Reading Time: 9 minutes

Me again! A weird bunch of songs, these, but it’s been a weird time.

Still, I’m happy to share these with you and I truly appreciate every read!

Hope you enjoy reading and maybe even find something new which you enjoy.

As always, there’s a streamlined version at the top featuring my Top 5.

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The Essential 5

Debbii Dawson – Too Strange For The Circus
America’s Got Talent contestant Debbii Dawson delivers a sublime blend of Pop, Indie, and Country with her stunning vocals and relatable lyrics about not fitting in, set against crisp drums, tight bass, and space-y chords.

Ezra Collective & Yazmin Lacey – God Gave Me Feet For Dancing
Perfect, chilled-out, summery jazz-pop with breezy piano chords, lovely brass instrumentation and a smoky vocal delivery.

Griff – Hiding Alone
Griff is at her best on this huge, anthemic Pop record with thundering drums, catchy guitar riffs and infectious melodies. An utter bop!

Coldplay – feelslikeimfallinginlove
Coldplay stick to their formula on this conventional, yet still great Pop track which builds and builds before it escalates into the trademark Coldplay climax.

Griff – Astronaut
An immaculate piano ballad about the sadness of needing space in a relationship, beautifully conveyed through her breathy vocals and simple piano accompaniment.

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The Long List

Debbii Dawson – Too Strange For The Circus
This is simply sublime from Amerca’s Got Talent contestant Debbii Dawson. Over a crisp drum track, a tight bass line and space-y chords, in a perfect hybrid of Pop, indie and Country, Debbii sings of not quite fitting in with lyrics such as “I’m too strange for the circus / too human for Mars / too deep for the surface.” Debbii’s stunning and clear vocals are gorgeous and are a perfect match for the relatable lyrics and solid production. Gorgeous.

Ezra Collective & Yazmin Lacey – God Gave Me Feet For Dancing
Heard this on a summer playlist then again on Radio 1 and fell IN LOVE. With almost-afrobeat percussion, breezy piano chords, funky guitar riffs and brass instrumentation, it’s a chilled-out, carefree song with references to Nina Simone, a smoky vocal delivery and pure summer vibes. Simply lovely.

Griff – Hiding Alone
I really like Griff and her debut album is solid, with ‘Hiding Alone’ being an obvious highlight. Opening in classic Griff-style with atmospheric, bubbling synths and gentle vocals, it evolves into a huge, anthemic chorus with huge, thumping on-steroid-drums, catchy guitar riffs and infectious melodies. Absolutely obsessed with this. An utter bop!

Coldplay – feelslikeimfallinginlove
Sometimes I LOVE Coldplay and sometimes I don’t. I like indie Coldplay at times. I like Pop Coldplay at times. There’s no rhyme or reason. This is classic Pop Coldplay and at first I dismissed it, but it’s hugely grown on me. It’s fairly conventional Pop and doesn’t dare to push the boundries but that’s part of what makes it lovely. From the soft synth verses and catchy ‘la la la’ bridges to its anthemic chorus, this is classic Coldplay and why break the formula when they’ve got it just right? I love the slight chord idiosyncrasies and the way the track escalates into the trademark Coldplay climax.

Griff – Astronaut
I know, TWO Griff songs in the Top 5! I had to include this exquisite piano ballad because it’s executed so beautifully. I have a weakness for songs which use Space as a metaphor and this fits the bill, its lyrics conveying a sense of sadness as Griff discusses her partner needing space like an astronaut. This is Griff at her best – comprised of little more than a piano (funnily enough, played by Coldplay’s Chris Martin) and her breathy vocals over faint electronic elements. Just gorgeous.

Morgan Saint – End of Time
Dreamy, summery synthpop with warm synths, sweet vocals coated in autotune and driving, programmed drums. My first thought when listening to this was how much it gave me a similar dreamy summer pop vibe to Donna Lewis’ classic ‘I Love You Always Forever’, though they’re very much their own songs.

Tina Arena – Chains
I knew of this song but hadn’t heard it much over the years. Anyway, I heard this on the radio on my drive to work the other day and it blew me away. Tina Arena’s vocals are stunning; soulful and gentle for the first half of the song which feels sensual and soulful, and rich and powerful from the song’s dramatic transition in the middle to a huge rock climax. What a song!

Will Young – Midnight
I’ve always loved Will Young’s music, from his early Pop days to his later, darker electropop material. This slightly self-deprecating, humorous and truthful track about being lost and single in your forties utilises an almost 1980’s synthwave/soft disco vibe, giggling synthesisers and Will’s classic angelic vocals. Really great, this!

Perrie – Tears
Of all the Little Mix girls, Perrie has been the one to command my attention straight away. Her debut single ‘Forget About Us’ was great but this is truly excellent. Continuing the resurgence of late early 80’s yacht rock and Americana which has been brought back into mainstream Pop by the likes of The Jonas Brothers and Take That over the last 18 months, ‘Tears’ is a brilliant break-up song with warm synths, immaculate production and lovely vocals from Perrie herself. Perfect Pop!

Lauv – Potential
I have a love-hate relationship with American Pop maestro Lauv and dismissed this song for ages, despite the fact he kept promoting it (excessively!) on his Instagram, promoting it as his ‘coming out’ song. I have slight issues with the fact that he promoted it as a deeply personal track, yet there’s NINE writers on this. Still, it’s Lauv doing what he does best – slightly over-sentimental, over-produced Pop which is slickly produced and effortlessly catchy. Really, really like this, particularly the use of the acoustic guitar strums over the electronic production.

Charli XCX – Every Rule
I’m still in my Charli XCX era. This is a glorious electropop ballad with soft synths, bubbling electronic elements and an under-water feel. Simply gorgeous.

Louis Cole, Metropole Orkest & Jules Buckley – These Dreams Are Killing Me
For those who don’t know, Louis Cole is a slightly crazy, incredibly talented musician who makes a diverse assortment of tracks in a range of genres with strange chord progressions. He is a classically-trained jazz musician and this shines through on his weird concoction of pop, jazz and avant-garde music. This is one of my favourites of his – the use of the orchestra brings this track to life and the chord progressions are wonderful.

Charli XCX – Talk Talk
Classic Charli XCX with her frenetic, fun and carefree hyperpop. Autotuned-to-the-max vocals ride the house-like instrumentation and thumping beats. Brilliantly catchy.

Geri Halliwell – Lift Me Up
I’ve always had a soft spot for this. Make of it what you will – it’s late nineties cheesy pop but it’s fun and gloriously uplifting. Fresh out of the Spice Girls, Geri embarked on a solo career, which began incredibly well. After two fun, cheeky uptempo singles, this was the third single from Schizophonic and more of a Pop ballad. For all of the criticism of Victoria Beckham’s vocals, Geri always seemed to have less slack, despite the fact both of them had limited vocal capabilities. Still, on this, Geri sounds great, opting for a husky vocal delivery over summery pop instrumentation including cheerful acoustic guitars and rich strings. Just a lovely song and a solo spice record which often feels overlooked.

The Corrs – Breathless
Another song from the same era. The Corrs really were (and are) brilliant. This was them during their peak and they opted to work with Robert John “Mutt” Lange who was responsible for Shania Twain’s epic pop-country crossover in the late nineties. The result was this immaculate Pop-Country hybrid with almost yodel-like vocals in the chorus, a driving bass line and infectious melodies. Quite arguably one of the best driving-with-the-windows-down summer Pop records ever.

Galantis – Get You Alone
Galantis are known of course for a string of hits from the mid 2010’s including ‘Peanut Butter Jelly’ and ‘Runaway (U & I)’. I always find the fact that they are affiliated with iconic Pop songwriter Cathy Dennis (who co-wrote and performs on this song) until I remember that both Galantis’s Christian ‘Bloodshy’ Karlsson and Cathy Dennis are both responsible for many, many huge Pop hits. This is infectiously catchy, using that classic repetitive house-pop sound which is best evidenced on the likes of Stardust’s ‘Music Sounds Better With You’. Outrageously good!

Cat Burns – this is what happens
I like Cat Burns a lot. I do think a lot of her music is a little similar which can make it merge into one when listening to all of her music in the same session. Still, her debut album has some great songs on it, this being one of them. I love the laidback vibes, the chord progression and its easy-listening, breezy feel. Lovely.

The Japanese House – 🙂
I love The Japanese House. She is perhaps best known for her moody, atmospheric indiepop with pitch shifted vocals, although she also makes more cheery stuff like this too! This song documents her falling in love with a woman she met on a dating app and fantasising about flying to meet her in Detroit. The song has a happy ending as Amber (The Japanese House) did buy the plane tickets and now they’re engaged. Lovely summery, happy vibes on this.

Aluna & Paul Woolford – Heatstroke
I love Paul Woolford. He’s responsible for some brilliant dance music over the last few years and this is another one in his canon, perfectly capturing summer in this euphoric, fun and flirty house track.

Shaznay Lewis – Supposed To Be
Shaznay Lewis is better known for being a member of British girlband All Saints. She is responsible for some of their best work, in addition to being a songwriter for other artists. After initially releasing a solo record in 2004, twenty years later, she has decided to return with her follow up album. ‘Pages’ is a solid album which could easily have been an All Saints album but also maintains Lewis’s individuality. This is one of my favourites from the album, a perfect, uplifting pop track with slick production and earworm melodies.

Extra keen and want to listen to these all back to back? Unlikely but in case you do, here’s the playlist, along with some extra tracks I haven’t discussed here: