The yr in pop pivoted round a trio of artists — Charli XCX, Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan — whose music hinged upon assertions of inventive ambition and admissions of romantic weak point.
TERRY GROSS, HOST:
That is FRESH AIR. Rock critic Ken Tucker has been listening again to the pop music made in 2024 and sees a sample of girls hitmakers who prize each aggression and vulnerability in varied proportions. In songs by Charli XCX, Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan and others, Ken has discovered the soundtrack to the previous yr’s tumultuous occasions.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “APPLE”)
CHARLI XCX: (Singing) I suppose the apple do not fall removed from the tree ‘trigger I have been taking a look at you so lengthy now I solely see me. I wish to throw the apple into the sky – feels such as you by no means perceive me, so I simply wish to drive to the airport, the airport, the airport, the airport. I suppose the apple…
KEN TUCKER, BYLINE: Right here in pop music 2024 pivoted round a trio of girls, hitmakers whose varied successes hinged upon assertions of inventive ambition and admissions of romantic weak point. Foremost amongst them is the British songwriter Charli XCX. Her album “Brat” sought to redefine brattiness much less as irritating conduct than as an insistence that petulance may be justified frustration and anger, that you aren’t getting to outline her emotions. Charli’s collaborations with different girls on the remix model of the album, together with Billie Eilish and Ariana Grande, advised a rising military of artists able to take up her trigger.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “360”)
CHARLI XCX: (Singing) I went my very own approach, and I made it. I am your favourite reference, child. Name me Gabbriette. You are so impressed. (Vocalizing). I am tectonic. Strikes – I make them, shock you want defibrillators. No fashion – I can not relate. I am going to all the time be the one. (Vocalizing). Drop down. Yeah. Put the digicam flash on. So fashionable – child tees all gone. Drop down. Yeah. Wanting like an icon – work angles. Yeah. Yeah, 360. Once you’re within the mirror…
TUCKER: Conserving issues mild whereas additionally serving for instance of ferocious willfulness was Sabrina Carpenter, whose album title “Quick N’ Candy” referred each to Carpenter herself and the concise, intelligent hits she makes. Listening to her cooing vocals and seeing her wiggly movies, I needed to attain approach again to Mae West to give you a comparable instance of a lady who wraps her steely command in such a deceptively saucy tone.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE”)
SABRINA CARPENTER: (Singing) I’ve a enjoyable concept, babe. Possibly simply keep inside. I do know you are craving some contemporary air, however the ceiling fan is so good. And we may stay so fortunately if nobody is aware of that you simply’re with me. I am simply kidding. However actually, actually, actually, please, please, please do not show I am proper. Please, please, please do not convey me to tears after I simply did my make-up so good. Heartbreak is one factor, My ego’s one other. I encourage you, do not embarrass me, little sucker. Oh, please, please, please.
TUCKER: That is “Please Please Please,” Carpenter’s pleading-not pleading warning to a boyfriend that he is received to deal with her proper. The third member of my 2024 energy grouping is Chappell Roan. Her combination of singer-songwriter particulars, dance pop grooves and wonderful ballads actually caught on because the admiration of her friends elevated. She was a gap act on Olivia Rodrigo’s tour and as a visitor on Sabrina Carpenter’s Netflix Christmas particular. No surprise, she proclaimed, I am your favourite artist’s favourite artist. One in every of her catchiest songs is the emotionally advanced, “Good Luck, Babe!,” through which Roan encourages a straight lady who appears to have a crush on her to be at liberty to specific her wishes extra overtly.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “GOOD LUCK, BABE!”)
CHAPPELL ROAN: (Singing) It is fantastic. It is cool. You’ll be able to say that we’re nothing, however you understand the reality. And guess I am the idiot together with her arms out like an angel by way of the automotive sunroof. I do not wish to name it off, however you do not wish to name it love. You wish to be the one which I name child. You’ll be able to kiss 100 boys in bars, shoot one other shot, attempt to cease the sensation. You’ll be able to say it is simply the best way you might be. Make a brand new excuse, one other silly purpose. Good luck, babe. Properly, good luck. Properly, good luck, babe. Properly, good luck. You’d must cease the world simply to cease the sensation.
TUCKER: When you’re considering I’ve forgotten a sure lady, one round whom a lot of not simply the music trade however the tradition trade revolves, effectively, I did take pleasure in numerous Taylor Swift’s album “The Tortured Poets Division.” However I might be mendacity if I did not say I loved a ebook about her much more – Rob Sheffield’s “Heartbreak Is the Nationwide Anthem: How Taylor Swift Reinvented Pop Music.” It is the yr’s greatest important appraisal of pop stardom disguised as a fan’s ecstatic notes.
Lastly, I wish to remind you of a lady who will not be a hitmaker whose 2024 work was among the many yr’s most interesting. Arriving in an election yr, Carsie Blanton’s glowingly political assortment “After The Revolution” tried to think about a greater world after a interval of upheaval and chaos.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “AFTER THE REVOLUTION”)
CARSIE BLANTON: (Singing) You and me by the warming sea, shopping for one thing in a bag, strolling by way of the battle to the nook retailer. Everybody appears to be like poor and unhappy. So I picked a battle afterward that evening. I used to be sick of feeling disgrace. And I do know all of it could not be your fault, however I want somebody in charge. After the revolution, we’ll have a greater life. You will be a greater husband. I will be a greater spouse. We’ll have a jubilation. We’ll take a vacation. It will not all the time be this fashion.
TUCKER: The place the opposite artists I performed find their feminism in dance pop, Carsie Blanton mixes folks and rock distinctively. And her model of sexual politics is broad sufficient to embody a category critique as effectively. Whereas Blanton is singing from the sidelines of superstardom, some stars would possibly do effectively to hearken to her for an instance of how you can make good music that additionally refers to topics aside from self-care – nothing improper with increasing your already-huge base by being much more formidable within the new yr.
GROSS: Ken Tucker is FRESH AIR’s rock critic. Tomorrow on FRESH AIR, my company can be Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell, the internationally well-known brother and sister songwriting and music-making duo. We’ll discuss what it was wish to be homeschooled, change into well-known of their teenagers and the way their lives and music have modified as adults. They’ve a brand new album. I hope you may be a part of us.
(SOUNDBITE OF CARSIE BLANTON SONG, “AIN’T WE GO FUN”)
GROSS: FRESH AIR’s government producer is Danny Miller. Our technical director and engineer is Audrey Bentham. Our interviews and critiques are produced and edited by Phyllis Myers, Ann Marie Baldonado, Sam Briger, Lauren Krenzel, Therese Madden, Monique Nazareth, Thea Chaloner, Susan Nyakundi and Anna Bauman. Our digital media producer is Molly Seavy-Nesper. Roberta Shorrock directs the present. Our co-host is Tonya Mosley. I am Terry Gross.
(SOUNDBITE OF CARSIE BLANTON SONG, “AIN’T WE GO FUN”)
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