Yesterday, I said the consensus best album of 2024 was Brat.
That's kind of true.
The reason that's only kind of true is because Diamond Jubilee, the two hour magnum opus of Cindy Lee, a stage name/persona of Pat Flegel, is kind of challenging that wisdom. It was not released via traditional streaming channels (which is slightly annoying) - it's on Bandcamp and of course YouTube (without ads!!!). It's really great and worth checking out.
Oh, you don't want to seek it out yourself? Fine. Here's the ENTIRE Diamond Jubilee album.
Although Flegel is Calgary-based, that album cover photo was taken in Lethbridge. Fun fact.
At the end of each year, I look at a lot of year-end Top 100 Albums lists.
The consensus #1 this year is Brat.
Where you all were when I was all about True Romance, I don't know. But Brat is an excellent album, and I'm glad Charli is finally breaking through with a good album.
(And yes, normally I am listening to the song I'm writing about while I am writing about it, but right now, I'm listening to "Nuclear Seasons").
I'm not gonna lie. A lot of her music in the middle, I did not like, including at least one song I posted on ths blog. This writer's opinion is that Brat is her best album since at least Pop 2 and probably Sucker.
This was the 2nd single from Brat, and a pretty solid hit worldwide. The video features Ms. Aitchison not taking herself too seriously, which is endearing and not the first time she's taken that approach.
When she hosted SNL, she didn't take herself too seriously, either. And clearly singing it live. And, by the way, having literal Julia introduce her here is so Julia.
For the rest of the year, we're going to highlight some of the biggest and most acclaimed albums of 2024.
Kendrick Lamar - an artist I have struggled to get into, because I know critics love him - came with an album that was a consensus top 10 - GNX. But his biggest hit of 2024 was a non-album track, all about Drake.
It's not a positive review of Drake. It is, in fact, a pretty harsh criticism concerning allegations of pedophilia and sexual misconduct.
But damn, it's a catchy and sharp song. And it's on pretty heavy rotation for me now.
Lamar is pretty up-front about his hatred of Drake, and he doesn't shy away from performing this song. Take this LA performance from earlier this year, when he performed it FIVE TIMES IN A ROW.
Yes, I watched Élite right until the end, and yes, it was a huge letdown at the end, although I *loved* the very ending.
I mention this because, as I have mentioned previously, Danna Paola acted on that show for several seasons. Her performance as Lu was underrated and transcendent and should have made her a global star.
Thankfully, her music has done exactly that. Her latest album, Childstar, an allusion to the fact that she was, indeed, a child star, is a platinum-selling hit in her native Mexico. If you are watching a Latin American Spanish version of the movie Wicked, you'll also recognize her as the voice of Elphaba, a role she also played on the stage (at age 18, already pretty deep into her career).
But can we just sit back and appreciate the banger? It doesn't matter if you don't speak Spanish. It rules.
It's been a while since I did a special post like this. But when I was reminded of this Adina Howard classic (more on how I was reminded in a second), I remembered how sexy and hot and freaky this song was. Relying heavily on George Clinton and Bootsy Collins samples, the song just slaps.
It was also a HUGE hit in 1995, reaching #2 on the US pop chats and charting similarly worldwide.
In 2001, producer Richard X put together a bootleg mashup that combined Adina Howard's song with Tubeway Army's "Are Friends Electric". He released it under an alias, Girls On Top, and called it "We Don't Give A Damn About Our Friends". It became a huge underground hit.
Adina Howard was not a fan of releasing this version commercially, which Richard X wanted to do.
So, he called the Sugababes.
Who recorded this.
It was well recieved in the UK, where it was a #1 hit.
Now, for some reason, the Spotify AI DJ thought I would want to hear this song last week, and boy, was the Spotify DJ.... spot on. It made a hot and sexy song so much better.
By the way, Sugababes are still together, and performing, and getting a bit of a bump. Here they are performing live this summer at Wembley Stadium.
Adina Howard is also still performing her song live, as she did last summer in Rochester, NY. Sure, it isn't Wembley, but hey, it's still pretty awesome.
On my Spotify Wrapped, this cover of a Nelly classic is #79.
It has, in fact, been in pretty heavy rotation for me for YEARS.
And yet, this was NEVER posted. On EITHER blog.
You know my new rules - covers can live here, too.
I think this song really translates incredibly well to acoustic guitar.
Here's what I really love about this: Jenny sings it so earnestly. She's got some respect for the source material. She doesn't shy away from the curse words, especially live, which is an even livelier version that I love even more.
This was literally the #100 song on my Spotify Wrapped Top 100. Which makes me happy. I've been on a bit of a Connor Price kick lately.
This song is from his 2023 concept EP Spin The Globe. The concept is that Price would literally spin a globe and put his finger down on the globe, collaborating with an artist from the country he landed on. In the case of this song, his finger landed on the Netherlands, and he made Bens TikTok famous as a result.
The song itself is lively and catchy - and does experiment with world beats, as is his style.
Connor can spit them mad beats live, too! He started his career as a child actor, but really, I think he found his calling, and he's also good to his fans.
Released in 2020, the song was not initially a hit song, but did get TikTok famous in 2022 and hit the alternative charts then. Co-written by Polachek, producer Dan Nigro and singer/songwriter Teddy Geiger (from Rochester, NY!), the song was really kind of an extension of her Chairlift days (that was her former band).
Also, the song AND video are both very cool.
Anyone who doubts that Caroline Polachek can sing (and we admit we had doubts - her Jimmy Kimmel performance was too perfect) need not doubt any further - because this stripped-down version is absolutely beautiful.
We do prefer her performance when she interacts with a live crowd - who react to her and know every word.
This summer jam was my #59 song on my Spotify Wrapped this year. It was only the fifth song I had not written a post about - and three of them were by Charlotte Cardin and I'm debating the other one right now.
Anyway, this song started off as a Saturday Night Live skit, a parody of the over-the-top hip hop videos and matching angry-sounding lyrics about flippy-floppies. The song ended up charting on the Billboard Hot 100 - and in other places, too! - and got a Grammy nomination!
It's also a great jam to crank when you're on a boat.
If you prefer your songs without curse words - you don't know how hard it was to post this without saying "motherfucker!" repeatedly - check out this performance featuring classroom instruments, Jimmy Fallon and The Roots.
To be fair, they were NOT afraid to curse when they performed the song on The Tonight Show with the Roots.
Last week was the week that the entire world got their Spotify Wrapped. Shockingly, mine is dominated by songs and artlists I post about on this blog.
This includes my most listened to artist according to Spotify, Charlotte Cardin. I dispute that somewhat, and I will angrily discuss that more someday, but going on their word alone, that's it. But I definitely did listen to a LOT of Charlotte Cardin, without shame.
I started going down my list of most listened to songs in 2024, and said I would make posts about the ones that have not yet been posted. I did not think I'd have to go all the way down to 16 (to be fair, one of the top 15 is a scheduled post for 2025, but it is already written). And it's a great song!
"I was always a fan of Jim Carrey’s acting, and I was going through a bit of hard time during the summer we were writing this album, so my producer suggested I listen to some of his talks about the ego. I went home that night and watched all his interviews and speeches about how our fears and desires to fit the mould are the main things holding us back from achieving our goals and growing into the person we should be."
The song is about her letting go of her ego. And, her multiple-Juno-award-winning Celine-comparing ego was probably being fed pretty abundantly. But instead, she turned it into a fantastic song.
About marrying Jim Carrey.
By the way, YES, he knows about the song, and YES, he loves it.
Of course she performs the song live. It is performed without a hint of ego.
Zoe Ko is an up-and-coming artist. Originally a pop artist from NYC, she's added a lot of rock influence to her sound of late.
She has a heck of a TikTok following as well.
Anyway, this is one of her newer singles, with the rock influence. It is absolutely a better sound than her earlier work, and it suits her wel.
By the way, she's also performed this song live, and, I may like it better this way. It seems like she's a very genuine person and an engaging performer, and the stage suits her better.
Of course, then there's the DIRT(ier) version with Sophie Powers (whose name you might have noticed on the drum head in the video above) and Emi Grace - it's just a little grungier and still pretty cool.
I have a lot of respect for the old Motown sound and what they did. I have never been a fan of the music itself.
As an adult, I have gone back and listened to a lot more of it, and 1) it's a lot deeper than I thought it was and 2) I like it a lot more than I used to.
Take today's artists. This is a group that has had a LOT of hits, and been around since 1960, and are STILL AROUND, nearly 65 years later. The group is older than I am, by a LOT. This classic song, released in 1970 and written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong, was a very big hit, reaching #3 on the US pop charts and hitting similar heights in the UK.
But listen to the lyrics. It's not some lighthearted song. It's about racism and war and politics. It is very much a protest song - anti-war AND anti-racism. And it's powerful.
Yes, there have been deaths, and there have been lineup changes. In fact, Otis Willians is the only surviving original member.
I debated saving this great song for March - iskwē is Canadian - but 1) it's great 2) Nina Hagen is from Germany, which is very much not Canada.
iskwē is not the name on her Canadian birth certificate - that is Meghan Meisters - but it *is* a Cree word, and in fact she is a Cree Métis and a citizen of the Manitoba Métis Federation, which Canada recognizes as a soverign and official government. In Cree, her name is written ᐃᐢᑫᐧᐤ and translates to "blue sky woman", which a lot of media like to reference.
The artists co-wrote this song with Damian Taylor, and it's very very cool. It appears on iskwē's fourth album, nīna, which is not an overt homage to her collaborator on this song, but rather the Cree word for "me".
I've been a fan of iskwē for a while, but I've never posted her stuff here, so here is it.
Yesterday, I posted about an artist I discovered last week.
Today, I am posting about an artist I've known about for thirty years, and that's not just Helium. It's Mary Timony, who has continually made music since the late 1980s. I rediscovered her music this year, but didn't post that here. I instead used this opportunity to throw back to an old favorite, by a band that guided a lot of my early taste - a grungy/poppy combination that works.
And, by the way, Mary Timony STILL performs her Helium catalog solo.
I want this December to be the strongest month we've had this year. You see, I have discovered a lot of new music this year. It's been one of my goals this year to do this - to listen to music that isn't just the same thing over and over.
And last week, I dove HEAD first into that with a bunch of Coachella posts - a theme I'll be revisiting through April. But as I was discovering that group of artists, I accidentally discovered a few others I had never heard of.
So, this week, I'm going to be posting songs by artists I have NEVER posted before.
The first is Soccer Mommy (real name: Sophia Regina Allison), who released her fourth album a couple of months back. Evergreen is that album, and it is a contender for my favorite of 2024. This song features heavily on that album - a "light hearted love song", according to her - and is thus far the only one from the album to chart, garnering a lot of adult alternative airplay.
Anyway, she's a revelation and you should check her out now.
Prior to the album's release, Soccer Mommy performed the songs live in a more intimate setting. Here's "Driver" in a more stripped down manner. Her performance is accessible and down to earth - which is a trait most of her music shares.
David Anthony Burke is 19. He is part of a generation that made YouTube videos and then got copyright strikes, so his mom suggested he make his own music.
Well, that worked. He's made a style of music that is a combination of funk and.... anime? Yeah. Let's go with that. This song was written for the Amazon Prime animated series Invincible, of which he was already a fan. For a song written for a streaming platform animated series, it is heartfelt and earnest - and makes me want to watch the show.
It is very much a love song, and a beautiful one at that.
d4vd will be performing at Coachella next year, and if this performance is any indication, he's going to be great.
Japanese Breakfast, who will be featured at Coachella, are from Philadelphia. They are so named because vocalist and primary songwriter (and bestselling author) Michelle Zauner thought a Japanese breakfast would be exotic to Americans.
She probably had a point.
This song was not written by Michelle Zauner. It was written by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Bobby Lopez, probably best known for writing the music for Frozen and Frozen II. Disney had them write this central song for the television show Agatha All Along, now playing on Disney+ (YOU SHOULD GO WATCH THAT!).
Did this song make Japanese Breakfast a household name? No. Did it give them a bigger audience? Well, they're playing Coachella next year, aren't they? (They also played it in 2018 and 2022, so, probably a bad example....)
This is definitely the first time we've used an emoji as part of a title.
So, let's talk about horsegiirL, the German DJ and singer who will be appearing on day 2 of Coachella next year - and whose identity is unknown because, and this is real, she hides it behind a horse mask. She also leans HARD into that horse theme - even going by a "real name" of Stella Stallion. In this song, she sings about how hay is what she likes.
This is one of the weirdest songs we've ever posted. This is from a blog that posted a song about what a fox says. But still, it's a damned catchy tune.
There is a meme going around - to paraphase - "your real age is 70 minus the number of bands in the Coachella lineup you recognize."
I admit it. It's a challenge.
Most of my friends are in their upper 50s at best.
I'm 41. And that seemed high for me - I mean, I do this blog. So I wanted to make myself younger, and also do the same for you.
Moon Boots is a DJ - the stage name of Peter Dougherty. He will be appearing on Day 1 of Coachella next year. He is the guy in the video. TECHNICALLY, Cherry Glazerr is a band, but 1) their/her YouTube channel very much refers to "her", not them, which is in contrast to the Wikipedia entry for Cherry Glazerr and 2) that's absolutely Clementine Creevy singing and appearing in this video, so.... yeah, I'm not sure. I really need to dive deeper into Cherry Glazerr, but for now, I didn't see her/them in the Coachella lineup (but yeah, she/they have been there before).
Anyway, Moon Boots is a great DJ and an awesome producer, and you should know him. This song is an electronic/garage pop merger that genuinely works.
You were this close to forgetting this song, weren't you?
And yet this song was a MONSTROUS Top 5 hit worldwide.
But it almost didn't happen.
The song was originally titled "Interlude" - and I've heard the demo. It's nearly identical to this.
When it was finally relased in 2001, on the Legally Blonde soundtrack, it was titled "A Thousand Miles (Interlude)". This was not Carlton's choice - it was her record label. Such is the life of a musician.
It may have been her only hit, but it's memorable and STILL used in many commercials to this day.
And the song - about a crush on someone who is apparently now a famous actor - is esquisite.
By the way, not only does she still perform and has not turned her back on this song, she OPENS her set with it - because she does not like to make people wait.
LŪN is an artist of unknown origin - I mean, clearly, it's a female artist, but she never shows her face and keeps hiding behind a wolf mask.
Self-described as "gothbounce" music, a label I find quite accurate, I feel like this is an artist I have both heard before and sounds fresh.
It's almost as if we've posted about this artist on this blog 21 times previously - more than any other artist by a fair bit - and yet this is our first LŪN post (not our last).
This is a fan-made video for the song that isn't just audio. The song already had a dark comic book vibe to it, and this video really takes that to another level. LŪN is practically a comic book character already.
Currently, LŪN is on a Canadian tour, and I really hope to go to a LŪN show stateside. I'm sorry it's not brighter. I really wish there were more lights in this video.
I don't love posting songs without an official video. Hell, this video is some random art school video (that is really good - I don't want to minimize that, but that's not why we're here).
This non-single album track has turned into a fan favorite at shows. From her debut album, Santogold - and yes, I know how confusing that is, but that was her stage name at the time - the song is an absolute gem. It shows Santigold's restraint and range as a vocalist and a songwriter.
She continually performs the song. This performance is from 2019 in Boston. I think this song is just fantastic.
Fairground Attraction were a bit of a one hit wonder everywhere in the world in the late 1980s. That one hit was absolutely perfect, and their debut album was amazing.
And then they broke up in 1990 while trying to record a follow up, and the world was denied a followup forever.....
Until they reformed in 2024.
They went 35 years between singles. This was released in February 2024 and it's a delight.
And yes, Eddi Reader's voice is JUST as magical as it always was.
I've spoken at length about The Beaches in the past.
This was their first hit song, from 2018 and their debut album, Late Show. It very clearly showcased the band in general, and Jordan Miller very specifically, as absolute rock stars.
I have nothing more to say about this one except that it's my current earworm.
Also, the Grey Cup was last night. The Grey Cup, for those not well-versed, is the championship game for the Canadian Football League. In 2019, that game was held in Calgary - and while I was there at this time, I was not in town for the game, which is a shame because there were absolutely tickets available and I would have gone.
And I would have been entertained by this performance by The Beaches, a band with which I was not yet familiar. I could have been enjoying them YEARS earlier.
So, it was not on my 2024 bingo card that Jennie from Blackpink would have one of my favorite singles on 2024.
Yet, here we are.
But, in a year where one of the most acclaimed pop albums is called brat, such a compelling, fun, bratty song should come as no surprise.
Jennie brings her own bravado and pretty girl mantra to a song she co-wrote.
I think this is one of the most exciting singles to come out of Blackpink members... maybe ever. This performance from Jimmy Kimmel's show adds to the legend.
Last Friday, Flower Face released her latest album, Girl Prometheus. I haven't liestened to the whole thing yet, but I'm getting there and will probably do that today.
This song was released as a single the day before, on Halloween. Keep listening. It builds and will be absolutely be on heavy rotation for awhile for me.
I'm not thrilled with most of the new Katy Perry music. She's trying too hard.
But this song is a refreshing throwback to her earlier stuff. It's like, she spent all those years on American Idol listening to other people cover her first two albums and decided that she wanted to recapture that magic.
Mine is an unpopular opinion. The song did OK in Europe but bombed in the US.
It's a new song, so she's not performed it live much yet, but I can tell you that her fans alredy know the words.
I swore up and down that I had already published this song.
I'm glad I hadn't yet, because it is the CURRENT #3 song in the contry as I write this. Released in April, it's October, and still riding high on the charts.
The lead single from Carptenter's SIXTH solo album - Six. She's released six albums - Short n' Sweet - it is her FIRST song to hit the top ten in the US. It also won the MTV Video Music Award for song of the year, but that seems secondary.
It's a very confident song that has garnered a lot of praise for its catchiness. Which, well, that's true. It's catchy.
What do you get when you put Charli XCX and Billie Eilish in the same room to write a song?
A pretty big worldwide hit. The very hot and sexy song peaked at #12 in the US - Charli's fourth trip to the top 20, people. This is her biggest hit since "Boom Clap".
Technically, this is a remixed version of a Charli XCX song of the same name from her album, and this is real, Brat and it's the same but there's three more songs so it's not. Yes, it's an extended version of her very popular Brat album, but this is one of the three more songs.
Anyway, the original is good but this remix is way better. And this is the version that charted.
And yeah, they did perform it together at Charli's birthday party.
As I was driving yesterday, this song, for some reason, popped into my head.
I had to look up the band because I had forgotten about the existence of Daisy Chainsaw, who existed between 1989 and 1994. I don't know how I did - KatieJane Garside was such a unique force of nature that when she disappeared from the music scene in 1993, people thought she had been committed.
She had not. She just went into seclusion for a few years.
We get it, though. Her stage presence was something otherworldly and quite manic.
The Vengaboys are from the Netherlands. Dutch bands don't usually have worldwide hits, but in 1998 and 1999, it did. It was a top 10 hit in most of Europe, and a top 30 hit in the US.
There's nothing particularly special about the song. It's a typical dance song, with a great beat - 136 bpm, for those who pay attention to such things. You could probably work out to it, or ride a rollercoaster to this tune.
Wait....
Why did I mention rollercoasters?
Because in 2004, the song had a bit of a resurgence in the US, when Six Flags used it in a pretty popular set of commercials.
They were.... weird.
There absolutely was more than one, yes. Why do you ask?
Of course, if you don't like the song, The Vengaboys later released a "silent" version of the video, without the music, but with some sound effects and speaking parts. It's..... weird. But it's satisfying.
But you aren't here because you don't like the song.
You're here because you want to know if they are still togehter and if they actually perform the song live.
They are. And they do. And THE CROWD KNOWS THE WORDS.
So. we are bookending this week of covers and revisiting with another repost, from Month 3 of the blog.
The other major change we're making is why we're doing this repost. Well, that, and because it's a great song that we didn't get its full due in 2023, and we're going to correct that.
This next change, though, isn't coming yet - we don't know how to do it. We may end up with another blog. But we know that wicked guilty pleasures go way beyond music. With Paris Hilton, you have her music, plus her reality television show The Simple Life, that cinematic masterpiece The Hottie and The Nottie, and so much more. You've also got her YouTube documentary, which shows a completely different side of her (and GO WATCH THAT NOW)
We're going to start exploring that. We just don't know what it's going to look like yet.
But now, revisit this great and sweet song.
If you watched This Is Paris, you know that she is actually a sought-after DJ now. Seriously. She's also a champion of LGBTQ+ rights, and she performed this song during one of her DJ gigs at LA Pride in 2022.
It's great that she's embracing this part of her career, because it was more solid that we thought it would be.
And if you need proof, here she is performing with two Grammy nominees (Sia has NEVER won a Grammy, oddly) with famously huge voices, Miley Cyrus and Sia.
Oh, and yeah, she's here with Kim Petras at NYC Pride 2023.
Måneskin made their big debut on the Italian version of the comeptition show X Factor in 2017.
They came in second to Lorenzo Licitra, who 95% of you have never heard of.
They did so well largely because of this Four Seasons cover, which I would not turf over to Totally Covered because a lot of people don't know that it's a cover.
Gosh, this week did not go the way I expected.
When I wanted to post this song, I ended up posting their Eurovision winning song, which is inarguably a better song. But this song is also amazing, and it needed to be highlighted. It was, in fact, the success of "Zitti e Buoni" that led directly to the 2021 attention on this song, and it ended up being a worldwide hit...
....which is why they were nominated for an American Music Award four years after the song's release.
This song is maybe the most compelling reason why we're starting to post covers here. You see, yesterday, I talked about my favorite album of 2023 - and my favorite song on that album.
My favorite SONG of 2023 was this one. And I wrote about it in December of 2023 on Totally Covered. It never felt like it belonged there, at all. Mashups are weird - the band took two songs and shoved them together and made something that was strangely better than the two were apart. I did such a good job writing that, and so few of you read it, that the rest of this post is quoting HEAVILY what I said in December.
And, when I opned the post with, "I'm not going to lie. Today's feature was SUPPOSED to be the other blog", it was a Rolling Quartz original song that just was not as good as this one.
As you know, as part of my wiring process, I look for live performances of a featured song. And, I found one. I was looking for a second and I found a full performace by the band.... which I decided to watch.
This mashup cover of "Pink Venom" by BLACKPINK (I wrote the "Pink Venom" post two days after this one, because I needed the contaxt, but this is SO much better!) and "MIC Drop" by BTS was featured in that performance. It blew me away.
So, I started looking for the cover individually.... and I found it.... not realizing that it was not just a live thing, but something the band ACTUALLY did, with AleXa coming in to share vocals with Jayoung. AleXa is a Korean-based performer from Oklahoma, and is best known as the winner of the NBC competition series American Song Contest.
Of course, AleXa has her own career and can't tour with Rolling Quartz all the time, despite being unofficially called the band's 6th member. Jayoung, however, is perfectly capable of shouldering the vocals herself.
And no, this is not the same live performance I used before. This is one where Jayoung is not doing an AleXa impersonation during her part.
By the way, this was the full performance, and it is spectacular - "Pink Drop" starts around 9:20.
I didn't say I wouldn't post the original. It is an amazing song and was a worldwide hit in 1979. It was a top 20 hit in the US, and number one in many countries, including his native France and his father's native Spain (it was #2 in his mother's native Italy).
The song was just fun, and it changed his life - he found success in Europe, if not the US.
And yes, he's still around, and he still performs the song with just as much aplomb.
The changes to Totally Covered and Wicked Guilty Pleasures have been a long time coming. I had thought about merging the two for about two years now. It's a lot of work to maintain TWO daily blogs, and I had neglected Totally Covered.
Then, March 2024 happened. You know, I do the whole #MapleLeafMarch thing every year, and in the lead up to that, I try to discover new Canadian music. One thing I discovered was that Elisapie - an artist I was not previously familiar with but I sure as hell am now - had in 2023 recorded an album of covers, translated into Inuktitut - which is a language spoken by some First Nations people who happen to live in the far north. The album was, in fact, called Inuktitut - and, as will be a recurring theme this week, I own it on vinyl now - and it is my favorite album of 2023.
I went on to postfivecoversbyElisapie between the end of February and the beginning of April of this year - on Totally Covered. You need to go check those out, because they are amazing.
I posted nothing about her on this blog, and that bothered me a lot. A lot of times in the past, when I discovered a song was a cover, I would often post the original here, and the cover on Totally Covered. In these cases, it just didn't feel right to do that. I really wanted those songs over HERE.
So, this is a song I held back - mostly because it didn't have an official video, but it is also my favorite song from my favorite album of 2023. I want you to hear it and see it - so that's why it's here. This version is absolutely sublime.
Because I think more can be said. And, since I have recently purchased Eyelid Movies on vinyl, I felt it was time to revisit the pride of Saratoga Springs and tell you where I've been since this time, and what's going on with this blog. So, this week, I will talk about the future of Wicked Guilty Pleasures and Totally Covered, and also revisit some of my favorite posts from the past.
Don't worry. There is a future. We're not going away. At all. By any stretch. I literally already have posts written that you won't see until 2029. So, there's a clue.
Before I do that, though, let's talk about the coolness of this song. Because it is seriously cool. And in the 14 years since its initial release, it has not gotten less cool. But since we wrote our initial post, Phantogram have become something of an industry darling. The members have been in high-profile relationships (and Sarah Barthel somehow made it onto NBC's Olympic coverage because of that).
And the band has changed. This is the band performing the song in 2014. I feel like they were still breaking out of their shell then. Sarah is behind the keyboards.
By 2019, she's on the bass. And, as synth-heavy as the song is, you can hear the bass now.
In 2023, she's interacting with the crowd.
Much like Sarah Barthel, we're growing and changing. NO, we did not go blonde. We ARE looking for opportunities to get bigger and better. To that end, we want your comments. We are going to grow this blog to a real source for music, and not just a guy regurgitating his thoughts on old songs. OK, this week, it's gonna be old songs.
Going forward, this blog is going to be the focus. You'll not see Totally Covered go away - it's way too much fun - but you're going to start to see covers over here. There's too many good ones, and I think too many were getting turfed over to the other blog - and people read this one.
You know, I sometimes sit on drafts for a very long time, especially when they are unexpected.
And the unexpected pieces of this, the fourth single and title song from her second album, are as follows:
1) Suzanne Vega, usually a solo songwriter, co-wrote this song with her backing band, who feature prominently in the video.
2) This song was her 2nd trip to the Billboard Hot 100 (her first being "Luka", of course). The third single from Solitude Standing - you know, the one that preceded this one - "Tom's Diner" - in it's DNA remixed version, would go on to become her third.
I bought Solitude Standing in 1987, on cassette - it came in a longbox, which was a type of packaging to prevent theft - and this song, which personifies solitude as a woman, was quickly one of my favorites.
Somehow, when performed live, the song becomes a little angrier, sharper - more focused. The cool, laid-back version jumps to life when there's a crowd.
Vega recorded a sparser version of the song in 2011 - she did a series of four albums called Close-Up - each labeled by volume. This version is a live version of the one recorded on Close-Up Vol. 3.
The Close-Up albums are really cool and interesting, by the way, and if you are a Suzanne Vega fan, you should seek them out.
What? We're ending our hiatus on an obscure Spanish-language song?
Yes. Yes we are.
You see, Maná has been around since the early 1980s (in 1981 as Sombrero Verde, adopting their later name in 1986) - and yet, this 2011 song, literally thirty years into their career as a band, was a breakthrough single for them in their home country of Mexico. They had other singles, and a couple of other hits - and a ton of US Latin Chart hits - but this one - this launched them into the upper stratosphere of hitmaking.
But, this is a band that has won many awards, including four Grammys and eight Latin Grammys.
It's a mournful and still an upbeat song. And it doesn't matter that you don't speak Spanish. Enjoy the emotion.
Of course they did a pandemic live version, 9 years after its release. And of course it sounded just like the original. Maná has been nothing if not consistent!
Here's Canada's own Charlotte Cardin, with her 2020 hit that established her as a credible artist and a Canadian hitmaker - the first single from her album Phoenix. The Montreal-born singer-songwriter, has been making waves in the music industry with her unique blend of pop, jazz, and electronic elements. Her track "Passive Aggressive" offers a raw and honest look at the complexities of modern relationships.
The song deftly tackles a common yet often unaddressed issue in relationships. The song's lyrics paint a vivid picture of the frustration and confusion that arise when direct communication breaks down. Cardin's portrayal of passive-aggressive behavior is both relatable and uncomfortable, forcing listeners to confront their own experiences with this destructive communication style.
Charlotte Cardin's background as a French-Canadian artist adds an intriguing layer to her music. Growing up in bilingual Montreal likely influenced her ability to convey complex emotions through her songwriting. The city's rich musical heritage, blending North American and European influences, can be heard in the sophisticated pop sensibilities of "Passive Aggressive."
The production of "Passive Aggressive" is a masterclass in creating atmosphere through sound. The track opens with a sparse, almost eerie piano line that sets a tense mood from the outset. As the song progresses, layers of electronic elements and percussive beats are added, mirroring the building frustration in the lyrics.
Cardin's vocals are treated with a light touch of reverb, giving them an intimate yet slightly distant quality that perfectly captures the emotional state of someone dealing with passive-aggressive behavior. The chorus explodes with a fuller sound, representing the release of pent-up emotions.
One of the most interesting production choices is the use of distorted, chopped vocal samples in the background. These create a sense of internal dialogue or conflicting thoughts, adding depth to the song's exploration of communication issues.
You didn't expect such an in-depth analysis from this blog, did you? Well, expect it now.
Wikipedia would have you believe that Mother Mother are a Canadian indie rock band from British Columbia.
Mostly because they are. But they're more than that.
They're one of the holdovers from #MapleLeafMarch 2023 that I could not even get to in 2024 OR 2025 because they were so full. I mean, I did post "Hayloft" eariler this year, which pushed this song back FURTHER, but I've had this draft for years.
This song, from the 2012 album The Sticks, was released as a single in 2013. This particular tune was a top 20 alternative hit in Canada in 2013 - and I'm a little surprised it didn't go bigger. Bigger was in their future and their past.
They are a band with some depth, for sure. Here they are, performing the song in a stripped-down manner in Calgary in 2012.
Look, you're not supposed to take Carole Pope too seriously. She's a comidienne, who makes humourous music.
So, you can laugh at all the stereotypes that she wrote into this song. From her 2014 album, Music for Lesbians, and co-written by TIm Welch (who plays a lot of the instruments) and Peaches, the song is quite the journey.
But she's also a punk pioneer, being a founder of Rough Trade and other early punk acts. She's a classic, through and through, and she's still making music. She was also one of the first openly lesbian musicians - so when she goes to a forest, she is literally a lesbian in a forest - but also, she was unafraid, even from her early days.
So, even though this song was a bit of a laugh, it's also a testament to Carole Pope's life.
Like everyone else during the pandemic, Carole did a live version of this video over Zoom, and yes, Peaches shows up here, in typical Peaches fashion.
This bright song is from her 2nd solo album, Blonde. And it's fun. And it was a big hit (in Belgium and France - where her music sells very well).
This live performance of the song from 2015 - in front of a largely English-speaking crowd - was well-recieved, and equally bright as the recording. She started the performance very nervous (a lot of the material from that day was new and untested, and French), but this song was already well known and a favorite.
I don't know why I love this song by Wham! I always did - it always brings a smile to my face. Is it a great song? NOPE. Is it consistent with the rest of the Wham! catalogue? NOPE!
It is, however, one of the last singles by Wham! before their 1986 breakup, hitting #1 in the UK and #3 in the States - and various chart topping worldwide. It's a bright, fun single, an homage to Motown of sorts - the horns! the harmonies - written entirely by George Michael.
It strikes me as more of a George Michael solo song and less of a Wham! song, I suppose, although Andrew Ridgeley is clearly front and center in this video.
Indeed, George Michael did go solo soon after this single's release - this was the last song they played as Wham! at Wembley Stadium, at their farewell show in 1986. Terrible video exists and here it is.
However, in 1991, in Rio, at a a George Michael show, that is CLEARLY Andrew Ridgeley performing with him. We're glad the split was not acrimonious - it was, in fact, quite amicable - and in fact, the two men remained great friends for life.
This song was the lead single from Culture Club's 2nd album, Colour by Numbers, and it was a top 10 hit worldwide, including the US (#10) and UK (#2). Was it their biggest single? No. "Karma Chameleon" was. But it was such a big and enduring hit that it was in the top 10 at the SAME TIME as "Karma Chameleon", which was released later.
I think history has forgotten just how huge Boy George and Co. were in the mid 1980s. We were all embracing this gender-androgynous vocalist without issue. I hope this post remedies a little of that.
Anyway, this was my favorite Culture Club song, off the first cassette tape I ever bought with my own money. It was a good purchase. Written by the band, the song features uncredited backing vocals by the huge voice of Helen Terry - and she appeared on several other tracks as well - who appears in the video (and several others by the band).
Helen Terry also performed with the band live, which is amazing, and their 1983 performance of this song is incredible.
This more recent performance, from the late 2010s, does not feature Helen Terry, and features a less androgynous Boy George - and also interpolates Wham's "I'm Your Man".
They have been releasing music for six years - their first performance at age 15 involved a bar and a chicken liver they rubbed on themself. They rose to prominence with their extreme makeup styles (and they do have a makeup line, by the way). They come from music royalty of sorts, as borh their mother and their father are from well known British punk bands.
They are a very interesting person. They idenify as non-binary, use they/them pronouns, and specifically refer to themself as "generless".
We are cool with that. Because they seem happy.
This song and video are kind of a fever dream. That's about the best we got here. But it's interesting pop electronica, and we think you should listen.
They also perform to sold-out crowds and we think they're really singing and not lip-syncing.
She's definitely unique. A sex-postiive musician (and yes, this is her signature song) and performance artist, she was once roommates with Feist - and yes, they have collaborated, a lot. She reinterpreted Jesus Christ Superstar as a one-woman show (and it's beautiful).
Peaches Christ, Superstar, do you think you're what they say you are?
She's also from Toronto, which is in Canada, and the 2nd t is silent. Go ahead, fight me on this. She started her career as a drama teacher at conservative Hebrew schools in Toronto - she also attended Jewish school as a child, for which she was bullied.
No one is bullying Peaches now.
Let's talk about this song, her best known and, yes, you've probably heard it - in The Handmaid's Tale on Hulu, the movie Lost In Translation, or maybe as Liz Lemon's ringtone on 30 Rock.
This song was released in September of 2000, and appears on her 2000 album Teaches of Peaches. Its original recording was not done in a studio. So, this 2022 recording from Full Frontal with Samantha Bee is just as credible as the one on record. No, we're not sure what the hell she's wearing.
Well, crap. That was age-restricted. It's worth the click to get to YouTube, though. Let's see if this 2009 performance of the song is any better.
The Juno Awards happened back in March. For those not familiar and who don't read this damn blog, that's basically the Canadian Grammys, for Canadian artists (with one award exception).
Nelly Furtado was the host of the 2024 Junos. She also hosted the 2007 ceremony.
And, with more than 45 million records sold, she is one of the most successful Canadian artists in history.
Her debut album - Whoa, Nelly! - was a huge hit - generating two top 10 singles in the US. Her first, "I'm Like A Bird", is well-known, and hit #9 on the US charts in 2001. Its follow-up, this song, written by Furtado, hit #5 and was a bigger hit in the States.
Neither song was as big a chart hit in Canada (the former did hit the top 20, and both got a fair amount of airplay), but she would continue to record hit after hit on both sides of the border, and also in other countries.
This is a song for which two official videos exist, and yes, we have them both. Same song, sparser video.
Nelly has been known as something of a musical shapeshifter, bridging pop, rock, folk, hip hop and even Latin music. In 2006, she was in her hip hop period, and this live version of the song surfaced.
It's actually pretty much the same song.
Furtado, whose parents were Portuguese immigrants to Canada, performed the song for a very small audience - the cast of Big Brother Brasil. Yes, she speaks Portuguese.
When she recorded the song in 2012 for Walmart Soundcheck... well, it was harder and slower. Still, very cool version of the song, even if it was comissioned by Walmart.
Guys, this is our last post until next week. Please stay safe this weekend.
Meet Emei. She was born in California (as Emily Li) and raised in New Jersey to Chinese immigrants.
She also competed on Chinese Idol and Dancing With The Stars China. She was enough of a star in China to be on THAT show.
She's an angry pop-rock artist with some great songwriting chops, like this 2022 single by her. Did it chart? No. Did it make an impact? Yuppers. This song is fun and angry and empowering and you will be dancing by the end of it.
For most of you, you don't know who Mélanie Renaud is.
Born in Haiti in 1982, she was adopted at 8 months to parents from Quebec. She built a hell of a career as a singer and a stage performer. Today's song won the Félix Prize, an award for Quebec songwriters, for in 2002. Her debut album, Ma Liberté, won the Canadian Independent Spirit Award for Francophone Album the same year. She fought and beat substance abuse. Her huge voice never suffered.
Renaud passed away today at age 42, from overian cancer. Her legacy and her music remain.
A few months before she passed, Renaud did a beautiful acoustic version of this same song. It is breathtaking and haunting.
I tried like HELL to get this song into Maple Leaf March this year. Since we featured Marie-Mai as part of a Simple Plan post in 2023, I've been trying to slot her in.
Marie-Mai is not that well known outside of Quebec, but inside Quebec, she's a star. She got her start on a Quebec-based singing competition show, finishing third, and followed that with a part in the musical Rent.
It's been a lot of music over the last twenty years as well, with hits in francophone Canada and France. She has gravitated a little more pop nowadays, but she was always pop/rock. This is one of her earliest, from her debut album, Inoxydable, from 2004
Of course she performed one of her biggest early hits live. By this time, she had gone a little mellower and more towards a poppier direction, but the rock edge is still here.
Had I not woken up to the news that Steve Albini had passed away on Tuesday, I would have made this a Special Edition.
Steve Albini wasn't best known for his music with Big Black, Rapeman and Shellac, although all three bands were great, and what will likely be the last Shellac album is coming out next week. He was best known as a great record producer - producing such albums as Surfer Rosa by the Pixies, Pod by the Breeders, In Utero by Nirvana, Rid of Me by PJ Harvey, and so, so many others. He was notoriously not easy to work with, but also, down to earth, even personally answering the phone in his recording studio.
Big Black's second and final album, Songs About Fucking, probably the most honestly titled album ever, was a masterpiece, and it opened with this minute and a half long ode to, well, independent trucking... and absolutely about fucking. Released in 1987, it was probably a little ahead of its time. Albini layers distorted power chords with atonal squeals, creating a relentless feeling of claustrophobia that perfectly captures the cramped confines of a diesel cab.
His voice, his guitar, and his production will be missed.
Born in Quebec and raised in Nova Scotia, Tara Slone isn't exactly a household name outside of the San Francisco Bay area, and even then mostly with hockey fans. She has been a longtime hockey commentator - first with Sportsnet in Canada and now with NBC Sports Bay Area.
But before that, Tara Slone was a musician. She got her biggest break with a band called Joydrop (yes, we've featured them before) and then she went solo. She did take a slight turn in trying to be the lead vocalist for INXS - that's not a joke - but did some credible solo work in her own right.
She had a pretty solid straight-ahead rock sound that was compelling - an extension of Joydrop, but even heavier.
Meet Austria's 2023 Eurovision entry. Teya and Salena are separate Austrian musical artists - both quite talented. They met on the TV show Starmania 21, which is a music competiton in Austria.
This ended up being a hit song in many countries, and the 15th place finisher in Eurovision. It is the biggest hit to date by either artist, and they've gone on to continue to record and release singles together.
By the way, the titular "Edgar" is Edgar Allen Poe, who has possessed the songwriters, these women, along with their producers, Ronald Janeček and Pele Loriano. The song was written during the last hour of a songwriting camp in 2022, and was always intended for Eurovision... for Salena to sing solo. It just worked better with both of them.
Just have fun with it.
Eurovision is, of course, about the performance, and this is their performance. Again, it's a fun, goofy song.
Of course they continue to play the song, like during this charity play in Austria.
They've even done a stropped down - I refuse to call it "acoustic" - version of the song.
