(via Shutterstock)
Music has the power to move us in ways that perhaps we don’t always understand.
The really good stuff is near impossible to ignore or dismiss, and honestly why would you want to when it makes you feel so alive, and these five songs from a group of quite remarkable artists really underscores how a brilliantly evocative mix of lyrics and music can really make you come alive.
Each one of these tracks captured my attention rather profoundly in one way or another, and reviewing them reminded me once again why they haven’t departed my playlists since I first discovered them and why, like so much of the music I listen to, really add sparkle, pizzazz and meaning to the everyday.
“WELLLL” by Jacob Collier
(courtesy official Jacob Collier Facebook page)
You know that glorious moment when you first hear a song and it’s so arrestingly, unmissably listenable that you feel compelled to play it again and again and again, and days later, have still not tired of it?
It feels great doesn’t it, and the good thing about “WELLLL”, Jacob Collier’s blisteringly and playfully intense burst of pop brilliance is that even weeks later, listening to it feels like someone has woken you up to such an extent that you doubt you’ll ever feel musically sleepy again.
And that’s not surprising because the English singer-songwriter-multi-instrumentalist-producer has shown a knack, whatever the tempo or genre for crafting tracks that sound so remarkably tuneful and alive that dismissing them doesn’t even enter your head; you HAVE to listen to them and “WELLLL” sits firmly and comfortably in that camp, a track that, apart from having a boisterously colourful and fun-filled clip, celebrates following your heart as the music artist explains via Discover Music.
Wellll, what can I say? This song is a collage of catharsis – a convergence of many musical materials I haven’t explored until now. It features my custom-designed 5-string electric guitar, made by Strandberg, and harkens back to much of the rock music I loved as a child. It’s a song about being a child, being wild, and listening to your heart. I can’t wait for you to hear it.
And hear it we have and we will continue to hear because it feels so fresh, so different, so fun and so addicted to pushing musical envelopes that it’s the sort of song you’ll keep playing well into the future if only to be reminded how alive and refreshed music can make you feel.
“only wanna dance” by almost monday
(courtesy almost monday Facebook page)
Hailing from sunny San Diego, California, almost monday is an indie pop trio made up of Dawson Daugherty, Cole Clisby and Luke Fabry who released their first single in 2019, barely a year ahead of the music industry disruptor that was the COVID pandemic.
Thankfully that early and sustained stop to a promising career didn’t deter the aspiring pop makers and they have kept producing memorable music that captures heart and mind in equal measure.
Case in point is the vivacious joy that is “only wanna dance” which makes it clear that the dancefloor only has room for the singer and the one person capturing his attention to an exclusive degree.
“Til the sun comes up/I only wanna dance with you” reverberates with joyful intent, bouncing along a guitar-driven piece of zestfully propellant pop that just builds and builds a euphoric head of steam, a vibrancy of sound and emotion so addictive that, Discover Music observes, the song has become “a fan favorite in the band’s concert setlists”.
It’s not hard to see why – this is brilliantly fun and alive pop that not only gets you doing but reminds why dancing in the first place, especially with someone you love, is so good in the first place.
“(It Goes Like) Nanana” by Peggy Gou
(courtesy official Peggy Gou Facebook page)
Quite apart from its title, which recalls all those fun, nonsensically lyrical but impossible not to sing along to songs of the ’70s, “(It Goes Like) Nanana” by South Korean DJ and producer Peggy Gou, has a ton of musical attractiveness going for it.
Percolating to a mid-fi beat, “(It Goes Like) Nanana” folds in some ’90s-esque melodic flourishes and t the wonderful sense of emotional of abandonment that comes from being in the moment with people who matter to you, as the artist herself explains via Pitchfork.
There’s a feeling we all know but is hard to describe, that feeling of love, warmth and excitement when you’re surrounded by friends and loved ones and the energy speaks for itself. It’s difficult to put into words but to me it goes ‘nanana!’
Doing great business on the dance charts – in Australia the song made it to second position and #1 in Latvia, Greece and the Netherlands – the song, the first for the singer on XL Recordings (hell of a way to kick things off, right?) is a dose of vivacious escape that leaves you feeling wonderfully refreshed and ready to dance through life as every available opportunity.
“Idolize” by Dorian Electra
(courtesy official Dorian Electra Facebook page)
Dorian Electra Fridkin Gomberg, who’s gone with the first of their first two names for their musical moniker, is an American singer-songwriter who winningly defies all kinds of convention from fashion to heteronormative ideas, plumping for a queer aesthetic that combines beautifully with what Wikipedia terms an “experimental pop sound”.
Their song “Idolize”, drawn from the singer’s latest album Fanfare, starts nice and slowly before ratcheting up the sound and the lyrics which ask what the price of fame might be and if there isn’t a darker side to the glittering facade of social media.
The genderfluid artist brings a theatricality to their music, telling DIY that “I’m really getting into the theatricality of rock music in a way that I was so inspired by growing up” and it’s evident in every facet of a song like “Idolize” which feels bright and poppy and yet full of substance and a pleasingly in-your-face buoyancy that sets it apart from the pack of average pop songs.
This is queer pop wit energy, passion and insight and a huge amount of listenability and it will capture your attention and refuse to let go, and honestly, you won’t mind a bit.
“RISK, RISK, RISK!” by Jhariah
(courtesy official Jhariah Facebook page)
The really good pop songs have presence, lots of it in fact, and the exciting thing about “RISK, RISK, RISK!” by Jhariah, a musician-illustrator-animator based in New York City, is that it has it in spades and enevr relinquishes it for a second.
It’s full speed ahead from the word go with “RISK, RISK, RISK!” – the title alone is all epic bigness and shouty fantasticness – with songtell observing that the song “explores themes of taking risks, embracing uncertainty, and the desire for change and growth [with t]he lyrics convey a sense of defiance and rebellion against caution and predictability”.
It’s a gloriously intense and joyfully momentum-full track that employs rich melody and lyrics that explores with real emotional depth and substance what it means to give your all in pursuit of “something more significant in [your] life”.
It’s impossible not to mention “RISK, RISK, RISK!” and not feel everything fully and strongly which is what eally good pop should do; sure we can stand on the sidelines hoping life will come to us, but Jhariah dares us to plunge on in and see where the chaotic unpredictability of life takes us and to go hell for the things that we really want to realise and achieve.
EUROVISION SONG CONTEST 2024 NEWS!
The Eurovision Song Contest may be a good seven or so months away but already the wheels are in motion for next year’s contest which is being hosted by Malmö, Sweden after Loreen took home the iconic glass microphone trophy with her song “Tattoo” for her home country at 2023’s event. The 2024 contest represents 50 years since ABBA famously won Eurovision with “Waterloo” in 1974 (this year marks another ringing anniversary of sorts for the famous Swedish group), and already 35 countries have signed on the dotted line to take part with Luxembourg returning for the first time since 1993. Already Albania and Malta have announced the details of their national song selection contests and Greece and Cyprus have gone one further, announcing Marina Satti and Silia Kapsis as their representatives respectively.
To keep up to date with all the latest news on the Eurovision Song Contest, head to eurovision.tv