FEATURE: All the Things I Should've Done That I Never Did: Imagining Kate Bush’s Alternative Career Arc

FEATURE:

 

 

All the Things I Should've Done That I Never Did

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1989/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush 

Imagining Kate Bush’s Alternative Career Arc

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THE title might be a bit misleading…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1980/PHOTO CREDIT: Colin Davey/Getty Images

but I have been thinking about a few events and things that Kate Bush suggested or started but never completed or fulfilled. Another feature inspired by Tom Doyle’s new book, Running Up That Hill: 50 Visions of Kate Bush. Bush has been the subject of many other books herself, but there was a suggestion that she would write her autobiography. I think Off the Tracks was the title (though I haven’t got a copy of Doyle’s book to hand, so someone may correct me), though that never came to light. I know why there would be demand to have one of there. Such a popular and original artist, what a fascinating read that would have been. Someone more comfortable writing songs and recording, maybe it would have been too revealing and time-consuming writing a memoir. I have been thinking about the offers and things that Bush would have done or explored but never did. Sort of paraphrasing her 1989 song, This Woman’s Work, which she wrote from an expectant dad’s perspective. In it, there is this sense of regretting all the things (he) never did or said. I often wonder how much of Bush is in that song, but she has explained its origin. I can see why a memoir would have been great, but also why she would not want to commit. That was earlier in her career, bur I am curious whether the offer has come back up since.

Bush did release a book of lyrics, How to Be Invisible, four years back, but that was lyrics already written. Since she wrote articles and correspondences earlier in her career, I am thinking about whether Bush has actually written any longform pieces since. She has written updates and posts to her fans, but nothing in the way of books. I think, if she had released a memoir back in the 1980s or 1990s, then she might have felt too exposed or that she had to ‘set the record straight’ when it came to gossip or perceptions about her. The music is Bush’s way of communicating, and she has always guarded her personal life. A memoir might also have signalled a career. Things have changed since then, so I wonder whether that would be more inviting. After the success Bush has had this year, maybe not a tell-all or career-spanning memoir. Instead, perhaps a chapter or time of her life. I do feel there is a book inside Kate Bush, and it would strike me as something she would take to. I am sure she had many offers, and it does not mean that her career would be over. Maybe there will be another album, so that would probably take priority. The almost-memoir Bush was going to write was shelved but 2023 and beyond might be a different story. Let’s see what comes about.

There are a couple of other areas that Bush could have stepped into. Recording and promotion has dominated her career, so acting wasn’t that big. She did do a bit of acting. She appeared in Les Dogs: a Comic Strip episode from 1990, Bush played the part of a bride. The band are Les Dogs, and there is a gun battle at a wedding where many of the guests die. Bush played a silent part, but she did take in a central role in the 1993 short film, The Line, the Cross and the Curve. One that she directed and wrote, it is her biggest acting role ever. I think that short failed or was not received well because Bush took on too much. She is a very capable actor and one who could have thrived under the right director. Maybe requiring a little coaching and more time, 1993 was a year when she took on too much. Bush was offered a role opposite Oliver Reed in 1986’s Castaway. The role went to Amanda Donohue. Bush would have essentially been naked with Reed on a desert island, so you can understand why she turned it down! She contributed a song for the film, Be Kind to My Mistakes, that opens the film. I know Bush got offered a load of acting roles. Someone who is very funny and shows such dynamic and theatrical range through her music videos, I have said before how she would have made a great actor. If a memoir would have been premature or not a great move, maybe acting would have taken her away from the studio. I do feel a few well-chosen roles would have been interesting. Something comedic or a thriller. She would have been approached for gothic and darker roles based on Wuthering Heights and perception about her. I do wonder what was put Bush’s way in the way of scripts.

Dedicated to her music, acting might have been a diversion or distraction Bush could have done without. Still, it seems like an opportunity missed that she did not take to the screen more. I can see her doing a drama or film in 1985 or 1986 (not Castaway) where she really shone and would have gone on to do other things. As she guards her privacy and never wanted fame, that might have brought unwelcomed press intrusion and celebrity her way. The third career trajectory actually relates to music. It is touring. Or just live work. Bush did take The Tour of Life around the U.K. and Europe in 1979. She was on stage after that and it wasn’t the case 2014’s Before the Dawn was the first time she was on the stage since 1979. That said, she didn’t do anything large-scale between 1979 and 2014. Again, recording got in the way I guess. I feel that Bush might have felt touring would have taken too much time away from new music and she would be on the road endlessly. A couple of groups that really inspired her, The Beatles and Steely Dan, gave up touring during their careers and dedicated themselves more to the studio – and, in the process, they created their most popular works. I think a lot of artists are expected to tour every album they release. After 1979, there would have been demand for Bush to tour Never for Ever (1980). Maybe The Dreaming (1982) would be less demanded, but it would have made a fascinating live show! Imagine pairing Never for Ever and The Dreaming?! Also, after Hounds of Love (1985) exploded, I can imagine that intensified. Maybe Hounds of Love’s The Ninth Wave would have been too hard to stage (though she did do it fort Before the Dawn) and she released videos for three of the four songs from the album’s first half.

Regardless, Bush only toured one and did one residency. She often said in interviews how she will do a tour or is trying to figure it out. Like writing a book or going into films, perhaps touring would have taken Bush’s career in a different direction and robbed her of time writing and being in the studio. Although she loved 1979’s The Tour of Life, I feel it is the exhaustion that put her off touring altogether. Performing this demanding show each evening and pushing her voice, body and soul to the limit, there wouldn’t have been much personal appeal. She loved her fans, but maybe repeating herself and traveling (she especially hared flying) would have meant fewer albums. It is hard to balance the desires of the fans with that of the artist. In Kate Bush’s case, I think the physical toll was the deciding factor when it came to ending touring. One of the only reason Bush did a residency in 2014 was because her young son Bertie helped persuade her. She stayed in London in Hammersmith and did not take Before the Dawn anywhere else. One of the big tragedies is the world did not get to see many of Bush’s songs taken  to the stage. Apart from it being a chance to see these songs come to life in a live setting, tours would allow Bush to mix songs from different albums. One can speculate about Kate Bush and what would happen if things worked out differently. I have been thinking about it because she was going to write a memoir and it was never to be – something that still could happen. Although there were so many things that she could have did but never did, we are always eternally grateful for…

ALL that she has given us!

FEATURE: Spotlight: WILLOW

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Jordan Kelsey Knight for Kerrang! 

WILLOW

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PERHAPS artist it is strange…

to feature an artist in a Spotlight feature who has been recording for years now. To be fair, at twenty-two, WILLOW is still at the start of her career! Even so, Willow Camille Reign is the daughter of actors Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith. She has won many awards, including a Young Artist Award, an NAACP Image Award, a BET Award, and nominations for two Daytime Emmy Awards and an MTV Video Music Award. Many might recall but, back in 2010, Smith launched her music career with Whip My Hair. Known now simply as WILLOW, she comes from a hugely successful and talented family. In terms of her acting and music, she does not follow her mum and dad too closely. She very much has her own direction and career. A prolific artist and talented songwriter, she released lately I feel EVERYTHING last year. I shall come to this year’s <COPINGMECHANISM>. Perhaps her strongest album yet, I feel WILLOW grows greater, more assured and consistent with each release. She is at a point, at such a young age, when she is getting on the radar. The music radar that is. I think her acting work is more widely known. I am going to end with some reviews for <COPINGMECHANISM>. You can buy the album here. I want to start off with some interviews. GLAMOUR spoke with WILLOW (as ‘Willow Smith’ in this interview). Among subjects discussed was how, as a Black artist, she was discriminated against and pigeonholed when it comes to genre:

“Willow Smith is someone who is used to standing out. She is a Hollywood tale as old as time; daughter of superstars who has spent most of her life in front of the press. She is only 21, but there are already many titles in her orbit: singer, songwriter, actress, guitarist, spokesperson. It’s a place where many children of celebrities can crash and burn, jostling with the pressure of living up to the blinding star quality of their parents. But Willow seems to have found the antidote, and is making a name for herself, all on her own. When we meet on a Monday morning in June, speaking over Zoom, Willow calls in from her GLAMOUR cover photoshoot in a studio in Paris. Her settings are as expected of someone reared for stardom; she is surrounded by a flock of handlers, the styling team, her trusted makeup artist Raoúl, her management, assistants, PRs and more. She is also on duty today as ambassador for Mugler’s Alien Goddess fragrance; her second collaboration with the brand, fronting the campaign for the new Alien Goddess Intense Eau De Parfum – yet another marker of a mini-mogul set for growing fame.

“It’s no secret that Black artists in the alternative scene often suffer pigeonholing and discrimination in comparison to their white peers. Even someone as big a star as Willow has found herself constrained, and resisting unfair treatment has been something she’s had to become used to.

“When I wanted to do a rock album, there were a lot of executives that were like, ‘Hmm…’ she says, frowning. “If I had been white, it would’ve been completely fine; but because I’m Black it’s, ‘Well… maybe let’s just not’ – and making it harder than it needs to be.” That double-standard is something that raises concerns with her for her peers in the scene. “If I go through that, every single other Black artist is getting the pushback [too].”

In 2021, the artist dropped Lately I Feel Everything, an album that would largely define her as someone known to play with different genres. From acoustic down to nü-metal, it was Willow’s first professional foray into the alternative music scene.

“I love all different kinds of music, I don’t like to box myself into anything,” she tells me. “I was trained to be an R&B singer so I went in that direction. But I’ve always had a huge affinity for rock music ever since I was just a wee bean.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Thom Kerr

Lately I Feel Everything came as a result of pushing back with execs to make what was true to her – and of course, the record turned out as a success. But she held little surprise that it came out that way, crediting her “vision” in staying true to herself in the face of discomfort. “The most beautiful changes on earth don’t happen by being comfortable and expecting other people to change. You have to put yourself on the line sometimes. It’s not fair, but that’s how it is,” she says.

In her opinion, it’s a case of allowing “people of colour, women and all marginalised communities [to] step out of the boxes that society wants to put us in. Not even just in music, but in every part of our lives – that’s the special sauce.”

We talk about other trailblazers like Nova Twins, Bad Brains and Skunk Anansie frontwoman Skin, all Black artists who have pioneered a place in the scene. She is now one of those names paving the way for individuality as she gears up to release follow-up album Coping Mechanism this month,, but also feeding the resistance she witnessed from her mother into her own music.

“Music has been at the forefront of some of earth’s biggest paradigm shifts,” she states. “Part of the reason I love it is because it’s such a strong agent of change. I definitely think there’s always more to do in [terms of] the way that we do business in these artistic branches and endeavours. It’s systematic oppression. If we start to undo that, then hopefully real change can happen.”

I ask her how she thinks we can make better spaces for women in music and what can be done to make women feel more empowered in the music scene. “I think the music scene reflects the world,” she finally says.

“For a long time, women have been looked at and expected to be in these boxes. It’s up to the people who have been a part of the oppressing, but it’s also up to us to step out of that. That’s scary, and it’s sometimes dangerous.

We need to make better spaces for each other and stop expecting other people to make spaces for us. We need to start holding our sisters, and start listening to each other the way that we wish other people would.”

Though we keep silent on recent familial issues, Willow does not have a problem being candid. Publicising issues of mental health and her own experiences with anxiety is something important to her. Sharing advice for how fans and others can alleviate symptoms is something she’s passionate about, and she talks to me about her own mental health management.

“Sometimes [managing your mental health] is so overwhelming that you can’t really bring yourself to do much else besides reminding yourself of the things that really matter,” she says. “For me, I love a good mantra. Recently, my mantra has been, ‘I accept everything as it is, and I’m grateful for it.’ Repeating that over and over again; that’s been really helping me”.

Having made an impression at such a young age, WILLOW has maintained this incredible career. It would be easy to compare her To Will Smith, but you feel this conscious effort to push away from that and do her own thing. In this Billboard interview, WILLOW was asked about her family and recent controversy. She also revealed a particular artist that she would like to work with:

“Though she may have first gained fame as a 9-year-old, Willow’s current cavalcade of music firmly sets her apart from child stars who withered on the vine, burnt out by a demanding industry or left unable to nimbly evolve into compelling adult creators. She never resigned herself to becoming a novelty act or coasted on the credentials of her megastar parents, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith.

And despite the constant scrutiny of her family, Willow has stayed above the fray — even, most recently, this past March, when her father slapped Academy Awards host Chris Rock following a joke he made about her mother’s alopecia. The ensuing media firestorm, Willow says, didn’t derail her creativity or “rock me as much as my own internal demons.”

“I see my whole family as being human, and I love and accept them for all their humanness,” she says. “Because of the position that we’re in, our humanness sometimes isn’t accepted, and we’re expected to act in a way that isn’t conducive to a healthy human life and isn’t conducive to being honest.”

Perhaps because she knew this early on, Willow learned the power in a judicious “no” and steered her career in a direction that always felt true to her, even as it changed. Today, she’s in complete command of her musical fate. Perched on the couch, as she prepares for her Billboard photo shoot in a humid warehouse near her Los Angeles hometown, she doesn’t miss a beat discussing her art, speaking with her hands and disrupting her own train of thought to gush about her latest inspiration: “I think the monks have it right.” Witnessing her independence and authoritativeness, it’s easy to see why Willow’s team follows her lead, even if it means working on a new marketing plan every few months to keep up with her steady output.

And when it comes to delivering her message, Willow says that any oft-repeated clichés about her current musical medium are beside the point. “People only say rock is dead because rock was so influential in a political way,” she says, punctuating her speech like a preacher on a pulpit. “Right now, it’s not serving the same purpose as it did in the past.” She sees a resurgence in people of color injecting it with purpose, like Kenny Hoopla and Nova Twins. And Willow’s own credibility in rock is increasingly undeniable: Lately I Feel Everything landed in the top 10 of Billboard’s Top Rock Albums chart, while her MGK collaboration “emo girl” did the same on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs. She has worked with rock stalwarts Travis Barker and Avril Lavigne, the latter of whom says she was “blown away by” Willow and her “clear vision of who she is and where she wants to go.”

Willow never imagined Lavigne would agree to collaborate (“I really didn’t think she was going to say ‘yes’ ”), but when they linked up in the studio, they bonded over the skepticism they both experienced as women in rock. “You’ll kill yourself trying to be perfect for the masses. Bunk that. That’s a losing game,” Willow says, tossing her hands up with indifference as she thinks about the people who called Lavigne a poser in the early 2000s. “If you don’t like me, I’m grateful for you, because it shows I’m authentic enough to not be for everyone.”

At any rate, she is interesting to plenty of musical contemporaries who matter much more than any passing naysayers — like, for instance, Camila Cabello, who met Willow when they meditated together with former Hindu monk and British author Jay Shetty. After, Cabello reached out to Willow to collaborate. “We had very beautiful spiritual experiences together and we had connected. That was the only reason I was down to do the song,” Willow says. That, and the track “goes hard”.

Prior to moving onto reviews for WILLOW’s latest album, this NME feature interested me. <COPINGMECHANISM> was discussed, but the topic of festivals also was introduced. WILLOW talked about playing Reading & Leeds. For a festival that still struggles when it comes to gender inequality, it is good to know that she got to wow the crowds and add something incredible to the weekend this year:

“It’s only been just over a year since WILLOW released her critically acclaimed fourth album ‘Lately I Feel Everything’, which furthered the pop-punk renaissance with the likes of ‘Grow’ and ‘Gaslight’ and featured guest appearances from Travis Barker and Avril Lavigne. Not wanting to let the momentum dip, the 21-year-old has swiftly returned with the crushing brilliance of her new LP, ‘<COPINGMECHANISM>’ (out October 7).

Asked by NME if she feels like she’s on a creative roll, WILLOW replies: “I really do. After ‘Lately I Feel Everything’, I said to myself I wasn’t going to make another album for a while. Even when I got [in the studio] with Chris [Greatti, producer], I was still telling him that I wasn’t going to make an album. But, slowly but surely, it became a very strong project.”

For the latest in NME’s In Conversation series, we caught up with WILLOW in London to discuss her new album, dream collaborators, her debut novel and more. Here’s what we learned.

‘<COPINGMECHANISM>’ might arrive just 14 months after WILLOW’s last album, but its genesis goes back much further than the fast-paced follow-up suggests. “I was always looking back at some old notes in my phone, and I had a folder and it was called ‘Coping Mechanism’,” she explains. When the star looked at the date on the folder, which at the time contained just three songs, she realised she’d started it all the way back in 2018: “This idea has been with me for a long time.”

The inspiration to reignite the work in that folder, though, is more recent, and finds WILLOW doing something she thought she’d never do. “I hate to say it, because when I made music when I was younger I really wanted to stay away from the idea of heartbreak and romantic love,” she says with a wry smile. “I felt like it was so played out. I just felt like everyone talks about that, and it’s just boring. But then your girl got her heart broken. And you know what, I said, ‘Maybe this is the time for me to make that album’. This is that album.”

WILLOW has often spoken about her love for metal and her desire to dabble with the genre. On ‘<COPINGMECHANISM>’, she finally gets her chance: the likes of ‘Perfectly Not Close To Me’ (feat. Yves Tumor) find her turning her vocals into a scream, while a host of abrasive, heavy guitar riffs fill the record. Stepping into that zone on this album made the most sense, she says, because of her producer, Chris Greatti.

“Greatti plays the guitar like a freaking titan,” WILLOW explains. “He just plays like he’s in the music. I feel like the music he likes to play the most is metal, and so that’s his forte. We just worked really well together. I wanted to do that and he was like, ‘Oh, I know how to do this – which direction should we take it?’”

Although WILLOW says she felt “so comfortable” working in that area with Greatti, she does note that metal is “not my forte”: “I can play some metal riffs, I can. But it’s not the thing that I do the best. I wish it was, and soon it might be.”

This album might not be the last time we hear the young artist experiment with metal sounds, either. “Oh, 100 per cent,” WILLOW replies when asked if she feels like she has more to explore in the genre. “I was actually playing a lot of seven-string [guitar] last year, I was super, super-obsessed. I need to get back on that because once you commit to something, you really do get better at it fairly quickly. So it just takes the commitment.”

Take one look at WILLOW’s discography and you’ll notice an impressive list of bona fide musical legends within her collaborations. The aforementioned ‘Lately I Feel Everything’ featured Blink-182 drummer Barker and pop-punk queen Avril Lavigne, while over the years she’s also teamed up with Machine Gun Kelly, Nicki Minaj, Camila Cabello and more.

Impressive as that list may be, WILLOW isn’t done working with her heroes just yet. “Oh my goodness,” she begins as she flips through her bucket list of collaborators in her head. “I want to work with Les Claypool from Primus. I also want to work with the main singer of Hiatus Kaiyote, Nai Palm: she’s amazing. There’s so many people I want to work with, the list could be infinite.”

What, then, does WILLOW look for in a collaborator? “Someone [who] is open to being experimental, and to doing things that other people may not be into doing,” she says. “And I just look for a friend. Like, if I really love you and you inspire me as a person, I’m down. I love working with people who I love – that’s really the only criteria.”

WILLOW made her debut appearance at Reading & Leeds back in August, putting in an incendiary performance on the festivals’ main stage. “It was so crazy,” she says, looking back at the weekend. “There were so many people there. I was honestly like, ‘What is going on?!’ It was so much fun and I got to perform some new songs there – I felt like the reaction to them was better than I ever could have imagined, and I’m just really grateful.”

The history of R&L isn’t something that’s lost on the LA star, either. After all, WILLOW says that she always loves performing in Europe and the UK. “The way that people consume music in the UK is just different,” she explains. “I think people in the UK care a little bit more about the quality of the music and not just what it looks like [compared to the US]”.

The amazing <COPINGMECHANISM> is among the best albums of the year. I would urge everyone to listen to it. It is clear that WILLOW is a megastar-in-waiting who is creating unbelievable music. Kerrang! had their say on <COPINGMECHANISM>:

“2021’s lately I feel EVERYTHING was a fine maiden foray into the realm of alternative music from WILLOW. A record that leaned on the pop-punk revival in both sound and personnel (Travis Barker was a collaborator on a number of tracks), it proved she had something to offer the rock world, and in its at times unconventional delivery, it suggested its young creator had the potential to become a serious creative force with the guitar. With <COPINGMECHANISM>, that promise is realised through 11 tracks of eclectic, interesting and (largely) collaborator-free rock that see WILLOW well and truly come into her own.

The intentions are clear from the outset. Within its first minute, opening track <maybe> it’s my fault goes through three stark stylistic changes that run the gamut of indie-rock to metal, but it all hangs together well, as does the similarly eccentric Falling Endlessly, where WILLOW’s excellent grasp of vocal melodies come to the fore. Like lately I feel EVERYTHING, the songs don’t hang around – of the 11 songs, only a couple cross the three-minute mark – but its fast becoming an admirable trait of her music that its able to get the job done so convincingly in such a relatively short amount of time.

Lyrically, plenty of youthful angst remains – ‘I’ll never be fine if you won’t be mine,’ she cries on the sprightly hover like a GODDESS – but there’s zero temptation on <COPINGMECHANISM> to take the predictable route and pair such words with standard pop-punk fare.

Smart, confident and put together with a real sense of intrigue, WILLOW’s latest record is a testament to having the belief to forge your own path. As coping mechanisms go, this one sounds like a winner.

Verdict: 4/5”.

I will finish off with a review from NME. Maybe not quite as known as some of the biggest albums this year, <COPINGMECHANISM> is an album that stunned and engrossed me the first time I heard it. So many people are looking forward to seeing where WILLOW heads next:

“The album’s closer ‘Batshit’ is a sweet-sounding realisation. Clanging drums and screeching guitars ring out before a brief ethereal vocal harmony from the 21-year-old floats across them, and she details a story of her seeing through time wasters and liars she’s come across in life. “If I was you I would watch out / Whatever you do, it better be true, I’m coming for you,” she warns. It might seem like she’s singing to someone else, but she could also be directing those words to herself, shedding the things she no longer likes about herself and taking accountability for her actions. It’s as though the teenage angst WILLOW once harvested for her previous album is starting to transform into mature life lessons for the punk rocker.

On all her albums, WILLOW shares honest reflections of herself, lovers and friends in her music. That’s no different on ‘<COPINGMECHANISM>’. After “taking this adventure on [her] own”, the star’s loving ethos is now all she tries to preach on ‘curious/furious’. During her Reading main stage debut back in August, she shared a similar message, getting her fans to call back to her, “I am love… You are love… We are love,” knowing how much that affirmation has helped her heal.

Curious/furious’ is also a feel-good release of the sadness and confusion WILLOW used to present on her tracks and highlights her dynamic musicianship too. Its timid verses are in stark contrast to the track’s chorus; being muted and vulnerable while explaining her past inner turmoil makes the brightness of the chorus’ riffs all the bigger and better. It’s almost like there’s a poetry behind her musical intentions – you can’t have highs without the lows.

Throughout her recent exploration of rock music, the 21-year-old artist has mainly tapped into the nostalgic nature of the ‘00s punk she grew up on and saw her mother do in the band Wicked Wisdom. On her last album, she collaborated with multi-generational superstar Avril Lavigne on ‘G R O W’ and Lavigne’s sound is heavily used throughout WILLOW’s recent work. That doesn’t mean she can’t have her own moments of genius and uniqueness, though.

On ‘<COPINGMECHANISM>’, you can tell the star is using her influences to make her own seminal sound. Playing around with nostalgic sounds of ska and pop-punk, ‘hover like a GODDESS’ shows off her idiosyncratic fusions. The verses are jerky and bouncy, taking on the fun found in a Reel Big Fish track. As soon as the drums and bass come bursting in, though, it flips back into the punk-rock sound she’s become known for. It’s tracks like these that show what the sonic future of this bright young thing’s sound could be.

Over a relatively small number of tracks compared to some of the bloated albums that get released today, WILLOW has opted for quality over quantity once again. However, despite utilising a similar premise as on her last album by plucking her feelings away on a guitar, ‘<COPINGMECHANISM>’ is still an important record in her musical progression. In the poetic and thoughtful nature of it, as well as the odd glimpse of where she could go next, WILLOW’s fifth record should be noted as her breaking sonically mature new ground”.

An artist who has already broken through but someone not known to all, the incredible WILLOW is going to have a very prolific and fascinating career. Already influencing other artists, the twenty-two-year-old is bound for glory! Many might try to compare her to her parents or other artists, but the brilliant WILLOW is…

IN a league of one.

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Follow WILLOW

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/willowsmith/

TikTok:

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

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/3rWZHrfrsPBxVy692yAIxF

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/officialwillow

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgnKlNm0QJY_9LKJ4vHPspg

Facebook:

https://en-gb.facebook.com/WILLOW/

FEATURE: Looking Ahead… Songs from Albums Turning Twenty-Five in 2023

FEATURE:

 

 

Looking Ahead…

Songs from Albums Turning Twenty-Five in 2023

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LOOKING ahead to 2023…

I am doing a run of features marking great albums celebrating big anniversaries. I am now at 1998 – albums from that almost unbeatable year that are going to be twenty-five in 2023. I am marking this big anniversary with a playlist of songs from 1998. It was a hugely exciting year for music, and there are some phenomenal songs in the playlist below. I am looking forward to covering 2003 next, but let us continue with remarkable albums turning twenty-five next year. Such an important anniversary, these songs below are incredible. If you are not sure which great albums came out in 1998, then the playlist below gives you an idea of how brilliant…

 THE year was.

FEATURE: Looking Ahead… Songs from Albums Turning Thirty in 2023

FEATURE:

 

 

Looking Ahead…

Songs from Albums Turning Thirty in 2023

__________

LOOKING ahead to 2023…

I am doing a run of features marking great albums celebrating big anniversaries. I am now at 1993 – albums from that killer year that are going to be thirty in 2023. I am marking this big anniversary with a playlist of songs from 1993. It was a hugely exciting year for music, and there are some amazing songs in the playlist below. I am looking forward to covering 1998 next, but let us continue with sensational albums turning thirty next year. Such an important anniversary, these songs below are massive. If you are not sure which great albums came out in 1993, then the playlist below gives you an idea of how spectacular…

THE year was.

FEATURE: Vinyl Corner: The Specials – More Specials

FEATURE:

 

 

Vinyl Corner

The Specials – More Specials

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BECAUSE of the hugely unexpected loss…

 IN THIS PHOTO: The Specials in 1980/PHOTO CREDIT: Michael Grecco Productions Inc.

of The Specials’ Terry Hall earlier this month, I have been thinking about the group that he led. One of the most influential Ska bands ever, the 2 Tone legends formed in Coventry in 1977. After some early changes, the first firm lineup of the group consisted of Terry Hall and Neville Staple on vocals, Lynval Golding and Roddy Radiation on guitars, Horace Panter on bass, Jerry Dammers on keyboards, John Bradbury on drums, and Dick Cuthell and Rico Rodriguez on horn. Iconic songs like Ghost Town and Too Much Too Young are embossed in music history. Such a phenomenal singer and lyricist, Terry Hall was the heart and guts of the band in my opinion. A massive loss to music, I wanted to look at one of The Specials’ best albums, More Specials, for Vinyl Corner. You can get a copy of this classic album on vinyl. An L.P. that houses Enjoy Yourself and Rat Race, More Specials is a treasure that everyone should own. I want to bring in a couple of reviews for an album released on 19th September 1980. This is what the BBC had to say in their review:

“So how does The Specials’ second album sound, nearly 30 years after its first release?

The group had stormed the British charts in 1979 with a brash, high energy brand of pop ska. But on this album keyboardist Jerry Dammers starts to become their production mastermind. Damners' favourite musical textures are odd and particularly British: basic rhythm boxes, brass sections in full cry, and a variety of cheesy keyboards and fairground and cinema organs.

There’s a brace of very strong songs with very good tunes. Two of them sounded even better as hit singles: Stereotypes and Do Nothing. But others are good enough to be hits too: the kitchen sink drama of “I Just Can’t Stand It”, the sad tale of “Pearl’s Café”.

While the tunes are jolly, the lyrics are bleak. English life is portrayed in all its drab, suffocating despair and there’s no way out. The Poor Little Rich Girl escapes to London only to end up in porn films. The air flight of International Jet Set is a claustrophobic nightmare which ends with the passengers screaming as the plane crashes. The irony of the two versions of Enjoy Yourself is very black indeed. It’s certainly accurate; life in Britain wasn’t much fun around then. But there are times when this unremitting gloom tips over into self-parody. And the second, dub half of Stereotypes is self-indulgent, while Sock It To ‘Em JB and Holiday Fortnight are filler.

The album sounds like a first draft of the Specials finest hour. Nine months later, Dammers organised all the different elements here together into Ghost Town, one of the greatest number one singles in UK pop history. After that the group fragmented. So More Specials has lots of quality, and is almost a classic”.

I will wrap things up in a minute. Even though the lyrics are political and as charged as they are on The Specials’ eponymous album of 1979. Following that album’s success and impact, band member Jerry Dammers stepped up as the band's leader where he broadened their 2 Tone sound to incorporate other genres of music. More Easy Listening. That blend works effectively and shifted The Specials on. There was some disagreement within the ranks about a fairly radical sonic shift, so we find a few different genres and sounds fighting one another throughout. I think they blend and merge brilliantly. More Specials features The album features collaborations with The Go-Go's members Belinda Carlisle, Charlotte Caffey, and Jane Wiedlin, in addition to Rhoda Dakar from The Bodysnatchers, plus Lee Thompson from Madness. In their review, AllMusic noted the following:

“Less frenzied than its predecessor, but more musically adventurous, More Specials was nearly as popular in its day as its predecessor, falling just one chart place below their debut. It kicked off in similar fashion as well, with a classic cover, this time with an exuberant take on Carl Sigman and Conrad Magidson's 1940s chestnut "Enjoy Yourself." A slower, brooding version with the Go-Go's in tow brings the album to a close, taking the place of the set-sealing "You're Wondering Now," which brought the curtain down on their first set. But there the similarities come to an end. The rest of the album is comprised of originals, including a pair of instrumentals -- the Northern soul-esque "Sock It to 'Em JB" and the Mexican-flavored "Holiday Fortnight" -- as well as a duo of minimally vocalized pieces, the intriguing "International Jet Set," and the overtly apocalyptic "Man at C&A." But fans had already been primed for the band's changing musical directions by the release the month before of "Stereotypes," its spaghetti western aura filled with the group's more mournful mood.

It's an emotional despair taken to even greater heights on "Do Nothing," as the group futilely searches for a future, but musically stumbles upon a cheery, easygoing rhythm more appropriate to the pop styles of the English Beat than the angrier sounds the Specials had made their own. But to prove it's no fluke, there's the equally bright and breezy "Hey, Little Rich Girl," boasting fabulous sax solos from Madness' Lee Thompson. However, it's an immortal line from "Pearl's Cafe" that Terry Hall and the guesting Bodysnatchers' Rhoda Dakar deliver up in duet that best sums up their own, and the country's pure frustration: "It's all a load of bollocks, and bollocks to it all." It was an intensely satisfying set in its day, even if it wasn't as centered as their debut. The group seems to be moving simultaneously in too many directions, while the lyrics, too, are not quite as hard-hitting as earlier efforts”.

Nobody expected such awful news as the death of Terry Hall. I would urge people to seek out More Specials, but also listen to the entire catalogue from The Specials. Also listen to some of Hall’s other work, including Fun Boy Three. One of music’s nicest people and greatest talents, it is so sad that we have had to say goodbye to…

A music genius and innovator.

FEATURE: Looking Ahead… Songs from Albums Turning Thirty-Five in 2023

FEATURE:

 

 

Looking Ahead…

 Songs from Albums Turning Thirty-Five in 2023

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LOOKING ahead to 2023…

I am doing a run of features marking great albums celebrating big anniversaries. I am now at 1988 –albums from that absolutely wonderful year that are going to be thirty-five in 2023. I am celebrating and illuminating that with a playlist of songs from the year. 1988 was a hugely exciting year for music, and there are some classic songs in the playlist below. I am looking forward to covering 1993 next, but let us continue with sensational albums turning thirty-five next year. Such an important anniversary, these songs below are huge. If you are not sure which great albums came out in 1988, then the playlist below gives you an idea of how wonderful…

THIS year was.

FEATURE: The Best Music Biopic of 2022… Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody

FEATURE:

 

 

The Best Music Biopic of 2022…

Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody

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STARRING the sensational…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Naomi Ackie in Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody/PHOTO CREDIT: Landmark Media/Alamy

Naomi Ackie in the title role, Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody is a brilliant music biopic that celebrates the late icon rather than demonising or scandalising her. Ackie’s remarkable performance is responsible for many of the impassioned reviews. A superlative performance, you can tell how much effort and time Ackie spent embodying Houston to ensure that she was natural and convincing. Whilst the film uses Houston’s voice for the singing, English actor Ackie ensures that the accent and cadence is spot-on. A definite rising talent, Ackie is someone to watch closely! There have been some terrific music biopics this year (including Elvis), but I think that Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody has that extra something. Ackie is so convincing as Whitney Houston. The balance between being true to facts and also not whitewashing is just right. Rather than lingering on Houston’s troubles and addiction issues, there is plenty of celebration of the music and her undying and staggering talent. I want to bring in some articles relating to the film. Among the interesting takeaways from this article in The San Diego Union-Tribune, Kasi Lemmons (the film’s director) discusses Ackie and how she brings warmth and passion to the role:

“The screenplay for “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” was written by two-time Academy Award nominee Anthony McCarten. His previous credits include the 2014 Stephen Hawking biopic “The Theory of Everything” and the 2019 Freddie Mercury/Queen biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

Some of “I Wanna Dance with Somebody’s” scenes vividly recreate high-profile events in Houston’s life, including her bravura (albeit pre-recorded) performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the 1991 Super Bowl and her stunning 1994 medley at the American Music Awards of “I Loves You, Porgy,” “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” and “I Have Nothing.” Rickey Minor, who was her musical director for a period, including for the AMA telecast, is portrayed by Dave Heard.

But “I Wanna Dance with Somebody’s” primary source for details on Houston’s life was Clive Davis, who — as the founder of Arista Records — signed the then-teenaged Houston to his label in 1982. He spent two years helping her make and hone her debut album, then worked with her for the rest of her recording career.

But Davis, now 90, did not meet Houston until she was 17. He came in and out of her life in the years that followed, mostly in a professional capacity but also as a periodic father figure.

Davis co-produced “I Wanna Dance with Somebody.” He is also a key supporting character, heroically portrayed by Stanley Tucci, in a film that presents Davis’ recollections as unquestioned fact.

Did the combination of these unusual factors mean Lemmons had an even more formidable balancing act to negotiate?

“You know, it was slightly tricky,” said the director, whose telling smile as she spoke suggested that “slightly” may be a diplomatic understatement.

‘Not a documentary’

“I’d never done that before,” Lemmons continued. “I’d never worked with an estate (of a deceased star), where every recent memory and emotion about (Houston) and how her story should be told (was so strong).

“I thought that was tremendously interesting and enriching. Clive is a wealth of knowledge and he brought all that. And Rickey (Minor) ... was also a wealth of knowledge.”

Houston did not write a memoir. If she kept any diaries, they remain a secret. Where, then, does reality stop and poetic license begin in a film that includes many private conversations?

“Naomi and I both say this film is like a poem about Whitney. It’s not a documentary,” Lemmons stressed.

“It’s a movie that has emotional authenticity, even in terms of some of the dialogue, because we were working with people who remember the dialogue. But it’s not a documentary. It’s not really Whitney.

“But it gives you Naomi’s beautiful performance and the essence of who this woman she portrays is, her triumphs and struggles. I think (there is) emotional truth and power to her performance as Whitney”.

In this feature from The Guardian about the film, Anthony McCarten, who has written the first big budget Hollywood biopic of the star, states that this new film corrects the myths and narrative of Houston being this tragic figure. In the ten years since Whitney Houston died, four films have tried to tell her story. More concerned with sensationalism and tragedy, Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody is much more balanced and complete. There is much more compassion and celebration – though the film does not shy away from the more heartaching and rawer moments:

“Towards that end, a great deal of the film centers on the creation and performance of her music. At the same time, that music sounds dramatically different from the way it did on the studio recordings, in live concerts or in TV performances. Everything has been buffed and amplified to take advantage of a modern movie theater’s Dolby 5.1 sound system. The result thunders right through you. All the vocals come from Houston, but the breaths of the actor who plays her, the British star Naomi Ackie, have been deftly incorporated to make the physicality of the performance palpable. “It’s got to sound, and feel, like she’s singing live,” Lemmons said. “And Naomi knew every breath of the songs.”

The depth of those breaths, and the dexterity with which Houston deployed them, are two elements that McCarten considers key to her brilliance. “Any musician who ever stood behind her during her performances would often note that this small frame of hers could magically expand,” he said “She would take in a breath with her whole rib cage. They say whales can do this when they sink miles beneath the ocean. They expand their ribs to hold enormous amounts of air. The way Whitney could hold that ballast of air, combined with the force with which she could sustain the high notes and add vibrato, was majestic.”

 Of course, the high-wire drama of her music found a mirror in the constant tug between the triumphs and tribulations in her life. One controversial aspect that’s presented with more frankness and specificity than in any previous depiction is her relationship with her friend and business associate Robyn Crawford, who had no involvement in the film. While earlier works strongly implied a lesbian relationship, the new film makes it physically explicit. According to Lemmons, part of that has to do with details offered in Crawford’s memoir, published in 2019. McCarten said the public’s changing attitudes towards sexuality also played a part. “We live in a much more tolerant time,” he said. By contrast, “being open in the ‘80s was very, very difficult”, he said.

The pain of that judgment is driven home in the film by the strongly disapproving attitude towards the relationship displayed by Whitney’s father as well as her mother, Cissy Houston. Both Lemmons and McCarten believe that if Houston had come up in today’s age of non-binary pop stars like Janelle Monae and Demi Lovato, she could be fully out about her relationship with Crawford. As to how Houston viewed her own sexuality, Lemmons believes she was “fluid”, while McCarten opts for the description “bi-curious – at least in her younger days”.

 The futility of placing a single label on Houston’s sexuality was something she shared with Davis. One scene in the film shows him revealing a male lover to her. While Davis didn’t talk about such things in public then, he wrote about it in his 2013 memoir. “It was important to Clive to put that in the film,” said Lemmons. “He and Whitney had that in common.”

One sexual aspect that’s notably absent from the film is an assertion made in the 2018 documentary by Kevin Macdonald that the singer had been molested by a female friend of the family when she was young. Though the estate had authorized that film, McCarten said “They were very unhappy” with the result. “They felt that Kevin had overrun the boundaries of the deal that they had,” he said. “The accusation at the center of it was unsupported by anything that (Whitney) had told anyone else. For Kevin to have based a documentary on it seemed fragile. I would have needed a substantial amount of supporting evidence to include that.”

The new film is more direct in dealing with the issues in Houston’s life surrounding race. It recreates the infamous scene at the Soul Train awards where she was booed and features a scene during a radio interview at a Black station in which the DJ echoes a common complaint of the day: that her music was “too white”. McCarten’s script has Houston calling out the inherent racism in that view with righteous clarity. At the same time, such accusations wounded her deeply. “To have your own people calling you an ‘Oreo,’ is extraordinarily painful,” Lemmons said. “I would certainly hope that the conversation would be different now.”

The lack of nuance in Houston’s day underscores the pain she experienced for falling on a fault line of assumptions about both race and sexuality. Worse, she had battles within her own family, most notably with her father, who served as her manager. Shortly before his death he sued her for $100m. In the film, he’s depicted as treating her more like a financial asset than a human being. “I had a personal experience with John that shook me up,” Lemmons said. “He was the one who spoke to me about ‘the brand’. That was very chilling. That was his daughter that he was talking about!”.

Before coming to a review that is positive but also hints at some possible issues, Movie Guide provided their review of, in my view, the best and most powerful music biopic of 2022:

“WHITNEY HOUSTON: I WANNA DANCE WITH SOMEBODY is a biopic of the late pop singer Whitney Houston and focuses on her triumphs, trials and tribulations, all of which sadly, in one way or another, led to her tragic death due to a quote “accidental drug overdose” unquote, but the movie also has some positive references to Whitney’s Christian background and ongoing faith. I WANNA DANCE WITH SOMEBODY has a dynamic, superlative performance by Naomi Ackie as Whitney, and another excellent performance by Stanley Tucci as music producer Clive Davis, but it whitewashes some aspects of Whitney’s behavior and has lots of strong foul language, some mostly implied references to Whitney’s drug abuse and depictions of Whitney’s brief lesbian relationship with her best friend, an immoral relationship that Whitney rejected more strongly than the movie suggests.

The movie follows Whitney as she sings in church and nightclubs under her mother, Cissy’s, tutelage. Cissy is a professional singer in her own right, but she never achieved the heights of stardom her daughter did. A senior in high school, Whitney is on the verge of becoming a professional singer. However, although she and her family go to church, Whitney has been having a lesbian relationship with her best friend, Robyn Crawford, who’s started college. The two are shown kissing and smoking a marijuana bong in one short sequence.

 Whitney’s budding singing career attracts the attention of Clive Davis, the head of Arista Records. Davis is impressed with her singing, and he offers Whitney a record contract in April 1983, four months before her 20th birthday. However, as she begins working with Davis, Whitney beaks off her relationship with Robyn. She tells Robyn she’s worried about going to Hell because of their illicit relationship. The movie implies there’s also been some pressure from her mother to break off the relationship, though the two young women remain friends.

Whitney’s first album in 1985 becomes a huge hit, generating three Number One hits. She hires her friend Robyn as her personal assistant and her father as her manager. Behind the scenes, as her record career continues to soar, Whitney tells Robyn she wants to marry a man and have a family. After dating several celebrities, including Eddie Murphy, she begins seeing popular singer Bobby Brown in 1989. They get married three years later, a year after Whitney gives a stunning performance of the national anthem at the Superbowl.

Whitney decides to start making movies, and her 1992 debut, THE BODYGURD with Kevin Costner, becomes a huge hit. It also generates a Number One hit album and a Number One hit single for Whitney, a cover song of Dolly Parton’s 1974 hit, “I Will Always Love You.” The album won the 1994 Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Meanwhile, in 1993, Whitney and Bobby have a baby daughter, Bobbi Christina.

In the late 1990s, Whitney and her husband begin having more serious problems. One scene shows a battered Whitney, who’s been beaten by her husband. Their alcohol and drug use and tumultuous marriage receive widespread media coverage. She starts to miss scheduled performances and in the early 2000s learned that her father had been mishandling her money.

The rest of the movie shows Whitney trying to recover from her abuse of alcohol, cocaine and pills. Despite a six-year recording lull, she releases her final album in 2009. The album reaches Number One, her first since the BODYGUARD album, but Whitney’s drug and alcohol abuse has taken a toll on her beautiful singing voice.

WHITNEY HOUSTON: I WANNA DANCE WITH SOMEBODY tells a story of triumph and tragedy. Naomi Ackie delivers a dynamic, superlative performance as Whitney. The movie uses Whitney’s voice during the musical numbers, but the viewer can see that, in the musical numbers, Ackie is fully invested in singing the songs like Whitney sang them. Another excellent performance is by Stanley Tucci as Clive Davis, Whitney’s long-time record producer and friend”.

Most of the reviews for Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody have been positive. I think it sets out to be more positive and less controversy-focused than other films before. The Guardian argue that the decision not to look at Houston’s drug use and sexuality is a negative. Despite that, Peter Bradshaw was moved and impressed by Naomi Akcie’s remarkable and strong lead performance:

“The movie skates over the still fraught subject of who was supplying Houston with drugs and who therefore effectively enabled her sad death, and it simply does not mention that Houston’s grownup daughter herself died just three years later in a grimly similar way. Documentaries have tiptoed around the allegations that family members had to source drugs on tour; this film conveniently invents a shifty-looking white guy who asks Houston for her autograph and then cash and drugs are surreptitiously exchanged under cover of Houston getting pen and paper from her bag. Nor does this film mention the theory from Macdonald’s documentary that Houston was sexually abused as a child by a cousin.

It does however deliver the big scenes and big moments, especially her amazing performance of the national anthem at the 1991 Super Bowl. But a boilerplate music biopic like this usually runs in four stages: tough beginnings, success, crisis and redemptive comeback. Whitney’s life can’t give us the last of these and this film averts its gaze from the grim final reality of that hotel room in 2012, preferring to circle back in flashback to the triumph of Whitney’s performance at the 1994 American Music Awards, in which she sang her famous medley of I Loves You Porgy, And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going and I Have Nothing.

The ultimate questions are not really answered: was Whitney a gay woman whose problems stemmed from being imprisoned in the closet? Was she a gospel/R&B genius whose agonies arose from being a pop princess for white audiences? Or was it simply that she had to use drugs to relieve the stress of a touring schedule she was forced into by her big-spending family retinue? It could be any of these, and the film touches gingerly on each possibility. But it’s a muscular, heartfelt performance from Ackie”.

I think we will see some interesting music biopics next year (including the Madonna biopic). It is hard to balance an artist’s true life and darker moments with their highs and true brilliance. Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody does not swerve some of the more difficult and complex aspects of Whitney Houston, but it is more to do with her brilliance as an artist. Whilst not flattering Houston, it does correct and address the sensationalist view of her. Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody does the late legend producer. Naomi Ackie is remarkable in the lead role, whilst Stanley Tucci is brilliant as Clive Davis. The film is a treat for Whitney Houston fans, but I know that it will also alert new listeners to her amazing music…

AND timeless legacy.

FEATURE: Please Say You Won’t Forget Me: Kate Bush’s Home for Christmas at Thirty

FEATURE:

Please Say You Won’t Forget Me

Kate Bush’s Home for Christmas at Thirty

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ONE of those Kate Bush songs…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush during her 1979 Christmas special/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

that is sort of relegated or not often played, I guess its seasonable nature does count against it! It originally appeared in the BBC television show, The Comic Strip Presents film Wild Turkey, screened on 24th December, 1992. Ahead of its thirtieth anniversary, I wanted to shine a light on a great track. I guess when we think of Kate Bush Christmas songs, people would naturally name December Will Be Magic Again. That single was released in 1980, around the time of the release of Never for Ever. I am going to come to the lyrics of the song and write why Home for Christmas needs to get more airplay ahead of its thirtieth anniversary. It is a great Christmas song that, whilst not a classic or Bush’s best song, does deserve more attention and exposure. Home for Christmas was released as the B-side to the U.K. single of Moments of Pleasure and as the B-side to the U.S. single, Rubberband Girl. Bush also released a privately pressed 3" C.D. single in a Christmas card, issued in December 1993. Whereas December Will Be Magic Again was a single (though it did not chart high), it is a shame that Home for Christmas did not get its own single release. I guess the fact the song is under two minutes limits its appeal as a single. I like the fact Bush recorded this short song and it featured on television.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1993/PHOTO CREDIT: John Stoddart 

Quite traditional in terms of its story and lyrics, I think the relatable aspect of the song and Bush’s reliably beautiful vocal makes the song stand in the memory. In the song, Bush casts herself as the heroine, waiting for someone to return for the Christmas holidays:  “You know that I'll be waiting/To hear your footsteps saying/That you'll be coming home for Christmas”. There are themes that would appear in later Bush work. Look at 2011’s 50 Words for Snow and there are themes of, obviously, snow, but also separation. That can be heard on the Elton John duet, Snowed in at Wheeler Street. Here, there is another scene of lovers being distanced and unable to reach one another: “If I only had wings/Then I would fly to you/Through all the snowy weather/We'd be together/No one makes me feel the way you do”. Whether it is the conditions causing the issues or they are unable to see one another for a different reason, you can feel this sense of yearning coming through. I guess everyone wants to be home for Christmas, so you can appreciate Bush’s final desire and wish: “You know that I'll be waiting/To hear your footsteps saying/That you'll be coming home”. This is a relatively short feature, but one that I was keen to write. Before the end of 2022, I will explore other bits and pieces related to Kate Bush, including the success she has had throughout the year. I often wonder why Bush didn’t record more Christmas songs. Maybe there is a limited appeal but, as Home for Christmas is thirty on Christmas Eve, I felt it important to highlight it. One of her lesser-known songs, I hope that people hear the song. It is a short and beautiful Christmas treat that people…

SHOULD not forget.

FEATURE: Saluting a Rap Queen… My Favourite E.P. of 2022: Bree Runway’s WOAH, WHAT A BLUR!

FEATURE:

 

 

Saluting a Rap Queen…

PHOTO CREDIT: Fraser Taylor

My Favourite E.P. of 2022: Bree Runway’s WOAH, WHAT A BLUR!

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A sensational talent…

who is A Rap queen and a superstar, I wanted to mention Bree Runway. The Hackney Hip-Hop legend-in-the-making has been making music for years now. She put out her mixtape, 2000and4Eva, in 2020. I have already written about my favourite albums of this year, and I have also written about the best singles. I have also written about the best debut albums and some really great E.P.s from 2022. I wanted to spotlight my favourite E.P. of this year. A bit of a surprise drop from Bree Runway, there are not a lot of interviews around it – annoyingly, the one there is free to reads but I cannot copy it into this feature! CLASH were among those to react to the news of the forthcoming E.P. from Bree Runway, as WOAH, WHAT A BLUR! came out on 8th December:

“Bree Runway has shared her new project ‘WOAH, WHAT A BLUR!’ in full.

The Hackney all-rounder has enjoyed a stellar year, opening 2022 with a Clash cover and a full-throttle headline show at Brixton Electric.

Since then, she’s accelerated. Bree Runway is a true phenomenon, a blaze of colour and originality on an otherwise flat UK pop scene.

Linking with regular collaborators EASYFUN, LIOHN and Khlar, her surprise five-tracker ‘WOAH, WHAT A BLUR!’ is on streaming services now.

A natural over-sharer, Bree holds conversations on love, heartbreak, and mental health, while man-of-the-moment Stormzy drops past on epic highlight ‘PICK YOUR POISON’”.

FADER did actually speak with Bree Runway about WOAH, WHAST A BLUR! You can listen to the interview above, but what came out of it was a sense of disappointment and anger. The E.P. news was leaked early, and I guess Bree Runway wanted to announce the project herself closer to the time. Feeling hurt by things and considering it was rude for fans to talk about the E.P. ahead of time, I feel there has been a bit of a mess coming from what should have been an incredible occasion. To be fair, she does not really see WOAH, WHAT A BLUR! as an E.P. more a mini-E.P. or an appetiser before the main meal of a possible album next year, this is something for fans. Something for people to hear before something larger arrives. I can appreciate why Bree Runway might feel aggrieved or does not want WOAH, WHAT A BLUR! talked about too much or seen as more than it is. She has released several E.P.s previously, and they are all stunning and different. I think she is being very modest! I love Bree Runway’s music, and WOAH, WHAT A BLUR! has instantly become my favourite E.P. of the year. There have been some great E.P.s released this year, but I feel WOAH, WHAT A BLUR! is at the top. I might also write about another E.P. from this year that I love. It is from girl group FLO, and it is called The Lead. Bree Runway to say that the project is regal, vulnerable, honest and glamorous. She stated how now she’s interested in blending textures and making new shapes. Not wanting people to get too ahead of themselves, she was keeping her cards close to chest. Whilst WOAH, WHAT A BLUR! is an E.P. that is a blend of sounds and rollercoaster of emotions, it is also a fabulous and hugely impressive standalone work!

 PHOTO CREDIT: Fraser Taylor

I want to bring in a review from NME. Big fans of Bree Runway, they were very positive about an E.P. that was a surprise to many. Its creator felt a little angry the fact that she recorded it in a  week, pretty much under a quilt and does not want to work that way. Perhaps preferring a more luxurious setting and fancy studio in L.A., there is a rawness and urgency to her new E.P. Maybe she is not so angry now it is out there, but I can appreciate she did not want fans talking about it before it was announced. Regardless, what came out of the whole thing is a superb selection of songs that confirms her place as one of the finest voices in Rap right now!

“Bree Runway has spent the year correcting her underdog status. The world has finally caught up to her inventive pop music in 2022 with a BRIT Rising Star nomination, a sold-out US tour, and an NME cover to boot. To cap it all off, the fashion queen of British pop-rap has released a surprise project, ‘Woah, What A Blur!, that offers more of her it-girl personality and ventures into new electronic styles.

The sound of revving engines careening off into opener ‘Archive Mami’ is an invigorating start. Bree gives the low-down on who is on top (“And if you say that I’m a nobody online / Why the hell did Gaultier sent me shit from the archive?”), but the song is cut criminally short. You’re left fiending to hear the full version, but the next track ‘BREEE!’ makes amends with tight melodic rapping threaded through weighty bass kicks.

 Bree taps into her confident, opulent self on the hulking Baltimore club track ‘That Girl’. Doused in metallic production flourishes, she lets loose on Ballroom-tinged raps that have a touch of Cakes Da Killa in their slinky wit. “They salty ’cause I bring the pepper / I’ll be the it girl, now and forever”, she spits. “Sickening body, it’s unfair / I can pronounce everything I wear”. Bree’s cocksure performance brings out something of a thematic sum-up for her year: “I already been that girl / If you bad and you know it, better show out, girl”.

The sole questionable moment on the release is ‘Pick Your Poison’, a plucked-guitar Afropop duet with Stormzy. It’s about two people trying to connect despite having different attitudes towards drinking, but you can practically envision the music video of the two leaning on opposite sides of the same wall singing out into the distance. It lacks Bree’s typically inventive spark: while there is room for her to make a slower ballad – as the brilliant, Jai Paul-ish ‘Somebody Like You’ from this year proves – here, she feels caught in a pop formula.

‘FWMM’, however, shows Bree becoming an album artist with a captivating confessional. She expresses a desire for intimacy from her partner over a bedrock of warm interstellar synths, before taking the route of D’Angelo’s ‘Untitled (How Does It Feel)’ and painting the climax of intimacy through a godly rise. ‘Woah, What A Blur!’ is an exploratory collection that goes to multiple stylistic places, but if Bree Runway’s forthcoming debut album fills in the gaps, her stardom will be impossible to downplay”.

I shall leave it there. If some (Bree Runway included) feel it is not her best and most representative work, she should be very proud of a fantastic E.P. It has made a big impression on me, and it does mean many will ask about an album. There is no confirmed date, but you know there is going to be huge excitement around that possibility. Such an inspiring artist putting her unique footprint on Rap and Hip-Hop, I know 2023 will be a great year. If this one has been a bit of a blur, she did leave us with…

A brilliant E.P.

FEATURE: The Queen’s Speech: Kate Bush’s Christmas Message, and Her Hopes for Peace and Joy in 2023

FEATURE:

 

 

The Queen’s Speech

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

Kate Bush’s Christmas Message, and Her Hopes for Peace and Joy in 2023

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THIS time of year…

 PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

Kate Bush fans around the world get a treat in the form of a message from our favourite artist. True to form, queen Kate Bush has delivered a Christmas message. Like the past couple of years, it is full of thanks for those who give so much to us (in this case, nurses), and she signals hope for next year. A need for resolve and optimism. I often feel like this is the musical equivalent of the Queen’s speech. It is a beautiful and universal message that is typical of someone who is so concerned for others. So caring! Before continuing on, here is what Bush posted to her official website:

“Every year seems to fly by a little faster. They say this happens as you get older, but there’s no doubt that the speed of life is accelerating at a greater rate than ever.

I don’t think any of us have ever known a year like this one. Life became incredibly frightening in the pandemic, but just as we think it might be over soon, it seems to keep going. It’s a bombardment – the horrific war in Ukraine, the famines, the droughts, the floods…  and we lost our Queen. Many of my friends were surprised at how upset they were at her death especially as we aren’t royalists, but I think her passing became a focus for grief, for unexpressed loss that so many people had felt during the pandemic.

It’s been a crazy, roller coaster year for me. I still reel from the success of RUTH, being the No 1 track of this summer. What an honour! It was really exciting to see it doing so well globally, but especially here in the UK and Australia; and also to see it making it all the way to No 3 in the US. It was such a great feeling to see so many of the younger generation enjoying the song. It seems that quite a lot of them thought I was a new artist! I love that!

IMAGE CREDIT: Kate Bush 

Again, thank you so much to everyone who supported the track and made it a hit.

I wonder where on earth we’ll all be at the end of next year? I hope the war will end. I hope that the nurses will be in a position where they are appreciated – they should be cherished. Let’s all hope that next year will be better than this one. I keep thinking about hope and how it was the last to fly out of Pandora’s box. Sometimes it’s all that seems to glow in the dark times we find ourselves in right now.

I used a little robin in some of my Christmas gifts to friends this year. I felt that this humble little bird, which symbolises Christmas could also symbolise hope in the context of Emily Dickinson’s beautiful words: Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul.

I‘d like to think that this Christmas when joy is so hard to find, hope will perch in all our souls. Merry Christmas! All best wishes, Kate”.

I put this feature out pretty quickly, as I was not expecting the words she wrote in this post! There are some very typically Bush things. Of course, she gives her love to nurses and hopes they get paid fairly. She is worried about the invasion of Ukraine and hopes the people there are safe. Whereas many artists would not post a Christmas message or would lead with something about the music or their own success, Kate Bush does not do that!

Bush also thanked fans around the world for the success of Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God). The song was featured on Netflix’s Stranger Things. It got to number one in the U.K. and other nations – it originally hit number three here in 1985 -, and it is only Bush’s second-ever U.K. chart-topping song (after 1978’s Wuthering Heights). Nobody expected this to happen for Kate Bush at the start of the year. She was very involved in ensuring the song’s placement was to her satisfaction. Working with the show’s creators, The Duffer Brothers, Bush was very thankful to them and the show for introducing that song to a new generation. As she said, it is almost like she is a new artist! So many people who might not know about her work now have their eyes and minds opened to a legendary artist whose music is timeless and like nothing else! Bush reflected on the Queen’s death, and I think the fact Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) reached three in the U.S. excites her. After so many years, the country has embraced her like never before! My favourite part of the message is that she has put a little robin in the gifts for her family and friends. It does seem that birds are powerful and important to her (read her Christmas message from last year to see what I mean). Symbolic of something hopeful, peaceful and strength-giving, they have made their way into her work and messages for a while. From their use and role in 2005’s Aerial to the fact that, years ago, Bush was asked who her favourite singer was. Instead of naming an artist, she named a bird! It seems that their call and song not only influences her own music, but it goes deeper than that.

From their beauty and calm they give to people, Kate Bush has this deeper connection with birds. I might explore this more in a future feature. Here, in her Christmas message, it is the festive and humble robin that is at the centre. Her words here are beautiful and so true: “Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul”. Those Emily Dickinson words are attached to a robin in this case. After such a retched year (we seem to say that every year now!), there are positives, perhaps, ahead. The end of the terror in Ukraine. Parity and equality for those striking right now. Maybe, who knows, a snap General Election and new government! In any case, there is resolve for betterment and togetherness. There is no explicit mention of new work from Bush herself, but the fact she is so in awe and thankful for all of the love that has been shown to her this year makes me think she is working on music! That feeling that she wishes for peace and hope in 2023 leads me to believe that she will also reflect this through music! Maybe I am reading too much into it, but I think it would be a shock if no music was released, as Bush seems to be in this position where her music has found a whole new generation. After Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) was propelled back up the charts and into the public consciousness, Bush is being discussed again and her work is being highlighted. An immortal talent whose music is always relevant, this year has been so important and wonderful for her! I can imagine Bush in her lovely house preparing Christmas presents, watching T.V. and surrounded by lights, a warm fire and a beautiful garden! Let’s hope that her thoughts turn to new music. If not, it is brilliant that she still communicates with fans and we get these lovely and emotional words. It leads me – on behalf of all Kate Bush fans around the world – to wish this icon and music goddess…

THE happiest Christmas and new year!

FEATURE: Spotlight: Maude Latour

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

Maude Latour

__________

AN artist I cannot believe…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Braylen Dion for The New York Times

I have not included in this feature yet, Maude Latour is a name to watch. With a voice similar to that of Phoebe Bridgers, the Swedish-born artist is a sensation. She lived in London and attended Hong Kong International School before attending the Brearley School in Manhattan. She graduated from Columbia University this year as a philosophy major. Beginning songwriting at age fifteen, Latour released her first E.P., High School High, in 2018. She is a self-described as a "worshipper of the overly lyrical metaphysical world”, she puts her experiences with heartbreak in songs that are dream-like. Detailing living in New York, Maude's music contains a universal quality. I want to open with a quick profile from The New York Times from July:

“Name: Maude Latour

Age: 22

Hometown: New York City

Now lives: In a four-bedroom apartment near Columbia University, with the same four roommates she has lived with since freshman year.

Claim to fame: Ms. Latour is a singer-songwriter whose plush indie pop grapples with impermanence. She writes about composing a letter to her future self, cleaning a bedroom that always gets messy and, on her recent single “Trees,” mourning the loss of her grandmother, whom she searches for in the space between branches. Ms. Latour filmed the song’s music video during her final semester as an undergraduate at Columbia this spring, between classes on Virginia Woolf and the history of philosophy. “I’m majoring in, ultimately as a philosophy major, life being fleeting,” Ms. Latour said.

Big break: A self-described choir kid, Ms. Latour began songwriting at 15 and uploading her music to Spotify at 17. In March 2020, during the early pandemic lockdown, Ms. Latour posted a video of herself singing “One More Weekend,” an upbeat rendering of an early college heartbreak, to TikTok, where it has been viewed more than 455,000 times. (It has more than 28 million streams on Spotify.) In 2021, during her junior year, Ms. Latour was applying to summer jobs when record labels approached her. She signed with Warner Records and released an EP, “Strangers Forever,” last October. 

Latest project: Ms. Latour went on a North American tour this spring, squeezing in six shows during spring break and the rest on weekends. Ms. Latour said she cried onstage at Bowery Ballroom in Lower Manhattan, while dedicating her song “Lola” to friends in the audience who are survivors of sexual assault. (“Keep my girls protected/ I’m turned on when I’m respected,” she sings.) “Diderot says you can’t have authentic emotions onstage,” said Ms. Latour, referencing the French philosopher’s “Paradox of the Actor.” “I was like, ‘What?’ All I do is go onstage and feel and bleed out my emotions in front of people.”

Next thing: Later this month, Ms. Latour will play Lollapalooza, her first festival, on the same day as Metallica. “I’m on the same stage as them, so their drum kit and stuff is going to be behind me,” she said. Ms. Latour is also working on an EP she described as a queer coming-of-age set in the “enchanted forest” that is New York City. “The way I feel at the old age of 22 is so much more complicated than when I was 19,” she said. “I’m trying to grow up with my music.”

Borrowed threads: Ms. Latour’s iridescent, Y2K-era stage outfits are a joint effort between herself and her four roommates. The magenta corduroys, rhinestone belt and rust-orange Nike jacket she wore on tour were sourced from her roommates’ closets. Wearing her friends’ clothes helps ease Ms. Latour’s nerves. “I feel hugged by their presence,” she said”.

I will move on to an interview from Alt Press. Comparing her to Lorde, they headlined the interview saying Maude Latour navigates the blurred lines of female friendships. It is fascinating finding out more about the extraordinary artist:

“I have not featured yet, Maude Latour reminds me a lot of Phoebe Bridgers. She has that similar huskiness and smokiness in her voice. She has released three E.P.s to date. This year’s 001 was released in September, and I think it is her most complete work yet. I wonder whether an album will come next. Latour was born in Sweden. She lived in London and attended Hong Kong International School before attending the Brearley School in Manhattan. Latour graduated from Columbia University in 2022 as a philosophy major. Taking up songwriting from the age of fifteen, she released her first E.P., High School High, in 2018. A hot and supremely talented name to watch through 2023, I wanted to bring in a interviews from this year with Latour so that we can find out more about the remarkable artist.

“Her effervescent pop songs (think Lorde’s “Green Light” and Hayley Kiyoko’s “for the girls”) provided the ultimate high-energy escape for users scrolling for the next sticky earworm. “People on the app are so funny — when they love something, they love it so much,” the 22-year-old singer says. It was evident for Latour in the nearly 100,000 fans she quickly amassed.

It would be a year-and-a-half until Latour was back on campus at Columbia University, and when she returned as a senior, plenty of her classmates had heard her music (thanks to TikTok, of course). “People would pass me notes in the library saying, ‘Oh, love your music,’ or I'd go into the library and people would be whispering my name,” she recalls.

The New York-based pop newcomer, who went to an all-girls school growing up, has become known for using her music to reflect on the complexities of female friendships and sexuality. In February 2021 she tweeted, “its really the binary/phallic constraints on love and emotion that cause us to put love into boxes. feminine love is fluidity, boundaryless, friendship and romance blur, it is true feeling and it has no ends.”

In March, she shared “Lola,” an ode to her best friend. The TikTok where she played the song for Lola happened to receive more than 220,000 likes. One commenter wrote, “Maude really out here blurring the line between friendship and relationship,” to which she replied, “i wish i could tell u the whole story. This song will have to do in the meantime.” Another asked if the single would be “playing when you walk down the aisle to Lola,” and queer icon FLETCHER declared, “i’m so here for this.”

“I've been an advocate for this, blurry, indescribable love that's friendship, but [it’s] so much deeper, and all of your relationships are confused by it.” Latour describes her historically all-girls school as “a place where all these feelings mush.” She’s still navigating these complicated relationships, which she’s “starting to realize are not fully sustainable” as she grows up and develops deeper feelings. She described these relationships on TikTok as a “complex lovefriendblur.”

Focusing on these friendships has continuously proven to be significant lyrical fodder for her. “I'm not in love right now,” Latour confidently declares. “But I am nurturing friendships. It took me a second to realize that they need as much care as a romantic relationship. If it’s done right, this gets to be a source of love and life for you for years.” As she figures it out, she calls her music “an actual real-time reflection of how I'm feeling.”

On her latest track “Probabilities,” Latour seems destined for superstardom, ready to join her icons, including No Doubt’s Gwen Stefani. Her upcoming EP is slated for release Sept. 30 and follows her 2019 EP Starsick 2021 EP Strangers Forever.

Rather than romance, she has other things to focus on — like preparing to embark on a major tour. She’s hitting the festival circuit, playing Lollapalooza, ACL and Music Midtown. Her shows, which she describes as “rave parties,” have created an incredible community for her. “It’s this intangible world, and promoting and sharing comes to fruition in a concert,” she says. “[The music] gets the closure it needs, and it's cool to meet people and be a real person off the screen.”

She also plans to write songs daily, spend time in the studio and watch Love Island — a notoriously time-consuming endeavor. Latour is focused on crafting “perfect pop songs and a sonic universe, the way No Doubt does, or the way that every artist I love has done.”

Latour, however, will need to navigate some change, though along the way. Much of her music and video content — largely shot on the Columbia campus — has been directly linked to New York. With a whirlwind year ahead, she’s bracing for a departure from the city she’s called home for the past several years. “I've lived my life through the lens of New York City for so long,” she notes. “Once I lose New York as the backdrop for everything, I'm curious what will replace it”.

I will wrap up with an interview from Ones to Watch. There is no doubt that Maude Latour is going to be among the most important artists coming through next year. I hope that shew tours in the U.K. at some point:

“Ones To Watch: Hi, it’s so great to meet you! Congrats on the success of your current headlining tour! How does it feel finally being on tour as we emerge at the end of the pandemic?

Maude Latour: It feels so much better than I ever could have imagined. I was nervous; I've never done more than one show in a row. But it has been so fulfilling, and I'm so happy about it. It's so fun, and I'm learning so much about myself. I feel like I'm truly finding my purpose and it’s such a spiritual experience. I can’t wait to get so much better at it and push this medium of live performance. I know it’s my mission and what I'm meant to do, so I'm so ecstatic about it.

Your tour is arranged strategically because you're also a student at Columbia University. What is it like being both a full-time student and a breakthrough artist? It seems like an extremely difficult balancing act.

I'm definitely glad that it’s almost over, but it’s actually fun! I like being busy, and I love school. I love being in college, it’s such a privilege and I totally try to soak up every moment of it. The shows also keep my focus on what I'm going to do after college and it brings together so many of my college friends. It’s such an integrated part of my college experience at this point. We're having a party for the song coming out. All the music videos are made with my friends. My friends help me run every event that I do, they help me make every TikTok. Being an artist can be really lonely sometimes and it’s just been such a collaborative coming-of-age project for all of us. I feel really lucky.

PHOTO CREDIT: Anna Koblish

I'm sure you're looking forward to graduation in a few weeks! Do you have any plans or bucket list items that you want to do once you leave university?

I still haven't comprehended that I'm graduating. I will do some tours, I want to make an album and I want to pretend that I'm in college forever. I want to have fun forever and mainly be with my friends!

I know that you've lived all over the world and moved around a lot in your formative years. What ultimately drew you back to New York?

I've lived in Sweden, London, New York City, Hong Kong, and am now back in New York. I don't know where I'm going to go after college, I was thinking LA but I might not be able to leave this place. I don't know!

I physically don't know how to leave New York. It's just constant inspiration. I love the four seasons, I love the feeling I have here. I actually feel like I'm a part of this city. I feel so much love and pride in this city, and I love how small I feel in it, I feel so tiny. I love New Yorkers, and I love the people, they are so cool. I want to hang out with them forever. It just feels like home. I know it really well, and I feel like myself when I'm here.

Has New York influenced your creative process?

Yeah, the sublimity of feeling so small and being a part of a large city; I definitely have this taste of being a part of something bigger than I can comprehend. I got a sense of independence when I was really young and went to high school here. I was jetting around the city by myself around thirteen and it made me have all these experiences that showed me that life is the story, and I wanted to write about it. I think the project that I'm currently working on is definitely a tribute to the city, so I have to be here to write about it!

What are other things that you draw inspiration from when it comes to songwriting besides your immediate environment?

I think I keep writing about friendship, and I think it’s because my friendships are such an enormous emotional relationship in my life that have been different from romantic relationships. Friendships that I care more about get prioritized before anything and loving someone in a friendly way. I think that I've written a lot of songs about friends and it’s because I went to an all-girls school in high school and that was a place where the lines of friendship and romance blurred for me. And sometimes they turn romantic but it’s really about this love that can't be defined, which is a theme that I keep coming back to.

Do you feel that your creative process has changed between your first EP Starsick and your  most recent EP Strangers Forever?

Yes, it definitely has. My last EP I wrote in my room and now these songs are just coming from living a little more instead of sitting down to reflect. They are coming out from living in the real world. They're definitely becoming harder to write. They haven't been the same journal entry songs, and it’s a little more of asking what is the most important thing to me. When I was sixteen, I wondered if my songs would get more complicated when I turned twenty, and when I turned twenty, I wondered how I'll keep making this medium when I turn 22. And now that I'm 22, I feel many different feelings. A lot of the things I used to say aren't as simple as I thought, but I realized that I can grow up in this medium and in songwriting.

When I listen to my old songs, the feelings still resonate, much more often than the words do. But sometimes I'll hear the words and be like wow, I knew that about myself, without really knowing it, and now I really know it and I can't believe I could tell then. In "Furniture," there's a line "I wanna sing until I drown / because when the music gets loud / and I'm singing in front of a crowd" and I wasn't singing in front of crowds then and now performing is such a thing. It was more of a dream and now I'm singing that line in front of a crowd, so that has been really crazy.

Speaking on the growth and trajectory of your music, you're releasing your new single  "Lola." Was there something you wanted fans to take away from the single?

This is my favorite song in the entire world. This is actually really me giving my best offering that I can give, and I can't even imagine getting it off my chest. Of course, so much of this song is attributed to the friendship that I've had with this girl named Lola. We've been best friends and inseparable for years and it’s also a friendship that has complicated parts. Parts that weren't just friends and now we were just friends, but I wrote it at a time when I was figuring out what we were. It’s definitely attributed to this ambiguous friendship that I keep meeting with more than one person. It's really how love feels to me, and I'm not sure if it’s because I'm a fluid bi girl, but I want us to embrace all the ways that love appears to us. I thought this project wasn't going to be as focused on love, but it’s actually more about love than anything I've ever written.

This song is also about the girls and queer people that I love. I wanted to write a song about protecting my sisters, my real sister, and my friends. When we share this power, when we support each other and have each other’s backs, the ferocity and this fierceness of women and queer people working together and protecting each other... there’s nothing more powerful than a confident girl and a confident person. I think that it has the magical power to make whoever hears it feel their power.

"Lola" is all about the women in your life that you feel connected to and have an affinity for. Who are some of the women in the music industry that you are currently listening to?

Watching Doja and SZA win their Grammy made me cry, so definitely them. Everything is going to change whenever SZA releases her album. Doja was really the music when I listened to when I was going through a breakup and writing my last album. I just remember thinking that she made me feel awesome and not sad and small, and that is my favorite feeling when it comes to music”.

A truly amazing artist who you need to get behind and follow, Maude Latour is going to be a big name soon enough. I discovered her a little while ago, but I think this year has been her most productive and accomplished. I know she will put out some amazing music next year. Every music fan needs to be aware of…

THIS treasure.

____________

Follow Maude Latour

PHOTO CREDIT: Anna Koblish 

Official:

https://www.maudelatour.com/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/maudelstatus/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/maudelstatus/

TikTok:

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

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/maudelstatus/

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLf62P_jQF1qO_aJjYa68zA

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/3MNLhvqJkWsO6tcjY9ps62?si=KwbxW2iITqCNlopSNixoPQ&nd=1

FEATURE: Merci: The End of 2022 Gift: Little Simz’s Spellbinding NO THANK YOU

FEATURE:

 

 

Merci

The End of 2022 Gift: Little Simz’s Spellbinding NO THANK YOU

__________

ONE thing you can always rely on…

IN THIS PHOTO: Little Simz at Fabrique Club on 5th December, 2022 in Milan, Italy/PHOTO CREDIT: Francesco Prandoni/Getty Images

in the music world is not to predict anything too easily. It is December, so one would assume artists are done releasing albums – or at least the big players and the mainstream acts. You might also feel that the very best music arrives in the spring and summer. Again, jumping to those sort of conclusions might lead to (rather good) disappointment. I wanted to bring up the amazing Islington-born artist Little Simz. She won the Mercury Prize earlier in the year for the towering and monumental Sometimes I Might Be Introvert. That was released in September 2021. Prolific since then, she has released singles and been pretty busy! I am not sure whether she is calling it a project, mixtape or album, but NO THANK YOU came out on 12th December. Not many artists of her calibre and popularity release albums that late in the year. I think most feel you can get more momentum and sales bringing it out earlier in the year. In this case, Simz had been working on the album and clearly had things to say. Not only do we get another arresting, unique and instantly classic chapter from Simz. She has also ended 2022 with a real gift. This year has seen album releases from heavyweights like Beyoncé (RENAISSANCE), Björk (Fossora) and Taylor Swift (Midnights). NO THANK YOU was released on the independent label, Forever Living Originals. I think it is a little more stripped-back than Sometimes I Might Be Introvert. You still get some sweeping moments, but there is a bit more of a loose vibe to this album. Alongside the orchestration, you get songs where Simz is at the front, maybe accompanied by something funky and effectively simple.

I want to bring in a couple of reviews for NO THANK YOU. Annoyingly for many journalists, they had been put out their list declaring the best albums of 2022. Though, that is quite a nice problem to have! Many were revised in the wake of Little Simz’s fifth studio album. With very little fanfare and hype, it is has gained huge accolade because it is heartfelt and insightful. With her heart on sleeve, you get something hugely impressive and personal. One of the most consistent and innovative artists in the world, this end of year gift will be toured next year I am sure. I want to first bring in parts of an interview from a Rolling Stone U.K. from a few months back. Simz (real name Simbiatu ‘Simbi’ Abisola Abiola Ajikawo) was discussing her role in the T.V. series, Top Boy. It is interesting that she had recorded this album but the world was unaware. An excellent actor, I think we will be seeing her in a lot more next year:

“There’s a calm to Ajikawo, noted often in press promoting her last album (and by me, when we first met, in 2019). She sets her mind on something, then moves towards it, without fanfare. You see that in how she gets security to silence this place, in how she asserts herself on the shoot (more on that later). And it’s clear in how she’s stepped into the character of Shelley on Netflix’s Top Boy reboot. She seemed to casually move into acting, having built a career as a rapper for more than a decade. But the real story’s not that simple. As she picks up Rolling Stone UK’s Television Award, is she likely to sit back, satisfied with her accomplishments so far? Not quite.

Before you get any ideas, she won’t be drawn on the plot for the next, and final, season of Top Boy. “This season I was definitely stretched,” she begins. She wanted “to make sure I gave Shelley her due diligence and did everything in my power to make sure she goes out the right way. However, that” — then cuts herself off — “you’ll see it anyway.” All she’ll offer now is a smile. Season two saw single mum Shelley grow even closer to titular top boy, Dushane Hill (played by Ashley Walters). The season closed with a major twist. Something to make people gasp. As much as Ajikawo loved seeing fans online react in real time, she scrunches up her face saying one word: spoilers.

“I’ve always thought,” and she kisses her teeth, “‘Just chill.’ I understand the excitement for it, but let people enjoy it at their pace.” She’d tweeted as much, in March, when the season dropped in full (“lol yo chilllll on the spoilers”). “People wait so long for it, that to go, ‘I’m gonna tell you the end plot’ when it’s just dropped, is a bit…” her voice trails off into nothing. But, she sums up, “That’s the internet.” It’s one of the few times talking about Top Boy when she looks irritated. Back to her zen state, she brushes it off.

Mostly, she enjoys being able to discuss her acting rather than only her music. When I ask how she knew she could act as a child, she stops. “No one’s ever asked me that before. I don’t know!” I prod, offering up stories of my failed attempts to break into acting at a similar age. “I just felt like, ‘Yeah, I can embody different people. I can use my body in different ways, and step outside of both myself and my comfort zone.’ And I actually enjoy it.”

It’s like flexing a different muscle. As Little Simz, she’s in charge. It’s her vision, accelerated by her ideas. She is, after all, a solo artist. She built a career from freestyling as a teen and self-releasing mixtapes to winning awards — she also won a Brit in February — with that singular drive. Being part of a franchise took some getting used to. “It’s like a football team: everyone’s coming together to make this thing work. You’ve got to have trust in your teammates,” she says. Sometimes, when they’re doing press as a cast and she can’t quite come up with the right line, she’ll turn to Walters or Jasmine Jobson (Jaq), as if to say: “Help me out.” She and Walters have clicked since her audition. The prompt? For him to make her laugh. “And he did — that was it. It was super quick and simple,” she says. She remembers them laughing, shooting and re-shooting a sad scene from season two with Marsha Millar (who plays Pat, Dushane’s mum). When she describes the story, it’s so clearly loaded with in-jokes that I barely understand why it was hilarious. But she’s beaming. You had to be there.

PHOTO CREDIT: Kosmas Pavlos

As our time wraps, we rattle through the books and TV we’ve been into lately. Ajikawo reads a lot, pulling out a highlighter to slash across passages she’ll want to signpost to her future self. She’s heavy on reading philosophical self-help at the moment and shouts out M. Scott Peck’s The Road Less Travelled. “It felt like it was written for me.” Her partner had recommended it to her, and she only realised she already owned it (with different cover art) once she’d finished it. “His segment on love, and on what the definition of it means — if there is one…” she trails off again, but it stuck with her. Peck described love as, she says, “the act or will to nurture your growth, or someone else’s”. And that resonated. Now, she’s wading through The Way of Zen by Alan Watts — “very difficult book to read. I have to read it in silence,” she says, smiling.

It’s not all philosophy, though. She watches Curb Your Enthusiasm to unwind, and Love Island when it’s on. I recommend she adds Abbott Elementary to the roster, and she sounds excited to give it a try. Before she goes, she mentions she’s got a coffee table book coming out. One filled with photos, art, scribbles from her journals, and interviews — “it’s not my life story, or an autobiography. That’s not the vibe.” She sounds delighted, recalling an interview she did with Dr Karen Joash, “a Black woman who works in the NHS and private healthcare. It’s cool that I can sit down, having conversations with people like her, and actually learn.”

As for the music? Again she won’t be drawn on detail. I ask if she’s writing a new album. “Could be.” A chuckle. “There will be more to come eventually.” But she’s keeping that to herself. “I’m a public figure, in a way, but I’m a private person. I also think people value mystery. You don’t have to share everything, you know? Or you stagger it. I might share stuff that I’m going through now in 20 years,” she says.

Ajikawo refuses to give everything away, to be the type to be very online or a wide-open book. “I give a lot of myself, but I still have some stuff for me. I need to,” she says. That may well be how we ended up in the neutral territory of this restaurant. That’s part of the allure with Little Simz, the artist and actor: unless you’re in her inner circle, you can never really know for sure”.

I will round off with a couple of (the many) positive reviews for NO THANK YOU. This is what Rolling Stone said in their assessment of a latecomer for the best album of 2022:

“LITTLE SIMZ IS like a hood BBC anchor. Her songs come off like quiet but spicy broadcasts, as if she checked in for a soothing afternoon chat if that somehow involves a soul-scorching read. Pleasant but snarky, Simz combines Queens Gambit cordiality with Top Boy aggression to marry well-bred flows to blistering bars. Appropriately, the London-born MC (and skilled actress) flaunts a thespian’s remarkable range: she gives us humor, charisma, and a lot of feels.

Emotion is Simz’s secret weapon. She has a knack for sharing heartfelt tales with marked conviction that settles deep in your sternum. She’s a bona fide technician, no doubt. But the sheer technicality of her rhymes is not at odds with her natural ability to craft poignant songs that make you laugh, cry, and silently rage. On No Thank You, the follow-up to her excellent 2021 breakthrough Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, Simz gives us 10 choice cuts (showcasing her brilliance and breadth) that convey the whole emoji board of riveting emotions.

Those battle-ready bars distinguish “Gorilla,” where Simz, over loping bass and crisp percussion, spits, “I’m cut with a different scissor/From the same cloth as my dear ancestors.” And it’s captivating to hear her effortlessly unpack a couplet that floors you as she skillfully pivots to the next bruising punchline.

But “Broken” is a boon of self-reflection, and it’s arguably Simz’s most powerful song to date. Buoyed by the strains of a choir, Simz describes how racism afflicts her, wasting her time, energy, and agency. “It shouldn’t be a norm to live your life as a tragedy/To live your life in a state of confusion and agony,” she sighs. And you’re reminded that being Black means being in a constant state of rage.

On “No Merci,” Simz kicks caustic bars (“I’m a human landmine/I am not a human being you can gaslight”), indicting lames that want her “stuck up in the matrix.” Meanwhile, “Heart on Fire,” with its blithe hook asserting that “my life is a blessing,” is her stirring manifesto. But the soulful “Sideways” is the obvious standout. Here, Simz embodies snappish warrior energy, confirming her calm sovereignty: “Walkin’ in my light, my shadow is protectin’ me/Never movin’ sideways, I done this shit my way.” We’re forever thankful for Simz’s bold originality”.

Who knows where Little Simz will head next! Someone who seems to just grow more astonishing and talented, it is exciting to see the twenty-eight-year-old put out an album that ranks alongside the best of her career so far. NO THANK YOU underlines what a force she is. This is what The Guardian wrote when sitting down with this staggering work:

“All of this is punchily, powerfully and, occasionally, wittily done. If you’re going to compare the matter of being signed to a major record label to the lot of a slave, you might as well do it with a lyric as sharp as “I refuse to be on a slave ship, give me all my masters and lower your wages”. (It’s worth noting that Simz releases music on her own label, via a distribution company.) That said, there’s no doubt that No Thank You’s impact is vastly potentiated by the work of producer Inflo, who worked on both Sometimes I Might Be Introvert and 2019’s Grey Area, and whose approach to his project Sault – no promotion, no live performances, no interviews, music apparently released as and when he feels like it, even if that means putting out five albums on the same day – seems to reflect the manifesto outlined on Angel: “Fuck rules and everything that’s traditional.” The album feels far more like a direct collaboration than a producer simply coming up with beats for an artist to rap over. Most of the tracks conclude with lengthy instrumental codas, where Simz effectively cedes centre-stage to Inflo’s lushly inventive arrangements, which, with their swirls of choral vocals and swelling strings, nod to the oft-sampled work of both David Axelrod and Charles Stepney without ever seeming like straightforward homage. Nearly half of Silhouette’s six and half minutes is Simz-free, taken up with dramatic orchestration, booming drums and backing singers.

You can see why she feels comfortable stepping aside on an album that bears her name alone: Inflo’s productions are uniformly fantastic. On X, he conjures up a wall of percussion that variously evokes a marching band, west African drumming and rolling breakbeats. Sideways features a head-turning blast of sampled vocals, sped up until it feels harsh. Who Even Cares is beautifully warped soft soul: Simz singing, rather than rapping, her voice subtly but noticeably Auto-Tuned.

It ends on an optimistic note, with Control: a straightforward and rather sweet love song, backed only by piano. Exactly how her career progresses from here is an intriguing question. She’s clearly had enough of doing things the way she did previously. The lyrics to Heart on Fire seem to suggest she feels she became too bound up in the quest for commercial success and its financial rewards: as they progress, her ambitions shift from buying her mum a house to owning 100 pairs of shoes, a list of desires that “never stops growing, and you don’t know even what you do this for”. What that means for the future isn’t really explored: perhaps she intends to take an approach more akin to that of Sault. If it means more albums like this, that should be fine, and she seems to know it. “This ain’t music one overlooks,” she snaps on Sideways, quite correctly”.

  A sensational album from someone who we are very lucky to have, I wanted to spotlight Little Simz’s NO THANK YOU, as nobody expected it to arrive. As I said, you do not get many huge and unexpected albums coming out in December! A Christmas treat for her fans, go and listen to the masterpiece. A possible Mercury prize contender for 2023, I know that Little Simz will continue to dominate…

NEXT year.

FEATURE: Before a (Sort of) Live Studio Audience… Revisiting the Magnificent 1979 Christmas Special, Kate

FEATURE:

 

Before a (Sort of) Live Studio Audience… 

Revisiting the Magnificent 1979 Christmas Special, Kate

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AS we are in December now…

and looking towards Christmas, I wanted to pop in a few Kate Bush Christmas features. I will come to discuss her single, Home for Christmas, which was released in 1992. I wanted to spend some time with the underrated and sometimes forgotten Christmas special, Kate. Filmed at Pebble Mill Studios and broadcast on 28th December, 1979, it must have been exciting for fans to see this unique show on the screen. Earlier in 1979, Bush had performed The Tour of Life around the world. She had that live experience under her belt, because her gigs before that were a lot more modest. She had done live performance on T.V., but The Tour of Life was this huge stage production that was a whole new level. Conversely, Kate is a smaller affair. You can hear a studio audience cheering and clapping songs, though it was not recorded with an audience. It has an artificial quality that must have created this odd sensation. Having been used to playing before huge audiences months earlier, Bush was in a studio doing live versions (the vocals were recorded earlier and mimed in the performance) of songs from her first few albums. In fact, apart from some other treats, Bush was premiering songs that would appear on 1980’s Never for Ever. A single that was released in 1980, December Will Be Magic Again, was performed during the show – though it had its premiere days earlier for the Christmas Snowtime Special (22nd December). I am going to draw in a few revisiting features about Kate/her 1979 Christmas special. It was not just Bush and her band performing in the 1979 special. She was joined by Perter Gabriel. He performed solo, and there is a haunting duet of Roy Harper’s Another Day. The was a reason why Harper wanted to collaborate with her. He sang backing vocals on her 1980 song, Breathing, whist she duetted on the track, You, on Harper's album, The Unknown Soldier (1980).

Some people disregard Kate, as it is seen as inessential and a bit bare. There are a couple of odd set designs and performances (Egypt and Ran Tan Waltz spring to mind), and one glaring issue: only one of the songs, December Will Be Magic Again, is about Christmas! The set is not Christmassy, and Bush does not perform carols or any Christmas standards. I wonder whether there was any discussion about whether to include something more Christmas-like, as it is a T.V. special broadcast at Christmas that is more designed to promote Kate Bush and her music, rather than evoke something of the season. In their feature in 2019, Medium investigate the songs and whether they relate to Christmas. There is a section of the feature that I wanted to bring in:

“For the uninitiated, the Kate Bush Christmas Special (titled simply Kate on-screen) aired on the BBC on December 28th, 1979. Bush was in between albums at the time, having released Lionheart in November 1978 and in the the middle of recording Never For Ever, which would come out in November 1980. Despite the lukewarm critical and commercial reception for Lionheart, the Christmas special came hot off the massive success of Bush’s Tour of Life, her first (and, until 2014, only) concert tour, and one she embarked on after turning down an opener slot on Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk tour.

It’s important to mention the Tour of Life here, since the Christmas special’s choreography borrows heavily from that tour. But where she sang live on the Tour of Life, she lip-syncs to pre-recorded tracks here and incorporates pre-recorded video segments. As a result, the Christmas special plays out more like a crazy, longform music video than a traditional stage show.

Kate answers the age-old question: “what would happen if the BBC gave a Christmas special to an incredibly ambitious 21-year-old art rocker who also smokes a ton of weed?” 40 years have passed since it came out, and it’s just as weird and wonderful as the day it first aired”.

Some pick at the performances and the fact that it is a lesser staging of The Tour of Life. Unable to replicate the feel and scale for T.V. broadcast from a studio, there were those who disliked Kate and felt it was a missed opportunity. I feel the biggest question comes around the nature of the show and whether it should have been shown at Christmas. I think it is actually a nice and unusual twist. Not everything shown at Christmas has to be about the holiday. This was simply a nice live show featuring Bush performing some known songs, new cuts, and a great set of songs from Peter Gabriel. Perhaps not cheery and evoking much delight, there are some wonderful moments. I love Bush and Gabriel’s duet on Another Day. The rendition of December Will Be Magic Again is one or two. It was released as a single, but never performed live when it was released in 1980. Bush never released a video for it. The best version of the song, Kate is worth watching alone for this remarkable performance! There is this selection box approach to the songs selected. We get a nice mix of flavours and sounds, and Bush is committed throughout. Other highlights include a very rare performance of The Wedding List. That would appear on Never for Ever the year after, but it was never released as a single. With her brother Paddy playing a couple of roles during the performance (a vicar and a gun-toting groom assassin), it is wonderfully realised and choreographed performance! I am going to go on, but I want to bring in Far Out Magazine’s featured about a ‘forgotten’ Christmas show:

“Featuring just one recognisably Christmassy song, it is a mind-bending theatrical odyssey that sees Bush perform a range of tracks from her first three albums, with a rendition of Erik Satie’s ‘Gymnopodie No. 3’ thrown in for good measure.

By the time Kate Bush sat down to write ‘December Will Be Magic Again,’ she was in the middle of recording her third album Never For Ever, a record which would land Bush such hit singles as ‘Babooshka’, ‘Breathing’, and ‘Army Dreamers’. Despite the tepid reception of her sophomore album Lionheart, she’d managed to win back her fans with her spectacular Tour Of Life concert tour, which was praised for its originality and spectacular visual appeal. Having been forced to turn down a slot supporting Fleetwood Mac on their Tusk tour, it was clear that Bush was in the midst of one of the busiest and most creatively rewarding periods of her life, and she wanted more.

So, when she was invited to host her own TV Christmas special in 1979, she jumped at the chance. Directed by Roy Norton, the 45-minute performance saw Bush bring the theatricality of her stage show to the small screen, offering her suburban-bound teenage fans the chance to see her in action. From the moment she jumps into the frame, dressed like some chiffon-clad bat, it’s clear Bush has no intention of offering us any of the wholesomeness of the Morecambe and Wise Christmas specials – rather her intention is to thrill us into submission.

Surreal and heartwarming in equal measure, Kate: Kate Bush Christmas Special 1979 is a wonder to behold. As well as containing some hilariously overblown choreography, (including the moment in ‘Them Heavy People’ when one of Bush’s dancers breaks a glass bottle over her head) it also features a couple of amazing cameos, including one by Peter Gabriel.

So, if you’re looking for something unusual to watch this Christmas, look no further”.

I am going to wrap up in a minute. I can see why some are not huge fans of Kate. It is a special broadcast at Christmas, though it never really marketed itself as a Christmas bonanza with lots of songs set around the time of year. Instead, it is this broadcast that keeps her live momentum going, acts as some promotion for her first two albums and what was to come. It also makes me wonder whether it will be released onto DVD. There is a Japanese release that also has a Hammersmith Odeon set from The Tour of Life, but nothing else is available from what I can see. On 28th December, it will be forty-three years since the Christmas special, a.k.a. Kate, was broadcast on the BBC. I do hope that we get to see this show on the BBC again, as this year has been a big one for introducing Kate Bush’s music to new people (though it was shown in the summer). They would get a kick from seeing the 1979 special. I really love it, and I would agree that it is underappreciated and sort of lost. Not seen as an essential part of her cannon and catalogue, I would encourage people to give it a watch, because there are so many great moments. Another brilliant one is Bush’s performance of Symphony In Blue. The lead song from 1978’s Lionheart, you get tingles listening to her delivery. It is a beautiful song that is a bit of a Bush deep cut. Recorded in October 1979 at the BBC’s Pebble Mill Studios in Birmingham, with choreography by Anthony Van Laast (who choreographed for The Tour of Life), the barmy, brilliant, and bountiful Kate is something that…

EVERYONE needs to see.

FEATURE: Looking Ahead… Songs from Albums Turning Forty in 2023

FEATURE:

 

 

Looking Ahead…

Songs from Albums Turning Forty in 2023

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LOOKING ahead to 2023…

I am doing a run of features marking great albums celebrating big anniversaries. I am now at 1983 – that was the year I was born! Albums from that incredible year that are going to be forty in 2023. I am highlighting this with a playlist of songs from that year. 1983 was a simply brilliant year for music, and there is plenty of gold to be heard below. I am looking forward to covering 1988 next, but let us continue with sensational albums turning forty next year. Such an important anniversary, these songs below are iconic and huge. If you are not sure which great albums came out in 1983, then the playlist below gives you an idea of how wonderful…

 THE year was.

FEATURE: Revisiting… Beyoncé - RENAISSANCE

FEATURE:

 

 

Revisiting…

Beyoncé - RENAISSANCE

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THIS it feature is normally…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Carlijn Jacobs

for great albums of the past five years that didn’t get all the credit they deserved first time around and need a new spin. I have used the last few or so for albums released this year that are either underrated or warrant another listen. The reason I am featuring Beyoncé’s RENAISSANCE is because it is one of her best albums, but there might be some who have not heard it. Maybe feeling it was going to be like her other albums, RENAISSANCE is different to 2016’s Lemonade. Whereas that album seemed more personal and featured more R&B and Hip-Hop, RENAISSANCE has a lot of Disco, House and Dance. It seems like it is from a golden era, compared to the somewhat more modern and urgent Lemonade. RENAISSANCE is the first instalment of a trilogy project. Beyoncé conceived and recorded the album during the COVID-19 pandemic, seeking to inspire joy and escapism in listeners who had experienced isolation and to celebrate a club era in which marginalized people sought liberation through Dance music. One might think critics would react less warmly to an album not quite as striking and personal. One that sort of sounds similar to her earliest solo work. In fact, there have been huge reviews across the board! There were some a little mixed towards RENAISSANCE when it came out, whilst there was this enormous explosion of attention on social media.

As it was released in July, I wanted to come back to the album now and recommend it to those who might not have heard it. Proving herself to be one of the most inventive and consistent artists ever, Beyoncé is at her best on RENAISSANCE. I will come to a couple of reviews for RENAISSANCE soon. I could not find interviews with Beyoncé where she discussed the album and its origins. Instead, there is a great feature from The Ringer, where they highlight how Beyoncé has cemented her place in music history from Lemonade in 2016, to her Coachella headline slot in 2018, to her latest album with RENAISSANCE. They also highlight how Beyoncé’s lyrics and perspectives have shifted:

“Renaissance marks a new method of storytelling from Beyoncé: If Lemonade was an exercise in building a longform musical narrative, her latest record clips together individual scenes as part of a larger world-building project. The universe Beyoncé has created on Renaissance is one of joy, pleasure, hedonism, regained confidence, and assured power. Though she’s previously explored these themes, they feel recontextualized given the social and political climate in which she is releasing the record. This new mindset is perhaps most evident in her takes on feminism and power, which has shifted dramatically since the beginning of her discography. On the breakout single “Break My Soul,” Beyoncé sings joyously about quitting her job in order to focus on love and pleasure, while a Big Freedia sample encourages listeners to “release” their work and stress.

“They work me so damn hard, work by nine, then off past five,” Beyoncé laments. Her sentiment comes in direct opposition to her 2011 hit “Run the World (Girls),” wherein the artist celebrated the working woman: “I work my nine to five, better cut my check.” Other tracks, like opener “I’m That Girl” reify the artist’s colossal confidence and swagger while separating her from the opulence often associated with her stardom: “It’s not the diamonds, it’s not the pearls, I’m that girl.” On Renaissance, power is derived not from money, work, or status, but rather the “release” of all of these things that previously defined Beyoncé’s artistry and persona. The record finds the artist at her most free-spirited, which, in a sense, puts her at her most powerful in turn.

While the lyricism and themes of Renaissance find Beyoncé putting old ideas in a new light, its music and production illustrate her ability to step onto entirely new ground and experiment with genres that have yet to be heard in her expansive discography. Powerful Afrobeats are plentiful on Renaissance, making the tracks feel gloriously decadent and effortlessly danceable. The record’s fifth song, “Energy,” finds Beyoncé rapping over seductive, tropical instrumentation as Jamaican American reggae artist BEAM describes the sublime energy of the club. On “Move,” which features Nigerian musician and producer Tems, an infectiously danceable beat mirrors the song’s encouraging lyrics: “Move, move, move, skrrt off, make room / stampede coming through,” Beyoncé proclaims as the track accelerates, emulating the immediacy of a flood onto the dance floor. In a testament to Beyoncé’s range, those quick-paced Afrobeats live right next to several more ethereal, disco-inspired tracks on Renaissance; impossibly smooth transitions allow both sounds to not only coexist but coalesce on the album. “Cuff It” and “Virgo’s Groove” utilize an effective combination of psychedelic strings, light brass instrumentation, and a grounding, funky bass line to create a shiny, uptempo groove perfect for the dance floor. The album’s closing track, “Summer Renaissance,” solidifies Beyoncé’s ode to disco via references to Donna Summer’s classic 1977 hit, “I Feel Love.” She even dives into light EDM: “All Up In Your Mind,” coproduced by hyperpop artist A.G. Cook, has an undeniably electronic feel.

On Renaissance, Beyoncé pushes herself to journey into genres that feel surprising even for an artist of seemingly infinite range. One of the most surprising and lyrically impressive songs on the record is “Church Girl,” which finds the artist singing about “Church girls acting loose” and “bad girls acting snotty” over a staccato bounce beat built around a hymnal sample from the prominent gospel group The Clark Sisters. Beyoncé grew up in the church and sang in her church choir, experiences which translate beautifully onto this track: the song is at once a celebration of the gospel tradition and a subversion of the often rigid, misogynistic standards Black women are held to under Christianity. Her religious expertise comes through clearly in her subtly clever lyricism. “Nobody can judge me but me, I was born free,” the artist proclaims, a play on the common Christian saying that “only God can judge you.” An undeniably danceable anthem, the track goes beyond simply encouraging listeners to “drop it like a thotty” to advocate for bodily autonomy within the church and outside of it. In the Christian tradition, children often undergo Communion, a ritual where they eat a wafer that symbolizes the body of Christ. “Now you are the body of Christ,” reads Corinthians 12:27, “and each one of you is a part of it.” When Beyoncé declares that “soon as I get in this party, I’m gonna let go of this body,” it feels like a direct rejection of this Christian ideal, a proclamation that her body is hers to dance and move how she pleases. In a way, the track operates as a musical mirror to Beyoncé’s 2016 hit “Daddy Lessons,” a boisterous country jam wherein the artist’s Texan Christian father “swore it on the Bible” that she needs to protect herself from and even “shoot” dangerous men. “Church Girl” is a continuation of Beyoncé’s rejection of a patriarchal Christian tradition, and the track stands as a reminder that she can bring us to church on her own terms”.

I will finish with a couple of reviews. There was so much love out there for the joyous and phenomenal RENAISSANCE! This is what AllMusic noted in their review of an album that surely sits alongside the very best of this year. It is definitely one of my favourites:

“Break My Soul" offered much to dissect as the preliminary single off Renaissance, Beyoncé's first solo studio album since Lemonade and part one of a promised three-act project. Integrating a flashback to early-'90s crossover house hit "Show Me Love," the resilience anthem -- reinforced with an echoing gospel choir and sampled Big Freedia exhortations -- came across like a nostalgic dance remix preceding the original version. Instead, it slid neatly into place on the parent LP not only as an accurate representation but also as a foreshock to an hour-long housequake filled with irrepressible exuberance in celebration of self and sisterhood. Among those to whom Beyoncé dedicates Renaissance is her late gay cousin and godmother, Uncle Jonny, credited for introducing her "to a lot of the music and culture that serve as inspiration for this album." The multitude of dancefloor sounds cultivated and celebrated since the late '60s in underground clubs by liberation-seeking gay, Black, and Latino dancers has been a natural ingredient in Beyoncé's recordings since the birth of Destiny's Child (take the use of the Love Unlimited Orchestra's proto-disco exemplar "Strange Games & Things" in "No, No, No, Pt. 2"), but it is the basis of Renaissance.

The LP is top-to-bottom danceable and sequenced with each track setting up the next, through the ecstatic finale, where Beyoncé most potently mixes sensuality and aggression, claiming her man with nods to Donna Summer, Giorgio Moroder, Patrick Cowley, and Larry Heard. "Cuff It" is a disco-funk burner with Nile Rodgers' inimitable rhythm guitar and a slick quote from Teena Marie's biggest ballad, though it has all the vigor of Lady T's uptempo classics. The more relaxed "Virgo's Groove" is designed for circling the rink with its delectably plump bassline and handclaps, and moves to a private room where Beyoncé commands, in one of the set's many memorable turns of phrase, "Motorboat, baby, spin around." Renaissance pulls from the more recent and present sonic developments with equal guile. Dancehall-derived dembow is stretched out for the strutting opener "I'm That Girl." "Heated" works a chugging Afrobeats rhythm, and is keenly trailed by the swollen dubstep pulsations of "Thique." The most exciting moments fearlessly blend and switch eras. "Pure/Honey" alternates between a duly vulgar ballroom brush-off and pop-funk rapture, and "Church Girl," a rousing gospel-bounce marvel, weaves the Clark Sisters with the decidedly less-reverent DJ Jimi and the Showboys. Beyoncé is vocally up to the challenge of juggling the almost-innumerable quantity of styles and references, sighing, purring, beaming, belting, and spitting fire with all the required conviction and attitude. Her congregation of fellow writers, producers, and vocalists is a formidable assembly of close collaborators (the-Dream, Tricky Stewart, Mike Dean, NOVA Wav), younger trailblazers (Honey Dijon, Kelman Duran, Tems), and legends (Grace Jones, Raphael Saadiq). Act II will presumably have at least one ballad. They're not missed here”.

I’ll finish with CLASH’s effusive recommendation of an album from a music legend. After a couple of decades or more in the industry, you cannot predict or write off Beyoncé! If you have not spun RENAISSANCE, then I would urge you to do so as soon as possible:

“On ‘I’m That Girl’, the opening track from her long-gestating seventh album ‘RENAISSANCE’ – the first act of a planned trilogy – Beyoncé offloads a series of hubristic declarations as an audibly frantic sample of Tommy Wright III’s and late Memphis rapper Princess Loko’s ‘Still Pimpin’, ripples like an engine underneath. A slow rapture of self-love unfurls as Beyoncé’s announces “all these songs sound good”. Is she wrong? No, she isn’t. All sixteen tracks warrant that admission.

‘RENAISSANCE’ arrived without the visual accompaniment we’ve come to expect from the auteur. The Houstonian opted instead for a more conventional rollout, letting the songs simmer in the imagination of her listeners. The effect is already palpable. The space-age glitchtronic odyssey ‘Alien Superstar’ – the album’s jewel in the crown – is already a viral hit on Twitter and TikTok; the soaring chorus scoring hyper-feminised animation and digital memes curated by creative fans.

Since ‘4’, Beyoncé has mainstreamed fringe sounds to the masses. Bypassing trends and hits, she’s oscillated between pop-skewed R&B aspirations and a synthesis of modernist sounds. On ‘RENAISSANCE’, she completely leans into her musical impulses with unmitigated passion and poignancy. Beyoncé has never sounded more uninhibited, more whimsical or “cosier” than she does on ‘RENAISSANCE’. From the hedonism of Studio 54 disco, to the highs of Hacienda clubland and Detroit techno, Beyoncé puts her proverbial stamp on a ravey revivalist trip through era-defining dance. Wild and gleefully self-possessed, ‘CLUB RENAISSANCE’ is an unceasing hour-long DJ mix that rewards stamina; a summon to commune on the dancefloor and unburden the mind and unshackle the body from the flames that threaten to engulf us all.

PHOTO CREDIT: Mason Poole

‘RENAISSANCE’ memorialises Beyoncé’s late Uncle Johnny, who lost his life to AIDS as her career began to flourish in the early 00s. Beyoncé credits her ‘godmother’ with exposing her younger self to the underground subculture of queens, femmes, ballroom splendour and its language of aspirational fantasy. The legacy of these lost souls looms large throughout: Beyoncé pays tribute to the Black trans and genderqueer innovators who birthed these fiefdoms on the dancefloor, prizing them back from gentrified hands. On the languorous sway of ‘Cozy’, Beyoncé zealously lists the colours of Daniel Quasar’s ‘Progress’ pride flag, a powerful nod to marginalised LGBTQ+ people of colour.

‘RENAISSANCE’ doesn’t just pay homage to the spiritual antecedents of the Black queer tradition through idioms, it embraces the culture of “serving” through collaboration that is so integral to its survival: ‘Cozy’ and the penultimate track ‘Pure/Honey’ features production by house music forerunner Honey Dijon, and queen-speech regality from drag archetypes Kevin Aviance and the late Moi Renee, who add veracity and “cunty” realness to Beyoncé’s brand of shit-talking flagrancy.

At times Beyoncé has been criticised for a maintaining a too clean and sterile approach to her work. On ‘RENAISSANCE’, she masters the art of controlled chaos. ‘Heated’ – the older, nastier sister of ‘Bow Down’ – is a guttural siren cry; the final minute loaded with the most outlandish pomp and posturing you’ve ever heard on a Beyoncé track. ‘Church Girl’ threads together the consecrated and profane, recalling the seismic vocal yelps of ‘Get Me Bodied’ backed by a chipmunk vocal loop of ‘Center Thy Will’ by the Clark Sisters, producers No I.D. and The-Dream creating a scratchy bounce base for Beyoncé to wax lyrical about sisterhood and the right to self-determination. She knows she has sauce; she wants you to tap into yours as well.

‘RENAISSANCE’ surveys the lusty and febrile Dionysiac dimensions of after-hours music. This is grown people music. Beyoncé offers the listener a brief respite from the churning soundscape midway through, lowering the tempo for the lush retro segue of ‘Plastic Off The Sofa’ and ‘Virgo’s Groove’. Beyoncé has always excelled in her vocal production work, but here her ornate harmonies are soothing and indelibly smooth, mirroring the ecstatic rise and fall of synchronised motion, of sex, of groovy basslines and eternal monogamous love.

Pain is no longer a prelude to transcendent art. ‘RENAISSANCE’ is instead a prolonged flex; a parade of joy, emotion, coked-up glam and excess. It’s delirious and dicey, denotative without being derivative. Yes, Beyoncé’s the “greatest living entertainer” but what about her foresight, her finely-tuned instincts or her vocal ingenuity. The word ‘genius’ isn’t bestowed upon Beyoncé the way it is for Kanye or Kendrick; if ‘RENAISSANCE’ doesn’t convince you of her merit or her unerring willingness to produce sprawling bodies of work that are editorially precise, prismatic and rhythmically audacious, nothing will.

9/10”.

One of 2022’s best albums, I have featured it in Revisiting… as some may not have heard the album. Even if you have, then it is one that needs to be played again and again! In future features, I will investigate a couple of albums from this year that may have been overlooked a bit. When it comes to RENAISSANCE, there was a lot of love out there for it. It will be fascinating to see where…

THE magnificent Beyoncé heads next.

FEATURE: Looking Ahead… Songs from Albums Turning Forty-Five in 2023

FEATURE:

Looking Ahead…

Songs from Albums Turning Forty-Five in 2023

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AS I continue…

this feature series, I am arriving at a very special year for music! I am doing a run of features marking great albums celebrating big anniversaries. I am now at 1978. Albums from that marvellous year that are going to be forty-five in 2023. I am going to celebrate that with a playlist of songs from that brilliant time. 1978 was a hugely exciting year for music, and there is plenty of gold to be heard below. I am looking forward to covering 1983 next, but let us continue with sensational albums turning forty-five next year. Such an important anniversary, these songs below are legendary. If you are not sure which great albums came out in 1978, then the playlist below gives you an idea of how incredible…

THIS year was.

FEATURE: On the Right Tracks: Recognising Brilliant Female Directors and Actors for Tantalising Music Projects

FEATURE:

 

 

On the Right Tracks

IN THIS PHOTO: Margot Robbie shot for Vanity Fair in November 2022/PHOTO CREDIT: Mario Sorrenti  

Recognising Brilliant Female Directors and Actors for Tantalising Music Projects

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I couldn’t think of a more succinct title…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Laura Jean Marsh/PHOTO CREDIT: YellowBellyPhoto

then the one I have chosen, but I have been looking back at this year in cinema and some of the amazing films that have come through. It has been a brilliant one for genres like Horror and Thriller, and there have been some huge-budget successes and Indie films that have done really well. The things I wanted to explore here are some incredible female directors and actors – those who I feel are perfectly suited to directing wonderful projects. Although there is increased recognition of female directors, there are still gulfs and gaps not being addressed! In terms of talent and vision, I wonder whether Hollywood is an open and forthcoming when it comes to features and women helming them. Alongside the staggering actresses defining modern cinema and turning in truly remarkable performances, there are incredible female directors who are delivering such important work. One area or genre that I am especially interested in relates to music. Whether covering comedy or drama, I hope 2023 provides a range of projects where music is at the heart. This year ha seen some interesting music biopics come to the screen. Whether it is Daniel Radcliffe playing a fictionalised version of ‘Weird’ Al Yankovic in Weird, or Naomi Ackie playing the late Whitney Houston in I Wanna Dance with Somebody, there have been some success and incredible films featuring an array of artists. As I shall write, biopics are particularly hard to get right. Circling back to the Yankovic biopic, and Evan Rachel Wood is very strong as Madonna. I know Madonna is directing her own as-yet-unnamed biopic (with Julia Garner playing Madonna), which I guess will come out next year. Timothee Chalamet will appear as Bob Dylan in Going Electric, and I know everyone from Michael Jackson and Bee Gees have biopics about them in the works.

It was announced recently that Daisy Edgar-Jones will play Carole King in a biopic called Beautiful. It drew criticism for some because of the casting of a non-Jewish actress. That said, it is being directed by an incredible Jewish directed: the wonderful Lisa Cholodenko. I shall come onto music biopics soon. There are so many amazing women directing at the moment, though I feel they are not given as much exposure and financing. There are four brilliant women I want to spotlight, because they are either directing amazing projects or have that flair and ability one would love to see on the big screen. From a rather selfish perspective, there is a project I am trying to get off of the ground – or paste the scrap paper stage – that several incredibly talented women are in my mind (I know that is not proper grammar!). Margot Robbie is currently creating enormous excitement as she will star alongside Ryan Reynolds next year in Barbie. I am not sure what direction the film will take but, as the trailer shows, it is looking mighty exciting! Robbie has just appeared in the Damien Chazelle-directed film, Babylon – where you can see the trailer below. One of the most eclectic and talented actors of any generation, she turns in these unbelievable performances. So versatile in terms of tone, time period and subject, I think of Robbie as someone who is going to go down as one of the all-time screen icons. She runs her own production company, LuckyChap Entertainment, in California alongside her husband, Tom Ackerley, with their friends Josey McNamara and Sophia Kerr.

Not only is Robbie an exemplary and world-class actor with few peers, she is also an incredible producer. Someone who is very hands-on and respected, I also see her moving into directing. Perhaps another plate to spin, she strikes me someone who would bring so many great projects to life with her distinct and unique leadership. I have a film idea at the moment where music is at the heart. A 1980s-set film in Haight-Ashbury, California, it would revolve around two groups of people, teens and adults, who are trying to make their way and navigate life. With social and political issues sitting alongside the music and culture of the time, it is a comedy that sees the teens find a way to make money and stave off threatening bullies by buying albums through a record club that is advertised on T.V. The film would be called Dozen a Dime, because that is the cost of ordering twelve albums. They then sell them to school friends for profit, and they can use the money to placate bullies and also make plans for themselves. There is a lot more to it but, rather than drop an entire synopsis and treatment here, it was something that I instantly had Margot Robbie in mind for! With LuckyChap Entertainment perhaps as backers, I did have her considered (on paper) for one of the main roles. The more I thought about the film, the more I considered her as director. I don’t think women are given much respect and chance as directors, but there are particular genres and types of films where there is a surfeit.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Margot Robbie shot for Vanity Fair in November 2022/PHOTO CREDIT: Mario Sorrenti

Most music biopics or music films are directed by men, but I know Robbie has incredible taste in music. She is a passionate music fan, and I think she could bring to life something like Dozen a Dime. Away from my own self-interest, there are music films and possibilities where I can see Margot Robbie directing the most incredible films. She is someone whose filmography takes in many time periods. From Babylon in the 1920s, to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood by Quentin Tarantino (1960s), to I, Tonya (1990), to Barbie (I think Greta Gerwig is setting her film in the 1980s), to Amsterdam (1930s), to The Wolf of Wall Street (1980s), Robbie has bounced between the decades. Of course, she has done a lot of modern films (including Bombshell), but most of her time has been spent in other time periods. It is that curiosity for different parts of history and people that draws Robbie. It also allows greater diversity and completely different canvases. For that reason, there are two potential film ideas and concepts that I think Robbie would jump at. As she is Australian, I have been thinking of a film where music is very much at the core. Robbie was born in Dalby (rural town and locality in the Western Downs Region, Queensland), and I don’t feel Australia is brought to the screen much. I think a film set during the 1990s or early-2000s in that part of the film around an aspiring actor with an Australian soundtrack – songs from the time and classics – would be great. More coming-of-age, it would be set around a teen who is dreaming of California and bigger things whilst using music as inspiration and protection against quite a quiet, sheltered and tough life.

Maybe mixing comedy with something quite gritty, I feel Robbie would love to go to Australia and film in her hometown and areas around that. Maybe a wider look at Queensland. Her film career is so colourful and broad, she is destined to be a director! Another project I rabbit on about is a biopic involving Blondie or Debbie Harry (their iconic lead). Debbie Harry has been portrayed in films before, but I cannot see a biopic exclusively about her or the band. It is one of those film ideas beginning to be realised. I have always imagined Margot Robbie portraying Harry but, as I think more, she would be an amazing director who could green-light. I think Harry herself has always been keen for a Blondie biopic, or there could be one about her memoir, Face It. In terms of people who could play Harry, if it were not Robbie, then actors like Saoirse Ronan or artists such as Taylor Swift or Billie Eilish. Not only would we get a phenomenal soundtrack but, if it were a Blondie biopic, but it would help introduce the legendary band’s music to a new generation. I feel Margot Robbie would be the ideal director. Again, if it was made through LuckyChap Entertainment, then she would also be producer. Robbie clearly has an affection for Harry, so I hold hopes that there will be a Blondie biopic where Margot Robbie is involved!

An incredible woman who is already directing, I have a lot of respect for Laura Jean Marsh. A brilliant actor and writer, her 2021 film, Giddy Stratospheres, is one that influenced the idea for my own film (idea). Her film explores the highs and lows of the mid-‘00s U.K. Indie music scene. Made with quite allow budget, it is wonderfully directed by Marsh! A singular talent, I think she has said how there are fewer opportunity for female directors. They are definitely not talked about that much. Marsh is also a music video director, and this is another area mostly dominated by men. Whether we view music videos as essential anymore or not, it is still exciting seeing innovative and fresh videos coming through. I think Laura Jean Marsh is one of the best directors and writers out there. As music is important to her and films like Giddy Stratospheres, I hope that she directs another music-focused film. She is someone who should be given open doors and opportunities by Hollywood studios. With a bigger budget, I can see her directing large projects that are either similar to Giddy Stratospheres, or films where music is key to the story. In terms of dialogue and visuals, Laura Jean Marsh is a very naturally talented director who we need to see more of on the small and big screen. I can only imagine what she could achieve if she was given a large budget. An exceptional actor,  I am particularly drawn to her directing.

I hope to work with her some day in some form, but I know Laura Jean Marsh will inspire other young women to direct. I am not sure why there is not more exposure of female directors, because their voices and work is extraordinary. I am focusing on music and music-related films at the moment, but genres like Horror have seen incredible women adding something new and utterly beguiling to the genre. Laura Jean Marsh is a wonderful talent, and I have had her in mind firmly when plotting and scribbling ideas for my own film and other projects. I wonder whether she is going to direct a lot more next year. Even if Giddy Stratospheres didn’t get huge acclaim – or the credit it deserves -, Marsh’s words and visions shine through. It proves what talent she has and how much potential is inside her. I am going to move onto two other incredible women who I feel either will be or are phenomenal directors – and would be wonderfully suited to direct a music-based film. In terms of genre, there aren’t a huge amount of films that revolve around music, or where music plays an essential role. There should be. The ones that are out there are largely directed by men. I know there are so many brilliant female writers and directors who are not being given the same opportunities and respect as their male peers. Directors and writers like Laura Jean Marsh definitely inspire me!

Someone who I think shares similarities with Margot Robbie, Rachel Bronshan is an actor who has not directed a feature yet, and she also runs her own production company. Based in New York, Scrap Paper Pictures gives women the opportunity to see their ideas (however young and undeveloped) brought to the screen. Another chameleon actor who has extraordinary range and also has featured in a few films/shows from different time periods (including the 1970s-set I'm Your Woman). An exceptional producer and actor who stars in one of my favourite modern T.V. shows, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, I love Brosnhahan’s work. The Marevlous Mrs. Maisel is set in New York in the late-1950s/1960s, where Brosnahan plays the titular character. A stand-up who works her way from small clubs to national success, it is a wonderful show that is sadly ending in its next season. Rachel Brosnahan is someone who I would like to work with. As a male creative, I understand I may not be eligible to submit and work with Scrap Paper Pictures, but I had her in mind too for my film idea. Music plays a big part in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and I know Brosnahan is a big music fan. Someone who is going to have a very long and successful career, I can see Brosnahan directing a lot of films. I think about a 1970-set film or T.V. series in New York. Perhaps based around a young women or young female group, I think that she is someone who could bring so much imagination and brilliance to the screen as a director! Something tells me Florence Pugh should star in a potential Brosnahan-directed film. Don’t know why, except the fact Pugh is wonderful in everything and can do anything!

 PHOTO CREDIT: Pamela Hanson for Town & Country

I am going to finish with one final amazing women who is also a fantastic director. I just want to bring in some exerts from a fairly recent interview from Town & Country that is quite engrossing. It gives greater insight into the daily life of an actor who is becoming a lot more recognised and famous:

“She landed small roles on TV shows like The Good Wife and Gossip Girl, but her success didn’t come immediately. She worked at a downtown restaurant called L’Express, which had a colorful clientele. “This dominatrix would come in after midnight on Thursdays or something. We had one table that was always reserved for her, and she’d order the escargots,” Brosnahan recalls. She roomed with two friends in Chelsea in a two-bedroom that they jerry-rigged into three. In 2009 she auditioned for Gus Van Sant’s Restless, a role she wanted so badly that she flew to L.A. at her own expense—money she definitely didn’t have—and didn’t get it. A picture from that trip is the very first photo on her phone. She finds it. She’s 18 but looks even younger. “I sobbed,” she says, when she learned she hadn’t gotten the part. “All over New York.” She walks around a lot when she’s sad.

At one point she moved to Los Angeles on the advice of a studio executive. “He told me that you can be an actor in New York, but you can only make a living as an actor in L.A. I got scared, so I moved,” she says. “Turns out that’s not true. It was not for me. I’m glad I did it; I’m glad I tried it.”

 Arguably her first big break was on House of Cards, the adaptation of a British series directed by David Fincher that gave Netflix its first original TV hit. Her sex worker character Rachel Posner didn’t even have a name initially, just a few lines. “Everyone was like, ‘Whoa.’ Rachel just blew everybody away,” says Michael Kelly, who played creepy henchman Doug Stamper on the show. Their chemistry together prompted the screenwriter Beau Willimon to expand her role into a longer character arc for the second season, and Brosnahan came away with an Emmy nomination. Kelly thinks she could do anything next. “She’s done drama and comedy and a western, so what’s left, an action movie or play a superhero? She has achieved that status in the industry where I truly believe there’s nothing she can’t do with a work ethic and a talent like that.”

If you ask Brosnahan what she wants her career to look like, she mentions Frances McDormand and Emma Thompson. “I admire how versatile they are and how they continue to push themselves and take risks,” she says. “It feels like they never do the same thing twice. I would be thrilled if my career gave me the same opportunity.” Brosnahan is a planner, though; she’s not content to sit back and hope that Maisel was enough to launch her on such a trajectory. And so, like Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington and Jessica Chastain and other actresses who have noticed that producing allows one to circumvent Hollywood’s often stale notions of womanhood, she has started her own company, Scrap Paper Pictures. (“I asked Rachel, ‘If I don’t get a job for a while after Maisel, can I work at your production company?’ ” Hinkle joked.) Through it she has already produced two podcasts, The Miranda Obsession and Listening In, the feature film I’m Your Woman, and two editions of the Amazon original special Yearly Departed”.

A renaissance woman who has given to communities and is an inspiring human, Olivia Wilde is also a successful and stunning director. Again, she is instantly in my mind for projects I think of. She did appear in the music based T.V. series, Vinyl, a while back. That was short-lived. In addition to directing a couple of music videos (one for Red Hot Chili Peppers no less!), and the brilliant short, Wake Up, Wilde has also directed two exceptional films. The most recent is this year’s Don’t Worry Darling, starring the aforementioned Florence Pugh. I am not sure whether Wilde has her own production company but, like Rachel Brosnahan and Margot Robbie, she would definitely help mould and support brilliant talent coming through. Among the many reasons I love and respect her – aside from appearing in shows like House and Vinyl and great her brilliant acting in films like Drinking Buddies – is how she speaks up against sexism and injustices. Someone who has said things are slowly changing now s women are not seen as competitors in Hollywood, they are more like partners. There is still a long way to go, but I am glad very successful and acclaimed directors like Olivia Wilde are creating awareness and hopefully opening eyes to the fact there are some amazing female directors who deserve a say and to be treated fairly. I am going to round things up in a bit.

Before I do, as one of the most influential and important women in Hollywood, Olivia Wilde was interviewed by ELLE recently. One of my favourite films of the past decade, Booksmart, was Wilde’s feature directorial debut. Released in 2019, it was rightfully hugely acclaimed. It was a big spur for me to write and conceive a film influenced by Booksmart. In Wilde’s comedy-dramas, on the eve of their high-school graduation, two academic superstars and best friends realize they should have worked less and played more. Determined not to fall short of their peers, the girls try to cram four years of fun into one night. Wilde’s direction throughout is outstanding! She is instantly oner of the finest and most impressive directors in Hollywood. I know she has more projects coming up and, whilst it will never happen, she is someone I would love to work with – as she is so focused and compelling to be around by the sounds of it:

“But putting a project into the world, she has found, inevitably means relinquishing control. Wilde’s directorial debut, Booksmart, transformed the way Hollywood saw her, after nearly two decades in the business. But it has nothing, in terms of column inches, on Don’t Worry Darling, which has become the most talked-about movie of the year. (It came in at #1 its opening weekend, an impressive outing for a second-time director.)

That’s due in part to its intriguing premise, 18-studio bidding war origin story, and stacked cast, including Florence Pugh, Harry Styles, Pine, and Wilde herself. (Wilde has a turn as Bunny, “the all-knowing salty friend” who crackles with “an almost pickled cynicism.”) Outshining all the stars, though, is a media meta-narrative around the film that—with its themes of sexism and public scrutiny—oddly echoes that of the movie. Instagram gossip hub DeuxMoi doesn’t chronicle the day-to-day doings of Martin Scorsese, but Wilde is another story. In case you’re reading this from your home under a rock: She has been in the news for her reported relationship with Styles, a rumored feud with Pugh, and a disagreement with Shia LaBeouf about the backstory behind his departure from the movie (a conflict that was not yet aired when we spoke). Then there’s her contretemps with ex Jason Sudeikis, who served her custody papers when she was onstage promoting the film at CinemaCon.

Over tea, Wilde confides her disappointment with the way the story has been “minimized into bite-size TikTok points.” When I offer that it could be good publicity, she says her intention was not, as she jokes, to “throw myself into the flames for the movie.” She wants people to pay attention to what’s onscreen, and is frustrated that the press hasn’t. “This film is trying to ask big questions, but [it’s] ‘Let’s just focus on this sideshow over here,’” she says. “Having been a known figure for a while...makes me well-equipped to have a Teflon exterior. But it also means that you’re under a different kind of microscope. It’s brought my attention to the media and how it pits women against one another.” (For what it’s worth, she has nothing but praise for her leading lady. “She’s so generous in her acting in every scene. She makes everyone around her better.”)

Meanwhile, Wilde is developing, and set to direct, a Kerri Strug biopic with the working title Perfect, and reportedly has a deal with Sony to direct a hush-hush, female-centric Marvel feature. “A few of the things I have in development are about the raw determination of women,” she says. “Clearly, I idolize women who survive a system that they feel challenged by.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Cass Bird

Perhaps it’s something she can relate to as she navigates this latest chapter. “It is shocking to see so many untruths about yourself traded as fact,” she says. “Florence had a really wise comment that we didn’t sign up for a reality show. And I love that she put it that way, because it’s as though the general public feels that if you are making something that you’re selling to the public, you somehow have accepted that your life will be torn to shreds by a pack of wolves. No, that’s actually not part of the job description. Never was.”

“I’m very curious about our collective complicity in [upholding] the patriarchy. I found myself seeing a lot of content that was struggling to address feminist issues and instead becoming either really simplified or overly didactic. I had no interest in making a feminist parable that was judgy or that defined men as bad and women as good. I was much more interested in that tense space where we recognize our own participation in the system that objectifies us”.

In addition to writing about four amazing women who are either established directors or have the promise to be, I wanted to talk about women as directors. Things aren’t as bad as they used to be regarding sexism and a lack of respect from the industry, but I still feel like there is a degree of alienation, ignorance and misogyny still at play. Every time a woman wins an award or sets a record in directing, rather than it being seen as normal (as, with greater respect and chances, this would have happened decades back), it is seen as odd or alien! Alongside the likes of Greta Gerwig, Olivia Wilde and Laura Jean Marsh, there are so many phenomenal women making the small and large screen so much richer and more memorable because of their voices! I hope that in the next few years, there is a greater balance and appreciation of female directors.

PHOTO CREDIT: YellowBellyPhoto

Also, I wanted to talk about music films in general. There have been biopics and music films this year, and there are some wonderful ones planned for next year. I think it is a section and genre that is underrated and under-represented to an extent. I also feel it is a corner of the film industry where the films mostly directed by men. I have talked about four of my favourite female directors, writers and producers. Each, in varying degrees, have an attachment to music and would expertly and exceptionally direct a great biopic or film where music plays a big and enduring role. I would kill to work with either or all of the four – Rachel Brosnahan, Olivia Wilde, Laura Jean Marsh and Margot Robbie -, though I know chances are slim to none. I wanted to salute their work and, for Brosnahan and Robbie (who have not directed features yet) to nudge them in the direction of possible musical projects – a Blondie biopic or Australian-set feature for Robbie; a New York-set film for Brosnahan. For them and incredible women like them, we need their immense talent and crucial voices now…

PHOTO CREDIT: Pamela Hanson for Town & Country

MORE now than ever!

FEATURE: Looking Ahead… Songs from Albums Turning Fifty in 2023

FEATURE:

 

 

Looking Ahead…

Songs from Albums Turning Fifty in 2023

__________

I normally do this in January…

but I do a run of features marking great albums celebrating big anniversaries. I count down from 60 to 5, and I am continuing with a playlist of songs from albums turning fifty this year. 1973 was a great year for music, and there is more than enough gold to be heard below. I am looking forward to covering 1978 next, but let us proceed with sensational albums turning fifty next year. Such an important anniversary, these songs below are legendary. If you are not sure which great albums came out in 1973, then the playlist below gives you an idea of how incredible…

THE year was.

FEATURE: Spotlight: piri & tommy

FEATURE:

 

Spotlight

piri & tommy

__________

ONE of those incredible acts…

that are going to dominate 2023, piri & tommy are an English Drum and Bass group, formed in 2021. They are Sophie McBurnie and Tommy Villiers. They released their debut mixtape/project, froge.mp3, in October. I shall come to a couple of reviews for that soon enough. A sensational and feelgood duo, they remind me in some ways of Australian duo Confidence Man. Although their styles are slightly different, both have this incredible connection and deliver music to get you moving and together. I will arrive at a 2022 interview with the pair. First, at the end of 2021, NME featured piri & tommy. At that point they hadn’t released too much. It was a case of this clearly promising pair coming to prominence because of the amazing single, Soft Spot. That song actually appears on their debut mixtape/’project’. It was interesting hearing how the duo met and started making music together:

“For IRL couple Piri and Tommy Villiers, lockdown has been somewhat of a blessing in disguise. After (virtually) meeting via Instagram DMs earlier this year, the pair – who bonded over a mutual love of generational dance artists like Disclosure and Kaytranada – decided to bubble up in a student house together and make music as a duo.

Although spending most of her time with Tommy instead of focusing on uni might have initially been risky (vocalist Piri – real name Sophie McBurnie – was studying Chemistry before meeting her producer boyfriend, who is also in the indie-pop band Porij), things have certainly paid off since. The Manchester duo’s colourful brand of drum ‘n’ bass with a Gen Z touch has made them the latest TikTok success story.

The pair’s breakbeats-inspired single ‘Soft Spot’ started blowing up seemingly out of nowhere on the social media platform throughout the summer, standing out thanks to its singalong chorus and racing beats. A few months later, it received a major label re-release due to its sudden viral success. Now, the track has clocked up more than seven million streams on Spotify, and the couple now count PinkPantheress and Charli XCX among their fans.

Here, they tell NME about what it’s like to be at the forefront of a DIY dance scene explosion and why – with an album’s worth of bangers ready to go – this is just the start for them.

Hi Piri and Tommy Villiers! How are things?

Piri: “To be honest, life is pretty chaotic for us right now! We don’t have our own place, so we’re travelling around a lot and staying between our parents’ houses, but feeling very blessed overall by our careers.”

How did you both meet?

Piri: “Basically, I saw a picture of Tommy’s other band on Twitter and thought he was handsome. I then found [the band’s] Instagram and soon slid into his DMs!”

Tommy: “We met for a date in Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester and it was the best first date ever… so then we had another one… and another one…”

Piri: “It probably only took us a couple of weeks before we started making music together, and because of the lockdown, we had so much time to be creative and work on tunes.”

What’s your creative process like?

Tommy: “I’ve been making beats in my free time since I was about 17. Either we’ll set a vibe and I’ll make a fresh 8 bars, or we decide we like one of the old beats from my hard drive and I will send it to Sophie, and then she comes back with a song.”

Piri: “I always loved writing songs but I was felt limited by my mediocre guitar playing – I could never have imagined making an actual record! Once I met Tommy, I finally had the opportunity to write over really good beats. We just ended up being a great team”.

Charli XCX and PinkPantheress have said that they are fans of yours. That must feel pretty cool, right?

Piri: “Yeah! PinkPantheress DM’d us actually to say that she loved ‘Soft Spot’ and she thinks the beat goes stupid! That was so cool for us because she really broke through with this new pop-style, girly dance music and showed that people really want and need this style of music. And she did it without the aim of blowing up too – it was so organic.

Tommy: “Charli XCX played ‘Soft Spot’ on Radio 1, which was mad! She said it was one of her favourite songs and that she runs to it when she goes to the gym. She’s an artist that we both love and really look up to.”

Are you feeling any pressure to prove that you’ve got more than one big hit in you?

Piri: “Yeah for sure, we’re so confident in our music but ‘Soft Spot’ is definitely a big act to follow. Even though we love our unreleased music, we just really hope it does as well – especially on TikTok. I would love to see people using our music for their videos again.”

Tommy: “We definitely can’t wait to release more music though, and people are already asking for it!”.

I will move to DORK’s July interview with the incredible piri & tommy. What is clear from the interview is not only how talented they are, but the fact their music is so powerful and hooks you in! I don’t think there is anyone out there like piri & tommy:

“Following up ‘soft spot’ was quite stressful for me, because then I had to make something just as good as this,” tommy, aka Tommy Villiers, admits. “Suddenly, I knew loads of people would listen to this. I’d never had that pressure before in my life.”

Written, recorded, mixed and mastered all under that same roof, the pair’s self-sufficient nature clearly produces magic, but having to then share that insular process and deliver their next singles to a record label was nothing short of nerve-inducing. The release of follow-up ‘beachin’ was defined by apprehension. When millions of people have the lyrics to your first single bouncing around their heads, there’s a lot to live up to.

“We were kind of pessimistic about releasing ‘beachin’,” explains Sophie McBurnie, who goes by the moniker piri. “Both of us were really anxious about it, but people liked it. Now we’re a bit more comfortable and excited to release more. Tommy had imposter syndrome about it.”

“It was like ‘oh my god, I’m a producer now!’, like legit. That was the biggest track I’d ever released, and I’d mixed, mastered and recorded it all, so it was a big step up. Before, I’d just been in bands as a guitarist and singer. I never thought of myself as a legit producer. But now I am, I guess!” tommy laughs.

PHOTO CREDIT: Patrick Gunning

Despite the anxiety, as they step into this crazy new world, they still consistently deliver the opposite with their sound. Playful and upbeat, it’s fundamentally feel-good. Their latest single, ‘words’, is a condemning narrative around a lack of communication in a relationship, served alongside an old school garage style beat. piri’s vocals keep things carefree, never losing that insatiably danceable quality. With each release, they lean more heavily into their freeing, high-speed tendencies – it hooks you in like no other.

“I remember when I first discovered dance music. It’s honestly like once you’re in, there’s no going back; you just keep listening,” reflects tommy. “Once you find a new genre that’s a bit faster, you just have to keep going – it’s like, oh, this song is 200bpm, this will mess you up! It’s like a drug. It’s sick.”

piri jumps in: “I think it’s a product of people’s attention spans these days, and fast music just being sick, but people really seem to be digging the higher tempo. Any song sped-up on TikTok seems to do way better than the original, and obviously drum and bass has been huge, and hyperpop and breakcore.”

It’s a useful dynamic that has ultimately streamlined their creativity too – piri has her go-to producer, while tommy has a topliner for all of his beats. That deep knowledge of how the other works is evident – they’re in sync and prepared to push each other into different directions. Working in harmonic tandem has allowed them to become even more ambitious and at home with stretching their boundaries as musicians. With a debut album in the works, they’re set to become more comfortable with letting their listeners into their world, too.

“It’s all of the music we made in the first year of knowing each other – each song is a different memory or moment from that year,” hints tommy. “Yeah, you can listen to the lyrics and track the point of the relationship, what’s occurring between us at the time,” piri contributes.

“The whole album is just us two, just our names on it,” she continues. “All the writing, all the producing, all the mixing is just piri & tommy. I think it makes it the purest form for our first album. You’re letting people know: this is what we sound like. Even though we got signed, and it started to pop off a bit, it’s important not to just get swept up in that. We had a lot of ideas, and we made ‘soft spot’ ourselves – let’s just do the rest ourselves”.

One of the biggest releases of 2022, froge.mp3 needs to be in everyone’s lives. Ones to Watch provided more details about piri & tommy’s incredible new release and why their music sounds so natural, connected and in-sync. The way they fuse and blend with one another is amazing to hear. I think that they are going to have a huge year next year:

“Eclectic and spacey, piri & tommy’s love manifests as futuristic dance pop in their debut project, froge.mp3.

Based in the UK, the chemistry between singer piri and production partner Tommy Villiers couldn’t be feigned, mostly because it isn’t. Meeting on a date and then embarking on a rollercoaster on-again-off-again relationship, their viral single “soft spot” was written from the gaze of piri’s longing. Though lucky for us, it worked itself out.

“[froge.mp3] is basically a diary of the first year tommy and I have been making music, and pretty much the first year of us knowing each other at all," shares piri. "Each song (in both lyrics and vibe) captures a different point in time of our journey, and the different experiences and emotions we were going through. We really wanted to avoid guiding or limiting ourselves too much during the creative process: we made whatever we felt like, just for fun, and I can definitely feel that energy of us enjoying being creative and with no pressure when listening back. It’s so cool having a collection of tracks to document parts of our lives in that way, like a little time capsule.”

The energy between the duo is perfectly encapsulated sonically, both softly passionate and fiercely gentle. Each track is a hit of dopamine, a euphoric high you never want to come down from.

Featuring already popularized singles “on & on” and “words,” froge.mp3 only continues to explore the edges of their modernized garage sound with tracks like “can we” and “player 2.” You can hear influences of artists they were raised on, from MJ Cole to The Meters, while finding footing next to the artists who are becoming peers, from Kaytranda to PinkPantheress.

piri & tommy’s essence is liberatingly playful because to their core, they’re kids having fun. piri’s lyrics and porcelain voice encompass the charm of their romance, while Villier’s production is a digital experiment gone beautifully right. They create first and think second, laughing along the way.

With a nearly sold-out tour ahead of them, the addictive duo has amassed a feverish following because of what they’ve gifted long car rides and impromptu dance sessions. Infused with love and humble chaos, there isn’t a doubt that their music is going a very long way”.

I will wrap things up with a review from DORK. Big fans of  piri & tommy, they definitely loved what the heard on the sensational froge.mp3. I have been listening to it quite a bit the last couple of weeks, and I love everything on it! You just know the duo are going to be making music together for years to come:

“The build-up to a debut ‘project’ hasn’t been stress-free for piri & tommy; the pair’s collaboration marks the first time either musician has taken up their newfound roles, and they both felt the anxiety of following up TikTok sensation ‘soft spot’ – not to mention a major label signing. The blistering hype around the dance act has funnelled directly into an air-tight, comprehensive taster of their potential in the form of ‘froge.mp3’.

piri & tommy’s music defines and describes the energy they create at their live shows, with rattling percussion (‘Say It’, ‘Can We’) fuelling popping nights, and deeper beats (‘Silver Lining’, ‘Sunlight’) echoing blurry days. It is quite ridiculous that this Mancunian couple has so quickly summoned such a formidable collection of tracks, and already proved that each of them can cause chaos at the drop of a hat.

A university bedroom project exploded onto the big stages, the freeing nature of piri & tommy’s creative pursuit explains why its experimentation and fluidity rule supreme. They throw Gen-Z eyes on a much-celebration genre, splicing and dicing it into the ears of eager new listeners in a format digestible to their era of music fans.

At its core, though, ‘froge.mp3’ digests the ups and downs, smooth sailing and tight corners, of piri & tommy’s own relationship – this internal inspiration, as well as their effortless chemistry, makes it a release that only they could have come together to curate. Praise be to Instagram DMs”.

If you have not heard the name piri & tommy or know about their music, then I would say to dive in! I am sure there are going to be tour dates next year and some more tracks. Where they go from here is up to them. There is this huge wave of support behind them. With this effortless and amazing chemistry between Sophie McBurnie and Tommy Villiers, it is so easy to fall for the music of piri & tommy! There is no doubt that they are…

SO good together.

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Follow piri & tommy

Official:

https://www.piriandtommy.com/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/piri.and.tommy/

TikTok:

https://www.tiktok.com/@piri.v2

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/2U6J9Q89i1TNhesKreFD65?si=TpN2WahIS4-mlqvdUcU9XA

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/piri_io_

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaQEeVGOAQ_ZXKTEbfTh-lA

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/piriandtommy/

FEATURE: Second Spin: The Corrs – Talk on Corners

FEATURE:

 

 

Second Spin

The Corrs – Talk on Corners

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FOLLOWING their excellent…

1996 debut album, Forgiven, Not Forgotten, The Corrs’ followed it up with 1997’s Talk on Corners. This is an album that has divided critics, and it has been unfairly seen as pretty lightweight or lacking in any substance. I think that it is an excellent album boosted and defined by the vocal harmonies and personalities of the Corr sisters (Andrea, Caroline and Sharon). The Irish band released the album on 17th October, 1997, where it reached number one in several nations, including the U.K. and Ireland. Preceded by the lead single, Only When I Sleep, there was a bit of a split when it came to commercial success. Some nations took it to heart, whereas it was a bit slow in others. I have written about this album before, but I wanted to come back because it is terrific and has some of the group’s best material on it. In 1997, there was this incredibly eclectic scene that had OK Computer by Radiohead alongside Urban Hymns by The Verve. Maybe not in the same league as them, there is something original and refreshing about Talk on Corners. Apart from The Cranberries, there were not too many female-led Irish bands in the decade. Led by Andrea Corr, she had this command and beauty in her vocals that lifted the songs above mere Pop songs. Instruments like the violin, whistle and bodhrán are not used too heavily, so there is this nice blend of more commercial Pop with Irish sounds.

I think that What Can I Do and So Young are terrific tracks that I loved when I was at high school. Their cover of Fleetwood Mac’s Dreams was included on a re-release version, and whilst quite faithful to the original, it is a strong version. I like non-single songs like When He’s Not Around and Hopelessly Addicted. It is a pity there are not more features and interviews online that discuss the album. Talk on Corners definitely make a big impact back in 1997. Twenty-five years after its release, and I think the album still stands up. I will bring in a review from AllMusic and then wrap things up:

“Songs on the Corrs' Talk on Corners fly inoffensively past the window like scenery on a drive through the countryside, with two pretty singers at the wheel. This essentially Irish sister act (with Corr group Andrea, Caroline, and Sharon on vocals, drums, and violin, respectively, and brother Jim on guitar and keyboards) legitimately brings to mind comparisons with another family-based girl group, Wilson Phillips, particularly since the impulses and instincts are truly pop and not so much alt-traditional Celtic (as they are often cited to be). This timely record documents a high-riding point for the Corrs by re-releasing newly mixed versions of "What Can I Do?" and "So Young," both highly compressed digital productions featuring their trademark glass voices and barely discernible acoustic musical instruments. Also on the record: "Queen of Hollywood," "Runaway," "No Good for Me," and their huge international hit ballad "I Never Loved You Anyway." The best and most spirited Celtic cut is "Little Wing," deliciously resting on the contributions of the dropping-by Chieftains. Each and every cut sounds wired for radio play; unlike the less Americanized, riskier Cranberries, the Corrs should enjoy a career as nicely sustained as some of the girls' best musical notes”.

Because Talk on Corners was released near the end of the year that saw experiment music and more serious Pop and Electronic sit alongside great Indie and Rock, perhaps it was seen as a bit weak compared to them. I would encourage people to check out The Corrs’ Talk on Corners, as it is very accessible put carries enough weight, diversity and strength to keep you coming back. It actually makes got a great single listen, rather than skipping and choosing the singles. I love the album title and its cover. Its production is pretty strong, but I am not sure why the band recorded across so many studios. Maybe it was mixed at various studios, but it is an album that could have been quite disconnected and scattershot. As it is, there is a consistency and a solidity to the album that means it has not aged too badly. Perhaps not something you will invest in, go and stream Talk on Corners and bond with a great and underrated album from the 1990s. I am not sure whether the sibling band (also consisting of Jim Corr) will release another album. Their most-recent, Jupiter Calling, came out in 2017 to mixed reviews. I think the group were at their peak in the 1990s. Albums like Talk on Corners do deserve a revisit and re-inspection.

I want to end with one more feature. Essentially Pop had their say on The Corrs’ 1997 album and paid tribute to its strengths. I feel people may have judged it too quickly in 1997, so you do need to come back to it:

“Yes it’s another Irish album because, let’s face it, if there’s one good thing the Irish do (yes we know there’s many many things they’re good at), it’s making amazing music.

The Corrs released their second album, “Talk on Corners” in Ireland in late 1997, following it up with a US release in April 1998.  The album title comes from a line in the song, “Queen of Hollywood”, and kinda catches you by surprise when you hear it – “oh there’s the album title”…well it did us anyway.

Everyone knows something from this album, even if they don’t think they do. We picked it up recently and were worried that as it didn’t include, “Runaway” we’d not know anything…but we did. In fact, “Only When I Sleep” has been ear worming pretty much constantly since we first played it, and there you go – bet it’s ear worming with you now just from us mentioning it.

Apart from the afore-mentioned “Only When I Sleep”, our highlights on this album include “I Never Loved You Anyway”, another ear worm you’ll know (word of advice: don’t get caught singing this in front of your significant other), the instrumental, “Paddy McCarthy”, and our personal favourite, the very lovely cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams”. It’s a surreal Celtic take on the classic song – if any song was ever crying out for the Celtic treatment of tin whistle, fiddle and bodhrán it’s this one.

The Corrs followed up this album with a further three, but have been on hiatus for several years to focus on raising their individual families. Andrea and Sharon have however released solo albums, with moderate success.

Will the Corrs reunite and produce more albums? It remains to be seen, but in the meantime, they’ve left a pretty sizeable legacy behind them…everybody sing now…”But it’s only when I sleep…I see you in my dreams…”.

A great album with amazing singles and some interesting and must-hear deeper cuts, The Corrs’ Talk on Corners is an album that I remember fondly from 1997. It was one I bought and enjoyed straight away. I can come back to it now and find much to love and appreciate. If you have not heard the album at all or for a while, then take a few moments out to experience the County Louth group’s…

INCREDIBLE second studio album.