Bishop Briggs

One Liner: One hit wonder with that River song, and some forgettable other alt-pop

Wikipedia Genre:  Indie, alternative rock
Home: L.A.

Poster Position: 10
Day: Friday at 1:45
Both Weekends.

Thoughts: I think I need to take a break from trying new music today.  After a run through the top ten most popular tunes for this one, I just looked up during #10 ("Lyin'") and declared to my office that "this stuff suuuucks."  And I worry that I'm just tired of indie pop leaning into rock's lane, versus actually making a cogent decision that this music sucks.  I'll finish this up, but I think I'm gonna have to do Metallica next to cleanse my brain.

First off, this is a female.  Which is interesting, I would not have guessed that someone named Bishop would be a lady.  Huh.  Her actual name is Sarah Grace McLaughlin.  This is Sarah McLachlan?  Iduwannawaaaaayy  fumaahLiiiiiiiitubiiovuuuuuhhhh!  Was that the Dawson's Creek theme song?  Oh, wait, that was Paula Cole.  McLachlan was the sad ass song with the puppies in the commercial.  Angel?  Something like that.  Whatever.  This is not actually that lady.  But her parents are from Bishopbriggs, Scotland, and thus the name.  Knowledge is POWER!

Second, she is apparently dating a dude from Sir Sly, so maybe you can all enjoy a super huge duet performance full of love and meaning.  Or they'll break up before October and she'll burn down the Tito's stage while Sir Sly is trying to jam.

Third, she has one majorly huge hit, which is another annoying cross-over tune being played in alternative radio when it should be over on the pop station instead (in my opinion).  The tune went massively huge in 2016 (#1 on Hype Machine's Popular charts, #1 on Spotify's US Viral 50, some Shazam list from 2016, and top 10 on the Billboard Hot Rock, Rock Airplay and Twitter Emerging Artist charts) and still gets airplay now.  This is "River," which has 95.4 million streams.

Nope.  I mean, I've heard to song 85 times on the radio, like you probably have, but I just don't care for it.  Basic stomping beat, vocals just yelling the word "river" over and over.  Doesn't do anything for me.

River!

River!

River!

And the rest of her one album (2018's Church of Scars) is pretty similar.  Bombastic, loud, in-your-face anthems like "White Flag."  The album opener ("Tempt My Trouble") that makes me think of the Lowe's commercial jingle every time it starts.  Not on this album, but she contributed a treacly cover of INXS's "Never Tear Us Apart" to the Fifty Shades FREED soundtrack.  River!  And then her second-most streamed tune is a combination of electronics and acoustics, but still with the same kind of synth horn fart sounds bouncing under the tune.  This is "Wild Horses," which has 28.1 million streams.

Yeah, not for me.  I just want her to stop saying "wild horses" in that breathy voice.  Although I'll fully admit to bobbing my head a bit at the trap-ish beat that plays for the chorus.  None of this appeals to me at all.  Do you love this gal?  Am I totally wrong here?  River!