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After a brief period of settling down, there is growing evidence that people are consuming more and more music during the lockdown period.
And it is perfect timing as pop music right now is sounding magnificent. If you don't normally follow it, here's the current highlights...
And it is perfect timing as pop music right now is sounding magnificent. If you don't normally follow it, here's the current highlights...
Canadian soulman The Weeknd with far and away the biggest smash hit of his career. Drenched in 80s vibes and sparkling like few pop records have lately, Blinding Lights is set this week to spend an 8th week at the top of the charts.
Top of the albums chart right now is Dua Lipa with Future Nostalgia. Another set of intoxicating pop hits, three of which are presently inside the Top 10.
This is the best of them. Physical.
This is the best of them. Physical.
Best of all though Physical has two videos. The second of them is an extended remix re-casting the song as a dance workout. And it is deliciously, campily rude and knows it.
Video sharing app TikTok is proving to be a remarkable source of hit records. Lip sync clips of cute records are resulting in the full versions landing on the charts.
Say So by Doja Cat led the charge.
Say So by Doja Cat led the charge.
It was joined in the Top 10 this week by Death Bed by Powfu. A hauntingly gorgeous emo rap told from the point of view of a dying man. An odd subject for the prevailing times, but it doesn't jar and instead sucks you in.
The sped up female vocals on Death Bed are by Beabadoobee, a British singer who first recorded the song Coffee two years ago. And if the Powfu single doesn't propel her to fame in her own right then there is something badly wrong.
TikTok has also gifted us the Top 20 hit single Supalonely by Benee. A teenager from New Zealand who is essentially Billie Eilish without the scary bits.
A song about being a self-absorbed fuck up, set to a soul-funk backing. It is adorable.
A song about being a self-absorbed fuck up, set to a soul-funk backing. It is adorable.
That's just a tiny fragment of the stuff that is floating around, all of them now well established hits and all of them capable of restoring your faith in the ability of pop music to spread joy.
I'm more than content to be stuck at home listening to them all quite frequently.
I'm more than content to be stuck at home listening to them all quite frequently.
Watch out next week for the ways the lockdown is transforming the albums market.
People are streaming larger numbers of back catalogue. Older hits from their favourites. And that's resulting in a huge wave of Greatest Hits collections storming up the albums chart.
People are streaming larger numbers of back catalogue. Older hits from their favourites. And that's resulting in a huge wave of Greatest Hits collections storming up the albums chart.
