FEATURE: Spotlight: flowerovlove

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Morgan Eve Russell for METAL 

 

flowerovlove

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THIS sensational artist from London…

PHOTO CREDIT: Eva Pentel for DIY 

(with heritage in Côté d'Ivoire) is one of the most impressive I have heard in years! Still in her teens, flowerovlove (Joyce Cisse) is already one of this country’s most promising and fascinating artists. Her E.P., A Mosh Pit in the Clouds, was released in November. It is a phenomenal work that you really do need to listen to. I want to get to some interviews with the amazing flowerovlove. This interview is from 2021. It was published around the time of the release of the E.P., Think Flower. It was fascinating reading when flowerovlove (Cisse) first discovered music:

“AMS: Congratulations on finishing! What’s your earliest memory of making music?

JC: It was probably songwriting, I remember – well I still have it – but there’s this book that I think my aunt gave to me as she has lots of spare notebooks from where she works in an office. I would open it randomly and start writing totally spontaneous thoughts. Oh actually, I remember there was this one song I wrote when I was about 10 and I would practice it in the garden and the chorus was literally me screaming the entire time. These songs were never completed but it was what first drew me into written words.

Ever since I was like six, I've always said the classic “I wouldn't be a popstar” line because at that age it’s still something of a pipe dream. But as I grew up I realised I was serious about that. When it comes to careers, schools only tend to focus on a singular academic route. Yet nothing else comes to my mind that would make me happy and make me continue to be happy apart from making music. I’m really just following my heart.

AMS: If somebody couldn’t hear your songs, how would you describe them?

JC: I would say Flowerovlove-y. It’s just me! The message I want to convey is just to love yourself, that you are powerful and you are the one capable to do that.

AMS: Where did your stage name actually come from?

JC: Well, it's not something that came about as a username, even though I’m known for it on Instagram. Rather, it meant something on a sentimental level for a long time; the idea actually started off as “flower garden” around 2005 but I just decided that, no, it wasn’t hitting for me. As I started to gain friends on social media, mainly around last year, it just felt right to change it back. But it had a more direct meaning this time: flower represents women and growth as people together, and then the love part – that represents giving love to everyone.

AMS: I can tell you have poured this passion into your latest EP Think Flower. Do you have a favourite song on there?

JC: I would say it’s definitely Dancing in the Rain because its whole process, the making of it, was super fun. It actually started from this jokey melody from another track [proceeds to sing] and then I wrote on my phone these lyrics that arose in my head: it’s me and the rain, kiss me in the rain. I thought it was all too high-pitched but my brother told me – no, this is actually FIRE. To the point where it could be another song entirely. So that same night he made me a beat, and then I just redesigned it a little, so it’s not about kissing in the rain anymore, because dancing is way more me.

AMS: From rain to flowers, nature is a running theme through your work. Why do you gravitate towards this?

JC: I'm absolutely obsessed with nature! To me, being outside is so amazing, there’s just something about it that is wonderfully freeing. Outside I can make my own rules to make my day so much better amongst trees and plants and the air. I also meditate and do yoga so that’s where it comes in – I was there before it gained mainstream traction.

AMS: So is the outside world your happy place when writing?

JC: Strangely enough the only song that's been written outside, that’s released, is On My Way. You’ll never have guessed – I was literally on my way to somewhere, it’s as simple as that [laughs] but yeah songwriting is more a bedroom thing for me I’d say. Come to think of it, I journal outside sometimes.

AMS: I’m giving you power to change the world, but you only have a minute to decide. What are you doing?

JC: First and foremost, world peace – in every single place, it’s something I strongly advocate for. And for everyone to feel love; both loving themselves and having someone or something to love. Oh and I’d also cancel winter, it’s so miserable and cold! I would make all trees permanently evergreen too.

AMS: Finally, what’s next for Flowerovlove?

JC: Being a worldwide popstar! Global domination! But I would still like to leave the house by myself. I love my fans, and the fact these people take precious time out of their day to support me, I can’t wait to get on the stage this year”.

Last year, aged sixteen, flowerovlove was interviewed by The Line of Best Fit. The South London-born artist makes music that has the haze and pull of nostalgia. That said, there is this self-belief and personal touch that makes her songs so incredible powerful and enduring. I am relatively fresh to her music, but I have been so engrossed by it and everything about her. I know that this year is going to be a truly massive one for flowerovlove:

“Cisse is drawn to music that evokes nostalgia. She likes to spend time alone, closing her eyes and letting vignettes of years gone by pass before her: water fights, running around fields with her brother; pitching a tent with her friends to camp out in the garden; the particular smell of her mother’s homemade Ivorian dishes that bring back memories of being gathered around the table with her family. “Those moments are so cool because I didn’t have as much as what I have now. Nostalgia is my favourite feeling in the world, and I want to create that feeling for other people,” she tells me.

I raise the idea that nostalgia might seem sweet, at first, but always leaves something bitter to taste. “I hear that,” she nods, “because there’s always something missing. But it’s not that I’m missing it as much as I’m still enjoying it. I do think it’s bittersweet, and can sometimes feel empty, but it’s a good feeling. It’s delicious.

It's a sentiment that Cisse echoes when she contemplates the incredible creative success she has found as an artist and model when all she should’ve been concerned about was sitting her GCSE exams. “Well, it’s like, when you’re not somewhere, you want to be somewhere else,” she shrugs.

She does admit, however, that it’s quite strange, blurring the lines between youth and the lack of responsibility it affords, while already being tethered to the expectations that accompany an already-thriving career. “Imagine walking into school, and people are like, ‘I don’t expect someone like you to be here because you already have your whole life together’”. She quips, “I’m just like, ‘I’m only here because I legally have to.’ But I do enjoy school, as well. It’s a bit of a weird dynamic, because you’re supposed to have this childhood, but then you’re also already doing what you’re supposed to be here learning how to do. You’re meant to learn how to get a job, but I already have that. I’m already doing what I want to do, so it’s almost like I’m in the past and the future, two alternate universes.

Does she feel that she’s growing up too fast, hurtling towards adulthood at an almost whiplash-inducing speed? “Sometimes, I feel like a 30-year-old woman,” Cisse admits. “I need to have everything figured out. But then when I’m around people my own age, I know that’s still a part of me, too, and I can still do whatever I want. I tend to be around people who are way older than me, but I realised no one actually knows what they’re doing in the creative industries. Everyone’s still figuring it out, making it seem like they know what they’re doing. That’s actually how it works, to be honest.”

More than the music, Cisse learned to love herself by simply spending time alone. “When you’re with people, you always feel a certain pressure. When I’m by myself, I only have to worry about whether I’m having a good time. I don’t need to think about anyone else. Through quarantine, I started to realise, ‘Wow, I’m actually so cool’. I loved it, like wow…” she shares. “It takes a while, but you have to fake it ‘til you make it. No one else can make you happy because people don’t make you happy – you make yourself happy. You can’t rely on people for your own enjoyment or your happiness. That’s down to you”.

METAL highlighted an amazing artist who is inspired a lot by older sounds. I think her heart lies in the ‘80s but, when you think of her ideals (nature, spreading love etc.), they might be rooted in the ‘60s. The amazing flowerovlove champions self-love and womanhood through her songs. This is someone that we need to embrace and encourage as much as possible to ensure that she has a very long and productive career. I think that flowerovlove is among the finest young artists the country has produced in many years. International acclaim cannot be too far away you imagine:

“Is it true that you only work with women and have an all women team? It must feel so rewarding to raise up other female creators and producers with similar mindsets to yourself through your work!

To an extent as much as I can I’ll have as many women as possible!

How does it feel to be releasing music at the age of 16?

It feels really good to be able to live my dreams.

Who is the ideal audience for your mellow music that promotes growth and reflection?

Gen- z! My peeps.

 

Your first EP Think Flower was cited as a mix of hazy psychedelic soul, and featured the track Malibu, which was one of your first big successes. This song has more of a lo-fi trap or rap influence than the rest of your music – what inspired this? Is it a reflection of your roots writing music for yourself as a child being rap?

I’ll forever and always have a love for rap. An indescribable one. I grew up in areas of London you’d usually avoid!

While we’re talking about school, I saw you express in a previous interview your views that the academic system only promotes one route to success, and usually this isn’t leaving school to become a full-time musician. You have really seemed to find your passion and your place through music, however! Do you think you’ll continue with schooling or take the leap to music full-time?

I’ll continue with school for a while because I still want a glimpse of childhood.

You released your music video for Will We Ever Get This Right today and it is the perfect sequel to the vibes of I Love This Song, dipping into dream pop, meandering through London. What is this upcoming song about?

Oh well this one is different it’s about being obsessed with a person but just the idea of them so they live in your daydreams”.

I am going to move on to an interview from gal-dem. Among those very eager to know more about this future icon, it is amazing to think that they were speaking with someone who was poised for world domination…though she had to finish school first! I can imagine Joyce Cisse will want to take up some further education, though her music as flowerovlove is taking off so much, it might be a difficult choice! With her fanbase exploding and all this attention coming her way, maybe she will want to concentrate music. I have selected a couple of sections from this interview. One portion relates to online trolls and how she deals with them:

“Like many of her Gen Z peers, she’s active on Instagram and TikTok, but she’s resilient to trolls, “I get hate comments but I find it funny,” she shrugs. “I am really secure in myself to know that it’s not personal.” I point out the love she receives on her platforms far outweighs the hate. “Oh yeah, 100%, that’s why [the hate] doesn’t mean anything.”

She’s not one to dwell on the negatives. Late summer single ‘Get With You’ is about “getting with your higher self”, a two-minute fuzzy, heartwarming ride centred around a simple chorus: hey hi, I think I really like you, hey hi, it would be really nice to get with you. The video follows Cisse travelling from London to LA to pursue her dreams. In a promo statement, she said: “The ‘Get With You’ visual is a metaphor for…chasing after the person you want to be, your dreams and your goals.”

Most of her songs embrace positivity and hope – an energy she brings to her live shows, too. At London’s Kentish Town Forum, she signs love hearts to the audience between songs, hands out posters, brings a teenage fan on stage and gets the crowd to shower them with compliments. It’s a refreshing counterweight to the toxic mess of the world we live in, and I ask her how she manages to stay so upbeat.

“That’s a great question, but I’d say it’s genuinely from making the choice to,” she replies. “I always wanna feel good, so I always make the choice to surround myself with as much love and positivity as possible. If I’m not in the space where I’m getting that I will remove myself.”

flowerovlove will now slow down as Cisse goes back to school, but she confides she will skip class “just for the important days”. She doesn’t know exactly how the rest of the school year will go – “I’ll have to figure it out when I go back.” A new single ‘I Gotta I Gotta’, is coming out this week, and some more tour dates are scheduled throughout autumn. Either way, Cisse’s been repeatedly touted as the next global superstar, and it’s a title she’s ready to assume”.

There is one more interview that I want to come to. DIY. They have their Class of 2023. These are the artists they think will be the ones to watch this year. Unsurprisingly, flowerovlove is among those they have inducted. I think that she is someone that is impossible to dislike or ignore. Her music welcomes everyone in. Such an intoxicating and magnificent sound, there is every reason to suggest she will be making music for decades to come. I feel she was born to have this very long and huge career. The future is looking for very bright for her:

“Her early singles embraced that easy, breezy, summer-ready feeling - emboldened by the flower imagery that she’d adopted in her artist name. By the time debut EP ‘Think Flower’ arrived last year, she’d carved out a path soaked with nostalgia-laced, woozy pop gems, and this year’s follow-up ‘A Mosh Pit In The Clouds’ saw her further build on that vibe, creating a refreshing and warm project that feels both timeless and wonderfully modern. “I just make music for how I feel at the time,” she explains. “As long as it makes sense, your music doesn’t have to sound completely different because I don’t like that, it just feels forced. But it can sound like you in so many ways, and my music sounds like me.”

While many of us likely had no clue who we were at 17, Joyce is certain of her identity and armed with the creative vision to prove it (“I’m not going to change who I am,” she states on recent track ‘All The Same’). Carrying herself with the kind of confidence that many spend years cultivating, her young age has obviously been a talking point for many, but it doesn’t bother her. “I think it does help me remember that I’m young, because I do feel like I’m 30 sometimes,” she explains. “I think I’ve always felt a little bit older mentally. I feel like I’m 20 years more mature than a regular 17 year old.”

Yet, youth still oozes into her music. Adolescent crushes manifest in this year’s pure-pop single ‘Will We Ever Get This Right’, while ‘Out For The Weekend’ is an ode to getting dressed up with your best pals. ‘Hannah Montana’, meanwhile, sees Joyce pay tribute to the titular teen icon. Even outside of her music, she’s hooked into the digital world, filming TikToks of her airdropping tracks to fans or promising people in Trafalgar Square that she’ll give them £10 to pre-save her music.

“When I was younger, I always pictured it like you had to be signed to release music, and if you were signed you were definitely going to be famous,” she says. “Now, it’s actually a lot more work. There’s more stages to it, and a lot of it you do yourself. You have to be on it! If more people are online, YOU have to be online.

It could wind up a tricky situation to navigate, especially for someone still growing up, but Joyce’s 30-year-old inner voice has made sure that she balances her online and private life. “I don’t like people to know too much about me,” she explains. “I have boundaries about what I show people. You catch my personality, but you don’t know anything about me. But, if you want to be a global superstar, people are going to find out stuff, so I’ve just gotta get ready.

“For me, it’s about the people,” she continues. “My goal is always to reach people, and numbers on a screen are always numbers on a screen, but when people recognise you in real life, it feels real”.

I shall wrap up now. The wonderful flowerovlove is a very bright and brilliant artist that has been in the industry for a couple of years or so, but she has made such big strides already! If you need a lift at the moment, I can thoroughly recommend the music of flowerovlove. She is creating sounds that, instantly, lodger themselves…

IN your heart.

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Spotlight flowerovlove

FEATURE: In the Month of My Birth… Kate Bush, May 1983

FEATURE:

 

 

In the Month of My Birth…

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush shot in 1983/PHOTO CREDIT: Brian Griffin 

 

Kate Bush, May 1983

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I have written about Kate Bush…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in the studio, October 1983/PHOTO CREDIT: Trinity Mirror/Mirrorpix

quite a bit the last year or so. It is something that drives me - and I am never short of ideas. I am going to revisit a period of her life that I covered last year. The year 1983 is a really interesting one in Bush history. 1982 saw the release of her fourth studio album, The Dreaming. By all measures, it was a recording process that exhausted her! The first time solo producing, maybe she had something to prove to EMI and herself. The extraordinary hours and effort she put into the album shows in the songs. Dense with layers and different sounds, the production is remarkable. It was Bush’s least commercial album to that date – and still might be -, and it came after a few years of intense work. Consider the fact it was only four years previous that she came into the music world with The Kick Inside. From 1978 to 1982, she was putting out an album almost every year. The Tour of Life happened in 1979 and, between albums, there was a tonne of promotion and travelling! Completing recording of The Dreaming in May 1982, just over four years since her debut album came out, Kate Bush’s sound had changed radically! The Dreaming is an album where Bush employed several studios and pushed herself to the limit. Maybe inspired by bands like The Beatles and Steely Dan – both of whom she admired -, there was this vision of creating an album that was very much as she wanted.

Not what was seen as more commercial or led by the label. As such, because The Dreaming came two years after Never for Ever (a gulf of time back then!) and it didn’t perform as well as previous albums, there was a sense of disappointment. It was clear that Bush need to rest, re-evaluate and make a change. The Dreaming is genius, but I don’t think she could have recorded another album like that. When it was released in September 1982, Bush completed promotion, which only added fatigue to her already weary bones! Hounds of Love would arrive in September 1985. I am choosing May 1983 as a particularly important month, as that was when I was born! I love to imagine what Bush was doing the day I was born (9th). I would not be conscious of her for a few more years or more, but May 1983 would have been a transformative month. In June, the Kate Bush E.P. was released. A five-track E.P., it was put out by EMI America in the United States to promote Kate Bush, who was relatively unknown there at that time. Not only was there this campaign to get Bush known in the U.S. but, at home, she was starting to put together Hounds of Love. There was not a big desire to launch Bush in the U.S. previous. She was not concerned with cracking the country, and the idea of travelling there regularly for promotion did not appeal. When she did go there to promote Hounds of Love in 1985, one or two of the interviews were pretty disastrous! The nation not really understanding her or that familiar with her music. I do like the fact there was an E.P. almost ready in May 1983. A point in time when there were desires from EMI to get her music out to America…

One of the biggest things that happened in May 1983 was that her book, Leaving My Tracks, was shelved indefinitely. I think this was a memoir/autobiography that fans would have loved to read! I am not sure why the project was scrapped, but it is a shame that book was not in my family home! In the month I came into the world, Leaving My Tracks could have been on the shelf! In the summer of 1983, she hit a peak. There was this personal and professional change from the start of 1983 through to the summer. After some much-needed rest, Bush was still hard at work, but she was now determined to build her own studio and record at her own pace. Leaving 1982 behind, 1983 was a year of greatest happiness and control. By May, Bush would have had the plan for her home studio figured and was ready to oversee that. Demos and song ideas were coming together and, even though her memoir was shelved, I feel this resolve to concentrate on a new album and do it on her terms was very much at the forefront. Dig! looked at the creation of Hounds of Love and its timeline in a feature from last September:

“In early 1983, Bush moved from London into a 17th-century farmhouse in the Kent countryside. That summer she oversaw the construction of a state-of-the-art 48-track studio at her family home in nearby Welling. She explained the benefits of having her own home studio in a 1985 Melody Maker interview: “The pressure of knowing the astronomical amount studio time cost used to make me really nervous about being too creative. You can’t experiment forever, and I work very, very slowly. I feel a lot more relaxed emotionally now that I have my own place to work and a home to go to.”

Inspired by her new surroundings, Bush found that writing came easily, and she was keen for her new songs to reflect her state of mind. “On this album, I wanted to get away from the energy of the last one – at the time I was very unhappy, I felt that mankind was really screwing things up,” she told Hot Press magazine. “Having expressed all that, I wanted this album to be different – a positive album… more about the good things. A lot depends on how you feel at any given time – it all comes out in the music.”

In the summer of 1983, Bush began demoing her new songs with then partner Del Palmer – she’d compose on piano or the Fairlight while Palmer programmed patterns on a LinnDrum machine. Recording proper began in November 1983, as Bush worked with a team of engineers and musicians to flesh out the demos. As hoped for, her own studio meant that she could pursue her artistic vision with no constraints, and she outlined her approach to the Canadian magazine Now. “I feel that ‘art’ is one of those things that should have absolutely no rules at all. In fact, the rules that are already laid down I feel like deliberately breaking, to try what they say you can’t do. I think really the approach is something you continually experiment with – you try and find the best way of expressing something well”.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush busy in the studio recording Hounds of Love/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

I think about May 1983. It was obviously my start to life, but I also feel like it was for Kate Bush too. At home by East Wickham Farm with plans for a studio that she could record in and learn dance, she would be looking ahead of the summer (which technically starts in June). After a tough 1982, here was Kate Bush armed with a masterplan! She was constructing the framework for her best songs to date, and there would have been family around her. EMI were working on E.P. to get her name out in the U.S., whilst Bush was more concerned with the comfort of home and ensuring that she could produce an album – ensuring that it did not take the same toll as The Dreaming did. Almost a polar opposite to that 1982 album, Hounds of Love is ambitious and grand, yet its sounds is worlds away from The Dreaming. Bush began 1983 with resolve and a direction…but it was in the late spring and start of summer when things were really happening. Bush was writing and forming these songs in May 1983, ahead of them being demoed. One of the first songs she worked on in her studio was Deal With God (later re-titled Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God). With incredible musicians like Del Palmer and Eberhard Weber, there was a lot of positivity and love in the air. In May 1983, Bush would have been in that stage of thinking what could be. With her studio, the songs, and this new album. What the world got in 1985 was one of the finest albums ever released. As she started recording in summer 1983, the final weeks of spring would have been the blueprints and notes being assembled. To me, that is the most important and exciting time in Bush’s career. To think, when I was born, the majestic Kate Bush was almost ready to start recording…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush with Eberhard Weber

HER masterpiece.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Katie Gregson-MacLeod

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Jaime Molina for The New York Times

  

Katie Gregson-MacLeod

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A fiercely independent artist…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Meg Henderson

who is not afraid to hold back sharing what is inside her regarding music, I have a lot of admiration for Inverness artist Katie Gregson-MacLeod. I said recently how I have not featured many Scottish artists in my Spotlight features. There is so much incredible talent coming out of the country. I want to share a couple of recent interviews with the magnificent Gregson-MacLeod. Before that, in 2020, Medium spoke to the then-nineteen-year-old about her music and rise. It was clear, even at a time when the pandemic had shut things down, that she was an artist connecting with a lot of people:

“Katie Gregson-MacLeod is a nineteen year-old singer-songwriter from Inverness, Scotland. Although she would say her roots are acoustic pop-folk, she has branched out into a more indie-pop sound in the music she’s been releasing. Currently, she’s making music that she feels you can cry and dance to at the same time. By day she is also a history student at Edinburgh University.

Q. “When did music become an important part of your life? How did you know it was something more than just a hobby?”

A. “Music has always been one of the most important things in my life, I think. I’ve been singing and writing wee songs for as long as I can remember and started playing the piano and guitar at a young age too. I think I knew from childhood that I wanted a creative career, whether that be in music, film, or theatre but it wasn’t until early 2019 that I started to actively play gigs and immerse myself in the local music scene and beyond.”

Q. “What age did you start performing? Did you have stage fright? If so, how did you overcome that? If not, what was the scariest part about entering the music industry?”

A. “I’ve performed in choirs and musical theatre since I was really wee and it’s always been second nature for me. I don’t remember ever really having stage fright when performing and actually find that I’ve become more prone to getting nervous now that I’m older and it feels more serious. Last year, for instance, I played a Sofar show, which is super intimate, and the crowd was dead silent. I don’t think I’ve ever been more nervous. In cases like that, I just try to tell myself that nothing is too big a deal and that all I can do is try to have fun with it. To be honest, the scariest part about entering the music industry for me is the idea that no one will like my writing or want to listen to my work, which has already been proven irrational I guess.”

Q. What are your next steps as an artist?

A. “I am exploring a range of sounds right now and working on an EP to release next year, which will have my debut single on it. The songs I’ve chosen to put on the EP were all written this year and I’m really excited to share them as a collective. They’re also quite pop-esque, and I’m really an acoustic artist at heart, so once I’ve finished the first EP, I’d like to release some really stripped back folky stuff”.

2021 was a busy year for Katie Gregson-MacLeod. She released the Games I Play EP, and there was a lot of attention around her. I think, with the pandemic still restricting things, it was hard for her to strike and take full flight when it came to gigs and getting her music out there. Last year, she released the sensational E.P., songs written for piano. It features a song that has really blown up. The beautiful complex has sort of taken on a life of its own. The Line of Best Fit spoke with Gregson-MacLeod late last year. I have selected the segments where we discover her background and how she got into music:

“It's that appreciation and desire for storytelling that pushed Gregson-MacLeod into music—and it’s the part of Scotland that she’s taken with her now that her career is pulling her elsewhere.

First entering the Scottish scene at 16 in Inverness, she felt “disconnected” from other Scottish musicians in bigger cities. Eventually, she “weaseled her way” into a mentorship program for young Scottish artists and from there was exposed to the country’s broader music industry network as well as opportunities for paid gigs at pubs, festivals, and in support slots. “I was independent completely, like no label no manager and no one around me. So, it really was a case of like just try emailing people to get any gigs I can,” she remembers. Such is the game of being an independent musician in the era of DIY artists. Before signing, most have to act as their own managers, marketers, content creators, and, sometimes, producers. Gregson-MacLeod’s first single “Still a Sad Song”, which she released at 18, was self-produced and later featured on national radio. She went on to release her first body of work in mid-2021 with the “Games I Play” EP, a collection of indie-pop offerings. Though there are sonic differences in that first EP from Gregson-MacLeod’s latest offerings, the beginnings of a great writer and musician are clear even in those early works.

Eventually, Gregson-MacLeod made the move out of Inverness and into Edinburgh for university, where she studied history. “I think that just moving somewhere bigger and moving to a city was something I was always going to have to do,” she admits. “The moving to Edinburgh was very transformative … I was able to get different gigs and to really capitalize on being somewhere with stuff going on. I met the people that would become my band—not at uni but just around the scene—and also lots of music pals.” And while her degree might not have been in music, the studying still helped her process. She laughs as she remembers that her most productive writing sessions were always in the weeks when she had an essay deadline.

Now, she’s all but packed up once again, getting ready to make the move to London full-time and join the burgeoning new generation of artists and songwriters living there. Indeed, the friends she’s staying with as she calls me are musicians themselves, and after our call she’s going out with them to a Matt Maltese gig, someone she says she’s come to know well in recent months. Her friends, she says, have anchored her in this otherwise head spinning experience: “they’ve just been laughing with me the whole time.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Caity Krone

Still, moving away has its challenges. “I feel like I’ve sold my soul to England,” she tells me. “Like you go back and they’re all like: ‘Oh, you’ve come to grace us with your presence.’” Nonetheless, any chance Gregson-MacLeod gets to visit the highlands again, she does: “Just feeling that home turf again is really nice.” But for all the jokes, everyone she grew up with has done nothing less than cheer her on. Her home friends even joke that she goes back to visit too much. “They’re telling me to, like, ‘go live that life.’”

As she settles into London, Gregson-MacLeod has got her eye on the ball, determined not just to get swallowed and spit out in the wave of internet fame but to properly build on it instead. She’s already making the right moves. In support of “complex,” she’s released a music video that takes the form of an Edinburgh remake of the one Vanessa Carlton put out for “A Thousand Miles”.

I am going to wrap up soon. I think it is harder for artists like Katie Gregson-Macleod to gain as much traction as other artists. What I mean is that her music has this elegance and beauty that is not as bombastic as a lot of modern Pop. A lot of TikTok stars and Pop artists are getting big kudos, but the sheer depth and nuance of Gregson-Macleod’s music marks her out for long-term success. NME chatted with her about the song written for piano E.P. It is amazing to think that, as NME write, the young artist was going to go back to university before a certain song changed things:

“Few artists on Earth know how Katie Gregson-Macleod is feeling right now. In early August, the 21-year-old vocalist and pianist was working part-time at a coffee shop and preparing to return to university to study History. But, by the end of that month, she had blanketed TikTok with an early demo of her breakthrough track ‘Complex’, a candid and arresting piano-driven power ballad steeped in romantic malaise, where it went on to become one of the buzziest songs on the planet overnight.

The song has taken on a new life in the months that have followed, with Gregson-Macleod’s songwriting continuing to help her fans emotionally purge. Dialling in from her family home in Inverness, she tells NME about how she’s only now beginning to come back down to Earth following a recent whirlwind promo tour across the US. “I’m feeling emotional today, because someone tagged me in a post where their Spotify Wrapped data explained how they’ve listened to my song 2660 times,” she says, visibly tearing up through the camera lens. “I only released the song in late August! [‘Complex’] was only supposed to be a demo, so I can’t even fathom how it’s managed to go this far…”

NME: A handful of the songs on your new EP were written when you were a teenager. Why is now the right time to release them?

“I think these are songs that I’ve always been very personally attached to. I often dismiss my earlier music as being ‘young’ or ‘immature’, as I think that I’ve grown so much since then. But I think there’s something special about the perspective that you have at a younger age, or at least wanting to honour your outlook at different moments in your life. When you’re a teenager, there’s this kind of complete certainty that you have in your own worldview. Pretending I was always incredibly wise, or that I had all the knowledge that I have now, is something I’m trying to shed. I try not to change any lyrics to my songs because they are all unique to the time and place that they were written in – and I can’t ever replicate that.”

How do you strike the right balance in your music between nostalgia and looking towards the future?

“I have a tendency to delve into things from my past, and I’m not afraid to share whatever needs to come out of me. I’m currently working on writing more about the present moment, even if it’s so much harder to do. Maybe I need to start being more of an optimist and write about what I could be feeling in the future – it’s all a process. But it all goes back to everything that happened around ‘Complex’: that time sparked a level of complete uncertainty as to what’s happening in my life. It was such a positive thing to happen to me, but it was shocking to the point where I felt like the ground beneath me was always moving. I wrote quite a few songs around that time and they were all about looking for answers, including ‘White Lies’, which I wrote in that period. ‘Complex’ was all statements, and now I just write questions.”

How do you imagine the success of ‘Complex’ will shape the music you’ll write in the future?

“I’m really excited to see where this goes. I made music for a few years on the small budget I had, but now the world has opened up so much for me. I want to maintain what makes my music unique to me, but also take advantage of all the new doors being opened – it’s about finding that important balance. I’ve been growing a lot and that will come with changes as a musician, too. Maybe I’ll come out with a fucking hyperpop record! But seriously, I’m excited to just work on the songs that I wrote ages ago but never got the chance to make”.

If you have not discovered the wonderful music of Katie Gregson-MacLeod, then go and spend some time with it. An artist that is going to be among the most exciting and promising of this year, I hope that her music continues to grow and her success follows. She is an artist that, once heard, is hard to forget! I am fairly new to her music, but I have been compelled to explore it in depth and read interviews. She is a fascinating artist who will be making big moves…

THROUGH this year.

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Follow Katie Gregson-MacLeod

FEATURE: Spotlight: Brooke Combe

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

 

Brooke Combe

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I have not featured many Scottish artists…

for my Spotlight features. It is to my shame I do not spend enough time in that wonderful country. The music scene there is so fertile and extraordinary! One artist who is doing Scotland proud is the sensational and unforgettable Brooke Combe. I found her music last year, and I have been a fan ever since. With a string of impressive and unique single under her belt, I wonder whether there is an E.P. coming from Combe in 2023. I am going to get to a couple of interviews with Combe soon. First, here is some background to the stunning Brooke Combe:

“Brooke Combe discovered a love for music aged just 5 years old, after getting her first toy drum kit. Eventually she added playing saxophone, trombone, guitar, bass and piano to her repertoire while at secondary school and began to find her own uniquely powerful voice along the way. Combe, influenced by the ‘90s R&B played in her mum and dad's house, as well as the Motown her grandparents would play her, developed a love of great songwriting and vocalists and lyricists with their own idiosyncrasies - such as Amy Winehouse and Fleetwood Mac - before beginning to work on her own material.

Now, with her stunning first statement ‘Are You With Me?’ finally out in the world, Brooke Combe has announced herself as a genuine artist to watch in 2021 and beyond.

Brooke Combe discovered a love for music aged just 5 years old, after getting her first toy drum kit. Eventually she added playing saxophone, trombone, guitar, bass and piano to her repertoire while at secondary school and began to find her own uniquely powerful voice along the way. Combe, influenced by the ‘90s R&B played in her mum and dad's house, as well as the Motown her grandparents would play her, developed a love of great songwriting and vocalists and lyricists with their own idiosyncrasies - such as Amy Winehouse and Fleetwood Mac - before beginning to work on her own material”.

Coming into the collective consciousness in 2021, it must have been a tough year to get any sort of ground and traction. That said, Combe’s remarkable voice and incredible music definitely resonated. I think that this year is one where she can really stretch her touring legs. It has been a tough last couple of years for most artists. The wonderful SNACK chatted with Combe back in June. An award-winning artist, it is clear there is so much affection for her – and a lot of belief that she is going to be this huge musician very soon:

“Brooke Combe, voted Best Female Breakthrough Artist at the Scottish Music Awards 2021,  is  a  singer-songwriter  on the rise. She grew up on the outskirts of Edinburgh, listening to Motown, soul and R&B and playing instruments from a tender age. She discovered rock influences at 17 and was encouraged by her school music teacher to develop her vocals and to study music at university.

Savvy with social media, Combe’s early cover songs found mass appeal, particularly her rendition of Baccara’s ‘Yes Sir, I Can Boogie’, the Scotland international football team’s anthem in summer 2021. Since signing to Island Records, football crossovers continue, with song excerpts recently featured  on BBC and Sky Sports football highlights on primetime television. ‘Miss Me Now’ is her latest single, driven by a punchy bassline and aligned with catchy lyrics, rhythmic and melodic hooks in three minutes of disco-pop perfection.

Tell us about your latest single, ‘Miss Me Now’.

I came up with the little bassline that the song is introduced with when I had got home from a night out. The song came together as a studio recording, then went back and forth with producer Mark Ralph, who added some lovely sparkly bits that sort of elevated the tune. I love it: it’s nothing like I’ve ever done before, so it felt like it was a bit of a gamble for me to release, but everybody loved it. It’s quite a light-hearted tune – it’s fun, it’s summer.

How do you approach your original songs?

I feel like I’m in a position at the moment where I’m able to be a bit freer with my tunes and just play around. I’m still trying to find the Brooke Combe sound. I think the running theme, however, throughout all my singles, is that they’ve all got the same soul. That’s the most important thing to me, being a soul singer: making sure there’s still depth to all these tunes even if they are quite light-hearted.

What would you say is your proudest musical achievement so far?

Signing to Island Records – it’s something any singer dreams about, especially coming into this industry. It’s all been a whirlwind, and it’s been really fast. So being able to sign, and have all the opportunities that have come with that, has been just remarkable and I probably never could have imagined it. I was only 21 at the time and it’s an amazing, surreal thing to say you have done at that age, so I’m really proud of that.

What would you like to achieve in the next five years?

I’d like to have released an album by then: a nice body of work that I’m proud of. Really mastering my live shows is becoming one of the biggest things for me. I love performing live, and I love being on stage and connecting with the audience”.

There is another interview that I want to get to before I wrap this up. The Skinny shone a spotlight on an artist who sold out King Tut's (Glasgow) and signed to Island Records during a global pandemic. Combe had a busy summer of festivals last year. Rich reward for an artist whose music is among the finest around. I have no doubt she is going to continue to grow and play ever bigger venues and festivals:

“With an impressive array of successes gathered in such a short period of time, from selling out King Tut's and signing to Island Records to winning Best Female Breakthrough artists at the 2021 Scottish Music Awards, it's mad to think that Combe's journey is only really just beginning. With all that in mind, we shine a spotlight on Brooke Combe to get to know her a little better before she becomes a household name.

You’ve been playing music in some form or another since you were five years old – who would you cite as your main musical influences and what inspires your music writing?

There are a lot of artists and bands that inspire me musically, but I’d say some of the main ones growing up were Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston, The Temptations, Marvin Gaye, Amy Winehouse... the list is endless. However, the main theme throughout them all is soul. I’ve got a really soulful voice and it's important to me because that’s what moves me the most when listening to tunes. I’d say lyrically my biggest inspiration is Arctic Monkeys. I love the endless use of metaphors throughout their tunes. It just always gets me thinking about ways I can incorporate metaphors in my tunes. It’s quite a difficult thing to do.

It must’ve been quite weird for you coming into prominence with your music amid a global pandemic – what have the last couple of years been like for you?

The last couple of years have been sort of crazy, but in a good way. A lot of people saw the pandemic as a hindrance to my development which is somewhat true in terms of performing. I wasn’t able to get out and gig for a long time, which is something I was probably most nervous about considering I’d never really gigged before. However, it also gave me a lot of time to focus on writing tunes and lyrics and bettering myself as a songwriter. I’ve grown a lot over the last two years and being a fairly shy person, I’m excited to push my limits and see how far I can go with everything.

What festivals are you most excited about playing this summer?

I am so buzzed to be playing some of the big UK festivals this year – I've just announced Reading and Leeds which is madness to me and the response has been great. As well as Neighbourhood festival, a big one for me is TRNSMT in Glasgow. Playing at home in Scotland alongside some unbelievable company is definitely going to be a highlight of the summer. I can't wait to be back on the stage and doing what I love and I'd love to see as many people as possible there enjoying it with me.

What does the rest of the year hold for you?

I have just released my first single of the year Miss Me Now, which feels insane; I tried something a little different and I’m super proud of this one. We had such a laugh filming the video and the outfits were amazing; I’ve been so excited for everyone to see what I’ve been working on. Throughout the rest of the year I’ll be releasing more tunes and hopefully getting myself out on the road doing my own little headline tour around the UK. It’s going to be an exciting year and opportunities keep coming up, I can’t wait to steal everyone's hearts…That’s the main goal”.

Spend a little time getting to know the superb Brooke Combe. One of the absolute best young talents in the U.K., I know so many people are singling her out for greatness. It is clear she is going to help make this year one of the best for music. I love what she is doing, and it makes me want to explore Scottish music more and more. Go and follow the Brooke Combe, for she really is…

A staggering artist.

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Follow Brooke Combe

FEATURE: Spotlight: Shaé Universe

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

 

Shaé Universe

__________

WHETHER you class her music…

as R&B or R&Drill, there is no denying Shaé Universe is an artist who will be very busy through this year. An immense talent who put out the Unorthodox E.P. in April, I am fascinated and hooked already. I think Shaé Universe will have a very long future in the music industry. She is someone who has already established and cemented her sound, and she has a legion of fans behind her. Before I get to some interviews from last year, The Blues Project provided some background and biography in 2021. It gives you a bit of detail as to where the Nigerian-born artist started out and how she has evolved:

“Singer and songwriter Shaé Universe welcomes listeners into her own make-shift universe. A world equipped with lyrical dexterity and sonic riffs, the fuel of one’s flames being a love for authentic R&B. Having grown up in the church, Shaé, who is of Nigerian heritage, but grew up just outside of London, contextualises this into her sound. The result being her own neo-R&B sound; of which she holds the torch in the UK R&B sector. Having caught the eye of US rapper Boogie, Shaé’s feature on the rapper’s album ignited the sonic movements towards her tracks You Lose, No Stallin and 111.  It also led to her opening on tour for Eminem!

Shaé has already caught the eye of the global music stage, and is a definite must watch in the coming years. After returning to London from Grammy week (late Jan 2020), British R&B upriser Shaé Universe said she felt that LA had left her with a new sense of “motivation, versatility, and drive”. She immediately got working on the music video masterpiece presented as ‘No Stallin’. Shaé’s single ‘No stallin’ was originally released in 2018, where its bouncy yet silky-smooth sound spread very quickly amongst the UK music scene, accumulating over 1.5 million streams independently, featuring in several verified playlists and gaining major radio coverage on global stations such as BBC 1Xtra, Capital Xtra, Beats1 and more.

Since then, she’s evolved her sonic palette even more. Revealing a blend of R&B and Drill in single You Lose, collaborating with Kojey Radical on Royalty, a track that’s simply laced in luxuriousness. As Shaé gears up for the release of her debut EP, fans are eagerly anticipating the release from an artist that has established herself as one of UK R&B’s most consistent emerging acts”.

I want to bring in a few interviews. There was a lot of excitement and curiosity around the Unorthodox E.P. Lots of people wanted to know more about the wonderful Shaé Universe. I discovered her music fairly recently, but I listened back to her releases from 2020 and 2021. What you notice that, through time, her confidence has grown and the music has got stronger. She was always exceptional, but Shaé Universe released her finest work with Unorthodox. Wonderland. featured Shaé Universe in April. I was interested learning how she finds inspiration and motivation when struggling:

“And what advice would you give to someone who might be like struggling to find that creativity and that inspiration in their life right now?

The advice that I would give to somebody who’s trying to you find reativity within themselves is to unplug and actually take a step back from social media and all these fast-paced influences. That can actually do a lot and can help you to hear your own internal voice a bit louder. I would advise unplugging, taking a step back from socials and just living in the real world. You know, go for a walk, look around, see what you have around in your area, things like that.

So many people seek out inspiration, so I think it’s great that you step back instead. So when you yourself are struggling, do you go to a particular place or person when you need that inspiration and motivation?

Again, I’m quite a spiritual person. So if I’m really down bad, I will go to God first and foremost, and just spend some time with God meditating. And I usually feel significantly better after that. But I’m generally outside of like prayer and stuff. I think when I’m looking for inspiration, I also do tend to unplug, it’s usually one or the other. It’s either like I don’t talk and will just completely disconnect myself or I do a deep dive into some of my oldest albums that I used to love but haven’t listened to in a long time. Sometimes going back to things that inspired you originally can help you to respond to something, for sure.

And despite your wanting to relax, your energy still comes across, it’s undeniable. Would you say there is pressure there to play up to that facade all the time?

That is such a good question. You know what, I would say I don’t feel pressure to live up to an image, but what I will say is all of my supporters or people that listen to my music is to just know who I am as an artist and what I represent. They all see me as somebody that represents light and positivity and always at the good things. I think sometimes having people look at me or look up to me in that way definitely makes it a bit more difficult for me to share my down days or days when I don’t necessarily feel so great because I feel like people expect that of me. So I don’t know if that’s necessarily playing up to an image but I definitely feel like when I am going through or having worst days I tend to withdraw as opposed to sharing that also with them. So that’s something I’m working on”.

A staggering artist who is among the finest U.K. R&B artists of the past decade, Shaé Universe is on her way to conquering the world. GRM Daily published a particularly deep and compelling interview in September. Shaé Universe discussed Unorthodox, R&Drill, and how she has got to where she is. A fiercely independent artist who commands so much respect from her peers, it has been a determined and hard-working career where this passion has remained strong and true. It is an inspiration to other artists, and a testament to believing in your talent and purpose:

“So talk to us about your musical beginnings. We know that you studied theatre and come from a performance background. When did you realise music specifically was your calling?

“I started singing when I was really young in the church because my mum was actually a gospel singer, the leader of the choir. From as young as I can remember in our home church, we don’t go there anymore, but for a very long time, we did. That’s where I started singing. I was just singing in the choir helping to support my mum and stuff. I was probably 11 or 12 when I started to actually branch out and listen to other music and discover artists for myself. Pop was big then as well as, I don’t want to say generic but all the pop stars that were reigning at the time, Britney, Beyonce,  Rihanna etc all the mainstream people.

“Then I started to branch out and listen to artists that were more in line with my personal tastes, people like Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill. I listened to Brandy a lot as well. That helped me form my own sound. But weirdly enough I actually started out in poetry. I was really into poetry, I have always loved words, English, learning new words and the meaning of words that also fed my love for songwriting, singing just grew organically from that.”

Who are your musical influences?

“I would say, I have a lot of influences. But at the root Brandy is up there, Lauryn Hill is up there, Erykah Badu. Also say Alex Isley is up there too. I love the way that she arranges her harmonies. I haven’t necessarily sat and studied any artists, they’ve just seeped into me naturally. You know, when you listen to a person enough you can kind of hear where the different influences come from. For the most part, I’ve just been vibing when it comes to the music. Oh, and Jasmine Sullivan I can’t forget her.”

Now, you’ve been an independent artist and throughout your journey, we’ve seen various levels of growth from you. You can really see your creativity and business mind in your various projects. How has this path shaped who you are as an artist?

“Wow, that’s a loaded question. First of all, it definitely made me a lot more thorough with myself, anything I do and anything I involve myself in. I wouldn’t necessarily advise anyone to manage themselves for as long as I have because it definitely gets very stressful. I’m at a stage now where I’m ready for help. But one thing it has done is it’s made me very thorough with myself. I definitely have a high standard for anything that has my name attached to it because I’ve had to learn everything in depth.

“There are a lot of things that my musical colleagues don’t know about because they have managers that have been doing it for them. They’ve never really had to learn about them. Things like registering your music on PRS, things as small as that. So it’s definitely made me very thorough. I think also now I’m starting to experience the respect that comes from that too. When you’re first doing it, it’s like anything; you have to do it first for a lot of people to really be like ah, she actually did this and she did it independently and she stuck to her morals and principles and all that kind of stuff.

“So I think now that people are seeing that my strategies or my methods have worked for me they’re giving kudos. So there’s that too. It takes a little while. And obviously, you will go through stages where you kind of doubt am I ever going to get the respect that I deserve because people are kind of side-eyeing the way that I’m doing things when it’s not being done in the traditional way, but it pays off.”

And now that we are hearing a little bit more of that sound coming from other places, do you see that and feel like you’re pioneering something right now?

“Yo, honestly, again, it took me a while to really realise what we have created here. Because I’m humble by nature, you know, but also God has given me a gift that allows me to be that way. I don’t need to shout in your face because when I stand on the stage and I open my mouth, it does everything that it needs to do. I’ve always been accustomed to just being myself. I walk into a room I don’t have to say much. With that in mind, I have seen other people doing things and it’s just like, wow, I didn’t really realise until the R&D playlist came out on Spotify and it became a whole genre.

“The first time it’s coming out, I’m the face of it and pretty much my whole R’n’D catalogue is in there. That’s when I realised it’s real, okay, people are really actually paying attention. And this is actually starting something. Now for me personally, that is huge. Because, man, as a black woman in this UK scene, a dark-skinned black woman, for me to just kind of start something in a playful way, then I become the person that’s been spearheading something. I’ve created something from nothing, people are now paying attention to and following suit…That’s a huge deal. That’s a huge deal for me in an industry that is hard to even breakthrough as an R&B singer to start with. It’s a big deal and I’m grateful. You know, when I see other people doing their R’n’Drill stuff, I’ll be real with you, I haven’t seen anyone doing it like me, but I’m grateful. I’m appreciative”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Karis Beaumont

I will finish off by, in a way, going back to the start. RAYDAR featured R&B royalty Shaé Universe in August. With a brilliant E.P. under her belt and a new phase of her career underway, many were curious about her musical beginnings and what her start was like. Before rounding things off, I would urge everyone to go and follow Shaé Universe and listen to her music. An artist who is among the most promising this year, she is someone I particularly admire. No wonder the U.K.-raised artist is courting a lot of interest from the U.S. It seems like her music easily translates around the world and has touched so many people. This year is one where she will build on her current army of fans and recruit a whole lot more:

“Were your parent rather supportive of your decision to pursue music over a traditional career?

I’m Nigerian and I came to the UK when I was four. Usually, in traditional African households, they don’t really deem creative subjects as a worthy path to go down. I understand it because with music careers, the music doesn’t coming flying in. You have to work your way up, build your following, and when that song blows, the money comes. It’s a process that takes a lot of patience, however, my parents have been very very supportive from the jump. One, because they saw its something I had a general love for. Two, because they saw hat I was actually good at it.

This past year, so many Black women in the UK have taken over R&B and Hip-Hop—how does it feel to be at the forefront of it?

I’m humbled because though I do work very hard, it started as a dream in my heard. Sometimes it can be a bit overwhelming because its like wow, this is my life. It feels good, I’m not halfway where I tend to go with my music. However, being a Black women in the music industry comes with its challenges. It comes with a lot of people trying to exploit you with your gift, but not give you what you’re worth. I’ve been through a whole bat of shit, but because of my character, I’m still humble.

Where do you see yourself in the next five or ten years?

In ten years, I’m definitely going to be a legend. One thousand percent. In five years, I would love to be a globally respected music artist. I want to be remembered for creating timeless music and empowering, inspiring visuals. I want to be remembered for being myself unapologetically and also being a multifaceted woman accepted for being that way. Obviously, one thing we hear about often is women talking about how women feel like they’re boxed in the music industry. People tend to have an idea of what a Black female artist is supposed to be, however, I’m a diverse Black woman and I just want to make it to a point where it’s acceptable to be that way”.

I will round up here. It has been a pleasure getting to know Shaé Universe better. I am not sure what her next step is, but I suspect there will be an E.P. or album at some point this year. Such an original artist who you can already tell is going to be in music for so many years to come, you need to follow her closely. Last year was a successful and busy one, and I feel like this year will be even more so. When it comes to this R&B/R&Drill queen, there is absolutely…

NO stopping her!

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Follow Shaé Universe

FEATURE: Spotlight: Eliza Rose

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Phoebe Cowley

 

Eliza Rose

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IT is hard to ignore…

PHOTO CREDIT: Phoebe Cowley 

the forced of nature that is Eliza Rose. Maybe that is a bit of a condescending description. What I mean is that her work and passion for music and reaching the people blows you away! Born in the East End, Rose grew up in Dalston. A huge admirer of genres like Soul and Jazz, she began singing from her youth. DJing took a hold during her late-teens. Rose has released a couple of wonderful E.P.s Her most recent, Shades of Red, came out last year. She is a sensational D.J. and producer that should be on top of everyone’s must-hear lists. The success of the amazing track, B.O.T.A. (Baddest of Them All), has taken to new heights. Tipped as someone to watch closely this year, I think it is best to source some interviews. Get to know the amazing Eliza Rose a bit more. In September, Vogue interviewed Rose. After writing one of the defining tracks of the summer with B.O.T.A. (Baddest of Them All), there was a lot of fascination around this incredible talent:

“In the last six months alone, she’s gone from underground gem to global superstar thanks to her infectious track “B.O.T.A. (Baddest Of Them All)”. Earlier this month, it hit number one in the charts – making Eliza the first female DJ to hold the top spot since Sonique with 2002’s “It Feels Good”.

Made in collaboration with Manchester-based producer and DJ Interplanetary Criminal, “B.O.T.A.” is just what everyone needed after two years of pandemic-induced hibernation. Eliza imagined arcades, the seaside and places she’d been as a child – “a bit trashy but kind of cute” – when she was writing the melody.  The title and chorus, meanwhile, were inspired by a Coffy poster on her boyfriend’s wall that featured the tagline: “The baddest one-chick hit-squad that ever hit town.” “Pam Grier [the lead character] just gave me that energy. She really just put a little flavour on there and did something to it to make it fly. I feel her essence in the song.”

It’s become a favourite summer track of both the underground community and mainstream listeners alike. “It’s a strange kind of crossover, which I don’t think has really happened for quite a while,” says Eliza. DJs have spun “B.O.T.A.” at parties across Europe all summer long, while it was heard far and wide at Glastonbury, from the stages to the campsites. “It was a real pinch-me moment.”

TikTok-ers have even attempted to recreate the clubby music video, directed by Eliza’s friend Jeanie Crystal of Faboo TV. The brief? “Eliza in Hackney” (her own take on Alice in Wonderland), which pays homage to her beloved London borough, featuring friends, friends of friends and people she met in smoking areas. In the video, she strolls down Kingsland Road, Dalston, wearing a fuzzy candy floss-pink hat from Hat & Spicy, a cropped printed jacket from Versace and a blonde wig from Man Wigs. Then, she ends up in a club in a red dress made by her best friend Liberty Rose.

Despite Eliza’s seemingly overnight success, “B.O.T.A.” is actually the culmination of years of hard graft. She spent hours poring over ’90s and ’00s R&B, soul, jazz and garage records while working in a vinyl shop from the age of 15 onwards. “When you see Black people on the covers of the sleeves, you suddenly start seeing that ‘oh, these are my people’, and you feel a real affinity and a connection,” she says. “It was then that I really, really got into music”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Phoebe Cowley

It is amazing to think that Eliza Rose became the first female D.J. to hit number one since Sonique in 2002 (with It Feels So Good) when B.O.T.A. topped the charts earlier this year! It goes to show not enough exposure is being given to female D.J.s and their work. Maybe there is too much focus near the mainstream or in Pop. It is a shame that there are women like Eliza Rose who will not be getting the focus and support they need. It does mean that she is a trailblazer who will definitely help to break barriers. Music Week featured Eliza Rose in November. They asked her about her singing to Warner Records following the success she had last year:

“Rose signed a deal with Warner Records following the breakout success of B.O.T.A at Glastonbury, where the major’s head of A&R Keir Fullerton began pursuing the deal after hearing the track repeatedly across the weekend.

I was blown away when I heard B.O.T.A at Glastonbury and we are delighted to have had the chance to work with Eliza and One House on turning the song into a global anthem,” Fullerton told Music Week. “And in terms of future releases , we’ve already heard some incredible demos so watch this space.”

“Eliza is an absolute star, she has that magic sauce that all true artists need,” Powers told Music Week. “A quality DJ, singer and writer with her roots firmly cemented in the underground, she flows out an infectious vibe and energy that resonates with the dancefloor. She is the full package and this is only the beginning.”

Here, Rose, who wants to learn bass guitar in 2023, talks about her label, her music industry story so far and her plans for the future...

What made you choose to sign with Warner Records?

“They just seemed the best fit to be honest. I really appreciated that there was a Black man high up in the company, having that diversity was extremely important to me. Obviously, they’ve got the track record of being amazing and they had the current No.1 [LF System’s Afraid To Feel] as well, so that didn’t put me off. I’m a believer in gut feeling and they just seemed really great. They were more interested in me as an artist rather than just the track, whereas maybe some other people were like, ‘This is a great track’ but they didn’t really seem to care about [the music]… I want to continue to make music and be an artist and they focused on that, so that was extremely important.”

You turned away from making music for a while before B.O.T.A, were you disillusioned with things?

“A couple of years ago, I wasn’t ready for any of this to be happening. Now I’m at an age where I feel ready. I’ve always worked hard but I feel more ready for it and to have my manager Callum [Reece, One House] working with me is great because I trust him completely. I was really disillusioned with singing and trying to be an artist. It’s not that I don’t love performing, I love to sing. Singing on electronic music allows it to be more about the dancefloor experience than me standing on stage, and that’s another reason why I really love that element. With DJing, there’s an element of performance to it, but ultimately it’s about people dancing and that’s the realm I want to stay in for now. Of course, me as an artist is going to feed into that, but it’s more about the track and I’m like a secondary element to the song itself. That’s what I’m working towards at the moment.”

What has your experience been like of rising up in the dance scene?

“There was a big element of, if you didnt come from money and you needed to DJ to pay bills or to have money in the bank, you would then be looked down upon for doing these certain gigs. And for me, for a long time, that was a real big problem. The reason I didn’t break through is because I was having to do these gigs to pay my bills, but then you’d get judged for doing them. Over coronavirus, I was able to wipe the slate clean, nobody was doing any gigs and I started doing these Vinyl Factory mixes and it was from there that things started picking up. I started making music and it grew from there. But it was difficult because, for a long time, it felt like people didn’t want to pay attention to me because I was having to do these gigs to pay rent. Unfortunately there was, and still is, a lot of judgement in the DJ industry of what’s cool and where you should be playing. It’s not necessarily based on skill or selecta, it’s about who you know and what you’re doing, it’s still a major part of it”.

I will round things off soon enough. I was especially interested to find out more when it comes to Eliza Rose and her connection to London. What drives her and where she gets her energy, drive, and inspiration. I came across a DAZED interview from September, where Rose was taking a tour of Dalston. She discussed gentrification, the importance of reclaiming Dance music as a Black genre, and her early experiences as a D.J. It is a fascinating and illuminating interview:

“When it comes to records, Rose is also kind of an anorak; a genuine, dyed-in-the-wool muso. “I’m a bit of a hoarder, I’m a bit obsessive,” she says. “I find it really interesting to find some track that nobody else is going to have.” It all started with a fluke. When she was 15, she did a work experience placement at a record shop, but this only happened because her original plan fell through at the last minute. “All the good placements were taken and my two options were working in a nursery or a record shop. I was like, ‘I'm not changing nappies or looking after screaming children,’ so I went to the record shop.” But she was bitter about this, telling her friends, “oh my god, guys, I’m going to have to work with a bunch of old white men.”

At the time, the idea that vinyl culture might be an accessible interest for someone like her seemed laughable. “As a 15-year-old Black girl, for me, record shops were just old white men’s things. It wasn’t something that I had any connection to – at all,” she says. But the experience ended up being life-changing. “I was really into Amy Winehouse at the time,” she says, “and through her I started getting into soul, jazz and disco. When I realised that all of this was Black culture, and I was able to hold this physical thing in my hand that represented Black culture, that’s when I started getting into records.” She spent the following decade working for Flashback, one of London’s most respected vinyl stores, and eventually started DJing in 2014.

In light of the revelations against Tim Westwood which emerged this year, there has recently been a lot of discussions about the experiences of women – and particularly women of colour – in the dance music industry. For Eliza, trying to make it in a scene which remained dominated by white men was challenging at times. “It often felt like an uphill battle,” she says. “There wasn’t the same community that is there now. For a long time, I felt like I was ticking off a ‘Black woman’ box and was only getting booked for that reason. But I needed to pay my rent. I knew I was being used as a token, essentially, but I decided to take that and build myself to the next step.” Even now that she has proven her talent beyond all doubt, and become a hugely respected figure within the scene, she still feels a sense of imposter syndrome derived from those early experiences. “I always wondered if I only got gigs because of my race, and that still has a knock-on effect. You get stuck in the narrative that you’re not good enough to be here, even though you are. Whereas if you’re a white man you’d just be like ‘I’m sick. I’ve got this gig, big up me and my bad self!’ You wouldn’t even think about it like that.”

Today, it’s important to Rose to reclaim dance music as part of a Black cultural legacy. “I want to be part of a movement where we say, ‘this is ours.’ You may enjoy it too. But this is ours,” she says. It took her a while to arrive at this realisation: to begin with, she assumed that house and techno were firmly within the domain of white culture. “I did see UK garage as more of a Black genre, but I didn’t see it as electronic music, I saw it as sped up R&B,” she says. “But when you start doing your history, you quickly learn that whole scenes were whitewashed.” It’s notable that “B.O.T.A” took off in the same year that both Drake and Beyonce released house-inspired albums, two events which have led to a wider cultural conversation about the Black roots of dance music. “Even UK garage, which became something a lot of white boys played, was born from South London and its Black community,” she says. “Yes, it was mixed from the beginning, but UKG became completely whitewashed, as did house and techno. It’s only now we’re clawing back our own spaces. We’re still having to fight for it, but we are slowly getting there. We’re not saying so you can’t have your time too. But you do need to move out of the way!”.

I’ll round it off now. Rolling Stone spoke with Eliza Rose a couple of months ago. Coming to the end of perhaps the most successful and busy years of her career, the D.J. and producer was in fine form! Happier than she has ever been, Rolling Stone looked at her transformation from 2015 – when she put out The Moonshine E.P. – and being the creator of a Rave classic that will stand the test of time:

“She’s every bit as charming to talk to. “You all right, darling?” she beams as she joins the Zoom call. She’s speaking after a heavy night out at ADE music festival, where she played a set two nights earlier. “I love Amsterdam,” she says. “But it’s a bit too much partying, and I love to party so… too much temptation. And I always give in to temptation.”

Rose grew up in Dalston, north-east London, the daughter of an acting father who had a few roles in theatre and TV. “If he was born in a different era, I feel like he would have done so well,” Rose says. “But there weren’t as many roles, there wasn’t Black Lives Matter. There’s a lot more awareness for diversity and equality now and there wasn’t that for my dad.” Her mum also flirted with acting before working as a secondary school drama teacher. She and Rose’s dad split and Rose lived with her mum and two younger sisters from the age of two, with two younger brothers on her dad’s side, making Rose the oldest sibling. “You wouldn’t know it, though, I’m probably the most childish,” she says, sniggering diabolically.

PHOTO CREDIT: Phoebe Cowley

At 15, she was due to start work experience at a modelling agency, but it fell through at the last minute, leaving her the options of working in a nursery or a record shop. She chose records over nappies and her love for music was born. She started going out to Rudolphs and the Opera House, both Tottenham nightclubs playing old-school garage, where she would sometimes see a young Danny Dyer on the dancefloor. She was still underage (“You’d photocopy your passport and change the date on it, so it looked like you were older than you were”).

At about 18 she took her first pill. “I was quite anti it for a long time, having seen the darker side of drugs,” she says. She won’t elaborate much on that, but taking ecstasy had a big impact, even if she freaked out slightly. “The first time I took it, I called my mum and my mum told me to grow up! It was the best advice ’cos I felt all right after that.”

After uni and a Master’s, Rose worked a few jobs at record labels and online distributors while also DJing in clubs. “When I went to number one, I literally had £16 in my account,” she laughs. “I had to get my friend to get me a round!” The story of how she wrote ‘B.O.T.A.’ includes a much-repeated anecdote: struggling for a hook, she glanced at her boyfriend’s wall and saw a poster for the Pam Grier film Coffy, with the line: “The baddest one-chick hit-squad that ever hit town.”

Like Grier, Winehouse, Holiday and Miss Monroe, Rose is now approaching the life of a star. “I certainly don’t feel like a fucking pop star, I’ll tell you that,” she says, quickly. “Do you really see me on the fucking red carpet?” What about headlining Glasto? “I like to be in the crowd, that’s the thing. I’m actually a raver before anything else”.

It is almost impossible to get on top of all the amazing talent this year is promising. Across all genres, there is this wave of incredible artists and D.J.s. I am glad Eliza Rose is getting the credit she deserves, and her recent success and number one will open doors and ensure that more eyes and ears are trained the way of female D.J.s. Undoubtably one of the most promising talents of this year, I cannot wait for an Eliza Rose album or a mixtape. Something that brings together all of her different layers and influences. That will be exciting to hear! If you are unaware of the London titan, then go and follow her now. She made a huge impression last year but, in my view, she will strike even harder…

THIS year.

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Spotlight Eliza Rose

FEATURE: Spotlight: BAYLI

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Savanna Ruedy 

BAYLI

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THIS year is already shaping up…

to be pretty fantastic in terms of new music. One artist I have recently discovered is the amazing BAYLI. Hailing from Brooklyn, she has been in the industry for a few years now, but I think the last year or so have seen her music reach a wider audience. Her newest tracks are her strongest to date. Before coming to a couple of interviews from last year, here is some brief background of the sensational BAYLI:

“BAYLI is an artist and songwriter from Brooklyn, NY. Her anthemic production and infectious melodies were cultivated under the mentorship of music guru, Rick Rubin. Following the 2017 debut of her band  “The Skins” and their massive tour with DNCE, BAYLI has stepped into the beginning of her solo career with an exciting jumpstart.

Since then, BAYLI has moved on to become one of Warner Chappell’s most promising new songwriters, she has written with a number of artists across the spectrum of genres including Jesse McCartney, Giveon, Josh Dean, Take a DayTrip, DLMT, Whipped Cream, Baby Goth, Mulatto, Blu DeTiger, Duckwrth, Alex Mali, Bynon, Stefan Benz, Bea Miller, Luh Kel. In addition, BAYLI has found many opportunities working with commercial film/TV sync and creative collaborations (Bose, HBO, ABC, Nickelodeon, AT&T, Entourage: The Movie, Grown-ish, Barbie, The Bold Type, and The Brooklyn Nets, amongst many others).

BAYLI has also grown into a powerful force as a solo and independent artist in 2020. With the release of her debut singles, sushi for breakfast, and boys lie, BAYLI has positioned herself as a talent that everyone should watch out for. As she moves into 2021, BAYLI is set to release her debut ep “stories from new york”.

I think this year is going to be the most extraordinary when it comes to new music. So many websites and publications are making their pitches for the artists that are going to strike hard and linger in the mind. Whilst there are some great bands tipped for success, it does seem that solo artists are at the forefront once more. SLUG MAG spoke with BAYLI back in October. Her remarkable six-Tyack E.P., stories 2, was released that month. It is an astonishing and confident release from one of the most eclectic artists I have heard in a long while. Here is someone that definitely deserves a tonne of support and appreciation. Maybe not as known in the U.K. and is in her native U.S., BAYLI needs to be on everybody’s radar this year:

“Studying at a fine arts school 10 years ago, BAYLI’s discography began to take shape when she signed with Rick Rubin’s label, Universal Music Group, as the lead vocalist for pop-punk band The Skins, giving her a heaping dose of industry awareness at a young age. “I went my own route,” she says. “I thought it was important as a solo artist to maintain my autonomy and creative freedom as much as possible. I’m not anti-label, but I do love being independent. I’m discovering who I am as a solo artist.”

“You can’t co-opt or adopt someone else’s creative process; you have to find what works for you. It’s really a sacred thing, the creation process.”

The discovery period that began with the launch of her solo career at the brink of the pandemic, which she calls her “sonic journey,” refined BAYLI’s eclectic approach to sound, (not hyperpop, not R&B—but a secret third thing) drawing inspiration from powerhouse female artists such as Amy Winehouse, Rihanna, Gladys Knight and Fiona Apple as well as her New York roots. While cultivating her latest body of work, BAYLI ensured that each recording session, whether in LA, NYC or over Zoom, was a sanctuary for release and fluidity. “You can’t co-opt or adopt someone else’s creative process; you have to find what works for you,” she says. “It’s really a sacred thing, the creation process.”

Drawing strength from solitude, BAYLI wrote lyrics facilitating conversations she couldn’t have face to face, with some songs on the EP serving as remedies for others. Her latest composition illustrates the dichotomy within young people adjusting to life after the social standstill, navigating online relationships and self-worth while wanting to enjoy themselves. “In Stories II, there’s high highs and super lows. There’s been a transformative period, for everyone,” she says. “I think it’s easier to tap into the darkness and be stuck there, so I wanted to make sure there was some fun on this record.”

The pot of gold at the end of the Stories II rainbow is “TELLY BAG,” a bright, pixie-esque beat sharing fleeting sentiments with introspective undertones such as, “Lost track of your full name / Quicker than cocaine / Kiss in the stairway / Get rid of the damn pain” and, “But you’re so straight / And I’m so gay.” Deep cuts such as “Think of Drugs” dissect the lack of connection we often have with our families and our own bodies, seeking solace in substances and teleporting away from our minds at a time when we couldn’t physically go anywhere. “It is a catharsis to write about things like that … It’s a product of our generation,” she says. “There are a lot of songs where I’m calling to people from a distance. The isolation isn’t bad, but it’s just what happened, and I like to reflect on what’s happening in my life. It’s like therapy for me, but there is an ultimate goal of it reaching other people for them to feel seen and heard; sharing things that need to be addressed.”

Declaring herself a “songwriter first,” BAYLI uses her skill as a storyteller to ground her sense of direction and sovereignty as an independent artist. “I write for other people. I obviously make my own music; it’s really important that I have control over that myself and don’t give that to a corporation just yet,” she says. “Even working in more of the underground, indie spaces, there’s always five to 10 people in my ear telling me to, ‘Try this,’ ‘Work with this person,’ ‘Try this sound,’” she says. “As an artist, we’re very open people, but you have to stay grounded so you can make the right choices for yourself and not do it for anyone else”.

I will end with an interview from DORK. Going back to September, it is clear there is building anticipation here in addition to America. It seems that she is very much a future icon that is going to inspire so many other artists. I am interested to see if BAYLI is touring this year, as I would love to see her perform live. After a remarkable E.P. release last year, it will be intriguing to see what steps she takes next:

“Climbing the ranks of the new pop revolution leaderboard is Bayli – a New York-born and bred pop icon in waiting. Boasting co-signs from Shygirl, Mura Masa and the late great Sophie, her first EP ‘Stories From New York’ gave us an insight into her pre-pandemic life in the big city. We catch Bayli for a chat between her first UK tour and the release of follow-up EP ‘Stories 2’, the second act that celebrates her beloved city opening back up.

“I try to make bangers all the time, but I think a lot of my lyrics and what I like to put out comes out very intimate and very, like chill vibes that are deep introspective songs,” says Bayli. She’s in New York (obviously), a place she’s recently moved back to after dabbling in the LA lifestyle for a few months.

But it’s neither of those cities that have inspired her latest single, ‘TELLYBAG’. Nope, it’s London. It’s Bayli’s most unapologetic banger, pulling together a drum and bass beat and the bouncy energy of Beyoncé’s comeback ‘BREAK MY SOUL’, adding in a fake British accent and a chorus line that simply goes “you’re so straight, and I’m so gay”, it’s a pride anthem that perfectly summarises Bayli’s ethos.

“I feel like everyone’s coming back outside, so we needed something that the girls can really turn up to together in the club, at a party or whatever. So it’s really cool now to be a few months later with ‘TELLYBAG’ playing at Pride, seeing everyone outside safely as a community, you know? I feel very good about how I’m flowing.”

Ditching the conceptual idea behind ‘Stories From New York’, going with the flow has been her approach to making a second EP. That showed when she dropped follow-up ‘Think of Drugs’, a melancholy track that details her upbringing in a household surrounded by drugs.

Bayli grew up in the Brooklyn neighbourhood Bed Stuy, raised by her parents, who she refers to as ‘city hippies’ – they met in a club, her dad an ‘encyclopaedia of music’, her mum moving from the UK, and a part of the punk scene – and thanks her community for giving her all her best assets.

“My parents were very artsy, cool, 80s party people. They were very free; they gave us a lot of freedom to see things for ourselves, express ourselves, try different things, which a lot of our friends around us in our community didn’t have. So I’ll always have gratitude for my parents for being that open, and letting us discover ourselves without feeling too judged”.

“I am an artist who tries to reflect the times and my community, and those voices that maybe we don’t hear so much in the mainstream pop worlds. I’m just literally trying to keep pace with where the world is, going with the flow. It’s definitely a roller coaster ride. It’s not as slow and steady as ‘Stories from New York’; it’s really fun.”

Bayli describes her biggest influences as ‘aliens’; those who are pressing to change the status quo, are strong women, and empowered in themselves. She notes everyone from her mum, to Lauryn Hill and Amy Winehouse, to Georgia O’Keefe as heroes. “I think that’s the type of artist that I’ve evolved into, at least right now where it’s like, I do want every single song to have a conversation that maybe is hard and uncomfortable to have, but we have to have it”.

If you are looking for an amazing artist who will stay in the heart and will be in the industry making wonderful music for years to come, then back and follow BAYLI. She has such a beguiling and addictive sound. Showing her love for some legendary artists of the past, I think that the New York-born icon-in-waiting is going to reach the same heights as such of her heroines. If you have not heard the music of BAYLI, then make sure that you add her into your playlist…

RIGHT away

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Follow BAYLI

FEATURE: Spotlight: Dolores Forever

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

  

Dolores Forever

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THIS time out…

I am featuring an extremely exciting duo whose music is among the best I have heard in a while. Dolores Forever met in London at a party and formed this instant connection. Although there are not that many interviews with them available, I have found some that I want to bring in. I have seen Dolores Forever tipped for acclaim this year. I am not surprised. Whilst there is always a lot of focus put on bands and solo artists, I feel duos are still a little overlooked or not featured as much. You only need to look as far as Wet Leg to see what an incredibly close and talented duo can achieve. Dolores Forever should settle in for a very long and fruitful career in music. I want to start with this interview from September. We find out how Hannah and Julia met and formed Dolores Forever:

“Two friends, Hannah from Leeds and Julia from Copenhagen, met at a house party in London a few years back and they quickly bonded over their music favourites, such as Joni Mitchell and Stevie Nicks.

Now in 2022 , Dolores Forever are the hottest indie-pop duo around, we caught up with them both to find out a bit more about the band..

Introduce yourselves – how did you guys meet and how did Dolores Forever form?

We’re two songwriters (Hannah from Leeds and Julia from Copenhagen) who met at a house party and decided to skip the “we should write together” small talk and be friends instead – then realised we have a ton of favourite music in common so starting a band seemed like a no-brainer!

Who are your main influences, and how do they come into play within the music you write?

Oh this is such a big question! We’re both obsessive music fans, our influences span from 90’s pop (we challenge you to a pub quiz) and musicals to alt folk and indie rock. But we also have our own big influences, Hannah loves Joni Mitchell and Julia loves Taylor Swift, we both love Stevie Nicks and songs with big choruses. That’s what plays into our own music, we’re forever trying to write our favourite songs.

What’s the best gig you’ve played so far?

Glastonbury was a vibe – we played the Rabbit Hole, definitely a gig highlight so far!

Where do you see Dolores Forever in 5 years?

We’ll have released a double album, gone on tour a bunch, made some bops that mean something to someone out there. Isn’t that the ultimate artist dream, to soundtrack peoples’ lives?

What does your songwriting process look like? Is it always the same?

We’re not giving away any trade secrets! Just kidding. But no, it’s not always the same, sometimes we send each other ideas and develop them before taking them to the studio, sometimes we write in the studio based on concepts or titles we might have, we ping pong off each other and see where we land.

You’ve recently been added to the Neighbourhood lineup. Are you excited to play? Is there anyone else you’re looking forward to see?

Of course we’re excited to play – Manchester played a big part in Hannah’s younger years. Very much looking forward to seeing Everything Everything again, such a cool band.

What’s next for you guys? Anything exciting in the pipeline?

Our next single is coming out pretty soon – there’s a video being edited right now, so that’s very exciting. Quite a few new songs coming before the end of the year actually”.

Last year was one of discovery and cementing for Dolores Forever. Producing their best music and getting under the skin of fans and the media alike, this year is going to be one where they expand and enter new territory. It is always exciting hearing about a duo or band that form seemingly randomly or by chance, and then go onto success. Everybody is behind Dolores Forever right now. LOCK spoke with the du last year about the plans for summer (2022) and what their songwriting process is:

“Hey Hannah & Julia, how’s your year been so far?

Great thanks. It’s been so incredible experiencing more elements of normality post-Covid, and it’s allowed us to finally bring Dolores Forever out into the world after chipping away at it over the last few years.

Can you tell us more about how Dolores Forever formed?

We met through a mutual friend at a party. She thought we’d get on and was pretty spot on!

Let’s talk about your new single “Rothko”, it’s out July 22nd, what’s it about?

Rothko is about trying to shape a relationship into something it’s not. We often bring together fragments from different experiences we’ve both had, and this one pokes at some quite painful ones. That feeling when you’re dead set on trying to make someone see how amazing you are is just….ugh.

When you’re writing tracks together, is it quite a collaborative process? Or do you sort of write separately then come together later to discuss?

Often we’ll start an idea on our own and bring it to the other before it’s developed too far. We go back and forth on our melodies and lyrics a lot, really trying to squeeze the best out of a song that we can.

Do you each have different artists that inspire you?

Hannah: The songs are always key for me so it’s older artists like Joni Mitchell and Carole King, or songwriters like Max Martin who changed the game of pop music. In terms of more recent stuff, I love Mitski, Sharon Van Etten, Self Esteem…

Julia: As an obsessive pop culture consumer, I’m fascinated by how something can connect with a larger audience yet be very personal to the individual. That’s what a song can do. Big fan of Taylor Swift, Tom Petty, Phoebe Bridgers, Arcade Fire, and will take my Spice Girls merch with me to the grave.

What does the rest of the summer have in store for you both?

Releasing more songs and playing a couple of festival shows…can’t wait! Oh and Julia is welcoming a new band member into the world and having a baby!

You’re playing NBHD Festival in Manchester, what can we expect from your set?

Bangers only”.

I am going to end with this interview from RGM. I have chosen a few secretions from the interview that caught me. Whilst they appear quite random, it did strike my eye. Dolores Forever seem really fascinating and down to earth in interviews. I hope that there are a lot more interviews with them through this year:

“I think as well, the self-care industry is quite toxic now as well even like the therapy people that you see on TikTok, and they’re like, oh, you shouldn’t care what other people think, but it’s like, it is quite normal to think that, like it’d be ridiculous not to…

Exactly! You can love yourself but also hate yourself sometimes or you know, it’s like, like with so much stuff in society these days, it can be quite polarising, like you have to be all this, or all that?

Yeah, like with toxic positivity you can’t be happy 24/7!

Of course you can’t! All those dimensions are there to be felt and like, you know, as musicians, we’re all pretty sensitive people. So, there’s always going to be a big range of emotions there. And there’s nuance to these kinds of things. So yeah, I think what we enjoy our songs is like pushing some of these things to slightly extreme levels, because it’s kind of fun and an interesting to us.

Would you say that you challenge yourself to go to like extremes?

Yeah, we do! And not all of it makes it into a song. We’ve always said we’re not interested in like little emotions. And like, you know, we want things to either make you feel like bouncing off the ceiling, euphorically happy, like your heart is going to burst out your chest, or like, you’re going to shrink and you want to be swallowed up by the world because something’s so devastating. You know, it’s about those extremes for us – we find big feelings really interesting.

And you’ve already played Glasto, and Reading and Leeds!

I know… it’s been I mean, the project’s been sort of rumbling, we’ve been working on the songs for a long time. So, it was really amazing that we were given those live opportunities quite early on. And it’s just such an incredible learning curve, like, and it’s just an amazing feeling. Yeah, its great to play the songs out of our studios, and to play them to people and see how people react.

Have you got a new EP coming out anytime soon?

So, we’ve got a couple more songs coming this year, and that will formulate our second EP. And then next year onto a bigger and better things!

Album!?

Hopefully! I think so… if we can write enough songs”.

An amazing duo who are among a crop of really incredible British acts, I would advise everyone to check them out now. It is hard to describe their music in terms of genre, so the best judge is to listen to yourself and decide. They are very original, but you bond with the music right away. I think we may see an album from them son enough. I think that will cement their reputation as one of the most exciting and must-hear acts. Their fanbase is growing, and there is a lot of appreciation from the media too. You just know that people will…

FOLLOW them for years to come.

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Follow Dolores Forever

FEATURE: Kate Bush’s Remarkable and Varied Albums: Will Hounds of Love Always Top the Critical Lists?

FEATURE:

 

 

Kate Bush’s Remarkable and Varied Albums

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in an outtake from the Hounds of Love cover shoot/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

 

Will Hounds of Love Always Top the Critical Lists?

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IT is understandable that…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in a promotional image for 50 Words for Snow/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush:

there are going to be new features ranking Kate Bush’s albums. As 2022 was a year when she was thrust back into public consciousness in a very unexpected way, her albums are being picked up by a  new generation. Not that I am focusing on Hounds of Love specifically, but I have it in mind as it does seem to be the album that always tops the critical polls. To be fair, as Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) has come back into focus and topped charts, its parent album is going to enjoy new acclaim and discovery. I am compelled by a December feature from the excellent Pink News. They arranged Bush’s ten studio albums from least essential to the best. They placed Director’s Cut last. That album saw Bush rework songs from The Sensual World (1989) and The Red Shoes (1993) in 2011. Here is what they had to say about these albums:

“It won’t come as a surprise to many Bush fans that Director’s Cut, her 2011 re-recording of songs from The Sensual World and The Red Shoes, is bottom of the list.

Bush was apparently unhappy with how some of the songs that ended up on those two albums turned out, so she decided to revisit them. The tracks that come out the best are those from The Red Shoes, but stripped-back versions of songs like “This Woman’s Work” and “Moments of Pleasure” were never going to replace the originals.

The obvious standout is “Flower of the Mountain”, where Bush finally gets to sing the song originally known as “The Sensual World” as she always intended – using James Joyce’s words from Ulysses”.

“It’s a testament to Bush’s talent that even her worst album of original songs still has a lot of merit.

Lionheart was rushed out just nine months after her debut The Kick Inside in a desperate bid to capitalise on Bush’s early success. It’s largely made up of songs that didn’t make the cut for her debut.

Some of those songs are pop perfection, and they point to Bush’s more transgressive leanings. On “Symphony in Blue”, she sings about finding purpose in life through sex. On “Wow”, she throws in a sly nod to gay sex, and on “Kashka from Baghdad” she sings about a gay couple “living in sin”.

The album also features some of her worst songs: “In Search of Peter Pan” and “Oh England My Lionheart” are low points in her back catalogue. Good songs are aplenty, but there’s no denying Lionheart is Bush’s least interesting album. Everything she did well here, she did better elsewhere”.

I guess a lot of polls will place Director’s Cut last, simply because the songs are already known. It is a bit of a gamble re-working tracks that many had no issue with to start with. Bush wanted to give certain tracks more space, strip them out and recorded them as they perhaps should have been. I can see why Director’s Cut may not be essential, but I always argue against those who feel Lionheart should be placed that low. Of course, it is a subjective view, but I will always fight for Lionheart and its many merits!

Pink News are massive fans of Kate Bush, so I respect their placings and vantage points. They know her albums inside out, so you can’t quibble against their expertise. They placed The Dreaming ahead of The Kick Inside in second, and Hounds of Love claimed the top spot. This corresponds with other ranking features which have said the same thing:

“Years after its release, Bush described The Dreaming as her “I’ve gone mad” album, and it’s hard to argue with that.

The Dreaming marked Bush’s first time producing an album entirely by herself, and the result is an experience, to say the least. The record has so many layers that you’ll still hear new things years after that first listen.

That’s both a good and a bad thing, of course. The Dreaming didn’t get the best reception from critics at the time, who were largely baffled. The album also yielded no hit singles, which put Bush in her label’s bad books.

Despite those challenges, The Dreaming has always had a cult following among Bush fans. Today, it continues to capture the attention of old and new fans alike for its complexity and imagination.

Highlights from The Dreaming include “Pull Out the Pin”, which touches on the Vietnam war, and “Get Out of My House”, a song sung from the perspective of The Overlook Hotel in The Shining (there’s also braying donkeys, in case you were wondering).

What else could be number one? Hounds of Love is not only Bush’s best album, but it’s also one of the best albums ever recorded.

Hounds of Love was in some ways borne out of necessity. After The Dreaming in 1982 proved a commercial disappointment, Bush knew she had to come up with some hits. She retreated to a farmhouse in the countryside, built a state-of-the-art studio at her family home and got to work.

The result is an album of two halves. The first part is full of hits that also happen to be some of Bush’s all-time best songs. It’s home to “Running Up That Hill”, “Hounds of Love”, “The Big Sky” and “Cloudbusting”.

The second side – titled The Ninth Wave – is its own concept album about a woman lost at sea. Starting with “And Dream of Sheep”, the collection of seven songs charts the character’s desperation as she slips into fretful dreams in the water.

With Hounds of Love, Bush showed how technology, most of all the Fairlight CMI, enabled her to create soundscapes that she previously could never have dreamed of. It’s a masterful feat from an artist who has spent her entire career defying labels and expectations.

A testament to its success is that Hounds of Love could just as easily have been released yesterday. It’s a timeless record, and it’s one that’s destined to delight and thrill all those who hear it for years to come”.

I am not going to argue against the fact that Hounds of Love is a masterpiece! In terms of production, songwriting quality and Bush’s vocals, there is nothing to fault. It has a side of mostly singles and more accessible cuts, with the second side consisting of a suite of tracks that form this amazing concept. I love the fact Bush took that approach and decided to do something ambitious. Entirely different from 1982’s The Dreaming, she was in a much healthier and happier headspace by the time she started to plot and record Hounds of Love around 1983. Maybe there is the sense that one cannot deny the majesty of Hounds of Love. Sacrilege to put it lower than number one! It is one of Bush’s own favourite albums of hers, and it is the most acclaimed of her career. I think there is a new legion of fans picking up the album for the first time. Not to argue against anyone placing Hounds of Love at the top of the pile when it comes to Kate Bush’s albums, but I wonder whether there is this easy tendency to put it there without really digging into her other albums. I could make a case that albums like The Dreaming, The Kick Inside and Aerial could challenge for that top spot. Maybe rather than trying to depose Hounds of Love or get people to not follow like sheep, I guess I want folk to consider her other albums.

More album rankings will come soon enough. It is great to hear and see people take the time to explore her albums and dive in. I open articles that rank her albums and can pretty much predict the order straight away. Aside from one or two surprises, most people say the same thing. Thais could either mean that everyone is right and they are on the same page, or there is a case of people placing the albums without giving them a fresh listen. I have done rankings of her albums before and, whilst I always put my favourite The Kick Inside at the top, others have shifted around. I have alternately put The Red Shoes and Director’s Cut at the bottom. I have put Lionheart higher than ever the last year or two , and I have sort of struggled to place Aerial as high up the rankings as a lot of people. The Dreaming was forty last year, and that sort of hovers between being her fourth or fifth-best. Never for Ever, an album that never scores as highly as it should, has definitely revealed new layers and brilliance. Will Hounds of Love always be queen? There have been new documentaries about Kate Bush recently. Absolute Radio broadcast Kate Bush: The Strangest Thing, on 28th December. It was a tribute to her and the fact that she continues to inspire and be relevant. They looked at her concerts and songs. It was a celebration that saluted a true original. I wonder whether there are enough deep dives and documentaries around the studio albums.

It does sound like I am gunning for Hounds of Love or calling it overrated. Neither is true. I do think that there is an impression nothing comes close to that 1985 album. The slight predictability of the album ranking lists leads me to think that there needs to be a greater awareness and re-investigation of her other studio albums. If you judge them on their singles alone, then Hounds of Love will always come on top! Listen to the likes of The Sensual World, Never for Ever, or 50 Words for Snow, and there is this nuance, depth and real sense of genius that comes when you listen to thew album the way through. I do like any features that discuss Bush’s albums, but I hope this year is a time when the media and fans give her whole body of work a proper study. Not to say Hounds of Love will be lower than number one in future album rankings, but I would bet on the fact albums that have always been placed lower will now be higher up the list. Perhaps knowing more about their history and story would change perspective. The Kick Inside is forty-five next month, so go back to that debut and give it a good listen. Lionheart (1978) and The Red Shoes (1993) are stronger than many people give it credit for, and Never for Ever is always that album that is placed somewhere in the middle of the pack or lower. It would be interesting to debate people about album rankings and why some place great albums lower. Pink News’ one-two is a pretty fair shout, but I do wonder if there is a blind acceptance that Hounds of Love is best. Maybe other albums will usurp it one day. Although, if we are honest, Bush’s epic and timeless fifth studio album is…

HARD to ignore.

FEATURE: Mother and Child Communion: The Reality of Pregnancy, Maternity and Touring

FEATURE:

 

 

Mother and Child Communion

IN THIS PHOTO: Danish musician Oh Land discussed her experiences of pregnancy and touring with Rolling Stone in 2021

 

The Reality of Pregnancy, Maternity and Touring

_________

ONE thing that I wonder…

 IN THIS PHOTO: The Go! Team’s Ninja

is whether women in music who become mothers have the flexibility and allowances that others do. Obviously, there are practical issues that cannot be entirely solved. By that, I mean women cannot bring their new child/children on the road with them all the time or, indeed, have them in the studio too. I was inspired to write after Ninja from The Go! Team revealed how she has babies and, rather than staying at home to care for them, she is able to take them on tour – if only for a bit. Of course, there is that responsibility, but many women in music either feel obliged to stay local when it comes to touring so that they can look after their children, or else many women going into the industry worry about motherhood and whether it is going to be compatible with a successful career. This extends into the wider workplace. Many companies, still in 2023, will not hire women who are expecting. Many others are wary about hiring women in general, lest they lose a member of staff for a long period because of pregnancy and motherhood. For women in music, it is tough enough already. Seemingly having to push harder and perform more to get heard and vie for places at festivals, is it difficult or near-impossible to balance motherhood with a busy music career? Ninja was speaking with Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie last weekend about her experiences and how she can take her children to some of The Go! Team’s gigs. Even so, there is the reality that there will be separation because, as you’d expect, it is not possible to take your children everywhere.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Venom Prison’s Larissa Stupar/PHOTO CREDIT: Gobinder Jhitta

I suppose experiences differ, but I have been thinking more about equality and women’s rights following the BRITs gender row and how there is still a lack of awareness regarding women in music and their importance. Big labels are signing fewer women than men, and there are definite barriers when it comes to women entering music. From the struggle to get equal rights to sexual harassment still being rife, there is a real danger that so many potentially brilliant artists are leaving the industry early or not coming through at all. I am not sure whether the experience is the same for all women and expectant mothers in music, but I have been compelled by an article from last year. Kerrang! spoke with Venom Prison’s Larissa Stupar, as she called s on the music industry to do better in supporting mothers and pregnant women. The upshot is that, in the case of Stupar, her band had to cancel tour dates in 2022 because she focused on motherhood. She felt too ambitious. There is that pressure to balance two worlds. It is an impossible situation and reality for expectant mothers in music. For Kerrang!, Stupar highlighted the inequality that already exists through the industry – and how there needs to be improvements and structures in place to support expectant mothers in music:

“In the last decade, equality in the workplace, job opportunities and society has been improving slowly. The music industry however, it is still a male-dominated field throughout. Looking at social media and music media outlets, it may appear that gender representation is more or less equal but studies show otherwise. From 2012-2017, out of 600 songs in the Billboard’s end-of-year Hot 100 charts, only 22.4 per cent of the songs were performed by women – and the number of female songwriters was even smaller. These are grim numbers, and we are not even looking at top positions held by women in labels, magazines and booking agencies here. Now I could go on about what has caused this big gender divide and how to fix it, but this is something that has been discussed many times now. Instead, I would like to address how women must navigate through an industry that is dominated by men.

When Venom Prison played our last show of 2019 before the pandemic hit, I did not think that I would be nine weeks pregnant the next time I walked back onstage to play Bloodstock in 2021. Having recently finished recording Erebos in the studio, it was during a practice session that I decided to tell the rest of the band about the news. I, like so many other women in the music industry, feared the way people would react finding out about my pregnancy. For many female musicians, an announcement of future motherhood can be something unpleasant rather than celebratory. When you’re a touring musician it’s not just your band that is affected by that, it’s also the management, record labels, booking agents, PR, your touring crew and anyone else you might be working with.

Even though I felt very supported by my band colleagues, label and management, as everyone was positive and understanding of my situation, I still felt very uncertain about my future as a musician. While a career in the live industry is often more of a lifestyle than work for most up-and-coming musicians, a touring schedule can be very difficult and seem almost impossible for new mothers. Perhaps that is why we don’t see many female musicians in rock and metal who are either expecting or are already parents. This lack of representation is what makes it hard to plan your career, and many are terrified about having to sacrifice looking after a child in order to pursue their musical aspirations and career. I had so many questions but simply nobody to turn to. There is no HR that can step in and help you figure things out; you are left on your own to plan how your career in music is going to go ahead, how you are going to sustain yourself financially during your time off, or how other women in the industry balance touring and parenting.

This is where we need to create awareness. In order to be more inclusive, the industry needs to clue-up on the concept of pregnancy and motherhood. Women are still a minority in the live music industry and that is one of the main reasons these topics are hardly talked about. We need to introduce strategies and arrangements for pregnant musicians and crew. Like in any other industry, we need to learn not to discriminate due to pregnancy, how to respectfully talk about these issues with expecting parents and offer support wherever possible. We need to do better”.

Major artists like Maren Morris have spoken out in the past about how women should not have to choose between motherhood and touring. Bodies like The Musicians’ Union offer advice and guidelines for anyone working with pregnant women. There was a lot of conversation around the subject in 2021. During the pandemic, at a time when it was especially hard to tour and earn money from live gigs, it became especially hard for new mothers and pregnant women to get heard and to balance their careers and motherhood. Now in 2023, there is great visibility and awareness, with some great organisations and bodies offering support and advice. This article from 2021 lists a few. Whilst there is improvements being made, the issue of finding ands affording childcare is difficult. There is an assumption that, once you have a child then your career is over. Are women in music less marketable and supported if they already have a child? Do labels feel they are too much investing in an artist if there is the risk that they have to divide their time or spend far less time on the road? I wanted to come to an interesting article from Rolling Stone from 2021. In a still-male-dominated industry, there is still a bleak reality: many women are still expected to tour when they are thirty-eight weeks pregnant! Some high-profile artists (such as Cardi B) have performed and toured whilst heavily pregnant, but it seems like such a harsh and draconian thing! There are section of the Rolling Stone article that I want to source:

“Whether female artists bring children on the road, ask friends or family watch kids at home, pause their careers, or choose not to have children for the sake of their careers, the decisions in every circumstance are difficult and require endless resilience. This is partly due to the nature of the work, living and dying by erratic tour schedules and unstructured work hours — but it doesn’t help that the vast majority of contemporary record executives, tour managers, or other decision-makers of artist careers are male. Artists from varying backgrounds, success, genre and recognizability agree that there is little support in the industry for female musicians who become mothers.

IN THIS PHOTO: Oh Land/PHOTO CREDIT: Emily Weiss

When Danish musician Oh Land got pregnant five years ago with her first son, Svend, she, like Lynn, worried how it would change her image within the industry. The “youth-focused” music industry can feel totally at odds with parenthood or the idea of mothers, she says: “So I was definitely scared that people will be like, ‘Oh, now she’s done.’” Oh Land toured up until week 38 of her pregnancy. “My pregnancy was very, very easy the first time,” says Oh Land, whose son would kick her belly when she got off stage because he was so accustomed to the noise and movement. “And I think because the pregnancy was so easy it kind of gave me a little bit of a false impression of what it is to be a parent.”

Carly Humphries, former lead singer of the British rock band Battle Lines, has 5-month-old twin boys, Asher and Finn. She realized she needed a break from music after moving to New York to get married to her Brooklyn-based wife. The first difficult decision was to leave her overseas band due to the logistical problems of shuttling back and forth — but what she didn’t anticipate was that the fertility treatments would also force her to quit her new New York-based band, Villainelle, when the physical and emotional toll became too much. “Being two females, we always knew that it would be a journey in this sense,” says Humphries, who after two failed intrauterine inseminations — procedures that involve placing the sperm inside the uterus — moved on to the more demanding in vitro fertilization (a.k.a. IVF). “That’s the one where you are pumped full of all those hormones and it really does send you on this emotional roller coaster.” She eventually underwent a total of three egg retrievals and seven embryo transfers to conceive her two fraternal twin boys  — one son that is genetically her wife’s and one son that is genetically hers — with the help of a sperm donor.

IN THIS PHOTO: Suz Slezak, who now tours year-round with two children and husband David Wax (left)/PHOTO CREDIT: Anthony Mulcahy 

Road nannies aren’t cheap. According to Shenandoah Davis, CEO of Adventure Nannies, a nanny agency with experience providing services to bands, most nannies are paid around $30 an hour or $300 to $500 a day on a tour, and families are expected to pay for per-diem meals and lodging on top of that. This is a hefty pill to swallow for young bands — which often barely scrape together that same amount per gig. Bands like David Wax Museum lean on their community and fanbase to help find nannies. “We’re not able to pay much and we are clear about that upfront,” says Slezak. “There are so many people who are between things in their life and who are happy to kind of help out in this way — although I think they quickly realize it’s less exotic than they might be imagining.” Lynn points out that there’s no government maternity support for musicians: “I pay for the childcare. I pay for the extra hotel rooms for the nanny, or my mom, whoever’s helping with the baby.”

At the highest level, superstars may request massive caravans and demand full-on nurseries in their tour riders. But most can not afford such luxuries — or take a multi-year break from their careers after having a kid, like Adele did. Beyoncé was once rumored to request rose-scented candles in a nursery for her daughter during her 2013 Super Bowl performance.

On the flip side of this is Stevie Nicks opening up to The Guardian that, in her band’s early days, “if I had not had that abortion, I’m pretty sure there would have been no Fleetwood Mac.”

Early-stage musician mothers travel in vans and are grateful if there’s a crib at the hotel. “You’re lucky sometimes to have a mirror to put on makeup, because venues are still really geared towards men, so to expect them to also be ready to accommodate a breastfeeding mother? I can’t imagine that,” says Lynn.

“When you become a mother, you also become tour manager for your baby,” says Oh Land. “I had to learn to think in different ways. Suddenly, it’s not about getting the top floor hotel room, it’s about getting the hotel room with the stroller access. And maybe you don’t want the late gig, you want the early gig so that you can still tuck your baby in at night. You just have to be great at planning because kids and babies love routines. And I’ve actually become pretty badass at it.”

Artists with kids have to be painfully selective with taking far-flung jobs. “If I get offered a gig in China, and it’s really hard to get there, and the pay is low or something like that, it’s just not worth it,” says Oh Land. “A lot of things I have turned down that when before I had kids I would have just done it and be like, ‘okay, I’ll be jet lagged — and my back will break!’”

Says Lynn: “These days we definitely weigh the cost benefits in a much more severe way. I used to be much more willing to do certain things that were good for exposure, but now it’s just like, no. You got to pay decently and it’s got to be really worth dragging the whole family.”

While parenthood as an artist is a logistically challenging, emotionally strenuous and economically unfavorable uphill battle, it can also be one of the most profoundly meaningful aspects of life, musician mothers say — as transcendent as creating art.

“I chose art because when I am making it is when I feel the most at ease; it’s when I feel like I am aligned with the universe,” says Lynn. “[Parenting] is hard but there’s no deeper love. Your heart has never felt so full and drained at the same time. It’s quite a dichotomy isn’t it?”

Trotter has recalibrated what a successful life looks like, no longer basing it simply on chart rankings. “I am making it,” says Trotter. “I’m with my family every day.”

For Slezak, one of the perks of having a family band is being able to tour together with the kids. “Having kids was something that was always super important to me and I wanted to figure out a way to incorporate kids into whatever job I ended up doing,” says Slezak. “When David and I were getting together, part of our commitment to each other was based on this dream of being able to tour and bring kids along.” She has tried to arrange album releases around the kid’s births, and says she never would have chosen music had she not been able to simultaneously be a mother.

“I wouldn’t have wanted to be in a band if it meant not having kids so the two are so linked. I know it sounds funny, but I feel like the choice to take music seriously and take this band seriously was in part informed by the fact that I felt like it was a career that I could be with my kids during the day and work nights,” says Slezak, who just wrapped her first solo album, which includes a song called Take Me, an anthem about childbirth. “I feel really proud of the flexibility that our family has to sleep on different floors every night and not be stuck in traditional boxes that I feel like a lot of families feel stuck in.”

Humphries, despite taking a break from the rock world, has no regrets about being able to fully focus on her children for the time being. “I feel like I’ve only just started to come out of this fog, like being able to form sentences. It’s just such a special time,” she says.

Another benefit is also unique upbringing it can offer to children: “I had a lot of guilt in the beginning whenever I had to bring my kids to venues where there’s a lot of loud music and you can’t always control a bedtime,” recalls Oh Land. “I just really had to turn that around in my head and understand that I’m also giving them a huge gift — they get to be in this creative environment.” While having kids has certainly limited her personal writing and thinking time, she says, it’s also created new depth for her art.  “What part of being a human being and having more stories to write is not appealing to hear about? The whole experience of becoming a parent, you get so many new perspectives on things, you get so many new concerns and worries, so many new joys, love in a whole new way that you haven’t experienced before,” says Oh Land. “There’s just so much more to write about.”

But the artists can’t help but ask if there should be a better way. At the end of the day, a huge chasm separates the epic pregnancy celebrations of established superstars — Katy Perry in her own music video, Cardi B at the BET awards, Beyoncé at the VMAs — from the struggles of up-and-comers who don’t know if their bank accounts, labels, or fledgling fanbases will accept their choice to have a kid. “I felt like my career was my baby,” says Lynn, thinking back to her initial panic in confronting the positive pregnancy tests. “And having a baby would force me to choose or betray my career”.

Because of the sexism and discrimination already evident, one can only imagine the difficult on women’s shoulders when it comes to motherhood. Thinking they have to tour whilst heavily pregnant or spending exorbitant amounts of money on childcare whilst on the road. Of course, motherhood can have a profound impact on songwriting and the creative process. Halsey has written an album around pregnancy and childbirth. 2021’s If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power is a hugely powerful and personal album. This year is especially tricky. So many artists are halting touring due to mental health issues and pressures. After spending the last couple of years under a pandemic, 2022 and this year have been and are going to be ones where there is ‘catching up’ to do. I think one of the reasons why women are being overlooked by award bodies is because they are on the road so much and maybe not releasing as many new songs as male artists. Also, if you are a woman in music and want this big and successful career, do you have to delay motherhood or not consider it at all? Things will continue to move forward as more conversations are had. Since 2021, there has been activation and campaigning. This Musicians’ Union article documents how people like the award-winning engineer Olga FitzRoy are fighting for change and acceptance – better working condition and rights for pregnant women and mothers in the industry:

“When Beyoncé was pregnant with her twins, Rumi and Sir Carter, one of the first things she did once past her first trimester was whip off her clothes and pose as a goddess for a photoshoot to announce her happy news. This depiction of her as mother and artist was a glorious celebration, something every female musician should be able to enjoy if they choose to have a baby – glamorous photoshoot or not.

Sadly, for many female musicians, a pregnancy announcement can be something to fear rather than celebrate. Anecdotally, the MU reports a rise in the number of women seeking advice after negative reactions from bookers, promoters or band members; stories that are backed up by some shocking figures.

An Equality and Human Rights Commission report from 2016 revealed that 77% of women surveyed said they’d experienced discrimination because of their pregnancy, and one in nine mothers felt forced to leave their job – scaled up to the general population, this could amount to 54,000 women out of work simply for becoming mothers.

IN THIS PHOTO: MU member, concert pianist and conductor Jocelyn Freeman was “shocked” when she lost a contract because of her pregnancy

Precarious workplace conditions

The picture is even bleaker in the entertainment sector, particularly once women have given birth. Campaigning group Parents In The Performing Arts reports that “work in the performing arts is precarious, with one in three participants saying that they do not have a formal contract in place… 76% of parents and carers had to turn down work because of childcare responsibilities (even higher for women at 80%); 68% were unable to attend auditions and other opportunities. More freelance workers with caring responsibilities have had to turn down work (85%) than other workers.”

Female musicians facing discrimination in the workplace

MU member, concert pianist and conductor Jocelyn Freeman was “shocked” when she lost a contract because of her pregnancy. She was “super-proud” of the strong relationships she had spent years building with promoters. Sadly, one of those relationships came crashing down when she contacted a promoter five months ahead of a concert to tell him she was pregnant.

“I wrote to him to tell him I was looking forward to the concert and also to say, ‘I’ll be pregnant. I’d like to have someone on standby just in case the baby comes early.’ He wrote back and said, ‘You should not perform.’ At first I didn’t realise why. The threat of losing work was my biggest fear when it came to having children. I’d grown up in an environment where there was still a bit of an attitude that women should stay at home.

“I’m passionate about getting out there and making sure women feel they can have that choice, a rewarding family life and a career, so when the email came through I was in tears. I felt like the choice and control had been taken away. It was my worst fear come true.”

The promoter cited ‘health and safety’ as the reason for the cancellation. On speaking with the MU, Freeman says she was advised that this was an overreaction and not very lawful. She suspects that the promoter may consider pregnant performers to be unreliable.

IN THIS PHOTO: Olga FitzRoy/PHOTO CREDIT: Blake Ezra

Fighting for Shared Parental Leave

Olga FitzRoy, an award-winning engineer, has gathered momentum with her fight to give freelance workers the same rights as employees when it comes to Shared Parental Leave. “I had been lucky enough not to experience serious discrimination or harassment in my professional life, but this all changed when I had my son in 2015,” FitzRoy told Music Week.

“While clients and studios were accommodating and loyal (I breastfed my baby in the control room at Abbey Road while printing a mix – glad those days are behind me!), the government had other ideas. While the £140 a week Maternity Allowance I received was better than nothing, there was no option for me to share my leave equally with my husband. I was restricted to working for only 10 ‘keeping in touch’ (KIT) days while on leave…"

“Introduced by the coalition government in 2015, Shared Parental Leave was supposed to level the playing field when it came to childcare. Yet a huge proportion of the 150,000 people working in music are self-employed, and therefore not eligible.

Although self-employed mothers get Maternity Allowance, self-employed dads cannot claim a single day of paid leave. Many families of musicians, composers, music producers and touring crew are therefore forced to revert to a 1950s stereotype.

FitzRoy has garnered support from high-profile artists such as Coldplay, Keane, Laura Marling and Ed Harcourt who signed an open letter to the prime minister alongside The Musicians’ Union, Ivors Academy and Help Musicians. Former Coronation Street actress turned first Mayor of West Yorkshire Tracy Brabin has picked up the baton and is fighting for a change in Shared Parental Leave in Parliament”.

This year is brand-new, but you do think about women in the industry. With enough discrimination aimed against them and it being harder to be heard and recognised, I was compelled by the topic of expectant motherhood and whether it is something the industry is equipped to handle. It is wonderful there are organisations out there who can help, but there still seems like a way to go. From offering financial support to touring female musicians who need childcare, to labels not discriminating against pregnant women or seeing motherhood as a commercial risk…let’s hope that there are positive steps this year. Maybe the situation is not as bleak as it was a couple of years ago but, still, many women in music either have to choose between a career or motherhood, or else they have to make huge sacrifices and compromises – ones that their male counterparts do not. Making the best and most remarkable music around, it is a disgrace that women are still having to battle and shout to get equal rights and recognition. Discrimination still exists in all corners and areas of the industry, and it seems harder and harder for women in music. It is still so hard for pregnant musicians and new mothers. Not wanting to neglect their children or be part-time mothers, they also do not want to cancel tour dates, time in the studio or face discrimination from labels and even some fans. Here’s hoping that there are more positive steps and news this year, because women in music are…

MORE important than the industry realises.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Rachel Chinouriri

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

  

Rachel Chinouriri

_________

CONTINUING with my…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Dean Ryan McDaid for Rolling Stone

features highlighting artists who will be big in 2023, and that takes me to someone I thought I had already covered! The amazing Rachel Chinouriri is the Croydon-born artist who has been tipped by many to be among the best and brightest of 2023. I am new to her work, but Chinouriri released her E.P., Mama's Boy, in 2019. She signed to Parlophone, with whom she released her debut mini-album, Four° In Winter, in 2021. The amazing E.P., Better Off Without, came out last year. I will get to a review of that E.P. There are interviews that I want to come to. They are from last year. The first is actually from 2021. Already a very promising artist, The Forty-Five spotlighted this amazing talent who was clearly going to go on to better things. It was clear in 2021 that Chinouriri had this gift:

“You studied musical theatre at BRIT School to help you overcome your fear of performing. How did this help your development?

It helped me a lot because I was actually quite shy before I started BRIT School. I cried after the first time I had to sing in front of anyone – it was so uncomfortable! But I knew that if I wanted to be a singer I had to get over it. I chose musical theatre because you learn how to sing, dance and act, and how to put on a show, and you learn how to turn into a new character and perform to people. I knew that as a singer, I needed to learn at least the basic skills, so musical theatre really helped me transform into who I am today.

I knew that I had to get a grip and get over myself, otherwise I would end up doing a job that I didn’t want; it took a lot of crying, but I just had to get over it. And then at one point in my second year of BRIT, it just kind of all clicked. I was comfortable at that point, as I realised that no one’s actually judging you even if you hit a funny note; people wanted to be helpful and supportive.

Was there anyone else in your life that encouraged you to pursue music?

My mum, for sure. When I started doing music, she was like: ‘Oh no, you have to go to University, you need a backup plan!’. I guess she just wanted to make sure that I had a plan in place, because she’s an immigrant, and she came here for [her children] to go to university and get good jobs. She has got over it now and understands it, but I think she was more fearful of what would happen.

There was a moment where I was like: “Fuck it, why don’t I just go for it.” And also, my Mum went to uni when she was 34. So I was just like: “Why are you telling me I have to go to uni now? You went to uni in your 30s, and you’ve turned out perfectly fine and have a successful business!”. You just have to go for it and hope for the best.

What would you say you’ve learned about yourself on this journey?

I feel like I’m stronger than what I think I am, and I should believe in myself a little bit more. Sometimes I have looked at myself and thought, “Oh, I’m not doing as well as other people”, but you should never, ever compare yourself to other people. When I was 14, I didn’t even see myself being able to pay my bills. I didn’t even see myself ever having a VEVO channel, or the small things like being on a poster, making my own music videos, and having Spotify pay me – and now I’m here with almost 200,000 monthly listeners! I didn’t think I was going to be able to do this, but I am able to do what I put my mind to, I guess.

Let’s talk about your new EP, ‘Four° In Winter’. How did it come together?

I wanted to show people what I actually want to do. I’ve always been into dark, depressing, sad songs, and electronic sounds. I also want to show my creativity; I want to showcase dance and all the things I’ve learned, and show people what I am capable of. But some of these songs are really old! ‘Plain Jane’ is like three years old, potentially. I just picked the songs which were closer to this dark, melancholic vibe and world that I want to be in.

Where do things go from here? Are you looking to make an album?

I’m just trying to write as much as possible and work on myself as a performer so that when the world finally goes back to normal, I’m ready. People are going to be like, “Look at this girl!”. I want to make sure I’m at my best in all creative realms, and I can’t wait to see what my first album will be like. I’m very intrigued”.

Last one was a busy and exciting one for Rachel Chinouriri. Building on momentum form the year previous, she released the incredible E.P., Better Off Without, in May. It is an extraordinary work that gained lots of love and acclaim. The Line of Best Fit scored it eighty of ten in their review of a truly magnificent work:

“It says a lot then that I feel confident about the prospects of Croydon’s Rachel Chinouriri, an indie-pop singer who released her first single to Soundcloud in 2018 and was swiftly signed to Parlophone by 2020. Her career so far has spanned genres from warm bedroom pop to music with an electronic palette and a colder, more ethereal mood.

BEST FIT named her an artist On The Rise last year, following her Four° In Winter EP, a spacey collection of songs and a statement that her music was not to defined by the more direct approach of her breakout songs. As if to defy expectations again, the single which immediately followed, "If Only", was a sunny and delicate song about domesticity and a childhood lived in first-world poverty. It’s this sound that Better Off Without seems to follow on from, and the EP continues Chinouriri's hot-streak.

Rather than domesticity and family, these four new songs focus on the end of a relationship, but even in this, Chinouriri avoids the pedestrian. Rather than ruminating on the immediate anguish which follows a breakup, they feel like they were written in the wave of vexation and defiance which eventually emerges; sometimes days, sometimes years later. Lead single "All I Ever Asked" is the finest example - it begins with some fairly familiar guitar strumming, but Chinouriri’s voice rises in power and tempo across the course of four minutes where she asks of an ex-lover: "just a little more time, was it really that hard to do? / It was all I ever asked of you", as if she’s snapping out of a dream in real time. The breezy melody she provides as her own accompaniment is infectious and bright, and the moment when the song’s instrumentation pares back only for Chinouriri to emerge multi-tracked for the songs final chorus, like a choir of her own, is one of the most blissful moments in music this year.

There’s a pleasing sonic striking unity across the four songs here, yet each song feels distinct in sentiment and approach."Happy Ending" is a softer yet slightly more pained moment, which similarly amps in tempo across the track’s runtime - "do I owe it to you?" she asks, "I never got my happy ending." "Fall Right Out of Love" surges forward with lolloping guitar, only to be swallowed whole by swirling washes of synth, while the title track posses a wholly more melancholic state of mind, marked by some child-like keys and Chinouriri singing so close to the mic that it sounds like she’s whispering in your ear. It’s a song of regret which goes another direction that the title might suggest: "I care a little too much for someone / Who didn't care much for me / You’re better off without me." For three years now Rachel Chinouriri has been releasing songs like these which are welcoming, intimate and distinct, and with bonafides like those, it’s hard to imagine things going wrong from here".

I want to come to a couple of fairly recent interviews with Chinouriri. As an artist primed for been grander things this year, it is no surprise so many have been keen to talk with her. Rolling Stone (U.K.) featured Chinouriri and asked her about the new E.P., and how she feels about wrong being labelled as an R&B artist:

“The 24-year-old singer-songwriter and Brit school alumnus used to find herself going viral for “really dumb reasons”. But in December last year, Chinouriri’s innate aptitude for social media virality paid off when an acoustic version of her single ‘So My Darling’ started gaining traction on TikTok. At the time of writing, the track has soundtracked over 134,000 videos. “I’d seen so many different artists have this moment, and it hit me [that it was happening to me] and I started to panic,” Chinouriri recalls. “I hit up my label two days before Christmas, like, ‘We need to release this song now, I don’t know what’s happening!’ That moment was a little bit terrifying.”

Terrifying though it may have been, it was also transformative. Not because it kicked off her career — Chinouriri has been signed to Parlophone since 2018, with whom she released her critically-acclaimed debut EP, Mama’s Boy, in 2019 and its follow-up, Four° in Winter, in 2021 — but because it showed her what she wanted from it.

Chinouriri is an indie artist who has been writing songs since she was a teenager, but thanks to the industry’s perception of the genre as, Chinouriri says, “quote-unquote white music”, she’s often felt the need to adapt her work in order to fit into a particular box. This feeling was particularly strong when she was making Four° in Winter, an electronic-infused EP on which Chinouriri experiments with “wonky” production techniques. It’s an impressive, immersive record, filled with soulful vocals and atmospheric melodies, but does mark a shift from the softer, sunnier indie of Mama’s Boy.

“I started to be like, ‘Well, OK, if I’m not going to be accepted in indie, then maybe let me try other elements which I like and see if that will work out’,” continues Chinouriri. “Then ‘So My Darling’ blew up and I was like, ‘Oh, nah, I have to go back to what I love’.”

Armed with a refound assurance in her craft, Chinouriri’s 2022 EP, Better Off Without — a bright, captivating record about heartbreak, written at the end of a five-year relationship — is distinctly indie, with plucky guitars, silky, sing-song vocals, and a catchy hook. And, as cemented by her glittering follow-up single, ‘I’m Not Perfect (But I’m Trying)’, Chinouriri has, as she recently declared on TikTok, undoubtedly returned to her indie-pop era.

This era is proving particularly fruitful for Chinouriri, who’s spent the summer playing gigs and festivals, supporting the likes of Sam Fender and Bloc Party, and basking in the glory of Better Off Without, the opening track of which, ‘All I Ever Asked’, was declared one of Radio 1’s Hottest Records in the World.

Amid touring and making viral TikToks and indie bangers, Chinouriri found time to sit shoot for Rolling Stone UK’s shoot with THOMAS SABO, and reflected on where her love of music came from, how her time at Brit School (and walking the same corridors as Adele) has influenced her today, and the importance of Black artists refusing to compromise their craft just to appease the industry. 

You recently released your new single ‘I’m Not Perfect (But I’m Trying)’. What’s the story behind the track?

Rachel Chinouriri: It’s about being perfectly imperfect, and the indecisiveness that people can have sometimes. As a person, I’ve learned to just go for things no matter what, and when I haven’t gone for things, I hate the idea of ‘what ifs’. So it’s being like, ‘I’m not perfect, but I’m trying, and if I’m going to do something, I’m going to go with it wholeheartedly’. I’ll dive in and just really prove myself more than my doubts, because sometimes that little voice in your head can really be the killer of something which could be so beautiful.

In a teaser video on TikTok, you used the song as an example of being in your indie pop year, also exemplified by Better Off Without. Do you feel you strayed away from indie pop with Four in Winter? If so, why do you think that was?

Rachel Chinouriri: Yeah, I definitely did, and there were a lot of factors. I’ve spoken about being a Black artist in genres that aren’t seen as stereotypically Black. I’ve never tried to water down my Blackness or my heritage, but when, for example, I use my African surname and keep in my braids, for some reason it’s hard for some people to translate that you can be as African, as Croydon, and as proud of where you’re from, but also still enjoy indie music or quote-unquote white music. And you can also want to write that music and be involved in it. Putting race to music, to me and to many people, seems so dumb. But I think, beforehand, there was so much confusion about where to place me that I started to try and adapt to be like, ‘Well, OK, if I’m not going to be accepted in indie, then maybe let me try other elements which I like and see if that will work out’. Then the acoustic version of ‘So My Darling’ blew up on TikTok, and I was like, ‘Oh, nah, I have to go back to what I love’.

You’ve talked a lot about this and your frustration with being wrongly labelled an R&B artist. Has it felt vulnerable speaking out?

Rachel Chinouriri: 100 per cent. I used to get told before, ‘If you speak up about it, what if you lose support, or what if people think you’re ungrateful?’ And then, over time, as much as I used to be scared about those things, I started thinking, ‘Okay, I’m no longer happy with what I’m doing or how disingenuous I’m being’. And the whole point of my music is to be as honest as possible. I’d much rather get the backlash of people not liking me for being honest. But, from speaking up about it, the response actually shocked me. The amount of people who were just like, ‘We’ve known this for years. This is a thing that’s always been happening.’ And I’m like, ‘Oh, so it’s not just me!’ Everyone’s just been waiting for the conversation to begin.

It’s a shame to think that people can’t express themselves musically how they want because they fear not being able to fit in or get into a certain space. When the BLM protests happened, all the labels put black squares up, that was an invitation for conversations to happen. And if the labels are promising to listen to Black artists, they’ll get more backlash if they don’t. This is our time to speak up and get more involved. So, it’s been scary in ways, but it’s actually been a bigger relief because it feels like I’ve said what everyone’s been thinking this whole time.

Your latest EP is about heartbreak — do you find songwriting to be a cathartic experience that helps you process your emotions?

Rachel Chinouriri: Songwriting is my first therapy. I’m not a very good talker, so even when I was younger and I couldn’t express how I was feeling, I’d write it in a poem or a song. That’s just how my brain copes with things. Then I’ll sing it out and be like, ‘Oh, I feel fine’. This year, there’s been moments where it’s been so hard, and I’ve sat with my therapist and cried, but the last month, where I’ve only focused on writing, has been the most therapeutic time ever. I’ve unpacked so much stuff by myself, and when I sent it out to my managers, I felt a lot of relief. I’ve realised that I don’t want to do music, I need to do it for the sake of my sanity!”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: MOAL

I will finish with a recent feature from DIY. They inducted Chinouriri into their Class of 2023: the artists who they feel are going to break through and dominate this year. It is clear that there is this huge faith in the wonderful music of Rachel Chinouriri. She is someone incredibly special indeed. I think that we are going to hear Chinouriri’s music for years more:

“If 2023 is set to be Rachel Chinouriri’s defining year so far, the timing could not be better. The Croydon singer-songwriter has been amassing a formidable head of steam with her esoteric, leftfield indie pop music for the last few years, but she admits that only now does she feel ready to take the next step. “I feel like if this was happening to me when I was two or three years younger, it would’ve gone really wrong,” she says.

After weathering a turbulent period in her personal life, Rachel spent 2022 putting her instincts first. The results - including last summer’s ‘Better Off Without’ EP - have been resounding. “This is the year when I’ve doubted myself the least and said no to a lot of different things,” she explains. “In return, it’s been my most well-received year and the music has been the closest to what I want it to actually sound like.

“I feel really excited,” she continues, eager to look towards the year ahead. “It is a slightly anxious feeling, but more because you want to prove yourself because you’ve been given the platform and space to deliver the music you want to make. There are a million and one people that would love to be in this position, so the fact that I’ve been granted it, it just makes me excited to show what I’ve got and prove to people that I can be an indie pop artist.”

The genesis of her newfound self-assuredness can be traced back to the start of 2022. She posted an Instagram message in January, outlining her frustration at being mis-categorised as an R&B or neo-soul artist, despite her records bearing none of those traits. “In my early days, to be put into genres I never grew up listening to was so bizarre to me, then it clicked it was because of my skin,” she wrote. The post became widely shared and prompted supportive messages from her peers, including Arlo Parks and Connie Constance.

The experience coincided with a difficult break-up and, as she emerged from that period, Rachel redoubled her efforts to make the type of art that she felt was the truest expression of her identity - something she realised she had previously allowed herself to be distracted from. “I did try to change my sound, and accommodate certain things, and look a certain way,” she reflects. “And as much as I loved that music and that sound, it was not entirely who I was.

“I would literally be sitting in the studio and be like, ‘Black artists that do well in the UK, what do they sound like?’,” she recalls. “I started shifting the way I would think in a creative space. As someone who has been writing things since I was six, seven years old, I’ve always written things for myself. So the fact that, entering the industry, I had started to think, ‘What will people say? What will the press say?’, that was the first time I’d ever done that and it really messed up the process for me a bit”.

A truly wonderful artist who is definitely among the elite that are going to direct this year’s music, go and follow her and listen to the amazing music she has put out so far. There are so many artists coming through who will amaze through this year but, in the case of Rachel Chinouriri, she is…

SETTING the bar incredibly high.

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Follow Rachel Chinouriri

FEATURE: Spotlight: THE BLSSM

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

 

THE BLSSM

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I am quite new…

PHOTO CREDIT: Jesse Lizotte

to the brilliant music of THE BLSSM (Lily Lizotte). The Sydney-born, Los Angeles-based non-binary artist is one that everyone needs to know about. Their music is instantly punchy, anthemic and memorable. With elements of ‘90s Rock/Indie and snapshots and elements of various cities and cultures, it is an eclectic mix that means THE BLSSM has been talked about as an artist who is going to explode this year. I love their previous E.P.s PURE ENERGY. The songs and E.P.s are capitalised. It conveys this urgency and energy that is evident throughout. Making this very potent and memorable music, here is some background about THE BLSSM and their amazing recent E.P. It is one everyone needs to check out:

“My favorite word is "BLISS," says THE BLSSM. The artist -- colorful, and endearingly vibrant -- demands the listener's attention almost immediately, capitalizing and enthralling each letter in their song titles. This kind of intention -- and attention-to-detail -- has served as a guiding force for the effervescent spirit, Lily Lizotte (non-binary & favoring they/them pronouns) carries and more presently, their all-new EP, PURE ENERGY.

THE BLSSM recently changed their name from "THE BLOSSOM" to its current stylization, stating "I wanted to shorten it to something more abstract and less literal," they said. "And I like that it sounds like it has the word BLISS in it."

Splitting time between New York City, Los Angeles, and Sydney, Australia, THE BLSSM is well traveled. And their music reflects it. The singer-songwriter's ability to feel voyeuristic while remaining rooted in self-imposed reality is only upended by their desire to rip off the band-aid and show off a whole new world of emotions. Encouraged to explore their natural inclination for self-expression by family members early on -- their father Mark Lizotte, who assists on guitar arrangements across the new EP, and their brother, who's responsible for playing N.E.R.D. around their artist residency, were instrumental -- during adolescent years. And THE BLSSM immersed themselves into it, in as many ways as possible, from taking up fashion design and crafting visuals to match their soundscape sensibilities, to carving out room for a tribe of like-minded DIY Internet dreamers to find their seat at the table.

The BLSSM proves it's possible to be an anomaly and an amalgamation all at once. A product of their influences and experiences, THE BLSSM opted out of formal education, and found struggles to blend in the more traditional spaces they occupied, in search of fertile ground to plant new seeds for their symbiotic art to grow. Writing in their bedroom, often alone, THE BLSSM explored hip-hop, grunge, shoegaze and alternative pop, laying the framework for their eclectic range of sounds that meld seamlessly, reminiscent of a young, brazen Amy Winehouse to that degree. From a generation of Kanye [Ye] disciples, THE BLSSM defies structure, instead using their energy and intention as a compass for their growing music discography, that's now given them a community of collaborators alike -- Brockhampton's Kevin Abstract, Matt Champion, Romil Hemnani (who notably met on popular forum KanyeToThe) and producer, TK.

But if you let them tell it, THE BLSSM has lived a whirlwind life and with that, comes a whiplash of truths and a visceral tide of ups-and-downs, anxiety and depression, things that thrill doesn't tell you that you're left to cope with. And that's where many of the songs' thematic paths begin -- not linear, but rather the bed of rocks at the foot of the ocean, constantly being brushed upon and absorbing energy, and then redirecting it in the best possible direction -- oftentimes back into the ocean, where it can be free and unimpeded. "To express myself, I've learned how to jump off a million cliffs when it comes to taking risks," THE BLSSM explains. "My project [PURE ENERGY] is about feeling everything at once and looking like a bit of everything, too."

Overcoming these transgressions with a vulnerable yet celebratory project, THE BLSSM activates the maximum version of themselves to explore difficult subject matters as overtly and as self-aware as possible on PURE ENERGY. "Maximalism at its core, I hate minimalism! I'm a maximalist," THE BLSSM declares. The thing about THE BLSSM is, they are pensive as they are instinctual, and the music ebbs and flows with a similar ethos. THE BLSSM may operate on the fringes, but one peak inside, and it's quite intoxicating. Take a song like, "LITTLE KING," that feels idly but is a strong-suit, creating the kind of inexplicable connective tissue, similar to what Young Thug's prodigy, Yung Kayo, is able to do over emotional tracks. And then see "I HATE SUNDAY," which feels like early aughts popstar nostalgia and Eddie Bauer-edition fords.

On PURE ENERGY, THE BLSSM delivers a silhouette on canvas, for us -- the audience -- to paint in our own reflections and personal experiences. THE BLSSM bears their soul over head-bobbing kick drums and sweet, sprawling chords on Mark's guitar. They effortlessly weave together a body of work that is strikingly cohesive yet undeniably unique. Their songwriting hat finds soft familiarity with greats such as Elliot Smith, one of their biggest influences, and steadies as the creative undercurrent that keeps THE BLSSM at-bay, allowing them to digest themselves, like a caterpillar, and reimagine itself, through a new cell arrangement, as a butterfly.

And thus, THE BLSSM continues to evolve in their artistic journey, carrying their burdens like a charm. It's a reflection of their personality -- one where darker elements are intertwined with online humor and matter-of-fact playfulness -- and it makes for a project that cuts through, bringing together all the exciting worlds that originally inspired Lily to start this adventure. And most importantly, THE BLSSM remains unapologetic about it, "That's all my project is, it's very loud and unimpeded. This is what pop music sounds like to me. This is what I wanted to make”.

An amazing E.P. that gained a lot of love online, I wanted to bring in an interview from Cool Accidents. They spoke with THE BLSSM about the amazing PURE ENERGY. Even though I have suggested there is some ‘90s influence in the music, Cool Accidents observed there is a nod to the early-’00s in PURE ENERGY. It is an E.P. that has a retro vibe to it, yet it is made unique and fresh due to THE BLSSM’s performances and command:

“Los Angeles-via-Sydney non-binary artist THE BLSSM is gearing up to release their second EP, PURE ENERGY, and judging by what we've heard so far, it's a project that you won't want to miss. Set to be released on April 29th, the EP will feature the anthemic DIZZY, as well as the recently released NOT TODAY. NOT TODAY is a track that sees THE BLSSM conveying the ups and downs of life, and they say that if they had a TV show, then this track would be the theme song. It's not hard to see why, either, as it's a song that's reminiscent of some of the most iconic TV show themes of all time.

If you've ever felt disillusioned with the paths that the world sets out for everyone, then you'll relate to NOT TODAY. To celebrate the release of their recent single, NOT TODAY, as well as the upcoming release of their new EP PURE ENERGY, we spoke to THE BLSSM about family, the music that's influenced them, and what more can be done to support LGBTQIA+ artists. The recent Fueled By Ramen signee is already having a big 2022, and PURE ENERGY is set to be their way of sharing their thoughts with the world. It's also an opportunity for people who relate to the messages in their music the chance to feel seen and heard.

Firstly, congratulations on the release of NOT TODAY! It’s a track that captures the feeling of just trying to get through the day, even when things are getting you down – I’d love to know more about how you turn a bad day into a good one?

I honestly just sink into whatever I'm feeling and allow myself to feel a bit blue for a while. I make sure I talk to my family and loved ones….listen to music really loud and get into my head to get out of my head.

The track features production from your Dad, Mark Lizotte (aka Diesel) – I’d love to get a sense of how growing up in a musical family has influenced your music, and how involved family gets when you’re writing new songs?

My Dad is a huge influence on me, he’s my biggest inspiration. He gave me the confidence to write songs and really just stick to my guns when I feel a certain way about creative decisions and intentions. He taught me that music is genre-less and to develop your own language you need to be instinctive and intuitive with how you feel and what you hear.

Listening to your music, there’s a sonic link back to the early 2000s, and you reference artists like Radiohead, N.E.R.D and Elliott Smith as influences. What is it about that era of music that resonates so strongly with you?

N.E.R.D were so ahead of their time as far as being cultural boundary-pushers, tastemakers and creating such a hybrid of all their influences. That really resonated with me to collage all of my sonic and cultural influences into my own sound and world-building.

Something that stands out in your music, both to me and many others, is your ability to give a voice to those who are figuring out their gender identity/sexuality. How important is it to you to give a voice to those that might not have it – especially given that growing up, you may not have seen yourself represented in the media you were consuming?

I mean, it's everything. All I could hope for is that others feel seen and heard through my music and my songs and whatever I make becomes theirs… like it belongs to them completely. That's all I wish for.

On that note – what do you feel can be done more to support LGBTQIA+ artists in the music industry, so that more voices are being amplified and heard from all backgrounds?

Having more conversation around how we can all elevate communities' resources and hold and make space for more LGBTQIA artists… until one day it becomes so normalized it levels out to stop being a facing diversity. There's a lot of work and change that could be done with associating genres with gender”.

Even though there is going to be plenty more music through this year, I am using PURE ENERGY as my main focus here. A stunning E.P. that introduced THE BLSSM to new people, they are among the most promising artists around. ALTERNATIVE PRESS chatted to THE BLSSM about the E.P., and they add particular focus to the amazing DIZZY. Let’s hope that there is another E.P. coming this year. Maybe THE BLSSM will release an album at some point. It will be fascinating seeing what they come up with:

“If there’s one thing Lily Lizotte loves more than making fantastic pop music, it’s a good double meaning.

Planted in nearly every song by THE BLSSM — the 24-year-old’s self-described blissful pop project — is a feeling of both happiness and sadness, competing with each other through lyrics that mean one thing and a chorus that sounds like it means something else entirely. It’s hard to tell what you’re supposed to feel when listening to THE BLSSM, but Lizotte isn’t too focused on that. They’re just hopeful that you do feel.

“I want [my music] to make sense to them in whichever shape or form, and that’s really important to me, that it means something to them, whatever that might mean,” Lizotte says. “I’m not too concerned with how they interpret it, as long as it makes them feel something. That’s really all I want.”

One year removed from their debut EP, 97 BLOSSOM, Lizotte returns in April with their follow-up PURE ENERGY, which marks THE BLSSM’s first release under Fueled By Ramen. The label backing doesn’t change too much for Lizotte, who resides in Los Angeles by way of Australia, as it really only signifies some extra helping hands believing in their vision. But now the project has just enough energy (pure energy, at that) to bloom into what Lizotte has always dreamed of.

What’s the first thing you want a new listener to know about THE BLSSM?

This project is a hyperextension of my personality. It really is just like an amalgamation of all my influences and things that I love. It’s a pop project. It’s what I define as pop, to me. And it is really genreless to me. It’s really just my inspiration and the energy that I feel from all of my influences.

Your first single for the EP, “DIZZY,” arrived after some TikTok promotion. This was also a favorite on tour, too. Do those in-person reactions confirm anything for you about the music after all this time having to be super online?

Any sort of visceral reaction from anybody, I’m super hyped. [Especially] if you’re gonna hit me up and be like, “Yo, what is this song? Like, where can I hear it?” There’s so much stuff online. Online is so crowded and so overstimulated and so much saturation of stuff. I get so hyped if someone hits me up asking me about “DIZZY.” I played it in my live set, and that speaks volumes to me of someone going home and thinking about that song. It feels good when anything means something to somebody.

You’ve spoken in the past about the juxtaposition of your songs — where sometimes the melody or the sound of the song itself won’t align with the lyrics. Does “DIZZY” fall into that category?

“DIZZY” sounds like I’m singing about a significant other, like a breakup song, but it’s really just about my anxiety. I love to use nursery rhyme-type hypermelodic choruses paired with a little bit more visceral, grittier lyrics. Everyone’s like, “Oh yeah, this is my breakup.” No, it’s about my anxiety, but I love to have that double meaning. It can mean anything for anybody. I’m pretty attracted to that “happy, sad, happy, sad” [pattern]. And a lot of the feedback that I get from my community, my fans, is that a BLSSM song will make you feel everything at once”.

An artist who is connecting with a lot of people and is providing a voice and strength to so many, I hope that they get to see as many fans as possible on the road. Press sources in the U.K. are picking up on their music, in addition to the love from the U.S. I am relatively new to the wonder and sheer brilliance of THE BLSSM, but I cannot recommend them highly. Here is an artist who has made an amazing start to their career, and they look set to take that even further…

THROUGH 2023.

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Follow THE BLSSM

FEATURE: Introducing an Icon… Madonna’s Eponymous Debut at Forty, Anniversary Tour Dates, and a Continuing Fight Against Ageism

FEATURE:

 

 

Introducing an Icon…

  

Madonna’s Eponymous Debut at Forty, Anniversary Tour Dates, and a Continuing Fight Against Ageism

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I will do other anniversary features…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Madonna in 1983/PHOTO CREDIT: Gary Heery

around the fortieth anniversary of Madonna’s eponymous debut album. Released on 27th July, 1983, Madonna is an album that introduced the world to someone who would fast become a global icon and superstar. I am coming in a bit early, as there are things to talk about. I might finish off by discussing Madonna and its impact. I am not sure whether there are any anniversary releases in terms of vinyl and an expanded edition of the album, but there are rumours Madonna is touring. Madonna’s latest album, Madame X, was released in 2019. I think there were some live dates after the release, but she did sustain some injuries and setbacks which delayed others. Happily, it seems like she may be back on stage to mark forty years since her debut album came out. This article explains more:

“Madonna debuted with her very first album in 1983, and as Billboard reports, the Queen of Pop is planning to celebrate the milestone by embarking on a 40th anniversary tour.

The music icon is planning her as-yet-unannounced 40th anniversary tour — her first-ever live trek to serve as a career retrospective — with her longtime manager Guy Oseary. “It’s going to be the biggest tour she’s ever done,” one source told Billboard, featuring music from the entirety of her career. The tour will include both stadium and arena dates, reportedly including a multi-night run at the O2 in London.

The upcoming tour comes after Madonna re-signed to Warner Music Group and agreed to launch an “extensive, multi-year series of catalog reissues.” Still, the legendary pop star won’t be selling her catalog any time soon, explaining last year, “Because they’re my songs. Ownership is everything, isn’t it?” The same goes for a biopic about the artist that Madonna plans to co-write and direct herself. “No one’s going to tell my story, but me,” she said. Clearly, then, Madonna’s next tour will be created on her own terms.

Last year, Madonna allowed Beyoncé to sample her iconic 1990 track “Vogue” for a cross-generational pop moment in Queen Bey’s “Break My Soul (The Queens Remix).” In honor of the Material Girl’s 64th birthday, we updated our list of her Top 20 Songs”.

I am not sure whether there will be a concept around the 1983 album and whether she is prominently featuring the album. Maybe she will do a career-spanning set. Regardless, there will be a lot of demand. At sixty-four, Madonna still has no equals when it comes to her Pop music and stage shows. It is not the sentiment of most who heard the news about tours, but a headline from a recent article in The Times shocked me. Perhaps not as callous as the wording might suggest, but this feeling that, at sixty-four, Madonna back on stage might be a lumbering and embarrassing spectacle. Rather than shock, titillate, fascinate and wow as she has done through her career, is she making a mistake? I am not sure what people think she will do. Maybe fall over a lot of wet herself?! Is she going to injury herself in the first show and have to pull out. There is a suggested undertone that, in her sixties, Madonna’s sexuality and proactiveness is going to be cringe-worthy. Her sex-positive approach and stage shows might not be that appropriate for a woman of her age! I think her stage shows will be incredible, and obviously she will not try to recapture her past shows. It will be a high-energy and conceptual show, but it is premature to assume that she is going to be a disaster. It is a little sad and angering that, forty years after her debut was released (more or less), she is still facing criticism. Madonna has had to deal with ageism for decades now. Like many women in music, when they are in their thirties and especially in their forties, their music is sidelined and only played by certain radio stations.

PHOTO CREDIT: Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott

Not only does Madonna receive sexism and ageist remarks for her Instagram photos, the media in general seems to have this age line where women are has-been or too old when they get to a certain point. In a 2019 interview with Vogue the subject of ageism came up. For an artist who has given the world so much through the decades, Madonna does seem to have to fight to be heard. Fighting for so many women who are written off or seen as lesser when they grow older. These are not standards and rules that men in the industry are subjected to. It is an awful and misogynistic double standard that does not need to go away very soon. Age should have nothing to do with music. It doesn’t matter how old an artist is! To this day, Madonna is an innovator and chameleon of an artist who can go through different personas and keep her music and image fresh and fascinating:

“When Decca Aitkenhead meets Madonna for the June cover interview of Vogue, she is not sure which iteration of the pop powerhouse will receive her – and the impeccable Georgian façade of her central London townhouse betrays no clue. The mother of reinvention, Madonna has variously been a singer, actor, dancer, filmmaker, activist, author and philanthropist. She has been a Kabbalah spiritualist, a punk club kid, an English country lady, a dominatrix; she has played Eva Perón and Breathless Mahoney, and channelled Marilyn Monroe. But, even now, aged 60, and with her 14th studio album, Madame X, due for release on June 14, her career still feels like a battle.

“People have always been trying to silence me for one reason or another, whether it’s that I’m not pretty enough, I don’t sing well enough, I’m not talented enough, I’m not married enough, and now it’s that I’m not young enough,” she tells Aitkenhead. “So they just keep trying to find a hook to hang their beef about me being alive on. Now I’m fighting ageism, now I’m being punished for turning 60”.

I will switch to something more positive. I will end with a couple of glowing reviews for one of the best and more underrated albums of the ‘80s. Bringing back Disco and Dance in 1983 – at a time when Pop had progressed and transformed -, there is something ground-breaking and hugely innovative about Madonna. It is an album that is inspiring artists to this day. I listen to a lot of Disco-inspired artists of today and know they are influenced by Madonna. Almost forty years since it came into the world, the Pop icon’s debut has not aged or faded. It doesn’t quite get the huge credit it deserves. We talk about the importance of albums such as Like a Virgin (1984), Like a Prayer (1989), and Ray of Light (1998), but her 1983 debut is not seen as impactful. Not as wide-ranging in terms of the sounds and themes explored, we need to give new appreciation and respect to an album that reinvented Pop. Thirty-five years after its release, CLASH discussed the legacy and importance of the mighty Madonna. I do hope that there is an album reissue, maybe with an extra vinyl of remixes. Perhaps there will be remastered versions of Madonna’s videos, or artists will cover some of the album’s best-known tracks. Forty is an important anniversary, and I do hope that a lot of exposure and investigation does the way of an album that arrived at a time when music was in transition. It was a time when various genres were in their infancy or dying out:

“It's 1983. Punk is dead. Post-punk is on it's last limbs. According to those in the know, disco is dead also, although that proved not to be the case. Indie and alternative is in it's infancy and pop music seems as varied and sparse in it's tastes as it ever has done. Prince was working up to his career's pinnacle, Talking Heads were about to descend from theirs and, in that climate, it seemed that very few would enjoy more than their fifteen minutes of fame, in a sector of the industry that now felt more immediate than ever before.

Recovering from it's biggest shake up since the emergence of The Beatles in the early 1960s, pop music also felt boundless in what it now had to offer the world. MTV blew the entertainment world wide open in 1981, turning former child star Michael Jackson into The King Of Pop in the process. The industry needed a Queen to share his throne.

Step forward a 25-year-old Michigan native who now worked the restaurants of New York City, following after her move to the big apple, pursuing her dream of making a career in modern dance, fell flat on it’s face. Her name? Madonna Louise Ciccone, although the world would come to know her by only one name.

IN THIS PHOTO: Madonna in 1983/PHOTO CREDIT: Alan Ilagan

Throughout the course of ‘Madonna’, she discusses the tropes present on most pop debuts – the idea of love, loss and the struggles of early adulthood. The overriding presence of her lyrics here is her independence and her ability to challenge the preconceived ideas that others have of how she should act and the choices that she is making.

On ‘Borderline’, one of two songs on the record penned exclusively by producer and former Miles Davis band member Reggie Lucas, she pleads with the subject to "try and understand[…] I've given all I can" and that their actions are pushing her to her limits – a theme that she would revisit a few years later with the more on-the-nose and initially shocking ‘Papa Don't Preach’.

Trying to find a dud track on this record is harder than you might expect. The entire first side – comprised of the aforementioned singles ‘Lucky Star’ and ‘Borderline’ as well as ‘Burning Up’, the album's second single that was also one of Madonna's earliest solo compositions, and ‘I Know It’ – provides a well-rounded slab of early 80s pop music, rife with all of it’s trappings, yet not weighed down by any of them.

As we descend into the latter parts of the record, she doubles down on these disco-inspired traits. ‘Physical Attraction’, for all of it’s doe-eyed sensitivities, would not be out of place in any dancehall or club in the east coast. Likewise, ‘Think Of Me’ feels destined to only ever be accompanied by an awe-inspiring light show, pulsating throughout it’s near five minute run time but never feeling anywhere near uncomfortable.

Whilst nowhere near as daring sonically or visually as Madonna’s later works would prove to be, her debut album is, nonetheless, a masterpiece. Offering something for everyone without ever selling her talents short, to say it’s a tone setter for the themes that she would come to personify throughout the rest of the decade would be a huge understatement.

It’s a record of immense power and longevity that feels as impressive today as it would have done upon first release and the contrarians who say otherwise are the kind of people that you’d never really want to bump into at a party”.

On 27th July, Madonna turns forty. Its second single, Burning Up, is forty on 9th March. One of my favourite Madonna albums, and one of the most influential ever, it is a masterpiece! I have seen some mixed or three-star reviews for Madonna. It is an undeniable five-star album that is timeless! This is what AllMusic had to say about one of the greatest debut albums in music history:

“Although she never left it behind, it's been easy to overlook that Madonna began her career as a disco diva in an era that didn't have disco divas. It was an era where disco was anathema to the mainstream pop, and she had a huge role in popularizing dance music as a popular music again, crashing through the door Michael Jackson opened with Thriller. Certainly, her undeniable charisma, chutzpah, and sex appeal had a lot to do with that -- it always did, throughout her career -- but she wouldn't have broken through if the music wasn't so good. And her eponymous debut isn't simply good, it set the standard for dance-pop for the next 20 years. Why did it do so? Because it cleverly incorporated great pop songs with stylish, state-of-the-art beats, and it shrewdly walked a line between being a rush of sound and a showcase for a dynamic lead singer. This is music where all of the elements may not particularly impressive on their own -- the arrangement, synth, and drum programming are fairly rudimentary; Madonna's singing isn't particularly strong; the songs, while hooky and memorable, couldn't necessarily hold up on their own without the production -- but taken together, it's utterly irresistible. And that's the hallmark of dance-pop: every element blends together into an intoxicating sound, where the hooks and rhythms are so hooky, the shallowness is something to celebrate. And there are some great songs here, whether it's the effervescent "Lucky Star," "Borderline," and "Holiday" or the darker, carnal urgency of "Burning Up" and "Physical Attraction." And if Madonna would later sing better, she illustrates here that a good voice is secondary to dance-pop. What's really necessary is personality, since that sells a song where there are no instruments that sound real. Here, Madonna is on fire, and that's the reason why it launched her career, launched dance-pop, and remains a terrific, nearly timeless, listen”.

Maybe not entirely male-dominated, Disco would have been largely imbalanced in 1983. Most of the bigger names and producers were men. Madonna was definitely a pioneer and someone who broke barriers and actually revived and repurposed a style of music that suffered a premature demise. A joyous and accomplished album released at a difficult time in the U.S., it was a call to the dancefloor at a time when it was really needed! The Quietus assessed and dove into Madonna’s debut album in 2013 – three decades after this remarkable introduction came into the world:

“But it was third single 'Holiday' that was her crossover in to the mainstream charts. It got her on Dick Clark's American Bandstand for an epochal performance wherein she stated that she intended to "rule the world". 'Holiday' was an irresistible confection, bubbling with joie de vie, emphasised by its cascading synth strings, meaty Moog bass and Nile Rogers-style chicken scratch guitar, and a lyric that neatly paired it with Kool & the Gang's 'Celebration'. In the vocal department, limitation becomes virtue as Madonna imbues the song with nifty touches such as the snatch of ethereal cooing that blows through the song's second refrain.

Similarly her dancing seemed lunging and graceless compared to the eye-popping feats of Jackson (surprisingly so for such a gifted student). But like her music, it quickly proved magnetic, life-affirming. Each raised knee to the thwack of Holiday's snare, indicative of a mover as disciplined as a featherweight prize-fighter, utterly at one with their body. Like all the songs on her debut, 'Holiday' is best heard in the original album version rather than the Immaculate Collection edit. The later version omits the climactic release the song has been building towards, Zarr's elated piano break, a last minute addition at Sigma Sound, Manhattan. These originals are 'deep' cuts, full of breaks and space.

'Holiday' put her in the Billboard top twenty. 'Borderline' (No ten) and 'Lucky Star' (No four) would nudge her closer to mega-stardom, the latter beginning a record-breaking sequence of Top five American hits. Crucially, these two songs saw her mastering video. Mary Lambert's mini-movie for 'Borderline' squeezed Diana Ross's 'Mahogany' and John Hughes into a pop video, adding then taboo-busting interracial romance. She even dabbles in a bit of graffiti, a nod to the world she hailed from.

The 'Lucky Star' promo, featuring just two back-up dancers and a blank set, was a showcase for Madonna as auto-erotic magnet. It is full of belly button close-ups and narcissistic strutting, accentuated by the punchy editing. At one point, she appears to be cradled by the pure white backdrop, like Keith Haring's Radiant Baby, both wide-eyed innocent and shrewdly knowing. In the video's opening shot, she lowers her shades, coolly staring back at the viewer, alluring yet impassive. Even feminist film scholar Laura Mulvey would have to concede that the gaze of popular culture, was by now, no longer purely the province of the male spectator.

Her first album was both cutting edge and quaint by the time of its release, informed by NYC's club underground but also using technology already employed by MOR artists. Phil Collins was using similar instrumentation as was Stevie Nicks on the exquisite Prince-assisted, 'Little Red Corvette'-influenced 'Stand Back'. Madonna would continue to break ground in the mainstream just as she would always remain slightly one step behind the avant-garde, ever reliant on it for inspiration to take to the masses. Nevertheless, her first album remains one of her best works, the supposed 'lack of variety' actually giving it a consistency and focus that often eludes her later music. Madonna now possesses the crazy will of a late period Bette Davis or a Joan Crawford, all exertion bereft of inspiration. But like those two icons, her best work often transcends the cloying cage of camp. That first album, with its elastic grooves, its joyous calls to "dance and sing" remains free of such excesses. It is that great pop record: a simple soundtrack to complicated times. Hot-housed in a pre-Giulani/Carrie Bradshaw New York City, it is the last gasp of a night-life without AIDS where everyone is a star in the discotheque. Where going out itself was a work of art. Now, as much as back then, Madonna urges you to do just one thing: "Feel the beat and step inside..."

It is great Madonna might come back to some big stages to celebrate forty years of her debut album. It is a shame that there are going to be conversations about her age and whether she can recapture some of the past. I have seen a few discussions online as to whether it will be a tragic and embarrassing affair. It will not! Not only does Madonna not have to answer to these people, but she is as commanding and exceptional now as ever. A Pop icon and innovator, if you can get tickets and she is playing near you, it will be a remarkable experience. Hearing tracks from her debut album played forty years later will please older fans and also introduce the album to new fans. In July, the world will mark forty years of the mighty Madonna. Some wrote her off in 1983 or felt that she was not going to go anywhere. As it turns out, she went on to dominate Pop and is considered one of the greatest and most influential artists of all! Back in 1983, when critics and fans were listening to Madonna’s debut, there were those who knew something special had been created. In some ways, Madonna is an album that salutes and resonated with…

THOSE who were properly tuned in.

FEATURE: I’m Going to Be a Teenage Idol: Elton John’s Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player at Fifty

FEATURE:

 

 

I’m Going to Be a Teenage Idol

 

Elton John’s Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player at Fifty

__________

ON 22nd January…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Elton John in 1973/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

it will be fifty years since Elton John’s sixth studio album, Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player, was released. It was a fertile period for Elton John. In 1972, he released the terrific Honky Château. The 1973 Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player arrived, and John followed that with Goodbye Yellow Brick Road in October. Three wonderful albums in the space of two years is pretty impressive! Whereas some might say Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player is the weakest of the three albums, it is still a wonderful release, and it contains several of Elton John’s best-known tracks. With Daniel and Crocodile Rock at either end of the album, Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player has a consistency. It might not hit as hared and be as enduring as Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, but Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player documents a remarkably talented songwriter during a golden period. Alongside Bernie Taupin, this wonderful album came into the world. Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player  was John’s second straight number one album in the U.S. and first number one album in the U.K. The lead single, Crocodile Rock, gave John his number one single in the U.S. and Canada. I think that Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player definitely should be thought of as one of Elton John’s best ten albums. It was a huge breakthrough and a big commercial success in the U.S. and U.K. It definitely turned him from a fantastic songwriter into an icon and superstar.

I will come to a couple of positive reviews for an album that, fifty years after its release, still sounds absolutely fantastic and full of wonder. Udiscovermusic.com provided some background and story to an album that arrived at a very busy time for Elton John. It is amazing that John had any energy or inspiration left following such a busy few years previously. The fact Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player spent so long at number one in the U.K. proves it resonated and connected with so many people. The songwriting from Elton John and Bernie Taupin is stunning throughout:

“It was the embodiment of a hard-earned victory. By the turn of 1973, Elton John had been releasing albums for several years, not to mention all the dues he had paid in obscurity as a touring and session musician from the mid-60s onwards. At times, even after his breakthrough across the Atlantic, he had felt like giving up. But finally, his sixth studio album, Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only The Piano Player, gave him a No.1 album in his own country.

Indeed, leaving aside his 1974 greatest hits collection, Don’t Shoot Me… is still the Elton John album that has spent longer at No.1 in the UK than any other. As the follow-up to Honky Château, it became his second in a row to top the charts in America. With his almost indecently prolific productivity of the day, the new album was released just eight months after its predecessor, in January 1973, and contained two more songs that would soon join his catalogue of major hits.

After the completion of Honky Château, but before it was even released, John and his band, with Dee Murray and Nigel Olsson newly augmented by Johnstone, headed out on another American tour. This kept them on the road throughout April and into mid-May, and soon afterwards they headed back, with producer Gus Dudgeon, to the Chateau D’Hérouville, the location in which Team Elton had worked so happily on the last album.

Once again, the castle proved to be a much-needed bolthole and creative haven in which Bernie Taupin would often write lyrics in his room, bring them down to breakfast and see Elton add melodies with equal mastery, sometimes having them ready to record that same day. A dozen or so songs were composed and committed to tape in this way inside just four days.

Key album tracks included “Teacher I Need You,” which became an FM radio favourite in the US; the down-home stomper “Elderberry Wine”; and “Have Mercy On The Criminal,” which Elton revived for his 1987 album Live In Australia With The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. To emphasise the tightness of the core quartet, they played almost everything on the record, with engineer Ken Scott adding the memorable ARP synthesiser to “Daniel” and orchestrator Paul Buckmaster on hand for two more numbers.

The album spent its first six weeks at the top of the UK charts, from February 10, before giving way to Alice Cooper’s Billion Dollar Babies. It went on to spend 11 weeks in the Top 10 and 29 in the Top 40. Within weeks of “Crocodile Rock,” Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only The Piano Player had offered up a second bona fide sales and airplay smash in the form of the touching ballad “Daniel”.

I am going to wrap up with a couple of reviews. This is what Rolling Stone said in their review from March 1973. I was not alive then, but I can only imagine how exciting it must have been to see this young artist grow and release these incredible albums that would stand the test of time! I think that Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player is a masterpiece that is going to be celebrated and talked about decades from now:

“VISUALLY, MUSICALLY, AND in every other way, Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player is an engaging entertainment and a nice step forward in phase two of Elton John’s career, the phase that began with Honky Chateau. The essence of Elton’s personality, on record and in performance, has always been innocent exuberance, a quality intrinsic in most of the best rock ‘n’ roll of the Fifties and early Sixties. Elton’s only major problem after the success of his first album was finding the right direction for his talent, and until Honky the path chosen led up a blind alley. In Madman Across the Water, which closed phase one, Gus Dudgeon’s overly lavish production and Bernie Taupin’s often impenetrable lyrics ultimately created a barrier between Elton and his audience that severely endangered his star status. Honky Chateau was a sensational, unexpected comeback, as much a triumph of Dudgeon and Taupin’s versatile professionalism as of Elton’s musicality.

Happily, Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player is as good, if not better than its predecessor. The heart of the album is a sequence of American movie fantasies whose chief aim is to delight. Though there is implicit social commentary in several songs, notably “Have Mercy on the Criminal” and “Texan Love Song,” it is set forth as stereotypical movie fare, meant only to vary the emotive tension between episodes. In general, the most effective songs are the simplest excursions in fantasy-nostalgia. Typical is the irresistibly catchy and corny hit, “Crocodile Rock.” More successfully than any recent single it recaptures the spirit of late-Fifties rock ‘n’ roll, parodying styles (“At The Hop” and “Runaway”) with such affectionate high spirits that the song emerges as a genuinely fresh artifact of the Seventies. Elton’s tune and Taupin’s lyric are ideally wedded. The song has a conventional verse-chorus structure and an overall diction that is casual and idiomatic without straining for precision: “I remember when rock was young/Me and Susie had so much fun/Holding hands and skimming stones/Had an old gold Chevy and a place of my own.” Teenage fantasy, more explicit and without hindsight, is also the theme of “Teacher I Need You” and “I’m Going to Be a Teenage Idol,” both of which have the same off-the-cuff buoyancy as “Crocodile Rock” and the same playful attitude toward a semi-mythic past. In “Have Mercy on the Criminal,” the inventive eclecticism of John-Taupin is especially striking with its interposition of guitar figuration from “Layla” and a typically spacious orchestral arrangement by Paul Buckmaster.

The album’s most moving cut, however, is the opener, “Daniel.” A gem of technical virtuosity, it has Elton doubling on electric piano and “flute” mellotron and Ken Scott on synthesizer, together making as deft use of the new electronic instrumentation as I’ve heard. Elton’s melody and vocal are unusually tender and expressive, and Taupin’s lyric, in which he recalls watching a plane carrying away his older brother, is exceptionally lovely:

Daniel is traveling tonight on a plane

I can see the red tail lights heading for Spain

Oh and I can see Daniel waving goodbye

God it looks like Daniel, must be the clouds in my eyes

… Oh Daniel my brother

You are older than me

Do you still feel the pain

Of the scars that won’t heal?

Your eyes have died, but you see more than I

Daniel you’re a star in the face of the sky.

If Honky Chateau established Elton John as a leading contender for the bantamweight championship of rock & roll, Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player should hand him the title”.

I will end with a very interesting review from The Vinyl Distinct from 2018. Released on 22nd January, 1973 in the U.K. and four days later in the U.S., I have been spending a lot of time with Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player recently in preparation. I am sure Elton John will share something on social media on the fiftieth anniversary of one of his best and most important albums:

“As Elton John bids a bittersweet adieu to playing live with his 2018 Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour, let us all reflect for a moment on what he has given us. Speaking just for myself, he gave me everything; Elton John was the idol of my unfortunately well-mannered youth, and his were the albums I lost myself in when the world was too much with me.

Not for nothing did my friends start calling me Elton.

And I wasn’t alone. It’s hard to imagine now, but during the mid-seventies the unprepossessing (short, plump, balding) English piano rocker was King, boss, God, and bigger than anybody.

Forget McCartney, Lennon, Frampton even; Sir Elton conquered the world (seven consecutive No. 1 U.S. albums, a heap of hit singles) and he did it his way. To listen to his songs now (and I’m including the big hit singles) is to realize how weird, wonderful, and utterly idiosyncratic they are.

I dare you to come up with another major artist who produced hits as defiantly unorthodox as “Rocket Man” (astronaut as 9-5 drudge) “Bennie and the Jets” (electric boots glam rock) and “The Bitch Is Back” (“I get high every evening sniffin’ pots of glue”). As for the non-hits, I recommend you to “Solar Prestige a Gammon” (top shelf gibberish rock), “I Think I’m Gonna Kill Myself” (teenage angst complete with tap-dance solo), and “Social Disease” (country-and-gonorrhea anyone?).

In short, the man is one of a kind, and we may never see his likes again.

When it comes to Elton’s string of chart-topping LPs, 1973’s Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player tends to get lost in the shuffle. In part this is due to the fact that it’s not the best of them. But some of the blame falls on Elton and his sheer prolixity; Don’t Shoot Me came hot on the heels of 1972’s wonderful Honky Chateau and was quickly followed by 1973’s brilliant Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, and the record-buying public simply didn’t have sufficient time to appreciate its merits.

That said, it produced two hit singles; “Crocodile Rock” would become John’s first top-charting U.S. single, and “Daniel” went to number two. The former is a spritely pop lightweight that played well during the rock ’n’ roll nostalgia craze; Elton’s “la la la’s” always make me happy, and I love the way he sings “Suzie went leftist for some foreign guy.” Which he doesn’t, really. But I like the song better that way.

As for “Daniel,” it’s one of the least jingoistic songs about a vet returning home from Vietnam ever recorded, and I like the twist; Daniel doesn’t split for Spain because he’s being called a baby killer–he’s simply tired of being called a goddamn hero.

Aside from them? The album boasts a couple of my faves. The piano-driven “Teacher I Need You” is the bounciest ode to teen hormonal overdrive this side of “Hot for Teacher,” and the leer quotient is lower; Elton’s not a David Lee Roth smart ass, he’s just a normal kid, and he knows his “Errol Flynn advances” won’t do him a bit of good.

“Elderberry Wine” is a classic John-Taupin cut; the horns bring the choruses to bright life, while John gets down and dirty on the verses. Sounds mean too, right down to the “Woo!” “Blues for My Baby and Me” is John the ballad master at his best; he’s young and he’s splitting for greener pastures out west with his girl via Greyhound bus, and you can practically feel that Greyhound a-swaying as he sings her into the star-tangled Texas night.

“Midnight Creeper” is a jaunty boogie number and Elton gives it all he’s got; if there’s a nightmare he’s there, and the bitch (who knows how to use a horn section) is definitely back. On “Have Mercy on the Criminal,” on the other hand, he offers up a lesson on how not to employ a horn section; the intro sounds like the theme of a bad sixties’ cop show, and the song itself is both ham-fisted and overwrought.

Similarly, “I’m Going to Be a Teenage Idol” isn’t going to make him a teenage idol; I love the plucky vocals, and Bernie Taupin’s lyrics are great, but the melody just doesn’t cut it. If John really wants to be a “motivated supersonic king of the scene,” I suggest he find himself a catchier (and more propulsive) melody.

“Texan Love Song” is a likable hillbilly oddity that would have been right at home on the oddity-filled Goodbye Yellow Brick Road; Elton declares himself a redneck and staunch anti-communist, and sings “you long hairs are sure gonna die.” It’s a hoot. Which leaves the anthemic “High Flying Bird,” which reaches for the sky but falls short; the song goes out on a lovely grace note, but this baby’s simply not as fetching a tune as Elton was wont to churn out during his Golden Age.

I’m hoping that Elton John’s retirement from touring will spur a resurgence of interest in his albums. Me, I stuck with him through 1976’s Blue Moves before moving on to different things. But he made an indelible impression on me, Elton. For all I know it’ll be one of his songs that goes through my head on my deathbed.

I’m hoping it will be “Bennie and the Jets.” Or “Someone Saved My Life Tonight.” Yeah. I’d like that.

GRADED ON A CURVE:

B+”.

If you are a big Elton John fan or not, I think there is plenty on Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player that will get into the heart and mind. It is a terrific album that I think is also a little underrated – as not all the reviews were understanding or overly-positive. What a remarkable year 1973 was for Elton John. Releasing two major and huge acclaimed studio albums, I feel Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player was the start of something very special. A moment when his music fully opened up to and was embraced by the whole world. Alongside classics Daniel and Crocodile Rock are great deeper cuts like Midnight Creeper, and I’m Going to Be a Teenage Idol. Aged twenty-five when Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player came out, it is a remarkably accomplished and assured album. Maybe John would release even better albums after 1973, but there is no denying the fact that the classic Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player…

TOOK this genius’s music to new heights.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Madeline the Person

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

  

Madeline the Person

_________

BACK in July…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Lissyelle Laricchia

the terrific Madeline the Person released her E.P., CHAPTER 3: The Burning. One of my favourite E.P.s of last year, I wanted to spend some time with the Houston artist. I will come to an interview where she breaks down the songs on her latest E.P. First, Houston Press spotlighted and celebrated Madeline the Person in 2021 ahead of the release of her E.P., CHAPTER 1: The Longing. I only discovered Madeline the Person last year, so it is interesting reading press from before then. She has definitely broken through and captured the imagination of press and music fans alike in the past couple of years. Someone primed and tipped for amazing things this year:

“Whenever a recording artist signs a major label deal, it’s big news. If the artist is from Houston, there’s some hometown pride added to the celebration. But, the recent signing of Houston’s own Madeline The Person by Warner Records isn’t just exciting, it’s also an indication of how the music industry is adapting to a market changed by social media apps and affected by the pandemic to bring new, enthralling music to listeners.

The 19-year old singer/songwriter from Bellaire is a music phenom, despite having played only a pair of live shows in her burgeoning career. One was at the Houston Women’s March and the second, she said, was for a handful of music industry pros with the label, which she signed to last year, via Zoom, from the comfort of her own home. She was "discovered" by a Warner Records A&R executive who saw her on TikTok, performing original tunes and covers for her hundreds of thousands of followers. No exhaustive tours playing in dimly lit clubs for sparse crowds or toiling away on Bandcamp. Her debut EP, Chapter 1: The Longing, released last Friday.

“It’s funny because I expected it to be the way you described, going out, doing shows and making a name for myself. I was pretty prepared to do that and I was going to go to Berklee College of Music this year. In a few months I was supposed to go, but then I got my deal. Everything changed,” she said.

“And, it really did start with Instagram and TikTok, which is so cool. It’s seriously the power of social media, plus the situation we were in with COVID. There wasn’t a way for me to do shows or go out and meet people and market myself that way,” she said. “So, it was seriously all on the Internet which I think is so cool. I don’t think a lot of people can say that about their journey.”

Madeline’s music journey started early. She began playing piano at age 4 and took up guitar shortly thereafter. As a child, she attended Emery/Weiner School in southwest Houston, as well as West University’s Xavier Educational Academy. She graduated last year, the same year she opened her TikTok account. That was February and before long, she said, she had a healthy following. Her fans now include some notables, like Billie Eilish, Lizzo and Olivia Rodrigo.

“It was really quick, like the blink of an eye, crazy quick. Nothing has ever happened to me that quick ever,” she said with a chuckle, a hint that she’s still in awe of how it all unfolded. “It was wild. That app is a force to be reckoned with. It’s insane, the amount of people you can reach in such a short amount of time. Things go viral so quickly and so randomly, it seems. But yeah, I happened to thrive there, which is super cool, that I found a place that I can connect with people there.”

Maybe Marshall McLuhan was right about the medium being the message, but the messengers on TikTok are abundant. It’s easy to get lost in the mix of virtual content creators. But, Warner executives saw something special in Madeline amidst the deep sea of faces and voices, a complete package that made signing her a no-brainer. For instance, she’s designed her own vibrant, colorful aesthetic, a rainbow world that seems at odds with the achingly introspective songs she’s written. Those songs are delivered by a hauntingly expressive voice, “actually the most beautiful thing I have ever heard,” according to at least one of her nearly 500,000 TikTok fans.

Because she’s the architect of her own distinct art, including her multi-colored wardrobe, we asked if her home life sparked her creativity.

“I don’t think I have anyone in my life growing up that was like me in the way of creative things. My mom is a doctor and my dad was an engineer and my brother is a math major. But, my mom and brother also have a really creative side. But I think I’m way more openly crazy than them,” she laughed. “As a little kid, I always loved coloring, drawing, colors, making a mess, and I’ve just never gotten rid of that. Just like the regular kids’ stuff, where you just want to finger paint all the time, I just never grew out of it”.

There are not a load of interviews out there with Madeline the Person. There are a couple from last year connected to the new E.P. In terms of her best tracks and moments from 2022, I think that MEAN! might have been my favourite. I would recommend all of Madeline the Person’s music, but there is something about MEAN! that really struck me. Colour Vision Mag asked her about the song, and they were also curious about which tracks Madeline the Person felt was her best so far:

“Your style within and outside of your music is so colorful, bright, and happy. Has this always been the energy you’ve carried with you, or is it more of an artistic choice?

I’ve definitely always had a colorful and bright energy, but throughout middle school and parts of high school, I spent a lot of my time conforming and hiding. Only after my dad passed away did I realize that life is really fragile and I don’t have time to be a person I’m not. Then began the best part of my life in which I got to fully be myself. Rainbows, flaws, and all.

Your projects are set up in "Chapters" which I feel like is a really unique way to tell your story. What does that look like for you? Do the chapters connect with eachother or is each more of a standalone work? Anything you're able to share on the forthcoming Chapter 3?

My chapters were something I decided on before I even signed with a label because I am so passionate about my story being told similarly to a storybook. I like to set up these chapters because my songs are directly about my experiences and emotions, and I like to process all of these big feelings in bitesize pieces. It’s easier for me to compartmentalize my life thus far into a storybook layout so that I remind myself what I have survived and that there is so much more to come.

Can you tell me more about your newest track “MEAN!”? What was the inspiration behind the track?

My song “MEAN!” is a song I wrote after being insulted at a party and just feeling so tiny from that moment on. Afterwards, I realized how grateful I am that I would never say something to make someone feel bad. There is a beautiful power in being kind. It’s hard to find meaning in such painful experiences, but this song helps me remember that some people just say mean things and that has nothing to do with me.

I noticed you toured last year with The Aces, what was that experience like? Do you have any plans to tour soon?

Touring with The Aces was one of the most beautiful and exciting experiences of my life. Since everything for me started online, I genuinely didn’t know if people would show up in person for me, but they did. It was just the loveliest thing to meet the people who listen to my music. I’m hoping to open for someone else soon! But in the meantime, I’m playing a few festivals this summer.

What’s your favorite track you’ve released to date and why?

My song “As A Child” will always hold such a tender and special place in my heart because it showed me the power that comes from sharing your trauma. Once I spoke up about my grief through the song, I was flooded by stories and support and understanding. That song created a safe space for feelings of loss, and that’s one of the most special things that I have ever made”.

I am going to round off in a second. There is an interview from Sweety High where Madeline the Person took us through the remarkable songs on CHAPTER 3: The Burning. I have already featured MEAN!, so the rest of the songs are explored. The E.P. is a great starting place if you are a new fan but, to be honest, go back to the start and see how her music has changed and evolved:

“'Why I Broke Up With You'

Madeline The Person: I had written the first verse and the chorus a couple of months before I came into the session, but I knew that Andrew Jackson could help me get my story fully out in a beautiful way. Chris Loco sat with us while we were writing, completely absorbed the vibe of the song, and produced it absolutely perfectly.

"Why I Broke Up With You" is my way of dealing with trauma from my past and how it affected my relationship. I realized that there was still an unhealed wound I needed to tend to.

My favorite line is: "I lived so long with someone so uncomfortable in their mind, they fed themselves a little poison every day to survive." I feel that the lyric perfectly describes how I tried to rationalize addiction as a kid. Some things don't make sense until you are close enough to them that you are forced to understand.

‘You Step On Flowers'

Madeline The Person: When I was around 16, I wrote a poem including the line, "You step on flowers like they are the grass," and I had always wanted to make it into a song. Finally, in a session, with Annika Bennett and Andy Seltzer, I brought in the poem and we reconstructed and expanded upon it. Annika played the chords for the chorus, starting with F minor, and we were all in love. It sounded just how the feeling felt.

"Step On Flowers" is how I coped with feeling unappreciated romantically. I felt like I was giving this person everything beautiful within me, and it was disregarded. It felt like an important feeling to set in stone.

My favorite lyric from the song is, "I stuck around the morning after till the sky was your light blue," because it references a song that the person showed me, called "Say Yes" by Elliott Smith.

'Stupid Dog'

Madeline The Person: I came into a session with SIBA, Andrew Jackson and Gracey, having already written the chorus. I remember the session was so quick but it all just fell together so easily. I love when that happens. Andrew and Gracey helped me with the verses and the chords, and SIBA produced it to perfection.

"You put your hands all over me, you know I'll follow at your feet," is my favorite line because it reminded me that I was literally treated like a pet. I was just expected to go along and follow behind just like a dog does.

'Not Sorry'

Madeline The Person: "Not Sorry" was made during a beautiful writing session with Captian Cuts and Grant Averill. I just spilled open my brain's frustration about all of the fake apologies I've received and we started writing. Ryan from Captain Cuts came into the session with the chord progression, I loved it, and we built from there.

I love how simply this song expresses my hatred for s***ty apologies. It reminds me to take responsibility when I've done things wrong, and I hope it brings comfort to those who haven't gotten the true apology they've needed.

"If you're so full of empathy, then why won't it stretch to me," is my favorite line because it describes how sad it is when someone you love and trust won't put away their pride for a few moments just to give you a real apology. Especially if you know the person to be kind and empathetic, it feels even worse when they refuse to take responsibility for their actions.

'Baby Boy'

Madeline The Person: "Baby Boy" was birthed from a fun little session with Scott Harris and Jonah Shy in New York. I told them that this boy was acting like a baby and Scott started playing this awesome bass line. The vibe felt different from anything I've ever done before, so I just rode the wave.

This song is a silly one about how annoying guys can be when they act macho but also are too scared to hold hands in public. To me, it's a fun song I can sing to get my frustration out when a guy does something upsetting.

"Dropped my hand right when your friends walked in, didn't know I was that embarrassing," really describes how bad it felt to be ignored in public when I knew that it would change immediately when we were alone together. It's exhausting to feel like a burden in that way. I hope the song can reach people that have felt like an embarrassment in a relationship before, so we can sing this song together and feel loved again”.

An amazing artist who is going to be one to watch this year, I hope that Madeline the Person is able to come to the U.K. at some point. I love her music, and the fact her fanbase is rising shows there is a lot of love for her. So infectious and astonishing, I love what this incredible artist is doing! Long may she reign. Somebody I would recommend to everyone, go and follow…

THE remarkable Madeline the Person.

___________

Follow Madeline the Person

FEATURE: An Icon from the Very Start… Kate Bush and Some Standout Early Images

FEATURE:

 

 

An Icon from the Very Start…

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in London on 27th September, 1979/PHOTO CREDIT: Bill Kennedy/Mirrorpix/Getty Images

 

Kate Bush and Some Standout Early Images

__________

ONE thing I have been arguing for…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in Tokyo in 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: Koh Hasebe/Shinko Music/Getty Images

when it comes to Kate Bush is more photograph books. There have been a few through the years but, as I think that her photos and images are among the most iconic and original. There are a lot of good press photos, in addition to collections and unique shoots that she worked on with various photographers. From her brother, John, to Gered Mankowitz and Guido Harari, so many awesome photos of Kate Bush are out there! I think some of the most interesting looks and photos came in the first few years of her career. Consider 1978 through to 1980, and Bush explored so many different looks and styles. As a relatively new artists, she would have been new to professional shoots. Whereas a lot of artists dislike photoshoots and do not throw themselves into them, Bush has always been very cooperative and willing. Someone who loves visuals and would have wanted to give photographers something great, this definitely comes through. I have revisited this theme because Vogue recently ran a feature where they highlighted some of the best early Kate Bush shots. Apart from the odd factual inaccuracy in the introduction (Bush is sixty-four, not sixty-three), the selection of images chosen is great:

“Kate Bush can thank the Stranger Things series for propelling her back to the top of the charts. Her legendary hit Running Up That Hill is #1 worldwide, 37 years after its release, while Twitter and TikTok have made it their favorite background music, gathering new fans among the Gen Z generation. This is all thanks to season 4 of Stranger Things on Netflix, where the character Max, played by the brilliant actress Sadie Sink, listens to this Kate Bush song over and over again as a way to keep Vecna from taking her soul.

We didn't need to wait for Stranger Things to recognize the talent of the British artist and her bewitching voice. How could we forget her 1978 hit Wuthering Heights? The sublime piano ballad in referencing Emily Brontë propelled her to the top of the British charts for four weeks at just 19 years old, making her the first female singer-songwriter to top the charts in her country. Her always ultra sleek videos in which she shows off her contemporary dancing skills are just as memorable. Kate Bush, known as the "witch of sound" who sang about the love of a gay couple living in secret in her building in Kashka From Baghdad in 1978, is an LGBT icon. However, the star is discreet and TV appearances an interviews becoming more and more rare on television and in her videos until she completely disappeared from the radar in recent years.

As the new generation falls in love with her legendary aesthetic and oeuvre through the Stranger Things series, but also multiple remixes as the young French DJ Boris Way did during the festival of the Plages électroniques in Cannes this summer, Vogue has compiled the coolest shots captured in the 1970s-1980s of the artist who, at 63 years old, continues to expand her fan base”.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in London in 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: George Wilkes/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

As Kate Bush’s debut album, The Kick Inside, is forty-five in February, it gets me thinking about that time (in 1978) and some of the photos. Apart from working with Gered Mankowitz, there were a lot of press shoots. Whilst the music is phenomenal, a lot of the promotion of the album and music comes from the press in the form of interviews and photos. Looking at the Vogue feature, and there are three 1978 photos in particular that catch my eye and linger in the mind. I love the randomness of Bush on a boat of some sort in London. I am not sure why the idea was floated, but she looks so happy in the photo! It shows a more carefree side to an artist that many might have seen as flighty, serious or overfly-eccentric in 1978. Maybe from the same day, as Bush looks to be wearing the same top, Bush looks girl-next-door but very mature in a photo shot by Anwar Hussein. Bush always had this ability to give a look to camera that is so powerful, potent and enduring. I love the Koh Hasebe photos from Bush’s trip[ to Japan, but the one of her holding a fan and giving a little grin to camera is particularly heart-melting. Especially in 1978, Bush was being shifted to and fro. She visited Japan as part of a whirlwind year. It must have been exhausting for her!

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in Tokyo in 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: Koh Hasebe/Shinko Music/Getty Images

She did wear a kimono and Japanese wear in several photos (both in Japan and back in the U.K.), but she looks at her best when she is more natural and herself. If you think about some of her photoshoots when she is wearing elegant dresses and more elaborate clothing, her in jeans and a high street top projects a more modest and grounded look. Bush looks iconic and jaw-dropping when dressed in street clothing or when trying something more conceptual. She has this innate ability to give something to the camera that others cannot! It is a look and a pose that ensures the photo absolutely pops. Look to those 1979 images. Again, there are three ones Vogue have selected that are so standout and  wonderful. Bush being quintessentially English sipping tea but also looking classic and elegant. Taken in Copenhagen (presumingly during The Tour of Life, when she was doing interviews between gigs), I love that composition! Bush taking a sip of her tea whilst being asked a question perhaps. Everything comes from her eyes in that photo. A 1979 image at an unspecified location credited to Jean-Louis URLI/Gamma-Rapho is another that I adore. Bush is not smiling, but shge gives a look that is has a playfulness to it, but Bush also has a steeliness and serioiusness that makes you think and want to dig deep. I wonder what she was thinking when the image was taken? It is another shot where minimal instruction would have been given, but Bush’s expression says a thousands words!

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1979/PHOTO CREDIT: Jean-Louis URLI/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images

The other 1979 photo I love is one of the best from that year. I have chosen it as the main image for this feature, as I love the lighting, the composition, the clothing and the look Bush gives. Taken by Bill Kennedy, I am not sure if it was tied to an interview or a standalone shoot. There are other photos from that shoot, but it was when Bush was in London on 27th September. Less than a couple of months before Bush released her second studio album, Lionheart, she looks different to what we see in photos from 1978. A lot of the photos from 1978 were taken when Bush was nineteen. Still a teen, there are some more high-concept photos from that year, but there is this youthful vibe we get from many of the shots. That September 1979 photo is when Bush was twenty-one. Maybe more experienced and feeling a need to project a more grown-up look, the contrasts in such a short time are remarkable! There are some other great shots Vogue has highlighted. You cannot help but smile at the 1980 shots by Angelo Deligio. Bush’s hair is curlier and fuller, and the purple eye make-up, again, is a world away from her looks and image in 1978. In the space of a couple of years, you can see and feel this evolution and sense of reinvention. I don’t think people credit Bush with being this great visual reinventor. Madonna is synonymous with this but, if you think about Bush’s photoshoots and how radically different her images are, this is also reflected in the albums. I think that iconic artists like Madonna definitely looked to Kate Bush or were inspired by her in some way.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1980/PHOTO CREDIT: Angelo Deligio/Mondadori via Getty Images

Perhaps the most beautiful and awe-inspiring photo from that Vogue feature is by Gered Mankowitz. During the Lionheart period, it is a 1978 image that is a world away from the more relaxed and ‘teenage’ (for want of a better word) images. Almost this Hollywood goddess, the lighting and Bush’s look are so impactful! Mankowitz is someone who brought out a different side to Kate Bush. Consider his ‘Hollywood’ shot from 1979. They are such captivating photographs. Almost alluring and sensual, Bush’s range is phenomenal. So many artists would not differ in a particular year. Even from 1978, you get so many layers and looks that are from this one amazing artist. Credit to the photographers themselves, but it is testament to the fact Bush wanted to explore visuals and was perhaps more ambitious and innovative in her photoshoots than the studio. This would change by 1980, but listen to albums like The Kick Inside and Lionheart and then compare the photos from 1978 and you would think you were not listening to the same person! It would be great to have a photobook of the early years (1978-1980) where we get this great selection of photos of Bush. I love the ones Gered Mankowitz and John Carder Bush took, but there are so many more. From press shots of Bush at award ceremonies or performing live, to promotional shoots, there are some wonderful, phenomenal images – in each, Bush’s expression and incredible lure and magnetism defines them! Look back at the earliest photos from 1978 and you can see that Kate Bush was…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz

AN icon already.

FEATURE: Spotlight: SVN

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

 

SVN

_________

I feel this year…

is one where a wave of new girl groups will establish themselves and bring about a revival. There have been some great and inspiring girl groups over the past decade or so. Little Mix are the most prominent and acclaimed. Now that they are on hiatus, there is a new breed emerging, each offering their own values and sound. FLO have been especially celebrated, and they were crowned the BBC’s winner of the Sound of for this year. They were also awarded the BRITs’ Rising Star. Predicted to do great things this year, there is a lot of attention and love their way. I think they are leading the girl group market at the moment. Not far behind are the amazing SVN. Another group keeping their name short and uppercase, I wonder why there is a lack of American girl groups – whilst there are a few in the U.K. that are coming through and have the talent to last for years. Coming from a background in theatre, the London seven-piece consists of Aimie Atkinson, Alexia Mcintosh, Grace Mouat, Jarneia Richard-Noel, Maiya Quansah-Breed, Millie O'Connell and Natalie May Paris. I am going to reference a few interviews with the group. I have there are more this year. CELEB MIX sat down with SVN last year. It is clear that they have come into the industry with real intent and a desire to change things:

“If you like girl groups then you’re going to love SVN. Made up of seven badass queens, this new girlband on the block will slay you with their stunning vocals, sassy attitude and a powerful message of self-love.

Who are SVN?

SVN are a seven-piece vocal harmony girl group made up of: Millie O’Connell, Aimee Atkinson, Natalie Paris, Grace Mouat, Maiya Quansah-Breed, Jarneia Richard-Noel and Alexia Mcintosh. The embodiment of female empowerment, this diverse girl group strives to show their fans that they can achieve anything if they put their minds to it. Highlighting a unique friendship, this fierce girlband is all about self-love and kindness, all while showcasing their sensational vocals.

Why do they look familiar?

Once upon a time, these rockin’ chicks were a part of a royally different girl group. Making up the original West End cast of Six the Musical, the girls enjoyed great success as part of the worldwide phenomenon and were nominated for Best Supporting Actresses at the Laurence Olivier Awards in 2019. Since then, Millie, Grace, Aimie, Natalie, Alexia, Maiya, and Jarneia have gone on to achieve individual success in shows including &Juliet, Pretty Woman, Be More Chill and RENT”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Danny Kaan

Before getting to a final interview, there is a particularly illuminating one from The Big Issue from April. Rather than being manufactured to be commercial and fit into a market, SVN have that closeness, shared ideal and connection that means the music seems much more powerful, natural and personal. SVN are a group that want to affect change and use their platform and voices for good:

“Seven women with powerhouse vocals, celebrating women via their pop and soul sound, they are on a mission to shed light on topics that are close to their hearts and help others find their voice.

All seven members of SVN sat down to talk to The Big Issue about their views on gender, parenthood and the pressures and expectations facing women through history and today.

The Big Issue: At the end of Six, the queen characters decide to form a band. How did that lead to you doing that for real?

Maiya: So, Lexi from day one has been like, ‘we should make a girl band, we should make a girl band’ and we were all like, ‘yeah, whatever, Lexi’.

Lexi: Yes!

Maiya: And then in 2020, Aimie made a group and messaged us all and was like, ‘girls, let’s get together and do a show!’ And for some reason, the stars aligned. We were all free and that was the birth of SVN. So, that’s our SVN story from start to finish. Not finished, we ain’t finished yet. Watch out world!

The final song of the show contains the lyrics: ‘One of a kind, no category’… but how would you categorise yourselves?

Millie: It was really important for us as seven women from different backgrounds and lifestyles to make sure there is something cohesive in our sound. We have a lot of influences. Imagine seven different women’s playlists and break down each of their favourite songs and you’re left with SVN.

So SVN is a new genre?

All: Absolutely!

What does girl power mean in 2022?

Jaye’J: Girl power is about connection, saying exactly what we want and being exactly who we want to be. Standing together and having a voice together, not just on our own. And uplift each other. Building empires with women and knowing that we can shine bright all together.

You’ve talked about using your platform to change the world. What big issues would you like to tackle and how would you do it?

Maiya: Gender equality within work. Whatever you identify as and whoever you want to be, equality within the workplace is very important. Putting women at the top of the food chain. I honestly think things would run so much better if we were in charge.

Lexi: I’m a single parent and I think it’s important that they’re represented, whether you’re a man or a woman. We work really hard and we have dreams. I want to be a voice within the group for parents. Just to say, you can still live your dreams. For me to be a single parent from Birmingham, to being in a West End show with all these beautiful women is amazing.

Millie: I want to reach out to the queer community. It’s really important to us. We want to represent women, queer women, trans women, Black women, POC women. In all our tracks, pretty much, we don’t use gender-fied language. Our pronoun choices are ‘they’, ‘you’, ‘us’, ‘I’. So every single person can listen to SVN are going to feel seen, held and heard.

What do you think is the best part of being a woman in 2022?

Lexi: That’s the money question right there!

Aimie: I think friendship with other women is so powerful. The sisterhood, when you get it, which we have after been part of this experience together for years now, we’re like sisters. That bond between women is like nothing else.

Natalie: There’s that quote, ‘when women come together, incredible things happen’. I feel that not only what we’ve done, but other women, incredible, inspirational women in whatever field it is, when they come together they create incredible things that’s so powerful and empowering too.

Lexi: One of the great things about being a woman is being able to birth a child. It’s such an amazing experience.  A sperm and an egg, coming together…nine months later a big-headed baby, gates of fire opening and there you go. We do that!

Jaye’J: I think how different we all are is beautiful. As a woman who loves women, you can look at other women and say ‘that’s so beautiful about you’. We are all so individual. You’re not necessarily exactly the same as someone else but there is something you can relate to.

Millie: Having the capability to have unconditional love for women is something which we have actually experienced first-hand. And that’s the word, unconditional. Learning from other women is another one. I have learned life-long lessons from these six people”.

I am going to go back a bit further and an article from Official Charts. As they were part of the cast of Six the Musical, there is that familiarity and experience. Seamlessly translating to the music industry, songs like Free announce them as a girl group to watch closely. They are certainly going to be among the most fascinating and important groups of this year. If you have not heard their music already, then make sure that you check out the magnificent SVN:

“SVN, hello! We're huge fans of SIX The Musical and love the concept of this group. Whose idea was it to form a girl band?

Maiya: It's was Alexia!

Aimie: Years ago, when we opened the musical in Edinburgh, Alexia said 'we need to be a girl band, we need to do this for real.' We were like 'yeah, whatever Lexie!'

Maiya: She said it constantly, she'd keep pushing for it. Then, in lockdown, Aimee messaged us and we were all free for the first time ever. Aimee got us in a group chat together and asked how we'd feel about doing a show. We managed to put it together with a live, socially distanced audience and live streamed it.

Aimie: It was mad, it was the first time we'd done something together outside of SIX. It was so cool, and so overwhelming to know people wanted to see us as us, not just characters. We had the best time!

What do you stand for as a group?

Aimie: We're not writing songs about chasing after love, our songs are about loving yourself. The message is to love yourself; just be yourself.

Your latest track Free is the epitome of self-love, too...

Aimie: We wanted to write a song that said 'be whoever you want.' That's a message that's deep within us as a group. When we first got together, we didn't even know if we could write songs, but the process just worked.

Natalie: We've always said that we wanted to write empowering, uplifting songs that reached out to so many different communities. That's so important to us. The writing came organically and we really hope we can inspire everyone.

Grace: With Free, it's not just girl power. We absolutely love all of our followers from the LGBTQIA+ community, too. All of our non-binary and trans fans. We wanted to keep them in everything that we do. We're inspired by anybody living as their authentic self; there's nothing more beautiful than that. Being you is the best thing. Being you is enough.

Who are your absolute dream artists to collab with?

Grace: I was recently in the musical & Juliet, which is written by and based on the music of [Swedish pop producer] Max Martin. He's an absolute icon, and also the loveliest human in the world. Max, if you're reading this, we want to do a song with you! If we got to collaborate with him, that'd be so cool”.

A phenomenal force for good, SVN are going to build on their promise and success from last year. I feel they will be busy touring this year, and let’s hope an album is coming too. Alongside FLO, SVN are reviving and redefining girl groups. If you are looking around for a wonderful group who will be around for years and last long in the mind, then make sure that you let SVN…

INTO your life.  

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FEATURE: 2023: A Year for Change and Promise? When Will Gender Equality Occur at Award Ceremonies and Festivals?

FEATURE:

 

 

2023: A Year for Change and Promise?

 IN THIS PHOTO: Florence + The Machine’s Florence Welch/PHOTO CREDIT: Lillie Eiger

When Will Gender Equality Occur at Award Ceremonies and Festivals?

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THAT sounds like a pretty big question…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Jaz Karis/PHOTO CREDIT: narcography

and wonder what might not have an easy answer. I recently wrote about the BRIT Awards and how there was rightful uproar and bafflement considering at gender imbalance. Not only were the majority of nominees male but there was one category, Artist of the Year, where every nominee was male. It is bad enough that there was a single category that lumped Pop and R&B together and did not nominate any R&B acts, but this all-male approach to excellence provoked rage. Thinking about the R&B argument, and artists like Jaz Karis and Kara Marni – two excellent British artists who are superb R&B talents – voiced their disgust and dismay at the genre being patronised and frozen out. I think that both artists are sensational and could have been nominated. In terms of gender, a high-profile award ceremony like that should be setting a better example. I am not going to repeat too much of what I said last week, but there are few excuses in the modern age. I am going to come to a BBC article that explores why there were few female nominees in the running. In terms of quality and visibility, one does not need to strain their eyes and ears too much. I think that the past five or six years have been dominated by women. In terms of British talent, people highlighted how Adele, Florence + The Machine, Little Simz, Becky Hill, and Self Esteem could easily have been included in the Artist category. Having released important and brilliant music last year, why were they not considered?!

In terms of albums as well, there was more than enough choice so that it was not male-heavy. It would be easy to say that this is lazy sexism, but I fear that there is number-crunching and something icily corporate going into the tabulating. Artists that have had more streams, sold more albums or enjoyed bigger tours. Nothing against artists like George Ezra (who was one of the five men in the Artist of the Year. In terms of quality, I think that there are many female artists stronger. I think the fact sales and streams of Ezra’s music was so strong last year meant that this was the defining criteria. Maybe certain labels putting up their artists. In any case, one cannot say there is an absence of female talent. It seems so business-related and flawed. Whereas award ceremonies like the Mercury Prize seem more balanced, they are in the minority. There is still a huge issue across the board when it comes to recognising women. I want to bring in the BBC article by Ian Youngs. In it, the questions was asked as to why no women were nominated as the best artist. Excluding artists such as Rina Sawayama, Charli XCX, Florence + The Machine, and Mabel, it seems like the qualification guidelines are flawed and need an overhaul (“To be eligible, an artist must have achieved at least one top 40 album or two top 20 singles that were released between 10 December 2021 and 9 December 2022”). Maybe a lack of fresh music from big artists accounts for this absence, but I have mentioned several women who have released albums and/or singles.

Why are the BRITs dragging their feet and stuck in a dangerous rut? Is it as simple as sexism? I think that it is a little less simplistic than that, though it is cleat changes need to be made this year. The article did give some insights and explanations:

“Part of the reason for this year's showing is that fewer major female stars like Adele and Dua Lipa put out new music in the last 12 months.

In 2022, there was just one British female solo artist with a new album among the top 100 best-sellers - Florence and the Machine, at number 89. In comparison, there were seven men in the top 100.

And women are represented in other Brits categories - female duo Wet Leg have four nominations, the joint highest with Styles; while Taylor Swift, Beyonce and Lizzo outnumber the men on the best international artist shortlist.

The Brits spokesperson said: "While it's disappointing there are no nominations in the artist of the year category, we also have to recognise that 2022 saw fewer high profile women artists in cycle with major releases, as was the case in 2021.

"These trends based around the release schedule are a feature of the music industry, but if, over time, a pattern emerges, then this puts the onus on the industry to deal with this important issue."

They added that music industry body the BPI is "already carrying out a major study to identify barriers that may inhibit more women becoming successful in music, so that there can be solutions that result in meaningful change".

 IN THIS PHOTO: Dua Lipa/PHOTO CREDIT: Venetia Scott for Vanity Fair

It is an interesting read, and it follows loads of tweets over the past couple of days that have called for change. I am going to come to look at festivals and ask whether, at award ceremonies, there will be change and fresh commitment following the debacle and shame from the BRITs’ nominees. Mark Savage offered more explanation as to why no women were nominated for Best Artist:

“What the best artist shortlist reveals is a wider systemic issue. Only 20% of the artists signed to a major UK record label are female, so they're already at a disadvantage.

And, with a few notable exceptions, it still feels like labels don't know how to develop female acts once they reach a certain level. How did Mabel go from best female in 2020 to zero nominations in 2022? Her album was good, but badly promoted. No wonder she quit to work with Dua Lipa's former managers a month after it was released.

The sad fact is that voters have a very small pool of female artists to choose from, and in a year when big stars like Adele and Dua Lipa were busy on tour, they went for male acts instead. (The Brits don't regularly reveal the make-up of the voting academy but in 2017, they said 48% of the 1,200 members were women)”.

IN THIS PHOTO: Brix Smith

For years, Vick Bain has been campaigned for gender equality, diversity and inclusion. Her f-list is a comprehensive directory of U.K./U.K.-based female artists. It is in invaluable resource for festivals when it comes to booking artists. Every year it gets fuller and broader, so you do wonder why we are still having to ask why women are being overlooked. Bain, in the BBC article, raised an interesting point when it came to the Best Artist award at the BRITs. Far fewer women are signed to big labels compared to male artists:

“Music executive and researcher Vick Bain isn't sitting back. In 2019, she found that despite big-hitters like Adele and Dua, less than 20% of acts signed by labels overall are female.

In total, 34% of the artists nominated for this year's Brits are women, she has calculated - which is in line with the average over the last decade.

"So the good news story is that women are consistently overperforming," she says.

"Artist of the year is seen as the most prestigious [award] so it's a shame that there are no women in there, of course. And of course, I'd love to see 50% of nominees being women.

"But the reality of the music industry is, women are only one in five signed artists. That's the disgraceful thing."

There are numerous barriers that make it more difficult for female acts, she explains.

"It's the stereotypes from A&Rs and record labels. It's more problematic for women to go on tour in those early years in their career. Women at some point tend to have responsibility for looking after family, and that totally scuppers touring and the ability to focus on music”.

It does seem that the problem goes down to label level and the roots. Whether female artists want to remain independent or not, it does seem that, to be seen and recognised, you need to be signed to a bigger label. Questions need to be asked as to why labels are male-heavy and why women are not being signed. Artists like RAYE have spoken out against their struggles and horrible relationships with labels. Others feel like they need to be independent to make the music they want and market themselves in a way that is not overly-sexualised. In many cases, labels are not entering the discussion when it comes to gender inequality.

The excuses that have been put forward to explain gender inequality at festivals is always wafer-thin and laughable. Female artists being unavailable or not headline-ready. Others that do not have a big fanbase and would not be profitable. Some festivals are rigid when it comes to booking only bands or a certain genre. Apart from smaller festival, Glastonbury is one of the only major festivals in the country that has committed to a gender-equal line-up. It has been a struggle to get there, but they have shown it is possible. They have not compromised in terms of quality and, actually, they are helping to change the narrative. Why can other festivals not follow suit?! I feel the BRITs will need to make big changes for next year. They got rid of gendered categories but, in the process, they have alienated women! I don’t think the situation is great for most award bodies, but the BRITs is one of the biggest and most prestigious. Labels are not marketing their female artists properly, or they find it much harder to do so (for some/no logical reason). I think female artists are broader and more diverse, whereas I tend to find music from male artists more generic and predictable. That may sound like a massive generalisation, but there is some truth in it. Because of this, there are tonnes of talented women worthy or festivals slots and award nominations, but labels are mishandling them, meaning there is a smaller selection to choose from.

Also, if it were not bad enough to compete with metrics and labels’ expectations, women are also subjected to higher standards when it comes to how they look. Still, so many are being marketed in terms of their sexuality, rather than their music and what they have to say. So many women in the industry have been the victim of assault or harassment and that can have a devastating impact. Many are leaving the industry and, for new artists coming through, it is a landmine! Having to navigate so many hurdles. Whilst many (including label bosses) say decision around award nominees and festival acts is based on merit and popularity rather than anything political or sexist, very few are buying that. This is a ridiculous and insulting! I know it is a complicated situation, and it does rely a lot on label signings, visibility, marketing and so many other factors. At the end of the day, these are not problems caused by female artists – they are the unfortunate victims of this. It is clear that, after so many years of fighting and the same sexism and issues arising, affirmative and decisive action needs to be taken. The BRITs fiasco is, sadly, just the start of inequalities we will see this year. I think the summer’s festival line-ups will be a familiar and depression male-heavy affair. So many incredible women are either being side-lined or leaving the industry because it is impossible to get recognised. They have, as I have said, been responsible for the best music of the past few years. They are worthy of so much more than they have been given. This year, the music industry needs to commit to proclamations and promises. They really do need to…

PUT women first.  

FEATURE: The Digital Mixtape: To the BRIT Awards: Incredible U.K. R&B Talent

FEATURE:

 

 

The Digital Mixtape

IN THIS PHOTO: Jaz Karis/PHOTO CREDIT: narcography 

 

To the BRIT Awards: Incredible U.K. R&B Talent

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FOR the wrong reasons…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Shaé Universe

this year’s BRIT Awards have been making conversation. I am going to publish a feature tomorrow that highlights gender inequality that pervades and rages through every sinew of the music industry. More specifically, after the BRITs deemed there were no women worthy of making the Best Artist category this year (all five shortlisted were men!), I ask whether this is plain sexism or whether the labels are to blame for this incredible and insulting oversight. Of course, there is sexism at heart, but I think that there is a systemic reluctance to change. An inability to market female artists adequately. This is resulting in year-in-year-out omissions across award ceremonies and festivals. Not only did the BRITs drop the ball massively when it came to gender equality and fair representation. They also confusingly combined Pop and R&B into a single category. Pop alone is strong enough that it needs to stand alone! Even if it had only five names shortlisted, you’d be overlooking so many great artists. It suggests that R&B is an afterthought that can be tact on to another genre. Because of that, unsurprisingly, the BRITs forgot to do one really important thing in regards that category: they didn’t actually nominate any R&B artists. Of the five names that appear in that category - Cat Burns, Charli XCX,  Dua Lipa, Harry Styles, and Sam Smith – I guess Cat Burns has R&B elements in her work. The other four names are most assuredly Pop acts! It is a middle finger to R&B and the amazing British artists in it!

Because of that, I wanted to react to a lot of anger and dismay that has bubbled on Twitter the last couple of day. I have been especially been moved by the tweets of Jaz Karis and Kara Marni. Two incredible British R&B artists, they have been overlooked! From mainstream artists like RAYE and Jorja Smith to incredible rising artists like Karis and Marni, there was ample choice and variation to choose from. We are glad that, in  terms of gender, the Pop/R&B category is favouring women. It is no good having a category including R&B when you are not featuring R&B artists! I wanted to redress that by featuring some incredible British R&B artists. They have all either released material in 2022 or 2021. I think they would all be eligible for inclusion alongside the great Sam Smith and Charli XCX. I feel that there are so many incredible British R&B artists that are not being heard or have an award ceremony that recognises their contributions to music. It is a crying shame! These are incredible artists releasing music in possibly the greatest music genre of them all. Such phenomenal talent needs to be represented, and not squashed alongside Pop and then ignored. Apologises if I have missed any notable British R&B artists. Also if I have classed an artist as ‘R&B’ and they see themselves as Pop or genre-fluid. I am going by my judgement, other music websites and, in a lot of  cases, Spotify playlists! In any case, I think these artists below prove that British R&B is in rude health and deserves some proper respect. Let’s hope that the BRIT Awards rectifies its errors this year and, in 2024, gives the glorious R&B genre…

A fair shout!

FEATURE: Spotlight: Alewya

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

 

Alewya

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I want to bring in…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Hendrik Schneider

a few interviews relating to the magnificent Alewya. Here is a stunning artist who was tipped for greatness last year, and she has definitely. In terms of artists to keep a close eye on this year, Alewya needs to be in your mind. Her 2021 E.P., Panther in Mode, was one of the best of that year. I predict we will see another E.P. from Alewya very soon. Her most recent single, Let Go, ranks alongside her best work. I think that 2023 is a year where Alewya will go worldwide and get her music right across America. The first interview I want to bring in is from The Line of Best Fit. At the end of 2021, they marked her as an artist on the rise. With some high-profile collaborations under her belt to that point (including with Little Simz), there was a lot of interest around her:

“Alewya, aka Alewya Demmisse, is a born and bred Londoner. Her creative work embodies her African heritage to the full - from the tribal motifs which feature in her music videos to the percussive vocal music she references in her arrangements. But it was in the rave scene where Alewya first connected with music on a deeply spiritual level.

“Pre-18, I was a raver,” says Alewya. “I would go to clubs and stuff, I loved dancing. However, I lost my love for it as I got older. I’m 27 now, but I think when phones became a thing, something changed.”

Gen Z would be hard pushed to remember a gig without a phone clenched in a spectator’s hand - every second captured, but not always felt. Alewya feels the distance between artist and performer created by phones has gone on to directly affect her musical output. “I don’t think people tune in as much as they used to, which is probably why I make my own energetic dance music,” she ponders. “I really want to reignite that feeling of being present in a club and dancing till 7am. Non-stop, barely going out for a cigarette break, just tuned in. I want to leave [the UK] and go to Portugal, Brazil or Ghana because I know people there really go for it with music and really dance.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Hendrik Schneider 

She may not have left for the music of a foreign country just yet, but four pivotal years of Alewya’s life were spent in New York whilst working as a model. Spotted by Cara Delevingne at Notting Hill Carnival, Alewya tells us that she encountered “a lot of good things and a lot of really shit things” while in the US, but that these have all added to her depth of characteral. “In modelling, there’s so many characters you have to be for different casting directors, brands and people,” Alewya explains. “It’s just exhausting. I didn’t have the greatest time or the greatest modelling career, [but it] worked in my favour. Who I am now and what I do, everything aligns and feels right. I just bring Alewya… so, I guess that’s a good thing that came out of that soul destroying four years.”

Alewya began learning guitar in her early twenties. However, her creativity stems from inherently visual realms. She tells me that her music wouldn’t exist the way it does without her making physical drawings and paintings as part of the creative process. “My paintings and my drawings are the root of everything for me,” Alewya explains. “It’s important for me to marry the sound to what I see visually in my head. That’s how I know a song is going to get finished.” Without live performances during lockdown, music videos have provided the canvas for Alewya to express her visual ideas. Single “Jagna” which was directed by the artist and Tom Ringsby, shows her running through eerie darkness out into the desolate expanse of a desert. Newsest release "Play” provides the perfect counterpoint with its sensual low-lit visuals and a club inspired aura.

Alewya’s art has also helped anchor her work with other creatives. Her collaboration with Moses Boyd on “The Code” earlier this year opened up possibilities for her to communicate in a “different language.” She explains: “I’ve always had this idea of wanting to collaborate with an instrumentalist. I play instruments too, but it’s just a different language compared to working with an outright artist… you know when something’s working or if it’s not, you can’t lie to each other. Moses was the person that came to mind because he’s just so talented. I wanted to create live in this space that we were in. I’d paint the paintings for the background, get the lighting right and marry the visuals together with the music to [showcase] the world that I exist in. I started playing the guitar riff, Moses jumped in on the drums and I’m kidding you not, I just started singing the melody. It all happened within the space of half an hour. If you can make music that seamlessly with someone, you’re on the right path.”

Alewya’s releases to date have shown diverse sides to her personality: sensuality, rawness and infectious energy. But given that her biggest single, the sultry, club-fuelled “Sweeting”, landed during lockdown, she says her visibility has been slow to build. “My success has existed on the internet. Now I can see the reality of how things are really catching on. My sound is evolving. [I feel like] the public are going to be quite late in understanding and receiving my music. I’m just on a different planet”.

CLASH honoured Alewya in March last year. If she put out more solo material in 2021 than last year, I think 2023 is going to be a time when she is at her most productive and ambitious. It is clear right now that she is one of our very best artists. Her 2021 debut E.P. definitely announced her as a major talent who was going to have a long career:

“So when her debut EP ‘Panther In Mode’ arrived towards the end of last year, there was no question of its potential to position Alewya as one of the UK’s most intriguing new talents – a huge achievement for any artist, let alone one that only became known to most a year earlier. The EP’s first two singles, ‘Spirit_X’ and ‘Play’, were less about hinting at what to expect from ‘Panther In Mode’ and more to do with Alewya’s statement of intent as an artist, and of her desire to emphasise her independent spirit.

“Every choice that has been made in terms of what songs come out has really been quite instinctive,” she explains. “I wanted to establish my freedom as an artist before anyone thinks that they can expect anything from me. As artists, we deserve to have our freedom to explore and do whatever the fuck we want.”

Alewya’s music overflows with the sounds of her upbringing and many disparate influences. On the one hand, you can hear Arabic and Ethiopian motifs and melodies and on the other, the gritty sounds of the west London underground; her commanding vocals and lyrics always remaining front and centre. This is perhaps most evident on ‘Ethiopia’, the track chosen for her recent COLORS debut.

“The song is so special, because number one, it was produced by Shy FX [who is also Alewya’s manager] and also because my mum helped me write the Amharic bits. I know my roots and they're here to be honoured. If I'm going to claim any country, it's going to be my mother's land. It's going to be the land that I come from and the land that all this creative blood comes from.”

This amalgamation of influences comes pretty naturally to Alewya, but as a multimedia artist, so too does the idea of taking listeners on a creative journey, from start to finish. As she explains, aesthetics and visuals are a significant part of her overall artistry. – “I think as humans, we are so sensory. There's a picture being painted that I really want to get across and I don't want to just make it 2D; I want to make it 3D. By doing this, I can understand more of who I am and the process becomes the best bit for me”.

One of the big honours of Alewya’s 2022 was being handpicked by Grace Jones for the Meltdown Festival. Alewya and Jones share D.N.A. for sure. Artists with singular and extraordinary artistic visions, Alewya said in this interview with NME how she respects the huge impact Jones has. That uniqueness is something Alewya aspires to. We will get more interviews with her this year, but this is an interesting one from May that I wanted to highlight. Getting that nod and salute from Grace Jones confirms the fact Alewya is an artist on her way up to icon status:

“This level of hard-won self-confidence comes after four or five years making music “super privately” as a hobby and never indenting to make a career out of it. “Exploring music and production and learning instruments helped me find something that I could put so much love and attention into, which is something I never had before,” Alewya says. Doing it all by herself and for herself, she says, “laid the foundations”.

Alewya’s breakthrough was propelled forward in 2018, when Little Simz showed up at one of her early intimate gigs. “She was super early and came through a friend,” Alewya recalls. The pair started chatting afterwards and formed an instant connection: “She’s a human, and it’s easy to talk if you’re human as well.” From then, their friendship was born and they would spend time at each other’s house, which led to the creation of their 2020 collaboration ‘where’s my lighter’, which appeared on Simz’s lockdown EP, ‘Drop 6’.

Joining Simz on her UK tour a year later was a huge deal for Alewya. “For me, that was the crème de la crème of tours to go on, in terms of me being a new artist in the industry and seeing the levels.” Looking back, she describes it as “a beautiful education that I’m really grateful for. Simz is truly amazing and does give me tips. She’s got years of experience under her belt, so it’s beautiful to have that.”

Much like Simz, representing her heritage in her artistry is something that is “innate” within Alewya. She was born in Saudi Arabia and raised in Sudan by Ethiopian and Egyptian parents, before moving to London and Alewya’s sound is heavily influenced by her African and Arab roots. “I know what I resonate with, and I know what I’m made of,” she says, “and that’s naturally going to find its way out of me into whatever I touch”. Although she sees it as more of a subconscious thing, she says “in terms of how I choose to express myself, my head is there anyway”. That’s not to say there haven’t been bumps along the way, though: “sometimes I get insecure, but these are all things that add to the colours to paint the art with anyways”.

Alewya has a similar ethos when it comes to performing live, describing her shows as like a journey and “a time for me to free up and tap into my rawest emotions and dance. I give my 110% at every gig,” she says, adding that she actually thrives off “challenging audiences”. Rather than letting it demotivate her, it has the opposite effect. “It’s like exercise for me. I lose more inhibitions, because where is there to go? Not that she’s worried about that when it comes to Meltdown; “I have a feeling the crowd isn’t going to be like that. Judging by the line-up and Grace, it’s going to attract some really open people and I’m looking forward to that”.

Another huge artists primed for success and acclaim this year, there are so many people watching with excitement to see what Alewya delivers next. The London-based artist is a sensation whose solo material and collaborations are all wonderful. Go and follow Alewya and check out her music, as I think that 2023 is…

GOING to be her year.

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Follow Alewya