16 February 2026 - BLACKPINK - 뚜두뚜두 (DDU-DU DDU-DU)

So, with rumors of a BLACKPINK comeback having Blinks everywhere apoplectic, and with Rosé nominated for three Grammys a few weeks ago, I felt like looking back at the first US hit for the group was in order. 

Indeed, this was the first BLACKPINK song to hit the US Hot 100, peaking at #52 in 2018, which was practically unheard of for a non-novelty Korean single at the time.  Now, not so much. Written as a combination of pop and trap, it was designed by Teddy Park to suit the voices and styles of the four women, and accomplished that well. 

The influence does not stop there.   Rolling Stone named it the sixth most influential K-Pop song of all time in 2023, as well as one of the 250 best singles of the century so far in ANY genre.  It won a Kid's Choice award!  In the UNITED STATES.   This song tore down walls and changed pop music forever, more than any of their others. 

And now, you're humming it and yelling "BLACKPINK!"  

They also got to perform the song - actually live, with a full band - at Coachella in 2019.

13 February 2026 - Dua Lipa ft. Angèle - Fever

Yep.  Yesterday's main artist is today's feature.  

And yes, Dua Lipa and Angèle do stop their video in the middle to talk about Dexter, who is clearly Dua's pet, getting his balls cut off.  In English.

The song is from Dua Lipa's huge hit album Future Nostalgia and was a huge #1 hit... and now most of you are thinking "but I don't remember this song being a huge hit and in fact my copy of Future Nostalgia doesn't have this song."  Well, while it did eventually get a lot of streaming play in the US, it was a HUGE hit in France and Belgium - both Flanders AND Wallonia, and if you know Belgium, you know that's a BIG deal - and was originally included only on the French version of Future Nostalgia.  It was eventually added to worldwide versions of Future Nostalgia and also the expanded Future Nostalgia (The Moonlight Edition). 

The song itself is a lot of fun, and was written by the artists and their songwriting teams.

So both artists actually play the song live, and I wanted to share a few of those performances.  I'll start with one from June 2025, at a Dua Lipa show in Antwerp.  For those not up on their world cities, Antwerp is the largest city in Belgium, in the Flemish region of the country a.k.a. Flanders.

So yeah.  There was a special guest who happened to be in the neighborhood, and by in the neighborhood, I mean a 33-minute train ride away in Brussels.  No word on whether or not Angèle drove or took the train. 

Unlike that 2025 performance, the crowd KNEW Angèle was in the building, as she was the opening act for that show and several on the Future Nostalgia tour... .so it would have been weird for Dua to not bring her out, right? 

By the way, they're really good on stage together.

Now, Angèle also has toured, and she also performs the song live. 

She unfortunately can't get Dua Lipa to show up most of the time - and certainly not in New York City for her Nonante-Cinq tour, so a larger-than-life projection of her had to suffice.

12 February 2026 - Angèle - Jalousie

So, this is an artist we've talked about before, and an artist we undoubtably will talk about again - as we expect a new album out of her this year.   

I hope she doesn't let me down. 

We, of course, are talking about Belgian artist Angèle, who debuted in 2018 with the album Brol, which is Belgian slang that's a little hard to translate, but generally means a heap of random small objects.  But there was nothing random about the album.

This was her fourth single from that album, and, well, I think even my non-polyglot readers can figure out what the title is about.   

If you're having trouble identifying Angèle in the video, she's the one without the mirror box on her head.

I know we focus on a lot of pop artists and then we like to go "wow, look at how talented they are live" but I think this performance, which completely changes the song from slightly spirited and angry to more meloncholy, shows her great range.  

By the way, she also co-produced and self-released the album, and wrote and composed almost the whole thing herself.  She's a TRUE talent. 

And, I mean, the fans in Brussels love her. 

11 February 2026 - Sabrina Carpenter - Tears

Sabrina Carpenter is the queen of analogy.

She's not talking about crying here.  

And she's giving the people what they want.

From her 2025 album Man's Best Friend, the song, written by Carpenter, Amy Allen and John Ryan, this song, the 2nd single from the album, is very disco-inspired (on brand for her).  

It's also very dirty, which is also kind of on brand for her.  

The single peaked at its debut point, #3 on the Billboard Hot 100, having run into the juggernauts that are Taylor Swift and KPop Demon Hunters. It is STILL in the top 40 as of this writing, though - because the song is excellent. 

The video is clearly inspired by The Rocky Horror Picture Show and also features Colman Domingo in drag. 

There were a few alternative endings to the video.  Spoiler: the boyfriend dies in all but one of them:

Look, this song is all about the performance... including the dance break.  The pregnant pause before the dance break is incredible. 

But she added it to her tour setlist, and the performance is entertaining, as it was at this show in Pittsburgh.  Let us know in the comments if you were there. 

10 February 2026 - Victoria Justice - Down

Do you think that it grinds Victoria Justice's gears that Leon Thomas and Ariana Grande both won Grammys this year, and Victoria Justice never even won a Kid's Choice Award?

I don't think it does.  And it shouldn't. She's doing her thing and making solid pop music in her own right. 

This single from 2024, cowritten by the artist, Toby Gad and Will Jay, is an example of that solid pop music she is making.  She's got a bigger voice than I think she gets credit for, and I suspect that the accolades are going to come soon. 

9 February 2026 - Blondshell - 23's A Baby

This post keeps getting shuffled around, and today, I decided I was done doing that.

Blondshell had a breakout 2025 with her album.... correction, albumS.  If You Asked For A Picture was absolutely one of the best albums of 2025.  On my Wicked25, it was literally the LAST cut and I don't think I would have cut it if I made that list today. 

This song, one of the singles from the album, is a large reason why I thought so highly of the album. Cowritten by Sabrina Teitelbaum (AKA Blondshell) and Sam Stewart, it's a upbeat album about being judged for having a kid too soon. 

I mentioned two albums.  She also released Another Picture, which contained a lot of reimagined versions of the same songs.... including this one, reimagined as a duet with Samia.

Live in Boston in 2025, Blondshell opened her show with a rousing performance of this song.

The crowd loved it.  

Also, stick around for the whole thing.  The whole show is great and there's a reason you're going to see the same show posted on Totally Covered today. 

The acoustics were a little better in the KEXP studios.

Also, I'm pretty sure those are prescription sunglasses. 

8 February 2026 (Special Edition) - 3 Doors Down - It's Not My Time

 Yes, I did choose this song ironically. 

Brad Arnold - lead vocalist and drummer - passed away yesterday at age 47 after a relatively short battle with cancer.  The entire music community paid their respects, so I left it was time for us to do the same. 

This 2008 single, from their self-titled fourth album, made it to the top 20 on the US Pop Charts - their last visit to those heights in this country on pop radio (although they continued to garner rock radio airplay consistently), was originally written for the remake of the movie The Poseiden Adventure, but the filmmakers ended up not wanting it. 

The band kept it.  And it ended up being a hit. This song about resilience, written by the band, ended up resonating with people.

The band never stopped touring even after their hitmaking days were behind them.   Here they are performing this song on a cruise in 2024.  They still bring the same energy. 

Brad Arnold will be missed.  Our best wishes go out to him, the band, and his family. 

6 February 2026 - sombr - 12 to 12

I wanted to end this week with another Best New Artist nominee from the Grammys - and I had three choices, really.  

I went with the most glittery one.  

I struggle with liking sombr a little bit - but it may just be because his music doesn't fit into a nice genre-box like I want it to - kinda falling into the same box for me as Tame Impala.  But his album I Barely Know Her (Sombr? But I barely know her!) is excellent.  His voice is huge, and his music is fun and disco-tingled.

So, yeah.  We're doing this. 

And by the way - I chose this song without looking at the YouTube comments.

Yes, that Addison Rae

So, enjoy!

Since I could not find a suitable Grammys performance, I went with his SNL performance of this song....  which, really, had him bringing just as much energy. 

I am personally impressed by his ability to go seamlessly between deep growl and significant falsetto.... live!   

5 February 2026 - Leon Thomas - MUTT

Leon Thomas was nominated for the Best New Artist Grammy and was part of the medley.

So yeah.  Of course I am going to.

Because he is making excellent R&B music.  

And also, because he was nominated for six Grammys and WON two of them..... and one of the nominations he didn't win was Best New Artist, but since he WON a Grammy in the Best R&B Song category in 2024, his was possibly the most baffling nomination in the category.  

His two wins were for Best R&B Album - which was for the album for which this was the title song - and Best Traditional R&B Performance.  He absolutely deserved them for Mutt. 

As an aside, he was one of two Victorious alumni to win Grammys this year - Ariana Grande being the other.  Which is kind of a weird statistic.  No other TV show to my knowledge can claim that this year. 

And "Mutt" is a great song.  Thomas wrote the song (there are other cowriters for the music) while microdosing on psychedelics and watching his dog and cat fight. True story. 

Thomas has released several versions of his hit, including a couple of official remixes.  Here is one of them.

One of these versions was the one he recorded he recorded for the NPR Tiny Desk Concert series. 

This VERSION was specifically nominated for a Grammy (that it did not win - but it's pretty great). 

But you're here for the Grammy performance, right?

Well, goody.  But we can't.  It was an R&B/rock fusion, for sure - and starmaking. And we can't show it to you.

We CAN show you the equally good BET Awards performance, though.   

4 February 2026 - Alex Warren - Ordinary

So, seems like we're talking about Best New Artist nominees this week. I guess.  

I actually didn't like this song until Sunday.  

That's when I heard his Grammy performance as part of the Best New Artist medley.  And, despite his earpiece issues (which are preventing me from finding a suitable video of the performance just yet but I still have a couple of days), he killed it. 

So, I gave the song another chance.  

And, you know what?  I get the criticism of his vocals being bored and/or bland.... but also, I don't think they are.  He CLEARLY enjoys performing this song.   And, being a social media guy - one of the founders of the same Hype House that spawned Addison Rae - he's occupying an interesting spot in music right now.

By the way, this song has been a top 5 hit for almost a year.  As of this writing, it still sits at #5 on the US charts. (Edit: as of publishing, still #7)

And the song is actually pretty sweet lyrically.  

So, OK, I'm a fan now. 

I know I didn't get his Grammy performance in here, but I *did* find a kind of similar one, from The Tonight Show. 

It was a great performance, too.  

3 February 2026 - Lola Young - Messy

I was going to skip posting today.  For reasons.

But I had this free day, and I was watching the Grammys..... and this song won Best Pop Solo Performance.  Lola Young was so charming in her speech, I couldn't skip it.

She had no speech prepared.

I'm very happy for her.  

From her second album This Wasn't Meant for You Anyway, Lola wrote the song just before her ADHD diagnosis..... which makes sense, because this song is, no joke, an anthem to ADHD.  It is a thing of beauty.  It is, indeed, just as messy as its title.   

Lola won a Grammy, but she was nominated for two - the other being Best.... New Artist.  For her second album.  And, by the way, her third album (I'm Only F**king Myself) was released in September.

But, as a nominee, she was part of the fabulous BNA medley.  And she took full advantage of her two minutes!

Unfortunately, the Grammys won't let us use that video.  But we found a way.

This is Lola Young's only US hit song to date - something that I expect to change.  She's still really young - and this Tonight Show performance is a lot of the reason why it was a hit. 

2 February 2026 - Addison Rae - Fame is a Gun

Well, the GRAMMYS were last night.

I mean, not when I'm writing this.  They're weeks away.  I am in fact writing this in mid-January, when this song re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 because, well, it's fantastic.

But I can only assume that GRAMMY nominee Addison Rae won Best New Artist.  She certainly deserved it.  (I will edit this to reflect whether or not she did, don't worry). 

(Edit: she did not win.  She DID perform, though).

This song was her third to hit the Billboard Hot 100 (I told you it was coming) and now, it's done it twice.  Again co-written by the artist and producers Luka Kloser and Elvira Anderfjärd, Addison really sells the hell out of this one.  They set out to write a straight-ahead pop song - inspired by Addison's early and consistent aim for fame - and got something a little unintentionally darker and deeper.

The song is a synth-pop masterpiece, and the video is gold. 

Let's go once again to the New York GRAMMY Museum for an absolutely sublime performance of the song. One of the comments implied that you can tell Addison really wants to dance..... and I agree.   She very much does.

30 January 2026 - Charli XCX - Chains of Love

In two weeks - literally from today - Charli XCX releases the long-anticipated followup to her 2024 breakthrough album brat.  This song, the second single from that album, is to my ears a throwback to her earlier days - when True Romance was a thing - when I was a fan of hers and posted about her all the time.  

Oh, and the album is called Wuthering Heights, which not coincidentally shares the name of a movie released that weekend (since the album is the soundtrack).  The movie is loosely based on the Emily Brontë novel - and Charli, who was inspired by the screenplay after being asked to write a song for the movie, wrote an entire soundtrack instead.  

So why not wait two weeks to post this?  Why post today?

Because, TODAY, Charli herself is in a movie called The Moment, a mockumentary about a musician about to embark on a headlining world tour.  Charli XCX plays a character named (*checks notes*) Charli XCX.  Yeah, it's a fictionalized version of herself.   

So, yeah, here's the trailer for that.  The movie looks amazing.  

29 January 2026 - Olivia Dean - Man I Need

This is our Grammys post.  

And yes, I know.  This has become a very British week.  I'M SORRY.  I DIDN'T MEAN IT. 

But Olivia Dean has been getting a huge ton of attention in the last few months because of this song- which is a soulful and joyful highlight of her debut album and it makes me happy to know she's performing this weekend at the Grammys. 

She is not who I am rooting for to win Best New Artist (Addison Rae, people.  Addison Rae), but I do enjoy this song.  

Olivia performed this song on Saturday Night Live and, well, it was excellent.  No complaints.

28 January 2026 - Londonbeat - I've Been Thinking About You

I bet you forgot about this song. 

Well, that's why we're here - to remind you.  

There's nothing really ground-breaking about the song - Londonbeat were - and are - a dance-pop group who wrote a huge hit single that became a worldwide hit in 1990. From their second album In The Blood, it was their biggest hit by FAR.... but they were NOT a one-hit wonder, as their followup single was also a pretty solid hit song.  It was written by the group - which was pretty typical for them.

The song, however, WAS a sensation, and it was unescapable.  And now, you're singing it, too. As you should be - it's a fun, sweet song. 

I did mention that Londonbeat are still together, and they are - and they still perform live.  Here they were in 2023, STILL singing the hell out of their biggest song. 

27 January 2026 - MIKA - Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)

Most of you don't know who MIKA is.  

Or what the Butterfly Lounge is.

You're about to. 

The Butterfly Lounge was a nightclub in Orange County, California.  It closed in 2014 after a short run, and left a cultural impact.  It was known to be a size acceptance club, where skinny women were turned away.  

It also wasn't classy.  It was next to a highway and smelled of sweat and stale beer.  But that was part of its charm!!

MIKA - the stage name of Michael Holbrook Penniman Jr.- happened to be flying to Los Angeles and, the night before his flight, he couldn't sleep.  So he turned on Channel 4 and saw a documentary in the middle of the night about The Butterfly Lounge, which he thought was spectacular.  So, he wrote the song THAT NIGHT.

He wrote the song because Victoria Wood went to the Butterfly Lounge.

Released as a single in 2007, it was a UK hit - and got a mixed reception because, well, something something making the world go 'round. 

So, from his debut album, Life In Cartoon Motion, here's MIKA. 

You know, MIKA had a new album out last week. Hyperlove.  Go listen to it. It's pretty good. 

That doesn't mean he doesn't perform this very fun song live, still. This performance is from 2023.

Of course the crowd loves it.

And of course he still holds the Butterfly Lounge in high regard. 

Also, I LOVE that he's got the balls to go right into the crowd.

 

That's a thing he does (and did in 2025, too!).

And now I want to go to a MIKA show.

26 January 2026 - Simply Red - Stars

I used to really hate Simply Red.

"Holding Back The Years" was NOT a song for teenage me.  It was too mature, and I didn't enjoy it. 

Looking back at their whole catalogue, I can see now how good Mick Hucknall's voice and understanding of soul really was (is, I suppose.  He's not dead). 

This 1991 song - from Simply Red's 4th album of the same name - reached #44 in the US - the last time the band reached the Billboard Hot 100.  It was a much bigger hit in Europe, where Simply Red continued to have hits.  

The song was written by Mick Hucknall and is an upbeat pop-soul song. 

You know, Simply Red is still around - I mean, it's Mick Hucknall that really embodies who the band is and what they are all about.  

And his voice has not lost a single step. 

23 January 2026 - Case Oats - Seventeen

Speaking of Merge Records, let's talk about a 2025 signing.  

This isn't a band from North Carolina, though.  They're from Chicago, Illinois and they make alt-country music.  The band consists of vocalist Casey Walker, guitarist Max Subar, bassist Jason Ashworth, fiddle player Scott Daniel, and drummer Spencer Tweedy.  Put a pin in that drummer.  We'll come back to him.

They released their debut album, Last Missouri Exit, in 2025.  This song was written by Casey Walker - the vocalist - and produced by Spencer Tweedy - the drummer.  

If that drummer's last name looks familiar, it should.  His dad's name is Jeff and they had a band together called Tweedy.  I think Jeff was in another band, but I don't remember.  Anyway, Spencer has been in bands since he was 13 (he was 18 or 19 when he did Tweedy with his dad) and brings a maturity to Case Oats that serves them well. 

Also, Casey Walker is a hell of a country vocalist and she's going to go far. 

UNCLE TUPELO!   That's it!

Anyway, here's what is essentially a solo acoustic performance of the song by Casey Walker at Rough Trade.  It's a great highlight for her voice and shows that she's more than a vocalist. 

22 January 2026 - Superchunk - Watery Hands

I was talking to Courtney about Superchunk one night recently - recalling a post about a Kay Hanley cover of a Superchunk classic - and she told me that she didn't know who they were.  

So, given that I was lucky enough to see the lo-fi Chapel Hill, NC natives live in 1995, in Hartford CT - at Lollapalooza - I figured it was high time that I posted something they did.

I felt the best way to represent them would not be a current song - because they're still making great music - but rather an older one, from their 1997 Indoor Living album.  This was released on the Merge Records label, which has been the home of Superchunk since the late 1980s..... but also, Mac McCaughan, the vocalist for Superchunk, owns Merge Records, so that's probably a big reason why. 

The song, written by the band, is a light lo-fi pop-rock sound that is really excellent and engaging.  The video is SUPER high tech.

Yes, the band is still around and still making music.... and they still perform the songs of their early days.  Here they are in Carrboro, NC - which is literally next to Chapel Hill.  It's like they're the same town.

Anyway, I think they sound better now.   And I look forward to what comes next. 

21 January 2026 - Don Leisure ft. Carwun Ellis - Cynnau Tân

I know what you're all thinking if you don't live in Wales.

Who the hell is Don Leisure?

Don Leisure is the winner of the 2025 Welsh Music Prize, for his album Tyrchu Sain.  In English, the title literally means "sound tunnelling" and that's what he's doing - building beautiful tunnels of sound and burrowing into them - laying acoustic guitars and folk sounds with electronics and modern music.  

This song - which translates to "light a fire" - is a highlight of the album for me.  Leisure is joined by longtime Pretender Carwun Ellis on this one, as well as a couple of samples you are certain to recognize if you are huge Welsh music fans (I didn't know them).   

20 January 2026 - The Sundays - Joy

The Sundays made trippy dream-pop music and made it for a masses that wasn't ready for them. 

This song, which was never released as a single per se but was their first real video released to MTV in the United States, was my introduction to them.  Their whole Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic album, released in early 1990, was an eye-opener and changed my musical fandom forever. 

They broke up in 1998, but starting in 2014, there started to be some rumblings that there would be a return.  It has not yet materialized, but I am hopeful.

They did perform live an awful lot, and this show from 1997 - where they beautifully performed the song - is one of my favorites.  Harriet Wheeler's voice is full of a lot of passion that is far more apparent in this live setting.

19 January 2026 - Madison Beer - bad enough

Madison Beer - her REAL name - released her new album locket on Friday. Earlier in the week, she released this single.

Co-written by the artist, Leroy Clampitt and Lucy Healey, it's a pretty straight-ahead clearly Addison-Rae-inspired song. There, I said it.  

But Madison is very much a talent in her own right. And this is a really solid pop song that she sings the hell out of.

She also co-directed this video - which has a clear theme going to it. 

She literally debuted the song live, on Wednesday.

That's right.  New song and we ALREADY have live footage. 

16 January 2026 - The Art of Noise with Max Headroom - Paranoimia

This may be one of the weirdest collaborations of all time.

Max Headroom was a digital character played by Matt Frewer, meant to be some sort of a digital presenter or talk show host or something.  He's hard to explain.  However, he was everywhere at a certain point of the 1980s.He had a British talk show.  He sold New Coke after the return of Coke Classic.

Art of Noise was an avant-garde noise experimentation electronic group that got a little bit of attention from MTV and finally hit the US top 40 with this weird collaboration with a digital talk show host. 

The song, written by Art of Noise with a title that is a mashup of "paranoia" and "insomnia",  is weird early electronica.... and somehow, it just worked.   

The song was remixed in 1989 by Ben Liebrand for a greatest hits album for the band.   It lacks the Max, but doesn't leave out the electronica.

Despite being a very electronic group, they did perform live, like this performance from Tokyo in 1986. I personally find it interesting how they could create future beats live on instruments like they did. 

15 January 2026 - Sinead O'Connor - The Emperor's New Clothes

It's mid-January and I'm still struggling to write 2026 on my posts.

Anyway, I felt like going with an underappreciated follow-up single.  You see, Sinead O'Connor was best known for "Nothing Compares 2 U", her megahit Prince cover.

However, she didn't stop releasing singles.  This one, the single that followed, was not a cover at all, but rather, written and produced by Sinead O'Connor herself.  Outside of the US, this was a huge pop hit - and in the US, it made a splash on modern rock radio and made a ripple at pop radio.

It should have been a bigger hit here. It wasn't, because it was an angry song, odd for its both acoustic and electric guitar backing tracks. The song is a harder-edged pop-rock song trying to appeal to an audience who wanted another Prince ballad.

Which is a shame.   Because this song is straight fire. 

And when this song was released as a single, she was 23 and singing THIS hard. 

You can see her performing the song with an acoustic guitar with a similar hard edge in 1990.  

She's arguably coming off even angrier live.  

If you want my PERSONAL favorite performance of this song, it's this much quieter but just as angry one from 2010.

You can hear every single lyric.  I want you to listen to this one and feel every single word.

That doesn't mean she lost her edge.  In this Parkpop performance from 2013, she's back to louder and harder - and angry.

But also, happier.  And the crowd loves her.

This show is from 2020, and was one of her very last shows, as her tour would be shut down less than a week later thanks to the pandemic. She would literally only perform this song four more times before the abrupt end of the tour.

She still had every last bit of emotion and left it all on that stage. 

14 January 2026 - Sunny Sweeney - Diamonds & Divorce Decrees

You know, it's been a hot minute since I posted about Sunny Sweeney.

Well, she released a pretty fantastic album called Rhinestone Requiem in 2025, her first in three years. It's fun and POSSIBLY my favorite country album of 2025 (that Tyler Childers album was next level great but so was this one).  

Anyway, I also just find Sunny Sweeney to be delightful, so I figured I'd post this very strange song about marriage, written by Sweeney, Buddy Owens and Galen Griffin. 

Of COURSE I found a live performance of this song.  OF COURSE I did.   And like I said, I think she's delightful!

Stick around for the whole performance. 

13 January 2026 - Third Eye Blind - Semi-Charmed Life

It's really not all that common for a band's first song to be their biggest hit.  

Unless they're a one hit wonder.  

Third Eye Blind is NOT a one hit wonder.   

No, their lead vocalist - Stephan Jenkins - wrote a hell of a killer hook that was easy to remember as an homage to "Walk On The Wild Side". 

What materialized was a pretty solid pop-rock hit that grew out of modern rock radio and straight to pop radio. It was one that Jenkins didn't initially want to release as the band's debut single - he felt other songs were more representative.

I think it worked out OK for them. 

So what made me think about Third Eye Blind after literally thirty years?

They played the Orange Bowl on January 1st.  

They didn't sound terrible. 

12 January 2026 - Clipse ft. Kendrick Lamar - Chains & Whips

This is culturally inappropriate. 

But really, no. It isn't. 

Let God Sort Em Out, the 2025 comeback release by a reunited Clipse, was hailed as one of the best albums of the year - and rightly so. It's lyrically deep and has fantastic flow. Produced by Pharrell Williams, this is likely to be a big Grammy winner this year. 

This was the first song written for the album, and they got Kendrick to send 'em a verse while he was working on GNX.  Lenny Kravitz plays guitar on the track, and of course, Pusha T and Malice are spittin' rhymes with Kendrick.

The title refers to chains - as in jewelry - and whips - as in fast automobiles - but they know what they're doing when it comes to double entendre.  And they're quite biting when it comes to criticizing others for chasing dollars. 

By the way, Kendrick's verse is about Drake, not Donald Trump - but that should surprise no one.  Pusha T's, in fact, is directed towards Jim Jones - no, not the Jonestown guy! - for taking Drake's side in that feud.  

It didn't take long for the fans to learn every word.... and when Kendrick came out with them live to perform the song, it was far from culturally inappropriate.  

When they perform it without Kendrick, it still is not culturally inappropriate. 

11 January 2026 (Special Edition) - Grateful Dead - Throwing Stones

A lot of people thought Jerry Garcia was the heart of the Grateful Dead, and he was.  Bob Weir was a huge part of the Grateful Dead's success, and a lot of their better known songs, like this one from their hit In The Dark album, were sung and composed by Weir.  This one, loosely based on "Ring Around The Rosie", featured lyrics by John Perry Barlow.

After Garcia's death, Weir kept a lot of the heart and music of the Dead alive, with several Dead-adjacent projects, like The Other Ones, The Dead and Dead and Co.  

Weir was diagnosed with cancer in 2025, and he beat it.  Unfortunately, the underlying lung issues were too much, and his family announced his passing on Saturday,  

While the Dead were still touring, this song - which was from the mid-1980s - quickly became a favorite.  Here they are performing it in Oakland, near their home base. 

And here is Weir, with Dead and Company, keeping the legacy and this song alive.

Weir's voice and passion will be missed. 

9 January 2026 - Geese - Au Pays du Cocaine

OK.  

Let's talk about Geese.

Their 2025 album Getting Killed is topping a lot of year-end best-of lists. 

I listened to it. It's good.  

It did not make my Wicked 25 or even the honorable mentions.  I just.... it was good.  I liked it.

A lot of the attention on Geese's album was driven by Cameron Winter's 2024 solo album, Heavy Metal, which did better than expected (and appeared on a few 2025 lists because it came out in December 2024, too late for a lot of those lists).  I have not listened to that one yet.  

But, I *did* like Getting Killed.   One of the highlights of the album for me is this song, which is post-punk crooning perfection - about a guy trying to convince a reluctant partner.  With lyrics by Winter and music by the whole band, it really does tell a story all inside itself.

Live, the melancholy song sounds even sadder, with Winter's baritone selling the emotion.  

8 January 2026 - Adèle Castillon - Crève-cœur

Well, I am just raising the stakes here.  

Now, not only do I need the œ on my clipboard, I have to do an accented e as well!

Adèle Castillon is worth it, though.  She started her career in 80's nostalgia as 1/2 of Videoclub, but in 2021, she stuck off on her own.....

And, in 2024, she released Crèvecœur, following it up in February 2025 with an EP called..... Crèvecœur.  It was absolutely part of the same project, and together, they make an album that tells a story of heartbreak and reaction.... 

This song, which leads the collection and still leans into the 80's nostalgia, is accompanied by an animated video that tells a story, too. 

7 January 2026 - VIDEOCLUB - Roi

Adèle Castillon and Matthieu Reynaud have solo careers now, but they were in an electronic duo called VIDEOCLUB before that.

They were also in a relationship with each other but they are no longer in that relationship.

Those two items are related.   

But when you see this video, know that these two musicians were very much in love.  

And this is a love song - co-written by the duo and Esteban Capron - that sounds like it could be from 1983, and yet it's from 2018.

This live performance is from 2019, two years before the breakup.  I just want to point out how well Adèle just OWNS the stage.  Also, you can see it's just two musicians creating all this sound. 

The reason I wanted to point that out....

Here's Adèle - who toured alone as VIDEOCLUB until the end in 2021 - performing this song NOT as VIDEOCLUB but as Adèle.... in 2025.  

Also, the crowd knows the words. 

In fact, this performance from 2021 by VIDEOCLUB came three months AFTER their announced breakup.... and it's just Adèle front and center.

By the way, Mattyeux is the new stage name of Matthieu Reynaud and he tried to do a version of this song....

It's just lacking...... and incomplete.

By the way, he also attaches the VIDEOCLUB name to his solo stuff on Spotify to this day.  

On the other hand, Adèle absolutely owns the song. 

6 January 2026 - Laufey - Silver Lining

It's a pretty well known fact that I don't love jazz.  

At all. 

So when a vocalist comes that makes me really enjoy jazz and makes me repeat their album, it's a big deal.

Laufey is that artist.  

And the Grammy-award winning artist - who is nominated for a Grammy this year for her fantastic A Matter of Time album - did that TWICE for me in 2025 - once with A Matter of Time, and once with A Very Laufey Holiday.  They are BOTH great albums.   

This single is a highlight for me - a story of real love (co-written by the artist and producer/collaborator Spencer Stewart) where it's OK to make dirty jokes with your lover.  The video was shot on 35mm film to give it a cinematic feel that matches the song.  

Of COURSE she performs it live.  And her huge voice matches perfectly with the large Guggenheim performance space (and yes, she's really playing guitar, too).

And, watching this performance, it feels less jazzy and more rock-and-roll throwback. 

5 January 2026 - Princess Chelsea - The Cigarette Duet

You knew we had to get to this viral song about smoking at some point, right?

Well, what you didn't know is that, as part of my 1000 albums project, I listened to a Princess Chelsea album - 2023's Taite Music Prize-winning Everything Is Going To Be Alright. It was really, really excellent, and I loved the album.  I was seeking a Princess Chelsea song to post. 

Taite Music Prize - it's for music from New Zealand.  Chelsea Nikkel, who is the titular Princess, is from Auckland.

And, unrelated, the kids started getting obsessed with this creepy, weird song from 2011 that is also enchanting.  That song, as it turns out, is from Princess Chelsea's 2011 debut album Lil Golden Book.  THAT album is now on my list. 

The song is literally a couple arguing about smoking. 

The Lee Hazelwood part (to Chelsea's Nancy Sinatra) of the song was sung by Chelsea's co-producer and former Brunettes frontman Jonathan Bree (she was also a part-time member).  And it's now on repeat.  

So, despite this being a 2011 song, and despite Princess Chelsea releasing a lot of music in between 2011 and... now..... she did not tour the United States until 2023 - in support of Everything Is Going To Be Alright.

It's a good thing she had Jonathan Bree with her.  

2 January 2026 - Reneé Rapp - Leave Me Alone

Reneé Rapp does not give a fuck what you think.

After her starring role in Mean Girls - the musical film and Broadway musical versions, not the original starring Lindsey Lohan - Reneé Rapp (the name was given to her at birth by her parents who really wanted her to have a musical career - this is not a joke) really wanted to expand her music career and started posting clips to social media of a few test lyrics.

One of those lyrics: "I'm a real bad girl but a real good kisser."

That became the first line of "Leave Me Alone", the lead single from her excellent 2025 album BITE ME.  It's a fun, cheeky, in your face IDGAF anthem.  

She puts on a hell of a live show, by the way. 

And yes, I hunted down a version where she says "bitch" and not "babe".  THAT was not easy, but I do this work for you.  

1 January 2026 - Chaeyoung - SHOOT (Firecracker)

Happy New Year, and welcome to the best year of Wicked Guilty Pleasures yet.

We're opening with Twice breakout star Chaeyoung, who had in my opinion the greatest Korean album of 2025 with her solo debut LIL FANTASY vol.1 - and this album and its main single (which we are featuring today) are just great.   

In atypical K-Pop fashion, Chaeyoung didn't just show up at the studio and sing and dance like the good little idol.  No, she was a producer and co-writer of all the songs on this album, including this one, on which she co-wrote both lyrics and music and co-designed the vocal arrangement.... AND produced this song!

The video is clearly evocative of Alice In Wonderland.  We all get that, right?  It's almost like Chaeyoung is leaning into the whole li'l fantasy thing.   

She may be a complete artist.... no doubts there.   

But also, she's a K-Pop idol and we know how those live performances go. 

What you DON'T usually see is an excited, engaged crowd at these performances, but here we are.