One Liner: Pop punk from the second-most-popular Charlotte on Spotify
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but this is some pop punk and pop pop and alt pop Home: Nashville Poster Position: 23 Weekend One Only. Saturday.
Thoughts: Not terribly far off from the pop rock of P!nk, but with a little harder edge and more punkiness. I read a story about her that the jumping off point for her was at the beginning of the COVID lockdown, when her plans for a nationwide tour got scuttled with everyone else's. Right around then, she posted "Dress," a song that responded "to conservative pundit Candace Owens and the negativity surrounding Harry Styles’ Vogue cover where he sported a Gucci ball gown." It went viral on TikTok and now it is her top song by a long way. 26.4 million streams.
Yeah, that is a pretty solid song lyrically - I like the backstory for it for sure. As a tune its just fine, but loving the way a guy wears a dress, and saying he looks so good you're annoyed, that is clever. So, that song got her some notice and momentum and she then released her first EP - Special - in 2021. That was followed by a 2022 "album" that only has seven songs (versus her six song EP) and "Dress" was on both. She grew up in Massachusets, but moved to Nashville to do music two weeks after high school ended. This ain't the music I expect to come out of Nashville.
Her 2020 single "I Don't Care" is her second biggest streamer with 8.1 million.
Sounds more like a Billie Eilish copycat thing, and I like it less. After hearing that one, and generally seeing her blue hair and pop stuff, I was prepared to dislike all of this, but actually some of it has wormed its way into my heart. "Every Guy Ever" is a pretty generic pop rock song with some drum machines thrown in for good measure, and yet I find myself bopping along to it like one of the good Olivia Rodrigo tunes. I'll allow it. "Bad Day" is another jump-along fun tune though, complete with a little dive into trap music at one point.
She also has a few songs with other bands - Underoath and Taking Back Sunday and The Maine - that are more like pop punk emo tunes. She says that the inspiration for those EPs and albums were Kelly Clarkson, P!nk, Avril Lavigne, and Katy Perry. For some reason, she lists Yungblud as a major inspiration and idol. Maybe they'll do a collaboration this fall.
I'm in the maybe camp here - its not as bad as my knee jerk reaction wanted me to think, but she also has not entirely won me over. May be a good one to take my girls to.
One Liner: Power-singing Canadian is the sixth most-popular Charlotte on Spotify
Wikipedia Genre: pop, electro, jazz (jazz?) Home: Quebec Poster Position: 17 Weekend One Only. Friday.
Thoughts: With two Charlotte's on the lineup, I was going to see which one was more popular by just typing in the name Charlotte into Spotify and seeing who popped up - Cardin or Sands. Nope, neither! Charlotte Adigery is apparently the top Charlotte for Spotify! This one is the sixth most popular Charlotte if you go by the order of their names on Spotify. And I think I hear why! This is some Italics-singing pop girl stuff by a gal who looks like she could be a model. She was also here in 2017, but I had no recollection of that at all.
First single was in 2015, followed by 2016's Big Boy EP, 2017's Main Girl EP, and then her only album, 2021's Phoenix. She's Canadian - and hey! she started her career as a model at the age of 15. I can spot 'em! Prior to that, she was a top four finalist in a singing show up north called La Voix for the 2013 season. More recently, she won some interesting awards: "Phoenix won the Felix Award for Anglophone Album of the Year at the 43rd Félix Awards. Cardin also won the awards for Anglophone Concert of the Year and Most Successful Artist Outside Quebec." The Most Successful Artist Outside of Quebec really seems like it should have been someone a little more successful. Like, Taylor Swift or Drake or something. But congrats anyway!
Top streamer is from the 2017 EP - "Main Girl" - has 24.9 million streams.
Got that powerful, over-singing thing down. But I will say that when the drums kicked in, that sounds pretty good. But overall, I looked up after about two hours of these songs and said "God please no more," so that's not a great indication. She also sings some of her songs in French, which was very confusing at first. I thought her Autotune had gone so far that I couldn't even understand her words.
Then, the top track from her album is "Meaningless" with just over 17 million streams.
Pretty snappy - definitely like it batter than most of the catalog. After last year, when Tate McRae came to the Fest and I took my daughter over there, I can't help but think of artists like this and McRae where you go and just listen to a lady belt out music. My 14 year old daughter's take on it was that is is "so awkward" to just stand there and listen to someone sing. Which is obviously a messed up way of thinking about music fandom, but I can't get it out of my head now when I think of performers like this who are just going to go up there and try to do tiny little dance moves as they yelp over top of a drum track. "Phoenix" sounds like Miley Cyrus, she's going for that rough-edged vocal twang on that one. "Anyone Who Loves Me" makes me think of Gaga.
One Liner: Brooklyn indie rockers channeling the 80's
Wikipedia Genre: indie pop, post-punk Home: Brooklyn Poster Position: 19 Weekend One Only. Friday.
Thoughts: More 80's! Thank God! I was worried after listening to a few bands/artists recently who weren't throwbacks to the 80's! I say that, but this is probably my favorite of all the 80's throwback stuff on the poster so far. It has more of a new wave feel, and less of a 80's dance thing. More Devo and old Depeche Mode and less Debbie Gibson and The Human League. Not too many streams, but I guess they are on the bottom third of the poster...
Three dudes - Richard Devaney, Aidan Noell, and Michael Sue-Poi. They are from Brooklyn, which totally fits. Mustachioed triple IPA brewers. Indie 80's pop players. Pickled acorn popcorn makers. Two of the guys came from a band named Static Jacks, and Devaney has said that the inspiration for the entire band was "Electricity" by Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark.
Yep - that absolutely fits. Also, that song jams.
First single came out in 2016, and after that they churned a bunch of singles until 2020 when their album Introduction, Presence collected a bunch of those into a group of ten songs. One more album - A Way Forward - in 2021, and then two singles since then in 2022. I feel like it has been playing for me for a few hours, and I'm enjoying it. The top track is from that 2020 album, the album closer in fact, and it has some Cure guitars and driving War on Drugs synths. 2.6 million streams.
I like it. I don't know that I really notice much difference between the two albums - which sort of makes sense because they were only released a year apart. Maybe there is more emphasis on the bassist than before, so its a little funkier. The top track from that disc is "Across That Fine Line," with 1.3 million streams.
Hear that bassist going to town in there? His vocals sound like he's a British dude. Which is odd. But I really like that song. Reminds me of one of the Cure remixes on that album of remixes I got in college. I like a danceable indie rock tune. The album opener - "In Manhattan" is a little nerve-wracking, and although it is only 3:53, I looked at the time because it felt like it had been going for twice that.
Despite my general annoyance at the 80's redux thing, I actually am enjoying this one. I'd go check them out.
One Liner: Blues rock magic from another dude in Dan Auerbach's stable
Wikipedia Genre: Americana, alternative country, alternative rock, blues, folk, folk rock Home:Birmingham, Alabama Poster Position: 25 Weekend Two Only. Friday.
Thoughts: Okay, hell yeah. Just the initial guitar licks of the first song has me in on this one. That is some guitar goodness right there. Comes on like it is about to be a jam band meander, but then when the vocals come in you can tell that it is more of a bluesy guitar rock stunner. This song jams. "Blue Pill Blues" 1.4 million streams.
Before you watch that video, and see the label that he is signed to, I require you to make one guess as to which label out there is going to have a throwback blues rock guy signed to their roster. If you said Third Man, I can see it, but it is almost always going to be Dan Auerbach's Easy Eye Sound. My man looks like he takes a lot more than just the boner pills, man. I wonder if he actually has eyes, or if he just has to squint his eyelids to handle the fact that he lost his eyes by taking too many boner pills. Homie looks like Chris Pratt staring into the sun in a hat made from a tea cozy. But whatever, he can look like he wants if he is going to churn out freaking killer songs like that. I love it.
Fredrick James Mullis, Jr. is our man here. He was sixteen when he received a guitar for Christmas and started doing music. A friend was the frontman for a band called Fire Mountain who told Early that he could open for them if he would write his own stuff. He moved from Troy, Alabama to Birmingham when he was 21, and Auerbach spotted him. They went into the studio and Auerbach produced his debut (and only) album, Singing for My Supper. Released in 2020. He was supposed to them go out on tour supporting the Black Keys, The Lone Below, The Marcus King Band, and Shovels and Rope, but that fell through because of the dumb pandemic. I dig this description from the New York Times: "tattered and nervous, with a grainy quaver."
No other track breaks the million stream barrier, but he's got one with 463k streams. "It Doesn't Matter Now." But I figure I should check out the newest single instead, to see what he is bringing to the table here two years after the debut album. This is "What a Strange Time to Be Alive." 30k streams. 2022 release.
Aw man, pizza and beer sounds really good right now. Also, he definitely has eyes, but when he sings he really likes to squint them. That is a good, laid-back shamble of a track. Edges into country, but still bluesy as hell. This is that classic Auerbach touch - like he's done with Yola or Robert Finley - keep them using classic instruments and pushing forward with their skill as solid singers and instrumentalists, without relying on fancy mixing or studio trickery. The single before this was "Tumbleweed," and its got some serious guitarwork and good groove. I really like this stuff.
I'm sure he'll get a garbage slot to play, but I'd definitely check this out.
One Liner: English/Spanish mix of generic rap and R&B
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but this is hip hop and R&B in English and Spanish Home: Atlanta Poster Position: 24 Weekend One Only. Sunday.
Thoughts: Great name. This fella weaves English and Spanish together in his songs at random. Some lines will have both, or other times he'll have a verse in one and chorus in the other, or other times entire songs will stick to one. I read an interview with him where he said that he got started in 2019 by just recording some freestyle stuff while over at a friend's house. He's from Panama, but is based in Atlanta now. His real name is John Farrish, and he says that he has been influenced by Bad Bunny and Post Malone, but wants to bring those things from a black perspective.
Just singles until 2022's EP DIADREAMER. His top track was one of those 2021 singles - "Modelo" - with 1.3 million streams.
I hear some of that Post Malone love in that one - and its one where each line can change language, and some even shift during the line itself - "Even when you're sour, baby, yo soy tu guerrero (Yeah)." I don't love it. Relatively generic tune and plain singing. "LA MOVE" reminds me of the part of "SICKO MODE" where Travis Scott sings about going to Jamba Juice. That one is actually pretty cool. While I don't understand what is being said most of the song, the beat and flow on "DIADREAMER" is enjoyable. I find it annoying when rappers end every line with "aye," and "HOW IT GOES" is super annoying (for multiple reasons, that being one of them). "MY HONESTIDAD" is lame - just a boring song sung over an almost non-existent tune. His second-place streamer is another single, "Si Tu Quieres," from 2021, with 384k streams. Also uninteresting. I'll give you the title track from the new EP instead. 93k streams.
Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. When the beat shifts about half-way through, that is when it gets good. Again, don't know what is said for half of it, but sounds pretty cool.
I'm good without seeing this one. I've listened through the whole catalog twice and nothing in here really stands out as something special. Not terrible, just uninteresting.
Wikipedia Genre: Gospel Home: Gospel Poster Position: 28 (the only one on that bottom line!) Weekend One Only. Sunday (shocker!)
Thoughts: I guess there are only so many gospel groups you can get for the ACL experience, because this one is also recycled. Here is my 2014 view. Here is the 2015 one. They also have a website if you want to check that out.
One album available on Spotify - 2015's Working in the Vineyard. The picture on the cover of this album is a little deceiving, being that an electric guitar is pictured, and yet the vast majority of the instrumentation on this album sounds like it comes from the Casio I had when I was 9. Lots of vocals though, so you'll get your money's worth in the sound department anyway. Only two tracks have any registered listens on Spotify. The top track is the title track, with all of 2,989 streams.
FYI, that sounds nothing like the studio version, which is entirely made up of synth sounds and maybe a touch of guitar that is washed out under the drum track. Here is a video from 2014's ACL, which isn't titled, but I am going to decide is called "Hold On"
Great voices, nice backing music. Not my thing, but I can respect the fact that they are doing it well. A more recent video has been uploaded to YouTube, so here, try out "It's Alright."
Wikipedia Genre: R&B, soul Home: New Orleans Poster Position: 7 Weekend Two Only. Friday.
Thoughts: My first thought on starting this was that this was a British Khalid. Instead, this is really David Brown, a dude from New Orleans, who happens to sing like Khalid. He competed on American Idol in 2005 and reached the top 20 before being eliminated. Before he did his own thing, he became a go-to songwriter for a bunch of other R&B type things - Keith Sweat, Ne-Yo, Boyz II Men, Mary J. Blige, Trey Songz, etc. Then he started putting out his own tunes, and actually went on tour with Khalid.
Two albums - 2019's Painted and 2022's Candydrip. The "Intro" to Candydrip sounds like some Outkast spoken word stuff. You'll never call me a big R&B guy, but this album is actually pretty solid. His voice is great, and the tune on "God Body" or "NWA" is pretty nice. His biggest streamer is "Over," from that album, with 57.5 million spins.
Wonderful voice. Beautiful video. Not an especially memorable tune. But this newer album is definitely better than the 2020 album Painted. Much more lush and put together, both his voice and the arrangements - the earlier disc feels more raw and less practiced. The top track on the album is "Roll Some Mo," with 50.3 million streams.
That's on some Marvin Gaye stuff. Hey, maybe that is where the "Daye" spelling comes from? Good tune though.
I read a story about him saying that he is relatively shy in real life and has seemed shocked that people actually know his music. When he was a kid he belonged to a strict church where all secular music was banned, so now he is trying to catch up on learning about historical musical sounds. As a kid, he felt like he couldn't make conversation, because he never saw TV or heard music. But his family left that church, and after a while he started using his voice to make money. This tidbit is awesome: "In the ninth grade, he started using his voice for pocket money, singing to girls at school in exchange for the cost of his cafeteria lunch. "I'd sing their name, and my homie would charge 50 cents," he says. "I'd give him a nickel or just buy both of our fries. I didn't think my voice was nothing special; I just knew I could eat from it, so I started using it as a tool." "
After Katrina, he moved to Tyler, Texas with his family. After a falling out with his family over Christianity, he moved by himself to Atlanta and started making music under his real name. He then went out to L.A. to try to "make it," and when he was close to rock bottom he started using the Lucky Daye moniker - and the extra "e" is because of Marvin Gaye!
I'm not a big R&B guy, but this dude is definitely very talented. Probably not going to go see him, but I could see it being an impressive show.
Wikipedia Genre: Pop, pop-rock, R&B Home:America Poster Position: Headliner! Both Weekends. Saturday.
Thoughts: I mean, my immediate and honest thoughts here are as follows: WTF? Pink feels about as likely to be top three for the ACL lineup as Kelly Clarkson or the Spice Girls. Is she even still making music? The last time I remember knowing about a song she made was back when Charlie's Angels was in the theaters. There it is, 2001's M!ssundaztood has "Get the Party Started," is the only song on her discography that I recognize by the title and could sing a bar of. "What About Us" sounds familiar, but I couldn't even hum a bar for you from memory. Which is freaking wild, that someone like that is #2. She's been around for 22 years and has a single song that a casual fan knows! I'm sure you, dear reader, are deeply familiar with her catalog, but I'm absolutely shocked that she is #2 on the poster.
I just did a search for artists like Pink, and allmusic.com says she is similar to Demi Lovato, Fergie, Gwen Stefani, Icona Pop, Jessie J, Katy Perry, and Kelly Clarkson. Of those, you could make a case for Katy Perry being a top artists on a big festival lineup in 2022, but the rest would be a hard no. Really weird.
Anyhoo - you didn't come here for my lack of knowledge and incredulity. You came here to figure out who the hell P!nk is, because you also have no clue how she got here. Let's get into it.
Her real name is Alicia Moore. She was originally part of a group called Choice, but then went out on her own in 1995. Despite what I said above about her being a jenky #2 artist, Wikipedia says that she has sold over 60 million albums worldwide and is one of the "world's best-selling music artists." She trained as a competitive gymnast until she was 12. And started performing in Philly clubs when she was about 14 years old. Since then, she's won multiple Grammys and other awards, she's sung the National Anthem at the Super Bowl, got a Hollywood Star, named People Magazine's most beautiful, and done a bunch of other major artist things. I think I'm just in the dark about her, apparently.
She definitely has a distinctive voice - super powerful, but at the same time it is raw and husky at times. Loads of emotion in her voice.
2000's Can't Take Me Home was her debut, and it actually has a totally different feel than her current most popular tracks. Double platinum as well. The opening song - "Split Personality" very much sounds like some late 90's R&B, like Aaliyah or TLC. The top track even steals the harpsichord sounds from "Scrubs." This is "There You Go" with 31.9 million streams.
That is really weird to hear, after all of her top tracks are so rock-lite-centric. "Sometimes it beez like that." But nothing about that song sounds familiar - well, other than it sounding like TLC rip off.
But then 2001's M!ssundaztood (that is a really hard title to type) shifted a little to add some more guitar and rock attitude. This album went multi-platinum with more than 13 million albums sold world-wide. Which is a buttload! Three big tracks on there, from "Don't Let Me Get Me" (66.9 million streams), "Just Like a Pill" (144.8 million), and the only track that I knew before I started this, "Get the Party Started," with 156.3 million.
See - no more pink hair and rapper/basketball cute guys, now it's all about sexy, blonde, punky hair and alternative-rocker-looking cute guys. Genuinely fun song for sure. I don't think I had ever heard "Like a Pill" in my life. Super generic pop rock. But all three of those songs apparently went to #1 internationally. Oddly, some of these tracks have less than 4 million streams. Maybe this disc came out before streaming and so most people are just picking and choosing the ones they remember, instead of listening to the whole thing.
2003's Try This is even less popular, with several songs stream totals under 2 million. And yet, this album won her a Grammy for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. She beat Avril Lavigne, Michelle Branch, Bonnie Raitt, and Lucinda Williams. Four of those definitely do not seem like rock artists. The opening track is the top one with another pop rock track called "Trouble." It's actually pretty good. The second track surprisingly sounded familiar to me, called "God is a DJ." Kind of reminds me of Sheryl Crow's later songs. 18.1 million streams.
Now she's dropped the spiky party hair and is going with more of a London pompadour/mullet thing. That chorus is just awful. "If God is a DJ, life is a dance floor, Love is the rhythm, you are the music." Like something I wrote in poetry class in 4th grade and got an F on. There is still some R&B hidden among the pop rock here - like "Catch Me While I'm Sleeping," but you can tell that she has mainly transitioned into the rock lane. But I can also see why no one is going back to listen to these old songs.
2006's I'm Not Dead includes a track with the Indigo Girls (not the most popular track) and two big tracks. "U + Ur Hand" has just over 100 million streams and "Who Knew" boasts 192.8 million. The title of the album makes me think that people had either thought she was dead or she felt written off because fame had passed her by. Not sure which. Here is her quote about the album title: "It's about being alive and feisty and not sitting down and shutting up even though people would like you to." Yeah man, stick it to the man, man. Here is "Who Knew."
Now we are to the big Madonna hairdo for this POWER BALLAD action. Can't recall ever hearing this one either, but its more of the light rock stuff that I bet still gets played on Magic 95 and Bob FM every day. "Nobody Knows" sounds like she was trying to crib off of the Beatles. The Indigo Girls one is actually a little hardcore - singing directly to President George W Bush about how shitty he was for womens' rights when he had daughters of his own. "U + Ur Hand" is just an awful song. I get that she's going for another woman empowerment song telling the guy to go home and get it on with himself, but it's just a deeply terrible mix of garbage faux-rock tune mixed with her overbearing lyrics.
2008 brought us Funhouse and her third biggest track - "So What." Another #1 song on the charts. Also, the album overall has a lot more streams than those earlier discs. Only one song under 10 million streams. Never heard "Sober" (127.8 million streams) or "Please Don't Leave Me" (110.4 million). Likewise, nothing rings a bell about "So What." 413 million streams.
Back to the punk hair thing. That video is just deeply obnoxious, just trying so hard to be punk when she is just so not punk. "So what, I'm still a rock star, I got my rock moves, and I don't need you." I got my rock moves. Yep. She sings that repeatedly. Dammit, and then ten minutes after hearing this my brain sang "nanananananana I'm gonna start a fight."
You know what I just realized? P!nk is the Chili Peppers for the ladies. Half of the appeal of the Chilis is that they just rock out and sing dumb lyrics and are a fun time to party. P!nk is just doing the same thing but with lesser musicians involved. This is music for ladies who just want to jump around to a rock song and sing about how guys suck or they wanna party, but they don't want the rock song to be too rock-y or loud. Like, Metallica let normal kids like me think they were in to metal for a minute, or Green Day made me believe that I liked punk for a moment. But then I tried real metal and was immediately frightened back to my old stuff. That is the same here - a lady like my wife, who never wants to hear screaming or heavy guitar can pop these tunes on and feel vaguely rebellious and excited by the rock, but not be frightened. I'm sure you had already known that, but this is the inoffensive (but acts like it is offensive) party rock band for the ladies to enjoy.
2012's The Truth About Love shows her embracing the streaming age by including 17 songs and over an hour for the runtime. But it also includes her biggest tune and another with over 415 million streams. This was her first album to hit #1 on the charts. The monster hit is with Nate Ruess, who you might remember from the band Fun, because he was the lead singer of that band who had the huge hit or two with Jack Antonoff. This is "Just Give Me a Reason," with 896.7 million streams.
I feel like I had to have heard of that song previously, but before just listening to it again, I very honestly could not have sung any of it. Also, since I apparently have been very into hairdos this whole time, she is now in the weird tubular pompadour thing at this stage. Not a bad song. Cheesy love ballad and all, but a good catchy tune and their voices sound really good together. "Slut Like You" is a deeply cheesy slice of schlock. "Beam Me Up" sounds like more Sheryl Crow. I really hope we are almost done with these albums, as I'm deeply tired of super-generic soft rock by now.
2017's Beautiful Trauma has another big one - her second biggest streamer. And overall, the album looks to have been a hit - the lowest streamer is just below 20 million streams. Has a track with Eminem on it, and that makes me think that a lot of these songs sound a lot like those bad Eminem songs that sort of include a rock element while he raps - like the "Love the Way You Lie" one with the lady singing parts and then Eminem rapping parts. P!nk does both the rapping and the singing in this comparison, but the bad backing songs are the same. "What About Us" was the hit from this album with 619.3 million streams.
Now we are doing a poofy hair pouf and then the shaved head thing. Sounds very much like a show tune. Like someone in Hamilton should be belting this to the sky as a group of freed slaves dance in the background. The song is a little more of an electronic tune than most of the others on this album, and seems to be a protest song about people who are being forgotten or marginalized.
Damn. One more album. 2019's Hurts to Be Human. Has a few tracks with over 100 million streams, including the big one at 346 million, "Walk Me Home." A few cool collaborations on here too, with Chris Stapleton and Khalid the two big ones. Here is that "Walk Me Home" one.
Almost a country vibe in that one. And again, a show tune vibe. Definitely never heard that song before. Deeply uninteresting. A lot of electronic stuff here now - maybe she left the lite rock thing behind in favor of the newer sound that the kids are in to. Which is honestly even suckier than the lite rock. But she is good at being a chameleon and moving to the next sound that might keep her in the public eye! "The Last Song of Your Life" sounds like she is channeling Carole King.
Here is a good set of quotes from her Wikipedia page:
"James Montgomery of MTV describes her as "a fabulously fearless pop artist" who can "out-sing almost anyone out there. She can out-crazy Gaga or Lily. She's the total pop-star package, everything you'd want in a singer/entertainer/icon. And still, she remains oddly off the radar. Such is the price of busting borders". Entertainment Weekly said: "She essentially invented the whole modern wave of Pop Diva Domination: You can draw a straight line from "Get This Party Started" to Katy Perry, Kesha, pre-messianic Lady Gaga, and post-weird Rihanna." Glamour Magazine wrote: "When Pennsylvania-born Alecia Moore debuted in 2000, pop was dominated by long-locked blonds like Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Jessica Simpson. Pink changed the game. Without her, the last 13 years of big-voiced, tough chick music is hard to imagine."
Shows you what I know!
Her most recent release is a live album called All I Know So Far: Setlist. Which is an odd title. And an odd set of tunes. She doesn't play a bunch of the biggest songs, but she covers Cyndi Lauper, No Doubt, Bishop Briggs, and Queen. But you don't get "Get the Party Started" or "What About Us" or "U + Ur Hand" or "God is a DJ."
I am definitely not interested in seeing her play live. I'm sure I'd have a good time if I just released myself from my skepticism and allowed myself the pleasure of goofy lite rock anthems, but I'm just not feeling it at all today.
One Liner: Ghana/Aussie rapper/singer with a little funky flair
Wikipedia Genre: Hip hop, funk, punk rock Home: Canberra, Australia Poster Position: 13 Weekend One Only. Friday.
Thoughts: I am actually really interested to research what is going on with this guy. His music is an odd pastiche of sounds - sorta rap, sorta funk, sorta pop punk, sorta electronic, sorta R&B.
Real name is Kofi Owusu-Ansah, born in 2998 in Ghana, but then moved to Canberra, Australia. I got to go to Australia when I was eight, and pretty much it was an amazing trip that I'll never forget, and yet all I really remember are the dumb things that a little kids would remember. Like that I got a chocolate bar that one time, or that when we drove to Canberra to go to a sheep farm and watch them get sheared, we got stuck behind a huge herd of sheep whose butts were super crusty with brown funk. These things are deeply important to eight year old boys. Butt funk.
His brother is also a rapper - goes by Citizen Kay. They moved to Down Under in 2000. Apparently when at school, his older brother told people that his younger brother's name was Kofi, which they thought was Coffee, and the kids wouldn't believe it. So he just came up with Genesis on the spot and it stuck. And he's been damn successful back home - At the 2021 ARIA Music Awards he won four trophies for Album of the Year, Best Hip Hop Release, Best Independent Release, and Best Cover Art. I think that the thing that makes him so distinct is that none of these tracks sound like they should be rap songs. They're live band tunes with kind of jazzy, funky tracks under them - no 808s or traditional samples.
2017 EP named Cardrive, then a bunch of singles before 2021's Smiling with No Teeth (and a subsequent deluxe version of that same thing called Missing Molars). Many of the singles are remixes with electronica people re-making his songs. The top track is a 2019 single called "Good Times," with 7.3 million streams.
Like I said - what is that song? Some rap, a funky bassline, some R&B singing. Kinda all over the place. I don't know who Kirin J. Callinan is, but he appears on one track, and I could have sworn it was Elton John. "Don't Need You" is the top track from his album with just over 5 million streams.
He's heavy into those bandages and the gold teeth. Seems to really like that look. And again, kind of rap at the start, but then the chorus is just him singing. Catchy tune - kinda bangs.
One Liner: Ex-Disney actress sisters still out there making pop music
Wikipedia Genre: Pop rock, indie pop, synth-pop Home: Torrance, CA Poster Position: 13 Weekend One Only. Saturday.
Thoughts: I just knew I was about to hear something that sounded like a pre-packaged Disney group. Just by the name of the group. Absolutely sounds like the name of a group that would have spun off from Jessie or Bunk'd or one of the many other shows I have heard from the other room from years of my kids watching.
HAHA! And I know what I'm saying! One of their first singles, back in 2004, was used in a Disney film Ice Princess, and then a cover of "Do You Believe in Magic" was used in the soundtrack for a Disney Channel movie Now You See It, in which Aly also had a starring role as Allyson Henlen. Also, "the pair starred as sisters in the 2006 Disney Channel Original movie Cow Belles, with "On the Ride" from their debut album Into The Rush serving as the movie's theme song. The sisters also starred in a Disney Channel television pilot Haversham Hall, although the show was not picked up for series." Their Wikipedia notes that AllMusicGuide "does praise them for having a real singing ability, citing 'Aly & AJ can actually sing – their vocals have more personality than prefab Disney hopefuls like Hayden Panettiere or Caleigh Peters – and the arrangements are slick without resorting to flashily empty pap.' " They have toured with the Cheetah Girls and Hannah Montana. But in 2009 they left their label and changed their name to 78violet (which sounded like a tough time and maybe a mistake, because they switched back in 2015). Recently, one of their songs from 2007 became a TikTok hit and so they've found some notoriety again.
Here is that song, their most popular by a long way, called "Potential Breakup Song." The original, clean version has 122.8 million streams.
Sounds a lot like old Kesha with the light Autotune and empowerment/kissoff lyrics. Apparently, when this blew up again, they released a new version with explicit lyrics. Which is such an odd thing to do. Catchy tune. I get it. But the video is a pile of quick cuts of them flouncing their very blonde hair about and making poses. Absolutely sounds and looks like an "edgy" Disney video.
I know you'll be shocked, with their provenance, but there is also a deeply cheesy cover of "Walking on Sunshine" in their top ten songs. Oh, and they are sisters. Alyson and Amanda Joy Michalka. 6 albums - 2005's Into the Rush, 2006's Acoustic Hearts of Winter (the obligatory Christmas album), 2007's Insomniac, 2018's Ten Years, 2020's We Don't Stop, 2021's a touch of the beat gets you up on your feet gets you out and then into the sun (which is a frontrunner for the most annoying album title of all time), and a number of singles and EPs sprinkled in over the years.
The new tunes are fine. Nothing on that new album is just lighting me up, but it's also relatively solid generic pop music that won't hurt anyone's feelings. Their voices really are solid. "Paradise" sounds like they are aiming for the Taylor Swift sound. "Slow Dancing" is almost country-Lana-Del-Rey-sounding. Their newest single is the other one I'll give you - "Like Whoa" with 396k streams.
Oh, this is a re-make of a song from them from 2007. I was going to say they still sound like cheesy little girls, but its just because they are playing one of their old cheesy little girl songs. The new stuff on that 2022 album is much better.
And they aren't Disney princesses anymore: "The music video for their 2020 single "Joan of Arc on the Dance Floor", directed by Aly & her husband Stephen Ringer, featured clips of Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee who were responsible for the 2018 confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in the wake of sexual assault allegations against him, as well as a thank you to his accuser Christine Blasey Ford. The video's credits also include a thank you to Anita Hill, who accused Justice Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment in 1991 prior to his appointment to the Supreme Court." Just jumping right into the political zone there. Let's throw that one into the mix too. 7.4 million streams.
So deep, with the French written on the screen and the crying in a crown thing. "we don't stop until mascara's on the dance floor, we say no, Joan of Arc is on the dance floor" is the chorus to that song. WTF is that about? Yeah, the music on their newest album is the best stuff in their catalog. That tune is not great.
I almost assuredly will not see them, unless my kids somehow make me do it because of a 15 year old TikTok song.
Hold on, there is more than you just need to know about. Their merchandise lines back when Disney was trying to market them to the masses of little girls (all thanks to Wikipedia):
In 2007 Huckleberry Toys released Limited Edition Hello Kitty Aly & AJ dolls to selected Target stores and later Toys R Us
On November 20, 2007, The Aly & AJ Adventure game was released for the Nintendo DS. In the game, the player plays as their assistant, who helps them record songs and direct a music video.
In June 2008, the duo released their own paperback adventure books, called Aly & AJ's Rock 'n' Roll Mysteries, each part describing Aly & AJ on tour, every book describing a mystery in a different city. The drawings in the books were done by Aly.
Performance Designed Products released Aly & AJ-designed guitars on November 10, 2008. Aly's guitar features a heart-and-crossbones print in pink (PlayStation 2) and AJ's guitar is in the shape of the Aly & AJ heart logo featuring bright pink and purple zebra print (Wii, PS2). {I am guessing that means these guitars were for Guitar Hero or something?}
The duo also had clothing, accessories, jewelry, and cosmetics lines. According to Forbes and AOL (and who wouldn't trust AOL?), they were one of Hollywood's highest earning singers under the age of 30 in 2008.
One Liner: One of the Stranger Things actors making good psych rock.
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia about his music, but this is rock, synth rock, psych rock Home: L.A. (born in Massachusetts, but he's bound to live in L.A. now, right?) Poster Position: 14 Weekend Two Only. Saturday.
Thoughts: Always fun to have someone like this on the poster, where I get to find out that Djo is a Portugese futsal player, DJO is a manufacturer of medical devices (headquartered in Lewisville, Texas!), DJO High is Bishop Denis J. O'Connell High School (high school of Eric Metcalf!), Djo d'Eloy is a Cape Verdean singer (whose greatest song is "Arriola"!), Djo Mpeko is a footballer (a defender for the Girabola!), Djo Tunda Wa Munga is a film director (winner of the 2011 MTV Music Awards for Best African Movie!), AND HE IS ALSO THE OLDER BROTHER IN STRANGER THINGS!?!?!
Of all the things I did not expect to happen today, way way way high on the list would be to click on the listing for Djo and see that it is the stage name for Joe Keery's music career, when he is not starring as Steve Harrington in Stranger Things or the movie Free Guy. Fascinating. I've been wanting to watch the new Stranger Things season! He went to DePaul University and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting. In his musical career, he apparently started out by releasing music under the name Cool Cool Cool, but then became a guitarist for a band called Post Animal for a few albums. According to one interview I read, he said that the fame from Stranger Things made that weird because the rest of the band didn't want to just be the "guy from Stranger Things" band - but they've stayed friends and he's gotten their help on making his solo album. In 2019, he started releasing music under the Djo name.
And you know what? It's actually pretty solid! Kinda low key indie psych rock. Think super basic Tame Impala. Well, then I have to say that the 2020 single "Keep Your Head Up" is not as good. Too much falsetto, too much saxophone, too much squelchy synths. The stuff from the 2019 album Twenty Twenty is much better. The top track overall is from that album, called "Roddy," with 31.2 million streams.
Pretty good tune - nothing particularly stands out in there, but good guitar and vocals and a nice little groove. The synth voice thing in the middle, straight out of Ferris Bueller, is a little weird, but otherwise it is a solid tune. "Chateau (Feel Alright)" is the other big song with 29 million streams and a similarly woozy rock sound.
Nice chill tune. Brings me some Beck vibes. "Mutual Future" has some Strokes vibes, but also some jam band guitarage near the end. "BNBG," with its ridiculous outro of repeatedly saying "babygirl," is a massively cringe inducing moment. "Personal Lies" kicks in with a pop rock swagger, but then devolves into a spacey meander. I like it.
I really wish this guy was going to be both weekends, because I'd go check it out for sure.
One Liner: Overly theatrical rock and weirdo stuff from Phoebe Bridgers' old band.
Wikipedia Genre: Punk rock, avant-punk, avant-rock, post-punk, chamber pop Home: NYC Poster Position: 20 Weekend Two Only. Saturday.
Thoughts: Well, this is freaking weird. Makes me think of some of the deeply weird stuff that Nirvana or Primus might have done back in their heyday of weirdo alternative rock. The top song is just not a normal experience at all. I know that is the point, but remember how dumb the Marilyn Manson stuff started to seem when you really thought about it? That is sort of this. "They're Coming to Take Me Away--Ha Ha!" has 2.3 million streams.
Right? It's like some hidden song at the end of a Primus album. Although the video is kinda freaking me out, man. But here's the deal - this is her top song? Would anyone want to hear this played at a festival? At all? Nope. Now, some of her other songs are snappy and have some action to them, but that most popular track ain't it.
In fun trivia news, Wikipedia says that Phoebe Bridgers used to be the bassist and backup vocals in the band. That's pretty sweet, but also a bummer, to lose someone that talented from the band! The front woman is named Haley Dahl, and she apparently does a little performance art with her performances that can include some birthday suit action. Maybe they signed up the old band as a mea culpa for cutting the mike on Bridgers last year when her set went over.
Like, "Where's My Wife" - which very much sounds like it could have been a Nirvana track from the Bleach days - is a pretty solid rocking tune. 142k streams.
Sloppy is right, but can't you just see/hear Kurt Cobain squealing those lines as the band broke all of their instruments? And then, her most recent single, from 2021, is an actual song. Like, normal chord structure and harmonic singing and stuff. "Party Anthem" has 338k streams.
She still needs to do some weird overacting things in there - I get the idea that she did some theater in high school. "Jesus on Your Living Room Floor" is also a normal, quiet, dramatic tune.
The 2015 EP Sure-Tuff is the one with Bridgers on it, and also the Coming to Take Me Away song, it is super weird stuff. Definitely a bunch of slop, lots of vocal effects and muddy sounding music that's almost like if Hole did surf rock. Don't love it. "Scratch n' sniff" is probably the best, drops out a lot of the crappy vocal effects for a dark and groovy tune. The new disc from 2021, Madison, definitely has a more pleasing sound that doesn't sound like a goofy lark by a kid who just found a Fisher Price microphone that transmogriphied her voice. Although the opening "Overture" definitely reminds you that you are about to listen to something overly dramatic and weird. "Wonderama" goes back to that same well. Funny thing is, now that they reduced some of the freakiness of it, the music is just more boring. "Lullaby Formica" just sounds uninteresting, as an example. Also, "The Constable" is freaking 9:34 long. GTFOH with that.
Sorta interesting for bits, but overall I don't expect I'd go watch this one.
One Liner: Local synth rock done with a good dose of 80's flair
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but this is synth rock Home: Austin Poster Position: 24 Weekend One Only. Sunday.
Thoughts: So, Darkbird got added to the lineup last year for ACL, at the last minute, so I never formally reviewed them. I realize now that I'm pretty sure I listened to the wrong band whenever I tried to write up a short blurb for the schedule. Because the band that I listened to, and then wrote a tiny bit about, compared themselves to Nirvana and were pretty solid alternative rock. I can't find them anymore, so I assume that this band of synth rock people is the real Darkbird who won a cease and desist battle or something.
Not many streams - I'm guessing they are a local band. "Heartbeat" is their biggest hit for sure, with 185k streams.
Yep, there is that 80's-style action, but its still a good song - propulsive and fun. But those synth lines belong 40 years ago for sure.
Weird thing, if you search Darkbird on Wikipedia, you get redirected to the page for WWE wrestler Chris Kanyon. And yet nothing on his Wikipedia page mentions Darkbird. Odd.
Here is the story the band has put out there on their website - wonderfully romantic: "Kelly Barnes left Los Angeles after a broken marriage resulted in a broken band. Just prior to the move, she unexpectedly hit international success, as the vocalist on the massive hit “Get Shaky” with the late DJ Ian Carey. While the track and a few others were financially significant to the ex-wife and waitress, Kelly was ready to explore another path that was more personally expressive. After a tragic house fire in NYC, Brian Cole opted for a fresh start. As his belongings smoldered in the winter snow, he decided to pack up what was left and head south in search of warmer days and better luck. Ironically, while most go to LA or NYC to make their dreams come true, Brian and Kelly found each other on the musician page on Craigslist in Austin, TX. While they had hoped to leave their pasts behind, inevitably, the heartbreaks found a place they call home in Darkbird."
There is some heavy 80's synth rock stuff on here, like I have been complaining about a lot recently, but they also have some legit straight-forward rock and roll, like the guitar-riffage-heavy "Bad Self." Only five of their songs crack the five-figure stream count, with "All There Is" as the second most one with 24.9k streams. From a 2015 single called I Remember Feeling My Fingers Slip.
Comes on like a collaboration between Spoon and Patsy Cline. The low key breakdown in the middle is cool in that track, and then the rest of it kicks back in. Not an 80's replay band there, and I dig it. Also, the visuals in that video are cool. "3-2-Wake Up" is another that borrows heavily from the 80's sound - I can't come up with he name of the singer she is emulating, but the little staccato sound and effects that she is using reminds me of something. "Voices Carry?" Cyndi Lauper? Hmmm.
Yeah, I'm overall enjoying this band. I expect they'll get some garbage set time at noon on Sunday, but if I was around when they were going to play I'd probably go.
One Liner: Generic bedroom pop and rapping. Feels like the first release from a former boy band guy trying to make it on his own.
Wikipedia Genre: Pop, bedroom pop Home: L.A. Poster Position: 14 Weekend One Only. Saturday.
Thoughts: Relatively rare to do, but just by looking at the photo at the top of his Spotify page, I could tell that this was going to blow. Either emo pop punk or emo rap electronica was about to be delivered to my ears, and here we go. His big hit is one of the plainest electronic rap songs I can think of - super generic synth beat and him singing/speaking generic platitudes on top of it. "I've never seen something quite like you" is said at least 3,000 times. This is "blind." 75.8 million streams.
I'm sure this was some sort of TikTok hit and that is why it has so many streams. The video actually endeared me to him a little bit - just a purely positive guy in the face of rage. He really needed some better friends to help him with tattoo selection though.
Real name is Tucker Pillsbury, which is a very funny sounding real name. Big fan of that being his name. If he didn't play lacrosse at an exclusive boarding school in New Hampshire with that name then he really missed out. His Wikipedia says that he grew up in Maine and went to college in Pittsburg. After breaking his wrist twice, once while skiing and once while skateboarding, he was stuck in his dorm and started messing around with making beats and mixtapes. Then he dropped out of college. He started performing as Tucker, and then tried rapping under the name Dillis, before settling on this one. He got a Mac Miller co-sign in 2018, so that is probably where he got some notoriety from.
Just one album - 2022's Rx, following behind a pile of singles and EPs. The top track off of that new album is "forever&more" with 25.4 million streams.
Like a Boy Band song where one of the guys from the band steps forward to sing his little love ballad while the other guys take a backseat for one tune. I can't try to say it isn't catchy, but it also is deeply inane. Like, it feels like I'm back to watching Aaron Carter try to launch a career. Just super basic tunes, unimaginative lyrics, and a vaguely whiny vocal. Dude could easily actually be a model though...
Wikipedia Genre: Folk punk, indie rock, alternative rock, pop, emo Home: Jersey Poster Position: 8 Weekend Two Only. Saturday.
Thoughts: I mean, they win the band name war right here and now. Give them the trophy and move along. As for the actual music, its kind of lo-fi punk music that sounds very much like the emo bands of 10 years ago - I'm hearing Dashboard Confessional because of the talking/singing style of vocals. I also hear Modest Mouse sometimes. But this exudes that slacker indie punk feel. It also has a pretty great lyrical content, with stories and vivid descriptions galore.
They were here a few years ago for the Fest, but I don't recall seeing them.
They've got five full-length albums (2011's Front Bottoms, 2013's Talon of the Hawk, 2015's Back on Top, 2017's Going Grey, 2020's In Sickness & in Flames) and a few singles and EPs (2014's Rose, which is apparently named after one of their grandmothers). Five of their most popular come from that 2013 album, including their top song (by far). This is "Twin Size Mattress," which checks in at 102.6 million streams (and was at 8 million in 2016 when I wrote parts of this post, for what that's worth).
The band formed in 2006 when two childhood friends and a brother joined up to make some music. As they toured around Jersey for the first few years, the guitars/vocals guy worked at a grocery store while the drummer worked in landscaping. Once they started to make it a thing, the brother who played keyboards left the band to concentrate on school. They added another guy and then replaced him with two others. But those two original dudes (Brian Sella and Matthew Uychich) are still the core.
The 2015 album has one I liked - "HELP," has a really fun, poppy sound, along with a very well-pronounced F bomb. 10.6 million streams.
That video is kind of funny and weird too.
With the two newer albums, none of those tunes have really taken off - none have more than 10 million streams or scored a spot in their top ten on Spotify. That is sad. But I'll check out their brand new single to see what that has in store for us. This is "Lover Boy," with 1.1 million streams.
Yeah, they're still living in that same zone. Kinda loose guitars and rock with some raw vocals and a general groovy vibe. Pretty good.
Then, just because I love these Tiny Desk Concerts from NPR, here is one with these dudes.
Pretty good. I kinda like it, but the more I listened to the multiple albums over the last day, the less I want to hear any more of this. I think its the vocal tone, it has just started to grate on my nerves after a long time. I generally like the music, especially individual singles of the music, and I have a feeling the live show might be fun. And with the lack of good rock so far this year on the poster, I'm not sure that a beggar can be a chooser on this thing!
One Liner: HAIM-ish indie pop and 80's redux schlock Wikipedia Genre: indie pop, synth-pop, electropop, dark pop, power pop Home: L.A Poster Position: 9 Weekend One Only. Sunday. Thoughts: They were last here in 2017, and my post about them was less than complimentary.Apparently then, as now, I was tired of everyone emulating music from the 80's. Also, their Wikipedia said they were "dark pop" and that made me depressed. But, I'll say that their new disc is a little more HAIM, and I like it better.
Their Wikipedia pagetalks a good bit about how all three members identify as queer and they refuse to use gender-based pronouns in their tunes. As far as the music goes, the old two albums are more of the same 80's homage that apparently is going to be all the rage for this year's ACL fest lineup. This is kind of one part old school Madonna, one part HAIM, one part Kate Bush on Auto-Tune, and one part 80's cover band repeatedly practicing Billy Ocean's "Get Outta My Dreams, Get into My Car" without a sax. Three albums - 2017's About U, 2019's Saves the World, and 2022's MUNA. Here is what I said about the 2017 album:
"Music like this is why it is really hard to just listen through all of the music on this poster, as I would probably like this more if I hadn't just been subjected to several 80's homage bands in a row, to where I'm sick of hearing these same beat styles and synths and soft rock guitar stylings. I need to go cleanse with a proper dose of metal or something for a few hours. Because this music is fine. It's snappy, pretty, and kind of a longing sound that should be good. Their most popular track by a mile is the Tiesto remix of a track called "Winterbreak," with 32.6 million streams, but then their second most popular is also that song, in its original form, with 12.5 million streams. [FYI, that song is no longer in their top ten songs. It now has 21.4 million streams, but is not their big hit anymore.] We'll check that one first.
Damn. I want to bathe in those lyrics like a warm bath. So full of sorrow and loss and longing. That part of the song is money. The tune itself? I can do without. The third-most listened to track on this album is "Loudspeaker," with 9.5 million streams.
More emotionally raw (although exuberantly sung this time) lyrics that work really well. I want to like this one more than I do, but I honestly think I'd rather just read the lyrics and catch feels rather than listen to the actual songs. Not sure why everyone wants to go back to the 80's sound, but I think I'm OK here in the now."
BUT, the stuff for the new album is significantly better. The top track is the one with Phoebe Bridgers on it, called "Silk Chiffon," with 23.7 million streams.
The guitar work elevates it above the other songs, and it really sounds like the HAIM girls could be the ones up on stage jamming it out. Also Phoebe Bridgers is a damn stud. I'll also note that this song very clearly uses pronouns in singing about how good she feels when on her. So I guess they ditched their old anti-pronoun stance. I like that one much better than the old stuff.
I'm kinda in to the new sound? I just might buy in.
One Liner: Indie DIY synth guy who looks like he should be modeling for Patagonia.
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but indie? One website called it raw garage surf lo-fi? So I guess that could be a thing?
Home: L.A. (with prior stops in Memphis, Nashville, and New York)
Poster Position: 11
Weekend One Only. Sunday.
Thoughts: Interesting band name - I was hoping the name would be a little more literal. Instead, its just some white dude with a moustache trying to be ironic or something and playing twee little indie pop songs with his synthesizers. The guy behind it all is Griffin Washburn, who used to be in a band called the Lagoonas, and now claims that he records everything here in his truck/camper, making loops and whatnot with the Abelton software and then just bopping along with that. He said he has 100 watts of solar power to his camper van and just makes everything with sun power. Which is kind of cool. If I'm being perfectly honest, I'm deeply jealous of this guy. Read this little piece on him - he's just making music and living his best life. Probably not a forever lifestyle, but sounds like a great way to engage with your 20's.
Also, I have some reticence about actually searching to read more about the guy because my work computer is going to flag a search for this band name.
He was scheduled to come to the Fest last year in 2021, but bailed because he broke his noggin. For real, that is what reddit says, is that he suffered a traumatic brain injury in June. Damn!
Top track with 34 million streams is "Weekend Friend," but watching this video makes me wonder more about what the live show is like.
The tune for sure sounds like something he made by himself in his camper, but when you watch the live footage of that show, it sure looks like a rock show that involves a guitar and real drums and whatnot. So maybe the live show would be more fun than the "studio" version suggests. His 2021 single is called "Canary Islands," and the video shows a new cool camper, I wonder if he upgraded.
Those people appear to be having a nice time, but they suck at high fives. And the inside of that camper is way too small for all of them.
I can't decide whether I actually like the tune though. His Patagonia model lifestyle is super appealing, but I can't quite figure out if his music bugs me or if I'm enjoying the vibe. I think it's getting me on both ends. But it might also be a fun show to see live?
Imaginationcy.
He also has a new EP (of only 3 songs), but it pretty much sounds the same as last year's stuff. I'm torn. If it was just this same music, then I'd say no. But from the look of the live show in that one video above, it might actually be fun. I'll put this in the likely stack.
One Liner: More indie pop that sounds like lesser Billie Eilish
Wikipedia Genre: alternative pop, R&B Home: Auckland, New Zealand Poster Position: 11 Both Weekends. Friday.
Thoughts: So, I guess this is a thing now. I should have just made categories for all of the music on the poster this year. Everything is either a Billie Eilish ripoff, a Machine Gun Kelly ripoff, a Daft Punk ripoff, an 80's ripoff, or its own thing. This is another Eilish thing. Whispery vocals, low-key music that could have been made in the bedroom by her brother. There you go.
Real name is Stella Rose Bennett, and she's crushed it down in New Zealand. In both 2019 and 2020 she won Single of the Year, Best Solo Artist, and Best Pop Artist at the New Zealand Music Awards. Not too shabby, even if I can't currently think of another Kiwi musical artist. Oh, duh, Lorde is from there. The others in a top ten list I just reviewed are all mysteries to me, although I'd like for Fat Freddie's Drop to become a thing for sure. I want my kids to talk about Fat Freddie's Drop. When she was a kid, she momentarily dropped music to pursue a career in water polo. That isn't something you hear every day. She's 22.
She's got one ginormous song - "Supalonely" - from 2020's Hey u x, and featuring someone named Gus Dapperton. TikTok hit, of course. 639.4 million streams.
At first, it starts off like a party song with disco leanings, but then when she's not singing the chorus it goes into sooooo muuuuuch AutoTune. Catchy though, I don't hate it. That bass line is funky. "Glitter" is her second most streamed, with 160.9 million.
My youngest is now able to emulate that dumb oversinging, whiny sound that the pop singer girls do. She called it singing in italics. I thought that was funny. When she does it, she pretty much sounds like she is singing "oy yoooy oy eyeee oy oy." "Glitter" is from Benee's first EP, in 2019, called FIRE ON MARZZ. She has another EP from the same year, called STELLA & STEVE, which is where "Supalonely" originally appeared. Most of the rest of her songs and singles don't crack 10 million streams. Finally, she has a 7 song album from 2022 called Lychee. The top track from that one is called "Doesn't Matter," with 8 million streams.
The little warbles in her voice, and allowing the ends of lines to kind of tail off, that is some of the heavy Eilish copy thing. That whole new album is heavy on that sound. "Beach Boy" really sounds like she is saying "bitch boy." Not in love with it by any means. I'm kind of over the whole Eilish alt pop thing (if I was ever in it in the first place). Still though, I like a good New Zealander. GDAY KIWI!!!
