Photo: CLAUDIO CRUZ/AFP via Getty Images
Lorde performing at the Corona Capital Music Festival in Mexico City in 2018.
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The Magic Of 'Melodrama': How Lorde’s Second Album Solidified Her & Producer Jack Antonoff As Global Stars
The writing and production of 'Melodrama' — released on June 16, 2017 — turned Lorde into a relatable icon of the late 2010s and Antonoff into the producer pop artists are now clamoring to work with.
GRAMMYs/Jun 16, 2022 - 07:38 pm
As 2017 began, one pop star's name served as a mainstay on lists of the year's most-anticipated albums: Lorde.
The New Zealand singer/songwriter first made a name for herself at just 16 with her GRAMMY-nominated debut album, 2013's Pure Heroine. Aside from the 2013-2014 Pure Heroine Tour, Lorde spent much of the intervening four years living a mostly secluded life — until Nov. 6, 2016, the eve of her 20th birthday, when she revealed that her sophomore album did in fact exist.
"Writing Pure Heroine was my way of enshrining our teenage glory, putting it up in lights forever so that part of me never dies, and this record — well, this one is about what comes next," she wrote in a Facebook post, as she left her teenage years behind.
At the same time, Jack Antonoff had gone from fun. guitarist/drummer and Bleachers frontman to producing songs for major pop players like Carly Rae Jepsen and Taylor Swift. (Antonoff has credited Swift for getting his production career off the ground; he has two Album Of The Year GRAMMYs thanks to his work on 2014's 1989 and 2020's folklore). But until Melodrama, Antonoff had yet to take on a lead producer role for another artist.
Antonoff and Lorde shared a friend in Swift, and after hitting it off at a GRAMMY party in 2014, they tried out their chemistry in the studio. As detailed in a 2017 New York Times profile, Antonoff's innate balance "between the intimate and the outsize" was a perfect fit for the musical world Lorde was looking to create with Melodrama — and the result was massive.
Melodrama — released five years ago today, on June 16th, 2017 — not only cemented Lorde's legacy as a defining voice of pop's new generation, but altered pop around the sound Antonoff and Lorde created together.
The Lorde of Melodrama is very different from the Lorde of Pure Heroine, not only in sound but in demeanor. In 2013, Lorde was not that far removed from just being Ella Yelich-O'Connor, a kid from a suburban New Zealand town of less than 10,000. Early singles like "Tennis Court'' and "Royals" emphasize Lorde's humble upbringing, noting how she'd never seen a diamond or even been on a plane.
Even on tracks without such direct acknowledgements of her youth, Pure Heroine found Lorde wide-eyed and eager to explore the world opening up to her, with its Joel Little production matching the starstruck, humble demeanor of the lyrics. The charming honesty about her lack of worldliness combined with simple, sparse production resonated, with the album going triple platinum by 2016 and earning Lorde two GRAMMYS, including Song of the Year for "Royals."
As the title implies, Melodrama isn't quite as jubilant. The late teenage years can often be a tumultuous time for anyone, and Lorde is no exception. In the four years between albums, Lorde's long-term relationship with photographer James Lowe ended, and she had to suddenly grapple with being one of the most famous people on the planet before she even turned 18.
As Lorde expressed in her birthday-eve post, she was "reckless and graceless and terrifying and tender." This shows up immediately on "Green Light," the album's opening track and lead single. Thematically, it unveiled a Lorde who was in a more liberated and mature, yet messy part of her life. Emphasized by a triumphant chorus, the song's message of getting the "green light" to simply live freely welcomed listeners into a more complicated world than the one she inhabited in 2013 — one that was also quite beautiful.
While "Green Light" opens with simple piano chords that wouldn't be out of place on Pure Heroine (notably, it's one of only two tracks that Little co-produced), it quickly ramps up into something so much more. By the time the first chorus hits, it's clear something new is happening with Lorde's music on Melodrama. The piano has given way to a dense jungle of euphoric production, built around synths and a looping melodic hook as she proclaims, "I'm waiting for it, that green light, I want it." It's a tone-setter both emotionally and musically for Melodrama as a whole, and a perfect introduction to this new era for both its pop star and producer.
The album also marked new territory for Antonoff, as he was deeply ingrained in the entire process of Melodrama. Antonoff co-wrote and co-produced 10 of the 11 tracks alongside Lorde, the only exception being the more club-oriented "Homemade Dynamite" (which still featured a heavy-hitting co-writer, indie-pop darling Tove Lo).
Antonoff's production style can be described in two simple words: catchy and more. He finds a great hook and builds a towering sound in support of it, like on the richly nuanced "I Wanna Get Better" from Bleachers' debut LP, 2014's Strange Desire. In that way, the pairing of Antonoff and Lorde came at the perfect time for both of them: While Antonoff was beginning to push his production towards higher aspirations, Lorde was also wrapped up in the idea of more.
Throughout the album — and her life as a young adult — the singer strives for doing more, feeling more, and just being more. Some of the album's most touching moments are her journey towards more, as well as the moments of doubt on whether more has become too much, like on "Liability" and "Writer in the Dark." Antonoff deftly dialed back his production on these tracks, though his rich layering still shines.
The often-complicated quest of Melodrama reflects the journey of a teenager finding themselves — particularly, those in the late 2010s. As social media became a ubiquitous part of everyday life and the news, it simultaneously gave everyone more room to explore who they are and exposed them to more adult, existential issues. The climate crisis, which later inspired Lorde's trip to Antarctica in 2019, loomed large even in 2017; it's hard not to hear the urgency to live life in the face of looming disaster on Melodrama, especially on tracks like "Perfect Places."
Lorde treats these issues with the same weight as the fraught relationships and breakups of the late teenage years — because for a teenager, they can carry the same weight. "All the glamor and the trauma/ And the f<em></em>*in melodrama," she growls on "Sober II," an encapsulation of the entire project.
Upon its release, Melodrama was immediately lauded by critics and fans. The album received glowingreviews, earning both Lorde and Antonoff a lot of praise, including a GRAMMY nomination for Album of the Year in 2018. And even five years later, Melodrama still proves to be a pivotal moment for each of their careers.
The acclaim for the sounds of Melodrama resonated across the industry, and it certified Antonoff an in-demand collaborator. While he'd still be recruited for singles from artists like BANKS, his role became much more prominent on some of pop's biggest albums that were to come.
Swift had Antonoff produce six tracks on her experimental 2017 album, reputation, the majority of her 2019 LP Lover, and a handful of folklore tracks; he produced almost all of Lana Del Rey's universally acclaimed 2019 album, Norman F</em>cking Rockwell!, and its followup, 2021's Chemtrails Over The Country Club; the Chicks put their 2020 comeback album, Gaslighter,* in his hands.
Across all of these albums, Antonoff brought his big, layered sound along with him, melding it with the often disparate styles all of the artists had previously employed. It can be heard in the constant buildup and stacking of instrumental lines on Del Rey's sprawling "Venice B<em></em><em></em>," the way the vocal harmonies resonate on the Chicks' "Gaslighter," or on the towering "King" from Florence + The Machine's latest album Dance Fever. Antonoff and Lorde also reunited in 2021 for her third album, Solar Power, proving their collaboration could work across a brighter sound palette as well.
As pop packed in more production for sounds to become bigger and bolder going into the 2020s, it can certainly be traced back to Melodrama. The pairing of Lorde and Jack Antonoff raised both of their stars immeasurably — at the same time, spawning an album that captured the mood of growing up in a fast-moving world, and coining a sound that the biggest names in pop are still chasing today.
Run The World: How Taylor Swift Has Become One Of The Most Powerful Women In Music History
Photo of Sam Smith and Kim Petras winning the GRAMMY for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 2023 GRAMMYs.
Photo: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
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20 Artists Who Made History At The 2023 GRAMMYs Other Than Beyoncé: Taylor Swift, Kim Petras, Viola Davis & More
As Queen Bey takes her throne as the artist with the most GRAMMYs of all time, take a look at some of the other 2023 GRAMMY winners who joined her in celebrating momentous achievements.
GRAMMYs/Feb 6, 2023 - 11:09 pm
In the win heard around the world, Beyoncé became the person with the most GRAMMYs of all time at the 2023 GRAMMYs. Her win for Best Dance/Electronic Music Album for RENAISSANCE put her at 32 golden gramophones — and in host Trevor Noah's eyes, that solidified her title as the GRAMMY GOAT.
But while Beyoncé's latest GRAMMY feat is unquestionably impressive, the "BREAK MY SOUL" singer wasn't the only artist who experienced a piece of GRAMMY history at the 65th GRAMMY Awards.
There were several special moments at the Premiere Ceremony, including the first-ever GRAMMY Awards for Songwriter Of The Year, Non-Classical (Tobias Jesso Jr.) and Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media ("Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Dawn Of Ragnarok"). At the Telecast, Kim Petras scored a major win for the transgender community with her Best Pop Duo/Group Performance victory, and Dr. Dre was the inaugural recipient of his namesake Dr. Dre Global Impact Award.
Below, take a look at some of the history-making feats from the 2023 GRAMMYs.
Milestone Moments
As Kim Petras and Sam Smith accepted the GRAMMY for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for their risqué collaboration, "Unholy," Smith let Petras do the talking because of a very special feat: She was the first trans woman to win in the category.
Earlier at the Premiere Ceremony, Germaine Franco became the first woman of color to win Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media, which she won for composing the Disney animated film Encanto. (Notably, Encanto swept all three of the categories for which it was nominated, also winning Best Song Written For Visual Media for "We Don't Talk About Bruno" and Best Compilation Soundtrack For Visual Media.)
Carly Pearce and Ashley McBryde rang in a country first, as their win for Best Country Duo/Group Performance (for "Never Wanted to Be That Girl") marked the first female pairing to win the category — and the first GRAMMY win for both artists!
Notable Firsts
There were seven new awards given at the 2023 GRAMMYs, making those seven recipients the first to receive their respective honors. These were the first-time winners at the Premiere Ceremony: Tobias Jesso Jr. (Songwriter Of The Year, Non-Classical), "Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Dawn Of Ragnarok" (Best Score Soundtrack For Video Games And Other Interactive Media), Wet Leg (Best Alternative Music Performance for "Chaise Longue"), Bonnie Raitt (Best Americana Performance for "Made Up Mind") and J. Ivy (Best Spoken Word Poetry Album for The Poet Who Sat By The Door).
At the Telecast, Dr. Dre became the first recipient of the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award; shortly after, Iranian singer/songwriter Shervin Hajipour and his song "Baraye" received the first Special Merit Award for Best Song For Social Change.
There were a few other notable firsts at the Premiere Ceremony. Taylor Swift's Best Music Video win for "All Too Well: The Short Film" was the first time an artist won the category for a video directed by the artist themselves.
When jazz favorite Robert Glasper's Black Radio III won Best R&B Album, it marked his second win in the category — and an interesting one at that. His first win came in 2013 thanks to the original album in the trilogy, Black Radio, meaning his 2023 win was the first time an album and its sequel album have won in the category.
Elsewhere, two student groups celebrated some historic GRAMMY firsts: The Tennessee State University Marching Band became the first collegiate band to win a GRAMMY after receiving the golden gramophone for Best Roots Gospel Album, and the New York Youth Symphony became the first youth orchestra to win Best Orchestral Performance.
Exciting Rarities
Viola Davis added a GRAMMY to her ever-impressive empire, which meant she is now officially an EGOT (Emmy, GRAMMY, Oscar, Tony) winner. Her GRAMMY win for Best Audio Book, Narration, and Storytelling Recording helped her become the third Black woman to earn an EGOT, and the first to secure the status at the GRAMMY Awards, following Whoopi Goldberg and Jennifer Hudson.
Bronx-born jazz singer Samara Joy was awarded the GRAMMY for Best New Artist — only the second time a jazz artist has won the award, and the first since Esperanza Spalding's win in 2011.
Jack Antonoff became the third producer to win Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical winner in consecutive years; Babyface did so in 1996 and 1997, and Greg Kurstin achieved the feat in 2016 and 2017.
Last but certainly not least, "Into The Woods" joined elite ranks by winning the GRAMMY for Best Musical Theater Album. Stephen Sondheim's 1987 original won the category in 1989, making it only the fourth Broadway show to earn two Best Musical Theater Album GRAMMYs alongside "Gypsy," "Les Miserables" and "West Side Story." It's also the second year in a row a piece of GRAMMY history was born from the category, as "The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical" creators Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear became the youngest winners in 2022.
Jack Antonoff at the 2023 GRAMMYs Premiere Ceremony.
Photo: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
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Jack Antonoff Wins Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical For The Second Year In A Row | 2023 GRAMMYs
The reigning Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical winner, Jack Antonoff, holds his title at the 2023 GRAMMYs,
GRAMMYs/Feb 6, 2023 - 12:42 am
Jack Antonoff won the GRAMMY for Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical at the 2023 GRAMMYs, marking his second win in the category — in a row.
Even so, Antonoff remained humble as he accepted his trophy. He put the spotlight on his right-hand woman, sound engineer Laura Sisk, who joined Antonoff on stage.
"I sit in the studio all day with one person — this is Laura, who engineers and mixes the records with us," he said. "We just sit there all f—ing day. We were there yesterday, we'll be there tomorrow, and this is all completely for Laura."
Dan Auerbach, Boi-1da, Dahi, and Dernst "D'mile" Emile II were the other nominees in the category.
Listen to music from all of the nominees on our official Amazon Music playlist.
Check out the complete list of winners and nominees at the 2023 GRAMMYs.
Paul Simon onstage at the Auditorium Theater in Chicago, 1980
Photo: Paul Natkin/Getty Images
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5 Artists Influenced By Paul Simon: Harry Styles, Lorde, Conor Oberst & More
Paul Simon’s songs linger long, and are examples of excellence for generations of musicians. Ahead of "Homeward Bound: A GRAMMY Salute to the Songs of Paul Simon," airing Dec. 21 on CBS, artists reflect on Simon's profound influence.
GRAMMYs/Dec 16, 2022 - 06:10 pm
Paul Simon is a living legend. For nearly six decades, the New Yorker has gifted his songs to the world. An innovator — not just a folk singer — Simon’s curiosity led to constantly discovering new soundscapes. He incorporated these rhythms and instrumentation into his melodies, and then added poetic lyrics to create character-driven narratives.
These compositions are like old friends; they linger long after the needle lifts or the stream ends. Generations have sung Simon’s songs — finding joy in their playful rhythms and sorrow in their beauty.
The accolades and awards are endless: a two-time inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, a 16-time GRAMMY winner, multiple recordings in the GRAMMY Hall of Fame and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Recording Academy to name just a few.
In a clip from "Homeward Bound: A GRAMMY Salute to the Songs of Paul Simon," airing Dec. 21 on CBS, Elton John calls him "one of the greatest songwriters of all time" — high praise from an artist with 35 GRAMMY nominations and five wins. Simon’s contemporaries are not the songwriter’s only fans: The writer of iconic songs such as "Bridge Over Troubled Water," "Graceland," "The Boxer," and "50 Ways to Lose Your Lover," has generations of artists as worshippers of his art who continue to discover his deep catalog.
Singer-songwriters, pop stars, country artists and rappers all claim Simon as a musical mentor. For example, Kid Cudi sampled "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" on his debut mixtape A Kid Named Cudi in the referentially titled "50 Ways to Make a Record." In a Forbes Q&A, Canadian songwriter Donovan Woods cites "Obvious Child" as his all-time favorite.
In advance of the GRAMMY salute to Simon next week, here are five artists that credit the songwriter as a key to their musical education.
Harry Styles
Listen to Harry Styles’ turn of phrase and poetic lyrics, and hints of Simon’s influence are evident. Even back in his One Direction days, Styles cited Simon as a touchstone. In an MTV interview, following the release of the boy band’s 2015 bestseller Made in the A.M., Styles said his favorite track was "Walking in the Wind" since it was inspired by Simon.
"I’m a big Paul Simon fan and I think the inspiration behind it is Graceland," Styles said. "The way in which the verse is so conversational and informal, and it’s not like melody melody melody — it’s like spoken word, and kind of drifts and peaks and troughs. I love that album and when I listen to it I love hearing the influence from that in his song."
In a 2019 Rolling Stone interview, Styles again gave a nod to Simon. "I wish I had written '50 Ways to Leave Your Lover,'" he said. "That’s the greatest verse melody ever written, in my opinion. So minimal, but so good — that drum roll."
Conor Oberst
In a 2011 New York magazine profile on Paul Simon, the singer-songwriter from Omaha, Nebraska, is quoted talking about what a major influence the writer of "The Boxer" is on his art. "I grew up with my folks listening to him," Oberst told writer Alan Light. "But as I got into songwriting, I realized how profound what he does actually is. His work over the years is a treasure trove of ideas."
Listen to Oberst’s cover of "Kodachrome," recorded with his alt-country band the Mystic Valley Band, which he once performed at the Austin City Limits Festival in 2008, telling the audience it was a popular sing-along on the tour bus.
Vampire Weekend
These New York indie rockers burst onto the scene in the mid-2000, and comparisons to Simon abounded beginning with their 2008 self-titled debut. Listen to "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" from their debut; the Simon influence is undeniable — especially his Graceland period.
In a 2019 interview with Radio X, frontman Ezra Koenig was asked about a show that would stay with him forever. He paused, then answered Simon’s Homeward Bound Farewell Tour in 2018. "He is such a legend…We’ve been compared to him many times and he is an influence. We are from the same part of the country…I have a lot to look up to and find in common with him."
Shawn Colvin
The three-time GRAMMY winner Shawn Colvin considers Simon a key piece of her songwriting education. Colvin’s father played guitar and taught her early on; he also played many of the singer-songwriters of the day that included the boy from New York.
Particularly at the start of her career, Colvin always performed "Kathy’s Song" in her sets. In a 2015 interview, the songwriter cited Simon as one of her mentors. "Joni Mitchell was a big time [influence on] me, but also James Taylor, Paul Simon and Bob Dylan to an extent," she said.
Lorde
The expressive and introspective New Zealand singer-songwriter considers Simon the benchmark for excellence in her craft — a bar she reaches for each day. In a 2017 profile in The Guardian she revealed the following goal:. "I want to be really, really good one day. I think I’m pretty good now. I think I’ve made a good start. But I want to be Paul Simon." Four years later, Lorde named Simon’s "Graceland" as the song she wishes she’d written in this Vogue 73 vide interview.
Listen to Lorde and Jack Antonoff (Bleachers) perform a stripped down duet of "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard" at the 2017 Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.
How To Watch "Homeward Bound: A GRAMMY Salute To The Songs Of Paul Simon"
Franc Moody
Photo: Rachel Kupfer
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A Guide To Modern Funk For The Dance Floor: L'Imperatrice, Shiro Schwarz, Franc Moody, Say She She & Moniquea
James Brown changed the sound of popular music when he found the power of the one and unleashed the funk with "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag." Today, funk lives on in many forms, including these exciting bands from across the world.
GRAMMYs/Nov 25, 2022 - 04:23 pm
It's rare that a genre can be traced back to a single artist or group, but for funk, that was James Brown. The Godfather of Soul coined the phrase and style of playing known as "on the one," where the first downbeat is emphasized, instead of the typical second and fourth beats in pop, soul and other styles. As David Cheal eloquently explains, playing on the one "left space for phrases and riffs, often syncopated around the beat, creating an intricate, interlocking grid which could go on and on." You know a funky bassline when you hear it; its fat chords beg your body to get up and groove.
Brown's 1965 classic, "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag," became one of the first funk hits, and has been endlessly sampled and covered over the years, along with his other groovy tracks. Of course, many other funk acts followed in the '60s, and the genre thrived in the '70s and '80s as the disco craze came and went, and the originators of hip-hop and house music created new music from funk and disco's strong, flexible bones built for dancing.
Legendary funk bassist Bootsy Collins learned the power of the one from playing in Brown's band, and brought it to George Clinton, who created P-funk, an expansive, Afrofuturistic, psychedelic exploration of funk with his various bands and projects, including Parliament-Funkadelic. Both Collins and Clinton remain active and funkin', and have offered their timeless grooves to collabs with younger artists, including Kali Uchis, Silk Sonic, and Omar Apollo; and Kendrick Lamar, Flying Lotus, and Thundercat, respectively.
In the 1980s, electro-funk was born when artists like Afrika Bambaataa, Man Parrish, and Egyptian Lover began making futuristic beats with the Roland TR-808 drum machine — often with robotic vocals distorted through a talk box. A key distinguishing factor of electro-funk is a de-emphasis on vocals, with more phrases than choruses and verses. The sound influenced contemporaneous hip-hop, funk and electronica, along with acts around the globe, while current acts like Chromeo, DJ Stingray, and even Egyptian Lover himself keep electro-funk alive and well.
Today, funk lives in many places, with its heavy bass and syncopated grooves finding way into many nooks and crannies of music. There's nu-disco and boogie funk, nodding back to disco bands with soaring vocals and dance floor-designed instrumentation. G-funk continues to influence Los Angeles hip-hop, with innovative artists like Dam-Funk and Channel Tres bringing the funk and G-funk, into electro territory. Funk and disco-centered '70s revival is definitely having a moment, with acts like Ghost Funk Orchestra and Parcels, while its sparkly sprinklings can be heard in pop from Dua Lipa, Doja Cat, and, in full "Soul Train" character, Silk Sonic. There are also acts making dreamy, atmospheric music with a solid dose of funk, such as Khruangbin’s global sonic collage.
There are many bands that play heavily with funk, creating lush grooves designed to get you moving. Read on for a taste of five current modern funk and nu-disco artists making band-led uptempo funk built for the dance floor. Be sure to press play on the Spotify playlist above, and check out GRAMMY.com's playlist on Apple Music, Amazon Music and Pandora.
Say She She
Aptly self-described as "discodelic soul," Brooklyn-based seven-piece Say She She make dreamy, operatic funk, led by singer-songwriters Nya Gazelle Brown, Piya Malik and Sabrina Mileo Cunningham. Their '70s girl group-inspired vocal harmonies echo, sooth and enchant as they cover poignant topics with feminist flair.
While they’ve been active in the New York scene for a few years, they’ve gained wider acclaim for the irresistible music they began releasing this year, including their debut album, Prism. Their 2022 debut single "Forget Me Not" is an ode to ground-breaking New York art collective Guerilla Girls, and "Norma" is their protest anthem in response to the news that Roe vs. Wade could be (and was) overturned. The band name is a nod to funk legend Nile Rodgers, from the "Le freak, c'est chi" exclamation in Chic's legendary tune "Le Freak."
Moniquea
Moniquea's unique voice oozes confidence, yet invites you in to dance with her to the super funky boogie rhythms. The Pasadena, California artist was raised on funk music; her mom was in a cover band that would play classics like Aretha Franklin’s "Get It Right" and Gladys Knight’s "Love Overboard." Moniquea released her first boogie funk track at 20 and, in 2011, met local producer XL Middelton — a bonafide purveyor of funk. She's been a star artist on his MoFunk Records ever since, and they've collabed on countless tracks, channeling West Coast energy with a heavy dose of G-funk, sunny lyrics and upbeat, roller disco-ready rhythms.
Her latest release is an upbeat nod to classic West Coast funk, produced by Middleton, and follows her February 2022 groovy, collab-filled album, On Repeat.
Shiro Schwarz
Shiro Schwarz is a Mexico City-based duo, consisting of Pammela Rojas and Rafael Marfil, who helped establish a modern funk scene in the richly creative Mexican metropolis. On "Electrify" — originally released in 2016 on Fat Beats Records and reissued in 2021 by MoFunk — Shiro Schwarz's vocals playfully contrast each other, floating over an insistent, upbeat bassline and an '80s throwback electro-funk rhythm with synth flourishes.
Their music manages to be both nostalgic and futuristic — and impossible to sit still to. 2021 single "Be Kind" is sweet, mellow and groovy, perfect chic lounge funk. Shiro Schwarz’s latest track, the joyfully nostalgic "Hey DJ," is a collab with funkstress Saucy Lady and U-Key.
L'Impératrice
L'Impératrice (the empress in French) are a six-piece Parisian group serving an infectiously joyful blend of French pop, nu-disco, funk and psychedelia. Flore Benguigui's vocals are light and dreamy, yet commanding of your attention, while lyrics have a feminist touch.
During their energetic live sets, L'Impératrice members Charles de Boisseguin and Hagni Gwon (keys), David Gaugué (bass), Achille Trocellier (guitar), and Tom Daveau (drums) deliver extended instrumental jam sessions to expand and connect their music. Gaugué emphasizes the thick funky bass, and Benguigui jumps around the stage while sounding like an angel. L’Impératrice’s latest album, 2021’s Tako Tsubo, is a sunny, playful French disco journey.
Franc Moody
Franc Moody's bio fittingly describes their music as "a soul funk and cosmic disco sound." The London outfit was birthed by friends Ned Franc and Jon Moody in the early 2010s, when they were living together and throwing parties in North London's warehouse scene. In 2017, the group grew to six members, including singer and multi-instrumentalist Amber-Simone.
Their music feels at home with other electro-pop bands like fellow Londoners Jungle and Aussie act Parcels. While much of it is upbeat and euphoric, Franc Moody also dips into the more chilled, dreamy realm, such as the vibey, sultry title track from their recently released Into the Ether.