LONGFORM LIVES ON
WITH SOME OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED ALBUMS SET TO DROP THIS YEAR, WE LOOK AT HOW THE HUMBLE LP HAS BEEN RESURRECTED BIGGER, LONGER AND BETTER
“THE ALBUM IS DEAD!” Just a few years ago, this was the cry of the music industry. Streaming was in; buying was out. Instead of grand opuses, artists – particularly in pop, EDM and RNB circles – were dropping a continuous stream of singles, EPS or one-off collabs, because that’s how their fans seemed to be consuming it. With streaming came the fast-food version of the music industry; bitesized snacks from our favourite artists that may have satiated our hunger, but didn’t offer any nutritional value.
Today, long-form authenticity and craft is returning to music, and not just as part of a niche vinyl revival. If the myriad rumours are to be believed, Rihanna, Beyoncé, Lana Del Rey, Frank Ocean, Kendrick Lamar, Grimes, Sky Ferreira, Jay-z and Kanye West will all drop albums this year, and LP hype is more valid than ever. Solange already surprised us with her ode to Houston, When I Get
Home, a beautifully personal, jazz-infused record that was accompanied by an epic
33-minute music video. Then there’s Ariana Grande’s heart-on-sleeve-meets-hair-flick LP
Thank U, Next, which dropped six months after Sweetener (no mean feat). Cardi B used her debut to prove she was more than a glorified hitmaker, but a true storyteller.
Also consider the Lemonade effect – Beyoncé’s 2016 release setting the benchmark for visual accompaniments, pushing the music video to a cinematic level not seen since MTV’S genesis. Now that albums aren’t constricted by physical space, data or time (like storage on a CD), they’re longer than ever — just look at Drake’s
almost-90-minute Scorpion. “Gone are the days of traditional release plans,” says music publicist Rachel Joneswilliams. “Artists are challenging themselves and the boundaries of creativity are being pushed to create cut-through moments that are meaningful and that are released strategically enough that they dominate platforms and generate talkability.” The link between musician and fan has never been closer. “Artists have the ability to tell their stories to an audience directly without having to rely on old-school ideologies of press and media. They’re taking ownership of their art and cultivating their own space, without interference to the vision.”
The album as we know it has evolved. As for 2019’s most anticipated LP releases, they just may be the most genuine output we’ve seen from those musicians to date. Notes Jones-williams: “Artists now hold the power.” And that’s something to tune in to.