FEATURE: Revisiting… Sudan Archives - Natural Brown Prom Queen

FEATURE:

 

 

Revisiting…

 

Sudan Archives - Natural Brown Prom Queen

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THE amazing second studio album…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Edwig Henson

from Sudan Archives is one I want to highlight for Revisiting…. Brittney Parks’ alter ego released her debut, Athena, in 2019. A brilliant debut and one of the best albums of that year, Sudan Archives’ second album, Natural Brown Prom Queen, I think is even finer! It did get great reviews last year, but I think it should have been placed higher in many end-of-year lists. Definitely a top-five album of 2022, I want to put it back in the Spotlight. Released in September, this is an album that everyone needs to discover and embrace! I will come to a couple of reviews for the staggering Natural Brown Prom Queen. There are a couple of interviews around the release of Natural Brown Prom Queen that I want to bring in. Women in Pop back in September. It is clear that, even though her debut was amazing and ambitious, she has stepped up a few gears on her second studio album:

“Today she releases her second album Natural Brown Prom Queen. It is arguably her most ambitious work to date, eighteen tracks long and taking everything back to the very foundation of who she is – a celebration of home and of family and relationships, all through the eyes of ‘Britts’, the character she inhabits for the album.

Again, Parks creates a wide range of sounds on the album. There is a R&B foundation to much of the album, but there are also plenty of intriguing sonic twists and turns. ‘Home Maker’ is a funky, disco infused track that conjures up the 1970s music scene, while ‘Selfish Soul’ is a booming track that brings together rap, pop, R&B  and violin in one euphoric track. ‘Homesick (Gorgeous & Arrogant)’ is an intimate ballad, while latest single ‘OMG BRITT’ is a sultry, sensual hip-hop track. ‘NBPQ (Topless)’ barrels along with a pulsing beat that morphs into a electronic experimental track with Parks switching between rapid fire rapping and beautifully sweet vocals before ending on classical violin. The raw lyrics discuss Parks’ life long struggle with racism: “Sometimes I think that if I was light-skinned / Then I would get into all the parties,” she sings.

Natural Brown Prom Queen is personal, candid and raw, confronting difficult issues including race, self-worth and gender inequality, but also the joy and love embedded in family, friends and where we come from. It is quite possibly Parks’ greatest work to date and an album to savour from beginning to end as a complete body of work. We recently caught up with Sudan Archives to chat more about the creation of the album.

Hi Brittany, it is an absolute joy to grab some time with you today. How are things in your  very talented musical world?

They are pretty good. I’ve just been performing the new songs at all of these festivals and that's been fun and new. It's just nice doing some new stuff. I feel like I was playing my older stuff for like years! It makes touring way more fun being like, ‘oh, what new song am I gonna play today?’

Absolutely. I'm imagining the crowd is completely eating it up. How has the reaction been from the crowd? They're dancing, which is what I want!

Beautiful. Your new album Natural Brown Prom Queen is such an incredible album. You make joyful music but at the same time you talk about such incredibly important issues. What was your motive going in to Natural Brown Prom Queen?

I don't really know what the motive was, but  I made everything in my basement, which I've never done before. I usually would have to record in my bedroom or in other people's studios, but because COVID happened, I made the studio. I was able to finally come down here and figure out how to make it liveable. I feel like that was like the biggest motive of the album, to make it homemade and to make everything in-house.

You're such a multi talented taskmaster when it comes to creating music anyway. Did you feel that making it in house it increased your confidence as an artist, to be able to go ‘do you know what? I can do all of this.’

I always knew I could do all of it, but for some reason I feel like my writing levelled up. Probably because since my first EP I always have been feeling  very rushed to put out more material. But COVID slowed everything down and made me realise that I don't really need as many hands on the project, but I just need time.

It's such a different album to Athena. How did you balance your desire to still be experimental alongside what I imagine is the pressure to create something just as good?

Well, I kept this area [in the basement] as the experimental zone and kept an open mind. I let other people collaborate remotely, so it didn't interfere with what I was doing down here. That's the biggest difference, because before I was taking what I was doing here, putting it on my computer, and taking it to other studios, and then having to like build it with them in person. And I don't really think I work best that way. It worked out better just to keep everything here, stay here and never leave and always be in the experimental zone. And then just checking my email for people's contributions and being like, ‘I like that, I don't like that’, or ‘Oh, I like both of those things, let's make that the verse and make that the hook’. I was doing a lot of things I would have never even done before if I was in the studio with each person separately. Instead of working with one person on one song, three people would do something to one song. That's kind of how I feel like I've beat what I did previously, because the more people you have, that are talented, working on one thing, the better”.

I am going to come to an NME from November. It was a point when Sudan Archives was touring Europe. NME saluted an artist, violinist and Pop songwriter who had released one of the defining albums of that year. A truly inspiring artist, there is nobody in music like the amazing Sudan Archives:

“She set up a home studio in the house she shares with her partner, All City Jimmy aka James McCall. It felt like a long overdue objective she finally got to accomplish which, in turn, allowed her to focus primarily on her music. “I spent more time in the studio than at home,” she says. Situated in the basement of her house, it has a separate entrance, allowing Parks to build out a studio full of plants.

“I always knew I wanted a studio in my house, but it worked out perfectly where I live now,” she explains. “It’s a cute little small space where I have all seven different instruments hanging up on the walls. It’s like my little cave.”

Bunkering down in her studio allowed Sudan Archives to create an album that, for her, was a reflection of her abilities. “As I began the creative process, I knew I didn’t want to work with people I didn’t know, like strangers,” she says. “I would rather work with people I have relationships with, But at the same time, if someone were to come along, who has a great idea, and they want to put it on the album, I’m not going to say no. At the end of the day, I want the songs to be the best they can be.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Ally Green

With an original title of ‘Homesick’, the album ended up being a mirror of Parks’ upbringing with her use of the violin throughout a natural incorporation of how she demystifies the traditional way of using the instrument.

“[Cat] was saying how on this album I’ve learned how to incorporate my violin in different ways,” Parks explains. “I didn’t even realise that when I started making the album, as I’m not even aware of what I’m doing. I’m just going with the feeling or what I’m feeling. I started off with looping and layering instruments, vocals and melodies until there was a song created.”

The violin plays an influential part in what is an indisputably effortless pop record. It’s confident and steadfast in its authenticity. With lines like, “Sometimes I think that if I was light-skinned / Then I would get into all the parties / Win all the Grammys, make the boys happy / Fuck lookin’ sassy, they think I’m sexy,” she peppers the album with uncompromising lyrics all seamlessly underpinned by infectious melodies.

PHOTO CREDIT: Ally Green

“Melodies have always come really naturally to me,” she says. “Even growing up, when I listened to the radio, I would always be humming along, but to a higher octave. I think I’ve had to learn how to hone in more on my production skills and growing to incorporate the violin.”

With the release of ‘Natural Brown Prom Queen’, Sudan Archives has certified itself in contemporary culture. Her talent isn’t just for the underground to celebrate, but for everyone to witness what is a generational talent coming into full bloom. The release of the album sees all the coiled energy of her entire life exalted onto a project that is the perfect marriage between vulnerability and honesty whilst being overwhelmingly infectious.

Though she may miss Goldie the python, her home studio, and the comforts of being in Los Angeles, Brittney Parks now gets to play the record to crowds across Europe who have been awaiting her presence for years, and it feels natural. “This feels a lot different than when I was just doing a couple of songs. I’m not used to playing for over an hour on stage, but I’m so grateful I get to do that”.

I am going to come to a couple of glowing reviews for the mighty Natural Brown Prom Queen. It is an album that Pitchfork named their second-favourite of 2022. The New York Times placed it at four. I think that it passed some by, and some reviews were a little underwhelming. Natural Brown Prom Queen deserves five-star reviews across the board. This is what CLASH noted in their review:

“Los Angeles-based singer, songwriter, producer and violinist Sudan Archives, real name Brittany Denise Parks, has returned with her long-awaited sophomore effort, ‘Natural Brown Prom Queen’. This sophomore album has come nearly three years after Sudan Archives’ critically acclaimed debut, 2019’s ‘Athena’, with little output in-between aside from a pair of remixes in 2020.

‘Natural Brown Prom Queen’ is a shapeshifting sonic endeavour through flashes of pop, electronica, R&B and hip-hop, but still feels a facilely coalesce and coherent experience. A prime example of Sudan Archives’ multi-genre skills is opener ‘Home Maker’ which is introduced with a drawn out, ambient-tinted intro, with foundations laid by a droning synth. Instruments drop in and out, creating an unpredictable atmosphere only glued together by vintage cinematic instrumental moments. Track two, ‘NBPQ (Topless)’ works in a similar format; frantic hand claps and wobbly riffage lead into a head-on flow from Parks’.

‘Yellow Brick Road’, the penultimate track on the record, dives into the pop element with crystal clarity. But even here, the listener is treated to a delightful instrumental passage, complete with natural textures, ambient swells and jangling bells – as well as the trumpet leitmotif teased on the opening track. ‘ChevyS10’ sits at the halfway point of the record track-wise, and is a six-minute electronica epic, culminating in a club ready house-meets-afrobeat breakdown. Across the record Sudan Archives’ vocal range is prevalent, whether it be softly crooning or spitting raps. ‘Milk Me’ is a moment on the album laced with heavenly vocal harmonies, layered over a rich backbone over percussive breaks and glittery melodies. The entire project shifts and morphs so much it is never boring, an incredible achievement considering the hefty eighteen-tracks. Even the short interludes throughout are interesting, and remain on the experimental wavelength of the tracks they are sandwiched between.

While ‘Athena’ ­focused in on Parks’ ability as a violinist, and rightfully so, this sophomore LP clearly wants to be a distinct step forward from the debut. ‘Natural Brown Prom Queen’ opens up dozens of auditory avenues, with glitch leaning cuts like ‘Copycat (Broken Notions)’ exemplifying that perfectly. Sudan Archives is proving that she is an artist who knows no bounds, and projects like this one are what is going to propel her further into acclaim and stardom.

8/10”.

The Line of Best Fit had their say about an album that seems to reveal new things every time I listen to it. There is no doubt Sudan Archives is among the finest artists in the world. This is more than evident throughout Natural Brown Prom Queen. If you have not heard the album, then please spend some time with it:

“Opener “Home Maker,” for example, shows Parks transitioning from an avant/ambient jazz intro (reverb-dabbed horns and sharp snare beats) to a funk-inflected R&B groove. Facilitating radical pivots and segues unprecedented in earlier work, Parks offers a supple and well-nuanced vocal, conjuring a moody Beyoncé.

“I’m not average,” Parks insists on the title song. Bolstered by bouncy synths and manic beats, along with a classically toned bridge that would get a grin from Brian Wilson, Parks shifts between self-glorification and hurling shade at those who get conned by player types. “Copycat,” meanwhile, points to Parks’ affinity for the hip-hop playbook, her smooth sprechstimme unfolding amidst a welter of synthy dashes and spry beats.

The album’s most memorable chorus unfurls in “Freakalizer,” Parks’ vocal fusing the chic house-party vibe of FKA Twigs’ Caprisongs and the more mercurial intonations of Rihanna circa Anti. “ChevyS10” is a percussive foray that similarly puts Parks’ vocal skills on center stage, the singer providing dynamic and interwoven lead, back-up, and harmony parts.

“Homesick (“Gorgeous & Arrogant)” features Parks as she navigates a mix of loungey horns and noirish synths. As the piece progresses, however, it veers toward a darkwave gestalt, echoey beats merging with sonorous bass notes. In this way, Parks again demonstrates her ability to maneuver various stylistic shifts.

Over Natural Brown Prom Queen’s 53 minutes and 18 tracks, the Cincinnati-born Parks displays her compositional skills, penchant for winning melodies, and versatility as a performer. Most strikingly, the set documents Parks as she integrates myriad approaches, balancing discipline and the hedonistic impulse”.

One of the best albums of last year, I wanted to revisit Natural Brown Prom Queen. Maybe Sudan Archives is an artist some do not know about, so I do hope those unaware or new listen to her new album. It is absolutely stunning. After a successful 2022 for Sudan Archives, it is going to be thrilling to see…

WHAT this year holds.

All of which helps Jones in her mission to be intimate and direct with listeners. Her confessional style began turning ears with 2018 single “Just My Luck,” a clapback against the entertainment industry: “Does my confidence offend you?” she wonders. “Cookie-cutter enough for you? Is my melanin offensive?” The video has resonated, amassing over 3 million views on YouTube. And these days, newer songs like “Love Is War” brim with vulnerability and intensity as she sings about the challenges of a fractured relationship: “I know you’ve got scars, I’ve got ‘em too.”

While Jones released music in her younger years, she’s now stepping into the rich R&B career she deserves, signing with High Standardz / Def Jam and hitting the studio with Grammy-stacking heavy-hitters like Bryan-Michael Cox, Darkchild, Eric Hudson, Bongo, Camper, Lil Eddie Serrano, Full Circle, and Rockette—folks whose credits span the panoply of modern R&B, from Whitney to Mariah to Beyoncé to Summer. To put it bluntly: these are people who place their chips on winners.

Of course, for Jones, it’s not about success so much as connection. Ultimately, she wants to use her voice as an instrument for change on a broad scale, a tool for growth on a personal level, and as a method to bring her fans closer to her—and, in turn, inspire growth in them.

“I’ve learned that the more I open up to them, the more I discover that I’m heard and supported,” says Jones. “I want to bring transparency to my music so my music can be relatable. You can fit yourself into this song. My journey and your journey are the same. You get me; I get you”.

Maybe people know Coco Jones more for her acting and role as Hilary Banks in Bel-Air. As she told VIBE in April, she has this thriving music career. I think that this is her main passion. You can tell that her heart and soul is put into every musical moment. I think that she will join the legends that she looks up to very soon:

“Do you feel pressured to present yourself in any certain way? Is there any of that in your mind when you create?

Sometimes I do get apprehensive thinking that I’m not raunchy enough to keep up with what sells, but I always remind myself that talent started off selling at first and talent will continue to be what sells. If I have to give a gimmick, then the song is not good enough for me. If I have to put all these words in it to catch people’s attention, then my lyrics just aren’t hitting. For me, it’s more of a challenge to continue to captivate people without having to do anything for show.

Do you think that “Caliber” sets the appropriate tone for everything else that you have coming? What other themes or topics are going to be explored by you musically?

I think “Caliber” has a lot of the key ingredients that are going to make up my album. The vibe makes you want to dance and there will be some full choreography, some five, six, sevens, and some eights, okay! Towards the end of the song, I’m doing some more vocal acrobatics because I want people to know that I be singing! I can sing. And my album will, of course, give some even bigger singing moments as well. But really that balance to me of classy, sexy, grown, and authentic. I do feel like “Caliber” has all of those elements and that will be the theme of my album whenever it comes.

Who are some of the people who have inspired you musically?

Well, growing up I listened to a lot of powerhouse singers, Aretha [Franklin], CeCe Winans, Mariah [Carey], Jennifer Hudson, Whitney [Houston]. Of course, I learned those bigger notes and that passion from them. As I got older, PartyNextDoor, SZA, Summer Walker. I love Alex Isley. Masego is dope… I like the way their songs feel. I want to make my songs feel the way that I feel when I listen to them.

On that note, how do you want people to feel when they listen to “Caliber?”

I hope that they love the lyrics. I hope that they get some IG captions up out of it. And I hope they want to hit a five, six, seven, and eight, because, in the music video, it’s going to give that. And I’m going to need all the girls to make a little TikTok with a dance routine and also remember the choreo. When the concert comes, we can all hit it together. Let’s all sweat our laces out”.

In November, You Know I Got Soul spoke with Coco Jones about her new E.P., What I Didn't Tell You. One of the interesting observations is how Jones might have started out leaning more on Pop, but she always set out to make authentic R&B. I think this is evident when you listen to What I Didn’t Tell You:

“YouKnowIGotSoul: Obviously that was a different time from you, so take me back to a young Coco Jones and how she would be reacting to this recent success you’ve been experiencing.

Coco Jones: It would be similar in the fact that it just feels surreal that all of things that you worked for are materializing, but my prayers have kind of changed. Now it’s more like “Help me maintain this and stay grounded and grateful” instead of “Make this happen please!”. I think surreal would be the main emotion, but also I think 2015 me would be less surprised because so much has happened since that year that humbled me and grounded me that I feel like I’m just more shocked that things have turned around so much.

YouKnowIGotSoul: Talk about that journey for you. What was it like finding your sound and discovering yourself as an artist? Back in 2015, you had just left Disney and quickly transitioned into being an independent artist.

Coco Jones: It was hard. I think that because I was a child in the industry, I didn’t know my identity. When kids are in high school figuring it out and having all these real life experiences and going through things way beyond their years, I was on set working. My worth ethic was way beyond my years and business mindset, but personally I feel like I was a little delayed in figuring out my identity. I think that tying into me being an artist made it more difficult to try to categorize what I am because I didn’t know what I wanted to sing or write about because I’m still figuring out who I am. I was still living life, but I think there’s good and bad to that. The tenacity that I gained from being a child actor made it so that I was going to get to this place regardless. Sometimes I look back and I’m like “Wow, I can’t believe I stuck it out”. Some of these days were really scary, but I think because I learned so much about rejection through these auditions and keeping my faith until I got to a yes, it kind of helped me go through this process of finding my artist identity no matter how long it took.

YouKnowIGotSoul: We really loved that we could press play and get into this new EP. There were some songs that made me wish I was a girl! *Laughs* Talk about the title of the EP “What I Didn’t Tell You” and if there was a certain message you had about the whole project.

Coco Jones: Well thank you! Happy that you want to be in the community, you’re welcome to join. *Laughs* I think “What I Didn’t Tell You” is really just my real life stories as I was figuring out who I am. I think people a lot of people that recognize me from “Bel-Air” are completely surprised that I sing well and they just don’t know enough about me. These are stories that are off-screen that were part of my life and journey of figuring out myself. I was turning up, being crazy adventurous and being in my feelings. These are stories that are off camera that I wanted to share.

YouKnowIGotSoul: When we spoke previously, you talked about the type of music you wanted to make. You said that you still wanted to make Pop music but you really wanted to make authnetic R&B. When we listen to a song like “ICU”, it feels like something that you’ve been wanting to make your whole life.

Coco Jones: “ICU” is more of a record that chose me more than I chose it. Like you said, I did want the bops that I could think in my mind like “This could chart!” but that’s not me being authentically me. That’s me being strategic and a hustler. When I heard the music for “ICU”, I couldn’t skip the track and go to the next song that would do numbers. I had to follow the music that called me. That was one of the times where I was being the most authentically an artist because I didn’t care how popular the song was going to be. I just wanted to express myself and match that beauty the music presented to me.

YouKnowIGotSoul: You’re really a busy person on the acting side as well as your singing career. How do you balance all of that?

Coco Jones: It’s a hard thing to do because I have two employees. One is my show and one is my music. They don’t care about each other and they both want me there. It’s hard, I’m not going to lie to you. I’m getting what I prayed for and now it’s like “Oh crap!”. But for me, I know what I want at the end of the day, I knew when Hilary was all over the place, I didn’t want people to not have music to listen to. That means I have to be able to compartmentalize and be present when I’m on set and forget of those characters and lines. I need to be me, find me and make music that’s timeless and classic. I do that until I can’t anymore. That day, if I’ve been in the studio for 15 hours, I may not be able to in the studio for 8 hours, but for those 3-4 hours it’ll be like “Let’s do something meaningful”. If it’s not different or authentic, let’s stop and restart or I’ll see you guys tomorrow because I can’t not give my full self to this if I give my full self to my show. It’s about what’s important to me and figuring out ways to do what’s important to me to the best of my ability. There’s no balance to that though, it looks different every day”.

Before getting to a review for the fantastic E.P., What I Didn't Tell You, I want to get to a December interview from Edition. In the interview, Coco Jones mentions a music titan who she would love to collaborate with. Let’s hope that this comes to fruition this year, as it would be magnificent to hear the two of them on the same track:

“How did you land on the title for your What I Didn't Tell You EP?

So let me tell you! [laughs] I told the team I want to tell stories about things people don't know about me. So while I was trying to be all artsy, they stopped me in my tracks and said, "What about What I Didn't Tell You?" All I could do was say yes because they helped me bring the most authentic version of my intentions to life.

I noticed you're listed as a songwriter on a lot of your songs. How important is it for you to pen your music?

I think it depends on the artist because half of a hit song is who's selling that product. If I see a dishwashing sponge and a Spongebob sponge, I'm buying the Spongebob one because I like him. If I can, I like to have creative input on the songs because I want to be able to sell them to the best of my abilities. How can I sell it the best if I'm not actively involved in the creative process?

That goes back to what you said earlier about working with Babyface. The collaboration process is optimal.

Correct. Unless Beyoncé says, "Here's a song," because I'm not changing anything! I'm singing it exactly how she told me to sing it! [laughs]

That sort of answers my next question. Who do you want to collaborate with that you haven't?

Well, Beyoncé, I'm speaking this into existence because I want to be here for the long run, have power behind my name so I can do good in this world, and because I'm here for abundance in the high-caliber of quality that follows my name. I love Lucky Daye! I think he's so dope! Do a really hot and powerful girls' anthem with Alex Isley, Summer Walker, Chloe x Halle, SZA, Ella Mai and all the R&B girls! I want to do something with Calvin Harris because I love EDM, so if he wants me to sing on something, I'm singing on it. I don't want to be stuck in any genre because I'm into any and everything creative.

I'd be remiss if I didn't ask about Bel-Air. Knowing the difference between Courtney and Coco, how much of yourself goes into playing Hilary Banks and other characters you play?

Hilary is very much like me. She's very goal-oriented, brutally honest, charismatic, funny, and gives off boss energy. To be honest, I haven't played a character who is too far away from who I am.

Is that something you want to change?

Absolutely! It's a goal of mine to play a completely menacing character, be in an action-adventure or play a tomboy”.

After releasing, in my view, her best E.P. yet, things look very promising for Coco Jones. A magnificent R&B artist who is going to keep on making the absolutely finest music, I was very eager to spotlight her. I hope people check out what she is doing. Soul Bounce were among those to have their say about the stunning What I Didn’t Tell You:

“That chick. That girl. It girl. Princess of R&B. Those are just a few of the monikers fans have bestowed upon Coco Jones in recent months. The singer/actress has had a breakout year and made major waves from starring in Bel-Air (as the iconic character Hilary Banks) to working with Babyface (on their duet "Simple" from his Girls Night Out album). Perhaps her greatest achievement, though, is the release of her Def Jam Recordings debut with her EP What I Didn't Tell You.

The seven-song collection dives deep into a more personal side of Coco's life, giving us a peek behind the curtain of stardom as she details what happens after everyone leaves and the lights go out.

The EP opens with the sassy bop “Crazy For Me,” where Coco describes the lengths a man is willing to go to get and keep her attention. It sets up the lead single “Caliber,” in which Coco instructs romantic interests on how to shoot their shot with her. The enticing track unveiled a grown and sexy version of Jones fans hadn’t seen prior to its release.

Throughout the project, Jones brilliantly bridges R&B's generation gap with her sound, style and fresh takes on beloved classics. On “Double Back,” producer London On Da Track tactfully samples SWV’s “Rain,” including lead singer Coko's distinctive vocals in the background. The song is a standout moment on the EP, showcasing the strength of both Coco’s vocals and songwriting ability, conveying the rollercoaster of emotions that arise when attempting to rekindle an old flame.

We next get Jones at perhaps her most vulnerable on the EP's second single “ICU.” A stripped-down version of the leading lady appears as she reflects on the difficulties of growing apart from someone you deeply love but honestly aren't ready to move on from yet.

An allusive side of the singer-songwriter emerges over an upbeat track on “No Chaser.” The lyrics, production and vocals are deliciously crafted as Coco gives flirtatious femme fatale while flipping Ginuwine’s “Pony,” tucking in another Easter egg for listeners.

The next song, “Headlines,” is a warning call. Coco cautions her no-good man that she's on to his games and lies, and she's not the one, the two or the three to be played with.

Babyface repays the favor of Coco Jones blessing "Simple" by lending his genius pen to the song “Spend It,” which closes the EP and ends it with a sweet sentiment. Coco may not have a lot of time or money to spend, but she is willing to go the distance for what – or rather, who – she wants.

What I Didn’t Tell You confirms what we knew all along: Coco Jones is the ONE. Having already earned respect for her acting chops, this dazzling project puts her at the head of R&B's current class. One of the most talented artists of her generation, Coco Jones is the total package, making it impossible to want anything but to see her win”.

In addition to be a terrific actor, Coco Jones is a hugely exciting artist whose music is among the best I have heard for years. I love her new E.P., and many will wait with bated breath for an album. I hope that she gets to come to the U.K. at some point in the year, as there are many who would love to see her play live. If you have not heard Coco Jones’ music, then make sure that you…

DO not miss out.

__________

Follow Coco Jones

FEATURE: Her 21st Century High: The Year of the Amazing RAYE

FEATURE:

 

 

Her 21st Century High

PHOTO CREDIT: Sebastian Kapfhammer

The Year of the Amazing RAYE

_________

I wrote a feature…

about RAYE last year. That came at a time when there was talk of a much-anticipated debut album. Now we know there is one – more on that later -, I wanted to write about her once more. I think that this year is going to be one where RAYE rules and releases one of the most important debut albums of the last couple of decades. Recently, RAYE celebrated getting her first number one single with Escapism:

“Pop star Raye has claimed her first number one single, 18 months after splitting from the record label that refused to release her debut album.

The five-time Brit nominee has topped the chart with the hard-hitting, drink-the-pain-away club anthem Escapism

"As someone who writes for a living, I have no words," she told the BBC on Friday. "I've been crying all day."

"It just shows that you should back yourself, no matter what people tell you."

She added: "And we've done it independently - that's just crazy.

Escapism had already been riding high in the charts, but was held off the number one spot by a succession of Christmas songs over the festive period.

As those tracks dropped away this week, Escapism rose to the top with 5.6 million streams, the Official Charts Company said.

Raye had previously reached number three in the UK Singles Chart twice, first as a guest vocalist on Jax Jones's You Don't Know Me in 2016, then on last year's Joel Corry and David Guetta collaboration Bed.

But after her solo material failed to reach the same heights, she publicly parted ways with record label Polydor in 2021, saying she was being treated as a "rent-a-vocal" dance artist.

"Imagine this pain," she wrote in an open letter in June 2021. "I have been signed to a major label since 2014… and I have had albums on albums of music sat in folders collecting dust, songs I am now giving away to A-list artists because I am still awaiting confirmation that I am good enough to release an album.

"I've done everything [Polydor] asked me, I switched genres, I worked seven days a week. I'm done being a polite pop star."

Vindication came with the release of Escapism late last year. A juddering, powerful song about dulling the pain of a break-up with a night of hedonism, it went viral on TikTok before crossing into the mainstream charts.

"The crazy thing is, you can see the statistics," she said. "One in two people who heard the song on TikTok went and added it [to their library] on a streaming platform.

"Substance abuse isn't a pretty subject for a woman to express so boldly, but maybe it was important to be so visceral because there are clearly a lot of heartbroken people out there, blowing off steam in the wrong way."

The singer, who previously came third in the BBC Sound Of 2017, admitted the song's unusual structure and shifting tempos made it an unlikely hit.

Major labels who heard the song after her split from Polydor were sceptical about it's chances.

"I was reluctant to ever get involved with a major again, but I took some meetings just in case," she said. "And the people who heard the song were like, 'Yeah, this is cool [but] it's just something Raye needs to get out of her system'.

"It's just brilliant when you get to prove people wrong," she added. "This music wasn't about charts or numbers, it was just about passion."

Even so, getting to number one "is the most beautiful affirmation I could ever ask for as a musician", she said.

The 25-year-old will finally release her debut album, My 21st Century Blues, on 3 February”.

I wanted to use this opportunity to put together some interview with RAYE from last year. Looking ahead to this year, it was a time when she was (and is) an independent artist and looking forward to finally being able to release her debut album. My 21st Century Blues is out next month, and it is one that I would advise everyone to get. I wasn’t to start off with an interview from NME, where RAYE discussed the fact she was this ‘rent-a-verse’ songwriter. People knew her lyrics, but they did not know about her music. A hugely respected artist and songwriter, it must have been devastating for RAYE to have her debut held back. Polydor must hang their head for treating one of their best artists so shabbily:

“A year ago, RAYE called out her record label, Polydor, for delaying her debut album. Again. “I’ve done everything they asked me, I switched genres, I worked 7 days a week,” she wrote on Twitter. “Ask anyone in the music game, they know. I’m done being a polite pop star. I want to make my album now, please that is all I want.”

RAYE’s public expression of her intense frustration – “I’m sick of being in pain” – sent shockwaves through the music industry. How could an artist who’d been signed since 2014 and scored nine UK Top 40 singles be feeling so stifled? The situation became even more baffling when you factored in RAYE’s side hustle as an in-demand songwriter who’s written for Beyoncé (‘Bigger’), Mabel (‘Let Them Know’) and Charli XCX (‘After The Afterparty’).

At the time, RAYE was riding high in the charts with ‘Bed’, an inescapable dance collaboration with David Guetta and Joel Corry that has now amassed 350 million Spotify streams. But according to RAYE, this wasn’t enough: her euphoric follow-up single ‘Call On Me’ needed to “do well” for the album to get a green light.

it’s fair to say the shit hit the fan, and three weeks later, RAYE announced that she had and Polydor had parted ways. “Polydor are an incredible infrastructure power house team,” she wrote graciously. “Unfortunately we have had different goals artistically and I am very grateful to them for giving me a graceful smooth exit to start my next chapter as an artist.” After eight years on a major, RAYE found herself navigating unchartered and potentially choppy waters as an independent artist.

“It’s weird,” she tells NME today as we sit in the kitchen of her south London home, a few miles from Croydon, where she grew up. “When you sign with a record label, technically they work for you: you’re signing to a company for them to work for your career and take you to that next level. But as a woman, it just doesn’t feel like that. It feels like you’re working for them. And you know, some of the things I had to put my body through to even be able to that… it’s really quite sad.”

‘Hard Out Here’ isn’t the first song RAYE has released as an independent artist. In March, she teamed up with Disclosure for the catchy, UK garage-flavoured ‘Waterfall’. It added to her already impressive roll call of club-ready collabs that includes 2016’s ‘You Don’t Know Me’ with Jax Jones, 2017’s ‘Decline’ with Mr. Eazi, 2020’s ‘Secrets’ with Regard and last year’s ‘Bed’ with Joel Corry and David Guetta.

But ‘Hard Out Here’ represents a very deliberate change of lane. The lyrics are a world away from “I got a bed, but I’d rather be in yours tonight.” On the final verse, RAYE alludes to suicidal thoughts, addiction issues and a possible experience of abuse. “What you know about systems? / About drugged drinks, fucking nearly dying from addictions,” she sings. “You start to wonder why I’m Christian / Without the Lord I’d take my life.”

RAYE knows what it takes to push through this discomfort and call out deeply toxic behaviour. If ‘Hard Out Here’ is fundamentally cathartic, her next single ‘Black Mascara’ is very much a flex. “Try to understand what you’ve done to me, what you’ve done to me,” she sings over percolating club beats. It’s a song that doesn’t just bring to mind tears on the dance floor, but also rage and retribution aimed at the “selfish man” she refers to in the lyrics.

“The dance community is super male-dominated, super male-led, and a lot of the people in the dance industry don’t even make their shit. It’s wild,” she says. “So I think for me to be releasing a dance song on my own, in a slightly unique way, is super-empowering.” It’s also “a little nod” to fans who love her dance bangers. “I love dance RAYE too, but it’s not the only thing I am,” she says. “And that’s really been the issue.” She goes on to explain the creative compromise of “switching genres” at her label’s behest, something she mentioned in her 2021 tweets”.

One of the great single from My 21st Century Blues, Hard Out Here, was released last summer. It starts with lyrics deeply personal. Ones that reflect RAYE’s frustration and sense of anger at being ignored and pushed aside by her label: “After years and fears and smiling through my tears/All I ask of you is open your ears/'Cause the truth ain't pretty, my dear/It's been dark, been hard out”. DIY spotlight an artist who was grabbing independence and bravely stepping out on her own in order to live and achieve the career goals and autonomy that she needs:

“Though RAYE might have been the one to speak out, she insists her frustrations aren’t unique. “Every woman I’ve crossed paths with has shared experiences in every single sense of the word,” she says. “Not to be dramatic, but there’s this underlying thing when you’re a woman that you’re to be controlled and sculpted and guided. The treatment with male artists is chalk and cheese.”

Coming into the industry as a young teenager, initially RAYE thought it was a lack of experience that was making it hard for her to be heard. “I was 14 when I started doing sessions. I assumed it was because I was a child that every time I would walk into a room, there’d be this huge fight that has to take place in order to prove yourself. That was a daily occurrence,” she recalls. “But I thought, surely once I’ve got some accolades or credits, then that changes? But if anything, it got worse. It was just this uphill battle to be heard and be respected. Sadly every woman I know relates to that. But you know, we move and we keep going!”

This ability to pick herself up and go again is quite astounding considering what the singer has been through. Next single ‘Black Mascara’ - the only electronic track on the album - addresses a particularly dark moment. “The overall theme [of the record] is being a woman in this world and taking a step back to process all of the shit that’s actually been done to me, things that I’ve had to hide behind the scenes,” she explains. “I wrote that song specifically about a time when I got my drink spiked by a man I really liked. I trusted him. I’d got to a good place where I found some sobriety and peace of mind, and then this happened and I immediately went to the darkest place.”

The incident left RAYE broken and, when the label put further delays on her album, she found herself heading down a bad path. Creating ‘Black Mascara’ helped her heal. “I went into the studio and played the weird chords on the piano and said to the guys I was working with, ‘Guys, you need to not argue with me’,” she recalls. After recording “500 different vocal layers,” she was done. “It was perfect. I listened to it a lot and it was real medicine for me. The good thing about music is that you can put your pain somewhere beautiful.”

As for what else we can expect from the album: it’s anyone’s guess. RAYE insists it’s as diverse as she is. “I’m a mixed-race woman. I’m British-Swiss-Ghanaian. I’m a mix up, you know? From my childhood, it’s been a walking identity crisis for me.”

In a system that pressured her to be one thing (“Who are you? Nobody knows who you are. Can’t you just pick a flipping style?” she narrates back of previous questioning voices), RAYE could never deliver. “I was like, ‘What the fuck? That’s not me. That’s not who I am.’ I wish I could be that way so bad, but I wasn’t born that way.”

Now free to experiment, we’re promised a long-awaited debut album that pulls from different genres and moods and reflects the many different facets of her personality: facets that don’t fit comfortably in one box. “The throughline is the stories and the things that I’m talking about,” RAYE says. “I’m a Scorpio. I’m very open - as you can tell from this fucking interview… I can’t lie, which is why I’ve had such a problem in my career. I’ve got so many opinions on things that I’ve been suppressing. But yeah, sonically it’s very fucking exciting. Very liberating. And I think it will shock a lot of people”.

There are a couple of other interviews I want to source, as they lead up to this year and the approaching release of My 21st Century Blues. I think RAYE is one of those artists who effortlessly marries Dance and Pop. There is still sexism in Dance, where men are holding power and women are not being promoted or given platforms. I think that RAYE is going to help to shift the narrative and bring about change. Her upcoming album is going to infuse various sounds and genres, all brought to life by her incredible talent. The Line of Best Fit asked RAYE last year what her nine favourite songs were. I have chosen a few of her selections, as these artists/songs may, in some way, influence the sounds of My 21st Century Blues:

“Gettin’ in the Way” by Jill Scott

I discovered Jill Scott when I was about 10 or 11. My uncle José, my mom's brother, put me on to this and said, ‘You need to listen to Jill Scott.’ I'd started writing songs from the age of about seven, which is ridiculous, but I caught the bug super early. He was like ‘She's a songwriter and you need to listen to her songs and how she writes.’

The first song I heard from her was “A Long Walk”, which is one of her most popular ones. I was so blown away by all the stuff that was on the radio or that you get exposed to as a kid, outside of what your family shows you. Especially at the time, all the music was 'Put your hands up', 'Dance on the floor', or 'I feel in love, I'm in love', but in “A Long Walk” Jill Scott goes “Let's take a long walk around the park” in the chorus. And I'm like, wait, what? This goes against everything I know is a song.

I instantly fell in love with the album, Who Is Jill Scott? Words and Sounds Vol. 1. I know every single word, ad lib, beat from every single song on that whole album, it’s incredible. It is raw, unfiltered stream of consciousness songwriting from the heart. It doesn't feel forced or manipulated, it feels like someone's talking to you about the way they feel, like talking to a friend.

In “Gettin' In the Way”, Jill Scott’s talking to another woman about how she's getting in the way of her and her man's relationship. I just love the sass, I love the energy, I love the colloquialisms. [Raye sings] "Sista girl / I know you don't understand, but you're gonna have to understand / he's my man now." I also thought this was a really cool perspective to hear from a woman at that time. Nowadays you have artists such as SZA coming along and doing songs like “The Weekend” - which was so amazing, getting to hear a new perspective from a woman: "You like nine-to-five, I'm the weekend".

There's this thing, being a woman, that you have to always be this correct, lovely girl - you can't have any flaws, or you can't expose them, you can't do the wrong thing. But I think showing those traits or emotions as women... We have so many colours and sides to us. I've definitely done things in the past that I regret, but at the end of the day it's still honesty. I love that energy and I really felt that from “Gettin' in the Way”, it was a woman saying, ‘Don't come for my man!’, d'you know what I'm saying! Like, obviously the politically correct thing or the right way to be is “Yes, girl power! I love women'', but we've all been in that position where we felt threatened.

It's so refreshing, so beautiful. I love the melodies and the way the song makes me feel; the timbres, the textures of the sounds used. It's so relaxing, but the concept is the opposite. I think it's such a vibe.

“You’re Bigger” by Jekalyn Carr

I was raised in a Christian household and I think I had quite a difficult relationship with it all in the early days. But there was a moment where I really found God, in the time that I really needed it and it saved my life, to put it pretty bluntly.

This is the song that I used to play during the toughest, toughest times to put life into context for myself; to remind myself that God is bigger than any of the problems and any of those feelings that burden me and come my way.

It's so empowering. Almost every time I listen to “You’re Bigger”, I finish the song in a flood of tears, it makes me feel so much better. Gospel music is a big part of where I learnt to sing, I learnt to sing in church. I feel gospel singers and gospel artists have this way of singing. Some of my favourite vocalists grew up in church: Whitney, Mariah, even Britney, even Katy Perry, which is crazy.

There's something about gospel music, I can't explain it, I guess I'd use the word 'anointed'? Where you tap into a power higher than yourself. I really owe my life to my faith, it's kept me going and it's kept me okay, it's given me strength. Whenever I'm having a tough day or I lose perspective, I play this song. I scream it in the mirror at the top of my lungs and I feel better again. Jekalyn Carr's voice is unmatched. She is so flipping incredible. She's an absolute powerhouse, a force of nature, who is very inspiring.

I think it could have been Normani who put me onto this song, I'm not a thousand percent sure, but I think it was her. That's something we discussed a lot when we were writing music together. She's a really lovely girl, she would always send me empowering quotes. It's a tough industry but our faith definitely held us both in. Either way, when I did discover “You're Bigger” it became my favourite gospel song.

“Lay All Your Love On Me” by ABBA

It took me a very long time to understand ABBA. I rejected them in my youth. Despite the big ABBA songs that would come on at the school disco, I was only exposed to the entire ABBA catalogue when I watched Mamma Mia. I don't particularly love musicals, which is going to upset some people, but I don't like overly cheesy things or that style of singing, typically.

I didn't appreciate ABBA until I’d really studied my craft as a songwriter - through experience, through working hard, through travelling around different places, spending a lot of time in Sweden, understanding symmetry. Understanding what makes a big pop song? What makes a big dance song? What makes something stick? You know, learning the craft. It was only maybe five years ago that I discovered ABBA properly and thought ‘How have I missed this genius?!’ Because what ABBA do is soak up their influences from all over the world and pour it into their music, into the most complex, intricate designs of the most perfectly crafted pop songs possible. It's the reason that they connected in the way they did.

“Lay All Your Love On Me” is just a fucking incredible flipping song. They integrated the most insane hooks and musically, every section of the song went to new chords. When the repetition occurred, it was genius, just insane artistry and the way “Lay All Your Love On Me” goes from a minor to a major... it makes me feel something in my heart, so deep. Yo, I will play the song loud in my car and feel it.

I fell in love and studied everything ABBA created. I've even been getting into the new album; it's different, but it's still them and it's really exciting, I've still got more to get into. But Björn and Benny, who write the songs and do all the production, they're geniuses”.

I will finish off with a Glamour interview. With excitement building around the release of My 21st Century Blues, it was a transition period where RAYE was dealing with the dislocation from her label. She was looking ahead to a new and freer stage of her career. Glamour asked the London-born artist whether she got any flack and blow-back from standing up to her label:

“Your album My 21st Century Blues is a long time coming! How do you feel about finally releasing your own music?

So excited! Part of me feels like it's a dream, and someone will wake up tomorrow and be like, 'Oh, we're pushing it two more years, do you know what I mean? I'm so proud of the fact that it's an album I've created where I haven't had to compromise at all on what my vision is. I'm fully in control of my career for the first time in my life, and I'm fully in control of this music, and that has just been the most rewarding feeling. This is my first body of work, and it's just the beginning for me of an amazing journey. I know it, and I'm so excited.

We're so excited for you, too! You've been vocal about your experiences in the industry so far, from being a young woman and a woman of colour. When was the first time you realised that many things were working against you?

I mean, I've been a professional songwriter since I was 14 years old, and I was immediately thrown into rooms with a bunch of usually 30-year-olds. I'm just a little 14-year-old me navigating things, trying to be taken seriously, and earning respect. Then for you to even be able to suggest ideas or take the lead in a room is hard. For a long time, you're like, 'Oh, it's just because I'm young, it's because I'm a child'. And then you become a woman, and you're like, 'Oh, it's not because I'm a child, it's because I'm a woman, this is interesting'. I think I began feeling these things intensely once I'd signed my deal when I was 17, and I realised even though contractually I had control, I did have very little control. Not the control that you would hope to have over your own career.

Did you get any backlash from putting your foot down in the music industry and sticking up for your right?

Recently, I've been speaking out about songwriter rights because it's so wrong and because the general public has zero idea what really happens or how it works, and they don't even realise that songwriting is a career. Songwriters are the most unprotected and disrespected community in the entire music industry - especially for an industry based on songs. It's been something I've been speaking passionately about, and the industry absolutely hates it! I know, through word of mouth, countless people who are condemning and ridiculing me for putting my foot down on behalf of this community, and it's just hilarious. It's just like, 'I will never stop fighting.' It's literally what you hear in my song Hard Out Here. I will never stop fighting for things that I believe are wrong.

What do you want your fans to know about your upcoming album and new music?

Well, I know people are going through some of the things I've gone through, and sometimes, especially for the way that I've written some of these songs is very on the nose, it's very direct. The way I address things... there's no holding back. It's crystal clear, spelt out, this is what the song is, this is what I'm feeling. You just hope that through the music that was my medicine and my therapy, it will provide the same for one person or a few people who have gone through a similar thing and needed a song to just process their emotions.

Finally, what advice would you give to other young females starting out in the business?

What would I tell them? Wow. I would tell them, first of all, to keep people around. Take someone with you if you're going somewhere new for the first time. Don't put yourself in positions of vulnerability unnecessarily. I would also say to have people around you that you trust and people that keep you grounded and humble. If you're ever acting like an idiot, they would bring you back down to Earth. That's really important because it's a weird industry where people fill you up with smoke, and you've got to figure out where to blow that steam, so to speak. Surround yourself with people who keep you human.

I would say make sure you get a brilliant lawyer. If you are going to sign anything, do not rush it! That process before you sign something is like the schmoozing period where everyone is so lovely and feeds you with all flattery in the world, and the second pen to paper hits, reality kicks in. You know what I mean? Don't rush these processes. And as cheesy as it sounds, trust your gut. We have in us an innate feeling that gives us a sense if something isn't right. But it's really tricky. I've had it in the past when I felt a kind of way about a song or a person, and I felt like, 'Oh, this doesn't feel right, but I've just gone against it anyway because everyone around me thought otherwise.' No, you've got to trust your gut, especially if you are an artist”.

I think that this year is going to be RAYE’s. Her debut album will get huge reviews, and there will be new singles, international touring, and maybe new label interest. Her album is coming out through the distribution label, Human Re Sources, on 3rd February. My 21st Century Blues may nod to a period of depression and struggle for the magnificent artist but, after dealing with so much sh*t from her label and being cast aside, the amazing RAYE is going to experience…

A rare and intense high.

FEATURE: Celebrating a Broadcasting Icon: The Legendary Tony Blackburn at Eighty

FEATURE:

 

 

Celebrating a Broadcasting Icon

PHOTO CREDIT: BBC/Ray Burmiston 

 

The Legendary Tony Blackburn at Eighty

__________

I wanted to look ahead…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Tony Blackburn at the opening of BBC Radio 1 in 1967/PHOTO CREDIT: Evening Standard/Getty Images

to 29th January. That is when the iconic and legendry broadcaster Tony Blackburn turns eighty. You can follow him on Instagram and Twitter. I don’t think there is a time in my life when I wasn’t aware of Blackburn. One of the most recognisable voices in radio, I hope that there is a huge bash and celebration for his eightieth later in the month. You can listen to his Sounds of the 60s show on BBC Radio 2, and his Golden Hour. Check out his incredible Soul on Sunday show on BBC Radio London. Blackburn first achieved fame broadcasting on the pirate stations Radio Caroline and Radio London in the 1960s, He then joining the BBC as part of the BBC Light Programme. Importantly, his voice was what was heard on 30th September, 1967 at the launch of BBC Radio 1. During his illustrious career, Blackburn has also worked for Capital London and Classic Gold Digital. I’ll always hold a special love for The Move's Flowers in the Rain, as that was the song Tony Blackburn played to launch BBC Radio 1 in 1967. I have so much affection and respect for Blackburn’s career. One of the all-time greats, his heart definitely seems to resound with the unique sounds and timelessness of the best of the 1960s. It is a testament to his dedication to radio and the respect he has from his listener – and he in turn has for them – that means he is a staple of the airwaves. Lets hope there are many more years of Tony Blackburn’s wonderful voice on the airwaves!

I am going to round up soon but, as this titan of broadcasting is eighty on 29th January, I wanted to write a bit more. I hope more interviews with Tony Blackburn come about in the next year or two, because his background and story is fascinating! I have found a few from three different years that I want to bring in. In 2017,  Blackburn was interviewed by The Guardian. I was intrigued to learn about his family and upbringing. The support he got from his parents when he said he wanted to go into radio – at a time when it might have been considered frivolous and not viable as a career – is particularly touching to read:

“The veteran radio DJ talks about his strongly supportive parents, his sister’s disability and why it’s hard work being a silly grandfather

I don’t have a hard-luck story because I had a wonderful upbringing by the sea in Poole, Dorset with my parents, Pauline and Kenneth, and younger sister Jackie. My parents were good, decent people and brought me up to be kind to others. They weren’t strict and I never wanted to rebel because I had nothing to rebel against. They instilled strong moral values in me.

My father was a GP with a wonderful sense of humour. His patients would say, “What a great doctor your father is.” He was one of those old-fashioned doctors who would come out to see you if you rang him in the middle of the night. He’d even perform minor operations such as for an in-growing toenail. He was a big soul music fan and he introduced me to it – in particular Jackie Wilson’s Reet Petite, which was the only soul record he had. We played it non-stop. He could also be serious and he followed news of what was happening in the world, which affected him because he served in the merchant navy during the second world war.

My parents met at the hospital where my mother worked as a nurse. She gave up work to look after us. She was always there when I got home from school and she was a mother to us.

I went to a good boarding school, which I didn’t like and left after three years. Dad sent me there because he attended Rugby school and he thought he was doing me a favour. Many years later, I told him how much I’d disliked it. He said it was a shame and that I should have told him at the time because he never intended to send me away. I just wanted to spend that time with my family.

I didn’t want to go into medicine, because I can’t stand the sight of blood. But my parents supported me from the word go when I wanted to go into broadcasting. They said: “Great – as long as you’re happy.” My father even erected a massive great mast in the garden so they could hear my show on Radio Caroline because the reception in Poole was awful.

Jackie was born with infantile paralysis and she’s always been in a wheelchair. When my parents were alive, I said to them: “I’ll always look after Jackie.” My father built her a bungalow in the garden so she could get to everything. She’s got an electric wheelchair and she’s fine – except her eyesight isn’t too good. When my parents died, I asked Jackie to come and live with my wife, Debbie, and myself, but she chose to remain in Poole where she has lots of friends. Jackie never complains. Her attitude to her life has altered my outlook on life. I have so much admiration for Jackie and I’m very close to her.

It was great becoming a father. My daughter, Victoria, 20, is an actress and dancer and she’s been with me all the way through life; Simon, 44, who works in advertising, was three when his mother and I divorced. He lived with her and I saw him every weekend. It was tough taking Simon back on Sundays and I always put him first for the 17 years between my two marriages. Victoria and Simon are both good and thoughtful people. I never caused my parents any problems and my children have been the same with me. I’ve passed on the values my parents gave me to them. All I said was try to get a job where you’re happy, don’t get involved with drugs, avoid smoking and don’t get a tattoo! I love my children”.

In 2019, Tony Blackburn took his Sounds of the 60s show on tour. It was due to go through to summer 2020, but the pandemic cut it short I think. The Yorkshire Times talked with Blackburn about the show and whether life and music was simpler back in the ‘60s. I do hope Blackburn gets take the tour back on the road this year. I have tuned into his long-running BBC Radio 2 show, and I am always blown away by his infectiousness and passion for the music:

“The Sound of the Sixties show hosted by Radio 2’s Tony Blackburn is coming to Bradford in January. A live band and singers will recreate the songs and hits from this classic period in pop music.

What is the show all about?

It is all about the 60’s and the music that made it such a great time. We have been on tour since March and the tour was due to finish before Christmas, but it has been so successful that we are now going through to June in 2020. The show lasts around 3 hours and 20 minutes. It is not me playing records, we have a live 8 piece band, a couple of singers, with the band led by Leo Green who has just done the Beverley Knight tour. I talk about the 60’s in between the songs – there are over 100 hits, we do a Motown melody, cover the Flower Power period, Pirate radio which was where my career started.

It was a great time for music – it must have been thrilling to be involved in it all?

It was a great time for music. Tony Hatch was a great songwriter – he wrote so many good songs for artists like Petula Clark which we feature in the show. There was a lot of rubbish though which came out, but we do not feature them in the show.

Do you think the world seemed a simpler place then?

It was such a special time in such a short period of time, Beatle mania kicked off the 60’s vibe, it was just a terrific era. Everyone these days seems to cater to a younger audience, we cater for an older audience on the tour. I still do my Radio 2 show but I also do a show on BBC Radio Berkshire playing up to date tracks, so I am not stuck in the 60’s as people might think.

What do you think about the state of Radio in the UK today?

Commercial radio stations all seem to play the same records. In the 60’s we pioneered American radio with DJ’s who had personality. Now the presenters on most radio stations are not allowed to have a personality which is a shame. If you think back to DJ’s such as Kenny Everett and the like, where are those DJ’s now?”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: David Levene/The Guardian

I will round off with an interview from last year with The Big Issue. Blackburn took a look back at his career. It must have been challenging broadcasting on pirate radio in the 1960s! But the wonder and excitement of opening a new radio station (BBC Radio 1) in 1967 – at a time when The Beatles were ruling the world – is hard to put into words:

“I used to love the idea of DJing as a child. I had a set-up at home – a loudspeaker linked up to a record player – and I used to do radio programmes for my mum and dad. When I got older I wanted to be a singer. I loved radio, DJs like Alan Freeman, when I was at school, but I didn’t have any thoughts of being a disc jockey. To break into anything like radio or television or anything like that was really difficult.

Then in 1964, when I was with the dance band, I saw a documentary on ITV about pirate radio. And I thought that might be a good way to get into the music business, by DJing. So I sent a tape off to Radio Caroline with me introducing a few records, and they replied saying would you come to do an audition?

So on July 25 1964, on Radio Caroline, I walked into the studio and found it a most relaxing, very, very natural thing to do. I left Bournemouth, went to the pirate ships and spent most of my time on the North Sea for the next three years. I just loved it, and 58 years later I’m still doing it and still loving it.

When I joined Caroline, just three weeks after it started, we were in territorial waters. So we flew under the Panamanian flag, which meant, of course, that nobody in authority from Great Britain could come out and go on the ship and we could do whatever we wanted. Then about two years later, another ship came along called Big L, Radio London, an American-owned ship. That’s the one I really loved. Kenny Everett was on board that one. I eventually left Caroline and went there.

They were all about American commercial radio and that’s what I’ve based my career on ever since. It was a wonderful radio station, the best we’ve ever had in this country.

The government was making it very difficult for the pirate ships, bringing in new offences, not allowing food to be supplied to them, really making it illegal to work there. I met an agent called Harold Davison, the biggest agent in the country. He handled people like Frank Sinatra and all the big names for America, and he told me the BBC were going to open up a popular music service. He said, if you sign with me, I can make you the top disc jockey in the country in three months. So I thought about it… for about two seconds. Harold and I got on like a house on fire; he became like my second father really. And I joined what became Radio 1 and it was a really, really happy time.

I had a sister [Jackie] who was disabled, which was unfortunate. She was never able to walk. She had infantile paralysis, she was always in a wheelchair, but she was fine, and she was lovely. I was always aware that I had so much, and she didn’t have as much as I did. But she lived in a nice place and she had lots of friends.

Having a disabled sister has always affected my outlook on life. I can’t stand people who are continually moaning about their life. My sister had a really tough time, but she never moaned once. I can’t understand all these wars and all the problems we have. Because people are so lucky really, just to have their health.

If I could go back to re-live just one moment, it would be the day I opened up Radio 1 [he presented the very first show on the station, at 7am on September 30, 1967]. I don’t suffer from nerves when I’m on air. I enjoyed every moment of it. I love studios, I love broadcasting. And that moment when I opened up Radio 1 was very special. Somebody said to me, it wasn’t just any other radio station, it was the start of a career. And it’s proved that way. I realised the history of it, and it felt magical”.

On 29th January, one of the absolute legends of radio and broadcasting turns eighty. Such a beloved voice, I know his listeners will give him a lot of love on the day! As he looks towards his ninth decade of life, I hope that Tony Blackburn has no plans to retire! At such a difficult time in the world, broadcasters like Blackburn are definitely making a difference. Ahead of such a big and important day, I wanted to give a salute…

TO radio royalty. 

FEATURE: Spotlight: Renée Rapp

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

Renée Rapp

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A lot of great upcoming artists…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Erica Hernández

released E.P.s or albums late last year. I think that this will translate to incredible success and growth this year. Among the artists I have included are a few actors-turned-musicians. Renée Rapp is an acclaimed actress but, at heart, music is her driving passion. I am going to comer to a few interviews from last year, as she released new music and put out the album/long-E.P., Everything to Everyone, in November. I think Rapp is going to be among the artists to watch closely this year. MTV provide us with some biography about Renée Rapp and a bit about her music:

“You might know Renée Rapp from her role as the iconic queen bee Regina George in Broadway’s Mean Girls musical or the affluent teen Leighton in the HBO Max series The Sex Lives of College Girls. Her acting gigs have given her the opportunity to perform on stage, but she yearned for the opportunity to sing her own songs to the world. “I have always known that this was exactly verbatim on what I was gonna do,” she said. “There was no question in my mind on whether I was gonna do it.” This past year, she debuted her first EP Everything to Everyone, composed of seven R&B cuts and pop ballads. And now, she is the MTV Push Artist for December 2022.

Born in Huntersville, North Carolina, and raised in Charlotte, Rapp fell in love with singing by listening to P!nk and Beyoncé. Queen Bey, in particular, became a major influence on her voice. “I still think she is one of my favorites, if not, like, god to me,” she said. “So I would basically listen to her on repeat and really try to sing like that. So I feel like, in a lot of ways, that taught me how to sing, looking up to a lot of really, really powerful female vocalists of the 2000s. It definitely shaped who I am.” At 7 years old, she delivered her first performance at her grandmother’s funeral. She jokes that she wished she was the real center of attention. “I was like, ‘I’m so sorry, can we make this about me?’” she added with a laugh. “I was so young, bro.” But she knows her grandma would’ve been proud nevertheless.

Rapp has always been writing songs forever, but growing up, she struggled to complete projects, never feeling her songs were good enough. She was unaware that she had undiagnosed ADHD, which she suspects may have been a contributing factor. “I was like, “Why can’t I get through a song? I must be a terrible songwriter,” she said. Upon entering the world of Broadway, Rapp was pressed to fit into its rigid body standards, which took emotional and physical tolls on her. “I became a lot like a mold that I should fit,” she revealed. “I got really sick. I had an eating disorder and I was like, ‘I gotta do this thing, and be this thing.’ It was a really terrible time for me mentally.”

Now, the pop-R&B singer knows all the negative things she thought about herself were untrue; writing and creating Everything to Everyone functioned as a healing form of self-reflection. “The EP was the craziest thing because I learned everything about myself,” she said. “I’ve taken seven moments where I feel like I’m at my lowest and turned those to the best moments of my entire year, which is so cool and I feel so grateful to be able to say that.” This is the first year when she’s felt she can truly be herself — “not dimming myself down to make anybody smaller or make somebody comfortable. I’m just really out here existing for me and solely for me.”

Shedding happy tears over how far she has come, she is overjoyed that there are people out there who want to listen to her music. “I feel like this is all I've wanted to do my whole life,” she said, “and I’m so excited that I get to do it”.

I’m just detouring slightly before focusing on her music. I was gripped by an interview from Glamour Magazine from November. It was a very honest and open interview from Rapp. There were some parts of the interview that were particularly striking and impactful:

“Male validation is like crack to me, and I hate it. I can be out and want nothing to do with men at all. But I still want that validation.” Like so many of us, she knows that this impulse runs deep, but is confident she can shift it with time.

“I don't know what I need to do to reframe my mind,” she says. “I think it'll help as I get older.”

Rene Rapp talks writing break up songs queer identity and fighting the patriarchy

Renée is also completely aware of the darker recesses of her mind, and the importance of looking after it. “My mental health was weaponised against me when I was a kid,” she explains. “The conversation surrounding therapy, it was shameful. I was always the emotional one, and got made fun of for it. I was never emotionally stable – people called me a ticking time bomb.”

After being diagnosed with a mood disorder and advised on ways to manage it, she describes feeling empowered by understanding her own mind better.

 “I have reclaimed [my mental health] in the sense that I sought out help,” she explains, admitting she was afraid of medication for a long time, but now takes it when she needs it. “I go to therapy, I’ve figured out what kind of workouts calm my mind, and I honestly value having lots of friends and people in my life," she says.

"You literally are who you surround yourself with, but it’s always an ongoing journey with mental health.”

As she navigates both Hollywood and the music industry, Renée is insistent on commending the people who have fought for her generation to occupy space. But she is quick to point out the continuing problems with representation.

“I think a lot of people preach ‘we want inclusive casting, we want diverse companies, we want queer artists, we want Black artists, yada yada yada,” she says. “It’s very much preached, but I don't think it's necessarily practiced.

“It's still the same white 60-year-old men or women that are controlling the entire thing. So let that not be lost, that we still live in that – you know what I mean?”

Really, Renée Rapp actually does give a f*ck. About all the most important things, including – above all – her own heart and inner peace”.

I want to flip to an interview from InStyle from November. Although there is always emphasis on acting (as it is what Renée Rapp is best known for), it is clear that music is the most important to her. Her new E.P., Everything to Everyone, is a remarkable releaese. It made a big impression on me the first time I heard it:

“As someone with a large social media presence, how do you think this public acceptance of yourself has strengthened your relationship with your followers?

I feel like the reason that I started doing music and now acting is literally just because I wanted to make friends — I feel like I'm fans of my fans. We all just have this connective tissue in a way. Whether they're queer or not, there's something that we all just see each other on.

And I think, for me, I try to be very open about the fact that I’m imperfect, but not in the sense that people are like, "Social media is all perfect and frou-frou. Don't believe everything." No. The things I fucking preach are things I also need to be preaching to myself. I can be so publicly queer and so publicly not give a fuck. But those are also things I need to be doing in practice.

PHOTO CREDIT: Erica Hernández

Between singing and acting, is there one you prefer over the other?

Music is the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do. My two biggest insecurities growing up were, I thought I was a horrible songwriter and I thought I was a terrible actor. So, I don't think I ever thought about acting as being a feasible thing for me, really, so it wasn't really in my view. I thought, ‘OK, I'm going to have a music career and then hopefully it'll blow up and then one day I might do a movie.’

But music has always been the only thing that I love like that, so I don't even know if it's a preference. It's just more so what I am supposed to be doing and I'm very fortunate to also be able to act in that regard.

Which of your singles has been your favorite to release?

“In the Kitchen.” And it was also the one that I was most nervous for … my first song, “Tattoos,” had pre-saves already and had numbers and had done things that felt at least metaphorically tangible for myself and people in music, but I was really nervous for “In The Kitchen,” because it was my second single, and it didn’t have the same gusto around it online that “Tattoos” did, and I was genuinely fucking terrified of that.

But luckily, “In The Kitchen” is my most streamed song now. It's also the song that's so special and important to me because it's one of — I've said this so many times before, but I really still mean it just the same — that's the song that baby Reneé wished she could have written. It just has every facet of music that I love in it. It's really bittersweet lyrics that don't really lean too much into lending away power or power to the relationship, but it's just this very sweet, "OK, got it. Fuck you”.

I will finish off with an interview Rolling Stone. I am fascinated by Renée Rapp’s music. As I have said with other actors releasing music, I think they have an advantage in terms of the disciplines and skills they can bring into their music. That is definitely the case with Renée Rapp:

“Reneé Rapp is stressed. Her debut EP, Everything to Everyone, is out today, and she’s been worried “no one’s going to fuck with it.” “I had a nightmare that I was playing the Hollywood Bowl and when I came onstage, everyone left,” she tells Rolling Stone a few days before the EP’s release. “And the only people that stayed were my parents, my best friend, and my manager.”

Talking to Rapp, who joins a Zoom call in her PJs not long before Everything to Everyone is out, you understand why she’s hella nervous: Everything she’s done in her career — from skipping college and briefly joining a girl group to playing Regina George on Broadway’s Mean Girls and Leighton Murray on HBO’s Sex Lives of College Girls, the second season of which debuts next week — has led up to this moment. “Basically, my whole life has been scheming to be right here,” she says. “Music was all I ever wanted to do.”

Everything to Everyone serves as an excellent introduction to the complex inner workings of a young woman who finally has “something to say,” as she puts it. Now, fans get to see the person behind Regina and Leighton — and Rapp wants her listeners to feel something when they listen. In fact, she wants them to “be fucking wrecked.”

Lead single, “In The Kitchen,” puts Rapp’s powerhouse vocals on full display as she mourns lost love, and tracks like “Colorado” and “Too Well” are sonically upbeat but lyrically honest about her mental health and how she sometimes “can’t stop overthinking.” “Not that I would ever wish someone to be sad, but if you’re going to listen to my music, you’re either queer, sad, or both,” she says, describing the record as a “bittersweet hug.”

From her pinky promise with Tina Fey and Lorne Michaels to her love for Beyoncé, Rapp breaks down her swirling journey to Everything to Everyone.

How did you get into music?

Music was all I ever wanted to do. My two biggest insecurities, as a kid growing up, were acting and songwriting. I was like, “I can’t act, and I can’t write songs.” But I wanted to be Beyoncé. I used to watch the award shows for music, and just cry after, because it was the greatest night of my life. But I was also filled with such FOMO and envy. I couldn’t watch it anymore. I was that jealous. My mom would turn American Idol on, and I would get viscerally angry. I’d be like, “We can’t watch this. Because if I watch it, I’m going to be jealous.” Music was the only thing I ever wanted to do, and it was the only thing that ever made sense to me. And I don’t even know why.

And now we have this EP! What inspired it, and what was that songwriting process like?

I got out of a really tough relationship last December. And the first person I called when it ended was my manager, Adam. And he was like, “How are you?” And I was like, “This is going to be the best year of my life.” And he was like, “But are you good?” And I was like, “Honestly, no. But I can feel something in my body, that this was supposed to happen. And now I feel like my own individual and I don’t have to make myself smaller. And now I have something to say.” So the second that happened, I started writing in a different way and recording with a ton of people in January of this year.

Through all of it, I’ve been really trying to fix my mental health. Not fix it in the sense to make everything perfect. But “Colorado” specifically is a song that is only about mental health. And it doesn’t say, “I am sad, I am sick.” It’s like, “I want to fucking move to Colorado ’cause I want to literally get the fuck away from everybody, even the people who I love most and are so good to me. Because I can’t possibly be happy with myself right now. And I don’t fucking know why. So I’m going to move to a state where I no longer have a job like this.” So like that.

It wasn’t even until about a month ago, or two months ago, when I wrote the intro that I was like, “Oh yeah, this is what the project is.” I feel like I constantly am trying to be everything to everyone. And that doesn’t mean that I’m the perfect friend — half the time, I’m so unreliable it’s ridiculous — but that concept bleeds through the whole project.

Who were some of your inspirations in songwriting and sound?

So it’s interesting because my favorite artists of all time are Frank Ocean, Kacey Musgraves, and SZA. But my favorite singers are Jazmine Sullivan and Beyoncé. So in this last year, it was such a fucking weird process of finding my sound because I don’t make music like any of my favorite artists I listen to. But there’s nods to all of those people in my music.

Finding the sonic palette for this project was quite difficult. I think where we ended up is I just needed everything to feel good. So I don’t even know how to describe it. But I was an absolute cunt going through mix passes because I was like, “No, this has to be turned down and this has to be turned up.” I was just like, “I just know how this should feel on my body. And until it feels like that, it’s not right.” So we got the songs to a place that, for whatever reason, just feels good in every little fiber of me. I don’t even know if I can really describe it using words, except that they fucking feel good. Everything just ended up feeling like a hug.

I like that. It has to feel right for you in order for it to resonate with everybody else. Is there a song on the project you connect with most?

I think “What Can I Do” is the first openly gay song that I ever wrote. Though I’ve been out for many, many years, I never ever wrote songs about my queer relationships. I only wrote them about my hetero relationships. And it was wild because I really wanted to; I just didn’t know how. I honestly think, looking back, that’s a touch of internalized homophobia. But when I wrote “What Can I Do,” it was just about really, really, really falling super hard for a close friend of mine who is straight, but every now and again flirts with me and was in a relationship that was so not suited for her.

And so it was just me enviously and innocently watching her go through this relationship and not be treated properly. And selfishly, I was like, “I literally love you. I would never want you to feel like that.” It’s really just this feeling of yearning for somebody where you don’t know if you’re just friends or not. For me, that song is so important because it is the first queer song that I wrote that I was really proud of. And as somebody who’s bisexual, I think a lot of times it’s very easy for me to just exist in queerness as a bisexual person who only speaks on the hetero parts of my life. That song made me feel so good about the really colorful and gay parts of my life”.

I am really invested in Renée Rapp’s music, and I will follow her progress through this year. She is an incredible artist who I hope releases more E.P.s and an album. I hope you have learned more about Rapp and are compelled to check out her music. She is someone tipped for success and a lot of focus this year. No wonder! Everything to Everyone is an E.P. I have been listening to a lot recently. The North Carolina-born artist (and actor) creates…

SUCH amazing music.

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Follow Renée Rapp

FEATURE: Scuse Me: The Problem of Colorism in Rap and Hip-Hop – and the Women Fighting Against It

FEATURE:

 

 

Scuse Me

IN THIS PHOTO: Flo Milli/PHOTO CREDIT: Munachi Osegbu for COMPLEX 

 

The Problem of Colorism in Rap and Hip-Hop – and the Women Fighting Against It

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AS a massive fan of Rap and Hip-Hop…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Rico Nasty/PHOTO CREDIT: Katie McCurdy for British Vogue

I have always grown up admiring the incredible innovation and wonder from the genres. Perhaps the most powerful form of music there is, artists have produced these amazing political anthems and hugely powerful statements. Growing up, I listened to a mix of male and female artists. I always admired most the women of Hip-Hop and Rap. Whether that was Queen Latifah, Salt-N-Pepa, or Ms. Lauryn Hill, they were responsible for so many of my favourite musical memories. Those formative years twix ages eleven and sixteen (1994-1999) saw me dig out classic Hip-Hop and embrace the new. Today, I think the balance has skewed even more in favour of women. Sure, there are some great male Hip-Hop artists I love. From Loyle Carner to Kendrick Lamar, there is this wealth of genius and innovation. From the Hip-Hop queens of the past to the modern day titans, I think that it is the women of the genre speaking loudest. Some of my favoruites – including Bree Runaway, Little Simz, and Rico Nasty – are destined to rank alongside the all-time greats. I have written about this several times before, but the genres are already so tough and brutal for women. Hardly progressing music since the 1980s and 1990s, there is rampant misogyny and sexism. Maybe the industry has become more inclusive over recent years, but we are still hearing about women tell of their experiences. Whether that is the way they are portrayed in Hip-Hop lyrics, or missing out on radio play and festival slots because of their gender, I think there is still too much power and influence in the hands of men in the genres. Able to help bring about renaissance and parity, there doesn’t seem to be much activation and evolution from the higher ranks. I am not sure how many male artists in Hip-Hop and Rap are fighting for women and giving them respect. It does seem to be, as often is the case, the women themselves fighting their corner and asking to be heard.

I never considered it deeply until fairly recently, but there is also another struggle that many women across Hip-Hop and Rap face: the complicated debate around colorism, and whether lighter-skinned artists get more attention and acclaim than darker-skinned. Maybe not something that afflict men as much, but there does still seem to be this perception and ideal that lighter skin tones are more favoured and more accessible/marketable. It is an issue that blights other genres. Look at R&B and Pop. Major artists like Beyoncé and SZA are being heard and embraced, but it is clear that there is a struggle of colorism here too. It seems more pronounced and problematic in Hip-Hop and Rap. Genres already unwilling to sufficiently tackle sexism and misogyny, colorism means that a lot of hugely talented artists are being overlooked or having to fight much harder. Recently, as you can hear above, Monaleo was interviewed. She is an amazing rapper, and someone I have already written about and tipped for success this year. She said how it is easier for light-skinned female rappers to make it in the industry. Colorism is something that is worldwide and extends to every corner of life. From beauty magazines to the acting industry, through to music, there has always been this misguided and ignorant standard. Darker-skinned women have always been seen as inferior to lighter-skinned women. It is definitely harder for darker-skinned Rap artists (mostly women) to get the same acclaim and opportunities as their peers.

I am probably not best placed to give expert insight and authenticity to this feature (as a white male), but it is something that upsets and angers me. So many of the artists I admire and adore right now are from Hip-Hop and Rap. They are, almost exclusively, darker-skinned women. They are getting noticed and finding fans, but I think the industry at large is failing them. I want to bring in an article from last year. In it, we learn how colorism is prevalent, and how festivals are letting down darker-skinned women. The article ends by declaring "Black women continue to break the highest and thickest glass ceilings in the rap game”:

“There's no question that Black female rappers receive more criticism than male rappers of any race. Since the explosion of hip–hop and R&B in the 1980s, male artists and white male executives have dominated this sector of the music industry, leaving Black women as the underdogs of the rap scene. The student response to Alabama–based rapper Flo Milli as a headliner for Penn’s 2022 Spring Fling is a harsh reminder that there is much progress to be made in tackling colorism and misogyny in the rap industry.

On April 9, Penn’s Social Planning and Events Committee (SPEC) released the lineup for Spring Fling, a community–coveted social event in our own backyard featuring artists students are dying to see live. This year features Milli and the electronic music group Cheat Codes. In the past, dozens of notable musicians have taken the Penn Park stage, including Chance The Rapper, Passion Pit, and Janelle Monáe.

Despite excitement at the “Revival of the Fling,” not all Penn students were satisfied with this year’s headliners. On the same day that SPEC announced the Spring Fling headliners, the admin of the Barstool UPenn Instagram account turned to the platform to deliver a controversial message. The account posted a slideshow of two screenshots of Google searches—one search reads, “who is flo milli?” and the other says, “how to sell spring fling tickets.”

The caption of this post is what transitions an innocent opinion into a statement of prejudice: “Well maybe next year we’ll get @jackharlow.” Jack Harlow, the up–and–coming Louisville–based rapper, is famous for his freestyle talent and swarm of Twitter suitors, and was recently named the headliner of Temple University’s OWLCHELLA. Harlow is a well–versed talent, but he's also a white man.

This is far from the first time a Black, especially darker–skinned, female rapper has been deprecated for her artistry. When the BET Hip Hop Awards released their nominations for the 2021 Best Female Hip Hop artists category, only one dark–skinned woman was nominated: Megan Thee Stallion. Among the group were mostly light–skinned female rappers, including Cardi B and Coi Leray. Colorism runs rampant in the music industry, leading Black women to believe that lighter skin equates to success.

In addition to colorism in the music industry, female rappers are taken far less seriously by rap fans. The earliest Black female rap influences, such as Ms. Lauryn Hill, Queen Latifah, and Missy Elliot, were often produced by male–led agencies. Contemporary Black female acts like Nicki Minaj and Beyoncé began to normalize “provocative” lyricism with themes of sex, partying, and drugs. This hasn’t always been well received, shielding female artists from empowerment and comfortable creative outlets.

IN THIS PHOTO: Megan Thee Stallion (courtesy of Revlon) 

The Washington Post shames the public's reception of sex talk in female rap, claiming that when male artists rap about the same vulgar topics, their work is praised and acclaimed. For example, when Megan Thee Stallion and Cardi B collaborated on the 2020 smash hit “WAP,” an acronym for “Wet–Ass Pussy,” the song quickly became mainstream news—and not for its musical value.

In a since–deleted tweet, 2020 Republican congressional candidate DeAnna Lorraine writes, “Cardi B & Megan Thee Stallion just set the entire female gender back by 100 years with their disgusting & vile ‘WAP’ song.” Lorraine’s internalized misogyny is just a glimpse into the female rapper experience. Only in an alternate music universe will women be allowed to rap about sex without being berated by faceless media figures.

In terms of our Spring Fling, there's much to celebrate about Milli. At just 22 years old, she's already an esteemed rap talent. She was signed by RCA Records and released her debut EP Ho, why is you here ?, and she also earned a nomination for the 2020 BET Hip Hop Awards Best New Artist category—all in the span of two years. All this after Flo Milli first gained the attention of the rap world after releasing “Beef FloMix”—her spin on Playboi Carti and Ethereal’s “Beef”—on Instagram in 2018.

Milli has been performing and writing lyrics since she was 9 years old, participating in church choirs and rapping with her friends at school. “I think my younger self would definitely be proud of me right now because I’ve reached a lot of my goals that I have for myself as a kid,” Milli says to Billboard.

As we witness the rise of more Black female artists in the music industry, it’s essential to acknowledge the experience of the Megan Thee Stallions and Flo Millis of the world. Despite their misrepresentation and underappreciation, Black women continue to break the highest and thickest glass ceilings in the rap game”.

There is another article I want to end up with. Also, in the course of researching, I came across a VICE piece from 2021. It reacted to a song by artist DaniLeigh. Her song, Yellow Bone, sparked controversy. As a lighter-skinned Dominican woman, her song called for an anthem for lighter-skinned women. No surprise, it did not get sympathy or much respect from most:

"Colorism is the elephant in the room that the music industry continues to ignore. This week, DaniLeigh faced backlash for her song "Yellow Bone," which she described as a song for light-skinned women. "Yellow bone that's what he want," she sings in a teaser she released on her Instagram.

To no one's surprise, except maybe DaniLeigh's, the snippet didn't go over so well. Fans questioned why the singer, who identifies as Dominican—which often comes with its own very complicated relationship with Blackness—felt that light skinned women needed an anthem to begin with. "Why can't I make a song for my light skinned baddies ??" she asked under the post. "Why y'all think I'm hating on other colors when there are millions of songs speaking on all types.. Why yall so sensitive & take it personal.. gahhhh damn.”

Except, there's a lot to take personally. The legacy of being a "yellow bone" isn't rooted in a preference, but instead is the result of decades of color bias placing lighter skin, which is closer to whiteness, as superior to darker complexions. Despite the country's complicated relationship with race, colorism doesn't just exist in America. Its effects can be felt globally, and Latin American countries, like the Dominican Republic, and communities experience the impacts to this day. When confronted on Twitter about her ethnicity she wrote, "I'm Dominican, I'm Spanish.. I'm black, I'm white.. leave me alone." A huge part of the problem with not only DaniLeigh's song, but her response, is that by trying to separate her Dominican identity from Blackness, she is erasing Afro-Latinx who identify as both and fails to understand that difference between race, ethnicity, and nationality. Being Dominican doesn't absolve you from perpetuating anti-Black rhetoric, regardless of your skin color.

We haven't heard "Yellow Bone" in its entirety, but the preview is definitely cringeworthy. "Said he need a lit bitch, so he had to switch, switch," she sing-raps on the song. Considering the song is about a man's preference for lighter women, the implications of these lyrics get even more messy when you realize DaniLeigh is dating DaBaby, whose on-again-off-again North Carolina sweetheart MeMe is brown skinned.

It doesn't take much to deduce how the Black community, and particularly Black women, could find the song offensive. For centuries, light skinned women have been the default because of their proximity to whiteness. Brown paper bags were used as a litmus test to hinder social mobility, barring Black people with darker skin from institutions and organizations because of their complexion. This history is well-documented and with the world still reeling from the effects of white supremacy, like an insurrection and police brutality, how does a song as tone deaf "Yellow Bone" even get created in 2021? That decision doesn't just fall on DaniLeigh, but on everyone who approved the song.

In the days following the backlash, she continued to speak out against the outrage, saying that "only God could 'cancel' her" and "I'm sorry if I offended u." It felt like an empty apology, and her official statement, released in a video on Instagram, didn't do much to change that. "I think people twisted it into thinking that I'm trying to bash another woman, another skin tone like, that was never my intention," she said in the video. DaniLeigh is the only one who can truly say what her intentions were, but her confusion as to why "Yellow Bone" made people upset is jarring.

"I see brown skin women flaunt their skin tone all the time in music," she continued in the video. "Why can't I talk about mine?" I'm not a colorist. I'm not a racist. I date a whole chocolate man. I have beautiful dark skinned friends. Skin isn't something that I even see. It's not something that I look at."

DaniLeigh's hiccup isn't the only time colorism has manifested in the music industry in recent memory. This week, a clip from VH1s 2017 reality talent show Signed resurfaced where two women, Just Brittany and Kaiya, remade Rick Ross's "Aston Martin Music" and received vastly different responses from judges The-Dream, Rick Ross, and Lenny S. "Your future bright, shorty, your future bright," Ross said to Just Brittany, who is lighter skinned. Kaiya, who is darker skinned, was clearly the better vocalist—but received harsher criticism”.

I am going to end with an article from 2021 that still very much applies to this year. Even if some powerhouse rappers like Flo Milli and Bree Runway fought against colorism and are taking hugely powerful strides, the question remains: Are dark-skinned female rappers overlooked and underappreciated? There are some interesting insights:

“In today’s society, women have cemented their place in the music industry, many are flourishing at the very top of their game. However, if we dig deeper, we can see that many Black women, especially rappers who are at the top of their game, are more than likely going to be light-skinned. This makes me think that success has everything to do with the shade of your skin.

I believe dark-skinned female rappers are certainly overlooked and underappreciated. As a society and, in the music industry in particular, we are programmed to believe that the lighter your skin the better you are, or the more successful you will be. This narrative is so damaging and it affects dark-skinned female artists every day trying to navigate through a misogynist and colourist industry. Black women rappers face a double glass ceiling, and something must be done to break this ceiling forever.

Colourism in the music industry is not new. But it has become more prevalent in recent years and now conversations about the topic are more frequent, which is a good step towards making change. Colourism is pushed by major music corporations, however it is done insidiously. This is why when the BET Awards released the list for Best Female Hip Hop artist, I was shocked to see the lack of diversity. The whole list was full of light-skinned female artists. It was shocking as it was so very explicit to see the disregard and the overlooking of the dark-skinned talent that is prevalent.

The list included new rappers such as Coi Leray and Saweetie, but these female rappers have been sometimes accused of lacking a certain substance in their music and - to put it blankly - they have come under fire, especially Coi Leray, as having no talent and that they merely get by with ‘light skin privilege’. Light skin privilege is simply when you get by in the entertainment industry because your skin is lighter and has more European features and therefore the establishment deems you tolerable.

This idea of 'the lighter you are the better you are' has stemmed from Slavery days, where slave owners would sexually mix with the African-American slaves and have children. These children were known as 'Mullato' and although they were still slaves and suffered punishment, they were immediately viewed in higher regard than the darker skin slaves. For example, instead of having jobs working long hours on the cotton fields, the Mullatos would be able to work in the houses on the plantation and have that luxury over the darker skin slaves.

So, the issue of colourism has always been there but the difference is that it was created by the oppressor, the European. But now in the music industry, this message is spread by fellow dark-skinned male rappers. Kodak Black famously articulated that dark-skinned women are “too gutter” while light skin women are “more sensitive”. One could argue that this is just a personal issue and one of self-hatred, however we have seen this narrative pushed so many times before, mainly by Black artists, and nothing has been done to stop this.

Although colourism in the music industry is toxic and can be disheartening,  dark-skinned female rappers are slowly breaking this glass ceiling and are making moves. Rappers such as Bree Runway unapologetically showcases her raw black beauty and her artistry and the numbers speak for themselves: she has 1.8M monthly listeners and constantly rewrites what is conventional. Furthermore, Little Simz was awarded Best British Album at the NME Awards, a great achievement that just goes to show the underappreciation of dark-skinned female rappers is soon coming to an end”.

Colorism is an issue that does not seem to be going anywhere. Considering the amazing amount of inspirational darker-skinned female rappers emerging and making the most insanely electric music, you do wonder whether they will be able to ascend to the heights they deserve because of the discrimination evident and unyielding in the genres. Rap and Hip-Hop have this massive problem with sexism and misogyny. On top of this, colorism means that there are so many women who have yet another hurdle to battle. There is sign of hope. If the industry seems to have this preconception and false ideal of light and dark-skinned women, the fact is artists like Little Simz and Bree Runway show that there is this huge commercial love and demand. They are dominating streaming platforms, gigs and the charts! They are paving the way for their sisters and women coming through. As I said before, it is (but shouldn’t be) women who are having to rectify an issue imposed and made healthy by men. I know it is not solely men responsible for colorism and discrimination. No doubt, the best Hip-Hop and Rap is being made by women. In spite of all the crap and limitations thrown at them, they have overcome and struck – though so many are being overlooked and ignored by the industry. We all hope that colorism soon becomes…

A thing of the past.

FEATURE: Our Futures: Billie Eilish’s Climate Activism, and An Opportunity for Artists to Address a Major Concern

FEATURE:

 

 

Our Futures

IN THIS PHOTO: Billie Eilish 

 

Billie Eilish’s Climate Activism, and An Opportunity for Artists to Address a Major Concern

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SOMEONE who has always…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Sir David Attenborough/PHOTO CREDIT: Alex Board

been concerned about environmental impact and making changes to the way she tours, Billie Eilish is deeply concerned about climate change and raising awareness. Obviously, this is not an isolated thing. She has been fighting climate change on tour for a while now, and other artists are raising concerns and amending the way they tour. Whether this is traveling less or using greener options, few have any excuses anymore. I guess, if you need to tour and get your music out there, it can be hard to reduce your carbon emissions or be more environmentally aware in an impactful way. I think that voicing concerns and discussing this through interviews and music is important. This takes me to something I want to address in the next part of this feature. First, Billie Eilish was featured in Vogue recently. She discussed subjects including a new relationship and self-acceptance. The main theme of the interview was climate activism – and how Eilish, along with eight young activists, talked about climate, community and hope in 2023:

“The first single from Eilish’s genre-defying second album, Happier Than Ever, “My Future” is about self-love but lends itself to broader interpretation—I’m in love with my future / can’t wait to meet her, goes the chorus. When we sit down, Eilish has just finished pre-recording a performance of the track with her older brother, Finneas O’Connell, for the Earthshot Prize telecast the following week—an environmental honor, conceived by Prince William and Sir David Attenborough, given annually to five innovators who are working to “repair and regenerate our planet.”

The song’s dual meaning also describes where Eilish finds herself this November afternoon, a month before her 21st birthday. Case in point: The relationship Eilish wants to discuss isn’t the one with Jesse Rutherford—the frontman of indie-pop outfit the Neighbourhood whom she introduced as her boyfriend last October—but with herself. Specifically, her new connection to her body. “Going through my teenage years of hating myself and all that stupid shit,” the native Angeleno says, “a lot of it came from my anger toward my body, and how mad I was at how much pain it’s caused me, and how much I’ve lost because of things that happened to it.” The most significant loss resulted from a growth plate injury in her hip, dashing her dance ambitions at age 13.

“I got injured right after we made ‘Ocean Eyes’”—the song Eilish uploaded to SoundCloud in 2015 that, as anyone who’s vaguely followed her career knows, started it all—“so, music kind of replaced dancing,” she says. Years of subsequent lower body injuries, and just as many misdiagnoses, increased the alienation Eilish felt in her own skin before she discovered, through her movement coach, Kristina Cañizares, that she has a condition called hypermobility.

“Stuff that you and I could do that would help us,” Baird explains, bundled in a black parka in this tiny, cold room lined with guitars and speakers, “like, certain kinds of massage or chiropractors, could actually hurt her.”

“I felt like my body was gaslighting me for years,” Eilish says. “I had to go through a process of being like, My body is actually me. And it’s not out to get me.”

Billie wears this newfound self-acceptance lightly, projecting not so much the emo angst of her early career as a kind of childlike joy. “I love you!” she tells 17,000 screaming fans over and over—many of them young women who see themselves in Eilish—at the first of her sold-out end-of-year performances in Los Angeles. It so happens that this mood shift comes as the seven-time Grammy winner has set her sights forward—on the greater goal of saving the planet.

“I’ve spent all of my effort trying not to be in people’s faces about it,” she says, her speaking voice assertive and unwavering. “Because people don’t respond well to that. It makes the causes that you believe in look bad, because you’re, like, annoying the shit out of everybody.” But she has tried to educate people. During 2022’s Happier Than Ever world tour, Eilish set up Eco-Villages at her concert venues in partnership with Reverb, a nonprofit that has “greened” the tours of other acts and artists like Maroon 5 and Harry Styles. Inside those spaces, fans could fill their water bottles for free, register to vote, and learn about environmental nonprofits, with an emphasis on BIPOC- and women-led organizations. “I’m still not shoving information down people’s throats,” she says. “I’m more like, I’m not going to tell you what to do. I’m just going to tell you why I do this.” She pauses, then offers a staccato laugh. “But you’re also a bad person if you don’t do it.”

“I’ve spent all of my effort trying not to be in people’s faces about it,” Eilish says, her speaking voice assertive and unwavering. “Because people don’t respond well to that”

Eilish hasn’t limited her commitment to the environment to her live shows. She famously secured a guarantee from Oscar de la Renta’s creative directors, Fernando Garcia and Laura Kim, to stop selling fur when she wore their design, a voluminous tulle Old Hollywood gown with a 15-foot train, to her first Met Gala in 2021, which she co-chaired with fellow Gen Z stars Timothée Chalamet, Naomi Osaka, and Amanda Gorman. “What was most inspiring to me from the creative side was to see this 19-year-old powerhouse look us in the eye and say, ‘I want to do something that scares me,’” Garcia recalls, referring to Eilish’s decision to wear a dress with pronounced corseting. “She inspired me to think outside the box and do things that scare me, too, because it usually means we’ll grow from it.” To last year’s Met Gala, Eilish wore upcycled Gucci, with whom she collaborated to make a limited edition of Happier Than Ever out of vinyl scraps from the original pressing, packaged in a box designed by former creative director Alessandro Michele.

“I don’t want to be parading around like, Look at me! I’m making a difference,” she says, sipping from a reusable blue water bottle. “I just want to be making the difference and shutting the fuck up about it.” Despite her good works, Eilish will be the first to tell you how unimpressed she is with herself. “I shouldn’t be making any products. I shouldn’t be selling anything. It’s just more shit to go into the landfill one day. I know that.” She shakes her head. “But no one’s going to stop wearing clothes. No one’s going to stop making stuff. So I just do it in the best way I possibly can.”

True to her word, Eilish used a series of concert dates last year at London’s O2 arena to stage a simultaneous six-day climate-awareness event called Overheated, named after another song from her last album. (A track that’s also about one thing—body-shaming—but can signify so many others.) Although Eilish and Finneas hosted the conference, which included a Youth Activist Zone and screenings of an Overheated documentary, the brother-and-sister team let other musicians, sustainable fashion designers, and activists take center stage. Hong Kong native and Overheated speaker Tori Tsui, 29, likens what Eilish did in London to a Trojan horse. “I’m sure the majority would rather have seen Billie speak,” says Tsui, who has been featured in a Stella McCartney campaign and whose book on the climate crisis and mental health, It’s Not Just You, will be published later this year by Simon & Schuster. “But can you imagine how powerful it is to use your platform to draw an audience who knows about the climate crisis but isn’t yet fully engaged? And then use that to shed light on some of the issues that don’t get as much attention?”

Eilish was eager to organize an event like Overheated for Vogue’s January cover, inviting Tsui and a group of young activists and organizers to join her in conversation about the climate, filmed by Academy Award–nominated writer-director Mike Mills (20th Century Women, C’mon C’mon). This mini climate summit takes place a few days before our interview, inside a soundstage in another industrial Eastside pocket of the city, where the Los Angeles River, the 5 freeway, and the Amtrak-Metrolink train tracks almost converge. It’s worth mentioning that the 51-mile-long LA River was covered over with concrete after a disastrous 1938 flood and has come to symbolize the myriad and interconnected consequences of climate change: flood risk, community displacement, social inequity, extinguished ecosystems, pollution, and drought—essentially the same issues Eilish’s assembled group has sought to remediate”.

I have seen some scepticism online regarding Eilish’s interview and passion. Some say it is a popular artist chiming in and not really committed. It is inspiring that Eilish is addressing climate change and is active in helping raise an important issue that affects everyone on Earth. I know that many artists are making changes to help do their part, but how often is it addressed more widely? Artists do use their platform to tackle and highlight important issues and subjects, but I do not often read or hear climate change brought up. There is the odd song here and there but, at a time when we are seeing extreme weather and climate emergency, I do wonder whether this year is one where there is greater exposure and conversation. It is not cynical for Eilish to engage in the debate. She has been fighting for years and making sure she sets an example! By engaging with climate activists and young voices, I hope that it gives inspiration to others. On hugely important and influential sites like TikTok and Instagram, how often do you see anything like climate change mentioned?! Huge subjects such as sexism, abuse within the industry and discrimination are vital topics that need to be addressed, but is climate change ranked as important? It is clear things are desperate when it comes to climate change, and I wonder if there is a channel or series where important figures discuss the environment. I thought a long time about a YouTube series or channel where big issues are discussed. Artists getting together with experts in the field to bring these to light. I admire Eilish hugely and think that she is using her voice and opportunities to focus not on something shallow or commercial – like so many artists would -, but to actually talk about something that is devastating.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Greta Thunberg/PHOTO CREDIT: Michael Campanella/The Guardian

I think social media is still not be utilised to engage fans and followers in terms of deeper issues. It is important artists promote their music and do not make things too heavy, but there is this huge opportunity to engage with a young audience about something that is threatening the planet. As I say, maybe a weekly interview series or channel where this could be explored more widely? Incredible activists like Greta Thunberg are standing alongside Sir David Attenborough and others in keeping the message at the forefront. Eilish has discussed climate change for years now, and I do hope that the recent Vogue interview and video of her sitting with other young climate activists provokes wider action and debate. I also hope that other artists and figures in music not only do similarly and engage in the debate through interviews and on social media, but also think about making changes this year. Whether that is trying to use fewer aeroplanes or making sure they have a greener and less environmentally damaging set, everyone can do their part. We have come to the point in history where we are almost beyond salvation or any sort of preservation. It makes it even more pressing that everyone in the industry does their part. It is not just Billie Eilish fighting and talking - but she is among a handful of artists activating and engaging others on the issue of climate change. This is not something that only impacts the few. Climate change is something that will shape and affect…

ALL of our futures.

FEATURE: King of the World: The Genius Donald Fagen at Seventy-Five

FEATURE:

 

 

King of the World

 

The Genius Donald Fagen at Seventy-Five

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I have not done any birthday features…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Steely Dan in 1973 (Donald Fagen is pictured far left, Wlater Becker center)

for quite a while now. I am returning by marking the upcoming seventy-fifth birthday of Donald Fagen. One of the co-founders of Steely Dan (with Walter Becker), he has also had a successful solo career. A truly original songwriter and musician, Fagen is still touring with Steely Dan. Becker died in 2017, but the new line-up, The Steely Dan Band, are bringing that brilliant and ageless music to fans old and new. Fagen’s latest solo album, Sunken Condos, was released in 2012. This year sees two Steely Dan albums celebrate anniversaries. Their second, Countdown to Ecstasy, is fifty in July. Their last, Everything Must Go, is twenty in June. Donald Fagen’s genius as a writer, singer and musician is going to endure for decades. I will mark that with a playlist of some of his best songs with Steely Dan and as a solo artist. Prior to that, AllMusic wrote a biography on the legend and genius that is Donald Fagen:

“As one of the co-leaders of Steely Dan, Donald Fagen developed a smooth, sophisticated blend of jazz, R&B, pop, and rock, a fusion that relied on lyrical wit, technical acumen, and smooth groove. Along with his partner Walter Becker, Fagen honed this style over the course of the 1970s, a journey culminating with 1980's Gaucho. The pair parted ways after its release and while they'd reunite a decade later -- first on each other's solo records, then on-stage, and then ultimately in the studio with 2000's Grammy-winning Two Against Nature -- their 1980s hiatus gave Fagen the opportunity to establish himself as a solo artist with The Nightfly, a 1982 album that generated the hits "I.G.Y." and "New Frontier" on its way to platinum status and a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. Instead of delivering a sequel, Fagen spent the 1980s writing a column for Premiere magazine, stepping away from this task to compose the score for the 1988 film adaptation of Jay McInerney's Bright Lights, Big City. Not long afterward, he delivered his second solo album Kamakiriad in 1993, Steely Dan returned to active duty. While the band remained on the road over the years, Fagen would step away from the group to release such solo albums as 2006's Morph the Cat and 2012's Sunken Condos, as well as teaming with Michael McDonald and Boz Scaggs in the touring revue the Dukes of September. After Becker's death in 2017, Fagen continued to tour with Steely Dan, unofficially dubbing this incarnation the Steely Dan Band.

The son of an accountant and homemaker, Donald Fagen was born on January 10, 1948 in Passaic, New Jersey. His family settled in the suburb of Kendall Park, a move that made the young Fagen bristle. He soothed himself with records and radio, eventually gravitating from rock & roll to jazz, spending his adolescence making the trek into Greenwich Village to attend gigs at the Village Vanguard. Fagen began to expand his musical palette in his late teens, captivated by soul, R&B, and funk, obsessions that dovetailed with his love of beat poetry.

Upon his high school graduation in 1965, he attended Bard College. A few years later, he happened to hear Walter Becker playing guitar at a local cafe. Impressed with what he heard, Fagen struck up a friendship with Becker that soon turned collaborative. They wrote songs together and launched bands, including the Bad Rock Group, which featured the future Saturday Night Live breakout star Chevy Chase on drums. Once Fagen graduated from Bard, he and Becker moved to New York with the intention of becoming Brill Building songwriters. They amassed demos, composed the soundtrack of the low-budget film You've Got to Walk It Like You Talk It or You'll Lose That Beat, were an integral part of a touring incarnation of Jay and the Americans, then had several of their songs cut on I Mean to Shine, an album produced by Gary Katz for Linda Hoover.

Katz became a staff producer for ABC Records, signing Becker and Fagen as staff songwriters. Once these songs proved too idiosyncratic for other artists, Katz encouraged Fagen and Becker to form their own group. Taking their name from a dildo in William S. Burroughs' Naked Lunch, the duo formed Steely Dan along with guitarists Denny Dias, Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, drummer Jim Hodder and singer David Palmer. Their first single, "Dallas" -- which featured Fagen singing its flipside "Sail the Waterway" -- didn't go anywhere in June 1972, but "Do It Again," which followed that November, climbed into Billboard's Top Ten, with "Reelin' in the Years" nearly matching that achievement in 1973. Both songs were pulled from Can't Buy a Thrill, the full-length debut that established Steely Dan as a dextrous, clever rock band.

For a while, Steely Dan attempted to act as a normal rock band, recording the flinty Countdown to Ecstasy and supporting it with an extensive tour in 1973, moves that shored up their support in the FM-oriented album rock scene. Pretzel Logic consolidated their status as hitmakers once "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" went to number four in 1974 but during the album's supporting tour, Fagen and Becker found themselves exhausted with live performance, so they decided to retreat to the studio for 1975's Katy Lied. With that record, the duo began to rely on skilled session players, a trait they'd emphasize on 1976's The Royal Scam and Aja, the 1977 album that became their best-seller on the back of the singles "Peg" and "Deacon Blues."

Gaucho found Fagen and Becker slide into a gilded groove but its smooth surface camouflaged its tumultuous creation. After its release in 1980, the pair separated, with Becker retreating to Maui to tend to personal problems, while Fagen launched a solo career of his own. Loosely based on his childhood and picking up the sonic threads left from Gaucho, The Nightfly was a smash upon its release in 1982, generating the Top 40 hit "I.G.Y. (What a Beautiful World) and earning a platinum certification from the RIAA along with a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. The Nightfly also produced another minor hit in "New Frontier," whose knowingly nostalgic video received some play during the early days of MTV.

Fagen seized opportunities provided by the success of The Nightfly, such as signing up to write a regular column for the movie magazine Premiere, yet he avoided making another collection of original material. During the rest of the 1980s, he released only one additional new composition: "Century's End," which appeared as part of the score he composed for James Bridges' 1988 adaptation of the Jay McInerney novel Bright Lights, Big City, which starred Michael J. Fox. At the close of the decade, Fagen made an unexpected return to the stage with the New York Rock and Soul Revue, a collective that also featured his old Steely Dan cohort Michael McDonald, Boz Scaggs, Phoebe Snow, and Libby Titus, who would later marry Fagen. This ever-evolving band was captured on the 1991 live album The New York Rock and Soul Revue: Live at the Beacon.

During the mid-1980s, Fagen had a quiet reunion with Becker, with the pair both appearing on Zazu, a 1986 LP by Rosie Vela that was produced by Gary Katz. The two had a few tentative songwriting reunions before landing upon the idea of having their partner produce their own solo album. Becker helmed Fagen's 1993 Kamakiriad, which earned a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year, while Fagen co-produced 11 Tracks of Whack, the 1994 solo debut by Becker. To support these two records, along with the comprehensive box set Citizen Steely Dan, they launched their first tour in twenty years, a jaunt documented on the 1995 album Alive in America.

This reunion reached its fruition with the 2000 release of Two Against Nature, Steely Dan's first album in twenty years. Winning four Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, Two Against Nature helped turn Steely Dan into an active band again. Although they'd release only one additional album--Everything Must Go, which appeared in 2003--they'd stay on the road through Becker's death in 2017. Between these tours, Fagen occasionally stepped away from the band, releasing Morph the Cat in 2006, then Sunken Condos in 2012, the same year that the keyboardist launched the Dukes of September, a revue featuring Michael McDonald and Boz Scaggs. Fagen published his memoir, Eminent Hipsters, in 2013, then returned to the road with Steely Dan, The band played shows with Elvis Costello in 2015, the same year they played the Coachella festival, and Steve Winwood in 2016.

Following Becker's death on September 3, 2017, Fagen honored several previous Steely Dan concert commitments. By the end of the year, he claimed that he would've retired the Steely Dan name but promoters convinced him that the group's name remained a bigger concert draw, so he continued to tour as Steely Dan into the 2020s, unofficially calling the new lineup "The Steely Dan Band”.

On 10th January, one of my favourite musicians is seventy-five. I know there will be articles written about him. Fagen was involved in some great interviews from last year. I have included a couple above. I wanted to mark and highlight the music, which is so layered, beautifully produced and timeless. You will hear from yourself…

IN the playlist below.

FEATURE: A Pledge and Much-Needed Promise in 2023: Addressing and Tackling Sexual Misconduct, Abuse and Assault in the Music Industry

FEATURE:

 

 

A Pledge and Much-Needed Promise in 2023

PHOTO CREDIT: kj2018/Unsplash 

 

Addressing and Tackling Sexual Misconduct, Abuse and Assault in the Music Industry

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ONE of the most angering and depressing…

things you hear in the music press is how sexual abuse and harassment is rife in the music. Sexism and misogyny are still prevalent and not going away at the pace it should. Even darker and more disturbing, cases and reports of sexual assault, harassment and abuse are still high. I have seen in Hollywood, there are measures on various film sets to protect women (and men) against assault. It has not widely being rolled out, but essentially actors and crew would be background checked. Before they are hired, there would be this security coming from the fact producers and filmmakers are ensuring that the sets are as safe as possible. The acting industry is also blighted by incidents of sexual assault. Although there are cases of men being assaulted and abused in music, the vast majority of cases relate to women. I still don’t think they are being heard, protected and made to feel safe. Every year, we seem to hear of a male artist who has been accused of sexual assault. There are countless other cases of sexual assault at festivals and gigs. I am going to come to a proposal or thought that suggest music does need to implement structures similar to what is happening on some film sets. It is harder to implement, but there do need to be measures. Organisations like the Musicians’ Union published a report that laid bare the number of cases of sexual abuse and harassment across the industry. Naomi Pohl, the Musicians’ Union’s Deputy General Secretary provided a shocking truth in the introduction:

“The results of our research are clear, sexual harassment is widespread in the music industry. In 2018, the Musicians’ Union (MU) set up a Safe Space service for musicians to confidentially report instances of sexual harassment in the music industry. Through logging and responding to the hundreds of reports we have received, primarily from women, we have learned that harassment occurs in a wide variety of workplaces and that the freelance nature of the workforce in music, late night working and informal working environments such as tour buses, pubs and bars, means our members are particularly at risk. There is also a significant power imbalance in many working relationships in the industry which can be abused.

In 2019, the MU decided to conduct a survey of its members to more accurately assess the factors that contribute to this problem. Almost 800 musicians reported their experiences to us, revealing that sexual harassment is an all too frequent occurrence for musicians at all levels of their careers. Our detailed research exposes the barriers that musicians face when reporting their experiences and how harassment can limit or in some cases end the career of the survivor. The most shocking part of the research was how sexual harassment has become a normalised, almost expected, part of working as a musician. One member described sexual harassment as being an “occupational hazard”. We need the Government to listen to the experiences of our members and strengthen laws, so that all musicians are explicitly protected from sexual harassment. Sexual harassment should not be an accepted part of a freelance musician’s working life. As uncomfortable as it might be, we need to be able to speak about sexual harassment openly and discuss industry wide interventions and strategies to make sure no musician’s career is damaged because they’ve experienced or spoken out about sexual harassment. Improving protections in the law would also assist the thousands of employers and engagers of musicians who receive reports and want to take action but currently cannot adequately do so. Preventing sexual harassment remains a challenge for all of society. What’s needed is wholesale cultural change. It won’t happen overnight but we are encouraged that the industry is adapting and that inappropriate behaviour is far more likely to be challenged now than it was two years ago. We look forward to a brighter future for our members. Naomi Pohl Deputy General Secretary, Musicians’ Union”.

Sexual harassment, assault and abuse are endemic. There are wonderful bodies and organisations raising awareness, publishing data and looking to end a toxic working culture. From those working in P.R. and behind the scenes to female musicians, so many are being driven out of the industry. It is hard enough for music. The cost of touring and the lack of revenue many are receiving means too many great artists are being lost. We all need music so badly in our lives but, if people quit or are afraid to come into the industry, then that will have a devastating effect. I do understand all genders are impacted and affected by sexual misconduct and assault, but I do want to focus mostly on women. In terms of percentages, they are by far most at risk. In dire need of restructuring and rehabilitation, there are men in the music industry who are creating this incredibly dangerous reality. The stark truth is that many women feel that nothing has changed. Who can blame them?! I also feel male musicians and those in the industry are not doing enough to voice their concerns. To highlight the issue on a larger stage. Not that they are complicit or culpable if they remain silent, but all of the articles highlighting sexual misconduct are from women. One might say that, as they are affected and it is happening to them, there is an authenticity and urgency that you would not get from men. If they are not the ones being harassed or assaulted, does it seem shallow, ineffectual and inauthentic if they talk about it or write articles?!

It is not a case of only those who are being abused and harassed should speak and write about it. We are talking about highlighting facts and plain truths. In doing so, the aim is to help dimmish and eradicate a vile and relatively under-discussed problem. I would urge everyone to read articles, testimony and stories from women. Every day, sadly, I hear about cases of discrimination, harassment, abuse and assault. There does need to be change and pledges made this year – in the hopes that women are made to feel safer and feel like they are being listened to. Not only are women leaving the industry because of their experiences. The impact on their mental health is heartbreaking! I want to quote large chunks of an article from VICE that was published last July. The article was part of Open Secrets, a collaboration between gal-dem and VICE that explored abusive behaviour in the music industry – and how it has been left unchecked for too long. You can read gal-dem’s Open Secrets articles here, and read VICE’s Open Secrets articles here:

“When DJ Rebekah read about the allegations of sexual assault surrounding fellow DJs Erick Morillo and Derrick May in 2020, she saw the same instances of sexism and harassment that she experienced early in her career. “I just realised shit, this stuff hasn't changed,” Rebekah told me. “I've been around this industry for over 20 years and nothing's changed.”

As a survivor of sexual abuse in the industry herself, Rebekah set up #ForTheMusic, a campaign to expose the music industry’s sinister underbelly and was inundated with stories from people who left the industry. “I've had many women contact me and say their experience has pushed them out and they've lost so much confidence,” says Rebekah. “There's cases of women DJs having residences in clubs and bars and suffering from harassment, and then they've just stopped their residences.”

The cases Rebekah found align with industry reporting that points to an alarmingly widespread issue that has yet to be fully dealt with. In a 2019 report, the Musicians’ Union, which represents 31,000 musicians in the UK, found that 48 percent of respondents said they had experienced workplace harassment, and the union were aware of cases where artists left the industry completely after experiencing sexism or abuse. The prevalence of abuse in the industry was so widespread that according to John Shortell, Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at Musicians’ Union, many people saw sexual harassment as an “occupational hazard” that was “part and parcel of the job”.

Many in the industry believe these figures are a lowball estimate. “I think it's higher,” says Sarah Hildering, the Director of Dance & Electronic at Ingrooves Music Group. In 2020, she helped write the code of conduct on sexual harassment for the Association for Electronic Music. “Women discount sexual harassment for themselves, because they know there will be repercussions.”

Over the last few years, music fans have had to come to terms with allegations of sexual misconduct and abuse directed at some of the biggest names in the industry. These include the late Morillo, who was accused of sexual assault by numerous women; techno DJ May, who was accused of assault by four women and Def Jam co-founder Russell Simmons, who has numerous allegations of sexual misconduct against him detailed in the HBO Max documentary On The Record. In 2021, actor Evan Rachel Wood and four other women named Marilyn Manson as their abuser; in 2022, multiple women came forward to accuse former BBC Radio 1 DJ Tim Westwood of sexual misconduct. Westwood, Manson, Simmons and May have all denied the allegations against them.

Women may be starting to come forward, but the music industry still seems behind the times when it comes to tackling abuse. Why are people leaving the industry and what can be done to stop this exodus?

PHOTO CREDIT: PeopleImages/Getty Images

Stories of artists who quit music after being harassed are commonplace at Good Night Out, an organisation that helps bars and venues better respond to sexual harassment – so much so that many have questioned the mark such a loss has made on the industry. “You mourn the lost potential of the survivors who've been harmed to the extent that their creativity just ended there,” says Kai Stone, the head of communications and partnerships at Good Night Out. “All of those records and gigs that didn't happen because of somebody else's abusive choices and us not having the set up in place to either prevent that or respond to that.”

Many see the problem of abuse in the music industry as a gendered issue. Shortell tells me anecdotally that around 95 percent of reports of harassment or abuse to the Musicians’ Union are from women. Calls for more women in leadership positions have been touted as a key way to end this toxic work culture, but the experiences of some show how important it is to view the issue through an intersectional framework.

When former musician and gig promoter Alex spoke about an assault they experienced at a venue, they were expelled by their community and their identity as a queer, non able-bodied person made them feel even more of a target. Their name has been changed to protect their identity. “All these people that I was involved with were cis, able-bodied white people. I'm not cis or able-bodied. There were all these guys against me, telling everyone that I was crazy now.”

Louise, a woman of colour who has worked in music PR since she was 21, describes the toxicity of the industry as “like high school” and stressed that racism, along with sexism, played a huge part in the abuse she received in her job. Like Alex, she is speaking anonymously to protect her identity. “One thing I've really experienced is abuse from white women,” she tells me. “That translates into repetitive personal attacks, bullying, and gaslighting. Every person of colour that works in my sector of the industry has mental health problems and that's exacerbated by all these various types of abuse”.

I think that many would heartedly commend and applaud every organisation that is helping to end sexual harassment and abuse within music. The bravery of the women who share their experiences should also be congratulated. This bravery is not being rewarded with change. It needs to go right up to governmental levels. I am not sure how things differ in nations like the U.S., but there is an industry-wide problem. Similar to that VICE article, D.J.s, those in P.R. and every level are being subjected to simply appalling abuse and assault. I opened by saying that Hollywood, in a small but promising start, is trying to turn the tide when it comes to the occurrences of sexual harassment, abuse and assault. By ensuring that sets and productions start off by background checking actors and crew makes sure that they are doing their best to detect any warning signs or potential issues. Some may say that seems radical and extreme but, as it is a job and this is for the protection of women, then why would any man on a film set object?! If they have nothing to hide, then this formality should not irk or inconvenience them. I know there are cases where false accusations are made and cases are dropped, but they are very rare. In music, Marilyn Manson has just been cleared of sexual assault - but you wonder why this was and whether it was because of a lack of evidence. He is someone who has been in the news more then once for sexual assault accusations.

Many bands and artists have been dropped by their band or label because something unseemly and nasty has come to light. From Arcade Fire’s Win Butler to R. Kelly, there is this horrific and seemingly unending stream. I know Rex Orange County was accused of sexual assault, but any charges were dropped against him. There are incidences of cases being dropped, but that is not to say that this is common. I am not in a position to say why certain cases are not brought to trial and whether it is evidence-based or something else. What we do know is of the hundreds (and possibly thousands) of reported cases. It takes me back to that idea of structures and checks in music. I also think men across the industry need to do more. I am not accusing them of being uncaring, but it is not a good look when it is women alone fighting for their own safety. It is almost like they are not being taken seriously. I know the acting and music industries are different, in the sense it might be easier to regulate and police the former. A lot of assault and abuse cases come at festivals and live gigs, and that is so tough to monitor. Unless you make every ticket-holder go through checks, you are always going to get incidents. I would say a lifetime ban for anyone accused or sexual assault is a no-brainer. Regardless of circumstance or excuse, they should not be allowed to attend live gigs. I know artists who are accused or convicted of sexual assault do have their music removed from streaming sites. That is not true right across the broad. It should be. Th same goes for sites like YouTube. They should not be able to profit or benefit in any way.

Beyond that, what cane be done to help tackle and (hopefully) extinguish the year-in-year-out problem of sexual abuse, assault and misconduct? Extending bans to social media. I think any user who jokes or makes light of sexual abuse and assault should be banned. Anyone seen to promote sexual misconduct should be made accountable and removed from social media! I think venues and festivals are doing a lot to try and make their spaces safer for women. I know there are some festivals that have safe spaces/areas for women where they can go during gigs if they need to or feel threatened. It is tough to stop all incidents but venues can definitely increase security and vigilance to ensure anyone who attacks or abuses a woman is removed, banned and prosecuted. Also there can be more campaigns online. I have said how many male musicians and those in the industry seem inactive or silent. That is not a lack of concern or support. I know there have been podcasts and interviews where men have got together to see what they can do. A wider campaign on T.V. or social media where there is a concentrate effort to raise awareness and help to stamp it out should happen his year. It is appalling having to read on a daily basis women who feel unsafe going to gigs or share these harrowing stories of being assaulted. The fact many are leaving the industry because of it proves that action needs taking. Aside from some wonderful organisations helping to highlight the problem alongside brave women speaking out, there are opportunities for more. That thing about sexual misconduct not going anywhere. It is not good enough! Let us hope that, through this year, there are…

DEFINITE steps forward.

FEATURE: The Lockdown Playlist: Body Positive Anthems

FEATURE:

 

 

The Lockdown Playlist

IN THIS PHOTO: Lizzo/PHOTO CREDIT: Bethany Mollenkof for The New York Times 

 

Body Positive Anthems

_________

FOR this playlist…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Self Esteem (Rebecca Lucy Taylor)/PHOTO CREDIT: Michael Powell

I wanted to put together a selection of body positive anthems. Not something I have done before, I still think there is a lot of body-shaming in music. Still a perception that women should look a certain way or conform to an ideal. There have been a wave of body positive songs from artists putting out these empowering messages. No doubt these songs have helped many women in terms of their confidence and the way some perceive them. Not only that, these songs are also anthemic and have a timeless potency and importance. I am going to get to a playlist with some terrific body positive songs. Before that, I found an article from 2020 that asks whether listening to a single song can make you feel better about your body. Of course, this is not confined to women – but they do seem to receive a lot of the worst judgement and shaming:

“The body positivity movement appears to be growing in strength and is a direct response to the stereotypical ways that media represents women. Messages in popular music and videos, for example, often focus on the importance of appearance and present a very specific, unobtainable view of beauty. Not surprisingly, research has demonstrated a direct link between the way that media objectifies and sexualizes women’s bodies and the development of poor body image in women.

Fortunately, body positivity is becoming more common on social media (with the hashtag #bopo), and women tend to feel better about their bodies after viewing positive posts regarding healthy body image. This body positivity is more than acceptance of one’s current physical state; it involves appreciation for the body, including a focus on how the body feels and functions and what it can do. This trend led Sarah M. Coyne, Emilie J. Davis, Wayne Warburton, Laura Stockdale, Imogen Abba, and Dean M. Busby to ask the question: Does listening to body-positive music influence body positivity?

The authors published results of three studies that examined this question in the journal Psychology of Popular Media. First, one group of women watched Colbie Caillat’s music video, Try, which has a body-positive message; others viewed Selena Gomez’s video, Good for You, which is about looking good for a man. Not surprisingly, women felt better about their own bodies after listening to Colbie Caillat”.

With modern artists releasing albums like Prioritise Pleasure that celebrate the body and body positivity, there are these incredible women coming through that are providing this voice to so many other women. Of course, many female artists get attacked and vilified on social media because of their lyrics and the fact they are promoting a healthier image. Whether it is an expectation that women need to conform to an ideal regarding their image and weight or need to look a certain way in general, the songs below are about embracing who you are and being proud in your skin. It is such a shame that there is still this misogyny and shaming that is harming so many women. Let us hope that, soon enough, things change…

FOR the better.

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

_________

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

_________

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.

__________

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.

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Follow Monaleo

FEATURE: Spotlight: Lucy Deakin

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

 

Lucy Deakin

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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.

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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

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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

_________

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

__________

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

_________

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.