Three not-to-be missed albums
2017 was a great year for Ed Sheeran, Bruno Mars, Justin Bieber, Sam Smith, The Chainsmokers and as far as concert tours go, Coldplay. No contest to that. But to the dismay of a lot of fans, the only female name deemed worthy to be mentioned in the same breath as these guys is Taylor Swift.
I say no contest to that, too. Swiftie is just as talented, as astute a businessman and as marketable as any of those pop idols. In fact, had she dropped her latest album Reputation earlier, she might have sold even more than they did within the past year.
But take note that aside from Taylor, there are other female artists whose songs are not only selling well, but whose works are affecting the current music landscape. Lorde, Lana Del Rey and St. Vincent.
I listen to them and I think of Joni Mitchell and Carly Simon during the ‘60s of Stevie Nicks and Phobe Snow in later times, and of Kate Bush and Tori Amos. No not because of similarities in their music but for being equally fearless and unpredictable. The fact that they have all stripped themselves of the conventions of success and prevailing trends to be simply, themselves should definitely be lauded.
If there are common denominators that I can use to describe Lorde, Lana and St. Vincent, these would be daring, they do what they want; complex, their music are in their own styles and defy classification; indulgent, of course, all that they do is against the people around them who think of how much more money they can make with more accessible pop tunes; and of course, authentic, these girls are real and they create genuine masterpieces.
Melodrama by Lorde: No sophomore slump for this singer/songwriter/producer from New Zealand. She was mesmerizing in her debut
Pure Heroine with the big-selling Royals. She is now equally so in her second release
Melodrama. Maybe because she is only 21 years old, Lorde tends to dwell on the anxieties of young girls regarding their broken hearts. But she does this with so much flair and with clubby beats that her peers would adore moving their shoulders and more to.
Green Light was the hit first single. My best picks are the passionate ballad Liability, plus Writer In The Dark and Perfect Places. Also included are Sober, Homemade Dynamite, The Louvre, Hard Feelings/
Loveless, Sober II, Supercut and Liability (Reprise). Lorde cowrote all of the cuts.
Lust for Life by Lana: This is Lana’s fourth album. Aside from making its debut at No. 1 in the charts, it has also been a consistent presence in the lists of the best albums that emerged in 2017. This one is also the most pop collection among this trio. I believe that one of Lana’s finest assets is how she uses her voice with tones that evoke both glamour and melancholy. The other one is her writing which is poetic but conversational. What do you think of “birds of paradise who do not get to fly at night?”
The album has a goodly line-up of star-studded guests Love; Lust For Life featuring The Weeknd; 13 Beaches; Cherry; White Mustang; Summer Bummer featuring ASAP Rocky and Playboi Carti; Groupie Love featuring ASAP
Rocky; In My Feelings; Coachella (Woodstock In My Mind); God Bless America — And All The Beautiful Women In It; When The World Was At War We kept Dancing; Beautiful People Beautiful Problems featuring Stevie Nicks; and the best track of all, Tomorrow Never Came featuring Sean Ono Lennon.
Masseduction by St. Vincent: Annie Clark, who is better known by the unique marquee name of St. Vincent, is a singer/ songwriter/multiinstrumentalist and killer guitarplayer who makes hook-filled pop savvy tunes with a strange bent.
Masseduction is her fifth album and while her ideas remain off-kilter, she now frames her lyrics in irresistible melodies. The result is as fun as in Pills and sexy in Savior, utterly confident as in Los
Ageless, collection that looks at fear straight in the eye. Masseduction by St. Vincent also
includes Hang On Me, Masseduction, Sugarboy, New York, Fear The Future, Young Lover, Dancing With A Ghost, Slow Diva, Smoking Section and the heart-rending Happy Birthday Johnny.
Incidentally Lorde and St. Vincent share an album producer, Jack Antonoff of the defunct group fun! of the big hit We Are Young. Now one of musicdom’s hottest names, he has also worked with Taylor, Pink and other big stars.