Tom Ewing

Sorry, sorry, nothing's happening except 100 Gecs

A lot of the subtext of all this commentary is “people like me should get to decide what matters and if we don’t then the answer’s nothing”

In the 00s you could just about hold onto the idea that the story of musical creativity and progress was linear and its norm was bands making albums (some of which would become Classics); the reality has always been messier and that mess is inescapable now

And men are writing entire books saying nothing’s happening! Come on

Doing this challenge made me firm up what I like about the 2020s and realise more than ever that people who think current music has stagnated are just weird. Surges of creativity across Africa, Asia and South America; a golden generation of women pop stars; tons of funny, filthy rap - good times!

#TheTwen2ie5 by Tom

Can’t believe we are still stuck with the stupid lyric video on this, that’s the kind of thing you can get away with when you are transcending mere pop I guess!

Thanks Arron and everyone else, here’s my #TheTwen2ie5 playlist

open.spotify.com/playlist/598...

#TheTwen2ie5 Day 50

1. CHAPPELL ROAN - “Good Luck, Babe!” (24, USA) - 12 POINTS

How do you do fellow normies? First time I heard this I thought “that chorus is like Dragostea Din Tei (derogatory)” but NOW I think “that chorus is like Dragostea Din Tei (complimentary)”

youtu.be/1RKqOmSkGgM?...

#CoOpPlays Maximo Park followed by Kings Of Leon - a dread suspicion forms…

No points for the hated DEFOG 😶‍🌫️

Sent my wife's full list in - I'll ask if she wants me to post a tidal link tomorrow when the job's done. Very heavy on NIE though not much crossover with what's on the playlists already (but points for Sho, Theodora and the Tigress Of The East among others)

Shout out to the commenters trying to get some drama going amidst the mutual respect fest

All the rock knowers have been going on about Geese, top 10 for them seemed like an easy win

Think I might have had a word with my publicist if I was Paul Young

Rosalia came out too late I guess

Laughing at how poor Critical Thinking by the Manics must be to not get a place in Uncut’s 80-strong list

Worm Shepherd snubbed again :(

Yeah Mojo works like the music press used to where there’s a tacit agreement that even if there’s someone very crowd pleasing on the front, the inside will go a bit deeper. Uncut is not interested in giving readers what they don’t already want.

Tuxedo Winnie the Pooh - is it a flop single or is it in fact sophisti-pop

I was always under the impression that Blue Nile was just a bloke, the things you learn eh

Uncut knows their market (derogatory)

I don’t know! they were big (stellar reviews and a couple of actual hits) in Britain

I enjoy both of these but pretty easy win for 3 Feet High cos the rapping is much more enjoyable

An album with too many skits vs an album that feels like it’s *all* skits

Three, that’s the magic number (of seconds it took me to vote for De La Soul)

(And my wife’s list is going to have a lot of NIE 10 pointers, that will go in tonight I believe)

I’m currently planning on throwing HMs to Bad Bunny, both Arooj A, Reyna Tropical, Sahra Halgan, Theodora, J Noa, Karol G, Melenas, Sofia K, Rosalia, Mdou, Pongo, and maybe a few others (plus ppl like Zuchu & Hikaru Utada who are in English)

lol I'm not doing well am I, especially as I put the song directly above it on my list

Only one major not on the playlists surprise from my shortlist - Peggy Gou's "I Go", I know "It Goes Like" was the big hit but I imagined us knowledgeable pop pickers would go for the cooler (& better) track

RIP Jimmy Cliff, a sweet voiced man. Can't imagine I'm the only person who clicked with reggae thanks to the Harder They Come soundtrack

Got my draft HMs list for #TheTwen2ie5 - it's 64 long so a bit of trimming required, but all the really huge pop stars are there: Sabrina, Billie, Lana, Caroline...