Tag: lykke li

Posted in Album of the Month, New Albums, podcast, Spin it or Bin It

EP. 69 | Lykke Li | The Afterparty

Posted on by GuyHornsby

EP. 73 | Dahi | Black Boy (Alternative) – This Is Not Happening – An Album Of The Month Podcast

Welcome to Episode 73 of This Is Not Happening, an Album of the Month podcast. In Part 1, we do a deep drive review of our Album of the Month. This month Nolan has chosen an producer and artist that was on none of our radars, Dahi. He's the producer behind many massive artists including Kendrick Lamar and has released his first 'solo' album Black Boy (Alternative).In Part 2, we play Spin It or Bin It, we pick a theme and all pick songs that represent that theme. This month, taking inspiration from last months focus on Phoebe Bridgers, we are picking tracks by 'SuperGroups'.Part 1 | Album of the Month | Dahi | Black Boy (Alternative):He may not be the first SuperProducer that you might think of but its hard to deny that Dahi meets the definition. He's produced for Kendrick, SZA, Travis Scott, Mac Miller, Childish Gambino, Madonna and Dr. Dre. But now he becomes the creative focal point with his debut artist release. The album is many things but it's nothing like I expected it to be. Dahi himself described the solo project as 'African Radiohead' which I feel is weird and misplaced but apparently the internet has much to say on the topic.Join us as we unpack this interesting and intriguing album.Read the Guardian's review for a bit of background here.Read this rare interview on Music Tech to learn more from Dahi.If you'd prefer to watch an interview … Saving Connie has it covered.This playlist reminds you how prolific Dahi is.Part 2 | Spin It or Bin It | SuperGroupsThe theme this month, inspired by Phoebe Bridgers Boy Genius side project is the Super Group. We are defining SuperGroup as a collection of previously well known solo musicians or members of other groups who form a named, side project with other solo musicians or band members.The task is pick a track that fits the theme, the objective, get more 'spins' than your friends. We each pick four tracks for a 16 track play list . We then each pick select 1 track and ask the simple question 'Spin It Or Bin It'?Guy chose | Getting Away With It | ElectronicJoey chose | 'The Truth' | Handsome Boy Modelling SchoolDavid chose | 7/4 Shoreline | Broken Social SceneNolan chose | Definition | Black StarWe've been writing the blog for years come and have a look – https://thisisnothappening.net/
  1. EP. 73 | Dahi | Black Boy (Alternative)
  2. EP.72 | Phoebe Bridgers | Lost Weekend
  3. EP.71 | Steve Lacy | Oh Yeah?
  4. EP.70 | Olivia Rogrigo | You seem pretty sad …
  5. EP. 69 | Lykke Li | The Afterparty

Welcome to Episode 69 of This Is Not Happening, an Album of the Month podcast. 

In Part 1, we do a deep drive review of our Album of the Month. This month Nolan serves up Lykke Li’s new record: ‘The Afterparty’.

In Part 2, we play Spin It or Bin It, we pick a theme and all pick songs that represent that theme. This month, we pick our favourite new music. 

           —— Part 1 | Album of the Month | Lykke Li |  The Afterparty ——

Lykke Li is an adored and fascinating artist, having been releasing music since 2008. The Swedish artist has ploughed her own furrow of pop distinctly different to last month’s Robyn, heavy on melancholy and referencing the 60s as much as the modern world and is a real pod favourite. Breaking out in the late 2000s with I Follow Rivers, she’s the artist you never knew you loved. 

The Afterparty is the sixth studio album for Li, and reflects the uncertainty of the modern, chaotic work in its svelte 24-minute running time, packing so much emotion and dynamics into that short running time. 

The chat takes in her legacy, asks if this truly is her last album, and whether a famously reclusive artist can easily exist in the ‘hyper-on’ world of the music industry in 2026. 

Have a listen, tell us what you think.

                —————- Part 2 | Spin It or Bin It | Sad Bangers —————- 

For Spin It or Bin It this month, we return to new music, picking our favourite new tracks from May and June. 

The task is simple: pick a track that fits the theme, the objective, get more ‘spins’ than your friends. We each pick four tracks for a 16 track play list . We then each pick select 1 track and ask the simple question ‘Spin It Or Bin It’?

What new music would you have chosen? What’s missing from our playlist?

We’ve been writing the blog for years come and have a look – https://thisisnothappening.net/

Posted in Album of the Month, New Albums

June AOTM : Lykke Li – The Afterparty

Posted on by nolankane706

This month I’ve chosen the new album from Lykke Li, The Afterparty. For the second consecutive month we’ve been gifted an album from an artist much loved on the pod, yet one who has somehow never had a full album featured on either the podcast or the blog. Lykke Li is an artist who continues to evolve, though for me her first three albums remain permanent fixtures in my musical world.

I’ve always found Lykke Li’s music deeply intriguing. Her songs are musically welcoming whilst emotionally devastating — pop music that invites you in before quietly breaking your heart. Her work has long felt centred around a love of love itself; even when the beats are huge, the emotional energy often feels fragile, wounded, or collapsing inward. Where many artists turn heartbreak into empowerment, Lykke Li tends to stay inside the ache — dreamy, self-destructive, romantic, numb, and haunted.

The title The Afterparty immediately filled me with anxiety. Afterparties, in my experience, are rarely parties at all. They’re strange, liminal spaces where the adrenaline, glamour, and euphoria have worn off, leaving anxiety, exhaustion, regret, loneliness, and existential dread. Everyone is quietly planning their exit.

That feeling makes this album title especially fitting. In recent interviews, Lykke Li has hinted that The Afterparty may be her final album after more than two decades in an industry she has repeatedly admitted doesn’t suit her. Her Scandinavian bluntness has often cut through the mythology of music industry glamour. One of my favourite quotes from her remains: “The profession I have keeps dragging me into drama and taking me away from baking, flowering and gardening.”

What makes The Afterparty so compelling is how it feels like the culmination of everything she has explored across her career — from the icy melancholy of her earlier work to the widescreen pop and club textures of later releases and remixes. At just nine songs and roughly twenty-five minutes long, it achieves more than many albums manage in twice the runtime. The soundscape feels simultaneously expansive and tightly controlled, whilst lyrically it moves through themes of love, ageing, alienation, fame, and emotional exhaustion. Glamorous yet emotionally wrecked feels like the perfect description.

From the opening pulse of “Not Gon Cry”, the album immediately establishes its emotional contradiction: euphoric music carrying deeply bruised emotions. Anchored by the lead single “Lucky Again”, the remaining eight tracks orbit with near perfection around her core sound. Throughout, the album bleeds broken positivity — shimmering with hope whilst soaked in melancholy.

The brief spoken line at the beginning of “Famous Last Words” — “I don’t trust anything. I’m going to a dark place, do you need anything?” — perfectly captures the fragility running through the record. It’s darkly funny, vulnerable, and quietly devastating.

If The Afterparty is a comedown, it is an exquisitely crafted one — elegant, emotionally rich, and full of musical joy despite the darkness at its centre. If this truly is Lykke Li’s final album, she has left us with one of the most accomplished works of her career.

Though the eternal fan in me still hopes this isn’t her swan song.