5 Seconds Of Summer’s global domination
I did 5 Seconds Of Summer’s first ever interview whilst Michael Clifford, who sings and plays guitar, was in the line at a Nandos somewhere in his Western Sydney ‘hood’. Fast forward two years and he wouldn’t even be able to go to a Nandos anywhere in the world without a bodyguard protecting him from the thousand fans who’d tracked his every move. The global sensation 5SOS has become is inspiring and really fantastic. Their debut album is a brilliant collection of pop anthems, each song co-written by the guys and some of their heroes.
The Griswolds’ global domination
A year ago The Griswolds were another quite good colourful indie band that got played on triple j a lot, but now The Griswolds are a globally recognised quite good colourful indie band that get played on triple j a lot and also the radio in America, the UK and The Netherlands and manage to sell out shows in those countries too. Their album comes out in the latter half of the year and will be really great if Beware The Dog is anything to go by.
Tove Lo becoming a properly amazing pop entity
Swedish pop lady Tove Lo’s debut EP Truth Serum is full of honest, often drug-addled stories, spanning the length of a breakup. I love a good concept EP. Stay High’s remix from Hippie Sabotage made Tove accessible on the radio and it’ll be amazing to see her come over to Australia and support Katy Perry before the end of the year.
Charli XCX’s rise and rise
OHHHHH CHARLI BABY. This has been a six months where for the mainstream, Charli XCX has moved from being “that chick on Fancy” to the properly amazing singer of “purple pop song” Boom Clap, which is the best thing to come out of The Fault In Our Stars because the movie itself was a bit shit wasn’t it. Charli reckons she’s written about five hundred songs for her new album – due later in ’14 – including a whole album worth of punk songs which’ll never see the light of day.
Troye Sivan becoming a music thing
A late addition. Troye Sivan’s been one of my favourite YouTube babes for a while now and I love his fresh approach to everything. Last week, after a non-annoying but really intense ‘teaser campaign’, he announced an EP release on EMI with debut single Happy Little Pill heading to the internet in mid-July which will take his thot factor to a new level.
SAFIA making waves
Ben Woolner may be a little dude but he’s got the most hauntingly beautiful ‘pipes’ you ever did hear and a really keen ability to make dance music that has feeling and emotion in it. They are the best live dance act in Australia right now and their support slot with Lorde is hopefully going to see them sell a lot of records when their debut album ‘drops’ later this year.
MNEK releasing some singles
MNEK is a NINETEEN year old London person with amazing taste in hats and a ridiculous array of talents. Writing credits for Little Mix, HE IS NINETEEN production ones for Kylie Minogue, the vocalist on hits by Duke Dumont & Gorgon City and now, a popstar in his own right. HE IS NINETEEN. His fierce first single Every Little Word put “do you fuck to this shit?” in the vocab of everyone who gave it a listen. He followed it up with I Wrote A Song About You, my favourite key-change-bothering pop song since Love On Top. The album’s going to be perfect. HE IS NINETEEN
DMA’s being discovered
If at the end of 2013 you said “I bet a Sydney band is going to do an anthemic Brit-pop revival song” I would have said “no actually that won’t occur”. DMA’s had a really cool start. They signed to I Oh You without having played a show or finishing recording their first EP. All they had was one song to show to media people. But it was all we needed. The Newtown lurkers delivered one of the best Australian ballads of the decade and it’s so good that even commercial radio’s started playing it. Brilliant.
Deep house pop becoming ‘the radio sound’
If you know me, you know I have an unashamed affliction for skyscraper pop music from manufactured major label commercial marketing machines. The radio stations I work for – their goal being to play hit music – had the same affliction. But I think it’s really cool that this year, “hit music” has shifted from being Rihanna, Kesha and Guetta and the songs getting the biggest spins are by people like Kiesza, Tove Lo, Duke Dumont, Mr Probz, Sigma, Milky Chance and Clean Bandit, previously unknown names with really good – but unexpectedly popular – pop songs. Listeners are going against the “what radio tells you to like” mantra and becoming more musically engaged, working out what is good, and radio’s responding to that. The charts are, too. At the end of May, nine of the top ten songs in the ARIA charts were artists having their first ARIA charting single. That’s a really exciting thing.
Allday getting a record deal and doing an album
One of my favourite discoveries in 2012 was Allday, who I watched grow through a stack of free EP’s last year and an unfaltering, genuine and unique connection to his primarily young fanbase, and then earlier this year he signed to old mate Illy’s label ONETWO, a division of UNFD which has The Amity Affliction and some other people on it. His album Startup Cult hit #1 on the iTunes chart on pre-order alone and it’s out the Friday after I publish this, July 4. He’ll be up against 5SOS and Sia but expect a top five debut.
Kimbra returning with ‘90’s Music’
TEENS TEARIN UP THE STREETS! What a line. Kimbra came back in April with a song no one was really expecting, Angle-grinder sampling, Grimes-esque in the verses and big roaring pop in the chorus, 90’s Music divided her previous fans who’d gotten used to a particular sound from her but for most of us, we just got more excited that NZ’s true pop queen had done something daring and downright fucking amazing. I predicted it would go #1. Let’s pretend I didn’t. But still. IT WAS GOOD, YOU GUYS!
People realising AJ Maddah’s a dick
Hahahaha. After he abused my website last year it’s actually kind of nice to see AJ Maddah not have the best year himself. I know two wrongs don’t make a right but: a loss after he bought half of Big Day Out (then the eventual cancellation of next year’s event and sale of his shares,) his Warped Tour and Harvest Presents ‘conquests’ being quashed, Soundwave announcing a really dumb gamble of a two-day event in 2015 and the realisation there’s statistically only a 20% chance of a festival surviving if AJ’s involved, it’s kind of lol that the “most powerful man in music” has finally been made to realise that it goes both ways – he can change music in Australia for the better but he also possesses the power to really, really screw it up.
Illy’s Tightrope becoming a big pop hit
Cinematic was one of my favourite releases of 2013, Illy’s love affair with brilliant pop music and his ability as a songwriter shining through in the best way possible. One song – which he was originally not even considering as a single – got serviced to radio in March and has become his biggest hit ever. Tightrope has been in the ARIA charts for a couple of months now, peaked at #19 and has been on high rotation on the radio for more than six weeks. He couldn’t deserve it more. The song is brilliant and Illy’s a great human being.
360’s comeback
I chucked him on the ‘Get On With It’ list last year after he posted a million videos from sessions he was having but didn’t really give us a comeback date or anything. Then he ‘dropped’ Impossible, his first of three collaborations with Daniel Johns from Silverchair which got the Novocastrian into his first music video in seven years, before releasing the brilliant Live It Up with PEZ, Price Of Fame with Gossling and eventually, the album Utopia, an honest and raw recollection of the shitty times he’s had since 2011’s Falling and Flying but also the strength and maturity he’s gained from those times.
Sia releasing Chandelier
“I think I just wrote a pop song for myself,” Sia thought after writing a little song using the metaphor of a chandelier, which she turned into a beautiful pop ballad about her relationship with alcohol. Chandelier was the first song we heard from 1000 Forms Of Fear, released just before the year’s halfway point, one of the most musically advanced pieces of pop this year. The melodic intricacy merely of the word “chandelier”, like, its four notes for one word. Insanity.
Iggy Azalea’s global domination / the existence of Fancy
IGGY, IGGY, GETTING THEM TIPSY. TIPPING THEM BROADS, HUNDREDS AND FIFTIES. For a girl from Mullumbimby she’s done exceptionally well, having simultaneous #1 and #2 singles on the Billboard charts and fighting through the bullshit of being a female rapper to put herself up with some of the biggest musicians in the world. Oh, and Fancy is a fucking jam.
Chase Atlantic forming
Three former X-Factor dudes from Brisbane and Sydney making some of the best and most forward thinking pop music in Australia right now. They announced their new band in March and released their first EP, the brilliantly titled Dalliance, in May and it’s a collection of emotional and expertly produced tracks that take inspiration from 5SOS-style pop and The 1975’s self-made genre of ‘guitar’n’b’.
Short Stack re-uniting
STACK IS BACK. In February, Shaun Diviney and his pals delighted people all over the country with a sudden and amazing new single and tour announcement, complete with new press shots and all that official shit. Their comeback tour is happening right now and everyone’s really damn excited.
The One Day Crew getting their shit together
The Sydney hip-hop collective thing that has Jackie Onassis, Spit Syndicate, Horrorshow and Joyride in it is not only the funniest Twitter account in music but also has a bunch of very talented humans who’ve put their minds together and made a proper collective community out of their ‘thing’. A monthly beer and rap afternoon, a single (and album / tour probably on the way), and a collective approach to releasing music, One Day are doing some v cool things.
NIC KELLY 