Lorde, Stoned at the Nail Salon, Sees the Bigger Picture
"Well, my hot blood's been burning for so many summers now / It's time to cool it down, wherever that leads..." Lorde is not old. But she's always felt old, right from the start. "I've never felt more alone / It feels so scary getting old," she confessed on 2013's "Ribs" from her critically…
Sweden's Kadiatou Has a Summer Bop for Overthinkers
Meet Kadiatou Claudine Holm Keita, if you're not already formally acquainted. The 19-year-old Stockholm-born Swedish singer first rose to fame as one of the finalists on Idol - the Swedish version of the Idol franchise - coming in as the runner-up against Sebastian Walldén in 2018. Look at how…
"Pink Blood": Hikaru Utada Is on a Sexy, Self-Assured Journey
The Utadaissance continues. Hikaru Utada - Utada, if you're nasty - is having quite a moment already in 2021. With a mere tweet here and there and a live Instagram Q&A or two (yes, English music is coming, no, she still hasn't played Kingdom Hearts, you nerds), Hikki's still managed to strike a…
"Live To Survive": The Triumphant Return of MØ
MØ's back. (Everyone kind of just says "mo," but it's technically pronounced like meu.) The Danish superstar singer-songwriter, who you surely know and love best from the inescapable "Lean On" with Major Lazer and DJ Snake (at one point, the most-streamed song of all time), as well as "Cold Water"…
Sigrid's "Mirror" Is a Self-Assured Disco Pop Smash
"I love who I see looking at me in the mirror." Not so fast, Olivia Rodrigo. While the sound at radio might be steadily shifting towards something that resembles an early '00s pop-punk revival (which is great in its own right), last year's wave of disco-inspired pandemic pop ushered in by the…
Kylie Minogue Still Believes in "Magic"
"Tomorrow don't matter, we'll make the night last forever..." Kylie Minogue believes in you - and magic, too. Do you, do you, do you? After coming back into our world (REFERENCE) in July with her gorgeous, wistful dream of being less socially distanced one day soon, "Say Something," the pop icon…
Billie Eilish Got Everything She Wanted, For Better or Worse
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cm0MGnuRnH0 "I had a dream. I got everything I wanted. Not what you'd think. And if I'm bein' honest, it might've been a nightmare." There was a Vanity Fair video that came out last year, called "Same Interview, One Year Apart" with Billie Eilish. The concept was…
The Sugababes Are Back, And They've Brought Us 'Flowers'
View this post on Instagram A post shared by mutya buena (@official_mutyabuena) on Oct 17, 2019 at 4:31pm PDT Mutya Keisha Siobhan no more: the Sugababes are officially back. It's been ages - over six years, officially - since we last heard anything from…
Zara Larsson's 'All The Time' Deserves to Be a Song of Summer 2019
From the breaking of the day to the middle of the night... The Song Of The Summer™, objectively, comes down to charts, sales and streams (so, the most demanded song of the season). But the song(s) that hold the most memories and replay counts for you are every bit as valid (so, subjectively, Las…
'Flying On My Own': Celine Dion's Heart Goes Onto the Dance Floor
Celine Dion, coming to an EDM festival near you. Of all the directions Céline Marie Claudette Dion could have opted to go musically in 2019, dance-pop probably wouldn't have been the most obvious choice. "Flying On My Own" is the first taste of the iconic Canadian chanteuse's upcoming album Courage…
'I Trance': Swedish Dance-Pop Diva Agnes Returns to the Discotheque
Agnes Carlsson, singularly known as the Agnes, is back. The "Release Me" Swedish dance-pop legend and Idol 2005 winner last left us with her incredible collection Veritas, originally released in 2012 in Sweden (one of the best pop albums released that year), which was later released in other…
'In My Bed': Sabrina Carpenter Remains Today's Most Reliable Post-Disney Pop Princess
There are few objective truths in this world: death, taxes, and the pop supremacy of post-Disney princesses. Of all the new girls on the scene, Sabrina Carpenter remains one of my favorites - and it all comes down, obviously, to the music. Consistently, she's supplied nothing but quality since…