A God-awful Small Affair

In the time between this and her last record, 2014's Are We There , Sharon van Etten has taken the surprising route into acting via the means of Netflix's The OA and an episode of the revival of Twin Peaks two years ago. Whatever fears there may have been that she would "pull a Mon áe"* and return with somewhat more disappointing music have thankfully been quashed. As with many other releases I'm trying to dive into this year, this is my first experience with a Sharon van Etten album and there've already been four so I have a lot of catching up to do. I suppose the past decade or so I've spent crossing my arms and reasoning that "I already have St. Vincent, Karen O, Torres, Weyes Blood, Bat for Lashes and Angel Olsen, do I really need someone else of this genre to embrace?" and the answer was, it seems, an overwhelming yes. Her lyricism is blisteringly raw and full of honesty, and the production here (from long-time St Vincent colla...

I hadn't actually heard of Lizzo until she appeared as a guest judge on Season 10 of RuPaul's Drag Race : her infectious personality was immediately apparent, but I was more pissed off that a song as fantastic as Good As Hell had, until then, completely escaped me. Since that exposure, she's treated us to a handful of other fantastic singles. One didn't make the cut here , the other did. A third album is on the cards then, and Cuz I Love You couldn't be any more open and upfront. Just look at the artwork. But there've been countless examples of stars saving the best material for a lead single and then floundering when asked to follow it up with something, and the fear for me heading in as a relative Lizzo newbie was that she was just a singles artist with nothing to hold attention once it's been grabbed with a punch. Fans of her brassy personality might still be surprised to learn that the title track here is literally brassy: a monochromatic, drama...

I think it's fair to say that only two mega-popstars from the late 90s/early 00s are still enjoying the same, if not bigger, success than they were back then: Beyonce and P!nk. Oh there've been a multitude of those who've since passed or retired or taken up residency on talent show judging panels, but these two ladies continue to impress the critics and charts respectively. Last year's Walk Me Home was P!nk's twentieth top-ten hit in the United Kingdom and it's honestly baffling that she hasn't gone the same way as your Kelly Clarksons or Christina Aguilerae; two equally talented powerhouses of the same era that couldn't buy a hit lately. It helps, of course, that she's held onto the same sort of writer/producers like Greg Kurstin, Max Martin, Ryan Tedder and Julia Michaels. P!nk's appeal is naturally helped by her ability to play the loveable rogue: the rockstar that shouts "fuck you!" but then calls you later to make sure you'...

I liked A Seat at the Table but nowhere near as much as the rest of the world did. The praise it lauded back in 2016 was honestly baffling to me; named #1 by Pitchfork in a year that also included Lemonade , Blackstar , Blonde and Coloring Book ? No, ma'am. She follows it up, then, with a surprise release; not just a surprise in its arrival without warning, but in also being her first to be largely self-produced and self-written. There are, of course, collaborations but her fourth album is arguably the first that can truly be attributed to the talents of Solange alone. At face value, When I Get Home is an immediately intriguing release; it has all the air of experimentation that recent jazz/electronic wunderkinds like Thundercat have, and yet that classic groove that might be more easily aligned with Stevie Wonder. Those looking for the crisp-clear studio production behind the likes of Cranes in the Sky or Don't Touch My Hair might leave WIGH feeling somewhat disappointed...

2016's Skin saw Flume on the cusp of commercial breakthrough; it spawned the slow-burning 'Never Be Like You' featuring Kai and managed to hit the top of the Australian charts, and #20 on the Billboard Hot 100. 'Say It' with Tove Lo also enjoyed some chart success. It would thus follow, then, that the album was met with lukewarm praise and a confused shrug at all of its collaborations with the likes of AlunaGeorge, Beck and Vince Staples. It won a Grammy but consigned Flume to the increasing list of indie darlings on the verge of a total shun. That's how music criticism works in my head anyway; a ceaselessly tiresome charade of absorbing flavours of the week and dropping anything from five years ago like broken toys. There seems to be a concerted effort to counter that, though - speaking to his own Reddit in an AMA he says that, in regards to going down a "more experimental route" I felt like i needed to, I was doing interview after...

2017's SweetSexySavage was one of the most accomplished debuts of the 21st century: a record that stamped Kehlani's identity into the world with authority and a whole lot of fun. It may have suffered from being a little overlong and could've been edited down into something simpler and portable, but it felt like the amalgam of an artist who wanted to get everything out and off her chest. That it'd been two years until anything would follow it would support that theory. Having a baby two months ago didn't fully dissuade her from the music scene though; 'While We Wait' is her third mixtape and she's made guest appearances on work by Charlie Puth, Cardi B, Hayley Kiyoko and Eminem in the past 12 months. All of this is mighty impressive for a former graduate of America's Got Talent (at the age of 16, she finished 4th in the 2011 edition, as part of a group called PopLyfe ). And whilst the world is certainly inundated with a whole host of excellent R...