(via Shutterstock) I have loved Scandinavian everything. Perhaps it’s because there’s likely Swedish blood flowing in these veins from away back or perhaps it’s all that ABBA I listened to in the ’70s or the Agaton Sax books I devoured from my local library (I still can’t work out how Continue Reading
Music
Songs, songs and more songs #91: Baby Storme, Chenayder, Jazmin Bean, G Flip + Amy Shark
(Photo by Nik on Unsplash) Wearing your heart on your sleeve might seem like a requirement for being a certified pop star but not everyone in the field really lets it all hang out. Many stick to bright and light and pleasingly shallow and while that’s absolutely fine and still Continue Reading
Songs, songs and more songs #90: Disco Fries & Ferry Corsten, Rina Sawayama, Charli XCX, Dombresky + ROOSEVELT … and #Eurovision 2024 has a host city!
(Photo by Julian Myles on Unsplash) Life needs more than its fair share of uplifting influences. It doesn’t always get them but it needs them and thankfully these five artists are making sure that, for once at least, you get them! Every one of these songs is a shot of Continue Reading
#ChristmasInJuly festive music review redux: When Christmas Comes Around … by Kelly Clarkson
Coming back around for a second go at creating a warm-and-huggable Christmas vibe – her first festive record Wrapped in Red (2013) made quite the seasonal impression when it landed, anchored by that powerfully emotive voice and a gift for somehow sounding traditional and original all at once – powerhouse Continue Reading
Songs, songs and more songs #89: henri, hemlocke springs, KC Lights + Låpsley, Arty Ziff and Wongo
(via Shutterstock) Get up and dance people! Life may have stomped all over you or you might be so drained and stressed that it’s scarcely conceivable you could move anywhere, especially onto to a dancefloor but these five gloriously good tracks are here as your official Friday reminder that we Continue Reading
Songs, songs and more songs #88: Pride 2023 – Jake Shears w/- Kylie Minogue, Dannii Minogue, Alison Goldfrapp, Trixie Mattel + Adam Lambert x Sigala + Australia’s Voyager goes “Te Deum” for Eurovision!
(via Shutterstock) I love Pride! I love the fact that in a world that, for all the progress the LGBTQI+ community has made, still feels addicted to the idea that we are wrong, broken or god-knows-what, we can celebrate the fact that we are not any of the things they Continue Reading
Songs, songs and more songs #87: Kylie Minogue, Netta, Hemlocke Springs, Dreamer Isioma + Grimes … and more Eurovision 2023 aftermath
(Photo by FPVmat A on Unsplash) You want music that sounds like it will playing in your head for days, weeks, months, and quite possibly, years? How about if it’s produced by artists with a distinctive look, sound and sense of musically artistically self? Also good right? What about if Continue Reading
Eurovision under the shadow of war: how the 2023 contest highlighted humanitarianism, empathy and solidarity
In 2022, Ukraine won the Eurovision Song Contest in a landslide victory. Traditionally, the winner hosts the following year but due to the significant security issues posed by the ongoing war with Russia, Ukraine was unable to host. As the 2022 runners-up, the United Kingdom stepped in to assist with hosting Continue Reading
Put your platform shoes away and get up from the stage: The Eurovision Song Contest wraps up for another year “united by music”
(courtesy Eurovision.tv / Corinne Cumming / EBU) What another amazing year of musical togetherness! With the Eurovision Song Contest have run its unifying course for another year, and Sweden having been crowned the winner with Loreen becoming the first woman with her atmospheric song “Tattoo” to win the contest in Continue Reading
Eurovision 2023: why the stage itself is the silent star of the contest (curated article)
(The stage of the 67th annual Eurovision Song Contest at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool. Adam Vaughan/EPA Images) This week, Liverpool stages one of the world’s largest live televised events, the Eurovision Song Contest. I grew up watching it as an annual family get-together. Now, as a lecturer in Continue Reading