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

FEATURE:

 

 

In Praise of Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend

IMAGE CREDIT: Team Coco

Seeing Artists in a New Light

__________

A slight diversion…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

LONG may it continue.

FEATURE: The Digital Mixtape: David Gilmour at Eighty

FEATURE:

 

 

The Digital Mixtape

PHOTO CREDIT: Anton Corbijn

David Gilmour at Eighty

__________

AS the extraordinary…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MANY happy returns.

FEATURE: Groovelines: Janet Jackson – All for You

FEATURE:

 

Groovelines

Janet Jackson – All for You

__________

ONE of Janet Jackson’s…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A music icon.

FEATURE: The Digital Mixtape: Saluting the Brilliant Harry Styles

FEATURE:

 

 

The Digital Mixtape

Saluting the Brilliant Harry Styles

__________

AN artist who always…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

AND some terrific deep cuts.

FEATURE: Remember the Days: In Celebration of Nelly Furtado

FEATURE:

 

 

Remember the Days

In Celebration of Nelly Furtado

__________

THIS is not especially tied…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

PHOTO CREDIT: Sami Drasin

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

AS phenomenal as her.

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

FEATURE:

 

 

Purple Patches

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

The Similarities Between Kate Bush and the Iconic Prince

__________

THERE are some bittersweet and big…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

WHAT could have been.

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

FEATURE:

 

 

Who Do You Think You Are?

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

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

__________

I know I have…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

View this post on Instagram

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

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

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

IN the summer.

FEATURE: The Great American Songbook: TLC

FEATURE:

 

 

The Great American Songbook

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

TLC

__________

I have written about TLC…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

PROPERLY explore their catalogue.

FEATURE: Spotlight: SACHA

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDITS: SASHA

SACHA

__________

I am not sure she will ever read this…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But she wasn’t done cutting her teeth.

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

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

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

Sacha going ‘Higher’ than ever with new track

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ibiza Rocks was first ever live performance

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mum Charlie ‘always knew’ Sacha would succeed

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bold fashion is passion for singer

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Perth-born singer collaborating with Dutch dance icon

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“I felt Armin was the perfect person.”

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

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

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

Could Sacha Taylor collaborate with Hannah Laing?

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

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

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

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

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

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by ＳA C H A (@sacha_sings)

IS going to be her year!

____________

Follow SACHA

Instagram:

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

Spotify:

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

TikTok:

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

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

FEATURE:

 

 

Kate Bush’s The Kick Inside at Forty-Eight

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

The Nerves and the Confidence

__________

I think I have covered…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A musical genius.

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

FEATURE:

 

 

Stepping Across That Iconic Zebra Crossing…

The Dream of Hiring a Prestigious Studio/Venue

__________

IN November…

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

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

IN THIS PHOTO: An interior shot of The Roundhouse

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

ONE day.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Smith & Liddle

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Eddy Maynard

Smith & Liddle

__________

I am not sure whether…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“When did you begin songwriting?

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

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

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

Where did you record the album and who produced it?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

FOR 2026.

___________

Follow Smith & Liddle

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/smithandliddle/

TikTok:

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

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtIZKx5wEMIRDqAuNhZFfFQ

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/p/Smith-Liddle-61571970737605/

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/0MlUUtv1t9IJ7T8814Vr2s?si=x2mGEjtjSzK49BpBVHISaA

FEATURE: Spotlight: Olive Jones

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

Olive Jones

__________

I am looking forward…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Flower Up Studio

to the release of For Mary. What is going to be a magnificent album from Olive Jones, maybe some new interviews will be published around it, as there are not too many recent ones out there. Never the less, I wanted to spotlight this incredible artist, as she is someone that you should know about. To promote the album, she has some great in-stores coming up, so go and see if you can. I might try and catch her in London. Jones is a wonderful songwriter who I have just discovered but am really interested in. There is not much in the way of intervbiew archive, so instead I am going to grab from a few articles that highlights her music. There is a 2024 interview with bringing in. For Mary is going to be a wonderful debut album. PRS for Music provide a little background and information about Olive Jones:

“London-based singer, songwriter and guitarist, Olive Jones draws on soul, jazz and folk to create her sumptuous melody driven music. Growing up singing along to the records of jazz greats; the voice and its ability to captivate and evoke emotion has always been at the forefront of her musical passion.

Her debut album, For Mary, aims to capture an essence of humanity; exploring topics of love, loss and the nuances of her observations and lived experience. Expect honey-drenched vocals, luscious production, beautiful harmony and songs that will stay with you long after you’ve listened”.

I hope there is press coverage around For Mary. Some interviews with Olive Jones. Kingdom is her latest single and it has this cool and swagger to it. Jones’s remarkable voice right at the centre. The video bathed in red. Our heroine scarfing down cake and dancing. Looking super-cool and entrancing, it is very different to a song like End of Time. That is lightly and more soulful/jazzier song. Its video sees Jones on a bicycle with headphones on.

The way she can switch styles and visuals yet retain this fascinating and distinct core. Before moving on, Band on the Wall provided some biography whilst promoting her gig there in 2024:

“Growing up singing along to the records of jazz greats and soul icons, the voice and its ability to captivate and evoke emotion has always been at the forefront of her musical passion. Her songwriting aims to capture an essence of being human; exploring topics of love, loss and communication observed through her lived experience. Expect honey-drenched vocals, luscious production, beautiful harmony and songs that will stay with you long after you’ve listened.

Olive has toured as the featured artist with Leeds soul outfit Gotts Street Park and collaborated with them on their leading album track “Tell Me Why” as featured vocalist. The single was playlisted on BBC6 Music and championed by Elton John on his Rocket Man show on Apple Music. She has supported rising star Jalen Ngonda on his 2023 and 2024 tours in UK and European cities as well as opening for the legendary Nitin Sawhney on his UK run earlier in the year”.

It would be great to hear from Olive Jones now. She has done so much since 2024. With that debut album ahead, it is the perfect time to capture new fans. I would love to see her played on some of the biggest radio stations in the country. I am not sure whether BBC Radio 6 Music have played it, but she seems tailormade for them. A phenomenal songwriter who everyone needs to connect with. The songs she put out last year were so incredible. Talk About Love is so powerful, beautiful and evocative. A song that I have come back to. Again, very different to something like Kingdom or Colour on the Wall. Such a broad palette.

I did not know that Olive Jones was once in a group. Mancunian Matters chatted with Jones in 2024 ahead of her Band on the Wall appearance. Jones discussed lyrical vulnerability, touring and her songwriting process. I do think that this year is going to provide some exciting new possibilities for Olive Jones in terms of stages she plays. International demand. In fact, in April, she does start some European dates. Taking her brilliant music beyond the U.K., I feel she will get more demand across Europe, the U.S. and beyond once For Mary arrives:

“Also known as lead vocalist in electro-soul, hip-hop outfit Noya Rao, the artist is taking her solo career further with her latest project, Three More Nights.

Moving from a career in a band to making music as an independent artist has invigorated Olive.

“It’s so exciting,” she said. “We are creating whatever sonic world we want and I think you can hear that honesty and freedom in the music.”

Revealing a softer acoustic take on soul after previous electronic singles ‘Planes’ and ‘Summer Rain’, the new EP has Olive’s same distinctive vocals and genuine lyrics. Released at the end of October, the four-song project conjures up ideas of a cosy night in with relaxing vibes rivalling Gilmore Girls.

Rich and warm single Nobody Knows from her first EP Three More Nights

Opening with title track Three More Nights, Olive uses a combination of smooth vocals and honest lyrics to create an EP which is comfortingly relatable.

It feels like a vulnerable project, as Olive explained: “I think it’s through songwriting that I process the world and my experiences of it and therefore inevitably my songs have a lot of ‘me’ in them.

“I’m a very resilient, positive character day to day and it seems my music is where I choose to channel some of my sadness, frustration and introspection, as well as joy, love and happiness.

“I would say the older I get, the easier I find it to write more vulnerable lyrics as I care less about how they reflect on me.

“I hope people will be able to find their own meanings in my words and feel comforted by my honesty and vulnerability.”

The EP brings to mind the similarly sophisticated Rosie Lowe, and lyrically delicate Billie Marten. Olive mentions La Force’s album XO Skeleton immediately as one of her biggest musical influences, alongside artists Feist and Alabama Shakes – influential both musically and in terms of production.

As you might expect from the openness of her EP, Olive described her songwriting process as both a “form of procrastination” and a “meditative practice”.

“Lyrically some songs fall out of me with ease but others require a little more patience to be articulated in the right way,” she said. “Lyrics are very important to me and I have always strived to write words that are personal yet universal.”

For this release Olive worked with producer James Wyatt, who has worked with the likes of Pixie Lott and Lianne La Havas – a process she described as “inspiring”.

“He strives to find something special from each corner of a song and his dedication to my project has been so encouraging.

“We are both so aligned with our vision and our skill sets really complement each other”.

Twistedsoul spotlighted Olive Jones back in December. Although I am a late convert to her clear brilliance, I would encourage as many people as possible to listen to her music. Go and check out For Mary when it is released on 13th March. There is so much competition and such a crowded scene with so many different artists each offering something of their own. I don’t think there is anyone quite like Olive Jones out there:

“With great enthusiasm, March 2026 will see the release of the debut full-length from London’s Olive Jones. The singer, songwriter and musician has steadily been bubbling away, cultivating a sublime catalogue of music along with a listener-base eagerly awaiting more to wrap their ears around.

Following a selection of initial standalone singles dating back to 2023, Jones’ first EP came in the form of ‘Three More Nights’ in 2024, solidifying her partnership with veteran Canadian label, Nettwerk. Boasting an incredible showcase of global talent across a variety of genres, styles and continents, Nettwerk have long held a dynamic approach to nurturing artists and helping them chart a course through an ever-evolving musical climate. And amongst an expansive line-up of Nettwerk artists covering everything from jazz to off-kilter pop, Olive Jones stands tall.

A slew of single releases after ‘Three More Nights’ has kept Jones prominent while the puzzle pieces for ‘For Mary’ have meticulously been slotting themselves into place.

There’s a natural flair to Jones’ music that places her within an alt-folk bracket but listening that little bit closer unveils an affection for authentic soul music that elevates the singer-songwriter’s aesthetic to a much more intricate plateau. The 2024 single, ‘End of Time’, would surely prove an essential port-of-call regarding any necessary introduction to Olive Jones’ music: there’s a wonderful hint of quintessential soul about the song (a sound typically synonymous with the delectable sounds of say Timmion Records or We Are Busy Bodies) which is backed by a charismatic video of Jones cycling through the park – listening to a cassette Walkman no less.

The Walkman again is such a nice touch – an affectionate quirk that affirms Jones as more than just an old soul, but one who bucks trends and carves her own path.

Hers is an intimate tone that invites warmth and sincerity throughout her music, and the yellow brick road that Jones’ music has paved lead to the 2026 release of ‘For Mary’. A debut full-length that feels like a long-time coming but a project that no doubt will be met with a rapturous reception when the complete version reaches prospective listeners”.

Her music is so fascinating. Kingdom is perhaps her most compelling track to date. Voxwave covered the track and included this in their article. Words from Olive Jones about the song’s meaning: “division in society, the search for hope, and common ground in a world that seems increasingly divided. About the song, Olive herself says “Brexit upset me enormously, and even more so the arrogance and ignorance of Britain at that time. So ‘Kingdom’ is my political anthem about the fool who made it all happen”. Switching between these intimate and touching songs to something bigger and mor politically-charged, this is an artist with great sonic, lyrical and emotional depth. If you have not discovered Olive Jones yet then do go and connect. Such a brilliant musician who is going to be making music for a very long time to come, I feel For Mary will stand alongside…

THE best debut albums of this year.

___________

Follow Olive Jones

Official:

https://olivejonesmusic.com/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/olivejonesmusic/

TikTok:

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

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrdSQhgnwemSO6ZLGnMKQdg

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/people/Olive-Jones/61579214496083/

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/2DwbPVZ7uyW2B0AgoHuzLn?si=3mCuvWqKQmuhZvlmSQI4vQ

FEATURE: Alright: Gaz Coombes at Fifty

FEATURE:

 

 

Alright

Gaz Coombes at Fifty

__________

THE tremendous…

IN THIS PHOTO: Supergrass (Mickey Quinn, Gaz Coombes and Danny Goffey) photographed in 1995/PHOTO CREDIT: Chris Floyd

Gaz Coombes turns fifty on  8th March. As the lead of Supergrass, Coombes has been responsible for some of the best songs of the past thirty years. Although Supergrass performed as recently as last year, I am not sure that they will record an album together. Their incredible debut album, I Should Coco, turns thirty last year, so there was that demand for them to perform. In It for the Money is thirty next year, so I wonder whether they will perform live to commemorate that. Gaz Coombes is also a brilliant solo artist, so we will get music from him at some point. To mark the fiftieth anniversary of Gaz Coombes, I am bringing in a mixtape featuring the best solo cut6s and Supergrass tracks together with some deeper cut. Before that, AllMusic provide some biography about a living legend:

“As the exuberant frontman for the boundlessly imaginative Brit-pop group Supergrass, Gaz Coombes at one point seemed to be an eternal teenager -- a man destined to never slow down. But time has a way of aging even the irrepressibly youthful, and by their second decade Supergrass had started to expand sonically; by the time he released his solo debut, Here Come the Bombs, in 2012, just two years after the disbandment of Supergrass, Coombes had eased into the role of something of a Brit-pop elder statesman: a pop songwriter who was ready to explore new territory without swearing off his allegiance to melody. Over the next decade, Coombes maintained this delicate balance on a pair of subsequent solo records -- Matador in 2015 and 2018's World's Strongest Man -- before joining his Supergrass bandmates for a reunion in the early 2020s. Once that tour came to a close in 2022, Coombes returned to his solo career with 2023's Turn the Car Around.

Melody always was Coombes' specialty, even when he was the lead singer of the Jennifers at the age of 16. He and fellow Wheatley Park School classmate Danny Goffey formed the Jennifers when they were teens, and the Oxford-based quartet got far enough to land a contract with Nude, the label best known for signing Suede. The Jennifers fell apart after releasing the "Just Got Back Today" single in 1993, but Coombes and drummer Goffey formed Supergrass with bassist Mick Quinn later that year. Supergrass' rise was quick, with their debut single, "Caught by the Fuzz," selling out its first pressing in 1994 and receiving praise from John Peel, NME, and Melody Maker. Their debut, I Should Coco, arrived in the summer of 1995, right in the thick of Brit-pop mania, and it was one of the biggest records of the year, thanks in part to its effervescent hit "Alright." With their second album, 1997's In It for the Money, Supergrass' fame spread outside of England, but like so many of their British peers, they never managed to crack the U.S. market, despite support from such American fans as Foo Fighters and Pearl Jam.

Supergrass released an eponymous album in 1999 and Life on Other Planets in 2002 -- the latter arriving the same year that Gaz's brother Rob Coombes officially joined the band as their keyboardist, but their commercial fortunes began to slide somewhat. The contemplative 2005 record Road to Rouen was followed by the glitzy Diamond Hoo Ha in 2008 and then the group fractured, the band attempting to record a seventh album provisionally titled Released the Drones in 2009 but ultimately abandoning the sessions.

In the aftermath of the band's split, Coombes and Goffey bashed out cover versions in the 2010 one-off the Hotrats, and Coombes got down to business for his solo career, recording Here Come the Bombs in his home studio. The album appeared in early summer 2012, greeted by generally positive reviews. His second self-produced album, Matador, appeared in January 2015. Coombes played the majority of the instruments on Matador, assisted on occasion by his brother Charly and Ride drummer Loz Colbert. Matador debuted at 18 on the U.K. charts and wound up earning a nomination for the Mercury Prize. Coombes returned in May 2018 with World's Strongest Man.

In September 2019, a decade after they broke up, Supergrass reunited for a performance at the annual Glastonbury Pilton Party. In December, Coombes issued his Sheldonian Live EP, which featured four songs he had performed earlier in the year at a charity concert at Oxford’s Sheldonian Theatre. Shortly after the Supergrass reunion, the career-spanning box set The Strange Ones: 1994-2008 was released in January 2020. Plans for an extensive 2020 tour were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic but they returned to the road in 2021, playing shows into 2022. Coombes resumed his solo career with the January 2023 release of Turn the Car Around”.

I am curious how Gaz Coombes’s fiftieth birthday will be marked. I do hope that there is celebration and people write about his music. Supergrass have changed so many people’s lives and let’s hope that they continue to perform together. Go and check out the Gaz Coombes/Supergrass at the bottom of this feature and…

FEEL alright.

FEATURE: So Far Away: Carole King's Tapestry at Fifty-Five

FEATURE:

 

 

So Far Away

Carole King's Tapestry at Fifty-Five

__________

THE second…

PHOTO CREDIT: Jim McCrary/Redferns/Getty Images

studio album from, Carole King, Tapestry turns fifty-five on 10th February. It is one of the greatest albums ever released. Everyone will recognise tracks from Tapestry, whether that is You’ve Got a Friend, I Feel the Earth Move or It’s Too Late. I first heard the album when I was a young child and I recall being very curious as to who Carole King was. All these years later and Tapestry still sound spine-chilling and captivating. Reaching number one in the U.S. and gaining huge critical applause, Tapestry won four GRAMMYs at the 1972 ceremony, including Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Record of the Year. An album that changed Carole King’s life. To mark its upcoming fifty-fifth anniversary, I will spotlight a review of it. However, there are some features that are worth bringing in too. I am going to start out with this feature from Carole King’s official website. Tapestry was an album where Carole King bet on herself:

“In January 1971, Carole King, a native New Yorker recently transplanted to touchy-feely Los Angeles, entered A&M Studio on La Brea Avenue to record her first album of songs for which she'd written both music and lyrics.

With her was a family-sized crew of musicians-slash-confidants from the emerging Laurel Canyon rock scene, among them her producer, Lou Adler and James Taylor, the sexy and ruminative singer and guitarist for whom she'd played piano on tour the year before.

They worked quickly, cutting two or three tunes a day, and finished the 12-song record in three weeks. (The studio budget, according to Adler:$22,000).  By June, the LP - King called it "Tapestry" in acknowledgment of its handcrafted vibe - had reached the top of the Billboard 200, where it stayed for 15 weeks on its way to finding a permanent spot in what seemed like every home in America.

"In a funny way, it was almost like Obama's first presidential run, when he sprinted through the campaign so quickly that the Republican dirt machine didn't get him in their sights," says Taylor, whose early success alongside King would propel the two of them half a century later to performances at Biden's presidential inauguration.  "People didn't get a chance to say, 'Oh Carole, she doesn't really have a singer's voice.' Or, 'She's a mother.' Or, 'She's from Brooklyn.'

"The first thing you knew about it was, here's this incredible material, and people heard it and said, 'Yeah, that's for me.'  It was like a first-pitch home run."

"Of course, that wasn't true," Taylor adds with a laugh. "It came after a decade of work."

Indeed, for all its energy of arrival, "Tapestry" actually marked the beginning of an unlikely second act for King, who at age 28 had left behind a life and career as half of a prolific Brill Building songwriting duo with her husband, Gerry Goffin, and had moved to L.A. with her two young daughters, Louise and Sherry.  Here, nestled in the verdant hills above Hollywood, the woman who co-wrote the deathless "Up on the Roof", "The Loco-Motion" and "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" remade herself as a new kind of pop star: thoughtful, relatable, understated.  The album's iconic cover, showing wavy-haired King and her cat sitting contentedly by a window in her home on Wonderland Avenue, said it all.

And the shift went beyond her: Along with Taylor's "Sweet Baby James" and Joni Mitchell's "Blue," the latter recorded just down the hall at A&M with some of the same players, King's album helped launch the singer-songwriter movement of the 1970's, resetting pop's mood and scope in the wake of the cultural and political upheaval that defined the end of the '60s.

In the years after "Tapestry," King could seem ambivalent about the stardom she'd attained.  She continued to make records, occasionally in search of a convincing style, but she didn't tour or promote them as the pop industry requires.  Today, nine of her 10 most-streamed songs on Spotify are from "Tapestry," and her 1974 track "Jazzman," which reached No.2 on the Billboard Hot 100, may be the best known in a version by Lisa Simpson.

"She wanted to be home with her children - and to create more children," Kortchmar says. (In addition to her daughers with Goffin, King has a daughter, Molly, and a son, Levi, with Larkey.)  "And she was just seriously less interested in the fame part of the gig - the everyone-adores-me part - than in actually creating the music”.

On 10th February, 2021, to mark fifty years of Tapestry, Rolling Stone shared their thoughts on the album. They discuss how “With its masterful songcraft and backstory of personal reinvention, King's 1971 landmark remains one of pop's greatest declarations of independence”. I think Tapestry remains one of the most beautiful and affecting albums ever released:

“But sales figures, ubiquity, and Grammy Awards (Tapestry won Album of the Year and also walked away with three other awards, including Song and Record of the Year) were never the sum of what Tapestry accomplished. Within its dozen songs were any number of stories that lent it a resonance and scope rare in pop albums of the time, and some of those stories could also apply now.

As anyone who saw the Broadway show Beautiful knows, King had an entirely different life before Tapestry: living on the East Coast, married (to fellow songwriter Gerry Goffin) and having children while writing and recording demos as part of the Brill Building song factory. After breaking up with Goffin and moving to California in 1968, King transitioned into a new phase, and style of music — more Laurel Canyon and less Times Square. Tapestry told that story, slyly, by way of its remake of “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” (a Goffin-King hit for the Shirelles in 1960), which provided a connection to King’s past; the hushed, pared-down arrangement hinted at a more adult, less Top 40 sound.

Tapestry also rolled around just in time for the burgeoning women’s-rights movement. Later that year, Helen Reddy’s “I Am Woman” would become the first major, clear-cut feminist pop anthem, and 1971 also saw the arrival of not just Blue but Carly Simon’s self-titled debut. Tapestry communicated that cultural shift starting with its cover image of King, in a gray sweater, curled up near the window in her L.A. home. She was alone but looked assured, comfortable, at ease with herself. The pert hairdos and dresses seen in Sixties photos of her were now relics of the past and another life.

That newfound confidence and strength spilled out onto the record. For the first time, King wrote the bulk of the lyrics herself. The opening song, “I Feel the Earth Move,” joyfully expressed that feeling of being swept away by a new love, but King’s piano, and the back-and-forth solos between her and guitarist Danny Kortchmar, communicated strength and command. (King always knew exactly how she wanted her records to sound and always took charge of her sessions, even if Tapestry was officially produced by Lou Adler.) Similarly, the narrator of “It’s Too Late” is almost matter of fact when surveying the end of a relationship; she sounds rational, not distraught. For the 50th anniversary, an album outtake, “Out in the Cold,” has been resurrected after first appearing as a bonus track on a 1999 CD reissue. A confessional about being unfaithful to a lover and paying the price, it feels rational and adult (if not totally empowered).

With its cameos by Mitchell and James Taylor (a couple at the time), Tapestry also fit snugly into the singer-songwriter genre that was beginning to take over pop. On her “You’ve Got a Friend,” which Taylor also covered that same year, and the plaintive “Home Again,” King showed she could be as contemplative and introspective as her new peers. Her version of “(You Make Me Feel Like a) Natural Woman” — a song she’d co-written with Goffin a few years earlier — was equally stripped down and unadorned, especially after Aretha Franklin’s takeover of the song. (King was cutting spectral remakes, even of her own work, long before the indie crowd got hold of that idea.)

Yet as much as we associate the album with King’s famous friends and the balladeer-diarist style of the moment, Tapestry was above all a glorious pop record. King may have relocated and left her New York studio days behind, but she took with her a sense of hooks and craft that helped the album transcend the voice-and-guitar arrangements common at the time. “Beautiful” had a show-tune bounce, the outlaw-rebel tall tale “Smackwater Jack” was galloping R&B, and “Where You Lead” (one of several songs with lyrics by her collaborator Toni Stern) conjured the effervescent bop of the Brill Building. Singer-songwriters who tried to sound “funky” could sound wooden, but King never did”.

It is not only interesting seeing how critics and the press feel about Tapestry. For artists across the generations, Tapestry means something different to them. The Guardian spoke with various artists on Tapestry’s fiftieth to ask how this landmark and masterpiece release impacted them. It is interesting reading thew various responses and perspectives:

“James Taylor

The singer-songwriter genre was named around 1970, give or take, and was said to apply to me and, among others Joni Mitchell, Cat Stevens and Jackson Browne. Why that supposed movement didn’t begin with Bob Dylan or even Woody Guthrie or Robert Johnson beats me – maybe they were still “folk”. But, if it means anything, Carole King deserves to be thought of as its epitome. I’d been deep into her songs – Up on the Roof, Natural Woman, Crying in the Rain – for a decade before Danny Kortchmar introduced us in Los Angeles in 1970. She played piano on my Sweet Baby James album while working on the songs for her own Tapestry. Our collaboration, our extended musical conversation over the next three or four years was really something wonderful. I’ve said it before, but Carole and I found we spoke the same language. Not just that we were both musicians but as if we shared a common ear, a parallel musical/emotional path. And we brought this out in one another, I believe.

It was a big change for Carole to leave New York for LA. She left behind an established, hugely successful career as a Brill Building [era] tunesmith, with her husband and lyricist, Gerry Goffin, and went west, on her own, with two young daughters. She started writing by herself, about herself – that is to say, from her own life. It came out of her so strong, so fierce and fresh. So clearly in her own voice. And yet, so immediately accessible, so familiar: you knew these songs already. I had that experience the first time I heard Carole sing You’ve Got a Friend from the stage of the Troubadour: “Oh yeah, that one.” Incredible that this song didn’t always exist. Carole’s focus was her family: [children] Louise and Sherry, and imminently, Levi and Molly. She had no time for the stuff the rest of us in Laurel Canyon were up to. She had her family and her songs. Certainly she would have her adventures, dramatic emotional switchbacks, in years to come. But in those days, she seemed to watch the dancers with a kind, wry detachment. To me, she was a port in the storm, a good and serious person with an astonishing gift, and, of course, a friend.

Sharon Van Etten

Tapestry was one of the first records my mother and I bonded over. It was so meaningful to sing in unison with my mom to a guttural, honest account performed by a stranger to whom I felt so inexplicably connected: a friend, a sister, a mother, and somebody’s daughter, a low voice and an attitude. From that point onward, I carried her music and spirit with me.

IN THIS PHOTO: Carole King in Lou Adler’s office holding the four GRAMMYs she won for Tapestry in 1971/PHPHOTO CREDIT: Jim McCrary/Redferns

I reconnected with King’s music when I was in high school. I was about to audition for choir. I always leaned toward rock in the classical world. The three songs on my list to audition with were: You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away by the Beatles and I Feel the Earth Move and Natural Woman by Carole King. I narrowed it down to the two Carole King songs and was given the choice of show choir or madrigals.

Carole’s songs made me want to sing her melodies and her harmonies and I felt closer to her while finding my path as a singer even at that young age. In my 30s, watching her musical on Broadway, I was overwhelmed with feelings of gratitude for her story. It showed the way in which a woman can pursue her own career, have a family and achieve happiness. That is a delicate balance that I strive for in my own life every day.

Danielle Haim

When my sisters and I were growing up, Tapestry was a key record in the house. Our mum also loved James Taylor and Joni Mitchell, who played and sang on it, so it was on in the car a lot. Our mum was from Philly on the east coast, so it was always in my mind that Carole was also a Jewish east-coast girl. She’d write these amazing, emotive songs and sing them in an almost optimistic or carefree voice.

Once she left the songwriting world and started writing for herself, it got less straightforward and more personal. So Far Away is really complex. The bridge is just insane. I’ve heard that song so many times, but a few weeks ago it came on the radio when I was driving, and I was totally stunned.

When you write a song it’s almost mystical. It feels as if the words just come out and it can be months or even years later you realise: “That’s what was happening.” I’d love to know who those songs are about. I think female artists are great at just letting it all show. As artists, my sisters and I feel like having Carole always in our lives definitely inspired us.

Rufus Wainwright

Tapestry was around our house when I was growing up, but I connected with it more when I moved to California because it’s the blueprint for anybody who’s starting off in songwriting in LA. Carole King made this incredible transformation from Brill Building songwriter to performer, but she didn’t go crazy or self-destruct. She was able to remain a good parent and – especially now I’m a father – she has always been a role model for me.

Tapestry is a bundle of emotions, and she doesn’t sound like anybody else. She wasn’t necessarily the greatest singer, but she has a unique style and attack. She’s not pulling any punches: it’s a great lesson in how to be yourself and be successful. She’d worked with great songwriters and artists, and knew all the great recording engineers and session players, and was able to channel everything she’d learned in her own way. Tapestry is the ultimate in terms of doing what you want artistically and just surviving as a human being in the record business. She made this amazing milestone in music without having to sacrifice her soul to do it”.

I will finish off this anniversary feature with Pitchfork and their 2019 review for Tapestry. Awarding it a flawless ten, they commended an album that turned a “master songwriter into a music legend”. I do wonder if there will be anything new written about Tapestry on its fifty-fifth anniversary. It continues to influence artists to this day. One of the most important albums in history:

“Tapestry was King’s second album as a bandleader, primary songwriter, unvarnished singer, and tentative recording artist—an American master of melody whose introspection became a phenomenon. At 29, she had been in the music industry for over a decade, outlasting the sea change away from bubblegum music and towards the singer-songwriter. She was skeptical of stardom. (“I didn’t think of myself as a singer,” King has said, and having written for Aretha, who could blame her?) She had also divorced her lyricist. Gathering her daughters, Louise and Sherry, and her cat, Telemachus, King moved cross-country to the Hollywood Hills, where she undertook the time-honored pop-music tradition of self-reinvention by way of self-discovery. In time, she grew spiritual, becoming a follower of the artistically beloved Swami Satchidananda. Crucially, she finally began to write her own lyrics in earnest, penning more than half the songs, and all of the peaks, of Tapestry alone.

King’s lyrics are a testament to the potential of the simplest phrases when heightened by an uncluttered arrangement and an unfettered truth, the definition of classic. “You’re beautiful,” “you’ve got a friend,” “you’re so far away”—her words are conversational, economic, and nearly telepathic, as if reading our collective mind. In songs that mix girl-group longing, Broadway balladeering, blues, soul, and wonder, Tapestry used the room itself as an instrument. The producer, King’s longtime publisher Lou Adler, wanted it to sound like the understated and sought-after demos she recorded when writing for other artists, with the tactile intimacy of a woman at the piano singing straight to you. The result was precise but not overly manicured. Owing to her newfound spirituality, there is a sweet serenity to Tapestry. Here was a ’50s rock’n’roller from Brooklyn having journeyed through the ’60s to become a ’70s lady of the Canyon, making music that seemed to elude time completely.

The songs of Tapestry are like companions for navigating the doubts and disappointments of everyday life with dignity. Having composed hundreds of singles for others, King knew what they needed: raw feeling, careful phrasings, a little sparkle. She lets her voice break to show that it’s alive. The soulful “It’s Too Late”—co-written with Toni Stern, a then-unknown lyricist who King called “a quintessential California girl”—feels like a grown-up girl-group anthem, wherein the best part of breaking up is, it turns out, clarity. The gospel-tinged backing vocals of “Way Over Yonder,” sung by Merry Clayton, charge its calm with resilience, dreaming of “true peace of mind” and “a garden of wisdom.” By 1971, King was not only practicing yoga but teaching it at the Integral Yoga Institute, and an attendant sense of collectedness carries Tapestry. The Broadway-ready “Beautiful,” which came to King while riding the subway, is a loving-kindness meditation banged out to a Gershwin-like orchestra of piano chords: an appeal to the world to choose a positive outlook, to put forth what you’d like to receive.

There’s an unmistakable maternal energy to Tapestry. Throughout King’s career, she has recalled moments when her responsibilities merged, in which she’d have her baby in the playpen at the studio or be breastfeeding in between takes. Toni Stern has said that, while writing for Tapestry, King would be “playing the bass with her left hand and diapering a baby with her right.” King herself said that having kids kept her “grounded in reality,” which is audible in every loosely calibrated note of Tapestry. Her next artistic achievement was a collection of children’s music, 1975’s Really Rosie, in collaboration with author Maurice Sendak. A reworking of “Where You Lead”—rewritten, King has said, to sound less submissive—became the theme song to the mother-daughter sitcom “Gilmore Girls,” sung by King and her daughter Louise”.

On 10th February, it will be fifty-five years since Tapestry was released. Go and get the album on vinyl if you can, as this is one that everyone should own. Everyone from Amy Winehouse to Tori Amos has shouted out Tapestry and declared their love for it. In March 2016, it was announced that King would perform the album live in its entirety for the first time at the British Summer Time Festival in Hyde Park, London, on 3rd July, 2016. The performance was released the following year as Tapestry: Live at Hyde Park. Almost ten years on from that performance and the influence of Tapestry has widened and deepened. Regarding Tapestry, in my view, few other albums…

HAVE ever matched it.

FEATURE: Kate Bush: Them Heavy People: The Extraordinary Characters in Her Songs: The Lookout (There Goes a Tenner)/The Father (This Woman’s Work)

FEATURE:

 

 

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

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in the There Goes a Tenner video/PHOTO CREDIT: Paul Henry

The Lookout (There Goes a Tenner)/The Father (This Woman’s Work)

__________

PAIRING a character…

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

from The Dreaming of 1982 and one from 1989’s The Sensual World, they are both sort of anonymous but both lead to some interesting discussions and offshoots. However, that is unfair to these characters. In terms of who portrayed them in videos, it leads to some interesting places/diversions. I want to start with The Dreaming and, interestingly, a discussion about The Beatles. I have compared before the two acts when thinking about their busiest years. I will come to the song that starts this first ‘half’. However, 1967 for The Beatles and 1978 for Kate Bush were manic years! They both crammed in so much. I think both sort of turned more to the studio at a certain point. For The Beatles, it was from 1966’s Revolver when they really started to exploit the studio, technology and pushing their sound. For Bush, the first big step was for The Dreaming. Similarly, she brought in so many different sounds and genres into her albums when she was given this access to modern technology, multiple studios and a cast of musicians. The Dreaming is an example of Bush as a producer broadening her sonic palette and pushing her voice. Deeper and perhaps more character-filled than previous albums, there are so many examples of her pushing boundaries and the studio. Inspired by artists like David Bowie and Peter Gabriel, I love tracks like Sat in Your Lap and that manic percussion. Tribal. The sublime and stirring Night of the Swallow. I think you can rank the tracks on The Dreaming and There Goes a Tenner might come in bottom of the ten. Or low down. In terms of its compositions and sounds, it is jauntier and lighter than other tracks. Perhaps people think it is less deep. However, if you listen to the textures of that song and everything happening, it is so fascinating. Following the opening track of Sat in Your Lap, percussion is very much at the heart. Bigger drums, gated percussion and a more masculine energy than 1980’s Never for Ever. I think There Goes a Tenner is one of the funnier and sillier songs on The Dreaming.

Kate Bush doing a cockney accent and it being about this job that goes wrong. Perhaps trying to break into a safe and loot this place, the blood rushes and the caper goes awry. I shall come to an article that gives us information about There Goes a Tenner and Bush discussing its influence. Although other ‘characters’ are mentioned in the song – when she talks about her bank robber partners acting like actors, these lyrics are sung: “You are Bogart/He is George Raft/That leaves Cagney and me/(What about Edward G.?)” -, I think I can weave them into discussion around filmic inspiration for There Goes a Tenner. The first character that I want to focus on is The Lookout. He is someone who “has parked the car/But kept the engine running/Three beeps means trouble's coming”. I shall come to the video, as the late great Del Palmer plays the driver in the video. We lost him at the start of 2024 and, apart from being a musician and engineer who worked with Bush for most of her career, he was her boyfriend for years. Partners in crime appropriately paired in this video about a big bank job. This robbery. There are some politics edges through The Dreaming. The scenes of war and death on Pull Out the Pin. However, Bush is an artist who sprinkled in political and social commentary rather than it being the drive of her music. At the end of There Goes a Tenner, she delivers these lines: “Oh, there goes a tenner/Hey look! There's a fiver/There's a ten-shilling note/Remember them?/That's when we used to vote for him”. Maybe looking at the politicians pictured on the notes or decrying the state of modern politics. Maybe Kate Bush reacting to events like the Falklands War. Sparked by Argentina's invasion in April, which Margaret Thatcher's government successfully resolved by sending a naval task force to retake the islands. The SDP-Liberal Alliance was rising in 1982, so it was a tense, violent and charged year. I will come to Del Palmer and his importance. Whilst he appeared in quite a few Kate Bush videos, I really like his brief inclusion in There Goes a Tenner.

In terms of the characters that feature through her albums, The Dreaming has the odd names ones – such as Houdini in the song of the same name – but there are a few fairly non-descript or minor ones. Other albums feature a larger cast of characters. However, if we think of Kate Bush’s albums like films with their own feel and cast, The Dreaming is perhaps the most intriguing and diverse. It is hard to link There Goes a Tenner with Get Out of My House, All the Love or Suspended in Gaffa. All extraordinary and different songs, it shows that Bush was keen to be seen more as a diverse and experimental artist. Perhaps the media seeing her as one think and pigeonholing her. The Dreaming was her most ambitious and layered album to that point. What also marks The Dreaming out is the relative failure of its singles. There Goes a Tenner was her worst-performing single to that point. It was released as a 7″ single in the U.K. and Ireland only. It was originally intended to be Bush’s first 12″ single, but its disappointing sales performance caused plans for the 12″ to be cancelled. Even though Hot Press provided some kindness to Sat in Your Lap, 1982 was a year when many in the press piled on Kate Bush. She would win many back for 1985’s Hounds of Love. However, I think Sat in Your Lap is symbolic and ironic maybe. Bush talking about this heavy job and trying to pull off this robbery but it not going to plan. The Dreaming as this huge album that she orchestrated and was trying to pull off. EMI almost returned the album and critics were not all on board with it. In a way, I see There Goes a Tenner as this representation as Kate Bush as a producer. Record Mirror said of There Goes a Tenner: “Blackheath beauty goes all cooey cockney-gasp in a bouncy tale of the downfall of Thatcherism and the rise of mass working class solidarity… actually it’s more trivial than that”. Record Business wrote this:  “A practically formless song with odd vocal affections, and no chorus to speak of. (…) Most disappointing”. A song of these small-time players doing their first job and it going wrong. Maybe critics took relish in the fact Bush was producing alone for the first time and, in their minds, she had failed. I think of how critics viewed women in the 1980s who were experimental. If many women were following traditional Pop or were close to the mainstream, how many were producing albums like The Dreaming?! In a sexist and misogynistic landscape, I feel they were expected to be a certain thing and were criticised and dismissed if they tried anything different or unconventional.

The Dreaming is a pioneering and influential album. Songs like There Goes a Tenner do not seem so strange when you look at today’s scene. However, in a year when artists like Prince, Michael Jackson and Bruce Springsteen were at the forefront, there was far less accessibility for and visibility of female artists. Maybe Alison Moyet in Yazoo and Siouxsie And The Banshees’ Siouxsie Sioux. Madonna released her debut single in 1982 but, largely, it was a male-driven landscape. In a 1985 interview, Bush remarked the following regarding the writing of There Goes a Tenner: “They had to be phrased right and everything. That was very difficult”. However, I want to bring in this interview archive from 1982, and Kate Bush’s explanation and background on a song that is criminally underrated:

"It’s about amateur robbers who have only done small things, and this is quite a big robbery that they’ve been planning for months, and when it actually starts happening, they start freaking out. They’re really scared, and they’re so aware of the fact that something could go wrong that they just freaked out, and paranoid and want to go home. (…) It’s sort of all the films I’ve seen with robberies in, the crooks have always been incredibly in control and calm, and I always thought that if I ever did a robbery, I’d be really scared, you know, I’d be really worried. So I thought I’m sure that’s a much more human point of view.

The Dreaming interview, CBAK 4011 CD”.

I have brought in the excellent Dreams of Orgonon blog a few times for this series. They wrote about There Goes a Tenner in 2020. Though they feel it is lightweight and rudimentary rather than essential, they made interesting observations about how Kate Bush tackles class politics through a different lens for this track:

“Time for an “and yet” moment, as I have a blog post to write if I want to eat next month. Alas the “and yet” still means expounding on the flaws of “There Goes a Tenner,” but its flaws at least communicate something about a certain British attitude to class. Said attitude is toxic, problematic, and only theoretically has anything to do with poverty and the working class, but Dreams of Orgonon is fundamentally not a story of leftist or progressive values. Chronicling Kate Bush’s career entails exploring the values of the stratum of civil society which informs her work.

“There Goes a Tenner” is Bush’s most direct acknowledgement of class to date. Admittedly this isn’t saying much, since Bush adopts an offensively bad mockney accent for its duration — “OI go in/the CROIM begins.” Her evocation of a working class Londoner involves simple language, mostly descriptions of the action such as “we got the job sussed/this shop’s shut for biz-ness” and “I’m having dreams about things/not going right/let’s leave in plenty of time tonight.” A middle-class white woman equating a panto accent, simplistic articulation, and crimes with working class identity is tremendously vexed. Alongside the troubling title track and “Pull Out the Pin,” The Dreaming isn’t a great example of Bush avoiding cultural stereotypes.

Yet even with her classism, there’s some worth to her attempts here. Fundamentally, “There Goes a Tenner” channels the heist movie through a children’s panto. It treats poverty and crime with the tropes and language available to Bush through English popular culture. “Ooh, there’s a tenner/hey look, there’s a fiver” interpolates British currency onto the trope of money exploding in the middle of a robbery, as seen in such films as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. There are some hat tips to old gangster films, like when Bush observes her partners’ conduct in the middle of their robbery: “both my partners/act like actors/you are Bogart/he is George Raft/that leaves Cagney and me.” Clumsy, to be sure, but distinct in its aesthetics, and in a better song, Bush’s dive into British class politics with crime film tropes might be enlightening.

There’s something more going on here though. Bush asserted that her robbers were incompetents with limited experience: “It’s about amateur robbers who have only done small things, and this is quite a big robbery that they’ve been planning for months, and when it actually starts happening, they start freaking out.” She goes on to cite Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid as an example of hypercompetence in cinematic criminals, objecting to the composure of the genre’s heroes, observing “the crooks have always been incredibly in control and calm, and I always thought that if I ever did a robbery, I’d be really scared.”

Certainly the heist genre is populated by “chill” paragons of masculinity. It’s how you get lead actors like Paul Newman, Al Pacino, or George Clooney as top notch criminals. The genre offers the pleasures of breaking with the decorum of civil society while still keeping a layer of masculine authority in the mix, and its films tend to conclude with major punitive measures for the culprits (see Bonnie & Clyde, Dog Day Afternoon, etc)”.

Although there are cultural stereotypes through The Dreaming (especially on the title track), I do admire how Bush both draws on her love and knowledge of films – many of her songs by 1982 were influenced by film and T.V. -, yet turns cliches and tropes on their heads. Casting herself, a woman, as this robber, alongside these accomplices who are almost actors playing robbers rather than the real thing. Things descending into chaos rather than being smooth. How long until his screen narrative was changed? The idea of heists going well and these male actors being all suave and controlled? There Goes a Tenner is a refreshing skewering of that tired stereotype. I think of Bush as an actor in this song. Adopting a cockney accent and playing this role. I think the greatest cast member of There Goes a Tenner is a silent one.

The Lookout is the one who keeps an eye out for the cops and sounds the horn if trouble is coming. Del Palmer is the only one who could play that role in the video. Going back to that idea of Bush and Palmer as two in cahoots or being partners in crime. Recording The Dreaming, it was often Bush and Palmer spending long hours together to make sure everything was going smoothly. Her trusted personal and professional partner, I can imagine at times recording The Dreaming was as nervy and intense as robbing a bank! That feeling that things would go wrong. That trust between them was amazing. People do not talk about the importance of Del Palmer when it comes to Kate Bush’s career. Not only did he play bass on There Goes a Tenner and many other songs for Bush, he was also someone who engineered her albums. Right up until her most recent one, 2011’s 50 Words for Snow. Someone she could bounce ideas off and would often provide stability and rationale when she was perhaps buried in work and stressed, he was this lookout in her personal life. Someone who was this vital aprt of her life. When we heard Del Palmer died in 2024, it came as a huge shock. I think about all his musical contributions. His phenomenal engineering work. His varied and memorable video appearances (including Hounds of Love’s The Big Sky and The Whole Story’s Experiment IV) and what an immense contribution he made. A song like There Goes a Tenner very much would have had Del Palmer working tirelessly with Bush to make sure it sounded perfect. If it was not right as a single and many critics crapped over it, it is a wonderful song that I love. Bush referencing film heist and the idea of the unflappable male; class politics and divides; the ineptitude of this robbery and the players being like actors rather than skilled criminals. It is a fascinating song indeed.

Flipping over the vinyl and listening to This Woman’s Work. There are a few things to discuss when thinking about this song. I have featured it before and you will be familiar with its history. It was originally featured in the 1988 film, She’s Having a Baby, before it appeared on The Sensual World a year later. In terms of discussion points here, I wanted to look at film and comedic actors, the idea of maternity and motherly responsibility throughout’ albums, Bush exploring different subjects and themes on her final album of the 1980s, in addition to a comparison with a 1986 duet she was involved with. Before getting to The Father from This Woman’s Work. In She’s Having a Baby, director John Hughes used This Woman’s Work during the film’s dramatic climax, when Jake (Kevin Bacon) learns that the lives of his wife (Elizabeth McGovern) and their unborn child are in danger. If There Goes a Tenner was seen as weird and too out there and, as such, did not resonate with a sexist music press, why did the press react more positively for This Woman’s Work. A better song? More suitable for what was expected from a female artist in the 1980s? Greater critical awareness and reflection following Hounds of Love? However, there was more appreciation for a single that reached twenty-five in the U.K. in 1989. This is a song that Bush reworked and reapproached when she made Director’s Cut in 2011. An older artist who voice was different to what it was in 1989 gave the song new depth and a different meaning I think:

“A luscious, spiritually elevating showstopper ballad. How does anyone get that much cool into a voice? Ecstatic with wintry tragedy, undeniably beauteous.

Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, 25 November 1989

Is it possible through pop to truly represent the emotions of a young man stranded in the waiting room while his lover’s life is threatened by the birth of their baby? I think not. Unless you’re Kate Bush…

Len Brown, NME, 25 November 1989

Bush is at her most potent when she’s in her reflective late-evening mood. Her fragile delicate voice combines with sparse piano and spot-on orchestral arrangement.

David Giles, Music Week, 25 November 1989”.

Before moving on, it is worth considering what Kate Bush said about This Woman’s Work and its placement in She’s Having a Baby. An early case of her work being brought to the screen, in 2026, filmmakers and producers are still realising the potential of her music. Although This Woman’s Work has been used in films since 1988, the song has not received the same sort of popularity and success as Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) and its Stranger Things inclusion:

“She gets pregnant, and it’s all still very light and child-like until she’s just about to have the baby and the nurse comes up to him and says it’s a in a breech position and they don’t know what the situation will be. So, while she’s in the operating room, he has so sit and wait in the waiting room and it’s a very powerful piece of film where he’s just sitting, thinking; and this is actually the moment in the film where he has to grow up. He has no choice. There he is, he’s not a kid any more; you can see he’s in a very grown-up situation. And he starts, in his head, going back to the times they were together. There are clips of film of them laughing together and doing up their flat and all this kind of thing. And it was such a powerful visual: it’s one of the quickest songs I’ve ever written. It was so easy to write. We had the piece of footage on video, so we plugged it up so that I could actually watch the monitor while I was sitting at the piano and I just wrote the song to these visuals. It was almost a matter of telling the story, and it was a lovely thing to do: I really enjoyed doing it.

Roger Scott Interview, BBC Radio 1 (UK), 14 October 1989”.

The Father is someone who is not just a specific film character. Bush has written about men in a very mature and loving way. The Man with the Child in His Eyes was just that: a man with a child-like innocence inside. Men being child-like (in a good way). However, here, that is a bad thing. Interesting how Buch wrote about men and responsibility. If early in her career it was more about list, attraction and saluting the child-like qualities of men – when she was a teen and in her twenties -, now in her thirties (by 1989), there was a shift. Still not negative, maybe an artist who was thinking about family or had that in mind. The Sensual World is an album she wanted to be more feminine and womanly than the more masculine sounds of Hounds of Love and The Dreaming. Bush maybe had family at the back of her mind and that desire to settle down. Considering men in a different light and how The Father of This Woman’s Work needing to be responsible and step up. If, in 1978, Bush might have seen the fatherly figure as young and someone who did not know better, now, it was a more adult take. Interesting how this is a rare case of a film geared for a film soundtrack fitting into a studio album and taking on this new life.

I love how the character of The Father, for the music video, was played by Tim McInnery. In a video directed by Kate Bush, he plays the distraught husband/father who is grief-stricken when his wife (played by Bush) collapses and is taken to hospital. This expectant father pacing the room and being in this impossible situation he did not envisage. Not the first time comedic actors featured in her work. A fellow Blackadder cast member, Hugh Laurie (and the excellent Dawn French) in the video for Experiment IV (1986). Not comedic necessarily, but Robbie Coltrane appeared in the 2011 video for Deeper Understand (which Bush directed). Bush performed with Rowan Atkinson (Blackadder himself!) for Comic Relief and she also worked with the late Terry Jones. He voiced Professor Need for 2011’s Deeper Understanding. High Laurie’s comedy partner, Stephen Fry, was a fellow professor, Joseph Yupik for 50 Words for Snow’s title track. Bush is a big fan of comedy and this is this long and fascinating relationship with actors and comedy performers, as I have written about before. I think Tim McInnery brings this gravitas to the role of The Father. Consider his comedy work up until that point, primary in Blackadder, and many might not have associated him with drama and being able to portray this moree serious side. Bush’s connecting to paternity and motherhood is interesting. The Kick Inside’s Room for the Life about women and how they can create life and there is room inside them for two. The incestuous pregnancy of The Kick Inside’s title track and it being taboo. Mother Stands for Comfort on Hounds of Love and this mother protecting a murderous son. The pregnant woman of Breathing (from Never for Ever) and this foetus being protected by the womb as nuclear war raged outside. Bush thinking about her own mother and bringing her into songs. In the video foe Suspended in Gaffa and mentioned in Moments of Pleasure (1993’s The Red Shoes) and A Coral Room (2005’s Aerial). Bush became a mother in 1998 and I think motherhood very much at the heart of Mrs. Bartolozzi from Aerial. Bertie, also from Aerial, a paen to her young son. The way motherhood and maternal responsibility and complexities are examined. In This Woman’s Work, you might expect it to be all about the mother and her sacrifice.

Rather than the narrative being about the mother and her giving birth and her responsibility, I read the song as thoughts and feelings about the man: “I stand outside this woman’s work/This woman’s world/Ooh, it’s hard on the man/Now his part is over”. The idea of conception being about this ‘work’. A task. Something universal and fundamental. However, now that the ‘fun’ is over, there is this craft. This lifelong responsibility of being a father. Many interpreted the lyrics about the mother breaching and almost dying. All the regrets she had and things she never said. However, I think of it more about the father and keeping things bottled in. All the words he left inside and never said to his wife: “Of all the things I should’ve said/That I never said/All the things we should’ve done/That we never did/All the things I should’ve given/But I didn’t”. The idea of wanting to cry and release everything, but having to be strong and not let it show. When Bush sings “make it go away”, I always feel that is The Father not wishing away the pregnancy but wanting everything to be fine and his wife to pull through and give birth. The more intriguing lines, I feel, refer to Bush’s mindset and stage of life and also a perspective of a father maybe wanting to return to simpler times and happier normal: “Give me these moments back/Give them back to me/Give me that little kiss/Give me your hand”. Is this the expectant mother speaking or the dad? “I know you have a little life in you yet” both refers to the foetus inside the woman and the strength that she has. This emotional song was different to how Bush discussed relationships and womanhood. Whilst she did cover marriage and romance previously, this is a case of her addressing motherhood and the responsibilities of the father.

I think about This Woman’s Work and a tie with 1986’s Don’t Give Up. A Peter Gabriel single (from his album, So) that Bush performed on, this is about a husband who loses his job and is on the brink of suicide because he feels he has lost his identity and purpose. Bush, as the wife, telling him not to give up as he has friends and life in him yet. That idea of the man dealing with loss and a traumatic event and having to find strength and keep going. If Bush, on Don’t Give Up, is this show of strength and this angel on his shoulder, her role is more passive on This Woman’s Work. It is all on The Father and him having to be all grown up and realise that the woman sacrifices and it’s time that the man stepped up. That This Woman’s Work is Bush outlining what women deal with and how hard it is for them and how the man is often the one who avoids responsibility and does not understand or appreciate women and their roles. Maxwell’s 2002 version is an ode to womanhood and feminine power and importance. This article from 2012 makes some interesting observations about This Woman’s Work:

“I can understand how the song’s appropriation by a man might seem to diminish the very real ways in gender policing around women’s emotions not only devalues them, but also potentially undermines any kind of work, emotional or otherwise, that women perform as based in that devalued emotional sphere. This is old news. Nothing new to anyone who pays attention. But just because Ms. Bush is expressing something we should all already be aware of doesn’t make it any less powerful. In fact, since she is couching it in terms of gender, her own plea suggests the damage the traditional allocation of emotional work, as it applies to romantic relationships, does to everyone regardless of gender, expressing the potential for a form of emotional solitude even within the context of a relationship—an emotional solitude reinforced by patriarchal notions about the ways men and women express their feelings about each other and about their union”.

That idea of a man putting themselves in a woman’s shows and there being this better understand is an idea Bush explored in Hounds of Love’s Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God). If that was about doing a divine deal so men and women could swap places and exchange the experience, This Woman’s Work is perhaps a wake-up call to men and how fatherhood is a responsibility even before the baby is born. How they are stepping into this new life and they are committed and have to be grown up now. Whether Kevin Bacon in She’s Having a Baby or Tim McInnery in The Sensual World’s video, The Father is not a child or carefree anymore. An astonishing song that has been shown on screen several times since 1988/1989, it is one of Kate Bush’s most powerful and enduring songs. Lyrics of sacrifice, responsibility, potential loss and making hard decisions that will…

CHIME with so many people.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Loren Heat

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

Loren Heat

__________

THIS is a sensational…

PHOTO CREDIT: Rob Irish

Middlesborough artist who has been tipped as one of BBC Introducing: North East ones to watch. Included alongside other great artists like Jenna Cole, Smith & Liddle, and Charlie Floyd, I think a lot of eyes should be on Loren Heat. They are an incredible talent who has not done too many interviews, though I feel that will change tis year. I love their music and 2009, and Belladonna were phenomenal cuts from last year. Be Ur Baby, featuring ZELA, is another phenomenal song. I am going to include a couple of features around Loren Heat. An awe-inspiring, exciting and hugely promising artist, this is what the BBC wrote in their recent spotlighting of someone we all need to follow: “Loren Heat has been building patiently with laser focus. The Teessider has got one of those personalities that lifts a room, but that lightness sits alongside a very strong sense of direction as an artist. You can hear pop influences like Dua Lipa and Lady Gaga in the delivery, but it is shaped by a personality that makes it unmistakably Loren. That balance shows in the work, and it is why things are moving with intention rather than luck”. An incredible L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ artist who has had an amazing past few years, I think 2026 will be a massive year for Loren Heat. They are an artist you need to follow. Inspired by some huge and influential Pop greats, this compelling and enormously talented queer artist released their debut single, Curiosity, in 2023. Tits Upon Tyne chatted with Loren Heat at a time when they had a relatively small following:

“Tell us about the creative process!

I tend to create the base of a song first, I’ll get the chords and the chorus down on either a Ukulele, Guitar or occasionally Piano, before writing the rest and trying to build from there. I like to write from things I’ve experienced at some point or another, they’re often like little vents or rants, so I can feel the song and think like ‘Is this what I want to represent these emotions?’

What motivates your music and what inspired this debut release ‘Curiosity’?

I’m very motivated by wanting to have my voice heard, like i mentioned earlier, my songs can often be like vents or rants and so it’s that feeling of people hearing it and relating. There’s a lot of time I feel things and I’ll tell myself I’m not allowed to, like i’ll begin to invalidate them as being over dramatic or to emotional but sometimes you just have to feel it and say it, or well in my case write it, and the thought of people hearing it and relating with it, maybe to help them validate how they feel really warms my heart and makes me want to do it. As for the inspiration behind ‘Curiosity’, I sat and tried to remember all the times I’d been in situations with a person I had feelings for where I had no idea what was going on.
I’ve been out since i was about 13/14, and I struggle to interpret tone and body language so I would never know if someone had feelings for me or was just playfully flirting like some friends do and I’d always just take it as friends being friends because I would never want to assume and then accidentally overstep a boundary. It wouldn’t then be until later down the line that person would admit they liked me but didn’t think I liked them back. Like just be straight up cos I’d never guess and this song is just that whole “be honest with how you feel” don’t try and play around because we’re both going to get hurt.

Being an LGBTQIA+ artist, how do you feel this song represents you as an artist?

Ooo this is so tricky. I feel like this song only represents a small portion of me as an artist and a queer one at that. This song was just how I was feeling at a certain moment and pulling from certain situations I’d experienced throughout my life so far. There’s so much more that I write and sing about like being in love and heartbreak and the hardships of being LGBTQIA+ and I can’t wait for you to hear them. But I write about so much more, like loss and just being happy and enjoying life, or struggling with it, that I feel like this song is only a part of who I am”.

I am going to take this to last year and more up to date. However, after a good 2023 when Loren Heat was taken the earliest steps, they had a busy 2024. Although this article states Want It All (2024) is their first single, we know that Curiosity came out in 2023. In August 2024, the Scarlett Haze E.P. came out. It contained Curiosity, Want It All and three more amazing tracks from an artist that was building their name and gaining traction. I would love to see Loren Heat perform live, as I can imagine they are a staggering and exciting artist to watch on the stage:

“Why is your single ‘Want it All’ not your typical love song?

I’d say it’s because it’s not your typical happy and whimsical feel, it’s the more gritty side, when you have this wall up the idea of falling in love is terrifying, like a free fall almost. You don’t want to, but you can’t help it. I wanted to capture that essence, being scared of the vulnerability but always wanting more.

What has been the reception to your new work so far?

It’s been really good! I showed it to my friends and family because they’re incessant when it comes to new music of mine, they want to hear it straight away and they loved it, there’s different favourites but as for the new stuff the reception has been so heartwarming. I’m very grateful!

What are you like as a live artist?

I’m not totally sure what to say without blowing my own trumpet. I’d like to say if you come to a show you can expect strong vocals, good music and a gossip session. I love to natter between tracks. I personally think if I’m just playing tracks back to back I’m not allowing myself to get to know my audience and they’re not getting to know me and I don’t want that.

Who are your biggest musical influences?

Definitely a lot of your typical “Gay Pop” artists in terms of sound, the likes of Lady Gaga, Slayyyter, Kesha, Dua Lipa etc. but I also take a lot from Billie Eilish, Renee Rapp, Lana Del Rey I think there’s so many talented artists to draw inspo from!”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Rob Irish

BabyStep Magazine provided their introduction to Loren Heat early last year. Again, committing the cardinal press sin of claiming an artist is ‘back’ when they do not release a single every few weeks, perhaps the fact 2009 was different Loren Heats previous work caught some by surprise. However, we do need to stop saying artists are ‘back’ when they do not release stuff constantly, as it is stigmatising and suggests they are dropping the ball or not putting out enough material:

“‘2009’ is such a nostalgic yet fresh track—what was it about that particular year in pop music that inspired you to write a love letter to it?

Gaga honestly. The Fame Monster came out that year and it was my first album (fitting really). Honestly I think that album shaped me as a whole, and a lot of my music is inspired by that album so when I was looking back at y2k pop, 2009 really stuck out, so many amazing songs came out that year!

You’ve said this song is about “intimacy crafted by love rather than lust”—how did you approach translating that deeper emotional connection into both the lyrics and the soundscape?

I wanted it to feel good rather than feel sexy, I wanted it to feel like a summer's day with someone you love, watching the way the little things translate into your life, the way the sun hits them, the way they move or laugh. I feel like when you’re truly in love with someone, even the innocent things can be so intimate.

There’s a clear influence from icons like Lady Gaga and Robyn in the track—how have those artists shaped your sound, and how do you make sure your voice still shines through?

I can struggle sometimes because I’m a bit of a perfectionist and I think so incredibly highly of them, so I’ll draw inspiration from them and then compare my work to theirs and ridicule it. I’m getting better and I think with the people around me they also keep me from running off with my comparisons. But honestly I think it's because I know how I like my voice to sound and I will always write about things that are personal or mean a lot to me and I think being able to truly feel what I’m singing allows me to make music that is still so unapologetically me.

You’ve had support from some huge tastemakers and have The Great Escape coming up—how does it feel stepping into this next chapter, and what can fans expect from your upcoming releases?

It’s honestly terrifying but in a good way! I’m so excited, I’m just prepared to give everything I have 24/7. For my upcoming releases, I’d say expect flirtatious unapologetic pop, something you can dance to and relate to in so many different ways, they’re very flirtatious but if you look deeper I think you can always find another meaning”.

I am going to end with Fame Magazine from last July. This truly wonderful artist who is always improving and building their sound, this year is going to be an exciting one. Fame Magazine spoke with Loren Heat following their double-whammy sets at “The Great Escape and BBC Introducing at The Glasshouse“. Their latest (at the time) single, Belladonna, is described as a “Pop Dagger Drenched in Lust and Voltage”. Loren Heat is rightly being tipped for great things:

“This track – released via Interval Records (EMI North/Generator) – bites as hard as it kisses—sultry, synth-laced, and soaked in obsession. It lingers like a bruise and tastes like danger.

Fueled by 2000s pop euphoria and a sharp queer edge, Loren Heat is leading a femme-pop uprising from the north—loud, lust-drunk, and unapologetically raw.

We caught up with Loren to talk about seduction as a superpower, chaotic stage energy, and why Belladonna might just be the sexiest little dagger in your playlist.

Belladonna oozes danger and desire — when did you first realize that seduction could be a superpower in your songwriting?

Ooo that’s such a good question, god. I’m gonna say when I realised it was the thing i was best at articulating, writing about passion and desire and yearning is something I can articulate best, and i’m not sure why, I think it’s cos it feels like my chest is in a vice as soon as i things such as lust.

You describe Belladonna as someone whose voice is poison — who or what inspired that toxic muse?

Ahahaha wouldn’t you like to know? Honestly, it was a mix of people I’ve interacted with that really had my heart beating fast, that idea of ‘your cockiness and confidence is the most enticing thing ever’, it’s not even necessarily toxic people, but they certainly never fail.

Pop music in 2024–25 is full of image — you’re building a persona that’s fearless and femme but with teeth. What’s the line between persona and person for you?

I really don’t have much separation between persona and person; who I am online and on stage is pretty much exactly who I am in person. There’s not much mystery there.

2009 felt like nostalgia on MDMA, and Belladonna is a full-on pop dagger — are you deliberately carving out a new wave of queer pop from the north?

Oh 1000%, the north needs more pop and it needs much more queer pop and unapologetic pop or ‘girly pop’ at that. It is shockingly sparse.

You’ve played The Great Escape and BBC Introducing at The Glasshouse — was there a moment on stage where you felt: “Yep, I’ve arrived”?

BOTH! For different reasons, id say the glasshouse because of the industry side of it all, i was like ‘ooo this is fun, this is it, like lets go fucking smash it’, but TGE was more on the performance side, the crowd, interactions, the feedback the energy, oh it was gorgeous.

You’ve talked about queerness and lust in your writing — how important is it for your music to reflect both softness and obsession?

For me, I get obsessed with the desire and the feeling of lusting, it’s like an overwhelming command on the body, yearning for the touch of someone you’re so into. But vulnerability is required to put yourself in a position of submitting to desire, and I think that’s when the softness should come in. It doesn’t have to be all cute and shit but…You know. I think it’s needed.

Looking ahead to the Belladonna drop and those stacked live dates: what’s the chaos you’re most excited to unleash next?

Get me on stage, honestly, I’m so much more confident on stage, and I’m starting to interact with the crowd so much more. I think I’m very much finding my feet and I just want to be doing it all the time”.

Looking at their official website, this part of their biography stood out: “global icons like Billie Eilish, Lady Gaga, Slayyyter, Dua Lipa and JADE, Loren is as unapologetic as their story – an exploration of queerness, identity and the raw chaos of navigating life in the North East”. I think that Heat can obtain the same sort of stature and popularity and artists they are inspired by. The press below shows there is a lot of love out there for their music:

“Translating her homemade queer-pop into a cutting-edge domination…seamlessly channels everything that pop music should be: a euphoric, danceable experience” – DIY

“Definitely one to watch” – Clash

“This is pop music at its most irresistible” – Atwood

“A rising star in the queer-pop scene” – On The Record

“That is a big, big, debut upload right there” – Shakk, BBC Introducing

“Crafting a sonic world that’s brave, defiant and unashamedly pop” – Earmilk

“Channelling the energy of Lady Gaga and Robyn, with glimmers of Kylie Minogue andScissor Sisters”– Record of the Day”.

Following the BBC Introducing: North East kudos and the possibility of lots of gig demand this year, it is going to be interesting seeing where Loren Heat heads. I wonder if they have any plans for a tour and festival dates later in the year. Last year was a huge one for Heat, though I think this year is going to be the best so far. If you do not know this Middlesborough Pop sensation, then connect on social media and listen to their music. Already so promising and having released some outstanding music, it is clear that…

A golden career awaits.

__________

Follow Loren Heat

Official:

https://lorenheat.com/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/lorenheat/

TikTok:

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

YouTube:

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

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/lorenheat/

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/43Fg9z6zfjmsHQOwexx7wt?si=DR6D1yJwQ2S_L63qFHsAiA

FEATURE: Well, Just Take a Walk Down Lonely Street: Elvis Presley’s Heartbreak Hotel at Seventy

FEATURE:

 

 

Well, Just Take a Walk Down Lonely Street

Elvis Presley’s Heartbreak Hotel at Seventy

__________

PERHAPS one of…

the most groundbreaking and important songs in music history, I am spending some time shining a light on Elvis Presley’s Heartbreak Hotel. Whilst the King of Rock & Roll has a complex legacy and someone I cannot comfortably celebrate without hesitation, I have to salute how influential his music is. What a cultural impact he made in his lifetime. Whilst he released better songs than Heartbreak Hotel, there are few that are more significant. In terms of the way it was this thrilling and revolutionary record. Heartbreak Hotel was released on 27th January, 1956, and it was his first single for RCA Victor, following his contract purchase from Sun Records. Elvis Presley’s first number one hit, it sold over a million copies. Even though it was not included on his eponymous album of 1956, it is worth noting that it turns seventy on 23rd March. I will spend some time with Heartbreak Hotel. Seventy years after its release, I wanted to focus on a single that stunned listeners and was a revelation. It was like nothing else released in the mid-'50s. I want to start off with this 2016 article, that tells the strange inspiration behind one of the greatest songs ever recorded:

“A suicide note was the unlikely inspiration behind the song that became Elvis Presley’s first No. 1 hit and million-selling single.

Steel guitarist and session musician Tommy Durden read a newspaper article about a man who had killed himself, leaving behind a piece of paper with the haunting words: “I walk a lonely street.”

Durden brought the article to his friend and cowriter Mae Boren Axton. A 41-year-old high school English teacher who moonlighted as a journalist and a songwriter, Axton had notched a few hits in the early ’50s with artists such as Perry Como and Ernest Tubb. In late 1955, she took a part-time position as a public relations secretary for Elvis’ manger, Colonel Tom Parker. When Mae first met Elvis, she felt he had everything he needed to become a star except a hit song. “You need a million-seller and I’m going to write it for you,” she promised.

As Axton and Durden discussed how they could turn the newspaper article into a song, Axton suggested that there be a “heartbreak hotel” at the end of the lonely street. With that flash of inspiration, the pair was off and running. Painting a picture of a place where “broken-hearted lovers cry away their gloom” and “the desk clerk’s dressed in black,” they managed to convey in very few words a mood that was both romantically charged and funereal.

Though the duo is responsible for penning the song, Elvis’s name would appear on the finished record as a third writer. It’s common knowledge that the Colonel often insisted that his boy get cowriting credit in exchange for cutting a song. But in later years, Axton insisted that the shared credit was her promise made good to help Elvis buy a house in Florida for his parents.

Axton took a demo of the song to Elvis while he was on the road. His reaction was immediate. “Hot dog, Mae, play it again,” he said. It reminded him a little of Roy Brown’s “Hard Luck Blues.” He quickly added the song to his live repertoire, changing one line of the lyric, from “they pray to die” to “they could die.”

On January 10, 1956, two days after his 21st birthday, Elvis recorded his first five sides for the RCA label at RCA Studio B in Nashville. Among them was “Heartbreak Hotel.” The producer was Steve Sholes, with Bob Ferris engineering. The band included guitarist Scotty Moore, bassist Bill Black, drummer D.J. Fontana, plus Chet Atkins on guitar, Floyd Cramer on piano and vocal group the Jordanaires. The echoey atmosphere punctuated by Fontana’s rim shots and Moore’s tinny guitar lent a despair to the track that perfectly matched Elvis’s heart-rending vocal.

The gloomy song was markedly different from anything Elvis had done previously at Sun Records. When his former label boss Sam Phillips heard an acetate from the Nashville session, he pronounced “Heartbreak Hotel” a “morbid mess.”

Back in the RCA Records boardroom in New York, there was a similar consensus. Producer Steve Sholes recalled, “They all told me it didn’t sound like anything, it didn’t sound like his other records, and I’d better not release it. I better go back and record it again.”

Elvis was unfazed, certain that the song was the right one to catapult him into the big time.

It was released on January 27, 1956. The next day, Elvis made his network television debut, performing live on the Dorsey Brothers Stage Show. It was the first of six appearances over the next few months, and he sang “Heartbreak Hotel” on three of those. On April 3, he did the song on the Milton Berle Show. Two weeks later on April 21, thanks in large part to his exposure on the new medium of TV, Elvis had his first No. 1 pop single (it also topped the country chart and went Top 5 on the R&B chart)”.

 On 10th January, 1956, a twenty-one-year-old Elvis Presley walked into RCA's McGavock Street, Nashville and laid down the vocals of this incredible song. Although it is quite melancholic and moody, it is a masterpiece that you are utterly transfixed by. The power of Presley’s vocals. Seductive and powerful at the same time. I want to move this article, that writes however iconic Heartbreak Hotel is now, it was not an instant chart smash in 1956:

“While Heartbreak Hotel was having trouble making the Top 100 in the early months of 1956, it was not Billboard’s fault. The publication repeatedly touted Presley first record in the weeks after its release. On February 1, just a few days after the single was shipped, Billboard listed the record in its “Best Bets” section. “Elvis Presley, country singer, is a compelling stylist who tears his tunes to tatters a la Johnnie Ray,” the magazine noted. “‘Heartbreak Hotel’ is an ideal piece of material and he goes to town with the help of an excellent background. It could establish Presley in the pop picture.”

On February 11, Billboard again praised Presley's recording in its “Review Spotlight” column. “Presley’s first Victor disk might easily break in both markets. ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ is a strong blues item wrapped up in his usual powerful style and a great beat … Presley is riding high right now with network TV appearances, and this disk should benefit from all the special pluggings.”

A week later, Billboard again endorsed Heartbreak Hotel, this time on its “This Week’s Best Buys” list. “Another record that has demonstrated Presley’s major league stature,” the magazine stated. “Sales have snowballed rapidly in the past two weeks, with pop and r.&b. customers joining Presley’s hillbilly fans in demanding this disk.” In a March 3 article, Billboard reported that the Presley record was RCA’s number 2 seller, right behind Perry Como’s “Juke Box Baby.” On March 7, the magazine noted that Heartbreak Hotel had reached the 300,000 sales mark.

• Presley finally broke into Billboard’s pop chart

In those days, Billboard’s Top 100 was tabulated through a combination of record sales and disk jockey surveys. By early March 1956, DJs who had been reluctant to accept the odd sounding Presley record, could no longer hold out in the face of the record’s massive sales and Presley’s growing popularity. On March 3, 1956, Heartbreak Hotel made its first appearance in the Top 100 at #68. By the end of the month, it was in the top 10 at #9. It would take another month to fight its way to the top, but on May 5 it took over the #1 spot, displacing Les Baxter’s instrumental, “The Poor People of Paris.” (Ironically, the day his record went to #1, Elvis was laying an egg on stage at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas.)

Heartbreak Hotel then settled in at #1 for nearly two months. It wasn’t until June 23 that Gogi Grant’s “The Wayward Wind” toppled Elvis’s recording from its lofty perch. Elvis's first hit single remained on the Top 100 for another three months, finally disappearing from the list on September 8, 1956. When all was said and done, Heartbreak Hotel had spent 27 weeks on the Top 100, 14 weeks in the top 10, 11 weeks in the top 5, and 7 weeks at #1. In Presley’s long and successful recording career, only All Shook Up would top the performance of his first RCA single on the Billboard chart.

In 1956 Billboard had many other charts besides the Top 100, and Heartbreak Hotel reached #1 on many of them. On May 26, 1956, the magazine announced that Presley’s disk had set a multiple chart-topping record. “This week, for the second time,” the music journal reported, “the RCA Victor artist hit the No. 1 spot on six charts with his version of ‘Heartbreak Hotel.’ This makes E.P. the first ‘double-Triple Crown’ winner in the history of The Billboard’s record charts. He topped the retail, jockey and juke box lists in both the pop and country and western categories.”

An interesting coincidence regarding Heartbreak Hotel on the Top 100 occurred on August 25, 1956. On the chart that week, two versions of the song were listed side by side. Elvis’ version sat at #96 on its way off the chart two weeks later. One notch above it, at #95, was comedian Stan Freeberg’s novelty version. While humorous, Freeberg’s recording, during which he repeatedly asks for a “little more echo in my voice,” served as a tribute to Presley’s trendsetting hit.

• Heartbreak Hotel made Elvis an overnight success

It is probably overstating the case to suggest that Heartbreak Hotel made Elvis Presley a star. With wildly popular stage shows, network TV appearances, and the resources of RCA Victor solidly behind him, he probably was destined for stardom even if his first recording on his new label had flopped. Heartbreak Hotel’s phenomenal achievement merely accelerated his ascendancy to fame. It made him appear an overnight success, when, in fact, fame came only after two years of working tiring one-nighters across the South and honing his craft in a small recording studio in Memphis”.

I am going to include parts of this article prior to highlighting the Wikipedia page on Heartbreak Hotel where they mention the legacy of this song. It moved, among other musicians, John Lennon and George Harrison. A half of the greatest band in history (The Beatles), it is clear that Heartbreak Hotel caused quite a sensation for young and impressionable music fans in the 1950s. I still think it has the power to move seventy years later:

“While author Tony Plews in his amazing 700-page book 'Walk A Lonely Street: Elvis Presley, Country Music & The True Story of Heartbreak Hotel' comments..

'From the opening notes, sung acapella (Elvis had lifted the key from c to e), it was clear this was a song unlike any other on the charts, be it pop, country or blues; and although it was not rock ‘n’ roll music per se (you couldn’t dance to it), it carried all of the rebelliousness and inherent sexiness of that new genre. It sounded savage, primal, and it came straight from the gut. It was the most prepared he’d been with any recording since “That’s All Right”. He had worked out which syllables to stretch and which beats to accentuate. Taking his cues from “Only You”, he’d established how to mangle words and add nonsensical sounds to the lyrics, transforming “I’ll be so lonely, baby” into something like “I’ll be-kuh so lonely, bay-beh”, which added to the rhythm while making the narrative yet more mysterious. He had streamlined some of the chorus pronouns, removing the “we” from the final line, ensuring it was more radio-friendly. But the one lyric that still remained unfixed in his mind was “pray to die”, and he wondered whether it was just too deep: but on take one it was present and correct.

For such a stark, unornamented song, he’d gone to great lengths to assemble the arrangement, but this was indicative of its importance to him. Even on the early takes, he spat out the first verse with absolute and shocking conviction, the band punctuating each line with a perfectly timed double strike (slightly behind the beat in best Fats Domino style), and as he slid into the chorus, Elvis was almost naked vocally, backed purely by the double-echo and Bill’s descending bass. Aside from the “kuh” affectations, his diction was immaculate, especially on the title words'.

The second verse was equally powerful, and on the chorus D.J. (on brushes) and Scotty Moore crept in to fill out the sound. By the third chorus, Chet Atkins was strumming and Floyd Cramer had added pitter-patter keyboard figures to complete the picture. The fourth verse and chorus maintained the full band, but it was the unrehearsed pianist who came unstuck during the following instrumental passage. Scotty carried the first part of this section leaning heavily on the staccato notes Elvis had suggested (as per his conversation with Mae Axton), but Floyd couldn’t find his mojo, having literally just learned the song. For the fifth verse, Elvis had decided to repeat the second, but instructed the band to add a flourish, D.J. again using his cymbals, to accentuate the finale.

The studio was hushed as the last note tailed off. Mae smiled. Steve raised his eyebrows. Elvis asked for a playback. The sound caught him unawares: the heavy echo wasn’t necessarily what he’d heard in his head during the weeks of preparation, but he recognised that it brought something otherworldly to the recording.

Right from the beginning, the record grabbed listeners by the throat: Scotty Moore's guitar raged and rocked; Elvis' vocal swaggered, but also reached out with the longing of those lyrics. 'Heartbreak Hotel' was full of alienation, loneliness and despair.

And the kids absolutely loved it. In their millions.

If there had been a rock'n'roll hero previously, it was James Dean, who died in a car crash three months before Elvis recorded 'Heartbreak Hotel'. The actor only lived to see one of his three films released, but in the tragic aftermath of his death, the cult of James Dean had flourished.

Youngsters on both sides of the Atlantic found solace in James Dean's moody, misunderstood martyr in Rebel Without A Cause, but they knew that after ‘Giant' there would be no more Dean films. And looking around for another idol, they happened upon that record, that voice, that man... The newly identified teenagers of the 50s had, at last, found their role model”.

Let’s end this seventieth anniversary celebration of Heartbreak Hotel by considering its legacy. Not only considered one of the best songs ever released, it has influenced plenty of musicians. Who themselves have also inspired generations. This Wikipedia article includes a bit about the legacy of Heartbreak Hotel. It would not be overstating it to say this is one of the most important song ever. I hope other journalists write about Heartbreak Hotel on its seventieth anniversary:

“In a 1975 interview, John Lennon recalled his friend Don Beatty's introducing him to Presley's music. Lennon said that his family rarely had the radio on, unlike other members of the Beatles who grew up under its influence. Beatty showed Lennon a picture of Presley that appeared along with the charts on the New Musical Express, and Lennon later heard "Heartbreak Hotel" on Radio Luxembourg. Lennon has said:

When I first heard "Heartbreak Hotel", I could hardly make out what was being said. It was just the experience of hearing it and having my hair stand on end. We'd never heard American voices singing like that. They always sang like Sinatra or enunciate very well. Suddenly, there's this hillbilly hiccuping on tape echo and all this bluesy stuff going on. And we didn't know what Elvis was singing about ... It took us a long time to work what was going on. To us, it just sounded as a noise that was great.

George Harrison described "Heartbreak Hotel" as a "rock n roll epiphany" when in 1956, at age 13, he overheard it while riding his bike at a neighbor's house. Some have said that "Heartbreak Hotel" turned that well-mannered schoolboy into a guitar-crazed truant who would audition for John Lennon's Quarrymen the following year.

The Rolling Stones' guitarist Keith Richards wrote in his 2010 autobiography Life that "Heartbreak Hotel" had a huge effect on him. Beyond Presley's singing itself, it was the total effect of his sound and his silence that so totally affected Richards:

Then, "Since my baby left me"—it was just the sound ... That was the first rock and roll I heard. It was a totally different way of delivering a song, a totally different sound, stripped down, no bullshit, no violins and ladies' choruses and schmaltz, totally different. It was bare right to the roots that you had a feeling were there but hadn't yet heard. I've got to take my hat off to Elvis. The silence is your canvas, that's your frame, that's what you work on; don't try and deafen it out. That's what "Heartbreak Hotel" did to me. It was the first time I'd heard something so stark.

Led Zeppelin's lead singer Robert Plant stated that the song "changed his life". He recalled hearing it for the first time when he was 8 years old:

It was so animal, so sexual, the first musical arousal I ever had. You could see a twitch in everybody my age. All we knew about the guy was that he was cool, handsome and looked wild.

Critic Robert Cantwell wrote in his unpublished memoir Twigs of Folly:

The opening strains of "Heartbreak Hotel", which catapulted Presley's regional popularity into national hysteria, opened a fissure in the massive mile-thick wall of post-war regimentation, standardization, bureaucratization, and commercialization in American society and let come rushing through the rift a cataract from the immense waters of sheer, human pain and frustration that have been building up for ten decades behind it.

The song was mentioned in the chorus of Patty Loveless's 1988 single "Blue Side of Town" from her album Honky Tonk Angel.

President Bill Clinton performed the song on tenor saxophone during his appearance on The Arsenio Hall Show on June 3, 1992. In 2004, it was ranked number 45 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time",  the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame included it in its unranked list 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll and in 2005, Uncut magazine ranked the first performance of "Heartbreak Hotel" in 1956 by Presley as the second greatest and most important cultural event of the rock and roll era. Paul McCartney, who participated in Uncut's poll stated, "It's the way [Presley] sings it as if he is singing from the depths of hell. His phrasing, use of echo, it's all so beautiful. Musically, it's perfect”.

On 27th January, 1956, I wonder how those listening to Heartbreak Hotel reacted. When they heard it on the radio or bought it. Whilst there was some warm praise in the U.S., the press reaction in Britain was colder. The single was written off and seen as insufficient, poorly sung and not fit to be played. It is amazing that critics were so tin-eared in 1956. In years since, Elvis Presley’s Heartbreak Hotel is seen as a classic. Something that changed Rock & Roll. In 2025, perhaps it sounds a little dated or slow. However, you cannot deny how significant the record is and how it introduced many to Presley. In 1995, Heartbreak Hotel was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. A staggering song considering the slightly unusual and unorthodox inspiration. Heartbreak Hotel is a song that, I feel, still sounds…

UTTERLY remarkable.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Revisited: Skye Newman

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight: Revisited

Skye Newman

__________

ABOUT seven months…

since I spotlighted Skye Newman, I am primed to come back to her. One reason is that she was just voted the winner of Radio 1’s Sound of 2026. She also put out her E.P., SE9 Part 1, in October. For anyone curious, SE9 primarily covers the areas of Eltham, Mottingham, and New Eltham, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich, London. Skye Newman was born in south-east London, so it is a representation of her home and hearth. I am going to go back to some interviews from later last year. However, before then, this article from yesterday (9th January), from the BBC is Skye Newman reacting to being named BBC Radio 1’s Sound of 2026. We get to learn about her background, and a year where she collaborated and performed with some big artists. An exceptional young musician who has been championed by Elton John:

“Born in south-east London, Newman exploded onto the scene last year when her debut single, Hairdresser, went straight into the top 20. The follow-up, Family Matters, reached number five in June.

It was the first time a female artist had made the top 20 with their first two singles since Ella Henderson in 2014.

Family 'nightmare'

Play her music and you'll instantly hear why.

Newman's songs crackle with barely-contained emotion, as her ragged (and extraordinarily expressive) voice tears through lyrics of betrayal, loss and disorder.

"It's literally the story of my life," she says.

"It's my way of letting out any trauma and pain that I couldn't speak."

On Family Matters, external, she describes growing up in a council estate home where drug abuse and police attention were a constant presence.

At the time, she didn't know any different. It was only later that Newman realised she "comes from a broken background".

"There's a lot more of it than people realise," she says, reflecting on her experiences of violence, arguments and addiction.

"I think a lot of people have children not really understanding how big [a responsibility] it is.

"They don't have love elsewhere in their life, so they think they can get it from a child - but then you're just passing your pain and trauma on to them, and it doesn't fix anything.

"You might have someone who loves you unconditionally, but you won't be able to provide everything they should get, because you're not happy."

Despite Family Matters' scathing account of her upbringing, Newman says she's still close to her parents and five elder siblings.

"My whole family understands the same feelings, so it's like we're all kind of in it together," she previously told Apple Music, external.

"As much as we're all a nightmare, it works because we all understand."

Newman has been singing since she could talk. She gave her first performance at the age of six, singing Cyndi Lauper's notoriously tricky True Colors at a school show.

"I don't know how, but my little voice managed to do it at the time," she laughs.

Before the song had even finished, she knew she'd devote her life to music.

"It was just magical. It was [my] first time having an audience, and I felt so comfortable."

Amy Winehouse – a singer who never surrendered her vulnerability in the midst of chaos - was her first true love, but it was Newman's aunt who helped her find a path in music.

A jazz and blues singer, she'd invite her niece to concerts and recording sessions, immersing her in the world of professional musicianship.

"She was a singer-songwriter too, and she showed me how you can create magic," she says.

"I'd watch her write and build something out of nothing. It gave me a hunger to be that person, making that magic.

"I'd go home and try it out for myself, and I found I had a way with words... I've always been a chatterbox, so that probably helped!"

Sadly, her aunt died when Newman was 11. At the funeral, Newman sang the 1930s folk song (You're Gonna Miss Me) When I'm Gone, after discovering it through the film Pitch Perfect.

"I watched that film with her best friend just after she died, and [the song] just resonated with me," says Newman. "It reminded me so much of her."

Before long, the singer started uploading original songs and "really horrendous covers" – first on YouTube, then Music.ly, before it became TikTok.

She built a sizeable fanbase but, as issues at home piled up, her posts trailed off.

On reflection, Newman says she needed time to get her head straight. She didn't yet have the emotional stability to deal with the pressures of a music career, let alone fame.

All the same, writing was key to her survival.

"Crazily enough, I'm someone who struggles to talk about what I feel," she says.

"Singing is a whole different story. When I'm in the studio, I feel calm. It's my safe space."

Serenity is not a quality you'd associate with her music, though. Her stories are vivid, prickly, lived-in. An emotional whirlwind.

On her breakout single, Hairdresser, external, she sings with bitter annoyance about a one-sided friendship – depicting a girl who'll borrow her clothes and her cash, but cancels their plans at the last minute when a man comes calling.

Her latest, Lonely Girl, external, is an all-too-recognisable story of a man in his early 20s taking advantage of a younger, emotionally naïve woman.

"You're in your school uniform in his car/Don't wanna see what's in his search bar."

Newman says it's more than a cautionary tale. "Young people need advocates, but also knowledge," she explained in a press release.

"Educate these babies on how good grooming can make them feel at first. Because that's the point - to keep them there so these predators can control. It's abuse."

Even in an era of confessional pop, Newman stands out. She's not afraid to stare down injustice, or to confront her demons before they swallow her whole.

When she plays live, the singer is often moved to tears.

"Definitely, the peace is disturbed sometimes," she says. "There are days where I feel absolutely fine, then I get on stage and it just comes out. Music can really draw out feelings that you didn't know were there."

But it's not all tears and tribulations.

Playing London's famous Koko venue last September, Newman clambered up to the balcony and belted out her hit song FU&UF, surrounded by her best friends., external

"That was a moment I'll never forget. I may not be blessed in the sense of a perfect family, but I'm blessed in the sense of friends, that's for sure."

Admirably, she's kept her friends close. Her sister is part of her management team, her best friend runs her social media, and other friends are training to handle stills photography and nail art.

"I'm just trying to pull people in that I love, because this industry can be so scary," she says. "So any jobs I can get them in, I'm like, 'Guys who wants a job? Who can learn how to do it?'"

She's also getting invaluable advice from her peers, with Sheeran, Capaldi and Sir Elton taking her under their considerable wings.

"It's just insanity, when I think about it," she says of getting to open for two of the UK's biggest acts”.

I will end with a couple of reviews for SE9 Part 1. Putting her childhood postcode on the musical map, it has won acclaim for the depth and importance of its lyrics. The incredible honesty of the lyrics. I think that is what affects people most. Many artists are not vulnerable or real with their music. They can hide behind a persona or their lyrics are oblique or cliché. With Skye Neman, you get someone who is unflinching real, raw and honest. I want to move to an NME interview from November. This exciting rising artist putting out her debut E.P. There are artists that take a while to make an impression and work their way into public consciousness. Skye Newman seems fully formed and someone incredible from the off:

“Songwriting was your way to escape when you were growing up. What did you want to get away from?

“Just carnage, really. I don’t like to go too much into things because it’s not just my life, it’s my five siblings’ lives as well, and there are many emotions involved… I was aware of things that should never have been brought to light. Things that I hope no one ever has to see or go through – definitely not at the age I did. A lot of trauma, I’ll just say that.”

Do you think this vulnerable approach is why your songs have resonated so much?

“It’s a very strange feeling. I get met with such sadness, but so many good feelings too. It breaks my heart that people relate, but also kind of heals me at the same time because, at the end of the day, I’m just a little girl trying to get through life – and she’s still there. Knowing there are people that understand how I feel makes it easier, but it’s also unsettling that so many people have been through the same stuff.”

You now count Elton John, Lewis Capaldi and Ed Sheeran among your fans. How have you found the past year?

“It’s been crazy and surreal. I don’t think it’s something I’ll ever get over. Even having conversations and getting advice from these people is mental. I honestly feel like I was born to do this job. I feel really cocky when I say that, but I don’t mean it like ‘I should be here’, more that I feel so at home and peaceful when I’m on stage. That’s always been my way of getting out of the real world, so to be able to do this full-time feels surreal, and that’s down to the people that listen to me. I can’t thank the people around me enough.”

Have you felt pressure following viral success?

“I haven’t felt pressure on myself. People can try to put it on you, but it’s only what you allow to affect you. I try not to allow other opinions to put pressure on me… I just love music and making it is my outlet, so I will keep doing what I love, and if people don’t like that and it doesn’t align anymore, then that’s fine. I don’t do it for the sake of that. I would still do it if it wasn’t my job.”

What’s the story of your first project, and why did you call it ‘SE9 Part 1’?

“I think these songs best represent how I’ve got to where I am. Because a lot of them were written two years ago, they are about my journey leading up to this point. They explain the events that made me me. It’s an insight into the first part of my life.”

What is your main goal as an artist?

“To have a long career in this and know that I always have music there as my outlet and support would be priceless”.

Prior to getting to some takes on the extraordinary and utterly engrossing SE9 Part 1, I am going to include some of Rolling Stone UK’s interview with Skye Newman. If some are not fans of Ed Sheeran and Lewis Capaldi and that side of Pop, I don’t think Newman sounds like that or has that same feel. Whilst it is great she is linked to these artists, I can see her collaborate more with incredible women at the Pop forefront very soon:

“In July, Newman performed alongside Ed Sheeran, before touring with Lewis Capaldi. Acknowledging that these experiences were incredible (“My voice has grown; my confidence has grown”), she says she needs to get back into the studio to see how it impacts her next round of songwriting. For now, we’re speaking following the release of her debut EP, SE9. With polished production by Luis Navidad, it features more candid songs about the place she calls home, with Newman’s voice unfurling like smoke, leaving her sharp lyrics floating in the air. 

Newman had a difficult childhood, though she only fully understood the extent once she got a bit older. “Whatever was going on was normal to me,” she says, “Drugs, violence, all that – that was normal. I think I’m very desensitised to a lot of these things.”

The moment that sparked the desire to process her feelings through writing was the death of her auntie when Newman was 11. A jazz and blues singer, her aunt brought young Newman along to the studio, letting her observe the songwriting process along with her live performances. “I just watched her have such passion and love for something,” Newman recalls. “I think because I was so close with her, and I got to watch music be created, that’s where my love of writing and the studio come from. Anyone that’s been in a studio will understand, but it’s very magical to me personally. There’s no better experience than watching a song be created.”

Music had always been a lifeline, but songwriting became a new tool. “Music’s my therapy: it’s easy to be in a studio, write it all down and kind of get it out that way,” she says. Though she had attended BRIT Kids – the prestigious BRIT School’s weekend programme for younger children – Newman did not have success with her auditions for BRIT School as an adolescent. It was a knock, but she smiles as she reflects on it: “It just made me want it more.”

She began uploading her songs online, first on YouTube and then Music.ly (which later merged with TikTok), gradually building her following. Coming from a working-class background in an arts industry that feels increasingly skewed towards people who come from wealth, Newman recognises the power of social media for levelling out the playing field: “You have a voice, you don’t need much to get your opinion out there, and there’s power in numbers for people who don’t have much. Coming from fuck all, I love what it’s done for me.” 

At the same time, she’s very aware of the impact social media has had on the music industry (and beyond). “Numbers are great, but it doesn’t mean much compared to being live with people,” she says. “I’m always the person that would rather sit in a room full of music and live instruments and feel it, whereas that’s got lost a lot more because of social media. It’s ruined the thing of real, raw music because everyone just wants that 20-second, 30-second buzz for TikTok. If that’s what you’re looking for, you’ve got the wrong bitch – I’m someone else!” 

Skye Newman is a refreshing, striking new voice on the British music scene, unafraid to put out fully formed songs full of vulnerability and bite. For those who haven’t been paying attention, such a massive breakthrough year has led to accusations of Newman being an industry plant. She laughs at the idea, once more displaying that bright and engaging honesty that has so enraptured her listeners: “I’ll take it! People think someone who’s done this before is writing my songs? Happy days! Means I’m doing it right”.

New Wave Magazine looked inside the wonderful SE9 Part 1. Skye Newman very much writing real, personal and honest music. It is not so insular or personal that it cannot be understood by listeners. She is writing about themes that many can relate to. Whilst her music is fun and there is this energy to it, there is this potency and punch that stays in the mind. Tackling issues and subjects with bravery:

“Life always feels tumultuous and turbulent when you’re young. You think everything that has happened to you, has only happened to you, and because you’re so close to it, you’re right in the middle of the storm, it’s hard sometimes to gain clarity or distance over the events that happen in your life.

And that’s what Skye Newman wrestles with in her EP, SE9 Part 1, named after the postcode of her childhood home in South East London.

The opening track, ‘FU & UF’ was first teased and then performed at her sold-out shows at KOKO London earlier this year, which was also the first time she performed there. Videos on social media platform TikTok in the balcony amongst her fans as if she wasn’t the headliner, and had simply gone to enjoy her favourite artist with her friends.

The sound of a metronome throughout the stripped-out production keeps us locked in before the visceral and expressive voice of Skye sets us off on this six-track journey.

Like much of the project, she is heated, as she shares a tale of being a victim of unreplicated effort from her partner, and explores gender politics.

Speaking about the track, she said: “I put FU & UF first because it’s good to remind whoever’s listening to be strong and to stand your ground,” says Skye. “My main message is don’t change who you are for anyone. Be true to yourself. It took me a while to realise this, but I am now living for me. And that’s the most important kind of living!”

The accompanying visual, directed by Rohan Dill, documents Skye and her friends, all females, reclaiming traditionally male-dominated and masculine spaces such as football pitches and boxing rings to showcase the importance of representation and the power of feminine energy.

Skye believes that kindness kills. The second track of the EP, Hairdresser, soulfully explores the transactional nature of relationships through a dual lens. The frustrated girlfriend vents about her man to the hairdresser, who in turn questions the validity of the friendship.

Skye sings, “Baby girl, are you listening? (Yeah) / There you go, got me questioning / If I was low, would you call me then? /If you got a man, would we still be friends?”

Combining electronic elements such as synths with upbeat drums, ‘My Addiction’ has a more alternative psychedelic influence as she likens love and desire to addiction that she cannot seem to or wants to shake.

The South Londoner longs to return to better memories on ‘Out Out’ – gentle piano chords help to provide the only quiet moment in the project. It shows Skye demonstrating introspection without losing the edge in her voice. She laments for more care, consideration and appreciation in the face of an unhappy relationship.

On ‘Family Matters’, the opening line is “You’ve never worn these shoes/Don’t mean my new balance in blue/Raised on pure dysfunction, But sleep I’ll never lose”,  is delivered with a raw honesty as she shares her perspective on her family, and embraces how adversity has shaped her.

Closing out with Smoke Rings, Skye shows she has one of the most compelling voices as she goes back to basics with a minimalistic piano instrumentation, favouring an intimate soundscape, in which her smooth voice adopts a more languid style than what we have heard so far. She does keep the power.

It’s a fitting end, cinematic even. Yearning and longing, the fire that we encountered at the start has been turned down to a simmer. It’s warm enough to be comforting, but there is an undeniable sadness in Skye’s voice as she sings about regret and heartbreak. Sometimes you only know you're past the storm until the smoke clears.

This summer just gone, Skye Newman has performed at the BBC Introducing stage at Radio 1’s Big Weekend in Liverpool, sang alongside Ed Sheeran with ain Ipswich and supported Lewis Capaldi’s UK tour. She has also had her own headline shows at Manchester’s O2 Ritz and London’s KOKO sold out”.

I will end with Broken 8 Music and their review of the unbelievable SE9 Part 1. This is an E.P. that came from one of our very best artists. I know I use those words to describe many artists. However, Skye Newman is very much the real deal. Someone who is going to have a hugely long and successful career:

“Skye Newman has had a truly nuts year. Two massive, Gold-certified singles that crashed the UK Top 20 – a first for a UK female solo artist in over a decade – should tell you all you need to know. Her performances have gone from the BBC Introducing stage to lighting up arena tours with Lewis Capaldi and Ed Sheeran. Now, with the release of her debut project, the six-track EP, 'SE9 Part 1', Newman is proving that her ascent is no fluke; she’s a generational talent rooted in the poetry and grit of South East London, after which the EP is named.

This project is a perfect snapshot of her journey so far, effortlessly blending the already iconic hits with three brand-new tracks. The established singles, 'Hairdresser', 'Family Matters', and 'Out Out', are already cornerstones of her sound: smoky, soul-infused vocals laid over surprisingly simple, yet potent, production. She manages to balance intimacy and raw honesty in a way few artists can, pulling from her influences like Amy Winehouse and Eminem to create something truly her own.

The breakthrough success of 'Family Matters' wasn’t down to chance. It’s a gut-punch of a track where she lays her life bare, singing lines like, "Raised on pure dysfunction / but sleep I’ll never lose." It’s an unflinching look at complex family life, summarised perfectly by her observation: "I can tell you about me, but you won’t understand."

The new tracks are just as compelling. The opener, 'FU & UF', is already plastered across social media thanks to pre-release snippets. It starts with a minimalist, piano-led beat that eventually swells into a pop masterpiece. It’s a classic Newman move: letting her incomparable voice carry the weight of her lyrics about a toxic lover. Then there's 'Smoke Rings', a stunning piano ballad about remembering lost passion. When she sings, "All of the smoke rings take me back there / When I did it with you," her voice and the piano move together like true partners, proving that synths and fancy instrumentation aren’t needed when you possess a voice this pure and expressive.

Newman’s strength lies in her fearless refusal to hold back, whether she's calling out a disappointing friend in 'Hairdresser' or navigating personal battles. This debut EP is a powerful statement. 'SE9 Part' 1 is more than just a collection of songs; it’s a mission statement from an artist who speaks from the heart and is already redefining what it means to be a UK chart-topper. This isn't just where she’s from; it’s a launchpad for where she’s headed”.

Next month, Skye Newman briefly visits the U.S. and has a couple of dates there. She has a run of U.K. dates in the spring. It is a shame that the London dates are sold out, as I would love to see her perform. It shows that there is huge demand and this love of her music. She plays Reading & Leeds in August. It is going to be another busy year. With the BBC Radio 1 Sound of 2026 honour under her belt and a stunning E.P. done, what comes next? I guess there will be debut album at some point, though I feel this year is going to be Newman taking to the road as much as possible and putting out some new singles. This extraordinary London songwriter was in my sights last year but, since I covered her, so much has happened. It was essential to come back…

TO this truly wonderful artist.

____________

Follow Skye Newman

Official:

https://www.skyenewman.com/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/skyenewman__/

TikTok:

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

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/4UoEzpWZrFWvlGYOzTEn1M?si=7GYWXIIST02W_BklgjWnnw

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRAxxXd2959C4q0y1gY0kjg

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/p/Skye-Newman-Official-61574579049800/?locale=en_GB

FEATURE: Born This Way: Lady Gaga at Forty

FEATURE:

 

 

Born This Way

PHOTO CREDIT: Greg Swales for Rolling Stone

Lady Gaga at Forty

__________

I am writing this feature…

IN THIS PHOTO: Lady Gaga at the GRAMMY Awards on 2nd February, 2025/PHOTO CREDIT: Rankin for The Recording Academy

in January, but I am excited to look ahead to 28th March and the fortieth birthday of Lady Gaga. I am going to end this feature with a career-spanning playlist featuring some of Lady Gaga’s best songs and some deep cuts. I want to start out with a GRAMMY article from March 2023. Published “In celebration of Women's History Month, get a glimpse of Lady Gaga's influential career as a luminary of dance-pop and her outspoken advocacy for women's rights”:

“Born Stefani Germanotta, Lady Gaga is one of the best-selling female artists in history. Rightfully so, Gaga's years of training — from taking piano lessons at 4 years old to briefly studying at New York University's prestigious Collaborative Arts Project 21 musical theater program — prepared her to become one of the most technical pop singers of all time. With the addition of her innovative creativity to her musical skill set, Gaga forged the perfect formula to become one of the biggest stars of her generation.

Lady Gaga created music under the pen name — a reference to Queen's hit "Radio Ga Ga" — years before she finally caught the eyes of Interscope executive Vincent Herbert, who she now credits for discovering her. Eventually, Lady Gaga was introduced to award-winning songwriter and producer RedOne to make her breakthrough album, 2008's The Fame, under Interscope imprint label Cherrytree Records.

Speaking to The Independent in 2009, she recalled her struggles to get radio airplay after releasing The Fame. "They would say, 'This is too racy, too dance-oriented, too underground. It's not marketable,'" she said. "And I would say, 'My name is Lady Gaga. I've been on the music scene for years, and I'm telling you, this is what's next.'"

And right she was: the year following The Fame's premiere, Lady Gaga received her first GRAMMY nomination for "Just Dance" at the 2009 GRAMMY Awards. Over a decade later, she's won 13 GRAMMYs and counts 36 GRAMMY nominations in total.

By 2016, Lady Gaga had four No. 1 albums under her belt, from Born This Way to Joanne. In 2018, she signed on to be the lead actress in Bradley Cooper's remake of A Star Is Born, also doubling as the songwriter and producer for the soundtrack. The release was an immediate success, debuting at the top of the Billboard 200 Albums chart and making Lady Gaga the first woman with five No. 1 albums in the 2010s. In 2019, Lady Gaga became the first person in history to win a GRAMMY, Oscar, BAFTA, and Golden Globe in a single year.

As a part of GRAMMY.com's ongoing commemoration of Women's History Month, we're looking back at Lady Gaga's influential career as one of the music industry's pop legends in this episode of Run The World. Extending Lady Gaga's impressively successful career as an entertainer is her philanthropy and advocacy work as a proud, outspoken feminist.

During her 2018 ELLE Women in Hollywood event, Lady Gaga gave an inspiring speech to bring awareness to sexual assault. "For me, this is what it means to be a woman in Hollywood. It means I have a platform. I have a chance to make a change. I pray we listen, believe, and pay closer attention to those around us in need. Be a helping hand. Be a force for change," Lady Gaga concluded after courageously sharing her story as a survivor.

"I would like to dedicate this song to every woman in America. To every woman who now has to worry about her body if she gets pregnant. I pray that this country will speak up and we will not stop until its right!" - Lady Gaga talking about abortion rights at The #ChromaticaBallDC pic.twitter.com/YjwlC0rg7C

— Ryan | Lady Gaga 🏳️‍🌈 (@ryanleejohnson) August 9, 2022

She has also used her platform on stage to advocate for women. During her Chromatica Ball tour in 2022, she dedicated "The Edge of Glory" to women after the government overturned Roe v. Wade two months prior: "To every woman who now has to worry about her body if she gets pregnant, I pray this country will speak up, and we will not stop until it's right!"

Lady Gaga isn't just a musician or actress. She is a pioneer in change, a spokesperson for those whose voices might not get heard. She wants to see women, especially in entertainment, win while being able to claim their authentic femininity, as she told Glamour in 2017.

"I hope to see women thriving and happy, loving what they're doing, and being in control and powerful of what they create," she explained. "As much as we all love the fashion and the makeup and glamour, this isn't a beauty pageant. It's about the heart and the drive and the work”.

I am going to round off with extracts from a Rolling Stone interview. She released her latest, and acclaimed, album in March. MAYHEM is one of the best albums from last year. Rolling Stone published their interview in November. Lady Gaga spoke about “returning from the brink, finding love, and making one of her greatest albums”:

“As she recorded Mayhem, Gaga had dreams “of these different sides of myself.” There’s a line in the industrial confessional “Perfect Celebrity” about a “clone … asleep on the ceiling,” and the disquieting single “Disease” was narrated by Gaga’s dark side before she had a name for it: “You’re so tortured when you sleep/Plagued with all your memories.”

What Gaga doesn’t quite remember — and neither did I, until I went back to my transcripts — is that she was having similar visions as early as 2011. “I had this dream that I had something evil inside of me,” she told me that year, as we rode through Manhattan in a chauffeured car. “And there was this white wall, and in order to get the negativity and the evil out of me, I had to hit the wall, and an essence would fly out of my soul center. I was trying to get rid of it — an exorcism of some sort.”

The exorcism clearly didn’t stick back then. When it came time to make the video for “Disease,” Mayhem’s first single, the Mayhem character was born. “We started exploring with the choreography this idea of me battling myself,” she says. “That song is so deliberately about somebody that wants to harm you — and it being you.” Gaga has played with horror-movie imagery before, but the “Disease” video is a coded tour of her darkest thoughts, a remarkably uncompromising way to begin an all-important album cycle. She starts the video singing as her own corpse, mowed down by a car with Mayhem at the wheel, and it gets more nightmarish from there.

Oddly enough, the video, and all of the thematic cues the tour took from it, might not have existed without Gaga’s latest movie, last October’s instantly notorious megaflop Joker: Folie á Deux. “There was a ton of negativity around Joker,” she says. “And I think I was feeling artistically rebellious at the time.”

Gaga’s deeply felt turn, alongside Joaquin Phoenix, as a tragically delusional Harley Quinn won some of the film’s only praise. Reviews were otherwise vicious. Fans of 2019’s dour Joker were outright repelled by the new film’s daring-if-not-reckless tonal leap: The original was a faux-Scorsese urban-decay drama, and this was a … surreal semi-musical about mental illness. With a cartoon segment.

After all of Gaga’s experiences, did the wave of hatred for a movie really bother her? “I wasn’t, like, unfazed,” she says, smiling at the question. “It’s funny, I’m almost nervous to share my reaction. But the truth is, when it first started happening, I started laughing. Because it was just getting so unhinged.” Her amusement eventually faded. “When it takes a while for something to kind of dissipate, that can be a little bit more painful. Only because I put a lot of myself into it.”

The “Disease” video, then, was an answer to all of that hostility. “I put so much of that energy into that video,” she says. “I was in that place, you know, I was like, ‘I’ll show you who I am, and I’ll show you what this fight is like.’”

The resulting work of art cut a little too deep. “When we were done filming it, I went kind of into a dark place mentally,” Gaga says. “Maybe I scared myself a little bit.… For weeks I was really bothered. It was in my head a lot. I was actually trying to figure out what I was trying to say. There’s a side of me that’s scared of another side. And I think that there was a sense in me that I was not done healing.”

The Mayhem sessions were long, and often emotionally intense. “There were many times where she would sing a vocal for a song and it would bring me to tears, and then she would also be in tears,” says Watt, who credits Polansky with a crucial stabilizing role in the process. “Michael’s just so amazing because he’s so levelheaded. We could all be so eccentric and excited and jumping up and down and diving into the art. And then he would be like the great leveler. He’d be like, ‘Nah, I don’t like that song as much as I liked that other song.’ He had that all-knowing Buddha-type energy.”

From there, Gaga and her fiancé ended up working together on every aspect of the tour planning. “Imagine two best friends just moving through life, but we’re always being creative,” Gaga says.

The partnership goes both ways. There’s a skin-health research firm near Cambridge, Massachusetts, called Outer Biosciences, with 20 employees, that was secretly co-founded by one of the most famous women in the world. “It was her idea,” says Polansky. She’s officially on the board of directors, but they’ve kept her name out of it, until now. “The attention that Stefani’s involvement would bring — it wasn’t necessary. It’s not consumer-facing. It’s a research company.… My work is not public in the same way. When she talks about us being partners, it kind of looks like it all goes one direction, but she’s the most incredible support to me as well.”

They’re planning on getting married soon, either during the tour or just after. “We’re talking about it all the time,” Polansky tells me. “We have these breaks, and they’re tempting. It’s like, ‘OK, can we get married that weekend?’ We don’t want a really big wedding, but we want to enjoy it. In a lot of ways, we already feel married, so it’s not like it’s gonna change much.”

They’re clear that parenthood is next, and Polansky is inspired by Elton John and David Furnish, whose kids are Gaga’s godsons. “Their kids have turned out to be very happy. The most important thing is making it feel like this is just our family, this is what we do. Her being Lady Gaga and the art and all of it is not something that she has to compartmentalize away from her relationship with me or when she’s a mother.”

“Being a mom is the thing I want the most,” Gaga says. “And he’s gonna be a beautiful father. We’re really excited about that.”

I suddenly remember something she said to me over dinner when she was 23 years old, with a single album to her name. She’d be fully Lady Gaga forever, she vowed, “even when I have a baby one day.”

She looks me in the eyes. “I lied,” she says, and laughs so hard that the heels of her platform boots nearly leave the floor. She says it again, looking as unburdened as I’ve ever seen her. “I lied! I’ve grown up since I said that”.

This fabulous New York City-born icon turns forty on 28th March. I am not sure whether Lady Gaga has anything planned, whether there will be a load of new features and anything published around it. However, I thought it was a perfect opportunity to highlight her incredible and singular work. One of the most influential artists of her generation, she has had such a varied career. Hugely successful and acclaimed, we are going to be hearing incredible music from her for…

DEACDES more.