*waves* a pleasure. Love you all no matter who you're here for.
My pop-centric top 5:
-Mariah Carey's glorious reign from "Fantasy" through "My All". There was no queen like Queen Mariah, before the Lord called that sovereign lady back to His side.
-Robyn, along with other hard-to-pronounce but excellent Northern European delights like iamamiwhoami and Tove Lo (
Lady Wood was great pop: fast and to the point).
-Nina Simone, with that timeless, fierce mix of love ("Don't Explain", "I Put A Spell On You") and angry, righteous politics ("Mississippi Goddamn"). Filth Travesty/Tr*mp fans need not apply.
-Tegan and Sara, all killer no filler well-crafted pop. Didn't see that coming when they were first on the scene!
-Either Beyoncé for self-titled and
Lemonade, or Solange for
A Seat at the Table. Depends on whether I'm tolerant of Bey breathing into the microphone too much or not.
And
finally, whichever poster was slaying me with those GIFs of Gillian Anderson as Stella Gibson from
The Fall. Our generation's ice princess George Smiley. But why didn't they give us Jamie Dornan undies photos to even it out?
Outside of pop or outside of the Top 5 but still near and dear to my headphones: Massive Attack's creeping soundtrack for nights on empty streets, Gorillaz for the same, The Smashing Pumpkins for when I want to remember high school (right now, I don't), Maxwell's smooth-ass R&B for when I want to remember college (I do), Sade's ice princess greatness, Hot Chip for awkward dance parties,
And Lady Gaga's
The Fame Monster, before she got too far into her own damn head. if you're going to make good pop, don't waste my time. Get in, slay me, get out.
