Exploring New Music in 2020 - a Pop Culture Resolution
It’s already February – a month known for Valentine’s Day, winter doldrums, and officially being over whatever New Year’s Resolution you came up with. Now, I normally don’t bother with resolutions – largely because I know I won’t keep them – but this year I decided to make a fun resolution. This year, I decided I would try to stay more on top of new/current popular music, and just explore more music in general and a month in, I think I’m doing pretty well so far.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my classic rock, alt-rock, and musicals forever, but if falling down the BTS rabbit hole last fall taught me anything, it’s that good music, and music that I’ll like, is being made right now. And I want to be more a part of that. So far, I’ve mostly been listening to random new music that NPR and other culture news outlets recommend and exploring K-Pop more generally. It’s not just BTS and Eric Nam after all. So, a little over a month into the year and my resolution, here are five songs I like from my exploring so far.
Simmer by Hayley Williams
I’d never heard of this singer before I saw a review of this album on NPR and decided to check it out. It took a couple listens for it to get its hooks in me, but eventually it did. Mostly though its inexorable and almost hypnotic beat that drives you and the song forward. This isn’t really my typical kind of music, but then again, that’s kind of the point of this whole thing.
Valkyrie by ONEUS
ONEUS is a K-Pop group who made their debut in January 2019, and Valkyrie is the lead single from their first EP. A hook can make or break a song, and with Valkyrie, you know you’re in good hands and in for a solid pop song within the first couple bars. My criteria for if a song is a jam or not is if I sub- or semi-consciously start grooving to it when listening on my headphones at work. And you better believe I still do, even after listening to it many, many times.
Raising Hell by Kesha
Kesha is the only artist on this list that I already knew and liked before this year. That said, I only knew her top party-song hits and “Praying.” And, horribly, her legal battles with her abusive music producer Dr. Luke. I’ve listened to most of this album and it was hard to choose or even describe just one song. This is an album by a woman saying “screw it” to the world, which has resulted in a deeply personal and also deeply irreverent album. But since I have to choose just one song, I’m going with “Raising Hell.” But if you like that one, check out the rest of the album.
You Should be Sad by Halsey
Halsey was still just the featured singer in “Closer” and “Boy with Luv” to me until about maybe 10 days ago, which was when I started listening to her solo music. I’ve only listened to a few songs, and with varying degrees of interest, but this one I absolutely love. Partially because I’m a sucker for acoustic guitar, partially because it’s a throwback, and partially because this is clearly a song from the heart. And that last quality gives it a power it otherwise wouldn’t have in my opinion. Also, she gets an extra point for the Shania Twain looks in the music video.
A Boy by G Dragon
This is by far the oldest song on this list – from 2009. But hey, it was new to me, so it counts. G Dragon is the lead rapper and songwriter for Big Bang, a group effectively considered K-Pop royalty (aka the “Kings of K-Pop) who hit the scene in 2006. G Dragon, in addition to his work with BigBang, also did some solo songs, and this is one of my favorites. The lyrics, or at least the English translation I read, are a lot more personal than the upbeat sound would suggest, but I think it works. And it’s just a solid song.
