Pop Music Review/Reccomendation Thread

[Caitlin]

Since I seem to be creating a new thread for every decent pop album that comes out, I thought it was about time I made one central thread for all my pop recs.

[Caitlin]

First off I'm gonna start with Praying by Kesha.

This is the first single off her upcoming third album. And holy shit it's beautiful. I'm aware that some of you might be a bit wary of Kesha from her back catalogue (Tik Tok, etc) - that stuff was great, don't get me wrong, but Praying is in a whole realm of its own. No auto tune, and while I'm hesitant to use the word 'ballad' I think it kind of is. Big, beautiful, ballad.

You may or may not be aware of the legal battles that Kesha has been going through the last few years, but this song certainly references those. She's poured every inch of her soul into this song. It's the sound of a woman hurt, a woman wronged, and a woman rebuilding herself. It made me sad. It made me angry. It actually made me feel a lot and I'm still processing it - my boyfriend is getting annoyed at the constant loop of Praying playing in the house.

Anyway, if you're willing give it a listen

[Caitlin]

Glorious by Macklemore

I have pretty mixed feelings on Macklemore's stuff, and I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about his first proper solo album without Ryan Lewis. Turns out it's pretty damn good. Skylar Gray does the vocals through the chorus and daaaamn that girl can sing. Has a lovely gospel type feel which I'm always a huge sucker for. Definitely worth a listen.

The video as well is a nice watch.

[AdvertBreak]

Great thread idea, can I use it to comment on non-current pop music?

[Forever Low Man]

Great thread idea, can I use it to comment on non-current pop music?

no Lee, you can't write another essay on the brilliance of that U2 album

[AdvertBreak]

Great thread idea, can I use it to comment on non-current pop music?

no Lee, you can't write another essay on the brilliance of that U2 album

I shan't be, there's a thread for that, and here I'd much rather talk about hmmm Saint Etienne, All Saints, Holly Valance, The Magnetic Fields, Jyoti Mishra, Rachel Stevens and so on.

[Caitlin]

Great thread idea, can I use it to comment on non-current pop music?

Go nuts. All pop is good pop!

[Mallard No. 22]

I did not take to Holly Valance or Rachel Stevens, in the musical sense

I did get into Saint Etienne and The All Saints at the time. AB - your opinions on them might be interesting, as long as not too deep.

[AdvertBreak]

Honestly I'm not big on a lot of All Saints. I love Pure Shores, and indeed Black Coffee, and both are very fascinating songs. Not so big on most of their other stuff, but they were never anything less than really interesting. Under the Bridge/Lady Marmalade was a totally bizarre double A-side single that slit giant holes into the songs covered, Bootie Call manages to turn a spitting sound into a hook and Never Ever manages to start off with a Shangri-Las and end with a strangely unmelodic outro.

Anyway, I came here to say i listened to Nicolas Roberts' Cinderella's Eyes and really enjoyed it.

[Mallard No. 22]

I like 'Pure Shores' and 'Black Coffee' as well - probably it is the William Orbit input As such, they sound similar to Madonna's work of the period.

As you say, 'Under The Bridge/Lady Marmalade' slit giant holes into the previous versions of these songs, which All Saints could do at the time because they were so popular.

[AdvertBreak]

I like 'Pure Shores' and 'Black Coffee' as well - probably it is the William Orbit input As such, they sound similar to Madonna's work of the period.

As you say, 'Under The Bridge/Lady Marmalade' slit giant holes into the previous versions of these songs, which All Saints could do at the time because they were so popular.

Yeah its largely Orbit responsible I guess. As for UTB/LM it was still quite surprising, as they'd only had two hits at that point.

[Mallard No. 22]

They became huge straight away. Much was made of them being sophisticated 'rivals' to The Spice Girls.

Sadly, it also probably affected the career of girl-fronted Britpop bands.