Donna DeLory – Just a Dream
In which Madonna's generosity knows no bounds (wait, come back!)
Ingrid Chavez – Heaven Must Be Near
Derek Crook on the poetic pop of Prince protégée Ingrid Chavez. She co-wrote Justify My Love, fact fans.
Army of Lovers – Obsession
"Army of Lovers, who seemed to take the court of Louis XIV as their sartorial inspiration and a large bottle of amyl nitrite as their musical."
Madonna – I Want You
Hands up who has a complicated relationship with Madonna. Everybody? Good. Myself, I tend to veer wildly in my opinions, and this is because she has been in my life […]
Lana Del Rey – National Anthem
Lana Del Rey is a brilliant example of everything that’s right with modern pop and everything that’s wrong with the modern pop audience. Here was someone who had done their […]
Randy Crawford – Can’t Stand the Pain
A lot of pop songs are sprints of one sort or another, racing to the finish line within three and half minutes – but it’s good to have a marathon now and again isn’t […]
Cher Lloyd – Sirens
Remember Cher Lloyd? She’s that annoying bubblegum brat from the estate with the hi-tops and tracksuit who thought she was going to waltz her way to the X Factor title […]
Ben Folds – Smoke (Live with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra)
Going to see your favourite artist perform live is great isn’t it? My first ever pop concert was Pet Shop Boys‘ MCMLXXXIX tour (tickets £14.50!) at the SECC in Glasgow – my […]
Gwen Stefani – The Real Thing
“Supergroup” is a term that rightfully sends a shudder through the body of even the most optimistic pop fan. You’d think that putting a bunch of hugely talented people together […]
Louise Goffin/Terry Reid – 5th of July
Wasn’t it Oscar Wilde who said, “For a song to fall into the Popvoid once may be regarded as a misfortune, for it to happen twice looks like carelessness”? On […]
Pet Shop Boys feat. Example – Thursday
Let’s return to the notion of the Imperial Phase, that period of invincibility where everything you do is huge and deemed better than everyone else simply by virtue of your own […]
St. Lucia – All Eyes on You
When you get to a certain age there comes a point when you have absolutely no clue about what’s going on in modern music. You don’t really understand how it […]
Whitney Houston – You Give Good Love
Probably the two most common words in modern music are “yeah” and “baby,” and strangely these tiny four letter words can often be the thing that elevates a song to greatness. […]
Sheila E. – The Glamorous Life
In 1984, Prince Rogers Nelson, aka Prince, was at the height of his creative powers. His magnum opus, Purple Rain, had topped the charts around the world and generated hit […]
Giorgio Moroder feat Kylie Minogue – Right Here, Right Now
Anyone who doubts that pop music is an ageist industry just needs to look at the criticism Madonna faces on an almost daily basis. Sure, her albums don’t sell as […]
Janet Jackson – This Time
Has there ever been a greater pop star than Janet Jackson? I’m not certain there has. While others – though not many – have sold more records, few – if any – […]
Carly Simon – I Get Along Without You Very Well
The standards album has become an emergency career rescue stand-by in recent years, but when Carly Simon released Torch in 1981 it was something that hadn’t really been done by […]
Madonna – Spotlight
A few years ago I wrote a thing about the challenges Madonna faced as she entered the fourth decade of her career, and I ended it by asking the question: “if Madonna […]
Mylène Farmer – Désenchantée
We return now to the realm of French pop and its undisputed queen, Mylene Farmer. Were you inclined to put Madonna and Pet Shop Boys into a blender and blitz on full power […]
Kelly Clarkson – Catch My Breath
There’s a slightly strange phenomenon in pop that I like to call Crap Single From a Greatest Hits Syndrome and it is surprisingly common. Many such collections are marred by the inclusion […]
