The Official ACL Blog for like Eight People!
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One Liner: A feminist anthem and some Florence and the Machine sounds
Wikipedia Genre: indie folk, folk pop, dark pop
Home: Derbyshire, UK
Poster Position: Second Quarter - Line 7 Both Weekends. WE1 - Friday at 3:30; WE2 - Friday at 5:15
Miller Lite Stage
Thoughts: I am sometimes curious about where I get my thoughts about musicians from. Like, would my brain have located Florence and the Machine as the comp for this gal on its own? Or did that only pop into my head because Wikipedia says that she was heavily influenced by Florence, Hozier, and Ed Sheeran? I suppose I will never know, but as I listen, I feel like these songs could be passed off as Florence tunes and I wouldn't bat an eye.
She has one mega-hit - "Labour" has two versions that sit atop her Spotify list, one version with 247.8 million streams and one with 425.8 million streams. She had been releasing singles and trying the music thing since 2020, but when this song hit in 2023 it became a big viral hit because of its subject matter - a feminist anthem about the unpaid labor that women have been made to do throughout history.
Yeah, that is a really good song. The tune itself is very catchy and ready for a sing-a-long, and then the lyrics are well-done too. I should probably keep that song away from my wife.
Paloma grew up in Ashbourne, in the English county of Derbyshire, and attended Cheltenham Ladies’ College. She studied Fine Art and History of Art at Goldsmiths, University of London, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2022. England is weird with the whole "college" before going off to "university" - I wonder if we should adopt that model and then people who finish high school can say they graduated from college. Austin High College has a nice ring to it. Also, the one Premier League soccer game I have ever been to was Derby County's game in like 1997. I can't recall who they played, because our seats happened to be in the Derby supporter section, so those were the cheers we enthusiastically learned and yelled throughout the match. Good times.
She has a load of singles stretching back to 2020, but only the one album, 2024's Cacophony. I like that disc as an overall cohesive unit - feels like it should be heard in order to feel it grow and morph over its course. It appears that a new album will soon be released, as her Spotify right now has slowly growing singles that repeat the same songs after whatever the new song is. I dislike this modern style of rollout. Just do one single and then release the disc. I mainly dislike it because when I try to listen to her catalog for this blog, I end up hearing "Good Boy" nine times before I even get to her one album, since it was the first single and has been included nine times in her catalog since release. Her biggest release other than the "labour" track is called "the fruits" and was a 2022 single - 87.8 million streams.
Sort of feels like the same cadence as "Labour" without the power of the chorus. But I definitely hear the Florence feeling in there. "as good a reason" is another with Florence power and a more upbeat tune that I like. I have found myself enjoying these tunes over the past two days. I could see this show being enjoyable.
One Liner: Pop mastermind churning out eighties inspired pop bangers and some filler
Wikipedia Genre: Indie pop, new wave, alternative rock, synth-pop Home: NYC
Poster Position: Line 3 Both Weekends
Saturday at 6:15pm
T-Mobile Stage.
Thoughts: Last here in 2021, and here in 2014 before that. And here in the form of fun. before that. I'm on a run of folks who came to the Fest not that long ago. Which sometimes is a good thing, right? Like if a band is crushing it and releasing album after album of amazing stuff and we need to get them back to see it all unfold while its fresh, than that is rad. Some of these, it doesn't feel that fresh. But Bleachers just released a new album that is pretty good.
This is the project of Jack Antonoff. He came to the Fest in 2013 as fun., with that fantastic "We Are Young" song, and "Some Nights," and "Carry On." I saw that fun show and it was a good time. I kind of figured they were one hit wonder machines, but their hits were good and their cover of the Rolling Stones was way better than I would have expected. I took immense pleasure in knowing immediately that they were playing the Stones, while all of the stoned 14 year olds around me in the crowd looked confused. Suck it, teens. No, not like that. Stop.
But then that ended and he started Bleachers, and they came to ACL in 2014 in support of their new album Strange Desire. "I Wanna Get Better" was the jam off of that one. 192 million streams now.
An excellent pop jam. Highly danceable and sing-able and full of 80's synth joy. In addition to being a catchy tune, the video is funny too - "I don't know how to power clash" is a great line. "Rollercoaster" is a good tune off of that album as well. Has some Springsteen-ness to it and 218.6 million streams.
I read an article about him in Rolling Stone a few years back, because the dude has become THE MAN. He's buddies with Springsteen. He produces Taylor Swift, Lorde, and Lana Del Rey (among many others). I mean, if you get to be the guy helping Taylor be the biggest star on the planet, then you're doing things right. And he apparently even had a band before fun, called Steel Train that did really well for itself before they disbanded in the early 2000's. Talented dude. And he plays most of the music in the studio, just using the rest of the band for when he is playing live.
He was raised in New Jersey, but commuted into New York for the Professional Children's School (which sounds terrifying). His older sister has become a fashion designer, and his younger sister died of brain cancer when she was 13, when Jack was a senior in high school. He has said that influenced his entire career, which is terribly sad.
Wikipedia says "Bleachers' pop music is heavily influenced by the late '80s, early '90s and the high school-based films of John Hughes while still using modern production techniques." That is fascinating - never would have guessed this was a John Hughes stan band.
Their second album was 2017's Gone Now. The hit on there was "Don't Take the Money," with 152.2 million streams.
I don't love it. Definitely still doing the 80's derivative thing, but something about the pacing of the vocals bugs me. Maebe Funke though! I have no clue what is going on there with the bride and her hardcore friend, but I know that this is an 80's music track that is unnecessary. Just give me the real 80's music.
He's won THIRTEEN Grammys, one for "We Are Young" with Fun, as well as Best New Artist with Fun; Album of the Year for his work on Taylor Swift's 1989; Best Rock Song for St. Vincent's "Masseduction"; Album of the Year for Swift's Folklore; Best Alternative Music Album for St. Vincent's Daddy's Home; Producer of the Year, non-classical for 2022, 2023, and 2024 (?!?!); Best Pop Vocal Album and Album of the Year for Swift's Midnights (while also nominated for Album of the Year for his production on the Lana Del Rey album that year); Record of the Year for SZA's "Luther"; and Best Rap Song for Kendrick Lamar's "TV OFF". That is honestly mind-boggling. His sound has become the sound of the decade, pretty much, from rap to rock to folky pop. Fascinatingly, he is given co-writing credit on many of the Kendrick songs from the new album. Did he really come up with the words to "Squabble Up"?
But this Gone Now album should not be winning any Grammys. Its not terrible, but also not very interesting to me. "Goodmorning" rips off the sound of Crosby, Stills & Nash's "Our House." "Goodbye" sounds like a Kanye b-side beat with some weak lyrics. Nope. Don't care for it. Although, like, listening to it again right now, it dawns on me that "All My Heroes" sounds like something that could have been on one of those two new TayTay albums, just slowed down and with more acoustic guitar.
The 2021 album is agonizingly called Take the Sadness Out of Saturday Night, and the cover of it makes me think of Jeff Buckley's Grace. Springsteen comes out to holler some gravelly lines about finding tomorrow with a girl like you on "Chinatown." "How Dare You Want More" has saxophone as though it is a Bruce song. "45" starts out sounding like an acoustic Foo Fighters song, but then old Jack starts doing his semi-yelp singing pattern again and you can tell its Bleachers. The album kind of ends with a whimper - I definitely prefer the fun 80's bouncing tunes to the sad sack introspective stuff. Like, "How Dare You Want More" is a fun, snappy little tune, and the "Stop Making This Hurt" track is the winning spot on the album. 29.1 million streams.
Its that bouncy piano riff backed up by the little horn squonks that make it seem like you just need to dance to this tune. Heavy dose of 80's joy right there (even as the lyrics point at a darker moment behind that joyful sound). I don't love the whole album, but there are some bright spots like that one in here.
Next, after a few years because the guy was freaking busy winning all the Grammys, you get an eponymous album, 2024's Bleachers. You know how everyone thinks that "Blinded by the Light" is a Springsteen song because it sounds so much like the Boss? Well, you can welcome "Modern Girl" on this album into that club of songs that so shamelessly rips off the Springsteen schtick that it is overwhelming. Saxophone and guitar riffs! Even steals the little xylophone hits. It's for sure the most popular track, so just check it out for yourself. 43.2 million streams.
I say all of that as though talking smack, and yet its a blast of a song. Rip off or not, but its a pure party locked into there. There are some other good rock bops on here as well, like "Tiny Moves" is fun too. But some of this album veers into the boring Taylor Swiftian world that Jack Antonoff has been foisting on the world for a while now, and I don't need any of that anymore. Like, the one with, I think, Lana Del Rey on it (no contributor is listed on Spotify), is like a mopey ripoff of "My Hometown" that I definitely don't need. The Vampire Weekend-ish autotuned "The Waiter" is also unneeded. It's too bad, this album has some good bits, but also some misses for sure.
There was another 2024 album in the midst of this that I never noticed. Looks like no one else did either, only two songs with more than a million streams and multiple with less than half a million. Wonder if it was like a b-sides collection or something? Ah, no, it was a re-recording of their debut album. That is a weird thing to do.
Anyway, they have released 2026's Everyone for Ten Minutes here recently, and it generally tracks the rest of the catalog (although there is really not a major bop on it). The start of "the van" sounds like he is about to release a rap track about growing up hard on the Jersey shore. Then it turns into a 70's groove. "you and forever" comes on like a weird remix of Do-Re-Mi. That is the top streamer with 9.3 million.
There is a lady who felt like she was doing that same sort of thing outside of my office window the other day, bending down on her patio to shave her dog's legs while wearing only a t-shirt and a thong. It is not a very happy seeming video or song.
One Liner: An under-the-radar-feeling pop artist with some downbeat tunes
Wikipedia Genre: indie pop, dream pop, art pop, electropop, dance-pop
Home: Ystad, Sweden
Poster Position: First Quarter - Line 4 Both Weekends. Saturday at 7:30
SnapChat Stage
Thoughts: I figured that this one might have been here before, but the only thing I found that I have written about her was this blurb, taken from my listen to the Grantland Top Ten Albums of 2014 article written by Stephen Hyden:
8. Lykke Li - I Never Learn "When Swedish pop singers cry, even the tears come out looking perfectly crafted." Yeah, this is a really pretty album - she's got a great voice. But I doubt I would ever listen to it again after the three chances I just gave it.
That was a true statement. Definitely never listened to that again. I used to do a really good job of listening to a handful of top ten lists from each year and giving my own opinion of them, but I found that the writers felt (to me) as though they were reaching farther and deeper into the well of music to find something they could champion that was edgy or unknown and so I'd end up listening to some really crappy stuff so that they could justify their label as a music critic. "No one else put The DeepSharts on their year-end list, I am truly above my peers."
And so, we are left with yet another pop artist up here at the top of the poster. Le sigh. Li Lykke Tomotej Zachrisson is the daughter of Zilverzurfam, a member of the Swedish punk-reggae band Dag Vag. I bet that band's music freaking suuuuuucks. Their top song is "Popitop" with 5.8 million streams, and indeed, it is freaking terrible. I guess it came out in 1983, and so what do you expect, but it sounds like the Swedish Chef trying to sing a Madness B-Side. I find it delicious, but it wort of sucks that someone included that into her Wikipedia as though it should matter at all. Her family moved to Stockholm when she was a toddler, and later lived in Portugal, Lisbon, Morocco, Nepal, India, and Brooklyn. She returned back to Brooklyn when she was 21 to record her first album.
In addition to six albums, she has acted in two movies and appeared as a model in multiple ad campaigns. Funny enough, at least to me, her Wikipedia's awards section shows ten nominations and two wins for the "Grammis" which are apparently the Swedish version of the Grammy Awards. No actual Grammy nominations or awards. She has contributed songs to lots of other projects too - FIFA 09, The Twilight Saga: New Moon soundtrack, Pretty Little Liars, The Vampire Diaries, the Teen Wolf tv show, The Fault in Our Stars soundtrack, the U2 album Songs of Innocence, and Divergent Series: Insurgent soundtrack.
2008's Youth Novels is actually an interesting disc. This doesn't sound like a Swedish Pop Star pushing for dance floor dominance. Instead, it sounds more like someone who has lived all over the world and now come to Brooklyn to work with one of the Peter Bjorn and John guys to make a really good album of indie music. "My Love" just made me look up from the work I was doing to make sure this was still the pop that I thought I was supposed to be listening to. There are real instruments supporting her solid voice here, and I dig those tunes. There are also ones with synths and drum machines ("Complaint Department," looking at you) but this is unexpectedly solid.
2011's Wounded Rhymes is sort of the same, but also has some girl group type songs, not sure what you call that, but like the doo-wop stuff from the 60's, mixed into indie pop? A little weird, but another album that I sort of enjoyed today. It also happens to have her most popular song, which is sort of a weird one, because it really doesn't strike me as a hit. "I Follow Rivers" has 230.3 million streams.
Definitely rushes in poppier than some of the other stuff on the disc, which maybe re-ordered her whole sound for the future? Who knows. But the lyrics are kinda whack with the following and the strained metaphor with the river and the deep sea baby? Huh. Oh well. That 2014 album I mentioned above, when I tried it again, sounds a lot like something that Lana Del Rey would have put out more recently. Sort of cinematic and sad.
Then 2018's so sad so sexy is the next album, and this feels like where she leaves behind the beauty and embraces the machine. This was apparently released after the difficult time of her son being born and then three weeks later her mother dying. I am sorry for her loss, but "sex money feelings die" is a bad song. Of course, it is her most streamed song with 267.8 million spins.
The vocals are annoying. The beat is generic. The chorus is like something that Gwen Stefani left on the cutting room floor because it was too dumb for even her. I am guessing it was used on TikTok a billion times by people trying to be deep or something. 2022's EYEYE wasn't very popular in the streaming department - feels like she tried to back away from the pure pop thing to delve into more sadness and strange effects (like one of these songs like The Cure being played backwards maybe) and was not rewarded for it. Or, like, she tried just writing a soundtrack album for a Bladerunner sequel that never materialized? It is an odd, outlier album.
The 2026 disc really isn't much to get excited about either. 24 minutes long, several of the songs are, again, pretty quiet and downbeat. "Lucky Again" has a little more funk to it, but not enough to really get me excited. Sort of sounds like the kind of song that Madonna would have made recently. Which reminds me that I need to go hear her new album. Supposed to be good. Hopefully it is better than this.
She's not bad for a pop star. I don't know why the lack of any Grammy nominations is sticking in my head, but it just seems indicative of a lack of real star power here. This feels like a niche that most people aren't even missing.
One Liner: "Royals" and all downhill from there...
Wikipedia Genre: Alternative pop, electropop, indie pop, synth-pop
Home: Auckland, New Zealand
Poster Position: Headliner Both Weekends. Saturday at 8:15
T-Mobile Stage
Thoughts: Last here all the way back in 2014 in support of her mega-hit 2013 album Pure Heroine. The one with "Royals" and "Team" on it. And apparently "Ribs," which I do not recognize at all and yet has 1.1 BILLION streams, just less than "Team." Weird. I do not see that I did a review of her back then for the 2014 lineup. I was less insane back then, apparently. But, in case you have been living under a rock, this is "Royals" with 1.5 BILLION streams.
She was very pretty in that video (cringes because she was like 17). A friend reached out to me the other day, he and his daughter were discussing the most annoying songs of all time, and he wanted my top three. Without spending a lot of cogitation, I fired out Billy Idol's "Mony Mony," Aqua's "Barbie Girl," and George Strait's "Check Yes or No." I also mentioned the entire catalog of Imagine Dragons. he responded saying that for him, it was absolutely "Royals" in the lead with zero challengers and the song made him want to kick her in the balls.
Meanwhile, for me, I have a really nice memory of that song because of a friend who has since passed away. I liked the song just fine when it came out, but that fall, we had a big college Homecoming of some sort. Some of us put together a bigger event, rented out a brewery, and collected a bunch of friends. Well, Tate, my now-deceased buddy, kept taking over the music so that he could play this song over and over because he just thought it was the coolest thing he'd ever heard.
And to this day, I just think it is an excellent song. I know that it was overplayed to death, but the bass and finger snaps are very cool, and the lyrics are super interesting. I think it is a great critique of the materialistic culture of the pop/rap world, where she explains that she's not like that, but its what everyone seems to act like is normal. I find that to be smart. Unfortunately for me, that is just about where my pleasure ends here. Before I get to that, let's go background.
Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor was born in 1996 in Auckland, New Zealand. Her mother was a Croatian poet and her dad an Irish engineer. She caught someone's eye at a school talent show performance as part of a duo, she and the friend then got to perform on a big NZ radio show, the friend's dad sent the recordings to a A&R executive, and Ella was signed to Universal when she was 13. Which is an insane sentence to write. The poor friend! He got the shaft! Her first EP was released in 2012, when she was 16, included "Royals," and it went insane. Nine weeks on top the US Hot 100, #1 in many regions, sold 10 million units to become one of the top selling singles of all time. it also won two Grammys.
Also on the first album, "Team" is good, and "Tennis Court" was okay. Then it was to her second album, which I reviewed back then:
Lorde - Melodrama. [2017] Like most other folks, I very much enjoyed her first album and the quirky, clever writing and her ability to take a trope to the shed and make something interesting out of it. I'm not so sure about her these days, after becoming part of Taylor Swift's squad and living the pop star life. She has squeezed a few of these tracks out over time before the full release of this album, and while some friends thought "Green Light" was good, it sounds super derivative of a load of other pop stars right now, very uninteresting to me. Really reminds me of that Jess Glynne song from a few years ago - disco-fied, brassy pop. Not a fan. [763.6 million streams in 2026]
Meanwhile, its got 182 million streams, so other people still like it. I don't know, its like she used to be the opposite of the Katy Perry-type pop star, but then she just jumped right onto the wagon and embraced that sound instead of keeping the moody, clever outsider thing going. Maybe it was working with the fun/Bleachers guy, but this seems much less appealing to me. Bits of the rest of the album sound better, especially when you hear her still writing great lyrics, but the tunes themselves leave me wanting something else. Like the other hit I've heard on the radio some, "Homemade Dynamite," which has some kind of cool couplets of lyrics: "Might get your friend to drive, but he can hardly see, We'll end up painted on the road, Red and chrome, All the broken glass sparkling, I guess we're partying," but the song itself is some generic pop pablum with her lame-sounding stuttered pronunciation of the song title. Seems like an album that would be good to read, even if it isn't so great to hear.
So, you're saying you loved, it, huh, Jack?! Not so much. But what did you think about 2021's Solar Power?
Lorde - Solar Power. I'm going to fully admit that I have stared for an unacceptably long time at the cover of this album, trying to discern if I find this acceptable, too much, shocking, titillating, or any other number of thoughts. I don't think Judge Breyer would call it porn, but he might. But I keep looking. As for the music itself, I hate this album with the power of the sun itself. I really liked "Royals," that is still a freaking brilliant song. But nothing on here is even good. I find it interesting that Jack Antonoff was so involved in it, because his super power is to popify everything to a grand sheen that doesn't even look shiny despite being near perfect. Instead, these sound both boring and thrown together. Entirely uninteresting. The title song tries to fire up a touch of dopamine, but its like she just copied someone else's happy music without actually putting her own back in to it. That is the top streamer, but I'm going to give you a different one that has the third most streams but more fully reflects the rest of this album with semi-nonexistent accompaniment. This is "Mood Ring." 27.7 million streams [now up to 88.3 million].
"Don't you think the early 2000's sound so far away? ayy ayyya yyayyyayayyyyyayy" Ugh. Sounds like a bad Brittney Spears song that never made it onto one of her albums. "Let's fly somewhere eastern, they'll have what I need" (while she looks knowingly at the camera) is just yucky. Nope. Hate it.
So, yeah. Wasn't feeling the vibe on that one either. And after that, I just quit trying. She has one more album, 2025's Virgin, and I never even tried it. Looks like most of the world generally agreed with that stance. It's got one big hit, another with good stream count, but then some songs didn't even break 20 million. Which, yeah, other artists would kill for, but the stream counts on Melodrama and Heroine crush that. "What Was That" has 170.4 million streams.
I have for sure seen that video though. Can't recall why or when, but I definitely didn't review this one. She looks like a crazy person and the song is very boring.
I am honestly surprised that she only has four albums in all of that time. I figured I would come here and realize she had a handful I had not tried. Recently, I remember seeing her in the news because she yelled about Palestine on stage and then pulled all of her music from Apple Music in Israel. I'm sure they were crushed.
Meanwhile, my 15 year old went to her show at the Moody Center somewhat recently, and came back saying it was incredible. Best show she had ever seen. So, who knows. It's not like the other headliners are worth a damn, so maybe I'll be over on the Lorde train with all of the teen scene after all.
One Liner: Pop that actually got me pulled in Wikipedia Genre: pop, alternative pop, electropop Home: London Poster Position: Bottom Quarter - Line 20 Day: Saturday at 5:15 Second Weekend Only
BMI Stage
Thoughts: Out here messing with the "u comes after q" rules, while also making me sing her name as though she was the title character in a Stankonia track.
Chloe Qi Sha Lim was born in Malaysia and attended school in Kuala Lumpur until moving to England to go to a boarding school. She attended university and ended up with a degree in Psychology and a Masters in Communication. During that time, she started uploading song covers to YouTube. She calls her music "nostalgic alternative pop" and cites influences like ABBA and Troye Sivan (I have heard that name but it rings no bells). She also says "Teenage Dream" is the "backbone of my catalogue." Which, sure? "Baby Girl" actually has some Katy Perry funk bass in there that reminds me of a different Katy Perry song. What is the one where they chant TGIF? "Last Friday Night," that is the one.
No albums, just EPs from 2024 and 2025 and then a pile of singles. Biggest track without a doubt is "21st Century Cool Girl" with 10 million streams.
That opening piano, and maybe just because the mighty Dolly Parton passed away today, is giving me "9 to 5" vibes. I wonder if intentional? The voice and lyrics sound more like one of the confessional love songs of Olivia Rodrigo. I like it. "Evelyn" has a Rodrigo sound too - leaves some of the synths and Katy Perry thing behind for banging drums and some riffs.
Her current most popular track is the 2025 single with a great name - "Sex, Drugs & Existential Dread" with 4.9 million streams.
That one sounds like St. Vincent on that MASSEDUCTION album. She also really likes to hang out in her panties in her videos. The song is pretty fun either way...
I have actually enjoyed her. I figured someone with a Katy Perry song as the backbone of their artistry was going to be terrible, but I keep finding myself grooving along.
One Liner: Dreamy, torchy, Americana and indie tunes from Abilene, of all places
Wikipedia Genre: Alternative rock, dream pop, indie rock, Americana
Home: Abilene, Texas
Poster Position: Third Quarter - Line 16
Weekend One Only. Sunday at 1:15 pm.
T-Mobile Stage.
Thoughts: That is a weird list of Wikipedia genres. I would generally say that I do not want for my alternative rock bands to also play dream pop. Also strange, the second artist from Abilene this week. NEW LIVE MUSIC CAPITAL OF THE WORLD!!!
Solya Ava Lowe is all of 20 years old - born in 2006! - who began playing piano at age six and later figured out the guitar and synths. She started by releasing her own music as a teenager, but then signed with a label and got started on her album by recording in Lockhart, Texas. She's really trying to keep it real with the small-ish Texas towns. As I listen to the tunes, I guess I understand the weird genre mixture up there. Because some of this sounds sort of like Lana Del Rey doing Lucinda Williams, while other bits feel more straight indie rock. It's odd, but I like it better than a lot of the pop stuff that has been on this area of the poster.
A 2023 EP, a 2024 EP, and then the 2026 album Queen of Texas. None of the songs on the new album have really blown it up just yet, only one cracks three million streams. "Movie Star."
Torchy little tune. Nice background music, not entirely sure it would be a tune that I would go out of my way to go and see played live in a field at 1 in the afternoon though. Her biggest streamer is a 2023 single called "Tear Me Apart" with 12.2 million streams.
You could almost see this being a mid-90's tune from some female-led rock band who will be playing the Lilith Fair. Or maybe a Mitski song. It is overall a kind of fun change of pace from a lot of the straight pop on this poster, where you can hear real instruments being played and arrangements of them that are sort of cheeky and fun. But also, not so sure I see myself getting there early for this one.
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, this is R&B-ish pop
Home: Toledo, OH
Poster Position: Third Quarter - Line 16
Weekend One Only. Sunday at 2pm.
Beatbox Stage.
Thoughts: Just the first song already has \me turned off to this one. Very overly breathy and affected voice on top of generic pop sounds. The tiny bio I found on Apple Music says "Ashlee Britton Robinson aka Britton is [sic] blends R&B and electronic-influences [sic] into her own emotionally vulnerable and sonically layered alt-pop." Another bio paragraph claims she is from New York and is making waves in the indie pop market. Another agrees that she is from Toledo, Ohio, who moved to L.A. in 2020 to pursue music full-time and claims that her music lives at the intersection of dark pop confessionals and cinematic vulnerability. WTF does that even mean? But here is why she was signed to a music label - "Britton comes to Position with an impressive following across streaming and social media with 1.4M+ on Tik Tok, 316K+ on Instagram, 220K+ on YouTube and 200K+ on Spotify."
All singles from 2018 to 2026, when she finally released an album - Loving You Almost Killed Me. No song on the album has more than 3.1 million streams. One of her singles, 2021's "To My Younger Self" is the big hit, with 24.2 million streams.
Well that shit is super depressing. I also find that sort of song very off-putting - maybe it helped someone going through a hard time and was great to help! But it also feels like a money grab of someone cynically trying to figure out how to get a viral hit by mentioning mental health and platitudes about being a survivor. Maybe I am the cynic.
The biggest tune on the album is "clawmarks" with 3 million streams.
That does nothing for me at all. I find it fascinating that the first handful of YouTube comments are all stuff like "I guess I'll play this on repeat for the rest of my life" or "your voice is so angelic and pure every song is something different and there all very relatable" or "this is a masterpiece." Not for me, Russian bot commenters! Hope y'all enjoy your time at the BeatBox stage!
Speaking of the Beatbox drinks? Woof. Those things taste like butt and will turn an otherwise enjoyable music listening experience into a blur. We got a handful of them for free one year and, because I am a cheap bastard who would not want to waste alcohol (even if it does taste like truck stop air freshener), I fired those suckers down and then lost the next few hours. Avoid.
One Liner: Folky, chill pop that feels like many things I have heard recently
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but this is folky pop
Home: Charlotte, NC
Poster Position: Second Quarter - Line 12 Weekend Two Only Sunday at 2:45
American Express Stage
Thoughts: I literally just saw the guitar on the cover of his top single and went "thank God." And then started playing it, and thought to myself - how can all of these bands sound so same?! There is a banjo in here, but I'm getting AJR vibes, or maybe Mt. Joy vibes, from this guy. His banner photo on Spotify cracks me up, because he is standing before a large crowd, guitar over his shoulder and arms stretched wide, as though this is some big moment in a show. And yet the people in the audience are mainly just blankly staring at him. Like, he might have just explain how to amortize a mortgage, for as much fun as those people seem to be having.
Sometimes, when reading about these artists, I feel the same way as I do when I read a horoscope. "oh wow, yeah, that does sound like me! Crazy how these very generic horoscope descriptions seem to always relate to me!" Here is the intro to a short bio on his label's page: "Music goes beyond skin deep for Ethan Regan. Piercing the surface, he’s not just singing and playing guitar; he’s laying his emotions bare, getting out those words that we don’t always say when we should, and practicing the best kind of therapy—out loud. As a vocalist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer, the North Carolina native shapes each facet of his artistry, architecting soundscapes, performing every part, and belting right from the soul. Sonically, he fuses gentle, yet heartfelt folk with alternative experimentation, going as far as to pull inspiration from rock, hip-hop, and funk." I feel like I have read something similar about half of the artists on this poster.
He took guitar lessons as a young kid, but was generally uninterested until he saw a clip of Damien Rice performing at a festival. He learned how to self-produce on the computer and started making little DIY clips, and once he was in college at Penn State he got a viral hit on TikTok with "Durham." That track has 5.1 million on Spotify, but is no longer in his top ten most popular tracks.
I'm playing the new album now, and I am coming around to this a little bit more. Kind of a Jack Johnson vibe in some of these, like a chill, relaxed groove in here. Got some whistling, some banjo, some bongo drums... "spring cleaning" is the top of that pile. 1.65 million streams.
He's got a piggie! We had a "pot-bellied pig" in college that ended up not being a pot-bellied pig at all. My friend Greg's family adopted Smokey once we realized we were too irresponsible to care for her, and later Greg's now-wife had to help to bury the absolutely massive, full-size hog. Very funny story. Anyway, a nice little ditty. His top streamer is actually a 2023 single that didn't make it on to any of his albums or EPs. 13.9 million streams for "secrecy".
A little more quiet and folky. "cartilage" makes me think of Gigi Perez. Overall, I have enjoyed listening to this as the days have spooled by. It is significantly better than much of this poster, but still not sure that this is where I would head during this hour.
One Liner: Heavy vibrato pop Wikipedia Genre: R&B, pop, synth-pop Home: Carman, Manitoba, Canada Poster Position: Third Quarter - Line 15 Day: Friday at 2 (WE1); Friday at 2:45 (WE2) Both Weekends.
WE1 - Miller Lite Stage; WE2 - American Express Stage
Thoughts: The heavy vibrato brought Miley Cyrus to mind in the first song. Her biggest song gets a major assist, with John Legend appearing to give the song some piano mastery and his voice under her warbling. "Minefields" has 250.5 million streams.
Of course, it shows her sitting at the piano. Which, I don't know, seems like a mistake? Am I getting the piano kingpin or am I getting this unknown lady?
So, that is her real first name, and she was born in Morocco in 2000. She then moved to Canada at the age of one, but says that her family maintained a Moroccan connection and lifestyle. When she was 13, she started posting covers on YouTube that received hundreds of thousands of views. When she was 15, she won Song of the Year, the Audience Award, and Grand Prix at something called La Chicane Electrique. That was followed by other awards I have never heard of, including the Nashville Unsigned Only music competition. In 2023, she was one of the recipients of the Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Awards. Which, wut? They have a whole awards program just for immigrants? Seems weird, eh?
But it appears that some of the heavy vibrato is just the influence of Arabic music on her version of English pop. And some of that really makes her more interesting. Listening to "PEACE AND VIOLENCE" right now and I like the little trills and influences from (what little I know of) Arabic music. Just one album, 2025's Film Noir, and a few EPs and singles before that. The top song from her album is "UNETHICAL" with 63.1 million streams.
This was that first song that made me think of Miley. It is very cinematic, very dramatic. Overly so for me - I would not go out of my way to listen to this sort of thing when just trying to hang out. It is sort of stressing me out right now, in fact. "Tears of Gold" is just a little much for this relatively chill afternoon as I try to work. I am good on this one.
One Liner: Just in case you wanted more weird EDM, you are in luck!
Wikipedia Genre: hyperpop, pop-punk, dubstep
Home: San Francisco
Poster Position: Second Quarter - Line 10 Weekend One Only. Sunday at 3:30
BeatBox Stage
Thoughts: Kill me now. April Harper Grey is another dubstep producer. She will apparently open for Charlie XCX on tour this year. She said that her inspiration and early influences was Skrillex and 100 Gecs. Two influences that make sense since I immediately dislike these sounds. She is also a trans woman.
Her early releases don't have that many streams, but by the time of the 2021 album fishmonger, she started getting a bigger audience. Her biggest recent song that is just her is a single that was added to her new 2026 album called U. "Music" has 8.3 million streams.
Very annoying, very nervy and stressful-sounding. Maybe this sounds just like Charlie XCX? I guess I will find out sooner or later when I listen to her. But that song feels like she wanted to copy Madonna but make it ten times worse. Her biggest streamer isn't actually her song, she is just featured on a track by something called Oklou. Let's go older for one song and give you the top track from fishmonger, "Spoiled little brat." 10.7 million streams.
Terrible pop punk. I was expecting for that one to be more of the Skrillex thing, not tragically awful high school talent show level dreck. Definitely will not see this.
One Liner: More bedroom pop with a big TikTok tune
Wikipedia Genre: pop, rock, R&B
Home: California
Poster Position: Second Quarter - Line 9. Both Weekends. Sunday at 3:30
Miller Lite Stage
Thoughts: She was last here in 2022.
Another TikTok star, as Wikipedia says that she came to "wide recognition" when a song went viral on TikTok. She's then released two EPs since then. But, at least her story is a little different. She hadno idea that she had gone viral, which seems much nicer than the folks who are doing it in a deeply calculated way and trying to go viral every step of the way. Her friends texted her that she was blowing up and when she checked it out she had over 300k videos using her song, and then had to let everyone know it was hers.
Kind of generic bedroom pop with guitar, although most of these songs are catchy fun. The big tune is "Backyard Boy," with 330.5 million streams (up from 193.2 in 2022).
Oh, wait. Is she like 8 years old? Her Wikipedia didn't list an age, but now that I see this video, she looks like she's in Middle School. And that whole entire video feels like she's aiming for further TikTok dances to be attempted. It's a cute little tune - nothing much to it - but catchy and cute.
Her father was an Icelandic composer, producer, violinist, and jingle writer. Wikipedia says that some of his notable compositions for film and TV include "The Whole Truth" and "The District." Sure. Those. Her Spotify bio just says she makes music with her dad, which is wholesome. She has something called synesthesia, which apparently causes her to envision shapes and colors in response to auditory input. That sounds fun! Maybe it would be awful, but it sounds like free drugs for life!
A 2022 single I like just because it reminds me of a funny story. Many years ago, one of my co-workers sent an e-mail to several of us at work that said it was too pretty [outside] to work today. I misread it as her telling us that she was too pretty to do any work today, which has been a consistent inside joke for us ever since. Good times. So, Claire girl put out her single called "i'm too pretty for this," and it reminds me of the same.
Seems like she shouldn't cuss when she's still in middle school. But, I'll give her credit for another catchy little ditty. As a dad, I really don't like her riding in that pickup bed with her back against the tailgate. That sucker could pop open at any time and spill her out onto the highway. Come on, Ragnar! Protect your baby!
Since those early songs, she has grown up a little on 2023's Just Because and 2026's Lover with a little more pop and cursing. Some of it veers too far into the R&B world for me. But nothing on either of those albums is anywhere nearly as popular as her early hit. The top song from either of those two is "Dancer" from the 2026 album. 14.3 million.
Feels like she is aiming for an Olivia Rodrigo vibe. I could see that tune being fun to boogie to at the Fest in a few months. More than likely I would not go see this, but I would suggest it to my kid who will be there for weekend!
Poster Position: Third Quarter - Line 14. Both Weekends. Sunday at 2pm
Snapchat Stage
Thoughts: Since I note the year when artists come, when they are repeat customers, up there in the title, this one looks funny because now it looks like they are coming to play in the year when I graduated high school. But that is apparently part of the band name. They claim that their first song was written on a Sunday, and the 1994 references both the birth year of the lead singer and the aesthetic their music is after.
Has kind of an early 90's dream pop, new wave vibe - maybe that is shoegaze? - and sometimes the singer sounds pouty the way that Gwen Stefani does and sometimes she makes me think of the Best Coast singer. They are a very international outfit with a singer from L.A. (who was formerly in something called Xylo), a guitarist from Slough, England (formerly in Viva Brother and Lovelife), and a drummer named Puma who is from Lima, Peru. The singer and guitarist met in 2014 and were collaborating together, writing music for others, before the pandemic hit and they started making their own stuff and shoving it onto TikTok.
They sort of have two albums, although what they did is release an UP and then later add some more songs to that and call it an album. I just want people to release normal albums, man. I also am a little torn on this - on the one hand, I am very tired of every band on this poster being some form of indie dream pop with female singer - but on the other hand I have enjoyed this music being the unobtrusive background music for a morning of work. But that is part of the problem - will this be any fun in a sweaty, dusty park setting? Feels like something you chill out with, not something you get hyped for in a crowd.
Top track is "Tired Boy" from the 2024 self-titled EP (and then deluxe repackaging that same year). 5 million streams.
See what I mean? Lovely little tune to soundtrack another activity where it won't bother your concentration because it will just make for pretty background noise. We'll do one more just for more context. This is "Rain" from the 2025 EP/album Devotion. 2.1 million streams.
That shot of an orange tree just made me think of an article I just read. Did you know that all of the orange groves in Florida are dying? Like, all of them? Some new disease that causes the oranges to stay green and fall off of the tree early because the vascular system of the tree gets choked off. And apparently 100% of the trees have the disease. Insane. Anyway, another gently pretty little tune to vibe out to.
Don't think I would go see this. Maybe in a little club with seats or something, but I'm not catching the vibe for mega Festival.
Wikipedia Genre: Alternative R&B, dance-pop, house
Home: Wheatley, Canada
Poster Position: Second Quarter - Line 10 Weekend One Only. Saturday at 2pm
SnapChat Stage
Thoughts: More stinkin' R&B. On the 10th line! So, instead of writing another depressed screed in which I admit repeatedly that I know nothing about R&B, I give you Claude's version.
Background: Rochelle Jordan is a Jamaican-British singer born in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England, on October 21, 1989, who moved to Canada at age 4 and was raised primarily around Toronto. Her sound blends alternative R&B, dance-pop, and house, and more broadly draws on hip-hop soul, the Missy Elliott/Timbaland collaborations with Aaliyah, deep house, drum'n'bass, and UK garage. She's cited that eclectic upbringing directly: her father, a drummer, introduced her to Northern soul, Jamaican reggae, and dancehall, while her older brother's collection exposed her to UK house, drum and bass, and garage.
Jordan started out uploading R&B cover songs to YouTube at 16 after being inspired by Justin Bieber, and producer KLSH discovered her through those videos in 2009. They went on to release the mixtape Alien Phase in 2010, followed by Rojo (2011) and Pressure (2012), before her debut album 1021 arrived in 2014, written and recorded in her bedroom after she'd moved to Los Angeles. After a seven-year hiatus, she returned with her second album, Play with the Changes, in April 2021, then a third album, Through the Wall, in September 2025.
Top two songs by Spotify streams:
"Lowkey" (from 1021, 2014) — her biggest streaming song by a wide margin, currently over 38 million streams.
YouTube:
"Lover/Friend" (with KAYTRANADA, 2023) — her second-most-streamed track, over 20 million streams.
YouTube:
Interesting details:
She has toured with Jessie Ware and provided background vocals for Childish Gambino's "Telegraph Ave." on his Grammy-nominated Because the Internet.
Her single "Follow Me" hit No. 1 on Billboard's Next Big Sound chart in early 2014, and her track "Losing" from Pressure was later sampled by rapper IamSu! on a song of the same name.
She's also lent her voice to Adult Swim's Black Dynamite, voicing Cindy in the episode "How Honeybee Got Her Groove Back."
She's dealt with sickle cell anemia since early childhood, something she's spoken about as shaping her resilience as an artist.
There you have it. If you are super into R&B, then I hope that you have fun watching her!
One Liner: Dime store Billie Eilish (except better)
Wikipedia Genre: Electro-pop, EDM Home: Tel Aviv, Israel
Poster Position: Second Quarter - Line 10 Both Weekends.
Sunday at 5:30
BeatBox Stage
Thoughts: Last here in 2021, so here is mostly that review, and then a little added on to address her more recent releases.
Not what I expected. With the name and the photo on her Spotify page, I figured I'd be launching into yet another pop singer or R&B girl, instead this is sort of rap - oh no, wait, I know this girl. She has a song I've heard on the radio that I 100% thought was Billie Eilish. This is the dime store Billie Eilish person!
"YOU SO DONE" has 3.9 million streams (now up to 12.5 million in 2026). And it totally sounds like something from that old Billie Eilish album.
So, how'd you break your spine when you were 20? Oh, making a music video? Great plan! Other than the absolute spinal wreckage it would cause, that looks kind of fun to get rag-dolled around by that machine. Kind of a cool song, the ominous beat works.
The interesting thing is that is not her top single - I figured it would be for sure. Her top track is called "End of the Road." 5.1 million streams (now up to 20.9 million in 2026).
Another cool toy for her to use in the video. The treadmill cube! Doesn't seem nearly as fun as the Spine Smasher 2000 though. Don't love the song though. "VIEWS" sounds like she's going for dime store Gorillaz.
She's got two albums - 2017's Off the Radar (when she's blonde) and 2021's KIDS (now more!). Both of those popular tracks are from KIDS. The older album is wild electro pop - the off-kilter "Dance While You Shoot" is wild for sure. She is Israeli, originally from Tel Aviv. Her Wikipedia says she served as a soldier in an Israeli Defense Force military band. Why do they need a soldier in their band? Wouldn't it be more useful to have her serve as the guitarist or something?
I feel like I was rude in my One Liner up above, but it made me laugh, so I'm going to leave it there. She's better than just a dime store Billie Eilish. I find myself really enjoying the old album of weirdo pop music. It's not Bjork by any means, because that would be the highest of high praise, but it is definitely weird ass, adventurous music that keeps my attention. Which is a big deal these days...
She did a great cover of Lil Nas X's "Industry Baby." Her 2024 album, The Vandalist, has an excellent cover that makes me want to ask many questions. The title song is the top streamer, and it samples/interpolates something that sounds super familiar. Busta Rhymes? Yes, that is the beat to "Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See." Tight. 9.9 million streams.
PUT YO HANDS WHERE MY EYES CAN SEE! "Come Back Home" goes for the Eilish sound again, but "PC People" is more like a rap. "Police" is awful. But I am bopping along to this, pretty fun album overall.
I could see this show being fun. Kind of a rap/DJ show, kind of a pop party. Sure. I'll allow it.
One Liner: A BROCKHAMPTON collaborator making truly pretty indie folk and pop Wikipedia Genre: Alternative R&B, alt-pop, indie pop, indie folk Home: L.A. Poster Position: Second Quarter - Line 12 Day: Saturday - WE1 @ 3:30; WE2 @ 5:30 Both Weekends.
Beatbox Stage
Thoughts: Back when BROCKHAMPTON was a thing, I was pretty damn into those dudes. When they came to ACL, I loved it, and really enjoyed some of the songs on those Saturation albums. Still do. Well, this dude was part of the party, but he was mainly part of the songs that got on my nerves. Which is SO RUDE to write, but my honest opinion of Brockhampton was that the R&B singing songs couldn't hold a candle to the solid rap tracks.
So, he came up covering songs on YouTube, and got popular enough because of those videos that Ryan Seacrest premiered his debut music video in 2012 and then his debut EP was premiered on Radio Disney. He was more of a clean-cut teen heart-throb, and was named to an AT&T commercial series to combat texting and driving. He chafed at the boyish image and fired his management in 2013. A few years later, when the Brockhampton crew moved from San Marcos, he started collaborating with them and was on a few of the Saturation album songs. He also worked with Kevin Abstract and Tyler, The Creator during this time.
Interesting thing, he has four albums, but I swear I have been cruising through the catalog multiple times. Either these songs are short or Spotify is messing with me. His voice is lovely - like a Harry Styles-when-he-is-imitating-a-70's-crooner thing. And some of the songs are genuinely pretty. I just imagined what it would be like at the festival though - these are pretty ballad-type songs. Heart-felt falsetto tinged tunes about love and loss. Not sure what that will look like in a 100+ degree field full of drunk and high college kids excited to see Charlie XCX. Whatever. The most streamed song is from his post-teen-heartthrob album Boy in Jeans, from 2018, and is called "Haircut." 25.1 million streams.
That feels like the BROCKHAMPTON ear music where they concentrated on the visuals as well as the tunes. His recent album is less dance-y pop, and more of the adult contemporary stuff. "Secret Language" is the top track off of his 2026 album Sweet Fortune. 1.8 million streams.
Gone is the bleach-blonde, and the writhing around in a bed, and the synth backing, exchanged for natural hair, random jogging, and a gentle rock background. But do you hear how damn pretty his voice is? Beautiful. And I dig that swaggery little guitar solo int he middle. But it just feels like I am listening to 70's AM gold, not a guy who is going to get a crowd to go wild at a Festival. "Phantom" is the album opener on that new disc and the piano sounds like an interpolation of "Mama I'm Comin' Home" and then the schmaltzy big band arrives. Really nice album.
Spotify just transitioned me into a song by Jackie Evans, which sounds very much like this guy, and also like Carole King. There is some really pretty music out there!
One Liner: 70's indebted funky dance pop, but sounds like the live show may just be EDM
Wikipedia Genre: Electropop, indietronica, nu-disco, funk, psychedelic pop, soul, alternative dance, indie pop
Home: Byron Bay, New South Wales, Australia
Poster Position: TOP Quarter - Line 3 Both Weekends. Sunday at 7:30
Miller Lite Stage
Thoughts: I have to say I am confused how this is up here on line 3. It is perfectly acceptable funkpopdiscosynth, but I would expect to have heard of the things that are up here on the third line. Sort of has a Jungle vibe, but a little further towards synth-y disco.
Four of the members went to the same school growing up, and started sliding in and out of musical projects together as young as thirteen years old. Wikipedia says that they experimented with everything from metal to bluegrass to folk before landing on white-guy-disco-funk as their final spot. Two of them were the acoustic folk duo named Louie and Patrick. Several of them were the roots music group The Sugar Spinners. Some of them formed the rock group Lifeline. They also formed something called Potato Potato. Some of these bands got radio play and festival lineup spots. But then in their final year of high school, Parcels formed, named after a sign maybe stolen from a train station, and the group then moved to Berlin.
Which seems like a weird move on it's own, and then this is the explanation as to why: "The band notes watching a video in high school of band The Whitest Boy Alive performing in a shop window in Mitte, Germany as influential to the move, saying that the "huge crowd on the street [...] was super cool". Sure. One show, by one completely non-memorable band, and you should just pick up stakes and move across the world to a place where you don't speak the language. Fine.
But it worked out. A French label liked their initial electronic EP, signed them, and then brought them to Paris for a show at a bar. Daft Punk happened to be in the audience, and they invited these dudes to the studio to collaborate. The band showed Daft Punk an early demo of "Overnight," and the robot fellas agreed to get to work with it. Wikipedia says it took more than a year, with many studio trips and months in the studio. Are you kidding me? It is an entirely generic disco pop nugget that has a little of "Get Lucky" guitar swing in it. 215.1 million streams.
That took a full year and many studio visits? I mean, its a nice little funky strut and all, but I feel like this could have been done in 30 minutes. They didn't even make a video for it. I feel like there has to be something more to this band, like one of the members is the son of the owner of Universal Music or something.
A couple singles and old EPs, followed by 2018's Parcels, 2021's Day/Night, and 2025's LOVED. Strangely, none of their biggest tunes are on any of those albums. Not sure what would make a band leave their biggest singles off of the next album, that doesn't seem to click for me. So, their biggest streamer is a 2018 single called "Tieduprightnow," with 321.2 million streams, that was not then put onto the 2018 debut album for some reason (and same with "Overnight"). Odd.
Again, a perfectly acceptable little funk nugget to groove along to. Also, I very much would like to go surf and hang out with those people on the beach. That looks very chill and fun. "Comedown" gets a little jammy, which I appreciate. I think I need to ask my girls about this band and see if I can figure out what is going on here. I like it well enough, I dig rock and funk and all of that, but this one is just striking me as odd.
But then, I fired up the more recent live album available on Spotify. I think this is going to end up being another EDM-ish group once they are on stage. Sounds very much like they are turning their disco funk into a rave. It is much, much worse than just the regular studio music. That is a bummer.
I asked the girls. 18 year old said she had never heard of it. The 15 year old never responded. Chef's kiss.
Wikipedia Genre: electropop, dance-pop, synth pop, hyperpop
Home: London
Poster Position: Headliner Both Weekends Friday at 8:40 (just an 1:20 set from the main headliner is weaksauce)
American Express Stage
Thoughts: I truly can't believe this is the top artist on the poster. Like, yes, I understand economics and popularity and all of the similar drivers for the purpose of this poster. But I also cannot wrap my head around the fact that good old ACL is now this sort of package for forgettable pop drivel.
In 2015, I wrote an extremely short review of her second album, 2014's SUCKER:
Charlie XCX - Sucker. Boom Clap is a damn jam. Although, when my four year old can make a reasonable approximation of your lyrics, then you aren't exactly beating back the world with your lyrical innovation. That being said, great song. The rest of this album is forgettable pop with a weird punk-lite bent. British Avril Lavigne. Remember her? "He was a sk8ter boy, she said see you later boy." Ugh. Replaced with the effortlessly boring "Gold coins everywhere, dollars up in the air, it's a billionaire's love affair."
Here is "Boom Clap," in case you need a refresher. 598.6 million streams.
Ten years later in 2025, here is what I had to say about her world-conquering 2024 album BRAT:
Charlie XCX - BRAT. I am well aware that I am extremely late to this party, as this was the big album of last summer and the Kamala campaign and Saturday Night Live and everything else. But my ACL listening needs really interfere with my other listening action, and to be quite honest every time this album has popped up I have found something else to listen to. I got in to this a little with my Sabrina Carpenter review the other day, but I just can't get on board with the poptimism movement and the world declaring that this sort of thing is important music. I can't stand it. Sadly, this likely means that she will almost certainly be on the ACL lineup and I will be forced to dive more deeply into this stuff, but I have made my way through this album a handful of times and I hate the vocal effects and the generically uninteresting beats and the repetitiveness of it all. And I am for sure biased, because I wouldn't think a thing of it if the Black Keys had a generic and repetitive riff. But this is just not giving me any pleasure at all. The playcount is interesting to me, in that several of these songs, on the supposedly biggest album of 2024, have less than 40 million streams, while only four have more than a hundred million. Makes it seem to me like this wasn't as big a deal as the critics and media tried to make it seem. The top track by a ways is the album opener, "360." 334.9 million streams [now up to 531.4 million in 2026].
The start of that being a Google ad was deeply annoying to me as well, as, for sure, was the skit at the start. I hate it even more than the song itself. I'm sure its some meta commentary that an old white guy would not like that portion or the song, but at the end of the day I am what I am and this is not good. It just really feels like people felt like they needed to get on board with this in order to be cool or relevant or whatever despite its actual value. It sort of reminds me of the flow of Iggy Izalea. I will absolutely not be saving this album for later listens.
So, you're saying you really love her, huh, Jack?!? Let's go into the background, because I literally know nothing about her.
Charlotte Emma Aitchison is from Cambridge, England. Her mother is Indian and her father is Scottish, and she says she got bullied by the white people in school for her Indian heritage. She got her start by posting songs onto MySpace in 2008, but then got her big break by co-writing and being featured on Icona Pop's massive "I Love It" in 2012.
That song was an international smash and hit number one in the UK and number 7 in the US. Interestingly, none of her original songs appear to be on Spotify. Her first entry on there is 2012's You're The One EP (not to be confused with Tom Petty's excellent You're The One Soundtrack). Wikipedia says that her debut solo album, 2013's True Romance, "failed to meet commercial expectations." Personally, I didn't love it. Generic dark pop to my ears. Reached #85 on the charts in Britain.
But then, apparently being a very intelligent and opportunistic gal, she hopped on board with another One Hit Wonder mastermind and was featured on Iggy Azalea's "Fancy." Which is almost assuredly why she popped into my mind last year when writing that review. Her following albums made her more and more popular, culminating in BRAT, which pulled in three Grammys for Best Dance Pop Recording for "Von Dutch", Best Dance/Electronic Album, and Best Recording Package (the visual look of the album, which is dumb as hell in this instance, because the look of this album was just a slime green cover with the word "brat" on it).
Her name is apparently Charli Kiss Charli Kiss, which was her MSN Messenger name when she was a child. Her other biggest song, from before BRAT, is "party 4 u" that was on her 2020 album. 547.6 million streams.
Her most recent album is apparently just the soundtrack to the new Wuthering Heights movie. Which is sort of odd, but sure, why not. I've tried BRAT a little more, listened to some of 2022's CRASH, 2020's how i'm feeling now, and 2017's Number1 Angel, and I'm still in the same boat. Overly auto-tuned, relatively basic background music, nothing particularly interesting about the lyrics. I can't imagine choosing to go see this show, but I assume my girls will go and claim it was amazing. Good luck.
