FEATURE: Going Back to the Discman? Analysing and Reacting to the Continued Rise in C.D. Sales

FEATURE:

 

 

Going Back to the Discman?

PHOTO CREDIT: Jorge Fakhouri Filho/Pexels

Analysing and Reacting to the Continued Rise in C.D. Sales

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I have written about this before…

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but I wanted to revisit the topic. C.D. sales are continuing to rise in popularity. We always associate physical music with vinyl. Most record shops stock a load of vinyl, whereas C.D.s are perhaps rarer. Chains like HMV feature more C.D.s, though many of their shops are closing. I do wonder why so few cassettes are sold. You tend to get artists offering albums on cassettes, though it is restricted to online. Some independent record stores stock cassettes, but mostly older albums. Vinyl very much is the preferred option for records shops, though there are drawbacks. Vinyl is still expensive and not something you can partake in obsessively unless you have a lot of money. Albums on vinyl take a while to arrive and I feel a lot of music listeners, especially younger fans, want music to be portable. They do not want algorithms and the impersonal nature of streaming. That is where C.D.s come in. You can easily buy new albums on the format, in addition to older ones. There is this rise in Gen Z music fans buying albums from the 1990s and before then on C.D. I am not sure whether they are listening on a Discman. Whatever the modern equivalent is. Last month, Rolling Stone reacted to a pleasing and encouraging upsurge in C.D. sales:

“Half of 2026 saw a 16 percent surge in CD sales — and you might be surprised by who’s buying them. Gen Z and millennial fans are gobbling up those shiny, Nineties-coded aluminum discs, 16.3 million of them in the U.S. alone. This format is even outpacing vinyl, which rose by only 2.4 percent. It’s official: Today’s music fans have a bad case of Discman fever.

It makes sense that younger listeners are turning to physical media, to make that direct tactile connection. They want to go off the grid when they listen, instead of asking a screen for permission. CDs might not be as sexy or romantic or glam as vinyl or cassettes — but they’re the best format ever for getting up close and personal with your favorite music.

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Vinyl takes much longer to produce, which means sometimes it moves too slow to keep up. If you bought the excellent new Olivia Rodrigo album on LP, you probably paid 40 bucks for an incomplete listening experience — because the songs get sliced down to fit on wax. The vinyl edition means you get “U + Me = <3” without the “all my favorite Cadbury” bridge, which is like a mutilated doll. The CD gives you the full album, the way God and Olivia intended you to hear it.

Streaming offers convenience and speed, but also constant distractions. Let’s face it, your phone is a clingy, needy, passive-aggressive housemate who’s sweet but a real pain in the ass, and you get sick of trying to have fun while it keeps barging in to ask “Hey, whatcha doing? Have you checked your emails?” Sometimes you want to leave the housemate behind. It’s tough to lose yourself in the music when your only source is the same device you use for texts, news, and videos of cats jumping on birthday cakes.

CDs have always been the geekiest music format, which is why they’re surging in a music culture that’s more geek-driven than ever. Luminate cites K-pop and indie rock as the two genres where fans are most hardcore about physical media — an audience Luminate classifies as “purchase-based superfans.” And the physical medium they want right now is the CD. Let the Discman spin forever”.

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It is interesting that Indie and K-Pop are the genres where C.D. sales are most sought-after. Something about the physicality of the format that speaks to them. I am not sure C.D. sales will ever match vinyl ones, though there was a time when people thought they would die. Articles that scoff at C.D.s and feel that any rise is temporary or insignificant. That is not the case. What we are seeing is that a generation growing up with digital music are favouring physical formats. Streaming is convenient and cheaper, though it is also this invisible format. In the sense you don’t feel like you are supporting the artist. Nothing to hold in your hand or keep. The experience is ephemeral. People wanting the permanence of C.D.s and other formats. It is not just Gen Z who are unironically stocking up on C.D.s. Those who grew up with the format are bonding with it still. This article from The Guardian features words from people who are turning to the physical. Whether that is C.D.s, cassettes or films. A combination of ownership, supporting artists, or protecting their personal data, this is a phenomenon that will continue to grow. I feel that C.D. sales will continue to increase next year:

“Spotify quickly “bored” Ruth, 67, a retired professor from Michigan, but there were other reasons behind her move to CDs and DVDs.

“Most of all, I wanted to own my music and support the musicians, so I own 5,300 CDs; they have their own walk-in closet,” she says. “Owning my own books, music, and photos (no iCloud) has always seemed normal to me, and, increasingly, prudent.

She adds: “No algorithm is as creative as a well-stocked human brain alive to its actual surroundings.”

Ruth also rents physical film titles by mail from a store in Seattle. “We retired to a rural area with internet unreliable for streaming that wouldn’t sustain a movie without interruptions and buffering. We can stream music from the internet, although even then the connection will conk out every once in a while”.

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C.D. sales in the U.S. have overtaken vinyl. I want to drop in a couple of other articles. I wrote about C.D. sales and their increase recently, and I sourced this article from The Guardian. How young people are buying all-in-one C.D. players or are searching for them more. It is not about being cool or retro. It is a real desire to step away from phones and connect with music. Like my generation did (I am in my forties and I very much recall a time before smartphones!). We have reached a point where there is this digital saturation. More and more people preferring physical formats like C.D.s:

“Tom Morgan-Freelander, the deputy editor of the technology magazine Stuff, has noticed the change over the past two years. He puts it down to consumers wanting to move away from using their phone, a better audio quality, and limited disposable income. “It’s: ‘I don’t want to spend money on a turntable and the speakers that go with it. I want to spend £150 on an all-in-one system that comes with the CD player,’” he says.

In the CD aisle of an HMV in London on a weekday morning, people in their teens and twenties are browsing. Fourteen-year-old Milo Georgeaux-Healy has chosen two Dua Lipa albums as well as Brat by Charli xcx to play on an “old boombox”. “I like them because they’re cheaper,” she says. “They’re a lot more compact [than vinyl], and I find that they have better quality than your phone.” Adel Alsehi, 27, is visiting from Riyadh. He has selected a Madonna greatest hits, a Kacey Musgraves album and Private Dancer by Tina Turner. “It gives me a different feeling,” he says of CDs. “I feel like I’m listening to an artist’s work. It brings me joy.”

The sold-out Crosley Voyager CD player: better quality than streaming without shelling out for a high-end system. Photograph: John Lewis

Richard Farnell runs Vinyl Exchange in Manchester, where they also sell CDs. He says the people buying CDs are now younger, and cost is a big part of this. “The record labels started to up the price of vinyl and it became largely unaffordable for this demographic,” he says. “A copy of Oasis’s Definitely Maybe on original UK “Damont” pressing can sell for between £150 and £250, depending upon condition. The standard vinyl reissue will be around £25-£30, but in our shop the CD version will only be £4.”

The CD revival is part of a wider fashion for retro tech. As well as the vinyl resurgence and cassettes becoming popular items to buy, there’s the vogue for wearing wired earphones over AirPods. “The vinyl revival re-established our appetite for analogue, and now we’re seeing that broader love for physical music drive a genuine surge in CD players,” confirms Katrina Mills, the category buying lead for audio and imaging at John Lewis.

Part of this is about optics. “Someone walking around with a portable CD player and wired headphones is signalling their sense of taste and cultural capital,” says brand strategist Alexi Gunner. He has labelled this trend “performative audiophilia”.

Gunner argues that the return to the physical for music is a kind of rebellion. “The status quo is streaming platforms and wireless audio on identical iPhones,” he says. “All this has taken away the haptic, sensorial quality of listening to music”.

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There is something collectable with C.D.s. Artists release albums on vinyl and do different colours and variations. Vinyl is not as collectable because of the price. K-Pop artists especially good at turning albums into something fans want to collect and keep. Also, streaming helps C.D. sales. As this article suggests, “Streaming says: “I listen to this artist.” Buying an album says: “I’m a fan of this artist.” Those are different behaviours. Streaming can therefore function as the discovery and listening layer, while physical music becomes the ownership and fandom layer”. Streaming is definitely not on its way out, though more and more, we are seeing fans invest in C.D.s. I would argue the sound quality is better on C.D. Also, that idea of albums sitting on the shelf and being available to you. Albums disappear from streaming services. They can change. An inexpensive and sturdy source of music, you do hope that records stores on the high street thrive. That more offer a greater range of C.D.s. The idea of people browsing together for C.D.s rather than getting everything online. Gen Z are a big reason why we are discussing C.D.s in 2026. This is encouraging! When they get older and have children of their own, they will pass down C.D.s and this love and fascination will reach a new generation. That is how I got into C.D.s. But with streaming being easy and quick, I have sort of forgotten why C.D.s are so great. I love listening to them in the car. I listen to music portably, but there is something about a portable C.D. player that beats a phone. The warmth of it. Just holding that device. A mix of nostalgia and a sense of ownership. That you can only listen to one album at a time and there is not that distraction of looking at the phone whilst listening to music and skipping between albums. A much richer experience. The rise in C.D. sales is not this fad. It is a genuine and very real thing that will continue for years. And, to be honest, it is so…

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WONDERFUL to see.

FEATURE: Cloud 9: Is Tinashe’s Popstar the Best Album of 2026?

FEATURE:

 

 

Cloud 9

PHOTO CREDIT: Myesha Evon Gardner for The New York Times

Is Tinashe’s Popstar the Best Album of 2026?

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GIVEN the critical acclaim…

I think a lot of websites will vote Tinashe’s Popstar as the best album of this year. It has received such a huge reaction. An artist who has released her eighth album, she is arguably at her peak and most free. It goes to show that artists do need to time to reach that peak. I think there is pressure on them, especially women, to conform or to write in a particular way. Artists expected to be brilliant and at their purest right away or they are forgotten about. That constant expectation for new material. Popstar proves that artists can very much take a few albums or more until that golden moment comes. That said, so many of Tinashe’s previous albums have been acclaimed. Though nothing quite like Popstar. Even if Phoebe Bridgers’ Lost Weekend and Beck’s Ride Lonesome might also be up for album of the year, I think that Tinashe’s Popstar will top most critical lists. I will come to a couple of the many positive reviews. However, I did want to get to some words with Tinashe. The Kentucky artist is one of the best songwriters in the world right now. Popstar is this modern masterpiece. Her eighth album is her most confident. You can feel that throughout the album. Tinashe wants to challenge the Pop star label. Popstar is brave and ambitious. The Hollywood Reporter spoke with Tinashe earlier this month:

“The Popstar universe has been building in my mind for a while now,” Tinashe says.

The 33-year-old, one of pop’s most forward-thinking acts, is speaking about her latest album, Popstar, which dropped on Sept. 25 and features sixteen tracks. It’s the type of album that Tinashe, who’s been working in the entertainment industry since she was a child, could only make now.

“I’ve just reached a place in my life, personally and professionally, where I feel very self-assured and confident in my position,” she tells The Hollywood Reporter on a Zoom, pacing around what appears to be an outdoor patio as she excitedly talks about this next chapter. “Both in the industry and just I guess as an individual.”

Tinashe wanted Popstar to feel “real and raw and empowered.” The singer left the major label system in 2019, finding success in pursuing the music and creative she wants. It’s been a journey of growth and learning, she admits, but it’s been seven years, so growth is to be expected. Realizing she was able to do this on her own restored the confidence in creativity that she felt she had been losing.

Despite the album’s name, she wasn’t trying to box herself into a genre. She’s never wanted to limit herself to one of anything, and she feels her music has always been reflective of that. “The categorization was definitely probably the biggest hindrance to how I think I was perceived to the public and the world,” Tinashe says.

Letting go of genre might sound confusing when the album’s named Popstar, but to Tinashe, a pop star is so much more than a genre label. “It’s an energy, it’s an embodiment, it’s an ownership of a space that I want to take up in the world,” she says.

Tinashe wants to expand what people think of when they think of being a pop star. From a technical genre perspective, she’s hoping that pop can continue to feel more expansive. “People, when they think of the genre of pop, they have a very watered down and narrow-minded point of view of what that sounds like and looks like,” she says. “I hope to challenge that.”

Do you find it frustrating ever, for pop music in particular, there’s this idea that it’s something made in a factory and it’s just given to artists? In reality, all of the women like yourself that are in this space are actively involved in creating the music.

One hundred percent. That’s one of the things that I’m exploring visually in concept with this album, poking fun at the machine of it all or the perfection. We obviously know the cliches that are involved with being a pop star and being a part of that machine. But I also think people can see behind the curtain now a bit more, and that’s another layer to me of what this album means. By embodying what a pop star is, I can both lean into the spectacle and the show of it all, and I can also reject it and be like, “Fuck you, I am who I am. I might not fit this mold or expectation, but this is still what a pop star is because I said so.”

Does it feel nice to be able to take that back into your own hands to decide?

A million percent. That was really important for me, just where I am in my life, because when I wanted to write this new project, I really wanted to embody that energy. That was the North star of how the creative came together in my mind.

How do you feel about the industry now versus when you were first getting started?

It’s changed a lot. I think, to be fair, I’m very optimistic about it at this point because I’ve seen how many iterations there are of it. And that leads me to believe that whatever’s happening now will not remain the same. That’s exciting in a way. Where music is going, and how people are going to continue to experiment and try new things, I think that’s really fun. I can’t predict it, and being part of that conversation is fun. Obviously, there’s bad things about it all, but there’s always bad things about it. It’s like, it’s the music industry, man. It’s the wild, wild west”.

Even though we are in October, you can’t see many albums coming along before the end of the year that can challenge Popstar. I have seen few albums arrive that have instantly connected. That has gained this enormous love. What makes it special is that Tinashe has been releasing music for so many years. Popstar takes Tinashe from this cult favourite or underrated artist to this chart-topping success. A huge breakthrough moment. Prior to getting to a couple of reviews, The New York Times spent time with Tinashe. You can feel how genuinely amazed and humbled she is by the reviews. Whilst some albums this year have scored similar high critical praise – I refer you back to Beck and Phoebe Bridgers -, there is this extra element and layer to Tinashe’s Popstar and its success:

“In the past 14 years, Tinashe has released seven studio albums, four mixtapes and enough viral hits to steadily establish herself as one of the most compelling, quietly radical artists working today. It took some effort.

Like her idol, Janet Jackson, the singer has pushed at the genre’s boundaries with forward-thinking beats and full-bodied choreography. Her voice, which can leap from pillow-talk intimate to stadium-size belting, is a flexible instrument, which she has used to map pop hooks onto even the most experimental of tracks.

But even with a catalog of critically acclaimed music, Tinashe has found herself in the frustrating position of perpetually being deemed “underrated.” Expectations from early on in her career, that she might be as world-conquering a performer as Rihanna or Beyoncé, have sometimes blunted the public’s ability to appreciate her success.

That seems poised to change with her eighth album, “Popstar,” released late last month on Nice Life/Atlantic. The record has not only received some of the strongest reviews of her career and stoked a massive outpouring of support for her online, but also resulted in her highest-charting Billboard 200 position to date. After years of hard work, it feels as though audiences may finally be coming around to recognizing Tinashe as the kind of wide-ranging pop star she always sought to be.

When we met in Downtown Brooklyn on the evening “Popstar” released, New York City was bracing itself for a storm, and that, combined with the neon-pink-orange sunset on the horizon, added to the feeling that something dramatic was about to shift. In the gap between one launch event and another, we sat together at an Italian restaurant, picking at the ravioli her team sent over.

“It’s been an up and down kind of journey for my career,” Tinashe, 33, said.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a response so positive for my work right out the gate,” she added, beaming, “and it’s kind of funnnnn.”

The reviews, which include “Popstar” sharing Pitchfork’s highest score this year, have been validating. “For years I felt misunderstood, overlooked, the butt of the joke … but I just kept going,” she wrote in a social media post sharing an image of the review, adding: “That’s why this means so much to me — because after all of these years, to finally be here in this moment and seeing the praise for this project and finally feeling seeeeeen and heard is unbelievably touching.”

Born to professor parents in Lexington, Ky., Tinashe (pronounced tin-AH-shay) Kachingwe spent her early years in DeKalb, Ill., before the family settled for good in La Crescenta, just north of Los Angeles. She showed talent as a performer early on, appearing in the 2000 television movie “Cora Unashamed” and working on the 2004 animated film “The Polar Express.” Since the release of “Popstar,” fans have put together their own retrospectives of Tinashe’s life and career in supercuts, circulating footage of her belting at age 5, being praised by Roger Ebert at age 10, debuting with the girl group the Stunners in her teens and sharing the stage with another idol, Britney Spears, in her 20s.

One of the central themes of recent pop music has been performers asking themselves how to square their dreams of stardom with the pressures and demands of a show business that no longer seems geared toward supporting musicians as artists. On recent releases, singers like Charli XCX, Kim Petras and Jade (formerly of Little Mix, who, like Tinashe, came up in a more centralized music industry) have treated the act of making pop like an existential question: weighing whether to blow up their careers in pursuit of a scruffier authenticity. After years of acquiescing to major-label demands, they have cultivated audiences willing to meet them on their own terms, challenging them with avant-garde production and from-the-heart lyrics that grapple with the thorny relationship to art and life.

“Popstar” is both an interrogation of the term and a demonstration of its avant-garde potential. Pulling from silky R&B, breakneck club music and knotty experimental beats, the record explores themes of love, sex, partying and fame and its discontents. On the title track, the singer conveys her journey into the spotlight with a sweeping chorus book-ended by booming handclaps. “Empty Stadium” dramatizes the anxiety of not being heard as Tinashe’s voice levitates over dreamy strings and a restless, anxiety-tinged drum break.

If the earlier stages of her career resulted in misunderstanding and misdirection, Tinashe had found meaning in it nonetheless.

“My mission is to just expand the understanding of what [pop] means, so that more, especially women, but especially Black women, don’t feel like they’re made to be stuck in a box. I feel like there was so much of that in my early career days,” she said, recalling the labels — “confused, unfocused, directionless” — that were often applied to her.

“I just never subscribed to that,” she said. “But I did feel that it created a place where I didn’t feel like I had a space to land. I hope that I can help create more space for people to just make whatever they want”.

NME shared their five-star review of Popstar. They note how Popstar is the sound of an artist who is no longer chasing approval. She is very much “bold, unpigeonholeable and certain of who she is as a person and artist”. Rather than Popstar being a one-off and future Tinashe albums are less remarkable, I feel this is the start of a new era. One where she delivers these world-class and adored albums for years more. That might sound like a lot of pressure, though you can feel that intent through Popstar:

“When Tinashe released ‘Too Easy’, the lead single of her eighth studio album ‘Popstar’, the internet was lit aflame, hallmarking and revisiting the 33-year-old’s continued influence on other artists, particularly K-pop’s moodboards, visuals and wider discographies. But Tinashe’s impact spans much further; she also helped to spawn the alt-R&B renaissance of the 2010s – alongside peers including Jhené Aiko, The Weeknd and Miguel – and recent singles like ‘Crash Out’ re-centred a signature brand of west coast bounce and trap that leaps out across her discography (see 2020’s ‘Hopscotch’). Fundamentally, the singer has always been an all-encompassing pop and wider musical reference.

On ‘Popstar’, Tinashe silences the chatter, refusing to play into any debate surrounding her worth. Instead, she uses the record to embrace and hold space for multifaceted stardom and womanhood. “Blacked out sunglasses / nothing else in the world even matters”, she hisses on album opener ‘Sunglasses’. “Speakers so loud / Music my religion”. A deliberately busy, instrumental-heavy soundscape is quelled by ghoulishly pitched vocals; make no mistake, she’s the architect of her reality. ‘Too Easy’ and ‘Melatonin’ dart past the ear in quick succession, urging listeners to move with their hyper-pop, EDM, dance, acid-house and synth-doused compositions.

But not all parts of fame are as easy as Tinashe insists. Doubt, imposter syndrome and paranoia can threaten everything, she warns on ‘Empty Stadium’. Nocturnal in both its pulse, and the singer’s recollections, she waxes on the journey to her current destination; the result is a tender reflection on the mental trauma associated with fame and fortune. But by ‘Twentyfive Eight’ we’re all made clear of Tinashe’s stance on chasing numbers. “If you win the rat race and you come in first place, then you’re still a rat”, she notes.

Over deep house and funk-laced acoustics, the multi-hyphenate refuses to place value in perfectionism: “There’s more to you than what you achieve”. In fact, on the album’s balmy title track, Tinashe embraces the mess, calling herself pretty amongst the chaos. It’s always felt this way with the singer – from ‘2 On’ and ‘Superlove’, ‘Nasty’ to ‘No Broke Boys’ – Tinashe’s appeal lies in her multifaceted, immersive and unstructured approach to success. There’s not a linear formula to her breakthroughs or artistic statements. It speaks to her boundless appeal. That’s what compels you to press play, not quite knowing how she’ll hook the ear next.

‘Popstar’ manages to centre the person behind the mystique too, as Tinashe is equally assertive in her personal endeavours. “Put your hands on my body”, the Aquarius commands on the piano-baked “Flashbacks” – in her hard-work, Tinashe makes space for play, demands it, in fact. But beyond the lust, Tinashe is cognisant enough to know when to walk away. Over sobering electric electric guitar riffs on ‘I’d Rather Be Alone’, she places value in singlehood over broken scenarios with former lovers.

‘Popstar’ is an equilibrium of confidence and introspection on which Tinashe lets the world in – not to vie for their approval, but to showcase the trials and tribulations of a Black woman in Hollywood. To get to this firm, sacrosanct form of self-worth, one must shed and rebuild one’s armour. On ‘Popstar’, Tinashe doesn’t run from the headlights, she realises that she’s always been her own one”.

I am going to end with Pitchfork’s review of Popstar. It is an absolute gem of an album. If you have not heard Tinashe’s latest album, then do go and listen to it now. One of the defining moments of this year. In terms of the conversations around it and what its success represents. I do feel that people will talk about Popstar for months to come:

“Maybe you’ve noticed recently how evergreen pop-song subjects like love and fantasy have been supplanted by the “reality” of hustle and a meta-narrative. The inspirations and tribulations of life as a full-time entertainer are the subjects of many a recent female pop album, from debutantes and establishment icons alike: ADÉLA’s PRIMA; JADE’s THAT’S SHOWBIZ, BABY!; Ariana Grande’s petal; Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl; every Charli xcx album since Crash. I think this emergent phenomenon is like fifty percent a function of late-capitalist anxiety and fifty percent stan culture wagging the stars, but maybe it’s one and the same thing. “The American Dream is outdated/Now they sittin’ on the internet hatin’,” as Tinashe puts it on “Crash Out,” one of the dozens of brilliant little moments on Popstar, her new pop meta-narrative album to end pop meta-narrative albums. After this, hang it up.

Popstar really is that good: top-shelf material with a sense of purpose—a compulsion, even—about connecting sounds circulating in pop, electronic, and dance music right now. Its rhythmic sensibility works both song-to-song and as a full-album listen. It’s fresh in the best way—immediately accessible, a little bit avant-garde. And it’s super recognizably Tinashe: her voice, taste, points of reference, backed by the kind of producer lineup a creative director would probably call “directional.” She’s got Arca and Machinedrum on the dial-up modem (“Sunglasses”) and Kingdom’s crazy “Closer”-meets-bassline production for “Nobody Wanna Dance Anymore” is in the lead for dancefloor makeout track of the year. She’s playing into the self-aware theme by interpolating herself and the pop era she came up in. She knows when to step on the gas, and she will make the song too short before she ever gets bored.

One of those recognizably Tinashe things is the hooks with a facility for zeitgeist phrases that would embarrass another artist. You could go the rest of your life without hearing the word “brainrot”? Me too, but not when I hear Tinashe sing “Brainrot,” or “Crash Out” (a rather belated addition to Merriam-Webster this month), or “It gets to a point,” or “We live in a society.” It’s not just her line readings or her longstanding knack for getting in on the joke: Somehow she’s singing a little less than on past albums, not just when she’s sing-rapping but because the Popstar toplines are so integral to the beats. It’s as much about the melodies as the way their percussive qualities factor into the whole (brainrot, brainrot, brainrot)—this is something she’s worked toward for a long time, really being part of the rhythm. On “Pillow Fight”: “I was never innocent,” with an echo on “innocent” that sounds like it’s coming through the Britney mic; straight into a threat to whack you into bed that makes her sound like a featherweight Pusha T; then she says “tussle” so it sounds like “tesselate,” there’s a gorgeous harmony section, and it’s over so fast.

There are no bad Tinashe albums, but Popstar is more focused, more ambitious, more self-contained, and more broadly appealing. It’s daring while still maintaining a universal power of public attraction shared with records like FutureSex/LoveSounds, Blackout, ANTI, and, more recently, Oklou’s choke enough and FKA twigs’ Eusexua. It pays homage to classic pop-album format with distinct first- and second-half arcs (which Tinashe upgrades by making the B side even stronger than the A side—record execs hate this one weird trick) and its sweet acoustic closing track (you may find this trope cloying but I like dessert; it’s also a Britneyism). Popstar is so fashion-forward that there’s already Nick León and umru remixes to fit in your going-out purse. It’s going to land on the runway and on your favorite niche pop star’s warm-up playlist within 48 hours”.

I have been following Tinashe for years. However, as much as I love her previous albums, there is something about Popstar that has blown me away. And so many others too. Without doubt the best Pop album of the year, I think it may also be the best of any album from 2026. You can see it winning GRAMMYs next year. Where does she go from here? Tinashe is currently on tour in the U.S. I hope there are plans to come to the U.K. next year. Popstar a spellbinding album that is the best of this year. An artist in full bloom and at her very best, we all need to show love and respect to…

THE great Tinashe.

FEATURE: Modern-Day Queens: Sugababes

FEATURE:

 

 

Modern-Day Queens

PHOTO CREDIT: Liz Collins

Sugababes

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I have been a fan of…

Sugababes for years now. Their debut, One Touch, was released in 2000. Since then, the group has experienced shifts and line-up changes. The original trio of Keisha Buchanan, Siobhán Donaghy, and Mutya Buena come together for a new album, Sugababes. It will be released on 12th February, 2027. It is quite a big moment. You do wonder whether Sugababes will perform at festivals next year. Few people expected that original line-up to get back together. This is a new phase for one of our best groups. Because of that, I did want to highlight them for Modern-Day Queens. There will be more interviews and discussion closer to the release of their eponymous album. It is clear that the trio have this enormous following. It is not just listeners who were listening to them back in 2000. There is a new wave of younger fans who are connecting with them. Their performances at Glastonbury in 2022 and 2024 were the stuff of legends! Although they might not be playing Glastonbury next year, there will be demand for them to tour when their eponymous album is released. There are a couple of interviews I want to highlight. One is from September. I want to start by going back to last year and Glamour. They were named Women of the Year. You do hope that this reformed original line-up continues strong for years more:

“Over the years, the slow disassembly of the original Sugababes has been somewhat trivialised by over-simplified tabloid narratives and online snark, but the long, careful pause each of the women takes before speaking about the road they took to reconciliation is still heavy with emotional weight. That early ice-breaker meeting was a therapeutic first step. “We wanted to feel confident that we were gonna approach each other with the sensitivity that the situation needed when we talk about childhood trauma like that,” says Siobhan. “We needed to know that we had each other’s back.”

Talks snowballed into studio sessions and then a major new label deal. The group’s first shot at a second chance – under the name Mutya Keisha Siobhan (MKS) put their newfound solidarity to the test. They released a single in 2013, Flatline, produced by Dev Hynes, which was critically well-received but commercially unsuccessful, which led to the entire project being shelved. They also faced complications over the ownership of the Sugababes trademark. But, they tell me, they stood their ground and fought – and won – for their original name.

These battles, Keisha says, made their relationship “way more solid. Being able to go through those trenches, to constantly be told no, constantly told who we should be, to have those frustrations… We had every reason to give up, but then God was like, ‘It’s your time.’”

In 2019, they got both their name and their groove back. They collaborated with DJ Spoony on a cover of the Sweet Female Attitude classic Flowers and hit a new chart peak with the 20th anniversary rerelease of One Touch in 2021 which included brand new remixes from MNEK and Blood Orange, as well as previously unheard demos. They booked a handful of festival appearances for 2022, “to test the waters and see if our nervous systems could take it”, making a triumphant return to the stage with an all-killer, no-filler headline performance at Mighty Hoopla that year, their first live show since 2013. The rapturous reception they received came as a surprise.

“We were gearing up for the struggle again,” Siobhan explains. “But then we did Mighty Hoopla,” says Keisha, “and it was like people really wanted us to do well.” But even Mighty Hoopla couldn’t prepare them for Glastonbury, a few weeks later. As a completely unprecedented number of fans flooded the Avalon stage, the festival was forced to shut the field down to prevent dangerous overcrowding. “It really was too much to process. It was very overwhelming,” Siobhan says. “They had to make the PA so loud to project it past the tent into the field. I think I was in shock when I came off stage.” Mutya adds: “I literally went deaf for about half an hour. I couldn’t walk, my knees were wobbling.”

Glastonbury 2022 marked a turning point for the group’s new public perception, as well as the way they perceived themselves. They shriek with laughter when I tell them about a rowdy (but remarkably respectful) group of young men I stood next to at their sold-out London show earlier this year, who lost their minds every time the choreography called for them to roll their hips. “I always get really nervous before we go on stage because you never know what the crowd is,” Mutya confesses. “But they’re starting to get younger and younger. There was one show we did that turned into a mosh pit. We were singing and the lads were just moshing. Hilarious.”

So now, to the future. A new album, finally, in early 2026. It will be their first full-length project since dropping their cancelled 2013 release The Lost Tapes on streaming services as a thank you to fans and finally bringing the Mutya Keisha Siobhan chapter of their story to a close. “Everything that we’re doing now is what we hoped MKS would have been back then,” Keisha says. “People talk about selling records and stuff, but I genuinely think the goal is to make an imprint. It’s actually so humbling, 25 years later, to sit and think: this is the dream.”

Their unwavering conviction in the intrinsic qualities the three of them bring to the table and a firm insistence that they be recognised for those contributions have held them together during the long fight for ownership of the legacy they created. Now, having survived the “trenches”, they are able to fully appreciate the powerful example their quiet resolve has set for other women.

“We’ve really worked our arses off throughout the years and been really humble about it as well,” says Mutya. “We’ve stuck through so much shit that’s been said about us. We could have all quit at different times, but we decided to stick together.”

“I’d like to think that what we reflect is strength and resilience and sisterhood,” Keisha says in agreement. “I’m just glad that we never compromised. It was never about the money, never about the fame. We love what we do and it’s now in our hands”.

The next interview I want to highlight is from British Vogue from September. Sugababes discuss how they don’t see them as a girl band. Compared to their peers, there was an edge and a roughness. Not polished and as commercial as others. I think that a lot of the groups coming through now that are called girl bands are indebted to Sugababes. So many look up to them and what they achieved:

“I wonder if they still see their teen selves when they look at each other. Whether they feel as though any time has passed. “I do feel like we are just elevated versions of our teen selves,” says Keisha, her eyes flicking to the others through the camera lens. “A lot of things are the same as they were, but a lot of things have changed... Our personal lives have been very, very different from each other. That’s great for our writing because when we’re able to come together, it is from different perspectives.” Mutya agrees. “I mean, I still look at myself as quite young,” she says. “It doesn’t feel like as many years as it’s been. I find it quite refreshing to always keep going out with new material and performing with the girls.”

Lead single “Ghost”, out today, is a collective favourite. “It came from something that happened to me with my first love,” explains Siobhán. “He essentially ghosted me before we even had the terminology for it. I remember joking at the time that in some ways it would have been easier if he’d died – which is obviously incredibly dramatic, but there’s something strange about grieving someone who’s still out there.” Musically, they wanted it to feel scuzzy and imperfect, “rather than over-produced. There’s something about that looseness that gives the song its character. We weren’t consciously trying to make something that sounded like an old Sugababes record, but once the three voices are on something with that slightly raw, soulful quality, I think it naturally starts to feel like us”.

It took a while to get to a place where everything felt smooth sailing. “Where do we start?” Keisha laughs when I ask how she got their name back. “I had the rights to the name from old contracts, and there was a lot of tricky things going on behind the scenes and, pretty much, I had to take on a few giants in order for that to happen… It wasn’t easy. There were a lot of things that went on financially.”

What Keisha is most proud of, she says, is how they did it at a time in which there wasn’t much going on for them as a band. “What I really admire about our journey is that we were doing things when there was no support, even by the industry. There was no management. No one saying ‘Girls, you’ve got to do this’, you know?” I ask whether they’ve had any encouragement from former Sugababes members, and there’s an awkward pause. Keisha breaks the ice. “It’s all love,” she smiles, diplomatically. “We just wish everyone the best.”

I bring up their famous Glastonbury performances. In both 2022 and 2024, the band drew such mammoth crowds that security had to shut down certain sections of the festival, lest there was a stampede. I personally remember having to crawl through a bush on my hands and knees during that first year, just to escape the mania. “It was insane. It was very overwhelming. I think we all came off kind of in shock,” remembers Siobhán, who couldn’t hear her own voice over the screams. “I just remember being in a really big leather jacket, and feeling like I was gonna faint because of the heat,” adds Mutya. “I came off literally feeling like I had lost my hearing”.

This is a wonderful time for Sugababes. With an album out next year, I wanted to discuss them here, as they are one of our greatest groups. Attitude wrote recently how Sugababes fought to perform and use that name. It has been a battle for them, but they are using their platform now to speak up for L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ rights. What you get from Sugababes now, as was true back in 2000, is that they are authentically themselves. They do not pose and smile for the cameras on demand. They are very much like “real girls you might see walking around London rather than a group who had been created in a boardroom”:

“They use their platform to its fullest with their LGBTQ+ allyship, which extends far beyond festival stages into direct activist fundraising. When hostility towards transgender people escalated across UK public discourse, the trio put themselves on the line. Joining forces with Olly Alexander and Mighty Hoopla, Sugababes signed on as marquee performers for Trans Mission, an all-star charity concert aimed at fighting discrimination which took place in March at Wembley Arena. The initiative raised critical funds for trans-led advocacy groups, including Not A Phase and the Good Law Project, with Mutya and Siobhán both opening up about having transgender loved ones and personal connections to the trans community.

And perhaps that’s what makes the Sugababes story so remarkable. This isn’t simply a group being brought back because people remember their old songs. The trio have had to fight to reclaim something that was taken away from them, and they’ve come back stronger because of it.

For Mutya, Keisha and Siobhán, The Music Award, supported by M&S, at the Virgin Atlantic Attitude Awards 2026, in partnership with M&S and electrified by Polestar, honours something far more rare: complete ownership of their artistry. They survived the machine, fought to regain the rights to their legacy and emerged at the absolute height of their vocal and artistic powers”.

Ahead of the release of Sugababes on 12th February, 2027, they have a string of tour dates, so fans can catch them in the flesh. The dates are as follows: 16th March, 2027 - O2 Institute, Birmingham, 17th March - O2 Institute, Birmingham, 19th March - O2 Academy Glasgow, 20th March - O2 Academy Glasgow, 23rd March - O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London, 24th March - O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London, 26th March - Manchester Academy and 27th March -  Manchester Academy. It will be great to see Sugababes on the road! After the album comes out, I suppose there will be more material after that, though they will want to concentrate on the album and take one step at a time. I was very keen to write about…

THIS legendary trio.

FEATURE: Spotlight: DAMEDAME*

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Avely Vain

DAMEDAME*

_________

IF you do not know…

the incredible DAMEDAME*, then do go and seek them out. They are a duo consisting of producers and songwriters Barbara Boko and Edith Nelson. DAMEDAME* released their debut album, DREAMS ON THE PASSENGER SEAT, in July. I shall get to some features about them. However, earlier this month, DAMEDAME* won a coveted prize at the Music Week’s Women in Music Awards 2026. The New Artist award is one that really does signal those who will become future greats. Innovators in the industry. You can read more here:

“The ceremony kicked off with acknowledgement of the contribution of a key player in the thriving live music sector. To huge cheers, CAA agent Summer Marshall was presented with the Live Music Inspiration award (sponsored by O2) by chart-topping artist Maisie Peters, who’s booked to play The O2 as part of the venue’s 20th birthday line-up in 2027.

“She will give her all, she will be there, because that’s the kind of person and agent she is,” said Peters of the “most hardcore person I know”.

“We’ve achieved so much together and there’s so much more we’re going to build,” said Summer Marshall, whose victory was applauded by her family including Korda Marshall, her father.

Women In Music supports music talent with the highly coveted New Artist trophy (sponsored by PRS For Music and PRS Foundation), previously collected by Rina Sawayama, Nova Twins, Alt Blk Era and more. Our deserving winners for 2026 are DAMEDAME*, who arrived on stage to their track Fire Burnin’ Thru The Rain having received supportive messages on video from Jorja Smith, Tim Blacksmith, P2J and more.

The duo acknowledged the support of Tim & Danny Music, Sony Music Publishing and Robots + Humans”.

There is not too much in the way of interviews. I guess more will come. However, I do want to end with a review of DAMEDAME*’s sensational and must-listen debut album. It is amazing that Walsall has produced three modern-day greats. The duo of DAMEDAME* and, of course, Jorja Smith. They have worked together, which is not a surprise, but it does make me wonder whether this under-discussed part of the U.K. is in the process of producing yet another modern great. Important to not focus on major cities like London and look beyond. New Wave Mag recently spoke with DAMEDAME*. I wanted to highlight the middle portion of the interview as particularly relevant and interesting. I do think that DAMEDAME* are going to release so many incredible albums and produce for a lot more artists. They have that drive and passion:

“Their story begins in Birmingham, where the two first crossed paths around 2016 as artists  within the city’s creative scene. They were fans of each other’s music, posting songs on  SoundCloud, before a mutual friend introduced them and they began helping each other  with records. By 2018, Barbara had grown tired of the neo-soul world she had been  exploring and wanted somewhere to experiment with pop, Auto-Tune, and production  without having to answer to a particular genre. The answer was an anonymous alias, a  space where the pair could “create music with, like, no bounds.”

Even the duo’s name ‘DAMEDAME*’ carries a meeting point between their worlds. Edith, who is Ghanaian, was looking through Ghanaian Adinkra symbols when she came across  ‘Dame Dame.’ When she showed it to Barbara, Barbara recognised another meaning: “lady  lady” in French, a reference to her own French background. The two meanings crossed over, and they “just ran with it.”

That spirit of exploration still sits at the centre of their music, with DAMEDAME*’s fingerprints often recognisable before their names appear in the credits. Tyla’s “Double Blind” is one example, its stacked vocals and layered harmonies revealing the duo’s touch,  while their production and songwriting credits extend across artists including Wizkid and  Jim Legxacy. When asked what listeners recognise in their work, the duo point towards  vocal production, background vocals, melodic feeling, and sound design. “We don’t feel like we have a sound,” Edith admits, still surprised by how easily listeners can identify their  work.

That instinct was nurtured in the Midlands. The Birmingham creative scene they entered  was small and close-knit, with the same people appearing at open mics, poetry  performances, and workshops, creating a network where collaboration happened  naturally. For Barbara, simply watching artists perform their own music in Birmingham  was enough to make her realise that becoming an artist was possible, while the lack of  infrastructure meant DAMEDAME* had to learn to create without waiting for perfect  conditions.

“Not having, sort of, like, an infrastructure here, because there’s not much of an infrastructure  for music, or resources, in fact, like, really meant that we became very dependent on ourselves, and DIY,” Barbara explains how they invested in their own equipment, recorded people in  bedrooms and travelled with their setups. “It’s very, very collaborative,” Edith adds.

That DIY foundation eventually led them further into the industry, where their own project  was temporarily placed to one side as opportunities to write and produce for other artists  began to arrive. Barbara describes the transition from making music as a hobby to working  professionally as “kind of like university for production and songwriting and becoming, I  guess, an artist.” They had to learn how to finish music, moving away from their habit of  starting “10,000 ideas” and never completing them”.

Prior to getting to a review of DREAMS ON THE PASSENGER SEAT, here is another interview to cover off. Ones to Watch sat down with DAMEDAME* and talked about their career. From writing for others and almost being in the background, they are very much at the forefront with their extraordinary debut album. Showcasing their songwriting and production brilliance, I do wonder whether there will be tour dates soon. I can only imagine what it would be like hearing DREAMS ON THE PASSENGER SEAT performed live. Quite the experience, I would imagine:

“The first song you ever released “A STRANGER” came out in 2023. Since then, how do you feel you've evolved? Especially, as the song is included in your debut album.

Edith: It's mad because it actually isn’t our oldest song. The oldest song on the project is actually “CINNAMON”, which I first made in 2016. I was singing and rapping in it, and then when I started working with Barbs, actually for a uni assignment, I got her to sing all the parts and I just kept my rap in. Since then, we’ve had about 30 different versions of that song.

Barbara: Actually, between 2023 when we first released “A STRANGER”, and now that we released the album, I feel like there hasn’t been too much evolving as most of the project was already there - we were just fine-tuning it. If anything, I’d say that most of the evolving took place prior to 2023. A lot of this music is very old, surprisingly, and we've kind of been sitting on it.

That’s super interesting. What are the most recent songs then?

Barbara: The youngest songs are probably “ALL MY LIFE” and “FIRE BURNING THROUGH THE RAIN”.

Edith: Still, speaking of evolving, we have changed a lot. Our approach to production has been simplified, it’s now cleaner and more to the point. I think that back in the day we just used to try absolutely anything, throw loads of things at the wall and just see what sticks. The more we made songs, and started producing for others, the more we understood what was essential to get a story across. You don't need to overproduce it because sometimes that just takes away from the song as well.

What was this moment when you kind of knew that you were ready to now be artists and to release all this stuff you'd been sitting on?

Edith: I would say after we finished Jorja (Smith)'s album. That’s when we had the strongest conviction to really go for it. We had most of the songs sitting there, but we were just a bit lost.

Barbara: We loved helping Jorja make her project, but we wanted to experience what it was like to take a project out of the studio and all the way to market, and be able to add your visuals and all the other assets that go with the music. You kind of miss out on that part when you're just producing. With production you're still telling a story, but you're working with others, so it's a process of compromise, which is really beautiful.

Edith: I think doing your own version of that, but undiluted, was something that we've been dying to do for years, but the courage to do it held us back. All of the things that come with being an artist is something we had put on the back seat for a really long time. So, when it comes to it there's so many things to learn and there's so many things to do. It's not just the music. If it was just the music, we would have released years ago. There was a time when we were just like,”it has to be now. All the fear and all the waiting around, it's not gonna do anything, so we might as well dive in headfirst and see what happens."

What led you to choose the name DREAMS ON THE PASSENGER SEAT?

Barbara: Honestly, it was an old song title that Edith had made for a song that's not on the project. We were searching for a title for a really long time and we couldn't think of one. I think at one point we were literally thinking of calling it Project X (laughs). And then I came across that song and it felt so powerful and it just sounds like a great project name.

Edith: Back when I was in uni and I was working at Domino's, delivering pizza. I used to bring my laptop and put it on the seat next to me and just work on songs in between delivering the pizza. So, when I made that other song, I was just reflecting on life. I remembered that time and I kind of just saw it as a time where no matter what I was doing, I always kind of brought my dreams with me, even when I was kind of feeling a bit lost or off track. As long as I had my laptop with all my creations on there, I was bringing my dreams along for the ride. It was relevant to our journey. We've been through a lot of obstacles and a lot of side quests.

Barbara: We've been through a lot to get here. I think just always holding onto this feeling of dreams, even if we didn't know if DAMEDAME* was going to be our route to doing music for a living. We kind of just started it as two friends and it was a form of escapism for us. It wasn't supposed to be our main reality, but it's been a vessel for us to chase our dreams.

Edith: And somehow we've ended up in the same place, Barbs all the way from France, me from London. We both ended up in the Midlands somehow and just ended up chasing this mutual dream.

Because we are OnesToWatch we always want to know: who are the artists that you are watching?

Natanya, we absolutely love Natanya. Just the whole world that she's building is just beautiful. Then plusamari, who is a friend of ours. Then, a French friend that we met actually online. He's an amazing director and also producer and artist, his name is N8SHO. And finally, Sade Olutola, she is insane”.

I am going to end with Shatter the Standards and what they observed about DREAMS ON THE PASSENGER SEAT. Following this album and the richly deserved acknowledgment at the Women in Music Awards 2026, I feel like DAMEDAME* are going to have a very busy next year. So many artists look up to them. Not just as incredible and respected songwriters. The music they are making for themselves is phenomenal. Long may these music queens reign:

“As a writing and production team, DAMEDAME* comprised two Black women hailing from Jorja Smith’s hometown. Barbara Boko and Edith Nelson were born and bred in Walsall, the Black Country, in the West Midlands, near Birmingham, and wrote and produced music before becomi

ng singers relatively recently. “It was the album that brought me home,” as Smith put it herself later about Falling or Flying, and home is where Boko and Nelson explore the topics of DREAMS ON THE PASSENGER SEAT. Home is where somebody cooks for you, where your partner refuses to answer you directly, and where the sadness you hide from Instagram stays.

The address of home is mentioned in “CINNAMON,” the track with the sampled vocal from Jabez Walsh production, and the woman there hopes for visitors: “Come look for me I’m home/It’s good for me.” There is somebody cooking for her there, and by her admission, nothing else is good for her at all. “Security was foolishly one hell of a drug,” she admits, having the idea turned into something transactional already, “I use my loneliness for ransom does that tell you enough.” She spends all nights dreaming but not sleeping, describing the faith that died without any bouquets coming to its grave, seeing herself being thrown eastward to Vietnam and the Philippines, and yet keeps repeating: don’t go home girl, stay.

Jorja Smith gives some thanks in kind on “FREEDOM,” where the writing part of DAMEDAME* is a challenge, “You wan’ talk bout freedom/Walk without freedom first,” together with the price tag for that, “When the colours disappear/Over the years/I lost my way.” She sings about somebody who is scared and sure of the thing that he needs lying inside him, and her advice is straightforward: “Don’t sell your soul could you live with it/On the edge don’t lose your grip.”

This very fear is explored on “A STRANGER,” the push and pull feeling that she just can’t figure out, “One minute I need ya/Next minute I wanna be alone,” until the imagery starts getting too dark for the uncertainty: “Don’t leave by the noon/Hold me by the noose/Hold me by the sun/Hold me by the moon.” Reuben Reynolds plays guitar there and on “LANGUAGES,” the lighter track, where she watches the girl’s body looking for something to say, sure that none can speak the same language. The request stops at “Baby girl don’t be shy/I see that you wanna be mine.” She begs the girl not to resist, and the girl remains unnamed and faceless with no lines of her own.

She demands commitment with an expiration date on “PROMISE”: “If I die/God forbid that you ain’t by my side/Is that a promise.” She calls herself a dreamer there and rolls her eyes at anybody who is not. On “ALL OF MY LIFE,” another track co-written with Alastair O’Donnell, the demand turns into self-reflection: “All of my life I have tried to become what you wanted/Feel myself falling slowly drowning in the oceans.” The beggary becomes shorter and shorter, from “Don’t let it be over” down to “Will you be my friend.”

The farewell is bilingual: “I cannot stay for another second/I will live alone not lonely in your love,” as she decides on “BURIED IN THE SAND,” and after making up her mind she starts singing in French, “On est assez cassé la la/See ya ya cha cha ciao/Dis moi au revoir comme sa la.” A wish-you-well message pops up in English in the middle of it – the most polite moment in the whole track.

What she can’t say to her partner she says to God on “SMS”: “Nobody can save my soul I don’t wanna wake up, God shake my soul Nobody’s gonna take my woe.” The verse afterward is even simpler. “I look at the news, I’m sad/I look on the ‘gram, I’m sad,” she starts and, in the same breath, “I don’t show it.” The self-questioning that follows includes the questions of worthiness and capability, starting with money and ending in nerves, whether she deserves what is coming to her, whether she is capable of doing anything with it, and even a hint of what job she has: “I don’t like sitting in these meetings whilst they rub their hands.” The imposter syndrome is even named and smoking included along with the memory of moving cars in a life that God ended for her.

Boko and Nelson tell the whole work history on “FIRE BURNIN’ THRU THE RAIN,” giving the answer to the question of how hard is chasing a dream in a form of CV: “Had 25 jobs when I was only 25,” then “I’ve seen many many trials in my Air Force 1s,” and then the friends who did not make it and prayers that are easier to pray for other people’s needs than for hers. She takes all the blame on “LUV MYSELF,” telling the girl that the ones outside are the same anyway, and digging deep down to the bottom of it: “Been playing villain all my life/Now I know I really shoulda love myself.” By then, she misses the same woman again, confessing that she knows the difference between good and best, yet still hoping she is wrong”.

I have no doubt that DAMEDAME* are going to be shining and burning bright for years more. DREAMS ON THE PASSENGER SEAT is one of the best debut albums of the year. The Midlands queens have a very bright future ahead. Even though they have been writing for many years, 2026 feels like a new chapter for them. As a duo in their own right. I know a lot of artists and songwriters look up to them. I was keen to provide…

MY affection and salute to them.

__________

Follow DAMEDAME*

PHOTO CREDIT: Avely Vain

Official:

https://www.damedameworld.com/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/damedamewrld

TikTok:

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

YouTube:

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

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/3X6c2uu6yXYP4XnprvDg11?si=TfLoJxk1S66suxvdhvZGYw

FEATURE: Spotlight: Alexa Joyce

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

PHOTOS: Jordan Rossi

Alexa Joyce

_________

WHEN I first listened…

to Alexa Joyce, I did think she was a New York artist. Maybe because I have the city on my mind. Joyce has spent quite a bit of time there, and I can well see her spending a lot of time there soon. With a couple of incredible singles under her belt, including Sex on TV, you know she is going to be a massive name! I will come to a couple of interview soon. Even if these are the first steps in her career, Alexa Joyce is so distinct and has crafted a unique sound. Based in London, I do hope that she plays in the city, as I would like to see her live. This is someone “building a world filled with disco nostalgia, unapologetic glamour and pure escapism, taking inspiration from the larger-than-life energy of Donna Summer, Madonna and the Spice Girls while creating something distinctly her own”. Those are the words of Bello Mag. I am going to start out with their interview. I do really love what she has put out so far. In interviews, she comes across as grounded, humble and pure to her roots. Though she is constantly fascinating and there is this ambition. In years to come, Alexa Joyce is going to be headlining massive venues:

“BELLO: Your music draws inspiration from artists like Madonna, Donna Summer and the Spice Girls. What is it about these artists and their approach to pop music that continues to inspire you?

AJ: The Spice Girls have me in a chokehold. I have their wallpaper on the walls in my apartment. I love that they are all so individual and different, yet united through girl power. They answered back, they were unapologetically themselves. The 90’s to me was pop with personality and that’s something that really inspires me. Their music was about love, friendship, and having a good time.

Donna Summer was a defining voice in disco, one of the genres I’m most in love with. She captured everything that makes disco so special. The escapism, the confidence, the glamour, and freedom. One of my mums favourite records to dance to when she was clubbing when she was younger was “Last Dance.” I’d have killed to be in a club when DJs spun those records!! I guess I have her to thank for that.

Madonna is the queen of pop. I love how her music tells a story, and she has reinvented herself so many times, yet remained true to who she is. She’s pushed boundaries and challenged stereotypes throughout her whole career and is an incredible ally to the LGBTQ community. She paved the way for all the women in pop music. Without her, there would be none of us!

BELLO: Your debut single, “I Want Ya,” introduced listeners to your sound and personality. What inspired the song, and what did you want people to feel when they heard it?

AJ: I think “I Want Ya” was the perfect introduction to my sound and personality. I think it really captured the disco nostalgia and my personality at the same time. The song was really inspired by two records I love and was listening to on my way to the studio: “Knock on Wood” by Amii Stewart and “The Way You Make Me Feel” by Michael Jackson. Both of the songs have a shuffle you don’t hear much in modern music. I always want to get up and dance when I hear both of those songs, which is exactly how I wanted people to feel when they heard “I Want Ya.”

BELLO: You made your live debut at the Stonewall Inn during NYC Pride. What was that experience like, and what did it mean to make your first performance in New York City?

AJ: The experience was amazing. It was a real pinch me moment. Stonewall is such an incredible place. The energy was unbelievable. It’s where modern Pride began. I feel extremely attached to the LGBTQ community. Pop music simply wouldn’t exist without them. New York is just an unbelievable city, especially during Pride…it’s so visually inclusive. There’s simply nowhere like New York. It’s where Studio 54 was!

BELLO: You’ve been described by Mark Ronson as his “favorite new (Scouse) popstar.” What did it mean to hear that from someone whose work and career you admire?

AJ: Erm what the helly!! Still can’t get over it!!

Mark is genuinely a genius. That word’s thrown around so often, but he genuinely is. He’s the Quincy Jones of our generation. His ear is next level and my respect for him is indescribably. I grew up singing in bars and clubs across Liverpool. I would always sing, “Valerie.” It’s my nan’s name, the song was written by Scousers, The Zutons, and that was how I first learned about him. His mum’s also a Scouser! So he is definitely an honorary one. But it feels incredible, not only because I have huge admiration for him, but because he’s a genuinely lovely human who’s been nothing but kind to me. I’m so grateful he even knows my name.

BELLO: Your music embraces glamour, confidence, sexuality, and the joy of pop. How important is it for you to create music that makes people want to dance and have fun?

AJ: It is the most important thing to me, especially when creating. It’s my why. All I’ve ever wanted to do is make music that calls people to the dance floor. It’s my dream for one of my records to fit into a timeless playlist and not feel out of place.

BELLO: You’re just at the beginning of your journey, with more music on the way. What can fans expect from you next?

AJ: More joy! I hope to be able to connect and build my fan base more over this next year, especially through live shows. It’s amazing to have social media as a tool for people to discover me, but I really want this to exist in real life. Connection is one of the most special things about music.

BELLO: If you could accomplish one thing with your music over the next year, what would you love that to be?

AJ: It’s always been my dream to play huge stages and festivals. I think it would be amazing to have the opportunity to play some of those festivals, especially Glastonbury and Mighty Hoopla!

There’s some pretty amazing tour rumours around right now. I’d love to open up for some of the pop girlies who are killing it right now. I know that’s kinda three answers in one, but I’ve never been one to dream small”.

I am going to move to EARMILK and their conversation around the release of Sex on TV. Released earlier this month, it follows the brilliant I Want Ya. Mark Ronson has shouted out and highlighted Alexa Joyce as his favourite new Pop artist (I am not sure if he added ‘scouse’ in there, but, either way, it is a pretty major compliment!). I can see her producing her album when that arrives. The two of them working together in a big way:

“Born and raised in Liverpool, rising contemporary pop artist Alexa Joyce blends disco glam with northern grit, bringing her own confident energy to today’s pop landscape.

Joyce’s musical journey began with her debut disco-pop single “I Want Ya,” and she’s now entered a new chapter with “Sex On TV,” an infectious, confident track that sets the tone for what’s ahead.

As she continues carving out her place in pop, Joyce is embracing this next era with arms wide open.

Having grown up in Liverpool, a city with such a distinct musical identity, we asked Joyce how her upbringing has influenced her. “I think growing up in that city influenced me in so many ways. It’s so full of history and culture, and obviously was the home to one of the greatest bands of all time. But the people are the most impactful thing about the city; their warmth and wit is something I feel is so unique and special. Their sense of community is incomparable to anywhere else in the world."

Joyce continues, "Just look at the football, for an easy example. I always say if you moved to Liverpool from anywhere in the world, someone would make you feel at home in 5 minutes. And the girls are the most glamorous on the planet. It’s a city full of strong women, and I’ve been brought up in a family of them. My nan always encouraged me to put my makeup on because they call it “war paint” for a reason, because if you look better, you feel better. The girls go out in the height of winter in the mini-est outfits and the highest heels, and it’s the most iconic thing ever. Scouse girls are the best. Their larger-than-life attitude definitely gave me the confidence to pursue my dreams, and that northern grit has definitely never allowed me to give up. I definitely don’t remember the exact moment I thought this is what I want to do, but I definitely know there hasn’t been a second I’ve wanted to do anything else. I truly believe this is what I was meant to do, and I’m so grateful that I’m doing it!”

That combination of confidence, community, glamour, and resilience runs through Joyce’s artistic identity. Her Liverpool upbringing not only shaped the way she sees herself, but also the kind of energy she wants to bring into her music: bold, unapologetic, and designed to make people feel something.

That same sense of spectacle can be found in the artists she looks to for inspiration. Citing Cher, Madonna, and Kylie Minogue as artistic influences, Joyce reflects on the performers who have helped shape her creative vision. “Urgh, I love them all so much! I’ll start with Madonna because they don’t call her the queen for nothing! Her impact on music, fashion, and culture is beyond any artist's wildest dreams. Her music feels so free – it’s inviting and exciting. She is the most incredible performer, but I admire most how she has consistently challenged double standards towards women, and throughout her career challenged age stereotypes, because women don’t just disappear after they turn 35, and her advocacy for the LGBTQ community”.

Let’s finish off with 1883 Magazine. They provide this really extensive interview with Alexa Joyce. I think that she is someone that everyone needs to know about. Such a strong and singular voice in modern Pop, there is no doubt she is going to be a future icon. Like I said, I can see her spending a lot more time in New York. For now, she will want to focus on her next steps and maybe gearing up to an E.P. in the future:

“I think I’ve been incredibly lucky to meet and work with amazing collaborators like Dave Gibson, Tushar Apte, Tele, and Burns, just to name a few that really just got it and got me. They made what I wanted it to sound like in my head come to life! Making these records has been the most amazing experience of my life so far. I do remember ‘Sex on TV’ being the first record I played to my manager Josue that I feel made him look at me like, ‘Oh shit.’ I remember us doing laps around Central Park in New York, just replaying it and feeling so excited. That made me feel like I was on to something.”

That moment captures the excitement surrounding this new chapter for Joyce. “Sex On TV” isn’t simply another release in her catalogue; it represents a point where her artistic identity, collaborators, and sonic direction began to click into place.

Ultimately, Joyce’s ambitions for the song extend beyond creating a catchy pop record. At the heart of her music is a desire to give listeners the same feeling she gets from the artists and songs she loves: a temporary escape from everything else.

“I hope most people just feel joy when they listen to my records. That’s what I really intend to do with music – make people feel good because that’s how music makes me feel. I hope I’ve managed to capture that disco convulsion that every producer I’ve ever worked with is probably sick of me talking about. I just want people to feel excited and have a good time, and provide people with a sense of escapism. I think the world needs more feel-good now”.

“What were your inspirations for Sex on TV?

In general, my inspirations are disco and pop. I want [my music] to sound like if Donna Summer and the Spice Girls had a baby, but this song was super inspired by iconic pop albums. I made a full playlist of songs that made me super inspired. There’s a lot of Madonna on there, there’s Frankie Knuckles. There’s Pharrell, Lauryn Hill, Kylie Minogue, like “Padam Padam”. There’s some old school pop songs on there as well like “The Way I Are” from Timbaland, “Promiscuous” by Nelly Furtado, “Houdini” by Dua [Lipa]. I’ll send it to you!

Please do, it’s like a whole lifetime in pop.

Yeah, exactly. I always think that the song is a little bit… this will sound cringe, but a bit cooler than my other records. I feel like it definitely shows a different aspect of my personality.

I also wanted to ask about growing up around your mum and both your grandmothers, around clearly very iconic women who –

were super glam?

Yeah, and what they taught you.

Yeah. I’ve grown up in a family full of women. I’ve grown up around strong, powerful women. Being from Liverpool, I think the women are so glamorous, so fab. I don’t think you’ll find more bougie women anywhere than in Liverpool.

My nan’s a clear example of being proud of your appearance. She’s 88 years old, and every day she’s got a full face of makeup on and a slick red lip. My nan always says they call makeup war paint for a reason. It’s a confidence thing, because if you look better, you feel better. And I do think it’s a tool you can use as a woman to help enhance your confidence.

It goes back a lot to disco, Studio 54 and the gay community, all of the things that built disco. So I guess it makes sense.

And that’s what I mean when I say that if it was a star sign it would be a Leo, because it’s so larger than life. Extra in a good way.

Going back to the start of your career, what made you take the plunge and come to London?

It’s really weird. My friend Ali sent me this TikTok yesterday. It says, “When I was little I never played bride. I played a famous pop star who was booked and busy, and that says a lot about who I am today.” That was me. Literally, that was just me the whole time, with the Britney mic.

Yeah, that shows who you are.

Literally. Obviously I was aspiring to be in that world. I used to look at the BRIT School, Sylvia Young, and I always wanted to do something like that. But I think you have to start there at, like, 14. It was just never accessible.

It’s so crazy, because Liverpool is such a musical city, with immense musical history and so much culture, but it doesn’t have a music industry. The music industry is in London. Liverpool’s got an amazing music college called LIPA, but most people I know who’ve gone there went because at the end you get to shake Paul McCartney’s hand. Which to me is a perfectly good reason to go.

What does it feel like to play your music live?

I’ve literally only played iconic venues so far. First off, Abbey Road, obviously, being where I’m from and the Fab Four [The Beatles] making that famous. That was such an incredible experience, and being able to take my parents to it made it even sweeter. I was saying to my dad, everyone knows the Abbey Road crossing, and when you go up to the steps, you’re basically not allowed past that gate, so no one can get a picture on the steps. So for me and my parents to be able to do that together was super special.

 You’re someone who came up with no connections to the music industry, which, I don’t know if it is rare, but in pop culture discourse it feels rare now to be able to make it with no connections. What’s your advice for people who want to make music and don’t even know where to start?

Honestly, I’m not gonna dismiss how hard it is, because it’s really, really, really difficult. But I think believing in yourself. It’s really cheesy. I used to do anything. I interned at Modest! Management, who at the time I knew of because they used to manage One Direction. I would do anything. I would knock on every door. When I first moved to London, I would research everything. I would go to things on my own. I think I was, and I still am, unhinged. I will do anything.

I just think you’ve got to really back yourself. I always think if you can see it in your mind, you can hold it in your hands. People should just go for it, because if it exists, you can have it.  And I understand people have help, you hear all the time about kids who’ve got money or connections or whatever. But I do think it will mean that much more when those things happen.

I’ll never forget Mark McDonnell from Modest! or Darryl Parkinson, who was an A&R [Artists & Repertoire] from Warner who put me in one of my first sessions. I’ll never forget people like that who gave me a first chance, and that’s all it is. You’ve just got to keep banging on the door until someone listens, because it can literally take a million nos, and it takes one person to say yes, to believe in you.

That’s what I think about my manager now. He believes in me so much, and having that one person really back you to the hilt is incredible. It was him who was the first one to say, “Yeah, I get it.”

So I’d just say: if you think you want this, go for it. Before this, the whole time, I was working at Charlotte Tilbury and they wouldn’t let me have the time off work. So I would still go to New York, but I would log on at 3am and still be working. It’s hard. And I feel so grateful now, just to be sitting here talking with you about it, because this is my full-time thing now. That’s all I’ve ever really wanted, to be able to say, “Yeah, I’m doing music.” How cool is that?

So honestly, don’t give up on your dreams.

Final question, what’s your relationship like with social media? I feel like you use it in a very… I want to say it in a specific way, but to you it’s probably not very specific.

I’ve got to be really honest, I’m still trying to find my feet with it. I find it really weird. Now that I’ve released music, I’m finding it a lot easier, because I’ve got something to share. For the next couple of weeks, when I’ve been planning what I’m gonna post, I’m really excited to feel like I’m now entering the visual world of what I’m trying to create. But I think it’s really difficult. Everything becomes this thing of “you’ve got to get content, you’ve got to do this, you’ve got to do that”. It’s really hard.

There’s an increasing pressure on newer artists that you’ve got to do everything. You’ve got to do content. It’s actually really hard. But I’m still learning and trying to get better at it, and hopefully, as I grow, that will grow too.

Obviously I feel like I’ve got a very clear visual identity in that sense. But it’s really hard now, because you want to get it right. I feel very strongly about getting the right balance between being aspirational but attainable. Someone I met the other day said, “Your personality is so disarming,” and I was like, “What do you mean?” I think sometimes when people put images on social media, they’re not always a representation of who someone is as a person. But I suppose what’s really great now, with Instagram and TikTok, is that you can have that very visual thing on Instagram, and with TikTok you can have a bit more fun.

I’m still trying to find the balance of that, for sure”.

Go and connect with Alexa Joyce. Such a mesmeric and utterly brilliant talent, she is destined for great things. I have only just come across her work, though I am instantly and utterly hooked! Sex on TV is the latest single from an artist to be very proud of. Some great interviews out there with us. There are a lot of young Pop artists coming through right now. However, compared to Alexa Joyce, I feel that…

FEW can match her.

__________

Follow Alexa Joyce

Instagram:

htps://www.instagram.com/alexajoyceofficial

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/alexajoyceofficial/

TikTok:

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

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/2Hc5YCZdKNvEZDBpm4Rlhu?si=dFOv6dWnSGOhewMlH8DgpA

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=md39hEC1lsc

FEATURE: Mysterious Ways: U2’s Achtung Baby at Thirty-Five

FEATURE:

 

 

Mysterious Ways

U2’s Achtung Baby at Thirty-Five

_________

THE Irish band recently…

PHOTO CREDIT: Anton Corbijn

marked fifty years since they formed. It has amazing to consider how long U2 have endured. They are still going strong and release their sixteenth album, Carnaval de Luz, on 16th November. One of the longest-running bands currently recording, I did want to go back to 18th November, 1991. That is when their seventh studio album, Achtung Baby, was released. It is considered by many critics to be the best U2 album of them all. So many of their biggest songs are on it. The Fly, Even Better Than the Real Thing, Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses, Mysterious Ways, and One. Ahead of its thirty-fifth anniversary, I did want to spend some time with this incredible album. Perhaps their heaviest to that point, there is so much to discuss and spotlight. In 2016, when marking twenty-five years of U2’s Achtung Baby, Ultimate Classic Rock examined how the band reinvented themselves in 1991. It was a big turning point in their career:

“Up until the arrival of Achtung Baby, U2 had been all about evolution, not reinvention. But with their seventh album – released on Nov. 18, 1991 – they changed all that.

From their 1980 debut LP, Boy, and their MTV breakthrough War in 1983 to their mainstream No. 1 The Joshua Tree four years later and the half-live, half-roots-digging Rattle and Hum the following year, a line can be connected through each of the band's first six albums.

But Achtung Baby sounds little like what came before it. There are songs, here and there, that can be traced to The Joshua Tree's grander moments, and the atmospheric use of keyboards that drives so many of the tracks goes back to 1984's The Unforgettable Fire. Still, Achtung Baby has more in common with David Bowie's heralded Berlin Trilogy than anything found in U2's growing catalog at the time.

This is no accident. Early sessions for the album were recorded in the same German studio, and made with the producer who helped shape Bowie's most daring work: Brian Eno. And like with Bowie's trio of late-'70s albums, U2's project came from the artist's desire to move on from a dark period.

Following the global success of The Joshua Tree, U2 became one of the biggest bands in the world. They were celebrated for their arena-sized songs, political acumen and earnestness. The record led to a massive world tour that was partly folded into Rattle and Hum, which mixed live recordings with the group's attempts at an Americana album.

Suddenly, the things that U2 were praised for – namely, their big, earnest songs – became a strike against them, as Rattle and Hum was derided for its self-seriousness, lack of humor ... and what right did an Irish band have to explore American roots music anyway?

They took it to heart. For the first time in their career, U2 didn't move forward in an expected way. Instead, they walked away from their comfort zone and started from scratch, using electronic, alternative and industrial musics as their new building blocks. They got as far away as they could from America, embracing end-of-the-century European music and its varying shades of electronica.

It wasn't a smooth transition at first. The Berlin sessions stumbled, as band members fought for stability and direction – and with each other, with Bono and the Edge on one side, and the rhythm section of Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen, Jr. on the other – over their new sounds.

So, they went back to Dublin, and with Eno and Daniel Lanois (both of whom had worked on The Unforgettable Fire and The Joshua Tree) behind the boards, they slowly began to piece together the record that would become Achtung Baby.

When the album surfaced more than a year after work first started, it sounded little like the U2 fans had embraced just a few years earlier. The opening track, "Zoo Station," begins with distorted squelches that sound an awful lot like someone just turned on a busted synthesizer that hadn't been plugged in for a decade, and somehow that loud, abrasive noise found its way onto the album”.

Apologies to repeat anything. However, I did want to come to a 2012 features from Guitar.com. They note how it is possibly U2’s best album, though it is also one that nearly split them. Thirty-five years after Achtung Baby was released, and you can feel the strength and bond within the band. There was a period when U2 nearly split. Quite shocking to think! I would argue that Achtung Baby helped shape and define the sound of Rock music in the 1990s:

“As guitarist Edge later reflected, the “traditionalism” of Rattle And Hum was the exception in the U2 canon. “My view,” he told this author in 1996 “is that Rattle And Hum, for all its traditionalism, is actually our ‘experimental’ record. Achtung Baby got us back to our normality – making dark, very European music with experimental sounds.” That said, this new normality meant the band U2 imposed new rules for the making of Achtung Baby, the band’s rebirth.

Bono: “Buzzwords on this record were trashy, throwaway, dark, sexy and industrial (all good) and earnest, polite, sweet, righteous, rockist and linear (all bad).” All that was good was the opposite of the “bad” U2.

One step at a time

But the sessions, in Berlin’s Hansa Studios, nearly collapsed completely. U2 had booked Hansa hoping to capture the “greatness” of two of their favourite albums that happened to be recorded there: David Bowie’s Low and Heroes. But when they turned up, they couldn’t even write a song. “The greatness,” Bono laughed about their creative block (in the U2 documentary movie From The Sky Down), “had left the building.”

Bassist Adam Clayton admitted in Bill Flanagan’s biography U2 At The End Of The World, constant touring in each other’s pockets had taken its toll: “We had to decide how much we liked each other… I’m not saying that was easily resolved.”

The song that rescued them? One. U2 were struggling to come up with anything all four felt was good enough to keep them moving forward and were hammering away at a demo called Sick Puppy (that later morphed into Mysterious Ways), when the Edge hit on an off-the-cuff chord progression that would become One.

“At the instant we were recording it, I got a very strong sense of its power,” Edge told Irish journalist Neil McCormick. “We were all playing together in the big recording room, a huge, eerie ballroom full of ghosts of the war, and everything fell into place. It was a reassuring moment, when everyone finally went: ‘Oh great, this album has started.’ It’s the reason you’re in a band – when the spirit descends upon you and you create something truly affecting. One is an incredibly moving piece. It hits straight into the heart.”

Daniel Lanois was the main “sonics” producer on Achtung Baby, and the Canadian told Sound On Sound magazine: “When I started work on Achtung Baby, U2 were interested in creating a more hard-hitting, live-sounding record. I myself had also grown rather tired of polishing details on records and pursuing the kind of perfection that has become commonplace in much rock music today. So what I did was push the performance aspect very hard, often to the point of recklessness. I think that musical recklessness goes a long way on records. You don’t hear enough of it.”

But, crucially, Brian Eno acted as co-producer… and more in a strategic role. Eno would not listen hard to anything in progress, but every few weeks would “come in and erase anything that sounded too much like U2.” He started using in his fabled Oblique Strategies cards on the group to push them away from predictability, so he’d be surprised at what he heard at his next visit: “Use an old idea”. “Change instrument roles”. “Work at a different speed”. “(Play in) total darkness, or in a very large room, very quietly”, and so on…

Even so, U2 still gave themselves maximum options – throughout the sessions, they played relentlessly and kept tape constantly running to capture spirited moments. Yet despite the connotations of the title, U2’s Hansa studio sessions barely lasted two months: most of Achtung Baby was eventually recorded in Ireland, in a rented house by the sea, then Dublin’s famed Windmill Studios”.

There are a couple of reviews that I want to come to before finishing off. XS Noize revisited Achtung Baby in 2021. There are some observations and insights that I had not considered. I do wonder whether U2 are doing anything special to commemorate the thirty-fifth anniversary of the world-conquering Achtung Baby:

“Achtung Baby would inculcate the sonics of emerging Alternative, Industrial, Electronica and Dance genres and married them to U2’s distinct already, established sonic. The band would capture the end of the century Zeitgeist and turn a mirror on the era. They would deal with current events like the end of the Cold War and Germany’s reunification while utilizing ideas from Nihilism, Existentialism, and Absurdism. The band known for voicing their political opinion would somehow turn away from the “Politics” capital letter to a more personal and introspective take on the events and movements that influence the person. Topics would cover; love, spirituality, faith, betrayal, confusion, loneliness, and feelings of inadequacy when coping with the larger world. The underlying personal events that would inform the album would be Edge’s impending marital breakup, Bono’s daughters’ births, how to deal with the aftermath of the success from The Joshua Tree era, and confronting the vitriol and criticism of the Rattle and Hum movie. This entire stew of ingredients would be the aegis that would produce a masterwork.

In some ways, Achtung Baby’s success seemed like a reward for the band’s trial-by-fire experience in the studio. U2 would create one of their most successful and critically acclaimed works. The album would debut at #1 on the US Billboard top 200, See five single releases become chart successes, win a Grammy and sell over 18 million + copies. Achtung Baby would also launch a worldwide tour that would quickly become the decade’s multimedia/sensory overload event, the Zoo TV tour.

Achtung Baby would start intentionally with sonics that was nothing like anything attached to U2 in the past. “Zoo Station” was like someone opened the lid to Hades. Filled with distortion, the sound was trippy, hallucinogenic and intense. I cannot fully explain how groundbreaking this opener was at the time, as it was a total departure from everything U2 had done in the past. The album and this track’s success are now taken as a fait accompli, but this song was a tremendous risk as an opener. The reason being it was a million miles from what fans had come to expect. The song became instantly addictive with vocal modifications, punctuated drums, throbbing bass and schizoid guitar work. The band had sledgehammered their beliefs before; on this song, and throughout the album, they were more subtle and clever yet delivered the same overall impact. On “Zoo Station”,  lyrically, the train motif and almost insane ebullience were unsettling and intriguing. The song’s narrative took hits of laughing gas while letting go of the steering wheel in unbridled madness, yet it all made sense and was ever so alluring. The song captured all the madness found at the end of the 20th Century and the fall of Communism.

Paralleling the first side again, we see a song that releases some of the over-the-top ebullience of the prior two tracks with “Trying To Throw Your Arms Around the World”. This is the next day walk of shame and hangover from the ecstatic night before, personified by the lyrics, “Sunrise like a nosebleed, your head hurts and you can’t breath”. The song’s narrator stands in for Bono and returns home to his wife and kids after a night on the town or tour. The narrator falls on the mercy of his loving partner to make it all better. The narrator/Bono realizes the enormity of his wife’s love and what a paragon she is holding his life and family together. He, in the end, pledges his fidelity to her as he realises he needs her more than she needs him, “and a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle.” Sonically, the trip-hop slower pace of the song allows the listener to catch their breath. The song is clearing its throat before the final triads of songs bring home the album’s message.

“Ultraviolet” (Light My Way) is my absolute favourite track on this album. This track continues examining the difficulties of marriage in our modern age and realising that marriage or any relationship is not all cotton candy, hearts and rainbows. There are angry silences and sleepless nights filled with doubt, struggles and setbacks. But if you can hang on through the bad, the good resonates so much more. It is made clear Ali is Bono’s rock and the person who keeps him sane, “Feel like trash, you make me feel clean, I’m in the dark can’t see or be seen.” … “When I was all messed up, and I had an opera in my head, your love was a light bulb hanging over my head.” The song ends with a recommitment to the relationship. To me, this song is one of the best sonic moments of the album. The selection is a stream-of-consciousness narrative put to a dance track. The perfect accompaniment of explosive drums, driving bass and jangling guitar is sonic perfection. All these elements combine for a song that you cannot help dancing to counter-intuitively while weighing a committed relationship’s demands. That is a hell of an accomplishment.

“Acrobat” offers up an internal dialogue turned into advice and is the most like C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters. In that book, Lewis used a literary device where Satan advises an up-and-coming demon. Here is a take on that format the elderly narrator is giving sage advice and warning to a youngster on how the world will wear your good intentions down. It also discusses all the hypocrisy we commit to getting through life. The key refrain is “don’t let the bastards grind you down”, encouraging everyone to stay true to their good intentions through all the cant of the world. It is calling for perseverance in the face of adversity. The song begins on a low ebb and builds magnificently with aggressive drums and an incendiary guitar solo. All of the sonic ingredients make for a galloping miasma of intense anger and confusion that personifies the world we much each face. It is an extraordinary track.

“Love is Blindness” reveals that love requires a mad kind of sightlessness to maintain a relationship. It attempts to convey the mystery of love and questions how such a delicate thing can endure. There is both awe and fear defined in love and how it is given. The track ends with an understanding that one must be blind to each person’s faults in the relationship for love to work. Sonically the track is elegiac with its slow movements and funereal churchlike atmospherics driven by Edge’s guitar solo, a painful accompaniment to his failing marriage. The track’s brilliance is not Bono being emphatic about the value of love but his pondering so eloquently the cost of love and leaving the whole question with no definitive answer. A change from U2 in the past, having all the answers to the world’s ambiguities. This change in approach would stretch over the subsequent two studio releases.

Achtung Baby would broaden U2’s musical palette and show a band that was not as sure as they had been in their youth about the answers to the questions that face humankind. The album would turn inward, focusing on personal relationships. It would examine our societal and individual needs for instant gratification and asks big unanswerable questions. The album would display each member’s disappointment with the overall cultural malaise and look to overcome and embrace the world’s challenges. The album would warn that the path to hell would be and was paved with good intentions for them. It would be part of Psalms and Ecclesiastes questioning the relationship between God and man. Achtung Baby would capture the band taking an extraordinary leap of faith with no safety net to become “The Biggest Band in the World”, a title that they still have a right to claim in the present day.

U2 with Achtung Baby proved that bands could reinvent themselves that far into their already successful career, delivering a masterpiece. They would bring this to fruition by creating an album that sounded nothing like U2 yet was remarkably easy to identify as their work. Finally, Achtung Baby would set the band up to continue their success as the Alternative music scene took its baby steps into popularity. The album would allow them to reinvent themselves rather than plod off to the tar pits as many of their peers from the ’80s declined and gave up. The risk of upturning all that the listening public had identified as U2 paid off with their most enduring and brilliant masterwork, Achtung Baby, as it is truly one for the ages”.

Back to 2008 for the final review. Treble posted their review of Achtung Baby. I think I first heard the album not long after it came out in 1991. I knew about U2, though I had not heard a lot of their music. I think Achtung Baby switched me onto the band. The singles especially hit me and stuck in my head:

“Achtung Baby is arguably U2’s best album, depending on your mood. After the downright sober seriousness of The Joshua Tree, U2 surprised everyone with an album of electronic experimentalism, incredible hooks and songs of love, sex and passion, though with a sense of fun. One of the four Achtung Baby producers, Brian Eno, combined with the recording location of Berlin, made some think this U2 album would reach the sonic mastery that was Bowie’s Berlin trilogy, and while these assessments weren’t exactly wrong, it wasn’t that fair of a description of what U2 accomplished.

It was the album that almost wasn’t, as some of the band members’ penchants for electronica and a new direction was too much for other members. U2 nearly broke up, which would have created an alternate universe that I wouldn’t want to imagine, other than the absence of Coldplay’s Viva La Vida. But the writing of a particular song got the foursome back on track, and that song was “One,” quite possibly U2’s best and most recognizable composition. But that was only one of five singles released. I remember purchasing “The Fly” before the full-length album came out, and being both puzzled and excited at once. But, as other songs were revealed, including the sinewy “Mysterious Ways” and the charging “Even Better Than the Real Thing,” U2’s new direction was coming into focus, and people were digging it. In fact, at this point, they’ve been digging it to the tune of eight million copies and counting. Though not really even close to the sales of The Joshua Tree, it was still an incredibly significant number.

Though the singles are strong, and among U2 fan favorites, some of the best tracks on Achtung Baby are the non-singles. “Ultraviolet (Light My Way),” the opener “Zoo Station,” “Acrobat” and the slow organ backed closer, “Love is Blindness” all mesh so well with the rest of the album tracks, that I actually forgot which songs were singles, and which were not. In the end, that’s the stuff of which great albums are made. From start to finish, Achtung Baby finds U2 in fresh and exciting territory, with some of the Edge’s best guitar work, Bono’s best lyrics (with the lyrics of “One” garnering a vote for the best song lyrics ever written) and an establishing band’s embrace of a new style, incorporating it into their own arena ready sound.

It took three years to recover from the commercial disappointment of Rattle & Hum, a trip to Berlin, and the help of four producers (Eno, Flood, Daniel Lanois and Steve Lillywhite), but U2 found themselves on top yet again with Achtung Baby. Although it’s hard to argue with the majesty of The Joshua Tree, I might have to say that Achtung Baby has aged better. “One” is timeless, but other tracks have certainly become the blueprints for nearly every band to follow, including Radiohead and Coldplay, just to name two of the highest profile groups. U2 would experience a similar rebirth / resurgence with All That You Can’t Leave Behind, but since they had done it before, it was less of a surprise. Achtung Baby didn’t revolutionize the music world, but it reminded everyone that U2 was not only relevant, but worthy of being called one of the best bands in the world”.

I am going to finish off there. Achtung Baby turns thirty-five on 18th November. That is two days after their latest album arrives. I do hope that there is discussion and new articles written about this phenomenal album. One of the greatest ever released, it is being discovered by young music fans. Those who were not alive when it came out in 1991. Achtung Baby is inarguably a work of genius. From the amazing U2, go and spend time with Achtung Baby now. Whilst some classic albums have one or two tracks that are not quite as good as people make up, Achtung Baby is a rare example where there is gold in…

EVERY track.

FEATURE: The Third Arrangement: My Fascination Around a Kate Bush Book Idea I Cannot Shake Off

FEATURE:

 

 

The Third Arrangement

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush photographed in 1993 whilst filming the short film, The Line, the Cross and the Curve/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari

My Fascination Around a Kate Bush Book Idea I Cannot Shake Off

_________

I used the words ‘The Third Arrangement’…

IN THIS ARTWORK: Snake Mary, from Steely Dan’s Rose Darling/ART CREDIT: Joan LeMay (via Expanding Dan)

at the top, because it is similar to a Steely Dan song. That was The Second Arrangement. It was meant to feature on their 1980 album, Gaucho, but it got wiped. Donald Fagen and Walter Becker (mainly Fagen and producer Gary Katz, I think) tried to rebuild or re-record it but it was too much of an ask. The track actually appeared fairly recently and was saved from the ashes somehow. It is a great song, and it makes me think of the songs of the mighty Dan. I mention them because, as I have said before, I was hugely inspired by the book, Quantum Criminals: Ramblers, Wild Gamblers, and Other Sole Survivors from the Songs of Steely Dan. You can buy it here. The concept was sort of down to Joan LeMay. She is an artist who collaborated with author and journalist Alex Pappademas. In the book “Pappademas and artist Joan LeMay give a roadmap to the Steely Dan extended universe through the lens of the characters at the heart of the band's songs. Alongside Pappademas' explorations, LeMay's paintings render touching portraits of Steely Dan's influences and inheritors, and speculative illustrations of the personalities who populate its world. Their book uncovers the vast constellation of lyrical references, artistic influences and social and political contexts surrounding the band and its music”. You can read this interview between NPR and Joan LeMay  from 2023 (the year the book was published). I posted on Instagram saying how much I love this book and want to do something similar with Kate Bush. Such a fresh and original way to approach an artist. Using their characters as guides and focal points, I cannot think of too many other examples of this.

That might be the first ‘issue’ attempting something the same with Kate Bush: it has already been done. I messaged Joan LeMay and she liked the idea of my approach but, as she came up with this incredible idea, I don’t think I could justify one for Kate Bush. Not exactly the same. I am getting future nostalgic. As I write this – 9th October, 2026 – we are in this moment when Kate Bush could announce a new album at any point. If it has been announced before I share this feature, I will have to hastily rewrite! Next year, we mark forty-five years of her fourth studio album, The Dreaming. In 2028, Wuthering Heights (her debut single) and The Kick Inside (her debut album) turn fifty. I have published a series on my blog, Kate Bush: Them Heavy People: The Extraordinary Characters in Her Songs. It is needed now, though I managed to feature dozens of characters from her albums, B-sides and beyond. The thought of bringing that idea into a glorious hardback is tantalising. Not to repeat myself too heavily. One of the best days I ever had in London was going to a little bar in Old Street – I forget what it was called -, where there was this launch/signing of the Steely Dan book. Joan LeMay lived in London at the time but has since moved back to her native U.S. She was there, a couple of piles of this book. I bought a good beer got a couple of signed copies, and sat outside the bar as Steely Dan songs were played. The experience of the nice weather, the beer, LeMay and The Dan coexisting in this brilliant cocktail as I opened the book and started to read. An experience I cannot replicate, it was memorable because the book is so beautifully written and illustrated. The artwork by LeMay is fabulous. All these Steely Dan characters who we only knew through the words of Fagen and Becker now brought to life. I shall get to Kate Bush soon. I think the world now needs a group like Steely Dan. Or a new Donald Fagen album (his most recent, Sunken Condos, was released in 2012). So many big topics that can be tackled through smart, witty but cutting lyrics.

Sexual abuse and the men who boast about it. Genocide and the ignorance around it. Sexism and inequality at music festivals. Attacks on trans people and the L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ community. The abortion ban in the U.S. and how women’s bodies and rights are policed and restricted. Political corruption and fascism in the U.S. and here. Lighter songs that deal with, among other things, living in overpriced flats and sharing with others; an older person adrift of new music and terms; an awkward flirtation and fantasy at a dive coffee bar. I came up with possible track lists: The New Jane Doe, Hipsterlooza, American Grammar, Long Shot, Negative Space, Can’t Buy a Thrill (which is the title of Steely Dan’s 1972 debut album), Katy’s Switch, Eastside, For Those in the Back Rows, I’ll Get to New York City One Day Soon. Record it out of New York’s Electric Lady Studios and have a singer, a cast of brilliant musicians and this wonderfully produced album. Go for an all-time great album cover. The album will be called American Grammar, and it would be a genuinely compelling and striking cover. It is a dream, of course – I cannot read or write music (only lyrics) and have neither the money or connections to make it happen -, but we are in a time when the pen of Becker and Fagen is needed more than ever. Hip-Hop, Pop and other genres really not stepping up when it comes to tackling hefty topics. That’s why re-reading Quantum Criminals: Ramblers, Wild Gamblers, and Other Sole Survivors from the Songs of Steely Dan was and is such a joy. If anything, there are more characters through Kate Bush’s work than Steely Dan’s. Not that Joan LeMay would illustrated a hypothetical Kate Bush book, but I love the thought of seeing Kate Bush’s characters similarly brought to (vivid) life. There are many advantages of a book. I have said how Kate Bush is arguably one of the most influential modern-day artists. In terms of her impact on some of the very best artists of today. Everyone from FKA twigs, Charli xcx, Chappell Roan, CMAT, Florence + The Machine and beyond.

We are coming up to Christmas. In terms of recommendations, Kate Bush fans new should definitely invest in a book or two about her. Maybe Graeme Thomson’s Under the Ivy: The Life and Music of Kate Bush (oft-quoted and sourced for my blog), or Tom Doyle’s Running Up That Hill: 50 Visions of Kate Bush. There is little exploration of Bush’s work now. I guess in 2028 there will be features and things published because of those anniversaries. When she announces a new album, there will be this explosion of new interest. However, I don’t think there any books announced or anything substantial. Which is a shame, as I feel Kate Bush’s influence and importance is potentially at its most widespread and white-hot right now. Aside from Spectrum Culture ranking her songs and exploring them in detail, there is scant deep diving. Aside from Spectrum Culture scandalously featuring so many songs from The Kick Inside in the low positions, it is a proper connection and investigation of Bush’s music. The more that these kind of features are shared, the more her entire discography is discovered. That is what books do for artists too: they bring in new discoverers and approach their music in a very interesting and detailed way. Aside from biographies and a few other books here and there, there has not been enough written about her. Nothing that spotlights and discusses all the brilliant and distinct characters. Who we use as a jump-off point to talk about different themes and aspects of Kate Bush and her life.

There are drawbacks for any book project. I have never written one and have no idea as to the realities of how long it will take. As it is, living in London, I am barely getting by with a full-time job. I would not realistically be able to write one around my job and have the focus and time to complete it quickly enough. I am a journalist and not necessarily the most arresting writer. A book might require something more dynamic and interesting. Alex Pappademas wrote with such intelligence, passion and originality when documenting Steely Dan’s cast of heroes, misfits and side players. Also, a new author would not get a deal or an advance. Most likely, I – or someone writing a book – would get a percentage of the profits. This is a book that might not garner enormous sales so, when all is said and done, walking away with a couple or few grand. Not that it is about the money, but few people have the luxury of taking a year off from a job and writing a book. And writing one around a job seems like an impossibility! When Kate Bush does release a new album (I am thinking next year), I know there will be some new characters to discuss. 2011’s 50 Words for Snow had a few. So it might be worth considering one after that album comes out. Perhaps next year will see some new Kate Bush books arrive. There is this gap in the market. I have talked about it before but, re-exploring Quantum Criminals: Ramblers, Wild Gamblers, and Other Sole Survivors from the Songs of Steely Dan has sparked something. I think the money and time issues are a big factor. Though the chance to have this book out in the world about Kate Bush is always at the back of my mind. I have also muses about writing a 33 1/3 book if the opportunity arose. About The Kick Inside. Leah Kardos wrote one in 2024 on Hounds of Love, though feel there is room for a second. I feel, at present, time commitments and financial sacrifices and pitfalls prohibit me from realistically writing a book. And how easy is it to pitch to a publish and get the idea accepted? Writing a book is so fulfilling and would be a dream come true. It might have to wait until I am in a more financially stable position. Joan LeMay’s brilliant character-led idea for Steely Dan resonated with me and has not escaped my mind. Not that I would replicate Quantum Criminals: Ramblers, Wild Gamblers, and Other Sole Survivors from the Songs of Steely Dan for my book, but take some of its elements (the character focus) and do something different. It might not be chronological and there would be unique aspects. Perhaps the idea will come to light…

ONE day.

FEATURE: The New Style: Beastie Boys' Licensed to Ill at Forty

FEATURE:

 

 

The New Style

Beastie Boys' Licensed to Ill at Forty

_________

IT is hard to believe…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Lynn Goldsmith

that Beastie Boys' Licensed to Ill turns forty on 15th November. The extraordinary debut album from MCA, Mike D and Ad-Rock. Whilst some consider 1989’s Paul’s Boutique to be the best Beastie Boys album, there is no doubting the importance of Licensed to Ill. It was this massive success. So many singles released and a load of critical love, it reached seven in the U.K. and one in the U.S. I am writing this (on 9th October) ahead of the release of a book that celebrates forty years of a classic. An insight into Hip-Hop classic. This article gives us more details:

“This November, it will be 40 years since the world was introduced to Beastie Boys, one of the most influential hip-hop groups ever formed, via their debut album, Licensed to Ill. To celebrate the anniversary of the groundbreaking LP, The Great Albums book series is releasing Beastie Boys: Licensed to Ill – 40 Years, an in-depth retrospective featuring fresh interviews, candid photos, and more.

Coming from author Ben Merlis (who also penned to recent Consequence Cover Story Mike D: Time for Living around the Beastie Boy member’s debut solo album, Thank You), the 176-page hardcover book is packaged in a slick slipcase. Featuring a forward by Prince Paul, the tome includes over 200 images, a track-by-track examination of Licensed to Ill, and new interviews with producers, collabroators, and cultural critics.

The official logline reads: “When Licensed to Ill hit the Billboard charts in 1986, it didn’t just make history — it rewrote it. The Beastie Boys’ mix of punk energy, streetwise humor, and Rick Rubin’s hard-hitting production propelled the album to become the first rap LP to top the Billboard 200 and one of the fastest-selling debuts in history. Beastie Boys: Licensed to Ill – 40 Years invites you into the creative chaos that produced classics like ‘No Sleep Till Brooklyn,’ ‘Girls,’ and ‘Brass Monkey.'”

“When I was asked by the publisher to write this book, I had to say yes because there is no other story that wholly encompasses my two biggest passions: hardcore punk and hip-hop. Beastie Boys were a total anomaly and I wanted to explain step-by-step how a first generation NYHC band transitioned into being a full-fledged rap group, and then into arena-headlining pop stars with a number one album within a few short years,” Merlis said in a statement. “The whole relationship between the band, their producer/label founder Rick Rubin, and their manager/label co-owner Russell Simmons ran full speed into the side of a cliff, with the Beasties crawling out of the wreckage triumphant. It really is a tale of defying expectations and reinvention. Licensed to Ill still knocks, forty years later.”

Beastie Boys: Licensed to Ill – 40 Years arrives on October 13th, and you can pre-order it here.

Read Merlis’ interview with Mike D about Thank You here. For more on Beastie Boys’ classic discography, see where Paul’s Boutique landed on our list of the 100 Best Sophomore Albums of All Time”.

I want to get to some features and reviews of Licensed to Ill. Whilst it is one of the most influential Hip-Hop albums ever, we need to address a complicated legacy. Controversial aspects of the debut that the trio addressed for its follow-up, Paul’s Boutique. In terms of the sexist and homophobic content. There was (and still is) a lot of it in Hip-Hop in the 1980s. However, that is no excuse for a trio so much smarter than their peers. There is a slight sour taste to some of the songs. This article from 2016 discussed the legacy of Licensed to Ill thirty years later. Whilst homophobia and sexism is tied to Beastie Boys’ debut, “so is their maturity and repentance”:

“The album lives in the shadow of their later works, but was just as innovative

Whenever people talk about how important Licensed to Ill was, it seems to have less to do with the music itself. Instead, everyone focuses on the group’s personalities and their commercial appeal. And so far I’ve done the same thing. But because of the hype and popularity, this album doesn’t get its due when placed next to their later material.

To many fans and critics, Licensed to Ill was the debut that, despite being a commercial sensation, is really just a product of its time. It’s a fun — yet dated — mid-80s Def Jam record. Then out of nowhere, they split from Def Jam’s control and matured into true artists by dropping their frat boy schtick and hooking up with the Dust Brothers to create a wildly creative masterpiece in Paul’s Boutique. And as the story goes, the band would continue experimenting for the rest of their career, never to return to the generic and immature style of Licensed to Ill.

In many ways, it makes sense why the album has become thought of as just a product of its time. Rick Rubin’s beats often sound like any other album that he produced from that era, most notably LL Cool J’s Radio. And although “No Sleep Til’ Brooklyn” and “Fight For Your Right,” were groundbreaking in the sense that they brought hip-hop to a new fanbase, creatively speaking they were really nothing new — Run DMC had already been using metal riffs for a few years on songs like “Rock Box” and “King of Rock.” This only feeds the narrative that the group was artistically riding Run DMC’s coattails, popularizing the Hollis, Queens trio’s style for a white audience.

But if we look beyond the surface, Licensed to Ill was actually a really innovative album — only a few hip-hop artists like Doug E. Fresh and Mantronix were making such experimental hip-hop at the time. There’s the amazing “Hold it Now, Hit It,” one of the strangest hip-hop singles of the period; “Paul Revere,” a fake western origin story propelled by a backwards sampled loop; and “Rhymin’ and Stealin,’” which contains the legendary, yet super-random bridge that has the group screaming “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” over and over. This is by no means a normal hip-hop album.

Licensed to Ill doesn’t get looked at as a creative breakthrough because it’s unfairly judged against the rest of the band’s catalogue and not appreciated on its own terms. Of course, Paul’s Boutique was creatively groundbreaking, but that doesn’t mean that what preceded it is therefore generic. Both albums were extremely progressive in their own ways, but because hip-hop as a whole progressed by leaps and bounds between 1986 and 1989, Licensed to Ill looks basic in comparison. But they didn’t simply go from immature idiots to musical geniuses by the time Paul’s Boutique came out, like many would have you believe. Ad Rock, MCA and Mike D were always extremely creative and simply took the experimentation they learned on Licensed to Ill to another level as they moved on from Def Jam.

The album lives in the shadow of their later works, but was just as innovative

Whenever people talk about how important Licensed to Ill was, it seems to have less to do with the music itself. Instead, everyone focuses on the group’s personalities and their commercial appeal. And so far I’ve done the same thing. But because of the hype and popularity, this album doesn’t get its due when placed next to their later material.

To many fans and critics, Licensed to Ill was the debut that, despite being a commercial sensation, is really just a product of its time. It’s a fun — yet dated — mid-80s Def Jam record. Then out of nowhere, they split from Def Jam’s control and matured into true artists by dropping their frat boy schtick and hooking up with the Dust Brothers to create a wildly creative masterpiece in Paul’s Boutique. And as the story goes, the band would continue experimenting for the rest of their career, never to return to the generic and immature style of Licensed to Ill.

In many ways, it makes sense why the album has become thought of as just a product of its time. Rick Rubin’s beats often sound like any other album that he produced from that era, most notably LL Cool J’s Radio. And although “No Sleep Til’ Brooklyn” and “Fight For Your Right,” were groundbreaking in the sense that they brought hip-hop to a new fanbase, creatively speaking they were really nothing new — Run DMC had already been using metal riffs for a few years on songs like “Rock Box” and “King of Rock.” This only feeds the narrative that the group was artistically riding Run DMC’s coattails, popularizing the Hollis, Queens trio’s style for a white audience.

But if we look beyond the surface, Licensed to Ill was actually a really innovative album — only a few hip-hop artists like Doug E. Fresh and Mantronix were making such experimental hip-hop at the time. There’s the amazing “Hold it Now, Hit It,” one of the strangest hip-hop singles of the period; “Paul Revere,” a fake western origin story propelled by a backwards sampled loop; and “Rhymin’ and Stealin,’” which contains the legendary, yet super-random bridge that has the group screaming “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” over and over. This is by no means a normal hip-hop album.

Licensed to Ill doesn’t get looked at as a creative breakthrough because it’s unfairly judged against the rest of the band’s catalogue and not appreciated on its own terms. Of course, Paul’s Boutique was creatively groundbreaking, but that doesn’t mean that what preceded it is therefore generic. Both albums were extremely progressive in their own ways, but because hip-hop as a whole progressed by leaps and bounds between 1986 and 1989, Licensed to Ill looks basic in comparison. But they didn’t simply go from immature idiots to musical geniuses by the time Paul’s Boutique came out, like many would have you believe. Ad Rock, MCA and Mike D were always extremely creative and simply took the experimentation they learned on Licensed to Ill to another level as they moved on from Def Jam”.

It is this album that has so much to love. However, its more problematic elements mean it is perhaps not as lauded and regarded as later albums. Also, the group have this kind of love-hate relationship with it. A couple of features to cover before ending with a review. Albumism covered Beastie Boys’ debut in 2021. Marking thirty-five years of an album that has garnered a lot of discussion and debate. Where does it rank in terms of their best work? Maybe not their very best work, it is definitely stronger than a lot of their albums:

“They are musical royalty. Comprised of Adam “King Ad-Rock” Horowitz, Mike “Mike D” Diamond, and the late Adam “MCA” Yauch, they are one of the most iconic groups to ever record music. They earned vast commercial and critical success. Seven of their albums went platinum or better. They also boast one of the most distinctive and creative sounds of any group in the last 50 years.

The contrast of Ad-Rock and Mike D’s nasally tones contrasted well with the gruffness of MCA’s voice. Musically, they were always interesting, setting trends for how they approached and recorded rap music. In 2012, they became the second rap group ever to be enshrined into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. And they are one of the few groups that managed to hold themselves together for close to three decades without ever breaking up or having one of the core members leave the group.

And, not to put too fine of a point on it, they are credited with introducing hip-hop music to a white audience, making it acceptable for young white kids and teens to listen to this form of music that was created within the Black and Latino communities of New York City in the late ’70s. And their influence began with their first album Licensed To Ill, released thirty years ago in November 1986.

In 1984, the Beastie Boys made the transition from punk band to rap threesome, and signed to Def Jam Records at the behest of their DJ, Rick Rubin, the NYU student who, along with Russell Simmons, co-founded the label. The trio started making moves right off the bat, securing a spot as the opening act on Madonna’s Like a Virgin tour. Soon thereafter, they hit the road with Run-DMC, Whodini, LL Cool J, and Timex Social Club on the Raising Hell tour, all before releasing their first Def Jam album.

Licensed To Ill remains an extremely enjoyable album, but it’s also an odd duck. Though it has enjoyed monumental success over the years (it eventually earned Diamond status from the RIAA for sales exceeding 10 million) and was immediately hailed as genius by magazines like Rolling Stone, at the time some viewed it as insincere. Yauch, Diamond, and Horowitz were ostensibly outsiders to the hip-hop scene, and some argued that Licensed To Ill was lampooning hip-hop music. For their part, the trio never denied their lineage, and argued that their respect for rap was deep and abiding. That outsiders like the Beastie Boys were able to create such an enduring album is part of what makes Licensed To Ill a classic.

A big part of the group’s appeal was the musical backdrop that they rapped over. To say the beats were “sampled” is inaccurate, since the album was recorded before the first samplers were widely commercially available. Rubin holds that the music was provided either by the DJ spinning the original records “live,” or through looping of the beats on tape in the studio. No matter what the means, the musical sources for much of Licensed To Ill came from records by hard rock and heavy metal groups like Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, and Black Sabbath. And there were copious amounts of live electric guitar, even more so than the early Run-DMC records.  It resulted in a sound palette that was different than the vast majority of hip-hop records released up to that point, as many of their hip-hop contemporaries did not gravitate towards rapping over these so-called “white” records.

In the Beastie Boys book, Mike D wrote about how the song, produced by Ad-Rock, was formative in helping the group come into its own. “Instead of trying to act and sound like someone else,” he explains. “we were just being ourselves, writing from our own lives and experiences … We figured out how to piece together different elements from what we loved … and turn them into a song.”

“Hold It Now…” was also the source of one of the first sample clearance lawsuits, as Jimmy Castor sued the Beasties and Def Jam for using large elements of his “Return of Leroy” record without his permission. The group settled out of court, and agreed to give Castor some percentage of the profits from Licensed to Ill.

When most people speak of Licensed To Ill’s more juvenile nature, they’re usually referring to “Girls” and “Fight For Your Right To Party,” the final two tracks on side A (tracks 6 and 7 for those of you out there who only know this album from the streaming version). They are probably the two worst tracks on the album, but both decently enjoyable.

The Beasties may have a complicated relationship with Licensed To Ill, recognizing that they both like and hate it. They eventually made peace with the legacy of “Fight For Your Right To Party” on Hot Sauce Committee, Pt. 2 (2011), referencing it extensively on “Make Some Noise,” one of the album’s singles. Other songs from Licensed like “Slow And Low,” “New Style,” and “Time To Get Ill” remained staples of their live performances. However, it’s never been clear whether the Beastie Boys ever made peace with Simmons and Rubin.

In the Beastie Boys’ long and decorated career, Licensed To Ill is an interesting first step. Yes, it’s absurd and silly in all the ways that you’d expect a largely ironic frat-rap album from the mid-1980s would be, but it still possesses a lasting charm that’s impossible to shake. It’s kind of beside the point whether or not the album was ever meant to be taken seriously, because much of it is firmly rooted in solid, old school hip-hop sensibilities, and the music stands on its own. “Fight For Your Right To Party” may have become a standard of Bar Mitzvahs, weddings, and bad cover bands, but it’s “Paul Revere” that rides forever”.

Even if you prefer other Beastie Boys albums, you cannot dispute the influence and importance of Licensed to Ill. Last year, uDiscoverMusic examined this remarkable debut. “The first hip-hop album ever to top the Billboard 200, ‘Licensed To Ill’ saw Beastie Boys lay the groundwork for the hip-hop world we now live in”. For anyone who has never heard Licensed to Ill, ahead of its fortieth anniversary, do go and play it:

“Ahead of its time

What might get overlooked in retrospect is how advanced Licensed To Ill sounds. Hip-hop was evolving fast, but nothing else by the end of ’86 had such complex structures, where songs would pause halfway through and go in entirely different directions, like “The New Style,” which was subsequently sampled on over 250 records. Beastie Boys proved themselves to be more than just another copycat rap act, but something else altogether, coming out with a unique and diverse musical palette.

The sample selection spread across the album’s 13 tracks (technically only 10 of which contain samples) are really an amalgam of four distinct cultures: hip-hop (The B-Boys, Joeski Love, Mantronix, Kurtis Blow, Doug E Fresh, Schoolly D, etc), old soul, disco and jazz records that hip-hop adopted as its own (Cerrone, The Jimmy Castor Bunch, Barry White, Bob James, Kool & The Gang), hard rock (Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, AC/DC) and punk (The Clash).

Beastie Boys came up believing that stadium rock was the enemy; they started out as a skateboarding hardcore punk band and shared bills with groups the likes of Necros and Millions Of Dead Cops, before being bit by the rap bug and switching gears around 1983-84. That is until fellow punk turned hip-hopper Rick Rubin – who’d initially been raised on rock music out on a rock called Long Island, where being cool didn’t matter as much – introduced the three city slickers to that feathered-hair and denim-clad genre.

Even a doo-wop influence can be heard in the melody on “Girls,” which is reminiscent of the 1962 hit “Remember Then” by The Earls. Where Rubin’s work on LL Cool J’s debut full-length, Radio, was sparse and direct, Licensed To Ill took far longer to create – two years, in fact, in an effort to build an entirely self-contained universe. In this dimension, bragging about using angel dust or rapping about comedian Phyllis Diller over the theme songs for Mister Ed and Green Acres is not normal, but in Beasties’ dimension, it was par for the course.

On March 7, 1987, Licensed To Ill topped the Billboard 200, the first hip-hop album ever to do so. It then stayed there for seven straight weeks, Bruce Hornsby And The Range, Genesis, and Janet Jackson be damned. We were well on our way to living in a hip-hop world. By 2015, Yauch, Horovitz, and Mike D were certified diamond, with 10 million in sales – an accomplishment shared by no other hip-hop record released in the 80s.

History has been kind to the album in this respect. By simultaneously appealing to the mainstream music fans, the upper echelon of music critics, and all echelons between, the masses were – and continue to be – enthralled by Beastie Boys”.

I am going to end with a review from Pitchfork that was published in 2004. Although there are reviews that focus more on the songs and are perhaps more relevant and informative, I do like how they approached Licensed to Ill. I wonder if the group’s two surviving members – Ad-Rock and Mike D – will share some words about their 1986 debut album. It must have been this hugely exciting time for them:

"Look, I don't know why, but George Wagoner is going to kick my ass today. Don't laugh, bitch, I'm serious! I never should have told that slut that skins were assholes."

"Haha, you're dead, man."

"Shut up, bitch, I'm telling you I can't wait for the bus because they know where I catch it. You have to try to get Mr. Davis to drive around to the side like he sometimes does for Chris. I'm gonna go out the back, from the cafeteria. And I already talked to Nick, but he just said he didn't know if he could do anything. Which, that doesn't even make any sense because I thought they were supposedly best friends."

"Hey man, I think you're gonna get killed today. You know Tracy's sister?"

"Yeah, fool, that's the one who I told about skins. That's what I was talking about."

"Yeah, she's crafty and she's just Dom's type. Hahahaha!!!"

"She is a crafty bitch."

Poltergeists and Licensed to Ill: Some things only make sense to kids. Too many years removed from junior high, they tend only to reveal themselves in annoying bursts of violence, confusion and rhymes like Abe Vigoda. And it's not even because their appeal is particularly juvenile, but rather that they operate in a realm only comprehensible to the innocent; those untouched by the brutal reality of the real world, where everyday injustice skews our perception to the point that what might have been common sense to us as adolescents now seems mystifying. To little Carol Anne, Ad-Rock simply is another child.

New York brats-cum-activists Beastie Boys have gone to great pains to explain the error of their 80s ways. This is not to say they've been apologetic, but only too keen to emphasize the arcs of their characters over the years. Licensed to Ill, like Cooky Puss and the underrated Rock Hard EP before it, were indeed both impressively ahead of their time, and rudimentary to the extreme. How a city that already had ESG felt it needed the Beastie Boys in the mid-80s is a question that confounds the ages; yet, Ad-Rock, MCA and Mike D could hardly have predicted the slacker generation better if they'd tried (which they didn't). Chalk it up to NYC eclecticism, perhaps. Chalk it up to Run-DMC and Madonna, who helped showcase them to the most economically and culturally powerful generation of kids since the boomers. Chalk it up to Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin. And MTV. Most of all, remember that at their worst, these guys got thrown out of White Castle for being too loud.

Licensed to Ill is given a lot of credit for predating the whole rap-rock thing of the 90s. Bad news for the Beasties: History appears to contradict that assessment. First of all, their cornball Cali cousins the Red Hot Chili Peppers had already graced the earth with two LPs prior to Ill, not to mention beating them to the 70s funk revival by working with George Clinton. Secondly, contrary to most rock writers' beliefs, white guys + guitars do not necessarily = rock. Had they released Ill even four years later, it would have been a novelty record. It's dated remarkably badly, while Rick Rubin's skill with the mixer (and drum machine) is entirely questionable. The rhymes... well...

"I got franks and pork and beans/ Always bust the new routines."

"Spent some bank, I got a high powered jumbo/ Rolled up a wooly and I watched Colombo."

"I keep a pistol in my pocket so you better be cautious/ Fly around the world but it makes me nauseous."

"Get ready/ 'Cause this ain't funny/ My name's Mike D and I'm about to get money."

Okay, so it isn't the music or all the rhymes that translate beyond the scene of the crime. What, then? Probably just that the Beasties didn't give a fuck-- AND AMERICA DESPERATELY NEEDED TO BE SHOWN HOW NOT TO GIVE A FUCK. And it sort of still does. Licensed to Ill demonstrated that you could be "groundbreaking" and "important," and still have no goals beyond getting drunk before 6th period. Think about that. It meant that you could live life as one giant inside joke, speaking in tongues and making hilarious references to Chef Boyardee with no one outside your circle of jerks the wiser. Sorry ma, forgot to take out the trash, but that's okay because I drink Brass Monkey and I rock well. "What?" "Nothing."

In light of this information, it almost seems pointless to recap the highlights. Does anyone really care that "Rhymin' and Stealin"" witnessed Rubin's genius for exposing the sample-ability of Led Zeppelin? No, because, "My pistol is loaded, I shot Betty Crocker/ Deliver Colonel Sanders down to Davey Jones' locker" is awesome, and if you don't get it then what-the-fuck-ever. Does it matter that "Fight for Your Right" actually does kind of invent rap-rock? No, because everyone has their best porno mag, and these guys are just telling it like it is, and rap is the CNN of rock. Do you know what "I did it with my whiffleball bat" means? Has anyone ever even been to Brooklyn? Who in their right mind is sampling Creedence? Is "I should have probably guessed her gay" the best line ever, or is it when they brag about having more rhymes than Phyllis Diller?

Despite its seeming defiance of respectable society, there is no shortage of folks who would canonize Licensed to Ill-- hence this new edition, replete with commemorative DVD. For Miller's sake, it's the Beastie Boys' worst record. (Even though we all secretly know it's their best.) Yet, there's something impressive about tapping into the secret language of the immature and terminally slack. All these years later, with every listen, it becomes clearer to me that you can never really outrun your inner idiot”.

Because Licensed to Ill turns forty on 15th November, it is important to shine a light on it. The legacy of this seismic Hip-Hop debut. But also address the controversy and problems with it. How we view it forty years later. In spite of its immaturity, homophobic and sexist lyrics and this sense of some aspects being outdated and inexcusable, the innovation and brilliance throughout is undeniable. How Licensed to Ill helped shape modern Hip-Hop and inspired so many others. You cannot overlooked that. The immense and simply brilliant Licensed to Ill is…

A landmark creation.

FEATURE: Groovelines: Carole King – I Feel the Earth Move

FEATURE:

 

 

Groovelines

Carole King – I Feel the Earth Move

_________

SPOTLIGHTING a classic song…

PHOTO CREDIT: Jim McCrary/Redferns/Getty Images

I am spending some time with the amazing I Feel the Earth Move. Featured on Carole King’s Tapestry, it was released as a single. Part of a double A-side alongside It’s Too Late, it reached number one in the U.S. I am going to dig deeper into this wonderful song and its background. I do love how I Feel the Earth Move has this incredible Blues vocal. I think people associate Tapestry with Folk or it being romantic or soft. The album is so broad and cannot be easily defined. However, I Feel the Earth Move is one of King’s rawest and greatest vocal performances. I am surprised there is not more written about I Feel the Earth Move. It is surprising more has not been written about the song. One of the greatest opening tracks ever. Plenty of writing about Tapestry, though it would be nice see more focused on arguably its best track. I am getting to a couple of features that give us some important background. Many assume that King had only written a few songs prior to Tapestry. Although this was her second album – after 1970’s Writer -, she was already a respected and hugely prolific songwriter. Ultimate Classic Rock explore this mesmeric track from a genius songwriter:

“By the time Carole King wrote “I Feel the Earth Move,” a double A-side released with “It’s Too Late” in April 1971, she wasn’t yet 30 and had already penned some of the biggest hit songs of the ‘60s.

The budding star had 10 years of songwriting under her belt, alongside her former husband and songwriting partner Gerry Goffin. The lyrics for many of those songs, however, were largely written by Goffin. After the couple divorced in 1968, King hesitated to become a solo songwriter. "I didn't want people to interpret what I wrote, I think I have a block against that," the singer admitted in a 1970 interview, noting that "people can point to a phrase in lyrics." "I want to make LPs. I don't want to be a star."

King had spent the ‘60s, the dawn of the sexual-liberation movement, raising two kids; she was pregnant at 17, while her husband had affairs, including one with Earl-Jean McCree of the girl group the Cookies that resulted in a child. By the end of the decade, King packed up her daughters and moved from Manhattan to the Laurel Canyon suburb of Los Angeles.

Tapestry, King’s second solo album, arrived on Feb. 10, 1971, one day after the deadly San Fernando earthquake hit L.A. The album’s opener was, coincidentally, “I Feel the Earth Move.” That wasn’t what the song was about, though the serendipity of it captured the attention of listeners.

The rollicking song was by far the most sexual track on the album, reflecting where King was in her life and the expansion of women’s liberation in America. “I Feel the Earth Move” is sung to a lover who sets King’s heart a “trembling.” There are cries of “Oh, baby, I can’t stand it," while King “lose[s] control, down to my very soul.” The piano provides the crashes while King’s voice strains against its limits, rolling with the melody, evoking a sense of physical reaction.

“To suggest an earthquake, I concluded with a continuous cluster of notes on the piano cascading rapidly downward in pitch until the band, and I ended the run together on a final C bass note,” King later wrote in her autobiography, A Natural Woman.

That ending was removed by Lou Adler, with King’s approval, though she still frequently performed it in concert. At the time, Adler served as King’s producer and manager; he was the one who put King into A&M Studios - studio B to be exact - for the song and album’s recording. Next door in studio C was Joni Mitchell, who was recording another seminal album singer-songwriter album from 1971, Blue.

Mitchell’s studio had a red Steinway that King thought sounded special, so when Mitchell vacated and King’s band had three hours in the room, they recorded “I Feel the Earth Move” on that piano”.

There is another interesting feature that examines and highlights one of the greatest songs ever. American Songwriter. Although they say I Feel the Earth Move was an A-side and It’s Too Late was its B-side, I think it was a double A-side. In any case, the success of I Feel the Earth Move caused this ignition. It was a pivotal moment in Carole King’s career. Still widely played to this day, I think I first heard it when I was very young. There was something about it that grabbed me. Not understanding what the lyrics concerned, it was King’s vocal that stuck with me:

“King didn’t ever intend to become a solo hitmaker. She just wanted to concentrate on making albums. But teamed with producer Lou Adler, King hit upon a bit of a more commercial sound on Tapestry. The new songs she was writing matched her knack for pop hooks with a more personal outlook.

“I Feel The Earth Move” found her singing with candor about sexual attraction. To get the sound she wanted, King had to do a bit of studio-hopping. In the studio next to her, Joni Mitchell was making the album Blue. When Mitchell was away for a bit, King headed into the other room to make use of a particular Steinway that offered the tone she wanted for the song.

King’s label heard a hit in “I Feel The Earth Move”. It didn’t hurt the song’s commercial prospects that its B-side, “It’s Too Late”, also started getting major airplay. Those two songs comprised a single that turned into a no. 1 hit. And that started the ball rolling on the Tapestry phenomenon that helped instigate the peak of the singer-songwriter era.

Behind the Lyrics of “I Feel The Earth Move”

“I Feel The Earth Move” describes how deep desire can untether you from your moorings. “I feel the earth move under my feet / I feel the sky tumblin’ down,” King sings about seeing her lover. His “mellow” visage rocks her world: “Oh, darlin’, I can’t stand it / When you look at me that way.”

“I know that emotions / Are somethin’ that I just can’t tame,” she explains about the effect he has on her. Toward song’s end, King leaves behind the song structure and simply repeats the phrase “all over” several times, lost in imagining the intimate moments they’ll be spending together.

The music to “I Feel The Earth Move” adds to the effect, as the churning piano groove mirrors the intensity of the lyrics. Carole King proved with the song that she could interpret her material as well as any of the dozens of artists who’d scored hits with her originals in the past”.

I do want to source from Wikipedia, and what they say about I Feel the Earth Move. In fact, they collated reviews for the song. I have chosen a few. Perhaps contrasting the rest of Tapestry, I don’t think that I Feel the Earth Move is an anomaly or that different. Perhaps bolder than the other songs, it does perfectly slot alongside them too:

“Music journalist Harvey Kubernik wrote that "I Feel the Earth Move" was "probably the most sexually aggressive song on the Tapestry album" and a "brave" opening to an album whose mood is mostly "mellow confessionality”.

AllMusic critic Stewart Mason describes the song as "the ultimate in hippie-chick eroticism" and writes that it "sounds like the unleashing of an entire generation of soft-spoken college girls' collective libidos". Cash Box described the song as being a "forceful 'earthquake song'" and considered its pairing with "It's Too Late" as a single to be "double dynamite". Record World said that it is "quality contemporary pop".

Author James Perone praised the way the lyrics and music work together. As a prime example, he notes the syncopated rhythm to the melody on which King sings "tumbling down". This rhythm, putting the accent at the end of the word "tumbling" rather than at the beginning, produces a "musical equivalent of a tumble". Perone also notes that the fast tempo allows the listener to feel the singer's excitement over being near her lover, and that the lyrics also express sexual tension even though that tension is left implicit”.

I am finishing off with this article dissects and explores the lyrics and the composition. It is a fascinating take and approach to a song that has lost none of its brilliance. Even though Carole King is hugely influential, I don’t think that there has been anyone quite like her since:

“Carole had several things going for her in her attempt at a breakthrough. Her songwriting prowess had yielded several classic hits, and by choosing to work with Lou Adler, she had a producer with a solid track record as a hitmaker (The Mamas & the Papas, Jan & Dean, Barry McGuire, Johnny Rivers, to name a few). She had her pick of the best session musicians in town and musical buddies like James Taylor and Joni Mitchell who were willing to lend a hand.

The little girl with perfect pitch who started piano lessons at the age of four and “wanted so much to master the popular songs pouring out of the radio,” and who jumped from kindergarten to second grade due to her “exceptional facility with words and numbers” was on her own now, a single parent with two children, after having ended the marriage with Goffin a few years before. It was time for Carole King to step out of the shadows and into the spotlight.

And all she had to do was be herself.

All songs written by Carole King except where noted.

“I Feel the Earth Move”: Rule #1 in the unwritten book How to Make a Breakthrough Album is “you can’t hold nothin’ back.” In the parlance of the times, you gotta let it all hang out and have complete confidence in what you’re trying to accomplish. Of all the songs on Tapestry, “I Feel the Earth Move” conveys that confidence, in both the nature of the composition and its intense, metaphorical expression of a woman’s sexual needs. Songfacts dutifully noted that “the song has a risqué feel (at least by 1971 standards),” but missed the equally important aspect of sex expressed in the song: the emotional connection.

The composition is split between two distinct parts. The chorus is set to a truncated minor blues pattern in the key of C minor (Cm7/F). This is where Carole expresses sexual desire in the lyrics over a background featuring the innate sexiness of the blues:

I feel the Earth move under my feet
I feel the sky tumblin’ down
I feel my heart start to tremblin’
Whenever you’re around

Those lines are much more expressive than “Hey, I’m getting horny” because they capture the overwhelming nature of the libido when confronted with a desirable stimulus.

The verse lines are set to the complementary major key (Eb major) with a strong melody and a marvelous, obviously-written-on-a-piano chord pattern of Ebmaj7-Eb6-Abmaj7-Fm7/Ab, closing with a transitional pattern of F/G, Cm7, F/C, Cm7, F/C. This is where Carole covers the emotional aspects of closeness, tenderness and unfettered desire:

Oh, oh, darling, when you’re near me
And you tenderly call my name
I know that my emotions
Are something I just got to have you tame
I just got to have you baby

I love that closing line for its unashamed assertiveness. You go, girl!

Placing “I Feel the Earth Move” in the pole position opening the album has to rank as the biggest no-brainer of all time. You can tell Carole is feeling it, and that’s exactly what she needed to do to excite listeners. She receives solid support from the band with Charles Larkey thumping that bass and “Kootch” Kortchmar throwing in some tasty licks. The call-and-response between Carole’s piano and Kortchmar’s guitar in the instrumental passage is as good as it gets”.

I will leave it there. The glorious and hugely powerful opening track from Carole King’s Tapestry, I Feel the Earth Move deserves more discussion today. If you have not heard the song in a while, then do go and listen to it. Listen to Tapestry too. Caroline King’s defining and most popular album, there is not a weak moment on it. Its opening track, I Feel the Earth Move, is a perfect opener from…

A perfect album.

FEATURE: Cosmia: Joanna Newsom’s Ys at Twenty

FEATURE:

 

 

Cosmia

Joanna Newsom’s Ys at Twenty

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THIS is an album…

that is often ranked alongside the very best of the 2000s. On 14th November, it will be twenty years since Joanna Newsom’s Ys was released. Some critics have labelled it a musical masterpiece and compared it to some of the most iconic and influential albums ever. I did want to end with a couple of reviews for Ys. Produced by Newsom and Dyke Van Parks, I do wonder if there will be any announcements or anything special to coincide with its twentieth anniversary. I want to start with an interview from Pitchfork, where Joanna Newsom discussed Ys:

“Newsom returned this year with Ys, an album that will do nothing to allay these criticisms. In an indie culture that rewards well-turned mediocrity and can be suspicious of ambition, the record's long compositions, ornate orchestral arrangements, and antique lyrics are guaranteed to be dismissed as pretentious by many. And they are-- symbolically dense and anachronistically stylized, Newsom's songs expect a lot from the listener. But whether or not the music is pretentious is beside the point. The debate between Newsom admirers and detractors seems to revolve around one question-- does she mean it, or is she selling us snake-oil? I don't claim to have gotten to the bottom of Joanna Newsom in a 45-minute conversation, but she left me with the impression of being an uncommonly graceful and articulate person, not a collection of tics and fancies; a person who, regardless of what she's doing, always means it.

Pitchfork: The Milk-Eyed Mender was a relatively small album, with its minimal arrangements and concise pop structures. Ys, by contrast, is huge. The songs are really long, and only "Cosmia" approaches pop phrasing. Can you talk about how Ys came to be conceptualized and what attracted you to this expanded format?

Joanna Newsom: It wasn't so much as conceptualized as fumbled toward instinctively. I don't really even consider it a concept album, even if it does have some unifying aesthetic choices that make it really different from the first record. It's the product of a series of very small decisions, as opposed to sitting down like, "I want to do this record with long songs and huge orchestral presences." Basically I wanted to undertake the task of writing songs about a particular year of my life. Not the task of telling that story in a linear way, or in any way that would make the story explicitly knowable to a listener, but rather, to tell the story to myself. I was starting to see a lot of connections, and I wanted to make them more substantial to myself, or at least explore them. Writing these songs was a way to organize my brain and organize these events and how they had affected me. There were four very big things that happened in my life in this particular year, and so four of the songs are about these things. The fifth song, "Only Skin", was an effort to talk about the connections between the events.

Pitchfork: Is it fair to say that the songs are longer because you needed a lot of space to examine these events?

JN: Absolutely. As soon as I knew that this is what I wanted to do, I recognized that it would be extremely awkward and vulgar to try and fit them into shorter forms. I'm not a huge proponent of the long song in general; I think they are often justified, but in general I believe economy is a tenet that's worth upholding in songwriting. It's important to say what you need to say as accurately and truly as possible, but with as few words as possible as well. In the case of this record, I did think I was doing that, but it didn't seem possible to tell the story in any fewer words than the amount I ended up with, or in any other form than the one I ended up with.

Pitchfork: And this was due to the magnitude of the events you were engaging with?

JN: I think so. And the magnitude of the individual events, and the larger structure ordered themselves for this record-- the particular form and the song lengths, and the presence of an orchestra. It hadn't really occurred to me until I was about halfway through writing these songs that it would be necessary for an orchestra to be involved. I'm not sure why I thought that; I have theories, but it was just an intuitive decision. It seemed necessary. Two of the songs, "Sawdust and Diamonds" and "Cosmia", were written before I had come to this realization, and the other songs had bits and pieces written but hadn't been completed yet. So "Monkey and Bear", "Only Skin", and "Emily" were all written with me keeping in mind there would be an orchestra involved at some point. In the case of "Sawdust and Diamonds", I wasn't ever able to make orchestral arrangements work. Van Dyke [Parks] came up with several drafts and lots of ideas, but it never worked gracefully, so I ended up deciding it was fine because it wasn't written with an orchestra in mind, unlike those other three I mentioned.

Pitchfork: You tread a pretty thin line between pop and classical composition. How do you personally reconcile them? Are they even that far apart?

JN: I guess I shouldn't say that I've struggled to reconcile them, because for years I didn't understand that what I was doing was slightly different than what I thought I was doing. Since I was about 13 or 14 years old, what I wanted more than anything was to be a composer, and I spent all my time playing harp and writing music. If you ask any of my friends who knew me back then, they remember coming over and finding me playing harp in the family room every spare minute, and writing music. I was really obsessed with that as my life's goal. But even though that was what I spent all my time doing, I didn't truly understand what it means to go to school, study composition, and be a composer. I hadn't really plotted out that life in my mind. All I knew is that the name for writing music is composition, and one who writes music is a composer, so I had to go to school to be a composer.

I ended up going to Mills College to study it, because a lot of composers I really liked had gone there or taught there or had some sort of affiliation with that school. The second I got there, I realized that what I was doing was completely separate from the dialogue taking place in that school at that time, and I think that is when I started struggling to reconcile where my music fit in. Not that it needs to fit in, but what should I even call it? Should I call them songs now, or can I still call them compositions? My music generally retains an interest in melody and harmony and some sort of meter-- it might be a polymeter, but some sort of meter that repeats for more than one bar. But a lot of these ideas that I was interested in seemed to be considered passé, like they were unworthy of discussion and unworthy of listening. I wouldn't necessarily say that would be true of the professors at that school, but the climate was dictated by what the students were interested in, and most of them were writing incredibly dissonant music on their laptop computers and didn't play instruments [or] know how to write notation. It was a whole different thing than what I thought it would be, and it might have been smarter to go to a less experimental composition school, where I would have gotten neo-classical training in composition.

After a few years I left the music program and went to study creative writing instead, which in a way I'm really grateful for, because I think that sense of alienation drove me to feel like I could go even further in the direction I'd been embarrassed of previously-- an obsession with melody rather than a rejection of it; an analysis of every interval that separates every note that follows in succession.

Pitchfork: How did Drag City react when you told them what you wanted to do with Ys?

JN: I think they felt pretty good. I didn't tell them much about it until it was time to actually start organizing the recording sessions. They're incredibly supportive of anything and everything. When I mentioned that I wanted to try and work with Van Dyke, [Drag City owner] Dan Koretzky said, "Well, I think that's going to be difficult, but we'll definitely talk to him." I think they understood to a greater extent than I did that it was a big deal to ask Van Dyke to do this. I didn't really know about most of the work he did; I was in love with his record Song Cycle and that's it. So I was intimidated because of the quality of his work and how much I respected him, but [not because] he was this hugely appreciated and obsessed-over person. He kindly chose to not unburden me of my ignorance of what a big deal it was to ask him, and agreed to meet with me in Los Angeles. I played my harp for him and his wife in a hotel room there-- the five songs that would end up being the songs off this record-- and he agreed that he would do it and make it financially possible to work with him.

I think under his normal fee it would have been impossible to make a record with him on Drag City. Of course, Drag City has a very accurate reputation for being economical, and not spending a lot of money on advertising or putting a big push behind their bands with marketing campaigns, but they'll spend money on things if they believe in it.

Pitchfork: Let's talk about Ys and its themes a bit more. There's an old Breton folktale where Ys is a sunken city very similar to Atlantis. The sea figures prominently on the album but there's nothing too overt about a sunken city. Did you draw the title from another source, or is it used more loosely, to allude to the mythological spaces the album inhabits?

JN: [The title] was the last thing that I chose, after all the songs and the cover art were finished. So none of the songs directly allude to that myth. But the main themes that emerge out of that myth are really close to the themes on the record-- mortality, decadence, an excess of water, isolation, rebirth. The myth is also significant to me because of the way that I encountered it, which relates to one of the huge events the record is about.

I also liked the power of the word itself. I liked how violent and cryptic it felt; it's such a daunting word to encounter. I like how it contrasted this finely rendered, carefully composed front cover-- the painting is information-dense, formal, and stylized; it looks the way something looks when a painter spends a year on it, which is what Benjamin [Vierling] did. So it has all this detail and carefulness to it, which was really important to me and relates very closely to the record. But I also felt like it needed some sort of ballast, or balance, next to it, to reflect the other elements of the record; its innate violence. I wanted a word that was like throwing a brick at the visual on the front cover; I liked that whenever someone looked at that cover they also had to encounter this short, weird word.

Pitchfork: The cover seems like a good symbolic digest of the album's themes. There's a moth, which can symbolize transformation; a sickle, which can stand for depletion and renewal; an open window standing for entrapment and release, framing a bird, which, according to folklore, symbolizes bad luck or death when it lands in a window. So the album seems very taken up with binary, metaphysical transformations. Can you talk about the literary or musical traditions from which you derived this very classical interpretation of art, which seems to privilege the beauty of natural cycles over man-made beauty, and which seeks to root human experience in these cycles?

JN: I don't necessarily see the elements that I invoke on the cover and in the songs as being in binary opposition. I know certain binary tensions emerge between these elements, but a lot of times they're more like archetypal elements; these free-standing, huge forces. Mortality, standing alone, as a thing; as opposed to, "Over here's life; over here's death. Here's bad luck, but here's blessing and redemption. Here's water; here's fire." Certainly those things come up again and again in the songs, but it's not intentional, and probably has more to do with the fact that those things emerge in real life, without any effort on our part whatsoever, than they are derived from any classical tradition. I think classicism in general might reflect more closely the natural order of human life, while postmodernism is somehow removed from the natural order, more cerebral and sterile, removed from real life on some level. So what seems like classicism in some of these songs might be just what I view as an accurate reflection of real life on this planet.

Pitchfork: You don't perceive postmodernism as mirroring the disruption wrought by technology on these natural cycles-- effectively, a reflection of modern life, however unnatural it may be?

JN: I wouldn't necessarily argue against that; of course I rely on a lot of postmodern forms myself within the narrative of these songs. I can't call them linear narratives, and I can't call them chronological in a traditional, classical sense; I'm sure there's plenty of stuff I borrow more from William Faulkner than William Shakespeare. I just find it funny that at this point, we see a collection of highly charged, highly potent symbols as referring back to a classical aesthetic, because to me they seem deeply connected to the pedestrian actuality of real life.

Pitchfork: The song "Emily" is very taken up with astronomy and astrology, both literally and figuratively-- a mud cloud is "mica-spangled"; a far butte lit by a flare and ship sailing toward the morning both invoke lodestars; Emily's a "beam of sun," and so on. It seems like Emily has a very scientific grasp of the cosmos-- "she taught me the names of the stars overhead"-- while the narrator has a more mythological sensibility: she knew "only the Pleiades." How important is this tension between science and magic to the album, and how does it relate to its cycles of escape and return?

JN: Like every other song on this record, "Emily" is deeply biographical. The Emily in the song is my sister, who's an astrophysicist; the narrator is myself, who is not an astrophysicist. Emily is the wanderer; she lives in Argentina and sometimes New Zealand. I'm not a wanderer, which is funny because I'm on tour half the time. I'm a home, hearth and family kind of person. It's difficult for me to make too many intelligent comments about what you brought up because the song really is a very personal reaction to real life”.

The first of two reviews I am interested in highlighted is from Drowned in Sound. Awarding it a perfect ten, I do think that everyone needs to hear Ys. It is an experience that you will never forget. Such a mesmerising and transformative album. I can not really do true justice to how good it is. As Joanna Newsom’s albums are not available on Spotify, I cannot include it here. However, I would urge people to buy a copy:

“It’s only very occasionally that I’ve come across an album that sounds so out of step with it's time that it's startling, even shocking, like a smouldering asteroid that crashes through the ceiling of your house.

Often it’s something so odd, so next level that it seems like it can only have come from the future. But _Ys_, the second full-length album by prodigious folk musician Joanna Newsom, sounds like it has come from some dimly remembered past. Like old wives’ tales, these autobiographical myths are built from grains of truth and wisdom, a vivid, living, textured account of a memory glimpsed or forgotten, like a dream upon waking or a fable from a faraway place written a long time ago.

Joanna’s voice itself is very different from her first EPs, and has notably changed since debut album The Milk Eyed Mender. It’s deeper, with more resonance; less grating and wild, and incredibly affecting. The bold intelligence of the album opener 'Emily' is dizzying. Adrenalizing. Powerful enough to set your nerves on fire and make you forget where you are, who you are, for a while. It’s almost scary how seductive and pungent this intriguing mythology is - from sitting skimming stones at the riverside, to the raging sea, or the vastness of a comet soaring through the heavens, this song is magnificent in its lyrical scope. For anyone who ever stared into a bruised evening sky and felt at once terrified, amazed, exhilarated, moved... just alive... Joanna Newsom with Ys has written the wonder of being into labyrinthine tangles of words and set it to music.

The stories continue throughout the five extended pieces that form Ys, weaving a gentle web around you, cocooning you in sweet chiming harp and wriggling flutes, groaning cello, layers of warmth and harmony, never settling but eddying and constantly evolving, deepening, unravelling around your ears. The string arrangements are sometimes genuinely surprising, even jaw-dropping. They swoop, stab and swoon around the harp and the wandering storytelling, guided, intelligent and precise; sometimes wistful, sometimes playful, lifting you vertically or falling away unexpectedly beneath your feet. The sensitivity of the composer with respect to how the strings fit around the music is apparent: a huge amount of care has been put into arrangement of the songs. Rather than being an embellishment thrown on to lend borrowed grandiosity to the proceedings, the instrumentation flits marvellously, clinging, hovering and breaking free from the thrust of the song, changing tack and tone as if blown by a sentient breeze.

_Ys_ is a truly special album that takes you gently by the hand and leads you through a distinctive magical landscape. Drift into it and you'll find your imagination dancing through wistful showers of falling leaves and kicking knee-deep through tangles of poppies, counting stars and wandering vast landscapes, lamenting a broken heart through abstract and taciturn poetry, or sinking back through the centuries to land gently back on your feet some time later.

It’s a vivid and beautiful painting that you can walk into; a magic window into another world that I'd be happy to get lost in, and never come back”.

I am going to finish with Slant and their five-star review of Ys. Twenty years after its release, I don’t think anything quite like it has been released. In terms of its legacy, it is seen as a landmark achievement in modern Indie Folk and Baroque Pop, permanently expanding the structural and narrative ambitions of the genre:

“Newsom recorded “base” vocal and harp tracks with Steve Albini, and then spent six months developing backing orchestral arrangements with Parks. The effect is outstanding and operatic and, thanks to the astute mixing work of Jim O’Rourke, the orchestral parts never feel tacked on or unnecessary. The dozens of strings and winds float in and out of the mix, truly accentuating Newsom’s compositions, without overwhelming her signature voice.

Of course, there’s not a symphony in the world that could overwhelm Newsom’s voice. Her vocals have been compared favorably and otherwise to Björk, Kate Bush, and Lisa Simpson, but these comparisons are inadequate, as is the rather blasé assessment that Newsom’s voice will “grow on you.” She’s the most innovative vocalist since Tom Waits, and like Waits she is capable of soothing dissonance.

Lyrically, Newsom’s talents are just as startling: She wraps her alto around tongue twisters like “Scrap of sassafras, eh Sisyphus?” and “The thought troubled the monkey, for he was afraid of spelunking down in those caves” with more grace than you could possibly expect. Newsom’s rhymes bear the wit and curiousness of her anachro-pop peers but with the profundity they lack. “Monkey And Bear” is a haunting fable as heartbreaking as it is magical. The epic “Only Skin” traces a love affair through a number of allusions and allegories before culminating in a duet with Smog’s Bill Calahan, where Newsom’s speaker pledges her body and soul to her beloved: “Take my bones, I don’t need none.”

Ys might seem like it will be a difficult, even unpleasant, listen: a mere five songs over the course of nearly an hour (“Only Skin” stretches to 17 minutes), an unconventional vocalist most would deem grating, lyrics with a demanding diction, and nary a chorus or verse to be found. But Ys is incredibly likeable, and more convivial than the twee Milk Eyed Mender. The album is a precious, in every sense of the word, masterpiece”.

Because the stunning Ys turns twenty on 14th November, I did want to spotlight it here. Bring in some reviews and an interview with Joanna Newsom. Without doubt one of the best albums of the 2000s, I do wonder how many people are discovering it new. Anyone who is unfamiliar with Ys needs to listen to it. An album that will stay in your head for weeks after. A true masterpiece from…

A musical goddess.

FEATURE: The Digital Mixtape: Primavera Sound 2027: The First Wave

FEATURE:

 

 

The Digital Mixtape

Primavera Sound 2027: The First Wave

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ONE of the world’s biggest…

IN THIS PHOTO: Doechii/PHOTO CREDIT: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

and most important music festivals has announced its first wave of artists for 2027. Primavera Sound is held in Barcelona and draws in some huge artists. In terms of headliners, women feature much more heavily than at a lot of major festivals. I am ending this feature with a mixtape of songs from many of the artists already confirmed. First, NME provided details of next year’s Primavera Sound:

“Primavera Sound has announced the first wave of artists leading the bill for its 2027 edition including Doechii, Phoebe Bridgers and Fontaines D.C.

The festival will return to the Parc del Fòrum from June 3 to 5 next year, and is celebrating 25 years.

Last week, organisers confirmed the dates of the ticket sales for the upcoming edition, and also told fans to keep their eyes peeled for the first line-up announcement coming today (Monday October 5).

Now, a huge list of names have been confirmed for the 2027 instalment, and leading the way is Doechii who will be performing at the festival for the first time, as well as Phoebe Bridgers – who is celebrating the recent release of new solo album ‘Lost Weekend’ – as well as Fontaines D.C. who are gearing up to drop ‘Dopamine Chamber’ later this month.

Others performing at the festival next summer include Massive Attack and Chemical Brothers while FKA Twigs will also be bringing an “all new show” to the festival site.

Joining them on the bill are Turnstile, Robyn, Bad Gyal, Lola Young, Pavement, ADÉLA, Prospa, Caroline Polachek and Hayley Williams. Skrillex and Australian artist Ninajirachi will be holding a b2b set to close the festival.

More names on the bill include King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Bleachers, Underworld, EsDeeKid, ANOHNI, Weyes Blood, English Teacher, Julien Baker, Rebe, Dove Ellis, Metronomy, Arca, underscores, DIIV, Westside Cowboy, Lip Critic and Angine de Poitrine.

Bonnie “Prince” Billy is lined-up too for a rare festival appearance, as is 81-year-old cult vocalist Vashti Bunyan who has played barely a dozen times live over the past 10 years.

From now until October 7, a registration form for the Fan Sale will be available on the Primavera Sound website. On October 8, all registered users will receive an email with instructions on how to access the Fan Sale from 11am CEST.

General ticket sales will open on October 9. Visit here for more information”.

If you want to get a sense of the incredible quality of the artists booked for Primavera Sound, then I hope the mixtape below provides some illumination and substance. There will be more names confirmed shortly. Though the first wave looks pretty amazing! A celebration of one of the most essential and very best music festivals…

IN the world.

FEATURE: My Artist of the Year 2026: Lana Lubany

FEATURE:

 

 

My Artist of the Year 2026

PHOTO CREDIT: Andrew Morales for Viper

Lana Lubany

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I have loved spotlighting…

PHOTO CREDIT: Matt Bottomley

every artist featured on my blog this year. They are all tremendous. However, I was thinking of the one whose music, social media messaging and videos has impacted me hardest. It may be premature to declare a winner this far until the end of 2026, though I have been a big fan of Lana Lubany for a long time. The music she has put out this year has really got under my skin. Her videos and live performances. I did want to bring in some interviews from this year with her. She is a Palestine-born artist who resides in London. I have not interviewed her but, as we live in the same city, I will try and do it at some point. I spotlighted Lana Lubany in 2022 and revisited her work last year. Singles this year like BAD IDEA and CURRENCY are among her best work. I still need to see her perform live. Lots of people will hold their breath for an album from her soon. This is a very special artist indeed. I have been following her over four years, and she goes from strength to strength. In terms of her voice, style, her lyrics and everything, there is nobody like her! This year has been a massive one for her. I think how challenging it must be for a Palestinian artist and seeing the genocide in her country. I think what makes her important is that she mixes English with Arabic (specifically her native Palestinian dialect). On 3rd November, Lubany turns thirty, so this was a sort of early happy birthday too! I do want to bring in some interviews with her. Go and follow her on Instagram, and see everything that she is getting up to. Her shoot for Mille World earlier in the year must rank as a highlight. “We wanted to do something more playful,” Palestinian photographer Sama Haddad tells MILLE of her latest shoot with Palestinian stylist Yara Aboud featuring Lana Lubany. What they ended up creating instead was one of the most visually striking Arab editorials to emerge this year”.

This Palestinian-America modern-day icon is someone who I admire so much. I want to come to this interview from January. We get a look into the self-made universe of Lana Lubany. One of the most inspiring artists I have heard in years, I do feel like she is going to be a global sensation very soon. She is not far from that now:

“In this exclusive conversation, we discuss her latest single “BAD IDEA,” which has just been released online. We talk about her journey of self-discovery, something I found myself relating to deeply, along with her love for horror films, the challenges she faces with writing, and the long, often difficult process of finding the courage to fully embrace who she truly is.

In many ways, this doesn’t feel like a traditional interview. It feels more like a conversation—or perhaps even a kind of therapy session—for two people who proudly embrace being a little weird.

How has your journey of discovering your identity been so far?

There were not many Arab pop stars, and I’ve always wanted to do the singing thing, and I never had the representation. So, I thought I have to change myself in order to be who I thought I needed to be in order to do music for a living. And so, I was kind of lost for a long time, trying to find my sound, trying to find myself, trying to figure out what my story was, and I feel like I’ve reached a low point. I was living in London back then, and it was during Covid that I got to a really low point that one day I was like, just fuck it. I’m going to try and write a song with Arabic in it. Because my mom always said, Lana, you should write in Arabic. It makes you unique. It makes you who you are. And I always said, nah, Mom, you don’t understand. You don’t know. And then I did try, and I wrote a song before I wrote my breakout song, The Snake, and it felt cool. I was like, oh, this is something I’ve never heard before, and this is something that I feel like it’s cool and represents me.

And then I wrote The Snake, and that one, it wasn’t immediate, like I was not feeling great. And then I wrote it, then I knew there was something about it that was different and that felt good. And every time I showed it to people, my mom included, it felt like they reacted differently, and it felt more me and it felt scarier, which is how you know that, like this is hitting a point, like a sensitive point within me. So, I put out the song. I kind of got over my fears, and that song specifically helped me with my identity crisis, if you want to call it that, and it kind of made me understand that me being myself is the coolest shit ever, and I need to just be me and accept myself for who I am. And then I started working on a project called the Holy Land and released that. And that was the whole journey of me rediscovering myself by really being accepting of my identity. And to this day, I’m on a journey of self-discovery. I feel like that. It never stops.

Your single Bad Idea is about letting go. What is something Lana has let go of over the past year?

I think in life, you’re always forced to let go. I think bad idea specifically is kind of like letting go of your control and kind of being like, fuck it. I’m just going to do whatever feels good for me at the moment. I’ve let go of so many things. This past year, life has kind of come to me with a bunch of changes, and like, I’ve had to let go of bad habits like people pleasing and not standing up for myself, letting other people control me, some friendships that I’ve had to let go of. I think change is inevitable. There’s beauty in it. It’s really difficult. But I think when you kind of let go, life becomes a bit less anal, a little less kind of rigid. It starts working with you rather than against you. So, you just have to accept it and let go sometimes.

Have you ever considered acting?

I would love to act at some point, I think it would be really fun. Because. I love acting in my music videos, but it has to be the right role and the right type of movie. And I think horror would be really cool.

Has your music been a way for you to face your feelings, or a way to escape them?

Facing them for sure. Writing helps me make sense of my emotions, and it’s the way I process how I feel, and it helps me confront my feelings, especially when it’s uncomfortable. I think otherwise, if I didn’t do it through writing, I would be avoiding my emotions. But instead, I sit with my emotions, and I turn them into something tangible, and it makes them feel less overwhelming, and it just makes more sense. So, it’s not about escaping.

You have a song titled “I Wish I Was Normal.” Do you feel that you’re not “normal,” and what does that idea mean to you?

I wrote that song as a Palestinian who was living away from home in London, and at the time, I felt like the issues that I was dealing with and the things that I was worried about were not normal, were out of the ordinary, but I never felt ordinary. The thing is I never felt like I fully belonged anywhere, and I always felt like I was different from the environment I was around, always in between, and at the time, that was amplified because I was just worried about the politics and everything and people around me were normal. I don’t think I’m normal, and sometimes I wish I was, because it sounds like an easier life, but I think it’s, it’s more fun, kind of being all over the place, yeah?

Are there any emerging Palestinian actors or music artists that you think the world should keep an eye on?

Lina Mahul, I think is amazing. She’s an amazing artist. I love 47 Soul, a band who is also Palestinian. There’s so much like up-and-coming talent. I feel like, you know, if you come across someone, just keep an eye out, because I feel like we’re on the rise now. You know, it’s our time”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Sama Haddad for Mille World

I do want to move now to GQ Middle East, as there was a period when Lana Lubany was receiving backlash for not being as vocal as fellow Palestinian artists about genocide and what Israel are inflicting on Gaza. However, her advocacy has been proven. She is working on an album it seems. If she is not as vocal about the genocide as other artists, instead she shows her love for Palestine. Its people, history and culture:

“The artist still has family living in Palestine, which she says complicated her ability to use her platform to say or share anything publicly. It was an unprecedented moment for her and many Palestinian artists to navigate, putting musicians and creatives in an isolating position both personally and professionally. Due to this, Lubany was perceived to be quieter than other artists in her support for her homeland, Palestine.

It wasn’t until January 2024 that Lubany dropped her song “Make It Better” as her way of capturing all of the emotions pent up over the previous months.

But the song, she says, “flew under radar” and by the time she felt ready to step back into the public spotlight, some of her peers had already eclipsed her in terms of success in the movement she helped usher in.

“‘Make It Better’ was kind of my way of expressing my emotions without getting too much into it,” she says. “I was hoping that people would read between the lines, and most people didn't. I think people were looking for loud words, more obvious ones to validate what they were feeling. Which is fair, I completely understand. But I felt really trapped and like I had no freedom.”

What followed that year was a journey of renewed self-discovery for Lubany, forging ahead with experimentation in songs like the baddie anthem “Stanna” and the ode to her home “Nazareth”.

These singles culminated in her second EP “Yafa” later in 2024, which by her own admission came together very quickly.

Lubany speaks honestly about the process for creating and releasing “Yafa”, saying that she would “make different choices” if the EP were to come out now, like removing a couple of the songs.Yet what has stuck with her most from that release is the “external judgement” and feedback she received from fans and the Arab music industry writ large.

“I'm nostalgic for the “Snake” era because back then there was no judgment and it felt very positive online and people were lifting me up and telling me that I made them proud to be Arab."

“To me, songs like ‘Yafa’ or ‘Nazareth’ and so many of my other songs, they talk about my experience,” Lubany explains. “These songs are not as loud and obvious, but they show us as humans. They show more than just headlines. I think it's important to get different perspectives of a human, of a culture. I think there is definitely a certain perspective in the community that is shown, but there are so many more perspectives that should get a spotlight, in my opinion. So many things to get educated on as well. There's just so much good stuff in our culture that needs to be celebrated. So many stories that need to be told and preserved.”

Though the artist is now generally understanding and accepting of what happened, Lubany’s experience forced her to take a step back and reconnect with her identity and her humanity in a thoughtful way.

That introspection – and a change in management – seems to have paid dividends. With her two singles “Bad Idea” and “The Currency”” to start 2026, Lubany sounds more like herself, as though that weight of negativity has been completely lifted. She is quick to clarify, though, that she’s stepping back into this public spotlight with caution as she continues to heal from this traumatic experience.

Lubany holds no grudges, though, welcoming both new fans and the ones who might’ve doubted her. “It's good to have people listening to your art,” she says. “But I think now my mindset is very much that if I do the right thing, the right people will come.”

And if there are still any unfounded doubts about Lubany’s love and advocacy for Palestine, look no further than her participation in “Lullaby”, the ensemble charity single featuring other artists like Nai Barghouti, Bastille, and Mabel.

“It was so cathartic to be a part of that,” she shares. “It was a no-brainer when I got the email asking to participate. This was something I felt like my soul wanted to do and I felt like I needed. So many people came together in unity and it felt very hopeful for humanity in general. It felt like there was a light at the end of the tunnel.”

For now, Lubany continues to build herself back up. The artist remains busy in the studio, gearing up for her upcoming album. She’s prioritising her own world and creating on her own terms, including her love for Pilates.

“I feel like going to the gym is such an important thing for me to do. It's just good for you,’ she tells me. “Building these good, consistent habits help your bad days hit a little less hard and help you get out of slumps a little bit more easily. Now that I know how to take care of myself, I am stronger”.

I will end with the entirety of VIPER and their interview from July. As we look to the end of the year, these are exciting times for Lana Lubany. An album in the works. Plans for 2027. In the past couple of years, she has achieved so much. I think we will be talking about this incredible artists for many years more. I was blown away when I discovered her in 2022. Since then, she has evolved into one of the most important voices of her generation. No exaggeration:

“LANA LUBANY INTERVIEW: Breaking borders and bending genres, the London-based vanguard discusses bilingual flows, dark cinematic production, and the vital importance of creative autonomy.

The power of music lies in its ability to construct worlds where physical borders cease to exist. For Lana Lubany, this isn’t just an artistic philosophy—it is a lived reality. Since her breakthrough track ‘THE SNAKE’ seamlessly fused English and Arabic, the London-based artist has pioneered a haunting, avant-garde soundscape where ancient heritage and hyper-modern, bass-heavy production sit in perfect harmony.

Refusing to smooth out her edges for mainstream palatability, Lubany’s music serves as a sanctuary for the diaspora and a masterclass in world-building. Following a string of high-profile live dates—from Wembley Arena to touring with The Last Dinner Party—and a crucial partnership with AWAL, she is proving that absolute creative autonomy is the ultimate currency.

We spoke with the vocalist and songwriter to dissect bilingual rhythms, late-night intensity, and the necessity of protecting your true voice.

LANA LUBANY INTERVIEW: Your breakthrough track ‘THE SNAKE’ was a pivotal moment where you first merged English and Arabic (Arabizi). From a Rap and lyrical perspective, how did shifting into a bilingual delivery change the rhythm, flow, and cadence of your bars?

Adding another language to my writing unlocked a new perspective plus a new instrument. I feel like different parts of your personality come out in different languages. My Arabic wasn’t as strong as my English, so I couldn’t rely on a wide vocabulary or complicated descriptions. I had to keep things simple and find creative ways to connect ideas and build metaphors that communicated what I was trying to say.

Sometimes a phrase hits harder in Arabic because it carries an emotion or attitude that doesn’t really translate, and vice versa in English. They work so well symbiotically. Once I stopped treating language as a boundary and started treating it as part of the production itself, everything changed. It opened up new rhythms, new melodies, new flows and new ways of telling a story.

Your production heavily blends traditional sounds with avant-garde dark R&B, trap textures, and heavy bass. How do you approach the studio to ensure the ancient and the hyper-modern sit together without losing that raw, underground edge?

Everything starts with emotion. If the emotion is honest, the sounds can come from completely different worlds and still feel cohesive. I grew up between cultures, so hearing an Arabic melodic influence over dark bass-heavy production feels natural to me because that’s how my life feels. I think the underground edge comes from trusting my instincts rather than trying to make those influences more palatable or commercial. It all comes from my soul, from the elements that make me me.

Tracks like ‘THE CURRENCY’ and STANNA’ carry a very distinct, late-night intensity. What drew you toward these darker, more cinematic sonic landscapes for this era of your music?

I’ve always been drawn to turning wounds into something beautiful. A lot of that music came from a period of tension, both personally and in the world. The night became a sanctuary for me – it’s when the noise disappears and I can hear myself clearly. That’s where a lot of those songs were born. They feel cinematic because they came from those quiet hours where you’re forced to sit with your thoughts, your fears, your desires, and hopefully find some healing in them”.

Lana Lubany is my Artist of the Year. There are a lot of other artists who have had incredible years, but there is something about Lubany and where she is in her career. The music she has put out in 2026. Following her on Instagram and what she has been doing. The interviews. She is so compelling to read about. Next year could be even bigger than this one. I have so much love for…

EVERYTHING she does.

FEATURE: With Thanks… Marking Fifteen Years of Music Musings and Such

FEATURE:

 

 

With Thanks…

PHOTO CREDIT: Kindel Media/Pexels

Marking Fifteen Years of Music Musings and Such

_________

ON 15th November…

IN THIS PHOTO: Jae Stephens/PHOTO CREDIT: Cass Meyers

it will fifteen years since I started my blog, Music Musings and Such. You can see the first post here. I was not sure back then where it would lead and how much stuff I would post. I am not sure how many things I have published in fifteen years, though it is somewhere between five and six-thousand. That would be my guess. Even if a lot of the artists I have written about or interviewed have ceased or done other things, there are many more that are still going strong. I would like to say I have become more ambitious as I have gone on. So may artists around the world who I have featured on my blog. From Iraina Mancini (one of my absolute favourites) to Jae Stephens and Natalie Gray, through to The Anchoress and Eaves Wilder. To be honest, I have lost count of what I have done. I think I have shared a post every day for well over a decade. Not missed a day since then. That is pretty much unheard of for any journalist in any field. For me, there is this constant need to put content out. Maybe the sense that, unless I am sharing things, then I am not going to get much traction. I put the quality in there, but I also want to publish as much as I can. In terms of the long-term, I am not certain when I will wind up the site. I would like to think it will still be going when I am in my seventies (I am forty-three now), but I kind of feel that something else will take over me soon enough. Something else music-related. What I do love is how writing gives me an outlet to release and vent. Getting any anxieties out through positive writing. I also do love spotlighting artists and bringing them to wider attention. I write about big album anniversaries. I do a fair bit on Kate Bush, and I also publish interviews.

IN THIS PHOTO: Iraina Mancini/PHOTO CREDIT: Johnny Green

I have not gone into videos and down that route quite yet. I am an introvert and self-conscious, and I am not sure what I would do in videos. Maybe interviews. I tend to stick to features, and I have not done a review in a while. I may review an album if one comes along that strikes me. Iraina Mancini’s second album will come at some point, so I will write about that. I love her 2023 debut, Undo the Blue. There is no single proudest moment when it comes to the artists I have written about and what affect that had. Interviews such as the one with Kelly Jade this May, and Carly Wilford last November got a lot of interaction. They both shared their interviews on Instagram, so that was really rewarding. However, I think way back Ellene Masri and her track, RAIN. I reviewed it in 2014. That was taken from her album, Music. She is still recording and singing, and I know – or I hope – that my review meant something. We contacted one another and have been in contact now and then. But hearing that incredible album and a song like RAIN. That was something that stuck with me as a real standout. A highlight in the fifteen years. I think the times when artists write and say how much my feature or review meant to them. It does not happen as often as I’d like, though you can’t really force people to do anything. I think the writing itself is reward enough. Things have changed since 2011. When I started out, there were a fair few music blogs around. Like me. Small ones run by one person. Now, there are independent sites, though most of them have teams. The number of blogs that are from a single person or smaller is vanishingly thin. So many have stopped because they cannot afford to or cannot grab a big enough audience. I feel music journalism is still undervalued and under threat. This erroneous assumption that social media means everyone can be a critic. Music criticism is much more than just posting comments online. The knowledge, depth, nuance and skill is something that you are not going to get from random people on social media. Artists still value reviews.

I think independent music journalism will shrink once more. We need to support it more than ever. I do not go to many gigs or travel much for the blog because I cannot afford to. I know there is Substack and people can make money but, unless you are a major artist, you are not going to earn enough that it makes a difference. And I like to keep my site free and free from cookies and adverts. I can write features and publish interviews for not much at all. I would like to know how close I am to ten-thousand posts, as that would be something to celebrate. I suspect it is quite a few years away! As I look back to 15th November, 2011, I can see how far I have come. My posts look better. So many of the photos I used for features are not there anymore, so it is just text and it looks a bit naff. Now, I think things look better. I always try to improve and do new things, so I am not yet at my best. It is a shame that there is no real money in music journalism. My ambition was to make a career of it. Some people do, though the landscape has changed so much. Very few are actually able to make a career of it. Most of us either do it for free or have to raise money through advertising or Substack/Ko-fi. I am glad to have almost made it to fifteen years. I am looking ahead to the twentieth birthday in 2031. I hope I can continue to put out at least one thing every day to that point, though it may be a tall ask! I am sure my life will change a lot to then. Moving somewhere different. The blog may also change. New things and broadening it a bit. I would like to do more interviews and some regular reviews, though it is just finding the time to fit it all in. I would like to thank everyone who has supported Music Musings and Such since 2011. Whether that is commenting on stuff, or sharing and liking features, it does all add up! Even if there are periods where I feel stuff is being ignored and artists are not providing feedback, in a few days, I will share something that does get a good reaction. I will be sure to share another anniversary feature…

IN five years’ time!

FEATURE: Groovelines: Nadine Shah – Twenty Things

FEATURE:

 

 

Groovelines

PHOTO CREDIT: Phil Sharp for Loud and Quiet

Nadine Shah – Twenty Things

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THIS track is from an album…

PHOTO CREDIT: Suki Dhanda/The Guardian

that should have won awards. 2024’s Filthy Underneath is the latest album from Nadine Shah. I was shocked it did not win awards! Such an acclaimed album, I thought sure it would be shortlisted for the Mercury Prize. An artist who has not received as many honours as she deserves. I think Filthy Underneath is Shah’s best albums. If Topless Mother, its lead single, is my favourite song from the album, I think the one that hits hardest and you feel should have been nominated for awards is Twenty Things. In fact, I am going to start out with a feature from The Line of Best Fit from earlier in the year. Nadine Shah selecting her very best tracks. Twenty Things was among them:

“This is a very honest song; it must have been hard to write.

I’m very upset I didn't get an Ivor for that one! I know it sounds crude, but it’s my proudest work to date. It’s a collage of portraits of people that I met and loved when I was in rehab.

I don't know if there’s any truth in that you write better when you're sober because you have more clarity, I also don't want to encourage people to think that you must be inebriated or under the influence of something in order to be creative. I don't think there's a rule to be honest with you. Who knows?

I just so happened to be sober and to be writing about the people who were around me at that time. I never wrote as much as I did when I was in there. You had to keep a diary, it was a page a day, and you had to hand it in at the end of each day. I think a lot of that was safeguarding, so they could tell how people's mental health state was that day.

The nurses would read it on an evening to see if they had to look out for somebody, but getting into the routine of doing that, that practice is something that I still do. I also kept a separate little diary when I was in there, I'm sure they wouldn't have cared at all, and I was writing about the people around me. I started to write my sad little poems again. I really loved everybody in there, and there was only so much I could pack into that one song, but there's a few lines that I'm really happy exist in song form.

When I sing live, sometimes I’ll float off somewhere else, thinking about very mundane things, about what I'm going to eat when I get home, but I'm always very present in that song whilst singing it. It was meant to be a celebration, it might be quite macabre, and I don't know how other people would take it, but to me, it's a celebration of those people.

Even when things are incredibly hard, seeing the joy in things is really important, my Mum always told me that. Otherwise, you turn into Morrissey.

100%, especially in rehab. A lot of us had made attempts on our own life, had lost family, people were estranged from their sons and daughters and in really desperate situations, painfully sad situations, but I've never laughed as much in my life or met a funnier bunch of people than I did in that place.

The whole time I was in there I did have this deep desire of ‘we should sneak in some booze and see what happens, because this would be a riot, if you're like this sober, we'll have one heck of a party.’ There’s a gallows humour to the song, and I found a lot of that in there, the ability to be able to talk about the darkest things in your life, and then the next minute you’re belly laughing about something else.

It was a great opportunity that not many people are afforded to have. I ended up being there for three months. I was meant to go four weeks, I was going to escape at week two. But I could see it was doing a really good job, that I was on some kind of recovery, and then I wanted to stay for three months, and I did, and then I didn't want to leave.

What happened then?

They made me leave, you can very quickly become institutionalised in those places, and it was very expensive. I didn't have any grants or government help, I had money from friends and family, and that's why I'm saying it was a very privileged thing to be able to do.

To have that time to really shut off everything else, not having to worry about what you eat that day, doing your shopping, everything's decided for you, and when do you ever get an opportunity like that in life? To properly work on yourself for a concentrated amount of time like that, it's a real luxury, and I'm very grateful for it.

I think that's why that song's always going to be really important to me, because even if it’s quite a down lyric, to me it's reminiscent of that time, which was pretty radical”.

How painful it must have been to write Twenty Things. But it is such a meaningful song. And Nadine Shah came through it and is still with us. It is a song that is very personal to her, though it will also resonate with so many other people. Even if you have not been in rehabilitation or institutionalised or suffered a breakdown or addiction crisis, there are lines from the song that can apply to other struggles and demons. I think lines such as “The shame is awesome but its fleeting/Gets seen to with a beating” are so raw and vivid. Though you can apply them to different situations and people. I know Nadine Shah would have received messages from people who heard Twenty Things and it would have helped them. I have seen her perform live (at the 02 Forum Kentish Town last summer) and, when she is on stage, Shah is completely immersed in the music. She is such a powerful stage presence. Performing a song like Twenty Things to a huge audience. Keeping composed and strong but also ensuring the performance is convincing or natural. If Twenty Things recalls a painful and tough time, there must be catharsis in seeing it come out as a song. Going through rehab and leaving sturdier than she was before, I wonder what her relationship is with the track a few years or so since it was released as a single. When interviewed by The Guardian, Shah talked about rehab and what that experience was like:

“She is writing a memoir about her time in rehab because there are so few accounts of it by women. “I was ashamed about being there,” she says. “There was shame in being a woman who was an addict, whereas male musicians might have been revered for it. One of the reasons we can’t get many women into recovery is because of the stigma.” I mention Amy Winehouse; Shah was briefly friends with her. “She was ridiculed so awfully,” says Shah, but “she was an unwell person”.

Shah describes her experience of rehab as “beautiful”. “I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so much in my life as I did in that place,” she says. They had a sports day: “I won every race. People there were so ill they could hardly walk, never mind run.”

It was also liberating to be off social media. “You’re not searching your own name,” she says. “We played parlour games. I did a lot of Zumba. I also learned how to pick locks. There are a lot of criminals in there.”

But many of the people she befriended in rehab are now dead. She pays tribute to them on the single, Twenty Things: “I didn’t realise I was gonna fall in love with everybody,” she says”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Phil Sharp

Twenty Things was released as a single on 23rd November, 2023. I want to end with an interview from Loud and Quiet, where Nadine Shah spoke about Filthy Underneath. I have highlighted the question regarding Twenty Things. It is such an outrage that it was not the recipient of loads of awards. It is one of the most potent and unforgettable songs I have heard in years. I do believe that she has a book coming out called Critically Acclaimed, Sort of Famous, though the release date seems to be 2030, so there is a bit of a wait. Busy with acting and, let’s hope, writing new music, Shah is one of our greatest human beings:

“JW: On ‘Twenty Things’, it’s clear that you were able to bond with the other residents, to reflect upon their stories alongside your own. As a lyricist, how do you strike this balance of writing about other people without overstepping?

NS: It’s definitely called Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous for a reason. These are very vulnerable people who I came to love and care about deeply, which is something I didn’t realise when I went into that place. I was scared of the people I was going to meet. I hadn’t met, you know, heroin addicts before, or criminals – some people in there chose rehab over prison. But all I did was fall in love with everybody, and unfortunately, nobody warned me of how many of them I was going to lose. My three best friends from there are now dead, and I wasn’t prepared for that.

But then it was also a real privilege to walk and sleep and eat amongst those people. I’ve never laughed so much in my life as I did in that place. I can’t speak for everyone, but a lot of us had been through similar things, really harrowing circumstances, and all of a sudden you’re in a space where you’re safe, being looked after, cooked for. It makes room for a lot of joy, in a weird way, and room to be childlike together. So I wanted to write about some of the experiences of those people, without giving away too much. I think if anybody knows anything about my past career, I’m not going to stop talking about stuff that I’m passionate about, and advocating for people in addiction will be something that I do speak about, trying to ensure that we have the properly funded avenues available to people from all walks of life”.

I wanted to shine a light on Twenty Things for this Groovelines by bringing in words from Nadine Shah herself. Arguably her most personal or toughest song to write, it was not all such a painful expired being in rehab. I remember when she posted a tweet when it seemed like she would take her own life, and there was such shock and panic from people. As a big fan of hers, it was a really hard thing to absorb! Luckily, this incredible songwriter is in the world and doing such wonderful things. An army of fans and people with her that show such love and support, things a lot better for Nadine Shah. Living away from London and the South and in a happy relationship, she is currently appearing in King Lear at Manchester’s Royal Exchange. Shah is playing Goneril. It started on Friday (2nd October), so I have not read any reviews yet, though Shah is a terrific actor. So I will keep my eyes open. Twenty Things is a song that deserved awards, but I think the way it helped or connected with people is significant. Written by the remarkable and goddess-like Nadine Shah, this is someone who we are…

VERY lucky to have in the world.

FEATURE: Modern-Day Queens: Shygirl

FEATURE:

 

 

Modern-Day Queens

PHOTO CREDIT: Jessica Madavo

Shygirl

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ONE reason for…

PHOTO CREDIT: Hendrik Schneider

including Shygirl in this Modern-Day Queens is that her album, SWALLOW!, is released on 6th November. It is surely one of the most anticipated of the year. There are a couple of interviews from last year I want to cover off before coming to one from this year. ELLE spoke with Shygirl about her E.P., Club Shy Room 2 and why she wanted to follow up the original first and not go on to a new project. Shygirl also talks about her clubbing experiences and collaborating with some incredible artists on her new E.P. So compelling to read and hear what Shygirl has to say:

“Born in London as Blane Muise, Shygirl first entered the scene at parties in college, then frequented club nights in London before becoming a DJ and releasing her own music in 2016. Her debut album Nymph was shortlisted for the 2023 Mercury Prize and received widespread acclaim. She has released upwards of four EPs, and then remixes of those EPs, and has remixed or been featured on songs for Charli xcx, Arca, Björk, FKA Twigs, Lady Gaga, and Blackpink. In short, Shygirl is a music-making machine.

While she had already developed a following on the dance floor, she reached new heights last year as she collaborated with Charli xcx on Brat and joined her and Troye Sivan on their SWEAT Tour. To close out her run on the tour, Shygirl hosted a Club Shy night at the Knockdown Center in Brooklyn for over 3,000 fans. Club Shy began as an afters for Primavera Sound in Los Angeles in 2022 where Shygirl would play demos and experimental music into the wee hours of the morning. These rave-induced evenings inspired her February 2024 EP Club Shy. The follow-up EP, Club Shy Room 2, drops tomorrow with even more tracks from those electric nights. She will host Club Shy sets around the globe in support of the new release, all the while working on her second studio album.

“If you come to Club Shy night, you’ve heard Club Shy Room 2 twice over. You just didn’t realize it, because I’ve been playing those demos. I do it all the time. There’s beauty in a demo. It’s unfinished, there’s potential, and I love that sound of potential. Then, when you get a finished version, it’s timestamped by that moment. That’s why some songs feel timeless and some songs feel like they’re of a time,” she says.

I’ve been fascinated by the concept the club as a space where you can just let go. How do you feel sex and club music are intertwined? How can clubs be spaces for exploration?

All my best friends are from the club. I kind of found myself there. It’s boundary-less, or it was when I first started clubbing. That’s something that I really push for still to have in my life. It’s funny when you have so much discourse around “safe spaces,” but actually I like that sometimes the club is dangerous. It’s somewhere that you have to fight for your space, secure it, and hold onto it. I feel like that strengthens you and your identity. Obviously, I don’t want my club nights to be dangerous, but they could have a bit of edge. You don’t know what you’re going to do. You’re out at night, you don’t come back until two days later sometimes. I feel like you should be able to have that energy in the music. All the songs that I make are soundtracks to the movie that’s my life. I want to feel like I’m that bitch in the video whenever. They make me into that character, and I take that back into my everyday life.

You have some great collaborators on Club Shy Room 2, like Saweetie and PinkPantheress. How do you choose which artists to work with?

It’s funny, because when I’m making music, I feel so wrapped up in what I have to say and the energy I need to give, that it’s not always obvious to me who else could fit on the songs. I really take the offerings of circumstance and what’s put in front of me to know where else to go. None of the collaborations I’ve ever done have been through a label. If anything, the labels have always suggested people, and I’m like, “That’s not going to work.” I love hearing people in different ways. I don’t want to hear them in a way that they’ve done before. That’s not exciting for me. I want to hear what you’re like in my world, where I completely mesh genre.

It’s nice that this project actually turned out to be very female-driven, and that was just by happenstance. I really try to work with people who I genuinely have a friendship with, because there’s nothing worse than having a song between you, and you don’t like each other anymore. It’s like getting a tattoo together”.

I was interested to look back to last year and work to now. Just seeing what Shygirl has been up to. With a new album coming soon, there is a lot of excitement and anticipation. Speaking about another E.P., ALIAS is Me, i-D spent some time with this phenomenal London artist. They write that, “To mark ALIAS’ birthday—a thumping project on which she inhabited multiple characters and pulled us out of our cursed 2020 lockdown malaise—she recently released the follow-up project ALIAS is ME, featuring collaborators like JT, Nick Leon, and George Riley. She brought the EP to life with the ALIAS 5th Anniversary Skin Box—yes, an edition of the EP wrapped in silicone fake skin, mirroring the original’s stretched out sci-fi artwork—as well as a link-up with the sex positive party people HOWL to make a lube too”:

“For this release, you encased the record in silicone skin.

I thought about how to approach it differently. I wanted to be intuitive with my audience, not just give them a product, but an experience that feels intentional and personal. The skin box is made from silicone, and honestly, it really does resemble that Doctor Who skin character—because deep down, I’m a nerd and I love that reference. There’s something metaphysical about it too: the album cover is me looking directly at the beholder, and in Paris I essentially brought my entire discography to life. As people entered the space, the speakers reacted—almost like the music was greeting them. There’s something meaningful about touch and about objects that carry my identity, becoming extensions of myself. It’s metaphysical in a way.

The whole thing aligns with my sex-positive identity and personal evolution, both musically and emotionally. The silicone choice made sense—it supported the concept and the production process. And honestly, without the lube, the box is literally hard to open.

Your audience is consuming your music, which is essentially you. What’s it like navigating different public perceptions of you?

How I look rarely bothers me—but how others perceive my appearance does. It’s not about looking good, but looking happy. Sometimes you look great but feel awful, and that disconnect shows.
In general, my fans are amazing, but occasionally someone will say, “It’s so great to see someone like you be confident,” and I’m left wondering what they mean by “someone like me.” People ask how I became confident, as if it’s surprising. I’ve been fortunate to grow up with encouragement—from family and friends who truly see me and love me. It’s strange entering a space where people assume you need something extra to belong, as if it’s not obvious that I want to be here.

Growing up, were you musical? 

My parents encouraged us to do activities outside the house, but I never studied music. I did tap and ballet, but quit early on after sensing systemic racism in that environment. We didn’t even have a creative department at school, but I still gravitated toward other performers, doing photography and capturing other musicians.

Outside of your music, what do you get up to? 

Creative work is strange because your career is often you, which makes work-life balance tricky. Right now, I’m trying to spend more time with loved ones. I get so busy that sometimes my family only sees me on Instagram or FaceTime. 

I’m also terrible at nesting, so that’s something I’d like to work on – anything to do with the house is a struggle. Between touring and being in and out of London, my place ends up looking like a squat”.

I am ending with Sleek and their interview with Shygirl. This is an artist who has gone through these different phases and evolutions. Ahead of the release of SWALLOW!, Shygirl talks about the seeds of the album and what it represents. Or what genre it is. Shygirl has never been one to be defined by genre, so it is interesting reading how love itself is the genre more than anything else. Shygirl began working on SWALLOW! “at the end of 2023, after turning 30 and falling in love, taking her time to explore a sound that draws as naturally from strings and classic instrumentation as it does from the electronic experimentation that has shaped her music from the beginning”:

“LUCIE RITTAU Where did this album begin for you?

SHYGIRL The starting point was wanting to articulate how happy I was, or am. I had recently fallen in love and turned 30, and I guess I’d taken a little bit of a break after my last album. I started working on the music at the end of 2023. A lot of it was congratulating myself on the decisions I’d made before and how I got here. It’s nice to have that perspective when you’re in a really good place. You can congratulate yourself for all the ways it took you to get there and not be regretful of anything.

LR You worked on it for more than two years. What did not rushing give you?

S It almost felt like having a secret. I could have fun with Club Shy because I knew I had this other thing I was working on. Instead of it feeling overwhelming, it gave me space to relax in a weird way because I didn’t have to prove anything. Club Shy wasn’t an artistic opus for me. It was a space to really have fun and get to know this new environment I’d found myself in, on the same level as my audience a bit more. With this record, I wanted to make a statement on my artistic endeavours.
At the time, I was playing arenas on the SWEAT Tour and seeing how big the spaces I could potentially fill were. I started thinking: what music should I make that could be deserving of that space? I think you can hear all those experiences feeding into the music.

LR Is there one song on the album that feels most like you?

S I really do feel like these are all pieces of me. I’ve played it to family and friends, and they always say they can really hear the person they know, and have known since before the music, in this album. I haven’t redacted my words here. I think I often did that in club songs because you naturally do it to make the hook. Here, I’ve been more explicit in the way I speak. In any conversation with me, people get to know how I talk, and I think on this album I’m speaking in the same way.

LR Love keeps coming up when you talk about this record. When did it become something bigger than your own relationship?

S It started off as an explosion of emotion for me. Falling in love justified the fact that I’ve been pursuing desire at the forefront at all times. But it also felt like something I could be an activist about. The idea of upholding love and appreciating feeling above all things feels like a worthy cause for me. In fact, I had struggled with what activism is for me. I feel like my existence is activism. My conversations, my art are activism, and it’s an activism that I’m comfortable with.
Same as this record, it’s about making a decision about what you stand for, what you live for. I live for the experience. I live to love, to cry. As soon as you fall in love, you’re very aware that you can be hurt. It’s never too far away, that vulnerability and the idea of pain.
Songs like Mantra are about saying those words to myself in times I perhaps don’t feel the strength of them. Making this record is about reminding myself of that time because who knows, maybe I won’t feel that way in a year or ten or whatever. But I did. And it’s good to say that you did. And that you chose to feel that way”.

On 6th November, SWALLOW! is released. I can see it earning some huge reviews and getting a load of love. Shygirl is one of our absolute best artists. Having played in New York earlier in the month, there are a few other dates that take her through October and November. You can check them out here. If you can get to see her at any point then do so, as Shygirl is…

A phenomenal queen.

__________

Follow Shygirl

PHOTO CREDIT: Oliver Bell and Lucy Lay

Official:

https://shygirl.tv/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/0800shygirl

TikTok:

https://www.tiktok.com/@0800shygirl

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMx2-6At2Rx0kapbSjKxwJA

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/3M3wTTCDwicRubwMyHyEDy?si=DgPB31PYTDmyEZmwyUjdCg

FEATURE: Modern-Day Queens: Josefin Öhrn

FEATURE:

 

 

Modern-Day Queens

Josefin Öhrn

_________

I will end with…

a review of the magnificent Cherry. Josefin Öhrn is a terrific artist who I have been following for a while now. I am going to start out with a couple of interviews with her. Songwriting Magazine who write how “Cherry, marks a slight departure from the hypnotic psych-rock of her former band, Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation, with whom she released three albums and earned a Swedish Grammy nomination”. This is an artist that you really need to follow:

“First of all, where did the decision come from to do a solo album, and how did that change the way you went about writing the songs?

“During the pandemic, my tour was cancelled and everything was so shut down. I actually studied photography for two years, but I couldn’t stop writing songs. All of a sudden, I realised, ‘Okay, I have a whole album. I have enough songs.’ I reached out to Kalle Gustafsson Jerneholm from The Soundtrack of Our Lives. He had co-produced one of my earlier songs, and I also really liked his studio and his sound. I was like, ‘Oh, maybe we should do something?’ So yeah, that’s how it all happened. I flew over to Sweden a couple of times to his studio and recorded there with him.”

In the studio, is there a push and pull between letting the musicians be free but also getting them to play the songs how you want them to sound?

“The people I worked with are really talented and also had great ideas; it fit perfectly. For example, Andy Bell [Ride, Oasis] put guitar on some tracks, and I just loved what he did. Also, Björn Yttling, from Peter Bjorn and John, who also works with Lykke Li, added some synths. I’ve always loved his sound, so I was really happy when he added that layer. That was really fun, actually, getting these ideas from other people.”

Is there a time of day or a place that you find is best for that to happen?

“I think maybe evenings or mornings. During the day, if you’re out and about, you get all these impressions, but sometimes when you just wake up, or in the evening, your surroundings are a bit calmer. I usually write with pen and paper, and then on my laptop. But for melodies, I use voice recordings. It’s so like: overfill my phone with all these melodies.”

Which of the two tends to come first?

“Often, melody comes first. But I sometimes also have a lyric idea – a theme or something that I want to write about, and then I start. But then, with the lyrics, when you have the melody, you have to see which phrases work rhythmically.  Or, if you already have lyrics, you try and match with them. If you’ve got the rhythm, you’re trying to write the lyrics that fit that rhythm.”

Let’s talk about a couple of the songs. We really liked The Real Thing with its rippling synth. How did that one come about?

“Thank you. I’m so glad you like it. That was the last song that was added to the album. Me and Kalle had this idea: we had done all the other songs, and then we thought we should have something more dancey. We wanted something 70s, a bit like Donna Summer, something you could dance to, a party song. Then, the lyric was just a comment on this dating-app era.”

That suggests that you’re aware of an album being one entity that ebbs and flows rather than just a collection of individual songs…

“I wanted this album to be like a film, like a journey. I do also like albums where the songs are maybe more similar in tempo, or it doesn’t matter that much to me. It’s about having an interesting atmosphere, or an interesting experience when you listen to an album. We wanted the album to keep the attention”.

The next interview I want to cover is from God Is in the TV Zine. This is a big moment for Josefin Öhrn. I have never seen her perform live, but I can imagine that she is wonderful on the stage. Cherry coming to life there would be a magnificent experience. I was aware of Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation, so I was excited to hear a solo album from Öhrn. I am looking forward to seeing what comes next from this amazing artist:

“London-based Swedish singer/songwriter Josefin Öhrn bewitched and transfixed as frontwoman of the intoxicating psych-rockers Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation. Here in 2026 Josefin steps out of the purple smoke of psychedelia to present her solo album Cherry, out later this month. Produced by Kalle Jerneholm Gustavsson (Soundtrack Of Our Lives), the record is a showcase of songwriting as storytelling in a classy, and close form. The songs beautifully pull us in to reflect on themes of love, sadness and absolute joyfulness through the contemporary female lens.

Josefin talks to us about writing the record, the pleasures of collaborating with Anton Newcombe (The Brian Jonestown Massacre), Bobby Gillespie (Primal Scream), Andy Bell (Ride/Oasis), covering Elvis, and the positives of asking.

How did you approach making Cherry? Was there a plan from the start, an intention to make something so different from previously? Clearer messaging, metaphor-free?

My last album with the Liberation was in 2019, just before October, and then the pandemic happened. It was so shut down, the music industry. I was so used to touring a lot, and so I was almost “oh, what do I do now?”. I studied photography for two years, but I couldn’t stop writing songs! I didn’t really have an intention in mind to make an album. I just had inspiration and melody and I wrote about my own experiences and themes of female perspective. Maybe that’s just natural to me because it’s like the life I live.

It’s a beautiful record and romantic in both the relationships and the broader sense.

It just happened naturally, I could definitely see that there are these themes of longing and love relationships, and I guess I you can hear the vocals more than on my previous albums. I wanted it to be more forward. I do love like guitar layers of the psych rock but I wanted to be a little bit more intimate on this album. That was definitely something I wanted. So it’s more like a film in your in your head, maybe for the listener.

‘Lose Yourself‘ is a collaboration with Anton Newcombe which manages to be both bold and tender. A duet with Anton unexpectedly delivering in baritone.

I really love Anton’s music, and I admire him as a songwriter. I met him once before we did this. It was long time ago. We played a festival in Sweden. My producer and me, we just asked him if he wanted to do something and he said he’d love to. I’m so happy with how the vocals turn out.

I was like, do what he wants, and this what he sent me – I think there’s so much soul. To hear our voices together made the song so much more.

So. Cherry. Your debut solo album. How does it feel as you approach its release?

I’m really glad that it’s going to be out there and people have access to it. It’s been so lovely during these years since I released my last album with the Liberation that some fans have been reaching out and like, “we want more music, we want more music”, so I feel so glad that I can give that to them now!”.

I want to end with a review of Cherry from Back Seat Mafia. They provided a detailed and positive review of one of the standout albums of this year. I will end here, but I would urge people to follow Josefin Öhrn on social media. A truly incredible artist who you cannot afford to overlook. I will keep an eye out for future tour dates:

“Josefin Öhrn has made an album about falling headlong into desire again, and she isn’t the least bit coy about it. ‘Cherry’, her solo debut, was written during a period of reinvention and recorded while she lived at Svenska Grammofonstudion in Gothenburg, a residential studio far from her London routine, where she was breathing music every waking and sleeping hour. You can hear that immersion in every track. It’s a sensual, unguarded record, made by someone who knows exactly what she’s feeling and has decided to say so.

Öhrn arrives with serious form. Between 2011 and 2019 she fronted Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation, whose hypnotic psych-rock took them from Rocket Recordings to Glastonbury, Roskilde and Berghain, earning a Swedish Grammy nomination along the way. Those who loved the band’s motorik trance will hear echoes of it here. This time, though, the avant-garde edges are sanded back in favour of clear hooks, laid-back atmospheres and her voice placed firmly at the front of the mix. The obvious reference points are Kurt Vile, Lana Del Rey and Natalie Bergman, and she keeps some very good company too. Anton Newcombe of The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Andy Bell of Ride and Oasis, and Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream all appear, with production from Kalle Gustafsson Jerneholm of The Soundtrack of Our Lives.

The album is about fresh starts, desire, love and grief, written during what the press notes call “a giddy second adolescence.” It sits alongside recent records from Robyn and Lykke Li in which women’s experiences are laid out candidly and without apology. Öhrn herself describes it as a document of endings and awakenings, which is as good a summary as any.

Opener ‘Electrified’ sets the tone, a dreamy rush with Gillespie on backing vocals, capturing the dopamine glow of new love. The instruments ripple like a skipping stone thrown across a pond with a buzzsaw spine. Öhrn describes the sensation as:

that super heightened state of mind, that dopamine bliss.

‘Dreaming of You’, lifted by playful synths from Björn Yttling of Peter Bjorn and John, is pure sunshine as it skips and dances with a joyful restlessness and a wandering bass line. Öhrn describes it as all about desire, about that longing for connection, with that someone.

First single ‘Cherry Tree’ is slow, hazy melancholy pop, and the clearest bridge between The Liberation and the solo Öhrn: a breathy meditation on love that will never be returned. ‘Lose Yourself’, with Newcombe, drifts into Mazzy Star territory with its brittle crystalline guitars and hypnotic roll.

‘The Real Thing’ is pulsing psychedelic disco and a sharp comment on the dating-app era of love bombing and projection with a Donna Summer pulse and a Jesus and Mary Chain barbed-wire spine.

‘What If’ has a Jane Birkin/sixties insouciance, slinky, sensuous and antheimc.

‘I Want You’ continues with this feel, going unashamedly pop, with breathy vocals, swirling bongos and nostalgic Moog. It’s almost day-glo pop with a skipping pace that evokes dappled sunshine and euphoria.

The two covers work as the album’s emotional anchors. Her take on ‘Always On My Mind’ is suitably sultry. Her version of ‘Jag Ger Dig Min Morgon’, Fred Åkerström’s 1970s Swedish cult song, is a tender nod to home with its trilling instrumentation and gentle exposition.

That idea of home comes back on closer ‘Shoreline’, a reflection on growing up in Sweden, with family in France and Belgium and a decade in London, and on not quite knowing where you belong. Crystalline guitars etch a thread throughout the track as Öhrn’s vocals are dreamy and reflective, delicate and heartbreakingly beautiful.

What makes Cherry compelling is that its giddiness is earned. This is not youthful naivety but the rush of someone with life experience, and a long-held sense of responsibility, choosing freedom anyway. Creativity does not have a use-by date, and neither, it seems, does falling in love.

‘Cherry’ is an epic work of art, delicately crafted and expressive, melodic and anthemic. There are echoes of JAMC, Mazzy Star and Jane Birkin – a delicious sonic kaleidoscope that shimmers”.

The amazing Josefin Öhrn has released one of the best albums of this year with Cherry. Even though there are collaborations on the album, it is Öhrn and her incredible voice that stands out. So many highlights to choose from, go and listen to this wonderful work from an artist that everyone needs to check out. I was keen to spotlight someone whose work I really love. Josefin Öhrn is truly…

A modern music great.

_________

Follow Josefin Öhrn

PHOTO CREDIT: Colette Slater Barrass

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/josefin_ohrn

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/p/Josefin-%C3%96hrn-100066837670752/

TikTok:

https://www.tiktok.com/@josefin.hrn

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiMtqk525H6BQpydAnlvXqw

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/1cQjLxvflSkNrBBE9fOYE6?si=nR2XG-0RTOeb1lq-3VGmsA

FEATURE: A True Icon: Why Shaun Keaveny Being Back on BBC Radio 6 Music Marks Him as One of Our Greatest Broadcasters

FEATURE:

 

 

A True Icon

Why Shaun Keaveny Being Back on BBC Radio 6 Music Marks Him as One of Our Greatest Broadcasters

_________

I guess there is no use…

IN THIS PHOTO: Shaun Keaveny was interviewed by Lauren Laverne on her BBC Radio 6 Music show (the interview starts at 1:37:44) on 2nd October to promote his new series, Indie Icons Only, as part of the station’s Radio 6 Indie Forever extension/PHOTO CREDIT: BBC/Lauren Laverne via Instagram

in getting or being angry about stuff that happened a while in the past. That is easy to say, but I like so many BBC Radio 6 Music listeners, was stunned and saddened when Shaun Keaveny departed the station. Not entirely his decision, when he signed off his final show in September 2021, I guess he did not exactly know what would come next. This was during the COVID-19 pandemic, so it was extra scary! I have written about this in other features about him, but it was amazing how he built out this whole new career path in broadcasting. Having been at BBC Radio 6 Music for fourteen years, he would have thought he would continue until he felt it right to move on. Five years on from bidding farewell to his BBC Radio 6 Music family, he has built this incredible new empire. Starting and helming the brilliant Community Garden Radio, this was sort of a breakthrough and groundbreaking thing. It was founded with producer Ben Tulloh (who I hope works with him again on a more regular basis, as they have a close chemistry and great connection and love for one another). I am going to circle back to BBC Radio 6 Music, as this is the reason for me writing about Keaveny again. I do want to source once more from this interview with The Guardian from 2022. This switch from national radio to D.I.Y. radio. Although it might seem frightening or like it would lead to struggle and negatives, it was hugely liberating. You know that others would have seen what Community Garden Radio was and could achieve and have been inspired by it. Even though Shaun Keaveny broadcasts on the BBC, he still keeps that balance with the massive and smaller (or grassroots). These different communities of listeners. Few broadcasters in the world have and could do that:

“Shaun Keaveny is broadcasting to a couple of thousand people from a forgotten back room in a shabby Soho office that’s all glass and no insulation. The ambience is more knackered 1970s comp than radio studio.

“If I was me 18 months ago looking at what I’m doing now, I’d be thinking, ‘Ah, that’s a shame, isn’t it? He used to have this massive platform and now look at what he’s doing,’” says Keaveny who, until September last year, was used to six-figure audiences and the BBC Radio 6 Music studios where things, you know, worked.

“It’s taken me ages to get my head round, but when you drill down into what we’re doing here it’s phenomenal,” he says. And what he’s doing is of interest because it may possibly be the future of radio in the same way that YouTube was once the future (now the present) of video: a live, independent radio show broadcast via Patreon, the digital platform that lets supporters subscribe to projects and give creators a steady income. In this case, £4 a month to access Shaun Keaveny’s Creative Cul de Sac, a weekly Friday radio show, a podcast and daily written and recorded missives.

PHOTO CREDIT: Dean Chalkley/The Observer

It adds up to quite a lot of Keaveny (“To be honest, I’m knackered, I took on a lot when I left 6 Music because I thought half of it was going to fail. But things started working straight away.”)

But before we get to the future, we have to deal with the past, and the reason why the 49-year-old has been forced into DIY radio rather than remaining a beloved 6 Music presence. In June last year, after a 14-year run, first on breakfast and then afternoons, he announced he was leaving. “Things change, places change, people change and it’s time for a change,” he said at the time”.

The reason it took off so swiftly was because of something it’s easy to forget about in discussions of platforms and digital disruption: the listeners. And they have rallied to him in their thousands. Nothing compared to the number he enjoyed at the BBC, but these are the ultras: loyal, engaged and paying.

During breaks in the show, he scans through their emails, chuckling delightedly: “They get it. They just bloody get it,” like he’s amazed that anyone connects with what he does. But they do and many of them have been with him since the beginning when he arrived at the nascent 6 Music from nights on that great radio incubator, London’s Xfm. He came via stints at Reading 210 FM (where he started out writing ad copy in 1997, moving from hometown Leigh in Greater Manchester after a friend-of-a-friend put him up for the job) and Wolverhampton’s Beacon FM, taking on Phill Jupitus’s seat on the breakfast show in 2006.

He landed at the right time. Digital radio was taking off (6 Music is digital-only) and offering something new in a landscape where shows seemed stuck in wearily familiar formats: a studio crammed full of braying sidekicks yucking it up with a superstar presenter; the gratingly chummy host, playing it as if they’d just got in from a night on the lash with famous mates; or the DJ slinging the sanitised, endlessly repeating playlist.

Keaveny, though, didn’t do fake banter or pointless pop. He was just himself: sometimes weary, a touch melancholic, often childish, but always smart and intimate and – most importantly – self- deprecating, which the listeners bought into eagerly. So much so that, over the years, their emails have taken on the tone of a Hollywood Roast: “Keep up the work,” or “Very whelming this morning,” are favourite sign-offs”

I am so glad that Shaun Keaveny came through a period in life that, although liberating, must also have been quite sad. Leaving a station he was a part of for so long. Suddenly not being there. I am sort of pining for the comfort of radio at the moment during a bad period. In terms of my job and being very unhappy there, I am filled with a lot of anxiety and dread. Though there is something in radio that provides, at best comfort and guidance, and at worst, a distraction. Since starting Community Garden Radio, Keaveny has presented on major radio stations like Greatest Hits Radio, Absolute Radio, and BBC Radio London. In addition, Keaveny has deputised for Dermot O’Leary, Liza Tarbuck, Rob Beckett, and The Folk Show. He has also regularly co-hosted Saturday Live on BBC Radio 4. One of the hardest-working broadcasters there is, he is also one of the very best. Few could work across such a broad selection of stations and do something different but the same! His distinct blend of wit, delf-deprecation and clear passion for all kinds of music. And yet, he can effortlessly fit into the style and dynamic of stations that are not the same. Also, Keaveny has presented coverage of the Isle of Wight and Latitude festivals for Sky, and also the Mercury Music Prize for BBC2. Represented by PBJ Management, this is one of our very best, loved and trusted radio voices. When it comes to music and radio, there is nothing he cannot do! Covering shows dedicated to Blues and Folk, he now fronts The Rock Show. He took over from the late great Johnnie Walker (someone who Shaun Keaveny considers to be his broadcasting idol). The legendary Bob Harris had to step down presenting Sounds of the 70s earlier this year due to health issues. Whilst we wish him well and hope he is back on the airwaves in a permanent position very soon, Shaun Keaveny now helms the show. Two emotions or thoughts come to mind: how to follow in the footsteps of two titans of radio; also, how to present these shows and do so in a way that does not ape Walker and Harris. Instantly authoritative and a real natural, instead of mimicking them, Keaveny is very much himself. He sounds so natural and right for the shows as he knows Rock and '70s music. A huge fan of Rock (Led Zeppelin are one of his favourite bands) and growing up in the 1970s, he was the obvious choice. Even so, whilst it was amazing to get these shows, he acknowledged the incredible legacy of these decades-enduring and hugely respected radio gods:

“The shows will remain key parts of BBC Radio 2 programming, with Shaun Keaveny due to officially take over as host of Sounds of the 70s each Sunday (3-5pm), in addition to hosting the Radio 2 Rock Show (Fridays 11pm-midnight) after deputising in the Sounds of the 70s slot and various other shows on Radio 2 during the past year.

Shaun says: “As long as I can remember, I’ve loved the music of the 70s. My mum reckons Rocket Man was all over the radio when I was born in 72… guess who was playing that on the original Sounds of the 70s at that time…??”

“It was the thrill of my life to meet Bob, the man who has done more to maintain the spirit of Rock, Roll and Radio than almost anyone. I consider it not just an honour but a mission, to continue Bob’s work of showing the world the greatness of the music of that special decade. Somewhere, every week, some kid hears Won’t Get Fooled Again for the first time! You did that for me Bob, and millions like me. We’d like to say Thank You For the Music, you’ll always be our Rock n Roll Doctor”.

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I recently published a feature about Zoe Ball. She is one of the absolute best broadcasters ever, and is a queen of the airwaves. Someone who I have been listening to for so many years. Formerly with the BBC, she now joins her erstwhile BBC mates Simon Mayo and Ken Bruce at Greatest Hits Radio. Having gone through some losses and struggles through the years, it must have been so tough having to shoulder that and present on national radio. Now, she is at this new home, and she sounds happier than ever! Even though life, as with all of us, is not 100% stress-free, she is at Greatest Hits Radio, and I think she will be there for many years. I can see Shaun coming over there in years to come though, as he is so in-demand and he has all these incredible shows to present, it might not be anytime soon! I look at these incredible broadcasters who have suffered setbacks and losses and this sort of thing, and I hold out hope for myself. Though my situation and life is different to theirs, I can find solace and strength in what they do. The warmth and love they spread. Getting to the point of this feature (story it took a while!). Before I get there, I sort of wonder what other stuff will come up for Shaun Keaveny. The Beatles’ Rubber Soul Special Editions came out yesterday (2nd October). Shaun Keaveny is a massive fan of The Beatles. I think he will interview Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr soon. His mate and former BBC Radio 6 Music colleague Matt Everitt has been involved in an event/interview around it (he did post about it on Instagram but I can’t remember where it was held and who he spoke to (sleep deprivation has shot my memory!).

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A post shared by Matt Everitt (@everittmatt)

They are really close friends, so I hope that Everitt and Keaveny do a show together again (Matt Everitt used to present the music news when Keaveny was at BBC Radio 6 Music). Thinking about Shaun Keaveny, Matt Everitt and Zoe Ball. These amazing broadcasters are all in their fifties, and yet they seem to be at the top of their game and enjoying the best time in their careers. As a journalist in my forties – and my blog turns fifteen next month -, I always associate success with your twenties and thirties. If you have not ‘made it’ or fulfilled ambitions by then, that is it. Journalism, radio and music are industries where you can actually find greater success and purpose past that point (it is a generalisation, but there is some truth in it). In addition to his BBC Radio 2 work and Community Garden Radio, Shaun Keaveny is also back on BBC Radio 6 Music. I hate when people say an artist has ‘returned’ or is ‘back’, when they have not released music for a few months. Unless they stepped away from music or retired and now have come back, they have not ‘returned’. However, in terms of BBC Radio 6 Music, this very much is a return. Here, we learn of a brilliant and must-listen new series where Shaun Keaveny gets to speak to some Indie icons:

“This October, BBC Radio 6 Music Indie Forever, 6 Music’s extension for BBC Sounds, will bring listeners Indie Icons Only - a new programme, broadcast on Saturdays and Sundays (10am-12pm), presented by Shaun Keaveny. The first eight, two-hour episodes, beginning Saturday 3 October, will feature Shaun in conversation with the iconic musician, singer and songwriter Johnny Marr, who since his time as co-founder of The Smiths has collaborated with numerous artists and released five solo albums, most recently The Age of Everything.

Shaun will hear Johnny’s reflections on his past four decades in music, his songwriting and his work with musicians including Hans Zimmer, Noel Gallagher, The Pretenders, and more.

Highlights from each episode will be available on 6 Music’s YouTube channel every Saturday at 10am.

Shaun Keaveny says: "They say you should never go back, but, to be honest, I think that is mostly advice about fireworks. It was a total no-brainer agreeing to do this show for Indie Forever and 6 Music. Getting the chance to unpick a favourite musician’s influences, craft and career over the course of multiple episodes, IN A PUB, was a proposition I could not turn down. Cheers, and here’s to more!"

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Johnny Marr says: “It’s always interesting and fun to talk music and culture with Shaun Keaveny. Great to have him back on 6 Music.”

Samantha Moy, Head of BBC Radio 6 Music says: “To have Shaun return to the 6 Music family, and to be in such esteemed company with Johnny Marr, will be such a treat for music fans and for all of us at 6 Music too. I know the programmes will be funny, joyful and insightful - a true celebration of an icon who has made such an important contribution to the story of British music.”

Created by 6 Music and dedicated to the biggest and best indie pop, rock and classics that have soundtracked listeners’ lives and musical memories, 6 Music Indie Forever launched on BBC Sounds in July. The 24-hour stream plays indie music from the 1980s to the 2010s and beyond, with UK artists making up 70% of the playlist. Programmes include: The Morning Session with Steve Lamacq and Felix White; City Soundtracks, presented by Emily Pilbeam and produced in collaboration with Music Venue Trust and BBC Introducing; Indie Forever Disco with Beth Ditto; Indie Focus, presented by Lauren Laverne; Indie Cloudbusters presented by Nick Grimshaw and Nathan Shepherd; Indie Chill, presented by Huw Stephens; and Artist Collections, which unearth performances, interviews and more from the BBC’s unrivalled archive and which have celebrated Florence + The Machine, Oasis, The Smiths, The Strokes, Wolf Alice, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and more”.

As I am a bit bloated and foggy-headed with all sorts of psychological crap right now, I am genuinely so chuffed for this man! He is one of the most loved and hard-working broadcasters ever. Apart from being absolutely brilliant and able to do any show that he is offered, he also provides this warmth, humour, compassion and absolute passion that few other broadcasters ever have. I would put him up there with the very best of all time! He has decades more ahead, so it is going to be thrilling to see what else he does!

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Yesterday, Shaun Keaveny appeared on Lauren Laverne’s show on BBC Radio 6 Music. They have been friends for years, and they presented shows side by side at one point. I remember being at the last broadcast of Keaveny’s breakfast show that was held at Maida Vale Studios (which, sadly, is no longer housing artists and being used as a live music location). Lauren Laverne was there, as was Matt Everitt, and other BBC Radio 6 Music names. They have a closeness and natural bond that, again, I hope transitions into a show together. I believe they did used to host a show together. BBC Radio 6 Music turns twenty-five next March, so I sort of hope they pair Laverne and Keaveny for a special show. Matt Everitt in there too (though this may be a manifestation that does not materialise!). The two of them chatting yesterday was a genuinely joyous moment in, let’s be fair, a period of time when there is little to celebrate and feel happy about. Even if Shaun Keaveny’s stint back at BBC Radio 6 Music has an end date, I do hope that, one day, he gets to present more regularly there. The affection and love that greeted his interview with Lauren Laverne and his Indie Icons Only show demonstrates how missed he is! It is clear that, alongside BBC Radio 2, Shaun Keaveny should be part of the BBC Radio 6 Music family again sometime soon. It is mind-boggling how he does everything he does and rarely shows any signs of fatigue and stress! Every show has this sort of warmth and lightness that I don’t think I could pull off! The first Indie Icons Only episode went out this morning, so I wanted to publish this ahead of the second episode. The second part of Keaveny’s chat with his mate, Johnny Marr. The nation loves the bones of Shaun Keaveny – and quite rightly! The Leigh-born multi-hyphenated talent is one of our greatest broadcasters and human beings. Five years from potentially a moment where he must have genuinely been weighing up options and wondering just what to do next, he has built the Community Garden Radio kingdom. Appeared across multiple radio stations; deputised on BBC Radio 2 shows, and now he presents two of his own. Presenting work and podcasts, plus this new series for BBC Radio 6 Music and their Indie Forever extension. I genuinely hope he is involved with any twenty-fifth birthday celebrations next year for the station, as it is what it is, in part, because of what he brought! Right now, he will be thinking of what is he doing, and not what comes next. In addition to hoping he has a long-ish holiday soon to recharge and get some rest, go and follow him on Instagram, and listen to everything he does and has done. I have probably not done him total justice here, though I wanted to write about him because of this new endeavour with BBC Radio 6 Music. A sort of homecoming in a way, also check out that interview with Lauren Laverne, as you can hear how happy he is to be back at the station. All of his listening fans and followers send him…

LOTS of love!

FEATURE: Spotlight: EMJAY

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

EMJAY

_________

HERE is a fantastic…

Guadalajara-born artist who I have recently discovered. Her new album, Pop Pesado, is her third. EMJAY is someone who you need to know. There are a couple of interviews from this year that I want to get to. Ones to Watch spent time with EMJAY around the release of her E.P., Confesiones de las que me voy a arrepentir. I am not sure whether EMJAY has plans to play in the U.K. at some point. It would be great to see her here:

“EMJAY is an artist who’s always searching—for meaning, for truth, for herself. She’s a songwriter and singer rooted in what she calls “anti-perfect pop”—music that values honesty over polish.

Even within the major music industry, she’s always fought to release what truly connects with people. Her work constantly explores the role of women in music, while pushing boundaries and reinventing itself as a form of quiet revolution.

She represents a new wave of pop—one that feels raw, emotional, and real—and is emerging as a voice for Mexico on a global stage. Her sound is fresh but deeply authentic; she writes from lived experience, which is why her songs feel so personal.

OnesToWatch: Who is EMJAY?

I’ve always been searching for my place in the world, and I found it through music—in the most honest and vulnerable ways of expressing how I feel. I think I’m here to help people who are going through similar things as me—the good and the bad.

Sometimes we just want to feel seen, heard, or understood. That’s why I make music—whether it’s to escape what we’re going through or to hold onto a feeling so we never forget it.

My label always tells me I’ll be the biggest pop star, but I just want to be myself. I want to express my pain, my love, my frustration of never feeling like enough. If my lyrics can connect with people, that’s more than enough for me.

For those weak in Spanish, explain Confesiones de las que me voy a arrepentir.

Confesiones de las que me voy a arrepentir literally means “confessions I thought I was going to regret sharing.”

At first, I felt like I had said too much—like a “lyrical hangover,” where you regret what you revealed… except this time it’s recorded forever.

But now, I don’t regret it at all. I always say that not releasing honest art feels like a sin—and that goes completely against who I am.

The EP touches on everything: fame, people I hate, a girl I fell in love with who became one of my best friends, parasocial relationships… literally every emotion I’ve been going through.

It’s my most honest project so far.

Besides this EP, what should we be on the lookout for?

I’m getting ready to go on tour with a brand-new show—and it’s going to be very rock. Rock, rock, and more rock.

I was a little scared about how to follow my last tour (me estoy volviendo loca), because it was so intense and chaotic—but this new show feels just as energetic in a different way. Performing live with my band is pushing me into new challenges, and I love that. I feel more like myself than ever on stage.

I’m also working on my third album. I don’t want to leave people in the middle of a sound without giving them a full project. It’s been a crazy, busy time, but I love the challenge.

I feel like I’m living “the life of a showgirl.”

But I won’t say more about the album… you’ll have to wait”.

Rather than bring things right up to date now, I do want to come to an interview from last year that is of interest. Earlier in the year, EMJAY released her second album, me estoy volviendo loca. Such a prolific and always-fascinating songwriter, it is interesting learning about her process. I wonder which artists she grew up listening to and who she wants to collaborate with now. If you are new to EMJAY, then do go and listen to her music:

“WALK US THROUGH YOUR SONGWRITING PROCESS. DO YOU WRITE DURING THE DAY OR AT NIGHT

I’m a daytime studio person. I love leaving early. But for writing, there’s never a specific time. My phone is where I really keep my notes. I open them at 4 a.m., at 2 a.m., in traffic, in a meeting. Any idea that comes to me, I always write it down in my phone. I believe ideas don’t have a schedule.”

FOR PEOPLE DISCOVERING YOUR WORK FOR THE FIRST TIME, WHICH SONG SHOULD THEY START WITH?

From the new album, “Drama Doll.” It really introduces the universe behind Me Estoy Volviendo Loca, and it’s one of my personal favorites.

YOUR ALBUM ME ESTOY VOLVIENDO LOCA FEELS VERY PERSONAL. WHAT WAS THAT TWO-YEAR PROCESS LIKE?

Me Estoy Volviendo Loca was an album I made over two years, based on the experiences I was living. It is a super, super fun album. I think people were able to relate a lot to it, and I love that. It’s a very personal album and I feel it connected me so much with my fanbase. My heart was broken during the process by friends and by my exes, but I got out what I needed to get out from those experiences. I didn’t care that they broke my heart or anything. Everything I lived was excellent because it helped me create one of the most personal albums I have so far.

SEVERAL OUTLETS HAVE CALLED YOU THE NEW VOICE OF SPANISH-LANGUAGE URBAN MUSIC. HOW DOES THAT FEEL?

I started music because I loved it, because I realized it was the way I could express myself best. So seeing that title it’s incredible. I’m super happy. And also, continuing this path as a woman in the industry is what’s important. Leaving a mark and opening doors to other females in music is what excites me. That’s what I really want to accomplish. So if it’s happening, amazing!”

TELL US MORE ABOUT BEING A WOMAN IN THE URBAN SPACE.

I think there’s still a difference in how men and women are treated—not just in urban music, but in the industry in general. But I feel that over the years, women have shown with actions how incredible they are. We’ve opened the doors ourselves. Our own doors. It’s a fight women have had for a long time in the industry, but little by little it has evolved. And if you look at the top 5 artists in the world, many are women now. So we’re clearly doing something right”.

As I was wondering who EMJAY would like to collaborate, she did reveal some names when speaking with Wonderland. last month. Also, whilst she does reveal some inspirations, I wonder if there is any music from decades ago that she would have heard when young. You can sense and feel that she is going to keep releasing brilliant album after brilliant album. Do make sure you follow her on social media:

“Emjay is the stage name of María José de la Torre Villaseñor, who hails from Guadalajara. While growing up, she cites Kesha, Miley Cyrus, Lana Del Rey, Rosalía, and Doja Cat as inspirations. The rock inspiration of Pop Pesado also comes from the bands Emjay likes, such as Mexico’s Zoé, and Wonderland cover stars, Gorillaz. She debuted as a fierce trap singer and rapper with 2023’s LAS MORRAS TAMBIÉN HACEN TR444P. Emjay later introduced hyperpop into the Latin music ecosystem with last year’s frenetic and groundbreaking Me Estoy Volviendo Loca. Off the success of that album, she joined forces with Latin pop icon Belinda on “Boss Rmx” and later opened for Doja Cat’s concert in Mexico City.

Emjay is showing a darker and more vulnerable side to herself with Pop Pesado. She gives her musical approach a rock makeover with the haunting “Lobo” and the enchanting “Moreno Fantasy.” She also leans into alternative territory with Ximena Sariñana in “Atemporal” and Alanis Yuki in “Dónde Tú.” In an exclusive interview with Wonderland, she opened up about her new LP, dream collaborations, and making music for the girls and gays.

Where does that girly and fierce energy in your music come from?

It comes from me just wanting to be myself. I just want to feel like myself. I think every person has their sweet side, but also their fierce side and heavy sides. We all have these two words within us, the dark side and the sweet side. That’s what I want to embrace. I don’t want to hide anything. I don’t want to hold in anything that I’m feeling.

What does your connection with your LGBTQ+ fans mean to you?

My songs are for girls and gays! If straight people want to get into my music, they’re more than welcome. They all know I’m part of the LGBTQ+ community too. All my friends and my whole team belong to that community. Gay people and the LGBTQ+ community are so important in my life. They’re a hard audience to please. They ask for a lot, but I love to meet their expectations. When a gay person tells you, “Girl, you’re doing well,” you know you’re really doing well.

What does the title of your new album Pop Pesado mean to you?

I started with trap music, and then I was like super electronic, but pop and rock have always been part of me. I’ve never felt like I’m this perfect pop star. I’m a messy girl. I’m a super type B girl. I like to party, but I also perform and dance and sing and do the biggest shows I can do. That’s where “Pop Pesado” came from. I know I do pop, but I’m not the pop star that you want me to be. This is just my type of pop.

Who would you love to collaborate with in the future?

If you tell me right now to think big, I would love to collaborate with Adéla. She’s one of my favourite artists right now. I also love Charli xcx. Here in Mexico, I would love to collaborate with Kenia Os and Danna. I would say Belinda, but I already have a song with her. I would love to make another song with Six Sex. I would love to collaborate with Akriila as well”.

I will leave things here. I am definitely going to keep an eye out for EMJAY and follow her career, as she is this exciting, fascinating and original voice in modern music. Despite being fresh to her work, I think people can come in now, listen to Pop Pesado, and then work their way back. Such a spectacular artist who has this adoring fanbase, I will also keep my eyes open for U.K. tour dates. I do hope that EMJAY comes and plays here…

SOME time soon.

__________

Follow EMJAY

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/emjayy444

TikTok:

https://www.tiktok.com/@emjayy444

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/5TtCVmeuicGu9EIwiFQcyn?si=ZCLdemXEQcCpEIq6KV86Sg

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz5VPO-ZDAWYSwtNbWZ7e6A

FEATURE: Here Comes the Sun: The Iconic Abbey Road Studios at Ninety-Five

FEATURE:

 

 

Here Comes the Sun

The Iconic Abbey Road Studios at Ninety-Five

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I guess, technically, that…

IN THIS PHOTO: Amy Winehouse recording at Abbey Road Studios

EMI Studios turns ninety-five on 12th November. Though they were renamed Abbey Road Studios in 1970. Some say 1976. In any case, the inspiration came from The Beatles’ album of the same name. The final one they recorded as a band. On 12th November, 1931, these iconic spaces were opened. At the opening, Sir Edward Elgar conducted the London Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Land of Hope and Glory. It is only five years until Abbey Road Studios marks its centenary. I do hope, as I have said in previous features, that Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr are with us still so they can celebrate it. I would advise people watch the Mary McCartney-directed 2022 documentary, If These Walls Could Sing. It does give us a sense of how hallowed the studios are. How many artists have passed through the doors. Still, it is seen as a treat and honour to record there. Even if the hundredth anniversary is five years from now, the ninety-fifth anniversary is pretty special. A chance to celebrate a space where everyone from Kate Bush to Oasis have recorded in. Published in 2022, I would advise people to purchase David Hepworth’s book on Abbey Road. As we look toits ninety-fifth anniversary, we should look back at the story of this world-famous and adored studio. Who better to tell the story than Abbey Road Studios themselves:

!The World's First Recording Studio

The story of Abbey Road Studios is the story of recorded music. In 1929, when recordings were still being captured acoustically with a large wooden horn and a wax disc, The Gramophone Company saw an opportunity and began the search for a location to support the new industry of electrical recording. They found a nine-bedroom house with a large garden for sale in St. John’s Wood, NW London, and bought it for the total of £16,500 before spending two years building the world’s first recording studios.

By the time of our opening ceremony on 12 November 1931, which saw Sir Edward Elgar and the London Symphony Orchestra give a rousing performance of Land of Hope and Glory, the Gramophone Company had merged with the Columbia Graphophone Company to become the famous Electrical and Musical Industries (EMI).

A Home for Artists and Maestros

EMI’s new recording hub featured three main studios, all of which remain as magical and profound today as the when they first opened. Our largest space, Studio One, began hosting legends of the classical and orchestral world including Sir Thomas Beecham, Pablo Casals, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Sergei Prokofiev, Maria Callas, Igor Stravinsky, Yehudi Menuhin and later Geoff Love, André Previn, Jacqueline du Pré and Daniel Barenboim. As well as icons of big band and jazz like the indomitable Fats Waller and Glenn Miller.

Over the last 40 years, Studio One has become one of the world’s go-to places for film scoring, with projects including Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Star Wars and Harry Potter films,1917, Avengers: Endgame, Wonka, Wakanda Forever, Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse and Oscar-winners like The Last Emperor, The Shape of Water, Gravity, Black Panther and Barbie. With the addition of a Dolby Atmos Premier accredited Mix Stage in 2017, Abbey Road became the only place in Europe to offer both scoring and film sound post-production.

Studio One’s connection to the screen doesn’t end there. Ever since the very first video game score recorded at Abbey Road (Richard Jacques’ Headhunter in January 2001), the grand acoustics of our largest studio have been called upon to match the grand narratives and visual landscapes in today’s games. Projects include Halo, Call of Duty, Final Fantasy, World of Warcraft, Genshin Impact, the Academy Award-nominated and Ivor Novello-winning Marvel’s Guardian’s of the Galaxy and Academy Award-winning Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. Game sessions are massive undertakings, it can be like recording multiple film scores in one. Often five, six, seven hours of music is needed to create a unique soundtrack for each potential game pathway. As composers and engineers push sonic boundaries with ambisonics and new surround technology, the world of video game sound continues to evolve.
Studio Three, the smallest of our original three studios, welcomed Abbey Road’s first published song into the world (recorded nearly two months before Elgar’s opening ceremony); a cover of Hoagy Carmichael’s Rockin’ Chair by American bass-baritone, Paul Robeson.

Studio Three has long been a home for ground-breaking music: The Beatles’ Tomorrow Never Knows, George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass, The Zombies’ Odessey and Oracle, Syd Barrett’s The Madcap Laughs, Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of The Moon, Deep Purple’s In Rock, Ravi Shankar and Yehudi Menuhin’s East Meets West, Donovan’s Sunshine Superman, Fela Kuti’s Afrodisiac, Radiohead’s The Bends, Florence + The Machine’s Ceremonials, Amy Winehouse and Tony Bennett’s Body and Soul, Lady Gaga’s Born This Way, Frank Ocean’s Blond and Brockhampton’s Iridescence. Creatively unleashed and then artfully captured within its walls.

To date, it is our only studio to have had some major interiors changes. Its control room has moved from one side to the other and back again, while the most recent (and dare we say it, best) renovation came in 2022. It even housed a mirrored drum room in the late 1980s where the large iso booth now stands. It wasn’t until 1980 that Abbey Road built its next studio, the Penthouse, and in 2017 adding the Gatehouse and the Front Room as more accessible, flexible and intimate spaces built to accommodate new ways of working.

The legendary Studio Two became the birthplace of British rock ‘n’ roll in the late '50s with the emergence of groups like Cliff Richard and The Shadows and Johnny Kidd and The Pirates. However not before EMI engineer Alan Blumlein led the very first stereo recording there in 1932 and popular dance bands like The Joe Loss Orchestra made it their home through the 1940s. As bombs rained down on London during World War II, Abbey Road’s doors remained open, hosting sessions including American bandleader Glenn Miller’s final recordings in 1944. In the ‘60s, bells and whistles and raucous laugher echoed in Studio Two as comedy records by the likes of Peter Sellers and Morecambe and Wise were captured. Then, it became the recording home of the Merseybeat scene with artists like Cilla Black, Gerry and the Pacemakers, The Swinging Blue Jeans and Billy J Kramer & the Dakotas.

The ‘60s were buzzing with creativity and vibrance, as a stream of hits flowed from our studio doors. Songs by Shirley Bassey, Cliff Richard, Ella Fitzgerald, Little Richard, Gene Vincent, Helen Shapiro, Eartha Kitt, The Hollies, Manfred Mann, Peter and Gordon, The Pretty Things, Billy Preston, Jeff Beck and of course, The Beatles.

We can’t underplay the importance of The Beatles and their impact on our house. They recorded 190 of their 210 songs here between 1962-1970, working with Parlophone Records producer George Martin. Before naming their last album after the street they’d spent the better part of a decade at, The Beatles changed our culture forever. The strict three-hour session times turned into all-nighters, the technical engineers’ formal white coats disappeared, and both the engineers and artists pushed experimentation and creativity to the limits.

In the ‘70s came the next wave of rock ‘n’ roll and plenty of mullets; Wings, Plastic Ono Band, Badfinger, Roy Harper, Elton John, Al Stewart, Pilot, John Miles and The Alan Parsons Project. In the ‘80s, glorious experimentation by the likes of Kate Bush, The Fall, Duran Duran and Pet Shop Boys. In the ‘90s, world-moving anthems from Massive Attack, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Oasis, Blur, Muse, Spiritualized, Manic Street Preachers, Travis and Buzzcocks.

93 Years of Sonic Innovation

As the birthplace of stereo, innovation has always been at the heart of Abbey Road. Alan Blumlein, a master inventor way ahead of his time, patented ‘binaural’ (literally meaning ‘relating to two ears’) on 14 December 1931 and oversaw the very first stereo recording here in 1934, though it took until the 1950s for stereo recording to be fully adopted

Blumlein also developed early microphones like the EMI HB-1, a moving coil unit used on recordings at the studios through the 1930s. Check out photos of Paul Robeson or George Formby singing at Abbey Road, and you’ll see the HB-1. Other rare EMI microphones like the RM-1B, as well as a huge range of Neumanns, AKGs and RCAs, make up what is one of the most expansive microphone collections in the world. For over 50 years up until his retirement tin 2024, our microphone conservator Lester Smith lovingly maintained all our microphones. Thanks to Lester, every mic is available for daily use.

Back to 1955, with the rise of stereo, EMI engineer Len Page creates the Record Engineering Development Department (REDD) in response to what artists and producers want and need. They developed some of the first mixing desks as well as custom speakers, outboard gear and anything else either requested by the studio team or dreamed up by the technical geniuses at the EMI research facility (The Old Vinyl Factory) in Hayes, Middlesex.

Engineers at Abbey Road have always pushed technological boundaries, building some of the first echo chambers in the ‘50s, lacquering the hammers of pianos to get new, distinct sounds, or in the case of former technical engineer Ken Townsend, inventing techniques like Artificial Double Tracking (ADT). That pioneering spirit forged by the REDD department continues today through Abbey Road REDD – making sure that artists and engineers have access to the best ways to make music, whether that’s through timeless tech from the past, the latest ideas of today, or something not quite invented yet. Abbey Road REDD includes Europe’s first music-focused technology incubator, on a mission to find and progress the best in music-making innovation.

Facing the future

The magic within our spaces, instruments and gear is meant to be shared. That’s why our Audio Products team has worked for years to find ways to bring Abbey Road to you. They meticulously re-engineer, sample and emulate the sound of spaces like Studio One, the control room in Studio Three, the long-standing echo chamber in Studio Two, gear like the TG12345 desk or RS56 Curve Bender, and instruments like the legendary Mrs. Mills and Challen pianos.

Our mastering team continues to push the limits of what’s possible in this vital part of the creative process. Upstairs from the studios, discs are still cut every single day as the latest and greatest artists master their tracks in one of six specialist mastering suites. Across stereo, stem and surround, we combine an unrivalled selection of classic analogue and modern digital gear with the golden ears of our engineers, to bring out the best in each track.

Recent mastering projects include Yussef Dayes, Travis Scott, Olafur Arnalds, Dua Lipa, Fontaines D.C., Aurora, Frank Turner, Orla Gartland, Brian Eno, Self Esteem, Glass Animals, Black Midi, Louis Tomlinson, Ruthven and Royel Otis. While the old and the new collide with recent remasters and archive restorations for ABBA, Sade, Paul McCartney, Roxy Music, Amy Winehouse, The Beatles, Queen, The Who, New Order, Cat Stevens, Elton John, Cymande, Dorothy Ashby, Sam Smith, The Rolling Stones, The Police and Morrissey.

A New Generation of Music Makers

The next part of our story is all about you. Our learning programmes and events combine almost a century of knowledge with the latest techniques and expertise. We do it through accredited courses at Abbey Road Institute, at festivals like Amplify and Equalise and with filmed series like Lock-In, Live Cuts and After Hours.

Through our events, we’re collaborating with artists, brands and festivals to show how Abbey Road can add its magic, bring people together and curate an unparalleled experience.

Abbey Road Studios is not only a pilgrimage for music fans, but a rite of passage for the music makers of today. A place with a unique and iconic history that can bring out the greatest potential in your music. There’s a whole world of possibilities inside, just waiting to be brought to life. Come on in, and be part of the next chapter of the Abbey Road story”

A global icon, Abbey Road Studios has continued to lure legendary and new artists alike. Though it might be an expensive space to record in, there is something you get here that no other studio provides. Maybe it is its history or something in the air. It has this magic and lure. You always worry that a place like this may be removed or built over, but it is a Grade II listed historic building. I hope that it remains where it is for decades more. I am not sure whether Abbey Road Studios have anything special planned for their ninety-fifth anniversary/birthday or will wait five years. Each year, they hold their own photography awards. There is a lot going on beside recording there. I have never been inside Abbey Road Studios, though I hope to one day for an event or something special. On 12th November, it will be ninety-five years since the first purpose-built recording studio in the world opened. If we associate it mainly with The Beatles, we cannot ignore the countless other artists who have recorded there. So many classic albums were laid down there. When it comes to legacy, reputation, history and popularity, Abbey Road Studios…

HAS no equals!

FEATURE: The Great American Songbook: The Beach Boys

FEATURE:

 

 

The Great American Songbook

IN THIS PHOTO: The Beach Boys in August 1962 in Los Angeles, California. (L-R) Carl Wilson, Mike Love, Dennis Wilson (under Mike Love), Brian Wilson, David Marks/PHOTO CREDIT: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

The Beach Boys

_________

AS they formed in 1961…

I wanted to mark sixty-five years of The Beach Boys. I am ending this feature with a twenty-song mix. The very best from the group. There is quite an extensive biography from AllMusic that I want to bring in first. It gives us real insight into the rise of The Beach Boys. Why they are such a successful and influential group. Brian Wilson, one of the greatest songwriters who has ever lived. We sadly lost him last year:

“Beginning their career as the most popular surf band in the nation, the Beach Boys are acknowledged as America's preeminent pop group, the only act able to challenge (for a brief time) the overarching success of the Beatles with both mainstream listeners and the critical community. From their 1961 debut with the regional hit "Surfin'," the three Wilson brothers -- Brian, Dennis, and Carl -- plus cousin Mike Love and friend Al Jardine constructed the most intricate, gorgeous harmonies ever heard from a pop band. With Brian's studio proficiency growing by leaps and bounds during the mid-'60s, the Beach Boys also proved one of the best-produced groups of the decade, exemplified by their 1966 peak with the Pet Sounds LP and the number one single "Good Vibrations." Though Brian's escalating drug use and obsessive desire to trump the Beatles eventually led to a nervous breakdown after he heard Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the group soldiered on long into the '70s and '80s, with Brian an inconsistent participant. The band's post-1966 material is often maligned, but the truth is the Beach Boys continued to make great music well into the '70s. Displayed best on 1970's Sunflower, each member revealed individual talents never fully developed during the mid-'60s -- Carl became a solid, distinctive producer and Brian's replacement as nominal bandleader, Mike continued to provide a visual focus as the frontman for live shows, and Dennis developed his own notable songwriting talents. Though legal wranglings and oldies tours during the '90s often obscured what made the Beach Boys great, the band's unerring ability to surf the waves of commercial success and artistic development during the '60s made them America's first, best rock band and kept people coming to their concerts and buying reissues decades after their initial appearance.

The origins of the group lie in Hawthorne, California, a southern suburb of Los Angeles situated close to the Pacific coast. The three sons of a part-time song plugger and occasionally abusive father, Brian, Dennis, and Carl grew up a just few miles from the ocean -- though only Dennis had any interest in surfing itself. The three often harmonized together as youths, spurred on by Brian's fascination with '50s vocal acts like the Four Freshmen and the Hi-Lo's. Their cousin Mike Love often joined in on the impromptu sessions, and the group gained a fifth with the addition of Brian's high-school football teammate Al Jardine. His parents helped rent instruments (with Brian on bass, Carl on guitar, and Dennis on drums) and studio time to record "Surfin'," a novelty number written by Brian and Mike. The single, initially released in 1961 on Candix and billed to "the Pendletones" (a musical paraphrase of the popular Pendleton shirt), prompted a little national chart action and gained the renamed Beach Boys a contract with Capitol. The group's negotiator with the label, the Wilsons' father, Murray, also took over as manager for the band. Before the release of any material for Capitol, however, Jardine left the band to attend college in the Midwest. A friend of the Wilsons, David Marks, replaced him.

Finally, in mid-1962 the Beach Boys released their major-label debut, Surfin' Safari. The title track, a more accomplished novelty single than its predecessor, hit the Top 20 and helped launch the surf rock craze just beginning to blossom around Southern California (thanks to artists like Dick Dale, Jan & Dean, the Chantays, and dozens more). A similarly themed follow-up, Surfin' U.S.A., hit the Top Ten in early 1963 before Jardine returned from school and resumed his place in the group. By that time, the Beach Boys had recorded their first two albums, a pair of 12-track collections that added a few novelty songs to the hits they were packaged around. Though Capitol policy required the group to work with a studio producer, Brian quickly took over the sessions and began expanding the group's range beyond simple surf rock.

By the end of 1963, the Beach Boys had recorded three full LPs, hit the Top Ten as many times, and toured incessantly. Also, Brian began to grow as a producer, best documented on the third Beach Boys LP, Surfer Girl. Though surf songs still dominated the album, "Catch a Wave," the title track, and especially "In My Room" presented a giant leap in songwriting, production, and group harmony -- especially astonishing considering the band had been recording for barely two years. Brian's intense scrutiny of Phil Spector's famous Wall of Sound productions was paying quick dividends and revealed his intuitive, unerring depths of musical knowledge.

The following year, "I Get Around" became the first number one hit for the Beach Boys. Riding a crest of popularity, the late-1964 LP Beach Boys Concert spent four weeks at the top of the album charts, just one of five Beach Boys LPs simultaneously on the charts. The group also undertook promotional tours of Europe, but the pressures and time constraints proved too much for Brian. At the end of the year, he decided to quit the touring band and concentrate on studio productions. (Glen Campbell toured with the group briefly, then friend and colleague Bruce Johnston became Brian's permanent replacement.)

With the Beach Boys as his musical messengers to the world, Brian began working full-time in the studio, writing songs and enlisting the cream of Los Angeles session players to record instrumental backing tracks before Carl, Dennis, Mike, and Al returned to add vocals. The single "Help Me, Rhonda" became the Beach Boys' second chart-topper in early 1965. On the group's seventh studio LP, The Beach Boys Today!, Brian's production skills hit another level entirely. In the rock era's first flirtation with an extended album-length statement, side two of the record presented a series of downtempo ballads, arranged into a suite that stretched the group's lyrical concerns beyond youthful infatuation and into more adult notions of love.

 

Two more LPs followed in 1965, Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) and Beach Boys' Party. The first featured "California Girls," one of the best fusions of Brian's production mastery, infectious melodies, and gorgeous close harmonies (it's still his personal favorite song). However, dragging down those few moments of brilliance were novelty tracks like "Amusement Parks USA," "Salt Lake City," and "I'm Bugged at My Old Man" that appeared to be a step back from Today. When Capitol asked for a Beach Boys record to sell at Christmas, the live-in-the-studio vocal jam session Beach Boys' Party resulted, and sold incredibly well after the single "Barbara Ann" became a surprise hit. In a larger sense though, both of these LPs were stopgaps as Brian prepared for production on what he hoped would be the Beach Boys' most effective musical statement yet.

In late 1965, the Beatles released Rubber Soul. Amazed at the high song quality and overall cohesiveness of the album, Brian began writing songs -- with help from lyricist Tony Asher -- and producing sessions for a song suite charting a young man's growth to emotional maturity. Though Capitol was resistant to an album with few obvious hits, the group spent more time working on the vocals and harmonies than any other previous project. The result, released in May 1966 as Pet Sounds, more than justified the effort. It's still one of the best-produced and most influential rock LPs ever released, the culmination of years of Brian's perfectionist productions and songwriting. Critics praised Pet Sounds, but the new direction failed to impress American audiences. Though it reached the Top Ten, Pet Sounds missed a gold certificate (the first to do so since the group's debut LP). Conversely, worldwide reaction was not just positive but jubilant. In England, the album hit number two and earned the Beach Boys honors for best group in year-end polls by NME -- above even the Beatles, hardly slouches themselves with the releases of "Paperback Writer"/"Rain" and Revolver.

The Beach Boys' next single, "Good Vibrations," had originally been written for the Pet Sounds sessions, though Brian removed it from the song list to give himself more time for production. He resumed working on it after the completion of Pet Sounds, eventually devoting up to six months (and three different studios) to the single. Released in October 1966, "Good Vibrations" capped off the year as the group's third number one single and still stands as one of the best singles of all time. Throughout late 1966 and early 1967, Brian worked feverishly on the next Beach Boys LP -- a project named Dumb Angel, but later titled SMiLE, that promised to be as great an artistic leap beyond Pet Sounds as that album had been from Today. He drafted Van Dyke Parks, an eccentric lyricist and session man, as his songwriting partner, and recorded reams of tape containing increasingly fragmented tracks that grew ever more speculative as the months wore on. Already wary of Brian's increasingly artistic leanings and drug experimentation, the other Beach Boys grew hostile when called in to the studio to add vocals for Parks lyrics like, "A blind class aristocracy/Back through the opera glass you see/The pit and the pendulum drawn/Columnaded ruins domino/Canvas the town and brush the backdrop" (from "Surf's Up"). A rift soon formed between the band and Brian; they felt his intake of marijuana and LSD had clouded his judgment, while he felt they were holding him back from the coming psychedelic era.

As recording for SMiLE dragged on into spring 1967, Brian began working fewer hours. For the first time in the Beach Boys' career, he appeared unsure of his direction. If SMiLE ever appeared salvageable, those hopes were dashed in May, when Brian officially canceled the project -- just a few weeks before the release of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. In August, the group finally released a new single, "Heroes and Villains." Very similar to the fragmentary style of "Good Vibrations," though a distinctly inferior follow-up, it missed the Top Ten. That fall, the group convened at Brian's Bel Air mansion-turned-studio and recorded new versions of several SMiLE songs plus a few new recordings and re-emerged with Smiley Smile. Carl summed up the LP as "a bunt instead of a grand slam," and its near-complete lack of cohesiveness all but destroyed the group's reputation for forward-thinking pop.

As the Beatles were ushering in the psychedelic age, the Beach Boys stalled with the all-important teen crowd, who quickly began to see the group as conservative, establishment throwbacks. The perfect chance to stem the tide, a headlining spot at the pioneering Monterey Pop Festival in summer 1967, was squandered. Though the Beach Boys regrouped quickly -- the back-to-basics Wild Honey LP appeared before the end of 1967 -- their hopes of becoming the world's preeminent pop group with both hippies and critics had fizzled in a matter of months.

All this incredible promise wasted made fans, critics, and radio programmers undeniably bitter toward future product. Predictably, both Wild Honey and 1968's Friends suffered with all three audiences. They survive as interesting records nevertheless; deliberately under-produced, with song fragments and recording-session detritus often left in the mix; the skeletal blue-eyed soul of Wild Honey and the laid-back orchestral pop of Friends made them favorites only after fans realized the Beach Boys were a radically different group in 1968 than in 1966. Sparked by the Top 20 hit "Do It Again" -- a song that saw the first shades of the group as an oldies act -- 1969's 20/20 did marginally better. Still, Capitol dropped the band soon after. One year later, the Beach Boys signed to Reprise.

The first LP for Brother/Reprise was 1970's Sunflower, a surprisingly strong album featuring a return to the gorgeous harmonies of the mid-'60s and many songs written by different members of the band. Surf's Up, titled after a reworked song originally intended for SMiLE, followed in 1971. Though frequently lovable, the wide range of material on Surf's Up displayed not a band but a conglomeration of individual interests. During sessions for the album, Dennis put his hand through a plate glass window and was unable to play drums. Early in 1972, the band hired drummer Ricky Fataar and guitarist Blondie Chaplin, two members of a South African rock band named the Flame (Carl had produced their self-titled debut for Brother Records the previous year).

Carl and the Passions: So Tough, the first album released with Fataar and Chaplin in the band, descended into lame early-'70s AOR. For the first time, a Beach Boys album retained nothing of their classic sound. Brian's mental stability wavered from year to year, and he spent much time in his mansion with no wish to even contact the outside world. He occasionally contributed to the songwriting and session load, but was by no means a member of the band anymore (he rarely even appeared on album covers or promotional shots). Though it's unclear why Reprise felt ready to take such a big risk, the label authorized a large recording budget for the next Beach Boys album. After shipping most of the group's family and entourage (plus an entire studio) over to Amsterdam, the Beach Boys re-emerged in 1973 with Holland. The LP scraped the bottom rungs of the Top 40, and the single "Sail on, Sailor" (with vocals by Chaplin) did receive some FM radio airplay. Still, Holland's muddy sound did nothing for the aging band, and it earned scathing reviews.

Perhaps a bit gun-shy, the Beach Boys essentially retired from recording during the mid-'70s. Instead, the band concentrated on grooming their live act, which quickly grew to become an incredible experience. It was a good move, considering the Beach Boys could lay claim to more hits than any other '60s rock act on the road. The Beach Boys in Concert, their third live album in total, appeared in 1973.

Then, in mid-1974, Capitol Records went to the vaults and issued a repackaged hits collection, Endless Summer. Both band and label watched, dumbfounded, as the double LP hit number one, spent almost three years on the charts, and went gold. Endless Summer capitalized on a growing fascination with oldies rock that had made Sha Na Na, American Graffiti, and Happy Days big hits. Rolling Stone, never the most friendly magazine to the group, named the Beach Boys its Band of the Year at the end of the year. Another collection, Spirit of America, hit the Top Ten in 1974, and the Beach Boys were hustled into the studio to begin new recordings.

Trumpeted by the barely true marketing campaign "Brian's Back!," 1976's 15 Big Ones balanced a couple of '50s oldies with some justifiably exciting Brian Wilson oddities like "Had to Phone Ya." It also hit the Top Ten and went gold, despite many critical misgivings. Brian took a much more involved position for the following year's The Beach Boys Love You (it was almost titled Brian Loves You and released as a solo album). In marked contrast to the fatalistic early-'70s pop of "Til I Die" and others, Brian sounded positively jubilant on gruff proto-synth pop numbers like "Let Us Go on This Way" and "Mona." However idiosyncratic compared to what oldies fans expected of the Beach Boys, Love You was the group's best album in years. (A suite of beautiful, tender ballads on side two was quite reminiscent of 1965's Today.)

After 1979's M.I.U. Album, the group signed a large contract with CBS that stipulated Brian's involvement on each album. However, his brief return to the spotlight ended with two dismal efforts, L.A. (Light Album) and Keepin' the Summer Alive. The Beach Boys began splintering by the end of the decade, with financial mismanagement by Mike Love's brothers Stan and Steve fostering tension between him and the Wilsons. By 1980, both Dennis and Carl had left the Beach Boys for solo careers. (Dennis had already released his first album, Pacific Ocean Blue, in 1977, and Carl released his eponymous debut in 1981.) Brian was removed from the group in 1982 after his weight ballooned to over 300 pounds, though the tragic drowning death of Dennis in 1983 helped bring the group back together. In 1985, the Beach Boys released a self-titled album that returned them to the Top 40 with "Getcha Back." It would be the last proper Beach Boys album of the '80s, however.

Brian had been steadily improving in both mind and body during the mid-'80s, though the rest of the group grew suspicious of his mentor, Dr. Eugene Landy. Landy was a dodgy psychiatrist who reportedly worked wonders with the easily impressionable Brian but also practically took over his life. He collaborated with Brian on the autobiography Wouldn't It Be Nice and wrote lyrics for Brian's first solo album, 1988's Brian Wilson. Critics and fans enjoyed Wilson's return to the studio, but the charts were unforgiving, especially with attention focused on the Beach Boys once more. The single "Kokomo," from the soundtrack to Cocktail, hit number one in the U.S. late that year, prompting a haphazard collection named Still Cruisin'. The group also sued Brian, more to force Landy out of the picture than anything, and Mike Love later sued Brian for songwriting royalties (Brian had frequently admitted Love's involvement on most of them).

Despite the many quarrels, the Beach Boys kept touring during the early '90s, and Mike and Brian actually began writing songs together in 1995. Instead of a new album, though, the Beach Boys returned with Stars and Stripes, Vol. 1, a collection of remade hits with country stars singing lead and the group adding backing vocals. Also, a Brian Wilson documentary titled I Just Wasn't Made for These Times aired on the Disney Channel, with an accompanying soundtrack featuring spare renditions of Beach Boys classics by Brian himself. Just as the band appeared to be pulling together for a proper studio album, though, Carl died of cancer in 1998.

Ten years after his first solo album, Brian became aware of his immense influence on the alternative rock community; he worked with biggest fans Sean O'Hagan (of the High Llamas) and Andy Paley on a series of recordings. Again, good intentions failed to carry through as the recordings were ditched in favor of another overly produced, mainstream-slanted work, Imagination. By early 1999, no less than three Beach Boys-connected units were touring the country -- a Brian Wilson solo tour, the "official" Beach Boys led by Mike Love, and the "Beach Boys Family" led by Al Jardine.

In 2000, Capitol instituted a long-promised reissue campaign, focusing on the group's long out of print '70s LPs, and updated remastering of the '60s LPs followed soon after. Brian Wilson continued his solo career into the 2000s with a string of popular albums, including a live run-though of Pet Sounds (Pet Sounds Live) and, in 2004, a concert tour as well as a re-recording around SMiLE. The surviving members next united in 2006 to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Pet Sounds. Two years later, however, Jardine was forced to settle a lawsuit brought by Love and Carl Wilson's estate over the use of the Beach Boys' name in his touring band (which was renamed the Endless Summer Band).

Regardless of legal actions and strained relations, all of the band's surviving members were on hand in June 2011 for a special announcement: forthcoming were new live dates, reissues (including the first-ever release of The Smile Sessions; it appeared at the end of 2011), new recordings, and a spate of planned releases for 2012 that would feature all of the surviving members of the band who contributed the most to their '60s prime: Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston, and even David Marks. The new recordings included a version of their 1968 hit "Do It Again" and, by June 2012, a full album, including 12 original songs produced by Wilson and given the title of its first single, That's Why God Made the Radio; the album generated generally positive reviews and debuted at number three on the Billboard 200. Just before their 50th anniversary tour ended, in late September, Love announced that additional tour dates for the rest of 2012 would not include Brian Wilson, Jardine, or Marks. The brief reunion was commemorated on the May 2013 live album The Beach Boys Live: The 50th Anniversary Tour. Later that year, Universal released The Big Beat 1963, a collection of all the band's unreleased recordings for Capitol from 1963. This was the first of many compilations designed to extend Universal's copyright on the recordings; over the next few years, Keep an Eye on Summer: The Beach Boys Sessions 1964, Beach Boys Party! Uncovered and Unplugged, and 1967: Sunshine Tomorrow appeared. Additionally, a 50th anniversary reissue of Pet Sounds and a compilation of their earliest recordings called Becoming the Beach Boys: The Complete Hite & Dorinda Morgan Sessions arrived in 2016, as did the digital-only Graduation Day 1966: Live at the University of Michigan. The following year brought 1967: Sunshine Tomorrow, a double-disc collection of outtakes and rarities that also featured the first stereo mix of Wild Honey; it charted at 145 on Billboard's album charts. At the end of 1967, a companion collection called 1967: Sunshine Tomorrow 2: The Studio Sessions appeared alongside 1967: Live Sunshine. In December of 2018, a few months after the release of The Beach Boys with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Capitol released three archival digital-only collections: 1968 Wake the World: The Friends Sessions, 1968, I Can Hear Music: The 20/20 Sessions, and On Tour: 1968. The excavation of the archival vaults continued in 2021 with the release of Feel Flows: The Sunflower & Surf's Up Sessions 1969 - 1971. This extensive collection included remastered versions of both Sunflower and Surf's Up, as well as dozens of previously unreleased outtakes, bonus tracks, alternate mixes, and vocal-only versions of the songs. In the same vein, 2022's Sail on Sailor 1972 collected both the group's albums from the year -- Carl and the Passions - "So Tough" and Holland -- along with a raft of rarities that include a full Carnegie Hall live show.

While all this vault emptying was going on, the Mike Love-led group continued to tour, embarking on a "Sixty Years of the Sound of Summer" jaunt, playing the Grand Old Opry and setting sail on a Good Vibrations-themed cruise. In early 2023, the Grammys saluted the band's many years of excellence with a televised tribute. Titled A Grammy Salute to the Beach Boys and featuring performances by artists as diverse as John Legend and Fall Out Boy, the living members of the group -- Wilson, Jardine, Marks, Johnston, and Love -- were on hand to watch. That same group of Boys reunited during the filming of the 2024 Disney + documentary The Beach Boys and were filmed at the same spot where the cover photo for their Surfin' Safari album was taken decades earlier. The Love- and Johnston-helmed version of the band went on tour during the next two years, hitting stages and festivals across North America. The group lost one of their founding members when Brian Wilson died in June 2025, but even that didn't slow down the touring as the group continued to play shows throughout the rest of the year and into the next. The beginning of 2026 also saw the release of a box set titled We Gotta Groove: The Brother Studio Years. It featured recordings made in the late '70s at their custom built studio, including a remastered version of the Love You album as well as offical releases of songs from the shelved Adult/Child sessions and a handful of Brian Wilson's piano/voice demos”.

I did want to pay tribute to The Beach Boys. With a songbook stronger than pretty much any other group there has been, it was hard picking twenty songs. I feel these are the finest from the group. For those who are already fans and some who may not be overly familiar with their work, I hope the mix provides some guidance and illumination. A huge influence on artists through the years, the brilliance of The Beach Boys will endure…

FOR generations more.