A quiet week this week, isn’t it. January has delivered a wealth of solid, if largely unspectacular bops so far (makes sense; it has been exceptionally long), but this week the quantity of viable gems has dwindled – even if the good stuff is genuinely great.
Basically what I’m saying is I could only be arsed to add three more songs to the 2020 playlist.
Here they are. Follow the rolling playlist here (it’s also at the bottom of the page).
Simmer – Hayley Williams
How lovely that this is produced and co-written by Hayley’s Paramore bandmate Taylor York. Supportive!!
Hayley has struck out on her own very rarely before (to great success: Stay The Night and Airplanes say hello!!) but this is the first time she’s doing it for a Full Era, and it’s a bold and intriguing start. I love the vocals on this, and the way the whole thing feels like it’s literally simmering; always one tiny nudge away from giving way to full-blown thrashing anger. But, as Hayley says in the opening line, “rage is a quiet thing”, and its less is more approach to vitriol is fantastic.
This song isn’t very ~me at all but I absolutely have to stan.
Boring People – L Devine
How is this so catchy and infectious despite being so… mundane? Flat? Deadpan? Intentionally, of course – the production and vocal delivery is perfectly matched to its lyrics about the tedium of day-to-day life, and this could, with the right exposure, finally give “L” her big breakthrough hit.
Worst of You – Emmi Elliott
There’s a massive chorus on this; the best (only?) straightforward pop belter of the week. Confronting a grade-A douchebag who needs to “do better” in their future romances, it’s the first song of Emmi’s I’ve heard, and I’ll be keeping an ear out for her future stuff.
Electric Angels 