Good morning from me, the Scary Spice meeter. Did you know I met Scary Spice yesterday? That of all the people waiting to be blessed with her presence, after the random studio person said “LAST ONE WE HAVE TO GO”, she looked directly at lil ol’ me and said “no we can do one more”, in what I can honestly say is the literal only time I have felt brown girl privilege. Ugh, I love her so much. Always holding my mixed race ass down, from childhood to now at my big age. An angel. Also irl she looks approximately 12-years-old. A youthful queen. She deserves the entire world and more!

Anyway, I wonder if, subconsciously, my toe dipping back into the new music waters is to shake me out of this Spice Girls obsessed fugue I have been in, which happened last time they reunited and causes me to regress back to 8-years-old where I eat, drank, slept, breathed, shat Spice Girls morning, noon and night because I had no responsibilities, cares or concerns. I don’t quite remember when I broke out of that state last time around but I reckon it must have been a least a year, or whenever Geri’s children’s book tour ended (tales for my memoirs!) but since I have a lot more in life to be getting on with than when I was a uni dropout, I need to accelerate the process this time! So here’s some decent tunes you may have missed this week which I will be listening to today instead of the Spiceworld album again.

HANNAH TRIGWELL – ‘WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE’

There is a very American sound to this song, so imagine my surprise to discover that Hannah Trigwell is actually from Leeds! Birthplace of Scary Spice! Okay, sorry I’ll stop. Anyway, it’s really hard to not conflate this chorus with The State Of The World, but it’s actually not about the impending climate crisis! More so the track is an ode to having previously felt so hopeless you were ready to peace out, but making it through to see another day and the clouds clearing and being able to look at everything with brand new eyes. The statement “what a time to be alive!” expressed sincerely is the kind of sentiment that only white people can really get away with at the moment, because… yeah… what a time indeed! But you know what, on my best days this song is really a “big mood”. Slick production and the hook is catchy af.

YOSHI FLOWER – ‘ROLLING THUNDER’

A Rock Mafia production in 2019! I feel like I haven’t heard from them in years! Leaving behind the brashness I associate them with in my mind ‘Rolling Thunder’ is a bleepy alt-pop number I guess I would describe as something like “Owl City with a punch”? It’s got the requisite twinkly-bop parts and a sweet-toned male vocal but there’s an energy to it still. I enjoy it mainly for the chorus lyric: “I can hear your heartbeat… and it sounds like rolling thunder” is just very simply, but exquisitely, put.

PEACH TREE RASCALS – ‘SUMMA’

‘Summa’ is a such a… well, summery groove. I can almost feel a very light cool breeze gently blowing my hair back even as hot sun bakes me to a sweat. I wanna skin up immediately listening to this. If you like Brockhampton, Anderson .Paak, the two Childish Gambino tracks from that movie he did with Rihanna, or anything in that kind of hip-hop/R&B/jazz lane, this song will nice you good. It’s so my kind of vibe it’s actually stupid.

KHALID – ‘RIGHT BACK’ ft. A BOOGIE WIT DA HOODIE

One of the more sustainable tracks on the recent Khalid album – which was perfectly fine, if a little characterless – gets a new opening verse from A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie which feels good and right, a collaboration with purpose, ABWDH may well have actually listened to the song before he got on the mic, y’know? Another chill, laidback, kickback, let the track wash over you jam.

ALICE CHATER – ‘TONIGHT’

‘Tonight’ sounds a bit like Bionic-era Christina Aguilera went through the muting filter to become more “playlist-able” which definitely isn’t a par but isn’t quite a compliment either, because I do think it’s a shame that so much pop has this kind of unobtrusive “listen but don’t hear” vibe to it nowadays, and especially since Alice Chater the artist is… so clearly not an unobtrusive person. I do wonder how it would sound unmuzzled and unleashed, is what I’m saying. Still, it’s a good pop song from a good pop star. I’m not sure I like it as much as ‘Thief’ and it’s definitely not a patch on ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ but it’s not a noticeable dip either. I’m willing to stay the course on this one. The scene could really do with the dramatics.

CLAIRO – ‘SOFTLY’

The Clairo album has been (rightly!) been getting rave reviews from fans, critics and her peers alike. This is my favourite cut, an R&B-tinged midtempo that doesn’t completely betray her “bedroom” beginnings but more elevates the earnest yet lo-fi energy into something richer and fuller. The whole record is worth a listen but this is 100% the best song.