Car Seat Headrest (2025)

One Liner: Solo-ish guy dropped the DIY and now makes the best kind of confessional rock and roll.
Wikipedia Genre: Indie rock, lo-fi
Home: Leesburg, VA (but now in Seattle)

Poster Position: First Quarter - Line 6
Day: Saturday
Weekend Two Only (SADNESS).

T-Mobile Stage at 4:00.

Thoughts:  Saw him/them when they were last here in 2017 and it was a great show.  Well, I'll readily admit that their charisma is not their strong suit, but the tunes themselves were excellent.

Overall, I love this dude.  The backstory on the main guy (Will Toledo) is that he would go make his music in the back seat of his old car, and so he named the band after the thing that he looked at the whole time.  Makes for kind of a clunky band name, but if you just get over that and jam 2016's Teens of Denial, you'll be on board.  At first, he was self-releasing stuff on Bandcamp, but since then he's been putting out legit albums with a full band that sounds like R.E.M. or Replacements grew up listening to Black Flag or The Smiths.  The early tapes are not the stuff I'm in love with - very DIY and lo-fi - but 2015's Teens of Style and then 2016's Teens of Denial are the stuff you want to start with in my opinion.

2015's Teens of Style boasts "Something Soon" as its second-most listened-to track, at 12.2 million streams.

Those Beach Boys harmonies are killer, as is the entire tune.  I'm a fan of that thing.  When I originally looked at this album, I decided that the effects on his voice were annoyingly overused.  I'll still go with that, but I like the album more now with time.

The next album is the even better one, that made my top ten albums of the year list and still jams.  This album is actually really great.  Teens of Style was more lo-fi and dissolved, but this one has a real cohesive alt-rock/garage rock sound kind of Replacements-y ("Fill In the Blank") and sometimes Strokes-y ("Vincent") and sometimes R.E.M.-y (aspects of many of these songs) enough to be really cool sounding.  Several great songs that I still play even years after my first look at this disc - "Fill in the Blank," with 42.7 million streams, and "Destroyed by Hippie Powers," with 25.3 million streams - are both great tunes. Crunchy grungy goodness.  The breakdown and re-smashing at 4:20 in that latter song freaking rules (and includes cow bell).  But, the streaming winner is "Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales" with 65.6 million streams.

It's the second verse that kills me, before the harder tune kicks in at 3:18, which is also extra cool. "It's too late to articulate it, That empty feeling, You share the same fate as the people you hate, You build yourself up against others' feelings, And it left you feeling empty as a car coasting downhill, I have become such a negative person, It was all just an act, It was all so easily stripped away."  and then "IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE LIKE THIS!"  I'm fully prepared to yell my throat raw to that line in concert.

A likely useless aside that just popped into my head.  I went to a tiny college, where drinking was a pretty regular part of passing the time.  One drinking game in particular, named "Drunk Driver," was painfully ripe for cheating, and I can recall abusing Stephen with it when he was already too hammered to see me switching out the cards on him.  Sorry, buddy.  Glad you still talk to me.

This whole album is excellent.  "Unforgiving Girl (She's Not An)" was the first moment when I realized that this sounded very much like mid-80's R.E.M., mainly from the guitar strummage. "Destroyed by Hippie Powers" jams, especially when it breaks down into quiet at about 3:50 and then cow bell kicks in with full band roar to fire up the remainder of the song at 4:21.  "Joe Gets Kicked Out of School for Using) Drugs With Friends (but Says This Isn't a Problem)" wins the title contest and also rocks out after the intro portion.  Just go queue this album up on Spotify and check it out.

So, the band was originally just Will Toledo doing experimental stuff on his own.  Strangely, Toledo's real name is William Barnes.  At first, he recorded as 63rd Fret, Nervous Young Men, and Mr. Yay Okay, before finding his new identity.  After a year at Virginia Commonwealth, he transferred to William & Mary and released an album called Twin Fantasy.  We will talk more about that album later.  But, of note to here, he graduated, moved to Seattle, signed to Matador Records, and put together a full four-piece band as of 2015 (when those two above albums became the thing).  So, it is a good thing he grabbed the full band!   

In 2018, they re-recorded the Twin Fantasy disc with the full band, and released it back out to the public.  It is great.  I'd love to go talk to 10 year old Jack right about now, to let him know that someday, you'll listen to more than just R.E.M. and U2 and Midnight Oil, and instead you'll listen to a handful of bands where their band names sound like some complicated list of phrases you need to use the next time you play MadLibs.  This post is especially on point.  So, as a reminder, this album was actually released in 2011, to little fanfare.  If I ever heard the original tunes, I have no recollection, but these version are freaking good.  Like his last kickass album, this is full of 90's buzz bin fuzzbox guitars and his plaintive singing, but this one sounds like lyrics to a lost lover or crush.  The track they kept playing on the radio a few years back is no where near the top tune by now, which is always interesting to me.  "Nervous Young Inhumans" is that one, with 12.5 million streams, and it shows off some Beach Boy harmonies and 80's synths added in to the buzzy rock sound.

For some reason, that video is only 3:07 long, while the track on the album is 5:26.  I guess that is the more popular single edit, which is probably actually a good thing, because the last few minutes of the real track are of Toledo mumbling a long spoken-word screed.  The other track that rules is "Beach Life-in-Death," but it is 13:19 minutes long, which is a little long for the blog.  But it rules, like a multi-part song that builds and jams, then mellows out, and then builds even higher with the power pop, super-yellable chorus "the ocean washed over your grave!"  That line gets mirrored again in "Famous Prophets (Stars)," the other crazy long tune (16:10).  This album is very good.  The actual streaming champ from the album is "Sober to Death" with 71.4 million streams.

Kind of a brutal lost love song.  "Take my hands off your neck and / Hold on to the ghost of your body / I know that good lives make bad stories."

Finally, we get 2020's Making a Door Less Open.  This one lands out of left field, a little bit.  The album literally includes an EDM beat drop ("Deadlines (Thoughtful)") to go along with his normal indie rock tunes. At first, that track sounds more like an LCD Soundsystem tune, before the true EDM-ness pops in. Which, at first, was a major turnoff, and now that I've heard it a few more times, got me kind of fired up.  I just danced so hard in my crappy home office chair I worried it might crack.  Same with "Famous," where at first the heavy electronics pushed me away, but after repeat streams I've started grooving it.  But he still does good rock and roll licks, like the opening to "Hollywood," which I want to tattoo on my eardrum.  And "Deadlines (Hostile)" is back to the normal bashing indie rock that he did so well on his previous discs.  I figured that "Must Be More Than Blood" would be the hit track, with its loopy, laid back sound, but it's actually "Can't Cool Me Down," which feels like something Napoleon Dynamite should do a sweet dance routine to.  12.7 million streams (the only track on here that breaks 8 figures).

"What's With You Lately" is odd, in that it's like a minute long and sounds like an out-of-place b-side from a Grave Dancer's Union session.  The one that goes a little too much on the electro side is "Hymn - Remix," which I could do without here.  But overall, I still really like this album.  

Now, the sadness seeps in because they are only slated for second weekend.  Maybe we can convince Riize to drop out of the Fest and we can just slot these dudes into their space first weekend.  WHO SAYS NO?!?!

Doja Cat (2025) [NO LONGER COMING!!!]

Welp, NEVERMIND!

Her jenky statement she gave on social media says: "Unfortunately, I will not be performing at Austin City Limits this year. When I made the commitment I didn’t know exactly when Vie [her next album] would be released. I’ve been working on finalizing the album, making videos, taking the time to put together an album campaign that I am really excited about, and it’s become clear to me that I cannot give you guys the show you deserve within this time frame. Thank you to the ACL team for their support and I hope to see you all again soon when the time is right. I’m forever grateful for the opportunity.”

That is some bullhonkey.  I had no clue that it was going to take time to release a new album, and so now I can't come perform for an hour and a half?  I'm sure no other artist who has ever been to ACL was also releasing a new album in the month prior to the show!  That is super freaking annoying, even if it actually is good news for me because now the Killers will be here instead.

One Liner: Top shelf raunchy pop with raps that sound like Nicki Minaj

Wikipedia Genre: Hip hop, pop, R&B, pop rap
Home: L.A.

Poster Position: HEADLINER!
Both Weekends.

Sunday at 8:30 on the AmEx Stage.

Thoughts:  If you would have asked me when she was last here, I would have said 2 years.  Ends up it was 2021.  However, even though I previously wrote about her, I could not tell you a single song that she does or tell you if she has been in the news cycle at all in the years since then.  I am pretty much just going to use the last post I wrote about her, with some thoughts about new music at the end.

I feel like this is going to be a post where someone tells me to stay in my lane.  I've never understood the appeal of what little I have heard from Doja Cat.  I recall seeing some sort of Twitter dust up about her years ago and going to check out a few tracks, and feeling underwhelmed.  More recently, when my teenage daughter saw this lineup, she was excited about seeing Doja on there, so I have a feeling this is going to be a show I don't need to attend.  But, I just wrote all of that before diving into her music at all.  Let's go on a voyage of musical discovery, shall we?

Real name is Amalaratna Dlamini.  According to Wikipedia, she caught viral fame in 2018 as an internet meme when "Mooo!" became a thing about her claiming to be a cow.  Freaking weird, man.  She was born in L.A. in 1995, to a Jewish mother and South African father.  He was apparently a Broadway performer who ended up on tour and abandoned his family before moving back to Africa.  Doja has accused him of being a deadbeat and that she has never met him.  At one point, she joined a professional poplocking troupe in high school.  Which is a very funny thing to say.  She ended up dropping out of high school to pursue music.  She started surfing the internet all day, finding beats to add vocals to and uploading things to Soundcloud.

"Kiss Me More" is her top single, with a whopping 2.170 BILLION steams (up from 530 million streams in 2021).  It features SZA, FYI.  One interesting thing about the current state of music is that I have definitely never heard this song before.  Released in 2021 and apparently very popular.  It feels like a massively popular song from 1995 would have been inescapable, even if I didn't listen to that particular genre's radio station.  Like, I wasn't searching out Mariah Carey back in the day, but I sure as hell heard a bunch of her songs a million times.  But, this single is a pretty good little pop song.

Catchy, danceable groove.  And the lyrics kinda made me grin.  Also won a Grammy for Best Pop Duo Performance.  Nothing ground-breaking or new to any of it, but perfectly pleasant dance pop.  But the lyrics are also a little nasty - and a few songs later, I'm realizing that she got a penchant for some nasty lyrics.  "Dick" (I know, the title should have fully explained this) would make a great companion piece with "WAP" in the Fox News Moral Freakout Broadcast.  A lot of these tunes sing explicitly about her P and the action it receives.

Oh, wait, I recognize one of these - "Say So" has a dumb number of streams too - 1.307 billion (up from 806 million in 2021) - and is a fun little disco party that feels tailor made to do some serious roller skating to.

Oh!  I thought that Nicki Minaj was on that track - Doja's raps sound just like she is copying Nicki.  Interesting.  The groove and funk of that track is very fun.  Again, sounds like something that Dua Lipa started before.

Interesting (to me at least) aside here - I saw something on Twitter not long ago - one of those question prompts where someone throws out a prompt and then waits for everyone to respond with their answer.  Said something to the effect of "what was a lie the older generation told us."  And someone I follow answered with "that disco sucks."  Which stuck in my head for two reasons.  One, because I think that's true.  Disco is flipping fun and catchy and groovy and funky.  Two, because I saw a response that stuck in my head saying that it was racism that caused people to start claiming that disco sucked, as white folks tried to destroy the popular black music of the time.  Fascinating.  But glad it is on the comeback swing right now, because more fun is a good thing to me.

Four albums - I think the first one is the one that put me off of her in the first place.  2018's Amala starts with an ode to cunnilingus and never really moves on from that sort of crass subject matter.  The big track is "Candy," with 631.2 million streams (2021 count was 207.4).

I always find it interesting when a hit song doesn't get a video made to go along with it.  Seems like, once this one blew up, they would have come along afterwards and made a visual for people to see.  Pretty good track - the bass is great and the sugary innuendo is legit.

She's been controversial for a long time, but in 2020 she was "cancelled" (temporarily, it would appear) for some bad acting.  "While videos and photos of Doja Cat saying the N-word, stripping, and hanging out in an alleged alt-right Tinychat room went viral, internet sleuths unearthed more insensitive videos, tweets, and even music."  If you want to run through all of the controversies about her, you can read them all here.  I think she's just an insensitive idiot or looking for attention.  Actually, that doesn't even have all of her controversies, as I see that she's also said dumb shit about COVID.  I think she is just VERY online, and raised in that arena where that sort of thing was normalized.  Who knows.

Honestly, I kinda like the 2021 album.  2021's Planet Her has some fun tunes.  Dammit.  "Get In To It (Yuh)," even though the name of the song is horrible, actually made me look up from my work and check out the song name, because its a snappy good time.  And "Kiss Me More" got stuck in my head.  "You Right," featuring The Weeknd, is actually good.  Dadgum.  I had expected to be able to crap all over this stuff, but its actually good pop music.  

2023's Scarlet starts out with a tune that I have for sure heard as well - pretty sure my kids have played "Paint the Town Red" around the house or in the car.  This album definitely feels more like a rap move, and less like a pop thing like those earlier albums.  And she keeps it nasty - I'll give you one guess about the subject of "Wet Vagina."  There is still other stuff here too - "Often" makes me think of Eryka Badu.  The top track, but a lot, is that "Paint the Town Red" one.  1.4 Billion streams.

Nothing much to it, but it is obviously touching a nerve with the youths to have garnered that many streams.  TikTok, man.  I guess it is pretty catchy.

My original thought was that there is no way I'd go see this, but honestly, its better than I expected.  And on top of that, nothing else is happening on Sunday night, so I might as well go watch the rapper go to town.  This is better than I expected.

Gizmo Varillas

One Liner: Low-key Black Keys vibes for a Spanish/Welsh groover
Wikipedia Genre: Singer Songwriter, Indie, Funk, Latin, Tropical, Acoustic, Folk, Rock
Home: Wales (via Spain)

Poster Position: Bottom Quarter - Line 25
Day: Sunday.  1pm on the AmEx Stage.
Weekend One Only.

Thoughts: GIZMO KAKA!!!

Just to make sure I was getting that quote right, and there is no way I was getting it wrong because I have said that line from Gremlins about 300,000 times in my life, I googled it.  I would be embarrassed if it was actually "dudu" or something.  Anyway, the four "People also ask" items on Google, after a prompt of just "gizmo kaka", are as follows:   (1) What does Gizmo kaka mean?; (2) Why does Stripe hate Gizmo?; (3) What is Gizmo's full name?; (4) Does Gizmo have a gender?

Gizmo's full name?  Have human beings ever actually asked that dumbass question?  Really?  "Well, actually, his middle name of Terrence was given to him to honor Mr. Peltzer's great-grandfather, who was actually the first Peltzer to try his hand at the age-old pasttime of invention."  WTF google.

Anyhoo, sorry, I digress for sure.  But this is pretty sweet guitar rock action kind of like a lower key Black Keys, if they frequently lapsed into Spanish lyrics.  Guillermo Varillas Kortabarria was born in Spain but then raised in Wales.  His first single was in 2014, when he was 24 and looked like he was 11.  4 albums - 2017's El Dorado, 2018's Dreaming of Better Days, 2020's Out of the Darkness, and 2025's The World in Colour.  That last album is honestly great.  Top song on there is "End of the Line" with 1.3 million streams.

"No War," from his first album, sampled John Lennon with the permission of Yoko.  That disc still had his top five streaming songs - while his 2020 album is definitely the ignored little red-headed step-child with very few streams.  "Paraiso" from the debut disc is his top streamer at 47 million.

Reminds me of those brothers who were here last year.  Hermanos Gutierrez.  Their sound was cool as hell.  The second album sometimes has a Lord Huron flavor to it.  "The Truth Will Be Heard" very much sounds like a cover of some other song that I have heard before (but Google didn't help me figure it out).

I like it.  I'd go check it out, except that the 1pm Sunday show is a tough sell!

Royal & the Serpent

One Liner: Gothy, unpleasant electropop with some heavy metal snips

Wikipedia Genre: indie pop, electropop, pop-punk
Home: New Jersey

Poster Position: Second Quarter - Line 13
Both Weekends.

Sunday at 3:30 on the Ladybird Stage.

Thoughts: One of those sorta goth pop singers.  We've had a number of those come and go through the festival over the years.  Sort of hard to quantify, because some songs sound like EDM, some sound like lite metal, one sounds like some sort of gypsy pop.  Who knows.  Lots of goth imagery and face makeup though.  She is a featured artist on multiple of the top songs in her Spotify - rather than them being her tracks.  Things I have never heard of, like Stand Atlantic, Arcane, Slash Puppy, Sleeping with Sirens, Jutes, or Lindsey Sterling, and them some I have heard of like Demi Lovato(?!?).  The thing that makes this weird to me is that she doesn't have an especially amazing voice - why are so many other tiny artists seeking her out to add vocals to their song?

Ryan Jillian Santiago was born around the time I graduated from high school.  She was a competitive dancer as a child, until she apparently shattered both of her heels at age 14 while jumping from a stage.  Gaaaaaaah.  Don't do that!  She got into musical theater and taught herself how to play guitar.  At 18, she moved to L.A. to attend art school and bartend.  She says that the stage name translates to "Me + My Ego."  Which, errr, sure.  I guess I missed the part where she is actual royalty?

No albums, just three EPs.  2021's searching for nirvana, 2022's IF I DIED WOULD ANYONE CARE, and 2022's Happiness is an Inside Job.  We have issues with capitalization, I see.  The top song that she is featured on is one from Gayle, who was hear at ACL previously, with her catchy "abcdefu" song that somehow has over a billion streams.  The top track that is just from Ms. Santiago is a single that was featured on that first EP.  "overwhelmed" has 213.1 million streams.

Another popular track about being anxious.  Between her and Doechii, we can fire up an anxiety party for all of the youth who need a mental health break.  Don't love it.  Top track after that is "FUCKBOI REJECTS" from the second EP.  11.3 million streams and just a terrible song name.

Well, that is a weird detour into a more straight-pop direction.  Well, a dark as shit straight-pop thing, but that is a terrible song.  If Avril Lavigne had no filter and tried to out-raunch Eminem.  I thought about providing you with a new single, but honestly, if what you have heard so far is appealing, then please feel free to search that out on your own.

Flowerovlove

One Liner: Unremarkable synth pop
Wikipedia Genre: pop, rock, indie pop, indie
Home: London

Poster Position: Third Quarter - Line 14
Day: Sunday
Both Weekends.

Ladybird Stage at 1:45

Thoughts:  Dangit.  I just want a band that I can jam for a while so that I can get some work done.  Instead, I keep picking things that are either annoying or only have a few songs.  I feel like I have heard all of this lady's songs repeatedly by now, so I need to knock out this review.

Joyce Cisse is a British-Ivorian singer and model.  She won Artist to Watch at the 2022 A&R Awards and New Artist at the 2024 Music Week Women in Music Awards. In 2022, she was named one of VEVO's Artists to Watch and The Forty Five's Future Five, and named Future Artist of the Month by BBC Radio 1 in 2023, so for those who follow those random-ass-sounding awards, she's got some action.  She said One Direction's "Best Song Ever" helped her realize the "power of music… [and] creative visuals", as the group "didn't just release a song, they released a world".  Suuuuure.

Three EPs and no albums, so listening to the catalog gets you a lot of the same songs over and over as they pop back up as singles or remixes or whatever.  Top track is "breaking news," which was a 2024 single that then also popped up on the EP called ache in my tooth.  23.7 million streams.

Sweet little pop nugget of a love song.  The vocals are a little cutesy for me, but that seems to also be the thing that she is shooting for anyway.  I feel like this will be something that I forget in about three minutes. There is also a sped up version of the song, so it was likely a TikTok hit.  Prior to that video, I was treated to a commercial telling me that John Cornyn has voted with Donald Trump 99% of the time and how he makes Texas Great.  How do they think someone searching for a Flowerovlove video would have any interest in that moronic shite?  Idiots.

Only one other song cracks 10 million - "a girl like me" from 2023 also made that recent EP.  But let's go older than that since you already heard a recent tune.  "Malibu" is a 2021 single with 5.7 million streams and a MUCH cooler vibe.

Give me more of that!  Unfortunately, she doesn't.  Her hits are definitely more pop forward and less rap tracks.  Like, her newest single is called "new friends" and it just more generic synth pop.  Sounds kind of like she is trying to be like a Taylor or Chappel vibe.    I don't think I would go see this one.

Midnight Generation

One Liner: Disco-fied Daft Punk electronic pop from Mexico
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but this is disco-pop-funk-retro-electronics
Home: Chihuahua, Mexico

Poster Position: Third Quarter - Line 16
Day: Sunday.  
Both Weekends.

4:30 pm on the Tito's Stage. 

Thoughts: Man, I already used my Butterfly Effect discussion about what would have happened if Daft Punk had continued to make disco-tinged dance pop.  These guys missed the boat.  I don't know what that vocoder-ass thing is that Daft Punk used to such pleasure back in the day, but here we go again.

There was an Indian developmental feminist activist, poet, author and social scientist, named Kamla Bhasin, who "called herself 'The Midnight Generation', a reference to the generation of Indians born around the time of independence, 'at the stroke of the midnight hour...'"  Which, okay.  If you make up your own nickname, it had better be cooler than that, man.  Anyway, nothing else on Wikipedia for this band name.  But interestingly enough, these dudes are from Chihuahua, Mexico.  I would not have guessed that a retro-pop-disco-funk-electronic band, with very clear English lyrics, would hail from just on the other side of the border from Big Bend.  While their sound is overall pretty dorky and outside of my spot, I can see their live shows being a pretty damn good time.

Their first EP from 2015 looks like it is full of covers - "Hey Ya!" and "Gimme Some Lovin'" as two of the titles - but they are disco-tinged pop originals.  Four albums - 2020's Odyssey, 2023's Afterlife, 2025's Teacher, and 2025's Tender Love.  Strangely, but maybe it shouldn't be so strange in this era of weird streaming rules, the two 2025 albums share songs.  The albums don't appear to have the top songs, those are mostly singles in between the albums.  Which also seems odd, but the world is a different things now.  "Young Girl" wins the streaming with 12.2 million, which was on a 2016 EP called Funk Your Bones (Side B).

That little synth/whistle line in there feels like something that has popped up in TikTok.  It is fine, sort of sounds like a joke song that Lonely Planet would have made or something.  I think that girl is sitting in poison ivy.  Her bootie gonna be so sad.  Let's do a new one as well, this is "Don't Wait Up" from the two new 2025 albums.  3.9 million streams.

There's that robot lover crooning that I know you needed to hear.  Again, not sure that the song is all that great, but I think it would be a hell of a lot of fun to funk around to in a big dusty field with a lot of friends.

But, sadly for them, there is absolutely no way they get any attention.  At least not with anyone who likes anything I like - they are up against both Wet Leg and Rainbow Kitten Surprise.  Brutal spot for an up-and-comer.

Bebe Stockwell

One Liner: Sometimes a little Americana, sometimes a little Adele

Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but like an indie pop sort of thing?

Home:  NYC (via Boston)

Poster Position: Third Quarter - Line 17
Day: Saturday at the Tito's Tent at 2:45pm
Weekend One Only.

Thoughts:  I have been generally enjoying this, but then her weird take on Frosty the Snowman came on for like the eighth time and I was like AHHHHH, I must write this up and move on.  Also, when I started listening, I had conflated this with Bebe Rexha, the pop star with billions of streams on other people's tracks - Guetta, Garrix, G-Easy, and Florida Georgia Line.  NOT THE SAME.

Kind of an odd juxtaposition of sounds, because she sometimes sounds like a stomp/clap/hey artist, and then other times she sounds more like an Adele-lite crooner.  Not sure which one is the aim, but she also has a song with ACL Poster-dweller Hans Williams and the band that was supposed to be here recently but dissed us like jerks, Caamp.  One album, 2025's Driving Backwards.

Her top track is a 2022 single called "Love Me Back."  It does not appear on the album.

Reading the title made me start singing that old Digital Underground song with the "kiss me and I'll kiss you back" thing.  This is not that, but it is pretty enough.  Sort of unremarkable though.  I figured she was English from her sound, but that is incorrect.  Originally from Boston, but now in NYC.  She started playing music at age 5 - her dad apparently made her, her twin, and their little sister learn piano and guitar.  At 15, she attended the Berklee College of Music summer camp and really got her into songwriting and uploading things to Soundcloud.  She thought she was going to college to play lacrosse, but then had a teacher encourage her to go to the Clive Davis School and pursue music.

Her second-most streamed is from the album - "Want Me" has 2.4 million streams.

As parent to someone who has just gone through the gauntlet of college lacrosse recruiting, I'd say that going the music direction definitely seems like the right path.  Very pretty song.  Honestly, other than the "Frosty" song, I have enjoyed listening to all of this.

Zinadelphia

One Liner: Winehouse-y throwback belting that gets too much for me
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, throwback soul pop belting
Home: Philadelphia

Poster Position: Bottom Quarter - Line 23
Day: Sunday
Weekend One Only.

BMI Stage at 5:15.

Thoughts:  Kind of a fun band name.  I wonder if they make good wine in Philly?  Other than like, bathtub wine or meth wine or whatever.  Here is what I will say - first few songs, I was kind of feeling this like a lesser Amy Winehouse sort of thing.  After a few more, the brassy vocal fry sort of thing she is doing started to get on my nerves.  Remember when Fergie sang the National Anthem and smeared her vocal power all over the world's ears like so much monkey poo?  That is what I am feeling now.  Which is terribly rude, and I'm sorry to have said it, but I aim for truth here.

I am guessing her real name is Zina, and that she is from Philadelphia.  She apparently went to Temple University, studying photography and then journalism and finally media studies and production.  She was involved in the music scene by running a venue and then started making music too.  Okay, wait, I just made it to "Advice from Ray" and it is more of a slow burn tune where she isn't grating on me.  Oh no, wait, and then she started wailing like Joplin.

No albums, just two EPs - 2023's Lucky and 2024's The Magazine.  Top track is a single from 2023 called "Love Language."  8.1 million streams.

Catchy for sure.  I definitely prefer when she is understated and not trying to push her voice to its limits.  She does a version of "I Will Survive" that starts off really slow and vampy and treacly and it makes me want to crawl out of my skin.  I honestly just took my hands off of the keyboard to shake them like I was getting something gross from them and involuntarily said "ick."  I hate being rude about people coming to the Fest, but this needs to be over for my own sanity.  The top song from the new EP is "Love Over Glory," with 3.6 million streams.

The first portion, as it builds up, is appealing.  I love those horns.  And then the funk rolls in to back it up, and it sounds great.  But as she gets cranked up, I start to push back from the speakers a little.  I can see a world where this is great - strong voice with throwback soul pop stuff could really hit it out of the park.  But as is, this is a no from me.

Olivia Dean

One Liner: Powerful neo-soul singer winning awards back in London
Wikipedia Genre: pop soul, soul, neo-soul
Home: London

Poster Position: Top Quarter - Line 6
Day: Saturday
Both Weekends.

American Express Stage at 2:30.

Thoughts:  I know it should be no surprise anymore about me not knowing artists, but she's on the 6th line and none of this is familiar at all.  Just odd.  Similarly interesting, I have made it down to her live album (2024's Live at Eventim Apollo) and the crowd is singing along to every word.  So, even if this is outside of my worldview, she's got some devoted fans!

Born in London, and named Olivia Lauryn Dean because her parents loved Lauryn Hill.  She took musical theater lessons and at 15 was accepted to the BRIT School (a performing and creative arts school with a lot of famous alumni like Adele, Amy Winehouse, and Tom Holland).  At age 17, she was hired as a backing vocalist for a drum and bass band called Rudimental, but it wasn't long before she broke out on her own.  In 2021, Dean was named the breakthrough artist of the year by Amazon Music and in 2023 she was selected as BBC Music Introducing Artist of the Year.  One of my favorite things about reading Wikipedia entries about Brits is that it will invariably say what soccer team they support.  So funny.  Like, as if at the end of George Strait's entry it mentioned that he supports the Houston Astros.  Anyway, Olivia backs West Ham.

Her second song on Spotify is entitled "Just For You (L.L. Bean Christmas Advert)."  It rings a bell and is pretty catchy.  Her first big hit was a single from 2019 called "Ok Love You Bye."  100.5 million streams.

Excellent voice, catchy little tune.  Hard not to bop along!  Loads of singles and EPs and whatnot up until her 2023 album Messy.  it sounds like another album is on the way soon, but for now just the one disc.  It has her other two big songs on it, with the biggest being "Dive" at 150.7 million streams.

I've just been letting her stuff roll for the past two days as I get some work done, and it is really a nice thing.  Fantastic voice - I don't think I can go so far as to compare her to Adele, but she flashes that power here and there.

She's got a handful of new 2025 singles, so I am betting a new album is on the way.  I'd go watch this.  Not my normal thing, I would almost always angle towards the harder rock stuff, but I am interested in that powerful and beautiful voice.

Sydney Rose

One Liner: If Phoebe Bridgers only did whispered confessionals
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but indie bedroom pop
Home: Nashville (via Georgia)

Poster Position: Third Quarter - Line 18
Day: Saturday
Both Weekends.

American Express Stage at 1:00

Thoughts:  Her first single, 2020's "Home" is a cover of an Edward Sharpe song.  Pretty sure one of my best friends was coerced into doing an awkward dance at his wedding reception to the original song.  But I find it really odd that her first single would be a cover.  You'd think that you only put your own stuff out as your first exciting single.  But what do I know - she's the one with 13 million streams for her first single while I sit here with my thumb up my butt.  I was recently reminded of the sick burn from Ferris Bueller when Jennifer Grey tells Charlie Sheen to put his thumb up his butt.  Amazing stuff.

Anyhoo, this is a singer/songwriter from Georgia who found herself with time and ability to make music during the pandemic.  She had been around music her whole life with a church band and choir while growing up, but then during the lockdown she started performing covers to upload onto TikTok.  She says that Phoebe Bridgers is her favorite artist, and made a song called "Phoebe Told Me" about how everything is going to be just fine.  Now that I have that comparison in mind, I hear it repeatedly.  She got to play Lolla a few years ago when she was only 17.  An article I found about her opens with the faux deep thought of "Sydney Rose is learning that 'if nothing changes, it'll never change.'"  Wooooooaaaahhh.  I never thought about that!?!?

Two 2022 EPs, a 2023 album called One Sided, a 2024 EP and a 2025 EP.  Of note, and maybe only to me because I look at playcounts all the time now, it is her singles that popped out in between those EPs and albums that have all of the streaming numbers. Most of her songs have low stream counts. Top track is 2025's "We Hug Now" with 126.1 million streams.

You can hear it there, but many of these songs are so softly sung that I can't tell whether she's even saying words or just vocalizing gibberish.  By reading the lyrics, I can tell that is a very well-written tune about lost love and the longing for someone.  When the drums kick in near the end and it becomes a bigger song, I like that part a ton more.  Almost like two separate songs.  She does a cover of Jason Isbell's "If We Were Vampires" that annoys the crap out of me.  An amazing song, but her vocals are so whispery and thin than you can barely tell what she is saying.  Bugs me for sure.

She said that when she finished high school, she stayed home for a year, while everyone else headed off to college.  She was feeling lonely and anxious, and just writing songs in her bedroom about how she felt.  You can hear that personality and nostalgia in these lyrics for sure.  Since then, she has moved to Nashville and is significantly happier.

Her other big tune is 2020's single "Turning Page."

I'm literally leaning towards the speakers on my desk to try to hear.  SPEAK UP, CHILD!  Most of these tunes also favor a very stripped-down instrumentation - just her with a piano or guitar.  On that one above, it was sometimes hard to tell if the song was still playing.  She said that she was a quiet, self-conscious kid, and I can hear it in this music!

Probably not my thing.  Feels like it would be a lovely house concert or something, but not so much in a huge field with sweat dripping down my crack.

Next of Kin

One Liner: Three local singer-songwriters forming into a harmony-soaked Voltron
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but kind of an Indie Americana?
Home: Austin!

Poster Position: Third Quarter - Line 18
Day: Saturday
Weekend One Only.

Tito's Tent at 1:00.

Thoughts:  Just from the cover photo, I am guessing this is a pack of sisters making these sparkling harmonies.  Strangely enough, the Next of Kin band with a Wikipedia entry is a pop rock band from Braintree, Essex, England, composed of three brothers.  Makes me wonder if I have the right one that I am listening to right now.  Hmmm... ah, no, wait.  Their Wikipedia says they renamed themselves Essex County in 2020 and now record alt country music.  Which is ... intriguing...

Back to these ladies.  They are super not related at all!  I feel like I got ripped off!  KUTX says that they are Lili Hickman, Madison Baker, and Caelin (which appears to be her only name?).  Hickman is the daughter of the excellent Sarah Hickman, and was in Flora & Fawna (which was at ACL in 2022).  Madison grew up in Canton, Texas (out in between Dallas and Tyler) but got to Austin to go to UT and buried her musical talent until after she graduated.  Caelin says she came out of the womb performing and started her first rock band at 13 years old.  She claims to have been touring Belmont University in Nashville when Jimmy Lafave called her and begged her to come to Austin instead.

Only five songs, so sort of a difficult catalog to really go in depth with, but you can tell that they love harmonies.  "Jekyll & Hyde" was their first project and it has their most streams with 109k.

You can't help but think of other lady trios with great voices and harmonies - Boygenius being the easy, recent comp, although these ladies definitely lean more towards country than pure indie rock.  Great tune.

In addition to the other band that had previously used this name, when you search for Next of Kin on YouTube you get some great stuff.  British TV show, NIgerian movie, an Alvvays song.  Did you know Patrick Swayze was in a movie from 1989?  Well, now you can see how exciting that could be.

The Sawyze as Detective Truman Gates!  Throwing suckers through windows in the City!  Liam Neeson!  Freaking crossbows!  Helen Hunt!  That guy who was Jayne Cobb in Firefly!  The freaking one-armed man from the Fugitive!  How was this not the biggest movie on 1989?  Wait, what won the Academy Award for Best Picture that year.  Driving Miss Daisy?  Are you shitting me!?!

Anyway, second-most streamed tune is called "Homemaker" with 62k streams.

More killer harmonies.  Yeah, I think these ladies are definitely talented and worth going to see do their thing.  I assume they'll have more songs by then, or we'll be getting a lot of covers!

Sammy Virji

One Liner: EDM
Wikipedia Genre: UK garage, dubstep, bassline
Home: London

Poster Position: Top Quarter - Line 3 (!?!)
Day: Saturday
Weekend One Only.

Miller Lite at 7:15.

Thoughts:  I fully expected techno, and I was rewarded.  Some of this is deeply annoying, where he does the generic thing with a woman repeating the same inane line over and over into awful infinity.  But sometimes it is like he brought on a rapper and provided him with the background beat, and those can be kind of fun.

Born in London, he attended Newcastle University before he dropped out to pursue his music career.  In a very strange wrinkle in the fabric of the music industry, his father played trombone on The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.  That is a dope ass record, and a really cool bragging right.  Although when I think of it, I cannot recall where trombone was used in that album.  According to the googs, the trombone was featured on the track "Final Hour" and was played by Fayyaz Virti [sic].  Learn something new every day!  He started making his own music on GarageBand and then Logic Pro, before getting excited about dubstep and bassline.  His sold out 2023 headlining tour was named Like a Virjin.  Good shit.

Loads of music on Spotify.  His first EP was from 2017, is called Chips N Gravy, and has a gross photo on the front of french fries with brown gravy on them.  Lots of singles, and then 2020's Spice Up My Life was his first real album.  None of the songs are especially huge.  Lots more singles after that - seems like the EDM dudes don't do albums much.  Top track, "If U Need It," was a 2023 single.  87.9 million streams.

As with many of these songs, sure.  If you wanted to go groove around and dance your ass off, this would absolutely turn any willing participant into a sweaty wiggle-machine.  Is it good?  I have no clue.  Feels like I have probably heard that exact beat many times before, but I'm sure a real EDM-head would correct me and explain how groundbreaking this one is.  "Hot in Here," which grinds a classic cheerleader chant into your brain with relentlessness, is pretty okay.

Surprisingly low streams, to be honest.  After that one up above, he has two with 35 million-ish and then a few in the 10-20 range, but very few that are massive streamers.  I am guessing he makes his coin on the road and not through streaming.  Here is 2024 single "Summertime Blues" with 36.4 million streams.

Yep, sure.  A comment on the video says "YOOO, the Key change on the second drooop!!! You almost never see that these days. Sick!!"  Totally.  Can't believe I didn't notice that.  Or care.  Y'all have fun snorting stuff and boogieing.  I will be just about anywhere else.

Modest Mouse (2025)

One Liner: Delightfully weirdo alternative rock

Wikipedia Genre: Indie rock
Home: Seattle

Poster Position: 4
Weekend One Only.
Saturday.

T-Mobile Stage at 4:15.

Thoughts:  Last here in 2021, and before that in 2015.  No new music as of now, so not a ton to report on since my last post about them, except to contrast the last two times I saw them.

2021 at ACL: they were excellent.  The last time I saw them had not been impressive, so it was really cool to see them come through.  The lead singer was wearing huge headphones and looked like he was ready to start mumbling like Rain Man, but he tore the show up.  Really fun.  

2019 as the opener for The Black Keys:  I got to see them live last year, opening for The Black Keys, just before the pandemic shut everything down, and it just mainly felt like I was being yelled at the whole time.  Here is what I said about the show at the time:

"I was excited to see MM - if I've ever seen them before I don't recall it (but part of me feels like I've caught them at ACL before) - and I have a friend who loves them.  The music sounded great - I really enjoyed the semi-weirdness of their groove and the three guys all blasting percussion effects into the tunes - but the vocals sounded godawful.  Just fully washed out and unintelligible.  The guy literally could have been mumbling the word "pineapple" every time he opened his mouth, for all I could tell.  Which is too bad, because I'd like to like those guys.  Also, at one point I decided to run out for another beverage, and when I came back to my row, the single guy at the end of our row didn't move for me when I walked up with both hands full of drinks.  He was straight up asleep.  Had to bump his knee with my hand and he sheepishly jumped up.  You know the show is scintillating when someone can rack out during it!  Anyway, I was bummed about this part of the show."

So, hopefully we will get the 2021 version here!  Prior review below with updated streaming numbers.

Modest Mouse is a weird band for me.  I know I'm supposed to love them, and some of their songs are really great.  But in general, they've never clicked for me.  

On the other hand, "Dashboard" is a super fun song that makes me want to dance all over the place.  So, I know that there is something here for me, if I can just unlock it.

Modest Mouse is indie rock that became popular without me in the early oughts.  I knew their first hit or two ("Float On" and "Ocean Breathes Salty") and generally liked those songs well enough, but felt intimidated by the rest of the music to the point where I never really gave them a try.  After a concerted effort to really try it out, I have now listened to their three most recent albums a handful of times each and feel like I get it.  There are three categories I think their songs fall in to: (1) excellent funky rock that is built to be fun ("Float On," "Ocean Breathes Salty," "The View"); (2) more simple, introspective tunes ("Bukowski" "Strangers to Ourselves"); and (3) weird stuff where they let their inner freak out of the cage ("Bury Me With It," "Dancehall," or "The Devil's Workday").

Their most popular tracks are type 1, such as "Float On," "Lampshades on Fire," "Dashboard," and my favorite from their 2015 album Strangers to Ourselves, "The Ground Walks, with Time in a Box."  18.3 million streams (now up to 23.2 million).

Creeptastic video, yo.  This isn't in their top ten on Spotify, so not especially popular track from MM, but I dig the funky beat and tight cadence of the odd lyrics. That song is a good time.  And I feel the same way on the other funky, fun tunes in the catalog.

Of type 2, "The World at Large," from 2004's Good News for People who Love Bad News is the top hit, with about 52.9 million listens (now up to 74.8 million).  But I think "Missed the Boat," from 2007's We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank is the better tune.  Serious album titles, right?  42.4 million streams (now up to 67.3 million).

Kind of a Shins/R.E.M.-type sound going on in that track.  It is another good one.  I think that 2007 album is my favorite of these three.

And then comes the type 3's, none of which are represented in the most popular songs on Spotify, and which just throw me off of my enjoyment for the albums.  On the 2015 album, its definitely "Pistol" that fits this bill, which sounds like a bad Ween song.  But I'll give you "The Devil's Workday" to try on for size.  4.8 million streams (now up to 6.9 million).

Right in between the lovely "Bukowski" and the funky "The View" on the album, with this squealing, toneless annoyance of a song.

Also, because I can't just NOT give you their most popular song - this is "Float On" with 251.2 million streams (now doubled in the last few years to 502.1 million).

Good fun.  Still in heavy rotation on the radio 31 years later, and for good reason.

On the overall review of their music, if you remove those type 3's from their albums, they make good music and should be a ball to see play live.  This would be a good band to get a mixtape of from my sister, like she did with Phish 20-something years ago.  I doubt they'd even play that weird garbage in their shows.  They remind me of the Decemberists, as a group who fires out albums that aren't necessarily built for pop success, and are thick with wordy lyrics and few and far between sing-along hits, but when you dig into them, you'll find something you like.  And by the way, my experience with them only scratches the surface.  

And they put out a new album here in 2021 - The Golden Casket.  The weird thing is that I've heard the initial single a good number of times on the radio, and I honestly didn't know it was this band.  For real, close your eyes and listen to the first single - "We Are Between" - and tell me who you hear.  5.2 million streams (now up to 12.9 million).

It's the Chili Peppers, right?  It totally sounds like some weird Stadium Arcadium B-Side where Anthony Keidis is getting deep about his place in the world and Flea is trying out a new baseline.  The vocal tone of "Hello Hello Hello!" is totally Keidis.  Also, that video is hella depressing.  BUT - the tune itself is funky and bouncy and I dig on it.  Of course, the album itself opens with a #3-type tune - "Fuck Your Acid Trip" is a bad song.  I'd say overall that the album isn't great.  That one single is good, but as I plow through the rest of it I don't hear anything that really hooks me in the way the older discs did.

The band came about in 1992 in a town called Issaquah, Washington.  Which is just a fancy way of saying Seattle.  And home to Costco!  Isaac Brock was the formative member of the band, and he's the only guy who has been in the band the whole time.  Drummer Jeremiah Green is the closest, but he took a break in 2003.

I'm a big fan of this quote: The band licensed "Gravity Rides Everything" for a Nissan Quest minivan advertisement, a move that Brock has publicly acknowledged as blatantly commercial but necessary to achieve financial stability. Regarding the commercial, Brock stated, "People who don't have to make their living playing music can bitch about my principles while they spend their parents' money or wash dishes for some asshole."

They have 7 other albums from before Good News for People Who Love Bad News (1996's This is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About, 1996's Interstate 8, 1997's The Lonesome Crowded West, 2000's The Moon & Antarctica, 2000's Building Nothing out of Something, 2001's Sad Happy Sucker, and 2004's Baron Von Bullshit Rides Again).  That is a prolific output.  

Good band - I'll keep listening to them.  And I'm sure as hell going to their show at the Fest.  Let's do this thing.

ACL 2025: Friday and Saturday are Done!

Woohoo!

I have actually finished up the Friday posts a while ago, but I noticed that they added one new artist early in the day, when they released the schedules.  All of the posts for Friday now have the stage and the time and all of that, so pretty soon we'll deal with creating the schedule post!

Strangely, at least to me, is that they really haven't added anything for Friday or Saturday.  We have been spoiled in the past by additions of big time bands, but if little Chance Emerson is the best add-on we get, that will be sort of lame.

Saturday isn't entirely published, I have three more that are done but I am just holding back to space things out.  Sunday should be done soon though!

Japanese Breakfast (2025)

One Liner: Great melodic indie rock to go with thoughts of sushi pancakes

Wikipedia Genre: Indie rock, indie pop, alternative pop, dream pop

Home:  Philadelphia (although Wikipedia lists Eugene, Oregon)

Poster Position: Top Quarter - Line 5
Day: Saturday
Both Weekends.

Beatbox Stage at 7:30.

Thoughts:  She was last here in 2022, and I didn't see her, but I really wish I had.  Pretty sure we were squeezing up in the crowd to see Paramore instead.  But, I really enjoy some of her tunes.

Back in 2018 when she first came to ACL, her top song was called "Road Head" and I'm all about it.  Although, I have to say, getting up to shenanigans like that while on the turnpike exit seems like a terrible idea.  If you are needing to maneuver in any way other than driving straight ahead at the same speed, then it is honestly a better time to just take a chill pill and hold on for a few minutes.  Oh God, I'm old.  If you've thought fully through something like this, then you are officially too big of a dork and stick in the mud for anyone to even want to tear the cover off the gear shift anyway.  Anyway, that is still her second-most streamed track, at 42.8 million streams.

Huh.  I guess if death is the one giving you road head, then no one in your car really cares if you are being unsafe in the throes of your O face.  Have at it then!  Also, ramen and cigarettes?  I can't even consider this as an option.  I'd literally rather die.  That video is disturbing on multiple levels.

"Boyish" is a cool, noirish, surfish love tune.  36.9 million streams.  Peep it, the first song in this Tiny Desk concert:

Lovely.  I need an invite to all Tiny Desk concerts for all time.  I wish she would have talked more about stuff, but very nice tunes.  Different from the recordings, which are much more electronically inclined instead of acoustic.

Overall, I really like this lady.  Her real name is Michelle Zauner.  She said that the band name comes from a "juxtaposition of Asian exoticism and American culture."  Which is, uh, OK.  She apparently isn't Japanese either.  But she said she "chose the name because she "grew up relating to Japanese culture quite a bit because it felt like the closest thing [she] had" to Korean popular culture in America."  OK, that is kind of cool, then.

They also do a good cover of "Dreams," the Cranberries tune.  But I think she missteps on the auto-tune fest "Machinist."  That is about the only tune on her early albums that I outright dislike.  She also has a fun cover of "Say It Ain't So," complete with a string section, that is fun.

I'll give you one of her older tracks too.  Her early two albums, 2017's Soft Sounds from Another Planet (which includes both "Road Head" and "Boyish") and 2016's Psychopomp, are both great.  That debut album includes "Everybody Wants to Love You," her fourth most listened to track at 30.3 million streams.

Like a yelping Bjork at times, and the song is much more upbeat than the newer album.  Yeah, I'm down for this stuff.  

Next was the very good Jubilee in 2021.  This one has a little disco sparkle on top of an otherwise great indie rock sound.  "Be Sweet" is a sunshiny pop nugget of an aspirational love song.  The top track for sure, and her biggest overall streamer, with 80.7 million streams.

Kicks off kinda funky, and then the guitar and drums start to edge closer to disco, before the chorus kicks in and you are required to groove to the track and decide to honor synth-pop as cool.  It just bangs with bouncy happiness.  Jenky ass video too.  "Slide Tackle" also has that disco pop feeling.  Other tunes on here are less poppy and more indie, like the nice one that follows "Be Sweet," called "Kokomo, IN," which sounds like something you'd find on some indie budget movie's soundtrack.  "Savage Good Boy" is another standout track that makes me think of Neko Case.  This is good music.  You usually find me on this blog whining about how overly long albums are, but in this case I wish it was even longer!

Strangely, the next release is a 32 song long "video game soundtrack" for something called Sable.  Which is totally weird to have that included on Spotify.  But it is just normal, pretty music (not the beeps and boops that one might expect from a normal video game soundtrack).

Finally, you get 2025's For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women).  As per the usual, this is really pretty.  Not quite as upbeat as the prior albums (which, duh, with that title) but nonetheless I find it warmly dark.  And its not all dark!  "Mega Circuit" has a whimsical Fiona Apple-esque lilt to it that is catchy for sure.  The weirdest thing to happen in all of music this year, for my money, is the warbling addition of Jeff Bridges to "Men in Bars" for, uh, reasons.  At first, I thought maybe Elvis Costello had gone through a stroke and agreed to come back with this song, but then I saw who it was, and I guess that makes sense.  His marblemouthed delivery of lines in The Old Man definitely checks out here.  At 10 songs and 32 minutes, this disc definitely breezes by quickly.  "Orlando in Love" make me think of a Lord Huron song from a few years ago.  That's the top streamer with 5.1 million.

I don't know why but I was really hoping Orlando Bloom was going to wander out in his elf costume.  These are good songs, this is a good little set.

I'd absolutely go give her a shot in the fall.  Might be a little too detailed and pretty for a Fest show, but I want to keep hearing these tunes.

Marina

One Liner: Bad British Pop
Wikipedia Genre: Electropop, sythn-pop, indie pop, art pop
Home: Wales

Poster Position: Top Quarter - Line 6 (!?!?!)
Day: Saturday
Both Weekends.

American Express Stage at 4:30.

Thoughts:  In reading the name here, I was really hoping that this would be a band named after the place where you store boats, and not a lady singing vacuous lyrics over the top of generic pop beats.  Alas.  I have heard "BUTTERFLY" twice this morning and it makes me want to stop listening to music forever.  Let's get this wrapped up.

Marina Lambrini Diamandis, known previously as Marina and the Diamonds, is a Welsh singer who moved to London to become a professional singer.  She soon thereafter placed second in something called BBC's Sound of 2010, which brought her some fame.  She has six albums, which is somewhat shocking to me, being that I have never heard any of this.  She says that she lived in a bungalow in Wales with her mother, having a "peaceful, normal, poor" upbringing.  She moved to London and hustled for money while she went to singing auditions and met with labels.  It apparently took a while.

Her biggest song, by a ton, is from her second album Electra Heart.  "Bubblegum Bitch" somehow has 652.1 million streams.

Sounds like some 80's band that I can't put my finger on.  Missing Persons.  Remember that "Words" song?  Anyway, this track is super generic from the riffs to the lyrics.  I'm gonna pop your bubblegum heart.  Her new album includes a song entitled "CUNTISSIMO," just FYI.  Her second-biggest streamer is also from that second disc, as is her third, so let's go with fourth place, which is from her debut album.  "Oh No!" has 335.4 million streams.

The "and the Diamonds" part of her original name was not about a backing band, but is apparently just about her fans?  Which is very odd.  Anyway, that song is very bad too.  I know that the Brits have weird taste sometimes, but the number of streams on her Spotify songs is mind-boggling.  Those songs are very bad.  I had to turn that one off.  Hard no from me here.

RIIZE

One Liner: If this is what all K-pop sounds like then I am very confused how it survives
Wikipedia Genre: K-pop
Home: Seoul, South Korea

Poster Position: Top Quarter - Line 6 (!?!?!)
Day: Saturday
Weekend One Only.

Beatbox Stage at 5:30.

Thoughts:  Well, that is terrible.  I guess I have never really given any K-Pop a chance, but I can now very succinctly say that NOPE.  In an odd maneuver, there are English words that pop up here and there - like their currently most popular track is named in English - "Fly Up" - and those words are used over and over, but the majority of the lyrics used are not English?  Seems very confusing to me, but what do I know.

The group, formed by something called SM Entertainment, consists of six members: Shotaro, Eunseok, Sungchan, Wonbin, Sohee, and Anton. Originally a seven-piece ensemble, Seunghan departed from the group in October 2024.  I really like that included in those names is "Anton."  It's like a group of Asian kids and then a 72 year-old black guy are hanging out.  Their name is pronounced like "rise."  I need to just provide you with Wikipedia content, because this is so strange: "Members Shotaro and Sungchan previously debuted in SM's boy group, NCT, being unveiled as part of the lineup in October 2020. On July 1, 2022, SM Entertainment introduced Shohei, Eunseok, and Seunghan as part of their SM Rookies lineup. In November 2022, it was announced that they would star in the reality show Welcome to NCT Universe, hosted by Shotaro and Sungchan."  So freaking odd.

Whatever.  Here is their lame pop music.  "Get a Guitar" was their first single, and is still their top streamer with 117.2 million streams.

Like a terrible Disney movie song.  Dudes are cute and can dance tho!  They also have a bad song called "Talk Saxy," which is just a fact I feel like you should know.  One album, 2025's ODYSSEY - The 1st Album.  So here is the top track from that thing.  "Fly Up" has 6.8 million streams.

Again, feeling like a Korean Disney movie track.  I can just see Zac Efron dancing to it.  But like, again, why is almost all of it in Korean, but then "I don't need no fame" is in English 10 times in the middle?  After doing eight seconds of research, it is apparently to broaden their audience.  Sure.

I will not go and watch this show.  Y'all have fun.