ÁTM-Music

Existen dos tendencias en la música pop actualmente. Una es hacer una canción pop-punk , incluso si no se corresponde con la identidad artística del artista ( SZA, Bebe Rexha …) . La segunda es la canción de synth-pop ochentera . Desde que The Weeknd lo trajera de vuelta a finales de 2019 con Blinding Lights , muchos cantantes se han sumado a esta tendencia. Unos lo han hecho con más tino ( Prisoner de Dua Lipa y Miley Cyrus ), pero otros han ido dejando atrás toda la novedad que trajo The Weeknd y creando canciones genéricas. Aquí se encuadran los sucesivos temas de Ava Max , que imitan los hits ochenteros más exitosos o Lizzo con 2 Be Loved .  Parece que en esa segunda tendencia se sitúa lo nuevo de Zara Larsson, después del desapercibido -comercialmente- ‘ Poster Girl ’. ‘Can’t tame her’ habla de una chica independiente e incontrolable y se parece , musicalmente y en el relato, a Maniac de Michael Sembello. La pista es otra canción con influencias ochenteras más y este camino

 The 1975 publicó ayer su quinto trabajo discográfico, Being Funny In A Foreign Language , después de NOACF (2020), cuya reseña fue el primer post del blog que compartí por Twitter.  Después de dos años, The 1975 llega con una ametralladora de hits pop. La banda deja a un lado su afán experimental en un lado para centrarse en un disco pop, un álbum con solo 11 pistas; preciso y enfocado. El espectro de géneros se reduce (no hay rastro de dancehall ni EDM), pero persiste la identidad de la banda de Manchester: Desde el primer single, Part Of The Band , se siente la mente de Matty Healy, con su folk-rock y la letra plagada de sus yuxtaposiciones llevadas al extremo, su análisis social y su post-modernismo. En el proyecto persisten las influencias ochenteras y solos de saxofón en temas como I'm In Love With You y Oh Caroline, con un piano que recuerda a The Way It Is de Bruce Hornsby & The Range  y los habituales temas más cercanos al jazz, como el grower All I Need To Hear o

 Tras varias semanas sin publicar ninguna entrada en el blog, he vuelto con una reseña (en vídeo) del nuevo single de The 1975 (#themilnovecientossetentaycinco en español, como se me escapa al final del vídeo). Espero que os guste el análisis y el nuevo formato. 

 Last Friday (January the 21st) Years & Years released their third studio album, which is the first one since the group split up and Olly Alexander decided to keep the band name to release his solo music. Night Call takes influences from the 80s and disco music, but it certainly is music from this century (from 2022 or 2019, when Olly started writing songs for this record). The result is a dance and up-tempo ensemble which explores desire and attraction in a very open way.  Included on the album are the previously released singles: Starstruck (that had the dance-pop queen Kylie Minogue on the remix) , Sweet Talker (with Galantis), which entered a few weeks ago in the Top 40 , and the latest one, Sooner Or Later. It also features some Years & Years hits and the It's A Sin version with Elton John, which was performed at last year's BRITS, consolidating (with Kylie's appearance) Alexander as a true pop-star. Night Call is made up of danceable, light songs to dance to

 This year's Christmas Day marked the fifth anniversary of George Michael's early death. With this post I wanted to pay some sort of tribute . Today I'll focus on his album Faith. It was released on 1987, after Wham's split in 1986 and after having released three successful solo singles: Careless Whisper ,   A different corner and the duet with Aretha Franklin, which won a Grammy Award for the Best R&B Performance by a duo or a group. Those three singles weren't included on the 10 tracks of the album, which made  the project seem a new chapter, like his physical appearance , as he would do with every other album (Older, 1996). All the songs were written and produced by Michael himself, which notices his involvement on the project and his music.  The album title is the same as the most successful track of the album, Faith. Faith is the perfect blend of rock and roll and pop. With its iconic video, George Michael established himself as a visual artist, having mem

 Back in July John Mayer dropped his long-awaited album, Sob Rock.  The project comes three years after the first single (included on the album), New Light , which showed the direction of John Mayer's new music: very synthed and 80s-influenced. This is revealed again  in Last Train Home , with synths that recall Toto's smash hit Africa. To promote this song, Mayer teased it saying 'New music done the old way '. This seems the motto for the album and it really fits together with the sound of it: John Mayer goes back in time, to the 80s to make his new music and looks to the production and arrangements of those times, like in  the Christopher Cross-influenced Shot in the Dark .  The ensemble of 10 tracks contains the three previous singles: the mentioned New Light , the soul-pop  Carry Me Away and I Guess I Just Feel Like, which remained closer to the usual Mayer's sound.  In the remaining seven tracks, John Mayer coquets with other genres, from country and western

 Zara Larsson published her long-awaited second album last Friday. After some years dropping singles, her second chapter is out.  The album begins with the underrated Love Me Land , released in July. It is the best introduction to the record: It introduces you to a dreamy universe, with Zara's powerful vocals and a pure bet for Dance-pop and Electropop.  However, the second track breaks that magic. It's pop-R&B and it counts with the feature of Young Thug, as a commercial appeal (like the Ty Dolla $ign feature on her previous album). Talk About Love isn´t bad but the album creates a universe in the start that should have been preserved. Alongside WOW and Ruin My Life , these feel the most american songs, with trapbeats and mixing it with R&B. They completely separate from the rest.  The third song is an UK potential hit and it includes a choral part in the chorus, like Dua Lipa's IDGAF or Levitating . The truth is that the record has stellar pop moments, like her

 Back in January , Blossoms published their third album, Foolish Loving Spaces. The album comes months after the release of Your Girlfriend , the first single of the project . Blossoms told Radio X in a Track by track of the album , that they planned to do three different albums with the almost 25 songs they have written . The money it would have cost , made Blossoms choose to release only one album and , by this time, they had also the first single, Your Girlfriend.   In the Track by track   Joe Donovan explains that the record , without being a concept album , could work as a love concept album. This reflects in Your Girlfriend . Tom wanted , as he explains in an interview to Radio X, to challenge himself as a songwriter and write about love in a different perspective. This time, Tom sings about a guy who is in love with a friend's girlfriend . This imaginary journey (cause it is not a real life experience) drives Tom to talk about the emotions that everyone could feel in this ty

The nominations for the 2020  MTV VMAS have been announced . They are always controversial. This joins to the special circunstances that surround the awards. First, due to the cornavirus and the resulting lockdown , artists have not been able to shoot videos during this time, which has lead to an animated videos' avalanche . The VMAS answer to the situation creating two categories : 'BEST MUSIC VIDEO FROM HOME' and 'BEST QUARANTINE PERFORMANCE'. Despite this two categories , in the others there is no place for a video improvised during lockdown. The nominations in the big categories do not include any video of this nature . This drives artists to depend on having recorded videos for their music before lockdown. If not, better forget about a nomination for the biggest categories (well, the only exception may be  Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber's STUCK WITH U ). One of the biggest categories is Video of The Year . The nominees are Billie Eilish (Everything i wante

Apart from Frank Ocean, during lockdown I discovered Blossoms . The English band from Stockport was formed back in 2013, but gained relevance with their debut single, Charlemagne. With it,  they stated the synths' predominance that will remain in their songs and was in their first single, You Pulled A Gun On Me   . Tom Ogden's vocals and his special way of writing love stories made the rest and drove to the band earning a nomination for the BRITS awards . First singles ( You pulled A Gun On Me, Cut Me And I'll Bleed, The Urge  and Blow ) have Tom Ogden singing roughly, with great chorus to sing along and much rawer guitars than later on the band music. . In Winter Kiss  they demonstrate they can do great slow-tempo songs , sounding soft-pop, with an acoustic guitar base, which could have served for a country song. Some of these songs were included in their debut-self titled album (2016). Alongside with a half of new tracks. Throughout the album Tom sings about love in diffe

After successing with Chaleur Humaine,  her first, soft and vulnerable album, Christine and the Queens came back in 2018 with her second chapter Chris . The title is a true statement. She is not vulnerable now, she is fearless, confident, ready to embrace her sexuality, often playing with gender ambiguity. The record opens with Comme Si  ,a synth-pop track where she declares that this new persona ( Chris) has always been there (I've been there ,infectious). The second track is Girlfriend. This is a true affirmation of Chris non embracing a gender (Girlfriend/ Don't feel like a girlfriend/ But lover/ Damn, I'd be your lover)  alongside Dam-Funk's  vocals and his fantastic keytar that drives the song into a funky addictive piece. In The walker (video shot in Spain)   , while Christine searches for violence in her skin, her voice seems a little more vulnerable and sincere ( People politely smile to make sure I won't come any closer). Chris is not afraid of talking abo

The 1975 has released  'Notes On A Conditional Form' , the successor of 2018's 'A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships' . Since August, the band has been releasing singles, giving us a taste of the variety of genres that would be on the record: The punk anthem 'People' , which gots Matty Healy singing violently , as a warrior ; The retro-90s-dance track 'Frail State of Mind' , the 2000s pop-rock inspired love story 'Me & You together song' and the country influenced  'The Birthday Party'.  In april, they published 2 singles : Jesus Christ 2005 God Bless America (ft. Phoebe Bridgers) showing the 1975 is unafraid of talking about controversial topics (homosexuality and religion) and If You're Too Shy (Let Me Know), their most commercial successful track yet (reaching number 14 on the UK Official Chart). This song gets back the usual topic on the last album, oline relationships, and has got a similar energy to It's Not Liv

El 27 de febrero publicó Christine and the Queens su EP  'La vita nuova' . Ese mismo día publicó una minipelícula en youtube que ofrecía videoclips de todas las canciones del EP (excepto de la bonus track 'I dissappear in your arms' ) rodado  en la ópera Garnier de París. El EP contiene 6 canciones, entre ellas 'People i've been sad' , la canción que ya públicó el 5 de febrero. La pieza que da título al EP es 'La vita nuova' , que supone el regreso de Chris a cantar en italiano desde 'Science Fiction' . Ambas comparten la base en la admiración de los ritmos disco setenteros que sonaron en Italia en esa época. Además en esta canción , Christine colabora con Caroline Polacheck , artista neoyorkina que describe la colaboración como 'dream collab'. La inspiración detrás de 'La vita nuova' se encuentra en la obra del mismo título de Dante Alighieri , donde se trata el amor platónico del escritor y Beatrice. De esa inspiración