FEATURE: Desire, I Want To Turn Into You: Spotlighting the Magnificent Caroline Polachek

FEATURE:

 


Desire, I Want To Turn Into You

  

Spotlighting the Magnificent Caroline Polachek

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I know Caroline Polachek…

is coming to the U.K. this year to play live. The digital version of her album, Desire, I Want to Turn Into You, is out in February. The physical version comes out in April. The New York artist released her previous album, Pang, in 2019. There has been such anticipation for a new album. In this feature, I will bring in a few interviews from 2021/2022. It provides a bit of run-up and background to the album. If you are not familiar with Polachek or have not heard her music in a while, I would advise that you change that. She is without doubt one of the greatest voices and artists of her generation. Make sure that you pre-order Desire, I Want to Turn Into You. There are a few interviews from last year that I want to include, as they interested me and reveal a lot about the wonderful Polachek. I will end with a recent one from Rolling Stone, where she spoke about Desire, I Want to Turn Into You. First, and flipping back to May, W interviewed Caroline Polachek with the declaration and headline stating that she will always be an Alt Girl at heart:

“Caroline Polachek made her presence known as a powerful solo artist back in 2019, when she released her debut album, Pang. The former frontwoman of the synth-pop group Chairlift released a project that became an instant hit—especially the single “So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings,” which ended up making her a household name (and inspiring a TikTok trend). For the past three years, Polachek has steadily been making hits, including “Sirens,” a collaboration with the DJ Flume; he brought Polachek out to Coachella this year, where she sang the song, performing for the very first time on a stage of her own. Below, the 36-year-old New York native describes the overwhelming feeling of performing on an arena tour, living two parallel existences, and “kneeling at the altar of alternative music.”

When did you realize that you wanted to pursue music in a serious way?

There were a few turning points: first, when I realized I was able to write songs; next, when I realized that people liked the songs I wrote; and then third, understanding that I might just have a shot at doing this professionally. That came much later. I grew up in the ’90s watching MTV and VH1, and I was really sold on this idea from reality shows that the music industry was this major-label mafia. Truthfully, it has changed so much since then. But I had this real sense that you had to get discovered while singing at a gas station or something. Getting discovered felt completely out of reach. So I really just approached music as a passion, but it was one that I increasingly dedicated more and more of my time to.

Is there a way that you want people to experience your music, or connect to it?

I feel like the music really suits being in motion, whether that’s in a more abstract sense within someone’s own life, or in a car or in headphones or on a plane. I think that’s a great place to experience it for the first time.

How do you feel about the term “pop star”?

I think it’s very slippery and interpretive. The biggest artist in the world could reject the idea of being a pop star or, alternatively, the smallest artist could claim to be a pop star, and they would both be correct. I grew up kneeling at the altar of alternative music. Björk and Kate Bush and Fiona Apple were my absolute heroes when I was a teenager. I also admire how they refused to play by the rules and continue to do what they do without limits. I aspire to do that in my own way in today’s music landscape—to create my own lane, rather than aim what I do toward radio or stats or the idea of the mainstream. It’s the idea of being as me as I can possibly be. In that sense, I don’t aspire to be a pop star. I aspire to be an alt girl.

One of the most detailed and fascinating interviews came from METAL, which came out around the time of the release of the single, Bunny Is a Rider, in 2021. I think it goes deep into Polachek’s career, heart and psyche. I have selected some questions and answers that are of particular relevance and interest:

“Have you had time at all to dream and think about the future over the past year?

It’s funny. I feel like, in a lot of ways, I’m still catching up with the present. I’ve felt this very extreme sea change in the way people exist online since the start of the pandemic and I think, just like anyone else, I have one foot in and one foot out. In this month in particular, I feel like I’m more interested than ever in catching up to the present moment. I think there’s a really exciting and interesting return to language that’s happening right now between podcasters, the prevalence of Substacks, a return to blogging and a new renaissance of poetry. It’s interesting to me because this record that I’m working on right now is defined by a departure from language. I’m more interested in texture, melody and abstraction than I ever have been before. So, it’s interesting to find myself at this juncture, and to reconcile with it, to be like, okay, am I going to double down? Or is this a wake-up call to reinvestigate my relationship with language?

PHOTO CREDIT: 91 Rules

When you’re talking about writing your new music and how it’s moving away from words, what is that sounding like?

I always tend to write non-lyrically. At least at first, even songs of mine that are the most on the nose like So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings. That song started with a melodic motif – a synth and keyboard motif – and then everything got written over and then spliced together. I realised that a lot of songwriters are the opposite – they’ll start with a text – but, for me, it’s always either groove, structure or melody, and then words are the last thing. So, in that sense, the stage three of the song-making process has changed, not stage one and two. I guess what it means is that I’m more curious about pursuing the mood in its own right rather than the mood as it relates to external events.

What do you mean by that?

For example, when I write lyrics, it usually feels like decoding, a little bit – like I’m listening to what the melody is already expressing and then I try and put words to that expression. On my last album, I did a lot of very personal work because there was so much going on in my life that I wanted to talk about, but I was very rarely showing up in the studio with the bravery to talk about these things. So, I would write melodically and then listen and say, okay, well, this song is very clearly very sad. What can this be about? And then, well, actually, this was going on and this is very sad. So, obviously, this is where the song came from. It’s like a detective process, but this time around I’m more interested in describing the moods themselves rather than linking them back to ontological events.

 PHOTO CREDIT: 91 Rules

Does lyricism still exist at all within what you’ve created? How are you mapping out any sort of words or lyrics when you’re writing these new songs?

It absolutely exists. It’s just looser, more playful and abstract. And this is a mode of writing that I’ve gone in and out of my whole career. There’s a song called Amanaemonesia that I did with my former band called Chairlift which is, completely, free association, but still has a very strong character. And then, Bunny Is A Rider is a song I did just a few months ago now, and that song follows the same methodology as well.

In Bunny Is A Rider you used the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur as a foundational story arc within the video. What did the Minotaur represent for you in that story?

The Minotaur represents the camera very literally – we made a few allusions to that. There’s a shadow of the Minotaur that’s thrown by the camera at a few points, and then it charges through the wall, and the video ends with a matador sequencer where I kill the camera. I was very inspired by videos showing paparazzi following people. The body language of this person walking, running, being pursued and sometimes having a f lirtatious relationship, allowing the camera to catch up and then shrugging it off, and then hitting it away, kicking it or swinging a hip bag at it or whatever. I felt like this tension with the camera was going to be something that I felt very stressed about in returning from the pandemic as well – feeling so physicalised, feeling so not in my own body and not ready to be on camera. And yet the demand of being not even ‘just’ a musician but a person in 2021 is you have to be on camera. So, I think that song was about letting off some steam there.

But every aspect of that video was a bastardisation of different narratives. Obviously, I’ve never studied proper bullfighting, I was just doing a cartoon impression of a matador’s movement. It’s the same thing with the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur because the best part of that myth really is Ariadne’s thread, how Ariadne gives Theseus a thread that he unspools behind him – much like the Hansel and Gretel tale of the cookie crumbs –, how he uses it to find his way out of the maze after killing the Minotaur. But we completely abandoned the thread aspect. I liked the idea of being completely lost and disoriented and not having an escape plan.

PHOTO CREDIT: 91 Rules 

How did it feel to take control of the idea of the lens of the camera in that way?

It was quite exciting, actually. Mostly because the process was unlike any other I had ever worked with behind the scenes of a music video. Because I’m mostly moving backwards, the labyrinth had to be planned out in a very exacting way so I would know how many steps and what my timing was. I was rehearsing with my choreographer playing the camera so that I knew where my eyeline was going to fall, where my head needed to be facing at any given point. Just to execute this very simple, natural walking pace required really, really precise choreography, and that was fascinating to me. Again, after a year of not being a physical person, to really break down such simple things such as where your eyeballs are looking at and how many steps behind you have before you have to turn around and shift your gravity from one foot to the other just in time. These things were very exciting to do under the circumstances.

PHOTO CREDIT: 91 Rules 

Do you feel that to be able to cope with the world you have to sit with the idea of those contrasting things with a sense of awareness?

No. In fact, I feel like there are a million siren songs calling you away from that awareness constantly. So, you have a whole restaurant menu of coping mechanisms but the one that I find to be the most compelling is just thinking about the flow of things, where things are from and where are they going to.

You see it as a coping mechanism rather than the way things are?

It’s the same thing, I guess.

In what way?

Maybe that’s arrogant for me to say. We know one version of a coping mechanism is vision, right? Seeing what’s going on and trying to create a sense of understanding. Other coping mechanisms are the opposite. It’s like retreating. I guess the reason I say it’s arrogant is because, who am I to say that what I’m seeing is macro? I’m a tiny speck of a consumer; I’m not like Elon Musk. My access to data is extremely limited and very micro. So, I guess I’m still operating on very peasant terms (laughs). But it certainly is, at least emotionally, a coping mechanism”.

Let’s wrap up and move onto an interview from Rolling Stone. In addition to promoting Desire, I Want to Turn Into You, I wanted to salute Caroline Polachek. A modern-day icon who is preparing to release an album I think will go down as one of the best of this year, she is someone we are very lucky to have. As we can read from the interview, her previous album and new one have this strange coexistence:

“Polachek hopes to have her own diva moment, of sorts, with her upcoming album, Desire, I Want to Turn Into You, due February 14. Polachek wanted to create something physical, songs that can spread through your whole body and make you feel the way she felt when she first heard Matia Bazar. “I want to push back against ephemerality,” she says.

Polachek is on the third — and arguably best — act of her career. In 2008, her group Chairlift struck indie-pop gold when their single “Bruises” was featured in an Apple spot. The singer later set out on her own, releasing cerebral solo experiments and writing for stars like Beyoncé. Polachek’s first album under her given name was 2019’s Pang. It’s become the most celebrated work of her career, for good reason. She partnered with producer Danny L Harle, an early signee to label and musical collective PC Music. As the label carved out a space for pop’s true maverick weirdos, Harle became notable for his classically pristine pop production, evident on collaborations with Charli XCX and Carly Rae Jepsen. Working with Harle, Polachek operated on the outskirts of pop trends, showing off her nearly operatic range amid catchy hooks and experimental production.

PHOTO CREDIT: Nedda Afsari

Pang almost fell victim to horrible timing: It came out in late 2019, and Polachek was just heading out on tour as the pandemic struck. On March 11, 2020, she played what would be her last show for a while, at London club Heaven. “I came down with Covid two days later, before lockdown even began,” she recalls. “By the time I was well again, travel was impossible.”

That new musical world Polachek was building was one driven by feelings, first and foremost. The title Desire, I Want to Turn Into You, she explains, has a dual meaning. “One, it can be read as being about the ‘you,’” she says. “We all know that feeling of falling in love, of wanting to obsessively learn from and become that person. But on the other hand, maybe desire is the thing you want to turn into itself.”

For a while, Pang and Desire had a bizarre coexistence. Although Pang is more than three years old, the album has had a long, steady run with her growing fan base. When she finally hit the road in the fall of 2021, the venues had doubled in size from her previously scheduled dates. Then, Pang single “So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings” became a sleeper hit, thanks to a viral TikTok dance where fans re-created the soft choreography from its video. “I feel like I connected with my listeners so deeply during [the pandemic], and I can’t even explain why,” Polachek reflects. “I feel like a key turned at that time.”

Polachek released Desire’s lead single, “Bunny Is a Rider,” in July 2021, before her Pang tour even began. The sly, sexy bop became a fan favorite, at once slick but extremely fun. Effervescent track “Billions” and flamenco-inspired stunner “Sunset” followed suit this year. While opening for Dua Lipa for six weeks this past winter, Polachek and Harle rented studios along the way. They would start recording at 9 a.m. and go until she had to perform. “The funny thing was, that on that tour, I was like, ‘I don’t know if what we’re making is that good. I don’t know if this has anything to do with the album,’” she says. “And then, in hindsight, that’s my favorite stuff.”

Polachek wrote the triumphant “Welcome to My Island” with Dan Nigro (who co-wrote most of Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour) toward the end of the Pang sessions, making it the oldest song on the album. Polachek left the song off her previous album because it represented a whole new character (“brash and bratty and funny and chaotic and manic,” she says) that she’s only become ready to show off now.

“Welcome to My Island” marks the official, long-delayed end of two albums’ worlds colliding. But Polachek let that experience open her eyes to a whole new universe of creative potential. “It feels like a more contemporary way of working,” she says. “Rather than disappearing, you stay present and let people in on the evolution”.

Out digitally on 14th February, then in physical form in April, Desire, I Want to Turn Into You, is going to be one of the biggest albums of 2023. I am a big fan of Caroline Polachek, so I wanted to spend a bit of time spotlighting her. There are many more great interviews with her, but the ones I have sourced, I feel, give us more insight into a singular and extraordinary talent. The wonderful Caroline Polachek is…

A tremendous force

FEATURE: Spotlight: Megan Moroney

FEATURE:

 


Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Oceanna

  

Megan Moroney

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I am fairly new…

to Megan Moroney, but I can recognise that she is an amazing artist that is among the most exciting Country acts around. Born and raised in Georgia, U.S.A., she is a hot name in Nashville. An exceptional vocalist, songwriter and performer, Moroney grew up in a household where legendary and classic Country and Americana artists were played. After writing her first song at a young age, Moroney developed a love for storytelling. Her debut E.P., Pistol Made of Roses, is one that everyone needs to hear. There are not a tonne of interviews I can bring in here at all. There are a few that I can source. Upstar spoke with Megan Moroney back in 2021. It is interesting learning about her start and how she wrote her first song:

"Okay, so I'm from Georgia, born in Savannah. Didn't live there long. I moved to Douglasville, Georgia - which is west of Atlanta. For college I went to UGA. My parents moved about 45 minutes away from Athens, because my brother also went to UGA and it made sense. I got into music early on, as my dad was in a band and my brother plays guitar, so I just grew up around it. My whole life, as far back as I can remember, we had a music room in my house. Now we have 2 music rooms - one that has wood floors and wood furniture so the sound is great, then we have a "live" room that has microphones and stuff. That's where I practice. I have always been able to sing and did a lot of talent shows growing up so I got comfortable singing in front of people. Growing up I would listen with my dad to The Eagles, Jackson Browne, James Taylor and so many others. Because of that I have always listened to words. As I started to grow up, I never thought of music as a profession - like I went to school to be an accountant. I just always loved lyrics so I started songwriting, fell in love with the process and I wasn't too bad. I moved to Nashville like 8 months ago. I graduated in the middle of COVID so I didn't know if it was a good time to move, but I went for it. There hasn't been much for me to do besides write songs, but shows are starting to pick up which I'm excited for."

Fresh to Nashville, Megan Moroney flew out of the gates with her vibey debut single "Wonder" on February 26th and has instantly turned heads. This song is different and one of a kind, taking you through a conversation and putting some catchy word choice and compelling instruments to complement Megan's voice. You know a song is hittin' when you listen to it for the first time and have an obnoxious head bob going …. and you have no idea you're doing it. That may or may not have been me listening to "Wonder" for the first time and looking like a complete dumbass, but hey a good song is a good song. In a town filled with artists chasing sounds that "work", Megan is showing her authentic sound and is putting out music with both heart and soul. A very bright future for this Georgia native.  

"I actually wrote this song alone. I started a lot of my songwriting alone because I was at UGA and it was hard for me. I'm a very outgoing person, but I wasn't just going to go up to people and be like "hey you write? You wanna write some time?"  I'm starting to write with people more now but this was back in May 2020 and I wrote it alone. I came up with the hook which was "it ain't always gotta be lightnin' and thunder...he won't make you wonder". Then I went to the beach. I had that small snippet on my phone and my friends and I were at the beach having a good time. One of my best friends Nat was upset over a guy. Literally everyone is on the beach and I just walked off down the beach and wrote the first and second verse. I didn't have the bridge or the change in the last verse yet. When we got back to the house, I got my guitar and recorded everything I had written. It is a very conversational song and that's because I was telling my friend like "hey, we are here trying to have a good time and you deserve more to feel like that." Natalie and I don't even remember what the whole issue was, I guess the guy is just that irrelevant."

Q: What was that "light bulb" moment for you where you knew you wanted to pursue music?

A: "At the end of my freshman year I got to open for Chase Rice at the Georgia Theater and that was my first real gig ever. I had played at my high school, in my living room and some talent shows, but other than that I wasn't playing out. For my sorority philanthropy event we got Jon Langston to come out. They used our whole budget to get him to perform and we needed an opener. The philanthropy girl was like "oh you sing don't you?" I hadn't played anywhere but I went up there and performed three cover songs for Jon. Chase was actually at that show, heard me sing and wanted me to open for him, but he told me I needed original songs. So for the next three weeks I wrote some songs. At the time, I was also an accounting major, casually getting 50's on my tests and thought to myself I should probably be studying instead. After that I switched my major to marketing and did music business. Playing my first real show at Georgia Theater was special."

Q: If you could go back 5 years what advice would you give to your younger self?

A: "Music. I would say stick with piano, because I gave that up. I didn't think it was cool. Looking back, I really wish I had stuck with it because I think it's one of the prettiest instruments. Life advice, I would say trust that God has a plan for you. There are a lot of things that I thought I wanted and am very happy that they didn't work out. That is probably the most important thing”.

Before getting to a Billboard article that was written back in November, there is a People interview that caught my eye. One of the big successes of last year was the reaction to her single, Tennessee Orange. That song came out in September, and there was this huge amount of positive reaction and coverage:

“For Megan Moroney, the release of her single "Tennessee Orange" and the success that followed is the pinch-me moment she'd been waiting for. Now, she's opening up to PEOPLE about the whirlwind she's experienced since.

"I don't think I realized how special the song would be. It was one of those things where I'd worked on for so long and I didn't know if it was good or not," Moroney, 25, tells PEOPLE. "Then we decided last minute when we got the opportunity from Spotify to put it out. And it's crazy. I'm new to all of this. But I'm like, this is cool."

"Tennessee Orange" dropped only two months after Moroney released her debut EP Pistol Made of Roses — which at first, she worried might work against her.

"I think it does a good job of letting everyone know who I am as person," she says. "The songs are very me. I released that in July, and we didn't know if it would water down the EP by putting out a single two months after. So we were looking for a sign and then Spotify called the next day and was like, 'We have this Fresh Finds thing. You have to put out a song this day.' And I was like, 'Wow, this is perfect.' It was definitely perfect timing."

"The growth of 'Tennessee Orange' has been incredible! The song is connecting with fans all over the world and the stats speak for themselves," says Claire Heinichen, the country music editor for Spotify. "This song has been a dream to watch grow through our playlist ecosystem — from Fresh Finds Country all the way to Hot Country."

Miller Guth, the artist and label partnership manager adds, "We've been watching Megan for a couple of years, so when she performed at our Fresh Finds stage and we saw the crowds reaction we knew she was on the cusp of a major moment. The success of "Tennessee Orange" is a testament to her authentic artistry. We're so excited to be a part of her story."

"Tennessee Orange" tells the story of a girl falling for a boy from her rival school — specifically, a Georgia girl (Moroney graduated from the University of Georgia) falling for a Tennessee boy.

"I met somebody, and he's got blue eyes/He opens the door, and he don't make me cry/He ain't from where we're from, but he feels like home," she sings. "He's got me doing things I've never done/In Georgia they'd call it a sin/I'm wearing Tennessee orange for him”.

I will finish off with a Billboard article. It does cover her earliest experiences, and Moroney also discusses the writing of Tennessee Orange. It is exciting that she is also working on an album at the moment. I think that the world is waiting for an L.P. from this remarkable artist:

“Moroney grew up in a musical family, taking piano lessons and singing with her dad. However, she “never really thought of music as a career,” and initially studied accounting at the University of Georgia, before transitioning to marketing and music business. She was in college when she began writing music and quickly integrated herself into the Music City co-writing scene once she moved to Nashville in 2020.

Moroney spoke with Billboard about crafting “Tennessee Orange,” working with Sugarland’s Kristian Bush (who produced “Tennessee Orange”), and her dream collaborations.

What do you recall about writing your first song?

I had the opportunity to open a show for Chase Rice at the Georgia Theatre and he told me I needed an original song to do the show. So I wrote my first song at 19, called “Stay a Memory,” to be able to do that—it was my first real gig. I didn’t grow up dreaming of being a music artist. As a little girl, I did music for fun, but I never would’ve thought that songwriting and being an artist could be a career.

Before you released the EP, you’d released a song called “Wonder.” How did that shape you as a songwriter?

I wrote that completely by myself, and it was one of the songs I demoed with Kristian. I was at the beach with my friend Natalie and she was arguing with this guy and was upset about it. I told her, “If he loved you and cared about you, you wouldn’t be wondering if he did.” I had a couple of drinks in me and just started rhyming s–t. We had a house full of people we went to the beach with and I played it for them and they were like, “How did you do that?” I think that was the first song that I wrote where I thought, “There is something here.”

You wrote “Tennessee Orange” with Ben, David Fanning and Paul Jenkins. What do you recall about the writing session?

Ben is my go-to writer, and I had not met David or Paul before. I woke up that morning and had the hook of “In Georgia they’d call it a sin/ I’m wearing Tennessee orange for him.” I felt like it was risky taking that idea for a song in, because I didn’t know two of the other writers, and I didn’t know if they even cared about football. But it was a great writing session, and I just became obsessed with getting the song right.

I went home and kept chipping away at it for a couple more hours and then I sent them the changed version — just changing things like [how] the line about “You raised me to know right from wrong” was in the second verse originally, but I felt like we needed that [in the first verse] to make the storyline — you have no idea what I am going to say until the hook, and the verse builds up that mystery.

What has the reaction been like when you play “Tennessee Orange” in Georgia?

I had two shows in Athens in November, and was so nervous to play it — but the crowds sing it really loud anyway. I played the Georgia Theatre this past week, and it was the loudest I’ve heard a room of people sing it. They are so supportive, which I am grateful for. I have a show in Knoxville this spring, and I’m sure it will go over really great there.

You are working on a full album. Where are you in the process?

We haven’t gotten into the studio yet, but it’s completely written. The songs are all very me. I don’t like cutting songs that I could just pitch to any female country artist. They all have to be very personal to me”.

Someone who is going to grow and continue to accrue a mass of fans, maybe not that many people know about Megan Moroney in the U.K. We have homegrown Country artists, but there are some in the U.S. that have not penetrated here. I think that Megan Moroney is someone that everyone can love and appreciate. Her music is so beautiful and memorable. With a beautiful and strong voice backing this amazing songwriting, she is a definite star. Someone who, like I say with many artists I feature, could also have a successful acting career, go and follow the Georgia-born musician. Her new E.P., Pistol Made of Roses, is tremendous! Glory and worldwide recognition…

LAYS ahead of her.

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Follow Megan Moroney

FEATURE: Sexy Boy: Air’s Moon Safari at Twenty-Five

FEATURE:

 

Sexy Boy

  

Air’s Moon Safari at Twenty-Five

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THERE are some classic albums…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Air’s Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel in 1998/PHOTO CREDIT: Paul Bergen/Redferns

turning twenty-five this year. Perhaps the first one to have a big birthday is Air’s Moon Safari. One of the most impressive debuts of the 1990s, the French Electronic duo released Moon Safari to the world on 16th January, 1998. The album was re-released on 14th April, 2008 to mark its tenth anniversary. I will get to a review of that re-release. I wanted to bring in a feature about the album just before a couple of positive reviews. I remember Moon Safari coming out in 1998 and, as a then-fourteen-year-old, it was unlike anything I had heard. With notable songs like Sexy Boy, All I Need, and Kelly Watch the Stars, this album is going to endure for decades to come. A top ten success in the U.K., it has not aged at all and still sounds incredible. To mark its twenty-fourth anniversary, udiscovermusic.com told the story of Moon Safari:

“Leave it to the French to turn retro-leaning lounge music into space-age scores. Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel achieved just that, announcing their arrival with their debut album, Moon Safari by Air “French band” on January 16, 1998.

Labeled an electronic act, Air was light years away from their Gallic contemporaries Daft Punk. Instead, they crafted the perfect post-club soundtrack with dreamy, spectral soundscapes, and a jazz-like sensibility that washed away all memories and substances from the night before.

This new incarnation of “chill-out” music in electronica was also decidedly analogue, a study in contrasts that felt both nostalgic and futuristic at the same time. Armed with old Roland drum machines, vintage synths, a Rhodes piano, and even some bongos, Air oozed 60s kitsch. Some likened it to camp, others an homage, but to a young audience who didn’t grow up going to key parties and listening to Francis Lai, it felt wonderfully exotic and revolutionary.

Before they became purveyors of ambient pop, Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel were just two students from Versailles who worshipped at the altar of rock in a country that was historically blasé about the form. They played in an indie band in university before forming Air and released two EP’s in ’95 and ’96 that ended up on their Premier Symptomes compilation. Blending Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson samples with trance music, the duo already proved themselves masters of mood, but it wasn’t until Moon Safari where they showed their chops for pop craft as well with the singles, “Sexy Boy” and “Kelly Watch the Stars.”

With the exception of artists like Serge Gainsbourg, Johnny Hallyday, or Jean-Michel Jarre, not many French acts had been able to crack the international charts, but in the mid-90s, downtempo acts such as St. Germain, Daft Punk, and La Funk Mob were reinventing the French music scene and people were taking notice. As Godin recently told The Guardian, “Before we came along, French pop was synonymous with Sacha Distel. I hated it. But electronic music meant you could make cool music without being a rocker.”

Arriving during the swan song of Britpop, Moon Safari instead embraced theatricality, with its vast symphonic arrangements that borrowed equally from Burt Bacharach as it did from Pink Floyd and ELO. When it came time to record, Godin and Dunckel took a cue from their muses and recorded the string sections at the legendary Abbey Road studios with noted arranger David Whitake, who’d worked with everyone from Serge Gainsbourg to France Gall, The Rolling Stones, Jimmy Page, and Sylvie Vartan. In contrast, the rest of the record was recorded on an 8-track machine and purposely retro gear, not only for aesthetic purposes but also to challenge the duo musically.

Starting a record with a track that has a 7-minute plus running time is a bold move, but “La femme d’argent” is the perfect opener for the sonic odyssey that is Moon Safari. Beginning with soft rain over the Blaxploitation sample “Runnin” by Edwin Starr, it builds into an exquisite musical montage that proves you don’t need a bass drop to feel catharsis. This electronic crescendo is then quickly followed by the album’s breakout single “Sexy Boy” that single-handedly relaunched the vocoder into pop culture along with their other hit, “Remember.” But Moon Safari is not all android disco a la 70s Herbie Hancock. Two of the tracks including “All I Need” and “You Make It Easy” feature American singer-songwriter Beth Hirsch, whose honeyed vocals float over the acoustic and ambient lounge arrangements.

From the galloping bass line of “Talisman” to the tuba solos of “Ce Matin La,” Moon Safari is a mosaic of retro references and yet Air never limits themselves to just references, instead they create their own universe and a soundtrack to a movie that never existed. That’s what happens when you get two studio obsessives with a love of astrophysics and staying in. Moon Safari is the ultimate armchair exploration, all you need is a shag rug and decent speakers.

Following their debut, Air quickly became a critical darling worldwide and was praised for putting French pop back on the map and yet reception in their home country was not as enthusiastic. Moon Safari peaked at No. 21 on the French album charts and No. 6 in the UK. They were similarly a massive success stateside, landing a US tour, ad placements, remixes, and glowing reviews. Just a year later, they were scoring the soundtrack to Sofia Coppola’s tale of 70s suburban ennui, The Virgin Suicides, with their atmospheric opus.

Now 20 years later, it’s clear how Air profoundly changed the cultural perceptions around not only French music but electronic music in general, pushing the boundaries of both to create something wholly unique and often replicated in the decades that followed”.

Recorded between London and Paris from April to June 1997, Moon Safari is one of those albums from the 1990s that people know but might not rank as one of the best. So astonishing was the decade, there is pretty tough competition! I think that Air’s marvellous debut is among the best from the decade.  Jean-Benoît Dunckel and Nicolas Godin created a masterpiece of an album. This is what AllMusic said in their review of the beautiful Moon Safari:

“Although electronica had its fair share of chillout classics prior to the debut of Air, the lion's share were either stark techno (Warp) or sample-laden trip-hop (Mo' Wax). But while Air had certainly bought records and gear based on the artists that had influenced them, they didn't just regurgitate (or sample) them; they learned from them, digesting their lessons in a way that gave them new paths to follow. They were musicians in a producer's world, and while no one could ever accuse their music of being danceable, it delivered the emotional power of great dance music even while pushing the barriers of what "electronica" could or should sound like. (Never again would Saint Etienne be the only band of a certain age to reveal their fondness for Burt Bacharach.) The Modulor EP had displayed astonishing powers of mood and texture, but it was Air's full-length debut, Moon Safari, that proved they could also write accessible pop songs like "Sexy Boy" and "Kelly Watch the Stars." But it wasn't all pop. The opener, "La Femme d'Argent," was an otherworldly beginning, with a slinky bassline evoking Serge Gainsbourg's Histoire de Melody Nelson and a slow glide through seven minutes of growing bliss (plus a wonderful keyboard solo). The vocoderized "Remember" relaunched a wave of robot pop that hadn't been heard in almost 20 years, and the solos for harmonica and French horn on "Ce Matin La" made the Bacharach comparisons direct. Unlike most electronica producers, Air had musical ideas that stretched beyond samplers or keyboards, and Moon Safari found those ideas wrapped up in music that was engaging, warm, and irresistible”.

In 2008, PopMatters reviewed the new release of Moon Safari. They were definitely impressed by the fact it has not aged or been surpassed in that decade. As I said, it is an album that is still remarkably fresh to this day:

“Ten years later on, there’s still no album that sounds quite like Moon Safari. It is as evocatively light and dulcet as its namesake, alarmingly sensual, profoundly kitsch, and singularly beautiful. Air’s breakthrough masterwork gets the deluxe treatment for its 10th birthday. That amounts to three CDs, including the original master, a long player of bonus material, and a DVD of Air-related material directed by Mike Mills (Thumbsucker), including the documentary Eating, Sleeping, Waiting & Playing.

Upon its release in 1998, it seemed certain that there would be droves of imitators following in the billowing smoke of Air’s hazy wake. And yes, there were plenty waiting in line in the waning days of endless chillout room compilations, but none could ever grasp the same pan-stylistic sonic portmanteau that Air’s Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel molded in their colossal proto-prog, moog-lounge, plastech soul jazztronica. Even Air themselves never attempted to repeat their definitive moment, for better (2004’s Talkie Walkie) or worse (2001’s 10,000 Hz Legend).

Yet Moon Safari, as atypical and retro-gazing as it was, came about as a product of its era. The world was ablaze with kitsch sampledelia hot off the critical fawning over the Salvation Army eclecticism of Beck’s Odelay. Soon, the music press was discovering, uncovering, and lofting adoration upon Stereolab, Cibo Matto, Cornershop, Fantastic Plastic Machine, Thievery Corporation, etc. Indie-pop’s obsessions began to converge with the dance community’s, and vice versa. The music of the past was beginning to take on a new light and the new French band Air were more than willing to shoot an ironic wink towards the dusty spindles of music’s former space age bachelor pads in pursuit of its melodic treasure map.

However, the French “band à part” were set apart by their recalcitrant resistance to the authority of the breakbeat, the gold standard of ’90s music. The drums of Moon Safari are commendably unfunky, and often so minimal as to be practically utilitarian and metronomic alone, as they often were for their spiritual forefathers in Kraftwerk.

Those Teutonic pioneers are commonly mentioned in the same breath with Dunckel and Godin, and perhaps there’s a good reason for that. Both artists are interested in extracting warmth from machinery, but Kraftwerk’s clangor arose as a reaction to German Post-War reconstruction and the possibilities it presented. It was also a pre-punk counteraction to the communal vibe of the naturalist, commune-based hippy music being made by their psychedelic peers, a taut and perfectionist exercise in absolute studiousness.

Air’s music, on the other hand, came about during the height of commercial culture, as pop began to eat itself, when the new architecture was to build anew from the trash heap of yesteryear. 1998 was a time that couldn’t even conceive a return to nature without looking like a John Zerzan/Ted Kaczynski-style lunatic. The primitivism that supercharges today’s freak-folk movement was beyond fringe for the newly interconnected global village. It was passé. Air, then, had no need for the Kling-Klang, but they were equally as fascinated by Florian Schneider’s flute on Ralf and Florian as they were by his synthesizer on Radio-Activity. They felt equally thrilled by the sensual strings of Isaac Hayes and Serge Gainsbourg as by the deep chord sinusoidal keytars of ELO.

 For all their allusive ties to the day’s reigning hipster cognoscenti, Air, unlike their peers, always felt oddly comfortable on the girls’ shelves in The Virgin Suicides alongside Todd Rundgren, 10CC, and Styx. Their score for that film, though hardly their most consistent work, seemed nevertheless appropriate because Moon Safari had such a dull AM radio sheen to it, such as when “Ce Matin La” flexed its day-glo Ibiza warm pads beneath Burt Bacharach-style trumpets. Beyond the already pejorative chillout, Air’s music could justifiably be classified as something far more egregious: soft rock. Easy listening. Certainly intended more for space cadets than yuppies, Air’s music is vivacious, dynamic, and weird, but so mellow that you’d need to fill up a room with pillows and valium to bring yourself down to its level.

Album opener “La Femme D’Argent” is so floaty and mysterious that you hardly notice the sugary organs tripping out to where the sidewalk ends. After chutes of starry piano, distant moans, and persistently cool basslines bring you to the eclipse of consciousness, the tempo switches up a few BPMs with some precipitating cymbal taps whose mild torrent seems to promise a highly theatrical and bombastic finale to the tension. But rather than crescendoing into an M83-style burst of energy, Air seamlessly wind the song back down to just the main melody and a series of hand claps and finger snaps. It’s miraculous that they can get away with such a mood shift, but they do, amicably. Such is the mellifluous majesty of Air.

“La Femme D’Argent” and its lack of climax gives way to the dark electro-ribbits of Air’s most well known song, “Sexy Boy”, a minor hit in Europe that even received some airplay from MTV around that time, back when they were known to play music videos in their regular programming. In the documentary included on the DVD, Godin reveals that he wanted “Sexy Boy” to elicit the same kind of disorienting sensation as the one brought on by the appearance of the man from another place in Twin Peaks. To Air’s credit, it is a demented pop nugget, equally homoerotic and androgynous, menacing and erogenous. “Sexy Boy” alternates between light, feminine, amorous verses and a dark, gently brutal, faux-masculine chorus. Like all of Moon Safari‘s vocal tracks not sung by Beth Hirsch, “Sexy Boy” is delightfully transgender, transcending sexual boundaries by being tantalizingly alien, appealing to GLBTQ, hetero, and beyond.

Likewise, “Talisman” is undeniably seductive, but perilous as well. It’s like Jerry Goldsmith conducting the Love Unlimited Orchestra. Its atmosphere is perhaps best exemplified by its inclusion in Doug Liman’s Go. As a tantric three-way gradually builds steam, the room literally ignites around them and fire envelopes the scenery. Air tactfully place wild slides and howling synths in the backdrop as if to subtly sound the alarm. It’s love under duress, but passion that simply can not be bridled”.

A happy upcoming twenty-fifth anniversary to the dazzling and truly beguiling Moon Safari. Such a wonderous album that I fell in love with when it came out in 1998, I still have the same affection all these years later. Go and listen to the album if you have not heard it before. Moon Safari is definitely one of the greatest albums…

EVER released.

FEATURE: The Kate Bush Interview Archive: 1989: Tony Horkins (International Musician and Recording World)

FEATURE:

 

 

The Kate Bush Interview Archive

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1989 in a photo from The Sensual World sessions/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

 

1989: Tony Horkins (International Musician and Recording World)

__________

I may wrap up this particular…

Kate Bush series of features, but I love revisiting old interviews! I was struck by one I have not included before. 1989 was the year she released The Sensual World. One of her finest albums, it followed the genius Hounds of Love (1985). Her most mature and self-examining album to that date, the promotion around the album is fascinating. I am highlighting sections of an interview from Tony Horkins for International Musician and Recording World.  A brilliant interview that dug deep into The Sensual World, you can read it here. There are some portion of the interview that I want to show:

“Sitting comfortably in the high tech surround of Abbey road studios, Kate Bush, that most English of English roses, is trying to define exactly what English music really is.

"I think lyrically there's a lot that defines English music, and I suppose a certain approach to sounds," she considers emotively. "There are very definite American approaches to sound - guitar sounds, approaches to songs, the Fender Rhodes; as soon as you hear that it's America. But to actually define African, or American."

Which may go some way to explain why her new album, The Sensual World, is so mixed in its influences and so far removed from anything we may immediately consider to be English. A swirling mass of eastern European rhythms, Bulgarian singing, Irish fiddling and that unique vocal and lyrical quality that belongs to Kate Bush. But then Kate Bush isn't the type to be influenced by day time radio; not for her hours spent tuned in to the inane ramblings of Gary Davies and co.

"I don't spend much time listening to radio, and when I do it tends to be Radio 4. I guess we spend so much time listening to music in a very sensitised way, in recreational terms, that you need relief for the ears. I tend to listen to more when I just finish an album, rather than during, which is stupid.

"A good example of this is that when I finished the last album, I heard this Bulgarian music. (Les Voix de Bulgare, the extraordinary close-harmony choir whose two Les Mystere albums were surprise hits for 4AD). I thought 'Shit, I wish I'd have heard this while I was working on the album.' I think it was good in one way because I had a lot of time to think about the possibility of doing something with them. The thing that would worry me a bit is that if you like something you are influenced by it, and I'd probably try and connect to other people's music of that time. it takes me such a long time to make an album that it would be drastically out of date."

This is, perhaps, something of an underestimate. It's been nearly four years since we had the opportunity to discuss her then current album, Hounds of Love. Surely she hasn't been working on The Sensual World since then?

"I was saying to Del (Palmer - boyfriend/ bass player/ programmer/ mixer) that I think my tapes wouldn't know what to do if they weren't left sitting around for years. I think they'd have a nervous breakdown - they go through a fermenting process. Like wine, or something. I don't do anything to the songs, I just sit and let the tapes mature.

"I think in real terms it's been about two and a half years, and it's been done in bits. We started and then took quite a few months off to do a few things at home, and also it was the only way I could cope with this album - to keep taking breaks. It's quite an intense process - especially Del and I working together so isolated. We had to take a lot of breaks to think about stuff. A lot of time with this album was spent thinking. Not actually doing, but just thinking."

Home is where the Art is

As with Hounds of Love, The Sensual World was recorded mainly in Kate's home studio, with orchestral parts added at Abbey Road, Irish extras in Windmill Lane, Dublin, and the Bulgarian women recorded at Angel studios. The result is as diverse as it is interesting, and on first listening much more complex than her other albums.

"Some of them are really bizarre - I worry about my sanity sometimes, really. All of the tracks have taken such completely different processes."

Including the opening track, also the first single, which didn't quite end up as Kate imagined it initially would.

"Now that was a really complicated process for a track to come together. It started off with a song - no words. I'd had this idea for about two years to use the words from Molly Blooms' speech at the end of Ulysses, which I think is the most superb piece of writing ever, to a piece of music. So Del had done a Fairlight pattern, and I'd done a DX riff over the top of it, and I was listening to it at home, and the words fitted absolutely perfectly. I thought God this is just ridiculous, just how well it's come together.

"We then approached the relevant people for permission to use the lyrics, and they just would not let me use them. No way. I tried everything. So I thought if we're really getting nowhere with this, let's take a different approach to the song. I heard this piece of music which a fan sent in about two years earlier, and we put the tune in the choruses in place of what we had. So that went in, and all the lyrics I had to change.

"To try and keep the sense of the original words, but something that would be original, I came up with this idea of Molly Bloom stepping out of this speech into the real world. And in the book she's such a sensual woman - womanly, very physical, it just seemed that she would be completely taken by the fact that this 2D character could actually go around touching. So that's what it turned into. The fact that they didn't let me use the lyrics turned the song into something very different. It was such a complicated process, and really quite painful to actually let it go."

The Fairlight still plays a large part in the music making process for Kate, even though many others may have abandoned it for more contemporary, and cheaper sampling sources.

"I think it's a very good instrument still. It's just one of those things. Everyone I know is the same; we pull out the Fairlight and they go, 'Oh no sounds rubbish. Eventually you do find sounds that really work. I think the whole process of sampling instruments is becoming very boring, wading through sounds..

And she further proves her reluctance to purchase This Year's Model by raving about a recently acquired DX7.

"I was very impressed. Initially I thought I'd just use it for ideas, but we've used it quite a lot on the album. We blend it in with other stuff, and hopefully it doesn't sound too like a DX7. I use mainly pre-sets. I think it's amazing how different you can make pre-sets sound if you treat them differently and bung another sound with them. It takes on quite a different character."

One of the first tracks she wrote for the album was Love and Anger. Again, the track didn't exactly write itself.

"I couldn't get the lyrics. They were one of the last things to do. I just couldn't find out what the song was about, though the tune was there. The first verse was always there, and that was the problem, because I'd already set some form of direction, but I couldn't follow through. I didn't know what I wanted to say at all. I guess I was just tying to make a song that was comforting, up tempo, and about how when things get really bad, it's alright really - 'Don't worry old bean. Someone will come and help you out.'

"The song started with a piano, and Del put a straight rhythm down. Then we got the drummer, and it stayed like that for at least a year and a half. Then I thought maybe it could be okay, so we got Dave Gilmour in. This is actually one of the more difficult songs - everyone I asked to try and play something on this track had problems. It was one of those awful tracks where either everything would sound ordinary, really MOR, or people just couldn't come to terms with it. They'd ask me what it was about, but I didn't know because I hadn't written the lyrics. Dave was great - I think he gave me a bit of a foothold there, really. At least there was a guitar that made some sense. And John (Giblin) putting the bass on - that was very important. He was one of the few people brave enough to say that he actually liked the song."

Sentiments which must have inspired the next track, Deeper Understanding.

"It's about someone being trapped in the city, in isolation at work, where they just spend all the time with this computer, actually really developing a relationship with it. Which a lot of people seem to do - they talk to it. So the idea is in sending off this programme for the lonely lost; they put it in and this sci-fi being comes out and says 'I know you're lost, but I'm here to help you, we love you.' This person doesn't have human contact any more, he's just kind of addicted to the machine. I suppose in subject matter terms I really do see it visually.

"So I had this thing and started to write it on the Yamaha piano at home - one of the old CP90s, which is still great. I asked Del for a rhythm, and he put down this very mechanical rhythm on Fairlight. I put DX7 over the top, John Giblin did the most beautiful bass - though it took a while. It always does when I work with John - the main problem is that he just makes me laugh so much."

Deeper Understanding is also the first track to feature the Trio Bulgarka.

"That song was sort of finished when I got involved with the Bulgarian singers. I just thought of all the people to represent a being that exudes divine love, it had to be the Bulgarian singers. The idea was to put them in the chorus where the computer was singing, so that they'd have this ethereal sound."

Track seven, Between A Man And A Woman, gets a simpler treatment.

"That was, let's get a groove going at the piano, and a pretty straightforward Fairlight pattern. Then we got the drummer in, and I thought that maybe it was taking on a slightly Sixties feel - not that it is. So we got Alan (Murphy, Level 42 guitarist) in to play guitar - who unfortunately wasn't credited - a printing error. He played some smashing guitar. Then I wanted to work with the cellist again, because I think the cello is such a beautiful instrument. I find it very male and female - not one or the other. He's actually the only player that I've ever written out music for. They're lucky if they get chord charts normally.

"We were just playing around with a groove. We actually had a second verse that was similar to the first, and I thought it was really boring. I hated it, so it sat around for about six months. So I took it into a completely different section which worked much better. Just having that little bit on the front worked much better. Quite often I have to put things aside and think about them if they just haven't worked. If you leave a little time, it's surprising how often you can come back and turn it into something."

The Write Stuff

Inevitably, some of them are set aside for good.

"On this album I probably wrote more than I have in ages, but some of them really weren't up to much. They needed so much work to get them into shape. It's just not worth the effort. And you tire of it really quickly. You hear it three or four times and think it's so boring. I think something's got to have a personality, almost. It doesn't take much. Maybe just a little bit that you think works, and then you develop the whole thing from there".

A marvellous interview from a time when Bush followed up her most successful album in Hounds of Love with a successor that, whilst very different, is a remarkable and hugely well-received album. In her thirties when it was released, we were hearing and seeing a new era for Bush. One where she was blossoming into a woman with different ambitions and priorities. The Sensual World is a terrific album that every Kate Bush fan needs to hear over and over. It was great finding out more about it…

IN this deep and revealing interview.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Monaleo

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

 

Monaleo

_________

I discovered the absolutely…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Jacob Webster for NME

magnificent Monaleo through a recent recommendation from The Guardian. Clearly, I am late to the game but, after a brief taste, I am intoxicated by her music! Compared to the likes of Flo Milli, Monaleo is part of a wave of incredibly powerful and talented women who will transform Rap and Hip-Hop in 2023. Genres where I think female artists are dominating, I think Monaleo will help bring about greater equality and recognition for women. Before getting to some interviews, I want to lead with The Guardian’s praise of a supremely gifted rapper:

“Monaleo was born Leondra Roshawn Gay in Houston. When she was a child, her grandmother would make her sing as part of a church choir; she performed in talent shows and played flute in the school band. Although she says she “always wanted to be a musician deep down”, people around her instilled doubt: “I let a lot of people discourage me and tell me that this wasn’t something that I was gonna be able to do.”

Instead, she initially pursued a vastly different career path: after graduating from Houston’s High School for Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice, she began studying mortuary science, hoping to become a funeral director. (The video for Body Bag, which features her performing to a backdrop of corpses in a morgue, was inspired by her one-time career aspiration.) Shortly after, she recorded Beating Down Yo Block, and deferred university in order to focus on music.

Monaleo says she “didn’t necessarily have any dreams to make aggressive rap music”, but the subject matter dictated the form. She wants her bossed-up anthems to inspire Black women who are being taken advantage of, whether in romantic relationships, friendships, or business relationships.

“My message is to be the voice that you need for yourself – advocate for your wants, advocate for your needs,” she says. The breakup that inspired Beating Down Yo Block made her “feel like I was like dying, or something – not to be dramatic”, she says. “I definitely never want to feel like that again – and I don’t want anybody else to feel like that”.

Someone who undoubtedly will lead a charge through this year, I am so pumped to hear a future Monaleo project. Whether that is a mixtape or album, it is going to be an absolutely red-hot release! I want to start with an UPROXX interview, where they spoke with Monaleo off the back of a successful and memorable tour with the brilliant Flo Milli. Rappers who seem to share common ground and kinship, there were some interesting insights from the future Rap icon:

“At just 21 years old, Houston rapper Monaleo has been making waves and staying relevant since her 2021 breakout hit, “Beating Down Yo Block.” The track, which samples Yungstar’s “Knockin Pictures Off Da Wall,” was more than just a good song. It was the start of Monaleo’s year-long streak (and counting) of using her personality, savviness, and talent to stay relevant — sometimes in the most effortless ways.

Next came the unforgiving “Suck It Up,” an unforgiving record that Monaleo uses to mock another woman stealing her man. However, don’t get it twisted as men are also susceptible to Monaleo’s disses and dismissals, which we hear on “We Not Humping.” The latter record was eventually remixed by Flo Milli (a perfect selection for that song), with whom Monaleo formed a tight friendship after its release. Their relationship grew into Monaleo joining Flo for her Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Tour, a run comprised of 20 performances across the country.

The Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Tour came to a close earlier this week, but Uproxx was fortunate enough to catch up with Monaleo earlier this month for a conversation about her relationship with Flo Milli, her recent releases, what makes her so savvy with social media, and what’s next.

 How are you enjoying tour so far? Both from the point of it being your first and that you’re performing with Flo Milli?

It’s been a really good experience. As far as the actual tour itself and the people that I’ve been meeting. Being able to meet people that really support me in real life has been a super surreal experience. People have been walking up to me [and] telling me how long they’ve been supporting me and what I’ve helped them through. This sh*t is like super inspiring for me. It’s just a catalyst for me, it just makes me want to impact 100,000 million more people.

One thing I can I’ve been impressed with, besides your music, is how savvy you are with social media and how your music and that work so well together. What do you credit this social savviness to?

Just knowing what goes on with social media, being really tapped in, and always being somebody who’s kind of like a sponge, even if it wasn’t applicable at the time, I was always able to absorb different marketing strategies and different tactics. If I was never an artist, I definitely could have been a great marketing manager for somebody because I’m just very familiar with and just very socially aware of what goes on, the way people think, and what people respond better to over other things. Most of the time, it usually works, and not all the time it works but after enough time, it just starts to kind of work for itself. It works on its own because you built up that reputation, you just built up the credibility. So whenever it is time for you to drop something, people are excited and they’re anticipating it because they know it’s gonna be of quality or they know that they’re going to be entertained in some way, shape, form, or fashion. That’s what I really be trying to tap into: making sure I keep people engaged and entertained.

You mentioned in a past interview that you really wanted to sing at first, so with your transition to rap, what’s really made you fall in love with it and keep at it?

It’s a confidence booster for me. It really does instill this spirit, this attitude of “I really can’t be f*cked with.” I really get to flex my lyricism and writing skills that I acquired throughout all my years of going to school and to college – I get to apply them. All the years I spent writing super good f*cking essays, it’s kind of like the same thing with rap. It’s like writing an essay, I just pick a thesis and prove my point throughout the entire essay, or throughout the entire song rather. It’s the nerd in me; the geek in me is super into being able to articulate certain points and do it in an entertaining and funny way and do it in a way that people can laugh but still respect the artistry and the craft.

You’ve been a huge proponent of mental health since day one, how have you maintained your mental health throughout this tour and just overall as you continue to become more and more successful?

It’s definitely been a journey trying to find the balance between working hard and also giving myself the necessary breaks that I need and taking intentional breaks. I feel like I just take breaks when I feel like, “Okay, this is too f*cking much.” But even in the midst of me taking a break up, I never really give myself time to just breathe, dissect, digest, and really allow myself to calm down. It’s been a learning process for sure, but I’m definitely getting a lot better with just taking time for myself and creating boundaries with the people around me, my team, my family, and whoever else; making sure that always allot some time to myself to really debrief, meditate, breathe, [or] take a nap. Whatever it is I feel like I need to, I always allot myself that time while still making time to be on time for the sh*t that I’m supposed to be on time for – hardly, barely for real, I barely be making it. I don’t know how, it just always works out”.

A hugely inspiring artist who comes from the same Texas city as Beyoncé, I think that Monaleo can forge the same sort of career as this titan and queen! Even if Monaleo is talked about as a collaborator with Flo Milli, she is very much stepping on her own and sharing her unique voice and talents with the world. NME spoke with her last summer. Highlighting her ‘90s-referencing lyrics, she is seen very much as a fearless artist who will change Rap for the better:

“What were your dreams when you first started out as an artist?

“I wanted to be a singer. When I was young, my grandmother would make me sing in church, but I hated people looking at me – I just loved to sing. I knew I had to decide what I wanted to do: I didn’t want to go to college, but everyone expected me to because I was smart, so I went there and changed my major a lot. I was getting ready to change over to a computer engineering major, but at that time my raps were starting to get a lot of traction so I was like, ‘OK, is this the moment? Is it getting ready to happen?’ I stopped going to school and focused on music, and it worked out.

“You have these dreams and fantasies where you can visualise yourself doing something, but when it starts to actually happen, it’s a surreal experience. I couldn’t believe it was happening, and as quickly as it was.”

Was rapping initially a side hustle, then?

“[Rapping] didn’t pay me anything: it was draining my funds, to be honest, but it was a slow progression. I’d post a video and it would get 400 likes, then [post] another that would get 900. Once the response was bigger, I figured it was something I could continue with, but only because I was seeing results. It’s easier to do something that’s rewarding. I was watching my followers go up and could easily gauge whether or not people were receptive to my art, so being able to watch my follower count go up was a catalyst for me to focus on being a full-time artist.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Jacob Webster 

You recently performed live at Rolling Loud in Miami. Did you have a specific routine to help calm your anxiety?

“I’m still having a really hard time getting acclimated [to performing live]. The last show I had was one of my best because I was honest with the people out there. For example, Summer Walker and I have a lot of similarities with how we deal with our anxieties. I remember when she cancelled her tour and thinking, ‘That’s something I’d do.’

“I understood why Summer felt like that, and how overwhelming it can be exchanging energies with different people that you don’t know. To see the amount of anguish she was experiencing, and the chaos that ensued after the decision she made based on how she was feeling, was scary to me. I want to be able to spark a conversation on stage and chat to the crowd without feeling overwhelmed about being the centre of attention, which is something I’ve always had a problem with.”

What type of artist do you want to be remembered as?

“I’d like to be remembered as an artist that was fearless: someone who used her circumstances as a stepping stool to be a voice to the people who have gone through similar things. Ultimately, I want to be happy, but I don’t want to attach my happiness to anything tangible or materialistic. When your core is happy, everything around you is harmonious – it all works out”.

There are some great interviews out there with the magnificent Monaleo. I am going to finish off with one from the end of last year. I think 2023 is hers for the taking. A sensational human who is going to inspire so many other women, Hypebeast chatted with her new release, Miss U Already, and the necessity of mental health awareness:

“Despite the Milli co-sign, Monaleo says she struggles to embrace her newfound popularity in the music industry, having grown up as a self-described “outcast.”

“Those experiences that you have growing up, they create the adult that you are going to be,” she tells Hypebeast. “I was an outcast of my own making. I just didn’t want to be around people, because I felt like I had difficulty fitting in. I had never been to a club, I had never been to a house party. I was very socially underdeveloped.”

For Monaleo, rapping has served as a crash course in pushing past social anxiety by sheer virtue of having millions of eyes on her at once. On top of being extremely shy as a child, Monaleo notes that the transition into adulthood – having been only 19 when she dropped her first song – is an entirely new learning curve.

“Adulting is hard, period, but just becoming an adult and then at the same time becoming a public figure are two very difficult things I’ve had to get used to,” she says. “I have personal life things going on too, things I’m learning I need to know … like staying on top of bills”

PHOTO CREDIT: Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Image

Shouldering a major music career as she entered her twenties, Monaleo has used her experience of the stressful plunge into adulthood — as well as her own past struggles with depression and anxiety — to propel conversations on mental health awareness and suicide prevention. Vulnerability is often mistaken for weakness in the rap scene, but the artist has cut through the stigma to speak openly and honestly on social media and in interviews about being a survivor of suicide. Today, as an advocate for realistic self-care, she doesn’t shy away from difficult conversations on dealing with trauma, setting boundaries and prioritizing oneself.

“I always said to myself that if I were to ever get a platform that I would want to be able to be personable with people.”

“Growing up, I always felt like I was grossly misunderstood,” Monaleo shares. “People were judgmental of the things that I did or said, as opposed to trying to understand the place that I was coming from.”

“That’s the reason why I’m so open about my experiences now,” she continues. “It requires a lot of hard work, it requires a lot of skill, a lot of discipline and a lot of mental capacity. Sometimes I wake up and I just really don’t have it.”

Her latest release, “Miss U Already” featuring Alabama rapper NoCap, marks a peak in Monaleo’s constant pursuit of vulnerability. Eschewing rap to draw on her childhood years spent in the church choir, Monaleo flexes her vocal abilities as she reminisces the losses of those near to her.

While a full-fledged album may still be a ways away, Monaleo reveals that making “Miss U Already” has opened her up to the idea of experimenting more with R&B music.

“I love melodies. I love to sing,” she says. “I grew up singing in church. I grew up playing in the street. That is really where my heart lies.

“I definitely can see myself moving into that R&B space pretty soon – maybe not permanently – but delving into it, going back and forth between R&B and hip-hop”.

A future legend of Rap who will ascend to dizzying heights, it was a no-brainer spotlighting Monaleo as a name to watch his year! In a genre (Rap) that is still accused of sexism and misogyny, I hope that there is improvement so that women coming through do not have to fight so hard for a voice and their rightful dues! It is thanks to remarkable artists like Monaleo that things will improve. She is someone who…

IS a remarkable force.

____________

Follow Monaleo

FEATURE: Spotlight: Lucy Deakin

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

 

Lucy Deakin

_________

I think that this…

is one of the most fertile and interesting times for music. Even though platforms like TikTok have meant Lucy Deakin can connect with a wide audience, this is not an artist who is a ‘TikTok star’. Her success and acclaim has come through hard work, incredible songs and an ambition and passion that is hard to ignore. Someone who is geared for many years in the music industry, she is among our most promising artists. Based in London, I have known about her music for a while now. Someone that people should follow now, there is no doubt this year will be one where she will break through. One of the names to watch closely, her latest single, BITTER, came out in December. It also ranks alongside my favourite singles of 2022. It is hard to categorise and define Deakin’s music. BITTER has this swagger and confidence combined with a catchy chorus and some wonderful vocals from Deakin! Her music is always so fresh, with every track offering something different. I could not find any interviews with Deakin from last year, but there is some press from 2021 that taught me a lot. Revealing layers to this extraordinary young artist. I will end with a bit of news/a feature relating to BITTER. I know Deakin has plans to release more music this year. I can see her doing podcasts, lots of live dates and featuring heavily on rotation at various radio stations. It is clear she has an international audience. It would not be so far-fetched to find that, very soon, she is in demand across the U.S. Her music is unique and has her own stamp, yet it is accessible and has a familiarity which means it transcends borders and translates around the world. This is someone who gives her heart and every ounce to music and connecting with her fans!

An artist tipped by NME and other sources as someone to embrace and follow, the Mancunion spoke with Lucy Dakin in 2021 (she was based in Manchester then). A Pop prodigy with a naturally and instantly impactful sound, so many people are excited to see what she releases this year. Such a remarkable talent who seemed determined to have a career in music from a very young age:

“How did you get your start in the music industry? Have you always wanted to sing?

I’m a massive pop stan – I always say my start in the music industry was down to Disney because I used to be obsessed with Hannah Montana and High School Musical. I had a Nintendo Wii and used to play SingStar, which pretty much taught me how to sing because I was tone deaf beforehand!

So did you ever have any formal voice training or was it literally just SingStar that got you where you are today?

Genuinely when I was younger, SingStar! And then I went to university and I studied music, so I had some training. But basically Nintendo should own my career…

Would you say you mostly get your inspiration from media? Or are there some things that you’re inspired by in real life? You’ve got quite a lot of songs that are about the ends of relationships and breakups and things like that, so I’m just hoping for your sake that they’re not all based on life experiences!

Oh no! I’ve taken inspiration from different things which have happened to friends and things like that – I listen to what people have said, and put things together. I get an idea from relationships and situations I have been in, or someone I know or something I’ve seen on TV, and pick different points from it. But then some of them are quite true… It depends on the song.

Has anyone ever recognised themselves or a situation they’ve been in from one of your songs?

I don’t think so. I think people have made speculations and a lot of the time they’ve asked me and they’ve been wrong.

You mentioned a few artists already – Britney Spears, Avril Lavigne and McFly – but are there any other artists you look up to for inspiration?

Miley Cyrus is my number one, Kim Petras, and I think anyone who’s following me on any social media knows that I love Charlie XCX. The majority of people I listen to are solo female artists. I don’t know whether I’m just drawn to a strong woman at the front, but I feel like that’s how I always wanted it to be. I always knew I wanted it to be me on my own, just because everyone who I love and majority of them are strong women at the top.

You’ve had a bit of an image change recently – looking at your Spotify you can see there’s been a massive difference in album covers, quite pink and quite bright at the beginning and then more recently with dark colours and more edgy visuals. Was that a deliberate thing?

Yeah! Initially, I was doing a lot of pink. I don’t know whether it’s because I was doing the whole ‘female pop’ thing or if I felt like I needed to do that to fit in. But particularly with this new project, I was mood boarding what I wanted the look to be, what I wanted the sound to be, but then with all the pictures I got together they didn’t reflect me at all. I just wanted to make sure that it was a progression from the last project, trying to separate it out as much as possible. This girl called Jess was helping me with my styling and she was amazing – she banned me from using pink for a while. But it was all intentional, yes, and I’m so glad I did it.

How important do you think image is for an artist compared to the music you make? Is your persona an integral part of your job?

100%. I think it helps further what you’re trying to say or what the genre is even more. If you look at Lady Gaga – one of the queens of pop in the 2010s era – the meat dress and the outrageous outfits and all of that stuff all helped just amplify everything she was doing musically. And Miley Cyrus’ Bangerz era, the way she dressed, and she cut her hair quite drastically, it all just mirrored how everything changed for her as an artist. It just amplifies what’s going on musically, I think. Those two people specifically, I took massive inspiration from as well, just being bold and going out there and just doing it.

So from a deeper feminist perspective, do you think that’s something that you feel like you have to do as a female artist? Have a recognisable aesthetic that’s just as important as the music?

Yes, 100% and I think it’s sad it’s that way. Generally, a lot of male musicians will go out wearing jeans and a T-shirt for every show – they don’t have to worry about how they look. There are exceptions, but the majority will have just natural-colored hair and a casual outfit, whereas I feel like it’s just expected that I’ll wear something dressy onstage, or Arian Grande for example.

On the flip side, though, I’m not complaining because I love to get to wear something different or something super, super bright or out there, which I wouldn’t usually do. It’s really exciting to be able to do that”.

The Manchester-born and raised artist is an artist that many people discovered during lockdown and the pandemic. I suppose it was frustrating for Lucy Deakin releasing music back in 2021 and not really being able to tour it and get out to the people. Right from her earliest career days, she had this dedicated following. LOCK spent some time with Deakin in 2021. Tipped for success back then, this has been more than fulfilled since. She is someone with her sights set on the future. Someone who has not really collaborated with other artists yet, it does seem like there is one rising star that she would love to get in the studio with:

“Yourself, Barney Artist and Bryson Tiller have been my favourite new artists to discover during lockdown – what have been your favourite music discoveries during lockdown?

That’s amazing to hear – thank you so much. YUNGBLUD is a big one for me – I think he is such an inspiration and completely commands every stage. He does not care what anyone else thinks about him and that is something to be credited for. Also I’ve been loving Baby Queen – she’s so raw but in a super uniquely her way. UPSAHL too is such a great songwriter and I’ve been loving her stuff the past year.

I’ve been following your journey long enough to remember your reaction to Miley Cyrus’ cosign/discovered you – is it still crazy that it happened since you’re a massive fan of hers? Especially after seeing the Dork interview.

Oh my god I’m so glad you mentioned that. That was a moment I’d wanted to happen for my whole life and she finally knows who I am – definitely a pinch me moment. At least I have a talking point for if I ever meet her now.

One thing I’ve noticed through following you on social media is that you have an Instagram fan account dedicated to you – celebrities have them all the time, so is it weird or cool that you have one?

I was always the kid who had fan accounts for people growing up so it’s such a 360 moment and is crazy for me. I’m so grateful that people are so invested – going from streaming a song once to creating a fan account. I definitely don’t take it for granted and I feel so lucky as I’m so early in my career.

You’re from Manchester, an incredibly creative music scene with the likes of your label, Scruff of The Neck, how has the city inspired you regarding people, venues and others?

I definitely think the city helped shape me and add a bit more edge to the pop I’ve been creating – particularly encouraging me to add more guitar based elements to my tracks as it helps translate the tracks live, and Manchester’s live music scene is thriving so that was so important for me to have a good live show.

The northern music scene is buzzing right now, as a lad from Scunthorpe, I love this, so what’s one northern artist or band you’d love to collaborate with?

YUNGBLUD for sure – he is so cool and really pushes boundaries and I think it is so important to have a role model like him”.

I think I first became aware of Lucy Deakin’s music following the release of 2021’s in your head i’m probably crying. That E.P./mini album announced her as an incredible Pop artist carving out her own path and stunning niche. A tremendous talent who blew my socks off straight away, last year was one where she started this new era. DORK reviewed her 2021 E.P. They also reported on her phenomenal new single, BITTER, last month. Big fans of her work, the fact she is courting the attention of big online music sites and magazines underlines what a stunning artists she is. It is clear BITTER is a song Deakin is very proud of:

“Her first release since 2021’s EP, ‘in your head i’m probably crying’, ‘BITTER’ sees Lucy kick off a brand new era in style. In a four star review, Dork praised how Lucy “confidently transforms teenage angst into bubblegum sweet dancefloor fillers” on her last release — on ‘BITTER’, she learns to lean into the rage as she narrates the ending of a toxic relationship.

Celebrating the single release on Twitter with her fans, Lucy shared: “I feel so much more confident in everything I am doing and have never been more proud of my music”.

I was going to publish this feature next week but, inspired by BITTER and keen to share Lucy Deakin’s music and words to those who may not know about her, go and follow her on social media. This year is going to be her biggest one yet, so ensure you give her some backing and love! These may still be early days for her, but it is evident she has a very long career ahead. Who knows what this year will hold. Huge collaborations and radioplay is almost a given. Maybe there will be another E.P. Whatever Lucy Deakin has in store, there is a growing and massive army of fans giving her support. She is turn has a lot of love and respect for them! Many of her songs have given voice and strength to those in need. I am already a big fan of an artist who is…

A true sensation.

____________

Follow Lucy Deakin

FEATURE: Waiting in the Sky: Remembering the Iconic David Bowie: A Deep Cuts Mix

FEATURE:

 

 

Waiting in the Sky

IN THIS PHOTO: David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust/PHOTO CREDIT: Collection Christophel - Photothèque Lecoeuvre 

 

Remembering the Iconic David Bowie: A Deep Cuts Mix

_________

IT is quite a sad month…

 IN THIS PHOTO: David Bowie in the video for Blackstar (2016)

as we mourn the seventh anniversary of David Bowie’s death. He left us on 10th January, 2016. Two days earlier, we marked Bowie’s birthday. Bowie released his final studio album, Blackstar, on 8th January, 2016. It was a very confusing and tragic time, as we got the new album on Bowie’s birthday, unaware that he was to succumb to cancer just two days later. As we mark his seventy-sixth birthday and remember his legacy, I wanted to put together a collection of his deeper cuts. I don’t think I have done that before. I will drop some videos in beforehand but, to show his consistency and innovation as an artist, at the end are lesser-heard songs from his incredible studio albums. If you have not seen the Bowie documentary, Moonage Daydream, from last year, then I would thoroughly recommend it! Before I get to a playlist, it is to AllMusic I turn for a biography about a great who we said goodbye to seven years ago:

“One of the greatest stars of the rock & roll era, David Bowie evaded easy categorization throughout his career, operating as the artiest rocker within the mainstream and the most accessible musician on the fringe. Bowie may have trafficked in ideas cultivated in the underground, but he was never quite an outsider as far as rock & roll was concerned. From the outset of his career in the 1960s, he attempted to break into the Top 40, playing British blues, mod rock & roll, and ornate pop before finally hitting paydirt as a hippie singer/songwriter. "Space Oddity" gave Bowie his breakthrough in the U.K., reaching the Top Ten in the summer of 1969 -- the summer of Apollo 11 -- and it belatedly performed a similar feat in America, giving him his first Top 20 hit early in 1973. By that point, Bowie had traded his folkie persona for the glam-rock alien Ziggy Stardust, one of the many shifts of sound and image that came to define his career. Ziggy Stardust & the Spiders from Mars were a sensation in Britain and a cult phenomenon in the U.S., the foundation of a decade that would see Bowie attempting blue-eyed soul, avant-pop, and experimental electronic rock recorded with Brian Eno. He had hits during this period -- the sleek disco-rock of "Fame" gave him his first American number one in 1975 -- but he didn't become a superstar until Let's Dance, a stylish dance-rock album recorded with Nile Rodgers and designed with MTV in mind. Stardom achieved, Bowie entered a period of uncertainty, righting himself in the 1990s by reconnecting with his hard rock and art roots. As the 21st century arrived, he had settled into a comfortable schedule of touring and recording, a routine that ended in 2003 as he retreated from public view. After a decade of silence, he re-emerged in 2013, beginning a final act that culminated with Blackstar, an album released on his January 8 birthday in 2016. He designed Blackstar as a farewell to an audience who didn't realize he was dying of liver cancer. Two days after its release, Bowie died, leaving Blackstar as his final grand theatrical gesture.

David Jones began performing music when he was 13 years old, learning the saxophone while he was at Bromley Technical High School; another pivotal event happened at the school, when his left pupil became permanently dilated in a schoolyard fight. Following his graduation at 16, he worked as a commercial artist while playing saxophone in a number of mod bands, including the King Bees, the Manish Boys (which also featured Jimmy Page as a session man), and Davey Jones & the Lower Third. All three of those bands released singles, which were generally ignored, yet he continued performing, changing his name to David Bowie in 1966 after the Monkees' Davy Jones became an international star. Over the course of 1966, he released three mod singles on Pye Records, which were all ignored. The following year, he signed with Deram, releasing the music hall, Anthony Newley-styled David Bowie. Upon completing the record, he spent several weeks in a Scottish Buddhist monastery. Once he left the monastery, he studied with Lindsay Kemp's mime troupe, forming his own mime company, the Feathers, in 1969. The Feathers were short-lived, and he formed the experimental art group Beckenham Arts Lab in 1969.

Bowie needed to finance the Arts Lab, so he signed with Mercury Records that year and released Man of Words, Man of Music, a trippy singer/songwriter album featuring "Space Oddity." The song was released as a single and became a major hit in the U.K., convincing Bowie to concentrate on music. Hooking up with his old friend Marc Bolan, he began miming at some of Bolan's T. Rex concerts, eventually touring with Bolan, bassist/producer Tony Visconti, guitarist Mick Ronson, and drummer Cambridge as Hype. The band quickly fell apart, yet Bowie and Ronson remained close, working on the material that formed Bowie's next album, The Man Who Sold the World, as well as recruiting Michael "Woody" Woodmansey as their drummer. Produced by Tony Visconti, who also played bass, The Man Who Sold the World was a heavy guitar rock album that failed to gain much attention. Bowie followed it in late 1971 with the pop/rock Hunky Dory, an album that featured Ronson and keyboardist Rick Wakeman.

Following its release, Bowie began to develop his most famous incarnation, Ziggy Stardust: an androgynous, bisexual rock star from another planet. Before he unveiled Ziggy, Bowie claimed in a January 1972 interview with Melody Maker that he was gay, helping to stir interest in his forthcoming album. Taking cues from Bolan's stylish glam rock, Bowie dyed his hair orange and began wearing women's clothing. He called himself Ziggy Stardust, and his backing band -- Ronson, Woodmansey, and bassist Trevor Bolder -- were the Spiders from Mars. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars was released with much fanfare in England in late 1972. The album and its lavish, theatrical concerts became a sensation throughout England, and helped him become the only glam rocker to carve out a niche in America. Ziggy Stardust became a word-of-mouth hit in the U.S., and the re-released "Space Oddity" -- which was now also the title of the re-released Man of Words, Man of Music -- reached the American Top 20. Bowie quickly followed Ziggy with Aladdin Sane later in 1973. Not only did he record a new album that year, he also produced Lou Reed's Transformer, the Stooges' Raw Power, and Mott the Hoople's comeback All the Young Dudes, for which he also wrote the title track.

Given the amount of work Bowie packed into 1972 and 1973, it isn't surprising that his relentless schedule began to catch up with him. After recording the all-covers Pin-Ups with the Spiders from Mars, he unexpectedly announced the band's breakup, as well as his retirement from live performances, during the group's final show that year. He retreated from the spotlight to work on a musical adaptation of George Orwell's 1984, but once he was denied the rights to the novel, he transformed the work into Diamond Dogs. It was released to generally poor reviews in 1974, yet it generated the hit single "Rebel Rebel," and he supported the album with an elaborate and expensive American tour. As the tour progressed, Bowie became fascinated with soul music, eventually redesigning the entire show to reflect his new "plastic soul." Hiring guitarist Carlos Alomar as the band's leader, Bowie refashioned his group into a Philly soul band and re-costumed himself in sophisticated, stylish fashions. The change took fans by surprise, as did the double-album David Live, which featured material recorded on the 1974 tour.

Young Americans, released in 1975, was the culmination of Bowie's soul obsession, and it became his first major crossover hit, peaking in the American Top Ten and generating his first U.S. number one hit in "Fame," a song he co-wrote with John Lennon and Alomar. Bowie relocated to Los Angeles, where he earned his first movie role in Nicolas Roeg's The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976). While in L.A., he recorded Station to Station, which took the plastic soul of Young Americans into darker, avant-garde-tinged directions, but it was also a huge hit, generating the Top Ten single "Golden Years." The album inaugurated Bowie's persona of the elegant "Thin White Duke," and it reflected Bowie's growing cocaine-fueled paranoia. Soon, he decided Los Angeles was too boring and returned to England; shortly after arriving back in London, he gave the awaiting crowd a Nazi salute, a signal of his growing, drug-addled detachment from reality. The incident caused enormous controversy, and Bowie left the country to settle in Berlin, where he lived and worked with Brian Eno.

Once in Berlin, Bowie sobered up and began painting, as well as studying art. He also developed a fascination with German electronic music, which Eno helped him fulfill on their first album together, Low. Released early in 1977, Low was a startling mixture of electronics, pop, and avant-garde technique. While it was greeted with mixed reviews at the time, it proved to be one of the most influential albums of the late '70s, as did its follow-up, Heroes, which followed that year. Not only did Bowie record two solo albums in 1977, he also helmed Iggy Pop's comeback records The Idiot and Lust for Life, and toured anonymously as Pop's keyboardist. He resumed his acting career in 1977, appearing in Just a Gigolo with Marlene Dietrich and Kim Novak, as well as narrating Eugene Ormandy's version of Peter and the Wolf. Bowie returned to the stage in 1978, launching an international tour that was captured on the double-album Stage. In 1979, Bowie and Eno recorded Lodger in New York, Switzerland, and Berlin, releasing the album at the end of the year. Lodger was supported with several innovative videos, as was 1980's Scary Monsters, and these videos -- "DJ," "Fashion," "Ashes to Ashes" -- became staples on early MTV.

Scary Monsters was Bowie's last album for RCA, and it wrapped up his most innovative, productive period. Later in 1980, he performed the title role in the stage production of The Elephant Man, including several shows on Broadway. Over the next two years, he took an extended break from recording, appearing in Christiane F (1981) and the vampire movie The Hunger (1982), returning to the studio only for his 1981 collaboration with Queen, "Under Pressure," and the theme for Paul Schrader's remake of Cat People. In 1983, he signed an expensive contract with EMI Records and released Let's Dance. Bowie had recruited Chic guitarist Nile Rodgers to produce the album, giving the record a sleek, funky foundation, and hired the unknown Stevie Ray Vaughan as lead guitarist. Let's Dance became his most successful record, thanks to its stylish, innovative videos for "Let's Dance" and "China Girl," which turned both songs into Top Ten hits. Bowie supported the record with the sold-out arena tour Serious Moonlight.Greeted with massive success for the first time, Bowie wasn't quite sure how to react, and he eventually decided to replicate Let's Dance with 1984's Tonight. While the album sold well, producing the Top Ten hit "Blue Jean," it received poor reviews and was ultimately a commercial disappointment. He stalled in 1985, recording a duet of Martha & the Vandellas' "Dancing in the Street" with Mick Jagger for Live Aid. He also spent more time jet-setting, appearing at celebrity events across the globe, and appeared in several movies -- Into the Night (1985), Absolute Beginners (1986), Labyrinth (1986) -- that turned out to be bombs. Bowie returned to recording in 1987 with the widely panned Never Let Me Down, supporting the album with the Glass Spider tour, which also received poor reviews. In 1989, he remastered his RCA catalog with Rykodisc for CD release, kicking off the series with the three-disc box Sound + Vision. Bowie supported the discs with an accompanying tour of the same name, claiming that he was retiring all of his older characters from performance following the tour. Sound + Vision was successful, and Ziggy Stardust re-charted amidst the hoopla.

Sound + Vision may have been a success, but Bowie's next project was perhaps his most unsuccessful. Picking up on the abrasive, dissonant rock of Sonic Youth and the Pixies, Bowie formed his own guitar rock combo, Tin Machine, with guitarist Reeves Gabrels, bassist Hunt Sales, and Hunt's brother, drummer Tony, who had previously worked on Iggy Pop's Lust for Life with Bowie. Tin Machine released an eponymous album to poor reviews that summer and supported it with a club tour, which was only moderately successful. Despite this, Tin Machine released a second album, the appropriately titled Tin Machine II, in 1991, and it was completely ignored.

Bowie returned to a solo career in 1993 with the sophisticated, soulful Black Tie White Noise, recording the album with Nile Rodgers and his by-then-permanent collaborator, Reeves Gabrels. The album was released on Savage, a subsidiary of RCA, and received positive reviews, but his new label went bankrupt shortly after its release, and the album disappeared. Black Tie White Noise was the first indication that Bowie was trying hard to resuscitate his career, as was the largely instrumental 1994 soundtrack The Buddha of Suburbia. In 1995, he reunited with Brian Eno for the industrial rock-tinged 1. Outside. Several critics hailed the album as a comeback, and Bowie supported it with a co-headlining tour with Nine Inch Nails in order to snag a younger, alternative audience, but his gambit failed; audiences left before Bowie's performance and 1. Outside disappeared. He quickly returned to the studio in 1996, recording Earthling, an album heavily influenced by techno and drum'n'bass. Upon its early 1997 release, Earthling received generally positive reviews, yet the album failed to gain an audience, and many techno purists criticized Bowie for allegedly exploiting their subculture. hours... followed in 1999. In 2002, Bowie reunited with producer Toni Visconti and released Heathen to very positive reviews. He soldiered on with Visconti for Reality in 2003, which was once again warmly received.

Bowie supported Reality with a lengthy tour but it came to a halt in the summer of 2004 when he received an emergency angioplasty while in Hamburg, Germany. Following this health scare, Bowie quietly retreated from the public eye. Over the next few years, he popped up at the occasional charity concert or gala event and he sometimes sang in the studio for other artists (notably, he appeared on Scarlett Johansson's Tom Waits tribute Anywhere I Lay My Head in 2008). Archival releases appeared but no new recordings did until he suddenly ended his unofficial retirement on his 66th birthday on January 8, 2013, releasing a new single called "Where Are We Now?" and announcing the arrival of a new album. Entitled The Next Day and once again produced by Visconti, the album was released in March of 2013. Greeted with generally positive reviews, The Next Day debuted at either number one or two throughout the world, earning gold certifications in many countries.

The following year, Bowie released a new compilation called Nothing Has Changed, which featured the new song "Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)." This track turned out to be the cornerstone of Bowie's next project, Blackstar. Arriving on January 8, 2016, the album found Bowie re-teaming with Tony Visconti and exploring adventurous territory, as signaled by its lead single, "Blackstar." Just two days after its release, it was announced that David Bowie had died from liver cancer. In a Facebook post, Tony Visconti revealed that Bowie knew of his illness for at least 18 months and created Blackstar as "his parting gift." It topped several national charts -- including the Billboard 200, which made it his first number one album in the U.S.

By the autumn of 2016, posthumous projects began to surface, including Who Can I Be Now? -- a collection of his mid-'70s albums that functioned as a sequel to the previous year's box set Five Years -- and the release of the cast recording to Lazarus, the Broadway musical he completed in his final years. On January 8, 2017 -- the year anniversary of the release of Blackstar -- the No Plan EP, containing Bowie's versions of songs heard in the Lazarus musical, was released. A New Career in a New Town -- the third volume of retrospective box sets, this installment focusing on his recordings of the late '70s -- appeared in September 2017. The following year, the fourth retrospective box -- Loving the Alien -- was released, featuring albums issued between the years 1983 and 1988. Included was Bowie's biggest-selling '80s album, Let's Dance -- alongside a selection of live releases -- as well as a 2018 production of his 1987 album Never Let Me Down, featuring string arrangements by Nico Muhly and production from Mario McNulty. Over the course of 2019, Parlophone released a series of limited-edition vinyl sets spotlighting demos Bowie recorded in 1969. At the end of the year, these recordings were collected alongside a new mix of David Bowie (Space Oddity) in the box set Conversation Piece. The Metrobolist, a revised version of The Man Who Sold the World released under its original title, appeared late in 2020, followed in 2021 by The Width of a Circle, a double-disc collection of non-LP Bowie recordings from 1970. Late in 2021, the fifth "era" retrospective box set Brilliant Adventure (1992-2001) was released. Among its highlights was the unreleased album Toy, a collection of modern reworkings of early, pre-"Space Oddity" songs from Bowie. Toy received its own separate release in January 2022”.

Remembering Bowie on what would have been his seventy-sixth birthday (8th January), below are a selection of his deeper cuts. Maybe they feature on big albums but are not often played, or they are from albums that are less-regarded or not among his best. Even so, this is a collection of Bowie songs that will..

SHOW different sides to him.

FEATURE: It’s All in the Voice… Rolling Stone’s 200 Greatest Singers of All Time: The Top 40

FEATURE:

 

 

It’s All in the Voice…

IN THIS PHOTO: Aretha Franklin

 

Rolling Stone’s 200 Greatest Singers of All Time: The Top 40

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THIS was actually published…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Marvin Gaye/PHOTO CREDIT: Jim Britt/Michael Ochs Archive/Getty Images

on 1st January, but I have been thinking about Rolling Stone’s list of the 200 greatest singers ever. There was a lot of debate and contention when the article was shared. I guess it would always split people, but there are some true legends and amazing younger artists in the list. I wanted to mark this much-discussed poll with a playlist of songs from the top 40 – as it might be a bit much having a playlist of 200 songs! Before that, this is how Rolling Stone explained their selection criteria:

“Aretha Franklin described her mission as a singer like this: “Me with my hand outstretched, hoping someone will take it.” That kind of deep, empathetic bond between artist and listener is the most elemental connection in music. And you can think of our list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time as a celebration of that bond. These are the vocalists that have shaped history and defined our lives — from smooth operators to raw shouters, from gospel to punk, from Sinatra to Selena to SZA.

When Rolling Stone first published its list of the 100 Greatest Singers in 2008, we used an elaborate voting process that included input from well-known musicians. The results skewed toward classic rock and singers from the Sixties and Seventies. This new list was compiled our staff and key contributors, and it encompasses 100 years of pop music as an ongoing global conversation, where iconic Indian playback singer Lata Mangeshkar lands between Amy Winehouse and Johnny Cash, and salsa queen Celia Cruz is up there in the rankings with Prince and Marvin Gaye. You might notice that, say, there isn’t any opera on our list — that’s because our purview is pop music writ large, meaning that almost all the artists on this list had significant careers as crossover stars making popular music for the masses.

IN THIS PHOTO: Mariah Carey

Before you start scrolling (and commenting), keep in mind that this is the Greatest Singers list, not the Greatest Voices List. Talent is impressive; genius is transcendent. Sure, many of the people here were born with massive pipes, perfect pitch, and boundless range. Others have rougher, stranger, or more delicate instruments. As our write-up for the man who ended up at Number 112 notes, “Ozzy Osbourne doesn’t have what most people would call a good voice, but boy does he have a great one.” That could apply to more than a few people here.

In all cases, what mattered most to us was originality, influence, the depth of an artist’s catalog, and the breadth of their musical legacy. A voice can be gorgeous like Mariah Carey’s, rugged like Toots Hibbert’s, understated like Willie Nelson’s, slippery and sumptuous like D’Angelo’s, or bracing like Bob Dylan’s. But in the end, the singers behind it are here for one reason: They can remake the world just by opening their mouths”.

The forty songs below are from supreme singers. I would argue there are artists placed lower that should be higher. A few that are high up the list but maybe should be lower. Regardless, these are incredible voices that I wanted to assemble into a playlist. I start at the fortieth-placed artist and work my way down to the number one. From Soul greats to American Pop, right through to classic Rock, the Rolling Stone list covers all musical corners. Here is a playlist feature a song from…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Aaliyah

THEIR favourite 40.

FEATURE: Revisiting… Demi Lovato – HOLY FVCK

FEATURE:

 

 

Revisiting…

 

Demi Lovato – HOLY FVCK

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THERE are one or two…

other albums from last year I might include in Revisiting…, as a few got some good reviews but not the sort of acclaim and consideration they deserved. I think that Demi Lovato’s HOLY FVCK is one of the best from last year. A remarkable album that reached the top ten in the U.S. and U.K, it is one of their (Lovato uses ‘they’ and ‘she’ pronouns) best albums to date. Perhaps the most authentic and personal albums of their career, even though Lovato did not have a big hand writing the songs, they are very much at the heart. It is less Pop-leaning than previous Lovato albums. Maybe something that alienated some critics, but this musical evolution – a more Post-Punk/Rock vibe -, is a necessary one considering HOLY FVCK deals with a lot of anger. Lovato has said in interviews how, when they were working on the Disney Channel, they could not be tough or as honest and raw as they wanted. Lovato grew up a Christian, and religion and faith is explored in the lyrics and imagery of the album. Being Queer, Lovato has said how they have felt misunderstood. Not liking or feeling happy with previous albums, this does seem truer to Demi Lovato’s core and heart. I want to get to some positive reviews for HOLY FVCK. First, there are some reviews I want to explore. In one of the most fascinating interviews of their career, Lovato spoke with Alt Press about their redemptive return to Rock roots:

“IT'S NO SECRET: OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS, the pop-punk resurgence has been in overdrive thanks to artists such as Olivia Rodrigo, WILLOW, Machine Gun Kelly and Juice WRLD, to name a few. If you’ve solely tuned into Lovato’s previous five LPs, it might be easy to write off their transition to rock as just joining a bandwagon — but you’d be wrong.

Perhaps in the years since you may have forgotten, but the release of their 2008 debut album Don’t Forget and the following year’s sophomore effort Here We Go Again were brimming with glam-rock flourishes and blistering guitar riffs. It happened to be when they felt most comfortable making music and performing live. Last fall, Lovato had the epiphany after seeing their friends, hard-rock trio Dead Sara, play a handful of concerts at The Roxy in Los Angeles and New York City venue The Bowery. “I feel like had I tried to do rock music a few years ago when I wasn't ready, it wouldn't have been authentic, but now it is,” they say confidently.

PHOTO CREDIT: Christelle de Castro

Those particular gigs — their infectious energy — reignited something inside of them, and they began immersing themself in rock music again. “I was listening to Veruca Salt, Hole and The Donnas — women that were just breaking the mold,” Lovato recalls. She also found herself diving back into the emo playlists that inspired them from the outset of their career — ones that had Flyleaf and Paramore on them. It’s part of what compelled them to make the transition. The latter is not too surprising since they famously covered Paramore multiple times at an Emo Nite in Los Angeles in 2017. “I'll always dream of collaborating with Hayley Williams and Paramore,” she gushes. “I don't know if they do a lot of collaborations, but I think that's something I’ll always dream of.”

As exciting as getting back to their roots has been, it’s also been a journey. Lovato’s life and career have been long and storied, full of dramatic highs and lows. At around 9 years old, Lovato landed their first acting gig on Barney & Friends, but it wasn’t until she starred as shy aspiring singer Mitchie Torres in Disney’s musical film Camp Rock, along with the Jonas Brothers, that her career really began to take off. That year, she’d release her debut album, and throughout the following six studio records, she’d transition through eras of dance-pop and R&B-tinged pop. “I thought that's what people wanted from me,” they confess.

But Lovato was also battling their own demons: mental health issues, an eating disorder and addiction. Over the years, they’ve been in and out of treatment facilities for their struggles, sharing their journey to sobriety.

Following six years without using, Lovato relapsed in June 2018. One month later, they had a near-fatal opioid overdose, where they suffered a heart attack, multiple strokes and brain damage. Last year, Lovato not only released their seventh studio album, Dancing With The Devil... The Art of Starting Over, but a documentary — her third — alongside it, detailing the events that led to the overdose and her road to recovery. She also revealed that they were raped at 15 while working on a project for the Disney Channel.

There’s been much healing since, and what’s followed has been a beautiful journey of self-discovery: Lovato is pansexual and gender fluid, using she/they pronouns (right now they’re “leaning more feminine”).

PHOTO CREDIT: Christelle de Castro

“The most important thing for me is that I'm a very fluid person, with sexuality and with gender identity, so not being married to anything in those regards is really important to me,” they explain. “It's very important that I stay true to who I am in the present moment. That's going to change; it'll fluctuate.”

One of the songs that already has the internet talking is one that Lovato herself has yet to discuss — “29” — a wistful track about consent. They hesitate to delve into specifics, but the track is one of the most affecting on the record. “When I turned 29, it really put a lot of things in perspective for me, and I just think [consent is] a really important conversation to have. You get into situations that may not be the healthiest. It's not something that should ever happen. Looking back, I now know I could never do this again, and I don't know why it did happen,” they say perplexed. But the track is also about more than that. It represents not only the age Lovato was when recording the track, but “the age when I learned that I can take control and own my future,” she adds. In short, it’s been healing.

PHOTO CREDIT: Christelle de Castro 

That power — that control — is something they’ve also found by leaning into her own sexual energy. Among the heavier topics on Lovato’s latest album, there are a plethora of moments where Lovato is reveling in the joy of pleasure — oftentimes with religious undertones. The album’s title track, for instance, is Lovato’s fun wordplay on “I'm a holy f***.” The bouncy, sultry “HEAVEN” happens to be centered on a Bible verse about masturbation. Indeed “CITY OF ANGELS” packs a sweet punch as Lovato muses about the thrill of christening the hotspots of Los Angeles. “I want to see Beverly on my knees/I want you to make me scream at The Roxy,” they howl.

While the album, she admits, starts off as angry, Lovato ends with a power ballad, specifically a love song. That happy ending they were looking for? On “4 EVER 4 ME,” which begins with an intro that channels the delicateness of Goo Goo Dolls’ “Iris,” they seem like they might have finally found it. “I'm not the type of person that makes love songs, really. I don't know that my last album had any love songs. It's always been like breakups, sadness and I haven't been angry,” they note”.

The word ‘authentic’ is one that keeps coming up in interviews and reviews. I feel, for Pop artists in the mainstream labels and audiences expect Pop to be more commercial and maybe quite heteronormative. There is greater acceptance and openness now, but I still feel artists are limited or directed too much. You can feel freedom, liberation and a genuine sense of release and control on HOLY FVCK. Lovato spoke with Vogue about regaining power and making an album on their terms:

“Of course, Lovato’s quest for authenticity is not just specific to this record release. Recently, Lovato has spoken candidly about her struggles with mental health and overcoming addiction, while last year, Lovato also shared she is non-binary, and now uses she/they pronouns. HOLY FVCK, then, felt like a continuation of her new mission to live life truthfully. “What I learned about myself making this record is that it’s okay to own your truth,” Lovato says. “I wanted to take my power back.” In the process, she’s produced a fiery album filled with passion, thoughtful reflection and a dash of good ol’ fashioned rage.

Below, Lovato talks with Vogue exclusively about the process of writing the new album, feeling like herself more than ever – and, of course, what she’ll be wearing on her upcoming tour.

I want to start out by saying I listened to the album this morning, and it totally hyped me up on my commute to work.

PHOTO CREDIT: Angelo Kritikos 

Thank you so much! That’s the goal.

Tell me about when you started thinking about making this album, and how it evolved to be what it is now.

I have some friends in the band called Dead Sara. They released an album last year, and it reignited this flame inside of me. I was like, “I want to do rock music.” I saw them on tour and was super stoked about their music and was just like, “That’s what I want to go back to.” It felt right to me because I hadn’t done it in a while. I wanted to return to my roots.

What was the first track you started with?

I have a song called “Dead Friends,” and that was the first song I wrote and recorded for the album. It was a slower song, but I ended up turning it into a faster one. I wanted to pay homage to the friends that I missed, while keeping it upbeat and a feel-good homage to them.

PHOTO CREDIT: Angelo Kritikos

Were you a big rock aficionado growing up?

I started getting into rock music when I was about 12. What transitioned me into that was the emo and scene days. I was raised in Texas, so I was around a lot of [country music]. My mum listened to R&B, Motown and pop, so I listened to that growing up too. But whenever I was able to choose my own music, I started listening to emo scene bands, and then I got into hardcore music and some metal. That’s when I ended up making my first album, when I was 15.

When you look back on that more pop-focused era, do you see it as a time when you were not being authentically yourself? Are you still proud of that work?

I’m proud of that work, but it didn’t make me happy. There was always this kind of emptiness that I felt, because I was trying to be someone that I wasn’t. Now, I identify as non-binary, so when I say, “Would you like me better if I was still her,” it’s also a reference to people wanting me to stay who they wanted me to be in their eyes.

Would you say this album is your most authentic to date, then?

Definitely”.

It is worth highlighting reviews that I feel really understood HOLY FVCK and Demi Lovato’s brilliance. There were some mixed reviews, but there was love to be found for one of the underrated albums of 2022. Released on 19th August, it was such an important release for the New Mexico-born artist. This is what AllMusic said in their review:

“Holy Fvck is an absolute blast. True to the title, the most natural response to this stylistic pivot from erstwhile pop star Demi Lovato is one of shock and pleasant surprise. After years of headlines threatened to overshadow their musical output, it might be easy for detractors to be cynical about Lovato riding the pop-punk resurgence of the early 2020s. But Holy Fvck is so much more than trend-chasing: it manages to sound more authentic than anything they've done to date. Pissed off and throwing care to the wind, Lovato fully embraces this rebirth through jagged riffs and sticky leather, tackling gossip, trauma, mortality, and addiction with a snarl and a fist. Addressing critics and detractors, Lovato declares, "I came from the trauma/Stayed for the drama" on the lurching Flyleaf-esque opener "Freak" with fellow punk revivalist Yungblud. That "f*ck it" attitude pummels listeners on cuts like the raunchy "City of Angels," a quotable ode to reckless sex that channels Avril Lavigne-style pop-punk, and "Skin of My Teeth," an open confessional of their struggles with rehab and addiction that slaps together Celebrity Skin-era Hole, a shiny pop chorus, and a robotic Lady Gaga-stylized vocal bridge.

That unflinching honesty abounds from start to finish, both in the form of frustrated kiss-offs (like the metalcore-meets-Muse attack of "Eat Me" with Royal & the Serpent) and raw reflection, with death looming over tracks such as the reflective "Happy Ending," which recounts their 2018 overdose, and "Dead Friends," which laments those who succumbed to their addictions. The most attention-grabbing moment arrives on "29," a scathing takedown of a past relationship with eye-popping lyrics like "Too young to drink wine/Just five years a bleeder." While much has been made about a "return to form" in the vein of early albums Don't Forget (2008) and Here We Go Again (2009), Holy Fvck rockets way beyond those relatively innocent pop-rock teen moments. "Heaven" stomps and pogos with glam scuzz bounce, while the turbulent "Bones" and Halestorm-sized "Help Me" propel the latter half of the album with driving rock sleaze courtesy of Los Angeles trio Dead Sara. For fans in search of less raucous material, Lovato pushes their vocals to the rafters with soaring midtempo power rock ballads such as "Wasted," "Come Together," "Feed," and "4 Ever 4 Me," rousing singalongs that could easily fit on a Kelly Clarkson or P!nk album. In the face of doubt and criticism, Lovato nails this drastic image shift. Whether it's a genuine transformation or just a brief exercise for the pop chameleon, the triumphant Holy Fvck is a refreshing change of pace and an utter thrill to experience for those willing to look past the headlines into the heart of an artist who continues to grow in the public eye”.

The Line of Best Fit awarded HOLY FVCK eight out of ten when they reviewed the album. This is an album where Demi Lovato can truly be themselves. The Line of Best Fit highlight the darkness, raunchiness and passion that comes through on every track. It is such a compelling list:  

“Drawing influence from noughties pop-punk and '80s and '90s hard rock and metal in equal measure, HOLY FVCK is Lovato’s darkest and dirtiest LP to date. “Get your tickets to the freak show, baby” she challenges on opener “Freak”, and across the following 47 minutes, she offers up a plethora of guttural screams, blasphemous declarations and electrifying guitar riffs - all while deconstructing her public image and her own sense of self.

“Be more predictable / Be less political”, Lovato sings on the hair-raising highlight “Eat Me”, parroting the words of her critics. Her retort to those critics is incisive and unsparing, “Dinner’s served, it’s on the floor / I can’t spoon-feed you anymore / You’ll have to eat me as I am.” On “29”, her anger is directed towards an ex - seemingly a call-out of Wilmer Valderrama, who dated Lovato when he was 29 and she was just 17. “Just five years a bleeder… Numbers told you not to, but that didn’t stop you”, she cries in the opening verse, bringing into stark relief her innocence at the time, and the inherently predatory nature of their relationship.

As suggested by the album cover, HOLY FVCK is an album preoccupied with sex - both as a means of repression and liberation, but also just as a healthy source of joy after a near-death experience resulting from the pursuit of pleasure. “I’m a holy fuck”, Lovato declares on the title-track, while begging a lover to “let me jump your bones” on “Bones”. The Matthew 5:30-referencing “Heaven”, meanwhile, is a bold ode to masturbation - a well-earned rejection of the toxic purity culture Lovato's purity ring-wearing generation of Disney stars were forced to uphold.

For all of HOLY FVCK’s mosh pit ready arrangements, at its heart is a striking tenderness. It’s a dynamic that recalls Hole’s masterwork Live Through This and one that offers a welcome contrast to the cocky, headstrong and deeply unlikeable music of so many of pop-punk’s most successful male stars in 2022. “Asking why doesn’t make it easier / Go easier on me”, Lovato sings during a striking moment of vulnerability on “Skin of My Teeth”. “I miss my vices”, she admits on the concerning “Happy Ending”.

Whereas Lovato spent much of 2021’s Dancing With The Devil… The Art of Starting Over trying to reassure the rest of the world she had healed, HOLY FVCK recognises and embraces the non-linear nature of recovery. The LP offers one of the most compelling and honest explorations of addiction in recent musical memory - it’s filled with grizzly, visceral declarations that underscore the stakes at hand. Lovato admits to being “crawling” with demons “tearing me to shreds” on “Happy Ending”, while she offers one stunning, disarming line on “Substance”: “Don’t wanna end up in a casket, head full of maggots / Body full of jack shit”.

Lead single “Skin of My Teeth” is HOLY FVCK’s centrepiece - demonstrating the album’s biggest selling points, as well as the elements it’s likely to draw the most criticism for. It’s unrelentingly intense and unmistakably autobiographical, the mixing is blown out and the song shows Lovato to be unafraid of wearing her influences on her sleeve (the song’s first verse bears a striking resemblance to Hole’s “Celebrity Skin”).

Admittedly, HOLY FVCK could probably do with a few more moments of restraint - where the tension is given longer to build before being released. “Heaven” is testament to this, with tantilising whispered cries of “Cut it off” a la Ethel Cain’s “Ptolemaea” slowly rising in volume before giving way to a killer chorus. However, HOLY FVCK isn’t an album about holding onto trauma, it’s one about releasing it - and doing so in rip-roaring fashion. In this way, it instantly joins the pantheon of great rock albums centred around exorcising trauma”.

One of the truly underrated albums of last year, I am going to use a feature or two more to look back on albums that might have done well commercially, but the critical reviews were not on the same page. HOLY FVCK is a terrific album that will speak to existing Demi Lovato fans and convert new ones. I was a fan of their Pop oeuvre, but I think that HOLY FVCK is the strongest effort yet. It will be exciting seeing what 2023 holds in store. After a tough and challenging last four or five years, I am glad that Lovato is rebuilding and looking ahead. HOLY FVCK is an album that, once heard, is hard…

TO forget.

FEATURE: On Safe Ground: 2022, SOS, and the Return of the Spellbinding SZA

FEATURE:

 

On Safe Ground

 

2022, SOS, and the Return of the Spellbinding SZA

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I hate it when…

journalists say an artist has ‘returned’ as they brought out a single or album after a few years ago. They have not hibernated or gone missing. Instead, it is how a career works. You will not get artists releasing music all the time so, to have this grand term applied to someone doing their job seems a bit much! That said, there is something about SZA’s SOS that seemed like a bit of a return. Her fabulous 2017 debut, CTRL, was among the best albums of the last decade. You can only imagine the sort of expectation that has occurred since. There has been a bit of a build-up to SOS. SZA did suggest the album could be out in 2020 but, with delays and various issues, that didn’t actually happen. I know that aggravated some fans. As the pandemic had just kicked in, maybe it was not the best year to release music! An icon of her age, SOS did come to shore on 9th December. Not many huge albums are released in December. It was a treat at the end of last year – also marking the release of an album that had all this press and hype. Normally, when you get that sort of delay and sense of what could be, the reality is a little less than expected. I think people build up in their heads something unrealistic. That is not the case with SZA. The Missouri-born artist has released the best album of her career! Number one in the U.S. and two in the U.K., I love the title and cover of the album.

It does seem to depict a sense of peril or precariousness. With a range of producers working alongside Solána Rowe (SZA), SOS is a masterpiece! It is wonderful to have this amazing artist putting out music. Let’s hope that we do not have a five-year gap between this and the third album. There was some press around SOS. I will come to some critical reviews for an album that appeared in a few end of year lists – in spite of the fact many had already been written! COMPLEX featured SZA is a magnificent cover story. She talked about SOS and where her music is now:

“I appreciate [my fans] patience, but constantly trying to people-please and fulfill expectations instead of just thinking about what you need can deter you from your true path. And the next thing you know you're somebody that you never signed up to be,” she says. “Even with this album, I just wanna be better than my last project to myself. I wanna be a better writer. I wanna be a better artist, musician… a better thinker. I just wanna do things that make myself proud and interested.”

SZA has always been determined to be better. Born in St. Louis, she moved to Maplewood, New Jersey, a suburb about 45 minutes outside of New York City, at 10 years old. She described Maplewood as a predominantly Jewish and white community that was “quietly affluent but more lowkey.” Therefore, more often than not she was the token Black girl, which conditioned her to be competitive, but mostly with herself. She grew up in a strict, conservative household practicing Islam and wearing modest clothes. Her father was a CNN producer who was Muslim and her mother was an executive at AT&T who was Catholic. She dedicated most of her energy to sports, spending 13 years as a gymnast, becoming the captain of her team, and ranking as the fifth best gymnast in the U.S. when she was a sophomore in high school. But after realizing she wouldn’t make it to the Olympics she stopped. “If I can't win, then I don't play,” she told Nylon in 2017. Post high school (fun fact: SZA attended the same high school as Lauryn Hill 15 years after Hill graduated) she hopped from college to college pursuing majors like broadcast journalism and marine biology before dropping out all together and working odd jobs that included bartending at a strip club and selling makeup at Sephora.

PHOTO CREDIT: Jacob Webster

Her music diet growing up was jazz her father favored, but thanks to her older sister, a mixtape she received at a bar mitzvah, and an iPod she found at a gymnastics camp, she was introduced to a wide swath of sounds ranging from Björk to Wu-Tang to LFO to Lil Jon. She started singing on records when her brother, a rapper named Manhattan, asked her to get on a few of his songs. After that, making music became a hobby. But it was her part-time job for streetwear brand 10.Deep that brought her closer to the career she didn’t even know she wanted. 10.Deep was sponsoring Kendrick Lamar’s 2011 CMJ show, and SZA delivered clothes to Lamar and other TDE members. She brought along a friend, who was listening to SZA’s music on her headphones. Her friend was so engaged in the music that Punch asked to listen. Over the next two years SZA would send Punch music until she officially signed to TDE in 2013 as its first female artist.

SZA’s three EPs that preceded Ctrl showcased a singer experimenting with elusive sounds and abstract concepts, but Ctrl was more concrete. Serving as the ultimate coming-of-age project, the album pulled from many genres, but it was SZA’s vulnerable, fluid, and adept songwriting that stole the show. The album was certified platinum a year after its release and garnered her five Grammy nominations, and a remarkable performance at the award show. And in Ctrl’s wake artists like Summer Walker, Doja Cat, and now her new TDE labelmate Doechii, all thrived, thanks, in part, to SZA’s reimagination of what R&B could sound like.

“I definitely feel like yes,” says SZA when asked if Ctrl influenced artists to create outside the traditional confines of R&B, a genre some claim is dead. “I think we should probably allow things to branch out and not declare things aren’t R&B just because they don't sound like something that's older,” she continues. “I think it's OK for us to go from wherever we were to where we are now and allow that to be just a multifaceted experience. Not anything that truncates a genre or like, causes an erasure of a genre. It's just literally an expansion. It's just allowing for more forms of Black music. And I hate that we cut ourselves off, not even all of us, but that some people cut it off at like, ‘This is R&B.’”

PHOTO CREDIT: Jacob Webster 

It’s a few days after the shoot and she’s very thoughtful in conversation. She’s pleasant and open and speaks in a breathy tone that vacillates between assured and just figuring it out. Although she’s threatened to quit music before—when Complex profiled SZA in 2017, she claimed Ctrl might be her last album—right now she’s fully in it, wanting to learn more and, per usual, push herself as far as she can go. She recently worked with choreographer Fullout Cortland on live stage choreography at the Wireless Festival in London, which was a first for her. “I wanted to prove to myself that I can do this and it’s not even like a big deal, I just need to commit to it,” says SZA. “I thought maybe I’m not a choreography artist and I should just focus on vibes or something, but it’s like no. I can be whatever kind of artist I want and I really don’t even have a box, so I should just do it all if I can.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Jacob Webster 

Learning is SZA’s driving force. It guides her decision-making and helps her feel full in an industry that constantly drains. She might get anxious about walking a red carpet, but she has no problem saying yes to new challenges, like acting for instance. She’s previously said she would never do it, but she’s trying it out in Tuna Melt, Eddie Huang’s new film that will co-star Euphoria’s Chloe Cherry and Huang, who will play a hitman who falls in love with SZA’s character. “It's definitely still something that's terrifying, but I just really like Eddie Huang,” says SZA. “I loved Fresh Off the Boat. I thought it was fucking hilarious. I loved Baohaus, his restaurant. I loved his book. I just like his brain, so I was just like, ‘OK.’”

When she speaks about music she’s into now, it’s from artists who are defying expectations in the same way she wants to. “That was the biggest risk that I’ve seen anybody take on a mainstream level in the last few years,” says SZA about Beyoncé’s Renaissance album. She also loves her friend Lizzo’s album Special, and Steve Lacey’s Gemini Rights, describing it as “the perfect infusion of relaxed, suburban hood nigga energy and like high musical, high thought content that’s very smart.” And although they are no longer labelmates, she’s always in awe of how Lamar moves. “I'm just grateful to have ever spent any time with him watching and learning and being inspired just from his choices,” says SZA. “Even him being like, ‘I know what people expect of me, so I'm about to do this. Like the conscious choice to do that is really just really powerful”.

There is another great cover story. Consequence featured SZA at a time in the year when she was exhausted and was on the full promotional campaign trail for SOS and her new music. It is a fascinated read. I have selected a few parts of the interview that were of particular interest to me:

“In the time since SZA released a full-length project, she's never fully disappeared; 2021 saw her deliver a series of features alongside artists such as Summer Walker (“No Love”) and Doja Cat (“Kiss Me More”), the latter of which garnered the pair a 2022 Grammy for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. It was SZA’s first Grammy award, despite receiving 14 nominations over a five-year period. In this time, she also released a number of songs without fanfare as a way to scratch her artistic itch and please fans. Two such singles were “I Hate U” and “Shirt,” the latter of which made it to her new sophomore album, SOS (out on December 9th via Top Dawg Entertainment/RCA).

If CTRL was for the twenty-somethings, SOS is for the thirty-somethings, leaning into both the confidence and the continued uneasiness of the decade with the same unflinching lens that fans have come to expect from SZA.

It’s also the singer’s most daring project, boldly pushing back against the assertion that she’s strictly in the R&B lane. “I'm so tired of being pegged as [an] R&B artist,” SZA says. “I feel like that's super disrespectful, because people are just like, ‘Oh, ‘cause you're Black, this is what you have to be' -- like, put in a box. And I hate that. With songs on this album, it's supposed to help round out the picture and the story.”

Perhaps her ongoing concerns have started to be addressed. After we talk, while the album is categorized as R&B/Soul on Apple Music, it’s promoted in both the R&B and Pop categories on the streaming platform, as well as on Spotify.

“It’s very lazy to just throw me in the box of R&B,” she reiterates. “I love making Black music, period. Something that is just full of energy. Black music doesn’t have to just be R&B. We started rock ‘n’ roll. Why can’t we just be expansive and not reductive?”

Where SOS signals artistic growth, it also finds SZA still fighting to be heard and have control over her life and identity in many ways. She’s not exactly hiding it with the album’s title and artwork, which features the singer suspended over the deep blue sea. Staring out across the water while sitting atop a diving board, her body is small in comparison, almost swallowed by the vastness of the ocean in the photo. In recent interviews, SZA has said she was trying to capture the isolation Princess Diana must’ve felt in a similar photo. As a piece of art, the photograph is a stunning image, but it’s admittedly a bit depressing when you realize it’s a depiction of how she seems to feel in her real life... at least in this moment.

The biggest appeal of SZA has always been her ability to say the quiet parts out loud. It’s her willingness to speak her truth, unflinching and absolutely insistent we bear witness. It’s an impressive feat for a Black woman in general, but as Terrence “Punch” Henderson, SZA's manager and president of Top Dawg Entertainment says, it’s a quality that her music in particular has always possessed”.

Let’s get to a couple of reviews for the sublime and supreme SOS. It is one of the best albums of last year, and it marked a new chapter for one of the most loved and respected artists of her generation. Gaining hugely impassioned reviews across the board, SOS is a masterpiece. This is what The Line of Best Fit observed about SZA’s second studio album:

“In the five years since its release, her debut CTRL has ascended to classic status, going down as one of the decade’s best and cementing SZA’s voice at the forefront of contemporary R&B, and of pop – she joined fellow pop and R&B icon Doja Cat for "Kiss Me More," which became one of 2021’s biggest songs. She dropped "Good Days," the lead single from SOS way back in December 2020 and it joined "Kiss Me More" on the 2021 top songs charts… you see the trend. Anything SZA does hits the heights. That’s why it’s intriguing (and exciting) to see that SOS comprises of a generous 23 tracks. There’s just no way for every track to be single-sized. There must be some surprises buried within the runtime. And of course, SZA delivers.

SOS is a staggeringly confident record, all in SZA’s familiar playground of lush and vibrant R&B. Singles “Good Days,” “I Hate You,” and “Shirt” are all instrumentally rich, vocally excellent masterclasses, but more impressive is the fact that they manage to blend in seamlessly to the rest of SOS, on which there are perhaps more than ten more songs that could have been singles to lead the record. “Kill Bill” is witty and vulnerable with its spiteful, sometime-relatable (if we admit it), ex-revenge plotline and has the woozy sonics to back it up; “Conceited” swings back the other way with sensual swagger and one of the record’s most buoyant vibes. But SZA doesn’t let any of SOS’s myriad highlights compete with each other – they don’t need to.

SZA’s appeal, and indeed the appeal that saw CTRL enter the permanent frequent rotation of most who listened to it, is her emotional aptitude for being vulnerable and playful at the same time, and SOS continues on the same path. There are absolutely five years, probably more, worth of life in the depths of the album. It’s maybe not for one review to pick apart what listeners may find in SOS, because it’s ripe for personal connection to be found within its stories, but it’s definitely to be lauded that SZA chose some of the best in the game to join her in weaving her emotive web. Notably, cropping up on “Ghost in the Machine,” it’s only Phoebe Bridgers – her contribution immediately intoxicating in the moody, moonbeam guitar tones. The song is dark and ethereal enough, but Bridgers, like SZA, has one of the most immediately recognisable voices in music. As the two intertwine, the solar and lunar blend makes for one of SOS’s most gorgeous moments, and it’s followed up by “F2F” which is a fabulously pulled off straight-up rock song. The range.

Did SOS need to be 23 tracks long? Not really. However it doesn’t feel like SZA is trying to make the blueprint for the album arc – she’s making a SZA album, no one else's. It’s something self-indulgent that few could get away with, but every song finds its place effortlessly. So, rather than feeling too self-indulgent, it feels far more like we’re the lucky ones SZA has chosen to share so much with”.

I will finish off with a review from NME. I wonder whether any further singles will be released from SOS. At twenty-three tracks, there is no shortage of options for further singles! If you have missed out on SOS, I would point you in the direction of a work of sheer brilliance from one of the finest artists in the world. It is one of my favourites of 2022:

“Five years ago, SZA was heralded for redefining R&B with her eclectic influences and ‘SOS’ takes that range even further. As well as grunge, pop-punk and acoustic guitars, it slinks through rumbling, dirty bass (‘Low’), soulful, classic ballads (‘Gone Girl’), chipmunk soul (‘Smoking On My Ex Pack’), and much more. In some other artists’ hands, that collage could feel unfocused, but under SZA’s command it feels cohesive, organic and like every skip into a new genre is completely justified for each track.

The New Jersey-born star doesn’t do it all on her own, though. Although not everyone she invited to collaborate on this record came through, those who did show up make an impact. Travis Scott delivers an uncharacteristically – but brilliant – gentle verse on the finger-picked ‘Open Arms’, promising to be “forever riding, forever guiding” to someone who is his “favourite colour”. Texas rapper Don Toliver joins the pity party on ‘Used’, bemoaning a relationship that “feel[s] like it’s over” through glassy autotune, while a raw, urgent sample of Ol’ Dirty Bastard (taken from documentary footage) reinforces SZA’s majestic, powerful aura on the masterful album closer ‘Forgiveless’.

When the tracklist for ‘SOS’ was revealed earlier this week, the most surprising guest could have been Phoebe Bridgers, but the indie darling’s place on the record feels entirely natural given how much SZA has been inspired by the genre in the past. ‘Ghost In The Machine’ is one of the most unusual and experimental cuts on the album, but also one of its best moments, SZA first asking, “Can you make me happy? / Can you keep me happy?” over a woozy, dreamlike tapestry of clatters and ripples. Later, Bridgers lends her elegantly hushed vocals to tell the subject of the song: “You’re not wrong; you’re an asshole.”

“I’m making the best album of my life for this next album,” SZA told Flaunt in 2020 and ‘SOS’ is just that – a phenomenal record that barely puts a foot wrong and raises the bar even higher than she set it before. That quote, though, came with a caveat: “Because it’s going to be my last album.” Here’s hoping SZA reneges on that declaration but, if this is the last we hear from here, at least she’s going out on the highest of highs”.

Maybe a lot of people were not expecting a new album from SZA in 2022. It came in December, and it was such a relief for many fans. It did not disappoint! A stunning album that is hugely impressive and does not tire (in my view), it shows that she had been pretty busy the past few years. SOS is not a call for help or a tired statement. Instead, it is the sound of a remarkable artist with a new lease of life, in the form of her career. The album is…

A huge revelation.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Nessa Barrett

FEATURE:

 


Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Beth Saravo

Nessa Barrett

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AS I continue to recommend…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Derrick Freske

great artists who will make an impression this year, it takes me to the wonderful Nessa Barrett. Someone who is tipped for great things, the New Jersey artist is a magnificent talent. At a time when so many incredible, strong and promising young artists are emerging, Barrett is a revelation! I want to bring together some interviews that introduce Nessa Barrett. I remember discovering Barrett’s E.P., pretty poison, coming out. I had not heard of her before but, after one listen, I knew that she was a major talent. EUPHORIA. interviewed Barrett in 2021. As she began to break through that year, this interview introduced us to a remarkable artist:

“Nessa Barrett, in the weeks following the release of her debut EP Pretty Poison, is gearing up for the ultimate “pinch me” career moment  — two back-to-back, sold-out headlining shows at the Moroccan Lounge in Los Angeles. The attendees who were fortunate enough to land tickets will see the tracks on the EP performed for the first time, but the upcoming dates don’t quite feel fathomable yet to the budding star hitting the stage.

“I had no idea what to expect. I don’t know how anyone would want to see me singing, but it’s honestly amazing,” Barrett tells EUPHORIA. “I just know that because it sold out so fast that the energy at those shows is going to be unreal, and I can’t wait to perform for them to give them the show that they wanted. It’s going to be the first one ever that anyone’s ever seen me, so I think that’s crazy.”

While it might come as a surprise to Barrett, it doesn’t feel so shocking to anyone who has watched her rise. Her lead single from the EP, “i hope ur miserable until ur dead,” accumulated more than 31 million streams after hitting a viral note on TikTok, with two other EP tracks (“keep me afraid” and “grave”) also joining the millions club, with 2.8 and 1.7 million streams, respectively.

Though her already massive listener base feels likened to that of an established star, Barrett is still finding her footing in the music industry, particularly in the explosive dark pop/pop-punk space, which naturally comes with some nerves. Barrett, however, is grounded in security when it comes to her debut. “I used to get so nervous about performing, but now I’m at a point where I’m looking forward to it,” Barrett explains. “And that feels really good.”

And Barrett is coming out of the gate ready to bare it all. Pretty Poison is a heart-wrenching and, ultimately, a tell-all body of work about the toxic relationship that led to what she now considers her “happy ending.” She is emotionally beyond the events that the body of work chronicles, and performing the tracks in the shoes of her “past self” might take some of the pressure off of wearing her heart on her sleeve while performing live.

She also recognizes the magnitude of support in the audience of these shows. These crowds are likely to be filled with authentic, connected fans of Barrett’s, creating a safe space for her to explore her bounds as a live musician, a writer, and an artist, more broadly. “I could be scared because of how vulnerable I was with the EP but at the same time, if I was going to be vulnerable with anyone, it’s going to be with the people that have made me who I am today,” Barrett says.

Prior even to the announcement of these live dates, though, Barrett had already been thinking about what Pretty Poison meant for her as a human being, ready to move on, and an artist, ready to begin an era. Where she landed after the EP was somewhere in the middle of that; while she has definitely closed a door on the moment of her life that Pretty Poison chronicles, releasing the EP ultimately propelled her into her next body of work.

As an era, Pretty Poison serves exclusively as a debut, but there wasn’t a need to second-guess whether it was the right first move.

“As a new artist, I think something like releasing an album is so exciting, and I was always excited to have a big body of work to release to the world,” Barrett explains. “But when it came to if I was going to do an EP first rather than an album, it was almost obvious which one it should be … I knew what my album was going to be about and the story that I was going to tell with it, but I wasn’t at the place to tell it yet. There was this story that I did tell with my EP that I was ready to move on from and to share my truth with.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Derrick Freske

Though Barrett might not relate to the songs anymore — some carry raw lyricism that feels microtuned to a cathartic moment in time while she was writing — it still felt therapeutic to release them into the world after getting some time with them on her own. A piece of what makes Pretty Poison a truly impressive debut is Barrett’s ability to both feel the pain of the experiences intensely while also introspectively understanding that they are just that: experiences.

But as mature as her ability to work through her trauma with music is, it couldn’t negate the fear that came with putting the product of that into the world — at least, at first.

“It was kind of hard because it came from a place of being very vulnerable, and all the songs are just so personal to me,” Barrett says. “Being able to sacrifice that and having it out for the world to hear was kind of hard, initially. But I was able to have it made up in my mind that, more than anything, this is art, and I’m going to share with the world and that’s kind of what helped me.”

Healing beyond that narrative was always intended to be the scope of the project. “Now when I think about it, all I see are these amazing songs,” Barrett explains. But it was the EP’s title, which was tattooed on Barrett prior to the work’s conception, that came just after the story. From there, it was essentially a domino effect, propelling Barrett into lyric ideas, song title brainstorms, strategies for ordering the track list.

Then came the music.

“I just kind of wanted my emotions to be heard before anything else and I wanted people to pick up on that more than anything,” Barrett explains. “And whenever I hear a sound or something and we choose to put certain things into the production, it all has to do with what type of mood that I’m in.”

It’s precisely that process that led to the “moody” final product, as Barrett describes it, and it already varies from the music that put her on the map, to begin with. “Pain,” her debut single, was a soft ballad that provided a glimpse into Barrett’s croony vocals, but when compared to “sincerely,” the last track on her EP with a similar sound, Barrett sounds like a different artist entirely. She no longer needs to prove that she can do it; now, she is showing everything she can do as a vocalist but, even more prominently, as a lyricist”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Tyler Joe

Seventeen spoke with Barrett this time last year about new music, mental health struggles, and her relationship with boyfriend Jaden Hossler. Following a promising 2021, she was primed for even greater things last year:

“This is not a tale about a pop star who wants you to think her life is perfect. This is the story of Nessa Barrett, the New Jersey native who rose to TikTok fame at 17-years-old and moved to California to pursue a singing career. This is about a girl who, even with 26 million followers on social media, an EP with over 425 million streams and a tour under her belt, still deals with many of the same things young people today face. Like a lot of young people, Nessa struggles with her mental health and body image, and worries about what other people think about her. It's her willingness to get real about it with her millions of fans which makes her so admirable and someone they want to look up to.

“I’m trying to break the whole standard of how life is perfect, when it’s not,” explains Nessa. In a world of curated feeds filled with posed photos, the 19-year-old’s corner of social media is honest and emotional, with posts about anxiety and her struggles with borderline personality disorder (BPD). “I wish that I had a person that was releasing music or openly advocating for mental health, to [help me] realize that there's a lot of people that go through it. If I saw an artist that was successful and they still dealt with mental health, then I would have known it was okay for me as well” she says.

For Nessa, it’s music that enables her to be so open and real with her fans. “Songwriting is the one thing that makes it easy for me to open up and to express myself,” she explains. Now, with the upcoming release of Nessa’s newest single, “Dying On The Inside,” Nessa talks to Seventeen about what self-love really means, her relationship with boyfriend Jaden Hossler, and how there’s no such thing as perfect.

PHOTO CREDIT: Tyler Joe

Seventeen: Last year you released your debut EP, “Pretty Poison.” Why did you decide it was time for you to get your music out into the world?

Nessa Barrett: I was dealing with life experiences that I felt like I needed to address and just let out. It was very important for me to tell my story, so we created a song for basically everything that I went through. I write such personal music, not only for myself, but for other people.

17: Your song lyrics are so personal. What do you hope people take away from your music?

NB: I honestly hope that anyone that needs help will listen to my music as a way to cope and know they’re not alone. I know everyone struggles, and [my music is] talking about real life things that really affect people and their mental health. I want to break the whole idea of perfect standards and how life is perfect for some people, when it's really not.

I guess that's my biggest hope, for people to know that it's normal and that they're not alone and that it always gets better”.

17: Obviously the pressure of social mediaeal with. How do you deal with it?I

I don't really know if there's a certain way to handle it. Everyone is different. I feel like I'm still experimenting with what to do. I've been working with my therapist on this, and we do this thing called “fact checking.” I'll read a comment that's very negative, that my emotional mind would get a hold of and be like, "oh my god, this is true." But I take a second to be like, is this really true? If one person comments this, does this determine my self-worth, does this determine my self-love, my confidence? Is this supposed to be my identity from now on, based on this comment? No. It's all about fact checking and you have to give yourself that 10 minutes to be like, this is not true. Even if it was true, it does not matter. Because it's just one comment, and you have your entire life, full of so many things, and that one single comment does not mean anything.

17: What’s one thing you want your fans to alay remeber?

NB: Life can suck for everyone. It's life. You have to go through problems but you become stronger, and that's how you form your character and you become a person. You're not alone and it's okay to deal with things. It's okay to be human. I feel like we've lost that recently with society, everyone wants to be some perfect robot or something, but no. It’s okay to be human”.

In October, Nessa Barrett released her album, young forever. I will come to a review for one of the best albums of last year. An album that keeps varied and moves through different sounds and moods, it is a masterful work from a supremely accomplished artist! FAULT featured Nessa Barrett in promotion of the album. They asked her which of the songs on the album was most emotionally challenging to write:

“The album can shift genre from track to track – is that by design or just reflective of your personal music tastes?

Nessa Barrett: I love that you say that because I truly never want to be put in a genre box. This album is fully manic in the best way & honestly reflects moreso my emotions / how diverse my palette is. I would say my personal music taste is also not put in a box so unintentionally reflective I would say!

Can you describe your headspace when writing fuckmarrykill?

Nessa Barrett: Very much a “fuck everything, i just want to sleep” mindset. This song had the most production changes to get right. It was pretty uptempo but felt right slowing the whole beginning down.

Dear god displays a lot of vulnerability as have previous releases such as ‘die first’ – is it ever daunting to leave so much of yourself on a track for people to observe and possibly even critique your outpouring of emotion?

Nessa Barrett: Music is my therapy. I write about real emotions I go through that really represent where I’ve been emotionally & my journey through it all. I put out my art to the world so people feel like they aren’t alone – in hopes my music gets them through their times as well. I’ve always felt like it was my calling to help people in such way.

Does that outpouring of inner-most feelings ever leave you emotionally fatigued?

Nessa Barrett: Definitely after certain sessions, same with how I feel after therapy sessions. They go hand-in-hand for me.

What would you say was the most emotionally challenging song to write on the album?

Nessa Barrett: I would probably say “die first” – mostly because of the concept behind the song. It’s so powerful. Even more emotional now when I have to perform it than when in the writing process.

Would you say there was a theme that runs throughout the project and if so what would it be?

Nessa Barrett: Visually the album feels very heavenly, angelic. At the time of writing the bulk of the album, I wasn’t in the best place mentally.. I was living in hell, so I fantasized about heaven a lot – which is why it really represents that. This album takes you through a journey & I am so excited to see how people resonate with it.

PHOTO CREDIT: Beth Saravo

As we look ahead, I feel that artists like Nessa Barrett will help to shape the sound of Pop. At only twenty, she already sounds so complete and assured. It is going to be so thrilling to see where she heads next. The Bubble were among those that reviewed the majestic and amazing young forever.

“Nessa Barrett’s debut album Young Forever made its premiere on the 14th of October this year, and presents a powerful commentary on mental health, in particular borderline personality disorder (BPD) which Nessa has openly spoken about struggling with. At only 20 years old, Nessa first gained fame through Tiktok and currently has a follower count of 19.6 million. She has released music in the past – her first EP Pretty Poison in 2021- which discusses toxic relationships and how mental health plays into such relationships. Young Forever, however, takes a more sophisticated turn and starts to address more profound issues such as depression, suicidal thoughts, the power of social media, and religion. Nessa has always used her platform to discuss her struggles with BPD and eating disorders, however this album in particular is important in many ways for her young, primarily female, fanbase.

Mental health is the album’s overriding theme, which is immediately evident through her choice of song titles. For example, gaslight is a pop-song looking into how a partner calls her ‘’crazy’’ for going through his phone despite him being the one who has cheated on her. Lyrics such as: ‘’why do you tell me not to worry when you always F’ing hurt me’’ and ‘’turn me to a girl I don’t wanna be’’ address a shared experience that people go through in relationships where their partner cheats. The striking piano rhythm enforces this and gives the song an on-edge feel while the repetition of the word ‘’why’’ continues to cement a feeling of confusion.

Another song that stands out is talk to myself, a song about Nessa feeling like she is her own worst critic and that nobody else could insult her the way she insults herself. I think that this track will resonate with most people, as we often criticise and judge ourselves more harshly than we do others. For example, the lyrics ‘’if you talk to me, like I talk to myself, I’d give you the finger, I’d say “Go to hell’’.” Music can be incredibly cathartic for both the artist and the listener, and Nessa’s focus on mental health in a relatable and accessible way goes a long way in helping people understand that it’s normal and okay to feel like this. So often influencers feel detached from the ‘’ordinary’’ person, yet this album, particularly this song, opens up the discussion of how it doesn’t matter if you are conventionally pretty or successful in life; mental health affects anyone and everyone.

Relationships are a common theme within pop albums generally, and this record is no different. Songs such as unnecessary violence address the many ways that toxic relationships can contribute to negative self-worth and mental health. However, what is unique is that throughout the album, Nessa also plays into the importance of self-love. In this way, unnecessary violence, with its lyrics such as ‘’And if I ever get happy, I can count on you to put me through your, unnecessary violence’’, directly contrast lyrics like ‘’I’ve never looked better than this,’’ in too hot to cry. This contrast is powerful as it encourages listeners to think about unnecessary opinions, especially when it comes to strangers on the internet. Why do we place so much value on what others think of us? Of course, that is not to say that feelings are invalid because, as she says in unnecessary violence, ‘’words you speak are killing me violently’’. This dilemma expressed through her music clearly displays the reality of mental health and issues within relationships; you know someone is wrong for you, but you can’t help but be sucked into this cycle of ‘’unnecessary violence’’.

What is also interesting is that Nessa shows that relationships do not need to be romantic to be ‘’toxic’’. Most of her songs can easily be interpreted as being about the internet and ‘’hate’’ more generally, or about herself and how her own mind is violent. That is what I love about this album. She leaves it up to the listener to resonate in any way they feel fits, which can be vital in helping people to feel understood and not alone.

Religion is a sub-theme found in the album, and Nessa addresses the toxicity of her relationship with God throughout her mental health journey, and thus connects all the above-mentioned themes. Dear God is a song about feeling like she doesn’t even ‘’fit into heaven’’, a place that is supposed to be a perfect utopia. This is perhaps one of her most intricate songs; she uses symbolism in lyrics such as ‘’angel wings sewed on to [her] back with black ribbon’’. This symbolises how one may feel rejected from happiness while also recognising feelings of inevitable failure. The phrase ‘’Black ribbon’’ evokes images of darkness, an image painted continuously throughout this album. Songs from other artists such as Demi Lovato’s Happy Ending (with lyrics such as ‘‘I met God… sat in his house… and saw I didn’t fit in’’), discuss this same feeling of not fitting into heaven, but perhaps the overall message from these albums is that this idea of a ‘’utopia’’ is not comforting for everyone, and it is okay to feel this way”.

Go and add Nessa Barrett’s music to your collections. A wonderful artist whose music will instantly seduce and hook every listener, there is no wonder she is being discussed as one of the most promising artists this year. With an exceptional album in the world and more music planned, the awe-inspiring Nessa Barrett is…

A major talent to cherish.

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Follow Nessa Barrett

FEATURE: Spotlight: Ravyn Lenae

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Quil Lemons

  

Ravyn Lenae

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THERE are a fair few other artists…

I am going to feature in Spotlight, as we are just in 2023 and there are these incredible musicians who are going to change the face of music. One such super-talent is the brilliant Ravyn Lenae. Last year, she released an album both exceptional and underrated. HYPNOS is one I would recommend to everyone. I am going to bring in a few interview that relate to and promote the album – ending up with a positive review for the album too. To start, W spoke with Lenae about her debut album. She has released a few E.P.s, but this phenomenal album covers and discusses womanhood, romance, sensuality, and sexuality:

“Ravyn Lenae signed a deal with Atlantic Records when she was 16 and went on tour with the rapper Noname while she was still in high school. By 2018, when Lenae turned 19, she had already released three EPs. And as her career as a singer of slinky, experimental R&B songs started to take shape, a prevailing “wise-beyond-her-years” narrative developed around it. Well, she’s a teenager, it seemed to say. (“It’s hard to believe that someone so young could be bursting with so much talent,” one outlet wrote; she “radiates a maturity beyond her age,” said another.)

“Yeah… yes,” says Lenae, now 23, laughing with recognition as I say this. It’s a Thursday afternoon, the eve of her album release. In several hours, she’ll get together with a bunch of friends and family in Los Angeles, where she lives, to celebrate Hypnos—her full-length debut, and her first project of any sort in four years. So I ask: Did she take that time as a form of resistance against assumptions about her age?

Actually, there were moments when she feared waiting. “Especially as a young woman, there’s this pressure to keep up with the times,” she says. Maybe she wasn’t sufficiently established as an artist to take so much time to put out more music. People might forget about her; fans might not care anymore. But mostly, she just wanted to get the record right, however long it took. “I can make songs all day. It’s not about making enough songs. It’s about making songs that feel like now and that feel like me,” she says.

The result is Hypnos, which came out on May 20. It’s a 16-track “journey through where my brain has been,” Lenae says, delving sonically and lyrically into explorations of womanhood, romance, sensuality, and sexuality. She oversaw all the production, describing her role as something like a curator: She brought in a mix of new and familiar collaborators like the producers Monte Booker, Steve Lacy, and Kaytranada; and the musicians Smino, Mereba, and Foushée. “Every time, she’s been at a new level,” says Smino, who first met Lenae in 2015 at Chicago’s Classick Studios. “Her whole process is like, this is going to be my best shit.” Lenae “knows when she wants something,” he says—whether that’s a particular drum track or a feature on a song—and makes it happen.

Lenae grew up in Chicago, in a home filled with the classics of ’90s and ’00s R&B and hip-hop: Erykah Badu, Destiny’s Child, Goapele, Outkast, Busta Rhymes, India.Arie, Pharrell. “I think I grew up with this sharp ear, in a way, for good music,” she says. She has two younger sisters. “There aren’t that many men in my family, so a lot of feminine energy,” she says. (That’s her grandmother’s voice at the end of the Hypnos track “Inside Out.”) But she was the only one who wanted to make music herself; her family members primarily pursued what she describes as “corporate careers.” (Her grandfather, once a fairly well-known doo-wop singer in Panama, excepted.)

Lenae started working on Hypnos in 2019, not long after she finished touring her third EP, Crush. She knew she wanted to write a full-length album, but beyond that, the project was pretty nebulous. She traveled continuously between Chicago and Los Angeles, meeting different producers and exploring different sounds. And she was listening to a lot of Black women artists for inspiration—Brandy most of all. She wrote “Venom,” the second track, with Booker in Chicago, and its energy—“fresh, exciting, mysterious, and a little weird and eerie,” she says—helped crystallize the project.

But the pandemic forced her to swerve. “I think everyone can relate to feeling very lost and almost unsure of what your purpose is in the world, and if your job is important and shit like that. It took me a while to gear back up,” she says. In August 2020, she relocated to Los Angeles. Many of her musician friends from Chicago, including Smino and Booker, had already moved there, and the city’s warm weather and easy access to nature started to look more appealing as the pandemic wore on. She describes the songs that emerged from lockdown, like “Inside Out,” as more inward-looking than some of the pre-pandemic music”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Barrington Darius

I am excited to introduce this amazing artist to you. Maybe you know about her already, but there are quite a few – especially here in the U.K. – that may not know her name and music. Let’s hope that is rectified now! Harper's BAZAAR spent time with an R&B prodigy and highlighted her Hypnos: In Context documentary:

“Growing up in a very female-dominated family instilled in me a confidence and sureness about my thoughts and my ideas, and the way I think about things,” she explains. “Especially being a young Black woman in a very male-dominated industry, it’s easy to feel shy about, you know, stating your opinion or your wants and needs without being labeled a bitch or hard to work with.”

The process of speaking up during the creative process is something Lenae says she learned after years of practicing and watching others. Specifically, during a string of openings for bigger acts, including a tour with Noname in 2017, followed by a summer tour with SZA and a 2018 tour with Jorja Smith.

“Being able to go on my first tours with Black women was really special for me. And I think that’s really important, just for representation, and making sure that you’re doing your part as an artist. I just feel the responsibility to bring other Black women on my journey with me,” she says. On Hypnos, she brings along Steve Lacy, Mereba, Foushee, and Smino, all collaborators who came from, what she calls, a “meaningful process” of selection.

As Lenae works on lengthening a historic string of prodigies and protégées, she calls on her own judgment for the final say.

“Writing this album was an exercise in striking the balance between writing from this otherworldly place, as well as introducing my own life experiences and what I’ve been through,” she says. “This is the most honest and raw I’ve ever been”.

Before getting to a review of the stunning HYPNOS, Loud and Quiet celebrated an avant-garde Black pioneer whose HYPNOS album was/is an undoubted work of brilliance. I am in no doubt that Ravyn Lenae is going to join the pantheon of musical greats! You can tell already – at such an early stage in her career – that she is going to inspire legions of other artists:

“Ravyn’s brilliance as a songwriter is most apparent on this track as it draws on ideas pertaining to familial history and the power of given names; she illustrates the need to keep pressing on in a way that recalls Janet Jackson’s anthem of Black solidarity, ‘Can’t Be Stopped’.

“That song serves as a love letter to who I am and the people I come from,” she says. “[It’s about] putting some respect on my own name, especially as a Black person where it feels like the world wants to humble us all the time.” These notions are further explored on ‘Where I’m From’ featuring Mereba, a rootsy folk track grappling with the singular experience African-Americans know all too well – that of not knowing the origins of their cultural bloodlines and heritage.

PHOTO CREDIT: Sophie Barloc

Asked why she specifically sought out Mereba to join her, she explains: “Her father is Ethiopian, but she doesn’t know the lineage of her mother. It was cool to have that perspective of knowing half of where she comes from but still yearning for that sense of the unknown that many African Americans experience.” While themes of lineage are central to ‘Inside Out’ and ‘Where I’m From’, in a more abstract way they were crucial to the very existence of Hypnos as a whole. Janet Jackson, Kelis, Destiny’s Child, Deniece Williams and Minnie Riperton have all been cited by Ravyn as part of the genealogy that influenced the look, sound and feel of the album – and she doesn’t feel that it does a disservice to her own uniqueness to acknowledge that. “I’ve found people get weird about stating the people they’re inspired by, but I think it’s a beautiful thing when you have such an amazing, strong pedigree of Black women who paved the way. Knowing our history and looking to that to inform what we have now is so important as an artist.”

The chamber and orchestral soul Minnie Riperton created with Charles Stepney on her 1970 album Come To My Garden abundantly looms over Hypnos’ closing track, ‘Wish’.

“When I wrote it, it felt like Minnie but also that climax in a Disney movie where everything is revealed to the main character. When they can see all the lessons they’ve learned on their journey.” The ballad’s theatrical properties with its graceful and lush string ornamentations deliberately ends with what classical music specialists would call an imperfect and abrupt cadence. “I approached that song like it was the end of a journey, but with the promise of another. That’s why the song never really feels like it’s complete.”

That’s appropriately symbolic of what Hypnos represents at this stage in the story of Ravyn Lenae: a massive leap into unknown territory, her wings growing on the way down in the knowledge that there is more for her to yield as an artist and a woman”.

I will end with a review of HYPNOS from Pitchfork. A 2022 album that was overlooked by some, it is one that you need to listen to. It won a lot of great and very positive review. Each recognising its brilliance and undoubted importance:

“The immediate appeal of HYPNOS is just how tantalizing Lenae’s arrangements are amid familiar soundscapes. On previous songs like “Sticky” or “Free Room,” Lenae tapped into her higher register, but here Lenae’s soprano has become a gravitational force. On the Kaytranada-produced “Xtasy,” Lenae’s sultry and blithe singing washes over the beat like water beading off a car. “Lullabye,” a kiss-off to a former lover, moves through melismatic harmonies like clockwork. “I hope she keeps you warm at night/This is our lullabye,” she croons, but you know she’s going to be OK just by her composure.

For someone already lauded for her singing, Lenae’s vocal technique on HYPNOS is the work of a perfectionist. Her sound has blossomed into a potpourri of the R&B female icons of the last three decades, but especially of the ’90s and early ’00s. The most obvious comparison here is Aaliyah, but Lenae’s vocal composition honors many on HYPNOS, pulling from Brandy’s “vocal bible” riffs and Solange’s visionary harmonies, Kelela’s outré artistry, and Destiny’s Child’s lullabying melodies. “Venom,” a seething funkadelic synth-led track, feels caught between something off OutKast’s Stankonia and Brandy’s “What About Us?”. “Why do you play me for a fool?” Lenae asks, before descending into harmonies that unravel like those on Solange’s “Rise.” On “Cameo,” Lenae brings back Lacy and frequent collaborator Luke Titus for a funky opener that recalls the synth bass sound of Herbie Hancock’s “Chameleon.” The influences are never distracting so much as they are twinkling, fun, and carefully blended.

Sounding like someone else is by no means the limit to Lenae’s creative yield; she is as self-assured as she is exploratory. Rather than replicating a nostalgia that’s become commonplace, she has earnestly studied these forebears and applied their techniques to her own brand of soft and intense music. “Light Me Up,” the album’s sexy, slow-burning centerpiece, creates a moodboard of R&B references, and digs deep into the excitement of sexual exploration: “Come inside/Show me you’re the leader/Switchin’ sides/Make me a believer,” she begs. Lenae’s weightless falsetto and stimulated writing make it a female contemporary to D’Angelo’s “Untitled (How Does It Feel).”

The way Lenae seems to examine and deliberate her decisions in real time makes her a magnetic narrator. On “M.I.A.,” she takes stock of her life and goes full escapist mode in ways that commit to her shapeshifting tendencies. Taking notes from the Afrobeats artist Amaarae, the song is slick and coolheaded, cheekily rhyming about the freedom to sneak away at a moment’s notice. On “3D,” Lenae reunites with Zero Fatigue’s Monte Booker and Smino for a wobbly groove that puts Lenae in the driver’s seat of a relationship moving too fast. “I’m asking you to keep it light/Things are better movin’ slow,” she cautions, raising her pitch with each word of warning. In her earlier work with Booker and Smino, Lenae sounded like a gorgeous vocalist, but as HYPNOS emphasizes, she can be all of those things and the star of her own story.

While the majority of HYPNOS’ themes are commonplace to early twentysomething experience—heartbreak, growing apart, trifling men, finding your footing—Lenae makes them feel easily digestible and less existential. On “Skin Tight,” she ponders the kinetic energy of a past relationship with grace and respect beyond her years. The scornful acoustic number “Mercury,” with “Deep End” singer Fousheé, initially comes off as a minor song on the album. But Lenae’s airy, level-minded approach is captivating—making this a bold and bittersweet highlight. Even as she whispers “I fucking hate you/Don’t ever speak my name” it never sounds all that painful, more like pity in the face of disgust.

Even when heartache leaves her distraught, Lenae is laser-focused on reaching for spiritual affirmation and aggrandizement. The album ends on the feather touch of heartfelt closer “Wish,” which brings together Lenae’s dizzying expression and limitless execution as a vocalist. “Every night you close your eyes, make a little wish,” Lenae sings, tip-toeing down the words. It could lift you out of the deepest hole. Even as she touches on trends and familiar themes, it’s Lenae’s delivery, confidence, and alluring presence that makes HYPNOS stand apart. As she considers her anxieties, hopes, and doubts, she reveres the musical icons before her in ways that show just how ready she is for her own turn”.

I shall round up now. It is always wonderful spotlighting a brilliant artist who is primed for greatness! Ravyn Lenae is going to be an icon before long. Following the release of HYPNOS, so many eyes and ears are directed her way. The twenty-three-year-old Chicago-born artist is an absolute sensation! Among the top tier of incredible artists that will define 2023, the peerless Ravyn Lenae is going to enjoy…

A golden career.

_____________

Follow Ravyn Lenae

FEATURE: Last Night I Said These Words to My Girl… The Beatles' Single, Please Please Me, at Sixty

FEATURE:

 

 

Last Night I Said These Words to My Girl…

 

The Beatles' Single, Please Please Me, at Sixty

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I wanted to look ahead…

to a big anniversary in the career of The Beatles. Taken from their debut album of the same name, Please Please Me was the second single in the U.K. It was The Beatles’ first single in America. Released on 11th January, 1963, I wanted to celebrate the upcoming sixtieth anniversary. At a time when the band were making their first moves and were not quite at the peak of their powers in regards popularity, I think Please Please Me improved on the band’s first single, Love Me Do. A song written primarily by John Lennon, its ultimate form was significantly influenced by producer George Martin. Reaching number two on the Record Retailer chart, you wonder why the song did not get to number one! It is one of The Beatles’ strongest early songs, and it is a classic that still sounds exhilarating. With Ask Me Why on the B-side, Please Please Me failed to make impact in the U.S. in February 1963, but it reached three on the Billboard Hot 100 when re-released on 3rd January, 1964. I want to bring in some details about Please Please Me from The Beatles Bible:

“The follow-up to The Beatles’ début single ‘Love Me Do’, ‘Please Please Me’ was originally written as a slow, bluesy song in the style of Roy Orbison. Producer George Martin persuaded The Beatles to rearrange the song, which duly became their first number one single.

We’d had a top 30 entry with ‘Love Me Do’ and we really thought we were on top of the world. Then came ‘Please Please Me’ – and wham! We tried to make it as simple as possible. Some of the stuff we’ve written in the past has been a bit way-out, but we aimed this one straight at the hit parade.

John Lennon, 1963

Anthology

The song was written by John Lennon at his Aunt Mimi’s house in Menlove Avenue, Liverpool.

‘Please Please Me’ is my song completely. It was my attempt at writing a Roy Orbison song, would you believe it? I wrote it in the bedroom in my house at Menlove Avenue, which was my auntie’s place… I remember the day and the pink coverlet on the bed and I heard Roy Orbison doing ‘Only The Lonely’ or something. That’s where that came from. And also I was always intrigued by the words of ‘Please, lend me your little ears to my pleas’ – a Bing Crosby song. I was always intrigued by the double use of the word ‘please’. So it was a combination of Bing Crosby and Roy Orbison.

John Lennon, 1980

All We Are Saying, David Sheff

Lennon was also influenced by Bing Crosby’s 1930s song ‘Please’, which opens with the line: ” Oh, please, lend your little ear to my pleas”. The Beatles’ song, however, was much less innocent, containing what has been generally interpreted as a request for fellatio.

‘Please Please Me’ was the only song performed by The Beatles during their first national TV appearance, for the ITV show Thank Your Lucky Stars. It was recorded at the Alpha Television Studios in Birmingham on 13 January 1963, and was broadcast six days later.

The single, backed by ‘Ask Me Why’, caused many to take notice of The Beatles, and particularly Lennon-McCartney’s songwriting talent; it led to Dick James approaching them to found Northern Songs, their publishing company.

‘Please Please Me’ was excitedly received by reviewers, radio and the public. By its third week on sale George Martin told Brian Epstein to bring the band in from their tour with Helen Shapiro to record the Please Please Me album, which they did on 11 February 1963.

In the studio

We almost abandoned it as the b-side of ‘Love Me Do’. We changed our minds only because we were so tired the night we did ‘Love Me Do’. We’d been going over it a few times and when we came to the question of the flipside, we intended using ‘Please Please Me’. Our recording manager, George Martin, thought our arrangement was fussy, so we tried to make it simpler. We were getting very tired, though, and we just couldn’t seem to get it right. We are conscientious about our work and we don’t like to rush things.

John Lennon, 1963

Anthology

‘Please Please Me’ was first brought to The Beatles’ 4 September 1962 session, in which they worked on ‘Love Me Do’. They played ‘Please Please Me’ during a studio rehearsal overseen by EMI’s Ron Richards, but didn’t formally record it.

On my first visit in September we just ran through some tracks for George Martin. We even did ‘Please Please Me’. I remember that, because while we were recording it I was playing the bass drum with a maraca in one hand and a tambourine in the other.

Ringo Starr

Anthology

George Martin disliked the slow tempo and Roy Orbison-style arrangement, so The Beatles worked up a faster version for their next session.

At that stage ‘Please Please Me’ was a very dreary song. It was like a Roy Orbison number, very slow, bluesy vocals. It was obvious to me that it badly needed pepping up. I told them to bring it in next time and we’d have another go at it.

George Martin

The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, Mark Lewisohn”.

I love the fact Please Please Me has lasted for decades and is so instantly recognisable. Whilst producer George Martin felt the original incarnation of the single was rather dreary, the band were determined they were releasing their own compositions Martin wanted the band to record a cover version, How Do You Do It? The band stood up to Marin in their determination to release their own material. Lennon was influenced by Roy Orbison and wrote Please Please Me with him in mind. Conceiving it a bluesy number, it did change a little bit by the time it was released as a single. Maybe not considered as important as later Beatles singles, Please Please Me is one of my favourites. They had confidence in their own work and did not want to release covers as singles. One of the standout tracks from the Please Please Me, I was keen to mark the sixtieth anniversary of a terrific moment in Beatles history. On 11th January, fans around the world will celebrate The Beatles’ second U.K. single. It must have been so thrilling to hear the song come out in 1963! Ending the first side of The Beatles’ sensational and groundbreaking debut album, its title single remains underrated in my view. Within seconds, you know exactly what the song is. At two minutes exactly, it is such a tight Pop song with not a wasted second. Sixty years later, and Please Please Me still has the power…

TO blow the mind.

FEATURE: Kate Bush: The Deep Cuts: The Morning Fog

FEATURE:

 

 

Kate Bush: The Deep Cuts

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush shot for The Ninth Wave/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush 

 

The Morning Fog

__________

IN one of the last…

of these Kate Bush Deep Cuts pieces, I am coming to a song that may divide people. Not in terms of its quality, you understand! This may divide people who feel a song from an album as well-known as Hounds of Love cannot be a deep cut. I am saying any tracks not widely played, known or associated with the artist is a deep cut. On Hounds of Love, most can name and recall Cloudbusting and Hounds of Love. Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) is definitely recognisable, and I feel most would know And Dream of Sheep. That song is from the album’s second side, The Ninth Wave. As a suite, fans know it and have their own relationships with it. The final song on the seven-track suite is The Morning Fog. I don’t think this song is greatly known. I have only heard it played on the radio a few times, so I can confidently say it is a deep cut. Even on a masterpiece that has been out for decades, you can get tracks that fly under the radar. I think because The Morning Fog is at the end of The Ninth Wave, it is not often played in isolation. Maybe some feel it would be out of content and alien if it were played on its own. There is so much atmosphere to the song, because it is the resolution and climax of this incredible story. In it, as I have explained before, a woman is cast at sea without backstory. Presuming she fell from a ship, but she is in the water with a life jacket and looking for rescue. The Morning Fog is the heroine being rescued. That said, there is ambiguity as to whether it is a rescue, a vision by the woman, or her spirit watching over an imagined reality or happy ending.

Bush did perform The Morning Fog for her 2014 residency, Before the Dawn, where she was winced to safety by a helicopter. I think Hounds of Love’s version sees the heroine dreaming about rescue rather than actually seeing it come true – which is quite tragic. I love the mood and composition of The Morning Fog. With Paddy Bush on violins and fujare and some guitar from John Williams, there are these textures and sonic threads that run through the song to give it the sense of both tension and relief. For a 1992 interview, Kate Bush discussed The Morning Fog in the context of The Ninth Wave. That conclusion that the listener is waiting for:

“Well, that's really meant to be the rescue of the whole situation, where now suddenly out of all this darkness and weight comes light. You know, the weightiness is gone and here's the morning, and it's meant to feel very positive and bright and uplifting from the rest of dense, darkness of the previous track. And although it doesn't say so, in my mind this was the song where they were rescued, where they get pulled out of the water. And it's very much a song of seeing perspective, of really, you know, of being so grateful for everything that you have, that you're never grateful of in ordinary life because you just abuse it totally. And it was also meant to be one of those kind of "thank you and goodnight" songs. You know, the little finale where everyone does a little dance and then the bow and then they leave the stage. [laughs] (Richard Skinner, 'Classic Albums interview: Hounds Of Love. Radio 1 (UK), aired 26 January 1992)”.

I don’t think there is a huge amount of awareness when it comes to The Morning Fog. In terms of those who are not massive Kate Bush fans. Most people wouldn’t recognise the track. If you feel the track is Bush’s heroine making it to safety, there are lines that seem to offer resignation and acceptance rather than joy and salvation: “I'm falling/And I'd love to hold you know/I'll kiss the ground/I'll tell my mother/I'll tell my father/I'll tell my loved one/I'll tell my brothers/How much I love them”. I love examining Bush’s lyrics, as I think she starts with these words and sketched ideas, and then she’ll imagine and plot the composition and production around it. I suppose she wrote the songs for The Ninth Wave more or less sequentially, so I get the feeling she wanted to leave the final track a little open-ended. There is no real confirmation that the stranded at sea woman was saved. Nor is there suggestion that she died or was simply dreaming of everything past And Dream of Sheep (the first song of the suite). Bush said in that 1992 interview that there is a rescue, but I feel that was more to give an answer and make people feel uplifted. The truth might be different. I love the fact the lyrics are quite oblique, whereas other songwriters would use The Morning Fog to be celebratory, or obvious. Maybe declarations and cliches mixed together. Bush’s lyrics make you think: “I am falling/Like a stone/Like a storm/Being born again/Into the sweet morning fog/D'you know what?/I love you better now”. The final song of her fifth studio album, Bush would release another fog-themed song, The Fog, on the next album, 1989’s The Sensual World. I love The Morning Fog, though I do feel it is a deep cut, because it is a song a lot of people have never heard – even though it is from Bush’s best-known (and one of her most played) albums. If you have not heard the brilliant song yourself, I would suggest you take a few minutes out and…

SURRENDER yourself to it.

FEATURE: High and Rising: How De La Soul’s Catalogue Being Made Available on Streaming Platforms Will Introduce Them to a New Generation

FEATURE:

 

 

High and Rising

PHOTO CREDIT: Paul Natkin

 

How De La Soul’s Catalogue Being Made Available on Streaming Platforms Will Introduce Them to a New Generation

_________

EARLIER today…

some great music news dropped that, inevitably, excited quite a lot of people. Hip-Hop legends De La Soul are one of the most influential groups ever, yet most of their music is unavailable on streaming services. In fact, it is hard to get a few of their albums on vinyl for a reasonable price! Now, after a lot of rigmarole and years in the wilderness, one of the most distinct and influential catalogues in all of music will come to streaming services. There are some new physical releases too. A double gift for fans! This is from Music Week:

“De La Soul’s catalogue will be released on streaming services for the first time on March 3, 2023.

The hip-hop trio had been destined for DSPs in 2019 but ended up falling out with label Tommy Boy. The company has since been acquired by Reservoir, and the group’s catalogue will be distributed by Reservoir-owned Chrysalis Records.

Following the Tommy Boy acquisition in 2021, the Reservoir and Chrysalis teams have worked with De La Soul, and their record label, AOI, to bring their music to digital streaming services.

De La Soul’s first six albums - 3 Feet High and Rising (1989), De La Soul Is Dead (1991), Buhloone Mindstate (1993), Stakes Is High (1996), Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump (2000) and AOI: Bionix (2001) - will be available on March 3, 2023. The date marks the 34th anniversary of the release of their debut album, 3 Feet High and Rising.

To celebrate the initiative, De La Soul will digitally release their hit single The Magic Number on January 13, 2023. In 2021, The Magic Number featured in the closing credits of Marvel’s Spiderman: No Way Home, a sync placement secured by Reservoir’s team.

The Chrysalis team, led by chief executive officer Jeremy Lascelles, will devote comprehensive marketing support to the group with a release campaign that, among key events and activations, includes exclusive merchandise, vinyl, CDs and cassettes, all distributed by Chrysalis Records. Additional albums from their discography will be available on vinyl, CD and cassettes later in 2023.

De La Soul said: “We can’t believe this day is finally here, and we are excited to be able to share our music with fans, old and new. Golnar, Rell, Faith and the Reservoir team have been great partners in this entire process. We’re grateful that our relationship with them all has enabled this to happen.”

Faith Newman, Reservoir executive vice president of A&R and catalogue development, added: “As someone who has devoted my life to hip-hop for over 30 years, my relationship with the guys in De La Soul dates back to my early days in the industry, and I can attest to how influential their catalogue is to the genre.

“When Reservoir acquired Tommy Boy, the first call we made was to De La Soul. We vowed to bring their music to streaming, and it means the world to our team to make good on that promise and expose a whole new generation of listeners to one of the most important catalogues in hip-hop history.”

Reservoir president and chief operating officer Rell Lafargue said: “Bringing De La Soul’s music to streaming services is a big moment for Reservoir, Chrysalis, and fans everywhere. We identified this opportunity when we were in the preliminary stages of acquiring Tommy Boy. Over the past 18 months, we have worked tirelessly with De La Soul, maintaining a heightened attention to honouring the group’s original musical details, including bringing Prince Paul and the original team to the studio to prepare the catalogue for streaming.”

He added: “It is a real testament to our team and the group that we are able to execute these plans together. We couldn’t be prouder to embrace De La Soul’s historic artistry and support them in sharing their music with the world.”

De La Soul have been nominated for several Grammy awards. In 2006, the trio won a Grammy for Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals for their collaboration with Gorillaz on Feel Good Inc, which also received nominations for Record of the Year and Best Short Form Music Video”.

I shall come onto why I think this news will beckon in a new generation of fans. Although the group (Posdnuos, Trugoy, and Maseo) might not follow 2016’s and the Anonymous Nobody..., their legacy and place in Hip-Hop history is confirmed. Their first six albums will be released digitally for the first time ever on 3rd March, on the thirty-fourth  anniversary of their debut album, 3 Feet High and Rising. That album was synonymous with the Daisy Age. This was a more reflective, humorous and peaceful form of Hip-Hop. At a time when more political acts like Public Enemy and N.W.A. were releasing music, some saw De La Soul as soft or a betrayal of hip-Hops roots.

By the 1991 follow-up, De La Soul Is Dead, it sort of signalled the end of the Daisy Age. Their music still contained plenty of humour and brilliant sampling, but 3 Feet High and Rising seemed like this beautiful moment in time. I hoper that the fact the 1989 album is available soon on streaming platforms will provoke Hip-Hop acts to create an album similar to that. It is harder to get sampling clearance these days – and De La Soul did run into legal issues! -, but you can hear the influence of Del La Soul in Rap and Hip-Hop today. An iconic song from their debut, The Magic Number, will be available for streaming on 13th January. I love the fact the trio are coming to the U.K. for live shows in April 2023. Maybe they will release another album! It is such a relief De La Soul have retained control of the rights to the master recordings. Their entire catalogue is great, but I think their debut is considered so seminal because it broke ground and took risks.

Music that was busy with slang and unconventional references, but incredible smart and layered, there wasn’t anyone like them on the scene. Sampling artists you might not normally connect with the Hip-Hop landscape (such as Steely Dan, Hall & Oates, and Johnny Cash), 3 Feet High and Rising, it was the first Hip-Hop album to break up the song with skits. I think one of the underrated and under-explored De La Soul albums if their third, 1993’s Buhlo͞one Mind State. Now, it will be a lot easier to access these masterful and hugely important albums. Fans in the U.K. can see De La Soul at the Royal Albert Hall on 8th April, at Glasgow’s 02 Academy on 9th, Nottingham’s Rock City on 12th, ending up at Manchester’s Albert Hall on the 14th. I would love to see them live, as it would be a rare and thrilling experiencing seeing the group perform this iconic and remarkable music. They will get such a huge reception from the crowds here! I am not sure whether these live dates signal new activity and intention from De La Soul. That would be a wonderful possibility! The music still sounds fresh and exciting today. So many layers and avenues to explore. It means that streaming numbers will skyrocket, and it will give fresh inspiration to artists. The connection the trio have with each other and they way they combine makes their music so powerful and filled with character. So rich and accomplished, this news is going to help start a fresh Hip-Hop wave, inspired by De La Soul’s later sound, but also the supreme Daisy Age techniques and sounds.

You can keep up to date with news and happenings via De La Soul’s website, and you can also find them on social media. I was a child when 3 Feet High and Rising was released in 1989, but I was a fan by the 1990s. I followed them since, and I have always loved their brotherhood and connection. The way they different from everything else in Hip-Hop and had to withstand a lot of negativity. It is exciting that the trio’s catalogue is available to order, and you can get 3 Feet High and Rising on vinyl. I feel the new attention of De La Soul and this great new news will open a young generation to the world of the Daisy Age. The brilliant evolution of the Long Island trio. I also feel, even during an exciting time for Hip-Hop, there will be acts established taking inspiration from their albums. There will also be new artists being struck by De La Soul and albums like 3 Feet High and Rising and De La Soul Is Dead. Such an exciting day for music, many didn’t think we would see this happen. It seemed like De La Soul’s music was going to be confined to what physical releases are available. The brilliant news of new vinyl and access on streaming services to this wonderful body of work is a treat for fans of all ages. Nearly thirty-four years since their iconic debut, I don’t think many albums have reached the same peak. Who would have thought that 2023 would start with…

SUCH a blissful revelation?!

FEATURE: Spotlight: UPSAHL

FEATURE:

 


Spotlight

  

UPSAHL

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PERHAPS one of the most striking…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Aubree Estrella

and impressive emerging artists this year, UPSAHL has already made a huge impression. International touring, a 2021 album (Lady Jesus), and a new E.P., Sagittarius, UPSAHL also released a live album. She is one of the most original artists around. I have heard no other artist like her. The Arizona native is someone that you need to follow. There are so many interesting and revealing interviews with her, so I am bringing a few in here. Before then, I think UPSAHL is another artist who has this captivating and hugely magnetic screen presence. Musicians do translate to film and T.V., but I think there are big roles in the future of the Taylor Cameron Upsahl. She is someone who can easily translate to acting as her musical and lyrical range is extraordinary. I am fascinated to see how her career blossoms and evolves. Her music suggests she is going to be a gigantic artist very soon. There are interviews I am keen to source. I am going to start by going back to 2021.

A year when she was breaking through and released a tremendous album, Songwriter Universe discussed her brilliant work so far. Including co-writes for Dua Lipa, UPSAHL was also establishing herself as an incredibly impressive solo artist with a unique lyrical voice:

“Young singer/songwriter UPSAHL, 22, is emerging as a talented artist to watch and a successful songwriter. Combining pop music with a punk/alternative edge, she has released an array of excellent singles plus two EPs (Hindsignt 20/20 and Young Life Crisis). Impressively, she is attracting millions of views on YouTube, and she is signed to a label deal with Arista Records.

In the past two years, UPSAHL (whose full name is Taylor Upsahl) has released over a dozen singles that demonstrate that she’s a unique artist who is full of creativity and energy. She has an uninhibited attitude, and she’s not afraid to write & release songs with titles such as “Drugs,”

“12345SEX,” “People I Don’t Like,” “STOP!” and “Stressed.” In addition, she’s a strong singer and her songs are produced with a fresh, cutting-edge sound.

Besides building her career as an artist, UPSAHL is developing her skills as a pro songwriter who can write for other artists. Notably, she co-wrote with Dua Lipa the song “Good in Bed,” which is on Lipa’s platinum album, Future Nostalgia. She also co-wrote the single “Boyshit” for rising pop artist Madison Beer.

Born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, UPSAHL grew up in a musical family. Her father, Mike Upsahl, is a veteran musician who has played in several punk bands. Early on, she learned to play piano and guitar, and she attended the Arizona School for the Arts. It was during her high school years that she also wrote & recorded songs, and posted videos on YouTube.

Soon after graduating from the School for the Arts, UPSAHL moved to Los Angeles to pursue her music career. She impressed David Massey (President & CEO) of Arista Records, who signed her to a label deal. Her early single “Can You Hear Me Now” created a viral buzz, and then her single “Drugs” (from her first EP, Hindsight 20/20) had a major impact. The video for “Drugs” has attracted over six million views, and the song has been used in nearly two million TikTok videos.

Last year (2020), UPSAHL released her second EP, Young Life Crisis, which featured the songs “Young Life Crisis,” “People I Don’t Like” and “Sad Sorry After Party.’

We are pleased to do this new Q&A interview with UPSAHL. She tells how she got started in the music business, and discusses her songs “Drugs,” “STOP!” and ‘Happy Endings” (with Mike Shinoda & Iann Dior). She also tells how she co-wrote “Good in Bed” for Dua Lipa.

DK: I read that you’re from Phoenix, and your dad is a musician. So how did you get started with music and writing songs?

UPSAHL: Growing up I watched my dad, who was in punk bands, so I was obsessed with that culture and community. When I was six, I would wake up and have breakfast, and there would be bands in my living room because they had come to Phoenix and crashed at our house. So I would have breakfast with all these punk rockers (laughs) and touring musicians. And I was obsessed with the vibe of it all and I was like, “I need to be a part of this.”

Because my dad was in music, we had a bunch of instruments, and I picked up the guitar and piano at a young age. Ever since I can remember, music has always been the only option for me…I’ve enjoyed it since I was a kid.

DK: I read that you attended the Arizona School for the Arts, and you started releasing your own songs and videos. Can you talk about that period of your life?

UPSAHL: The Arizona School for the Arts is from 5th grade to 12th grade, so I was there from the time I was 10 until I graduated from high school. It literally felt like High School Musical—I would wake up, go to my academic classes, and in the afternoon it would be arts classes and singing & playing piano. So I was around a bunch of other creatives and people who were into performing arts.

When I was growing up, I was always writing songs, but it wasn’t until I did a talent show at school, that I was approached by one of my teachers who had a recording studio. She was like, “Oh you’re kind of good—do you want to roll through our recording studio and record this song?” And I was like, “Sure.” So that was my first glimpse into being in a studio. From there, I ended up recording three albums in high school, and I would play around the Phoenix venues. It was really fun”.

I am going to move into 2022. After lockdown and a hard time for all artists, ENFNTS TERRIBLES  caught up with her as she toured Brussels. An interview in a great location, you can tell how much it meant for UPSAHL to be on the road and meeting her international fans. In addition to her huge U.S. fanbase, she has followers and admirers all around the globe:

“We’ve been stuck inside for such a long time. How is it to finally perform at all these places you’ve never been to before and meet all these new people?

It’s a trip for sure. When you’re opening for someone, you don’t expect anyone to know you because they’re waiting for the headliner. Every night has been very special, though, with people in the audience who know the words to my songs. I’m always like, “Wait, I’ve never met you, we’re from a different country, and you know the same words that I know.” It’s such a cool way to connect to people, and my favorite part of touring is definitely meeting people and hanging out to get to know everyone.

You released Lady Jesus, a very personal album, last year. Do you find it easy to share your stories with the world, especially, because they have been yours for so long?

Lady Jesus is obviously a very autobiographical road through my breakup and healing process. I was very unapologetic throughout the writing process. There’s a song on it called “Lunatic” where I sing: “I’ll punch you in the tiny dick”. That is a lyric I would never write down, but I had in mind that these songs would never come out, and it would be fine. Then it came out, and I was thinking that I was maybe a bit too unapologetic on this. It was a fun process for me to realize that as an artist, the point of dropping songs and releasing music is that you should be a little scared to share it with the world. T

What makes music exciting for the listener too. Once I got over that fear and dropped Lady Jesus, it was no longer mine but everyone else’s. It’s been super cool to see other people connect to certain songs, and I feel like the whole idea of Lady Jesus has taken on a life of its own because of my fans

Is the person you are now very different from the person you were, for example, two years ago?

I hope so. It’s funny to start out young in a job; I was eighteen and graduated high school, and to look back on some of the music I dropped … It’s so embarrassing, but it’s part of the growing process. Also, my outfits or how I wore my hair … like, “Girl, what the fuck were you doing?” But it’s nice because I have my whole catalog of music to narrate my life. When I’m old, I can listen to the songs and remind myself how I was feeling when I was eighteen.

 This new generation of artists has new tools to promote music, like, for example, TikTok. How is it to use TikTok to promote music?

It’s a trip. I’ve been talking to my other friends who are artists too, and we were all agreeing that we don’t know what the fuck we’re doing. TikTok is a thing now, and the way of marketing songs now has been flipped on its head. It’s completely different now, and it’s so freeing, in a sense. The music industry and what songs are becoming hits … it’s not being run by old white guys in an A&R office anymore. It’s literally run by the people on TikTok you connect with, and that’s what’s so cool about it all. It’s a free focus group once you post a new song because people will let you know if they like your song or not. It eliminated the middlemen to put out music; you can get in touch with fans and literally see what they want from you.

We’re almost halfway through 2022. What are you planning for the upcoming months?

Touring Europe has always been a massive goal of mine, so the fact that I’m even here every day and wake up in different cities every day is so cool. I’m going to put out an EP in Fall that I’ve been working on. Further, we’re doing a headline tour in the States, and we’re announcing a European tour soon. This year will be busy with a lot of new music coming out and putting out my album. I’m a completely different person, and I’m super hyped”.

Keeping things on the road, NME spoke with URSAHL as she was playing Berlin. This was back in November. A busy and itinerant year for the U.S. artist, I think that she is going to be visiting a lot of new places through this year. The fact UPSAHL is already commanding stages around the world so early in her career shows how people have embraced her – and how powerful and amazing her music is:

“After finding online success during the pandemic on TikTok with viral tracks like ‘Drugs’ – a grunge-flecked smash that’s racked up almost a million videos using the sound on the app – UPSAHL has built an impressive fanbase who are now able to rock out with her IRL. For UPSAHL, being able to perform live has also made her internet fame feel tangible. “There’s something about being locked in your room and you’re [wondering], ‘Okay, these numbers are here, but do these people exist?’ So now [being] in fucking Berlin and having people buy tickets to a show, it makes it all feel like, ‘Oh, cool. No one’s playing a practical joke on me. This is actually real!’” she says.

PHOTO CREDIT: Aubree Estrella

From the moment the lights go down in Lido and UPSAHL bounds on-stage flanked by her guitarist and drummer, the energy is kicked up a notch. As she performs, she bears resemblance to No Doubt-era Gwen Stefani, commanding the crowd as the ringleader of her alt-rock circus while demanding the Berlin audience to raise their middle fingers up. Every song is bellowed back at her, in a physical testament to the community that UPSAHL’s created. By the time she reaches ‘Into My Body’ the room transforms into a sweaty, moshing dance party – the audience are clearly thrilled to let loose and join the rave.

This tour feels like a true breakout moment. After several years of UPSAHL building this fanbase online, now they can live in these songs together. “Every single one of these shows is making me so emotional,” she concludes. “I’m just trying to soak it all up as much as I can.”

How do you think your new EP ‘Sagittarius’ differs from your debut album?

“‘Lady Jesus’ was very much therapy in an album for me. I went through this breakup that was my first lost love or whatever you want to call it, and I lost my mind. I thought the world was ending as everyone does when they go through their first heartbreak. I start the album in a very dark place, and then end in a really great place and you can see the work that I put in on myself throughout the album.

“‘Sagittarius’ is building on top of the great place that I ended ‘Lady Jesus’ in and now going into self-discovery, and working through my own personal shit, and figuring myself out rather than figuring other people out. I’m in a very healthy, selfish time in my life, which is fun.”

You’ve been doing meet and greets on tour. What do these sessions mean to you?

“The show is very interactive with my fans, which is really fun; but obviously during the show I can’t just sit down and talk to them for the whole set. Getting to do meet and greets before the show is always so fun. It’s the calm before the storm, everyone’s excited, but also we’re just chilling in the venue. It’s so low key and getting to hear people’s stories, and some people come in and have my lyrics tattooed and just getting to have that basic human connection is the coolest thing ever.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Aubree Estrella 

Did his fanbase take you under their wing?

“They did. They’re amazing. It’s really fun on this headlining tour having so many people pull up to my shows and saying: ‘I found you because you opened for Yungblud’. They are just fans of music, and they love live music. Those are the type of fans I want, [they] are people who are down to go to shows and rage, and that’s what Yungblud fans are. It’s been cool to have them now join our little community.”

Looking to the future, what milestones do you want to achieve?

“I mean, obviously the GRAMMYs, that’d be sick. But in the past year or two I’ve found so much inner peace in finding the success in the day-to-day. The fact I’m sitting with you right now and we’re in Berlin, and we get to go play a show later, to me that’s a moment in itself. I’m taking as much as I can of all of this in, as everything is fleeting and I’m just trying to enjoy the fact I can do this headlining tour and who knows what’s next. Every day is a success to me right now”.

Before getting to a review of the remarkable Sagittarius E.P., Rolling Stone spoke with UPSAHL and got a breakdown of the phenomenal tracks. It is an honest and open E.P. that embraces the good and bad sides of her. If you have not heard this gem of an E.P., then you really do need to do so right now! It proves what an unbelievable talent UPSAHL is:

“If somebody asked me to explain myself at my core as a human being, I would tell them to listen to Sagittarius,” she tells Rolling Stone. “This is the first time in my life that I dove fully into myself throughout the writing process, and the songs definitely reflect that self-discovery. Each song represents a different part of me that makes me who I am.”

If the project was her Tarot card reader, this is what they would say: “I crave change, I live for intensity, I’m extremely passionate (sometimes to a fault), I exert power in as many aspects of my life as I can, and I’m unbothered as fuck,” Upsahl says.

The project follows her debut LP Lady Jesus, which she released last year, and she says was really about “very specific” instances in her life and the issues she was facing at the time. This time, there was no situations: “I just had myself,” she says. “Finding a healthy level of selfishness for this EP, and learning to embrace the self-discovery aspect of songwriting is what made this process so freeing.

As she wraps the year and celebrates her 24th birthday, Upsahl says she’s excited for the honest-filled future that’s in store for her in 2023. “I genuinely feel like I found the happiest version of myself this year, so I can’t wait to build off of that in the next year,” she says.

Kickflip

Upsahl: The day I wrote “Kickflip,” I was nearing the end of the writing process for the EP, and I realized that I had covered so many pieces of myself but was missing the part of me that is unbothered as fuck. Kickflip pinpoints that part of the night where you are feeling on top of the world. You feel hot, you want to stir the pot up a bit, you want to entertain, be entertained, be spontaneous, and you feel like nothing in the world can get you out of that mood. I don’t even know how to do a “kickflip,” but that’s the unbothered energy I wanted to harness!

Into My Body

Being such an intense person, I feel all of my feelings to the extreme, so when I started to feel out of my body and not like myself, I felt it HARD. I could have written a sad song about dissociating and called it a day, but I think the day I wrote it, I needed something empowering to pull me out of that space. The combination of sad and sexy and vulnerable and fun that we put into the song felt the most “me” that day, and that intense energy is a big part of who I am.

Skin Crawl

“Skin Crawl” is about taking your power back. It’s about when you get caught up in the stress of life and realize that sometimes it’s okay to want to feel nothing or, in this case, want to just feel without overthinking. I want people to let go of that mundane feeling and find power in its simplest form. Our feelings. It’s also about rolling and that magnetic energy you get, so take what you will from that.

Antsy

I wrote Antsy during a time in my life when I was quite the shitshow – which is most of the time. I remember having this ongoing list in my head of things about my life that I wanted to change. Things about myself, my career, my personal life, my relationships, etc. All of these things were completely within my control, and I was craving change in my life so badly. But sometimes, those lists that we all have get so overwhelming that it’s easier to just ignore the whole thing and stay antsy…”

Toast

I realized how passionate I am while writing “Toast.” Being such a fiery person, it’s second nature to dive into things head first, and even when I try not to, that’s what my heart and mind always do. Toast is me leaning into that passion and accepting it. Sometimes when things are coming to an end, whether it’s relationships or periods of our lives, we prolong the inevitable and avoid that ending at all costs in order to protect our feelings. Writing this song felt very reflective and almost empowering in a way”.

I am going to round up now. Broadway World had their say about the tremendous Sagittarius. It is an E.P. that offers up new layers, insights and rewards each time you pass through it. I have no doubt that the stunning UPSAHL is going to go from strength to strength through this year. There is so much love behind her already. An artist who has a great affection for her fans:

“Pop iconoclast UPSAHL has released her new EP Sagittarius via Arista Records.

On Sagittarius, UPSAHL offers listeners an introspective glimpse into her dynamic personality and explores the multifaceted experience of being a Sagittarius. A purveyor of self-love and confidence, UPSAHL's EP revolves around themes of acceptance, tapping into inner strength, and resilience. Each song on the project taps into a different trait intrinsic to the fire sign.

The project is accompanied by brief VFX vignettes giving listeners a visual for each song, further immersing them in the world of being a Sagittarius. Each clip illustrates UPSAHL physically transforming into the traits her lyrics allude to with theatrical costumes and dramatically edited backdrops.

A highlight off the EP "Toast," co-written by Tove Lo, takes viewers on a musical journey in the bed of a truck as city lights whirl around her, while focus track "Kickflip" showcases an all-powerful UPSAHL in a regal red gown with a slithering snake growing from it.

Sagittarius notably features previously released singles "Into My Body," a reclamation of confidence set to a syncopated pop beat, and "Antsy" which tackles the sign's frenetic and intense train of thought. They earned praise from outlets including, V Magazine which said to expect more, "funny anecdotes, brutally honest confessions, and deep, existential revelations from UPSAHL." See full tracklisting below.

On the inspiration behind the EP, UPSAHL shares, "If somebody asked me to explain myself at my core as a human being, I would tell them to listen to Sagittarius. This is the first time in my life where I dove fully into myself throughout the writing process, and the songs definitely reflect that self discovery. Each song represents a different part of me that makes me who I am... I crave change, I live for intensity, I'm extremely passionate (sometimes to a fault), I exert power in as many aspects of my life as I can, and I'm unbothered as f."


She continues, "This EP is about owning all parts of myself, even the not so great ones. I think no matter who you are (or what sign you are), there's a piece of everyone in these songs. Sagittarius is about letting go of all the outside bulls and amplifying the simplest parts of who you are. It feels really good to own that. When people listen to this EP, I hope they feel inspired to own every aspect of themselves and scream about it at the top of their lungs, because that's what I got to do while writing these songs."

In just a few short years, UPSAHL has carved out a niche in the songwriting world as she has lent her pen to numerous hits spanning various genres such as Dua Lipa's GRAMMY Award-winning "Good in Bed," Madison Beer's fiery single "BOYs," and "Happy Endings'' with Mike Shinoda and iann dior which went Top 10 at Alt Radio.

UPSAHL collaborated with Anne-Marie and Little Mix and co-wrote "Kiss My (Uh Oh)" a Top 10 single in the UK. Most recently, UPSAHL joined forces with GAYLE on her track "e-z," was featured on the star-studded film Bullet Train soundtrack, with the song "My Time to Shine," co-wrote three songs on Renee Rapp's latest EP Everything To Everyone, and was featured on NGHTMRE's single "ATMOSPHERE" from debut DRMVRSE.

Her latest collaboration with Alan Walker on the single "Shut Up," which UPSAHL co-wrote and is featured on, steadily climbs various charts around the world. She also recently partnered with video game company Dislyte on a new song "Ritual" and music video for the brand. To date, UPSAHL has amassed over 520 million streams on her music.

Sagittarius follows on the heels of UPSAHL's highly successful debut headline tour, where she sold out venues across the US, and then continued on an expansive international tour, which included Australia, the UK and Europe”.

This year is going to be a hugely successful one for the Arizona artist. UPSAHL has all the components and ammunition for long-lasting success. Such a passionate and inspirational artist, her army of fans is growing ever larger. If you are looking to see which artist is going to make a massive impact this year, then look no further than…

THE sensational UPSAHL.

____________

Follow UPSAHL

FEATURE: One for the Record Collection! Essential January and February Releases

FEATURE:

 

 

One for the Record Collection!

IN THIS PHOTO: Kelela/PHOTO CREDIT: Jai Lennard for Billboard

 

Essential January and February Releases

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2023 is starting out pretty hot…

and there are two particularly huge albums due in the next couple of months. I have selected the albums due out this month and next that you will want to own. I am going to start with a great album due out on 13th January. Margot Price’s Strays is an album that I would urge people to pre-order on vinyl. It follows her brilliant third studio album, That's How Rumors Get Started:

“Produced by Margo Price and Jonathan Wilson, Strays was primarily recorded in the summer of 2021, during a week spent at Fivestar Studio in California’s Topanga Canyon. While most of the songwriting took place the summer prior – during a six-day, mushroom-filled trip that Price and her husband Jeremy Ivey took to South Carolina – it was amongst the hallucinatory hills of western Los Angeles that Price experienced the best recording sessions of her career. Instilled with a newfound confidence and comfortability to experiment and explore like never before, Margo Price and her longtime band of Pricetags channelled their telepathic abilities into songs that span rock n roll, psychedelic country, rhythm & blues, and glistening, iridescent pop.

Having been together since the days before Midwest Farmer’s Daughter, her 2016 debut that Rolling Stone named one of the Greatest Country Albums of All Time, Price and her band tracked live in the same room, simultaneously expanding upon and completely exploding the notions of every other album they have made together. With additional vocals from Sharon Van Etten, Mike Campbell and Lucius, plus strings, synthesizers and a breadth of previously untapped sounds, Strays is also Price’s most collaborative record yet. “I feel this urgency to keep moving, keep creating,” says Margo Price. “You get stuck in the same patterns of thinking, the same loops of addiction. But there comes a point where you just have to say, ‘I'm going to be here, I'm going to enjoy it, and I'm not going to put so much stock into checking the boxes for everyone else.’ I feel more mature in the way that I write now, I’m on more than just a search for large crowds and accolades. I’m trying to find what my soul needs”.

I will focus on a few great albums due on 24th January. It is always a bit strange when a member of a mega band releases a solo album. We have seen it with the members of Radiohead. Blur’s members have also released their own work, and now their drummer Dave Rowntree is bringing us the superb Radio Songs. Maybe doing what it says on the cover, this is an essential pre-order that Blur and non-Blur fans alike need to get behind. From what I have heard so far, the album is going to be tremendous. A natural lead, Dave Rowntree is ensuring that a potentially cold January will be made warmer and better with his debut solo studio album! Ensure that you do not miss out on it:

“Blur drummer Dave Rowntree releases his debut album Radio Songs on Cooking Vinyl. Standout track London Bridge was produced with Leo Abrahams (Wild Beasts / Brian Eno / Ghostpoet). It heralds the start of an exciting new project for Rowntree, over three decades since Blur formed back in 1989. London Bridge is an enticing opening statement. Deceptively bright and upbeat, with its staccato ‘la-la-la-la’ hook line, the music belies a lyrical sense of dread. As proficient with a synth or guitar as he is behind the drum-kit, Rowntree’s innate ear for a melody is given free-reign on this scuzzy but impactful, lo-fi number”.

I have been looking forward to Låpsley’s new album, Cautionary Tales of Youth. One of my favourite artists around, I really love her music. The York-born artist follows 2020’s Through Water. That was an amazing album, but I think that Cautionary Tales of Youth is going to top that very high bar. Go and buy the album on vinyl if you can, but there are also cassette and C.D. options. It is going to be a truly magnificent album that I cannot recommend highly enough. Låpsley is one of our greatest treasures. Go and pre-order her new release that is out on 20th January:

“Produced in collaboration with Jessy Lanza, Paul White, Greg Abrahams and regular collaborator Joe Brown, Lapsley’s third album is an intimate but universal exploration of those Cautionary Tales that - eventually - may also prove the making of you.

As eclectic as it is unguarded, the album is a form of therapy in the truest sense: a talking cure and a hauntingly beautiful confession, resulting in a thrilling yet soulful work of love, loss and growth”.

One of the biggest albums due this month is Måneskin’s Rush! The former Eurovision winners are a remarkable band in their own right, and their album is definitely going to court plenty of positive reviews. Out on 20th January, go and pre-order this must-hear album from the Italian legends. There is not a lot of information available about the album, so I wanted to source from an NME interview published last year:

“That spirit to defy expectations is what has driven their hotly-anticipated upcoming third album ‘RUSH!’. After their Eurovision 2021 win introduced the band to the wider world, singles like ‘I Wanna Be Your Slave’, ‘MAMMAMIA’ and ‘Supermodel’ have showcased their more raucous edges. The tender and epic balladry of recent single ‘The Loneliest’ surprised many, and is a tasty morsel of what to expect from the upcoming LP. As David puts it, “People have got our aesthetic – now we’ve got to show the inside.”

“It’s a new side for our new audience, but we’ve always been playing ballads,” says De Angelis of the single. “That’s always been a big part of our music, so with this one we tried to experiment a bit more with the sound. We listened to a lot of Radiohead where they work a lot with pedals.”

Guitarist Thomas Raggi agrees: “It’s cool to give another taste of our kind of ballad. Each one of us has different tastes, so we mixed them all together.”

The band tell us how they’re currently listening to the final mixes of the next record, with David revealing how “it’s stepped out of its comfort zone and is trying to do new things”, showcasing “a lot of variety and music skills.”

 Elaborating on the Radiohead influences on the project, David explains: “I think that the inspiration we got from Radiohead was to be very focussed on creating a very specific world for each song.”

“It’s something they do very, very well so we tried to create these amazing atmospheres. They really create an image of what you’re listening to, and that gave us inspiration.”

The band reveal that they’re hoping to attend Eurovision 2023 if they’re “free”. Not only have they never been to Liverpool, but the Song Contest will always hold a special place in their hearts that they’re not looking to forget.

“We’ve never been scared of the Eurovision label,” David admits. “For us, Eurovision was never the goal – it was just a way to reach our goals. Many artists make huge mistakes when they go to these TV shows with just one song. They create a whole image for the TV show so when it’s over, they have basically nothing to share with fans. We were lucky because we already had two albums and one EP. Once the show was over, people could listen to something and see that we already had five years of a career and touring. That was the sliding door for us.”

He adds: “We’ve never been afraid of being ‘a Eurovision artist’ forever. We knew that it was going to change our lives. We’re happy, and we will always remember Eurovision as one of the main steps of our career.”

De Angelis hopes that Eurovision will prove to be more of a platform for discovering legitimate new artists, which doesn’t seem unreasonable anymore. How would they respond to the idea that Måneskin finally made Eurovision cool? “I’m not complaining about that!” the bassist laughs, before David coolly adds: “I’ll take the credit”.

There are a couple of albums from 27th January I want to highlight, before I move to essential February-due albums. The first 27th January album is Samia’s Honey. One of the promising young artists coming through, everyone needs to pre-order a copy of this wonderful album:

“There’s a line on Honey, the latest album from Nashville-via-NYC songwriter Samia, about Aspen Grove, a collection of 40,000 trees in the plains of North America, all connected by a single expansive root system. There’s no stronger metaphor for the audience the 25-year-old empathy engine has been generating since she began releasing music seven years ago. Her songs, her fans, her friends: one enormous, interconnected ecosystem.

Honey, comprised of eleven new moments of catharsis, is by and for that organism. The album was recorded at North Carolina studio Betty’s - owned and operated by Sylvan Esso’s Nick Sandborn and Amelia Meath, frequent touring partners of Samia’s. It was produced by Caleb Wright, part of the team that helmed Samia’s breakthrough 2020 debut The Baby, and a founding member of one of Samia’s favourite bands, The Happy Children. It features some of her nearest and dearest friends: Christian Lee Hutson, Briston Maroney, Jake Luppen, Raffaella. Its songs were surreptitiously road tested for her devotees while opening for Lucy Dacus, Courtney Barnett, and more.

The end result is what Samia calls simply “a real community record.” Samia calls her music “pathologically confessional,” and though she doesn’t mind being the latest addition to the “sad girl” indie rock canon, Honey finds her less concerned with being a “sad girl” than fascinated by the things that keep us together. Memories. Friendship. Small things and big things like Aspen Grove. On this stylish and vulnerable new record, Samia holds the mirror up to herself and allows us to see ourselves in the reflection”.

Before getting to February, there is another great January album you need to own. Meg Baird is a phenomenal American musician based in California. In addition to her solo career, she is known as a founding member, lead vocalist, and drummer for Heron Oblivion. Baird was also a guitarist and the lead female vocalist in Philadelphia psychedelic Folk Rock band, Espers. She has played in a number of projects. This solo album is going to be amazing. I am curious to hear it, and Furling is going to be assuredly nuanced and wonderful. I would urge people to listen back to Meg Baird’s previous worth and her solo albums. She is an artist who has been on the scene a while, but I feel her most affecting and striking music is from her solo albums. Go and pre-order Furling if you can:

“Furling moves through the breadth of Meg’s musical fascinations and the environments around them - edges of memory, daydreams spanning years, loose ends, divergent paths, secret conversations under stars - all led by a stirring, singular voice calling experience and enlightenment, elation, and ecstasy into bloom”.

There are a few albums due out on 3rd February that are going to be worthy of your pennies. I would encourage people to pre-order Ellie Goulding’s Higher Than Heaven. The Pop megastar is about to be release what I think is her strongest album to date. Having been in the industry for years, she has lost none of her power and magic. Higher Than Heaven is another album shaping up to be a superb work. Goulding is a very prolific artist, so there are high hopes for her fifth studio album. It follows the strong and acclaimed Brightest Blue of 2020:

“Pop megastar Ellie Goulding releases her highly anticipated fifth studio album, Higher Than Heaven. Some of pop music’s finest were enlisted to craft the album with her including Greg Kurstin (Sia, Maggie Rogers, Elton John), Jessie Shatkin (Charli XCX, Years and Years), Koz (Sam Ryder, Madonna, Dua Lipa) and Andrew Wells (Halsey, Yungblud). The record sees Ellie put her own spin on modern pop music. Higher Than Heaven is jam packed with infectious hits that see Goulding’s signature vocals take center stage, with top notch production, stomping basslines, soaring synths and euphoric melodies”.

Before getting to the middle of February, an earlier treat comes in the former of Shania Twain’s new album, Queen of Me. Go and pre-order a new treat from the Canadian legend. Twain is one of those artists who does something different with every album. I cannot find much information about the themes and tones that define Queen of Me. It does seem, as we read here, that she is more confident in her skin and herself as she is now in her fifties:

“Shania Twain is getting ready to release her new album, "Queen of Me," in 2023 and said she's feeling more comfortable and confident in her skin than ever before.

"I am a woman in my late 50s, and I don't need to hide behind the clothes," Twain told People in a new interview.

Self-confidence is a theme on the new album "Queen of Me," and the song's lead single, "Waking Up Dreaming," is a celebration of learning to love who you are.

In September, Shania posed topless for the cover art of "Waking Up Dreaming," a move that she told People was all about underscoring the comfort she feels in her own skin, especially as she ages.

 "I can't even tell you how good it felt to do nude shooting. I was just so unashamed of my new body, you know, as a woman that is well into my menopause. I'm not even emotional about it; I just feel okay about it. It's really liberating," said the singer, who is 57.

"I am not regressing. I am embracing my body as it changes, as I should have from my childhood to my teens, as I should be from my taut, 20s and 30-year-old self, to my menopausal body," said added. "I'm not going to be shy about it. I want to be courageous about it, and I want to share that courage in the artwork that I am directing”.

This is an album that comes from one of the most successful female artists ever. Let us hope that we get music from the iconic Shania Twain for years to come. Even though her sound has changed since the 1990s, the quality of her music is still extraordinary! She is definitely a legend whose music will be played and remembered for decades to come. Go and ensure you pre-order a copy of Queen of Me.

There are eight more albums that I want to get to soon. Before that, here is another one from 3rd February. Young Fathers’ Heavy Heavy is going to be another golden release from the Scottish band. They always give the world such exceptional albums, so there is no excuse to miss out on their new one:

“Mercury Prize winning Edinburgh trio Young Fathers are back following 2018’s standout Cocoa Sugar. Made up of Alloysious Massaquoi, Graham ‘G’ Hastings and Kayus Bankole, Young Fathers have long been recognised as one of Britain’s most vital and distinguished bands - merging incendiary and thought provoking lyrics with cutting edge visuals and an undeniable propulsive live show.

Written and recorded over the course of three years, the longest time taken on a Young Fathers album, Heavy Heavy is a tour de force from the Edinburgh trio. An overarching theme of being human can be felt throughout the ten track album, exploring the feelings of euphoria and rush of emotion experienced at the end of a struggle, a sense of fulfilment as a result of the toil and hard graft that life throws at everyone. An unashamedly soulful and heartfelt album, where the drums set the scene throughout to transport the listener to a place of celebration and awakening”.

Let’s come to 10th February. There are a series of wonderful albums due that week. The brilliant Amber Arcades is releasing her new album, Barefoot on Diamond Road. This is another I would urge people to pre-order. She is an artist I love a lot. Maybe not as known as some of the other artists I will name in this feature, let’s hope Barefoot on Diamond Road changes that:

“Barefoot On Diamond Road is the third album from Dutch singer / songwriter Amber Arcades. A record of engaging maturity, filled with slow motion builds and epic lifts that elevate it to dizzying heights.

Immersed in an all-consuming wall of sound, Barefoot On Diamond Road is like My Bloody Valentine gone acoustic, it shouldn’t work but it does; it’s a juxtaposition of textures, from skittery, uneasy dancefloor beats to symphonic kosmische, a baroque pop tapestry side-stitched with cellos and harps with a plaintive steel guitar echoing in the distance.

Conceived remotely with original sparring partner Ben Greenberg (Danny Elfman, Depeche, Ryley Walker) in New York and Annelotte in Amsterdam. It’s a coming of age set in a new town with a new positivity underpinning her, as ever, beautifully crafted and highly personal observations on life, love and how it all should or could work.

“This record really reveals parts of me and my relationship with being a musician and making music. It’s like a reckoning, more in the moment, realizing how important it is to do things for the right reasons and how that can change your process into one that embraces what exists, including yourself.”

Amber Arcades’ new album Barefoot On Diamond Road marks a new phase for a highly respected musician”.

One of the most-anticipated albums of this year comes from the magnificent Kelela. Her 2017 debut, Take Me Apart, is a masterpiece. Her second studio album, Raven, is going to get so much press and love. I predict this will be another year-defining album from the Washington-born genius. Go and pre-order Raven if you can:

“Kelela’s next chapter, Raven, promises a sonically beautiful and lustrous experience. On Raven, Kelela emerges from the tides of her higher self’s oceanic orbit to explore autonomy, belonging and self-renewal as healing across the fifteen-track LP. “Washed Away” and “Happy Ending” have already both been regaled with critical acclaim: Pitchfork called “Washed Away” a “showcase for her swooping soprano” and “Happy Ending” also demonstrative of her “breathy, decorous vocals.”

“I started this process from the feeling of isolation and alienation I’ve always had as a black femme in dance music, despite its black origins. Raven is my first breath taken in the dark, an affirmation of black femme perspective in the midst of systemic erasure and the sound of our vulnerability turned to power,” Kelela says about the project.

Skillfully straddling the frequencies of R&B and Dance music, Kelela has established herself as an artistic interpolator of music, art and fashion. Her early works Cut 4 Me (2013) and Hallucinogen (2015) were momentous examples of her singular spirit, and cemented her artistry as a leading force in the alternative, underground R&B and electronic worlds. She has since collaborated with fellow visionary artists like Solange, Gorillaz, Andrew Thomas Huang and Danny Brown. Thoughtfully intermixing elegance, futurism, divinity and sensuality, Kelela’s unique perspective has carved a lane that demonstrates style as both a component of art, and art in and of itself”.

One of the biggest albums of the year arrives on 10th February. Paramore’s This Is Why is a welcomed new album from the band. It follows their 2017 album, After Laughter. I am excited to hear the latest release from the Tennessee band fronted by the remarkable Hayley Williams. Go and pre-order This Is Why now:

“This Is Why was the very last song we wrote for the album. To be honest, I was so tired of writing lyrics but Taylor convinced Zac and I both that we should work on this last idea. What came out of it was the title track for the whole album. It summarizes the plethora of ridiculous emotions, the rollercoaster of being alive in 2022, having survived even just the last 3 or 4 years. You’d think after a global pandemic of fucking biblical proportions and the impending doom of a dying planet, that humans would have found it deep within themselves to be kinder or more empathetic or something. The public sphere we find ourselves re-entering after 4 years at home, in our comfort zones, is an entirely different thing than the one we knew. The restlessness, the anxiety, and the compulsion to take action— it all feels like a contradiction. On one hand, we have a legitimate platform to use which makes me want to march at every protest for social justice and devote every waking second to every single cause I believe in. On the other, I just want to go home, plant a garden, and become a distant memory to the outside world”.

I think I can include five more albums. This takes us to 17th February. The magnificent Anna B Savage releases in|FLUX then. Another music treasure that is making music of the highest order, you need to ensure that you pre-order this album. Savage is a remarkable artist whose music I have been a fan of for a while now. I feel that in|FLUX is going to be her biggest statement to date. From what we have heard so far, in|FLUX is shaping up to be a work of brilliance:

“Anna B Savage has always asked questions in her music, but on new album in|FLUX answers are no longer her quest. Vulnerability and curiosity have consistently been operative words to describe her work and on her second album she ruminates on the complexities and variables of humanity, the pain or pleasure of love, loss and earthly connection, capturing it all in devastating, elating and powerful ways. The key difference between this and previous releases: she’s not anxious about what’s on the other side. She’s come to appreciate staying afloat - basking even - in the open ended, uncertainty of the grey area”.

Before rounding things up with 24th February albums, there is one more from 17th that I want to highlight. P!nk’s TRUSTFALL is one I am interested in. P!nk is a legend and icon, so anything she releases needs to be met with respect and anticipation. I have been following P!nk since the ‘90s. Such an enduring and special artist, I am going to urge people to pre-order TRUSTFALL. Again, I cannot find too much information online about the album, but this interview reveals the fact P!nk feels TRUSTFALL is her best album yet:

“The Doylestown, Pennsylvania native's forthcoming album is personal to her for many reasons, she said.

One of the main reasons she feels it's one of her best to date is due to the time she spent making it.

"I took time. I had time and I had a lot of really devastating things happen," she said. "My son and I got really sick with COVID. That sort of distilled down for me what actually matters. And it takes a crisis to do that."

She continued, "It takes your kids getting sick to be like, 'Okay, none of this matters. I wanna see my kids grow up. That's what I want.' I want to only put truth into the world. I want to only be authentic. And I want to be kinder and a better person.

Along with fighting COVID in early 2020 alongside her son Jameson, who is now 5-years-old, the singer also experienced the tragic loss of her father Jim Moore in 2021.

She said the loss reminded her that we all have "a certain amount of time left," which she channeled into her album.

"I just started making music and making -- speaking in melody," she said. "And it came together."

Pink said she's seen how her music has the ability to bring people together and she hopes to do the same with the new album.

"My album is a piece of me, and I think that I am an example of how you can live authentically and fearlessly, in ways," she shared. "And if you look at my show ... I'm a touring artist, that's what I do. We're a traveling city, we're diverse, inclusive, we are a model of what can work."

"We pray to different Gods, we have different skin colors, we believe in all kinds of different things -- you name it, go down the list of differences," she continued. "We love each other, we disagree, we stay together and we show each other our different cultures”.

An album that might pass some by, I think people should be aware of Gina Birch’s I Play My Bass Loud. Out on 24th February, I am really intrigued by it. I would recommend people go ahead and pre-order an album that is going to be pretty amazing. If you have some pennies set aside for albums in February, make sure that Birch’s album is near the top of your list:

“As one-half of the Raincoats’ core duo since 1977, Gina Birch is a punk icon with a pop sensibility, an art-schooled adventurer who has painted, filmed, and performed by her own rules for over 45 years—using her visual art to tell stories, charging raw recordings with concepts. Her history converges onto her first solo album, I Play My Bass Loud, its title evoking her singular approach to her instrument as well as an ethos. She won’t hang back, or play a supporting role. She is now taking centre stage.

In September of 2021, Gina released her first ever solo single, Feminist Song, on Third Man Records in celebration of the opening of their brand new London location. In February of 2023, Third Man release Gina’s brand new and first ever solo full length album, I Play My Bass Loud, recorded by Martin “Youth” Glover from Killing Joke and featuring Thurston Moore from Sonic Youth.

The songs of I Play My Bass Loudwere largely finished before Birch brought them to co-producer Youth, of Killing Joke, who has developed an impressive pedigree collaborating with legendary punk women like Poly Styrene and Viv Albertine, and brought in things like middle eights and choruses. But there were also some moments of spontaneity in assembling a handful of tracks from almost-scratch. In the studio, Birch and Youth built “I Am Rage” into a pop song from its beginning as “a whispered poem.” Together, they wrote a bonafide alt-rock anthem, “Wish I Was You,” and its preceding tone poem, “And Then It Happened,” which Birch called “a letter to myself.” The pair of songs collectively narrate a shift in perception—a woman stepping ever-further into her power and thriving—propelled by a much-deserved wind. Birch said “Wish I Was You” was a joke at first—“I used to wish I was you,” she sings, “But now you wish you were me”—though she also admits, “in every joke, there’s some truth”.

A group that needs no introduction, Gorillaz are releasing their eight studio album, Cracker Island, on 24th February. If you have not heard anything from Cracker Island, then go and get onto it now. It is going to be a brilliant album. You can pre-order it here. There is not a lot of background or any real detail available about the album, but Rough Trade do provide us with a few details. I love the fact that both Stevie Nicks and Beck are among the collaborators that are going to feature on Cracker Island:

“Cracker Island is the eight studio album from Gorillaz, an energetic, upbeat, genre-expansive collection of 10 tracks featuring yet another stellar line-up of artist collaborators: Thundercat, Tame Impala, Bad Bunny, Stevie Nicks, Adeleye Omotayo, Bootie Brown and Beck. Recorded in London and LA earlier this year, it is produced by Gorillaz, Remi Kabaka jr. and eight-time Grammy Award-winning producer / multi-instrumentalist / songwriter extraordinaire Greg Kurstin”.

I mentioned earlier, when writing about Dave Rowntree’s solo album, that Radiohead members have released solo work. Rowntree is the drummer for Blur, and Philip Selway is the drummer for Radiohead. His album, Strange Dance, is out on 24th February. Although it will sound different to Rowntree’s album, both are stellar works from musicians in giant and hugely influential bands. It is an album that fans of Selway will want to pre-order:

“When Philip Selway approached some of his favourite musicians to play on his third solo record he said he imagined it as a Carole King record if she collaborated with the pioneering electronic composer Daphne Oram and invited him to drum on it. Unsurprisingly they were all sold, and so began the bringing together of an extraordinary number of gifted people, including Hannah Peel, Adrian Utley, Quinta, Marta Salogni, Valentina Magaletti and Laura Moody.

Foregrounding this remarkable union of musical voices was 10 songs written by Selway at home on piano and guitar that show him at the height of his songwriting powers. As Strange Dance unfurls, it takes the listener through different weathers and seasons. Each song carries varied and diverse shades and textures of emotion. Lyrically, it is artful. Selway has a gift at writing heartfelt lyrics which could relate to any number of human experiences”.

There are other amazing albums out this month and next, but I have highlighted the ones that I think are particularly important and worthy. From huge albums by Kelela, Gorillaz, and Paramore, through to those that might not get the same focus, there is a great selection to be found. If you are looking around for great albums to pre-order, then I hope that the suggestions above…

POINT you in the right direction!

FEATURE: Spotlight: Caity Baser

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

 PHOTO CREDIT: Lily Craigen

 

Caity Baser

__________

I am featuring a lot of American artists…

in my Spotlight feature, but I want to focus on a British artist who is going to go a very long way. Southampton-raised, Brighton-based Caity Baser is just twenty, but she has already marked herself out as one of the most distinct and talented rising voices around. An honest and authentic artist who is remarkably down-to-earth and unfiltered, it is no wonder her music connects with a young audience. Resonating with so many people – especially young women -, I think that Baser is going to establish herself as a major name very soon. She has been compared to artists like Lily Allen, in the sense that you get an authentic and un-Americanised accent. A tangible artists who many can relate to, her music also translates and connects far wider than a teenage demographic. I am a fan of her sounds, and the fact she has been played on major radio stations and won the focus of a wide range of music websites proves that her sound is universal. I want to bring in just a few of the many fascinating interviews with Caity Baser. We get to find out more about a wonderful artists already tipped among those who are going to change music and direct 2023’s sound. NOTION featured Baser and asked her about her hugely popular song, Friendly Sex, being compared to Lily Allen, and who she’d like to collaborate with in the future:

“What do you think made “Friendly Sex” resonate with so many people on TikTok?

TikTok is so weird sometimes, I don’t know what works and what doesn’t – every time it’s different. The song was just true and I really felt those things at the time and I think that sits with people. Clearly a lot of people were feeling that way too, so it’s nice to feel like you’re not the only one and you’re not completely losing your mind. Also people love it when I do a backstory before the song, they also like it when I’m just being myself. I know that sounds cliché and annoying but I swear that’s when I get the best reaction! Whenever I get all made up and do videos that look proper profesh they never do that well. But when it’s me with no makeup on, towel round the head looking like a mess, they love it! Which works for me cos I cba to go all out every time. Also it makes me happy that people like It best when im just being me. Makes my heart feel SO WARM.

You’ve worked with production duo Future Cut who are known for their work with Lily Allen – what was it like working with people who have collaborated with such big artists so early in your career?

Honestly I went home and cried afterwards it was so amazing. And so surreal. The day before I just started my new job at the Co-Op which I was so excited for, and then the next day I was in this big fancy studio with two of the best producers ever. It was nuts. But I wasn’t nervous at all I felt completely comfortable and like I was supposed to be there. The guys are the best as well we just vibed from the get go and messed around all day while making music. It was the best introduction to the industry I could’ve had and will hold onto it forever.

How do you feel being compared to Lily Allen? Do you take inspiration from her music?

Yeah I love her so much, I always have. She’s just so cool and says whatever the fuck she wants. Also she says ‘rude’ things but makes them sound so sweet and nice which is something that I love doing too. I feel like I take inspiration from everything that I do/see/hear….I love everything. She definitely influenced me to not give a shit about what people say because you can do what you want. Love you Lily, let’s go dance or soemthing!

Which artists would you most like to collaborate with in future and why?

This is so hard! Like I said, I literally love everyone. Ummmmm I feel like Ed Sheehan because he’s just an all-round ledge and that would be crazy! We have similar styles of writing and singing so I think it would work really well. I love Willow Kayne also. Oh, and of course Lily Allen too please. Okay I’m gunna stop ‘cos I’ll be here forever.

How did you feel when your music was played on the radio for the first time?

I ran around the house for about 40 minutes and sent it to everyone I know. It was CRAZY! Growing up I always used to imagine myself being on the radio so when that moment finally came I would not shut up about it. It was the best ever. To hear the people that I grew up listening to say my name and announce my music?!? Like shut up are you mad? That’s crazy! It was so so so so cool. It’s even happened where my friends have been in their cars and I’ve just come on the radio like how wild is that?!”.

So many young artists are getting noticed via TikTok. A wonderful platform that has started the careers of some incredible names, there are those who find viral fame and get noticed that way. Instead, Caity Baser has found a fanbase naturally and has not had to rely on that kind of acclaim. Again, it shows that her music has this potency and quality that is hard to ignore! EUPHORIA. interviewed Baser in May. Again, there are questions about Friendly Sex and comparisons to Lily Allen, but we get to find out the artists that Baser grew up listening to and was inspired by:

“We’ve become so consumed with pop acts rising from TikTok virality over the last two years that it becomes a breath of fresh air when we witness a form of organic growth from the app. Nineteen-year-old Caity Baser is the opposite of a wannabe pop figure, unintentionally building a platform for herself and simply riding the wave that formed.

She debuted with her Lil CB mixtape in summer 2021, and her now manager tuned into one of the many freestyling videos the artist made during lockdown and decided to make the first call. It’s since been smooth sailing for Baser as she draws comparisons to the likes of Lily Allen and Kate Nash for her sharp wit and incorporation of modern British slang within her lyrics.

The latest addition to Baser’s catalog, “Friendly Sex,” extends her momentum, racking up a colossal 4 million views days after posting the 60-second clip online. Running off the adrenaline, Baser headed to the studio with Future Cut (Little Mix, Rihanna) to finish the track, and within a week “Friendly Sex” hit streaming platforms to the sweet tune of 1 million streams and counting.

Speaking to EUPHORIA., Baser gives a retrospective dive into her career thus far and offers a peek into what lurks on the horizon.

Hello Caity! How are you doing today?

Really good, thank you! I came up to London from Southampton because I had a weekend of being crazy with my friends just dancing. Like non-stop. I’m literally so tired, the bags under my eyes are terrible.

Why don’t you briefly explain how you entered the music scene and how long you’ve been writing music?

I posted a TikTok in 2020 during lockdown when life was just terrible, you know, and nothing was going good. I posted a video of me in my pajamas, no makeup on just singing about how much I hated everything. And it got, like, a million views in a night? I never really took TikTok seriously, I just got it to take the mick out of my friends.

And then my now manager messaged me on Instagram and was like, “Hi, I’ve seen your recent TikTok. Can you give me a call?” I was like, “Who are you? why are you calling me?” And she said, “I work for a management company in London; come visit us.” The next day they put me in the studio with Future Cut who is Lily Allen’s producer — the rest is history.

We’ve recorded music all summer and all winter. I’m still doing it now and it’s literally the best thing ever.

You’ve got quite a conventionally British way of songwriting, which can often link comparisons to the likes of Lily Allen, Kate Nash etc. — who did you grow up listening to that you think influenced the way you write music?

The thing is, I grew up listening to every single kind of music you could ever imagine; Motown, jazz, blues, early 2000s boy bands … everything! But I’d say I’ve always been very honest and I’ve always liked listening to funny, honest songs. You know, Rizzle Kicks, Kate Nash, The Streets, I love that kind of stuff. I also love talking about things that have happened to me and I’ll never be metaphorical about it. I’m just like, listen, you’ve annoyed me.

Your track “STD” is what blew things out of the water for you and now the new single “Friendly Sex” is starting to look like the second wave. Could you tell us how this track came about?

Basically, I’ve been hooking up with this guy and you know when it’s nothing and you don’t feel anything, and then there’s one or two nights where you’re like, hang on a minute … Why are you looking at me like that? Then one weekend we went to this techno event and he brought this girl with him. I never usually get jealous but I stood there thinking who was that? Why is she here? Why didn’t I want you to be there with her but with me instead, what does that mean?

I put a beat on whilst I was cleaning my room and the lyrics happened straight away”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Lily Craigen

Breaking away to an interview from NME, and last year was one when Baser was able to play live regularly. Like so many artists, she was finding an audience and getting traction during the pandemic. She has been able to take her music to the masses over the past year or so. NME asked her what it has been like performing live post-lockdown. I like the fact that Caity Baser is especially moved when it is put to her that her music is impacting young women and giving them a voice:

“The road to Reading & Leeds began in earnest back in August 2020 when Baser shared  ‘Average Student’ – a chirpy ode to feeling lost in life and “just kind of winging it” – on TikTok. After the clip racked up over a million views overnight, the Southampton-born artist then received a DM from a management agency and was invited to a London studio – with her lawyer brother in tow – to meet producers Future Cut (best known for their work with Lily Allen).

This unexpected development put paid to Baser’s newly-acquired job at her local Co-op, which she had initially been excited about as a means to save money for studio sessions. “My second shift [I] cried the whole time,” she recalls. “I went in for my third shift and said I’m quitting… how can I get a little taste of what I want, and then go back to normal shit? I couldn’t.”

The risk has paid off: Baser has since gone on to charm her eager and ever-growing fanbase with her personality-packed pop tunes. Tracks like ‘Friendly Sex’ (a  tongue-in-cheek take on sacking off your friend-with-benefits because you’ve started to catch feelings) and ‘X&Y’ (a doo-wop banger that boasts pithy couplets like: “I invested in you like crypto / But I think it’s time to trade”) have racked up millions of streams, soundtracked countless TikTok videos and are now yelled back at Baser whenever she appears on-stage.

Your lyrics are very specific about past situations you’ve been in. Do the people you write about know that your songs are about them?

“I’ll give you facts, receipts, times, what I was wearing! I’m so honest [that] it’s hard for the person to not know it’s about them. I’m still really good friends with some of the people [the songs are] about. One of the boys was at one of my shows and I literally told the story of what happened: I name-dropped him, saying, ‘I think we’ve all had a [she censors out their name today with an “mm-mm”] in our lives’. And then I was like, ‘Fuck you!’ and everyone said it. Then I was like, ‘Point at him and say fuck you!’ It was amazing, and he was just there [looking exasperated]. It’s sick, though: I want to empower girls to be like, ‘Yeah, it’s cool to tell people to fuck off!’”

A lot of women are really identifying with your music. How empowering is that feeling?

“It’s happening again, the goosebumps! I’m getting shivers thinking about it. Yeah, of course it is [empowering]. Growing up I was never sure of anything, and I was quite quiet about my opinions. But now I want to teach people, especially young girls, that it’s so OK to be angry at another person because they’ve done something wrong. You don’t have to go, ‘Oh sorry’. [You can say] ‘No, fuck you. Give me a minute, I’m angry at you, leave me alone”.

What was it like performing your songs live for the first time post-lockdown?

“It’s weird. Since being accepted as Caity Baser – because I never was growing up, it was like, ‘You wear weird things, and why are you singing?’ – now I’m just being me. I never get nervous, as I’m like, ‘These are my people, you make me feel so welcome’. When I go out on-stage it’s not like a gig, it’s like a house party and everyone’s there. I just suddenly get up and am like, ‘Oi! Here’s a load of songs, do you want to hear it?’ I just feel like I’m in a big room with all my friends”.

I am going to round up in a minute. I am not sure whether Baser is working on an album for this year or an E.P. After a series of brilliant singles last year, maybe she will put them onto a mixtape or launch some new tracks. The Line of Best Fit featured the sensational Caity Baser. Reading the interview, and she is charmingly unguarded and open. I use the word ‘authentic’, but I think that is one of the most important and precious qualities for an artist. There is so much adoration and admiration behind Baser right now:

“The mentality of ‘just being a girl in her room’ is something Baser is determined not to lose sight of. A pop star might have fans, but she calls them friends. “I’m in group chats with them!” she enthuses. “They call me, I call them back. We talk. They turn up really early to my shows and I come out and say hello, and then go out afterwards to hug them all.” She tells me there is a group chat called ‘Caity Slays’, a space of “big sister advice”, where everyone – including Baser herself – helps each other through tricky times.

It’s this sense of togetherness, of closing the gulf between artist and fan, which bleeds into everything she does. I ask her what qualities she believes define a great pop star. “Someone who isn’t rude,” she answers immediately. “Someone who just acts like your mate, and is like, ‘Oh my god, hey!’ – someone who will engulf you in a hug when you go up to them. Someone who includes the audience, makes it feel like it’s everyone’s show, rather than just their own. And someone who isn’t a dickhead,” she smirks. “When I perform, I just feel like I’m at a house party with my mates, except I’ve got a microphone and we’re all singing together.”

One of Baser’s upcoming tracks, “2020”, captures the experience of coming-of-age in such turbulent times. “It’s fucked,” she insists. “When I talk to my mum or my dad about when they were twenty, it sounds so much fun. I mean, I’m having loads of fun, but the older I’m getting, the more I’m realising that everything is just… fucked. There are so many problems.” But as with everything, there is a silver lining. “I feel like everyone in the Gen Z demographic… what a good word!” she grins, looking to her manager excitedly. “I feel like we’re all really understanding. You can be who you want to be, and there’s no judgement. Whereas I know some of my friends’ parents would not be okay with some of the shit that I’d be okay with, because of how they were raised. Well, fuck that. Change.”

Her debut mixtape, Lil CB, was a statement of intent, the first embodiment of her vision having been afforded a moment to actually think about what that is. “All those songs are about things that really annoyed me and affected me at one point in my life, so I wrote about it, put it into the world and made a little present out of it,” she smiles, “like, ‘Right, that’s it. I’m done now.’” Reckoning with “Haters”, toxic exes, being broke and the urge to put her phone on airplane mode, it perfectly captures the attitude and spirit of a precocious eighteen-year-old. “STD”, which leans into her taste for reggae-inflected beats, is Baser’s weapon of choice against a ex who had been sleeping around behind her back. “I heard you got an STD / From sleeping with Molly, Libby and Sophie / You had the nerve to cheat on me / Well karma’s a bitch and I was out of your league”, before leaving him with an exasperated sigh, “Ugh, men are fuckin’ trash, goodbye / Fuckin’ see ya / You had a small dick anyway!”

PHOTO CREDIT: Jack Alexander

I wonder if there isn’t a little hurt beneath all this bravado. “Things can be a bit shit,” she shrugs, “but I make good things out of them. I refuse to be like, ‘Wahhh, I’m sad!’ It’s fine, I’ll giggle about it somehow.” But she is the first to acknowledge that since she dropped Lil CB, she has grown up immeasurably. Compare any eighteen-year-old with someone at the age of twenty, and there is a world of difference. “When I listen to the Lil CB stuff, I sound a bit like a kid – I mean, because I was a kid. I’ve changed a lot in these last two years.” That’s why she’s allowing for nuance and vulnerability within her music, releasing the “What I Didn’t Say” edition of her scathing shoot-down hit “X&Y”.

For as long as she could remember, writing a song was how Baser dealt with her emotions. “Whenever anything goes wrong, I go to the studio – even good things, I’ll write about it. I always feel so much lighter,” she shares. The practise room at school was Baser’s regular haunt; she preferred it to socialising, to the point where she didn’t even have to ask to use it anymore – she had her own key. She would sit at the piano and teach herself. “It was like my best friend,” she says. “Because when I felt like I couldn’t talk to anybody – this is so cringey – I would just play the piano and feel so much better.” I find it incredibly hard to believe her when she tells me that she never had many friends growing up. She has a way of talking to you as if she’s known you for years; as if you were the only person who mattered in the room. She sparkles with confidence, and the way she makes the stage feel like a home suggests that she has always been this way.

“I think I’ve always wanted to be confident,’ shrugs Baser. “But everyone around me was always like, ‘Don’t do that.’ I always wanted to wear weird stuff and act weird… I don’t know, no one really accepted me in school and even college. So I was just like, ‘Okay, I’ll talk how you talk, I’ll wear what you wear, I’ll do what you do.’ And then, as soon as I started getting accepted for being me, I was like, ‘Okay! Here I am!’” she grins. “I’ve been long-caged”.

This year is going to be a phenomenal one for Caity Baser. I can see her commanding huge stages and performing around the world. I don’t think it is going to take long before Baser sits alongside our most popular and successful artists. I cannot recommend her highly enough, so do ensure you follow her and give her music a lot of love. She has come a long way in a short time. I think the Brighton-based artist might have to get her head around the fact that things are…

GOING to change in big and exciting ways!

_____________

Follow Caity Baser

FEATURE: Spotlight: NewJeans

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: ADOR/HYBE

 

NewJeans

_________

I am publishing this on the day…

that the K-Pop sensations, NewJeans, release their first single album, OMG (the pre-orders surpassed 800,000 copies). The build-up and countdown was exciting. They put out their first E.P., New Jeans, last year. I will bring in a review. I am going to bring in a review for the E.P. It offers positives whilst highlighting at some flaws. I think the new album is the most complete and finest release from NewJeans. It is a full exploration of their wonderful sound. Formed ADOR, a subsidiary of Hybe Corporation, the South Korean group are conquering the world. They have this infectious and bright sound that is impossible to ignore! The group is composed of Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin and Hyein. The K-Pop market is no longer confined to South Korea and Asia. Groups such as BTS and BLACKPINK have brought the genre to a worldwide audience. I want to bring in interviews with the group. First, Billboard wrote a feature that was published about a month after NewJeans released their debut video. One that came without any hype or run-up at all. Min Hee Jin, HYBE’s current chief branding officer and CEO of her newly created label, ADOR, discussed an incredible moment for K-Pop:

“NewJeans was helmed under ADOR, a newly created subsidiary under the HYBE Labels umbrella that includes BIGHIT Music (home to BTS and TOMORROW X TOGETHER), PLEDIS Entertainment (SEVENTEEN and fromis_9), KOZ Entertainment (Zico), BELIFT Lab (ENHYPEN) and SOURCE Music (LE SSERAFIM). The new label is under the direction of Min Hee Jin, HYBE’s current chief branding officer, who became famous for her work as the creative director under Korean super-label SM Entertainment, shaping top K-pop acts like Girls’ Generation, EXO and Red Velvet. In 2019, Min joined to help rebrand BIGHIT Entertainment into its larger corporation HYBE and was named CEO of her newly created label ADOR, standing for “All Doors, One Room.”

While envisioning game-changing new K-pop acts wasn’t a foreign task for Min, shifting how a label could shake the status-quo system became her challenge. “I wanted to create a label with a brand-new look that did things never seen in the K-pop scene before,” Min tells Billboard in this exclusive interview. “The kind of music I’m going for is something that hasn’t really been attempted in the K-pop scene, so an independent label was essential to push ahead with this.”

The members of NewJeans — Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin and Hyein — see Min’s vision and meet her as part of forgoing the typical, traditional rules of the industry. “I thought to myself it would be cool to release them without any teasers,” Hyein, the group’s youngest at 14, says. “And I was surprised when I heard CEO Min’s explanation because she actually had the same idea!” Haerin, 16, adds, “When CEO Min explained that we wouldn’t have teasers, my initial thought was, ‘Oh, this is going to be fun.'”

Listeners have been enjoying the ride, with more joining as time passes. After unveiling music videos for new songs “Attention,” “Hype Boy” and the sparse a cappella-based b-side “Hurt” throughout July, NewJeans unveiled the full, four-track EP titled NWJNS on Aug. 1 worldwide. Initially, only “Attention” and “Hype Boy” entered the Global 200 chart at Nos. 82 and 116, respectively. But as time passed, both songs rose on the chart, and “Cookie” also entered the Billboard Global Excl. US chart. “Attention,” with a sound inspired by ’90s R&B that would make SWV smile, went on to top the Korean charts, while the uplifting future-bass rush of “Hype Boy” became a trend to dance to among fellow K-pop stars. “It’s been really fun watching other people do our songs and I keep checking because I’m really curious!” Danielle, the 17-year-old Australian-Korean who co-wrote “Attention,” says.

The NWJNS EP as a whole began catching on too and hit its best position yet on World Albums this week at No. 11 after six weeks on the chart. In Korea, the EP hit No. 1 and and broke sales records for new K-pop groups once on sale following the surprise release. NewJeans have since teamed up with Geffen Records, joining fellow HYBE artists BTS, SEVENTEEN and LE SSERAFIM at the Universal Music Group label.

What does it mean to you, and the industry, that a label’s first-ever group with a “surprise” debut has been able to break records and top the charts with its singles?

Min: I find it significant that we’re able to give hope and assure people that it’s okay to try something new. We tend to stick with what’s stable because we fear failure, but nothing interesting ever happens if you just stick with what’s stable. If we’re ever going to make the world a little more interesting, we have to try new things and adopt an attitude of being more open and accepting about it. I always talk with the members of NewJeans. We’re ready to take on this adventure together, and I hope that all the new things we’re working on fill people’s lives with a lot more fun!

NewJeans, congratulations on such a successful debut! All four of your songs are making big impact. What were your initial reactions to the music?

MINJI: The first time I heard them, I was instantly hooked. There’s a line in our song “Hype Boy” that goes, “Got me chasing a daydream,” and the song really did make me feel like I was in a dream when I heard it. So, of course, I fell in love right away when I first heard it.

HANNI: When we first heard “Attention,” it really left a strong impression! I just loved the energetic and hip vibe it has! The remaining songs really had a very new style that we hadn’t heard in K-pop, especially from a girl group. The fact that we are now able to call them our songs is very special and makes me feel very proud of the new color we introduced as a team through our debut!

PHOTO CREDIT: HYBE

Can you share a bit more about your musical and K-pop backgrounds?

MINJI: To be honest, I was just an ordinary student who really loved K-pop and other music. I really liked listening to music, but I wasn’t confident enough to sing and I had never danced. I joined the label completely by chance and I think I fell in love with music even more after learning a wider variety of music and culture at ADOR. And that’s the experience that led to all us members meeting and debuting as NewJeans.

HANNI: I’ve also been very involved in music and took part in a lot of extracurricular activities before I came to Korea! I took dance lessons for a few years and my mom taught me and my sister to sing when we were younger. She would bring us into the bathroom—because of the good echo!—and then she’d play a song for me to sing and would try to teach me to sing like the artist. I remember the first song she ever taught us was “All at Once” by Whitney Houston, an absolute gem of a song, Her voice and the song just radiate together.

I’d like you to introduce your group and members in your own words.

MINJI: All five of us are friends and they’re all precious to me. I feel like I can have a conversation with HANNI by just looking at her eyes. She’s always caring for the people around her and considerate towards them. DANIELLE’s bright smile just warms my heart and at times she is like an older sister you can learn things from. HAERIN is the most honest person in the world, so I feel like she’s someone I can trust and lean on. She’s really thoughtful, too. Everything about HYEIN is amazing. She says she doesn’t see it, but that’s actually one of the best things about her. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for her.

HAERIN: All five members have their own characteristics that make them special, but what first comes to mind is how good DANIELLE is at embodying emotions when she sings. She has the power to draw the listener in with her ability to express intricate emotions through the lyrics of any song”.

OMG (the single album) is now out in the world. Having been on the scene a short time, there has been this very quick and intense wave of fandom and love! From their TikTok videos getting reaction around the world to their videos amassing millions of views on YouTube, there is no doubt NewJeans will be among those defining and shaping the music of this year. Rolling Stone spoke to NewJeans about their debut singe album and the success they have already accrued:

“Congratulations on all of the success you’ve had already. I don’t know if you had a chance to see it, but we ranked “Hype Boy” as the 24th-best song of the year, and your debut EP as one of the 100 best albums of the year.

Minji: Of course. After reading the Rolling Stone article, I think we all couldn’t believe it. It was so surprising and it made me feel so thankful once more to everyone who loves our music.

So many of your seniors and peers in the industry are have covered and are still covering “Hype Boy” and “Attention.” Are there any that you were particularly surprised about?

Danielle: All of them, really. We have our chatting room, and when we see a senior doing another cover we just send it to each other.

Hanni: We share them all!

Danielle: And we’re like, “Oh my gosh! No way!” It would always be such a huge honor. And to have so many people enjoy our music and enjoy the dance as well. Because choreography is really special to us as well. It’s always a huge honor.

The members of your group participated in the writing process for “Ditto” and “OMG,” as you did for your first EP as well. Can you walk through your writing process a bit?

Hanni: So it was the same situation as when we all contributed in writing lyrics for our debut. We received songs and then all of us wrote lyrics and then with our label, we go through a picking process and pick the good lyrics. Me and Minji’s lyrics got picked. I think it was a pretty similar process. Listening to the demos, personally, I always try to think of a scenario, and paint a picture in my head, and then try to write lyrics that unpack that. I find nice, pretty words that are nice to listen to — like, good to the ear — and try to match the melody. Because we had the experience of doing it for our debut album, I think it was just a little bit easier, coming to writing lyrics.

Danielle: It came more naturally.

Your fandom name was recently unveiled to be Bunnies. How did you all decide on that name?

Danielle: Oh yeah! Well, I think it’s such a cute name. We all adore bunnies. And I think it’s just the perfect name for them because it mirrors our relationship with our fans and, like, a close friendship, that type of feeling. We really cherish that friendship feeling. So we chose the name bunnies, and I feel now even more, it suits with the winter weather, a fluffy bunny. It’s so cute.

Hyein: It’s also like a friendship… like a cute nickname you would use with your friends. Also, since we write out the letters NJ in the shape of a rabbit, we wanted our fans to also be rabbits, so sometimes we will also call them “Tokki” in Korean. It’s so cute. We’re always sharing things and communicating with each other. Although we’re not physically nearby, we feel close to them, so we gave them a nickname as if they are our friends.

PHOTO CREDIT: ADOR

Fashion is a big element in K-Pop. NewJeans’ style is the top trend right now, right? For me, too, I always curl my hair, but recently, I got it permanently straightened.

Minji: [Gasps.] Oh!

Hanni: It suits you well!

It’s now the end of 2022. Do you have a New Year’s resolution?

Hanni: We actually talked about this quite a lot. Because we debuted in the last half of this year, even though we did quite a lot in a very short amount of time, we had like five, six months of 2022. But next year, we have the full 12 months.

Minji: Yes.

Hanni: I think that gives us the time and opportunity to explore a lot more as NewJeans and as ourselves as people. And gives us the opportunity to perform a lot more, release more content and music, as a goal, just for us to really enjoy ourselves and show the world more of NewJeans. There’s a lot more that we haven’t shared”.

I am going to finish with a couple of different bits. NME reviewed the amazing New Jeans E.P. They had positives to offer about a group who were definitely offering something fresh and memorable:

“NewJeans, the latest girl group to join HYBE’s ranks, were primed from the beginning to go against the K-pop grain. An unorthodox band name. Atypical promotion tactics. Novel musical takes on oft-attempted nostalgic callbacks. Nearly everything about the five-piece’s debut so far aims to frame them as innovative dark horses among the industry’s latest wave of superstar hopefuls.

The first step in understanding the NewJeans ethos is to dive into the meaning of their moniker. As Min Hee-jin, the chief executive of HYBE’s independent label ADOR, explained in a press release: “Pop music is a culture that is very close to our daily life, so it is like the clothes we wear everyday. Just as jeans have withstood the test of time and found popularity among many regardless of their age and gender, NewJeans aspires to become an icon of generations – one you never grow tiresome of putting on.” This lofty ambition clearly demands some degree of ingenuity, especially in a space that often prefers proven formulas and tradition. But as NewJeans prove with their new four-track record, they have what it takes.

@newjeans_official NewJeans 1st EP ‘New Jeans’ COUNTDOWN LIVE🍪  08.01. 5PM(KST) / 4AM(EST) #NewJeans #뉴진스 #COUNTDOWNLIVE🆕👖 ♬ 오리지널 사운드  - NewJeans

Comprising members Hanni, Hyein, Haerin, Danielle and Minji, NewJeans were introduced to the public with zero warning – their first single and EP opener, ‘Attention’, was released on YouTube with an accompanying video well before ADOR shared any information about the members themselves. ‘Attention’ paradoxically charms by being more subdued than the approach one expects from K-pop’s fourth generation, anchoring itself on a groove and keeping its early 2000s R&B-influenced instrumentation minimal. The lack of bombast lends more focus to the heart of the song: NewJeans’ vocal ability. The palpable ease to the song’s delivery feels like a breath of fresh air.

The rest of ‘New Jeans’ continues to flesh out the group’s Y2K vision. ‘Hype Boy’ ups the ante with comparatively frenetic synths and instrumental distortions, but doesn’t divert from NewJeans’ commitment to making their voices the crux of the mini-album. Rather than invoking the slow-jam nostalgia of ‘Attention’, ‘Hype Boy’ instead invokes contemporary reimaginations of 2000s sounds with its tropical touches and future bass, but the way these elements are arranged make for a dreamy, almost hazy atmosphere. As they point out in the chorus, “’Cause I know what you like, boy / You’re my chemical hype boy / Open my eyes to see old days gone like a dream / Hype boy, all I wanna, hype boy, gonna tell ya.”

‘Hurt’ serves a lightweight interlude, a brief respite from the energy of the preceding song. This mellow track is a slow, emotionally charged offering that opts for a consistent groove and in doing so risks repetitiveness. There are no climaxes or dynamic vocal changes, only one-note grooves. ‘Hurt’ might be remarkable as a stand-alone single, but when sandwiched between songs that boast more melodic variation, it ends up falling through the cracks.

And finally we come to ‘Cookie’, an R&B-pop song with a bubbly cadence that has become the most controversial entry on the mini-album. Like the other tracks on the record, ‘Cookie’ is textured in an understated way that still appeals to a wide audience – keen ears will pick up traces of swelling synths, gentle 808 flairs and a fluttering bassline. Unfortunately, this meticulous, subtle production is paired with lyrical innuendo that can only be described as concerning when delivered by a group of 14- to 18-year-olds – some examples that listeners have flagged as distasteful are “Looking at my cookie / Do you ever smell it different? (Taste it) / What’s with a bite isn’t enough?” and “Made a little cookie / Come and take a lookie / Only at my house, come over and play”.

NewJeans’ debut effort is a project of hits and misses. It’s unreasonable, though, to expect complete perfection from a freshly debuted K-pop group. With their musical ability and the label’s bold artistic vision, NewJeans have managed to lay some solid groundwork for a bright future as trailblazers. Will they be able to build momentum and carve out a distinctive, even timeless style as they flesh out their body of work? That remains to be seen”.

I will finish with an article from Hypebae. They shone a spotlight on the first single from OMG, Ditto. One of the best songs from NewJeans so far, it definitely got people excited for the new album. I know there will be huge touring demand and we will see the group take their album around the world. They are a huge sensation and one of the most important groups of this year:

“Buzzy K-pop group NewJeans has dropped their latest single “Ditto,” the first off their upcoming second album titled OMG.

The release was teased over the past week with snippets from the latest music video, where members Minji, Haerin, Hanni, Danielle and Hyein are seen running down the hallway of a school. With mysterious captions such as “NewJeans 6” and six girls seen running past the camera in the teaser, fans were speculating the introduction of a new member, although the rumors were quickly debunked after producer Min Hee-jin shared in an interview that there will be a surprise cameo appearance.

“Ditto” is co-written by Minji and musicians The Black Skirts and Oohyo. Listen to the track on major streaming platforms like Spotify now and watch the music video above. OMG will drop on January 2, 2023, at 6 p.m. KST (4 a.m. EST).

The quintet took to social media to tease their upcoming winter-themed release, titled “Ditto.” The group had already announced last month that they would pre-release a winter song ahead of the official launch of their upcoming album OMG, which is slated to drop in the new year.

The teasers for the anticipated tracks feature motion graphics reading “NewJeans” in a holiday-themed layout while another visual features select song lyrics. Though there isn’t much revealed through the teaser visuals, fans have been commenting, “OMG OMG I’M SO EXCITED,” “Better than nothing I guess, thanks ADOR.”

NewJeans, comprised of five members Minji, Haerin, Hanni, Danielle and Hyein, debuted in August this year with direction by Min Hee-jin, a K-pop veteran known for her work with iconic groups such as SHINee, Girls’ Generation and f(x). The rising music act is the first from ADOR, a sub-label of HYBE Corporation, which is home to BTS”.

Go and listen to and follow the amazing NewJeans. Having been formed only recently, they have already achieved so much. With great K-Pop groups like NewJeans and STAYC offering such vibrant and stunning music, I think there should be more focus and attention paid to the genre. I hardly hear it played beyond certain radio stations. That is a shame. NewJeans have shown that one listen of their incredible music and you are…

COMPLETELY hooked.

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Follow NewJeans

FEATURE: This Way Up: How Aisling Bea’s Words Have Been of Comfort to Me – and Why She is Inspiring Future Ambitions

FEATURE:

 

 

This Way Up

  

How Aisling Bea’s Words Have Been of Comfort to Me – and Why She is Inspiring Future Ambitions

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THE second part of this feature…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Aisling Bea photographed in 2019/PHOTO CREDIT: Dean Chalkley

will relate more to music but, as I have been meaning to write about this for a while… so this is a bit overdue. I wanted to talk Irish comedian, writer and actor Aisling Bea. I will explain how she related to music in a bit but, on a personal level, I wanted to offer her thanks. I know she will never see this – as she gets hundreds of notifications a day and cannot respond to all of them! -, but I follow her on Twitter and Instagram, and her posts provide me with comfort and inspiration. Recently, she posted tips about how she deals with bad days – ones where she is struggling with her mental health. I know a lot of other people do this, but Bea has written about mental health and loneliness before. It has been addressed in interviews, and she does not shy away from the topic. As a comedian, she is naturally very funny, but I assume people think that she must be very happy all of the time – and not have any problems or struggles herself. I will come to why Bea and mental health concerns are particularly relevant to me at this moment. Bea, as a woman in comedy, has campaigned for equality. She has spoken before about her experiences of sexism within comedy and T.V. She has recounted an experience where she was told to shut up on a panel show. You do see more women on panel shows now, but there is still imbalance. Bea is no doubt inspiring a lot of young women coming up in comedy! She is one of my all-time favourite comics and writers, and she is also someone with a beautiful heart. Raising awareness and support for a food bank in Hackney in conjunction with the The Bill Murray Comedy Club, Angel (just down the road from me), Bea uses her platform to help others.

A tremendous comic and writer (her award-winning comedy-drama, This Way Up, is one of my favourite shows of the last ten years), I have a lot of admiration for her incredible work.  At the moment – so young is 2023 -, I am facing a bit of a struggle. With redundancy a possibility in the next couple of weeks, financial security is causing a lot of stress. I have lived with depression for decades now (I am thirty-nine), but, lately, it has intensified and deteriorated (reaching suicidality at times). Loneliness is another big concern. You can be in a big city like London and be surrounded by people and yet feel lonely and isolated. As I was hoping to spend some time in America this year, that has had to be delayed because of unexpected financial strains. I have also have some creative frustrations that are causing their own headaches – but more on that when I come to the music portion of this feature. I will come to some other Aisling Bea interviews where she has talked about mental health. There is one particularly personal and heartbreaking feature (written by Bea) that was published in The Guardian just over five years ago. I remember reading it at the time and being incredibly moved. Bea’s words and recollections about her father’s suicide (when she was a child) were incredibly brave and powerful. My situation is not the same as Bea’s father, but her words have resonated with me:

“I didn’t care that he had not been “in his right mind”, because if I had been important enough to him I would have put him back into his “right mind” before he did it. I didn’t care that he had been in “chronic pain” and that men in Ireland don’t talk about their feelings, so instead die of sadness. I didn’t want him at peace. I wanted him struggling, but alive, so he could meet my boyfriends and give them a hard time, like in American movies. I wanted him to come to pick me up from discos, so my mother didn’t have to go out alone in her pyjamas at night to get me.

I look like him. For all of my teens and early 20s, I smothered my face in fake tan and bleached my hair blond so that elderly relatives would stop looking at me like I was the ghost of Christmas past whenever I did something funny. “You look so like your father,” they would say. And as much as people might think a teenage girl wants to be told that she looks like a dead man, she doesn’t.

And then there was the letter.

My mother gave us the letter to read the day she told us, but, in it, he didn’t mention my sister or me.

I had not been adored. He had forgotten we existed. I didn’t believe it at first. When I was 15, I took the letter out of my mother’s Filofax and used the photocopying machine at my summer job to make a copy so I could really examine it. Like a CSI detective, I stared at it, desperate to see if there had been a trace of the start of an “A” anywhere.

I would often fantasise that, if I ever killed myself, I would write a letter to every single person I had ever met, explaining why I was doing it. Every. Single. Person. Right down to the lad I struck up a conversation with once in a chip shop and the girl I met at summer camp when I was 12. No one would be left thinking: “Why?” I would be very non-selfish about it. When Facebook came in, I thought: “Well, this will save me a fortune on stamps.”

Sometimes, in my less lucid moments, I was convinced that he had left a secret note for me somewhere. Maybe, on my 16th … no, 18th … no, 21st … no, 30th birthday, a letter would arrive, like in Back to the Future. “Aisling, I wanted to wait until you were old enough to understand. I was secretly a spy. That is why I did it. I love you. I love your sister, too. PS Heaven is real, your philosophy essay is wrong and I am totally still watching over you. Stop shoplifting.

This summer was the 30th anniversary of his death. In that time, a few things have happened that have radically changed how I feel.

Three years ago, Robin Williams took his own life. He was my comedy hero, my TV dad – he had always reminded my mother of my father and his death spurred me to finally start opening up. I had always found it so hard to talk about. I think I had been afraid that if I ever did, my soul would fall out of my mouth and I would never get it back in again.

Last year, I watched Grayson Perry’s documentary All Man. It featured a woman whose son had ended his life. She thought that he probably hadn’t wanted to die for ever, just on that day, when he had been in so much pain. A lightbulb moment – it had never occurred to me that maybe suicide had seemed like the best option in that hour. In my head, my father had taken a clear decision, as my parent, to opt out for ever”.

Bea wrote how her father’s death had given her an increased appreciation of women and their grittiness and hardness, in addition to new love for men and their tenderness and vulnerability – traits not often associated with masculinity. Aside from the feature being this very personal and sad part of my Bea’s life, it was also designed to raise awareness of suicide and mental health issues. I know so many people were helped and even saved by Bea’s words!

Something I can also relate to is burn-out. Having a full-time job and being a music journalist, balancing a normal job and a passion can be a real struggle. I have been especially busy and frantic the past few weeks. Coming back to The Guardian, Bea explained why filming the second series of This Way Up was especially tough during the pandemic. Not only is the comedy connection with Bea (which I shall elucidate on later) a reason why I am writing this. As writer of This Way Up, Bea revealed why writing about her character, Áine’s, struggles with mental health was particularly important:

“The second series of your show This Way Up was written and filmed in lockdown – that must have been a gruelling experience.

It was a very tough thing to make the show in January. I was completely burnt out, and everything was done in the hardest possible way for many different reasons. I wrote some of it during the making of Home Sweet Home Alone: I’d go on set and go: “Oh no, where’s my son gone, I’m in Japan and he’s at home.” And then try to rewrite some notes in between scenes. I don’t think I’d ever got to that point from work before, where there was still so much work to do and I had nothing left. It has an effect on your personality. I definitely became less nice. I didn’t like myself very much. I say this with the utmost gratitude knowing what I get to do, but it was too much for one person. I’ve put out my hip, I’ve got repetitive strain injury, the nerves of my little finger’s gone. Woe is me, I’m very aware of that! But it definitely beat the spirit out of me. I never thought when I wrote: “written for anyone who needs a reminder to find hope” [the final episode’s dedication] that I’d be the one needing it then – my past self saying it to me in the editing room.

The show portrays mental health in an impressively nuanced and insightful way. Was that theme there from the project’s inception?

No, initially it was just myself and [co-star] Sharon [Horgan] playing sisters – that was the core of it. But then when I wrote the article about my dad [in 2017, Bea wrote a piece for the Guardian about her father, who took his own life when she was three], I couldn’t possibly reply to all the people who got in touch – there just aren’t enough emotional hours in the day. You feel so guilty because you know that it took a lot for someone to actually type that. I think in some way the show became a reply, or a way I could speak about it that felt the most time-efficient.

Many of This Way Up’s most powerful moments depict Áine struggling mentally while continuing with her normal life. Was that an important aspect of the show for you?

I wanted to make a show about loneliness. I felt like I didn’t always see what most of it looks like. I wanted to challenge drama or excitement. For most people the struggle is the daily-ness, that’s where the heartbreak lies. That’s what grief looks like most of the time: today it’s going to be hard to make a cup of tea. And this sounds like such a tangent, but I realised I love watching Real Housewives, and rather than denounce reality TV, I thought: why do I love watching those shows? A lot of it was the hugeness of the smallness of life. It’s the same in chick lit – I grew up reading Irish authors like Maeve Binchy. Women weren’t allowed to have what you might determine as big lives; a lot of the revolutions happened in kitchens and health centres and in your private parts. For me that’s the unexplored life that we’re only just getting to [own] as women. To go: no, that’s my life and it’s important”.

I can relate a lot to Aisling Bea. Our lives are different, but her posts and words about mental health and loneliness have connected with me in a very raw and real way. A reason why I wanted to thank the Kildare-born legend. I shall come to cheerier subjects soon. There is another interview I wanted to quote from. Going back to 2019, it is again I go to The Guardian. Bea talks about her experiences with loneliness. As a high-profile comedian and actress, many might assume that this would not be an issue. It is a common misconception. I have also included a bit from the interview that mentions Bea’s vital and constant activism and passion for worthy causes:

“In This Way Up, Bea (who took that stage name in memory of her dad, Brian) plays Aine, a foreign-language school worker who’s recovering from a “teeny little nervous breakdown”, with her sister, played by Horgan. “When I started writing the characters, I’d think, what’s their loneliness? Is it being the only person in an environment that does a certain job, or is it the relationship they’re not happy in? Is it being an immigrant?” Loneliness is something she thinks about a lot.

“I don’t think it has anything to do with being alone. I’ve never really been alone. I have an amazing family, amazing friends, I’ve been in amazing relationships…” In recent years, she has been snapped on red carpets with boyfriends including Michael Sheen and Andrew Garfield. “But loneliness,” she says, “for me comes from being your own worst enemy. In not being able to trust your head sometimes, and what it’s going to do next. That’s a wound and a gift.”

She’s not afraid of an audience booing. “I’m afraid of myself. What if I am not on my side that day?” That’s why she has a pint before a performance. “It’s not for confidence, it’s to stop getting in your own way. To forget you’re on stage before the other you realises you’re there. To me, that is a really lonely feeling. Because it’s just you and yourself in that little battle.”

Peppered throughout our conversation are references to books about the brain and the body, which perform, in 2019, as self-help guides for people, like Bea, who are constantly striving and constantly questioning. “The biggest constant in terms of my friends is to do with the plastic-ness of their brains – who’s working on themselves and who will admit that they’re idiots sometimes? We’re all having these mini-breakdowns, some realisations and then some expansions.”

One such expansion has been her increased activism. Bea was a supporter of the change to Ireland’s abortion laws: she and Horgan dressed in Handmaid’s Tale bonnets urging people to vote, and wrote a comic essay published in a collection titled Repeal the 8th, which explains the mystery of women”.

I wanted to write about Aisling Bea, because I have revisited her 2017 article for The Guardian, because it has become sort of relevant to me at a very hard time. As we look out on a new year, it is meant to be a time for hopes, opportunities and resolutions. It can be very hard to feel that optimism when life throws a lot at you. There was more I wanted to say before wrapping up. I know Bea is going to be busy this year, but I always wonder whether she will release a book. Maybe not a self-help one (though that would be amazing), I feel a memoir or a novel would be something people would love to read. I am not sure whether she liked the experience of writing alone, so that might not be appealing to her. Her words have given so much heart and strength to so many people. I would especially love to read her life story. She is such a compelling, warm and talented human. She would give so much inspiration to a lot of people – she does already too. I wonder whether there will be a new Netflix comedy special. There would be so much demand for an Aisling Bea filmed special (she has done one before). Not that this dream would ever be realised, but I have been writing and planning a comedy music film. Bea is a writer and actor I respect so much, but I don’t think that I will ever be lucky enough to have her involved.

It has been a real struggle getting it off the ground, but I am hopeful it will see the light of day in years to come. I also wonder whether Bea will write another comedy or comedy-drama. Shows like This Way Up show what an immense talent she is as an actor and writer. Bea has appeared in films, and it would be nice to think there are a very other major films with her name attached this year. A music biopic I have always wanted to happen is one concerning Blondie. The legendary U.S. band have not had their story brought to the screen, but I have been wary about biopics, as they tend to have mixed fortunes. Aisling Bea is actually involved with a Take That film that has an interesting angle. Starring alongside a stellar cast, it has given me inspiration. Last year, Deadline reported on what we know so far:

“Based on the hit stage musical The Band, the film will feature music from Take That and has buy-in from the band and Universal Music Group. Songs set to feature in the movie include Greatest Day, Patience, Back For Good, A Million Love Songs and Shine. There are also rumors that the band might be writing some original songs for the film.

The story follows five best friends who have the night of their lives at a concert from their favorite boy band. Twenty-five years later their lives have changed in a myriad of ways as they reunite to reminisce about their past and discover their future.

Coky Giedroyc (How to Build a Girl) is directing the adaptation, which is written by Tim Firth (Calendar Girls). Mike Eley (The Dig) is attached as DoP, Amanda MacArthur (How to Build a Girl) is aboard as production designer and Drew McOnie (Me Before You) is choreographer”.

IN THIS PHOTO: Aisling Bea shot by Charlie Clift for BAFTA

It was Bea’s attachment to the film that made me interested. I am trying to do a Blondie biopic but, reading about what the Take That film will offer, there is a new angle that I could explore. Not sticking rigidly to biopic rules, I could do something more musical/comedy-based. Not that the project has actually been green-lit, mind! It is a passion I have and hope to fulfill. I wanted to wish Aisling Bea a 2023 filled with love and exciting opportunities. Maybe time in America filming or excitement relationships. I can see a new sitcom with her involved somehow (I love the fact Bea has such a love for the iconic Father Ted). Whatever this year holds, I felt compelled to write about times where Bea’s words and work have made a real difference. I know I am not alone in saying that. Someone I would love to work with years down the line (when I get good enough to make it to her feet!), I am going through a tough time and am not sure how it will all work out. I wanted to thank Aisling Bea for, at a rather shaky moment, giving me…

SOME invaluable guidance and comfort.