Life isn’t simple; we all know that.
But expressing the many and varied things that life can throw at us can often feel like mission impossible when we’re dealing with break-ups or falling in love or wanting celebrate, really celebrate, the wonderful inspiring women in our lives.
Thank goodness then for these five amazing artists, all of whom draw on their lives to articulate what we’re all feeling and do it so luminously, affectingly well.
Listen to these songs and glory not just in the music but what is being said and why hearing our lives in song matters so damn much when we’re navigating life in all its messy, heartwarmingly contrary strangeness.
“Queen” (feat. mxmtoon) by G Flip
There is a beguilingly dreamy beauty to “Queen”, which G Flip recently performed at Sydney Mardi Gras, which magically belies the robust message it is sending out to a world that needs to hear songs of female empowerment now more than ever.
Described by ThomasBleach as possessing “a minimalistic edge to the production that cohesively floats in a dreamy aesthetic” with “a groovy guitar riff that drives a prominent rhythmic energy from start to finish” has a lot of important, inspiring things to see according to Australian singer-songwriter G Flip, who collaborated on the track with California-based singer-writer mxmtoon (aka Maia):
“‘Queen was written about the strong women around me, the queens that raised me and the queens I’ve met through my years,’ G Flip said in a statement.
‘My idea of a queen is not necessarily linked to gender; queens come in all forms and walks of life. To me a queen embodies power and strength; they embrace all they are fiercely yet gracefully.'” (NME)
G Flip also has a lot of great thigs to say about the collaboration which was clearly a joy, something which is clearly evident in this listen-on-repeat song:
“‘I was first introduced to her while trying to find ukulele chords to a Khalid song and found her cover on YouTube years ago.’
‘She makes awesome music and her voice has such a cruisy timbre to it so I was thrilled to have her jump on Queen with me. She is also an avid croc lover and part of the LGBTQIA+ community, so obviously it just made sense!'” (NME)
“No Good For Me” by KUČKA
Hailing from Perth, Australia but now based in Los Angeles, KUČKA (the nom de musique of Laura Jane Lowther) is the person responsible for the sublime delights of “No Good For Me”, a beautiful slice of slowly perfectly, emotionally-impactful, melody-rich pop.
The lead single from her upcoming album Wrestling (due 30 April), the track is a rallying cry to yourself to deal with the kind of conflict that is inevitable in life.
“”No Good for Me’ is a song about letting go of people who don’t vibe you up,” KUČKA said of the track in an accompanying statement. ‘Writing ‘No Good for Me’ was about capturing the energy of psyching yourself up to deal with that conflict.” (Rolling Stone)
The song is the perfect marriage of lo-fi music with a hard-hitting message, with the two seemingly disparate elements working together to highly-listenable perfection.
“Time I Love to Waste” by MAY-A
Love when it’s fresh and sparkly is one of the most deliciously lovely things in the world.
All you want it to be with that person, and together you create an escapist idyll from the rest of the world as the dreamily happy lyrics of “Time I Love to Waste” by Sydney indie pop artist, paired to jauntily upbeat music, make gorgeously clear.
She’s the fire under trees
She’s so far out of my league
She’s a hurricane, I’m just a breezeShe’s the time I love to waste
I’d let the girl live right through my wallet
Give her all my things, empty my pockets
She takes me crossroads, far from things I know
There’s no place like home
There’s no place like home.
It’s a beautiful expression of love, with abc.net.au noting that the track was “[w]ritten at the same time as her breakout single ‘Apricots’ last year, ‘Time I Love To Waste’ is about the same girl who MAY-A fell head over heels for’ and the artist herself explaining why the track means so much to her.
“‘I’m not very good at expressing my emotions. I kind of just assume that people know how I feel without actually saying anything to them.
‘I find it easier to express myself in writing and this was the way I chose to tell her how I felt and just how much that day and those little moments meant to me.'” (ABC)
“Amends” by Odette
“Amends” is so lusciously beautiful and affectingly moody that you feel like you could just fall into the track by English-born Australian singer-songwriter and musician Odette (full name: Georgia Odette Sallybanks) and be quite happy to never emerge again.
Seizing your ears, heart and soul from the first vivaciously heartfelt note and word sung, “Amends” has ben described thus by ThomasBleach:
“Opening with atmospheric synthesiser and an instantly engaging rhythmic beat, the production builds with the addition of trumpets, flute and saxophone to give you this very bold and anthemic soundscape that evolves right up until the final chorus. “
Following on from emotionally honest singles ‘Dwell’ and ‘Feverbreak’, in which Odette very much wears her heart on her sleeve, “Amends’ is a song about coming to grips with some searing life realities; ThomasBleach again;
“The journey of making amends with herself and people around her is explored through realising that she was hurting herself and treating others with cruel disregard because of a battle of unwellness she was fighting. This could be interpreted in so many different ways, and people will adapt their own meanings whether it be depression, alcoholism, other mental health battles, or general loss of way. And with her vivid storytelling and emotional unravelling, listeners will take comfort within her words.”
“until we meet again” by yergurl
Goosebump-inducing shimmeringly beautiful is the only way to describe “until we meet again” by Melbourne, Australia pop artist yergurl, which takes a wholly affecting deep dive into the end of something that might yet have a new beginning:
“‘Until we meet again (UWMA)’ is about breaking up with someone you still love. I wrote ‘UWMA’ after a very amicable break up and we were saying that we’d like to get together again if our life situations allow. My previous single ‘Skateboard’ was written at the very start of the relationship when I thought it was gonna be a short lived high school romance and ‘UWMA’ is our break-up song. His face features in the music video, just like how he actually featured in the ‘Skateboard’ video so it brings our story full circle. So I see ‘UWMA’ as the ending of the ‘Skateboard’ story … for now.'” (The AU Review)
There is so much longing, affection longing in this superlatively robustly ethereal track which makes emotionally impacting use, as Danica Jones at The AU Review notes, of “storytelling and addictive multi-layered sounds.”
It is a stunningly emotive song that captures all the agony and ecstasy of wanting to keep something going but realising that life, for a multitude of reasons, is making this impossible, leaving you with no choice but to take necessary but regretfully melancholic steps, and it will lodge itself into your heart for the duration.
EUROVISION 2021 UPDATE
There are always lots of reasons to get excited by Eurovision but this year is extra special because (a) IT’S HAPPENING !!! and (b) There are some very fine songs in the offing …