FEATURE: The Show, The Promise: The Touring Reformation of Girls Aloud, and a Growing and Glowing Nostalgia Trend

FEATURE:

 

 

The Show, The Promise

PHOTO CREDIT: Fascination Management

 

The Touring Reformation of Girls Aloud, and a Growing and Glowing Nostalgia Trend

_________

A huge announcement was made…

this week. There has been much speculation as to whether Girls Aloud would be reforming to tour or record a new song/album. Teaser posts had been put out in the days leading up to the announcement. It has been confirmed that the group are touring next year. Honouring their late member Sarah Harding, they are back on the road and will be taking their incredible back catalogue around the nation. It is going to be a massive event. Another legendary group who are back on the road and unexpectedly reformed and entering this new phase. I am not sure whether there will be new music or this tour will lead to a continued work and live performance. A lot of people have reacted to the news. I think that it is great that a lot of groups and artists who many thought might not record or tour are now back on the road. Plenty of legends still going strong. It is a chance for young fans to see the quartet on stage. Hear those iconic songs brought to life. I am going to write more about nostalgia and how, especially now, many are embracing groups turning back time – but also looking forward and reaching new corners. Rolling Stone were among those who revealed great news for fans of Girls Aloud:

“The band – Cheryl, Nadine Coyle, Kimberly Walsh and Roberts – will now join forces for an arena tour next year that celebrates their chart-topping music. The group will also pay tribute to former bandmate Sarah Harding, who passed away from breast cancer in 2021.

Cheryl said of the reunion: “We all started talking about the possibility of doing something to celebrate Girls Aloud’s 20-year anniversary a few years ago. The anniversary seemed like an obvious thing that we would celebrate. But when Sarah fell ill all priorities changed. She passed away a year before the anniversary and it just didn’t feel right, it felt too soon. But now, I think there is an energy that does makes it feel right. It’s the right time to celebrate Sarah, it’s the right time to celebrate the band and the right time to celebrate the fact we can still do this 21 years later. That’s a big honour in lots of ways.”

Tickets will go on pre-sale on Wednesday November 29 at 9am, with a general sale taking place from Friday December 1 at 9am. The tour will take place across May and June 2024.

Coyle added: “Girls Aloud are a band that made such a huge impact on people’s lives. We grew up with the band, but so did so many other people. So for us not to do something again feels like such a shame and a waste. We want to have that moment with fans where we can all enjoy it together.”

However, the group also denied reports that new music was on the way, stating that the tour will be a one-off affair. Still, fans believe a Glastonbury performance could be on the cards after noticing a gap in their diary at the end of June next year.

‘The Girls Aloud Show’ arena tour dates:

MAY
18 – Dublin 3Arena
20 – Belfast SSE Arena
23 – Manchester AO Arena
24 – Manchester AO Arena
27 – Cardiff Utilita Arena
31 – Newcastle Utilita Arena

JUNE
1 – Newcastle Utilita Arena
4 – Aberdeen P&J Live
8 – Glasgow OVO Hydro
12 – Nottingham Motorpoint Arena
15 – Leeds First Direct Arena
18 – Birmingham Resorts World Arena
22 – London The O2
23 – London The O2
29 – Liverpool M&S Bank Arena”.

Girls Aloud are back on the campaign trail. They dropped into see Zoe Ball on BBC Radio 2 yesterday (22nd). They are going to be doing a lot of interviews before their first date. I wonder whether they will record new music. It is amazing to think that their fifth and final album, Out of Control, is fifteen this month. A group maybe cut a bit short, if they did record new music, it would perhaps have a slightly different vibe. I also wonder, as Sarah Harding died, whether they feel it is right to continue without her. Other groups have toured without an original member before – including Spice Girls and Take That -, though this is something different. It would be good to hear new Girls Aloud material. The tour will definitely show that they have a huge and loyal fanbase. A decade after they disbanded, there is this new flame and objective. Vogue spoke with the group given the announcement of new dates. It is an emotional and exciting time for them:

“The official line is that Girls Aloud disbanded in 2013 so that its members could pursue solo projects. But rumours that interpersonal jealousies had led to a breakdown in communication remain a source of tabloid speculation. “At this age,” Cheryl says, “you gain perspective and you stop caring about all the stupid stuff that would drive you crazy in your twenties. I’ve never felt more comfortable in my skin.” It’s a hard-won resilience born from Girls Aloud’s unique engineering: voted into superstardom by 213,000 Brits when they were still teenagers. Nicola was just 16. It means the past decade – and all their extreme highs and earth-shattering lows – have been meticulously documented for public consumption. In 2021, the band tragically lost Sarah Harding – the sweet and spontaneous rockstar of the group – to breast cancer aged just 39. The rest of Girls Aloud found themselves reunited not as colleagues, but sisters.

A self-described “loon” – who once grabbed the mic at the 2009 Brit Awards and unleashed a blistering, “It’s about time!” when Girls Aloud won Best British Single – the absence of Sarah’s wit and candour does not go unnoticed. “It’s hard to talk about it,” says Nicola. “It’s hard for us to be here without her. It was our 20th anniversary last year but we were in no emotional shape to even contemplate celebrating it at the time. Everything went out the window when we learnt about her diagnosis. We just needed to be there for her and support her as much as we could.” In her final months, Cheryl would invite Sarah to stay at her Surrey home. “She turned to me once and said, ‘You know when I’m not here, you girls should do something.’ But when you’re face to face with someone that’s dying… We just thought some miracle was going to occur. We all thought we might be able to do something together,” she explains.

“It’s not easy,” Nicola says, her voice beginning to tremble. “Sarah’s always going to be such a massive part of Girls Aloud,” Kimberley continues, in a reassuring tone. “I think we channelled our grief into all the fundraising we did for The Sarah Harding Breast Cancer Appeal and that helped us a lot. And as tough as it will be, we want to give Sarah her moment on this tour. We need it. The fans need it. She needs it.” The group will not be recording any new music. “We couldn’t,” Cheryl says, “because Sarah wouldn’t be included in that newness. This is about celebrating the 20 years we’ve all had. So the tour has got to be inclusive of Sarah because she’s such a massive part of our make-up. It will never feel like the old Girls Aloud again but we’ve reached a point where we feel ready to celebrate all of it. Sarah included.”

It helps, then, that Girls Aloud’s Xenomania-crafted hits feel just as current now as they did in the 2000s. “It’s because our songs never fit into a trend,” Nicola says. “It wasn’t like ’90s pop. We’ve always had our own vibe and sound so it aged well.” Their best songs – “Sound Of The Underground” and “Call The Shots” and “Untouchable” (to name just a small selection of what Cheryl refers to as their “modern art” masterpieces) – are a full-scale collision of genres sutured together with head-thrashing choruses. T

This might spare Girls Aloud from enduring the same fate as other reunions: ie, a “Love Of Huns” cheese-fest. Which is something Cheryl – who once sniffed at the idea of a reunion in a now-viral TikTok – knows all too well. “I called her out on this the other day!” Kimberley says. “Because she was speaking about us being 30 and I’ve just turned 42!” Cheryl interrupts: “You have to imagine that I was 21 years old at the time and 30 felt so old and cringe. I was singing ‘Love Machine’ every day and I was probably sick to death of it.”

I wonder what a 21-year-old Cheryl might think about her 40-year-old self’s latest acquisition: “I’ve recently converted and accepted – shut up – Crocs. Someone brought us them and I thought, ‘Lord’, and then I put them on and they’re like walking on air. I wouldn’t wear them outside yet, mind.” It’s a sea-change from the “spingle spangle sparkle” of Girls Aloud’s Y2K wardrobe, which countless pop stars seem to be paying homage to in 2023. See: Dua Lipa’s red hair (which is surely a throwback to Cheryl’s “And no ammonia!” L'Oréal adverts) and PinkPantheress’s personal mood board, which features a screenshot of Girls Aloud at the 2005 Capital FM Awards in strappy camis and flared jeans. “I know exactly the photo you’re on about! The brown skirt and the big chunky belt?” Nicola chimes in: “Oh my god, did I have a big gypsy skirt on? I think we must have dressed ourselves that day.”

To set another rumour to rest: will Girls Aloud be headlining this year’s Glastonbury line-up? “We’ve spoken about this but the thing is, we’d have to take our stage and so the logistics would be hard,” Nadine says. “But we are touring at the same time so maybe we could get a jet in.” The band’s publicist offers a more realistic response: “Um, they’ve not actually asked yet, girls, and you’re already talking about the logistics of how it would work?” Nicola ignores this. “We’ll obviously come up with some spectacular opening,” she says. “But all my ideas cost billions of pounds, which is the problem.” At this point – and much to my chagrin when listening back to the recording of this interview – I start brainstorming potential entrances. Perhaps the girls should ride onto the stage on a fleet of custom motorcycles? Perhaps their bodies should be oil-slicked and their hair wet and wild and windswept? “Listen, I wasn’t asking for creative direction,” Cheryl replies. “But I guess it’s subjective.”

And so I politely inform Cheryl that I want to see a Renaissance-sized spectacle taking place on this tour. “So do I! So do f***ing I,” she says. “And all the costume changes, too. It just has to be fabulous and twinkly! And if the Mighty Hoopla crowd wanna join? Come in. We need all of them,” she adds. “You know, I think it’s a beautiful thing to do at this age. To be able to do what we love the most – in this frame of mind – is going to make it such a better experience.” Of course, Cheryl, Kimberley and Nadine have all become mums in the past ten years. Will that involve a hard launch of their children on stage, Spice Girls-style? “The problem is that I want Bear to have a normal childhood,” says Cheryl of her own little boy. “I don’t want people recognising him on the street. But he’s twigged that I’m famous. The other day he said, ‘How lucky am I to have famous parents?’ I said, ‘It doesn’t matter.’ He goes: ‘Yeah. But it’s pretty cool.’”

“It is, though,” Nadine says. “Cheryl, you thought your life would be over at 30, but look at us still being able to do the same things we did at 17. That’s going to be so inspiring to so many people!” Nicola – who was often the target of the tabloid’s malign and misogynistic rule during the ’00s – agrees. “Women are so scared of getting ‘old’ because of ageism. It’s a massive, massive thing. So it’ll be freeing to go out there and not have to adhere to those pressures.” “For the first time I feel excitement without pressure,” says Cheryl. “Like, If 20 years later you still haven’t figured us out? That’s fine! Don’t come. We’ll close the doors. Because we just wanna entertain. It’s not like we’re saving lives here.” To which Nicola replies: “Actually some people have said we did save their lives.” “Well,” Cheryl concludes. “What I mean is, it’s just gonna be a massive party, because we all wanna have fun.”

And in the words of the late, great Sarah Harding: it’s about time”.

That thing that was said about women feeling pressure because of their age. Ageism still rife in the music industry. It is, instead, going to be a celebration and hugely important return from Girls Aloud. Honouring Sarah Harding and keeping her spirit alive, there is some nostalgia in the mix. Giving fans those older hits in a new setting. It is not a shock that there is nostalgia in the air. Many new artists are looking to the past. This year has been one where there are quite as few legacy acts getting back together. S Club sadly lost Paul Cattermole earlier this year. Blur are still going and seem to have gained this new connection and brotherhood. Their new album, this year’s The Ballad of Darren, is among their very best. Pulp are back on the road. Suede are touring with the Manic Street Preachers soon. Sugababes are also reformed and touring. I am going to come back to Girls Aloud and a reunion and step back to the past that has a different a relevance and promise. Something that is not the case with many other groups reforming and touring again. There is reformation and nostalgia this year. VICE asked why there is this growing trend of groups coming together once more:

“Nostalgia: It’s a hell of a drug, and the 2023 gig calendar is packed with reunion tours that show it’s more potent than ever. This summer will see Blur, Pulp, The Walkmen, Le Tigre and, er, Busted among others play huge shows and headline festivals. In 2022, we saw shows by the likes of Rage Against the Machine, Genesis, Blink 182, Pavement, Mötley Crüe and ABBA (well, kind of). Now the big Gallagher PR machine is cranking out Oasis reunion rumours, too. It’s been happening for a while, but it certainly feels like every single band from the 90s and 00s is doing it right now.

Is that true? Or is our view distorted simply because these comeback stories generate headlines from journalists wanting to relive their youth? I spoke to people across the industry – bands, PRs, festivals and venues – to see why we’re seeing these spate of reunions, how they come about and how the reunion has evolved beyond the idea of mere nostalgia.

The reunion gig was once the most derided of shows. We expected bands to split up amid a maelstrom of drugs, fame, relationships and the ever-cited “creative differences” and then stay split up. It means there’s always been cynicism around them: one last pay packet for waning “heritage” acts who were past it, an open and frank admission that they were all out of ideas. This industrialised nostalgia was the antithesis of what the best music was always about: the thrill of the new.

But now, in the words of one of those bands playing this summer, something changed. If the past few years have proven anything, it's that break-ups are rarely permanent. The truth is music is a fleeting and momentary thing: Bands break up, sometimes with dignity, sometimes in disgrace, then they get back together. That’s what happens.

“For a lot of bands when they've been together for years and years, they just get to a point where they can't stand being in the same room as each other, or they just feel like they've reached the end of the road,” says Duncan Jordan, widely recognised as one of the UK's leading independent music PRs and now working on The Walkmen’s comeback tour.  They need a break basically – and for a lot of bands splitting up provides that break.”

The lifecycle of a band is different now. People accept that this is what happens: Why put a full stop on something, when a semi-colon will do? Just look at Blur: They didn’t even really split again after they played Hyde Park in 2015. It makes sense that bands play the "indefinite hiatus" card – an indeterminate period of time away before they get back together to great fanfare.

All this means comeback shows are a core part of the music scene and a band’s narrative. As Jordan puts it: “I think there’s perhaps a certain cynicism among some people, but for most people now, it's just like, yeah, bands get back together, that’s what happens.”

So are the likes of Blur and Pulp adding to their legends or tarnishing their legacy? “There has never been a society in human history so obsessed with the cultural artefacts of its own immediate past,” wrote Simon Reynolds in his book Retromania. For Taffe, nostalgia is a dangerous game, a sign of treading water – “a bit like my parents’ generation, where they are like ‘oh it’s not like the 60s or 70s anymore’,” he says. “For me, the musical landscape will always be about discovery. I feel that way with End of The Road’s audience too, if I lose that passion then what’s the point?”

Of course, no one wants to live in the past. And these comebacks can end terribly badly – even in a brawl, if you’re The View. But when I was at Blur’s warm-up show in Newcastle in May, it was one of the best times I’ve ever seen the band play. It felt vital and joyous: a performance that crackled with warmth and energy and, in the small, sweaty room, the band’s friendship felt palpable. New songs rubbed shoulders with songs from Parklife. The crowd was a mix of fans who were there in the 90s and teenagers dancing and singing along to every word. It showed that reunions can both nod back to the past and look to the future. As Damon sings on “To The End”, it looks like we might have made it".

The Charlatans are another band who are touring again. With many asking whether Spice Girls will go on the road again, I think one of the most extraordinary pieces of news is Girls Aloud announcing a new tour. Rather it simply being a chance to revel in nostalgia and mark twenty years since their debut album, Sound of the Underground, was released, it is almost a dying wish from Sarah Harding. Her wanting the group to get together and carry on. I am not sure how many groups could ever say this. It is almost a promise being fulfilled. Honouring their friend. Harding was a crucial part of Girls Aloud - and so her absence will be noticeable and heartbreaking. Even so, Nadine Coyle, Nicola Roberts, Kimberley Walsh and Cheryl Cole will hold her with them and, no doubt, do her proud. Who knows what next year will offer in terms of musical treats and surprises. At such a miserable and frightening time for us all, it is a great comfort that groups we thought may not come back to us are emerging into a new phase and we get to hear the hits once more. If their last album, Out of Control, might have pointed to a future break or end of their run, it seems that they are now very much…

BACK in control.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Lifesize Teddy

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

 

Lifesize Teddy

_________

AN essential and must-hear artist…

that should be in everyone’s sights, one of Afrobeat’s most fascinating and promising young artists, Lifesize Teddy, has just released her eponymous E.P. Not only does Nigerian Banigo Apiafi Treasure have the best artist moniker out there, she is also this instantly confident and rounded talent who will step closer and closer to the mainstream. I think that Afrobeats music is still not quite integrated and assimilated into the spotlight. Rather than this being niche music or reserved for certain tastes, artists such as Lifesize Teddy are hugely impressive and important. I am going to get to some interviews with her. First, here is some background regarding the stunning Lifesize Teddy:

“Born Banigo Apiafi Treasure on a memorable July 15th in Port-Harcourt, Nigeria, Lifesize Teddy’s early years were graced by the serene beauty of Bonny Island’s surroundings. A confluence of diverse cultures shaped her worldview, as she found herself immersed in the ebb and flow of local and foreign influences. This rich tapestry of experiences, combined with the bustling city life of Port-Harcourt, has moulded Lifesize Teddy into a curated blend of influences, making her an artist of unmatched depth and authenticity.

From the tender age of 12, Lifesize Teddy’s artistic journey began to take form. Immersed in the eclectic melodies emanating from her mother’s cherished cassette players, she was exposed to a spectrum of musical genres, each resonating with her mom’s ever-changing moods. Icons like Lucky Dube, Tupac, and Shania Twain set the stage for her artistic evolution, sowing the seeds of a remarkable future.

Lifesize Teddy’s artistic roots delve deep into the annals of literature, thanks to her mother’s fervent love for it. The echoes of Brenda Farsi’s soulful tunes, the defining soundscapes of Asa, and the vivacity of Rex Lawson’s highlife rhythms became the soundtrack to her emotional journey. Starting as a poet, she harnessed the power of her pen to document her innermost feelings, paving the way for her eventual foray into music.

While pursuing a degree in chemical engineering at the University of Maritime Port-harcourt, Lifesize Teddy’s destiny took an undeniable turn. The allure of rap, ignited by Kanye West’s “College Dropout,” led her to embrace the mic at a mere 12 years old. Joining the vibrant community of rappers within her university, she honed her skills, refining her artistry amidst the camaraderie of fellow creatives.

In an industry yearning for innovation, Lifesize Teddy’s emergence is a prophecy fulfilled. Combining the essence of contemporary rap and Afro-fusion, she fearlessly channels her emotions onto paper, crafting verses that resonate with audiences on a profound level. Her talent and skill coalesce seamlessly, birthing a budding star destined to etch her indelible mark on the global music stage.

Her debut EP, aptly titled ‘Lifesize Teddy,’ stands as a testament to her versatility and artistic prowess. The opening track, ‘Air,’ paints a breezy portrait of her rap finesse, setting the tone for an exploration of various genres. From the hypnotic energy of ‘Hypnotic’ to the relatable charm of ‘Butterflies,’ her sonic journey is an exhilarating ride through the tapestry of human emotion”.

I think it is hard to put Lifesize Teddy into boxes or describe her music in relation to a particular genre. She is a gamechanger that is constantly moving and cannot be pinned down! I am keen to get to some personal insight. Medium discussed the current impact of Lifesize Teddy’s impact on African music and beyond; what her future prospects are:

“Her impact on the African music scene

Lifesize Teddy is a unique and exciting new artist. She's not afraid to experiment, and her music is a reflection of her eclectic personality and wide range of influences. Her debut EP is a must-listen for fans of African music, hip-hop, pop, and everything in between.

Teddy is also a role model for young women everywhere. She is a strong and independent woman who is not afraid to speak her mind. She is also a talented artist who is passionate about her music.

Lifesize Teddy is a rising star in the African music scene. She is definitely one to watch in the coming years.

Her social media presence

Teddy has a large following on social media, where she uses her platform to connect with her fans and to speak out about social and political issues. She is a vocal advocate for women's rights and social justice.

Teddy's social media presence is also a reflection of her unique personality. She is not afraid to be herself and to share her thoughts and feelings with her fans. She is also a great supporter of other artists and is always willing to lend a helping hand.

Her future prospects

Lifesize Teddy has a bright future ahead of her. She is a talented artist with a unique sound and a strong work ethic. She is also backed by one of the biggest record labels in Africa.

Teddy is already making a name for herself in the African music scene. She is performing at major festivals and events across the continent and is building a loyal fan base.

In the coming years, Teddy is poised to become one of the biggest names in African music. She is a rising star with a bright future ahead of her”.

There are a couple of interviews I want to come to before wrapping things up. Not Just Tok spoke with Lifesize Teddy earlier this year. It is clear that she is an artist who wants to inspire an entire generation with her music. You can definitely see that happening. One of the most instantly remarkable artists coming through:

“Can you tell us about your musical background and what inspired you to kick off your music career?

My mom, and my whole family have always had music playing in the background. I can’t remember a time when music wasn’t playing in my head or around me. It has always been the way that I thrive. It has always been my coping mechanism. I started writing my own music when I was only nine years old. I started doing text battles as well on Facebook around that age and I used to beat grown people. Like grown rappers because no one knew it was a kid behind the keypad spitting bars. I just knew that I could do this so easily and thankfully it's been so easy.

How would you describe your music style and what do you think sets you apart from peers?

For me, my music is a breath of fresh air. That in itself is what sets me apart. I have my own unique blend of afro and rap, my own fusion. It's new, exciting, and fresh. Nobody has been here before. I’m really happy for people because they’re going to be listening to this!

Can you share some insights into your songwriting process? Where do you draw your inspiration from?

I just go to the studio really. I lock in with my producer and I get to making music. I don’t really know what I’m going to work on before I get there. I’m a little bit of a daydreamer and I draw inspiration from my surroundings, and the energies around me so I draw the energy from my surroundings and I just create.

How do you balance your personal life with your music career? What are some strategies you use to stay grounded and motivated?

I have a very strong sense of family I have a team that keeps me together. It takes a village really and my village is wonderful.

What are your goals and aspirations for the future? Where do you see yourself in the coming years as a musician?

As the best thing to ever happen!  I want to inspire a whole generation of women, girls and people in general and I want us to have fun together”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Akanni

NME are among those who have spent time with the remarkable Lifesize Teddy. I would advise you to read the entire interview. It is so compelling hearing what she had to say. Learning about her background and what she hopes to accomplish moving forward. This is someone who, with the Lifestyle Teddy E.P. out into the world, has made a huge statement early on:

“You hail from Port-Harcourt, in Rivers State, Nigeria. How would you describe the city and your experiences growing up there?

“It’s a small city, and it feels like home to me. Lagos is fast, Port-Harcourt is slow and calm. It’s very hip-hop-centric, it’s very rappety-rap, it’s really just calm and breezy and cool. People say that Port-Harcourt is the only metropolitan city in Nigeria… there are so many cultures and languages, and one thing that brought myself and all my friends together was music, and rap, artists like Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole.”

When you were younger, you used to do rap battles over text. How did those work?

“I used to be a really smart kid that never cared about lectures, so I used to always find other things to preoccupy my mind. I stumbled across text battling on Facebook in 2012, 2013, and signed up. I was just going back and forth with strangers on the internet, adults, and I had no idea who they were, but I was just dissing them. That’s really how I started to rap, they didn’t even know it was a kid behind the phone.

“I grew out of that phase pretty quickly because I realised I didn’t enjoy battling. It has helped me now to create my music and be fast with it, but going back and forth with other people wasn’t enjoyable. I like telling my story through music, I don’t want to tell somebody else’s story, or tell that person about themselves. So making music about my story and my growth and connecting with people like me makes more sense and more impact.”

On ‘Air’, you sing “I’ve got many women underneath this skin”; how does that multi-faceted nature play out in your everyday life?

“I’m still exploring those women. There’s a lot of them inside of me. There’s the girl that loves to rap, the girl that loves to sing, the girl that just wants to fly, there’s another girl that likes coffee and runs, and I want to give all of them life. I have alter-egos as well. Poison Baby is the alter-ego that is shining through right now, having her moment. She’s the girl that has been fierce and defiant through everything, because sometimes I get tired, but Poison says ‘No, let’s go.’ You know how Beyonce had Sasha Fierce? Yeah, she’s that girl.”

How long have you been in that frame of mind?

“Three years. On the new EP ‘POISN’, the message is consistent with the first project, it’s just now it’s been three months in the industry, and I feel unbreakable, I feel so much better than I did the first day I got unveiled. It’s been three months and I’m in London! I can do anything, I really feel like Superman!

“If you listen to ‘Unbeliever’, you hear that she has faced quite a lot of battles, she lost her mum and she is still fighting through it. Dealing with grief is really, really hard. I try to separate my mind — if you don’t, it can be a well that you fall into and never come out of. Making music and creativity is my safe space.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Akanni

How did the relationship with Mavin Records come about?

“I’m a big fan of Ladipoe, and I’d been telling him that I was a big fan, messaging him on Instagram, and finally he saw a freestyle on my profile, and reached out to me to open for him in Lagos. It was amazing, and that was where Mavin’s execs first saw me. Everybody was like “Who’s that tiny girl onstage?” So they had eyes on me from then.

“Fast forward to 2020, everywhere was locked down, in Lagos I didn’t have a studio, I wasn’t stable yet, so I reached out to Rima [Tahini, Mavin A&R Director] and asked if I could use the studio, and she said I could. I hear chat about there being an academy, and asked if I could join, and they let me! Then, there was a developmental period of three years”.

There is something magnetic and magic about Lifesize Teddy that you need in your life. An Afrobeats-centred and infused sound that has the ability to conquers lands, we are going to be hearing a lot more of her as we head into 2024. A name to watch very closely, ensure that you check out Banigo Apiafi Treasure and what she is putting out into the world. Here is an artist primed…

FOR world domination.

___________

Follow Lifesize Teddy

FEATURE: One Zero Zero Zero: Spotify’s New and Controversial Payment Policy Is Causing Understandable Worry for Many Artists

FEATURE:

 

 

One Zero Zero Zero

PHOTO CREDIT: cottonbro studio/Pexels

 

Spotify’s New and Controversial Payment Policy Is Causing Understandable Worry for Many Artists

_________

IT seems…

 PHOTO CREDIT: cottonbro studio/Pexels

like, when it comes to Spotify, the gulf between smaller and mainstream artists grows ever bigger. It is not enough that major artists can easily make hundreds of thousands (if not more) with each single or album they release to the platform. Think about the realities for smaller artists. I know many do not assume they will get paid a lot and it will be a sustainable method of revenue. It is important that every artist can release their music to Spotify and earn more from it. If subscribers or anyone can access it for free, how fair is it that artists get paid nothing or very little?! In terms of how artists are paid at the moment, this recent feature breaks things down:

“Spotify Royalty Calculators

No royalty calculator is 100% exact, but as an artist, they’re an excellent tool to help you get an idea of how much might be paid out by the platform. In the case of Spotify, the amount you can expect to receive lies between $0.003 to $0.005 per stream. That’s roughly equivalent to a 70/30 split between the rights holders with 70% and the platform with 30%.

Before you pull out your calculator and dream of a fat bank account, it’s important to notice the distinction between ‘rights holders’ and ‘artists.’ Of course, performing artists get their share of the 70%, but what exactly that share is, depends on how their music was produced. Most of the time, the royalties will be split between songwriters, publishers, and the owners of the master recording. The latter could include the artist but may also be the label they’re signed to”.

PHOTO CREDIT: cottonbro studio/Pexels

The hope was that, in 2024, there would be a review and challenging of the current model. Spotify makes enough profit so that it can revise its payment structure and decide where its profits go. In terms of maintaining the platform and ensuring that it remains affordable to most, many would agree that they could afford to pay a little more for subscriptions. I pay £9.99 a month I think. Even another tenner a month is not breaking the bank! I am not sure how that would equate into profit and whether users would leave the site if they had to pay more. I think most are happy to pay more if it went to smaller artists. If Spotify got that extra slab of money from people using the site, it could be distributed to artists. I also don’t think there have been too many improvements to Spotify in the past few years. In terms of its user interface and design. Its algorithms and discovery tools. It still pretty much feels the same as it did a year ago or so. Not that this is a bad thing. It has a lot of options and a nice design, though there are improvements that could be used - so it is easier to discover and stream newer artists. Less priority to larger audiences. More playlists that combines unsigned or smaller artists. Daily playlists that are broader and deeper, rather than too obvious so that you get stuck in a loop and listen to the same stuff. I do feel like Spotify could also investigate that massive gulf between giant artists and the rest. I used Taylor Swift as an example quite recently. I know I write about her a lot. She is someone I admire greatly, yet I am aware that she gets millions of streams a month. The money she alone makes from Spotify is more than thousands of other artists combined!

 PHOTO CREDIT: Jovan Vasiljević/Pexels

You sort of think, as I mooted before, that a kitty or reserve could be built where major artists could donate proceeds or a proportion of their revenue. It would not damage them too much. Whilst it would not provide sustainable or huge compensation to most artists, it would least be a start! I say all this because, unfortunately, news has come in that provides more doom for artists who do not get a load of streams. The Guardian provide more details about a new development:

“Spotify has confirmed there will be long-rumoured changes to their royalty payments from early 2024, which include a controversial policy requiring tracks to get a minimum of 1,000 listens every year to receive royalties.

Certain styles of “noise” tracks such as white noise and sleep sounds must now be at least two minutes long, and Spotify will levy a new fee on labels or distributors who they deem to be generating artificial streams – where bots or click-farms are used to fraudulently inflate an artist’s streaming figures, and siphon off royalty payments from Spotify.

Spotify claims the improvements will give extra revenue to artists, by redirecting funds that had previously gone to these rights holders, or to distributors that do not send royalties below a particular amount.

Tom Connaughton, managing director of Spotify UK, says: “99.5% of all tracks that are streamed on Spotify will still be monetised; a very small percentage of tracks will be impacted by these changes.”. He says the global changes will “give a further $1bn (£798m) to emerging and professional artists over the span of the next five years … There are still bad actors who attempt to steal money from the pool that should be going to hardworking emerging and professional artists.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Karolina Grabowska/Pexels

Of demonetising tracks that earn fewer than 1,000 streams each year, he says: “Spotify will not be making any additional money in this model – what we’re doing is using the tens of millions of dollars that sit in this category to increase the payments to all eligible tracks.”

Spotify have argued that the earnings from tracks with fewer than 1,000 streams rarely reach the artists anyway, because labels and distributors generally require a minimum withdrawal amount. When these small payments don’t meet that threshold, a company spokesman said the payments remain “sat in bank accounts of distribution companies. We are not taking money out of the hands of emerging artists – we are just taking it from bank accounts lying dormant and earning interest.”

But some independent artists are critical of the precedent set by the 1,000-stream minimum requirement.

“I think 1,000 is too much,” says LA-based independent musician Brandon Washington, who goes by the stage name Ando San. “To an extent it’s true that there’s an oversaturation of artists on Spotify. But without them there would be no Spotify – the platform only exists because of artists and music.”

Amelia Fletcher, an academic at the University of East Anglia and a member of the Centre for Competition Policy, echoes this. “Any attempt to make art is valid,” she says. “The fact that lots of people make art and music without recompense doesn’t nullify the artistic value of that music.”

She argues that the streaming giant should adopt a “user-centric model”, an alternative to the current model used by the likes of Spotify and Apple Music where money from listeners goes into a giant pool which is then paid out to artists based on their share of total streams across the whole platform.

In a user-centric model, “each subscriber’s payment would be shared proportionally between the tracks that individual listens to,” explains Fletcher. “So if you have someone who’s really enthusiastic about indie music, that money would get shared out among the artists that they listen to. More would be allocated per track if they listen carefully to fewer tracks than if they just have music playing all the time in the background”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Moose Photos/Pexels

It is a situation where a big proportion of artists will earn virtually nothing from Spotify. That ‘defence’ that artists now who get a thousands streams or so do not really see that money anyway is not great! That Bandcamp model where there is more of a direct connection between fans and artists and you get merchandise and physical music seems to make more sense. Whether Spotify employs something like this or not. It doesn’t seem sustainable how things are at the moment. I don’t think it is a case of Spotify reacting to the economy and reality of things. That they cannot afford to give artists more and are ensuring the platform can survive and grow. It seems more of a case of profiteering. The upshot is that more and more artists will either not bother sharing music to Spotify, or they will accept that it is a dead source of revenue. Spotify remains a wonderful platform for discovery and access. At a time when few people can afford to buy albums and invest too much in all the music they want, Spotify is invaluable. There are pros and cons when it comes to Spotify. Many people, when they discuss ways to improve Spotify, concerns playlists and personalisation. I am not sure how that would improve the fortunes or so many artists who are not earning much from the platform. More priority and urgency needs to be on how Spotify can justice imposing a new limit on the number of streams/when artists get paid. Not only does the platform become only profitable and worthy for a small selection of artists, we may see less music being uploaded here. Artists going elsewhere. Conversation will happen around Spotify and why it is going backwards in some ways.

 PHOTO CREDIT: cottonbro studio/Pexels

As the article from The Guardian explores, this new initiative and ruling is designed to take money away from fraudsters. Ensuring that little money is given to noise tracks or those who are not real musicians. Bad actors taking money away from musicians. Their explanation that it is a protective measure:

“Spotify claims the improvements will give extra revenue to artists, by redirecting funds that had previously gone to these rights holders, or to distributors that do not send royalties below a particular amount.

Tom Connaughton, managing director of Spotify UK, says: “99.5% of all tracks that are streamed on Spotify will still be monetised; a very small percentage of tracks will be impacted by these changes.”. He says the global changes will “give a further $1bn (£798m) to emerging and professional artists over the span of the next five years … There are still bad actors who attempt to steal money from the pool that should be going to hardworking emerging and professional artists”.

I guess that makes sense in a way though…what if Spotify set the limit to 2,000 or 3,000 streams?! They can adjust the bar and make their own rules. Also, surely there are technologies that can be introduced to erase and block fraudsters/bad actors and ensure that they detect real artists from those who are not. It is a messy situation at the moment. There has been constant challenging or its royalties and how much it pays artists. In terms of justification, there has not really been any logical or solid rationale. There will be push back against Spotify’s new plans. They need to create a more equitable environment for all artists. When looking ahead to 2024, that needs to be at…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Freepik

TOP of their to-do list.

FEATURE: Motherwitch: Bat for Lashes Exploring Feminine Archetypes Roles, The Psyche and Self Through Tarot

FEATURE:



Motherwitch

IN THIS PHOTO: Natasha Khan (Bat for Lashes)

 

Bat for Lashes Exploring Feminine Archetypes Roles, The Psyche and Self Through Tarot

_________

WHEN many think of tarot cards…

 PHOTOS: She’s Lost Control/Bat for Lashes

they get images of something quite mystical, odd and suspect. Maybe something many believe in as being able to predict someone’s future. A sort of science that, like astrology, many struggle to give credence and substance to. In terms of reliability, one can say that tarot readings work if people want them to. I am not someone who buys into anything really that suggests we are all the same and can easily be defined and predicted by a set of cards of star signs. It is too limited and, to be fair, easy to debunk. I have respect for people who do embrace something like this, as it is never right to dismiss someone’s beliefs or anything that may give them comfort. That is only one side to tarot. A recent interview from CLASH with Bat for Lashes (Natasha Khan) opened my eyes. It was something I did not want to let go. She has her own deck where the designs explore various sides of women. Reshaping and redefining feminine energy and psyche. It has also, it seems, been a useful creative tool. I know many artists through time have embraced tarot and other sciences/methods of creativity and personal insight. Kate Bush, for one. In terms of Bat for Lashes, what interested me less was that she felt her recent tarot readings were accurate – which is something I can never truly believe or see how that is possible. What is more intriguing and discussion-worthy is what the cards represent. Bat for Lashes is an artist that really interests me. Her perspective on people and themes of identity and love. I would normally read an interview and leave it there. In the case of the new CLASH chat, it stuck in the mind. I want to put in a few sections from it that revolves around the tarot cards. They are really well designed and beautiful.

Before getting there, she was – in addition to revealing a new album is being mastered and is nearly there – discussing her upcoming Motherwitch Oracle Deck of cards. You can pre-order a deck of your choice here. It is a really interesting venture:

“Bat For Lashes presents Motherwitch, an oracle deck by Natasha Khan. 

In collaboration with She's Lost Control.

From the hand of musician and artist Natasha Khan, Motherwitch acts as a tool for the creative process and as a conduit to the subconscious realms. 

The deck is a hand-illustrated reimagining of Tarot, using multiple original female archetypes, visual symbols and an abstract spiritualist painters’ colour palette, to provide a storyteller's guide into the mysteries and beauty of our own internal landscapes.

The 40 cards were entirely designed and conceived by Khan. They act as a truth seer, providing answers, inspiration and insight into the hidden realms of your psyche. The deck is accompanied by a guidebook written by Natasha and edited by Pam Grossman, detailing the meanings and interpretations for each card as well as lists of rituals, books, music and films to reference for each.

A MESSAGE FROM NATASHA

"In these times of collective change, I believe it is imperative to keep telling stories - to use myths, objects, rituals, and alchemy to delve deep into the subconscious and bring out the jewels. The use of these cards provides a connection to our deeper selves, to re-enchantment, revelation and healing. The cards support the creative process and the elevation of spirit through ritual practices and a willingness to delve into the mysteries of the psyche."

 This is a pre-order for the first limited run of this special oracle deck. Physical decks will be sent out in November and you will be contacted when it has shipped.

ABOUT THE PRE-ORDER

Pre-sale orders for this first limited run of Motherwitch are available exclusively through She's Lost Control. The deck retails at £65 with a range of limited pre-sale options for signed copies and personalised readings:

Motherwitch *signed edition* (150 available)

Indulge in the allure of Motherwitch with an exclusive signed edition. Limited to just 150 copies, this version is a true collector's gem, bearing Natasha's signature as a testament to its authenticity and mystique. Shipped end November.

Motherwitch + short digital reading

Unveil the hidden meanings and insights of the cards with our Motherwitch + short digital reading option. Natasha will tune into your question and draw one card from the Motherwitch deck, creating a personalised and enlightening digital reading experience. We will email you closer to the time so you can submit you question to Natasha, and the pre-recorded audio reading will be delivered straight to your inbox towards the end of November.

Motherwitch *signed edition* + in-person reading

For a one-of-a-kind immersion into the world of Motherwitch, choose our signed edition + in-person 40 minute reading option. Natasha will unveil the secrets of Motherwitch, offering you a bespoke in-person journey into its depths. Limited to just five appointments, these one-of-a-kind sessions will take place at She's Lost Control, Broadway Market, London on 25th November and 2nd December. We will email you to book your time slot.

ABOUT NATASHA KHAN

Natasha Khan is primarily a musician, singer and songwriter and has been a professional recording artist under the moniker “Bat For Lashes” for the past 17 years. She is a multi-disciplinary artist working not only in music but also across practices in the visual arts and film. Khan has recorded six studio albums, as well as soundtracks for film, podcasts and television over the course of her career. Her musical works have been included in soundtracks for 'The Twilight Saga', 'The Hunger Games' and campaigns for Thierry Mugler, Chanel, Gucci and Miu Miu. An experienced reader of the tarot, Natasha uses card reading, rituals, and practices to support and inspire her creativity. 

She's Lost Control have worked closely with Natasha to bring her vision to life. This is the first published work from She's Lost Control Ltd.

Dimensions:

Box: 13.5cm x 20cm x 3.5cm

Cards: 12.1cm x 9cm

Weight:

Box: 310g

Individual Card: 4.1g

5% profit from all purchases at She's Lost Control is donated to Crystal Clear - the social enterprise empowering artisanal mining communities.

Pssst... have you joined our Loyalty Love Club yet? You can earn crystal point rewards to redeem on future purchases! Yay”.

I will wrap up talking about artists and ‘side projects’. That may seem a bit insulting. What I mean is artists releasing products that are separate from the music. In the case of Bat for Lashes and the new Motherwitch Oracle Deck, it seems like she has drawn inspiration from the project and connected it with her music. She revealed more to CLASH:

“Have you been interested in tarot for a long time?

I’ve read tarot since I was teenage girl, initially for myself, and then in recent years I did secret readings for others. I really enjoy giving tarot readings actually, I always find them so incredibly spot on. Sometimes I’ll give them to people when I have no idea what’s going on in their life, and this story will reveal itself or a narrative arc will come through. I think because my thing is storytelling, and seeing characters and connections, and simultaneously physical journeys mirrored with the internal journey of somebody. That’s just how I see life, so I feel like the tarot works really well with my brain, and the interpretation of that is really fun for me.

I use it daily, I’d say, I’ve used it daily for about 12 years in some form. I think it’s the same as seeing colours or the weather or feeling a certain emotion on a certain day; there’s just a way to tune into some aspect of something, it gives you a nice focal point. And I think with this oracle deck especially, there’s the visual art aspect, there’s the more lyrical card descriptions, but then there’s taking lots of other artist’s work as oracles for people or rituals to do, creative practices to implement. So this is the perfect deck for me, because this is how I approach my life, through this multimedia, multi-layered way of looking at the same thing.

There’s a long history of feminine archetypes being shaped and othered by men: saints, sirens, witches, harpies. Was it always your plan to explore those roles with this deck?

I didn’t actually have any preconceived thoughts about that, only because the deck totally revealed itself through the drawings, I was really just following this muse. I think what was happening was that as I was pregnant, and then had the baby, and then was breastfeeding, and going through all these different layers of my own psyche and consciousness, my own ideas about becoming a mother, my own relationship to my own mother, my own relationship to nature, my own relationship to a world gone awry. It just magnified all these thoughts and feelings in myself that were spinning out onto the page. But I’m very gratified by the end of it, having gone through and written this really in-depth, intense guidebook.

PHOTO CREDIT: Flora Maclean

Luckily it seemed that, like you say, I had naturally pulled away from that patriarchal viewpoint of femininity – and so the female archetype, the myths, it seems, cover all those multitudes of feelings, dimensions, characters. There’s so many different types of feminine energy, and they’re not good or bad, or polarised it seems; it’s more about embracing all of them and welcoming them all, and using each facet, all the little nuances, to be fodder or fertilisation for work or for your own growth as a person and self-acceptance really, and connection to others. And there are some divine masculine cards in here too for that reason: we all have our own internal feminine and masculine, so it also felt really important to invite the patriarchal, witch-killing tyrant into ourselves and question what that’s about; and then the all-seeing, divine masculine leader, who’s full of presence and love, and can observe and protect his people. He’s all about regal, divine masculine energy. There’s winged aunties, that’s all about chosen family, honouring that. The card of childhood, the little girl, this is my daughter’s card: re-enchantment of the imagination.

There’s a lot of those things that feed into creative blocks and procrastination around work, so I feel it works on some of those levels too: if you’re an actor and you want to pull cards for the character you’re playing, or you’re writing a novella and you’re really stuck on something, pulling cards for the plot, or the characters, or for yourself. Is there a psychic block in your inner landscape that’s preventing you from going onto the next frontier of depth as a creator? There’s so much, I think.

Is this a creative tool for you too?

I’ve started doing some readings and it’s brilliant, it’s actually been really spot on, which makes me happy. In the [Motherwitch] guidebook there’s lots of rituals: [reading] “Have a conversation with someone who has different opinions on what they believe in, and listen. Listen until there is nothing more to say. Can you let this sit with you without having to control, change or influence this person’s viewpoint?” That seems very apt with everything that’s going on at the moment, but it’s about oneness, and ‘transmissions galactic citizenship’. It’s about our interconnectedness and challenging the idea of the separate self, and how we can stop trying to control and conquer others, but co-exist by being able to hold some sense of difference or duality”.

That idea of an artist or celebrity doing something different. Whether you have actors and artists promoting a product, bringing out their own perfume, wine or clothing range, there is nothing new when it comes to broadening the portfolio. In these cases, I think that there is some personal fulfilment. A lot of times there is that commercial allure and money-making capacity. Not to be cynical. One can never tell how genuine an artist is when they endorse something or bring out their own range of whatever. Even when it comes to someone like Billie Eilish, you wonder how much of her heart is in a perfume line. Artists doing something creative and different is much more worthy. For Natasha Khan (Bat for Lashes), there is something deeper here. I guess some people will see something too cosmic and out-there. Maybe all a bit too odd to embrace and believe in. What she said about the tarot cards – “The use of these cards provides a connection to our deeper selves, to re-enchantment, revelation and healing. The cards support the creative process and the elevation of spirit through ritual practices and a willingness to delve into the mysteries of the psyche” - seems to resonate and makes a lot of sense. Not only is Bat for Lashes challenging female archetypes shaped by men. There is also this goal for these cards to provide a deeper understanding and connection of ourselves. Working with She's Lost Control, it is a great venture that will inspire other artists. Khan is going to be at Broadway Market in London on 25th November (Saturday) and 2nd December to do personal readings. Whether cynical about tarot readings and what people get or not, one cannot deny that there is more to readings and tarot cards in general than what seems to be a narrow and common view of them. They are a tool and guide to go deeper and think more spirituality about the self. In this Motherwitch Oracale Deck, there is the opportunity to delve into the psyche. Whether an ideal Christmas present or something that you can invest in and set aside, Bat for Lashes’s tarot cards are…

MEANT for everyone.

FEATURE: Saluting the Queens: Jess Kangalee

FEATURE:

 

 

Saluting the Queens

  

Jess Kangalee

_________

MOVING through my…

Saluting the Queens feature, I wanted to spend some time focusing on Jess Kangalee. One big reason why I am a big supporter of what she does is because Kangalee founded the magnificent Good Energy PR. In terms of the roster of talent, there are few that can match the same quality and diversity. Some of my favourite artists and most intriguing rising acts can be found here:

“Founded in 2019 by Jess Kangalee, Good Energy PR is the only QWOC run UK plugging company that prioritises multi-genre queer artists and artists of colour.

With over a decade of experience in radio/TV/festivals/events promotions, Jess has previously worked across a broad range of acts including Angel Olsen, badbadnotgood, Battles, Boards of Canada, Bombay Bicycle Club, Bon Iver, Caribou, Daniel Avery, Dinosaur Jr, Gaika, Grizzly Bear, LUMP, Moses Sumney, Phoebe Bridgers, Run The Jewels, serpentwithfeet, Sleater Kinney, Shame, Sharon Van Etten, Sinkane, Tame Impala, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, The War On Drugs, plus Citadel, Green Man, Lovebox and Wilderness festivals”.

There is some press/interviews that I want to get to. Maybe Jess Kangalee is new to you. You can follow her on Twitter. It is not the case that she has suddenly come to prominence and is someone whose 2023 has defined her. I think this year has been a successful one, though Jess Kangalee has been in the industry for a while now. Doing incredible work talking about equality for women in radio and throughout the industry. Also someone concerned with the mental health and wellbeing of those within music. Kangalee was part of Music Week's Women In Music Roll of Honour.

Maybe a sideways step, I want to illuminate an article from 2021. In it, we learn more about The Meister Series by Jägermeister and how that most recent episode followed Nadia Khan. She is a manager, music consultant and Chair of AIM (Association of Independent Music). Khan was joined by industry peers, including Jess Kangalee:

“At the beginning of her career, Nadia had zero preconceptions of what being a woman in a male-dominated industry was going to be like. “I didn’t think about it,” she tells us, “but I started to notice I was being treated differently a lot of the time.” Nadia explains, “I felt a lot of other managers or men in the industry would talk to me more aggressively, trying to pressurise me to do deals on their term, or talking down to me, or bypassing me completely. I kept my head down and continued to do amazing work. I loved my job and had such incredible opportunities, but one thing I started to realise was that I felt increasingly more invisible.” Nadia has been kicked off festival stages when working with an artist because she was assumed a groupie, her male staff members have been called to confirm she is the manager, and “these things start to knock your confidence”. It made Nadia question, “why do I feel invisible when I’ve achieved so much?”

From women changing their behaviours to how they dress, or having to experience events as Nadia set out, we must acknowledge the disparities. “I started to post on social media and communicate my stories to other women in the industry, and what was really shocking was, everyone I spoke to said that’s how they had been treated too. I thought I was completely alone. That was a big driving force in me to want change.” Women in CTRL grew naturally from the discussions and realisations Nadia was having. “I really wanted to tell these women’s stories. It was about trying to empower women and encourage women to speak out about their journeys, and be honest, because we can’t change things unless we speak honestly.”

The first episode of The Meister Series featured an illuminating insight into Boomtown, with LWE joining the series for the second part. In instalment three of five, Jägermeister continue to explore behind the scenes of the music industry shapers and shakers. Nadia is joined by Laughta, a multi-talented musician, producer and presenter and Women in CTRL Mental Health Advocate, Jess Kangalee, who runs a broadcast media promotions company Good Energy PR, and Claire Rose, an Outreach Manager and Community Manager at Women in CTRL. The four women discuss their experiences of working in the industry and what needs to be done to further conversations, make changes and be a force for good. During their roundtable, Claire says, “Everything is louder together. It doesn’t make me feel so isolated anymore because I’ve got all these other great voices around me.” Women are powerful when we are together.

Being able to talk together openly is the first step, the second, Nadia explains, is how data research plays a part in making change. In July 2020, Women in CTRL released a report which analysed the make up of the team, board members, Chairperson and CEO positions across 12 UK music industry trade bodies. The Seat at the Table report showed women are underrepresented within leadership positions with only 3 Female CEOs, and 1 Female Chair across the 12 music trade organisations and that black women are severely underrepresented across all trade bodies with 5 board seats out of a possible 185 being held by black woman, and only 2 positions out of 122 roles employed within teams are black women.

Following the Women in Radio findings, Nadia explains how we lose women in the industry because we don’t support them. The report states 84% of women feel it’s hard for them to progress their career, 70% feel their appearance has an effect on their job opportunities, 61% have experienced sexist comments about their appearance at work and 59% feel child rearing has had or would have a negative impact on their career progression. In the Gender Disparity in Radio report which concluded 81% of songs in the Top 100 Radio Airplay chart feature men, female songwriters are credited on only 19% of songs in the Top 100 and only 3% of music producers in the Top 100 are women. Nadia states, “The bottom line is we need to make change happen, we should be supporting and encouraging these women”.

We are thankful to women like Nadia, Laughta, Jess Kangalee, and Claire Rose, companies like Jägermeister who offer platforms to their voices, and people working in the industry at any level who are starting conversations and holding others accountable. These are the changemakers and shapeshifters that are paving our future. Now we have to carry on the work, speak up when it is and isn’t our turn, because as Claire said, we are louder together. More change is coming”.

I am going to jump into a new interview from Music Week, who spoke with their recent honouree, Jess Kangalee. I am also keen to point people read this 2021 interview from Music Week. Alongside some other amazing women in an Indie executive position, Kangalee was speaking about inequality and changes need. How there is a lack of representation and equality for women and Black artists through the industry:

“Executives in the independent sector have spoken to Music Week about the need for change as the industry faces up to the fight against racism and inequality.

Nadia Khan, founder of Ctrl Management and Women In Ctrl, said that “everybody in independent music can action change, regardless of their size or resources”.

Khan (above, left) recently published the Seat At The Table report, which investigated 12 music industry bodies and highlighted a lack of female representation in leadership positions, with three female CEOs, and one female chair across the 12 organisations.

While she noted an increase in diversity across recording artists and genres in the indie world, Khan called for organisational change to match.

“As the music industry has moved towards more label services and distribution deals and with many more self-releasing artists in the independent sector, ownership and control has been put back into artists’ and managers’ hands,” she said. “This has led to a greater diversity of music and artists being represented.”

“Diversity needs to also be reflected within the teams managing campaigns at independent labels, all the way through to senior management and board level, and to those that are controlling budgets and spending,” Khan added. “As highlighted in the Women In Ctrl report, the disparity still runs high for women, and especially black women.”

Khan, who helped steer Lethal Bizzle’s breakthrough, called for more industry support for black artists.

“Through my 16-year career as a manager, I struggled to get support, budget and backing for black artist projects, being told the market was too small and restricted to ‘London and maybe Birmingham and Manchester',” she said.

“Support and a welcoming arm into the industry were only offered after I had achieved multiple Top 20 successes independently and grown an international brand. I would like to see that support offered to those in the early stages of their careers.”

Former Secretly Group head of radio & TV in the UK, Jess Kangalee now runs Good Energy PR and is part of the independent arm of the Black Music Coalition. During lockdown, Kangalee (above, centre) conducted online diversity workshops and told Music Week that, in her experience, the indie sector has “massive diversity problems”.

“It’s predominantly a straight, white space with a small fraction of people of colour and openly queer people,” said Kangalee. “I have only met one person in the sector that has a visible disability.”

“At the start of my career, seeing women at all felt like a luxury, so it has been a positive to see more (white) women inhabit these spaces,” she continued. “However, going from seeing one woman of colour to seeing 10 in these spaces over 10 years is hardly any achievement to be proud of, especially when the majority of these women sit in junior and mid-level roles.”

Kangalee went on to say that music companies recognising the need for action is not enough.

“There is more of an air of being able to talk about these problems, but I have still seen people penalised for doing so and no great changes made,” she said. “Acknowledgement is very necessary and important, but it is a completely rudimentary step and I would have hoped that by 2020 more proactive steps would have been taken.”

Kangalee said that “racist behavior is constant” and that “microagressions happen every day”.

“Two examples that have happened frequently to me and that I’ve seen happen to other people of colour are when white people mix up the names of two people of colour that do the same job or work at the same company, even though they look nothing alike and have completely different ethnic backgrounds,” she said. “The other is, at gigs when a white person asks, ‘What are you doing here?’ – translation, ‘You have dark skin so you can’t like guitar music’. No one would go up to a white person at a black music show and ask them why they were there, so why is the reverse deemed acceptable?”

Kangalee added that “tokenism is a problem across the board” and called for “acceptance of wrongdoing and bad treatment, apologies, immediate action, public commitment to change and long-term planning”.

Partisan Records creative director Theresa Adebiyi (above, right) said the independent sector must force itself to make changes.

“We’ve really hit a point in the past few months where visibility of a much more diverse range of people, artists, music is key to genuine change and progression,” she said. “There needs to be pressure on us all to actually do better – not just post about ideology.”

Adebiyi urged the sector to engage in “tough conversations and trust newer creatives with opportunities to grow the pool of people who can execute campaigns”.

“Elevating different voices into positions of real power within companies needs to keep happening,” she said. “Diversity regarding personnel has tended to feel tokenistic and often relegated to more minor jobs within companies, we must work to elevate people beyond supporting roles and into positions that have the power to effect and sustain long-lasting change.”

Khan, Kangalee and Adebiyi were speaking to Music Week for our Indie Takeover special issue. Read the full report on the indie sector in 2020 here. Read AIM’s Gee Davy on the fight for equality here”.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Big Joanie are part of the Good Energy PR roster

Before I bring things right up to date, Jess Kangalee was part of an interview by The Independent. This is back in 2020. At the time, there was a furore over the lack of Rock category at the MOBOs – it emphasised and highlighted how Black Brits with guitars are overlooked. The Independent chatted to Nova Twins, Babeheaven, Jess Kangalee and more about making space for Alternative artists:

“Similar experiences were shared by the genre-blurring American musician Moses Sumney, who has spoken previously about the assumption that he makes R&B music based on the colour of his skin. His recent inclusion in the Soul Train Awards – the US’s answer to the Mobos – suggests that, like Hynes said earlier, the US is, on the whole, more accepting of Black artists of all persuasions. Jess Kangalee, director of Good Energy PR, suggests there are structural reasons for America’s comparative openness. “It’s just a bigger market and they have more options for coverage in terms of regional stations, national stations and college radio,” says Kangalee, “whereas in the UK we [only] have the national stations as well as some key regionals that can make a difference to a[n artist’s] campaign.”

According to a recent Pitchfork article, though, the alternative music sphere isn’t any better representation-wise. The piece, titled “What it’s like to be Black in Indie Music”, suggested that Black artists face the same barriers in the supposedly more inclusive indie arena as they would in the pop mainstream. It added that the indie community “discreetly functions to serve white people almost exclusively”. This was certainly true of the alternative music scene in the UK in the past, though more recent platforms like Black Lives Matter have given Black British indie artists a confidence boost and allowed them to open up a conversation on race and representation in underground music. Nova Twins cite the political movement as the inspiration for their open letter and for “giving artists a voice to say how they've felt all these years”. It was also one of the sparks for the creation of Decolonise Fest, a London-based festival I’m involved in which promotes people of colour in punk music. The runaway success of alternative music festivals like Afropunk (of which there is a London iteration), meanwhile, have provided new spaces for Black artists who don’t align with any one genre”.

IN THIS PHOTO: Jess Kangalee alongside the Music Week Women in Music Awards 2023 Roll of Honour winners and honourees

On 20th November, Music Week spoke with a jewel in the Women In Music Roll of Honour 2023. The brilliant Jess Kangalee, as founder of Good Energy PR, and someone always fighting and asking for equality throughout the industry, shared her experiences and words. Looking back at her career and spotlighting those influencing her:

“With 15 years of experience working in promotions across artists, events and festivals, Kangalee founded Good Energy PR in 2019 with a specific ethos – a holistic approach to inclusion, creating space and promoting marginalised artists across broadcast media platforms. Good Energy is the only QPOC-run broadcast media PR company in the UK that prioritises multi-genre artists that are queer and/or people of colour. Its current roster features acts like Big Joanie, Cakes Da Killa, Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul, Grove, Future Bubblers, The Linda Lindas, Moor Mother, Mykki Blanco, Rochelle Jordan, Tokimonsta, Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Yazmin Lacey, to name a few.

Throughout her career, Kangalee has worked across a huge variety of acts, including Bombay Bicycle Club, Caribou, M83, Metronomy, Moses Sumney, Phoebe Bridgers, Run The Jewels, Serpentwithfeet and Sharon Van Etten and Lovebox, Green Man, Wilderness and Citadel festivals, amongst others.

In addition to Good Energy, she has also worked in a consulting and supportive capacity across AIM, Black Music Coalition, Women In Ctrl, UK Music and is a mentor via Ilikenetworking and Power Up, and this year she was nominated for AIM’s Music Entrepreneur Of The Year, and was included in She Said So’s 2020 Alt List.

How do you feel about joining the Music Week Women In Music Roll Of Honour?

“It’s brilliant to be included in this year’s Roll of Honour, I’m happy to have the opportunity to celebrate alongside several inductees who have created change in the UK music industry and to follow on from previous inductees who I have long respected. I was nominated by someone who I deeply admire and who has been integral to my journey over the last few years, so it feels good to know that I’ve made them proud.”

How do you look back on your early years getting into the industry?

“I had some amazing experiences during the earlier years of my career – like running the broadcast PR for Lovebox festival – but a lot of my early years were marred by negative and harmful experiences. I never truly had a voice until I decided to create my own company, I was consistently silenced, held back from progression and put down. And the enormous lack of diversity and representation in the sector of the industry I came up in bred a normalised culture of racism, misogyny, sexism, queerphobia, sexual assault and abuse. These experiences now fuel me and it’s become my mission to change the industry culture and standard of practice so that future generations have healthy and safe environments, with better access and routes for progression and equity.

“Because of the exploitative patterns of treatment many women of colour face in the music industry as well as there [being] a lack of visible role models and peers that I could identify with for a large portion of my career, I never thought I could be a business owner. I have managed to move through these experiences though and create a business which has inclusion, representation, holistic strategy and care at the core of its ethos. When I made the decision to start my own company, it allowed me to create something that fully stands for my ethics and morals, and I did it without having to compromise my integrity or beliefs. More than anything I hope that sharing a small part of my story could serve as an example that it is possible to overcome huge adversity and build a successful, completely self-funded business by doing things your own way.”

 You’ve spoken previously to Music Week about your experiences around discrimination and inequality in the business. How have your views changed in recent years, in light of a number of organisations that have been launched?

“I’ve worked in various capacities across a lot of organisations, and everyone is doing great and necessary work. This doesn’t change my views though, as the issues I’ve previously spoken about still exist. It takes time and fervent will to unlearn systemic biases and recalibrate from archaic structures, and it will be a long time before we collectively as an industry can change, as it requires an active approach to reforming cultures and perceptions.

“That being said, many amazing things have come from a lot of the organisations and initiatives that have been launched, and it’s been brilliant to see all of these organisations grow and achieve. There are more beacons for representation than ever before and that has been a positive change.”

What’s your biggest achievement so far?

“I view my biggest achievement as being able to create space for the artists I work with across broadcast media. When I started Good Energy PR, I had to change the way I perceived success and what that meant to me. As a plugger, you measure your successes by achieving big promo slots and playlist additions, but to work with the artists I wanted to work with, who in the majority would not have been supported at radio prior to 2020, the goal posts changed for me. I had to unlearn what I had previously used as a measure for success, and the task of trying to find ways to promote these artists who had previously been overlooked and underrepresented was a much bigger one. I wanted to be authentic to myself and my beliefs, so in essence Good Energy PR is an extension of what I want to put out into the world. There are some key people I would like to give thanks to – knowingly or unknowingly due to either their support, encouragement, innovation or progressive spirit – [as] without them I wouldn’t have been able grow and build as I have. Amy Frenchum, Camilla Pia, Jamz Supernova, Kath McDermott, Mary Anne Hobbs and Nadia Khan, my sincerest gratitude for who you are and everything you do.

IN THIS PHOTO: Amy Frenchum/PHOTO CREDIT: Foot Patrol

What advice would you offer young women about enjoying a successful career in music?

“This is a bit of a cliché, but find your people. Having a network of people who understand you on a human level, who have had or are facing similar experiences to you, offers infinite support and collaboration. You’re not lucky to have a job in music, you have skills, you bring value and you deserve to be here, and finally, do things in the most authentic way to you, protect your energy and enforce your professional boundaries.”

Is there a young woman you'd like to shout out who you think is a rising star in the industry?

“I must shout out some great young women in radio – Ella Atcheson at BBC 6 Music, Hana Staddon at 6 Music and Pippa Brown, who is freelance. I would also love to shout out Tayler Ross, who’s also freelance, who was incredibly impressive on campaign management and marketing duties for Grove’s recent Pwr Ply EP.”

Similarly, is there a young woman artist whose music you're enjoying right now?

“I have to mention one of the incredible artists on my roster, Sola, who releases music via Jamz Supernova’s Future Bounce label. She is truly phenomenal, her creativity and composition are utterly transcendent and genre-defying and I feel so lucky to work with an artist whose music connects so directly to my spirit. You can find her on @thisissola across the usual social media platforms and I highly encourage you to watch her amazing visuals!”.

I am a big fan of supporter of Jess Kangalee. As the founder of Good Energy PR – which is the only QWOC-run U.K. plugging company that prioritises multi-genre queer artists and artists of colour -, that alone makes her a queen to salute! In addition, she has spoken passionately and brilliantly about how there needs to be more equality for women and people of colour throughout the industry. The fact that radio is still a sector that is harder for women. There is still a way to go but, with people like Jess Kangalee supporting some brilliant artists and putting her voice and experience out into the world, I know she will help inspire change – and a generation of women coming through too! I wanted to spend some time with a changemaker and incredible human making such a difference…

IN the music industry.

FEATURE: Groovelines: Lana Del Rey - Video Games

FEATURE:

 

 

Groovelines

PHOTO CREDIT: Nicole Nodland for British Vogue

 

Lana Del Rey - Video Games

_________

I have written about…

PHOTO CREDIT: Nicole Nodland for British Vogue

Lana Del Rey recently. I think that she is the greatest American songwriter of her generation. Possibly one of the best songwriters from any nation. Such is the individuality, evocative nature and quality of her music, I cannot think of anyone like her. Rather than focus on her new music, I am going back to the start for this Groovelines. Her major label debut single, Video Games, was released on 7th October, 2011. Co-written with Justin Parker and produced by RoboPop (Daniel Omelio), I am going to highlight why it is one of the most revolutionary and important Pop songs ever. Not that you can put it in that genre. When it comes to Lana Del Rey and her style, it is cinematic, moody, beautiful, lush, baroque and divine. From her 2012 major label debut album, Born to Die, Video Games is often placed at the top of lists when it comes to Del Rey’s best songs. In fact, as you can see from Rolling Stone, The Guardian, GQ, and udiscovermusic.com, it is the queen! A song that everyone is compelled and fascinated by. I think Born to Die is an album criminally underrated. There was this mystery around Lana Del Rey in 2011. Her real name is Elizabeth Grant. That is the credit she used for the songwriting, so people were not sure who she really was or whether Lana Del Rey was a creation or someone else. It was a strange time. Maybe the media were confused by such a different sounding artist. Nobody like her was in music at that time!

I am going to get to articles about Video Games. The song’s co-scribe Justin Parker was interviewed by the BBC in 2012. A moment when Lana Del Rey was on everyone’s mind, it is bewildering nobody at the label liked her song! A big success in the U.K. but only a minor success in the U.S., there is no denying the fact that, now, Video Games is a hugely important song - and one that changed the face of modern music upon its release. Something blew through a mainstream that was struggling for inspiration or a move away from a lot of samey artists:

“The man who co-wrote Video Games with Lana Del Rey has admitted that "no-one liked it" from the record company when they first played the track.

Justin Parker co-wrote five tracks on Del Rey's Born to Die album, released by Polydor in January 2012.

Video Games is up for best contemporary song at the Ivor Novello Awards.

"They didn't think it was a single," Parker said. "It was quite amazing because me and Lana thought it was brilliant."

It was the weight of public approval that helped the pair convince record executives, he said.

"I think the video changed everyone's mind. It just took off didn't it?

"I mean they had no choice, they had to release it, it was forced upon them."

The video accompanying the song has now been viewed more than 38 million times on YouTube.

Quick hit

Justin Parker and Lana Del Rey wrote together for about 12 months, completing 12 songs together, five of which made the cut for Born to Die.

Despite the sombre tone of Video Games, Parker found composing it "a lot more fun than it sounds like musically".

"We wrote it in about three hours. It's quite a dark song, but it was an absolute blast."

The pair would meet up to write in London at weekends, Parker getting the train in from Lincoln, Del Rey flying in from New York "when she could afford it".

Parker found their collaboration simply worked: "It was a bit like writing with your younger sister by the end of it because we just got on so well - it just seemed so easy."

'The Adele effect'

Lana Del Rey joins the female-heavy nomination list for the 2011 Ivor Novello Awards.

Adele has four nominations while the album award is an all-female category for the first time in the ceremony's history.

Justin Parker feels "the Adele effect" can only bring good to the British music scene.

"It's great to have really classic song-writing being represented with Adele," he said.

"I think without Adele, perhaps Lana may not have happened because it kind of opened a door for people to look at that kind of song writing, a bit more classic style of song-writing”.

I will come to the reception and reaction for Video Games. Still hugely admired to this day, it is this beguiling and dream-like song that draws you into this amazing world! American Songwriter went behind the song for a feature in 2020. I think I first heard Video Games when it came out. I was awestruck by its sound. It provided this instantly reaction:

“Del Rey wrote the song with Justin Parker, who came up with the eerie, seesawing piano chords at the heart of the instrumental backing. When it came to the lyrics, the singer-songwriter looked to a pair of recent relationships, as she told the website Socialstereotype.com. “The verse was about the way things were with one person, and the chorus was the way that I wished things had really been with another person, who I thought about for a long time,” she said.

In the verses, Del Rey paints scenes of domestic tranquility and socializing with friends, 21st-century style. Her days and nights are filled with beer, darts, billiards and, of course, video games. “This is my idea of fun,” she sings at the end of the verse in a voice somewhere between deadpan and narcotized. These seemingly trivial pursuits are given meaning by the presence of the man in her life. With his strong arms, fast car and sexy patter, he seems more like an action-movie screenwriter’s construct than a living, breathing human.

The humanity comes in the chorus, when Del Rey snaps out of her monotone and confesses the depth of her feelings with genuine longing in her voice. “It’s you, it’s you, it’s all for you,” she sings, and you can’t help but believe it. As opposed to the detached cool of the verses, Del Rey peppers the refrain with the moony sentiments of a schoolgirl, going so far as to borrow a line from Belinda Carlisle (“Heaven is a place on earth with you”) to get her point across.

 IN THIS PHOTO: AJ Numan/PHOTO CREDIT: for Wonderland Magazine

There is an undeniable hint of desperation in her voice when she sings the chorus, as if this bliss she’s describing can’t possibly last much longer. The haunting atmosphere in the music seconds that notion, that this love affair, rhapsodized by the lyrics, is actually built on fragile ground and doomed to expire.

In an interview with Q Magazine, Del Rey tried to put a fine point on the appeal of the song. “I know that it’s a beautiful song and I sing it really low, which might set it apart,” she said. “I played it for a lot of people (in the industry) when I first wrote it and no one responded. It’s like a lot of things that have happened in my life during the last seven years, another personal milestone. It’s myself in song form.”

When Del Rey appeared on Saturday Night Live in January of 2012 to perform the song and promote her debut album Born To Die, she found out about the downside of hype. Her shaky performance took a beating on social media, and the possibility that Del Rey would be swallowed up by the backlash seemed very real.

That she rebounded with 2014’s critically-acclaimed Ultraviolence is a testament to Del Rey’s talent and toughness. The hype machine has run its course, and the good news is that “Video Games” now seems like it will more likely be the first act of a long, impressive career rather than the product of a one-hit wonder”.

Before coming to another article about the song, this i-D interview from 2011 captured the thoughts of an artist who was creating a lot of buzz and fascination. It is wonderful seeing how she has blossomed and progressed since 2011:

“Video Games” went viral long before its release date. Did you anticipate its success?

I've been putting my music online for so long that I didn't expect “Video Games” to get more attention than any other song. It's strange that people would react to a five-minute ballad, it's great though.

What's the song about?

I spoke to some journalists yesterday and they told me they thought “Video Games” was a sad song, but to me it feels happy. Things hadn't been working out for me musically for such a long time. I wrote “Video Games” after I let go of my ambitions of becoming a noteworthy artist, and was just enjoying being with my boyfriend instead, living in a trailer park, watching him play video games. That was all my life consisted of and I was at peace with that, so to me it's a happy song.

How do you think your boyfriend of the time felt when he heard the song?

I think he would find it rad. It captures the simple things about our relationship — getting dressed to go out, sitting down to watch TV. The melodies are pretty; they're the perfect match for what I was feeling. It's like, when you get a lot of things you want, and you lose them, then you get them again, then you lose them, you become a simpler person. You realise that stuff is going to keep leaving… what you really want is to find someone you can have fun with and spend all your time with.

Do you remember the first time you saw someone perform and thought, ‘this is what I want'?

When I saw Kurt Cobain on MTV Unplugged I thought 'Fuck my life! That is so sexy!' I was young but you could tell there was something tragic going on. The undertone was dark, even the funeral flowers and candles on the MTV set. He was so much more epic than anyone else I had ever encountered on television, or in real life.

Who inspires you today?

Eminem. He's a big truth teller and a mastermind rhymer. He's completely autobiographical; he's funny and as smart as they come. He's smarter than anyone else in pop music, other than Weezy. Everyone knows that.

Were you hesitant about how people would perceive you as a singer?

If I had realised just how many people were gonna watch “Video Games” then I would have had my hair and make-up done. And maybe I wouldn't have shot it on my laptop! The downside of having the video online is that for as many people who really like it, there are an equal number who fucking hate it. The amount of hate mail I get in my inbox is crazy. They always talk about my face and say terrible things. It's one of the worst things I've ever encountered in my entire life. It sounds like a luxury problem, but it's not. I'm a pretty simple person. I don't know many people and I've kept myself to myself for a really long time, so it's not something I anticipated. I anticipated no one really listening to it.

In Video Games you show a clip of Paz de la Huerta falling down drunk at the Golden Globe Awards. Why?

She's perfect. She's perfect because she's a person who wanted fame all her life and then she got it, and she loves it.

Do you identify with her?

No, I mean yes. I guess that's why I put it in. I don't want the same thing, but I know what she meant. She loves falling down, she fucking revels in her own disaster. She knows exactly what's happening and she loves it. I put it in because I thought it was right for the song, in the same way the Super 8 footage of the kids by the pool was right. I let my intuition guide me. I have a very strong narrative in mind. Maybe you could say it's my take on the dark side of the American Dream… fame gone bad, but I just think it's funny.

Does writing come naturally to you?

It used to. Francis Ford Coppola said if you sit down at the same place, at the same time, every day, the muse will know where to find you. I was so inspired by the visions I was having and the sonic world I was creating [that] it was easy, but now I only sit down to write when it comes to me.

Do you enjoy performing?

Ummm I really like writing. I really like singing, taking pictures is easy, but performing is pretty fucking terrifying. Really fucking terrifying actually.

How do you prepare?

Fucking pray all night, I get sick, whatever. I'm hoping it will change. I haven't been on a stage in 16 months”.

I am going to get to an article that writes how Video Games altered the Pop landscape. At a time when there was this bright Pop music that wasn’t necessarily that deep, along came something that was much more substantial, serious and deep. It was a turning point. In 2010, the Lana Del Ray album came out. Her career was not in a terrific state in 2011. Even if Video Games was more of an international success, it would not take long until the New York City-artist was a much bigger and acclaimed name around the world (and in her native U.S.):

“Few songs have had as much impact on the direction and marketing of popular music as Lana Del Rey’s breakout hit. Officially released on October 7, 2011 (it had leaked months earlier), “Video Games” arrived at a time when Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Ke$ha dominated the airwaves with their upbeat, electro-pop bangers. Lana, however, offered an entirely different proposition. Here was a sullen songstress with an understated ballad that sounded a hell of a lot sadder than the lyrics gave it any right to.

Not only was the sound completely different to her contemporaries, so was the aesthetic. Instead of rocking outrageous costumes, face paint and body glitter, LDR looked like she had just stepped out of a Life magazine shoot circa 1955. In other words, “Video Games” should never have worked and it was predictably ignored by pop radio. Instead, “Video Games” became one of the first songs to chart on the back of an outpouring of love from music blogs and, subsequently, rabid support on social media.

While going viral is considered a standard launching pad for a music career in 2019, it was uncharted territory in 2011. And Lana doesn’t get enough credit for mapping those badlands. “Video Games” also ushered in the age of the DIY pop star. All of a sudden, artists were not only expected to write their own music, but also corral fans online. Moreover, the success of the self-directed video resulted in a demand for greater input visually. In the wake of “Video Games,” authenticity (or at least the perception of it) was king.

However, the impact of “Video Games” goes well beyond marketing. It birthed the dark-pop movement that still persists to this day. While morose pop music has been a thing since Nancy Sinatra picked up a microphone (and probably well before it), Lana made it cool and commercial again. Suddenly, the interwebs were clogged with a flood of sad girls and even sadder boys with copycat sounds. On a more uplifting note, the song also introduced fans to Lana’s influences and opened the door for other artists that didn’t fit the industry mold.

“Video Games” ultimately peaked at number 91 on the Billboard Hot 100. Happily, it was received very differently abroad. The crushing ballad topped the charts in Germany and cracked the top 10 in major markets like the UK and France. A phenomenon was born, and America could no longer ignore it. On its 8th birthday, take some time to revisit one of the most influential songs of the 2010s. It sounds every bit as mesmerizing today as it did in 2011”.

There has been a lot written about Video Games, though I don’t think that enough has been written in the past five years or so regarding how Lana Del Rey’s Video Games changed Pop. How her evolution and influence since then has been profound and hugely unexpected – given the fact Video Games was such a slow-burning in many countries. In October 2016, five years after its release, DAZED discussed the enduring legacy of the song. I think its influence has widened and strengthened in the ensuring seven years:

“It was five years ago that Lana Del Rey first entranced the world with her distinctive, dreamy brand of what she called ‘Hollywood Sadcore’. The first glimpse came in the form of “Video Games”, a simple yet brilliant ballad which stopped an EDM-obsessed music industry in its tracks. Its instrumentation is minimal; the song opens with church bells and slowly develops as harps, strings and a plodding piano swell underneath the beauty of Del Rey’s distinctive vocal. Lyrics seem to be sighed instead of sung; there are hints of melancholia as well as that sweeping, cinematic sadness with which Del Rey has since become synonymous. It’s aged incredibly well due to its lack of reliance on musical trends: “Video Games” is the kind of once-in-a-lifetime track destined for critical acclaim regardless of its release date.

Then, there was the video. It’s a moving collage comprised of archive footage – think Disney vixens, American flags and flickering clips of a faded Hollywood sign – interspersed with webcam videos of a doe-eyed Del Rey singing wistfully at the camera. The song lyrics themselves rely on a juxtaposition of fantasy and reality; the verses depict a doting Del Rey dressing up to distract her lover from his aforementioned “Video Games” whereas the cinematic chorus sees the starlet romanticise the concept of romance, cooing “Heaven is a place on Earth with you.”

“The verse was about the way things were with one person, and the chorus was the way that I wished things had really been with another person, who I thought about for a long time”, she explained in a Dazed profile back in 2011. “‘Swinging in the backyard, pull up in your fast car, whistling my name’. That was what happened, you know? He’d come home and I’d see him. But then the chorus wasn’t like that. That was the way that I wished it was – the melody sounds so compelling and heavenly because I wanted it to be that way.”

“Retrospectively, the contrast between the reality of a relationship and a wistful longing for old-fashioned love remain the perfect introduction to Lana Del Rey’s work”

Retrospectively, the contrast between the reality of a relationship and a wistful longing for old-fashioned love remain the perfect introduction to Lana Del Rey’s work; the same themes continue to permeate her more recent work, and her commitment to her singular aesthetic remains unflinching. Back in 2011, the commercial viability of that aesthetic was astounding – “Video Games” went platinum in Australia, Austria, Belgium and the United Kingdom as well as going double platinum in Switzerland and selling over 2.6million copies worldwide. To date, the video has been viewed over 128,000,000 times on YouTube alone and the song won a prestigious Ivor Novello award for Best Contemporary Song in 2012. Her most recent work may have never have reached the same commercial peaks as “Video Games” but the reference points remain the same – even if the budgets are now bigger.

It’s undeniable that the timing of “Video Games” release was pivotal – its unique soundscape seemed even more unique in a mainstream increasingly dominated by identikit EDM. In an interview with T Magazine, Del Rey explained that record labels saw her downbeat, melancholy output as a commercial risk which deterred them from taking a chance. “I would play my songs, explain what I was trying to do, and I’d get ‘You know who’s No. 1 in 13 countries right now? Kesha. ‘Video Games’ was a 4-and-a-half-minute ballad’”, she explained. “No instruments on it. It was too dark, too personal, too risky, not commercial. It wasn’t pop until it was on the radio.”

The moment the song did hit the radio, the reception was unprecedented – and also extremely short-lived. There was a quick backlash following “Video Games” success which saw Lana Del Rey elevated and subsequently crucified by the media before she even released her first album. It seems the backlash started around the time that ill-fated debut LP was unearthed online; entitled Lana Del Ray a.k.a. Lizzy Grant, the album hinted at the sonic potential that would later flourish; much like “Video Games”, these were downbeat, lovelorn ballads rooted in grainy, lo-fi Americana. Media outlets were, on the other hand, more incensed at the discovery of Lana Del Rey as a pseudonym; shattered was the illusion that she had appeared from nowhere on YouTube, a revelation which sparked a subsequent mission to crucify the starlet for a supposed lack of authenticity.

This criticism was bolstered by a widely-panned Saturday Night Live performance which many argued as a demonstration of her lack of talent. Del Rey was forced to defend herself, explaining that she wasn’t yet a trained performer and was, in fact, finding her feet in front of a global audience. Articles were soon released attempting to expose Del Rey as a case of style over substance; headlines exposed a millionaire father and drew attention to claims that Del Rey had been pushed by managers and lawyers to create an alias name for her music. Things went to such an extreme that SPIN published an article entitled Deconstructing Lana Del Rey – a meticulous analysis of fact and fiction designed to clear up the facts and myths surrounding the star.

From day one, Lana Del Rey was forced by press to deny rumours that she was the meticulous creation of a record label seeking success. She explained that her moniker choice stemmed from spending time with her Cuban friends, speaking Spanish frequently and eventually settling on Lana Del Rey due to it being exotic and beautiful. “Once you have a name, you expect certain things from it, so it was like something to aim towards,” she explained in the same Dazed profile. “I could build a sonic world towards the way the name fell off my lips. It’s helped me a lot.” Despite her honesty, the mainstream media was unsurprisingly reluctant to believe that Del Rey, a woman whose visual universe centred around archetypes and female sexuality, could truly have agency over her own image.

Still, the true legacy of “Video Games” lies neither in its commercial nor its critical success. Instead, it can be found on Tumblr. A quick search of ‘Lana Del Rey’ on the blogging site spews up thousands and thousands of gifs, photos and lyric quotes which draw from the same breed of cinematic melancholia so synonymous with Del Rey. Her lyrics have drawn criticism for glamourising death and depression, whereas “Video Games” seems to evoke a desperate longing for the affections of an unresponsive lover; it’s this distinctive juxtaposition of references that concisely encapsulates the self-coined term ‘Hollywood sadcore’.

“The mainstream media was unsurprisingly reluctant to believe that Del Rey, a woman whose visual universe centred around archetypes and female sexuality, could truly have agency over her own image”

On the other hand, the link between depression and Tumblr is well-documented; a combination of online anonymity, communal spirit and an endless well of content on sadness and struggle turned the site into a beautiful safe haven for sufferers to share their stories. Coincidentally, Tumblr was experiencing a boom in popularity around the same time that Del Rey emerged as a mainstream figure and immediately became a figurehead of what is still known as ‘sadcore’. A Dummy article written in 2012 succintly describes her appeal: “A beautiful woman with a curious voice, Lana portrayed a quasi-Perks of Being A Wallflower perspective on tortured young love with a wistfulness that appealed to an access-all-areas Internet generation desperately grasping for nostalgia”.

Such a distinct and astoundingly powerful song, Video Games might be a tad overproduced…though it is this dreamy, epic and almost haunting song that transports the senses. It was alien and an amazingly refreshing change in music in 2011. Announcing this immense and original talent who has since gone on to become one of the most important and talented songwriters in the world, I feel Lana Del Rey will go down in history as someone who radically changed music and opened the door for so many artists coming through. She plays Primavera Sound Barcelona next year. Her ninth studio album, Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd, came out earlier this year (and is one of the best from this year). Video Games arrived back in 2011. It sounded like nothing else in music. Twelve years later, I still think that this…

IS the case.

FEATURE: Kerry, So Cool and So Clever… Inside Other Voices Dingle 2023

FEATURE:

 

 

Kerry, So Cool and So Clever…

  

Inside Other Voices Dingle 2023

_________

I was going to…

write about Primavera Sound Barcelona 2024, as they just announced their line-up. I might circle back to that nearer to the date of the festival. I am more interested in smaller festivals. Maybe ones that pass some people by. One that caught my eye is Other Voices. I am focusing on the event that takes place between 1st and 3rd December in Dingle (there was a streamed event, Other Voices Home at the Guinness Scorehouse, that happened on 21st November). With a lot happening, it is a chance to highlight an interesting festival event that hosts some terrific names. You can get some more details here. Go check them out on Twitter and Instagram. They are also on Facebook and TikTok. Before going on, here is some information and history about Other Voices:

“Songs for the Head & the Heart

Since 2001, Other Voices has brought some of the world’s leading luminaries to the most westernly tip of Europe to raise their voice and sing.

Glastonbury headliners, Grammy-winners and New York Times cover stars  have all joined us in West Kerry to experience the magic of our intimate, ethereal winter festival, creating a genre-defying time capsule of the musical landscape year-on-year.

Across two decades, our spiritual home the Church of St James has witnessed breathtaking performances by Paolo Nutini, Amy Winehouse, Sam Fender, Arlo Parks, The National, For Those I Love, Young Fathers, Little Simz and more, with Other Voices’ ethereal charm drawing back friends like Hozier, Loyle Carner, Sigrid, Dermot Kennedy and elbow to play for us time and time again.

We care just as much about showcasing emerging talent as we do about big names. Each year the brightest new artists make the pilgrimage to perform on our Music Trail in boats, caravans, cafes, record shops and anywhere else we can squeeze them in. Whether it's in West Kerry, Cardigan or Ballina our Music Trail is always about championing what’s about to happen and has been a right of passage for the likes of Fontaines D.C., Saint Sister and many more.

Produced by South Wind Blows, Other Voices Festival has become an established fixture in the Irish and international music calendar, a 'must attend' event for performers and audiences alike with thousands making their way to experience all that we have to offer each winter. ‍

Other Voices across the Globe

From Austin to Derry, Latitude to New York City via Berlin and London we’ve brought our Other Voices stage to some of our favourite cities and festivals, bringing pals like Snow Patrol and Lisa Hannigan with us and making new friends like Gregory Porter, Ed Sheeran, Martha Wainwright, Willie Nelson and Celeste along the way.

Courage

When the world stood still, we kept moving. In 2020 during the depths of lockdown, we launched our acclaimed ‘Courage’ series, beaming inspiring performances of new voices and familiar faces into homes around the world. Iconic performances by Denise Chaila, The Murder Capital, Lankum and more lifted our spirits and gave us all courage at a time when we needed it the most.

Other Voices Twenty Two

This December we celebrate our 22nd year, live and online with some of the world's most exciting acts. Stunning live sets will be beamed live tothe Other Voices' YouTube each night from The Church of St James, with dozens of Ireland's brightest new voices taken to the stages along the Dingle Gin Music Trail from 1 - 3 December. We want to share our plans with you before anyone else - sign up to our newsletter to be the first to know”.

Maybe you won’t be able to get a ticket at the moment but, if you can and are in the area, make sure that you do. I am going to end with a playlist of tracks from artists set to appear live at the event between 1st and 3rd December. There is also non-music guests such as comedian Aisling Bea who will be in conversation. I will discuss that. Further details and links can be found here:

“The Church of St James | 1 - 3 December | Live & Online

We're so excited to share the first six acts who'll be taking to the sacred stage of St James' this December!

CMAT

Following the release of her excellent sophomore record Crazymad, For Me, global popstar CMAT returns to Dingle after a triumphant couple of years! Equal parts “God, self-destruction and a Britney tune”, the Irish songwriting auteur has earned rave reviews at home and abroad for her trailblazing second full-length, which features John Grant and references to Vincent Kompany, Mark E Smith and Rebekah Vardy, but CMAT is holding down the spotlight all by herself. Famed for her live sets, St James’ Church awaits!

ØXN

Doomfolk supergroup ØXN makes their Other Voices debut. Their haunting debut record 'CYRM,' announced as Claddagh Records’ first new signing in 18 years, arrived last month to critical acclaim, gripping listeners with unique sonics.

GURRIERS

After playing one of the buzziest shows on the Music Trail last year, GURRIERS move straight into the Church this year.  Building a reputation as one of the island’s most energetic, riotous live acts, they've gained attention for their punk-driven performances all over Europe and secured a slot supporting legendary outfit Slowdive at their Irish shows.

 MICK FLANNERY

We'll be welcoming back the cherished songsmith MICK FLANNERY to the OV stage. Following a hugely successful collaboration with Susan O'Neill which even nabbed Phoebe Bridgers’ seal of approval, he recently signed to John Prine’s label Oh Boy Records releasing his eighth studio album Goodtime Charlie last month, marking the imprint’s first international signing.

JULIE BYRNE

Hailing from Buffalo, New York, JULIE BYRNE is one of contemporary music’s most astonishing singer-songwriters. July 2023 saw the release of her latest album, The Greater Wings, which was a collaboration with a beloved friend and former lover, who tragically passed away before the LP was completed. The resulting body of work pays tribute to her grief with breathtaking delicacy. The 33-year-old musician’s Irish great-grandfather was a multi-instrumentalist and a finger-style guitarist, whom Julie credits for her own bewitching creativity.

THE JOY

Last but definitely not least, South African group THE JOY have become infamous for their ability to spread euphoria through unmatched sonic energy. Transcending both genre and continents; the five-piece band’s first release was 2021 EP Amabutho. The combination of traditional Zulu music with contemporary a cappella elements effortlessly summed the band’s spirit. Collaborating with The Blessed Madonna, playing Jools Holland and performing at the 2022 Commonwealth Games was only the beginning; they’ve since caught the attention of artists like Alicia Keys, Sam Smith and Jennifer Hudson.

We'll be adding even more exciting names the Church line up VERY SOON so keep an eye out for news and chances to win some golden tickets to see them live in action!

Livestreaming & Tickets

All Church performances will be streamed live to world via the Other Voices YouTube. As a reminder you cannot buy tickets for The Church performances - find out why here. These will only be available via competitions. Follow us on socials for the latest news and stay tuned for many more acts to be announced in the coming weeks.

Special thanks to Reed, Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, RTÉ, Kerry County Council and IMRO for making this year's OV possible!

 Dingle Distillery Music Trail - SOLD OUT

Over 50 of the island's best new voices and established talent will take to the OV stage across Dingle town this December as part of the Dingle Distillery Music Trail for three days of incredible live sets.

49TH & MAIN | ANNA’S ANCHOR | AOIFE WOLF | AONAIR | ARBORIST | BAYONETS | BIG LOVE | CÁIT NÍ RIAIN | CARSIE BLANTON | CHALK | CHRIS WONG | CHUBBY CAT | CONCHÚR WHITE | CURTISY | DANIEL LUKE | DECARTERET | DYLAN FLYNN & THE DEAD POETS | ELAINE MALONE | EOGHAN Ó CEANNABHÁIN | FAOI BHLÁTH | FIA MOON | FILMORE! |GEMMA COX | GRÁINNE HUNT | JOSHUA BURNSIDE | LEO MIYAGEE | M(H)AOL | MAIJA SOFIA | MEGAN NIC RUAIRÍ | MORGANA | MOUNT PALOMAR | NEIL DEXTER | NEALO | NEGRO IMPACTO | NEW JACKSON | PHIL KIERAN | POBALSCOIL CHORCA DHUIBHNE | PROBLEM PATTERNS | QBANAA | REALLY GOOD TIME | REBEL PHOENIX | SCUSTIN | SEBA SAFE | SEARCH RESULTS | SCULLION | SUBTERRANEAN SOUL | SWEETLEMONDAE |THE FULLY AUTOMATIC MODEL |THE LINE | THE PSYCHS | TRAMP | TOMMY & SANDRA O’SULLIVAN | WINNIE AMA | YARD

Tickets are sold out but you can join the waiting list now via Eventbrite

Please be aware that as always the Dingle Distillery Music Trail venues are intimate and access to each venue will be on a first come, first served basis with more artists playing more than once so you'll have more than one chance to catch your favourite act this year, but we do advise getting down early to your favourite shows.

Ireland's Edge

Ireland's Edge - the ideas and discussion strand of Other Voices - flies home to Dingle this December to present it's ninth edition.

This year's two day discussion programme  'Trust Issues / Muinín Faoi Amhras’, considers the breakdown of trust in the structures that uphold our society - public institutions, parliaments, hospitals, universities, broadcasters, the technology industry and business, and asks if and how it can be restored amid growing distrust posing challenges for our future.

Fiona Hill, former senior director for European and Russian affairs, U.S. National Security Council, Tony Connelly, RTÉ Europe Editor; Author, Mark Little, Founder of Storyful and Kinzen; Member of the Future of Media Commission Ireland, Professor Orla Feely, President, University College Dublin, Mark O’Connell, Writer, Aoife Moore, Journalist; Author of best-selling The Long Game: Inside Sinn Féin, Alex White, Senior Counsel; The Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA); Former Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications of Ireland, Dr Monica Peres Oikeh, GP with Special Interest in Women’s Health, Sinéad O’Carroll, Editor, TheJournal.ie, Claire D. Cronin, US Ambassador to Ireland, Professor Sara Burke, Associate Professor of Public Health & Primary Care, Trinity College Dublin, Brian Irvine & John McIlfuff, Founders and Artistic Directors, Dumbworld, Professor John O’Halloran, President, University College Cork, Phil Ní Sheaghdha, General Secretary, Irish Nurses and Midwives Association, Siobhán Holliman, Deputy Editor of Tuam Herald; Future of Media Commission //, Professor John Naughton, CRASSH, Cambridge University. There will also be a captivating performance by the extraordinary singer and composer Rachael Lavelle.

Day and weekend tickets are on sale now but moving fast. Books yours now before it's too late.

Book your ticket for Ireland's Edge here.

IN THIS PHOTO: Aisling Bea

BANTER

‍Jim Carroll’s legendary Banter series returns to Other Voices with a host of exciting guests including BAFTA-winning actor, writer and comedian Aisling Bea, historian and broadcaster Dónal Fallon, multi-award-winning author Mark O’Connell, journalist and Irish Times columnist Brianna Parkins, broadcaster and author Emma Warren, artist and designer Richard Malone, Chairman of the iconic Irish record label, Claddagh Records James Morrissey. Banter will also feature a special conversation with author Colum McCann and acclaimed Irish musician Colm Mac Con Iomaire with more names to be announced.

Held on Saturday and Sunday afternoons during the festival weekend, Jim Carroll will explore what makes his guests tick, through a series of fireside chats in Foxy John’s pub on Dingle’s Main Street. Entry to Banter will be on a first-come, first-served basis each day so make sure to get in nice and early!

No additional ticket required”.

One thinks that festivals happen in the summer and nothing happens later on. Although technically not a winter festival – 1st December is still in the autumn -, it is one late in the calendar that is worth highlighting. Whilst we are starting to get line-ups coming through for next year’s festivals, it is worth keeping in mind smaller festivals and events that are interesting and boast diverse talent. I like the fact that there are legends like Aisling Bea and Brianna Parkins in conversation. We also get music from CMAT and Julie Byrne. It is going to be a warming, rousing, inspiring and magical time in Dingle, Kerry. If you can see it live or online, make sure that you do not miss out on these…

CULTURAL gems.

FEATURE: Saluting the Queens: Jamz Supernova

FEATURE:

 

 

Saluting the Queens

 PHOTO CREDIT: Emily Almodovar for Beat Portal

 

Jamz Supernova

_________

I have spotlighted…

and celebrated Jamz Supernova before. You can follow her on Instagram.  Label owner at Future Bounce and recent winner at Music Week’s Women in Music 2023 Awards, I wanted to revisit this music icon and leader. Someone, too, who announced Ezra Collective as this year’s Mercury Prize winner. A head judge who made that incredible delivery. Someone, clearly, who is very important and influential in modern music. Broadcasting on BBC Radio 6 Music, there is no doubting the fact that Jamz Supernova is a queen of the music scene! I am going to come to a few interviews with her. One is a very recent one. First, here is some background and biography about a remarkable D.J., broadcaster, label boss and champion of new music:

“For Jamz Supernova, her goals in the industry are about more than sheer entertainment. “I'm playing this artist so far in the future, but we're remembering that it started right here,” she says. Rather, she’s using her position to inform, link musical timelines, and tell a story through sonics. “I’m trying to link the past, present and the future.”

A multi-hyphenate force in the UK’s music space, the labels she holds are as numerous as they are formidable. She is a label head, radio host, DJ, podcaster, and overall tastemaker broadcasting in the industry for over a decade at the age of 32. She’ll be known to fans for slots on BBC Radio 1Xtra (Best Specialist Aria Gold Winner 2021), BBC 6Music (Broadcast & Press Guild Best radio show of 2022) & Selector radio for the British Council, reaching over 4 million global listeners.

Known for selecting sounds that span musical genres and subcultures, what she enjoys is the intimacy of sharing music with her community over radio.  BBC 6 Music is where she sits as a storyteller, exploring global communities and unearthing exciting scenes through platforming underground music that rarely graces the mainstream.  On Selector Radio she gives her listeners an overview of British music as a whole, keeping her audience hip to growing trends and scenes as they emerge in real time. And throughout her time on 1Xtra she has been celebrated for picking out the most left-field modern music and giving an incisive look into the alternative music scene.

“There's the double prong-ness of supporting artists that I love, and then playing it to ears that I want to excite. I love being able to provide a platform for them, and then following them all the way from the beginning of their career,” she says, having been an early champion of the likes of Hak Baker, Greentea Peng, Pip Millett and more.

Set up in 2018, her label Future Bounce is another facet of her drive to support emerging artists. Working with musicians like UNIIQU3, Sola and Scratcha DVA amongst others, Jamz works in both an A&Ring and consulting capacity, helping her signees to progress their artistry where the industry can be thorny for up-and-comers.

“I do the due diligence of looking for music, but I know how hard it is for artists to get their music to me if you don't know me, or you're not on my radar,” she says. “So it's about selecting those artists that I'm going to shout about; I'm going to put you in front of this person, give you my phonebook – we attack it together.”

In her live DJing and club appearances, she plays an eclectic genre mix from broken beat, UK funky to Bass, techno and beyond. Inspired by sound system culture & music from around the globe, she has toured worldwide and is a mainstay on the UK festival scene, playing at the likes of We Out Here Festival, Worldwide Sete, Love Saves The Day, All Points East and more.

Her podcast DIY Handbook outlines the stories of how herself and other featured creatives got to where they are, including the ups and the downs. It’s a winning antidote to a perfectly curated social-media world, where the likes of DJ and Producer Conducta, Sunday Times Best Selling Author Otegha Uwagba and presenter June Sarpong can get real about the challenges and the slog. “I kind of made it for the 19-year-old me that entered the BBC for the first time, those who maybe just put their foot in the door,” she says.

“It's the openness and vulnerability of talking about things behind the lens of everything looking perfect. We see the end destination, but this is about all those hurdles, moments and life lessons you learn en route.”

Born Jamila Walters, Jamz lived the early months of her life in Birmingham before her family relocated to South-East London at around 9 months old. It’s here where she’d soak up her multicultural settings, something that would forge her musical identity. “It has all culminated in the kind of DJ and tastemaker that I am,” she says.

“A big part of my identity on air is learning about how people resonate with their heritage. I'm really fascinated by those intersections because I've been around so many different types growing up; African, Turkish, Vietnamese, Caribbean, Somali. It's so nice to be able to share that,” she says, herself being of Jamaican, Cuban and Irish heritage.

Music was a language in the household, a means of how her family communicated both then and now. “Sound system culture just kind of runs through us,” she says: this would be christened by her grandparents who met at a blues, and a love for music would trickle down over generations.

She spent her childhood dancing for hours in the living room with her mum, her dad turning up the music so loud she could feel bass vibrations on their windows. She’d watch her uncle DJ and groove to 7’’ vinyls, and her aunt would take her to raves. Her early clubbing experiences opened her up to a taste of UK funky and dancehall, genres that would lead her into d’n’b, hip hop and more.

Getting into the first steps of her career would prove less direct, though. “I feel like radio chose me,” she says. As a teenager, she wanted to be a TV presenter at first, only taking an interest in radio after accompanying a friend to a visit to BRIT School. It was an “epiphany moment;” Jamz enrolled in their BRIT FM at age 16, eventually joining the BBC aged 19 as a producer.

She’d spend time at Reprezent Radio learning the ropes and hosting her own show, culminating in her first show on BBC Radio 1Xtra at 24. It wasn't an easy path though, and Jamz faced a lot of no’s along the way. “ I loved production, but I knew what I wanted. I had to fight to be on air,” she recalls. It’s testament to a supreme work ethic, summarized in an outlook retained over the course of her career: “There will never be a plan B. Plan B means you don’t believe in plan A.“

It is a vision that will only continue as she moves forward. Jamz will be moving into further TV. She has already filmed and developed documentaries for BBC Three & Newsbeat, also recently co-hosting music show Jazz 625 on BBC FOUR. For 2022, she has been announced as a guest judge for the Mercury Prize. Future Bounce are due to release Vol.II of their Future Bounce Club Series, and she is looking at further podcast ideas in music and the topic of motherhood, having recently given birth to daughter Forest.

World domination will continue to be in her orbit. But Jamz will continue to rise by doing what’s always worked for her – staying true to herself, and to those that resonate with her craft. “I don’t need the numbers and metrics,” she smiles. “But I want you to listen the shows, to come see me DJ and buy the music from the label because you're genuinely invested, and I'm doing something for you”.

Whether you are looking to have your Friday night playlist taken care of or want to hear her celebrate and discuss the importance of global music, then there are precious Jamz resources available. Since I feature Jamz Supernova a year or so ago a lot more press has comer online. She has achieved even more, so it is well worth dipping back in. Rather than featuring interviews from 2021 and 2022, I am going to keep it fresh. 2023 has been a very important busy one for this legend. I am going to come to a very recent (last month in fact) interview, where Jamz Supernova talked about five years of her Future Bounce label. I will end with that. I am going to start with this Beat Portal interview. Among other things, she discussed her philosophical approach to music, and the effects of her (then) recent trip to Colombia:

“Her approach to finding music to play as a DJ goes back to that Rodigan sense of trusting your gut – “and really listening to it, you know if a song is good or not”, but for her label it’s slightly different. “There’s the ear of potential, like can you hear where this is going, does it need a little bit of development? Is this a longer-term project?” It was really important for her to work with women who produce, who, like her, might struggle with feelings of imposter syndrome and might want to take a little longer to send over tracks. “Every release from 2018 up until now, I can hear the label’s gotten better. The artists have, but the label in terms of sonics, too.” Bianca Oblivion, whose fierce fusion of baile funk and grime (“Bad Gyal“) was released on the label last year, Jamz describes as “really the future of dance music, I think – her name will keep on popping up.” Sola’s ‘Abide In U’, the latest release on the label, is a reflection of the jazz-inflected side of things, all rich production and fluttery drums courtesy of British drummer Moses Boyd.

PHOTO CREDIT: Emily Almodovar

Pulling together watertight releases from the likes of Lorenzo BITW, quest?onmarq and Murder He Wrote, the second installation of Future Bounce’s Club Series was created while Jamz was pregnant, having a baby and navigating motherhood. She was running the whole thing “like a crazy professor” from her living room, doing the PR, radio plugging, ingesting and uploading. At times she’d been quite literally flitting between breastfeeding and DJing (when she takes Forest to her sets, she says, she naps in the green room and seems to instinctively wake up during the last track). “It actually was really, really hard,” she says about running the label as a new mum, “but when I listened back to the whole thing – I just had the test presses back for the vinyl and I’m like, ‘This is really good club music that’s really strong and representative of me as a DJ’.” Gilles Peterson, who she just delivered a test pressing of Volume II to – and with whom she often exchanges gifts, like old magazines from the 2000s – gave her the seal of approval by instantly selecting four tracks.

Jamz might be a radio fanatic, but she’s not averse to the camera-led side of broadcasting. She’s a keen TV host and has presented live from Glastonbury 2022, and fronted documentaries like BBC3’s Is This The End of Clubbing? Moses Boyd and her teamed up on BBC Four show Jazz 625, a one-off celebration of the UK jazz explosion that looked at the grassroots movement that Jamz had a part to play in amplifying. Before wanting to be a radio host, she wanted to be a TV presenter, and her radio producer background meant she’s always been developing ideas. “I’ve never wanted to just be a talking head,” she says. People liked her and Moses as a double act, and she’s working on pitching something that sounds like a music version of Travel Man – a “very indulgent TV show that allows us to travel as friends, experiencing music and culture”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Emily Almodovar

An avid music documentary fan – she mentions one about ‘70s Brixton band Cymande and God Said Give ‘Em Drum Machines, which looks at the Black origins of techno – Jamz sees documenting music culture as something of a “higher purpose”. “I’m sure some family members think I piss about all day, but when you watch these moments captured in time, you realise the power of music and what it can do for people,” she says. “It goes back to, what do I want to do with my platform? And for me, it’s telling stories. How do I tell the best stories through music?”

Centering herself is something that doesn’t come naturally to Jamz, but she’s working on taking herself out of her comfort zone this year. In April, she’s taking to Shoreditch’s Village Underground to throw the ‘Supernova X-Perience’, along with a mega selection of guests that are still under wraps, but looking at her bursting-at-the-seams contact book, you can pretty much guarantee it’ll have a gold standard line-up. “I’ve been running club nights for a long time, and I always built a line-up around everyone else, then inserted myself in there somewhere. But it was never about me, and I think there comes a time when you need to actually shout about yourself.” Even if that does mean having a few “anxiety dreams,” she adds, laughing. She’s working on a set “that feels like a live show,” she explains. “Like, I’m a DJ, I never gonna make music, I don’t want to make music. But I want to create that euphoria of dancing and I want to create moments within a set that make you lose your shit, basically.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Emily Almodovar

But before that is the 6 Music festival which takes place in Greater Manchester next month, her second year doing it as part of “the family,” she says. “I love that element – I remember last year with Craig Charles, Radcliffe & Maconie and Steve Lamacq all drinking downstairs in the hotel ‘til like 5am, so I want more of that – more team building,” she says with a smile.

When Jamz broadcasts her carnival special on 6 Music, it’s a show celebrating the riotous holidays taking hold all over the world, informing listeners about the blocos and bandas in Rio carnival that play early ‘00s trance and brass band covers of Madonna. Jamz’s selection jumps from Daddy Yankee’s “Gasolina” to New Orleans brass bands, which she tops up with a half-hour mix of Soca bangers at the end (“if you stay moving at the end of this mix, I’m not your friend any more!”) Dissecting the sounds with a warm quality, she has that rare ability to translate music for both an audiophile and casual listening audience.

Talking about her show a week earlier, she talks about the “immense privilege to be on national radio”. “I’ll never take it for granted,” she says, “but I’ve always wanted it on my own terms as well. I’ve always had this headstrong-ness of, ‘This is who I am and this is what I play, and I won’t bend.’ And I think it’s finally kind of paid off. It’s got me to a place where now I’m on national radio on a Saturday afternoon, I programme the whole thing and there’s no playlist. I do it all myself. Not many people get that opportunity to do that at this level”.

I shall come to the Music Week honour now. Receiving such a high and converted honour, it is not a surprise that the fabulous Jamz Supernova was awarded the Music Champion prize. Someone who is restless and always working when it comes to giving us the best and most interesting music coming through, they spoke with her about her incredible career:

“The winner of this year’s Music Champion honour is radio host, DJ, label head and podcaster Jamz Supernova.

Jamz, of course, has been a trailblazing tastemaker throughout her career. Known for her current slot on BBC Radio 6 Music, as well as her shows on BBC Radio 1Xtra and Selector Radio for the British Council, she brings fresh and diverse music to new audiences every week, reaching over four million global listeners in the process.

And that's just for starters. Her label, Future Bounce, was set up in 2018 and sees Jamz working in both A&R and consulting, releasing records from the likes of Bianca Oblivion, Suchi and Giulia Tess. Through her DJ sets, she is also a mainstay at festivals and clubs worldwide, spinning an eclectic mix of broken beat, UK funky, bass, techno and beyond at the likes of We Out Here Festival, Worldwide Sete, All Points East and more.

Having also hosted television shows for BBC Three, Four and Newsbeat, as well as music awards ceremonies such as the prestigious Mercury Prize, for Jamz, she has made a huge impact.

Here, we meet Jamz to reflect on her amazing career so far and talk the importance of pushing for positive change in the music industry…

PHOTO CREDIT: Alex Lambert

How does it feel to be honoured as a music champion?

“Awards are always a funny thing, and I’m quite an introverted person so I would never put myself forward for something, so it’s so nice to get a nod for doing the work I do! Being Music Champion feels like a great award to win because that's what I try to do, put the music first and trust my instincts with what I want to play, what I want to shout about on the radio or in my label, and my DJ sets as well, it feels like a very personal expression. So to have this award for it is really amazing.”

You have championed so many upcoming artists throughout your various radio shows. What made you want to dedicate your career to spotlighting artists?

“I was always that kid at school getting the hottest music and making mixtapes with people, I’ve always loved that element of sharing music with people and I really get a kick out of the discovery of it. I remember being in my late teens and my idea of a fun evening would be sitting on the blogs and coming across all these different things happening around the world and going on soundcloud – it’s always been how I spend my free time! To have an actual platform to share what you’ve discovered is just another element, so I kind of always knew I’d work in music, and because I was so enthusiastic about talking about new music, it just made sense that radio would be my first vehicle to do that.”

Who inspired you growing up in terms of the tastemakers and supporters of new music? Did you have a mentor?

“I had so many, I’m so thankful for all the mentors I had. I started off on Reprezent Radio, and I had a guy called Gavin [Douglas], who was a DJ I used to listen to called G Child. A lot of my generation and the generation after me credit him as being the mentor, and I was sort of one of his first radio children! From the age of 19, he was my mentor, in terms of getting out what I wanted to express within a radio show and teaching me the principles of radio. We had a really intense couple of years of really developing me as a broadcaster. It was like, ‘You know the music, but how do you share the music?’ and ‘You’re going to have to learn to DJ now because you’re a specialist and specialist DJs DJ!’ So that was really helpful.

“When I got to the BBC, I was surrounded by all these people who I admired. Meeting people like DJ Target, the dedication and passion that he had in finding all this music for his Homegrown show, I really loved watching him put it all together with his CDs, being really specific about the music he chose. There was also Toddla T, who did a really good job and showed [me] that being a music champion is not always a personal expression, it's also about leaning on different people and scenes around you, and learning how to spotlight them. I was very lucky to have different mentors throughout my career, even now, Mary Anne Hobbs, Giles [Peterson], they’re my music champions.”

You mentioned learning the importance of learning to DJ as a broadcaster. What is the relationship between the music you spotlight on radio and the music you choose to mix on the decks? Are the processes intertwined for you, or are they very different disciplines?

“To begin with they were quite separate, I had a DJ persona and I had a radio persona, and what I was playing had quite different expressions. Radio was a lot more down tempo and DJing was a lot more electronic leaning. As my career has grown, and I've had different spaces to explore, like in Radio 6 Music, it feels like all those worlds are coming together now and I’m coming across tracks like, ‘Oh I want to talk about that, but I also want to hear it in the club!’ They are quite interconnected now, but for me it’s all just about the education with both of them. I'm coming across so much music all the time, and that feeds my label as well, the people I sign and people I meet. It’s one big circle.”

Talking of your label, Future Bounce, what was the inspiration behind setting it up in 2018?

“It started off as a launchpad for artists that I was discovering through the radio, so much music comes out and it can be so hard for music to always get the attention it deserves, even if it’s really great. So for me, it was like, ‘Okay, I want to pick out a few artists, and what’s the next layer of support I can give them?’ That was setting up a label. Since then, the label has grown and also become more of an expression of my own taste, and it's an incubator for new talent, and for me to tell the stories of these artists and shine a spotlight on what they’re doing.”

What has your experience been like joining BBC Radio 6, has there been any resistance to you bringing in new music and voices?

“I mean, it’s such a privilege in terms of being a specialist woman to curate everything myself, everything I play on radio I have 100% picked, and to have that slot on a Saturday afternoon is massive. I was always very certain that the only way I wanted to do radio was in this way and I couldn't have been on 6 Music at the start of my career, but I can now because of everything that’s been leading up to it. I’ve been on daytime radio, I know how to make things feel accessible and comfortable, but I'm also a DJ so it’s important for me to stay true to what I play and not overthink whether people are going to like it. If someone doesn’t like it, I’d hope that they go somewhere else rather than trying to put me in a hole. There is always pushback when there is change, but I know that we’ve made some incredible radio and what I love about 6 Music is that I am constantly reaching new audiences.

“When I first started, there weren’t that many DJs of colour on the station, so you do get the pushback on that side of things, but I think that Saturday spot for me is a very safe space to be and I feel comfortable in being me. And I love 6 Music, I think it needed it, it is alternative music – whether that’s through the African diasporic lens or the SWANA lens, or anything, it’s new and exciting music we should be shouting about and hearing about.”

Especially with the dance music world, it’s quite male-dominated, so it’s my responsibility to make sure that we are spotlighting women or non-binary people to shift that balance. 

As a DJ breaking new music, you are known as the person that's always bringing the next great thing first. What are the kind of pressures you face as a tastemaker?

“With the 1Xtra show I felt like I came in with a mission which was to broaden the conversation around what Black music could be. We started off with the alternative R&B scene and we went into jazz and more electronic stuff, and when I was coming to the end of that I almost felt like I was coming back around again, a lot of the music we had been playing had become mainstream, especially with the alternative R&B. With 6 Music, there is new music constantly of course, but it's more about deciding what’s right for that specific show. I'm in this nice position where, on one hand I’m introducing an older listener to new music, and I'm also talking to a younger listener and they can learn about the stuff our older stuff would have been raving to! I’m also in a position now where I don’t have to always play stuff that’s new, I’ve built my name as a tastemaker, so it’s also about thinking, ‘What came before that might have informed what the DJs are playing right now?’ and, ‘What happened to these genres when they went underground?’ – things like that.”

Do you think the industry is championing racial and gender equality enough? What can be done better? And what role does radio play in this?

“I think we’re definitely doing better, you can see the progress. But I think it’s important to keep the pressure on so we don’t go back! We’re already starting to get the eyerolls around diversity, and some of pledges that were made around Black Lives Matter, how many of them are still being upheld? When it comes to gender equality, you’re still seeing big lineups that aren’t very reflective of diversity. It almost feels like it’s still quite a grassroots thing, when it shouldn’t be, and I think a lot of that comes down to infrastructures behind the scenes, which we need to be really transparent about. If the infrastructures aren’t changing, there won’t be long-lasting changes that are tangible. There’s no reason at all why we shouldn't be seeing equal lineups! The talent is out there.

"Radio is the easiest way to be inclusive, it’s really tangible. You can see when you’ve done five males in a row, at that point you have to think, ‘I need to do my due diligence here.’ Especially with the dance music world, it’s quite male-dominated, so it’s my responsibility to make sure that we are spotlighting women or non-binary people to shift that balance. Not to say we always get it right, but it’s installed me and I’m always trying to address the balance, and being aware that we all have a role to play in making things [more equal]. But I would like to see more change in the wider industry and the infrastructures in place to make them more diverse.”

And finally, what artists are you excited about right now?

“I’m loving Bikoko. She’s an artist I’m working with right now, she’s done a few events I’ve done, and I came across her on bandcamp like two winters ago. Some artists just have it, and she just has it! Her music is kind of glitchy, and she produces her own thing. She really just has the star factor and I’m excited to see where she takes the experimental lens. Also Lizzie Berchie, a soul singer, she is wicked! The UK scene for R&B and soul hasn't always been that easy, so that’s great to see. There’s also this band called 15 15, who are based in the outskirts of Paris, they have members from Haiti and they make this sort of warped [music] – it feels like it’s going backwards! It was so nice to be one of the first to support them, I’ve literally been their groupie! They’ve just signed to XL Records. There’s just so much amazing music coming out, it's really exciting”.

I will finish off with Sound of Life and their November interview with Jamz Supernova. I would compel everyone to do as much Jamz digging as you can. Tune into her BBC Radio 6 Music show. Check out everything happening at Future Bounce. I think she will go down, in years to come, as one of the most important people and tastemakers in music:

“Jamz Supernova (born Jamilla Walters in South-East London) is the epitome of a very particular kind of modern renaissance person.

In a music world too often driven by cynicism and algorithm-led lowest-common-denominator homogeneity, she is a beacon of positivity and belief in modern, diverse and thrilling sounds.

Jamz Supernova is best known to the wider public for her BBC Radio shows which dissolve the boundaries between experimental electronica, more hype club sounds, soul/jazz and modern “urban” styles. 

But just as important is her Future Bounce label, a hyper prolific outlet for sounds from these same interzones. Now celebrating its fifth birthday, Future Bounce remains, as it always has been, a celebration of community and grassroots subculture.

Jamz Supernova’s partner Sam Interface is also a label head – running the More Time imprint with his fellow bass music producer Ahadadream – and the pair are both in demand as DJs, so it’s entirely appropriate that Future Bounce has a family feel, nurturing unique individuals and micro-scenes within the wider flows of the music world. 

To celebrate the label’s big birthday, we caught up with Jamz Supernova to find out what drives this musical powerhouse.

PHOTO CREDIT: Alex Lambert

Hi Jamz, what are you working on today?

Well this big Selfridges [London department store] residency I'm doing – we've opened this listening lounge, so I've been programming six weeks of events for them.

We're on week three now, so working on that: tonight, we've got a poetry night, and a sound bath this week, a creative workshop...  all sorts!

Right, so as ever, you've got loads going on. How do you define yourself among all that? Are you a DJ first, or...?

Sometimes I do switch around the order depending on what I want to be more prevalent.

Sometimes I'll be broadcaster/DJ/label owner, or it might be label owner/broadcaster/DJ/curator. Those are the kind of ways I might describe I it – to me they all interlink anyway, it's the sharing of music, that's what we do.

Did you always have the ambition to work across disciplines like this?

Initially, when I was younger, I was a bit more one-track-minded and it was always radio, radio, radio.

Then, as I got into the industry – I started when I was 19 at the BBC, things were moving so fast.

The technology was moving so quickly, and also being around other broadcasters and seeing how many projects they always had on the go, I realised you can't just be one thing – financially partly, but also just filling your time unless you're the rare person who's doing a five-day-a-week show.

So, on a lifestyle tip, looking at someone like Gemma Cairney who was a broadcaster but also writing a book and working in fashion as well, or like Toddla T, who I worked really closely under: the broadcasting was almost a back seat for him because he was a music producer and working DJ too.

Being around people like that made it feel more acceptable to wear different hats.

I remember someone saying to me when I first came to the BBC, “Don't be a Jack-of-all-trades, be a master of one” – but I quickly thought, I don't think that advice works now, maybe that's how it used to be but not anymore.

I definitely think it's been the best way for me. I've got a lot of ideas, lot of things I want to express, so having all these platforms is perfect for me. I feel creatively content.

And when did Future Bounce as a name and idea come about?

That was at Reprezent. It was a radio show. I did a lot of different shows at Reprezent until I found my feet – I did a show that was trying to be Mistajam, then I did drivetime for about ten months, then I went to more specialist music...

And I was spending so much time on SoundCloud at the time, I needed something to define what I was playing, then this artiste called LAKIM had a track called “Future Bounce” – and I was instantly like, yes that's it, that's the brand!

So, I ran with it. It started out as a radio show, I turned it into a club night which ran for a few years at Dalston Birthdays, and then it became a label.

PHOTO CREDIT: Alex Lambert

Has the idea of what that represents sonically evolved over time?

Oh definitely, as my tastes evolved really. I always make a joke on radio about how I used to be so basic – but I do feel like the older I get, the more breadth of the music and my understanding of the music increases and grows.

Even if I listen back to some of the early releases on the label, it was very much in that SoundCloud world and quite linear – but as the label's developed, it's been more about how I'm into bands and stuff, so I might sign a funk band.

Or as my DJs accelerated a bit, I wanted to be able to have music I could play in my sets on the label as well.

So, we moved into the electronic space fully with even harder stuff – and now we're at a point where all those worlds are coming together: the R&B, the club stuff, the soul stuff, and the alternative stuff.

I think about all the labels I love, like a Ninja Tune or XL or Brownswood where they have a feel to them, but they're not necessarily genre specific, they're not just an electronic label or a jazz label.

It feels like 21st century music has steadily moved away from genre separation and towards different ways of mapping the connections between styles, right?

Yeah, again as a broadcaster or DJ I was told not just to try and be a master of one thing, but constantly asked what it's going to be.

Like, you've got a specialist show so what's it going to be? Are you going to be the hip-hop girl? The R&B girl? What is it?

But I just don't think that's how my generation consumes music. I think some of the best genres to come out of the generation that was raving and partying in the 2000s – things like dubstep and funky [also known as “UK funky” the bass-heavy house sound that absorbed African, grime and other influences] – they've all been hybrids of sound.

I think as a person of colour as well, it's easy to be boxed into what people think you should be. I've had assumptions made from the get-go.

For example, I worked with the Balimaya Project who describe themselves as West African folk-jazz, and people would be saying, “I thought you'd be doing drill,” or whatever

So, we're taking back the autonomy, showing we can be so many things.

My artiste Sola has a project called Warped Soul. That's her saying, “This is my version of soul music, I'm classically trained but I love Burial, this is my warped soul offering.”

So, letting artistes explore all those sides of themselves is important and Sola is a perfect example of that. When we met, we connected on all the different influences in the music we love.

And finally, do you have a long term plan for Future Bounce or is it contingent on what's working in the moment?

No, I do try and think ahead. It can be hard sometimes when you're so in it, and people will always say, “Be present, be present” – but sometimes you're so present in the firefighting that you forget to look ahead.

So, I have actually signed some stuff for next year. We've got the release schedule mapped this year, starting to think about next year.

I want to do another Club Series – this'll be Volume 3, but switch it up a little bit rather than doing the same model, which was 12 producers with one release every month.

I think streamline it with six producers, it's a four-track EP, and it really is with the intention of the artiste development side of it, and I want to focus on black and brown women and non-binary producers for that series.

And touring! I've never properly toured as a DJ, I've done gigs, regular gigs, but never toured.

So, while my little one is young, I want to explore touring and seeing that side of DJing. Radio can anchor you to one place, so I want to find pockets in the diary where I can take two weeks at a time off to go and play all these places.

I'm talking about global communities all the time on radio, but I need to be there as well! I think it'll enrich me as a broadcaster, and as a DJ – and for the label, I'm gonna meet so many amazing people!”.

I have a load of love and respect for the mighty Jamz Supernova. A legend, queen and modern icon, she is one of the best broadcaster and D.J.s we have. This year has been especially successful and exciting for her. I wanted to come back to her and add to what I wrote previously. In my new feature celebrating queens of music, I could not overlook Jamz Supernova. The music industry is so much richer for her being in it. We are all…

SO lucky to have her.

FEATURE: Revisiting… Betty Boo - Boomerang

FEATURE:

 

 

Revisiting…

  

Betty Boo - Boomerang

_________

ANOTHER edition of Revisiting…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Sandro Hyams (via The Guardian)

where I am heading back to 2022. A recent look back at some albums that were maybe overlooked or not played as much now as they should be. Betty Boo’s third studio album, Boomerang, was released on 14th October. It was her first new album in three decades. There was a lot of excitement and interest around the release of an album from one of the most distinct Pop artists of the late-1980s and 1990s. I remember owning Boomania (her 1990 debut) and falling for songs like Where Are You Baby? I really love her style and sound (and attitude)! Boomerang is a little different compared to her 1990s material, though there is still that colour and energy that defined her early work. There were some very positive reviews for Boomerang. Even though I cannot copy and paste this review, it is a five-star salute for Boomerang. I am going to come to a review very soon. There were interviews conducted with Betty Boo (Alison Clarkson). A shift from her first two albums in terms of the rapping and the bite, I do love the vibe and quality you get through Boomerang. Produced by Betty Boo, Gavin Goldberg and Andy Wright, it reached forty-five on the U.K. album chart. Super Deluxe Edition were pleased to speak to an artist who made a big impression when Boomania arrived right at the start of the 1990s. With this new era emerging, I wonder whether another album will come from Betty Boo:

“It’s exactly three decades since Betty Boo (aka Alison Clarkson) released a new studio album, a gap that would surely have even Kate Bush raising an eyebrow, but Boo is back with Boomerang, a new record co-written and produced with Andy Wright. SDE sat down with Betty to discuss what’s she’s been up to, why she’s returning to the spotlight and the song she wrote 20 years ago that won her an Ivor Novello award…

SDE: Hi Betty. Congratulations on the new album! I know you have been writing for other people, but aside from that, what have you been up to over the last couple of decades?

Betty: Well, a few things actually, I’ve been an executive producer on a couple of films, including The Art Of Rap, which was directed by Ice T and produced by my husband. The idea came about through me really, because I knew Ice T having been signed to Sire Records, years and years ago, through Seymour Stein. Many films have been made before about hip hop, the culture and stuff like this, but our film was more about rap as an art form. And so we had all the giants of rap in there like Eminem, Dr. Dre, Snoop, Ice Cube, Chuck D etc. I took quite a long time to make, but I went to Dr Dre’s house, which was the best thing I’ve ever done! [laughs].

I bet he’s got a nice house!

Yes, a very nice house. It’s up Sunset Plaza, so his house overlooks the whole of Los Angeles and you can see South LA from the top of his house, which is where he’s from.

So have you missed the music industry? Why come back now?

Well, in the back of my mind, I thought, I’ll make another record one day. And then five years would go by and I still hadn’t done it! I did so much clinical songwriting, which wasn’t particularly satisfying for me; working in Los Angeles with some of the big names – it was all a bit sort of soul destroying. I didn’t use any of the things that I use as myself, as Betty Boo, because that doesn’t relate to a generic artist. But it’s very difficult for some artists or even producers, just to get that what I did. There are lots of people out there who are really good at it, but it wasn’t really for me. I did enjoy some of it…

What’s that process like? It sounds kind of intimidating, going to LA and sitting in some producer’s studio, trying to create something together?

Yeah, it was. It’s a bit like a blind date, although not really… Some of these sessions were like Masterchef for songwriting [laughs]. You had to come up with stuff and if you didn’t, you’d really feel the pressure. I mean, lots of producers were making songs, writing and producing songs, on the fly. Everything was sounding great, even if it was shit! [laughs]

Is it one of those things where everyone wants a writing credit, including the tea boy who walks in at the time…?

There’s that and also, a lot of these teams have like, 20 writers for one song. Really? And then one day I just thought, I must try and do it myself again, because it did just come to an abrupt stop, with what happened in my family [Betty’s mum was diagnosed with terminal cancer] and everything. It would have been sad if I didn’t do it.

Have you knocked that all on the head then, doing songwriting for other people or do you still dip your toes in every now and again?

Well, you know, if the right artist came along, and I had enough in the tank! [laughs]. I’ve got a great writing partner [for the new album] in Andy Wright, who’s legendary. I’ve known him for years actually, but we haven’t actually written together until about three years ago. So having that rapport with somebody like him is amazing, because he’s so good at programming beats and also is a brilliant musician and keyboard player. He’s got this pop sensibility and he really brings out the best in me. There’s never been one day in the studio where you’re like “Nah, I’m not feeling that idea…”.

Did it all come back to you quite naturally? Obviously, you’ve been doing lots of writing anyway, for other people, so it wasn’t like, ‘I haven’t written a song for 20 years’, but did the Betty Boo clothes fit easily again, in terms of the spirit of what you were doing?

I was very nervous, thinking, ‘how am I going to find my voice again?’ And to find the confidence as well, to think “I can do this”. I was always of the mind that if you’ve been a pop star in your 20s, or in your teenage years, trying to come back when you’re 50 is crazy. It’s mad. It was unheard of, in our day. Like Cliff Richard… I remember seeing him on Top of the Pops back in the day and he was about 50 then! It wasn’t ridiculous to me, but he seemed old, if you know what I mean.

It’s like Paul McCartney seemed old in the ’80s when he was in his 40s. And now everyone’s raving about him as an 80-year-old at Glastonbury

I know! So I just thought, “no, you’ve got to really stop that attitude”. Artists like Rick Astley and Bananarama have paved the way for me. People have fond memories of their music and it was part of an era where people didn’t have mortgages and kids and they had a nice carefree life. So I drew some confidence from that and then when I started writing with Andy, the first song we wrote was great, so it was just building blocks from there, really”.

I want to come to an interview from The Telegraph. It is no surprise that there was interest around this sort of great return. Boomania is the icon back at the front! Even so, there are collaborators to be found. One track features none other than the great Chuck D of Public Enemy. Given extra weight and brilliance to an otherwise superb album:

“Aged 25, Betty Boo left the music business. “It was a total tragedy,” she says of her serial bereavements. “And if I'm honest, I was in automatic mode and didn't deal with my own grief. I thought in the back of my mind, ‘yeah, I'll get back to making music.’ But I never did.”

As for the “what-if?” if she’d taken the Madonna dollar: “It's a really good question,” she muses. “I would have had to move to LA. I might have changed! I might have had loads of work! I might have listened to people who said: 'Hey, you know, I've got a great surgeon, girlfriend, his name's Saul,’” she says, now sounding like Ruby Wax. “’And look at me, I look fantastic!' That could have happened!" Clarkson laughs.

The plastic surgery didn’t happen, although the glancing observer – standing further away than, say, a breakfast bar’s width – might assume otherwise. At 52, Clarkson looks practically unaged from her early Nineties heyday. But her midlife youthfulness is entirely natural. Three decades out of the pop spotlight have clearly been very good for Alison Clarkson.

And for her music. Boomerang, her first album in 30 years, is a sparkling collection of gravity-defying pop belters. It opens with Get Me to The Weekend, which weaponises a sample of The Human League’s Love Action to thrilling, Peak Eighties effect, and features guest vocalists David Gray, Sophie Ellis-Bextor (one again “daaaahncing”) and Chuck D – an old friend ever since he invited Clarkson’s teenage rap crew She Rockers to support Public Enemy on an American tour.

IN THIS PHOTO: Betty Boo in 1990/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

Clarkson, who enrolled herself on an audio engineering course aged 19, made most of it in the marital bedroom of her gorgeous, barn conversion home. And, once an independent woman, always an independent woman: she's releasing Boomerang on her own label, Betty Boo Records.

As she serves up lunch, complete with tomatoes from she and her film producer husband’s garden, Clarkson acknowledges the role hitting 50 played in her long-awaited comeback. Both her parents were dead by that age: her Scottish mum at 49, her Malaysian dad at at 46. “So I just thought: ‘What am I waiting for? This is stupid.’”

To be fair, Clarkson kept working in the interim, either as a backroom songwriter for other artists. – Girls Aloud, Hear’Say – or hiding in a band: she was one third of WigWam, a brief 2006 project with Blur’s Alex James and producer Ben Hillier. The writing “for other people was OK,” she says without much enthusiasm.

“I kind of enjoyed it. It was a way of finding an outlet for my creativity. But I didn't find it that easy. You're under duress… I did a stint in LA with these big hitters, and they'd expect you to just come up with stuff. They'd be writing and producing it on the fly, so by five o'clock in the afternoon, you had a nearly-made record.”

Barely into her twenties, Clarkson was constantly busy. She was her own woman, the catsuits and bob very much her own creation, as were the songs – a fact lost on many (male) industry observers. But she had to work like the clappers, constantly.

“Nobody considered logistics either,” she says. “If you had to go to Germany and then be back in England to do something else, and then go back out to Italy, nobody thought about whether or not you're going to be exhausted.”

 Things reached rock bottom during a live TV show in the Netherlands. Betty Boo’s exhaustion and stress manifested in a boil in a particularly unfortunate place.

“Have you ever had a boil on the bum? It's really painful! I had to go to hospital to get it lanced. It was awful,” she laughs. “But I didn't make much of a fuss, and then I went back and did the show. And then I let my bottom heal properly when I got back home. Yeah, it's an unnatural thing to be a pop star.”

In Mel C’s recent memoir, the former Spice Girl – a band recruited via an advert seeking “five Betty Boos” – writes of feeling exploited by the music business. But bum-boil be damned, Clarkson never felt that. “I was really lucky to be doing what I was doing, because it was against the odds: being a female, doing rap music, having control over my image, control over my music. Everyone else, the Kylies of this world, they were all puppets, really.

“Looking back, though, the BBC would have opinions about how you looked. I remember once my shorts were a bit too short for Top of the Pops. They were hot pants or something. And I was thinking: ‘Well, people get their baps out! It's no biggie to wear shorts.’ But things have changed a bit, haven't they?"

They certainly have. Has the sexualisation of pop gone too far? “No, because it’s about creativity. People should be able to express themselves. But because I'm a bit prudish, I find some of it a bit over-the-top and I'm not quite sure if I should be watching, But it's a great time to be a young female artist. And also, you've got artists who are [physically] larger than your average, and now they're being celebrated. Which is great.”

As a star-turned-hitmaker, Clarkson knows better than most the inner workings of the music industry. But her crucial role in the beginnings of the reality TV military-industrial complex evokes bittersweet memories. Clarkson originally co-wrote Pure and Simple, the huge 2001 hit that launched Hear’Say, the first winners of Pop Idol precursor Pop Stars, for Girl Thing. They were a short-lived girl band created by Simon Cowell as a rival to the Spice Girls. But their version of the song wasn’t even released in the UK.

“It was completely rejected. I remember my publisher hated it so much he excluded it from the contract I had with him, because he didn't want any part of it: ‘I don't want that s___ in my publishing company!’ And then he had to buy it back.”

That was at a significantly inflated price, after the song became a monster hit, selling over half a million physical copies in its first week of release. Still, Clarkson found the experience “cheap”, because no one bothered to tell her the song was being repurposed by Hear’Say.

“But it was a great surprise two years later. It shows that nothing's on the shelf... Then it won an Ivor Novello award, which made me think: wow, I probably wouldn't have won that for my own stuff.”

“So, yeah, I am bouncing back. Although somebody said to me yesterday, ‘yeah, but boomerangs don't bounce...’ I said, ‘well, they do ricochet. So if they ricochet, they bounce.’ It's a boomerang, and it does bounce back in my world”.

I am going to end with a review. Although it is a little mixed, it does go into detail regarding one of last year’s most important albums. I think that it is underrated and didn’t quite get the focus it should have had. Many of the songs from the album should be played on the radio at the moment. This is what SLANT had to say about Boomerang:

“Alison Clarkson, better known to beat heads as Betty Boo, was discovered by Public Enemy after freestyling for the group at a West London McDonald’s in 1987. The Malaysian-Scottish rapper, singer, and songwriter became a household name in the U.K., buoyed by hits like “Hey DJ/I Can’t Dance (To That Music You’re Playing),” a collaboration with Rhythm King stalwarts the Beatmasters. After her more pop-centric second album, the gloriously titled GRRR! It’s Betty Boo, landed with more of a purr than a growl, Clarkson left the industry, but not before turning down an offer to sign with Madonna’s then-fledgling record label.

Clarkson was embraced more by American club DJs than urban radio in the early ’90s, but her brand of dance-oriented pop-rap helped create the template for crossover hits by many of today’s female hip-hop artists. With its disco strings, cowbell, and rapped verses juxtaposed with luscious pop hooks, “Shining Star”—a standout cut from Clarkson’s belated third album, Boomerang—would sound inconspicuous alongside Doja Cat’s “Say So” or “Kiss Me More.”

But aside from that track, and the Auto-Tuned vocals of the rock-tinged “Nobody Can Bring Me Down” and the sinuous “S.O.S.,” there’s little connection between the album and contemporary hip-hop. Nor is there much in the way of the late-’80s hip-house that initially put Clarkson on the map. Boomerang exists in its own out-of-time universe, where Brit-pop, pop-rap, and disco coexist, and where gangsta rap, alternative hip-hop, and trap music never happened.

The effervescent title track is stacked with micro-hooks, while the reggae-infused “Bright Lights,” which finds Clarkson reminiscing about her salad days as a b-girl, is a mix of deep dub bass and sugary pop that recalls “Hollaback Girl”-era Gwen Stefani. But while it’s adeptly produced and mixed, Boomerang lacks the bite of Clarkson’s underrated debut, Boomania, whose cartoonish pop-rap was shrewdly tempered by sleek, unassuming house tracks.

Lyrically, Boomerang is less combative than Clarkson’s early albums, focused mostly on having a good time, though “Never Too Late” touches on the artist’s own personal and professional journey: “If you wanna go back to the way things were/Then you gotta find a way to start all over.” From the album’s frothy, Human League-sampling opening track, “Get Me to the Weekend,” to the rousing “Hell Yeah,” the album risks tipping into toxic positivity (Clarkson’s old pal, Chuck D, is sadly wasted on the terminally optimistic “Miracle”).

Clarkson’s lyrical references, which include Frank Sinatra and Kool & the Gang, are charmingly antiquated, and a subtle nod to Kriss Kross’s 1992 hit “Jump” during the bridge of the aptly titled “Stop Your Nonsense (Bubblegum Pop!)” lands on just the right side of clever given that the entire album pretends like the last three decades didn’t exist. Clarkson has called Boomerang “the record I should have made when I was 25,” and in many ways it sounds like it was, proving that sometimes what goes around really does come around again”.

An album that I want to shine new light on, Betty Boo’s Boomania arrived last year and was a welcome reintroduction from a legendary Pop artist. From her collaboration with the Beatmasters on Hey DJ/I Can't Dance (To That Music You're Playing) to her 1990 debut, Boomania, this star has added something unique and distinct to the music landscape! A lot of people were comparing Boomerang to her earliest work. It should be judged on its own terms. A really solid and interesting album, I think that people should revisit…

THE superb Boomerang.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Wasia Project

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

  

Wasia Project

_________

WITH a raft…

of live dates already confirmed for next year, it is a perfect time to get involved with Wasia Project. They were formed in 2019 by siblings Will Gao and Olivia Hardy. The duo are of mixed British-East Asian heritage. In terms of their music, Wasia Project incorporate a diverse mix of genres - including Jazz, Bedroom Pop and Classical. They released the E.P., How Can I Pretend?, in 2022 and have since released a few more singles. They were heralded and spotlighted in 2022. This year has been one where they have got on the radar of some big music publications. I want to include in a few interviews with the amazing Wasia Project. In fact, I want to take a bit from five different interviews from this year. In the U.K, U.S. and beyond, the brother-sister duo are getting a lot of acclaim and attention! I am going to start with an interview from Rolling Stone UK. It is interesting learning more about the start and influences of the incredible Wasia Project:

“Billie Eilish!” “Phoebe Bridgers!” “Boygenius!” “Frank Ocean!” “Agh, I don’t know, [my] mind’s blank… Beyoncé!”

Siblings Will Gao and Olivia Hardy are playing a game. They’re batting back and forth some of the names that influence their band, Wasia Project. Many of the artists are quintessential staples of Generation-Z Spotify playlists, but others, such as ABBA, Elton John, The Beatles and ELO, are exports from their parents’ CD collection. During their childhood, they’d spend evenings at home dancing to whatever was blaring from the speakers.

They haven’t yet touched on the influences, however, that make Wasia Project unique. Both Gao and Hardy have a background in classical — from both Western nations and East Asia — and jazz music, and both can play an instrument. Gao, who found fame acting in Netflix’s coming-of-age smash hit Heartstopper, took up classical piano at a very young age, while Hardy learned violin via the Japanese method of Suzuki, which favours learning by ear over using sheet music. “In the classical music world, it’s not been very beneficial,” she says, speaking over Zoom in a bedroom with mint-green walls, “because reading a lot of sheet music is an important part. But it’s helped with our creative process — it’s a lot more intuitive.”

What do they love about those styles? “There’s such pure emotion in classical music,” says Gao. “When classical music is tragic, it’s gut-wrenching. It can be really intense. I think that passion and intensity you can hear in it, and also in jazz, is equivalent to the kinds of music being created today.”

Their background in those styles bled into their contemporary alt-pop palette naturally and spontaneously. “We can’t not acknowledge or invalidate our past history with those genres,” Gao continues. “It’s inherent in our work, even when we don’t realise it’s there. I don’t think we could do it any other way.”

Classical and jazz are, arguably, an acquired taste, frequently dismissed as too highbrow, too stuffy or too dense. What the siblings have done with Wasia Project, however, is inadvertently wedge open a door that makes those sounds more accessible and contemporary for their audience, many of whom are their age, if not younger.

“It’s getting more and more difficult for people to get access to classical and jazz; it’s almost starting to become more of a closed shop in a lot of ways,” Gao acknowledges. “I think one of the ways forward is to make it accessible by blending [those genres and pop] and having sections where the music is very classically influenced, and that hopefully leads people to see [where that comes from].”

PHOTO CREDIT: Ollie Patterson

“It’s all about trying to make them less rigid and making people feel like classical and jazz really is for them,” Hardy adds. “They’re such huge genres; there shouldn’t be this arbitrary shutting down of them, [like] ‘Oh, that’s not for me.’”

Gao and Hardy’s musical journeys weren’t identical, although their paths ran parallel to one another, and they both attended each other’s concerts “all the time” growing up. Gao — three years older than his sister, who at the time of writing is a few days away from finishing her A-levels — stumbled down the pop rabbit hole earlier than his sibling, too. “I had this realisation when I was 14, when I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, you can write a song and it doesn’t have to be a concerto!’” he says with a grin. Their paths eventually converged when they began Wasia Project in 2019, uploading debut single ‘why don’t u love me’ to SoundCloud that same year.

Since then, the siblings have progressed from DIY recordings on GarageBand to working on their ethereal, eclectic creations in a studio with producer Luke Pinell for their 2022 EP ‘how can i pretend?’. Two further singles — the softly sunny ‘Petals on the Moon’ and the gently unfurling, intimate jazz-pop number ‘My Lover Is Sleeping’ — followed this year, with another two set to be released this side of Christmas. Those songs are set to become, in Gao’s words, “the ground floor of the building we want to create”.

I will come to some more regarding influences. I was also interested discovering their songwriting process and how, with their close-knit bond, the songwriting duties work. For that, it is to Vogue. They chatted with Will Gao and Olivia Hardy earlier in this year. A remarkable duo gaining traction and a growing fanbase, I think that 2024 will be their biggest year yet:

“How would you summarise the influences you both individually bring?

W: For me, quite traditional music – pretty early classical. I was in the school choir at school and we sang with organ and traditional church instruments. Also opera: it’s such an extreme, dramatic art form that is getting out of fashion now, but there’s something about it that fascinates me. So, I think I bring a bit of drama to Wasia Project.

O: I really look up to jazz vocalists, especially Ella Fitzgerald. But I think on keys, you’re very jazz influenced. We both are, actually.

W: And less is more – that’s what I’ve learned from Olivia.

O: You’ve always been obsessed by Paul McCartney and the Beatles, and Elton John – you sit down at a piano, and the piano and voice carry it. I’m in that crossover as well, but I’m more into a soundscape: ethereal vibe and a lot of melodies. That together creates Wasia.

W: You’re also more of a lyricist. The way we write songs matches really well, because her lyrics are very conceptual and poetic, whereas I try and just channel the emotion I feel and blurt it out. A lot of my lyrics are very blurt-y, and then she kind of goes in and works at them, she translates them in a poetic way.

PHOTO CREDIT: Ollie Patterson

Is that the process, you both come in with different lyrics on the same song and then edit each other?

W: I think so.

O: Every song is different. It’s not like, from scratch: “Let’s write a song about this.” It’s a pretty organic process.

W: Our collaboration really ignites when we go into a studio, and we’re with instruments and sounds. That’s when it takes off. It’s the most exciting part for me.

Where do you both draw lyrical inspiration from?

W: I love straight rhymes. Paul McCartney is a big songwriting influence. But self-expression: just feelings and thoughts as they come out.

O: For me, with that more lyric-centric sound, I’ve always loved Phoebe Bridgers.

W: Oh, yeah, so good.

O: One of my favourite procrastination things – I just finished my A levels but during my exams – I would just not do my work and Spotify was the worst thing, because I’d just go through the lyrics of so many songs. Phoebe Bridgers was one of the winners on that because they’re so gut-wrenching.

W: I’m listening to a lot of Loyle Carner at the moment.

O: Yeah, he’s got great stuff.

You’re both so young, but your songs centre around heavy relationships – is that drawn from your own life or more conceptual?

O: Both – I think it’s a bit of both for most people anyway. Overall, we always do write very personally and from the heart. You can do narrative songs that are incredible, but if you don’t have a sort of personal or emotional connection to it, you can’t make it as good as it could be… Like emotional blurting. But I think there’s a narrative element as well. I’ve always loved any song that has a name and [is] about a specific person, like “Eleanor Rigby”.

W: But again, “My Lover Is Sleeping”, the last single, is [partly] personal, but it’s about the character, it’s wondering where the character has been. So it’s a mix of conceptual and personal”.

When they spoke to HUNGER. In October, Wasia Project revealed how there is this pressure for artists to say something. Maybe make a statement and have important messages in their songs. What they are producing with their music is something hugely distinct and long-lasting:

“This past year has been so crazy,” she says, modestly. “It’s always a scheduling thing for us and trying to have one foot in one thing and one in another, trying to balance it all. It’s been challenging but really rewarding. Outlets are really important for us because there’s just nothing that compares to being in a studio or writing a song, and it is just a completely different way of expressing what’s going on in life compared to anything else. We’ve naturally gravitated towards it, despite everything.”

And for her older brother, there’s the small balancing act of doing the whole music thing while playing a main role in what might be Netflix’s most beloved and cherished LGBTQIA+ coming-of-age series: Heartstopper. The show isn’t just some side hustle that Gao does alongside his music career, it is what propelled him into global recognition, as part of a cast that is carrying the torch for young, queer storytelling on screen right now. In the series, Gao plays Tao Xu, and he’s close friends with co-stars Yasmin Finney, Joe Locke and Kit Connor. There are obviously lots of questions fans want to ask about Heartstopper, especially the new series. And you might be thinking that Wasia Project’s gigs are full to the brim with young kids wearing the show’s merchandise, but at Omeara that night, all the press attendees were asking, “Where’s the Heartstopper crowd?” That’s because what Gao and his sister have created isn’t piggybacking on their other creative successes. The way their audience has grown has been natural and organic, which makes their sold-out shows even more inspiring. With Gao and Hardy almost swallowed whole by endeavours beyond music, a question remains: why do this to yourself?

PHOTO CREDIT: Alexander James-Aylin

“I think the more outlets we have to express ourselves through, the better it is and the more balanced your artistic life becomes,” Gao says. “My work life is so in harmony because I get to express it through these different outlets. Getting to collaborate with Olivia is very different from collaborating with a group of actors in the theatre or with a director. That’s what I love. But it is hectic.”

It is difficult not to wonder whether a chaotic lifestyle, slammed work schedules and inevitable sibling tension would put a strain on the band’s working relationship. Many siblings probably wouldn’t last a day working with each other. But while we discuss whether it’s easy to make music together despite mounting workloads, a juggernaut of a Netflix series, A-levels, thoughts about university fast approaching, I can’t detect any release of pent-up anger in their answers. And as the pair go on to chat, their lӑolao (grandmother) enters the room and places small bowls of fruit in front of them. They laugh and apologise, but of course it’s OK; it even sets the scene almost perfectly for what they’re going to say next.

“I think you’d be surprised how helpful it is to be honest with each other on a level of being comfortable where you can just be like, ‘Yeah, shut up,’” Hardy says, taking the bowl of fruit from her grandmother. “It’s really beneficial in those busy moments. It’s gotten to the point where we’re completely comfortable with disagreeing with an idea or agreeing to disagree”.

The penultimate interview is from DORK. It is a chat from back in April. I wanted to include it here to show how far they come. Talking about ambitions and where they want to go, Wasia Project also reveal how they have a cooler façade than many might imagine:

“We’re opening up this sound we’ve created, which is kind of a fusion of a whole bunch of different influences,” Olivia grins. “I think we’re trying a lot of new things.” That is as much as she says before caution sets in. “I don’t know much I should give away…” With festival appearances set for this summer and more new music imminent (the band’s next single is set to drop early April), what we’ve heard so far is only the beginning.

“We’re very much going to experiment with sounds,” Will describes. “We’re also going to experiment with our live shows more. We’ve always been doing that, but we want to take things to the next level.”

He’s not wrong. At Wasia Project’s last live show in London in December, they not only added a trombone player and saxophonist into their ever-growing live band, but also partnered with a local bubble tea vendor to offer free drinks to their crowd. “We just wanted something to give to the fans,” Olivia states. “Like, why not?”

Taking to the studio like a duck to water, Wasia Project are entirely in their element. “We’re in this new studio space that’s basically a playground,” Olivia details. “We feel a lot more free than we have ever been.” With that freedom, the pair are having the time of their lives. Experimenting with their sound, playing with different genres and textures, working with new instrumentation and sound worlds, the siblings are building the bigger and better that the lyrics of their last single were yearning for.

“I feel like Wasia Project,” Will starts, then – after a quick amendment that “I mean, it should be very centred around the music” – continues, “I think it should be a real show, like a piece of theatre and cross all things. It should be an overwhelming stimulus for all the senses.”

Experimenting with and evolving their live show wasn’t the only reason they set up this partnership. It was also a way the siblings could say thank you and give back to their fans. “There’s this really intimate connection we have with the people who have supported us,” Oliva says. “It is very early on, and it’s very personal, and we want to keep this sort of connection.”

The fondness they speak of their fans with is every bit as enamoured and appreciative as the hype that surrounds them online. The band’s social media tags are full of devotion. There are dedications, memes, song covers, fan art… A community built around enthusiasm for the music Wasia Project are creating.

“The fact that the creativity we’re doing, and the art we’re making, is inspiring art and inspiring this journey of lots of very creative people, creating together and meeting and connecting,” Will describes, “it’s a really beautiful thing. That’s the beauty of communities, especially around musicians and artists. It’s this world of bubbling creativity.”

This is the world that Wasia Project create not only for their fans but for themselves, and they thrive in it. “We’re making a lot more music to release, and we’re releasing more music, and we’re in the recording studio a lot more,” Olivia details of their plans for this year. They aren’t sharing the particulars of any further releases yet, but from what they are hinting, it seems clear that it’s going to be something special.

“We actually did a demo with a string quartet, and it works really well. It added such a different kind of perspective,” Will enthuses. “We’ve both been brought up very classically trained; it’s not too unknown to us. To put these two worlds together, we’re really excited to do that”.

I am going to end with a recent feature from NME. Last month, they spotlighted a duo whose songs make the heart skip. Jazz-Pop gems that ensure that they can never be kept in a box and defined easily. This is an exciting act who I am sure we will see a debut album from next year. Go and follow them if you have not done so already:

“Music didn’t always feel quite so energising for Gao and Hardy. They were brought up in Croydon, a suburb of south London, by parents who encouraged them to “absorb culture” wherever possible. Their British dad had briefly worked as an actor and their Chinese mum, who moved to the UK in her twenties, really valued the siblings’ music lessons. “She was always like, ‘You’re gonna like this in the future, trust me,” Hardy says with an affectionate eye roll.

But at first, Hardy found learning the violin arduous. “It involved a lot of repetition, which was difficult for me because I’m very anti-monotony and always searching for new things,” she says. Gao felt equally restricted by his piano lessons until he turned “12 or 13” and realised he was skilled enough to deviate from the sheet music in front of him. “Something clicked and I was like, ‘Hold on. When you learn the notes and the techniques, there’s this whole other world where you get to make it up for yourself,’” he says. “That was the start of me discovering songwriting.” 

After Hardy had a similar epiphany, the siblings gradually gravitated towards making music together. Gao says they shared their first few singles “just for fun and our friends” with no expectations. According to Hardy, Wasia Project really began to take shape “because it fed a lot of creative hunger” in both of them. “It was all about stepping back and looking at something you’ve created, then picking at it to improve your skills,” she says.

PHOTO CREDIT: Bella Howard for NME

They only played their first gig in 2021. “It was at The Beehive pub in Bromley-By-Bow and around 30 people came to watch us – all of them friends,” Gao recalls with a laugh. But around a year later, when they played to a larger crowd at The Fiddler in Kilburn, they noticed a real change in their audience. “It was just after the release of our EP and the place was packed with people singing our music,” Hardy says. “It was the first gig where we didn’t know the majority of people personally. It really felt like a community for our music was building.”

Since then, Wasia Project have continued to hone their live chops. When they performed at Latitude Festival in July, they were worried about their 1pm time slot, but walked out to what Hardy calls a “beautiful tent full of people”. She clearly relished the learning curve. “It’s very different to performing for a venue full of your fans,” Hardy says. “It’s another technique to be learned, I guess – it’s about winning people over, but also making them feel welcome.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Bella Howard for NME

Building their live reputation is now a priority for Wasia Project. Next February, they will embark on their first full UK headline tour; all seven dates have already sold out – a sure sign their community of fans is growing fast. They also want to focus on making what Hardy calls “an extended body of work”. Since she finished her A-levels this summer, she has more time to pour into music. “It’s been fun doing singles – especially while Liv was still at school and I was doing other things,” Gao says, alluding modestly to his acting career. “But when I picture Wasia Project, I see our songs fitting into two-year brackets. We’re just coming to the end of a bracket, but I see our next brackets as being [filled with] albums.”

At this point, they throw in another, absolutely pivotal influence – Kamaal Williams, the visionary artist-producer who mixes jazz, hip-hop, R&B and EDM into a shape-shifting style he calls ‘Wu funk’. “Everyone tries to put you in a box,” Gao says. “And that’s something I used to be frustrated by, but now I’m kind of at peace with it. You know, it’s a great challenge to blur the lines and keep running away from being put in a box. Kamaal Williams is doing that and so are we. But we’re not doing it in an active way; it’s just inherent to us.” The only possible response? Long may Wasia Project keep ‘the box’ at bay”.

A duo that are amazing and should be on everyone’s playlist, I think that there will be a lot of brilliant music from Wasia Project next year. I am a fairly new discoverer of their music. It will be interesting to see where they go from here. With so much support from publications, radio and a loving fanbase, there is no stopping this…

AWESOME duo.

_________

Follow Wasia Project

FEATURE: The Digital Mixtape: The Best New Music from November

FEATURE:

 

 

The Digital Mixtape

 IN THIS PHOTO: The Staves

 

The Best New Music from November

_________

AS I did last month…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Dua Lipa

I have compiled all the best new music that has come this month into a playlist. I don’t think December is going to be a big one for music. It is going to be a lot quieter in terms of interesting or different sounds. There will be quite a few Christmas tracks I am sure! This month has bene a pretty incredible one for new music. We have seen some amazing tracks come out. The Beatles’ last track, Now and Then, arrived. If you have missed out on the tracks that were released this month, then I hope that the playlist below is of some use. I am looking forward to hearing what arrives in 2024. There are some great rumoured albums. For now, and sticking in 2023, here is a playlist that contains some gold…

 IN THIS PHOTO: The Beatles

FROM November.

FEATURE: What I Was Made For: Power of Women: Billie Eilish, Female Resilience, and Triumphing Over Adversity

FEATURE:

 

 

What I Was Made For

IN THIS PHOTO: Billie Eilish photographed for Variety in November 2023/PHOTO CREDIT: Victoria Stevens

 

Power of Women: Billie Eilish, Female Resilience, and Triumphing Over Adversity

_________

THIS is my second feature…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Billie Eilish (far right) alongside fellow Power of Women LA inductees/guests including Fantasia Barrino (second from right) on 16th November, 2023/PHOTO CREDIT: Michael Buckner/Variety

related to Variety’s recent Power of Women event that took place in Los Angeles recently. It was a celebration and recognition of women in entertainment. Those who have achieved and inspired. Those who have overcome adversity and triumphed. In fields that are not that open and accepting of women or have struggled to striker a gender balance and create a fair and equitable landscape, it is important that we shine a light on amazing women through entertainment. I am going to come to an interview from Variety with Billie Eilish. She was an honouree at the event. Her words and the interview made me think more widely about women through music. Eilish says, even now, it is a war being a woman. There is constant pressure and double standards. I will come to something she said about body image and judgement/objectification that some have challenged. There are parts of that interview that got me thinking:

“That tenuous relationship with femininity and womanhood has only recently started to change for her, following the July release of the “Barbie” song. The soaring, somber piano ballad is placed at the emotional climax of the Warner Bros. blockbuster, scoring a scene where Rhea Perlman’s Ruth Handler teaches Margot Robbie’s Barbie what it means to be a woman. “Take my hands. Close your eyes. Now, feel,” she says, offering Barbie visions of real women’s lives.

The scene spawned a heartwarming TikTok trend in which more than 1.3 million users made video collages set to the song, sharing their own experiences of girlhood. “It was so moving, dude. It was so, so touching,” Eilish says. “I feel like I helped bring people together, and it felt so special. I wasn’t expecting to have women around the world feel connected.”

IN THIS PHOTO: Billie Eilish arrives at the 2019 Variety's Hitmakers Brunch at Soho House on 7th December, 2019/PHOTO CREDIT: Amanda Edwards/FilmMagic

In the song’s official music video, which the singer directed, Eilish faces earthquakes, wind and heavy rain as she unpacks a small box with Barbie-sized versions of her most iconic looks: mostly oversized T-shirts and sweatpants. That signature style provoked praise, attention and even Halloween costumes — but with it came unwanted speculation. What was Eilish hiding?

“I wasn’t trying to have people not sexualize me,” she explains. “But I didn’t want people to have access to my body, even visually. I wasn’t strong enough and secure enough to show it. If I had shown it at that time, I would have been completely devastated if people had said anything.”

She takes a deep breath. “Maybe my not really caring about being sexualized is because I’ve never felt desired or desirable.” Eilish leans back into the couch and wraps herself tighter in a big blue baseball jacket, her jet-black hair peeking out from under a black beanie.

PHOTO CREDIT: Victoria Stevens

“I’ve never felt like a woman, to be honest with you. I’ve never felt desirable. I’ve never felt feminine. I have to convince myself that I’m, like, a pretty girl,” she says. “I identify as ‘she/her’ and things like that, but I’ve never really felt like a girl.”

As she wrestled with these feelings growing up, Eilish also had to contend with the media’s mounting curiosity about her developing body. The rare moments when she wore tighter clothing were irresistible fodder for tabloids.

“I have big boobs. I’ve had big boobs since I was nine years old, and that’s just the way I am. That’s how I look,” she says, becoming exasperated as she recalls the media frenzy when she first dared to wear a tank top in public at age 16. “You wear something that’s at all revealing, and everyone’s like, ‘Oh, but you didn’t want people to sexualize you?’” She scoffs and answers the trolls: “You can suck my ass! I’m literally a being that is sexual sometimes. Fuck you!”

Eilish went on to say that men are not judged when it comes to their body. Whether stick-thin, muscular or podgy, that is all cool. The thing that girls and women do not say anything negative because they are nice. Whilst it is true that women are less cruel and obsessed with the men’s bodies fitting an ideal, some noted how plenty of men get judged. I don’t think it is a major thing. Boys in schools get picked on. Some men get critiques regarding their bodies. If Eilish’s statement isn’t 100% true, she did have a point regarding objectivity and standards. It is terrific that there are events like Power of Women. With so few award ceremonies and evenings that specifically spotlight the achievements of women, it is so vital that we discuss and keep alive events such as Power of Women. Check out the other Power of Women (or Power of Women LA to be precise) interviews. They make for fascinating reading. I am always interested in reading what Billie Eilish had to say. What she said about not feeling like a woman/desirable is really compelling. Is there this perception that women should be ‘feminine’, and anyone who does not dress in a certain way is not desirable? Music still sexualises women so much. Women have to be dressed glamorously at award ceremonies and pose in particular ways. It is very odd and incongruous. So many other artists and young fans of Eilish will feel the same way. I do think other genders are conscious about their bodies and will have pressure and judgement from others. Even so, it is women who will have the most scrutiny!

 IN THIS PHOTO: Billie Eilish photographed for Variety in November 2023/PHOTO CREDIT: Victoria Stevens

Her song, What Was I Made For?, has so many depths. Featured in a film (Barbie) where the central character is concerned about being anything other than stereotypical and perfect – but then goes into the real world and wants to be among normal people -, Eilish asks some probing questions. The chorus lyrics are especially striking and thought-provoking: “Cause I, I/I don't know how to feel/But I wanna try/I don't know how to feel/But someday, I might/Someday, I might”. Maybe I am not the most qualified person to discuss women’s sexuality and bodies in relation to sexist and misogynistic standards and the way the industry and many people sexualise them, though I am a big fan of Billie Eilish and she is someone who inspires so many others. As a hugely relevant and popular young women in the public eye, she is boldly and openly talking about her body and how she has been viewed. The standout quote from that interview, to me, is “I have to convince myself that I’m, like, a pretty girl,” she says. “I identify as ‘she/her’ and things like that, but I’ve never really felt like a girl”. That idea of, as a woman, she has to identify as ‘she/her’. Eilish questioning what it is to be a girl/woman and whether she is slightly abnormal. It is such a fascinating thought. Maybe not something men have to deal with, the way the media and society in general has an idea of what a woman should look like and how sexual they should be. It reminds me of the speech in Barbie delivered passionately and beautiful by America Ferrera (Gloria). One portion/section stands out in this case: “It is literally impossible to be a woman. You are so beautiful, and so smart, and it kills me that you don't think you're good enough. Like, we have to always be extraordinary, but somehow we're always doing it wrong. You have to be thin, but not too thin. And you can never say you want to be thin. You have to say you want to be healthy, but also you have to be thin. You have to have money, but you can't ask for money because that's crass. You have to be a boss, but you can't be mean”.

I think that it is going to take a long time for this to happen. So many women are wrestling with identity and sense of self. The media either obsessed with their bodies and objectifying them or calling them prudish if they dress normally or in baggy clothes. The idea that they need to be elegant and sexy. It is that Barbie speech and all the contradictions that are imposed on women. They can’t do right for doing wrong! Eilish does feel sexual sometimes, though she is not someone who always is going to feel like a woman – if that makes sense?! This woman in her twenties asking big questions and discussing sexuality, femininity, her body and the media’s lure is something that will resonate with so many women in music. And, yes, I know men are non-binary people are objectified and get abuse and judgement around their bodies, though I don’t think there is such a savage and relentless obsession and critique from the media. If empowering women like Dua Lipa want to perform and promote themselves looking provocative or sexy, that somehow gives the media a green light to objectify and be salacious. The view that all women need to be like that. Female sexuality and expression is a spectrum and is down to them. Even so, as Bille Eilish has said, there is confusion as to who she is meant to be and what a woman is – or, as her song title says, What Was I Made For? It is almost like art bleeding into real life (or vice versa). The idea that she (and so many other women) are not sure of how they should look. That constant war and battle they have with themselves and the larger world.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Dua Lipa

Even if the Variety interview suggested an artist still struggling with womanhood and whether she feels like a woman, the speech she gave suggests things have changed. Maybe Eilish, in her twenties, is embracing her womanhood and not having to feel bad or apologise. Her speech was very emotional and tear-filled. It has been a tough road to acceptance, realisation and self-worth/love:

“The pop star, 21, was among the honorees at Variety’s Power of Women event on Thursday and shared an emotional speech about how she’s become very “proud” of her womanhood after having “never felt truly like a woman.” Throughout the speech, the Grammy winner reiterated that she’s “not a crying person,” but continued to tear up while reflecting on how she “resents” her past “internalized misogyny.”

Barbie star Ariana Greenblatt presented Eilish with the honor — reportedly with a speech about her “authenticity and fearlessness” and how much she cherishes their friendship. The “Bad Guy” singer then took the stage while still crying and joked about being on medication for laryngitis and having a hard time holding back her tears.

Once the hitmaker collected herself, she began opening up about her identity and experience in the spotlight. “I don’t like doing speeches because I would rather give my platform to people who know what the f--- they’re talking about,” she said “I was so young — I’m still young — but coming up and being 15, it’s really f---ing me up a little bit to think about. I don’t be crying, like I’m not a crying person. Like, I’m zooted right now, sorry.”

“But it’s really hard to be a woman out here guys. It’s hard,” she continued.

The singer-songwriter then spoke candidly about her own experience with her gender. “I’ve said this a lot recently, so if anybody’s heard me say this, I’m sorry if I sound like a broken record, but I’ve never felt truly like a woman,” she admitted. “I’ve spent a lot of my life not feeling like I fit in to being a woman.”

“I think for a couple years because of that insecurity, I became almost very ‘pick me’ about it, and I would be like, ‘Oh, I’m not like other girls because I don’t do this and this,” the Oscar-winning songwriter revealed. “I’ve grown to be very resentful of that period of time because I’m so much more interested in being like other girls because other girls are f---ing tight, and I love women.”

“This sounds kind of f---ed up, but I have a lot of internalized misogyny inside of me and I find it coming out in places I don’t want it to,” the songwriter shared. “And I have to say, with full transparency, I feel very grateful to be a woman right now. I feel very proud, and I feel very honored to be here”.

It is good that Eilish, in some way, is now more comfortable in her own body. I know this is a very recent transformation. Her words earlier this month will no doubt hit many girls and young women. Many other artists too. A more confident and less apologetic and confused artist who has the confidence to dress how she wants. Not having to ‘fit in’ or apologise for her body. Neither someone against being sexy nor feeling that this is what she needs to be heard, accepted and validated. I was completely entranced by the Variety interview and the speech she gave. Some different views on how she feels in her own skin. How she feels as a woman and what it means to be feminine. Eilish is someone who is going to go down in history as a music icon. Her fashion choices and way she speaks in interview is so refreshing and honest! At a moment when many women are being sexualised or feel they have to be a certain way in the industry to succeed and be merely on a level with men, Eilish’s mixture of some lingering questions and newfound acceptance of herself will give them strength and power. If some in the industry feels she needs to show her body or be a certain way, it is clear that the Los Angeles-born icon is not going to conform or do fit into this industry ‘ideal’. She is here to let her words speak and inspire and connect with others. That is…

WHAT she was made for!

FEATURE: Thank God I Do: Songs of Praise: The Importance and Significance of the Church for Legacy and Contemporary Singers

FEATURE:

 

 

Thank God I Do: Songs of Praise

IN THIS PHOTO: Beyoncé performing in Boston, Massachusetts in August 2023 as part of her Renaissance World Tour (as a child, Beyoncé was a member of the choir at St. John's United Methodist Church, where she sang her first solo (and was a soloist for two years)

 

The Importance and Significance of the Church for Legacy and Contemporary Singers

_________

ONE thing that I have noticed…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Taylor Swift, a child, would sing every Sunday at church/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

when writing about various new and legacy artists is how many of them started singing at church. It is not just icons and legends that this applies to. I have written many Spotlight features where artists have said in interview how they got started at church. That is where they first remember singing. They might have been part of a choir, or it was part of a service when they had an opportunity to sing. Even though I am an atheist, I can definitely appreciate how churches and religion have really affected and shaped artists. That feeling that they are connected to something spiritual and higher. Not to say that all of the best singers ever started singing at church - though you can definitely feel that with many. Think about some of the Soul greats like Aretha Franklin (she was noticed singing at the New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan). One might feel it is a think of the past. That fewer young people are attending church, so you will not get that influence and route. That doesn’t seem to be entirely true. That said, there is a crisis in faith happening in the U.S. Fewer young people believe in God and attend church. I wonder whether this is a moral decision or there is less attraction attending church. Maybe, like sexuality, there has been a diversification and awareness beyond the binary. Young people embracing other spiritual/fulfilling avenues. I think, when the world is so fractured and horrible, it is understandable that many people’s faith would wane.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Aretha Franklin/PHOTO CREDIT: Michael Ochs/Getty Images via The New Yorker

It may sound unconnected, though I worry that we will get fewer of those mesmeric and hugely soulful voices emerge into music if young people attend church less. Regardless of their faith, it does seem that participation is declining. Last year, Deseret News presented statistics regarding a slide in church attendance from a young demographic:

“To Rod Dreher, author of “The Benedict Option,” the decline of faith and religious practice among young people portend a cultural transformation for which American churches “are not remotely prepared.”

“We are facing now the widespread collapse of the Christian faith among the American people. If you want to see what America is going to look like in 10 or 20 years, go to Europe. Politics cannot save us from that fate,” Dreher wrote recently in response to questions from the Deseret News.

Dreher says that many Americans have tried to “vote our way out of this crisis,” but says, “Political work is not the main work of the church: evangelization and discipleship is. If we don’t evangelize and disciple successfully, then there won’t be enough of us to make a political difference in our democracy.”

According to the Deseret/Marist poll, a majority of Americans delineate between their politics and their faith. Fifty-two percent said that religious beliefs and values should not influence their politics, while 45% said religious beliefs and values should.

PHOTO CREDIT: cottonbro studio/Pexels

Those numbers, however, reflect strong partisan differences. “Republicans (70%) are significantly more likely than Democrats (28%) and independents (45%) to believe someone’s politics should be influenced by their religion,” the Deseret/Marist report says.

Religious participation, however, has been in decline for decades across all demographics, although markedly less so for older Americans and Black Americans.

The new Deseret/Marist research found that 40% of Americans reported attending a religious service once or twice a month, a significant drop from a 2011 Marist poll that showed 52% attending a service at least once a month.

It’s possible that the pandemic has contributed to the decline in religious participation; the survey of 1,653 U.S. adults, which has a margin of error of 3.2 percentage points, was fielded in January 2022.

Even so, the historical trends are not good for churches in America, as the poll makes clear the drop-off in religious participation by age: 43% of Americans 60 or older said they attend religious services at least weekly, as did 27% of 45- to 49-year-olds, 25% of 30- to 44-year-olds and 21% of 18- to 29-year-olds”.

Not that it is complete cause for alarm. I feel that, as I have featured so many artists – many of them in their twenties and thirties – who started in church and that is where they found their voice, how important its role is. It may not be solely about religion and anything spiritual. Church is a space where there is a community and song is present. Is it religion that young Americans are avoiding? Is it commitment to faith and going to church every week? Have their become dissolution and shocked by the modern world, thus questioning God and the purpose of religion? It is a turbulent and changing time. From a musical persecutive, even if many artists do not entirely credit church with their voice and connection to music, so many started singing at church. That was a significant revelation and bond. This Tone Deaf article from 2019 highlights famous artists who sang in church at some point. I have selected a couple of very different examples:

“Whitney Houston

Born in the early ’60s, Whitney Houston was always set to be involved in music, with her cousins being none other than Dionne Warwick and Dee Dee Warwick. By the age of 11, she’d begun to learn to play the piano at her church, where she also began to perform as a soloist in their gospel choir.

Following these church performances, Houston soon found herself playing nightclubs with her mother, and before long had embarked on a solo career which would see her crowned as one of the best-selling music artists of all time

Jack White

“Wait a minute,” we hear you asking. “Jack White was never in the church choir, was he?” Well, famously, Jack White actually started out his career with a much different career path, and had originally planned to be a priest.

Having grown up in a Catholic household, White spent time as an altar boy before being accepted into a seminary. However, he’d also just gotten a new guitar amplifier and was worried that he wouldn’t be allowed to take it with him. Deciding instead to go to a public school, White found himself starting a few early bands, and as they say, the rest is history”.

As we can see from this article, Ed Sheeran, Katy Perry and Britney Spear are among these huge artists who no doubt were inspired by church and singing there. One wonders how their careers would have unfolded were it not for that exposure to church. Kelly Rowland, Beyoncé, Taylor Swift and so many other artists that are hugely successful and inspiring now had roots in the church. Maybe not devout in their faith, that social aspect of church gave them confidence. They perhaps felt connected to a particular spirit or energy in that space. The spirituality and intimacy. Whatever the reason, and whether it was their decision or their parents’, so many artists attended church. As I said, many young artists I have written about recently either attended church as a child and got a love of music from there, or else they still attended as young adults. If fewer young Americans (mainly Democrats) especially are not attending church, I wonder how that will shape artists going forward. There does seem to be this connection between so many hugely admired and successful artists and the church. In a modern age, where we are less connected and more online, have things shifted to a point of no return?! Many people might think of the church and it being main Black artists who were inspired. This connection between church, Gospel and Soul music. That is not necessarily the case…

There are modern artists like Lauren Daigle who were raised in a Christian family and attended church. She is a terrific artist - though her politics and opinion in the past have caused some consternation. I wonder if there is a link between political affiliation and the church? Are fewer artists who are raised in more liberal households not attending church? Is there also too much risk for artists who are more conservative and faith-based? At a time when it is easy for an artist to say the ‘wrong’ thing and have questionable views regarding abortion, human rights, certain politicians and laws, is the church and religion in general less important? Maybe that is not the word. However, it is clear that modern American particularly is a more diverse and perhaps less ecumenical and religious landscape than in years past. It is good in many ways. For music, I keep thinking about how the church and religious spaces have compelled young artists. Opened their eyes and ears to music and its connective power. If the church has a less important modern role in terms of shaping young minds and providing guidance in a less spiritual world, are we also losing future greats of music?! That undoubted link between how church and being in a congregation/community can unlock something very special and powerful. With there still being Gen Z and Gen Alpha artists mentioning the church and how they started singing there, it is too early to say whether this is an end to the church’s role in nourishing and enlightening artists. I was reading back on recent features from young artists talking about their joy of singing in church and it got me thinking. Those 2022 statistics showing how there are fewer young people attending church in America also made me think about that impact on music and how things will change. I guess we will see if that relationship between early exposure to the church and this incredible vocal and musical talent changes…

IN future years.

FEATURE: Sisters in Arms: A Variety Power of Women-Like Event for the Music World

FEATURE:

 

 

Sisters in Arms

IN THIS PHOTO: Margot Robbie at Variety’s Power of Women event at Citizen News in L.A. on 16th November, 2023 (she was among this year’s honourees; Robbie, Tom Ackerley and Josey McNamara received the Producer of the Year Award (the production company, LuckyChap Entertainment, co-produced Barbie)/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

 

A Variety Power of Women-Like Event for the Music World

_________

I know that we have…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Wellington Cunha/Pexels

the incredible Music Week Women in Music Awards, which celebrates and recognises important women throughout the music industry. It is not overkill, isolating or wrong to celebrate women in an industry that does not fully appreciate them – and one in which they are dominating. With fewer opportunities open to them, it is so important to acknowledge and spotlight their vital work. I will come to a suggestion that we should have a mainstream or major award ceremony/’class’ that runs alongside Music Week’s incredible annual honouring of terrific and pioneering women in the music industry. I mention it because, last week, Variety’s Power of Women event honoured so magnificent women through entertainment. It was especially nice to see Margot Robbie recognised for her production work! Variety provide more details:

“Variety kicked off its Power of Women event at Citizen News in L.A. on Thursday night, and the carpet was filled with stars ready to celebrate the accomplishments of women in entertainment.

This year’s honorees include Carey Mulligan, Fantasia Barrino, Lily Gladstone and Billie Eilish, who will perform “What Was I Made For?” alongside her brother Finneas O’Connell. LuckyChap co-founders Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley and Josey McNamara will receive the Producer of the Year Award, and Emily Blunt will receive the Power of Women Alumni Award from premier partner Wells Fargo. Leonardo DiCaprio, Dua Lipa, Emerald Fennell, Ariana Greenblatt and Oprah Winfrey will each introduce an honoree at Variety Power of Women presented by Lifetime.

IN THIS PHOTO: Dua Lipa at Variety’s Power of Women event/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

LuckyChap is a producer on this year’s highest-grossing film “Barbie,” which stars Robbie in the title role. Lipa portrays Mermaid Barbie in the hot-pink fantasy comedy, and her original song “Dance the Night” was also one of the breakout hits from the film’s soundtrack.

“It’s really just so exciting and such a dream to be part of such a mammoth movie. It’s unbelievable. I feel very lucky,” Lipa told Variety on the carpet. “It’s just nice to see people’s response — the whole energy behind the film, the meaning behind it, the solidarity between women. It’s been beautiful to see.”

Other celebrities that walked the red carpet include Meghan Markle, Greta Lee, Riley Keough, Sofia Carson, Emma Myers, Diane Warren, Addison Rae, Madison Bailey, Tia Mowry and more”.

I do actually think that the more women are spotlighted and get that special recognition, the more their importance and continuation are seen and heard. Hopefully, going forward, it changes attitudes and works towards greater equality. When it comes to Variety, their championing of women across film and beyond is a great step. We have some smaller events in the music world, though nothing quite like this. From amazing producers and songwriters through to incredible artists and live performers, there could be categories and special awards for amazing women. A lot of time, female artists miss out on festival spots or awards as they are dominated by men. This means that some phenomenal work and talent is overlooked and marginalised! I do feel there would be a welcome response to a Variety-like Power of Women crossover into music. I am not sure quite what form it would take and whether it would be held in the U.S. or U.K. It is obvious that a major publication could well do this. If it is NME, Rolling Stone, Vogue, Pitchfork or someone else, it is overdue in my opinion. I know that Billboard have their own event, though I think there could be even more categories. Would potentially a third major event celebrating women be too much?! I don’t think so! I admire Billboard and Music Week hugely, yet I don’t think either gets quite the focus they deserve. I think a lot of people assume film and T.V. to be the most powerful and influential industries. I guess because of the money films command and that side of things. I would say that music is more influential and important than any other cultural corner. Music holds so much influence.

 IMAGE CREDIT: Music Week

It would be nice that, in 2024, there was more balance and parity in general. Festivals need to get their act(s) together and book more women. This is especially true of headliners. Radio playlists across major stations are woefully male-led! As the Music Week Women in Music Awards showed, there are so many important and powerful queens across the industry that are making changes and doing remarkable work. Whether label bosses, champions of new music or those at labels or behind the scenes, we could go even bigger and wider. It would be wonderful if there was a major event that celebrated women in music. Awards for best albums, songs, direction, production and promotion. There are pioneers and groundbreaking women who are not being heralded and highlighted. I was inspired by Variety’s induction and inclusion of a range of wonderful women (including a nod to Margot Robbie and her LuckyChap Entertainment work for Barbie). I do feel next year is one that should be a celebration of women. For so many years, there has been this inequality and real lack of support and progression from those in positions of power through the music industry. Whether celebrating powerful women at labels and studios or those delivering such amazing work and live performers, it would be wonderful if the music industry dedicated another major event celebrating and saluting…

INCREDIBLE women.

FEATURE: Inspired By… Part One Hundred and Five: Roy Orbison

FEATURE:

 

 

Inspired By…

  

Part One Hundred and Five: Roy Orbison

_________

ON 6th December…

PHOTO CREDIT: David Redfern/Redferns

it will be thirty-five years since the world lost Roy Orbison. He passed tragically young. Aged only fifty-two, ‘The Big O’ was one of the most respected and renowned vocalists of his generation. One of the most expressive and powerful voices the music world has ever seen, I wanted to use this occasion to include him in Inspired By… There is no doubting the fact many artists have been influenced by Roy Orbison. Though very few come close to his style and ability, you definitely can detect some or Orbison in other artists. He left behind this amazing legacy. Prior to getting to a playlist of songs from those who either cited Orbison as an inspiration or definitely have taken something from him, here is some biography from AllMusic:

“Although he shared the same rockabilly roots as Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison went on to pioneer an entirely different brand of country/pop-based rock & roll in the early '60s. What he lacked in charisma and photogenic looks, Orbison made up for in spades with his quavering operatic voice and melodramatic narratives of unrequited love and yearning. In the process, he established rock & roll archetypes of the underdog and the hopelessly romantic loser. These were not only amplified by peers such as Del Shannon and Gene Pitney, but also influenced future generations of roots rockers such as Bruce Springsteen and Chris Isaak, as well as modern country stars the Mavericks.

Orbison made his first widely distributed recordings for Sun Records in 1956. Roy was a capable rockabilly singer, and had a small national hit with his first Sun single, "Ooby Dooby." But even then, he was far more comfortable as a ballad singer than as a hepped-up rockabilly jive cat. Other Sun singles met with no success, and by the late '50s he was concentrating primarily on building a career as a songwriter, his biggest early success being "Claudette" (recorded by the Everly Brothers).

After a brief, unsuccessful stint with RCA, Orbison finally found his voice with Monument Records, scoring a number-two hit in 1960 with "Only the Lonely." This established the Roy Orbison persona for good: a brooding rockaballad of failed love with a sweet, haunting melody, enhanced by his Caruso-like vocal trills at the song's emotional climax. These and his subsequent Monument hits also boasted innovative, quasi-symphonic production, with Roy's voice and guitar backed by surging strings, ominous drum rolls, and heavenly choirs of backup vocalists.

Between 1960 and 1965, Orbison would have 15 Top 40 hits for Monument, including such nail-biting mini-dramas as "Running Scared," "Crying," "In Dreams," and "It's Over." Not just a singer of tear-jerking ballads, he was also capable of effecting a tough, bluesy swagger on "Dream Baby," "Candy Man," and "Mean Woman Blues." In fact, his biggest and best hit was also his hardest-rocking: "Oh, Pretty Woman" soared to number one in late 1964, at the peak of the British Invasion.

It seemed at that time that Roy was well equipped to survive the British onslaught of the mid-'60s. He had even toured with the Beatles in Britain in 1963, and John Lennon has admitted to trying to emulate Orbison when writing the Beatles' first British chart-topper, "Please Please Me." But Orbison's fortunes declined rapidly after he left Monument for MGM in 1965. It would be easy to say that the major label couldn't replicate the unique production values of the classic Monument singles, but that's only part of the story. Roy, after all, was still writing most of his material, and his early MGM records were produced in a style that closely approximated the Monument era. The harder truth to face was that his songs were starting to sound like lesser variations of themselves, and that contemporary trends in rock and soul were making him sound outdated.

Orbison, like many early rock greats, could always depend on large overseas audiences to pay the bills. The two decades between the mid-'60s and mid-'80s were undeniably tough ones for him, though, both personally and professionally. A late-'60s stab at acting failed miserably. In 1966, his wife died in a motorcycle accident; a couple of years later, his house burned down, two of his sons perishing in the flames. Periodic comeback attempts with desultory albums in the 1970s came to naught.

Orbison's return to the public eye came about through unexpected circumstances. In the mid-'80s, David Lynch's Blue Velvet film prominently featured "In Dreams" on its soundtrack. That led to the singer making an entire album of re-recordings of hits, with T-Bone Burnett acting as producer. The record was no substitute for the originals, but it did help restore him to prominence within the industry. Shortly afterward, he joined George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, and Jeff Lynne in the Traveling Wilburys. Their successful album set the stage for Orbison's best album in over 20 years, Mystery Girl, which emulated the sound of his classic '60s work without sounding hackneyed. By the time it reached the charts in early 1989, however, Orbison was dead, claimed by a heart attack in December 1988. Four years after his death, Mystery Girl outtakes were finished and released as King of Hearts.

Orbison's estate established the Orbison imprint in the late '90s, through which they released a number of live shows performed throughout the singer's life; the flagship of this series was 1999's box Roy Orbison: Authorized Bootleg Collection. Bear Family boxed up all of his recordings for Sun and Monument for 2001's seven-CD Orbison. Virgin released a 25th Anniversary edition of Mystery Girl in 2014, with Universal reviving Orbison's long out of print MGM recordings in 2015 through the release of hefty box set The MGM Years 1965-1973, which also featured the previously unreleased album One of the Lonely Ones; originally recorded in 1969, the album received its own separate release.

In 2017, original vocal tracks from Roy Orbison were overdubbed by the Royal Philharmonic for the album A Love So Beautiful. The album went Gold in the U.K., leading to the 2018 sequel Unchained Melodies”.

To mark thirty-five years since Roy Orbison left us (6th December, 1988), I wanted to celebrate his legacy and importance by compiling tracks from artists who were definitely influenced and moved by him. Still unmatched in terms of gravitas and sound, we are thankful for all the work he left behind. Whether solo or (briefly) part of The Traveling Wilburys, that beautiful voice scored so many timeless songs! The world is much poorer because Orbison is not in it. Even so, there is no way that we can…

EVER forget him.

FEATURE: Revisiting… Let's Eat Grandma – Two Ribbons

FEATURE:

 

 

Revisiting…

 

Let's Eat Grandma – Two Ribbons

_________

I want to go back to last year…

 PHOTO CREDIT: El Hardwick

for this Revisiting… That was a year when so many great albums came out and were being celebrated. One that got some good reviews but is not as played and discussed as much now as it should be is Let’s Eat Grandma’s Two Ribbons. Released four years after the hugely acclaimed I’m All Ears, their third studio album was co-produced by David Wrench. I am going to come to some press and reviews for a superb album that is sort of overlooked. Prior to recording Two Ribbons, Let’s Eat Grandma faced a difficult period. The duo (Rosa Walton and Jenny Hollingworth) had their friendship tested. Rosa Walton moved from their native Norwich to London. She felt exhausted and isolated when she was there. Prior to moving to Norfolk she experienced a nervous breakdown. Most of Two Ribbons  was written separately – something that was a new experience for Let’s Eat Grandma. Their friendship did get back on track eventually. Also, a year after I’m All Ears came out, Billy Clayton, a Pop singer and boyfriend of Hollingworth, died from Ewing's sarcoma (a rare form of bone cancer). That caused strained and a period where things were strange and tense. Against the backdrop tragedy and the risk that Let’s Eat Grandma might have gone their own way, Rosa Walton and Jenny Hollingworth created some stunning! An album that definitely connected with critics. Reaching number four in the UK Independent Albums (OCC) chart,  many publications included Two Ribbons in their best of 2022 lists (CLASH ranked it seventeenth-best; The Sunday Times put it at number two).

There were some interesting and revealing interview from Let’s Eat Grandma around the release of Two Ribbons. This interview from The i revealed how Two Ribbons followed a period of dislocation and turbulence for the duo:

“A lot changed in quite a short period of time,” Hollingworth says carefully today, speaking over Zoom from her bedroom. “There was a lot of turmoil.” Their new album, Two Ribbons, explores it all. A fearless record full of club-ready euphoria and intricate soundscapes, it strips things back one minute (the sparse, 80s-inspired “Sunday”), dials them up to the extreme the next (“Watching You Go”, a scuzzy rock anthem complete with a twinkling stadium-sized outro).

Across Two Ribbons, Let’s Eat Grandma tackle friendship, self-discovery and defiant hope (“I still believe that I haven’t met the best days of my life” they sing on the buoyant dance of “Levitating”) while leaving plenty of room for the grief and loss to breathe.

“We both held on so tight that we’re bruising up,” they sing on the gut-wrenching title track. “Just think if we’d been together, we’d be breaking up now,” sings Hollingworth on “Happy New Year”, before they laugh at the idea of fighting for custody of a synth. When I ask whether the band ever considered breaking up, Walton says, “It didn’t even cross my mind.”

“Vibrant, colourful, emotional” is how they describe the record. “Sparkly, but also intense and vulnerable.” Yes, Hollingworth calls it “the perfect soundtrack to every kind of sobbing”, but she does so with a grin. Two Ribbons is an upbeat pop album with plenty of moments of joy. “We’re just fans of pop music,” says Walton. “Being able to put across complex, deep subjects in something as immediate and accessible as pop music can be really powerful,” adds Hollingworth. “Not that Rosa and I write music that’s easy listening.”

It took nearly two years to write the album. “It was a deliberately laid-back process,” says Walton. “I don’t think either of us particularly like pressure. It does feel like we know what we’re doing now though, in terms of songwriting, production and lyrics.” Hollingworth laughs. “That’s so weird,” she says. “I don’t feel like I’m ever confident writing a song. It always feels like I’m out of my depth.”

Still, creating Two Ribbons helped both of them to process what they had been through. “Making this album was like, ‘Life is not very good at the moment – let’s make some music about it and work out what’s going on with our relationship and in our lives.’”

“We were making it for ourselves,” adds Walton. “It took that pressure off because what was going on in our personal lives was bigger than the record.”

Hollingworth agrees. “We weren’t trying to prove anything – we were just making a record to express ourselves and have something to keep us going. It’s really hard to think of another project that I feel like I’ve put more into. It’s difficult to explain, but it’s just very special for me.”

“Definitely,” adds Walton. “The best songs are born out of having something that you really, really need to get out but can’t fully put into words in a conversation. It became almost like a necessity to write these tracks.”

It makes sense, then, that they are not paying too much heed to how the album is received. “It’s not because I think we’re so brilliant, or that we don’t have anything left to prove,” says Hollingworth. “This record is so personal, so emotional and made up of songs about grief and our relationship falling apart, that what other people think of it didn’t really feel like the main concern. I do want it to resonate, though”.

THE FADER also spoke with Let’s Eat Grandma. It is amazing how they managed to record such a cohesive and wonderful album at a very difficult time! There was a lot of transition, challenge and rebuilding that occurred when they were making their third studio album. One hopes that a fourth album will come soon enough – and it will be a much smoother and happier time:

“All of this; love, loss, new beginnings, bittersweet realizations, and the enduring power of platonic intimacy, is felt in Two Ribbons, the pair’s third album. They wrote separately for the first time, presenting songs that expressed their feelings like news reports from the other side. For Walton this was chiefly how the move to London was not all she had dreamed about, instead discovering the city to be an isolating and lonely place. She had recently split from a long-term boyfriend and was exploring her bisexuality. This rush of feelings is felt in the glittering synth-pop jam “Hall Of Mirrors” (“There wasn’t a girl that had made me shy until you… somebody tell me how I’m going to work this out?”), one of the many Two Ribbons songs that marry confused emotional states with piercingly sharp pop smarts. The death of Clayton also runs through “Watching You Go,” a tender vow to make the most of life that barely masks Hollingworth’s rage at losing someone so young.

Two Ribbons is an album that acknowledges friendship as a union between two individuals, not necessarily an entity in itself. Naturally, the return to that early closeness is where the album explodes with a kind of euphoria that lingers longest in the memory. At one point in “Happy New Year,” Walton sings “I’ve been thinking quite a lot about how I want the old us back” before adding “It's okay. Say what you wanna say / Now we've grown in different ways.” Speaking to The FADER earlier this week, Let’s Eat Grandma talked about those respective changes, as well as how they got their telepathic friendship back on track and what they learned along the way.

THE FADER: There’s a real sense of overwhelming emotion on Two Ribbons. Nothing is understated at any point. Was that rush something you felt was essential to the sound of the album?

Rosa Walton: I think that’s quite a signature part of our sound, mainly because we’re both very emotional people. We’ve always tried to put the vast scope of different emotions that you can feel into our music.

Jenny Hollingworth: Given the subject matter of the record, it being about grief and loss with different relationship changes, makes you feel closer to life in a lot of ways. The record deals with that a lot. There’s a real vitality that comes from thinking about death, they’re tied together for me. Realizing that life is fragile makes it more beautiful and exciting.

One message to take away from this album is that change isn’t something to be feared, but rather to be embraced…

RW: That is something I have always struggled with, especially in relationships. The idea that it’s not going to be the same as it was. That’s the saddest thing to me. We’ve both talked about different stuff on this record but we’re both at a point where that sort of thing comes up. Writing about it is one of the only ways I can process it and do something with those feelings.

JH: It’s a mix of changes where it’s been really difficult to go through but there’s things to take from it and then other changes where you’re still looking for the answers.

It’s not a record that offers any easy answers, is it? It makes it feel more human, I think. Have you been able to find any of the answers you were looking for since you finished making the album?

RW: There’s definitely been some acceptance on my part of things I have written about. I feel less in that really tense emotion now and have been able to detach myself from those feelings somewhat.

JH: Acceptance is a key word there. I’m never going to have the answers to something like losing someone so young, it’s never going to make sense to me. Acceptance doesn’t mean that it doesn’t upset me or make me angry but it’s acknowledging that it’s an ongoing thing. That is what a lot of the album is about; it’s about one of us looking for an answer and the other telling them that there isn’t one”.

I am going to end with some reviews. As I say, Two Ribbons received big acclaim. I am surprised it is not really played that much. Let’s Eat Grandma are one of the U.K.’s best artists. Always releasing such interesting music. This is what NME wrote when they spent time with one of 2022’s most overlooked and brilliant albums:

“Three years ago, Let’s Eat Grandma were hit with unimaginable tragedy. The Norwich-based experimental pop duo – comprised of childhood pals Rosa Walton and Jenny Hollingworth – lost the latter’s boyfriend, the 22-year-old rising musician Billy Clayton, to a rare form of bone cancer.

It was, of course, understandable that they scrapped their forthcoming 2019 US tour. There had also been fractures in Walton and Hollingworth’s friendship, borne of miscommunication and a degradation in their “telepathic” bond of times past. In the years since the release of their Ivor Norvello-nominated second album ‘I’m All Ears’ (2018) and Clayton’s death, Walton moved to London, which gave the pair space to find the language and melodies with which to express themselves. The result is ‘Two Ribbons’, a mirror in part to the letters they wrote to one another as they tried to navigate new feelings about love, loss and friendship.

What’s sonically striking about ‘Two Ribbons’ is its accessibility compared to the peculiar, juvenile explorations of 2016 debut ‘I, Gemini’ and its potent, PC Music-influenced follow-up. Its first half largely consists of glowing synth-pop (‘Happy New Year’, ‘Hall Of Mirrors’), its second tripped-out acoustic and moving balladry (‘Sunday’, ‘Two Ribbons’). Time spent apart has certainly pulled their pop sentiments into sharper focus.

On quivering synth-pop banger ‘Levitation’, Walton details finding glimmers of hope amid a destructive, hedonistic episode. “I’m good at picking up the pieces from the bathroom floor,” she sings over precision-tooled drum machine claps, before seeing “a piece of something glittering inside the drain.” Coupled with the song’s effervescent tone, it makes for a listen full of heart and hope – and the desire to dance till you drop.

‘Strange Conversations’, a dreamy guitar-driven number that’s just one example of Let’s Eat Grandma’s improved, more mature singing, touches on seeking religious comfort amid grieving. “But even faith won’t soothe this ache tonight” highlights that there isn’t always a solution. A lack of resolution is also reflected in the lilting, glockenspiel-speckled ‘Two Ribbons’, which rhythmically teases a climax that never arrives. “I wanna find the answer, I just want to be your best friend,” they sing, before accepting that “like two ribbons” they’re “still woven, although we are fraying”.

The glorious quirks and inventiveness of Let’s Eat Grandma’s earlier work might be amiss on ‘Two Ribbons’, but its immediacy will likely win them new fans. This is the stirring sound of reinvigoration in the face of loss”.

I shall round off with The Line of Best Fit and what they said about the superb Two Ribbons. This is an album that I can recommend to everyone. You will definitely fall under the spell of Let’s Eat Grandma. I hope that, if they do released another album, it gets wider and more sustained airplay and attention. Two Ribbons was more than worthy of that:

“While in lockdown in Norwich, Jenny Hollingworth and Rosa Walton – who together form the duo Let’s Eat Grandma – would take walks together to a nearby cemetery.

Graveyards were something Hollingworth had come to find a strange comfort in after the death of her boyfriend, electronic musician Billy Clayton, in March 2019. Walking with Walton was a chance to escape the stuffy melancholy of quarantine – to exist, and grieve, in the presence of nature.

Those moments are captured on “In the Cemetery,” a short interlude found on the latter half of the duo’s third full length album, Two Ribbons. The track – gentle and wordless, scattered with birdsong and insect chirping – is a reiteration of the running theme of Two Ribbons, charting a friendship that has been permanently changed through moments of loss and maturation.

It also sounds separate from the electro-pop psychedelic world that the two created in their 2016 debut I, Gemini, and its critically acclaimed follow up, I’m All Ears, in 2018. And while the glitz and oddities of their previous work still come through in Two Ribbons, the music still feels subdued in a way, as if covered by a sheer layer of organza. Here, you’re asked to listen more closely, to catch the unsaid words that float through an instrumental solo or a lyrical chant and hold them through the next verse.

The divide between Hollingworth and Walton has never been clearer in Two Ribbons, nor the subject matter more intimate. Hollingworth and Walton wrote separately on the album for the first time, and the resulting maturity in their musical style is both natural (the album comes four years after their last) and necessary. Both have talked at length about how their childhood sisterly bond began to fray at the edges while touring for I’m All Ears, a dissolution based not in fights or fundamental disagreements, but words that weren’t landing and thoughts that stayed hidden.

In that sense, Two Ribbons sounds like a conversation, the sonic space of the record built like an open-air confession booth. Hollingworth and Walton both have grievances, yes, but they also have the patience to listen and build upon them accordingly. Hollingworth adds a smooth, euphoric saxophone solo to Walton’s dream-pop anthem to bisexual discovery in “Hall of Mirrors.” Likewise, in the Hollingworth-penned “Watching You Go,” about her relationship with Clayton, Walton plays a wailing guitar lick to lift the kaleidoscopic dance track to devastating heights.

This interplay – already quintessential to a Let’s Eat Grandma record – elevates the album and makes clear the friendship between the two has only grown stronger. Two Ribbons illustrates that love isn’t fixed through grand gestures. It’s slowly pieced back together through mutual care and trust”.

If you are unfamiliar with Let’s Eat Grandma, I think that Two Ribbons is as good as any place to start. Go back and listen to their debut, I, Gemini, and its 2018 follow-up, I’m All Ears. Rosa Walton and Jenny Hollingworth are tremendous artists. I love what they have put out. Erven though they had their close bond tested prior to recording their third studio album, what they released into the world was a work of…

PURE brilliance.

FEATURE: Happy 6Mas: Looking Back on a Successful Year for BBC Radio 6 Music

FEATURE:

 

 

Happy 6Mas

IN THIS PHOTO: The wonderful Tom Ravenscroft and Deb Grant host the Music Fix Daily show on BBC Radio 6 Music/PHOTO CREDIT: BBC

 

Looking Back on a Successful Year for BBC Radio 6 Music

_________

COMING up to the end of the year…

IN THIS PHOTO: Lauren Laverne with Antony Szmierek/PHOTO CREDIT: BBC

it is a good time to discuss, in my view, the best radio station in the world. I used to listen to BBC Radio 2 and Greatest Hits Radio in conjunction with BBC Radio 6 Music. Recently, I have forgone both of them and am exclusively with BBC Radio 6 Music. Not to slight the other two stations though, with their male-heavy playlists and lack of real variety, they are easy to let go. Too rigid and a little stale, BBC Radio 6 Music remains balanced, fresh and evolving. I shall come to some recent listenership success and highs. I also want to talk about some of the presenters across the station, plus the station’s Artists in Residence series. Earlier this year, the station announced a line-up change and new schedule. I am someone who has been critical of the station for its lack of mobility regarding introducing fresh blood and shaking things up. After ‘letting go’ of Shaun Keaveny in 2021. It was a shock and rather baffling move when they helped to force out one of their most beloved presenters. Keaveny has gone onto success since then with his Community Garden Radio and podcast, Shaun Keaveny’s Daily Grind (for Radio X). Even though long-term stalwart Steve Lamacq recently left his weekday show and is returning in a new slot in January, BBC Radio 6 Music has only made some minor changes. Not all of them were met with huge appreciation and acceptance. The BBC revealed the proposed changed when they were announced earlier in the year:

“On Monday 5 June, the UK’s most listened to digital radio station, with a weekly audience of 2.5m (RAJAR Q4 2022), will launch two brand new shows – New Music Fix Daily (Monday – Thursday, 7pm-9pm) and Riley & Coe, (Monday – Thursday, 10pm-12am) – with music and conversation at the core.

New Music Fix Daily will be dedicated entirely to new releases – the best of what is being made, performed and shared right now. Broadcast live from Salford, the programme will be presented by Tom Ravenscroft and Deb Grant, who will hand-pick and share their latest new music obsessions. Expect songs from any genre and from across the globe, as well as special guests, guest mixes and good company. Tom and Deb will be a familiar pairing to listeners, having previously presented Mercury Prize and 6 Music Festival specials together. Tom Ravenscroft has been a member of the 6 Music presenting family since 2010, and currently presents a weekly show on Fridays (9pm-12am) as well as his New Music Fix show (Fridays, 2am-3am). Deb has regularly deputised for Chris Hawkins, Gideon Coe and Now Playing on 6 Music.

Riley & Coe will see two of the station’s finest curators, Marc Riley and Gideon Coe, come together to play their music loves from every era and genre. Listeners will have the chance to get lost in their incredible record collections, recommendations and stories over the course of the week. On Mondays, Marc Riley will present his own show, featuring classic and cutting-edge tunes. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, the two presenters unite to share their treasured tracks and musical knowledge with the 6 Music listeners. On Thursdays, Gideon will present his own show, featuring as many records as he can manage. Across the week, expect artists in session, as well as recorded-live performances from the BBC Archive for listeners to enjoy too.

Tom Ravenscroft says: “Every day, thousands of new tracks are released, bands are formed in bedrooms and the search for the perfect beat continues. Deb and I will be inviting listeners and fellow music lovers to join our conversation about some of our favourites.”

Deb Grant says: “It’s a total honour to be joining the 6 Music family for New Music Fix Daily, even more so to be working alongside a station legend like Tom on a show that champions something so fundamental to the station’s ethos - new music! There are so many bands I’ve fallen in love with having first heard them on 6 Music and the idea of being able to make that happen for listeners, not to mention myself, every day is beyond exciting. Truly a dream gig!”

Marc Riley says: “I’ve been calling Gid ‘The Guv’nor’ for the last 16 years so this is my chance to learn from the best in the business! We’ll be joining forces to do what we’ve both always done on 6 Music - sharing music and sessions from the artists we love.”

IN THIS PHOTO: Head of BBC Radio 6 Music, Samantha Moy

Gideon Coe says: “Marc plays great records and hosts fantastic sessions. I very much look forward to doing that alongside him. I also look forward to continuing to provide late-night radio for the 6 Music listeners. They remain the most important part of any programme.”

Samantha Moy, Head of 6 Music, says: “A love of music unites all of our 6 Music presenters. And bringing Marc & Gid and Tom & Deb together means even more music will be found and shared with our audience, giving a new sound to 6 Music at night.”

At the heart of the evening schedule (9pm-10pm), will be the artists themselves, as 6 Music’s Artist in Residence moves to Monday-Thursday from 5th June. Each series is presented by a musician, who takes listeners on a journey into their musical soul, with each episode based around a different theme or mood. Since Artist in Residence launched in November 2020, hosts have included Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Phoebe Bridgers, Fontaines D.C., Loyle Carner, St. Vincent, Wolf Alice, Beabadoobee, IDLES, Jamie T, Perfume Genius and Father John Misty.

On Fridays, Tom Ravenscroft will continue to share his passion for the underground club scene in The Ravers Hour (11pm-12am). The Ravers Hour, broadcast from Salford, is Tom’s curation of the finest emerging DJs and producers from across the globe. The show features the freshest and most eclectic mixes from these DJs, as well as from Tom himself.

All of these new shows will be broadcast from Salford, where BBC Radio 6 Music is increasing its presence as part of the BBC’s Across the UK plans, allowing the BBC to better reflect, represent and serve all audiences.

6 Music’s weekly New Music Fix and New Album Fix shows (Fridays, 12am-5am), will also continue, with Jamz Supernova joining the New Music Fix family of Steve Lamacq and Mary Anne Hobbs, curating an hour of her favourite brand new tracks for listeners, from 2am-3am. Jamz currently presents Jamz Supernova on 6 on Saturdays (1pm-3pm).

Jamz Supernova says: “One of the things I love most about my Saturday show is being able to share my new musical discoveries with listeners. There’s always so much to be excited about, and I can’t wait to bring you a whole hour of favourite brand new tracks every week”.

IN THIS PHOTO: Jamz Supernova/PHOTO CREDIT: BBC

I hope the stations does more on their social media. Their Twitter/X page is not as updated as it once was. Their YouTube channel hasn’t seen much update in recent years (same with Facebook). Their Instagram is probably the best source for the most up to date happenings. I do hope they freshen up their other channels, as the station is growing in popularity. I like the fact that there were schedule changes. One of the best moves was making the excellent Deb Grant a permanent fixture (she now presents alongside Tom Ravenscroft on New Music Fix Daily). I hope that the station gives more airtime to presenters such as Emily Pilbeam. Music Week reported last month how BBC Radio 6 Music is going from strength to strength in terms of their listener numbers and demographic:

“BBC Radio 6 Music has seen ratings soar in the past three months, according to the latest Q3 audience figures from RAJAR (June 26 to September 17, 2023).

The digital-only alternative station has a weekly audience of 2.753 million, up 11.7% year-on-year and an increase of 3.1% on the prior quarter. It remains the biggest digital radio station.

The 6 Music Breakfast Show with Lauren Laverne had 1.4m listeners.

6 Music won the Radio Station category at the 2023 Music Week Awards.

An audience of 2.75m is not quite a record result – the station headed by Samantha Moy hit 2.85m in Q2 last year – but it’s impressive nonetheless at a time when other BBC networks are shedding listeners.

6 Music implemented a series of schedule changes in the quarter, including the launch of evening show New Music Fix with Deb Grant & Tom Ravenscroft in early June. 6 Music Artist In Residence (featuring acts such as Manic Street Preachers, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Idles) was moved to a more high-profile schedule time of 9pm, while Marc Riley and Gideon Coe were paired in the 10pm to midnight slot.

6 Music has also brought back Cillian Murphy to his late-night show, although that was not covered by this set of RAJAR figures. Veteran presenter Steve Lamacq stepped down from his weekly show on Friday (October 20) after 18 years”.

Before name-checking some of the wonderful talent on the station and looking ahead to Christmas and why BBC Radio 6 Music have been so essential this year, Music Week chatted with Deb Grant earlier in the year about her new show with Tom Ravensctoft:

“BBC Radio 6 Music's Deb Grant has told Music Week that the quality of new artists is "through the roof".

Grant's station triumphed at the Music Week Awards earlier this year and Samantha Moy is continuing to ring the changes, with supporting emerging talent front and centre in her plans.

New Music Fix Live, a four-day celebration of emerging artists and Glasgow’s music scene, will be broadcast from Monday, November 13 to Thursday, November 16 in extended editions from 7-10pm.

From Monday to Wednesday, Grant and Ravenscroft will broadcast from BBC Pacific Quay studios and their shows will feature sessions from post-punk band CG8, rapper and producer Miso Extra and genre-defying collective Corto.alto, as well as guest mixes from Scottish producers and DJs, Pub, Hudson Mohawke and Rebecca Vasmant. On the Thursday, the show will air from SWG3 in Glasgow, where Sofia Kourtesis will perform live and Sega Bodega will DJ in front of an audience of 6 Music listeners.

With Deb Grant's New Music Fix Daily show alongside co-presenter Tom Ravenscroft bedding into 6 Music's revamped schedule, the DJ sits down with Music Week to hold court on her favourite subject...

How is the new show going so far?

“It feels really cool to have the responsibility of being a conduit for new music on BBC Radio 6 Music. It’s such a new thing for the station and we’ve been given free reign, we’re able to bring in stuff from every genre. Myself and Tom are just getting used to that. We instantly got along and we have a similar sense of humour, our music taste isn’t necessarily always the same. He tends to favour dance music, which isn’t necessarily my area of expertise, so I’ve been learning a lot of new things from him, and I’m bringing in more guitar-based stuff. To be a conduit for new music coming on to the station feels amazing.”

Is there enough new music coming out for you to play?

“Oh my God yes, there’s too much! We get sent new music from artists directly, from pluggers and so does our production team, and it’s completely ramped up recently. There’s only a certain amount of time that we have [to play it] each week, and by the time that week ends, the tracks aren’t necessarily new anymore and you want to make sure the show is fresh and cutting edge, so it’s hard to leave things out. There’s so much amazing new music.”

What do you hope your show does for the industry?

“I’ve always found the system quite weird, because you have so many talented musicians making beautiful music, then you have this period where pluggers are promoting it. Obviously, to make a great show we need great music and we listen to absolutely everything, whether someone approaches us with a demo, or whether it comes from a plugger or a label or wherever, it’s egalitarian in that way. Myself and Tom go to a lot of gigs too, so much stuff that I’ve found or been introduced to has come from seeing support slots at gigs or wandering into shows myself and finding stuff. I hope our show makes the process more egalitarian, making sure that people know that they can send us music themselves. Someone sent Tom this amazing cover version of Heart Shaped Box and we featured it on the show for several nights in a row just because we loved it so much, and that was something that came in directly. My goal is for us to be something that’s accessible to everyone making music. Why shouldn’t it be?”

PHOTO CREDIT: BBC

Given your passion for emerging talent, what does it mean to you to be able to play new music in such a high profile slot?

“When they proposed the show, I was amazed at the amount of freedom. It’s nice to be trusted in that way. I’ve deputised in so many different slots and in some of those the music hasn’t been entirely my own choice. I’ve sat in for Gideon [Coe] where it was three hours of whatever I want, then I’ve done playlisted shows as well. So to have something with such free reign at this time is really unusual, it’s great. I guess they trust us!”

Have you tuned in to the reaction to the show much so far?

“I disengaged from social media when the show started because I didn’t want anything - bad or good - to distract me. It’s much easier to do it when you have a co-host because it just feels like a conversation and you’re not really thinking about what the response might be. It takes a while to find your feet, but there are already people messaging in to say it’s their favourite show on 6. I think they’ve probably needed a show like this on the station for a while.”

The industry has debated the issue of a lack of domestic breakthroughs a lot of late. Is new music in a healthy state?

“With mainstream stuff, it scares me that labels seem to have got the formula down to a fine art. I don’t like how constructed it sometimes is. It’s not a meritocracy a lot of the time, it’s about a combination of factors that labels think will make a good prospect. That’s in terms of the mainstream, in terms of new music that we’re interested in, I’d say it’s in a very healthy state. There are so many artists who in my mind deserve to be incredibly successful. And it’s so hard to be in a band these days. It feels so thankless, you have to do so much work to get your head above the parapet. We’re so saturated, there is almost a jadedness, because people have so much access to new music they take it for granted. I really admire anyone trying to create music that’s different because it’s fucking hard, expensive and all the rest of it, but the quality is through the roof”.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Gilles Peterson/PHOTO CREDIT: BBC

I don’t think that the appointment of Tom Ravenscroft in that new slot is, as some have suggested, an attempt to reduce the average age of the station’s listeners. I know there are a load of people in their twenties and thirties that listen to 6. That said, they have a very wide demographic; much wider than sister stations like BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 2 I feel. A more diverse base in terms of musical tastes, sexuality, ethnicity and backgrounds. Their seems to be this community and family vibe one does not really get anywhere else. The schedule the station has now is incredible. Weekday early breakfast is covered by Chris Hawkins who is, possibly, the hardest-working human in broadcasting. Queen Lauren Laverne takes over before handing the baton to Mary Anne Hobbs. With Craig Charles and Huw Stephens broadcasting in the afternoon, we then get Deb Grant and Tom Ravenscroft and their essential New Music Fix. There is the BBC Introducing Mixtape alongside 6 Music Artist in Residence which, this year, has seen Mitski (the current host), The Last Dinner Party and Yeah Yeah Yeahs (among others) share their musical favourites. Riley & Coe ensure that the day ends with real passion and bang. The weekend features, among others, Radcliffe and Maconie and Jamz Supernova. It is a remarkable mix of shows and presenters that confidently sees BBC Radio 6 Music into 2024. Whilst I hope that one or two new names come to the station, the fact that the RAJAR figures keep showing a rise for them means things can’t be tampered with two much. The station announced their Artists of the Year fairly recently – which included everyone from Blur to The Last Dinner Party to boygenius to Say She She to Antony Szmierek (I am surprised that they did not include Iraina Mancini alongside them!). In spite of some minor improvements that one hopes will be addressed – social media stuff and going even further to freshen their schedules – there is plenty of scope. The station could even have their own award ceremony, so lauded and eclectic is their playlists!

Alongside the presenters, there is also that listener interaction and regular features, together with regular guests. You have The Chain on Radcliffe and Maconie’s show. Craig Charles has his Trunk of Punk. Lauren Laverne had weekly contributors such as Professor Hannah Fry and film critics Rhianna Dhillon. I hope Matt Everitt gets more airtime too. His The First Time with… is essential listening! I also loved his New Album Fix series, which I hope that gets more focus in 2024. It is this mix of variety and stability that means people keep tuning in. A station that has its finger on the pulse of new music, I guess it could broaden (artists one would think perfect for the station such as Charli XCX, Olivia Rodrigo are either never played or very infrequently), though they do mix deep cuts, rarer artists and some great new stuff. They are one of the few radio stations who have a balanced playlist in terms of gender. BBC Radio 6 Music is naturally very cool and credible, yet there is never that feeling they alienate anyone and stuff is off limits. So inclusive and all-encompassing, it is a station even more people will be discovering in 2024. Rather than send the presenters each a Christmas present (what kind of budget to you think I work with?!), I thought I would write this feature and more personally – and cheaply and lazily! – nod to the station and its wonderful presenters. I know that they have provided so much comfort to listeners throughout the year. With Christmas (or ‘6Mas’) fast approaching, there will be more cheer, warmth (and maybe some Christmas classics) radiated from one of radio’s jewels! Growing success, new talent, a changed schedule and expanding fanbase, I wanted to offer huge thanks and love…

TO the mighty BBC Radio 6 Music.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Say Now

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

 

 Say Now

_________

THIS is a rare case…

of me spotlighting the same group in a short space of time who have changed their name. I was a little miffed why the former needanamebro couldn’t come up with a name. It is a risk having a jokey/placeholder name and then changing your name. I am not sure what the logistics are when it comes to songs recorded under that previous name. Do you go on Spotify and now add your new name?! It may be the case that people think that this is two separate groups. In any case, I am relieved that the previously uninspired and uncommitted needanamebro are confidently Say Now. The London trio consists Ysabelle Salvanera, Amelia Onuorah and Madeleine Haynes. There are a couple of things I want to cover off before coming to them. Even if they have not released much new music under their new incarnation, I am including songs from the needanamebro period as, obviously, it is the same group – and that is where some confusion may creep in! In any case, we are in a time when girl bands are rarer than they were. Legends like The Sugarbabes are reformed and still going. Girls Aloud are getting back together for a new tour. Spice Girls are an ongoing concern and have been rumoured for Glastonbury 2024. I think that En Vogue, TLC, All Saints and Little Mix are, technically, still going and have not called it quits officially. What about the new crop?! I think a lot of attention has been put on FLO. Perhaps the most comparable group to Say Now, FLO is a London trio of Jorja Douglas, Stella Quaresma, and Renée Downer.

I wanted to focus on Say Now, as they recently played their first headline set at LAYLOW in Notting Hill. There are other girl bands around at the moment. Most seem to be coming from the U.K. We have K-Pop girl bands who are defining modern Pop in a way. Producing such strong and bright music, there is that difference with the more R&B-influenced sound that comes from groups like FLO and Say Now. That variety is welcomed. I wonder whether there will be a resurgence and fresh flow of girl bands, as these legends and icons who are either established or nearing their end will pass the touch to this generation. I am not sure even whether Say Now would class themselves as a traditional ‘girl band’. Does that term seem reductive and a little outdated?! Maybe slightly sexist, they are a group who incorporate elements of older-days U.S. and U.K. girl bands with something fresh and original. Ysabelle Salvanera, Amelia Onuorah and Madeleine Haynes have an incredible and close band. There is a lot of affection within the group. S.I.N.G.L.E., released last month, is one of the best releases from this year. I know there will be a lot of talk and interest around a debut E.P. from the three-piece next year.

I want to come to some press with them. Again, there is some crossover between needanamebro and Say Now. As I say, as they are the same group, albeit with different names, I can include everything, as they have not changed personnel or made any changes within their ranks. Before getting to them, here is some background detail:

“Yssy, Amelia and Maddie - formerly known as needanamebro - are the new UK girl group aiming for “worldwide domination!” (“humbly…”) and bringing their 300k-strong following alongside them every step of the way. Forget what you thought you knew about girl bands from the ones that came before: Say Now have already switched up the rules.

The evidence is there to be found on the @saynow TikTok account, where the girls have been documenting every step of the process. Over the past two years - inspired by artists like Yebba, SZA, Ariana Grande and the Sugababes - their growing fanbase has witnessed them singing covers of ‘Lost’ by Frank Ocean, dancing in a car park to a sped-up version of Beyoncé’s ‘Crazy In Love’, gaining a new member, moving into a house together, releasing their debut single ‘Better Love’, co-signed by Jack Harlow, Chlöe and Libianca, tipped by The Guardian, The FACE, Spotify and Apple Music, and all the chaotic little moments in between.

For Say Now - a shorthand reference to the band’s values and purpose as artists - inviting the audience to follow along with their progress is a big part of their mission statement, and with oversubscribed shows and songs playing on the radio, it’s already paying off”.

This is a time when a new wave of girl band are establishing their identity. Girls Like You were recently featured by The Guardian, where they spoke about their goals to establish themselves as the first big British Asian girl band. There is not a lot of written about Say Now. Not really any published/spoken interviews at the moment. I featured them as needanamebro back in July. As they have decided upon a name, I wanted to stay fresh and start again. As they revealed to Sam Thompson on Hits UK radio recently, they did struggle to come up with a name. Something that I would have thought would have been easy has not quite been the case. I guess you want something that is simple enough but has not already been taken:

“Say Now, consisting of Ysabelle Salvanera, Amelia Onuorah, and Madeleine Haynes, joined Sam Thompson on Hits UK to talk about their new song 'S.I.N.G.L.E', and how they got their band name.

Originally called needanamebro (Need a Name Bro), because they couldn't decide on their band name, the trio revealed how they asked their fans for some suggestions, with hilarious consequences.

Speaking to Sam, they revealed some of the suggestions were, Green Dragons, Pierce Soul, and Destiny's Sisters. Of course none of them were chosen, with the band deciding on Say Now.

The band have previously revealed that their current name is their 'life moto'.

Who wrote their song 'S.I.N.G.L.E'?

The band have now released their latest song 'S.I.N.G.L.E', which they revealed was written by them because Yssy had just broken up from her boyfriend. She explained: "We wrote it together. It was one of the first few sessions that we did together. Yeah, and I think I just broke up with my ex, who I'm now back with!"

She continued: "Amelia was also single and Maddie was having a rough patch, and we were like, we found a meme that said, 'stress is now gone. Life is easier. S I N G L E'.

"And then immediately we just started chantng S I N G L E and well that's now the chorus”.

There was a lot of excitement surrounding needanamebro when they emerged earlier this year. Guap revealed how they started life as a duo before recruiting a third member – and with it becoming this solid and unbreakable trio:

“The lovable girl group consists of three talented members Amelia, Maddie and Ysabelle – with many being surprised to find out that the tight-knitted trio initially started off with Amelia & Ysabelle being a duo. However, the girls were looking for a final member to complete their girl group which brings us to the addition of Maddie, who was introduced to their supporters via TikTok with a stunning cover of ‘Killing Me Softly With His Song’ on the 22nd of May 2022. The trio’s instant chemistry makes you feel like they’ve been a band forever.

Needanamebro released their first single ‘Better Love’ on the 19th of April 2023. ‘Better Love’ is the epitome of friends through everything as the girls remind each other that whenever you’re feeling too weak to stand, we’ll ‘lift you up’ and hold you through it. More and more fans began gravitating to their relatability, fast forward to the 24th of May 2023 and their second single ‘Not A Lot Left To Say’ was out for everyone to enjoy.

Their most recent single ‘Netflix (Better Now Without You)’ is a song that will have you screaming out the lyrics to your ex as you let everyone know just how good you’re doing without them. It’s catchy, it’s fun and you can’t help but sing along to it.

Needanamebro are authentically building their army of supporters in a way that’s so natural and personal to them, it feels like you already know them. From the TikTok’s to their behind-the-scenes videos. It’s clear to see that what they’re doing now is only the start of their journey so far and we look forward to watching the rest”.

I strongly suspect that 2024 will see more music from this awesome trio - and, with it, more interviews/chat with Say Now. I wanted to come back to them, as the girl band market in the U.K. is still a little under-represented and quiet. There are these new groups coming through still in the early days. Say Now sit alongside contemporaries such as FLO. These promising names that will join other Pop and R&B acts. With the mainstream dominated by huge names like Taylor Swift and Dua Lipa, perhaps there is less room for and attention around these rising groups. Once was the time when girl bands were ruling and at the forefront. Maybe we will return to that time. You get something with them one does not experience with a Pop solo act. Say Now have this chemistry and harmony that came from in their previous skin and has been cemented with S.I.N.G.L.E. This year has been promising (if changeable) for them. I feel that next year is one where they will…

REALLY shine.

__________

Follow Say Now

FEATURE: I Just WhatsApped to Say I Quite Like You… The Changing Nature of Communication and Romance Through Songs

FEATURE:

 

 

I Just WhatsApped to Say I Quite Like You…

PHOTO CREDIT: Umut Sarıalan/Pexels

 

The Changing Nature of Communication and Romance Through Songs

_________

I think less and less…

PHOTO CREDIT: Anton/Pexels

there are fewer decelerations of love and real affection in mainstream music. You have certain artists who are Singer-Songwriter and write ballads. Maybe Pop still has that oldskool romance, yet the nature of deceleration and affection has changed. What is most noticeable is how communication has evolved through the years. The title of this feature refers to Stevie Wonder’s 1984 song, I Just Called to Say I Love You. The idea of someone calling someone up to say they love them. The idea of someone calling another personal full stop! Although Pop and other genres does still bring in the telephone and sometimes you get songs were lovers or friends are speaking and having that conversation, things have become less personal and more free-flowing. Not that this is a fresh observation. I just miss a certain something that has gone from music. Think of all the old songs where a phone was used. That thing where we’d we hear lovers’ calls and chat through song. The nostalgic nature of either using a home phone or a public phone to make that call. There are articles that discuss songs that deal with telephone drama, though when we think of phones and Pop, it normally relates to fans using them at gigs. That debate as to whether they are spoiling live music or they are essential when capturing that unique moment. I am heartened that a new song by Wild Nothing, Dial Tone, is very much about a missed connection and a telephone’s dial tone. This a rarity in modern music.

I guess it is not only love songs that have that connection to phones. Through the years, a variety of moods and situations have been documented through the phone medium. It is on my mind now as, more and more, commercial music is talking more about modern communication rather than that traditional medium. This article spotlights telephone songs and lists some of the very best:

“Telephone Songs

Some of the best conversations happen over the phone. No matter what mood you are in, you can always talk to someone over the phone. When you call a loved one or receive a call from someone special, it just makes you happy.

Through songs, singers and songwriters have creatively brought to life different aspects associated with phone calls. The conversations and talks that take place over a telephone call are showcased in different ways to convey a message.

What Messages Do Songs About Calling Someone Convey?

A wide range of emotions are conveyed in songs about phone calls. While a number of songs describe positive emotions associated with making and receiving calls, certain songs portray dark sentiments. The feeling of warmth and tenderness that comes over when you talk to the one you love over the phone is exquisitely captured in certain lyrics. A number of songs showcase the eagerness, enthusiasm, and restlessness lovers feel as they wait for the phone to ring.

The thoughts that run through the mind of the person making a call or receiving a call are exhibited in a breathtakingly beautiful manner through a sequence of flashback events in certain songs. The negative thoughts that invade the mind when a person you love does not take your call are essayed with powerful words in lyrics. Intimate phone conversations associated with love, lust, and romance are aesthetically brought to life in lyrics.

In certain songs, the despair of parting ways after a breakup is expressed through pleading conversations on a phone call. The different aspects of dirty talk are highlighted in a confessional manner over the phone in certain songs.

What Do Phones and Phone Calls Symbolize in Songs?

In songs, the telephone call symbolizes communicating matters of the heart and mind. Both happy moments and sad moments are showcased through music videos that highlight relationships through telephonic conversations. In certain songs, thoughts are expressed in the form of questions that demand an explanation from a person. Such songs often showcase bittersweet moments of a failed relationship through vivid perspectives during a phone call. The sentiments associated with long-distance relationships are poetically described with endearing words on a call.

Certain songs in alternative genres describe the nostalgic feeling of leaving a message on the answering machine. The naughty murmurs in late-night calls and romantic texting on smartphones are thoughtfully presented through a series of events in songs. Different aspects of chatting on the phone with a special friend are highlighted with compliments, awe, and admiration. A number of songs intricately describe a shy person’s inability to express feelings in person but overcome their shy nature with the most heartwarming words over a phone call. Although a wide spectrum of attributes is conveyed with phones and phone calls, in songs, different aspects of making calls and receiving calls symbolize or denote

Love

  1. Care

  2. Affection

  3. Warmth

  4. Feelings

  5. Passion

  6. Lust

  7. Communication

  8. Heartache

  9. Emotions

  10. Conversation

  11. Happiness

  12. Romance

  13. Breakup

  14. Seduction

  15. Flirting

  16. Declaration

  17. Problems

  18. Relationships

  19. Sadness

  20. Infatuation

  21. Desire

  22. Judgment

  23. Connection

  24. Suspicion”.

If modern songs are more about texting, I wonder how many tracks from recent times keep alive that dying art of speaking to a friend or lover on the phone. There has been debate through the years. The once go-to way of discussing connection between sweethearts, has Pop fallen out of love with the telephone? Back in 2009, The Guardian asked whether the phone has been replaced and updated. Whilst there were modern examples, in the fourteen years since, has the telephone become even rarer and more unusual?

“Songwriters have long used the telephone as a subject to express a multitude of emotions – the frustration in the so-near-and-yet-so-far conversations between long-distance lovers, the joy of running downstairs and hearing that special someone's voice, the anxiety of waiting for a call that may never come, or the despair brought on by the line that rings and ring to no reply. 

Pop music had already been singing about the telephone 20 years before Debbie Harry stood in that phone booth, the one across the hall, saying to herself: "If you don't answer, I'll rip it off the wall." In the 50s, the lead singer of the Four Top Hatters had a handful of nickels and a heart full of loving, but he couldn't ring his sweetheart because of the 45 men taking up room in the telephone booth, while in 1964 the Beatles bemoaned "I tried to telephone / They said you were not home / That's a lie" in No Reply.

But now that we all carry mobiles, it's rare for anyone to be inaccessible for anything longer than the duration of a tube journey. These days we have a choice of text, picture or video messaging, not to mention voicemail or email, so has a certain romance in conducting relationships over the telephone been killed off for modern musicians?

Debbie Harry could quite happily shop in Tesco's while waiting for her lover to answer. Gallagher wouldn't have to sit alone indoors waiting for that tormenting phonecall, he could just put his mobile on vibrate and watch Man City at the boozer. Meanwhile, the fact Soulja Boy even knows the number of his "future wifey" by heart seems remarkable given that we rely on our mobiles to do all the memorising for us. Besides, doesn't Johnny Borrell crooning "The girls are on their mobiles trying to get reception" just seem too prosaic?”.

To counter my argument, another article from The Guardian, this time from 2018, asked why there were so few songs about texting. I think that WhatsApp messages are coming into music now. In the five years since this article was published, artists have changed their tone. There is a bit of a delay now, as I do not think we are hearing too many songs about the telephone. For a generation that are sending WhatsApp messages and speaking less than they text, has Pop music undergone another shift? Perhaps. It did seem, in 2018, the telephone was in no real danger of hanging up:

“It’s a grand tradition. From Glenn Miller’s Pennsylvania 6-5000 to Drake’s Hotline Bling, pop’s obsession with telecommunications is long and glorious; Lady Gaga committed to the theme so strongly she wore a phone on her head. Phone songs have taken in anticipation (Abba’s Ring Ring), spontaneity (Call Me Maybe), popular hobbies (Village People’s Sex Over the Phone) and smartphones’ woeful battery life (Maroon 5’s Payphone). And that’s before you consider phones’ real-world connections to pop. Decades before Spotify, the nearest teenage fans got to “on-demand” was Dial-a-Disc, where you would phone a number and listen to music looping on reel-to-reel tape machines. Mobile phones made their own impact: from the ringtone boom of the 2000s to the way the Walkman of the past is now built into all handsets, and even the way songwriters’ melody ideas are stored first as voicenotes. In the studio vocal booth, lyrics are read off a phone screen.

“Phones are a very powerful trope,” acknowledges songwriter Jack Lee – and he should know. In the 1970s, he was a struggling musician in San Francisco. One afternoon, he received a call informing him that his phone line was about to be disconnected. However, there was time for one more incoming call, which informed him that a band were interested in covering one of his songs. The band were Blondie, the song was Hanging on the Telephone. From his home in Los Angeles, the 2018 version of Lee tells the Guide: “It changed my life, and it saved my life.”

The song came about when Lee was a busker in need of original songs. Reading an illustrated book of Beatles lyrics, he saw that All I’ve Got to Do (“ … is call you on the phone”) was accompanied by a picture of a girl entwined in a telephone cord. “Don’t ask me the psychological implications, but two days later I was messing around on the guitar and I got the lightning bolt. Over the next year I put everything I had into writing that song.”

Twelve months well spent: Hanging on the Telephone has since been covered by everyone from Def Leppard to Girls Aloud. In the 2012 movie Electrick Children, Julia Garner’s character experiences what she believes is a virgin birth as a result of hearing the song. “What the song captures,” Lee adds, “is the desire for connection and the frustration when you can’t make the connection. The intensity. The high stakes.” Beyond the drama, Lee says there’s something more subtle at play: “When young people got together in that period, there were things you could say on the telephone that you couldn’t say face to face. You could be more vulnerable. And that period lasted from the 1920s to the early 90s – a long time for the telephone to influence people’s lives.” 

But how true is this in the era of Generation Mute? In 2015, it was reported that phone use among young people had dropped by almost a quarter in just three years. Calling someone unannounced – or, God forbid, leaving a voicemail – is now an egregious attack on privacy. Let’s pick up the phone to Emily Warren, the co-writer of Dua Lipa’s New Rules. “Agreed!” she declares. “It’s a violation!” New Rules, she says, was inspired by the real-life predicament of co-writer Caroline Ailin, who was fielding texts and phonecalls from an ex. “We sat down to write a song that was a guidebook to ending that situation.”

Over at Little Mix’s label Syco, A&R manager Guy Langley remembers being at a house party with colleague Anya. Both sets of ears pricked up when someone put on Curiosity Killed the Cat’s late-80s answerphone banger Name and Number. A short while later, the song had become a Little Mix single, How Ya Doin?. Langley says there were no worries about the concept of answerphones seeming outmoded. Actually, they embraced it: “The girls’ mantra from the start has been about referencing harmonies of bands like En Vogue; the idea of answering machines felt knowingly throwback.”

In fact, Langley says, there’s a risk in trying to make songs too up-to-date. “We try to make lyrical content conversational but whenever you get too specific it starts to sound very ‘now’.” And not in a good way. “There was a time when the One Direction songs were being written and it was all ‘LOL’, ‘Message me back’, ‘BBM me this’, and it felt like an older generation trying really hard to connect with a young generation, and getting it wrong.” (Jax Jones concurs: “There is no room at all to talk about dating apps – that’s going too far. Something like: ‘You are the love of my life, for you I will swipe right’ – terrible. It’s Vengaboys territory.”)

Langley adds that he has seen an increase in submissions whose lyrics dwell on phone addiction, reflecting Gen Z’s love/hate relationship with nearly every smartphone app except the phone function. It’s the topic of another of Emily Warren’s songs, Phone Down. “I’m obsessed with phones in songs, actually,” she admits. “In the two years I’ve become really bothered by and aware of phone use and social media use. Phone Down is specifically about a phone ruining an intimate moment. It feels like there’s a disconnect.”

Explaining this disconnect (also referenced in the Clean Bandit and Marina single, er, Disconnect), Paul Lee, who conducts research into phone use in his role as global head of research at Deloitte, says that while people of pop-consuming age aren’t falling out of love with handsets, they are definitely moving away from voice-only communication. “But any text-based message is a simplification, stripped of emotion,” he explains. “For instance, ‘hello’ is five letters in an anonymous font when conveyed by text message. But when spoken it can convey an entire universe of emotions: curt, chirpy, angry, delighted … ” Or, in the case of Adele’s phone song Hello, it feels like a hundred emotions at once. No wonder she chose a pre-smartphone-era flip-phone for the song’s video. As for what might constitute a 2018 version of Hanging on the Telephone? Paul Lee has a plan. “It would be a song about a WhatsApp interaction that shows as being delivered and read – with two ticks – but is not responded to”.

I’d like to hear people’s views regarding modern music and communication. I cannot bring to mind many songs from the past five years or so that mention the telephone. There are few about texting and WhatsApp either. It makes me wonder whether artists are more direct in a way. Forgoing forms of communication as a tool or way of framing love and conversation. A lot of classic songs and some slightly old Pop is played on radio where you get this romance and interaction via phone. Even though there is some more modern-day forms of communication discussed in music – like texting, social media and WhatsApp -, I do think that this whole model and nature of conversation is dying away. People are more and more reliant on quicker communication and that stream of messages rather than a longer conversation. Perhaps less focused and with shorter attention spans, there are avenues and corners of music where the phone call remains. Less about landlines now, the smartphone and mobile has replaced that. This is tragic in its own way. The scene has gone from people at home on this fixed line to people being on the move. A sense of romance and intimacy gets lost when you move from the landline to mobiles. Once a staple for love songs and capturing either intimacy or tension, with it, there has been a loss of that openness and closeness. If the Internet and social media has perhaps replaced the telephone and text conversations, even that seems to be less common than you’d think. Have phone calls and conversation become less important regarding inspiration? Are we more disconnected? Rather than committing to a full conversation or composing long-form messages, most modern artists are…

KEEPING it brief.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Mega

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

  

Mega

_________

AS a new fan…

of the supreme and queen Mega, I did not catch her 2022 E.P., Colour Your World, first time around. I have heard it since, yet with songs like Be Good Be Kind guaranteed to inspire and stick in the mind, everyone needs to check out this wonderful London artist. There is a new interview that I am going to work forward to. I want to go back to last year and some of the press around the E.P. Before I get there, here is some biography about a Soul artist who is going to grow bigger and bigger and take the world by storm:

“Mega is one of the strongest voices to surface from the contemporary soul scene in London. She made an instant impact with her debut single “Chariot” – which has amassed over 25m streams across Spotify, quickly cementing her status as a star.

Mega has gained early support from influential online platforms Mahogany, NME, Wonderland Magazine, The Clash Magazine and The Independent, as well as recognition from BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC London. Her follow up single, “Let me Let You Go”, was picked by Jack Saunders for his Future Artists on BBC Radio 1 and was chosen by the Brit Awards for their Sunday Spotlight. Both singles appear on Mega’s 6-track EP ‘Future Me’, released at the end of 2020.

Taking inspiration from her past, she often takes themes of self-esteem, self-love and growth and turns them into emotive songs with enchanting melodies. She draws influence from the music that surrounded her growing up; power-soul songstresses such as Amy Winehouse, Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone, Lauryn Hill and Whitney Houston have deeply inspired her through the honesty they convey in their music.

In 2021, Mega signed with Nettwerk Music Group, since then she has been playing festivals and recording new music, set to arrive later in 2023.

Earlier in the year, Mega supported the Mercury Award winning artist ‘Self Esteem’ in her Headline UK Tour”.

Such a stunning artist with a pure heart, enormously powerful voice and sublime music that crosses genre boundaries and has this nourishing quality, it is no surprise that many were intrigued by Mega last year. The Line of Best Fit talked about a wonderous artist on the rise. It was interesting reading more about her childhood and musical upbringing:

“As a child, she began attending an opera choir in Highbury at nine, then going on to a gospel choir in Angel at twelve. She had followed her sister, also a singer, to these choirs, and the two would perform in from of their families: made-up songs, plays, and whatever was on MTV. Also, “anything that was on the radio – Britney Spears, Destiny’s Child – whatever was popular was what I loved,” she says. “But I also grew up listening to Ugandan and African music.”

Mega cites other British-Ugandan artists like George the Poet and Michael Kiwanuka as influences in a recent essay for Clash. You can hear the vibrant guitars in songs like "Smile" similar to bands like Afrigo Band that she also names as an influence. “It makes me happy – it’s just really happy-making, that kind of music. You know, high life, sunshine. It’s been very fitting now that we’ve had more sun, although climate change…”

As she got older, Mega was certain that making music was what she wanted to do. “I was so excited to do it properly – I was going to study, get the education under my belt at sixth form,” she recounts. “I’d often go to the studio on the weekend with some friends of mine who were producers, and we used to make music all the time. It was like, finally: I can start doing this full time and pursue it and see where it goes.”

But soon after, she lost her voice: “I was originally diagnosed with nodules, it turned out not to be nodules. They thought it was a phonatory gap, turned out not to be a phonatory gap – I mean, it was a bunch of things they thought it could be.”

As time went on, Mega gradually became more and more unable to sing. “It’s like breaking a leg and trying to walk or whatever it is, trying to learn to use that thing again,” she explains. “For me, it was trying to figure out how to get back into doing music. After not singing for so long, it was quite terrifying. I remember my voice therapist said she thought it might have developed into a fear. Every time I tried to, I was just super fearful, so sort of relaxing the mind and healing that first and foremost.”

During the period where Mega couldn’t sing, she resolved to go off to university. Like many, university was a time where you learn more about yourself – and for Mega, this was no exception. “I always loved psychology,” she explains. “If I wasn’t singing, that would have been my career path.”

Studying at university helped her to discover other talents that she had. “In that time, I was really forced to look inside. I feel like a lot of our identity is sometimes put into the things that people praise us for”

“Because I had the music there, it was sort of easy to hide behind that. It was like, now that I can't sing, what am I going to do? I put everything into this music career. And I just discovered my love for psychology and people and humans. I tried all different kinds of jobs. I did things that I probably wouldn't done if I was just doing the music straight away.” 

It makes sense once you meet her – Mega's voice is soothing, her presence calm, yet confident. She makes you feel like you can open up about anything, and that clearly had an effect on the work she did during university – volunteering, charity work with teenagers, the elderly, mentoring women in prison. “I love humans! It sounds really cliché, but I do, I’m such a lover of people. I’m so blessed to be able to connect to them through my music.”

Mega even managed to win an award for her dissertation on the unspoken burden of Black British women. The dissertation helped her to find out more about herself; it’s hard, however, to generalise or even define for an article.

“I don’t know if it’s definable. I can just say that I’m Mega first. People always want to discuss race all the time, and it’s not necessarily something I want to discuss. I like to focus on the music. I make music, I happen to be Black”.

I think that there is a healthy and growing Soul scene in London. In fact, the U.K. Soul scene is impressive and deserving of more attention. Mica Millar is one of my favourite artist. Putting Soul of the North (she is Manchester-based) on the map, Mega is very much representing London. CLASH gave the spotlight to Mega so that she could tell, in her own words, her story and journey:

“Hey, my name is Mega. I’m a singer from North London. My music journey pretty much began here too. At the tender age of nine I attended an opera choir in Islington. I’d travel there every Saturday morning; often waking earlier than necessary as I couldn’t quite believe that I was going to be able to sing and perform – just like the artists that I’d always wanted to be like.

This was the first time that I experienced performing to a crowd of people; I remember feeling liberated and in awe to be able to perform at beautiful venues such as The Royal Albert Hall. A few years later, I then joined a gospel choir at St. Mary’s music youth where I explored more solo opportunities, such as performing in various venues like Hackney Empire (which was awesome). St. Mary’s was a great and supportive place to create music, frequently putting on shows to showcase the talent that it produced, such as gifted musicians like the incredible Little Simz and Inflo who also attended. It has been so inspiring to see how they have carved careers for themselves, and have managed to keep true to their art; an important but difficult thing to do sometimes. My art and my music is a reflection of who I am, and I hope to be able to continue to stay true to that.

I find everyone’s unique music journey very interesting. Mine has been somewhat interesting to say the least. Shortly after finishing sixth-form, I had vocal issues which meant I physically couldn’t sing for three years. I graduated in that time with a Psychology degree, which was a slight detour from the route that I expected to take, but nonetheless educational and character building. The recovery journey is a story within a story, but upon getting my voice back it was great to receive support from MOBO Unsung to get me back on my feet again, as well as support from BRITs Spotlight Artist to give my first project a platform.

It has been amazing so far to have opened for such incredible artists and to play at many festivals and venues. But I have to say it is extremely special to be able to play in venues in my hometown such as; the Jazz Cafe, Islington Assembly Hall, KoKo, Clapham Grand, OMEARA and The Grace. Cross The Tracks was definitely a memorable festival for me that showcases many established artists within the same scene, and quite a few underground artists from the capital too including London’s African Gospel choir.

I find as human beings we are often used to categories and labels, and musically there is the pressure to feel the need to do that. I personally have been inspired by all kinds of music, soul in particular yes, but I prefer not to use genre to describe my music. Someone once described my music as taking themes of: self-growth, self-love and self-esteem – and turning them into emotive songs with enchanting/catchy melodies – I thought that was pretty accurate and interesting, and have now stolen that description for myself. Some of my music also incorporates some musical influences from my Uganda heritage, such as my ‘Colour Your World’ EP that has just been released.

It’s inspiring to see someone of Ugandan heritage too such as Michael Kiwanuka who is a native North Londoner produce such beautiful and authentic music – I love his sound.  Other powerful artists from London that I admire include Lianne La Havas, Cleo Sol and George the Poet. George is a native Londoner with Uganda heritage, and someone I have previously worked with quite a bit. To be able to see him create a completely new avenue for himself, and to express his true authentic self has not only been inspiring but very encouraging.

I’m very excited about my new EP ‘Colour Your World’, which is a product of my journey so far. It is an honest and raw exploration of my journey through self-acceptance, growth and healing; and my realisation of the power that lies within me. The process of creating this project has been empowering and I hope that when people listen to it that they will feel empowered too”.

I am going to finish with a new feature from The Line of Best Fit. I ama new lover of Mega’s music. It is great that her new E.P., Honour and Glory, is out there in the world. Whilst her 2022 E.P., Colour Your World, was colourful and quite playful, Honour and Colour seems more stately and vintage with its black and white cover. Whilst this does not represent a radical shift in sound, one can hear the differences in sound, confidence and tone on this E.P. I think this is Mega’s best release yet:

“As things began to open up, she released the graceful Colour Your World in the summer of 2022, continuing to grow with her music. While new EP Honour and Glory, out next month, demonstrates her talent for confident, elegant and edifying artistry.

Opening with recent single “Let You Down”, birdsong serenades the glowing guitar intro. While finalising parts of the recording with co-producer Ed Riches in her flat, Mega heard the bird-call out her window and decided to capture the moment. Incredibly, their song fit perfectly in key with hers. “It was just serendipitous, it was amazing. And it was raining, so we recorded it on the mic and it just so happened to be perfect timing as well,” she smiles.

The track itself has both a strong and delicate message, its vulnerability embraced by the tender, organic production. “I just feel like sometimes in life, when you lose a bit of confidence, everyone else’s voices feel a bit more important and louder and sometimes it's difficult to hear your own voice and trust that. ‘Let You Down’ is, it’s still there, even if it feels quite quiet and just to trust it,” she explains.

On lead single “Don’t Get Too Close,” Mega channels inspiration from her early love of Nina Simone to create a track that’s equally defiant and vibrant. “I feel like there’s different parts of me on this EP that are coming out, it’s not static,” she says. “Growing up I listened to everything. People can’t quite place the sound but they’re all me and I feel like you listen to ‘Don’t Get Too Close’ and it still sounds like Mega. I hope so anyway.”

Working with a small team of trusted producers across the EP, she brings together sounds and styles that reflect her childhood love of pop, soul and gospel as well as her Ugandan heritage. From contemporary beats to highlife guitars, Mega believes her music reflects the many facets of her personality. “In a lot of the production, I’m always very much involved in every part of it. I’m one of those people where every single thing, I want to be involved to the very end,” she says. “ The more you work with someone, they understand who you are.”

That sentiment is echoed on new single “Moment For You”, out today. From its delicate opening verse to its powerful chorus, it brings together subtle and soaring elements creating a work that’s mature, vulnerable, modern and empowering. “Again, it’s all exactly what I am - Ugandan heritage and then I’ve grown up listening to a lot of ballads, so to me, this is so me,” she says. “I don’t want to create songs that all sound exactly the same. It’s really important to express yourself and these are all still very much me. It’s just different sounds. I think this is exactly the same as stuff I’ve done, just a bit more evolved”.

The remarkable and hugely talented Mega is an artist I cannot recommend highly enough. Listen to her music and do keep your eyes peeled as we look towards 2024. I know that she will be touring widely and touching people around the world with her astonishing voice and hugely captivating music! I have said this about a few artists I have recently spotlighted, though it very much applies to my newest inclusion: the staggering Mega is someone who truly…

MOVES the heart and soul.

__________

Follow Mega