FEATURE: Radio XX: The Need for More Female Presenting Teams on Radio

FEATURE:

 

 

Radio XX

IN THIS PHOTO: Clara Amfo presented alongside Lauren Laverne and producer Martha, paying tribute to Annie Nightingale on the BBC Radio 1 programme, Annie Nightingale: A Life in Music

 

The Need for More Female Presenting Teams on Radio

_________

I still think…

that we are in a situation where presenters across major radio stations are largely male. The imbalance is starting to tip in favour of equality, yet many stations still have quite a heavy male line-up. Not that it directly equates to playlists being male-dominated. The thing is, the radio landscape is still dominated by men. I hope that, in years to come, that the big stations not only make their playlists gender-equal so that it is sustained. There also needs to be addressing of gender equality in terms of the on-air talent. If some stations have achieved it already, there are a fair few that have not. It means, for those women wanting to get into radio, see a level and equal playing field. One that accepts and embraces women. It is a shame that the music industry still has such a big problem when it comes to gender and affecting balance. Even if there are tiny moves each year, the progress is not quick enough. This made me think about the fact that, for the most part, there are not many female presenting teams. If you think of presenting duos or trios, they are either all-male or mixed. You do not get many all-women presenting duos/trios. Something rare on radio, I wonder why this is. This is not the first time that I have written about this subject. I was listening to the recent BBC Radio 1 show, Annie Nightingale: A Life in Music. Presented by Lauren Laverne, Clara Amfo and Annie Nightingale’s producer, Martha, it was a touching and excellent programme.

Not only was it great to hear three women pay respects to a broadcaster and D.J. who opened doors and held them open for other women. The dynamic through the programme was incredible. Maybe there is this sexist view that, if you get a few women on a radio show, that they will wander or ‘talk too much’. The balance and blend of voices on that particular programme was so pleasing and rare. I wonder why it does not occur more. BBC Radio 1, in fact, have quite a few great women across their station. Even if the gender breakdown on their playlists is not quite equal, they are setting an example regarding female talent presenting their shows. Apart from, I think, one show, there are none that feature two or more women together. That dynamic usually has to be male-female. The same story is true when you look across all the other major stations. One might say that radio trios are rare in general, so it makes sense you would not see an all-women line-up. That is fair. There is nothing to stop this happening. To have shows presented by three women. My point relates back to my previous feature. In terms of duos on air, there are not many that consist only of women. I was really struck by that Annie Nightingale tribute and how there was something rare but hugely pleasing hearing three different women give their perspectives on a radio great.

As radio still has an issue with gender and equality, it also needs to look to its schedule and the presenters. No doubt some amazing women across the boards. When Annie Nightingale joined BBC Radio 1 in 1970, she was their first female D.J. It took a long time for the station to employ more women to be on air. We are thankful we live in a time when there are a lot of inspiring women on the air. Though there could be more done to ensure all stations have more women presenting. There is nothing wrong with solo presenters or male-female duos. It seems that there is no real incentive or movement to change things. As we heard when Lauren Laverne, Martha and Clara Amfo were presenting, you get some extra. It is hard to put my finger on. The chemistry and interplay. Not something you get from solo presenters of mixed-gender radio duos. Jump back a decade and we see horrifying stats regarding the percentage of women who made up solo radio broadcasters (20% in 2013). This 2021 feature spoke to women like Snoochie Shy (BBC Radio 1Xtra) about how far things are come. Still male-dominated, it seemed the message was to support women. Back and listen to women of colour and be an ally. The industry needing to do more. That said, this 2018 report showed that radio at least was employing a lot of women. As producers or somewhere else on the station. If there is balance in that respect, there still seems to be imbalance when it comes to the on-air talent. Whereas some major stations have got gender balance in terms of its presenters, most still have not affected that. This is a problem in itself. Beyond that, embracing the idea of women presenting together. Whether that is a duo or trio. It would be a step forward and provide a fresh dynamic. It is also a way for stations to have greater visibility of women across its schedule. Annie Nightingale, as a radio pioneer, definitely affected progress and opened doors. Even if every year brings us closer to equality across all stations, it is evident that there is…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Annie Nightingale/PHOTO CREDIT: David Levene/The Guardian

SOME way to go.

FEATURE: Viva Forever: Thirty Years of the Spice Girls

FEATURE:

 

 

Viva Forever

IN THIS PHOTO: Geri Halliwell (‘Ginger Spice’), Mel C (‘Sporty Spice’), Victoria Adams (‘Posh Spice’), Mel B (‘Scary Spice’) and Emma Bunton (‘Baby Spice’)

 

Thirty Years of the Spice Girls

_________

I am writing this feature…

IN THIS PHOTO: Spice Girls shot for Vogue in 1997/PHOTO CREDIT: Mario Testino

as, in March, it will be thirty years since Spice Girls formed. Technically, March 1994 was the month when audtions were taking place for the group. The final five of (then) Victoria Adams, Mel C, Mel B, Emma Bunton and Geri Halliwell were formed shortly after. It was a moment that changed Pop music forever. Some argue that, as a manufactured group and one whose messages of Girl Power might have been hollow or commercial, they have inspired legions of fans and were a hugely important part of Pop culture. Not only reserved to the 1990s, their impact and importance extends far beyond that. I would argue against people who say that there was a hollowness or lack of meaning behind the brand of Girl Power and feminism. That it was designed to sell records rather than inspire minds. Also, anyone who says that the group have not inspired in the way girlbands like Little Mix or Destiny’s Child did, I would direct people to some of the biggest Pop artists of today where we can hear and feel the optimism and influence of Spice Girls.

I guess, as we look back thirty years since they were formed, the world and face of music has changed. No longer this optimistic time of change that we saw in the mid-'90s, would an album like Spice – the Spice Girls’ 1996 debut album - resonate and have the same success?! Even if it is hard to think back nearly thirty years and compare music of then to today and whether Spice Girls have aged in that respect, the fact is that we talk about them and they are still hugely popular. I know that, soon, there will be announced around the anniversary. I think it has been teased something is coming. Whether they will be appearing at this year’s Glastonbury or there is an anniversary tour or event planned, I am not sure. Apart from a line of commemorative stamps, there has been nothing official announced. I do feel that something Glastonbury-related might come…

I will come to articles that unpick and dissect the legacy of Spice Girls. How, years after they split, their impact is seen. Releasing two of the most important Pop albums of the 1990s – Spice and 1997’s Spiceworld -, there is also the strength and inspiration they gave to fans around the world. Also, there is the way they made a huge impression on British culture. I am going to move on soon. First, in 2021, Bustle mentioned a documentary series that aired twenty-five years after Spice Girls’ debut album arrived:

“Twenty-five years after their monumental debut, one of the biggest bands the world has ever seen is the focus of Channel 4’s latest documentary series Spice Girls: How Girl Power Changed Britain.

The show’s first episode centres on the group’s formation back in the mid ‘90s. But, how were the Spice Girls actually put together?

As the BBC reports, the Spice Girls originally formed back in early 1994, when Geraldine Halliwell, Melanie Brown, Melanie Chisholm, Emma Bunton, and Victoria Adams responded to an advert featured in The Stage magazine.

In March 1994, the father-and-son management team, Bob and Chris Herbert, oversaw 400 hopefuls at London's Dancework Studios and split them into groups of ten. The aspiring singers were asked to learn a dance routine to Eternal’s “Stay” and to perform a solo song.

During this part of the audition, Mel B opted to perform the Whitney Houston classic “The Greatest Love Of All,” while Mel C and Victoria belted out The Pointer Sisters' “I'm So Excited” and “Mein Herr” from Cabaret, respectively.

The following month, just ten girls were asked back for a second audition, including Geri, who had missed the first round of auditions after getting sunburnt during a holiday to Spain. As Metro reports, the remaining hopefuls were then whittled down to five, including 17-year-old Michelle Stephenson.

However, it was later decided that Stephenson wasn’t a good fit for the band, and she was promptly replaced by Emma Bunton. Reflecting on her brief Spice Girls stint, Stephenson previously told the Mirror, “at the time I left the group I knew I was doing the right thing. It wasn’t my kind of music and they were not living the lifestyle I wanted.” In the Channel 4 documentary she also revealed she had been told by a member of the band’s management team that she appeared too old in comparison to the other girls.

Despite being put together by the Herberts, the band would later deny they were a manufactured group, instead claiming that they had met through auditions and even lived together before forming Spice Girls. While some members of the band, including Victoria and Geri, knew each other before the Spice Girls audition phase, the rest of the band members were not introduced until later. A source at their label Virgin told The Guardian in 1996: “They definitely met through an ad. I don't know why they're not being upfront about it.”

In 1995, following months of rehearsals Scary, Sporty, Ginger, Posh, and Baby Spice decided to cut ties with Bob and Chris Herbert, forcing Geri to devise a plan to retrieve their original recordings of the band’s future hits “Wannabe” and “2 Become 1”.

“I don't know how [Geri] actually managed to get it — everything was so Bonnie and Clyde... She had it hidden in her knickers,” Victoria recalled in her autobiography Learning to Fly.

From there, the group went on to sign with famed music manager Simon Fuller and eventually landed a record deal with Virgin Records. In 1996, the band’s debut single “Wannabe” became an overnight hit, shifting 73,000 copies during its first week and later reaching the number one spot on the UK charts, the BBC reports”.

I am interested in the formation of the Spice Girls. The fact it was thirty years ago this March and how, in the two or three years after that formation, they dominated the Pop landscape and were worldwide names. It is vital that this is marked, whether you are a fan of the group or not. Regardless of feelings around their place in music history, they were obviously very important and a phenomenon. I definitely like their music and was able to connect with their messages and sound – even if, perhaps, I was not the intended demographic. I think that the Spice Girls’ music was very much for everyone. There has been discussion and debate about their legacy this many years on. The New Yorker highlighted the boundless optimism of the Spice Girls. How, now, can artists project this convincingly?! Maybe the most dated thig is not the music they made: it is the fact the world has changed immeasurably in ways that cannot be reclaimed:

“In 1996, there was plenty of room on the pop charts for whimsy; the most popular song of the year was a bouncy remix of “Macarena.” In a few years, the Zeitgeist would bend back toward wounded male earnestness—Creed’s “With Arms Wide Open,” 3 Doors Down’s “Kryptonite”—but, for a brief moment, every time “Wannabe” came on the radio, life resembled a teen-age slumber party, where some intrepid attendee had pinched a bottle of peach schnapps, and there was a very long list of lame adults to prank call.

Though “Wannabe” had all the markings of a one-off hit, “Spice” generated three Top Five singles in the U.S., and the Spice Girls became a global phenomenon, preaching girl power—a vague marketing notion, even then—and a boundless, unquestioning jocularity. In 1997, the group released a second album, “Spiceworld.” It set a record for the fastest-selling album by a girl group, with seven million copies shipped in the first two weeks. The band travelled to South Africa to perform a charity concert, and met with Nelson Mandela. “You know, these are my heroes,” Mandela told a scrum of reporters. “It’s one of the greatest moments in my life.”

“Spiceworld” is now twenty-five years old. On the occasion of its anniversary, the album is being reissued with bonus tracks, B-sides, and live recordings from the band’s 1997-98 tour, all culled from the Virgin Records archive. The record includes both a demo and a remix of “Step to Me,” which was originally obtainable only by twisting twenty pink soda tabs off promotional cans of Pepsi and trading them in for a CD single, and something called “Spice Girls Party Mix,” a fifteen-minute medley of the group’s up-tempo hits, somehow made even more up-tempo. (I found it difficult to listen to without wanting to submerge my head in ice water, simply for the quiet.) The live material is more vibrant, though it might leave a listener craving lights, costumes, and dancing; the Spice Girls still work best as a multisensory presentation.

“Spiceworld” does not attempt to transcend “Spice” but, rather, to expand upon it in a lateral way. As recording technology has evolved, pop production has become more impermeable, and fingerprints tend to be erased or smoothed over. “Spiceworld” is the sort of pop record that doesn’t really get made anymore: sentimental, infinitely palatable, but also plainly imperfect, with wobbly vocals and canned backing tracks. None of these songs are especially adventurous. (The most stylistically ambitious moment on “Spiceworld” is the weepy breakup ballad “Viva Forever,” which includes a bit of flamenco-esque guitar.) The Girls’ limitations are still central to the record’s appeal.

From the start, the Spice Girls’ mission was to spread a kind of anodyne, generalized positivity; in 1997, this may have seemed like a timeless goal, but, twenty-five years later, it’s probably what makes “Spiceworld” feel the most dated. Naïveté of this sort is almost impossible to access now, in an era in which we are constantly reminded of suffering, both planetary and human.

The idea that optimism can undo despair is sweet, and maybe sometimes true, but it no longer feels like a very helpful message. Perhaps the group knew this then. As you watch the video, it’s easy to presume that the Girls are about to transform the streets with their upbeat attitudes, but the ship keeps simply drifting overhead”.

I am going to wrap up soon. Before that, I want to take quite a bit from an extensive feature from The New York Times. Over twenty-five years on from their debut, if some dismissed the five-piece as Pop confection, it is clear their legacy is being re-written. Changing every year. With the possibility (though not confirmed) of something special for their thirtieth – at least a one-off date?! -, it is clear one cannot predict or write off a group that left their mark on the music industry:

“To be sure, criticism of the Spice Girls — most notably, that they were a superficial, manufactured, disposable pop confection — was not unique to them. Many pop acts, including the Beatles, the Monkees and Abba, initially encountered the same derision. But from the beginning of their ascent to superstardom, the fact that the five Girls — Victoria Adams (now Beckham), a.k.a. Posh Spice; Melanie Brown, a.k.a. Scary Spice; Emma Bunton, a.k.a. Baby Spice; Melanie Chisholm, a.k.a. Sporty Spice; and Geri Halliwell (now Horner), a.k.a. Ginger Spice — were outspoken young women seemed to bring an added layer of skepticism.

“They probably inspired me to pick up a hairbrush when I was like five and sing into it,” the British pop star Charli XCX, who remixed “Wannabe” for her 2019 single “Spicy,” has said of the group.

At their peak, the Spice Girls were a global sensation, and they remain, to this day, the most successful girl group of all time: Their first single, “Wannabe,” released in 1996, was a No. 1 hit in 37 countries, and their debut album, “Spice,” is still one of the best-selling albums by any female group. And even the Girls themselves are still coming to terms with just how much their brief stint at the apex of pop music affected a generation of fans and other artists.

The group’s extravagant self-expression, coupled with a straightforward message of empowerment, resonated with girls, who saw themselves reflected in the band members’ various personas, spawning a generation of fans who identified as a Sporty or Scary or Posh.

“That’s kind of the beauty of the Spice Girls,” Ora said. “Each of them had their own voice and something different to offer.” (Those nicknames, by the way, were not coined by the group but imposed on them by a journalist at the British magazine Top of the Pops. The Girls, true to form, embraced the names.)

The group’s theatrics and self-aware sense of kitsch also sparked an enthusiastic following among members of the L.G.B.T.Q. community, which initially took the band by surprise, Chisholm said. “In our heads, it was like, right, we’ve got to do this for the girls! And then we very quickly realized that a huge part of this community was behind us as well,” she recalled. “I think it’s because people can feel lonely if they’re in an environment where they can’t fully be themselves, and the Spice Girls gave them something to belong to.” The band has since become a popular source of inspiration for drag acts and several of the Girls have appeared as guest judges on “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”

“There is a real culture here in the U.K. that they really like to drag people down. We celebrate success to a point, and then it’s time to attack — kind of, ‘Don’t get above your station,’” Chisholm said. “But we always felt that the numbers don’t lie. We were breaking records.”

Another frequent target of criticism was the group’s message of “girl power,” which was promoted not just in their music but also through their many marketing deals with brands like Pepsi and Chupa Chups lollipops. Activists raised concerns that the band was exploiting feminism for commercial ends. Many commentators were “very conscious of how feminism and pro-women sentiment was manipulated and weaponized, particularly by the media,” said Andi Zeisler, who co-founded the feminist pop culture magazine Bitch in 1996, the same year the Spice Girls made their debut.

Against a backdrop of the punk riot grrrl movement and the women-centric Lilith Fair — both of which used music as a platform to advocate specifically feminist political and social changes — “the Spice Girls perhaps felt like a step back,” Zeisler said.

But the notion that the Girls’ message was, by virtue of being broadcast commercially, inherently hollow now seems shortsighted. “I think it’s possible to say, on the one hand, the Spice Girls and girl power were this very contrived marketing technique. And that’s true,” Zeisler explained. “But that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t very real for the Girls themselves, or for the audience. I grew up with feminism as an irredeemably dirty word. No one wanted to be associated with it. So just the optics of having a group of women talking about feminism in a different language, making it accessible — that’s really important.”

In 2012, the organizers of the London Olympics crafted the opening and closing ceremonies to celebrate the best of British culture. There were odes to James Bond, the queen and Mary Poppins, but perhaps no act drew more cheers, and tears, from the crowds than the members of the Spice Girls — all five of them — reunited atop a fleet of tricked-out black cabs as the stadium sang along raucously to their greatest hits.

Nearly three decades after their peak, critics have started to reconsider the ways in which the Spice Girls reshaped the pop-music landscape, in Britain and beyond.

Perhaps the most remarkable thing the Spice Girls achieved, however, was their empowerment of a generation of fans. These listeners first encountered them as children and responded positively to the band and what they represented — five women who remained true to what they wanted and how they were going to get it and had a lot of fun together along the way.

In an industry teeming with stories of artists — particularly young female ones — being manipulated or taken advantage of, the Spice Girls can now be remembered as a rare example of an all-female band that took a strong hand in charting its own success. “A lot of times, it’s the management that holds all the cards, makes all the money, decides what happens, and the artist that goes away shortchanged if not totally screwed over,” Sinclair said. The Spice Girls, he noted, “actually kept a grip on everything, from Day 1.”

Chisholm and the band have embraced their status as role models, both for women and for the L.G.B.T.Q. community. “It’s so humbling to have the opportunity to give people strength to just be who they are. That should be everybody’s human right,” Chisholm said. “Maybe we’re misfits, maybe we’re oddballs — we’re all different. But we come together, and our unity is our strength.”

When, in 2019, the Spice Girls (minus Beckham) reunited for a tour, Adele — the fangirl whose childhood wall was once plastered with Spice Girls posters — visited them on the day of their final performance, at Wembley Stadium.

“We went into the bar to see our friends and family after the show,” Chisholm recalled. “Adele had gotten everybody ready, and they all started singing ‘Wannabe’ when we walked in. She was leading the chorus!”

It was a powerful, full-circle moment for the band, she said.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATIONS: Elizabeth Renstrom for The New York Times; PHOTOS: Getty Images

“There’s so much talent out there, and if the Spice Girls had any part in inspiring and empowering these brilliant artists, then that is only a good thing,” said Chisholm, who is now a solo artist, with a self-titled album out now and a memoir coming later this year.

For Ora, the band’s girl-power message has always been “about standing up and advocating for the women around you, because, at the end of the day, we have to look out for each other,” she said. “Who better to teach us that lesson than the Spice Girls?”.

Apart from the fact that Spice Girls’ formation in 1994 is worthy of celebration this year (nearer to March), I don’t think that it is longing for the past or rose-tinted nostalgia. One might say that the world in which they ruled and conquered was a lot more optimistic. A music scene where Britpop and associated, peripheral Pop was built on this notion of something temporary, things are very different now. I would argue that their music and influence is relevant now. Not that they necessarily invented the idea of Girl Power of this confidence in girls and young women. Now, female artists are exploring and espousing this in different ways.

Not through slogans or as explicitly, it is incorporated in their music and mindset. If there are few direct comparisons to Spice Girls in the modern-day girlband market, there are plenty of other artists who carry the influence of Spice Girls with them. At a bleak and troubled time, there is a case to say that the music of Spice Girl is as needed and necessary as ever. Any sort of reunion, rather than recapturing a bygone moment, would be a triumphant moment. Something to get people excited about. Whether you are a diehard fan, do not listen to their music or something in the middle, the Spice Girls were phenomenal. They inspired a way of teen Pop and influenced artists like Little Mix, Dua Lipa and Charli XCX. Some massive modern-day Pop queens can be traced back to Spice Girls. In March, it is thirty years since this five-piece came together (or at least the process was started); unsure of what was coming and how their career would turn out. I would say that their DNA, messages, music and influence…

LIVES on today.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Paris Paloma

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Jennifer McCord 

Paris Paloma

_________

SOMEONE who I have seen various websites…

PHOTO CREDIT: Nicole Nodland for Billboard

describe as a major talent to watch, I have recently connected with the music of Paris Paloma. She is an amazing artist whose music instantly gripped me. So beautiful and evocative, her lyrics and mix of sounds means that you revisit her songs time and time again. One of the most talented and remarkable young songwriters in the U.K., here is someone that stands alongside the very best rising artists around. I think that there is a disproportionate amount of focus put on certain artists and genres. For singer-songwriters who maybe are not as bombastic or commercial, there tends not to be the same sort of exposure and spotlight. There is something more rewarding and deeper about the music of Paris Paloma than many of the young Pop acts emerging who are getting so much hype. Before getting to a couple of interviews with her, here is some information about the amazing Paris Paloma:

“UK singer songwriter Paris Paloma channels the experience of womanhood into her songwriting, speaking to the female experience, grief, love, death, and power. Her songwriting reads like poetry, drawing inspiration from figures throughout mythology, art history and the Romantics. Ranging from the tender and heartbreaking to the sublimely aggressive and vengeful. Her ethereal sound takes influences from dark pop, folk, and indie genres; creating a magical discography that evokes something primal and innately feminine”.

In fact, doing a bit of searching, there are a few interviews that spring to mind. A couple based around her powerful and incredible song, labour. That came out last March. Issuu chatted with Paris Paloma about a song that addresses and calls out how women, across society, are underpaid. Made to do all this labour without compensation. Whilst you can relate it to industries and domestic duties, one can also apply it to the creative arts. Even now, with small steps being made, there is still a huge issue. A song like labour is vital and eye-opening:

“Labour" by Paris Paloma is a powerful song that speaks to the experience of female rage. The lyrics are a raw expression of the anger and frustration that many women feel in a world that coerces them into performing uncompensated labour in the private sphere, without even being credited. It's an ode to mothers, daughters and wives.

The song is especially relatable to Middle Eastern and South Asian women, who are pressured into performing excessive domestic and emotional labour, even when they are working the same hours as their male peers outside their homes.

Yet women are socialized into being subservient and doing it without complaining. It’s essentially viewed as an integral part of womanhood, of femininity. Paris challenges this archaic idea in “Labour”, embracing and channeling the rage of generations of women around the world. The song is a stirring anthem for women who have felt burdened by this gendered labour, and a call to action for a world that still has a long way to go.

Q. How do you feel when you see all the TikTok videos that use your song?

Paris: I feel incredibly grateful that this song has become a lot bigger than me because it's a shared experience of so many women and girls. This stuff starts at such a young age where we are presented as being caregivers in a household. I feel incredibly grateful that it has been taken by so many women who share the same feelings I have been having. I just wrote this song because I was frustrated and angry with how I felt as a woman and I think those feelings can be so isolating. When all of these women are taking in this song and using it to make these amazing trends off of it, it makes us all less alone in our quite rightful anger about the way we are being treated.

Q. That is so right. It’s like a community that we have built as women and it feels much less lonely. I would like to go to the very beginning, when did you think you wanted to pursue this career, and what inspired you? Where did this all start? Paris: I think something about being heard is particularly what appealed to me in songwriting. I have written songs since I was very young. They were terrible back then obviously, because I was really young.

Paris: I definitely think there is so much more room for women in the industry. I think in the creative industry, and in other industries, it’s so often viewed as a tick box thing where if a set amount of things are done to include women or other demographics, people put their thumbs up and think, ‘Great, now it’s inclusive and we have solved the problem!” But it’s not solved because obviously there is still so much room for them to be more included. Personally, I have been really lucky because I’ve not had any exploitative experiences. One of the things that prompted me to start going public with my music was the month-long women’s only music mentorship program I had during the pandemic. It was remote and it was run by HyperDrive. They are doing great work and they run a mentorship program for women in music where you get paired with another woman in the industry who mentors you.

I had Chloe Diana who is an amazing singer from Essex and she taught me about the industry. The whole point is that these women are teaching fellow female singers how the industry works and helping us help each other so that we don’t get exploited. Things like distributors and releasing music and gigs and streaming platforms, I didn't know any of this before because the knowledge really isn’t that accessible. So this set me up to have amazing luck with the people I worked with.

When I made Labour, it was my first time in a studio, ever. I had recorded music before but it was always in my own or someone else’s bedroom, even though I worked with very talented producers. It was my first time in a studio and I worked with Justin Glasgow. He also did NotreDame which came out- earlier this year. He is just the safest, kindest and nicest person. He also works with Annabelle Lee who is one of the backing vocalists in Labour and she makes these amazing rare tracks. For that reason, I knew that he was a safe figure and such a great ally for raging feminist music. In that way, I feel really lucky but I know that not everyone has such an inclusive experience of the music industry. In spite of that, I can still recognize that there is still so much that needs to be done to make women feel like they have a seat at the table”.

I want to stay with labour. One of the most extraordinary and moving songs of last year, it is no surprise that there was a lot of interest around it. People wanting to speak with Paris Paloma about the song and what it means. How it has resonated with people. NME featured her in May. It is amazing – though not surprising – how popular labour is. How it has been embraced by people:

“The bridge of Paris Paloma’s ‘Labour’ is a moment of true catharsis. Depicting a tale of a woman that has been forced into taking on all the emotional labour in a relationship, the folk-pop tune slowly unravels over gossamer instrumentals, before erupting into a powerful chant: “All day, every day, therapist, mother, maid / Nymph, then a virgin, nurse, then a servant”. By the time we reach the peak of the chorus – “It’s not an act of love if you make her / You make me do too much labour,” Paloma repeats – the song has asserted itself as a genuine rallying cry.

‘Labour’ has evolved into a bonafide hit: it recently reached the Top 30 in the UK charts, has racked up over 35 million streams on Spotify alone, and soundtracked over 40,000 TikTok videos. “It’s become something that’s a lot bigger than me,” Paloma says of the track’s continued success. The Derbyshire-born artist is Zooming in from a family weekend away in Cheltenham, chatting to NME on a sun-drenched Friday afternoon. “That’s one of the highest honours as a songwriter that you could have happen with a song; because as a person, you’re quite small, but songs can become very big.”

She’s not wrong. ‘Labour’ has struck a chord with with TikTok users, with the song’s audio allowing them to convey their own personal stories of misogyny. “I was watching a video before this interview, from this girl who was talking so beautifully about ‘Labour’ and how she felt it really applied to the misogyny that she’d seen in Desi culture,” Paloma says. “It is so powerful to me that people have applied such personal experiences to the track. It’s been this vehicle for women, and people of all sorts of areas, to resonate with the topic.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Jennifer McCord

How have you coped with the success of the track?

“I think as an artist there’s defining moments in your career, and sometimes it’s difficult to notice them when they’re happening. Most of the time it’s retrospective; but I know this is a really pivotal point in my music career and my relationship with my listenership, and that’s amazing. I feel very lucky to be aware of it as it’s happening.”

When people listen to your music, how do you want them to feel?

“I think I want them to feel heard, or held, and whether they’re listening to something like ‘Labour’ and it’s something so angry, I want them to feel like their anger is valid. If it’s something else, I want them to feel comforted, if it makes them cry I want them to feel held while they do that. I hope that my music can serve as a vehicle for a protective sphere in which to feel any emotions that need to be felt”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Nicole Nodland for Billboard

Not to entirely base this feature to one song – as she has released other tremendous and equally brilliant songs -, though there is one more interview I want to come to before I move on and wrap up. Billboard heralded the meaning and importance of labour and how it has resonated with women and men alike. Even though it has been out almost a year, it is still enormously relevant and so powerful and moving every time you hear it:

“Those early signs proved right on the money when the full song was released through Nettwerk in March, drawing not only millions of streams but countless responses on TikTok from fans who found the themes to be resonant — and not just from women. “I’ve got several messages from men who’ve realized [from the song] that they should be doing better in relationships,” Paloma says. “That’s amazing. Because I keep getting asked, ‘What can we do to solve this?’ And it’s not up to women: That’s the whole point. It’s up to men to listen and to take action.”

Through the success of “Labour” and Paloma’s other songs, she has amassed hundreds of thousands of followers on TikTok. But Fernandez is insistent that neither he nor Paloma want her to be seen as a “TikTok artist” — which is part of the reason they declined to release sped-up or slowed-down versions of “Labour,” instead opting to record a totally reimagined, more orchestral version of the song with production duo MyRiot that’s dropping soon. “It’s just not falling into that trap of, ‘Let’s copy what everyone is doing right now,’ ” Fernandez says. “Let’s try to forge our own way. And if it works, it works, and if it doesn’t, it doesn’t.”

Paloma is now getting ready to play some live shows at 300- to 500-capacity spaces in London and upcoming festival dates at Summerfest and Bonnaroo. She’s also beginning to think about a debut album, which Fernandez says fans can most likely expect in July or August. By then, it will have been about a year since she wrote “Labour.”

“It’s already been a lot of time in between,” she says. “In that time, I’ve written a lot newer music, which — not to say that it’s better, but you always think that your most recent stuff is the best because it’s the most accurate reflection of where your creativity is. I’ve got so much work I want to get out”.

I will end up with DORK. In October, they spoke with an artist who was all about women coming together. The Derbyshire songwriter and artist has been blown away by the success of her music and how songs like labour have taken off. Paris Paloma was looking ahead to her first tour dates outside of the U.K. I am fascinated to see what is coming next from this astonishing artist:

“Paris always knew she wanted to tell stories with her music. Big, meaningful and powerful stories. “The music I started listening to in my teens was very lyrics focused. When I was little, my dream was to be a creative writer,” she says. “I’d write stories all the time, and at some point, those stories started becoming poems, and those poems became songs. That transition happened out of influences in literature as opposed to influences in music.”

The formative music of her childhood was the soul and jazz her mum would play, but for Paris, she naturally gravitated to people who liked to play with words and language, whether florid and wordy or incredibly pure and simple. “When I was 12, I started looking up to songwriters like Ed Sheeran and people I thought were really using words and telling stories,” she remembers. “Following on from that, people like Florence + The Machine and Hozier, people who I really look up to and who use their words in such a considered way. That massively influences me.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Jennifer McCord

As she started making more and more songs, Paris’s songwriting began to evolve. “I’ve become a lot more considered,” she reflects. “I’ve got to a point where I understand that it’s ok not to say everything. The main driver for my music when I started was catharsis and feeling heard. It was an emotional outlet to use whatever it was that was incredibly difficult to go through, pain and grief and struggles with power in my own life and the strife of growing up as a girl. It’s made me feel that I can be considered in what I want to share and how I want to share it. You just have to be giving something genuine. I think I’ve decentred myself a lot more than when I was writing bedroom songs about my feelings on things I’m going through. I’m still staying true to that but not beating myself up when I want to keep some things.”

She now sees her songwriting as a true body of work which allows her to focus on each song as a part of a world she’s creating. “I think of my songs informing each other now rather than being specific,” she says. “It’s now this considered thing which all have relationships to each other and inform each other. My next songs stand on the shoulders of my previous songs.”

 Indeed, her next single, ‘As Good A Reason’, carries on some of the big themes of ‘Labour’ but from a slightly different perspective. More triumphant and defiant and with a rollicking groove to it. “I wanted to write a song about the power of women learning from each other,” she explains. “There were lots of things I was thinking about in terms of misogyny being eradicated through the generations, and that’s happening because of work that women are doing. It’s happening because of women of older generations giving space to women of younger generations to see how peaceful their life can be when decentering patriarchy.”

It’s clear that Paris is an incredibly passionate and thoughtful songwriter who thinks carefully about what she wants to say and recognises the impact and engaging quality of her words. “I was thinking a lot about ageism and misogyny and this fear of being an older woman or any type of woman that doesn’t correlate with patriarchy’s idea of what women should be,” she continues. “Also, the manufacturing of insecurity in women and the trends in body types and all of this exhausting stuff which women are really only realising is obsolete through talking to each other and seeing other women who are living as outside of it as they possibly can and seeing how peaceful that is.”

 ‘As Good A Reason’ is a song with a different kind of energy to ‘Labour’ but no less inspiring. “I wanted to write a joyful song,” she smiles. “It was written prior to ‘Labour’. Female rage is an incredible thing, but it can also feel like it’s not for everyone, and I don’t want to reduce the meaning of being a woman to our capacity for pain and anger. ‘As Good A Reason’ speaks to your reasons for doing things and your reasons for self love. The idea that if self-love is too difficult for the sake of oneself if you are a woman living under this patriarchy that is manufacturing insecurities and telling you that you have to do things to be loved. Loving yourself out of spite for those who would profit out of you doing the opposite is as good a reason in the interim while you’re learning to do it just for yourself.”

For the rest of the year, Paris is getting on with the important business of being a pop star. “I’ve got my first European tour in September,” she beams. “I’ve never played outside the UK before. It’s going to be incredible to get over to see a whole new space of people who’ve been listening to my music.” And is there anything else planned for the rest of the year? Well, we’ll just have to wait and see. There’s definitely a whole lot more music coming,” she teases. Engaging with meaningful conversations and making music that resonates across generations, Paris Paloma is full of ambition and confidence, ready to tell her stories to a mass audience”.

Follow the brilliant Paris Paloma. I started by mentioning how there was a divide between commercial/TikTok Pop artists and deeper or different artists like Paris Paloma. That may sound snobby. What I mean is that songs that have a particular energy and sound are seen as more desirable and worthy as other types of music – that might be more impactful and important. Even if Paris Paloma has got a load of fans and is a popular artists, you feel like her music warrants a bigger platform and the same sort of kudos reserved for the largest Pop artists in the mainstream. Let’s hope this happens this year, as she is an artist to behold and cherish. Once you hear her phenomenal music, it will…

STAY with you forever.

___________

Follow Paris Paloma

FEATURE: The Digital Mixtape: Songs to Warm the Winter Weather

FEATURE:

 

 

The Digital Mixtape

PHOTO CREDIT: Jennifer Enujiugha/Pexels

 

Songs to Warm the Winter Weather

_________

AS we had a very cold week last week…

PHOTO CREDIT: Brigitte Tohm/Pexels

and a somewhat wet one this week, it seems winter is very much here for now.! We are hoping that the weather improves soon! Looking ahead to spring, this is a time of year that, in spite of the days getting longer, is pretty awful and draining. Nearing the end of the first month of the year, I think everyone needs a boost of energy and motivation. Because of that, I have compiled a playlist with some uplifting songs that should get the mood lifted. Songs that have a distinct energy and positivity to them, it is what we need for a decidedly bleak January. It is not long to go until the days get properly long (in terms of daylight) and warmer! Something to hold onto. For now, we just need to keep going and get through the worst. I really hate winter, so I am always looking for ways to keep in a better mood. Try and get out of that funk. I hope that these tracks do the job! If you need some great tracks to add something warmer to the cold and wet winter weather, then I think that this mix below should…

Darcy Lawrey/Pexels

GO some way to achieving that!









FEATURE: Spotlight: Chxrry22

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

  

Chxrry22

_________

AN immense artist…

who has just been tipped by Spotify as a rising names to watch, there is a lot of love behind the brilliant Chxrry22. I cannot recommend her highly enough. Her Siren E.P. came out in October. It is one I would advise everyone to listen to now! Chxrry22 is such a remarkable artist who is not going to be stopped. You just know she will go all the way in the industry. I adore her music. The Canadian definitely has some huge fans here in the U.K. I hope that she gets to see us soon. Prior to getting to some interviews with her, it is worth getting some background to this amazing artist:

“Singer Chxrry22 is known for her sultry and atmospheric blend of pop and R&B. After signing a major-label deal in 2022, she issued The Other Side EP, followed a year later by Siren.

Born in Toronto to Ethiopian immigrants, Chxrry22 (pronounced Cherry) became interested in music at a young age and began posting videos of herself singing online. By 2017, several videos had gone viral and, after moving to Atlanta, she caught the attention of label executives who signed her to the Weeknd's XO Records. In April 2022, Chxrry22 released her debut single, a lush and moody ballad called "The Falls." A second single, "Call Me," followed several months later, and both appeared on her debut EP, The Other Side. Over the following year, Chxrry22 issued a string of similarly dreamy singles like "Worlds Away" and "Never Had This" featuring Vory, the latter of which appeared on her sophomore EP, Siren, in October 2023”.

Understandably, there was a lot of interest around Chxrry22 and Siren. With her 2022 debut E.P., The Other Side, getting acclaim and putting her on the radar, Siren is a work that takes her to new heights. Confirmation that she is a major talent to watch. I am going to come to some interviews soon. First, this feature from Rolling Stone Australia highlighted just why Chxrry22 is the first woman to sign to The Weeknd’s record label:

“Two weeks after our interview, Chxrry22’s excitement was curtailed by the news that The Weeknd had postponed his Australia and New Zealand shows “due to unforeseen circumstances.” The wait is on now until she gets to support him Down Under once the shows are rescheduled for 2024.

Luckily, though, Chxrry22 was an artist who had so much more to discuss aside from the tour in the meantime, including a recently released EP, Siren. And as the first woman signed to The Weeknd’s XO Records, big things are definitely in the emerging artist’s future.

Siren contains two huge collaborations: “Favourite Girl”, which features a guest spot from Offset, and “Never Had This”, a joint effort with Vory. “I actually made the song years ago. I sat down with my team, and for the first time ever, I had them pick their favourites. I could tell the direction of the music that they were choosing,” Chxrry22 revealed about the latter track.

The connection Vory, facilitated by her cousin, added an extra dimension to the track, Chxrry22 expressing her excitement at discovering a perfect match. “He [her cousin] DMd it to Vory. Vory texted me and he was like, ‘I want to get on this,'” she recalled, emphasising the organic nature of the collaboration.

The Canadian was quick to highlighted the collaborative aspect of the EP as a whole. “This project was very much a mishmash of a lot of people working on it at different times,” she explained, a far cry from her usual style. “I do generally like writing alone and I do like starting things with a very tight knit team,” she added.

Drawing parallels between her current release and her previous EP, The Other Side, Chxrry22 spoke of her artistic growth. “I feel like I’ve reached a new level in my career and in my life,” she insisted. “I think when I made it, I was very lonely, fighting to be seen, and wondering like, ‘Will any of this work?'”

Chxrry22’s experienced a somewhat meteoric rise in her career, rising from posting covers on social media to signing with the aforementioned XO Records. “I didn’t really have a plan,” she admitted. “I didn’t know what I was doing, and I think that’s why it worked out so well!” It was this fearless approach that allowed her to navigate the tricky terrain of the music industry with determination.

The subject of XO Records naturally came up in conversation, and Chxrry22 was only too happy to acknowledge the transformative impact signing with a record label associated with one of music’s biggest names had on her.

“I’m very lucky because I know that there are two sides to this industry,” she said. “It’s very scary for women.” She expressed gratitude for the level of protection and respect provided by the label, enabling her to navigate the industry with a heightened sense of assurance. “I feel very lucky,” she added.

Working with The Weeknd – or Abel to Chxrry22 – was also a huge influence on the artist’s musical journey. “When Abel and I speak, I learn a lot from him,” she said.

Both The Weeknd and Chxrry22 grew up in Toronto, and the Canadian city proved formative to the latter’s rise. “Growing up in Toronto is very interesting because you do see a lot of different people that come from different walks of lives and different cultures,” she explained. “The music you hear is kind of all over the place.”

“It makes you feel like – especially as a black woman – I can make any type of music. It’s very liberating knowing that you can make anything you want.” For Chxrry22, iconic artists such as Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Nickelback, Shania Twain, and Avril Lavigne proved instrumental to the development of her own sound.

She might be dropping stylish EPs and touring – until postponement, of course – with R&B superstars, but that doesn’t mean Chxrry22 has stopped working on herself. “I have a vocal coach, and she is very big on me trusting my own style and not singing like anyone other than myself,” she revealed. As for her future projects, there’s lots on the way, including a debut album.

What advice does Chxrry22 have for artists looking to follow her path to musical success? “Stick to what you like and stay very rooted in your decisions,” she advised, also stressing the significance of authenticity in one’s journey, and the need for genuine connection with fans”

Rated R&B hailed a burgeoning R&B artist who was finishing off a huge year. Chxrry22 discussed her upcoming tour with The Weeknd, in addition to a magnificent E.P. that showcases her staggering voice. This is an artist I am new to but compelled to follow for as long as possible. I know there are a load of people in London that would love to see her on the stage. Maybe that will happen later in the year. I am pumped to see just how far she can go in the industry:

“How would you compare your mindset going into The Other Side vs Siren?

I didn’t even have a mindset for The Other Side. I was like, “God, I hope this works.” With The Other Side, I was definitely more unsure and more hungry. I think you could hear that in songs like “The Other Side,” where I’m talking about: “You never know where you’ll be in five years.” I was really manifesting [and] talking myself down the ledge because, at the time, I didn’t believe half the things I was singing about.

I didn’t have that confidence. Now, I do because I’ve seen the growth. I see some results. I know what my fans want out of me. I know what they think of me. I want to put that in my music and get closer to them. Making Siren was a lot easier and fun because I got to be myself and tell all the fun stories that I wanted to tell without the pressure of, “Am I gonna make it?” (laughs).

I feel like once you’re in the door and you have somewhat of a fan base, it feels good to know somebody’s waiting on something from you. Honestly, my fan pages keep me going. They talk to me every day. They update me on things that I don’t even see. They’ll post my accomplishments. It makes you feel like, “Oh, okay, somebody’s watching and somebody’s waiting.”

What’s the inspiration behind the title Siren?

Originally, I didn’t name it Siren. I had a different name, which I won’t disclose because I might use it in the future. It was a very dominant and powerful name. I was talking to my friend and describing myself. I was like, “I just have siren energy.” Then I was just thinking on it like, “I need to name this project Siren because there’s so many women and people in general that fit the description of what a siren is.” I think it’s a cool way to tie it all in and put a name to this type of energy.

Sirens are known for their enchanting voices. How intentional were you with incorporating the sense of allurement into this project?

Very intentional. I feel like my perspective, my ways of writing, and the way I approach music is very much due to my upbringing. I was raised by three men in one household. I had to figure out how to get my point across or how to get my way without being too aggressive. I feel like that’s carried me through my adult life and my teen years. The way I write is based on that and a lot of my experiences.

I think there’s a misconception that sirens are very manipulative and that they use their beauty to get what they want. It’s almost like a negative thing, but I feel it’s a very smart way to get what you want out of life. I don’t think it’s just about beauty. I think it’s about the way you carry yourself and saying things the right way to get the result that you want.

What was your creative intention for the Siren cover art?

I was in a studio in New York. I don’t remember the name, but I walked in and saw this picture. It was huge, and it was this girl lying down for a Playboy cover. Her hair was really long [and] covered in her body. I looked at my boyfriend and was like, “That has to be my album cover one day or cover for something I do.” I took a picture of it, and I sent it to my manager. I was like, “Keep this in your phone.” When it came time to do the cover and we had a creative meeting, I was like, “I think this is what I want to do.” Everybody was like, “This is fire. Do it.”

My friend [Alexandra Alva] shot it, and it turned out perfect. It became my own interpretation because, like I said, I don’t think I had the name Siren at that time. I was just going off of the picture and my own taste. It just happened to be long mermaid hair, like a siren, and it all tied together. This project is really me. Everything is really me. I don’t have an A&R [or] a big creative team. It’s just very much my taste and my story. I think the cover is another representation of, “Oh, that’s some Chxrry sh*t,” because it’s very me.

What message do you want to leave to fans after listening to Siren?

I want them to feel like: “I want to be this girl’s friend” and “I feel like my best self when I listen to this person. I feel like I could do anything and be anybody I want to be.” This project wasn’t to be sad. I didn’t want it to be super emotional. I wanted it to be a declaration of confidence, dominance and fun. I want people to have a good time with it. In the album, we’ll dive into stories and sad stuff.

What can you tell us about your upcoming stadium tour stops in Australia with The Weeknd?

Well, my set list is fire! It’s so large and dramatic. This is a project that when people see it live, they’ll really connect to it and it’s really going to make a lot more sense. But, I feel excited. I’m trying not to have imposter syndrome anymore, where I’m like, “Well, why me?” And it’s like, “Bitch, because you’re fire!” I think I’m stepping into the role of like, “Okay, I work my ass off. I do everything myself. I deserve to be here.” I want to keep working hard and being the best artist ever.

You mentioned your debut album. Have you started working on it?

I’ve started making some songs. There’s definitely songs from the past that I know are very fitting for an album. I don’t have a name yet. That usually comes later in the process. But I know that I’m going to be a lot more vulnerable on this album and just more hits. My songwriting is evolving. I’m working with more artists now. I think when you do a lot of things yourself, you forget there’s a world of people out there [who] want to work with you. I’m definitely tapping in with more artists and just building”. 

I am going to wrap up with this interview from Russh. If you do not know about Chxrry22, then you really need to tune in! Connect through social media and listen to Siren. Definitely a name in music who will define 2024. This year is going to be made so much richer by incredible women putting out the most wonderful and strong music. I love what Chxrry22 is doing:

“Posting a video of yourself to the internet and reaching the kind of virality that changes the path of one's life and career is a relatively common experience in today's TikTok-driven climate. But back in 2017, before Gen Z took over the internet with choreographed dances and political hot takes, a story like that of Justin Bieber (who was discovered on YouTube as a pre-teen) was hard to come by.

But that's exactly what happened to Chxrry22 (pronounced 'Cherry'), the Ethiopian-Canadian singer-songwriter who posted a video of herself singing song covers to Instagram and soon became the first woman signed to The Weeknd's record label, XO. Growing up, Chxrry22 knew she wanted to be famous — she just didn't know what for. But singing was always what she was known for, whether that be in church or in the choir, she just didn't realise it was possible until she got the call to come to Los Angeles for a meeting — something she initially thought was a joke.

Now, technically, living in L.A. with time split between her home city of Toronto, Atlanta and New York when she's not on the road, Chxrry22 released her highly-anticipated EP, Siren, last week to a cult-like audience — who already knew every word four days later at the intimate release party in L.A. on Monday evening. She's been announced as the opening act for the Australian and New Zealand leg of The Weeknd's tour (which was recently postponed with dates to be announced in 2024), counts SZA as a fan (if IG follows are anything to go by), and sat front row, beside Emily Ratajkowski, at New York Fashion Week in September

Here, we speak about the creation of Siren, communication with fans, and what's to come.

Congrats on your EP, I’ve been listening to it all weekend. It’s really so good. The response online has been amazing, too. How did it feel to finally play it live last night?

I was very taken aback. I wasn't expecting everyone to know all the words already. But they knew every single word. I was honestly so shocked. I think that's why there were so many points where I would stop singing because I was looking at them very puzzled, like, 'Huh?'

You have really great stage presence. Do you get nervous beforehand?

As I do more performances, I get less nervous. But I definitely get overwhelmed sometimes when I see so many faces in the crowd. I feel like I have out-of-body experiences when I'm on stage sometimes. Because I'm like, 'How are all these people here? To see little old me?'

You looked amazing last night and have such a specific aesthetic in general, how much do clothes and beauty have to do with the way you communicate with your fans?

I think it plays a big role because they love me for my music, but I think they really appreciate the whole package. They appreciate how much I put into my creative and how intentional I am even just with colours. A girl at the show yesterday came up to me and said that she'd made me clothes, specifically in red and black. It just made me realise that they really appreciate all the little things that go into it. I think it plays a huge role in the way we connect and communicate.

What did she make you?

She made me bunch of designs. But the one that she was really excited about was this strapless dress which was sheer in the middle and had belts and lace on it, it was very intricate.

So cute! So back to Siren, can you talk me through the process of making it? How long did it take? An how did it all come together?

I started making this project last year. Once I finished my first project, The Other Side, and it came out, I let it live for a couple of months. It was my first project ever. So I was just seeing how people reacted to it and what people gravitated towards, and just naturally living with the music in the real world. I took a lot of notes. And around December, I started making Siren. I would say, honestly, until a month before it came out, I finally was like, 'Okay, this is done.' I'm very picky and very particular, so I was going back and forth about which songs I wanted to put in and which songs I didn't”. 

I shall leave things there. It is going to be a busy and huge year for Chxrry22. With some massive tour dates ahead and the likelihood of festival demands, it is no wonder she is begin tipped as someone to watch very closely. I have not heard her much on U.K. radio. I hope her music gets more airtime here. Siren is a stunning E.P. that should be played far and wide. Confirmation that she is a very special artist indeed. Many might see her as ‘rising’ right now, though it is clear that…

MAINSTREAM success awaits.

___________

Follow Chxrry22

FEATURE: Spotlight: Bel Cobain

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

  

Bel Cobain

_________

I hope that more interviews…

PHOTO CREDIT: Milo Matthew for i-D

go up this year with the amazing Bel Cobain. She is someone who is fascinating to hear. Her music is incredibly powerful and brilliant. Learning more about the woman behind the music. I think there are a lot of new fans who want to know more about Cobain and her influences etc. How her music comes together. I am going to end with a fairly recent interview with her. Before that, there are a couple of other things I can bring in that give us some background and insight. An amazing artist who is definitely going to go very far, I am tipping her for great things this year. The Radical Forgiveness E.P. was released in November. The dreamy and gorgeous opening, Pressure to Exist then leads to the finale, Awakening. With heavier beats and the sense of something more intense, you flip through different moods and sounds; at all times, it is Bel Cobain and that amazing voice that buckles the knees and brings every song vividly to life. Here is a little more on this wonderful artist that everyone needs to know:

“Bel Cobain, a rootsy, organic storyteller rejecting the prevailing status quo has proven herself to be a multi-dimensional artist, translating her message through stories, artwork, poetry, and, most favoured, her emotive musicality.

Bel has marked her territory in the UK neo-soul scene, with her intimate lyrics and smooth melodies creating a truly unique sound and her entrancing yet soft and mellow vocals have carried her across various genres, highlighting her enigmatic presence, which all comes alive when she performs”.

Before moving things up to date, in 2022, Bel Cobain released the brilliant double single, Leader/Unsafe House. Being fairly recent to her music, I am sort of listening back and seeing where she has come from and how her music has developed. Always such a compelling and wonderous artist, there is something very special about her. More eyes need to be on this London artist who is going to be playing some massive stages before long. With this magic inside of her, I can see worldwide tours and awards in her future. New Wave Magazine reflected on an incredible double-single release from the one and only Bel Cobain:

“Emerging from East London with the combination of artistry, an angelic voice and spiritual soul, we are introduced to the fascinating songstress, Bel Cobain, who has recently released the double single ‘Leader’ and ‘Unsafe House’. Bel has been breaking new ground since her debut single 'Introverted Stoner' placed her on the map in 2019, followed by a collaboration with Lex Amor the following year that established her spot in the scene.

When it comes to music, Bel is encircled with poetry, the debate of societal and political narratives…intertwined with such iconic and mystical inspirations like Pink Floyd, Greentea Peng, Kate Bush, Angie Stone, Erykah Badu and Fela Kuti. We receive these inspirations due to the Afrobeat, Latin and psychedelic vibrations that rise from her music. Bel's 'Leader' is known to have been created at a home studio in an intimate affair in under an hour, with her giving in to the enchantment and letting the words flow freely out of her, earning her recognition from acclaimed musicians such as Lex Amor and Hak Baker.

The mesmerising and jazzy ‘Leader’, allows listeners to feel the vast power of submission as Bel expresses through an empowering and liberating way. The composition of how the instruments such as the piano, trumpet and bass guitar blend together are orchestrated and curated beautifully, and accompany Bel’s voice that has an added depth of raw musicality. The feeling is prominent, spiritual and makes you feel whole, makes you feel warm.

On the surface, ‘Unsafe House’ creates the imagery of an intimate environment; your mind is wandering on a warm evening overseas whilst the trumpet (played by Juan Carlos Montiel) and Bel’s voice serenades the crowd within a cafe. Delving beneath it, the track subtly tackles ancestral trauma and what it means to feel insecure in places you should feel safe”.

Born in Hackney, Bel Cobain is now in Kent. Perhaps living a life with a different type of energy and influence, i-D spoke with her about the new E.P., Radical Forgiveness. It is a great interview, as we get to know more about the many sides of the intriguing and inspiring Bel Cobain. Someone who wants to be seen as more than someone with a pretty face and great voice (paraphrasing her). Deep messages and a sense of spirituality and truth that runs through her music. Again, there is demand and need for more interviews with Cobain. She explained to i-D how she is releasing a series of E.P.s before her debut album:

“She’s articulate and poetic, much like her lyrics, but the 22-year-old Londoner is also outraged: “There is no sense behind this world that we're living in.” She’s thinking about Israel’s ongoing bombardment of Gaza and a war in Ukraine, among other conflicts. “How the fuck, on one side of the world, can the worst atrocities be existing and simultaneously, we're sitting in a coffee shop having a laugh? All of our families are at home safe.”

“One brain cannot quantify the reason for life when those two things are going on,” she continues. Written earlier this year, her song, “Worldly Bliss”, tries to make sense of it all. It opens with haunting synthesised vocals that sound almost like the morning call of a bird, while she raps: “No need for the mindless weapons/ they make in a blink of a second/ and call this heaven/ How can I question this?/ Worldly bliss.” She reflects on her privilege — why does she deserve to be warm, fed and safe while others do not? “I’m not ready for this minefield,” she sings, “we live but you die slow.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Milo Matthew 

Following in the footsteps of artists like Kendrick Lamar, who she calls one of the “modern greats,” Bel is dedicated to building a collection of EPs before she releases her first album. “I like the idea of that freedom before you say to the world, ‘I’m ready to give you a message’. When I say ‘radical forgiveness,’ I’m not there yet, it’s just something I’m exploring,” she explains. Bel wants the EP to feel like a journey: the main single, “Pressure to Exist”, is soulful and rootsy and depicts the artist as a victim. “Unlikely” is much more jazzy with a drum and bass rhythm throughout, while “Worldly Bliss” and “Came Over Me” distil alternative R&B and hip hop. The last song “Awakening”, is a lighter dance track that encourages the listener to move, and for her to move on.

Bel often straddles the line between the academic and the spiritual. It helps her “merge colossal feelings with the academic essence of science”. “Spirituality is just one step from science. In science we learned that energy is never lost, it’s only borrowed and transferred. It’s completely connected with the physicalness and the manifestation of things and understanding how we all interrelate,” she says. “The moment you completely surrender to that, that's when you can start doing magic and manifestation because you've surrendered from your attachment to these things.” 

Bel grew up on Pembury Estate, a series of 1930s walk-up blocks in Hackney Downs, with her mum, who used to play a lot of progressive and psychedelic rock. That ilk of music had political elements to it, she says, with bands like Pink Floyd proving to be formative for the singer. She was also dragged on marches for much of her childhood: “back when Tony Blair was doing his fuckery.”

Radical Forgiveness is Bel’s attempt at telling the world she cares. “I don't just want to be a pretty face with a voice,” she says. “I want to make sure that if there's anything I leave, it's a clear message for people to wake up, smell the coffee and do something about it. I'm on radical energy,” she says. “Maybe not always radical forgiveness, but radical energy”.

I really love what Bel Cobain I putting into the world. One of those artists that everybody needs to discover and have in their life, I do hope her music gets more exposure. Too good to be reserved to a certain few, we are going to hear a lot more from this phenomenal artist. Acquaint yourself with a sensational and stunning artist whose words cross between the academic and spiritualty. With a rich and sumptuous voice that holds beauty and power, there are these combination of assets and dynamics that means her music gets right into the heart and head. She has some tour dates coming soon. Do catch her if she is playing near you! The wonderful Bel Cobain is someone to watch very close this year. Do make sure you connect with her and follow the path of…

THIS extraordinary artist.

___________

Follow Bel Cobain

FEATURE: I'm Gonna Set It Straight, This Watergate: Beastie Boys’ Sabotage at Thirty

FEATURE:

 

 

I'm Gonna Set It Straight, This Watergate

 

Beastie Boys’ Sabotage at Thirty

_________

THE first single…

from Beastie Boys’ fourth studio album, Ill Communication, Sabotage turns thirty on 28th January. Considered to be the best song from the iconic Hip-Hop trio (Adam ‘Ad-Rock’ Horovitz, Adam ‘MCA’ Yauch and Michael ‘Mike D’ Diamond), its incredible energy and quotability was matched by a legendary video. Directed by Spike Jonze, it pays homage and tribute to 1970s crime dramas like Hawaii Five-O and Starsky and Hutch. Without doubt one of the most memorable videos ever, there was this perfect combination that makes Sabotage such a genius song. One cannot think about it without visualising that video! I wanted to bring in some features around Sabotage and its making. I will come to a feature that takes a deep dive into that Spike Jonze-directed video for Sabotage. In 2021, Rolling Stone declared Sabotage to be the 245th-best (out of 500) song ever:

“The Beasties started raising hell as a New York hardcore-punk band before evolving into hip-hop kings. “Sabotage” shows off their mastery in both domains, a rap-rock bombshell from their 1994 hit Ill Communication. The three MCs jam on Yauch’s fuzzed-out bass riff, while Horovitz gets ill on the mic. As he said, “This one called for some old-fashioned screaming, that’s for sure.” “Sabotage” also inspired one of the coolest videos ever, a Seventies trip full of bad wigs and cheap suits — as big an influence on comedy as it was on music”.

In 2013, Sound on Sound went inside a classic track. Co-producer and engineer of Sabotage, Mario Caldato Jr. (Mario C), discussed the making and evolution of the song. it is interesting learning about how the classic came about. The recording and creative process of Ill Communication sounds fascinating and eventful. I am always interested learning about Sabotage and any revelations. An insanely good song that is almost like an explosion. It hits you the first time you hear it and sounds as powerful every time you come back to it:

“The standout track from the Beastie Boys' smash hit Ill Communication album nearly didn't make it onto the record at all — and when it did, it was the eight-track ADAT mix that made the final cut.

Released on 28th January 1994, a full four months ahead of the hip-hop trio's fourth studio album, Ill Communication, 'Sabotage' is a prime piece of rapcore, featuring Adam 'Ad-Rock' Horovitz's manic yelling backed by a compelling blend of hard rock, rap and scratching. As such, it's the high point of a US chart-topping album that's heavy on rhyming, word battles and funky grooves. It's therefore interesting that, according to Ad-Rock, "'Sabotage' was recorded as an instrumental, and the vocals weren't added until two weeks before the record was completed. It was the last song on Ill Communication to be finished.”

"Musically, that record had a lot of dynamics and impact,” says Mario Caldato Jr, who engineered and co-produced the album. "We lived it and all of the pieces came together.”

Too Rock?

According to Caldato, none of the songs were completely written prior to the band entering the studio. Instead, the material either evolved out of jam sessions or was created later with loops and editing.

"'Bobo On The Corner' was created live while jamming,” he says. 'The same for 'Sabrosa', 'Futterman's Rule', 'Eugene's Lament', 'Ricky's Theme', 'Heart Attack Man', 'Shambala', 'Transitions' and 'Sabotage'. We didn't have any of those numbers when we went to New York. When we returned to LA, we had them as basic tracks and then crafted them into fully fledged songs. The other tracks I didn't mention were all rap songs created with loops, and within those loops we'd add an acoustic bass, a live drum or something like that. However, those numbers were mainly based on loops.

"The starting point for most of the songs was an idea that came from touring, and in some cases we even pulled up cassette recordings of the soundchecks. However, there were also tracks that evolved out of nothing, and a prime example of that is 'Sabotage', which just happened. Adam Yauch was in the studio, working on his bass sound with the Superfuzz pedal that he loved, and he came up with that riff and kept jamming it for a while. He'd really get deep into stuff and focus hard on it. Eric Bobo heard that riff while sitting in the control room and he ran out and started playing a rhythm on the timbales, at which point Mike D entered the control room and said, 'What's going on?' 'Go in there,' I told him. 'Follow Bobo.' So, that's what he did, accenting the bass riff with his drums, because it's really the bass riff that drives and makes the song.

"After that, Mark came in, heard what was going on and jumped in on the organ. He hit just one chord and started turning the organ all the way up, causing the Leslie to distort while he moved the drawbars in and out, modulating the drone. When Ad-Rock heard what they were playing, I told him, 'Go for it!' Immediately, he began droning on the guitar and added some rock chord and it was like wow! The track just came together, forming from Adam Yauch's bass line, and within a couple of minutes it became this heavy thing with one chord and some hits. We kept working on it a little bit to form a quick arrangement and just recorded it. Then boom, it was done, and we were like, 'Oh, that was fun!

"When we first played it back, the guys were saying, 'It sounds too rock. We don't really want to go down that route.' There was a long discussion about it, with everyone also acknowledging it was pretty energetic and pretty cool. While we were listening, the owner of the studio — a guy named Chris — walked in. He was an older rock dude with super-long hair, and although he'd never normally comment much about what he heard when checking to see how things were going, he heard the 'Sabotage' rhythm track and said, 'Now that's what I'm talking about! This is rockin' right here! This is it!' He was super-excited about it because that's the kind of music he was into, so we ended up naming it 'Chris Rock' and it kept that title for the longest time. You know, 'It's Chris's theme.'

"In terms of the vocals, there may have been an attempt by Ad-Rock to do something, but the song still had no theme and no concept, and he finally said 'Nah, it ain't happening. Forget it.' So, we kind of left it alone, went back to G-Son in LA and continued working on the rest of the record. We had a bunch of tracks, a bunch of looping stuff that needed to be done, and I was also mixing some of the instrumentals; adding different elements while finding little parts that we liked to create a finished track. We were at G-Son from Monday to Friday for five months and throughout that time, even when we weren't working on the music, we'd hang out, shoot basketball and girlfriends would show up. At other times, Biz Markie and Q-Tip would also show up to record their vocals, along with the Jungle Brothers and whoever else was in town.

Ad-Rock Saves The Day

"'Sabotage', meanwhile, was still just an instrumental. I did one rough mix of it and it stayed there as our reference. Every once in awhile we'd put it up and listen to it, and they'd go, 'We don't know if it fits the record. It may be a bit too out there. We don't want to get back into screaming or any of that rock stuff.' You see, the guys were still sensitive to the first album having a lot of rock elements and rock guitars, so they were very cautious about how to proceed with the song. At some point, Ad-Rock again attempted to do some sort of vocal thing which just didn't pan out, and then, when we were already sequencing the songs and about two weeks from wrapping up the record, he called me and said, 'Dude, I want to try one more time to sing on that Chris Rock jam. I've got an idea for the lyrics.'

"He didn't want to do it at their studio, so I said, 'Fine, we can demo it at my house.' As I had a little home studio, I took the two-track mix that I had made of the song, threw it down on to an ADAT on two tracks — left-right — and had six tracks on which to mess around with vocal ideas. Then I set up the Sennheiser 421, Ad-Rock came by and he performed the lyrics that you hear on the record. He nailed it in one or two takes and I was like, 'Oh, my God, that's it! You did it!' It was perfect. He had done his homework and he was screaming it with the exact amount of energy and attitude needed.

"Being rappers, the Beasties felt comfortable using hand-held vocal mics. They didn't like the idea of singing into a big mic with the pantyhose [pop filter]. What's more, Ad-Rock and Mike D have those high voices, so cuffing the mic actually made them sound a little thicker and roughened them up. It worked out good, I'd compensate with EQ and, as there were no playback speakers to feed back, it just had a different sound. I don't think I ever used condenser mics with those guys. They used hand-held SM58s and MD421s, as well as cheap karaoke mics. Our secret weapon for 'So What'cha Want' [the second single from Check Your Head] was a $29 Sony Variety karaoke mic.

"The day after Ad-Rock recorded the 'Sabotage' lead vocal at my place, we took the track back to G-Son and said, 'Hey guys, check this out.' When they listened to it they said, 'Oh, sick! Yo, let's do the bridge part!' So we added the backing refrain: 'Listen all y'all, it's a sabotage'. Then Yauch did some terminating scratches, Ad-Rock also cut in some scratching — 'Our backs are now against the wall' — and we finished it on the eight-track ADAT. I didn't even dump it to a 24-track master tape. I was like, 'Let's just mix it right off the ADAT.'

"The rough left-right stereo mix was fine: vocals on one track, two background vocals and some stereo scratching — boom. So, after we did a couple of mixes to DAT everyone was excited about the song. You know, 'This is really good. It'll sound great on the record.' It just had so much more energy and sounded so different. When we'd play it to people, they'd freak out. That's what the record needed”.

There is a good argument to suggest that Sabotage is the greatest music video ever. It is in my top three. Such is its charm, humour and watchability, it can be appreciated by anyone. You do not need to know what the video is referring to get a lot out of it. It is brilliant watching the video and realising what fun they must have had! Beastie Boys and extras putting together this mini-masterpiece. In 2019, Kerrang! did a shot-by-shot examination and salute of the majestic Sabotage video:

“Art is subjective, so there’s no such thing as the definitive best music video ever, but if there was, it might just be the Beastie Boys’ clip for Sabotage, a joyously silly video that is pretty much one joke dragged out for three delightful minutes.

Directed by Spike Jonze, who would go on to make films like Being John Malkovich and Her as well as co-creating Jackass, the low-budget video sees MCA, Ad-Rock and Mike D running around the streets of Los Angeles in a pastiche of 1970s detective shows.

That’s kind of all there is to it, but it’s magnificent, as much due to the video as the track itself, an incredibly catchy punk/metal/rap hybrid that partly stemmed from Ad-Rock’s anger at dealing with paparazzi at his friend River Phoenix’s funeral.

It’s one of those songs that everyone loves (and features in two Star Trek films), and the video helped kickstart the career of a guy who became one of the 21st century’s most interesting filmmakers (and made Weezer’s Buddy Holly video), so let’s dive right in and see what we learn.

0.01
Now-obscure 1970s cop shows are referenced all through this, including Hawaii Five-O, The Streets Of San Francisco, S.W.A.T., Baretta, and Starsky And Hutch.

0.11
Hey look, it’s the Beastie Boys – Adam 'MCA' Yauch, Adam 'Ad-Rock' Horowitz and Michael 'Mike D' Diamond. Director Spike Jonze met the Beastie Boys photographing them for Dirt magazine. They mentioned an idea they had for a photoshoot which Spike loved it.

“For years, Adam Horowitz had been talking about doing a photoshoot as undercover cops, wearing ties and fake mustaches and sitting in a car like we were on a stakeout,” Yauch told New York Magazine in 1999. Spike did the shoot in character despite being behind the camera the whole time. “When he was taking the pictures, he was wearing this blond wig and mustache the whole time for no apparent reason” said Yauch.

The band enjoyed the shoot so much that they decided to revisit it in video form. "We'd done videos where the production people came up with these elaborate budgets, and it started to feel really awkward on the set," Yauch said. "So we asked Spike to work with just a couple of people, so we could fit the whole production in one van. Then we just ran around L.A. without any permits and made everything up as we went along."

0.25
Spike Jonze co-created Jackass, which started in 2000, and you can really see some shared elements – the fast and loose approach to filming permissions, for instance, and this bit looks a lot like it’s been filmed from a skateboard travelling next to the car.

0.40
According to the eagle-eyed experts at Dafont, this font is called ITC Machine. So now you know.

0.58
MCA is the one Beastie that gets a dual role, as both Sir Stewart Wallace and Nathan Wind.

1.04
Trainspotting director Danny Boyle cites the energy of this video as a big influence on the famous opening credit sequence of Trainspotting, where Ewan McGregor runs through the streets of Edinburgh.

1.15
Two rented cameras were accidentally broken during production. One was placed in a ziplock bag for an underwater shot – a bag which leaked. Another fell out of a van window. The budget ended up being three times what it was meant to be, almost entirely due to these accidents.

1.21
So it’s MCA as Nathan Wind as Cochese, Ad-Rock as Vic Colfari as Bobby 'The Rookie' and Mike D as Alasondro Alegré as 'The Chief'. Layered, you know?

1.47
There were additional knife fight sequences that were left on the cutting room floor due to what could and couldn’t be shown on MTV. Some of the extra footage can be found in this blooper reel.

1.57
The ol’ dummy switcheroo is always fun, isn’t it?

2.13
That’s DJ Hurricane as Fred Kelly as Bunny. He stopped working with the Beastie Boys a few years later, before the release of 1998’s Hello Nasty.

2.24
Sabotage was nominated for five MTV Video Music Awards, and somehow didn’t win any of them. As a particularly John Malkovichian Michael Stipe of REM headed to the stage to receive the Best Group Video award, MCA came out of the wings in an amazingly convincing Swiss person costume, in character as “Nathaniel Hörnblowér”, to protest Sabotage being skipped over.

Yauch used the Hörnblowér name for his work directing several other Beastie Boys videos (including Body Movin’ and Intergalactic) and their full-length concert film Awesome; I Fuckin’ Shot That (which also features comedian David Cross as Hörnblowér in some behind-the-scenes extras). Stipe described the stage invasion as “a little bit of revolution” while Jonze described it as “an appalling situation”.

2.30
As a really successful, beloved track, it’s been covered a lot, by bands including Phish and Korn, but Cancer Bats’ 2010 cover is the best, accompanied by a video featuring the band abducting various Beastie Boys lookalikes.

2.42
Buddy Rich was a famous jazz drummer and bandleader known not only for his talent but also for his temper. Bootleg tapes were circulated of him shouting at his band members, swearing his head off, threatening to fire them for things like having beards.

2.49
Promoting the single, Beastie Boys performed Sabotage live on The Late Show With David Letterman, and holy shit, it’s amazing. It’s exhausting and brilliant and undoubtedly one of the best performances from a chat show ever.

2.54
Following Adam Yauch’s 2012 death from cancer, artist Derek Langille converted this video into comic form by way of tribute. The 7-page comic is free to download and print.

3.01
There we go. Great band, great song, great video, great fun”.

On 28th January, Sabotage turns thirty. I vaguely remember it coming out in 1994. The video instantly stuck in my mind! The album it is from, Ill Communication, was released on 31st May, 1994. The finest track from one of the group’s best albums, it is no wonder that Paste, NME, and American Songwriter ranked Sabotage as Beastie Boys’ best track. It is hard to argue against that! Thirty years after its release and it remains hugely popular on radio stations and among fans. I will leave things with the final words of an all-time classic: “What could it be? It's a mirage/You're scheming on a thing…

THAT’S Sabotage”.

FEATURE: Take Me Out, Play It Loud: The Incredible Franz Ferdinand at Twenty

FEATURE:

 

 

Take Me Out, Play It Loud

 

The Incredible Franz Ferdinand at Twenty

_________

ONE of the most important and essential…

debut albums of the 2000s, Franz Ferdinand arrived on 9th February, 2004. As it turns twenty very soon, I wanted to spend time with a classic that won the 2004 Mercury Music Prize and was nominated for Best Alternative Album at the 47th Annual Grammy Awards. Reaching number three in the U.K. album chart and spawning huge singles like Take Me Out, The Dark of the Matinée and Michael, this album still sounds awesome today. I am going to get to a couple of critical reviews for Franz Ferdinand. Before I get to those reviews, Tone Deaf marked a decade of Franz Ferdinand’s hugely acclaimed debut album in 2014. The Glasgow band’s fifth studio album, Always Ascending, was released in 2018. I wonder how they will mark twenty years of an album I would recommend people go and buy. The twentieth anniversary pressing arrives on 9th February:

“Music that girls can dance to.”

This is how Alex Kapranos concisely described the sound of his then unknown band all the way back in 2003.

Five months later, Franz Ferdinand’s debut album would be released, catapulting the Scottish foursome to the forefront of the Brit indie rock scene, and quickly becoming recognised as a modern classic of the genre.

The record would go on to sell over 3.6 million copies worldwide, win the 2004 Mercury Music Prize, sweep the Hottest 100, cement the band’s riffs and unique sound in popular culture, and contribute hugely to the revival of the post-punk genre.

Not bad for a band that only wanted to make girls dance.

Despite the lead singer and guitarist’s simple aims, the album is much more than just music that you can dance to.

It is the frantic, catchy guitars, imposing drum and bass combinations, confident vocals, and complex, intriguing lyrics that combine to form the wholly unique and, at the time, revolutionary sound of Franz Ferdinand – one that would be constantly imitated, and still influential to bands today.

It all began at a party in 2002, when Kapranos met drummer Paul Thompson and sparked a close friendship. Fellow friend Bob Hardy was taught the bass guitar by the frontman, while guitarist Nick McCarthy befriended the trio after returning from studying jazz in Germany.

The four friends were quickly signed to independent label Domino Records, and released their first EP, Darts Of Pleasure, at the end of 2003, before moving to Gula Studios in Sweden to record the album that would start it all.

Although ‘Darts Of Pleasure’ would also be the first single, it was the now-renowned riff featured on ‘Take Me Out’ that kick-started Franz Ferdinand’s success. It is a riff that would be constantly imitated by an array of bands inspired by the Glasgow-based pioneers.

The smooth, vocal driven track doesn’t really seem all that special – not until the frenetic, up-tempo guitar interjects one minute and four seconds in. From that moment, it was obvious that Franz Ferdinand were onto something special.

The ten-year-old record’s effects are still being felt today, and have helped to craft the likes of Kaiser Chiefs, The Zutons, and The Futureheads. The huge, diverse riffs are evident on much of Bloc Party’s work, who have also experienced a similar career trajectory towards more electronic sounds. Franz Ferdinand also proved influential on many other indie rock acts, including Friendly Fires, Klaxons, Kasabian, Editors, and nearly every other guitar rock band that has followed them.

Although it may be a shock that the record is already ten years old, it certainly feels somewhat dated listening to it, but that is more a comment that relates to how often and prevalently it is imitated, and should take nothing away from just how new and revolutionary it was in 2004.

While Kapranos and co may have set out just to make “music that girls can dance to”, on their debut, Franz Ferdinand helped to craft and revitalise an entire genre with a unique, clever, and concise record that is still as important and influential now as it was ten years ago”.

In 2004, Pitchfork reviewed an anticipated and wonderful debut album from an exciting British band. Even though Franz Ferdinand have inspired bands since, I am not sure whether there was anyone quite like them on the scene twenty years ago. The Franz Ferdinand album stands out as one of the first from the first decade of the 2000s:

“Not content to kickstart their career on an album laden mostly with potential, the Glaswegians have banged out a celebratory LP with lyrics bearing surprising satire, wit, and unabashed romance. On the upcoming single, "Dark of the Matinee", Alexander Kapranos positions himself as a bitter cynic who eventually gives in to fame (though it may be, as the title suggests, in the dimmer regions of the spotlight) after being charmed by an attractive optimist, and, one would imagine, the unapologetic funk of the track itself. By the last verse, Kapranos imagines himself smiling wide, sitting with Abba-loving AM talk show host Terry Wogan. With their meteoric rise, Franz Ferdinand could very well be within a year of it. They're poised to be the next Duran Duran or the next Pulp. Or they could be the next Menswear. In any case, it will be a spectacle.

"Jacqueline" opens the album deceivingly with gentle acoustic strums and student poem prattle before raygun guitars and splashing cymbals annihilate any notion of plaintive reflection. Kaparanos soon blurts phrases like "it's so much better on holiday," "I'm so drunk I don't mind if you kill me," "I'm alive, I'm alive," and "we need the money." The pace never lets up. Even their breakthrough single, "Take Me Out", blatantly changes its mind from Pixies-like pop to squiggly guitar disco a quarter of the way through. Only on "Cheating on You" do the drums drop their high-hat riding for stuttering punk.

Franz Ferdinand rarely stray far from the dueling-guitars-with-occasional-keyboard approach, granting even the bounciest dance floor numbers pleasantly rough edges, but the final two tracks peak with greater arrangement and studio flourish. Flashy flanger-flecked guitar and layered, lachrymose keyboards add an epic air to the tale of confused post-relationship emotions of "Come on Home", while "40 Ft" tiptoes in on spy guitars. Like the overlooked brilliance of Parklife's Side B, the song turns back to triumphant, operatic music spiked with pessimism and noise. Even Damon Albarn's beloved melodica makes an appearance 2\xBD minutes in.

Like all lasting records, Franz Ferdinand steps up to the plate and boldly bangs on the door to stardom. There's no consideration for what trends have just come and gone. There's no waffling or concessions for people who won't get it. As with all great entertainment, it will divide opinion. I honestly couldn't remember Volodrag, The Hold My Coat, Santa Schultz, or the bands in whose reviews they appeared. I'd made that stuff up to amuse myself during boring albums. As I told Ryan, Franz Ferdinand didn't need a concept. We would all remember this one. Like that wizard's cap”.

I am going to round things off with a review from AllMusic. They showed a lot of love and respect for the mighty Franz Ferdinand. I think that the fact quite a few of its songs regularly feature on radio now shows what a respected and enduring album it is. If you have not heard it in a while then spend some time spinning an album that got huge kudos back in 2004. It is considered one of the best albums of that decade:

“While the Darts of Pleasure EP proved that Franz Ferdinand had a way with equally sharp lyrics and hooks, and the "Take Me Out" single took their sound to dramatic new heights, their self-titled debut album offers the most expansive version of their music yet. From the first track, "Jacqueline," which begins with a brooding acoustic prelude before jumping into a violently vibrant celebration of hedonism, Franz Ferdinand is darker and more diverse than the band's previous work suggested. "Auf Ausche" has an unsettling aggression underneath its romantic yearning, its cheap synth strings and pianos underscoring its low-rent moodiness and ruined glamour. And even in the album's context, "Take Me Out" remains unmatched for sheer drama; with its relentless stomp and lyrics like "I'm just a cross hair/I'm just a shot away from you," it's deliciously unclear whether it's about meeting a date or a firing squad. The wonderfully dry wit the band employed on Darts of Pleasure's "Shopping for Blood" and "Van Tango" is used more subtly: the oddly radiant "Matinee" captures romantic escapism via dizzying wordplay. "Michael," meanwhile, is a post-post-punk "John, I'm Only Dancing," by equal turns macho and fey; when Alex Kapranos proclaims "This is what I am/I am a man/So come and dance with me, Michael," it's erotic as well as homoerotic. Love and lust make up a far greater portion of Franz Ferdinand than any of the band's other work; previously, Franz Ferdinand's strong suit was witty aggressiveness, and the shift in focus has mixed results.

There's something a little too manic and unsettled about Franz Ferdinand to make them completely convincing romantics, but "Come On Home" has swooning, anthemic choruses guaranteed to melt even those who hate swooning, anthemic choruses. Fortunately, the album includes enough of their louder, crazier songs to please fans of their EPs. "Darts of Pleasure" remains one of the best expressions of Franz Ferdinand's shabby glamour, campy humor, and sugar-buzz energy, and "Tell Her Tonight," which debuted on the Darts of Pleasure EP, returns in a full-fledged version that's even more slinky, menacing, and danceable than the demo hinted it might be. And if Franz Ferdinand's aim has always been to get people dancing, then "Cheating on You"'s churned-up art punk and close, Merseybeat-like harmonies suggest some combination of slam dancing and the twist that could sweep dancefloors. Despite its slight unevenness, Franz Ferdinand ends up being rewarding in different ways than the band's previous work was, and it's apparent that they're one of the more exciting groups to come out of the garage rock/post-punk revival”.

On 9th February, we celebrate twenty years of Franz Ferdinand. Released through Domino and produced by Tore Johansson and Franz Ferdinand, this 2004 debut does not sound dated or of its time. It is so relevant and fresh still. You can hear the bands who were listening to this album and took inspiration from it. Hardly surprising. So full of masterful songs, I know we will be speaking about Franz Ferdinand and its relevance…

DECADES from now.

FEATURE: Spotlight: The Beaches

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Becca Hamel

  

The Beaches

_________

MAYBE known to more people…

in North America than the U.K. and Europe, I think that The Beaches would go down a storm here! The Canadian band formed in Toronto in 2013. Comprised of Jordan Miller (lead vocals, bass), Kylie Miller (guitar, backing vocals), Leandra Earl (keyboards, guitar, backing vocals), and Eliza Enman-McDaniel (drums) they released two E.P.s The Beaches (2013), and Heights (2014), before signing to Island Records. Their debut album, Late Show, arrived in 2017 - which led to the band winning the 2018 Juno Award for Breakthrough Group of the Year. Their second album, Blame My Ex, came out last year. I hope that the band come to the U.K. and play here. I love their music and know that this year is going to be where they truly explode and conquer the global. There are a wave of phenomenal women in bands making such fresh and impactful music. I have just finished writing about Australia’s Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers. I have seen both them and The Beaches tipped for breakthrough this year. Both have been around for years now - though there is a sense that now is a time where their music is really being embraced. I am getting to a few interviews with the extraordinary Canadian quartet. A band that needs to be known to all. Such is the impact and quality of their music!

I am going to start out with an interview from Thomas Bleach. They were eager to know more about a cathartic and honest record in the form of Blame My Ex. A slightly different production sound and lyrical direction to their debut album, the band’s lead vocalist, Jordan Miller, talked more about their wonderful and must-hear new album. One that I would recommend to everyone:

“The Canadian rock darlings have created a beautifully honest and cathartic record that explores what happens on the other side of a break-up. Finding a way to contextualise their feelings that surpassed the dissolution of it, the album reflects on the emotions you face whilst moving on. Through highlights like “Shower Beer”, “What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Paranoid” and “Me & Me”, they were able to bring listeners perfectly into that world and state of mind.

I recently chatted to lead vocalist Jordan Miller from The Beaches about refraining from relying on the “lol” in her songwriting and finding a more vulnerable tone for this record, explored writing about her and bandmates queer identities, and reflected on the viral success of “Blame Brett”. 

THOMAS BLEACH: Your sophomore album “Blame My Ex” is an empowering, honest, and relatable record that explores grief and finding yourself again following a break-up. It feels very liberating as a whole body of work. Was that specifically important for you to put that feeling out in the world with some honest truths grounded within it?

JORDAN MILLER: I mean, you just said it very well right there. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to make when I started this record initially about a year and a half ago. And then back in August 2022 my relationship ended, and I was like, “Oh, this is gonna be what I’m gonna have to talk about”. There was this never-ending string of feelings, and the only thing that would make me feel better was trying to contextualize it through songwriting. It was sort of like therapy for me.

The more I wrote, the more I realized I didn’t want it to be a record about the dissolution of my relationship. I wanted it to be about what happens to someone after you experience a love that is lost, and what happens to you and like the ebbs and flows of that.

Some days you experience a little bit of catharsis. Like, that’s what “Me & Me” is about. It’s embracing being sort of happy, being alone, and the pleasure of being single and doing things like eating dinner by yourself. And then other times you experience social anxiety, and that’s what “What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Paranoid” is about. I just thought that was interesting. Breakups and heartbreak is obviously a common theme with a lot of musicians, but I hadn’t ever heard a lot of records just about what happens to you afterwards. And that’s what I wanted this record to be about.

TB: I feel like you’re right there. Like now I’m thinking about all the breakup records I’ve been listening to in my life, and they’re all about the present moment, and not about the next chapter. There really is no rule book for that. There’s so many different explanations about how to get through a breakup, but what do you do when you’re on the other side and how do you restart?

JM: Exactly. What happens? Like, okay, you’re single now and you have to start fresh again, but you’re not over your ex and that makes things difficult. There were so many interesting things to dig through for me. Everyone assumes “Blame Brett” is a breakup song, and it is essentially as it’s about feeling heartbroken, but it’s also a song where I’m apologising to my future partners because I’m not emotionally available for them. Everyone thinks Brett is the bad guy, but I’m actually the bad guy in the song.

TB: There is a polish to this record, while still having a bit of a gritty punch of your debut record “Late Show”. What would you say is the portal track from “Late Show” to “Blame My Ex”?.

JM: I always like to think of our EPs as sort of like the portals in between like two records. I think where you get to start to hear us being a little bit like this record is on a song called “Orpheus” that we put out last year. It’s a song about missing somebody who you used to love in high school. I used the Orpheus legend as a way to play with that idea of long lost love.

I think the earnestness of that track was sort of a portal to this record because I think where this record differs from some of our other stuff is that it’s a lot more earnest and a lot more adult sounding. I’m relying less on my tongue in cheek humor and my jokes, and I dive into pain and grief in a literal way with being less goofy.

TB: How have you found reclaiming your queer experience in music so far?

JM: I actually just had this conversation on a podcast with the girls from The Aces about certain terminology. They’re all lesbians but for a long time they used the word queer to describe themselves because the word “lesbian” was a very loaded word for them. But they’ve started to really embrace it and re-call themselves that. I’ve gone by “queer” a lot because it’s a little easier to just generalise. But other times I’ve said I’m bi or pan. I’ve been publicly out since middle school. Basically, it’s on my Facebook, so it’s always been out there.

Leandra faces a lot more irritating comments because she’s been in a relationship with a woman longer than maybe I have. I’ve only ever been in one proper relationship, and it happened to be with a man”.

I want to move on to an interview from Canadian website, Exclaim.  They chatted with The Beaches about their fantastic new album and path to recognition. There is an interesting background to The Beaches forming and how they got to where they are now. Working through heartache and personal dislocation through catharsis, humour, honesty and inspirational songs, Blame My Ex is understandably an album that connected with a lot of people. The Beaches also discussed how they have worked hard to reach more queer and young women. To people they identify with as young women. A hugely important band whose music is among the most compelling out there:

“That heartbreak is all over the band's new album, Blame My Ex (out September 15), and its laugh-through-the-tears lead single "Blame Brett," which finds Jordan warning future partners, "So sorry in advance / Before you take off your pants / I wouldn't let me near your friends / I wouldn't let me near your dad."

Brett, by the way, is the guy's real name. They experimented with pseudonyms, but "other names just really didn't hit the same way, like Zack," says Enman-McDaniel. "It just didn't work." The percussiveness of "Brett" was glorious.

This meant an awkward phone call was required. "I spoke to him about it when we were writing the song," Jordan says sheepishly. "I said that 'Blame Brett' was just really good alliteration and kind of funny. I asked him if it was okay, and he said, 'I'm a little nervous for the feedback, but it's a really funny idea and go for it.'"

Thank goodness for Brett's blessing, because the song was an instant hit; a bit like Beyoncé's "Becky with the good hair," Brett is becoming a universal symbol for a familiar romantic entanglement. "There are Bretts everywhere," Kylie says.

The writing and recording process was almost self-flagellating for Jordan: "There were moments when I would write 'I still love Brett' on a piece of paper, just to get a really authentic performance," she remembers of going into the vocal booth.

Another single from Blame My Ex, the apathetic anthem, "Everything Is Boring," became what Jordan calls the album's "North Star," guiding them away from the joyous sound of "Grow Up Tomorrow" (which was ultimately left off the full-length) in favour of more breakup songs, with musical influences that veer away from the heavy riffs of the band's early catalogue and in the direction of new wave and sleek power pop.

"Jordan was healing," Kylie says of the therapeutic process. "There's a couple of songs that are hopeful and looking to the future — self-love and self-acceptance and queer relationships; exploring relationships with multiple people. And also just learning to love yourself at the end of the process."

With Jordan having worked through her heartbreak, and with the band having finally found the audience they were looking for, the Beaches have arrived at the destination they've been heading towards for 15 years.

Of course, this is real life, and things are never quite so clear-cut: the increased online visibility led to some pushback on Twitter, when their TikTok videos came under fire. Two of the band members have more recently gone through their own breakups, and the majority of them still live with their parents. The Miller sisters are back in their family home in the Beaches, the neighbourhood they named their band after.

"It was a big problem in my relationship," Earl says of her domestic situation. "We live such a weird life. Why do I want to pay so much rent when we're about to tour for like a ton of months? And my parents are so great. I live downtown and I'm grateful enough to have a house with my family. Eventually, I hope we start making some some nice cash where we can all move out comfortably."

With more than a hint of awkwardness, Jordan leans forward, confessing, "If I'm being candid — and I'm not sure if this is a good idea to admit this, for people who might want to date us who read this article — but it's very tricky to date musicians. It's a very different kind of lifestyle. There's like a lot of there's a lot of people that assume that we're just partying all the time, but it's really just kind of grimy and tiresome”.

Last October, The Line of Best Fit spoke with a group who have gone through reinvention and self-discovery. Signing to a new label and going through transformation. Their unity, focus and passion comes through. It has been a changeable past eight or nine years for The Beaches. It seems like everything is fully in place and formed now. Blame My Ex their truest and most powerful album. I think that this year will be their most successful:

“In 2022, The Beaches parted ways with Universal. Not by choice, though they make sure to clarify that there was no ill will, it’s just how the industry goes sometimes. They wouldn’t be who they are as people or as musicians, they explain, without their time at the label. But when it comes to the changing industry, the band is right. A reliance on digital trends has put a heavy numbers skew on music discovery and label priorities. It’s more common now to see acts signed that already have a following that labels hope to capitalize on rather than the label picking someone out from oblivion and building that following from the ground up. Virality is key and the competition is heavy, but leaving a major label it might now be fair to say, is no longer the career hard-stop it once was. Multiple notable breakouts from the past few years – including Raye and MUNA, to name a few – were released from the major system before finding their footing. Most impressively, these acts have actually used such moments as pivot opportunities and selling points for their future careers. Still, it takes a band with unrelenting grit to press on and make it work. The Beaches, it turns out, are seemingly one of those bands.

“We had a conversation with our agent – we’d been dropped from our labels and had changed managers as well – and he had a very honest discussion with us saying, ‘this next record has to be the thing that takes you over the edge,’” Jordan Miller recalls. “There was a lot riding on us, and it definitely felt scary,” Enman-McDaniel adds. “The numbers matter. But now it’s starting to change, and it’s starting to feel different for the first time in over 10 years. I think we’re all just finally accepting it because it’s hard to let go of being jaded, I guess.” Interjecting, Earl laughs “I’ve never been jaded!”

For the group, the big question was figuring out how to break out of the Canadian hard-rock bubble they’d been bouncing around in for much of their career. The paradox of the Canadian music scene is one familiar to its fans and artists alike. Government grant systems and Canadian content laws provide invaluable support to indie acts looking to get their start. Radio stations, for example, are required to play a minimum percentage of CanCon, a regulation system started in the 70s that tried to give homegrown acts a boost in order to compete with the behemoth industry operating south of the border. But CanCon, a contraction of Canadian Content, can be a double-edged sword. The rules to actually qualify are surprisingly stringent (no, qualification doesn’t just mean the artist whose name is on the byline is born in Canada), often turning accessing that Canadian government infrastructure and tapping into international markets an either-or choice for Canadian talent.

Heading back into the studio, The Beaches teamed up with a new manager, Laurie Lee Boutet, who helped rebuild them from the ground up. “She really helped us facilitate our relationship with different producers in Canada because we did the whole record in Toronto, which is great because you get the funding,” Kylie Miller says. “We went so far as redesigning our logo, redesigning our merch, everything. We really wanted this to be a fresh start and be our best foot forward, because there was a lot that just didn’t feel cool and authentic to us. Like, our logo was this EDM logo for years. It served a purpose and we love it – my mom has it tattooed on her – but, yeah, it was just taking care and paying attention to those details... we had to kind of go through everything with a fine tooth comb."

As for the music itself: “We wanted to create a record thatwe would listen to, that we would be obsessed with,” Jordan Miller expands. This meant that the group took cues from the increasingly popular indie-pop scene as well as the concurrent new wave revival. Their influences, they tell me, were a mix of Willow, The Cure, New Order, and everything in between. Miller, who takes care of most of the songwriting along with Canadian singer-songwriter Lowell, had also just gone through a breakup – with the now famous Brett, but more on that later – and wanted to put out a body of work that reflected the ups and downs of her own emotional journey”.

I can’t wait to see where The Beaches go from here. A stunning band who are busy touring and taking their new album to the masses, I hope they come and play the U.K. at some point. Another wonderful international band who have eager and dedicated fans here who want to see The Beaches in the flesh. Blame My Ex is a remarkable album from a group inspiring so many of their fans. Throw support behind them and connect through social media. It is clear that The Beaches are…

POISED for true greatness.

____________

Follow The Beaches

FEATURE: Spotlight: Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: James Morris for baked

 

Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers

_________

WITH a busy diary…

already in place that involves shows in Europe and the U.K., the Australian band, Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers, are getting this year off to a flyer. With a seriously cool name – that should be its own Daisy Jones & The Six-style show – and music that is impossible to forget, make sure that you are familiar with this quartet. They formed in Canberra in 2015. Consisting of vocalist Anna Ryan, guitarist Scarlett McKahey, drummer Neve van Boxsel and bass guitarist Jaida Stephenson, Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers are a brilliant and tight-knit group that I cannot recommend highly enough. I am going to come to a few interviews with the band. Even though they have been on the scene a little while now, I think that this year is the one where they get worldwide recognition. The fact they are playing the U.K. next month means I will get a chance to catch them.

With a growing fanbase over here, I know this love will spread around the world the more music the band put out. One of last year’s most underrated albums came from Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers. I Love You is a phenomenal release from the Australian four-piece. Talking about their debut album to Sydney Morning Herald, they were preparing to tour with Foo Fighters. A unique, lovable and hugely hard-working band who were embarking on a new stage in their career:

“Australian punk band Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers have just released their first album and are gearing up to support rock legends Foo Fighters on their upcoming Australian tour. But they’re already learning not to care what people think. And that includes each other.

Their debut album, I Love You, is the culmination of eight years together as a band – and even longer as friends. While they started playing music at 15, while in high school in Canberra, this record is the first time the punk rock band has written songs collaboratively.

“We’re at this point where I know everyone so well, and we’ve been together for so long and touring together for so long that I was like, ‘they’re not gonna think my ideas are shit and even if they do then I don’t really care’,” says Scarlett McKahey, Teen Jesus’ guitarist.

“I’ve pissed myself in front of you guys before, it’s not gonna be that embarrassing if you don’t like one of my melodies.”

Anna Ryan, the band’s singer, adds: “[In the past] if one of us has written a song, there’s been an element of like, ‘I wonder what they think or if it’s good enough’, but when we were writing together, there was no fear with it.”

The pair laugh often and easily as they talk to this masthead just before the album’s release – The band consists of McKahey, Ryan as well as drummer Neve van Boxell and bassist Jaida Stephenson.

Inspired by watching School of Rock at a sleepover at Ryan’s house, Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers decided to start making music in 2015. It didn’t matter that at the time they didn’t all know how to play their instruments.

The intervening years have seen them do much more than simply learn how to play: they released an EP in May 2022, followed by I Love You this month, and have performed at major festivals at home and abroad, including Groovin the Moo, Laneway and The Great Escape in Brighton.

Currently on tour with DMA’s, they’re about to head out again to celebrate the new record, before a support slot for Foo Fighters in Melbourne in December. Then, in January, they’ll head back to Europe and the UK to support The Vaccines.

That people are finally going to be able to listen to their debut feels surreal to McKahey and Ryan. “Anna can’t stop crying,” says McKahey.

“It’s too much. Everything is setting me off,” Ryan adds with a laugh. “Everything” includes reviews, old photos and band montage TikToks made by van Boxsel. “With cheesy songs over the top,” Ryan explains. “I can’t do them any more. I’m too fragile.”

But the band aren’t worried about what the reviews say, McKahey says. “This is the first time ever that I truly just do not care at all if no one likes it because we love it.”

The album, produced by Oscar Dawson of Holy Holy, features riot grrrl-inspired garage-pop songs that tackle friendship, dysfunctional romantic relationships and sexuality. It drops as women-led punk rock is seemingly having a moment in Australia, with bands like Amyl and the Sniffers and Cable Ties making waves at home and overseas.

McKahey recalls how important it was to meet women that she looked up to when she was starting out, including Courtney Barnett. Now, young people approach her at shows to say they’ve started a band, too. “The more that people see non-male artists on big festival line-ups and being played on the radio, the more non-male bands pop up because they realise, ‘oh, I can actually do it’.”

At the same time as the band aims to encourage more women and non-binary people to enter the industry, they also want to make sure their live shows are safe and welcoming environments.

“I’m really proud that we’ve created that at our shows,” says Ryan. “It’s pretty rare for us to see people being dickheads in the crowd”.

I wonder whether we spotlight enough music coming from Australia. Always a country that produces excellent and original music, I think there is still not enough awareness of the full range of talent in the country. Looking outside of obvious areas like Melbourne and Sydney. The Music spoke with Neve van Boxsel, Anna Ryan and Jaida Stephenson back in October:

“Listening to I Love You, replete with punching conviction, blistering beats, and an exciting post-grunge revival, may render just one pressing question – whom is it Teen Jesus And The Jean Teasers love? “We’ve wanted to do an album forever,” van Boxsel says wistfully, “and I feel like writing it and recording it was overwhelming. So, I feel like this is for each other, but also, everyone that listens, everyone that’s supported us.”

“It felt like a really nice title,” says vocalist Ryan, taking the reins, “because it was a long haul writing the album, but it was also so much fun.” Stephenson says, “I also feel like anyone who contributed to the album, be it us, our fans, our parents or whatever, we genuinely do love them.” Her bandmates agree; so much love went into this album.

Indeed, music such as this doesn’t happen without a massive amount of support, guidance, and rallying from an absolute cohort of people – and that’s a fact Teen Jesus And The Jean Teasers aren’t ashamed to admit.

In fact, it’s those influences that shape the I Love You sound, Stephenson humbly saying, “I guess all the help we’ve had from the industry in general, everyone’s been so kind, loving and supportive. We’ve learnt so much from everyone we can then put it into our music.” Ryan adds, “A lot of it was organic experiences; meeting [album collaborators] The Grogans on The Guts Tour and really getting along with them and then being like, ‘Oh my God, we have this song that you would be really great on.’ It just made a lot of sense as we were working through it.”

It's been said that Teen Jesus And The Jean Teasers – by the band and those in the scene – comprise four very different personalities. That, they say, doesn’t apply to their approaches to the album’s writing, soundscape, and production. “I feel like where it differs is more in our personal lives rather than the band,” says Stephenson. “We all kind of have a similar idea of what we want the band to be like,” van Boxsel says. “Especially because we started it so young, we’ve grown as musicians together,” returns Stephenson.

“It’s a similar vision, and we’re so close that if people do have differences of opinions about how the creative content is going, it’s pretty comfortable talking about it.”

As a band, there are, of course, other areas in which they’ve felt a sense of growth. “Not being as hard on ourselves,” says van Boxsel, to the agreement of her bandmates. “I feel like it’s pretty difficult being a non-male in this industry. You constantly feel like you have to prove yourself.

“This album feels like a breaking point for that – we feel like we don’t have to prove anything; we’re just going to do what we want to do. And we love our album!”

As well as summoning their individuality and personal direction in the music they produce, the outfit, to some extent, they agree, take the opportunity to create music to share their political and sociopolitical leanings to share their views and opinions in the hopes of making a change”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Michelle Pitiris

Before wrapping up with a review of the superb I Love You, Guitar.com chatted with Scarlett McKahey last September. Among other things, she discussed her love of School of Rock, why she had to step back from touring, and the importance of family backing and supporting you:

“McKahey’s fingerprints are all over I Love You. Not only was she elemental in songwriting and the thrilling guitar parts, she also played cello throughout the album.

“I play cello all through the album, there’s so much cello on it! It was really fun, especially on Never Saw It Coming,” she recalls. “We had to hire one for a couple of days to get it all done. It had been a while, I was out of practice, and it was fun getting back into it.”

Unlike van Boxsel who had been playing drums since childhood, McKahey was not a child prodigy on the guitar. In fact, she was actually committed to the cello when Ryan first convinced her cohorts they could form a band during a sleepover in which the teen friends were watching Richard Linklater’s School of Rock. If Jack Black’s band reject Dewey Finn could wrangle a bunch of rowdy fourth-grade kids into a burgeoning rock band, surely four enthusiastic high schoolers in Australia’s capital city could have a hack at it?

PHOTO CREDIT: Harry Chalker

Once the teenage friends had committed to forming a band, transitioning from cello to guitar wasn’t tumultuous at all for McKahey.

“I was so determined [to master it] that I forced guitar to feel natural. I played cello for so long, and it’s all about feeling where the note is because there are no frets, so going to guitar it was like ‘oh my god, this is easy’, and looking at tabs made sense to me because I’d already been reading music for so many years. Tabs were logical to me, it all clicked.”

She laughs as she adds, “I refused to learn anything other than The Strokes or Arctic Monkeys for years. I played the first Arctic Monkeys album start to finish, which drives my boyfriend crazy because I still do it to this day. Plus, I learned The Strokes’ You Only Live Once in my first guitar lesson. They’re still my favourite bands, I love them so much.”

Permission To Land

The melodic, distorted, bittersweet romance of early noughties rock weaves its way through I Love You, amplified by the synth-pop smarts of producer Oscar Dawson (half of Holy Holy and producer for Alex Lahey, amongst others)

“Oscar is one of the best guitarists I’ve ever met. He produced the whole album, so coming up with guitar parts with him was so good, he understood what I wanted,” she explains. “We had the best time. We stayed at his house for months and ate a kilo of smoked salmon every week.”

During the writing and recording of this album, the band moved into Dawson’s home in the Victorian beach town of Rye.

“His wife Ali Barter is also an amazing musician,” adds McKahey. “They have this beautiful big house and a separate studio with enough spare rooms that we can stay there comfortably without being on top of each other.”

For those familiar with Holy Holy, they’ll know that the Australian duo have a distinctive synth-based, electronic sound akin to Rufus Du Sol or The xx rather than obvious roots in indie rock.

McKahey says, “It’s funny because Holy Holy is definitely pop to me, almost synth-pop, but Oscar plays guitar like he’s in a metal band! It’s so intricate, elaborate and that’s what gives the edge to Holy Holy. Guitar like that isn’t normally seen in pop music, and it meant he worked really well for us because he’s able to cross between genres. His solos remind me of The Darkness, sometimes”.

I will finish with a review for the phenomenal I Love You. The Arts Desk shared their opinions about a riotously fun album. Even though they note one or two slightly weaker spots, there is a lot of love for I Love You and the brilliance of Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers. If you have not connected with the band then you really need to. They are on the road and taking their new album to new faces and places:

“Canberra band Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers continue the recent tradition of Australian indie bands having unwieldy comedy names. However, their music, as laid out on their debut album, has higher aspirations, bridging their scuzzy punkin’ roots and a larger sound, loosely somewhere between The Breeders and Foo Fighters, yet very much their own thing.

Sometimes they sail too far into mainstream rock for this writer but, overall, they win the day. The best of I Love You tends towards either catchy new wavey power pop guitar or snarling, sneering numbers vehemently raging at mistreatment in love/sex. Often a combination of both. There’s also a sweet sideline in acoustic songs, notably the broken “Never Saw It Coming” (“Since you took a piece of me I haven’t felt good again… I’d leave your bedroom with half of me still left in there”) and the delicious, girl-ish harmonies of “Your House My House”.

Mostly, though, the vocals of frontperson Anna Ryan are all about righteous stridency, as on the whopping singles “AHHHH!” and “Lights Out, and, especially, the closing fury of “Kissy Kissy, which starts, “I know your type, overconfident arsehole…”. While these have snifters of Green Day in their genes, Teen Jesus are also capable of chunky rock riffing, as on the stonkin’ “Treat Me Better”, or toning things to a funkier, less in-your-face groove, as on “I Don’t Want It”.

There are certainly unloveable moments, notably the plodding single “Salt”, featuring Melbourne surf-punks The Grrogans, which comes across as an over-calculated attempt to create a grunge-goes-stadium anthem. But, for the most part, Teen Jesus’ music emanates an unforced exhilaration at singing out their truth, and has the tunes to carry it off. I can also attest to the fact that they’re great live, so catch them if you can, when they come to the UK at the start of next year”.

I am excited to see Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers in the U.K. There is a lot of love for them here. I know that this year is going to be a very busy one. With fresh singles likely, they will follow up on the amazing I Love You. We very much love this incredible quartet. One of Australia’s finest, make sure you follow Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers. They are already coming through and tipped for longevity and amazing things. In a few years from now, they will be established…

MUSIC legends.

____________

Follow Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers

FEATURE: We Wanna Hold Your Hands: Sixty Years of The Beatles’ First Appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show

FEATURE:

 

 

We Wanna Hold Your Hands

ALL PHOTOS: The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show, 9th February, 1964 

 

Sixty Years of The Beatles’ First Appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show

_________

I have done one or two…

features about The Beatles recently. I wanted to mark an important anniversary that I cannot really let slide. It is soon sixty years since The Beatles first appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show. On 9th February, 1964, the legendary band made their debut on the show. It was the first live performance on U.S. soil. A seismic moment that started this tsunami of love and obsession that the country had with The Beatles! I can imagine it would have been intimidating and nerve-wracking appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show back in 1964. With two albums already out in the U.K. – 1963’s Please Please Me and With The Beatles -, they would release A Hard Day’s Night in July 1964. It was a busy and interesting time for the band. On 1st February, 1964, The Beatles had their first U.S. number one with I Want to Hold Your Hand. With different releases and careers in the U.S. and U.K., there was this divide in terms of what they were promoted and their success. Maybe being taken to the bosom commercially by the U.S. at this point, the fandom there was fervent and different to here in the U.K. Even though the native and homegrown love was very strong and passionate, there was something almost biblical about the U.S. reaction to the band! It is hard to imagine how their U.S. career would have panned out if the first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show did not go well. Instead, The Beatles stormed it and, with it, won the heart of a nation! I am going to source a couple of features around that iconic and historic appearance. Beatlemania would very much explode soon after. A country already gripped by their music, seeing them on T.V. live took things to a new level.

The website for The Ed Sullivan Show takes us back to 9th February, 1964 and a televisual moment that commanded an enormous audience. Once again, the fact that The Beatles were remarkable and so professional with so many eyes on them is a big reason why they were instantly embraced. Such a slick and tight band at that point, their career would blow up after this performance. Their lives would change forever:

“At 8 o’clock on February 9th 1964, America tuned in to CBS and The Ed Sullivan Show. But this night was different. 73 million people gathered in front their TV sets to see The Beatles’ first live performance on U.S. soil. The television rating was a record-setting 45.3, meaning that 45.3% of households with televisions were watching. That figure reflected a total of 23,240,000 American homes. The show garnered a 60 share, meaning 60% of the television’s turned on were tuned in to Ed Sullivan and The Beatles.

Ed opened the show by briefly mentioning a congratulatory telegram to The Beatles from Elvis and his manager, Colonel Tom Parker and then threw to advertisements for Aero Shave and Griffin Shoe Polish. After the brief commercial interruption, Ed began his memorable introduction:

“Now yesterday and today our theater’s been jammed with newspapermen and hundreds of photographers from all over the nation, and these veterans agreed with me that this city never has witnessed the excitement stirred by these youngsters from Liverpool who call themselves The Beatles. Now tonight, you’re gonna twice be entertained by them. Right now, and again in the second half of our show. Ladies and gentlemen, The Beatles! Let’s bring them on.”

At last, John, Paul, George and Ringo came onto the stage, opening with “All My Loving” to ear-splitting screeches from teenaged girls in the audience. The Beatles followed that hit with Paul McCartney taking the spotlight to sing, “Till There Was You.” During the song, a camera cut to each member of the band and introduced him to the audience by displaying his first name on screen. When the camera cut to John Lennon, the caption below his name also read “SORRY GIRLS, HE’S MARRIED.” The Beatles then wrapped up the first set with “She Loves You,” and the show went to commercial. Upon return, magician Fred Kaps took the stage to perform a set of sleight-of-hand tricks.

Concerned that The Beatles’ shrieking fans would steal attention from the other acts that evening, Ed Sullivan admonished his audience, “If you don’t keep quiet, I’m going to send for a barber.”

As hard as Ed tried to protect them, the other acts that night suffered from the excitement surrounding The Beatles. Numbered among those performers were impressionist Frank Gorshin, acrobats Wells & the Four Fays, the comedy team of McCall & Brill and Broadway star Georgia Brown joined by the cast of “Oliver!”

The hour-long broadcast concluded with The Beatles singing two more of their hits, “I Saw Her Standing There” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand” to the delight of the fans in attendance and those watching at home.

The show was a huge television success. As hard as it is to imagine, over 40% of every man, woman and child living in America had watched The Beatles on Sullivan.

A week later, the February 24th issue of Newsweek magazine’s cover featured a picture of The Beatles with the title, “Bugs About Beatles.” Inside, the review of The Beatles debut on The Ed Sullivan Show began, “Visually, they are a nightmare: tight, dandified, Edwardian/Beatnik suits and great pudding bowls of hair. Musically, they are a near-disaster: guitars and drums slamming out a merciless beat that does away with secondary rhythms, harmony, and melody. Their lyrics (punctuated by nutty shouts of “yeah, yeah, yeah!”) are a catastrophe, a preposterous farrago of Valentine-card romantic sentiments.” The article ended with the following prediction, “…the odds are they will fade away, as most adults confidently predict.”

So much for adult odds makers. But even at that, it was impossible to imagine what a lasting impression the night would leave”.

I wonder whether there has been a documentary made about the lead-up and aftermath of that debut appearance by The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show. It was a moment that will forever live in music history. I was interested knowing more about that lead-up and schedule on 9th February, 1964. The Beatles Bible gives us a complete timeline and insight into one of the all-time most important music moments. The fever that greeted The Beatles after that T.V. performance. Maybe more conservative viewers switched off and were offended by this band they felt were unkempt and unruly. It is clear that the energy and sheer electricity around The Beatles seduced and wowed millions:

“9 February 1964 was the date of The Beatles’ record-breaking first live appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, at Studio 50 in New York City.

Seventy-three million people were reported to have watched the first show. It is still supposed to be one of the largest viewing audiences ever in the States.

It was very important. We came out of nowhere with funny hair, looking like marionettes or something. That was very influential. I think that was really one of the big things that broke us – the hairdo more than the music, originally. A lot of people’s fathers had wanted to turn us off. They told their kids, ‘Don’t be fooled, they’re wearing wigs.’

A lot of fathers did turn it off, but a lot of mothers and children made them keep it on. All these kids are now grown-up, and telling us they remember it. It’s like, ‘Where were you when Kennedy was shot?’ I get people like Dan Aykroyd saying, ‘Oh man, I remember that Sunday night; we didn’t know what had hit us – just sitting there watching Ed Sullivan’s show.’ Up until then there were jugglers and comedians like Jerry Lewis, and then, suddenly, The Beatles!

As with the previous day, in the morning the group rehearsed for the studio cameras. Again, George Harrison was feeling ill, and so his place on stage was taken by road manager Neil Aspinall.

George had tonsillitis and didn’t go to rehearsals for The Ed Sullivan Show. I stood in for him so that they could mark where everyone would stand, and I had a guitar strapped round me. It wasn’t plugged in – nobody was playing anything – and it was amazing to read in a major American magazine a few days later that I ‘played a mean guitar’.

Neil Aspinall
Anthology

 That afternoon The Beatles recorded ‘Twist And Shout’, ‘Please Please Me’, and ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’, in front of a different audience from the one that saw their live debut that evening. This set was broadcast on 23 February as the group’s third Ed Sullivan appearance, after they had left the US. Before the recording, Sullivan introduced the group thus:

All of us on the show are so darned sorry, and sincerely sorry, that this is the third and thus our last current show with The Beatles, because these youngsters from Liverpool, England, and their conduct over here, not only as fine professional singers but as a group of fine youngsters, will leave an imprint of everyone over here who’s met them.

Ed Sullivan

Other guests on this third-show recording were Gordon and Sheila MacRae, and The Cab Calloway Orchestra.

The main thing I was aware of when we did the first Ed Sullivan Show was that we rehearsed all afternoon. TV had such bad sound equipment – it still has today, usually, but then it was really bad – that we would tape our rehearsals and then go up and mess with the dials in the control booth. We got it all set with the engineer there, and then we went off for a break.

The story has it that while we were out, the cleaner came in to clean the room and the console, thought, ‘What are all these chalk marks?’ and wiped them all off. So our plans just went out the window. We had a real hasty time trying to get the sound right.

Ringo Starr
Anthology

THE LIVE SHOW

The Beatles’ record-breaking live debut, broadcast from 8-9pm, was witnessed by just 728 people in Studio 50, but seen by an estimated 73,700,000 viewers in 23,240,000 homes in the United States. It comfortably smashed the record for television viewing figures up until that point.

We were aware that Ed Sullivan was the big one because we got a telegram from Elvis and the Colonel. And I’ve heard that while the show was on there were no reported crimes, or very few. When The Beatles were on Ed Sullivan, even the criminals had a rest for ten minutes.

George Harrison
Anthology

At the start of the hour-long programme, Sullivan announced that a telegram had been received from Elvis Presley and his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, wishing the group luck. It read:

Congratulations on your appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show and your visit to America. We hope your engagement will be a successful one and your visit pleasant. Give our best to Mr Sullivan. Sincerely, Elvis & The Colonel.

The Beatles had been given the telegram half an hour before their stage appearance. After reading it, George Harrison deadpanned: “Elvis who?”

The Beatles performed five songs on their Ed Sullivan Show live debut. They sang ‘All My Loving’, ‘Till There Was You’, and ‘She Loves You’, in the first half of the programme, followed by an advertisement for Anadin. Ed Sullivan’s other guests – Georgia Brown & Oliver Kidds, Frank Gorshin, Tessie O’Shea – followed, after which The Beatles performed ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ and I Want To Hold Your Hand.

While Paul McCartney sang the ballad ‘Till There Was You’, the cameras panned to each of the Beatles in turn, with their names captioned on the screen. When they got to John Lennon, an additional caption appeared, saying: “Sorry Girls, He’s Married.”

After the show radio DJ Murray The K took John, Paul and Ringo to the Playboy Club. With a police escort they walked several blocks to 59th Street where they were ushered into the club’s Penthouse lounge for dinner.

They later went on to the Peppermint Lounge, where they danced the twist until 4am”.

I am going to end with a feature from GRAMMY. They talked about this Big Bang. A moment that cannot be understated in terms of its impact on popular culture. Sixty years later, we are still feeling the effects of The Beatles’ first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. I hope that Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr share their memories of that day when the sixtieth anniversary arrives. It is spine-tingling watching them perform:

“Fifty-eight years after that debut appearance on Feb. 9, 1964, it's difficult to quantify (especially if you weren't born yet) how consequential this moment was. We've all heard the clichés about the hair, the suits, the bows, the "Sorry Girls, He's Married" caption above John Lennon's head. We're familiar with the refrain that the Beatles’ performance healed the nation after JFK’s assassination, and read the opening pages of a million rock bios comparing it to a lightning storm, a hurricane, an earthquake.

But watching the clip today, one notices the little details. A squinting Lennon, blind as a bat without his glasses, letting loose an approving "Yeah!"; Paul McCartney lapping up the female attention; Ringo Starr in his goofy, loveable glory; George Harrison, the youngest, looking a touch removed. Their individual personalities are immediately apparent — as magnetic as Buddy Holly was on "Ed Sullivan" back in 1957, few were compelled to ponder the inner lives of the Crickets.

No, each Beatle was as memorable as any other, telegraphing the role they'd play in our lives forevermore. Paul fully inhabits Meredith Wilson's The Music Man show tune "'Til There Was You," which both foreshadows his music-hall-style gems from "When I'm Sixty-Four" to "Your Mother Should Know" and Lennon's future, withering putdowns of McCartney's "granny-music”

"She Loves You" follows. If you're among those who never need to hear that song again, consider how its all-hook barrage invented entire power-pop, indie rock and boy band lineages — including everyone from the Hollies to Teenage Fanclub and BTS.

And then — good God — imagine being magician Fred Kaps, who had to follow that act with playing card and salt shaker tricks. This isn't the forum to roast him (after all, his performance was pre-taped) but the juxtaposition between the two acts — and the world of kids and adults — is almost unbearable to watch.

The cast of Oliver then arrives to gallivant around and sing "As Long As He Needs Me." Bowtied impressionist Frank Gorshin shows up with over-the-top impersonations of Dean Martin and Anthony Quinn. A feather-boaed Tessie O'Shea tickles banjo strings and chirps a selection from the musical The Girl Who Came to Supper. Mitski McCall and Charli Brill chew the scenery in a dorky comedy skit.

The magic barrels back into the last half of the show, as the Fabs bang out "I Saw Her Standing There" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand." Despite the shoddy video quality — how did this look like it was taped on the moon a mere five years before the events of Get Back? — the lads leap out of your YouTube browser.

"You've been a fine audience," Sullivan says testily at the show's end. "Despite severe provocation." Fifty-eight years later, we are all that audience — and so will our kids, and our kids' kids, and so on.

Whether or not you're a Beatles fan, take their debut Ed Sullivan appearance out of the closet of history and really sit with it — in all its characterizations and juxtapositions and moments of bliss and awkwardness. Try to envisage a world where it never happened. Spoiler alert: it'd be as dull as salt. This Beatles performance kicked off everything”.

On 9th February, it is sixty years since The Beatles debuted on The Ed Sullivan Show. They would appear on the show several times more. It is that debut appearance that stands out. This awakening and explosion! The Beatlemania hysteria of 1964 much have been dizzying for the band. The ecstasy that met them in their live performances. Thousands of fans waiting wherever they went. It was insane! Little did they know that, on 9th February, 1964, they would ignite this fuse. Already loved in the U.S., the appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show took them over the edge. This brilliant Beatles truly…

STORMED America.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Kaeto

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

  

Kaeto

_________

THE tremendous Kaeto…

is an artist that is going to go a long way this year. A name tipped for recognition and success this year, I wanted to spend some time with her. I am going to come to a new interview from the Scottish-born and London-based visual artist. I am a new fan of her music and feel that she is going to go a long way. I think that I discovered her music back in October when she released her single, No Body. Touring with Lauren Mayberry at the time, there is a wave of new fans coming the way of the amazing Kaeto. Under the Radar highlighted No Body and an artist primed for huge things:

“Scottish-born, London-based artist Kaeto, who is currently on tour with CHVRCHES’ Lauren Mayberry, releases a compelling new single, “No Body.”

It fuses electronic and dance elements and showcases Kaeto’s mesmerizing vocals, whose musical influences include everybody from Prince to Portishead, David Bowie to David Byrne, and the Tom Tom Club.

After her debut single “Good Morning” shed light on imposter syndrome, “No Body” examines vanity and social media through our smartphones, as she explains, “I’m not trying to be preachy. I’m exploring these things because I’m doing them and I can’t stop.”

Kaeto’s early years were spent in Glasgow, before her parents’ careers drew her everywhere from Leeds to Texas, with stints of her early adulthood spent living in Barcelona. This semi-nomadic upbringing compounded her curiosity about the world, psychology and the human condition - one which continues to inform her creative palette. Although self-professing her output as “silly navel gazing”, she is actually using her music to explore themes of “shame, identity and madness”. With her personal interests and pursuits ranging from mathematics to visual arts, a former career as a paralegal under her belt, and an enrolment in Clown School on the horizon, Kaeto is the very definition of a multihyphenate”.

There was a lot of interest around No Body. CLASH also highlighted an amazing song that was among the finest of last year. I do think that there is going to be an E.P. later this year. I am keen to see Kaeto perform live. Last year was a big one for her. If you have not heard of this artist, songs like No Body are a good introduction:

“Kaeto lives and breathes music. It’s her life-force – the reason she gets up in the morning, and the last thing she thinks about at night. Scottish-born and London-based, word is already out on this pop voyager, a daring voice carving out her own niche.

Take new single ‘No Body’. Bruised electronic pop it’s as raw as they come, the club-focussed electronics wrapped around that biting vocal. Relishing every word, Kaeto tears down modern vanity and out smart phone enabled, social media driven addictions.

“I’m not trying to be preachy,” Kaeto says. “I’m exploring these things because I’m doing them and I can’t stop.”

There’s a darkness to ‘No Body’, but also a sense of light – it can be playful, and it moves with alacrity. “I really enjoyed making ‘No Body’ and I love performing it,” she says. “I don’t want to say too much about what it means as it can ruin what other people might interpret and I think that is more interesting and fun! I don’t want to impress my experience onto other people. For me, the music is more fun that the words I can sum up to describe it.”

Brendan Grieve handles production on ‘No Body’, with the searing visuals overseen by German filmmaker Paula Romy. Out now, Kaeto is currently holding down a residency at West London’s intimate art space Laylow, while you can also catch her opening for ELIZA at O2 Forum Kentish Town on November 17th”.

I will finish things off with a new interview and spotlight from The Forty-Five. There are not that many interviews with Kaeto. I hope that this changes soon, as there is a lot to love and highlight about her and the music. One of the most interesting and original artists coming through, Little Me was released in November. The latest single from a tremendous artist who cannot be pinned to genre or style. She is someone who does not want to be put into brackets or easily predicted:

“Are there musical touchstones and influences you draw on in your music? Your sound can be very genre-spanning.

“I love Bjork and Portishead, but I also really love Nick Drake and Pixies and Nina Simone. I love weird voices I think, that’s always been the thing that’s really attracted me to artists… but I also have inspiration outside of music. I take a lot of inspiration from films [and] visual artists. So for this project, Blade Runner was a massive inspiration. Even the score for that is, I think, one of the best things that’s ever written, so it’s definitely not just musical inspiration. But my taste in music is quite broad, so then that’s probably why my genres jump so much.”

You’ve played some massive shows this year, including supporting Lauren Mayberry on tour. What did you learn from these shows?

“It was a reminder that everybody enjoys music differently. Some people do just want to stand and watch and drink it in. I think I’ve got a real thing, like a child pleasing a parent where I’m like: ‘Look at me, like me, like me, dance! Please!’. So I feel like I get a bit desperate sometimes and [when onstage] feel like ‘there’s nobody moving’, but some people just don’t enjoy music like that.”

“At the first show [supporting Lauren] that happened and I came off stage I was like ‘Oh god, everyone hated me’, and then I went in to watch Lauren and everyone was standing like that. It’s a bit arrogant to assume that everyone [will watch in a certain way]. Everyone enjoys music differently.”

What do you want the future to look like you for a musician?

“I’d love to play Glastonbury! I’d really love to travel, but I’d love to find a way to sustainably do the things I’d like to do. Me and my guitarist Jack are hand screen printing all the merch, so I go to charity shops and I find t-shirts and then I print on them, so we’ve got loads of really cool screens. I’d love to be able to find a way of applying that eco-friendly mentality to other parts of music”.

I think that we will be hearing a lot more from Kaeto very soon. There are a load of wonderful artists coming through. I am a recent convert to her music, so I am curious to see where she heads next and what the future holds. Let’s hope that there is more press coming. Maybe not wanting to give too much away, I think there is a lot to uncover regarding Kaeto. If you have not heard about Kaeto and her stunning music, then make sure that it…

IS in your ears.

__________

Follow Kaeto

FEATURE: I’ll Kiss the Ground: The Cinematic Realisation of Kate Bush’s The Ninth Wave

FEATURE:

 

 

I’ll Kiss the Ground

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush shot in 1985 for The Ninth Wave (the conceptual second side to her Hounds of Love album)/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

 

The Cinematic Realisation of Kate Bush’s The Ninth Wave

_________

I shall come to the concept and visualisation…

of Kate Bush’s The Ninth Wave very soon. The conceptual side of her fifth studio album, Hounds of Love, there are a few reasons why I think it should be made into a film. Forty years ago this month, Kate Bush recorded demos for Hounds of Love. It was the start of a process that would lead to the release of one of the finest albums ever. Hounds of Love is forty next September. Bringing to life its astonishing and immersive second side would be amazing. People rightly will point out this has been done. In 2014, Bush brought The Ninth Wave to the stage for Before the Dawn (the tenth anniversary of that is crucial and worth noting). The issue is that only those who attended one of the twenty-two nights know what it looked like. No DVD or visual release has come. Also, it was on the stage and not the screen. Rather than it being this filmic standalone, it was part of a larger conceptual stage production. Kate Bush herself, not long after Hounds of Love came out, felt that it would be realised in the form of videos or a film. That never happened. In terms of efforts since, there have not been any. A literary adaptation has been made of The Ninth Wave. In the book a girl, Molly, is adrift in the Atlantic. In Bush’s The Ninth Wave, an unnamed heroine is presumed to have gone overboard on a ship and is alone at sea.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush was suspended for six hours in a tank of water at Pinewood Studios filming visuals for And Dream of Sheep on The Ninth Wave (photo courtesy of The Independent)

In the end she is rescued, though people wonder whether that is true – or whether the woman drowned early on and everything after that is imagined. One would think that a cinematic interpretation would be the next step. One might say Bush would not allow anyone to do it. That is speculation and based on nothing. The fact Bush herself always wanted to bring it to life means she could be open. A DVD from Before the Dawn will never be released. There is a desire to see The Ninth Wave in its full glory. There is scope for it to be done! I also feel that, as she has given permission for her music to be used in film, she would not instantly shut a project down. If done right and Bush got to have a say, there is nothing to say an adaptation of The Ninth Wave for the screen would be a no-go. Rather than call it The Ninth Wave, I feel I’ll Kiss the Ground is better. It is a line from the final song of The Ninth Wave, The Morning Fog. That promise from the heroine that, when she gets back to land and is safe, she will kiss the ground and tell her relatives how much she loves them. Both sweet and, if you feel she never made it, quite heartbreaking. I wanted to pitch the idea, cast and why, as we mark forty years since Bush started working on demos for Hounds of Love, finally bringing The Ninth Wave to a big (or small) screen in the form of a seventy(or so)-minute adaptation would be welcomed by fans – and, one hopes, Kate Bush herself. Below is modern-day, Dublin-set film where a couple far separated on what was supposed to be a romantic night. From there, it is a fight for survival. The end, with a twist(s) of the tale, will leave viewers…

GUESSING and stunned!

________________

I’ll Kiss the Ground (70 MINUTES)

 

PRELUDE:

Before coming to the plot, it is worth mentioning casting options and a writer. I have worked on the story – and could co-write -, though the first name that spring to mind was Lisa McGee. The creator of the fabulous Derry Girls, a lot of the humour and emotional balance of that series was in my mind. I’ll Kiss the Ground would have a lot of humour throughout. Until the heroine is at sea and waiting to be saved, there is a great deal of humour (which provides necessary balance). I have been drawing and thinking of when it comes to writers like Lisa McGee. I think that McGee is someone who would bring to life an adaptation of Kate Bush’s The Ninth Wave. For the main role, the heroine, the only name that came to mind was Saoirse Ronan. I have always felt this! Her acting skills and look, I feel, would be perfect. It is not a music biopic and Kate Bush, in the original The Ninth Wave, was not portraying the woman. It was a character. Also, Ronan would not sing the songs. They are there to narrate what is happening. A voice from above. The songs come to life through visual techniques and effects. Saoirse Ronan would speak and call out. She does briefly sing along to the songs and say various lines but, for the most part, there is separation between Kate Bush’s original recordings and this heroine being in the water.

IN THIS PHOTO: Saoirse Ronan/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

Also, one of the biggest practical considerations is – apart from maybe a fairly large budget – how to ensure that the water scenes can be filmed realistically…and without Saoirse Ronan suffering hypothermia. When Kate Bush was filming And Dream of Sheep for Before the Dawn, she did contract mild hypothermia - and got a mild telling off from her doctor! The water tank/facility would need to be heated somehow. Even so, being in the water, potentially for weeks, brings about obvious and severe challenges. I am not certain who would play the heroine’s fiancé (the two are to be married). Domhnall Gleeson comes to mind. I love his work and feel the chemistry would be right. The story is set in Dublin, so I want as many Irish actors as possible. Alongside them would be Aisling Bea, Jessie Buckley, Sinéad Cusack, Sarah Bolger, Ruth Negga and Nicola Coughlan. Also, I hope, would be Guy Pearce, Gemma Arterton, Paapa Essiedu, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Lena Heady, Carey Mulligan, Kate Beckinsale, and Naomie Harris. More names will obviously come to light, though these are actors I envisage for particular roles. There would be one or two non-Kate Bush songs in the feature. Some various cultural references. The budget is going to be a consideration, so the wish-list might need to be trimmed. The determination is to have Saoirse Ronan as the lead. Not an ‘understudy’; the brilliant Jessie Buckley would be a worthy second choice.

PRE-CREDITS:

Prior to the credits coming in, there would be a moment of unexpected tension. Our lead couple, Catherine Daly and Paul McIntosh are hiding in the dark. A closet. You think they are in danger. It is very tense. Instead, they are hiding from children playing hide and seek. It is a mislead that then leads to the first act. The children belong to friends of theirs. They are child-minding them but, as they are not used to children, making mistakes!

IN THIS PHOTO: Domhnall Gleeson/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

ACT ONE: BEFORE THE STORM

We star with the soon-to-be-married couple watching T.V. and flicking through the stations. They alight on Grease. Watching the film and noticing how racy and sexual (inappropriate and questionable in many ways), they briefly forget that the kids are still there. They order them away. They notice how many feel that the plot is misleading. Sandy Olsson (Olivia Newton-John) is saved by Danny Zuko (John Travolta) on the beach. He saved her from drowning. Some say that Sandy died and everything after is a dream or her last thoughts. Many explain why the final shots, of Sandy and Danny in a flying car taking off from their friends, is mad and unexpected because it is a dream or dying thought. Catherine mentions this as, in some ways, one can draw parallels between Grease and The Ninth Wave. Maybe Kate Bush’s heroine died at the start and the rescue is in fact something imagined. This is a nod to what is to come and maybe a clue to a potential end twist. Catherine and Paul get some space and, before the morning, share a note of intimacy and reflection.

The next morning, the engaged couple discuss the wedding coming up in a few weeks. In order to enjoy some relaxation and time away from their jobs – Catherine works in a bookshop; Paul is a bartender -, they have a getaway, romantic night trip on a cruise ship. It is called Celtic Deep (this is the name given to the ship mentioned in the live version of Before the Dawn. The start of Act Two is Astronomer’s Call, which is a distress call made saying a woman has fallen from Celtic Deep. The ship is sinking in fact and a woman is in the water).

Catherine and Paul travel from Dublin to Dún Laoghaire to depart. They get onto the ship and try to settle in. With a couple in the room next to them, there is a bit of tension and rivalry. One of the more humorous sections of the film, there are misunderstandings and events that unfold that mean this influence impacts other guests on the ship. Catherine and Paul get to spend time together in the evening and soon get into an argument. With Paul getting some cold feet and doubts around the wedding, they soon fall out. Catherine makes her way to the deck where she meets a man who is drunk and causing a bit of trouble. She warns him that he will fall overboard is he does not go inside. Trying to help him, instead she is accidentally pushed overboard. Crying out, nobody hears her. The drunk man also falls in after her. With Celtic Deep heading away and out of sight – it essentially travels from the East Coast of Ireland to a certain point and then turns back -, Catherine is in peril at sea…

IN THIS PHOTO: A view of Dublin/PHOTO CREDIT: Lukas Kloeppel/Pexels

ACT TWO: THE NINTH WAVE

The drunk man knocked some life jackets overboard when he fell. There is also a small dinghy that came too. Catherine, with only an old-style Walkman and the clothes on her back, tries to climb onto the dinghy. The man says there is not enough room on there for two – a nod to Titanic and Jack and Rose and the infamous door scene -, so there is a struggle. Catherine is injured. The man considers turning around but paddles away. Now on her own, she hears a splash and the man has fallen overboard. We do not see anything, though we hear him shout. Catherine cannot get to him. The dinghy bursts, meaning Catherine is deprived of a life support. She now is panicking and is limited in what she can do. That is when the first music cue, And Dream of Sheep, comes in. The film employs various visual devices to portray the songs and bring them to life. Catherine keeps her Walkman out of the water. She is trying to stay afloat and not go under. The weather is getting wetter. Struggling against the cold already, she dreams of sleep and sheep. Wanting to be back in Dublin. Clinging onto hope.

FLASHBACK: “A WEEK EARLIER…”

In the first flashback, we see wedding preparation taking place. Catherine is with her sisters and parents. They discuss Paul and recall how the two met. Paul saved Catherine from being hit by a car as she left her book store. The two hit it off and started dating soon after. Catherine expressed her nerves about the big fay but has had a rocky past with men. Subjected to some really nasty men who have abused her. She feels safe. The sisters hug her and vow to be by her side.

Cutting back and we see Catherine open her eyes. Whether she drifted off or was fighting tears, there is now a realisation that she is alone. Under Ice plays. There is a part of the dinghy that floats by her. She puts her Walkman on there and says this mantra to herself: “You are better than this. You can survive the storm”. It soon (as the film unfolds) becomes apparent why that is being said. The water is very cold and there is ice in a section of the sea. Getting pulled under, Catherine thinks she is being attacked by fish or a shark. There is this fear as she battles for breath and coming back to the surface. The visuals change against to something more black-and-white and tense. This struggle to get free. She eventually comes out of the ice and back to the surface. Swimming back to the dinghy – which is still intact -, she notices that there is a small wooden raft that is in the distance. Upon reaching it, there is a few clothes, blanket and a dog lead. Realising it might have been a stowaway or someone who got into trouble, she climbs aboard. Looking in every direction, there is no sign of land or any light.

Hypothermia is starting to set in. Catherine is very savvy and, having read books in her job about survival – she says this to herself and narrates -, she manages to stay warm and keep herself awake. There is this mixture of fear and the determination to get back to the ship. Trying to prepare some sort of colourful flag. There is a torch in the boat. It works dimly. She tries to sign it. The Walkman still works as she can faintly hear music. Closing her eyes again, it seems like she may give up.

Waking the Witch plays. On Kate Bush’s version, there are voices of her friends and family asking her/the heroine to wake up. Catherine’s family and loved ones do likewise. We see them visualised through animation. Waves are building and there is a danger that Catherine might be capsized and in peril once more. She is jolted awake by a plane overheard. It is a Boeing-747 that is heading to the U.K. She tries to alert it - but it is in vain.

FLASHBACK: “FOUR DAYS EARLIER…”

We see Catherine and Paul with his mum. She is terminally ill and is in bed. The three are talking and she is looking forward to the wedding. Knowing this might never happen, Paul is a bit emotional. Catherine and his mother speak. Knowing that she has faced trouble in the past, she says to Catherine: “You are better than this. You can survive the storm”. She smiles. As the plot unfolds, she might be saying this about her son  - that she needs to be wary. Catherine takes it as meaning things will get better and she has found safety. It is revealed that Catherine is pregnant and that she is the first person she has told. She did tell Paul but he misunderstood. He was angry at a T.V. show and distracted. She laughs that he will tell him when he has ‘calmed down’. Even so, there is a feeling that something is amiss in the relationship.

Cut to the Celtic Deep. The ship is not in peril at all. It continues on. Paul notices that Catherine is gone and went overboard. He gives an incredible speech to the captain who tells him to calm down. He explains how she is nowhere to be seen. A cryptic text that was sent to him just before she went overboard said: “It doesn’t matter”. A distress call is raised that is similar to Astronomer’s Call from Before the Dawn. The ship cannot turn around yet. There is a storm coming in and they are grounded at the moment. They may have to turn back, though it will not be the same route. Paul paces and is consoled by passengers. The couple he was having trouble with are there. A knowing look between the woman and him suggests that the two might know one another or kissed earlier. Adding new tension. Does Catherine know?

Back to the water and Watching You Without Me plays. This is a song where the heroine imagines being with loved ones and her being late perhaps. An absence. Wondering where she is. As Catherine is fighting the storm, she brings from a coat pocket a photo of her family that she keeps with her. We get a visual of her being with them on a summer’s day as they laugh. It is them at an event in Dublin. There is a mixture of fantasy and hallucination. During the flashback, there are clues or flashes that ask whether Catherine is still alive, whether this is a dream she is having on land – as a nightmare about being married? – or what the chronology is. Whether she is really pregnant. There are twists and doubts that will keep viewers guessing to the end.

Back on the boat, and Catherine is awake. It is silent as the storm has stopped briefly. She is angry and regrets things she never said. A fish hops on board. Thinking of killing it, there is this moment where she watches it struggle. Throwing it back into the water, unfortunately it is then eaten by something. She swears. She can now see a distant light. Something flashing, maybe it is another boat. A glimmer of salvation, she now finds energy but is still delirious. That is when the Walkman seemingly dies. It was a gift from her sisters who knew she liked retro stuff (and they have a shared memory of a Walkman in the 1990s). There is a moment of sadness but Catherine is determined to see them. There is a mixture of animation and various visuals as the song bursts into life. That song is Jig of Life. She is reminded of home and the energy and vitality of Ireland.

FLASHBACK: “TWO DAYS EARLIER…”

Catherine reveals the pregnancy to Paul. He takes it with a mixture of shock and confusion. They remember back to the night of conception. In spite of the levity of the situation and celebration, you feel there is a secret between them. There is a flash to Catherine and Paul at their respective workplaces as they tell colleagues. With the wedding fast approaching, they discuss how they are getting away for a trip and looking forward to a night alone somewhere romantic. Getting out to sea.

Back to the water, and there is a brief cut of Paul on the ship. They say a helicopter will be deployed when the storm passes. In the meantime, he phones Catherine’s relatives and his mum. He reveals that he also has a confession. We do not know what this is and who specifically he is addressing. He goes to the bar and the pressure and gravity of the situation hits him. It is at an unfortunate moment when the onboard musical entertainment strikes up an inappropriate moment.

Catherine now sees the dawn start to break gradually. The light that she saw before was a buoy in the sea. Maybe a hallucination. The moon reflects on the sea as Hello Earth plays. The Walkman she has suddenly has a new burst of life. She plays the tape that is on it. It is an audiobook. It is Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann. It is her favourite novel. It is one that was originally bought for her by Paul on their first anniversary. This is the first time that Catherine is relaxed and surrenders. Hopeful that the storm passes means that things are better. There is thunder from above as she startles awake. Hello Earth plays as we pan up above her and see nothing around. A view of Catherine alone in the ocean – or is this Catherine looking above at herself?! The emptiness of the sea below is mirrored with a busy scene above. Visions of Catherine and Paul with her family. Them meeting him and sussing him out. Suggesting it was a while ago. There is also a flash of Paul’s mother better and him speaking about Catherine. Showing photos from his phone. Back to Catherine looking up and a cloud going across the moon and it going darker. The natural light starts to come through now.

The Morning Fog starts to come in. It starts and then pauses as there is silence. Rain sounds are heard as is the sound of gulls. Catherine is a bit delirious still and shivering. She whispers the words to The Morning Fog: “The light/Begin to bleed/Begin to breathe/Begin to speak/D'you know what?/I love you better now/I am falling/Like a stone/Like a storm/Being born again/Into the sweet morning fog”. There is thunder and Catherine repeats the mantra Paul’s mum said to her. She thinks about it and realises that there are darker truths in the saying. That it relates to Catherine’s mum. A realisation comes across her. Catherine is confused. She protect her unborn child and covers her stomach with a jumper. Just as she is about to sleep, a helicopter is heard above. She does not hear it at first. The light from above wakes her. She is freed from the sea just as a wave takes out the raft and breaks it. Inside, she is warmed up and told that her fiancé raised the alert and the ship is back towards Dublin now. Catherine asks if this is real. Her hand is held and she says she feels that. Looking out of the window, the raft is not there. All that is left is the Walkman and clothes. In the distance, unseen by Catherine, is a man in the sea. The same man as before feared drowned. He shines a light towards the sky.

ACT THREE: AFTER THE DAWN

FLASHBACK: “A WEEK LATER…”

Catherine and Paul get back to their apartment. They are hosting her family. The wedding has been postponed. Catherine hugs her dogs, Bonnie and Clyde (the name of Kate Bush’s dogs on the cover of Hounds of Love). They talk about what has happened but refer to it as an ‘event’. No specific mention in case it triggers. Or are they referring to something else. A bruise on her wrist and scar suggests maybe there was an accident or fight and not a struggle in the sea. Catherine and Paul look happy enough and pleased to be with each other.

When everyone has gone, they set down to watch a film. It is a slightly inappropriate one – about a boat disaster – and they share a joke. Paul’s mum wants to see them the next day to tell them something. Catherine needs an early night. She goes to her bed and she is wearing white. She sees her wedding dress hanging up. Catherine lies back. She reaches over to the bedroom table and turns the light on, which projects onto the ceiling. There is a pregnancy test that suggests it was very recently taken. Smiling, she lies back, once more, touches her stomach proudly and looks to camera and smiles as the end credits kick in – Kate Bush’s Jig of Life again swings in.

PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

EPILOGUE:

Of course, Kate Bush would need to sign off on everything.! The fact she no doubt imagined The Ninth Wave as a cinematic piece or visually makes me think that she would not be adverse. It has never come to the screen in terms of a film or one-off comedy-drama. I would love advice and collaboration with a great writer like Lisa McGee. A platform like Amazon or Netflix playing it. Kate Bush does not need to release a Before the Dawn DVD or compromise in that way. She has granted permission for her music to be used in film so, as long as edge had say or could have input, I feel it would be a project she would be invested in. Hounds of Love’s demos started taking shape forty years ago this month. Next September marks forty years of the album – and it would be great to have something in the world by then!

Of course, with recent loss and tragedy – Del Palmer died recently -, projects and work are the last thing on her mind. Kate Bush would not need to appear or do anything else. It is another way to bring Hounds of Love to people. The Ninth Wave is one of her most popular works. People want to see it brought to life. Through I’ll Kiss the Ground, I feel this is a way of doing that.

I have not listed all character names and all the actors desired. Saoirse Ronan is the name in mind that I have always seen as playing the heroine (Catherine). It would be amazing to have a female director helming the film/project, though I am not sure about a name.

The intent of this feature was to give an idea of how it would play out and the pace of it. Running at about seventy minutes (though it may be a tad longer), it is a comedy-drama piece with twists set in Dublin that has Kate Bush’s The Ninth Wave at its heart. The drama of Catherine struggling for safety and being rescued at the end.

Of course, there would be questions about versions of events. Twisted and doubts that mean people would revisit the film. I wonder whether it is possible to, in time, get to Kate Bush or pass the suggestion along. Get a script or outlined worked up. Maybe see if Saoirse Ronan would ever consider it. I think that the magic of Kate Bush’s work and the power of The Ninth Wave would draw people to it. After forty years in the world, it is a moment to realise The Ninth Wave. I think fans would relish an adaptation. Can 2025 be the year when it happens?! I really hope so, as it is something I am very passionate about.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Chy Cartier

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

 

Chy Cartier

_________

AN artist who I think is going…

to have her best year now, Chy Cartier is a U.K. Drill talent that is getting a lot of buzz. I am going to drop in a few of her songs that demonstrate her incredible talent. Whilst there are not many interviews - properly expansive ones rather than press around BOSSED UP - up about her, that is going to change as she gains more exposure. Perhaps someone who has not been embraced by as many people as she deserves, the North London queen is rising and putting out distinct and unforgettable songs. A singular talent who is among out finest young artists, many eyes will be on her as we pass through this year. The Face recently announced Chy Cartier as an essential voice to look out for:

“Right now, Chy Cartier has the kind of buzz every rising UK rapper dreams of. Before its proper release, a snippet of her recent single Bossed Up (initially known as Van Cleef, due to the jewellery brand being namechecked) blew up on TikTok, causing impressed rap fans to demand an official version. And as soon as Bossed Up was released in November last year, the likes of Little Simz, Central Cee, K‑Trap and Unknown T were quick to cosign. Why does the Tottenham rapper stand out? Aside from her explosive energy, Chy is trying out unique and unusual flows, encouraging a welcome wave of innovation in the UK rap scene. DR”.

One of the best tracks of last year came in the form of Chy Cartier’s BOSSED UP. I am fairly new to her work, though I heard this track and was instantly compelled to discover more. I don’t think U.K. Rap and Drill gets quite the discussion it deserves. Maybe seen as reserved to certain radio stations and audiences, there is a power and relevance in the gene – regarding lyrics and themes discussed – that warrants wider attention. If you have not heard the name Chy Cartier, you need to check out what she is going right now. BOSSED UP announces her as a major name of the future:

“One of the most keenly-awaited UK rap tracks in a long time has finally arrived. About a month ago, Tottenham-hailing rhymer Chy Cartier shared a snippet of “Bossed Up”, a track packed with grit and determination, and it caught an immediate buzz. But it has to be said: the rap newcomer’s previous singles, “Hella Rare”, “Show Me Love” and “Suit That”, have been great launching pads for what is about to be a breakout hit for her.

Produced by GW & RP, the “Bossed Up” clip pulled in praise and co-signs from the likes of Stormzy, Digga D, Potter Payper, Youngs Teflon and Wretch 32. A clip of the accompanying video, directed by Florian Joahn, was previewed earlier this week and took that buzz even further—slick and dramatic, it paints Chy in bold greyscale as she lets rip in front of the concrete city sprawl.

“‘Bossed Up’ is about having solid ambition and despite whatever challenges you may encounter, you should never give up on your dreams,” Chy Cartier tells Complex. “You can achieve anything you put your mind to—so go and get it! The hook looks back to my early years, the quick meals I used to eat before the uptown meals. The track is a self-celebration and affirmation for all my efforts to get to where I want to be”.

It is new days in many ways. Chy Cartier embarking on this new chapter. I cannot find much in the way of personal revelation and discussion. Getting to know more about who she is and where she is from. This is a lot shorter than most of my Spotlight features regarding press and insight. I hope that Chy Cartier does sit down to chat with some websites and publications. New music will be coming this year. There is something especially intriguing when it comes to Chy Cartier. I still think that British Rap is imbalanced when it comes to gender balance. Women not getting as much attention and opportunity as they deserve. I do think that things will change. At the moment, there is this inequality and discrimination that has to shift. Immense talent coming through is pushing back against the male-dominated and focused look. Chy Cartier is someone who is going to leave her mark on British Hip-Hop and Drill. A mixtape or album will give us a greater impression of who she is and what she is about. The inspiring BOSSED UP will give voice and hope to so many people. Reaching for dreams and keeping going on, it is clear that there is no stopping Chy Cartier. Make sure that you follow her on social media. She is going to ascend to new heights this year. Even though there are no interviews I can find, I was keen to spotlight Chy Cartier, as she is getting a lot of love and attention. A name that should be shared far and wide, watch this London artist explode. What she has put out in the world so far proves that we are going to be hearing about Chy Cartier…

FOR a long time to come.

____________

Follow Chy Cartier

FEATURE: After the Retrial… The New Success of Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Murder on the Dancefloor, and How Early/Mid-2000s Music Still Resonates

FEATURE:

 

 

After the Retrial…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Sophie Ellis-Bextor

 

The New Success of Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Murder on the Dancefloor, and How Early/Mid-2000s Music Still Resonates

_________

I shall mention another…

great Pop song from a British artist from the earl/mid-2000s that has received some unexpected chart success now. Before that, I wanted to congratulate Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Murder on the Dancefloor. Released on 3rd December, 2001, it was the second single from her debut album, Read My Lips. Following its amazing first single, Take Me Home, Murder on the Dancefloor confirmed Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s place as an incredible artist with a distinct voice. Hitting number two in the singles chart, it is her best-known song. It has received a new lease of attention and chart success. It is at number two in the U.K. now because of its appearance in the film, Saltburn. Emerald Fennell’s film has given that song a new spotlight. Appearing through TikTok videos and shared on social media, a new generation are discovering this amazing song. There are a few reasons why it is a chart success in 2024. It is a timeless song that is catchy and has an amazing chorus. A song to dance to and feel free, there is also a depth regarding its lyrics. Written by Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Gregg Alexander, there is something magical about the song that crosses music tastes and boundaries. Irresistible and fresh, this is a song that has already inspired a new generation of Pop artists. As they have their songs shared and seen on TikTok, it is only understandable that Ellis -Bextor should get an audience there. Not that Murder on the Dancefloor is a ‘TikTok song’. It has that instant connection and accessibility. Unlike so many other modern Pop songs, this 2001 classic also brings listeners back to a great time for Pop. When we had queens like Ellis-Bextor reigning here and stars like Britney Spears in the U.S., it was a rich and consistently brilliant period where we saw many Pop classics. I discovered Sophie Ellis-Bextor through her 2000 hit with Spiller, Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love). An instantly recognisable and standout voice, I was hooked. Read My Lips is an amazing debut album that is full of brilliant music. In 2022, Kate Bush enjoyed reassurance when her song, Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God), hit the top of the singles chart here. That time, Netflix’s Stranger Things included the track in a powerful moment. I don’t think the Saltburn-Murder on the Dancefloor scenario is the same thing. In any case, it has given a new life and focus on a tremendous song.

I want to come to an article from The Guardian. They interviewed Sophie Ellis-Bextor in light of current success of Murder on the Dancefloor. It is pleasing to hear that, in a full circle moment, she is working on a new album that is more Dance-orientated. Maybe a new album that nods to some of the sounds that were on 2002’s Read My Lips. One of our finest and most celebrated artists is rightfully having one of her songs taken to heart by listeners who might not have caught it the first time around:

“One Saltburn TikTok trend shows rich kids prancing through their own lavish homes to Ellis-Bextor’s song (albeit fully clothed), which provoked commentary that either they had missed the point of the film – or that Fennell’s intended class satire had missed its mark. “Insane,” Ellis-Bextor said of the videos. “So funny.” As her song began rising in popularity, she recorded her own dancing TikTok in a hotel on New Year’s Eve. Far from a country house, “everyone thought I was in a Wetherspoon’s”, she said. Elsewhere, Saltburn star Richard E Grant and Paris Hilton have made videos using the song.

Saltburn has found a widespread audience among Gen Z despite divisive reviews. Critic Simran Hans was one of many to pan the film, and theorised that its brash music-video-style set-pieces, such as Oliver’s naked dance, have a “screen-shottable, meme-able quality, to the point where it actually works better out of context” – to wit, Saltburn-themed videos have accumulated 4bn views on TikTok. “It’s telling that it’s resonated most with a Gen Z audience, many of whom have likely enjoyed a piecemeal version of it online,” said Hans.

This week Murder on the Dancefloor – which began life as a demo by the New Radicals songwriter Gregg Alexander – also made its US Hot 100 debut at No 98. It is the latest catalogue hit to experience a chart spike thanks to a well-placed sync or viral moment. Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill reached No 1 in 2022 thanks to a spot in Stranger Things, 37 years after its original release. And in 2020, Fleetwood Mac’s Dreams returned to the charts more than 40 years on after it soundtracked a viral skateboarding TikTok.

Tom Gallacher is general manager at Rhino UK, the catalogue label of Warner Music, who worked on both songs’ viral campaigns. Artists must walk a fine line when managing – or capitalising on – these flashpoints, he said, contrivance being anathema to authenticity-obsessed Gen Z. Fleetwood Mac got involved with the meme, while Bush was moved to give a rare interview to BBC Radio 4. Internally, labels might re-top an act’s greatest-hits playlist with the rising song – Universal rushed out a Murder on the Dancefloor remix EP to capitalise on the clamour – or petition Spotify to add the hit track to various themed playlists to further extend its audience. These careful tactics, he said, can create a wider catalogue spike. “You get new fans who keep on coming back.”

On TikTok, the song’s hashtag has more than 92.2m views and has been featured in more than 418,000 videos – a 444% increase over the past week. The oldest members of Gen Z would have been about five years old when Murder on the Dancefloor was first released. Ellis-Bextor said her five sons have grown up with the song, but are now dealing with it moving from being part of their mum’s history to part of their social world: “My 14-year old is seeing it on TikTok, my eldest is seeing his friends play it in clubs in the US,” she said. “My 11-year-old heard it on the radio the other day and said: ‘I think this song’s overrated.’”

While this viral moment will eventually pass, the song has a lasting significance for Ellis-Bextor. In her 2021 memoir Music, Men, Motherhood and Me, she wrote about being in a contemporaneous relationship with an older man whom she characterised as abusive and controlling: at his worst, she said he wouldn’t let her walk down the street alone and once twisted her wrist until it swelled. The original single’s success, she said, took her around the world and opened her eyes to “experiences and listening to people’s stories”, which helped her leave.

“I was working with a lot of women who were older than me, so I’d listen to their wisdom as well,” she said. “Brick by brick, it gave me the tools to be strong enough, when the time came, to get out of this. It was quite a strange juxtaposition but that’s probably not that unusual in some ways – if you’re in a dynamic that’s unhealthy, and suddenly your work is making you more visible, then the flip of that is the person who doesn’t really like that trying to bring you down a bit more when you’re home.” Months after the song’s release, Ellis-Bextor met her husband, Richard Jones, bassist with pop-rock band the Feeling”

Any artist has to “go where the energy and momentum is,” she said. “That’s what creativity absolutely thrives on.” Coincidentally, she said, she had begun work on a more dance-oriented album before Murder on the Dancefloor went viral, writing with Cathy Dennis and Richard X. “It’s definitely made me feel like the stars are aligning.”

Having vanquished Victoria Beckham in 2000, Ellis-Bextor’s current chart rivals are Liam Gallagher and John Squire with their debut collaborative single, Just Another Rainbow. Can she take them? “I’m not falling for that!” she said. “Come on, I had to deal with all that the first time around. Let me off the hook! I think it’s a bit churlish to be stamping my foot: I don’t just want my two-decade hit to come back, I want it to be No 1! Whatever happens, it’s all magic”.

I think that a new generation of social media users and music fans connecting with Pop music of the 2000s. Even though Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Murder on the Dancefloor is enjoying the headlines and chart success, another interesting talking point comes from another British Pop classic: Natasha Bedingfield’s 2004 single, Unwritten. Taken from the album of the same name, the single originally went to number six in the U.K. Again, its use on screen and momentum from streaming and social media means that a song that some might not have heard is getting some fresh life and discussion. Billboard reveal how Unwritten was used in a key scene in a new film:

“During the holidays (Dec. 22), Anyone But You – which stars Emmy nominee Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell – delighted rom-com fans across movie theatres. In the Shakespeare-inspired story, Natasha Bedingfield’s pop classic “Unwritten” plays a pivotal role in the narrative of Powell’s character. The song plays and is sung by multiple characters throughout the film, easily making it the defining musical characteristic of the Will Gluck-helmed movie.

According to Luminate, “Unwritten” earned over 1.3 million official on-demand streams during the period of Dec. 29-Jan. 1, marking an eye-popping 156.3% increase from just over 511,000 streams the weekend prior (Dec. 22-25). Since the film hit theatres, TikTok has seen a wave of videos using the official “Unwritten” sound to soundtrack viewers leaving Anyone But You screenings in high spirits. That sound boasts over 39,400 posts on TikTok. Bedingfield has since posted a pair of TikToks celebrating the song’s resurgence. “A rom com has got girls falling out of cinemas singing my song — and now it’s trending!!!” she wrote in an intro to a compilation of post-Anyone But You “Unwritten” TikToks”.

I think that the early and mid-2000s was a fertile time where some of the best tracks ever were released. A wonderful time where Pop and R&B were reigning, I am not surprised that Natasha Bedingfield and Sophie Ellis-Bextor are seeing songs of theirs from that time back at the forefront. The production and sound of the music still is relevant. Artists of now producing music that has a similar sound. Maybe not as strong and distinct as these songs, I feel that Pop music from twenty years ago is very influential today. There is also the power of films and how they use music. Not a new phenomenon, if a song does appear on the big screen and is seen by a lot of people, that then means it can have this fresh wave of acclaim and chart success. I am glad that we get to talk about amazing songs from two of our best artists. Sophie Ellis-Bextor has reacted with amazement that Murder on the Dancefloor is a modern-day smash. Resonating with people and riding high in the charts, this will open doors. I feel more songs from the period – 2001 through to 2004 – will be used in films. More investigation and appreciation of the music scene of that time. Also, it shows the brilliance of pairing great cinema with a perfect song. How one can never write off a song and feel it is of its period. There is something about a great Pop song that means it connects with people right through the decades. As Ellis-Bextor sings in Murder on the Dancefloor: “If you think you're getting away/I will prove you wrong”. When it comes to this golden song and its 2024 success via Saltburn, that is definitely this case. This wonderful gem is…

VERY much here to stay!

FEATURE: The Mysterious Harry Houdini: A Del Palmer Playlist

FEATURE:

 

 

The Mysterious Harry Houdini

  IN THIS PHOTO: The cover of Kate Bush’s fourth studio album, The Dreaming (1982)/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

A Del Palmer Playlist

_________

THIS year started sadly…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Del Palmer and Kate Bush together in London in September 1985 launching her fifth studio album, Hounds of Love/PHOTO CREDIT: Dave Hogan/Getty Images

for Kate Bush fans. Someone who impacted and moulded her career and music more than most people, Del Palmer, died. He had been ill for some time, though it came as a massive shock for everyone. Not only were Palmer and Bush in a relationship for many years and were a rock for one another. He was a member of her band and performed on most of her studio albums. He also became her engineer. His credits include Hounds of Love, The Sensual World and her most recent album, 50 Words for Snow. That 2011 album has special relevance now. The final one he worked on with Kate Bush. He was with her for so long. From friendship in the 1970s through to this wonderful working relationship that blossomed for decades, there were few as important to Kate Bush as Del Palmer. She trusted few others to work with her, such was her attachment and faith in Del Palmer. He in turn could not work with other artists, as Bush’s talent was unique and so powerful. They were really meant for one another! This is what Kate Bush wrote in reaction to the news:

“It’s hard to know what to say… He was a big part of my life and my work for many years.

It’s going to take a long time to come to terms with him not being here with us.

He was incredibly creative – talented in lots of different ways. He was a brilliant musician, bass player, a great artist – he was always drawing. Once he covered a whole recording consul in cartoons. It took him days and it looked absolutely stunning.

He taught himself to be a recording engineer, engineering several of my albums and later releasing his own.

The image above is a mosaic that Del made. He called it Tree of Life.

I’m going to miss him terribly.

Kate”.

Some may not know that Del Palmer is the only other person apart from Kate Bush to appear on an album cover of hers. On 1982’s The Dreaming, the man with his back to camera is Palmer. He was playing the role of Harry Houdini. The is a song on the album, Houdini, that talks about the escapologist and his wife, Bess, kissing him and slipping a key to him that way. A key on her tongue. The cover depicts Kate Bush with a key on her tongue embracing Del Palmer. Palmer played on that album and was a really important part of her music. To honour him, I will end with a playlist featuring songs that he played on. I have also included a few where he engineered too. A mixture of his talents. As a bass player and staple of her creative and musical team, Del Palmer leave this massive void. We will remember him and everything he gave to us. To showcase that, here is a collection of songs where Del Palmer’s magic is…

VERY much in the mix.

FEATURE: Spotlight: ScarLip

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

 

 ScarLip

_________

TIPPED by Vevo…

as one of their DSCVR Artists to Watch, I wanted to spend some time with the magnificent, empowering and essential ScarLip. I am going to get to some interviews from the New York rapper. One of the finest new voices coming through. Before that, here is some background and biography about the incredible ScarLip:

“With the wave of female rappers entering the game being the strongest it's ever been, the newest leading lady out of New York has everyone asking, “Who is Scar Lip?” With hits like “New York” and her infamous “Glizzy Gobbler,” Scar Lip is making her presence heard with her aggressive delivery and sharp punchlines. Like other artists emerging from Hip Hops modern era, Scar Lip’s social media presence keeps her new fans close to her and gives insight into who she is. With plenty of competition in the form of fellow female artists on the scene, she is looking to stand out with an iron fist. Here is everything you need to know about New York’s own Scar Lip.

Childhood

Growing up in the Bronx, Sierra Lucas, also known as Scar Lip, didn’t have an easy upbringing. In fact, the traumatic events in the rapper’s childhood shaped who she is today. At 12, she lost her mother in a hit-and-run car accident. Her brother caused a traumatic injury as a child, resulting in a trademark scar on her lip. While living with her aunt, Scar Lip also faced alleged abuse from her uncle and aunt as well. Soon, Lucas moved into foster care after leaving the abusive household. This is where the rapper began writing poetry to cope with the events she had experienced. She details these experiences in her songs “Therapy,” “Foster Care,” and “Suicide Awareness.”

Famous Co-Signs

Since emerging on the scene, Scar Lip has received a lot of love from fellow rappers. The latest A-lister to give her praise to Scar Lip is fellow Bronx native Cardi B. When asked if she would consider being featured on the “This Is New York” remix, she enthusiastically replied, “I love that song! My fans keep asking for it." Earlier this month, both artists attended the Met Gala celebrations. On Instagram, Cardi B reposted a pic of Scar Lip in her Met Gala ensemble with the caption, “I love her.” The new upcoming artist also went to Instagram, sharing her excitement at the moment with her fans.

“Cardi B just posted me,” Scar Lip said in a video. “She inspired me. She from The Bronx, bro. I’m from The Bronx. She showed us young girls we could make it, and we could be something, bro. I can’t f**king believe this sh*t. We did it.” In her post, she also got support from other figures as well. Tony Yayo, Wack 100, Lola Brooks, and Latto all joined in showing love in Scar Lip’s comment section. The 22-year-old has also received praise from the likes of Busta Rhymes and Jadakiss. Even NBA legend, Shaquille O’Neal, gave his stamp of approval. On Instagram, the basketball player told the rapper, “It’s time for you to take over New York.” Snoop Dogg gave his praises to the artist as well.

Influences

Being New York to the fullest, Scar Lip's musical style is heavily influenced by legends who are also fellow residents. The rapper has also cited the late DMX as her main influence. Several others have made striking comparisons between the two artists. Scar Lip says well-known other New York artists, including Onyx also influence her. Among fans, she is also often compared to Brooklyn rapper Casanova.

Last May, ScarLip gave her thoughts on the Rap scene in New York to COMPLEX. She was asked about comparisons with other artists, getting advice from Swizz Beatz, and why she leans into her unique and distinct voice. This is an artist who should be on everyone’s mind this year. I am new to her as it turns out, yet I am excited to follow her through this year and see what comes next:

“New York is in the midst of a rap renaissance, with sevral subgenres dominating the city, and Scar Lip is here to restore the gritty gangster rap feeling.

The 22-year-old Bronx rapper embodies her borough and reflects her past experiences. When it comes to her stage name, Scar Lip shares that she landed on it after being assaulted by her brother when she was young; the incident left a gash on the left side of her upper lip. Despite the traumatic experience leaving a permanent mark on her face, Scar embraced it and made it a part of her rap persona.

“I was like, ‘I’m going to own this. I’m going to turn my pain into my power,’” she tells Complex. “If I call myself Scar Lip, anything somebody says about me can’t affect me and they can’t say anything about me because this is who I am. And now it’s my scar. My scar is my brand. I just turned my pain into my glory.”

Beyond her recognizable brand, Scar has a special lyrical ability that reflects the New York legends she’s inspired by, including DMX, 50 Cent, and Busta Rhymes. After getting into spoken word when she was young, Scar Lip eventually picked up rap in 2018 and started taking it seriously, leading up to the release of her 2022 track “Glizzy Gobbler,” which took YouTube by storm. As the name suggests and she made clear to us, Scar isn’t rapping about hot dog lovers, but “dick-eaters.”

“So I’m like, ‘How am I going to catch these people’s attention and spit them hard bars so niggas know I can rap,’” she recalls. “So I just started picking up some items. I started picking up glizzies, I started picking up noodles, and some nuts. I was just like, ‘What could the hood relate to?’ And they were fucking with that shit because it was funny.”

When and how did you get started doing spoken word and slam poetry? 

I’ve been doing poetry since I was a little girl. Poetry is like an expression to me. And I’ve always written raps, but I never actually posted them. My first time ever posting a rap video was in 2018. And it went viral in 2018 or 2019. I did a rap, a regular rap, not even a poem.

I saw your reaction to Cardi B reposting your recent post. What did that mean to you as a Bronx artist, and where do you hope that relationship will go?

It was like my dreams came true, because Cardi B from the Bronx. And I’m from the Bronx and she made it so when you from the Bronx, you are going to look up to her. She made it happen for us. Now she’s opening the door to make it happen for us.

So that shit was crazy. It was really a dream come true. Every day I work, every day I post my events, every day I grind and I finally see some results. For all the upcoming artists, they know how it is when we finally get that little taste of just recognition. Once we get that recognition, we go beast mode.

You have a unique voice too. What makes you lean into it?

I have multiple voices. I’ve always done that. It’s just not released. I have multiple characters, I have multiple personalities, multiple alter egos in my music. It was just like, I don’t drop a lot. I wasn’t dropping a lot of music.

I know you linked up with Busta Rhymes for a “This Is New York” remix. What advice did he give you as an up-and-coming artist?

One thing I can say is Busta is a big help and a big support for me. He’s like a mentor to me. And he always gives me advice to stay who I am, stay authentic, don’t change for nobody, and to be consistent in my music. He always gives me pointers. Like when I first went into the studio with Busta Rhymes, I was very nervous. I was nervous because we were laying down tracks, we got more than one.

And I feel like I was too nervous about, “I got to get them bars right. I gotta make it sound good for him because this is a legend,” you feel me? And he was just like, “Scar, just chill, just vibe. We good. We got this.” But yeah, he’s just a good support for me. I ain’t going to lie.

How would you describe the state of the New York rap scene right now?

We are bringing this shit back. No, I’m joking. I don’t know. There are multiple talents, and multiple genres. Everybody always asks me how I feel about this kind of rap or that type of rap. It’s an expression. These people express themselves. Not everybody’s going to express themselves in an old-school way. Not everybody will go and express themselves in a new school way. Artists bring different vibes to the table, and different flows. That’s why when you see an artist, they stand out because they’re unique, right?”.

In December, Stereogum spoke with the phenomenal ScarLip. It was noted how women are dominating Hip-Hop right now. Certainly when it comes to what is happening in the U.S.. There is also this feeling that Rap is a little too clean or sweet right now. ScarLip is here to mess it up. Bringing something rawer and less apologetic to the plate. Sitting alongside contemporaries like City Girls, ScarLip is offering something fresh and invigorating. A sound that lingers long in the mind:

“I bring authenticity, unapologetic rawness, and aggression. I’m bringing pain back to rap. I’m always gonna bring the ugly side.”

It’s a pretty perfect summary of why 2023 has been such a breakout year for this fast-rising 22-year-old, who passionately raps about unpleasant realities in a hoarse rasp that cuts through the air like an uncoiled spring. Her voice carries the bite of someone – finally – turning the tables on a lifelong enemy.

No other rap song released this year slapped you across the face with the icy chill of ScarLip’s “This Is New York,” with its stomping, warped bassline replicating a motorbike revving up and all the war-ready bars (“Get the fuck out New York/ You ain’t welcome anymore!”) helping resurrect the rebellious spirit of the golden era Ruff Ryders crew doing wheelies in the direction of terrified Shiny Suit rappers. This song had no time for pretty, IG-ready diversions; it’s too gnarly and far too busy aiming for the jugular, forcing fuckboys to run off screaming.

“This is New York, fuck I look like telling a ni*** good morning?” ScarLip spits like a cantankerous hood-rap Larry David, snarling like she’s protecting NYC from an invading army of yuppies and gentrifiers. “Fuck I look like being nice, sweet, charming and warming?”

At a time where there isn’t too much to smile about amid the current neverending abyss of our bloody news cycle, ScarLip’s warrior energy; husky, imperfect vocals; refusal to wear a fake smile; and decision to fully embrace the stereotype that New Yorkers are naturally wry and grouchy is pretty radical stuff. She is a much-needed female voice telling the masses that it’s okay to want to scream into the void and be imperfect, or even long for more mainstream hip-hop that speaks for the poor rather than elevating all the venture capitalists. “This Is New York” is the ugly truth.

Comparisons to DMX carry enormous pressure, but it’s obvious ScarLip shares the late rap legend’s ability to sound simultaneously invincible and vulnerable during her verses. When rapping this pair sounds like they’re purging to a priest and emotion is therefore extracted from every syllable.

“My earliest memory of freaking out to music was hearing DMX on ‘Ruff Ryders Anthem,’” ScarLip recalls while giving me a rowdy rendition of the legendary song’s battle-cry hook: stop, drop, shut ’em down, open up shop, etc. The comparison to X doesn’t seem to phase her, not one bit. He’s practically her spiritual advisor, and her hope is that her major-label debut will continue in 2024 where It’s Dark And Hell Is Hot left things back in 1998.

“That thing, that thingggg, that thiiiiiiing,” she continues, laughing loudly and mischievously as she sings “Doo Wop.” “Lauryn Hill inspired me a lot too! When I saw her on TV it told me it was okay to be dark skinned, have nappy hair, and look like me. You can still go right to the top, as both a singer and rapper.”

On wax, you’ve never shied away from the darkness of your childhood and how you were passed around children’s homes. Was writing poetry an escape?

SCARLIP: Poetry was a way I could express myself and, whenever I was going through things I didn’t feel comfortable speaking to anyone else about, I would just stay in my room, writing. It was a healthier way to let my anger out. I spent a lot of my younger years in the system and care homes, so I would write about how those experiences made me feel. My first three songs were just three poems: my life as a Black girl, me being in the foster care system, and losing my mom. The same way Billie Eilish can make those big songs about overcoming depression? That’s what I am trying to do. Before I even made it, I said I wanted to get so big from music that I could open up homes for children.

I want to talk about the importance of the line, “If you feel like you’re alone, it aint your fault,” on “Therapy.” So often victims of sexual abuse are made to feel like they brought it on themselves, somehow. Why is it so important to change that toxic mentality?

SCARLIP: I believed as a young girl that it was my fault and a lot of the things that happened – my mistreatment, my abuse, losing my mom, the poor treatment from my aunt – were all things I deserved. That’s what they taught me: “Oh it is you! It is on you!” I repeatedly said that lyric, “It ain’t your fault”, so other people wouldn’t be brainwashed into thinking it was their fault either. I want everyone [who has been abused] to know: It isn’t your fault! If you can be in the system and still make something out of yourself, even after the world and everyone else turned their backs on you, then you can make it through anything else in life.

I hate this expectation that we all must be jolly right after waking up. I think “This Is New York” captures that so perfectly when you complain about having to wish people a good morning and instead embrace being cantankerous. The world is fucked up right now, so it’s okay to have an off day, right?

SCARLIP: Yeah! Not everybody wants to be happy every day. Not everyone can be jolly all the time! Sometimes I want to be mad. Sometimes, ni***, I want to curse you out! We gon’ put all the emotions in the music, you feel me? It ain’t gon just be happy go lucky energy, ni***, we about to go do a drill too! Let’s make a song about punching a ni***s in the face. We don’t always need love.

Does it feel like New York rap is re-energized right now? And are a lot of the best rappers from the five boroughs women? I think so.

SCARLIP: I ain’t gonna let you trick me with that question, haha. But I will say this! Women are dominating, you feel me? New York is as grimey as it has ever been! We winning right now. We got people like me, Lola Brooke, Ice Spice; we all turning the city up! And we all got our own edge, and I feel like we’re bringing something new to the game and something new to the city. Especially the legend Cardi B! She is full-on Bronx. Most of the best rappers right now; we from the Bronx! We’re bringing it back to where hip-hop started. We all soldiers out here, you feel me?”.

I will wrap things up soon. I will finish with an interview from Hot New Hip Hop. ScarLip reflected on a busy and memorable 2023. One where she was getting kudos and recognition from some incredible fellows. Artists bowing down to her clear talent and brilliance.! That energy and momentum will carry her through this year. Somebody who is going to put out some amazing music:

“HotNewHipHop: How do you feel about 2023, a year of abundance, lessons, and valuable experiences?

Scar Lip: This year has been a mix of highs and lows, but it brought tremendous growth and invaluable life lessons. I've learned so much about myself and the industry.

What were some of the most memorable moments for you in 2023?

Meeting Busta Rhymes and receiving a diamond chain from him was unforgettable. Also, being in the studio with legends like Cardi B and Mary J Blige, and having Cardi B bring me out on stage in Dubai, were surreal experiences.

How did you establish connections with industry legends like Busta Rhymes, Cardi B, and Mary J Blige? Was it all organic?

Social media played a significant role, but I was also proactive. I reached out through DMs, Instagram Live, and even approached Snoop Dogg. Being a fan of Cardi B, I took the initiative to connect.

Why do you think it's important to be public about your journey and story?

I want people to know that no matter where you come from or what you've been through, you can make it. Sharing my story is a way to inspire others and show them that overcoming challenges is possible.

How do you handle the overwhelming support and love you've received?

I'm incredibly grateful and cheerful about the support. Sometimes, I can't believe how far I've come.

Any surprising moments where someone unexpected showed support?

Definitely, Cardi B and Shaq reaching out were unexpected but amazing moments.

What can we expect from Scar Lip in 2024?

Look forward to new music, new opportunities, and more of me being myself and striving for greatness”.

A name that is going to be among the most talked-about this year, ensure that ScarLip is someone on your radar. With incredible singles like No Statements and Blick arriving last year, eyes are on her to see where she heads. Maybe a mixtape or album is coming along. I hope she gets chance to visit the U.K. at some point. Someone who would be embraced here, this is an artist ready for global success! All the signs look positive. Proclaimed and celebrated by some pretty huge contemporaries, there is no stopping one of the most compelling voices coming from New York. This majestic and mesmeric artist is…

BUILDING her empire.

____________

Follow ScarLip

FEATURE: Don’t Judge Me: Is the Banned FKA twigs Calvin Klein Advert ‘Stereotypical and Exploitative’ – or Was the Ban Misogynistic and Racist?

FEATURE:

 

 

Don’t Judge Me

IN THIS PHOTO: FKA twigs/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

 

Is the Banned FKA twigs Calvin Klein Advert ‘Stereotypical and Exploitative’ – or Was the Ban Misogynistic and Racist?

_________

AS this pertains…

PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

to someone in the music industry, I wanted to cover the recent story around a Calvin Klein advert being banned. Featuring FKA twigs, it was an image of her with a shirt draped across her body, revealing part of one breast and the side of her buttocks, along with the caption “Calvins or nothing”. Adverts like this have been printed or shown on the T.V. before. In terms of the actual image itself, it is not all-revealing and profane. It is sexy and eye-catching. It is confident and liberating! An artist who would not let herself be exploited or want to project a false image, there has been division around the ban. Different sides of the debate which raise questions around the fact that she is a woman. That she is a mixed-race woman. An advert for Calvin Klein that is appearing on billboards features The Bear star, Jeremy Allen White. Undoubtably looking good, he has been celebrated. Showing sex appeal and flesh, he has been revered for his physique and the fact he reminds people of the Calvin Klein models of old. A classic star who is a perfect fit. Flip that around to FKA twigs. Someone who perhaps revealed slightly less of herself, she instead has been banned and seen as objectified. People complained because she was deemed this stereotypical sex object. People feeling you see more of her than the clothing. I don’t think it was a case of people concerned about the brand worried that the product was being mis-sold. Concerned that some would be confused. Instead, there is a double standard that did not apply to Jeremy Allen White – who, by the way, was wearing practically nothing! Even though he was selling briefs and a billboard features him in them alone, I think he is still wearing less clothing than FKA twigs. In terms of ‘coverage’, there is not a lot in it. He was not seen as exploited or used as a sex object.

I can understand if people were concerned FKA twigs was being used for her body and this was a case of a woman being misrepresented. All about her body rather than her brain. That is fair enough. What we are talking about is Calvin Klein. A brand that has always had a reputation for its sexier adverts. It is not a situation or area where a more intellectual setting would have been appropriate. FKA twigs would have gone in knowing the brief and been fine with it. A fantastic and arresting image that would definitely get people talking about Calvin Klein, it is revealing without being too explicit or crossing any lines. Questions around discrimination asnd misogyny have come up. A woman being banned. Would even a white singer or figure have received the same backlash?! Here is some background and reaction:

“The two complainants also objected to a pair of Calvin Klein adverts featuring the model Kendall Jenner, but the ASA deemed them acceptable, saying one of her holding her breasts was not done “in a manner that portrayed her as a sexual object”, and the other fell within the bounds of acceptable lingerie advertising.

Calvin Klein has defended the FKA twigs advert, saying: “The images were not vulgar and were of two confident and empowered women who had chosen to identify with the Calvin Klein brand, and the ads contained a progressive and enlightened message.” They argued the poses adopted by both her and Jenner were “natural and neutral”.

They also highlighted that FKA twigs and Jenner collaborated with the company and approved the images, and subsequently told interviewers “they felt a sense of empowerment and confidence from having participated”. Calvin Klein also highlighted that male models featured in the same campaign”.

Without getting too forensic, if there was outrage that FKA twigs has part of her breast exposed in the advert, then is that enough to deem an advert inappropriate or offensive. That line between a confident and empowered woman and one being exploited because of her sexuality. It comes to consent, comparisons and standards. FKA twigs has since reacted and not seen any offence or issue. Male models have been as revealing and are not subjected to complaints and judgement. Also, in terms of whether the partial nudity offends people, I would refer people to Jeremy Allen White – and, in fact, advertising campaigns from Calvin Klein and other brands throughout the decades. It is a body. It is skin. There is nothing being show in the twigs campaign that has not been seen and celebrated from other times. Rather than this being an issue around appropriateness and exploitation of women, it does seem misogynistic and racially-motivated. Dig deeper, and something darker is revealed. Not about this being a woman objectified, instead a brave and confident woman of colour has been banned. Someone who has endured pain and unspeakable horrors in the past, this is an image that needed to be out there. FKA twigs responded to the ban:

“NEARLY A YEAR after a partially nude FKA Twigs starred in a Calvin Klein campaign, the ad was banned in the U.K. as it apparently made the singer a “stereotypical sexual object.”

The artist responded to the ban on Wednesday, taking to social media to share her thought. “I do not see the ‘stereotypical sexual object’ that they have labelled me. i see a beautiful strong woman of colour whose incredible body has overcome more pain than you can imagine,” wrote Twigs on Instagram alongside an image of the ad.

She continued, “In light of reviewing other campaigns past and current of this nature, i can’t help but feel there are some double standards here. so to be clear… i am proud of my physicality and hold the art i create with my vessel to the standards of women like josephine baker, eartha kitt and grace jones who broke down barriers of what it looks like to be empowered and harness a unique embodied sensuality.” Twigs thanked Calvin Klein for giving her “a space to express myself exactly how i wanted to,” adding, “I will not have my narrative changed.”

The Calvins or Nothing ad, which debuted in April 2023, featured Twigs naked, draped only in loosely fitting shirts. The image — which showed the side of Twigs’ buttock and breast — drew complaints to the U.K. Advertising Standards Authority, which ultimately ruled this week that the Twigs ad cannot be displayed or published in its current form again.

“The ad used nudity and [centered] on FKA twigs’ physical features rather than the clothing, to the extent that it presented her as a stereotypical sexual object,” the ASA said in their decision. “We therefore concluded the ad was irresponsible and likely to cause serious [offense].”

However, the ASA also deemed a similar Calvin Klein campaign featuring Kylie Jenner — which also drew complaints — acceptable.

Calvin Klein previously defended the campaign in a statement (via the Guardian), “The images were not vulgar and were of two confident and empowered women who had chosen to identify with the Calvin Klein brand, and the ads contained a progressive and enlightened message.”

In March 2023, Twigs spoke to Rolling Stone about the provocative ad campaign. “You’re literally stripping bare for the public,” Twigs said. “Physicality right now is such a huge point of discussion,” nodding to fashion’s inconsistency to encompass all body types. Though recent years showcased a burgeoning change amongst luxury and retail brands, the last few months have felt like a regression. “We’ve gone from enhanced female body parts to now everyone being obsessed with being so thin”.

It does seem strange that the advert is being banned now. Real name Tahliah Debrett Barnett, the half-Jamaican, part-English and Spanish artist is someone who should be on billboards. Celebrating her heritage. At a time when there is still a preference for white faces and particular body shapes, this ban does feel regressive. An ideal that Calvin Klein want. A brand that has become more inclusive since dark days of fatphobia and the promotion only of thin models, it seems to have taken a step back. Writing for Glamour, Chloe Laws explained how the banned Calvin Klein advert reveals misogyny, racism and double standards:

“In my opinion, the situation is layered in misogyny, racism and double standards. Taking to Instagram, she said: “I do not see the ‘stereotypical sexual object’ that they have labelled me. I see a beautiful strong woman of colour whose incredible body has overcome more pain than you can imagine."

The ASA statement read: “The ad used nudity and centred on FKA twigs’ physical features rather than the clothing, to the extent that it presented her as a stereotypical sexual object, the image’s composition placed viewers’ focus on the model’s body rather than on the clothing being advertised”.

In the full letter, there are some lines that stick out as, I believe, extremely hypocritical and nonsensical, such as: “Her nudity and facial expression, including a direct gaze and open mouth, gave the image an overall sexual overture.” 

In my opinion, Jenner’s image is posed in a very similar same way and is objectively more sexualised. It is extremely problematic that a Black woman’s sexuality would be policed and criticised, while—in the same campaign, no less—the White woman’s is not.

Calvin Klein has defended the FKA twigs advert, saying: “The images were not vulgar and were of two confident and empowered women who had chosen to identify with the Calvin Klein brand, and the ads contained a progressive and enlightened message.” The brand continued to say that the poses adopted by both her and Jenner were “natural and neutral”. It’s a solid response from the brand, albeit slightly missing the point—it is precisely the fact that FKA twigs is empowered and confident that has likely caused the complaints in the first place. This is not a world that responds positively to such traits.

The decision from the ASA shows just how impossible it is for women to 'win'. In one action we are objectified, commodified, liberated or empowered, all depending on who you ask. In this ruling the ASA is taking away a woman’s autonomy—doing the sexualising and objectifying it claims to be ruling against”.

These worrying overtured of bias, misogyny and racism do send a very bad message! Even now, in 2024, we are still having these discussions. To be fair, it is not Calvin Klein’s fault. They commissioned the advert and ran with it. They were keen for FKA twigs to be a face of their campaign. It is the decision of the Advertising Standards Authority to comply with complaints and ban the advert that has caused controversy. It is not about decency and exploitation. If the model herself feels she was not exploited and was simply projecting herself as a brave and sexy woman of colour who had control, then why does anyone else think they can speak for her?! It is a double standard where a man or white woman can be more revealing and sexualised and not subjected to criticism or bans. At a time when we should embrace all cultures, races, body sizes, and sexual orientations and genders, this feels like a very troubling statement. Hiding behind an excuse that FKA twigs was a stereotyped sex object, she has hit back saying that she will not have her narrative changed. She is absolutely right! Nobody has any right to speak for her or…

JUDGE her.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Madi Diaz

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

  

Madi Diaz

_________

WITH a string of dates…

announced across North America, Madi Diaz has a very busy start to this year. The Connecticut-born artist is no newbie to the music scene, though she may be new to some people in the U.K. I do not hear her played as much as she should. I wanted to spotlight this amazing artist who releases her new album, Weird Faith, on 9th February. This is an album that I would urge everyone to check out:

“Madi Diaz has been making records and writing songs professionally since the mid 2000s, but it wasn't until she released 2021's History Of A Feeling that she felt the glare of wider notoriety. It wasn't her debut album, but it certainly felt like it. She made her daytime and night time television debuts, embarked on her first solo tour since 2012, and supported Waxahatchee and Angel Olsen on tour, and also collaborated with them on record. Harry Styles handpicked Diaz to open for him in arenas and stadiums in North America, and was so taken by her captivating live show, he asked her to be a member of his touring band, to sing alongside him all over Europe and the UK, as well as continuing to open the show in various cities. After three months on the road touring internationally, Diaz is back in Nashville, and gearing up to release her new album, Weird Faith, perched on the precipice of her moment. Featuring Kacey Musgraves and produced by Sam Cohen and Konrad Snyder, the album feels expansive and exploratory, showcasing her growth as a songwriter and speaking earnestly about the fears that come from falling in love again”.

I am going to get to a couple of interviews with Madi Diaz. I want to go back to 2021. Give some run-up and context to where she is now. Diaz spoke with SPIN about her album, History of a Feeling, and how it has been a long process and journey. I am fairly new to Madi Diaz’s album, so I am interested looking back and getting a sense of where this amazing artist has come from - and how, with each album, something extraordinary and unique is revealed:

“For Madi Diaz, the journey of History Of A Feeling has been a long one. She can hardly believe it herself. “2014…how is that simultaneously two seconds and like 5 million years ago?” she asks SPIN over Zoom from her Nashville home.

Diaz, who is perched on her red and white couch, glows as the sun pierces through the window behind her. It makes sense that she’s embraced such tranquility, considering she was “white-knuckling a Zen approach” to everything early on in the pandemic. “I didn’t have a publishing or label deal or any sort of foundation there at that point,” she recalls. “So it was tough, and it was scary, but it was also very strange the way that the cards started to just naturally fall.”

And they did. In February, the singer-songwriter signed to ANTI- Records. And seven years since her last full-length album, Phantom, Diaz shared her new LP, History Of A Feeling, on Aug. 27. The folk-pop album, anchored by honky-tonk guitar riffs and wistful lyrics, took shape gradually as Diaz went through her own healing process.

In 2017, Diaz endured a painful breakup. After the split, her partner came out as transgender. “When you’re in a super codependent relationship it’s weird [and it] hurts, and you don’t know how to untangle your feelings from their feelings,” she explains. Just a few months later, she relocated to Nashville for a fresh start, and what followed was a three-year process of compiling upwards of 150 songs. The result, History Of A Feeling, captures the heartbreak and growth Diaz experienced as she rebuilt her life. Whether it’s quiet rage (“I hope you fuck her with your eyes closed and think of me” on “Think of Me”) or the acceptance of a different future (“What used to work doesn’t work anymore” on “New Person, Old Place”), Diaz’s keen sense of self-awareness shines through each track.

Ahead of the LP’s release, Diaz spoke to SPIN about starting over in Nashville, having Kesha sing “Resentment” and still being known as a “new artist” 14 years into her career.

SPIN: When did you start making the record?

Madi Diaz: The first song that I officially wrote for the record was in a non-official sort of way. I wasn’t making the decision to start writing a record. I think as a writer, a creative person, it’s just the thing that I do to get through a day, or an experience, a feeling or a topic. I kind of have to chew on it, talk about it and figure out how to explain it to myself. The first song that ended up on the record dates back to fall of 2017 [in] October, but it was a long process that I wasn’t really aware of going through: just writing, existing and being, and growing day after day, which is kind of why there were 150 songs that were in the running. The accumulation of almost three years of writing and then getting to the point where it’s like, “Okay, now you get to do a thing. What are you going to do?

Which artists were you inspired by for this record?

I was listening to a lot of Patty Griffin’s earliest record, Living With Ghosts, and Joni Mitchell’s Blue is a record that I go back to almost seasonally and ruminate on the rawness of having the opportunity. The label and ANTI- didn’t really enter the conversation until the record was finished, so I really was more giving myself the opportunity to make this body of work and was kind of lucky to just have a production partner in Andrew Sarlo just wanting to make something that sounded like me. But I guess I’ve been through so many different versions of myself that I was really wanting, deeply desiring, something as raw as those records are because they’ve stuck with me for so long. Lori McKenna is another one that I always go back to over and over again.

You put out your last full-length album, Phantom, in 2014 followed by your 2017 EP, Okay to Be Alone. What accounted for the large gap in time between albums?

Life was happening, and Phantom was such a push in a pop direction that at the end of the day it didn’t really resonate with who I am as a person and an artist. [I was] kind of all over the place, pouring my energy into different projects and writing. For better or worse, I definitely love being an escape artist and figuring out how to not sit still, but when I moved back to Nashville there’s so much less going on here. That really forced the issue of “How did you get here, and what’s going on with you?”

Was there ever a point in time that you weren’t sure if you were going to release another record?

100%. I mean, I can’t believe I’m still here. That’s kind of how a lot of this feels. I was sitting with my A&R from the label when I was in L.A. playing shows, and he was like, “As a new artist this, that and the other.” It’s just funny at 35 after having been doing this for 14 years to still carry the torch of the new artist. I also feel really lucky to have some sort of outlet to put these feelings.

What’s the meaning behind the title of your new record?

History Of A Feeling came from retracing my steps and trying to figure out certain patterns that I found myself in and walking it backwards and realizing that on some level, regardless of the thing that I’m going through, my reaction to that doesn’t even necessarily have to do with the thing that’s happening. It has to do with the narrative that I’ve been writing for my life because of that one thing that happened all the way back there.

What made you choose “Man in Me” as the lead single?

I wanted to lead with that one because I had been trying to find more of a production role with myself, especially before I found [writer and producer] Andrew Sarlo, and we started working together. In the spirit of not losing the plot, I wanted to make sure that the recording was as close to a mirror as possible of what I was going through and what I was feeling in the moment. So it felt like leading with that was the best way to rip off the Band-Aid.

“Resentment” is a beautiful song that Kesha also sang on The High Road. What’s the story behind it?

”Resentment” happened early on in the process of writing. It’s just this funny song that you don’t even realize that you’re writing sometimes in your relationship. It’s just all the times that you say, “I don’t need you to talk about that right now.” Or “This just isn’t a good time.” Or “I shouldn’t express this thing that I’m feeling.” It can be the silent third partner in a relationship and can creep up out of nowhere.

Your long-term relationship ended between records. Is this entire album about that relationship?

The relationship is — or was — definitely the catalyst for a lot of change in my life, but most endings inspire beginnings, if not all. So I think 15% of this record [is] a retelling of some stuff after the fact that had to do very closely with the relationship. Really, 85% of that record is what happens when you’re just sitting by yourself after the fact.

How did moving to Nashville help inspire you?

Nashville is just the best. In the groups that I’ve had the fortune to be with, I’m friends with everybody that I wrote my record with, and sometimes we’d get together and just talk and not even write a song. Just having the space and the time gives room to have really honest conversations and allows a really organic process to happen. In L.A., I felt like I was at the point where I was so tired and beat down there. It kind of put this pressure on things in a way that I didn’t really feel super centered in the end of it.

When you were alone and back in Nashville, what did you rediscover about yourself?

It started with lots of margaritas and nachos six days a week for three months. There was a hazy period of whatever and my sweet friends showing up at my house with flowers and bathrobes. I was really lucky, and I am really lucky, to be surrounded just by a fucking incredible community of kind humans that aren’t afraid to hold pain with you, even if they have nothing to say or nothing to add”.

I will bring things up to date. Having supported Harry Styles in 2022, and with high-profile musician fans including Angel Olsen, there is no doubting the fact that Madi Diaz is a musical treasure. One who is much respected by her peers. Perhaps not as played in the U.K. as the U.S., I do hope that changes this year. I will end with an interview from Rolling Stone. They spoke Wirth Madi Diaz earlier this month. She has a lot of dates lined up. As someone used to life on the road, she was looking ahead to a new tour and her forthcoming album:

“Madi has a really pleasing way of keeping everything conversational,” her friend Kacey Musgraves tells Rolling Stone. “My favorite kind of songwriting.” The Nashville musicians have known each other for a long time, but became close in the pandemic — cooking, shopping for antiques, and joking about sharing a house together. “Madi and I will hit the occasional estate sale or go for a long walk and chat,” Musgraves says. “There’s also wine. And horses. We’re both horse girls through and through.”

Musgraves appears on the Weird Faith duet “Don’t Do Me Good,” a dazzling send-off to a lover with a potent chorus about finally throwing in the towel. “There’s something about her voice that just lifts the whole thing,” Diaz says. “I know Kacey’s speaking voice pretty exclusively, so it was fun to be in the studio and put the headphones on and then listen to that voice coming out of her mouth: ‘Oh, right! That’s my friend!’ ”

PHOTO CREDIT: Cheril Sanchez

Co-written with Ed Sheeran collaborator Amy Wadge, “Don’t Do Me Good” is easily one of the strongest songs in Diaz’s catalog. But she was hesitant to ask Musgraves to sing on it. “I was totally terrified to ask her, because that bridge feels comfortable for me and my friendship with, like, Courtney Marie Andrews,” Diaz says, naming an Americana peer. “But Kacey is in a completely different stratosphere. She’s a pop star.” (Hearing this quote, Musgraves laughs: “That’s ridiculous. We’re friends. I was like, ‘Absolutely. Duh. Yes.’ ”)

Many of Diaz’s friends these days are female musicians — something that wasn’t always the case for her. “With our generation, alpha females were taught to avoid each other in our twenties,” Diaz says. “Which is such a goddamn shame. It’s funny how that completely shifted in my thirties.”

Diaz grew up in a musical family in Norwalk, Connecticut (her dad plays in a Zappa cover band), and moved to Pennsylvania when she was seven; later, she studied at Berklee College of Music before dropping out to play gigs at the Bitter End in New York. She moved to Nashville in 2008, grinding it out as a songwriter, then moved to Los Angeles to play in bands, finally returning to Nashville in 2017.

“I did not literally think for two seconds about being a woman in the industry and how that would maybe, eventually, become difficult,” she says, thinking back to her early career. “It’s fucking different for women, and hopefully people will respect that at some point. I honestly don’t think that men do.”

Diaz names several musicians who tour with their children, from Maren Morris to Elle King to Margo Price (“a fucking badass”). “Or my friend Michaela Anne, who has a two-year-old — like, there are women that do tour with kids,” she adds. “Michaela Anne’s situation is very different than Maren Morris’ situation on the road. And they’re both doing it.”

But despite that line about parenthood in “Everything Almost,” she knows it’s not her time yet. She’s learning to live in the present, citing Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl’s 1946 memoir, Man’s Search for Meaning, as a recent inspiration.

“It’s about listening to what life is asking of you and responding to those questions,” she says. “And, like, life isn’t asking me to be a mother. Right now, it’s asking me to fucking carry my guitar two miles from LaGuardia Airport, and have a rat’s nest of cables in my carry-on bag that weighs 50 pounds. So I’m trying to be there”.

I am going to wrap up now. If you do not have Madi Diaz on your radar then make sure that you check her out. An incredible artist that has a string of wonderful albums under her belt, she releases Weird Faith next month. Shaping up already to be one of the best albums of this year, I am really interesting in listening to it. Although a lot of fresh and rising artists are getting attention as ones to watch in 2024, I do think there are artists who have been around a while not known everywhere. Ones that should be heralded too. Madi Diaz definitely fits into that category. She is truly…

<

A phenomenal artist.

___________

Follow Madi Diaz

FEATURE: bad reputation: Why a Recent New York Times Article Suggesting Taylor Swift Is Queer Provoked Such Backlash

FEATURE:

 

 

bad reputation

IN THIS PHOTO: Whilst Taylor Swift has shown huge support for the L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ community and fought for their rights, a recent feature from The New York Times suggesting she is queer has provoked criticism and accusations of homophobia/PHOTO CREDIT: Luis Sinco

 

Why a Recent New York Times Article Suggesting Taylor Swift Is Queer Provoked Such Backlash

_________

THERE has been a lot of discussion around…

ILLUSTRATION CREDIT: Angie Wang

an article published by The New York Times that borders on the obsessive. One that feels Taylor Swift sends out coded messages through her songs saying that she is queer. A 5,000-word guest edit by Anna Marks entitled “Look What We Made Taylor Swift Do” – Look What You Made Me Do is the title of a track from Swift’s 2017 album, reputation -, it is almost obsessive and forensic in ‘revealing’ or at least strongly suggesting that Taylor Swift is queer. In a tone that suggests she is hiding it. You can read the piece here. Rather than celebrate her success and the fact her Eras Tour has broken records and is the most successful concert film ever, she has been subjected to this ‘exposé’. It would be interesting to see a piece about how Swift’s music resonates with the L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ community and how ‘Swifties’ – the name given to her fanbase – find strength and identification through those songs. Instead, this excess and rather needless feature seems to want Taylor Swift to come out. It has prompted an angry response. Is it appropriate for the media to do that?! Not a tabloid feature, it does have that feel of try to out someone or suggesting that they are coding something that should be declared and made public. Here are some segments from that New York Times feature:

“On April 26, Lesbian Visibility Day, Ms. Swift released the album’s lead single, “ME!,” in which she sings about self-love and self-acceptance. She co-directed a campy music video to accompany it, which she would later describe as depicting “everything that makes me, me.” It features Ms. Swift dancing at a pride parade, dripping in rainbow paint and turning down a man’s marriage proposal in exchange for a … pussy cat.

At the end of June, the L.G.B.T.Q. community would celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. On June 14, Ms. Swift released the video for her attempt at a pride anthem, “You Need to Calm Down,” in which she and an army of queer celebrities from across generations — the “Queer Eye” hosts, Ellen DeGeneres, Billy Porter, Hayley Kiyoko, to name a few — resist homophobia by living openly. Ms. Swift sings that outrage against queer visibility is a waste of time and energy: “Why are you mad, when you could be GLAAD?”

The video ends with a plea: “Let’s show our pride by demanding that, on a national level, our laws truly treat all of our citizens equally.” Many, in the press and otherwise, saw the video as, at best, a misguided attempt at allyship and, at worst, a straight woman co-opting queer aesthetics and narratives to promote a commercial product.

Ms. Swift’s “Lover” was the first record that she created with nearly unchecked creative freedom. Lacking her old label’s constraints, she specifically chose to feature activism for and the aesthetics of the L.G.B.T.Q. community in her confessional, self-expressive art. Even before the sale of her masters, she appeared to be stepping into a new identity — not just an aesthetic — that was distinct from that associated with her past six albums.

When looking back on the artifacts of the months before that album’s release, any close reader of Ms. Swift has a choice. We can consider the album’s aesthetics and activism as performative allyship, as they were largely considered to be at the time. Or we can ask a question, knowing full well that we may never learn the answer: What if the “Lover Era” was merely Ms. Swift’s attempt to douse her work — and herself — in rainbows, as so many baby queers feel compelled to do as they come out to the world?”.

Once a record of good repute and standing, The New York Times has not covered itself in glory with this feature! Why it was even commissioned to start with seems very odd. Capitalising on Taylor Swift’s success, it does seem a negative reaction to that. Whereas it could have been framed in a more positive way regarding sexuality and themes explored in her songs, it is something rather tawdry and baiting. Whether Swift is queer or not is queer is no business of ours. She has not stated her sexual preference or how she identifies. At a time when L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ artists are still not as embraced as they should be, I wonder whether this set things back. Rather than celebrating the community and showing support, there are articles (like the one in The New York Times) that almost force people to come out! Accusatory and needlessly obsessed with something that does not need to be written about. How many artists of Taylor Swift’s standing have similar articles written about them asking if they are straight?! There is a sense of homophobic and prejudice in the article. Many have reacted to it. I want to bring in some reaction and analysis.

PHOTO CREDIT: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for iHeartMedia

Laura Snapes, writing for The Guardian, felt that the number of mentions in Taylor Swift’s songs suggesting she may be queer are not accidental. That may she has rebuked her L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ fans. Why is it impossible to think that the reference that might suggest sexual desire are actual about friendship?! Or, more importantly, why does she have to reveal her sexuality or make her lyrics overtly queer?! What business is it of ours?! She does not owe her fans that announcement. As someone afforded virtually no privacy or part of her life uncovered, is this the final stone that needs to be unturned so that she is completely exposed?!

“The response felt almost as heavy-handed and misguided as the original piece. Male artists including Shawn Mendes and Harry Styles have in fact been the subjects of massive speculation about their sexualities: the NYT writer previously published a similar piece about Styles, while Mendes has spoken of the pressure of the constant discourse about his identity. (“I thought, ‘You fucking guys are so lucky I’m not actually gay and terrified of coming out,’ ” he told Rolling Stone. “That’s something that kills people.”) And there is no way that gimlet-eyed Swift has made the many references listed by accident: if you lead a horse to water, don’t be surprised when it drinks. Dignifying an overblown essay with such a severe response may in turn act as a rebuke to fans who have found identification and solace – or even just benign entertainment – in imagining, say, that Swift’s gaspingly sexy Reputation song Dress may be about her once-prominent friend, the model Karlie Kloss (“I don’t want you like a best friend”!), rather than its more likely subject, her then-boyfriend Joe Alwyn”.

It’s these playful and personal mutations that keep a star like Swift interesting at a time when her carefully managed media omnipresence and tightly plotted breadcrumb trails have started to feel a little tedious, laden with thudding predictability. (Does the snake-green dress she wore to the Golden Globes at the weekend mean that the serpent-referencing Reputation (Taylor’s Version) is coming? Is the pope Catholic?) For many onlookers, that wearying feeling struck again when reading her lone recent interview, for Time’s person of the year cover, which seemed disappointingly uninquiring and intent on validating her version of events – namely that she was “cancelled” in the wake of her feud with Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, when in fact it resulted in one of the most successful albums of her career – rather than pushing deeper into the fertile ground where her self-conception rubs up against public interpretation. The most abiding images of Swift this past year show pop’s biggest outlier standing alone on stage at the Eras tour, bedazzled with sequins. She cuts a formidable figure in her class of one – but it’s in the unruly exquisite corpse of pop fandom and stardom that the most meaningful rewards are found”.

That suggestion that an artist who has become a bit predictable or subjected to little media scrutiny or scandal. Swift is the master of her own narrative. Why should the queer suggestion compete with other interpretations? I think that that assumption somewhat misses the point. Regardless of her fame and perceived lack of revelation regarding her sex life and relationships, The New York Times were analytical in a very intense way. Why should the subject of Taylor Swift’s sexuality compel such obsession?! Again, it comes to the argument or whether it is intrusive and inappropriate or an article that is trying to make her more identifiable to her L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ fans. Rather than her songs holding back when they should maybe embrace an important part of her fanbase, it is needless decoding and obtrusion.

In the same way that Taylor Swift loves her L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ fans and they are very important to her, she has long been the subject of speculation around her sexuality. Not the first time this has been brought up, Swift has also said how she is not L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+. Why then, now, curiously timed around the Eras Tour success and this new level of fame, should Anna Marks decide to focus on entirely the wrong thing?! There are a couple of other opinions from The Guardian that I think are interesting. This is what Arwa Mahadawi wrote in her feature as she asked whether it was okay for people to speculate about Taylor Swift’s sexuality:

“Swift, for her part, has said she isn’t part of the LGBTQ+ community and asked people not to sexualise her female friendships. Was the Times unethical to gloss over all of this and give rumours about her sexuality so much airtime? Swift’s inner circle reportedly thinks so. According to CNN, Swift’s associates (a vague term which could mean anyone from Swift’s PR person to someone who once sat in the same restaurant as her) were disgusted by the article, and accused the Times of sexism.

Outing someone against their wishes is clearly morally wrong, but that’s very different from overanalysing a bunch of song lyrics

“Because of her massive success, in this moment there is a Taylor-shaped hole in people’s ethics,” a source told the outlet in response to the Times piece. “This article wouldn’t have been allowed to be written about Shawn Mendes or any male artist whose sexuality has been questioned by fans.”

Let’s not go overboard here, eh? Yes, much of the discourse surrounding Swift is steeped in sexism and double standards. But I’m not sure that charge can be levelled at this particular piece. Marks has, after all, written a similar sort of article (albeit much shorter) about Harry Styles – who has been accused of queerbaiting and whose sexuality is constantly being questioned by fans.

Further, while I think Marks’s piece was highly inadvisable, I wouldn’t go as far as to say it was unethical. Outing someone against their wishes is clearly morally wrong, but that’s very different from overanalysing a bunch of song lyrics. Particularly when those lyrics are set up to be overanalysed in the first place. As Marks notes in her piece, “Swift has explicitly encouraged her fans to read into the coded messages (which she calls ‘Easter eggs’) she leaves in music videos, social media posts and interviews with traditional media outlets.”

PHOTO CREDIT: John Salangsang/Golden Globes 2024/Getty Images

It’s a genius marketing move, encouraging fans to engage deeply with her content and get them speculating about what deeper meaning the megastar might be weaving into her songs. Is it any wonder that some fans go down rabbit holes?

Speculating about a celebrity’s sexuality on online forums is one thing, but there’s a case that speculation in serious media outlets is completely different. Certainly, Chely Wright, a queer country singer whose struggles to come out in the early 2000s kicked off Marks’s piece, thinks so. “I think it was awful of [the New York Times] to publish,” she wrote. “Triggering for me to read – not because the writer mentioned my nearly ending my life – but seeing a public person’s sexuality being discussed is upsetting.”

I can understand why Wright would feel upset about the article, but – and I say this as a gay woman – I take umbrage with the idea that it is upsetting to see a public person’s sexuality being discussed in 2024. I mean, come on now: celebrities have their sexuality discussed all the time. Newsflash: talking about a celebrity dating someone of the opposite sex is discussing a public person’s sexuality.

It is unfortunate, I think, that Wright’s criticism accidentally plays into homophobic ideas that only queer people have sexualities while heterosexual love lives are just the default. And quite a lot of the outrage over the Times piece, I should note, does seem to be tinged with homophobia. Certainly all the outraged op-eds in the likes of the New York Post seem disgusted with the very idea that anyone might suspect Swift to be gay. “What’s so wrong about her being a straight white woman who makes great music?” an irate Post article demanded.

I’m not entirely sure what Marks set out to achieve with her piece (which, again, was ill-advised), but I do think she has achieved something. She has shown us that the entertainment industry is perfectly fine with its biggest stars flirting with LGBTQ+ imagery. It’s fine with its biggest stars draping themselves in rainbow flags and making statements about allyship. Dare to suggest that those stars might actually be gay, though, and you’ll see quite a lot of old-fashioned homophobia coming out”.

Maybe intended to celebrate an artist at the height of her powers that might be this role model and tangible inspiration for other queer people, was the intention to reveal this queer icon – in a music scene where queer artists are perhaps accepted by not spotlighted as they should be. Is the music industry doing enough to show the visibility and enormous importance of L.G.B..Q.I.A.+ artists?! I know there is an irony in me writing a feature that will nearly be 5,000 words angrily reacting to an original 5,000-word feature! Why go to such excessive lengths to pick apart and slam an original piece that, in itself, was strangely over-analytic and needless?! It is not only about Taylor Swift. It is the way the media needs to know private details and people’s sexuality. A feeling that this should be public information. Taylor Swift shrouding something in mystery when she should be honest with her fans. As Swift has made no suggestion she is queer, what The New York Times feature is seems to be muck-racking. When artists are slammed for queer-baiting, isn’t this what The New York Times are doing?! This opinion piece raises some interesting points:

“Swift has embraced the LGBTQ+ community in the past, calling her concerts a “safe space” for LGBTQ+ people and publicly defending them in a 2019 interview with Vogue magazine against a record number of anti-gay bills introduced in states across the country. “Rights are being stripped from basically everyone who isn’t a straight white cisgender male,” she said. “I didn’t realize until recently that I could advocate for a community that I’m not a part of.” 

But she has not identified as a member of the queer community herself. In the prologue to the re-record of her 1989 album, released in October, Swift said she surrounded herself with female friends at one point in her career to counter ceaseless media speculation on her love life. “If I only hung out with my female friends, people couldn’t sensationalize or sexualize that – right? I would learn later on that people could and people would,” she wrote.

Marks, seemingly aware of the criticism her essay could face, pre-emptively tried to address potential backlash in her piece. “I know that discussing the potential of a star’s queerness before a formal declaration of identity feels, to some, too salacious and gossip-fueled to be worthy of discussion,” she wrote.

“I share many of these reservations. But the stories that dominate our collective imagination shape what our culture permits artists and their audiences to say and be,” she added. “Every time an artist signals queerness and that transmission falls on deaf ears, that signal dies. Recognizing the possibility of queerness – while being conscious of the difference between possibility and certainty – keeps that signal alive”

El Hunt, writing for The Independent, feels that a dangerous line was crossed by The New York Times. Rather than it being a fascinating and important essay on sexuality and artists’ privacy – or whatever the intention was! -, there is this element of homophobia. The feeling that queerness needs to be exposed, rooted out and revealed. It also puts pressure on other queer artists who have not come out that they may be subjected to such prurient obsession from the media. This beautiful community, queerness should not be seen as something dirty or shameful:

“Both of them are right – analysing every last detail of somebody’s existence for hidden clues that they’re harbouring some kind of secret doesn’t just buy into the idea that a queer person looks or acts a certain way, it implies that being LGBTQ+ is still something that needs to be exposed or rooted out. Have none of us learned from the countless tabloid outings, gleefully pasting celebrity’s private lives across their front pages, occasionally with tragic results?

It implies that being LGBTQ+ is still something that needs to be exposed or rooted out

For artists who find themselves embroiled in these seemingly baseless rumours, such as Swift, the whole thing must be deeply infuriating – and beyond that, we all lose out. A world where some straight men  – such as the Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny, or the actor  Tyler James Williams – are singled out, their playful fashion senses or affection for their male peers held aloft as ‘evidence’ sounds like an incredibly depressing, two-dimensional one to me.

For an artist who is either straight, or refuses to label their sexuality at all, there is simply no way to win. Those who breezily ignore the rumours and carry on as they are (often while politely refusing to label themselves publicly) are immediately branded as queerbaiters seeking to profit off the so-called pink pound.

It is not enough to show solidarity with a community that forms a beloved chunk of a musician’s fan-base anymore; surely there must be an ulterior motive or PR strategy whirring away behind the scenes. Hit back at speculation too firmly, and you risk being labelled homophobic ‒ so what if you’re gay? What does it matter anyway?! But to flip that same logic in its head, why get so obsessed about it in the first place, then?

Often it’s also implied that artists we suspect of being queer ‒ whether it's Taylor Swift or Billie Eilish, who recently accused Variety of outing her ‒ have some kind of duty to come out in order to bolster representation. “And so just for a little while longer, we need our heroes,” insists the New York Times.

Fame does not form a protective mystical shield from homophobic hate crimes

This isn’t just naïve, it does a huge disservice to the realities of homophobia, and is completely untethered from a period in which hate crimes based on sexual orientation have actually increased by 112 per cent over the last five years. Fame does not form a kind of protective mystical shield, either; actor Jonathan Bailey recently told the Standard about having his life threatened because he was gay. “That is the reality,” he said. “People’s lives are literally at risk.” 

 

Given how much we hear about positive queer representation nowadays ‒ and granted, things are improving ‒ it’s tempting to buy into the incredibly optimistic suggestion that homophobia is mostly a thing of the past (it’s 2024! Love is love!) and the preserve of a few ignorant, poorly educated bigots. This could not be further from the truth.

Look, I love searching through popular culture for ‘gay morsels’ as much as the next bored lesbian. I would be flat-out lying if I denied having watched endless compilations of Rachel Weisz/Cate Blanchett/Kate Winslet waxing lyrical about starring in a film about queer love and sounding amusingly, accidentally, perhaps slightly-knowingly gay in the process; for me, that’s about the art itself, so it’s fair game.

And perhaps this is where the line is. If you ask me, reappraising somebody’s art through an LGBTQ+ lens in the first place is not a problem ‒ it’s so common that there’s an entire branch of academia dedicated to the practice, called queer theory. The analysis that follows can often shed really interesting light: who does a lyric belong to once it has left an artist’s mouth?

It’s an important and valid question that cuts right to the core of the magic of music in the first place; a song’s essence shifts depending on who sings it, or who hears it. When Shania Twain sings Man, I Feel Like A Woman, it’s a defiant expression of female empowerment; but when she performs it as a duet with Harry Styles, it automatically becomes a playful exploration of gender expression instead”.

It is interesting seeing various interpretations and reactions to the feature from The New York Times. Why it was published in the first place…and what message it sends out. I think there is a majority feeling that it is inappropriate and shows The New York Times in a bad light. Doing very little to improve their reputation, it does seem like a misjudged and dangerous write-up! Digging into lyrics to try and make Taylor Swift reveal she is queer – when she has said she isn’t -, it is homophobic and completely unnecessary. That New York Times feature is entitled “Look What We Made Taylor Swift Do”. Nobody made her do anything! Rather than writing nothing or producing a feature celebrating Taylor Swift’s achievements, instead we have this scandalous and obsessive deep-dive that seems completely unnecessary and tasteless. It has provoked huge anger. Look what The New York Times…

MADE us do!