2025: The 2nd Quarter - Intro & Singles
- kevpalowe8
- Mar 21
- 10 min read
Originally posted July 2025
INTRO
So, just like that - we are halfway (plus a month now) through the year. The 1st quarter started off fairly weak. I have another branch of this project now - a whistle-stop tour backwards through the years to 2000. The years 2022-20 have been a general thumbs down too. Thankfully the 2nd quarter did pick up quite a bit. Admittedly, some of this was released earlier than the 2nd quarter but just undiscovered by me until later. In the world of ‘new music’ something else has been happening in the past few months too. I'll get to that with Pulp.
SINGLES (and a word about nostalgia)
Miley Cyrus “End Of The World”
M’eh
Ariana Grande “twilight zone”
Not great.
Eartheater & Shygirl “Shark Brain” / “Dolphin”
This was it. This signalled things picking up massively. I'm never sure how to review double A-sides. Do you review when separately or as an entity. I’m a fan here either way but I like “Shark Brain” a lot more than “Dolphin” (as much as I like that too). Therefore, if the ‘single’ is both tracks then I like it less than I would if “Shark Brain” was a single in its own right. Are you following?
“Shark Brain” had me on the 1st listen. The whole set up seems to depict something quite dark and threatening. This happens right from the intro as the words “Shark Brain” swirl around the mix (and therefore your head – if you have the earbuds in) before one final announcement that’s delivered like a ‘quiet scream’. Its not loud, but it pierces your senses. The 1st section (verse (?)) is tonally ambiguous. The melody is mostly compromised of a top G dramatically falling to a B & A (as was heard in the ‘quiet scream’ I mentioned). This is a little ambiguous in isolation but especially when it is placed against the backing music which is largely made up of just two elements. One is a keyboard figure of A leaping up to C then falling in steps to B and A. You could argue a case for A-minor. But your case wouldn’t really be helped by such an emphasis on the top G, nor the 2nd element of the music. That is a single bass note of D. What you have there is a scale that has a number of clashes of tones close to each other followed by huge leaps over absent tones. I am, of course, using the standard western tonal scale as a reference point only. In any case, a 2nd section (chorus(?)) contrasts this with more fuller chords and melodic composition. Although, its still disturbing with a creepy music-box-like keyboard figure in the background that sounds like something out of a black and white horror film.
The lyrics deepen the sense of horror. The child-like ‘kitty-kitty-purr-purr’ is foreboding. ‘The smell of blood a bleeding heart curling in the nostrils’ offers no comfort. The idea that we might be depicting sharks in dangerous waters is bad enough but, as is shown on the artwork (see the pic attached to this post, Eartheater has remarked how similar an x-rayed hammerhead sharks’ head looks to the human female reproductive system. So, ‘I welcome you into my open jaws’ and the clitoris being seemingly referred to as a ‘detonator’ doesn’t make you feel eased.
As I said before, the track totally changes. The tempo, music, and even the singer are all replaced. Its based around one pulsating chord which gives it a sharper sense of focus. The melody and music lose that sense of ambiguity for ideas we can analyse much more easily in musical terminology. The lyrics seem to change to depict a sense of survival and empowerment. Although, a sense of something disturbing is not lost by any means. ‘Tempted into your teeth the jaw of a fighter’. ‘Strong swimmer, shore collider’.
What exactly is being depicted? I don’t know. Something about female sexual empowerment using a shark as a metaphor? Yea, OK. Maybe on a surface level. But, I think its deeper and much more terrifying than that! And it’s probably best just to leave it at that rather than actually literally figure it out.
............ oh “Dolphins” is good too. Lol
Sunflower Thieves “Overdose”
These are the ladies I’ve been using as a ‘cheat’ during my write-up on 2020-2022 because those year’s seemed to be under-par but I was very familiar with this lesser-known act whom I like very much. While this is not a departure from their usual sound/style (see my single of the year for 2022 for that), they each have two separate melodic parts that they bounce from one to the other in the chorus. I don’t think they’ve employed that technique before.
Sleep Token “Caramel”
I’m really liking this rock group. I like the tuned percussion and slightly more ‘pop-y’ feel of this track in the opening. I stays in that vein throughout but the kick-ass drumming very much takes over before those heavy guitar power chords enter. I’ve reviewed the album in a pretty good light which will be in the next post.
Pulp “Spike Island”
This one was interesting – it came 24 years after their last album. It was not a bad track by any means but it didn’t exactly knock you for 6. But it was very ‘Pulp’ – you could easily sneak it somewhere into almost any Pulp album and fool people it was always there. So personally I had mixed feelings here. On the one hand I was underwhelmed and therefore a little disappointed. On the other hand, after all this time, it was Pulp again and they were sounding very ‘Pulp’....... and that warmed my heart a little.
............. but they obviously didn’t get the memo – tracks should now be 3 mins max. Exceeding almost 5 mins is sooooo 90s.
There has also been something else going on that Pulp have been a part of. Nostalgia, the popularity of old acts with younger audiences, and the presence of older acts, are in no way unique to the 2nd quarter of 2025. However, it feels like it has been a very significant time. It would be overblown to suggest that Oasis have ‘united a nation’ – but it WOULD be absolutely true to say they’ve come closer than anyone else has in decades. I’m not particularly an Oasis fan beyond the debut album. However, it has been delightful to witness the real joy it is bringing people - and pictures of the Gallagher brothers showing each other affection. Pulp released their 1st album in 24 year which hit #1. With the exception of one unfavourable review, they can seemingly do no wrong with the critics. Britain lapped up the album, their live performances, and the not-so-surprise Glastonbury appearance. Swarms of people mourned the death of the iconic Ozzy Osbourne but not before lashing utter praise on his final performance with Black Sabbath. Although Supergrass are not particularly being spoken of in the same calibre, I will throw them into the mix. The gig I tried to get tickets to was sold out in seconds and I thought their Glastonbury set was superb. They made it look effortless and I think it was the best one there – even better than Pulp. I’m not yet to decide what all this means, if anything at all. But I DO feel it means ‘something’.
L.Mayland “Lighthouse”
One member of The Last Dinner Party’s solo offering. I like it. Its very pleasant. It’s not outstanding though.
Leon Thomas “MUTT”
This is fairly impressive really. Its built on a pretty traditional R&B/Soul sound although with a modern take on melodic writing (i.e., fairly static ideas rather than developmental composition). Its strong song-writing by modern standards.
Maddison Rae “Headphones On”
I find Maddison Rae interesting – her music seems to be fairly standard pop music...... pretty good..... but its a smokescreen for some very dark matter. I’m still convinced that “Diet Pepsi” is about abuse rather than ‘young love’ as it first seems. Here, the idea of putting your music on and shutting out the world is a familiar one in pop music. But, starting with ‘wish my mom and dad could have been in love’, I suspect this is much deeper than just feeling a bit sad sometimes. ‘I guess I gotta accept the pain’. Its notable that having a ‘cigarette’ is mentioned in a new track by a young artist these days too. They used to be mentioned frequently years ago. But, young people have turned away from the casual smoking in favour of vaping. The cigarette is ‘bad’ not casual and it is ‘old school’, ‘hardcore’ etc. So, its unusual. Again, I think it points to dark subject matter.
Myles Smith “My First Heartbreak”
This is a bit of a more straightforward acoustic offering than his previous 2 big singles. I probably prefer it to his biggest smash “Stargazing” but not as much as “Nice To Meet You”.
Lorde “What Was That”
Admittedly, I wasn’t massively impressed with this initially. But, it turned out to be a ‘grower’. It has the usual modern melodic problem (in fact there’s a synth figure you can hear that’s arguably more melodic than anything in the vocal). That said, I like the way the vocal melody often lands of the 2nd note of the scale rather than the 1st (or 3rd (because that would be more conventional than the 2nd). I also like that persistent one note guitar phrase and the sparse arrangement of the music. I’ve also reviewed her album in a favourable light – in the next post. ........... lots of spoilers here!
sombr “undressed”
Much like Gigi Perez towards the end of 2024 – I think this is good - BUT!!! I struggle to get excited by it, just because its so so similar to so so much indie music that was around in the 1990s. You might think there would be a nostalgic element. There sort of is...... but just a reminder of how much of it there was then and how null it became.
Calvin Harris & Clementine Douglas “Blessings”
It sort of does the trick as a dance track but I could take it or leave it.
MOLIY, Silent Addy, Sillibeng & Shenseea “Shake It To The Max (Fly)”
This is what down-tempo pop music should be. Its slick, its catchy, its infectious...... and its SO good with all these things that it doesn’t matter how good it is musically. Love it.
Lola Young “One Thing”
After becoming a fan, championing her #1 single “Messy” and giving her album a positive review, I was a little dissatisfying with this one. Its OK, I suppose. But its a bit middle-of-the-road it terms of songwriting. It lacks melody, dynamic, and anything noteworthy. And, she seems to have resorted to crude sex-references in an attempt to substitute grabbing your interest with anything of substance.
Alex Warren & Jolly Roll “Bloodline”
Sort of pop but folk but country but other. Lots of buts. I think I prefer this to his absolute smash hit of 2025, “Ordinary” which is good but a bit cliché. If I was the kind of person to use this sort of phrase, I’d probably say ‘its a great little ditty’.
Skye Newman “Family Matter”
This is really good to be fair but I’m just not ‘excited’ by it, you know?
JADE “Frozen”
I really liked the atmospheric take on this. However, I spent the whole thing thinking ‘please tell me a dance beat doesn’t kick in towards the end’...... and that’s exactly what happened. This spoilt it for me. Not because of the dance beat per se, but because of the predictability of it.
sombr “back to friends”
I think much the same of this one as the one I’ve commented on above
Tate McCrea “Just Keep Watching” (F1)
The artists I didn’t like but then I did - even though nothing changed. This is a little up-tempo compared to her average track. I quite like the way the lyric of the title concludes every line in the chorus-like bit...... so it becomes like that one repeated bit of a song everyone knows. You know the kind of thing. “blah blah blah blah just keep watching. La la titty bum just keep watching”. I like the way the music often drops out so those words are a capella. I also like the weird indecipherable distorted vocal that follows.
Sabrina Carpenter “Manchild” #1
I thought ‘m’eh’ at first but it has grown on me a little. Carpenter tracks do seem to have a skill at getting stuck in your head. They’ve jumped on the ‘country’-leaning trend here to make sure they’re on point. Clever. I’d say its quite good but no “Espresso”
Ed Sheeran “Azizam”
This is either a little strange or a little interesting. I’m not sure which. It a good fun little number. Its just a bit curious. I’m not sure what he’s doing here. Now, Ed Sheeran does have a reputation for having a go at anything and not tying himself to a genre/style and this is a massive plus point. Here, it feels like he’s trying to casually incorporate ‘world music’ into his repertoire (in this case Persian music)..... but its so casual that its not really being achieved.
Ed Sheeran “Sapphire”
So this confirmed by suspicion that Ed Sheeran might be heading towards an album of Western Pop vs World Music (see above). Here we seem to have Bollywood. I’m not convinced its really working but people seem to be loving it. I’ll await the album.
Mark Ronson & Raye “Suzanne”
This is very good. Its got that great soulful sound delivered by Ronson’s production and performed expertly by Raye’s vocals. Does anyone get the feeling Ronson’s attempting to relive his time working with Amy Winehouse, though?
MK ft Chrystal “Doir” #1
Maybe this is the ‘old man’ side of me that I’ve suppressed battling his way out, but I just don’t get how this climbed to #1. It just seems like a whole load of nothing to me. Its fine I guess. Something inoffensive to have on in the background, sure. But I’m struggling to understand the popularity it has apparently mustered.
Fred Again, Skepta, & Plaqueboymax “Victory Lap”
Yea I quite enjoy this. I mean, its hardly music-genius – but I’d struggle not to dance along with the guys in the video. I like that rapping style (its actually singing, in fact) with its slow downwards inflection. I think this is Doechii, who I have been really enjoying this year, so that goes some way to explaining that.
Sam Fender & Olivia Dean “Rein Me In”
It seems I’m not a massive fan of Fender. Its not because he’s bad. It just reminds me of completely un-noteworthy middle-of-the-road indie in the 1990s. Its fine, its actually not bad song-writing technically speaking. But, its all just YAAAAAWN
Louis Capaldi “Survive” #1
Its pretty good, I guess. I say ‘I guess’ because it feels a bit like just churning out the same old thing over and over. But, its probably well above average this year.
So “Sharkbrain” is probably winning for me at present. My favourites from the 1st quarter are holding strong for now. I’ll also throw “Shake It To The Max (Fly)”, “What Was That”, “Just Keep Watching” & “Victory Lap” into the ring. It has just been announced that The Last Dinner Party are on their way with a new single (& album). So that’s going to be interesting.
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