The Music Dispatch: October 17, 2021
Inside: the present and future of pop music. Also Adele.
Our future comes with an expiry date. There's corporations and nations that think we need to exploit everything for as much as we can before it's all over; there's people, a lot of them, that react and try to stop it. Inbetween you got news like "we found a way to reduce the trash island in the Great Pacific" and "we now can make synthetic flesh so we can reduce the energy waste from meat production", policies that make the present harder, which in turn will make the future even more rigid, unions that try to fight back the present that is exceedingly restrictive and inhumane, and the slow, godawful rise of remakes of properties that came out barely ten years ago. In either case, this kind of doom also gets translated to music: that it sucks, or that the old times used to be much better. Just note, to yourself, who says that. You'll come to find it's always the same people saying so. Because from what I'm hearing, if the future is bright anywhere, shining and full of possibilities, it's in music. Perhaps even only in music.
Welcome to The Music Dispatch! This is a weekly part of this Substack where I shortly review every new(-ish) release I listened to. Out whenever I listened to everything I wanted to, which tends to be either Saturday or Sunday. All mentioned songs are available on your streaming platform of choice unless stated otherwise.
This week, at least in the albums department, we get three case studies at where music is at and where it's headed. And for the singles, we got Adele, who — in her own way — is a trailblazer herself, and Sunmi.
Albums
Young Thug — PUNK
Hip hop is at an interesting spot right now that it isn't as strongly dominating the charts anymore. That's not to say it's altogether gone or that there aren't household rappers (Megan thee Stallion, Doja Cat, Cardi B) but we're also very far away from the glory days of Black Beatles or Bad and Boujee, i.e, trap. When there's rap on the charts, it's sung or so melodic that you get the sense it's only called "rap" because the artist happens to be a Black person. A lot of PUNK treads the same waters — there's some of the trap here, of course, that Young Thug helped shape in the last decade. These are fun, if not particularly forward-thinking. But by and large, this album is driven by a guitar and actual singing. It doesn't have much to do with actual punk music, but insofar as the current shape of music goes, Thugger shows that he's very much within the zeitgeist of what's popular right now. But in the world of music, being on time means you're already a step behind. It's funny that the album ends with a collab with the late Mac Miller, who was singing on Swimming long before that was on mainstream rap's radar and later-completed Circles.
Pinkpantheress — to hell with it
On the other hand, the nineteen-year-old Pinkpantheress couldn't be more the zeitgest. After her Tiktok-uploaded songs during quarantine started blowing up, something album-esque started to emerge from these efforts — ten songs, eighteen minutes, none of them longer than three minutes. There's 00s nostalgia on all of these songs, a stuttering two-step beat on most of her songs, and Pinkpantheress' lithe vocals don't soar or even so much as float on the songs. The beat takes center stage, often sounding like ringtones on your childhood Nokia or Motorola, but its subdued nature firmly place the songs on this current day and age. The thing is — Pinkpantheress doesn't do nostalgia on these tracks, couldn't, really, considering she was most likely a toddler when this type of music was popular to begin with. Mostly, the music makes perfect sense with her lyrics mostly revolving around connection, daydreaming, a very fancy sound enveloping this stream-of-consciousness, and that constant need to edit yourself in your own thoughts. In turn, the very fabric of these songs turn to the present time or slightly ahead — perfectly exemplified, in my opinion, with the Mura Masa produced stunner Just for me. But honestly, you could pick any one of these songs and repeat what I said. Just the fact that the beat seems to go above 80 per minute seem like uncharted territory in the current day and age, even though songs used to do that two decades ago! Right now, drum'n'bass makes most sense to describe her music, while Break it off sounds like UK garage and All my friends know sounds Afrobeat-esque, but know that in two years we're going to call it pop music for short. Futurustic-sounding music that you can put on the background whenever? The songs structure being as minimal as it is, no chorus being repeated more than once? Yeah, Pinkpantheress is already an icon. Future Nostalgia, but literally.
Remi Wolf — Juno
Online research on the twenty-five-year old California singer Remi Wolf says that she came out of the "bedroom pop" scene but carved her own identity out of it. Honestly, 2020 EP I'm Allergic To Dogs sounded more like what people my age think of when they hear the word pop: bright, shimmering fun where you shout along to every line. But your reference points shouldn't be Ashnikko or Clairo, but more Go To Town-era Doja Cat and Tierra Whack. Where Pinkpantheress' vocals are a shy murmur, Wolf's biggest strength is how expressive and eccentric her voice is. She's content taking center stage, singing her guts out (like on stunner Liz, which sadly didn't make it on her debut) or mewling or shouting or whatever the song requires. Juno is an impressive display of her vocal abilities and her love for all things warm and bright. There's not a single song that doesn't have a sticky chorus on here, most of the songs so ebullient they put you in a good mood. Once again, you might tell yourself that we've been here two decades ago, that there's no forward-thinking element here. The forward-thinking element here is that Wolf has a kitchen-sink approach to music and everything's so sharply bright in a kind of "I know life sucks, here's good music" kind of way that the 00s sorely lacked at the time. Liquor Store sounds like the pop punk revival that has dominated much of 2021. Quiet on Set throws you right back to pop by way of Gwen Stefani or Kpop in its golden era a decade later. In either case, it puts Remi Wolf at the forefront of something very exciting, a possible return of optimistic pop music. How do I know? Beyoncé announced the release of new music that sounds fun after what we went through. Charli XCX, already hyperaware of what's about to come, is already rolling out the singles to her "pop diva" era. Remi Wolf happened to be early.
Singles
THE BOYZ drops their third single album (so a single) Maverick on November 1. So you know what dispatch will be delayed to Monday!
Adele — Easy On Me
The music video is gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. Adele sounds stunning. Otherwise, I'm very happy that Adele isn't screaming on the chorus. This is a beautiful listen and I'm happy that Adele is back.
Sunmi — Go Or Stop?
Go or Stop is for some League of Legends team that Sunmi is a fan of. It pairs her back with frequent collaborator FRANTS again and is an absolute club banger. Which makes me interested in what Kpop will sound like soon: already the first acts are moving to club sounds again (shame that ITZY moved away from this very sound, but maybe, maybe...). I don't think Sunmi will keep this up, but it's going to be interesting as to who will follow suit and how.
Tierra Whack — Walk The Beat
Somebody has to fill out Azealia Banks' vacant spot and if anybody is adept at singing, rapping and utter attitude, it's Miss Whack. I think it goes slightly too long, but it's a good thing I'm not the one calling the shots for Gossip Girl on HBO because you will be hearing it on there pretty soon, I'm pretty sure.
Maybe there’s something in there that you’ll like! Or maybe there’s something you like that you want me to listen to, in which case, let me know over at Twitter @nymphspond, or, if you want something totally anonymous, you can try the Curiouscat!