Search the Community

MAKE IT POP I haven't seen any kind of general pop thread in the global music sub-forum and that just will not do! 2020 is shaping up to be an amazing year for pop music and there must be a thread to discuss everything pop-related! I'm going start by sharing some upcoming releases I'm looking forward to and then sharing some artists I've enjoyed since last year. Upcoming Releases Rina Sawayama Sawayama (04.17.2020) -Rina's been making some waves in the indie pop scene. She seemingly just came out of nowhere but managed to make an impression on people with her self-released EP "Rina" with hits like "Cyber Stockholm Syndrome" and "Ordinary Superstar". Her sound is very reminiscent of 90's pop/r&b but she finds ways to make it sound fresh and interesting. She's got a new album coming out in April of this year titled "Sawayama". Samples Purity Ring Womb (04.03.2020) -Purity Ring is a Canadian electronic pop duo drawing from sub-genres like glitch-pop and synth-pop. While they can sound bright and poppy, their sound is more strongly defined by dark and ominous undertones both lyrically and musically. They're probably most known for their tracks "Fineshrine" and "Obedear". They'll be releasing a new album titled "Womb" in the beginning of April and it's sounding like it'll be a more lighter listen. Samples Recent Favorites Grimes Miss Anthropocene (02.21.2020) -I'm sure Grimes doesn't need an introduction. She's known for her unique sound of ethereal and pop music and made hits such as "Genesis" and "Kill V. Maim". Her album "Miss Anthropocene" came out earlier last month and, honestly, it's been one of my favorite releases in 2020 so far. Certainly not the most amazing album and, arguably a bit half baked, but there are some solid tracks on the album and I've been revisiting it often. Samples Charli XCX Charli (09.13.2019) -Charli XCX went to the top of my favorite artists in 2019 when I listened to her latest album "Charli". Her sound was so different than a lot of other pop artists I had heard. While she certainly has songs with tons of pop appeal featuring bright dance-y music and catchy lyrics, she also brings with that a blend of future pop and experimental sounds. The production on her latest record is absolutely amazing and I was hooked from the first track onward. Although I'm a fan of her latest sound, she's probably most known for songs like "Boys" and "Vroom Vroom" (which, I absolutely love both). Samples Sophie Oil Of Every Pearl's Un-Insides (06.15.2018) -If Charli XCX's recent output is futuristic, then Sophie's music is so far ahead in the pop genre that by the time it's considered a classic the human race will have evolved into a higher physical state (fun fact, Sophie actually produced Charli XCX's EP "Vroom Vroom". ). All jokes aside, this album is quite simply something else. It has a few more traditional poppy moments but the other 90% hits you with leftfield experimental sounds intermixed with soundscapes and industrial bass music. The production on this record is so good though and there were so many times I kept asking, "what the hell was that sound? How did she do that?". It's certainly not for everyone, but for those looking for a more expanded take on pop music, so much as to the point of almost being unrecognizable, I highly encourage you to take a jump. Samples

Hi Everyone, Alex has release his new album!!

Don't know if somebody knows Alex Anwandter, but i had to share this new song, pure love from Chile

Additional note by me: I know that many people around here have a lot against this artist - I do get it of course (sometimes it's either a) her vocals or her overboard, quirky and naive "musical status"). But seeing as fortunately some people manage to get over these pretexts - and see that she definitely deserves her own position in Nakata's "girl-vocal-group-trio" (Kyary-Perfume-Capsule these days), who for their part deserve respect for being able to convey Nakata's lively world of electro music. Those who are quite interested - AND acknowledge "the man behind Kyary", know certainly what I'm saying. Tracklist with romanizations: Now that we have a producer, who's definitely on fire release-wise - we have a chance to look at his...or in this case, Kyary's new full-length called "Pikapika Fantajin". Some people felt that Kyary's release tempo was getting too fast, and thus some singles ended up being quite "effortless" according to the general critic fanbase (especially in Japan, hm). But in the end the album itself managed to reveal some truly welcome surprises , and I am going to take them into account as well as I review this piece... After we get past the majestic-like intro, the album kicks out with three single tracks - "Kirakira Killer" ,"Yume no Hajima Ring Ring"'s album mix and "Mottai Night Land". "Kirakira" is a full-on, upbeat and typical Kyary track, so there's not really much to say about it - other than that it's quite great, and works well as a possible "indicator of typical Kyary-istic sound". Yume no Hajima Ring Ring on the other hand caused some "small ruckus" in Japanese netizens' part due to various plagiarism/"zero effort"-crapstorms. Quite unfortunate that this child-like, but nicely nostalgic piece got too much hate - and in vain. Yes - the song itself was way too straight-forward as a Kyary's single song, but Nakata interestingly enough took some notes from general reaction towards his piece - and rearranged some parts (especially the final chorus which sounds much more...nostalgic and epic, hehe) for this album. My positive opinion didn't change at all even after some "obvious renovations" in this album mix - best single out of "Pikapika" over here! "Mottai" instead has nothing much to pinpoint - very straightforward effort as well, but I think ragtime-y piano saves it from becoming a dull filler. Then we move on to the song, who deserves a lot more than just this lousy paragraph - "Serious Hitomi". Quite a shocker for those familiar with Kyary's earlier repertoire, seeing as the song heavily relies on "real band sound": you can hear and jam freely along to the guitar soloing, dynamic bassline and nice drums. I cannot come up with any proper comparison for "Serious", but let's make a bit faraway fetch anyway: imagine if Kyary covered Tokyo Jihen's "indiest" songs - a la "FOUL" or "Noriki" for instance. Might sound too biased to be true, but at least it gives you a general idea about awesomeness happening here. Possibly the best song of Kyary? J/k, j/k...very good one though. Rest of this album still needs more "digesting" - but on the other note, it makes you think whether Nakata was getting too lazy while making this album: "do do pi do" and "Tokyo Highway" are definitely the stars of "latter half", mainly thanks to their nods towards Nakata's other projects (Capsule and Perfume, respectively), but in the meanwhile we have songs like "Ring a Bell" and "Koi Koi Koi", which are just wayward silly - and Explorer, despite being quite an okay track (retro-y strings ) , is definitely nothing close to the proper closer material, and thus leaves a listener confused. Where did "Chan Chaka Chan Chan"-like closers go, Nakata? I'd personally put "Yume no Hajima" here, thanks to its obvious farewell-like message. I have nothing much to say about remaining single mixes - they are okay, albeit very straightforward efforts. The release in general starts out quite solidly, but ends up quite lazily (the same problem occured in "Nanda Collection" as well). Positive thoughts-wise though, there are many tracks worth pinpointing - and my personal picks are: Standouts: Serious Hitomi, do do pi do, Tokyo Highway, Yume no Hajima Ring Ring Cool tracks: Kira Kira Killer Okay tracks: Mottai Night Land, Family Party, Sungoi Aura, Explorer Tracks worth the big fix: Ring a Bell, Koi koi Koi (I won't rate the title track - intro, duh) - Not really perfect, but still very solid release by Kyary...and Nakata. Might come back here to edit more if I have more to say/fix.