FEATURE: Still: Jennifer Lopez’s This Is Me…Now and the Continuing Influence of the Global Icon

FEATURE:

 

 

Still

Jennifer Lopez’s This Is Me…Now and the Continuing Influence of the Global Icon

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EVEN if some of her studio albums…

have not been given smooth critical ride, there is no denying the influence, excellence and importance of Jennifer Lopez. In terms of how she has inspired artists. There is a new album, This Is Me…Now, due on 16th February. It follows almost two decades after her (2002) breakthrough, This Is Me…Then. One of the big themes of that album is her love life. She was with then, as she is again now, Ben Affleck (they married last year). One of the most unlikely but popular rekindling, the two have come full circle. Lopez’s new album will reflect too on her life as a tabloid target. Go deep into her new love and stage of life. I wanted to mention the album, though also delve deeper into the ways in which Jennifer Lopez has inspired others. First, and surely among the most anticipated albums coming in the first quarter of 2024, Variety report on the This Is Me…Now:

“Jennifer Lopez‘s ninth studio album finally has a release date. The full-length “This Is Me…Now” will arrive on Feb. 16, 2024, in tandem with a new short film that has been acquired by Amazon MGM Studios.

“This Is Me…Now” is Lopez’s first studio album in nearly a decade and celebrates the anniversary of its sister album, “This is Me…Then.” The album, written and executive produced by Lopez and Rogét Chayed, along with Angel Lopez, Jeff “Gitty” Gitelman, HitBoy, Tay Keith and INK among others, is described as an blend of “R&B, contemporary pop sounds and hip-hop beats.”

As for the Dave Meyers-directed film, it is said to be “a narrative driven, intimate, reflective, sexy, funny, fantastical and highly entertaining musical and visual reimagining of her publicly scrutinized love life.” Like its sister album, “This Is Me…Now” includes nods to Lopez’s relationship with actor Ben Affleck; the track list, which was announced in November 2022, features among its titles “Dear Ben Pt. II,” presumably a sequel to the earlier album’s “Dear Ben.”

A teaser of the film was shared on Monday morning and is said to feature additional, unannounced cameos. “When I was a little girl, when someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, my answer was always… in love,” Lopez says in the clip.

“Can’t Get Enough,” the first single from the album will be released on Jan. 10, 2024, and is available to pre-save. This will be Lopez’s first release under her new partnership with BMG. The 13-song set credits BMG’s Brandon Riester as the album’s A&R”.

There is more to Jennifer Lopez than her music. Also known as J.Lo – though I think that she is going mostly by Jennifer Lopez now for her music, there is no denying how important she is in modern culture. In terms of inspiring a wave of Latin artists in the late-1990s and 2000s, she was at the forefront. Last year, GRAMMY wrote how Lopez is this record-setting, boundary-breaking actor, dancer and GRAMMY-nominated singer - arguably the most influential Latino entertainer of all time:

“From her roots as "Jenny From the Block" to one of the highest-paid and influential Latinas in Hollywood history, Jennifer Lopez's stratospheric career has broken borders, elevated Latin music and culture, and cemented her as one of the largest-looming entertainment icons of all time.

While music fans were introduced to J. Lo via her 1999 debut album, On the 6, Lopez first gained prominence in the early '90s as a dancer on the sketch TV show "In Living Color." Lopez then established her acting career with starring roles in Selena, Anaconda and Out of Sight, becoming the highest-paid Latina actress in Hollywood before ever even branching out into a musical career.

As part of GRAMMY.com's celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, this special episode of Run the World takes a look at Lopez's storied career. In every field of entertainment she stepped into, the dancer, actor and singer quickly established her position as a record-setting powerhouse paving the way both for female entertainers and for Latin entertainers to step into the business on the highest level.

When she released On the 6, Lopez helped to usher in "Latin explosion" of the late '90s, introducing herself as a proud Nuyorican who used her story to elevate the experience of growing up Latina in the Bronx.

In 2001, she became the first woman to ever simultaneously have a No. 1 album and film — her second record, J.Lo, was released the same week as The Wedding Planner, which she starred in opposite Matthew McConaughey. Over the decade, Lopez continued to set records, pursue new ventures and evolve along with the entertainment industry, putting out her first entirely Spanish-language album — Como Ama una Mujer — in 2007. In 2011, she became a judge on "American Idol," and in 2016, she began a Las Vegas residency that grossed more than $100 million in ticket sales over the course of its three-year run.

Over the course of her lengthy and varied career, Lopez has delivered a multi-faceted, ever-adapting skill set while remaining true to her roots. Her strong sense of self has brought her to the world's largest stages, including a co-headlining performance the 2020 Super Bowl LIV halftime show with Shakira. But, as she sings, Lopez is "still Jenny from the block."

"Everybody knows that I'm the Puerto Rican girl from the Bronx," she told Billboard in 2020. "I'm proud of that because there's no reason for that to ever hide. It's the secret to my success”.

Jennifer Lopez’s new album might be a different affair to anything we have heard in terms of its sound and tone. Perhaps something more introspective, it is another evolution from one of the most important artists of her generation. You only need to listen to mainstream artists today like Karol G and a host of others to realise how impactful she has become. I am going to include a playlist of songs from artists influenced by J.Lo/Jennifer Lopez. Before that, Oprah Daily wrote about Lopez’s influence back in 2019 (ahead of her fiftieth birthday):

“Without question, Lopez transformed Hollywood's perception of Latino people in contemporary culture—but of course, there are several trailblazers who paved the way. Before Lopez, representation of Latino people on television was essentially limited to Carmen Miranda in the 1930s and '40s, and in the '50s, there was Desi Arnaz on I Love Lucy. Next came '70s comedian Freddie Prinze and, in the '80s, Saved by the Bell star Mario Lopez.

But between 1995 and 2004, less than 1 percent of stories in film and television were about Latinos, and most of those stories focused on illegal immigration and crime, according to a report by the University of Pittsburgh. Today, the number of speaking roles by a Latino in film and television has increased just slightly to 5.8 percent, suggests research from the Media, Diversity & Social Change Initiative at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

Despite how slowly those numbers are rising, representation for Latinos in popular culture is indeed growing—and much of that is thanks to the influence of Jennifer Lopez over the past three decades. Many were first introduced to J.Lo, as she would later become known, during her stint as a dancer on the sketch-comedy show In Living Color during its 1990-1994 run.

Later, she would descend upon box offices thanks to her starring role in the 1997 biopic Selena, which earned nearly $12 million its opening weekend—the first contemporary feature film that caused Hollywood to sit up and pay attention to our box office power. And for many Latinas like me, growing up in the '90s and early 2000s, Lopez was the first famous Latina in mainstream media we knew. And she's since continued to blaze that trail for us.

"She's a change agent, having given visibility to our culture and our people through the massive media empire she's created that sees the spotlight shine on her cultural pride, her work, her talent, and her drive," says Isabel González Whitaker, a Latina author and journalist who has interviewed Lopez for InStyle and Harper's Bazaar.

Out of the few other Latinos that popped up in film and TV during the 90s—in addition to the aforementioned Mario Lopez in Saved by the Bell, I have to give other shoutouts to Wilson Cruz in My So-Called Life, Tatyana Ali in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, John Leguizamo in Romeo + Juliet, Stacey Dash in Clueless, and Lauren Vélez in New York Undercover—Jennifer Lopez became the quintessential example of a Latina star.

You only have to look at her record breaking sales for her last Las Vegas residency show to see the heights she has climbed since those days on In Living Color—but long before she was earning millions, Lopez was making waves as one of only two Latinas on the 1997 Oscars red carpet. And for many Latinas who grew up in the U.S., she was the one they could relate to, thanks to her Nuyorican (meaning, a Puerto Rican from New York, since Jenny from the Block was born in the Bronx) accent and around-the-way-girl style. In fact, as one fan puts it, with the 1999 release of her first album On the 6, Lopez put both Puerto Ricans and the Bronx on the map.

Out of Variety's list of the top 10 Latino actors and actresses, most names—like Salma Hayek and Sofia Vergara—found mainstream fame after J.Lo. And although she cannot be fully credited with the rise of Latinos in mainstream media, her impact is certainly significant.

"While there were definitely prominent Puerto Rican women in the urban sphere before her—like Lisa Lisa and Rosie Perez—Lopez was the first to bring that pop sensibility and diva magnitude while still remaining true to her Bronx roots," says Davu Flint, an African American emcee, musician, educator, filmmaker, and ethnomusicologist. "I think that her embracing her roots like that definitely paved the way for artists like Cardi B."

But her influence on today's stars doesn't stop there, says says Jesús Triviño Alarcón, a Webby-nominated content creator and authority on Latino pop culture who booked Lopez for her final Latina magazine cover in 2015. Before J.Lo, "Latina celebrities were largely regulated to Spanish language outlets," he says. "Jennifer Lopez was on the inaugural cover of Latina in 1996. In many ways, she set off the Latino media industry and influenced the current crop of actresses and musicians. I’m pretty sure Gina Rodriguez, Diane Guerrero, Becky G, Natti Natasha, Karol G, and more will point to Lopez as a source of inspiration”.

In terms of taking Latino music and artistry to new levels and the mainstream, Jennifer Lopez has been enormously influential! She has also helped do the same in Hollywood. Maybe not to the same extent but, starring in some incredibly profitable films., she has raised the profile and visibility of Latino actresses. This powerful and multi-talented women from the Bronx who conquered music, Hollywood and beyond, there is this new generation of talent that follows in Jennifer Lopez’s lead. The fact that she is with Ben Affleck again and they are embarking on this new relationship – albeit one that has existed before – shows that old love can be found again. Against tabloid scrutiny, a couple can come back together. In 2021, The New York Times referred to her relationship with Affleck and the way Lopez defying human standards as the ‘J.Lo Effect’. With stunning albums like her 1999 debut, On the 6, and 2002’s This Is Me...Then, we now look forward to This Is Me...Now. With the single, Can’t Get Enough, out in January, there will be this new interest around Jennifer Lopez. Nearly twenty-five years after her debut album announced this incredible artist, it is clear that this inspiration and groundbreaking legend is very much loved and still relevant! 2024 is going to be a year when one of music’s  titans and queens…

REIGNS large and proud.

FEATURE: Dynasties and Eras: Will It Soon Become Commonplace for Artists Such as Taylor Swift to Become Part of the Curriculum?

FEATURE:

 

 

Dynasties and Eras

IN THIS PHOTO: Taylor Swift in New Jersey during her recent Eras Tour/PHOTO CREDIT: Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet for The New York Times

Will It Soon Become Commonplace for Artists Such as Taylor Swift to Become Part of the Curriculum?

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I know I mention Taylor Swift…

PHOTO CREDIT: Pari Dukovic for TIME

but, as she is a cultural phenomenon and one of the most important artists ever, there is no getting away from the fact that she inspired discussion and discourse. I am referencing her today, as an intriguing piece of news was announced on 27th November. I was curious to explore it more. I think I have mentioned this before in the context of Kate Bush. Whether she will make it on to school, college and university syllabuses. Someone whose music and career is almost historical and this vital cultural conversation point. Some might think that artists being studied as a course is cheap or throwaway. Almost like dumbing down education. In fact, beyond the music alone, artists such as Taylor Swift feed into so many subjects that would be taught to children and teens. In terms of their historical impact, the way they inspire different cultures, the sociological and historical impact of their music and live performances, in addition to the fact Taylor Swift is someone who has a political voice, donates to charity, and has paved the way for so many women coming through. Entertainment Weekly reported how Taylor Swift will ‘go to school’, as Harvard and the University of Florida are offering classes. She is not the only artist who has made it on to a syllabus:

“Taylor Swift is heading to Gainesville and Cambridge in 2024. No, it's not more Eras Tour dates, but college courses. Both Harvard and the University of Florida (UF) have announced new courses studying Swift for 2024.

At Harvard, the course "Taylor Swift and Her World" will be taught by professor, poet, and critic Stephanie Burt. At UF, the course "Musical storytelling with Taylor Swift and other iconic female artists" will be taught by Melina Jimenez. The UF course will dig into Swift's discography, "her evergreen songwriting," and investigate iconic artists like Aretha Franklin, Billie Holiday, and Dolly Parton.

These schools are far from the first to dig into the lyrics and cultural impact of Swift, who is unquestionably one of the most influential musicians performing now. She is not only churning out chart-topping songs and albums but also making an economic impact everywhere her Eras Tour stops, breaking records at the box office, and even bringing new fans to the NFL. And that's just in 2023.

Other schools offering classes on Swift, Swifties, and culture include Ghent University in Belgium, the University of Texas at Austin, Rice University, Berklee College of Music, the University of California at Berkeley, Arizona State, New York University, and Stanford.

Those courses, while not uniform, tend to use a dissection of Swift's work as an entry point into criticism, analysis, and broader cultural issues and touchstones. Burt's course at Harvard, per the Harvard Crimson, will dive into how Swift's work intersects with the literary canon, with reading that includes William Wordsworth and Willa Cather. “We are lucky enough to be living in a time when one of our major artists is also one of the most famous people on the planet,” Burt told the Crimson. “Why would you not have a course on that?”

Studying contemporary pop culture is far from being off the academic map. Texas State University has offered a class on Harry Styles, UC Berkley has offered a class on Nicki Minaj, and San Diego State has offered a course on Bad Bunny. And that's really just the tip of the iceberg”.

IN THIS PHOTO: Nicki Minaj/PHOTO CREDIT: Young Money/Cash Money Records/Republic Records

I think, as music is being taken off of the curriculum of many schools in the U.K., we here could do with more courses where artists are at the centre. That exposure and connection with music through education is dwindling. I know it is slightly different in the U.S., though there is still less music being taught than in decades past. It is important, as we are seeing artists like Taylor Swift move beyond music and impact so much of culture and life in general, that they are being discussed. In some ways, they are modern-day historical figures. They will be as important in years to come as some of the more traditional/orthodox figures that are taught through schools, colleges and universities today. Music can change our lives. It can be life-changing learning music and adopting that skill. Rather than these new courses about Taylor Swift being an opportunity for fans to bone up on their live and knowledge of their favourite artist, Swift is history-making and someone who will be revered and highlighted years from now. Her recent Era Tour just wrapped up. She made history. That tour alone bleeds into economics, history, music, and so many other subject areas. As someone who has climbed from slightly humble artistic beginnings, Swift has become this hugely lucrative and successful artist. Someone who is a role model to so many. One who very much loves her fans and is a contemporary icon.

I guess a question comes in around next year whether other artists will become university courses. There is no doubt that artists like Beyoncé (whose Renaissance World Tour conquered the globe this year) and Billie Eilish could be brought into schools and universities. Inspiring to young children, teenagers and young adults, I don’t even think it is a particular demographic that will take these courses. Sure, it will mostly be girls/women who would take courses about artists like Taylor Swift. I hope that changes. One might not think her music and career has the importance and relevance of historical dynasties and these hugely seismic historical moments. Even as early as 2021, articles were being written about her longstanding cultural impact. This recent BU Today article, among citing other reasons as to why Taylor Swift is an icon, discusses the way in which she inspires others to be smart businesspeople:

“The release of 1989 (Taylor’s Version) marks Swift’s fourth of her earlier albums. The reason? Her ex-manager and longtime enemy Scooter Braun acquired her former record label, Big Machine Records, and therefore owns her first six masters. A few years ago, she set out to reclaim her music by rerecording it, and the project has proven to be a massive success.

Jessica Silbey, a BU School of Law professor, studies intellectual property law, and she says copyright law recognizes two different rights in music: the musical work and the sound recording. Artists usually transfer the rights to the recording company for them to sell and market and then receive a percentage (or royalties) from that. But artists keep their musical work. And anyone can make a cover of a song for a fee.

Silbey says that what is so interesting is that Swift essentially made covers of her own music and is therefore competing with her old albums. “What makes it possible for her to succeed at this business venture is that she has developed a strong fandom,” Silbey says. “She’s telling her fans, ‘Buy my version, buy my cover, don’t buy the earlier version, because I don’t like those people anymore. Protest with your dollars.’”

Not all artists have that power, unfortunately. Silbey, who is also a ​​Yanakakis Faculty Research Scholar, says that some musical artists sign contracts with their record companies that forbid them from doing this for a period of time. But at this point in her career, Swift has a considerable amount of leverage. Silbey says the rerecording project has turned into a “really impressive business maneuver.”

“If you think about the albums as an embodiment of her identity and her performance, she’s really taking back her identity,” Silbey says. “I think this is a huge statement in 2023, after the Supreme Court has taken away the right of bodily autonomy for women and after the #MeToo movement. She is making a huge statement about women’s power and our capitalist system”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Yan Krukau/Pexels

She has changed the music industry and made a real impression. A leader and advocate who is a feminist icon, a champion of artists’ rights and a political beacon who has this longevity, Taylor Swift is also a philanthropist and evolving artist who is an exceptional writer and creative. A visionary who also directs and is a filmmaker, she will continue to step into other areas of the arts. An acting career that is quite new, expect to see Taylor Swift on the big screen more in the coming years. She has accrued huge wealth. I think a lot of this will go to making people’s lives better. She will invest in charities and also to artists and people coming through. An artist in her thirties who remains hugely popular and relevant in an industry that tend to abandon and sideline women when they reach that age, there are so many reasons as to why Taylor Swift will go down in history. I think that other artists will get this same educational nod. Maybe there are few who rival Swift at the moment when it comes to legacy and importance. Even so, it will open eyes and change perceptions around artists and their cultural significance. As I say, it is not only about the music. They affect the GDP of nations. They touch and resonate with so many different cultural and communities. They have this political voice that can help affect change and unite people. Rather than see them as contemporary equivalents as great leaders and figures of the past, it is clear that some of our best artists are as inspirational and significant as many cultural and historical figures who are maybe not as relevant today or engaging to young minds. I don’t think any old artist should be featured in a school/college/university course - though highlighting Beyoncé, Lana Del Rey or Harry Styles is really useful and relevant. It engages that student with music. It also opens their mind to so many other areas and corners of politics and culture. Rather than people being snobs and dismissive when it comes to education and what is deemed ‘worthy’ and ‘pure,’' it is worth noting howe massively influential and important an artist like Taylor Swift is…

IN the modern age.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Elmiene

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Pierre Girardin

Elmiene

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AN artist who I am really excited…

to see move through 2024 and grow in stature, Elmiene is someone who I am fairly new to. Born in Oxford, this is a rare case of a British artist being spotlighted who is not from London. That may be an exaggeration - though there is still a dominance when it comes to the capital and the media’s focus! There is something refreshing about Elmiene. I am going to come to some interviews from this year, where we get to discover more about a wonderful new talent who is going to be a big name in music very soon. The BBC included them in their Sound of 2024 longlist recently. He was also named as one of Vevo's 2024 DSCVR Artists to Watch. It is clear that Elmiene is a sensational artist who many are tipping for great success next year. His E.P., Marking My Time, was released in October. It is a stunning work! First, before I come to anything around that, here is some background regarding Elmiene:

“There are voices that feel familiar, even when you’re tuning in for the first time. They’re steeped in a vast vulnerability that at first feels impossibly crystalline, but then opens itself up as something already entrenched in our own consciousness. Such a voice beams with emotionality that connects to a point in our own emotional spectrum, better tuned to navigate, decipher the things that make us feel up, down, and everywhere in between than even our own internal monologues. Oxford born and raised Elmiene carries just such a rare sonic silkiness, married with a relatable touch that makes him a force of timelessness and familiarity in the realm of the UK’s ever-evolving Neo-Soul sphere.

There’s a pretty good chance you’ve heard him before. The soaring falsettos that float overtop the mostly acoustic backdrops of March release, and debut EP, EL-MEAN have already reached audiences far and wide. And for good reason.

His signature cut of an emotionally entrenched Rhythm & Blues angle is able to transcend the oft weighty depths of the sonic space in favor of something altogether more airy and digestible, at times even pop-adjacent. Just take the EP’s closing number, Guess We’re Leaving, and feel how the bubbly, self-realized layers of vocal padding make for a soft landing for anyone listening, whether veteran fans of Neo-Soul or first-timers. And yet, even in the course of the same track, his compositional breadth eases into a slower, more emotionally anchored and vocally reliant breakdown that feels reminiscent of Brent Faiyaz’s heading of bleeding, almost-bare vocal runs that ask of its listener, vulnerability, too.

EL-MEAN at large plays a lot in that space, where a listener has to be engaged with the music at all of its depths in order to experience the lofty emotionality of it all. Elmiene’s compositional layering is largely to thank, and his music - the singles, the debut project, all of it since he first made his way onto the scene with 2021 single, Golden - is an exhibition of his knack at weaving so many textural layers into his sound.

It’s the reason why Golden was tapped to spearhead Virgil Abloh’s posthumous final show in Miami, where the then-20-year-old Elmiene’s debut single - not even then yet released - captured the weighty emotion and timeless beauty of everyone in attendance. Since that point, he’s been finishing university and working towards the release of EL-MEAN, while grappling with the early exposure and lofty expectations that Golden brought into frame. And now, through it all, and with breezy individuality - and some comparable artists in his orbit - he’s taking the next steps.

The Brent Faiyaz comparisons come easy. And by all measures, that’s a near—impossible sonic relation to boast for any artist these days. His voice tinders with the same organically wide-ranging seamlessness, imperfectly docile at times of emotional mellow, and explosively emotive when speaking - singing - on the subject matters that require such extents. His register at large, also just bleeds with something indescribably reminiscent of Faiyaz.

But it’s in his production, too, where Brent Faiyaz - in particular his debut album, Sonder Son - comes to mind. Acoustic backdrops set the emotional tones for most of his tracks, and largely for EL-MEAN from top to bottom, lending more analogue organics to his space. His debut EP’s opening cut, Before I Take A While exists as a dynamic thoroughfare of his many uniquely Elmiene signatures - the delicate vocals, the thought-provoking poeticism, the acoustically-ridden beat, and the resulting emotional relatability that emerges from them alchemized into gentle balance - where everything a listener needs to know about his emerging sound, is on transparent display.

And yet, there’s even more to Elmiene than world-class vocal prowess, acute songwriting, instrumental dynamism, and comparisons to one of the most important R&B forces in the game today. From the moment the next track, Why (Spare Me Tears) opens with a vocal arrangement reminiscent of early Motown quartets, he’s pushing his own boundaries, both back in time, and into new experimental spaces. The song is already one of his most streamed, and its timelessness - spanning eras and epochs of Soul lineage - has a lot to do with that.

It’s perhaps in the brash sonic shifts from track-to-track, all still tethered to his core organic relatability and emotional depth, that makes not only his debut project, but his future at large, so exciting and impossible to predict. An emotionally entrenched ballad like Endless No Mores shines a light on the most passionate depths of his ability to evoke with his music, and yet still feels exciting through another Brent Faiyaz reminiscent breakdown halfway through. A track like Choose You allows wallows in an indefinable folksiness that speaks to the genius of his instrumental-lyrical crossroads. It’s a poetically deep, musically poignant ballad that transcends the very idea that Elmiene belongs to any preconceived notion of genre at all.

It’s that mystery, that effortless delicacy with which he navigates the ever-expanding extents of his range in new, and seemingly easy directions, that makes the UK singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist not simply an artist to watch, but one whose music, now in this moment, should be known by anyone who treks through Neo-Soul, R&B, folk-acoustic, and beyond”.

Some of the promotion and interviews are going to relate to his previous E.P., EL-MEAN. That came out back in March. I want to give you a fuller picture of Elmiene’s 2023. He has released a couple of stunning E.P.s and put out some simply staggering music. CRACK spoke to Elmiene earlier in the year. It was a moment when there was this focus and determination from the young talent. Someone looking ahead and prepared to put in the hard yards:

“On his latest EP, El-Mean, the artist gives expression to the reflective mood stirred up by the path his life has suddenly taken. The five-track project leans into the classic R&B Elmiene grew up listening to – think D’Angelo, Prince – albeit with a light touch that heads off accusations of pure nostalgia. Before I Take a While is limpid and mournful, Elmiene’s smooth vocals meshing with his guitar licks and vibes; single Why (Spare Me Tears) channels haunting and heartsore; while Endless No Mores, with its lived-in melody and soothing guitar picks, is custom-built for late-night Uber rides. “It was very much a mourning of the life that I saw for myself before music came on the scene,” he says.

Having recently headlined Hoxton Hall, he’s already working on another EP, which, to him, paints a clearer picture of his future. Whereas the last record laments a life that wasn’t to be, Elmiene hopes this latest project sets the agenda for the next chapter – a kind of coming to terms with his current reality. Or, in his words, an exploration of “knowing that this is definitely the path that I’m on, but how do I manoeuvre this the right way”. Now the dust has settled, you sense that the real work is starting – and Elmiene is more than ready to hunker down and get on with the task in hand. “My head has finally kind of laid the cement on the fact that this is my life,” he laughs, “and possibly for a very long time”.

Let’s bring things more up to date regarding conversation. Marking My Time is a beautiful E.P. that boasts some of Elmiene’s finest work to date. I feel that next year is going to be a really big one for him. COMPLEX spoke with Elmiene in October. Chatting about everything from his touring in the U.S., to his Sudanese heritage and growing up Black in Oxford, it is an interview well worth reading:

“COMPLEX: Black people’s experience in the UK often seems to be London-centric, but you are from Oxford. How was it growing up in that part of England, and how did it shape your understanding of being Black and British? 

Elmiene: It was slightly weird in Oxford because I stayed in West Oxford, which is predominantly white. In my school, there were only four Black kids in the whole year, but because of it, I feel like many of us were down for what’s good, and we’re proud of our Black heritage. We all went down different roots, but I went down the soul root—that was my addiction: soul and R&B. I was a kid obsessed. Despite being in an area where people wouldn’t listen to R&B, I was deep in it, but it all felt good. When I first moved to Oxford, my cousins put me on to R&B and at the time, T-Pain, Usher and Craig David were big, so I had people to look up to. I made my own army of people who would appreciate the music.

Coming from a Sudanese family, what were your parents’ attitudes and perspectives when you told them you were pursuing a music career? How did this impact your inspiration and your commitment to purpose?   

I got very lucky because my mother was very open about what I wanted to do. She was’'t the stereotypical Sudanese mother; she tried to make me go through the roots of STEM. But she would never make me do something I didn’t want to do because she knew I wouldn’t do it well. So, I went to university to study poetry, then started to do music, and by the grace of God, I was able to show her that music can be financially lucrative for me.

Your new EP, Marking My Time, is highly anticipated. Can you provide some insight into this project’s themes and creative process, especially concerning the title track that you co-wrote with Jamie Woon and James Vincent McMorrow?

Marking My Time is me marking my time at this checkpoint in life and using it as a checkpoint for my romantic emotions. What was that life during this time of my life? My mental health is what I’m thinking about during this time. My interests, the things I’m hearing and the sounds I’m interested in... It’s a project to document and respect this time of my life because, very soon, a significant change in my life will happen. I would be making different music for this period. Jamie Woon and James Vincent McMorrow are like my senseis in the game. I soon realised their inspirations are the same as mine; they express them differently, and I’ve learned much from them.

Looking ahead to 2024, what are your goals and aspirations as an artist, and how do you plan to build on the momentum you’ve gained so far in the industry?

I want to continue to make records that I’m proud of, that make people understand me and myself more. That’s what I’m looking forward to doing in the coming years, and I also want to be considered in the conversation amongst some of the greats”.

I am going to end with an interview from The Line of Best Fit. Published back in August, Elmiene revealed how he was ready to make his Punk record. Quite a revelation from someone who is softly-spoken – and one would not assume this ambition and sound would come out of him! There is no predicting where this extraordinary human will head in 2024:

“Songwriting hasn’t always been something that he approaches with a preconceived mindset. The Sampha-produced “Mama”, his latest single, was the first where Elmiene did come to the writing session with a general topic and idea, but what surprised him was how much that actually helped him craft it.

“I’m actually very strange in the way that I write music or think about music,” he explains. “When I come into the studio, I don’t like to walk in with a formed idea or theme. I want the session to lead me where it was to lead me. [Writing sessions] feel pretty free and I'm always experimenting with how to write music, and with a song like ‘Mama’ it came from listening to one album by Prince and the song ‘Mary Don't You Weep’ and the lyric ‘Mary, don't you mourn’ was a sick lyric. It made me think of the lyric ‘Would you mourn a sinner’. I walked into recording ‘Mama’ and the rest of the lyrics came through. Not coming in with any preconceptions helps relax you — I think of it like a beam of light coming straight through you and telling the exact story you want to tell.”

With the creation and release of “Mama”, Elmiene wants to capture that light beam in the future. “One-hundred percent,” he admits when asked if coming up with a lyric or phrase will be something that he does in future writing sessions. “All my processes in the studio are usually just jamming for 40 minutes and having amazing conversations through music. I’m filtering through all of it, like looking through a library of books. I take little pieces of everything until I finally find the one that really works.”

Lately, Elmiene has been thinking about legacy and the impact art has on the world. Creating music is something that is so personal but eventually is given to the masses with the hope that it finds a home. When prepping for the interview, a quick scan of the comments on his recent video for “Mama” shows a number of comments that have embraced the track — one of which saying “This song really touched home… I’ll start my day off with this and keep my head up in positivity, truth, love and light.”

“That is the biggest thing,” Elmiene declares when he hears of the comment. “ I didn’t know it was the sweetest thing about music but it’s something I've really learned recently. People doing covers of my songs and seeing people connect with the song so much that they have to sing it themselves and want to learn it on guitar or wherever… Oh, man. That means the world. Getting those kinds of messages where someone tells me that a song came to them at this point in life or its been on repeat in the shop [they work at]. Everyone knows what it feels like to have that connection with a song during a certain part of their life. I remember how Dru Hill’s ‘5 Steps' was a pivotal part of my sixth form experience. It’s so cool when that's you on the other end, it’s a crazy kind of high that you wouldn't get normally in life. I’m very blessed to have it happen frequently. It’s the ancient tradition of a song being passed down, so it just feels like I’m part of that”.

A wonderful British artist whose R&B sound is both familiar and unique. With such a remarkable voice that draws you into the music, it is no wonder Elmiene has been heralded and tipped as an artist that we need to watch closely. Make sure that he is very much in your sight. He is definitely going to make some big moves…

NEXT year.

__________

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FEATURE: Over the Hardest Part… Reflecting on a Successful and Important Year for the Remarkable Olivia Dean

FEATURE:

 

 

Over the Hardest Part…

PHOTO CREDIT: Jess Hand for Time Out

Reflecting on a Successful and Important Year for the Remarkable Olivia Dean

__________

IT is that time of year…

IN THIS PHOTO: Olivia Dean captured at GLAMOUR’s Women of the Year awards in October 2023/PHOTO CREDIT: Hollie Molloy

when we are all predicting who will make waves next year. I am trying to keep a track of all the lists that are being published naming artists primed to succeed in 2024. I am going to do as many playlists as possible based on them. Not that she is brand-new, though it is clear that Olivia Dean is among the artists that are going to shape music next year. She has already been named BBC Introducing's Artist of the Year. I am going to come to an interview with her around that, in addition to a couple of others from this year. I will also bring in a review for her debut album, Messy. That was nominated for this year’s Mercury Prize. I think there is a confidence within Olivia Dean where she knows she will headline big festivals one day. If smaller ones in this country are booking women as headliners, it is clear that most bigger festivals will not. Or at the very least it is going to be majorly imbalance. Dean seems like a natural headliner. Someone whose natural ability and charm is enough to win any crowd. I am keen to update my previous feature and include interviews and insight that was not available then. I want to start out with the BBC talking with Olivia Dean in reaction to her being named BBC Introducing's Artist of the Year:

“Success has kept her busy - as well as playing Glastonbury she's also performed on Later... With Jools Holland (which she described as "a dream") and covered Beyoncé in the Radio 1 Live Lounge (she "loves a challenge").

But it's also brought up feelings of imposter syndrome and wrestling with her identity again - such as feeling pigeon-holed when her single UFO was added to R&B playlists.

"There's no rhythm, there's no drums in it, so how can it be rhythm and blues?" she says.

"If I looked differently, I don't think it would have been put in that category.

"It's very confusing, especially for young women in the industry. You feel like everybody else knows - or they think they know - better."

Olivia tells Newsbeat her experiences have taught her that being in control of her own sound is a priority.

"I don't have a problem with people thinking I'm difficult," she says.

"I just don't like being told what to do."

That doesn't mean she won't accept criticism - as long as it's constructive - "but at the end of the day, I need to do what's going to be best for me because it's my name on the tin.

"In many years' time, my grandkids are going to be listening to what I thought about the world and love and how I was feeling at the time."

Although her music takes her all over the world, Olivia says she's "London through and through"

Love, and the loss of it, is a huge inspiration for Olivia. Her album Messy, featuring singles including The Hardest Part and Dive, maps falling in love again after a break-up.

But the seeds of her songs also come from some unexpected places.

The clue's in the name for Ladies Room, which came out of an overheard conversation in a south London pub toilet.

Olivia recalls a woman standing at the sinks dishing out the advice: "Don't date a man 20 years older than you!".

The boyfriend wanted to go home but this girl wanted to party.

"The ladies bathroom can be a really crazy place," Olivia says. "Stories being shared, lip gloss thrown everywhere, gossip, drama."

And see if you can spot the inspiration for this lyric: "If you can't see my mirrors, then I can't see you".

Sound familiar?

"That is one of my favourite lyrics I've ever written," Olivia laughs. "And it is inspired by stickers on the back of trucks.

"That's what I believe so strongly about music, it's about the small things.

"There's little specific details that we all see every day. They carry so much meaning, you just have to look for it and almost inject it into them."

Olivia Dean says she's manifested her milestones this year

Olivia's realised she works best in her comfort zone rather than being thrown in at the deep end.

She says she likes to chill with her team for a couple of hours before work, having long chats over cups of tea - a different approach to other artists who "work like athletes" but one that fits for Olivia.

"And then out of that, the seed of inspiration comes," she says. "What the song's going to be about, always it'll come in that conversation”.

I will end with a review of Messy. One of this year’s best debut albums, it quite rightly was nominated for a Mercury and, in the process, has taken Olivia Dean to new heights. She will go on to massive stages and reach new heights very soon. She has some big European dates booked for next year. I feel it will not be too long until Dean tours through the U.S. I can see her music making a real impact there. I want to come to an interview from May. About a month before her album arrived, Olivia Dean spoke with The Independent about her ambitions and new music:

“I’m having the craziest week of my life!” declares soul-pop sensation Olivia Dean. She is currently backstage at the Roundhouse, where she is due to perform in a few hours. Her “crazy week” consists of what she calls a hometown “gig sandwich” – a headline show at Camden’s KOKO (which sold out in under a minute), a support slot for London rapper Loyle Carner at Wembley and tonight at the Roundhouse. It’s also her 24th birthday. Reclining on a red leather sofa, hair tied back in a messy bun and inhaling from her vocal steamer, she looks unfazed. You wouldn’t guess she was about to perform the biggest show of her life. Dean exudes such calm confidence, you feel like you could catch it.

Clearly, there is something infectious about her, or at least her music, because for tonight’s 3,000-capacity show, there are 10,000 people on the waitlist. Not only has the singer achieved early success with her storytelling songs, (sold-out tours, songs across Radio 1 and a secret set at Glastonbury), but she’s also made a name for herself in fashion, having recently become a brand ambassador for Chanel.

Music remains the priority though, especially playing live. “I love singing to people so much, it just brings me so much joy,” she smiles. Dean compares going on tour to making pancakes. “The first one is probably a bit dodgy – still tastes nice – but you haven’t really nailed it,” she laughs. “I love when stuff goes wrong – those have been my favourite shows, it’s the messiness that makes it fun.”

It’s these imperfections that have inspired her highly anticipated debut album, Messy, due on 30 June. Not that Dean needs an album; she has already amassed a cult-like fanbase, all of whom sing back every word of her candid lyrics at the Roundhouse this evening. “The thing that most people tell me is, ‘You’ve got me through a break-up’,” Dean explains when I ask what gives her such a strong affinity with fans. “Everyone has that big [split] in their life that messes you up and you kind of lose that perspective of yourself. It can feel like a really lonely experience and I guess I was just documenting that.” Later that evening, she tells the crowd, “I don’t really believe in this idea of the ‘other half’. You’re a whole person and you don’t need somebody else to complete you.”

Her 12-track record navigates falling out of love and back into it, with comforting, conversational lyrics all articulated in the warm, glowy tones of her full-bodied voice. Tracks directly address their subjects with frank honesty in a nod to her musical idols: Amy Winehouse, Lauryn Hill and Carole King. While the album features the relatable relationship ruminations her fans have come to expect, (you’ll recognise 2020 break-up anthem “The Hardest Part” and the newer and seductive “Danger”), elsewhere Dean braves introspection.

She explores identity in “Carmen”, which was named after her grandmother, whom Messy is dedicated to. “You transplanted a family tree, and a part of it grew into me,” Dean sings, referencing her grandmother’s move to London from Guyana as part of the Windrush generation. “I just feel so grateful to her for being so brave, because it’s enabled me to live my dream,” says Dean. She recalls visiting the Life Between Islands exhibition at the Tate Modern, which showcased Caribbean-British art. The work made her feel seen and connected to herself. “I feel so British and so East London – but I also feel that there’s this other thing that’s kind of missing,” she says. “The exhibition was just crazy to me. It was celebrating the beauty, crossover and the imperfections.” And so Dean arrived at the album’s title Messy, which ended up guiding her attitude towards songwriting this time around. “There’s no rules,” she says.

Dean has routinely come up against expectations in the industry – expectations of what her music should sound like because of what she looks like. On the album’s otherworldly opening track “UFO”, Dean decided to explore an Imogen Heap sound. Yet frustratingly, she discovered the song had been added to an R&B playlist. “In what world? What rhythm and blues are you hearing? If I was white, that would just never happen,” she says. “Sometimes with the way that I look, I feel like, is my music supposed to be urban or am I supposed to make a certain kind of thing?” With two fingers up to those stereotypes, Dean simply writes what she feels. “I made Messy quite selfishly, to be honest,” she admits. “I was just like, ‘This is what I would want to listen to’”.

I am going to bring things up to date. The purpose of this feature, apart from highlighting Olivia Dean, is to see what she has said about her album and get more of an insight into her creative process. Before moving on, I want to bring in an interview from Sound of Brit. It is fascinating reading how she approached the album and the fact that, in spite of the songs flowing naturally, it was hard to write at times – being in that headspace where she could breathe and feel inspired:

“Sound of Brit : We really enjoyed Messy, your first album, and go a lot of feedback on our review on out website. Can you tell us about the cover?

Olivia Dean: Hmm… Good or bad?? Ahah. In fact, early on in the process of finding the good artwork, we made a big shoot, completely different, and it was going to be a really conceptual cover. And I hated all the photos. They were beautiful photos, but they didn’t represent the music. They weren’t warm. It was too conceptual. And I wasn’t an abstract person. In fact, I’m quite simple, you know? I like people. And the music is soul music. So I gave it all up. My manager told me to stop. And she said, « What are you going to do? Because you have to deliver it in a week. » There were two weeks left and I asked myself if there was already an image that would represent me well at this point in my life. And I found this image of a shooting I’d made two years ago, in black and white, and we put it in colour and changed it to purple, my favourite colour. And that’s it, really. There’s no crazy story. I just thought, I like this picture, that’s all. It’s my face. There was no crazy story!

Sound of Brit : The album ends with the magnificent track Carmen. Was it important for you to end the album with such a powerful track?

Olivia Dean: Yes, I did. Yes, I knew that as soon as I wrote the song. I wanted to dedicate the whole album to my grandmother and, of course, it had to be the closing song, you know, with the band and the jubilant celebration of her life and her legacy and that whole generation and what they brought to the UK. And hopefully that song will be separate from the whole album, you know, whatever happens, I want to make a lot of albums. But this particular song will live on, you know, beyond me and my grandchildren. It’s my grandmother’s voice and it’s there forever, and time is very powerful.

Sound of Brit : Dive was THE big single on the album, a real masterpiece. You played it on the TV show Quotidien, with an audience of millions. What was that like?

Sound of Brit: Yes, I did. I didn’t realise it was such a big show. Someone told me afterwards, because I have family who live in France, that it was something big. It was crazy. It was fun. I didn’t really know what was going on. I got on the plane. They told me: « You’re going to be on the air ». I met everyone there. It was lovely. We played. The audience was there and they were receptive. I don’t know what happened. It just happened. And I said, OK, fine, then I went home!

Sound of Brit : How did you go about writing Messy? Your collaborators, your recording locations, your writing…

Olivia Dean: I’d say it took 18 months from the start, from the moment I said to myself « this is it, I’m making an album » to the delivery of the album. And I’d say that writing the songs is the longest process. I’m very perfectionist when it comes to lyrics and chords. I feel that if the song is good, if you take everything away, you can play it just on the piano. So everything had to be that good for me. The recording process took two or three weeks and then the album was finished. I wrote a lot of the album in a bar in the UK, so I left London to go to my two songwriters’ houses and it was nice to have other perspectives. It was a pleasure to do it. My main aim was to have fun doing it, because I think sometimes you get so caught up in life that you need to be excellent and you forget that you’re living a dream. As I’m in the process of making my first album, I’ll never be able to do that again. So I just had fun. I tried to have fun. It wasn’t always fun. It was stressful. But most of the time I was trying to escape.

Sound of Brit : The need to get out of London to write, or as if it were a way of breathing easier.

Olivia Dean: And that’s exactly what I did. I mean, yes and no, because I did another trip where I left London for a fortnight to isolate myself. You know, that’s what they do in films! I did it once and I wrote that I hadn’t written any good music apart from one song. I wrote that one song, but as for the rest, I was putting too much pressure on myself. So it didn’t really work out. But it got me to the right place and to the right people, you know? Someone made a very good metaphor about writing music. It’s like surfing. You can train yourself to get on the board. If the waves aren’t there, you’re not going to surf today. And that’s the case. If you practise, the waves will come. So I’d say you have to find a balance”.

The last month or so has seen Olivia Dean receive awards and honours. The result of a lot of hard work and a magnificent debut album. I spotlighted Dean a little while ago. Since then, in such a short time, she has grown even stronger and more impressive. One of our finest young artists. Someone who you can see conquering the world. GLAMOUR spoke to Olivia Dean in October. They named her their Samsung Rising Star at their Women of the Year ceremony. It is clear that, with that and BBC’s kudos under her belt, here is someone everyone should know about:

“For GLAMOUR's Women of the Year Awards 2023, in partnership with Samsung, we have chosen Dean to be our Samsung Rising Star. She arrives to meet me on a sunny summer’s morning with her curly hair slicked back into a super-neat ponytail. Her outfit is very on-brand for the singer, whose sound and style shows she’s nostalgic but not afraid to innovate. Today she mixes classic Levi's jeans with a contemporary statement piece: a white and black denim biker jacket by Feben. Olivia is always trying to find ways to empower other women, particularly women of colour. She excitedly tells me to follow the Black London designer on Instagram because she’s doing “really cool stuff”.

A self-described feminist, it appears that navigating the industry has emboldened her push for empowerment. Dean no longer feels guilty rejecting other people’s demands to blaze her own trail. “I know what I want. I’m not a doll to be told what to do and what to say,” she asserts. She tells me that she’s at a place in her life where she’s feeling in control after feeling pulled in different directions in a male-dominated and pressurised industry. “I don’t let that happen to me anymore,” she asserts.

“At the beginning of my career, I felt boxed in because of the way that I look, or the colour of my skin. It was like I was supposed to make a certain type of music and I really took that on like I could only make R&B,” she says. “I love R&B and soul, but also psychedelic and folk. I don’t believe in boxes”. During her career she’s taken control of her own image and artistry by “learning the art of saying no”. While she could follow a formula to create cookie-cutter pop and get herself noticed, she says she can’t release a track unless it really means something to her and is made “purely for [her] soul”. “I can tell when people have made something just because they want to get to number one and I can’t do that,” she says. “I have quite an acute ear for bullsh*t.” In fact, one of her biggest regrets in life was releasing a song she knew intuitively she didn’t connect with.

She explains: “I won't say what song it is, because I don't think it's productive. I think I felt a bit pressured to release something and a lot of people were telling me that they loved it. It didn't set my soul on fire though. I put it out and the next morning, I just cried, and I cried. I knew that I had crossed a line with myself because I had to promote something I didn’t really believe in. I’m glad it happened so I can recognise that visceral feeling.”

Olivia has hit her stride and has found a renewed sense of purpose. “I take my vulnerable moments – moments where I needed to empower myself – and then put that into my music,” she says. “I love seeing women message me saying that it helped get them through a break-up or embrace their own independence.”

Hers is the sort of emotive voice that takes you to various planes of feeling, whether it’s back to a love you lost while listening to ‘The Hardest Part’; or vibing out to ‘Messy’ despite the disarray in your life; or being sonically taken to that vulnerable, chaotic emotional minefield of falling in love on ‘Dive’. The latter track feels like the perfect place to start with this rising talent. It’s such a masterfully crafted pop song imbued with soul bearing lyricism that can sit in playlists alongside the classics, you can sing it in your room, you can play it to your parents, and to be honest you can imagine it soundtracking a Christmas ad too. Her silky sweet vocals glide over angelic harmonies and Motown adjacent instrumentation. Dean’s aim is to make pop music that is reminiscent of what’s come before and you can hear that her influences hark back to an era she was not even born for, rather than being tied to current fast-moving trends or TikTok-geared sounds.

While she is a stellar recording artist, performing in front of a live audience is what really drives Dean’s passion for music. At school she felt “annoying”. “I was that kid that always wanted to sing in assembly,” she says. Then she was accepted by the Brit school, and found that being in a performing arts environment where everyone is the “same type of annoying” really transformed her into a less muted version of herself. “I realised I wasn’t lame, I just like entertaining people.” While its alumni include Adele, Tom Holland, and Amy Winehouse could be intimidating but she found it encouraging.

Being in a performance art environment means that in lockdown when gigs were impossible in enclosed spaces, Olivia drove round the country in an old milk truck to do a string of free shows for a nation deprived of live music. “I felt very lucky because live music makes people feel good,” she says. “Plus concerts are getting expensive, Jesus Christ”.

I will come to a sample review for the wonderous, sensational and unforgettable Messy. First, and one of the most illuminating and interesting interviews she has been involved with, takes me to Time Out. They spoke with Olivia Dean earlier this month. As is clear, there is no ego or any arrogance. She is an ambitious artist though, when you hear and read her speak, there is this humbleness and willingness to please. Someone impossible not to root for:

“Throughout our chat, Olivia prefaces any mentions of her wins with a disclaimer, because God forbid she ever came across as ungrateful. She’s careful to recognise that she was ‘very lucky’ that her parents supported her choice to pursue music as a career: ‘I never had the ‘‘that’s not gonna make you any money’’ thing.’ It’s the sort of grating self-awareness that we, Gen Z, pride ourselves on, but there’s a maturity in how she stands by her graft. ‘I’m definitely aware of the privileges to go to BRIT, and I think the title comes with, perhaps, a ‘people-give-you-a-look-in’ assumption,’ she says. ‘But I wouldn’t say that they hand you stuff on a plate. It is a free school in Croydon. You just apply because you know you want to do music and you know you want to work really hard.’

PHOTO CREDIT: Jess Hand

Olivia’s music isn’t trying to be something it’s not: it’s not especially abstract, edgy or intellectual. It’s easy-listening: the type of sweet, milky pop that makes you want to reach for the volume dial in the car, play through your headphones to make the night bus journey feel shorter or send to a friend getting over a breakup. But there’s no auto-tune, no Ibiza-tinged EDM beats which plague a lot of chart music. Instead, there’s a humanness to her work, an innocence in the sound as much as the lyrics which makes it irresistible to her many fans.

‘It’s not a straight line when your heart has been smooshed up,’ Olivia says, explaining that ‘Messy’ is about navigating the journey of falling in love again after a breakup. ‘It’s a messy road and I’ve become quite hardened. My heart has got a hard case.’ It’s not all gushy breakup songs or self-affirming anthems, though (although there is a bit of that). Her new single, ‘Ladies Room’, is inspired by a drunk chat she overheard in the toilets on a night out. ‘I was just in the cubicle peeing and I overheard this lady talking,’ she says. ‘She was like, ‘‘Girls, if I could give you any advice, never go out with a man who’s 20 years your senior.’’ I recorded her because I thought it was hilarious. The song originally had her voice at the beginning, but it’s illegal to record people. I was in the toilet queue before, so I don’t know how to find her. Wherever you are out there, you’re my inspiration!’

PHOTO CREDIT: Jess Hand

We’re there for longer than expected. She smiles, flirts, makes sarcastic jokes and never breaks eye contact. She’s here to please. And, sitting in the corner of a cosy pub, it seems like she’s in her element. Because as much as she loves the glamour that comes along with a career in music, at the end of the day she’s a wholesome soul: in her free time, she burns incense, listens to vinyl and knits scarves for her mum. When lockdown hit in 2020, she packed her band into a happy yellow van and drove around the UK, playing socially distanced gigs to cheer up strangers. After this, she’s going home to watch ‘Bake Off’.  It’s a shell that must crack eventually, right?

‘Honestly, I think I’m just a pretty positive person,’ she says. ‘I’m definitely, like, not bubbly and happy all the time. But I feel like I’m very lucky in my life right now and I have a lot to be grateful for. I pride myself on being a good person, because nobody wants to work with a horrible person. It’s not a productive way to move through the industry’”.

I will end up soon. If you want to follow Olivia Dean, go and check out her official site, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook. You can also listen to her music through Spotify. After such a triumphant year, I hope that Olivia Dean gets some time to unwind and reflect. Already tipped as an artist to watch in 2024, in addition to being acclaimed as one of this year’s best, the BBC Introducing's Artist of the Year is a new honour that should give her confirmation, if there was any doubt, that she is here for the long-run. I predict that she will be a festival mainstay in the summer. I will end with The Line of Best Fit and their 9/10 review for the gorgeous and hypnotic Messy:

“Starting in music at just 17 years old, her career has seen her selling out the Jazz Café plus hometown shows in KOKO and The Roundhouse. Now, at 24, her debut album Messy is no exception to her upward trajectory, using creative artistry to scrapbook elements of love, life and everything in-between into a homegrown directory of soulful buoyancy.

Balancing a fine line between refined and authentic, the record is universally carefree, with atmospherics ranging from dreamy to dark, soulful to spine tingling. Title track “Messy” is a perfect outline of the entire body of work "It's ok if it's messy," Dean croons as glittering synths echo intermittently, whilst mouth trumpet mimes feature alongside a steady build up a of acoustic tropical serenity.

Following her words of wisdom, Olivia Dean’s self-proclaimed mess is a rally of to and fro. Varying from delirious encounters in pub bathrooms in “Ladies Room,” the freedom of falling in love in the euphoric “Dive,” to the risks of taking that plunge, showcased in the playfully wonderful “Danger,” with thoughts that can only be translated into the method of music.

On the deeply personal “Carmen,” Dean pays tribute to her Grandmother who boarded her first ever plane at the age of 18 to the UK, as part of the Windrush Generation. An outpouring of overwhelming gratitude, the track is effervescent with recordings of her grandma’s rich voice, steel pan drums and horns set against undercurrents of delicate bass guitar. The star of the show, however, vocalises itself through Olivia Dean’s poignant storytelling, as she sings "You transplanted a family tree, and a part of it grew into me."

Despite bringing a joyful vibrance to the vast majority of the record, Dean continues to validate that she is the master of versatility. "I’m not as strong as I appear / I’m way more anxious than I seem" she admits on “Everybody’s Crazy,” bearing resemblance to the early soulful ballads of 00’s Adele. Rich with enigmatic chord progressions tied stylishly together with elegant strings, “No Man” is a dark tale of abandonment that see’s Dean reflect on a man’s neglect, with a sound conveying a hybrid of Arctic Monkeys’ Humbug and Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino.

It’s one thing to transform your deepest thoughts, experience and feelings into fiercely beautiful lyrics, the next steps of creating a catalogue of songs with music and vocals is just as precarious. In spite of this, no matter how disorganised Olivia Dean proclaims this album to be, she doesn’t miss a beat – and instead generates a record with just about everything to deem itself ‘perfect’”.

Aged just twenty-four, Olivia Dean is at the start of her career. An award-nominated debut album and some recent honour proves that she is a remarkable artist whose is a natural-born talent. The London-born artist is one I will recommend to everyone. Someone who is going to explode and go to new heights next year. If Dean was nervous about Messy and how it would be received, then she need not have worried! Given all the love it has received, she can rest assured that…

THE hardest part is over!

FEATURE: Excites Me Silly: The Wonders of Early Exposure to the Gifts of Kate Bush’s Music and Potential

FEATURE:

 

 

Excites Me Silly

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in the studio in March 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: Mirrorpix

The Wonders of Early Exposure to the Gifts of Kate Bush’s Music and Potential

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A lot of people…

 IMAGE CREDIT: Jay Noorman

are talking about Kate Bush now in the context of songs like Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) and Hounds of Love (1985). A particular point of her career when she was established and she had just released – arguably – her very best work. That is great. Any conversation around Kate Bush is incredible and should be encouraged! Of course, many are looking ahead and seeing what might come from her next year. It is an interesting and busy time if you are a Kate Bush fan. Even though her most recent studio album was released twelve years ago now (50 Words for Snow), that does not mean she is irrelevant or lacks any modern influence. Quite the opposite! This year saw her inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Her streaming numbers have shot up and, with it, she has been introduced to a whole new generation of fans. Many exploring an artist they may not have heard before. What interests me is going back to the beginning. Well, almost. Think about her 1978 debut album, The Kick Inside, and being around her at the time. Nobody could predict where her career would go and the fact Kate Bush was still celebrated and hugely important in 2023! I like that mix of the modest and otherworldly. I mention this as, recently, a new edition of the Kate Bush Fan Podcast was with Andrew Powell. He produced her first two albums – The Kick Inside and the 1978 follow-up, Lionheart. Here is someone who has not done a lot of recent promotion. He is a crucial part of Kate Bush history:

“In this new episode of The Kate Bush Fan Podcast, Darrell, co-host of Bush Telegraph had the rare opportunity of chatting with Andrew Powell, producer and arranger of Kate’s first two iconic albums, The Kick Inside and Lionheart. Listen in as they discuss the very first time Powell met Cathy Bush as a 16 year old, and the songs they eventually chose and recorded together. We also get to hear how Kate’s vocal and piano playing with a live orchestra for ‘The Man With The Child In His Eyes’ was recorded all in one take – still at this incredibly young age.

Many new things are revealed and discussed. What David Bowie song did Kate cover when Powell worked with her in Japan? What songs did not get included on the published albums? And what was it like for Andrew Powell to hear ‘Wuthering Heights’ for the first time played by Kate in his flat? These questions and a whole lot more are revealed in this podcast with iconic producer, arranger, composer, conductor and musician, Andrew Powell”.

katebushnews.com · Kate Bush Fan Podcast - Episode 63 - Bush Telegraph - Andrew Powell Interview

Go and listen to that episode in full. One thing that fascinates me is that we get these insights and new revelations regarding Kate Bush. Another recent episode of that fan podcast with Brian Bath (who played with Kate Bush and was a member of her band, the KT Bush Band in 1977) revealed some unheard audio. I have posted online how it is great that we hear new stuff after all of these years. I will end on why, in light of these new podcast episodes, how there could be excavation and new exploration of her earlier work. I know Kate Bush might not want rare songs, demos and other bits brought to the wider world. Even so, it is discussion-worthy and really interesting. There is this fresh burst of spotlighting around her early work. That 1977 to 1978 period that is deeply compelling. Imagine being Andrew Powell and hearing Wuthering Heights in Bush’s flat! Something most of us can only dream of, there is that balance of the modest/humble and something almost transcendental! You get to hear a song that would launch the career of one of the most influential artists ever. The teenage Kate Bush giving this exposure to a song like no other. It is not only Wuthering Heights and that incredible experience. Bush recording her vocal and piano in one take for The Man with the Child in His Eyes. That was done in 1975. A remarkable achievement for someone so young! There are a couple of things that I wanted to explore more. I shall come to Andrew Powell revealing songs that were not included on her albums.

I have written about it before, though I wanted to come back to those early days. Bush was an ambitious young artist who was definitely determined when she was recording The Kick Inside. Even so, she was inexperienced and would have been nervous at times. Considering how her career blossomed and what she achieved, how interesting it would have been watching her work. Hearing songs in their embryonic form. Listening to conversations where songs were being worked on and planned. I would pay anything to travel back in time and space and being around Kate Bush in 1977 and 1978! As intrigued as I am by her very earliest recordings, I think hearing that sonic revelation and kick that went into her debut is where I would go. Being in the studio when Wuthering Heights was recorded. People who were there got this incredible experience. Witnessing history in the making! With no other artists like her in the world, it must have been a beguiling and unique thing hearing this music take shape. There would have been a lot of sketches and ideas that never formed fully. Watching her mind work things out. This teenager exploring her own music and imagination. We now hear the recorded versions though, as The Kick Inside was being recorded, most people had not heard of Kate Bush or knew what she was about. Her friends, musicians, family and those around her had this special access. Getting to witness an exceptional and almost supernatural talent work! I always feel that the most interesting period of her career is those very early days. Getting the debut album done. Her passion and curiosity would have been at its peak. An exciting and hungry young woman who had been writing for years but this was her first time recording an album.

Among other things, producer Andrew Powell revealed on the Kate Bush Fan Podcast some songs that were recorded during the Lionheart period (in France) and never released. I always knew that Never for Ever was a song recorded but left alone because Bush did not like her vocal. It was intended for Lionheart rather than Never for Ever. I guess Bush liked the title and the idea, so that is why her third album was called Never for Ever (which boasted a few hugely impressive B-sides/rarities). Powell revealed how Bush loved his arrangement – and gave him a big hug! – but she did not like her singing. It is a shame as, by all accounts, it is a gorgeous song that is a lost classic! Powell was not sure what the song was about. You could hear regret at it not being used. Scares Me Silly (you can read the lyrics, and for other Cathy Demos tracks, here), which I always assumed was recorded during The Kick Inside’s sessions, was actually done for Lionheart. That never made it on. Perhaps Bush was curious of wanting her songs to be perfect and, if she was unsure or happy with anything, then it would not make it in. Dear Dead Days is another title that was mentioned. This modern discussion around some very early Kate Bush material. Andrew Powell has a recording of Never for Ever, so it is something that could be available. I’d like to think that a book or article will be written around songs that we have not heard and were considered for her first couple of albums. It gives is a greater insight into this young prodigy. Rather than them being scraps and songs she’d rather forget, I think they are parts of the puzzle and full picture. These minor gems that fans are really keen to hear. Whether that will happen or not I am not sure, though if they were ever brought to life, it would be amazing! Just think of what it was like being around Kate Bush when she was making her first moves. The intimacy that there would have been. People not quite knowing what would happen and how her music would connect with people. Thinking about it…

IS quite spine-tingling.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Qing Madi

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

Qing Madi

__________

A tremendous artist…

who was recently named as one of Vevo's 2024 DSCVR Artists to Watch is Qing Madi. I am fairly new to her music but, having seen her highlighted by quite a few sites as someone to look out for, I was compelled to dig deeper. I am going to bring in some interviews and press around this incredible talent. The Nigerian teenager is one to watch out for. In her earliest phase, she will grow and cement her sound. I am going to end with a review of her new E.P. It is worth getting to know her better prior to that. Whether you class her music as Afrobeats or something else, there is no denying there is a universality to it. It translates beyond Nigeria. If Qing Madi’s best days are still ahead, her eponymous E.P. marks her out as someone to watch very closely. I am going to come to an interview with The Things. They charted the beginning and rise or an extraordinary artist who is definitely primed for big success in 2024:

“Qing Began Performing As A Child

Born and raised in Benin City, Nigeria, Qing has long had a penchant for performing.

In fact, she smiles that her career really began when she was just 7-years-old.

"From the time I was in school, I started competing with other kids in arts and culture, and would represent my school," she reminisces.

However, this budding star wasn't content to contend with her age mates, alone.

"Everyone wanted me to be in the children's choir, but I felt the adult choir was where I belonged, so I did that. I was a confident child!" she laughs.

Sure enough, people began taking note - and her career as a professional performer began.

Her Mom Played An Active Role In Her Career, Early On

"I started getting booked for weddings and other events, both in and out of the state. My mom trained me for that," Qing shares.

It's safe to say, Qing's mom saw a spark, there - and she was fully committed to helping her daughter reach her potential.

That was just part of her influence, however,

Beaming at the memory, Qing adds that her mother also enrolled her in a ballet academy, where she trained to dance and studied music more in-depth.

That's still not all, though.

Qing continues that the customers in her mother's shop were always happy to engage with her, musically.

"I was surrounded by her musically-inclined clients, and their influences became mine," she smiles.

That's not to say she didn't pick up influences all on her own, though.

Enter, Kendrick Lamar.

In fact, on top of his musical influence, Qing credits Kendrick, as well as Rihanna, for inspiring her to sing.

"I actually wanted to be a dancer, not a singer, at first," she admits.

Qing Talks Going Viral And Repping Nigeria

With the foundations for Qing's success laid early on, it was only a matter of time before people began taking note, en masse.

At the time of writing, See Finish has close to half a million views on YouTube - and that's just two months after the song's release.

As for her latest release, Why, that isn't too far behind, either, racking in more than 300k YouTube viewers in two weeks.

"I was utterly shocked at how much acceptance I was getting," she gushes, thinking about the moment she realized she was going viral”.

I do think that the mainstream music media does not focus enough attention on nations like Nigeria when it comes to a new wave of artists. Sure, they might be attune to J-Pop of Japan and K-Pop of South Korea. It is a vital and bright Pop that is becoming very popular through western music. I think Afrobeats and various other genes emerging from Africa needs to be heralded and spotlight. Qing Madi is a sensation. As Nigeria’s The Guardian wrote, Qing Madi’s music is universal. Good music, they say, crosses borders and languages:

“Qing Madi, who is a rising star currently out of Nigeria is a major example of this. After releasing her most popular song, “See Finish” which has generated a lot of streams on multiple music platforms, the 16-year-old is slowly making a name for herself in the Afrobeat’s industry as she is set to be the next “big thing” out of Nigeria.

She talks with The Guardian Life about her life, going viral in Nigeria at a young age, music inspirations and her plans for the future.

Tell us about yourself and the creative inspiration behind your name?

My name is Chimamanda Pearl Chukwuma popularly known as Qing Madi. I am a 16 year old Nigerian singer, songwriter and dancer born July 1st, 2006. I am a prodigy, born and raised in Benin city and I came from a family of 4.

The inspiration behind my name was coming from a point of feminity and independence; a Qing is a female who does not need anyone to dictate her place. A female with superiority.

Tracing your steps into music, where would you say the passion came from?

My biggest influence growing up was Kendrick Lamar; he is a lyrical prophet and he made me fall in love with poetry.

But my mom gave me the best passion I needed. Her belief in me made me understand who I was at a tender age.

What did your parents feel when you indicated an interest in music and how are they supporting you now?

My mother who groomed and trained me is completely happy that all our prayers and hard work are being rewarded plus she is super proud too.

What was the inspiration behind “See Finish” and how did it feel going viral in Nigeria?

The creative process for “See Finish” was coming from a genuine point where an actual incident led me to express myself through music. It was an honest song that came naturally, I heard the beat and immediately felt like I needed to communicate with it.

It felt surreal hearing people sing my lyrics right back to me knowing that people genuinely related to it. And most times when I got DMs of how my music had helped people be more comfortable on their own and learn the beauty in being alone, it made me feel fulfilled.

How are you balancing music with school as well as being a teenager?

I’m not in university yet but I’m balancing being a teenager and music very well.

I’ve never been the type to hang out with people a lot so it doesn’t feel much different except now everyone wants to be in my circle which frightens me because I can’t tell what energy is genuine.

You performed at arguably the biggest concert in Lagos, Homecoming. What was that experience like for you at such an early stage of your career?

It was amazing to not only get to understand who I was again but also meeting the crowd and singing my heart out, I’m blessed to have performed there.

With all the fame and attention at a young age, what activities do you engage in that makes you feel like a kid again?

Most times talking to my best friend makes me feel regular again so it’s a therapeutic feeling for me.

Are you working on anything now and what should your fans be expecting from you moving forward?

I’m working on a body of work; my first as a signed artist with possible collaborations and newly explored sounds. So, I’m super excited and I hope my fans are too”.

The Teen Magazine spent some time with Qing Madi earlier in the year. A young talent with so much potential, they also looked at her rise to prominence. Here is someone who I feel everyone needs to get behind and support if they can. Such is the potential and quality out there already, there is not going to be any stopping her:

“Listen and Learn

“The songstress also has an important message she wants her listeners to receive when listening to her music. She commented, "As a 16 year old, I want everyone to know this: You're understood, you’re heard, you have every reason to feel the way you do, and you’re not being ungrateful to anyone for feeling this emotion." Songwriting can be a very intimate process for an artist. Qing Madi also went into depth about her experience with songwriting. "I love writing alone. I tend to write about my past or present experiences. It helps make my lyrics more real."

Her song, “Why”, a track detailing her bullying experiences while in school, was a hit. It now has close to 130,000 streams on Spotify as of writing this article. She gave some words of encouragement to people being bullied currently.

She stated, "Be patient. People only fight what they fear. Being bullied in school makes you the main character most times.

Some things you have to endure to become you and have a story to tell. Speaking up as well is important if you’re being bullied, even though when I did I was told “it’s normal”. But you never know what can happen when you speak up."

9 Fun Questions with Qing Madi

Like any 16 year old, Qing Madi also has ambitions and things she wants to accomplish. Read below to see some of her answers.

1) If you could open a show for any artist, who would it be?

“Internationally, I would love to open for Kendrick Lamar and locally in Nigeria, for Davido.”

2) What's your favorite song you've written and why?

My favorite song I’ve written is called “Still on You” and it’s because it is so much like my track “See Finish. It’s an actual emotion I’ve experienced."

3) What is the best advice you’ve been given?

“Do not let people’s indecision disrupt your vision.”

4) What is your dream car?

"A Bugatti."

5) What’s one thing you can’t live without?

"My phone."

6) Dream vacation?

“Spain, because I speak Spanish, and I would love to practice more with actual indigenous people.”

7) If you were stranded on a beach and you could only bring three things, what would you bring and why?

“My phone, food and water, because I’ll need those to survive. Being stranded on a beach to me sounds like a vacation. I love being alone.”

8) What is your favorite food?

”Jollof rice.”

9) Where do you see yourself in the next three years careerwise?

"Successful and happy, with the right energy and the right people."

The Future of Qing Madi

Qing Madi is a promising young talent, bound to take the western world by storm. She is taking the sound and influence of later greats such as Aaliyah and putting a modern but reminiscent twist on them, which will be successful in her career. She has an EP coming out soon, so stay tuned for that”.

I am going to end with a review of the Qing Madi E.P. First, together with her Vevo DSCVR Artists to Watch inclusion, the Nigerian star has also been honoured by Apple Music. This article tells how it is a big step and achievement. Something that will take her music to the next level. Some terrific early exposure:

“Apple Music has just announced that Qing Madi, the rising star of Afrobeat, is the next Up Next artist for Nigeria. This means that Qing Madi will get a global spotlight on Apple Music, including a short documentary and interview.

As a native of Benin City, Qing Madi began her professional journey by participating in school talent shows and singing in the church choir. Her exceptional vocal capabilities earned her a spot in the adult choir, despite her young age.

Recognizing the unique nature of Qing Madi’s talent, her mother enrolled her in a local ballet academy as a means to foster her creativity outside of school. It proved to be an incredibly savvy move as Qing Madi won several dance awards, and the classes helped foster her musical gifts as she learnt how to memorize lyrics and identify her sound.

If you haven't heard of Qing Madi yet, you're missing out. She is a talented singer and songwriter who blends traditional Nigerian rhythms with modern pop and hip-hop influences. Her debut "Journey" was released in September and has been praised by critics and fans alike.

Nigerian singer and songwriter Qing Madi did release a tribute song for Mohbad titled “Journey.”

She said, “The recent passing of a gem has given me a reality check. No one is going to be here forever. Not even those that have done the best. Nobody knows when the ticking bomb will explode. They just know the timer has begun. I wrote this song based on how I was feeling. RIP IMOLE.”

Influenced heavily by her heritage and the lyrical genius of Kendrick Lamar, Qing Madi’s debut single 'See Finish' (2022) saw her blend Afrobeats, pop, soul and R&B, laying the foundation for the fusion type of music she was keen to create as the single went viral on TikTok and peaked at #51 on Apple Music’s Nigeria Top 100 songs chart.

Her latest single 'Journey' (2023), available to stream on Apple Music, in an Afrobeats call to the dancefloor, layered atop R&B-soaked vocal lines, and reinforces her presence as a name to remember.

Qing Madi is not only a musical genius, but also a social activist. She uses her platform to raise awareness and funds for various causes, such as education, health, and environmental issues. she is also a vocal supporter of the #EndSARS movement, which protests against police brutality and corruption in Nigeria.

Qing Madi is definitely an artist to watch beyond. She is breaking boundaries and creating waves with her unique sound and message. I can't wait to see what she does next. Congratulations, Qing Madi, on being the next Up Next artist for Nigeria!

If you want to listen to Qing Madi's music and learn more about her, head over to Apple Music and check out his Up Next playlist. You won't regret it!”.

Go and check out the tremendous Qing Madi. Her self-titled E.P. is exceptional. There was quite a lot of love around it when it arrived last month. Here is one such review. Next year is going to be one where this teenage artist will get her music played around the world, visit new countries and ensure that she is a name that is talked about as one of the best out there. Even if it is early in her career, you can already hear and see the sparks already. A huge and fascinating musical proposition:

“Her debut EP 'Qing Madi' is a bold announcement of her desire to carve a niche for herself. While her most striking feature is her vocals which she effortlessly deploys to mold R&B melodies, it wouldn't take long for listeners to be drawn to her ability to express herself in the chic and vibrant manner expected of a Gen. Z R&B act.

Like a teenage music star, she explores the familiar subject of ambitions and desires from a teenage perspective that creates originality and relatability amongst the young audience who will form her consumer base.

When she talks about her ambitions in 'Madi's Medley' it's with the exciting dreams of a youngster. She shows teenage glee in 'Ole' where she confesses to covetting another person's partner and in 'See Finish', her writing and cadences of a juvenile music star It's these visibly young approach and age-relatable qualities that give her music an admirable identity.

Her vocals and melody-molding ability drive the EP while she shows the multiplicity of her influences. Her style is quintessentially R&B with her vocals comfortable on the beat and the music filled with lyrics as opposed to the scanty wordings of Pop music.

Even when she sings on Afrobeats arrangements in 'Vision' and 'American Love' she molds R&B melody while infusing very little if not negligible pidgin English and Yoruba.

While she finds herself operating in a Nigerian mainstream where significant domestication in the form of language and production is needed, Qing Madi's music is significantly Westernized. On the rare occasion that she speaks Pidgin or Yoruba, she does it in a Westernized way that makes it unnoticeable.

The very nature of her music takes it away from the mass market and places it among niche consumers, especially those in her age grade who are conversant with the Western variant of the teenage R&B and Pop music she makes.

Even the average Nigerian whose daily music consumption mainly comprises lamba (Nigerian street slang) driven Afropop cuts and Street Hop party starters will struggle to hear some of her lyrics.

Some listeners will find the highly Westernized style of music reminiscent of Nigerian international superstar Tems whom she strikingly sounds like in 'Chargie'.

Qing Madi packs impressive talent for a teenager and this is on full display on her EP. With vocal ability and penmanship in place, it's time for her to learn domestication if she desires to service beyond a niche teenage audience. There's no doubt she has what it takes to achieve this”.

Go and follow the brilliant Qing Madi. Such a strong and promising artist who is being spotlighted as a name to watch next year. You can see why that is. Qing Madi is a brilliant E.P. from this rising talent. I am excited to see where she heads next. If you are unfamiliar with Qing Madi, go and familiarise yourself now. I feel she will be making big and stunning steps for…

MANY years more.

____________

Follow Qing Madi

 Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/qingmadi/

TikTok:

https://www.tiktok.com/@qingmadi1

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/Qingmadi

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/0ZvsEkINadmEV4qzS4ollh

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTI94gkv6LUW6Rc8YeoMEdw

Facebook:

https://m.facebook.com/QingMadi1/

FEATURE: The Digital Mixtape: Songs from the Best Synth-Pop Albums Ever

FEATURE:

 

The Digital Mixtape

IN THIS PHOTO: Yazoo (Vince Clarke and Alison Moyet)

Songs from the Best Synth-Pop Albums Ever

__________

FOR this Digital Mixtape…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Tegan and Sara/PHOTO CREDIT: Pamela Littky

I have been thinking about some classic Synth-Pop albums from throughout the years. When Christmas music is being played more widely, I have been trying to balance it with other genres. Maybe Synth-Pop has not been in my rotation as much as it should be. To rectify that, I have been listening through some of the all-time best Synth-Pop albums. Some go back decades, whereas there are some that are more recent. Maybe it is a bit random, though I thought it would be nice to assemble songs from some amazing Synth-Pop albums. Thanks to articles like this, this and this for providing some guidance. Whilst some are pure Synth-Pop, there are others that mix genres together – though Synth-Pop is a defining characteristic. If you are familiar with the genre or need a bit of an introduction, then this playlist below should give you a window into…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Tears for Fears (Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith) in 1984/PHOTO CREDIT: Peter Noble/Redferns

SOME classic albums.

FEATURE: A Bright Year for Music Ahead… Selections from Vevo's DSCVR Artists to Watch 2024

FEATURE:

 

 

A Bright Year for Music Ahead…

IN THIS PHOTO: Qing Madi

Selections from Vevo's DSCVR Artists to Watch 2024

__________

I am going to do a few of these playlists…

 IN THIS PHOTO: The Last Dinner Party/PHOTO CREDIT: Melinda Oswandel Photo

before January. A lot of sites and publications are naming their names to watch in 2024. There will be some overlap though, depending on whose list it is, you get different artists. The one I want to start with is Vevo's DSCVR Artists to Watch. I think that they have highlighted some really great artists we need to look out for next year. Some are fairly established and known to most, though there are a fair few coming through. I will end with a playlist featuring cuts from the artists named:

“New year, new playlist? Absolutely. VEVO, the video hosting powerhouse and official YouTube partner, has unveiled the 2024 list of up-and-coming artists climbing the charts, set to make waves as we turn the pages of another year. “DSCVR Artists To Watch” is an annual taste-maker program, now in its tenth year, spotlighting emerging global artists poised to break through in the year ahead. Starting Wednesday, November 8th, Vevo’s DSCVR ATW will showcase high-quality live performance video content from the class of 2024, with two unique performances from each artist, shot exclusively for Vevo.

“For the past decade, we’ve had the privilege of watching the alumni of this program go from talented emerging artists to global superstars,” said JP Evangelista, SVP, Content, Programming and Marketing, at Vevo. “From Billie Eilish to Sam Fender, Ice Spice to Wet Leg, to Feid and beyond, the exceptional amount of diverse talent our past list members have is astounding, to say the least. Today, we are thrilled to announce the lineup for 2024.”

The program is one of the most highly anticipated and competitive lists in the emerging music space—this year, they received more than 600 submissions. The artists and bands that make it to the selection receive critical exposure and promotion, as they will be marketed and featured in Vevo’s expert music video programming via playlists and editorial features across Vevo’s network, including YouTube and connected TV platforms, helping propel their careers.

Check out the full list:

Vevo’s 2024 DSCVR “Artists to Watch” are:

– Chappell Roan (Island/UMG)
– Elmiene (Polydor, UMG)
– Florentina (Good Kid Records & Polydor x Island Records/UMG)
– Fridayy (Def Jam/UMG)
– HARLEY (Sony Music France, RCA Records)
– Jazzy (Polydor, UMG)
– Judeline (Interscope Latin)
– Khamari (RCA/SME)
– Libianca (5K Records/RCA)
– LU KALA (AWAL)
– Mae Stephens (EMI, UMG)
– Nathan Galante (UMLE/UMG)
– Olly (Epic Records Italy)
– Qing Madi (Columbia/SME)
– Sarah Kinsley (Verve/UMG)
– ScarLip (Epic/SME)
– Strandz (Epic/SME)
– Teezo Touchdown (RCA/SME)
– The Last Dinner Party (Island Records, UMG)”.

One of the first of many lists that highlight artists we need to be aware of in 2024, the playlist below is a bounty of brilliant music across multiple genes! Some of these artists are new to me. A banquet of great artists we need on our radar, check out Vevo's DSCVR Artists to Watch. There are…

SOME real gems to behold.

FEATURE: The Kate Bush Interview Archive: Roger Trilling: Details (1994)

FEATURE:

 

 

The Kate Bush Interview Archive

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1993 (even though she was not happy at the time with the photos/shoot, Bush is captured at a crucial and interesting stage of her career)/PHOTO CREDIT: John Stoddart

Roger Trilling: Details (1994)

__________

I do not normally…

include entire interviews in The Kate Bush Interview Archive but, as this one is fascinating and quite tense, I wanted to highlight it. There was not a lot of press  around Kate Bush in 1994. Shortly after The Red Shoes came out (November 1993) and her short film, The Line, the Cross and the Curve was released (it premiered in 1993 but was released in the U.K. in 1994), there was still this interest. A reason why her interview with Roger Trilling of the U.S. publication Details is fascinating is because of the questions asked. Some are very personal. Kate Bush, as always, fielding them with dignity and patience. Rubbeband Girl (from The Red Shoes) has a video out in the U.S. - and, whilst it did not do that well, there was still some buzz from America. It is amazing that, over fifteen years since her debut single, Bush was still being talked about like a celebrity! Like it was a tabloid newspaper or magazine featuring someone’s personal life, rather than an artist. How much focus was there on the music?! In March 1994, this fascinating interview was published in a U.S. publication. I wonder whether it was encounters like this that took Bush out of the spotlight and music until 2005 (she did the odd thing but was much less active after 1994):

“KATE BUSH

A tightly wound conversation with the Rubberband Girl

{Details} Hi, Kate. You're in from Kent, right?

{K} Yes. That sounds like the country, but it's really southeast London.

{D} You live in the 'burbs?

{K} Yeah. I'd like to live in the country, but I need to get into London, and I don't think I'd have been able to put my film [ The Line, the Cross, the Curve ] together and work on the album if I couldn't center it at my house. I'd love to make albums quicker, but it always ends up being more involved than I initially think it will be.

{D} Because the songs change shape?

{K} Yeah, they take on their own life, and I end up being dragged along behind them. I write quickly, but then ideas for arrangements and sometimes the actual structures for the songs change. Usually I get to a point where I don't know if I'm going to be able to finish it, and then once I'm over that bump it's not so bad.

{D} How does that sit with [boyfriend and coproducer] Del?

{K} He's my partner in the whole process. Most of the time it's just him and myself, and we bring musicians in for layering. It's quite intimate; there's not many people involved, and most of them I've known for a long time so they're close friends.

{D} It seems that you love transcendent things...

{K} I have a fascination with putting together opposites.

{D} Like what?

{K} Like ancient acoustic instruments and synthesizers. Or like Irish music: It's so full of life, and yet at the same time there's this incredible tension, a poignance that also makes it very sad.

{D} You say in one of your lyrics that life and love are sad. When did you decide that?

{K} It was a line from Jospeh Campbell, and I'm not saying it's something I believe--quite often there are things said in a song that I don't believe at all, but they are beliefs of other people, and sometimes that's very relevant.

{D} Hmm. Have you found joy in romantic love?

{K} Yeah, I think so. But there's also a great deal of joy in love that isn't necessarily romantic.

{D} Can you read music?

{K} No. I learned to read when I was young--I played the violin--but my heart wasn't in it. What was fun was finding my own way, being allowed to dive off and play for hours on my father's piano.

{D} Do you still improvise?

{K} Not like I did, and there was a big attempt on this album [ The Red Shoes ] to get back to that. With the last three albums, I've been writing straight onto tape, but actually sitting and playing the piano without the technology all around me was really good. "Top of the City" was written like that.

{D} When you play the piano, do you ever go in directions other than songs?

{K} I might start off doing that, but it always ends up being a song. I think there's a great desire in me to tell stories.

{D} How important is popularity to you?

{K} It's not something I have big ambitions about.

{D} So do members of your cult scare the shit out of you?

{K} My *cult*!? What cult?

{D} You have a cult. C'mon, don't be coy.

{K} (laughs) What kind of cult? There is a figure that is adored, but I'd question very strongly that it's me. My work speaks far more eloquently than I do, and if people get anything at all out of the tracks, whether it's what I intended or not, then that's great. But I don't care if people like me or not--I am what I am, I do the best I can, and that's what matters.

{D} A friend of mine said he got the feeling from your music that you don't feel accountable to anyone else.

{K} (laughs) Well, we are slaves to ourselves, but it could be worse.

{D} Is that why you've never had kids?

{K} Huh? That's very personal.

{D} Well, would you?

{K} I would like to have kids, yeah.

{D} More so since your mum died?

{K} It's certainly loss that heightens the realization that life is short--

{D} And art is long.

{K} (laughs) Sometimes. Not always.

{D} What's the most irritating thing about other people?

{K} Maybe it's just their way of expressing themselves, but sometimes people like to make things difficult.

{D} Including you?

{K} Yeah. But obviously people ultimately only have to answer to themselves.

{D} The thing I hate most is having to please myself.

{K} Why?

{D} My self isn't worth it.

{K} Oh, but it is! Most of the creative process is just one disappointment after another, but hopefully, as you move through life, a little less so each time. It's never perfect. In fact, it's important that it's imperfect. That's why I don't listen to my old stuff; I can't remember when I heard anything before Hounds of Love. To finish something is the achievement--then let go and do something new.

{D} That sounds very idealistic.

{K} Not at all. Most of the people I know never listen to their old music. It's so unattractive, particularly the further back it goes. There's such a lot to date it....Do you have the time? I have to keep an eye on the time”.

Nearly thirty years ago, Bush was doing promotion still for The Red Shoes and various singles. After that, there was occasional interviews and appearances. It was a moment when she was taking stock and thinking of her next move. I feel it was a period when she faced tragedy and disappointment, so she wanted to take some time out. Her mother died in 1992. She was in a relationship with Dan McIntosh, yet she split from Del Palmer (whom she was involved with for many years). The Red Shoes was not a huge critical success. U.S. commercial acclaim was minor. This, coupled with a negative reaction to The Line, the Cross and the Curve meant she did need to regroup and recharge. A time when she could breathe and not have the pressure of releasing another album so soon. I guess it is impressive that EMI allowed her so long before her next album came – a twelve-year gap is not something most modern artists would be afforded. These 1993 and 1994 interviews and really interesting. It was a career period where Bush was thinking of her current work in addition to considering family and taking a career break. The Details/Roger Trilling chat is quite illuminating and memorable! That is why I want to pull it in without amendments or redaction. In spite of some difficult and overly-personal questions, Kate Bush remains such…

A consummate professional.

FEATURE: Mulled Wine and Coventry Carol: The Evolution and Diversity of Christmas Songs – and Why We Still Favour the Classics

FEATURE:

 

 

Mulled Wine and Coventry Carol

 PHOTO CREDIT: Karolina Grabowska/Pexels

The Evolution and Diversity of Christmas Songs – and Why We Still Favour the Classics

__________

IT is interesting how…

Christmas songs have evolved and altered through the years. Not only in terms of their sound. The language and phrases used. Of course, for most of us, our earliest memories might have been Christmas carols. I sung them at school. Briefly part of the school choir, there would be an assembly every year where we’d sing carols. I was aware of more popular and conventional radio songs that relate to Christmas and the holiday period. Whilst I don’t think they are as broad as they could be in terms of covering various faiths and beliefs, there has differently been an expansion regarding tone and mood. Once was the time where pretty much every Christmas recording was positive and joyful. Maybe quite cliché in terms of the images and sentiments. The standard setting of chestnuts on open fires. Spending time at home, snow outside, presents under the tree etc. I am not sure when things changed regarding ‘alternative’ Christmas songs - yet I like how Christmas music has developed to multiple genres. This year is already offering a diverse range of Christmas/holiday takes. As I say, most of the Christmas songs reaching us are from Western religions and artists. If the song is more traditional and conventional, there are elements of the Christian faith. I am going to end by looking to music in general and how, after such a dreadful year, there need to be messages of hope and togetherness in music. Christmas music is very much about that time with family and enjoying the season. If one does not want that endless optimism and some of the more stereotyped and overused Christmas lines, there are songs that provide this alternate take. The song below, Coventry Carol, is from Collette Cooper’s wonderful E.P., Darkside of Christmas - Chapter 2. It was recorded alongside actress Maxine Peake. Cooper’s voice has this rawness, smokiness (with brandy notes) and depth that gives appropriate gravitas to a haunting, timely song. Darkside of Christmas - Chapter 2 deals with love, loss and empathy. So much wit, soulfulness, power, humour and nuance. There are so many emotions, visions, memorable scenes, stunning layers and sights that one is treated to throughout the E.P. From Maxine Peake wonderfully opening When the Snow Falls by reciting a poem (written by Collette Cooper), we get one of Cooper’s most arresting and evocative vocals. Lost Soul (Peace of Mind) has smokiness, swing and electricity. It is a musical and vocal shift that shows the versatility and talent of Cooper and her band. Finishing with Coventry Carol, Collette Cooper’s rendition is haunting and teasing at the same time. Quite epic and almost choral, there is this incredible take on a song that gives it new meaning and impact. The entire E.P. is so memorable that I found myself coming back to it time and time again. One of our most distinct and finest musical voices.

As the E.P. title suggests, it is a less traditional viewpoint of Christmas. Coventry Carol is Cooper’s unique take on an old carol. With its theme of war and strife, it is strangely and sadly relatable in terms of today’s headlines. It shows that, regardless of when a song was recorded, themes like war and division will always appear in the landscape. It makes me think that, at a time when many songs are positive and ignore darker and more harrowing sides of life, maybe there should be more Christmas songs that reflect besieged nations and worrying events. Offering hope to people affected. Discussing how other people are experiencing Christmas. In a more hostile land that any of us will. Of course, most people want cheer and that hope through Christmas music. I am going to discuss modern Christmas music, and how a broader and more genre-hopping scene means Christmas music is wider-reaching. Even if there have been few modern classics that rival the legendary Christmas songs – something I shall also discuss -, there is this blend of less optimist/alternative ones together with those that have a more traditional mindset. As this article explores, there was a definite need for cheerier and more hopeful Christmas song when the world was afflicted by war:

“The earliest record of Christmas music dates back to the Middle Ages with songs inspired by Christian Bible verses, such as the still-popular hymns “What Child Is This?” and “O Come, O Come Emmanuel”. In the 1700s, German composer George Frederic Handel published a collection of now-classic carols including “Joy To The World,” “O Come All Ye Faithful,” “Angels We Have Heard On High,” and more, sparking a renewed interest in Christmas music.

However, prior to 1840, when German Prince Albert married Queen Victoria of England, many Christmas celebrations were condemned as pagan and limited by certain groups or religious movements, such as the Puritanism and Protestant Reformation. It was only after Albert and Victoria’s marriage, when German traditions of Yuletide were mixed with English celebrations of Christmas, that the holiday was re-invented to include evergreen trees, Christmas cards, caroling and gift exchanges. Music, unsurprisingly, changed too.

Along with church classics like “O Holy Night” (1855) and “Silent Night” (1863), non-religious tunes like “Jingle Bells” (1857) were also popularized during this period. Ironically, “Jingle Bells” was actually written for Thanksgiving but grew to be associated with Christmas time instead.

The twentieth century brought a new wave of music in America, especially during the Great Depression when spirits needed significant lifting. It was through new technology like the radio that music spread during the 1930s, including such iconic songs like “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” and “Winter Wonderland.” In 1938, Bob May wrote Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer for his daughter, and, by 1949, the book was adapted into the holiday song that generations of kids adore.

World War II increased the public longing for better times and comfort, which resulted in the rise in popularity of Bing Crosby, Majorie Reynolds and more in the movie Holiday Inn. The film featured nostalgic tunes like “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” and Crosby’s “White Christmas”. The film and songs were major hits, popular with both soldiers and their families at home. In 1944, Meet Me in St. Louis aired, starring Judy Garland singing “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”–the movie and song remain popular with audiences today. The 40s also produced immensely popular songs like Nat King Cole and the King Cole Trio’s 1946 hit “The Christmas Song” (“Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire”) and “Baby It’s Cold Outside,” the latter debuting in the summer-release movie Neptune’s Daughter in 1949”.

One notable aspects of the Christmas song is how it has become more popular. Maybe played earlier each year, most shops starting playing Christmas tracks last month. They are more commercial now than ever. If, as we can see in this feature, there have been some true classics through the decades, one of the biggest changes has been with the prolificacy of the Christmas song. Once reserved to crooners and artists in Jazz and a narrow range of genres, it did broaden out to Pop and Rock artists. Since the 1980s even, it has reached so many other genres. Maybe there are more alternative takes on Christmas…though one can hear plenty of artists keeping things warm and traditional – with many tackling old standards and carols. What particularly interests me is how Christmas through song has become less confined and utterly predictable. I can understand the imperative to portray family and togetherness when war was upon us. And, as we hear with Collette Cooper’s new E.P., there is genocide and war happening now - and so an older song about war and strife fits into 2023. I will come to the alternative/’other’ side to Christmas music. I mentioned how fewer religions are mentioned in Christmas songs. In the sense that there is not this multi-faith assortment of songs each year. This article highlights how, through the years, religion is less common in Christmas music. Once a staple and foundation of carols and some of the earliest Christmas tracks, themes and aspects looked more to the home and, perhaps, the more commercial side of Christmas:

“Another way Christmas music has evolved is through the meaning of the songs. Originally Christmas music was played in church in order to celebrate the Christmas story. Therefore, the lyrics and meaning of older songs are based on Christianity; some songs are based on specific Bible verses. For example, lyrics from, Hark The Herald Angel’s Sing, read, “glory to the newborn King,” which is a direct reference to the birth of Jesus.

Christmas music written in recent years seems to be less about religion and more about the holiday season and spending it with significant others. The 1900s is when the themes of Christmas music started to change. A large part of this change is because experimentation began around the 1920s. People started to break away from the ways of the church and try new ideas. Therefore, as overall music evolved, so did Christmas music. Common themes of modern Christmas music include: being together in the cold, love, fictional characters, and many more.

In recent times, many modern artists remake older Christmas songs. Sometimes they keep the traditional sound and other times they incorporate a pop or modern twist. Thus, it can be very hard to differentiate older and newer Christmas songs; in order to identify the different types of songs one really has to pay attention to the lyrics and meanings of the songs. For example, Carrie Underwood released a Christmas album containing her remakes of older songs such as, O Holy Night written in 1855, and new songs she wrote”.

I guess Christmas will move around the sound of the mainstream. If a particular movement or style of genre is fading or less cool, the nature and overall flavour of Christmas music will have to move forward and work around what is popular. At a time when streaming allows us access to most Christmas songs ever recorded, playlists are quite eclectic. As a child, I definitely noticed the changes in Christmas music. I vaguely recall the late-1980s and 1990s. Modern classics like Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas Is You (1994) being played a lot more than carols and older Christmas songs like White Christmas and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. One big evolution seems to be Christmas songs moving from a more hymnal and calmer/smoother pace to something more energetic. Whilst not true of all songs, a lot of Christmas music from the 1940s-1960s was more slower. Singers like Bing Crosby and Dean Martin crooning rather than jubilantly declaring. Songs from Mariah Carey, Slade (Merry Xmas Everybody), Wizard (I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday) and even Wham! (Last Christmas) and Band Aid (Do They Know It's Christmas?) definitely have more energy to them. This Elle article charts how Christmas songs evolved through the decades. I have chosen a few example periods:

“1957

The steady rise of rock & roll threatens the viability of dated Christmas music, which gets revived with the release of Elvis’ Christmas album. His rendition of “Blue Christmas” remains popular today.

1965

In the ‘60s, Christmas isn’t so cheery anymore with the introduction of new studies on the phenomenon that would be known as Winter Blues or Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). The classic A Charlie Brown Christmas by The Vince Guaraldi Trio evokes a melancholy tone with “Christmas Time is Here.”

1990s - 2000s

A cohort of pop superstars make lasting original holiday songs like the entirety of Mariah Carey’s Merry Christmas album (1994), Britney Spears’ “My Only Wish”(2000) and of course, N*Sync’s “Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays” (1998)”.

I am interested in themes and lyrics in Christmas songs and how that has moved through time. This feature breaks down word frequency, the keys songs Christmas songs were recorded in, in addition to the song length and speed. It makes for very interesting reading:

“The Evolution of Christmas Songs

Ever wondered how Christmas songs have evolved over the last 47 years? How has the lyrical content evolved? Have the songs got quicker or slower? Have the songs got longer or shorter? Do the songs actually reflect changes in society? Christmas Tree World take a look at all this and more...

Word frequency

1970-1989

• Christmas - 79

• Time - 57

• Love - 47

• Know - 34

• World - 30

• Just - 26

• Day - 23

• Lord - 22

• Want - 22

• Ernie - 21

Other frequent words: Merry (14), Born (14), Sing (11) 1990-2016

• Love - 67

• Know - 59

• Baby - 33

• Day - 32

• World - 30

• Hallelujah - 29

• Never - 27

• Time - 27

• Told - 26

• Gonna - 26

Other frequent words: F*ck (16 - thanks Rage Against The Machine), Born (15), Sing (14) 35% of Christmas number 1s between 1970-1989 were 'Christmas songs'. 7% of Christmas number 1s between 1990-2016 were 'Christmas songs' - including another version of 'Do They Know It's Christmas?'.

Song Keys

Number of Christmas songs per song key 1970-1989

• A - 2

• B - 0

• C - 7

• D - 1

• E - 3

• F - 1

• G - 2

1990-2016

• A - 2

• B - 0

• C - 3

• D - 7

• E - 7

• F - 1

• G - 7

No Christmas Number 1 in the last 47 years on the key of B. C Major was the most popular key from 1970-1989 - Schubert described the characteristics of that key as ‘innocence, simplicity, naïvety, children's talk’. G Major was the most popular key from 1990-2016 - Schubert described the characteristics of that key as ‘rustic, idyllic and lyrical’.

Average song speed/length

1970-1989 Average song speed - 96bpm Average song length - 03:45 1990-2016 Average song speed - 85bpm Average song length - 04:08 Facts Paul Joyce, who wrote ‘Can We Fix it’, won an Ivor Novello award for the song in 2001 Christmas Number 1s from 1970 - 1989 were shorter, quicker and lighter in lyrical content Christmas Number 1s from 1990 - 2016 are longer, slower and more frequently written in a minor key 48% of Christmas Number 1s in the last 26 years have been covers What's your favourite Christmas song? At Christmas Tree World, we specialise in realistic Christmas trees. Choose from our wide range of artificial Christmas trees, including snowy Christmas trees, pre-lit Christmas trees and slim Christmas trees”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Jill Wellington/Pexels

Modern Christmas songs are great – and I have included a playlist with some contemporary greats in them -, though there is something about those older hits that remain in our minds. This article explores evolutions and how artists today (it was written in 2014) rely on covers rather than originals. Even if there have been more original Christmas songs in the nine years since, many artists still rather add their take to established songs rather than attempt a new Christmas track – which is something I will ask about at the end:

“It made me wonder, what’s the reason that classic Christmas songs are so much more memorable than newer Christmas songs? I decided to group the songs by theme and see if any patterns emerged.

I found that certain themes such as describing “Christmas in the Air” and wishing people “Merry Christmas” via song are timeless, while others seemed to evolve. For example, songs about “Being Together in the Cold” and being “Home” for the holidays were written up until the mid-1950’s when they switched over to songs about having fun and “Partying” at Christmastime.

One of my favorite trends was the transition from songs about Santa (“Santa Claus is Coming to Town” & “Here Comes Santa Claus”) in the 1930’s and 1940’s to songs about Santa being in love (“I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” & “Santa Baby”) in the 1950’s to songs straight up about love in the 1970’s and beyond (“Last Christmas” & “All I Want For Christmas Is You”).

When you look at the use of the word “Christmas” in songs over the past few decades, you see that every one of the top songs since 1963 has the word “Christmas” in it. It’s almost as if the word “Christmas” is put in a song just for the sake of telling you that it’s a Christmas song.

Take “Last Christmas” for example:

Last Christmas, I gave you my heart
But the very next day, you gave it away
This year, to save me from tears
I’ll give it to someone special

If you remove the word “Christmas” from the lyrics, the song actually has nothing to do with Christmas at all. It is simply a love song.

This made me wonder if Christmas songs have had less substance over time as well. After doing some digging, I found that there is no significant correlation between the year a song is written and the complexity of the song. It’s still fun to look at the vocabulary size of songs though, regardless of year. Here I’ve listed the top and bottom 5 songs in terms of the number of unique words.

“All I Want For Christmas Is You” has the most words and uses the most Christmas references of them all, which I guess is why the song feels extra Christmas-y (along with the choir and bells in the background). I also found it pretty humorous that “Feliz Navidad” has the smallest vocabulary of any Christmas song. It uses only 24 words over the course of 3:02 minutes.

Overall, we see that Christmas songs have evolved over time, from songs about fictional characters and being home for the holidays to ones about celebrating with friends and hoping to get your love interest for Christmas. While some might be concerned with the changes, I actually think it’s pretty impressive that the classic songs have prevailed. It shows that they are beautifully written and capture the spirit of the season better than any songs can do today. When else can you get kids from 1 to 92 all singing along to the same tunes? That’s the magic of Christmas songs”.

One great thing about Christmas music now is how there are alternatives. Artists can discuss Christmas and keep it positive, although they mix genres and messages. Even if classics do remain the most sought-after this time of year, I do feel that there is a lot more variety. People don’t necessarily want only treacle, snow and the traditional messages. Alternative Christmas songs can be darker and less optimistic. Not everyone is in the Christmas spirit. Not everyone celebrates the holidays. There are plenty who are suffering and have not got the advantages most of us have, therefore the more traditional Christmas images are slightly jarring and unobtainable. I do wonder why fewer artists are trying to write their own Christmas songs. Do they feel like they cannot come up with anything original or standout?! Maybe tying themselves to a classic gives them more accessible and popularity. People less willing to embrace new Christmas songs when the classics are readily available and familiar. I do like the alternative Christmas tracks and darker takes. At a time when there is a lot of misery in the world, we do need the escape and glee of Christmas. However, it is important to recognise other people and the fact that not everyone in the world feels the same. I am going to end with a few articles that show how classic Christmas songs remain the most popular – and why there have not been a whole load of new Christmas songs. The charts too do not necessarily give us a Christmas song at the number one spot on the big day. One cannot guarantee what will be top of the charts on Christmas.

This NPR article explores some theories as to why there are relatively few new Christmas songs. Even if modern artists like Leona Lewis and Michael Bublé are modern-day greats whose Christmas music could be in the cannon and played decades from now, is there something about those tracks from the 1970s and 1980s that have a magic formula and timelessness impossible to equal? It is an interesting debate:

“Aloe Blacc, a singer-songwriter from southern California perhaps best known for his guest vocal on Avicii's 2013 smash "Wake Me Up," had eight new songs on his 2018 album, Christmas Funk.

"It is intimidating to think about trying to write something that will stand the test of time," Blacc says, especially as he also wanted to expand the emotional palette of holiday music. "My goal was to do songs that felt sentimental from a direction that it's not usually presented from. Yeah, we want to get together and give hugs and have Christmas cheer, but there's also some family members you don't want to see during the holidays."

Dr. Demento, a pop music historian who specializes in oddities and ephemera, likens the contraction of the Christmas playlist to an increased yearning for tradition.

"Most Americans eat pretty much the same big meal every year, turkey and all the trimmings," Dr. Demento says. "If they introduce a new recipe, people will comment about it. 'Hey, mother, what's this?' "

Speaking of new recipes, the Dallas' early '90s band Old 97's try one out in the holiday tune "Here It Is Christmas Time."

"I talk about peach pie instead of one of the more traditional Christmas desserts, so that's a little weird," Rhett Miller, the country-rock band's frontman, says. "I mention doing the dishes. I like the idea of subverting the normal Christmas clichés, but you sort of have to love them to subvert them."

He made quite a few attempts at dodging those clichés, writing nine new songs for the Old 97's album, Love the Holidays. He gets why some people roll their eyes when the Christmas songs start up, but he's willing to risk the audience's annoyance to write a song that sees its emotional currency renewed every year.

"I really love when songs have utility and can point to milestones in people's lives," Miller says. "When songs do that for us, that's a really special thing ... I don't think there are any songs that are useful or as fraught with emotional baggage — in a good way — as Christmas and holiday songs are."

Another new holiday project, Molly Burch's The Molly Burch Christmas Album, is only the Austin-based singer-songwriter's third full-length album, holiday-related or not. But its two originals aren't pitched to the rafters the way Mariah Carey's big hit was”.

Another feature looked back at the evolution of Christmas songs and how certain aspects crept in when it came to sound and time signature. How maybe, in a modern time when Pop has changed, perhaps it is unnatural stepping back. People gravitating towards a particular era because of the production and quality of the music back then? There are many angles to explore:

“Let The Bells Ring

From the tubular chimes of Band Aid, to the sleigh bells of Winter Wonderland, to the jingling of Jingle Bell Rock, we have conclusively proved that we are total suckers when it comes to bell-based percussion.

You can barely move in the Christmas discography without bumping into a clanger of some sort. Bells are absolutely everywhere, refusing to let a quaver go by unmarked. For the most part they’re supposed to be evocative of Santa’s sleigh (with the occasional bit of church campanology) and their hypnotising effect on us is so profound that the simple addition of bells into a regular pop song can trick us into mistaking it for a full-blown festive classic.

For example, there was a conscious decision taken by the record label to add bells into the mix of East 17’s “Stay Another Day”—a song that’s actually about the heartbreak of suicide—to make it fare better in the competitive Christmas charts.

It worked a treat. The song has very little in the way of seasonal flair otherwise yet it managed to beat Mariah Carey’s undisputed classic “All I Want For Christmas Is You” to number one, and became one of the final songs to make it into the official Christmas canon (since we apparently stopped taking applications in 1994).

The Most Wonderful Time

Most pop music we know and love is written in a basic 4/4 count. Naturally then, it follows that the vast majority of Christmas songs are written in 4/4 too—but there’s an interesting exception.

A handful of our well-loved Christmas classics are written in 12/8. “Happy Xmas (War Is Over),” “Lonely This Christmas,” “Christmas Time (Don’t Let The Bells End)” and everyone’s problematic fave “Fairytale Of New York” all work to that relatively rare time signature.

Not only that, but there are a couple of non-festive songs that were Christmas No.1s which are also in 12/8 too. “Too Much” by The Spice Girls. Alexandra Burke’s cover of “Hallelujah.” Last year’s Christmas No.1, “Perfect” by Ed Sheeran. All 12/8.

What is it about 12/8 that feels so seasonal? Western pop music might be in 4/4, but a lot of our most cherished Christmas traditions stretch back to 19th century Central Europe, an area famous for its 3/4 waltzes.

12/8 effectively acts as a compromise between these two time signatures, and therefore these two traditions. With four sets of three quavers in each bar of 12/8, you get your regular, radio-friendly 4/4 pop beat as well as the sort of triple-count found in both a classic Viennese waltz and in a lot of carols (“Away In A Manger,” “Silent Night,” “We Three Kings”).

It’s the perfect blend of old and new. A nod to tradition while keeping things modern.

Christmas Future

All of this raises an interesting question. If the hallmarks of a successful Christmas song are so obvious, why hasn’t there been one that’s really gripped the public imagination in the past 25 years?

It’s not as if Christmas albums aren’t still big business. Every major artist worth their salt has done a cover of “Santa Baby”, or released a non-specific holiday album in late November—and they continue to do so. Sia, one of the world’s most successful and well-respected songwriters, put out a whole album’s worth of original Christmas material last year, but you can safely bet that Chris Rea is going to see more season-specific airplay than she will.

We’ve never been so granular about the production of music than we are in 2018, so why doesn’t this sort of theoretical nuts-and-bolts approach produce any massive modern hits?

Fundamentally it seems to come down to tradition. In much the same way that we buy Quality Street in December in amounts we’d boggle at in August, we have the things we like in this season and nothing will swear us off them. Every year, people complain about turkey being dry. Every year, people eat it. Every year, people complain that the BBC schedules are dreadful. Every year, people watch it.

While pop music styles change rapidly around us, Christmas is the one point in the calendar where everyone appears to have agreed on a fixed playlist. Jingle-heavy, major key pop with a little swing in its step.

Why would we ever ask for more?”.

I am going to end with a feature from WIRED. Even if there are new Christmas songs each year, there is science why we go back to those we already know and love. Maybe a psychological stubbornness that means we are less bold and risk-taking. Even if we dislike a particular song or sound, we keep playing it because it is traditional and we grew up with it. The imperfect Christmas is somehow still more comforting to some than one where we embrace something new and unfamiliar:

“According to research on regional radio stations published earlier this month by the Performing Rights Society for Music, the most recent song to break into the top 20 most-played Christmas tracks is Cliff Richard’s "Millennium Prayer," from the year 2000. Even the more obscure festive tracks – like 1982’s "Christmas Wrapping" by The Waitresses, or 2003’s "Christmas Time (Don’t Let The Bells End) by The Darkness" – date back at least a decade.

But why has it been so long since a new Christmas hit has broken through? “Many of us, regardless of our generation, listen to Christmas music that tends to have come through from the early seventies,” says Paul Carr, professor in popular music analysis at the University of South Wales.

It would be easy, Carr says, to attribute it to the songs being better – but he doesn’t think that’s the case. Instead, he argues there’s a generational effect where we inherit the Christmas tunes beloved by our parents. “We pass these records on to our kids, we listen to them, and consequently these records seem to be having this cyclic impact on generations,” he says.

Nostalgia is a powerful force in popular culture, particularly around Christmas. “Christmas pop songs are all about nostalgia – think about 'White Christmas', which is the biggest selling song of all time,” says Alexandra Lamont, senior lecturer in music psychology at Keele University. “All the lyrics are about nostalgia and going back to Christmases in the past.”

In 2017, forensic musicologist Joe Bennett from Boston’s Berklee College of Music analysed the elements of the ultimate Christmas song in research commissioned by British shopping centre chain Intu.

He looked at the UK Spotify charts for the week of December 25. Of the top 200 songs, 78 were Christmas or holiday-related. Lyrically, they all contained something that was either about the home, being in love, lost love, parties, Santa or reindeers, snow or coldness, religion and peace on Earth. 49 per cent of the tracks featured sleigh bells, 95 per cent were recorded in a major key, and the median tempo of the tracks was 115 beats per minute.

Songwriters Steve Anderson and Harriet Green used this information as a recipe for what should have been the perfect Christmas song – "Love’s Not Just For Christmas". But it didn’t even enter the charts, let alone the festive Christmas canon. “Audiences are, like people, not rational. There isn’t a magic formula,” says Adam Behr, lecturer in contemporary and popular music at Newcastle University. “'Love’s Not Just For Christmas' is actually surprisingly effective for something that was written by committee, but we like a sense of authenticity and nostalgia.”

It’s also wise to recognise that a song doesn’t necessarily need to be explicitly Christmassy in order for it to do well. “For me, the Christmas pop song might be a pop song which has got content about Christmas in it, while the Christmas pop anthem is more about the themes which occur around Christmas,” says Darren Sproston, professor of music at the University of Chester. “I’m thinking about, for example, East 17’s "Stay Another Day", which is kind of a Christmas anthem, but isn't really a Christmas pop song”.

I have been listening to some new Christmas music and mixing that with the more traditional ones. Looking back at the 1950s and bringing it up to date. How the Christmas song has evolved when it comes to the messages, wording, time signature and aesthetic. How there are great traditional songs and ones that are alternative. Options for everyone. Whilst not as varied as they could be when it comes to other nations/faiths, modern artists are still capable of adding their own take to a familiar Christmas track, in addition to coming up with their own Christmas song. It is hard to compete with those iconic songs that we hear in shops this time of year. As much as I love the well-known Christmas songs, my wish is that people embrace more newer songs. Mix them more into their playlists. It is understandable we go for comfort and the familiar but, with so many great and different options out there, I think we can all afford to be…

MORE adventurous.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Problem Patterns

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

Problem Patterns

__________

I am thinking ahead to…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Problem Patterns recently won the NI Prize 2023 award for Video of the Year (Who Do We Not Save)

artists who may be included in various sites’ ‘ones to watch 2024’ feature. These lists will come out very soon. It is a good way of getting an idea of the artists who will help define and shape the next year. One band who I really like and should very much be in contention is Problem Patterns. The Belfast feminist queercore four-piece consists Alanah Smith, Beverley Boal, Bethany Crooks and Ciara King. Powerfully, the quartet had already been playing together for a few months before their “collective fury” at a high-profile rape trial was the catalyst for them to become an actual band in 2018. Righteous, political, angry, essential and urgent, the band have been compared to the likes of Bikini Kill and Le Tigre. There are not many groups speaking out about political and social issue. Whether that is gender and LG.B.T.Q.I.A.+ issues or poverty that is running throughout the country. Problem Patterns explored some deep subjects on their debut album, Blouse Club. I shall end with a few reviews for what most rank alongside the best and most important debut albums of this year. From a band who everyone needs to add to their playlists. I am going to start with some interviews and spotlighting of the phenomenal Problem Patterns.

Having just played at Other Voices in Dingle, and received a NI Prize 2023 gong for Video of the Year for Who Do We Not Save, Problem Patterns are really capturing public attention! Whilst more acclaimed in their native Northern Ireland and around the U.K. than internationally, that will change very soon. I am going to come to interviews they have been involved with. I want to start off with some useful biography and background:

"Problem Patterns is a four-piece feminist queer punk band from Belfast, Northern Ireland, comprised of Beverley Boal, Bethany Crooks, Ciara King and Alanah Smith.

The band does not have a singular front person, opting instead to switch roles and instruments, to ensure each member in the group has a voice. While often lyrically tongue in cheek, they use their music as a form of catharsis. Most importantly, Problem Patterns aim to create a space of inclusivity and hope, for both themselves and the listener.

Formed in November 2018, their debut single, “Allegedly”, was recorded and released within their first month together. They released their debut EP, ‘Good For You, Aren’t You Great?’ in July 2019.

2023 proves to be the biggest year yet for Problem Patterns. Having now signed to UK-based label Alcopop! Records, the band have announced their debut album, 'Blouse Club', will be released later in the year.

Problem Patterns have been part of multiple notable compilations, including ‘A Litany Of Failures’ and ‘Bangers & Mash Ups’, the latter being a charity compilation that the band curated in support of She Sells Sanctuary.

The band have been nominated for Best Live Act at the Northern Ireland Music Prize in 2020 and 2022. They have toured with Bob Vylan and have played notable support slots for Le Tigre, Crawlers, and Fight Like Apes. Live shows are furious, celebratory and uplifting. Outbreaks of fun and positive havoc are part of the experience”.

The first interview that I want to bring in is from Chord Blossom. Prior to the release of Blouse Club in October, there was so much interest around Problem Patterns. Such a close-knit group who had already been championed by the likes of BBC Radio 6 Music; they can look forward to a golden 2024:

“Problem Patterns, Belfast’s pre-eminent DIY feminist queerpunk quartet are releasing their debut album Blouse Club on 27 October after five years of gigging, screaming, and lots of very hard work. They describe themselves as shouty, and justifiably so.

There’s a lot to shout about and shout they will. But Problem Patterns contain multitudes, as I speak to them via Zoom of a Sunday evening, am struck by how profoundly lovable the fourpiece are. From the conviction of their song writing, to their evident love for each other to their sincere silliness, you can’t help but want the best for Problem Patterns.

Your debut album is coming out this week, how are you feeling?

Ciara: It’s a little bit of a dream come true. The debut album feels like the first big thing. It’s what you build up to in a band. And it’s coming on vinyl. We’re really excited to see it and cry when we open it.”

Where did the name Blouse Club come from?

Bethany: “It came from me drinking in the Deer’s Head, because they have a snug there called the Blouse Snug, that only women can drink in. Men can drink in it if they’re with women. It comes from old bars in Belfast. I don’t know if it’s a Belfast thing or an Ireland thing or a Northern Ireland thing or what.

After the war, women weren’t allowed to drink in bars, so they made their own speakeasies, called Blouse Clubs. They were kind of precursors to lesbian bars as well, I guess. And it’s a double entendre for boy’s club. And we wear nice clothes, so it just seemed to fit. It’s a wee history lesson as well.

The cover of Blouse Club features art by Scotland-based artist Nänni-Pää, which depicts a colourful bar scene in the artist’s signature minimalist and linear style. How did you choose the album art? There’s a bit of a contrast between the clean, minimalist style and how your music sounds.

Alanah: We wanted to reference the title in terms of the bar scene and then have some little Easter eggs that reference past things we’ve done. There’s a take on the poster that we did for our EP prom years ago, and there’s a big picture of Beth’s dog Olive with a little crown and Bev’s cat is on the back, knocking over a cup of coffee, which refers to what Ciara and I do in our day jobs.

We all wanted something very aesthetically clean and tidy, with a firm structure with the border. And something very pretty-looking. We do have quite a DIY aesthetic on a lot of our things but I think it’s quite nice to have a parallel to our sound. Because it is a nice surprise, where you don’t know what you’re getting when you’re looking at it. If you had no idea what we sounded like and you put it on, you’re like “AAAH!” It’s a nice kind of opposites attract situation.

It’s coming up on five years since your first gig. It feels like you’ve accomplished so much in that time, does it feel like you’ve been together longer?

Alanah: I feel like we really hit the ground running. A lot of bands start and tinker away for a little bit, trying to perfect their songs or their live show, whatever. And we were all just so excited to get out there, that we wrote the song, we recorded it within a few weeks. We just threw out the single unmastered. We played our first show and then we just kept taking every single show that we could. We put out our EP within like six months of being in a band.

Bethany: Also unmastered.

Alanah: We just wanted to throw things out into the world. We’re just so excited with all of it. Even with COVID, we just needed to keep busy. And there were a lot of things that kept us going, thankfully, throughout that. It’s weird, because of COVID and that two and half years of being stuck inside, a lot of people are like, “why did it take you so long to put your first album out?” and it’s like, because of that.

Alanah: I think for us, this is the best possible time. It feels natural to be putting out our debut album now. Any earlier, it wouldn’t have been ready. It needed baking.

Ciara: We wouldn’t have been ready. I’m hardened as fuck by music.

Bethany: I think there’s a lot of pressure as well, through social media. “Oh, you have to make a viral TikTok sound, and you have to do this, and you have to get this many followers on Spotify.” I guess that stuff isn’t super important to us, because, not to sound like a wanker, but most of the time, we make music just for us.

Alanah: I think in terms of the social media stuff, our entire TikTok is what Bev thinks is funny.

Beverley: That’s true. Follow our TikTok to get a look inside my brain. We love this contrast that we have between being silly and being so serious, and being cutesy and being really angry. Those four things intersect a lot for us.

Ciara: You have to enjoy the silly wee moments to get through the really hard bits. Nine times out of ten, we’re sitting on the boat at 6am, just quoting stupid shows and laughing. Because you have to. If we didn’t do that and enjoy even those really horrible bits, we couldn’t get through it. I don’t know how people could be arsed. Because the gigs and the meeting people and the fun parts are incredible, but you know yourself, getting to those bits, 90% of it is sitting in the airport being like (groans). And you have to have fun. We do word searches and stuff now, at the airport.

Bethany: We like to buy trashy magazines, like Chat! and Take A Break! and stuff.

Beverley: Where was that Ciara, you just had a moment of clarity, when you were like “wow. We’ve travelled ten hours to play for thirty minutes”?

The four of you obviously love each other so much. How is it being in a band with your friends?

Ciara: We didn’t start technically as a friend group, we’ve grown into it. We were kind of Spice Girlsed.

Bethany: We manufactured ourselves.

Ciara: Whereas now, we’re extremely close friends. Best friends. And like, life partners. You have to learn how to fight with each other. You have to learn how to love each other. You have to learn how to constructively criticise each other with heart and care.

Alanah: We always say it’s like a marriage and you have to keep working at it.

Beverley: You ever share a single bed with a friend?

Alanah: How about three at once?

Ciara: No one tells you, if you need to take a poo, if you need to change into your bra and pants at short notice, you need to not have any qualms anymore. The four of us got ready in a disabled toilet once.

Bethany: I saved Ciara’s life once in the shower. Her loofah got stuck in her nose ring. She was bollock naked and I had to go in and help her. It really is like being married to three gross men.

You have recently signed with Oxford-based independent record label Alcopop! Records. How has that been in comparison to being completely independent?

Alanah: Alcopop! is amazing because they still allow us a lot of freedom. They’re just helping amplify our voices. They’re doing a lot of work in terms of the PR stuff. We’re very used to sending emails every time we put something out. It’s been an odd adjustment not having to do that anymore.

It means, thankfully, more opportunities are coming in, but we’re busier than ever, which is scary. It’s been really great but it’s been like “oh! We need to fly over to do a BBC live session? I’ll try to get the day off work!”.

I want to take an interview from November. With their album out already, The Thin Air spoke with Problem Patterns about politics, representation and fancy blouses. It is a really interesting chat with a band who are primed for global domination:

“The singles released ahead of the LP show Problem Patterns in all their giddy nordy splendour. The decidedly fed-up ‘Letter of Resignation’ is peppered with giggles that tickle between casually biting lyrics. ‘Lesbo 3000’ is a direct attack on the dichotomy between lesbian hatred and fetishization – untethered queer rage, while ‘Poverty Tourist’ pokes the prickly topic of “playing poor”.

“It’s just wild to me that anyone would ever pretend to be poor,” says Smith. “These are very likely the same people who were bullying kids at school for wearing charity shop clothes. There’s nothing cool or relatable about a rich person pretending to be broke.”

Hardcore and riot grrrl influences are worn upon sleeves across the group’s discography. Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill has called the group one of her favourites – underscored when Problem Patterns supported Le Tigre on two UK shows earlier this year – while Henry Rollins has hyped them on his KCRW radio show. True scene cred. However, the group are far from aping their forerunners. Their sound is – and always has been – imbued with a serious cheekiness that could only be bred out of Belfast. The opening track ‘Day and Age’ from their debut EP Good For You Aren’t You Great? descends into a frantic and scattered monologue – a tongue-in-cheek apology for being “a wee silly woman”. ‘Gal Pals’ from the same release looks at the phenomenon of lesbian relationships being mistaken for extremely tight-knit friendships:

“Leaving all your Earthly possessions

To the love of your life, ah ah ah

Sharing a plot forever

With your wife

For the rest of your life,

Gals being pals!”

Politics has permeated the makeup of the group from its inception, as has a keen awareness of struggles experienced by queer women the world over. These two factors make themselves known loudly on the group’s furious contribution to 2020’s Litany of Failures Vol. 3 – ‘TERFs Out’. The track shows Problem Patterns at their most explosive. Vocals devoid of discernible melody but brimming with wit skid across a stomping instrumental, calling out for all women – cis or otherwise – to unite against the forces of trans-focused hatred.

“We’ve just had Rishi Sunak spewing hatred against the trans community at the Tory conference,” notes Smith. “If you have the privilege of being able to be outspoken about it, it’s important that you do so. The attack on trans people will not stop with trans people, it’s just that they’re the chosen target at the moment. This goes beyond us and queer punk.”

“It’s also wild how some of our songs become more and more relevant over time,” adds bandmate Boal. “Imagine a world where what we shout about in ‘TERFs Out’ was just a bad memory.”

At the time of writing, the group are on the cusp of the launch of their debut LP, Blouse Club. Five years in the making and consisting of twelve tracks, one wonders how it feels to have poured so much into a release made by and for the queer punks of Ireland.

“Creating this album has been an absolutely amazing experience,” Boal assures. “The late nights, the moments where everything fell into place, that time I showed up late to find Ciara boking her heart out… it’s been a wild ride with the best people. I’m just hoping that everyone comes to the Blouse Club launch in their fanciest blouses. I will actually cry if I walk into a room of blouses, I promise you that.”

“I think the bond we have has deepened,” adds member Ciara King. “We just keep getting more Problem Patternsy. We are much cheekier too. We hope to win the Eurovision Song Contest. Here is our email…”

It feels important that this album is being released when it is. Its subject matter is incredibly pertinent to the current climate. There is a community of people across and outside of the island of Ireland that needs representation. More specifically, their angers, their fears and their needs require representation. Is punk not the perfect vehicle for said representation? If so, Problem Patterns are behind the wheel”.

As part of their Emerging Artists Series, DMS spent some time in the company of Problem Patterns. Here is a band that you ignore at your peril. Alongside other wonderful groups like The Last Dinner Party, we are going to see a new wave of empowering female bands who are unifying fans and one step closer to headlining festivals - and also paving the way for women coming behind them:

“Mark: You’re a band who have always had a strong and consistent message – how did you translate this to the album?

PP: We have always been adamant that everybody in the band has a voice, and that there is no hierarchy. Every song on the album has something to say, it’s just that some might be a little more direct in its lyricism or musically aggressive than another.

Mark: What is it about vinyl that made you want to release your debut on the format and why DMS?

PP: It has been our dream as a band to be releasing our album on vinyl, especially to be able to do that with our debut. We’re super grateful to have had the support of Jack and Alcopop with this. DMS have been so super helpful getting it put together, especially as we have been learning as we go.

Mark: Problem Patterns have a reputation as a great live band, what could someone expect to find at one of your live shows?

PP: They could expect the four of us to be having the most fun - that’s what’s important. If we’re not having fun, there’s no point. It’s a wonderful bonus that the crowd often mirror that energy back to us.

Mark: You’ve shared the stage with bands such as Bob Vylan, Queen Zee, Le Tigre and Fight Like Apes, what is the best advice you’ve picked up along the way?

PP: Warm ups and adequate rest is the most important part of touring. Don’t be scared to tell the sound engineer what you need from them - it’s their job to make you sound at your best!

Mark: Tell us what you have planned to support the release of “Blouse Club”.

PP: We have our album release show in Belfast on October 27th (release day) with our friends Mucker and Touch Excellent, at The Black Box. We have a few shows and other surprises coming up as well, just keep an eye out!

Mark: Give anyone reading one reason to go and pre-order the album…

PP: Anyone can join the Blouse Club - come and yell with us!”.

Before getting to some all-important reviews of the mighty Blouse Club, Overblown’s interview with Problem Patterns needs to be included. They noted how authentic they are. Not a band anyone can accuse of being Plastic Punk, they remind me slightly of other groups like Panic Shack. Such a rich scene where we have these hard-hitting and compelling groups making indelible and crucial music for our age:

“Problem Patterns aren’t plastic punks whatsoever. They put their money where their mouths are when it comes to activism, and try to inspire change for more than back-pats off Guardian readers. “We put out some albums to raise money for Women’s Aid over lockdown, and we try at our gigs, our home gigs, to raise money for local charities.”

The reality of being a working band is never far behind though, and Beverley continues. “There’s only so much you can do, we work full time, do the band full time and there’s little space for more. We’re very particular about who we play with or where we play or what promoters are putting the show on. I think that’s also a kind of activism there, because we’re really trying to keep ourselves safe and also the people that are coming to our gigs.”

Creating a safe space at a punk show is the sort of thing that tedious old heads may sneer at, but – as Problem Patterns embody – there is nothing more punk than sticking up for the marginalised and rallying against the toxic systems, and those who uphold them. This is a constant reoccurrence throughout Blouse Club, a debut album where gigantic riffs and frantic rhythms collide head on anti-establishment lyrics. None more so than ‘A History of Bad Men Part II’, where the band take on the patriarchy with style.

 There is such a rich tapestry of Irish and Northern Irish alternative music currently, with sociopolitical issues birthing a punk scene with serious teeth. “I think Northern Ireland specifically has been really good at churning out punk because it’s been quite a politically hostile place for a very long time,” Crooks says of the fruitful scene. “So much of that came from the troubles, where young people didn’t feel safe, and didn’t feel represented by their government”.

There is a real fire in the eyes of the band members as they begin to delve into the shortcomings of their elected officials. “Young people were seeing their friends getting blown up and killed and they didn’t really take either side in it. And that’s where the punk movement kind of came in Northern Ireland,” she elaborates further. “We’ve got a different struggle where it’s more like queer-focused about femicide and that sort of thing, but we [Problem Patterns] have the same heart as those bands”.

Released through the magnificent Alcopop! Records, Blouse Club is a remarkable album that announced a band who are sending out such important messages. Creating a safe and together space for queer fans, there is so much to love and respect when it comes to this amazing four-piece! This is what God Is the TV wrote about one of 2023’s finest and most powerful debut albums:

“Belfast’s Problem Patterns release their debut album on Alcopop! Records on 27 October, and it’s an utter thrill from start to finish. Indeed it does feel like Blouse Club should be listened to in order, and whenever put on this reviewer could not draw herself away, listening all the way through each time.

Opener ‘Y.A.W‘ is a smart, assured, static fuelled statement of intent. Thought-provoking, direct and to be frank, addictive. I wanted to listen to more of Blouse Club based on it’s very first track. The lyrics were so obvious and relevant, yet have they even been said before? Spat out with disdain it was immediately clear this album is going to be something special.

“She shouldn’t have to be your sister/

She shouldn’t have to be your mother/

Your relationship should not define/

How much you should respect her”

The anger is so palpable on ‘Big Shouty’ with its “Don’t put me in my place” lyric on repeat and literally screamed out. With three of the tracks on Blouse Club sitting at under three minutes this is punk rock, and at its finest I might add. ‘Advertising Services’ is arguably the most directly political track on the album. Calling out inequality and its perpetuation by fat cats and the powers that be:

“Profit is valued more than dealing with injustice/

The rich rake in billions – hoarding the wealth”

The guitar riffs are reminiscent of The Clash yet here the pace is a little slower, focusing more on the lyrics which sit at the forefront such is their importance. The start of ‘A History of Bad Men Part II’, with its “everybody good to go? ok” check-in soon progresses into something much darker. And its an interesting juxtaposition. It’s a slow, heavy, doom laden track, menacing in its rebuttal of the lack of respect, in other words a perfect atmosphere.

The pace lifts again on ‘Lesbo 3000‘ which rattles along at speed. It rebels against the behaviour of those who choose to shout abuse at those who are different. ‘Lesbo 3000‘ is a verbal fightback against the ignorance of others, and goodness it’s effective. Again the lyrics hit the mark:

“Nothing in your jeans

can change me

there is no “magic cure”

because it’s not a fucking disease.”

‘Pity Bra’ is the description of an experience at a Sleater-Kinney gig. There is something endearing about sharing this story – no spoiler alerts here, you’ll have to listen for yourself. It’s back to business on ‘Who Do We Not Save’. What an explosion of disgust at the powers that be and their selfish ways:

“We’re one or two paychecks away

While they decide who they won’t save/

You and I are collateral damage/

We are all just collateral damage”

‘Poverty Tourist’ almost didn’t make the cut for the album. It all fell into place during the final writing session before recording the album. Such is the quality of the song-writing and musicianship of Beverley Boal, Bethany Crooks, Ciara King and Alanah Smith. And intriguing to learn that Problem Patterns swop roles and instruments. They do not have a traditional lead singer as such, rather preferring to give everyone the opportunity to have a voice. ‘Letter of Resignation‘ is a highlight, and not just because of the chorus of: “You can’t fire me, I’m leaving”. It’s opening mantra strikes a chord. The tight guitars and drums travel at pace, and there is a positivity and empowerment embraced within this track.

‘Picture of Health’ opens with screeching guitars before the thunderous drums kick in. Here Problem Patterns confront the issue of control over our bodies. Self-care is paramount and this is passionately addressed. On ‘TERFs Out’ Problem Patterns object to Trans exclusionary radical feminists who do not believe that Trans women are legitimately women. Again its the lyrics that make the point so clearly, so concisely and delivered with a heartfelt passion:

“Standing with your oppressors will not make you more free/

You can’t tear down who built up our community.”

‘Domestic Bliss’ – what an end to Blouse Club! A full on guttural assault on the senses. These are the lyrics for the whole track but what a delivery. The vocals hit hard and that pounding bass ensures the listen is rooted. Hardcore in its vibe, and hard-hitting with its theme. Not every track has to be packed with lyrics to get its message across. And is that a washing-machine finishing its cycle as the outro?

“Domestic bliss

Who’s doing the dishes

Clean the house

Spread the filth.“

Problem Patterns share the following on their creative process:

“We make music for ourselves and each other first. We’re trying to build a positive space from subjects that can otherwise be very difficult to face. We want to bring some hope and joy to those who may need it the most. We want to strike fear into those who seek to harm the vulnerable. We want to annoy anyone who thinks we aren’t good enough. At the end of the day, we are doing this for ourselves, but we are happy to involve anyone who wants to fight the good fight.”

With Blouse Club they have achieved this, bringing an album that shakes at its very core, unleashing its fury against social injustice, corruption and discrimination. Personal and opiniated, and fitfully the music matches the themes hence the ferocious soundscapes. One of the albums of the year to date”.

I want to bring in a couple of other reviews before I bring this feature to a close. NOIZZE were certainly in awe of Problem Patterns and Blouse Club. People might not have heard the album and the Northern Ireland band. Make sure that you correct this now:

“The debut album from the Belfast DIY quartet, Blouse Club is twelve tracks of righteous and rallying queer punk that see Problem Patterns take aim at the bigotry that has become embedded within our social fabric, male violence as an endemic, working class cosplay and how Tory policy is nothing more than the party ripping the copper out the crumbing walls of this country. These subjects are then expressed with the abrasiveness of Melvins, the rage of GEL, the contemporary buzz of Bob Vylan, the sass of Queen Zee and the classic punk heft of L7. This, in total, makes this record familiar and approachable, yet still individual and fresh. It’s heavy, bellowing and like a shot of Fireball to the gut, incendiary and damn good fun.

Brilliant opener ‘Y.A.W’ instantly establishes all of this within its first 30 seconds. Featuring a guitar tone that sounds like sandpaper and a bassline that hits like a shovel, ‘Y.A.W’ introduces the record like the aforementioned Fireball as it decries violence with sheer musical power. The following ‘Big Shouty’, as its name implies, is a fierce screed of pure unfiltered riot grrl and the fun punk stylings of ‘Advertising Services’ only highlights the sardonic nature of this record with both joy and frustration.

As the grunge-laden likes of ‘A History Of Bad Men Part II’ and the breathless ‘Lesbo 3000’ – a track reclaiming homophobic slurs set to incite pile-ons only seen previously seen at hardcore shows – continue to affirm the sheer volatile power of this record, truthfully, it becomes apparent that to pigeonhole this record is an insult to its brilliance. Blouse Club is a unique amalgamation of a plethora of qualities that comprise this band as creative force and to compress this record into an established box for convenience would be a great disservice to it’s creativity and energy.

Fun, rage and the brilliantly harsh and unsanitised Melvins-esque guitar tone may be the trifecta of touchstones that bind the record together, but apart from that, each track on this Molotov glitterbomb of a record carries its own delivery, presence and incendiary device. Simultaneously however, each track is a crucial integral part of this album, As seen in the more melodic leads comparable to Fresh and Martha within ‘Pity Bra’, the L7 reminiscent bounce of ‘Poverty Tourist’ and the wonderfully sarcastic venom of ‘Letter of Resignation’ that exposes how many women are merely just emotional caretakers for male partners, each song is it’s own entity within this fiery ecosystem of a record.

In all though, one of the most vital elements of this record is its juxtaposition between its lyrical subjects and delivery. Here, Problem Patterns use this record to explore and unflinchingly expose the rampant violence that woman face on a daily basis; be it direct at the hands of men or through crippled healthcare systems. These, quite frankly, are subjects that played parts in the deaths of countless women the world over. But here, they’re addressed with sardonic lilt and a sense of raw, urgent rage that mirrors the rough sound of the record. This sense of urgency compliments the record thoroughly and ensures these messages are delivered in a fashion that truly hits home.

Blouse Club is not a sanitised or clean record, and nor should it be. It’s rough, frantic and discordant body of work that’s vital as it is brilliant, and with it’s energy propelling forward without hinder, Problem Patterns have created a record that sounds as brilliant as it is culturally crucial. It’s the sound of a band being the best version of themselves, and not only is it going to incite bedlam live, it’s going to make invoke conversions that should have held amongst men a long time ago.

Score: 9/10”.

I am almost there now. I will end it with Louder Sound’s perceptive and hugely positive review for Blouse Club. I think that Problem Patterns are going to have a storming 2024. You need to follow them on social media and catch them live whenever you can:

“Northern Ireland has always had a special relationship with punk music. The original 1977 movement gave young people a place away from the horrific sectarian conflict that was taking place around them, and inspired homegrown bands such as Stiff Little Fingers, The Undertones, Rudi and more. Punk was both a form of escapism and a place to reject violence. Today, our government is consistently more unstable than those in neighbouring countries, and always a few years behind in granting basic rights to women and LGBTQ+ people. Our rage is specific to us, and so our punk music is uniquely cathartic.

Belfast-based DIY feminist queer-punk quartet Problem Patterns are the perfect manifestation of this singular spirit, and their debut album Blouse Club might well be the most fiercely outspoken, no-holds-barred punk album of the year.

Throughout the album, they take on all of the inequalities plaguing Northern Ireland and beyond. Starting out with the heart-racing power of Y.A.W with the war cry “A woman’s worth should not come down / To how much you wanna fuck her”. Lesbo 3000 is a screaming reclamation of homophobic slurs, taking a verbal weapon and turning it towards the oppressor. TERFs Out condemns transphobia with similarly intense passion, an anthem that plainly defends trans rights and slams exclusionary feminism.

The quartet - Ciara King, Beverley Boal, Bethany Crooks and Alanah Smith - also face lesser-explored topics head-on. Poverty Tourist makes razor-sharp observations like “You bought out the stock at Oxfam / To cut it up and make a profit”, a DIY punk take on Pulp’s Common People. Who Do We Not Save draws attention to a healthcare system on the brink of collapse in Northern Ireland (where waiting lists are much longer than anywhere else in the UK). Amidst the rage towards corrupt (or largely absent) governments, there is still an overwhelming sense of community and solidarity at the heart of these lyrics.

Blouse Club has its lighter moments, too. Pity Bra tells the story of a Sleater-Kinney concert in Dublin where a Problem Patterns t-shirt was hurled at the stage, hitting riot-grrrl legend Corin Tucker right in the head. It pays tribute to the musicians that influenced them while showcasing what a special band they are in their own right. This is a band who aren’t afraid to break the punk mould and subvert expectations - for example,  don’t have a set front-person, often swapping roles between songs.

Blouse Club is an exceptional debut album from perhaps the most ferocious new punk band on the scene right now. Problem Patterns’ ferocity is unmatched and inspirational, and their passion, anger and gut-punching delivery will remind you why you fell in love with punk in the first place”.

A band I have known about for a while but have not yet put in this Spotlight feature, they are going to be on many ‘ones to watch 2024’ lists. We are going to see these emerge very soon indeed. If you have not discovered this incredible band, then there are links to look at the bottom. Go show your support to…

THE magnificent Problem Patterns.

____________

Follow Problem Patterns

Official:

https://www.problempatterns.co.uk/

TikTok;

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

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/probpatterns/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/probpatterns

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/4u5UG0TxXroCBnpgBruPOP?si=fKFTl58FQc2j4d8Kh_18Sw

Bandcamp:

https://problempatterns.bandcamp.com/album/blouse-club

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@ProblemPatterns

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/probpatterns/

FEATURE: And How She Was Before the Year Flew By… Kate Bush and December 1980

FEATURE:

 

 

And How She Was Before the Year Flew By…

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush looking glamorous in February 1979/PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz

Kate Bush and December 1980

__________

I am doing various Kate Bush feature…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1980, signing copies of her third studio album, Never for Ever/PHOTO CREDIT: Chas Sime/Central Press/Getty Images/File

where I pick a particular period of career and focus in. A month where she was busy, or something particularly interesting happened. Because we are in December, I wanted to look at her December 1980. Thanks to this invaluable resource, which provides the important dates and happenings regarding Bush’s December 1980. It was a year when she released her third studio album, Never for Ever. Her music would take a new direction. Two years before she would release The Dreaming, the post-Never for Ever period was one of transformation and new ambition. Bush produced Never for Ever with Jon Kelly. She knew her next album was going to be her alone producing. Aged twenty-two, when December 1980 came around, Bush would have been in a position to explore new avenues and think how she wanted to take her next step. Never for Ever reached number one in the U.K., and with that feat, Kate Bush became the first British female solo artist to accomplish that. It was clear that she was a hugely popular artist that was also a massive commercial success. If many critics were still not behind her and were still insulting and stereotyping her, Bush was proving that she was a serious artist here for the long run!

I will bring in a bit of November 1980 before I skip to the following month. On 17th November, Bush released her first Christmas song, December Will Be Magic Again. Recorded at Abbey Road when she was working on The Dreaming – there was very little gap between the release of Never for Ever and Bush starting work on her fourth album -, she was also working with Peter Gabriel. The pair record a new version of Roy Harper's song Another Day (which appears in her Christmas special in 1979), for a projected single. There is an attempt to co-write a song for the B-side. The result is Ibiza. Sadly, they are not satisfied with it, so the project is shelved. One of the most interesting and curious interviews happened on 25th November, 1980. Kate Bush appeared on the BBC chat show, The Russell Harty Show. It was for an edition dedicated to the composer Frederick Delius (her song, Delius (Song of Summer) appeared on Never for Ever earlier that year). Bush is interviewed alongside cellist Julian Lloyd Webber and Delius's assistant and collaborator, Eric Fenby. It is one of these interviews you wish was more widely available and was remastered. You can see there was this promotion still for Never for Ever. Into December 1980, Bush was still keeping active and not looking too ahead to Christmas just yet.

One of the most notable things about December 1980 is how Babooshka (the second single from Never for Ever) became an international success now. It became a top ten hit in many countries, including Australia and Canada. This was important. The Kick Inside and Lionheart (both released in 1978) did not yield too many internationally successful singles. Wuthering Heights did well - though Babooshka seemed like the first single that was commercial and success enough to penetrate nations who were less receptive before. The U.S. were still relatively unaware. Her first two albums were not released their, yet there was a band of fans who imported them over and were determined that they got their fix of Kate Bush! More a month where she was winning over Europe and Australia. A terrific interview for Profiles in Rock was released in December. She spoke with Doug Pringle at her home. Aired on CITY-TV, Toronto, Bush was relaxed and open. It was interesting hearing her thoughts and reflections. A confident young artist who was ambitious but also realised that there were trappings to fame and she had work to do, I will include the first part of the interview below. Go and check it out. This would have been a great treat for her fans here and in Canada in December 1980. Alongside the album promotion, there were these moments where journalists and the media wanted to know more about Bush and her influences.

On 30th December, as a pre-New Year gem, the first of two special forty-five minute programmes was broadcast on BBC Radio 1. It was a duo of programmes where Bush played and discussed some of her favourite music and artists with DJ Paul Gambaccini. On 31st December, the second forty-five minute programme is aired on BBC Radio 1. This one including some of Kate's favourite tracks by popular artists. The first was by more traditional and Classical artists. It was a nice way of getting an insight into her influences and some of the artists who impacted her. Here is an extract of part of the second show she recorded with Gambaccini:

“Quiet Departures by Eberhard Weber, from the album Fluid Rustle. Kate, does music like that influence you as well as entertain you?

"Oh, absolutely. I really feel that anything that I see, read, listen to, feel, eat, etcetera, is an influence. Because anything you like you're going to have an automatic attraction and want for. And so even subconsciously you, um, you use it, somehow it gets in there."

Well if that's the case let's, uh, throw you a hard one here and ask you a question you haven't prepared for. What books have inspired you?

"What books? Well, my problem with books is that I used to read a lot more than I do now, and so I think my book inspiration is now coming from television, films, newspapers--you know, all the modern media. But I really do think that all the books I've read have had a tremendous influence on me because of their strong imagery. I think books really are a fantastic form of inspiration."

Well here's a man who grew popular with his images and his unusual voice, 'cause in the selections you played both last time and today I know you love the use of the human voice as an instrument. The man I'm talking about is Donovan.

"Yeah, Donovan has got the most beautiful voice--that very slow vibrato that people like Cliff Richard can put on; but [Donovan] has it very naturally. I mean he sings like this all the time. And again, he's an incredible songwriter, lyric writer, he can play the guitar and he has that fantastic voice. And it seemed that he'd got really caught up in the copying of Dylan when he first signed up and was singing. And he was wearing the hats and he was carrying the guitar and everyone thought he was just a Dylan copy. When in fact he wasn't at all. And it seems that he's just, um, been forgotten, he's gone under."

It's unbelievable. He was one of Britain's leading, hit-making solo stars of the Sixties and a great international artist. And now it's almost as though he'd never existed.

"It's ridiculous. I can't stand to see that happen to people, especially someone like him. Um, one of my favourite albums of his is H.M.S. Donovan-- which I think has been deleted now, which is even more ridiculous. And it's beautiful: fantastic illustrated cover; a double album, and each song is either a fairy story or something he's written to other people's words. He's used Blake's poems, he's used some Lewis Carroll--a big selection of fantasy stuff. And one of my favourite tracks from there, which he actually wrote himself to his own music, is Lord of the Reedy River.

[ The record is played. Donovan actually performed this song well before recording it for H.M.S. Donovan. He appears in the 1968 film If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium, singing this song to his own guitar accompaniment. Of course, Kate herself recorded this song, and put it out as the b-side of the Sat In Your Lap single in 1981. A rumour persists that Donovan actually contributed a bit of backing vocal on Kate's track, though this has not been confirmed.]

katebushnews.com · Radio 1 Paul Gambaccini Kate's Favourite rock and pop 31st December 1980

Donovan, and Lord of the Reedy River. I suppose--

"...so beautiful..."

--all it would take would be one or two really good tracks and--

"Ah, but he's got them, you know, that's the silly thing, he's got so many good tracks. I think that song there too, is so essential and erotic. And you know no-one's even heard of it--incredible. I mean if you put a bit of film to that...what a fantastic..."

Most people don't realise that most of his hit records were produced by Mickie Most.

"I didn't realise that either, no."

There's another track of his that you like alot, a b-side.

"Yes. Uh, it was the b-side of [indecipherable], called Mr. Wind [I am unsure that this is what she says here]. What I liked about it was he was using 'Vari-Speed', Um, he was using very low voices and very high voices [Kate imitates these--precious audio unfortunately not transcribable] all mixed in together: Mr. Wind spoke like this! And all the people that he woke up in the morning spoke like this! [Laughs] And it was beautiful; it was just a really fun track putting a different speed to the voices of the various characters. And it was really fabulous for kids, uh, you know? I...I wish there had been more."

Let's come right up to date now, with an album currently in the charts: Steely Dan, Gaucho LP, and from it, Babylon Sisters.

[Part of this record is played. Then Kate comes back on, announcing in a surprising, very uncharacteristic imitation of an American accent (perhaps prompted by Steely Dan's music, which she has elsewhere described as quintessentially American):]

"Hi, everybody! This is Radio Fun, and I'm here with Paul Dictionary and with him, Miss Bush."

[Laughing] And--and we have just heard Steely Dan from their Gaucho LP, and Babylon Sisters. Now, Kate, this brings us right up to date, 'cause this is an album that's out right at the moment. And this is a, a funky little track by these two chaps, Becker and Fagin. And they're monstrous stars in America--not so here.

"No, that's uh, again why I played them. I think they're very underestimated. They're the most incredible musicians. This is it. They are here--a musician's band. I mean, all the musicians in this country just rave about them technically, and uh, as songwriters. But you know, they're not really played on the radio, but they're just incredible--really good jazz [indecipherable]."

Kate, if we go beyond the current charts and look beyond this program and beyond the parties we'll be attending tonight, into 1981, what are your immediate plans?

"Well, my immediate plans now are to make another album. That's what I've been doing the last couple of months: writing, too, and trying to demo. It's been a really good time for me, actually. I love writing. That's the thing I'd like to do all the time”.

Quite an interesting December 1980. By the end of the month (and year), she had done a lot of promotion for Never for Ever. Some awesome interviews where we learned more about Kate Bush’s musical tastes and some window into her creative and personal life, here was a more rounded and confident artist. Someone being taken to heart more, some two years after her debut album came out. Whilst not completely embraced, there was more respect and ‘patience’ for an artist many described as eccentric (and worse) not long before 1980. Things would change after that. Even though not a lot of music came out from her in 1981 – in fact, Sat in Your Lap, was the only single release -, she was building The Dreaming and immersed in her most intense recording and production process. Anyone who heard that two-part Paul Gambaccini interview or her chat with Doug Pringle must have been shocked when The Dreaming came out. I am not sure that…

ANYONE saw it coming!

FEATURE: My Artist of the Year: Iraina Mancini

FEATURE:

 

 

My Artist of the Year

PHOTO CREDIT: Raphael Pour-Hashemi

Iraina Mancini

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LET’S get some housekeeping…

PHOTO CREDIT: Jason A Miller

out of the way before I spend some time with the magnificent and modern-day icon Iraina Mancini. This is an artist that everyone should know about! Hugely supported by BBC Radio 6 Music through her career, I think they should have made her one of their artists of the year when they announced a list of ten recently. I am sort of ‘righting this wrong’, as there is no doubt that Mancini is a very special human! There are a lot of terrific artists I have bonded with this year that could have been my top choice. CMAT, The Last Dinner Party, and Antony Szmierek are all artists I love and respect. The returning Nadine Shah too. Say She She. A bounty of beautiful and brilliant artists! There is something about Iraina Mancini that captivates me so much – and many others too. If you do not know about this London-based songwriter, composer, vocalist, D.J. and broadcaster (where ya been?!), you can follow her on Instagram, Twitter and Bandcamp. Go to her official website, where you can subscribe and keep in touch with all things Mancini! She got a chance to perform at Maida Vale studios earlier this year for Chris Hawkins (who was sitting in for Craig Charles) on BBC Radio 6 Music. As he and Lauren Laverne especially have been supporters of her work on BBC Radio 6 Music, Mancini performing in an historic and legendary location for a huge radio station who love her loads must have been one for the ages. A memory that she will never forget!

I am keen also to fit in as many photos of Iraina Mancini on the stage. I have seen her perform live three times in London (there are fans videos like this and this). Each time, she has the crowd in the palm of her hand! The huge admiration that everyone feels. Such a spellbinding live performer whose vocals are album-perfect, she is also this phenomenal style icon and someone who always looks like a queen on the stage. A mix of 1960s French film heroines, some 1960s and 1970s Soho chic with some modern-day elements, that combination of sartorial wonder, sensational band interplay and her warm, humble and awed smile and amazement when the audience cheer and shout her name makes her someone who everyone needs to see. I can see her getting a load of festival bookings next year! Not to predict too earlier, I can see her play, among other festivals, BBC Radio 6 Music’s festival, Glastonbury (quite high up the bill), in addition to a lot of smaller festivals in the U.K. and worldwide. It is going to be another busy year. I will come to some live reviews and one of her sensational debut album, Undo the Blue. That is a big reason I am here. An important factor as to why she is my Artist of the Year. My favourite album of the year, it also spawned my second-favourite single of the year with the immense Cannonball (Nadine Shah’s Topless Mother was just a little too good to be dethroned!).

I would encourage everyone to buy Iraina Mancini’s debut studio album. Released through Needle Mythology, it is a label fronted by Pete Paphides. He is a D.J., broadcaster and writer who says (of Undo the Blue) it is an album full of singles. No filler. I agree with that! I think I was the first journalist to review Undo the Blue. I was blown away with every song! The compositions are so rich and original. I know Mancini has influences and a particular way of composing songs (you can see in a video later where she was speaking from Abbey Road Studios), though she makes everything her own. Eclectic and instantly memorable, Undo the Blue is an album I pass through and get something new from each time. Even though Undo the Blue is my favourite track, others like Sugar High and Take a Bow take on new significance and brilliance the more I listen. I am going to get to my interview with Iraina Mancini. She reflects on a magnificent and very busy year - as she casts ahead to what comes next. It was a pleasure hearing from someone who is undoubtably my artist of the year. How could she not be?! The creator of my favourite album of the year, I am so excited to see what comes her way in 2024 – and I am so proud of everything that she has achieved this year! I have quite a bit to cover off before I get to that interview.

Let’s start with some live reviews. I saw her three times this year. Iraina Mancini performed around the U.K. in support of Undo the Blue. You can see the places she visited. The reaction to her shows has been hugely positive. She is truly one of the best live performer you will see. Completely caught in the moment, I do hope that she is given the opportunity to play some festival headline slots very soon. As festivals struggle to book women to headline, we have a natural headliner taking shape before our eyes! One big reason Mancini is my Artist of the Year is her phenomenal live shows. If you need evidence, I am going to come to live reviews for her current tour. This is what Dead Good Music wrote when they saw this queen in Birmingham:

“With golden constellations shimmering on her black suit, there is a hint of Bowie to Iraina Mancini’s ‘Star woman’ presence tonight at Birmingham’s Night Owl club. Backed by bass, guitar and drums, the DJ turned songstress dazzles with songs from her recently released debut album “Undo the Blue”, a daydreaming, cinematic soundtrack to happiness and good times, enriched with 60’s and 70’s influences and perfumed with French chic.

From the ‘Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!’ velocity of tracks like ‘Cannonball’ and the go-go batusi bop of ‘Deep End’, to the dreamier ‘Need Your Love’ and 60’s Bond-esque ‘Sugar High’, Mancini exhibits an effortless vocal range, scaling beautiful peaks and bringing songs to life in a very natural storytelling way. The wall of sound drone created on ‘Cannonball’ fuses something akin to Spiritualised’s blissed out hysteria with Plastic Bertrand, the chanteuse steadfastly holding her own in the midst of the frenzy. The élan of Nancy Sinatra characterises opener ‘Shotgun’ and ‘Sugar High’, in which the singer spots a kissing couple and declares her happiness because “that’s what I wrote the song for”.

‘Need Your Love’ is prime smoking-barrel Tarantino territory, but it’s on the album’s title track that the effervescent Mancini excels tonight. ‘Undo the Blue’ is the song that proves the artist has arrived in 2023. It’s her stardust moment, flowing with the same honeyed soul as Lenny Kravitz’s “It Ain’t Over ’til It’s Over”. The last song, ‘Wild Runaway’ is a crossover track encapsulating the sound of the purring 60’s beckoning in the more robust and rockier 70’s with a solo guitar screech momentarily taking the limelight from the singer who has been the centrepiece of the night. Like the soundtrack to an as yet unmade film, Mancini performs as the heroine of her own songs, bringing the fantasy into reality and in similar Bowie-esque fashion distilling her influences impeccably”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Rachel Louise Brown for Maybourne Magazine

I have said before how Iraina Mancini should do more acting work (I think that she has taken on some smaller roles in the past). There is just something about her! She is a brilliant interviewer too. A brief between-reviews bit of biography: Iraina Mancini was born in London. Her dad is the legendary Warren Peace. He was a childhood friend of David Bowie. He also contributed to several of Bowie's albums and tours. Her initial musical outing was Mancini, an Electronic Pop group that appeared on Channel 4's Mobile Act Unsigned. Shortly after the group disbanded, Mancini moved to Liverpool and started The Venus Fury with ex-members of The Zutons and The Dead 60s. She is a D.J. on Soho Radio (the station where Pete Paphides is also a D.J.). A passionate and eclectic collector of wonderful sounds and artists you will not hear on other stations. She is a wonderful D.J. who plays an array of sublime and fascinating Northern Soul, Rhythm and Blues, Funk, Garage Rock and Disco (French, Japanese and beyond) and much more. Contributing to other artists’ material (which is always interesting), 2021 was when Iraina Mancini returned with solo singles Deep End and Do It (You Stole the Rhythm). The tremendous Shotgun was released in 2020. It was last year when she released the majestic and dreamy title cut of her debut album, Undo the Blue. The French-language version of that single was also released in 2022. It is sumptuous, romantic and moving. Anyway…to another live review!

 PHOTO CREDIT: June Riviera

It is worth reading The Times’s assessment of a gig I was at. It was a moment to savour for us being there. A wonderous performance indeed. That was when Iraina Mancini stormed The Social in London back in April. When she played Sneaky Pete’s in September, her set got a lot of love:

“In the small, intimate & fabulously famous musical hub that is Edinburg’s Sneaky Petes, we had the pure pleasure of being introduced to Iraina Mancini, hjeading north to delight us with performance of her debut album, Undo The Blue. Iraina Mancini is a singer, songwriter, DJ and model from London, and with her father being close friends to the late David Bowie I can only imagine the magnitude of the musical influences that Iraina was surrounded by as a youngster.

From her humble beginnings in the electro pop group called Mancini, Iraina has strived to achieve and obtain her own direction in the music world. Like a sculpture with their chisel and hammer, Iraina has chipped away at the rough edges of the music business and created a masterpiece with the album Undo The Blue which was produced by the legendary Jagz Kooner. Quality over quantity is the driven spirit in music, and Iraina’s Undo The Blue delivers on all fronts. Nothing less than perfection will do, and that is evident in the diversity of her songwriting and singing. Like a spring flower, Iraina is awaiting her time to Blossom, and I think that time is now.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Iraina Mancini (@irainamancini)

 With a chic psychedelia dress-code, Iraina took to the stage amid an applause of great eagerness and warmth from her fans. The atmosphere was electric. Feeling like one was propelled back to the days of The Velvet Underground and Andy Warhol, the excitement began to grow. Within a heartbeat the venue was ignited, and like a spark on a stick of dynamite the place exploded into a dancing fireball. The 1960s and early 1970s are a clear influence in Irainas music and Undo The Blue, with its songs like, Cannonball, My Umbrella, What You Doin, Need Your Love, and not forgetting the psychedelic Undo The Blue, are not a blast from the past but a new fresh introduction to Psychedelic music.

Iraina is a captivating and intriguing singer whose stage presence is intoxicating. Do what you love and do it well was the message. You know, if Jimi Hendrix and Nico (The Velvet Underground) were present in the audience I am sure Iraina would end up at an after party with them, as clearly she belongs in the same category of these musical legends. Should Iraina Mancini choose to continue down this road it wont be long until she is on the highway to greatness. Music is a huge part of human entertainment but also a privilege and honour to be part of, and tonight, for me, was one of those heady moments. Energetic, vibrant, exciting, inspiring and uplifting, this is in my top 5 of gigs this year list. Its upwards and onwards for Iraina and her amazing band. Big love and all the best”.

I don’t think Iraina Mancini is capable of delivering a set anything less than life-affirming! Lighting up Margate when she played there in September, Louder Than War were in no doubt when it came to showing their praise of a wonderful evening - one that was clearly received with rapture and affection:

“Iraina Mancini, the retro-facing singer, DJ and model with the “annoyingly cool” name brought her slice of chic 60’s style to Margate when she played in the basement room at Where Else? In a faux suede, sleeveless, zipped-up mini dress and star emblazoned, block-healed cowboy boots Iraina walked onto the stage as if she’d just walked off the set of ‘Austin Powers’ or ‘Barbarella’.

With a plethora of rave reviews behind her, including a four-star review in The Times for her debut solo album ‘Undo The Blue’, it’s clear that Ms. Mancini is on the way up. To catch her playing at a venue that only holds 150 on a night that was, astonishingly, not sold out was an incredible treat. With no disrespect to Where Else, or any of the other venues on her current tour, it is very unlikely that anyone will ever get the chance to see Iraina perform in such an intimate space the next time around.

Mancini, daughter of vocalist, composer and dancer Warren Peace (‘Aladdin Sane’/’Pin Ups’/’Station To Station’ etc), is most definitely in the ‘one to watch’ category and sure to be featured in many end of year, ‘best of’ album lists. ‘Undo The Blue’, released last month on 18th August, arrived nearly five years after her debut solo single, ‘Undercover’, but it has most certainly been worth the wait. Seven of the ten tracks, including her latest – ‘Sugar High’, have already been released as singles, and many of those have been play listed on BBC 6Music. Lauren Laverne is a big fan – “This is an artist I absolutely love” she says.

PHOTO CREDIT: Raphael Pour-Hashemi

Kae Tempest collaborator, and local musician, Daisy Beau played before Iraina, sitting at the front of the stage with her guitar in hand. After a brief introduction, and explanation about the Roman names for days of the week, Daisy shared her conflicted song about the Newbury Bypass road protests – ‘Black Horse’. “I’m not sure where I stand, I mean we all use roads don’t we” she said before adding that she was “very excited for the music to come” and closing out her six-song set with the final track from her ‘Live At Tom Theatre’ EP, ‘Wild Flowers’.

Iraina Mancini and her three-piece band took to the Where Else? stage just after nine to play a stunning set that perfectly highlighted the gifted artist’s talents. After honing her skills in previous bands – The Venus Fury and Mancini, Iraina knew how to build a set and work a crowd. Mancini started on a high with her 2020 single – ‘Shotgun’. The soulful and smooth, Nancy Sinatra meets Sade, shimmering epic served as a fantastic introduction to the succinct and savvy performance. The walking bass line, jazz-infused percussion and silky vocals were a joy.

The momentum didn’t drop from there on in. 2021’s second single, ‘Do It (You Stole The Rhythm)’ increased the BPM before this year’s first single – ‘Cannonball’ provided an early set highlight. The revolving guitar riffs and semi-psychedelic arrangement worked as an excellent foundation for Mancini’s seductive vocals.

“I’ve fallen in love with Margate, I’m gonna buy a place here when I’ve got enough money” Iraina said as she paused between songs. The final track off the Jagz Kooner (Primal Scream/Garbage/Manics), Erol Alkan (Mystery Jets/Long Blondes) produced album, ‘Take A Bow’ slowed the pace down as Mancini relaxed into her performance. The gently drifting, melodic delivery washed over you in waves as you were transported, by the power of music, back in time.

The latest single – ‘Sugar High’ maintained the Serge Gainsbourg/Jane Birkin mood. You could easily imagine yourself walking down the Champs-Élysées, smoking a Gitanes cigarette, wearing a jaunty beret and living La Vie en rose as she sang. The delightfully joyful, light, breezy and harmonious pop of ‘My Umbrella’ brought the sunshine into the Margate basement before the infectious beat of ‘What You Doin” kicked in.

As her set hurtled towards it’s conclusion the soaring beauty of the title track from Iraina’s new album, ‘Undo The Blue’, let her vocals take centre stage, flexing her range ahead of it’s opening track – ‘Deep End’. Any resistance to move to the ridiculously catchy rhythm was futile. We were in a small blackened room in Margate but we could have just of easily been in a club in Soho back in 1966.

Iraina Mancini’s trip to Margate will live long in the memory, for her because she “loved the vibe”, but also for the lucky few who got to see one of the best performances that there’s ever been at the small, independent Kent venue”.

<

I am going to get to my interview with the beguiling Iraina Mancini. There were a lot of great reviews published for Undo the Blue. I felt that a few bigger publications and websites – NME, The Guardian, Pitchfork, The Line of Best Fit, CLASH, The Forty-Five, Rolling Stone UK – could have spared some words, as they missed out on, in my opinion, the best album of this year. Those lucky and savvy enough to review the album witnessed something utterly spectacular! Here is what Right Chord Music said when they sat down with Undo the Blue:

“Seemingly always a singer, Iraina has built her sound and her songs via a growing collection of collaborators including Jagz Kooner (Sabres Of Paradise), Sunglasses For Jaws (Miles Kane) Simon Dine (Paul Weller, Noonday Underground) Kitty Liv (Kitty Daisy & Lewis). Now with the arrival of her debut album, we’re seeing a joyous collision between her historic influences and her own evolving sonic palette.

Regular readers and visitors to Right Chord Music will be familiar with a string of her singles from Iraina Mancini including Undo The Blue, Deep End, Shotgun and What You Doin’ each has been met with gushing enthusiasm and excitement.

PHOTO CREDIT: June Riviera

Now these familiar faces are packaged up alongside some new treats which also contain a reassuringly familiar retro sound. In some ways it’s like being reacquainted with a lost friend, you know the one that you can instantly just fall back into easy conversation with.

Listening to Undo The Blue is a wonderful aural experience. The overwhelming feeling is positivity and sunshine. While writing this review, words like joyous and glorious rolled off the tongue. I’m sure if I wanted to dive deeper into the lyrics I could find themes of lost love and uncertainty, but for today I’m quite content with the glow of happiness that radiates from this record. On that note, check out track 6 My Umbrella, and the title track Undo The Blue, amazing.

Ultimately this album is a lot of fun, and hell we could all do with some of that in our lives at the moment. To add to the fun Iraina is selling a beautiful vinyl of this album, via Needle Mythology. If you are new to vinyl, this would be a great way to start your collection.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Nettlespie Photography

I am going to round up in a minute. Before then, it was a pleasure to hear from my Artist of the Year. An artist that I love very much! Such a wonderful and beautiful force in music, a whole legion of new fans are behind her as she heads into 2024. After a year where she toured the country and put out her debut album (to acclaim), I think things will be even brighter and more exciting next year:

“Hey Iraina. Congratulations on a busy, successful and incredible 2023! I can imagine many highlight spring to mind: playing at Maida Vale, support from BBC Radio 6 Music, a headline show in London, the great album reviews. What has been your personal highlight?

Thank you Sam, I really appreciate that. I would say that my first U.K. tour was definitely a highlight. Driving around the country to cities I’ve never seen before and meeting my fans face to face was amazing. I went out into the audience after every show and signed vinyl and really got to know people. It was incredibly touching to hear what people's favourite songs were and how far they had travelled.

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Undo the Blue is my favourite album of the year – and I am not alone. It has been taken to heart by so many people. What is your reaction to the love Undo the Blue has received?

I love that people really get what I was trying to do with the album. People seem to understand the influences, style and message I wanted to put across. I think there is a lot of colour and escapism in my record; I wanted to make people feel joy. I think people seem to feel that from it. I was so grateful for all the great reviews as well. I was nervous about it, but turns out I didn’t need to worry too much.

In terms of musical influences that inspired some of the songs, are there particular albums and artists that were references for particular songs?

Yes, absolutely. I was hugely influenced by Serge Gainsbourg’s Histoire de Melody Nelson. That record really shook my world. Shotgun was the first song I wrote with that in mind. The whole Yé-Yé girl scene from the '60s I'm pretty obsessed with: France Gall, Jacquelin Taib, Bardot. The records are so cool visually and sonically. Songs like Deep End and Cannonball have a lot of that energy. I'm also a big Rotary Connection fan. Minnie Ripperton. What a voice! Undo the Blue was totally inspired by her. I’ve always loved film soundtracks as well from the '60s/'70s, especially B-movies and spy thrillers.

“I’ve loved working with Pete. He’s so passionate about music and really believes in me and the album”

Undo the Blue was released through Needle Mythology. What has it been like working with Pete Paphides and the team there? How important has their support and faith been to you?

I’ve loved working with Pete. He’s so passionate about music and really believes in me and the album. I'm so grateful for that. We started working together really organically. I often used to see him at Soho Radio, where we both have our own radio shows. We’d always chat…and one day he asked me to send him my album. He loved it and he offered to put it out on his label. The team is great; so lovely. And because it's (the label) small, I've had a really nice, personal experience.

Pete Paphides has said every song on the album sounds like a single. There is no filler. Every track has its own personality and is hugely accomplished in every respect. What was it like writing and recording the songs? Was it quite a smooth process working alongside co-writers and musicians…or did some cuts take longer to come together?

I love the process of writing songs. Songwriting is my favourite part of being a musician. I always think the best songs for me come quickly. I worked with a few of my collaborators on building this album - Sunglasses for Jaws, Jagz Kooner, Simon Dine and Erol Alkan mainly. It was pretty smooth but did take me time as I was self-funding to start, so I had to really focus on one song at a time. I was very lucky to have such a talented team around me.

“I have been so grateful for all the support I have been given, especially by Lauren and more recently Chris”

BBC Radio 6 Music - especially Lauren Laverne and Chris Hawkins - were big supporters of Undo the Blue and its singles. What did that mean to you personally?!

Well, I have always loved 6 Music. It was a dream of mine to play on the station one day, so a few years ago when I released Shotgun and Lauren Laverne played it on her breakfast show, I couldn’t believe it. I remember jumping around the room like a lunatic. That later on went to playlist and then five others after that did. I have been so grateful for all the support I have been given, especially by Lauren and more recently Chris. They are both the most lovely people. The opportunities 6 Music have given me have been absolutely life-changing for me.

Of course, we all look forward to a second Iraina Mancini album. Since Undo the Blue’s release, have new song ideas and sketches come to mind?

Yes. I have started writing again. I have lots of ideas for the second album. I already do have so many songs from all my years of writing. I’ve started going through them all and picking ideas out that I love. There’s a few people I have in mind I would love to collaborate with. It's exciting!

Finally, and for being such a good sport, you can choose any song (other than your own music, as I will include that in here) and I will end with it. What shall we go for?

Thank you, Sam. I choose -

End of the World by Aphrodite’s Child.

I can’t stop listening at the moment. It's utterly gorgeous… I'm thinking of covering it, actually”.

We are almost at Christmas now. I hope that Iraina Mancini gets time to unwind and spend it with family, friends or a sweetheart. Take some tine to look back on 2023 and all the cool and unbelievable memories. Those golden times, incredible performances. Getting to unleash her spectacular debut album into the world. That being said, there is not a long time to go until Iraina Mancini is briefly back on the road. She is supporting The Coral on two dates (in Manchester and London) next week! Grab a ticket to the London show if there are any remaining. However she is splitting her time this Christmas, Iraina Mancini will no doubt reflect on a wonderful year. From backing by station such as BBC Radio 6 Music, to Undo the Blue coming out through Needle Mythology, it has been a wild, love-filled and standout year. As she said in the interview, there is new music in her mind. I am really pumped to see that come out into the world, given the wave of support that is behind her now.

Whether this new material will be a cover version, a standalone single, or a first taste of a second studio album, I am sure that we will hear more from Iraina Mancini soon enough. I think that I first heard the intoxicating call of Iraina Mancini in 2021. I was curious, of course! When Undo the Blue came out as a single last year, it was one of the first times in years that I became so fascinated by a song. Something I had to play over and over and get to the bottom of! I still keep coming back to that song and marvelling in its sound and vision. It always takes my breath! I love the fact that Sugar High got a brilliant and interesting remix from the legendary Saint Etienne recently. It made me wonder what other artists would do with the remaining songs from Undo the Blue. Some cool acts and D.J.s retooling the genius cuts from that album.

Despite the fact I have spotlighted and heralded so many varied and great new artists, my mind and attention keeps coming back to Iraina Mancini. That sheer talent and quality of the music is like nothing else.. The Undo the Blue album cemented it in my head: Iraina Mancini is a sensation and singular artist that we all need to follow and listen to! I hope I have covered everything (as I might have left something crucial out). Her Spotify Wrapped revealed a lot of love and support from fans. You can see the excitement that Mancini expressed when she unwrapped the test pressing of her debut album. This means so much to her. Despite some legendary and prestige musical connections in her family, this is an artist who has worked her way to the here and now with her own voice and talent. She is a one of our most distinct and talented songwriters. A truly wonderful live performer. When I was thinking of the artists that have hit my heart and soul strongest and longest this year, Iraina Mancini was clear ahead of anyone else! A masterful and staggering debut album was put out into the world - and with it, confirmation that here is an artist…

IN a league of her own!

FEATURE: Spotlight: Eartheater

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Hannah Khymych for CLASH

Eartheater

__________

THERE are going to be…

a few interviews brought in that takes us back to 2020 and up to the current day. Eartheater (Alexandra Drewchin) is an American artist and composer who is starting to get a lot of attention. She has been in the industry for a while now - though this year has been especially successful and noteworthy. Her 2020 album, Phoenix: Flames Are Dews Upon My Skin, is one that created a lot of press interest. I will come to interview for that album. Her latest album, Powders, is one of the best of this year. I am going to end with a review for the album. The New York artist released perhaps her greatest album with Powders. Her fifth studio album, it is a phenomenal work that quite rightly received hugely positive reviews. Before I get to the first review, here is a little bit of biography about the sensational Eartheater:

“New York-based artist, multi-instrumentalist, composer and vocalist Eartheater distills a three-octave vocal range, experimental digital production and classical composition into works suspended between sonic abstraction and arresting lucidity. Her recorded output is enhanced by her viscerally emotive live performances that capture her fearless physical investment and gut-wrenching vocal sincerity.

With her 2020 album, Phoenix: Flames Are Dew Upon My Skin, Earthaeter is reborn. Composed, produced, and arranged entirely by Eartheater, Phoenix draws a path back to the primordial lava lake from which she first emerged, as it also testifies to the many resurrections her project has undergone over the last decade. While the album renews her focus on guitar performance and legible structure, Eartheater balances the unabashed prettiness of acoustic harmonic songs with the dissonant gestural embroidery of oblique instrumentals. The album, released in fall 2020 via PAN, is the result of a laborious revival in fire, and recontextualizes Eartheater’s combinatorial approach to production within her most confident abstractions, adjacent to some of her most direct and affecting songs to date.

Eartheater made her full-length debut in 2015, releasing the twin albums Metalepsis and RIP Chrysalis on Chicago label Hausu Mountain. In 2018, Eartheater signed to renowned experimental label PAN to release her third full-length, IRISIRI. The record laid out as a shifting network of abstract songcraft, laced with sudden structural upheavals and collisions of mutated themes from numerous sonic vocabularies, ranging from classical and experimental to electronica and metal. IRISIRI received year-end accolades from Pitchfork, The Quietus, CRACK and more, consistently named one of the best experimental albums of the year. In 2019, Eartheater pivoted with the release of the mixtape Trinity, a collection of siren songs created with her New York cohort of friends and collaborators including AceMo, Tony Seltzer, Color Plus, Dadras and more. Eartheater self-released the mixtape on her own recently launched imprint, Chemical X. The same year, she also released a collaborative EP with her friends, the experimental harp and violin duo LEYA, titled Angel Lust.

In addition to her own material, she has collaborated with musicians including Show Me The Body, Moor Mother, Caroline Polachek, Dinamarca, Sega Bodega, Prison Religion and more. Eartheater’s resume is also extensive with commissions for a range of institutions and ensembles; she has scored original material for visual artist Tony Oursler and video artists Semiconductor, and has soundtracked the runway collections for fashion houses Proenza Schouler, Chanel, Acne Studios, and MUGLER (for whom she regularly models). Eartheater was also tapped by the contemporary chamber orchestra Alarm Will Sound to compose an original score of six movements that has debuted in 2018 at the Sheldon Concert Hall in St. Louis, Missouri, and has since been brought to Lincoln Center’s 2019 edition of Ecstatic Music Festival in New York.

Throughout it all, Eartheater has pursued an unflinching touring schedule, headlining shows across the US, Europe, Asia and Australia, sharing bills with her contemporaries like Actress, Oneohtrix Point Never, Jenny Hval, Yves Tumor, and Juliana Huxtable, and performing at renowned international festivals like Unsound, CTM, Le Guess Who?, Donaufestival, MIRA and MoMA PS1’s Warm Up. Live performance is a central aspect of the Eartheater project, as she uses tension and improvisation to translate her intricate compositions into unforgettable corporeal expressions, often accompanied by the concert harpist Marilu Donovan (who also performs with LEYA). Additionally, Eartheater has collaborated with art duo FLUCT, and in 2017, she starred in Raul de Nieves and Colin Self’s opera The Fool at legendary NYC performance art space, the Kitchen”.

Even if it is important to focus on her current album, there was a lot of love and interest around 2020’s Phoenix: Flames Are Dews Upon My Skin. GATA spoke with Eartheater about an album that took her music to new realms, fans and corners:

“The mind behind the Eartheater project is Alexandra Drewchin, an artist based in Queens known for her raw productions, led by an amazing vocal range, touching three octaves.

Her first two albums, released on Chicago-based label Hausu Mountain were an electric dream, cradled by alien synths and folk finger-picking, sweetened with ethereal vocals. In 2018, she released IRISIRI for Berlin-based label PAN, mixing techno references alongside spoken vocals, ground up with electronic sounds from a distant and mystical world.

In 2020, Alexandra reached the height of her own journey of inner discovery, with her album Phoenix: Flames Are Dew Upon My Skin, an album composed, produced and arranged entirely by herself. Gestated in Zaragoza, Spain during a 10-week artist residency. Eartheater developed most of the album from within an isolated glasshouse, finding a sense of liberation through guitar and fairy electric sounds.

Home-schooled and self-taught, The New York artist is now a strong reference point in the avant-garde scene. Her latest album Phoenix seems to be the culmination of several important points in her life; an instrumental form, born from the ashes, documenting the rebuild from very personal experiences. The album is a strong feminist rhetoric, floating in the harmonies of electronic alchemy.

PHOTO CREDIT: Sam Clarke

GATA: How and when was Eartheater born? Where does the name come from?

EARTHEATER: It was 2010 in Brooklyn. It came to mind when reading “100 Years of Solitude”. There is a character who ate dirt and paint chips. I said Eartheater out loud and I just knew it was me. I like that it is the name of a worm but also a galactic entity that can consume whole planets. I like that it can encompass any aesthetic or feeling. I’m very conceptually claustrophobic.

GATA: You grew up in a very conservative environment and you were home-schooled up until your teenage years. How did that “outsider” feeling help develop your creativity?

EARTHEATER: I think my chronic loneliness forced me to have a very overactive imagination.

GATA: We heard you wrote Phoenix: Flames Are Dew Upon, your latest LP, over a 8 week period during an artist residency in Zaragoza; why did you choose the northeastern Spanish Capital to work on this project?

EARTHEATER: It was my only option besides recording in my bedroom again like all my previous albums. I was very honoured and grateful for the opportunity. It was really about it being a gorgeous studio more than anything. I would go anywhere if I was given 24-hour access to a top of the line studio.

GATA: Is it essential for you to find peace and get away from the city for your creative process or is it possible for you to create art in a more chaotic environment?

EARTHEATER: I don’t have the luxury of choosing what environment I work in yet. I just do what I need to do with what I have which has meant that I did everything at home in Queens. I definitely do lock myself in my room and let the rest of the world melt away when I’m working, though. As long as I can get alone time it doesn’t matter if it’s surrounded in chaos on the other side of the walls.

PHOTO CREDIT: Sam Clarke

GATA: The “Phoenix” is a representation of yourself as a mythological creature. What does this creature mean to you on a personal level? What did you leave behind and in what sense do you feel reborn again?

EARTHEATER: I had killed off parts of myself, by burning up into ashes, a few times to save myself from actual suicidal thoughts. There have been versions of myself that I grew out of and I’ve had to slay them. For me, discovering that I’m a Phoenix is what has kept me growing, sexy, and weightless. The cool thing too is each time you die as a Phoenix you always come back better. Though, you have to exist for a significant period of time between each reserection. You have to get to an intense level of anguish to ignite.

GATA: You mentioned that “Phoenix” has been growing in your womb for 10 years, you’ve reinvented yourself once again and have managed to get closer to your essence. How does it feel to deliver a work that developed over such a long time period, that represents so much of yourself?

EARTHEATER: It feels really good but is very exposing.

GATA: In this particular album, you created every sound from scratch and conducted a seven-piece string ensemble. How did you prepare yourself to face such an ambitious and delicate album?

EARTHEATER: I slept for a week and then got started.

GATA: As an artist, you explore concepts like femininity and technology, beyond standards and above genre, sex and humanity. Where does this tension between the organic and machine come from?

EARTHEATER: I like thinking about humans as machines — all living things for that matter. I think we’ll make really gorgeous sustainable technology in the future if we think that way”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Sam Clarke

I will move on soon. First, Loud and Quiet dug deep with Eartheater in 2020 about her then-new album. I think, before moving to the present, it is worth seeing where she came from and how her work has developed. Every interview she is involved with is fascinating! An artist open to revealing herself and letting us into her musical and personal world:

“This idea of growth is further explored through the symbol of the phoenix. “Looking back on the last decade, I can see very clear past lives within that period,” she says. “As you can tell from my work, I’ve been constantly reinventing myself, destroying myself and reinventing myself again. Now I think I’m coming more in touch with my pure essence. And this record feels less exploratory and more direct.”

Drewchin plays the titular phoenix in both the album artwork and the video for ‘How To Fight’, defiant, seductive and powerful as sparks fly from her. There was zero CGI for the shoot, an experience Drewchin describes with a laugh as “painful but totally worth it.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Levi Mandel

“I definitely am a very sexual person,” she says when asked about her intentions for the artwork. “I love feeling the conjunction between my physicality and my music. When I feel sexy and strong, that’s when my voice sounds good. And I know that maybe sounds obvious but it hasn’t been that obvious to me, actually. I’ve had family members and controlling ex-boyfriends really try to bevel my edges, and it’s taken its toll on my creativity and my energy and my ability to do my best. So it’s really nice to be reminded every time I look at the cover that I feel really powerful, but it’s important to know that I haven’t always felt like that. I had to fight to get to the point where I’m standing at the top of the volcano, having it shoot up my coochie.”

Fight is the operative word. Raised within the rigour of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, Drewchin recalls an “extremely strict” childhood, characterised by conservative dress, fasting, all-night vigils, prostration, and studying iconography with nuns, in an environment where men were prioritised above women. To break free took courage and she still marvels today at how long it takes to truly dislodge learned behaviour.

“If I were to psychologically analyse myself, I think my intense loneliness as a home-schooled child who did very little socialising, living in the woods, was significant. I remember being lonely but in this really deep melancholic way, and hungry for connection while still being aware of the romance of it. But I think for a long time my albums were like smoke signals, like, ‘Hey, I’m over here! This is what I’m trying to say – does anyone else get it?’ And now I feel so deeply nourished by friends and family and community that I feel at peace.”

“I’ve definitely had those thoughts where you’re like, why am I doing this?” she continues. “Those very dark but essential conversations that I think everyone has with themselves at some point. I’ve felt very lost at times and I’ve found it to be very useful to kill of parts of myself that don’t serve me anymore, just allowing there to be violence, poetically and imaginatively. There’ll be this cathartic moment where I’ll be wrestling with myself deeply and then just cut out the succubus that’s been driving the car for a little bit too long, and the character I feel I am in those moments is this fiery phoenix.”

Beneath the mythological imagery and experimental sonics, Phoenix preaches a deeply relatable message of mankind’s ability to rebuild and thrive in the face of trauma, a fact further conveyed by the album’s subtitle, Flames Are Dew Upon My Skin, and by the words “Poetry” and “Warrior” which Eartheater has tattooed on each wrist. This universality is important to Drewchin. “These are simple ideas,” she insists. “They’re love songs and songs about breaking through to find your ultimate essence. These ideas are for everyone. Whereas I think in the past my intentions were different.

“The final track on the album is called ‘Faith Consuming Hope’ and I feel like that duality of faith and hope is interesting. Hope allows there to be space for doubt. Hope is giving into the fact that it might not work out, or it might not happen. But faith is the strength that is always there for you to access, even if you might not know how to get to it. Faith represents something bigger to me and beyond my lifetime. So when I sing, ‘I hope to die beyond hope’, it means that when I do die, I really hope I have that faith in me, and peace in my heart.”

For now, Drewchin’s focus is pushing the Eartheater project even further, including executing her vision for Phoenix live, a prospect that’s been sustaining her throughout this time of confinement. “When we go back to live shows it’s going to be a whole new thing,” she beams. “The type of magic in the air. People are so starved of connection and starved of those vibrations that they’re gonna honour it with every cell in their body. You know hunger is the best spice, and people are deeply hungry.” She adds with a laugh: “So yeah, maybe my mom was onto something making me fast all the time”.

I will move to a couple of great interview from this year. I will come to CLASH’s chat with the stunning Eartheater. First, Indie spoke with an artist who, a decade in, is close to superstardom. She discussed “recording in LA, reinterpreting System of a Down, and finally having money to record - even if it makes things complicated”:

“Powders, Eartheater’s lucent fifth album, takes its name from that idea: that everything, whether it’s love, heartbreak or personal history, can be crushed into dust, ready to become something new. It’s an abstracted memoir—one song, a cover of System of a Down’s ‘Chop Suey,’ is a track she’s had in her arsenal since she was a teenager; another, ‘Salt of the Earth,’ features her mother and brother playing violin and guitar, respectively. Many songs, including the intoxicating, romantic highlight ‘Crushing,’ draw on pure folk music, in a way she has rarely done since her 2015 debut album Metalepsis. It is a remarkable vindication of the cult success that her albums Trinity and Phoenix have found over the past few years, and—forgive the cliché—the kind of record that could expunge the ‘cult’ marker from that status.

When I Zoom Eartheater on a Wednesday afternoon in August—around midday in New York, where she lives—she’s still awake after spending the night in the studio, attempting to break a glass with only the power of her voice. Lying down on her studio couch, cocooned in a blanket, she tells me about the world of Powders and its relationship to its follow-up album, Aftermath, set to be released in 2024.

PHOTO CREDIT: Stevie & Mada

SHAAD D’SOUZA:

You call Powders your LA album, which I guess on its face could mean anything to anyone—luxury, glamour, opulence, but also loneliness, disconnection, precarity. When you call it an ‘LA album,’ what do you mean?

EARTHEATER:

I just recorded a lot of it there and that’s where I was really putting the pieces together. So the energy just permeates. It definitely felt different. I was asking myself—‘Do I even talk about this in my press release? Do I even make this a thing?’ But the fact is, it really is. When I was crunching and crushing and sort of grinding into this world of Powders, I was in LA, I was in those studios. It’s not like I set out to do anything there or I’m like, responding to anything that has happened there. Really, it just is what it is.

Music just sort of happens; people kept telling me, ‘Wow, this sounds so LA.’ In some ways, it’s a little annoying, because I’m like, well, these are genuine emotions and memories that I’m excavating from my romantic narratives that I entertained as a child. I was sort of time travelling in my mind a lot, even though I happened to be sat in Sunset Sound in LA. Then the song would come out and then people would be like, ‘This is such an LA sound.’ Meanwhile, I’ll be like ‘No, I was in Pennsylvania, Dyberry Creek, or in the haystack, or at the Wayne County Fair.’ Maybe that is actually LA, because Hollywood, movies, period pieces, movie magic, imagination, things coming to life—I guess maybe that is what it is, you know?

PHOTO CREDIT: Stevie & Mada

SD:

What made you want to record in LA, after doing Phoenix in Spain and working on your own in New York for so long?

EE:

I had been really resistant to ever working with strangers. Everything that’s happened up to this point has been really organic—not that it isn’t organic when you reach out to somebody, but I kind of have always maintained the ethos of, like, ‘don’t attack, attract.’ Things will come to you if they’re meant to happen. Don’t ask for things, just do your thing. And then opportunities will open up to you accordingly. I think that’s how I’ve operated most of the time.

But then when COVID was subsiding, all of a sudden I realised, ‘Oh my God, I have so many more fans.’ It was just way more busy. I was modelling and Phoenix and Trinity [were] permeating and I suddenly felt pulled limb from limb. I was adapting to a much crazier schedule and travelling. It was exciting, it was really great, but I wasn’t able to just sit around and write music the way that I used to.

I think my managers kind of took the reins—I kept being like, ‘I’ll just write when I can. I’ll play when I can.’ And I did little spurts here and there. But eventually, I think they realised they needed to just make a really hard schedule, and pull me out of my comfort zone. Because when I would get home from all these modelling trips and tours and stuff, I’d be exhausted. I would just need to rest.

Also, I was kind of entertaining the idea of a new sound, and I didn’t have friends immediately at my fingertips who could necessarily achieve that. So [Eartheater’s manager and Cascine founder] Jeff [Bratton] reached out to a bunch of different producers in LA and scheduled this recording period for me. I’ve never done anything like that before—going to strange studios with new people, sitting down and spending days with them. But it was incredible, and it worked out so well.

PHOTO CREDIT: Stevie & Mada

SD:

Where do you think this kind of drive to build out a new sound started?

EE:

Well, I can’t really talk about it because the sound that I set out to make is actually for the songs on [Powders follow-up] Aftermath. And weirdly, these songs on Powders were the ones that sort of just came out, off the cuff, without an idea in mind. They were just emotional little bursts that popped out.

SD:

They’re sort of interconnected, right? How do you see those albums complementing one another?

EE:

When I went to LA, I set out to make an album and I had a sound in mind, and I can’t divulge what that sound is because I’m still working on that album. What happened in the interim is that all these other songs started happening. And that’s what Powders became. So it’s like the deposit of this big mother record, which is Aftermath, and then Powders is maybe, like, the bits and pieces of powder that come off when you’re making a sculpture. All the debris that falls. It’s so unplanned, it just is what it is.

SD:

What was it, do you think, about that environment or your state of mind at that time, that led to those bursts of creativity?

EE:

I was pushing myself with the Aftermath material, and then I would sort of relax into it. It always happens to me—once the muscle is conditioned and the cogs are greased, all these beautiful things happen that you didn’t plan for, because the energy is just moving around. Powders really just picked me. The songs just sort of infiltrated, with that magical feeling when a song just wells up. And then, of course, I’ll go and edit, make it more clever, more interesting and more cohesive altogether. You invite the channel, but you kind of have to work to open the channel. And then once that opens, you know, take advantage.

PHOTO CREDIT: Stevie & Mada

SD:

After spending so long working other jobs to be able to support your art, how has your approach to music changed since you’ve had more money—or more access to money—to do things? Does modelling feel the same as a bar job?

EE:

That’s actually a really good question. I feel like, because I knew how to live quite beautifully on very little, it’s kind of overwhelming to have a lot of resources. But I feel like I ended up being quite brash with it just because I’m like, ‘I need to take advantage of [these resources].’ But I feel like I kind of miss… I’ve noticed that when people know you have money for a project, all the clever ideas that people might have kind of go out the window, because it’s like, ‘Oh, let’s just pay for this. So just pay for that.’ But then before you know it, the whole budget is spent on just the basics. And then it’s like ‘Okay, well we’re back to square one, we’re still just trying to do a clever little idea.’ I don’t know. The whole thing, the money—I like to be able to pay people, that’s what is great, but I also feel like… I don’t know, I’m really not being articulate today. I don’t know what the hell is up—something about you, like the last interview! [Note: Eartheater and I previously spoke for a story in The Face, during which she felt like she couldn’t collect her thoughts properly.]

SD:

It’s okay, introspection will do that to you.

EE:

I’m like, why can’t I express myself today? Can we both sage our rooms that we’re in?

SD:

I wish I had some, this room needs it.

EE:

To be honest, I feel like I’m still just investing—I’ve always invested everything I have into the art and the music, and I feel like I’m still doing that. Life is still the same. Yes, there are way more resources, but nothing really feels particularly different. Like, I can record, I can pay for all these studios, but I don’t know if it feels that different. It’s also not like it’s that much more money. Obviously it’s a blessing. But one thing I am proud of—and I’ve noticed now that I have a label and I’m working with other artists and stuff—is that I’ve been able to do beautiful things with nothing. Like, just use your iPhone, find the magic in the moment, make something that is stunning [while] not having to rely on a budget. I feel like a budget can kind of complicate things. Sometimes, you know, you spend all this money on this huge crane. But then you find yourself having to perform for the crane—meanwhile, isn’t the camera supposed to follow you? I don’t know”.

I will come to a review soon. First, CLASH spoke with the wonderful and always compelling Eartheater. As they open: “For a decade, Eartheater has distilled classical and club music tropes into apocryphal utopias. Now, the Queens-based musician embraces a sweeping vision of pop on her most potent and poetic love profusion”. Powders is a wonderful album that has been picked up by stations like BBC Radio 6 Music. I can see Eartheater dominating festival bills next year:

“Drewchin’s studio session on the day we speak is for ‘Aftermath’, an album she first conceived in component parts before ‘Powders’ and the pandemic threw a spanner in the works. “I had an idea and a plan for a sound, but these other songs just infiltrated and interrupted everything. There were these pent-up memories; these beautiful, gorgeous things that needed to come out of me,” she explains. The nine-track ‘Powders’ aggregates the antithetical forces Eartheater has traversed in her decade-long career: entropy, mutation, a study of the arcane, a study of form, a subversion of outmoded narratives on femininity, a distortion of the rigid rules of classical compositions. “I realised I’ve left a trail of breadcrumbs because I forgot what I needed to remember. These are reminders to keep it all close to the source,” Drewchin shares.

Bringing together the baroque arrangements of her debut project ‘Metalepsis’ with ‘Trinity’s’ programmed permutations within the dance music biosphere, ‘Powders’ is a work of exquisite alchemy between past variant versions of Eartheater; a mesmeric mix of stillness and desolation that could score a time-lapse of a seedling’s bloom and eventual death. I ask Drewchin if she pines for the unfettered purity of those primitive creations. She pauses the call to get a coffee. “I needed the fuel,” she says, locking back in. “I’m grateful for where I am in my career but life is crazier now. The time to find that space is so few and far between, I have to really fight for it. When I listen to those early albums I learn from her: I think about the peace, patience and wonderment that was there. In her, I see my dreams, fantasies and ideas. It’s almost medicinal when I revisit my past.”

‘Powders’ is Eartheater’s most pop-leaning experiment to date, although she resists that classification in its most explicit characterisation of her repertoire. Her version is “a trojan horse pop that may be more poppier by design, but isn’t quite pop music until it’s actually being consumed by a wider audience.” In her oeuvre, Drewchin has used her three-octave range as a textural device woven into a wider sonic tapestry, sometimes completely hidden in the murky expanse of her creations. “All of those experimental voices were me not finding my confidence to really show my soul like I am on this album,” she says. On ‘Powders’, Eartheater explores every dimension of her voice – breathy, belting, pleading, yelping, staccato chorales, operatic trilling – stylistically, over dusky electronic beats and ballads. Before Drewchin’s voice was icy, remote, pulverized digitally through a synthetic blender. On ‘Powders’ it more clearly, and with more clarity, delineates the core message of transformative rapture. “The delivery of the voice is different. I’m using the same microphones and same production, but this time I’m not layering and hiding behind a thousand layers, or a character voice. I can stand firmly behind the way I feel and what I believe in. I’ve grown up now, I know myself enough…I’m ready to show me,” she avows.

PHOTO CREDIT: Hannah Khymych

Drewchin masterminded the bulk of ‘Powders’ at Sunset Sound studios in LA, alongside collaborative hit squad, Yves Rothman, Tony Seltzer and CaseyMQ; the studio spot where Prince recorded parts of ‘Purple Rain’, and the Rolling Stones completed work on their much-lauded studio album ‘Exile on Main St’. Drewchin herself fell under the studio’s folkloric spell: “I don’t want to get spooky but when I recorded ‘Face In The Moon’, Yves put that guitar in my hands and the song just flew out of me. I felt something possess me.” Drewchin moved beyond her modus operandi to imbue ‘Powders’ with “the pieces, parts and people” that could make it a collaborative whole. “It’s like spices. We take for granted that we have access to a spice from a particular continent. Now, I’m bringing together all these different flavours,” she continues. I liken the molecular synthesis of ‘Powders’ to an apothecary, her reconstituted process to a witch’s brew. “That’s exactly what this is! I house these powders in my apothecary,” Drewchin says. “I’m boiling and crushing it all down. These producers my management set me up with were ready to receive my sacks and bundles of powders that I’ve collected over the years.”

Eartheater has long surveyed the flammable evocations of desire in her work. Across the nine tracks on ‘Powders’, romantic neurosis is a split-screen phenomenon; an external catastrophe and an unravelling of the inner depths of the heart. There is no track purer in filtering the desperation of trying to safeguard an elusive love than ‘Crushing’. Created during a residency at Palm Heights, Drewchin’s muse was a handsome chef called Jake “who had a voice like Frank Sinatra”. Inspired to create an instrumental for him to sing over (he shied away in the end) Drewchin revisited the demo a few months down the line. What started out as a karaoke special became a serene trip-hop devotional to lovers in and out of orbit: “I love the idea of being whisked away for a night, of having someone with me I can switch off with. I love being enamoured with someone. ‘Crushing’ just poured out of me, and I wrote it in one sitting. I feel like I was talking to a lot of past lovers, not just one.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Hannah Khymych

Alexandra Drewchin founded her label Chemical X in 2019 and self-released her mixtape ‘Trinity’ via the imprint. Her fervour for endorsing talent is generously articulated when I ask what the central tenet at the heart of the talent incubator is. To Drewchin, true creativity lies in originality and thriftiness, mirroring her own early career moves. “What I try to encourage is resourcefulness. It’s about trying to create beautiful things with very little because we live in a time when we can broadcast things around the world for free. It’s finding your magic, being inspired, and being humble enough to create cool things that don’t need to be high-budget or bombastic,” she explains.

Like Drewchin herself, Chemical X has its roots firmly in New York’s fast-changing and transient underground scenes. Through the next-gen artists that comprise the talent incubator – Lourdes Leon aka LOLAHOL, engineer-producer Kiri, producer and DJ Sammy, and idiosyncratic Houston-born rapper Ish Couture – Eartheater has not only sourced musicians with flair in spades, but discovered like minded creatives to cross-examine the world with. Chemical X eludes bureaucracy in favour of real-time community-funded events and conversations. “I think beyond helping talent through the industry side of things, it’s been fun to ping pong with these hungry artists and rinse out all of these emotions we’re feeling about the world. I wish I had that when I was starting out,” Drewchin explains before proudly sponsoring her roster like the protective Mother hen she is. “Both Ish and LOLA are incredibly prolific. Ish Couture’s new EP is stunning. I signed him when he had less than a thousand plays on Spotify because I believed in him. That’s not what conventional labels do.”

Eartheater has fought her way to a place of creative stasis. Without the career stops, starts and diversions there would be no hero’s journey; no voids to mine through, no inner revolutions, no point of arrival. With her feet planted firmly on the ground, but her mind scouring the heavens above for the next sliver of inspiration, there’s an emancipated aura about Eartheater right now. Where does she go from here? Well, to the studio to refine her next interplanetary (mis)adventure. “’Powders’ opened up a new portal for me. I’m accessing parts of my voice I haven’t before and I’m going even further down the path of exploration on ‘Aftermath’. It’s going to be a beautiful cacophony. The tagline is: we’re going to make sense of not making sense”.

Maybe I am slightly late to the Eartheater party. I think that 2024 is going to be another big year for her. With this enormously respected album out into the world, things will get better and better for Alexandra Drewchin. This is what The Line of Best Fit had to say about the mighty Powders:

“It has been a long few years since 2020’s, Phoenix: Flames Are Dew Upon My Skin, the fiery masterpiece that cemented Eartheater’s place in the pantheon of alternative music.

She released two great singles; collaborated with artists, Lolahol, Sega Bodega, LSDXOXO, and Tony Seltzer to name a few; and became one of the faces of multiple Mugler campaigns. Her image has never been more striking as she continues her ascent.

Swelling, Disney-villain strings draw you into the latest tapestry from avant-pop tastemaker, Eartheater’s sixth album, Powders. Fans of hers will remember being left speechless by the heights she conquered on Phoenix cut, “Below The Clavicle”; immediately, Vigorsky reminds the listener that her voice remains her most elastic instrument.

Powders begins in classic Eartheater form with, “Sugarcane Switch”. Understated orchestral arrangements underlay a trip-hop beat, harking to canonical records in the genre such as Björk’s, Homogenic and Portishead’s, Dummy. Thinking it could be seen to be more of a natural successor to 2018’s, Irisiri should not lead you to believe that Powders is a step backwards; Vigorsky is simply zooming out and taking you down another path of influence. “Crushing” follows in a similar vein. Without wishing to sound like a broken record, it is strikingly similar to Björk’s, “Come To Me” from 1993’s, Debut. This is not a bad thing at all. She plays with a reverence to 90s trip-hop, whilst keeping it rooted in the sound world of Eartheater.

What has always been clear with Eartheater is that she is a master at executing her visions through a completely unique lens; however, never before has it been performed so brazenly as on Powders’ cover of System of a Down’s signature, “Chop Suey”. It couldn’t be further from what was expected of this record, and yet it makes perfect sense. Most of the track centres around her lilting voice and acoustic guitar, before breaking into an alt-rock, somewhere-between-Madonna-and-Garbage style climax. It’s such a lot of fun and really showcases Vigorsky’s commitment to extending her reach beyond genre restrictions. It contains the same magic captured in other unexpected covers of songs: like, Sonic Youth’s fuzzy rendition of The Carpenter’s, “Superstar”; and Lingua Ignota’s harrowing version of Dolly Parton’s, “Jolene. Despite being a seemingly random choice, Powders anchors itself around the inclusion of “Chop Suey”. It’s the thing that makes Eartheater such a compelling artist; no one else could pull off such a daring feat, yet she draws magic out of the way she performs.

Things pick up the pace towards the end of the record. The title track vibrates like an unholy incantation, and “Mona Lisa Moan” trickles into your consciousness. Her voice surrounds and then isolates, howling and then whispering. It’s this disorientating effect that makes the penultimate track and lead single, “Pure Smile Snake Venom” so rewarding. It thunders through the verses before twisting into a garage chorus. It’s bumpy and ethereal and is a wonderfully unexpected pivot this far along in the album. Lyrically, Eartheater has often been highly conceptual and cryptic. “Pure Smile Snake Venom” is perhaps her most vulnerable track to date, the chorus being particularly resonant; “I choose not to bite you/In spite of my venom welling up/Pure smile to soothe/Us into the future/Show me what you can do”. It’s enough to stop you in your tracks, as this is the same artist who wrote, “Don’t make me wait/You got me wet, come over/You know I got that supersoaker”. Her ever-increasing versatility as an artist is astounding and merits more recognition than she currently has.

“Salt of the Earth (H2ome)” concludes the album, an instrumental that completes the full circle of Powders. This record further displays Eartheater’s talents for creating worlds of hyper-saturated textures and sounds. Her ability to give life to elemental forces sets her apart from other artists, and never before has it sounded so effortless. Trinity Vigorsky is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of artist, offering listeners the opportunity to see the world through Eartheater’s singular expression; this album is another masterwork and continues her steady ascension”.

If you have not followed Eartheater, then do go and check her out. A truly wonderful producer, artist and musical innovator, this is a modern-day queen (from Queens) who has released one of this year’s best albums. Powders is a magnificent work that everyone needs to listen to. I have so much respect and admiration…

FOR the incredible Eartheater.

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Follow Eartheater

 Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/eartheater/

TikTok:

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

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/trinityvigorsky

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/18ca9d5EU5R1AhVKPR1cm0?si=c9MhB1kHQ8CxTLcddN8ytg

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Ye-2pUBWRrOn8wiLf88wA

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/eartheater/

FEATURE: The EIRE I Breathe: Kate Bush’s Best Half-Dozen ‘Irish Songs’

FEATURE:

 

 

The EIRE I Breathe

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

Kate Bush’s Best Half-Dozen ‘Irish Songs’

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ON 19th November…

a terrific Kate Bush-related episode, Give Kate Bush Back to the Irish, appeared on BBC Sounds. Presented by Steven Cockcroft and Jason Carty, they argue that certain artists – who are not Irish or have some Irish blood – belong to EIRE. That they are more tied to the Land of Saints of Scholars, The Emerald Island. You know! That a lot of their music connects with Ireland. I have always known Kate Bush has a connection to Ireland, as her late mother Hannah was born there. She has a lot of family there. She recorded sessions in Ireland/recorded with Irish musicians for Hounds of Love (1985) and The Sensual World (1989). Listening to the podcast, I did not realise just how many of her songs are either very Irish-sounding/reference or nods to the country – in terms of players and instruments. Everything from her 1991 cover of Elton John’s Rocket Man (I Think It’s Going to Be a Long, Long Time) (which is Irish Reggae) to the sublime The Sensual World nods to Ireland with beauty and grace. To honour the wide range of Irish-infused music that she put on her studio albums or recorded as singles, I am ranking her six best ‘Irish songs’. They may have a lot of Irish instrumentation, allude to the country, or simply have a flavour of the nation. Here is an article that lists her Irish connections. Songs that could have been included but were not include The Big Sky (the single from Hounds of Love sees Bush saying a particular cloud “looks like Ireland”), and her cover of My Lagan Love. You could say that Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) has Irish elements and sounds. In celebration of Kate Bush’s familial links to Ireland and the love she has always held for the country, below are her six best songs that either mention Ireland or have the country…

VERY much in the forefront.

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SIX: Rocket Man (I Think It’s Going to Be a Long, Long Time)

From the Album: Two Rooms: Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin

Release Date: 22nd October, 1991 (album)/25th November, 1991 (single)

Producer: Kate Bush

The Lowdown:

“Song written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin. Originally released on Elton John’s album Honky Château, it was released as a single on 14 April 1972 and became a hit in the UK and the USA, as well as several European countries.

Kate Bush recorded a cover of the song in 1989 as a track for the album Two Rooms, which was released two years later. it was subsequently released as a single from that album on the Mercury label on 25 November 1991.

Formats

‘Rocket Man’ was released as a 7″ single in a poster sleeve, a 12″ single in a poster sleeve, a cassette single and a CD-single. All formats features another Elton John cover, Candle in the wind, with an added instrumental version of that track on the 12″ single and CD-single. The poster sleeve of the 7″ single in the UK was slightly bigger than the European version.

Kate about ‘Rocket Man’

From the age of 11, Elton John was my biggest hero. I loved his music, had all his albums and I hoped one day I’d play the piano like him (I still do). When I asked to be involved in this project and was given the choice of a track it was like being asked ‘would you like to fulfill a dream? would you like to be Rocket Man?’… yes, I would. (Two Rooms liner notes, 1991)

I was really knocked out to be asked to be involved with this project, because I was such a big fan of Elton’s when I was little. I really loved his stuff. It’s like he’s my biggest hero, really. And when I was just starting to write songs, he was the only songwriter I knew of that played the piano and sang and wrote songs. So he was very much my idol, and one of my favourite songs of his was ‘Rocket Man’. Now, if I had known then that I would have been asked to be involved in this project, I would have just died… They basically said, ‘Would we like to be involved?’ I could choose which track I wanted… ‘Rocket Man’ was my favourite. And I hoped it hadn’t gone, actually – I hoped no one else was going to do it… I actually haven’t heard the original for a very long time. ‘A long, long time’ (laughs). It was just that I wanted to do it differently. I do think that if you cover records, you should try and make them different. It’s like remaking movies: you’ve got to try and give it something that makes it worth re-releasing. And the reggae treatment just seemed to happen, really. I just tried to put the chords together on the piano, and it just seemed to want to take off in the choruses. So we gave it the reggae treatment. It’s even more extraordinary (that the song was a hit) because we actually recorded the track over two years ago. Probably just after my last telly appearance. We were quite astounded when they wanted to release it as a single just recently. (BBC Radio 1 interview, 14 December 1991)” – Kate Bush Encyclopedia

The Irish Connection: 6/10: Even though the song is not Irish or references the country, the fact Bush worked with Davy Spillane and his uilleann pipes turned a classic into Irish Reggae, it was Bush referencing her heritage and her mother. At a time when her mother was in her mind (she died of cancer in 1992), this seems like a tribute to her. One of the last times Bush would reference Ireland and Irish music in her career.

FIVE: The Sensual World

From the Album: The Sensual World

Release Date: 18th September, 1989 (single)/16th October, 1989 (album)

Producer: Kate Bush

The Lowdown:

“Song written by Kate Bush. Originally released as a single by EMI Records on 18 September 1989. Also released on her sixth album The Sensual World. Bush was inspired to write the song after hearing Irish actress Siobhan McKenna read the closing soliloquy from James Joyce’s ‘Ulysses’, where the character Molly Bloom recalls her earliest sexual experience with husband-to-be Leopold Bloom. The book was published in 1922. Kate, believing the text had fallen to public domain, simply lifted parts from it and sang them on the backing track she’d created. She approached director Jimmy Murakami to make a video for the song, and he expressed doubts because he suspected James Joyce’s grandson Stephen James Joyce had the rights to the book. Kate then contacted him numerous times, but the Joyce estate refused to release the words. She spent over a year trying to gain permission before accepting defeat.

In the end, she kept the backing track but “re-approached the words”, writing a lyric that sounded a lot like the original text but also added the dimension of ‘stepping out of the page / into the sensual world‘, in effect Molly Bloom stepping out of the book and walking into real life.

Musically, one of the main hooks in the chorus of The Sensual World was inspired by a traditional Macedonian piece of music called ‘Nevestinsko Oro’ (‘Bride’s Dance’). A recording of this piece of music was sent to Kate by Jan Libbenga. As in the traditional version, the melody is played on uilleann pipes, in this case by Irish musician Davy Spillane.

Kate about ‘The Sensual World’

Because I couldn’t get permission to use a piece of Joyce it gradually turned into the song about Molly Bloom the character stepping out of the book, into the real world and the impressions of sensuality. Rather than being in this two-dimensional world, she’s free, let loose to touch things, feel the ground under her feet, the sunsets, just how incredibly sensual a world it is. (…) In the original piece, it’s just ‘Yes’ – a very interesting way of leading you in. It pulls you into the piece by the continual acceptance of all these sensual things: ‘Ooh wonderful!’ I was thinking I’d never write anything as obviously sensual as the original piece, but when I had to rewrite the words, I was trapped. How could you recreate that mood without going into that level of sensuality? So there I was writing stuff that months before I’d said I’d never write. I have to think of it in terms of pastiche, and not that it’s me so much. (Len Brown, ‘In The Realm Of The Senses’. NME (UK), 7 October 1989)

The song is about someone from a book who steps out from this very black and white 2-D world into the real world. The immediate impressions was the sensuality of this world – the fact that you can touch things, that is so sensual – you know… the colours of trees, the feel of the grass on the feet, the touch of this in the hand – the fact that it is such a sensual world. I think for me that’s an incredibly important thing about this planet, that we are surrounded by such sensuality and yet we tend not to see it like that. But I’m sure for someone who had never experienced it before it would be quite a devastating thing. (…) I love the sound of church bells. I think they are extraordinary – such a sound of celebration. The bells were put there because originally the lyrics of the song were taken from the bookUlyssesby James Joyce, the words at the end of the book by Molly Bloom, but we couldn’t get permission to use the words. I tried for a long time – probably about a year – and they wouldn’t let me use them, so I had to create something that sounded like those original word, had the same rhythm, the same kind of feel but obviously not being able to use them. It all kind of turned in to a pastiche of it and that’s why the book character, Molly Bloom, then steps out into the real world and becomes one of us. (Roger Scott, Interview. Radio 1 (UK), 14 October 1989)” – Kate Bush Encyclopedia

The Irish Connection: 8.5/10: Referencing and inspired by James Joyce’s Ulyesses, Bush worked with John Sheahan (fiddle), Davy Spillane (uilleann pipes) and Dónal Lunny (bouzoukiy) to create a distinct Irish sound. A song influenced by a classic novel from one of Ireland’s greatest authors.

FOUR: Army Dreamers

From the Album: Never for Ever

Release Date: 8th September, 1980 (album)/22nd September, 1980 (single)

Producers: Kate Bush/Jon Kelly

The Lowdown:

“Music video

The music video opens on a closeup of Kate Bush, dressed in dark green camouflage, holding a child. She blinks in synchronisation with the song’s sampled gun cocks. The camera pulls out and shows that Bush has a white-haired child on her lap. The child walks off and returns in military combat uniform. Bush and several soldiers (one of whom has “KT8” or “KTB” stencilled on the butt of his rifle: “KTB” was a monogram used by Bush early in her career) make their way through woodland, amid explosions. As the song progresses, Bush reaches out for the child soldier, but he disappears. Finally, one of the soldiers is blown up.

Kate about ‘Army Dreamers’

‘Army Dreamers’ is about a grieving mother who through the death of her soldier boy, questions her motherhood. (Kate Bush Club newsletter, September 1980)

It’s the first song I’ve ever written in the studio. It’s not specifically about Ireland, it’s just putting the case of a mother in these circumstances, how incredibly sad it is for her. How she feels she should have been able to prevent it. If she’d bought him a guitar when he asked for one. (Colin Irwin, ‘Paranoia And Passion Of The Kate Inside’. Melody Maker (UK), 10 October 1980)

The song is about a mother who lost her son overseas. It doesn’t matter how he died, but he didn’t die in action – it was an accident. I wanted the mother to be a very simple woman who’s obviously got a lot of work to do. She’s full of remorse, but he has to carry on, living in a dream. Most of us live in a dream. (Week-long diary, Flexipop, 1980)” – Kate Bush Encyclopedia

The Irish Connection: 6.5/10: Even though the instrumentation is not Irish, the fact is Bush adopts an Irish accent. The use of the word ‘mammy’ is Irish. I think that she is singing from the perspective of an Irish mother. Rather than referencing the Republic of Ireland, it may be more of a reference to Northern Ireland and a young soldier killed during The Troubles there (which ran from the 1960s to 1998).

THREE: Mná na hÉireann

From the Album: Common Ground (Voices of Modern Irish Music)

Release Date: 11th June, 1996

Producer: Dónal Lunny

The Lowdown:

“Poem written by Ulster poet Peadar Ó Doirnín (1704–1796). It is most famous as a song, and especially set to an air composed by Seán Ó Riada (1931–1971). As a modern song, ‘Mná na hÉireann’ is usually placed in the category of Irish rebel music; as an eighteenth-century poem it belongs to the genre (related to the aisling) which imagines Ireland as a generous, beautiful woman suffering the depredations of an English master on her land, her cattle, or her self, and which demands Irishmen to defend her, or ponders why they fail to. The poem also seems to favor Ulster above the other Irish provinces.

Kate Bush recorded her rendition in 1995 for the 1996 compilation album Common Ground – Voices of Modern Irish Music. According to Donal Lunny, who contacted her for this contribution, ‘She was very excited with the idea of singing the Irish in a way that Irish speakers would understand, and of conveying the meaning of the song through the sounds of the words. I helped as much as I could. She had Seán Ó Sé’s recording of Mná na hÉireann as reference. She was as faithful to the pronunciations as she could possibly be. It was with characteristic care and attention that she approached it. She did not stint one bit. Of course you’ll get people saying, `Oh, you’d know she doesn’t talk Irish straight off’. You wouldn’t know it straight off. I would defend her efforts as being totally sincere. No matter how perfect she gets it, she’s not an Irish speaker. This may rankle with some people.’

Critical reception

The track was reviewed as ‘impressive’ by Hot Press, saying that Kate’s ‘fiery interpretation….may well prove to be among the most controversial cuts on Common Ground’. Indeed the Irish Times review of Common Ground singled out Kate as ‘fumbling her way through’ the song. NME was more positive about the track: “Since Lunny made a significant mark on her ‘Sensual World’ album, she repays him with a swooning version of ‘Mná na hÉireann’ (Women Of Ireland) that’s as good as anything she’s done this decade.”

Kate about ‘Mná na hÉireann’

It was fun and very challenging …..I will eagerly await comments from all Irish-speaking listeners in particular. I’m sure Ma gave me a helping hand! (Kate Bush Club Newsletter, December 1995)

Donal Lunny about ‘Mná na hÉirann’

Not being an Irish speaker, she had to learn the words phonetically and took enormous pains over that. We exchanged, at the time I think it was faxes, of phonetic versions of it and spoke over the phone, went over the pronunciations, and eventually she got it pretty well. (Kate Bush sings as Gaeilge – Donal Lunny on working with a legend, RTÉ Radio 1 (Ireland), 4 September 2020)” – Kate Bush Encyclopedia

The Irish Connection: 9.5/10: With Bush singing ‘Irish rebel music’ in Irish, it is probably one of the most pure and potent ‘Irish song’ she ever recorded. It is a very authentic and brave testament and tribute to a country that is very dear to her.

TWO: Night of the Swallow

From the Album: The Dreaming

Release Date: 13th September, 1982 (album)/21st November, 1983 (single)

Producer: Kate Bush

The Lowdown:

“Formats

The song was ultimately released as a single in Ireland, most likely because of the Irish nature of the song, featuring instrumental accompaniment by members of the Irish bands Planxty and the Chieftains. The single was released on 21 November 1983, over a year after the release of the album The Dreaming. The B-side was Houdini.
When the single was released, around 1000 copies were made with a picture sleeve; the vinyl 7″ was pressed in England (presumably) and the sleeve produced in Ireland. More vinyl was produced than sleeves; because the single did not sell well, by the time the next shipment of 7″ singles was in transit the single had already flopped. The surplus discs hung around and from about 1990 copies with a lighterweight sleeve appeared. And so, the original copies had card sleeves whereas later versions had paper sleeves.

Kate about ‘Night Of The Swallow’

Unfortunately a lot of men do begin to feel very trapped in their relationships and I think, in some situations, it is because the female is so scared, perhaps of her insecurity, that she needs to hang onto him completely. In this song she wants to control him and because he wants to do something that she doesn’t want him to she feels that he is going away. It’s almost on a parallel with the mother and son relationship where there is the same female feeling of not wanting the young child to move away from the nest. Of course, from the guys point of view, because she doesn’t want him to go, the urge to go is even stronger. For him, it’s not so much a job as a challenge; a chance to do something risky and exciting. But although that woman’s very much a stereotype I think she still exists today. (Paul Simper, ‘Dreamtime Is Over’. Melody Maker (UK), 16 October 1982)

Ever since I heard my first Irish pipe music it has been under my skin, and every time I hear the pipes, it’s like someone tossing a stone in my emotional well, sending ripples down my spine. I’ve wanted to work with Irish music for years, but my writing has never really given me the opportunity of doing so until now. As soon as the song was written, I felt that aceilidhband would be perfect for the choruses. The verses are about a lady who’s trying to keep her man from accepting what seems to be an illegal job. He is a pilot and has been hired to fly some people into another country. No questions are to be asked, and she gets a bad feeling from the situation. But for him, the challenge is almost more exciting than the job itself, and he wants to fly away. As the fiddles, pipes and whistles start up in the choruses, he is explaining how it will be all right. He’ll hide the plane high up in the clouds on a night with no moon, and he’ll swoop over the water like a swallow.

Bill Whelan is the keyboard player with Planxty, and ever since Jay played me an album of theirs I have been a fan. I rang Bill and he tuned into the idea of the arrangement straight away. We sent him a cassette, and a few days later he phoned the studio and said, “Would you like to hear the arrangement I’ve written?”
I said I’d love to, but how?

“Well, Liam is with me now, and we could play it over the phone.”

I thought how wonderful he was, and I heard him put down the phone and walk away. The cassette player started up. As the chorus began, so did this beautiful music – through the wonder of telephones it was coming live from Ireland, and it was very moving. We arranged that I would travel to Ireland with Jay and the multi-track tape, and that we would record in Windmill Lane Studios, Dublin. As the choruses began to grow, the evening drew on and the glasses of Guiness, slowly dropping in level, became like sand glasses to tell the passing of time. We missed our plane and worked through the night. By eight o’clock the next morning we were driving to the airport to return to London. I had a very precious tape tucked under my arm, and just as we were stepping onto the plane, I looked up into the sky and there were three swallows diving and chasing the flies. (Kate Bush Club newsletter, October 1982)” – Kate Bush Encyclopedia

The Irish Connection: 10/10: I think this might be Bush’s most ‘Irish’ track. Not only did she employ the service of the loyal and super-talented Liam O'Flynn (uilleann pipes, penny whistle), Seán Keane (fiddle) and Dónal Lunny (bouzouki), the song was released as a single in Ireland only. Even though it did not chart well, it is still a nod to the nation and a special single released for fans there.

ONE: Jig of Life

From the Album: Hounds of Love

Release Date: 16th September, 1985

Producer: Kate Bush

The Lowdown:

“Kate about ‘Jig Of Life’

At this point in the story, it’s the future self of this person coming to visit them to give them a bit of help here. I mean, it’s about time they have a bit of help. So it’s their future self saying, “look, don’t give up, you’ve got to stay alive, ’cause if you don’t stay alive, that means I don’t.” You know, “and I’m alive, I’ve had kids [laughs]. I’ve been through years and years of life, so you have to survive, you mustn’t give up.”
This was written in Ireland. At one point I did quite a lot of writing, you know, I mean lyrically, particularly. And again it was a tremendous sort of elemental dose I was getting, you know, all this beautiful countryside. Spending a lot of time outside and walking, so it had this tremendous sort of stimulus from the outside. And this was one of the tracks that the Irish musicians that we worked with was featured on.
There was a tune that my brother Paddy found which… he said “you’ve got to hear this, you’ll love it.” And he was right [laughs], he played it to me and I just thought, you know, “this would be fantastic somehow to incorporate here.”

Was just sort of, pull this person up out of despair. (Richard Skinner, ‘Classic Albums interview: Hounds Of Love. Radio 1 (UK), aired 26 January 1992)” – Kate Bush Encyclopedia

The Irish Connection: 9.5/10: Another extremely Irish song, its lyrics do not reference the country, yet Jig of Life is awash with Irish musicians and instruments (Dónal Lunny (bouzouki), John Sheahan (whistles and fiddles), Liam O'Flynn (uilleann pipes). They bring this rousing and joyous track to life. It appears at a vital moment on Hounds of Love’s second side, The Ninth Wave. Her brother, John Carder Bush, provides narration right near the end of the track that is an Irish accent. All the more reason why it is a gleaming emerald in the midst of her 1985 masterpiece album. A redemptive, spirited and busy song that injects new hope into The Ninth Wave and its heroine in peril (a suite which, I feel, warrants a short film adaptation).

FEATURE: Kate Bush’s Underrated The Line, The Cross and The Curve: A New Look Inside the Intriguing Short Film

FEATURE:

 

 

Kate Bush’s Underrated The Line, The Cross and The Curve

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush whilst filming The Line, the Cross and the Curve in 1993/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari

A New Look Inside the Intriguing Short Film

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THIS is in my mind…

as the premiere for The Line, the Cross and the Curve premiered on 13th November, 1993. Just over thirty years ago, this new project came to life. Late-1993 was an interesting time for Kate Bush. Her final studio album until 2005, The Red Shoes, was released. During a relatively quiet year in terms of singles and activity (compared to previous years), she put out two big releases in November 1993. It is something you would get more now. A visual album. Bush releasing a studio album and short film more or less at the same time. It was a one-off that I think is a lot stronger than people make out. I have looked at this short film before, though I am compelled to revisit it. Thirty years on, it is not discussed that much. It intrigues me greatly, as it was Kate Bush acting and directing. She had directed some of her music videos and took on some quite ambitious shoots (Cloudbusting from 1985’s Hounds of Love springs to mind). This was a new level! Starring alongside Miranda Richardson, there was moderate appreciation from some for this underrated gem. I am going to continue on. First, the Kate Bush Encyclopedia provide details about the excellent The Line, the Cross and the Curve:

“The Line, the Cross and the Curve is a musical short film directed by and starring Kate Bush. Released in 1993, it co-starred Miranda Richardson and noted choreographer Lindsay Kemp, who had served as dance mentor to Bush early in her career. The film is essentially an extended music video featuring songs from Bush’s 1993 album, The Red Shoes, which in turn was inspired by the classic movie musical-fantasy The Red Shoes.

In this version of the tale, Bush plays a frustrated singer-dancer who is enticed by a mysterious woman (Richardson) into putting on a pair of magical ballet slippers. Once on her feet, the shoes start dancing on their own, and Bush’s character (who is never referred to by name) must battle Richardson’s character to free herself from the spell of the shoes. Her guide on this strange journey is played by Kemp.

The film premiered at the London Film Festival on 13 November 1993. Kate got up on stage before the screening to thank “everyone who’d been a part of making the film” and to speak of her trepidation because her opus was following a brilliant Wallace & Gromit animation by Aardman called ‘The wrong trousers’. Subsequently, the film was released direct-to-video in most areas and was only a modest success. Soon after its release, Bush effectively dropped out of the public eye until her eighth studio album Aerial was released in November 2005.

Two years after UK release, due to the late promotion in the US, the film was nominated for the Long Form Music Video at the 1996 Grammy Awards. The film continues to be played in arthouse cinemas around the world, such as a screening at Hollywood Theatre in 2014 where the film was screened along with modern dance interpretations to Bush’s music”.

When I wrote about The Line, the Cross and the Curve about a year ago, I did suggest pluses and minuses. Officially released on 6th May, 1994 (its premiere was in 1993), there is a lot of symbolism and interesting visual references throughout the film. In spite of the fact Bush’s acting was not as strong as some cast members like Miranda Richardson, it was a glimpse into what could have been. Someone who, with a director behind her, could have had a film career. I think she has inspired modern artists who step into film. Lady Gaga for one. She is one of the great ‘what-ifs’ when it comes to stepping into film. I think that about Tori Amos and Gwen Stefani – two great artists who really could have been fascinating on the big screen. This fascinating article breaks downs the songs that appear through The Line, the Cross and the Curve:

“Introduction:

Red shoes function as a folklore motif rather than as a full-fledged "myth." But their manifestation in the Kate Bush film signals a need to read the entire film itself archetypally, or mythologically. The nice feature of this film is that it's a rare instance of mythology for women: female identity is at issue, and it doesn't hinge on finding a man. Instead, what is this about? What is the problem represented by the shoes, and what advice or wisdom emerges for when one experiences this crisis?

Background:

Hans Christian Andersen, "The Red Shoes."

In this fairy tale, a girl named Karen (the Danish form of Katherine) desires and therefore must be brutally cursed and mutilated (depeditated?).

The Red Shoes (1948).

In this film, a ballerina is torn between her career and a man and therefore must be killed by a train.

Kate Bush, The Red Shoes (1994).

This album (the last before a long hiatus that ended only at the end of 2005 with the release of Aerial) includes all the songs of the film and others.

Clarissa Pinkola Estés, The Red Shoes.

A self-help videocassette whose catalog description reads: "With a gift for penetrating the shadows that darken our lives, Dr. Estés helps us grasp how the starvation for inner life corresponds with disastrous outer choices, and the way to recover and restore your critical inner balance. Using a fairy tale deeply rooted in our psyches -- "The Red Shoes" -- Dr. Estés illuminates how people are driven to excessive behaviors. In our culture, she begins, we may travel life's path in one of two ways: in hand-made shoes -- crafted with love and care according to the unique needs of the individual soul; or in red shoes -- initially promising instant fulfillment, but ultimately leading to a hollow, painful, split existence. Drawing from real-world examples, Dr. Estés analyzes the deep-seated hunger that leads to addictions and explains how to tap instinctual forces that offer strength and life direction. Cassette / 90 minutes.... $10.95." This is certainly more recent than the Kate Bush film and probably derived slimily from it in fact.

Summary:

"Rubberband Girl" --

"If I could learn to give like a rubberband, I'd be back on my feet."

[A Buddhist notion, until the straitjacketing. Who is controlling the dance such that one must bend "like a rubberband"? After the song, electrical power problems suspend practice. Kate seems unhappy or dissatisfied. She retreats to a room.]

"And So Is Love" --

"We used to say, 'ah hell, we're young.' But now we see that life is sad."

[In the mythology of some cultures, the black bird represents the soul. The bird here flies around the room frantically searching for a way out when it slams into one of the windows and dies. According to some dream interpretation, the blackbird represents misfortune or the failure of one to utilize his or her full potential. The bird is laid on pages of music (associated with the cross later). As one mythology student (Tahoma) read this scene, "This action may signify a connection between the dead bird and the character's heart -- because later the cross appears on the sheet music to represent her heart returning. The bird may be a manifestation of her heart and her own feelings of being confined in her ability. Other than that the bird could have just been the key to open up the portal between the worlds, foreshadowing bad fortune to come."
Abruptly, in runs a woman with bandaged hands and noticeably connected eyebrows: "I'm not meant to be here. I don't understand how this has happened.... You must help me.... I was trying to find my way out." Claiming a fire, she says, "I can't use my hands; I can't use my hands. I have to get back ... home. There's only one way left for me to return, and it lies in your hands now." Kate agrees to help: "We'll get you home." At the instruction of the woman, Kate finds three pieces of paper on the piano and obediently draws a line, a cross, and a curve. The scraps fly to the hand of the intruder. In thanks, she offers Kate "my pretty red shoes. Take them. They're yours, as a gift."]

"The Red Shoes" --

"I'd love [not "want"] to dance like you; put them on and your dream will come true."
"You can dance the dream with your body on."
"It's gonna be the way you always thought it would be, but it's gonna be no illusion. It's gonna be the way you always dreamt about it, but it's gonna be really happening to you."
"The moment I put them on, I knew I had done something wrong."
"It's the red shoes -- they can't stop dancing."
"The shoes do a kind of voodoo; they're gonna make her dance 'til her legs fall off."

[The two women become doppelgangers, with the fiend woman singing in Kate's voice and the two being blurred choreographically. The woman's bandages unwrap themselves as the ribbons on the shoes tie themselves to Kate. The song identifies the curve as Kate's smile, the cross as her heart, and the line as her path, which she has apparently lost now. Kate is compelled through the looking-glass by an odd male character. We end up in a cheesy-looking underworld hell with flames, skulls, and red devils. A fiendish-looking male character seems to function like a director, stamping a stick on the ground and shouting intensely. After the song, while the evil woman escapes by running through a tunnel, Kate's legs are kicking wildly and she is desperate to stop them, calling to the male character whose back is turned, "Get a knife. Get a knife and cut them off." He insists repeatedly, "It's really happening to you." He calms the feet temporarily and tells her, "She tricked you, you know. You must sing back the symbols." They go see Lily, a grandmotherly woman dressed in blue and sitting in a rocker. She explains: "You are under the spell of the red shoes, but to break the spell you are not helpless." Kate confesses that she is "scared," and Lily comforts her: "There is no need for you to be scared." Lily tells her she must "sing back the symbols." (The man said that, but it means something coming from Grandma.) "Your four angels will guard you and protect you." Lily offers a prayer to the earth, calling for the spiritual sun to be revealed.]

"Lily" --

"I said 'Lily, oh Lily, I don't feel safe. I feel like life has blown a great big hole through me.'"

[Lily choreographs from her chair on the back of which hangs her cane, indicating that guardian angels protect one "walking in a vale of darkness" -- for Kate: Gabriel ahead (with flower), Raphael behind (with staff), Michael to the right (with sword), and Uriel on the left (with globe). Lily draws with her cane a protective circle of fire, but ultimately must go. At the end, a line appears in the snow, suggesting that Kate may be singing back the symbol for her path. But she is still stressed: "I can't go on. I'm torn between what I was and what is to become of me. In these shoes every step I take is laced with madness. They fill me with pain and confusion and with thoughts that are not my own. I have danced their dances. I see streets and buildings I know so well, although I have never been to these places.... I see me falling. I feel my fear. And yet, I was never here. I am torn between what I was and what is to become of me. These shoes are all anger and passion. I am possessed. And I no longer have the strength to fight them." A voice tells her: "Call upon those you love."]

"Moments of Pleasure" --

"Just being alive -- it can really hurt. These moments given are a gift from time. Just let us try to give these moments back to those we love, to those who will survive...."

[Kate spins in the air through the entire song, the high point and most spiritually reassuring song of the video and album. After brushes with friends and family in a snowstorm, she hits a wall of snow and ice, but appears to have sung back her heart since a cross appears burnt in a sheet of music. The witchy woman appears and we get more doppelganger material. Kate asks, "What have you done to me?" "Only what was done to me.... We have a lot in common, you and I." Kate insists, "You're scared because you know you're losing your power over me." But the woman taunts Kate: "You are so weak, so stupid." She says that Kate has no path, no heart, "and I don't see you smiling." Kate insists, regarding the symbols, "They belong to me; they know they're mine." Kate chases the woman to retrieve them.]

"Eat the Music" --

"Split me open, with devotion, / Reach your hands in, and rip my heart out." "All is revealed."

[At the end of a colorful Dionysia, a fruitopia, Kate is exhausted. But silently, she realizes that she's in her own shoes again. The red shoes are back on the feet of the other woman, and the scraps of paper fly back to Kate. The man tells her to run back through the mirror -- the last barrier -- but the woman jumps in the way and hisses. An explosion is coming, and when the woman stumbles backwards and breaks the mirror, the realm through the looking-glass collapses. Kate is outside, where the power has returned. Inside, the red-shoed feet whip manically from beneath a pile of rubble. The man looks at them and says, "Hello."]

Someone else's shoes indicate someone else's dance, and if you find yourself doing someone else's dance and that you've lost your smile and path and heart, then you are leading an inauthentic life. There's no "sin" here for which Kate is being punished, nor for you when you find you've adopted someone else's notion of how to think, how to worship, what's a practical major in school, what's the right kind of job.
Help comes from mentors, who may even be gone now. But whatever remains of them, perhaps only the spiritual presence or the vestiges inside you, they are there for a reason when you need them. Call on memories of "moments of pleasure" -- these are meditations but with healing personal content. Lose yourself, or shed your old self in a dionysian ecstasy which in one sense is being torn apart by Maenads but in another is a dismantling in order for rejuvenation or rebirth.
It's all going to be okay”.

Thirty years ago, The Line, the Cross and the Curve was premiered at the London Film Festival. It would get wider release in the U.K. in May 1994. I think that it is a shame there are not more photos from the premiere and much beyond that. There are some great behind the scenes and on-set photos that Guido Harari took (I have used some in this feature). Some of the very best of Kate Bush. I hope that one day, The Line, the Cross and the Curve gets a 4K HD remaster. It does deserve to be seen by a new generation of fans. Whilst not something everyone loves, there are some clear highlights and magic moments! Taking on so much at this time, Bush was feeling a bit of strain writing, directing and acting (crew and people on the film reported she would get headaches and was flagging at times). As the film that inspired Bush’s short film (and her studio album of the same name), The Red Shoes, is seventy-five this year. I want to revisit a feature from Collider from last year. In light of Netflix’s Stranger Things taking Bush to the top of the U.K. singles chart with Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) and, in the process, making the song cinematic, they looked back at Bush’s sole cinematic outing. There are reason to revisit it:

“Bush had long expressed a desire to collaborate with famed British director Michael Powell, director of 1948's The Red Shoes, itself an interpretation of the classic tale told through the lens of a modern ballet company. However, the two were unable to work together before his death in February 1990, though the inspiration she drew from the film is clear. In essence, the film is en extended music video; it would end up receiving a 1996 Grammy nomination for Best Long Form Video. A recording artist first, Bush's primary storytelling convention is the music itself, and her material is successful in helping express the short's larger narrative arc, taking us through sonic and visual peaks and valleys.

Lead single "Rubberband Girl" kicks off the film—its percussive, steady beat catches the viewer's attention immediately, accompanied by Bush being virtually puppeted by a fellow dancer through a series of simple but effective movements.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush whilst filming The Line, the Cross and the Curve in 1993/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari

The whole setup is decidedly unglamorous, a stark contrast to what awaits us shortly. Following the power outage, Bush lights a single candle, drawing us into the atmospheric and moody timbre of "And So Is Love," which also features first-rate guitar work by Eric Clapton. Sensual and dark, it's in direct opposition to the chaotic energy of Richardson's character, a vision in red and black who we meet at the song's end. As she woos and convinces Bush to help her, we hear the album's title track, "The Red Shoes," all Irish jig and pan flute, filled with frenetic and enticing rhythm. Soon, Bush is cursed with the shoes, becoming her own red and black vision, venturing into the mirror dimension and pleading for help. "Lily," named after the wise elderly woman who helps guide Bush on her journey, is a prayer of strength, promising to help Bush "protect herself with fire." Soon, we hear the instrumental strings of the title track once more, and all hope seems lost until Kemp's specter implores Bush to "call on the strength of the ones you love." This leads to the most beautiful song in the film, "Moments of Pleasure," whose lyrics about, "Just being alive/It can really hurt/And these moments given/Are a gift from time" hold perhaps even more significance in light of a world still in the clutches of a pandemic. The final track, "Eat the Music," is a joyous ode to self-expression, self-love, and falling under the spell of the drum, accompanied by Bush swaying along to the sound of an ebullient chorus and visuals of abundant fruit—a signal that the spirit has once again bloomed in her, breaking the curse and allowing her to return to this mortal coil.

Though Bush was reportedly displeased with the final product, it's an artist secure enough in her own power and vision that can create an ambitious piece of film alongside an equally ambitious album. Not one afraid of revisiting her old work, Bush would rerecord a majority of the album's tracks for her Director's Cut project in 2011, and "Lily" would serve as the opening number of her 2014 residency Before the Dawn. As more and more people begin to discover the Kate Bush library, this is the ideal time to take in this fascinating, unique piece of cinema featuring of one of music's most unique artists”.

It is a short film that I really and think should be repackaged and released again. Get a proper televisual outing. I think it has been on the BBC fairly recently, though the YouTube videos of The Line, the Cross and the Curve are not great quality. If Kate Bush herself has dismissed the short as bollocks and something she would rather forget, there are plenty of that would love to see this brilliant and underrated exploration! Whether you see it as one of the first visual albums/comparison to an album or something that was a two-part project inspired by The Red Shoes film, The Line, the Cross and the Curve is compelling and, at times, stunningly beautiful and imaginative! If you have time to see it, set aside some time and enter…

THIS majestic world.

FEATURE: Adagio and Strings: Saluting The F-List’s New President, Hannah Peel, and Gender Inequality in Film and Classical Composition

FEATURE:

 

 

Adagio and Strings

IN THIS PHOTO: Hannah Peel/PHOTO CREDIT: Phil Sharp

Saluting The F-List’s New President, Hannah Peel, and Gender Inequality in Film and Classical Composition

_________

WITHIN all the bad and horrific news…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Hannah Peel was among the winners at the Music Producers Guild Awards 2023

from the past few weeks, there has been some good news in music. Moments, announcements and stuff that gives hope and some happiness! One occurred earlier this week. Hannah Peel is an esteemed and accomplished composer. She composed the score for The Midwich Cuckoos (2022). She has also released brilliant solo albums like Fir Wave (2021). Check out Peel’s episodes of Night Tracks. She is someone I hope gets another regular show on BBC Radio 3 or Scala Radio - where she can explore new Classical composers, films scores and other areas of Electronic and Classical music. Someone I can see doing a show on BBC Radio 6 Music or BBC Radio 4. I admire her work greatly! She is in a field that is quite imbalanced. In terms of female composers in the U.K. and Europe, there is an imbalance and lack of visibility when it comes to women. I will come to that. The good news that came this week is that Hannah Peel has been announced as the new President of The F-List. It was created by Vick Bain. She is an advocate and campaigner for equality and diversity in the music industry. Follow The F-List on Instagram, Twitter and their official site. Music Week were among those to highlight the news of Peel’s new role – and the vital and ongoing work that The F-List does:

“The F-List For Music has named musician and composer Hannah Peel as its president.

Peel takes over from classical composer Professor Shirley J Thompson, who was herself preceded by Brix Smith and Anoushka Shankar.

The presidential role is an honorary role for high-profile musicians to build support and awareness for the work of The F-List For Music.

The F-List For Music was set up during the pandemic as a support network for women and non-binary musicians. It is the only nationwide organisation supporting women and gender-diverse musicians across all genres of music in the UK.

Hannah Peel is a Northern Irish artist, composer, producer and radio presenter. Her solo record career includes the shortlisted 2021 Mercury Music Prize album Fir Wave, as well as Awake But Always Dreaming and the space-themed Mary Casio: Journey to Cassiopeia, scored for synthesisers and a 30-piece colliery brass band

Hannah Peel won the Best Television Soundtrack category in the Ivor Novello Awards for The Midwich Cuckoos. She was Emmy-nominated for the score for Game Of Thrones: The Last Watch, while her soundtrack for TV thriller The Deceived won a 2022 Royal Television Society NI award and the Music Producer’s Guild’s best Original Score Recording.

A regular collaborator with Paul Weller, she contributed arrangements to his No.1 albums On Sunset and Fat Pop. Last year she released The Unfolding with Paraorchestra, the world's only disabled and non-disabled integrated orchestra which went to No.1 in the UK classical charts.

Hannah Peel said: “I am extremely passionate about the work that The F-list carries out, and how essential it is for our UK music industry. It is not an easy industry to navigate and there is no secret formula to ‘success’, however, knowing that there is a talented and dedicated community, not only collating our talents and skills, but helping make connections and shouting about our assets to the world is vitally important!”

Peel added: “There are now more female higher-profile players leading us as role models than ever before, but shocking statistics are still showing a major disparity between the gender gap in music. Highlighting those musicians behind the scenes, who also produce, engineer, orchestrate, conduct… The F-List continues to positively build upon and endorse a supportive place that reflects our rich diversity. It is an honour to represent this wealth of British talent.”

The F-List For Music helps UK women and gender diverse musicians overcome structural barriers and sustain their music careers for longer.

Since forming three years ago, the not-for-profit organisation has organised online events for more than 500 participants, taken 28 women through their flagship ‘Culture of Belonging’ producer training programme at Miloco Studios, formed partnerships with industry organisations and worked with numerous events and festivals helping them source diverse talent, such as Under the Stars, Primadonna and Out and Wild.

The social enterprise also gives visibility to underrepresented talent through their website, playlists and social media channels, and by running the online directory – an ever-expanding community with over 6,000 musicians, songwriters and composers”.

IN THIS PHOTO: The F-List’s Founder, Vick Bain

Before coming to subjects around gender inequality among composers and orchestras, I want to stay specifically with Hannah Peel. The F-List’s Founder Vick Bain discussed with me ways in which The F-List are striving towards change and making incredible female talent more visible for festival bookers. She also reacted to Hannah Peel’s appointment as President and why she is a perfect fit for The F-List. It has been great getting an interesting and passionate insight from someone who has worked tirelessly to raise awareness and help highlight incredible women through the music industry:

Hey Vick. Congratulations on all the amazing work The F-List continues to do! Did you think, when you founded it, it would grow into what it has today?

A combination of yes and no. I founded The F-List in the midst of the pandemic when I wasn’t sure what our future would look like at all, but I just knew something special could happen with this idea. And here we are three years later, ploughing on, slowly growing our financial stability and we have helped hundreds of women and gender diverse musicians over the years and that is what I am most proud of.

“Not only is Hannah an incredible music talent. She really cares what the industry is like for other women”

Your new President is the wonderful Hannah Peel. Obviously you admire her music and composition talent, but what was it that about her that made her the perfect choice to become President of The F-List?

Not only is Hannah an incredible music talent. She really cares what the industry is like for other women. Not every artist at that level has the time, or makes the time, to give back when they are at the top of their game, which is such a huge shame. I have been exceptionally humbled by all of our Presidents who have helped us so far. They have all been generous, and Hannah follows on from Anoushka Shankar, Brix Smith and Professor Shirley J. Thompson as a brilliant role model.

What qualities and unique perspectives and skills do you think Hannah will bring to the role?

She works in an exceptionally male-dominated field, which is that of screen (film, tv and games) composing. Our previous Presidents have represented genres spanning across the industry. One of the unique things about The F-List is it is multi-genre, so we have over six thousand musicians and groups listed in the directory from ALL genres. Because I have always been of the belief musicians are musicians and face similar challenges in their careers, so it is great to have someone so high profile from screen composing.

 Even though festival bills and radio playlists are slowly moving in the right direction, there is still a way to go. How do you feel when you look at them each year? Do you feel enough is being done to create balance and equality?

It’s a very mixed picture. Some festivals are slaying it, especially a lot of grassroots festivals and definitely the ones we partner with on our Doing The Right Thing network, but certain genres still show a lack of imagination and ambition. Rock is one of these and yet there are many hundreds of women on The F-List who have tagged themselves with ‘rock’ and ‘metal’ (and therefore have expertise in these genres) who could be booked, as well as other organisations such as Loud Women, who put on brilliant live shows. We can act as the talent development pipeline to the bigger rock festivals and onto headlining these stages; there just has to be a drive from the top to make it happen. But we just need to look across the water to Primavera in Spain to see a festival which is doing it exactly right.

“And it just blows my mind they are not all being booked, signed, and snapped up by the industry in greater numbers”

It seems, to me, that women are creating the best and most original music, yet it is not being reflected in opportunities and exposure. Would you agree with that statement?

100% this!!!!!  I listen to new music every single day by women and gender diverse musicians who create Listings on our directory and upload their music… incredible and talented musicians. And it just blows my mind they are not all being booked, signed, and snapped up by the industry in greater numbers. I highly recommend to all of your readers: do a search through the directory and listen! So many fabulous musicians.

There are a lot of challenges and areas for improvement throughout the industry when it comes to equality. What are some of the biggest music faces in 2024 and how achievable do you think they are?

We at The F-List have been formally participating in the Misogyny in Music government inquiry this past 18 months, and during the course of my PhD (I am researching women’s careers in music), I’ve heard dozens of women and gender non-conforming people speaking about the blatant sexism, discrimination, and harassment they have experienced during the course of their careers - both in business as well as creative roles.  We have a lot of work to do, as a society and within our industry, to ensure women are afforded the same levels of respect, support, and reward as our male-counterparts. Government needs to strengthen equality legislation; music companies need to address their own statistics, and every individual in the industry needs to see what positive changes they can make too. So it’s multi-level and it’s going to be a continuous process over the course of our lifetimes!  This is not an easy fix that can be ‘done’ this year I am afraid. But I set up The F-List in a wave of optimism, determination, and belief that together we can make change. So I am hopeful we are on the right track”.

I want to lead with a new report that highlights a gender divide in the European film industry. It highlights, among other things, how things are quite stark regarding film composers. It is important that we discover more about the statistics and situation:

“The European Audiovisual Observatory has published a new report on female professionals active in the European film industry, which states that only 26% of directors of European feature films are women. The gender gap was more pronounced among cinematographers and composers, where women only represented 11% and 10% of the workforce, respectively. In turn, the female share was higher among producers (35%) and screenwriters (29%).

This report – Female Professionals in European Film Production 2023 edition – provides an overview of the gender disparity among film professionals working in the European film industry.

The report considers the origin of film works, rather than the nationality of directors. A film was of European origin when produced and majority-financed by a European country. For this analysis, the 46 member states of the Council of Europe are considered European countries.

The report’s scope includes seven professional categories: directors, screenwriters, producers, cinematographers, composers, editors and lead roles.

It found that women accounted for 26% of all directors of European feature films active between 2018 and 2022. On average, women helmed fewer films than men and they were less likely to be the sole directors of feature films than their male counterparts. For these reasons, the average share of female directors per film was 23%, a figure which is lower than the share of women among all active directors in the workforce in the same time period.

In the same period, female directors in the sample were involved, whether alone or in partnership with other colleagues, in the direction of 26% of European feature films. However, the share of films directed by female-driven* teams was only 21% – because when women co-directed a film, it was in most cases in collaboration with a male colleague. 15

The share of women among directors varied across film genres. The female share was higher among directors of documentaries (31% between 2018 and 2022) than for live-action fiction (21%) and animation films (20%).

Comparatively, the level of activity for female directors was slightly lower than for their male counterparts. The majority (74%) of filmmakers in the sample, all genders considered, only directed a single film between 2013 and 2022. However, female directors were comparatively less prolific than males: only 22% of women in the sample directed more than one film between 2013 and 2022, compared to 28% for men.

When looking at the proportion of women and men among the total number of directors of each feature film, the average share of female directors per film was 23% between 2018 and 2022. This share has only marginally increased over the last decade.

PHOTO CREDIT: cottonbro studio/Pexels

Other findings include:

Women represented 29% of screenwriters of European feature films produced between 2018 and 2022.

Among behind-the-camera roles, the highest female presence was registered among producers (35%) and screenwriters (29%).

The gender gap was most visible concerning cinematographers and composers, as women represent 11% and 10% of active professionals respectively.

The share of female professionals is progressing slowly, with variations across Europe.

On average, female professionals in film crews worked on slightly fewer films than their male counterparts, except for film editors.

Women in key crew positions were more likely than their male colleagues to work in teams, as well as in gender-mixed settings.

Documentary was the film genre with the highest share of female professionals, taking into consideration all crew roles.

Data suggest a positive correlation between the presence of at least one female co-director and an increase in the share of women working in film crews”.

IN THIS PHOTO: Composer Joanna Ward

I think that Hannah Peel, as President of The F-List, will address the situation and help highlight women in film composition. Make a space for female composers coming through. Help to address the climate and why there is an imbalance at the moment. She appeared on BBC’s Woman’s Hour (from about 49:40) with fellow composer Bishi. I am going to focus on Hannah Peel and why she is a perfect President for The F-List. I want look at a few feature throughout the years that asks why there is gender inequality when it comes to composers. The Guardian had some theories in a 2019 feature:

“One of the many arguments posed against gender balance (not only in music) is about the consistently lower percentage of applications from women in any competitive application process. More girls than boys are now taking GCSE music, but at some point between this and a professional career, many women drop off, lose heart and stop putting themselves forwards altogether.

Why? At what point are composers who happen to be women discouraged, and by who or what? What are the barriers to becoming a professional composer and do these affect one gender more than another?

Many of the answers to these questions, of course, are about wider society: about how women are portrayed in the media, about the weight of childcare and domestic arrangements disproportionately borne by women, about women being conditioned so often from a young age to “be nice”, “stop showing off”, leaving an embedded belief that shame, chastisement or punishment would follow any bold foray.

This plays out in the world of music in many different ways. Some are more obvious, such as the young black composer who was told that she “didn’t look like a composer” in her first year at conservatoire, or the established figure told that she couldn’t have written her large orchestral piece “without help”.

However, there is a more subtle edge to how composers who are women are treated. I’ve been talking recently to the brilliant young composer Joanna Ward, who has been researching gender equality in the field of composers. Part of her research has been to look at the programming of the BBC Proms 2013-18. The number of women being commissioned and programmed by the Proms is improving. However, her research reveals that women take up disproportionately less time in the programme. The average duration of a woman’s piece was 12 minutes, compared to 25 minutes for those by men. Even among world premieres (in other words, the Proms’ own commissions), the average duration of a world premiere by a woman was 11 minutes and the average duration of a world premiere by a man was 19 minutes.

In some ways it is unfair to single out the Proms. Their commitment to gender equality in commissioning is laudable, and their data is more readily available than that of many others. (I suspect other series and festivals would be no better and in many cases much worse.) And what the data doesn’t tell you is how this striking disparity has arisen. Are men being commissioned to write longer pieces? Are women more likely to compose shorter pieces? If so, why?

But it is a stark illustration that if you are an aspiring female composer, you will be looking at a future where, even if youcan avoid overtly sexist comments and behaviour, it seems likely that you will be allowed to take up less space than your male colleagues”. 

This 2021 feature from Classic FM revealed how women are responsible for only five percent of the pieces scheduled in Classical music concerts today. Why, in 2023, is there still an issue with regards gender and highlighting great female composers?! I shall come to that too. In 2020, GRAMMY spoke with the GRAMMY-winning Classical composer, Jennifer Higdon. She discussed how to succeed as a woman in this male-dominated industry:

“This year’s GRAMMY-winning composer Jennifer Higdon faced her fair share of challenges early on in her career. Getting her start at age 15 when she taught herself to play the flute, it took years before Higdon developed her striking rhythmic, neo-romantic style, and more than a decade before she would be taken seriously by the classical community. But several concertos, an opera and three GRAMMYs later, Higdon’s list of accomplishments is as long as it is rich, even marveling fans as recently as two weeks ago when the Library of Congress announced that Higdon’s GRAMMY-winning Percussion Concerto has been inducted into the National Recording Registry. Higdon, who is currently practicing social distancing at her home in Philadelphia while she works on her upcoming opera Woman With Eyes Closed,  took a break to share a few lessons with us about how she arrived at this level of success, how she remains proactive, and how other women can follow in her footsteps.

IN THIS PHOTO: Composer and orchestrator Dani Howard

Program Directors are out there looking

When asked about what improvements are still needed in the classical community, Higdon replied, "I want to see more women on programs." And Higdon makes a strong point, given that only 1.8 percent of music performed by the top 22 orchestras in the United States included women composers in their programming, according to a survey of the 2014-2015 concert season. And among living composers being programmed, women accounted only 14%, which means we can’t go blaming Beethoven and Mozart for the imbalance.

The question begs to be asked: why do we still see this imbalance in concert programming? According to Higdon, there are several right answers, and they don’t all involve gender bias. “Sometimes people just don’t know enough women composers. They just don’t realize how many women are out there working—working hard,” Higdon explains. The truth is, women composers are out there—just as many as there are men. In fact, at the Curtis Institute where Higdon has taught composition since 1994, more than half of her composition students are women.

Thankfully though, according to Higdon, in the past couple of years, people have become a lot more cognizant of the fact that there aren’t enough women composers on classical concerts. "It’s getting better, but I think there’s lots of room for improvement." She goes on to explain how, more and more often, artistic administrators who do the programming for orchestras are starting to look around for women composers to include in their concerts.

When the answer is gender bias, people are not inclined to share their biases and prejudices anyway. "People don’t come up and tell you, ‘Oh we’re not going to program you because you’re a woman,'" Jennifer explains. Consequently, women composers can be left questioning themselves, in the dark as to why they aren’t being heard. But Higdon is a radiant picture of steadfast perseverance, as no ounce of prejudice was ever enough to stop her from creating her best work. "I can remember in the early days when I was starting my career, probably in the late 90s, people were saying things to me like ‘I can’t believe a woman wrote that.'" At first, Higdon’s reaction to comments like these was to ask, "Really? What does that mean exactly?" But eventually, her response evolved into, "Yeah, a woman wrote it! It’s a fact. You need to get used to it."

Let your music do the talking

Perhaps the most important lesson emphasized by Higdon is that no composer should ever give up and stop writing, even if she feels excluded, outnumbered, or unheard. "Keep writing the best music that you can," Higdon says. "That’s going to be the best argument to get your music out there; to have music where people go, ‘Oh, I want to hear that again!'" The sound advice is as empowering as it is true, for it comes from one of America’s most performed living composers. It is Higdon’s experience that if you keep creating your best work, eventually the fact that you’re a woman will become less and less relevant. The music will speak for itself”.

What can be done?! This 2017 feature suggested ideas such as embracing female composers and sharing their work. Classical music is also unique in the sense that so many concerts favour the work of deceased composers. Names we all know very well. Rather than actively seeking the work of new female Classic composers, programmes are still quite rigid regarding male composers from often centuries ago. Even as early as 2014, features like this show how there is internalised sexualisation of women within Classical music. It extends to film composers too. Like Pop and other areas of music, emphasis placed on selling their image and looks rather than talent and what comes out of their mouths. Earlier this year, Claire Gibault spoke with The New York Times about sexism and discrimination she has faced as a conductor. Maybe there are fewer female composers being encouraged, even if there are more women in orchestras. There is this imbalance that is slow to reverse. There are no easy solutions. A lot of the issues revolve around this assumption that men are more worthy and fewer incredible female Classic and film composers are worth investigating. Hannah Peel is an example of an innovative composer whose work is extraordinary and inspiring. As President as The F-List, she will be able to highlight incredible women across all genres - through she will also look to film and Classical composition and help support and expose the work of amazing women. I know Peel will highlight imbalances and issues that need tackling and redressing. There are great organisations working alongside The F-List, helping to bring about discussion and affect change.

 PHOTO CREDIT: cottonbro studio/Pexels

More needs to be done at educational level to ensure that girls are supported if they want to become composers in film or Classical music. There are inspiring composers at the top of their game who are role models and can act as guides. Gender stereotypes exist in music. Assumption girls won’t want to be anything other than a Pop artist. That girls can’t compose or have that ability. Encouraging more modern composers and changing the syllabus so that new work from female composers is made visible. From there, orchestras need to be more gender-blind and less discriminatory and restrictive when it comes to female musicians and conductors. Great film scores and soundtracks from women should be as revered and spotlighted as much as that of men. There is a lot that the industry needs to be done. There are some wonderful composer out there, yet we mainly hear about men. Legends and modern icons are in our midst. Female filmmakers and young filmmakers are more likely to support female composers knowing their struggle. Bigger male filmmakers and huge studios perhaps far less reliant on men. Hannah Peel’s appointment as President of The F-List gives encouragement for many reasons. She can help shine a light on inequality and years-long issues and add personal perspective and passion. Festival bills are still massively imbalanced. As an artist, she has this unique perspective and can help support so many female musicians who are festival-worthy and help bring about progress and pipeline unclogging. She is also someone dedicated to progress and evolution. With the wonderful Peel as their President, the wonderful and hugely important The F-List is…

IN mighty fine hands!

FEATURE: He’s a Man: Highlighting Ideals of Masculinity and Calling Out Toxicity in Music

FEATURE:

 

 

He’s a Man

 IN THIS PHOTO: Bob Vylan

Highlighting Ideals of Masculinity and Calling Out Toxicity in Music

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ONE of my favourite songs of the year…

PHOTO CREDIT: Mustafa ezz/Pexels

comes from the duo Bob Vylan. He’s a Man is taken from their upcoming album, Humble As the Sun. One reason why the song resonated was because of its messages. Some of the lyrics seem to point towards modern masculinity or a particular type of man. Lines such as “Pinch a cheeky bottom, says there's never harm in looking” suggests that, today, there are men who think it is okay to be obnoxious and abusive. They are a man. That is what men do. It is a savage and sharp song that is pulsating and timely. It got me thinking about Bob Vylan in general, though also whether masculinity and ideas of manhood are discussed through music much. I think groups like IDLES and Sleaford Mods have addressed it in the past. With so many cases of sexual assault and abuse from men inside music and out, there is a need really to call that out but also define what modern masculinity and manhood should be about. There are still so many who are violent and antisocial men who thinks that is how they behave. Many idolising the wrong people. In an age of Andrew Tates, what role can music take in steering so many impressionable young men away from the sort of misogyny and hatred that you get towards women? He’s a Man might highlight a particularly bleak or extreme form of bloke, the lyrics mix the raw and funny (“All these rules, things he just can't say, he just can't understand them (Uh uh)/Misses the days when he could count on Clarkson, May and Hammond/Now it's only mediocre gear that he can get his hands on (Wahey)”).

Even though Bob Vylan are speaking about politics and other subjects through Humble As the Sun, is it their latest single which has grabbed me. That notion of what it is to be a man. Turn everything up. Conform to ideals and age-old and dated notions of what masculinity is. Bobby and Bobbie of Bob Vylan are forging their own path. They know how important it is to address social and political topics. They explored more with Ticketmaster recently:

“Your sound darts between rap, rock, punk and grime, but ultimately seems defined by political and social commentary. When it comes to lyric writing, where do you find your inspiration?

Bobby: I always think of the lyrics as being rap or grime lyrics, it just so happens that the production leans more towards a punk style. When the two come together, they marry well.

Punk lyrics tend to be quite simple, which is very effective sometimes. We use that, because sometimes you need something simple, but we also want to explore these topics in greater detail. I think grime and rap lends itself to a wider exploration of a subject than punk music does, in terms of lyric writing. You hear more clever wordplay in rap music than you hear in punk music because punk has always focused on the feel of the music, rather than what the lyrics are. In rap and grime, it’s all about the lyrics. That is what the scene has been built on. It has a focus on the MC, whereas punk has a focus on the band.

Naturally some of Bob Vylan’s music is quite divisive. By commenting on Britain’s cultural, economic and political issues, do you think it’s important that people can learn from your music even if they don’t initially agree with you?

Bobby: Whether or not it’s important, I personally am not sure. Part of me thinks that you can create whatever you want. If you want to write songs about getting drunk at the pub with your friends, then you can write that. I don’t necessarily think that because you have this ability to write songs, you should talk about social issues. 

But it’s what comes natural to us, so we do it. Outside of the music, we’re aware of these issues that we face. We’ve grown up facing them, so I think for us, it would feel like we were doing a disservice to ourselves if we didn’t talk about these things. It’s a case of ‘know better, do better’.

Bobbie: I also don’t know that it’s necessarily important that this stuff is always conveyed through the art. What is important is that with the platform that comes with the art, you use that to talk about these things. The art itself can be whatever you want it to be.

Bobby: We can write these songs all day long, but we still might not have the same impact as somebody like Ed Sheeran, who doesn’t even write political songs. He uses his platform to get up and say something in parliament, and that’s his form of artistic activism. We could write a song about a topic, but he might have more of an impact on changing people’s views on that certain issue because he has a much bigger platform”.

This is not a new conversation. Men have been challenging and redefining what manhood is for years now. This 2016 article name-checks artists like Hayden Thorpe. I want to briefly quote from this 2019 Elephant article about how music and masculinity got a makeover:

“The Lover & Fighter

The most brilliant musical highlights of recent times have seen artists harness “masculinity” in thrillingly innovative ways. British singer-songwriter/guitarist Anna Calvi’s exquisite third album Hunter has summoned both an elemental force and a fearless vulnerability in its tracks (and exhilarating accompanying videos) including “As a Man” and “Don’t Beat the Girl Out of My Boy”. French singer-songwriter/dancer Christine and the Queens (aka Heloise Letissier) restyled herself as a boyish heart-throb on her potent and playful second album, Chris.

“The most brilliant musical highlights of recent times have seen artists harness ‘masculinity’ in thrillingly innovative ways”

“I wanted to express a sense of liberty and freedom on Hunter, because the album is wilder and more visceral,” explains the soft-spoken, sharp-witted Calvi. “I didn’t want to be so ‘perfect-looking’. As a woman, you’re told that your biggest power comes from what you present visually; I think with men, it’s considered more about what they do—but the power of a flesh-and-blood woman is rarely represented when it’s men telling the stories.”

Growing up, Calvi recalls sensing a “subliminal message” when she discovered the work of punk poetess, and Robert Mapplethorpe muse, Patti Smith (“This was a real woman who’s not afraid to express sexuality about desire and wanting, and not just receiving”). When Calvi later emerged with her self-titled 2011 debut, she earned serious acclaim, yet still found herself pushing aside crass interview questions (“How does it feel to play a phallic symbol?”).

Calvi is a fiery presence in her latest videos and mentions that she worked with choreographer Aaron Sillis to create a heightened sense of physical freedom. However, she does not appear in the stand-out visuals for Hunter’s title track; in this intensely tender film (directed by Matt Lambert), the focal points are two non-binary performers.

“Matt [Lambert] and I were talking about how from a queer perspective, exploring your body and pleasure is almost an act of defiance, because we grow up in a society where presenting your natural urge is shameful,” says Calvi. In “Hunter”, love genuinely conquers all; the elegant strength of these expressions also contrasts boldly with the overblown, gung-ho machismo that still looms in the mainstream:

“Donald Trump is the extreme of the toxic, perverted caricature of masculinity,” says Calvi, although she adds: “It feels like the last gasp of this kind of trope: that male-centric power could save us, even though it couldn’t be more unsafe for the world. It’s funny that it co-exists simultaneously with more rounded depictions of men in music; acts like Years and Years [fronted by vocalist Olly Alexander] show that strength doesn’t have to be macho”.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Shania Twain joined Harry Styles onstage at Coachella in 2022 for a duet of her hit, Man, I Feel Like a Woman/PHOTO CREDIT: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images

Artists such as Harry Styles are redefining masculinity and modern views. Even though there has been evolution and change through the years, we are living at a time when a lot of hatred, abuse and discrimination is still present. Every major conflict and war happening now is being conducted by men. So many cases of domestic and sexual abuse. Random acts of violence. Even disruption and cases of verbal abuse, the (vast) vast majority of it is from men. As The Guardian wrote this year, it is the extremes of masculinity that make it toxic, not masculinity itself. I guess one problem is that many male artists are caught between not wanting to project harmful and alpha-male stereotypes and not be accused of pandering or being insincere. Last year, The New York Times discussed this balance and risk. One faced by artists like Harry Styles and Jack Harlow:

“But there’s also an increasingly fine line between allyship and pandering, one that fans aren’t shy about calling out online. Styles and Bad Bunny have been accused of the very contemporary crime of “queerbaiting,” or cultivating a faux mystique around one’s sexuality to appeal to an L.G.B.T.Q. fan base. To overemphasize straightness and alpha-male stereotypes, though, presents its own risks, especially in a post-MeToo moment. What’s a man to do?

Harlow, the 24-year-old Kentucky-born rapper, spent 2022 trying to figure it out. A technically dexterous rapper with an easy charisma and a head of Shirley Temple ringlets, Harlow is known for making artistic choices that spotlight his skills and convey his seriousness as an MC. He’s also cultivated a persona as an irrepressible flirt with a particular attraction to Black women. He famously shot his shot with Saweetie on the BET Awards red carpet, repeatedly popped into Doja Cat’s Instagram live broadcasts and even parodied his reputation during a star-turning “Saturday Night Live” hosting gig, when he played himself in a skit that imagined him seducing Whoopi Goldberg on the set of “The View”.

IN THIS PHOTO: Jack Harlow/PHOTO CREDIT: Urban Wyatt

I have been thinking about masculinity and how, this year, so much of the minor and major distress and controversy we have seen this year has been from men. Whether affecting the global stage or the music industry, there is still a lot of toxic masculinity and violence. So many who feel like they are entitled and immune from repercussions and justice. More who are insensitive and irrational. The music industry can do a lot when it comes to artists redefining masculinity and manhood. That this idea of the alpha-male is desirable. That there needs to be a change in attitudes. Men need to do their part regarding becoming better and changing how they behave. Culture impacts people in many ways, so artists projecting positive images and a deeper, more healthy and nuanced idea of modern manhood. Last year saw artists doing this. We have seen this happen in 2023, though there have been a lot of extremes and cases where men in politics and the media have made me believe that there need to be more songs, messages and men standing up and challenging things. Calling out men and asking whether more needs to be done to reframe masculinity and why so many prehistoric attitudes and behaviours still exist. Bob Vylan’s He’s a Man documents a particular type of man. A ‘manly man’. Something that still exists quite widely. Some may think it is a harmless type of person, though I wonder how easy it is to be this idea of an alpha or typical man and then slide into darker and more dangerous areas. To be radicalised and violent. There is a lot to unpack and discuss. Some artists have challenged ideas and stereotypes this year, though I think 2024 is one where this needs to…

BE intensified.

FEATURE: BRITs and Pieces: Diversification and Changes to a Music Award Calendar Staple Long Overdue

FEATURE:

 

 

BRITs and Pieces

IN THIS PHOTO: Mahalia

Diversification and Changes to a Music Award Calendar Staple Long Overdue

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EVEN though it has taken…

until this year (and will be implemented next year), the BRIT Awards are changing their rules and addressing criticism after this year’s ceremony. A lot of debate and anger came about with the Artist of the Year (not ‘Best Artist’ as many call it!) category. All five of this year’s nominees are men. Although there were women nominated across most other categories, it was a huge misstep and mystery why none were included in the Artist of the Year bracket! It suggested that all the quality and promise came from men. The BRIT Awards are hardy strangers when it comes to this kind of inequality and tone deaf approach. They have never been great at striking balance and recognising the fact that women – and women of colour especially – are vitally important and yet are being overlooked. Also, the weird pairing and cut-and-shut category of Pop/R&B seemed baffling as there were no R&B artists nominated! There is literally no point at all calling it that if you exclude one of the genres! I don’t think the initiative to change came from the BRIT panel and organisers. Artists and others in the industry reacted strongly and, finally, there are small steps being taken. It is disappointing it has taken this long to get here! I shall share some thoughts. Regarding both issues the BRITs created, there is now pledge to change next year:

“Organisers of the Brit Awards have announced they will update their rules to address criticism over diversity.

The show faced a backlash in January when it was revealed that no women were shortlisted for the best artist prize, which replaced the gendered best male and female categories two years ago.

Harry Styles, who won the award, dedicated it to artists like Charli XCX, who had been overlooked.

The Brits will now expand the number of nominees for the prize from five to 10.

It is hoped the change will create a more balanced field.

A new award for best R&B act will also be created for the 2024 ceremony.

Previously, R&B artists were forced to compete in a combined best pop/R&B category - which was predictably dominated by mainstream stars like Harry Styles and Dua Lipa.

IN THIS PHOTO: Dua Lipa

Singer Mahalia voiced her dissatisfaction at the 2023 Brits ceremony, turning up in a Burberry jacket with the words "Long Live R&B" painted on the back.

Speaking to BBC News on Friday, she welcomed the changes.

"I literally screamed on the phone when I found out," she said. "This is huge".

Mahalia protested the merged pop and R&B category on the Brits' red carpet in February

She continued: "For me, when the [combined] category got announced a couple of years ago, I was disappointed for the younger generation of R&B kids, who were going to think a Brit nomination was impossible.

"I was kind of feeling that, too. If I'm in a longlist with all of these huge art pop artists, I don't know how I'm going to shine through.

"So my initial reaction to the change was just pure happiness and pride."

Her comments were echoed by BBC 1Xtra's DJ Ace, who presents a weekly show dedicated to R&B.

"Right now is such a great time for R&B," he said, citing acts like Ella Mai, Cleo Sol and Flo - all of whom would be eligible for the new prize.

"Feel-good music is back, there's an explosion of R&B and Afrobeats music. People want to feel again.

He credited Mahalia with persuading the organisers to take action.

"Wearing that jacket said a lot, even though it could have been detrimental to her career.

"Going against the grain isn't always the done thing in the music industry, but she had something to say and she said it. And I'm so glad that they've taken heed."

 IN THIS PHOTO: Cleo Sol

'Inclusive and reflective'

The Brits said the inaugural best R&B prize would have an eligibility period of 24 months, instead of the usual 12, to make sure artists who may have been overlooked in 2023 were eligible to qualify.

The extended shortlist for artist of the year will also apply to the best international artist category.

The changes were decided as part of an annual review of the ceremony, said Dr Jo Twist, CEO of awards organisers the BPI.

"Obviously we were disappointed that no women were nominated for artist of the year in 2023," she told BBC News.

"So we reached out to people in the industry and expert groups to understand how we can improve this for this year, to make the Brits inclusive and reflective."

She added that "this year is looking very positive" for female artists and R&B acts, with the likes of Dua Lipa, Raye, Mahalia and PinkPantheress all eligible in multiple categories”.

To start with, of course it is good that changes are being introduced! After a rather misjudged and tonally mismatched year where women were left out of a big prize and R&B was lazily clumped together with Pop and then ignored, something did need to be done. I am shocked that the BRIT organisers instantly didn’t react and then say they would change next year. It is only meaningful if the new R&B category includes women. I suspect that it will. More importantly, it is ensuring the genre is represented and seen, regardless of the gender of people included. Same goes with every genre of music. People mislabel R&B or think that it is a minor force. With artists like Mahalia out there, not only fighting for inclusion, but also producing astonishing work, there is rich talent showing how strong British R&B is! One of the most disappointing things is seeing that Artist of the Year category doubled in terms of nominees. Of course, it makes it more likely women are not left out…though why should it come to this?! It is almost patronising! Widening it so they might include one or two. With five names available for Artist of the Year, there is no excuse for excluding women. Rather than adding more names, the organisers needed to recognise the fact that there were so many women rightfully eligible! It is a larger issue that is personified at festivals. Reading and Leeds announced their first ten names yesterday. Among them, only three women are included (two solo artist and a female-led band). One of the six headliners was a woman (Lana Del Rey)! It is not a pipeline issue or a lack of options – it is organisers deliberately excluding and making poor excuses. The BRITs cannot say there are few options with their category. They might be reacting to chart success and sales from that year. If that is the metric, it needs to be decommissioned. The quality and worth of an artist is the strength and quality of the music - and not how many streams it gets how ‘popular’ that moment is.

It just seems condescending that they have almost had to widen the goalposts when they really should ensure they do their job in the first place. This thing or making accommodations rather than understanding and seeing all the amazing women who are more than qualified to take away the Artist of the Year prize. It is frustrating it has come to this. So long as, guaranteed, there is at least one women in the ten – though there legitimately should be many more! – in 2024, then it is a small step at least. Next year’s ceremony takes place on 2nd March. We will hear about the nominees soon (no exact date has been given). I know R&B will be represented now. I hope too that other genres squashed together get separated at some point, as it seems a little reductive. It is that Artist of the Year award, a converted and important one, that looms large. The big fear is that, even with ten names now, is it problematic if there is only one or two women nominated?! It is glaring that no women were nominated for this year’s prize. It is not about literally having one in the pack. It is important that, objectively, it is understood that tokenism and the bare minimum is inexcusable! The industry, no matter how Pop/chart-orientated it is, is not dominated by men. There are plenty of women in the sphere of the BRIT Awards’ catchment that are eligible. One would think that the likes of Little Simz are in contention soon. RAYE is another name that spring to mind. Olivia Dean (both her and RAYE were Mercury Prize-nominated this year). Rather than include one female artist or do what they think is required, it is a moment to step back and take a good look at the impact female artists have made – and will continue to do so for years to come. I shall end on a positive, as it is good news we are hearing. Any step forward is something to be commended! Maybe proper and meaningful equality is going to transpire next year. However, with tiny shafts of light and steps forward, 2024 will at least be…

A year for actual change.

FEATURE: Breaking the Boys’ Club: Continued Efforts to Tackle Misogyny in Music

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Breaking the Boys’ Club

 PHOTO CREDIT: Thgusstavo Santana/Pexels

Continued Efforts to Tackle Misogyny in Music

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I am going to write about this…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Andrea Piacquadio/Pexels

in a separate feature. At the moment, a lot of cases are arising of men in the music industry being accused of sexual assault and violence. It is a sorry state of affairs that, almost every week, some form of atrocity is being reported. It brings firmer into question what can be done to protect women in the industry. Even if a lot of the allegations are historic, the fact is that women have either been silenced or felt fearful of speaking out beforehand. Or they feel like they won’t be believed at all. I think coercion and control is something that impacts women throughout music. I discovered this update via Vanessa Threadgold of Cactus City. She posted a tweet regarding an update in the #misogynyinmusic inquiry - a further call for evidence, this time focusing on NDAs. The evidence won’t be made public:

“Misogyny in music: the use of NDAs in the music sector

Written evidence is sought on any or all of the following:

• The prevalence of the use of NDAs to silence victims of gender-based discrimination, sexual harassment and abuse in the music industry;

• The motivations for (a) creating and (b) signing an NDA;

• Circumstances of individual NDAs including the roles of those involved (including employment status);

• Whether efforts were made to report inappropriate behaviour before an NDA was reached; and

• Whether NDAs have been used in cases where behaviour might be criminal.

Important information about making a submission

Please read this section before making a submission. This information is particularly important for people making written submissions in an individual capacity, and about their own lived experience.

Written evidence must address the terms of reference as set out above, but please note that submissions do not have to address every point. Guidance on giving evidence to a select committee of the House of Commons is available here.

Individual cases

In line with the general practice of select committees the Women and Equalities Committee is not able to take up individual cases. If you would like political support or advice you may wish to contact your local Member of Parliament.

How your submission will be treated

Evidence received will not be made public, but common themes from evidence will inform the Committee’s inquiry, its final report and recommendations to government and industry.

Parliament’s powers of privilege mean that sharing details of an NDA with the Committee cannot be used as evidence in legal proceedings, and therefore direct legal action cannot be taken against a person for sharing the information. It would also be a potential contempt to subject a person to detriment as a consequence of providing information to Parliament”.

It is a complex area to traverse, though it is clear that there are a lot of women experiencing misogyny and abuse who are being silenced and pushed aside. The fact is that misogyny is not highlighted enough or punished. It is not a criminal offence. That is fair, though there is so much of it online and in society that is not called out! You can look at the details and timeline of past events where evidence has been provided:

"In recent years, news reports and some studies have brought to the forefront the extent to which misogyny exists in the music industry. This inquiry aims to examine what misogynistic attitudes exist in the industry and why. It aims to uncover, in more detail, how these attitudes can filter through to society, impacting attitudes towards and treatment of women and girls, including at live music events. Read the call for evidence for more detail about the inquiry.

The Committee has issued a new call for evidence specifically on the use of NDAs in the music sector - read that call for evidence for more details.

This inquiry is part of the committee’s work into Preventing Violence Against Women and Girls”.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Rita Ora

The hope is that there is change and laws passed very soon. That practices change regarding NDAs, and that women throughout music are protected and free to speak out when it comes to misogyny. This is not a rare or minor issue. Artists like Rita Ora have spoken about misogyny in the industry. Women are leaving the industry because of sexual harassment and misogyny. I think that the industry is still a boys’ club. I have written about this recently – though it very much warrants repetition and enforcing. I will expand on that more soon. First, I want to drop in a Music Week feature from the summer around the Women and Equalities Committee’s inquiry into misogyny and violence against women and girls:

“Major label executives have spoken about initiatives to tackle misogyny in music.

They were questioned at the fifth session of the Women and Equalities Committee’s inquiry, as part of its umbrella inquiry into preventing violence against women and girls.

The executives appearing were:

- Jessica Carsen, senior vice president, communications and public affairs, Sony Music UK & Ireland

- Isabel Garvey, chief operating officer, Warner Music UK

- Natasha Mann, director of diversity and inclusion, Universal Music UK

Previous sessions in this inquiry took evidence from music festival organisers, music industry representatives, organisations that support women in music and academics.

The latest session looked at how labels are addressing the gender imbalance of artists on their rosters, as well as the way in which labels respond to allegations of discrimination or abuse against women by their staff.

PHOTO CREDIT: Wendy Wei/Pexels

Talent pipeline

Committee chair Caroline Nokes raised the absence of female headliners at Glastonbury 2023, and whether labels had any responsibility for that situation.

“In terms of line-ups and pipeline, we want to sign as many women as we can,” said Jessica Carsen. “We are hugely proud of the female artists that we have on our roster. And we have a variety of ways in which we invest heavily in the pipeline at a company level.”

“We’re definitely focused on making sure we have as equal a gender balance as we can,” she added. “We've got some amazing female artists, we do everything that we can to support them.”

Carsen highlighted a “whole raft of policies that are designed to create a really inclusive workforce”, including the major’s A&R Academy trying to get more women into record labels. The first cohort was 80% female.

“We've made a lot of recent senior promotions to the heads of record labels, and that's one of the ways in which we try and make sure that the roster is as diverse as it can be,” she added.

Sony Music UK’s roster breakdown for frontline album artists is 38% female, 1% non-binary and 61% male.

Sony Music launched a childcare initiative last year to provide help with costs alongside equal parental leave and coaching programmes. Its menopause support policies include flexible working arrangements like core hours.

Isabel Garvey, who moved from Abbey Road to Warner Music earlier this year, told the committee that 40% of the major’s roster was female.

“We are sponsoring huge swathes of female talent that's coming through at the moment,” she said.

Garvey noted that the last four Rising Star winners at the BRITs were all female.

The three execs rebuffed any suggestion that the companies were more likely to sign men. All agreed that a 50:50 gender balance was the goal in terms of rosters.

“We're very cognisant, as an organisation, that we need label teams that look like the artists, that we have representation across the gender balance, and also minority representation,” said Garvey.

Natasha Mann revealed a particular issue with hip-hop. Excluding that genre, Universal Music UK actually signed more female artists than male in 2022.

“I think what that tells you is that we have some genre-specific issues that I think the industry needs to dig into,” she told MPs. “I don't think we can sit here and say that women don't want to be hip-hop artists, so I think we need to look at that.”

The major does work closely with the next generation of talent through connections with ELAM and the BRIT School.

“I think what we need to do as an industry is constantly try and look at the pipeline a little bit further back [in the process], as well as being critical and trying to gather data on our own ever-evolving roster,” said Mann.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Ike louie Natividad/Pexels

Pressures on female artists

While the executives spoke with confidence about the policies to support women, there was a recognition that a career in music is often harder for female artists.

“Undoubtedly, there are more pressures on women than men,” Mann told MPs. “I don't have to tell you guys that. It's societal. But when we sort of zoom in on the music industry, does it still exist? Absolutely. Is there more pressure on social media and within the media? Yeah, I think it bears it out that it can be a tougher route.

“When we look at things like representation… It's helpful to have role models who you can look up to and aspire to in any walk of life. And it's helpful for people to have well-trodden paths that you can then comfortably follow in. So I do think there's more pressure on women. I think there's more pressure on women of colour.”

“Women have a bigger consideration often for hair and make-up,” said Carsen. “We have better support [at Sony] for things like making sure we have a make-up artist who can do proper make-up for Black skin, for example.

“We try really hard to think holistically about the total package of support that we can put in place, because the artists' wellbeing, along with our employees, is absolutely at the core of everything that we do.”

Sony Music also employs a director of artist and employee wellbeing.

Execs suggested that the team around an artist can make a positive difference.

“Every artist, male or female, is subject to so much scrutiny particularly on social media,” said Garvey. “It's not just a time management issue. It's a mental health issue as well. So we will certainly offer support services for our artists where they can speak to a therapist to make sure that they're being supported correctly. We, as labels, are acutely aware of the demands on an artist these days, so we look to make sure that we manage that for them.”

Caroline Dinenage MP, a former Culture minister, raised the impact of TikTok on artists, noting the “massive pressure that Lewis Capaldi has been under recently’.

“We have a lot of conversations about what that means in terms of expectations of content, how fast you have to put content out, different varieties of content,” said Carsen. “We are putting a much greater emphasis on the mental health pressures that all artists face, but particularly women as well”.

IN THIS PHOTO: Annie Macmanus

I think one issue is that misogyny is a word that is either misunderstood or not defined enough. Its actual definition is a “dislike of, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against women”. Silencing, assault, discrimination against and abuse aimed at women - in terms of the music industry and what is being raised at the moment - concerns misogyny. As I have highlighted before, misogyny in music can often be explained like this: the industry is still a boys’ club. In September, Annie Macmanus and Rebecca Ferguson spoke about their experiences. How women are being silenced and do not feel free to speak out:

“Yesterday saw the latest session with two witnesses: DJ, broadcaster and author Annie Macmanus (aka Annie Mac) and musician and campaigner Rebecca Ferguson. Both laid out the problems they see within the industry, and where they want to see change happening.

“The music industry is a boy’s club. Everybody knows everyone in the top levels. All the people at the very top levels have the money, and thus all the power,” said Macmanus. “The system is kinda rigged against women.”

She cited the example of a young artist who’d been to the pub with the head of her label, then been sexually assaulted by them.

“If you’re her, you can either complain and risk your career that you’ve fought so hard for being compromised, or you can crack on, which is what she did. She’s now in a more powerful position. But still if you speak out as an artist now… you don’t want to be defined by being what is deemed as a ‘difficult’ woman,” said Macmanus.

“You don’t want to be defined, also, by something that happened to you that’s deeply traumatic. You want your artistry to come first. You want that to be how you succeed. So if you come out and speak on behalf of something that happened to you, you’ll forever be defined by that.”

Ferguson addressed the pressures placed on women artists, from being told to go on diets to being pushed towards more sexualised images.

PHOTO CREDIT: Mateus Souza/Pexels

“There seems to be an over-sexualisation of women, especially Black women, actually. I’ve noticed that, and was very conscious of that when I entered the industry. People definitely do want you to become more sexualised, as it were. I noticed it was happening a lot to Black women in music, and I didn’t like it,” she said.

“I was very conscious of it, and I was therefore very conscious of how I dressed: very vintage, very conservative. More so because I didn’t want young Black women to think that that was the only example of how people that look like me have to be. Not that there’s anything wrong with a woman expressing her sexual identity. I just don’t like it when it’s being forced upon them by men.”

Both agreed with that having more women – and particularly women of colour – in senior positions within the industry would be a big leap forward. “More women in the boardroom would make for a more equal industry, definitely,” said Macmanus.

“Just make sure that everyone can see somebody that looks like them, to feel like they’re being represented,” said Ferguson. “And maybe get some younger people [on the boards] actually. The younger generation have a different mindset: they don’t tolerate what we tolerated.”

Macmanus stressed the need for a shift where women can speak out about harms they see or experience, without their careers being compromised.

“I feel like there’s a lot of revelations that have not been exposed… It’s infuriating: the amount of women who just have stories of sexual assault that have just buried them and carried them. It’s just unbelievable,” she said.

“I do think if something were to happen. If one person were to speak that had enough profile where it got media attention, I think there could be a tidal wave of it, definitely”.

This is not only a case of individual women facing misogyny and there being the need to get them justice. The music industry as a whole is being damaged by misogyny. It is an ill and perpetual issue that I hope we do not have to talk about years from now. The fact that brave and determined women are campaigning against the use of NDAs in the music sector. One priority for the industry next year concerns equality. Ensuring that women throughout the industry are given more opportunities and are treated more equitably. That they are heard and protected. That they do not have to experience such widespread abuse, discrimination and harassment. A lot of great work is being done already. I don’t feel there are enough male allies speaking out and adding their voices. Even if they do not have that experience of abuse and discrimination that women face, they can show their support and empathy. Not enough men in positions of power resolved to make changes and tackle root causes. All of this need to be addressed and discussed heavily next year. As I seem to say when I sign off any feature like this: women throughout the music industry…

 PHOTO CREDIT: wendel moretti/Pexels

DESERVE much better.