FEATURE: Inspired By... Part Forty-Two: George Michael

FEATURE:

 

 

Inspired By…

PHOTO CREDIT: Caroline True

Part Forty-Two: George Michael

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BECAUSE Christmas Day…

marks five years since we lost George Michael, I wanted to dedicate this Inspired By… to him. He is an artist who has influenced so many others. I am going to end with a playlist from artists who either have taken something from Michael, or they have been compared with him at some point. Before then, a little bit of biography about the great man:

“George Michael was the biggest British pop star of the 1980s, spinning a series of infectiously catchy pop singles into global stardom that saw him sell over 100 million albums worldwide. Blessed with a fine voice and a knack for writing engaging melodies that worked well with dance-friendly rhythms, Michael became the rare teen sensation who matured into a respected star as an adult.

Michael was born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou on June 25, 1963 in the North London suburb of East Finchley; his father was a Greek Cypriot restaurant owner who changed his name from Kyriacos Panayiotou to Jack Michael when he immigrated to England in the 1950s. Michael's family relocated to Bushey, Hertfordshire when he was in his early teens, and he struck up a friendship with one of his new schoolmates, Andrew Ridgeley. Both Michael and Ridgeley were interested in music, and in 1979 they formed a ska band called the Executive; the group didn't go far, but it gave them a taste for the spotlight, so they took what they learned and in 1981 formed a pop duo called Wham! The early Wham! demos impressed executives at Innervision, an independent record label that signed the group to a contract. By 1982, Wham! had hit the U.K. pop charts with "Wham Rap" and "Young Guns (Go for It)," and scored an American record deal with Columbia.

Michael and Ridgeley soon discovered how unfavorable their deal with Innervision was, though, and they opted out of their contract by forfeiting all future royalties on material from their first album, Fantastic, to sign with Sony worldwide. The choice proved to be shrewd; Wham!'s second album, 1984's Make It Big, transformed them from British hitmakers to a genuine international sensation, as "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go," "Everything She Wants," "Careless Whisper," and "Freedom" became wildly successful in the U.K., Europe, and the United States. Wham! soon became one of the biggest new acts of the era, and in 1985 they became the first Western pop group to tour the People's Republic of China. But Michael displayed an ambition that went beyond Wham!'s new success, and the "Careless Whisper" single was released with the credit "Wham! Featuring George Michael," setting the stage for him to strike out on his own. In 1986, after Michael had released a proper solo single, "A Different Corner," Wham! announced their breakup and said farewell to their fans with a sold-out concert at London's Wembley Stadium.

Michael wasted no time making his mark, releasing his first solo album, Faith, in 1987. He produced and arranged the album, as well as writing the songs, and it managed to top Wham!'s phenomenal success, spawning a series of major hit singles (including "I Want Your Sex," "Father Figure," "Kissing a Fool," and the title track) and selling over 20 million copies worldwide. Michael promoted the album with a series of stylish, sexy music videos and a concert tour that found him playing 137 shows over the space of 16 months. Faith left no doubt that Michael was one of the new icons of pop music, and after recording successful duets with Elton John ("Wrap It Up" and "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me") and Aretha Franklin ("I Knew You Were There [Waiting for Me]"), he proved he had the respect of veteran acts as well as younger audiences.

However, Michael felt reined in by his image as a pop singer, and after taking a break, he released Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1 in 1990, a set that was noticeably more somber, sophisticated, and personal than his previous work. Presumably to put the focus on his music rather than his image, Michael refused to appear in any music videos for the album and declined to tour in support; the album fared well commercially, but not as well as Faith, and Michael began expressing dissatisfaction with Sony, declaring his contract was financially inequitable and creatively stifling. Michael sued Sony to end his contract, leading to a long and costly legal battle that ended in 1995, with Michael signing to the newly launched DreamWorks Records label in the United States and Virgin in the rest of the world. (During the interim, Michael released a live EP that included material he performed with the surviving members of Queen at the 1992 Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert.) In 1996, Michael finally released his third solo effort, Older, which followed in the more contemplative vein of Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1. While the album went platinum in the United States, it was considered a commercial disappointment considering the success of Michael's previous work, though it fared better in Europe and the U.K.

In 1998, Michael released Ladies and Gentlemen: The Best of George Michael, a two-disc anthology that featured solo material as well as recordings with Wham! It also included a new song, "Outside"; the song and its video were created in response to a widely publicized incident in which Michael was arrested by an undercover officer in Los Angeles for "performing a lewd act" in a public restroom. After the arrest made headlines, Michael publicly acknowledged his homosexuality, and in time it was revealed that the song "Jesus to a Child" from Older was written in tribute to his late partner Anselmo Feleppa, who died of AIDS-related illnesses in 1993. In 1999, Michael released an album of covers, Songs from the Last Century, which was released worldwide by Virgin after Michael parted ways with DreamWorks.

In 2002, Michael signed a new record deal with Polydor and released the single "Freeek," with a new album expected to follow. However, the subsequent full-length release, Patience, didn't arrive until 2004, and in a surprising move, it was issued not by Polydor, but the Sony-affiliated Epic label after Michael returned to the company he'd left nine years earlier. He told journalists that he expected it to be his final commercially released album, adding he hoped to release future material online, with any proceeds going to charity. A second two-disc collection, Twenty-Five, was issued in 2008 and Michael soon launched the Twenty-Five tour, playing North America for the first time in 17 years. Over the next five years, Michael toured regularly, starting the Symphonica tour in 2011. An orchestral pop show, it was captured on record by producer Phil Ramone, although Ramone died before the album could be released. Michael completed the album and issued it under the title Symphonica in March 2014; it reached number one in the U.K. and number 60 in the U.S. His next project was a documentary, Freedom, plus the announcement that he was working on new recordings, but he died before anything was released, succumbing to heart failure on Christmas Day in 2016.

The first posthumous George Michael project was an expanded 2017 reissue of Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1, which also featured his 1996 appearance on MTV Unplugged. In 2019, a romantic comedy called Last Christmas featured a selection of songs by Michael and Wham!, including the previously unreleased "This Is How (We Want You to Get High)”.

Five years since the iconic George Michael died, I wanted to put out a playlist containing cuts from artists who are definitely similar to him. Maybe the song might not remind you of Michael, but that particular artist has definitely drawn influence from the legend for their music. This Inspired By… is influenced by…

ONE of the greatest artists ever.

FEATURE: Spotlight: easy life

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

easy life

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JUST before wrapping up…

for this year, I want to spotlight a couple of great newer acts. Even though easy life have been around for a little bit, the past couple of years has seen their stock rise considerably. The group formed in Leicester in 2017. They came second in the 2020 edition of the BBC's Sound Of. Their debut studio album, life's a beach, was released on 28th May. I shall end with a review of that album. The band - Murray Matravers, Oliver Cassidy, Sam Hewitt, Lewis Berry, Jordan Birtles – are a crew that you need to know about. To give you a better impression of easy life, I am going to bring in a few interviews. The first, from DORK of April last year, found the band still trying to find what their sound was:

“Increasingly, the impact of Easy Life can’t be denied. If ever any band had their finger firmly on the pulse of the playlist generation, they’d be it. It’s something that Murray and Lewis are firmly aware of too, as they continue to pull in fresh, interesting new directions.

“We’re still working out who we are,” explains Lewis. “That’s why we’ve released so much music and not done like an album yet because we don’t fully…” He pauses. “Actually, to be honest, I think we realise that there isn’t going to be a point where we go ‘this is what we sound like’. That’s great. If anything, that’s really exciting for us because we just write whatever we want. I think our audience accepts that. If we made a complete u-turn on our sound, people would still be into it because that’s what we’ve always done. Because Murray has such a distinctive voice, in his lyrics and his actual singing, we can do quite a lot. It’s all Easy Life.”

“It’s just modern culture, isn’t it?” affirms Murray. “Nobody is defined by the one thing that they listen to because everyone listens to everything. Kids are just crazy, they’re into everything. When we were at school, you could see the kids that were into their particular thing. That kid is into that scene, or that kid definitely listens to that type of music. Whereas now, when I look into our audience, I have no idea what any of them fucking get up to because they’re into everything.”

“I feel like we’re not at the very top of that spearhead, but we’re close to it. We’re saying it doesn’t matter, you can be experimental and into so many different things at once. You can be really honest and say what you think – about anything!”

Already stepping out onto stages and finding themselves drowned out by fans signing back every note, Easy Life’s star looks set to only shine brighter. “Every time, things get noticeably bigger,” Murray explains, “and we are shitting ourselves every step of the way. Playing to a 200 capacity venue for the first time is intimidating in itself, then playing to 600 people is like fuuuuckk. The sensation just repeats, you never get used to people turning up to the shows, especially when they get bigger. We lose our shit every time.”

Easy Life’s journey began in glamorous Leicester. “None of us grew up in a particularly musical background, or had any idea really – we just liked doing it,” recalls Lewis. “It’s where we’re from, we never expected any of this.”

The freedom to experiment and create without fear of overstepping boundaries is one of the band’s defining traits, one indelibly tattooed on everything they do. Whether it’s reggae, dub, hip-hop, jazz, R&B, indie, pop, or whatever other genre you want to cook up, the way they mix it together never feels anything less than natural. Murray and Lewis, joined by Sam, Cass and Jordan, jump between instruments as easily as they skip through a wide spectrum of musical influences. Playing pub shows to mates, building their own studios by hand and crafting songs that would one day take them to something more, all while working away at day jobs in shops or food stands to pay the bills – the dream was always there. It’s not an unusual story, but for Easy Life, it came true”.

Since 2017, there have been many memorable moments in the band’s career. I think that this year has been their most successful. That said, their single, pockets, put them on the musical map in 2017. DIY spoke with the band in the summer. We discover how easy life’s fanbase has swollen and exploded:

“Since ‘Pockets’ landed at the end of 2017, Easy Life have slowly and organically become one of the UK’s biggest cult bands. Based out of their Leicester studio HQ, and defined by hugely fun, uninhibited live shows and music that traverses R&B, pop, house and jazz, the five-piece are a product of their generation’s genreless attitude, with no idea off the table.

Across three mixtapes (2018 debut ‘Creature Habits’, 2019 follow-up ‘Spaceships’ and last year’s Top 10-charting ‘Junk Food’), the band have slowly honed their sound, bringing together the cheekiness of Jamie T with sunny sprinkles of jazz instrumentation and languid, beach-bound pop songs.

Via huge crossover hit ‘Nightmares’, which soundtracked a pivotal moment in Michaela Coel’s stunning BBC show I May Destroy You, Arlo Parks collaboration ‘Sangria’ and more, Easy Life have gathered a set of songs more than capable of creeping them up festival line-ups towards the top of the bill - something that will surely await them upon the release of debut album ‘life’s a beach’.

 A defining part of the band’s sound is Murray’s distinctive voice, a velvety speak-sing that’s as much a rap as it is a pop vocal. As he explains, it came about as another example of working within his limitations. “I could never be a singer like Aretha Franklin or Bill Withers or something,” he says. “My music teacher in primary school would always say that anyone can sing, and I’ve carried on the company line! Anyone can sing!

“I just sang because I liked to write lyrics and singing was the only way of getting those lyrics out,” he adds, his love of rap and poetry leading him to “just speak” the lyrics he was writing. “It’s another happy accident I guess,” he grins. “Once again, not trying so hard seems to be the only thing that works for us.”

Another key to the band’s dramatic rise has been their fervent and ever-swelling fanbase, who follow Easy Life around the country on tour and sprinkle their shows with flags, inflatables and every kind of colourful ephemera.

“We are a live band, that’s our forte,” Murray confirms. “That’s a thing we can do better than other people. We sell more tickets than we should really, I think. Bigger recording artists don’t do as big shows as us, and that’s because our fans are hardcore. They just wanna party with us, and we wanna do that same shit with them. They make it so sweet”.

Before coming to a review, I want to come to an NME interview. In this deep and fascinating conversation with the band, the guys talked about the pandemic and how, in a way, it ensured that easy life survived and were able to continue on:

“Easy Life now release ‘Life’s A Beach’, one of the year’s finest debut records, as they ruminate on mental health, growing up in a forgotten part of the country and, occasionally, getting a bit mashed up. The album is anchored around the concept of a day at the British coast, encompassing the high hopes and eventual disappointment of a day that turns out to be a complete wash-out. It evokes the feeling of a seagull pinching a chip then shitting on your head on the exit; it’s so impossibly unlucky, you’ve got to laugh otherwise you’ll cry.

“It was an aspirational thing for us to think about the seaside,” he says. “Leicester is a nowhere place. It’s not north, south or anywhere close to a coast from either side. It’s in the middle of the country and plenty of motorways in the country go through it, but it’s just passed over.”

The pandemic interrupted years of growth, but also came at a crucial time for the health and survival of the band. “My self-esteem and ego took a big wallop at the start of the pandemic,” says Matravers. “It was very sustainable to go out and play where everyone knows your song and people behind the scenes treat you extra nice – but that is a luxury. At the start of the lockdown we were having these chats in our WhatsApp group like, ‘Does anyone care about Easy Life anymore?”

PHOTO CREDIT: Ben Bentley for NME 

It’s somewhat at odds with how melancholy this album can feel at times; frustration simmers on some of the moodier tracks (‘Ocean View’) but a resilient and devoted spirit remains (‘Lifeboat’). Throughout, Matravers frequently channels his deepest fears, as on ‘A Message To Myself’ where he implores all of us “take your mother’s advice” and to keep the fridge well-stocked and the self-love topped up, because he doesn’t “want another premature farewell”. Likewise, ‘Living Strange’ picks up where 2019 single ‘Dead Celebrities’ left off, the singer mulling on posthumous recognition and the pitfalls of fame.

“It’s super-negative,” he laughs, shocked at himself that they left it like that. “We’ve always tried to spin those negative emotions into something positive, but I felt like the album could do with some dismal shit. I felt like that could be an opportunity to get angry and sad and shout about it in a safe way with a song like that.”

Most affecting of all is ‘Homesickness’, Easy Life’s most brilliant moment to date. An arpeggiated synthline (which Murray says “brought me to tears”) lingers as he offers up equal parts sincerity (“I’d climb the highest mountain just to catch a glimpse of you”) and some suggestive sauciness (“You’re my booty call at the end, though / Switch on me like Nintendo”). It’s sublime and silly all at once, a moment where Matravers reaches full circle; as playful and indulgent as he was on debut mixtape ‘Creature Comforts’ and as earnest as he strives to be now. After years on the road looking for acceptance, it was coming back home to Leicester that kept him going.

“Before the pandemic happened we were playing in so many amazing places… but I was still such a homebird and I wanted to come home and just be normal,” he says. “‘Life’s A Beach’ was about aspiring to not wanting to be in Leicester anymore, y’know: ‘Let’s go to the seaside and all that’. But I’ve been there, done that and just want to go back now. The band has become something bigger than any of us wanted it to be: it’s enabled us to live and connect with the people in the present”.

Before coming to the end, it is wise to source a review of their lauded debut album, life’s a beach. It ranks alongside the very best albums of this year. The Line of Best Fit had this to offer when they reviewed life’s a beach:

“Life’s A Beach is a journey through Easy Life’s ever-evolving style. It's the product of a band that know themselves in and out - fearless in venturing to new places with their art. Nodding to their previous work on tracks like “daydreams” and exploring new and exciting places on the infectious “skeletons”, Easy Life are happy to migrate across styles because no matter where they go, the sound remains classically them.

Speaking of the elemental; Easy Life's vocal styling they've mastered is somewhat iconic by now. The everyman perspective of the untrained vocalist drifting through rap, spoken word and singing sets it apart drastically from the often relied upon processed alternative, and across the album Mutravers maintains a relatable and approachable persona which is impossible to not be endeared by.

Lyrically, Life’s A Beach is also something to admire. Taking the objectively mundane and spinning it into the poetic with comedic flair is no easy feat, and yet Mutravers makes it seem natural. Peaking on apt closer “music to walk home to” - a journey home from a night out delivered as an entirely spoken-word poem. Mutravers’ choice words are perfect even when they jump from subject to subject (“a vampire vacuuming up every last drop of my enthusiasm until I’m nothing but a sorry little raisin / bananas and raisins / I sure hope I have toast at home”) and rarely faltering when doing so.

Even tackling depressive and dark topics (“living strange”), the band sticks strong to their cheeky cheerful music which effortlessly balances the track to make the heft more digestible. Similarly, they take the opportunity to relax the vibe when the lyrics aren’t as heavy – like on “compliments” or “ocean view”. The subtleties written into the albums DNA make all the difference (with the mention of the albums title in so many of the lyrics acting as unifying sentiment), almost to a faultless degree”.

A tremendous young band who have grown stronger and more solid as a band the past couple of years, I think 2022 will be busy in terms of touring and recording. Let’s hope that we hear a lot more from the Leicester band. If you have not heard of easy life, then I would recommend that you…

CHECK them out.

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Follow easy life

FEATURE: Kate Bush’s Music and Its Potential Impact in 2022… Reacting to a Humbling Christmas Message

FEATURE:

 

 

Kate Bush’s Music and Its Potential Impact in 2022…

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in promotion of her one-off Christmas television special, Kate, in 1979/PHOTO CREDIT: Bernard Fallon

Reacting to a Humbling Christmas Message

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AS is traditional…

PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

at this time of year, we get a great message from Kate Bush wishing people a happy Christmas. Earlier this week, a message appeared on her official website. It makes for humbling and hugely inspiring:

“With nearly two years of Covid, are any of us the same people we were before?  It’s left everyone confused and uncertain of the future.

It’s been a terrible time of loss for so many. I want to say a big thank you to all the people on the front line and in the NHS. I have such huge respect for all the nurses and doctors who’ve already been working flat out for nearly two years. These caring people are showing such extraordinary acts of kindness to others. Let’s hope they get the pay rises they rightly deserve.

I’d like to mention something that happened a few weeks ago on a walk;  stopping to look at the view, I noticed something moving in a tree right beside me. It was a Goldcrest  - the smallest bird in Europe, even smaller than a wren. I stood still, hoping not to frighten it away.  Its colouring is beautiful -  a peacock’s eye on each wing and a striking yellow streak on its tiny head. This gorgeous little ball of fluff flew away after ten minutes or so. I’ve only ever seen one once before and very briefly. It made my day. In these strange times, I really hope you can get the chance to stop for a moment and feel nature around you.

Please stay safe.  Wishing you a restful Christmas and hoping 2022 is a happier year for everyone .

With love

Kate”

This year, whilst quiet for new stuff from Bush, has been very busy when it comes to people discovering her music. There has been, as I have said a lot, some great new books (including Finding Kate) that have helped introduce her music to new people. Cover versions have been released, and it has been a very hectic and fascinating year regarding the fandom! I am looking ahead to next year. I feel that there will be something in the way of something from Bush. There has been talk that her and Big Boi collaborating on a track. In addition, I genuinely believe we will get an album in the autumn. Rather than obsess about new stuff from Bush, we have so much good stuff out there. I keep finding out new things regarding Bush. She is a wonderful artist who has so many layers. If you have sort of got into her music but have not dived deep lately, I would say next year is a perfect chance to do that. Her music is so varied, it can lift the spirits or keep you company if you need something more reflective. It is fun putting together playlists of her music set around themes. Maybe you have a nature-based one, or you may fancy a more ‘out there’ one – in terms of the lyrics and themes being quite strange.

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

There is something universal about Kate Bush’s music that, perhaps, was not evident at the start of her career. Over forty-plus years, she has released some of the most original music the world has heard. As we head towards Christmas and the end of a hard year, I feel Kate Bush’s music can give everyone strength and hope. Regardless of what comes from her in the future, there is an ocean of music, interviews and other bits from Bush that you can discover and enjoy! Read as many of the new books out about her and, as I said in my Christmas guide, there are great albums and merchandise that no fan should really be without! As much as anything, I think listening to some Kate Bush music every day should be part of your music-listening ritual. I have included a playlist at the end…but there is so much more to explore. After Kate Bush left a nice Christmas message – and one of support for frontline workers -, I am more determined than ever to write about her a lot and listening to her music even more. She is an artist who has provided so much strength to do many through the decades – and this will continue for generations more. After a brutal and strange 2021, have yourself…

A happy Katemas.

FEATURE: Second Spin: Kelis - Wanderland

FEATURE:

 

 

Second Spin

Kelis - Wanderland

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AS I am a fan of Kelis…

I was keen to explore one of her albums in some form. I feel her 2001 album, Wanderland, is underrated and did not get the same reaction and acclaim as it should have. As Kelis tells it, Virgin Records did not understand Wanderland. It was released in Europe, but the album was not released in the United States. It took until 2019 for the album to get an official release in the U.S. That might explain why some ignored it and the songs have not been played as much as they should. With production by The Neptunes, the album has so many different blends and sounds. Following the acclaimed Kaleidoscope of 1999, Wanderland is an album that deserves more focus. Songs like Young, Fresh n' New are classic Kelis! I feel that it is a shame that Virgin Records misunderstood the album and did not want to put it out. I would encourage everyone to take some time and listen to the album. I am going to quote a couple of different reviews for Wanderland. This is what AllMusic said about Kelis’ second studio album:

“Wanderland unfortunately didn't build on the promise Kelis showed throughout 1999's Kaleidoscope, and it didn't even come out in the States, but quickly dismissing it as a sophomore slump would be rash. In fact, the album's first three songs -- "Young, Fresh n' New," "Flash Back," and "Popular Thug" -- are on an even standing with the best of the singer's debut. "Young, Fresh n' New" is particularly stunning, a buzzing grind with a chaotic loop that could've been lifted from a pinball machine. As a song, it doesn't have much grounding, yet the Neptunes cast their disorienting eccentricities all over it and come up with a production that could've only been suited for Kelis. After that solid beginning, the album continually loses steam and gains it back. The revolving door of guests hinder the album more than it bolsters it; "Perfect Day," for instance, sounds more like a No Doubt album cut with a guest appearance from Kelis than the other way around. Despite the album's bumpiness, it proves that Kelis and the Neptunes should remain linked indefinitely. Until the third album, hope for two things: a more consistent batch of songs and no assistance from those who don't inhabit Kelis' and the Neptunes' world”.

As it has not sold massive amounts or scored big on the charts, Wanderland has sort of being overlooked. If you sit down and listen to it, it will really strike you. Twenty years after its release, I feel critics need to come back to it. This is what The Guardian said back in 2001:

“In a pop world dominated by marketing managers, image consultants and songwriting factories churning out hits to order, there was something delightfully unspun about Kelis Rogers arrival in the charts in 1999. Here was a New Yorker with a multicoloured afro and bizarre taste in clothes, singing about murder and alien abduction. She spent her interviews discussing her love for marijuana and the British indie band Muse. Aside from the musical strength of her debut album, Kaleidoscope, part of Kelis's appeal lay in the fact that no army of record company executives could possibly have contrived such an artist. You couldn't make her up.

Two years on, and Kelis seems no closer to being subsumed into the R&B mainstream. Her second album opens with a parody of the syrupy spoken-word introductions favoured by R&B divas. "Welcome to the world of Kelis," yawns a bored voice. "Don't touch anything!" Her lyrics are equally striking. The superb Flashback subverts standard bump-and-grind cliches with intriguing imagery. "Early in the morning the thought of sex is soaring like a plane," she coos, simultaneously sexy and rather puzzling.

The distinctive, futuristic sound of Kaleidoscope also acted as a calling card for production duo the Neptunes. Chad Hugo and Kelis’s on-off boyfriend Pharrell Williams have gone on to produce major hip-hop stars, including Jay-Z and P Diddy, but Wanderland is their most adventurous work to date. Occasionally, their experiments don’t work. Perfect Day, featuring ska-punk band No Doubt, attempts to update Funkadelic’s 1970s blueprint of soul smothered in distorted rock guitars, but ends up sounding distressingly like Limp Bizkit. More frequently, however, the music on Wanderland is clever, exhilarating and original. Popular Thug features Rogers and Williams sparring over the honking of what sounds like a steam-driven synthesizer. The sparse, abstract stammering of Get Even creates an aura of anxiety, the perfect foil for the song’s snarling lyric. Single Young Fresh ‘n’ New is largely based around the squealing of a car alarm”.

If you are looking for an album that will offer treats and stand up to repeated listens, then Kelis’ Wanderland is one that I can recommend. It is a truly underrated album that I really like. Whether you are a big fan of hers or not, I can guarantee that this record will…

LEAVE its mark.

FEATURE: The Lockdown Playlist: BRIT Awards 2022 Nominees

FEATURE:

 

The Lockdown Playlist

IN THIS PHOTO: Little Simz has been nominated for four BRIT Awards 

BRIT Awards 2022 Nominees

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ON Saturday…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Adele is another artist nominated nominations/PHOTO CREDIT: Raven B. Varona

there was a lot of talk on social media regarding the BRIT Awards nominees. Next year’s event brings together some incredible talent. This Billboard article gives us a rundown regarding the artists who were honoured at the weekend:

“Adele, Ed Sheeran, Dave and Little Simz are the leading contenders for the 2022 Brit Awards, with four nods each. The nominations were announced on Saturday (Dec. 18) on an hour-long TV special, The Brits Are Coming, which aired on ITV and ITV Hub. The awards will be presented on Feb. 8 at the O2 Arena in London.

Adele will have to wait nearly a year for the 2023 Grammy nominations, in which her long-awaited fourth album, 30, is expected to be a major force.

This year marks the first time that the Brits have combined separate male and female categories in both artist of the year and international artist. So how did it shake out? Females took two of the five spots for artist of the year (Adele and Little Simz), but four of the five spots for international artist (Billie Eilish, Doja Cat, Olivia Rodrigo and Taylor Swift). Eilish won a Brit Award as female international artist in each of the last two years. Swift won a global icon award last year.

Morever, the Brits report that more female artists were nominated for Brit Awards this year than in any previous year in the past decade.

Griff is nominated for best new artist, a year after taking the Brits rising star award. Holly Humberstone was already announced as this year’s winner of the rising star award.

IN THIS PHOTO: Ed Sheeran 

While the U.S. music industry is adjusting to the Grammys’ eleventh-hour expansion from eight to 10 nominees in each of the Big Four categories — album, record and song of the year plus best new artist — the Brits have (gulp) 15 nominees in each of two song categories — song of the year with Mastercard and international song of the year.

Several of this year’s Brit nominees are also nominated in comparable categories for Grammys. Eilish’s “Happier Than Ever,” Doja Cat featuring SZA’s “Kiss Me More” and Lil Nas X’s “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” all of which are Grammy-nominated for both record and song of the year, are vying for international song of the year at the Brits. So is Rodrigo’s “Good 4 U.” Rodrigo is also up for record and song of the year at the Grammys, but with a different hit, “Driver’s License.”

ABBA, which last month received their first Grammy nomination, gained a Brit nod for international group, alongside BTS, Måneskin, Silk Sonic and The War on Drugs. Elton John receives his first Brit nomination in 20 years, in song of the year, for “Cold Heart (Pnau Mix),” his hit collab with Dua Lipa.

Sam Fender, who won the rising star award two years ago, is nominated for three Brits, as are West London rapper Central Cee and French DJ/producer David Guetta.

The winners of the four new genre categories – rock/alternative act, hip hop/grime/rap act, dance act, pop/R&B act – will be determined by a public vote via TikTok, which will open on Jan 21.

The Brits Are Coming special featured performances by Anne-Marie, Glass Animals, Mimi Webb and Joel Corry & Gracey. The special was hosted by Clara Amfo and Maya Jama.

British comedian Mo Gilligan is set to host the Brit Awards, which are presented by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI)”.

Here is a collection of songs from those nominated for a 2022 BRITs. The ceremony is going to be a popular and hotly-contested night. We will all wait to see which artists walk away with coveted awards…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Billie Eilish

ON 8th February.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Kara Marni

FEATURE:

 

Spotlight

 Kara Marni

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I have featured Kara Marni…

on this site before, though I have not put her in Spotlight before. This is an oversight on my part for two reasons. Firstly, I have been a fan of her music for a few years. Also, she is definitely one of the hottest and most exceptional young artists. 2nd Nature, released earlier in the year, is one of my favourite cuts of 2021. Marni’s E.P. State of Mine, was released this year. I think that she is gearing up to a debut album. This is something a lot of people will want from the London-based artist. I am going to draw in a few interviews conducted over the past year or so, so that we can see the development of a sensational artist. Before that, this biography from Primary Talent lets us into the world of the brilliant Kara Marni:

“Throughout her short career so far, R&B singer-songwriter Kara Marni has always been unapologetically honest. As an artist who wears her heart on her sleeve at all times, Kara’s soulful brand of storytelling offers a diary-like window into the drama of her life. Early on her journey, Kara took up a spot at the prestigious BRIT School. However, when her career began to take off she took the bold decision to drop out. “I was doing so many recording sessions that I was basically already doing everything I was studying for,” Kara says of her BRIT days. “Being at the school was no longer as useful to me as just doing it.”

Once she was out in the music world Kara began recording her 2018 debut EP Love Just Just Ain’t Enough and its follow up No Logic, which arrived a year later. No Logic, in particular, showed her growth as a songwriter detailing the arc of a relationship from the honeymoon phase to the messy split. “That EP represents the lack of self-control and losing your mind when you’re around a certain person,” she says of relatable songs including Caught Up and Lose My Love.

The theme of chaotic emotions continues on new song Young Heart, a collaboration with US rapper Russ. The pair connected via Instagram when he DMed her after falling in love with an acoustic version of her song Lose My Love. Kara was in the studio working on Young Heart, about not learning lessons from previous relationships, and asked if he’d be interested in contributing a verse. “The reason I think the song is special is that it happened so organically,” she explains of working with a rapper who rarely contributes guest features. “I’m a big fan and think he’s so talented. He brought his swag and extra energy to the song and really brought it to life.” As for the song, a melodic and bittersweet post-break-up moment of reflection, she explains: “I’m asking myself why I don’t learn the lessons from the shitty situations that life puts you in. I need to listen to the signs and stop ignoring the red flags.”

The new material arrives after a breakout year in 2019 in which Kara’s music was streamed over 30m times across multiple platforms. She is a mainstay of the major pop and R&B playlists, including Spotify’s This Is How We Do and A List: R&B on Apple Music. In 2019 she capped off a busy international festival season by headlining Glastonbury’s Pussy Parlure stage before an October headline U.K. and European headline tour culminated in her third sold-out London date. In addition to headline shows, she has also supported Lewis Capaldi, Rita Ora, Raye, and Ray BLK at gigs across Europe. Her music has been featured on Love Island and MTV Push as well as by a wide range of radio stations including Radio 1, Capital Xtra, Rinse, Reprezent and Radio 1Xtra, where Lose My Love spent 5 weeks on the A-list. Naturally, press attention has followed and Kara has been covered by Complex, Pitchfork, Noisey, and Vogue among others.

Kara’s songs have always had a self-reflective side to them, inspired by her love of Amy Winehouse and Lauryn Hill classics. It’s something she’s set to lean into further on her new music, writing from an even more personal place about experiences that go beyond romantic adventures. “I wanted to touch on subjects I’d not written about and push myself,” she says of upcoming songs about her mental health and experience of childhood bullying. “The music represents me as a person - it’s all over the place but it’s reflective and totally honest. I’m very in touch with my feelings, which can be a blessing and a curse.”

Being real and truthful is key to the R&B music Kara makes and loves. It’s a genre that has often been overlooked in her native U.K. but she’s among a wave of artists who are slowly changing that narrative. “It’s tough because it has felt like a struggle [for recognition], Kara explains. “In the past few years I’ve definitely felt a shift.” She cites the transatlantic success of Jorja smith and Mahalia among her peers flying the flag for U.K. R&B music. Kara is part of a generation of artists who have found strength in unity rather than opposition. “There’s always been a sense of women have an arm around me,” she says summing up her feminist stance, “and I make music in the same way, for people who want to feel understood.”

TRENCH ''Now, with a sizable stack of music under her belt and the respect of the R&B and soul scenes, the next few years are looking blindingly bright for Kara Marni’

COMPLEX 'Only two EPs in, she's already produced bonafide earworms such as "Opposite" and "Caught Up” …the stars are aligning for Kara

VOGUE ‘"2019 is the year where we see Kara turning into a full-fledged star as she continues to wow audiences and listeners'

OBSERVER 'The rising R&B artist’s latest shimmers with classic, plush production and formidable vocals'

GAL-DEM 'Kara Marni is making waves in the music world with her luxe blend of soulful pop'

WONDERLAND "With mesmerising melodies and Kara’s gorgeous vocals, the track blends R&B and soul influences to create a stunning sound that shows how much the young songwriter has progressed this last year”.

The first interview that I want to bring in is from 2019. Pre-pandemic, NOTION spoke with a rising artist who was definitely turning heads. With her distinct sound and clear passion, Marni was being tipped as a Pop artist to watch closely:

“After being recruited by Rita Ora and Ray BLK to support them on tour, and slipping into the studio to work with the likes of The Invisible Men (Zayn, Ellie Goulding) and Sebastian Kole (Alessia Cara, Jennifer Lopez), Kara Marni is well on her way to being ushered into the upper echelons of the pop’s sisterhood.

The North Londoner dubs her sound “soul with sprinkles of pop”, but it’s perhaps more accurately described as take-no-prisoners-pop that addresses topics like empowerment and turning your back on toxic situations and relations. Since splitting from London’s infamous Brit School, Marni has been honing her craft via the hard graft work ethic she’s inherited from her eccentric Greek family. The result is her debut EP, Love Just Ain’t Enough, a collection of songs inspired by her love of soul greats like Minnie Riperton and Donna Summer. With her unabashed ambition firmly in place, it’s clear Marni is coming for the crown.

How has your Greek heritage influenced you?

Being part of a Greek family, we definitely wear our hearts on our sleeves. We’re quite open and I guess that’s helped me in terms of my writing. When I’m writing, say with a producer, it’s like speed dating, you’ve never met these people, you just get a day or a morning and you literally have to have that connection immediately. That kind of open heartedness has helped me in terms of writing. My Greekness has had a definite influence on my eating too [laughs]. Food is of such importance to my family. I’ll come off stage from Brixton Academy and my mum’s like ‘have you had your food that I made?’ It’s like ‘mum. I’ve just done a show’, but all she cares about is if I’ve eaten.

PHOTO CREDIT: Dylan Meyers

Did Ray BLK and Rita Ora impart any advice to you?

Rita said to always try and just enjoy everything because those moments are fleeting. So when I’m on stage to really actually be present in that moment. That stuck with me because the moments of pure joy, when you’ve come off stage, you’ve had an amazing show, you really do need to realise how amazing that is because you don’t get those moments back and you don’t know when they’ll stop. So I try to enjoy everything. I’m lucky to be living my dream, even though I hate how cliche that sounds.

How was Brit School, was it like the movie Fame?

Brit School was good in the sense that it confirmed for me what I wanted to do but I left after a year because I met my manager and I was ready to work on my music. I realised I wanted to take things more seriously when I saw how serious everyone was about their music.

What are you singing along to when you’re washing up?

I’m really inspired by the soul greats, Minnie Riperton, Diana Ross, Aretha Franklin. My dad’s a huge muso, he collects thousands of vinyls. I grew up listen to big incredible female voices, that kind of soulfulness I try to put into my own music.

What’s your writing process?

It happens differently every time. Sometimes I start ideas at home with my guitar, just come up with a lyric or chorus that I like and then take it to the studio. Most of the time it comes from something I want to write about, that’s the most important thing: a concept.

Last night with Naughty Boy in the studio he had an idea that he wanted me to write on, he played it to me and I was like ’oh my god this is sick’ and then we started from that. Sometimes we’ll start from scratch from just a guitar or piano chords. Voice notes are my life, if I didn’t have voice notes my life would be over—okay that’s a bit dramatic. It wouldn’t be over but I rely on that, I have thousands of voice notes, all my ideas basically. I should actually back up my phone incase I lose it!”.

In August last year, HUNGER spoke with Kara Marni. With the pandemic relatively new, it must have been such a worrying and strange time to make plans and record music. Even so, Marni definitely expressed ambitions to put out a lot more music:

“Who’s the artist you would most like to collaborate with and why?

There are loads of people I would love to collaborate with but at the minute Pink Sweat$ is at the top of my list. He’s incredible!

What’s the biggest achievement of your career so far?

Releasing my latest song “Young Heart” featuring Russ. I just feel really honoured that he reached out and helped make it happen as I’m a big fan of his and respect him hugely. The track has also made me realise how far I’ve come.

Outside of music, what are five things you want people to know about you?

I love fashion nearly as much as I love music, I used to dance competitively, being Greek I obviously I love food and cooking, my yia-yia instilled a passion for growing herbs in me and if you date me please don’t be shocked when I start writing songs about you!

Looking ahead, what do you hope to achieve in five years’ time?

To release an album…or two. And to be living my best life touring around the world!”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Jordan Rossi 

Prior to coming to a fairly recent interview, I want to highlight one from Pop Sugar from back in February. Mentioning the new track, Trippin’, we get a real sense of where Marni has come from and why she was made to make music:

“Kara Marni has quite literally been singing since the day she was born. While other babies were crying, Marni was making music, and even her yiayia (that's grandma in Greek) knew early on that the sounds she made as a child were going to end up becoming something special. She went on to record YouTube covers and perform at weddings for family and friends, eventually getting spotted and finding her current management. Ever inspired by her dad's record collection, which featured the likes of Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, and Roberta Flack, the singer later discovered musicians like Amy Winehouse and Lauryn Hill, all of whom influenced the musical style she has today.

Marni's latest project involved her reworking one of the world's most recognisable R&B tunes, "1 Thing" by the legend that is Amerie, into her own track, "Trippin". We caught up with her to chat about the story behind the song, how she re-created it for a new audience, and why it means so much to her.

"You know where you have one song that was just a soundtrack to your life and just keeps appearing? '1 Thing' was very much that song for me. I just instantly had a connection with it," Marni told POPSUGAR. "When I go to a studio, I always take songs that I'm listening to and that I really like and I want to create something similar to. I always played that song, and we always tried to do something, but it just never worked. I just don't think you can re-create that sound." Like most of us, though, lockdown provided Marni with the perfect opportunity to revisit old ideas and turn them into something real. "I called up my producer, John, and said, 'Do you know what, why don't we literally take the best part of this song and basically reproduce it? Why don't we take the chorus and rework or rewrite it?'"

And that's exactly what they did. Marni explained that to make "Trippin", she interpolated the chorus melody, took the best part about the song, and then rewrote the verse and prechorus and everything around it. Using a song that's 16 years old and attempting to transform it into a modern-day anthem takes some work, but with the help of updated production technology, additional instrumentation, and rewritten lyrics, Marni managed to create an entirely new song. And she didn't stop there. A remix of the track was also created and featured none other than Earth, Wind & Fire frontman Verdine White.

"Honestly, he's such a legend and it was such an honour. He's beyond talented, and I loved Earth, Wind & Fire," Marni said. "They're one of my dad's favourite bands, so it's pretty surreal that it's kind of come full circle and the band is playing on my record. When you hear the instruments, that's them. When you reach that kind of legendary status of music, there's just a different kind of humility that comes with it, because you've achieved everything. You don't expect these legends to be so humble, but they are. [White's] just so humble and down to earth," Marni said, adding that "it's so nice to have that as an upcoming artist, that kind of arm around me, from someone who's been there and done that."

 When it comes to releasing a new track, creating the song itself is only half of the work. For both "Trippin" and the remix, Marni filmed a video and a visualiser during lockdown, inspired by galaxies far, far away (we can't imagine why). "I really wanted to push that kind of space theme. And it is very galactic. Obviously, we're in lockdown and I didn't have the budget to go to the moon. So we created a moon and basically shot the video on that," Marni explained. "For the visualiser, the outfit was actually such a big part of it. Earth, Wind & Fire basically helped me choose the outfit because when my stylist showed it to me, I was like that, for me, just evokes Earth, Wind & Fire."

Marni's already working on new music to release with her next single, "Twisted Fantasy", which is on its way soon. "I just want to put out more music this year, because I write so many songs, I don't see why I overthink everything and just release one song every couple of months. It drives me mad, I overthink all my releases," she said. "Now more than ever is a time where we shouldn't be overthinking this stuff. People want entertainment, people want music. Especially for me, even as just a music fan, it's helped me so much through this pandemic, listening to music and writing music. But as a listener, now more than ever, is the time to put out music because we all need a distraction, whether it's Netflix or music or whatever. So I'm just like, it's time to stop overthinking!”.

Just before I wrap up, there is a great interview from UNCLEAR from October. Marni talked about the single, 2nd Nature, and what she wants listeners to get from the song:

“What’s been your favorite song to record so far?

Kara: “‘Trippin’ because it was the first song I recorded myself in #ShedLeopardStudios, AKA my garden, and was super proud that I actually managed to make it sound somewhat professional!”

Let’s hear about your track “Over You.” What does Toni Romiti bring to the feature on this single?

K: “I love that Toni displayed her strong female perspective in her verse, ‘Back to brand new, like I never even knew you,’ and flipped a rubbish situation she was put by an ex and used it to empower herself.”

Has handling your music career surrounding Covid changed at all?

K: “Yes, during this process I’ve become a lot more self sufficient in all aspects. I’m now able to properly record my song ideas myself; from playing chords on guitar/piano into logic, comping my vocals, mixing and etc. It’s actually been really liberating. Now I can do what I want, when I want, and how I want!

Tell us about your single “2nd Nature.” What is it about and what’s your message you’d like your listeners to hear?

K: “I wrote ‘2nd Nature’ during lockdown about being so comfortable with someone that being around them became addictive. I really wanted to reflect another angle of the song with the video so I played on the title by utilizing three elements of nature — fire, water, and air. And it’s based on how my feminine energy in control of the elements.”

What’s your favorite childhood memory from your hometown?

K: “Trips to Kenwood —  a place near me where I spent most my childhood covered in melted ice cream and fizzy drinks, many happy memories there. And also going trips to Camden Town has always been somewhere I’ve associated with one of my idols Amy, and when I walk around I always feel like there is a presence there.”

What’s your favorite track on your new EP State of Mine?

K: “‘Sick Of Me,’ my most vulnerable song off State Of Mine. Wrote it during the height of lockdown when I was really struggling being with my thoughts 24/7 with no distractions from being able to go out and do stuff and when my anxiety was thriving. If any of you reading this have also wished you could escape your mind for a bit, then this ones for you”.

2022 is going to be a great year for Kara Marni, where we could well see her debut album arrive. In addition to gigs and further radioplay, she will join he top ranks and elite layers of the Pop universe. If you are not familiar with the incredible sound of Kara Marni, then check out her work and…

MAKE amends now.

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Follow Kara Marni

FEATURE: A GIF to the Young Generation: The Reach and Power of the Internet in Bringing Kate Bush’s Music to New Listeners

FEATURE:

 

 

A GIF to the Young Generation

IMAGE CREDIT: OMG.BLOG 

The Reach and Power of the Internet in Bringing Kate Bush’s Music to New Listeners

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AFTER seeing an article…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Bill Kennedy/Mirrorpix/Getty Images

published online by Rolling Stone last week, I wanted to follow up on my fairly recent article about Kate Bush’s music on TikTok. I have said often enough how Kate Bush’s music is not often played on the radio. More accurately, it is played a lot, though the range of songs is quite narrow! I do wonder how many younger listeners are discovering Bush’s music through this medium. The vast majority of the time, when her songs are played, you tend to get the hits the most people have heard. The logic behind this is that the less-known songs might cause people to turn over or not be popular. It seems strange, as I keep saying, how radio stations are reductive when it comes to her. I know that memes are bringing Bush’s music to new people. Through discovering these, they are watching interviews and discovering songs. A while back, when talking about TikTok, I wrote how this platform is seeing Bush’s music spread far and wide. By users scoring short videos with clips of her songs, it means that her brilliance and relevance continues strong. Even though a lot of her songs used on TikTok are the well-known ones, there are some deeper cuts that means her catalogue is being explored more thoroughly. It seems strange that other platforms other than radio are more influential regarding ensuring Kate Bush’s music is being discovered around the world. I know that radio stations are important, though the power of sites like TikTok means that her music can be heard by millions.

Whether soundtracking a video or used in a GIF, these short and punchy visuals and audio snippets are hugely effective. I personally feel Bush’s music needs to be listened in full. Unless you have an album and are willing to investigate it all, so many tracks will pass you by. One might assume that the rise of memes, GIFs and short-form videos would devalue her work or mean people are only listening to the bigger hits – and maybe are not listening too long or are less liable to deep-dive. In fact, I feel that there is something more varied and interesting about GIFs, memes etc. that you do not get from radio. Streaming sites are great regarding offering Bush’s music to all, though it is not advertised a lot and, once more, perhaps the bigger numbers are played a lot more than hidden gems that deserve more love. I have seen so many memes that quote interviews or song lyrics. In turn, that takes people to a song they may not have heard or an interview that opens their eyes to a new part of Kate Bush’s work. Some Kate Bush memes are humorous or are slightly piss-taking, though many use her lyrics, photos and idiosyncrasies in an inventive way. There are so many out there but, rather than write articles or generic tweets, people can share memes and start conversations about her work. The fact they are visually appealing and easy to read means that the impact is instant and huge.

Even if a meme is quite jokey, that can lead to people either discovering Kate Bush for the first time, or they might be compelled to spend a few hours with her music. GIFs are great, as you can animate a clip of a music video or an interview with some words. If, in decades past, music T.V. was the most important and go-to source for artists to get their music heard by the masses, social media has taken over a lot. I look through Twitter each day and see all the posts about Kate Bush. People share photos, GIFs, memes, music videos and song links. That starts conversations and can lead to discovery of minor Kate Bush songs or interviews that few have seen or heard. It is a shame that radio stations continue to be predictable when it comes to which Bush songs they spin. Whilst writing this, I have seen GIFs and memes that have quoted deeper cuts from albums such as The Dreaming (1982), The Red Shoes (1993) and The Sensual World (1989). Why did Rolling Stone write an article about Kate Bush memes? Why is she more popular now than ever? I think the two can be answered by the fact Bush is so magnetic and eye-catching. Such an innovative and striking artist, one cannot take their eyes off of her! Her hugely original music and loveable personality combines and wins the heart and inspires the mind. If some, years ago, felt Bush an acquired taste or two weird or experimental, the appetite people have for her music and words now shows that she was ahead of her time.

As we head into 2022, there might the flicker of new music or activity from Kate Bush. Social media means it is so easy to share GIFs and videos with people. Those who have loved Kate Bush for years ardently share her music and prove their loyalty. What is as pleasing is that people who have never heard of Kate Bush or know very little about her are picking up her music and being educated by something as simple as a meme or GIF. Whereas other artists from the 1970s and 1980s are declining in popularity or not as loved as they once were, Kate Bush is seemingly incapable of deterioration or entropy. I do wonder, in real-world terms, which songs and albums are being played when people see a GIF or meme. Certainly, people discuss Kate Bush and interact, though I would be interested to see statistics around the tracks people play on streaming platforms and sites like YouTube. As I said, deeper cuts are being unearthed and songs once left to collect dust are being represented through short video clips and photos with lyrics attached. Able to match photos, interview snippets, song lyrics and quotes with videos of Bush means that her work and world is more accessible and visible than ever before. This will only continue and grow stronger as the years go by. New generations are finding out about one of the music world’s most important and dazzling artists. Whether you feel the only way to get a true sense of her brilliance is to listen to the music itself, one cannot deny that formats like GIFs and memes are a vital source of connection, gateway and communicating. The fact that articles are being written about the thrill of Kate Bush memes and how they are reaching people in their twenties…

IS such a good thing.

FEATURE: Modern Heroines: Part Eighty-Three: Holly Humberstone

FEATURE:

 

 

Modern Heroines

Part Eighty-Three: Holly Humberstone

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HAVING recently won…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Frances Beach

the BRIT Awards Rising Star gong, I wanted to spend more time with Holly Humberstone. Even though the world is awaiting a debut album, Humberstone has had a remarkable 2021. Although some see her as a breakthrough pandemic talent, she is someone who is a lot more than a leading light in a troubling time. Her E.P., The Walls Are Way Too Thin, was released last month. I am going to end with a review of that. Prior to that, I want to bring in a few interviews from this year where we get to hear from Humberstone and learn more about a stunning artist. The twenty-one-year-old Grantham-born artist is primed for a huge 2022. Prior to coming to interviews where Humberstone talks about working on her debut album, I want to source GQ. They spoke with her last month after the release of her second E.P.:

“The first song you ever wrote…

I don't actually remember ever sitting down and being like, Okay, I'm going to write a song now. I just remember really idolising powerful women musicians. So I just come home and write at the piano, write about everything that was going on at primary school. It was just my way of working through everything that maybe was confusing me or that I wanted to make sense [of]. My voice used to be really high before I went through puberty, really squeaky, and I’d try to do as many little runs and be as Christina Aguilera as possible... it wasn’t suited to my voice at all! I've lived in the same house forever and we don’t throw anything away so there are loads of old notebooks with really cringy songs I used to write about all the big boys that I fancied at school — so they're fun to look back at.

When was the first time you had your heart broken?

I actually think, in romantic relationships, I've never had my heart broken. I'm always the heartbreaker, which is kind of a savage vibe from me. I'm not really a relationship type girl, I just seem to get put off really easily or I find spending so much time with one person really draining. But I think the first time I was so, so heartbroken, was probably when my dogs died. We had two flat-coated retrievers and they were the most amazing, precious dogs. But the thing about big dogs is they don’t tend to live very long. I think ours were 10 years old and we’d had them since I was seven so they were just our best friends, a total part of the family. One of them had been ill and he died, and the other one was fine. Then Lola, the girl, 10 days later, she died too. She couldn't go on without her partner in crime. It was awful. We buried them in the back garden and planted apple trees and rose bushes over their graves. That's probably the first time I remember being like, really, really, really heartbroken about something. I don't even know if it's worth getting the dogs because you love them so much and so deeply and it’s inevitable that they’ll die before you do. It’s so painful, is it worth it?

The first time you were starstruck…

I think the first time I was starstruck was working with this guy, Rob [Howie Milton], who I write most of my stuff with. Basically, I grew up in Lincolnshire, but the closest city is Nottingham. And there was this huge band called Dog Is Dead. Everyone was obsessed with them at school. They were the coolest. Then it just so happened that when I had started doing sessions for the first time, we were trying out a few different people - and I’m a shy person, I find writing such an intimate thing. So it’s hard to be vulnerable with the average writer you get put in a room with, which is often like a 40-year-old man who I’ve got nothing in common with. So we were struggling to find anyone that I could relax around and feel comfortable with. And then I worked with Rob and we just clicked but the whole time I was like, 'Oh my god, it's Rob from Dog Is Dead'. I still get a bit starstruck around him. Maybe that's why we work together so well, because I've listened to songs so many times that his writing influenced me when I was younger”.

Prior to the release of the acclaimed The Walls Are Way Too Thin – perhaps the best E.P. of this year –, Holly Humberstone spoke with DORK. She spoke about the different creative process of her second E.P. compared to her debut:

“Your second EP is coming out soon, can you tell us a bit about it?

I wrote the EP over the last twoish years, so a lot of it was put together throughout lockdown, and some of it was put together before. I feel like my first EP is a time capsule that I wrote when I was still living at home, just leaving school and going through those types of experiences. This next EP feels like the next chapter and everything that came after that. I released the song ‘Haunted House’, which is about leaving home and also about moving to London and having a bit of a weird time in the flat in London. I guess the EP is just about things changing in my life, and I feel like I’ve been in a sort of in-between stage. Between being a teenager and then moving out, relationships and things like that. Experiencing all of those things for the first time. Just working through all these weird emotions and feelings. Two songs are already out, ‘Haunted House’ and ‘The Walls Are Way Too Thin’. There should be a song out – maybe, I can’t confirm or deny – in August, which I’m really excited about. Hopefully, the rest of the EP will be out later in the year. I’ve just had loads of fun writing it.

Was the process of working on this record different than on your debut EP?

It was a bit different because a lot of it was done over lockdown and finished over lockdown, but I tend to write in the same way. I wrote bits on my own and bits with a collaborator that I worked a lot with called Rob, who I really trust and feel really comfortable with and can be open with. It’s always really fun, going into the studio and writing with Rob. I’ve a lot of collaborations with other people that I really admire as well.

Talking about Phoebe Bridges, you share similar emotionality when it comes to your songwriting. It’s raw and in-depth. Does this vulnerable way of writing come naturally to you?

For sure. I feel like I’ve always written for myself, and I’ve always used writing as a way of working through things. A lot of the time, I’m not sure how I feel about something that I’m going through before I’ve written a song about it and then writing the song helps me work through the feelings but in kind of a simple format. The song is clear, and it’s me trying to filter everything I’m feeling and put it into a concise bit so I can understand a bit more. I’ve always done that. I can’t remember when I started writing, but I was really young. I was probably around seven or something. I used to write about things going on in primary school and boys I fancied and stuff. It’s always been my safe space. My comfort zone. I write for myself; that’s why everything seems really honest because I’m genuinely trying to figure out how I feel about stuff.

Is it a kind of self-therapy for you then?

Yes, it’s my safe space. I’ve also found that a lot of this EP has come about in the last two years when I was going through a lot of changes in my life, like leaving home. Just so many changes that you go through as a young adult moving out of home and experiencing all of these things for the first time, and I feel like writing is my comfort zone, and it’s kind of like the one constant that I’ve been able to come to with all of this confusing shit going on”.

There are a couple of interviews that I want to tick off the list before I come to a review of The Walls Are Way Too Thin. When speaking with The Guardian back in October, Humberstone discussed how she did not want people telling her how to write her songs. She also revealed how she has been planning ahead to the release of her much-anticipated debut album:

“The purpose of her songwriting hasn’t changed since she was 11, she says. “I have chaos in my head all the time. When I sit down to write, it’s working through all these things that I’m going through. When I put it in a song, it’s a more manageable piece to understand. It’s really my therapy.”

When real life resumed, Humberstone had a small kind of stardom to reckon with, alongside the regular worries of young adulthood. Her new EP, The Walls Are Way Too Thin, brims with the fear of change. On the advice of surveyors, her family left the crumbling rural cottage where she had spent her life. “My ultimate comfort, sacred space,” says Humberstone – the place where her parents, NHS medics, encouraged their four daughters to be creative and make a mess. She moved to London (“overwhelming”), her parents went to Wales and her sisters scattered around. They recently lost their grandma, too. Growing up with three sisters left her shocked by the reality of touring with an all-male crew in the US: “Them coming into my room and there’s sanitary towels everywhere and I’m like: let’s just clear that away …” (Next time, she wants an all-female band.)

“It’s a really awkward age where you have to face all these things for the first time,” says Humberstone, a sweetly nervy talker who persistently describes herself as “awkward”. On her right hand, a ring spells out “SISTER”.

She is still working with her small team and retained her master recordings in the deal – as well as her creative control. “I made it very clear that I don’t want any fingers in the pie,” she says. “I feel really uncomfortable about people who aren’t involved in the creative process telling me how I should write my songs.” She has made most of her music to date with Rob Milton, formerly of the Nottingham-based indie band Dog Is Dead, and finds writing with strangers anxiety-inducing. Yet she looked up two blue-chip songwriters during her trip to LA to see what they might come up with. “I idolise these people and it was fun, but still tricky,” she says. The point, she insists, isn’t striving for pop hits. “I just go in with my baggage and my feelings.”

After her autumn tour concludes, Humberstone has time off to write her debut full-length. “An album is the most terrifying thing ever,” she says. “It’s so final and such a big piece of work to be happy with.” The songs written so far touch on the return of her social life and some decisively brief flings. After the end of a three-year relationship, documented in her debut EP, she has decided her career means she doesn’t have the energy for romance: “And I like being on my own at the moment”.

Even though there is a lot of support in her corner and Humberstone has the acclaim of the BRIT Awards, there is still a bit of pressure and fear around the release of the debut album. NME chatted with Humberstone back in September. Humberstone talked about how releasing an album is daunting – although she has a lot of material collected that she needs to put out:

“Over the next few months, the 21-year-old’s focus will turn to working on her aforementioned debut album, which will follow last year’s exceptional debut EP ‘Falling Asleep At The Wheel’ (which received the full five-star treatment from NME) and it’s forthcoming follow-up, ‘The Ways Are Way Too Thin’, due for release in November later this year.

“For me, an album is a really daunting thought. Being done with my debut album and having that much work, and all of it being final, is so scary – so I think it’s going to be a while [before it’s released]” she says. “I’ve had loads of time now to just experiment and try different things out, and to have fun with my writing without the pressure.

“I have loads of music that I’m so excited about – but I don’t think I’ll ever feel like it’s finished as I get bored of my work quite quickly. At some point, I’ll just have to be like, ‘That’s it. I’m just putting it out,’ – and then I can forget about it and start on the next new thing…”

 Just before finishing off, it is worth sourcing one of the many positive reviews for The Walls Are Way Too Thin. This is what The Line of Best Fit noted about one of the finest releases of this year:

“Since 2020’s Falling Asleep At The Wheel EP, Holly Humberstone has been working with long-time producer collaborator Rob Milton on her latest offering; The Walls Are Way Too Thin. Continuing her brand of heartbreak and early-twenties angst, the EP turns up the heat on last year’s release – swapping out the slow and steady for the cinematic and dramatic.

It seems as though the helplessness and despair from the past has blossomed into sadness and understanding. Whether this is mourning her childhood home on “Haunted House”, or a relationship that could have been on title track “The Walls Are Way Too Thin”, Humberstone has upped her game and fuelled the fire of her career. Even on “Thursday” - the one track that harkens back the most to her last EP - there is a sense of maturity and growth from Humberstone that feels appropriate for 18 months away.

“Friendly Fire”, using a delightful acoustic arrangement, builds and swells with emotion as a perfect ending to the EP, and standout track “Scarlett” displays some incredible songwriting from the 21-year-old star. Her collaboration with The 1975’s Matty Healy on “Please Don’t Leave Just Yet” shines bright too, with unmistakable influence from Healy’s previous work merging perfectly with Humberstone’s vocal and style.

The Walls Are Way Too Thin is an EP from an undoubtedly rising star. From its songwriting to production, its emotive lyrical content to considered vocal performance, it’s a home run of a project. Holly Humberstone is destined for great things, and this EP is just the beginning”.

One of this country’s most astounding and promising young artists, I feel Holly Humberstone is going to be a massive name in the future. Someone who will go on to inspire so many other artists, we have only seen the start of her majestic musical reign. On the evidence of what she has released so far, Holly Humberstone is going to be…

A future legend.

FEATURE: Groovelines: Deee-Lite – Groove Is in the Heart

FEATURE:

 

Groovelines

Deee-Lite – Groove Is in the Heart

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A song that ranks…

alongside the important in my life, I remember when the song was released in August 1990. New York’s Deee-Lite put out Groove Is in the Heart and, in doing so, spawned a hit that reached the top spot in Australia and on both the Canadian and U.S. dance chart. The lead single from World Clique, I wanted to know more about the song and its story. I will end with a bit of information regarding Groove Is in The Heart’s legacy and impact. To me, it is one of the defining songs of the 1990s. Its sample are incredible! Fusing Herbie Hancock and Billy Preston, Groove Is in the Heart explodes with vibrancy, cool and colour! It is a joyous and giddy track that is very much a product of the early-1990s. Maybe it is testament to Deee-Lite’s unique spirit, but I have not heard anything like this song or them since. Over thirty years since its release, there is something fresh about the song. Even though it is very much part of the 1990s, one can never grow bored of listening to this classic! DJ Mag spotlighted such an important track on its thirtieth anniversary last year:

“In a dance music world fractured into sub genres and micro niches, there are two things that unite global clubbers in love and admiration: a well organised cloakroom, and Deee-Lite’s ‘Groove is in the Heart’, which celebrates its 30th birthday this year. The New York group’s classic track is infectious, euphoric, nigh-on impossible to dislike. Slice ‘Groove is in the Heart’ in two and it bleeds good vibes and rubbery, melodic funk.

What makes it all the better is how utterly unlikely the song is, a work of pop art that sounds perfectly of its time and eerily prescient. ‘Groove is in the Heart’ is a patchwork quilt of influences, from funk to house, pop to jazz, that shouldn’t work together but somehow do. Its sample-delic Technicolour sound sits beautifully with the collage art of De La Soul’s 1989 album ‘3 Feet High and Rising’, but also foreshadows the cut-and-paste production puzzles that The Avalanches would make their own two decades later.

The band’s origins were similarly cosmopolitan. Deee-Lite were both very New York, their music slotting into the city’s decadent club scene, and globally disparate — DJ Dmitry was from Ukraine, Towa Tei from Tokyo, and Lady Miss Kier from the US — anticipating the explosion in global pop in the late 2010s.

The band’s pan-generic appeal was clear early on, performing in New York’s hip-hop and house clubs, both gay and straight, drawing what Rolling Stone would call “vivid, multiracial, pan-sexual crowds”. Never one to be shy, Kier would design outfits for each gig, with spectacle at a premium. As their buzz grew louder, a major label bidding war ensued and the group signed with Elektra. By this point, a nascent ‘Groove is in the Heart’ — “a love letter to DJs”, according to Kier — was already in their arsenal.

The track that would later launch a million dances is built upon a wonderful collage of samples. There’s a bassline lifted from Herbie Hancock’s ‘Bring Down the Birds’ (then a staple of Dmitry’s DJ sets), drums and whistle taken from from Vernon Burch’s ‘Get Up’, and sound effects from Ray Barreto’s ‘Right On’. Whosampled lists eight samples for the song but there may well be more, a remnant of the days when litigation had yet to catch up with sample culture.

“I wrote the lyrics for ‘Groove Is In The Heart’ before I heard the musical loop,” Lady Miss Kier writes in the sleeve notes for the 2017 reissue of Dee-Lite’s debut album ‘World Clique’. “Dmitry had a record by Herbie Hancock and I can’t remember if he or Towa found the loop, but as soon as I heard it I laid down the melody that was in my head and we all added samples onto it, which I call ‘fills’”.

Insignificant as it might sound, these “fills” would prove hugely important in the song’s success. ‘Groove Is In The Heart’ explodes with kooky, joyful noises — from slide whistles to finger pops, scratches to cowbells — that create the impression that the listener is privy to the best party on earth.

Recording studios are, on the whole, pretty dull places. But it sounded like Deee-Lite were having an absolute ball as they laid it down. “Of course we were enjoying it!” Dmitry tells DJ Mag, “but it was a lot of gruelling work. We were in the studio for 18 hours a day.”

“Although Dmitry played live instruments in our show, myself and Towa didn’t play any instruments,” Lady Miss Kier says, “so we used samples to write music from other people’s music. We were used to the complexity of P-funk and the minimalist nature of Kraftwerk.”

Drizzled into the sonic stew were the contributions of some serious legends. The song reuniting three members of George Clinton’s epochal funk outfits, Parliament Funkadelic — Bootsy Collins on bass, Maceo Parker on saxophone, and Fred Wesley on trombone.

“I wrote Bootsy a fan letter and included our demo, around 1988,” says Kier. “It included the song ‘Groove is in the Heart’. He called back and left a message saying if we ever got a record deal, he would be up for some sessions. I was jumping up and down.”

The song eventually reached number one in Australia, number two in the UK, and number four in the US — a remarkable result in a country that had yet to embrace club culture on a national level. In her liner notes to ‘World Clique’, Lady Miss Kier claimed that the success of ‘Groove is in the Heart’ helped to open up the minds of the rock music industry to dance music.

“We pushed the ‘old boy’ network of rock promoters to accept DJ culture and dance music whilst on tour by having DJs as openers,” she says. “We stayed firm on our nightclub roots when the label was asking just to keep it POP! Instead we spotlighted Vogueing in our shows and influenced many artists at the time.”

While further hits of the same magnitude may have eluded them, Deee-Lite’s musical moment did not come and go with ‘Groove is in the Heart’. 'World Clique' is a wonderful piece of work, a vivacious patchwork of New York clubland and sharp pop hooks not a million miles away from St Etienne or Róisín Murphy. The group would later be remixed by titans of electronic music from Masters at Work to Carl Craig, the mixes rounded up on the epic 1996 compilation ‘Sampladelic Relics & Dancefloor Oddities’”.

I can never tire of the luminous and irresistible Groove Is in the Heart. It is no shock that the song has been lauded and acclaimed through the years. This Wikipedia article gives us more details regarding the legacy of one of the greatest songs ever:  

“In 2003, Q Magazine ranked "Groove Is in the Heart" at number 323 in their list of the "1001 Best Songs Ever". VH1 placed it at No. 67 in their list of "100 Greatest Songs of the 90s" in 2007. Pitchfork named it the 59th best track of the 1990s. They wrote: "With their sass-tastic frontwoman and kitsched-to-death fashion sense, Deee-Lite probably seemed like a good bet at a time when pop's future was still up for grabs. If you were a kid in the 'burbs, they almost resembled a Daisy Age hip-hop group (the day-glo/flower-power look, the Q-Tip guest rap) as much as a house act (a strange urban subculture we had little access to in junior high)."

In 2011, The Guardian featured the song on their "A history of modern music: Dance". In April 2017 the single was re-released on pink vinyl, as part of Record Store Day with remixes of "What Is Love?" on the B-Side. BuzzFeed listed the song number 3 in their "The 101 Greatest Dance Songs of the '90s" list in 2017.

In 2018, Time Out listed the song number 23 in their list of "The 100 best party songs", adding: "In this tale of New York's anything-is-possible East Village of the late '80s, a trio of candy-coloured club kids – Super DJ Dmitri, Lady Miss Kier and Towa Tei – decide to form a band. The threesome (with a little help from ringers Q-Tip, Maceo Parker and Bootsy Collins) come up with 'Groove Is in the Heart', a sweetly innocent percolator of a tune that, against all odds, becomes the worldwide club smash of 1990. True story!"

In 2021, Rolling Stone ranked the "Groove Is in the Heart" at 223 in its updated list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, calling it "a collage across different generations of funkateers”.

A song with such an interesting background; one that has grown through the years and reached so many people, I was excited to include it in Groovelines. A dancefloor favourite, it is a shame that Deee-Lite are no longer recording together. I guess it would be hard to recapture the thrill and originality of Groove Is in the Heart and the World Clique album. Such an amazing and timeless song, spin Groove Is in the Heart and let it…

LIFT the spirits high.

FEATURE: A.K.A. Berlin: Kate Bush’s The Saxophone Song

FEATURE:

 

 

A.K.A. Berlin

Kate Bush’s The Saxophone Song

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I am coming back to…

The Kick Inside and a very important track from Kate Bush. This was one of three tracks recorded in 1975 alongside The Man with the Child in His Eyes (which also appeared on The Kick Inside) and Humming. Produced by David Gilmour (who is credited as Executive Producer on The Man with the Child also), The Saxophone Song is one of the gems from Bush’s debut album. For those who feel that Bush’s debut album contains too many high-pitched vocals and theatrics, this song was proof that her voice was mature and grounded. Graceful, swooning and beautiful, her performance through The Saxophone Song is magnificent. Before continuing with my exploration of the track, the Kate Bush Encyclopaedia sources quotes from Kate Bush:

“I wrote 'The Saxophone Song' because, for me, the saxophone is a truly amazing instrument. Its sound is very exciting - rich and mellow. It sounds like a female. (Dreaming: The Kick Inside, 1978)

The song isn't about David Bowie. I wrote it about the instrument, not the player, at a time when I really loved the sound of the saxophone - I still do. No, I don't know him personally, though I went to his "Farewell to Ziggy Stardust" concert and cried, and so did he. (Kate Bush Club newsletter, November 1979)”.

Not much has been written through the years about The Saxophone Song. The second track on The Kick Inside, it perfectly flows from Moving. As it was originally called Berlin, I imagine Bush as this observer in the German capital. Watching this hypnotic saxophone play, it is an unusual setting for a song. I think only someone like Kate Bush could combine these elements and create such a rich and sumptuous track. The lyrics in the song take us in that bar and what Bush/the narrator is seeing: “There's something very special indeed/In all the places where I've seen you shine, boy/There's something very real in how I feel, honey”. As a seventeen-year-old recording the track, there is this maturity from a teenager. That said, I like the turn of phrase and the language used. Apart from some casual admiration, Bush turns in poetry of the highest order. There were not many songwriters producing lyrics of her standard: “The candle burning over your shoulder is throwing/Shadows on your saxophone, a surly lady in tremor/The stars that climb from her bowels/Those stars make towers on vowels”. Bush references the poetry of the saxophone in the song. The fact this instrument stirs something in her and is so powerful has caused her to write so beautifully. The players on the song (drums: Barry de Souza, bass: Bruce Lynch, guitars: Paul Keogh, Alan Parker, keyboards: Andrew Powell, saxophone: Alan Skidmore and electric guitar: Paul Keogh) are excellent.

I love the trippy and prog keyboards at the end and Skidmore’s wonderful saxophone performance. Bush’s vocal is so engaging. I am surprised that The Saxophone Song was not released as a B-side. Although four singles were released from The Kick Inside (two in the U.K.) prior to the release of her second album, Lionheart, The Saxophone Song did not feature. I would have liked to have seen this song get more exposure around the world. It was performed during the set of Bush’s 1979 The Tour of Life. Many people might not have heard The Saxophone Song. It is a beautifully written song that takes us inside the saxophone; inside a Berlin bar as we smell smoke, hear silent chatter and feel this electricity coursing through the room. Although Bush was taught the violin as a child and, obviously, is synonymous with piano, I wonder why the saxophone was signalled out. Not an instrument that she came to play on any of her albums, there is no doubting that, in the moment, she was in love with its sound: “It's in me/It's in me/And you know it's for real/Tuning in on your saxophone/Doo-bee-doo-bee-doo...”. A magnificent song from my favourite album ever, The Saxophone Song is one that we need to hear more on the radio. The more that I hear it, the more I transport myself to that Berlin bar! Years after I first heard the song, it has lost…

NONE of its magic.

FEATURE: Inspired By… Part Forty-One: James Brown

FEATURE:

 

 

Inspired By…

 Part Forty-One: James Brown

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THIS time around…

 PHOTO CREDIT: David Corio/Getty Images

one of the most influential artists ever is in Inspired By… There is no way to overstate the importance of James Brown. On 25th December, it will be fifteen years since Brown died. Even so, his le4gacy and genius lives on. Before coming to a playlist of songs from artists influenced by James Brown, AllMusic gives us some insightful and useful biography:

“Soul Brother Number One," "The Godfather of Soul," "The Hardest Working Man in Show Business," "Mr. Dynamite" -- those are mighty titles, but no one can question that James Brown earned them more than any other performer. Other singers were more popular, others were equally skilled, but few other musicians were so influential over the course of popular music. And no other musician put on a more exciting, exhilarating stage show: Brown's performances were marvels of athletic stamina and split-second timing. Through the gospel-impassioned fury of his vocals and the complex polyrhythms of his beats, Brown was a crucial midwife in not just one, but two revolutions in American music; he was one of the figures most responsible for turning R&B into soul and he was, most would agree, the one figure most responsible for transforming soul music into funk. Fittingly, his music became even more influential as it aged, since his voice and rhythms were sampled on innumerable hip-hop recordings, and critics belatedly hailed his innovations as among the most important in all of rock or R&B.

Brown's rags-to-riches-to-rags story has heroic and tragic dimensions of mythic resonance. Born into poverty in the South, he ran afoul of the law by the late '40s on an armed robbery conviction. With the help of singer Bobby Byrd's family, Brown gained parole and started a gospel group with Byrd, changing their focus to R&B as the rock revolution gained steam. The Flames, as the Georgian group was known in the mid-'50s, signed to Federal/King and had a huge R&B hit right off the bat with the wrenching, churchy ballad "Please, Please, Please." By that point, the Flames had become James Brown & the Famous Flames; the charisma, energy, and talent of Brown made him the natural star attraction.

All of Brown's singles over the next two years flopped, as he sought to establish his own style, recording material that was obviously derivative of heroes like Roy Brown, Hank Ballard, Little Richard, and Ray Charles. In retrospect, it can be seen that Brown was in the same position as dozens of other R&B one-shots: talented singers in need of better songs, or not fully on the road to a truly original sound. What made Brown succeed where hundreds of others failed was his superhuman determination, working the chitlin circuit to death, sharpening his band, and keeping an eye on new trends. He was on the verge of being dropped by King in late 1958 when his perseverance finally paid off, as "Try Me" became a number one R&B (and small pop) hit, and several follow-ups established him as a regular visitor to the R&B charts.

Brown's style of R&B got harder as the '60s began; he added more complex, Latin- and jazz-influenced rhythms on hits like "Good Good Lovin'," "I'll Go Crazy," "Think," and "Night Train," alternating these with torturous ballads that featured some of the most frayed screaming to be heard outside of the church. Black audiences already knew that Brown had the most exciting live act around, but he truly started to become a phenomenon with the release of Live at the Apollo in 1963. Capturing a Brown concert with all its whirling-dervish energy and calculated spontaneity, the album reached number two on the album charts, an unprecedented feat for a hardcore R&B LP.

Live at the Apollo was recorded and released against the wishes of the King label. It was this kind of artistic standoff that led Brown to seek better opportunities elsewhere. In 1964, he ignored his King contract to record "Out of Sight" for Smash, igniting a lengthy legal battle that prevented him from issuing vocal recordings for about a year. When he finally resumed recording for King in 1965, he had a new contract that granted him far more artistic control over his releases.

Brown's new era had truly begun, however, with "Out of Sight," which topped the R&B charts and made the pop Top 40. For some time, Brown had been moving toward more elemental lyrics that threw in as many chants and screams as they did words, and more intricate beats and horn charts that took some of their cues from the ensemble work of jazz outfits. "Out of Sight" wasn't called funk when it came out, but it had most of the essential ingredients. These were amplified and perfected on 1965's "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag," a monster that finally broke Brown to a white audience, reaching the Top Ten. The even more adventurous follow-up, "I Got You (I Feel Good)," did even better, making number three.

These hits kicked off Brown's period of greatest commercial success and public visibility. From 1965 to the end of the decade, he was rarely off the R&B charts, often on the pop listings, and all over the concert circuit and national television, even meeting with Vice President Hubert Humphrey and other important politicians as a representative of the Black community. His music became even bolder and funkier, as melody was dispensed with almost altogether in favor of chunky rhythms and magnetic interplay between his vocals, horns, drums, and scratching electric guitar (heard to best advantage on hits like "Cold Sweat," "I Got the Feelin'," and "There Was a Time"). The lyrics were not so much words as chanted, stream-of-consciousness slogans, often aligning themselves with Black pride as well as good old-fashioned (or new-fashioned) sex. Much of the credit for the sound he devised belonged to (and has now been belatedly attributed to) his top-notch supporting musicians such as saxophonists Maceo Parker, St. Clair Pinckney, and Pee Wee Ellis; guitarist Jimmy Nolen; backup singer and longtime loyal associate Bobby Byrd; and drummer Clyde Stubblefield.

Brown was both a brilliant bandleader and a stern taskmaster, the latter leading his band to walk out on him in late 1969. Amazingly, he turned the crisis to his advantage by recruiting a young Cincinnati outfit called the Pacemakers featuring guitarist Catfish Collins and bassist Bootsy Collins. Although they only stayed with him for about a year, they were crucial to Brown's evolution into even harder funk, emphasizing the rhythm and the bottom even more. The Collins brothers, for their part, put their apprenticeship to good use, helping define '70s funk as members of the Parliament-Funkadelic axis

In the early '70s, many of the most important members of Brown's late-'60s band returned to the fold, to be billed as the J.B.'s (they also made records on their own). Brown continued to score heavily on the R&B charts throughout the first half of the '70s, the music becoming more and more elemental and beat-driven. At the same time, he was retreating from the white audience he had cultivated during the mid- to late '60s; records like "Make It Funky," "Hot Pants," "Get on the Good Foot," and "The Payback" were huge soul sellers, but only modest pop ones. Critics charged, with some justification, that the Godfather was starting to repeat and recycle himself too many times. It must be remembered, though, that these songs were made for the singles radio jukebox market and not meant to be played one after the other on CD compilations (as they are today).

By the mid-'70s, Brown was beginning to burn out artistically. He seemed shorn of new ideas, was being out-gunned on the charts by disco, and was running into problems with the IRS and his financial empire. There were sporadic hits, and he could always count on enthusiastic live audiences, but by the '80s, he didn't have a label. With the explosion of rap, however, which frequently sampled vintage J.B.'s records, Brown became hipper than ever. He collaborated with Afrika Bambaataa on the critical smash single "Unity" and reentered the Top Ten in 1986 with "Living in America." Rock critics, who had always ranked Brown considerably below Otis Redding and Aretha Franklin in the soul canon, began to reevaluate his output, particularly the material from his funk years, sometimes anointing him not just "Soul Brother Number One," but the most important Black musician of the rock era.

In 1988, Brown's personal life came crashing down in a well-publicized incident in which he was accused by his wife of assault and battery. After a year skirting hazy legal and personal troubles, he led the police on an interstate car chase after allegedly threatening people with a handgun. The episode ended in a six-year prison sentence that many felt was excessive; he was paroled after serving two years.

Throughout the '90s, Brown continued to perform and release new material like Love Over-Due (1991), Universal James (1992), and I'm Back (1998). While none of these recordings could be considered as important as his earlier work and did little to increase his popularity, his classic catalog became more popular in the American mainstream during this time than it had been since the '70s, and not just among young rappers and samplers. One of the main reasons for this was a proper presentation of his recorded legacy. For a long time, his cumbersome, byzantine discography was mostly out of print, with pieces available only on skimpy greatest-hits collections. A series of exceptionally well-packaged reissues on PolyGram changed that situation; the Star Time box set is the best overview, with other superb compilations devoted to specific phases of his lengthy career, from '50s R&B to '70s funk.

In 2004, Brown was diagnosed with prostate cancer but successfully fought the disease. By 2006, it was in remission and Brown, then 73, began a global tour dubbed the Seven Decades of Funk World Tour. Late in the year while at a routine dentist appointment, the singer was diagnosed with pneumonia. He was admitted to the hospital for treatment but died of heart failure a few days later, in the early morning hours of Christmas Day. A public viewing was held at Apollo Theater in Harlem, followed by a private ceremony in his hometown of Augusta, Georgia.

Just prior to his death, Universal's Hip-O division launched an extensive James Brown reissue series called The Singles, which contained both sides of every 45 he released between 1956 and 1981. The first volume appeared in September 2006, the last in 2011. R.J. Smith published the biography The One: The Life and Music of James Brown in 2012 to widespread acclaim. Two years later, Brown was the subject of the biopic Get On Up, featuring Chadwick Boseman as Brown, as well as the Alex Gibney documentary Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown, which was produced by Mick Jagger. Universal released two live archival projects -- Live at the Apollo, Vol. IV: September 13-14, 1972 and Live at Home with His Bad Self -- during the second half of the 2010s”.

To show how far James Brown’s influence and incredible music has spread, this playlist is packed with tracks from artists who owe something to Brown. Maybe they follow in his lead or there is an aspect of their music that is similar to that of Brown. As you can see from the number of tracks, there are so many artists who owe a debt…

TO the legendary James Brown.

FEATURE: Modern Heroines: Part Eighty-Two: Tove Styrke

FEATURE:

 

 

Modern Heroines

PHOTO CREDIT: Emma Svensson 

Part Eighty-Two: Tove Styrke

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I wanted to include Tove Styrke…

in Modern Heroines, as she recently released new singles, Mood Swings and Start Walking. I am a fan of the Swedish singer-songwriter, and I have been following her career since her eponymous debut album of 2010. She is a wonderful talent who I think will be making music for many years to come. An inspiring and original Electropop/Pop artist, I am going to start with press and interviews around her most-recent studio album, 2018’s Sway. I will work up to her new single and a fascinating interview that Styrke was involved with. In 2018, Women in Pop spoke with an artist who has high-profile fans including Lorde:

“One of the biggest fans of the song is Lorde, who instantly added it to one of her Spotify playlists. “Oh my god, I didn’t believe that at first”, the 24-year-old exclaims. “I admire Lorde so much. She’s such a great songwriter, and it really made me happy.

I would love to just meet her, and I’d really love to pick her brain. I don’t understand how somebody so young can write those lyrics.”

As a teenager, Styrke was obsessed with Björk; these days though, she also loves Rihanna, Beyoncé and Britney Spears (her complex, throbbing version of ‘…Baby One More Time’ almost rivals the original). At the age of 16, Styrke was a finalist on Swedish Idol, and although talent shows usually don’t have a stellar track record of creating internationally successful artists, she says, “For me, it turned out great. I got my first deal and I’ve been working with my label and we really get along. But, that might not be the case for everyone. I feel like the reason my career has been successful, or at least one that I’m happy with, is because I write my own material and I love working. Everyone is different, but my main advice for people who want to make music is pretty simple: just make music!”

In the eight years since she released her self-titled debut, Styrke has witnessed some big shifts in the music industry, especially when it comes to equality for women. “Right now, I feel women make the most interesting pop music. I think the landscape is getting better for us, and I can definitely see a change from when I started to now, especially in terms of the kind of questions I get asked. I feel like I no longer have to explain in every interview that I write my own songs.”

While Styrke believes there’s a better equilibrium in the gender stakes, she says, “There’s always stuff to achieve. It’s not like we’re done. However, I do feel like my job is getting easier. For example, when I’m on tour, I don’t want to have all guys in the crew. I don’t want an all-girl crew, but I feel people perform better when it’s mixed. It used to be difficult for others to understand how important that was for me, but now it’s a very natural thing and people don’t think twice when I ask for it.”

Styrke will release her third album this year, although she admits she initially suffered from writer’s block after the success of her second album Kiddo, which Spin named as one of the top 25 pop albums of 2015. “It’s was tricky”, she says. “For me, the second album felt a lot like a debut album. You know when people say that everybody has at least one book in them; it’s a little bit the same with music. Everybody has a need to get something off their chest, and with that second record, I just had to scratch a little bit underneath the surface and it all came out and I wrote it really fast. This time though, I had to dig a lot deeper to find some friction. I had a fear that maybe I don’t have any creativity in me, that maybe the inspiration is gone. It was really scary, but then when I wrote ‘Say My Name’, something clicked. This is new and interesting, and it’s a place where I can start digging, and it’s been a really exciting journey for me”.

Prior to coming onto a review for Sway, there is another interview from 2018 that I want to bring in. WONDERLAND. talked with Tove Styrke about the visual side of her music, in addition to how Sway has been received:

 “Who would you most like you collaborate with?

I think Rihanna would be the coolest. I feel like she’s a modern day Madonna, she can do no wrong. There’s so many interesting up and coming artists as well that I would love to collaborate with. I’ve really love Whack World, the audiovisual album that Tierra Whack did; I love that she’s doing her thing, and the visual side of the album is so cool.

Are visuals important to you as an artist?

For me, it’s important to keep this sort of vibrant, bold, very pop, but also interesting and unique visual language. But at the same time, it’s important that the core of the music needs to be real. The story needs to be real, and told in a way that feels genuine, that people can relate to.

Is it important to you that people connect with your lyrics?

Yeah, a big part of why I even do this is because I want to connect with people. I want to write it in a way that people can relate to it, and take that song, live with it, apply it to their own life, and recognise themselves in it. That’s where we connect and find common ground. For me, that’s such a comforting thing.

What’s the reception for Sway been like so far, have you had that kind of feedback?

I’m so grateful that people really seem to love these songs. Walking on stage and realising that people knew every word to every song brought me to tears the other night. And I’m not that person, I’m not emotional like that in public! It’s this complete understanding between me and them and it’s so amazing, it’s like I’ve found my people.

How do you want people to feel at your shows?

I want the show to be a space for people to celebrate. I want everybody to feel like their best self. It’s such a positive energy, not just for me, it’s a back and forth thing. My fans are the coolest people, they’re so smart and funny and they come to the shows with so much to give, and that makes it possible for me to give so much back to them.

How do you approach styling your outfits?

I love dressing up and I love doing my own makeup, that’s like my meditation before shows. With the clothes, I want to create a superhero version of myself, to feel like a larger than life version of me. For instance, I’m wearing an amazing cowboy hat that’s sparkly and pink, and it’s got my logo and name around the brim. I love it so much, it’s the corniest thing but my favourite thing and it makes me feel like I’m a cool anime figure.

PHOTO CREDIT: Emma Svensson 

Looking forward, have you got any plans to release more music?

Yes, I’m releasing a new song on Friday! It’s called ‘Vibe’. To me it’s very much like an ending but a new beginning at the same time. It’s definitely in the same world as the other songs from Sway, but it’s got a little bit more heartbreak. And I’ve been wanting to do a guitar-heavy song for a long time, I’m so excited about it.

What’s it about?

The lyric is “I thought we had a vibe”. Like, you really thought that there was something, but things just didn’t work out. I feel like a lot of the songs on the album are about beginnings, before you know if it’s going to work out or not. It was interesting to take it a little bit further into the future of knowing someone, where it actually pans out.

Where would you like to see your career going?

I want this project to keep growing. I want to keep expanding, keep exploring, keep being curious and challenging myself. Over the past two or three years I feel like I’ve gained so much confidence, and that confidence gives you a lot of freedom. I really feel like I can do anything – I mean, everybody can do anything. It’s a very good place to be in”.

Just before coming up to date, it is worth getting an idea of how Sway was received. I think it is one of 2018’s best albums. It proved what a remarkable talent Tove Styrke is. This is what NME about to say about her third studio album:

 “Tove Styrke has been at this for almost a decade. In 2009, aged 16, she competed on Swedish Idol (eventually placing third), putting out her debut single the following year. Since then there have been two albums of euphoric electropop; but if these first releases were an extended introduction to the star’s quirk-pop, ‘Sway’ is the one that’ll cement Styrke’s place as nouveau-pop royalty.

Crafted over the past 18 months, Styrke’s third album is a soundtrack to falling in love and navigating its complexities. From early crushes and drunken lust to romantic vulnerability, rejection and not knowing if it’s what you really want, ‘Sway’ encompasses it all. Fun and empathic, this is music to listen to with pals and bellow out of a car’s open window as much as it is music for a snotty, post-breakup cry.

PHOTO CREDIT: Arvida Byström

Each of the eight tracks is expertly crafted. From album opener ‘Sway’ – where bold, staccato vocals cut through neon-bright production – to the sweet whispers on stripped back ‘On the Low’ (which Styrke described as “the heart” of the album), and her intuitive cover of Lorde’s ‘Liability’, this release shows off Styrke’s full range, both as a vocalist and as a song-writer. Equally at home on a made-for-radio chorus (dancehall infused ‘Say My Name’) as on the vocoder manipulated vocals of ‘I Lied’, you’re left with no doubt that Styrke’s is an force to be reckoned with. And then there’s ‘Mistakes’, the glorious musical equivalent of getting butterflies in your stomach. Shimmering, percussive production is punctuated by Styrke’s robotic vocals boldly declaring its mischievous chorus: “You make me wanna make mistakes.” It’s pure pop perfection.

Clocking in at just 26 minutes, ‘Sway’ is a succinct but comprehensive statement from Styrke – one that demands attention and declares her as a musical tour-de-force. The release of this album comes in between a string of dates with industry darling Lorde and this month’s shows with pop behemoth Katy Perry. Although Styrke is supporting them now, ‘Sway’ proves it won’t be long until she’s standing shoulder to shoulder with them”.

Mood Swings announced a sort of comeback and new phase for Styrke. It is an amazing track that will provoke many to ask whether another album is coming. After that single, she released another in the form of Start Walking. It seems that an album is coming together. After the release of Mood Swings, The Line of Best Fit spoke with a stunning artist about what her future plans are:

“On comeback single “Mood Swings” the cult favourite delivers a frantic preview of her new project, which she describes as a “happy vomit” of influences from every corner of pop. The punchy verse begins with Styrke stuttering over a percussive synth beat, claiming “I got two sides, one I call Jekyll, one I call Hyde,” the new song offers a look into the pop star’s psyche once you dig under the surface.

Over the years, Styrke has risen through the ranks to be one of pop’s most trusted and consistent artists. Based in Stockholm, and raised in the northern city of Umeå, Styrke gained attention originally thanks to Swedish Idol. Competing in the 2009 season she placed third having performed covers of everything from Kylie to U2 through to Katy Perry. The next year she shared her self-titled debut album which boasted collaboration with Sweden’s top songwriters including Lykke Li, Noonie Bao and Patrick Berger.

Since the release of Sway in 2018, collaborations with RITUAL and Lost Kings have tied fans over, as did a return to Swedish reality TV late last year when Styrke made her debut on Så mycket bättre. The show’s title translates as So much better and sees artists reimagine their co-stars’ songs. Eurovision stars Loreen and Benjamin Ingrosso were part of the line-up when Styrke appeared, previous notable contestants include Kleerup, Icona Pop and Albin Lee Meldau.

Behind the scenes, Styrke didn’t stop either. She’s been working on her next project since the completion of Sway, and despite having scrapped almost an entire album’s worth of material, restrictions around movement due to the pandemic opened up new virtual doors for the Swedish star to collaborate. During her self-imposed lockdown, she taught herself how to play the guitar, to a level she feels comfortable stripping things back on an acoustic for solo performances.

BEST FIT: Welcome back. I can’t believe how long it’s been since we spoke and you had new music to share. The world has literally completely changed. How have you been?

Tove Styrke: It's been the weirdest. I feel like everything in my life has never been this extreme. Like ever before. Not even going through puberty was like this. And you think that's gonna be like the worst ever? You get a pandemic and fuck, shit got real. Like, oh my god, humanity… we could die.

Before the pandemic hit did you get a chance to take a break and relax before starting work again?

I actually started writing immediately and I was trying so many different things. Then Corona happened. And all of a sudden, there was this shift, none of it really felt relevant anymore. It's not that the new material has anything to do with the state of the world, but this shift of what felt important, made it feel completely irrelevant.

But, I’ve been working a lot on Zoom and that’s one of the things I’ve discovered that I love. It’s bliss and I know a lot of people hate it, but I love it. It’s so much more effective and because I'm the kind of person who is really introverted at first, but I could never make stuff on my own, I have to interact with people to feel like I exist.

Going to LA and hanging out for 12 hours [to make a song] takes so much energy for me and being able to do the same session, get the same outcome with the same people and like, make the same song is great. I can go and have a snack. And I can go and breathe in peace and come back with a restored battery. That’s so nice.

I have also been able to work with people who are not based in Stockholm because all of a sudden people are actually working on Zoom, if they're in London, LA or New York and that's so so great. Otherwise, you're working with people who are based in Stockholm and everybody's in the same pot, like just rolling around. It's just so nice to be able to be here and still live my normal life and have all these different, creative outlets.

So “Mood Swings” is the first taste we have of new music. How did this one come together?

This one was actually crazy. So I started working on all these new songs and then I got sent a really early demo of [“Mood Swings”]. And immediately, I loved it. I don't usually like taking on songs from other people, but I've actually done that more than just with this song. I guess you go through different creative phases.

I loved the vibe and could totally envision exactly what it was going to be when it's finished. So, I rewrote a bunch of stuff and chopped some stuff off and reproduced it and everything, so it’s been a very creative and fun process. With my last album, [and] a lot of my music my M.O. has been spending a ridiculous amount of time, sitting with a headache in the studio. And I just felt like that's not the most, that might not be the best way to spend my time. I feel like it’s better to try a bunch of ideas and change things.

Maybe I love it or hate it, but now, I can say let’s write a country song and try that. I’m trying things out and I’m less scared of it being shit because I'd rather just keep going. I feel so much more inspired and it's been a more productive way for me to work.

You mentioned Sway having this really distinctive, cohesive sound, and it feels like that minimalistic approach to pop was everywhere after you put the record out. Do you feel like it had a big impact on the pop world?

It was so crazy. I can't tell you how many times it happened, that people texted me like ‘yo, I'm in a session, and everybody brought your song’, because every time you're in a session everyone asks what you’re listening to and everybody brought [my] fucking song. People were obsessed with “Say My Name” and “Mistakes”. Shawn Mendes was texting me like ‘this song is amazing!’ He was talking about it for a year after it came out as well, he couldn’t let it go. I was like I don’t know what is happening, but it’s so cool.

I'm so happy that it was successful like that, and that people appreciated it because we spent so much time making it that perfect. I'm so glad that it was worth it. It doesn't really matter how big it got, or how many streams it got because that will always be like a medal for me. It’s something I really take pride in and I'm so proud to have that album in my discography. It's such a good album, and it will always be that.

 Speaking of openness and fluidity, over the last year or so you took a big step and started to embrace your queer identity, at least publicly, for the first time. That’s definitely breaking down a barrier, does it feel good to be able to share this with fans?

I've always been completely honest. with who I am. It's just now I'm in a relationship with a woman and I think it's very cool that you don't have to come out, and like I said I hate being put in boxes, I have such a difficult time with labels for me. I understand that they've been so helpful for people, especially in the past, and it's important to have names for things to be able to talk about them. I really respect that. I think it's really amazing that I can come out on my social media and be like, ‘hey, this is my girlfriend’ and everybody's like, ‘oh my god, that's the most awesome thing ever’ and in a way, I feel like they’re just like relating to me more if they are queer and I think that's really cool.

I was on this panel, a while ago, where we were [discussing] LGBTQ+ experiences in the music industry. I was mainly like listening because this side of things, being openly queer, is new to me. It was really interesting to hear, some of the age differences were so big, some people have been out since the ‘70s. I was really taken by that, like, so many have fought for people like me to just be here now and be like, yeah, I don’t like discussing labels can’t we all just love people. I’m so, so grateful for that. So many people have put in that work for me to be able to be as free as I can.

I know things are still up in the air, but you must be planning what the live shows will be like in this era. Can we expect anything soon?

I'm playing something, but I can't tell you what it is yet. You know what I really wanna do? Like one-hit-wonders used to go, you go to a festival and perform your one hit like three times in a row. I wanna do that with “Mood Swings” so bad. Go with my full band and have amazing clothes, in character as the grey one, plain Jane, and do this huge intro that promises so much and then do the single. Then you go again, and people think you’re crazy, and then you do it one more time.

But drums are gonna happen. I used to hate drums because they're so hard to control, the sound of, in a space, they can take over. You know, me having been such a control freak, I didn't like that. But I've been loving them more and more. So that's gonna happen. And also like, I don't know, I just feel these songs since they're so different. There are so many different vibes. I think the shows are gonna be incredible. it's gonna be so much fun to play them”.

I reckon we will see a new album from Tove Styrke in 2022. She is an artist that I love, and feel is among the best around. Someone who has a long and busy future ahead, it is interesting listening to her albums and seeing how the music has evolved. I am ending with a playlist that collects some of the best songs from the amazing Swedish-born artist. It only takes a few songs to realise what an amazing talent…

TOVE Styrke is.

FEATURE: Taking It Back to the Start… Looking Ahead to Madonna at the BBC

FEATURE:

 

 

Taking It Back to the Start…

IN THIS PHOTO: Madonna in 1982/PHOTO CREDIT: Richard Corman 

Looking Ahead to Madonna at the BBC

___________

LATER tomorrow evening…

BBC Two is dedicating a series of programmes to Madonna. I am especially looking forward to Madonna at the BBC. It is a selection of Madonna’s performances at the BBC through the years. I was thinking of what to do to mark a special night focusing on the Queen of Pop. Instead of concentrating on her live performances or ranking her studio albums, I wanted to look back at her debut single. Next year, Everybody turns forty. Not many people know about Madonna’s first single, as people tend to look at the bigger hits like Holiday and Material Girl. The anniverssary is not until 8th October but, as the BBC is giving us a career-spanning spotlight of Madonna, I thought I would focus on a song that you do not hear much. Even in the low-budget video for Everybody, you can tell that Madonna was different to her peers. Shaping up to be a future star in 1982, this artist in her early-twenties was already looking ahead. Her eponymous debut album came out in 1983. I like Everybody, as it is a song that did not make a big chart impact. Written by Madonna and recorded at Sigma Sound Studios in New York, I think that Everybody is one of Madonna’s most underrated tracks. Although the Michigan-born artist knew that she would be a big name, I wonder how many people listening to Madonna’s debut single in 1982 realised it. It wouldn’t be long until her debut album came out and more eyes were starting to turn her way!

Prior to moving along, there is a Wikipedia article where we learn some reception and reaction to one of the most important Pop debut singles:

“Author Rikky Rooksby, in his book The Complete Guide to the Music of Madonna, noted that the song closed the Madonna album on a flat note. He called the music artificial, repetitive and uninspired. Don Shewey from Rolling Stone commented that "At first, it ["Everybody"] doesn't sound like much at all. Then you notice its one distinguishing feature, a girlish hiccup that the singer uses over and over until it's irritating as hell. Finally, you get hooked, and you start looking forward to that silly little catch in her voice." Author J. Randy Taraborrelli in his biography on Madonna commented that the song was a rhythmic call to party.

Author Santiago Fouz-Hernández in his book Madonna's Drowned Worlds, complimented the chorus of the song, saying that "Everybody" and "Music" are the two Madonna singles which define her artistic credo – that music has the power to overcome divisions of race, gender, and sexuality. Matthew Lindsay of The Quietus praised the song, calling it "spectacular" and "hard to resist." Lindsay added "with its breathy spoken word passages and invitation to dance, Madonna's debut single was a template that would be revisited throughout her career.” In 2012 Louis Virtel of The Backlot listed "Everybody" at number two on his list of "100 Greatest Madonna Songs," commenting that the song is an example of Madonna's undeniable talents. Virtel goes on to say through the song Madonna shows she is "a commander, the Baryshnikov of pop chutzpah, and a rightful disco empress." In 2006, Slant Magazine ranked as the 18th greatest dance song of all time”.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Madonna in 1982/PHOTO CREDIT: Richard Corman

I know that there is a Madonna biopic in the offing that Madonna is directing and co-wrote. I wonder whether she is going to go back to 1982 and the years before when she was heading to New York and making her first moves. It seems that, with her debut single, there wasn’t huge belief that she would make it. In 2015, Rhino discussed the mixed reaction to Everybody:

“33 years ago today, a certain Material Girl released her debut single on Sire Records, and now “Everybody” knows her name. (Did you see what we did there?)

Even before Madonna was anybody, she walked around New York with the attitude that she was somebody, perhaps hoping that it was only a matter of convincing everyone else. Having written and recorded a handful of songs, she carried around her rough tapes in hopes of being able to catch a break, which is what happened the night she convinced the DJ at Danceteria - a gentleman by the name of Mark Kamins - to play one of those songs: “Everybody.” Its reception was sufficient for him to decide to try and help Madonna get a record deal, and although he struck out on his first try - Chris Blackwell of Island Records declined to sign her - he came up a winner at Sire Records which signed her for a two-song deal.

IN THIS PHOTO: Madonna in 1982/PHOTO CREDIT: Laura Levine

As it happens, label exec Michael Rosenblatt was underwhelmed by what he heard of “Everybody” and changed it to a one-song deal, and even at that, the artwork for the single pointedly showed no picture of Madonna, providing the label with the opportunity to promote the soulful track to R&B radio. That's right: the woman whose visage was one of the most identifiable images of the '80s wasn't even shown on the cover of her own debut single. Even more surprisingly, the song wasn't a pop hit, but it did hit #3 on the Dance Singles chart, and the video secured a certain amount of airplay, positioning Madonna to begin her breakthrough in earnest when she released “Burning Up” a few months later”.

Without Madonna on the single cover and with little kudos in terms of the mainstream charts, other artists might have faded and have been forgotten. As it was, Madonna had the tenacity and talent to fast become one of the most important artists of her time. Listening back almost forty years after her debut single was released, Everybody is a fantastic and fun song that ranks alongside her very best. I might seem a little dated now, though one can sense in the song an artist who wanted to separate herself from the crowd and keep going. Luckily there was a demand for her music! I wonder if Madonna herself thinks back to 1982 and a year when Pop music would change. As the BBC is dedicating a big chunk of their schedule to the amazing and legendary Madonna, I wanted to head back to the song that started everything. It is a minor hit in her cannon, though it is a song that started a spark that would soon turn…

INTO a wildfire.

FEATURE: You Have Been Loved: Remembering the Great George Michael

FEATURE:

 

 

You Have Been Loved

IN THIS PHOTO: George Michael in 1987/PHOTO CREDIT: Michael Putland/Getty Images 

Remembering the Great George Michael

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IT is bittersweet hearing Wham! and Last Christmas…

because George Michael died on Christmas Day in 2016. Such a Christmas favourite, we will remember five years since his death on 25th December. I am going to put out an ultimate George Michael collection in a playlist, as he is one of the greatest artists who ever lived. Very soon, George Michael is being honoured by the BBC. This year marks forty years since Wham! formed, so people are being asked to choose their favourite George Michael song. This article explains more:

“BBC Radio 2 is calling on listeners to vote for their favourite George Michael song, to mark the 40th anniversary of his entry into the music industry with the formation of Wham! in 1981. The final top 40 of George Michael favourites will be played on a three hour show presented by Claudia Winkleman on New Year’s Day.

“As well as being an amazing performer, George’s songwriting was a thing of beauty”, says Winkleman. “From love to heartbreak, joy to sadness, there’s a song from his extensive catalogue to suit every mood and emotional need”.

Head Of Music at Radio 2, Jeff Smith, adds: “George Michael is one of Radio 2 listeners’ most loved artists. He was a master lyricist and composer and his music, from the early hits with Wham! in the early 80s through to his later work, continue to have a timeless appeal”.

Two more Michael-focussed shows will be broadcast on Radio 2 on 1-2 Jan, ‘George Michael – Older At 25’ and ‘George Michael At The BBC”.

Before coming onto the playlist, I want to source AllMusic, as they provide a detailed biography about the sensational and much-missed George Michael and his career rise:

“George Michael was the biggest British pop star of the 1980s, spinning a series of infectiously catchy pop singles into global stardom that saw him sell over 100 million albums worldwide. Blessed with a fine voice and a knack for writing engaging melodies that worked well with dance-friendly rhythms, Michael became the rare teen sensation who matured into a respected star as an adult.

Michael was born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou on June 25, 1963 in the North London suburb of East Finchley; his father was a Greek Cypriot restaurant owner who changed his name from Kyriacos Panayiotou to Jack Michael when he immigrated to England in the 1950s. Michael's family relocated to Bushey, Hertfordshire when he was in his early teens, and he struck up a friendship with one of his new schoolmates, Andrew Ridgeley. Both Michael and Ridgeley were interested in music, and in 1979 they formed a ska band called the Executive; the group didn't go far, but it gave them a taste for the spotlight, so they took what they learned and in 1981 formed a pop duo called Wham! The early Wham! demos impressed executives at Innervision, an independent record label that signed the group to a contract. By 1982, Wham! had hit the U.K. pop charts with "Wham Rap" and "Young Guns (Go for It)," and scored an American record deal with Columbia.

Michael and Ridgeley soon discovered how unfavorable their deal with Innervision was, though, and they opted out of their contract by forfeiting all future royalties on material from their first album, Fantastic, to sign with Sony worldwide. The choice proved to be shrewd; Wham!'s second album, 1984's Make It Big, transformed them from British hitmakers to a genuine international sensation, as "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go," "Everything She Wants," "Careless Whisper," and "Freedom" became wildly successful in the U.K., Europe, and the United States. Wham! soon became one of the biggest new acts of the era, and in 1985 they became the first Western pop group to tour the People's Republic of China. But Michael displayed an ambition that went beyond Wham!'s new success, and the "Careless Whisper" single was released with the credit "Wham! Featuring George Michael," setting the stage for him to strike out on his own. In 1986, after Michael had released a proper solo single, "A Different Corner," Wham! announced their breakup and said farewell to their fans with a sold-out concert at London's Wembley Stadium.

Michael wasted no time making his mark, releasing his first solo album, Faith, in 1987. He produced and arranged the album, as well as writing the songs, and it managed to top Wham!'s phenomenal success, spawning a series of major hit singles (including "I Want Your Sex," "Father Figure," "Kissing a Fool," and the title track) and selling over 20 million copies worldwide. Michael promoted the album with a series of stylish, sexy music videos and a concert tour that found him playing 137 shows over the space of 16 months. Faith left no doubt that Michael was one of the new icons of pop music, and after recording successful duets with Elton John ("Wrap It Up" and "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me") and Aretha Franklin ("I Knew You Were There [Waiting for Me]"), he proved he had the respect of veteran acts as well as younger audiences.

However, Michael felt reined in by his image as a pop singer, and after taking a break, he released Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1 in 1990, a set that was noticeably more somber, sophisticated, and personal than his previous work. Presumably to put the focus on his music rather than his image, Michael refused to appear in any music videos for the album and declined to tour in support; the album fared well commercially, but not as well as Faith, and Michael began expressing dissatisfaction with Sony, declaring his contract was financially inequitable and creatively stifling. Michael sued Sony to end his contract, leading to a long and costly legal battle that ended in 1995, with Michael signing to the newly launched DreamWorks Records label in the United States and Virgin in the rest of the world. (During the interim, Michael released a live EP that included material he performed with the surviving members of Queen at the 1992 Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert.) In 1996, Michael finally released his third solo effort, Older, which followed in the more contemplative vein of Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1. While the album went platinum in the United States, it was considered a commercial disappointment considering the success of Michael's previous work, though it fared better in Europe and the U.K.

In 1998, Michael released Ladies and Gentlemen: The Best of George Michael, a two-disc anthology that featured solo material as well as recordings with Wham! It also included a new song, "Outside"; the song and its video were created in response to a widely publicized incident in which Michael was arrested by an undercover officer in Los Angeles for "performing a lewd act" in a public restroom. After the arrest made headlines, Michael publicly acknowledged his homosexuality, and in time it was revealed that the song "Jesus to a Child" from Older was written in tribute to his late partner Anselmo Feleppa, who died of AIDS-related illnesses in 1993. In 1999, Michael released an album of covers, Songs from the Last Century, which was released worldwide by Virgin after Michael parted ways with DreamWorks.

In 2002, Michael signed a new record deal with Polydor and released the single "Freeek," with a new album expected to follow. However, the subsequent full-length release, Patience, didn't arrive until 2004, and in a surprising move, it was issued not by Polydor, but the Sony-affiliated Epic label after Michael returned to the company he'd left nine years earlier. He told journalists that he expected it to be his final commercially released album, adding he hoped to release future material online, with any proceeds going to charity. A second two-disc collection, Twenty-Five, was issued in 2008 and Michael soon launched the Twenty-Five tour, playing North America for the first time in 17 years. Over the next five years, Michael toured regularly, starting the Symphonica tour in 2011. An orchestral pop show, it was captured on record by producer Phil Ramone, although Ramone died before the album could be released. Michael completed the album and issued it under the title Symphonica in March 2014; it reached number one in the U.K. and number 60 in the U.S. His next project was a documentary, Freedom, plus the announcement that he was working on new recordings, but he died before anything was released, succumbing to heart failure on Christmas Day in 2016.

The first posthumous George Michael project was an expanded 2017 reissue of Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1, which also featured his 1996 appearance on MTV Unplugged. In 2019, a romantic comedy called Last Christmas featured a selection of songs by Michael and Wham!, including the previously unreleased "This Is How (We Want You to Get High)”.

Nearly five years after the world lost one of its brightest stars, we remember George Michael and the enormous impact he made on the music industry. A stunning singer and one of the greatest songwriters, hearing his music keeps his memory alive. Even though George Michael died in 2016, it is clear thar his…

MEMORY will never fade.

FEATURE: Kate Bush: The Iconic Shots: ‘Into the Habit’, Brian Griffin (1983)

FEATURE:

 

 

Kate Bush: The Iconic Shots

PHOTO CREDIT: Brian Griffin 

‘Into the Habit’, Brian Griffin (1983)

___________

IN 1983…

Brian Griffin took a series of Kate Bush photos. You can see them on his website. Bush had seen his cover for Depeche Mode’s A Broken Frame, and she wanted something similar. That album was released the year before. Griffin notes, in his recollections of the photos, that the shots were taken near his home in Frieth, Buckinghamshire. That would not have been too far from where Bush lived, so the idea of doing an interesting shoot so close would have won her quickly. The fact that she had a vision in mind would have given Brian Griffin impetus and inspiration. The final shots are incredible! Although my favourite is one of her in colour, the shot I am highlighting is Griffin’s personal favourite. A gorgeous and almost classic black-and-white shot, this is Bush as you had never seen her. In the early years, Bush was portrayed as sexual and that element was emphasised. As a nun, this was almost a commentary and reversal of that. There is no particular title for the photos, so I have chosen one. It is wonderful seeing Bush in this guide, looking comfortable and serious. It is clear that she was very much into the idea and, as a result, the photos produced were among the best of her. Bush was driven to Griffin’s location. He said how Bush was waiting on the basement at 6:30 one morning on the pavement outside of his studio in Rotherhithe Street. Being so close to where Bush lived (she would have split her time between South London and her family home in Kent). In 1983, Bush was emerging into a new phase.

She released her fourth studio album, The Dreaming, in 1982. The first album of hers she produced solo, the work and intense time she put into its layers, experimentation and sound took a lot out of her. She was exhausted after it, and the long days meant that she did not have much leisure time or opportunity to eat healthily. In 1983, she overhauled her diet, reconnected with dance, allowed herself some time with family and her boyfriend (Del Palmer) to just be normal and unwind. She built a bespoke and huge studio near her family home at East Wickham Farm, Welling. Bush began demos and the workings for what would be 1985’s Hounds of Love. 1983 was a pivotal year where Bush’s music and happiness took a step up. She was preparing her most-acclaimed album and accomplished album. The fact that she was in a better position and looking ahead might have led to her being very responsive and interested working with Griffin. In terms of promotion, there was not a lot out that Bush would have needed to be photographed for. She released The Single File (a video compilation and box set) in November. The same month, she released the last single from The Dreaming, Night of the Swallow (only released in Ireland). Brian Griffin was struck by Kate Bush’s beauty and talent. It must have been exciting but nerve-wracking composing these shots and trying to make them as good as possible!

 PHOTO CREDIT: Brian Griffin

I am picturing the scenes of Bush dressing as a nun and where that happened! Being in a field, there would have been very few people near, so it was a fairly intimate shoot. Usually, Bush would be in a studio or surrounded by people when getting photographed. Here, there was a bit more room to manoeuvre and not feel self-conscious. The actions and physicality of the shots shows that Bush was taking up dance again and was also seemingly refreshed and reinvigorated. Sometimes, when artists do dress as religious figures or as a nun, it can cause offence. 1983 was a time when Madonna was breaking through. She is someone who would both inspire and cause offence with some of her imagery. I wonder whether she saw Brian Griffin’s photos or knew about Kate Bush in 1983. In any case, what we have is a series of six photos that cast Bush as a nun. Remarkably striking and compelling, this is a shoot that I would have loved to have observed! Almost forty years after they were taken, they have not aged or look like they were shot in the 1980s. By that, there is none of the big hair and ‘80s fashion. Instead, this is more like a work of art of something from a film. That is another reason why I love the photos. I can see why Brian Griffin was particularly keen on the shot at the very top. It is beautifully lit. Bush has this expression on her face where you wonder if she is deep in thought or listening out for something.

Why is she in a cornfield? Why would a nun be there? You get all this mystery and sense of intrigue. It is a shame that none of the photos made their way onto an album cover or anything from Bush. Maybe she was thinking of these photos when she was recording Hounds of Love. It would have been interesting seeing a video where Bush portrayed this nun figure and we got some context around the shot – maybe action that took Bush there as she was on the run or searching for something. One of my favourite shots of Kate Bush, this 1983 session has such an interesting story and context. Seemingly not related to any pressure from her label, EMI, maybe it was a way for Bush to stay in the public eye or to announce the bones of what would become her fifth studio album. Whatever the reasoning, what we have are exceptional and hugely memorable shots. Brian Griffin’s notes and words about the shots shows what an impression Kate Bush made on him. This, I feel, is…

THE experience of so many.

FEATURE: A Buyer’s Guide: Part Eighty-Five: Aimee Mann

FEATURE:

 

 

A Buyer’s Guide

Part Eighty-Five: Aimee Mann

___________

IN this outing…

of A Buyer’s Guide, I am recommending the best work of Aimee Mann. She is a Virginia-born artist who released her tenth studio album, Queens of the Summer Hotel, in November. A remarkable and intelligent songwriter, I am keen to explore her work. Prior to that, here is some biography from AllMusic:

“A singer/songwriter of perceptive intelligence who possesses a refined sense of craft, Aimee Mann sustained a long, successful career that ran from the twilight of new wave until the height of adult alternative pop. Mann first came to prominence as the leader of 'Til Tuesday, a stylish pop outfit who had a Top Ten hit with "Voices Carry" in 1985. 'Til Tuesday didn't manage to score a second big hit, but by their last album, Everything's Different Now, in 1988, Mann was collaborating with Jules Shear and Elvis Costello, a sign of how respected she was by her songwriting peers. Mann launched her solo career in 1993 with Whatever, landing an alternative rock hit with "I Should've Known," but it was its 1995 sequel, I'm with Stupid," that was instrumental in building the loyal audience that would stick with her through the decades. Mann consolidated that cult success with her soundtrack to Paul Thomas Anderson's 1999 epic Magnolia, work that led to an Academy Award nomination for Best Song for "Save Me." Bachelor No. 2 or, the Last Remains of the Dodo arrived in its wake, the first of many albums she released on her indie label SuperEgo. Mann's consistency -- every few years, she'd release a new set of originals -- overshadowed her artistic hunger, as she complemented her regular albums by appearing in films, collaborating with Ted Leo in the Both, and working in musical theater, including writing music for a musical adaptation of Girl, Interrupted that turned into her 2021 album, Queen of the Summer Hotel.

Mann led 'Til Tuesday from 1983 through 1990. Her first solo album, Whatever, was a more introspective, folk-tinged effort than 'Til Tuesday's records, and received positive reviews upon its release in the summer of 1993. The album was a modest hit, spending seven weeks on the American charts, where it peaked at 127.

Early in 1995, Mann had a minor hit with "That's Just What You Are," a song included on the soundtrack to the television series Melrose Place. Following the success of the single, Mann was set to release her second solo album in the first half of 1995, but her record label, Imago, filed for bankruptcy before its release. She signed a contract with Reprise Records after Imago went under, but Imago prevented her from releasing any records. For most of 1995, Mann battled Imago in an attempt to free herself from the label, eventually winning her independence at the end of the year. After her dispute with Imago was settled, she signed with DGC Records. Mann's second album, I'm with Stupid, was released in England in late 1995 and in January of 1996 in America. Again, it was greeted with positive reviews yet weak sales.

Mann's career got a kick-start in early 2000, however, when she released her soundtrack for the critically acclaimed film Magnolia; the song "Save Me" was later nominated for an Academy Award. Originally available only at live dates, the solo Bachelor No. 2 received a national release in May. In mid-2002, Mann returned to the forefront with the self-released Lost in Space.

Late 2004 saw the release of Live at St. Ann's Warehouse, a CD/DVD package recorded during her summer tour. It was followed in 2006 by the critically acclaimed Forgotten Arm, a concept album built around the return from Vietnam of a drug-addicted boxer. Mann released a collection of Christmas songs called One More Drifter in the Snow in 2006. @#%&! Smilers followed in 2008.

Mann spent the next few years working on adapting The Forgotten Arm into a musical, a project that was ultimately abandoned. She remained in the spotlight through semi-regular concerts and a memorable cameo on the IFC comedy series Portlandia before finally returning in September 2012 with Charmer, her first album in four years. In 2013, Mann started performing with Ted Leo in a project that was eventually named Both; the duo released an album, also called Both, in 2014. Following that, Mann turned her attention to her ninth solo album, recording the deliberately slow and sad Mental Illness with producer Paul Bryan. The record appeared in March 2017.

In 2018, Mann began working on a musical adaptation of Girl, Interrupted, the 1993 memoir from Susanna Kaysen that turned into a 1999 film starring Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie. By 2021, the musical had yet to appear, but Mann recorded her songs for 2021's Queens of the Summer Hotel, which was produced by Paul Bryan”.

If you have not heard of Aimee Mann or are slightly new to her work, this A Buyer’s Guide highlights the four essential studio albums, the underrated gem, and her latest release. There is also an interesting book that makes for useful reference. Here is my guide to the best work…

OF the incredible Aimee Mann.

_______________

The Four Essential Albums

 

Whatever

Release Date: 11th May, 1993

Labels: Imago Records (original release)/Geffen (reissue)

Producers: Tony Berg/Jon Brion/Michael Hausman/Aimee Mann

Standout Tracks: I Should've Known/4th of July/Stupid Thing

Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=88957&ev=mb

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/2V6NgriUw7DSFLceZjp0xM?si=SZdwA_luTMuwD8GfitBxDQ

Review:

“On her solo debut Whatever, the former vocalist for Til Tuesday cements her position as a center-stage artist and top-notch songwriter, and Aimee Mann's blend of wit, smarts, cynicism, and downright humability make for a wonderfully pleasing collection of catchy songs. Musically, the jangle-pop feel of Whatever harkens back to the Beatles and the Byrds but without forsaking its contemporary origin. Lyrically, it is often hard to know whether Mann is spilling her guts out over a love or a deal gone bad. In fact, it is often a combination. But the seamless ease with which she tells the tales, moving from her head to her heart and back again, exposes her mighty talent. Teaming with some of her former bandmates, including longtime collaborator Jon Brion, gives Mann a comfort and a sure footing from which to climb and stretch, which she does with certainty. "I Should've Known," "Could've Been Anyone," and "Say Anything" get the heads bobbing, while the more somber "4th of July" and "Stupid Thing" will beckon forth even the loneliest of hankies. And how many artists pay tribute to Charles Dickens? (Witness "Jacob Marley's Chain.") Talk about literate songwriters and you have to speak of Aimee Mann. The dismissive tone of the title belies the time that was put into this album, for even after its recording, it took Mann quite a long while to find a home. Initially released on Imago Records, Whatever was later reissued by Geffen Records” – AllMusic

Choice Cut: Jacob Marley's Chain

I'm with Stupid

Release Date: November 1995

Label: Geffen

Producer: Jon Brion

Standout Tracks: Choice in the Matter/Par for the Course/That’s Just What You Are

Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=107203&ev=mb

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/0N3PbNuwko4aAMnJ19W3iM?si=r0YhSnXkRWKyDPxpPoPonQ

Review:

“Most of the folks who’ve worn a T-shirt with the deathlessly popular slogan ”I’m With Stupid” over the years were, presumably, kidding. Aimee Mann, who borrows it for her new album title, isn’t. If you never got past the former ‘Til Tuesday leader’s deceptive porcelain looks and pretty, disaffected murmur to discover the misanthrope within, you may be shocked at just how vitriolically well I’m With Stupid lives up to its promising title. She administers scoldings to ex-boyfriends, ex-record labels, and other alleged nincompoops with a degree of indignation Alanis Morissette probably has yet to imagine in her young life. Yet, for the liberal amount of times Mann resorts to the F-word while raking these rakes over the coals, she remains one of rock’s most elegantly gifted melodic and lyrical writers, with a well-attuned psychological acuity to her catchy kiss-offs that any angry young woman would envy. Bitterness, regret, and recrimination never sounded any sweeter, or smarter.

Mann’s first solo album, 1993’s cult-attracting Whatever, was an odd, frequently brilliant mix of buoyant Beatles-isms and weary post-breakup resignation. I’m With Stupid is a consistently tougher number, employing fewer fab flourishes in favor of a big, cranky, buzzing bottom end that anchors her broadsides closer to the gut whence they hail. And she sounds prouder as well as louder. In tender moments she might own up to her own codependent culpability in these quagmires (”And all that stuff I knew before/Just turned into ‘Please love me more,’ ” she admits in an unusually vulnerable couplet). Mostly, though, Mann is the model of resilience, blaming it on the other guy and — as in ”That’s Just What You Are,” where an ex’s lazy declaration of independence is deftly turned back into an insult — making a damn good case why. Hail the once and future queen of kiss-and-tell-off” – Entertainment Weekly

Choice Cut: Long Shot

Bachelor No. 2 or, the Last Remains of the Dodo

Release Date: 2nd May, 2000

Labels: SuperEgo/V2

Producers: Jon Brion/Mike Denneen/Buddy Judge/Aimee Mann/Brendan O'Brien

Standout Tracks: Nothing Is Good Enough/Red Vines/Driving Sideways

Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=107206&ev=mb

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/2oAh7vprZx8iSqoyNxQASX?si=HLZuvLSAT9KRoGq849eYbA

Review:

“Mann has said that Bachelor No. 2 could’ve come out as early as 1998, but a combination of label gridlock and the marketing cycle around Magnolia, whose soundtrack hit stores just before the film’s December 1999 theatrical debut, delayed its release until the following May. In the meantime, on tour, an impatient Mann sold homemade EPs of her new music, in what she has characterized as a “real DIY fuck-you-record-company-I’m-selling-it-myself” gesture. And after the no-confidence vote from Iovine, she bought back her masters from Interscope, founded the label SuperEgo, and put out Bachelor No. 2 on her own. That courageous move presaged a future where artists with dedicated fan bases wouldn’t need corporate middlemen to access them.

With a boost in name recognition from Magnolia and the Oscars, sales of the album soared past 200,000—easily outperforming I’m With Stupid. (This was an especially decisive victory for Mann: In 1999, then-Sony VP Gail Marowitz had told the Times that “if Aimee sold 70,000 records independently, she would be making more money than if she sold 300,000 on a major label.”) It was in collaborating with Anderson on a movie that eventually played in more than 1,000 theaters that Mann finally found a wider audience primed to appreciate her pithy, disenchanted songs.

Largo’s is the rare story of a small, independently owned music venue that has a happy ending. Flanagan and friends left the original venue for a larger one, Largo at the Coronet, in 2008. Eleven years later, Brion maintains a monthly Friday-night residency, and in December, Mann and Ted Leo are scheduled to play three nights of Christmas shows. “For a while there,” Mann once said, “I was actually going to call the record Underdog Day.” Bachelor No. 2 or, the Last Remains of the Dodo probably makes a grander, more elegant name for a contemporary classic. But the alternate title certainly would have fit” – Pitchfork

Choice Cut: Calling It Quits

Mental Illness

Release Date: 31st March, 2017

Label: SuperEgo

Producer: Paul Bryan

Standout Tracks: Lies of Summer/Patient Zero/Knock It Off

Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=1158451&ev=mb

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/1YRaL8DFmYsu52szGJWO9t?si=JXNuPtXmTJWVvZCl_1jgqg

Review:

“Slyly referencing the perceived fragility of the melancholic singer-songwriter with the title of her new solo album – her ninth – Aimee Mann is making a relevant point: falling in love, falling out of love, being with someone, being alone, can drive some people seriously demented.

Mann has been a solo chronicler of such altered states since her 1993 debut, Whatever, yet she takes it up a notch here with her strongest collection of songs since 2000’s Bachelor No. 2. This time around – sensing, perhaps, that her precise, character-driven lyrics required extra sensitivity – Mann replaces pop/rock crunch with the warmest of Laurel Canyon acoustics.

The results are silky earworms of the highest order, with Mann admirably making solitude and sadness entities that should be inhabited instead of spurned” – The Irish Times

Choice Cut: Goose Snow Cone

The Underrated Gem

 

Charmer

Release Date: 17th September, 2012

Label: SuperEgo

Producer: Paul Bryan

Standout Tracks: Labrador/Soon Enough/Gamma Ray

Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=473855&ev=mb

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/0FAifNXe3C8AHqTe25ggcg?si=4mJzqMArTTWHiFiyf8qgoQ

Review:

“On first listen, Charmer plays like Mann’s most superficial outing. It’s certainly her breeziest, least thorniest and easiest to swallow. Yet closer inspection reveals this to be a thematically unified collection of songs exploring superficiality in all its guises. Against a polished backdrop, Mann acerbically dissects vanity, physical beauty, and social status in track after track, as the characters that populate the album use their appearances and reputations to manipulate and barter their ways through life. The charmer of the title track is ruled by self-hatred and hidden agendas, a friend amicable enough to earn the nickname “Gumby” is actually a wayward father and on “Labrador,” a callous lover makes a pet of the narrator.

Mann has chosen to score her words with music that borrows from Harry Nilsson, Fleetwood Mac’s mid-‘70s work, and Joni Mitchell’s hit singles – in short, intelligent yet radio-ready masterstrokes of studio craft that cloaked insightfully cynical messages in primary colored pop bouquets. The trouble here is, while Mann’s words often sting, Charmer is stuck in a sort of sonic purgatory that’s competently, unadventurously spacey and twangy.

For the album to be a total success, its broad strokes would have to be the kinds that burn themselves into listeners’ memories. Unfortunately, Mann lacks the sort of extroverted dynamism to sell material this compact and direct. Problematically, the songs also frequently fail to slowly worm their way into your subconscious in the expected ways. The album lacks the unassuming, artisanal quality that’s always been so integral to the singer’s work, even during her most accessible moments. At Charmer’s lowest points, she almost seems to be tempering her edge and wit to be congruent with the innocuous arrangements, as on the surprisingly dim “A girl who lives in crazytown/Where craziness gets handed down” chorus of the overly slick “Crazytown.”

Charmer is at its finest during the most subdued, quietly detailed stretches, which veer closer to what we’ve heard from Mann on past efforts. While “Slip And Roll” finds her reverting back to the boxing fascination that was so apparent on The Forgotten Arm, the song’s unadorned yet careful composition makes it a highlight, while the bouncy but haunting “Soon Enough” favorably recalls Mann’s collaborations with Jim O’Rourke.

Likewise, the less varnished, James Mercer-assisted “Live A Lie” is a looser detour, a touch earthier than the songs that surround it, though still tuneful and in keeping with Charmer’s core lyrical concerns. “You can see yourself in the side mirror/Tossing your hair/If no one is there/Then why do you care?” wonders the Shins’ frontman as he begins to trade barbs with Mann, none sharper than the latter singer’s piercingly offhand “No one bares a grudge like a boy genius/Just past his prime/Gilding his cage a bar at a time.”

With such winning moments, it’s hard not to wonder what kind of album Charmer could have been had Mann spent more of the record in her comfort zone, admirable as her will to toy with vibrant, synth-dominated arrangements is” – American Songwriter

Choice Cut: Charmer

The Latest Album

 

Queens of the Summer Hotel

Release Date: 5th November, 2021

Label: SuperEgo

Producer: Scott Bryan

Standout Tracks: Give Me Fifteen/Burn It Out/I See You

Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/release/20865229?ev=rb

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/7b9VCvOsMz0N4oFD9YUgHo?si=yg_HvbtxTEeaRh_1gd8U0A

Review:

“Despite the heavy subject matter—and arrangements largely hewing to piano, strings, and acoustic guitar, with the occasional horns and drums—Mann often counterposes lighter melodies and rhythms with the downbeat material. It’s a trick she’s often employed (think “Nothing Is Good Enough” off of Bachelor No. 2), and it works again here, as the bleak lyricism of “Robert Lowell and Sylvia Plath” employs a gently loping waltz. Even more effective is “Give Me Fifteen,” a song that details the danger inherent in a misogynistic ’60s medical process, with its doctor breezily announcing, “In the time it takes to walk around the block / I can have you scheduled for electroshock.” The musical accompaniment to this darkness? A bouncy rhythm and hooky melodies, not unlike her cover of “One” from the Magnolia soundtrack.

In some ways, the imposition of shorter song lengths necessitated by the musical format juices her songs, lending a Guided By Voices-like sense of get-in-and-get-out brevity, leaving the listener wanting more. “Home By Now” and “Little Chameleon,” with their simple piano intros and drawn-out strings, both come in well under the two-minute mark, but are all the more impactful for it. And “You Could Have Been A Roosevelt,” a Beatles-esque composition, barely crosses that time threshold, yet is stunning—not just one of the best tracks on the record, but able to hold its own against her finest work.

The overall vibe created by the record, though, is mellow, with swaying rhythms and quiet compositions that take advantage of her talent for softer, low-register delivery. Opener “You Fall” sets the tone well, with her backing vocals and brushed drums establishing a vibe apropos for a smoky lounge, maybe even from the era in question. And the one-two punch of mid-album tracks “You Don’t Have The Room” and “Suicide Is Murder” make for a musical and thematic core to the record, the former a mournful rejoinder blended with elegantly swooning strings and the latter an aching ballad of regret, but both containing her not-quite-staccato piano playing opening up into something grander.

The most stage-indebted of the numbers do come with a slight asterisk, however. “At The Frick Museum,” with its sing-song melody and repetition, feels like it’s meant to be heard in an off-Broadway setting, and “12 In Mexico,” with its 3/4 stroll and declamatory statements about “I’m the crazy one they can point to,” doesn’t quite pop on its own. Between those and the “Check” reprise, some instrumentation comes across a little too much like filler.

But even with a few forgettable numbers, Queens Of The Summer Hotel makes an impact. No knowledge of its origin story in a theatrical production is needed to make these narratives of longing and tragedy sing, just as no electric guitar is required to showcase Mann’s ace knack for songwriting. It may fall on the more mellow and restrained side of her catalogue, but this is a record to be savored—mining beauty (and yes, some humor) from pain is an Aimee Mann specialty, and this record serves as further testament to that fact. It’s been nearly four decades since she founded ’Til Tuesday, but the musician has never sounded more confident” – The A.V. Club

Choice Cut: Suicide Is Murder

The Aimee Mann Book

 

Aimee Mann On Track: Every Album, Every Song (On Track)

Author: Jez Rowden

Publication Date: 1st April, 2021

Publisher: Sonicbond

Synopsis:

“Any consideration of the song writing craft would be incomplete without the inclusion of American singer/songwriter Aimee Mann. From her first steps as singer and bass player with '80s synth pop band 'Til Tuesday, who scored a massive MTV hit with 'Voices Carry' in 1985, she has continually produced starkly autobiographical and often ironically melodic songs that cut through the emotional detail. With a career now spanning almost forty years, she has built a catalogue of nine studio albums since going solo in the early 1990s and, via a series of record label frustrations, has developed into a fiercely independent recording artist, flying outside the mainstream. Her critical acclaim has never wavered, and whilst happy to work in a niche market, her soundtrack for the film Magnolia and the accompanying Oscar nomination raised her profile considerably, adding to her stalwart army of fans. This book gives an overview of Aimee Mann's career from her earliest days, making it big with 'Til Tuesday and onward through her solo career to date, investigating every recorded track in a comprehensive guide for fans and new listeners keen to investigate a true original and double Grammy winner whose songs should be much more widely recognised” – Amazon.co.uk

Order: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Aimee-Mann-Track-Every-Album/dp/1789520363/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=aimee+mann&qid=1638955981&s=books&sr=1-1

FEATURE: Second Spin: She & Him - Volume 3

FEATURE:

 

 

Second Spin

She & Him - Volume 3

___________

PERHAPS a new name…

on this blog, She & Him is a collaboration between M. Ward and actor Zooey Deschanel. They have released a series of albums (the latest, Christmas Party, came out in 2016). One of my favourite albums of theirs, Volume 3, was released in 2013. It contains three cover songs and eleven tracks written by Deschanel. The chemistry between Deschanel and Ward is terrific. I love Deschanel as a songwriter and singer. Volume 3 got a lot of positive reviews, though there were a few that were more mixed. I am going to bring in a couple of contrasting reviews. I think that it is an album full of joyfulness, nostalgia, breeziness and terrific simplicity. Songs like Never Wanted Your Love are instantly memorable and likeable. One does not hear too many songs from She & Him on the radio. I do wonder if we will get another studio album from the duo. Maybe not their most celebrated album, Volume 3 has a lot to recommend and love. I do not feel there is a weak song on the album. In a more mixed review, this is what Sputnikmusic had to say:

“It’s hard to tell whether She & Him have moved past the point of novelty or remain tarnished by it. On the one hand, the group’s collection of records has had nary a “bad” song on it. Forgettable, at times? Yes. Uninspiring, at others? Almost certainly, but throughout Volume One and Volume Two and now Volume Three the pair have maintained a reliable pop professionalism that has occasionally created sparks of black-and-white brilliance, an unerring portrait of a time when “I could’ve been your girl / you could’ve been my four-leaf clover,” was all that was needed for one starry-eyed girl to tell the heartbreaker in his varsity jacket.

Few artists have recreated (and, arguably, mastered) a specific sound as lovingly as She & Him. The playful pop instincts of the Beach Boys rub shoulders with the wistfulness of ‘60s girl groups; doo-wop meshes imperceptibly with Brill Building melodies and hints of Nancy Sinatra sass; sweeping Phil Spector symphonics unfurl like a velvety blanket next to carefree fingerpicking and aw-shucks guitar pop. At their best, She & Him transport you to somewhere else, where Zooey Deschanel isn’t a star and M. Ward is just the man behind the curtain, another in a long line of faceless studio hired hands. It’s a place where the magic is in the simplicity of the songs and the everyday romance they conjure, effortlessly and innocently. But, shit – a Christmas album? And now Volume Three, a record so tightly and painstakingly circumscribed by its period sounds and M. Ward’s polite production that it loses any mild sense of personality She & Him have managed to acquire in the past few years, just at a time when Deschanel should be staking her own artistic identity loudly and firmly.

Here, M. Ward indeed becomes that man behind the curtain, his signature blues touch only a faint whisper among the carefully manicured jazz inflections and retro indie pop tailor-made for a summer Sunday – preferably spent down at the local soda fountain. When things are spiced up, as on the faux-disco of “Together” or on the rumbling cover of Blondie’s “Sunday Girl,” it barely registers a notch above the rest of Volume Three’s flawlessly produced, entirely inoffensive sounds, lest Ward disturb the neighbors. Previous records reveled in these same sounds, true, yet they did it with some vigor, a certain punchiness and spice that kept them bouncing around in your head far longer than they rightfully should have.

Volume Three prefers to keep the focus on Deschanel, and while the melodies remain, they too often seem like just another part of the tapestry, not the selling point. Yet where Volume Three might have been picked up accordingly by a more prominent performance by Deschanel, the singer remains just as suppressed by the strict adherence to this genre exercise as Ward. Deschanel has never had trouble sounding wounded, but her voice here rarely jumps out at you – she prefers to just play the role rather than live it. Even when she’s obviously having fun, as she does on the whimsical “Sunday Girl” or the quintessential torch song (“Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me”), it inevitably feels rote, a meticulous tastefulness that is pretty and nostalgic, yet largely uninteresting.

It’s unclear whether this is a result of Ward’s unusually subdued production or Deschanel’s own limitations as a songwriter, but this is where She & Him’s self-imposed restraints tend to sabotage their artistic growth. Deschanel writes fine pop songs, but at this point, the tired ‘50s tropes and Grease-styled romantic calamities unfairly handicap her palette and diminish her talents. As a result, Volume Three can’t flourish under the force of her considerable personality or Ward’s craftsmanship, because the latter has been deadened and the former is unwilling to break the illusion. Until one or the other makes a change, it seems doubtful that She & Him will ever become more than a particularly well-credentialed homage”.

I do feel that Volume 3 is a very strong album that warrants more airplay. More people should know about it. AllMusic were a lot more positive when they sat down with the album:

“Always looking backward to the sunny sounds of the '60s, She & Him often feel like a band out of time, a pair of pop dreamers born too late to be a part of the musical scene they've painstakingly crafted a pastiche of with their third album, Volume 3. Like the previous two volumes, the album finds collaborators Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward diving headfirst into the sunny, lovestruck sounds of Brill Building pop with a splash of country twang for good measure. While this means the album doesn't do a lot to distinguish itself from the pair's early efforts, it certainly doesn't diminish its effortlessly enjoyable sound. In a way, this kind of anonymity seems like a part of the bands M.O. Sure, both of the players here are famous in their own right, but rather than slap their names on the album, they gave the project a perfectly pleasant, albeit generic name. And rather than giving the albums a cute title, they're given the archival title of "Volume." All this speaks to a desire to simply let the music exist on its own, classically pop, terms, allowing listeners to get swept up in a song like "I Could've Been Your Girl" not because it has that lady from the movies in it, but because it's the kind of breezy, melancholy pop that's really easy to fall in love with. Three albums (plus a Christmas record) in, you're either on board with what She & Him are doing or you aren't, and if you're stone-hearted enough to not be into the band by now, Volume 3 isn't likely to sway you. However, for those of you already caught in the band's spider web of eternal summer, this album delivers the goods”.

If you have not heard of She & Him or are not certain whether you will like them, I can recommend an album like Volume 3. An incredibly satisfying and complete album that will have you dipping back in long after you have first spun it, go and check of the 2013-released album from…

THE amazing M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel.

FEATURE: The Lockdown Playlist: Billie Eilish at Twenty

FEATURE:

 

 

The Lockdown Playlist

 Billie Eilish at Twenty

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THERE is not a great deal…

happening at this time of year regarding music. Apart from the best of lists, not much is brewing in terms of news and new stuff. I wanted to use this feature to celebrate the upcoming twentieth birthday (on 18th December) of modern-day superstar Billie Eilish. One of the most accomplished artist of this age, she released her second studio album, Happier Than Ever, in July. Prior to ending with a playlist of her best songs to date, I want to source some biography from AllMusic:

“California-bred singer/songwriter Billie Eilish crafts genre-blurring outcast anthems that bridge the gap between ethereal indie electronic and dark alternative pop. With angsty, introspective lyrics that don't shy away from issues of mental health, she endeared herself to a devoted audience during her breakthrough years in the late 2010s when she was still just a teenager. On the heels of a sold-out headlining tour, she issued her chart-topping, Grammy-winning debut album, 2019's When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? In 2021, she returned to the top of the charts with her sophomore set, Happier Than Ever.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Eilish grew up in a household of actors and musicians and was home-schooled along with her brother Finneas O'Connell (the Slightlys). At the age of eight, she joined the Los Angeles Children's Choir, developing the soulful vocals that would later appear on her early singles.

After the release of the pop-leaning "Six Feet Under" and "Fingers Crossed," Eilish made her breakthrough with "Ocean Eyes," produced and co-written with her brother Finneas and released by Interscope. It surpassed 14 million online streams and spawned a number of remixes with Astronomyy, Blackbear, and Goldhouse. Eilish followed up in February 2017 with "Bellyache," then landed another track, "Bored," on the Netflix series 13 Reasons Why. An EP, don't smile at me, featuring the singles "Copycat" and "watch," followed later that summer.

In 2018, Eilish contributed a track to the second season of 13 Reasons Why, collaborating with Khalid on the hit single "Lovely," which charted globally. Later that year, she issued a pair of singles, "You Should See Me in a Crown" and "When the Party's Over," which both landed on her full-length debut, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? Issued in March 2019, the breakthrough effort showcased her hybrid blend of pop, electronic, and hip-hop textures with a rock edge. Debuting at number one on the Billboard 200, the LP quickly became a worldwide smash and one of the most critically lauded efforts of 2019. Meanwhile, the pulsing single "Bad Guy" topped the Hot 100 and even got the remix treatment with Eilish's childhood idol, Justin Bieber.

While an international tour kept Eilish on the road into 2020, she released a stand-alone single, "Everything I Wanted" -- a bittersweet reflection on her meteoric rise to fame -- and became the youngest artist to be nominated in the four major Grammy categories (Record and Song of the Year for "Bad Guy," Album of the Year, and Best New Artist). At the award ceremony in 2020, she made history by sweeping those main fields, becoming the second person -- and first since 1981 -- to pull off such a feat. On the heels of her win, Eilish premiered "No Time to Die," her theme song to the 25th James Bond film of the same name.

Later that summer, Eilish released the R&B-washed "My Future," which became a Top Ten hit on the Hot 100. That August, her 2019 acoustic set Live at Third Man Records received wide release for Record Store Day, rising to number 55 on the Billboard 200 and topping the U.S. Vinyl Albums chart. The single "Therefore I Am" closed out the year, topping charts across the globe. Both tracks landed on her sophomore album, 2021's Happier Than Ever. Released in July, the set also featured "Your Power," an indictment of exploitation disguised as an acoustic ballad, and the trip-hop-inflected kiss-off "Lost Cause." With Finneas again handling production, the album unveiled a matured perspective for the artist and added fresh genres to her arsenal, from the aptly titled "Billie Bossa Nova" to the '90s alternative rock edge of the title track. Happier Than Ever went straight to number one in the U.S., U.K., and several other territories”.

To mark the upcoming twentieth birthday of the remarkable Billie Eilish, below is a selection of her best tracks. An idol and future legend who is one of the best artists and live performers in the world, I know that 2022 will be a very busy one for.  A very happy birthday to Billie Eilish…

FOR 18th December.

FEATURE: Second Spin: Skylar Grey - Don't Look Down

FEATURE:

 

 

Second Spin

Skylar Grey - Don't Look Down

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THIS have is quite a new album to me…

even though it was released back in 2013. Skyler Grey is an artist that I am aware of and like very much. An amazing artistwho has written songs for peopleincluding Kehlani, G-Eazy, Alicia Keys, Christina Aguilera, Zedd, Nick Jonas, Céline Dion, and CeeLo Green, her music is amazing and deserves more attention. Her second studio album, Don’t Look Now, got mixed reaction. Some felt that the album hinted at Grey’s Hip-Hop potential but was too Pop-focused. Maybe a little less edgy than it could have been or not entirely sure of its sound, balance and convictions, I think that the 2013 album is well worth another spin. Although Don’t Look Now features guest spots from Big Sean, Eminem, Travis Barker and Angel, it is Grey’s force and talent that comes to the front and is the most impressive. I will quote a couple of mixed reviews for the album, in order to outline what critics have said about the L.P. I feel that it is a lot stronger than it was given credit for. Tis is SLANT’s take on Skylar Grey’s second studio album:

“Holly Brook Hafermann, a.k.a. Skylar Grey, is best known as the brains behind Eminem and Rihanna’s “Love the Way You Lie,” and Marshall Mathers has been grooming the singer-songwriter for a splashy Interscope debut ever since. Don’t Look Down is the sound of an artist negotiating with her own MC impulses, of a talented lyricist whose pop instincts tell her to abridge herself. Complicating matters further, executive producer Eminem allows far too many cooks in the kitchen, a reflexive inclusivity that leaves the album feeling over-processed. At heart, Don’t Look Down is a vaguely hip-hop-inflected homage to ‘90s pop, not so much uninteresting as underwhelming and repetitive in its orchestration. Grey writes a great abortion song, but you’d be forgiven if you confused it with her song about the weather.

Grey’s voice is a versatile instrument, capable of channeling various pop idioms while only sometimes disappearing into them (à la Vanessa Carlton). Her default setting is a curious midpoint between Shakira and Shania Twain. She performs her vocal flips with a savvy precision (again, rather too cleanly), but can also bring in darker tones, as on the boozy “Wear Me Out,” an Amy Winehouse-style midtempo song of erotic defiance. When she’s having fun you can tell: “C’mon Let Me Ride,” featuring Eminem, is a high-camp glory of a song, as Grey expresses her libido through the usual perverse childish metaphors and Mathers apes Freddy Mercury’s “Bicycle” before dropping a zig-zagging verse that turns the beat on its head. It’s the funniest fuck song of the year so far.

Grey’s influences can lead her to sound like a China doll at times, too polished and coy and pure. Yet throughout, she’s forthright about her sexual standards, exhorting an ex to improve his cunnilingus technique, if only for the next girl’s sake. On “Shit Man!,” which features an excellent, Nicki-Minaj-once-removed verse from Angel Haze, Grey rocks out over some heavy-ass questions: “So now what happens if I choose/To have this child with you?” More to the point, she answers them: “We don’t even have a ring yet/We’re gonna need a bigger house,” she reasons during the chorus, “And you say you’re not ready/I don’t believe in abortions.” What could be more jarring than this near-conservative sense of purpose, this unrepentant ultimatum? It’s an awesome celebration of choice, and an object lesson in Grey’s impulse to baffle expectations in her songs”.

Before coming to another review for Don’t Look Down, there is an interview from 2013 that is worth exploring. The Hollywood Reporter asked Grey about the album and working with the likes of Eminem on such an important release (as it was her major label debut):

“Don’t Look Down comes via producer Alex da Kid’s KIDinaKORNER imprint, housed under the Interscope Records banner, with Eminem serving as executive producer of the album and appearing on its first single, “C’Mon, Let Me Ride.” It’s a testament to the rapper-producer’s faith in the 27-year-old Wisconsin native whose first true solo effort is a confident, fully realized effort.

The Hollywood Reporter recently sat down with Grey at L.A. hotspot Sayers Club to discuss her songwriting, high-powered relationships, new album and what took so long.

The Hollywood Reporter: Anticipation for the record has been high, and attaching Eminem’s name to it adds even more excitement. It seems there’s still a mystique to him. Would you agree?

Skylar Grey: He does have a mystique. It’s an intense curiosity. It’s not just, “Oh, there’s this new artist.” It’s, “There’s this new artist that Eminem is working with and supporting, so that makes it even more interesting.” I definitely see that.

THR: The album’s release date has been pushed back several times. Can you talk about why?

Grey: One of my biggest problems is I get bored too easily, and I like to experiment too much, to the point where I confuse myself and I confuse my fans. So it just took me some time to figure out exactly what I wanted this album to sound like because I had worked with so many types of people and tried so many different things. I had to wait for the right batch of songs to come together and feel like a whole piece.

THR: And it feels that way to you now?

Grey: It does — finally.

THR: As a complete work, what does it represent to you?

Grey: Lyrically, I’m talking about my life, from being a kid to struggling financially and struggling in the music industry — not directly about that, but the emotions that I went through. So it’s all very real stuff that I’ve experienced. To me, the album is all about growing up, coming into your own and accepting the challenges that you face in life.

THR: Can you give an example using a song?

Grey: There’s a song called “Glow in the Dark” [about] when you’re facing all these different challenges and you don’t know where to go, [how] it can weaken you because you’re just uncertain. I write a lot about the past because I really see things clearly in hindsight — obviously everybody does, so there are morals in every song. Then, once I’ve learned all those things and gotten through the hard times, I come out feeling really powerful and “Glow in the Dark,” to me, is that powerful song on the album”.

To round off, there is another review that I want to source. AllMusic were mixed in their reaction to an album that, I think, has a lot to recommend about it:

“After nearly a decade of toiling away on the margins of the music industry, the former Holly Brook became Skylar Grey and scored a massive hit as a songwriter with Eminem and Rihanna's duet "Love the Way You Lie." On that song, Grey's melodies functioned like Dido's did on "Stan," but after spending years and years as a sensitive singer/songwriter, Skylar Grey takes great pains to signify as tough on her 2013 debut, Don't Look Down. Heavy on stylish accouterments -- everything from echoed pianos and tightly rolling loops to cameos from Angel Haze and Big Sean -- Don't Look Down deliberately trades in bad-girl glamour, with Grey singing innuendoes and explicit profanities with ease, luxuriating in minor-key melodies and haunting, immaculately textured productions. Grey is clever enough to allow herself some measure of silliness -- there is absolutely no other way to describe the Queen-quoting "C'mon Let Me Ride" -- a move that reveals the seams in her goth-princess persona and makes a good chunk of Don't Look Down come across as nothing more than bubblegum Lana Del Rey. What saves Skylar Grey is what brought her fame: her finely honed songcraft, how she knows how to sculpt a melody so it cuts through the clutter and sinks into the subconscious. Try as she may to distract with her strut and style as Skylar Grey, what resonates is the same kind of melodic turn of phrase that was apparent back when she was calling herself Holly Brook”.

Rather unfairly overlooked and underrated upon its release in 2013, Skylar Grey’s Don’t Look Down is a great album. Wear Me Out and Final Warning are singles that makes the first half of the album so strong. The second half is not as strong, through songs such as Clear Blue Sky are pretty decent. If you have not heard of Skylar Grey or the Don’t Look Down album, then take some time to play a…

GREAT album.

FEATURE: The Most Impressive Debut Album of 2021: Olivia Rodrigo - SOUR

FEATURE:

 

 

The Most Impressive Debut Album of 2021

Olivia Rodrigo - SOUR

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ALTHOUGH there was close competition…

from Arlo Parks’ Collapsed on Sunbeams (one of the best albums of 2021), and girl in red’s if I could make it go quiet, I think the best debut album of this year comes from Pop superstar Olivia Rodrigo. Even though one of my favourite albums of the year, Joy Crookes’ Skin, is a debut album and I really love it, I wanted to single out another album (even though London-based Crookes is exceptional). In terms of its confidence, width and quality, SOUR is my choice for the most impressive and bold introduction album of 2021. The Californian-born eighteen-year-old Rodrigo is an exciting Pop proposition primed for big things. I am not a huge fan of modern Pop, but I think Rodrigo is an inventive and fresh talent that is worthy of the hype and acclaim. She explained how SOUR explores her discoveries as a seventeen-year-old, with its title referring to the ‘sour’ emotions young people experience but are often criticised for, such as anger, jealousy, and unhappiness. Spanning balladry and Emo-spiked bangers, SOUR is an accomplished album where Rodrigo is credited as songwriting on each of the eleven tracks (she even wrote enough for you and happier solo). Reaching number one in the U.K. and U.S., SOUR is a remarkable album that anyone can pick up with no prior knowledge and enjoy. I am keen to get to some positive reviews for a mighty debut. Prior to that, NYLON interviewed Olivia Rodrigo earlier in the year about her breakthrough period and the arrival of her debut studio album:

“I’m so excited!” says the 18-year-old, leaning in towards the computer monitor the way you might IRL. She is excited to be in the U.K., excited to perform at the 2021 BRIT Awards, excited to meet her hero Taylor Swift, excited to release her first album, SOUR, out May 21, excited that her music career has brought her here, to this moment.

And why wouldn’t she be? Nobody is having a better year. In January, “drivers license” debuted at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 and eviscerated Spotify’s record for the most song streams in a week. Her first ever performance of the song was on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon. Her follow-up single, the psychedelic pop “deja vu,” scored 20.3 million streams in the U.S. in the first week of release. Then there was the Saturday Night Live sketch where the show’s male talent (Kenan Thompson, Pete Davidson, Bowen Yang, and crew) were moved to tears by “drivers license.” Less than three months later, and she’s the show’s musical guest, performing her third song as a soloist, the dance-y pop-punk barn-burner “good 4 u.”

You could call it quick, but you can’t say it’s without merit. Rodrigo’s talent as a songwriter is so apparent, it has nearly eclipsed the teen star drama that accompanied her debut. (In short: Rodrigo’s costar and rumored ex, Joshua Bassett, was spotted with fellow teen star Sabrina Carpenter, who sounds a lot like the older blonde of “drivers license”; Bassett and Carpenter released what fans believed were rebuttal songs.) Although Rodrigo sings about her insecurities, during our Zoom interview she talks about her craft and production with the self-assurance of someone who knows we’re going to be talking about it for years to come. “There are therapeutic benefits to songwriting,” she tells me. “Whenever I’m feeling upset, I go to the piano. I go to the piano before I call a friend.” But she still marvels at the power that music — her music! — holds: “You can literally create a whole song in your bedroom, and it can affect millions of people.”

Let’s talk songs: "deja vu" compares your ex’s new relationship to your own without pitting two women against each other.

I am obsessed with the concept of déjà vu. I had in my Notes app, "When she's with you, do you get déjà vu?" My producer and collaborator Dan Nigro and I were sitting at the piano; we were writing a sadder, or more down-tempo song. He was like, "Eh, this is not very good. Let's try something else." I was scrolling through my Notes app and that [line] came up, and we were like, "Oh, that's a clever play on déjà vu." And so we built this whole world. [Pitting women against each other] is just not something I subscribe to or think about in my daily life. Ever. It's not something that I'm like, "Oh, I can't write songs about that because that's bad." I really don't genuinely feel that way. I mean, obviously I compare myself to people all the time, and lots of my songs are about that, but it's never a competition. So yeah, I'm really happy with it. I'm also really happy with how much of a departure it is from the "drivers license" world, both in attitude and in sonics. I hope that I can keep showing versatility in my songwriting.

A lot of social psychologists think déjà vu is common with people who are stressed-out or anxious.

Really? That makes so much sense for me. It's just the coolest, weirdest experience ever. It's so trippy, the song itself.

PHOTO CREDIT: AB+DM

It’s so trippy, and so is “jealousy, jealousy.” The bass intro, the harmonies with yourself, the fact that you sing the word “slowly” slowly, the Fiona Apple-esque alternative piano — you shout!

That song was one of the first songs that I wrote on the record with this wonderful writer named Casey Smith. In this time period, I was super obsessed with social media. I would look for things that would hurt my feelings all the time and compare myself to everyone. I felt like my life was only what I showed to others. I didn't feel like my life was any deeper than my Instagram feed. That’s a really troubling mindset to be in as a teenager. And so I guess I wanted to write a song about that. It isn't sad or "Oh, I don't feel like I'm enough,” it’s "Oh, God, I'm so jealous." It’s tongue-in-cheek, and a little funny to me. But the sonics on the song are the reason why we put it on the record. There’s this piano in the bridge that's so convoluted and almost atonal. Sometimes it just doesn't go with the music and it's so chaotic. And I love Fiona Apple. I'm obsessed with her new record and she is definitely a big inspiration of mine. I remember thinking that I wanted to make jazzy music like her when I was younger, so I would play these jazz chords, and be like, "Nobody can do it like her. I'm not going to be able to do anything even half as good as [1996’s] Tidal was." But yeah, she's so incredible. I'm obsessed with her lyricism. She has such a good vocabulary, too. She wrote Tidal when she was 19, which is crazy to me. Just the words that she uses, she's like, "sullen girl." I'm obsessed with her.

In that 2000s era you’re referencing, the Disney stars were Miley, Demi, and Selena. They acted and made music, but it always seemed like their music careers were tethered to their Disney work. Your music feels very separate. Like, you curse on songs, and they could never! Is this a new era of pop stardom?

I’m very aware of that classic “Disney pop girl” archetype. My music is definitely separate from my acting in a way I always dreamed would happen. When “drivers license” came out, everyone was like, "I have no idea who this Olivia Rodrigo girl is, but I love this song." That is the absolute dream for me, because I've always wanted to be taken seriously as a songwriter. Being an actor can interfere with that, just because being an actor is based on telling lies, and being a songwriter is based on telling the absolute, whole truth. And people always ask me, "Oh, did you say fuck in ‘drivers license’ to show that you aren't just a Disney star?" It’s cool that people might think that, but I’m just making music that I love and that I feel passionate about. It’s who I am. I have a dirty mouth. It was what felt natural and good to me, and people resonated with that. If I am ushering in a new generation of pop stars that aren't afraid to speak their mind, that's so cool. I'm just doing my thing, though.

You are so busy! What do you do when you have some downtime?

I actually hung out with Conan [Gray] a couple days ago. Conan's the best ever. It’s really fun to start getting more artist friends who really understand the weird niche parts of being a young person in the music industry. But when I get time off, I sleep, do school, normal teenage things. I don't know. I talk to my friends a lot. My best friend in the world, her name's Madison [Hu], and I did a show with her [Disney’s Bizaardvark] when I was 14. We're just soul mates”.

Although drivers license was the song that everyone was talking about, SOUR has a lot more to it. Some of my favourite tracks – jealousy, jealousy and favorite crime – are non-singles. I feel that Rodrigo will bring out a second album within the next year. AllMusic noted the following in their review:

“Olivia Rodrigo became the brightest new pop star of 2021 with "Driver's License," the single that broke streaming records and kicked off a string of number one hits. It's easy to hear why the song was so popular: As she sang about the plans that fall apart in the wake of a breakup and the sheer magnitude of her very first heartbreak, the rawness in Rodrigo's voice and lyrics spoke to those her own age and provided some potent flashbacks for those a little -- or a lot -- older than her. On the rest of her debut album Sour, she delivers on the potential of that blockbuster single and then some. Rodrigo nails what it's like to be 17, heartbroken, and frustrated, and updates the traditions of the sharp-eyed and sharp-tongued songwriters before her for Generation Z. Like her hero Taylor Swift, she's got a flair for details and a willingness to share every aspect of her heartache, even (or especially) the bitter side of it; on "Happier," she sings to her ex, "I hope you're happy/But don't be happier."

Her ability to pair a sizeable amount of disdain with equally big hooks recalls Lorde on the slinky self-loathing of "Jealousy, Jealousy," and there are even shades of Alanis Morissette's jagged, jilted younger woman in "Deja Vu"'s hyper-literate litany of tarnished memories. Rodrigo expands on "Driver's License" with similarly barbed and self-aware power ballads like "Traitor," which captures the pain when an ex rebounds more quickly than expected, and with the folky introspection of "Favorite Crime," where she reflects on how her desperation to hang onto a relationship made her culpable in her own pain. However, Sour might be even more vital when Rodrigo lashes out on the album's rock-tinged songs. She revels in her anger on "Good 4 U"'s sneering verses and pogo-ing choruses, letting the drum rolls build up a head of steam that the riffs unleash, and begins the album with a surprisingly punky blast of angst on "Brutal," where she tears down the idealization of teenage years ("I'm so sick of seventeen/Where's my fuckin' teenage dream?") over guitars that are the musical equivalent of an eyeroll. Moments like these lend another exciting dimension to her music, even if she takes a few steps beyond the rest of the album's fury on the tender closing track "Hope Ur OK." Rodrigo wants to be taken seriously as a songwriter, and she should be -- her combination of sweet melodies and bitter moods, her conversational flow, and her self-awareness are all skills many songwriters twice her age would love to call their own, and they make Sour a well-rounded emotional journey and strong debut album”.

Prior to finishing things off, I would urge people to go and buy SOUR. It is a really fantastic album. There is another review that I want to bring in. CLASH stated how Rodrigo has grown from a Disney star to a rising Pop artist in such a short period of time:

“If the past 12 months have been the weirdest in memory, then spare a thought for pop riser Olivia Rodrigo. This time last year she was a Disney star – fast forward and she’s a global icon three singles in, a teen voice already being touted as one of Gen Z’s finest.

Debut album ‘Sour’ arrives weighed down with hype and expectation, an 11 track song cycle that aims to make its mark. The banner headline of this review, then? ‘Sour’ exceeds the hype and smashes those expectations to pieces – lyrically strong, her bold, revealing, and punchy songwriting produces 11 potential smash hit singles, with each one feeling like a readymade anthem.

‘Brutal’ is a stabbing, succinct opener, recalling everyone from Garbage to Paramore via Elastica with its three chord minimalism. ‘Traitor’ opens out her pop palette a little, before the majestic, instant-classic ‘Drivers Licence’ arrives to make you fall in love with her calm, assured heartbreaker all over again.

‘Déjà vu’ sits close to the centre of the album, and Rodrigo’s heart – the buzzing digi-pop palette feels off kilter, breaking the rules because she’s too damn young to know them. ‘Good 4 U’ remains the exceptional, surging, stadium-throbbing monster it became on its release, but placed in this context her lyrical introspection becomes ever-more apparent.

‘Enough For You’ is a gorgeous hymn, perhaps the closest Olivia comes to echoing heroine – and now friend – Taylor Swift, with its ‘folklore’ esque acoustic chords. Indeed, Taylor is actually named on the credits, with ‘1 Step Forward, 3 Steps Back’ acting as a bridge between two incredibly potent female pop voices.

Indeed, what’s revelatory on ‘Sour’ is the sheer breadth Olivia Rodrigo can occupy. Only three singles deep into her career, she’s able to move from the glorious torch song atmospherics of ‘Happier’ – a piano-pounding song of regret – to the blunt, half-spoken slacker pop of ‘Jealousy, Jealousy’.

Brought to a close with the demo-like intimacy of ‘Hope UR OK’, this is a bravura pop experience. Marked by excellence from front to back, ‘Sour’ is the sound of a bold talent operating on their own terms – potent in its execution, revealing in its lyricism, it’s a record that finds Olivia Rodrigo effortlessly claiming her status as pop’s newest icon, and one of its bravest voices”.

A stunning debut album from the American Pop artist, I wanted to spend some time extolling SOUR. It will appear in many critics’ end-of-year lists when it comes to the very best of 2021. Although it is not one of my five favourite albums of this year – Joy Crookes’ debut album, Skin, is a better album in my eyes -, SOUR is the most impressive and interesting debut album of the year. A teenage artist with so many years ahead of her, if you have not heard SOUR, then listen to it now and let it get…

UNDER your skin.