FEATURE: When I’m in '64: Eyes of the Storm, and the McCartney Family Photography Legacy

FEATURE:

 

 

When I’m in '64

IN THIS PHOTO: Paul McCartney: New York City, February 1964: ‘We were staying at the Plaza Hotel, who were pretty horrified by all the hullabaloo’/ALL PHOTOS: Paul McCartney

Eyes of the Storm, and the McCartney Family Photography Legacy

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THERE are a few reasons…

 IMAGE CREDIT: Allen Lane/Paul McCartney

for writing this feature. On 18th June, Paul McCartney turns eighty-one. I wanted to put together some birthday features to celebrate the genius. If it makes more people aware of his work, then so much the better. Apart from anything, there is that requirement for journalists to show their respects to artists like McCartney. I am tying this feature to philosophy. I will discuss how there is a connection to the industry that has run through the McCartney family. Also, before Macca’s birthday, the release of a new book is happening. 1964: Eyes of the Storm is a collection of photos taken by McCartney at arguably the height of The Beatles’ fame. Looking at their time in America (actually, Liverpool, London, Paris, New York, Washington, D.C. and Miami are all covered) and some of the chaos and moments of calm, we will get these amazing shots that focused on the mundane and the extraordinary. From shots of his bandmates to quiet streets, it is as fascinating archive that gives more insight into the world’s biggest band. I am going to reference a recent article from The Guardian where McCartney talks about the book and the time in which the photographs were taken. McCartney describes that time in America as being in Wonderland. As he revealed in the piece, it was very strange and huge. Confusing, dizzying and adrenaline-producing, few humans could quite imagine what it was like for a member of a band that changed popular culture – at a time in history where there was so much change and uncertainty. It got me thinking about Paul McCartney and how photography is a passion shared by his late wife Linda, in addition to his daughter Mary.

I would urge people to order a copy of 1964: Eyes of the Storm, as this is a beautiful and fascinating book that is a very personal look at The Beatles at a pivotal and seismic time. Before quoting from that McCartney piece in The Guardian, here is a synopsis of an upcoming photobook that will give us a rare look inside The Beatles’ 1964:

“Millions of eyes were suddenly upon us, creating a picture I will never forget for the rest of my life.'In 2020, an extraordinary trove of nearly a thousand photographs taken by Paul McCartney on a 35mm camera was re-discovered in his archive. They intimately record the months towards the end of 1963 and beginning of 1964 when Beatlemania erupted in the UK and, after the band's first visit to the USA, they became the most famous people on the planet. The photographs are McCartney's personal record of this explosive time, when he was, as he puts it, in the 'Eyes of the Storm'.

1964: Eyes of the Storm presents 275 of McCartney's photographs from the six cities of these intense, legendary months - Liverpool, London, Paris, New York, Washington, D.C. and Miami - and many never-before-seen portraits of John, George and Ringo. In his Foreword and Introductions to these city portfolios, McCartney remembers 'what else can you call it - pandemonium' and conveys his impressions of Britain and America in 1964 - the moment when the culture changed and the Sixties really began.

1964: Eyes of the Storm includes:- Six city portfolios - Liverpool, London, Paris, New York, Washington, D.C. and Miami - and a Coda on the later months of 1964 - featuring 275 of Paul McCartney's photographs and his candid reflections on them- A Foreword by Paul McCartney- Beatleland, an Introduction by Harvard historian and New Yorker essayist Jill Lepore- A Preface by Nicholas Cullinan, Director of the National Portrait Gallery, London, and Another Lens, an essay by Senior Curator Rosie Broadley”.

 IN THIS PHOTO: New York, February 1964: ‘Ringo setting up his precariously perched drum kit during rehearsals for The Ed Sullivan show’

There are some sections of that Paul McCartney retrospective feature, where he shared his memories and experiences of 1964 and The Beatles getting this tsunami of love and adulation from fans. You could make a documentary about that year and the band’s rise. Looking at the politics of the time here and in the U.S. it is fascinating reading McCartney’s words and how, almost eighty-one, he recalls that time. I don’t think many people would associate Paul McCartney with photography. We would never have got these incredible shots were he not passionate about photography! He must have had all these memories flashing back when compiling the book and looking at these old photos:

“The truth is that I have always been interested in photography, from the time I was very young, when our family owned a little box camera in the 1950s. I used to love the whole process of loading a roll of Kodak film into our Brownie camera. I would ask my brother, Mike, to take a picture of me outside a hotdog store – an American export to a country that had never previously known hotdogs. And from those early years, we would use the camera to take pictures of each other. This was not just a McCartney family hobby. Every family we knew would take a camera on holiday, as in “Here we are on holiday in Blackpool” or “Here I am with Auntie Dilys and Uncle Harry”, as we did when we went to Butlin’s holiday camp.

In looking back at these photographs, I have even greater regard for the photographers around the Beatles back then. They would have to frame the picture, guess the lighting and then just go for it – the madness that enveloped us everywhere making their work ever more difficult. Since we were surrounded by journalists, I often took pictures of them, not so much for revenge but because they were an interesting group of people. I would often say to them, “What’s the right lighting?”, because they were professionals and would automatically know. Despite the simplicity of the camera, the process, at least to me, was challenging, since with each roll, you had only 24 or 36 images, which you had to get right, because there wasn’t a second chance. This is such a contrast with the process today of taking pictures on your phone. You couldn’t be lazy then. You had to take the right picture, actually compose the image in the frame without the safety of knowing you could crop it later. When I watched Linda work, she was very old school in that way. She had the discipline to spot the picture and then take it. She understood that she had only one opportunity and she had to get it right.

IN THIS PHOTO: Miami: ‘The four of us spent so much time working together that it’s good to see us (George Harrison is in this photo) just relaxing and enjoying ourselves’

Things were happening so wildly that I cannot say that photography was in the forefront of my mind as we toured. Even though we wanted to transform from a little band to a big one, and even though we hoped for international acceptance when we went to France and then the US, no one could have predicted what I describe as the “Eyes of the Storm”. At first, I was tempted to call it that, because the Beatles certainly were at the centre, or the eye, of a self-generated storm, but when I looked at all these photographs, I realised it really should be in the plural, the “Eyes of the Storm”, because of all the pictures that others were taking, the photographs I was taking and also the eyes of the fans that greeted us, the security that looked after us. Who is looking at who? The camera always seems to be shifting, with me photographing them, the press photographing us, and those thousands and thousands of people out there wanting to capture this storm.

It’s not so much a feeling of loss but a joy in the past. When I look back and think, I have to say, “Wow” – we did all that, and we were just kids from Liverpool. And here it is in the photographs. Boy, how great does John look? How handsome is George and how cool is Ringo, wearing that funny French hat? I’m also drawn to the pictures of the photographers, who were never our enemy. They bring back memories of what it was like being in New York for the first time, being taken down to Central Park, with all those hard-bitten cameramen shouting out, “Hey Beatle, hey Beatle, hey Beatle.” And we’d look at them and they’d take the picture, and then one more, always just one more.

I’m reminded of so many things: of an England that was more my parents’ generation than my own; of the early concerts and those original fans; of “Beatlemania” and of a London that in 1963 spoke of promise and ambition and everything new to four young men from the north.

And I’m reminded of an America that I know still exists, somewhere. I remember all those stories, some of them real, others imagined, from looking out of the train window, seeing American freight trains, American railway yards. I like American trains to this day. I like to think that I can hear “that lonesome whistle blow”. It’s the majesty of all those beautiful old blues songs, and I begin to wonder how all those people hitched rides across the country in the old days. Even then, as you hear in my songs, I was always imagining the lives of people I did not know, like that man, “the Pennsylvanian”, I’ll call him, in front of the train yard, whose story I will never know, but I can still ask: “What was he like when he went home that night? Did he mention having seen the Beatles at the dinner table?”.

 IN THIS PHOTO: ‘The crowds chasing us in A Hard Day’s Night were based on moments like this. Taken out of the back of our car on West 58th, crossing the Avenue of the Americas’

I wanted to write about 1964: Eyes of the Storm, as it is an essential purchase for any fans of The Beatles. In some ways, the book is almost a historic text. Given that The Beatles were this sensation whose music would change the world, we glimpse at this moment in history that was so impactful and important. McCartney given us access to these photos is wonderful! As much as anything, I think more widely about Macca and that connection with photography. He married Linda Eastman. She was an exceptional photographer (and animal rights activist) who took many photos of McCartney and the rest of the band. If you watch the Get Back Peter Jackson film of The Beatles recording Let It Be, you will see Linda taking photos in the studio whilst the guys make music and chat. I guess it is only natural that the Beatle boys would gravitate towards artistic women. John Lennon did. He and Yoko Ono seem made for one another. There was that connection to photography that helped bond McCartney and Eastman. Maybe people did not realise the fact Paul McCartney was a photographer, but Linda Eastman would have been the more experienced and known in that respect. I think McCartney often approached songs like he was looking through a lens. Taking this snapshot of characters and times in his life. The fact is photography allows people to focus in on a single subject or moment. It turns the gaze away from them. They get to create something singular. McCartney would have felt the pressure of always being watched and photographed. By having the camera, he got to turn things around. He was able to capture unique moments. His fascination with the medium is clearly burning today. Not that this was the only thing he was attracted to when he and Eastman got together – though her incredible photography was something he could understand and connect with. She took a lot of photos of him, and I’d like to think that McCartney got the camera out and took photos of his wife when she was at rest or play. Seeing this new side to a woman who was so important to him!

 IN THIS PHOTO: Paul McCartney in a promotional photo for 2020’s McCartney III/PHOTO CREDIT: Mary McCartney

Mary McCartney is the eldest child of the iconic Beatle. You can see shots of her as a baby when the McCartney’s left the city and fled to the country. As her mother took those photos, you can see why Mary followed Paul and Linda McCartney’s passion for photography. She has taken photos of her dad – including promotional snaps for 2020’s McCartney III. It is amazing there is this inter-generational devotion to photography. McCartney was definitely no amateur! You can see the focus (no pun intended!) and skill when admiring 1964: Eyes of the Storm. Photography is also a love of Ringo Starr’s Macca’s buddy and bandmate has published his own book of photos, so there must have been something about that era, atmosphere and environment that drew McCartney and Starr to photography – and, in turn, influenced more than the music. Mary McCartney is an incredible photographer, filmmaker and author (McCartney is also Global Ambassador for Meat Free Monday). I might expand on this thought and thread for another feature soon but, as Paul McCartney is eighty-one on 18th June, I was eager to highlight the upcoming book, 1964: Eyes of the Storm, and Macca’s remarkable photos! I will put out another feature between now and 18th June…celebrating one of the world’s most remarkable and influential people. I wanted to wish a very happy birthday to…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Self Portrait, Abbey Road Studios. London, 1975 features in the Walker Art Gallery's Linda McCartney Retrospective/PHOTO CREDIT: © Paul McCartney/PHOTOGRAPHER: Linda McCartney

A truly wonderful human.

FEATURE: Spotlight: d4vd

FEATURE:

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Hope Obadan

d4vd

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THERE are a whole gang of interviews to come to…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Alex Hodor-Lee for Fader

with concerns to d4vd. Having released Petals to Thornes at the end of last month, it has brought to the public consciousness the incredible music of this wonderful artist. Real name David Anthony Burke, the Texas-raised teenager is heading for huge things! Although he has only been recording and releasing music for a short time, his name and sounds have blown up. He is getting a lot of love and respect here in the U.K. I want to come to a few of the many interviews around d4vd. This is someone who everybody needs to keep an eye on! Beforehand, here is some biography and background concerning this extraordinary musical wonder:

“d4vd has emerged as a visionary artist only one year after he began writing and recording heart-piercing tracks alone in his closet in Houston, Texas. Having released a smattering of singles touching everything from indie-alternative to pop to R&B, the 17-year-old, born David Burke, scored a breakout hit in summer 2022 with the melancholic indie rock song “Romantic Homicide,” whose brutally honest lyrics about heartbreak and resentment have connected with hundreds of thousands of listeners. “Romantic Homicide,” which was recorded entirely on an iPhone in his sister’s closet, reached No. 34 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and led to d4vd signing to Darkroom/Interscope before he’d even graduated high school.

Having only listened to gospel until age 15, d4vd gained his now-eclectic taste in rap and indie music from internet wormholes and fan-made Fortnite videos on YouTube, which he also started creating as a homeschooled teenager. d4vd is also an avid Fortnite player who has amassed over fifty thousand subscribers on his gaming channel. When he noticed that the songs in his game montages were getting copyright strikes, his mother suggested that he should write his own original music as a solve. This motivated d4vd to start recording his own tracks after discovering an easy-to-use music-making app called BandLab. Gamer friends left comments urging him to release songs officially, so he started sharing tracks in December 2021 and soon built a presence in the “sped-up sound” corner of TikTok.

The runaway success of “Romantic Homicide” was unexpected because d4vd made the song according to his usual process. He’d find a pre-made instrumental on YouTube, go into his sister’s closet, and then “say whatever the instrumental needs me to say,” he explains. The lyrics came to him through stream-of-consciousness, and he later edited down hours’ worth of ideas into the eventual two-minute gut-punch in which he sings, “In the back of my mind / You died,” to a parting lover. “It’s literally the feeling that millions of people have when they have to leave somebody or they’re being left behind,” he says. “‘Killing somebody,’ or making them disappear in the back of your mind, is also like a form of forgiveness—having those thoughts erased from your mind.”

d4vd’s intuitive command of lyricism stems from his years of scribbling raps and poems in his journal since childhood. Growing up in the quiet suburbs of Houston in a Christian household, he was drawn to graphic novels and Japanese manga—especially the intense, gory ones like Attack on Titan and Demon Slayer, where he related to the “real and grounded” narratives surrounding ego and honor at the core of their fantastical imagery. “I would take bits and pieces from these mangas and add it into my own stories and worlds,” he says. His particular interest in storylines focused on relationships and isolation now shows up in his lyrics, which often evoke a sense of loneliness and yearning for connection.

d4vd’s early tracks show off his versatility and knack for crafting sentimental lines and melodies across genres, as on the surf-rock song “Take Me to the Sun,” the gloomy R&B of “Right Now,” and “DTN,” an experimental dance track. “I’m just trying to create my own genre and build a community around it,” he says. “Not many people who like Jersey club also like shoegaze, indie, and R&B. With my music, I can bring all those people together”.

I am a very new convert to the music of d4vd. He has been in the U.K. recently, and there are so many people tipping him for a long and influential career. At the moment, he is promoting his E.P. and, I can imagine, having a rest after such a hectic and eventful start to the year! Back in March, The Face spoke with an artis who was in the U.K .played his first London show the week previous. This seemed like a bid to go from viral success to real-world and face-to-face adulation and awareness. Plating alongside Beabadoobee and Holly Humberstone, he shone in front of a 250-capacity Lower Third venue crowd – all hungry to hear more from this incredible talent:

“Thirteen months ago, d4vd (it’s pronounced ​“David”, by the way – his birth name is David Burke) didn’t make songs at all. The original goal was to become a pro gamer, and so he started creating tracks to soundtrack compilation videos of him flexing his shooting skills in Fortnite. ​“You have to really subvert expectations with those videos because people’s attention spans are so short,” he says. When TikTok creators started using his tracks, d4vd knew it was time to give the music thing a proper go.

d4vd started recording in his sister’s closet because it was the only place where his DIY studio set-up (which is pretty much just a phone and Apple earbuds) doesn’t sound too shitty. The songs he’s recorded there have racked up millions of streams, and secured him a deal with Interscope records and the Darkroom label, also home to the bedroom pop queen herself, Billie Eilish.

Testament to his star appeal, there’s already a busy Discord server called ​“d4vd’s closet”, where fans can share their own creations in music and gaming. ​“I definitely feel comfortable with all the attention I’ve been getting,” he says, seemingly unfazed by the rapid blow-up. “[Because] I already have such a strong community behind the music.”

He believes his music is connecting with audiences because of its imperfections. ​“I make everything on my phone. I don’t mix or master anything. All my songs are full of imperfections. Feeling like you can make the song yourself is so important to me,” he says. ​“What I’m doing is relatable.”

Having been homeschooled in a Christian household, d4vd didn’t hear secular music until he was 13. Then, he ​“discovered everything all at once”. His musical diet now includes Paramore, Wallows, Deftones and jazz greats like Chet Baker, Brenda Lee and Elvis Presley. He’s also digging into The Cure’s back catalogue, after noticing his music being compared to theirs.

d4vd’s songs range from fast-paced, reverb-drenched dream pop to woozy slacker rock, and you might hear elements of R&B and pop-punk in his vocals. But like most Gen Z artists, he describes his music as genreless.

Five months after releasing his first song, Run Away, in December 2021, d4vd dropped Romantic Homicide, a downbeat indie track which spread like wildfire on TikTok (it currently has over 461 million Spotify plays), in part thanks to its relatable lyrics about heartbreak. But d4vd also thinks it stood out in contrast to the hectic hyperpop that so many musicians of his generation were peddling. ​“I came out of nowhere with one vocal and a couple of guitars,” he says. ​“People were so used to being overstimulated; my music gave them a break.”

But new track WORTHLESS marks the end of quiet time. The thundering song simultaneously nods to Soundcloud rap, garage punk and soaring, radio-friendly pop. ​“I just like contrast,” d4vd shrugs. ​“I’m not afraid to take risks”.

I am going to end up with a review of d4vd’s E.P., Petals to Thorns. I guess you could call it a ‘mini-album’, as it runs at nine tracks at just under thirty minutes total. However you classify it, there is no denying the fact d4vd has released a hugely important debut! NME spoke with him in September last year. I wanted to include this interview, as this was one of his earliest in the U.K. The U.S. artist was on the radar here. His track, Romantic Homicide, was getting people very excited:

“D4vd became a musician by accident. In the truest of Gen Z career goals, he grew up wanting to be a professional video game player, and spent his early teen years uploading short clips of himself playing Fortnite to YouTube under the name Limit Ant, with his videos amassing over 15 million views in total. It was here where he’d begin releasing his own tracks, fulfilling the need for non-copyrighted music in his Fortnite montages by making his own tracks on social music platform BandLab, and it changed his outlook entirely.

Over the past year, d4vd (born David Burke) has continued to quietly upload music to Soundcloud. The beachy indie sound of his earlier cuts ‘Here With Me’, ‘You and I’ and ‘Take Me To The Sun’ is more in line with the likes of Wallows and Rex Orange County than the soaring, richly detailed emo of his latest single, ‘Romantic Homicide’. The track has been a breakthrough for d4vd: it debuted within the Billboard Hot 100 in the US, has surpassed 75 million streams, and is quickly becoming a trending hit on TikTok.

Yet despite his recent success, d4vd admits he only started thinking about music seriously a couple of months ago. “I didn’t even think about how far it could actually take me in terms of the numbers and everything”, he says over Zoom from his family home in Texas.

“‘Romantic Homicide’ is having a real moment online. How have you navigated all of the newfound attention?

“It’s been amazing, actually. I’ve had small moments like this before with songs on SoundCloud, but to have a song take off the way it did and have it be as natural as it did without me pushing it in somebody’s face for a straight week is actually amazing. And the fact that people resonated with the music… it kind of promoted itself.”

What was it about ‘Romantic Homicide’ that you think has resonated with people?

“I think it’s so simple. [The song] is relatable in a way; it’s not crazy with the vocals, it only has two layers of background vocals for the harmonisation. It’s just a track that you don’t have to think too much about to listen to, you can easily connect to what’s being said because I’m not over-saturating the sound, and it’s just the feeling that anybody could have made that song.

“I mean, you hear music that’s mainstream now, and it’s like, ‘Man, I gotta have this voice to do this’ or ‘I really wish I could sing like that’. But honestly, you could pop into your closet, and literally just make a [song like] ‘Romantic Homicide’ and it goes straight to the brains of over 40 million people.”

d4vd (@d4vddd) · You and I

You’ve been using BandLab to make music at home. What’s your relationship to the platform like?

“So my relationship with BandLab has been amazing in that I can make music literally from my closet. The CEO reached out a couple of weeks ago and said he was amazed that somebody who has used the platform he made has managed to get on the Billboard [200 singles] chart.

“[BandLab] has literally changed my life. I couldn’t ask for more – it’s allowed me to make  music from my house without any professional mic, as I literally just use Apple earbuds and the app on my phone. I’m able to make the music that I like without compromise.”

As a Black artist navigating the indie-sphere, is it important for you to pave your own way and create music on your own terms?

“I love it. The amount of DMs I get from people saying, ‘I thought you were white’… it’s so funny to me! And I like it, because it’s like I’m taking a spin on the stigma about what African-American creators’ music should be, and how it should be perceived, and what they should be making. It now feels like you can make whatever music you feel like making, you don’t have to be put in a box. You can be successful in your own lane, depending on who you are, and be true to yourself, and just do what you love to do”.

I am going to wrap things up soon. High Snobiety  spoke with the incredible Queens-born d4vd about his music and aspirations. It is evident that so many people have this excitement and love for what he is putting out in the world. It is definitely someone who you need to add to your playlists. I think that d4vd’s career will blow up (in a good way) very soon – and pretty rapidly too:

“Were you going through a breakup at the time?

No, but it's about love. When I'm writing about love, I try to capture new sides to it, because so many people write about love. When I wrote “Here With Me,” I tried to harness the parts of love that no one writes about. That's why many people saw the passion in “Romantic Homicide.” It was the other side of what happens if you never grow old together. Most songs now are about heartbreak and hating the person you once dated. I wanted to write about that!

I’ve always thought that you write about resentment pretty well. What does resentment feel like for you?

To me, resentment feels like suffocation. It feels like having so many things to say but not being able to say it. It causes you to overthink and over analyze every situation.

How have you changed since being signed?

I've been the same since I was 15. I haven't changed at all. I'm making a lot of pop music right now. Not like “Romantic Homicide” necessarily, but similar to Travis Scott. I have a little bit of Justin Bieber and Billie Eilish in there too”.

I'm used to making music alone in my bedroom, so the process of making music with a label is new for me. And I’m more aware of the internet. I’m aware of what’s trending on TikTok.

What side of TikTok are you on?

I'm on the slideshow TikTok. Are you on slideshow TikTok? I try to listen to music on all platforms so I cover my digital real estate, and I can't stand silence. But I don’t think of my music as “successful” as related to how it does on TikTok”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Lindsay Ellery

The penultimate interview I am coming to is from Billboard. Naming d4vd among their ‘21 under 21’ list, they spoke to someone who had admiration for Billie Eilish, was surprised by how quickly things have gone huge for him, and realises what an important impact Romantic Homicide has had:

“While d4vd says that it’s “hard to break through the saturation” of social media, noting it’s “super hard to be seen,” his prolificness helped him stand out. He recalls the first time he met his manager, Mogul Vision’s Josh Marshall, who had discovered his music on SoundCloud even before “Romantic Homicide.” “I remember he flew down to Houston the next day, and we [sat] in Panera talking about the music industry, and I was like, ‘OK, this is it.’ You really can’t hesitate. Social media moves so fast. You can blow up as quick as you fall off.”

Around the same time, d4vd’s parents were moving just as quickly to help him navigate the various labels eager to set up meetings in New York and L.A. By August, as “Romantic Homicide” continued to build, d4vd signed with Darkroom/ Interscope — the label responsible for developing Billie Eilish, a superstar whose career d4vd admires especially because of what he thinks is the “perfect timing” of her releases. He signed a management deal with Marshall (along with his day-to-day manager, Robert Morgenroth) at Mogul Vision soon after.

“The Darkroom team, I just feel like we clicked because everybody saw the vision. My management company as well,” says d4vd. “I wasn’t even trying to be an artist at the beginning, so people who are making plans and seeing the bigger picture, that’s who I want to [work] with.”

And while d4vd may not have intended to land here, as a Black artist in the alternative space, he now feels honored to be a reference point for young listeners who didn’t think that combination was possible. “Before ‘Romantic Homicide,’ I [hadn’t] posted my face. Then I released my live performance of it on YouTube, and people were like, ‘You’re Black?!’ ” he says with a laugh. “[I’m] a gateway into that genre. It’s an absolute honor and a blessing”.

The final interview I am including is from CLASH. Talking with him late last month, there was chat and spotlight around the brilliant Petals to Thorns E.P. One of the essential releases of this year, it is exciting thinking about where d4vd can go. I think that worldwide touring is not out of the question for 2024. It is clear that this artist had an abundance of tracks to choose from when compiling the E.P. Beyond this, he has plans for an interconnected world of music and visual art. It would be cool if d4vd’s music featured in film and T.V. – something I feel he would welcome and proves that his music is really resonating. We are seeing the early moves and shoots of a brilliant teenage artist who has a hell of a lot more to say:

“You seem very refined in that sense, what was your relationship with music growing up – did you ever think you’d be an artist?

Not at all. Music in my house was like, predominantly gospel till I was 13, like nothing else. My mom forced me to play piano when I was five, but I quit four months later. And then I was in church choir for a bit as well and then I quit. Then I was in school band I was in sixth grade band; I played the flute for a little bit and I quit that [he laughs]. So just like some gaps of musicality in my life, I never had the drive to make music or create for myself. So when the drive came for me to do it with my videos, it was like a need because I needed the money for to upgrade my setup because if I was gonna go pro, I needed better computers. So it was like, a bunch of factors that weren’t music that made me make music.

From your first ever track until now, there feels like there has been a shift sonically and lyrically. Was there a conscious effort to do so?

It happened naturally. I’ve been writing poetry and spoken word since I was in fifth grade. So the lyricism came very, very naturally. And then melodies, I feel like you can never go wrong with the melodies, you just listen to what the instrumental tells you to say. You say, I’ve tried to force any specific messages in my song either. It’s like, I was just talking about life, creating characters, just me being a storyteller. And then even coming at it from an even more organic perspective was, I wasn’t even trying to make the music for it to be music. I was like a composer for my Fortnite videos, I’d make a Fortnite montage and then make the music for that, instead of making the music and then trying to see where it fit. Yeah that was my main inspiration, in the early days of music was literally just Fortnite and video games. It allowed me to look at music and like a different lens. Rather than, oh, I gotta make a hit, I was like, nah, I’m just gonna make it for this video, and just get through the day [he laughs]. And then my mom will stop yelling at me for being on the game for 12 hours.

PHOTO CREDIT: Eleonora Collini

Debut EP ‘Petals To Thorns’ feels like a symbolic continuation from his first tour, can we discuss the imagery you used?

I have a very floral aesthetic, especially with white roses. And that symbolism is very important to me. The first tour is the growth, it’s like the stems the roots, and then now we’re finally at the stem where the thorns are and at the petals. I am the flower and I’m evolving with every step that I take in this.

We noticed your single ‘Placebo Effect’ didn’t make the EP despite it being released not too long ago. How did you narrow down your track listing?

This is my favourite interview now, no one has asked that question [he laughs]. It’s called ‘Placebo Effect’ and it was the first thing that I released as the EP rollout, right and it’s not on the EP. So I hope that people will get it when they hear the EP, and it’s not on the EP because it is a placebo effect, like you expect it to be on there and its not. That’s a part of the EP as well, like it lives beyond streaming services. It’s not just music, it’s beyond that. And the song too, there’s an element of a relationship that you thought was there, but it was not there. And you look back on it was like, yo I heard that but when I listen to the whole thing, it’s missing something. Yes, that piece!”.

Let’s bring things to a close with a review of Petals to Thorns. Ones to Watch shared their thoughts about this phenomenal E.P./mini-album. I hope that d4vd comes back to the U.K., as there is a lot of love for him over here! I really love his music, and I am interested to see where he goes from here:

“Petals to Thorns opens with the enchanting "Sleep Well." The previously released single is a stunning ballad that showcases a new side of d4vd. Woozy instrumentals blend smoothly with his lovesick lyrics, epitomizing romance with a teenage fervor. Offering stripped-down vocals that allow his falsetto range to shine, he sweetly croons, "I'm here for you still / And even if you don't think that I'm near / I'll still be right next to you, my dear... Who's to say that our love ain't real?" as string and brass instrumentals ebb and flow in the background.

Listeners are then transported to the sunny, Up-inspired world of "Here With Me." The viral track expresses wanting to spend your life with someone you love while doing everything you can to keep them around. It sheds light on spending time apart and ultimately works as a comforting song because of its central theme of remembering the person you love is always with you. With beach guitar riffs and low-key percussion, the track feels like a warm hug that lingers after you've parted ways and said goodbye.

The EP then sees d4vd partner up with Icelandic pop artist Laufey for "This Is How It Feels. It's a captivating ballad heavily rooted in storytelling, with the duo using their iridescent vocals to communicate through song against twinkling piano keys. The end result is something that sounds right out of a fairytale, not dissimilar from the soundtracks of your favorite nostalgic childhood films. Wounded and pleading, "Don't Forget About Me" describes the end of a relationship in brutal detail. "I don't wanna keep crying on your shoulder," d4vd sings, obsessing over where things went wrong and asking to be remembered since fading out of memory is too painful. Strings and multi-tracked vocals enrich the otherwise skeletal production, making for a song that's so vulnerable it's almost difficult to listen to.

Other memorable tracks include the Euphoria/Rue Bennett-inspired "WORTHLESS," the anguish-filled "Backstreet Girl," the high octane "You and I," and of course, the RIAA-certified platinum "Romantic Homicide," a grungy, guitar-driven breakup anthem. The record's closer, "The Bridge," is a contemporary tune inspired by early 2000s pop punk, with rich guitar riffs and heavy-hitting percussion. Opening with stripped-down guitar riffs, d4vd uses his intoxicating vocals to paint a picture of not feeling enough for someone and keeping the love that they threw away. Then, as the instrumentation swells into one final chorus, he belts gut-punching lines like, "Enough, shut up, 'cause I'd kill myself for you / Walk in the dark, I can't find my way to you / Gone, gave it all, and it's all my fault," closing the whole record with the lyric, "Don't you get complicated, that's the reason we separate”.

Go and follow and support the incredible d4vd. This is an artist who is among the most-discussed and adored in music. It reminds me of when Billie Eilish came through around the time of her 2017 debut E.P., Don't Smile at Me. Don’t bet against d4vd headlining festivals like Glastonbury in years to come. One of the rising artists of 2023 that has the promise to conquer the world, go and check out…

THE magnificent d4vd.

___________

Follow d4vd

PHOTO CREDIT: Hope Obadan for NME

Official:

https://www.d4vd.io/

SoundCloud:

https://soundcloud.com/d4vddd

TikTok:

https://www.tiktok.com/@d4vdd

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/d4vddd/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/d4vddd

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC98WsFnuhfS3uT8PwdYCjbw

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/5y8tKLUfMvliMe8IKamR32

FEATURE: Turning the Page… Dua Lipa’s New Service95 Book Club, and Its Hugely Positive and Inspiring Impact and Ethos

FEATURE:

Turning the Page…

IN THIS PHOTO: Dua Lipa greets 2020 Booker Prize winner, Douglas Stuart, where they recorded a live podcast episode (available from 16th June from Dua Lipa: At Your Service) at the weekend at the Hay Festival/PHOTO CREDIT: Service95/Dua Lipa

Dua Lipa’s New Service95 Book Club, and Its Hugely Positive and Inspiring Impact and Ethos

_________

BIG and important artists…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Service95/Dua Lipa

can influence fans in a number of different ways. Whether it is talking about important issues or raising awareness of various forms of prejudice, I think that they should use their platform when they can regarding important or good causes. It can be very anxiety-inducing and tough for a major artist being on social media. Whilst they can do a lot of good and reach people instantly, they are also subjected to enough hatred and offensive comments. Whether they are beloved or not, there is a lot of pressure. It can be overwhelming keeping on top of things and balancing promoting themselves online and having to spend so much time on social media. When they need a break or chance to have a normal life, they have this expectation to be on there a lot! Enough artists have come off of platforms like Twitter, as they feel it is too strange, damaging and tiring being there. I can get that. For Dua Lipa, the reality is that she is on social media. That said, she understands how it can take over your life. At the weekend, she appeared at the Hay Festival. She was there to talk about her new venture. The Service95 Book Club is a very interesting and compelling idea. I remember when Lipa excitedly announced it on Instagram. Whilst she was at the festival, she recorded a podcast episode (available on 15th June) and was interviewed by Gaby Wood for Stories of My Life (I am not sure if that is coming out soon, but I shall have a look out).

@service95 Service95 goes to Hay Festival! 📖🌐 #service95 #dualipa #hayfestival #hayfestival2023 #booktok ♬ original sound - Service95

For a major artists who tours the world and is seen in all of these glamorous and glitzy locations, there was something charmingly humble and grounded about the more low-key Hay Festival. It was clearly very important to Dua Lipa, who is very passionate about books. Whilst she herself would probably like to be on social media  little less, she is connecting with fans and promoting her various projects and work. She was interviewed by The Times recently about books and the book club, in addition to the importance of weeing oneself off of social media. There is a two-fold benefit about the Service95 and encouraging fans to get into literature. They get to discover great works they might have overwise missed. Having that influence from Lipa means that many will get into reading. That will have enormous mental health impacts! Some really good and enriching experiences. It is important younger people can connect with others through social media, though it can consume us and become an obsession. They will never get away from the hurtful things and horror that there is here – more’s the pity! -, but reading it a brilliant nourishing, educational and distracting way of engaging in something. Dua Lipa will also help build this network of fans who can talk about literature in a very positive way. I am looking forward to the podcast episode and what she says about the book club.

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There are a couple of articles online pertaining to the Service95 Book Club and why she set it up. Harper’s Bazaar last month about the concept and intentions. In addition to reaching her fans by opening their mind to various different books, she also wants to focus on diverse voices and genres – maybe those that would otherwise be overlooked and not discussed widely:

“If you’re starting to compile your summer holiday reading list, look no further for recommendations than Dua Lipa’s new book club. The multi-Grammy and Brit award-winning singer, who recently co-hosted the Met Gala, is launching a monthly club via her own platform, Service95 – a global style, arts and society platform that describes itself as "the ultimate cultural concierge".

Members will be invited to read a book personally chosen by the artist, with selections reflecting diverse global voices that tell powerful stories across genres. Expect everything from fiction to memoir and manifesto, recent releases to literary classics.

This content is imported from instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

“Reading a book is one of the most profound joys in life,” says Lipa. “Reading provides a form of escapism, a way to understand human connection and helps us navigate human relationships. Through the pages of a book, I can go places that I have never been and feel like I have lived there for a lifetime.”

PHOTO CREDIT: YSL

The Service95 Book Club kicks off in June with Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart, which won the Booker Prize and both ‘Debut of the Year’ and ‘Book of the Year’ at the British Book Awards when it was released in 2020. Lipa will also meet Stuart at the prestigious Hay Festival in Wales on 3 June for a special live-recorded episode of her podcast, Dua Lipa: At Your Service.

“I am thrilled that Shuggie Bain is the inaugural pick for the Service95 Book Club,” says Stuart. “I have so much respect for Dua Lipa and her artistry, and I really admire that she uses her platform to inspire readers, and to keep books at the centre of our cultural conversations.”

It won’t be the first time that the singer has hosted an author on her podcast; in the past, she has spoken to renowned writers including Hanya Yanagihara, Min Jin Lee and Lisa Taddeo on the platform.

The Service95 Book Club will offer readers a chance to dip in to even more content, including discussion guides and author Q&As. There’ll be deep dives into the books that have shaped the lives of authors, and a steady stream of recommended reading outside of the Book of the Month.

“The true magic of a great book comes alive with sharing the experience, talking with friends, and swapping recommendations of what to read next,” says Lipa. “I can’t wait to do that with readers from every corner of the globe through the Service95 Book Club”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Lauren Leekley for The Times

Dua Lipa has spoken out about the Government’s immigration policies and the way they reject and endanger those trying to come to this country. As someone who is eldest child of Kosovo Albanian parents Anesa (née Rexha) and Dukagjin Lipa from Pristina, FR Yugoslavia (present-day Kosovo) and has a maternal grandmother who is of Bosniak descent, she has this empathy and natural compassion. In addition to meeting dedicated fans who travelled far and wide to meet her, as the BBC reported, she discussed being split between her heritage and being a British citizen:

“There was always the idea of being from two places at once," she explained. "I understood the duality of my heritage from an early age. People would always ask where my name is from.

"I was really proud of it, but when I was younger I wished my name was, say, Hannah - something 'normal' and English."

As well as "making up dance routines in the playground at school", the singer said "reading was also such a big part of my life".

When she moved to Kosovo, she discovered The Castle/The Siege by Albanian author Ismail Kadare, set amid a conflict in the 15th Century.

"The memory I have of reading it is that it was really difficult, it's a big book, but it was a gateway into my Albanian roots. It was like another milestone moment in my life that really shifted things for me."

When she moved back to London at 15, she came on her own and shared a flat with the daughter of family friends from Kosovo. That would be quite daunting for most young teenagers. 

'Difficult relationship'

"I was quite determined," Dua said. "I didn't feel I had the same opportunities in music as I had in London. I was driven. My dad says I'm very hard to say no to!"

After finishing her studies, she set about making it in the music industry.

"I was really persistent. I just started writing a lot, worked with a producer. I was 17. I was offered a publishing deal but [producer] Felix told me to go to a lawyer, who said, 'Don't sign that deal!' They then helped me get into the studio."

Along the way, she found herself in a "difficult, early relationship in my life", she said, explaining: "I guess I was in a relationship with someone who had a very different idea of fidelity than I had."

Kundera's 1994 classic The Unbearable Lightness of Being helped her through it.

'In the deep end'

"[Main character] Tomas has a very unapologetic philosophy on relationships and monogamy. My philosophy never changed... but books help you understand other people's emotions, the human experience," she explained.

Dua's love of books has led her to interview renowned authors including Hanya Yanagihara, who wrote A Little Life, on her podcast Dua Lipa: At Your Service. She also recorded a special episode in conversation with Shuggie Bain author and Booker Prize winner Douglas Stuart at Hay on Saturday - the first book of the month pick for her new Service95 book club.

"I'm still figuring it out sometimes. If there's something that you like, why not try it? You'll never know unless you just dive in," she said”.

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I think that the Service95 Book Club and everything Dua Lipa is doing is amazing. She is getting people to engage with literature and a range of different cultures and heritages. By introducing people to these alternative worlds and viewpoints, it provides this education and experience that they may not be getting from school and online. Our current Government is seeing out this message about people who are different and displaced – that they are not welcome here. Lipa is encouraging more humanity, acceptance and open-mindedness. In addition, she is helping people discover a more healthy and less toxic balance of sociability and online activity. Giving this alternative to young people who be made vulnerable and exposed being on social media so long. She is an ambassador and mainstream artist, so she cannot really disconnect so much. Though she knows of the dangers and pitfalls of social media. Having been in the media for various reasons (splitting with her previous boyfriend, having political opinions etc.), there will be negative comments and intrusion from so many different avenues and directions. Get involved with the Service95 Book Club.! The aim and ethos of the book club is wonderful:

“We are thrilled to have a space where we can share with each other the titles that mean the most to us, and together dive into the minds of some of the world’s greatest authors.

Each month we will discuss a book personally chosen by Dua, representing writing from across the globe, assisted by new editorial content – such as discussion guides and further reading lists – that will bring you closer to the writer, their inspirations, and the worlds they create. You’re invited to read along with us, share your insights, and contribute your recommendations of the titles we should all know about”.

You can follow them on TikTok, Instagram and Twitter at @service95 (they are on YouTube too). Kudos to the inspiring and wonderful Dua Lipa for this! She is an incredible role model for so many people out there. Through her music, interviews and book club, she is this vital voice and wonderfully positive and influential voice that we need to encourage. I can see her, in years to come, becoming more involved in politics and social issues, maybe as a charity ambassador or speaking at worldwide conferences. For now, the magnificent Service95 Book Club is doing magnificent work and encouraging so many people to immerse themselves in spellbinding literature. If you do not know about it, then check it out and take a page out of…

DUA Lipa’s book!

FEATURE: Hopes for 2024: Can Glastonbury Balance Their Bill and Inspire Other Large Festivals?

FEATURE:

 

 

Hopes for 2024

IMAGE CREDIT: Glastonbury Festival

Can Glastonbury Balance Their Bill and Inspire Other Large Festivals?

_________

EVEN though Glastonbury has one of the…

 IMAGE CREDIT: Glastonbury Festival

most fascinating and diverse bill from all of the festivals this year, there is still that issue of gender. I know that the festival has been criticised for having three male acts (even though there is a female member of Guns N’ Roses for their live sets) as headliners, but the rest of the bill has not balanced things when it comes to including women fully and equally. I think that Glastonbury should lead the way when it comes to setting an example! Making sure that they have a good balance when it comes to gender. I know that they are getting close to fifty-fifty but, at a time when there is an abundance of female talent, what is holding them up?! Organisers have said that there is a pipeline issue. Meaning labels and the industry are not supporting and promoting female artists. Labels not signing women and marketing them. It means they are not getting gigs and being seen. I do not buy that the situation is that bad so that there is not enough choice to select from - especially away from the headline slots! Listen to the brilliant artists coming through, and you have a wealth of talent! Mixmag reported the news that the apparent pipeline issue has meant the world’s biggest music festival has not been able to achieve true gender parity this year:

“The number of male acts playing this year's Glastonbury Festival is nearly double that of female acts, a new report has found.

The report from Slingo found a hugely disproportionate number of male-fronted bands and solo artists set to play at the festival’s 51st edition later this month from June 21 - 26.

Across the festival’s 12 most popular stages, 182 male acts or bands with a higher number of male artists are due to perform, in comparison to just 100 female or female-dominating bands.

Out of those 12 stages, which include The Pyramid Stage, Arcadia, The Park Stage, and West Holts, Slingo found just 10 acts with an equal number of male to female members.

Glastonbury’s Glade stage was found to be most disproportionate with a huge 32 male-dominating acts set to play across the weekend, and just five female acts.

“Now the full line-up has been released, there is a noticeable discrepancy between the number of female and male acts, despite the festival pledging in 2019 to try and make their future line-ups gender-balanced,” says Dom Aldworth, Head of Brand Marketing at Slingo.

In March, after Glastonbury revealed its initial line-up including all-male headline acts, the festival was criticised for its imbalanced ratio of male to female artists.

Glastonbury’s co-organiser Emily Eavis commented that they were trying their best to book female acts, but asserted that there is an industry “pipeline” problem.

Statistics made by The Guardian showed that 52% of the first 54 names on the line-up were male. It included headliners Guns ‘N Roses, Arctic Monkeys, and Elton John.

“Glastonbury has confirmed the 2024 line-up will feature two female headliners, with the lack of female headliners this year attributed to a potential headliner pulling out,” says Aldworth.

“However, unless festivals commit to making the effort to recognise and platform the numerous talented women of the industry on some of the biggest stages in the world, Glastonbury won’t be the last festival to receive criticism for their line-ups”.

I do like the fact that there are two female headliners booked. I suppose that Taylor Swift is one of them. You look around, and one would think artists such as Lizzo and Jessie Ware could headline. Given the recent success Kylie Minogue has enjoyed, she must be on the radar for 2024. As will a host of established and rising female artists. I am sure that Glastonbury can achieve gender parity in 2024, but the fact female headliners (I think we are talking singular rather than plural) pulled out does not explain why the remainder of the bill is still struggling to include women. It will be a great festival with some terrific acts. In the sunshine, there is going to be so much celebration and revelry! I can appreciate that festivals need to compete with schedule clashes. Many artists that they want to book will be elsewhere. That particularly impacts headline acts. Though there should not be issues when it comes to others. I am possibly missing something obvious but, over the past few years, there has been this wave of female talent. I am not sure whether all are festival-ready, but you’d think most of them are! It does seem that there is a certain riskiness when it comes to female headliners. There has been an issue for years, and it is clear that something needs to be done. Sky reported on some of the problems holding back progress:

“Eve Horne is a producer, singer-songwriter and founder of Peak Music UK, which mentors female and non-binary artists and producers. She is also on UK Music's Diversity Taskforce and is a board member of Moving The Needle, which works to improve female inclusion in the industry.

She says there was hope that the devastating impact of COVID would make industry bosses prioritise inclusion and diversity.

"If anything it did a 360 and went backwards," she tells Sky News.

"Everyone started going for the money again and saying there's too much risk in putting women as headliners."

PHOTO CREDIT: Wendy Wei/Pexels

Eve claims promoters repeatedly tell her that festivalgoers of all genders prefer watching men perform more than women.

"It's about money at the end of the day and we still have old white men gatekeeping the industry," she adds.

Eve Horne says diversity in music has gone backwards since COVID. Pic: We Are The Unheard

John Rostron, chief executive of the Association of Independent Festivals, which represents 105 UK events, says the problem stems from there being a smaller pool of female artists for promoters to pick from.

"A headline slot might be the pinnacle of an artist's live career.

"There are plenty of barriers for any artist to get there, but for women there are maybe triple the number of barriers, so the talent pool at the top is smaller.

"We have to wait for them to come up and then be open to booking them."

The problem gets worse at larger festivals where big acts charge high fees and promoters have to meet those costs with ticket sales - and are also accountable to shareholders.

"You can't say that a male band sells more tickets because they're men," he adds. "But you can say that they sell more tickets than another band when that's been proven to be true”.

Glastonbury will be a storming success! There is obviously nothing that can be done about things this year but, for 2024, I feel there needs to be a concerted effort from every festival to truly address gender inequality. They cannot blame anything or anyone else. They make their own rules when it comes to who to book and what merits a headline slot. There are more than enough incredible women and female-led bands. I think that term ‘female-led’ or ‘female-fronted’ needs to die. They are simply ‘bands’. Booking bands with female members. Making sure that those more than worthy of inclusion are booked. Otherwise, we get the same news and disappointment year after year! It is embarrassment that in 2023 we still have to have these conversations! Each festival that is not doing enough to create gender parity on their bills needs to…

DO a lot better.

FEATURE: The Digital Mixtape: Matt Bellamy at Forty-Five: The Essential Muse Playlist

FEATURE:

 

 

The Digital Mixtape

IN THIS PHOTO: Matt Bellamy (right) with his Muse bandmates, Dominic Howard (left) and Chris Wolstenholme/PHOTO CREDIT: Sarah Lee/The Guardian 

Matt Bellamy at Forty-Five: The Essential Muse Playlist

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I do like to do…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Sergione Infuso/Corbis via Getty Images

a playlist when a loved artist celebrates a significant birthday. In this case, it is the turn of Matt Bellamy. Although he has released solo compositions and is part of the group, Jaded Hearts Club, he is best-known as the lead with Muse. The band’s debut, Showbiz, arrived in 1999. They have been giving us this phenomenal music for well over two decades. With Muse, Bellamy has won two Grammy Awards for Best Rock Album - for The Resistance (2009) and Drones (2015). In addition, with Muse he has two Brit Awards (for Best British Live Act). Add to that list five MTV Europe Music Awards, plus eight NME Awards! Muse have sold over thirty million albums worldwide. They are undoubtably one of the most important and best bands of their generation. Bellamy is forty-five on 9th June, so I wanted to compile a playlist featuring the very best of Muse. It is quite a hard task, but I am including singles and deeper cuts. The band’s most recent album, 2022’s Will of the People, is up there with their very best! Delivering some of the most captivating and memorable live performances you will ever see, I think that Muse are going to be around for many years to come. I have been a fan since their second studio album, Origins of Symmetry, came out in 2001. An incredible force consisting of Matt Bellamy, Dominic Howard (drums, percussions) and Chris Wolstenholme (bass guitar, backing vocals), there is no stopping the awesome Muse! To celebrate Matt Bellamy’s forty-fifth birthday on 9th June, I have assembled a playlist of the essential Muse tracks, together with some interesting deeper cuts. It goes to show that, through the years, their sound has changed and evolved. With Matt Bellamy as their voice and lead songwriter, they are in very strong and safe hands. Here is a selection of incredible music…

FROM the mighty Muse.

FEATURE: Play It Again: My Favourite Single and Album of the Year So Far

FEATURE:

 

 

Play It Again

PHOTO CREDIT: Freepix

My Favourite Single and Album of the Year So Far

_________

WE are into June now…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Mick Haupt via Pexels

so I wanted to pause for a second and spend some time with my favourite single and album of the year so far. There are loads of albums and singles I have really been struck by. It has been a magnificent year so far for new music. There are those that have stood out from the rest, though. I am starting off with a single that I reviewed when it came out (and I sillily misspelled Iraina Mancini’s surname on part of the review, so I offer sincere apologies for that. I have corrected it!). The incredible Cannonball shot (sorry!) its way to my heart when it came out in April. A week before boygenius (the group consisting of Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker) released their anticipated and celebrated debut album, the record. Both Iraina Mancini and boygenius’ work have received hugely and empassioned positive reviews! I wanted to delve into each, explaining why they are at the top of my list. I will do another feature at some point that unites the best of the rest. It has been such a strong and surprising year for music. Who knows what the next six months or so will offer up! Below are further details and praise for a magnificent single and wonderful album. They have come from artists who I have…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Boygenius (Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus and Phoebe Bridgers) photographed by Ryan Pfluger for Rolling Stone on 29th November, 2022, in Los Angeles, California

SO much respect for.

___________

SINGLE: Iraina Mancini – Cannonball

Release Date: 5th April

Label: Needle Mythology

Producer: Sunglasses for Jaws

Additional Production: Erol Alkan

Written By: Iraina Mancini/Simon Dine

Why It Is My Favourite:

I have been an Iraina Mancini fan for a while now. Her single, Undo the Blue, was my favourite of last year. She has repeated the same trick this year with the epic Cannonball! With elements of 1970s French music, together with some mid-1960s Psychedelia, and awash with her phenomenal vocals, I don’t see much being able to top this song! Signed to Needle Mythology, Mancini releases her debut album in August. Keep your eyes on her social media platforms for future news. A phenomenal live performer, be sure to get your ticket to see her live at The Lexington in London on 13th July. One of this country’s finest artists, I know that debut album is going to get a lot of love when it arrives. Cannonball (which was shown a lot of a love by BBC Radio 6 Music) is proof that she is one of the most original and fascinating artists in music. As a side note: check out her Radio Soho weekly show, as it is abound with Soul, Disco, Latin, Garage, Psychedelia, and so much more! Beautifully selected tracks from around the world.

PHOTO CREDIT: Iraina Mancini

REVIEWS AND PRESS:

Clash

“Iraina Mancini has shared his wonderful new single ‘Cannonball’.

The songwriter is already something of a 6Music favourite, with singles such as ‘Undo The Blue’ becoming huge favourites with hosts like Lauren Laverne. A retro-pop amalgam, Iraina seizes on the best aspects of the past, blurring those impeccable 60s and 70s influences with a touch of modernity.

Fresh signed to Needle Mythology – the label founded by author and broadcaster Pete Paphides – Iraina Mancini plays a packed out showcase at Central London hotspot The Social last night, stunning all those in attendance.

A full album is incoming, with new single ‘Cannonball’ online now. It feels like the lost theme to a 60s spy film, a kind of Modesty Blaize character updated for the modern era. A female-forward slice of action-packed pop, it was co-written alongside Simon Dine, and produced by Sunglasses for Jaws (with the redoubtable Erol Alkan on additional production).

The neat keyboard arpeggios in the background recall the Killing Eve soundtrack work constructed by Unloved, while the loping bassline is sheer McCartney. A psych-pop whirlwind, ‘Cannonball’ finds Iraina yearning for freedom.

She comments…

“I wrote ‘Cannonball’ about taking a chance in life and following your heart. It’s that moment where you meet someone or something and it knocks you for six! Your intuition kicks in and you’ve got to go with what it’s telling you. I really wanted to write something that grabbed people’s attention, I got lost in my head in an action packed, 60s stylish thriller film”.

Into Creative

“Earworm of the week? Most definitely. Single of the year? Quite possibly.

You know the moment when you hear that riff, that voice, that bass line, whatever it is, it stops you in your tracks, right? Well, that’s exactly what happened when I first heard Cannonball and having listened to it countless times since, my love of the track hasn’t diminished one iota, if anything I love it more, hearing little intricacies, clever dips and turns in the music and, of course, a great vocal by the song’s artist, Iraina Mancini.

Set against a swirling keyboard/synth background and effortlessly cool drumming, Mancini provides the perfect accompanying vocal, echoing shades of Wolf Alice and a refined Wendy James. The music is tinged with 60s psychedelia with a modern twist, an air of mystique and intrigue underpinning the track.

With the promise of a debut album to come and potentially a tour, trust me and get into Iraina Mancini now, she promises to be one of the sounds of 2023. Visit the website here for more”.

ALBUM: boygenius – the record

Release Date: 31st March

Label: Interscope

Producers: boygenius/Catherine Marks

Written By: boygenius (Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus), except Leonard Cohen, written by boygenius, HoJun Yu, and Leonard Cohen.

Why It Is My Favourite:

2023 has been hugely strong in terms of albums. Billie Marten’s Drop Cherries, Caroline Polachek’s Desire, I Want to Turn Into You, Jessie Ware’s That! Feels Good!, and Foo Fighters’ But Here We Are run fairly close in terms of quality and impact. I have been blown away by each of them! The combination of and chemistry between Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker is incredible! With exceptional production from boygenius and Catherine Marks, each song on the record gets under the skin and into your heart. You do not have to know anything about boygenius to fall for this album. Whilst a few others might have been higher-reviewed this year, but I think boygenius’ debut is the very best. Go and buy the album if you can, as it is well worth soms serious investigating! I look forward to hearing what the amazing boygenius produce next.

PHOTO CREDIT: Matt Grubb/The Guardian

REVIEWS AND PRESS:

The Line of Best Fit

“From their Nirvana-inspired Rolling Stones cover shoot, up to the recent announcement of their UK shows, the supergroup have been dominating the social media feeds of excited fans for months. Now, their debut album – aptly titled the record – is here in all its poetic, cutting glory; and it’s been entirely worth the wait.

The product of three bright musical minds with an enviably close connection, Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus continue to bloom under their wry moniker. Following on from their debut self-titled EP released in 2018, the record is an unfiltered love letter to true friendship and intimacy in its many guises. Across twelve tracks, the trio extrapolate on everything from nearly drowning in the sea (“Anti-Curse”), gushing over genuine infatuation (“We’re In Love”), to unexpectedly long and meaningful road trips (“Leonard Cohen”). It’s the latter that arguably started it all.

“If you love me / you will listen to this song,” muses Dacus in the opening line of “Leonard Cohen,” recalling the real life moment that Bridgers asked her bandmates to listen to “The Trapeze Swinger” by Iron & Wine in their car. Clocking in at nine and a half minutes, the epic duration meant that Bridgers missed their turn off, but Baker and Dacus didn’t mention it until it was too late, because she was so engrossed in the music. This motion-picturesque, yet ridiculous moment is the lifeblood of the record, deftly summed up by Dacus’ line: “It gave us more time to embarrass ourselves / telling stories we wouldn’t tell anyone else / you said ‘I might like you less / now that you know me so well’”.

Shame is a potent emotion that can skew perspective and shrink a narrative, but boygenius’ direct-yet-tactful dynamic and genuine off-stage friendship means they transgress this. “I want to hear your story / and be a part of it” the trio of harmonious voices sing on demo-like opener “Without You Without Them,” and what follows is a collection of life-affirming, sometimes joyful, occasionally crushing poetry about that.

Their narratives are often eccentric, ambiguous and deeply personal, but their universal veins of frustration, revelation, growth and unfiltered feelings – both platonic and romantic – permeate the record. Whether Dacus is delivering poetic ruminations on “True Blue” (“When you don’t know who you are / you fuck around and find out”), or all three songwriters are “feeling like an absolute fool about it” on “Cool About It”, they’re underscored by the band’s trademark patience, grace, and deadpan humour. Only someone like Baker could get away with writing a bop about a near death experience in the sea on “Anti-Curse,” only someone as dry as Dacus could sing the lyric “and I am not an old man having an existential crisis / in a Buddhist monastery / writing horny poetry” on “Leonard Cohen,” and only someone like Bridgers could deliver the line “you called me a fucking liar” with such tenderness on “Emily I’m Sorry.”

What truly sets the record apart from its predecessor is Baker’s input of genuinely 'sick riffs'. Whilst they were present on the EP (“Stay Down,” “Salt In The Wound”) on the album they really propel things forward and kick in at all the right moments, fully fleshing out boygenius’ sound. Indie anthems like “$20,” “Not Strong Enough” and the superb “Satanist” contrast well amidst the softer moments on “Revolution O” and closing track “Letter To An Old Poet.” This considered instrumentation allows the vocals of each songwriter to shine through consistently.

It goes without saying that there are songs that listeners will instantly take to on the record, and others that will require more patience, but “Satanist” is one of the former. “Will you be a satanist with me?” asks Baker, “Will you be an anarchist with me?” Bridgers propositions, “Will you be a nihilist with me?” questions Dacus – all irresistible invitations that can’t be refused even after repeated listens. This rebellious spirit, one that encourages listeners to mess around, make mistakes and quite literally take the wrong route, is what makes the record such a bright and brilliant listen”.

AllMusic

“Five years is a long time, long enough for a band to wander, reunite, and find themselves on a different plane. Such is the case of boygenius, the indie supergroup of Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, and Julien Baker. When the trio first joined forces in 2018, it was to bash out an EP over the course of four days, releasing the results on Matador. Everything about The Record, the full-length debut delivered a half-decade later, is more deliberate. Boygenius spent a month cutting The Record, releasing it on Interscope to great fanfare in March 2023. The leap to the majors certainly reflects how the profiles of Dacus, Baker, and especially Bridgers have been elevated since the boygenius EP, a rise aided by each of the three releasing strong, distinctive albums in its wake. What's remarkable about The Record is how these three idiosyncratic songwriters consciously decide to subsume their quirks within a group voice. Individual traits haven't been erased so much as they've been sanded so they can fit neatly together. The unified front gives The Record shape and heft, qualities apparent from its twin openers: "Without You Without Them" highlights their spectral harmonies, while "$20" drives home an offset riff that's quintessentially 1990s. Much of The Record feels like a conscious throwback to the spirit of 1993, blending the dreamier and noisier aspects of alt-rock, feeling equally at home with the bittersweet strums of "Leonard Cohen" and the walloping hooks of "Satanist," not to mention how "True Blue" and "Not Strong Enough" land squarely in the middle of this spectrum. Collectively, boygenius feels heftier and hookier than Baker, Bridgers, and Dacus do on their own, and this collective instinct towards immediacy pays great dividends: it's bracing to hear such introspective singer/songwriters embrace the pleasures of a united front”

FEATURE: James, Lily, and Mrs. Bartolozzi: Imagining a Version of Quantum Criminals: Ramblers, Wild Gamblers, and Other Sole Survivors from the Songs of Steely Dan for Kate Bush

FEATURE:

 

 

James, Lily, and Mrs. Bartolozzi

ILLUSTRATION CREDIT: Jon McCormack 

Imagining a Version of Quantum Criminals: Ramblers, Wild Gamblers, and Other Sole Survivors from the Songs of Steely Dan for Kate Bush

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EVEN if the title…

 IMAGE CREDIT: University of Texas Press

of the Steely Dan-focused book, Quantum Criminals: Ramblers, Wild Gamblers, and Other Sole Survivors from the Songs of Steely Dan, is a little unwieldy, it kind of seems appropriate. The group were really a duo (Donald Fagen and Walter Becker) playing with a cast of musicians. The new book about their music explores the deep, complex and rich music that Steely Dan left us. Written by Alex Pappademas and illustrated by Joan LeMay, this essential book, instead of being a biography, lists the characters mentioned In Steely Dan’s songs and uses that as a jumping off point. You get to know about the song the character is in, but you also get context around the album the characters are from. It is a great way of exploring the brilliant and unique world of Steely Dan. With accompanying artwork from the superb Joan LeMay, this is a book that every Steely Dan fan should own! Even though I have found it hard getting a copy in the U.K. – the earliest dispatch date is a couple of weeks away at least -, there have been some really positive reviews for this book. LeMay and Pappademas have been promoting it tirelessly, and it is a perfect way to understand these Steely Dan characters. Whether they are eponymous like Peg, Josie or Doctor Wu, or they are nameless or have a nickname (The Expanding Man from Deacon Blues, kings Richard and John from Kings for example), you get to know about them in wonderful detail! It is a novel idea. A great way for diehards and casual fans alike to know more (and I do not agree with some reviews that say Quantum Criminals: Ramblers, Wild Gamblers, and Other Sole Survivors from the Songs of Steely Dan is for diehards only).

I was wondering whether this style of writing and approach could apply to other artists. Specifically, Kate Bush. Rather simply replicate what Pappademas and LeMay have done with Steely Dan, it would be amazing to have Bush’s song characters spotlighted and explored in the same way. Having artwork to go along with some of these characters. Maybe it would be a close replication thinking about it. Many might feel that there are not that many characters in her song. Similar to Steely Dan, there are more than you think! We have had some remarkable Kate Bush books through the years. Biographies from Graeme Thomson (Under the Ivy: The Life & Music of Kate Bush) and Tom Doyle (Running Up That Hill: 50 Visions of Kate Bush). Tom Doyle’s biography was released year, and that had a good and original approach. Rather than do a linear and straight biography, he has taken fifty snippets and sections that is not chronological. Each chapter is a various point and part of her career and music. With her story being told by contributors, it is fresh and fascinating in equal measures. There have been photobooks published about Kate Bush. I would love to see more of that. There are so many press photos and rarer photoshoots that have not seen the light of day! An ultimate compendium where we have hundreds of photos together would be treasured by fans, I am sure. I think that Kate Bush’s characters could get the same treatment as Pappademas and LeMay gave to Steely Dan. Rather than it being a note-for-note rip, you could have a similar structure (characters from songs coming chronologically rather than random), and maybe have a slightly different artistic style. I am minded of the Finding Kate book by Michael Byrne and Marius Herbert. Sadly, Byrne died after a short illness in 2022, but I got to speak with him about the book. It was a pleasure to talk with someone so passionate her music and the songs!

The book focused on a series of tracks, with illustrations by Marius Herbert. Speaking about the book with Byrne was a real pleasure – and it is so sad that he is not around now to see how Kate Bush’s music has exploded again! Knowing what is on the market, it would be great having this deep dive into the characters within the songs. If you think about The Kick Inside, there is an array of characters. You have the ‘moving stranger’ from the opening track, Moving. There is ‘the man’ (with the Child in His Eyes) from one of Bush’s most beautiful song. Wuthering Heights, based on Emily Brontë’s novel of the same name, has Cathy and Heathcliff. You have James of James and the Cold Gun. That particular James is not James Bond, as Kate Bush has pointed out. We also have Them Heavy People, and you could write about them. Bush name-checks Gurdjieff and Jesu. The Kick Inside’s title track has a brother and sister who are in an incestuous bond. The sister gets pregnant and kills herself to protect the brother/a sense of shame. Those siblings could be illustrated and explored, as the song is based around Lizie/Lucy Wan, a Child ballad 51 and a murder ballad. It is also known as Fair Lizzie. The fact that Kate Bush took from literature, T.V. and film right from the start means she was bringing in characters through her songs. Peter Pan is obviously at heart on In Search of Peter Pan. Moving through Lionheart still, and we also have ‘The Actor’ from Wow - or, as “Emily” is the song’s first word/intro, maybe exploring who she is -, plus Kashka from Baghdad’s eponymous figure. I guess you could also extract a mysterious and dark figure from Coffee Homeground. Look at Never for Ever, and there is the husband and deceitful wife from Babooshka. Delius is named for Romantic English composer, Frederick Delius. Blow Asway (For Bill) is in memory of Bill Duffield, who was a lighting assistant who tragically died after the warmup show for Bush’s The Tour of Life in 1979. She mentions a list of departed musicians in the song. The Wedding List has a vengeful bride, and you get a mother talking about her son being sent to war in Army Dreamers. There are plenty of characters throughout Never for Ever!

Jump to The Dreaming where one can find a dunce in Sat in Your Lap, the bank robbers from There Goes a Tenner, and a soldiers in Pull Out the Pin. Houdini is, of course, about the famous escapologist. He and his wife Bess are part of the song. Even if there are more vague characters in The Dreaming rather than named ones, you have options for Hounds of Love. Mother Stands for Comfort’s mother and son are on the first side. Cloudbusting is about the very close relationship between psychiatrist and philosopher Wilhelm Reich and his young son, Peter, told from the point of view of the mature Peter. The album’s second side, The Ninth Wave, suggests various figures that could be expanded and feature. The Sensual World includes everyone from Kate Bush’s cat, Rocket (Rocket’s Tail), the nervous father in This Woman’s Work, plus we have the illusion to Molly Bloom (Bush wanted to use her famous soliloquy from James Joyce’s Ulysses but was not granted permission to use it until he recorded 2011’s Director’s Cut, renaming the song Flower of the Mountain). The Red Shoes starts with Rubberband Girl. Moments of Pleasure names both ‘George the Wipe’ and Douglas Fairbanks. The Song of Solomon and Lily suggest themselves, as does ‘capt'n’ in Constellation of the Heart. Aerial has King of the Mountain. Very much with Elvis Presley in mind, you could explore the King of Rock and Roll. Bush’s then-young son Bertie is named in track three (Bertie).

Mrs. Bartolozzi seems like the most intriguing song and heroine! Joanni is a song that could lead to an interesting illustration and character. On the album’s second side/disc you have an architect (An Architect’s Dream), painter (The Painter’s Link) and there is mention of blackbirds in Aerial Tal. 2011’s 50 Words for Snow has the ghostly lady who rises from the water in Lake Tahoe. There is the snowman in Misty, Wild Man’s eponymous yeti figure, Professor Joseph Yupik is in the album’s title track (played by Stephen Fry, he plays this professor who reads fifty words for snow). Maybe there are not quite as many characters in Bush’s songs than that of Steely Dan, but you could conservatively have about twenty-five that could be brought to life. Bush was a big fan of Steely Dan, and I think they influenced her in many ways. From that studio craft and getting the most out of every musician, through to the way she wrote and that rich drawing of wild, weird and wonderful characters. I think that was partly down to Steely Dan. It would be amazing seeing a book out there where these figures from Kate Bush’s songs are illustrated, and are a starting point where an author can look inside that song and parts of the album from which it is from. It is a thought that I had, as a I really love the new Steely Dan book from Alex Pappademas and Joan LeMay. An equivalent of Quantum Criminals: Ramblers, Wild Gamblers, and Other Sole Survivors from the Songs of Steely Dan for Kate Bush’s music would definitely have…

THAT wow factor.

FEATURE: Inspired By… Part Ninety-Nine: Blur

FEATURE:

 

 

Inspired By…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Blur at photo studio in Tokyo, November 1994/PHOTO CREDIT: Shinko Music/Getty Images

Part Ninety-Nine: Blur

_________

THE mighty Blur…

are no strangers to this blog! I have written about them a lot through the years. As they are playing new shows and are releasing their album, The Ballad of Darren, on 21st July, I felt like it was time for another feature. I recently wrote a feature ranking their album lead-off singles (as The Narcissist came out last month; it is the first single from The Ballad of Darren). I might do one more than ranks their amazing studio albums. I have not yet featured Blur in Inspired By…, so that needs rectifying. A hugely influential band, I will end with a playlist of songs from artists who count them as influences or have been compared with them in some way. First, and as is traditional, AllMusic wrote a biography of Blur. Even though it only goes as far as 2015’s The Magic Whip (their previous album), it does give us an idea of how their career has grown and changed through the years:

“Initially, Blur were one of the multitude of British bands that appeared in the wake of the Stone Roses, mining the same swirling, pseudo-psychedelic guitar pop, only with louder guitars. Following an image makeover in the mid-'90s, the group emerged as the most popular band in the U.K., establishing itself as heir to the English guitar pop tradition of the Kinks, the Small Faces, the Who, the Jam, Madness, and the Smiths. In the process, the group broke down the doors for a new generation of guitar bands that became labeled as Brit-pop. With Damon Albarn's wry lyrics and the group's mastery of British pop tradition, Blur were the leader of Brit-pop, but they quickly became confined by the movement; since they were its biggest band, they nearly died when the movement itself died. Through some reinvention, Blur reclaimed their position as an art pop band in the late '90s by incorporating indie rock and lo-fi influences, which finally gave them their elusive American success in 1997. But the band's legacy remained in Britain, where they helped revitalize guitar pop by skillfully updating the country's pop traditions.

Originally called Seymour, the group was formed in London in 1989 by vocalist/keyboardist Albarn along with guitarist Graham Coxon and bassist Alex James, with drummer Dave Rowntree joining the lineup shortly afterward. After performing a handful of gigs and recording a demo tape, the band signed to Food Records, a subsidiary of EMI run by journalist Andy Ross and former Teardrop Explodes keyboardist Dave Balfe. Balfe and Ross suggested that the band change its name, submitting a list of alternate names for the group's approval. From that list, the group took the name Blur."She's So High," the group's first single, made it into the Top 50 while the follow-up, "There's No Other Way," went Top Ten. Both singles were included on their 1991 Stephen Street-produced debut album, Leisure. Although it received favorable reviews, the album fit neatly into the dying Manchester pop scene, causing some journalists to dismiss the band as manufactured teen idols. For the next two years, Blur struggled to distance themselves from the scene associated with the sound of their first album.

Released in 1992, the snarling "Pop Scene" was Blur's first attempt at changing their musical direction. A brash, spiteful rocker driven by horns, the neo-mod single was punkier than anything the band had previously recorded and its hooks were more immediate and catchy. Despite Blur's clear artistic growth, "Pop Scene" didn't fit into the climate of British pop and American grunge in 1992 and failed to make an impression on the U.K. charts. Following the single's commercial failure, the group began work on its second album, Modern Life Is Rubbish, a process that would take nearly a year and a half.

XTC's Andy Partridge was originally slated to produce Modern Life Is Rubbish, but the relationship between Blur and Partridge quickly soured, so Street was again brought in to produce the band. After spending nearly a year in the studio, the band delivered the album to Food. The record company rejected it, declaring that it needed a hit single. Blur went back into the studio and recorded Albarn's "For Tomorrow," which would turn out to be a British hit. Food was ready to release the record, but the group's U.S. record company, SBK, believed there was no American hit single on the record and asked them to return to the studio. Blur complied and recorded "Chemical World," which pleased SBK for a short while; the song would become a minor alternative hit in the U.S. and charted at number 28 in the U.K. Modern Life Is Rubbish was set for release in the spring of 1993 when SBK asked Blur to re-record the album with producer Butch Vig (Nirvana, Sonic Youth). The band refused and the record was released in May in Britain; it appeared in the United States that fall. Modern Life Is Rubbish received good reviews in Britain, peaking at number 15 on the charts, yet it failed to make much of an impression in the U.S.

Modern Life Is Rubbish turned out to be a dry run for Blur's breakthrough album, Parklife. Released in April 1994, Parklife entered the charts at number one and catapulted the band to stardom in Britain. The stylized new wave dance-pop single "Girls and Boys" entered the charts at number five; the single managed to spend 15 weeks on the U.S. charts, peaking at number 52, but the album never cracked the charts. It was a completely different story in England, as Blur had a string of hit singles, including the ballad "To the End" and the mod anthem "Parklife," which featured narration by Phil Daniels, the star of the film version of the Who's Quadrophenia.

With the success of Parklife, Blur opened the door for a flood of British indie guitar bands that dominated British pop culture in the mid-'90s. Oasis, Elastica, Pulp, the Boo Radleys, Supergrass, Gene, Echobelly, Menswear, and numerous other bands all benefited from the band's success. By the beginning of 1995, Parklife had gone triple platinum and Blur had become superstars. The group spent the first half of 1995 recording its fourth album and playing various one-off concerts, including a sold-out stadium show. Blur released "Country House," the first single from their new album, in August amidst a flurry of media attention because Albarn had the single's release moved up a week to compete with the release of "Roll with It," a new single from Blur's chief rival, Oasis. The strategy backfired. Although Blur won the battle, with "Country House" becoming the group's first number one single, they ultimately lost the war, as Oasis became Britain's biggest band with their second album, (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, completely overshadowing the follow-up to Parklife, The Great Escape. While The Great Escape entered the U.K. charts at number one and earned overwhelmingly positive reviews, it sold in smaller numbers, and by the beginning of 1996, Blur were seen as has-beens, especially since they once again failed to break the American market, where Oasis had been particularly successful.

In the face of negative press and weak public support, Blur nearly broke up in early 1996, but they instead decided to spend the entire year out of the spotlight. By the end of the year, Albarn was declaring that he was no longer interested in British music and was fascinated with American indie rock, a genre that Graham Coxon had been supporting for years. These influences manifested themselves on Blur's fifth album, Blur, which was released in February of 1997 to generally positive reviews. The band's reinvention wasn't greeted warmly in the U.K. -- the album and its first single, "Beetlebum," debuted at number one and quickly fell down the charts -- as Blur's mass audience didn't completely accept their new incarnation. However, the band's revamped sound earned them an audience in the U.S., where Blur received strong reviews and became a moderate hit, thanks largely to the popularity of the single "Song 2." The success in America eventually seeped over to Britain, and by the spring, the album had bounced back up the charts. 13 followed in 1999.

Albarn stepped out with the hip-hop/pop cartoon group Gorillaz in 2000, a collaboration with artist Jamie Hewlett that soon eclipsed the popularity of Blur internationally. Coxon departed during the recording of Blur's next album, with Albarn stepping in on guitar. One last album, Think Tank, appeared in 2003 but the bandmembers went their separate ways after its release, with Albarn turning toward Gorillaz and other creative projects. Blur wound up reuniting for a tour of the U.K. in 2009, preceded by the career retrospective Midlife.

From there, Blur pursued a halting reunion. They played a number of high-profile gigs in 2009, including headlining Glastonbury, then in 2010 a documentary of the band's history called No Distance Left to Run appeared. Along with it came "Fool's Day," a limited-edition single timed to coincide with 2010's Record Store Day. 2011 turned out to be quiet, but 2012 was a bustling year for Blur, with the band delving deep into their past for the exhaustive box set Blur 21, which contained double-disc reissues of all of their seven studio albums plus four discs of unreleased material and three DVDs. Along with this box came "Under the Westway/The Puritan," a single to support the box and the group's headlining spot at the closing Olympic ceremonies in August 2012. That concert at Hyde Park was released digitally the following week as Parklive; it later came out as a physical release that year.

Blur continued to play shows into 2013; one of these included a gig in Hong Kong that was cancelled. The band used the downtime to record a bunch of material that lay unused until Coxon started working with producer Stephen Street to turn them into completed tracks in November of 2014. Soon, a full album came into shape”.

To show how many artists Blur have inspired through the years, below is a list of examples. You can see that there are some pretty eclectic choices in there! Blur will no doubt inspire many artists coming through. I am looking forward to The Ballad of Darren in July and seeing where the band go from here. Even if that is their final album together, the legends have achieved…

SO much together.

FEATURE: The Digital Mixtape: Selections from Artists on the Mad Cool Festival Bill

FEATURE:

 

 

The Digital Mixtape

Selections from Artists on the Mad Cool Festival Bill

_________

I might do a few playlists…

IN THIS PHOTO: Lizzo

relating to certain festivals’ bills. There are some great ones coming this summer - and I am especially interested in Primavera. Another European festival that has a great reputation and has announced its line-up is the Mad Cool Festival. This is an awesome music festival held annually in Madrid. It has been running since 2016. It chiefly features Pop, Rock, and Indie music, as well as various D.J.s and Electronic music performer. There are some incredible artists on the bill, and I am keen to get to them in the form of a playlist. Before that, and from the Mad Cool website, is a little bit about the ethos and aim of the Spanish festival:

“ART AS EXPRESSION

Mad Cool Festival has become a national and international musical benchmark, attracting audiences from all over the world in each new edition, offering top-level live performances to hundreds of attendees and starring in one of the essential stops on the European music festival tour. . But Mad Cool is not just music, it is an emotion, a declaration of intent that moves you and removes you, a sensation that accompanies you permanently. Mad Cool is culture, culture is life, life is plans, plans is fun, fun is music, music is Mad Cool... but it's not just music... it's art, it's feeling, it's plans, it's well-being, it's love, It's friendship, it's… CULTURE.

MADRID: WHERE MUSIC LIVES

Since 2016, the year in which Mad Cool Festival became a reality, Madrid has been our home, where all this wonderful history has been written, edition after edition. Mad Cool is Madrid and Madrid is Mad Cool. An essential event that unites the best talent in the world, so that lovers of music, culture and entertainment can enjoy 365 days a year. Open to everyone, in line with the spirit that best defines Madrid.

THE FUTURE IS GREEN

There is only one planet where live music exists, so we want you to enjoy the most sustainable version of Mad Cool Festival. We know that all the decisions we make on a daily basis have a real and direct impact on our planet. For this reason, we have the responsibility to create a festival that is as sustainable as possible, so that, with everyone's help, we can continue to enjoy this incredible experience together”.

I am not going to include every single artists on the poser for the Mad Cool Festival. Instead, I am going to take a selection (but many of them will be included). Definitely one of the most eclectic and interesting festivals in the calendar, below are some of the incredible artists who will be playing at the revered and essential…

MAD Cool in July.

FEATURE: Go with the FLO: A Few of the Big Speculated Albums to Look Out For

FEATURE:

 

 

Go with the FLO

IN THIS PHOTO: FLO/PHOTO CREDIT: Jack Alexander

A Few of the Big Speculated Albums to Look Out For

_________

THERE is no telling what…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Jennifer Lopez

albums are going to come out between now and the end of the year. We have titles and dates for some albums that are coming out in a few months. There are others that either do not have a title or a release date – or both in many cases. Whilst I would love to see a new Kate Bush album, and there are photos of Madonna in the studio working on material, nothing is confirmed there. Even though it is hard to speculate which other artists might be in the frame to release albums this year, the Official Charts website has listed a number of albums that are likely to see the light of day.

“TBC in 2023

Beyoncé - RENAISSANCE Acts ii and iii

Cardi B - TBC

Doja Cat - Hellmouth

Dove Cameron - Celestial Body

Dua Lipa - TBC

FLO - TBC

Frank Ocean - TBC

Grimes - Book 1

Hailee Steinfeld - TBC

Jade Thirlwall - TBC

James Arthur - TBC

Jennifer Lopez - This Is Me...Now

Katy Perry - TBC

Leigh-Anne Pinnock - TBC

Lil Nas X - TBC

Lorde - TBC

Loreen - TBC

MUNA - TBC

Olivia Rodrigo – TBC

Perrie Edwards - TBC

Rihanna - TBC

Romy - TBC

Rosalia - TBC

Selena Gomez - TBC

Sky Ferreira - Masochism

SZA - SOS Deluxe

Taylor Swift - 1989 (Taylor's Version)

The Cure - Songs Of A Lost World

The Killers - TBC

Travis Scott - Utopia

Zara Larsson – TBC”.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Rihanna

Even though most of these are Pop albums, I know that other genres are going to see their share of speculated albums arrive. There are six or seven that I am particular interested in. I will get to them. We all have our fantasies regarding the albums that we want to see. There are so many possibilities. I would like if a follow-up to McCartney III (2020) came from Paul McCartney. You can see here some of the albums that are coming along before the end of 2023. I am particularly looking ahead to new releases from Jorja Smith, and Kylie Minogue. From the speculated and rumoured albums, it does seem likely that Dua Lipa will follow-up 2020’s Future Nostalgia soon. This GQ feature speculates about albums that might arrive. This is what they say about Dua Lipa’s potential third studio album:

“In a May 2022 interview with Vogue, Dua Lipa explained that she is “writing again and working on new music”. Then, in February, she confirmed that she’s putting the finishing touches to what she describes as her “really personal” third album. The new release could mark a new chapter for the pop maverick, whose 2020 record Future Nostalgia earned her legions of fans. “I’ve definitely grown up,” she said. “Overall, whether it’s sonically or in terms of the themes, I’ve matured. It’s like I’m coming into my power and not afraid to talk about things. It’s about understanding what I want”.

At a time when artists such as Ellie Goulding are releasing less personal albums, it seems Lipa wants to focus on something more personal and revealing than 2020’s Future Nostalgia – very much an album for lockdown and a chance to escape into something wonderful. I do feel there will be an autumn or winter release. At the time of me writing (28th May), there has been no announcement at all.

Another major artist that could be releasing an album this year is Rihanna. Her latest studio album is 2016’s ANTI. With the likely title of R9, it might be quite a personal album. Although Lift Me Up from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is unlikely to feature, I think we might get an album single soon. Rihanna recently became a mother, and she is expecting her second child. That might delay possible studio time and creativity but, in the middle of this life change, there are going to be creative juice flowing. Not to say that a ninth studio album will be a major change of lyrical direction - through I wouldn’t rule something out that is more contemplative and tumultuous. ANTI was very much about personal struggles and creative frustrations. If there is a late-2023 R9 release, it is likely a more celebratory and outward-focused album. Charting the time between ANTI and now where so much has changed for her. It will be interested to see what comes about. One reason I am so intrigued is because I am a slightly late convert to Rihanna. I have always liked her music, but I have only really got into it over the past couple of albums – so I am going to watch closely to see what comes next for her.

One album that has a title announced but no firm date is Jennifer Lopez’s This Is Me...Now. Turning back to that GQ article, and this is what they have written about a new release from one of the all-time best artists in my humble view. She always delivers something interesting and memorable:

“Jenny from the block is back, in the press, in our hearts, and soon in the charts, with her third studio album, This Is Me… Now, after making headlines this year for reuniting (and marrying) ‘00s flame Ben Affleck. Fans will know the upcoming album is a nod to their new relationship as the name references her 2002 This is Me… Then, which was inspired and dedicated to Affleck. Is that a tear running down your face or just something in your eye?”.

I have always been a fan of J. Lo/Jennifer Lopez, and it does seem like her forthcoming album is going to be very personal. Perhaps more fulfilled and personally assured than on previous albums, here is someone who has found comfort and stability after so long. Of course, there are going to be sparks and the usual Lopez hallmarks. Alongside more heartfelt numbers are going to come some big numbers that will get the body moving. Following from 2014’s slightly underwhelming A.K.A., this seems like it is going to be a return to form. Almost twenty-four years since the release of On the 6, I am imagining some elements of that debut album, but a wiser and newly-happy Lopez who has gone through a lot. A successful actor and businesswoman, this is going to be a very different artist and album to who we were introduced to in 1999!

There are a couple of albums from very different artists that are interesting for the same reason. I guess it comes down to expectation and a certain sense of waiting. The Cure’s Songs of a Lost World. In 2022, it was revealed that the album had been mixed and seemed ready to go. I am not sure if that was an optimistic timeframe, but surely this year should see the first new album from the legendary band since 2008’s 4:13 Dream. Fifteen years later, and there are rumbles of excitement within the fanbase of The Cure. Alongside that potential is a debut album that surely will arrive this year. FLO are award-winning and hugely respected group from London. Jorja Douglas, Stella Quaresma, and Renée Downer have said it will come in 2023, so we only sit and wait to see what might come about. I don’t really like the term ‘girl group’ as it sounds rather juvenile and a little condescending. However, if we were to describe a phenomenon that really was alive until the '90s and '00s, we do not really have the same wave of girl groups now. Some have speculated a renaissance is happening. Many new groups are coming through, but I think only FLO are standing out as a very promising example. Singles like Carboard Box have shown us what they are all about! I suspect their debut album will be eponymous. Depending on the producers and the writers they work with, it could either be ‘90s-leaning and nod to the girl groups of that era, plus artists such as Aaliyah and Missy Elliott. Maybe it will be something a bit more modern – or a combination of the two. I suspect that it will have a few collaborators in the mix too. Let’s hope that the FLO debut album does spark a new wave of fresh and promising girl groups (or a term that is less outdated!).

There are a couple of other possibilities that could occur in 2023 in terms of albums. Beyoncé is currently on tour at the moment. After releasing RENAISSANCE last year, there is this string of dates ahead of her. Maybe that will limit opportunities for recording. RENAISSANCE was subtitled Act I (or ACT 1). That suggests that at least one other album is coming that follows on from the near-career-best RENAISSANCE. It is likely the second instalment will come soon enough, but there is hope that she will release something this year. In terms of sound and direction, I am not sure whether it will be very similar to RENAISSANCE or not – though we all hope that it will have the same quality! That said, don’t rule out the possibility of a new Destiny’s Child album! Beyoncé’s dad has said he would like another Destiny’s Child album. Kelly Rowland is keen to reunite with Beyoncé and Michelle Williams. It seems that reunion is on the cards. I would love to see that! Either way, Beyoncé might well be dropping some more music before the year is over. Keep your eyes peeled! There is another potential album that I want to get to. It is from a band who have been a little quiet of late, though it does seem like there is new music brewing from them!

 IN THIS PHOTO: Beyoncé/PHOTO CREDIT: Mason Poole

2019’s Nine is the most recent album from the legendary Blink-182. It has been a bit of a tumultuous time for the Californian band over the past few years. On 23rd June, 2021, Mark Hoppus confirmed that he had been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer and had been receiving treatment in secret for the last three months. Following that diagnosis, it was reported by sources that Hoppus had met with Tom  DeLonge and Travis Barker together at his home to discuss some personal issues and Hoppus' cancer diagnosis. Happily, Hoppus was declared cancer-free later that year. Tom DeLonge had departed Blink-182 before then. His official return was announced on 11th October, 2022, alongside a world tour for the next two years The band confirmed that they were working on a new album. Matt Skiba had stepped into Blink-182 following DeLonge’s absence, but it does seem like he will be part of a new album. It is exciting to see the original line-up together and looking positively ahead! This is an album that I am really looking forward to. It does appear that there are some potentially huge albums arriving in the coming months. From confirmed titles – Jennifer Lopez etc. -, to those that are speculated and not quite clear, it is excited to imagine which of the artists above will announce a release date first. Away from the schedule calendar that we have, there are these to be confirmed albums that could come at any time. Alongside this is the possibility of surprise album releases. Even if we are halfway through the year, some of the best of the year are yet to be released. Just keep a watch out for…

SOME big announcements soon.

FEATURE: Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me: Elton John at Glastonbury: Will It Be the Most Emotional Set Ever?

FEATURE:

 

 

Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me

IN THIS PHOTO: Elton John in 2019/PHOTO CREDIT: Ben Gibson/Rocket Entertainment

Elton John at Glastonbury: Will It Be the Most Emotional Set Ever?

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THINKING about that famous…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Scott Dudelson via Getty Images

Elton John song, and I sort of hope that he performs a version of Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me. From Caribou of 1974, he performed the song live with George Michael in the 1990s. It would be amazing of George Michael were projected on a screen at Glastonbury, so that there could be the one last duet between them! On Sunday, 25th June, John will close Glastonbury. It is the last time he will perform live in England. There is no news about whether he will record more albums, but Elton John says goodbye to touring in this country on 25th June. It will be an emotional set. Will it be the most emotional Glastonbury set ever? NME published an article earlier this week, reacting to his appearance on BBC Radio 2 on 30th May. John discussed his upcoming Glastonbury headline set:

“Elton John has spoken about what fans can expect from his headline set at Glastonbury Festival 2023.

The legendary artist is due to top the bill on the Pyramid Stage at Worthy Farm in Pilton, Somerset on Sunday, June 25.

Upon announcing the performance last December, organisers said: “This will be the final UK show of Elton’s last ever tour, so we will be closing the Festival and marking this huge moment in both of our histories with the mother of all send-offs.”

Speaking on BBC Radio 2 this afternoon (May 30) – shortly after Glasto revealed its full line-up and stage times for this year – John gave Scott Mills some details about the forthcoming historic set.

“I have played festivals, and have really enjoyed them,” he explained. “But of course Glastonbury is the crème de la crème.

“To be honest with you, it’s the first time I’ve been asked to play it.”

John continued: “It’s just come at the right time. I’m a great believer in serendipity and fate – this is the most wonderful way to sign off in England.

“They’ve been wonderful. Emily [Eavis, festival co-organiser]’s been fantastic.”

John went on to say that his Glastonbury show will have a “different setlist” to the rest of his ‘Farewell Yellow Brick Road’ tour, which wraps up in the UK on June 18.

“It’s gonna be much different,” the musician told Mills. “I’ve got guests who I can’t tell you who they are. But it’s gonna be wonderful – I’m really looking forward to it.”

Possible guests could include Dua Lipa and Rina Sawayama – both of whom worked with John on his collaborative 2021 album, ‘The Lockdown Sessions’. The latter artist is scheduled to play at Glastonbury on Saturday, June 24.

In a separate interview with BBC London (via the Independent), John admitted that he was feeling “a little intimidated” by the prospect of topping the Pyramid Stage.

As for the future, the star explained to Radio 2 that his “piano won’t go away forever” but said he may still perform live on a “very sporadic” basis. “I really don’t want to tour again… I’m not going back to Vegas,” he told Mills”.

It is a perfect way for Elton John to say farewell to his fans! The last gig on home soil will take place at one of the world’s most important music festivals. It will be interesting to think that he will play for his final set. There is a decades-long career of albums to choose from. There are going to be the massive hits for sure, and there will also be a few lesser-known songs, I am sure. I am intrigued what guests he will bring out. With no female headliners booked for this year’s Glastonbury, it would be wonderful if artists like Dua Lipa made it onto the stage on 30th June, so that there can be that representation. It seems like she could well appear. To be honest, and this being Elton John, he could get just about anyone! There is not much use in speculating, because he will surprise you and possibly bring out Paul McCartney or someone like that! In terms of the night itself, I think it will be charged with emotion. I feel it will be the most emotional set ever. There have been some big Glastonbury headline slots through the years, though this one feels the most significant. In terms of an artist closing his live career. Everyone can associate with Elton John’s music in some form or the other. I grew up knowing so many of his classic songs. I was a fan from childhood, and he is someone who has such a wide and adoring fanbase. In terms of the set look and feel. It is going to be something special!

I can imagine there will be something like a mix of Vegas and his set design from the 1970s. Maybe something quite glitzy and glorious, with a touch of the most classical. Whatever he has planned, it is going to be the most emotional set anyone will see at Glastonbury. Of course, there will be a tonne of celebration and adulation. He is going to turn in one of the performances of his career! I am thrilled that he has finally been asked to headline Glastonbury! In terms of the electricity that will come from the crowd. You know that is going to mean so much to Elton John. I think there might be better headline sets in terms of the performance – though I cannot say that for certain -, but there is a significance to the Glastonbury sign-off. The joy of seeing the legend on the stage performing his wonderful back catalogue to fans young and older is going to be a moment for the history books. Some may argue that there would have been more emotional and significant headline slots at Glastonbury – but I would disagree with that. This is a man who has performed live for over fifty years now. He has been all around the world and rightly gone down as one of the most significant artists ever. One of the most popular and loved. On 25th June, we are going to witness a moment in music history that is not going to be equalled. The roar from the Glastonbury crowd will be deafening! Choosing that final/encore song is going to be quite a thing. Something that the crowd can sing along to. Maybe something quite epic. I know what setlist I would love too see, but everyone is going to have their own views! By the end of that set on the Sunday night, when the iconic Elton John waves goodbye to the adoring masses, it is going to hit us hard. The final time we are going to see him play in this country. When John plays that final song for his headline slot at Worthy Farm, those watching with tears in their eyes…

WON’T want him to leave!

FEATURE: And If I Only Could… Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) Nearing the One Billion Streams Mark on Spotify

FEATURE:

 

 

And If I Only Could…

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

Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) Nearing the One Billion Streams Mark on Spotify

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IT may seem like a silly milestone…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush and Michael (now Misha) Hervieu in the video for Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

or something that is not worth reporting on. I was made aware, via the Kate Bush News social media feed, that Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) is almost at one billion streams on Spotify. The video on YouTube has over 193 million views. A billion streams is insane for a song that, even as recently as a couple of years ago, was not hitting massive figures! This will absolutely be the final piece about this song for a while now, as I have discussed it at length. At the time of writing this (1st June), the song has 984,694,978 streams! That will up by the time I finish writing. When it comes to publishing (4th June), it will almost by at the one billion mark. Looking down the figures for all of the other songs and Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) has amassed more than most of her back catalogue put together. It may even have got more streams than all of her other album tracks combined. I think it is important to mark the upcoming milestone, as we will not see another song of hers get that sort of figure for many years (if at all). The fact that Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) is near a billion streams raises a few points. It would be nice to see the video for the song get an HD remaster. I think it would encourage more people to view it and, honestly, if you are new to the song and want to listen to it, then go to YouTube and get the visuals with the iconic track. Kate Bush will make a lot of money from the streams, so that is a good reason to keep doing it. The press have reported that she may earn millions from the success Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) has accrued since it was used in Stranger Things last year. To be fair, I am pleased Bush is making money from the song. She has earned the adulations and chart positions, because Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) is that rare thing of a track that can have repeated and new success. It speaks to so many different people for different reasons. As a result of its continued dominance, people are checking out the sister album, Hounds of Love.

I do hope that there is additional exploration. As I said, Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) has far surprised any of her other tracks regarding streaming figures. It would be amazing to think that people are listening to the track on Spotify, before they then g off and look at what else she has released. In any case, it will be a milestone when the Hounds of Love diamond hits a billion streams. Not only will it be another tremendous feat for a song that has dominated the world in the past year. It goes to show that there is something about Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) that goes far beyond its T.V. placement and hitting a chord. I have said it before but you can write a book alone about this one song. Leah Kardos is writing about Hounds of Love for an upcoming 33 1/3 book. I would love to see more people exploring this incredible song. Even if it is the go-to song for radio stations when they play Kate Bush, I am chuffed that she is going to hit such a huge streaming figure. It must give her the knowledge that she is reaching a new generation. If you have not heard about this Kate Bush song or the story behind it, then this article from THE FACE explains more:

“Bush’s song, written in a single evening the summer she turned 25, is built around a rhythm beat out on a peak ​’80s drum machine (the LinnDrum) and recurring melodic stabs that sounds like the bark of a robo-dog (actually the bark of a Fairlight CMI synthesiser).

And yet here we are: a new generation nostalgic for a song that was released not only before they were born but also, in all likelihood, before many of their parents were born.

Why did this happen? The mighty Bush didn’t know, but Stranger Things’ music supervisor has a theory.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush performing Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) in November 1985/PHOTO CREDIT: ZIK Images/United Archives via Getty Images

“This season and Kate Bush’s song really seem to touch on the experience of alienation and emotional struggle that a lot of teens have been and continue to be going through, albeit in different ways,” Nora Felder told Billboard. ​“Moreover, it reminds me that when we can’t find the support and understanding we may need from others, we sometimes turn to music that relates to our experience as a much needed source of validation and strength. To me… Running Up That Hill seems to do just that.”

Bush’s explanation of the song’s meaning, expressed in various interviews in 1985 (back when she gave various interviews), was in binary terms. But her emotional acuity resonates down through the years, and across the changing gender landscape.

“It’s about a relationship between a man and a woman,” she said in a conversation transcribed from ​“a limited edition CD picture interview disc”, a concept and format that, for Stranger Things’ youngest viewers, will be up there with cave paintings. ​“They love each other very much, and the power of the relationship is something that gets in the way. It creates insecurities. It’s saying if the man could be the woman and the woman the man, if they could make a deal with God, to change places, that they’d understand what it’s like to be the other person, and perhaps it would clear up misunderstandings.

“You know, all the little problems – there would be no problem”.

I think there are a few reasons as to why Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) is so popular. The sound and production, as I have written before, is extraordinary! Produced by Kate Bush, there is a warmth and drama to the song that hits all the senses. Sounding so fresh and relevant today, this song has inspired many artists through the years. People can relate to it, because others have followed in Bush’s footsteps and have made music that sounds similar to what you hear on Hounds of Love. The lyrics strike a chord too. That idea of tolerance and understanding if we swap places is so timely and hard-hitting. At a moment when there is so much division and hatred, you can immerse yourself in Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) and learn from it. Bush’s vocal is so full of meaning and emotion. One of her most nuanced and beautiful performances, there is this combination of drama and tenderness. Going far beyond Stranger Things and its placement there, people are coming to this song and holding it close because it has this compassionate heart and pull. I think you can transport yourself into the song – it has that sort of incredible power and gravity! Radio play also means people are seeking out the wonderful Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God). I am not sure whether Bush will comment when the song hits a billion streams. It is a huge deal for anyone, and I don’t think that it takes away from any other artist. I know that there are many struggling to earn decent revenue from streaming and the sort of figures Kate Bush is hitting, but this is a really big feat and moment that may never be repeated for her. A song that originally came out in 1985 is more popular in 2023. When she wrote it all those years ago, could she have imagined that Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) would be this colossus that has broken records?! It is an amazing achievement from an artist who is such a compelling genius. Later this year, Bush will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. It will round off yet another massive year for her. We are not yet halfway through the year, so who knows what else is in store! It is intriguing imagining…

WHAT could come in 2024.

FEATURE: Your Truth Hurts: Why Lizzo’s Experiences of Being Body-Shamed Are Particularly Unsettling

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Your Truth Hurts

PHOTO CREDIT: Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images

Why Lizzo’s Experiences of Being Body-Shamed Are Particularly Unsettling

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ONE of music’s queens…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Isha Shah

the incredible Lizzo (Melissa Viviane Jefferson) was born in Detroit, Michigan. She moved to Houston, Texas, with her family when she was ten years old. After college she moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she began her recording music. Someone who has released some truly wonderful albums, her most recent, Special, was came out last year (to huge critical acclaim and commercial success). She is a human who should receive only love and respect! Unfortunately, like many women in the industry, she has been subjected to body-shaming. Many women experience this particularly horrible and upsetting form of bullying and toxicity. Whether it is a nasty comment or shot at their figure or a particular aspect of their body, it is degrading, upsetting, horrible and unnecessary. In all case, it is complete lies. I have seen videos and posts of Lizzo performing, and the comments underneath feature people commenting on her weight. Making vile remarks about her body and size. It is appalling and troubling that there are these amazing people in music on the brink of quitting because of the trolling and bullying they receive! A form of abuse and discrimination, Lizzo has reacted to the insults and sizeist comments she has seen. This NME article explains more:

“Lizzo has addressed the body shaming and online bullying she receives on social media, saying that she’s close to quitting music.

The pop singer took to Twitter to address a video of her tribute to Tina Turner that was posted by YouTuber Layah Heilpern in which she commented about Lizzo’s weight and diet. Lizzo quote tweeted the video and replied: “I just logged on the app and this is the type of shit I see about me.”

“It’s really starting to make me hate the world,” she continued. “I’m tired of explaining myself all the time and I just wanna get on this app w/out seeing my name in some bullshit.” She also said that all the talk of her weight made her feel like quitting her music career.

Other commenters were quick to weigh in on the criticism, with one person saying that the size of her body is her brand. In response to this comment, the four-time Grammy winner wrote: “I’m not trying to be fat. I’m not trying to be smaller. I’m literally just trying to live and be healthy.”

She continued: “”This is what my body looks like even when I’m eating super clean and working out! Y’all speak on shit y’all know NOTHING ABOUT, and I’m starting to get heated.

One of her fial tweets about the situation read: “The Love definitely do not outweigh the Hate on social media … all because I’m fat? This is CRAZY.” Lizzo has since made her Twitter account private.

The singer also took to TikTok to share a video of her going for her “bad bitch walk” while listening to Beyonce‘s album ‘Renaissance’, explaining that she had a really bad day where she was “very angry at the world” over “mean shit” about her online.

She reiterated that “there are days when the hate outweighs the love so badly” that she wants to “quit music and just disappear”. She added: “I definitely have enough money to go and buy a farm and just never fuck with anybody again.”

Lizzo explained that lyrics from Beyonce’s album helped her decide to “get up, get out and get some sun” as an escape.

In other news, Lizzo is set to play this year’s Glastonbury festival on Saturday, June 24 on the Pyramid stage. She is also set to play this year’s Mad Cool Festival on July 6. NME named her as one of the must-see acts at Mad Cool”.

Lizzo is not alone in this, sadly. Many other women have had to deal with this sort of thing. Whether it is people (mainly men) commenting about their weight and being very nasty, or there are lurid and sexual comments about their bodies. Any form of abuse is horrible, but the fact that one of the music world’s most inspiring and talented people is considering quitting should give everyone pause for thought. Social media sites near to crack down on the fact that these sort of vile and nasty comments are getting through. I know you cannot mediate and moderate everything that comes in, but there needs to be filters where this sort of toxicity is filtered out – and those responsible for committing this kind of hate should be banned! I know that Lizzo will continue and storm the stage, but she shouldn’t have to be at a point where she is so upset and horrified that it would be easier to quit! There has been body-shaming and fatphobia in the music industry for years and, as we speak, Lizzo has locked her Twitter account so that she does not have to read the responses she gets. Someone so adored and giving to her fans, it would be a huge tragedy if the music world lost her! Women face so many challenges and hurdles in the industry. They should not have to deal with online bullies and trolls who are commenting on their bodies!

Comments about her size will no doubt impact her confidence and esteem. She is a very desirable and sexy woman, but this notion that every woman has to be thin to be seen as sexy and desirable is something that needs to be dispelled and eradicated. Lizzo is a compelling and wonderful live performer! That is where the focus needs to be! If people are watching videos of her perform and focusing on her weight, that is something that needs to stop. I am not sure what will happen now, and whether Lizzo – who has faced body-shaming since started her career – will keep going. Let’s hope she does! She is one of many women who have to read and hear people body-shame them. The beautiful and inspiring Lizzo is very much needed in music. I think more light should be shed on fatphobia and body-shaming. It is a hugely intrusive and disgusting discrimination that is going to see many women (I know it also affects male and non-binary artists) quit the industry or scale back their live performances. At a time when we should be supporting and elevating incredible women in the industry, there is a small group of people who feel it necessary to leave despicable comments about Lizzo. It should be down to social media sites to better police and monitor this. Every Lizzo fan out there (me included) very much hopes that the mighty queen gets back on stage, puts out her amazing albums and…

KEEP going strong.

FEATURE: Step Back in Time: The Huge Success of Kylie Minogue’s Padam Padam, and Why TikTok and Social Media Proved Pivotal

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Step Back in Time

The Huge Success of Kylie Minogue’s Padam Padam, and Why TikTok and Social Media Proved Pivotal

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EARLIER this week…

PHOTO CREDIT: Erik Melvin

there was something published in the press that made me think. Even though some have called Padam Padam, a comeback single from Kylie Minogue, it really isn’t! She released the album, DISCO, in 2020. Tension (which will be stylised in uppercase) is out on 22nd September. Padam Padam is the opening track from the eleven-track album. It has done sterling business on the charts, and it was a remarkable feat. Kylie Minogue is one of the greatest artists ever but, this far into her career, the fact she is still scoring big chart hits is testament to her talent, appeal, the way she can adapt ands adopt any sound, in addition to the fact new people are discovering her music! It goes to show that you can never keep an icon down. Minogue posted videos thanking her fans for Padam Padam’s success. As she gears up to releasing her sixteenth studio album, there must be a lot of excitement in her camp. I am sure we will get at least one more single before the album release. The explosion around Padam Padam is really pleasing. One of Minogue’s best songs in years, it must rank high in terms of her all-time best. The juggernaut success of the song is both surprising and not at all. Before I go on, The Guardian reported on the news and acclaim around Padam Padam. They also noted how social media, and platforms like TikTok, have helped the song gain extra success and listens:

“It’s been hailed as Kylie Minogue’s “comeback” single and has generated countless memes and dance videos on social media.

Yet when it was first released earlier this month, Padam Padam was not played on youth stations such as BBC Radio 1 and Capital FM because it was originally targeted at older audiences.

Now, thanks in part to the song’s popularity on platforms including TikTok and Twitter, Minogue has found a new generation of fans.

The track has topped the UK Big Top 40 and reached No 26 on the official singles chart – becoming the biggest-selling single of the week and Minogue’s highest-charting single since 2014’s Into the Blue.

The song has also earned Minogue her first Top 40 hit in Australia in more than a decade, and she is set to enter the US pop charts for the first time in more than 20 years.

“My heart is bursting with joy,” the singer said in an Instagram post on her 55th birthday last weekend. “I just wanted to say thank you, thank you so, so much for all the birthday messages and the Padam reaction and the love.

“It has been an incredible week topped off by being my birthday today and I can’t thank you enough.”

Inspired by Edith Piaf’s 1951 song of the same name, Padam Padam is a reference to the sound of the human heartbeat, and has spread like wildfire thanks to its infectious nature and brevity (it clocks in at 2 mins, 46 seconds).

In another video with her new Big Top 40 award, which is based on Apple Music data and plays on Global Radio stations including Capital and Heart, Minogue said: “I can’t believe I am holding this … Another wild turn in my life and career.”

Minogue performed Padam Padam last week during the final of the American Idol TV talent contest. It is the first single from her new album, Tension, which is due for release in September. Minogue will embark on her biggest tour in five years in 2024, with arena concerts across the UK.

The former Neighbours actor, who has amassed 2.5 million followers on Instagram, said she was grateful for the impact the web has had in revitalising her music career – which has had seven UK No 1s, including I Should Be So Lucky, Spinning Around and Can’t Get You Out of My Head.

“It’s been a little tricky trying to navigate and to understand it,” she said. “Now I think it’s amazing and I do wonder what it would have been like if it had started with my career.

“I feel like I have one foot in the old world and one foot in the new. I do marvel at people who are really good at it. I do my best, but I have guarded my private life so you don’t see me on Instagram posting whatever.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kylie Minogue (@kylieminogue)

The chart analyst and historian James Masterton said: “What makes the success of Padam Padam significant is that it is genuinely Kylie’s first hit single of the streaming era, her first since paid purchases ceased to be a mass market product seven or eight years ago. She has bridged a generation gap with a hit record that is reaching out both to her loyal (and ageing) acolytes but also a new generation of music fans.”

According to Masterton, a career revival at Minogue’s age isn’t unheard of – with Diana Ross, Aretha Franklin and Dusty Springfield having career revivals in the 1980s and 90s. Most of the tributes to Tina Turner last week focused on her “second” career – she was in her mid-40s when she recorded What’s Love Got to Do With It, while Cher was 52 when she recorded Believe.

“What helped the Kylie single blow up was indeed TikTok,” Masterton said. “Over the past three years it has become one of the most vitally important platforms for breaking and discovering hit singles. And that’s bypassing all the traditional media routes.

“You cannot rely on radio to make a hit any more; it has to have online appeal. That’s not something that is easy to engineer either, but producers do their best by making it possible for hooks or even fragments of songs to be broken down for 20-second soundbites.”

He pointed to the “fascinating shift” in the way pop music is being embraced by a new generation. “Nobody styles themselves a TikTok ‘consumer’. Everyone is a ‘creator’ and can use pop songs as part of that self-expression. We are now judging the success of pop songs by the number of people who actively engage with them rather than just passively sit back and listen,” he said”.

There are a few things around the song’s success I wanted to bring up. Minogue is still posting about how thankful she is to her fans. Padam Padam is high in the charts, and it has made it clear that quality is quality! An artist like Kylie Minogue is as relevant now as ever. She is always evolving, so you can never define or write her off. It is a bit depressing that a station like BBC Radio 1 did not feature the song. Maybe a couple of years ago, Capital or Magic would not play Minogue (they have this time), through a sense that her age (she is fifty-five now) is seen as past their demographic. Stations that mainly features much younger artists have included Minogue on their playlists – and, in the process, opened up questions around radio playlists. I think that it is good that these stations featured Padam Padam. I hope that this continues and they put Minogue’s future music on their playlists! I am not sure why BBC Radio 1 did not playlist Kylie Minogue, though there is this thing with ageism. Affecting female artists more, are they afraid that an artist in her fifties is too old for their audience?! It seems amazing that age should even be an issue, but I think that the reason some female artists have missed out on a playlist inclusion comes down to their age. At the moment, they have artists like Beyoncé and Shania Twain on their playlist (though the latter is there as a featured artist). There are so many incredible women who are over forty that would be perfect for the BBC Radio 1 playlists. They just get ignored. Even artists like Rita Ora, who is in her thirties, might struggle to get airplay there soon. The station can say it is down to relevance and the quality of the music. It hard to argue that anymore. There is ageism there. The fact that Padam Padam seems like a song designed to be played on BBC Radio 1 shows that the station are not listening to songs like Padam Padam. Instead, they know Kylie Minogue is in her fifties, and they instantly push her aside – seeing as she gets played on BBC Radio 2, that is where her music belongs now! That said, the station did make her Record of the Week - and, in turn, Minogue offered her thanks.

In spite of that snub, Padam Padam has put the spotlight back on one of the world’s great artists and loveliest humans. I cannot wait for the album. It makes me think that artists who are seen as too old for some radio stations are actually succeeding because of social media. The quality of Padam Padam speaks for itself, yet there was this incredible promotion and backing from social media that meant people were discovering the song that way. How relevant are radio playlists compared with social media today?! It is tragic that incredible legends like Minogue don’t have support from stations who should be playing her music. The fact that so many young listeners were talking about the song on TikTok and Twitter shows that age is irrelevant. Minogue is at the peak of her powers right now, and she is clearly speaking to all ages! Maybe TikTok has been criticised for breeding a type of artist that sounds very samey and uninspired. That is another debate. Though I think that the platform is brilliant when it comes to getting music out there people might otherwise miss. Prior to the release of Padam Padam, I was seeing so much buzz generated on Twitter. The song preview and news around it was blowing up! TikTok videos and reactions have compelled people to stream the song. As I type this (1st June), Padam Padam has nearly seven million streams! The video has been seen well over three millions times. In such a short space of time (the song came out a couple of weeks ago), this instantly catchy and fresh song has given an icon new acclaim. One of the queens of music, Padam Padam reached twenty-six in the U.K. It reached two on the Australian Artist Chart (ARIA), and it got some wicked reaction from the press! Here is just a small selection of the wonderful reception to one of the song of 2023:

“Writing for Stereogum, Tom Breihan described "Padam Padam" as "a sleek, thumping, catchy-as-hell dance-pop jam", adding that "Kylie knows exactly how to deliver a song like that". Describing it as "infectious", Retropop Magazine also called the song "a punchy electronic extravaganza that promises to be 'in your head all weekend'", citing a lyric from the song. Hollie Geraghty from NME called out its "thumping earworm refrain". Similarly, writing for Stereoboard, Jon Stickler said "the catchy pop banger" has a "an infectious chorus". Mary Varvaris of The Music highlighted the song's "fresh and vibrant dance sound". She wrote that the song "sounds completely 2023 while still remaining unmistakably Kylie".

Kylie Minogue had this sort of revival and renaissance in 2000 when she released Light Years. Prior to that, some had written her off. That album – and 2001’s Fever – was seen as a comeback. Her reinventing herself and hitting a peak. Those albums are among her very best, as they sound so contemporary and cool. Minogue is completely in control of every song, and her phenomenal performances make them albums that will be remembered years from now! Padam Padam and Tension will have a similar legacy. You can never predict what she is going to do next! Always changing and keeping her music fresh and different, it is exciting to think where she will head on the album after Tension. I think it is magnificent that we have platforms like TikTok, as Padam Padam might have struggled a little to get traction because of some radio stations (BBC Radio 6 Music included) who should have featured her song but did not. The debate around ageism against female artists comes back to the fore, but I shall expand on it another day. Social media is crucial when it comes to ensuring terrific artists like Kylie Minogue get the credit and commercial success that they deserve. Radio, when it becomes selective around age and perceived relevance, risks making some songs and artists marginalised and obsolete. Padam Padam was always going to strike people hard, but its chart success is largely down to the buzz from social media. Such a busy and successful last couple of weeks or so for Kylie Minogue, she will be looking ahead to the second single (will it be Tension, Green Light, or another track?) and the release of Tension in September. An inspiration and role model for so many people around the world, Padam Padam has confirmed her place in the history books! The success and positive reviews for the track just goes to show how much love…

IS out there for her.

FEATURE: I Am the Flawless: The Beatles’ Sublime Revolution 9: Taking It Inside No. 9

FEATURE:

 

 

I Am the Flawless

The Beatles’ Sublime Revolution 9: Taking It Inside No. 9

_________

THERE are reasons why…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Inside No. 9’s creators and stars, Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton

I wanted to shine a spotlight on perhaps The Beatles’ most obscure track. Quite divisive, the fantastic and head-spinning Revolution 9 appeared on their eponymous double album. More commonly known as ‘The White Album’, Revolution 9 is one of the band’s tracks not to feature Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. Driven by George Harrison but largely compiled and arranged by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, it is staggering that The Beatles were producing an Avant-Garde and extra-terrestrial piece of music like this just over five years since their debut album came out! A radical departure from anything they had done before, it is a song that still divides fans and critics. I love it, as it is almost like art rather than music. Kind of an audio immersive experience or installation, the Beatles Bible had further details about this incredible song:

“Written by: Lennon-McCartney
Recorded: 30 May; 6, 10, 11, 20, 21 June 1968
Producers: George Martin, John Lennon
Engineer: Geoff Emerick

Released: 22 November 1968 (UK), 25 November 1968 (US)

Available on:
The Beatles (White Album)

John Lennon: vocals, tape loops, effects, samples
George Harrison: vocals, samples
Yoko Ono: vocals, effects, samples

Dividing audiences since late 1968, John Lennon’s sound collage ‘Revolution 9’ was an exercise in musique concrète influenced heavily by Yoko Ono and the avant-garde art world.

The recording emerged from ‘Revolution 1’, the final six minutes of which formed a lengthy, mostly instrumental jam. Lennon took the recording and added a range of vocals, tape loops and sound effects, creating ‘Revolution 9′, the longest track released during The Beatles’ career.

The slow version of ‘Revolution’ on the album went on and on and on and I took the fade-out part, which is what they sometimes do with disco records now, and just layered all this stuff over it. It was the basic rhythm of the original ‘Revolution’ going on with some 20 loops we put on, things from the archives of EMI.

John Lennon
All We Are Saying, David Sheff

Although he made no direct contribution to ‘Revolution 9’, being in New York at the time, Paul McCartney had led work on a similar sound collage, the unreleased 14-minute ‘Carnival Of Light’, 18 months previously.

‘Revolution 9’ was quite similar to some stuff I’d been doing myself for fun. I didn’t think that mine was suitable for release, but John always encouraged me.

Paul McCartney
Anthology

The other Beatles and George Martin are said to have persuaded Lennon not to include ‘Revolution 9’ on the White Album, to no avail. Although McCartney had long been interested in musique concrète, particularly Karlheinz Stockhausen’s ‘Gesang der Jünglinge’, it is likely that he was concerned at the effect ‘Revolution 9’ would have on the group’s public perception.

I don’t know what influence ‘Revolution 9’ had on the teenybopper fans, but most of them didn’t dig it. So what am I supposed to do?

John Lennon, 1969
Anthology

It wasn’t only the group’s teenage fans who were confused by ‘Revolution 9’. Charles Manson found a wealth of symbolism in the track’s loops and effects, and thought that Lennon’s shouts of ‘Right!’ were, in fact, a call to ‘rise’ up in revolt.

Manson drew a parallel between ‘Revolution 9’ and the Bible’s book of Revelation. He thought The Beatles were variously four angels sent to kill a third of mankind, or four locusts mentioned in Revelation 9, which he equated with beetles.

‘Revolution 9’ was an unconscious picture of what I actually think will happen when it happens; just like a drawing of a revolution. All the thing was made with loops. I had about 30 loops going, fed them onto one basic track. I was getting classical tapes, going upstairs and chopping them up, making it backwards and things like that, to get the sound effects. One thing was an engineer’s testing voice saying, ‘This is EMI test series number nine’. I just cut up whatever he said and I’d number nine it. Nine turned out to be my birthday and my lucky number and everything. I didn’t realise it: it was just so funny the voice saying, ‘number nine’; it was like a joke, bringing number nine into it all the time, that’s all it was.

John Lennon
Rolling Stone, 1970

‘Revolution 9’ also featured in the ‘Paul is dead’ myth, after it was discovered that the ‘number nine’ motif, when played backwards, sounded like ‘Turn me on, dead man’. A number of other elements of the recording featured in the myth, including the sound of a car crashing followed by an explosion”.

I have been thinking about Revolution 9, as it was recorded fifty-five years. Spread over a number of days, you wonder how the track started life. I can only imagine what it was like in the studio hearing this come together – and the reaction people had when they first heard it! Before moving onto the incredible T.V. series, Inside No. 9, there is a bit more background to Revolution 9 that we need to know about:

“Album sequencing and release

During compilation and sequencing of the master tape for the album The Beatles, two unrelated segments were included between the previous song ("Cry Baby Cry") and "Revolution 9". The first was a fragment of a song based on the line "Can you take me back", an improvisation sung by McCartney that was recorded between takes of "I Will". The second was a bit of conversation from the studio control room where Alistair Taylor asked Martin for forgiveness for not bringing him a bottle of claret, and then calling him a "cheeky bitch".

"Revolution 9" was released as the penultimate track on side four of the double LP. With no gaps in the sequence from "Cry Baby Cry" to "Revolution 9", the point of track division has varied among different reissues of the album. Some versions place the conversation at the end of "Cry Baby Cry", resulting in a length of 8:13 for "Revolution 9", while others start "Revolution 9" with the conversation, for a track length of 8:22. Later CD and digital releases have the conversation at the beginning of "Revolution 9".

Reception

... compare Lennon's work with Luigi Nono's similar Non Consumiamo Marx (1969) to see how much more aesthetically and politically acute Lennon was than most of the vaunted avant-garde composers of the time ... Nono's piece entirely lacks the pop-bred sense of texture and proportion manifested in "Revolution 9".

– Ian MacDonald

 "Revolution 9" is an embarrassment that stands like a black hole at the end of the White Album, sucking up whatever energy and interest remain after the preceding ninety minutes of music. It is a track that neither invites nor rewards close attention ...

– Jonathan Gould

The unusual nature of "Revolution 9" engendered a wide range of opinions. Lewisohn summarised the public reaction upon its release as "most listeners loathing it outright, the dedicated fans trying to understand it". Music critics Robert Christgau and John Piccarella called it "an anti-masterpiece" and commented that, in effect, "for eight minutes of an album officially titled The Beatles, there were no Beatles." In their respective reviews of the White Album, Alan Walsh of Melody Maker called the track "noisy, boring and meaningless", while the NME's Alan Smith derided it as "a pretentious piece of old codswallop ... a piece of idiot immaturity and a blotch on their own unquestioned talent as well as the album". Jann Wenner was more complimentary, writing in Rolling Stone that "Revolution 9" was "beautifully organized" and had more political impact than "Revolution 1". Ian MacDonald remarked that "Revolution 9" evoked the era's revolutionary disruptions and their repercussions, and thus was culturally "one of the most significant acts the Beatles ever perpetrated", as well as "the world's most widely distributed avant-garde artifact".

Among more recent reviews, Rob Sheffield wrote in The New Rolling Stone Album Guide that it was "justly maligned", but "more fun than 'Honey Pie' or 'Yer Blues'". Mark Richardson of Pitchfork commented that "the biggest pop band in the world exposed millions of fans to a really great and certainly frightening piece of avant-garde art." David Quantick, writing in 2002, similarly described it as being "after nearly a quarter of a century, [still] the most radical and innovative track ever to bring a rock record to its climax". He added that, given the Beatles' popularity ensured that an avant-garde recording was found in millions of homes around the world: "No one in the history of recorded music has ever been so successful in introducing such extreme music to so many people, most of whom, admittedly, will try their best never to hear 'Revolution 9.' Those who do listen to it usually find that it not only rewards repeated playing ... but that it also knocks other tracks on the White Album into a cocked hat.

 Edward Sharp-Paul of FasterLouder wrote that "'Revolution #9' is the sound of an illusion shattering: Yes, the Beatles are human, and sometimes they drop almighty turds." The track was voted the worst Beatles song in one of the first such polls, conducted in 1971 by WPLJ and The Village Voice. Writing for Mojo in 2003, Mark Paytress said that "Revolution 9" remained "the most unpopular piece of music the Beatles ever made", yet it was also their "most extraordinary [recording]".

Lennon said he was "painting in sound a picture of revolution", but he had mistakenly made it "anti-revolution". In his analysis of the song, MacDonald doubted that Lennon conceptualised the piece as representing a revolution in the usual sense, but rather as "a sensory attack on the citadel of the intellect: a revolution in the head" aimed at each listener. MacDonald also noted that the structure suggests a "half-awake, channel-hopping" mental state, with underlying themes of consciousness and quality of awareness. Others have described the piece as Lennon's attempt at turning "nightmare imagery" into sound, and as "an autobiographical soundscape". The loop of "number nine" featured in the recording fuelled the legend of Paul McCartney's death after it was reported that it sounded like "turn me on, dead man" when played backwards.

In an interview held at his home on 2 December 1968, Lennon was asked if "Revolution 9" was about death, because it seemed like that to the interviewer. Lennon answered: "Well then it is, then, when you heard it ... listen to it another day. In the sun. Outside. And see if it's about death then." He went on: "It's not specifically about anything. It's a set of sounds, like walking down the street is a set of sounds. And I just captured a moment of time, and put it on disc, and it's about that ... It was maybe to do with the sounds of a revolution ... so that's the vague story behind it. But apart from that, it's just a set of sounds.”

Based on interviews and testimony, prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi asserted that Charles Manson believed that many songs on the album The Beatles contained references confirming his prediction of an impending apocalyptic race war, a scenario dubbed "Helter Skelter". According to Gregg Jakobson, Manson mentioned "Revolution 9" more often than any of the other album tracks, and he interpreted it as a parallel of Chapter 9 of the Book of Revelation. Manson viewed the piece as a portrayal in sound of the coming black-white revolution. He misheard Lennon's distorted screams of "Right!" within "Revolution 9" as a command to "Rise!” Speaking to music journalist David Dalton before his trial, Manson drew parallels between the animal noises that close Harrison's White Album track "Piggies" and a similar sound, followed by machine-gun fire, that appears in "Revolution 9".

If you can get hold of a copy of David Quantick’s 2002 book, Revolution: The Making of "The Beatles - White Album then I would recommend you do, as he goes into detail about Revolution 9 (in addition to the whole of The Beatles). He also appeared on I am the EggPod in two-part chat, spending some real time explaining why he loves Revolution 9.

 IMAGE CREDIT: The Guardian

I wanted to use the second half of this feature as almost like a speculative treatment for Inside No. 9. The series (written by and starring Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith) recently wrapped its memorable eighth series. I think there is a ninth series being written, but I am not sure whether that will be the last. The title of the series come from the fact that each episode comes from somewhere with a ‘9’. Maybe it is a house or mode of transport. Having to come up with something fresh and new every week, it must be a challenge for Pemberton and Shearsmith to do that! The critically acclaimed and celebrated series has provided so many memorable episodes. I was thinking about fifty-five years since Revolution 9 because of the numerical relationship between it and the popular series. I guess all episode ideas are locked for series nine, but there is something about Revolution 9 that lends itself to Inside No. 9 (this article looks at The Beatles and the significance of the number 9). Whether they would go back to 1968 and the recording of that song – building a mystery with a twist around the song. Pemberton and Shearsmith would play studio engineers at EMI (rather than John Lennon and George Harrison). Perhaps there would be something about the song that flips them between two worlds (1968 and the present time). Something in the track that hypnotises them. I like the idea of an Inside No. 9 that travels back to the '60s. I am not sure what the twist of the episode would be but, maybe there is a hidden message or something in the song that messes with time and logic. Maybe an episode title could be Can You Take Me Back Me Back Where I Came From? (as Paul McCartney sings that at the end of Cry Baby Cry, the song that leads into Revolution 9). If it was modern day, maybe the album (The Beatles) would be bought played at a charity shop. The song comes on and would be a catalyst for something huge. There is an eeriness to Revolution 9 that lends itself to Inside No. 9 and its aesthetic. Not that they will, but I think Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith would create something wonderful based around that Beatles song – with one of their best and smartest twists too.

It is fifty-five years old, so I wanted to look inside Revolution 9, as it is one of the most layered and unusual songs The Beatles ever recoded! On a double album where each of the band’s four members were often recording apart, it is amazing that they were in the headspace to create some of the best material of their careers. I love Inside No. 9 so, when thinking about Revolution 9, it instantly got me thinking about the connection. Maybe a 1968-set episode around the recording of the song, or something in the present time where this track plays an important role. Still right at the top of their games, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith have crafted something timeless and genius with Inside No. 9. Let’s hope that there are a few more episodes from them at least. I would hate to think that it ends soon – but I guess every good thing has to come to an end at some point! The Beatles will celebrate its fifty-fifth anniversary in November. It remains this sprawling but wonderful album filled with so many texture and sounds. Originally it was going to be called A Doll’s House (a possible episode title?), as, like a doll’s house, you get all these different rooms and possibilities. Eponymous albums, I think, normally signal that artist or band putting out their most personal or meaningful work. I don’t like eponymous albums, as it seems a bit lazy. In the case of The Beatles, they seemed like less of a unified and cohesive band than ever. That said, there are more than enough moments of genius! Revolution 9 is one such example! A titanic song where John Lennon, Yoko Ono and George Harrison took us somewhere strange and mystical, I could not help but imagine this song coming into the world and mindset of Inside No. 9. I am not sure if it would be too expensive to clear the song, but it would be an intriguing episode! I wanted to celebrate a big anniversary of a wonderful song that still sounds…

LIKE it is from another world.

FEATURE: The Digital Mixtape: Pride Month 2023: An L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ Playlist

FEATURE:

 

 

The Digital Mixtape

IMAGE CREDIT: freepik 

Pride Month 2023: An L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ Playlist

_________

AS June is Pride Month…

 IMAGE CREDIT: rawpixel.com via freepik

I wanted to use this opportunity to compile a playlist featuring awesome L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ artists. There are some legends alongside newer artists. These are both songs from L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ artists, and anthems that are perfect for Pride Month. It is celebrated throughout June, with Pride Day itself falls on 28th June. That day marks the point in history when the first Pride march was held in New York City back in 1970. That is the U.S. date, though different communities celebrate Pride Day on a different day throughout June. Before getting to the playlist, here is some background regarding Pride Month and how it came about:

“HISTORY OF PRIDE MONTH

On a hot summer’s night in New York on June 28, 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay club in Greenwich Village, which resulted in bar patrons, staff, and neighborhood residents rioting onto Christopher Street outside. Among the many leaders of the riots was a black, trans, bisexual woman, Marsha P. Johnson, leading the movement to continue over six days with protests and clashes. The message was clear — protestors demanded the establishment of places where LGBT+ people could go and be open about their sexual orientation without fear of arrest.

Pride Month is largely credited as being started by bisexual activist Brenda Howard. Known as ‘The Mother of Pride,’ Brenda organized Gay Pride Week and the Christopher Street Liberation Day Parade a year after the Stonewall Riots. This eventually morphed into what we now know as the New York City Pride March and was the catalyst for the formation of similar parades and marches across the world.

Speaking of the rainbow flag, it was actually gay politician Harvey Milk who asked a talented designer friend, Gilbert Baker, to design an all-encompassing symbol to take to San Francisco’s Pride March in 1978. Sadly, Harvey Milk was assassinated along with Mayor George Moscone on November 23, 1978, in San Francisco City Hall by Dan White, a disgruntled former supervisor who was angry at Milk for lobbying against having him reappointed on the Board of Supervisors.

Bill Clinton was the first U.S. President to officially recognize Pride Month in 1999 and 2000. Then, from 2009 to 2016, Barack Obama declared June LGBT Pride Month. In May 2019, Donald Trump recognized Pride Month with a tweet announcing that his administration had launched a global campaign to decriminalize homosexuality, although critics have noted that actions speak louder than words.

The New York Pride Parade is one of the largest and most well-known parades to take place, with over 2 million people estimated to have taken part in 2019”.

I will do another feature about Pride Month soon enough, but I wanted to kick off with a playlist. There will be songs in here that you know already, though there will be a few newer and legendary gems that are going to fresh to your ears. Uniting some inspiring and amazing L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ artists and Pride-ready classics, here are some songs that can soundtrack and celebrate…

 PHOTO CREDIT: freepik

THIS Pride Month.

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FEATURE: Renaissance in a New Era: Looking Inside Incredible and Career-Best Tours from Beyoncé and Taylor Swift

FEATURE:

 

 

Renaissance in a New Era

IN THIS PHOTO: Taylor Swift onstage at the MetLife Stadium on 26th May in East Rutherford, New Jersey/PHOTO CREDIT: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone

Looking Inside Incredible and Career-Best Tours from Beyoncé and Taylor Swift

_________

AS I write this (31st May)…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Mason Poole for Parkwood Entertainment

the iconic Beyoncé is in London. Here as part of her RENAISSANCE WORLD TOUR. I will come to that tour in a bit and write why it is a career-high for an artist who is in a league of her own. Before coming to Taylor Swift, it is worth thinking about the rigours of a world tour. Madonna embarks on The Celebration Tour very soon. Someone who has helped change the nature of live music in terms of set and spectacle, she is looking ahead to a tour that will see her through to next year. It is a gruelling and long tour that will see her embark on her toughest challenge yet. It is something she is excited about, but you hope that she gets enough time to recharge between dates! One of the most important artists ever, this is going to be one of the biggest and most attended tours ever. She is undoubtably the Queen of Pop. Two other music queens are currently touring huge shows. Even though Taylor Swift and Beyoncé have different sounds and sets, they are both thrilling audiences and critics. Not to say there are not epic sets from male artists at the moment – Arctic Monkeys and Harry Styles are both getting incredible reviews for their tours -, but I think it is women leading the charge. From Self Esteem to Caroline Polachek, I think they are at the top of the tree in terms of the energy, passion and intensity coming from the stage!

I have been looking online and seeing the reviews Taylor Swift and Beyoncé are getting. As is the case with Madonna, I hope that these two artists get chance to rest and find some sort of calm amidst this gigantic tour. They are going to be going from place to place, so there is going to be that tiredness. It is not showing when you look at what they are delivering on the stage. Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour looks like it is staying in the U.S. for the rest of the year. She has broken records with this tour. As you can see here, the reaction she has received has been immense! Following the opening shows of the Eras Tour, five of Taylor Swift's albums entered the top 40 of the U.K. chart. Billboard reported that Swift's entire discography rose in daily streams, especially the songs on the set list. She subsequently had seven albums in the top 40 region of the U.S. Billboard 200 chart – that made her the first living artist to do so. Several weeks later, she became the first artist to chart eight albums in the top 40 and nine albums in the top 50. It is mind-boggling when you consider it! Already such a seasoned professional, Swift has been going on stage night after night and giving these incredible shows! The fact that she is performing typically forty-four songs or so a night and she has so many dates in the diary makes it even more impressive. Mere mortals would have problems with their voice or find it too intense. Swift seems to have this phenomenal resolve and strength that means she can perform such a long set each night and give it her all. No surprise that this Eras Tour has been making the news!

I want to come to a live review from Rolling Stone. Rob Sheffield was in attendance when Taylor Swift played the MetLife Stadium on 26th May, in East Rutherford, New Jersey. It does seem that this is a career-best tour from one of the world’s biggest artists. Given every element her absolute all, Swift is going to go down as one of the mist exciting and finest live artists ever! It is clear that she has such an incredible connection with her audiences – who, in turn, show her so much love and passion:

“One of the central paradoxes of Taylor Swift — and this woman is nothing BUT paradoxes — is how she writes songs about the tiniest, most secretive agonies, the kind you wouldn’t even confess to your friends, except the only way she knows how to process these moments is turning them into louder-than-life stadium scream-alongs. It is so weird to sing “My Tears Ricochet” in a stadium with 80,000 people, with Taylor swirling in a goth-priestess gown, leading a funeral procession of black-hooded mourners. For most of us, Folklore and Evermore are albums we learned to sing along with by ourselves, at a moment of quarantine, fear, and isolation. Hearing other voices sing these songs with us completely changes how they feel. The moment when Taylor gets to the almost-hidden line “when I’m screaming at the sky” — and she really does scream it at the sky — was cathartic on a level that’s totally new for a Taylor show.

Over the show, she celebrates every part of her career, except her 2006 country debut, which surprisingly doesn’t even make a token appearance, though she’s done some of the songs as acoustic one-offs. (There’s no other career where such a great debut could turn out to be Not Era Enough.) Some of the eras turned into full-blown dance parties, like 1989, Reputation, and Midnights. Fearless was the one era where she flashed her early twangy side — she made such a statement by stepping out on the catwalk after the first verse for a triumphant power twirl. It was pandemonium when she introduced “You Belong With Me” and “Love Story” by asking, “Jersey, are you ready to go back to high school with me?”

PHOTO CREDIT: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone

Evermore really loomed large — it might be the most Era of the Eras, the one that transforms most in a live setting. It’s startling how her moodiest, most introspective songs translate as stadium bangers, from the U2 guitar pulse of “’Tis the Damn Season” to the heartache of “Champagne Problems.” “Willow” became a goth ritual — the fans next to me said, “This is where she has a seance.” “Marjorie” had Taylor singing along with the voice of her late grandmother Marjorie Finlay — almost exactly 20 years to the day after she passed away. “She would have loved to sing at MetLife Stadium,” Taylor said on Sunday night. “I guess technically, she just did.”

“All Too Well (Ten Minute Version)” was the coup de grace, filling up the enormous space with the sound of just Taylor and her thousands of confidantes. It couldn’t help but evoke the moment when she sang it the first time she played MetLife Stadium — 10 summers ago, in July 2013. That night, it already seemed incredibly to think of how far she’d come so fast. But 10 ears later, hearing “All Too Well” in that same venue, it seemed to sum up everywhere she’s traveled in those past 10 years. Like the rest of the Eras Tour, it was a celebration of all the holy ground she and her audience has covered.

Phoebe Bridgers played all three nights with a fantastic guitar-hero set — what a kick to see “Kyoto” and “Garden Song” take on their rightful grandeur as stadium bangers. These were her final Eras shows, and unsurprisingly, she and Taylor got sentimental about it. When she came out on Sunday to duet on “Nothing New,” Phoebe confessed, “You are my hero,” making Taylor groan, “What are you doing right now?” Tay told her her, “Thank you for being my friend. Thank you for making the best music ever.” Then she apologized to the crowd. “Sorry you had to see that. It was like the last day of summer camp for us.” (We’re Taylor fans. We’re used to seeing “that,” whatever “that” happens to be at the moment.) Taylor also lavished love on her openers Gayle, Gracie Abrams, and her “Lover” video co-star Owenn. She also went onstage to a brilliant old-school feminist anthem: Lesley Gore’s 1963 classic “You Don’t Own Me,” a song Taylor could have written.

She ended all three nights with a very special guest: Ice Spice doing her guest verse on “Karma.” Friday night she debuted their “Karma” video during the show, sitting on the stage with her dancers to view it on the screen along with the crowd. “Karma” was a high note to end on, but the amazing thing about the Eras Tour is that it’s so forward-facing, a complex pop history that’s so rich and deep and multilayered, but one that’s still being rewritten right before our eyes, week after week. And there’s no doubt this mastermind is at the absolute peak of her creative powers, after 17 fairly relentless years. This show makes an excellent case that in so many ways, Taylor Swift’s era is really just beginning. (And oh yeah — over the weekend she also released a new song with the hook, “I wouldn’t marry me either.” Yeah, she’s got a lot going on at the moment.)”.

Madonna will shortly achieve the same high, but I don’t think it is a coincidence that both Taylor Swift and Beyoncé are touring at their absolute best right now. Both artists released career high albums last year. Swift put out the pheromonal Midnights; Beyoncé’s RENAISSANCE was a critical triumph. After the pandemic put a stop to any touring, both have sort of got this new determination and focus. To give these fans – many of whom will be going to their first gig in a few years – something they will remember for the rest of their lives. I guess neither Beyoncé or Taylor Swift could commit to festivals this year, as they have this set of tour dates that cannot be changed. It would have been awesome to see Swift or Beyoncé at Glastonbury this year! I will come to another review of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. What makes it so special?! The Guardian posted their theory when talking about how the Eras Tour is taking over America right now:

“The national takeover by The Eras Tour owes in part to the show itself, which is a stunning showcase of pop’s most prolific songwriter’s ridiculously prodigious catalog. I reviewed the opening show in Glendale, Arizona, and found it stupefying – a concert the length of the movie Titanic, covering 17 years worth of potent nostalgia, turbocharged by the screaming of 70,000 people. It was the loudest place I’ve ever been. Especially considering the hoops people jumped through to obtain tickets, it is fan service at its most bombastic and virtuosic – a flex and a celebration, tying together years of growth and hype.

It’s also the culmination of years of world-building and Swiftian mythology. Ever since her debut in 2006, Swift has cultivated a uniquely close relationship with her fans, posting on MySpace, commenting on their Instagrams, embedding secret messages in the liner notes of her CDs. With each album cycle, she has expanded on Easter eggs and clues playing on color coding, numerology and of course her lyrics. The result is a very loyal (and enormous) fan base primed to close-read Swifts every move, on-stage or off, as an all-consuming search for clues with personal ties to the star. As Swift told Entertainment Weekly in 2019 of her fans’ detective work: “I’ve trained them to be that way.”

The fixation on details reached a fever pitch last October, during the rollout for Swift’s tenth album, Midnights. Swift teased track titles in a TikTok video series called “Midnights Mayhem With Me”, and published a full cross-platform release schedule on Instagram. The ever-bubbling Swift online ecosystem was at full boil and, as one expert put it to the Atlantic, had almost all the hallmarks of a true metaverse: a huge virtual community unmoored from a single platform, based on a world around Taylor Swift, missing only the 3D virtual space to hang out in.

The Eras Tour offers a physical space for many of her fans to coalesce and a tangible hold on the real world. It has also provided ample material for fans to dissect, at a crucial time in Swift’s personal life. In April, it was revealed that she had split with her partner of six years, the British actor Joe Alwyn, an unnamed figure in many of her songs since 2017. (If you know a Swiftie, you know this was a very big deal.) Weeks later, she was rumored to be dating Matty Healy, the lead singer of the band The 1975, who has since appeared at several of her shows (and dueted with opener Phoebe Bridgers) and whose history of controversial comments has thrown some of the fandom into turmoil. (As one Twitter user put it, the gossip around Swift-Healy is like “the inner workings of the Catholic Church … worth keeping tabs on since it effects the wellbeing of millions and has tremendous financial influence”. On the financial point – the Eras Tour will likely gross anywhere from $500m to over $1bn, counting international dates.)”.

Before moving on, I want to quote from a review by The New York Times. They were there when Swift opened the Eras Tour in Glendale, Arizona. It seemed like the show was heavy on material post-Reputation (2018). It was the opening night of a tour that will go down as one of the biggest and most extraordinary in music history:

“Fans did not appear to be playing favorites — many of them were dressed as Swift from various eras, or as song titles or specific lyrics, or as Swiftie inside jokes. And Swift herself tackled each period of her career — the dynamic ones and the flaccid ones alike — with real gusto, in outfits covered in glitter, or fringe or glittery fringe. Her stage was set up for both big-tent power and maximum intimacy; it jutted out into the crowd for almost the entire length of the floor. Sometimes, she joined her dozen-plus dancers in crisp choreography, like on “ … Ready for It?” “Bad Blood” and, most vividly, “Vigilante ___,” for which she performed an enthusiastic chair routine.

She concluded with a selection of songs from “Midnights,” a challenging album to wrap a show of this magnitude — it’s more an amalgam of old Swift ideas than a harbinger of a new direction. During “Anti-Hero,” the screen behind Swift showed a version of her as a kind of King Kong, bigger than everyone and unfairly besieged, and on “Lavender Haze,” she was surrounded by dancers hoisting huge cloudy puffs.

There was a distinct shimmer that ran through the night’s final three selections, the tinny “Bejeweled,” the spacey “Mastermind” and the needling “Karma.” All of those songs, which can be brittle from a lyrical perspective, benefited from the scale of the production here.

But something far more meaningful had come just before that show-closing run. During an acoustic segment, she came out to the very farthest point of the stage, sat at a small piano and played her very first single, “Tim McGraw” (the only song she performed from her self-titled 2006 debut album).

In addition to “All Too Well (10 Minute Version),” it was the night’s other pillar performance. It’s a song about memory and the ways in which people fail each other, and she sang it heavy with regret and tinged with sweetness.

But unlike “All Too Well,” which now benefits from the wisdom that time affords, “Tim McGraw” remained as raw as the day it was recorded. No real tweaks, no rejoinder from the new Swift to the old one — just a searing take on the sort of love that makes for a better song than relationship. There are some things Swift simply has understood all along”.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Taylor Swift kicked off her Eras Tour at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on 17th March, performing a set list heavy on the four albums she has released since her 2018 tour for Reputation/PHOTO CREDIT: Cassidy Araiza for The New York Times

There are several reasons why one could argue that Taylor Swift is among the greatest live performers you will see. Her Eras Tour is a spectacle where you can feel and sense every last detail! She has put everything into it. Someone who has a very powerful connection with her fans, Swift is a music icon for sure. Someone who will be mentioned alongside the all-time greats. TIME reviewed the first night of Beyoncé RENAISSANCE WORLD TOUR in Stockholm, Sweden on 10th May. They wrote about what they learned from that set. I have selected a few highlights:

“Beyoncé said not to rush a queen for music videos

If we haven’t learned by now, Beyoncé releases things when she is good and ready. This is her first solo album since 2016’s Lemonade, so we can’t act surprised that she told her fans to be patient and stop asking about the music videos. Her last solo albums, Lemonade, Beyoncé, and The Gift (a concept album for The Lion King), all had visual components that included music videos for each song. This built up the expectation that RENAISSANCE would get the same treatment.

Beyoncé is online and knows her fans have been hounding her, and she has finally responded. During a break on the first night, a disembodied voice addressed the crowd as the words it spoke were displayed on stage: “Aww, you mad? Well, there’s no remedy for that, bitches… I know you’ve asked for the visuals. You’ve called for the Queen. But a Queen moves at her own pace, bitch. Decides when she wants to give you a f-cking taste. So get your fork and your spoon if you got one.”

She is cutting out some of her biggest hits to make room for the new album and deep cuts

Attendees at the concert in Stockholm filmed every moment for the world to see on social media, and many of Beyoncé’s fans were quite surprised by some of the songs she decided to perform. She opened the show with “Dangerously In Love” from her debut album of the same name and ran through a string of popular songs, both mainstream hits and fan favorites. At the opening night show, she also performed songs like “Rather Die Young,” “Flaws and All,” and “Black Parade,” which have not gotten much attention from Beyoncé in recent memory.

Some of Beyoncé’s most popular songs, many of which she has made a point to perform on past tours, are notably missing from the set list. “Run The World” fans, do not worry: she still performs the song. But those who are fans of “If I Were a Boy,” “Single Ladies,” and “Halo,” a notorious closer for Beyoncé—as evidenced by the Homecoming concert film and her Formation World Tour—may be disappointed.

Beyoncé brought back the Les Twins, who have accompanied her on multiple tours and performances

The Les Twins, Laurent and Larry, were approached by Beyoncé years ago after a video of them dancing went viral and they appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. They were invited to perform with Beyoncé at the Billboard Music Awards in 2011, and she took them on the road with her for the Mrs. Carter World Tour, her joint On The Run Tour with Jay-Z, and her Coachella performance in 2018. Her fans were excited to see the Les Twins back on stage with her for this new tour.

It was gay as hell: An unabashed celebration of the LGBTQ+ community

In the lead-up to the album, Beyoncé dedicated the project to her Uncle Johnny, who battled HIV when she was young. He is referenced in the song “HEATED,” and in the outro of the song, Beyoncé takes on the role of MC at a ball (a queer dance party) where she starts “reading.” All of these influences took center stage at the Renaissance World Tour and will make a strong statement when it comes stateside in July, given the wave of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation being introduced across the country.

One of the biggest displays of affection for her queer fans came even before the concert started. As concertgoers poured into the stadium, they were greeted with a fake TV error screen, but if you look closely, some of the colors are different. This error screen has the colors of the progress pride flag, which includes colors from the transgender pride flag, as well as brown and black to indicate the greater discrimination experienced by those members of the community. Twitter users joked, “Nashville is gonna be ready to arrest Beyoncé for this, lord Jesus,” referencing the state’s attempt to ban drag shows and broader attempts across the US to infringe on trans people’s rights”.

I am going to finish with a review from The Line of Best Fit regarding a set this week at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London. Like Taylor Swift, Beyoncé has a large L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ fanbase. The sets are celebrating them, but it is clear that it is essential for Beyoncé to salute this community. Showing so much love to the Black queer community, we have an artist who has this objective and noble aim. Rather than it being an ordinary tour, at a time when the trans and L.G.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ community are being vilified and marginalised in many parts of America, the RENAISSANCE WORLD TOUR seems like a celebration and spotlighting that the world needs to see – and one that many people need to learn from and take to hear. Like Taylor Swift, Beyoncé has this wonderful love of her fans. Someone who has produced a set that is her absolute best:

“Of course, the show’s visuals are overtly impressive, with each section receiving its own deepfake set on screen in an interlude before melting away into oblivion, making room for the next. The physical sets are similarly excessive as well, and the fact that a 20-foot tall disco-ball horse coming out of the giant screen just for a three-minute song seems… over the top?

We see endless montages of music videos from Beyoncé's past, present and seemingly her future – as we’re teased with shots from RENAISSANCE’s unreleased and highly sought-after visual counterpart – “I know you hear me, you’ve asked for the visuals,” says the screen in one interlude. “You've called for the queen, but a queen moves at her own pace, bitch.” It’s these parts of the show that maintain Beyoncé's unattainable, unreachable air about her – it wouldn’t be a Beyoncé show without it.

There are moments that bring Bey down to earth too, with an unmistakeable teleprompter at the back of the arena for her to read off when the lyrics get a little too much to handle. It’s only at select moments that she uses this though, as it’s easy to notice when her gaze locks in, her choreo eases up, and she focusses on delivering the show of a lifetime. What this reminds us is that no; Beyoncé isn’t a god, she’s a human just like us, but my god is she a professional. “Sometimes I mess up the words,” she announces to the crowd before her ‘favourite song to sing’ “HEATED,” “can you help me?”

IN THIS PHOTO: Beyoncé during the RENAISSANCE WORLD TOUR at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on 29th May in London/PHOTO CREDIT: Kevin Mazur/WireImage for Parkwood Entertainment

The show’s high point was one of these human moments. After “Love On Top” ran its (short) course, the crowd kept it going – key changes and all. Beyoncé joins in for a moment that feels authentic and genuine (unlike her trademark canned politeness we got earlier in the show), going higher and higher until needed to stop them for time. Then as we’re thrown straight into “Crazy In Love,” the moment is over just a fast as it began. “PURE / HONEY” was up there too, with stage cameras akin to ROSALIA’s tour rotating around her to create engaging visuals on screen.

Similarly, there were questionable moments too. Opening with six slow songs was certainly a choice, and the final number “SUMMER RENAISSANCE” felt a little like an afterthought in comparison to the high-concept vision of the rest of the show. But even after the final song, Beyoncé is lifted up via cables and paraded over the crowd as she thanks her band and tries to communicate with the crowd from a 12 foot height – it’s a surreal moment that could’ve been utilised better at a different time, but if that’s the worst thing that happened then it’s safe to say the show was pretty spectacular.

This show is, undoubtedly, Beyoncé’s best. With massive budgets, joyful queer representation, undeniable talent and impressive showmanship, it’s impossible to say that she hasn’t perfected her formula. Yes, she may be toning down her robotic nature from tours past and easing up on her dancing, but this actually feels like a good thing. We’re seeing Beyoncé at her most personable and honest – by admitting her flaws to us, that simply makes her even more flawless.

PHOTO CREDIT: Kevin Mazur/WireImage for Parkwood Entertainment

Setlist

Dangerously in Love

Flaws and All

1+1

I'm Goin Down (Mary J. Blige cover) (shortened)

I Care

River Deep, Mountain High

I'M THAT GIRL

COZY

ALIEN SUPERSTAR

Lift Off

CUFF IT

ENERGY

BREAK MY SOUL

Formation

Diva

Run the World (Girls)

MY POWER

BLACK PARADE

Partition

Savage (Remix)

CHURCH GIRL

Get Me Bodied

Before I Let Go

Rather Die Young

Love On Top

Crazy In Love

PLASTIC OFF THE SOFA

VIRGO'S GROOVE

Naughty Girl

MOVE

HEATED

Already (dancers interlude)

AMERICA HAS A PROBLEM

PURE/HONEY

SUMMER RENAISSANCE”.

I wanted to celebrate two amazing women in music who are both touring career-best sets. They are queens that are at the top of their games! Powerful, intimate and spectacular in equal measures, the Eras Tour and RENAISSANCE WORLD TOUR are thrilling people! The fact that articles are being dedicated to how groundbreaking and history-making these tours are shows that we have among us two of the greatest artists ever. Maybe at different stages in their career, it would be tantalising if Beyoncé and Taylor Swift crossed paths and performed together. As Swift prepares to play Chicago’s Soldier Field tomorrow (2nd June), Beyoncé plays at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium tonight. We are very lucky to have Taylor Swift and Beyoncé. They have both proven, with their current tours, that they are…

LEGENDS and icons.

FEATURE: Prince at Sixty-Five: The Influence of the Pioneering Artist

FEATURE:

 

 

Prince at Sixty-Five

The Influence of the Pioneering Artist

_________

I have been doing…

a run of features ahead Prince’s sixty-fifth birthday. On 7th June, the world marks that important birthday. The Minnesota-born genius died in 2016, but his influence and legacy lives on. It might be impossible to do one feature on his influence, because he impacted artists, culture and society alike. I am going to pull together some features that recognise his influence and how he changed the world. I will end with a playlist of artists inspired by Prince. I may miss some, as his impact and those he inspired is so huge and unknown. I will at least feature the most obvious artists. Before getting to that, it is worth sourcing words from those who have saluting and highlighted Prince’s influence. Apologies if they seem a bit randomly-placed, but there is a lot of information and resource if you ask that key question (what is Prince’s influence?). I want to start off with a great article from The Rake. Whilst many associate Prince with musical excellence, some forgot how he influenced people in other ways. The fact he would not define himself rigidly in terms of sexuality. How he empowered so many not to be continued. To feel their own identity. Maybe an almost unheard-of thing from an artist in the 1980s and 1990s, there are so many today who have been emboldened by Prince’s strength and defiance:

“Bigots, the unadventurous, they can’t stand individuals. They want everything easily categorized. (Preferrably, as white, male, middle class, hetero, conservative.) But much as the gatherings at Trump rallies would suggest otherwise, that kind of closed mindset is rapidly dwindling. Generation X, who grew up with Prince, overwhelmingly don’t simply tolerate but celebrate diversity and do-your-own-thing individualism. The Millennials, for all their many faults, take singularity — the freedom to be who you are, who you want to be — as a given. (Bless their entitled little hearts.)

Prince, much like David Bowie, that other great musical individualist lost to the world this year, played a major part in bringing about this new cultural enlightenment.

When Prince sang “Am I black or white? Am I straight or gay?” in 1981’s ‘Controversy’ (one of his earliest hits), those sorts of questions were indeed controversial. Now, though race and sexuality remain politically charged topics, romantic preferences and one’s gene pool are much more “Meh, whatever” matters to most of us than they were thirty-something years ago.

Prince was instrumental in making that so. His whole approach seemed to say, bravely, boldly: Maybe I am, maybe I’m not. So what? His look, his appeal, his music, transcended race lines — colour don’t matter anyway. Call Prince a ‘fag’? His response was like a shrug: What if I am? Nothing wrong with that, man. And there he was — as immortalised in the film Purple Rain — all sexy in bedazzled satin, leather and lace, riding away with a hot babe on the back of his motorcycle. Call the man a ‘freak’? Sure enough. About to get real freaky with that Apollonia — and a whole host of ladies to follow.

Prince crushed the bland masculine stereotype — Playboy, James Bond, whisky, cigars, and casual misogyny — and created a new paradigm. He proved a guy could be uber-dandyish, androgynous, sexually and gender fluid, yet brimming with raw carnal appeal. He was a little man, whose persona was writ large. A ‘soft’ man who hit hard.

Above all, Prince was an individual who stood as a standard bearer for individuality, his influence helping empower millions of others to own their uniqueness, shaping the more diverse, accepting, colourful world that’s crystallising in the 21st century. No wonder he was so hated by the forces of conformity. And loved by pretty much everyone else”.

In 2017, Everything Zoomer highlighted five ways in which Prince changed the music industry. There really was nobody like him. Whilst, on 7th June (his sixty-fifth birthday) we will remember his great music and all he gave to the world, one cannot help but imagine what could have been. There was so much the genius was going to give to the world. Lucky that we have the overstuffed and bountiful Paisley Park Vault, where he kept stuff he recorded but had not yet released. We will get Prince music for decades to come:

“1. Prince’s Sound

The trajectory of Prince’s career begins, of course, with his music and the famed “Minneapolis Sound,” named after his hometown, that he pioneered leading into his first album, For You, in 1978. Prince’s potent brew of everything from rock and funk to pop and new wave music was a revelation to fans around the world who’d never heard anything quite like it—especially coming out of the hard-rocking 1970s. His sound had such unique and wide-ranging appeal that it could rock a club and act as the soundtrack to Tim Burton’s darkly sinister 1989 film Batman. “Batdance” anyone?

Prince’s song “Darling Nikki” also has the distinction of being the instigator behind the movement that ultimately led to the “Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics” warnings now commonplace on the cover of albums.

Throughout his career, however, Prince never rested on his laurels, continuing to innovate and experiment with sound and music. And after seven Grammys, chart-topping singles and albums, Rock and Roll and Grammy Hall of Fame inductions and millions of fans worldwide, it’s safe to say that Prince reigns as one of the greatest pop music pioneers of the 20th century.

2. Behind the Songs and Record Industry Battles

Prince not only wrote some of the most original pop music of the last 40 years, but he also played most of the instruments (he was celebrated as a brilliant guitarist) and produced and engineered the music. One of the most hands-on artists of his or any generation, Prince helped put the creative power back in the hands of artists when he assumed control over most of his musical output. From his very first album, for which he secured the publishing rights and the ability to have free reign over the creative direction of the work, it’s clear Prince’s influence stretched far deeper into the studio than most other artists then or now. By taking this approach Prince was also able to shape the specific, innovative sounds that ultimately influenced countless musicians to come.

But perhaps even more importantly, Prince went to bat for artists everywhere when he stood up for control over his own music. As the International Business Times wrote,”Perhaps more than any artist in the history of recorded music … [Prince] personified the never-ending tensions between music performers and the industry that profits from them. In a four-decade career beset by legal skirmishes, Prince battled with record labels, bootleggers, streaming companies, ticket resellers and [I]nternet giants such as eBay and YouTube. He was not afraid to take adversarial stands against anyone he perceived to be a threat to his artistry or his livelihood, which to him were one and the same. That included public entanglements not only with parasitic types in the recording industry but also with advocates of free speech and even his own listeners.”

While he refused to allow his music to be used by anyone from video game makers to online streaming services (except Jay-Z’s Tidal streaming service) to parody artist “Weird Al” Yankovic, Prince’s highest profile battle over his music came in the early 1990s, when his original record company, Warner Bros., wouldn’t allow him to release his music at his own pace, resulting in the singer wanting out of his contract. When the company refused he changed his name to the infamous “Love Symbol,” since Warner Bros. had trademarked the Prince name. Despite the fact that it hurt his record sales and the name “The Artist Formerly Known as Prince” became something got a punchline, Prince stuck by his principles and released music on his own record label and even became a pioneer in selling music online.

More than two decades later, as artists from Pete Townsend to Taylor Swift speak out about how unfairly streaming services and other digital music outlets treat artists, Prince’s battles with Warner Bros. seem more and more justified. Like with his music, he could see further ahead than most when it comes to the business side of his craft and struck an early blow for the rights of artists for generations to come.

3. Crafting “Prince”

A massive part of Prince’s appeal, aside from his music, lay in his image. As the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame put it, “From the beginning, Prince and his music were androgynous, sly, sexy and provocative. His colorful image and revolutionary music made Prince a figure comparable in paradigm-shifting impact to Little Richard, James Brown, Jimi Hendrix and George Clinton.”

From the costumes to the attitude and his gender bending persona, singer Vanity at his side and changing his name to the “love symbol,” Prince, perhaps even more than David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust, pushed the societal boundaries of sexuality, style, music and personality. Whereas Ziggy Stardust was a Bowie persona, Prince was Prince.

4. Purple Rain

Prince’s first film, 1984’s Purple Rain, in which he starred, and its accompanying soundtrack, became synonymous with the artist for the rest of his life. The last film to win an Oscar for Best Original Song Score (the award is now for Best Original Musical though no one has ever won it due to lack of eligible musicals to fill out the category), its soundtrack, featuring Prince backed by the band The Revolution, won a pair of Grammys, spawned instant classics like “When Doves Cry,” “Let’s Go Crazy” and the title track and is regarded as one of the greatest albums of all time.

Perhaps most impressive of all, the Purple Rain film and album made Prince the first artist ever to land a top-of-the-charts trifecta: having the top American film, album and single at the same time.

5. Music Video on MTV

Two years before Prince brought the world Purple Rain, it was his “Little Red Corvette” that shot to the top of the charts. But perhaps more importantly, at a time when African-American artists struggled to get significant airplay on the brand new music video channel MTV, Prince and “Little Red Corvette” were among the prominent artists and songs that helped break that barrier and usher in an era of more diverse talents and sounds on America’s most popular music station”.

I am going to wrap up in a minute. This is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the magnitude of Prince’s vast influence. How he not only changed music, but he touched so many people’s lives. Far Out Magazine named eight artists who were influenced by Prince. Those whom we might not necessarily associate with him. I have chosen a few of them. I will include these artists – and many more – in a playlist at the end of this feature:

“Beck

Beck started life as a no-wave folk rock outcast, playing street corners and coffeehouses to audiences who seemed completely disinterested in this weirdo with an acoustic guitar. But when Beck got to bigger stages, a certain funky dance-move crazed demon seemed to erupt out of him – someone who greatly resembled a performer like Prince.

Of course, Beck also owes some chameleon-like tendencies to Prince as well. But on albums like Midnight Vultures, especially on the song ‘Debra’, Beck transforms into full-on Prince mode. He even throws in the occasional Prince cover in his live shows, just to prove how devoted of a disciple he is.

IN THIS PHOTO: St. Vincent in 2018/PHOTO CREDIT: Sonja Horsman/The Observer

St. Vincent

From twee art-rock to dirty ’70s funk to hard-driving electronica, it’s hard to think of a more eclectic artist in modern music than St. Vincent. Unwilling to repeat herself in any way, Annie Clark is probably more analogous to David Bowie, but there are plenty of influences from Prince in her artistry as well. 

Apart from covering ‘Controversy’ at a Grammy salute to the late Purple One in 2020, Clark also picked up a few guitar tricks from Prince throughout her career, most noticeably on her self titled fourth studio album. Songs like ‘Down’ and ‘Regret’ don’t work unless the fuzz-filled guitar lines don’t at least give a slight nod to ‘Purple Rain’ or the bloopy synths don’t fire up images of Dr. Fink.

Dave Grohl

There’s a great scene in the Foo Fighters documentary Back and Forth when the group are recording guitar parts for the album Wasting Light. Chris Shiflett is laying down a chorus-heavy rhythm part for ‘These Days’ when Dave Grohl breaks out into a spontaneous and brief rendition of ‘Purple Rain’. Obviously, a walking musical encyclopedia like Grohl has some experience rocking out to Prince.

Grohl and the Foos have busted out a few Prince covers in their day, with ‘Darling Nikki’ being a particular favourite of the group. But the ultimate honour actually came the other way around, when Prince sang parts of ‘Best of You’ during his Super Bowl Halftime appearance. Grohl later called it his “proudest musical achievement”, and he joins a strange list of Prince covers that also includes Radiohead”.

Many might say, in terms of his versatility and levels of influence, Prince is the only artist others would need to reference. There is a strong case for that. From his flexible and chameleon sounds to his unparalleled musical brilliance, through to his fashion, sexuality and work ethic, he is a role model and icon for so many. WIRED argued this point about Prince being the only influence you need back in 2016 (just after he died in April). It makes it even sadder that he is not with us and seeing artists emerging now who cite him as an influence:

“Much can be said about Prince's music, and in the following days, it will. At their best, his recordings were limitless---wells of production ideas, freaky arrangements, and unexpected melodies that could never run dry, no matter how many repeat listens. But it's Prince's work ethic and vision that always influenced me most. He was as punk as a huge pop star could be. From his first album, For You, on which he's credited as having played all 27 instruments on the recording, Prince made almost everything on his own.

His career was defined by an admirable lack of leniency. He was famous for around-the-clock recording sessions in his Paisley Park recording complex, resulting in an impossibly prolific output, much of which remains in the vault. On albums, he played every instrument, even sang his own backups; live, he pushed his band to the limit. He starred in three feature films---only the first, Purple Rain, was a hit---and directed two of them. In a 2009 Los Angeles Times profile, Ann Powers put it this way: "Prince's personality seems to be governed by two oppositional impulses: the hunger to create and an equally powerful craving for control."

Again and again, Prince insisted on making expensive, high-concept, and unexpected choices. Most famous among these is his 1993 decision to change his name to an unpronounceable glyph—a decision that required his label, Warner Brothers, to organize a mass-mailing of floppy disks containing a custom font so that he could continue to be written about in print media. Some might characterize this as a diva move, and it was---but it also represented a commitment to the craft of pop-stardom so total it required a new typeface to even write about.

The control he exerted over his public image occasionally verged on the draconian. In 2007, Prince began an ultimately fruitless vendetta against what he perceived as widespread copyright infringement online, going so far as to issue DCMA takedowns against fan sites sharing photographs, images, lyrics, album covers---anything linked to his likeness---and making YouTube take down videos, including a 29-second home video by Stephanie Lenz showing her children dancing to a barely audible clip of "Let's Go Crazy." He ultimately gave up the fight, but not before the Electronic Frontier Foundation invented a new honor for his abuse of copyright claims: the Raspberry Beret Lifetime Aggrievement Award.

It may seem over the top, but Prince's foray into copyright law makes sense in the context of a career spent tightly manipulating his own public image. After all, being a pop star is a 360 degree endeavor. The music is important, but so is the finely tuned identity. And the mystique, preserved and defended by any means necessary. And even the language, something Prince realized in the 1990s, switching to an idiosyncratic shorthand (see: "Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic") that could identify a Prince joint before the listener even pressed play. It's nothing less than the construction of an effect, a total impression, on millions of people. These days, pop stars tend to achieve such impressions through transparency, by staging confessionals and throwing shade via the collective 24-hour social-media reality show. But Prince did it with style---and control.

Prince took full responsibility for the execution of his complete vision, no matter its commercial viability. And when it came to the music, he had the freedom to take risks---nobody will ever be as good as Prince. We'll be playing catch-up in perpetuity; we'll not so much as nail that drum machine sound in our lifetimes. But there is one aspect to his influence we can all take to heart, musicians or otherwise, and that is to work hard. To be relentless. To insist on complete authorship of your own work. And to never stop, not until your last breath”.

On 7th June, it will be Prince’s sixty-fifth birthday. It is quite a milestone! Of course, we will remember his passing and the fact that we lost him so young (he was fifty-seven). On the other side, we can reflect on his genius and all of the wonderful music he gave us. All those brilliant moments that bond us. As an artist, he has influenced countless others in so many ways. Inspiring and strengthening L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ listeners, compelling and motivating others to be true to themselves and not be cowed by hate and what is deemed to be ‘normal’, these messages and qualities will inspire people for generations more. I will definitely raise a glass in memory of Prince…

ON 7th June.

FEATURE: Be That Movie Queen: Kate Bush and How T.V. Shows and Films Use Her Music

FEATURE:

 

 

Be That Movie Queen

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

Kate Bush and How T.V. Shows and Films Use Her Music

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WHERE to begin when it comes…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in a promotional shot for 2005’s Aerial/PHOTO CREDIT: Trevor Leighton

to the subject of Kate Bush and the adulation she has received over the past year or so! Even though a lot of them has come from award nominations, updates on her website, and the reissue of her lyrics book, How to Be Invisible, quite a bit of it started with the Netflix series, Stranger Things. I am not going to go into it again - as I have discussed it more than enough! Suffice to say, it helped get Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) to number one. In the process, it introduced her music to a new generation. It was acclaim in the U.S. that was especially humbling and overdue. This artist perhaps not as respected and known as much there as in the U.K., it does feel as though things have changed in that respect. That was confirmed and cemented as Bush was finally (on the fourth time of asking!) inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. A big honour that should have happened last year, this iconic genius has finally ‘cracked’ America. She never wanted that, but I think it is more to do with the country adopting her music and embracing it in a way that was not done all that connivingly before. Hounds of Love (1985), The Sensual World (1989), The Red Shoes (1993), and Aerial (2005) are albums that were noted and did quite well, but she has always fared much better in Europe.

Kate Bush’s music being used on T.V. shows and films is not a new thing. She has been heard on the small and big screens for decades now. In fact, This Woman’s Work first appeared in the film, She’s Having a Baby, in 1988 – a year before it appeared on The Sensual World album. There has been a smattering of placements and known songs popping up. Whilst filmmakers have not exactly employed the deep cuts when it comes to Bush’s music scoring their scenes, at least using some of the bigger hits gets her music to new people. One song that has appeared in a few shows and films is This Woman’s Work. I recently wrote how it featured at the end of The Mother. That film stars Jennifer Lopez in the titular role. It is played to render emotion and evoke a sense of pride and fulfilment. The original song was intended to be told from the father’s perspective. Sometimes immature and not taking responsibility, he had to face his wife breaching and their baby being at risk. It is that kind of emotional weight that was not really explored in other songs. I can appreciate how others have taken it more literally and related it to a mother. This Woman’s Work is one of Kate Bush’s most moving and evocative songs. It really does suit quite a few possibilities. In fact, The Daily Beast reacted to The Mother using This Woman’s Work: the end of a long and growing line that are perhaps distilling the song’s essence and importance. You can emphasise with some of Coleman Splide’s anger, though I think that it is a good thing that this classic is being heard and shared:

“If you’ve not yet experienced the phenomenon of music supervisors plopping Kate Bush’s “This Woman’s Work” into a piece of visual media that you’re watching, then you either have hobbies that don’t include mindlessly staring at a screen all day (good for you!), or you haven’t yet seen The Mother (a curse unto your firstborn). At this point, “This Woman’s Work” is starting to veer on, well, any song on the Suicide Squad or Guardians of the Galaxy soundtracks in terms of sheer overuse.

It’s kind of like when a lot of us cried watching that one gay episode of The Last of Us, before the most annoying people online cropped up to say, “Stop weaponizing Max Richter’s ‘On the Nature of Daylight.’” Since its release in 2004, Richter’s song appeared in notable moments in The Last of Us, Arrival, Shutter Island, and several other films and television shows as well. I don’t really have much of an ear for recognizing the repetition of a sappy orchestral piece, but I certainly do for a bravura vocal performance from one Kate Bush. And I fear that too many music supervisors are misunderstanding the intention behind “This Woman’s Work” and using it as a slapdash form of emotional exploitation.

IN THIS PHOTO: Jennifer Lopez in The Mother/PHOTO CREDIT: Netflix

“This Woman’s Work” was written by Bush for John Hughes’ 1988 film, She’s Having a Baby. The song is introduced in a pivotal moment during the film, which is by-and-large a romantic comedy—until the titular baby that she’s having comes a-knockin’, and the movie suddenly takes on a very real gravity. In a hospital waiting room, Jake (Kevin Bacon) reflects upon his relationship with his wife Kristy (Elizabeth McGovern), whose health is in danger during labor, when their child reaches the breech position. Jake understands that he could lose Kristy, their child, or the both of them, and he can’t even be near them in this moment. As he waits for news, a flashback montage of his life with Kristy plays, set to “This Woman’s Work.”

It sounds almost a bit corny—and distinctly ’80s—but the scene is incredibly effective in its context. That’s especially true, considering that this was the first time audiences ever heard “This Woman’s Work;” it was written by Bush about experiencing a crisis during childbirth, from the man’s point of view. The video for the song made these details a bit murkier, so it could resonate with a larger audience, but the crux of the song’s meaning stays the same. Put simply: If you’re going to use “This Woman’s Work” in a film or television show, it should stay far away from the thin line between sentimental and hokey.

In the past five years alone, I’ve seen two shocking and unforgettable debasements of “This Woman’s Work,” which were equally appalling, but for different reasons. The first was in the second season premiere of The Handmaid’s Tale, where a group of 50 or so handmaids are sent to a barren, dystopian version of Fenway Park and made to climb up to gallows, where they think they are about to be hung under the glare of stadium lights. As nooses are put around their necks, that Bush’s memorable warble sings out. “I know you have a little life in you yet/ I know you have a lot of strength left,” she croons, while the handmaids, who have had their mouths muffled, silently exchange glances and tearfully try to accept their fate.

It’s absolute torture to watch. It’s cruel to the point of viewer manipulation, pure trauma porn from a show that made its name by trading in the stuff. And Bush’s song, once a tender examination on the fragility of life, transforms into a vicious ordnance, stripped of any meaning to give viewers a psychological beating.

Somehow, this scene being a big fake out, where no one actually dies, only makes it feel more ruthless. I was so angry with The Handmaid’s Tale after that episode, so upset that its writers and music supervisors thought that no one would call them on their bullshit, that I never watched another frame of the show. Was I paying for Hulu at the time, meaning my viewership, or lack thereof, would have any effect on their metrics and margins? No. But I like to think I stuck it to them.

IN THIS PHOTO: Tom Hanks in A Man Called Otto/PHOTO CREDIT: Niko Tavernise/Searchlight Pictures

The second shrewd use of “This Woman’s Work” came just as recently as this year, in A Man Called Otto. That Tom Hanks clunker is already a deeply narratively confused film, and it doesn’t help that Otto has no conceivable idea where to start, when it comes to sprinkling in stirring resonance throughout the movie. However, the one thing going for this entry is that it has the good sense to mimic how the song was used in She’s Having a Baby (though if you’ve got to imitate a scene that already worked much better, you’re already juggling bigger problems than deciding what song to slap over it.)

In Otto, Bush’s song scores a flashback, where a young Otto (played by Hanks’ real 27-year-old son, Truman) and his pregnant wife are in a bus crash. The destruction is intercut with present-day Otto preparing a suicide attempt, which he doesn’t ultimately go through with. Obviously, neither of these things are comical. But the way in which the film presents them in conjunction has a similar air to that scene in The Handmaid’s Tale—you just can’t believe the lengths that someone went to, just to get you to cry.

You see, writers and music supervisors think that if we cry, we’ll be blinded by our own physical emotions. The simple biological act of moisture forming in our tear ducts turns us into vegetables. If we get choked up, we’ll automatically assume that correlates to a movie or a television show being good. That’s not the case! Sometimes, it’s just overwhelming. Other times, I’m crying with laughter; there is nothing quite so funny as seeing a bus twirl through the air in slow motion, set to Kate Bush wailing. At that point, the use of “This Woman’s Work” becomes a parody, and you’re basically asking me to giggle”.

There might be an argument to suggest that a song like This Woman’s Work is an easy go-to regarding evoking emotion and tenderness – but does it really do the song justice and get the meaning behind its lyrics? I think that it is only a good thing that Kate Bush’s music is used in films and on T.V. She has to prove and sign off on any use of her music, so she will know how it is being used. I remember Hallelujah (originally recorded by Leonard Cohen, but most famously covered by Jeff Buckley) being used on a lot of stuff years ago. Jeff Buckley’s version. It seemed like you could not get away from the song! It was used with seemingly every emotional or tragic moment on film and T.V.! We won’t have the same sort of overuse with This Woman’s Work, but maybe there is an argument to made to suggest that there are other Bush songs that could be used instead. It is always amazing to hear Kate Bush’s music heard, but if the same song comes up as an easy hit of emotion or reaction, then perhaps that does risk too narrowly defining her worth! Appropriately, this woman’s work is vast and full of treasures. It sort of takes me back to radio stations and the fact that they largely play only a few songs of hers – with Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) played more than any. I can see why singles might be favoured to deep cuts, though there does appear to be this homogenised representation of Kate Bush that you do not get with other artists.

The only way that you can get a full and proper appreciation of an artist is exploring their entire body of work! Not to say that there should be an uptake in Kate Bush songs being used in films and T.V. shows, but if filmmakers are thinking of her, then go a bit deeper. It is a more original angle, and you do not risk the same track being recycled. I don’t think we will see Running Up That (A Deal with God) feature too much, as it had such a remarkable success of the back of Stranger Things. Perhaps This Woman’s Work will continue to appear on the screen, but it would be awesome if we got to hear some lesser-known Bush songs in films or shows. Maybe even a single not overly-used, such as Babooshka or King of the Mountain. The success Bush has enjoyed in 2022 and this year is not only down to the use of her music on shows and through films. it is to do with her legacy and endless relevance. It is an easy and effective way of opening eyes to her extraordinary music and what she means. Rather than stick to the tried and tested, there is a world of Kate Bush music that would perfectly work on shows and films. It might get people to dive into her albums and not only listen to the hits. In turn, it might encourage radio stations to be a little less concise and restrictive regarding the Bush songs they play. The Mother has put This Woman’s Work in focus. Who knows which Kate Bush song will be on the screen, and whether it is a huge film or a T.V. series. It is flattering and validating that people want to use Kate Bush’s music for their films/shows. It proves (if it wasn’t fact already!) that she is…

SO remarkable and loved.

FEATURE: Strange Symphonies: Celebrating the Anniversary of Two of Kate Bush’s Best Singles

FEATURE:

 

 

Strange Symphonies

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1979/PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz

Celebrating the Anniversary of Two of Kate Bush’s Best Singles

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I can never pass over…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in the cover shot for 1978’s Lionheart/PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz

an opportunity to celebrate Kate Bush anniversaries. Whether that is an album or single, it means that it is back in the spotlight. I get to talk about these particular moments. Earlier in her career, different singles would be released in different counties. I know I have used a few features to focus on 1978 and 1979, but I want to keep us in 1979 just for this piece. Two of Bush’s best singles got a 1st June release that year. It was a bit of an odd thing releasing different songs depending on the country. I feel it is important to mark forty-four years of Strange Phenomena and Symphony in Blue. One extraordinary thing about the releases is that these were songs from different albums! Strange Phenomena is one of the best tracks from her 1978 debut album, The Kick Inside. With Wow (which had already been released as a single in March 1979) as a B-side, this was the final single from that album. I do find it kind of exceptional that Bush was able to promote two albums at the same time. Lionheart, her second album, arrived in November 1978. The year after both were released, and they were still getting focus in the form of single releases. These single releases occurred just over two weeks after Bush completed The Tour of Life. Bush put out Never for Ever in 1980. In the meantime, there was still some momentum from her singles. Today, you probably wouldn’t get a single released so long after an album had come out!

I am going to come to Symphony in Blue in a bit. I like the fact Strange Phenomena was only released as a single in Brazil. Perhaps a nation one would not feel warranted their own single release, I am so curious what promoted that decision! As we see from the Kate Bush Encyclopedia, this arresting and fascinating song did warrant a release. I also feel that it could have been a successful U.K. single. After it was performed widely during The Tour of Life, surely there would have been enough demand:

“['Strange Phenomena' is] all about the coincidences that happen to all of us all of the time. Like maybe you're listening to the radio and a certain thing will come up, you go outside and it will happen again. It's just how similar things seem to attract together, like the saying ``birds of a feather flock together'' and how these things do happen to us all the time. Just strange coincidences that we're only occasionally aware of. And maybe you'll think how strange that is, but it happens all the time. (Self Portrait, 1978)

"Strange Phenomena'' is about how coincidences cluster together. We can all recall instances when we have been thinking about a particular person and then have met a mutual friend who - totally unprompted - will begin talking about that person. That's a very basic way of explaining what I mean, but these ``clusters of coincidence'' occur all the time. We are surrounded by strange phenomena, but very few people are aware of it. Most take it as being part of everyday life. (Music Talk, 1978)”

I could imagine what a great music video could have been created for Strange Phenomena! It is a magnificent song that was not a magnificent success – though EMI felt that momentum should keep going, and there was still life from The Kick Inside.

It must have been confusing for Kate Bush knowing that two of her songs were being released as singles on 1st June, 1979! Still only twenty at the time, she was seeing her music released all over the world. If Strange Phenomena was an attempt to crack Brazil – or at least make them aware of Kate Bush -, then the majestic Symphony in Blue was aimed at Japan and Canada. I have written about this song before but, as it is celebrating its forty-fourth anniversary as a single, I am re-exploring it. I shall come to some thoughts regarding the song. Released in Japan and Canada, it featured Full House as the B-side on the Japanese release; Hammer Horror was the B-side in Canada. Hammer Horror was the lead single from Lionheart, so there was all this crossing over and confusion. Regardless, it meant that a song that ranks alongside Bush’s best did get a single release. I thought this was another sure-fit gem that would be released as a single in the U.K. Maybe EMI felt that they needed to limit the number of single releases at this point. Hammer Horror and Wow came out in the U.K. and elsewhere. Bush did perform Symphony in Blue during The Tour of Life, and she also played it for her 1979 Christmas special. It is a wonderful song that has this real and evocative depth. I wonder whether that was a conscious move from EMI. Bush was keen to be seen more of a serious artist, so it might have been an important and focused move to change perceptions and the narrative.

Symphony in Blue has this almost philosophical quality to it. One of her most beautiful songs, it showed that she was one of the most remarkable songwriters of her generation. This was a brand-new song. Bush was given such a short time to record Lionheart and follow up The Kick Inside, Symphony in Blue was one of three new songs written (the others being Coffee Homeground and Full House). I am glad that two very distinct songs got a single release. On the same day as she was promoting her second album and keeping that in the consciousness, there was also this single from her debut – and this was over a year since that album was released! I am not sure how much Bush had to do with deciding which singles were released where, but she would have known that these songs were going to get single releases in Brazil, Japan and Australia. This was a vital time for Bush’s career and her rising popularity. On 1st June, 1979, she was fresh from The Tour of Life. She would have been working on Never for Ever, but touring alone was not going to be enough to keep her played and talked about. Even if the singles were released in countries that might be massive territories for her (even though she did visit both Japan and Australia), it did mean that new fans were created and confirmed. I have always said how more singles should have been released in those early years. Strange Phenomena and Symphony in Blue are magnificent examples of the sophistication and raw talent Bush displayed at the start of her career! She was writing the sort of songs that her peers were not. Even back in 1978 and 1979, there was nobody in music like…

OUR Kate!