to say it's been a good week for new music would be a massive understatement. in one day (today) we've been blessed with two Absolute Bangers that are both in contention for my favourite song of the year so far; they'll go head to head later in this post as i try to choose a favourite. i also did a ~deep dive~ into the legendary pop 2 for VIBBIDI, which you can read here if you so desire.
1. kim petras
i know what you're thinking; this is the third new music friday post in a row where i've mentioned her, but i truly cannot get enough of kim petras. just when i was getting used to her slightly more subdued sound, she went ahead and released do me, which she dedicated to all her "fello hoes" on twitter. lyrically, the super-risque bop leaves little to the imagination while packing a serious punch sonically - it's like the older, better looking cousin of 2018's power ballad can't do better.
i've also had homework on repeat, an ultra-nostalgic bop which sees kim and frequent collaborator lil aaron reminisce about their school days. though i tried my hardest to repress every memory of high school once i walked out of the gates for the last time, i couldn't help tear up at this tale of two friends who simply lost touch as life got in the way. it's a similar story to that of beats, the latest film from brian walsh that i went to see earlier this week.
it's a classic coming-of-age story set in the summer of 1994 in scotland which follows best friends spanner and johnno as they embark on one last night of partying together before johnno moves away to a new town. in a story that hit a little too close to home, their bond is constantly tested as the pressures of Adult Life start to creep up on them. i won't spoil the ending, but i couldn't help feeling slightly disappointed with how it turned out.
the absence of Close Friendship has seriously affected my mental health in the two years since i moved back home from uni, and the bonds i made while away were definitely something i took for granted as i now find myself attending as many meetups as possible in hopes of meeting someone i truly ~click~ with and while i've made a few friends, i've yet to find someone i can be booksmart levels of crazy with. but if my pursuit of friendship has taught me anything, it's that the whole process is eerily similar to dating; the best things always happen when you stop trying so hard and just let them be, so i remain hopeful that this person exists in the world somewhere and one day we'll cross paths in a truly ridiculous, unexpected way.
2. will young
following on from the success of his comeback single all the songs, the pop idol winner released the follow up my love, and i'm delighted to hear the same disco-lite sound that made runaway and losing myself some of my most played songs back in 2016. an incredibly versatile bop, it could soundtrack the housework of his alarmingly middle aged fan base on a quiet sunday afternoon, but turn it up loud in the middle of a club on friday night and it takes on a whole new lease of life. with his new album lexicon out on the 21st june, i'm hoping for a whole new set of anthems to soundtrack my summer, which consists mostly of me watching other people lying on sunny beaches via instagram from the comfort of my own bed.
3. kat deluna
speaking of bops, last night in miami was one of those wonderful, accidental discoveries. i came across it on the twitter page of the DJ at my favourite gay club. i was hoping for something on par with the absolute banger that was calling you*, released back in 2010, and i wasn't disappointed. (*it also appeared on the soundtrack for the equally iconic confessions of a shopaholic film in 2009 (!) alongside fashion by lady gaga, a criminally underrated song that never received an official release) i was instantly obsessed with last night in miami so after playing it 50 times in a row to memorise the lyrics, i requested it the next time i went out, and miraculously someone else must have requested it because it was played twice that night. according to wikipedia she's working on a fourth album so hopefully there's more where that came from.
4. five seconds of summer
everyone has their favourite boy-band; for the older generations it might be backstreet boys, NSYNC or take that. for me it was one direction, whose absence from the music world i still mourn on a daily basis. for others it's five seconds of summer, who incidentally found fame supporting 1D back in 2011. i have to admit though, i've never really got into their music and could never quite understand why fans lost their shit over them, with the exception of their exceptional debut single she looks so perfect. however, their latest single easier caught me off guard as it marked a shift towards a much more pop sound, most likely due to the fact charlie puth had a hand in producing it. the echoes of his slick electro-pop sound can certainly be heard on the track, which combines a stupidly catchy chorus - and pre-chorus and pretty much every single verse - with a stomping beat perfect for a dramatic walk around whichever city you reside in.
5. cheryl
we're onto The Good Stuff now, with my first contender for Best Song Of The Year (So Far). in the blue corner it's let you, the brand new single from girls aloud alumni cheryl. her solo career began in 2009 with fight for this love, an instant smash that topped the UK charts and was certified platinum in 2010. she followed this up with the equally excellent promise this a year later, while call my name and i don't care topped the charts in 2012 and 2014 respectively, becoming mainstays on every gay club's playlist.
then in 2018 she released love made me do it, a far more subdued affair that left fans and critics divided, while her x factor performance of the song was deemed too "raunchy" for saturday night TV. alarmingly, it was written by her former band mate nicola roberts (who i met last month on a night out!!!), natasha bedingfield and kylie (!) so the fact it charted so poorly is even more devastating.
clearly cheryl learned from this mistake as let you is pure 80s euphoria, harking back to kylie's early days with production trio stock aitken waterman, and the video also features some decidedly 80s-inspired styling - i wouldn't be surprised if sales of neon scrunchies skyrocket in the coming days. its lyrics are also weirdly ~empowering~ as cheryl finally realises her own worth and not to let people take advantage of her, a lesson i've had to learn the hard way this past year.
6. katy perry
in the red corner we have katy perry with never really over. i last wrote about her in 2017 when she released bon appetit and swish swish. nothing terrifies me more than The Passing Of Time, and listening to those songs now takes me back to what feels like an alternate universe. the two tracks stood out amongst the critical failure that was witness, but even before that, her 2013 release prism didn't captivate me and she was accused of cultural appropriation in the video for this is how we do, annoyingly the only song i actually liked from that album. however, it was always going to be difficult following up the worldwide success of teenage dream, which spawned five number one singles and remains one of my favourite albums of all time.
perry has definitely fallen out of favour in recent years but never really over could be her moment of redemption. admittedly it sounds pretty similar to let you, which is why trying to choose a favourite is hard. both are synth-driven bops with quite frankly Huge Choruses, and i have emotional connections to both girls aloud and katy perry, their music soundtracking countless memories of my teenage years. i think never really over has a slight sonic edge over cheryl; the opening note of the chorus alone is enough to cure my years of depression, but the message of let you is one i'd gladly get tattooed all over my entire body so i don't forget My Own Worth and let people treat me like shit ever again. if you need me i'll be alternating between both bops all weekend and probably doing a lot of crying in the process, all the while praying that we might finally be making a return to the Glory Days Of Pop circa 2007-2014.
so far 2019 has blessed us with multitudes of new music, and i'm finding it hard to keep up but i've managed to narrow it down to my absolute favourites.
1. the japanese house
my love for amber bain knows no bounds; all the singles released ahead of her debut album good at falling - which drops on the 1st march - have been excellent, but maybe you're the reason might just be her best yet. lyrically it details her struggles with depression, something i know all too well, and retains what is fast becoming her signature; a subdued 80s-inspired sound that falls somewhere between pop, new wave and alternative.
2. brooke candy
another artist i've loved since her das me days - i recently re-discovered some of brooke's old singles including the jack antonoff-assisted changes and chaotic rubber band stacks, as well as nuts and oomph, which she's independently released since breaking away from RCA records. the self-proclaimed freaky princess has been teasing the release of her long awaited debut album, sharing what could become its cover shot, and i'm counting down the seconds until it's out in the world.
3. lana del rey
i have to admit, after ultraviolence, my love for lana waned slightly and i wasn't thrilled with honeymoon and lust for life, finding them a bit too slow for my liking. however, she recently released hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have - but i have it. the title alone is a masterpiece, but tears pricked my eyes the second i pressed play.
whether that's just the nostalgia talking is hard to tell - born to die was such an important album for my teenage self and i devoured the bell jar when i finally picked up a copy some years later - but this low-key track hit me like a high speed train, particularly the line "hope is a dangerous thing for a woman with my past".
the lyrics are crammed full of film references and i highly recommend reading this excellent dazed article which praises lana's ability to take cultural figures historically revered by Old White Men and re-purpose them to fit her own narrative, one that has always confused (male) critics.
4. sam smith
never in my life did i think i would enjoy a sam smith song - certainly not enough to write about it - but dancing with a stranger is one of the few bops the chart-topping star has ever released.
how he's managed to amass so many hit singles when they all fall into the category of Sad Piano Ballads and are stuffed with typical romantic cliches is a mystery to me; when he released promises with calvin harris, it was a welcome change, though i was sure it would be a one off and he'd be back to his wailing in no time.
however he's clearly heading in a new direction, and while the track is by no means a Huge Banger, it's enough of a bop that i can imagine myself four drinks deep and yelling along to every word the next time i go out, which is really my only marker for a successful pop song.
5. that kid
imagine my delight when i discovered that take it off - the latest single from electro-pop purveyor and slayyyter collaborator that kid - was produced by ayesha nicole smith, formerly ayesha erotica. when she announced she was quitting music i was worried we'd never hear from her again, but after undergoing a slight name change it seems she's had a change of heart. her vocals can be heard in the background of this Absolute Bop and i'm hoping she'll still be working with slayyyter on her debut album.
6. chris valentine
he's done it again; heartless guy is an undeniably catchy bop which sits somewhere between erasure and froot-era marina. if you
need me, i'll be dancing around my room to this song until further notice.
7. ariana grande
an ode to excess; ariana's newest single, 7 rings, sees her put her own spin on my favourite things from the sound of music, which makes total sense for a girl who grew up singing on broadway.
this mid-tempo, hip hop-inspired track is the treat yo self meme personified, while the video is a neon tinged dream featuring all her best friends and one of her many, much-loved dogs, tolouse.
it would appear that i live my life in extremes: weeks without posting and now, behold, my second post of the week. my mood has also improved drastically following a tutorial this week about my final project, and i now feel slightly more at ease about the amount i have to do. it was an excellent week for new music too, and below i present my favourite tracks.
1. the 1975
on tuesday, the band announced the release of the new single, a cover of sade's track by your side, with a premiere on radio one that night before they took to the stage at the dome for a 500-capacity gig in support of the charity war child, which sadly i didn't get a ticket for. the song, however, went some way to easing my sorrow. despite being heavy on the auto-tune and reminding me of yeezus-era kanye (by no means a bad thing, as i discussed in this post), i found myself tearing up at the beauty of its production. (george daniels is a genius, and the new track from pale waves deserves an honourable mention here for his - and matty's - excellent work on it.) they also won the brit for best band on wednesday night, with matty giving another excellent speech, though not everyone agrees. i also loved how annoyed it made all the pretentious Music Snobs, i.e. radiohead fans, with the band losing the award for the eighteenth year in a row, as pitchfork pointed out. though i was disappointed they didn't win best album too, i'm glad it went to david bowie for his last album blackstar (that, shamefully, i haven't yet listened to), and i was also delighted that one direction were awarded best video for history.
2. lana del rey
the queen of melancholy made her return to music with the release of love, with all the cinematic brilliance of born to die, though its lyrics were an ode to The Youth of Today, inspiring us to keep pursuing our dreams despite the world currently falling apart under the presidency of donald trump. thanks lana!
3. betty who
i adored the australian star's debut album, take me when you go, as i mentioned here, and betty who's new single, some kinda wonderful was another excellent discovery this week. though i wasn't sold on the verses, the chorus is bubblegum pop at its best, and i've had it on repeat since, as well as its excellent video. (i only wish my trips to the launderette in my first year of uni had been as exciting.)
4. little comets
while aimlessly browsing facebook/procrastinating (basically the same thing) i saw the newcastle indie quartet had posted a link to a track from their new album, common things, which i fell in love with instantly. though i've not listened to their last full-length release, 2015's hope is just a state of mind - next on my to-do list - i adore their first two albums, and life is elsewhere is one of those rarities that can be listened to all the way through without skipping a single track, and unlike most music i was listening to in 2012, it hasn't aged a day.
5. the chainsmokers
when i saw their new collaboration with coldplay was being released this week, i was, unlike everyone else in the world, thrilled. after professing my love for their single paris just a few weeks ago, this track - which they performed at the brits, where chris martin also gave a somewhat controversial tribute to the late george michael - is a slice of feel-good pop excellence, whatever the critics may say.
this week's playlist can be found here.
so here's how it happened. after finally deciding to write my dissertation about how our ideas of glamour have changed from the golden era of hollywood to the present day, my mind naturally gravitated towards lana del rey, an artist i've loved ever since i stumbled upon her homemade video for video games back in 2011, just like the rest of the world. for more comprehensive analysis of lana, from her image to her sound and what this says about our society today, i highly recommend the new inquiry's series of essays entitled ms. america.
my favourite essay in the series is titled the fake as more and i will totally be referencing it in my dissertation when it comes to discussing modern interpretations of glamour. in my opinion, nobody does it better than lana, even if she is seen as an outcast by her peers for supposedly being "fake" and "trying too hard", in reference to her breakout hit video games. author sarah nicole prickett describes her beauty as "laborious and ad hoc", and as someone who "rejects upwardly mobile feminism and/or high-class femininity in favor of fatalistic glamour and female-to-female drag". in short; lana likes to spend time on her make-up and people think this makes her a "bad" feminist, a critique that should be brought into question in itself by comments she made in an interview with the fader, where she voiced her disinterest in feminism, then later clarified in another interview. but if she doesn't consider herself a feminist, can she really be "bad" at it?
feminist critique aside, i love the artificiality of del rey's sound and image. if the girl wants to spend two hours in front of the mirror perfecting her eyeliner, why shouldn't she? in fact, her long-awaited video for single honeymoon (we'll get onto that in a minute) is basically just one big make-up tutorial in which she applies eye-shadow in front of a mirror, and even though she feels like "nothing really happened in it", i personally love it. this probably stems from my love of youtube make-up tutorials as i spend an unhealthy amount of time watching other people put on make-up.
though in this age of insta-famous make-up artists, should her preference for artificial glamour really be such a talking point? many of our favourite make-up tricks, including contouring and baking, originated in the drag community, and there's nothing natural about their painstakingly applied faces. that's why it doesn't seem totally absurd for prickett to make the connection between lana and the drag scene; both parties indulge in their own form of escapism when they take to the stage.
lana is an outisder, and that's why her brand of laborious glamour appeals so much to me. i too love to spend hours getting ready, be it a night out or just a lecture, something people don't seem to understand, meaning i spend 95% of my life feeling horrendously overdressed compared to my friends. i can't help feel nostalgic for times i never even lived through, be it the glamour of old-school hollywood or the mid 80s when the club kids would spend the whole week planning what to wear to the blitz club night every weekend (though getting rejcted at the door by steve strange is something i don't think i'd ever get over). i'm determined to stick to my guns though, adorning myself with every glitter product i can find for my face, whether people like it or not. i've spent all my life feeling like i i was different from my peers, so why not embrace it?
though unlike lana, who's performance is described by prickett as a "full time job", i don't choose to undertake such a ritual every single day. that's why her music serves as the perfect escape. when i'm looking or feeling bad, she transports me to a place with golden sands (though truth be told i actually hate the beach), neon lights and pink flamingos. 2012's born to die will forever be my favourite lana del rey album, with songs like summertime sadness, dark paradise, national anthem and without you holding a special place in my heart four years later. seeing her live in 2013 only cemented my love for her, with all my scepticism about her vocal ability (following her SNL appearance) falling away once she appeared onstage. critics had plenty to say about her transformation from lizzy grant to lana, but all the great artists of our time - bowie, prince and madonna to name a few - have undergone several transformations as it's what keeps people interested.
needless to say, the lana del rey of 2012 is markedly different to the artist we see today. this new york times review of 2015's honeymoon sums it up pretty well; "the more famous ms. del rey has grown, the more obscure she's become", and "what was something of an elaborate performance has become merely a simple being". we first began to see a more stripped-back version of lana with the release of 2014's ultraviolence. the cover depicts her standing beside a car in a plain white t-shirt, a white bra defiantly on display. again, prickett sums it up best when she says that "no-one has ever looked less comfortable in a t-shirt". it's certainly a far cry from the elaborate gowns and flower crowns of the video for born to die, in which she sits atop a throne, flanked by a pair of (real) tigers. it should be a powerful image, but when the camera goes close-up on her elaborately made-up face, there's a fear in her eyes, a need to please, a desperate, yet silent, plea for approval. it's all of these things i see in myself, which is probably why born to die resonates with me the most out of all her albums.
on ultraviolence, that same cinematic brilliance remains, and is particularly prevalent in songs such as old money, black beauty and money, power, glory. the tempo is distinctly slower, the pace more laid back. i can almost see lana hanging up her floor-length gowns and lace negligees and instead reaching for a black leather jacket and a worn-out pair of chuck taylors, but her it's all in her face. in the video for west coast (another favourite from ultraviolence), her face stays impeccably made-up, lashings of kohl around her eyes, nails as pristine and polished as ever as she takes a drag on her parliament. when she looks down, her fake eyelashes fan out, as full and luxurious as ever, but the mask is slipping. she's letting go, both literally when she frolics on the beach, arms outstretched, wind in her hair, but also of what people think of her. she experimented with elements of psychedelic rock and blues, but i missed the decadence, the splendour, the over-the-top performance she put on in born to die.
so i was pleasantly surprised when honeymoon saw her going back to her roots, or rather dying over them so as to maintain her impeccable image. when the album first came out, i must admit it did pass me by, and after giving it an initial listen, i metaphorically tossed it to one side, though the video for high by the beach never left my mind (side note: the video for freak is also one of her best; i got literal goosebumps the first time i watched it). much like rihanna, whose exploration of violence has garnered much controversy in the last year or so, lana's video also saw her shoot down a helicopter that dared interrupt her chilled day by the sea. we see her sprawled out on a bed, the long flowing dresses of born to die making a reappearance, but instead of languishing on a luxurious bed covered in lillies, she collapses onto a fairly basic futon with only two pillows. it's as if she's finally done trying to prove herself to the world, no longer needing to hide behind the luxurious image presented in her earlier work. she's proved herself, she's made her money, and now she just wants to disappear for a while, and there's nothing wrong with that. the fear in her eyes is gone, replaced what could be contentment, or perhaps just contempt. the new york times describes honeymoon as "the first great prison album of the 21st century, her jail being celebrity and the scrutiny that comes with it". she seems to be trapped in a prison of her own making, but also finally at one with the loneliness that has followed her throughout her life. i always think back to the interview where she proclaimed that she wished she was "dead already"; even the notion of dying young is glamorous to her.
it was my own melancholic feelings towards life after a difficult week that drew me into the bored indifference of honeymoon. lana's voice continues to oscillate from the smoky, sultriness of mariyln monroe to a dizzyingly high pitch, and despite her disillusions of the fame and fortune awarded to her as a result of her successful career, there's still a sense of urgency, a desire to perform and to do it well. i feel this in myself, constantly unmotivated while watching other people around me succeed and wishing i could be a part of it. one song i can't stop playing is art deco, with its lyrics that are just a little too close to home. you're so art deco, out on the floor / shining like gunmetal, cold and unsure, goes the chorus, and it feels like a sharp jab in the chest, like she's poking me with her pointed nail, looking right into my soul, getting right to the heart of how i feel. cold and unsure, that's me, with my inability to make a decision and stick to it, the hard exterior i put up to stop myself getting hurt. you put your life out on the line, she scolds later on, and again, you're crazy all the time. i know, i know, but unlike del rey i haven't managed to make peace with it yet.
her voice reaches ludicrously high octaves by the end of the song as she trills a little party never hurt no-one / we were born to be free, and i think of my best friend and me, of our spontaneous nights out since he's been back from new york, and how my mask slips away when i'm with him. i just hope that one day i can free myself from this need to please and simply be, but for now all i need to do is press play on lana del rey and feel the breeze of the west coast in my hair, no matter where i am.
