'Plastic Hearts' Is Miley’s Most Ferocious Rebel Yell Yet
"I'm everything they said I would be."
Miley Cyrus was born to be a rock star.
It's not as though her latest reinvention should be of much surprise to anyone: the signs were always there from the start.
Ten years ago, Miley cast off the Hannah Montana wig and made her shocking (for that time, anyway) emancipation as a caged Disney bird set free in the form of her Rock Mafia-produced electro-pop banger, "Can't Be Tamed."
"If you try to hold me back, I might explode / Baby, by now you should know," she warned. It was the quintessential teenybopper-to-young adult transition anthem. The mission statement of that song hasn't changed for Miley in over a decade - it's just been gradually refined over time.
Miley truly couldn't, and hasn't, been tamed ever since, from twerking and tonguing her way through the Bangerz era to diving headfirst into experimental, trippy LSD-rock with Her Dead Petz project.
She did briefly attempt to tame the beast somewhat, stepping into a kind of brief domestic bliss in Malibu with her then-beau in the form of the comparatively sleepier and contemplative Younger Now in 2017 but, to no one's surprise, it was only a matter of time before the wrecking ball swung back towards a chaotic direction once again.
Be it the product of being born into instant notoriety as the daughter of country superstar Billy Ray Cyrus and the goddaughter of Dolly Parton, her dad accidentally smacking her head as a baby during a dirt bike ride, the subsequent rush of fame in her own right as a global brand and massively successful cog in the Disney Machine, or the subsequent drugs and partying in her teen years navigating a notoriously lecherous industry without getting eaten alive (okay, surely some combination of all of the above), Miley's (plastic) heart simply isn't built to ride in the slow lane.
By the time her Black Mirror episode arrived in June of 2019, along with the introduction of alter-ego Ashley O, her rock reinvention was already subtly underway in the form of "On a Roll," a pop-ified take on Nine Inch Nails' "Head Like a Hole." Then came the razor-sharp, future-forward feminist fist in the air of "Mother's Daughter" and the She Is Coming.
The eclectic EP was the sound of an artist in transition, caught between her past and future self, feeling out which way to go next. And then came the flames.
"I began this album over two years ago. Thought I had it all figured out. Not just the record with its songs and sounds but my whole fucking life. But no one checks an ego like life itself. Just when I thought the body of work was finished…it was ALL erased. Including most of the musics relevance. Because EVERYTHING had changed. Nature did what I now see as a favor and destroyed what I couldn’t let go of for myself. I lost my house in a fire but found myself in its ashes. Luckily my collaborators still had most of the music that was burned up in journals and computers filled with songs for the EP series I was working on at the time. But it never felt right to release my 'story' (each record being continual autobiography) with a huge chapter missing. If it were a chapter in my book I guess I would call it 'The Beginning' which usually when something is over we call it 'The End'. But it was far from that," she said upon introducing her new record to the world.
And so, she picked up the pieces of her Plastic Hearts and started over again.
Largely crafted alongside watt, Louis Bell and "Nothing Breaks Like a Heart" collaborator Mark Ronson, Plastic Hearts is a tight, yowling love letter to '70s and '80s classic rock and New Wave, conjuring not only nostalgia for legends like Stevie Nicks, Billy Idol and Joan Jett (all of whom make an appearance on the album, talk about a flex), but also the pop-rock angst of some of the early '00s main pop girls that Miley came up with in her own childhood, from Ashlee Simpson to Avril Lavigne to early Lindsay Lohan and Hilary Duff.
Even the earliest versions of Miley that we first met - 2008's Breakout, and its "7 Things," "See You Again" and "Fly on the Wall" - was sitting right there as evidence that this kind of record would see light of day eventually. (Her best friend Lesley could have probably told you that, too.)
But that's not to say she was necessarily sure it would work: "I have a fear of writing new music because what I’ve been is so large," she admitted to Zane Lowe of embarking on her latest venture.
The pent-up frustration, rage and resulting sadness in the wake of a rollercoaster of career heights - Hannah Montana and the Bangerz media blitz - and subsequent lulls, a handful of high-profile relationships, the tabloid gossip after each romance's demise, and a home burned to the ground is all let loose at max volume throughout the newly 28-year-old singer's teeth-gritting seventh studio LP, kicking off with the razor-sharp pop-punk play, "WTF Do I Know."
Almost instantly, that song - and the rest of the record - surges with a freeing energy that feels like catharsis, as she throws up a middle finger to former role model responsibilities and divorce headlines once and for all, harnessing the defiant energy of her post-Disney career and channeling it into a high-energy snarl: "What the fuck do I know? I'm alone! 'Cause I couldn't be somebody's hero!"
While it might have been fun, and shocking (and, at times, deeply problematic) to watch her twerk her way through the hip-hop and trap beats of Bangerz, her country drawl and increasingly gravelly, dirt-collecting vocal chords beg to belt out across whining electric guitars and crashing drums, as evidenced by this past summer's non-stop streak of rock classic covers - ranging from Blondie's "Heart of Glass" to The Cranberries' "Zombie" - which quickly signaled that this era would be her best from the get-go. This sound is, quite simply, Miley's sweet spot.
But just because Miley started making headlines as a karaoke queen didn't mean she didn't have the original music to back it up: the album's lead single, "Midnight Sky," still stands as one of the year's top releases, and plays like a fully realized version of her "Liberty Walk"-style, rebel-on-the-run triumphs.
"I was born to run, I don't belong to anyone," she convincingly declares over and over again on the ingenious "Edge of Seventeen" nod, seemingly tackling all of the loudest tabloid fodder of the past two years - her divorce from Liam Hemsworth, her same-sex foray with Kaitlynn Carter, her yearlong romance with Cody Simpson - in one go as she hits the road, ultimately forever fated to fly solo.
She goes in further on infidelity and fleeting feelings throughout her jagged little Plastic Hearts: "If you're looking for stable, that'll be never be me / If you're looking for faithful, that'll never be me," she wails on the atmospheric synth ballad "Never Be Me." It could be perceived as cruel or cold-hearted - or just self-aware enough to issue a fair warning. Either way, she's just being Miley.
Like "Midnight Sky," "Never Be Me" is one of the many songs that recall her own idols: specifically, Billy Idol and his "Eyes Without a Face" (a song she says haunted her for a year, Truman Show-style) - who also just happens to show up on one of the album's biggest moments: "Night Crawling."
Idol features can prove to be a mixed bag on pop star records, often more focused on sharing the spotlight with a legend rather than actually providing a good song, but this (literal) Idol feature is arguably one of the album's brightest spots.
The fist-pumping New Wave-inspired banger was co-penned with Ryan Tedder and Ali Tamposi, and sees the rowdy duo appropriately raising Hell in the midnight hour: "Night crawlin', sky fallin' / Gotta listen when the Devil's callin'" they roar into the night. Billy's devilish howls are inimitable, and Miley holds her own with her unholy yelps - truly a moment.
Miley's badly behaved and proud throughout Plastic Hearts, making no apologies and taking no prisoners. (Well, except for Dua Lipa.) Long gone are the days of feigning a squeaky-clean lifestyle for the masses.
"You thinkin' that I'm sleepin' when I'm creepin' in the night / They say it's bad karma when you live a double life," she purrs on the undeniably bad-ass "Bad Karma," another album highlight, aided by Angel Olsen on guitar, which sounds like an long lost '70s classic. The gritty track creeps along a tight wire, with the tense energy of The Runaways and Joan Jett's "Bad Reputation." ("Pure seedy rock 'n' roll," as producer Mark Ronson described it himself.)
So, who better to have on the track than Joan Jett herself?
“There’s only one person who could own this record more than me. It’s Joan Jett, because that’s who instilled that mentality into me. 'Cherry Bomb,' you know and ‘I don’t give a damn about my bad reputation,' that’s what that song is," Miley explained to Apple Music.
Together, the rock icon and the rapidly ascending pop princess-turned-rock-pop queen trade off across horny moans on their swaggering, entirely unapologetic kiss-and-don't-tell anthem, co-written with Ilsey.
"I don't give a fuck, I don't believe in luck / That's why I do what I wanna do," they defiantly declare.
Photo credit: Vijat Mohindra
Plastic Hearts is not only home to several iconic acts, but a scavenger hunt for references to even more: the hat-tip to The Rolling Stones' “Sympathy For The Devil” in the intro of "Plastic Hearts," the melody nod to Olivia Newton-John's "Physical" with her rowdy, Sapphic havoc-causing Dua Lipa duet "Prisoner," the undeniable influence of Nine Inch Nails' "Closer" and the drum kick of Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight" in standout "Gimme What I Want," co-penned by "Hold On, We're Going Home" penner Majid Al Maskati.
"I just need a lover / So give me what I want, or I'll give it to myself," she threatens on the ominous and creeping bout of synth seduction, providing much of the same tension and carnal thirst of the 1994 Nine Inch Nails classic.
The album's title track feels like the epitome of drugs, sex and glam rock 'n' roll at the (plastic) heart of this record - perhaps like the adult version of Can't Be Tamed's "Robot" - as she recklessly parties her way through different personalities in crowded rooms and blurry nights at the Chateau Marmont, desperately searching to undo the numbness.
"Love me now, but not tomorrow / Fill me up, but leave me hollow / Pull me in, but don't you get too close," she sings, raging against the machine, but never losing sight of a slick catchiness that would still work at pop radio.
"I just wanna feel somethin', but I keep feelin' nothin' all night long."
She does feel, however, on Plastic Hearts, largely in the form of some real belters. Miley's always been good for gut-punch balladry, from "The Climb" to "Wrecking Ball," and she's goes for the jugular in the form of a few tracks on Plastic Hearts, especially "Angels Like You."
Beyond the ex-flame guessing games caused by reading into the lyrics, the lighters-up arena rock ballad cuts deep and feels intensely personal as she cries out warning after warning across dramatic strings with all her might: "It's not your fault I ruin everything / And it's not your fault I can't be what you need / Baby, angels like you can't fly down here with me." To those that dare to date Miley: the red flags are loud and clear.
"A lot of my songs that I write are unapologetic and, I guess, are shameless...but not that one," Miley noted to Apple Music.
"High" sees Miley and Mark Ronson teaming with a different array of writers and producers, including Marina's "Man's World" collaborator Jennifer Decilveo and Miike Snow's Andrew Wyatt, leaning into the country roots in her DNA even harder, resulting some of the record's best vocals in an anguished, rare moment of vulnerability on the LP.
"In my head, I did my very best saying goodbye / And I don't miss you, but I think of you and don't know why," she painfully croons.
The moody "Hate Me," on the other hand, is Miley at her most emo across a tripping beat: "I wonder what would happen if I die / I hope all of my friends get drunk and high," she declares, even bringing her little sister Noah's own brooding brand to mind. The morbid track also feels timely, considering Miley only just aged out of the 27 Club days before the album's release - something she's acutely aware of, which also led to her current sobriety.
“27 to me was a year that I really had to protect myself. That actually really made me want to get sober because we’ve lost so many icons at 27. It’s a very pivotal time. You go into that next chapter, or this is it for you," she told Apple Music.
Hindsight is everything, and nowhere does Miley do self-reflection better on the record than "Golden G String," a song she wrote about midway through the Trump presidency alongside Andrew Wyatt and Lana Del Rey collaborator, Emile Haynie.
The song feels like Miley's best explainer for the greater half of her post-Disney career to date, as she lays it all out - double standards, the gender power balance, exhibitionism and media exploitation.
"There are layers to this body, primal sex and primal shame / They told me I should cover it so I went the other way / I was tryin' to own my power, still I'm tryin' to work it out / And at least it gives the paper somethin' they can write about, she croons along the hypnotic midtempo string and synth ballad, effectively explaining every scandal in her young life - the Vanity Fair portrait, the 2013 VMAs, the wrecking ball - and pointing out the hypocrisy in everything.
"Our President grabs women by the pussy and you’re mad at me? I’m a pop star, I’m supposed to do these things. I’m supposed to do things that sometimes make you uncomfortable or you take offense. That’s kind of my job, that’s entertainment," she said of the inspiration behind the song, which also sounds like a continuation of her heartfelt Dead Petz balladry.
It's some of Miley's most honest and effective lyricism, and as she spits it all right back in our face in the album's final few minutes: "You dare to call me crazy / Have you looked around this place?"
Touché.
Photo credit: Alana O'Herlihy
Miley Cyrus is a shape-shifter, having led a double life from the very beginning of her career: she's provided nearly every flavor of pop, sank her teeth into trap, psych-rock, folk, country - you name it, she's already dabbled in it and done the most while doing so. (Not every attempt's landed equally in the past decade-plus run of her career, of course.) Of her generation of pop stars, she's also the most musically adventurous, and if there's any comparison to draw from her myriad reinventions and provocations, Madonna comes to mind.
For Miley, Plastic Hearts feels most at home. She is a modern rock star after all, who's already lived one hell of a life navigating an enormously fucked-up industry since childhood.
The sound of pop will always be a part of the package, but every snarl, every yelp, every shout on Plastic Hearts is the sound of an artist who's truly found her groove, translating all the tabloid headlines and romantic turbulence into what feels like her finest form yet, and her career best collection to date.
It's also the sound of balance, marrying Top 40 radio demands with her own taste: in talking about Billy Idol's impact on her career to Zane Lowe, she praised the rocker as inspiration for her own music's transformation.
"The way that he kind of married rebellion, but also...incredible hooks, he showed me that I could have balance. I could make music that I and other people love. Sometimes I’ve lost that and I’ve found it again where it’s like: 'I want to make music for me,' but part of music is sharing."
She's not one to stay, nor be tamed, so will this version of the artist formerly known as Hannah Montana actually stick? Maybe. Probably not. This is Miley, after all. She'll grow restless, and veer off in another direction eventually.
Hopefully not too soon, because this brand of cold-blooded, hell-raising, (achy breaky) heart-breaking rock-pop fits Miley like a studded leather glove left behind on the floor after a blurry night out, still glowing under the light of a slow-turning disco ball.
Here she is, indeed.
Plastic Hearts is out now in CD form, and will be released as a vinyl in 2021.
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Chung Ha Is Going Global With R3HAB on "Dream of You"
Chung Ha hasn't missed a step yet.
After setting social media ablaze earlier this year with her voguing triumph “Stay Tonight" and feeling her Midsommar matador fantasy with "Play," the 24-year-old Dallas-raised I.O.I. girl group member-turned-solo star is back with yet another offering of fierce footwork atop a thick bassline and dazzling beats, this time in collaboration with producer and remix extraordinaire, DJ R3HAB.
"Dream of You," out Friday (November 26), is an all-English production, and comes just after news broke of Chung Ha inking a record deal with 88rising in the hopes of expanding into the West after already establishing herself as a South Korean success. And at a time when more international acts than ever are breaking through the Billboard charts, the odds are certainly in Chung Ha's favor.
As always, the uptempo production provides plenty of opportunity for Chung Ha to serve up plenty of impressive moves and ample armography, equipped with an instant earworm of a chorus and some rather seductive, sassy lyricism.
"I can’t stand that you might be in someone’s bed with some -- that you just met all over you," she vents off the top of the tempting track - quite an opening statement. Later on, she boldly lays the offer on thick, as if anyone would actually need convincing to spend the night and Stay Tonight with Chung Ha: "Park the car and come on in / I got whisky, I got gin and lingerie." Damn.
The accompanying NOVVKIM-directed performance video is yet another dazzling display of Chung Ha's talent and beauty. She's truly a dancing queen, bringing the best of BoA to mind - especially once those hats come into play as she transitions into her sheer sparkly bodysuit number before thoroughly sealing the deal in her suit and tie.
I mean.
“It was an honor to be able to work with the world-renowned DJ R3HAB. I was able to grow from the experience. Through ‘Dream of You’ I’ve been able to meet and work with great people. I hope to collaborate again with various artists in the future," Chung Ha says of the collaboration.
“I've always been amazed by K-Pop and have wanted to dip my toes in the genre for a long time. Chung Ha is a pioneer in this field and I'm so happy she reached out. I love how we combined our musical worlds into a record that is upbeat and danceable," added R3HAB.
"Dream of You" also comes ahead of Chung Ha's (very cool-titled) debut studio album QUERENCIA, due out on January 4.
Crossover success is always an incredibly exciting prospect for our beloved international acts, even though it is a notoriously difficult feat. And while she certainly doesn't need the acclaim from Western audiences, seeing a deserving talent like Chung Ha return to America and become a stateside superstar would be...well, a dream.
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Photo credit: MNH Entertainment / 88rising
Rina Sawayama Makes a "Lucid" Return
Rina Sawayama once said "gimme just a little bit more, little bit of excess" - and now she's doing just that. Oh, me, oh, my!
Having fully secured all of the love and affection of the Girls, the Gays & The Theys™ in 2020 with her debut studio album Sawayama, the 30-year-old "XS" superstar on the rise returned on Wednesday (November 25) with a little bit more (moah) in the form of "Lucid," which is featured on her upcoming SAWAYAMA: Deluxe Edition, out on December 4.
The track was co-crafted with BloodPop, of Lady Gaga collaboration fame, among many other feats along the way.
“It’s about living a different life through dreaming, whether it's to be with the dream girl or to be the dream girl. Me and Lauren Aquilina wrote this together on the floor of my tiny rented living room back in early 2018. BloodPop sent us the beat and the melody flowed out so easily that I remember at one point I started hoovering cos I knew this would be easy to write lol. I’ve kept this song secret for 2 years so I’m so excited to finally release it to the world ! 2020's been a tough year so I wanted to finish it off with a dance bop to take us into a more hopeful 2021 ❤” Rina says of the song.
And, as she explained to Zane Lowe on Apple Music, Grimes is the reason it even happened.
"God, how did it start? Oh, Grimes, I think, was talking about me maybe to her friends. Which included BloodPop. Well, she actually texted me when my first EP came out, and was like, 'Oh, my God. 'Alterlife,'' which is one of the songs in there, 'is literally the best pop song ever' or something. And I was just, obviously...I literally went to Sweden to go and see Grimes. So, it was wild. I was like, 'I'm a Grimes stan.' Well, so then she was just, 'Oh, I've got this beat. Do you want to sing on it?' And I'd never written on a house beat, more like a dance beat before. If you could tell, I don't know how to talk about it. But a dance beat. So, I was like, 'Lauren, Lauren,' this girl who's a songwriter, Lauren Aquilina who is an amazing songwriter. And she just released her new record as well. I love her so much. But she wrote it on the floor of my living room, in Earlsfield in London which is such a random neighborhood. And I was hoovering, as well," she said.
True to the collaborator at hand, the song certainly feels like it lives somewhere in the same colorful universe out there as Chromatica, full of vibrant, throbbing beats and '90s House-y vocals.
It's surely no accident: "I've been listening to Chromatica. I mean, literally, my favorite record of Gaga's, and this is such an unpopular opinion, but before Chromatica, it was Joanne. And that is such an unpopular...I don't know, people hate on Joanne, but I love it. It's so emotional. It's so raw. I love it. Anyway, so I was just, 'I can't believe that he wants to work with me.' And then, yeah, it just came together and it's amazing," Rina said on Apple Music.
"Come be my stranger in the dark / Don't need nobody in my arms / Got my imagination running wild / It's all that I can do / Lucid dreams, lucid dreams 'bout you," she croons before blasting off into a euphoric beat break.
While it may not be as representative of the more genre-blurring, maximalist pop of the record, "Lucid" is still a fun and bouncy escape to add onto an already excellent debut.
And this is just a taste of what's to come: the deluxe edition of the album comes with a bunch of goodies, including remixes, features and previously unreleased tracks "We Out Here," which "highlights resilience and being true to yourself," as well as "Bees & Honey," which "serves future nostalgia and emphasizes the need to celebrate hard work."
Plus, there's even more coming.
"I've already started writing my next record, but in my head I can't frame it like that, because then I put too much pressure on myself, and then I get myself stuck. So, I've been, 'I'm just going to do singles next year.' But I feel like from what I've been writing, there's always already a clear theme and a clear sound. And it's already evolved from the record. So, I'm excited, but I'm scared. I don't know, I was just, 'I will never write a record like my debut album,'" she also revealed on Apple Music.
What a (lucid) dream come true.
Sawayama is available in a gold vinyl.
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SAWAYAMA: Deluxe Edition
Disc 1:
1. Dynasty
2. XS
3. STFU!
4. Comme des Garçons (Like The Boys)
5. Akasaka Sad
6. Paradisin’
7. Love Me 4 Me
8. Bad Friend
9. Fuck This World (Interlude)
10. Who’s Gonna Save U Now?
11. Tokyo Love Hotel
12. Chosen Family
13. Snakeskin
Disc 2:
1. LUCID
2. We Out Here (Bonus Track)
3. Bees & Honey (Bonus Track)
4. Love It If We Made It
5. XS (Live)
6. STFU! (Acoustic)
7. Bad Friend (Acoustic)
8. Chosen Family (Acoustic)
9. Comme Des Garçons (Like The Boys) - Pabllo Vittar Remix
10. XS feat. Bree Runway - Remix
11. Bad Friend - Dream Wife Remix
Photo credit: Dirty Hit
Avex Is Trying to Find the Pop to Push Through the Pandemic
Avex is hurting.
The Max Matsuura-helmed Japanese entertainment company, as with many companies across the globe, is reportedly struggling to adapt to the New Normal™ and stay afloat amid the pandemic.
According to the latest news, the company recently asked 100 employees over the age of 40 to voluntarily retire, listed their 18-story Tokyo headquarters for sale, and has plans to cut ties with the less successful acts on their roster. Bleak.
Beyond just the staggering loss in live entertainment revenue (which they seemingly initially attempted to address by uploading full concert specials on YouTube) as well as the notoriously traditional Japanese music market being late to the streaming game due to the country's lasting loyalty to the physical CD format (which is also falling out of favor due to the pandemic as well), the company is facing a long glaring issue among anyone who has peripherally followed popular music in Japan: the failure to establish a younger generation of superstars similar to those that debuted roughly two decades ago, including J-Pop royalty Namie Amuro, Ayumi Hamasaki and Koda Kumi.
“While it is true LDH’s EXILE and Johnny & Associates’ Snow Man are under Avex, sales for other acts are low. In the past, Avex had popular acts such as Komuro Family, Namie Amuro, Ayumi Hamasaki and Koda Kumi that could keep the company afloat, but the company failed to nurture its next generation. Avex’s business model became out of date in the age of the Internet," an Avex producer confessed in the report.
“It’s inevitable due to there being no hit songs. As far as models and actresses, only a few will be renewed," added another employee of the agency's contracts.
It's a sad prospect, considering the company's once legendary status. So who will survive to carry on the label's legacy?
As of Wednesday (November 25), there's at least one solo artist they're pushing out: Hitomi Arai.
The 22-year-old Japanese singer debuted in 2010 as a member of girl group TOKYO GIRLS' STYLE, and briefly as a part of Shida Summer Arai Summer in 2016, before making her solo debut at the end of 2019 with a cover of Ota Takako's "Delicate ni Suki Shite."
Marketed as an "1980s-inspired idol," the approach is all about conjuring nostalgia for "the youthful innocence of a bygone era."
Her latest single is a cover of "Toki ni wa Mukashi no Hanashi wo" (or "Let's Talk About the Old Days"), which was made famous by Tokiko Kato, whose own version of the song was used as the ending theme in the 1992 Studio Ghibli animated movie Porco Rosso. And beyond the big hat and poofy shoulders perfectly fitting the '80s aesthetic, her outfit featured in the artwork and music video specifically pays homage to Madame Gina, the chanson singer in Porco Rosso.
“In these uncertain times, sometimes we all need to stop and take stock, to look back at our past, to focus on the good times and the things that are important to each of us. I hope you’ll find it helpful to do this too. I can’t wait for you to hear my version of a song that is so dear to my heart," she says of the release, which has a kind of BoA "メリクリ" vibe, fitting for the season.
Leaning hard into nostalgia is an intriguing approach, but will the kids actually find this cool? Or are Avex abandoning the youth and seeking to capture the older generation's coins?
The charming approach of a covers crooner like Hitomi Arai is hardly the only way Avex is attempting a comeback.
Earlier in the month, Avex touted eight female idol groups that more closely resemble the youthful pop music landscape in territories like South Korea, ranging in sound and style (and, for some, a constant revolving door of new members): ZOC, EMPiRE, Wasuta, SUPER☆GiRLS, SKE48, TACOYAKI RAINBOW, Cho Tokimeki Sendenbu and Kolme.
"J-pop idol groups from Japan continue to captivate the world – and as one of Japan’s biggest labels, Avex boasts some of the very best artists, including many that have already found success around the world. Let’s say hey to eight awesome female idol groups from the Avex stable," the label declared in a press release.
The groups all have their own distinct quirks and colorful qualities - trio Kolme produces their own songs, while the 5-member Tacoyaki Rainbow live together in a house called Taconiji House (Octopus Rainbow House, oh yes!), where they've become a YouTube hit with a live-stream series.
The 10-member SUPER☆GiRLS, meanwhile - which now contains zero founding members from their 2010 debut - came together due to Avex's first-ever major audition event a decade ago, and has since seen nearly 30 different girls cycle in and out of the idol group...which is nothing compared to SKE48, which has entire teams consisting of dozens of members. (And you thought the Sugababes had a confusing lineup.)
FAKY, a dance / vocal girl group founded in 2013, is another Avex act still going strong - currently at a more manageable member count of 5 as of their latest single, "little more," which was released earlier in November.
In a move that reflects the current global pop landscape, the slick video also features choreography from Norwegian dance crew Quick Style, who worked with BTS and NCT 127.
There's also the edgy electronic duo FEMM ("Fxxk Boyz Get Money" forever), who just dropped a collaboration with Duke of Harajuku called "Summer Dream (S+ Ver.)" earlier this month as well.
Maybe the most intriguing of the new Avex bunch, however, is Kalen Anzai.
Like PC Music and Charli XCX-adjacent acts to turn-of-the-millennium pop princesses, the 21-year-old rising star feels like the 2020 answer to the nostalgia for '00s J-Pop Queens, providing the same kind of futuristic styling and driving rock-pop sound of the label's past, but with a more modern twist.
She's got her own thing going on of course, but it's hard to deny that Kalen looks and sounds a whole lot like Ayu - which is fitting, considering she just played the role of Ayumi in this year's headline-grabbing drama M Aisubeki Hito ga Ite, based on the book which chronicled the LGBTQ Icon's initial rise to fame - and confirmed her romance with Max Matsuura. (Escándalo.)
And while demand might be dwindling, as is the natural tendency for the career trajectories of our seasoned icons, the Avex divas are still doing it - minus the retired Namie, anyway.
Kumi's got an EP coming out in December, called angeL + monsteR [MY NAME IS...], while Ayu, now pregnant with her second child, provided a sort of full circle moment musically in the form of her techno-y, early '00s-sounding "Dreamed a Dream" over the summer - plus a very "Rain on Me" music video to boot.
Perhaps it's time for the label to meet the moment and go global: with territories like South Korea, Brazil and Colombia putting dents into charts worldwide, maybe the key is to start seeking out cross-cultural collaborations with their existing roster. Maybe it's a matter of cultivating a true, singular talent with the personality and star power to go the distance, as opposed to scrambling to form yet another mega-member idol group. Ultimately, it all does come down to the music - and as far as producing smash hits, it seems as though the reigns need to be passed off to those with a fresh perspective.
It's fascinating to watch a former industry giant once again finding its footing in an uncertain world, largely by attempting to conjure familiar feelings. Then again, everyone loves a comeback. Don't count Avex out just yet.
Photo credit: Avex Entertainment
RAYE & Her 'Euphoric Sad Songs' Are Ready for Superstardom (Interview)
"I've got big dreams, big goals, and I've only just begun."
RAYE's got a plan - plenty, in fact.
At only 23 years old, the British singer-songwriter's already dominated the dance floor for at least the past four years, supplying her intoxicating voice on huge hit productions like "By Your Side" with Jonas Blue, "You Don't Know Me" with Jax Jones and this year's UK Top 10 smash, "Secrets" with Regard.
When she's not at the vocal forefront, she's busy in the studio laying down background vocals and co-writing catchy cuts for an enviable array of superstars across genres, from John Legend to Little Mix to Beyoncé. (Check the Discogs: she's booked and busy.)
Considering the year everyone's had, RAYE's still impressively managed to make major industry moves and keep her star rising even higher: just weeks ago, she made her first major awards shows performance debut with David Guetta at the 2020 MTV EMAs.
And after supplying a steady stream of songs throughout the year, RAYE just dropped her latest EP, Euphoric Sad Songs, on Friday (November 20) - and, well, the title sort of says it all.
The tight set follows the talented singer's real-life trajectory from heartbreak to triumph, supplying hook after hook while diving into the ins and (mostly) outs of love, including "Love Me Again," also released as a remix with Jess Glynne, the utterly dreamy and tender "Please Don't Touch," "Regardless" with Rudimental, which samples iio's "Rapture" (!), and her modern take on "Jolene," "Natalie Don't."
Through it all, her top pop penmanship and hypnotic delivery provides all the proof needed to know that RAYE is one of the biggest, brightest Ones to Watch ahead of her formal 2021 studio album debut - even if you've already been dancing to her music for years.
I spoke with RAYE about her newest collection of songs, bonding over a mutual love of Nadia Ali, hopping a flight to sing on TV with David Guetta, guidance from the earliest days from Charli XCX, and penning party songs mid-pandemic.
Euphoric Sad Songs is a perfect title - we love a blunt description. You previously said the set would be called Her Heart Beats in 4/4. What led you to picking the new title?
So, I was going to call it Her Heart Beats in 4/4. I did that love that title...four-to-the-floor is, you know, the pulsing kick drum on every single beat in a 4/4 tempo. To be honest, I feel like I was kind of battling with really loving Euphoric Sad Songs. Everyone in my team at the time was like 'I think Her Heart Beats in 4/4,' but there was just a little voice in the back of my head. I like it 'cause it's so blunt, and to-the-point and honest. I think it's kind of Scorpio of me. It spells it out exactly as it is, I think. That's why I love it.
Euphoric Sad Songs are also kind of the best songs - the whole Crying at the Discotheque vibe, it's really hard to go wrong there. What are some of your own favorites in the genre, or ones that inspired the songs in your own EP?
One of them I sampled: iio's "Rapture." It's so beautiful. One of my favorite songs I remember hearing in the car when I was younger. I believe that sad songs you can dance to are kind of, in a time like this, the most necessary genre because we're all just going through it. It's been so long. I think music really heals. I'm really excited for this to hopefully help people do that. "Dancing On My Own" by Robyn is probably one of the most incredible sad songs you can dance to, and it was definitely inspiration for me in creating the project.
I definitely gasped when I heard "Regardless" for the first time - I'm such a huge Nadia Ali fan, and that iio "Rapture" melody is unmistakable. I had just been thinking that your voice reminds me of how hypnotic hers is too! How did the choice for that come about? It's one of my favorites of the new songs.
The choice for the sample was kind of an accident. I had written the song, and it was done quite a while ago. I loved it, and something was missing. That song has played such an important part in my childhood. I remember hearing it on the radio when I was young, and I said to my dad 'What is this song?' Obviously we didn't have Shazam or anything like that at the time, so it took me so long to hunt it down, and I was really sad. But then one time, I was watching a music channel and it came on, and I was so excited. I was like 'I found it, I found it!' I wrote it down, and I found it on YouTube and I fell in love. For me, it was my own nostalgia, and also I loved her voice and loved emulating that. I guess my voice has kind of developed sounding...we both have like a gravel, some sort of like grit in our alto tones. I love it so much.
How much of the EP is directly drawing from your own life, or are there more hypothetical scenarios?
It's all completely honest. Brutally honest. Completely real. It was actually quite intense and painful at times to write some of these songs. It was basically me documenting my healing process. It was me experiencing for the first time a heartbreak that was so raw, and just so big to even comprehend what it was. It was very intense and painful and sad. I was low for a long time about this. It's just all real, no hypotheticals. But! We conclude with me having healed. If you listen to the songs in order, in the beginning it's really sad, but by the middle we start to get some empowerment. By the end, I'm like... [singing] "I could be the love, be the love, be the love your life!"
"Natalie Don't" is one of the year's highlights, and is definitely a modern "Jolene" situation. Is there actually an IRL Natalie in the world, as there was a Jolene to Dolly Parton? And if so, does Natalie know they are indeed the Natalie?
There is a real-life Natalie. She is actually not called Natalie. And she is also blissfully unaware that she is Natalie. Yeah, I'm going to leave it at that. She gave me a great song. I almost happy she did what she did, because I love that song so much. And it was No. 1 on pop radio in Russia for like loads of weeks which was so exciting for me, and so random to expand out of the UK. It was really fun. So, yeah. Thanks, Natalie!
"Walk on By" is so good, too. I feel like there's maybe an '80s influence as well. Can you talk about the inspiration behind that song's sound and story?
"Walk on By" is a true story. It was actually a story that I was really excited to get into a song, but it was really sad. It was a really sad day, so I had to wait a bit of time before I could even put it into words. And I still have the keycard from the Mondrian. [Laughs] But if you go onto the lyrics and you read them out loud, as opposed to just listening to the song, you see the story, and it's as explained what happened - inspired by true events, from the heart this was formed. And it's probably one of my favorite songs I've ever written, just in terms of the real euphoria and uplifting it provided me. It really empowered me. 'Walk on By.' Ugh! It's so amazing to be able to sing that and mean it. Very, very empowering.
The way you incorporated the "Natalie Don't" "don't do it, no no" into the song is yet another stroke of genius.
I remember getting "Walk on By" down to a certain point. I originally wrote "Walk on By" on tour with some of my band members in a hotel room in Norway. It was hilarious. I remember the feeling that I needed a missing piece. I don't know why, it just popped into my head to sing "don't, don't, don't do it, no no!" And it worked! It was just an experiment. I loved it, and I kept it. Why would you not sample your own records? I feel like it's such a cool thing to do. I'm so glad you love it.
"Secrets" is reliably excellent, and it's also massive - your top-streamed song on Spotify now. Why do you think this was the one to take off to that massive degree?
I think, due to the current climate of COVID and the world being in the state that it's in, it needs dark nostalgia. I think it's resonated so well because it's uplifting, but also got a kind of melancholy to it. I don't know. I think people need that pace - that [sings] dun, dun, dun - but also the sexy dark escapism euphoria, which I think that song has. I think that's why it's worked so well.
You've spoken previously about industry pressures and outside sources weighing in on your artistic direction and sound, and executives being afraid of trying new things. What was your intention with this release, and did you have to overcome any misguided or unsolicited advice with this EP?
Yeah. I mean, it's something that all artists deal with all the time on labels. It is always the artist versus the label at points. But do you know what was really brilliant about this project? Everyone was kind of on the same page. I wanted to do a project that kind of summed up my dance perspective, as a writer and an artist, which is why everything has a very driving 4/4 kick behind it, which is what I've kept in every record to fuse it all together. Actually, surprisingly, everyone's really excited and really loves all the songs and has kind of let me do what I do and given me that freedom, which has enabled me to create this project. And I'm really grateful for that, because I love the way it sounds. I'm very proud of it.
You recently performed "Let's Love" with David Guetta at the EMAs - it was an incredible performance, and you looked and sounded fantastic. It's not easy to fill Sia's shoes, but you absolutely held your own with your incredible take on the track. How did that come about?
David is one of my best friends in the industry. I love him. We love working together, writing together, and he really loves my voice. He just called me and was like 'RAYE, would you want to do this? I'd love for you to come and sing it." I was like 'Yeah, of course.' We flew out to Budapest from Italy, I was doing a shoot. Quarantined out there for my birthday, had the best time, and then gave it my all. It was hilarious, though. There was these big water fountain machines spraying water all over my hair, so I had to have my natural curls. [Laughs] I was getting drenched in water. It was amazing. I had such fun. It was my first big TV performance, so what an experience.
Your Radio 1 Dance Weekend mashup was seriously a moment as well - the mashup was so seamless and fantastic. The songs are all smashes, and your voice was the star of the show. The way you totally went off during "You Don't Know Me" - chills everywhere! Which vocalists, past and present, do you draw inspiration from?
I think growing up in the church massively influenced my voice and how I sing, and how I understand vocal delivery. It has a soul to it, a spiritualism to it, that when you're singing...it's where I learned to sing, so I'd say from the church is where I've been inspired most, but I love big, Black female vocals. I always have. Aretha [Franklin]. Nina [Simone]. Etta James. I think they've subconsciously influenced my vocals too, and my performance.
Speaking of, I can't tell you how often I've listened to "You Don't Know Me" over the years. I have a distinct memory of Shazam-ing the song at a gay bar called Industry in NYC, it must have been around 2016 or 2017 when things really started popping off for you. Is there a moment where you heard your voice out somewhere for the first time and thought, "Okay, I'm really out here killing it"?
[Laughs] Do you know what? The first time, I remember really clearly. My first-ever cut, my first songwriting placement, I was young and I was in Subway. I was 17. I was in Subway in Purley, some place in the very, very deep South. And I remember being like 'Okay. This is really amazing.' Radio moments when I'm in the car and then I hear it, it's nuts. Or there would be times I'd be driving, and then hearing people sing it in the car opposite losing their minds, and I'm here like, they don't even know it's me, but this is so cool. It's definitely a pinch-me moment hearing yourself on the radio for the first time - even a song on the radio for the first time. It's just electric. It's so exciting.
You've already written for and collaborated with such an impressive arsenal of acts already, from Charli XCX to Ellie Goulding to Beyonce. What is one in-studio experience with a superstar that really stuck with you - good or bad? (No names needed!)
No names needed! [Laughs] Good question. I mean, oh...well, one time I was writing with - well, no names are needed - but I was writing with a huge artist. There's always pressure when doing those things. I actually work really well under pressure. I remember we sat down at the piano. He was so humble and amazing. It was just an amazing experience to be so down-to-earth on a level with someone who you've grown up listening to and love, and them reinforce what I'm capable of. It was so gratifying...it was with John Legend. It was so amazing.
Is there anything you've pulled from those sessions with established stars - be it vocal techniques, artist-to-artist advice, or even superstitions - that you've since incorporated in your own career?
100%. I think every time I get into a room and work with anyone, there is always something to learn. I think it's how you progress in this industry. You take something from everything you do, and everyone around you. It takes a lot to be successful in this game. Charli was one of the first people to really teach me about songwriting, and women being there for women, and work ethic. It's just inspiring. I worked with her very young, and it really, really blew me away.
You are, without a doubt, one of the best new pop penners in the game today, but you're also such a talented solo artist in your own right. It seems like you manage to balance writing songs for others and yourself at the same time really well. What does the ideal career path in the music industry look like for you?
The ideal career path looks like...smacking it as a solo artist, and forever writing for other artists is always going to be a passion of mine. I'm getting into production, and I want to be taken really seriously as a female producer. That's something I'm working really hard on. I've just started scoring for TV programs, which is a whole other kettle of fish. I'm really getting into it. A future for me is I want a finger in every pie. I'm so in love with all genres, and understanding and learning and expanding my brain. The future for me is being taken seriously as a future producer, a writer, huge artist - I've got big dreams, big goals, and I've only just begun.
You were short-listed for the BBC's Sound Of... in 2017, which is always considered to be a prestigious list. Did that moment open any new doors for you at the time - and if so, in what way?
Massively so. Recognition from the BBC is insane. It gave me a confidence that I needed to launch my project and keep going. At the beginning, it was very tough. Starting off and having to build...you know, it's not an easy job. That recognition was nuts. I cried when I found out, I remember. It was very important and special to me.
"Dream artist collaborations" is an obvious question, but I'm actually more interested to know which dream fellow songwriter collaborations you have. Who do you think is absolutely killing it as a writer that you'd love to work with?
I'm very excited to get in with Max Martin and all his crew - Savan [Kotecha], Ilya. One day. They are the pioneers of crafting and sculpting the perfect pop song. Their formulas are unmatched. They almost bring a maths to the writing, which I've learned a lot from even writing in Sweden alone. I'm really excited to get in with those guys. That's a dream.
You've got quite a few fun, party-friendly smashes like "You Don't Know Me" and "Tequila." How are you handling a largely party-less 2020? Is lockdown playing into the music, or are you opting more for escapism?
I'm working, I'm writing...for the first six months, no. [Laughs] The first six months was bleak, I think for everyone. I've been doing a lot of puzzles and trying to spend not much time on my phone. Social media usage has increased with everyone. We're so used to implementing it into the forefront of every day. But when there's nothing else, when you're not moving around, it's so consuming and so toxic and bad for you. I'm trying to do less socials. I'm getting into my bag now, found my feet again, writing. I've been writing with Mabel, Anne-Marie, loads of amazing females in the UK over this time, and actually being there for my girls in this industry. We're all really feeling it. It's been really beautiful for us to encourage each other, discussing stuff, and taking care of each other and each other's mental wellbeing.
Let's pretend we're getting things back on the road with touring sometime soon. What does a RAYE tour look like in the future? What do you want to wear and do on stage? I can't wait to see you live.
I'm obsessed with the '50s and the '60s. During this lockdown, I've been massively digging into aesthetic. I think it's going to be nuts. I have some ideas, I don't want to give it away. I have some incredible ideas. I'm really about to take everything visual up to the next level. I'm working really hard on it. I believe the visual story is so important. I've never really known as an artist how I want to demonstrate that until last year and this year, especially. Going forward, I feel like a woman now. I'm really excited to show you - I think lots of silhouettes, cinched hips, waists, very '60s glamorous woman - it's going to be fabulous.
It's hard to predict the future, especially in these times. What are you hoping to see for yourself in 2021?
I would love to...[singing] duh, duh, duh, duh, duh Album! Woo! An album. My first debut album. That is what I'm working on, and a headlining tour would be phenomenal, if we're allowed. Festival season, go off, if we're allowed. If not, music will be coming regardless. Very excited.
Euphoric Sad Songs is out now.
This EP is featured on the MuuTunes Spotify playlist.
You can also subscribe to MuuTunes on Apple Music.
Photo credit: Faith Aylward
"Prisoner": Miley Cyrus & Dua Lipa Wreak Sapphic Havoc
Miley Cyrus is currently in the middle of her best moment. So is Dua Lipa. It only makes sense, then, that the two would eventually find their way into each other's respective universes - and all up in each other's arms and faces, at that.
"Prisoner" is the long-awaited follow-up to "Midnight Sky," the lead single - and one of the standout singles of 2020 - from Miley's upcoming record, Plastic Hearts, due out next week on November 27.
True to the Classic Rock FM-meets-disco energy Miley's successfully harnessed throughout this musical moment, "Prisoner" is an instantly recognizable blast to the past. And much like "Midnight Sky" provided a nod to the legendary Stevie Nicks (who then provided a co-sign in the form of an official remix), the follow-up supplies familiar shades of Olivia Newton-John's "Physical," The Runaways and a Scorpions' "Rock You Like A Hurricane"-style energy as Dua and Miley do their very best to break free of a toxic love that's long since run its course.
"You keep making it harder to stay, but I still can't run away / I gotta know why can't you, why can't you just let me go?" Miley wails before diving into the immediate earworm of a chorus, co-crafted by Jon Bellion, Ali Tamposi, The Monsterz & Strangerz' Jordan K. Johnson, Marcus "MarcLo" Lomax and Stefan Johnson and watt.
Dua holds her own entirely, delivering her deep vocals and sounding just as fabulous across a more glam-rock production than her usual rich, dance floor-oriented offerings.
"Prisoner, prisoner, locked up / Can't get you off my mind, off my mind / Lord knows I tried a million times, million times, oh-woah / Why can't you, why can't you just let me go?"
In a year full of incredible all-female tag-teams, "Prisoner" is yet another win for the girls...on International Men's Day, no less. (Who?) It's an obvious and instant hit upon first play, once again, full of a tense carnal energy just waiting to be unleashed - which, like many songs released in 2020, is accidentally timely.
"I think it's also coming at a perfect time for everybody," Miley told Zane Lowe on Apple Music.
"We're just trapped in our emotions right now. I mean, really me...there's no escaping it. It's like, 'Locked up, can't get you off my mind.' Anything that you've tried to suppress or compartmentalize at that point, it's coming up. It's yours to own, to own it or release it."
The accompanying throwback clip was co-directed by Miley herself and Alana Oherlihy (with input via text message from Miss Peep), in which the two go full The Runaways, supplying raucous tour bus revelry, biting spiders (!) and bearing teeth, grinding all up on each other, trading tempting glances and ch-ch-ch-cherry bomb-ing the place in red goo before hitting the stage for a bit of underground rock scene fun.
It's all very hot and heavy, much like the way Dua felt out all the girl-on-girl tension on stage with St. Vincent. This one's for the girls and the gays. Let's go, lesbians!
"In a way, we have a lot of things in common...I also love that she's very direct. We edited this video on text message, me and her directly as artists. I just don't want to play telephone when I'm making music. I want to make it with who I'm making with. I don't want to do a song with someone's manager. I want to do a song with the artist. Her allowing me to have that direct line of communication, and then also the ability to just trust each other. Both of us, I think our egos are pretty in check. She's very willing and I'm very willing," Miley said of working with Dua.
"I also liked that it wasn't the first song we'd cut together. We actually cut other songs. She wanted to keep going until it was right, until we found the one that honors our individuality...there was none of the machine in it. We've recorded other songs together. We just waited until we felt like, 'Now this is a Dua and Miley song. Everything about it reflects us."
Be sure to stick around to the very end for one hell of a title card - shout out to my ex, if you will - and a bonus clip of the late Divine as Dawn Davenport in John Waters' Female Trouble. LGBTQPoints were made.
Don't let the angst fool you: much like "Midnight Sky," this is very much a Declaration of Independence from the perpetually untamable pop princess-turned-Queen of Rock. No one puts Miley in a corner.
Plastic Hearts will be released on November 27.
This song is featured on the MuuTunes Spotify playlist.
You can also subscribe to MuuTunes on Apple Music.
Marina Is Back & Wants Out of This "Man's World"
"Don't underestimate the making of life / The planet has a funny way of stopping a fight."
Marina, the Artist Formerly Known as Marina + The Diamonds, has returned to the mess that's America (well, and much of the rest of the world) once more.
One year after Love + Fear, the "Bubblegum Bitch" herself arrived right in time with the first taste of her new music in the form of "Man's World" on Wednesday (November 18), an intentionally all-femme affair.
The song, as well as her upcoming project, began a year ago after she learned that women account for only two percent of producers and three percent of engineers involved in popular music.
“I’m creating my next project, and this story can only be told by women," she announced at the time. And that is exactly what she's done.
“Man’s World” was co-produced by Jennifer Decilveo (who also produced Beth Ditto's Fake Sugar) and engineered by Emily Lazar (Sia's "Chandelier," among other feats), along with a music video featuring a creative team led by filmmaker/photographers Alexandra Gavillet and Coughs. Remixes by some favorite female acts like MUNA and Empress Of are still to come.
While Love + Fear offered a more universal approach following the smash success of "Baby" with Clean Bandit, "Man's World" feels more like a lyrically sharp return to the Marina we've known and loved ever since the Family Jewels and Electra Heart days. And sonically, it feels like a more guitar-driven, hypnotic flavor of her organic Froot.
There's a certain phrase we say over and over on Legends Only: "we do not stan men in this house." Basically, this is the musical equivalent - with a much more eloquent touch.
"Mother nature's dying / Nobody's keeping score / I don't wanna live in a man's world anymore," she croons.
As she's done ever since her 2009 debut, the always outspoken singer-songwriter tackles power imbalance (power and control, if you will), climate change, witch hunts and centuries of injustice against women and the LGBTQ community, supplying some razor-sharp, deeply sarcastic social commentary ("Owned by a sheik who killed thousands of gay men, I guess that's why he bought the campest hotel in LA then") while beautifully putting the Straight White Male-led patriarchy on blast, as always.
"If you have a mother, daughter or a friend, maybe it is time, time you comprehend / The world that you live in ain't the same one as them."
The accompanying video is a gorgeous pairing of past-meets-present, blending the palette of classic paintings with pandemic-chic face masks and mirror selfies as Marina lives her best modern goddess life.
"I’ve been inspired by this artist who made these neoclassical paintings in the late 1800s named John William Godward. They use these very modern color compositions like mint green with chartreuse or magenta. That was the center of the whole video and the main visual inspiration," she explained to Vogue.
And yes, a full record is on the way - and it's going to be very different from Love + Fear, at least in terms of how she's feeling now.
"At that time in my life, I just felt very unsure about everything. I was coming off two years of just feeling very depressed in ways where I started to doubt my decision-making. But I feel very different on this record. I think I’m much more confident and my life’s more balanced," she went on to tell Vogue.
"It’s a surprising record sonically. It feels rich and warm. Thematically it’s definitely sociopolitical but there’s a real broad message in terms of the themes I’m writing about. It’s all very hodgepodge. The way I write isn’t conceptual anymore, it’s just what’s happening at that moment in time."
"Man's World" is certainly dense in subject matter, but Marina has a way of making even the most bitter froot in life taste sweet. And although it was once meant to be released much earlier in 2020 (at Coachella, actually), the timing of this song - as the Toddler-In-Chief throws a daily tantrum for not getting his way - couldn't be better.
In Marina, we trust. And thankfully, so does she again.
A "Man's World" 7" vinyl is available in a limited pressing. Love + Fear is available on vinyl.
This song is featured on the MuuTunes Spotify playlist.
You can also subscribe to MuuTunes on Apple Music.
Photo credit: Atlantic Records
It's Time to Get Mariah Carey Her 20th No. 1 Hit
Do you hear that, darling? Just off in the distance? It's the sound of Mariah Carey coming to save Christmas.
2020 has been kind to approximately no one, but if there's anyone with the ability to provide a crucial retro moment of festive whatever during a holiday season in quarantine, it could only be the Queen of Christmas™ herself: Mariah - and she's bringing a few friends along with her on the (sleigh) ride.
On Wednesday (November 18), Mariah revealed that the guesses were true: Ariana Grande and Jennifer Hudson are indeed collaborating with the Grammy Award-winning vocal powerhouse - on a special remix of "Oh Santa!", the joyful lead single and certifiable bop from 2010's Merry Christmas II You - due out on December 4.
It's all part of her upcoming Apple TV+ Christmas special, Mariah Carey’s Magical Christmas Special, debuting on December 4 with a ton of guest stars, including Tiffany Haddish, Billy Eichner, Snoop Dogg, Jermaine Dupri, Misty Copeland and Mykal-Michelle Harris - and Dem Babies, Moroccan and Monroe, of course.
Here's more, via THR: "The new version of 'Oh Santa!' will be distributed by Sony Music and released on Apple Music and other platforms to coincide with the special on Dec. 4. Meanwhile, the companion soundtrack is said to be full of new interpretations, and will also feature Snoop and Dupri as additional musical guests, in addition to a new version of 'Sleigh Ride.' The soundtrack will be available exclusively on Apple Music also on Dec. 4, and all other platforms a week later, on Dec. 11."
The plot of the special is, well, perfect: "Faced with a holiday cheer crisis, the North Pole knows there's only one person who can save the day: Santa's great friend, Mariah Carey."
Expect a Mimi-media blitz as well: "To promote the special, Carey will join Apple Music flagship anchor Zane Lowe for a Dec. 7 special during which they will run through Carey's curated playlist of holiday songs while dishing on her latest music and recent memoir, The Meaning of Mariah Carey. Then on Dec. 25, Carey will appear on Apple Music Hits for a six-hour Holiday Hits special, featuring festive songs including her holiday phenomenon 'All I Want For Christmas Is You.'"
It's a full festive overload, but we can't lose sight of what this actually means: Mariah's got a very good shot of securing her 20th (!) No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with this forthcoming superstar remix of "Oh Santa!" In fact, considering the way that "All I Want for Christmas Is You" is beginning its annual ascent, the only competition she actually faces to sleigh her way to the top is, well, herself. (Legends Only, truly.)
.@MariahCarey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You" is expected to re-enter next week's Hot 100. It hit #1 for the first time last year.
— chart data (@chartdata) November 18, 2020
In one of the bleakest years, Mariah managed to deliver - much like her friend, Santa! - all year 'round, from #MC30 to The Rarities to The Meaning of Mariah Carey. Closing out the year with yet another hit under Mariah's glittery belt would certainly make for one gorgeous, sparkling tree-topper.
Let's all watch Mariah Carey’s Magical Christmas Special, and then Make It Happen.
The Merry Christmas LP is available in red vinyl.
The Nostalgic, Necessary Escape of Kylie Minogue's ‘Disco' (Review)
"Dancе through the darkness, togethеr eternally..."
An intergalactic phenomenon occurred on social media this past week - at least, in certain circles of Gay, Political and/or Stan Twitter™.
In a feed almost exclusively dominated by hopes, fears and outrage from an anxious world awaiting the results of the United States presidential election, every now and then, a brief transmission from outer space twinkled in between the number crunching, "legal ballots" and blue and red-filled maps: it was Kylie, blissfully crooning away, inviting us to come into her world once more.
Kylie Minogue performing on GMA with election results scrolling by underneath is fully sending me, we really won today. pic.twitter.com/j5Tbsfuh8h
— Joey Nolfi (@joeynolfi) November 6, 2020
Disco, released on Friday (November 6), could be considered the worst-timed album of Kylie Minogue's career: not only does it arrive amid a pandemic that's physically kept us from entering into any disco, but in the same week as the world at large watched America struggle to uphold democracy itself in the grips of a petulant, unhinged cult leader.
Kind of a weird time to cut loose, to say the least.
"There was a point during lockdown and during all of that where I guess maybe the album was kind of finished. And I did question, what does this mean? What's the point? There's so much happening in the world and there's no discos open. But the main question that kind of reassured me to keep going was, 'What will I achieve if I don't release it?' And the answer, that's really easy, was absolutely nothing. So we stuck with Disco," Kylie told NPR of the making of her new record.
At the same time, the Art of the Glittery Escape is what Kylie does best, and perhaps more than any other pop star: she is a manifestation of joy, the personification of a reassuring smile, and the music always follows suit.
Kylie's delivered the finer feelings as an endlessly reliable dance-pop diva for well over three decades in the form of an endless array of euphoria-inducing smash hits, from "I Should Be So Lucky" to "Better the Devil You Know" to "Spinning Around" to "Can't Get You Out of My Head" to "I Believe in You" to "All the Lovers" and well beyond. Her discography, like a pure white diamond, shines on and on and on. She's got too many smashes (and maybe a few too many greatest hits collections), and every day is another anniversary of something major in her catalog.
But with Disco, Kylie's made it abundantly clear that she's got no intention of skipping a beat and slowing down anytime soon. In fact, it's one of her fastest albums to date.
Two years ago, her country-tinged Nashville foray Golden found Kylie doing her best Dolly Parton drag and recalibrating musically - a moment she needed to process a breakup, reflect on life and reignite her passion. But by the time she hit the road to tour the album, the "Your Disco Needs You" crooner already had her sights set on the dance floor yet again.
"The album Golden was more introspective, dealing with stuff...I'm always cautious to say it wasn't a breakup album...I was reclaiming my sense of self," she told Zane Lowe.
"I did the Golden Tour...the final section of the show was Studio 54, and it was our fantasy version of what it might be like...and it was just the coolest place to be. All the dancers had characters. We had Elton John there...a version of Grace Jones, Andy Warhol...I knew then, even though I was promoting Golden album, that this was a really nice place to be."
Following her headlining set in the Legends slot at Glastonbury in 2019 - the festival's most-watched set of all time, which she considers to be the "wipe the slate clean" moment in her career, Kylie got to work on her fifteenth record. She recruited a small group of tried-and-true collaborators, including the legendary Biff Stannard and Sky Adams, plus a few new faces - emphasis on just their faces.
By the time the album was taking shape, the (first) lockdown was already in motion in March in the United Kingdom (and much of the rest of the world), requiring Kylie to engineer the vocals herself, write with her collaborators over Zoom, and record in her living room with an old microphone, YouTube tutorials and GarageBand.
“I just felt, if kids are doing this — making albums in their bedroom — then, come on, Minogue, you’ve got to be able to do this,” she explained to the New York Times.
As a result, at least nine songs from the album came directly from Kylie's living room, as well as the four deluxe tracks.
"I joked when we were working on the album, I said to the people I was working with, 'I'm going to need an engineer credit for this.' I said it as a bit of a throwaway thing, then by the end of the album I thought, 'I'm totally getting an additional engineer credit!' I did all the plugging together and stressed about it," she told The Sun.
The story of Disco, then, is also very much the (ongoing) story of the pandemic, as with many of the other best records released in 2020, and that comes across in the album experience - even when it wasn't always intentional.
"Say Something" kicked off the campaign in July, and proved to be an accidentally profound first step in the campaign.
The intergalactic dream of being less socially distanced one day perfectly captured the wistful mood, though it was penned well before there was ever talk of COVID-19. But fate found Kylie singing those moving words in a different way in 2020 - "we're a million miles apart in a thousand ways" - resulting in a song that will stand the time as a time capsule of the present moment, and one of her newest classics.
"Say Something" is also the most overt "message" song on Disco, an otherwise unrelenting flurry of DJs, dance floors and real grooves that doesn't seek to do anything other than provide the nostalgia and instantly feel-good vibe that the very literal title invokes.
Throughout the album and its accompanying visuals are myriad nods to Studio 54 and the sights and sounds from the heyday of disco. She captured that energy in the horse-mounted explosion of glitter of the "Say Something" video, and again, disco stick in hand, at Fabric nightclub for the intimate and camp, Xanadu-like video for follow-up single "Magic," a Katy Perry "Chained to the Rhythm"-recalling, horn-filled, twinkling wink-wink of an invitation out onto the (hypothetical) dance floor.
"Do you believe in magic? Do you? Do you? Do you?" she coos.
"'Magic’ is a kind of hors d’oeuvre for the album. The main course will be coming in a while—and leave space because there is going to be tiramisu. It feels classic, grown-up, and polished, but there’s still an element of surprise with the falsetto notes," she explained to Apple Music.
The hits on Disco are fast and frequent, including "Real Groove," a kind of Reverse-"Really Don't Like U"-Warholian Experience, in which Kylie's quite confidently aware she's got no competition in the room - a very "She's Not Me" Madonna kind of lyrical energy.
"I saw you dancing with somebody, looking like me and you / She know how to party, but nothing like me and you," she sasses on the track, which is surely the best "Groove" since Victoria Beckham's own.
As Disco is, of course, rooted in the past, Kylie supplies ample nods to beloved musical blueprints who've paved the way before her, including the ABBA and Bee Gees-inspired "Last Chance."
"I can’t compare with these all-time epic, amazing songs. So what I tried to do was absorb them, try to understand them and then just stay on my own path," Kylie explained.
"This is the last chance for the first dance," she warns on the last call anthem, a wildly fun and frantic falsetto plea before the bar turns on the lights and everyone crawls back home. (Also, a bonus point for the line "let's make some magic, supercalifragilistic love.")
Elsewhere, she's directly name-dropping the disco classics: "Now I'm leaving behind all the stress in my mind, singing 'I Will Survive,'" she cries out on the brilliant "Where Does the DJ Go," which is an absolute highlight.
The track feels like the embodiment of Disco, and a distant cousin to almighty Light Years call-to-arms "Your Disco Needs You": the Gloria Gaynor reference, the strings, the Chic-style grooving, the Donna Summer "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)"-style dramatic intro, the appropriately topical absence of the DJ, the desperate holding out for a hero. It's all here.
"The world's trying to break me / I need you to save me!" she pleads on the track, which bursts with all the nervous energy of the last night out before lockdown.
While she's done disco throughout her career ("Step Back in Time"!), Disco is most spiritually connected to 2000's Light Years ("Your Disco Needs You," duh) and 2001's Fever, a la "More More More."
The alluring standout "Miss a Thing," however, supplies all the lusty, breathy energy of Body Language's "Chocolate." (Plus, the way she repeatedly purrs the word "Slow" - a most intended reference!) There are so many deliciously lusty moans above the intoxicating strings on the song, you'd never know she was actually near tears while recording the tune at home alone.
"I was due to fly to LA in March and work on it with on of the key writers, [Finnish songwriter] Teemu Brunila. Then of course lockdown happened so we ended up working remotely. I had a meltdown one day with him. I was trying to do this vocal and I was so exhausted, and stressed, I couldn’t. I felt like I was failing him and me. I didn’t go to the full cry, but I came close. All this, and yet we’ve never met. I can’t wait to give him a hug when we finally can," she revealed to Apple Music.
That's the thing about Disco: despite all the escapist joy, there's still a hint of an uncertainty, and a frustrated desire to get out and move lingering just below the surface. It might all play like breezy dance tunes, and perhaps would come across that way in a pre-pandemic world, but in 2020, there's a certain desire for a life lived not too long ago in these songs, recorded largely alone in her duvet fort of an at-home studio.
"There really is some correlation that I'm just discovering, or being forced to look at, [with] where disco began. You know, people needed to find a place of expression and belonging, and disco lights shine out of the darkness. That's kind of what we're going through at the minute. I'm finding some kind of bridge," she told NPR.
She drifts into a more lush, '80s state of mind on the dreamy "Dance Floor Darling," which conjures the earnest, E•MO•TION-al energy of Carly Rae Jepsen, dropping loving references to Studio 54 while doing the Electric Slide. Boogie woogie, woogie!
Before getting too comfortable in the established groove however, the BPM suddenly kicks up two-and-a-half minutes in, like an abrupt decision made by the DJ to bump up the energy in the room.
"So what you waiting for? Get up on the floor," she demands as the track spirals into a euphoric ending of Daft Punk-like vocoded bliss.
Disco is also largely space-age camp, with plenty of silly lyricism about outer space, which is, and always has been, a constant in Kylie's music, from traveling light years, to the stars coming out and filling up the sky, to getting cosmic in the stars. The poppers rush of "Supernova," an X-adjacent surge of strings and interplanetary grooving is another stellar, immediately addictive blast-off to add to the list.
"Shining like a supernova, brightest of the stars / From another galaxy, like Jupiter and Mars" a robot voice declares as Kylie shimmies and takes off through the sky, delivering some especially fabulous high notes along the way. When will Neil Armstrong? (No one tell her Jupiter and Mars are still in our galaxy, it's fine.)
"I was like a lonely star at night, waiting for someone to share the light," she croons on the hypnotic, immediately replay-friendly "I Love It," another dreamy, on-the-nose bout of disco strings and sexy bass.
"I was thinking about dimensions of stars and star fields and galaxies — I keep going back to that. I think the attraction there is it's endless, these stars can seemingly burn forever. And of course, none of them do. You know, it's all a bit existential, and I think that's why I latch onto it and try to tap into those thoughts," she explained to NPR of her galaxy brain.
If there's any (relative) lowlight on Disco, it's "Monday Blues," which plays like a too-chipper Monday morning alarm clock.
"Come on!" she urges, shaking us awake before excitedly rattling off the days of the week across urgent horn blasts. It's a bit too up, in the way that "Better Than Today" sticks out on Aphrodite, and could have easily traded places with the deluxe edition offerings, including "Hey Lonely," or sexy summer night groove "Till You Love Somebody," or the super silly "Fine Wine." (Speaking of Kylie Wine is out now.)
Looking for a place to take a breather on Disco? Better make that bathroom run quick: the album, as a whole, is fairly unrelenting - if a little too fast. The record could have absolutely benefitted from some extended intros and outros, or even, yes, a non-stop mix version, a la Confessions on a Dance Floor, especially given that it's meant to be an homage to an era when Donna Summer moaned "I Feel Love" past 8 minutes with ease.
Aside from the brief break from "Supernova" into "Say Something," the album's only comedown moment is final track (on the standard edition, anyway) "Celebrate You," her unbelievably sweet ode to a fictional Mary - or, perhaps, her audience at home - "Queens and fairies, and muscle Marys" anyone?
"I’ve never written a song in the third person before. The character of Mary was born out of mumble-singing melodies. Mary is anyone and everyone needs reassurance that we are enough and we are loved. The last part of the album has a pretty high BPM, so ‘Celebrate You’ is the wind-down. It’s last orders at the pub – all of the family’s there, and Auntie Mary’s had a few too many. I’ve introduced you to this stellar landscape, we’ve gone to supernova, but we’ve come back down to Earth. This is about heart and connection," Kylie explained to Apple Music.
That shimmering chorus is one of Kylie's most endearing, and the embodiment of her Showgirl spirit.
"Everything I like about myself is better with you / Scream it to the world like what the hell, I celebrate you." Those final, sweeping coos - "I celebrate you-u-u-uuuu" - will make for such a tear-filled moment live one day, in the round, under a disco ball in the darkness, just as she said she dreams of doing for a Disco tour one day.
While the actual genre is having its moment in the sun once again in this year's best records in varying flavors - Dua Lipa's Future Nostalgia, Jessie Ware's What's Your Pleasure?, Lady Gaga's Chromatica and Róisín Murphy's Róisín Machine, among others - Kylie has been our disco queen for (light) years already.
Sure, she's had her fair share of experimental turns off the road over the years - from "Where the Wild Roses Grow" to "GBI" Impossible Princess to Golden - she's never, ever actually strayed too far from the mirrorball for long: Disco is where the heart is, which is why the album feels so immediately Kylie.
And while Golden wasn't exactly everyone's cup of whiskey, and Kiss Me Once proved to be an unfocused but enjoyable (and unjustly maligned!) offering of flirty pop fun, Disco feels like the first start-to-finish victory lap on the dance floor for Kylie since 2010's impeccable Aphrodite, squeezing in effortlessly somewhere between Light Years, Fever and X. More impressive is that she even managed to muster the can-do attitude - and her way around a microphone, Zoom calls and YouTube lessons - to craft her own cosmic disco in a way she's never had to do before, knowing full well that no one would even be able to dance to this record when it was done.
So sure, the timing of Disco couldn't have been worse. Or is it? Mere hours after its release, the at-home hopefulness of Disco already started to hit different.
Much like "Say Something" accidentally soundtracked a socially distanced world mid-pandemic, the sound of Disco will now forever be associated with the toppling of an unhinged force of evil and the promise of a better, kinder future. There's plenty of work to be done, but as we dance and smile in a collective sigh of relief, our "I Believe in You" goddess of pop and Mighty Aphrodite arrives just in time to join the celebration with her healing energy.
"I think disco is a place of expression and a place of losing yourself or finding yourself. When you shine a light on a mirror ball, the light is infinite. It colours you and it affects your being in that moment of time. And the night might not last forever, but I think the notion of disco as a place of escape and abandon is something that most of us have got somewhere within us," Kylie said upon the album's release.
Make no mistake, however: as much as our disco will always need her, now more than ever, the feeling is absolutely mutual.
"It's hard to dig deep and stay positive. And I had a moment like that, during the first lockdown where I had to confess to someone else that I was struggling. And actually, if I wasn't able to work on the album, I perhaps would have gone the other way," she revealed to the BBC.
Already, the mission statement of the record has come to life in an incredible way: just one day after the album's release, Kylie appeared in front of all of us - virtually, anyway - in an all-too-brief spectacular, Infinite Disco, a 50-minute concert featuring entirely new, stunning mixes of album tracks and classics from the vault alongside longtime musical director, Steve Anderson.
The tight set included jaw-dropping surprise after surprise for longtime fans: a pulsating new mix of "In Your Eyes," "Supernova" sandwiched in between "Light Years" (twenty years later, we're still flying KM Air!), the latest "Slow" reinvention, her most versatile song, now with a gasp-worthy "Love to Love You" breakdown, "All the Lovers," "Love at First Sight" - even a few cheeky, fleeting lines of "Come Into My World" and "I Should Be So Lucky."
As the hour flew by, so did the bulk of Disco, which slid into the setlist as though it's lived in her discography for years already, enhanced by sleek laser lights, cosmic projections and '70s-style lit dance floors, dancers in tight formations (and tighter clothes), and the voices of the incredible House Gospel Choir. She sounded truly incredible while sashaying around the stage in her chic golden ensemble (those "Supernova" high notes!), living it up on the galactic dance floor somewhere far, far away. For now, anyway.
As she crooned that chill-inducing plea over and over - "love is love, it never ends, can we all be as one again?" - the choir carried the hopeful message up to the rafters and beyond, far, far into the heavens above. A holy experience and a crucial, celebratory escape, on top of an already overwhelming and historic day - in a good way, for once. Tears abound.
Disco couldn't have come at a better time.
Disco was released on November 6, and is available in CD and vinyl formats.
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Photo credit: Simon Emmett / BMG UK
Eleni Foureira Rides the Disco Wave With "Light It Up"
Eleni Foureira is en fuego yet again.
For those unacquainted, the 33-year-old Greek goddess has consistently dominated the Greek music charts for over a decade, but is perhaps most globally known for her 2018 Eurovision entry representing Cyprus, "Fuego," as well as her many follow-up multilingual bops, including "Caramela," "Loquita," "Yayo" and "Temperatura."
On Friday (October 30), Eleni shifted away from her more recent Spanish-language vibe and traveled back in time onto the dance floor with "Light It Up," right in time to ride the ongoing retro disco wave brought upon by acts like Dua Lipa, Lady Gaga and Jessie Ware.
"I am gasoline, and you are my fire," she declares across fierce disco strings, retro synths and a sexy bassline. (Some things never change temperatura.)
The ARCADE-produced retro track sort of gives me a touch of the legendary Kat DeLuna (that chorus is "Whine Up" adjacent), and the fun vocoded bridge dips into Daft Punk territory. It's an instant hit.
The Euro legend transforms into a full-on disco diva in the accompanying Giannis Michelopoulos-directed music video as well, riding the disco ball (quite literally), supplying shimmering '70s lewks and ample armography and giving us the full Farrah Fawcett-meets-Valerie Cherish fluffy hair fantasy.
Deeply obsessed. Boom-baram-baram!
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Photo credit: Mike Tsitas
Carly Rae Jepsen Made a Charming Tune About Christmas Unpleasantry
Christmas songs and holiday albums aren't necessarily the most thrilling releases, with a few legendary exceptions - but Carly Rae Jepsen's managed to make an amusing, deeply relatable contribution to the overstuffed genre.
The 34-year-old "Run Away With Me" Canadian pop superhero returned on Friday (October 30), just before Halloween, to provide "It's Not Christmas Till Somebody Cries," a silly, self-explanatory anthem for the inherent discomfort in forced extended family holiday interactions - from ideologically, um, opposed uncles to your vegan boyfriend getting fed fish - and the general stress and anxiety that comes with intermingling during the holiday season.
The song was created with E•MO•TION collaborators Benjamin Romans and CJ Baran and Dedicated collaborator / boyfriend James Flannigan.
Ever the cheery optimist, CRJ knows that the holidays are bound to go awry - so just put it down to tradition and brace for impact.
“I love the old fashioned movies and the family traditions and the excitement of gifting presents and decorating the tree and and, and...my list is endless. But each year the pressure to have the perfect Christmas always ends in tears. I call it Christmas versus expectation," Carly says.
“Christmas holiday is my favorite time of year. I love it. But so often emotions run high and expectation versus reality is something I’d like to shed some light on and hopefully some laughs too in the process. So if you are lucky enough to get to be with the ones that matter most to you this year- embrace it! And if things go south just remember, 'the secret is to sing a little song to survive... that it’s not Christmas till somebody cries!'"
The song has all the signature markings of a Christmas song with its sleigh bells and twinkling lights, supplying all the campy glee of an ugly Christmas sweater, but it still keeps in the general spirit of CRJ's nostalgic brand of swoon-y electro-pop.
From Grandpa accidentally getting high on gummy edibles to arguing with her uncle about politics, it's all one charming, relatable mess: "I used to hide in my room, but now I like it, 'cause it's not Christmas till somebody cries."
2020's already been rough enough for all of us. Go ahead and bring it on, Santa.
Dedicated: Side B is currently available on vinyl, and as an exclusive cassette.
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Photo credit: Nick Theodorakis
"Fever": Dua Lipa Expands the 'Future Nostalgia' Universe With Angèle
Dua Lipa's Future Nostalgia is growing.
After serving up smash after smash, one of the year's best albums and a remix album, with a live spectacle still to come in the form of Studio 2054, the 25-year-old pop superstar isn't letting up anytime soon - and this time around, she's bringing along a friend.
On Friday (October 30), Dua added again to the digital deluxe edition of Future Nostalgia after her DaBaby remix of "Levitating" with "Fever," a collaboration with Belgian singer Angèle, who had a massive smash with "Tout Oublier" back in 2018, breaking Stromae's chart record, as well as 2019's No. 1 feminist anthem, "Balance ton quoi," featured on her No. 1 debut Brol. She was also part of Lady Gaga's Together at Home this year. Basically, she's very cool - and Dua's very good at doing all of the "Cool" things. Who better to have a crossover moment with than Miss Peep?
The Ian Kirkpatrick-produced, Julia Michaels co-penned bilingual track offers a much different vibe than Dua's standout 2020 effort, recalling something closer in spirit to her 2017 self-titled debut as opposed to the retro disco-inspired follow-up. Once the beat of that chorus really kicks in by the second go-around, it touches on something familiar - a Euro dance hit of the early '00s, possibly?
"I've got a fever, so can you check? / Hand on my forehead, kiss my neck / And when you touch me, baby, I turn red," Dua declares, adding to the great legacy of burnin' up anthems, including Kylie's own "Fever" - and Dua's own "Hotter Than Hell." (Normally that would be a nice thing to offer, but in this time of social distancing, go ahead and check your own temp, kids.)
That post-chorus melody might be the best part: "Tell me what you wanna do right now / 'Cause I don't really wanna cool it down." It's tres sexy - and there's still a music video on the way.
Between this, the new songs teased on Club Future Nostalgia and the promise of that Normani song eventually seeing light of day, all signs point to a Future Nostalgia: Side B moment happening sometime very soon. Dua don't stop now!
Future Nostalgia is available in limited edition vinyl.
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Photo credit: Warner Records