Betty Who – Some Kinda Wonderful

“Equal parts Hollaback Girl and I Really Like You”

Tim: Unlike Charlie Who, there’s a whole lot of stuff to be found about Betty – Australian, 25 years old, second album coming up and has recently had a rather unusual incident in a launderette.

Tom: That’s equal parts Hollaback Girl and I Really Like You, then.

Tim: Something like that, yes. It’s a shame about the sad ending of the video, but at least now I needn’t bother finding my nearest launderette to join in the fun. Still, that music, which starts off somewhat unpleasant (looking at you, first and third lines of each verse), but soon arrives at a remarkably good chorus.

Tom: Mm. I’m surprised you’re supporting it so much, but then you were always a bigger Icona Pop fan than I was.

Tim: Yes; on the other hand I never had much time for Hollaback Girl, yet this is similar.

Tom: I mean, it’s a good track, don’t get me wrong — certainly better than a lot of the forgettable dreck we get through here.

Tim: “So what sort of music do you write about?” they ask. “Oh, mostly forgettable dreck,” I reply.

Tom: Okay, okay, so that’s harsh, but let’s be honest, there’s not much exciting new stuff coming through here is there? There’s a reason Popjustice has their profane new prize this year. We’re in an era where most of the Top 10 is Ed Sheeran. Literally.

Tim: I don’t know, I think we’ve had some decent variety over the past few weeks if you look back. And yes, Ed Sheeran seems silly, but it’s because the charts have changed: two years ago, he’d have had one massive number one album and two top 10 singles. Streaming doesn’t let that happen, though, so when a big enough album drops, this is almost an inevitability. As for this track…

Tom: It’s just got a lot of “inspired by” vibes that make me want to listen to the originals instead.

Tim: Hmm, well, much of my enthusiasm might be due to the video – if I heard it on the radio there’s a good chance I might just find it a bit of a racket. Having that video on the first time I heard it got me in exactly the right frame of mind for it, though, so right now I’m happily going ALL IN. Into the song, that is, not the washing machine. I’m not quite at that place yet.

Aili – Find Me

“It’s safe to say there’s some inspiration there.”

Tim: Today’s observation: it’s remarkable how few tracks an artist may need to irrevocably claim a sound as theirs. Take Kygo: he had Firestone, followed it up with Stole The Show and then became synonymous with tropical house. Avicii dropped Wake Me Up and immediately owned farmhouse. Alan Walker, now, has only had two tracks, and yet…

Tom: …and yet the first video that YouTube suggests after this one is the same artist’s cover of Faded. It’s safe to say there’s some inspiration there.

Tim: Oh, undoubtedly. Dance beat that’s taking the lead but isn’t too overbearing, breathy female vocal, that particular synth patch in place of what might otherwise be a piano, then a build into a chorus with all the twiddling of knobs that’s immediately evocative of Mr Walker.

Tom: Fnarr. You’re right, though, although the song itself isn’t quite up to standard. I can’t remember a damn thing about it once it’s gone. It does sound like Alan Walker, though.

Tim: And that’s no bad thing – certainly not for me, as I love the sound, and I’m a big fan now of this track – but I can’t help wondering if every track like this will be compared to him, or if someone else will be equally notable with the sound.

Lorde – Green Light

“Really just a whole lot of good Lorde.”

Tim: Lorde’s back! And sounding very good!

Tim: Funnily enough, just as I started writing this it got sent to us by our reader, who described it as “very Robyn-esque”; not sure I entirely see the resemblance, although maybe if Robyn actually PUT OUT ANY PROPER MUSIC AT SOME POINT GET ON WITH IT PLEASE then it might be.

Tom: Specifically, that introduction verse sounds a bit like the chorus of Dancing On My Own.

Tim: Absent any new Robyn stuff, though, it’s still very enjoyable – elements of a whole lot of good things, such as a toned down Icona Pop and a very on point Ellie Goulding, and really just a whole lot of good Lorde.

Tom: I see what you did there. You’re right, though: she’s got a unique voice that means she couldn’t be replaced by just another session singer, and while the production stays in comfortable territory, that’s not really a problem.

Tim: Great vocals, great chorus, great everything, really. Great track.

Samlight feat. Neea – Let Me Know

“DANCE!”

Tim: DANCE!

Tom: Bloody hell, Tim, I’m jetlagged and I’m tired, and I…

Tom: …huh.

Tim: Nice, right? Samlight’s a Finnish guy, Neea is harder to track down – I’m assuming she isn’t, as a standard web search would have me believe, the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance based in Portland, as she’s got much better vocals than they’d probably have.

Tom: That’s the sort of quality music writing that our reader keeps coming back for.

Tim: I like this a fair bit – it’s really quite jump aroundy, the music going around and about and inviting the listener to do so as well.

Tom: That chorus melody line is really very nice, and while I’m fairly sure that’s a synth patch I’ve heard somewhere before, it’s still a really good one. It’s got your Standard Euphoric Build in it, too, but the little touches here are what makes it: the resampled vocals, the little right-channel keyboard twitches.

Tim: In a DJ set I reckon it’d do very well as a “keep people going on the dancefloor” track, and frequently, that’s enough, so good work.

Saturday Reject: Dinah Nah – One More Night

“Distorted vocal samples and tropical beats”

Tim: Quick bit of admin: for some reason, SVT have decide to disable embedding on their YouTube videos, at least for the time being, so all we can offer is a link to the performance, SORRY. But back to the main part: Melodifestivalen’s a weird one to judge, as far as trying to work out why a track got rejected. In most other countries, we’ve just got one show, so it’s a “why would you pick that one instead of this?” With four heats, though, and four from the seven in each progressing through, it’s decidedly trickier. Take this, for example, binned off in fifth place:

Dinah Nah – One More Night

Tom: Where the hell have I heard that intro and chorus riff before? Some pop-dance song, certainly, but I’m damned if I can place it.

Tim: A few places, possibly – it’s a thoroughly modern sounding song, and solidly deserved at least an Andra Chansen place. I find when predicting the results that there’ll be one definitely finalist, a couple of “either final or Andra Chansen”, and a couple of “might just make it through”. This, I had in the middle category, and was AGHAST when some others got ahead of it. Like I said: it’s modern sounding, it’s sensible, and it’s fun.

Tom: Mm. I’m not sure about modern-sounding: for me, this sounds just a bit Balearic, the sort of thing that did very well in the early 2000s, had a bit of a resurgence a few years ago, and has now died out again.

Tim: Well, you could be right, but I was hearing more those distorted vocal samples and tropical beats placing it squarely around everybody’s favourite current dance trope.

Tom: I really don’t think it’s a Eurovision winner, and I think the audience probably made the right choice.

Tim: Oh now don’t say that. I don’t quite know that her outfit was the best choice for it – it certainly doesn’t really go with the song – but other than that, I don’t get what it did wrong.

Tom: I think it’s more that it didn’t get anything right. I mean, a rap middle eight? Really?

Tim: Oh well yes there is that.

Aries – Earthshakes

“…and the eh-ing and oh-ing in the middle eight couldn’t sound more half-arsed if they tried.”

Tim: Aries, so called because they were all born in the same week in the same hospital and that’s their star sign. Maybe there’s some logic there, I don’t know. Anyway, here’s their debut.

Tom: Well, that starts well and goes downhill from there.

Tim: Indeed. Let’s say it upfront: there’s a lot not to like about this song. The horrible autotune on the vocals, then there’s the horrible autotune on the vocals, and also did I mention the horrible autotune on the vocals? In the verses there’s not much of a melody, and even less in the chorus, and the eh-ing and oh-ing in the middle eight couldn’t sound more half-arsed if they tried.

Tom: There’s some weird almost-chiptune samples thrown in at one point for no real reason, too. I’ll be honest: I don’t get it.

Tim: Well the thing is, if you look on the other hand, and it’s a big hand: much as yesterday’s bassline ruined an otherwise lovely song, here it entirely rescues an otherwise awful song.

Tom: I still think you’re wrong about yesterday’s bassline, but yes: here we’re in agreement. It may be the only good bit. Well, that and the mid-2000s synths that show up a couple of times.

Tim: I’m fairly sure it’s a bit familiar, but even if it is I really, really like it, and am almost prepared to put up with the rest of the song to hear it.

FEELS – Gates

“A large part of this is lovely to listen to.”

Tim: Now, I realise this is a terrible indication of how this song might otherwise be reviewed, but: maybe ignore the first thirty seconds of this, or possibly even the first 45.

Tom: Why do you say that? I really like that opening.

Tim: Really? Because how I see it is that a large part of this is lovely to listen to. That underlying bassline, though, is remarkably unpleasant, and it’s really such a massive shame.

Tom: How strange: it’s not often that we come across something that you find grating and I don’t. That bassline really works with me: it’s ominous yet promising.

Tim: See, I just straight out don’t like it. So much of this is just lovely to sit back and listen to – start at 2:35, it’s just gorgeous. It may be almost 5 minutes long, but if it were all like that, I wouldn’t even have a problem with that. But argh, that grating line is just horrible when there’s nothing on top of it. WHY.

Tom: I think it does outstay its welcome a bit — it could use trimming some of the fat — but I just don’t think there’s anything wrong. And particularly not with that bassline.

Dua Lipa – Be The One

“I genuinely have no idea.”

Tim: Writing yesterday’s intro gave me a nudge to actively check out what’s currently going around Radio 1, and I discovered this, press play and then thought “oh, Dua Lipa’s the one who did this one, I do know it”.

Tim: It’s tricky to review, because I’ve almost certainly heard it subconsciously so many many times before actually thinking about it properly, so I know exactly where it’s going, and exactly how it should sound.

Tom: Well, it’s new to me — I’ve been travelling around so much right now that I’ve no idea what’s on any playlists — and I’m not convinced by it.

Tim: It all sounds right for me, though, and really quite enjoyable – but is that because it’s a good track, or because it’s been drummed into my brain my unconscious listenings? Would I like it if I was listening to the first time? Or would I skip it, think “nope, next please”? I genuinely have no idea.

Tom: This is one of the downsides of our reviewing songs on first-listen, Tim: we ignore the growers. And here’s a strange thing: I’m sure I’ve heard that chorus somewhere before. Is it just because I’ve heard this in the background, or is it because it’s a riff on some older song? I’ve no idea.

Tim: Well, what I do know, despite this growing existential breakdown, is: having possibly heard it multiple times a week for the past month or so, I do quite like it.

Kygo & Selena Gomez – It Ain’t Me

“It’s just a shame about Kygo’s bit.”

Tim: For me, Selena Gomez fits in with a number of artists like Dua Lipa, Fifth Harmony and The 1975: artists that are around a lot, mainstays of the Radio 1 playlist, and that I know I’ll probably like if I started consciously exploring them, but never actually do. Fortunately, this one has Kygo on it as well, so I picked it out and listened to it.

Tom: I did much the same a few days ago, Tim, and then decided it was a bit too dull to send you. Listening to this again, I disagree with my original opinion, because there’s a lot going on.

Tim: There is indeed really quite a lot to dissect here: from the opening light guitar and gentle vocal, through to the more aggressive piano and chanting, the instrumental breakdown where it gets a bit messy and then the combination of parts (b) and (c) to form part (d), before going right back to the start.

Tom: Right, and here’s the thing that I’m realising on a second listen: the messy instrumental bits are the dull bits. The Selena Gomez bits are beautiful — and I know that chord progression under “when you’re drunk and all alone” is a cliché, but it’s one that still has an affect on me. It’s just a shame about Kygo’s bit.

Tim: You’re not wrong there, and in fact to be honest, I do question the wisdom of putting them all in the same song – I think there’s a reason they only go back to the first bit once. My favourite area’s unquestionably the second, with it being easily singable and energetic, so I’m a tad disappointed it got relegated to minor pre-chorus status; on the other hand, I won’t hold that too much against it, because like I said – the rest is good as well.

Tom: And a song that’s entirely about “you know all those things about love? sod ’em” is a song with a message I can get behind. I just want to hear it before Kygo got his hands on it.

Sondr feat. Peg Parnevik – Live Love Learn

“In case you’ve been missing Avicii…”

Tim: In case you’ve been missing Avicii, Britain’s Sondr have teamed up with Sweden’s Peg to bring us something approximating that.

Tom: Sondr and Peg sound like a Nordic comedy duo.

Tom: Blimey, never mind, Sondr and Peg sound like Avicii. Or at least, everyone else that did Avicii-esque tracks a couple of years ago.

Tim: Verses with a gentle instrumental, yes. Chorus vocals over a building backing, yes. A post-chorus that then proceeds to GO OFF, oh, very much so. Deviation from the formula slightly in the first chorus, but otherwise it’s all there, and all behaving very, very nicely.

Tom: And there’s even the beautifully-directed road-trip video, too.

Tim: Ooh, I hadn’t even thought of that, but yes. And not only all those tropes, but we’ve also got the lyric “roll with the punches and twist with the turns, you live, you love, you learn”, which could be my favourite line yet this year. I will very much take this, that you very much, and stick it right on my GOING OUT playlist.

Tom: Just don’t jump into a freezing-cold lake. I don’t recommend it clothed, I can only imagine that naked would be worse.

Tim: Ah, but how will you learn if you’ve never lived?