Kneecap are an Irish rap group who perform in a mix of English and Gaelic. This particular song has a Gaelic title - it means "rights" - and was their debut in 2017. They've since released a lot of angry, loud, innovative, acclaimed music.
They are controversial and bombastic, but the trio has some serious skills.
By the way, in Ireland, these guys play arenas. They're huge. And they deserve to be.
Also, they would prefer strongly that Ireland be reunified.
A large number of great albums came out last week.
By a whisker, my favorite was Man's Best Friend, the new set from Sabrina Carpenter, and my opinion of it is rather unexpected. I expected to think it was just all right. Nope. It's great. Highly recommend.
This was the lead single, and it took a while for the combined country/80's homage to grow on me, but it did. This is, in my opinion, a solid candidate for Song of the Summer - we're going to have to wait and see what Billboard says about that, I guess - and one of the biggest hits of the year so far.
The song is also a little mean. But doesn't it sound fun?
Yes, despite how new it is, she has performed the song live a few times - like this performance from Lollapalooza a few weeks ago. Man, I remember when Lollapalooza was cool. And yes, Sabrina Carpenter is very cool.... but it's different now. Anyway, here's the performance.
I sincerely questioned whether or not I would ever post this song. It didn't connect me as immediately as "Blame Brett" did.
Then I listened to their new album, No Hard Feelings, which came out last Friday. I was way more blown away with the song in context..... and also, it is the title song of the album. They're really leaning pretty hard into a party girl mystique on the album in general, but in a fun and self-deprecating way.
These ladies are talented and I hope they don't burn themselves out too soon.
I mentioned yesterday that my sister had seen a band with Lights opening in Buffalo earlier this year.
That band was The Beaches. And of course they did this. And of course they sounded great. And of course she got video.
My sister was also there when they debuted this song in January. She's a big fan of The Beaches. Wanna see that one? I know you do... and that's good, because I added it as well.
I did not expect A6 to be my second favorite Lights album.
It's still not Siberia, but it's got a similarly unique - yes, I know. Oxymoron. Stay with me here - sound. It's a great, great album, end to end.
And I really can't wait until the as-of-this-writing-not-annouced-but-history-tells-me-I-am-right A6 Acoustic album next year. I'll happily update this post with the new version of 'Clingy", the fifth single from A6 and my personal favorite song on the record.
Anyway, my sister goes to a lot of concerts. One of them she went to earlier this year is tomorrow's featured artist, and I'll talk more about that then, but this was a special one-off show in Buffalo, and Lights was one of the opening acts.
This is one of those songs and bands you've heard, but you may not have known by name.
And yet, you hear this song and you know it instantly.
Produced by George Harrison, this 1971 single was Badfinger's biggest US hit. They were far from a one hit wonder, but their popularity in the US was not as prolific as their associates, The Beatles. However, their slide guitar solo skills are a lot better. Of course, those slide guitar parts were played by George Harrison..... so, maybe not.
But six women ended up winning this show - represent South Korea, Philippines, United States and Switzerland's best... K-Pop artists.
Here is their recent single. It was co-written by Charli XCX and previously offered to Rita Ora and Anitta (who both did record demos of the song that aren't bad). For a manufactured group with not the greatest dancer, they aren't half bad. The video is quite entertaining.
The group also performed the song last month at Lollapalooza.
Notice how we didn't say they "sung". It's very much about the performance.
Adéla Jergová is a singer from Slovakia. Now, we don't talk much about Slovakia here, and that's part of the problem. You see, her singing career really started when she moved to Los Angeles in 2022, aged 18. She moved there to compete in a reality series - Dream Academy - where the prize, in a very Korean-style competition, was to be in a 6-piece group called Katseye.
The show was in 2023, about a year after she moved there to train for the academy, and she competed with twenty other young women. In the first episode, half the women sang, and half danced, and then fan voting occurred. Adéla was on the dancing side - she danced to "Pink Venom" in a group....
...and then the fans got to vote.
The voting ended up being very skewed along national borders - and, since women all over the world were competing, women from populous countries got more votes. Despite her excellent dancing - and she IS an excellent dancer. Classically trained - she literally came in 20th.
This is her dance, singled out from the group. Sorry, she was great compared to the rest of her group.
She was robbed, and if you are watching the Netflix series Pop Star Academy: Katseye, you KNOW that the producers have a lot of regrets about how the fan voting happened. Slovakia was the smallest country represented and it showed in the voting.
Plus she didn't even get to sing.
But that's OK. The first episode of Dream Academy aired August 19, 2023 and by September 2024, she ALREADY had her first solo single released to critical acclaim. This song, released in October 2024, was her second single.... and yeah, it's about her experience.
Her debut EP is coming later this year, and I can't wait, because her poppy electronic sound is super compelling... and frankly better than anything Katseye has done thus far.
