TRACK REVIEW: Royal Blood - Limbo

TRACK REVIEW:

 

 

Royal Blood

 PHOTO CREDIT: Warner Records

Limbo

9.3/10

The track, Limbo, is available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61UkkpsASwQ

GENRES:

Alternative/Disco/Dance

ORIGIN:

Brighton, U.K.

The album, Typhoons, is available to pre-order here:

https://www.royalbloodband.com/typhoons/

RELEASE DATE:

30th April, 2021

LABEL:

Warner Records

PRODUCER:

Royal Blood

TRACKLISTING:

Trouble's Coming

Oblivion

Typhoons

Who Needs Friends

Million and One

Limbo

Either You Want It

Boilermaker

Mad Visions

Hold On

All We Have Is Now

__________

I have been following the work of Royal Blood…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Warner Records

since their eponymous debut album came out in 2014. That seems like such a long time ago but, since then, Mike Kerr (vocals, bass) and Ben Thatcher (drums) have come a long way. Their sound has developed and changed. I am excited to review their new single, Limbo. Ahead of the release of their third studio album, Typhoons, next month, the guys have been getting a lot of attention. At a time when there are not many artists who can deliver the edginess of Rock with elements of Dance and Disco, there is a lot to be said for Royal Blood’s importance and place in modern music. I shall come to the new single in a minute. Before then, I want to bring in an article from NME from 2017 (when their second album, How Did We Get So Dark?, was being promoted). We discover about the modest start of two fantastic musicians:

“It’s worth remembering where it all started. Just four years ago, they were pulling pints back home in Brighton. The pair, friends since their mid-teens, were making do. Mike went travelling in Australia for nine months. When he flew home early in 2013, Ben picked him up from the airport. In the car, he played him some demos he’d recorded. They formed a duo, rehearsed the next day and played their first gig in a Worthing pub the same week. Having both played in bands before, though, they decided this one was different.

Ironically, Royal Blood was supposed to be less serious – a chance to just have some fun. “I remember putting ‘Figure It Out’ on SoundCloud after we recorded it and being like, ‘This is going to blow people’s minds,’” says Mike. “I got a text from two of my mates saying, “I heard that tune – yeah, nice one.’ Basically, no one gave a s**t, and I was like, ‘What the f**k? Ben, times are tough – no one likes rock anymore.’”

But just a couple of months later, their ascension went into hyperspeed. Mike was still living with his parents. Their early shows got the music industry excited – the two-pronged dynamic of The White Stripes meeting the venomous riffs of Queens Of The Stone Age soon had them tagged as mainstream rock’s great new saviours (they still insist they’re not). After a bunch of buzzy support slots, a spot on the NME Awards Tour in March 2014 followed. By May, they were sharing a stage with Arctic Monkeys at London’s Finsbury Park. They had momentum and in August, when their self-titled debut arrived, it became the fastest-selling rock debut in three years, outperforming the first-week sales of first efforts by the likes of The Strokes and Kasabian. They became one of the few bands to have played new artists festival The Great Escape and the MTV EMAs in the same year. Things moved that fast. They were, as they recall, on “a ramp of insanity”.

It does seem like they were thrust into the limelight pretty soon. That is because of their terrific sound and how tight they are as a duo! I don’t want to skip ahead too fast and look at where they are now without covering the time between their formation and the new single. I am always interested seeing how groups (or duos) form and how they grow as a unit. In the case of Royal Blood, there was a chemistry and kinetic energy between Kerr and Thatcher that resonated with people and made an impression. I remember hearing Figure It Out when it came out and being hooked by its rawness. It also had this hip-swivelling vibe and groove. It is no surprise that a song like that would get into people’s heads and pique their interest!

I know Royal Blood have moved on from their 2014 debut and their sound has undergone some transformation. I want to come back to that album, as there was a lot of interest from the music media. Now, there is talk as to whether Rock is dead and if it is as potent and meaningful as it was years ago – the same debate that seems to crop up quite a lot. Although the guys wore their influences on their sleeves, their sound was pretty awesome and had incredible energy and explosion. In this article from The Independent, Mike Kerr spoke about the debut album and what it is like gigging around the Brighton area (where they were formed):

“Channelling Queens of the Stone Age, Led Zeppelin and early Muse with their ferociously energetic blues-rock, Royal Blood had crowds at SXSW enthralled. When I saw them, single “Out of the Black” and “Blood Hands” were highlights. “That’s based around guilt,” explains Kerr. “A lot of our songs, especially lyrically, are quite inward and based on personal experiences, relationships...” The duo make such an astonishing amount of noise that you find yourself doing a double take to be sure you’re not missing some hidden guitarist. It’s no wonder that Kerr’s bass playing has been the subject of praise; he plays as if it’s a guitar.

“There’s nothing recorded or being looped,” says Kerr. “We’re very resistant to the idea of backing tracks or having any sort of hidden members on stage so what you hear is what’s happening.” But the exact method of achieving such a full force of sound is closely guarded. “We’ve kept the whole thing a secret – we’re doing pretty well at it.” It’s a form that suits them perfectly, and one that’s in vogue if you look at the current wave of rock duos (Drenge, The Black Keys). But being a duo was never on the agenda when they met as teenagers on the close-knit south-coast music scene, performing in various bands together at everything from weddings to bar mitzvahs. They grew up in seaside villages on the outskirts of Brighton; Kerr in Worthing, Thatcher in Rustington.

“It’s such a small music scene and everyone’s from the same college so you end up playing every weekend with the same bands. We’ve played every genre of music together,” says Kerr, “But I never thought I’d be in a two-piece. It was never planned. It just started off as the two of us and the idea of adding anyone else would mean taking away something.” There are, they explain, just as many pros as there are cons to playing as a duo. There’s the limitation to what they can play, granted, but it makes things that much quicker. And with the chemistry they have due to playing together throughout their teenage years, there’s an innate understanding. “We’re on the same page,” says Thatcher. “If there’s something that works we’ll know instantly. There’s never a compromise.” Kerr adds: “It’s all off-the-cuff, spontaneous and of the moment. There’s never a moment where we’re at our desk with a pen. It’s very primitive and we keep playing together until we find something. It’s kind of like throwing jokes at each other until the other person laughs”.

I am going to forward things to the anticipated second album. There was a few years between Royal Blood and How Did We Get So Dark?. Thatcher and Kerr took the simplicity and effectiveness of their debut and added in lyrics that were, perhaps, more personal. In terms of the sound, there are some backing vocals on the album - though I think their approaching third album is more of a sonic evolution. Returning to that NME interview, it was clear that new influences were being stirred into the mix:

“While it’s most definitely a rock album, this time Royal Blood were determined to bring in all of their influences. Take, as an example, ‘Lights Out’: “We were going for a Daft Punk thing quite a lot and trying to f**k with the rock thing, I guess,” says Mike. “What would Daft Punk do if they wrote a rock tune?” Then there’s the album’s closing track ‘Sleep’, which they describe as a “Black Sabbath hip-hop tune”.

“I don’t really like a lot of rock music,” says Mike. “I mean, obviously I love a lot of it, but the tour bus is pretty spicy isn’t it? It’s pretty R&B-heavy. There’s a lot of things where you’d be like, ‘What the f**k? You like that?’”

“Got a bit of Usher going on,” nods Ben. “The parties on the bus get wild. We’re all dancing to ‘Work’ by Kelly Rowland by the end of the night. I love Drake and all that lot. In their shows and their production, you can really get something out of it and put it into your own interpretation and music.” Mike picks up, “Those guys are the new rock stars – they’re the new punk, far more than rock. They’re the ones taking all the risks and doing things for the first time. To be elitist about your genre is closed-minded and mad”.

If that sounds concerning to any rock purist’s ears, they needn’t worry. Musically, album two is harder, but lyrically it’s also more honest, centring around Mike’s personal relationships. It sounds like a break-up record. Just look at the song titles: ‘I Only Lie When I Love You’, ‘She’s Creeping’, ‘Hole In Your Heart”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Pooneh Ghana

I think that the second album is a bit more diverse in terms of themes. I also feel there is more confidence through How Did We Get So Dark?. Perhaps that it because of the touring that followed the popularity of their debut. I am going to explore Royal Blood’s touring in a bit. Before then, I want to source from an inews article that was published around the time of How Did We Get So Dark? being released. It seems that the touring and late nights took its toll on the guys:

“They’ve spent the past three years on the road, stopping gigging only to work on their highly anticipated second album, How Did We Get So Dark?. It’s a pertinent question for a band that grew up on the Spice Girls (Kerr remains an unabashed fan), but the answer seems to be that fame has come at a cost. Both Kerr, 27, and Thatcher, 29, are painfully private people, already on record as regarding promotional interviews the way melancholic civil servants view the daily commute.

That said, they do concede that this is a break-up album, full of songs of disillusion and dejection. Both are single – three years ago, Thatcher was married – largely because touring the world with your rock heroes isn’t commensurate to maintaining close, loving relationships at home after all. Partners become strangers; friends view you with new suspicion. “For the past couple of years, every night was like a weekend for us: lots of parties, lots of drinking,” Kerr offers. He admits that they both overdid it, and that both have been hospitalised due to their on-the-road habits – Kerr with gastroenteritis. “We got burned out, didn’t know how to eat or sleep”.

Before I come to the touring side of things and the way the duo were thrust into public consciousness, I want to side-step a little and focus on their writing process. I don’t think that many people have asked Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher about their process. Back in 2018, Thatcher was asked about, among other things, how the writing and recording comes together:

“How do you guys go about writing? Do you have to be in the same room as each other or do you send each other demos and that kind of thing?

There’s no way of writing a song that we’ve come to patent but some come from little demos, some come from writing in a room together and jamming out but they all come together when we’re recoding in the studio, when it comes down to the nitty gritty of it; changing parts , lyrics or whatever, that all comes down right at the end.

That sounds like the studio space in which your working is pretty influential on how things turn out.

Yeah, I guess so. To be enclosed in a studio, you can get a bit claustrophobic and a bit miserable. It’s all about keeping it fresh and not beating yourself up too much about things and just getting it right.

It’s interesting that you say that the meaning of it is somewhat open to interpretation because I’ve encountered lots of artists that are very stringent on every small detail to do with their artistic output and I think sometimes I can be nice to let that go and let collaborations flow a bit more.

Definitely. Y’know, you don’t need to explain a beaten path, do ya? You take from that walk what you want. I think that’s a really nice thing, rather than someone telling you what it means. We have the same thing with our lyrics. We don't really want to explain a situation about something we did to someone and go “here’s a song, here’s something completely different about it”. It’s nice of them to take away what they want to”.

I feel that a lot of Royal Blood’s potency and popularity stems from their live performances. I think that songs can sound great on an album, yet it is the way artists translate them onto the stage that can have the biggest effect. Because people are experiencing the music close and personal, I think that can do more in terms of recruiting fans than releasing albums. Whilst Royal Blood are thrilling on record, an extra level is accomplished when they step onto the stage. In this interview with Source from 2018, we discover how touring has its highs and lows:

“Performing live brings a sense of relief and adrenaline to the songs that the duo hold dear. Impassioned and thunderous live shows are what Royal Blood do well but this time lessons have been learned. After touring their self-titled debut album both Ben and Mike were hospitalised, alongside most of their crew, for simply having too much fun.

“It is the best feeling in the world. It still throws me off because I don’t understand how we’ve got to this stage but we do love every single second of it,” says Ben. “We love what we do so much, we do love to party and we love playing shows. We were having so much fun that we really forgot to look after ourselves so we got really ill. We don’t regret any of it. It was brilliant – we’ve learned how to party this time around so we’ve got stamina.”

Learning how to handle an after party to selling out arenas across Europe and UK in their biggest tour to date is a testament of the quality Royal Blood bring to the stage. Compared to performing in bars and clubs the production for this tour has an improved standing to make sure their songs resonate well on stage. “I think the more we play, the more fans we get, the more people come to our shows and the bigger the rooms get. We can do a lot more in a bigger room, a lot more production. We can really go for it I guess compared to when we first started playing little club shows to 100 people,” reminisces Ben.

As their fan base grows it is heart-warming to hear that the novelty of playing their songs live is not lost as Ben says: “It is surreal walking out on that stage – it doesn’t get old”.

For many artists, they find this sense of release and spirit from being on the stage. I have heard so many times how artists are extroverted on stage and then are fairly introverted off the stage. It is a fascinating shift. I wonder what it is about live music that can bring out something from an artist. Going back to that inews interview, Mike Kerr explained how there is a difference between Royal Blood’s music and what they are like away from the stage:

“You do wonder how growing success will continue to affect – and disaffect – them – but then they probably wonder themselves. We like our internationally successful rock stars to be snarly, but they’re not remotely like that. We meet at an east London hotel so hipster it hurts – nobody recognises them – and they remain doggedly nice and polite, no newly developed menacing egos, no suggestion of a dark side. And no visible tattoos. They are just two regular blokes from Brighton going deaf for a living, one of them in a baseball cap. When the waitress comes to our table, they order a pot of green tea, which they share equably.

“We are not rock stars; our music is,” says Kerr. The distinction is important. “When we go on stage, it’s almost like a boxer going into the ring: all performance. It’s pantomime, basically. On stage, I want us to be larger than life, a caricature. Offstage, we’re happy to remain unnoticed, invisible”.

Even though Kerr and Thatcher might lead a life quieter than their music suggests, there are natural pitfalls of being on the road for so long. It can be easy to succumb to excess and become worn down by the gruelling schedule. Not that this afflicts ever band, though there seems to be some truth in that theory when it comes to Royal Blood.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Carl Neumann

In an interview with the Evening Standard of 2017, we learn more about the Rock excess that can be quite dangerous:

“It’s no wonder then that band haven’t settled down just yet: the pair are currently on tour, and it sounds like heavy nights out on the road are something they're very used to.

"We just came off tour with Queens of the Stone Age, which nearly killed us," Mike says. "It was absolute carnage. It was like a four-week stag do.”

It's not just Queens of the Stone Age that the pair have spent time drinking with either: Royal Blood also supported the Foo Fighters on run of shows a while back, which sounds equally as full-on.

Sharing a story about a particularly heavy night with Dave Grohl and co, Mike said: “I smoked a massive joint when they were coming to the end of their set during one show. Then, the next thing I know Dave Grohl tells me to get on stage, and I was like: “Oh, shit.” So I walked on stage absolutely obliterated, and then Dave made me down a bottle of Champagne in front of 80,000 people”.

In an interview with HEAVY, we glean more about what it was like being on the road so long as part of Royal Blood. Even though there are bad points and it can be easy to drink too much and sleep too little, there are plenty of benefits that the duo were keen to point out:

“Things happen every day that we’re reminded of. I think we’ve got such a great team around us and we’re solidly touring together that this has become a family – things happen in your family and thing go wrong, but I can say it’s just so much fun being with everybody – people think we’re crazy because of the in-jokes going on.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Joeseth Carter

Evidently, tour life suits Royal Blood – but despite the fun and antics along the journey, Thatcher is careful to count his blessings and reaffirms his passion for his music outweighs any negative shortcomings. “I think you have to be careful with what you complain about because we’re living this dream job! We get to tour the world and play our music to a lot of people and so for the bits we don’t like so much we’re like, ‘how can we complain about that?’

“For instance, we were travelling for 40 hours to get here, which is not the most exciting journey ever, but why am I complaining about that? I get to be here in Australia and play to people and meet new, great people – you can’t complain about it! But on that 40-hour journey, you go crazy. You hallucinate.”

Moving at such a rapid pace and so admired by their peers and fans, one can only wonder what’s next for Royal Blood. “We really enjoy what we do so it’s easy for us – we love touring and can’t wait to be on tour with Queens Of The Stone Age, then after that, we have our own arena tour where we get to watch At The Drive In play with us… and then it’s Christmas,” Thatcher says with a boyish grin, “I love Christmas!

“And then, back to Australia after that!” There’s plans all over for Royal Blood – though the album has just come out, they just don’t quit. “It is constant,” Thatcher says, “I don’t fully know myself where I’ll be at the beginning of next year but [after Christmas] it’ll be back to work, playing the game”.

Coming forward to fairly recently, and it seems that the duo had a lot of ideas and energy before the pandemic struck. I was wondering whether we would see a fairly quick follow-up after 2017’s How Did We Get So Dark?. I reckon touring demand and a need to recharge meant that work did not begin immediately on a third album. Drawing from an interview DIY conducted late last year, we learn how there was a lot of promise and immediacy in the camp early in 2020:

“Back in March, Royal Blood were finally cooking with gas. They’d spent much of 2019 trying to follow up their second record, the Number One-charting ‘How Did We Get So Dark?’, yet had been struggling for inspiration; more than 60 songs were written and discarded, as the duo aimed to abreak away into new sonic territory. Last summer, however, a run of huge festival slots - including sub-headlining positions on the main stage at Reading and Leeds - finally set their creative juices flowing, and by the start of this year they had an album that they were not only happy with, but that frontman Mike Kerr felt confident was their finest work to date.

And then… well, we all know what happened back in March. In the middle of recording LP3 in London, the studio closed as lockdown commenced, putting proceedings on hold yet again just as Mike and drummer Ben Thatcher were finally getting somewhere. “After a week or so of sitting around at home, I decided I might as well try to keep making music,” says the singer. “So I went into the studio near my house and just started writing for the sake of it, which is really the best place to be - that’s how you start out, just writing to entertain yourself more than anything. By the time it was safe to get back to work, I came out of this weird little twilight zone I’d been in with three new songs, and I honestly thought they were the best three I’d ever written. So, from a musical point of view, lockdown was brilliant. More personally, it was fucking scary and isolating, but that’s obviously not a unique experience.”

Far from upending the progress already made, the new tracks slotted seamlessly into the running order, “almost like they were the answer to the questions we’d been asking ourselves” notes Mike. Two of them will be singles, with the still-untitled record - which is now in the final stages of mixing - tentatively slated for release in the spring of 2021, when the pair will aim to make it a hat-trick of chart-toppers”.

Staying with the DIY interview for now. I mentioned how Royal Blood have developed through the years and there has been sonic and lyrical shifts. For Mike Kerr especially, events in his personal life can be attributed to the way Royal Blood have moved:

“For Mike, the new musical trajectory was made possible by a profound breakthrough in his personal life. “I had to change one thing, and that was everything,” he laughs. “A big part of that was the way I was living. I needed to be in a different headspace.” The singer has been sober since February 2019, and points to the decision as the basis for the euphoric sound that came to define the new record. “It’s had a huge effect. My entire headspace has shifted; it’s changed my outlook, my relationships, the way I think about music, everything,” he continues. “I really feel like it’s helped me to access all of my brain, all of my potential. There were a lot of reasons for wanting to sort my shit out, but my songwriting has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of it. It’s why that festival run we did last year was huge; I had to prove to myself that I could do it sober. And I did it, and I was singing and playing better than ever, so I came away from that with genuine confidence. I didn’t feel like I needed to answer to anybody. So, that’s what had to change. My entire life!”.

The new album, Typhoons, is out on 30th April. Limbo is the current single from it. In some ways, I think that Royal Blood have taken a similar sonic approach to Muse. The Devon band started out by having one particular sound and, down the line, they added elements of Dance, Funk and Disco into their brew. The latest album, 2018’s Simulation Theory, has elements of 1980s Pop and Disco. In the case of Royal Blood, I think that they have come across this new sound because they want to change things up. They also have an affinity for this type of music, and they seem very connected and natural in this mould. To start, Limbo has this sort of strobing and intergalactic sound. With some synthesisers and a rather spacey vibe, one gets drawn into the song. For those expecting Royal Blood to come rampaging right out of the gates, they might need to readjust their mindset. That rush does come soon enough. With elements of Daft Punk, their guitar-and-drum assault has plenty of wiggle and funkiness! The opening lines definitely provoke strong images: “Wake up every morning/Almost surprised I survived/Blood on the pillow/Tears in my eyes/Slept in a murder scene last night”. With the electricity of the guitar (Mike Kerr plays bass guitar but it is made to sound like an electric guitar) and the thunder of the drum, one can get sucked into the song. It is a great track that has lines that make you wonder: “Nobody move/Nobody gets hurt/On loop the loop/Can’t get out of reverse”. The chorus has this sort of Disco vibe that is really interesting! We heard some of this on Royal Blood’s previous album, but I wonder whether this will be explored more on Typhoons.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Joeseth Carter

I get the feeling that Typhoons is another album – like How Did We Get So Dark? – where the duo are more personal. I think that Mike Kerr especially is putting a lot of himself onto the page. The chorus finds our hero pouring his heart out: “Stuck in limbo (All this time)/Waiting (Up all night)/Waiting (Stuck inside in limbo, limbo)/I need saving (All this time)/I’m fading (Hold on tight)/Fading (Stuck inside in limbo, limbo)/Stuck in limbo (All this time)/Waiting (Up all night)/I’m waiting (Stuck inside in limbo, limbo)/I need saving (All this time)/I’m fading (Hold on tight)/Fading (Stuck inside in limbo, limbo)”. With a tiny musical bridge, we are into the next verse. Juxtaposed against a quite fun and dance-provoking backdrop are lyrics that have quite a lot of darkness. Our man is looking in the mirror and does not like what he sees: “Now I’ve become someone/I don’t recognise/I despise/Numb and defeated/Part paralysed/I think I’m starting again so I roll the dice”. It is quite a stark and naked revelation from the lead! With Thatcher’s drums rolling and rumbling, there is this edginess and atmosphere that blends nicely with something warmer and more colourful. “But I should stop and take my own advice/It’s no wonder/I found myself lost ignoring all the signs/Fading” are the next, wise lines.

There then arrives this intensity where the words seem to fall from the sky, in the sense that Kerr barely pauses for breath. It is anxious and thrilling in equal measures: “Somebody calm me down/Wake me up slow/Don’t leave me too late/Don’t wait/Till I’m stuck in limbo/Limbo/Somebody calm me down/Wake me up slow/Don’t leave me too late/Don’t wait/Until my body is cold/And I’m stuck in limbo/Till my body is cold/My body is cold/My body is cold/Till my body is cold/Yeah my body is cold/And I’m stuck in limbo/Stuck in limbo/Stuck in limbo/Yeah I’m stuck in limbo”. After that rather wracked and rushing tide, we then get an instrumental passage to bring the song down. Returning to that spacey sound of the intro, it is a nice moment where the story is bookend with this blend of Disco, Dance and Electronica. I think that Limbo promises to be a real highlight of Typhoons. Royal Blood have definitely evolved since their debut and I really like what they are doing in terms of their sound now. The lyrics are more soul-baring and raw. It is a new stage for Royal Blood - one that will keep existing fans invested whilst bringing in new ones.

I am going to finish off soon. Before then,  keep an eye on tour dates for the duo. Things are likely to change in terms of where they can travel to, though I hope that they get to hit the road and take Typhoons to the masses. It is an album that warrants big stages and that exhilarating energy that you can only get from live performance. I want to end by bringing in an exert from a GQ interview that Mike Kerr was involved with last year:

“GQ: The first time you wanted to be a musician…

Mike Kerr: The track was Penny Lane. I was, I guess, about six. That was my first real memory of music, and it totally blew my mind. It was at school, during a music lesson, and I have a vivid memory of the teacher playing “Nimrod” by Elgar on the same day. I didn't even differentiate that they were two different styles – I just knew I wanted do the same thing.

The first time you played to a live audience?

I had a band; we were 14, 15 when we started it. And obviously it's very difficult to even get a gig when you’re that age! There was some dodgy ska night going on in Worthing in this really dodgy pub, that has actually been destroyed now, on the seafront. I'm pretty sure we just sort of snuck in. It was a three-band bill and we were on first. I think, after we played, the police showed up, and the whole night got taken down because obviously there were so many people who were underage. We looked like children. It was actually pretty rock and roll, even though the music we were playing was obviously lame.

The first advice that had an impact on you?

I’ve always been so influenced by Josh Homme. Musically, but [also] he has these amazing quips all the time. One of them is: “If you can't outsmart them, outdumb them.” As soon as I heard him say that, it resonated with me so much, because when I started Royal Blood, I didn't actually know how to play the bass. I'd never really sung in a band before.

I think the reason I wrote a lot of those riffs, [which] are very simple, [is that] I felt like I was “outdumbing” people. I always use “Seven Nation Army” as the epitome of that idea. It's so simple, and it's the first thing you would you could learn playing guitar. That could be lesson one. Yet every guitarist in the world wishes they wrote it. That’s something I really hold on to, with my songwriting. I remain kind of nervous and scared of things that are too complicated. I think Einstein said, “Everything should be as simple as possible, and never simpler”.

I shall end things there. Make sure that you pre-order Typhoons and buy an album that is going to be among the best of 2021! At a time when Rock is changing and bringing in other genres, I think that one can hardly discuss this genre dying out. Whilst Rock is not as it was years ago, there are a lot of interesting bands around that are taking it to new places. Our very own Royal Blood are among the most inventive and interesting around. I know they will continue to play together for years and explore new realms and sonic possibilities. Typhoons is shaping up to be a mighty album that deserves fond focus and respect. Royal Blood always bring some interesting to the table and, on Limbo, they have concocted…

 SUCH a wonderful sound.

___________

Follow Royal Blood

PHOTO CREDIT: Warner Records 

Official:

https://www.royalbloodband.com/typhoons/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/royalblooduk

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/RoyalBloodUK

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/royalblooduk/

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/2S5hlvw4CMtMGswFtfdK15

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https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNkhZlHm1ccjIcDyt7W1Opg

ALL UNCREDITED PHOTOS:

Royal Blood

TRACK REVIEW: Lana Del Rey - White Dress

TRACK REVIEW:

 

 

Lana Del Rey

White Dress

9.6/10

The track, White Dress, is available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJuV8PDwvC8

GENRES:

Americana/Folk

ORIGIN:

California, U.S.A.

The album, Chemtrails Over the Country Club, is available via:

https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/lana-del-rey/chemtrails-over-the-country-club/lp-plus

RELEASE DATE:

19th March, 2021

LABELS:

Interscope Records/Polydor

PRODUCERS:

Jack Antonoff/Lana Del Rey/Rick Nowels

TRACKLISTING:

White Dress

Chemtrails Over the Country Club

Tulsa Jesus Freak

Let Me Love You Like a Woman

Wild at Heart

Dark But Just a Game

Not All Who Wander Are Lost

Yosemite

Breaking Up Slowly

Dance Till We Die

For Free (ft. Zella Day and Weyes Blood)

__________

WHEN we get new music…

from Lana Del Rey, it tends to be a pretty big deal! I am going to get to a song from her excellent new album, Chemtrails Over the Country Club, in a minute. I feel that it is important to provide some background and a fuller story regarding Lana Del Rey (Elizabeth Grant). She is one of the most compelling and fascinating artist in music. She has just announced a new album, Rock Candy Sweet, that has taken people by surprised. I think that she will go on to be one of these artists people look back on decades from now. From her cinematic and wonderfully rich videos to her evolving sound and intriguing personality, she is grounded and modest; there is also this huge aura around her. She has huge star quality, and I feel that we will see many more brilliant albums from her. Who is Lana Del Rey, then? I guess one has an impression of the artist and, perhaps, a different one of the woman behind the artist. I will come to misperception and why people have sort of labelled Del Rey as gloomy and sullen. Last year, in a feature which saw Del Rey in conversation with producer Jack Antonoff, Interview Magazine took a run at answer the question as to who Lana Del Rey is:

“Lana del Rey is Elizabeth Grant, the New York City-born musician who got her start playing Brooklyn’s underground club circuit. She is the scrappy singer who uploaded two homemade videos to the internet, only to watch her career explode in the aftermath. She is the self-described underdog, an oft-misunderstood purveyor of glamorous and tragic Americana, apocalypse and utopia, breathless romance, and devastating isolation—often crashing into one another. She is the pop star who hasn’t had—or needed, really—her own top-40 hit since 2014, operating as she does on the outskirts of the mainstream. She is the outspoken lightning rod, who, whether or not you agree with the things she says, says them anyway. And she is, above all else, the songwriter who last year released Norman Fucking Rockwell!, her most clear-eyed artistic statement to date.

At 35, Del Rey has tapped a new creative vein. Just one year after her last studio release, she has come out with a new poetry collection, Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass, and her sixth album, Chemtrails Over the Country Club, is out this month. All of it has been in collaboration with the tireless super-producer Jack Antonoff, who, as evidenced in the following conversation, knows exactly who Lana Del Rey is”.

I have said how Lana Del Rey is grounded and she is someone we could relate to. Although this is true, there is this sense of grandeur and romance regarding her. I think she has such a huge personality and name, one cannot help but feel this expectation and drama! I have never met her myself but, when I read an interview with NME, there is an interesting section given to the start of the interview and what it was like waiting for this big star:

“Waiting to meet Lana Del Rey is like waiting to spot a unicorn. Before she arrives at her management’s office – a gorgeous Hollywood house on the cusp of Laurel Canyon that feels exactly like the kind of place she might inhabit, with rich green vines lining its cream exteriors and Grecian pillars – it feels like waiting for a mythical figure to materialise. It wouldn’t be a shock to glance outside and see her lounging by the azure swimming pool, just like one of the starlets she sings of. And as our scheduled interview time creeps back later and later, the anticipation grows ever stronger.

People have an image of Del Rey that’s almost a caricature; someone blue and untouchable, a depressed icon who belongs in another time. But in reality things couldn’t be more different. Maybe it’s a California thing, but Lana has a disarmingly relaxed manner. She looks like she’s come straight from the beach, her golden brown hair crinkled into the kind of haphazard, voluminous waves you only get from dunking your head into the ocean.

She’s late not because she’s a superior being with no need for the concept of time, but because she’s spent hours driving from northern San Diego where she lives “some of the time”, to this house on the hill behind the Chateau Marmont, in the black pick-up truck that’s parked in the driveway. As she settles on a dusky green couch, she clutches a chunky square vape covered in pink holographic plastic in one hand and a coffee in the other”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Chuck Grant

One important aspect of Lana Del Rey and her work is Los Angeles. I feel that there are themes that run through her albums (especially her earlier ones); these include California as a state and her hitting the road. I will come to that itinerant angle of her music. Apart from elements of 1950s music and cinema, there is ‘70s sounds; a wonderfully old-skool look and feel to her music. Lana Del Rey is very modern and old now, yet her music has a great sense of the past. Even though her sound has moved from Hip-Hop and Pop to something more akin to Folk and American, L.A. is dear to her heart and has remained consistent. Returning to that NME interview, and they mention how Del Rey is always pulled back to the city:

“These days, Del Rey spends a lot of time on the road, orbiting around LA as she escapes to either the north or the south, but always returning back to the city. Being behind the wheel so much played a big part in shaping ‘Norman Fucking Rockwell!’, released last week, and its lyrics are dotted with geographical locations like pins being pushed into a map. Each marks out tales lived at each spot – Laurel Canyon, Venice, Santa Ana, Topanga, Malibu, Long Beach, Newport, Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood and Vine, the PCH, and the 405 freeway”.

In the Interview Magazine feature, Jack Antonoff (who co-produced Chemtrails Over the Country Club) asked Del Rey about her attachment to Los Angeles:

“ANTONOFF: Do you feel like you’re ever going to leave L.A.?

DEL REY: I guess I can’t because I have all the animals and I have my family. I don’t know if I’ll do this drive again in a hot minute. The fact that you can be in Kansas in two hours by plane is amazing.

ANTONOFF: With Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass, I feel like you’re mourning a piece of L.A., sometimes literally, sometimes in feeling and tone. Then, coupled with Chemtrails, it’s like you’re starting to talk about all these new places and slowly planting little flags and creating little emotional homes in other parts of America. Obviously I’m here for it, but it does make me wonder if we’re going to be making records in Tucson or Tulsa next year.

DEL REY: It’s funny, the record was Midwestern-sounding before I even went to the Midwest. What’s interesting about having a true muse—and it sounds kind of ridiculous—is that you’re at the whim of it. When I’m singing about Arkansas, even I’m wondering why. The one way I would describe the Midwest, Oklahoma in particular, is that it’s not cooked or oversaturated, and there’s still space to catch that white lightning”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Mat Hayward/Getty Images

Before I look at other subjects regarding Del Rey, I want to come to the point of perception and the sort of image we have of her. Listen to early albums such as Born to Die (2012) and Ultraviolence (2014), and one might think Del Rey is morose or have a depressive side. I think many misconstrued romance and a tenderness with misery or sullenness. Although Del Rey appeared to be downbeat in her videos, as the NME interview brings up, the reaction she got from some people was quite harsh:

“You could read the public response to her unsmiling face in the videos for the likes of ‘Video Games’ as a telling insight into people’s expectations of women. The commentary on her perceived mood is the pop star equivalent of men thinking it’s okay to tell women they don’t know to smile. Del Rey says it isn’t as cut and dry as that. “That’s some of it, but women were also quite tough on me,” she says. “Again, I think that tells more about themselves – [women are] tough on themselves.”

Del Rey isn’t the only modern artist to be painted as this perpetually glum figure because of the melancholy that lives in their music. If she was considered the prom queen of sadness, James Blake would likely have been named king. Last year, he dismissed the “sad boy” label appointed to him, calling the phrase “unhealthy and problematic” and damaging to the discourse around male mental health. Del Rey feels similar about the tag being thrust upon her. “I really never felt like much of what people said about me resonated with how I felt at my core,” she says”.

In an interview with Billboard from 2019, we get a new impression of Lana Del Rey: someone who smiles more and appears cheerier in her videos and on album covers:

“Somehow this only makes Del Rey weirder and cooler: the high priestess of sad pop who now smiles on album covers and posts Instagram stories inviting you to check out her homegirl’s fitness event in Hermosa Beach. You could feel the shift on Lust for Life, which enlisted everyone from A$AP Rocky to Stevie Nicks and traded the interiority of her early songwriting for anthems about women’s rights and the state of the world. She even seemed down to play the pop game a bit, though by her own rules: She worked with superproducer Max Martin on the title track, even as it quoted ’60s girl groups and cast R&B juggernaut The Weeknd as the long-lost Beach Boy”.

I brought up how there is almost this gravitational force around Lana Del Rey; interviewers with this sense of expectation – almost like a film star is about to walk through the door. Her music has this sweeping and cinematic quality that might fool some people. In the flesh, I think it is more important to separate Lana Del Rey from Elizabeth Grant. In the NME interview I have sourced from before, we learn there is something regular and un-starry about an incredible artist:

“You might expect Del Rey to be making her own legends in her downtime but her life, she insists, is pretty regular – a healthy mix of creativity and friend time. There’s the driving (“a lot of driving,” she says), the game nights with her friends, the trips to the dog park with her photographer and director sister Chuck Grant, the poetry writing, the swimming, and filming the things she sees as she flits between LA, San Diego, San Francisco, and other communities along the coast.

“I’m a big chronicler,” she explains. “I spend a lot of time just capturing stuff, even on the phone. When the wildfires were happening [in 2018] I wanted to get up in a plane and see it and film it.” As if to pre-emptively reinforce her point, a day earlier she posted a candid video on her Instagram of a conversation about aliens taking place on a green-lit boat”.

I want to stick on this theme a little longer. I think press and public perception of Lana Del Rey has resulted in a lot of negativity and unfair comments. Whether people see her as too sad or they think they knew who she is, it must have been quite galling for her – I guess many big artists have to face the same thing. Coming back to that Billboard article of 2019, and the regular-day Lana Del Rey seems very cool and like someone you’d hang with:

“In person, Del Rey’s vibe isn’t noir heroine or folk troubadour so much as friend from college who now lives in the suburbs. Her jean shorts, white T-shirt and gray cardigan could’ve easily been snatched off a mannequin at the nearest American Eagle Outfitters. A couple of times in our conversation, she lets out a “Gee whiz!” like a side character in a Popeye cartoon. Between the tour announcements and Gucci campaign shoots, her Instagram consists mostly of screenshot poetry and Easter brunch pics with her girlfriends. For the most distinctive popular songwriter of the past decade, she appears disarmingly basic.

“Oh, I am! I’m actually only that,” agrees Del Rey, eyes gleaming. “I’ve got a more eccentric side when it comes to the muse of writing, but I feel very much that writing is not my thing: I’m writing’s thing. When the writing has got me, I’m on its schedule. But when it leaves me alone, I’m just at Starbucks, talking shit all day.” Starting in 2011, when her nearly drumless, practically hookless breakthrough single “Video Games” blew up, the suddenly polarizing singer found it hard to move through the real world unbothered. But something changed a few years back; she’s not sure if she chilled out or if everyone else did. In any case, she’s happiest among the people, whether that’s lingering in Silverlake coffee shops or dipping out to Newport to rollerblade. “I’ve got my ear to the ground,” she says with a conspiratorial wink. “Actually, that’s my main goal”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Stephanie Keith

I feel that Lana Del Rey has become more political. She is not as overt as some artists, though one can feel a shift in terms of the importance modern America plays. One can understand why the presidency of Donald Trump and a distinct change for the worse would motivate her to weave politics into her music. The NME interview (where she was promoting her previous album, Norman F*cking Rockwell), gives us a point in time when politics came more to the fore:

“Politics is something Del Rey has only recently become more outspoken about. Pre-‘Lust For Life’ she was often criticised for not talking about important things in the world. “People were pissed before when I didn’t say anything,” she says, before offering up her justifications for being focused on other subjects. “We didn’t have Trump as President before. There was less to say. I grew up with Obama and we were happy in New York. We were really, really happy with everything. That’s what I think people miss. We had gotten to a point where we could focus on the music and the arts. It was great.”

On ‘Coachella – Woodstock In My Mind’ from ‘Lust For Life’ she wrote of attending Coachella as tensions between the US and North Korea mounted, and on ‘When The World Was At War We Kept Dancing’ asked if Trump’s presidency meant the end of America. Both songs signalled a shift in her songwriting. But ‘Norman Fucking Rockwell!’ doesn’t keep it up, with politics only briefly appearing via the final verse of ‘The Greatest’.

PHOTO CREDIT: Vera Anderson/Getty Images

For Del Rey, the dramatic events unfurling over the last year or so – the historic wildfires, the Hawaii nuclear bomb scare caused by an erroneous warning message – mirror what we’re putting out into the world. “The President is a reflection of the culture, the culture is a reflection of our relationship with ourselves and, of course, nature is our great reflector and equaliser,” she says. “Maybe that’s a bit metaphorical but it’s probably no coincidence that it’s raining fire everywhere. I read a caption about the Amazon that said the lungs of our world are burning. It makes me wonder what’s our heart?”.

In January, Lana Del Rey spoke with Annie Mac at BBC Radio 1. This article focuses on when Del Rey talked about Donald Trump and why his sort of madness and misrule was inevitable:  

“As well as suggesting a pandemic was inevitable, Lana says of Trump that she was "surprised we didn't have a live-television psychopath crazy person as a president a long time ago because that’s what we see on TV and that’s what we see on Instagram. A lot of really self-obsessed influencers…"

She continued: "The madness of Trump… As bad as it was, it really needed to happen. We really needed a reflection of our world’s greatest problem, which is not climate change but sociopathy and narcissism. Especially in America. It’s going to kill the world. It’s not capitalism, it’s narcissism."

Despite the "terrifying death toll", Del Rey added, the pandemic and last week's violent pro-Trump storming of the US Capitol have been a "huge wake-up call."

"Your life is not about what kind of shoes you buy, it’s not about going to Harvard or Oxford. It’s about what kind of person you are"

 PHOTO CREDIT: Jon Kopaloff/Film Magic

Moving on, and I want to spend a little time highlighting how Lana Del Rey has taken back control and how what feminism looks like to her. Reading an interview from NPR, I was intrigued by what Del Rey said:

“A good handful of women who make music have sat here with me in the last year, and it's been interesting to talk about what this all means. When St. Vincent was on, we were talking about the sort of latex costume she wears on stage, where she looks like Wonder Woman or Catwoman. She said it makes her feel incredibly powerful, and that "This is what feminism is, is getting to decide what power looks like for you." It reminded me of your attitude, which is sort of unabashed saying what you need to say. I think that's a very powerful thing.

In a way I did what I had to do in terms of chronicling my own stories. You know, I wasn't happy with how a lot of my own story went up until recently, so I didn't always like the way I was putting things, but it was just the way it was, you know? I don't know if that's feminism, but it is what it was. One of the issues I had over the last 10 years was there weren't that many options to be super vocal and powerful without a lot of backlash and repercussions. It was a very male-dominated environment at certain times. That's why I think this whole movement is so important — the people that don't get the #MeToo movement are just, I don't get them. I don't get those people. It's like, do you not get how hard it is sometimes just to sort of be safe and have your own voice as a woman”.

With this sense of control and power came/comes a sort of misogyny. If a woman in music is successful and popular, it is assumed that they must have been directed by men or have a huge team around them. Flipping back to the 2019 Billboard interview, this subject was explored:

“That battle for understanding has followed Del Rey for much of her career. “People just couldn’t believe she could be so impactful without some svengalis behind her. I still think there’s a tinge of misogyny behind all that,” says Millett, referencing the endless debates about Del Rey’s creative autonomy. “She realized very quickly, being at the center of that storm, you’re not going to win.” So she went deeper into her own weird world, and somewhere between her third and fourth records -- the haunted jazz of 2015’s Honeymoon and the new-age folk of 2017’s Lust for Life -- it felt like people finally got it. Or, at least, the people who were meant to get it got it. After all, Del Rey never had intended to make popular music, even if she now headlines festivals. It just kind of happened that way: a poet disguised as a pop star”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Chuck Grant

Before coming to Chemtrails Over the Country Club, I want to look back at Norman F*cking Rockwell and how there was a sonic change. Not only does the aforementioned Billboard interview outline Lana Del Rey’s success and how her fanbase has swelled; they also reflect on how her sound has progressed:  

“Yet it’s an approach that has worked for Del Rey: Her songs, even the long, weird ones, easily rack up tens of millions of streams, and overall they have amassed a solid 3.9 billion on-demand streams in the United States, according to Nielsen Music. Collectively, her catalog of albums has sold 3.2 million copies in the United States, and all of her full-length major-label studio albums have debuted on the Billboard 200 at No. 1 or No. 2. The first of those, 2012’s Born to Die, is one of only three titles by a woman to spend over 300 weeks on the Billboard 200. (The other two: Adele’s 21 and Carole King’s Tapestry.) Born to Die also has spent 142 weeks on Billboard’s Vinyl Albums chart -- more than Prince’s Purple Rain, tied with Michael Jackson’s Thriller and just behind Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours. It’s an indication that, as broad as her fan base is, it also runs deep, with a ratio of hardcore devotees to casual ones that even stars with inescapable radio hits might envy.

Credit Del Rey’s strong aesthetic and singular throwback sound that, as it has moved away from its initial pop and hip-hop influences, has kept young fans interested and allowed them to grow up with her. “When we sign [an artist], it’s not necessarily what everyone was listening to, but they had real vision,” says Interscope chairman/CEO John Janick. “Lana’s at ground zero of that. There have been so many other people who’ve been inspired by Lana. She’s massive, she has sold millions of albums, but it always has been on her terms”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Mat Hayward/Getty Images

I think that her previous album has a more personal tone. Lana Del Rey was singing about herself to an extent on previous albums, though I think there was a lot of characterisation and a degree of detachment. As described in the Billboard article, something interesting happened during the recording of Norman F*cking Rockwell:  

“Del Rey has been thinking a lot about hope and faith lately. She has been going to church every Wednesday and Sunday with a group of her girlfriends; they get coffee beforehand, and it has become something to look forward to. She likes the idea of a network of people you can talk to about wanting something bigger -- just another extension of her fondness for pondering the mysteries of the universe. (Fittingly, she studied metaphysics and philosophy at Fordham University in New York.) “I genuinely think the thing that has transformed my life the most is knowing that there’s magic in the concept of two heads are better than one,” she says.

That has crept into her music, too. Del Rey says she hadn’t realized until recently how isolating her creative process had been for so long. These days, studio sessions feel more like cozy jam sessions, according to Laura Sisk, the Grammy-winning engineer who worked closely on the record with Del Rey and Antonoff. “Something I love about Norman is how much of the energy of the room we’re able to record,” says Sisk. “We often don’t use a vocal booth, so we’re sitting in a room together recording, usually right after the song was written and the feeling is still heavy in the room”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Ashley Gellman/WXPN

Not to repeat herself, Chemtrails Over the Country Club feels like a different record to what has come before. I want to bring in some recent interview material when we learn more about the sound on her latest album. Starting off with the Interview Magazine feature of last year:

“ANTONOFF: I feel like you’re on this very long path to breaking down everything until it’s at its most authentic. Chemtrails feels like another breakdown on top of Norman, but what’s interesting is that it breaks down into different directions.

DEL REY: The one thing that makes me upset is that if I hadn’t been so distracted with my personal life and my poetry, I could’ve broken it down in a more delicate, precise way. I guess the way I could’ve done that is just by adding one more defining song to it. Right now it’s really, really good, but I don’t know if it’s perfect, and that really bothers me. I think I need to add that song, “Dealer,” where I’m just screaming my head off. People don’t know what it sounds like when I yell. And I do yell”.

I think that Chemtrails Over the Country Club is a more reflective and personal album (compared to other albums of hers). Lana Del Rey spoke with MOJO and chatted about the sound of her new album:

“For Chemtrails Over The Country Club, though, she “had to turn back inward”, she explains, for an album that reveals, says Segal, “a more vulnerable Del Rey: lighter on the LA menace, more innocently emotional.”

The album closes with a cover of Joni Mitchell’s 1970 gem, For Free, a song that Del Rey confesses means “everything” to her.

IMAGE CREDIT: Getty Images/Ringer Illustration

“The way things started off for me in the way I was portrayed was that I was feigning emotional sensitivity. I really didn’t like that,” she says. “Because I didn’t even get famous ‘til I was, like, 27 and until then, I sang for less than free. And I loved it. I really was that girl who was pure of soul. I didn’t give a fuck.”

Del Rey says she finds listening to Chemtrails… “a fight. It wasn’t so much that I thought the songs fantastically fit together with like seamless, sunkissed production – but you know, there’s a life lived in there”.

Just to bring this section to a conclusion and, going back to Interview Magazine, a very important question was asked about Chemtrails Over the Country Club:

“ANTONOFF: I remember you listening to some of the hardest stuff in the room. I think the best part of really feeling something that someone else does is that it inspires you not to mimic them, but to do you. With Chemtrails, do you feel like you’re revisiting the past?

DEL REY: Not so much where I’ve been, but more like where I’m going. It makes me anxious listening to it, because I know it’s going to be a hard road to get to where I want to be, to do what I want to do. A lot of that’s going to involve writing classes and being uncomfortable in new places with not many friends and raising my dogs and my cats and my chickens alone. It’s going to be work. I hear Chemtrails and I think “work,” but I also think of my stunning girlfriends, who so much of the album is about, and my beautiful siblings. “Chemtrails” is the title track because it mentions them all and it mentions wanting so much to be normal and realizing that when you have an overactive, eccentric mind, a record like Chemtrails is just what you’re going to get”.

There is one more thing that I want to tick off the list before reviewing White Dress. There has been some debate and criticism regarding the album cover for Chemtrails Over the Country Club. It is a black-and-white photograph where Del Rey is seen at a table surrounded by her friends. The lack of diversity in the photo was highlighted. In the BBC Radio 1 interview with Annie Mac, Del Rey addressed that point:

“Lana argued she was responding rather than pre-empting criticisms that the cover to Chemtrails Over The Country Club - a black and white photo depicting Del Rey and an entourage hanging out in vintage attire - showed a lack of diversity.

"Before I even put the album cover up, I knew what people were going to say," she told BBC's Annie Mac.

"So when they actually started saying things, I responded and I just said, ‘I got a lot of issues but inclusivity ain’t one of them.’ It just isn’t. You can’t just make it my problem."

"My friends, my family, my whatever… They’re not all one way and we’re not the ones storming the Capitol. [Laughs] We voted for Biden. My girlfriends come from all over the world, they have children from all different types of people. And I’m mentioning all this, like, to people who are listening because people really wanted even more people of color on my album cover”.

Reiterating what she explained yesterday, the women in the photo are Lana's "longest-term, nicest friends" and she "felt uncomfortable having them somewhat brought into the controversy, but I spoke to them as well and they were like… ‘We don’t care. You should not care about… everything you’re doing… Your friends are from all over the place and you’ve never represented yourself in any other way”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Chuck Grant

This takes me to a song from Chemtrails Over the Country Club that I was eager to highlight. Many critics have selected White Dress for special praise. I think it is the best cut from a sensational album! In the MOJO interview, Del Rey talked a little about the song:

“She also discusses forthcoming single White Dress, which recalls being “only 19”, working as a waitress, listening to the White Stripes and Kings Of Leon.

“I’m sure the grass is always greener,” Del Rey says, looking back on her waitressing days, “but I had a lot of fun dreaming about what was going to come next. Also, I really liked being of service and I still do – I do lots of little things in my spare time that put me back sort of in that service space”.

In the video for White Dress, we see Del Rey on roller skates as she caresses, sweeps and glides down the street. Dogs bark in a neighbouring yard. There is this romantic and almost carefree attitude that really grips you. The song itself has a beautiful piano coda which is graceful and delicate. Whereas I associate a lot of Lana Del Rey’s songs as having a lower vocal register and perhaps having a distinct sound, her delivery On White Dress is higher in pitch. There is a breathiness and beauty that really brings the words to life. The opening verse has the artist in pensive and nostalgic mode: “Sun stare, don't care with my head in my hands/Thinking of a simpler time/Like Sun Ra, feel small/But I had it under control every time”. I really like the vocal sound on White Dress. As opposed to the earliest sound where there were strings and Del Rey had this sort of smokiness and drawl, White Dress (and Chemtrails Over the Country Club) has a very different sound.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Melodie McDaniel

The chorus, where Del Rey thinks back to her waitressing time, provokes some very clear and wonderful images: “When I was a waitress wearing a white dress/Look how I do this, look how I got this/I was a waitress working the night shift/You were my man, felt like I got this/Down at the Men in Music Business Conference/Down in Orlando, I was only nineteen/Down at the Men in Music Business Conference/I only mention it 'cause it was such a scene/And I felt seen/Mm-mm-mm-mm-mm”.  I can understand why White Dress is an important song to Del Rey. She really puts her heart and soul into the track! I am hooked on the video. Seeing Del Rey skate and weave down the road, it is quite enchanting and transfixing! Although the sound of White Dress has elements of Folk and Americana, the second verse finds the heroine discussing a particularly favourite duo of mine: “Summer, sizzling/Listening to Jazz out on the lawn/Listening to White Stripes when they were white-hot/Listening to Rock all day long”. The chorus almost finds Del Rey’s voice breaking. It is a very striking and emotional delivery that draws you into the song. The notion of her looking back at the pre-fame days where was listening to Kings of Leon and was doing a waitressing job really does stick in the mind. I was hugely moved by this beautiful song.. With very little responsibility and pressure, there is this sense of loss and need to return to that time, I feel. In the video, we see some people (friends of Del Rey?) roller-skating and grabbing some good to go (whilst wearing masks in a very COVID-responsible way). The bridge is, possibly, the most stirring moment of White Dress: “Summer, summer's almost gone/We were talking about life, we were sitting outside 'til dawn/But I would still go back/If I could do it all again, I'd fly/Because it made me feel, made me feel like a god/'Cause it made me feel, made me feel like a god/Somehow it made me feel, made me feel like a god”. As the sun goes down, Del Rey skates around by the water. Like so many of her videos, one keeps coming back to see all these beautiful scenes. It is a wonderful video that paints this idyllic picture where Del Rey is free and liberated. It is dreamy and utterly memorable. The song itself is a sublime moment on a fabulous album. I can see why so many people selected White Dress as a highlight of Chemtrails Over the Country Club.  

I am going to round things up. Before then, there are a couple of points I want to address. Coming back to the NME interview I have sourced from a fair bit, Del Rey was asked about her contemporaries and any artists that she follows or counts as important:

“Grande’s name is one that crops up a few times during our conversation and is clearly someone Del Rey respects. When discussing the long flow of singles in the run-up to ‘Norman Fucking Rockwell!’, she credits Grande’s “reactiveness” for making her feel “more comfortable putting things out as I wanted to and as they happened”. Later, after having the “the culture is lit” line from ‘The Greatest’ recited back to her (she responds by repeating it in a voice that can only be described as valley girl on spring break), the pop star is one of two artists she cites by name as getting her approval (the other is Billie Eilish, someone who has done a similar thing to Del Rey and carved out her own inimitable cultural niche).

As for the rest of pop culture in 2019, Del Rey is mostly on board. The only other thing she singles out as something she’s enjoying right now is “all the mumble rappers”, whose number includes Lil Uzi Vert, Juice WRLD, and 21 Savage. “It feels sexy and authentic,” she enthuses. “I’m into it. Personally, I’ve been waiting for a bunch of different people to flood in and they’re all here. It’s awesome”.

The last thing that I want to bring in was a segment from the Interview Magazine feature. Nodding back to the presidency of Donald Trump (even though Joe Biden is President now and things look more hopeful for America), and Lana Del Rey had some interesting thoughts:

“DEL REY: I subscribe to the idea that what’s going on in the macrocosm, whether it be in the presidency or a virus that keeps us isolated, is a reflection of what’s going on in the individual home and inside bedrooms and what people intimately talk about. I think there’s been existential panic for a long time, but people haven’t been paying attention to it because they’ve been too busy buying shoes. And shoes are cute. I love shoes. But now that you can’t go shopping, you have to look at your partner and be like, “I’ve lived with you for 20 years, but do I even know you?” You realize maybe you’ve only ever allowed yourself to scratch the surface of yourself because if you went any deeper, you might have a mild meltdown for no reason, just out of the blue, and no amount of talking could explain why. It’s just a part of your genetic makeup. You could just be prone to panic. I think a lot of people are that way. I got a lot of shit for not only talking about it, but talking about lots of other things for a super long time. I don’t feel justified in it, because I’m not the kind of artist who’s ever going to get justified. I will die an underdog and that’s cool with me. But I was right to ask, “Why are we here? Where did we come from? What are we doing? What happens if this insane, crazy, sci-fi crisis happens, and then you’re stuck with yourself, and you’re stuck with your partner who doesn’t pay attention to you?” I’m not saying it’s more relevant than ever, but my concern for myself, the country, the world— I knew we weren’t prepared for something like this, mentally. I also think it’s a really good thing that we’ve gotten to this point where we have to bump up against ourselves, because it’s not going to be the same when the Beverly Center reopens”.

If you have not got Chemtrails Over the Country Club, then go and get the album. It is one of Lana Del Rey’s best. I think that she will have a very long career to come! I really like everything she puts out, so I am going to be looking forward to seeing what comes next. I think we learn more about Lana Del Rey (Elizabeth Grant) on the album and, in terms of the sounds/genre fused, is the most satisfying blend yet. Del Rey is always moving forward and trying to create something beautiful, moving and true. She has definitely achieved that on Chemtrails Over the Country Club which is, to me…

ONE of the best albums of the year.

___________

Follow Lana Del Rey

PHOTO CREDIT: Darren Gerrish/BFC/Getty Images 

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ALL UNCREDITED PHOTOS:

Lana Del Rey

TRACK REVIEW: Gwen Stefani - Slow Clap

TRACK REVIEW:

 

 

Gwen Stefani

PHOTO CREDIT: Jamie Nelson

Slow Clap

9.5/10

The track, Slow Clap, is available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p__QQG6lrwQ

GENRES:

Ska/Reggae/Pop

ORIGIN:

California, U.S.A.

RELEASE DATE:

11th March, 2021

LABEL:

Interscope Records

__________

BEFORE I get to the solo work…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Jamie Nelson

of Gwen Stefani, I do want to spend some time discussing her band, No Doubt. I think Stefani is one of the greatest-ever Rock voices and, as lead of the band, she definitely got me into similar bands. I was a big No Doubt fan, and, to this day, I listen back to the older material. Whilst there has been no announcement as to whether we will get another No Doubt album, it is great that the band are still together after all of these years (they formed in 1986). If you are unfamiliar with Gwen Stefani as an artist, then her bio section on her website explains more:

“A three-time GRAMMY® Award winner, Gwen Stefani has achieved global success as a performer, songwriter, frontwoman for iconic rock band No Doubt, and multi-platinum solo artist. To date, she’s sold more than 50 million units worldwide, including her four-times-platinum debut solo album Love.Angel.Music.Baby. — a 2004 release delivering the hit singles “Rich Girl,” “What You Waiting For?”, and the Pharrell Williams-produced No. 1 hit “Hollaback Girl.” With her 2006 sophomore album The Sweet Escape featuring the Billboard Hot 100 top-ten smash “Wind It Up,” Stefani most recently released her third solo effort This Is What The Truth Feels Like. Debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, the critically praised album includes her powerful No. 1 single “Used To Love You.”

In addition to her three GRAMMY® Awards, Stefani’s honors include four MTV Video Music Awards, two Billboard Awards, an American Music Award, and a Brit Award. In 2014, she channeled her tremendous musical passion into empowering young singers as their coach on the seventh season of NBC’s musical competition series “The Voice.” Stefani now returns for her fourth season as a coach on “The Voice,” with the 17th season of the four-time Emmy Award-winning show arriving in September 2019.

Known for her wildly charismatic stage presence, Stefani premiered her exclusive Las Vegas headlining residency “Gwen Stefani – Just A Girl” in June 2018 at Zappos Theatre at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino. With its setlist comprised of fan favorites and iconic hits, the two-hour show unfolds as an eye-popping spectacular, putting a fresh twist on classic Vegas theatrics. But despite the elaborate stage production — and wardrobe changes showcasing her legendary fashion sense — Stefani offers up an undeniably intimate performance, ultimately forging an unforgettable connection with the crowd.

One of pop culture’s most magnetic style icons, Gwen Stefani has also emerged as the first global celebrity artist to translate music stardom into a series of massively successful lifestyle brands. Through her fashion line L.A.M.B., its sister label Harajuku Lovers, and her eyewear line gx by Gwen Stefani, the designer and entrepreneur has brilliantly merged modern glamour with fashion-forward streetwear.  L.A.M.B. and gx eyewear is available in over 3000+ doors in the United States.  Harajuku Lovers, the pop-art-inspired apparel and accessories brand has had broad appeal with collaborations including the award-winning Harajuku Mini for Target and beauty accessories for Sephora.  Target is celebrating 20 years of their groundbreaking Design For All program and are bringing back 20 of their favorite and most iconic designer partnerships including Harajuku Mini.  The Limited Edition Harajuku Mini Anniversary Collection will be available at Target stores and Target.com beginning September 14, 2019”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Chris Cuffaro

I am going to head back in time in terms of Stefani talking about her career. I feel she is such an interesting and accomplished artist that, even when discussing her latest single, it is valid to travel back and learn more about her. When she spoke with GQ this month, she was asked about those early years - and when she felt that she had achieved her goals and realised when she was a great:

“The first time you felt like you made it…

It was doing a noontime concert at the college I was studying at, a Cal State College, where big bands such as Fishbone and Red Hot Chili Peppers had played previously. So many people had come from all over the place that the grass was torn up afterwards and I remember thinking, “Holy crap, we’re huge.” I went to class the next day and people were passing their notebooks down asking for my autograph. It was weird, being in two roles – a student and then also being in the band that played yesterday.

The first time you realised you were actually any good…

When I was a little girl, I liked to sing but I didn’t think I was good at it. I could mimic singers that I liked stylistically, but the furthest my dream extended was to jingles – I used to hope for a KFC commercial. The songwriting is what really changed my life, because once I had a problem and I could channel it. I wasn’t good at school: I was super naive and very sheltered. When I started to write I felt like I was dying, my older brother who was everything to me was quitting the band and the boyfriend who I depended on quit me, so I felt, “What do I do?” I wrote one song and then they just kept coming. Another milestone was playing our first show at a club as the only singer. This confidence just came out of me that night, I could control the audience and I just knew how to do it. I remember going into the parking lot after and thinking, “I might be good at this.” Performing became an instinct, a power that I had”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Chris Cuffaro

I want to spend a bit of time with No Doubt. I think it is important that the band are celebrating thirty-five years and they are still together. I might do a feature about that anniversary in some form. It has been almost a decade since the Californian band released their last album, Push and Shove. I loved 2001’s Rock Steady but, when there was this gap and the band seemed like they would not record again, it was a big relief to have another album out in there! Stefani spoke with The Guardian in 2012 about the band’s return and how it felt to put out Push and Shove:

“The announcement that No Doubt are about to release a new album, the first since 2001's Rock Steady, prompts a similar sensation of pleasant surprise. In the year that even Chumbawamba have given up the noble fight, one has to ask whether a band so much associated with the 1990s really has a place in 2012. No Doubt have always had their hardcore fans, dating back to their formation in 1986 when they were a popular ska band that venerated Madness in their home state of California. They broke out of that pond three albums into their career with the then ubiquitous single Don't Speak on 1995's Tragic Kingdom and, while they never quite matched that success again, ska-inflected pop-based songs such as Hey, Baby and Just a Girl burst through the grunge landscape of their time to become part of the backing music of the decade. Yet even then, the band's success felt more like an anomaly than the establishment of something long-lasting. When Stefani, always the band's most charismatic performer, broke away to pursue a solo career, focusing more on dance music with 2004's hugely successful Love Angel Music Baby and 2006's The Sweet Escape, as well as starting up a fashion line and pairing up with hip-hop collaborators such as Eve (Let Me Blow Ya Mind, Rich Girl) and Ludacris (Luxurious), this seemed like both a natural progression and an inevitable end.

"It just feels so much more natural being back in this mode. The solo records allowed me to indulge my girly side but it was never meant to be taken seriously," says Stefani, casually disowning several million record sales and a slew of Grammy nominations. "It was just like an art project that kept going longer than I expected. The group never ended – we always knew we'd come back to make this album"

 PHOTO CREDIT: Chris Cuffaro

I want to look at a couple of No Doubt album anniversaries. I feel albums such as Tragic Kingdom (their breakthrough third album) are among the best of the 1990s. Tragic Kingdom turned twenty-five last year and, to me, it has not aged at all. Gwen Stefani’s songwriting and vocals are at their peak; the band, despite the fact there were some tensions and personal issues, are incredible and committed throughout. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly from late last year, Stefani was asked about the big anniversary:

“This year marked the 25th anniversary of No Doubt’s Tragic Kingdom. How has that record changed meaning for you over the years?

I don't really like anniversaries. I don't really celebrate like, “Oh, I wore that in 1995. Now it's 10 years later, woo!” But then when it actually happened and I started seeing everyone posting and seeing all the stuff that we had done — things I don't remember, until I see the image — I was just overwhelmed, like, "Oh my god, we did that?" It was a really emotional couple of days. I really enjoyed hearing just how much that record impacted people. It really is truly mind-blowing to me that I get to do music, let alone to be part of people's lives in that way. It's hard to wrap my head around it.

I'm really proud of Tragic Kingdom. It was a very weird album. I was so naive. I didn't even know how to write a song. I don't know how I wrote those songs because I didn’t know anything back then. But doing the Vegas show was a really reflective time, because doing a song like “Just a Girl” every night felt more relevant than ever, especially in the last couple of years with the rise of the #MeToo movement. It feels like history repeating itself. We've come far, but we haven't. I always thought that I would outgrow that song and be a woman and not be able to sing the words “I'm just a girl” anymore, but it felt more relevant than it ever felt in my whole life. It was bizarre”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: POP Magazine

Of course, many people associate Tragic Kingdom with the huge single, Don’t Speak. It is a song that so many people can relate to and, as a piece of music, it is among the best songs in the No Doubt cannon. I want to mention it because I feel it was a pivotal moment in the band’s career. Despite the song being written at a time of division, they are still together; Gwen Stefani is still recording and understands how important the track is. In that interview of 2012 from The Guardian, the subject of the song came up:

“Of course, No Doubt's most famous song, Don't Speak, was about one of the band's most personal struggles: the end of Stefani and Kanal's long-term relationship. Yet while the lyrics, coupled with Stefani's pained vocals, made for a classic breakup song, it must have been pretty weird for Kanal to be standing behind his heartbroken girlfriend every night on tour while she belted out how miserable she was without him.

"Oh definitely," replies Kanal while Stefani nods eagerly beside him. "We were on tour for Tragic Kingdom for 28 months. We were going through the breakup, and in every interview we were talking about it so we were opening this wound on an hourly basis. It was so brutal but I don't know how we made it through."

This breakup nearly broke Stefani. Even today, nearly 43 and with a hugely successful career, she gives off the air of a woman who loves to devote herself with girlish enthusiasm to the man in her life. She positively radiates when she talks about husband Rossdale's "beautiful lyrics" and she can still recall, with painful candour, the devastation she felt when Kanal ended their seven-year relationship when she had been dreaming of marriage and babies. Yet this episode gave her not just a hit single but a career; it wasn't until the breakup that she dared to try songwriting”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Joseph Cultice

Forgive the No Doubt backstory and history! I am coming to discuss Stefani as a solo artist soon. Rock Steady turns twenty in December. I feel it is a very underrated album that has some huge songs on it. Hey Baby, for instance, is a classic No Doubt cut! It is interesting reading an interview from Stereogum this month. Stefani looked back on the Rock Steady period:

“As you mentioned, that last non-Christmas solo album came out of tumultuous times in those early Voice days. Now you’re gearing up for a new one while there are some big anniversaries — Return Of Saturn turned 20 last year, and Rock Steady turns 20 this year. It seems like it must be a weird time to look back on. Rock Steady has all these songs I remember hearing all the time when I was young and first noticing music, but it’s also towards the end of the band in that initial era.

Now, Rock Steady, that was a different story. That was freedom. That was, OK, everyone agrees we’re going to work outside the band. We’re going to work with our heroes. We’re going to go out dancing all night long. We didn’t have kids yet. It was self-indulgence. We were working with the coolest producers. It was our time, and it was a great memory. But then going into the solo records, it was a different kind of freedom. There was no voting, no family, no democracy, no compromising. It was all indulgence. I could indulge not just my cheesy side but all the music that was the backdrop to my life. I could make music that was guilty pleasure. There were no rules, and I got to be the most creative I’ve probably been in my life, because I got to create a world and I had endless ideas and energy”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Universal Music Group

Looking at Gwen Stefani’s personal life and music. It is interesting learning about (in an interview with Today) how Stefani handled her divorce from Gavin Rossdale and how faith played a role in recovery:

“But I feel like it's the way you handle things, you never know," she continued. "You're gonna be blessed. You got to ask for the blessings. You got to keep engaged. That's how I believe. That's how I live my life. I'm getting better at it. It's something you have to work on. It's like a spiritual exercise every single day."

Hoda Kotb said that was the most beautiful sentiment, before asking Stefani how she has stayed open to life experiences despite trying circumstances in her past, like her divorce from singer Gavin Rossdale.

"I had all those fetal positions for a while," Stefani recalled. "I know that everything that happens in my life isn't happening in time with what people see. That's what people forget, although we are close to that these days with the Internet and the platforms that we all have.

"For me, I was turning to my faith right away. That was a seed that my mom planted in me when I was a little girl ... it's a journey. It's almost like you get lost, it's like you get lost on your journey. We all do and we all will and I will again at some point I'm sure."

"I tried to find what was my gift and my purpose," she said. "In that horrible moment, I just said to myself, 'This is happening to me for a purpose ... a reason.' I tried to go right into the studio. I knew that was the only thing I know how to do good, is write songs and I wrote the 'Truth' record," Stefani added, referring to her 2016 album "This Is What the Truth Feels Like”.

Now, she has a new love in her life. I wonder whether she will work with Blake Shelton. The U.S. Country singer would sound great on a Gwen Stefani album but, so far as I know, there are no plans for them to collaborate heavily in the future. It does seem like Gwen Stefani is in a much better place now. I would not normally discuss a relationship in the context of reviewing a song, but I feel that it is quite important in relation to her new lease of life and the fact she is looking ahead fondly. In this article from She Knows, we discover when Stefani and Shelton met:

“Stefani met Shelton before 2015 from working together on The Voice, but when they first met, he was married to ex Miranda Lambert and she was married to Rossdale. Both marriages dissolved in quick succession as Shelton filed for divorce in July 2015 and Stefani followed suit in August 2015, and while suspicions of their closeness lingered, they weren’t publicly an item until many months later, first commenting on the relationship in November 2015.

This Is What The Truth Feels Like came out in March 2016, and here’s what she told Lowe about the process of writing it: “What was really I think really significant about that This Is What The Truth Feels Like record for me was the miracle in it, which was, you talked about having to write music when you have to write music, the button doesn’t always work if you press it. And when I was going through the worst part of my life, I was running to go write songs. I knew that’s what I had to do. I knew that that’s my purpose.”

“But then halfway through the project, to my surprise, I start falling in love and I start writing these songs about Blake,” she continued. “So the first half of writing it, and it was written over a very short amount of time, a couple months, I think the record is just a very interesting record because a lot, of the darker, darker songs didn’t make it onto the record”.

Let’s move on to lockdown and how Stefani came to release her previous single, Let Me Reintroduce Myself. Apart from some Christmas songs over the past few years, she did record with Blake Shelton on Nobody But You last year on one of his albums. This track, Let Me Reintroduce Myself, seemed like a bit of a return from a hugely popular and influential artist. Stefani was asked about writing in lockdown and that single in an interview with Vogue from January:

“You’ve been busy writing and recording new music during lockdown. How has that been?

“Honestly, a dream. I had written one song, “Cry Happy”, in February and it felt really good. After that, people were like, ‘Everyone’s writing on Zoom.’ I was like, ‘That sounds horrifying.’ It’s already horrifying to go in a room with a 28-year-old [producer] who wants to write with you and you’re like, ‘I’m like your mom, let’s write a song.’ It’s weird. We ended up doing it and the first one I wrote on Zoom was with [producer] Greg Kurstin and [songwriter] Mozella. He was in Hawaii, she was in Los Angeles, and I was in Oklahoma — we wrote a damn song on a damn phone.”

The title of the new single is pretty self-explanatory — it’s about reintroducing yourself to the world. Do you feel like that’s something you need to do? You’re quite famous.

“[Laughs] I was working with this young producer called Luke Niccoli, and he introduced me to his [songwriter] friend Ross [Golan]. I was like, ‘I know that you know I’m Gwen Stefani and I’ve done all these things, but right now let’s try to be intimate and I’ll tell you how I’m feeling about being my age.’ He really got in my head — he’s the one that threw out the line, “Let me reintroduce myself.” Once he said that, the tone for the song was there”.

One reason why I loved Let Me Reintroduce Myself is because it has a Reggae/Ska feel. I always associate those genres with No Doubt and some of their best work. Stefani, having worked as a judge on The Voice (more on that later) could have gone more mainstream Pop or changed direction. Returning to that Entertainment Weekly interview, Stefani stated how Let Me Reintroduce allowed her to dig into the roots of Ska and discover something truly moving:

“Let Me Reintroduce Myself,” released Monday, is a feel-good return to the ska/pop/reggae hybrid — record-scratching, horns, a walking bass line — that Stefani perfected during her time fronting No Doubt. Using her downtime in Oklahoma during the pandemic to dig back into ska’s roots, she immersed herself in the history of the genre, leading her to feel like now was the right moment to return to the sounds that first put her on the map 30 years ago. “All of the riots had happened, and I just started thinking so much about when I started loving music and why,” she says. “It was eighth grade when I learned about ska and Madness and the Selecter and all those bands that started to define the kind of music that I felt like I fit into; here I was, this Catholic girl from Anaheim doing reggae music! But that music was all about unity and anti-racism, and that was in the '70s. Then we were doing it in the '90s. And now here we are, again, in the same old mess.”

You felt inspiration again?

I felt all kinds of inspirations and ideas. It's like God saying, "You’ve got to do this now." When I get that urgency, you can't stop me. I'm like, “I’ve got to go write songs. That's what I need right now. And I don't even care if anyone hears them, or if they think they suck, I'm doing it, now.”

When I got back to L.A., I went into the studio. Everything was plastic-guarded. You get your temperature taken. Everybody's wearing masks. By then, all of the riots had happened. I started to go back and investigate ska and reggae, and I found all these documentaries about how ska was born in the 1960s, how that was linked to the Jubilee when Jamaica was being freed from England. Starting No Doubt, we were the third-wave imitating the 1960s.Then I found this documentary on a school in Jamaica called the Alpha Boys School, which was run by Catholic nuns. There's this little white Catholic nun called Sister Mary Ignatius Davies who helped nurture reggae music. You can see all these pictures of her with these little boys and they're learning these brass instruments. The first ska band that was ever born was these kids out of Alpha Boys School, the Skatalites. No Doubt used to listen to them. Doing my research, it all just felt so full-circle.

So this music was born out of that. I wanted to go back and make something that was joyful and back to my roots, where it all started. [Pre-pandemic] I’d been in the studio with Luke Niccoli and he's the one that said you really should work with my friend Ross, who turned out to be someone who really gets my sarcasm, and the fun side of my lyrics. We really hit it off.

With Luke, we taught each other a lot, especially when it came to ska and reggae, because I kept saying, "Dude, no, listen to Sublime. It has to have scratching in it. It has to be '90s." So he was discovering all this stuff that he didn't know, but bringing his technology and youth to the sound. It was a perfect kind of combination between the three of us. And we wrote a bunch of songs together and I know we're going to write more”.

I am going to get to my review of her new track, Slow Clap, in a bit. There are a few more things that I want to cover before moving along.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Jamie Nelson

As Stefani revealed in the interview with Stereogum, she was not planning on putting out new material or looking at making a record during a pandemic and after all of these years:

“GWEN STEFANI: I guess to talk about this song I have to talk about writing for this record, because I wasn’t planning to. When you get to be my age and have this wake of work behind you and you are a mother to three boys and you’re in a pandemic…

You know, the last record I did was a Christmas record, which was probably one of my favorite records I’ve ever done. Writing Christmas music, there was something so freeing to it. You’re writing for a period of time that’s hopefully going to be the memories to people’s families growing up. It’s a different thing, and I really enjoyed it. This record, it was like, “There’s no way I’m going to be able to do a record.” And why would I? If I did, what kind of music would I do? I’ve had so many genres I’ve bounced in and out of — I just had two country hits with a country guy, what the hell am I doing these days? I was all over the map. I was feeling a lot of insecurities about it to be honest. I don’t go and buy the new record of the band I liked in high school. I don’t. I listen to the one I liked in high school. So why would someone want to buy a new Gwen Stefani album? That’s just how I was feeling. But at the same time, I had written one song, and if it’s good you know it’s good. It’s addictive, you want to share it. By just doing that one session — right before the pandemic — I thought I needed to do some more songs”.

The intention of this whole album was to write music that was nostalgic to the people who actually did follow me all these years, that they could listen to it and it’d be new but it’d be familiar. I thought about them. If they didn’t listen to it, why else would I do it? So I’m doing it for them, too, you know what I mean? But yeah, I feel like that song is fun, uptempo, not serious but it has serious things in it. It’s all about saying, “Are you rooting for me like I’m rooting for you?” I’m really happy I got to write this song with Ross. The fact that the label wants to put out such a weird song, I’m clapping for them. [Laughs]”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Art Streiber/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal/Getty Images

Although I have not seen any announcement regarding an album and when that may be released, it seems like she is gearing up to release one soon. In that article from She Knows, they mentioned how Stefani was being interviewed by Zane Lowe and, when she was making Let Me Reintroduce Myself, it brought her back to an album that arrived at a particularly tumultuous time of her life:

“Gwen Stefani’s new album Let Me Reintroduce Myself has the former No Doubt star feeling nostalgic for another studio album of hers — 2016’s This Is What The Truth Feels Like, written in the tumultuous year that she both filed for divorce from husband Gavin Rossdale and began dating current fiancé Blake Shelton. In a new Apple Music interview with Zane Lowe, Stefani talks about the process of writing that album five years ago, which was originally slated for December 2014 but delayed due to Stefani’s ongoing issues with the material. She’s hinted in the past about the sudden burst of inspiration in late 2015 that brought this album to life, but she tells Lowe even more explicitly now that she was falling in love and that’s why she was able to write the songs she did. She details the “couple months” in which the album came together, and we looked back at the album release’s timing to see what that means for her relationship with Shelton. Spoiler alert: These two got serious even sooner than we expected”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Jamie Nelson 

One gets definite Reggae and Ska vibes on the hypnotic and twisting Slow Clap. It opens with “Clap, clap/Clap, clap, clap, clap/Clap de-clap de-clap clap/Slow clap” and, even though we have not had any story revealed, one wonders what the background of the song is and what the title refers to. The beat is quite tight and taut. Riding a wave, Stefani delivers one of her most confident and catchy vocals. You can tell she is having a great time on the song! I wonder whether there is a personal story behind Slow Clap or whether it is a general observation. I really like the rhymes on the first verse: “I'll be David, you Goliath/Set the rule and I'll defy it/You be angry, I'll be quiet/You be purple, I'm the violet/Take a ride 'cause I'm the co-pilot/I'm the ice cream, you're just the diet/Be the captain, I'll be the pirate/You're Billy the Kid, and I'll be the Wyatt”. Not standing in one spot, Slow Clap moves through different sounds and paces. From the fast and commanding verse, there is a passage where the sound goes a bit more Gospel. It is interesting hearing Gwen Stefani singing “Are you rooting for me like I'm rooting for you?/Let me hear you get loud like surround sound” and what she is referring to. I get the impression Stefani is talking about a relationship and supporting someone. Maybe the two are contrasting and have very different personalities. The first verse has that snappy and Ska sound that gets you motivated and moving. It is clear that, despite Stefani offering backing and compassion, she is very much on control and has plenty of confidence: “Clap, clap/Clap, clap, clap, clap/Clap de-clap de-clap clap/Slow clap/Walk into the room like a boss/Slow Clap/Putting on a little extra sauce/Slow clap”. It is classic Stefani as she delivers her words with so much panache and conviction: “Clap, clap/Clap, clap, clap, clap/Clap de-clap de-clap clap/Slow clap/Side stepping people down the hall/Slow Clap/Winter, spring or summer or the fall/Slow Clap”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: SHAPE Magazine

I think, when it comes to the lyrics, there is that nice oblique aspect…so you wonder whether Stefani is referring to a broken relationship or conflict or whether this is a fictional angle. I do really like the lyrics and the images they provoke: “Been the champion, rang the bell/Rocked the bottom, been through hell/Climbed the mountain, now I'm well/I just feel like coming back for the belt/I've been slipping and slipping/But now I'm back for double dipping/Who'm I kidding, I'm winning/My gentleman is for myself/I'm throwin' a Hail Mary to no one else/That's why I'm cheering for myself”. It is evident that Stefani has won a battle and, perhaps, she is referring to her relationship and happiness with Blake Shelton? I tried to look for interviews where Stefani talked about Slow Clap and its story. There is a touch of M.I.A. at times (when she sings “Clap, clap/Clap, clap, clap, clap/Clap de-clap de-clap clap/Slow clap”, one gets elements of Galang). We get a passage of new lyrics where Stefani gives us more story. That is sandwiched between the chorus. That becomes more relevant and powerful the more you hear it. I would be interested to see an official video for the song and how Stefani approaches the visuals. Whereas I started off by thinking about Slow Clap as a relationship song and about marriage, perhaps, some lines later in the song make me feel like this is Stefani mounting a new solo phase and wanting to be heard: “I don't wanna go to the back of the line/No, no, I put in my time/From the garage to the penthouse girls/Underdog to the top of the world”. Stefani keeps the energy and pace up to the end. One gets carried by the wave of the chorus and the conviction that Stefani delivers: “Clap, clap/Clap, clap, clap, clap/Clap de-clap de-clap clap/Slow clap/Side stepping people down the hall /Slow Clap/Winter, Spring or Summer or the Fall/Slow Clap”. I am interested to see what single comes next and whether there is an official announcement regarding an album release date. Slow Clap is another terrific single from one of my favourite artists – someone who is constantly evolving and huge engaging.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Gwen Stefani on the set of The Voice/PHOTO CREDIT: Trae Patton/NBC

Before ending the review, there are a few other things that I want to note. I mentioned how Gwen Stefani was a judge on the U.S. version of The Voice. Not only was it important for her to lend her expertise and guidance; I think she also learned a lot from that experience and brought that to her new material. Stefani was asked about that by Stereogum:

“I feel like I’d be remiss if we didn’t talk about this a bit more, since it’s now such a big part of your career. Now that you’re putting out this album on the other side of this TV era, I’m curious if you learned certain lessons about yourself being a coach on The Voice and then going back to your own music. Obviously with everything we’re talking about today, there have been some wild opportunities in your life. But the arc from Anaheim ska-punk filming a video in your grandparents’ old house to being a household name on The Voice is probably one of the crazier arcs within your story.

STEFANI: I was super naive when I said I’d do it. I don’t think I’d even watched the show. My parents had watched it. I had literally just given birth. Five weeks out of having this baby. My lawyer, my mom and dad, my niece, they were over to see the baby. I got the call. Basically, Irving Azoff — who was not my manager at the time, but I’d known him and his wife for 14 years — his wife called me and said “Christina [Aguilera]’s pregnant, do you think you’d want to do The Voice?” I hung up and said, “I just got the craziest call.” My parents were huge fans and were like, “Oh my God!” It was a hard period in my life before that. A lot of stuff had gone down. I had done that record with No Doubt, which was really hard. I had been really depleted in a lot of ways. To do [The Voice], I just never thought I could, but I was going to go for it.

You ask me how it helped me? I learned so much on that show. I think it was the perfect time for me to play the role as mentor or coach. It helped me with my confidence, and also took away some of my confidence. It was so intimidating to watch these unbelievably gifted, regular people that just one after another were coming through and going through unbelievable pressure, just to get onstage and do a blind audition. Then everything that comes after that — I could’ve never done it. I could never sing like that. You start to judge yourself: “I’m not very good, how did I make it, how did they let me out of my mom’s house?” All these insecurities”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Emily Berl for The New York Times

I guess we assume that Gwen Stefani has influenced a lot of artists herself (which is true) but is not necessarily compelled by any new artists. Going back to the Stereogum interview I have sourced from a fair bit, she was asked about that subject:

“I’m curious about how this came about, but I’m also curious based on how you’re talking about going into the new album: Dua Lipa is of this new generation. Are there other younger pop stars you look at and get inspired by?

STEFANI: That’s a good question. I’m at a really weird place in my life because of the different roles that I play. We all play different roles through our lifetime. You get to a place where you’re sort of out of touch a bit because… you are a mom, and you’re on a TV show, and you’re not touring, and you’re older. To have Dua Lipa even know who I am and want me to be a part of that was super flattering. When she asked me it was during that summer when that big song was out that the whole world was listening to — including Blake Shelton! Dancing around the backyard. We were all listening to that song. So it was really exciting, and it’s always flattering when someone wants to work with you. She’s such a good singer. It’s super rare — I’m just going to be honest — that I’m impressed by somebody. I can’t help it. I’m stuck up, and I like what I like. At the same time, on something like The Voice, people come through with this talent where you’re like, “Why did anyone even let me be onstage? How is it fair I have any success, I am so not talented compared to these people”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Wonderland. Magazine

A couple of other things, I feel, need to be addressed before finishing up. The last part I want to take from the Stereogum interview is her memories of Prince. It may sound random but, as we mark five years since he died in April, it is interesting discovering how Prince impacted and touched various people:

“So I’ve heard. When Prince passed, people had so many bizarre and hilarious, or surprisingly heart-warming, stories about him. Do you have a particular memory you return to?

STEFANI: I was in London. They said, “The Arist…” The Artist. At that time you didn’t say Prince. “The Artist wants to speak with you.” Basically, Tony [Kanal] — my best friend at the time, my former boyfriend, my bandmate — worshipped him. That was his guy. The fact that Prince would even know who I am and would want to speak with me was terrifying and crazy. In high school I was ska, I wasn’t a huge Prince fan. It wasn’t until afterwards that I rediscovered all the dance music and popular music that was happening in the backdrop of my life. But yeah, he called me on the phone. His voice was exactly Prince. He was very quiet. “I want to talk to you, I want you to be on my song, ‘So Far, So Pleased.'” It was like a deal: “In return I’ll help you with your song.”

We had this song we’d been working on called “Waiting Room.” The way that No Doubt would write is I would write it and they’d have the chords and we’d never get anywhere, and everything took us so long because we never knew what we were doing. Sometimes we’d just get stuck. That was during the Rock Steady album, and we were actually in a good flow in that time period, and working outside of the band — like working with Ric Ocasek or Sly & Robbie. I said [to Prince], “I have this song I can’t finish called ‘Waiting Room.'” He said to send it to him. When I landed in Minneapolis, I’m walking through the airport and his people come to get us and this guy’s like, “The Artist wants to speak to you.” He hands over his cellphone, and Prince says, “I had to rewrite your song.” I was like, “OK, great.” Just dying to hear what it was”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Emily Berl for The New York Times

All this new music makes me interested whether an album will arrive in the coming months. It is clear Gwen Stefani has lost none of her power and potency! Slow Clap is another terrific song that has earned her a lot of praise. In the Vogue interview I sourced from earlier, the subject of Stefani’s legacy was brought up:

“Do you think about your legacy? Do you see your influence in new acts today?

“Sometimes I can see my style, especially right now because it feels like there’s ’90s nostalgia in terms of fashion. I have a 14-year-old son, so he had a lot to do with me reinvestigating myself and taking me back to when I discovered ska music. It’s weird how time can go so quickly, especially when you’re a mother of three boys — I went from that horrible time in my life [her 2015 divorce from Gavin Rossdale], and that was when I wrote that last record. My life was falling apart. [Writing the 2016 album] wasn’t to do with anything other than saving my own life. That’s a completely different place to be. Then halfway through [recording], I fall in love with this cowboy guy — like, what the hell?”.

It is clear that Gwen Stefani has influenced a lot of artists and we can see quite a few from today have D.N.A. of her and No Doubt. I do hope that the band are not done and have more albums in them. I really like Gwen Stefani’s solo material, so I am going to keep my eyes open to see what comes next. Slow Clap is a terrific new single that deserves…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Gwen Stefani with Blake Shelton/PHOTO CREDIT: Steve Granitz/WireImage

HUGE and passionate applause.

___________

Follow Gwen Stefani

PHOTO CREDIT: Jamie Nelson  

Official:

https://www.gwenstefani.com/ 

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/gwenstefani

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/gwenstefani

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/gwenstefani/

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/4yiQZ8tQPux8cPriYMWUFP?si=m7RRZuRWR-uGDVDZcYwQaQ

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX6mObpqyrtKMdxvCV9YkGg

ALL UNCREDITED PHOTOS:

Gwen Stefani

TRACK REVIEW: St. Vincent - Pay Your Way in Pain

TRACK REVIEW:

 

 

St. Vincent

PHOTO CREDIT: Catalin Kulczar/Redux/Eyevine 

Pay Your Way in Pain

9.6/10

The track, Pay Your Way in Pain, is available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUTu65AXrJw

GENRE:

Art Rock

ORIGIN:

Oklahoma, U.S.A.

RELEASE DATE:

4th March, 2021

The album, Daddy’s Home, is available to pre-order via:

https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/st-vincent/daddy-s-home/lp-plus

RELEASE DATE:

14th May, 2021

LABEL:

Loma Vista

PRODUCERS:

Annie Clark (St. Vincent) and Jack Antonoff

TRACKLIST:

Pay Your Way in Pain

Down and Out Downtown

Daddy’s Home

Live in the Dream

The Melting of the Sun

The Laughing Man

Down

Somebody Like Me

My Baby Wants a Baby

… At the Holiday Party

Candy Darling

__________

IT in exciting…

 PHOTO CREDIT: SCANDEBERGS

that St. Vincent released new music this week. I am a big fan of her work, so it is great to get a chance to spend some time discussing her. I am going to cover a few different themes and points before coming to her new single, Pay Your Way in Pain. Taken from her forthcoming album, Daddy’s Home, it is a terrific song – we would expect nothing less from Annie Clark! I think that people associate St. Vincent with her excellent songwriting and singing. As a guitarist she is hugely interesting and inspiring. I found an article that detailed the kit she uses. I know that she is inspiring so many upcoming songwriters and, more than that, compelling girls and young women to pick up the guitar. St. Vincent also teaches a creativity and songwriting masterclass, where you can watch video lessons and learn about the ups and downs of songwriting/creativity, guitar skills and a whole lot more. She is a complete artist who is keen to give something back. I want to start by linking St. Vincent to one of her music idols. Kate Bush is someone who I associate with being Art Rock. I have never seen her as a conventional Pop artist. Some artists feel being labelled as Art Rock is either pretentious or not a good thing. St. Vincent brings soul and passion to her music, but there is an experimentation and artiness that is deeply compelling and original. In an interview with the Irish Times from 2015 (she released her eponymous album in 2014), she addressed the somewhat negative connotations of being arty or Art Rock:

“Annie Clark makes joyous, angular, soulful pop music which is unashamedly arty.

“Why should I be ashamed of artiness?” she says, sounding rightly perplexed by my philistinism.

Clark is the genre-crossing genius and guitar-god behind the music of St Vincent. She released her eponymous fourth album last year (her fifth if you include the brass-filled Love This Giant which she created with polymath Talking Head David Byrne) and her head is filled with ideas. She’s driving her car and talking to me over the phone at the same time, pausing at length whenever she has to turn a corner or wants to have a bit of a think.

She started playing guitar at the age of 12, she says. “The first song I tried to learn, I think, was Jethro Tull’s Aqualung.”

“That’s hard,” I say.

“I know!” she says”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images

I want to discuss Annie Clark/St. Vincent and the musical side a bit later Before then, it is useful learning some background. I think that every artist has a different past and story; learning about it allows us to appreciate and understand their music in a deeper way, I think. In a Vogue interview from 2017, we get a little history regarding one of the finest musicians of the modern age:

“Raised in Dallas as one of eight siblings and half siblings, Clark says that the commotion of a big family allowed her the freedom to fall down artistic rabbit holes. After dropping out of Boston’s Berklee College of Music, she found herself in another huge family: the Polyphonic Spree, a sprawling, orchestral rock experiment that sometimes incorporated dozens of members, all dressed in matching floor-length robes. By 2007, Clark had moved to New York and released her first album as St. Vincent, Marry Me. The blend of her angelic voice, occasionally sinister lyrics, and complex songwriting created an uncanny sound that quickly cemented her in the vanguard of critically beloved indie rock. Her hybrid of musical virtuosity and high-minded aesthetic reinventions went on to earn her a Grammy, comparisons to David Bowie, and equal footing with such collaborators as David Byrne”.

I feel the artist who create the most arresting and fascinating are the ones who had exposure to a whole range of different sounds at a young age. That may sound flawed logic or wrong, but there does seem to be a correlation between these amazingly creative and curious artists and music entering their consciousness from a young age. As we learn from the Irish Times interview, St. Vincent (I will refer to as such from now on, rather than Annie Clark) definitely grew up in an interesting family:

“She always had access to music. Her aunt and uncle performed as a duo, Tuck & Patti, and young Clark carried their equipment and did her first gigs opening for them. She recalls her parents “thinking/hoping that I would be an architect” but she says that “they got it pretty early on that music was my thing”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Patrick Demarchelier 

So it was a cultured household? “Yes and no,” she says. “My folks were not well off but they were well educated and they had a certain curiosity for culture that definitely exceeded their means. They were big readers. [My father] was big into James Joyce and would go on the lecture circuits to talk about James Joyce.”

Clark first came to notice playing in the Polyphonic Spree, but she was already working on her first record, 2007’s Marry Me. “Sufjan Stevens heard it and asked me to play in his band and open for him and while I was opening for him in Europe, I got signed,” she says.

“I started off quite shy,” she says. “[I was] wary of ‘performance’. I think I was hung up on some idea of authenticity, of being just purely about the music and not about the persona and not about anything else. So I hadn’t embraced the more performance aspect of things”.

I want to stick on this theme for a little while longer. I am not sure whether one exists, but I would like to see a documentary of St. Vincent where she discusses her favourite artists and songs that have changed her life. I am also curious to know the guitarists who moved her because, as I say, she is a phenomenal player! There is a little bit of repetition regarding what has just been covered but, in an interview with The Line of Best Fit from 2017 (her fifth studio album, Masseduction, was released in October that year), we get a glimpse into the musical tastes and early musical experiences of St. Vincent:

“From Hendrix to Zeppelin, Jethro Tull to Nirvana at their heyday and the local record store nerd who gave her PJ Harvey and Nick Cave, Clark quickly learned to respect her “inner weirdo.”

She got her first experience of life on the road with her uncle Tuck Andress and his wife Patti Cathcart, better known as jazz guitar and vocal duo Tuck & Patti. Their ubiquitous tour hand, teenage Annie was responsible for everything from flowers in the dressing room to the voltage on stage. Maintaining that she’s never worked harder, the real value came from the deeply spiritual connection her uncle had with music. An exemplary finger-picking guitarist, his talent, he insisted, came from an undoing of ego rather than a propulsion of one. She remembers watching the way their fans would listen, really listen.

Perhaps a shred of this sentiment caused her to drop out of Berklee College of Music in her third year. She realised she was being taught “every potential style of music,” she says, rather than how to develop one of her own. Aged 20 she faked it as a booking agent and moved to New York to tour the East Coast. Three months later she was broke and back at home with her parents in Texas”.

To move on, and I wanted to fill a gap that runs between her eponymous album of 2014 and 2017’s Masseduction. Going back to the interview from The Line of Best Fit, and we discover how the St. Vincent album affected its creator with so many new opportunities – the Oklahoma-born musician definitely underwent a huge rise and change:

“In the three years since the success of St. Vincent her profile and passions have expanded to fit. She’s inducted Nirvana into the Rock N Roll hall of fame, hosted a Beats 1 radio show, made her directorial debut with a horror short, acted as official ambassador for Record Store Day and become one of few artists invited to design a signature Ernie Ball Music Man guitar. Beck, Dave Grohl, Josh Homme and Taylor Swift all have a St. Vincent six string somewhere in their collections.

Prowess proven, how did she tackle the enormous challenge of superseding her own infallible benchmark fifth time around?

“I more or less prepared myself to make another record by doing completely different things,” she says, referencing her recent extra-curricular activities. “But I knew early on that I wanted to make a record about power and seduction, in all kinds of forms. Political, personal, sexual”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Nedda Afsari

This sort of takes me to St. Vincent’s previous album, Masseduction. I wonder how her sixth solo album, Daddy’s Home (she released a collaborative album with David Byrne, Love This Giant, in 2012), is going to compare to Masseduction. I have covered an interview where St. Vincent addressed a, perhaps, negative viewpoint of being arty. I think what Masseduction did was to raise St. Vincent’s profile without her compromising. It is a tremendous album where she mixed Pop and Rock, though was very much herself. In a GQ for 2019, we find ot more about the impact of Masseduction and a slightly repurposed version of it, MassEducation, of 2018:

“Masseduction made the case that Clark could be as much a pop star as someone like Sia or Nicki Minaj—a performer whose idiosyncrasies didn't have to be tamped down for mainstream success but could actually be amplified. The artist Bruce Nauman once said he made work that was like “going up the stairs in the dark and either having an extra stair that you didn't expect or not having one that you thought was going to be there.” The idea applies to Masseduction: Into the familiar form of a pop song Clark introduces surprising missteps, unexpected additions and subtractions. The album reached No. 10 on the Billboard 200. The David Bowie comparisons got louder.

This past fall, she released MassEducation (not quite the same title; note the addition of the letter a), which turned a dozen of the tracks into stripped-down piano songs. Although technically off duty after being on tour for nearly all of 2018, Clark has been performing the reduced songs here and there in small venues with her collaborator, the composer and pianist Thomas Bartlett. Whereas the Masseduction tour involved a lot of latex, neon, choreographed sex-robot dance moves, and LED screens, these recent shows have been comparatively austere. When she performed in Brooklyn, the stage was empty, aside from a piano and a side table. There were blue lights, a little piped-in fog for atmosphere, and that was it. It looked like an early-'90s magazine ad for premium liquor: art-directed, yes, but not to the degree that it Pinterested itself”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Nedda Afsari

To return to Masseduction (the album was stylised in capital letters), and there was a lot of speculation as to inspiration behind the lyrics. St. Vincent, as an artist/persona, is very different to Annie Clark. I think the thing that bonds both is the need to retain some privacy and mystery. A lot of journalists wanted to explore St. Vincent’s personal life when Masseduction arrived. In a detailed 2018 interview with NME, we are told how one song especially, New York, provoked a lot of intrigue and curiosity:

“Also put under the microscope, but not by Clark herself, was her personal life. Many a column inch was dedicated to analysing the lyrics of the vulnerable break-up ballad ‘New York’, for example – thanks to interest from tabloids and celeb glossies in her her relationship and split from actor and supermodel Cara Delevigne. Many poured over the likelihood of Delevigne being the aforementioned “only motherfucker in the city that can handle me,” during her dalliance at a “home run with some blue bloods”. Clark has remained reticent to spell anything out, however. As high concept as her work may be, ‘MASSEDUCTION’ is her most confessional, raw and devastating to date.

“It’s not my job to tell you what the truth is, unfortunately, but a lot of the time artists are the worst people to explain what they’re doing,” says Clark. “You’re following an intuition and just trying to make something that feel right in your core. When you’re so busy making these things you don’t really have time to stop and go, ‘What is this?’”

She continues: “My heart is in these songs completely. My whole life is in these songs. It’s not literal because then it wouldn’t be art necessarily. I also feel that once the song is written it’s not about me anymore. It’s not for me. It’s flattering that people would want to know about what inspired them from my life, but really the point of music is that it’s really supposed to be about the music at that point”.

I just want to spend a brief moment bringing things back to the guitar. It may sound a bit nerdy, but I think different guitars can lend the music with a different personality. I feel a lot of people just assume an electric guitar has a particular sound and there is not a lot of diversity and contours between different models and designs. In the interview from The Line of Best Fit, St. Vincent talked about one particular guitar that was all over Masseduction:

“Of the guitar that we do hear, how much of that can be attributed to her new Ernie Ball signature?

“I didn’t use any other guitar on this record!” she responds, gleefully. “And not for any other reason than I love it. I have all these vintage guitars. Obviously I love guitars. I have a lot of guitars! But this was just the most perfect, flexible, go to instrument. I did a lot of glam tuning with the slide!”

Is this the first time she’s only used one guitar across a whole album?

“It really is. I mean, on the last record I think I used like, Thurston Moore’s Jazzmaster – his signature from Fender. My old Harmony Bobkat. And my Music Man Albert Lee for a lot of the whammy bar stuff”.

There are a few more things I need to tick off of the list before getting down to review Pay Your Way in Pain. I want to return to the 2019 interview from GQ, as the angle was to show how St. Vincent was never boring. I feel how an artist spends their time away from tours and off stage can be as important as anything. I was eager to learn more about this side of things; how St. Vincent spends time off of tour – or ways in which she can recharge and create this different headspace:

“Another thing Clark does when off tour is absorb all the input that she misses when she's locked into performance mode. On a Monday afternoon, she met artist Lisa Yuskavage at an exhibition of her paintings at the David Zwirner gallery in Chelsea. Yuskavage was part of a mini-boom of figurative painting in the '90s, turning out portraits of Penthouse centerfolds and giant-jugged babes with Rembrandt-esque skill. It made sense that Clark wanted to meet her: Both women make art about the inner lives of female figures, both are sorcerers of technique, both are theatrical but introspective, both have incendiary style. The gallery was a white cube, skylit, with paintings around the perimeter. Yuskavage and Clark wandered through at a pace exclusive to walking tours of cultural spaces, which is to say a few steps every 10 to 15 seconds with pauses between for the proper amount of motionless appreciation.

The paintings were small, all about the size of a human head, and featured a lot of nipples, tufted pudenda, tan lines, majestic asses, and protruding tongues. “I like the idea of possessing something by painting it,” Yuskavage said. “That's the way I understand the world. Like a dog licking something.”

Clark looked at the works with the expression people make when they're meditating. She was wearing elfin boots, black pants, and a shirt with a print that I can only describe as “funky”—“funky” being an adjective that looks good on very few people, St. Vincent being one of them—and sipped from a cup of espresso furnished by a gallery minion. After she finished the drink, there was a moment when she looked blankly at the saucer, unsure what to do with it, and then stuck it in the breast pocket of her funky shirt for the rest of the tour”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Zackery Michael

Maybe this is tangential but, just before bringing things up-to-date and learning a bit of background regarding Daddy’s Home, I want to bring in a Variety article that details an interesting new Audible project, St. Vincent: Words + Music:

“As larger-than-life rock stars go, St. Vincent may be a slightly slippery character, but Annie Clark, the woman who records under that name, isn’t so much so. At least that’s the impression you’ll take away from the new audio project  that has just been released as one of the pilot projects for Audible’s new Words + Music series. If there’s an alluring mystique to the persona that Clark presents in her visually arresting shows or deep-dive-worthy albums, she seems almost surprisingly easygoing about deconstructing it all and discussing the personal meaning behind some of her fans’ most cherished songs in the new audiobook.

For as long as Clark is speaking, “St. Vincent: Words + Music” (available here) feels like an especially revealing episode of “Fresh Air,” minus the Terry Gross. (The singer was in fact interviewed for the project, by veteran rock journalist Bill Flanagan, but his probing voice does not appear.) She discusses how she decided on her stage name, childhood panic attacks, having jazz singers Tuck & Patti as her aunt and uncle, her desire to escape Texas, apprenticing with both Sufjan Stevens and the Polyphonic Spree, finding salvation in work with David Byrne, and how her father’s imprisonment and mother’s health scare affected her music. The candor carries through to the themes on her most recent album, 2017’s “Masseduction,” and how she engages with social media in the present (spoiler: reluctantly). If there’s anything she’s not eager to be as an artist, it’s “my own sweaty used car salesman”.

VARIETY: This falls kind of somewhere between an interview and an audiobook memoir, along with the fresh versions of songs. Did the idea of doing this for Audible appeal to you from the start?

ST. VINCENT: It did. For one, it sounded like a really fun challenge to take old songs and reinvent them. And it happened at a really auspicious time because it got raised at the beginning of this corona pandemic, so it meant that I had something really fun to do by myself, alone in my studio. And I mean, really most of the way that I ingest information now is through podcasts and audiobooks, so this is really a very natural, familiar way for me to get involved.

PHOTO CREDIT: Jeff Hahne 

There’s something interesting that you said in the Audible piece: “I am always talking to an audience like they’re f—ing geniuses. I think people are so smart — they’re smart with their brains, with their heart, with their gut. There is I think sometimes what can be perceived as sort of coldness or aloofness is actually my feeling that everybody’s equal…” You say that in the context of explaining why you don’t feel the need to constantly engage your audience with small talk or vegan recipes. But probably a majority of the artists feel the opposite way nowadays, that they need to put themselves out there online as much as possible to prove that they, too, are everyday people.

Shouldn’t the work that you make kind of prove that? You can’t make work about life if you’re not living some kind of normal life that isn’t surrounded by a cadre of yes-men. Like. when has that worked well… Because if there are really talented people surrounded by people who just tell them yes all the time, that’s not good for art. It’s not good for somebody’s soul, but it’s also not good for art. So yeah, I think that it occurred to me… Like, I’m a person who will tell you something really intimate or vulnerable in a way that’s not particularly vulnerable. There are other people who will seem like they are revealing all things, and it seems very emotional, but it’s not particularly vulnerable. So I’m kind of more on the first side of that. And that’s just who I am. Probably the second thing is the more popular way to be. [Laughs.]

In the Audible book, you talk about a lot of things we wouldn’t necessarily have expected you to talk about, as they have come up in the songs. And it’s interesting because these are things that maybe have been a little harder to discern than they would be from someone who’s writing in a really obviously, purely confessional vein.

The other thing about it is that, as a fan myself, I will listen to stuff and it means so much to me if it’s inextractable from my life, from a period of time or from a major seismic event in my life. And maybe this is just me being selfish., but I don’t really want to know what the artist was thinking. I kind of don’t care! And I mean that with all respect. I’m like, oh, I’m too selfish — I love this for me, and what it means to me. And for a long time, I think I didn’t want to talk too much about what the songs were personally about for me, because it felt like it was a little selfish to push all that into the way that somebody was interpreting or enjoying the song. It felt like micro-managing their experience. You kind of have to trust that if you say something that resonates with you, then it’s going to resonate with other people. But the records that I touch upon in the Audible piece, I feel far enough away from personally — and they’d existed in the world long enough — to where I feel kind of okay divulging certain things and hoping that it doesn’t interfere with anybody’s experience of just listening to it. Because it’s like not about me. You make the work so it can not be about you, so it can just be for other people. I know that might sound kind of Pollyanna, but it’s true. That’s the best way I know how to communicate… You know, that and talk therapy. [Laughs]”.

Let’s drag things to the here and now and the much-anticipated album from St. Vincent. Daddy’s Home is out on 14th May. The lead single gives a glimpse into what we might expect in terms of sound and direction. The title might confuse a few people regarding its derivation and personal significance. For those who do not know about some family history and St. Vincent’s father, a very recent interview from The Guardian provides some more details:

“As her publicist counted column inches, Clark perceived the coverage differently. In 2010, her father was sentenced to 12 years in jail for his role in a $43m (£27m) stock-manipulation scheme. Inside, prisoners passed on clippings about his daughter’s flourishing career. “I always pictured it like I was throwing a little paper airplane over the gates,” says Clark, tracing the arc from her to him with her finger as she speaks over a video call from her studio in Los Angeles.

This is what lay behind the suffocated scream of Strange Mercy and its obsession with bondage. Clark never discussed her father’s imprisonment until the tabloids dug it up in 2016, during her 18-month relationship with Delevingne. A decade ago, she was terrified about protecting her family in Dallas and Tulsa – especially those of her eight siblings who were still children. “I wasn’t in any kind of place where I wanted that narrative to overshadow the music,” she says. “I didn’t have any perspective on it. It was just this horrible, festering wound.”

PHOTO CREDIT: SCANDEBERGS 

Clark has always dismissed the term “confessional” as diminishing artistry. But she says she didn’t need to dress up Daddy’s Home, a song about taking her father home from prison in 2019 and also the name of her disgustingly great sixth album. The title is trademark St Vincent – ambiguous and unsettlingly kinky – but there is a sea change in sound and spirit: the old adrenaline rushes are replaced by louche soul and world-weary tenderness, straddling Sly and the Family Stone’s degraded 1971 epic There’s a Riot Goin’ On, the sweet spots of Stevie Wonder and Steely Dan and the queer revelry of the 1974 Labelle concert at the Metropolitan Opera in New York that scandalised polite society.

Clark recalls visiting her father in an “edgy” medium-security institution before he was moved to a depressing camp that reminded her of primary school. During visitation, families could pose for photos in front of various backdrops. “Like, look, an inmate is at the beach. They just happen to be in an orange jumpsuit, but with their wife and baby. The one that I remember most vividly was a picture where the inmates – who are obviously disproportionately black and brown in America – could stand on a plantation veranda.” Her eyes pop. “That pretty much sums up this place.”

Humour and perspective gradually leavened a situation that had been “immovable and full of sorrow”. Clark had to laugh when prison guards sent her to Walmart to buy looser clothes (“Mind you, I wasn’t going dressed to the nines!”), or when other visitors asked her to autograph crumpled receipts. She has a nuanced take on her father’s conviction. “One takeaway could be: don’t go against the government, or don’t be the last person holding the bag. There’s a lot of layers to it”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: LeAnn Mueller for Rolling Stone

Pay Your Way in Pain begins with jaunty and skipping piano that has a sort of Beatles quality (maybe it could have been on their eponymous album of 1968). One thinks that the song is going in one direction but, with a brief vocal in the intro (“Ow)/Oh-oh-oh”), the song shifts. The chorus finds St. Vincent singing “You got to pay your way in pain/You got to pray your way in shame (Yeah, ow)”. We get layered vocals and a tempered, fairly measured delivery. I do like the vocals, as there is this eerie backing/choral effect. St. Vincent sounds incredible in the chorus, where we get this affecting and intriguing delivery that makes you curious from the off. There is a grooviness and sexiness to the pace and sound of the first verse. Everything St. Vincent puts out is pretty cool, though I was especially struck by her sound and delivery on the verse. The backing vocals punctuate the lines, and I like how there is this constant interjection and echo that heightens the lyrics and gives Pay Your Way in Pain drama, emotion, power and a slight darkness. The opening verse gets one thinking: “I went to the store, I was feelin' kinda hungry/But I didn't have the money and the shelves were all empty/So I went to the bank to ch-ch-ch-check my checking/The man looked at my face, said, "We don't have a record"/Oh no, you thought we had forgotten?/The show is only gettin' started/The road is feelin' like a pothole/Sit down, stand up, head down, hands up, and…”. The idea of the shelves being empty and the bank account being bare makes me think of the pandemic and how things are hard – maybe the heroine is struggling in these times. I also thought they could be metaphors for different emotions; perhaps something else. I have listened to the song a lot and, whilst I visualise that verse each time I hear the track, my interpretation changes.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Phillip Montgomery

Leaving the last line hanging, we then move into the chorus – “Pay your way in pain/You got to pray your way in shame (Uh-huh)” – that has this addictive punch and sense of breathing in and breathing out. The video is kind of trippy and blurry where St. Vincent is in a green jacket and a blonde wig. It is very ‘70s in its style, and I think really love how the videos fits with the song and gives it this class and incredible look (Bill Benz directed the video; Avigail Collins was responsible for styling). The bridge comes in and, as we move the story forward, the vocal changes. There is St. Vincent asking questions and a backing/response vocal being quite high-pitched and rapid: “Do you not remember me? (What do you want? What do you want?)/Do you know what I want? (What do you want? What do you want?)/You know what I want (What do you want? What do you want?)/Keep the rest, baby, ah, ah/I wanna be loved/Pay, pain/Pray, shame”. On the word ‘loved’, St. Vincent’s voice holds and reaches this emotional and emphatic crescendo. It is a wonderful moment that then dives into this brief chorus return. I love how the song changes pace and direction as we move through. It creates this nuance so that the listener keeps coming back. Whereas the opening verse was St. Vincent/the heroine going to the store and coming away empty-handed, the second verse creates more alienation and drama: “So I went to the park just to watch the little children/The mothers saw my heels and they said I wasn't welcome/So I, I went back home, I was feelin' kinda queasy/But all the locks were changed, my baby wouldn't see me/Oh no, you've put your finger on it/The stove is only gettin' hotter/The sun, it's gotta, gotta melt it/Stand up, sit down, hands up, break down”. I wonder whether there will be a short film about Daddy’s Home because, whilst the video for Pay Your Way in Pain is great, it would be interested to see the verses acted out and the scenes being visualised! It seems like Daddy’s Home has this conceptual arc…so I wonder whether St. Vincent is going to do some visuals/shorts around the tracks. There is some awesome woozy guitar before the final verse. I really like the composition throughout. We have some squelchy and spacey synths with a nice beat and these echoed/ghostly vocals – in fact, the range of vocal sounds is one of the highlights of Pay Your Way in Pain. Just as before, there is a dramatic vocal hold at a crucial moment (“I wanna be loved”). The song seems to be St. Vincent being castigated and looking for acceptance and love. The fact her voice rises and howls when she mentions wanting to be loved is certainly moving - and it seems to be the mission statement of the song. A tremendous first single from Daddy’s Home, Pay Your Way in Pain is a wonderfully rich, fascinating and stunning song – just what you’d expect from a pioneer and true original like St. Vincent!

I am going to close this review up very soon. There are a couple of other things I want to look at before doing so. I am not sure what themes are going to be covered through Daddy’s Home, but there is one song that was highlighted by The Guardian in the interview I sourced from earlier. It seems that My Baby Wants a Baby provides one of the funniest and most arresting moments om the album:

“The funniest song on Daddy’s Home outlines Clark’s commitment to her cause: My Baby Wants a Baby starts with Clark seemingly playing a pouty 60s rocker (her “baybee” is very Jagger), annoyed because his girl wants to pin him down. Then her own fears break through: she predicts her prospective failures as a parent, when all she wants is to “play guitar all day / Make all my meals in microwaves / Only get dressed up when I get paid” – conscious, too, of how art made by women is judged by their mothering capacities, or lack thereof. “I couldn’t leave like my daddy,” she sings.

The song is “the most base, dirtbaggy version of my life”, she says. She can’t cook. After answering the door for a delivery, she returns with a utilitarian vat of salad that you suspect is always on hand to minimise time away from the studio. “If left to my own devices, I would just make a lot of music and barely survive.” She does not live with her girlfriend – “I’m a real Frida Kahlo/Diego Rivera kinda person: you have to have your own space to be able to work” – but she says they have had the kids chat. Clark demurs on the details, then does her best Texas accent. “Daddy’s home,” she shrugs, at once camp and sharp”.

I will finish by quoting from an article from Rolling Stone. We sort of learn that Daddy’s Home is St. Vincent coming full circle. There is this connection between 2011’s Strange Mercy (her third studio album) and Daddy’s Home:

“If her 2011 breakthrough, Strange Mercy, reflected the “pain and ambivalence” of her father’s arrest, as she writes in a comic that accompanies the new album, then Daddy’s Home is about coming full circle. Zooming in to chat about the record, Clark has ditched the super-streamlined aesthetic that accompanied the sleek pop of 2017’s Masseduction, instead opting for a head scarf and Seventies-style tinted glasses.

“I think that with my last record, I had gone as far as I could in a certain way with fly-out-of-the-speakers-and-grab-you-by-the-throat kinds of sounds,” she says. Daddy’s Home feels more human and lived-in, with echoes of Bowie, Sly Stone, and other Seventies artists. That era, she says, was “post-flower-child idealism, but it’s pre-disco. It’s this period of time that I feel like is analogous to where we are now. We’re in the grimy, sleazy, trying-to-figure-out-where-we-go-from-here period.”

The record careens from Prince-esque stompers like album opener “Pay Your Way in Pain” to the title track, which brims with bluesy jazz — especially with the addition of backup singers Lynne Fiddmont and Kenya Hathaway (daughter of late R&B legend Donny Hathaway), who croon on the chorus. “I’ve never done a record where I wasn’t singing my own backups,” Clark says. “I feel like there’s a specific meaning behind that, if you were the only one doubling your own voice or harmonizing. This record is way looser, way more about just performance”.

I am looking forward to Daddy’s Home, as St. Vincent’s work is always so wonderful and memorable. Pay Your Way in Pain is an incredible introduction. Many people will be wondering which song will be released next as a single. Having barely dropped a step (or created a weak moment in her career), the inimitable St. Vincent keeps evolving and moving forward. An Instagram video St. Vincent put out with the album announcement saw her in a Candy Darling (she was an American actress, best known as a Warhol Superstar and transgender icon) wig. She was creating this Andy Warhol/1970s vibe. I wonder whether St. Vincent will play this alter ego through the album or she is going to embody Candy Darling through the songs. Daddy’s Home’s final track is called Candy Darling, so it does seem that there might be an arc/concept. Judging on what we have learned and heard on Pay Your Way in Pain, it appears that Daddy’s Home is shaping up to be…

ANOTHER sensational album!

___________

Follow St. Vincent

PHOTO CREDIT: Pamela Neal 

Official:

https://ilovestvincent.com/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/st_vincent

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/St.Vincent/

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St. Vincent

TRACK REVIEW: Wolf Alice - The Last Man on Earth

TRACK REVIEW:

 

 

Wolf Alice

The Last Man on Earth

10/10

The track, The Last Man on Earth, is available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzH6toY_EPw

GENRES:

Alternative Rock/Indie Rock

ORIGIN:

London, U.K.

RELEASE DATE:

24th February, 2021

PRODUCER:

Markus Dravs

The album, Blue Weekend, is available to pre-order via:

https://wolfalice.co.uk/#blue-weekend

RELEASE DATE:

11th June, 2021

LABELS:

Dirty Hit/RCA

TRACKLIST:

The Beach

Delicious Things

Lipstick on the Glass

Smile

Safe from Heartbreak (if you never fall in love)

How Can Make It OK?

Play the Greatest Hits

Feeling Myself

The Last Man on Earth

No Hard Feelings

The Beach II

__________

EVEN though the song has been out…

for four days now, I was very keen to review Wolf Alice and their new single, The Last Man on Earth. It seems to be the way with artists that, if they release a track after a while, then it is a ‘return’ – even if they have been around and not really gone anywhere! In any case, it is good to have new material from Wolf Alice. They will bring out their third studio album, Blue Weekend, on 11th June. I am going to work my way to their new single, as it is quite different to anything they have put out before. Just before I get to my first point, here is some background information about one of the country’s finest bands:

“Wolf Alice are a British alternative rock band from London. Formed in 2010 as an acoustic duo comprising singer Ellie Rowsell and guitarist Joff Oddie, since 2012 Wolf Alice have also featured bassist Theo Ellis and drummer Joel Amey.

Wolf Alice released their debut single "Fluffy" in February 2013, and followed it with "Bros" in May. They released their debut EP Blush in October, and its follow-up Creature Songs in May 2014. In February 2015 the band released the lead single "Giant Peach" from their debut album My Love Is Cool, which was released in June 2015. It includes their 2014 single "Moaning Lisa Smile", which peaked at number nine on US Billboard's Alternative Songs chart in August 2015, and was nominated for the 2016 Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance.

The band released their second studio album Visions of a Life in September 2017. It debuted at number two on the UK Albums Chart, and received universal acclaim from music critics. Ranked as one of the best albums of the year by multiple publications, the album won the 2018 Mercury Prize”.

Even though people are very interested in the here and now and what is coming up for Wolf Alice, I thought it would be interesting discovering where the band came from and how they started out. I did not realise that Wolf Alice have gone through some changes before the line-up they have today. I loved their debut, My Love Is Cool (2015), so I wanted to know more about those earlier years. In an interview with Stereogum, we discover a bit more about the line-up changes and how they created quite a buzz early on:

“Over the last five years, the British quartet Wolf Alice have built up the kind of career arc that feels like the beginnings of a storied career. After a couple initial iterations, the group cohered into a lineup consisting of frontwoman Ellie Rowsell, guitarist Joff Oddie, bassist Theo Ellis, and drummer Joel Amey before launching properly with a duo of EPs and a 2015 debut that created a wildfire of buzz around the band in their native UK. That debut, My Love Is Cool, delivered on the hype: Nominated for prestigious awards like the Mercury and Ivor Novello and earning glowing reviews, Wolf Alice beat the capricious cycle common in the internet era (and infamously somewhat more common with British outlets). Sometimes an artist is built up to be torn down soon after. But Wolf Alice convinced a whole lot of people that they were the real deal, and their ascent thus far has been unwavering”.

I think there will be a documentary or a book about Wolf Alice in the future and, as a fan, I like to know how they started and why they decided to get into music. In another interview with The Guardian, we find out about those very early days and how Wolf Alice evolved from the very beginning to the excitement their singles and debut album caused:

“In fact, the band’s reach goes beyond the headbanging teenagers of the front five rows. Over the past few years, Wolf Alice have established a sizeable fanbase thanks to a near-constant stream of singles and EP releases, in which softly-spoken melodies erupt into a clamour of hammering percussion, crashing guitars and siren-like riffs. Their loud/quiet tendencies have earned them a reputation as grunge revivalists, but a truer explanation of their sound is provided by the band’s video for early single Fluffy. In it, Rowsell and guitarist Joff Oddie play a naive folky duo, who upload a breathy acoustic number dedicated to their cat on to the internet. It’s witnessed by soon-to-be bandmates Amey and Ellis, who are doing rebellious things like lighting matches and drinking milk straight from the bottle. The four join forces, everyone goes electric, and it all ends with Rowsell ceremonially smashing up a computer with a hammer.

PHOTO CREDIT: Jenn Five 

And that is kind of what happened in reality. Rowsell and Oddie met in 2010, when she “wanted to try playing live but I didn’t really have the confidence to do it on my own”. She continues: “I didn’t have any friends who were in bands or even many who were into indie music.” (“Her group of friends all just went to [London dub club night] Reggae Roast,” adds Ellis, pointedly.) So Rowsell and her dad, eager to help out, started scouring internet forums where musicians showcase their skills to potential bandmates. There they found a video of Oddie playing guitar. He was at teacher-training college in south-west London, and apparently just as far from the nearest likeminded person. He admits he used to be embarrassed to have met Rowsell via the musical equivalent of a lonely hearts ad, “but so many bands back in the day put an advert in the NME,” he says.

There’s a sense of progression, which is odd for a debut album, but Wolf Alice have done their growing up in public. Not for them the snapping up and cloistering away by a record company before establishing their sound: they’ve been plugging away on the live circuit and releasing singles independently for about as long as you can get away with these days if you’re as talented as they are.

In fact, it was only last year, when the group signed an actual record deal, that things picked up enough for them to give up their day jobs. Oddie had been working as a supply teacher, Rowsell in a denim repair shop, while Ellis spent what sounds like a very confused stint working as a “mannequin”, which I eventually establish means he worked as an in-house model for a designer. “But obviously no one’s taking pictures of my face because I’m not good-looking enough,” he sighs. “It’s like modelling for the radio. It was mad demoralising.” “Secret modelling!” pile in his bandmates. “You can’t go outside!”

My Love Is Cool was a remarkable debut album. I think that Wolf Alice made leaps when it came to 2017’s follow-up, Visions of a Life. I want to source from an interview from The Independent from 2016. It is intriguing, because we get to know more about the band’s attitude to attention - Ellie Rowsell especially -, and how they reacted to losing out on the Mercury Prize for their debut album (that would be rectified soon enough when Vision of a Life won in 2018):

“Ellie Rowsell is in an interesting position right now, one common to any singer in a band in which the spotlight falls almost exclusively on the person upfront. Wolf Alice are a quartet – Joff Oddie on guitar, Theo Ellis on bass, Joel Amey on drums - but it is singer/guitarist Rowsell that receives the lion’s share of attention. Consequently, it is only she who turns up for our interview today in a deserted North London pub. She is willowy and waif-like, dressed in a pair of bright blue Levi’s and tiny white T-shirt, her eyes a luminous shade of brown Farrow & Ball would likely call honeycomb. She is sufficiently shy that eye contact is indulged in only when it cannot be avoided, and she spends most of the hour we are together working new grooves into the pub table with her thumbnail. Whenever she becomes particularly uncomfortable, she pulls at the gold necklace around her neck until it leaves red marks on her skin.

Two years ago, she was still holding down a day job in a denim repair shop, music something she played cautiously on the side. The band formed at the end of 2012, and quickly amassed a growing - and largely teenage - fanbase long before any record company was smart enough to sign them. Their album came out last summer, and entered the charts at number two. It was later nominated for a Mercury Prize. They didn’t win, but that’s okay, Rowsell insists. Like much else in her world right now, things like award nominations only make her feel awkward”.

I am curious to see how the band have shifted since Vision of a Life and what they will offer up for Blue Weekend. Even if you are successful and lauded, all artists change and undergo some form of progression. Wolf Alice will not rest of their laurels and repeat what they did on Visions of a Life. It is true that they changed their sound between My Love Is Cool in 2015 and Vision of a Life a couple of years later. We discover more about this transformation in a 2017 interview from FADER:

“In the time between albums, the band have not only become bolder as musicians, but actively used their platforms as public figures to highlight causes they care about. Together with bassist Theo Ellis, Rowsell arranged Bands 4 Refugees, a charity gig in 2016 featuring British indie bands including Swim Deep and Spector covering pop songs. This year, she also recorded a promotional video for the Labour Party, encouraging young people to register to vote in the U.K.’s snap general election, and performed at a protest against the current government on July 1. While having a breather and a beer upstairs at east London’s Fortress Studios, where the band were rehearsing their new material on a sweltering day in June, Rowsell spoke to The FADER about how she’s gradually grown into the roles of both rockstar and activist”.

I think that Wolf Alice’s success can be attributed to the fact that they are very close and are very much on the same page. I also think that having Ellie Rowsell at the front is a big factor! Not to put too much emphasis on her (at the detriment of the rest of the band), but I feel she is a phenomenal lead. I want to bring in another part of that interview from The Independent, as they spend some time providing background about Rowsell and how, even in 2016, her gender was being focused on too heavily:

“She was born and bred in north London, and attended the Camden School for Girls where, she says, “I felt guilty for not liking subjects like science.” Her parents - father a painter and decorator, mother an assistant nurse at a sexual health clinic – encouraged her to join after-school clubs in the hope that something might pique her interest. “I liked the music one,” she says. Then, at the age of 14, a friend introduced her to alternative rock. It was at this point she started to write her own songs, which tended towards the plaintive and acoustic, but by the time she discovered Nirvana and The Pixies, her songwriting had become distinctly more gutsy”.

It is perhaps symptomatic of the world in which we live that Rowsell’s gender is so often the focus in interviews with her, that by being a woman in rock – even in 2016 – she remains something of an anomaly. But the fact is, she is. At Glastonbury this weekend, appearing alongside Adele and Ellie Goulding, her only true female peer will be PJ Harvey.

“I often wonder why girls who do get into music tend to be just singers, or else play the piano,” she says. “And if they do pull on a guitar, why is it more likely to be the bass? Why not lead?”.

Not to do a complete history of Wolf Alice from start to now, but I need to spend some time with Visions of a Life before I come to their latest track. That album was rightfully celebrated; a stunning release from a band who kept on growing stronger and stronger. In the Stereogum interview, Ellie Rowsell and Joel Amey discussed sonic and emotional changes between My Love Is Cool and Visions of a Life.

“STEREOGUM: When Visions Of A Life was coming out, there was some talk of it being a darker album, whether it was getting older and running into some heavy topics, or being on the road and kind of coming in and out of people’s lives, that weird isolation that can also come with being on tour. So now that you took all those experiences and compressed it into an album, then put it out into the world to good reception, are those anxieties and existential questions resolved at all? Or is it weird to revisit it on tour once more, singing the songs every night?

ROWSELL: I do believe I have a better understanding of those anxieties for sure. I guess they haven’t gone away.

AMEY: I always live through Ellie’s lyrics onstage as well. There’s an element of every performance you do, you go into the zone of that song. Maybe it has been resolved in the outside world. But onstage that’s the moment, that’s the thing you’re in, and you have to get back into that zone”.

STEREOGUM: There’s a lot of small stylistic modulation across Visions Of A Life, little touches of heavier, grungier things and then almost dream-pop. Does that come from individual members writing to their own interests? Or all of you experimenting together?

AMEY: I guess a bit of both. We do all come from very different backgrounds and tastes. There are certain things maybe two of us appreciate and two of us can’t stand. After this bit of touring I’m excited to go back into music and ingest as much as I can. Pop or metal, whatever … from that you do take on these little touch points and when you’re playing with a guitar or keyboard, then you pull it all together and those things come together as one. You see the different bits that compliment each other.

PHOTO CREDIT: Helen Boast 

I want to take things away from albums as a whole and home in on Wolf Alice and their attachment to politics. It can be risky for some artists to discuss politics, as they feel it would divide fans and cause upset. For Wolf Alice, it is very important to explore politics and address injustices. Going back to that interview with FADER from 2017…they were asked about how they found America and coped with the unrest there:

“You recorded Visions of a Life in America. What was it like living there and seeing the political situation?

It was really weird. We were there for such a long time. Los Angeles is very different to the rest of America. It’s liberal there, and all the people I met hate Trump, so it’s not like being in the middle of America. But it was kind of inspiring: the day we got there was the day of the massive Women’s March, and then the following [week] was the big [Muslim ban] protest outside LAX, when people were being kept in detention in the airports. It was horrible, but it was a good atmosphere in the sense that [it] felt like people wanted change there. It wasn’t like we succumbed to this shit deal that we’d all got. We came home [to the U.K.] and it was kind of the same feeling. So, we’re not alone: we’ve got some shit deals, but I don’t think people are standing for it.

The U.K election recently showed a surge in support for Labour. Lots of young people voted, inspired by musicians like you rallying around Jeremy Corbyn. Do you think it’s important for artists to be political today?

Yeah, I really do. I always have thought this, but I didn’t think it was necessary; I thought it was really cool if you did. You do have to have a certain level of confidence that you know what you’re talking about. But you’re never going to know everything. I don’t know the ins and outs of economics, but I’m pretty sure I know it’s clear that [the choice between Conservatives and Labour] is between justice and injustice in some cases. If you’re embarrassed about what you don’t know — it’s too urgent at the moment to stay embarrassed.

With distrust of the media, which is absolutely valid, it’s more important than ever [to speak up]...I look towards Akala and Lily Allen, that’s what my media source is now. When something happens, I go and see what Akala says about it. If anyone else does that, and you are that person’s Akala, then you should absolutely be clued up on what’s going on as much as you can be. Just start now. It’s better late than never”.

To stay on the political theme, I think we may see a lot of political commentary on the forthcoming Blue Weekend – what with everything that has happened in the world lately, it would be hard to avoid it. I admire the fact Wolf Alice tackle politics through their music and interviews. When they spoke with NME, we discover why Wolf Alice are not only interested in political developments in this country:

“In the last couple of years, Wolf Alice have become increasingly vocal about their political beliefs. Before last year’s general election, Ellie appeared in a video encouraging people to vote for Labour, while the band have appeared at rallies for the party and performed at a march protesting the Tories alignment with the DUP. Despite the context of the latter, their involvement has always felt quite hopeful, if urgent. Now, with Britain’s impending exit from the EU looming and the whole thing a mess, that optimism has waned.

“I think it’s an impossible position for literally everyone,” says Joff, stirring from the corner of the room where he’s stayed mostly quiet until now. “Labour need to be so careful cos if they come out and go, ‘No, we need a second referendum’, they’re gonna lose all the traditional Labour seats – a lot of their seats are in largely regional areas where a lot of the voters were leavers. So you’re telling those people they were wrong and that’s like a betrayal of them. I don’t think there’s a best case scenario.”

The band might have publicly supported Jeremy Corbyn in the past but they don’t want to be mistaken for fanatical champions of his. “I’m behind the Labour Party,” Joff says, making the distinction between leader and the collective he represents. “I don’t believe in everything Corbyn does. They’ve got a great manifesto. We responded to that. If we focus too much on political leaders we’re gonna get Boris Johnson in.”

The band aren’t just interested in political situations close to home. They had already decided a few years ago to not play in Israel while the conflict between it and Palestine was ongoing but had never spoken about it outside of the group before. Then, scores of people were killed in one day. “It felt like it was becoming so hopeless and so ridiculous,” explains Joff. “People in the media weren’t talking about it – not that we made a huge dent but if 100 people or 50 people looked at the Facebook post and it made them have a look [into the situation] then that was the right thing to do.”

The group have faced some backlash for being vocal about the conflict, but have found a section of people wanting to engage in debate rather than just bash them for not staying in their lane. It’s something they’ve welcomed, as Theo explains: “To say you’re completely rounded and know everything about a subject isn’t right so it’s always interesting to have your mind broadened by interesting countering opinions. That’s a good aspect of social media – maybe you’ll go back and think about it and consider things you hadn’t thought of before”.

There are a few things I want to tick off before reviewing The Last Man on Earth. I have quoted from an interview where Wolf Alice seemed a bit uneasy about award recognition and being thrust into the spotlight. That was unavoidable in 2018 when they won the Mercury Prize. I will mention that in a bit but, also in 2018, they were nominated at the BRIT Awards. Ellie Rowsell spoke with The Standard and observed how it was strange that the band were being seen as older/established after such a short time:

“That step-up in their UK fortunes is one reason Wolf Alice are this year nominated in the Brits’ British Group category. They’re duking it out with Gorillaz, London Grammar, Royal Blood and The xx. It’s an all-London bout, if we claim Royal Blood’s Brighton base as the capital-on-sea and ignore for a second what Ellis describes as Gorillaz’s “700 members” and focus on east London-born, Notting Hill-domiciled leader Damon Albarn.

“I find this year’s Brits weirder than the first time round,” admits Rowsell. A commanding, whirling, vocally stunning presence onstage, she’s nervy off it (in interviews, at least). So much so that she occasionally stutters between syllables. “When it was about being that breakthrough act and finding your feet and the buzz about you as a new band…” she tails off.

“To think we’re now in a position where we’re perceived as one of the older, established bands,” chips in Ellis, who’s accompanying her on interview duties (guitarist Joff Oddie and drummer Joel Amey are hiding in their dressing room). “I mean, Gorillaz! I bought their first album and wrote the lyrics out”.

I have two more points to address before the song review itself. Some artists fade after a Mercury Prize win, whereas others gain strength and focus. It can be quite daunting. Now Wolf Alice Are not underground and have a certain amount of expectation on their shoulders, it will be interesting seeing what they produce on Blue Weekend – will they get three Mercury Prize nominations in a row?! Circling back to the NME interview, and Wolf Alice reflected on their Mercury Prize win:

“Have you noticed any impact on the band or anything changing since you won the Mercury?

Theo: “The immediate sensation on social media and the fact you’re on the actual news the next day is quite overwhelming. Obviously, it was so unbelievable for starters cos it was so bonkers and surreal. Then there’s the next day when you’re a bit like, ‘Oh my god’ and we also had to fly to Australia. In terms of effects on our career, it came late to us with this album. We’ll probably notice it more [on the next album]. I had a lot of texts from people I didn’t expect.”
Ellie: “That was the most texts I’ve ever gotten.”
Theo: “Yeah, same. So it’s worth it to get the most texts you’ve ever gotten. I just felt really popular.”

What was the moment when your name was announced like?

Ellie: “When things that are unbelievable happen to you, it’s almost like it doesn’t count cos it doesn’t feel real.”

Theo: “I’d just drunk so much by the time it happened. That annoyed me. I was like, ‘Fuck, I’m not digesting this properly!’ But when something’s so intense emotionally you go into auto-pilot, don’t you? Just chat shit. That’s what I did”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

Maybe a little off-topic, but I want to end this section by mentioning a band who are important To Wolf Alice. Not only do they cite Muse as an influence, but the U.S. giants, Queens of the Stone Age, are big to them. Once more to the NME interview, where we learn why Queens of the Stone Age are a key influence:

“QOTSA were an important band for all four members of Wolf Alice, but especially for Theo, who has the two-pronged fork from the cover of ‘Songs For The Deaf’ inked on his arm. While on tour with his heroes, he spoke to Josh about the tattoo, who “said something really cool” that Theo can no longer remember because he was “fucked off my face”, presumably on that aforementioned tequila. One thing he can remember – letting off “a sword-based firework in the presence of Josh Homme,” which means the bassist “could die now.” “It was called Excalibur and it was sick,” he informs us.

Wolf Alice might have a reputation for being able to party but they pale in comparison to veterans like Queens. They first met Josh at the first tour date in Austin, where he greeted them with shots. The band would party inside Wolf Al’s dressing room often, “inside their own party world.” “They can drink more tequila than anyone ever, I reckon,” Theo assesses as the rest of the band marvel at their ability to then go and outplay everyone too.

“They’re superhuman,” Joel notes. Ellie, curled up across the room, has another view: “Or we’re just massive pussies…”.

Before The Last Man on Earth dropped to the ground this week, the band’s last single was 2018’s Space & Time (that was the final release from Visions of a Life). We know what the tracklist is for Blue Weekend. It makes for interesting reading. It is hard to glean what the songs will focus on and whether there is a more political or personal bent. The arrival of a new track is very exciting indeed! Pitchfork were among many who delivered the news this week:

“Wolf Alice have announced a new album, sharing a single along with it. “Last Man on Earth” is the first offering from the band’s next record, Blue Weekend, which arrives on June 11 (via Dirty Hit/RCA). Watch a video for “Last Man on Earth” directed by Jordan Hemingway below.

Lead singer Ellie Rowsell shared a brief statement about “Last Man on Earth”:

It’s about the arrogance of humans. I’d just read Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle and I had written the line “Peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from god” in my notes. But then I thought: “Uh, your peculiar travel suggestion isn’t a dancing lesson from god, it’s just a travel suggestion! Why does everything need to mean something more?”.

Compared to some of the harder and fiercer sounds we heard on Visions of a Life, The Last Man on Earth begins as a very soft and beautiful track. It opens with tender piano notes. I think Ellie Rowsell has a remarkably dexterous voice and she can convey so many different emotions! On the delicate and breathy The Last Man on Earth, she provides one of her most affecting and impressive performances. The first verse definitely got me thinking: “Who were you to ask for anything more?/Do you wait for your dancing lessons to be sent from God?/You'd like his light to shine on you/You've really missed a trick when it comes to love/Always seeking what you don't have, like what you do ain't enough/You'd like a light to shine on you”. We get some lighter, trickling piano notes that entwine around the darker and heavier tones. I love how Rowsell whispers “You'd like his light to shine on you”. The lyrics are phenomenal. One cannot help but to be struck by the vocal and picture what is being sung. Like I say with many songs, I am not sure whether this is based on a real relationship and something that is happening in Rowsell’s life. The imagery is beautiful and fascinating; the vocal is arresting and gorgeous.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Theo Ellis

There is a change in vocal tone in the chorus. Whereas the first verse was breathy - and we could hear Rowsell’s smokier side -, there is a sweeter and bigger vocal for the chorus. It is like a shift in temperature and weather to something lighter and brighter. I do like how there is the evolution between lines - and it provides The Last Man on Earth with so much nuance and appeal. The chorus is another beautiful example of Wolf Alice’s writing: “And every book you take/And you dust off from the shelf/Has lines between lines between lines/That you read about yourself/But does a light shine on you?/And when your friends are talking/You hardly hear a word/You were the first person herе/And the last man on the Earth/But does a light shinе on you?”. Rowsell’s voice is tracked so that we get this choral effect and ethereal aspect. It is a shivering and spine-tingling sound that sweeps you up. In the chorus, we get some philosophy and theology in addition to obliqueness and images of dusty books being plucked from shelves. If one was looking for something raw and direct on this ‘return’ from Wolf Alice then they might be disappointed at this juncture. You only need to listen to the song for a few seconds to hear how stunning it is and, like we have already seen from Wolf Alice, this is just another evolution. There is a nice quiet-loud dynamic in the verse which sees Rowsell raise her voice for “And when your friends are talking/You hardly hear a word”; she then whispers the next couple of lines. The comparative lack of the remainder of the band on this song does not signal how the rest of Blue Weekend will sound – sort of like Paul McCartney being the only Beatle on Yesterday! It is a beautiful song that puts Rowsell at the front without too much musical intrusion. The piano is the perfect accompaniment. I think that any other layers up to this moment would taint the impact and grace of the words. It is amazing thinking how many sides and tones Rowsell can produce! I think she provides one of the finest vocal performances of the band’s career on The Last Man on Earth.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Jordan Hemingway

Rowsell asks for humility and reason when she delivers these lines: “Who are you to ask for anything else?/The thing you should be asking is for help/You'd like a light to shine on you”. I sort of mislead people when I inferred that The Last Man on Earth is just Rowsell in the mix. Just when you think you have the song figured, we get this immediate and passionate change from the line, “The thing you should be asking is for help”. There is a nice echoing vocal and percussion which gives the track additional weight, heat and passion! The band are fully in the mix and, with the vocals chorusing and providing this heavenly sound and huge sense of wonder, you are caught off guard and moved! It is an unexpected moment and one that is absolutely staggering. The bridge of “Let it shine on you/Let it shine on you” is almost gospel-like in its power and meaning! I was wondering about the religious imagery and mentions through the songs. Maybe this person feels they are God-like or beyond reproach. I got the impression that, early on, Rowsell was judging someone or taking them to task. Now, it is almost like she is offering a prayer or summoning light from the heavens. I have gone back through the song a few times and I love how it changes in such a big way! After the rapturous and almost biblical parting of the waves, the song changes course once more. There is a liquid and funkier passage before the final verse. From the opening phases which then lead to this gospel sound, we get a transition of Funk that then leads to something more in the way of an Alternative Rock flavour to the end.

The band keep things quite intense and emotive to the end. Once more, the lyrics are amazing: “A penny for your truth/But I hedge my bets on wealth/'Cause it's lies after lies after lies/But do you even fool yourself/And then the light shines on you/And when your friends are talking/You hardly hear a word/You were the first person here/And the last man on the Earth/But the light”. After the rush of the storm and the wild wind, The Last Man on Earth finishes with that memorable and beautiful piano. I have not even mentioned the video for the track. It is a black-and-white video where we see Ellie Rowsell in this gothic setting. We get fast cuts and flashes (close-ups on her eyes) together with images of her layered on top of one another. It is dreamy and filmic, but there is also a slightly trippy element. I have not seen another Wolf Alice video like it! When we hear the crescendo, Roswell is backed by candles and fire raging in the background. Directed by Jordan Hemingway, it is a credit that the video is almost as memorable and phenomenal as the song. If Blue Weekend contains songs even half as good as The Last Man on Earth, then it is going to be another sensational, award-winning release from Wolf Alice! Even though it is still February, I think that The Last Man on Earth is my favourite track of the year – one that is not going to be beaten anytime soon!

 PHOTO CREDIT: Giles Smith

I will wrap things up soon. First, I want to nod back to the 2018 Stereogum interview from earlier. The band were asked about a third album and expectations. Now that a third album has been announced, it makes for fascinating reading;

“STEREOGUM: I don’t want to give you too much anxiety by bringing up the third album, but now having gotten past this stereotypical sophomore narrative thing, beating the potentially destructive hype cycles, do you have a sense of where you want to take Wolf Alice next? Are you having ideas on the road the same as you did before?

ROWSELL: I’m always torn, because I like performing and touring heavy guitar-based music. And yet I find myself at home often just listening to pop music. Which is probably why we’re too pop for rock and too rock for pop. I never know which one’s going to pull me farthest in one direction”.

I am sure that we will see at least another couple of singles from Blue Weekend before the album comes out on 11th June. There has been so much positive reception to The Last Man on Earth. Although the song is not a radical departure from the London band, it is quite different from anything on Visions of a Life. I wouldn’t bank against Blue Weekend earning Wolf Alice their third Mercury Prize nomination in as many albums. That might not be the most important thing to them, though it goes to show the quality that has been there from the very start! The Last Man of Earth is a stunning first single release; a great example of what we might get from Blue Weekend. One of our very finest bands continue to blow people away and produce music of the highest order! I feel they will be able to deliver some tour dates later in the year and showcase new material. It will give them a chance to air their album on the stage and prove why they are one of the best live bands around. Before that comes the hotly-anticipated Blue Weekend. It is an album that I…

 CAN’T wait to hear it!

___________

Follow Wolf Alice

PHOTO CREDIT: Laura Allard-Fleischl 

Official:

https://wolfalice.co.uk/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/wolfalicemusic

Facebook:

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https://www.instagram.com/wolfaliceband/

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https://open.spotify.com/artist/3btzEQD6sugImIHPMRgkwV?si=vEZm48xdRhqyLXy0zUns6Q

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Wolf Alice

TRACK REVIEW: Ghetts - Fine Wine

TRACK REVIEW:

 

 

Ghetts

Fine Wine

9.7/10

The track, Fine Wine, is available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ujccvlvrdU

GENRES:

Hip-Hop/Grime/Rap

ORIGIN:

London, U.K.

The album, Conflict of Interest, is available via:

https://open.spotify.com/album/4GJnb2XwVlS2HrVsBa9fI4?si=9WPeQQ7iRfCdswXfHRZKWA

RELEASE DATE:

19th February, 2021

LABEL:

Warner Records UK

TRACKLISTING:

Fine Wine

Mozambique (ft. Jaykae & Moonchild Sanelly)

Fire and Brimstone

Hop Out

IC3 (ft. Skepta)

Autobiography

Good Hearts (ft. Aida Lae)

Dead to Me

10,000 Tears (ft. Ed Sheeran)

Sonya (ft. Emeli Sandé)

Proud Family

Skengman (ft. Stormzy)

No Mercy (ft. BackRoad Gee & Pa Salieu)

Crud (ft. Giggs)

Squeeze (ft. Miraa May)

Little Bo Peep (ft. Dave, Hamzaa & Wretch 32)

__________

ALTHOUGH this year is still pretty fresh…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Adama Jalloh

there have been some albums released that could challenge for the best of 2021 already. I think that Ghetts’ Conflict of Interest is one such album. Released on 19th February, it is a fantastic album! I will come to Conflict of Interest and a song that I wish to review. Before then, I thought it would be wise to expose some story and background regarding the London Grime artist. I will discuss Ghetts’ previous album, 2018’s Ghetto Gospel: The New Testament, in a bit too as I feel that gives us some runup to Conflict of Interest and how he has progressed as an artist. As we learn from a NOTION interview Ghetts conducted at the end of last year, he was defined and readily labelled early in his career:

“Paving a lane for many of the new generation emcees, the Newham native, over the years, has excelled above and beyond the Grime barriers he was once boxed into, and proved his versatility like no other. Delivering a slew of impressive projects, all whilst maintaining his indisputable quality, Ghetts is no stranger to tackling an assortment of politically and socially charged topics and in turn has become a powerful testament to British Rap.

Stepping onto the scene back in the early 2000’s when Grime rose to prominence, Ghetts went from being a part of grime collective The Movement, to becoming an artist in his own right. In boasting his dexterous approach, projects like ‘Ghetto Gospel’, ‘Rebel with A Cause’ and the 2018 release of ‘Ghetto Gospel: The New Testament’, have only certified his position and trajectory in the game. Collaborating with the likes of Kano, Chip, Wretch 32, Giggs, Youngs Teflon, Devlin and Skepta to name a few, Ghetts has harvested a legendary status that will go down in the history books. Posing as an inspirational figure to many across the world, the heavy-weight emcee hopes to inspire the masses through pushing artistic boundaries and amplifying his timeless sound”.

It may seem rather random, but I want to mention the moment I discovered Ghetts’ music. The debut album, Rebel with a Cause (2014), is quite different to subsequent releases. I love the fact that there was this shift and change from his earlier work. Not wanting to be limited, I feel this sort of musical curiosity can be seen on Conflict of Interest. In a Gig Slutz interview, that album is discussed further:

“MT: On Rebel With A Cause, the instrumentation that you used wasn’t as traditionally ‘grime’ as your music has been in the past and there were a lot more guitars etc.

Ghetts: I wanted to learn and I’ve got this hunger to learn. I feel like although we love the traditional sound of grime, the reason why grime has never really evolved is because we’ve been scared of the evolution and we haven’t embraced what it might sound like if someone adds a real instrument. With grime being one of the youngest genres in the world, how do we know what it sounds like? Imagine if hip hop just stayed how it started. We’re lazy when it comes to grime and we think it’s ok to do what we were doing ten years ago. Although I get the nostalgia tunes, I go to Rapid’s and say “Raps, you see what trumpets you’re using, can I get real trumpets in to do that sound?” because I believe in music. You know what, I listen to Michael Jackson Thriller and I think “f*cking hell bruv, to this day it’s one of the best mixes I’ve heard and look when that was done!”. With all this technology now it’s still not helping anyone compete with that. It made me realise that the team that he was working with were a team of very serious musicians and people that were taking pride in something sounding amazing. It’s the product of people not being lazy and trying new things. It’s weird because people look at me as an MC and that I am, but if they could see me in the studio, I’m not, because I just start doing loads. Someone doesn’t play me a track and I spit on it and the track goes out, it’s just not happening. I sit there and work out the structure, I might change the BPM by two slightly, I might want something added or something taken out and I basically executively produce my own tunes. One day there’s gonna be someone that’s gonna bring something new to grime and they’re gonna be sick! I can’t wait til that day comes. When someone brings something to the table and we think “why didn’t we do that?”, I’m gonna embrace him or her with open arms”.

If you are new to Ghetts and are not sure how he has developed and the role he has played in Grime’s progress, there are a couple of interviews that will assist. Even though Rebel with a Cause is a brilliant album, I feel that Ghetto Gospel: The New Testament was a big step forward for Ghetts. That album was a sort of follow-up/response to the 2007 mixtape, Ghetto Gospel - and it is a work I would encourage people to seek out. In this interview with Loud and Quiet, we learn how Ghetts has evolved since his debut mixtape to 2018’s Ghetto Gospel: The New Testament:

“While he may not have enjoyed the commercial success of Dizzee, Skepta or, more recently, Stormzy, he’s a lynchpin in grime’s history and although he argues otherwise, Ghetts has been as important to the genre’s development and progression as any MC: a member of the legendary grime collective NATSY Crew back in the day, alongside the likes of D Double E, Kano and Jammer, and a founding member of The Movement with Devlin, Wretch 32 and more.

On his debut mixtape, ‘2000 & Life’, he was Ghetto, a whirlwind of an rapper, riled up and ready to take on the world, the emerging grime establishment and anything else that got between him and a mic. A study in ferocious, wheel-up inducing grime, it’s still considered one of the most important projects in the genre by those who know what they’re talking about.

Then came ‘Ghetto Gospel’, a more mature, reflective mixtape that saw Clark musing on his relationships with the women in his life and delving deeper than the tear-out grime of his debut. Ghetts had evolved again, an unrecognisable MC from the man who just a year earlier had unintentionally made grime history by asking for Carlos. Well, almost unrecognisable – as well as playing host to a more thoughtful Ghetts, ‘Ghetto Gospel’ also helped launch his career, with tracks like ‘Top 3 Selected’ and ‘Stage Show Don’ taking off in the underground.

His latest album ‘Ghetto Gospel: New Testament’ is the follow up to that 2007 mixtape and sees the Plaistow MC on incredible form. An expansive project, it’s his second studio album and without a doubt his best project in years, tackling a diversity of styles and subjects with the help of a roll call of grime and British rap’s best talents. On tracks like ‘Black Rose’ and ‘Next Of Kin’ he gets political, exploring anti-blackness, misogynoir and inner city violence, engaging with each without getting bogged down in the mire of ‘conscious’ rap. Elsewhere, on tracks like ‘Pick Up The Phone’ and ‘Shellington Crescent’, he teams up with fellow veterans President T and Chip, respectively, for a case study in gas-up grime, switching into his old school Ghetto persona with a blink of his eye”.

Following up on this, and I wanted to source another interview that highlights how confident and direct Ghetto Gospel: The New Testament is. I feel (as I have said) that Ghetts has carried this into Conflict of Interest/. Whilst this album might have more range and it is a little more subdued, it is still hugely sophisticated and accomplished:

“Like its predecessor, The New Testament delivers some straight up bangers like Pick Up the Phone and Shellington Crescent, but on the whole deals heavily in themes of street violence, gang mentality, colourism and misogynoir.

It might be his new testament, but Ghetts doesn’t preach or tell us what to do. He calls it as he sees it, as he’s always done, but this time through the eyes of an older, wiser man. Black Rose calls out colourism within black communities and frustratedly preempts the double standards and discrimination his dark-skinned daughter will face as she grows up, promising to be a source of love and support for her. Next of Kin takes on gun crime not with a call for armistice, but instead dealing in perspectives – of a mother, a shooter and a son who’s passed away.

‘I’m at an age now where some of my friends have sons that are 16. The other day a 14 year old died in Walthamstow and I just remember hearing it on the radio and thinking “wow”. Because I’m not 16 now and I’m not around it, I’m not thinking “that happens all the time, man”. At that age I was desensitised by a lot of things that I was around. So I wanted to write a song where I didn’t judge anybody, because I know what some of these kids are going through and it’s much easier said than done when you’re outside of it.’

‘I really feel like people should just make what they want. As I’ve grown I just feel like there are so many boxes and categories, and it was those same boxes and categories that really stifled me into playing up to a perception. As soon as I was free of those things, I really excelled musically because I didn’t care about how people think something is meant to sound.

‘I always say you can conform both ways. People only really acknowledge if you conform to the mainstream, but what about all the people who conform to the underground?”.

I am going to concentrate on the opening track from Conflict of Interest, Fine Wine, for a review in a bit. First, I wanted to discuss Rap lyrics and how there has been a revival and shift. Returning to that interview from NOTION,  and Ghetts discusses his lyrical style and approach:

“There have been a few conversations over the course of the year about quality over quantity, and the return of real Rap. The word lyricist or wordsmith can get thrown around a lot.

It gets thrown about! *laughs*

I can definitely hold my hands up from time to time! *laughs* What to you is being a proper lyricist?

It’s somebody who is able to paint a clear picture and make it seem like you were there whilst it was happening, without the repeating of words you may have used in the same 16 or 32. Also, to be witty, to have metaphors and explain things that have layers – double or triple entendre’s. It’s very technical but I guess music is very subjective, it’s always up for debate!

Yeah! When people think of the word lyricist or wordsmith, they tend to jump straight to techniques and punchlines, but I also think it feeds into creating timeless music and actually doing something, rather than just saying it?

Yeah! I agree, 100%!”.

I think Ghetts’ lyrics and incredible ability with words is one of the reasons he is considered among the finest Rap/Grime artists of today. Not only has Ghetts gone his craft through various albums and mixtapes; his time with various crews freestyling has definitely contributed – as we discover from the NITELIFE interview I quoted from earlier:

“Ghetts comes from a culture of crews, rolling with Nasty Crew, before starting The Movement with Devlin, Wretch 32 and others; which at the time came hand in hand with MC battles. Fortunately, Ghetts’ ability to freestyle has never been called into question, building his reputation on clashing and holding several historic Fire in the Booths to his name. However, it seems this reputation as one of the best freestyle MCs is a byproduct of a man obsessed with lyricism.

‘Naturally, I’d say I’m not a battle MC. The time that I come from was a dangerous time to be on the radio, so you had to write lyrics just in case somebody would come in for you and embarrass you. Naturally, my thing is to treat music like a therapy session. I’d rather talk about what’s happening in my life or the world, or write something story-based than write for another MC”.

I think that Ghetts’ style and lyrical approach has changed since he started out. It has got more striking and brilliant. I feel that him becoming a father has altered how he approaches his writing and what he discusses through his music. Going back to that Loud and Quite interview, Ghetts reveals more on that subject:

“Having a daughter has changed how I write”

My daughter’s aware of who I am and what I do so I want her to be proud and not live a double standard. I need to be able to raise her in the correct way and also lead by example. It’s affected my music a lot. She listens to my music now, she’s six, she can sing along to everything. It’s very weird, but she is me.

“I wrote ‘Black Rose’ for my daughter”

One day I went in the booth and I never said, ‘this is what I’m going to talk about’. I started a line, I don’t write things down ever, I just went in the booth and said, ‘my daughter, she a princess, the world ain’t slaughtering her skin yet,’ and there you have it. Those two lines built the concept. My agenda behind ‘Black Rose’, in all honesty, and truth, I’m speaking for my daughter, first and foremost, so that in the future if she faces these things she’ll be strengthened by what her dad did with his platform at a certain time when nobody else did. That’s why I did that. Other women have been able to relate, which is beautiful.

“But I don’t feel like I need to speak on other people’s behalf”

Now I’ve made ‘Black Rose’ people are, like, coming at me, like, ‘what’s next’, but to me, it’s a concept, it’s one instalment. Tomorrow I’m going to make another tune about something else. I still believe it, but it’s not something I’m gravitating towards because people have taken a like to that. That’s not who I am; I can talk about so many different things because that’s how I live my life”.

One could say that some artists distil and become softer when they become parents; it can take away a certain edge. Debatably, fatherhood has brought new characteristics and emotions into Ghetts’ music. In the Gig Slutz interview, Ghetts talks about how being a parent has changed him as an artist:

“MT: It’s not only music that’s been a big part of your life over the last few years as you’ve also become a father. How has that changed the way you write and your whole outlook on making music?

Ghetts: It’s affected it because you get people saying I’m not as hard as I was and they’re right, I’m not as hard as I was; more skilful, maybe; a better artist, maybe, but there’s hardly a sign of what might have drawn people to me in the earlier stages of my career. Obviously you get ‘Gas Mark 9’ and a few oneaways but when I’m writing stuff like that I feel guilty, if I’m being totally honest, because I’m not as active as I was when I was young, not even as active, I’m not active. So when I write, even though I’ve got to write to say certain things because I’ve done certain things, I feel like it’s not a reflection of what’s going on now, but then I do it because I also appreciate the fact that when someone is listening to me they’re looking for that, so I don’t leave it out of the album even though the album might not be centered around it. But I also feel guilty because in this current world right now, I care about where my daughter is gonna be growing up and how she grows up and so I feel very guilty. People can probably hear that from when I talk and from some of the music on my album, so it has affected my writing a lot. It’s weird because I love hearing the hard stuff and I love writing it but at the same time I’ve got this little girl that I wanna be a role model for, so I doubt I’m ever gonna be as hard as I was before”.

There are a couple of other subjects I want to cross off of the list before getting down to reviewing Fine Wine. Ghetts is not exclusively a Grime artist…though it is a genre that can be applied to his music. I think all great Grime artists are asked about whether the movement is dying or has lost a lot of its impact. Ghetts reacted to this often-proffered view when he spoke with The Independent in 2018:

“Ghetts scoffs at the mention of news articles asking whether grime is either dead or struggling to survive as the drill and Afrobeats genres grow in popularity .

“I feel that it’s weird that grime MCs even react to it,” Ghetts says, pretending to huff, and leaning back in his chair, arms folded. “I’ve seen people reacting to something that’s not true.”

“I love grime with my heart,” he continues. “I know a lot of people in the culture have love for me, but I’ve always deemed myself more of a tempo specialist. I’m not defined by a genre – a genre cannot define the artist. I respect grime enough to represent it because that’s what made me, that gave me my first listeners, and I will never deny being grime. Grime itself will never die.”

“I can see a culture. Loads of people complain but I’m really into evolution.” He gives a bashful smile at the mention of how he once considered pursuing a career in science.

“Drill is an evolution of grime, grime is an evolution of garage, garage is an evolution of drum and bass,” he says, voice rising enthusiastically. “And when you’ve got different characters coming in, putting things in the pot, and one day it goes BANG!” He throws his hands apart to demonstrate. “It’s the same energy”.

Just before getting to assessing the excellent opening track off of Conflict of Interest, I want to sort of fill a gap between the time of Ghetto Gospel: The New Testament arriving and Ghetts looking ahead to the future. I think that album opened horizons for him and, as we discover from the Loud and Quiet interview, it imbued Ghetts with a lot of confidence:

“I feel like the possibilities of what I can do are endless”

People ask me how I transition into certain things, but you have to understand, one day I’m in jail telling everybody in jail that I’m going to be me today. That transition is the biggest transition, everything after that is just whatever. Not whatever – I’m grateful for the opportunities that come – but every transition from being in jail and you’re a repeat offender, and you’re surrounded by repeat offenders, and you’re saying, ‘see when I get home, watch what I’m going to do.’ To everybody in that place that sounds wild. When you leave that place, and you tell the guv ‘I’m not coming back’. He hears that everyday someone leaves, how does he know how to take this one guy seriously? Until, oh shit, this guy’s not actually been back. So many people I was in jail with have reached out and said I don’t know what you’ve done to be it but well done. For someone to make it from that place to where I am, you have to follow rules and be disciplined. I’m one of the most disciplined people you’ll meet. If I say I ain’t smoking, I ain’t smoking. If I say I ain’t drinking, I ain’t drinking. That’s it. There’s nowhere that that level of discipline can’t take you”.

I should come to reviewing Fine Wine. It is a song that really struck me! There are quite a few collaborators through Conflict of Interest. Whilst it is good to hear other artists in the mix, I wanted to review a song with just Ghetts on it. I think he is strongest when he is on his own and has that sort of focus.

With a sense of swell and romance, Fine Wine sweeps open Conflict of Interest. It is an evocative and wonderful opening to the album. I love how Ghetts delivers his lines. He is never rushed and too frantic; there is this consideration for pace and resonance. The way he articulate the lines makes them stand out. The first verse starts with plenty of confidence – and an example of the unique language and wordplay of Ghetts: “Rudeboy, I'm the certiest/A thank-you ain't enough for my services/I was probably an accident, but I know what my purpose is/My skin is immaculate, but I've done some dirty tings”. I will not quote too many lyrics but, as Ghetts is such an accomplished writer, I wanted to bring in some examples of his raw talent! Ghetts punctuates his lines and has this very conversational style of delivery., As we go into the second verse, Ghetts talks about his struggles and hard times: “Fast forward, one foot in the industry door/Which way should I go? Can't call it, same time they gave thing twentyfour/I wish you could ask Stormin, but I can't give him a ring anymore/You see when I feel cornered, all I do is think of bеfore/I drive back to the housе I struggled in/(What was that like?)/The one bed with a bathroom, the kitchen in the front room/My front room had a oven in/We was suffering (We was suffering)/Still loading, just buffering/I'm upstairs writing bars and my daughter's colouring/Embarrassed/Had a bill to pay and my girl had to cover it”. We sort of get this backstory and history of Ghetts and where he has come from. Now, he is settled and happier; but Fine Wine sort of acts like a nod back to his younger days and where he came from. Whereas other Grime artists would put explosion, klaxons and huge bass into their compositions, there is a choir and strings in Fine Wine. Whilst the first two verses see Ghetts keep his composure and narrate his story, there is a sense of anger and the first signs of aggression that come out in the third verse.

One can hear Ghetts get angrier and feel the sting of things: “Had to remember myself like mum said/Where'd you get that vibe from?/I went back to the essence/It's not only bars, my brudda/I'm a man with a message/It's much more than slapping and cheffings/What about family settings?/What about actual blessings?/That new-year-new-me talk/What about January lessons?/The mic is my therapist/I'm just having a session/Them man there won't tell you this/They're capping, I'm shelling”. It is quite moving hearing Ghetts become more animated as he recalls and recites his lines! The central vocal is excellent, but I really love what is happening in the background. The strong and choral rush adds something very spiritual and powerful; there are some tight beats, and Ghetts’ vocal delivery changes and sharpens. His voice becomes tenser and more urgent as Ghetts discusses his doubters and how his future ahead is golden: “Let' talk about legacy/I don't care about nostalgia/My best years are ahead of me (Ahead of me)/When I signed to Warner, brudda/I was already me/That's fifteen years hard work, no breaks or therapy/A cappella on DVDs, no beats, no bass or melodies/What the fuck you telling me?/Most my peers in the cemetery/Can't do an album, putting out mixtapes/Can't do a thousand, whatever they do does terribly (Terribly)/Can't do a show, can't do a tour/Same lyrics from 2004/And these are the bruddas that you rate heavily/Lowe me please/Just crown me please”. I love how matter-of-fact and casual Ghetts is when he says he will convert non-believers. It is not arrogant or too bold: instead, he knows that his music is great and, after having to battle so many cynics, his new music is sure to turn people around! One is invested in Fine Wine from the start to the end as it is such a compelling and packed song. With so much story and great lines, you will come back to Fine Wine time and time again. In the outro, Ghetts sings “Party, yeah/I'ma go up and away, and just have a party, yeah/I'ma go up and away, and just have a party, yeah”. He rides this thought to the end and, with the strings coming to the fore and adding something resplendent, dignified and stirring, it is a wonderful way to end the opening track from Conflict of Interest.

To round things off, I wanted to bring in an interview from The Quietus of 2018. I have covered a few subjects when discussing Ghetts but I did not realty touch on albums and artists who have inspired him. Ghetts revealed a selection of albums that are very important to him. I have chosen a few to highlight:

“Michael Jackson - Thriller

Do you know what's crazy? At the time, because I'm from a very religious background, and I never had cable either, I never saw the videos for this. But I did watch that series about the come up of The Jacksons, The American Dream, that starts before even Michael was born. So you see that Billie Jean performance, when he first does the moonwalk – and I just remember watching that and feeling a certain energy at the show. No matter how good you think a show is, have you ever seen something that's never been done before!? There was a time when I could do the moonwalk, and I tried the lean forward thing but... I can't do that.  Everything's been said about Thriller already. Groundbreaking. Not just the numbers – I chose these albums not based on numbers, but based on sound and how it marked a time. The sonics of it still hit me to this day. 'PYT' was a bad tune – the vibes, everything! Mike's hard to talk about because it's hard to really pick out the songs – overall, I just felt he was sick.

Jay Z - The Blueprint

That's my guy. That's my favourite rapper of all time. To tell you the honest truth, I was incarcerated and my mum bought me Blueprint. I'd heard 'Izzo' on the radio and I thought it was alright - I wasn't thinking it was sick or anything, but I thought it was a good single. When I got the album, I was blown away. 'Takeover', 'Renegade' – hard songs. Hard shit. That was my CD! It was comforting, listening to my music and getting to pass the time.

 The Notorious B.I.G. - Life After Death

Crazy album! 'Sky's The Limit' and 'Miss U'. I didn't even know 'Miss U' was sampled, the other day I was in the car and I heard the original one! I have Tupac on this list too - in the same way I have Jay Z and Nas, because what happens when people are warring is that the fan, subliminally - whether they like it or not, even if they choose sides - they take an interest in the other person as well. But me being musical as well, and understanding it's not my war, I don't have to take sides – I can like one more than the other but I'm not going to hate the other one, I don't have to. Biggie is the man for flows and vibes - he's just got that swagger, that's undeniable. It's weird because I think Biggie is a better rapper than Tupac, but Tupac had so many different other pockets and reasons for me to like him.

SWV - Greatest Hits

If someone could search my brain and find out what I've ever listened to the most, it's this.  I felt like The Greatest Hits were actually all of their best tunes, rather than a specific album. It was perfect. I was probably introduced to them by my aunt, and I think 'Rain' is probably my favourite track. The harmonies are always on point on SWV's work, but 'Rain' has got some different powers in. Coko, I think is the name of the lead singer - she's bad. The way she opens that tune up! Crazy”.

Go and listen to Conflict of Interest if you can, as it is a terrific album from one of the greatest names in Rap and Grime! It is hard to categorise and limit the genres Ghetts’ material covers. I think that is one reason why he is so celebrated and interesting. I reckon that Conflict of Interest is Ghett’s most rounded and realised work in the sense that it is very sharp and urgent, yet there is a broadness and diversity that means his music will reach new audiences. At thirty-six, Ghetts can be considered one of the elder statesman of Grime and Rap. I think we will see many more albums from him and, after such a stunning release with Conflict of Interest, it will be interesting to see where he…

GOES from here.

___________

Follow Ghetts

PHOTO CREDIT: Adama Jalloh 

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TRACK REVIEW: Middle Kids - Cellophane (Brain)

TRACK REVIEW:

 

 

Middle Kids

Cellophane (Brain)

9.2/10

The track, Cellophane (Brain), is available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkYM1OVa_Xw

GENRE:

Indie Rock

ORIGIN:

Sydney, Australia

The album, Today We’re the Greatest, is available to pre-order via:

https://middlekids.ochre.store/release/217957-middle-kids-today-were-the-greatest

RELEASE DATE:

19th March, 2021

LABEL:

Lucky Number Music Limited

TRACKLISTING:

Bad Neighbours

Cellophane (Brain)

R U 4 Me?

Questions

Lost in Los Angeles

Golden Star

Summer Hill

Some People Stay in Our Hearts Forever

Run with You

I Don’t Care

Stacking Chairs

Today We’re the Greatest

__________

FOR this review…

I am looking at a band who I have been a fan of for a while now. Middle Kids hail from Sydney. I am tipping the magnificent band for big things in 2021. The fact they are based in Australia means that touring is on the agenda a lot sooner than it is here in the U.K. I can only imagine how relieved they are that they get to perform live this year! With their new alum, Today We’re the Greatest, out next month, there is a lot to get excited about. I will come to that album and the song from it that I am reviewing soon. Before then, I want to go back and look at interviews they conducted years ago. There are not that many new-ish interviews, so I will sort of look from 2017 and try and draw as far forward as I can. Just before I get to the first interview, a little introduction is required. Middle Kids consist of Hannah Joy (lead vocals, guitar, piano), Tim Fitz (bass, backing vocals, production) and Harry Day (drums, backing vocals). Since forming in 2016, the band has released the Middle Kids E.P. (2017), the album Lost Friends (2018), and the New Songs for Old Problems E.P. (2019). How did the guys get together? When they spoke with Northern Transmissions in 2017, we learn more about their background:

“NT: You guys have all played music for a while, solo and in bands, but Middle Kids is a pretty new entity…but you’re now on every ‘must watch list’ out there. When did the band officially come to be? How was initial reception?

MK: We got together and began playing under the name around the beginning of 2016. It was cool because when we first released ‘Edge Of Town’ we’d never played a show, I think the song…people seemed to like, but we didn’t have a wide reach at all. We played our first show in July of last year and I think we started feeling like making music in the format and combination was a really good vibe with each other and then also just how the music was being received seemed good. But a lot of industry happy things can make it seem like this is further along than it is, and we’re going on tour because we want to play for actual people and meet people and have them hear the music. You cant really skip that. We definitely consider ourselves a young band and a small band. Its nice to have the publicity but that’s why we’re here, to go and actually play some shows”.

NT: Have you thought or come to grips with music now looking like potentially it could become a career for you guys and not just a passion, whereas maybe a year ago that might not have been the case, have you had that sort of internal conversation yet?

MK: Yeah, it weighs pretty heavily on our minds at the moment because we’re kind of at that point now where if we want that to happen we’ve got to actually go all in. This year will be the biggest year for us in that regard, you know, we’ve all been working part time for the last couple of years as we’ve worked on music but this year…yeah, its getting real, having to quit jobs and sort of put ourselves out there and try and do it. Its super exciting”.

I want to stick on the subject of their earliest days and how they bonded. Apologies if I jump around a bit regarding timeline and subject matter - I am going to keep it fairly focused to start with. If you have not heard Middle Kids, then I would advise you do a bit of digging and research. They are making some big steps now and, so far in their career, they have played some big festivals and prominent gigs. I really love what they do; hence the reason I have included them for review today. I think it is important to learn about the band’s past to give context to their current music.

When they spoke with HAPPY in 2018, they discussed the sound of Lost Friends and how their friendship started and solidified:

“HAPPY: I know you all know each other from way back – had you travelled together before or was that a totally new experience for everyone?

TIM: We’d hadn’t all gone away together, I mean Hannah and I have done some travelling, but not the three of us-

HARRY: We’re not that kind of friends.

TIM: We’re not that kind of friends.

HAPPY: I guess touring is a completely different kind of travel…

HANNAH: Yeah totally. It’s so funny because at first when you start touring, you feel like you’re going on holiday, but then it takes about two seconds to realised you’re not. But I mean it’s still awesome, we’ve got to see all these amazing places, but it’s been pretty full-on.

HAPPY: I’ve had a lot of different feedback from bands about playing festivals like SXSW and The Great Escape. How did you find those experiences?

HANNAH: We really loved them. They’re pretty wild – we played a lot of shows in a very short amount of time, and it’s a sensory overload. There’s so much going on. But I think, particularly the time we did it, it was a very formative time for the band, there was a lot of movement happening, so it was a great time to be playing those festivals because the shows were super vibey.

TIM: And they felt kind of meaningful because our manager would be like “ok, so the booker from so and so festival is here.” And then we’d get booked on that festival just from playing that show.

HAPPY: It’s like a tangible reward for being good.

TIM: Exactly.

HAPPY: I totally didn’t get that vibe listening to it. It’s definitely got this ‘big-studio’ kind of vibe.

HARRY: That’s just a plug-in. The ‘big studio’ plug-in.

TIM: We recorded drums out in an Airbnb. We took our mate Phan who works out of Parliament Studios in Sydney. He’s a wizard so he helped out a lot there. Then we recorded vocals over two days at Parliament. And the rest was in our house.

HAPPY: I love that, because everyone is going to assume you went through the whole ‘first album, big studio, big producer’ thing. Instead you just did it the way you wanted to do it.

HARRY: We tried to do the big studio thing.

TIM: But we just couldn’t be “that band”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Maclay Heriot

Not to labour too much on the formation of Middle Kids, but I love the bond they have in camp and how close they are. I am interested to know how things started and how this incredible chemistry formulated. Even though the members of Middle Kids are different, they seem very much united and of one when they perform. Hannah Joy spoke with Monster Children in 2018 and was asked about the band’s background – in addition to a pretty big gig that they played:

“You all come from such different musical backgrounds and play such an insane amount of instruments—what musical talents of Tim and Harry do you most admire?

I’m envious of so much of Tim. He did a bit of piano growing up but he was so explorative that he doesn’t really follow any rules, and just kind of figures out everything on his own and goes with his gut, he’s a real instinctive player. It’s as if he has absolutely no restraint, just doing whatever which is cool.

Is that quite different to you, because you were classically trained?

When it comes to songwriting I just play whatever I hear, but the boys will start jamming and following each other and as a classical pianist, I’m like ‘No, what’s this for, what’s the structure?’ (laughs). But Harry has this incredible control to his playing that is totally insane”.

And I saw that you played at the Sydney Opera House recently for Vivid Live, how was that? I imagine it’d be a huge achievement for most Australian bands.

Yeah for sure, it was the last night of our Australian tour. Ever since I was really little I would go and see shows there, like operettas and string quartets and chamber music. I won this competition when I was really little and I actually got to perform a song that I wrote when I was 12 at the Opera House”.

For those unaware of the fact Hannah Joy and Tim Fitz are married, I wanted to introduce an interview from Trend Privé from 2017. Some artists who are in a relationship can struggle to reach their potential and very best. It seems that is not the issue with Middle Kids:

“So, I understand that Hannah and Tim are married. How does the relationship between you two effect the songwriting process?

Hannah – That’s interesting. I think its brought a lot more depth to the songwriting, because we share so much space. Then we can kind of work on the songs together in a cool way. And we kind of take turns with the songs, they’re like our little babies. And like, I’ll give it to Tim for a while and then he’ll give it to me.

Tim – We get better writing songs as we get to know each other. Also, as three we’ve been getting to know each other better and becoming better friends, and that helps the songs as well.

You guys wrote edge of town before you formally got together as a band. So how did the song writing process change from that song to now since you’ve added Harry into the mix?

Tim – Well, Harry’s playing drums from the recording so he was there from the first recording, but the songwriting process is pretty similar then to now. In terms of Hannah writes the songs and we get them at a later stage and we work on them. Then we record them. So yeah, we don’t write the songs together, Hannah writes the songs”.

I want to go in a slightly different direction and look at general biography of the band. The reason I am doing this is because the band caught the attention of Sir Elton John. It must be quite amazing having such a prestigious and loved artist being a fan of what you do! In this Under the Radar article, we discover when Elton John came across Middle Kids’ music – they also explain where that band name comes from:

“The band name chosen by Sydney, Australia trio Middle Kids also describes the upbringing of singer Hannah Joy and multi-instrumentalist Tim Fitz. "Tim and I are both middle kids," Joy explains. "I think it's common to find middle kids being a little bit unsure of their place in the family. It's cool, though, because you get a bit of love from both sides and end up having to fight to find who you are."

As a band, Middle Kids, who also include drummer Harry Day, have few reasons to be unsure of themselves, already gathering momentum thanks to their anthemic first single "Edge of Town"—a charming, confident track filled with anticipation, due to Joy's mesmerizing lilt. "'Edge of Town' is a story about the experience of trying to get a hold of your life, or figure out what it means to be a human, and then something happens which makes you realize how little you know or how little control you have over certain things," explains Joy. "It's meant to tap into that anxiety, but it's also meant to give a sense that it's going to be okay and there is actually freedom in not being in control all the time."

The song caught the attention of Sir Elton John, who then played it on his Beats 1 radio show and added it to his Apple Music playlist. "We felt pretty stoked and surprised," says Fitz. "He's one of the greats, so it meant a lot." Middle Kids also caught the ear of iconic indie label Domino, who released the band's self-titled debut EP in February. The six-song EP is a mix of catchy, brooding melodies and haunting, jazz-tinged ballads. Middle Kids fuse modern indie-rock with '70s Fleetwood Mac accents, with Joy's vocals echoing a combination of Stevie Nicks and Courtney Barnett”.

I am looking forward to hearing Middle Kids’ new album. Today We’re the Greatest is definitely going to be among this year’s most interesting and brilliant albums. I am a big fan of Lost Friends. I am going to spend a bit of time with the album and various sides of it. In an interview with Best Before, we discover more about the sound and feel of Lost Friends:

“Middle Kids, along with a handful of other alternative Aussie rock artists, are starting to break through overseas. What do you think it is about the current sound coming out of this country that’s being received so well by international audiences?

I think maybe the Australian music industry is just getting better at marketing or something? There’s always been cool stuff happening in Australia, so maybe it’s just an internet thing. We are super stoked that it is happening though; we love that we get to travel all around playing our tunes to actual fans, it’s madness.

The production on the album is also incredible. What elements do you think Peter Katis most helped spotlight?

Thanks! Well, we had recorded it really raw, mostly at home. Peter Katis— wow, so much respect for that guy— definitely brought a lot of clarity to the songs, and he is a genius at creating moments of pulsing energy and beauty.

Your tracks are sewn together with visceral, emotionally-charged choruses, that still feel raw and intimate when listening through the recordings. How did you work on capturing that in the studio?

It’s raw and intimate in the studio because our studio is our house and it’s just a big mess of cables and instruments and microphones. We just recorded what felt warm and true. A lot of that comes from Hannah’s energy, her songs, the way she writes parts and chooses her guitar tones.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Imogen Wilson

One of the things I love about Middle Kids and Lost Friends is the fact they recorded the album themselves. In a great interview with AMNPLIFY, the band talk about recording their own music and what it feels like to have received so much recognition early on:

“First of all, I’ve had a listen to the new album Lost Friends and it’s absolutely beautiful! Do you or any of the other members have any personal favourites off the album?

We each have our favourites – at the moment mine is Tell Me Something. A lot of the record is quite thick in texture with a lot of colours and parts layered on top of each other, so comparatively I find that this song is more sparse and has a lot of space to it. Coming at the back of the record I think it creates a nice moment to breathe. A lot of the sounds we used are quite exposed so only things that were really necessary made it. That groove in the last chorus is also a pretty unique moment on the album as far as the drum parts go and was really fun to record.

You guys wrote and recorded Lost Friends yourselves, much like you did with your debut EP. Is there a reason behind why you guys decided to record the album yourselves?

Mostly it just felt right. We actually tried going into a studio and doing a song all together but it kind of cramped our style and we felt that we’d lost something crucial. We’d never done that before so we didn’t really know how to do it. The EP came together piece by piece and that was what we felt comfortable doing, the songs are all built around Hannah’s voice so they all began with that in a demo form and then the parts were added (or in some cases taken away) one by one till it all sounded right.

You guys have been fortunate enough to achieve so much in a small amount of time, like playing some of the biggest festivals in the world to supporting some of the biggest names in music like Paul Kelly and The War On Drugs. What would say is the biggest highlight for you from the past year and a half?

All of the great artists that we’ve been able to play with other the past 18 months has been a high light for sure, they were all really generous to us and it was very inspiring to get to know them and watch them play. But with our first album about to come out I’ve been thinking about when we recorded that in the middle of last year, and you only get to make your first album once, so that was actually a really special time”.

Before I come to reviewing the new Middle Kids track, Cellophane (Brain), I wanted to bring in a review for Lost Friends. When one is reviewing music, they should never quote from other sources, as it sort of gives your own review less substance and importance. As this is a review for a different album/piece of music, it is providing more context than anything else – were I to quote a review for Cellophane (Brain) then that would be different. I wanted to show how fondly Lost Friends has been received. This is what NME wrote in their review:

“The road is where this album belongs. Its 12 tracks of pummelling, uncompromising indie-rock are perfect for long drives in the boiling summer or night-time journeys in the city. “Wheels on the road, white painted rows/Windscreen wipers on, silent radio,” singer and songwriter Hannah Joy sings on ‘Lost Friends’. Meanwhile, for ‘On My Knees’ we’re stood on the pavement: “I am the second hand, I am a roadside distraction / And they’re looking at me as if I got what they need”. Wherever Middle Kids are going, the listener is bundled into the back of the car too.

Not content with being able to write genuinely brilliant choruses on every song, the band are also able to tackle our everyday nuances and flaws with humour and understanding. ‘Don’t Be Hiding’ offers the group’s finest all-round performance to date, pairing Fleetwood Mac harmonies and riffs with relatable zingers on modern life. “Are you cashed up or struggling with a hole in your pocket?” asks Joy. “If it’s bad then I relate/You should see the junk I spend my money on” – comforting every drunk-eBaying survivor who’s listening along”.

One has some background regarding Middle Kids and how they have evolved. I wanted to, before getting to the song, quote from Sonic PR. We get some information about Cellophane (Brain) and what we can expect from the Today We’re the Greatest album:

“The Sydney-based three-piece Middle Kids (Hannah Joy, Tim Fitz and Harry Day) today release ‘Cellophane (Brain)’ the third single from their hotly anticipated second album, Today We’re The Greatest, out March 19, 2021 via Lucky Number. Premiered by Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1, ‘Cellophane (Brain)’ sets a new artistic benchmark for the band, a three-and-a-half minute encapsulation of all the ambition, lyrical scope and musicality packed into their upcoming album. You can pre-order the new album HERE.

‘Cellophane (Brain)’ is a triumph of emotive songwriting. Multi-instrumentalist Tim Fitz has this song in mind when he says “This feels like a move towards a bold and honest sound. When we were recording, we were asking ‘what is the emotion of this sound’ instead of ‘is this a cool sound’? A guitar wailing and breaking up in the distance is emotional because it sounds like an emotion that we’ve all felt.”

Lyrically the song explores a darker and more vulnerable side of the band’s songwriting. Lead singer/songwriter Hannah Joy explains the meaning behind the song;

“I remember making a diorama in primary school for an under-the-ocean scene using cellophane. I loved the way cellophane looked but I hated the way it crunched and creased in my hands. It’s one of those weird things you remember sometimes… I’m not even sure if cellophane is an exact metaphor for my mind but it feels connected to the song for me.  When I consciously started taking note of what was going on in my brain it was usually ANXIOUS and NEGATIVE. If my mind is a minefield of fear and sadness, nothing else can shift my overall sense of myself. But to change one’s thinking is incredibly hard. It’s an inner journey with little extrinsic reward or accountability.”

“Cellophane (Brain)’’ follows the release of singles ‘R U 4 ME?’ and ‘Questions’ and was recorded in Los Angeles with producer Lars Stalfors (St. Vincent, Soccer Mommy, Purity Ring). The album Today We’re The Greatest is the uninhibited product of fearless collaboration, a vivid collection of 12 courageous, personal and rattling songs. It follows the release of Middle Kids’ critically acclaimed 2018 debut, Lost Friends, which was awarded Album of the Year by Triple J Radio and was also nominated for Best Rock Album at the ARIA Awards. The record also earned them support slots with the likes of Bloc Party, War on Drugs and Cold War Kids as well as several US TV show performances including Conan, Jimmy Kimmel and The Late, Late Show with James Corden”.

It is about time to get to reviewing Middle Kids’ new track, Cellophane (Brain). I love Hannah Joy’s voice, as she bring so much emotion and gravitas to every song. Cellophane (Brain) starts with some background electronics that blend with some delicate acoustic guitar. I was interested hearing the first verse and trying to unwrap its meaning: “Never quite on time/Running late, running wild/Looking up star signs/Eating apples on the train/I know you say it's alright as you keep it inside/Hey, when did you realise there's no guy with a first prize/Waiting at the end”. The lyrics are really interesting and got me thinking as to their derivation. Whether Joy is reflecting on her own experiences of trust and loss or whether she is directing her words to a friend, I am not too sure. The lyrics are delivered with a lot of emotion and conviction. I was hooked into the song and picturing the lines as they were delivered. Although there is no particular sonic or pace change as we go into the chorus, there is this oblique edge that intrigues me:  “Cellophane/You shake, you never change/Cellophane/You're strange up in your brain/Are you afraid/To stop and find the reason/Why you can't get away from it”. Joy injects a lot of movement and passion into the delivery. At various points, her voices rises and elicits something very beautiful and stirring. It is after the chorus that we get a burst from the composition and that awaited shift. One of the things I love about Cellophane (Brain) is the inventiveness and originality of the lyrics. I have gone back a few times and wondered what the story relates to – and whether it is based on real events and observations from Middle Kids. “Moving up the coastline/Making deals, selling houses/Promise of the good life/Compliance teams, bleak routines/Nothing more sad than a man who cries/In his car, in the drivеway/Blue helium light blinking again” is a verse that really sticks in the mind and resonates.

The chorus seems more euphoric and powerful the second time around. We get this real rush and power that emerges. I was really swept up by the chorus and how much of a wave it creates! Even though the composition is quite simple, it manages to evoke a lot of power and nuance. After the swell of the chorus, the bridge arrives – that then leads into a final chorus. It is clear that loss and depression are themes explored through the lyrics…and I wonder who the song’s subject is and what has happened to them. The bridge is a very evocative and curious thing: “You think you're a black umbrella/Holding off the rain/I think you're a silk white kite/Blowing off course again/You think you're a black umbrella/Holding off the rain/I think you're a silk white kite/Blowing off course again”. Before one can digest the words and turn them over, the chorus arrives like a wave. In a way, Cellophane (Brain) has the dynamic of the water being calm and the tide going out - and, before you know it, there is this rush and swell. I have listened to the song a few times and tried to dig deep and discover what may have inspired it. I am not completely sure, but I think that is why the song is so interesting. We have already heard a few tracks from the Today We’re the Greatest album; it is shaping up to be a really rich and varied thing. It has been great reviewing the brilliant Middle Kids. I think they will have a successful year and, as they have gigs planned, it seems like they will be able to get their album out to their fans! If you have not discovered the Sydney band then make sure you check them out. Although they will be able to play in their native Australia this year, let’s hope that we can all…

SEE them play very soon.

___________

Follow Middle Kids

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Middle Kids

TRACK REVIEW: Hayley Williams - Just a Lover

TRACK REVIEW:

 

 

Hayley Williams

Just a Lover

9.5/10

The track, Just a Lover, is available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YF0d7gll09Y

GENRE:

Alternative

ORIGIN:

Mississippi, U.S.A.

PHOTO CREDIT: Lindsey Byrnes 

The album, FLOWERS for VASES / descansos, is available via:

https://open.spotify.com/album/3JSvIZCtxK4fUywBK41129?si=w0KARliRRdWiH5mSXQIh8Q

LABEL:

Atlantic

RELEASE DATE:

5th February, 2021

PRODUCER:

Daniel James

TRACKLISTING:

First Thing to Go

My Limb

Asystole

Trigger

Over Those Hills

Good Grief

Wait On

KYRH

Inordinary

HYD

No Use I Just Do

Find Me Here

Descansos

Just a Lover

__________

IT has been a very long time…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Tim Barber for The New York Times

since I have featured Hayley Williams in any full capacity. By that, I mean I have not reviewed her I don’t think or shone a spotlight on her amazing work. Although a lot of this review is a look back on her 2020 album, Petals for Armor, I am building up to her new album, FLOWERS for VASES / descansos. There is a lot to unpack and discuss when it comes to Williams’ music. She is the lead of the band, Paramore, and there are plans for a sixth album – following on from 2017’s After Laughter. I want to take a chronological look at Williams and her music. Paramore are a band that I really like and, though there has been talk that they might not release another album, I don’t think that is the case. In an interview with The Guardian from last year, we learn more about why Williams established Paramore:

“Hence Paramore. Hungry to start a band, Williams couldn’t find anyone to play with as a preteen in Mississippi. In 2002, she and her mum fled her “nightmare of a stepfather” to Franklin, Tennessee. They lived with friends, in a hotel, a trailer, an apartment furnished with donations from a church care group. Williams was bullied for her accent, so she started home-schooling with a weekly in-person tutorial. On day one, she met Farro, who introduced her to the boys with whom she would form Paramore. By 2005, they were emo royalty, as much for their soaring choruses as the intra-band drama. Their ever-changing lineup cut Williams deeply: “I was trying so hard to keep a family together.”

It was the same in her relationship with Gilbert, she says, which started in 2008. She wanted to mirror the one steady relationship in her life: her grandparents, who met at age 12 and stayed together. Therapy later made her realise she had also picked a partner with whom she could relive the trauma of her parents’ marriage. “I was in a very unhealthy relationship, and I just kept thinking: ‘I can fix it this time”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Sara Jaye Weiss

Whilst there are definite highs and bonuses about being in a successful band, there are also challenges. When she spoke with i-D, we learned more about some of Williams’ concerns:

“Hayley remembers being very sensitive about being singled out: “Being female and fronting an all-male band was like throwing your soul to the wolves. People didn’t know how to take you -- if your supposed power meant that they should be intimidated or inspired. In the midst of all of that there’s just a tension. Sometimes I didn’t want that.” What she did want was for the band to be recognised as a pack: for their connection to each other, or at least for their songwriting abilities. “All these reviews would come out that would paint me as some sort of dictator in a band setting, or as a brat -- it’s because I was a female, really,” she says, calmly, adding that she learnt a lot from the experience. “I’m not bitter about it but I grew up understanding that I was a little kid wearing a demon costume that I couldn’t see but everyone else could”.

I want to discuss the fact that there has been some struggle in Paramore. There has been disruption in the ranks and, as the lead, that weighed heavily on Williams’ shoulders. Although they have had a lot of success and good times, I think there is this perception that everything has been quite smooth – one might view Paramore that way looking from the outside. In an interview with NME from last year, some of the tensions in the group were outlined:

“And, yes, behind the scenes Paramore have weathered more than their fair share of storms. In 2009, after the release of their third record ‘Brand New Eyes’, the Farro brothers – drummer Zac and lead guitarist Josh – dramatically quit the band, sharing a bitter exit statement in the process. Four years later, hot on the heels of the group’s lauded self-titled album, bassist Jeremy Davis left. That same summer even Williams secretly quit. For a time, guitarist Taylor York was the only remaining member of Paramore. Williams later described 2015 as “the worst year” of her life.

“From the outside, ‘Paramore’ was our most successful record,” she says now. “We won a Best Rock Song Grammy for ‘Ain’t It Fun’ and I got engaged – all this insanely cool shit was happening.” All these milestones left Williams feeling empty, however. “I spent most of my life trying to be so bulletproof and callous,” she shrugs. “I learned more from becoming pretty helpless after that”.

It must have been especially hard for Hayley Williams seeing the band go through fractious times. One particularly vivid and alarming moment happened when the band were promoting their last album, The After Laughter. Returning to that interview from The Guardian, it was definitely clear that things needed to change:

“The After Laughter promo cycle was just beginning. When Paramore shot the first two videos, Williams weighed six and a half stone. “It wasn’t until I saw the pictures that I was like, there’s no hiding that I’m not OK now,” she says. “And part of me enjoyed that – if people know I’m not OK, they won’t get too close.”

Her bandmates coaxed her to eat after the tour started. Then her coping mechanisms went into overdrive. Williams’ ex is straight-edge, so she hadn’t drunk alcohol for most of her 20s. “But it wasn’t really about me,” she says. “It was about people-pleasing.” Her divorce and slow acceptance of her emotions left her downing tequila before the encore, “looking to break free from a prison that I’d put myself in and to also forget at the same time”.

She wouldn’t describe herself as depressed, even though she had felt suicidal. “What I hated was at the time it was still sort of new to see the word ‘depression’ – it became such a hot-button word, almost clickbait?” she says tentatively. “And it scared me to become part of that conversation, especially if I wasn’t even sure what was actually going on with me”.

Not to say that everyone who is in a band will have the same experiences as Hayley Williams, though I do think there is something to be said for the pressures one can feel as a lead…and the result of success and such a punishing work schedule. Things are more complicated for Williams. It does make for troubling reading learning what she has faced and why she had to briefly step back from Paramore.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Lindsey Byrnes

Going back to that interview from i-D, and we learn more about why, in 2015, Williams took a year-long break from Paramore (one can also read more about it in this article from The New York Times):

“At her new home on a planned year-long break from Paramore, Hayley began therapy for diagnosed depression, PTSD and anxiety. She describes asking herself difficult questions in the isolation. Of her rage -- named as a ‘quiet thing’ on “Simmer” while she races through the woods, naked, in its video -- she says, “I was aware of it for a while and it still fascinates me that you can have these massive feelings that are lodged away inside of you somewhere and you don’t have access to them until you allow yourself to, until you get out of your own way.”

At the crux of her therapy work were early memories of her parents’ separation when she was four. That experience left a ripple effect throughout her adult life. “I really thought ‘what a clichéd thing to be affected by -- that can’t be my scar or emotional wound’, because everyone’s parents are divorced. Every character on TV is divorced,“ she says. “I was so desensitised to it, I felt silly being affected by it. And the truth is that it was the most pivotal moment in my entire life”.

Not to dwell too much on the harder years and the darker side of life with Paramore, but I feel it is important when contextualising Williams’ current work and where she is now. She has made some changes in her life that have been of benefit. Not only taking a year out but, a few years back, moving to a new city. Going back to the NME feature, and Williams talked about relocating to a new home:

“Three years ago – the same month in which Paramore released ‘After Laughter’ – Hayley Williams moved to the cottage that she’s speaking to NME from today. She wanted to start afresh. It was in a bad way when she first pitched up, but she was drawn to it all the same. “This house was infested with bats, it was dirty…” Williams says. “It was like me at the time.” She laughs wryly. “It needed a lot of exorcism.”

On arriving, she didn’t know what she wanted her life to look like. Having moved out of the farmhouse she’d once lived in with her ex, Williams was faced instead with a blank slate. “I had bought [that house] because I thought: ‘This is going to be my life, and maybe I’ll have children here’,” she says now. “I was really gonna get domesticated.” This place, she adds, “resonated with my spirit a lot more”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Lindsey Byrnes

There are not too many interviews surrounding Williams’ new album; a lot of the press attention one can find online is for Petals for Armor. I think that this album, as it was only released last year, is important to dissect. I have already brought in articles that looked at Paramore and how there have been ups and downs. That is not to say that, since then, it has been smooth and there has been this sort of rehabilitation. The album, in a sense, is a sort of therapy. It is clear, as we discover from the i-D interview, her first solo album was very important and personal:

“Years later, and just into her 30s, Hayley was in extensive therapy for the first time and writing a solo album, Petals For Armor, the one she always swore would never come. Created during a year of downtime for the band, the music leans into her newfound femininity, exploring her depression, her longing for family and experiences of hard-earned, bittersweet solitude after her divorce. She explains how she came to reach a kinder, more realistic understanding of herself in early April while she’s quarantined alone, with her dog, Alf, for company.

The search for family has always been integral to the Hayley Williams story. When she was young, her parents divorced and her mother married “a really awful man”. She and her mother escaped to Franklin, Tennessee. It was in that town, where they moved between hotel rooms and a trailer, that Hayley was homeschooled and Paramore were formed, when the members were all in their early-to-mid teens. Hayley was signed to her label as a solo artist but resisted their efforts to turn her into a hit-making pop star, insisting that she came with a band. “I learnt that chosen family was just as vital as family of origin. And my chosen family is my band,” she says”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Jason Nocito

I think that Petals for Armor is a terrific album. One experiences something very moving, rich and stirring. That is not to say that all of Petal for Amor is quite emotional and fraught. It is a diverse and interesting album that I would encourage people to seek out. It is a very different album to one we might hear from Paramore. To go back (again) to the NME interview, and we learn more about the creative and personal perspective on Petals for Armor:

“And so instead of penning a big pop record, she cast her ear back to artists who made her fall in love with music in the first place. Williams lived in Mississippi until she was 13. Her parents divorced when she was young and she later moved to Tennessee after the breakdown of her mum’s second marriage. “There’s a section of my life that I often forget, because it was shrouded in a lot of not-good stuff,” she says. “I loved listening to R&B and soul: Missy Elliott, Erykah Badu, TLC. I was inspired by them even though I knew my reality was very different,” she says.

“It’s interesting to be 31, and to have written all these songs drawing from that well,” she observes. “I remember walking into Good Vibrations, a record shop in Mississippi, with my dad when I was about eight. I heard [British soul band] Sade for the first time and that moment has never left me. Sade’s grooves are so sexy, but they’re tough: there was an overt feminine nature to them, but there were teeth, too.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Lindsey Byrnes

Whilst Williams was putting a lot of herself into the album in a very real and honest way, I think that she has also managed to find some answers and focus. I want to quote from a DAZED interview, where Williams talked about the album and her mental recovery:

“It was in the Petals for Armor journey that Williams’ metamorphosis took shape. The hurt and trauma that pocked After Laughter gained clarity and purpose. The songs began to inflect traumas that surprised even Williams herself: her parents’ divorce, discomforts around her marriage from the beginning, a primal fear of being abandoned. Anger became an energy, a cathartic resource. “Simmer”, a track about the abuse women in her family had suffered, opens with a “singular, seething” expression, “Rage.” “I wanted to plunge the furthest depths of my fears and anger. It wasn’t fighting against me bringing it all up though, it wanted to spring up.”

Petals for Armor is structured in three parts, the sound and lyricism distinctly reflect her mental recovery, from dark to light. “I still have such a dark, sappy mind,” she says. “We’ll be sitting with the guys, having the best time, then I’ll get so down at the idea of us ever not hanging out. Why am I such a downer? I am a magnet for tragedy. I have to fight it, but also accept it.” Writing tracks like “Leave it Alone” was a cathartic exercise to acknowledge that fear, while “Cinnamon” is a state of play for new ways of coping.

On “Dead Horse”, Williams shares how her “most significant relationship” with Gilbert began as an affair, as he was still in his previous marriage. “I wanted to tackle the shames of my 20s head-on, finally. I made a lot of mistakes and I’m pretty willing to talk about them, but not at the expense of someone else,” she says, leaving the details at that to give Gilbert grace. “I’m putting a lot out there. I want people to have the opportunity to get on board with this me or peace out, I owe them that. At the same time, I’m grateful that I wasn't thinking about anyone but myself when I wrote these songs”.

Going solo and stepping away from Paramore must have been quite intimidating for Williams. I am interested in band members releasing solo material and how they cope with that shift. It has been a period of transition but, as Paramore have not split up, I guess Williams’ experience is different to other people’s. When speaking with Ben Barna in Interview Magazine, she was asked about her musical solo endeavour:

“BARNA: You’re used to speaking about your music alongside your bandmates. What’s it been like to be the only person representing the music?

WILLIAMS: On the one hand, I fucking talk so much. The guys always laugh at me because before an encore, we take shots of tequila. It was a little tradition for us during the After Laughter tour. And you always knew when I took part, because when I take a shot, I talk even more. But this whole process is just me puking it up. I’m pretty unfiltered these days, and I feel okay about that. If this were a Paramore project, you’re absolutely right. It’s not because I feel ashamed of the work, or because the guys don’t want me to talk, it’s just that it’s not only me, and I love just as much for them to have the light on them. If anything, I love that more. Right now, I’m just letting my fucking mouth flap around, and I’m saying too much. But I don’t ever regret it. There’s no point.

BARNA: Is there a specific moment when you know it’s finally time to let go of an album and move on, and is that process more nebulous now that the traditional markers of releasing and promoting an album don’t exist?

WILLIAMS: The blissfulness of writing some of these songs, the pain of writing some of these songs, that’s all a passing moment. I have to move on to other stories. I think it usually takes me a week or so after the record comes out, because we’re always working so hard the week of release. We’re always doing extra press, last-minute promotions, but once that’s over, there’s this quiet moment where the real release happens for me. I already wrote on Instagram, in a letter to the fans, “This is yours. Please take care of this. This is a really major part of my life but it’s time to move onto the next.” The truth is I say that, but it still takes me a bit of time to live that down”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Josh Brastead 

BARNA: I read a review the other day that said the album feels like meeting Hayley Williams for the first time. Do you feel like you’re introducing yourself to us for the first time?

WILLIAMS: Oh man, that’s a good question. I feel like After Laughter was the moment where I started to let myself be known. I think the guys feel that way, too. It really felt like that was the first time our band had autonomy apart from the hype and the industry, and also from who we had been for so long in the public’s eyes. Before we wrote After Laughter, we were so sick of the grind, and so sick of the family drama of Paramore and the fact that most of the world only knows us for wearing skinny jeans and “Misery Business.” So After Laughter was when I said, “Okay, now we’re in a relationship. Let me let you know how fucked up I am”.

One can make an argument to say that Williams can take a lot of positives back to Paramore when they start recording again. I feel Petals for Armor, and FLOWERS for VASES / descansos have shaped, shifted and sharpened her as a person and songwriter. Nodding to an interview with Vanity Fair, and Williams said that, despite the fact that her solo work is very different (to that of Paramore’s), there might be some similarities when she returns to writing with them:

“Now that she’s pursuing stand-alone solo work, Williams sees it as a way to begin carving out her own musical future as well as Paramore’s. “I’ll probably write about some of the same shit when it comes time to make the next Paramore record,” she said, “but I know it’ll feel different. I just don’t know how.” And even if she’s strayed from the sound and model of when she was 17, Williams doesn’t view her current work as too vast a departure from what she was doing then. “I’ve been making music for two thirds of my life now, but I still wanna make things that are cool,” she said. “I still have that thing in me that’s very teenaged, that’s just like, I just want it to be so fucking cool”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Lindsey Byrnes

There are a couple of other things that I want to tackle before coming on to reviewing a track from FLOWERS for VASES / descansos. Not to concentrate too much on Petals for Armor – as I said, there is not a lot of interview material from this year -, but solo work has provided Williams the opportunity to address her relationship with femininity. Williams explains more in the DAZED interview:

“The evocative pastoral imagery runs parallel with Williams’ changing relationship with her femininity, blossoming across the record. “I envision femininity as strong hands, reaching in the dirt. It’s in the songwriting, digging past the stones and hard shit, tilling soil until there is a place for you to plant something.” She watched Ari Aster’s rural horror Midsommar several times, enthralled by the women’s communal scream scene. Conversations at a recent all-women tea ceremony she attended inspired her to explore women’s health and psychology. “I was 30 when I started writing this project. I woke up at 30, and I felt very aware of my body, of the work that I had been doing, my desires and hopes, and they all felt very feminine, they felt earthly too.”

Femininity is something she has long wrestled with. “I’ve always been a bit timid about my femininity, always wanting to show my tough side first – this was a real big catalyst for this album. On-stage, I’ve always railed against the stereotypical expectations of being female. I wanted to just be a spirit. The stage and my music is where I’m not as vain or shameful. Unlearning that... I really wanted everyone involved in the project to imagine femininity in different ways than people are used to seeing – it is primal and ferocious and gross and beautiful.”

In darker moments, Williams had distanced herself from friendships, but found strengthened bonds with women in her life – her mother, childhood friends, wives and girlfriends of bandmates – helped her most. “When I started to be a little bit more open about things with the women in my life, my music felt different. To feel seen in moments where I was diagnosed with depression, when I started taking medication or going through my divorce – I found faith again, but in women. And in life, I have never felt more… feminine? So proudly feminine. With that, I’m giving myself the grace I deserve”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Lindsey Byrnes

The last point I want to explore before reviewing is a photographic one. Many of the photos used in this review are from noted photographer, Lindsey Byrnes. I think that photographers can bring the best out of artists - and, if you work with one often, there can be this very trusting and special bond. In that interview from VICE that I have sourced, Lindsey Byrnes explored shooting with Hayley Williams:

“As the Petals For Armor creative director, Lindsey shot nearly all the visuals at Hayley’s property or in her own home studio. According to Lindsey: “Hayley really wanted things to feel very family-familiar.” She considered that Hayley has emerged with a drastic hair and make-up look for each phase of Paramore, as created with Brian O’Connor. One day, Hayley was on Lindsey’s couch with her hand up to her mouth (on her hand is a cover-up tattoo of three black squares, over her ex-husband’s initials). Lindsey told her friend, “Let’s expand on that and show that you made art out of your experiences, and you’re a sum of your experiences and you’re not ashamed of them”.

I should crack on and get to reviewing a song from the terrific FLOWERS for VASES / descansos. I am surprised that there have been two albums from Hayley Williams in a year but, in great creative form, I would not be shocked if we got more material from her later this year! Go and listen to the album as a whole. I wanted to review Just a Lover, as it makes for particularly interesting assessment. It is a great song that I wanted to explore in greater detail.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Lindsey Byrnes

The start of Just a Lover is so stirring and emotive. There is this gorgeous piano line and vocals from Williams that sound far away. Almost haunted or a distant memory, one is instantly invested in the song. The lyrics in the opening section definitely get one thinking: “Love is not a friend, it's not a brother/Love is not a Wendy-Moira-mother/Love has turned me into many others/Now I guess I'm just/Just a lover”. Williams’ vocals come to the front, and we get this transition from the echoed and far-off sound to something with greater clarity and weight. I love Hayley Williams’ lyrical approach and how she can pen these incredible lines that seem very personal and oblique at the same time. Her voice stretches and elongates as the piano provokes and elicits shivers. Back by quite a soft beat, Williams’ vocal changes from a more pained and dramatic sound to something more tender and intimate. Again, the lyrics really capture the imagination: “Once upon a time, when we were school kids/Mix CDs and carpool kids/No little cameras to witness/Really hope we don't wreck this/When you coming over?”. I was listening to those lines being delivered and images flashed in my mind. Those scenes of school and mix CDs are ones that many of us can relate to – especially for people of a similar age to me (thirty-seven). I love the character and personality in Williams’ voice. She delivers her lines with warmth and curiosity; there is this lushness and beauty that means you will come back to the song again and again. I would be intrigued to discover the origins of Just a Lover and whether it is based around a particular relationship. As the song continues, the lyrics become more vivid and moving: “Space and time/Waking hours before I/Open my eyes/In the morning, I feel my/Heart crack open/One last chorus”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Lindsey Byrnes

The composition is really interesting. From that opening where the piano took centre stage and there was this sense of drama and romance, the mood and pace changes as the song evolves. There is this great beat and guitar line that mixes alongside the piano to create something really rich and impactful. No matter what the inspiration behind the lyrics, one can definitely feel something in Williams’ voice that suggests Just a Lover has some personal origins and means a lot to her. (“Space and time/Waking hours before I/Open my eyes/In the morning, I feel my/Heart crack open/One last chorus, I'll be singin' into/Empty glasses”). The final lines of Just a Lover, to me, are the most interesting: “No more music for the masses/One more hour/One more ugly, stillborn cry/I know exactly what this is/Or whatever it was/Or whatever it was”. The pace picks up and the percussion gets heavier. Williams’ voice rises and there is this brilliant swell at the end. One is left to contemplate this very touching and beautiful song that is a definite highlight of FLOWERS for VASES / descansos. I have heard Just a Lover a few times and it is a song that is going to stay in my mind for a long time! Hayley Williams is an exceptional performer and writer and, on Just a Lover, she shows that in spades! There are so many different moods and sounds on FLOWERS for VASES / descansos. From flowing and gorgeous Wait On, to the wonderful opening track, First Thing to Go, there is so much to enjoy and cherish!

 PHOTO CREDIT: Lindsey Byrnes

I want to finish off with a couple of unrelated subjects that caught my eye. I was reading an interview Williams conducted with Stereogum last year. I mentioned Williams’ bond with photographer Lindsey Byrnes. I think that style and the visual side of things is very important when it comes to Williams’ music. She was asked what her favourite music beauty look was:

“WILLIAMS: Easily Missy Elliott. “Supa Dupa Fly.” Very good. That was a moment that I’ll never forget. I was probably eight years old. I don’t remember exactly. I just remember I had a very young brain and I was sneak watching MTV because I wasn’t allowed to at the time. And she popped on my TV and I was like, “I want to go and live on whatever planet she lives on, wherever she is is where I belong. I don’t belong in Mississippi.” At the time we also had like shit like Aaliyah and TLC, beautiful women that were wearing things that challenged the norm. I mean they were obviously sexy, but they wore a lot of oversized clothing.

That’s one thing that I absolutely fan out about with Billie Eilish. She literally reminds me of being a kid, seeing Mary J Blige, she looks like she lived it and it’s crazy because obviously she’s so much younger. She wasn’t even around for that era but it seems to be authentic to her. Also she kind of made neon cool again after it had sort of died down a little bit. She kind of brought it back with her roots and now we’re seeing it grow out and she keeps refreshing it and it just makes me so happy”.

To round off, and I want to go back to the Interview Magazine piece. There has been some transition in Williams life in terms of moving between cities. She did move out of Nashville and lived in Los Angeles. Now, she is back in Nashville. We learn more of why she moved back:

“WILLIAMS: I thought that I was going to get married, and I thought maybe I’d just live a simpler life near my family. I tried L.A. for a while to be closer to my ex, and I was really lonely. I love California and I have really great friends now, but it’s mostly because a lot of my friends from Nashville are in L.A. I tried to make it work, but it was pretty unhealthy for me. I came back in 2015 to get married and do the domesticated thing, and honestly, if that had been the right relationship or a healthy place for me to be in, I would have been fine. But I actually was pretty miserable the first year coming back home. I thought, “Holy shit, Nashville’s completely changed, it’s not a small town anymore. It’s a big city with tons of construction, my life is falling apart, and I don’t know why I’m making the decisions I’m making in my personal life.” But I’m so glad I stuck it out and I didn’t go running back to California after my divorce, because I do have a true community here”.

I shall wrap up now, but I have loved reviewing Just a Lover. I really like FLOWERS for VASES / descansos. It is a terrific album that everyone should check out. I don’t think that one needs to know about Hayley Williams work or be familiar with Paramore to appreciate her new album. It is a tremendous album from one of the best songwriters in modern music. It is that autonomy and very personal approach that, to me, defines Williams’ music. On FLOWERS for VASES / descansos, she has created an album that is among her very finest music to date. I am not sure whether a Paramore record is imminent but, I guess, we will all have to wait and…

PHOTO CREDIT: Lindsey Byrnes

SEE what happens next.

___________

Follow Hayley Williams

PHOTO CREDIT: Natasha Moustache  

Official:

https://www.hayleywilliams.com/

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https://www.facebook.com/hayleywilliams/

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Hayley Williams

TRACK REVIEW: Arlo Parks - Hope

TRACK REVIEW:

 

 

Arlo Parks

PHOTO CREDIT: Alex Kurunis 

Hope

 

9.7/10

The track, Hope, is available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8d-blfWHSng

GENRES:

Indie Pop/Bedroom Pop/Neo-Soul

ORIGIN:

London, U.K.

The album, Collapsed in Sunbeams, is available via:

https://www.arloparksofficial.com/

LABEL:

Transgressive

RELEASE DATE:

29th January, 2021

PRODUCER:

Gianluca Buccellati

TRACKLISTING:

Collapsed in Sunbeams

Hurt

Too Good

Hope

Caroline

Black Dog

Green Eyes

Just Go

For Violet

Eugene

Bluish

Bad Sounds

Portra 400

__________

THIS is a review that I have been…

looking forwards to for a while now! I have been a big follower of Arlo Parks’ music for a couple of years now but, with her fantastic album, Collapsed in Sunbeams, out and showcasing her immense talent, I think now is the right time to shine a spotlight on one of modern music’s finest talents. Arlo Parks (Anaïs Oluwatoyin Estelle Marinho) is someone who has had an interesting life and, though her career, she has grown and developed. I want to bring in a series of interviews and explore different subjects before I come to reviewing a track from Collapsed in Sunbeams. When thinking about Parks, I am interested in her early life and what that was like. When she spoke with The Guardian, we got a snapshot of Parks’ (I will refer to her by her stage name from now on) earliest years:

“As a shy, but happy, child growing up in Hammersmith, west London, Parks discovered poetry after a teacher gave her Sylvia Plath’s Ariel, and she remembers reading Allen Ginsberg’s Howl for the first time. “I realised that what I loved was descriptive writing rather than something with a plot,” she says. “My attention span was quite short and I just wanted to use a lot of beautiful words. When I read a poem like Howl, or Lady Lazarus by Sylvia Plath, I felt myself being moved – I wanted to do that for other people.” She started making music in her mid-teens when she picked up a guitar and taught herself how to make beats on GarageBand.

But she says she “did want to tell a story, a concise one”, and as such, unlike most pop lyricists, she’s not keen on using metaphor, even when singing of mental illness and suicide. On Black Dog, she coaxes a friend out of despair, suggesting everything from licking the grief from her friend’s lips to a trip to the corner shop to buy fruit. “I would do anything to get you out your room,” she sings. “It’s so cruel what your mind can do for no reason”.

I think that early memories and musical experiences can be transformative and effecting. I have discussed mine before but, for Arlo Parks, as we learn from an interview in DORK from last year, Otis Redding is particularly instrumental:

"My earliest memory of music is listening to '(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay' by Otis Redding, just in the car. I don't know why that's the first song I remember consciously absorbing, but when I got older, it was more of a personal thing," she recalls. "Because my family loved music, it was on a different level where I went on YouTube and would spend hours trying to find new stuff to listen to – I think that's where my music taste really evolved."

Otis Redding's conversational melancholia being one of the first memories that Arlo has of music holds a poetic kind of symmetry. It is no mere coincidence that her own songs are littered with observational imagery and a solemn stillness that permeates listeners lives in a distinctly relatable way. There's an honesty that resides in the words, and it's something that Arlo is well aware of”.

Forgive me for sprinkling in these interviews and various snippets; I like how we get these revelations from Parks regarding music and what it was like growing up. Like many prodigious and budding poets and songwriters it seems, as we see from an interview from NME, that Parks developed her gift whilst she was in school:

“At age 10, she’d already begun writing in various forms with regularity. “I can remember spending a lot of weekends writing down my thoughts and making stories,” she says. “I’ve always been a very emotional person and as a child. I guess writing felt like something that I could do in private to process things. Being an empath [a person with heightened emotional awareness] you tend to absorb everyone else’s moods. I realised that being sensitive means you can connect to all kinds of people. I think I’ve learned that it is a gift as well”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Phoebe Fox

I just want to source a couple more interview segments regarding Arlo Parks’ earliest years; I will move into her teenage life - as it seemed like she started to find her crowd and place at this time. That said, Parks is only twenty now, so we are talking about her a few years ago! It is amazing to see how young she is and how far she has come already! In an interview for The Independent, a particular section caught my eye:

“Up until the age of 16, Parks says she was reserved and introverted. She had a small circle of friends and studied very hard. She wasn’t bullied, but she also “wasn't part of the popular squad at all”. Her spare time was filled with playing hockey and writing. When she moved schools for sixth-form, however, Parks found kindred spirits. “I was surrounded by people who wanted to be rappers and art directors and curators,” she says. “Having that around me and doing my music made me more extroverted. I had loads of friends and was going to parties all the time, so that was a nice switch”.

Whilst it was good that, by the age of sixteen, Parks was beginning to find like-minded people, there were not a lot of figures in music like her. Although there were not – or are not now – many Black women who played guitar, as is outlined in the interview for The Independent, that did not constrict Parks:

“Nor did she ever feel held back by the narrow boundaries of music genres. There weren’t many black women playing guitar music as she was growing up but, even so, it didn’t discourage her: she says she has always been more interested in seeing herself reflected emotionally, rather than in terms of her sexuality or race. 

“I’ve never thought, because I don't see that many people like me making alternative music, it poses a boundary or I can’t do it,” she says. “It makes me think, oh, OK, well I just need to make something new.” Whether it was King Krule, Syd from The Internet, Beth Gibbons from Portishead or Grant from Massive Attack, there was always this sense of, wow, they’re making something vulnerable or something that feels nostalgic or moving,” she adds”.

I want to move along and focus on Parks and her bisexuality. I feel that we are seeing more artists speak about their sexuality and, compared to years ago, one can see a wider discussion happening; a larger spectrum unfurling. There are still those online who will troll and attack artists based on their sexuality but, with greater discussion, I feel there we are seeing greater acceptance – artists who are no longer afraid to speak out and talk about their sexuality. Referring back to The Independent, and it seems that Parks’ experience was  quite accepting and not too fraught:

“Parks says there wasn’t a notable “moment” when she came out as bisexual, it was “always just a thing”. Her parents were very accepting and “never made a massive deal” of it. “They were just like, ‘OK, we love you’,” she says. “And I'm so grateful for that. I learned a lot of empathy and openness from my parents. I know so many people who don't have that experience. I have friends who've been kicked out of their homes over it.”

In the close group of mates Parks had at school, which she still has now, there was “an array of different sexualities and gender identities”, so her relationship with her own sexuality was similarly liberated. “I was lucky the people around me were also figuring themselves out and living their realities and going into relationships with whoever they pleased,” she says. “I never felt uncomfortable. I never felt like it was something I had to explain to them. People like to write that it made me sad and confused and angsty, but I never felt that. Of course, as a teenager, no one is 100 per cent self-assured, but it was just never something that I lay awake at night thinking about”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Kalpesh Lathigra for The New York Times

I am sort of taking things chronologically, because I want to look back at Arlo Parks’ previous work and rise to prominence before coming fully up to date and exploring her album. I noted how, at twenty, Parks has already achieved so much. In 2018, as we glean from a Billboard interview, things really started to happen for Parks regarding reaching a wider audience:

“In 2018, Parks uploaded demos to BBC Introducing, BBC Radio’s platform for unsigned talent, that caught the attention of DJ Jess Iszatt. Iszatt passed them along to Beatnik Creative’s Ali Raymond, who soon began managing Parks and helped release her debut single, “Cola,” later that year. It earned a co-sign from Lily Allen and has since racked up 13.5 million streams on Spotify. By April 2019, Parks had released her debut EP, Super Sad Generation, and she signed to Transgressive Records two months later. She performed at the Glastonbury Festival that summer and in the fall embarked on her first tour, supporting New Zealand-born Jordan Rakei while promoting her second EP, Sophie”.

I can see why there was such an intense and passionate reaction to Parks’ music fairly early on. I will focus more on her 2019 E.P., Super Sad Generation, in a bit, but, we NME explained in the interview I previously quoted from,  Parks barely let her feet touch the ground after that E.P. arrived:

“She’s been busier than most for the past couple of years. She’s signed to the illustrious Transgressive Records (home to the likes of Foals and Two Door Cinema Club) and 2019’s debut EP, ‘Super Sad Generation’, saw her pegged as the voice of Gen Z, weaving her way around lo-fi, indie-leaning R&B to capture the unique blend of anxiety and empowerment that many young people feel in the information age. And all this before she’s even made her debut album, which is currently in the works.

Just months after the release of ‘Super Sad Generation’, she followed it up with the ‘Sophie’ EP, a welcoming listen on which she refrained from overcrowding her sentiment with anything other than gentle guitar and her soft, coaxing voice. “You’re there picking out your flaws from 3am ’til noon / Like the bad kids at school used to do / Well fuck ’em, ’cause you turned out so kind and so cute,” she sings on ‘Angel’s Song’, demonstrating her empath way”.

If one has not heard Super Sad Generation, I feel they owe it to themselves to seek it out. I feel that Collapsed in Sunbeams is a more representative release in terms of who Parks is, through Super Sad Generation is exceptional and hugely accomplished! In an interview with The Face, the warmth and nature of Parks’ lyrics is underlined:

“Parks, for sure, is writing for herself (and by herself). But like fellow west Londoner Beabadoobee and Clairo, Atlanta’s own internet sensation, she’s also writing for the Super Sad Generation, the kids hymned in the title of 2019’s breakout EP, recorded in an AirBnb in Islington, north London. The kids that need to be told, as recounted in beautiful lead track Hurt – a Hottest Record In The World for Radio 1’s Annie Mac – that everything’s going to be OK.

The characters who wander her lyrics feel plucked from a special episode of what you might call Arlo’s World, an imaginary Noughties show you didn’t realise everyone else was secretly watching, too. That person you’re in love with reading Sylvia Plath to someone else, which appears with searing poignancy on Eugene: ​“I thought that was our thing”. Your dream guy who likes to ​“quote Thom Yorke and lean in for a quick kiss” but feels just Too Good to be true. People for whom love is a complex thing, often intimately bound up in their identity: Eugene is about the painful, knotty experience of Parks, who is bisexual, falling in love with a straight best friend.

“I think my music will always have that element of intimacy,” she says once we’ve sat down inside, oat cappuccinos and OJ on their way. She likes to write in flats and houses and ​“can’t really do the whole studio thing”. That comfortability, she thinks, translates to her music. ​“Because I always feel so comfortable, that’s why it might feel like you’re just overhearing a conversation I’m having with my friend in a bedroom”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Emmanuel Robert Owusu-Afram

On the subjects of warmth and intimacy in Parks’ music, I will refer back to The Guardian interview of 2019. Many of us develop warmth and understanding from people around us but, like many, Parks adopted it closer to home:

“This skill was something she adopted from her parents, whom she describes as “extroverted, warm people”. Her father is from Nigeria, while her mother was born in France. Growing up, she says, “we were always encouraged to talk about our feelings. That sense of transparency, that sense of unconditional acceptance, was instilled in me very young. I feel grateful because not everyone has that. There was nothing that was seen as too small or shameful to discuss”.

I think, as is displayed in the Billboard interview, Parks has always had an affinity and bond with people. We also learn more about Parks’ earliest life and some figures that influenced her writing and way of thinking about the world:

““I’ve always felt very connected to people,” says Arlo Parks (born Anaïs Oluwatoyin Estelle Marinho), whose habit of striking up conversations with strangers sometimes got her in trouble as a kid. As she recalls with a laugh, “I once went up to some woman in the supermarket when I was 3 and was like, ‘Why do you have wrinkles?’ ” At home, she poured her feelings into short stories and poems, inspired by Audre Lorde and Sylvia Plath. She was first motivated to turn her writing into music after listening to English singer King Krule’s debut album, 6 Feet Beneath the Moon, as a teenager: “It was very gritty and dark,” she says, “but I felt very moved by it”.

I have also already touched on a lack of representation in terms of relatable Black artists that Parks could draw influence from. Although, in sonic terms, she was influenced by the ‘90s and hooked on that side of things, there were not as many relatable faces as she would have hoped:

“Growing up in the early-90s, there was never a shortage of female artists to find inspiration from, but there was a distinct lack of representation for POC who identify as queer. While it was easy to find empowerment from the likes of Lil' Kim, TLC, Eve and Mýa; if the music that you were listening to didn't fall into the realms of contemporary R&B, hip-hop or pop, it was challenging to find a face that you could relate to. Arlo remembers experiencing a similar thing, but as a true Leo, she was walking her own path even just a decade ago when she was growing up.

"I didn't really feel represented," she says, taking pauses often to contemplate her words. "It was never something that I thought about that much. I felt like maybe I was kind out outside of what I was seeing. I didn't see women of colour – they were probably out there, but from my perspective – making the kind of music that I wanted to make”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Chris Almeida

Not only is there a warmth in Arlo Parks’ music but, running alongside it, one gets an honesty that is frank and refreshing. I will move on to discuss Parks’ approach to mental-health and well-being, but I wanted to bring in an interview from Another Mag of last year. We understand why there is an openness and frankness in her lyrics:

“SM: Your lyrics tend to stand out for their emotional frankness. What do you attribute that quality to?

AP: I’ve always been quite a direct person. As kids if we were ever sulking or upset about something, my parents would always say, “What’s happened? Tell us how you feel.” I always found that really helpful; talking something through and vocalising what’s wrong. I’ve found that internalising things just makes them come up in uglier ways further down the line, so it’s definitely something I’ve tried to maintain throughout my life.

SM: A lot of people can relate to your lyrics. What has the reaction to Caroline been like?

AP: Someone sent me a message the other day and said that the song made them realise that their partner was really trying their best and that [their relationship] couldn’t really have gone any other way. That’s something I didn’t think about at the time, and I love that. You might write about one story, but it can mean a million different things to a million different people”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Alex Kurunis

I shall come to reviewing soon though, when it comes to Arlo Parks, there is so much to explore that paints a larger picture of the artists and her process. I feel that reviews can be too brief that one does not really get an insight into the music and person. I want to firstly refer back to the NME interview, as we learn more about Parks’ association with the mental-health charity, CALM:

“Advocating for a more open conversation around mental health is part of Arlo’s role as a CALM ambassador. She plays virtual shows and shares her experience of managing her own mental health through music and writing. She follows in the footsteps of fellow ambassador Loyle Carner, who has become a firm friend and collaborator, directing the ‘Eugene’ video with his brother Ryan. “I’m glad that l had someone like him,” she says. “His music was one of those early things that I discovered for myself, and his vulnerability inspired me to do the same with my music, especially as a fellow person of colour”.

I want to draw in an interview from The Standard from May 2020, where a newly-appointed ambassador explained more about her lyrical content in the song, Super Sad Generation:

“This month she was made an ambassador for the suicide prevention charity Calm. Having started out writing poetry before she began putting her words to music, she filmed a spoken word piece to mark her involvement. That, and the lyrics of her earlier song Super Sad Generation (“When did we get so skinny?/Start doing ketamine on weekends/Getting wasted at the station/And trying to keep our friends from death”) might set her up as a smart, sharp spokesperson on youth issues, but she’s not so sure.

“I wasn’t trying to say that everyone in my generation is miserable,” she explains. “That song is a snapshot, capturing the mood of a particular afternoon, the people around me and their struggles. I didn’t want it to be a negative song. There is a prevalence of mental health problems, but there is also a lot of hope, a lot of ambition, a lot of activism, people taking action to achieve change”.

Next, I want to explore Parks’ influence; not just in terms of music, but literature and poetry. Maybe there were not a lot of relatable artists in terms of colour and sexuality when Parks was growing up but, musically, there are a number of interesting artists Parks has referred to in her music – as we discover in the NME interview I have already sourced from:

"Always quick to cite her inspirations, Parks is an artist you can get to know a little better through the names she peppers through her catalogue with – ‘Cola’ name-checks My Chemical Romance’s Gerard Way, ‘Black Dog’ mentions The Cure frontman Robert Smith and ‘Eugene’ references poet Sylvia Plath. It’s an endearing trait of fandom that gets to the heart of her sincerity, giving her work an extra dose of reality. Will she be continuing that habit on her debut album?

“There are certain artists whose names I just love the sound of,” she says. “Moses Sumney, for example – I just want to include him! I’ve got a little list for the album. I definitely love the name-dropping – it will never stop,” she laughs”.

When it comes to Collapsed in Sunbeams, Parks could have reverted to her childhood music or listened to music that was more negative and emotional. Instead, as she revealed to DIY last year, there was plenty of uplift and eclectic sounds:

“Where many artists talk about shutting the world out and turning their speakers off for six months around the making of a record, Arlo explains that she went fully the other way, immersing herself in everything that could possibly provoke a new idea, from hours spent listening to old classics (“‘Rubber Soul’, ‘Baduizm’, Joni Mitchell, Elliot Smith”) to moments where she’d flit happily between Aphex Twin and Miles Davis. “We were just completely in music mode, immersing ourselves completely into so many different worlds, and [the album is] a fusion of all those things,” she explains. “I feel like the only way I can feel inspired is by listening to music constantly. When I’m trying to write, I listen to music even more; I’m just always listening to things.”

It’s an attitude that’s always shone through in Arlo’s music, where this wide myriad of influences is allowed to nestle up and inform the person at its centre. Lyrically, meanwhile, she hopes that her debut will do the same but in reverse: “I feel like my aim is to make the hyper-subjective feel universal; for people to feel immersed in my world, but also be able to see themselves in every song,” she nods, “so I can talk about something that feels very personal to me but it will remind them of a time in their lives or a person and they still feel connected to it - that’s always been my mission statement, as it were”.

I think that, perhaps more than music itself, poetry and literature is a greater force on Parks’ life and intellect. Like Kae Tempest, I feel that Parks is a poet as much as she is a songwriter – in the sense her lyrics are so detailed, propound and affecting; she ascends to a ratified plain. Thinking about literature and, as she discussed with The Face, it is quite a big part of her life:

“Literature certainly hasn’t taken a backseat – having written short stories from the age of seven, she still dreams of writing a novel and is currently halfway through her first poetry collection. But for now she feels more comfortable practising economical storytelling with emotional heart. She cites Frank Ocean as the master of this. ​“Obviously there is a story behind it, but there’s a lot of him just glimpsing different images, and being quite surreal with it, and I like that.

It’s why she got into poetry in the first place, why she went through a phase of obsessively writing haikus. ​“They taught me how to condense a whole year of a relationship: something this big into something this small. And that’s kinda what a song is – telling a story in just a few verses.”

Less plot, then, more vibes. Eyelids that are purple, kisses that are amethyst. ​“I’m definitely all about images,” she smiles. ​“I’m all about the flowers.”

That visual flair has taken Parks in other interesting directions, too. This summer she graduated from making her own music videos to co-directing a short film for Gucci, titled Knotted Gold, in which she also stars, reciting some of her poetry. Set by the sea in Margate, its feel and flavour were influenced by watching a lot of Wong Kar-Wai and Wes Anderson films. ​“I wanted those colour schemes and that sense of surrealness to come through”.

I might look at poetry in more depth a bit later, but I want to finish off the pre-review segment by looking at Collapsed in Sunbeams. Lockdown and the pandemic has affected many artists in different ways. As she told DIY, it seemed the strange situation was a source of energy and focus for her:

“So motivated was Arlo, in fact, that she’s emerged out the other side with her debut record complete and ready to go. Bedding down in an East London Airbnb with her regular producer just as everything hit, she spent the first fortnight cocooned in a writing bubble, taking full advantage of the strange freedom the situation afforded her. “I just wrote for two weeks straight and didn’t go outside. I felt like I was in another dimension because I literally had no other responsibilities on this earth, which I was so grateful for. All I had to do was write music,” she enthusiastically recalls.

“I would just go to bed super late and spend the early hours finding songs and send [my producer] in the next room a very sleep deprived text being like, ‘So the kick drum from that ‘In Rainbows’ song but more crunchy’, and then I’d stumble out in my dressing gown the next morning. There was no glamour…”.

It must have been quite worrying thinking about a debut album and then a pandemic arrives and potentially threatens to scupper that momentum and optimism! For an artists who was tipped for big things and was hoping to tour a lot in 2020, it could have been quite damaging for Parks. When she was interviewed by Another Mag, the question of the pandemic/her album arose:

“SM: How has the pandemic impacted work on your debut album, Collapsed in Sunbeams?

AP: The reason why it was so helpful was really being able to sit with my thoughts and really think about what message I want to put forward and what I wanted it to sound like, because I’ve never written an album before. Having that extra time really gave me space to breathe and to experiment as well.

I think Collapsed in Sunbeams is definitely a product of its environment, but I guess I’ll never know whether I would have done this anyway. We kept the same method in terms of getting an Airbnb and writing and recording in there. I approached it very much song by song, I would just wake up and say OK, I’ve been listening to Nick Drake or I’ve been listening to Portishead; let’s do something like that today. I tried to not put pressure on myself. I was very concerned before the pandemic about finding a thread and knowing what the concept was going to be, but having space allowed me to just focus on each song as it came”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Alex Kurunis

The last segment I want to explore before coming to my review is Arlo Parks’ songwriting process. I am always intrigued about songwriters’ process and how they create. Returning to the interview from DORK, and we learn more about Parks’ approach to songwriting:

“As someone who is continually journaling and making a note of their thoughts, Arlo has an endless stream of words that she can manifest into music. Rather than sitting down with a conscientious intent to produce a body of work, she likes to let the creativity flow naturally. "It's something that I try not to overthink because the best songs that I've written have been when I'm just not getting in the way of myself and I'm just letting myself be expressive," she says earnestly.

"All of the songs that I've put out, and my favourite songs of my own, have just been done in a very short period of time. It hasn't been hours spent trying to figure out the melody. It's all just kind of come out," she offers. This ties into her belief that words come out precisely the way they were supposed to be. As someone with a self-confessed short attention span, it's a beneficial way to write because you're getting to the root of what you intended to say. "I think stream of consciousness is a powerful tool for me, personally, just because you don't have the time to overthink anything and you can be completely honest with yourself about what you're feeling”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Charlie Cummings

The song I have selected to review from Collapsed in Sunbeams is my favourite song. It is also the most-recent single: the stunning Hope. It is a sublime song that boasts a very touching and memorable video (it features Molly Windsor and is directed by Molly Budett). Compared to some songs on Collapsed in Sunbeams, there is something quite laidback and almost Jazz-like on Hope – listen to a song like Caroline, and one gets something more energised and urgent. I really love Parks’ delivery on Hope and the rich and interesting composition. In this song, we get one of the most obvious explicit and obvious examples of Parks being this modern poet who can write like no other songwriter. Consider the opening verse: “Millie tried to talk the pleasure back into being alive/Reminiscing 'bout the apricots and blunts on Peckham Rye/Won't call her friends 'cause she's ashamed of staying locked into bed/Can't feel her legs and feeling like a liar at best”. Parks stated on Facebook how it was a delight to star in the video as ‘Nat’ alongside Molly Windsor playing ‘Millie. The two are very affectionate through the video…and it is wonderfully heart-warming to see them in a beautifully-shot video that could almost be a short film (I wonder if Parks has considered turning the songs from Collapsed in Sunbeams into a short film?!). The detail and observations we get from Parks in that opening verse is amazing. Her voice carries wisdom, warmth and an underlying sense of fear and sadness that, combined, creates this heady and moving brew! Many of Parks’ lyrics pertain to reaching out and her speaking to various figures – whether it is Millie in Hope, or the titular Caroline -; her stating that they are not alone. In the chorus, Parks’ voice rises in warmth and power as she sings: “You're not alone like you think you are/You're not alone like you think you are/We all have scars, I know it's hard”. Alongside fascinating poetry and sublime lyrics, there are these simple sentiments that we can all relate to and, especially now, can appreciate!

PHOTO CREDIT: Molly Burdett

It seems like Millie is someone who has been carrying anxiety and sadness but, rather than be open and reveal her pain, she has kept it hidden. Perhaps this is because she fears few will understand or relate. In the second verse, we get this very striking imagery and familial interaction: “Started sweating bullets when her dad asked, "How d'you really feel?"/She said, "I've been feeling like something inside me wants to scream"/Won't call my friends, I'm persuaded that they'll leave in the end/Can't feel my legs, I'm feeling like a liar at best”. We get scenes of Molly Windsor sitting along and feeling isolated. This then leads to her and Arlo Parks laughing together. Parks affectionately touches her hand and the two of them are enraptured in moments of release and happiness. It is moving to see; this amazing video perfectly brings to life what Parks is sating in the song! The bridge takes the song down again in terms of its pace. Whether Parks is speaking as Millie or she is talking about herself, there is a slight distortion on her voice as we get this very focused and moving bridge: “I've often felt like I was born under a bad sign/Wearing suffering like a silk garment or a spot of blue ink/Looking for light and finding a hole where there shouldn't be one/I cannot communicate the depth of the feeling/Truth is I'm still learning to be open about this/But know that I know and you're not alone/Yeah, know that I know and you're not alone”. The chorus concludes the song but, in the video things end with the two running down to the beach and jumping and frolicking by the waves. I am not sure where the video was shot, but it seems like Molly Windsor and Arlo Parks had a blast filming it! Hope is a magnificent song. It is one of many jewels on the remarkable Collapsed in Sunbeams.

I am going to wrap things up soon, but I want to cover a couple more things off before doing so. There is a lot of love and expectation at the feet of Arlo Parks right now, that one could forgive her for having quite heady ambitions regarding her career. It seems, as she explained to The Standard, that her goals are more grounded and modest (than worldwide fame):

“Her musical ambitions are similarly modest in one sense. Asked about the scale of success she is hoping for, she says she always wanted to play at the Hammersmith Apollo because she used to walk past it on the way to school. But back at home, she’s also reminded of a list she wrote early on, and keeps next to her computer, of the reasons she makes music. “It sounds cheesy to say it, but I think my motivation has always been to help others. When I was younger, music really saved me, and felt like a refuge for me when I was in quite a lost space. I just want to talk to people, and I guess in a way, feel understood myself,” she says. “If I ever feel weird, or it feels like a storm, I just look at that list and know exactly who I am again”.

One of the most defining features of Arlo Parks is how personable she is. In terms of interviewees, one could hardly hope for a better subject! She has this instant and easy connection with people that, as many have said, it is like you are chatting to an old mate – even when you have just met her! I want to explore that by returning to The Face and their interview:

“This overwhelming sense of intimacy also permeates our conversation. At times I feel like a teenager again, sharing soft-spoken secrets in the library. But that never lasts, as before long she sideswipes me with her stunning musical vocabulary. Parks speaks with incredible poise – she barely swears once – and there’s a cool queenliness to the woman born Anaïs Oluwatoyin Estelle Marinho. Plus she admits to being ​“snobby about coffee”. Proper grown-up stuff, right?

Up for discussion is everything from Virginia Woolfe (“the way she uses language is just so effortless. There are moments when I’m reading and I’m like, where is this going? But it all ties up in the end”), to psychoanalyst Carl Jung’s theory of the ​“collective unconscious”, to the symbolic content of her dreams. As you might expect from someone who spends a lot of time in her bedroom, hers are weird”.

Not only does this intrigue and sense of wonder exist in interviews but, when it comes to Parks’ online content, there is something wonderfully interesting and unique – as we learn from the interview DORK conducted last year:

“She may feel out of touch with the inherent internet culture of her generation, but Arlo is a thoroughly enigmatic character to follow on Instagram as she offers snapshots into her daily inspiration as well as snippets into future projects. ‘Cola’ was recorded while eating noodles, and ‘Eugene’ was made with pizza on the brain – what kind of cuisine was fuelling the album process?

It turns out, Mexican may just be the king of Arlo’s eating habits at the moment, with Italian following as a close second. Cooking has proved to be somewhat of a salvation for Arlo, during lockdown. “The idea of actually meditating, like sitting still, is really difficult for me but if I’m cooking, going for a run, or painting; that’s meditation”.

If you have not listened to Collapsed in Sunbeams, then go stream or buy the album – I have put a link at the top of the review if you want to buy a copy. Even though she is very young and has just really started her career, I feel that Parks is going to be an icon of the future. She is an ambassador this year’s Independent Venue Week (grassroots venues were key to Parks when it came to getting her music out to people; they still remain essential to her), and, as she works closely with CALM, I feel Parks is someone we should show so much love and support to. Even though it is still January, on Collapsed in Sunbeams, Arlo Parks has released…

ONE of 2021’s very best albums.

___________

Follow Arlo Parks

PHOTO CREDIT: Alex Kurunis 

Official:

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Arlo Parks

TRACK REVIEW: The Anchoress - The Art of Losing

TRACK REVIEW:

 

 

The Anchoress

PHOTO CREDIT: Annick Wolfers

The Art of Losing

9.6/10

The track, The Art of Losing, is available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guEJhDJoUO8   

GENRES:

Indie-Rock/Art-Pop

ORIGIN:

Glynneath, Wales

 The album, The Art of Losing, is available from 12th March. It can be pre-ordered here:

https://theanchoress.tmstor.es/

LABEL:

Kscope

TRACKLISTING:

Moon Rise (Prelude)

Let It Hurt

The Exchange (ft. James Dean Bradfield)

Show Your Face

The Art of Losing

All Farewells Should Be Sudden

All Shall Be Well

Unravel

Paris

5AM

The Heart Is a Lonesome Hunter

My Confessor

With the Boys

Moon (An End)

PRODUCER:

Catherine Anne Davies

__________

IN this review and next week’s…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Isabella Charlesworth

I am featuring two incredible British artists who are going to be putting out incredible albums very soon. In the case of next week’s subject, Arlo Parks, she is releasing her debut album, Collapsed in Sunbeams, on Friday (29th). The Anchoress (Catherine Anne Davies) is my subject this week. She is releasing the highly-anticipated album, The Art of Losing, on 12th March. It is an album I cannot wait to check out, as I really love her music! I am going to review the album’s title track soon enough but, before I get there, there are a few things that I want to cover off - so that one can have a better appreciation of The Anchoress/Davies and her music career so far. I want to source from an interview from Get in Her Ears from a few years back. We learn more about the musical tastes of The Anchoress:

“Which other artists or bands inspire you?

I love a lot of “art rock” – Roxy Music, Bowie, Eno, but I’m also a big fan of Nine Inch Nails and Deftones, as well as being reasonably obsessed with the Beatles, Kate Bush, and Prince. Amazing pop music is something I come back to a lot as well: ABBA, The Carpenters and ELO. I’m also still hugely moved by a lot of classical music I grew up dancing to. I think what consistently inspires me though is great songs, whatever genre or style they may fit into. My most recent obsessively listened to albums have been Father John Misty, Sharon Van Etten, and The Twilight Sad”.

  PHOTO CREDIT: Isabella Charlesworth

One of my favourite albums from 2016 was The Anchoress’ Confessions of a Romance Novelist. Not only was I struck by the cover – which I shall talk more about later -, but the songwriting was instantly striking and stirring! I knew, listening to that album, that here was a rare and superb talent who was going to go far. I was keen to discover more about the creation and story of Confessions of a Romance Novelist. That brought me to an interview with CLASH from 2016:

“Can you tell us about the ‘narrator’ of the album, the romance novelist. Was writing from a character’s perspective always a conscious decision?

The whole album is set in the 1980s and is based around this fictional failed romance novelist. I wanted to make a concept album for many different reasons and in order to do so I needed to impose this underlying structure, with there being some element of wanting to distance myself slightly from the emotional process, as well as slightly lampooning the whole “confessional singer-songwriter” tag that so many female artists get lumbered with. The idea of the narrator, who ghost writes romance novels and feels that she has failed in her own artistic endeavours, evolved on many levels. In part, it is some kind of not completely water tight metaphor for what it feels like to be a female auteur in the music industry: never entirely in control or credited for your creative labours. On another level I was taking aim at my own tendency to make a coherent narrative out of every failed relationship or bad romance. As people we love to impose our own coherence on these things that are very much plotless - loss, failure, disappointment. I guess on some level we are all ghostwriting our own lives to try and makes sense of them after the fact.

The journey to complete the album has been a gigantic uphill struggle filled with death, delay and injury. With the album now finished is there a sense of just wanting to move onto what’s next, or are you happy to breathe and look back at what it took to finish it?

I didn’t take a breath at all when finishing it. I was straight back in the studio with Bernard Butler before I’d even started the mixing process. In part I think because the process of making the album had been so disjointed and prolonged it hasn’t felt like I needed to break or even could afford to take that breath. I think it’s so important to keep up momentum creatively because you never know when you might just “dry up”. I’m also a workaholic so there isn’t much option for me but to just keep going…”.

  PHOTO CREDIT: Isabella Charlesworth

I want to jump ahead to now and The Art of Losing. It must be strange preparing an album when you cannot get out and tour it. I feel sympathy for musicians who are restricted when it comes to gigs and putting their music to the people. It also must be a bit strange recording an album! Many artists are used to big studios and working there. That has been curtailed and limited, as many have had to rely on home recording and a more modest approach. I know that The Art of Losing was scheduled to come out las year. In an interview with Music Radar, we discover how far back The Anchoress’ forthcoming album was completed and ready to roll:

“The UK is between lockdowns as we talk to Catherine Anne Davies in the build-up to Christmas, but life is still as far from normal as it can be for a touring musician. Live music is on hold, and so has been the release of The Anchoress’s second album, The Art Of Losing, which was originally slated for a March 2020 release and will now come out in March 2021. The wait is something Davies says she has come to appreciate, and what has happened to the world in the meantime has certainly sharpened the blade of an album dealing with grief in its many forms.

“The album was actually finished in 2019,” Catherine explains, “so I got to sit with it for a lot longer than planned, but that’s had its upsides in terms of my having more time to process a lot of the things I’m talking about on the record”.

I am going to explore aspects of The Anchoress’ music in a bit but, sticking with the new album, and many will be wondering what sort of sounds and themes will be explored. I have put a link at the top of the page so that you can pre-order The Art of Losing. Rough Trade provide us with some helpful information regarding a superb and fascinating album:

“The Art of Losing is the second album from Welsh multi-instrumentalist The Anchoress (aka Catherine Anne Davies), following up on her critically acclaimed debut album, Confessions of A Romance Novelist, which was named amongst the Guardian critics' Albums of the Year, won HMV's Welsh Album of the Year, Best Newcomer at the Prog awards, and a nomination for the Welsh Music Prize.

Written and produced by Davies, the new album features guest performances from James Dean Bradfield (Manic Street Preachers) and drums from Sterling Campbell (David Bowie, Duran Duran) along with the mixing talents of Dave Eringa (Manics, Wilko Johnson) and grammy-award winner Mario McNulty (David Bowie, Prince, Laurie Anderson).

The Art Of Losing ambitiously navigates the topic of loss in all its forms and was written and recorded during an unfeasibly busy few years as Davies found solace and purpose in a range of projects whilst navigating her griefs. Most recently this came via the release of her collaborative album In Memory of My Feelings with Bernard Butler (on Pete Paphides' label Needle Mythology), duetting with the Manic Street Preachers on Resistance Is Futile, and being personally invited by The Cure's Robert Smith to perform at his Meltdown Festival. She also brought a new generation of ears to legendary Scottish rock band Simple Minds, where she spent much of the last five years appearing on the 'Big Music' (2015) and 'Walk Between Worlds' (2018) albums”.

I am excited to hear the album. It will also be great to hear collaborators like James Dean Bradfield and Sterling Campbell in the mix! The fact that there are such big names on the album shows the affection and respect those artists have for Catherine Anne Davies!

There are a few interesting aspects to the music of The Anchoress that I want to explore. One reason why I loved the cover for here debut, Confessions of a Romance Novelist, is because the photo is similar to one of Kate Bush taken by Gered Mankowitz. That photo, the ‘wooden box’ image, was taken in 1978 and would become the American cover image for Bush’s debut album, The Kick Inside. I know Catherine Anne Davies is inspired by Bush and holds albums like Never for Ever in high esteem. Not to compare too directly, but there are a few other aspects and similarities that caught my eye. Certainly, when it comes to the music of The Anchoress, there is a sense of self-control that is evident (wanting to produce and write her own music). Rather than have too many people in the studio and too many cooks in the kitchen, here is an artist who very much has her own direction – there are no need for a load of producers and songwriters to help mould her music. We learn more about this in the Music Radar interview:

““I think that's what's so wonderful about having complete control,” Catherine expounds, “as pretentious as it may sound, it's my vision alone. You don’t have to compromise what you're trying to do, you know, so you’re just articulating something really pure. And it is a sum of all of my influences and interests, but I really strived very hard to make the album a coherent body of work. I am still very interested in the album, as a collection of songs, articulating something. It’s what interests me, I’m terribly old fashioned”.

“I do have collaborators on the album, though, including Sterling Campbell, David Bowie’s drummer, who contributed remotely from New York, and James Dean Bradfield of Manic Street Preachers, who I was very lucky to have playing guitar on one track [Show Your Face] and also singing a duet [The Exchange]. So where I needed to bring others in I was able to, but partly through needs-must I became a jack of all trades on this.

“I also bought some more vintage synths, quite a few more guitars, some mic preamps found their way into my checkout basket… but that was me building my studio, and thank goodness I did that”.

Two other Kate Bush-like sides to The Anchoress’ music is the attraction and exploration of literature and cinema. Bush was especially compelled by these mediums. Many of her songs took inspiration from various books, films and T.V. shows – from Wuthering Heights, to Hammer Horror, to Get Out of My House, to The Infant Kiss, right through to Cloudbusting (and beyond), there was a wide range of influences (I have written a few features regarding Bush and the songs that were inspired by literature and the screen). Going back to the Music Radar interview, and we learn more about how The Anchoress’ forthcoming album is guided or enforced by the cinematic:

“Talk of sonic dreamscapes leads our discussion in the direction of an essay Davies once wrote for the NME about the films of David Lynch and their true influence on music; in it she talked about Lynch’s ability to bleed dreams into reality, and it is something Davies does musically throughout The Art Of Losing. The track Paris is a particular standout.

“There are all kinds of ways of borrowing from film and cinematic structures, but also techniques, you know, sonic collages and things like that,” she explains. “Part dreamscape, I think is how I described Paris, part dreamscape and part commentary. I'm interested in other people's voices, and bringing those together to comment upon my own internal monologue in some way.

“It was very difficult for me to consciously think of a way, not to record the sound of trauma, but to incorporate that into the songs and the production of the record. Because that is what I was experiencing in my life at the time and was hanging over me, ever present, there was no way I could have escaped that [Davies has written publicly about miscarriage and childloss]. I think I would have had to have taken a long time out if that wasn't going to creep through”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Jodie Cartman

I can see why songwriters are influenced by literature and films. Obviously, we all consume films and books in some form - so it is inevitable that this would seep into our minds and impact us in some way. For songwriters who are always looking around for that spark of inspiration, the vividness of literature and film can prove hugely powerful! Right from the start, it seems that literature has been especially instrumental for The Anchoress’ Catherine Anne Davies. Her love of literature was explored in the previously-sourced interview from Get in Her Ears:

“Is literature and poetry a passion you keep separate from your role as a musician, or do you allow the two passions to combine?

I’m sure that studying poetry for such a long time has informed my use of metre and rhyme when I’m writing songs. I tend to always collect quotes and snippets from books or films when I’m making an album too as I find that helps me focus and coalesce the themes and preoccupations. When I come to think of it, making a record isn’t all that dissimilar from writing a PhD – lots of self-imposed isolation, research and reading!”.

Just to tie into that and, when she spoke with CLASH (another interview I have already brought in), literature was once more at the fore:

“Album and artists often switch fans onto good literature. You’ve gone so far to include a reading list with the album, are you trying to start a trend?

I feel like the Manics (Street Preachers) may have already beaten me to that... The idea of books and writing was so deeply entwined with the making of the album - right down to the fact that my research funding for my literature PhD paid for me to stay living in London and make the record - that it seemed obvious that the romance novelist would include her own bibliography. Not every title in there is entirely serious of course… I still haven't actually been able to make it through a Mills & Boon...”

 PHOTO CREDIT: Lily Warring Bush

There are a few other points that I want to tick off before getting to the song I am reviewing. Not only will we hear some great collaborators on the new album from The Anchoress but, as Catherine Anne Davies, she worked alongside the incredible Bernard Butler (Suede). They released an album, In Memory of My Feelings, last year. Davies spoke with Music Radar about that album:

“Last year saw the release of Catherine’s collaboration with former Suede guitarist Bernard Butler…

“Obviously he's a phenomenal guitar player and he has a very identifiable style. You know, I think he and James are the two big talents of their generation who have that thing that when they play, they sound exactly like them. But for me, I would say I’m actually a big admirer of his production and his arrangement. His enormous talent as a producer is somewhat unsung, he’s incredibly skilled.

“By its very nature The Memory Of My Feelings is such a different record from an Anchoress record, because when you come in together and it’s two people that have got different skill sets, even if they massively overlap, you've got to make space for each other. So that necessitated me kind of giving up a lot of control that I would normally have to have”.

Just before I get down to reviewing, it is important that we learn more about the inspirations behind The Art of Losing (album). When she spoke with NME, we discovered more regarding the sound of the album:

“What were your touchstones for the record?

““The artists I love who have tackled and broached the darker side of life, sonically, were people like Scott Walker with his chaotic maelstrom, or the last David Bowie record [‘Blackstar‘]. The ‘Holy Bible’ by the Manics too. A lot of people think of that as a really dark and challenging listen, but for me, it was always a record that I would return to as something which could help let out any difficult things I was going through. There’s actually something really joyous about listening to dark records. The challenge, in taking on a subject that naturally lends itself to downtempo, introspective ballads, was forcing myself to do something much more experimental, musically”.

I love the title track of The Art of Losing, so I was very keen and excited to dissect it. Sticking with that NME interview, and we get some insight into a phenomenal song:

“Hello Catherine. How did this song come to be the title track?

Catherine Anne Davies: “I don’t think I consciously chose it. I guess it made itself known as the dominant theme of the album over the period of time in which it was written and recorded. I’ve always had that title in my head and it comes from an Elizabeth Bishop poem. ‘The art of losing’ is the first line of her poem ‘One Art’, which is about the idea that you can practice getting better at loss. It’s an ironic take on that because, obviously, that’s not possible. The song itself is really an interrogation of what we learn when we lose.”

The questions in the song – ‘Was there a purpose to losing my mind? What did you learn when life was unkind?’ – seem to bind the album thematically…

“I started with this idea, that kind of Nietzschean sentiment of ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’. By the time I finished writing this song, I had reached a place where I actually really rejected that notion, that there was something positive to take out of grief. It was actually the final song that I wrote, the night before I went into The Kinks’ Ray Davies’ Konk Studios to record. I think it was really about the coalescing of all of the things that had happened to me in the preceding years”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Isabella Charlesworth

The Art of Losing is an incredible track that is given a spacey and trippy touch by the CB6 synthesiser. In the video, we see newspaper pages that detail what the song is about and how it fits onto the album. As we learn, The Art of Losing concerns “…a triptych of abusive and traumatic situations that sadly seem all too universal to the experience of women: domestic abuse, sexual assault and the loss of a child”. There is a propulsion and huge heartbeat that gives the song a very striking and urgent quality. That said, there is a degree of warmth that provides a nice balance. As we also learn from the video text, the title track was the first one recorded for the album (correct me if I am wrong). With Davies playing nearly everything on the track and having this very clear musical vision, one cannot help but be immersed in a song that acts as the centrepiece of a remarkable album. The vintage musical sounds and incredible production gets right under the skin; The Art of Losing is a song that you will play again and again – not just because of those qualities, but because it is a song that tackles big themes and has a very powerful message. Our heroine explains how she has a lot to learn about the art of losing. Whether, in the first lines, she is referring to her own experiences of loss or how it has affected other women in her life, I am not so sure. I do love how the synthesiser sound and the racing percussion gives the song so much life and texture. We hear lines about drinking and marks being left. It does seem like there is an element of destruction and pain that comes to the surface. The heroine asks, “So what did you learn when life was unkind?”, and whether there was some purpose to her losing her mind. I like how the video is a series of newspaper pages with interviews from Davies and quotes; lines about the song and lyrics. It gives the impression of some sort of tabloid story, or a news report about someone experiencing tragedy.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Roberto Foddai

The song grows bigger and more layered as it progresses; both enforcing the potency and importance of what is being said, it also ensures that the listener is gripped and invested. In The Anchoress, we have an artist who has no weaknesses when it comes to her talent - but, here, she is investigating, perhaps, personal weakn4ess or doubts. In terms of the lyrics, music, performance and production, everything is incredible and so memorable! The Art of Losing is a quite a busy song musically speaking, which might represent the myriad emotions and thoughts that are racing through the heroine’s mind! The lyrics become more harrowing and affection as we near the mid-way point. I am not sure whether there was a specific subject in mind – or whether it relates to traumatised and abused women in general –, but the question of how much more can she takes comes up. How many more rapes (and one more child)!? It is a shocking passage of the song that really makes you stand still and think! The Anchoress asks whether one repeats or repairs when faced with something harrowing and life-altering. When life was bleak and she/women had to face these situations, then how do they respond? It can be incredibly difficult talking about abuse. Many women will feel ill at ease opening up about such things. The song is about what we gain and loss from difficult situations and how, if you bury grief and loss or try to rationalise it, then that can have a destructive and devastating impact. Maybe a rationale is that the pain and trauma will subside with time, and what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

This attitude and approach can cause more damage than good so, on The Art of Losing, I think The Anchoress is urging more conversation and an openness to talk about abuse (and to tackle it). The vocal is especially emotional and affecting. It carries so much weight and conviction that one will revisit the song because of that impact. I guess there is also an element of losing a relationship and opportunity. The Art of Losing is about several types of loss, so there is this examination of a love being lost too. Whereas Davies recorded an album with Bernard Butler and there was this collaborative spirit, The Art of Losing is an album (and track) that seems much more personal - one that required a different approach. Catherine Anne Davies has experienced loss and trauma in her life (including the death of her dad), and I am not sure how close to the mark I am regarding the lyrics and what she is referring to I think The Art of Losing is a very moving song that many people can relate to. It is heartbreaking to think of what Davies has experienced but, through this song, she is asking herself questions and bringing to the surface some very challenging experiences and losses. It is a stunning song from an album where the nature and subject of loss and dealing with it will be explored in more depth.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Isabella Charlesworth

I am going to wrap up soon, but I want to nod back to a subject/area that I teased. On The Art of Losing, we will hear James Dean Bradfield on the track, The Exchange. I am a huge fan of the Manic Street Preachers, and I can only imagine how nerve-wracking it would be to work alongside him! I have heard many interviews from Bradfield, and he comes across as really cool, friendly and personable. In the NME interview I sourced from earlier, Catherine Anne Davies was asked about working with the Manics legend;

“Did working with familiar collaborators like James Dean Bradfield help when dealing with the difficult themes?

“I was still terrified to ask him! I still thought he would say no because I still hold them in such high regard and at arm’s length to a certain extent because I don’t want to spoil that sense that I have of them as still being the idols on my teenage bedroom wall. But of course, it was lovely to know that there were people in the industry that cared about what I was going through and at a time when I felt as if nobody did. I wanted to make it as good as possible for him to sing on as well. There’s nothing like that to egg you on in terms of doing your best work when you know that you’ve got a voice like James Dean Bradfield’s that’s going to be appearing on it”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Vince Barker

Looking ahead, and I think there is going to be a demand to see The Anchoress on the road. She has a growing and loyal fanbase. It must be tough for Davies to be stuck at home and not able to perform on the stage. That said, there is something very affecting and emotional about the songs on The Art of Losing. Maybe there needs to be some preparation time when it comes to translating these songs for the stage. Davies was asked about gigs when she spoke with NME:

“How do you feel about the thought of performing these very personal songs live?

“I needed some time initially to just be kind to myself, to go through some trauma therapy, to just be sensible after what I had gone through. So, there had been a planned delay already. The pandemic then placed a huge extension into the timeline that just meant I had much more time to go to therapy which helped enormously. Not only to think about how I can perform it, but also how I can talk about the record. I remember listening back to the first master. I was just weeping, sobbing uncontrollably – it was just not something that was comfortable for me to listen to then: I wasn’t ready”.

I shall leave things there. Make sure you get The Art of Losing when it comes out on 12th March. It is an album that I very keen to listen to, as I am a fan of The Anchoress – and I wonder whether it is a big departure from her 2016 debut. Judging by the songs that have already been released from The Art of Losing (including Show Your Face), it is going to be one of 2021’s very best releases! Catherine Anne Davies is a remarkable artist and writer and, in The Anchoress, we are lucky enough to have…

A real treasure.

___________

Follow The Anchoress

PHOTO CREDIT: Annick Wolfers

Official:

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Twitter:

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Facebook:

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https://open.spotify.com/artist/2Z4qmyxotDkAbZ0TpXyZyw

YouTube:

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

Bandcamp:

https://kscopemusic.bandcamp.com/

ALL UNCREDITED PHOTOS:

The Anchoress

TRACK REVIEW: Sleaford Mods - Elocution

TRACK REVIEW:

 

 

Sleaford Mods

Elocution

9.8/10

The track, Elocution, is available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhMXuHV0JUM

GENRES:

Post-Punk/Electro-Punk

ORIGIN:

Nottingham, U.K.

LABEL:

Rough Trade

The album, Spare Ribs, is available here:

https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/sleaford-mods/spare-ribs

RELEASE DATE:

15th January, 2021

TRACKLISTING:

The New Brick

Shortcummings

Nudge It (ft. Amy Taylor)

Elocution

Out There

Glimpses

Top Room

Mork n Mindy (ft. Billy Nomates)

Spare Ribs

All Day Ticket

Thick Ear

I Don’t Rate You

Fishcakes

__________

LET’S get down to business…

when it comes to Sleaford Mods! There is a lot to cover and explore as they released the album, Spare Ribs, on Friday (15th January). It is have gained them the best reviews of their career and, at a very bad and troubled time for the world, the duo have managed to articulate a lot of that frustration…but they have also crafted an album that provides some sense of catharsis and escape. I will investigate a few different themes before I get to reviewing a song from Spare Ribs. I wanted to go back to the time where Jason Williamson met Andrew Fearn met. In this interview from Loud and Quiet, we hear about that coming together:

“Andrew Fearn, the other half of the Nottingham-based group, is responsible for the music, usually comprised of some form of a chugging, spitting beat that switches genres from song to song, from jungle to grime, hip-hop to gritty punk lo-fi. Together they have forged a bewildering but beguiling concoction, as Fearn tells me, sitting at Beacons Festival 2014, held on England’s Yorkshire Dales.

“We were a happy accident,” he says. “I was playing some beats at this night that was mainly a fairly motley crew of noise fans. They didn’t really like what I was playing, they would ignore me, it was just that the guy who put the night on was my mate, so I was like, ‘sod you lot, I’m just going to play my beats’, and then he [Jason] was like, ‘oh, I like your beats’. It really was two things just slapped together. Then we found similarities between us as friends as well as differences, and it was those things that made it work.”

Williamson says of the meeting: “When I first met him he was playing this brilliant music and looking nonplussed. It was a winner”.

A lot of credit and focus goes the way of Williamson (and quite right) but, because Fearn does fewer interviews and is not at the forefront, some overlook his invaluable contributions. I think his music and lead is very much instrumental to Sleaford Mods’ success; the fuel and kick that Williamson needs to pen the lyrics. An exceptional producer and hugely innovative composer, I think that Andrew Fearn is one of the finest musical talents we have in the country. I want to spend some time with Jason Williamson and his background. (I am going to discuss how Sleaford Mods are seen as working-class heroes and how they are perceived by  the media). One hears Williamson sing, and we get this image of a man of the people singing in quite a political and for-the-masses kind of manner. In an interview with The Independent of 2019 (when promoting the album, Eton Alive), we discover more about Williamson’s situation has changed since Sleaford Mods took off:

“Success has made Williamson less angry about not having any money, he admits. Now that he lives in middle-class West Bridgford in Nottingham, with his wife Claire and two children Flora, seven, and Beau, three, he’s been asking himself, “Have I become the person that I rail against?” This self-accusatory tone finds its way onto the album in “O.B.C.T.”, in which the singer sees himself driving past an Oliver Bonas shop in a Chelsea tractor. But the aggression is still there, and it comes out when we talk about Brexit, and “what this Leave campaign has done to people’s psychology and how other people see us”. Sleaford Mods grew up in the rabidly Brexit heartland of Lincolnshire: Williamson in Grantham, where 60 per cent of people voted to leave, Fearn in Saxilby (62 per cent). Williamson was in Germany recently, he says, and “they can’t get their heads around it at all – they’re like, ‘Why are you still getting f**ked around by a bunch of posh b***ards?’”

PHOTO CREDIT: Simon Parfrement 

Williamson, as people never tire of pointing out, shares a home town with Margaret Thatcher. His mum had jobs in Boots and his dad worked for the council before becoming an ambulanceman. They lived on an estate and bought their council house during the Thatcher years. The young Williamson avoided bullying by making people laugh, and was obsessed with The Wizard of Oz (1939) and Roman epics starring Victor Mature, such as Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954).

His parents’ separation when he was 10 had a big impact. “It was horrible,” he says. “I still remember the day when my mum decided. My dad took us to Birmingham to our cousin’s for the weekend to give my mum time to think about it. He was a serial womaniser. In the end, she’d just had enough.”

His father took it personally, he says, and seemed to resent Jason and his sister afterwards. “We took it really badly. You don’t want ’em splitting up, even if the relationship isn’t great, they’re still there, getting up every morning, making you some breakfast”.

To link into this information, I want to also look at where Andrew Fearn came from and how he started out. They are kindred spirits and brothers when it comes to the music but, in looking at their backgrounds and musical routes, there are some differences. In that interview from Loud and Quiet, we discover more about Fearn’s past:

“Fearn’s background is more rooted in the glory days of Nottingham. “Nineties Nottingham was like Portlandia,” he says. “It really was. It was normal to pierce your penis and so on; it was cool to be unemployed; it was the time to drop out and I was completely one of those people that slipped through the net.”

Musically, however, it’s been more electronic and hip-hop experimentations. “I’ve been an electronic musician all my life, since I was sixteen, trying to make a cool Aphex Twin album or something, or something popular in that field, and it’s come in dribs and drabs but it’s never really happened, so I suppose, in a way, nobody making that kind of music has ever come forward and started working with somebody like Jason…”.

Before coming on to a new subject, I just want to spend some time exploring the build-up to the excellent Eton Alive. I think every album of theirs is extraordinary, yet 2019’s Eton Alive was a big step - and, to me, the best album they had put out to that point. I think a lot of the themes and angers explored on that album are present on Spare Ribs. One might ask how much the world has changed in the time between Eton Alive arriving and Spare Ribs being written. It is clear that Williamson and Fearn are on incredible form! I just want to drop in some information from that interview in The Independent. We learn how hard Sleaford Mods have worked – and how far they have progressed as a unit:

“Sleaford Mods have worked f**king hard to change that picture, though. Their violent sound is so stripped down, it’s perfect. Andrew Fearn provides rudimentary beats, Williamson gets in your face with relentless spokenshouted diatribes. They’ve toured constantly, released four studio albums, one live album and a set of Eps since Williamson first collaborated with Fearn on Wank (2012). Their new album Eton Alive is the first release on their own label, Extreme Eating. It’s a storming return after 2017’s English Tapas. Part progression, part throwback, it has a furious energy that recalls 2014’s Mercury Prize-nominated Divide and Exit, but on some songs, Fearn’s beats have become languorous and Williamson sings. The 48-year-old has been working hard to promote it, too, in a series of very funny Twitter ads. One has him bagging up dogs**t as he talks about the release date (23 February, in case you don’t fancy watching)”.

I want to bring things a little more up to now, because one of the things that has irked and moved Sleaford Mods most is the pandemic and, specifically, how this Government has (mis)handled it. I think a lot of other songwriters feel the same; it has provided fuel for their songwriting as they look for answers and stand slack-jawed at the seeming ineptitude and cluelessness.

When Williamson spoke with NME in May last year, he was asked about how he is coping with the current situation and what he makes of it all:

“Hi Jason! How are you finding self-isolation?

“We’re over the shock of it all. I’m starting to get over the absolute tedium of the Government as well, to be honest. I’m just not bothering with the news. Occasionally I check in to see what idiocy they’ve come out with, but only for five minutes because I can’t be arsed with it. [Boris Johnson] should be held to account for [the Government’s handling of coronavirus]. It’s a fucking disgrace. We deserve some revenge.”

What do you want to happen?

“A court of law? An inquiry? Charges against? Or disgrace, because what the politicians are after is glory. If the country turns on them, they’re not gonna get that respect from their peers. They get eaten by their own, don’t they?

In a recent article, you claimed that ‘clapping for carers’ – whereby the public applauds care workers for looking after us during the coronavirus crisis – “justifies inaction” against the Government’s poor treatment of the NHS. Does the same go for people raising money for the NHS as though it’s a charity?

“Well, it’s a hard one, isn’t it, because they need money. But it’s the Government’s responsibility to hand over money to the NHS – we shouldn’t be raising charity for it. That’s just fucking stupid. But at the same time if an organisation needs money desperately and the Government isn’t giving it to them, what are you gonna do? You can’t let people die at the roadside. But it does install the idea that the NHS is a dying animal that needs people’s charity and then – oh, look! – it’s gone: ‘Oh, fuck! Oh, damn. Bastard!’ And enter privatisation”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Roger Sargent

I think one of the brilliant things (among many) when it comes to Sleaford Mods is how they can take aim at politics and those who are charged with running the world; they also drill down to the numbness, banality and wonderful oddities of modern life – experiences that we all witness during our ordinary lives. It is that blend of the universal and the intimate that makes their music so engaging, layered and stirring. I want to source from an interview from The Quietus of January this year. They asked if one of the songs – relating to the former Chief Adviser to the Prime Minister – will seem irrelevant or less relatable in time to come:

“Do you worry that lyrics to a track like 'Shortcummings' might end up dating Spare Ribs?

JW: I'd already been thinking about Dominic Cummings, especially when I read his blog trying to recruit weirdos to Number 10. I thought of all these aristos going [adopts posh accent] 'yes yes Dominic do come in' and how mad that was, and then I read a bit of his manifesto, oh God, Jesus Christ. You can see Cummings' need to apply his own ideology onto society to anybody that's in charge. Will the lyrics date? The way that society carries on we seem to be repeating ourselves, it's more a question of what kind of jacket the crisis is going to wear, as opposed to the content of the crisis. Everything seems to be very familiar, in the sense of the different levels of oppression that we experience. I just feel like I'm expendable, and obviously those on lower wages are going to get fucked about more than me, currently, but you get the impression that we're all potentially expendable collateral - spare ribs, so to speak”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Charlie Hardy

Let’s just explore the political edge ands agenda of Sleaford Mods for a little longer. There is a lot of anger in their music but, rather than it being them aimlessly striking at the Government and shouting to anyone who will listen, there is a great deal of intelligence, inspiration and exceptional wordplay – all backed by Andrew Fearn’s fabulous music and production. I will explore the way Sleaford Mods are embodied, by some, as modern-day working-class warriors – linked to so many different bands and incorrectly and rigidly defined. In this interview from PopMatters, we discover more about Jason Williamson’s thinking and way of working:

“Williamson's call for humanism shouldn't be surprising since its implementation requires a high level of self-awareness and integrity, two values prominent in Sleaford Mods' career. Also, it's something that Williamson has had to deal with while the press tied them to the archetype of the working-class men who finally made it. "They turned me into a cliché," he tells PopMatters. "That is good for the press obviously, but pointless because everything I do is political."

As he speaks, you feel the weight of every word he chooses to talk about himself, careful to stay true to who he is. I wonder if it comes from his young infatuation for the mod subculture: "Stay true to myself, yes, but mainly it taught me to always be creative." I ask if he thinks that creativity, a phenomenon itself made from divergent thinking, is a political weapon. "Yes, completely," Williamson notes, "But then you enter the minefield of whether your creativity has any value. Or are you just going along with the norm, creative norm of saying 'the government is corrupt!' not actually really applying any serious thought to it.

"You should articulate the message," he adds. "Or [is it] just motivation in order to buy a nice house? You've got to think about it, it's got to have some content. The message has to be integral, it's got to be thought-provoking”.

It does seem that, as Sleaford Mods have taken off and released more albums, Williamson has become more political in his writing. Perhaps that is an unfortunate reflection of how politicians seem more impotent and infuriating today. I can definitely see other songwriters who were less political on previous albums engaging more with what is happening now and how the Government is leading the country. In an Irish Times interview, Jason Williamson provides his views on what it is to be English right now (the interview is from January this year):

“I’ve just been the same, mate. What defines me is what I see around me. Plus, as I’ve gotten older, I have become more politically aware. Anything that I find unpleasant in the political arena – and let’s face it, that’s everything, what with my country’s history and the way the government hasn’t been truthful to its citizens – is something of a continued inspiration to me.”

And continued conflict? “Yes, because right now it’s embarrassing to be English. I feel ashamed, frankly. There’s nothing to feel proud about being English. I was never a nationalist anyway, but I always used to feel lucky because I was born here. It always seemed to be a safe haven, a more advanced country. It is that in many respects, but what Brexit has shown us, to a certain degree, is the true nature of the English people”.

Linking into the political aspect of Sleaford Mods and how Williamson especially has become more focused on that side of things, we also see a lot of people and media sources hail the duo as the sound of the working-class today. I guess, as they are articulating frustrations felt by the working-classes, then many people will make that link. I feel Sleaford Mods are much broader and do not tie their mast to any particular social group or class. I don’t think that their music is aimed at anyone specific, as that would seem to alienate them from a lot of people. The incredible popularity and respect they hold ac ross the board and around the world proves that Williamson and Fearn are very much speaking to everyone!

 PHOTO CREDIT: Alasdair McLellan

Returning to that interview with Loud and Quiet, and we discover how Sleaford Mods (Williamson) react to being seen as these working-class warriors:

“The ‘voice of the working class’ is a label thrust upon Sleaford Mods as frequently as the usual suspects of comparisons are (John Cooper Clarke, The Fall and so on). “I couldn’t name one album by The Fall. Rein ya black heavy knit sweaters in you fuckin fossils.” So Tweeted Sleaford Mods recently.

“People are quick to label you as ‘the voice of working Britain,’” says Williamson, “it’s bollocks. It’s just that’s the situation you’re in. I’m having no allegiance to anything. It’s just the situation you’re in,” he reiterates. “We don’t see ourselves as the voices of the working class or anything like that.”

If Sleaford Mods do represent anything, though, it’s perhaps the fact that there is no collective voice of the working class, right now. They represent, and project, the disparity, the fractured nature of Britain and the shattered ideal that there is a communal underbelly waiting to revolt. Fearn says: “British people don’t challenge the government enough; they don’t stick together enough against the Government, unlike a lot of other European countries”.

Just linking into this and, in the PopMatters interview, Williamson spoke about working-class bands. He made some great observations:

“Getting back on the clichés in the music scene, Williamson expresses concerns about bands taking advantage of working-class values. "It's really hard to pinpoint," Williamson observes, "because [the brands] wanted to be working class, but if you are not doing anything interesting, who cares what class you come from? But at the same time, it would be nice to see more working-class acts talking working-class stuff, talking about stuff from the street. And you do get a lot of that with English music in the sense of hip-hop and grime, which is kind of the hotbed home for working-class music at the moment in England. But it would be nice to get some more out in indie music."

"Bands up in the northern area of England, doing just middle of the road guitar-y stuff -- it's all about where your antennae is," Williamson says of bands emerging from the same mindset. "Sometimes that can transcend class. But if you're doing the work or selling a working-class message in an interesting way, that really appeals to me."

I point out that it can also be a problem of class voyeurism. "I do agree there is a lot of voyeurism," Williamson agrees. "Actually, there's a fine line between voyeurism and observation. Yes, it's definitely prevalent".

Just before I move on to a new topic, I want to end with an interview from Gigwise from a couple of days ago. I think there are a lot of working-class bands that are a bit stuffy and angry regarding middle-class musicians. Perhaps, there is a sense they are not as important and ‘real’ as they are. Jason Williamson talked about class differences and how he feels about the way middle-class acts use language (in relation to working-class artists):

“Whatever they're doing at the minute is not working, you know, it's patronising,” Williamson says of others attempting to address Tory era policies and political discord.

“It's as if these people or bands just want to take on somebody else's experience because it's cooler, you know. But there are thousands of middle class musicians and creative people that are doing really good stuff,” he continues. “And I think that's because they think about it, and they connect with their place in the world.”

“I'm not talking about politically, but I'm just talking about the perception that they use language in an interesting way,” he says. “But a lot of these commercial acts [where] there's a lot of middle class accents that you just get that vibe. It’s just posturing. It's just lazy. And that's what I tried to get across in 'Nudge It'.”

Williamson has been engaged in a spat with contemporaries IDLES for a couple of years, in which class is something of a sore spot. He had complained to the press last year that the ostensibly middle-class Bristol band had impersonated angry working-class people”.

There are just a few things that I need to cover before I get down to some reviewing. I want to bring in an interview with The Quietus and a great question regarding masculinity and gender stereotypes. Andrew Fearn has an interesting perspective:

“Do you worry about these stereotypes of masculinity?

AF: I do, it's very dangerous. Bisexual men for example - it's there, and it's good that gay culture is starting to change. I remember in the 90s on dating sites like Gaydar bi men would be shunned, gay mens' profiles would say nasty things about them. Ultimately when are we all going to accept ourselves and each other, and stop making these different categories? When is the spectrum going to be fine enough for it not to matter what category you're in? I've got to say as well, and I know it's a bit of a dodgy movement, but this men's movement, there's a serious side to it - to be a straight man feels like it isn't allowed in this society, it's a taboo subject. Obviously you don't want to associate masculinity with being a dick, or being stubborn, or all these traits, but there's nothing wrong with being masculine”.

I am going to lump that previous section with a couple more about Sleaford Mods’ fascinating lyrics and how Jason Williamson has this unique and very arresting linguistic talent. I think other songwriters are quite basic and lack nuance when it comes to their words. Listen to Sleaford Mods’ music and one gets something far richer and intriguing! In the interview with The Independent, we discover more about Williamson’s songwriting:

“Williamson has an ear for the poetry of everyday speech. It’s a singular talent that can make something as simple as “who knew” on the song “Kebab Spider” sound like a chorus that has been sitting there like a pound coin on the pavement just waiting to be picked up. Despite his verbal dexterity, though, he left school early. “I got kicked out in April 1987,” he says. “I’d been caught trying to pierce my mate’s ear in the toilet. The headmaster was like, you’re s**t anyway, you may as well just go, don’t bother with exams. This is how bleak it was, f**king horrible.” He signed on for a while, briefly went back to college, dropped out, and worked in a factory making microwave meals for Marks & Spencer.

“I really did learn a lot about life there,” he says. It introduced him to unskilled labour, which he did for the next 20 odd years – “I did warehouse work, had a job as a chef in Little Chef, worked as a security guard, then moved into fashion retail – I was always into clothes – worked my way up to managerial positions in a couple of them, got the sack all the time.”

In between, still nursing dreams of Hollywood, he went back to college for three years to take GCSEs and a theatre studies A-level. He tried to get into drama schools, but “it was just a no-go”. Abandoning plans to be an actor, and inspired by The Stone Roses, Paul Weller and Britpop, he thought, ‘F**k this, I’m gonna join a band. I could sing, so I thought, I’m laughing, music’ll be easy. I can get pissed and stoned, I don’t have to be so disciplined.” (That’s all changed, by the way: Williamson has stopped drinking and taking drugs in the past few years.)”.

A couple of key tracks from Spare Ribs were highlighted by The Quietus in their interview that I just quoted from. Whilst a lot of Williamson’s lyrics are confident and bold, there is a more vulnerable and insecure side that does appear:

“And a question about language, I've noticed in 'Elocution' and 'Top Room', there's a sense of insecurity in language, where does that come from?

JW: I think it's because I'm quite critical of other people. I've regressed [during lockdown], everything became claustrophobic and insular. I started questioning myself. I went through a period of thinking the way I talked was just horrible, and measuring my own worth in the face of my criticisms towards other people in the music industry. I went through a period of thinking I'm just as big a cunt as they are. All of this started seeping into the lyrics a little bit. 'Elocution' is talking about people who really play the game, who are ambassadors for whatever fucking social justice campaign or giving out awards at whatever ceremonies or being sponsored by Marshall Amps, and using that to climb the hierarchy rather than simply writing good songs. I didn't want to get into that kind of thing, I didn't want to network and hobnob because it's just bullshit, but at the same time I was aware that these people are going to get further.

I want to focus on one of my favourite tracks from Spare Ribs, Elocution, as it has not been released as a single. I feel that few people have spent a lot of time writing about it in detail. Just before then, I want to go back to the Irish Times interview and a passage that referred to when the album started life:

“As proven by Sleaford Mods’ new album, Spare Ribs, creativity during lockdown can deliver intriguing results. Work started on it a few months before March 2020. “We had a loose idea of what it was going to be, what it would sound like, but then we went into mutual hibernation. Andrew sent me some ideas but they didn’t work; we eventually got into a studio at the same time and that made a crucial difference. Gradually, it came together”.

There is a nice contrast to the early stages of Elocution. The introduction has this buzzing and booming electronic beat that gets the body pumping and the head vibrating. It is one of the most immediate and engaging introductions on the album. We then hear Jason Williamson come in with an adopted accent – something quite pompous and nerdy: “Hello there, I'm here today to talk about the importance of independent venues/I'm also secretly hoping that by agreeing to talk about the importance of independent venues/I will then be in a position to move away from playing independent venues”. This is a very timely point of conversation. Independent venues have been hard-hit for years, and many have had to struggle against closure and rising rent prices – in addition to a lack of Government support. Whilst many of those fighting for their survival are pure in terms of their motives and truly value these grassroot venues, there are others that are less sincere and have their eyes; maybe they want attention and popularity so that they can play larger and glitzier venues. I love the way Williamson delivers the lines. There is attitude and a bit of a raised nose that makes you smile. I would be interested to see this released as a single and what Sleaford Mods do with the video. The pace then changes as a rushing drum beat comes in and Williamson’s voice returns to its usual sound. Whether he is aiming at specific artists who do not care about independent venues (and just want attention) or people that seem two-faced (is he, in some ways, referring to himself and how he is not the best at articulating himself on some occasions?!), I am not sure: “I'm no good with elocution/To get myself into the institution/So I can win some donkey straw/Get a frame and put it on my fuckin’ wall”. It is evident that Williamson has had enough of those who speak about the importance of venues and important issues but, when you look at their lives, they are coming from a perspective of privilege and inauthentic posturing: “I wish I had the time/To be a wanker just like you/And maybe then, I'd be somewhere lovely and warm/Just like you”.

Whether he is referring solely to artists who want to hit the big time but feel it is important to support smaller causes to gain popularity, or if it is a shot against a general type of person…I am not 100% firm. I love the composition. There is this pulsing buzz and throb that gives Elocution this momentum and physicality; a nice guitar line comes in that is twangy and cool! This wonderful soundscape, tied to Williamson’s talent for language and delivery, shows why Sleaford Mods are a perfect partnership (I think Andrew Fearn has crafted one of his best compositions on this track!). Giving each verse and line new breath and life, Williamson has this great ability to switch his delivery in terms of pace and accent. This means there is such fluidity and nuance to Sleaford Mods’ work. I really like the lyrics and I feel there are specific people/types that Williamson had in mind when writing: this sort of for-the-people kind that has this surface of caring and nobility but, when you crack the shell, they are hollow and position. Williamson’s gift for language really comes to the fore later in the song: “It's a suicide mission/To go online and knock the opposition/But I don't want no donkey straw/Cos I wee'd in the corner near the stable door/And I buzz, career tabs death/Little one liners/Little clever shithouse fivers/In the scope that the hands of the shite have took/Took to the pegs in the coats where the bones hang up/Hey”. Running in at just under three minutes, Elocution provides Sleaford Mods the time to stretch out and really get their say across; there is the brevity and concision that means the track makes you come back and again and again! Fearn delivers something jazzy and funky later in the song that delivers something warmer - against Williamson’s very direct and punchy words: “I wish I had the time/To be a wanker just like you/And maybe then, I'd be somewhere lovely and warm/Just like you”. There has been a lot of attention (as there should be) aimed at Nudge It (ft. Amy Taylor), and Mork n Mindy (ft. Billy Nomates) (with its two great collaborators). I wanted to focus on a different track that, as I said, would make a great single. I have seen a few reviewers single out Elocution for special praise. It is a wonderful song and one that I keep coming back to. On a magnificent album where every track is a winner, to say Elocution is one of its very best is high praise indeed!

  PHOTO CREDIT: Roger Sargent

Before wrapping things up, there are a couple of things I want to explore. I listen to Sleaford Mods’ music and cannot easily link it to another artist. They have such a particular sound and I wonder who they could be inspired by. That said, when Jason Williamson spoke with Hot Press last year, he did reveal some modern artists he likes:

“Although it’s safe to say that Williamson won’t be rushing out to buy the latest Slowthai and IDLES records, there’s plenty of artists that he’s only too happy to gush about.

“I’m listening to a lot of this artist called Billy Nomates,” he says. “She’s got a song called ‘No’ out at the minute, and her album’s coming out soon. She’s really good. Then there’s Westside Gunn and Conway; Amyl and the Sniffers; The Chats; Aldous Harding; Warmduscher.”

There’s plenty of Irish artists on his radar too – including Girl Band, who Sleaford Mods were supposed to tour America with in April, before Covid-19 restrictions were announced.

“I really liked that last album,” he says. “It’s brilliant. We’ve known Lankum for a while too – they’re good people. They played with us in London. Along with Girl Band, they’re the two main bands that are leading things from your country, from my perspective. I’m not too sure about The Murder Capital, but I quite like Fontaines D.C. as well”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Roger Sargent

One of the recent revelations in Sleaford Mods’ work is their collaborations. Beforehand, it has very much been about Jason Williamson and Andrew Fearn. On Spare Ribs, we hear Amy Taylor on the Nudge It, and Billy Nomates on Mork n Mindy. Both women are very different (Taylor is the lead of the Australian Punk band, Amyl and the Sniffers; Nomates is Tor Maries: a Bristol/Bournemouth-based artist whose eponymous album was one of the best of last year), and I think these new voices add something special to the mix. Williamson was asked about the collaborations by The Irish Times:

“We were really nervous about it, to be honest. Collaborating? Sleaford Mods? Is that really going to work? We weren’t sure because so many people try it, and it sounds awful. We were sick of what we regarded as s**t collaborations, so it was a bit risky, but we really think it worked.” Assisted on various tracks by UK singer Billy Nomates, Australian vocalist Amy Taylor and Nottingham academic Lisa McKenzie, he says that “prayers were answered because we worked with people whose music we admired and liked”.

As we learn from the Gigwise interview that I quoted from earlier, it seems that other artists might well appear on Sleaford Mods’ albums in the future:

“Instead of engaging with other music that sounds like the band’s own, Williamson says he would rather sink into the dulcet tones of singer-songwriters such as Aldous Harding or the slightly grittier Alex Cameron. Having acquired a taste for collaboration, working on recent single 'Mork and Mindy' with Billy Nomates and 'Nudge It' with Amyl and the Sniffers' Amy Taylor, Williamson says Harding is one the songwriters he’d most like to work with in the future.

“What this album has done is it has shown that we can work with other people, because me and Andrew we get a bit nervy you know, thinking it's gonna be shit. But what this has shown us is that we can do that and push it forward”.

I shall end things there. I wanted to explore a great song from Spare Ribs – an early contender for album of the year already! -, but I was keen to look deeper at Sleaford Mods’ music and what makes them tick. Their music seems to get better and better. I know that their music has been hailed and taken to heart by people around the world but, as the Nottingham duo are among the finest British artists of this generation, they are very much…

 NATIONAL treasures!

___________

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TRACK REVIEW: slowthai (ft. A$AP Rocky) - MAZZA

TRACK REVIEW:

 

 

slowthai (ft. A$AP Rocky)

PHOTO CREDIT: Crowns & Owls

MAZZA

9.4/10

The track, MAZZA, is available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NhyFEZKq48

RELEASE DATE:

5th January, 2021

GENRES:

Hip-Hop/Punk-Rap

ORIGIN:

Northampton, U.K.

LABEL:

Method Records

 The album, TYRON, is released on 5th February. Pre-order here:

https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/slowthai/tyron

PRODUCERS:

Slowthai/Kwes Darko/SAMO/Dom Maker/Kelvin Krash/Kenny Beats/JD Reid/KIKO/Daniel Duke

TRACKLISTING:

45 SMOKE

CANCELLED (ft. Skepta)

MAZZA (ft. A$AP Rocky)

VEX

WOT

DEAD

PLAY WITH FIRE

i tried

focus

terms (ft. Dominic Fike & Denzel Curry)

push (ft. Deb Never)

nhs

feel away (ft. James Blake & Mount Kimbie)

adhd

__________

THIS review is about a new song that…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Phil Smithies for DIY

also features the talents of A$AP Rocky but, as I am looking ahead to the release of slowthai’s new album, it is going to be about him. I will mention A$AP Rocky in the context of the song but, when it comes to the rest of this review, I am spending time delving into the life and background of slowthai. I am going to sort of do a chronological thing when it comes to slowthai, as I think it is important to have a look at his earlier years and ascent into music before coming right up to date and discussing the track, MAZZA. Maybe you know quite a lot about slowthai and his music but, for those who do not, I am going to introduce a series of interviews where we discover more about the Northamptonshire rapper. I was interested in learning about Tyron Kaymone Frampton’s teenage years. In this interview from The Guardian from last year, we look at his earlier years - and why music was always going to be where he was heading:

“In his teens, he wagged school, doing stuff he shouldn’t to bring in money. Then he went to music college in Northampton and met indie kids for the first time, who broadened his horizons by playing him Radiohead and showing him that some of his roadman attitudes were “bullshit”. But gradually, his friends started settling. “I was always like: “Come on, let’s do the music. The music’s the thing.” And they would be like: “No, I want to get a mortgage. I’m going to get a job. And I want to work my way up.” And I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t go and put on a smile and be like: “This is what I want to do for the rest of my life.” I would rather die. I would rather put everything into something and fail a thousand times and have no money, than live a life unhappy, just to scrape by.”

At one point, he went down to London, to the then-pirate station Rinse FM, with his friend rapper Izzie Gibbs. Stormzy and Jaykae were there, but they didn’t give him the time of day, “because I hadn’t done anything,” he says. “Not like I hold any resentment for it. It empowered me to further myself, because I was like: ‘Nah, I ain’t having it.’ I’ve always believed I could do it, a hundred per cent”.

I like slowthai because he is quite complex and there are different sides to him. You have this sort of energy that projects from him; he is also quite sensitive and shy. Listening to his music, and it is hard to get a sense of who the man behind the music is. That is not a negative. It is just that the music has a lot of variety and energy; one wonders who the real slowthai is. I like looking at interviews where we get these insights and pieces of the jigsaw. Returning to that interview with The Guardian, and we get a window into his personality and his home situation:

“Despite his tiredness, the 25-year-old’s particular charisma pops through the screen: the cheeky maniac at a club, the one who gets the vibe peaking simply through lairiness. Slowthai is called that because his name is Ty (Tyron Frampton) and he spoke slowly as a kid. But it’s clear his mind is going a mile a minute. His answers to my questions are long and complicated, often philosophical. “I’m always going off on tangents,” he says. “Sorry about that.”

He’s in his studio, a basement room in the house in Northampton that he shares with his fiancée and his mum, Gaynor. I can see a sofa, covered in piles of folded laundry – “Here’s a Santa suit!” – and shelves with boy bits on: a rubber head of James Brown under a glass dome, a Clockwork Orange Alex statuette. Slowthai has spent a lot of lockdown time in this room and he chats about the audio books he’s been absorbing (Ego Is the Enemy, Akala’s Natives, Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, Carlos Castaneda’s The Teachings of Don Juan), computer games he’s been playing (Fifa, Call of Duty, the new Tony Hawk). He strums on his guitar. “I’ve been trying to learn the Wurlitzer!” he says. Slowthai’s eyes curve like a cartoon when he smiles. He is nearly always smiling”.

I think that slowthai is a very rich and complicated person. It is interesting how interviews and features talk about the contrasting sides and contradictions of the man. Vice wrote about this in their interview from last year:

“But there are at least two sides to slowthai. There’s the one whose face is corrupt with pure manic energy and could turn around any living person’s bad mood with a bit of wordplay and flirtatious charm; the one for whom shirts are meaningless, existing only for the moment they’re taken off. Then there’s the one who seems socially shy; the one who, during our time together, wants to eat in the car instead of in front of people and laughs nervously under pressure”.

I shall move on to the debut album of slowthai, Nothing Great About Britain. That was released back in 2019 and, to me, it is one of the finest debut albums of the past decade. It is a fantastic work and one that was rightfully praised and celebrated! Returning to that quoted interview from Vice, and it seems that the popularity of the debut album afforded slowthai the opportunity to give something back to his family:

“The success of Tyron Frampton’s debut album Nothing Great About Britain in 2019 has meant “freedom” for his family: freedom from financial concerns, freedom for him to focus solely on music. The 25-year-old rapper permanently lives with his mum sandwiched in the middle of a long row of terraced houses in Northampton. It caters to all, with a room for his mum’s semi-permanent make-up salon and a basement for his studio, where he’s been busy writing his second album. Ten minutes later, Patsy is chatting and chatting, as nan’s do on their way out, and pushes past Ty in the back door frame. “Text me, because you never do,” she chides”.

Slowthai’s ascension has been rapid, so there’s been a lot to celebrate. After spending 14 years on a Northampton estate, raised by his single mum since the age of three when his dad left, Ty made a name for himself depicting working class life around him. Both incendiary (politically, emotionally) and considerate, he was specific in his mission to make Nothing Great About Britain, and British politics in general, accessible for everyone. He played shows for £5, put mirrors up to audiences at gigs to champion them and rapped about his love and respect for women, especially the number one woman in his life: his mum, immortalised as his “only queen” on “Northampton’s Child”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Liam Hart for FADER

There are a few more things I want to cross off of the list before coming to slowthai’s latest song but, as we consider the artist and all of his sides, I think humility has to come to the fore. One would not assume a rapper would be defined by their humbleness. That is not a shot but, again, when you consider the music, one tends to think of something more boastful and aggressive! I think there is something quite rooted about Tyron Frampton. I want to bring in an interview from DIY, where we get another window into slowthai’s (I will refer to him like this rather than Tyron Frampton) family life and how rooted he is:

“The young musician’s humility is evident, and despite his achievements this year you get the impression that his life now ultimately isn’t that different from how it was before the fame, fortune and fancy tour buses. He still spends as much time as possible at his mum’s house in Northampton, or drinking tea at his nan’s (“PG Tips or Yorkshire Tea”); having been so busy this year he hasn’t been able to spend much time at home, so he’s looking forward to Christmas back there. “I love being at home, so now I’ve got a bit of money I’ve been doing up the house me and my mum live in because that’s nice for her,” he explains. What does she think of all this? “I think she’s just proud. She’s seen me go from being a little twat to having this success, so really she’s just happy that I’m doing this,” he chuckles. “The night before the Mercurys, I was in my studio at home and she came down just crying. I got really angry at first because I thought somebody had upset her. The way she was crying I thought somebody was dying or something [but she was just proud]. I get everything from my mum, she taught me most things I know, so it’s nice to take her places. I’ve been trying to take her on holiday but she won’t go off work”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Lee Ramsey

There is one slightly sour event that I need to nod to before moving on. One cannot help but to forget a rather unfortunate event at the NME Awards early last year where host Katherine Ryan was on stage with slowthai and there was a drunken altercation. It is a moment that slowthai regrets, but it was quite ironic that he was picking up the fan-voted Hero of the Year award and then the incident occurred! In the interview from Vice, slowthai reacted to a true low point:

“I wish I went and sat back in my seat,” he says of the moment things escalated. “But I’ve never been that type of person to waddle back, ya know? The only other time I’ve ever been around a comedian is when I walked into a pub and into the back room like ‘what’s going on here’ and the guy instantly targeted me. I should’ve learnt from that.”

It was a career highlight gone sour. When he returned to the stage to collect his ‘Hero of the Year’ award, people started to boo. One audience member called him a “misogynist” and he reacted badly, throwing a glass into the crowd. The emotions on his face were comprehensible: confusion, fear, powerlessness. Moments after he jumped off the stage and disappeared, clips of his exchange with Ryan had already been shared on Twitter and labelled sexual harassment”.

There is another interview that I want to bring in where that night is also covered. When he spoke with DAZED last year, slowthai had an interesting perspective on the incident:

“Speaking about the night three-and-a-half months later, Frampton says that the videos don’t offer the full context of what happened. “It’s inexcusable to do anything like that, but people just see one side,” he says. “You can’t judge a book by a two-minute video clip.” The two clips that went viral from the night were actually taken from separate moments at the event, and primarily show Frampton’s responses to Ryan, cutting out her parts of the joke. A third video of the exchange shows a longer back-and-forth between Ryan and Frampton”.

There are a lot more positives to slowthai than negatives. I want to sort of bring things fairly up to this date, as lockdown has been a tough one for all artists. I think the family bond is very important to slowthai. As we learn from the Vice interview, it seems that lockdown at home has been a fairly positive experience:

“Back home, he went into lockdown with Katerina and his mum. This was a comfortable prospect for Ty (“I’ve always just been around women, my mum and my sister, that was always my unit”). Instead of touring and festivals, he started eating properly, learning to cook Russian meals from his girlfriend: things like borscht and a vodka pasta, based on one they’d enjoyed in LA. Slowly he noticed that he looked less and less ill, less exhausted from touring and being on the road.

The insular, homely life suited him. “As I’ve gotten older, I like snuggling, I like watching movies and eating, I like cute shit. I’m not gonna hide away from it,” he grins. That’s all fed into his next album. “I like being softer though, and not being so aggressive with my voice and stuff. Having some piano moments and sweetness”.

Sticking with slowthai and family…I was interested to learn about his sister and mother and whether they are fans of his music. One listens to slowthai and there are no obvious influences that come to the forefront – he is a unique artist who has his own spirit.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Joshua Gordon for CRACK

In an interview with GQ from 2019, slowthai is asked about his musical influences: 

“Do your mom and sister like your music?

Yeah. I think they both could do every song word-for-word.

For example, say I'm at home chillin' and I just hear my chune bangin' out and it'll be like a car parked outside. And I'll be like, "Who the fuck is this? What is this?" I think it's one of my boys just tryna piss me off. And I look out the window and it's just my mom like in the car just jammin' out. I've seen her drive past. I've been walking down the street once and she drove past, I could hear it. And she's just singin' word-for-word.

But my mom's quite young, so she listens to a lot of what I listen to. She finds stuff that is relevant now. She would be like playing this song and I'd be like, "What the fuck are you listening to? I ain't even heard this shit!”

What type of stuff was she playing when you were growing up?

It was a lot of garage, a lot of jungle, a lot of dance music. And Portishead. A lot of R&B as well. My mom would play random shit, man. She weren't so much into soul, that was more my nan. All the rock influence comes from my stepdad.

I always used to love that song from Reservoir Dogs, [sings] "You put the lime in the coconut and mix them all together, put the lime in the coconut and you feel better." I could listen to that on repeat as a kid. That was my shit, man”.

Forgive me for giving a big build-up to the MAZZA, but there is a lot to uncover regarding slowthai! I like how there are different emotions and styles that work their way through his music. Maybe, in some respects, people expect male artists to be quite limited; like they are going to talk about certain things and that their emotional palette is quite limited. There is a richness to slowthai’s work that is intriguing and revealing. Going back to the interview from The Guardian, we discover more about the textures and emotions in slowthai’s music:

“This attitude might sound understated, but it’s not delivered that way and does not extend to Slowthai’s approach to his music: he’s always been highly ambitious about that. He believes in albums. “I’m a fan of David Bowie,” he says. “I like albums, I like narrative, I love films. The idea and the story that flows from start to finish, it’s always been important to me.” Plus, he knows what he wants to make: TYRON was meant to be his third album, but the times seemed right for it to come out now. Vengefulness and rebellion, introspection and self-blame. The full emotional gamut.

Often, young men are only allowed to express two emotions, I say: anger and horniness. “I don’t think that they’re not allowed to express other emotions, it’s that they allow our society to make them feel that way,” he says. “I’ve got so many boys [friends] that are just angry in general, at life. And they have a reputation, so they think they have to act a certain way. Out of all my friends, they know I’m the one that if they wanted to cry, I’m there. It’s OK to cry. It’s not a thing [that] you’ve got to be the hardest man in the UK and walk around with your chest pushed out”.

“The final track on TYRON, adhd, talks about how Slowthai can’t be alone. How he needs his friends. It features a phone call from him to a mate, just saying that he misses him. It’s Slowthai’s favourite track on the album. He played the guitar, sampled it, and once he heard the sound, he knew what he wanted to do.

“I always wanted to make songs that make people cry,” he says. “Not just that you made people feel good, but you’ve really hit the emotion, or made them relive a moment where they feel something. And with that song, I never used that tone before and everyone in the room just went into the same headspace I was in. It allowed me to get everything off my chest. And I was dragging myself through the dirt. It made me feel like I’m hitting what I want to say. I’m fully getting it out. I’m expressing it”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Crowns & Owls

It might sound like slowthai is an artist who strives for perfection and a sense of completeness through his music. In fact, the sense of the imperfect is what makes his music so strong and engaging. Circling back to that GQ interview from 2019, and slowthai offers explanation as to why a sense of the imperfect creates perfection:

“I say imperfect not as a criticism, but because that’s what Frampton wanted it to be. “Imperfection is what creates perfection,” he says when we sit down to talk ten minutes later and I ask him about wanting visitors to hear “every detail, all the mistakes and characteristics that make ‘Toaster’”. “It’s like, the Mona Lisa’s smile isn’t perfect because she’s got perfect teeth, it’s the off-ness of it, how it captures the realism”.

“Anything I’ve ever appreciated,” he continues, “be it soul music, rock and roll, punk or even the blues from the Thirties with Robert Johnson, there are bum notes, it’s rough and it doesn’t sound clean. Most of it was recorded to one track and captures the feeling, the vibe: you can’t re-create that.” He says he’d like visitors to “hear the honesty, hear all the different parts. I want people to have an opinion. It’s all good for me to want something, but I want to hear what you want, what it makes you feel. It’s like with the meaning of my lyrics, it doesn’t matter what I meant, because if they mean something completely different to you, then that’s more important. If it makes you smile, who am I to say you shouldn’t”.

Just a few more things I want to explore before I get down to business. It is rare, when we think of U.K. rappers, to look outside of London. I think things are changing in the way that respect. The BBC just named Coventry-based Pa Salieu as their Sound of 2021 winner. There are great artists in Rap and Hip-Hop from outside of the capital. There was a bit of surprise from some when they learned that slowthai was from Northampton. Taking from the GQ interview, it appears slowthai has a lot of affection for his hometown:

“Rap fans were immediately intrigued by the MC from Northampton, one of the few voices on the scene from outside of London and the only one not from a major city. Frampton is hugely proud of his hometown.“ It is weird because, when you’re from such a small place it feels like no one is ever going to take you seriously,” he says. While we’re on the topic, I mess up majorly by accidentally saying “Nottingham” instead of “Northampton” (it was a slip of the tongue!) and I can tell Frampton is really quite upset. He rebuffs me by reeling off Northampton facts to prove the place’s significance: “It’s the biggest town in Europe, or second, or third, or somewhere around there,” he says (it’s third). “But we’re one of the biggest. We would have been the capital of England but we didn’t have a cathedral and we didn’t have a port, so we couldn’t import and export and therefore couldn’t be the capital. But we are closest to the centre and I think Princess Diana is buried in Northamptonshire – she’s from a similar sort of place. Thom Yorke lived there at one point in time. We make shoes, we’re known as cobblers”.

This sort of moves us to slowthai’s second studio album, TYRON. From the title, one would assume it to be his most personal album. I think it will be more of an exploration into his true self and being than Nothing Great About Britain. When he spoke with DAZED last year, we learnt more about the objectives of TYRON:

“Fans, eagerly awaiting album two after Frampton teased the news on Twitter last month, can expect “two sides of me”, he says, “AKA two sides of Tyron as a person. The person who got to this place and the person who is trying to be”. With a grin, and a quick look back to his manager to see how much he can tell me, Frampton reveals that the title of the record is already “in the world” – he adds that it’s even been said during our interview – and is due imminently. Self-described as the best music he’s ever made, the rapper says the album will offer both a softer and harder side of him, with more aggression shining through. “This is to push people,” he enthuses, rhythmically adding: “If you’re in the gym, I want you to push. If you’re at work and someone is doing your head in, I want you to push and get your own money. This is about inspiring people to better themselves”.

I think TYRON is going to be a really interesting album. You can pre-order it (the link is at the top of this review) and experience an album that has two distinct halves. We learn more about the album from an interview in The Face:  

“TYRON is split into two conceptual halves. The first is the hype, excitable, sweat-inducing slowthai that you’d see at one of his shows, where he’ll strip off and source accessories like sunglasses or socks from his fans and, more often than not, end up crowd surfing. The tracks are short, like flashes of lightning, with their names capitalised. As you might have gathered, it’s the angry half. ​“Used to jack cars with a Phillips,” he yells on 45 SMOKE, a searing trap cut with bass that threatens to blow your speakers. The A$AP Rocky-featuring MAZZA is equally aggy: ​“Ayy, make the place look like a murder scene!” he raps”.

And there’s a tune with Skepta called CANCELLED that tackles the idea of people gleefully tearing him down: ​“I must be cancelled, ain’t got much longer.”

When a preview of CANCELLED started doing the rounds, the reaction was split between some gassed fans and others who disapproved. The abuse allegations towards Octavian had recently emerged, and people were critical of slowthai’s apparent insensitivity in teasing a track with the defiant refrain: ​“How you gonna cancel me?” featuring Skepta (who’d previously been affiliated with Octavian) while social media was filled with discourse about purging the music industry of abusive men.

But as someone who witnessed domestic abuse first-hand growing up, slowthai is quick to denounce it as indefensible. He’s also ready to challenge anyone making that tenuous link between him and the alleged deeds of another musician.

“There’s a pocket of people that just want to see you fail, they constantly have your name on their lips. [But] I’m making music for myself and people that listen to me. I’m not making music to talk about anyone else’s situation. I’m not the narrator of their story so fuck ​’em. I have my voice. But I’m not there to be man’s guardian.”

The second half of TYRON is softer, the more vulnerable side of slowthai demonstrated in reverb‑y guitar lines and sweet, crackly production”.

On the Kelvin Krash-assisted nhs, slowthai urges the listener to confront their flaws, warning that otherwise they’ll be stuck with them: ​“Always had the bum knee, you will always be chubby /​If you suck in your tummy, when you’re starin’ at the mirror”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Phil Smithies for DIY

With A$AP Rocky’s spotlight coming later, the first moments of the song are from slowthai. There seems to be discontent and a sense of annoyance in MAZZA’s introduction: “Yeah, yeah/Jesus Christ/Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah (Huh, huh, huh, huh)”. One is instantly intrigued as to what the song could be about and why the hero is so irked. The first verse is a fast and furious delivery where there is a sense of the frantic at work. A$AP Rocky interjects and adds a sense of conversation – or adding to the paranoia -, and we get these vivid scenes and lines from slowthai: “Mazzalean (Mazzalean)/When I'm pulling up, muddy dungarees (Yeah, huh?)/Make the place look like a murder scene (Murder)/Ayy, when I make moves, I'm a money fiend (Money, yeah)/Suicidal tendencies, what's up, man? (Bang, bang)/Feel like I'm down, I say "What's up?”/Way too, way too, way too gully, give me money (Give me it all)/Cannot trust me, no one ever fuckin' buss me change/(Buss me, buss me, buss me, buss me, buss me)/Look how shit changed/Feeling like these drugs made me better than I was”. I said how TYRON is an album where we learn more about the different sides to slowthai. How honest this is to some of his darker moments I am not sure, but I get this feeling of a man who has succumbed to darker days and experienced addiction and violence. Of course, there is some heightened emotions and a sense of the fictional, but there is a lot of slowthai in the song. The first verse is this electric and captivating thing where we get all these wild scenes and explorations. The ending of the verse is especially striking: “Walk in, made a big bang (Yeah)/Propane with a Roxanne (Brr)/Gin and tonic, I'm a bigger topic (Yeah)/Bigger pocket, can't close my wallet (Blah)/Quicker blotting, like my name's Sonic/Glass home, we stone chucking”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Steven Ferdman/Getty Images

A$AP Rocky comes to the spotlight for the second verse. The two work really well together on the track - and they have different delivery styles. A$AP Rocky is a little slower and more soulful (if that is the right word?), whereas slowthai is more intense and ramped-up. It gives MAZZA this nice contrast and agility. Again, one gets some rather striking images and arresting imagery in the verses. There is this dizzying excess and urgency at work: “Olive, body shaped like a bottle/Popeye off of spinach/Pop a model 'til she swallow, dropping Tyler off, damn/Light a flame, toss a Molotov/Drop it off, then I Mazel Tov/Pop a whole god dang champagne bottle cork/Still might find me in a mosh pit/And I still ain't even corporate/Walked in with who I worked with (Yeah)”. There is a lot of confidence and swagger in the second verse. I love the wordplay and the way A$AP Rocky delivers his lines. Like I said, there is a difference between the two rappers and the worlds they are projecting. A$AP Rocky – as a counterpoint to a more British landscape in slowthai’s words – brings us to American streets: “Got jokes uptown, Harlem world, New York like I'm Pop Smoke/Riding 'round in the drop rolls, watching rats in the pot roast/Finger polish with the topcoat, the bottom platinum but the top”. A$AP Rocky ends his verse and then throws the microphone back to slowthai: “Bling, bling, that's barcode/Ring, ring, that's a smartphone/Beep, beep, there your heart go/slowthai, here your part go”. The video is really interesting: we see the two in different hotel rooms as they are both smashing the place up. Maybe as a result of intoxication or fear, we see slowthai destroying a television and both look into mirrors and we see them with widened, almost cartoon-like eyes. It is a great visual where we get this connection and bond, despite the fact the two are not close to one another. We get some final words from slowthai: “Different goals/On the street, play different roles”. I think that is one of the big takeaways from MAZZA: we have two class rappers taking us into different streets and worlds. It is an engrossing and fantastic song that has already signalled itself as one of the highlights from TYRON.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Sirui Ma for Vice

I want to nod to the future and what is coming next for slowthai. I think there is a lot to love about slowthai and, when TYRON arrives, I think it will get a hugely positive reaction. Returning to the interview with Vice, we discover what is next for slowthai:

“Who can slowthai be moving forward? He’s still the person who created the most important album about Brexit Britain, and its legacy, he hopes, is that it made people “think for themselves”. He’s still the person who encouraged young people to engage with politics, and he will continue to prove that he’s still one of the most exciting rappers in the UK. Behind his computer there’s a piece of fan art so big and stylistically impressive that I mistake it for a professional commission. It was gifted to him by a female fan at one of his shows. Now, when he’s making music, it’s right there in front of him: a huge black board of handwritten lyrics, and tea in bone china cups with saucers and Boris’ infuriating face mid-roar”.

A part of him is at peace with the fact that he was made an “example” of. He says, on a tangent, that he feels great sympathy for people who’ve been cancelled maliciously or targeted on social media. “That’s the worst thing for me, that we live in a world where these things actually happen and hurt people and leave people feeling repressed and suppressed or pushed down,” he explains. “At the end of day, we’re all here to be our truest selves and fulfil our potential and when people hinder that or stop you from being who you’re meant to be or dim your light… I just can’t understand why anyone would wanna make people feel them ways. I’m always changing and growing and I hope people can see it”.

It is quite heartbreaking that, perhaps, it will be a long time before slowthai can share TYRON with the world in terms of live gigs. Quoting from the DAZED interview, slowthai shared his views regarding the possibility of future gigs at a hard time:

“Although a tour is likely off the cards, Frampton maintains a glimmer of hope that he’ll be able to share his album with a crowd. “We were looking at getting a big bit of land and putting a stage up there, then you know them balls?” he smirks. “The big see-through things that you walk inside?” He means zorb balls. “Doing a show and putting people in those.” Whether or not he’s joking (it’s always difficult to tell), Frampton is clearly optimistic about the future. “We need to move forward,” he concludes, “and keep it moving”.

I shall leave things there, but I would advise people buy a copy of TYRON as it is going to be one of the most important and revealing albums of the year. I think we will learn more about slowthai as a person than we did on his debut - though he set the bar pretty high with Nothing Great About Britain! Despite the odd setback through his career, I think that slowthai has come a very long way and marked himself as one of this country’s most important voices. Even though he has achieved a lot already, I get the feeling that slowthai will not rest; this hungry and thrilling talent...

STILL has a lot left to accomplish.

___________

Follow slowthai

PHOTO CREDIT: Joshua Gordon for CRACK 

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/slowthai

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/nospacenocaps/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/slowthai/

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/3r1XkJ7vCs8kHBSzGvPLdP?si=KzlJuZuqT7WnSB5ZwFcTag

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKHvQqJdl2cyPUmcXLFUeaQ

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TRACK REVIEW: IAMDDB - Wa’hum

TRACK REVIEW:

 

 

IAMDDB

PHOTO CREDIT: Tiffannie Mersades Film 

Wa’hum

9.1/10

The track, Wa’hum, is available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ceJ7FkJqbY

RELEASE DATE:

31st December, 2020

GENRE:

Alternative Hip-Hop

ORIGIN:

Manchester, U.K.

LABEL:

WÆV Entertainment

__________

THIS might be the shortest track I have…

ever done a review for on my blog! Not only do I want to tackle the brief beauty that is Wa’hum, but I want to spend a lot of time exploring the phenomenal Manchester-based artist, IAMDDB (Diana De Brito). The actual review of her new track may be quite short but, as I feel that this year will be a breakthrough one for her, there are subjects I want to cover - and there are things that are important to cover off. I am almost going to go chronological when it comes to her background and newest material, so I want to focus on IAMDDB’s background and why her sound is so unique. In an interview with GQ from January of last year, we discover more about an exceptional talent:

“It's easy to see why 23-year-old Diana De Brito has such a devoted cult following. Not only is the Mancunian, who goes by the stage name IAMDDB, wildly personable, unfiltered and unapologetically self-assured, she’s got a deliciously compelling, utterly unique sound, the kind that sets her heads and shoulders above the cookie-cutter artists in the charts. Citing influences from Erkyah Badu to Nat King Cole, De Brito's self-styled brand of “urban jazz” – a heady blend of hip-hop, jazz, trap and soul – has earned her a reputation as one of the most promising artists on the British urban scene, with 2020 looking set to be her biggest year yet.

The daughter of a well-known Angolan musician, De Brito moved from Lisbon, Portugal, to Manchester as a small child. Alongside Aitch, she's one of her city's hottest exports, having exploded onto the UK music circuit in 2015 with her single "Leaned Out". Since then, De Brito’s racked up tens of millions of views on each of her YouTube videos (check out “Shade”, currently on 30 million), she was placed third on BBC’s Sound Of 2018 list and has recently supported Lauryn Hill and US rap megastar Bryson Tiller on arena tours, all without signing to a label or releasing a debut album. Oh, and she’s also a bonafide fashion darling, having starred in campaigns for Browns, Moncler, Tommy Hilfiger and Levi’s, to name just a few”.

I think that there is something embedded in IAMDDB’s D.N.A. that meant that she (De Brito) always wanted to follow music and had that desire to make her own sounds. You can hear that from what she is putting out! There is this sense of hunger and desire that, one feels, has been there since she was very young indeed. Going back to that GQ interview, IAMDDB was asked about when she first wanted to be a musician and follow that as a path:

“I feel like I’ve always known, but the first time I really realised was when I played Rizzo in high school in about year nine or ten. As I was on stage, there was something in me that just clicked. "This is what I want to do, being in front of an audience, the lights, having a whole performance to deliver." I had the choice of either doing law or music, but library shifts were not for me. I want to see the world, travel, connect with different people... Because my dad was a musician, we had a studio at home and I was constantly around musicians and instruments, he travelled a lot and would come back with all these crazy stories. I wanted to be like my dad! Part of the reason I decided to go by IAMDDB instead of my full name was to create a bit of distance and solidify myself as an artist in my own right. I wanted to make sure everything I achieve is because of my hard work, not because "she has these contacts or her dad did this”. I toured in Africa in 2015, which was heavily jazz-based with lots of covers, but it really gave me the understanding of training, organisation, discipline, just the mental strength as well to be on stage and connect with the audience. It was so fire. From that experience, I was just like, "D, if you can do that in Africa, imagine what you could do in England. Get your arse back, and do the most”.

I will end the review by looking ahead and speculating as to where we might get a debut studio album - there has been talk and speculation for a while. She has released two E.P.s and three mixtapes to date. I can remember there was a lot of hype and buzz when IAMDDBB released her debut E.P., Waeveybby, Vol. 1, back in 2016. Early singles like Selfless are filled with so much quality and assurance. Although I think she has grown stronger since 2016, I love her earlier work. I want to flip things back to 2018 and an interview from CRACK. We get a bit more information about IAMDDB’s rise and progress to her debut E.P. - in addition as to what sort of sound/genre Waeveybby, Vol. 1 fits into:

“IAMDDB has achieved a great deal in a short time. Her come-up has been, in her own words, a “crazy journey. I’m just trying to keep up with the pace.” Having studied performing arts at college, she took a series of retail jobs before focusing seriously on music just two years ago. Last year finished with a string of accolades – from the BBC Sound of 2018 longlist, to support slots for Bryson Tiller alongside headline dates across Europe. At the age of 21, IAMDDB is a force to be reckoned with.

In terms of genre, IAMDDB has described her debut EP Waeveybby Volume 1, as “urban jazz”; songs with a spiritual leaning that you can jam at home and smoke a joint with your friends to. But many of the songs on 2017’s Hoodrich Vol 3 – including breakthrough single Shade – had trappier leaning for the turn-up. “I wanted to make something that the mandem can feel it, the girls can feel it, but it has to be… not mainstream, but for the club, for the hood.” What inspired the switch in vibe? “I just reached a point in life where I had had enough, and I was like ‘if one more thing falls apart I’m gonna fall apart, then we’ve got a real problem!’ It wasn’t a nice time in life so instead of just wallowing and feeling sorry for myself I was like ‘nah, you’re gonna use this, you’re gonna talk about it, you’re gonna manipulate it into something positive’, and here we are”.

IAMDDB is such an eclectic and intriguing artist; her sound is so addictive and stunning that one cannot really imagine she took a very direct lead from any particular artist! That said, I did want to know what sort of music she grew up on and what inspires her. I will come back to that interview from CRACK, because there is a passage where we learn more about the sort of music that IAMDDB was raised around:

“IAMDDB grew up listening to a lot of Afro-soul, Afro-jazz and kizomba – her dad is also a musician and is in a band in Angola – along with the likes of Nat King Cole and Whitney Houston. Now, she mostly listens to US rap, citing Jay Critch, Future and Rich the Kid as current playlist favourites. Her musical hero, however, is somewhat unexpected. “Bob Marley was my inspiration,” she reveals. “

Lyrically, in harmonies, in rhythm, in everything he did and represented. His music to me is almost higher powers saying it’s fine to have emotions, it’s fine to be emotional, it’s fine to fall apart but you’ve gotta forget about that and come back stronger.” And although their music might be worlds apart – “Bob Marley weren’t out here shouting ‘bad bitch no underwear’,” she laughs – IAMDDB hopes her fans will have the same soul-stirring feeling she experienced when listening to her biggest influence”.

Forgive me for giving such a long run-up for a single song – and one that is just under two minutes long -, but I have been waiting for a chance to review IAMDDB…and I should have done that last year when she put out the song, Quarantine! I think now is a better time, as we are in a new year; one where everyone is tipping who they think is going to be particularly important regarding their output. I am highlighting a lot of new artists at the moment but, even though she has been on the scene a little while, I think that IAMDDB is definitely a name that everyone needs to look out for this year!

Despite her success and her admiring fanbase, there is a humbleness that defines her and the music. A lot of artists obsess over streaming figures and they can have quite an ego. When you read more about IAMDDB, she comes across as very grounded and modest. In an interview with The Line of Best Fit from January 2020 the subject of humbleness came up:

“Despite her music generating over 1 million listens on Spotify a month, it becomes clear in talking to her that Debrito is not one to be clouded by cosmically generated numbers. Speaking candidly of the often skin-deep nature of the industry, which she seems to glide seamlessly through, she tells me: “Music has evolved so much from the time when we had ‘real’ artists. Music nowadays can be so microwavable, here today, gone tomorrow.” Particularly, in the genres of R&B, jazz and trap in which IAMDDB traverses, it could be argued that since it gains so much traffic and has such a high turnover, there is a temptation for artists to succumb to a certain style in order to make bank.

“A lot of people have one smash hit and think that’s it, and they’re good for life. But when you really examine this industry and this game, you realise that just because you’ve overcome one obstacle doesn’t mean there isn’t 100 to go. So staying humble, staying level-headed, and always remembering why you began this to begin with, is super important, in a level of consistency and quality, in the way you work and the way you carry yourself. Girl, it’s like a whole matrix”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Jackson Bowley 

I have talked about sound and brought in some information regarding IAMDDB’s influence, but I was not aware until fairly recently that there is one particular artist who is a big hero of hers: Lauryn Hill. I guess, when you listen closely to some of IAMDDB’s songs, one can hear some shades of Hill. In the interview from The Line of Best Fit, we learn why Lauryn Hill is especially important to IAMDDB:

“Debrito’s personal style emulates this off-kilter sincerity, her lyrics transmitting a message to be yourself, and to always work for what you want. This is especially poignant given that navigating the industry as a woman can be so difficult. It would be amiss to not cite one of the most exciting points in IAMDDB’s journey last year, where her talent was recognised by the legendary Lauryn Hill – so much that she was chosen to accompany her as support on the The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill tour through Amsterdam and Scandinavia to London’s SSE Arena. She performed alongside Nas, M.I.A. and A$AP ROCKY. Reflecting on the whole experience, Debrito says, “I know! I still can’t believe I did that. It was so humbling to have such a legendary Black female recognise what I do – when I got the call I was like, ‘This is wild’. Someone I’d looked up to for so long was recognising the light within me.

“[Touring with Lauryn] was true motivation to just continue pushing towards being as true and as strong within myself as I can be. Even when I spoke to her, she gave me some advice and it was to stay true to myself, to make sure the team that I have believe and never try to make me conform.” Debrito has gone on to collaborate on tour with artists such as Bryson Tiller and Jhene Aiko. “It’s so humbling, the reception with the audience... for them to take me in with open arms. It gives me the sensation that, if I really hone in to my artistry, I can take it as far as I can”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Danny Kasirye

Despite a love of artists like Lauryn Hill, I don’t think IAMDDB is an artist that you can define – she herself definitely does not want to be defined and labelled too easily. You can hear from her music that IAMDDB is very much her own artist and she is not trying to match anyone - or follow in a legend’s footsteps. It is refreshing that she has such an original and unique sound. IAMDDB spoke with Vogue back in 2019, where the subject of musical independence was covered:

“All artists fear of being pigeonholed into a sound or genre and being accused of predictability. While releasing a series of volumes – amalgamations of booming trap as heard in “Shade” from Hoodrich Vol.3 sultry bass lines and velvety vocals as heard in “Pause” from Vibe, Volume 2. and bouncy, vibey trap in “Drippy” from Flightmode Vol.4, IAMDDB is anything but predictable. But her opting out of releasing a debut album is however, unconventional, but if anything, impressive”.

“For me, independence is being able to do what I want, without relying on anybody else or being influenced by outward energy – having full creative control. I make my own beat, I make my own rules and I make my own lane. It took a lot of trial and error, I can’t lie. It’s bittersweet that I didn’t go with a label because I did a lot on my own. I personally found the producers, wrote my own music, pieced everything together. I didn’t realise that most artists don’t do that or write for themselves! But I think, if I were to be signed with a label, there’d be boundaries, rules and levels that I wouldn’t be able to go to,” she explained”.

There can be a lot of expectation and direction from labels when it comes to their artists. Whether that is them trying to guide an artist in terms of their sound or commercial appeal, or whether it is to do with the way they put out their music, they are often dictated to a lot and are left to felt a little controlled. It would be easy for IAMDDB to feel that way and have people tell her how when she needs to put out an album or E.P. I want to bring in an interview from Browns. They spoke to IAMDDB a while back (I cannot find a date on the website for when the interview took place), and that issue of the industry control came up:

“You’ve been really headstrong when it comes to resisting the pressures of the industry. Where did you learn to be this way?

My big brother would school me on contracts, on the legalities of being with labels. For me personally, I’ve always been a very independent being anyway. I don’t like relying on other people, I like being in control. I was studying the game as I was going along, so now I’m in a comfortable space where I’ve experienced the highs, I’ve experienced the lows, and I’m still centred in myself. 

How do you resist that pressure to go faster, especially as things start to pick up?

I just go home. I get on the train to Manchester and I’m like: “You know what D? Incense. Centre yourself. Humble yourself.” Because as quickly as you rise is as quickly as you can fall”.

I want to move on and head back as it were, as there is a particularity transformative event in IAMDDB’s life that occurred when she was a teenager. Going back to that Browns interview, it seems like a trip to Africa was especially instrumental:

“It was a trip to Angola that really changed everything for you. Can you talk about this?

I had just finished college, and I had just come out of a very toxic relationship. So I went to Angola for six months, and it was just the most mind-blowing trip I have ever done. It changed me for the better in so many ways. The first 48 hours I was like: “The water’s not working, the electricity… ahh!” But after that I just integrated into it. It really showed me that here we have so many luxuries we take for granted, and people would do anything to just have an hour or a day in this type of lifestyle. I came back fuelled to be the best I can be at my craft”.

There are a couple of other things that I want to address before moving to reviewing IAMDDB’s new track. Her most-recent E.P., Swervvvvv.5, was released in 2019. There is a lot of excitement regarding the possibility of an album but, at the moment, we are getting E.P.s and mixtapes with plenty of wonderful material. I think that Swervvvvv.5 is IAMDDB’s strongest effort to date. Circling back to the interview with Vouge, we learn more about that extraordinary E.P. – in addition to how IAMDDB has matured since her earliest releases:

“Now at 23, she returns with Swervvvvv.5, the fifth and last of the volume instalments. Inspired by Playboi Carti and Solange, her fifth project is her most refined with a definite focus on sounds and on instrumentals – a calming finale to her ever-evolving world of urban jazz that she has introduced us to, taking listeners by surprise in her hypnotic interludes in between tracks.

“I’ve matured since I started the volumes. I really wanted to make a project that you haven't heard before. I wanted to give my supporters a listening experience and I think Volume 5 is a perfect example of flowing – flowing through good energy, through empowerment and vulnerability. It represents the two sides of IAMDDB – the turn up and the vulnerable. It’s all about vibrations, and I want listeners to feel something when they listen to it, rather just think it’s cool. I want it to move something with you, raise your vibrations – just feel good”.

Just before getting onto assessing Wa’hum, I think that the ever-present talk of a debut album needs covering. I will go into more detail in the conclusion of the review, though it does seem like a level head and a long-term strategy has worked well for IAMDDB. She is not going to rush into an album. In an interview with the Manchester Evening News, we discover why IAMDDB has been taking more time to release music; why she does not want to rush into putting together a debut studio album:

“While many fledgling pop stars would have gotten carried away by all that hype and attention, Debrito, to her credit, opted for a more patient, long-term strategy. She chose to go down the independent route, setting up her own production company, Union IV Recordings, allowing herself complete artistic autonomy. And, instead of rushing out a debut album, she’s spent the past two years releasing a string of acclaimed EPs – the latest, SWERVVVVV.5, dropped back in February – and showcasing the multiple sides to her musical personality.

“You see so many new artists putting out a debut album too soon,” she says. “That’s why I’ve been doing things slowly, putting out EPs and mixtapes, developing my sound. As a new artist, the last thing you want to do is over-saturate yourself. I want to keep people hungry. When I drop an album, it’ll be because I’m ready, not because of any buzz. I’m doing things my own way”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Tiffannie Mersades Film 

With production from Rndm Beats, Wa’hum is such a solid and memorable song - despite the fact that is comes in at 1:41.  One might have to forgive any misquoted lyrics, as they are not available on the Internet at the moment. I love the start of the song. We get this sort of clavioline sound (I am not sure if that is what being used) that has this weirdly trippy sound that then feeds into a bold and proclaiming claxon. It is a typically confident and interesting introduction to a song from an artist who is always moving forward and innovating. There is a directness to IAMDDB’s lyrics in Wa’hum. The name, Wahum, can mean creativity, curiosity, charm, friendliness, cheer and social life. In Arabic, one meaning of the word is ‘delusion’. It makes me wonder where IAMDDB got the title from and what the origin of the song is. I would recommend people watch the video for the song, as it has these visuals which are quite dark and intense…but there is also a lot of power and beauty. Featuring models Rochelle James, Jasmine Mcking, Jennifer Mcking, IAMDDB directed the video alongside Justin Campos. The models – wearing black and dressed in balaclavas – are quite menacing and have a man pinned down. The lyrics, “Pussy boy, what you want from me?”, are pretty direct! Right from the off, it seems that there is a guy who might be bothering IAMDDB or he thinks that he is all that - and, perhaps, he is stepping out of line. I love the video’s visuals – they sort of remind me of what director Chris Cunningham was doing in the earliest days with artists like Aphex Twin.  

 PHOTO CREDIT: Tiffannie Mersades Film

We do get this image and storyline of a very confident woman who will not be messed around! The language in the song can be quite intense and explicit but, rather than it being used to shock and caused offence, it is declaration from a woman who is confident in herself and will not be played. She is sexy and vibrant; an independent and headstrong person that is not to be underestimated. I like how Wa’hum switches direction in terms of genre. At the start, it sort of plays in the Hip-Hop/Grime camp. Then there is a change when there is a Reggae vibe. IAMDDB’s vocals go from something quite straight and fierce to a delivery that has more bounce and coolness. That said, one cannot get the impression that this means she lets her foot off of the gas. Indeed, as she says she is an African woman who is going to “shoot and strike”,  we are still listening someone who is in control and has this power! In the video, the masked models have gagged a man and tied him to a chair, as IAMDDB walks around with an intent look. I do really like the visuals and concept; the make-up and costumes are fantastic!

It does sort of go back to how IAMDDB creates her own world and visuals; this unique artist who is so striking and inspiring. Not only is the video for Wu’hum quite dark at times, but there is an undeniable sexiness. It is clear that the heroine has a lot of confidence in her body and mind and that may be going unnoticed or taken for granted by someone. She wants to scare and shock the man; maybe as a reminder that she cannot be fooled with! Maybe this is IAMDDB firing a warning shot to the music world in general – letting them know that she is here to stay and among the finest around. With a great set design and costumes, the video mixes suggestions of violence with sexiness. It seems that there is jealousy aimed at IAMDDB regarding her skills and abilities. At the end of the video, the man has been subdued (or certainly taken care of), where the models are on the floor and producing this malevolent cackle. It is quite a stirring and frightening way to end. I think that the video as a whole is superb! Apologies to IAMDDB if I have misinterpreted the song or not got to its true heart, but I am interested to see whether Wa’hum appears on a future mixtape or album. It is a great cut from an artist who continues to move forward. She is hard to define and pin down – just what you want, really!

With great E.P.s like Vibe, Volume 2. (2017) and mixtapes like Flightmode, Vol. 4 (2018) under her belt, there is much to enjoy. I really love all of IAMDDB’s mixtapes and E.Ps. It is evident that she has grown and matured since her earliest output. There was always this quality and assurance right from the start! I do think that this year will be a very busy and successful one for IAMDDB. Still twenty-four, she has accomplished so much in a short time! I will finish off by sourcing from an interview where IAMDDB discusses the scene/community in Manchester. Before then, I want to come back to the interview from The Line of Best Fit and the subject of a debut album. It is something she has been asked about by a lot of people. I love how IAMDDB describes an album and why she cannot be rushed:

“Debrito wants to be able to harness her stardom for what it is, and create an entirely new thing, her music at the forefront. We discuss the aims and inspiration of her new album:

“I never really apply any expectation. An album is a body of work: people can commit and judge it however they see, but me personally I’m really excited because I feel like this is the best music I’ve ever made. It has structure, it flows, it has such good energy, within myself I’ve had a whole cycle of energy cleansing, realising what I like and what I don’t like. So long as people listen to this album with an open heart and an open mind, they’ll understand what it’s about.”

“So obviously there will be something for everyone, whether you’re a fan of Afrobeats, jazz, hip hop. I really tried to master a version of DDB in every genre. I think will be very interesting to see how people react to it because people haven’t really heard these sides of DDB. But when they do, it’s gonna be a global collection. And God willing, it will inspire people to delve into their own history, delve into where they’re truly from. Delve into how far you can maximise a sound, instead of just being boxed into one genre”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Matilda Hill-Jenkins

I will tip back to that interview with the Manchester Evening News from a couple of years back. I think what she said then is still relevant now regarding the people of Manchester and how there is support from her fellow artists:

“Doing things your own way’ certainly seems to be the recurring – and winning - mantra of the 2019 Manchester urban scene. Having seen so many of her musical acquaintances (Bugzy Malone, The Mouse Outfit, LEVELZ et al), achieve wider recognition over the past few years, Debrito couldn’t be prouder of the supportive, familial good vibes of the current generation of Manc urban artists.

“It is like one big family,” she enthuses. “When I was first starting out, I got so much love and support. We all want each other to succeed – there’s a real community. When Bugzy blew up, it really shed a light on this city. Because we’re outside of London, away from the industry, I think everyone here works harder, it builds you differently ‘cause you don’t expect things to happen overnight. You feel more like an underdog. And we’re all in this together”.

I do love how IAMDDB has put out this very short song (something that can fit onto a mixtape easily) to end 2020 with quite a bang! I am interested to see where she heads this year and what her strategy is regarding releasing music. She will want to perform live music and get out there as soon as it is possible. I think that we may get an album later in the year, but it is important that IAMDDB is allowed to create on her own time schedule and release an album when she sees fit. (Such an inspiring and strong artist is coming through right now). I have followed her music for a while and seen how she has evolved and developed. It is great to see. I predict that IAMDDB will be going on international tours very soon and getting a lot of love from the U.S. – she has a fanbase there at the moment; that will explode before too long! I shall leave it there. I wanted to cover a cracking track from a few days back, as I was not expecting it to come out. It suggests that IAMDDB is in a fertile and productive frame of mind at the moment. It will be wonderful to see what arrives this year from…

ONE of the U.K.’s finest artists.

___________

Follow IAMDDB

PHOTO CREDIT: Danny Kasirye 

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/beeechimblind

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/IAMDDB/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/iamddb/

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/7za6M9P94wuMsOVCHopTsI?si=5RW12Tt_Q0KEa50ytrcfUQ

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdADIhED9-Plw02DwWqFPZA

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IAMDDB

TRACK REVIEW: SZA - Good Days

TRACK REVIEW:

 

 

SZA

PHOTO CREDIT: Elizabeth Wirija for British Vogue 

Good Days

9.6/10

The track, Good Days, is available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oh64haEP9g8

RELEASE DATE:

25th December, 2020

GENRES:

Alternative R&B/Neo Soul/Hip-Hop

ORIGIN:

Missouri, U.S.A.

LABELS:

Top Dawg Entertainment/RCA Records

__________

ONE does not expect many good tunes to come in…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Cara Stricker for FADER

this late in the year but, on Christmas Day, SZA (Solána Rowe) put out Good Days! I am going to get to the song itself and review it in a bit but, before moving on, I wanted to mention SZA and give us some background – and also shines a spotlight on her debut album of 2017, Ctrl. If you are new to the mighty SZA, then this interview/feature from FADER from 2018 provides some nice biography and illustration:

“If her path to Ctrl was somewhat unexpected and winding, it’s appropriate that the time before it was as well. SZA was born Solána Imani Rowe in St. Louis, Missouri, and grew up the daughter of an executive producer at CNN (her father) and an AT&T executive (her mother) in the affluent suburb of Maplewood, New Jersey. Though her parents practiced different religions — her father is Muslim and her mother a Christian — she was raised Muslim and attended a Muslim prep school. She was a gymnast for 13 years and, in high school, also a cheerleader, though her other extracurricular activities were limited. She wasn’t allowed to watch TV or listen to the radio; her music world was limited to whatever her father enjoyed, namely jazz classics from Billie Holiday and Miles Davis.

After attending three different colleges, where she studied marine biology and ultimately dropped out, SZA took a succession of short-lived jobs including bartending and working at Sephora. When I ask if she lived at home during that time her voice is firm: “No. Hell, no,” she insists. “Once I started getting bread, I just lived anywhere else but home. And if I didn’t have bread, I would rather, like, just couch-to-couch. My parents didn’t fuck with the way I was moving, so I didn’t really have an option.”

In 2011, she became acquainted with Top Dawg Entertainment, meeting label co-president Terrence “Punch” Henderson at a Kendrick Lamar show where she was distributing merchandise for a clothing label. She stayed in touch with Punch as she began recording music, at first with her brother Daniel, a rapper who goes by MNHATTN, and later by “snatching songs off SoundCloud” and recording over the stolen beats and arrangements. It was all “hella casual,” she says.

Eventually came the release of two EPs: 2012’s See.SZA.Run and S, which she released independently in April 2013. Four months later, it was announced she’d signed with TDE. Her first studio EP, Z, followed in April 2014. In between working on her own projects, she became an in-demand songwriter, creating hits for Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, and Maroon 5. The plan was to release her proper debut, then tilted A, in mid-2016. She told Entertainment Weekly in May of that year that the project would be out “while everyone is still in a bathing suit.” Her prediction would be off by about a year”.

IN THIS PHOTO: The cover for SZA’s 2017 debut album, Ctrl

As there is no firm word on when we might get a follow-up to Ctrl, I am going to concentrate on that album, as it was not like it arrived out of nowhere with SZA being this fresh-out-of-the-blocks artist. There was this ascension and path to the album, and, at one point, she almost jacked in music. Listening to Ctrl, and one hears so much confidence and a sense of real intent! It is hard to believe that it arrived from an artist who was slightly unsure about her career and future before recording it. In the first part of this 2017 interview with The Guardian, SZA was asked about quitting music and whether it was a serious intent:

“Her debut album, Ctrl, has finally been released, and it has turned out to be one of the most inventive and intimate records of the year, an astonishing collection of styles and stories that feels like a hazy conversation over a long night with a close friend. Its often brutal honesty about sex and relationships and self-esteem for women in their 20s has found a dedicated and devoted fanbase – the new season of Insecure, for example, uses tracks from it in multiple episodes.

So how serious was she really about quitting? “Super serious,” she insists today, in the back room of a house in south London, where she’s curled up in an armchair, texting friends and family back home. “I don’t feel subscribed to anything. So I feel like, when this isn’t fun, I’m not gonna do it any more. When I can’t grow, I’m not gonna do it any more. But it’s still fun.” She laughs knowingly. There’s a pause. “For now.”

One of the most memorable and notable elements of Ctrl is that it is pretty honest and bare. There is a sense of brazenness (as some reviews have picked up on) and there is plenty of beauty and rawness mixing together. SZA dealt with anxiety whilst writing and recording, and what we hear on the album is this true artist with no sense of boundaries regarding how she pushed R&B. Ctrl is a raw and exciting album but, as I said, one with enormous beauty.

 PHOTO CREDIT: SSENSE

As we learn from the interview in The Guardian, there was one big problem with putting the album out there: what her mother might think of it! We also discover more about SZA (Rowe’s) upbringing:

The one problem with laying her life bare like this is that she thinks her mother doesn’t like it. Rowe was born in Missouri and raised in New Jersey, and there are reports online that she was raised in a strict Muslim household. The reality is slightly more complicated than that. “My mom didn’t let me eat sugar or candy until I was older,” she explains. “She didn’t let me perm my hair till I was old as fuck. And I begged her to. My mom is a Pan-Africanist. My dad is still Orthodox Sunni Muslim, but he’s super fun. He worked in television for years. He was a Black Panther.” So wait, they weren’t that strict? She laughs. “No, they are strict. I just didn’t care! I made it very difficult for them.”

Rowe says that when she broke away from Islam as a teenager, she stopped speaking to her father for a while. Her mother, who appears on Ctrl in a series of spoken-word interludes, hasn’t mentioned the album at all to her daughter. “I know she probably thinks I’m very exposed. My mother is probably mortified actually about my album, but she loves me so much.” She wouldn’t tell you? “No, because it’s a personal opinion. And we already kinda had this talk when Beyoncé dropped her album. My mom was like, ‘I feel naked listening to her album. I just feel like there’s some things you shouldn’t say to the world.’ That was already after I had made Supermodel and Doves in the Wind, and those songs were done.”

I want to source one more section from the same interview because, as there was a sense of expectation around Ctrl and quite a lot of hard work put into it, one can understand that her record label (RCA) must have been quite itchy at times. As we learn from the interview, I think things got to a point when others had to decide when the album was ready to go:

Eventually, Rowe explains, Ctrl came out in June because “they cut me off”. So who decided it was finished? “They just took my hard drive from me. That was all. I just kept fucking everything up. I just kept moving shit around. I was choosing from 150, 200 songs, so I’m just like, who knows what’s good any more?” She doesn’t know who took it, just that it was gone from the safe in the studio one day. So after all that, this Ctrl isn’t necessarily the Ctrl you would have put out? “No, absolutely not. Any longer and I probably wouldn’t … I’m also driving myself fucking crazy, so I don’t know. Give me another month and it would have been something completely different.”

However, she doesn’t think we’ll have to wait so long for the follow-up. “No! I have less anxiety about the things that hindered me putting this album out, so I’ll probably be done in the next six months.” On the next one, she wants to look outwards instead of in, and write about the world. “The woorrrrld,” she whispers, conspiratorially. “Other people. I feel like we’re all connected anyway”.

It is interesting hearing SZA speak about a fairly quick follow-up. I wonder whether 2021 will be a year when we get that long-awaited follow-up - I know she is working on material at the moment. I guess, considering the brilliance of Ctrl, one must be patient when it comes to a suitably-epic second album. I want to keep on the theme of the album and its importance, as I think it is relevant to this review – and it gives one some story regarding an extraordinary artist.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images

I want to bring in a great interview with Vogue from 2018, where we get to hear from a modern talent who has been hailed by Barack Obama and Beyoncé (among many others)! I remember the buzz and electricity surrounding SZA when Ctrl came out; many were curious regarding where she would head next and when we would get more music. I would urge people to read the entire interview, but I was particularly interested in a few different sections – regarding how bare her music can be; we learn a little (again) about her background; SZA answers the question as to where she may go next:

“Rowe’s candour is perhaps what has chimed most deeply with her audience – her songs lay bare her own vulnerabilities, desires and emotions as she traces the experiences that have forged her identity. From talking about not shaving her legs in “Drew Barrymore” to admitting feelings of inadequacy in “Supermodel”, Ctrl plays out like a diary, with no subject off the table. After all, she says, “the black experience, the American experience, the human experience, is multifaceted and there are many avenues to be explored.”

It’s only been six years since Rowe started recording mix tapes in a makeshift basement studio, a blanket in place of actual soundproofing, with her “homeboy”, producer Matt Cody. Growing up in leafy, middle-class Maplewood, New Jersey, Rowe – the daughter of a Catholic, Pan-Africanist mother and orthodox Sunni Muslim father – was raised on a musical diet of John Coltrane, Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday. She loves Coltrane for his “emotive and prayerful” quality. “I can’t tell if it’s sad or not,” she says. She could, of course, be describing her own music – that duality is what inspired Donald Glover to cast Rowe in “This is America”. “She always feels very powerful, but vulnerable, to me,” he explains. “I wanted that feeling in the piece.”

While, as her debut album suggests, only Rowe is in control of Rowe, she seems to be enjoying the fact she doesn’t know exactly where she is heading. “Who knows what my talents are, who knows if music is the best way to share my gift – I'm just gonna follow it for as long as I can,” she says. After all, she never imagined she’d find herself here – a certified platinum artist, endorsed by Barack Obama (the former president included her in his favourite songs of 2017 list), with five Grammy and three VMA nominations to her name. “I definitely wanted to be in business – I didn't want to be in music,” she adds. “I thought I was going to have a really nice corner office, a lot of respect and a power suit.” Rowe seems to have tackled the hardest thing first – respect she has in abundance”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: GAP

There are a few other things that I want to get nailed and explore before reviewing SZA’s new track. Not to stick like a wet tongue to ice, but I want to keep on the subject of Ctrl. In the interview with FADER that I quoted from earlier, there is an interesting segment regarding how the world perceives SZA and her music - and how she also sees herself. We also learn more about the slightly negative reaction that arrived after the release of the video for the track, The Weekend (directed by Solange):

“I almost want to shake her because even if Ctrl isn’t a 10, the reception was enthusiastic and positive and the album clearly resonated, particularly with young women. For all the success and all the acclaim, there’s still a disconnect between how SZA sees herself and how the world sees her. “I didn’t even fuck with my own album, so I was so confused and almost, like, angry that everyone fucked with it so much,” she says. “It meant everything I felt about myself was wrong. And it was just like, If that’s not the truth, then what is the truth?”

SZA likes to repeat this advice: You’re never as good as people say you are and never as bad as people say you are, either. Advice she now can’t remember who passed along to her. Advice that was probably useful following the late December release of her music video for “The Weekend,” a balmy jam that samples Justin Timberlake and finds SZA plotting a sort of time-sharing system for a man: “My man is my man is your man / Heard that’s her man / Tuesday and Wednesday, Thursday and Friday / I just keep him satisfied through the weekend / You’re like 9 to 5, I’m the weekend.”

The overwhelming response, at least on the internet, was less generous, the general consensus being that Solange injected too much of her own taste and aesthetic. The criticism played into larger speculation about how much SZA in this era of Ctrl had changed. To some, it served as a sort of avatar for the idea that TDE and the music industry as a whole had crafted her into someone else, with more confessional lyrics, a wider sonic influence, and the adoption of a more polished look and notable weight loss. The question then becomes: Has the polish and shine simply revealed who SZA has always been, or is it a veneer for who she’s being made to be?

 PHOTO CREDIT: Roger Kisby

It is interesting learning more about SZA and her plans. I know things have likely altered since the 2018 interview with FADER, but it must have been hard having to make plans and have a sense of focus on the future when we consider how much attention came her way and how busy she was after the release of Ctrl. It must have been quite a dizzying time and quite a strange one! Not that she has gone from an unknown artist to a superstar, but there was this sheer explosion of media spotlight and so many demands. It seemed, back in 2018, there were no firm plans regarding the future:

What she does know is that she wants to put down stronger roots in her adopted home base of Los Angeles, noting that she needs to get around to buying a house the way someone might make a mental note to pick up a carton of eggs on the way home from work.

SZA’s plans for the future sound less like actual plans and more like general movement forward where she’ll hopefully encounter what comes next. It seems somewhat fueled by the lack of permanence that is the life of a musician and the side effects of fame and celebrity. She describes feeling like an inanimate object at times — something talked about rather than to — and she’s become acutely aware of that shift. “Sometimes I feel disconnected, but not by my own decision,” she says. “It’s really people who separate you from them”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Marcus Yam for The Los Angeles Times

It is hard to categorise SZA and her sound. She is not someone who is defined by genre and stands still. Even though her music is very original and incomparable, I was looking around to see which artists might have had an influence on her. It was very illuminating reading an interview with Wonderland. - where we get a glimpse into her young listening tastes:

“SZA spent her childhood listening to Justin’s old band, NSYNC, as well as other boy bands like LFO, Backstreet Boys and Hanson. “I don’t know why, but I was very much an “MMMBop” person,” she says. “I loved that boy band energy. It was intoxicating.” Her diverse musical tastes — including everyone from Ella Fitzgerald to Jamiroquai, Björk to Limp Bizkit — all play a part in SZA’s own unique sound, and why she doesn’t want to be categorised within the one genre of R&B. “Nobody does that to white people at all, ever. No one ever does that to Adele or Justin Bieber when they’re wholeheartedly singing R&B. Or Björk, where nobody’s sure what the f**k she’s singing, but it’s energy and nobody’s concerned.”

“It’s like the only genre that we’re allowed to own is R&B and soul, and even then you might get bumped outta that category by somebody with fairer skin and a better marketing team. But I can’t pretend it’s not exciting to see someone who isn’t black execute so exceptionally well. It’s mystifying; the soul is an energy. Like Nai Palm from Hiatus Kaiyote, she’s a f**king force to be reckoned with. She’s one of my favourite voices of soul right now, next to Ari Lennox. R&B is too fickle. I spent too much time growing up on just as much Imogen Heap, and listening to Comfort Eagle by Cake and vibing for people to call me a ‘queen of R&B’. Why can’t I just be a queen, period?”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Campbell Addy 

Not to sort of backtrack, but the interview above was conducted in the summer of this year. Earlier in the year, SZA announced that she would not be doing interviews or photoshoots. I am not sure what provoked the announcement, but maybe it was to ensure some privacy and mystery regarding her second studio album:

“SZA took to social media on Wednesday (Feb. 19) to express her displeasure with media coverage, and to open up about experiencing anxiety in the spotlight.

"Not doing any videos Interviews or photos for the rest of my life lol don’t ask," she tweeted.

In another tweet, SZA mentioned fellow artists Normani and Megan Thee Stallion. "S/o Normani and meg tho . My sisters who I love very much and respect deeply . Honored to be apart of ANYTHING w the two of those BLACK QUEENS."

The R&B star, who's currently at work on her sophomore followup to 2017's Ctrl, also got vulnerable discussing her ongoing struggles with mental health. "My anxiety has .03% to do w outside opinion. I was bullied all through high school I could care less. It’s my OWN THOUGHTS THAT HIT DIFFERENT," she tweeted before clapping back at a fan who questioned why anxiety seemed so prevelant among "new celebs."

"Lmao new ? 'Celebs' been out here dying of addiction and depression for DECADES," SZA then fired off. "Be glad Ppl are TALKING to eachother and sharing rather than hiding. Also errbody dying on tv an the government broke the 4th wall ..pretty sure everyone’s fed up rn lol."

SZA then ended the tweetstorm by sharing a photo from inside the recording studio, declaring simply, "Where I belong".

It is good that, it seems, there are firm plans for a second album and some material is coming along. I can understand why, since February, she has given very few interviews…and everyone will ask about a new album. She wants to have some secrecy. Artists give so much away regarding their music and, in the modern age, there is little mystery left. I think we might see something arrive next year but, immersed in new material at a tough time, I can appreciate why SZA does not want to conduct too many interviews and give too much away. It is about time I got to review the Christmas Day treat from SZA that is Good Days!

 PHOTO CREDIT: RCA Records

Good Days has this gradual build that really grabs you. We hear background sounds of children laughing and chatting, together with peaceful birdsong. There is a Spanish guitar sound that creates this ripple and energy. The combination of sounds is beautiful. Instantly, one is transported to somewhere gentler and more idyllic as they are treated to this warm and soft blend. Then, a heavy beat comes in, and SZA arrives on the mic. The first verse seems quite timely and relevant to what many of us are experiencing: “Good day in my mind, safe to take a step out/Get some air now, let your edge out/Too soon, I spoke/You be heavy in my mind, can you get the heck out?/I need rest now, got me bummed out/You so, you so, you/Baby, baby, babe/I've been on my empty mind shit”. One cannot help but read those lines as relating to the COVID-19 situation and how there are these restrictions. If the first couple of lines make one think this way, it seems like the theme and inspiration is more concerned with a bad relationship. The vocal performance from SZA throughout is magnificent! There is never overt anger or defeat; instead, there is this blend of determination and beauty that gives the words so much clarity and nuance. I have come back to Good Days a few times because I have been struck by her voice. In the pre-chorus, SZA sings: “I try to keep from losin' the rest of me/I worry that I wasted the best of me on you, baby/You don't care”. I am not sure what provoked the song in terms of a particular relationship or time, or whether it is SZA writing from a less personal space. It does seem that things have been tense and there was a sense of burden being caught in a relationship that was quite damaging or not especially fulfilling – “Gotta let go of weight, can't keep what's holdin' me/Choose to watch while the world break up in front of me”.

In the chorus, there are some backing vocals from Jacob Collier, which adds a nice layer to the song; it also provides a sense of conversation. The focus is still very much on SZA as we get more of the story. It seems that, though things are quite fraught and there is an inevitable sense of confusion emanating from the pain she is experiencing, there is a feeling of optimism too: “All the while, I'll await my armored fate with a smile/I still wanna try, still believe in/Good days, good days, always/Always inside (Always in my mind, always in my mind, mind)/Good day living in my mind”. Maybe one reads the chorus as the heroine being content with living in her mind and her not sure that there is much security and happiness on the outside. I feel there is more positivity to be found. Collier also appears briefly on the second verse and, again, it is a small interjection – he sings the words “On my own” – that adds something extra. I like how biblical references come in on the second verse to express the size and scale of the struggle: “Tell me I'm not my fears, my limitations/I'll disappear if you let me/Feelin' like, yeah (On your own)/Feelin' like Jericho/Feelin' like Job when he lost his shit/Gotta hold my own, my cross to bear alone”. The pre-chorus and chorus then come back in; the emphasis of the sort of struggle and pain she is feeling. It seems that, even if the relationship was once good, the split and situation now is not that bad. The third verse sees SZA looking for space and privacy:  “Gotta get right/Tryna free my mind before the end of the world/I don't miss no ex, I don't miss no text/I choose not to respond/I don't regret, just pretend shit never happened/Half of us layin' waste and our youth is in the present/Half of us chasin' fountains of youth and it's in the present now”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Nic Bezzina for The New York Times

Before we get to the outro, like we heard in the introduction, there is this beautiful guitar that ripples and runs; some electronic sounds and chatter that all mixes together to project such a heady effect. Maybe it is like the dawn breaking and a new sense of hope coming. Perhaps it is a sort of meditative passage that can calm the heroine – who is going through a lot right now. Although he is not officially credited in terms of ‘featuring’, Jacob Collier provides a smooth and sensuous outro: “Always in my mind, always in my mind, mind/You've been making me feel like I'm/Always in my mind, always in my mind, mind”. I really love Good Days, and I hope that we get some more music fairly soon. It was very unexpected to get a new song from SZA on Christmas Day, but I think it was refreshing that Good Days isn’t a Christmas song, and I know that the lyrics will resonate with many people. It is a typically honest song from an artist who is at the peak of her form! I would recommend people check out Good Days and listen to it through a few times, as it will reveal new things every time. A magnificent song from an artist who, a few days shy of 2021, has provided us with a real treat!

 PHOTO CREDIT: Bryan Derballa for Rolling Stone

Not to end on a slightly bummer note, but I want to source from a section from that interview in Wonderland. I quoted earlier - where the subject of quarantine and mental-health was raised. Actually, I think it is quite important, as different artists have had their own experiences. SZA was asked how she is coping with lockdown and quarantine:

“As we wrap up our chat, talk turns back to our present way of quarantine living and the effect that it’s having on our mental health. Currently living with her best friend Amber, who was her college roommate, plus her dog and a bunny rabbit gifted to her by a former neighbour, SZA isn’t completely on her own — but she is learning how to be alone with herself.

“It’s definitely hard for me because I’m always with somebody and it’s crazy to not have the option to go out and do anything. But that’s when you have to get used to yourself. I realised I don’t enjoy spending time by myself, then I was like, ‘Do I not like myself?’ And I was like, ‘No b***h, you don’t like yourself for a host of reasons and you’re trying way too hard for people that are already your friends to like you because you don’t like yourself.’ So right now I’m learning how to spend time with myself… You can’t waste time pretending or trying too hard. Everyone who doesn’t like you wasn’t gonna like you anyway”.

I am not sure whether Good Days will appear on a new album; more likely, it is this single gem in the form of a great Christmas present. It is a fantastic song, and I know that there is going to be increased excitement and desire for a new SZA album! One cannot push too hard because, especially in a year as weird as 2020, many artists have not been as busy or been able to write as they usually would. I do think we will get some wonderful albums next year. One from SZA would be fantastic. I will end – having reviewed a magnificent song – by sending a salute to…

 PHOTO CREDIT: John Parra

ONE of the greatest artists in the world.

___________

Follow SZA

PHOTO CREDIT: Blair Caldwell 

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/sza

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/sza/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/sza

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/7tYKF4w9nC0nq9CsPZTHyP

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO5IQ70V7l-XpHW40HwaGsw

ALL UNCREDITED PHOTOS:

SZA

TRACK REVIEW: Paul McCartney: Winter Bird / When Winter Comes

TRACK REVIEW:

 

 

Paul McCartney

PHOTO CREDIT: Mary McCartney 

Winter Bird / When Winter Comes

9.7/10

The track, Winter Bird / When Winter Comes, is available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MnHkXcqvJ8

The album, McCartney III, is available via:

https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/paul-mccartney/mccartney-iii#:~:text=McCartney%20III%20spans%20a%20vast,back%20as%201971%20Wings%20sessions

RELEASE DATE:

18th December, 2020

GENRES:

Rock/Pop

ORIGIN:

West Sussex, U.K. (Hogg Hill Mill)

LABEL:

Capitol

PRODUCER:

Paul McCartney

TRACKLISTING:

Long Tailed Winter Bird

Find My Way

Pretty Boys

Women and Wives

Lavatory Lil

Deep Deep Feeling

Slidin'

The Kiss of Venus

Seize the Day

Deep Down

Winter Bird / When Winter Comes

__________

UNLESS there is a great track that…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Mary McCartney 

comes out of the blue before the end of the year, this will be my final review of 2020! I, like so many, was excited that Paul McCartney announced he would be releasing McCartney III. It is a phenomenal album, and one that provides a nice little treat at the end of a pretty hard year for us all. There has been so much press around it and, last night (19th December), the BBC broadcasted McCartney’s chat with Idris Elba. It was a nice and engaging programme, and one got to see McCartney relaxed and really enjoying speaking with Elba. A lot of the interviews for McCartney III have been through the Internet but, in a rare occasion, we actually got to see an interview in a studio – there have been others this year, but I am not sure whether Paul McCartney has been on T.V.  in 2020. That is by the by. I am here to look at my favourite song from McCartney III, Winter Bird / When Winter Comes. It is the track that ends the album, and it is one of the most beautiful songs in the McCartney cannon! I am going to bring in a fair bit from interviews before I get to the actual song review, as there is a lot to unpack when it comes to the new album. Although McCartney III is the third part of the trilogy – he released the first album after The Beatles split in 1970; the second shortly after Wings disbanded in 1980 -, the sound is very different to both of those albums. I think that McCartney III is a stronger album than Egypt Station (2018) – an album I really like -, and it seems like lockdown and isolation has suited a certain creativity. McCartney wrote, recorded and produced everything we hear; he played all of the instruments and, when you listen back, one is amazed at how he managed to do it – even if it is Paul McCartney and we know how good he is!

It seems that, despite 2020 being very strange, McCartney has been keeping very busy. In a fascinating and very detailed interview from GQ, we learn more about a year in the life of the legendary Beatle:

“McCartney is having a busy year, even if he has spent several months cocooned in his East Sussex farm. Current projects include High In The Clouds (an animation project that has been bought by Netflix), a special reissue of Flaming Pie and a 50th anniversary limited-edition release of his first solo album, McCartney.

He’s also been making some of the final preparations for It’s A Wonderful Life, the musical he’s been writing for the past three years based on the famous Frank Capra movie. He made demos of all the songs last year and he’s having them transposed into sheet music so a rehearsal pianist can accompany the actors in readiness for preproduction. “When we can start working again, at least we’ll be ready to go,” he says.

This autumn should have also seen the release of Peter Jackson’s eagerly awaited The Beatles: Get Back (now expected in August 2021), a new documentary based on the band’s final year together and a way of offsetting the profoundly depressing Michael Lindsay-Hogg film, Let It Be, from 1970. Culled from nearly 60 hours of footage shot in early 1969, as The Beatles were recording what would become the record Let It Be, Jackson’s film includes never-before-seen footage from those sessions, including behind-the-scenes clips from the band’s legendary rooftop concert on London’s Savile Row. Ringo Starr, for one, is pleased with the new film, as it shows them as genuine collaborators rather than adversaries.

“There were hours and hours of us just laughing and playing music, not at all like the [Lindsay-Hogg] version,” Starr says. “There was a lot of joy and I think Peter will show that. I think this version will be a lot more ‘peace and loving’, like we really were”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Mary McCartney 

Even though McCartney has been keeping pretty busy, I can still imagine there were tough days. He is used to touring and being among the people, yet he has always managed to remain positive. I think the positivity we hear on McCartney III, in some ways, can be attributed to his home situation and the fact that his family are around him. In the same GQ interview, we learn more about lockdown and how it has been for him:

“So, how was lockdown for you, Paul?

I was very lucky, actually. At the beginning of the year we were on holiday and then the lockdown started just after we got back and so I flew to England and spent the time with my daughter, Mary, and her kids on the farm. So, suddenly, we were all locked down there. So it’s not been bad at all. In fact, I feel a bit guilty admitting that it’s not been bad, and a lot of people do. They don’t want to admit that, actually, you know, [they’re] enjoying it. I’m very lucky. The weather’s been brilliant and Mary and her kids are great, so I’m seeing a lot of my grandkids and [wife] Nancy, so it’s been all right. I feel dreadfully sorry for all those who are less fortunate and obviously all those who have lost loved ones, but I’ve been lucky. I’ve been able to write and get into music, starting songs, finishing songs. I’ve had a few little things to write and it’s given me the time to finish some songs that I hadn’t found the time to get around to, you know? I’ve been recording using lots of hand wipes and disinfectant and social distancing, which was good because I don’t like not working”.

IN THIS PHOTO: Paul McCartney with the rest of The Beatles/PHOTO CREDIT: Harry Hammond/V&A Images/Getty Images

I am going to stick with this interview, as there were so many wonderful talking points that are worth exploring – and I think they help contextualise Paul McCartney and his new album. Not to keep concentrating on his comfortable (compared to many) living situation and career, but I would hate to think that McCartney was unhappy or spent lockdown alone. In terms of McCartney being fortunate, I think I am referring more to his success with The Beatles and the fact that he got to be in such a popular and close band. He spoke to GQ about that:

“Do you ever reflect on the uniqueness of your position?

Do I ever! Like, always. Just give me a drink and sit me down and ask me questions. I tell you, I’m sitting there and I’m thinking, “My God, what about that?” The Beatles. I mean, come on, there are so many things. Obviously a lot of other people say things [too]. I remember Keith Richards saying to me, “You had four singers. We only had one!” Little things like that will set me off and I think, “Wow.” That is pretty uncanny. And writers. Not just singers, but writers. So you had me and John as writers and then George was a hell of a writer and then Ringo comes up with “Octopus’s Garden” and a couple of others... I love to go on about it, because in going on about it, it brings back memories. I do think it’s uncanny. You know, number one: how did those four guys meet? OK, well I had a best friend, Ivan, who knew John, so that’s how I met John. I used to go on the bus route to school and this little guy got on at the next stop and that was George. So that was kind of quite random. And then Ringo was some guy from the Dingle and we met him in Hamburg and just thought he was a great drummer”.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Paul McCartney in 1969/PHOTO CREDIT: Linda McCartney

I think mentioning The Beatles is relevant, as the first McCartney was born from the break-up of the band. Even though it has been fifty years since the band parted ways, there must still be this sadness and realisation that things ended like they did. When he was chatting with GQ, the band and the split were referenced:

“You’ve spoken a bit about the depression you experienced after The Beatles split. Has the whole process of navigating fame and the pressures of the music industry affected your mental health?

I think so, yes. But, in truth, I just took to booze. There wasn’t much time to have mental health issues, it was just, fuck it, it’s boozing or sleeping. But I’m sure it did, as they were very depressing times. It’s funny, I remember when I first met Linda, she was divorced with a child and living in New York and having to fend for herself. She got depression and I remember her saying she made a decision. She said, “You know what? I’m not going to have this depression, because if I do I’m going to be in the hands of other people. And I’m not going to allow that to happen.” So she sort of picked herself up by her bootstraps and said, “I’ve got to get out of this myself.” And I think that was what I was able to do, to get out of the depression by saying, “OK, this is really bad and I’ve got to do something about it.” So I did. And I think that’s my way, almost by being my own psychiatrist. You say, “This is not cool. You’re not as bad as you think you are” and all of the things. So you start to think, “OK”.

I shall move on, as I am keen to narrow down to McCartney III and how the initial idea came about. I do like how McCartney III has arrived in 2020 and he has put out all three albums in the trilogy in years ending with a ‘zero’.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Sonny McCartney

I am not sure whether McCartney started this year knowing he would make this album; it seems like he was just making music and keeping busy and the idea sort of came from there. When he spoke with Loud and Quiet, the discussion shifted to the origins of a much-awaited album:

“At what point did you realise that what you were doing was making McCartney III?

Right at the end of it, I’d just been stockpiling tracks, and I thought, ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do with all of this – I guess I’ll hang onto it,’ and then I thought, ‘Wait a minute, this is a McCartney record,’ because I’d played everything and done it in the same manner as McCartney I and II. That was a little light bulb going off, and I thought, ‘Well, at least that makes a point of explaining what I’ve been doing, unbeknownst to me.’

It’s been 40 years since McCartney II – has there ever been a point between then and now that you’ve intended to make number III before?

No. Actually, not at all. I did McCartney right after The Beatles in 1970, McCartney II in 1980, and I did other similar projects, like The Firemen, working with Youth – that was a little bit similar because we’d go in the studio and Youth or I would just have a little bit of an idea, and it was a kind of homemade product, but it never occurred to me to do another McCartney album.

If you compare McCartney III to the other two albums or not, one has to admit that there is a very different sound between them all. The first was quite conventional in a way; it is pretty lo-fi due to how McCartney recorded it - and it was quite home-made -, but McCartney II is quite experimental, and there are some who feel that there are a lot of weak moments to be found. I really like the record, and I admire the fact that, like McCartney III, there is this vision of one man putting together these songs on his own (aside from Linda McCartney providing additional vocals on McCartney II). In that interview from Loud and Quiet, we learn about McCartney’s opinions of the 1980-released album:

“McCartney II has always been a really interesting record of yours, which has only grown in cult popularity over the years. How do you feel about that album now?

That’s a great thing for me, because you do these records and the spirit you do them in is very optimistic. You think, this is great, it’s a record, and you’re pleased with it. And then you get the reception, which is, “Oh no, bloody hell. What’s he doing?” So it’s disappointing when it doesn’t go down well, and it doesn’t sell well – you just think, nobody likes that. And then a few years ago, someone said to me, “’ere, there’s this DJ in Brighton and he’s playing ‘Temporary Secretary’.” I said, “Get out.” And he said, “It’s going crazy over there”.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Paul McCartney with his son, James (circa 1980)/PHOTO CREDIT: Linda McCartney

There are a few more things that I need to tick off of the list before getting to the review because, as you know, there is something extra-special regarding McCartney III – it has a sense of history to it already! Paul McCartney is one of those artists who can easily adapt and work in different environments. His recent albums have been recorded with other people and musicians, and there has been a more collaborative feel. When he spoke with The New York Times, the nature of working solo was raised – he was also asked about his music growth:

“It seems to me that working on music by yourself, as you did on the new album, might allow for some insights about what you do and how you do it. So are there aspects of “McCartney III” that represent creative growth to you?

The idea of growing and adding more arrows to your bow is nice, but I’m not sure if I’m interested in it. The thing is, when I look back to “Yesterday,” which was written when I was 21 or something, there’s me talking like a 90-year-old: “Suddenly I’m not half the man I used to be.” Things like that and “Eleanor Rigby” have a kind of wisdom. You would naturally think, OK, as I get older I’m going to get deeper, but I’m not sure that’s true. I think it’s a fact of life that personalities don’t change much. Throughout your life, there you are.

Is there anything different about the nature of your musical gift today at 78 than in 1980 or 1970 or when you first started writing songs?

It’s the story that you’re telling. That changes. When I first said to John, “I’ve written a few songs,” they were simple. My first song was called “I Lost My Little Girl” — four chords. Then we went into the next phase of songwriting, which was talking to our fans. Those were songs like “Thank You Girl,” “Love Me Do,” “Please Please Me.” Then came a rich vein as we got more mature, with things like “Let It Be,” “The Long and Winding Road.” But basically I think it’s all the same, and you get lucky sometimes. Like, “Let It Be” came from a dream where my mother had said that phrase. “Yesterday” came from a dream of a melody. I’m a great believer in dreams. I’m a great rememberer of dreams.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Paul and Linda McCartney in 1980

This year has also been sad because we marked forty years since John Lennon died…in addition to what would have been his eightieth birthday. I can only imagine how, after all these years, Lennon is still in McCartney’s head; how there must still be so much hurt regarding his untimely death and the manner in which it occurred. Not only will Paul McCartney regular think of his old friend, but I think he carries Lennon with him, not only in his thoughts, but when he is writing music. In the interview with The New York Times, McCartney spoke about his feelings regarding John Lennon’s death:

“McCartney III” will come out very close to the 40th anniversary of John Lennon’s death. Has your processing of what happened to him changed over the years?

It’s difficult for me to think about. I rerun the scenario in my head. Very emotional. So much so that I can’t really think about it. It kind of implodes. What can you think about that besides anger, sorrow? Like any bereavement, the only way out is to remember how good it was with John. Because I can’t get over the senseless act. I can’t think about it. I’m sure it’s some form of denial. But denial is the only way that I can deal with it. Having said that, of course I do think about it, and it’s horrible. You do things to help yourself out of it. I did an interview with Sean, his son. That was nice — to talk about how cool John was and fill in little gaps in his knowledge. So it’s little things that I am able to do, but I know that none of them can get over the hill and make it OK. But you know, after he was killed, he was taken to Frank Campbell’s funeral parlor in New York. I’m often passing that. I never pass it without saying: “All right, John. Hi, John”.

There is, I guess, always this question as to whether Lennon and McCartney would have ever worked together again and done something post-Beatles. They did meet and do stuff before his death, but what about post-1980? If The Beatles as a band wouldn’t have been viable in terms of resuscitation, the legendary songwriting partnership might have worked in a different setting. McCartney spoke with The Times where the subject was broached:

“Does he think they would have worked together again? “We made a decision when the Beatles folded that we weren’t going to pick it up again,” he says. “So we switched off from the Beatles. You talk about something coming full circle that is very satisfying; let’s not spoil it by doing something that might not be as good. It was a conscious decision to leave well enough alone, so I don’t really think we would have. But who knows? We could have. We had certainly got our friendship back, which was a great blessing for me, and I now will often think, if I’m writing a song, ‘OK, John — I’ll toss it over to you. What line comes next?’ So I’ve got a virtual John that I can use”.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Paul McCartney with John Lennon in 1965/PHOTO CREDIT: David Bailey

I am going to discuss optimism and a slightly more sinister edge in McCartney’s work but, before, I want to stay with John Lennon and The Beatles. McCartney will always hold affection for those years when he was part of the world’s best band; working at Abbey Road Studios and be alongside great mates. McCartney was interviewed by Uncut , where the nature of Lennon’s influence on him now was brought up – in addition to the way that Abbey Road Studios (and The Beatles) are still with him in a way:

“Do you often mentally consult John when you’re writing?

Yeah, often. We collaborated for so long, I think, ‘OK, what would he think of this? What would be say now?’ We’d both agree that this new song I’m taking about is going nowhere. So instead of sitting around, we’d destroy it and remake it. I started that process yesterday in the studio. I took the vocal off it and decided to write a new vocal. I think it’s heading in a better direction now. Anyway, it keeps me off the streets!”.

You’ve also got an Abbey Road Mellotron! Does that bring back any particular memories?

Oh, yeah! We used to go into Abbey Road every day; it was our workplace. One day, in the middle of the studio, there was this… piece of furniture that none of us had ever seen before. It was a kind of wartime grey colour. It wasn’t glamorous at all. We said, “What’s this?” The engineer started explaining it to us: “It will synthesise strings. You can get flutes and organs and all sorts of stuff.” So we became fascinated with it. We used it on a few things, like the intro to “Strawberry Fields”. There’s a Spanish guitar line on “Buffalo Bill” – that’s actually the Mellotron. These days, if you go a bit crazy on it and don’t allow it to do its full sample, you end up with a wacky piece of music”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Mary McCartney 

Many might naturally associate Paul McCartney’s work with being optimistic and cheery all of the time. No songwriter is like that in every song and, like all artists, there are occasions when something a little more edgy and unexpected comes to the fore for Macca. I am going to review a song that is very hopeful and makes you feel warmer. However, there is a song on McCartney III that has a little bit of anger. On most of his albums, I suppose, one can find something a little darker -  Despite Repeated Warnings on Egypt Station (2018), and Riding to Vanity Fair on Chaos and Creation in the Backyard (2005), for example. One of the best songs on McCartney III came to the attention of The New York Times:

“There’s a song on “McCartney III,” “Pretty Boys,” that is kind of unusual for you in how the music is sort of unassuming but the lyrics have an almost sinister edge. What inspired that one?

I’ll tell you exactly. I’ve been photographed by many photographers through the years. And when you get down to London, doing sessions with people like David Bailey, they can get pretty energetic in the studio. It’s like “Blow-Up, you know? “Give it to me! [Expletive] the lens!” And it’s like: “What? No, I’m not going to.” But I understand why they’re doing that. They’re that kind of artist. So you allow it. Certain photographers — they tend to be very good photographers, by the way — can be totally out of line in the studio. So “Pretty Boys” is about male models. And going around New York or London, you see the lines of bicycles for hire. It struck me that they’re like models, there to be used. It’s most unfortunate”.

 IMAGE CREDIT: Bráulio Amado

On the other side of the songwriting coin is Paul McCartney as an optimist. I think that his songs have a real power to uplift and create something very warm. One can her a lot of that on McCartney III. Maybe McCartney’s optimism stems from the fact that he had a comfortable life and strong family at a time when many, including John Lennon, had a much more fraught and loving childhood. Maybe it is him not wanting to complain about his lot and making the best of everything. When McCartney spoke with The Times, he did reflect on his more cheery side:

“Well, I am an optimist,” he says. “Generally speaking I do believe things are good, and we screw them up. In fact, a lot of people during lockdown would say, ‘Oh God!’ And I’d say, ‘Yes, but there’s a silver lining.’ It was a phrase I used a lot. I was loath to say it because a lot of people had it bad, but suddenly we saw more of the family than ever, and I was able to do recordings. That was my silver lining. It’s so easy to fall into the trap of thinking things are bad and getting worse. Which, I don’t know, may be true, but I know I’d then be bummed out by that, so I say to myself, ‘Well, it’s not that bad. Think about the other day. That was good!’ I am always trying to find the good in things”.

Once or twice on McCartney III, though, the burdens of lockdown seem to overcome him. Find My Way is fraught and talks of being “overwhelmed by your anxieties”, while the excellent Deep Deep Feeling is a deliberately repetitive song for an accidentally repetitive year — with a lot of use of the word “pain”.

Which is not optimistic. “That’s true,” he says. “But even if you’re an optimist you know plenty of people who aren’t. So a line like, ‘You’re overwhelmed by your anxieties’ — well, I know people like that. And I go on to say, ‘Let me help you. Let me be your guide.’ So again it’s this idea of trying to do something in your work that can actually make a difference to people”.

I am going to have no conclusion section, as I think that I have put in quite a few words already - and I want to end the review with the song itself. Before I come to providing my thoughts on a marvellous song, Loud and Quiet asked Paul McCartney about the sublime closing track on McCartney III:

“The album comes full circle when it ends on the riff from the opening track, ‘Long Tailed Winter Bird’, and segues into ‘When Winter Comes’, which you recorded years ago with George Martin, right?

Yes. There’s nothing on that track – it’s just me – but I made a track called ‘Calico Skies’ a while ago [for the 1997 album Flaming Pie], which George produced. And at the same time, because I was in the studio and had an extra minute or so, I had this other song, so I said, ‘let me knock this one off.’ That was ‘When Winter Comes’, and I mention George because it was on a George Martin produced session, but is just me on the guitar. It was nearly going to be a bonus extra that was going to be on a reissue of Flaming Pie, but I’d just been reading that great book on Elvis, Last Train to Memphis, and it mentioned a song and said you’ve probably never heard it because it was buried as a bonus on the B-side of an album. So I thought, no, I’d rather have this one as a proper track. And we finished the album with it because it was the reason for doing the whole thing, because me and my mate Geoff Dunbar, who’s an animation director, were talking about making an animated film to that song. So that’s where the opening and closing tracks come from, which got me into the studio in the first place”.

 IMAGE CREDIT: The Ringer

There are other tracks from McCartney III that turned my head – including the meaty Slidin’, and the brilliant Find My Way -, but I just had to focus on Winter Bird / When Winter Comes. Not only does McCartney love a good segue, but there is history to this song and, as it ends his latest album, it is like the closing of a chapter; a song that could apply to so many this year – and also give them strength and a sense of focus. With beautiful Spanish-sounding guitars projecting images of nature and a certain spring, the pattern then changes and slows slightly. It is almost like McCartney is representing the change of the season: from the sun and warmth of summer, we then have moved through autumn and are approaching winter. I really love the sound and movement of the introduction guitar. It is so beautiful and makes one imagine and let their mind wander. The song, as represented by the lyric video, is a to-do list for McCartney  - what he needs to get sorted by the time winter takes grip. I love the ordinariness of the list and its importance. Many associate major songwriters with these big and rich lifestyles but, on such an intimate and relatable song, this is McCartney – unless he is writing from a character’s viewpoint – that just needs to get some important jobs done! His voice sound so gripping and beautiful as he starts the list with “Must fix the fence by the acre plot”. It seems that a pair of nosy foxes have been causing trouble and he does not want the chickens to be attacked. That, there, seems to me to be about McCartney on his farm and ensuring that his animals are safe and protected (I forgot to mention that his lambs also need to be kept safe).

 PHOTO CREDIT: Collie Schorr for GQ

The carrot patch is next up; needing to dig a ditch/drain, if the veg gets too damp then that will spoil them. The refrain of “When winter comes” has a blend of emotions in its heart: the urgency of preparing for a hard season; the inevitability of change and the days getting longer; the comfort in doing these jobs and readying the farm for what is to come. Even though, as the song says, food will be a little scarce, does one associate with McCartney as living off the land in a self-sustaining way!? I guess he does in a sense, but he is unlikely to struggle for subsistence and foodstuff. That does not detract from the power and meaning of the song because, as I mused, Winter Bird / When Winter Comes might be taken from a fictional viewpoint. McCartney and company are going to stay inside and warm their toes as summer ends. There is this balance of the windscreen and intimate through the song. From that cosy vision by the fire, McCartney’s next task is planting a tree by the river. This tree will provide shade and shelter for “some poor soul”. After the beautiful opening guitar passage for Winter Bird, When Winter Comes then delivers this beautiful and tender performance where McCartney gives himself the task of taking care of those around him. I think the song could have easily fitted on an album like The Beatles (1968) or one of his later-days solo albums. Winter Bird / When Winter Comes ends McCartney III perfectly. It provides the listener with this sense of warmth. In a year like no other, there is extra emotional hit to the lyrics regarding how many of us are hunkering down and might not have as much as we’d like. So many people will be able to relate to Winter Bird / When Winter Comes: a perfect swansong from…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Mary McCartney

A stunning record!

___________

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TRACK REVIEW: YUNGBLUD - cotton candy

TRACK REVIEW:

 

 

YUNGBLUD

cotton candy

8.6/10

The track, cotton candy, is available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEb2p1WN9O0

The album, weird!, is available via:

https://open.spotify.com/album/5M1cOYkcEY6fGNUyod2pvx?si=QnMoBGkOQ5G1eR2zD4g5SQ

RELEASE DATE:

4th December, 2020

GENRES:

Alternative Rock/Pop Punk

ORIGIN:

Doncaster, U.K.

LABELS:

Locomotion/Interscope

PRODUCERS:

Yungblud/Zakk Cervini/Omer Fedi/Mike Crossey/Matt Schwartz

TRACKLISTING:

teresa

cotton candy

strawberry lipstick

mars

superdeadfriends

love song

god save me, but don't drown me out

ice cream man

weird!

charity

acting like that (ft. Machine Gun Kelly) 

it's quiet in beverly hills

the freak show

__________

I have a lot to cover off…

when it comes to YUNGBLUD and this review! The Doncaster-born artist (real name Dominic Richard Harrison) has just released his second album, weird!, and it has been getting some positive press from many people. I will discuss the changes and steps between his two studio albums but, as one listens to the themes addressed in his music and sees promotional photos of YUNGBLUD, you can get a sense that his teenage years might have been tough at times; other struggling to accept him, and there being these times when he hid his real self. I want to start off by discussing how Harrison was misunderstood as a teenager. I guess we are all misunderstood at that age, but it seemed like it was particularly tough for an aspiring artist whose head was being turned by some icons of music and fashion. This interview from INSIDER reveals more about who was especially inspiring for Harrison:

“When Harrison adopted the stage name as a teenager, he felt angry and misunderstood. He wanted to wear makeup like Lou Reed and pink like Vivian Westwood. He had a punkish, '70s rock n' roll spirit oozing through his pores, but didn't feel like it was "cool" or accepted.

"I had spent so much time being told that I was better to be seen and not heard. So with my music, I just called out, 'Is anybody out there? Is there anybody out there to relate to me and have a conversation with me?' It turned out there was a lot of f---ing people out there in the end," he explains, grinning”.

Whilst there were some eye-opening and compelling people who were starting to shape a young man who would go on to be YUNGBLUD, it is evident that, too, his early years in Doncaster were not all that smooth and happy. Reading an interview that he conducted with The Guardian, and one’s heart as to go out to the teenage Dominic Harrison:

“Growing up in Doncaster was both “great and fucking awful”. He was bullied remorselessly, even by his teachers who would single him out for his sartorial choices in front of the class. “I had a lot of friends but in a room full of people I would feel totally alone,” he says. “I had my first suicidal thoughts at 13.” His family – whom he describes as “The Waltons meets Peaky Blinders” – were supportive. “My mum used to dye my hair when I was five and my dad was a guitar dealer so he’d seen it all.” It was a household full of music; his grandad (“a fucking nutcase”) performed with T Rex in the 60s, while his maternal grandmother loved Rod Stewart so much she told Harrison he was her boyfriend. “I was kind of in that sensibility of rock’n’roll my whole life,” he smiles”.

Whilst there was definite strain and darkness in his life as a teenager, music was also very important. Maybe it was a way of channelling his emotions and trying to make sense of some of his darkest thoughts. I think the artists that we discover and love as children can be pivotal when it comes to the rest of our life and how we go about discovering music. For the aspiring and curious Harrison, quite a varied array of interesting artists entered his life. Taken from a recent interview with NME, one can understand why YUNGBLUD is such an eclectic, exciting and variegated creation:

“He grew up in and around his dad’s guitar shop in his hometown where he found his way around guitars, as well as taking up the drums. He found early influence in classic rock (The Beatles, The Clash, Bob Dylan) and through discovery gave it his own twist. He became obsessed with the intensity of Joy Division and their haunting frontman Ian Curtis, the flow of rappers Busta Rhymes and Eminem and the theatrics of emo kings My Chemical Romance and Marilyn Manson”.

It would have been interesting observing Harrison as a youngster discovering these artists and seeing how they impacted him. Maybe these artists gave voice and a sense of comfort to someone who was dealing with some tough times and trying to figure out who he was. Maybe there wasn’t a lot of opportunity in Doncaster for someone who was clearly influenced by music and wanted to follow in the footsteps of some of his idols. When YUNGBLUD spoke with Honey Punch Mag, he was asked about that transition from listening to music to adopting it more as a calling:

“So, how old were you when you started making music that is most like what you’re doing now?

Weird, man! I moved out to London at 16 and got very lost and I was that young musician. It’s very easy to get distracted. When you come down from a rainy town in Northern England to London, a lot of people can sit back and give you their opinion of what you should be. And at 16, you say “oh my god I’ll just do whatever. As long as it gets me played on Radio 1.” That just became vapid to me. Then I met a management team that gave a shit and wanted to change the way music and artists would be developed. I remember them speaking to me and saying “well this doesn’t reflect the music you’ve been listening to your whole life. Is this reflective of your personality?” about the music I was writing at the time. I was like you’re right. I would talk about my opinions on the world and whatever because, again, I always had so much energy and was so opinionated. Then I just locked myself away, figured out who YUNGBLUD was probably at the end of 2016, so not that long ago. At that time, I felt like nobody has been straight up enough for me right now. No one is representing a generation that is vastly growing. Our generation are not idiots. We’re not just bratty kids rebelling against the system, that’s a naïve way of looking at us. We’re so tapped into the modern world today. We see a future we want to be a part of. We see a liberal world we want to move towards. But it’s been held back by a generation that don’t understand us or aren’t quite ready for the world to go to that place yet and I needed my music to represent that because that part of young people has not been catered for in music”.

I will get to reviewing a song from YUNGBLUD’s new album in good time, but there are things that one needs to know about him – I shall drop the ‘Harrison’ bit and call him YUNGBLUD, as I am talking about him now more as an established artist (and not about his childhood). A.D.H.D. is something that afflicts quite a few artists and it can be quite a hard condition to understand and discuss. Maybe it aids creativity in a certain way, but one also feels that it can be quite a barrier and burden at times too. In the same Honey Punch Mag interview, the topic of YUNGBLUD’s A.D.H.D. arose:

“You touched on it before about “Medication” but is there a story behind it? I read that you struggle with ADHD. How does that affect your everyday life as a musician?

It’s honestly the best. I can never switch off and I tend to just jump around. But a lot of people misunderstood that when I was growing up. They misunderstood my energy and being very opinionated. People are afraid of something they don’t understand and someone with ADHD is something outside of the box of normal. I think that’s kind of what my music’s about. People also don’t like being confronted by other opinions especially by someone that’s younger than them. It’s kind of it. “Medication” also talks about growing up in a heavily medicated society where mental health is dealt with by just putting someone on pills because that’s the easy thing to do”.

Just to tip back to growing up and, though we know YUNGBLUD now and have seen him develop into this bold and ambitious artist, perhaps there were moments during his younger years where he was not being encouraged by his friends or he felt that he was alone. It must have been strange for YUNGBLUD dressing up in lipstick and these different clothes and seeing how different he was to others around him. As we learn from an interview in Rolling Stone, his mother did provide a sense of encouragement and support:

“Even if she wasn’t super-enthused about her son’s earliest songs, Harrison’s mom encouraged him to continue exploring a fashion sense that bent the masculine norms of the people around him. For school discos, she would help him straighten his hair and let him wear lipstick, nail polish, and skinny jeans, similar to the look he’s sporting right now. Tonight he’ll be able to look out from the stage and see a packed crowd of teenagers dressed up like him, but at the time Harrison felt unwelcome among his classmates, preferring to hang out with teachers instead.

When he began studying theatre at London’s Arts Educational School, he still had trouble fitting in, but he found solace in playing music, imitating the bands and rappers he grew up on like My Chemical Romance and N.W.A. A manager reached out to him, but felt that Harrison’s leftist political lyrics would make it difficult for him to get played on radio. Wanting to make money, the teenager decided to listen”.

I want to highlight relationships and how they have shaped YUNGBLUD. I think love and sexuality defines a lot of his work, so it is revealing and interesting reading about how he perceives love and what his romantic ideal is. Bad breakups and heartache can lead to some wonderful music but, like all artists, YUNGBLUD is looking for kinship and someone he can trust; someone who has his back. I was reading an interview from INSIDER - and there was a section that stood out to me:

“”’I want luck, I want love, sharing earphones on the bus and wake up next to you in Glasgow,’” he continues, quoting the song’s second verse. “That’s kind of my idea of what it means to be loved. If I was to paint a picture of a kind of love I want, it’s that.”

“I imagine an indie alternative couple. You know what I mean? Boy-boy, girl-girl, boy-girl, they-they, whatever you identify as, sitting together on a rainy bus, and it’s so hot inside that the windows are foggy, and they’re sharing earphones, listening to music”.

I offer: Like a scene in a coming-of-age movie.

“Completely! That’s what this song is, because to ‘come of age’ isn’t to grow up,” he agrees. “You can come of age at 85, you know what I mean? You can figure out what your life meant at 85 or you can figure it out at 21”.

Many might know YUNGBLUD because of his relationship with U.S. artist Halsey. The two were photographed together a lot and there were stories in the press about them. On paper, they share a lot of similarities regarding sexuality and struggles they have both faced in their life. They seemed to be a very close couple who had some common ground, and there was this definite charge and bond between them. Not to go into the breakup and the reasons (perhaps) why, but YUNGBLUD talked about the split in this interview with INSIDER:

“He says he got his heart broken when he and Halsey split; she's said she wrote the tender love song "Finally // Beautiful Stranger" about Harrison, while "Forever ... (is a Long Time)" shows her panicking and "sabotaging" the relationship.

"It's weird enough experiencing heartbreak for the first time, or nearly losing a family member, under normal circumstances," Harrison explains. "It's also a very weird, strange thing, the first moment you walk to the shop and someone's following you around with a camera."

He describes the dual experiences of trauma and fame as a state of constant anxiety, because he felt there was nowhere he could go to "escape" his own thought spiral — especially because he refuses to put on a mask for his fans”.

There are a few things I need to cover before coming to the actual review, as YUNGBLUD is a compelling artist and I think we get to learn more about his music and lyrical approach when we dig deeper and do not just judge songs on the surface. Artists such as Harry Styles and YUNGBLUD have been accused of queerbaiting – where creators hint at, but then do not actually depict, same-sex romance or other L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ representation. It must have been quite galling and upsetting for YUNGBLUD to be accused of such a thing. In this interview with The Guardian, he addressed those claims:

“Like Harry Styles and Matty Healy, Harrison has been accused of queerbaiting; using aspects of queer culture in performative ways. He counters that his sexuality “changes every day” and his message has always been “if you’re gay be proud of it, if you’re bisexual be proud and if you don’t know then be proud of that, too”. If he had to define himself, he’s “probably pansexual” but prefers not be labelled. “Just because my past three relationships have been with girls doesn’t mean I didn’t have sex with a guy last night”.

It has been quite a hard road for YUNGBLUD regarding his sexual identity and figuring out who he is. Not only has his relationship and breakup with Halsey helped him to find some clarity and sense of identity – and that experience of a close relationship and breakup has helped him grow -, but I feel that YUNGBLUD has found some clarity and belonging from his loyal fans. I think fans of artists can be this comfort blanket and trusting shoulder; they also can help provide answers to them and show that they are not alone.

When YUNGBLUD spoke with Attitude, it seems like his committed fans were instrumental regarding his identity and figuring who he was - he also mentions Halsey’s importance in his life:

“Yungblud credits his LGBTQ fans for helping him to figure out his own sexuality, as he collects the Gamechanger Award at the 2020 Virgin Atlantic Attitude Awards, powered by Jaguar.

Britain’s biggest pop-punk star, real name Dominic Harrison, says he has learnt so much from the community, and now feels comfortable describing himself as pansexual and polyamorous.

“I probably would say now, I am polyamorous. Before I didn’t f***ing know what I was,” he starts. “I was meeting people and learning… by meeting them and talking about sexuality and gender, I [was] going, ‘Oh my f***ing God, maybe I’m this, if I’m going to be f***ing close to anything on the spectrum.’”

“I’m still quite weird about going, ‘This is what I am,’ to the world because I’ve never really said it,” he admits. “I was excited about this interview to talk about that.”

Asked if he now considers himself to be a part of the LGBTQ community, the ‘Cotton Candy’ hitmaker responds: “I know it’s such a massive statement to me, but probably, yeah, I think I would. I haven’t said that yet because I don’t want some mad article everywhere going: ‘Yungblud comes out as f***ing pan[sexual]!'

The 23-year-old Doncaster lad used to date bisexual American singer Halsey, and he stresses that he “owe[s] a lot to that girl, in terms of my growth and my sexuality, in terms of everything.”

“She taught me so much, even about my sexuality,” he insists. “The conversations we would have at night, she has such knowledge because she’s been openly bisexual for years… it’s so funny when you’re dating someone, yet [you] owe them a lot towards your sexuality; even though she is not a man, she made me go, ‘Oh my God, I probably like am into that”.

Let’s move on to the subject of Rock. Some might say that the genre has undergone a shift over the past couple of decades, which has meant that it has been watered down and it is not as appealing as it once was. Others offer the opinion that Rock has been cross-pollinated with other sounds and it is a more interesting and richer genre which has pushed away from the mainstream. Definitely, Rock music now seems more gender-balanced: so many strong and engaging women are making some incredible Rock, and they are being acknowledged more than they would have been years ago. In terms of modern-day Rock stars, YUNGBLUD is shaping up to be someone who definitely has the energy, chops and attitude to be someone who sticks in the memory for a long time. I want to go back to the NME interview, where the subject of him as a modern Rock star was explored:

“If you’re meeting Yungblud, you’ll hear him before you see him. He’s excitable and loud, but in the friendliest of ways. If you don’t know him from Adam, he’ll endeavour to become your best mate by the end of your time together. His thoughts and energy race from one thing to the next, and if you put an idea or person into his head, he’ll just inhabit it as his own. When he uses the term “rock ’n’ roll” in lieu of a pause in conversation, I joke that he sounds like Liam Gallagher. In response, he assumes the frontman’s crooked pose and belts out a couple of lines of Oasis”.

He’d grown up admiring the androgynous stylings of The Cure frontman Robert Smith, Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain and David Bowie. The first time he wore a dress at his next door neighbour Annabelle’s house, aged 12, he felt liberated and just like his heroes”.

When we spoke to you last summer you told us that “rock’n’roll music is on life support”. Do you still think that?

“I think it’s very much alive right now. I always knew that it would come back because rock’n’roll is starting to become relevant again with young people. Post Malone just did a song with Ozzy! It’s been reinvented for a new generation.”

Does it bother you if people think you’re not an ‘authentic’ rock star?

“At the end of the day people will say, he’s just playing to tracks and that it just sounds like noise to me, but you know what? Your dad was saying that to him about Oasis, his dad about that for The Beatles and his dad about Chuck Berry. People think I’m not authentic or that I’m a bratty kid just shouting about things but that’s fine. If there’s no pushback, there’s no push forward. If I wanted to be normal or liked all the time, I’d work in a cake shop. I ain’t got all the answers, I ain’t Mother Theresa! I’m completely full of contradictions, but that’s my generation. That’s people!”

I will come to his new album, weird!, in good time, as I feel this is the album where YUNGBLUD is truly himself and has come on as an artist. That said, his 2018 debut, 21st Century Liability, is a very good album where YUNGBLUD announced himself with some very powerful songs that tackled some difficult and emotive subjects. Maybe he feels that his latest album is truer to himself, but I have heard his debut and it is very striking and filled with promise! In this interview, we discover more about his stunning debut:

“21st Century Liability is an album built on outrage, political confrontation and emotion. Reflecting on the album’s creation, how do you feel now? Was writing the album somewhat of a cathartic experience?

Firstly, I’m just so excited to get it out. It’s been amazing; I’ve literally not slept in two weeks because – oh my god – my debut album is coming out. It’s amazing. And 100% – it's literally an accumulation of all the emotions and anger I’ve felt kind of all my life leading up to this. It’s been such an incredible release to just get them out into the atmosphere and to be able to connect with people with my music, you know? I just want this album to be an outlet for people that feel like their voices can’t be heard or they can’t be themselves.

The album has some incredibly important themes – sexual assault and consent, gun control, the effect of technology on our emotional well-being for examples. Do you hope that talking about these issues in your music will increase the awareness of them to your audience? Has that always been a goal of the YUNGBLUD project?

I think I mix together talking about issues with energy because there is nothing more powerful than energy for me. And at the end of the day, young people are so intelligent now – so It's so incredible to see the reaction from them, and the messages that I get across my DMs. Like, young people are relating to what I’m saying because we’re all feeling it. We have access to so much information nowadays. We’re not just young kids rebelling against the system because that sounds naive. We have outlets to so much information that we’ve become so clued open to the world.

 Ultimately, I don’t want to tell people what to think, you know, because I’ve not got all the answers – I’m just simply saying what I think. I just want to encourage people, young people especially, to say what they think, because the more we talk about it, the more chance it's got of getting heard. It’s so funny because people say just cause I’m talking about politics, young people are gonna switch off. But no, god no, like, politics has never been more relevant in the world, so I just can't believe more people aren’t talking about it in popular music, It baffles me.

What do you want people to take from your music and its themes?

I want to mix it up and I want it to be fun. You know, I do want it to be “oh this song’s an absolute banger and I can’t get it out of my head, but it makes me, it gets in my head, and it makes me feel empowered, and it relates to me on a level that is real.” I think, to me, that all I just wanna be is real. Because to me, if it is real, I will resonate with it and if I can affect someone in their personal life from my music and what I’m saying, that’s the best thing in the world”.

I will discuss the shifts between his debut album and weird!, but it does seem that 2019 was a transformative year for YUNGBLUD in terms of his confidence as a writer/performer and a sense of solidification regarding his musical and personality identity. In the NME interview, we discover when the music started to gel for him and why last year was a big one:

“The music started to come together in late 2017, with Arctic Monkeys-sized tunes ‘King Charles’ and ‘I Love You, Will You Marry Me?’ breeding a grassroots fandom in the North of England and in mainland Europe. He landed a deal with Geffen Records (Nirvana, Guns N’ Roses) and Interscope (Billie Eilish, Lana Del Rey) to release his debut album ‘21st Century Liability’ last summer. It didn’t make much of a dent in the charts, though for him that wasn’t really the goal. “Making a connection is so much more important to me than going ten times platinum,” he says

2019 has been Yungblud’s breakthrough year. His single ‘11 Minutes’, featuring Halsey and Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker, opened him up to a new audience, and his friendship with US rapper and Eminem-beefer Machine Gun Kelly (“he’s a real one”) netted him joint-single ‘I Think I’m OKAY’, a raucous collaboration that gave him his first whiff of a hit”.

There has clearly been some evolution between 21st Century Liability, and weird! I suppose every artist is learning when they put out their debut album - there is a strengthening and sense of growth when it comes to the second album. When he spoke with Alt Press, YUNGBLUD was asked about the changes between his debut and where he is now:

“Did you feel like the writing and recording of your sophomore album was more liberating than your debut?

Yes. The reaction to my debut was liberating [and] the realization that there were people out there like me, but this record was so special to me because, again, I got to talk about how I feel. I got to open my fucking soul, and I know it’s going to connect to [the fans] because it’s about them. The songs are stories I’ve heard. “mars” is about a young trans girl I met in Maryland who told me a story. She had on green lipstick and a green matching duffle coat, and I remember it. And she told me the story that her parents couldn’t understand that she wasn’t a boy. She was a girl and always had been a girl, and they thought it was a phase. They didn’t understand that she was born into the wrong body. She told me she wanted to take her parents to a YUNGBLUD show because the community that we were building would make them see that there were other kids like her and other people like her.

To cut a long story short, she came to the show with her parents, and her parents saw the passion, the community and the simple reluctance to be anything other than what you are. They fucking took her out and said, “We get it. We’re sorry, and we apologize. We’re going to help you through [this] transition.” A story like that is what this album means. YUNGBLUD isn’t me—it’s always ours, and it makes me so proud to belong to a community. You can uplift people like that and change people’s perceptions and make people accept their fucking children”.

The last thing I want to explore before coming to a song review is how YUNGBLUD has come from a challenging childhood, through to teenager years where he was figuring out who he truly was and, now, he is someone who is near the mainstream and (he is) a big name! It must feel quite scary looking back and seeing what lies ahead. That said, YUNGBLUD is not as recognised and established as some other big names in music. In the interview from The Guardian, we get a sort of biography and highlighting of YUNGBLUD as a rising star - and why he stands out:

“Despite an impressive 8.6 million monthly listeners on Spotify, Harrison has yet to fully infiltrate the mainstream; his only dents on the UK Top 100 so far have been via collaborations with the likes of his ex-girlfriend Halsey (11 Minutes) and fellow pouty anger merchants Bring Me the Horizon (Obey) – but that’s sort of the point. From the start, Yungblud has, he says, been about “representation for the unrepresented” and creating a safe space for life’s so-called weirdos, a nod to one of his idols, Lady Gaga. His hyperactive songs, careening between bubblegum pop, goth-tinged emo and throat-lacerating rock, read like a checklist of modern pop tropes, tackling everything from mental health (Medication) to sexual fluidity (Cotton Candy) to, like, not listening to your parents (Parents). Earlier this year, London’s Evening Standard called him “the poster boy of Gen Z”, while Dave Grohl has hailed him as the future of rock’n’roll. In Harrison, his fans have found a charismatic leader who can make the most trite of soundbites – at one point today he describes TikTok as “punk as fuck” – sound like a call to arms”.

There are a lot of good and arresting songs on weird! that I was keen to review, but I have plumped for Cotton Candy. Alongside this song, Strawberry Lipstick, and Ice Cream Man also hint at sweetness and something more child-like in their titles. Opening with some twanging bass and a stuff beat, Cotton Candy starts with quite a kick and sense of intent. Whilst YUNGBLUD’s voice is not as gritty and varied as a lot of Rock artists, I feel it is very strong, and he manages to marry Pop and Rock without seeming too diluted or lacking in potency. It is clear, from the first verse, that sexuality and physical exploration are a big theme – and something that is covered and examined throughout weird! There is a lot of vivid imagery and honesty in that opening verse: “Tallulah knows that she's not the only one I'm holding close/On the low, I get vertigo from body overdose/So tell me your name and tell me your problems, I got the same/And I wanna get stuck between your teeth like cotton candy/So you remember me darlin'”. Cotton Candy was released as a single back in October, and it is one of the most memorable and wonderful songs from weird! The video looks like it was quite fun to shoot! I guess there were precautions taken regarding COVID-19 but, in the video, we see YUNGBLUD cuddle up to a number of women and, as the camera shoots from above, there are a number of couples embracing and kissing. It is a bright and eye-opening video where YUINGBLUD is clearly having a ball - but the song definitely has some depth and a catchy chorus. The refrain of “I'm losin' myself in you/In you, in you, in you, in you, I know/I'm losin' myself in you/In you, in you, in you, in you, I know” hooks into the brain, and one wonders whether there is someone particular YUNGBLUD is referring to when he projects those words.

I do like how there is a mixture of something quite deep in the lyrics, combined with sections that are shallower and throwaway. Maybe this is what we expect from our Rock artists: something sexual and quite lacking in depth, but we also want to know that there is a true heart and soul beneath the surface. The production on Cotton Candy is quite polished, but I do not think that it takes anything away from the song. The hero is seen dressed as an angel in the video, and he has attracted the lust and attention of a young woman. There is a lot of excess and passion in the video, and one has to go back and watch a few times to take in the scenes and various memorable images. There is one verse that caught my eye: “I figured out that the modern world is turnin' the wrong way 'round/There's somethin' about the way our bedsheets turn religion upside down/So we just have sex to solve all our problems, let's do it again/And I wanna get stuck between your teeth like cotton candy/So you remember me darlin'”. When thinking of a muse and inspiration for this song, one might look the way of Halsey…but it is hard to say. Clearly, she had an impact on him and, when the song was written, maybe they were still an item. I guess it does not help to speculate but I can feel some of her essence and affect in the song. Whilst Cotton Candy strays more on the Pop side of the fence than the Rock one – due to the vocal sound and tone/feel of the song and production – there is a sense of rebellion and controversy through the lyrics and video that shows YUNGBLUD is an artist who has Rock proclivities and credentials! There is a lot to enjoy throughout weird!, but I wanted to highlight Cotton Candy, as it is my favourite track from the pack. I would encourage people to listen to the album as there is a lot to enjoy.

I shall close things soon but, as he has just brought out a great album and these songs need a bigger stage in order to come to life, I can imagine YUNGBLUD is eager to get on the road and reconnect with his admiring and growing fanbase! That will come in good time but, like many artists this year, YUNGBLUD delayed the release of weird! I In the interview with Alt Press, the album’s delayed release was brought up:

“The album was originally slated to be released in November, and it was pushed back, but I actually think that the album is coming at a very revolutionary time in the world, politically, socially, the awareness that everyone is so in tune with now. Do you think that delaying it has had a positive effect on the release?

I think it has. I was so sad and anxious to let my fanbase down because I had to push it back, but with the pandemic and the kinds of vinyl houses that said we might not be able to get it done. This has gotten bigger than I ever fucking expected. I’m talking about shipping to Argentina and shipping to China, shipping to Australia. What the fuck? This whole idea of some places maybe might not get the stuff when they’re supposed to didn’t fly with me. This fanbase and this community is my blood and my heart. And if I tell them something’s going to be there, it’s got to be there”.

If you have not investigated the brilliant weird! or you are new to YUNGBLUD, then give him a follow and check out the album. It is a confident, compelling and excellent album. The young artist has come on a long way in a couple of years, and it will be exciting to see how he grows and how he continues to develop as an artist. It has been quite a tough last year or so for YUNGBLUD, but he has ended 2020 with a triumphant and rich sophomore album! On the strength of weird!, it seems that YUNGBLUD will…

GO a very long way.

___________

Follow YUNGBLUD

Official:

https://www.yungbludofficial.com/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/yungblud

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/yungblud/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/yungblud/

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/6Ad91Jof8Niiw0lGLLi3NW

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd3Llj2WWJh8ItfYl32eJ4Q

PHOTO CREDITS:

YUNGBLUD

TRACK REVIEW: Miley Cyrus - WTF Do I Know

TRACK REVIEW:

 

 

Miley Cyrus

WTF Do I Know

9.2/10

The track, WTF Do I Know, is available from:

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

 The album, Plastic Hearts, is available via:

https://open.spotify.com/album/0BCjAmbM8ryCM9gxy5yW7h?si=XD3XYOrTRjmWn7zHNmrZDw

RELEASE DATE:

27th November, 2020

GENRES:

Rock/Pop

ORIGIN:

Tennessee, U.S.A.

LABEL:

RCA

PRODUCERS:

Louis Bell/The Monsters & Strangerz/Happy Perez/Mark Ronson/Andrew Watt/Andrew Wyatt

TRACKLISTING:

WTF Do I Know

Plastic Hearts

Angels like You

Prisoner (ft. Dua Lipa)

Gimme What I Want

Night Crawling (ft. Billy Idol)

Midnight Sky

High

Hate Me

Bad Karma (ft. Joan Jett)

Never Be Me

Golden G String

__________

I have been keen to review Miley Cyrus…

because I have been following her music for a while. She just released her seventh studio album, Plastic Hearts, and she has collaborated with a number of great musicians on it. Not only has she joined forces with Dua Lipa on the incredible Prisoner, but Billy Idol is in the frame on Night Crawling, whilst Joan Jett & The Blackhearts make an appearance on Bad Karma. I like the fact that Cyrus has only brought in a few guests - and they add something extra to the album. All too often, artists load in others and it can weigh down songs and make them seem like exercises in boosting those people’s streaming numbers. I think artists like Miley Cyrus have a genuine appreciation of the artists she collaborates with, so that means that the listener gets to hear something meaningful and thought-out. I am not going to review any of the tracks I just mentioned but I thought it warranted a nod. I am going to briefly talk about Miley Cyrus stepping into a more Rock-based territory; she has been known as a Pop artist for a long time. Whilst she has not completely entered the domain of Joan Jett or Billy Idol, there has been this crossover and blend. Plastic Hearts has a balance of more emotional and sensitive Pop numbers with tracks that are bolder and have more of a kick to them! Before I dive into the song I want to review, I thought I should mention a few relevant subjects. I want to bring in an interview Cyrus conducted with TIME in 2015 concerning gender and sexual fluidity. Last year, Miley Cyrus was in the news due to her comments that received backlash from the L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ community. I think it was misjudged what she said (read the article), but I think that Cyrus is an artist who is gender-fluid and has a lot of affection for the L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ community. The TIME interview reveals a little more:

“Cyrus counts herself among the people who don’t feel they fit in the traditional boxes, saying she doesn’t like the labels boy or girl or even gender fluid, though she’s settled on the latter for now. “I’m just equal. I’m just even. It has nothing to do with any parts of me or how I dress or how I look. It’s literally just how I feel,” Cyrus says during a break from taking pictures for Happy Hippie Presents #InstaPride in Los Angeles last month. The campaign is a collaboration between Happy Hippie—her non-profit dedicated to helping homeless and LGBT youth—and Instagram, aimed at spreading positive images of gender-nonconforming people and the families who love them.

 Cyrus, wearing a yellow jumpsuit that hugs no curves and shows little skin, is talking about how she’s been sexually open for years and felt androgynous long before she heard the phrase gender fluid. She says she was the person other sexually curious teenage girls came to in Nashville: “They all wanted to experiment. I was always the one.” Now, when she does arrive somewhere wearing little but pasties and butterfly wings, she knows there will be critics who shame her for having her “tits out,” as she puts it. But she says she keeps doing it to challenge people: “I’m using it as a power stance,” she says. “It’s funny to see people try to look me in the eye.”

Like a college student exploring gender and sexuality in a very public seminar, Cyrus is combing back over the experiences of her youth in search of new kinds of understanding. Many of the people she’s photographing at the #InstaPride shoot have been on long journeys to find themselves, too. Greta Martela came out as a transgender woman late in life while living as a 44-year-old single dad. Tyler Ford, a close friend of Ariana Grande who grew up with the star in Boca Raton, came out as a transgender man before they (Ford’s preferred pronoun) stopped taking testosterone and started identifying as agender—meaning they feel they have no gender at all”

She traces her fluid feelings about relationships and gender back to her own parents, country singer Billy Ray Cyrus and producer Tish Cyrus. “I don’t associate men and protection necessarily,” Cyrus says. “I think that’s what’s given me the openness of sexuality. Not that my dad wasn’t an awesome protector, but I trust my mom to save me. She’s the prince. I never had that fairy tale.” She recalls crying before dates as a teenager, stressed about people noticing flaws like a pimple. Now she says she’s much less concerned with the superficial stuff. “F—ing is easy. You can find someone to f— in five seconds,” she says. “We want to find someone we can talk to. And be ourselves with. That’s fairly slim pickings”.

Not to read too much into Plastic Hearts, but I guess one cannot avoid the fact that Cyrus had her divorce with Liam Hemsworth finalised earlier this year. I do think that this permeates songs on the album. I will bring in an article where Cyrus discussed her divorce but, first, an interview in ELLE from last year - where Cyrus talked about bodily autonomy and how people reacted to the fact she was married:

“ELLE: It sounds like you’ve been thinking a lot about women’s bodily autonomy.

Miley Cyrus: Yeah, too much. I’m such an over-thinker. But at this time of my life, I feel the most powerful I’ve ever felt. I like the way being sexual makes me feel, but I’m never performing for men. They shouldn’t compliment themselves to think that the decisions I’m making in my career would have anything to do with them getting pleasure. I don’t think that because some guy thinks I’m hot he’s going to buy my record. It doesn’t help me.

And then there’s the idea that if you’re a woman, your life is over when you get married.

I think it’s very confusing to people that I’m married. But my relationship is unique. And I don’t know that I would ever publicly allow people in there because it’s so complex, and modern, and new that I don’t think we’re in a place where people would get it. I mean, do people really think that I’m at home in a fucking apron cooking dinner? I’m in a hetero relationship, but I still am very sexually attracted to women. People become vegetarian for health reasons, but bacon is still fucking good, and I know that. I made a partner decision. This is the person I feel has my back the most. I definitely don’t fit into a stereotypical wife role. I don’t even like that word”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: ELLE

It is sad that her marriage broke down, and I do not want to speculate why it did. It must have been hard living in the public eye and not only having people obsesses over the relationship when it was healthy, but to speculate and judge when it broke down! It is hard to look at an album like Plastic Hearts without, in some way, thinking about the split and how it affected Cyrus. One has to feel huge sympathy, as it is hard enough making any marriage work, let alone one that is so in the public sphere! Recently, she spoke with COMPLEX and talked about her divorce:

"I recently just went through a very public divorce that fucking sucked," she said. "What really sucked about it wasn't the fact that me and someone that I loved realized that we don't love each other the way that we used to anymore. That's OK. I can accept that. I can't accept the villainizing and the, just, all those stories. It's just amazing to me that the public kind of thinks that there's no gap of time that they didn't see that could possibly be what led to this. Like, it's not 'One day you were happy on the [red] carpet and the next day you were making out with your friend in Italy, what the fuck?' There was a lot of time in between that that you didn't see."

"It can happen with things like love," she said. "I've even felt that too. When it's, like, been the most stressful times in my life, I can't reach for drugs anymore, I don't want to reach for bad food. Alright, I'm gonna reach for someone to love me." Cyrus added that, when people are in love, "you do feel like you're high on drugs" during those early months. "It's the same drip," she said.

From there, Cyrus got more specific when noting the hangover-like effects of finding yourself in that situation.

"Actually, [the one] I called the love of mine who I was with and we got divorced, it was almost like a pacifier," she told Rogan. "It was that thing that I just needed. Not because we were in love anymore but because of the comfort and because my brain said 'Oh, this feels better, this is comforting.' But actually, knowing that I was giving in to an addiction made me feel way worse. I had the hangover. … It felt like a relapse every time I'd go back".

Just a little bit of a detour for a second but, as Cyrus appeared in an episode of Black Mirror called Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too, I wanted to mention that. Some criticised the episode. The plot follows Ashley O (Miley Cyrus), a Pop star who is creatively restricted by her management team, and Rachel (Angourie Rice) and Jack Goggins (Madison Davenport), teenage sisters who struggle with the recent loss of their mother. Many felt it was overcooked but I think that Cyrus’ performance was terrific. Many do not know her as an actor (she is famous as Hannah Montana), but she did put in a great turn in Black Mirror. She spoke with The Guardian last year about the series:  

“Were you a fan of Black Mirror before?

Huge. Seen every episode of every season.

What was your favourite episode?

Nosedive.

What drew you to the script?

I think it’s an important story that needs to be told, such a realistic take on what it’s like working in the music industry. It really portrays the overt exploitation of artists and that numbers usually eclipse the creative most of the time.

How much did you contribute to the formation of the character? Did you suggests things that weren’t in the script?

It was a great collaboration, but there is a part of Ashley O that is not a character. I worked closely with Anne, the director and the show creators to share some of my personal experiences and help craft the episode.

Was the world of pop it portrayed familiar to you?

Eerily so … yes. You can see it playing out in the media right now. There’s huge similarities with what we see in pop music today”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: WSJ. MAGAZINE

Not to focus too much on darker and more serious aspects but, not only is it important to talk about Miley Cyrus’ divorce but, also, her sobriety. Addiction is something that affects a lot of musicians and I do think that it is commendable that she has, it seems, won her battle with alcohol. I can only envisage the pressure huge Pop stars are put under - and it is all too easy to slip into excessive drinking or drug-taking. I think that Cyrus is a model and inspiration for others that are battling addiction! She was asked about her sobriety in an interview with Variety this year:

“You mentioned living a sober life. Are you sober sober?

“I’ve been sober sober for the past six months. At the beginning, it was just about this vocal surgery. … But I had been thinking a lot about my mother. My mom was adopted, and I inherited some of the feelings she had, the abandonment feelings and wanting to prove that you’re wanted and valuable. My dad’s parents divorced when he was 3, so my dad raised himself. I did a lot of family history, which has a lot of addiction and mental health challenges. So just going through that and asking, “Why am I the way that I am?” By understanding the past, we understand the present and the future much more clearly. I think therapy is great.

That’s great. I’m celebrating my sober birthday on July 7. It will be seven years.

Congratulations. It’s really hard because especially being young, there’s that stigma of “you’re no fun.” It’s like, “honey, you can call me a lot of things, but I know that I’m fun.” The thing that I love about it is waking up 100%, 100% of the time. I don’t want to wake up feeling groggy. I want to wake up feeling ready”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Apple Music

One great fact about Miley Cyrus is that Dolly Parton played her godmother in Hannah Montana! I have recently featured Dolly Parton on my site, and I think she is an artist who has impacted so many. Really, she is someone who deserves to live forever because, more and more, she is revealing herself to be superhuman! I can understand the positive effect she has had on Miley Cyrus. In this interview, we learn how Cyrus has followed Parton’s wisdom:

“Long-term fans of Cyrus will recall that Parton actually played Cyrus’ godmother in her hit Disney Channel show, Hannah Montana. The “Jolene” singer guest-starred numerous times in the show as herself and offered Cyrus’ character, Miley Stewart, tons of advice on how to navigate fame, the music industry, and romantic relationships with boys. But Parton’s advice wasn’t limited to Hannah Montana. Cyrus has been very candid about how influential Parton has been in her life.

Miley Cyrus has learned a lot from her godmother, Dolly Parton

In an interview with NPR, Cyrus got candid about how much she’s learned from her godmother. Citing, that the 9 to 5 star had shared many lessons with her over the years, Cyrus revealed one of the most important lessons that Parton taught her. “The best thing that she does is she’s not afraid to laugh at herself,” Cyrus shared about her godmother.

The ‘Midnight Sky’ singer has applied Parton’s advice to her career

Cyrus, like Parton, has certainly managed to push boundaries of her own. However, it seems that Cyrus isn’t fixated on doing things for shock value. Instead, she’s learned from her godmother to just do things with honesty and authenticity. “And to remember that you want to make music for the people that love your music for your honesty, and for your fans,” Cyrus shared about what she’s learned from Parton. “Otherwise, just have fun and make the music that you love”.

I am going to end on a Rock tip and discuss Billy Idol and how Miley Cyrus’ music has changed over the past couple of years. Before that, I want to bring in something that caught my eye. Again, it is a little random, but I think that it warrants highlighting. Many musicians have spoken about the pandemic and how it has affected society and, recently, Madonna said that the pandemic was a great equaliser. In a sense, we are all in the same position and going through the same thing, but we are also divided and, to be honest, the situation is different for everyone! An article in Billboard highlighted how Cyrus responded to Madonna’s comment:

“Miley Cyrus appeared on a Scandinavian talk show on Monday (Nov. 2) to promote her upcoming album and speak out about how the coronavirus pandemic has made life anything but a party in the U.S.A. during 2020.

The topic came up when the host of the Oslo, Norway-based chat show Skavlan asked the pop star if she agreed with Madonna's controversial comments earlier this year that the global health crisis was the "great equalizer."

"I don’t agree with that,” Cyrus told Fredrik Skavlan. “I think that we’ve seen more divide recently than I have in my lifetime, just because we are really understanding the division between race and wealth, and that wealth and health can actually be the same thing. And I think that’s unfathomably wrong and that is why our election is so important. So no, I don’t believe COVID has been an equalizer in any way".

  PHOTO CREDIT: WSJ. MAGAZINE

I am going to end the pre-review section with a talk about Rock. As I said at the start, Cyrus is viewed more of a Pop artist, but I like the fact that she has moved more to Rock. She is a big fan of heavier music but, maybe, there has been pressure to produce more Pop-oriented songs. The fact she has Billy Idol and Joan Jett on Plastic Hearts means there is respect for her from them but, in turn, she has a true love of their music! It would be good to see Cyrus embrace Rock more, as she has a really powerful voice - and it will be interesting hearing her in that mould. In an article from Rolling Stone, we learn about Cyrus discussing Billy Idol (whilst she was being interviewed by Zane Lowe):

“Miley Cyrus talked collaborating with Billy Idol — who features on the track “Night Crawling” from Cyrus’ new Eighties-inspired album Plastic Hearts — during an upcoming interview with Apple Music 1 host Zane Lowe.

“Me and Billy have known each other, I think the first time I ever did anything for Billy Idol was in like 2013,” Cyrus says. That year, the Cyrus performed “Rebel Yell” at the VH1 Divas concert; three years later, Cyrus and Idol performed the song together during an iHeartRadio concert.

“His music… the way that he married rebellion but also his music where he had incredible hooks. And he showed me that I could have balance, that I could make music that I and other people love. And sometimes I’ve lost that and I’ve found that again where it’s like, ‘I want to make music for me.'”

Cyrus added that, before working on Plastic Hearts, the Idol hit “Eyes Without a Face” “actually followed me around for like a year”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Harry Durrant

Just before I get to reviewing, I want to talk about Cyrus sort of transitioning from a pure Pop artist to someone with a bit more grit. Of course, there has not been a complete transformation, but one can hear a slight shift. Maybe this has been influenced by her divorce or battle against addiction, but I feel it is more Cyrus evolving and embracing new sounds. I think Rock is an evolving and broad genre, but one only needs to listen to Cyrus’ recent Rock covers to know that she is has this whole other side to her! This article explains more:

“As of late, Miley Cyrus has been dropping rock covers, such as “Heart of Glass” by Blondie and “Zombie” by The Cranberries. For Cyrus, this is nothing new. She's been doing covers for many years now, considering her versatility in the music industry.

Cyrus’s music career propelled since her debut in "Hannah Montana" on Disney Channel, but there’s more depth to her origins. She grew up in a musical environment right outside of Nashville, Tennessee, known for its diverse music scene.

Her family life offered an even more musical upbringing for Cyrus — her dad is Billy Ray Cyrus, a well-known country artist most known for his song “Achy Breaky Heart.” To add to her extensive music background, Cyrus's godmother is Dolly Parton, another very well-known country star, with bops like “9 to 5” and “Jolene.”

Cyrus's rock covers have been blowing up all over the internet, with fans remarking on how versatile she is and how amazing she sounds no matter what genre she decides to sing.

More specifically, her rock covers have become largely popularized from the use of her audio on TikTok. Many users are utilizing Cyrus's cover of “Heart of Glass” to empower themselves and feel confident for being who they are. After all, Cyrus is the type of person who promotes being carefree and embracing one’s self. It can be seen through the way she dresses and presents herself”.

I guess one only needed to see her performance at Glastonbury last year to realise she is a powerful performer! It will be interesting to hear what her next album sounds like.

Opening with some funky bass, WTF Do I Know is one of the more intense and electric tracks on Plastic Hearts. I like the brief introduction because there is this looseness and tightness all at once from the bass. Cyrus’ voice is really cool on the track! There is a sort of moodiness and heaviness, but one feels a lot of strength and potency in her voice. I am hearing elements of inspirations such as Joan Jett - and WTF Do I Know is a real highlight from Plastic Hearts. The first verse definitely summons images and impressions:  “I'm not tryna have another conversation/Probably not gon' wanna play me on your station/Pourin' out a bottle full of my frustration/Here to tell you somethin' that you don't know/I'm the type to drive a pickup through your mansion/I'm completely naked but I'm makin' it fashion/Maybe gettin' married just to cause a distraction/Here to tell you somethin' that you don't know”. Listening to that verse, and one can hear some of the frustrations that have come from media attention and, perhaps, her split with Liam Hemsworth. Also, I know she uses the words ‘pouring out’ as a metaphor, but one cannot help but to think of alcohol and perhaps the sort of wild-child response to a stressful situation! Soon enough a catchy drum beat hooks onto the bass and the song goes up another gear. For those who dismiss Miley Cyrus as Pop fluff or someone who is quite effete need to listen to this track. Plastic Hearts has other songs like WTF Do I Know, but I think this song is a sign of where she might head on future albums. Her voice is fantastic when it is has a combination of sexiness and cockiness! The speed and catchiness of the song gets the feet beating, and one cannot help but be enticed by the song! When we get to the pre-chorus, you imagine impressions of Cyrus’ marriage disconnection: “Am I wrong that I moved on and I/And I don't even miss you?/Thought that it'd be you until I die/But I let go”.

The pre-chorus sees the intensity build and, by the time we get to the chorus, the band kick in; Cyrus’ voice is at its most exhilarating and emotional. Her anger is clear and, whilst she never really hits her raw best, there are definitely signs of her Rock best! Such a versatile singer, one gets so many emotions in a very naked and honest chorus: “What the fuck do I know? I'm alone/'Cause I couldnt be somebody's hero/You want an apology? Not from me/Had to leave you in your own misery/So tell me, baby, am I wrong that I moved on?/And I, and I don't even miss you/Thought that it'd be you until I die/But I let go, what the fuck do I know? (Oh)”. Maybe this song relates to someone else but, really, it has to concern her split. Some are nervous about being so personal in songs - and feel it best to keep private - but, as music is a way of being able to express and reveal personal experiences, I do feel that there is catharsis in the song! There is a great sonic blend of Rock from the 1970s and Pop-Punk from the early-2000s. One does not hear a lot of it in modern music, and it is a really pleasing blend! The second verse really interests me: “Tryin' to see the stars through the new pollution/Think that I'm the problem? Honey, I'm the solution/Maybe all the chaos is for your amusement/Here to tell you somethin' that you don't know/Put you on a pedestal, you're cravin' the spotlight/Desperate for attention, nose is bloody, it's daylight/Wakin' up with people that we met for the first time/Loved it, then I hated it, and I let you go”. Those lyrics are really intriguing; a blend of the direct and slightly more oblique means that one will play the song a few times to get to the truth. With some cool riffs and standout electric guitar sections, there is definite intensity and explosion in WTF Do I Know. For those who feel Plastic Hearts is a little too plastic and not quite as Rock-y as it could be really need to listen to WTF Do I Know. I do admit that not all of the songs on the album hit the mark, but this is a definite winner! With a broad and interesting composition and Miley Cyrus at full throttle, WTF Do I Know certainly braces you - and, with its affecting and direct lyrics, it is one of Cyrus’ most personal songs on Plastic Hearts!

There are a couple of things I want to raise before ending the review. I will come to a fascinating project Cyrus is working on at the moment but, as I mentioned addiction and being thrust into the limelight at the start, I want to, now, talk about the touring life of a huge Pop artist. In an interview in INTERVIEW Magazine, Cyrus and Rick Owens (a fashion designer) raised the subject of touring and the effect it can have:

“OWENS: When you’re on tour, are you in your own personal space? Are you on a tour bus or flying private?

CYRUS: They always get hotel rooms and I never stay in them. I always stay on my bus. I make it my zone and do a lot of drawing and painting. I started working on sculpture, which is hilarious to do in a moving vehicle.

OWENS: You ended up customizing your environment inside the bus?

CYRUS: Yeah. The thing that I liked about sculpture was making art out of things that didn’t mean anything to anyone else, things that were considered trash. I think that came from my mom. She was adopted and, in a sense, given away, and she didn’t feel a lot of value. But I totally worship her.

OWENS: That’s a really tender creative expression. But when you perform, it’s more of a powerful blast. Your songs are tender, but your performances are strong.

CYRUS: I usually feel pretty bottled-up, and performing is the only time I get to be myself in my fullest form. It’s a fucking addiction, because when I’m not doing it, I just wish that I was”.

Just before closing, I want to highlight how Cyrus is working on a Metallica covers album. This has been rumoured for a bit, but considering Cyrus has done a few covers this year, I am not shocked that Metallica are next up! I am looking forward to the album and discovering how she interprets the work of Rock/Metal gods! This article from SPIN explains more:

“Leave it to Miley Cyrus to seamlessly become this year’s cover queen. The pop star revealed that she’s in the process of creating an album of Metallica covers.

“We’ve been working on a Metallica cover album and I’m here working on that,” Cyrus told with California-based fashion designer Rick Owens in a chat in Interview magazine. She also revealed that’s why she wasn’t at home; she was somewhere working on the record.

“We’re so lucky to be able to continue to work on our art during all of this. At first, it felt uninspiring and now I’ve been totally ignited,” she told the magazine.

Cyrus has already covered Metallica in the past, performing a faithful version of the band’s 1991 hit, “Nothing Else Matters” at the 2019 Glastonbury Festival. Listen to that below”.

I would urge people to check out Plastic Hearts as it is one of Miley Cyrus’ best albums and, if like me, you are a fan but not a massive convert, then this album offers new sounds and different sounds to her. I think she will continue to develop as an artist - and the best is definitely yet to come. Considering the career that she has already, and the fact Miley Cyrus is only twenty-eight, it is…

PHOTO CREDIT: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images

PRETTY amazing!

___________

Follow Miley Cyrus

PHOTO CREDIT: Mick Rock 

Official:

https://www.mileycyrusplastichearts.com/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/MileyCyrus

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/MileyCyrus/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/mileycyrus/

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/5YGY8feqx7naU7z4HrwZM6?si=cjh0-zKQR1-DygY6YL3N4g

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/user/mileyofficialonline

ALL UNCREDITED PHOTOS:

Miley Cyrus

TRACK REVIEW: Megan Thee Stallion - Body

TRACK REVIEW:

 

 

Megan Thee Stallion

PHOTO CREDIT: Colin Dodgson for W Magazine

Body

9.6/10

The track, Body, is available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PBYGu4Az8s

 The album, Good News, is available via:

https://open.spotify.com/album/7lQouCmPggSsg1972D3TiE?si=vvdjqWrOQ9ijnXW2xZxGAw

RELEASE DATE:

20th November, 2020

GENRES:

Hip-Hop/Rap

ORIGIN:

Texas, U.S.A.

LABELS:

1500 Certified/300

PRODUCERS:

Avedon/Buddah Bless/Cool & Dre/D.A Got That Dope/Helluva/IllaDaProducer/J. White Did It/Juicy J/Tay Keith/Benjamin Lasnier/Lil Ju/Mustard/Pooyandeh/J. R. Rotem/Scott Storch/Cody Tarpley

TRACKLISTING:

Shots Fired

Circles

Cry Baby (ft. DaBaby)

Do It on the Tip (ft. City Girls and Hot Girl Meg)

Sugar Baby

Movie (ft. Lil Durk)

Freaky Girls (ft. SZA)

Body

What's New

Work That

Intercourse (ft. Popcaan and Mustard)

Go Crazy (ft. Big Sean and 2 Chainz)

Don't Rock Me to Sleep

Outside

Savage Remix (ft. Beyoncé)

Girls in the Hood

Don't Stop (ft. Young Thug)

__________

THIS year has seen some truly fantastic…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Campbell Addy for Rolling Stone

albums arrive that have left a big impression straight away! Among those is Megan Thee Stallion’s album, Good News, which has just arrived and is getting some fabulous reviews! It is a stunning album from one of the finest talents in music right now. I want to get down to reviewing a track from the album but, before then, there are a few things that I need to cover off. It was only in March that Megan Thee Stallion released the stunning E.P., Suga - but there was controversy and disruption regarding the release. This article from Vanity Fair explains more:

“By the end of 2019, Megan had firmly established herself as an unmissable technician and lyricist who volleys crisp, hard-edged syllables. Her social media ecosystem was a seemingly inexhaustible well of motivation and intrigue for fans, who continue to follow her parallel pursuits as a college student taking two online classes this semester. The year 2020 looked like it would bring more of the same for the Houston rapper. In a profile from last week, she told Rolling Stone that she hoped to release Suga on her late mother’s birthday, May 2.

The plan appeared to take a sharp turn on Sunday, though, when Megan went on Instagram Live to say that a contract dispute with 1501, whose CEO is the former MLB player Carl Crawford, would prevent her from releasing any new music. #FreeTheeStallion trended on Twitter. On Monday, Megan sued 1501 and Crawford; the suit is ongoing, and Crawford has denied Megan’s allegation that he and his label were trying to block her music, in interviews with Billboard and Variety. But on Wednesday, Megan announced that not only would she be releasing Suga after all, but that it was coming out on Friday. (Later in the day, Complex reported that 1501 was still trying to block the release, before the judge denied Crawford’s emergency motion to dissolve the restraining order.)

PHOTO CREDIT: Adrienne Raquel for GQ 

On Wednesday evening, Megan said that she couldn’t weigh in on an ongoing legal matter and would let her lawyers handle the dispute: “I’m just happy I can put my music out.” (On Thursday she wrote on Instagram, “I am NO ONES PROPERTY.”) Only one of the songs from Suga has been made available so far, and she said she was focused on how the rest of it could portray new emotional aspects of her work after a year when she became so closely associated with her stardom”.

I didn’t mean to open this review with quite tense and unhappy subjects but, this year, Megan Thee Stallion has gone through quite a lot of trial and tribulation. It has not been an easy path to her album and, as we have seen in the news recently, Megan Thee Stallion has said that she was shot in the foot back in July by Tony Lanez at a pool party. There was a big reaction on social media when she revealed the incident and there were a lot who felt she fabricated it – there was quite a lot of negative backlash and unkind comments. It was a hugely unsettling incident that is still reverberating. I want to bring in a feature/interview with GQ where the shooting incident was described:

“It isn't so much the incident itself that's upsetting her, though to listen to her explain what happened that night in July is tough. In her honeyed alto voice, she delicately tells me how she left a pool party in the Hollywood Hills and jumped into an SUV with the rapper Tory Lanez and two others. She didn't even put clothes on over her bathing suit. The night was over; she was just going home.

 Megan often tells herself, “Always trust your first mind”—her way of saying, “Listen to your gut.” That night, her first mind told her to get out of the car and find another way home. She tried exiting the vehicle to call for a different ride. But her phone died, it was late, she was in a bikini, and everyone was telling her to just get back in, so she did, even though there was an argument brewing. Megan doesn't want to get into the specifics of the dispute—who started it, what it was about—but ultimately it doesn't matter. As has been reported, when she tried to get out of the car again and walk away, according to Megan, Lanez started shooting at her feet, wounding her. She tells me the rest with disbelief still in her voice. “Like, I never put my hands on nobody,” she says. “I barely even said anything to the man who shot me when I was walking away. We were literally like five minutes away from the house.”

After he shot, she says, Lanez begged her not to say anything. She says he offered Megan and her friend money to stay quiet. “[At this point] I'm really scared,” Megan says, “because this is like right in the middle of all the protesting. Police are just killing everybody for no reason, and I'm thinking, ‘I can't believe you even think I want to take some money. Like, you just shot me.’ ” (A lawyer for Lanez denied that the rapper offered Megan and her friend money.).

Megan confirmed that she had been shot. People accused her of lying. Eventually, in August, she went on Instagram to name Lanez as her assailant. He denied it, creating a controversy that spawned insults, jokes, and memes made at Megan's expense. Stories were leaked to the press, including screenshots of Lanez's text apology. Members of Lanez's team fabricated emails to undermine Megan's account. Somehow, before the Los Angeles County district attorney had even weighed in, the case had been tried on social media—and improbably Megan had become, to some people, more of a villain than a victim. To her, the comments of critics seemed louder than ones from her supporters”.

I want to head away from that incident, as there is a lot to cover when talking about Megan Thee Stallion. Her family and upbringing was hugely important when it came to the rapper making a way into music and knowing that is what she wanted to do. Although Megan Thee Stallion lost her mother fairly recently – trying not to make things tragic again! -, it is clear that she was instrumental in the ambitions of her daughter. In this interview with The Guardian, we learn more about Megan Thee Stallion’s mother and her role:

“Women have been central to her rise. Megan’s mother, Holly Thomas, who died last year from brain cancer, was a debt collector who doubled as a rapper known as Holly-Wood, and was Megan’s first manager. As a child, Megan tagged along to studio sessions, listening to her mother spit through the walls. “It was normal,” she tells me. “It was: OK. Ladies are rappers. This is what my mom is doing.” She quietly decided she would follow in her footsteps, but was short on the confidence she has now. “I would start stealing [my mother’s] CDs, the instrumentals. And I would write, and I would just always keep it to myself – nobody knew I wanted to be a rapper.”

Megan is known for her freestyles. Her first took place at a college party aged 18, where she hoped to catch a guy’s eye. “All the boys were rapping. This one boy, he was real fine and I was like: I got to let him know that I can rap too, I can’t be in here just acting shy. I had to just step in the circle”.

Not only was her mother a huge role model and source of influence but, throughout her family, there were/are strong women helping to mould her. It must have been quite an informative and fascinating upbringing being raised around such powerful and influential women.

I want to draw from the GQ feature, where we get a glimpse into the early life of Megan Thee Stallion:

“That self-confidence comes from being raised by strong women. Megan Jovon Ruth Pete was born on Feb. 15, 1995, and grew up on the south side of Houston. “It was me, my great-grandmother, my grandmother and my mom,” she says. (Her father, Joseph Pete Jr., who she’s described as a “full-time hustler,” was in prison on weapons charges for the first eight years of her life.) “They were all polite Southern women, but so sassy, smart and strong: ‘You don’t need a man to do anything for you,’” she recalls them saying. And although only her grandmother remains — her father died when she was 15; in March of 2019 she lost both her mother (due to a brain tumor) and her great-grandmother — she says, “Because they put that in me, nobody can tell me the opposite: ‘My mom told me I was great, so that must mean I’m great!’”

Her mother, Holly Thomas, was a bill collector who moonlighted as a rapper named Holly-Wood, and Megan soon began quietly creating her own rhymes. “I grew up watching her writing [raps] and going with her to the studio, which I thought was normal. I started writing, and I would sneak her CDs with [instrumental versions of hip-hop hits] and rap over them”.

Not only is Megan Thee Stallion’s family important, but Texas (her home state) is very important. There are notable and huge artists who hail from Texas – including Beyoncé -, and there is a real sense of pride that those in the Lone Star State feel. It is a very busy and eclectic state when it comes to music and artists coming from that area – Houston seems particularly fervent and creative.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Adrienne Raquel for GQ 

Whilst a range of subjects and themes can be heard through Megan Thee Stallion’s work, as we see from this NME interview, she is eager to give a shout-out to Texas:

“On the importance of shouting out her ’hood, Megan explains: “I just felt like me being a black woman from the ’hood, my side of town, I want people to know that you can come from not the ‘best’ area but still grow into the person that you wanna be. Tell people where you came from. Because look where I’m at now. I’m a product of my environment, baby!” She talks with such enthusiasm, ease and rhythm that at times it sounds like you might be hearing sneak previews of the next single.

That unabashed hometown pride is not uncommon among the incredible stars that Houston, Texas has birthed: from Beyoncé and Solange to Normani as well as Meg, there is no end of megastars ready to acknowledge how the city has shaped them. My own expectations of the South were completely subverted by a brief trip to Houston; I anticipated racial tensions but was greeted with broad warmth and openness (as well as unparalleled barbecue). Megan beams: “It’s that Southern hospitality! There’s so many nice people in the South. They ask how you’re doing; they wanna hold the door for you…”

I have given a bit of background regarding a lot and is giving so much back! Maybe this comes back to the women in her life and how she was raised, but Megan Thee Stallion (Megan Jovon Ruth Pete) is this benevolent human and businesswoman who is making some big changes.

There are a few artists who give to charity and do a lot for others – including Taylor Swift -, and it is humbling seeing Megan Thee Stallion give so much. Throwing back to the NME interview, and we see how she is making a difference:

“Along with finishing her education while becoming one of the hottest rappers in the world today, Megan is dedicated to helping others, be it hosting last year’s ‘Hottie Beach Clean Ups’ in Santa Monica or launching her progressive beauty pageant in West Hollywood, to which she gifted a grand prize of a $2,500 scholarship fund. She also released ‘Girls In The Hood’ merch lines, designed by young black female creatives, and aims to create a more regular scholarship programme. “I don’t wanna say too much,” she teases, “but we got a lot coming.”

She envisions that Hot Girl Shit – her ingenious and inclusive unofficial branding – will eventually embody a host of different ventures: “A whole big ole brand, whole big ole company – it’s gonna be worldwide, okay? I really want it to be just a plethora of things.” She sounds giddy at the possibilities: “I’m really working on my dynasty right now”.

There are quite a few other areas and things that I want to tick off before I review the single, Body. I feel it is important to give a wider impression and background to an artist before reviewing the music. There is so much to admire and cover when it comes to Megan Thee Stallion that I just had to include it here! I want to nod back to women in Megan Thee Stallion’s life and, not only how they inspired her as a person, but the way she carries them through her music. The confidence, boldness and strength we hear through her lyrics goes back to her mother and grandmother.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Orin Fleurimont

Just to reintroduce that informative GQ story, and there is a link between those inspiring women and the way Megan Thee Stallion is laying down the truth as a songwriter:

“The earliest moments of Megan's career were mostly tumult-free because of her mom. “I always just said, ‘I'm going to call my mama. She'll know what to do,’ ” she says with a sigh. “Now I can't just call my mama, but I'm always thinking, ‘Okay, what would she do?’ and sometimes I don't know, sometimes I do be bumping my head. I'm only in my 20s! But she's there.”

It was more than just business advice and etiquette, though. So much of what Megan raps about, and how she raps about it, and who she is as a woman, is inherited from her mother and grandmothers, she explains. One of her grandmothers, whom she called Big Mama, taught her about the importance of self-reliance; her other grandmother taught her to always be sweet. And her mother, she says, taught her how to be tough. Confidence was instilled early and reinforced by all three women, who were constantly in Megan's ear with affirmations. “They were always like, ‘Megan, you're great. Hundred percent,’ ” she says. “They would always make me feel really, really good. They would always be like, ‘And you don't need no boy or nobody coming up to you trying to tell you, “Give me this, and I'll give you that.” ’ And I'd be like, [imitates her voice as a seven-year-old] Yeah! I don't need no boys at all!”

With Megan, it's never just the words. She has a way of delivering filthy lyrics that can absolutely knock you flat. It's the way she curls her lips while she says a line or raises her eyebrow right before she drops down in a squat. As a performer, she doesn't ask for permission or forgiveness or even confirmation. “I know this about me,” she says. “This is my pleasure, this is my vagina; I know this vagina bomb.

PHOTO CREDIT: Dana Scruggs for TIME 

Sometimes you just got to remind people that you're magical and everything about you down to your vagina and to your toes is magical.” In the grand tradition of Trina, Lil' Kim, Missy Elliott, Jill Scott, and other female artists who write lyrics that simply drip with horn, Megan's message—and the way she shares it—isn't for men.

“I feel like a lot of men just get scared when they see women teaching other women to own sex for themselves,” she says. “Sex is something that it should be good on both ends, but a lot of times it feels like it's something that men use as a weapon or like a threat. I feel like men think that they own sex, and I feel like it scares them when women own sex”.

From the women who have shaped Megan Thee Stallion, I feel like she wants to carry that strength through her music and help influence girls and young women. There is a lot in her music that will mould and transform women. As we learn from W Magazine, there is a lot of thought and weighing up when it comes to her messages – but it is clear that her music is resonating with girls and young women:

““I love the fact that I have a voice, and I love the fact that I do inspire a lot of girls, and I didn’t realize it at first. I was just being me,” Megan had told me back in New York. “Some of the things I say, I realized that some women might really wanna say them. So I just keep all of these things in the back of my mind when I’m writing. I’m not gon’ say I feel pressure, but sometimes I will get a little tingly because I just want to put out the best music for my fans as possible. I don’t like to disappoint them. So when I’m recording, I’m super hard on myself. I’m just always like, Okay, I need to go harder than that. I’ll write and rewrite a verse about eight times”.

There are a few more things that I need to discuss – bear with me! -; one thing that caught my eye when I was reading an interview in Vogue was Megan Thee Stallion’s sex-positivity. A lot of those in Hip-Hop are quite judgemental when it comes to dating and sex. When she was asked about whether sex-positivity was genuine or part of a persona, Megan Thee Stallion had a refreshing answer:

“In real life, I’m really about what I be talking. Men are free to do what they want to do, date whoever they want to date and women should have the same options, without judgement.

Sometimes people try to put you in a box, right, and they try to put their views on you and they try to make you behave how everybody in society feels you should behave. But this is my shit! This is my body, my mouth, my lyrics, this is what I want to say, this is how I want to act. I really want people to stop caring about how other people want them to live and to start to live for themselves. Cos I’m living for myself and I’m doing damn good with myself!”.

I will come onto how there is this connection and supportive network between women in Hip-Hop but, before, I wanted how there is this false impression and cliché attached to strong Black women. Coming back to the NME piece, and Megan Thee Stallion was keen to dispel the stereotypes:

“When so many black womxn are speaking out about their experiences while helping to lead the charge of Black Lives Matter, our conversation naturally moves to the pressure created by the Strong Black Woman stereotype. The expectation that black womxn will support others with fortitude and infallibility – emotionally, financially and even physically in roles as caregivers – can be damaging to a lot of us.

 “Let me tell you, black women are strong,” Megan states matter-of-factly. “We can be going through whatever and still put on a good face. I know there were times that my mother might have been going through things but I never knew, because she wanted me to feel safe and okay.”

She goes on to explain that a lot of black womxn make those sacrifices for others as mothers, sisters, partners and that it’s no small feat. “But,” she adds, “half the time it’s because we’re trying to protect everybody else. Sometimes it gets bottled up until we burst”.

I just spoke about how Megan Thee Stallion has this sex-positive attitude but, alongside that, I think there is this sort of double standard imposed on women across all genres when it comes to sexual expression and how they talk about their bodies. Whilst Hip-Hop and Rap has this reputation when it comes to men and how they discuss women – quite negatively and seeing them almost as possessions -, women like Megan Thee Stallion get judged in a way that men do not! Many of us have heard her collaboration with Cardi B on WAP; it is a song that received some criticism regarding the themes of sex and its provocative nature. This interview with Elle goes into more depth regarding the double standards regarding sex and the reception WAP received:

“Not that she’s one to stay down too long. At the beginning of August, Megan joined forces with fellow cheerful rapper Cardi B for “WAP,” a slick, buoyant ode to their lady parts. Over a sample of Frank Ski's 1993 single "Whores in This House,” Cardi and Meg trade sexual innuendos about how they want to be pleased, a topic central to both rappers’ sexually-charged lyrics.

 But “WAP” also sparked outrage and criticism from men, who blasted the rappers about their lyrics. Hip-hop has never had an issue with men express their sexual prowess through degrading lyrics about women’s bodies, but when two of rap’s biggest female stars do it, it’s considered “raunchy” or, as CeeLo Green put it, “salacious gesturing to get into position.” Megan responded to the complaints on Twitter, writing, “Lol dudes will scream ‘slob on my knob’ word for word and crying about WAP Face with tears of joy bye lil boy”.

On what the outrage from “WAP” revealed to her, Megan says, “Although we have so many incredible women in hip-hop killing it right now and in the past, there’s still a shift [that needs to happen] around the perception of a woman owning her sexuality. Powerful women who have agency over their bodies aren’t something to look down on”.

Going back to stereotypes and false impressions, and I think there is a perception that women in Hip-Hop are trying to tear one another down and there is this rivalry that dictates their music. Rather than there being this edginess and dismissive nature, there is a lot of community and support between women in the genre! I think, because it is still male-dominated and women do not get the attention they deserve, having this network and supportive attitude is the best approach. In an interview with The Guardian, Megan Thee Stallion talks about her approach when it comes to settling beefs:

“This has been her approach when it comes to music. Though beef is a staple of the genre, and a cattiness stereotype plagues women in rap, she has struck up visible friendships with female rappers such as Rico Nasty, Maliibu Miitch, Lizzo and Kash Doll, and had Minaj on a song that sampled Miami rap duo City Girls. In a genre that continues to pit women against each other, she remains the quintessential girl’s girl, stressing she favours collaboration over competition.

 “Women, we naturally want to be the best,” she says. “And I can’t be mad at the next girl for wanting to be the best! Why would I get mad at you for saying you the baddest? Why can’t we both agree that we bad, and that just be that?”

This is an attitude that harks back to a previous female rap golden age. Megan was just one in 1996, when the link-up Ladies Night was released, featuring Lil’ Kim, Missy Elliott, Angie Martinez, TLC’s Left Eye and Da Brat. Two years later, Vibe magazine ran its Rap Reigns Supreme cover, fronted by Foxy Brown, Lil’ Kim, Missy Elliott and Lauryn Hill. Then came years of relative drought for women in rap. But the landscape for women has now never looked so fertile, with a plethora of diverse artists forcing the industry to push past gendered framings: Doja Cat, Saweetie, Tierra Whack and more in the US; Little Simz, Ms Banks and Stefflon Don and others in the UK.

According to Megan, the time when “the world thought it could only be one queen” has passed. “Women, we were always great,” she says. “When a woman raps, majority of the time, she’s really rapping – she actually spitting”.

The last thing I want to document before I get to reviewing Body is how Megan Thee Stallion is maintaining artistic control. I guess, after the delays and pains concerning Suga, there is this determination for the rapper not to let others become too heavy-handed and controlling. So many women in Hip-Hop have to struggle for control and say but, as we see from the interview in W Magazine, Megan Thee Stallion is eager not to be directed and controlled:

“Maintaining control has been a long-standing issue for artists in the music business—historically more so for women rappers, who face being exploited not just contractually but also for their looks and sexuality. Megan pushes for autonomy. “A lot of times a lot of stuff is still happening where people do try to control your image; they try to put together a plan for you. But I have a lot of freedom,” she said, noting that she directed her video for “Captain Hook,” a song on Suga. “Anything you see that’s Megan Thee Stallion, that’s something that Megan Thee Stallion did”.

Body opens up, and there is a blend of the steamy and confident! From ecstatic moans that can be heard in the introduction – and play the way through – to the fierce and assured delivery from Megan Thee Stallion, one is instantly hooked by the song. Riding the beat and riding the wave, the chorus slams into view: “Body-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody/Ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody (Mwah)/Body-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody/Ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody/Body crazy, curvy, wavy, big titties, lil' waist (Yeah, yeah, yeah)/Body crazy, curvy, wavy, big titties, lil' waist (Mwah)/Body-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody/Ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody”. I have already brought in subjects including sex-positivity and affirmation and, from the get-go on Body, one can feel Megan Thee Stallion assuming control and telling it like it is! The video for Body premiered on 20th November, and it is still trending on YouTube. It is a stunning and memorable clip. Megan Thee Stallion’s way with words and her incredible delivery is like nothing else around. There are awesome newcomers like Bree Runway who are amazingly powerful on the microphone and sport incredible lyrics but, to me, Megan Thee Stallion has an advantage! This is clear when we hear the first verse: “Look at how I bodied that, ate it up and gave it back (Ugh)/Yeah, you look good, but they still wanna know where Megan at (Where Megan at?)/Saucy like a barbecue but you won't get your baby back/See me in that dress and he feel like he almost tasted that (Ah, ah, ah)/Num, num, num, num, eat it up, foreplay, okay, three, two, one/You know I'm the hottest, you ain't ever gotta heat me up/I'm present whеn I'm absent, speakin' when I'm not thеre/All them bitches scary cats, I call 'em Carole Baskins, ah”.

The chorus is this addictive and compelling mantra where the words ‘body’ is ridden in this very physical and seductive way. It has a different tone to the verses, and it provides a brief pause before Megan Thee Stallion is back at the front with another incredible verse. I love her delivery and the passion and strength she injects into everything she does! One is helpless to resist and refuse her drive, power and undeniable confidence - “If we took a trip on the real creep tip (Yeah)/Bitch, rule number one is don't repeat that shit (Don't repeat that s*it)/Rule number two, if they all came with you/They better know exactly what the fu*k they came to do (Yeah, yeah, yeah, woah, woah)”. Through Body, there is this positivity and panache where Megan Thee Stallion is both seductive and straight-talking. She is not going to let anyone mess her around but, at the same time, she has this pride in her body. Alongside the stirring and striking lines, there is some humour that makes you smile: “The category is body, look at the way it's sittin' (Yeah)/That ratio so out of control, that waist, that ass, them titties (That waist, that ass, them titties)/If I wasn't me and I would've see myself, I would have bought me a drink (Hey)/Took me home, did me long, ate it with the panties on (Ugh, ugh, ugh)”. I think Body is such a busy and bustling song that one needs a few spins to absorb it and take everything in! It is a highlight from an amazing album and shows that, if proof were needed, that Megan Thee Stallion is one of the strongest and most potent voices in Hip-Hop right now! Maybe my review has not done her true justice, but I was eager to cover the track as Good News is getting such high praise. Body is surely a late contender for one of the best singles of this year!

I want to briefly pull in a couple more interview passages before wrapping this up - just to give you a fuller impression of a remarkable artist. In Good News, she has released one of this year’s best albums and many are calling her a Hip-Hop legend of the future. I can see her rising to the same iconic levels as Beyoncé, Missy Elliott, and so many women that have helped transform music! Not only is Megan Thee Stallion busy with music but, as we learn from this interview in Variety, she has other irons in the fire:

“As if a demanding music career weren’t enough, she’s also pursuing a bachelor’s degree in health administration at Texas Southern University, with the goal of opening an assisted-living facility. At the same time, she’s a big horror-movie fan and has begun work on the screenplay for a film (“It’s gonna be something that definitely blows your mind; you’ve never seen it before”), and starred as a vampire private investigator in a comic “Hottieween” YouTube series directed by Teyana Taylor last year. She has multiple branding deals in place or in the works, including for her “Hot Girl Summer” brand, which she’s trademarked. And her formidable social media game has played a huge role in keeping her profile up. “It’s nothing that’s planned out,” she says. “I just get online, and my team doesn’t even know until they see it and ‘Oh sh–, look at Megan”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Chad Wadsworth for Rolling Stone 

I started by looking at subjects that were quite raw and sad but, as many of us have been struggling during lockdown, I wanted to quote from an interview in DAZED where Megan Thee Stallion was asked a very interesting question:

“Do you have any advice for dealing with loneliness and making sure that you’re still connected with people while socially distanced?

Megan Thee Stallion: I know when outside was open and we were free to be out in the world and hanging out, nobody really necessarily utilised FaceTime as much as I feel they could have. It would just be like a quick call, and that’s it – but now everybody’s kind of forced to get to know each other a little better. I would say definitely utilise your FaceTime, your Zooms – there’s a lot of people just getting in random group chats, and I feel like that's super cool because you never know who you could connect with, you could have something in common with. So I would just say just be nice, be friendly, because there are a bunch of people that want to talk to you, too”.

Make sure you go and investigate Good News, as it is one of the most important and best albums of this year. I wanted to review Body as it is my favourite track from the album. Megan Thee Stallion is an amazing artist with a very long future ahead of her. She is an incredibly strong and powerful women who…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Fashion Nova

INSPIRES so many.

___________

Follow Megan Thee Stallion

PHOTO CREDIT: Adrienne Raquel for GQ  

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/theestallion

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/MeganTheeStallion/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/theestallion/

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/181bsRPaVXVlUKXrxwZfHK?si=ZFiGlJUjSeer9jOViszEuA

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKrdjiuS66yXOdEZ_cOD_TA

ALL UNCREDITED PHOTOS:

Megan Thee Stallion

TRACK REVIEW: Foo Fighters - Shame Shame

TRACK REVIEW:

 

 

Foo Fighters

PHOTO CREDIT: Andreas Neumann 

Shame Shame

9.3/10

The track, Shame Shame, is available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1G6-RUz3OA

 The album, Medicine at Midnight, is available to pre-order via:

https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/foo-fighters/medicine-at-night

RELEASE DATE:

5th February, 2021

GENRE:

Alternative Rock

ORIGIN:

Seattle, U.S.A.

LABELS:

Roswell Records/RCA

TRACKLISTING:

Making a Fire

Shame Shame

Cloudspotter

Waiting on a War

Medicine at Midnight

No Son of Mine

Holding Poison

Chasing Birds

Love Dies Young

__________

THIS time out…

PHOTO CREDIT: Brantley Gutierrez 

I am investigating one of the most iconic bands on the modern scene: Foo Fighters. Led by Dave Grohl, the former Nirvana man is, quite rightly, seen as one of the nicest men in Rock. 2020 was going to be a big and important year for the band as the eponymous debut was released in 1995 - and this would have been a chance to tour on its important anniversary. It has been a busy and packed past few years for Foo Fighters but, a while ago, they went on hiatus and it did seem like they might go their separate ways. 2017’s Concrete and Gold was a surprise return for the band. In an interview with Kerrang!, we hear some background behind chaos that almost brought Foo Fighters to a halt:

“In fact, the only time he switches from being the effervescent figure we all know and love is when chatter turns to what sparked his hasty return to Foo Fighters. Though he’s still light-hearted, the 48-year-old swiftly becomes more thoughtful, considered, and even quiet, reflecting on the band’s 2015 ‘indefinite hiatus’, which was consequently ended after just six months.

Foo Fighters’ ‘break’ was brought about after a whirlwind few years for the band – completed by drummer Taylor Hawkins, guitarists Pat Smear and Chris Shiflett, bassist Nate Mendel and keyboardist Rami Jaffee.

There was that leg break, when Dave tumbled off of a 12-foot-high stage during a show in Sweden in the summer of 2015. There was the heartwarming viral Learn To Fly video that brought the Foos to perform in front of thousands of super-loyal fans in Cesena, Italy. There was the free release of the band’s Saint Cecilia EP, dedicated to the victims of the Paris attacks in November of that year and described by the frontman as a reminder that “music is life”. Hell, Dave even squeezed in an appearance on The Muppet Show, partaking in a drum-off with Animal. And then, of course, there was Foo Fighters’ extensive, worldwide ‘Broken Leg Tour’. After all of that, you can’t blame a man for calling a time-out”.

I want to go on a bit of a tangent before homing in on Foo Fighters today because, when I talk about Dave Grohl, I cannot avoid thinking of Nirvana and his time with the band. Many musicians might feel uncomfortable or bored talking about their former band especially if, like Grohl, the cessation of Nirvana was prefaced by the suicide of their lead, Kurt Cobain. It is clear that Nirvana still influence bands today and, though they were only together less than a decade, they managed to leave a huge footprint on the music scene. I think a lot of people associate the Grunge band with a sense of gloominess and anger. When Dave Grohl spoke with GQ back in 2018, he addressed that misconception:

“Something that Grohl and I do talk about is the misinterpretation that his time in Nirvana was all just sorrow and wretchedness. “We weren’t miserable all the time,” he says, laughing. “I mean, Kurt never once came off stage and said, ‘Nice show,’ which was a little weird. Everyone needs a pep talk every once in a while, right?” Love echoes the sentiment that Nirvana did want to make it, including Kurt. “There’s this myth,” she explains candidly, “that Kurt didn’t want success. That is such bullshit. He worked his ass off to form the right band. Kurt loved that they had made it and moved [Michael] Jackson off the charts, but he never really got to enjoy it because the circus came to town to take our kid.

“I don’t think the band had a discord about success,” she continues. “Dave was welcoming of it, as was Kurt. Success is a nice warm bath of love from the outside world, but also one hell of a harsh teacher.”

“No one thought Nirvana would be a big deal,” Grohl continues. “No one. And anyone who says they did are full of shit. No one had a clue. So when everything went crazy, when the world started coming to us, when that whole wild ride started happening, it gave me a licence to never have to listen to anyone ever again. From that moment on, no one has ever told me what to do. No one. In 25 years, I have never had anyone ever say to me, ‘Oh, Dave you have to do this.’ Fuck you, motherfucker. I’m the president of my record company [Roswell Records]. I own my entire back catalogue. I get to say when we do this, when we do that. So if something needs doing, I’ll just do it myself. If I want to write a 25-minute instrumental, write all the music, play all the instruments, film it and then, guess what, maybe never even release it? I’ll do it. Just because I can. That’s why”.

Let’s think about Foo Fighters’ debut album because, as I said, it turned twenty-five this year and it was going to be a busy time for the band in terms of touring and getting these hugely important songs to the people. It is clear that the Seattle-formed band have changed a lot since 1995 because, in actuality, the first incarnation of Foo Fighters was Dave Grohl himself! I guess, after Nirvana a split, it would have been hard finding another group or even considering playing. Grohl had these songs and was keen to do something but, with no other musicians for a band and Grohl a reluctant frontman, it was an odd transition. Foo Fighters is a stunning debut album, and it revealed a songwriting talent many were not aware Grohl possessed – as Kurt Cobain was the songwriting force behind Nirvana. Even though Foo Fighters are a strong unit today, as this article outlines (they took excerpts from former NME New Music editor Matt Wilkinson's interview with Grohl from his Apple Music show), it was a strange change of role:

“Dave discussed changing his role from Nirvana drummer to becoming a frontman. He said, "Coming out and standing, I mean, f***, I'd been sitting on a drum stool for so long that, 'Oh my God. Now I have to stand in front of people.' And, 'How does my body move? What do I say in between songs?' These are the things that go through your head, and if you're not feeling it or you don't have that connection or confidence, it can be f***ing terrifying.

"And, I mean, it was for eight years or 10 years or so. It took a long time for me. I mean, now when I walk out on stage, it's just, like, 'Hey. Okay, let's go.' But a long time ago, even doing interviews, I was shy. I was just insecure, self-aware. I just felt like I wasn't used to being put in the forefront like that and I can not even watch interviews from those days back then."

 Dave also touched on some of the pushback that he faced by launching the post-Nirvana project. He said, "There's some journalists that are just like, 'How dare you play music after Nirvana.' I'm, like, 'What am I supposed to do?'

"We tried really hard to do it right. Instead of jumping on a tour opening up for some massive arena band at the time, we thought, 'Okay, well let's get in the van and let's do it like we've always done it. Let's start the way we always started,' and that felt comfortable to us.

"And in doing any promotion or press, we didn't make a video right out of the gate, we tried to temper all of that stuff because it was scary in a way. I knew that I was walking the plank on this. I knew that I was going to be scrutinized and I knew that there was going to be comparisons and things like that”.

Looking at this year, and it has not gone as planned as Foo Fighters hoped – or anyone for that matter! Instead of celebrating a popular debut album at twenty-five, there has been this halt to live performance. With a new single, Shame Shame, out in the world, many have welcomed the incredible song; we are looking forward to the release of Foo Fighters’ forthcoming album, Medicine at Midnight. In the interview with Kerrang!, Grohl talked about the new album:

“How has 2020 been for you, Dave? Is there a sense of normalcy now returning with the release of Shame Shame, and the announcement of Medicine At Midnight?

“Well, I mean, we finished this album in February of this year. We were ready to hit the road, the artwork was done, the vinyl was being pressed… we were really looking forward to this year, and then we had hit pause and everybody went their separate ways. This is really the first break the band has taken in at least a decade; we’re always on the road, and we’re always making records, and always doing something. So, for it to grind to a halt was really strange. It proved to be really challenging, but also positive in a lot of ways. I think everybody finally found the time to do the things that we always wanted to do but were always too busy, and then as time went by we just decided, ‘Well, more than anything we want people to hear the new record. We can’t go out and play shows right now, but the music is worth hearing.’ So we regrouped and came up with a new plan – we had to rethink everything and adapt to what’s going on now”.

One thing that many have asked is what tone Medicine at Midnight is going to take. Shame Shame is not the definition of what the album will be but, it appears, we are going to get some party vibes and a different flavour to Concrete and Gold. Grohl spoke with NME, and he was asked about the tone and feel of the approaching record:

“What can you tell us about your mission statement for ‘Medicine At Midnight’?

“Since it’s our tenth record and 25th anniversary, we decided years ago that we wanted to do something that sounded fresh. We’ve made some many different types of album, we’ve done acoustic things, we’ve done punk-rock things, mid-tempo Americana type of things. We have a lot of albums to fall back on, so you just have to go with our gut feeling and I thought instead of making some mellow adult album, I thought ‘Fuck that, let’s make a party album’.”

What kind of party?

“A lot of our favourite records have these big grooves and riffs. I hate to call it a funk or dance record, but it’s more energetic in a lot of ways than anything we’ve ever done and it was really designed to be that Saturday night party album. It was written and sequenced in a way that you put on, and nine songs later you’ll just put it on again. Y’know, songs like ‘Making A Fire’. To me that’s rooted in Sly & The Family Stone grooves, but amplified in the way that the Foo Fighters do it”.

I guess the band had a different agenda and time plan regarding the album and getting it out there. They would have had this pre-pandemic period of planning and recording and then some time when it (the pandemic) hit that would have allowed them to focus on the recording more than they normally might have – as they didn’t have touring commitments and were restricted in that sense.

I want to go back to the interview from Kerrang!, as Grohl shed some light on the creation of the upcoming tenth studio album:

“What was the process of making Medicine At Midnight like?

“We recorded it in this fucked-up old house in my neighbourhood instead of using a studio, and every day we’d come in with a basic idea, like, ‘Okay, here’s the rhythm of the song,’ or, ‘Here’s the basic riff,’ and we would build on that. We didn’t necessarily all sit in a room, work out the song and then hit ‘record’; it was more like we were building it from the bottom up. And, seven months later, to then finally get into a room and finally play these songs as a band felt so fucking good – and really easy, to be honest. It’s one of the easiest albums for us to perform. There have been other records where we’ve recorded things that have been a bit more technically involved, and this one was just big guitars, big fuckin’ grooves and big fuckin’ choruses. As we were writing the songs I was really imagining, ‘Oh god, this is gonna be so good at the festival,’ or, ‘This is gonna be so good at the stadium.’ I really took the live show into consideration, and made these anthemic choruses that I imagined 100,000 people singing along to. Unfortunately that’s not gonna happen right now (laughs)”.

 Given that you had all this extra time after finishing the LP in February, was there a temptation to go back and change anything – big or small?

“You know, there was absolutely no desire to change anything. When we finished the album, it was exactly what we wanted it to be. We started thinking about this album and writing it almost two years ago, and we recorded it in a way that we’d never done before; we didn’t sit in a room and rehearse and write these songs. They were all born from these demos that I had been doing where I had decided, ‘Okay, it’s our 10th record, we’ve been a band for 25 years, what do we do? Do we make some sleepy acoustic album as we ride off into the sunset of our career, or do we make a fucking party record?’ And our love of rock bands that make these upbeat, up-tempo, almost danceable records inspired us to make the album that we did. To me, there’s songs on the record that are rooted in Sly & The Family Stone, or David Bowie, or The Power Station, and things like that. We sort of relied on a lot of these really energetic references and influences to put this one together”.

Shame Shame is a tantalising cut from Medicine at Midnight, and I think it is a song that many of us need right now! I am going to move to reviewing soon enough, but I want to stay on the topic of the new album and its general tone, as lead singles don’t always represent what an album will sound like. Indeed, as this article highlights, the band have ventured into new territory and have taken influence from (perhaps) unlikely sources:

“Grohl and drummer Taylor Hawkins recently joined Spotify's Global Head of Rock, Allison Hagendorf, on the "Rock This" podcast to chat about the song. According to Grohl, the band started recording the new album around this time last year, and that's when they decided to switch things up a bit.

PHOTO CREDIT: Scarlet Bucket 

"We wrote a lot of these songs to be played in stadiums — these big grooves, big choruses, big guitars. It was really sort of designed to be this big party album," the frontman described. "We had looked back on all the stuff we'd done over the last 25 years like, 'We've done this noisy, punk rock stuff. We've done gentle, acoustic stuff. We've done three-and-a-half, four-minute long radio-rock, singalong singles."

"But we've never done like that groove-oriented, sort of — Let's Dance [by] David Bowie, Power Station, the Cars, [Rolling Stones'] Tattoo You — those rock albums that would make you get up and move and dance," Grohl continued. "We haven't done that yet, so we went into the studio with that in mind... I don't even wanna say it's like our 'dance record,' but it's got grooves that we've never had before, so they kind of make you bounce around."

That isn't to say the entire album will sound like "Shame Shame," though.

"But because it's unlike anything we've ever done, I thought, 'Okay well this is a good place to start.' This should be the first thing people hear because it's indicative of this, sort of left turn that we've taken a little bit," Grohl explained of the decision to make the song their first single from this album”.

There are two more subjects I want to address before I get to talk about the new single and go deep with that. Foo Fighters have been going for over twenty-five years and, whilst they have inspired so many other bands, perhaps they are not quite as cutting and hip as other Rock bands out there. One cannot deny that Dave Grohl is a cool man, and many of their songs are anthems and classics. I think they have this perception of not being that cool and contemporary. In fact, as this SPIN interview from last year shows, previous Foo Fighters albums have ventured into older, less raucous areas of music:

“Grohl goes on to describe the recording of the band’s 1999 album There Is Nothing Left to Lose, claiming that while other bands were combining rap and metal in novel ways, he was trying to make an A.M. Gold record. “We’ve just never been hip or cool,” he said. “And I think that the reason why we’re still here is because we do kind of disconnect ourselves from the popular stuff that’s going on, but also because what the f*ck do we care. Like honestly, I just wanna play music. Having watched a lot of my friends not survive, I just want to be alive and play music and I really don’t give a f*ck if we’re cool or not.”

 But are Foo Fighters really quote-unquote “dad rock”? Does being a dad and playing in a successful band necessarily put you in the same category as, say, Steely Dan, the Grateful Dead, or Fleetwood Mac? Or is there more there another layer of complexity to the genre that others are getting at with the term? Whatever you associate with your parents’ dusty record shelves, Grohl is definitely exemplar of a certain trajectory for growing old and going grey in the music industry, even as he continues to sell more vinyl records than ever before. Such is the mystery of “dad rock” and of Dave Grohl’s continued inescapability in the music press, where he’s continued to show his face alongside Ringo Starr and Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo”.

I normally put information regarding gigs near the end of a review but, as there is something particular I want to cover there, I will include it here. Many artists have adapted to the situation this year and played distanced gigs and virtual performances. It has not been ideal, but it has provided them with a chance of getting their music out there and connecting with fans – albeit it in a very different and new manner! Dave Grohl was asked by NME about that side of things:

“With the state of touring at the moment, would Foo Fighters ever play socially-distanced gigs?

“First and foremost, our main concern is that everyone is safe. Our band wouldn’t just jump out on the road for the sake of having an audience. Listen, we really do care for the people that come to see the band, so until we get to a place where everyone’s safe and sound, we’ll just have to adapt and figure out new ways to connect with the audience. Our band is rooted in live performance, more than anything. I love making records and everything that goes along with being in this band. But being on stage is really where we shine. Until that can happen safely, we’re just gonna have to fucking knock it out in the rehearsal room.”

That must be frustrating?

“To be honest, being away from it for six or seven months, not seeing the guys and having instruments in our laps, getting back to the rehearsal place and playing together to no one was just the best feeling in the world. When we get back and once it happens that we walk on stage to an audience, I have a feeling it’ll be the best show and the best feeling the band’s ever had”.

The video for Shame Shame is in black-and-white and quite atmospheric! It sees Grohl dragging his guitar up a hill as the wind whips his hair. If the video depicts Grohl looking quite defeated and bedraggled, the opening notes of Shame Shame are pretty tight and funky. The percussion rattles and rolls, whilst there is this raw groove from the guitar. That drum clatter and roll from Taylor Hawkins is looped, so you get this constant motion and sound that mixes with jabbing and punctuated guitar. In terms of sound, it is less direct and enflamed as some of Foo Fighters’ biggest anthems; instead, Shame Shame has this sense of creep and plod that is a great change of pace. It is funky and fun, but there is a slight darkness and weight that is reflected in the video – Grohl is seen with a woman as she runs her fingers through his hair and over his face as he then lies on the grass and then is seen running through some woodland. The lyrics are direct and to the core; impassioned and meaningful: “If you want to/I'll make you feel something real just to bother you/Now I got you/Under my thumb, like a drug, I will smother you/I'll be the one/Be the moon, be the sun/Be the rain in your song/Go and put that record on/If you want to/I'll be the one/Be the tongue that will swallow you”. Foo Fighters have dealt with passion and love before but, on many occasions, there is this huge energy and physicality coming from the band. Here, there is more tenderness and a more subtle sound. I actually like Foo Fighters in this mould, as we hear more funkiness and groove. That said, Grohl’s voice has a definite ache and sense of longing to it that combines powerfully against the composition. There is a range of emotions being put out there, and I have gone back to the song a few times to try and decide whether there is passion at the core or something more disturbed.

It does appear that, whilst there has been despair and a sense of loss from our hero, something (or someone) has come along and made that better: “Another splinter under the skin/Another season of loneliness/I found a reason and buried it/Beneath a mountain of emptiness”. The video is one of the most striking and cinematic Foo Fighters have created. Featuring just Grohl and Algerian-French actress, Sofia Boutella, the two tussle and are wrapped in one another. Grohl carries her on his back with his guitar dragging along, and there is a real sense of tussle and passion alongside storminess and something quite gothic and haunted. It is a beautiful video that perfectly accompanies the song. I do think there is a sense of passion and desire that runs through the song, but there is also some anger and uncertainty lingering. Maybe some will take some time to adjust to Foo Fighters’ shift in sound, as it is more subtle than a lot of their previous work. I like the band in a slinkier mode. Rather than there being this hectic and pummelling percussion, it rolls and loops to create this sort of mantra. Grohl and the rest of the band are less gnarly and frenetic than before, but this relative subtlety and evolution suits them well. As they have said in interviews, Shame Shame is not necessarily definitive of what Medicine at Midnight will sound like, but Foo Fighters will step into a different mantle for their new album – more party and kick than anger and anguish sounds good to me! Less of a grower, Shame Shame is a song that hits you straight away and grows stronger and more intriguing the more you play it. It is a great cut from a band who keep throwing up surprises after all these years! Next year, when they get on the road, it will be interesting to hear this song stack up against numbers from that eponymous 1995 debut.

There are a couple of lighter topics I want to end with. Go and pre-order Foo Fighters’ Medicine at Midnight (link at the top of this review) as it will be an early Christmas treat (even though the album is out next year). I came across an interesting Condé Nast Traveller article where Grohl talked about some of his favourite destinations. Many musicians play all around the world and, whilst it can seem like a tiring rigmarole, Grohl seems to love travel and seeing different places! Rather than Foo Fighters touring putting him off seeing more of the world, he does get a genuine thrill from it:

“What made you want to travel?

“‘Opening up the sleeve of an album and seeing pictures of musicians on the road, sitting out the back of their van with their equipment. Nobody was reaching for stardom, it was just a beautiful act of making music, and starving and bleeding and laying your fucking soul down every night. I think I was 13 or 14 when I realised that I don’t need much, but I need to get in the van and go and play. The fact that music has given me this ticket to the world blows my mind. It’s such a simple transaction. All I have to do is get up on stage and in return I get to see another beautiful city I’ve never been to.’

Your favourite music venue to perform at?

'The Metro in Chicago, the 9:30 Club and The Anthem in Washington, DC, the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles. Oh shit – god, there’s so many of them. There was also The Astoria in London, which was one of my favourite places on earth to play’”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Scarlet Bucket

I will wrap up very soon but, over the past few months, one could not have missed the friendly drumming ‘battle’ that has ensued and escalated between Dave Grohl and the ten-year-old Nandi Bushell. She is based in the U.K. and, through a series of videos, the two have swapped drumming chops and faced up in these epic battles – Bushell, it seems, has triumphed in all of their encounters! It seems that, soon enough, the two might actually get to jam together. An article in the Los Angeles Times explains more:

“We’re not crying. You’re crying.

Three Everlong months after 10-year-old music prodigy Nandi Bushell challenged Dave Grohl to an epic drum battle, the Foo Fighters frontman has finally met his rock hero. On Monday afternoon, the little drummer girl from Ipswich, England, shared a sweet video of the two musicians chatting face-to-face for the first time.

“I get to meet a rock star! Oh, my God!” Grohl exclaimed to a speechless, beaming Bushell. “Oh, my gosh, it’s you! It’s so nice to meet you. ... I can’t believe I’m talking to you. I feel like I’m meeting a Beatle.”

During their 10-minute virtual conversation, Bushell offered Grohl some sage advice, such as “practice, practice, practice,” after the latter admitted he considered quitting the drums because he’ll “never be as good” as his young opponent. She also taught him how to let out one of her signature screams while performing.

“You just use all your energy and have lots of fun screaming,” Bushell said, shredding the air drums.

The instrumentalists’ friendship and social media showdown began in August when Bushell presented Grohl with a flawless cover of the Foo Fighters’ 1997 track “Everlong.” Bushell has since triumphed in every round so far of their drum-off, including their last exchange, which saw them write and perform original tribute songs for each other.

Now, it’s Grohl’s move, and the former Nirvana drummer hinted he still has a few more tricks up his sleeve.

“I had an idea for how to respond to your last song, but I haven’t done it yet,” he told Bushell during their video call. “It’s a really good idea. ... I don’t want to give it away.”

Toward the end of their highly anticipated meeting, Bushell enthusiastically accepted Grohl’s invitation to play the drums alongside him and the Foo Fighters once the COVID-19 pandemic is under control and global touring can safely resume.

“When the Foo Fighters finally come back to the U.K., do you think that you would get up onstage and jam with us?” Grohl asked. “But it has to be at the end of the set, because you’re gonna steal the show. It can’t be at the beginning of the set, because if you come out first, it’s just all downhill from there”.

Go and pre-order the Medicine at Midnight album and keep your eyes peeled regarding rescheduled gig dates. In fact, check out their official website if you want to go and see them play next year. It will be a rare chance for them to look back on their debut album in addition to showcasing material from their latest album. I am sure they will be playing quite a few festivals and, with some great new material under their belt, it (2021) will be a year where Foo Fighters can…

 SERIOUSLY make up for lost time!

___________

Follow Foo Fighters

PHOTO CREDIT: Danny Clinch 

Official:

https://www.foofighters.com/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/foofighters

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/foofighters/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/foofighters/

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/7jy3rLJdDQY21OgRLCZ9sD

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi2KNss4Yx73NG0JARSFe0A

ALL UNCREDITED PHOTOS:

Foo Fighters

TRACK REVIEW: Bree Runway (ft. Missy Elliott) - ATM

TRACK REVIEW:

 

 

Bree Runway (ft. Missy Elliott)

PHOTO CREDIT: Lusha Alic 

ATM

9.4/10

The track, ATM, is available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MSrDtm_EPE

 The mixtape, 2000AND4EVA, is available via:

https://open.spotify.com/album/4lmOcEBG9fJjc6UeMbttVt?si=d-wBLLMDQQS6fV1MKEG4mw

RELEASE DATE:

6th November, 2020

GENRES:

Hip-Hop/R&B

ORIGIN:

London, U.K.

LABEL:

EMI

TRACKLISTING:

APESHIT

LITTLE NOKIA

ATM (Ft. Missy Elliott)

DAMN DANIEL (ft. Yung Baby Tate)

ROLLS ROYCE

GUCCI  (ft. Maliibu Miitch)

4 NICOLE THEA & BABY REIGN

NO SIR (FREESTYLE)

LITTLE NOKIA  (ft. Rico Nasty)

__________

HERE is an artist who is definitely…

among the most exciting and explosive that the U.K. has seen for many years! I can’t think of another artists like Bree Runway who has that same air of star quality and panache. There is confidence is everything she does and, with a new mixtape out, it is the perfect time to review her. I will mention 2000AND4EVA at the end but, with ATM out there and showing Bree Runway in full flight, I wanted to highlight the song. It features vocals by Missy Elliott – someone who is a hero to Bree Runway. I am going to discuss Bree Runway before I get to the song and, whilst Missy Elliott does feature in the song, I feel Bree Runway is the main focus. Although she has a few E.P.s out already, I think the mixtape really announces her and shows top the world what she is all about! I want to take a chronological approach to Bree Runway, so I feel it is important to look back at her childhood and the environment she grew up in. As we discovered from a feature in DORK, it that classical portal, MTV, that stirred her imagination:

“In a way, she has. Born in Hackney, Bree grew up glued to the telly, watching music videos on MTV which influenced her own artistry later on (the 'APESHIT' video is so Missy Elliot, it got co-signed by the legend herself). A born performer, she'd put on shows for her family as a kid, organising the whole thing herself.

"My mum used to go to work, and me and my cousin would be left at home, and we would always watch MTV. That inspired me to start hosting mini-concerts to my family members," she says over the phone from London, where she's performing the decidedly less glam task of combing banana from a hair mask out of her hair.

 “So I’d organise the line-up, and I would decide which cousin would be singing and which cousin would dance and which cousin would rap, and then I’d tell the adults that we’re gonna come down by eight o’clock, I need everyone’s sat down and then we’d perform for them. Then that carried through to primary school and stuff. I would do performances, and my mum was almost like our own Tina Knowles because she’d make our costumes for us. And she’s still very involved in my costume stuff today”.

I think the – at the time – toughness and danger in Hackney was pivotal when it came to adopting a survival-mode tactic and having tough skin. I think the area is better now but, years ago, there was a reputation that proceeded Hackney. For someone young trying to make their way and experiencing life, maybe Hackney was not the safest and most calming area of London to live in! In an interview with DIY from July, Bree Runway talked about her experiences in the area:

“Born and raised in Hackney, in an area that she refers to as ‘Murder Mile’, Bree is quick to note that, in order to survive in such an area, she needed to harden her skin. “Before I wasn’t strong enough, but as I grew, it was inevitable. [Hackney] has taught me to have a voice and stand by it,” she explains. Though she experienced bullying in her younger life, she credits those moments as shaping her both as a person and as an artist. “I stand for something so much stronger now,” she nods. “You can’t call me crazy for wanting to express myself a certain way”.

One thing that I have not covered up until this point is the inspiration behind the moniker. ‘Bree Runway’ is a very distinct name, and, with no obvious reason, I went on a bit of an exploitation. She conducted a really interesting interview with Equate Magazine and the question came up:

“EQ: How did you come up with the name ‘Bree Runway’ and who is she?

BR: The name Bree Runway actually came from a very long Facebook name that I made when I was around 16, it was a naming ceremony that my really cool cousin, Pedro, gave to all the cousins – we were all gathered, it was like a family party and his name was ‘Runway Pedro’ and I used to think he was so cool, he always had the latest fashions and everything like that, and I always thought “I wish I could be him, I really wish I could be him” but that day that he passed the runway name to me I was like “[gasp] I’m keeping it!” so I made a Facebook name and added ‘runway’, ‘Tokyo’ and everything you can think of. So, when it came to choosing an artist name I think I just looked at my Facebook name and thought “I think I will just pick something from this which is personal to me”. Then I cut my name down, my real name down, and used Bree, and picked runway from the name that was passed down to me. And now Bree runway is just this very super confident, super face, unique, one of one, she’s like nobody else, she is very fearless, and she’s just this powerhouse, a really tiny girl who is a powerhouse and is just day by day taking over the world. I feel like she is des- tined for world domination, yeah! That’s Bree Runway!

EQ: What inspired you to start creating music and who is your biggest inspiration?

BR: I’ve always been into music because I come from a very musical background, my dad was a drummer, he used to drum for church and he’s the one that always used to put me on to music. I always used to love how my mum would always dance around to it too, she is also a very creative per- son as well, she used to make her own clothes – she is a DIY queen! She was also always playing new songs – well, old songs, and so through my parents I think is where my love for music came from.

PHOTO CREDIT: Jenn Five 

Even driving around to market with my mum always used to listen to Magic radio and I was just so mesmerised by the melodies. I feel like music from the ‘80s and ‘90s, Phil Collins, Whitney Houston – artists like that – inspired me to start creating music because the harmonies were just like “oh my God, this is so beautiful”. So, through that, and then artists like Lady Gaga, Freddie Mercury, David Bowie – seeing their artistry growing up really kicked me up the arse to be like “I want to do something like this. I feel like there’s something unique in me, as there is something unique in them”. I want to bring my piece of art and birth into the world”.

I do love the fact the Bree Runway was introduced to music through her mum, for the most part, and there was a lot of classics hits from the 1980s and 1990s in addition to MTV. It sounds pretty oldskool, which is surprising, as Bree Runway’s music has such a modern sound and is a lot different to the music one hears on stations like Magic. I was interested reading how Freddie Mercury came into her orbit, and I wonder whether Bree Runway projects and absorbs some of Mercury’s prowess and power. One cannot easily definer artists like her, but I was surprised by the musicians and sounds that she draws from. I will discuss Missy Elliott later, but I can just picture Bree Runway discovering all this great music and slowly putting together this sound of her own and dreaming of a career in music. I want to move on and, alongside her inspirations, one must talk about Bree Runway’s own style and approach.    

When she spoke with NME, she explained the different sounds she mixed together and why she adopts such a fearless and effecting style of delivery:

“NME: Your music has earned you a cult following online because of its varied and fearless style. How would you describe your sound?

Bree Runway: “It’s genre-bending and genre-fluid. It’s pop, trap, dance, R&B, rock, PC music — hell, it’s even sometimes country music too! Black women in music are always expected to sing R&B or soul: we are always boxed in. I’m always asked if I’m a soul singer and I say, ‘No, actually, I make very in-your-face, destructive pop that is all genres and everything at once.’ I try to study a genre I don’t really listen to on a day-to-day-basis because there is honestly inspiration everywhere: it’s best to go digging in places you don’t normally go.

“Artists from my native Ghana got me into music and genres like High Life, that my dad would play constantly. My dad was a drummer and would always have music on around the house. It was through MTV that I started discovering artists like Lil’ Kim, Britney Spears, Madonna, Missy Elliott, Pharrell, Kelis, The Neptunes: those artists helped me to evolve my sound into what it is today. When these guys performed, they gave a major middle finger to the industry and didn’t give a fuck. They weren’t afraid to get ugly for their art, and that kind of non-conformity drives what I do”.

It is intriguing learning about her Ghanaian heritage and how that mixes with conventional music of the West that she was exposed to young. With some Missy Elliott and Madonna fusing with some of her dad’s influence, it must have been a very vivid and eclectic household in which to live!

 PHOTO CREDIT: Qavi Reyez

I want to quickly mention Bree Runway’s visual identity, as I think that is important and naturally partners with the music. Her photos are captivating, as she has this style that is very much her own, and she does explode off of the screen/page. When she was in conversation with PAPER, Bree Runway’s fashion and visual approach was raised:

“This is apparent in Bree's frenetic, yet singular sound, which fuses rapping, singing and a mind-melding array of genre influences, both modern and retro. Visually, Bree incorporates freestyle and pop choreography, turns eye-catching, high-fashion looks and addresses savvy social commentary (i.e. the gender wage gap, racial injustices and self-image). Take a look at recent videos to last year's breakout Be Runway EP tracks "Big Racks" (with Brooke Candy), "2ON" and the Missy Elliott-approved "Apeshit," and quickly find yourself immersed in Bree's colorful world.

Even with the support of a label, who, depending on the artist, might install marketing and creative teams to create an artistic vision from scratch, Bree controls her vision every step of the way. And as a dark-skinned Black woman from London, who has risen above her fair share of systemic bullshit, Bree's calling the shots is non-negotiable”.

Alongside such amazing and individual fashions is her music, which is full of energy and colour. The videos Bree Runway has put out are amazing indeed. In a feature with NYLON from this year, Bree Runway talked a bit more about her dynamic and sound:

“High-octane visuals have since become somewhat of a calling card for the young artist, which she pairs effectively with equally bold music, a sound she once described to NME as “destructive pop that is all genres and everything at once.” While “Gucci” flirts with a steely, club-like anthem, “Apeshit” is full ‘90s hip-hop, complete with flares of electric guitar and thumping percussion; what makes both memorable is Bree's potent delivery: confident and alight with attitude.

“I just feel like you've got to leave the viewer wanting more, and that's what those kinds of videos from the early 2000s made me want,” Bree, aka Brenda Mensah, says over the phone one morning from lockdown in London. “I want them to want more and to watch it again”.

Even though Bree Runway has a few E.P.s credited under her name – including 2015’s RNWY 01 -, Be Runway of last year was really her proper introduction, I think. The fact she has put out a mixtape just after a year from that E.P. shows that she is spilling over with ideas and there is this relentless sense of curiosity and passion that one can hear in her music. I want to mention that Be Runway E.P., as it is a truly striking debut. In an interview with The Line of Best Fit, Bree Runway discussed the influences behind the E.P.:

“From '90s TV shows to Ghanian Highlife, from trap to 70s baroque-pop, from Banksy to bespoke furniture, Runway’s influences are expansive, and it plays in her favour. Tracks like new offering “Damn Daniel” are inventive, playful, genre-defying and unique. Filming the video during lockdown pushed her creative direction full circle, serving herself the twenty-seven page guidebook. Featuring Atlanta’s Yung Baby Tate, the two vocalists take on the characters Keisha and Felicia, dancing through a colour-rush of Fresh Prince inspired, 90s MTV chaos.

On her first EP Be Runway she jumps from confessional catharsis to buoyant hooks in the space of a middle-eight. Runway’s talent lies in her ability to piece together the past in a way that’s personal, refreshing and immediate.

Bullied at school over the colour of her skin, Runway resorted to skin-bleaching creams as a teenager. “There’s so many behind the counter products that change your skin tone, it’s actually crazy,” she explains. “All you have to tell them is, no not that one, the one behind the counter. And they look at you and it’s like, alright. Almost like a drug transaction. You’ve just got to give them the wink and they’ll give it to you”.

One really interesting facet of Be Runway is its cover. On it, we see an image of Bree Runway’s face half painted white, as she smiles. It is a very memorable image and, when she spoke with Equate Magazine, the subject of that cover was explored:

“EQ: Identity plays a big part in your artistry – we’ve seen from your last EP cover. Can you explain that a little to us and why it was important to portray?

BR: That [EP cover] was actually inspired by a lady who inspires me a lot; Grace Jones. Grace Jones did a cover for The Face Magazine, and I wanted to find a way, on my cover, to portray the fact that we live in a generation where everybody doesn’t want to be themselves. They don’t really want to be themselves, and that’s what inspired me to make music, I was specifically getting at how we, in the times we live, as black people, are the blueprint. And although in time we’ve been tortured, we’ve been embarrassed, we’ve been disgraced, we’ve been talked down upon – people don’t want to see us up, but in all that we continue to rise and evolve be- cause it’s what we’re great at doing. I feel as though through all of that the oppressor, whoever this may have been, just wants to be like us because we have everything. We have the rhythm, we have the sound, the style, we even had the resources, the land – everything. So, what’s happening on the cover is a Caucasian person who has used my “BE RUNWAY” spray, which I was selling in the ‘Two On’ music video, and has spread them- selves to be runway, and be me! So, it has two meanings, this is just one of the meanings, where although people want to put us down we actually are the blueprint, and here they are happy as hell to spray the spray to be Bree Runway, a black woman who is jazzy as fuck [laughs]. The other meaning behind the spraying yourself to be Bree Runway is it could be for anyone who presses play is actually using that spray to be Runway because being Run- way represents freedom, and represents a limitless way of thinking, there are no boundaries in my art, and in my lyrics.

I really don’t give a fuck, basically. So, you listening to me – I hope it inspires you to just free yourself, free your mind, and of any status quos, especially as a young black girl. I always told: “you can’t do this, you can’t do that” and we are always put into a box, but I hope I inspire you to carve your own lane and make your own print in the world. You don’t have to copy anyone else and that’s what Bree Runway is about”.

I am going to finish off by exploring the subject of race and how, as a black woman, Bree Runway has experienced life and the music industry. I have a few things to get to before that conclusion, but I wanted to briefly touch on the L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ community, as she has had their support since the beginning. When Bree Runway spoke with the Gay Times, she was asked about her connection with her L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ fans:

“The gays are going to go crazy, that’s for sure. It felt like there was an immediate connection between you and your LGBTQ+ fans – how early on did you notice their support?

I would say 2017 when I dropped What Do I Tell My Friends? I was like, ‘Oh, y’all love me? I love y’all too.’ Like, literally. I love their support so much because it’s very much like how I support people, in the sense where it’s shame-free. It’s loud. It’s proud. You really do feel it. It’s OTT. It’s everything that I am, you know what I mean? I feel like sometimes people shy away from supporting certain people, that are stars and maybe have the numbers or whatever, because ‘Oh, I don’t want to come across as a beg. I don’t want to come across as a fan.’ But there’s none of that, that pride in that community. It’s just no, ‘We love you, and we’re showing you that we love you.’ I can relate to that kind of love, that kind of celebrating a person because that’s how I am as a person. I’m shame-free. If I fuck with you, yes, I’m gonna show you! I’m gonna support you loudly and proudly. I love that”.

I want to finish this section by talking about Bree Runway’s association with Missy Elliott. From idolising her on MTV and listening to her music as a child to actually working with her, it must have seemed like an impossible dream come true for the London-born artist! Even before the two hooked up on ATM, Missy Elliott delivered a thumbs-up to another track - as we learn from the NME interview:

“One of your heroes growing up, Missy Elliott, gave your latest single ‘APESHIT’ her seal of approval recently. How did it feel seeing her reaction?

“It was mad! I’m so thrilled but I still feel like my body is still in a really intense shock mode after seeing that unfold. It was 3AM and I was literally screaming when I saw that Missy Elliott tweeted about the ‘Apeshit’ video. I obviously couldn’t scream loudly — it was 3AM! — but it was like an internal scream and of course then I started to shake. Missy Elliott!

“When I was growing up, I was glued to MTV watching Missy and here she was, bigging up my new single. She’s also following me on social media now and I still can’t believe it!”

That song clearly had the Hip-Hop queen hooked and, before long, Missy Elliott was recording with Bree Runway on a stunning new track. Returning to that interview with the Gay Times, and Bree Runway revealed how the new collaboration came about:

“Honestly speaking, that shit is the wildest shit ever. It’s even wilder, because I remember when Gucci dropped. The internet was going crazy for it and I was like, ‘Okay, I gotta get off my phone. This is too much. Wow, this is great.’ So I’m about to close my eyes and sleep, and it’s like 12am at this point. I get a call and I’m like, ‘Hmm, it’s my ANR at this time.’ I mean, we talk around the clock anyway, but I was like, ‘What’s happening?’ He was like, ‘You need to wake up right now. Missy’s team reached out and she wants to do a record with you.’ I was like, ‘Pardon?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah.’ I was like, ‘Pardon? What are we gonna send her?’ We sent ATM, and he came back and said, ‘Yeah, she wants to do it.’ I’m like, ‘What?’ It’s wild, because that’s someone that I’ve grown up admiring. That’s someone who has paved the way for an alternative girl like myself, and you want to work with me?”.

ATM is a terrific cut from the mixtape. The introduction finds Bree Runway asking “Do you like money?/A-T-M, A-T-A-T-M/A-T-M, A-T-A-T-M/A-T-M, A-T-A-T-M/Push my button, my button again”, and she delivers the lines in quite a teasing and sensuous way. The flow accelerates as Bree Runway talks about a guy who is only interested in sex, and all the heroine is interested in is a finer style of life; she is quite classy and will not be cheapened by someone so prurient and lacking in respect –“You know what I need and there ain’t nobody finer/Shoes, top, skirt, bling, purse, all designer/Huh, tough bitch but my ass soft/They said I look like a painting by Van Gogh/You know a girl like me cost/Ain’t gotta talk too much, but you know what’s up”. I do love the rather American aspect of an A.T.M., and how Bree Runway has sort of intrigued and hooked this guy, but she is letting him know what the score is! The chorus comes back in – where Bree Runway and Missy Elliott are together -, and then Missy Elliott takes the second verse. Like Bree Runway’s experiences, there is this directness from a guy, but there is this sense of him being a bit too below her station – “Met this dude in Wеst Palm Beach/He was so fine, askеd, could he call me/Yeah, probably if you spend your money/But if you don’t got a job, get the hell up off me”. Money and aspirational desires mix with rawer sexual desires and something more explicit. Missy Elliott is typically assured on the verse, and she explains how Jamaican guys are her type; Missy Elliott pops and grooves on top of a great beat.

The idea of these guys who are hitting on Missy Elliott and Bree Runway being a bit cheap is highlighted; both give them a piece of their mind, and Missy Elliott is definitely not going to settle. “Misdemeanor all in the bag, that’s Birkin/Showtime, open up the curtain/I’m a classy chick, y’all birds still chirping/Ooh, ooh, y’all birds still chirping/I got so much drip, you could see me surfing”. I get a real vibe of the 1990s and the classic Hip-Hop from that time and, whilst it is clear that Missy Elliott songs like Work It are a frame of reference on ATM, Bree Runway makes the song her own and combines superbly. The flow and rhythm has a lot in common with Missy Elliott’s work, but the vocal sound and the incredible delivery is very much the work of Bree Runway! Both artists have a different approach and vocal sound, and it is wonderful hearing them trade verses. It is a shame that a video cannot be made that would really bring the words to life – one that is quite steamy and racy; perhaps Bree Runway and Missy Elliott in the U.S. and putting the world to rights! After Missy Elliott has delivered her verse, Bree Runway takes the reigns of the song once more. In the bridge, Bree Runway declares: “Whine your body now/Make him spend some more/Ain’t nothing personal (Unh)”. The bridge has a nice echoing sound, and it slows the pace down somewhat before the chorus races back in. On the longest song from 2000AND4EVA (at just over three minutes) Bree Runway (and Missy Elliott) pack so much in. As I said, it is a pity that a video might not be possible; at least not one that is as ambitious and physical as perhaps Bree Runway had envisaged, ATM is one of the definite highlights from a fantastic mixtape! It is a terrific track where Bree Runway gets to pair with a musical inspiration of hers – and she manages to match Missy Elliott in terms of confidence, commitment and skill!

 IN THIS PHOTO: Missy Elliott/PHOTO CREDIT: Cindy Ord/BET/Getty Images

There are a couple of things that I want to explore before finishing up. One subject that I wanted to explore is how Bree Runway experiences music and feels being a black woman in the industry. From the Equate Magazine interview, that aspect did come up:

“EQ: As a young black female in the industry do you feel like you’ve faced any challenges making your way to the top? Do you ever feel need to compromise?

BR: In life, in general I feel like at some points I have had to compromise. Maybe when I first started I felt like, or at some point in my career, as I was crossing over to the sound that I have now I did feel like for me to actually chart, and fully make it as a pop star – because I’ve always wanted to be a pop star but my sound started of very urban at first – I felt like I needed to almost whitewash my music in order for me to make it and that’s really not the case – the key was and is to just be myself really. I did feel like that though at some point because I looked at the charts and I saw the kind of pop music that was charting and I thought “damn, I don’t sit in the same house as these sounds, this is not really me”. The key is that as a young black female in the industry, you just have to just stay true to what’s on your heart sound wise and it’s going to resonate with everyone. Also, it goes back to the ‘Big Racks’ cover – what I was trying to capture is that being a black female, there are a lot of challenges we face and comprises we have to make which aren’t necessarily true to our authentic selves. It boils down to having to speak in a certain way in workspaces – you’re thinking “is my name too African to get this job”, and doors can be closed to us just because of this. We always have to find a mask to put on to not offend or be “too black”, so yes, I did reach that place musically, and I’ve been there too in the normal working world, but I really did question whether I’d have to dilute my sound in order to make it, but I realised that’s not and should never be the case”.

Bree Runway is an inspiring artist for so many people out there, no less Black girls who watch her videos. The confidence Bree Runway shows and the messages she sends out are definitely making an impression on a lot of people. In the interview with DORK, Bree Runway talked about what she wanted to achieve regarding her time in music:

“But learning to love herself was crucial to who she is as an artist today. Click on any of her music videos or check the replies to her tweets and you'll find many young Black girls telling Bree what an inspiration she is and how she's everything they wanted to see in a pop star growing up. The video for 'Big Racks' kicks off with statistics about racism in the workplace, and throughout she's shown experiencing various microaggressions, and eventually covering her face in white plasters to assimilate.

"I want to stand for something, you know, because in general I do stand for something, and I want to show that to like the world as well. I'm not someone that just gets up on camera and dances like I really do care about shit. And with my platform, no matter how big or small I want to share my own important shit".

When she spoke with NYLON, that topic of being an inspiration came up - and Bree Runway feels that responsibility when she hears positive feedback:

“Your music has really inspired a lot of young women, especially young black women. I was on YouTube and I saw a lot of comments saying that you're the black pop star that they've always dreamed of. How does it feel to hear that?

Do you know what, it makes me feel or it reiterates to me that I have a responsibility, and me being a musician is just more than anything you could, I don't know, it's just less about the vanity and more about the purpose, 100%. I feel like I was placed in this position to almost be like a gateway to women in the next generation. Even women of all ages, I think. We all struggle with that limitation that has been put on black women like growing up, there's still women repairing themselves from traumas in their past and things that have been said about them, or how they've been made to seem at work. There's so many different ways you can face limitations as a black girl”.

I will wrap up, but I wanted to bring in a  fun little bit of an interview that Bree Runway conducted with London in Stereo which was quite quick-fire; where she talked about her favourite music/books etc:

“Earliest song you remember…

spice girls – viva forever! I was so young and dramatic, it used to make me cry all the time! it has such a euphoric feel to it, I imagine if ascending to heaven was a song? that would be it.

The worst job I’ve ever had…

omg, so I had to quit my dream retail job at Christian Louboutin, my music schedule was getting so busy but then I started getting super low on cash, I had to start waitressing, they treated me like absolute crap, managers had 0 respect for waitressing staff, it was so depressing. but I had to pay them bills!!

A book I love…

‘The Secret’ there’s so much power in that book and has really contributed to my positive, ambitious mindset! I dream with NO limits, always”.

I have no idea whether Bree Runway is planning any gigs but do keep your eyes out as she will definitely want to hit the road soon! The 2000AND4EVA mixtape is a stunning release, and there are some great collaborations alongside tracks where Bree Runway is at the centre. It has received some great reviews, and it looks set to be one of the best releases of 2020. I look forward to seeing where Bree Runway goes from here, but it is clear that she has a very bright and busy future! I can imagine her conquering the world very soon and making it to the same level as one of her idols, Missy Elliott. On songs such as ATM, and the fantastic 2000AND4EVA mixtape, Bree Runway shows that she is very much…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Anna Fearon

HERE to stay!

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Twitter:

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Facebook:

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