Offline this began with Beyonce’s Sorry, from one of the best albums of the year and one of the most important albums of the year, but when your (hoped for) next fortune is meant to come from a streaming service not that many people are going to willingly, or at least with much enthusiasm, you take whatever measures you can to drive traffic. And hell no, I’m not going to Tidal. Got enough trouble justifying Apple Music and Spotify, let alone a third.
If there’s an ‘’80s/early ‘90s link here it’s not surprising given how, from Weeknd to Bruno Mars (not represented here as his new album has left me a bit underwhelmed as high concept pop goes), Drake to Frank Ocean (not represented here mainly for flow/tempo reasons as Blond/Blonde really is a stand-alone tone poem in so many ways) and the far too under-recognised Clairy Browne, that period is all over the zeitgeist at the moment.
Alternatively you can see this as a way to get to the florid drama of Love Is A Battlefield, which had to end the hour. We stand. No promises, no demands. Right on Ms Benatar.
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