A year of big surprises beckons in pop
Veterans, newbies to make waves
It sometimes seems as if the speed of pop is set to constant acceleration. Viral videos make unknowns famous in the blink of a cursor and dormant stars suddenly materialize in a blitzkrieg of activity.
Here are some clues as to what to expect in 2014. In terms of old rockers, Bruce Springsteen gets off to a brisk start in January with a new release, High Hopes, his seventh album in 12 years.
U2 gears up with an album produced by digital maverick Danger Mouse. Their 2009 album, No Line on the Horizon, was widely judged a commercial and creative disappointment, and even frontman Bono has questioned U2’s continued relevance despite their last world tour being the highest grossing in history.
Coldplay and Radiohead are also likely to release new albums in 2014, so it may turn in to a battle for the right to be hailed as the world’s greatest rock band. Or will they all be kicked into the dust by the longrumoured return of AC/ DC?
Other rockers to watch include Elbow, The Foo Fighters, Motorhead, The Horrors, Warpaint and Iron Maiden.
For a generation for whom guitars have become an irrelevance, Kanye West’s bravura beats have done more to set the template of the times than any other contemporary artist. He has promised (or threatened) to have another album out by summer.
There will be a second helping of the sensual minimalism of Lana Del Rey, whose followup to her striking debut Born To Die will be titled Ultraviolence.
The U.K.’s smartest pop bigmouth, Lily Allen, drops an album in March to show us that marriage and motherhood haven’t blunted her edges.
And after a year in which he contributed to Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines and Daft Punk’s Get Lucky, a Pharrell Williams solo album could put him in the superstar bracket, although I’m holding out for a new offering from the equally ubiquitous Nile Rodgers.
But who else might be gearing up for a return but keeping it under wraps? Rihanna took a year out from releasing music but is almost certainly planning to come back with a bang. Emeli Sande’s My Version of Events has been the biggest-selling U.K. album over the past two years, so it might be time for the followup. And Adele has been in the studio with songwriter Ryan Tedder and producer William Orbit.
Veteran artists occupy an almost entirely separate stratum of the modern music industry, targeting mature fan bases still buying CDs and concert tickets.
Stevie Wonder has promised to release two new albums in 2014, his first in nine years — one a set of originals, the other a gospel collection.
Fleetwood Mac may make good on the promise of a new album. Blondie will be back with Ghosts of Download. The terminally ill Wilko Johnson has been recording an album of R’n’B covers with Roger Daltrey.
Tony Bennett has a more unlikely collaboration in the works with Lady Gaga, dueting on swing and jazz covers. And a posthumous, long-lost Johnny Cash album will be released in March, featuring recordings from 1980 to ’84.
The Rolling Stones intend to keep raking it in with tour dates around the world as their 50th anniversary stretches into its third year.
On the reunion trail, All Saints are getting back together and the Spice Girls are threatening to hit the road again. Rod Stewart and the Faces will join forces for a tour.
Meanwhile, although it is just the faintest of rumours, it appears there has been some thawing of Robert Plant’s frostiness to a Led Zeppelin reunion.
Also touring in 2014 will be Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, One Direction, Robbie Williams, Kings of Leon and The Eagles.
At this time of the year, the focus is on up-andcoming talent, with the burning question: Who or what will be the next big thing?
Yet the ease that technology has brought to music production and distribution, and the phenomenal speed with which new artists can shoot from Internet startup to global success, makes this harder to call than ever before.
The trend is toward maverick, slightly oddball singers with production quirks.
Attention is focusing on Sam Smith, Laura Welsh, Moko, Chloe Howl, Ella Eyre, FKA Twigs, Say Lou Lou, Dan Croll and sensitive singer-songwriters, including George Erza, Luke Sital-Singh, Vance Joy and Denai Moore.
The name on most fashionable lists is beautiful electro torch singer Banks, but according to Shazam, a cellphone music service that tracks listening trends, the real one to watch in 2014 is an overweight, bald and red-bearded white rapper from New York called Action Bronson.
Personally, I really like sexy indie rockers Wolf Alice, a trio of blues brothers called The Family Rain, sassy electro girl Foxes and dark, intense Scott Walker-ish singersongwriter Tom Hickox — but don’t expect them to dominate anything more than my earphones.
All I will confidently predict is that the biggest star of 2014 will be someone we haven’t even heard of yet.