearing on some big stages there! I am going to get to an interview from this month. Bring things up to date. However, it is worth mentioning that Rose Gray performed at Trans Mission recently. Billed as “A Night of Solidarity For A Lifetime Of Change", it aims to support, celebrate, and raise funds for the transgender community. She was on a bill that included Wolf Alice.

An artist who firmly supports the L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ community, so many reasons to cherish and admire Rose Gray. On a slightly random tangent. I did actually think Rose Gray would be named in the cast of the upcoming series of Beatles films from Sam Mendes. I am not sure if she is a fan of the band, though I feel she has the ability to slot into a 1960s-set film. Something about her that would stand out. Anyway. I digress. My Beatles tangent is not a coincidence. Rose Gray’s boyfriend, Harris Dickinson, has been cast as John Lennon in those Beatles biopics/films. Not that Gray should have played an ex of Lennon. I feel like there was a role for her. Actually, last July, Gray was interviewed Emma Stout for Interview Magazine. She did actually talk about her Beatles era and how it was  and look. Maybe she would blanch at being cast in a Beatles film in that case:

“STOUT: Who’s in your pop girl coven—besides Kesha, obviously? Which pop girls are you listening to right now?

GRAY: Addison. I’m absolutely in love with that record and the production on all those songs. I’m so into her aesthetic.

STOUT: She’s amazing. There’s something about her that makes you think, “We would be best friends.” And that’s what all the best pop stars do.

GRAY: Charli does it well. Like, you want to be their friend.

STOUT: On the subject of pop 101, I was so impressed reading your interviews because you have this immense appreciation for pop history.

GRAY: I do love pop music. “Studied” makes me sound way too studious—I’ve just been in love with pop music ever since I was a kid.

STOUT: What was the first CD you ever owned?

GRAY: It was Christina Aguilera Stripped. Also, Lily Allen was a big part of my childhood. I just love that first record Alright, Still. And my mom loved Madonna, so I grew up with Madonna on in the house. It took me to get a bit older to really fall in love with her.

STOUT: So we have Madonna, Addison, Charli—

GRAY: Oklou, Björk. I love Alanis Morissette. Jagged Little Pill, I always come back to that record. I saw her at Glastonbury, like, 3 weeks ago. Have you been to Glastonbury?

STOUT: No. We have Gov Ball, but we don’t have a music festival like Glastonbury.

GRAY: They should start doing one. What do you call the countryside of New York?

PHOTO CREDIT: Emma Stout

STOUT: Upstate, darling. Charli had this album listening party upstate, and she brought all these journalists out to the middle of nowhere. There was no cell service, and it turned into a two-hour DJ set. Wait, have you been to Basement?

GRAY: No, but I’ve heard a few people talk about it. I’m in New York again in a month. It’s the first night of the headline tour, but I can do it.

STOUT: The first night of your first tour!

GRAY: I know—it feels so good.

STOUT: What’s your pre-show ritual?

GRAY: I do my own makeup and that helps me get in the zone. Then vocal warmups and put on some good tunes.

STOUT: Are you superstitious?

GRAY: I am, but I don’t think I am with my shows. Whenever I do bigger shows, I have a two-minute interlude of me speaking before I go on stage. Sometimes if I don’t have that, I don’t feel as connected to my performance. During those two minutes, I just zone out.

STOUT: You look fabulous, by the way. Can you describe your look?

GRAY: The knit piece, hot pants, boots, and ripped tights. All my tights are ripping. I wore these for a show the other day and they ripped. But it’s the most perfect rip, almost like I did it on purpose. I didn’t. I always wear this kind of vibe now when I play.

STOUT: You’ve very mobile.

GRAY: I like to be mobile.

STOUT: How did you find your look?

GRAY: It happened quite naturally. There have been some eras over the last six or seven years.

STOUT: Bad eras?

GRAY: 100 percent. I’ve had some really weird eras. I had an era where I dressed like I was a Beatle. Very 60s, sort of Sergeant Pepper. Tight and tailored. Do you know what? It was a vibe.

STOUT: And where are you now?

GRAY: Now, everything is stripped down—apart from the hair. I love tights, little shorts, vests, a bonnet, sunglasses. Mysterious, but also comfy. I’ve got to move a little bit on stage.

STOUT: Speaking of the Beatles, your boyfriend is playing John Lennon in the biopic. How do you fend off the “Dickheads”?

GRAY: Oh, they’re lovely. They are so nice. I think they like me.

STOUT: Last question, what can I expect tonight?

GRAY: Sweat and choreography”.

One more 2025 interview before moving on, Ticketmaster UK caught up with Rose Gray in October. She put out the A Little Louder, Please. An extended edition of her remarkable debut. Ticketmaster UK chatted with Gray after the release of her then-new single, April. It is not an exaggeration to say that Gray is going to be a future icon. An artist who will headline massive festivals and have the same sort of career trajectory as the biggest Pop artists in the world:

“Nine months down the line, do you resonate with the ethos of Louder, Please even more, considering how you’ve been firing on all cylinders?

It definitely resonates with me even more now, having sung those lyrics, or shouted them, like, in ‘Damn’. I kept accidentally writing songs with ‘louder’ in it, coming back to the word. Whenever I’m on the mic, I still say, ‘Could you put up a little louder, please?’

This is kind of deep, but since I was a kid, I’ve always pushed for more. Whether it’s making music, art or learning a dance, I will take it to the next level. But it’s also quite exhausting, constantly wanting more for myself. It’s brilliant for my career, because a lot of people would have probably stopped a few years ago, when things weren’t working.

What turned things around for you? Can you pinpoint a moment or period where the music you were making really clicked with your personality?

If I’m being completely honest, I think it was when the album came out. From the morning that my album came out, on 17 January 2025, everything did fall into place. Behind the scenes, things happened that needed to happen. All the shows I wanted to play, I started to book. The artists that I’ve grown up loving started messaging me and wanting to collaborate.

Is that even more rewarding given how long you took to craft it?

I’d got to a place where I actually accepted that no matter what happens with the album, I’m proud of it. I love it, and it will be out forever. The record label that I put my album out with were really supportive of me, but they didn’t think I was ready to be an album level artist. I had to really push to put out an album, insane [amounts].

Is there a reworked version on the deluxe edition that will surprise people the most?

I really love the reimagined version of ‘First’ that I did with Melanie C. That is a soundscape that people might be a bit shocked to hear, but it’s a world that I’ve always loved. There’s real variety in the record. I’ve got classic club bangers, but some of the reimagined versions are quite strange, odd, and alternative. Opening the projects up again really inspired me to take them in different directions, because I didn’t have any pressure for these tracks.

You recently released a mini doc about ‘Hackney Wick’. Is there more of that story to tell, regarding how the place helped shape the Rose Gray we know today?

There’s definitely more I feel. I feel very healed by that song. So many people in America told me how much they loved that song, which is so funny, because I imagine most of them haven’t been to Hackney Wick. It represents that place, wherever it is in the world, that you were drawn to, where some of the big life memories happened.

While you’ve been all over the world, do you miss the place, or is it reassuring that you always have it to come back to?

Hackney Wick has changed. I still love it and choose to meet my friends there for a drink. I really appreciate London more, now that I travel. [There’s] nothing quite like home. London is in my bones, it’s who I am.

Some people might disagree, but I think we’ve got a good balance of work, play and cosiness [in London]. Now we’re moving into autumn, all of our activities are going to change. Stockholm has that, New York has that, but a lot of places in the southern hemisphere are hot all the time and don’t have that.

Are you enjoying riding the wave of everything that’s happening at the moment?

It’s been pretty consistent. When I’m in a studio, I’m sat on my arse with coffee all day. I’m very comfortable and rested when I’m making music. I’m also quite a good sleeper now. I’m making sure that I’m taking a step out of it, remembering how much everything has changed, trying to appreciate it and take everything in. I’m one of those annoying people that’s in a really amazing moment, and then I’ll tell everyone that I think it’s an amazing moment!”.

IN THIS PHOTO: Rose Gray at Trans Mission at OVO Arena, Wembley on 11th March, 2026/PHOTO CREDIT: Corrine Amos

I am finishing off with NME, who spoke with Rose Gray backstage at the Trans Mission event on 11th March. Gray talked about “embracing the guitar on her “wild” forthcoming album, and explained how she uses her music to represent the voices of those around her”:

“When asked about what she has planned after the Trans Mission gig, Gray shared that she is gearing up for her upcoming UK headline tour (find tickets here), and also writing some new music that sees her lean into “wild” new avenues.

“I’m bringing out a new single, which I’m actually debuting tonight,” she said, referring to ‘Straight From The Club To Your Heart’. “I’m still a bit nervous playing new stuff [because] it feels like I’m about to open my diary in front of thousands of people.”

When asked about what fans can expect from the new material, the singer added: “I’m not departing my ‘Louder, Please’ world. It’s still electronic, it’s still pop, and it’s still very anthemic. But I am definitely transitioning into a different world. I have some guitars, which is wild for me, and I’m still in the thick of making the new record.”

Last January, ‘Louder, Please’ was given a four-star review from NME and praised as incorporating an “enigmatic cutting edge into her upbeat dance-pop sound”. It was also named as one of NME’s best albums of 2025, and saw Gray shortlisted for the 2026 BRITs Critics’ Choice shortlist. The latter was later awarded to Scottish singer-songwriter Jacob Alon.

As well as Gray, other performances on the night came from Rahim Redcar, who performed Christine And The Queens’ tracks ‘Full Of Life’ and ‘Deep Holes’, Kate Nash who played fan-favourite ‘Foundations’, and Wolf Alice who showed up after their win at the BRITs to break out acoustic versions of ‘Leaning Against the Wall’ and ‘Don’t Delete the Kisses’.

Olly Alexander ran through some Years & Years songs too, and was introduced to the stage by Sir Ian McKellen, who also recited Shakespeare’s The Strangers’ Case speech from Thomas More to the crowd – having also done so on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert”.

I think it is timely to re-explore Rose Gray and her music. As she is about to start these incredible tour dates and there is talk of new music, a lot of people looking excitedly in her direction! A spectacular artist who is going to be in the industry for decades, I don’t want to manifest things like acting roles. However, you feel there is all this unrealised talent in Gray. Focusing on music, she is undeniably a modern great. I am excited to see what the future holds. A modern queen who is on the rise, here is someone who you need to follow. Go and show…

HER some big love!

___________

Follow Rose Gray

Official:

https://www.rosegraymusic.com/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/rosegray_/

TikTok:

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

Twitter:

https://x.com/rosegray_

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/5YYrWH3w4JYijU4JZrOXWA?si=xEEANb5-RoCZp9RrnkMoCw

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/rosegrayyy

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwBKtW5UEKfHpdRrhbyW3Pw

FEATURE: Sending a Dangerous Message: Why Controversy Around the Romanian Eurovision Song Contest Entry Is Justified

FEATURE:

 

 

Sending a Dangerous Message

IN THIS PHOTO: Alexandra Căpitănescu will represent Romania at the Eurovision Song Contest on 16th May

Why Controversy Around the Romanian Eurovision Song Contest Entry Is Justified

__________

MAYBE some people…

will not be concerned or feel that it is irrelevant, considering how this year’s Eurovision Song Contest has been dogged by controversy. In the sense Israel is being allowed to compete and some nations, rightly, have pulled out. Israel should be banned out of a moral responsibility. It is a pity that the U.K. has not shown more backbone. It is disappointing and cowardly that we are still in the contest, considering that a representative of a nation committing genocide is being given a worldwide platform. Unfortunately, strangulation during sex is something that is prevalent. It does not always apply to women. However, largely, it is men strangling women during sex. It is an incredibly dangerous practice that can, and often does, lead to death. It is not something that should be promoted or seen as acceptable. In terms of music, addressing this is a risk. It definitely should not be included in songs in a positive way. Romania’s Eurovision Song Contest entry is Alexandra Căpitănescu. She is an incredible artist. However, her song, Choke Me, has rightly been called out for promoting a very dangerous message. This article explains more:

“Romania's entry for 2026's already controversial Eurovision Song Contest is facing criticism for allegedly promoting the dangerous practice of sexual strangulation, according to The Guardian newspaper.

Choke Me, by Alexandra Căpitănescu, includes lyrics such as "I want you to choke me" and "make my lungs explode", and has been described as "reckless" by campaigners against sexual violence.

Last year, The Guardian reported that more than half of sexually active people under the age of 35 in the UK have experienced strangulation, with more than two in five sexually active under 18s having either been strangled or strangled someone during sex. The report suggested that choking has "become part of a dangerous drift towards increased violence in mainstream pornography" and that there are consent issues around the practice in sexual encounters.

Clare McGlynn, a professor of law at Durham University and the author of Exposed: The Rise of Extreme Porn and How We Fight Back, tells The Guardian that the lyrics of Căpitănescu's song display "an alarming disregard for young women’s health and wellbeing".

"The song – and its choice by Romania/Eurovision, and promotion by those organisations – represents a reckless normalisation of a dangerous practice," she says. "It's playing fast and loose with young women's lives. The emerging medical evidence is that frequent sexual strangulation is giving young women brain damage."

However, a caption on the Romanian TV broadcaster's YouTube channel offers a different perspective on the message of the song, stating, "Choke Me speaks about the emotional pressure, doubts and turmoil that many young artists go through when trying to find their own voice and place in the world. Through an intense and deeply personal interpretation, Alexandra Căpitănescu transforms this experience into a powerful and authentic musical moment. The atmosphere of the song captures the tension between fragility and the strength to move forward, inviting the audience into a sincere emotional experience."

The Guardian says that there have been calls for the song to be disqualified.

Meanwhile, Căpitănescu has been booked to perform at the London Eurovision Party 2026 at HERE at the Outernet on April 19.

Eurovision 2026 has already attracted controversy, and international boycotts, due to Israel's participation in the contest. Ireland, Iceland, Spain, Slovenia, and Holland are neither participating in, nor broadcasting, this year's event in protest against the still on-going violence against Palestinians in Gaza, where a 'ceasefire' is in effect”.

This article from last year highlights some terrifying and alarm statistics: “More than two in five sexually active under-18s in the UK have either been strangled or strangled someone during sex, research has found, despite the serious dangers of the practice. “Choking”, as it is commonly known, has become normalised in young people’s sexual habits, the study by the Institute for Addressing Strangulation (Ifas) showed, with 43% of sexually active 16- and 17-year-olds having experienced it. More than half of people under the age of 35 have experienced it, with nearly a third wrongly believing there are safe ways to strangle someone. The survey also revealed a crisis of distress among those on the receiving end, with 36% saying they felt scared during the experience and 21% suffering dangerous physical symptoms, including dizziness and even loss of consciousness”.

If there was a track promoting sexual confidence or something positive then it would be okay. I do think that it is reckless to sing a song where the heroine asks to be strangled. Not only will people sing this. There is always a chance that people will listen to the messages in the song and feel that it is to be followed. One might say people are not easily swayed and nobody will hear Strangle Me and actually ask to be strangled during sex – or strangle someone themselves. However, it is a strange choice of song to bring to a worldwide event. I am surprised that the track was chosen as the representative for Romania. An event like Eurovision is already facing accusations or supporting and given platform to a genocidal nation. It should look at the songs entered and ban any that are controversial or send out a bad message. The contest should be an evening of celebration and love. Maybe the organisers felt the song was tongue in cheek or jokey. However, when it comes to a subject like strangulation and a dangerous sexual practice that is costing lives and almost seen as normalised, this is not something we should allow. When it comes to young men having sex, they are watching videos and visiting sites like Pornhub and seeing women being choked and strangled. It is abuse. They see this as how sex should be and what women like. Choke Me portrays a situation where strangulation is seen as thrilling, desired and wanted. Even if Alexandra Căpitănescu is not someone who is going to be responsible for a rise in strangulation during sex, this is not a topic that should be discussed positively or even flippantly in music. If you are writing a song about strangulation, then it needs to be seen as negative and something that should be stopped. This is reverse progress. Romania are not among the favourites. Still, it is going to be shocking seeing people cheering and celebrating this song. Alexandra Căpitănescu is a great artist and someone who should be using her voice for good. There is no ambiguity in the lyrics: “All I need is your love/I want it to choke me, choke me, choke me/Born for you to control, I want you to choke me/Ch-ch-ch-choke me, ch-ch-ch-choke me/Love me, make my lungs explode/All I need is your love, I want it to choke me/Ch-ch-ch-choke me, ch-ch-ch-choke me”. Many young men and women will sing these lyrics and not understand the weight of them. The Eurovision Song Contest needs to improve and not allow songs like this to pass through. In more than one way this year, the organisers really need to…

LEARN a lesson.

FEATURE: Modern-Day Queens: Lola Young

FEATURE:

 

 

Modern-Day Queens

Lola Young

__________

THIS edition…

of Modern-Day Queens is about one our very best Pop artists. Lola Young released her third studio album, I'm Only F**king Myself, last year. The south London artist won a GRAMMY for Best Pop Solo Performance for Messy. That standout song has not surpassed a billion streams. Young also won the Breakthrough Artist award at this year’s BRITs. I am going to come to some interviews with an artist who is going to be a legend of the future. In terms of what she has achieved and where she is headed, there are few artists like her. The music resonating with such a wide audience. An authentic and true artist, Lola Young spoke with ELLE about I’m Only F**king Myself. One of the most downloaded artists on the planet, Young spoke about there being no façade or alter ego with her and the music:

“Young was raised on rhythm: she grew up in Beckenham, south London, with her mother and stepfather, a professional bass player. By the time she graduated from the Brit school, she’d already caught the eye of her now-managers Nick Shymansky and Nick Huggett – the men behind Amy Winehouse and Adele, respectively – at local gigs and open-mic events, and signed to Island Records. By 23, she’d released 27 singles, two albums and two EPs.

‘I didn’t grow up with loads of money,’ she says. ‘My mum and stepdad are proud, and I support them where I can. I’m from a musical household and started piano early. A lot has changed, but so much has stayed the same. I have the same friends, the same family, the same sisters stealing my clothes. That grounds me.

‘I never want to let the glitz and glamour take my head to a different place. You can get swept away quickly – it’s terrifying. When you’re living a more luxurious life – being brought out to a fancy boat by a brand or something – you realise how many different pockets of the world exist and it’s easy to lose yourself. People treat you differently. They know who you are before you walk in. I’ve never spoken about this before, but it’s something I’m still grappling with. It’s strange. You have to know who you can turn to – who’ll tell you when you’re being a shit.’

Young’s meteoric ascent has earnt her an appearance on Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show, the Rising Star award at this year’s Ivor Novellos and a feature with Tyler, The Creator on ‘Like Him’. It’s the kind of career trajectory most artists take a decade to build. But the real standout moment came in June, when Billie Eilish personally asked Young to open for her Hit Me Hard and Soft tour.

‘She wanted me to join her on the whole tour, but I couldn’t because of other shows we had booked,’ she says. (In the end, Young played two nights in Paris.) ‘[Billie] is so genuine, and she was very complimentary about my work. I look up to her so much – we’re a similar age – watching what she stood for, how she came through. Just seeing her was enough to feel really empowered and remember why I do this. We had a little chat after but I was completely starstruck.’

I’m Only F**king Myself isn’t just an album. It’s a memoir – a scorched-earth account of sex, sabotage and survival, written with Young’s longtime collaborators Manuka and Solomonophonic, known for their work with Doja Cat and SZA. She wrote most of it in Paris over six months – a creatively rich, quietly intense period as ‘Messy’ took on a life of its own. ‘All the songs connect to me in some way,’ she says of the 14-track record”.

I am moving to an interview from earlier this year. Speaking with Rolling Stone UK in Los Angeles, after award wins and this new wave of attention and success, it has been seen as a comeback. It is not the case at all. Lola Young has always been active and relevant. However, there was a period of recovery needed after she collapsed on stage in 2025. With a lot more to give, this is a new chapter for her:

“It was a whirlwind of a year,” Young says of her 2025. “It was so mad and beautiful and exciting, but it was also, at times, very sad.” Yet the music industry can move at an unyielding clip, particularly when artists are rocketing to stardom like Young was.

Young was in demand, shuttling from one corner of the world to another, with massive performances, including Glastonbury and Lollapalooza Paris, loading up a packed schedule. Her days started moving at warp speed, the hours hectic and endless and exhausting. All the while, she had gotten help for an active addiction to cocaine and worked with a sober coach who traveled with her for a lot of 2025. But as the year progressed, things got heavier and harder.

“If I’m gonna be honest with you, the enjoyment was deteriorating,” she says. “Just small things that I had to do: an interview, a piece of promo. I just didn’t know all the stuff that comes with it. But I wasn’t in a good place, and there’s two sides of the coin …” she trails off. “You want to say yes to everything because everything’s on the table, but then you also have to balance that with your mental health, and I’ve been super open about my mental-health condition that I suffer from, and also about all the other stuff that’s going on for me.”

That summer, Young’s manager, Nick Shymansky, told The New York Times that Young had relapsed and gone back to treatment. She returned to public life a few months later, releasing her third album, I’m Only F**king Myself, on September 19. The LP, razored, chaotic and edgier than her past releases, chronicled her experiences with love, isolation, and recovery, set to upbeat sounds. Once the record came out, it was back to promo; she did Fallon and a YouTube interview and a performance for the Grammy Museum Foundation. On the outside, it seemed she was in a good place, but behind the scenes, she’d been barreling toward crisis.

People saw the breaking point in unforgiving real time. On Sept. 27, Young was onstage in New York, at the All Things Go festival. Young prefers not to talk about the specifics of that day, but audience video showed what happened: She was in the middle of singing her song ‘Conceited’ when she turned to the side, as though she wanted to say something to someone standing there. She stumbled briefly, and then seconds later, her eyes closed and she went completely rigid, falling backward. Almost immediately, the digital age’s most pernicious habits took over: The clip ricocheted across the internet, propagating over and over across every social media platform, a person’s worst moment on constant repeat. Hundreds of videos followed, with fans worrying about Young’s health, speculating about the pressure she was under. The crueler ones accused her of faking the whole thing and staging the incident for attention.

There was noise and concern and uproar in the months that followed, but none of it reached Young. A week after she collapsed, she posted a message on Instagram: “I’m going away for a while. It pains me to say I have to cancel everything for the foreseeable future. Thank you for all the love and support.” She checked into a facility and went on lockdown for two months. She had no phone or access to the outside world. She was in there while people speculated about her incessantly. She was in there when news of her two Grammy nominations arrived: Best New Artist, and Best Pop Solo Performance, for ‘Messy’.

PHOTO CREDIT: David LaChapelle for Rolling Stone

A ton of artists supported her: Katy Perry sent her a message; Charli XCX wrote her an email. Kesha and Elton John both reached out. Lady Gaga texted. “That was pretty mad,” Young says. “And that made me feel safer.” She credits her fans and how incredibly supportive they were throughout the past several months.

Still, coming out of that has been a careful process, with her health at the center of it all. Young says that, unlike previous recovery attempts, the approach is different this time: The facility she visited is holistic, centering on therapy and psychology instead of solely treating addiction. Since leaving, she’s been attending AA meetings and has a sponsor.

Young says her relationship to work has also changed. “One thing that’s really helped me is slowing down, mentally, taking time to process,” she says. “Days off, that’s really important. Enjoying time with friends, people that love you.” But, she’s had to navigate both tough moments and criticism, especially after canceling shows and appearances. “There was a bunch of hate, but you know what? Fuck it,” she says. “When you’re doing something, there’s always going to be a couple motherfuckers talking shit. But at the same time, it was a decision, like I said, that I had to make, and it was sad that I had to do that. What else was I going to do, die? That was the reality of where my addiction was heading.”

There’s no manual for pop stars dealing with addiction, but Young and her team have found that having her take her time and listen to herself helps most. “We’ve learned that things need to slow down, and that’s really healthy to know that,” she says. “But, no, I don’t think it’s fair that people push blame on anybody when they don’t know the full story.”

Still, she gives fans who worry about her some benefit of the doubt. “I don’t really blame [those] people either, you know, because they’re protecting me and they care,” she says, adding, “I think it’s sweet that people wanna, you know … but people on the internet, honestly, [they’re] insane, some of them. They’re just pulling something out of nothing and running with it a million miles per hour.”

Focusing on Young’s addiction feels reductive, especially when her catalog is filled with humor and intellect and skill. She bristles at the idea of becoming a spokesperson for sobriety when her own journey hasn’t been easy or linear. And yet so much of her strength as an artist involves being truthful about what’s happening inside her. “I’m just writing what I’m feeling, and then I’ll realise later, ‘Oh, fuck. I shouldn’t have said that I’m a raging drug addict.’ Then I’m like, ‘You know what? I am. What the fuck am I trying to hide?’”

It’s that unwavering honesty and vulnerability that’s traveled so far —worldwide, in fact — reaching people who need to hear her music the most. Anecdotally, she’s heard how her songs have cheered people up, guided them through breakups, reminded them that they’re enough. A fan recently wrote that he was so deeply moved by her music, he taught himself English to understand her better.

And then there are those who’ve told Young that her music saved their lives. “I want to just help in any way that I possibly can,” she says”.

I am going to end with a live review from The Times. They saw her perform at the London Palladium earlier this month. It is clear that Lola Young will have a busy summer with performances. Although she only released an album, I think that Lola Young will be working on new material and has other ideas. It is exciting to see her in a better place and inspiring so many people. This strong and resilient artist that has many years ahead:

“Since then she has won awards at both the Grammys and the Brits while building a reputation as someone who is prepared to lay out every issue, from addictions to bad boyfriends to serious mental health problems, in pop songs that have their appeal in being so unguarded. The challenge was in Young balancing her clear talent and charisma with the pressures of exposure, but this concert proved to be a well-judged coming in from the cold.

“It’s a bad game of love we’re in,” sang Young, playing solo piano, on Bad Game (3am), mining the lonely spirit of Joni Mitchell while throwing in some Mariah Carey-style vocal gymnastics for good measure. From there, she came across as being in control of the situation: here was someone who can open up and bleed in song, but align that with a professionalism that brings its own form of protection.

“So I’m back,” she said, as a pianist joined her for Why Do I Feel Better When I Hurt You, which displayed her lyrical speciality: going deep into relationship problems without supplying any answers, probably because, being only 25, she hasn’t got them yet. “Life’s a game and I just can’t win,” she lamented on Penny out of Nothing; Sad Sob Story was one big gripe about an old boyfriend. The zest with which the female-dominated audience sang the words back to her illustrated how closely they related to them.

Young was also entirely capable of maximum rudeness. One Thing was a catchy pop singalong about having zero interest in some guy’s mind but a lot of interest in his body; Post Sex Clarity evoked the feeling of pure attraction in the face of reason. Drugs featured too, with D£aler equating addiction to substance abuse and marrying the two. Dancing before the crowd, making the fans sing the choruses, she seemed almost carefree. But the songs themselves revealed the troubled waters within.

“I guess you know what’s coming,” she said in the encore. “This song changed my life.” That led the way for Messy, in which she listed all the criticisms levelled at her: smoking like a chimney, not being skinny, pulling “a Britney every other week” (ie, having a meltdown). The messiness is what makes Lola Young stand out, of course. If she can continue to hold it together, as she did at this appealingly compact concert, and transplant the chaos into song rather than let it take over her life, she’ll be fine”.

An artist we should be very proud of, I wonder what the next year or two holds. More albums and awards, for sure. There is so much affection and respect for Lola Young around the music world and far beyond. If you are new to Lola Young, then do go and listen to her music. One of the strongest artists in the world. As a songwriter and performer, there are few others…

IN her league.