MAIH – I Hope You See Me
There’s still a chance that you’re going to find a great friend in the next pop single that you hear! But the odds of this occurring are decreasing every day. The majority of pop hits, of course, are designed to all sound like each other, and to only discuss a certain number of topics: love, lust, and ambition. Worst of all, they all go about it in the same way.
This put you off ever wanting to meet one of your favourite pop stars. You get the feeling that if you run into them in some coffee shop, you’ll have nothing to tell them. Fortunately, there are still some available exceptions. MAIH positions her music as something else, as a tender pop song meant to replace a therapy session, as music that many can relate to.
“I Hope You See Me” is a strange, beautiful song, first of all, because the pops tar, in this case, isn’t playing the all-powerful heroine, but rather someone who admits being wounded by life and by relationships. Secondly, the music is so gentle that you fear it might get blown away. MAIH is a special kind of pop star, hopefully one for a new age.
Devlin And The Harm – Kingdom Comes
Rock n’ roll wasn’t a thing meant to last. None of the earliest recording artists thought it would, and neither did the people paying them to record songs. That’s why nobody bothered wth contracts, nobody thought of careers, and nobody thought that there would be any significant money that was going to be made by rock songs.
Something extraordinary happened. Some of these songs, especially heartfelt ballad types, ended up meaning more to audiences than just a quick thrill. These songs reached into their souls, turned into something that gave them comfort, and became things that they needed to hear in order to move past their daily troubles.
Devlin And The Harm’s ”Kingdom Comes” is one of those special pop ballads. Its retro sound brings to mind 1950s balladeers or the eternal “Coles Corner” by Richard Hawley. ”Kingdom Comes” is a song about being made to face all of your poor decisions in one moment, getting your heart blown to pieces and having to decide what to do next. It’s the kind of pop music that justifies why pop music exists in the first place.
