Great new music from the girls
The guys are very much around. Drake, Post Malone, Justin Bieber, The Weeknd and even the departed Juice WRLD continue to sell big. All very good but that is also the problem. They are still doing the same stuff that turned them into stars. I believe that it is about time they put their creativity into action and start rethinking their music.
That is not so with the girls, whose creative juices are flowing like mad nowadays. They are almost always up to something exciting, unexpected and even controversial. The saying is cliché but it is a fact, there is not one dull moment when these females are around.
Taylor Swift has the lovely stripped down No. 1 selling Folklore album. Beyonce has the stunning visual album Black is King. Katy Perry has a baby and a new album, both named Daisy. Lady Gaga is dancing again in Chromatica and is the first Tricon winner. I am sure that the everinnovative Ariana Grande is cooking up something that will be massive. And there is more from other super women of music.
Love Looks Better is a strong statement from the lovely Alicia Keys, who has been in a most productive mode these past months. The song is the latest in a series of singles that will comprise her upcoming album titled Alicia. Before this came the goodbye ballad So Done, which is turning out to be the big favorite. This is an R&B collab with the young hiphop star Khalid and has Alicia’s soulful crooning at her most affecting.
Alicia has also released Underdog, Show Me Love with the Latin heartthrob Miguel, Good Job, which she dedicates to the frontline workers of this time of corona, Time Machine, about the freedom that comes with letting go and the emotional Perfect Way to Die, her song for the black lives lost in mindless violence. This early, the album Alicia is already showing extraordinary power and I do wonder what the other tracks in the line-up would be.
Then as if releasing one new song after another were not enough, Alicia has also written a book, More Myself: A Journey, to accompany the album. And times permitting, she has plans to do a concert tour.
Also on top is Selena Gomez. She did not say it directly but it is very obvious. I mean her advice for artists who are dreaming of a No. 1 selling song. Go off and do a collab with a K-pop group. That is just what the Latina beauty did recently. She did a collab of the tune Ice Cream with the all-girl group from South Korea Blackpink.
The song is quite simple, mindless even. But it is so cute just like those pretty girls of Blackpink and the video is a cottoncandy like confection. And it is selling big. By the way, that is not the only hit these days from Jennie, Lisa, Rose and Jisoo of the group, they also have How You Like That.
I always like getting news about Miley Cyrus and a new recording. The girl is so talented and has such a great voice. All that and more are in evidence in her latest Midnight Sky. This is the same sleek pop-rock disco tune she performed at the recent MTV Video Music Award while clinging to a disco ball. It is the first single out of her forthcoming album titled She is Miley Cyrus.
Much was made about this year’s disco ball and Miley’s Wrecking Ball from some years ago at the VMAs. This I think is most unfair to Midnight Sky, which is musically a great moment for Miley. The song is about a woman coming to her own after a bad breakup and winning. In it and in the video that she directed herself, Miley is confident, strong, sexy and beautiful. That is just like the way she should always be.
Oh, oh, oh, there is also the phenomenal selling but also most controversial tune of the moment, WAP by Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion. Do not ask me what WAP means, I do not think it is appropriate for this paper. The tune has a great beat and both girls are excellent rappers. I think they also deserve praise for their daring. They asked, how come only the guys are allowed to be explicit about sex? Why can’t girls do the same? And so, they did it in a huge, mind-boggling way with