reviews

AOTM | Olivia Rodrigo | ‘You Seem Pretty Sad For A Girl So In Love’.

Posted on June 28, 2026June 30, 2026 by misterstory

Is there anything left to say about Olivia Rodrigo in 2026?

Probably not. The internet has broken down every single word of her lyrics, debated who her songs are about, and tracked her relationship timelines in real time. But at This Is Not Happening, we want our say, too, when a pop savant raises the bar this high, you have to talk about it.

Personally, I’ve been hooked for years, a fact that has become a joke with my 15 year-old daughters friendship group. ‘Drivers License” is genuinely one of my absolute favorite songs ever written, a perfect encapsulation of teenage suburban heartbreak. But it was actually “deja vu” that acted as my gateway drug. The witty, sharp, acerbic lyrics were matched only by the melodic brilliance.

For a quick primer if you’ve been living under a rock, or more likely, you’ve pretended to be too cool to care: Olivia Rodrigo exploded into the industry as a three-time Grammy winner, shifting the entire expectations of mainstream music with her multi-platinum records SOUR and GUTS. She took the raw vulnerability of modern teen life and smashed it into 90s alternative rock and pop-punk sensibilities. She’s completely rewritten and is continuing to rewrite the playbook for global pop superstardom. She. Is. A. Force.

Before this new record dropped on June 12, she teased us with two brilliant singles that gave us hints about where she was heading:

Drop Dead (Released April 17): A shimmery, infectious synth-pop track, an intentional homage to classic new wave, and more specifically The Cure. “You know all the words to ‘Just Like Heaven’ / And I know why he wrote them now that you’re standing right here.” As we’ve come to expext it’s smart, it’s sharp, its bold and it’s catchy AF.
The Cure (Released May 22): A slow-to-loud alternative anthem built around massive, driving guitars … and a very literal 2nd reference to the band The Cure … but listen again. There are 2 other references to alternative pop rock that I think have been missed by others – The Introduction and verse 1 owes a massive debt to ‘Everlong’ by the Foo Fighters and there are motifs in the bridge and chorus that are massively reminiscent of ‘Disarm’ by Smashing Pumpkins. I think the former is more obvious but the latter is definitely there fore me. This track is a magnificent example of Olvia’s ability to magpie ideas from less obvious places and weave them into her pop magic.

The album itself, you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love, is a masterfully executed 13-track ‘concept record’. It functions as a classic vinyl album of two halves. The first part, “Girl So In Love,” tracks the intoxicating, all-consuming rush of a relationship. The second half, “You Seem Pretty Sad,” documents the slow, painful unraveling and the bitter recriminations that follow when the illusion shatters.

But if it is an album of two halves … then there is a track in the middle that you can’t tell if it belongs on Side A or Side B – that track is Purple. Credit where’s it’d due – the brilliant Switched on Pop has a theory about this. Side A is the ‘Red Side’ – A Girl So In Love, red is the colour of love and Romance. Side B is the ‘Blue Side’ – You Seem Pretty Sad, blue is the colour of sadness. The song in the middle is ‘Purple’ which is created from mixing Red and Blue. Mind. Blown.

Side A: Girl So In Love

1. “drop dead” The opener, the lead single, the absolute masterclass in ’80s new wave inspired pop. It sets the scene with shimmering, glossy synths and a bouncy beat that hides the underlying obsession of stalking someone online.

2. “stupid song” My daughters favourite. It’s got this incredible, glossy precision, it’s perfect punchy pop-rock. And. it’s Olivia so it’s also super intelligence self referential song-writing all about that exact moment you realize you’re writing cliché love songs about someone.

3. “honeybee” A massive highlight here that I think has been overlooked somewhat? Olivia brings in her real-life best friend Conan Gray for some gorgeous backing vocals. It’s an acoustic, warm indie-pop track about pure optimism and hoping a relationship lasts forever.

4. “maggots for brains” The title says it all, after the sweetness of Honeybee, things start to change. The guitars get a bit fuzzier here, leaning into a more playful … so playful I can hear Avril Lavigne-esque pop-punk energy? It’s an affectionate but witty roast of a partner’s lovable flaws.

5. “u + me = <3” A brilliant nod to early 2000s minimalist pop. Think Britney-level vocal confidence layered over a robotic, Gary Numan-style synth beat. It’s hyper-confident in every way and perhaps even slightly self mocking?

6. “my way” Is this the turning point on Side A? The track captures the moment where you realize you’re changing ‘you’ to fit into someone else’s world. The music is smooth, but the lyrics are quietly tense. I think it’s easy to overlook this tracks brilliance.

7. “purple” The closer of the first half .. or the opener of the 2nd half? Given the next track is ‘The Cure’ its probably the former. It’s a lush, dream-pop track heavily influenced by British shoegaze?

Side B: You Seem Pretty Sad

8. “the cure” The transition is jarring in the best way possible. It starts with a heavy, driving guitar riff that pays direct homage to Foo Fighters’ “Everlong” before exploding into massive, Mellon Collie-era Smashing Pumpkins strings. A towering alternative rock anthem about realizing love can’t fix your personal baggage.

9. “begged” First debuted on SNL, this one is raw and angry. The pop-punk spark is back, but it’s darker this time. It’s a heavy, aggressive track about the absolute humiliation of having to beg someone to treat you right. It’s the grown up version of the pop-punk influences we heard on her debut?

10. “what’s wrong with me” (feat. Robert Smith) I could not believe it when I realised this was Robert Smith. I literally laughed out loud. It’s such a flex. A flex that would not have flexed if the track was not as brilliant as it is. I never knew I was missing this from my life!

11. “less” Olivia strips it all back and returns to the piano alone. It’s a devastating, intimate ballad in the vein of Phoebe Bridgers. The killer line says it all: “If loving me means letting go and wishing me the best / Then I guess I wish, I wish, I wish you loved me less.” Ouch. This song proves her songwriting chops. Piano ballads are 10 a penny, how many hit this hard on first listen? Literally none.

12. “expectations” One for Guy. Synth Pop to the max. An oh my god is it pop. It’s so infectious.

13. “cigarette smoke” The 5-minute epic closer. It delivers (in my humble opinion) the strongest vocal performance of the album (her career?). We get a swelling, cinematic indie-rock backdrop. It closes the book on the album (and the relationship?) with a brutal, parting-shot one-liner: “I thought that we played the perfect couple / Until you didn’t want the part.” Who has the right to be that good a song writer this early in their career”?

We’re going to have a lot to talk about?

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

EP. 69 | Lykke Li | The Afterparty

Posted on June 26, 2026 by GuyHornsby

EP. 69 | Lykke Li | The Afterparty – This Is Not Happening – An Album Of The Month Podcast

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.Listen to the original album here.Watch some of her videos here , particularly the singles from this album.Buy this album or some merch here. And listen to her talk about the album here. —————- 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'?David chose 'the cure' by Olivia RodrigoGuy chose 'THE WORLDWIDE SCOURGE' by Genesis Owusu.Nolan chose 'Electric Revival' by Deante' Hitchcock.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/We've been writing the blog for years come and have a look – https://thisisnothappening.net/

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.

Listen to the original album here.
Watch some of her videos here , particularly the singles from this album.
Buy this album or some merch here. And listen to her talk about the album here.

—————- 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’?

David chose ‘the cure’ by Olivia Rodrigo
Guy chose ‘THE WORLDWIDE SCOURGE’ by Genesis Owusu.
Nolan chose ‘Electric Revival’ by Deante’ Hitchcock.

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/

Album of the Month, New Albums, podcast

Podcast EP.68 | Robyn | Sexistential

Posted on May 25, 2026June 8, 2026 by misterstory

EP. 69 | Lykke Li | The Afterparty – This Is Not Happening – An Album Of The Month Podcast

Welcome to Episode 68 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 Guy brings a Robyn’s latest release ‘Sexisitential’.

In Part 2, we play Spin It or Bin It, we pick a theme and all pick songs that represent that theme. This month, the theme is ‘Sad Bangers’.

—— Part 1 | Album of the Month | Robyn | Sexistential ——

Robyn is a unique, iconic figure in contemporary music. She’s been making and releasing music since 1995, her career spans 4 decades already and she shows no signs of slowing down. Her pop career started when she was 15, she’s about to celebrate her 47th birthday, this is insane staying power!

Sexistential is her 9th studio album if you count the Body Talk series as full albums? It’s only 29 mins long, it doesn’t mess about and no track or the album in full overstays it’s welcome.

There is lots to get into in the discussion, has she still got it? Is she doing new things? Is this still relevant and if so who for? How artists change and what we expect from them as they age?

Have a listen, tell us what you think.

Listen to the original album here.
Watch some of her videos here , particularly the singles from this album.
Buy this album or some merch here. And listen to her talk about the album here.

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

Robyn’s biggest track is ‘Dancing On My Own’ is the archetype of a genre that Guy made up ‘Sad Bangers’. This is our theme for Spin It or Bin It this month. It’s got to be sad, and it’s got to bang. Simple (in theory).

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’?

David chose Destroy Everything You Touch by Ladytron.
Joey chose ‘Teardrops’ by Womack and Womack.
Guy chose ‘Lovesick’ by Friendly Fires.
Nolan chose ‘Blue Monday’ by New Order.

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

Album of the Month, Music chat, New Albums

May AOTM: Robyn – Sexistential

Posted on April 27, 2026May 3, 2026 by GuyHornsby

November 2025. We were busy compiling our final iterations of the end of year albums and tracks, luxuriating in the eleven months of fantastic releases and looking forward to what 2026 would bring, and a new single dropped from the sky. Right into the middle of everything.

“I know it’s just dopamine [DOH-DOH-DOH-DOH] / But if feels to real to me [DOH-DOH-DOH-DOH]”.

That voice was so familiar. The lush synths. The euphoria. With her first solo single since 2019, and Robyn was BACK.

Robyn’s been part of my pop culture landscape since way back in 1997 (a ridiculously long time ago, for a pop artist… I was one year out of university!) when she appeared on the Backstreet Boys/Britney-adjacent Show Me Love, an early Max Martin piece that didn’t exactly point to either of their futures directly, but certainly stuck in my head. In terms of semi-informed potted histories, she’d been recording in her home country of Sweden since she was 12, and by the time I next encountered her, in the still banging ‘With Every Heartbeat‘ – a single from her fourth (!) album – she’d already been somewhat chewed up by the pop machine. Having moved from giant BMG to Jive, then exited that deal to find artistic freedom, and formed her own label, the aptly-named Konichiwa Records. This is where she’d release the self-titled album from which her first UK No.1 single would appear, as ‘With Every Hearbeat’, the track she made with Kleerup tacked onto the reissued UK version. At 28, she’d already lived whole careers in that decade since Show Me Love, but found her feet.

After that, she didn’t look back. There has never the superstardom had by others around her before and since – think Britney, Christina, or Adele, Gaga, Katy, Lorde, and now Taylor, or Charli – but she certainly has her own niche to exist in: synth-driven pop music powered by loss and heartbreak. Sound a bit vague? Perhaps it’s Dancing On My Own that defined her more than anything, and stamped the genre she made her own: The Sad Banger.

I’m in the corner
Watchin’ you kiss her, oh
I’m right over here
Why can’t you see me? Oh
I’m giving it my all
But I’m not the girl you’re takin’ home, ooh
I keep dancing on my own
I keep dancing on my own

Sure, we’ve all heard lyrics like this, but they were over a ballad, or piano, or various flavours of pop melodies. But this… this was over pumping dancefloor percussion and synths. This was a backing track you’d usually hear without vocals or as the celebratory ‘I’ve won her/his heart’ lyrics. Robyn flipped the script, and leaned into the desolation, but you couldn’t help dance to it. As Robyn said herself, the song “represents the precise moment on the dancefloor when you have to get your desperation, frustration and sadness out”. And I’ve been dancing to it ever since.

It’s oversimplifying Robyn’s long and interesting career, full of reinvention and making music how she wants to, an open book often baring the private, uncomfortable, moving away from the cliche (her previous album, Honey revolved around the loss of her friend and sometime collaborator, Christian Falk). This corner of dancefloor pop music is something she’s created, working with a trusted set of producers and engineers who understand her world, and something that’s been redone by others ever since. And that is the mark of something truly creative. I may not be a Robyn stan (that’s my friend Marco, who still plays that track in DJ sets, and queued up to meet her recently in Manchester), but I’ve loved so much of what she’s done, without ever quite dropping into fanboy territory. Until now.

I adored Dopamine. While I’ve really loved Robyn’s music over the years, this seemed to hit hard. I’ve always liked music that leans into the spirit of the dancefloor unashamedly, given I’ve spent so much of my adult life on and around them, and this transplanted itself into so much of what I felt when I think back to the best times I’ve spent on them, in London, or Manchester, Ibiza, Leeds, or Croatia. Not just her vocals, but the effects that turn them into this warm chorus that wraps the track in this fuzzy haze. The lyrics, which smartly layer the real euphoria of joy, of being in the moment, with a nod to the modern affliction of that online hit, that reply, the like, and how we are so accustomed to micro-highs that tie us to the online world. All wrapped up in three and a half minutes of pumping action. Just as All My Friends does, or Layo and Bushwacka’s Love Story, or The Human League’s Don’t You Want Me Baby? the moment this cranks up, I know exactly where my head is at. Feed it into my veins!

I heard an album was coming soon, and before Sexistential dropped in late March, we got 3 more tasters in what would turn out to be nearly half the album. Talk To Me’s single entendres (“I’m coming fast so guide me in”) over a Max Martin-amped chorus, shedding any societal preconceptions over what a 46-year-old woman should or should not talk about. The title track – and probably one of the album’s marmit-est moments, riffs on her single-mum IVF journey in lockdown, simultaneously horny, lonely, exasperated and laughing at her own situation. Because who else would do a rap about ovaries over a nervous, sparse percussion track and warping bass?

What Sexistential gives us is a fantastically conceived, pocket rocket of a modern pop album – twenty nine minutes and not a single second wasted – that can loop through over and over again before you know it, pulling you in all sorts of emotional directions. It’s the backdrop for the ‘what has she been up to?’ story from a fierce and yet open and searingly honest pop star who has sailed into her 40s and decided the best thing to do is play to her strengths, 8 years on from her last record. What you get on this ninth studio album are some right-up-there-with-the-best moments of pop – It Don’t Mean A Thing’s straight-up wistful remembering of the potential of a relationship no more, to the hopefulness of Light Up, and the closing (and best track on the album, to me) Into The Sun, with Robyn refusing to give up on love, being willing to burn up, just to give it a shot. As much as there’s humour, disclosure and sex on here, the album is as much about the reward of love – lost and yet to be found – as much as anything. And that feeling is something we all need in a fractured, chaotic world.

Music, is, after all, about connection. And for whatever reason that Robyn’s previous albums never quite hit my soul, this one has. Musically, it throbs. But more than that, I listen to each song – even Sexistential – and find something there that talks to me. That gets me right in the solar plexus. I’m 5 years older than Robyn, and a parent, so there’s a definite emotional tug within the songs too (Exihibit C: the cleverly remade Blow My Mind, which swaps the original’s love song for new motherhood), and that is a feeling you can’t control, can’t map or can’t force. It’s either there or it isn’t.

There will be bigger albums. Taylor’s 20 special edition formats chewing up vinyl plants, or Olivia Rodrigo’s upcoming album. Or perhaps one we don’t even know is coming, like Brat’s follow-up. But as they each do their thing, this album has Robyn’s vibrancy running through it like a name in a stick of rock. And it’ll be in my top 10 in November, just in time to hear the first single of one of 2027’s favourites.

What will everyone else think? I have no idea.

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

Podcast Ep. 67 | Eliza | The Darkening Green

Posted on April 22, 2026May 9, 2026 by misterstory

EP. 69 | Lykke Li | The Afterparty – This Is Not Happening – An Album Of The Month Podcast

Welcome to Episode 67 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 Joey brings a slice of sophisticated, R&B tinged pop with Eliza’s Jill latest album ‘The Darkening Green’.

In Part 2, we play Spin It or Bin It, we pick a theme and all pick songs that represent that theme. This month the theme is ‘Sophisticated Pop’.

——Part 1 | Album of the Month | Eliza | The Darkening Green ——

Eliza is an enigma. She has recorded under a different name but has been recording under ‘Eliza’ for the past 10 years or so.

After 3 long, very complex albums on the pod we take a new direction, 9 tracks and 35 minutes of sophisticated pop, stylish soul driven vibes. Its full of grooves, it’s full of tunes and its full of all of the emotions. I have become quite obsessed with this and am recommending it to everyone.

Listen to the original album here.
Read some interviews and bits here and here.
If you love this album like I do … buy it here.

—————-Part 2 | Spin It or Bin It | New Music—————-

The theme is Sophisticaed Pop … but we also get a bit confused between this and ‘sophisti-pop’ and to be honest, Nolan loses his shit.

The task is pick a track that fits the theme, the objective, get more ‘spins’ than your friends. We each pick four tracks for a16 track play list. We then each pick select 1 track and ask the simple question ‘Spin It Or Bin It’?

Nolan chose ‘Dance Little Sister’ by Sanada Maitreya.
David chose ‘Uncertain Smile’ by The The.
Joey chose ‘Sweetest Taboo’ by Sade.
Guy chose ‘Hold me Now’ by Thompson Twins.

Enjoy!

Album of the Month, Music chat, New Albums, New Tunes, podcast

March AOTM: JILL SCOTT – To Whom This May Concern

Posted on March 1, 2026March 1, 2026 by David Allison

Jill Scott is deeply entwined in my life, but at the same time, I probably haven’t listened to her much in years. Her debut album, Who Is Jill Scott? dropped in 2000, on the cusp of a new millennium, and became an instant classic in what became known as Neo-soul. Like a lot of genre, it’s a nefarious business trying to pin down what makes something Neo-soul as opposed to R&B or soul, but it definitely leans into an organic sound – real instruments, live drums, and strong, powerful vocal performances. Philadelphia obviously has an extraordinarily rich history in soul music, and Scott became the latest on a long line of legends from that city to pick up the baton and run with it into a new era.

Right from the off, she created a sensual, rich sound full of tight performances and expansive songwriting, and that’s before we even get to that voice. She has a unique ability to sound sexy, authoritative, contemplative, in your face, gentle. She can sing, she can rap, she can sound like spoken word poetry. She’s the real deal and she quickly found herself at the top of the true alongside the likes of Erykah Badu and D’Angelo.

And then onto my own personal with this music. I had just got together with Caroline the year before – and indeed had just met Joey at the same time, and this genre was the so much the part of those years. I can think of scores of soul and R&B albums we all rinsed to death at that time – Lucy Pearl, Raphael Saadiq, Maxwell. And Jill Scott. They felt politically conscious very much like the Native Tongues hip hop of a decade previously, big on Afrocentricism and positivity. It was optimistic music. And I want to come back to that point.

Those first two Jill Scott albums I loved so hard. I don’t know why, but they just spoke to me and they soundtracked our early relationship. But like a lot of artists, she kind of fell of my radar a bit. I remember spinning her Woman album in 2015 a few times and thinking – yeah, I’ve heard this before, nothing new here. That was her last album. It’s been ten years.

So this could go one of two ways. It could be a tired old retread. Or it could be a revelatory return to form. I’d seen some preview reviews that suggested this might be the latter. And boy, they are not fucking kidding. I cannot believe how much I love this record.

Firstly, let’s get some housekeeping out the way. It’s not a short album. It’s 19 songs and 58 minutes. But personally, I have never had something slip down so easily. She sounds energised, excited to be making music, and so fucking cool. There’s an incredible array of genres on here – slow jams (Pressha, Beautiful People), hip hop (Norf Side, a real highlight for me), Afrobeat grooves (BPOTY), club friendly dance tunes (Right Here, Right Now). The whole thing is a total tour de force.

I know everyone is having their own journey here, so let me raise a couple of things that are worth considering. One is this – let’s be honest, this album could been made in 2002. It is not rewriting the history books, it’s just very, very good at what it is. But what it is is a very positive record, it’s a 53 year old woman rediscovering her joy at making music after a long gap. But it’s also full of that early 00s positivity vibe. I guess I’m wondering – does that feel a bit out of place in our fucked up, bleak world right now? For me, it’s just giving me life. But maybe it doesn’t quite for everyone…

The other factor is that this is plugging into my past and probably even my relationship with Caroline. Remove that and does it mean so much to the average listener? Perhaps not.

Anyway, this is the first record I’ve heard this year that could be in my top 10. But that’s just me. Over to you, brothers…

Album of the Month, New Albums, New Tunes

Feb 2026 AOTM | Zack Bryan | Heaven On Top

Posted on January 26, 2026 by nolankane706

Having the album of the month choice in January is always a tricky scenario. In past years we’ve opted instead for flashbacks to albums we may have missed in recent months or all time classics we wanted to chat about instead of the dried up release schedule that January usual provides. Differing from previous years, 2026 has already shown some early green shoots (IDK, Dry Cleaning and A$AP ROCKY), especially my choice for album of the month, Zach Bryan’s With Heaven On Top. Heavily anticipated for many this will be a new artist for the majority of us. Whilst he is a new name to This Is Not Happening, Bryan has swiftly become one of the fastest growing artists globally.

Personally, I’m not going into this blind. I’m a fan. But only for a matter of months. He hit my radar last summer (2025) when a friend mentioned that he had seen Bryan play at Hyde Park the previous weekend. I’d never heard of him? He explained Zach Bryan was a country artist that had just played two sold out shows to over 65,000 people a night in London. Although I was hesitant due to the dreaded ‘C’ word, I was curious about this Zach Bryan guy. He must have something about him to sell out two massive shows in London. London and the wider UK haven’t traditionally clicked with US country stars. I’d explain Zach Bryan’s sound (to my relief and happiness) as americana drenched folk with a dusting of country that naturally comes with being a product of his environment.

Bryan was born in Yokosuka, Japan, where his parents were stationed as part of a U.S. Navy deployment. When Bryan was in the eighth grade, his family moved to Oologah, Oklahoma. Continuing a family tradition, Bryan was an active-duty member of the United States Navy for eight years, enlisting at the age of 17. Whilst in the Navy, he used his spare time to write songs, eventually posting them on YouTube to nominal success. His breakthrough came when his track Heading South went viral (to date it has gained 34m streams). Ahead of leaving the services he released two independent albums ahead of leaving the Navy and signing to Warner music. Ahead of With Heaven On Top He has released 3 albums on Warner with multiple number 1’s. His singles ‘I Remember Everything’ and Something in Orange’ have both had over 1 billion Spotify streams, with way more in the plus 100m streams.

With expectations high, and knowing I’m putting my neck on the line for an artist that undoubtably will be marmite for the other three I’ve decided to double down on Zach Bryan. Early reviews for With Heaven On Top are mixed. This may not be the best album to intro an artist with.. plus it’s long (most of his albums are)… but it’s jammed packed with stories, emotion and big sounds that are not to be sniffed at.

Being mindful that this should be an album intro and not a review here are some key points from me:

I think this album in every way is very accomplished and polished yet raw. He very much seem like a guy that you could start chatting to sitting at a bar somewhere.
Bryan’s extensive touring and large audiences undoubtably have had an influence on tracks like Appetite, Say Why and Anyways. They will all sound brilliant and will have crowds singing along (vocal solos and large crowd claps a-go-go).
Songs like Slicked Back are simplified perfection and remind me of the lyrical masterstrokes that the likes of Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan were made household names by.
Although many try; nobody can nail the sound of Americana you’re from North America (IMO). Moving from a sound and a twang to painting a picture is the hard part. Bryan has a lovely way with words and storytelling. DeAnne’s Denum, Plastic Cigarette, Cannonball and You Can Still Come Home take you to the place of their reactive songs with ease.
Globally (and internally) there’s a lot of confusion and pain about the current state of the United States is in. Bryan gives you a taste of the America that many of us (even if secretly) all romance over in our minds. Open skies, country roads and dreams. It’s nice to remember this. He also faces into the state of the nation on Bad News. A song that has split his fans, though it feels like he’s arguing on both sides of opinion.

On paper Zach Bryan should tick all the boxes for all of us. His Americana drenched folk nicely sits centre in our combined music vin-diagram.. BUT for at least 2/4 of us there is going to be some walls that need to be broken to fully embrace this album.

At time of writing this, he has done limited PR for the album, has yet to release a music video yet the album has entered the US Billboard chart at number one and the UK charts at number 3. He has also released an acoustic version of the album to silence the fans and cretics that have previously stated that they miss the Zach Bryan of old; just a dude, a guitar and some packet full of great songs.

3 weeks into the album I’m still learning it. I’m still understanding it. I’m still intrigued by it. I think it’s a lovely piece of work and I hope you do to.

Album of the Month, New Albums, podcast

Podcast Ep. 64 | Rosalia | LUX

Posted on January 22, 2026 by misterstory

EP. 69 | Lykke Li | The Afterparty – This Is Not Happening – An Album Of The Month Podcast

Welcome to Episode 64 of This Is Not Happening. An Album of the Month podcast.

In Part 1, we review and Album of the Month. This month Joey brings perhaps the most critically acclaimed album of 2025, Rosalia’s ‘LUX’.

In Part 2, we play Spin It or Bin It, we pick a theme and all pick songs that represent that theme. As it’s January and everybody is back in the gym or re-starting running program’s we’ve picked ‘songs to get injured to’.

_______________________Part 1 | Album of the Month | Rosalia | LUX________________________

This is a big one. Big in many ways. Massively popular, globally. But more importantly MASSIVE in scope, scale and ambition. Rosalia’s 4th album takes a major turn from the reggaeton, digital urgency of Motomami. This a symphonic, spiritual, complex and challenging collection of songs presented in 4 movements (if you’re on vinyl). It requires you to focus, engage and consume with purpose.

It’s undeniable that it is ambitious, its brilliance is clear … but will any of us actually like it? Does it make you want to listen to it? Are you drawn to come back to it?

Listen to the album here.
Watch some of the videos for the tracks here.
Check out the Zane Lowe interview with Rosalia here.

___________________Part 2 | Spin It or Bin It | Songs To Get Injured To _____________________

New Year New Me. The gyms are packed. People are begging to get injured. What should you chose as your soundtrack to that achilles rupture or that rotator cuff tear? The answer is probably in this 16 track play list that we created.

We each pick 4 tracks for the playlist and submit 1 track and ask the simple question ‘Spin It Or Bin It’?

Joey chose ‘Baddadan’ by Chase & Status et al.
Guy chose ‘Go’ by Chemical Brothers.
David chose ‘Kool Thing’ by Sonic Youth.
Nolan chose ‘Stop What You’re Doing’ by Apathy.

Album of the Month

Jan 2026 AOTM | Rosalia | LUX

Posted on January 2, 2026January 7, 2026 by misterstory

Rosalía: LUX

I nearly chose Rosalia’s Motomami as album of the month back in 2022. I think I correctly determined that the rest of the pod would hate it. It was chaotic, digital, and brilliantly abrasive. But it also leant very heavily into Reggaeton that I knew would wind at least 2 of the brothers up. That album won 4 Latin Grammy awards as well as the Grammy for best Latin Alternative album. Where do you go after that?

Apparently, you go towards the light (‘Lux’ is latin for light and clearly references luxury too).

This month’s choice is LUX, the fourth studio album from Rosalia, and it’s a lot. If MOTOMAMI was an album following an adrenaline-fueled night out in a neon-drenched city, LUX is the spiritual, orchestral comedown at dawn. It’s a MASSIVE, operatic, orchestral, experimental, entrancing, exciting, overwhelming experience, presented in 4 movements like a classical symphony.

Concepts and Themes.

At its core, LUX is a deep dive into the history of female mysticism. Rosalía has traded the streetwear imagery of Motomami for the iconography of female saints and spiritual pioneers. The album explores the idea of transformation she uses the stories of medieval mystics and uses these historical figures as mirrors for her own experience with fame and womanhood. This record is obsessed with transcendence, reaching for a state of peace or grace beyond the noise of the modern world.

Architecture of Lux’s Sound.

Rosalía is firmly in the driver’s seat as executive producer (handling ‘97%’ of the production herself … not sure how you determine a single % of production input but I’m here all day for random stats). However, the sonic world of LUX was built alongside a carefully selected team of collaborators.

Noah Goldstein: Rosalía’s long-term collaborator and the man who helped engineer the maximalist textures of Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and the sparse brilliance of Frank Ocean’s Blonde. He knows exactly how to handle her more experimental impulses, having been a key architect on MOTOMAMI and Travis Scott’s Utopia.
Dylan Wiggins: Bringing the rich, multi-instrumental depth that anchors the album’s four movements. You’ve heard his touch on SZA’s SOS, The Weeknd’s Starboy, and Daniel Caesar’s Never Enough. He provides the soulful, organic counterpoint to the album’s grander symphonic moments.
David Rodríguez: Her right-hand man for vocal production. He’s the reason every one of those 13 languages she sings in hits with total precision. Beyond his work on the MOTOMAMI era, David (often known as Godriguez) has a deep history in global sounds, famously producing Sampa the Great’s breakthrough The Great Mixtape.

It’s also worth noting the absence of El Guincho, Rosalia’s long time creative partner, which reminds me of Little Simz’ recent creative journey? Notable is the inclusion of Caroline Shaw (the Pulitzer-winning composer who has worked with everyone from Kanye to the Attacca Quartet) and conductor Daníel Bjarnason. These are two heavyweight collaborators that represent and add to the scale of this work.

First Impressions.

I’ve only been living with this for a few weeks and my notes are a bit of a mess. I am finsding that I don’t often have the words to describe what I am hearing or feeling.

“Porcelana”: Inspired by the Japanese monk Ryōnen Gensō, who famously scarred her own face to pursue her spiritual path. It’s a haunting track where Rosalía sings partly in Japanese over a backdrop of Bernard Herrmann-esque string stabs and heavy flamenco claps.
“La Perla”: This one is going to spark a lot of debate on the pod. Musically, it’s a light, airy waltz with a dramatic swell of brass—but the lyrics are an absolute evisceration of a “world-class fuck up” ex-lover. It’s “the anti-ballad,” hiding venom inside a gorgeous, shimmering shell.
“La Yugular”: Drawing on the Sufi mysticism of Rabia Al-Adawiyya, this track explores the proximity of the divine. It features a surreal nesting-doll lyric about an army fitting in a golf ball, ending with a spoken-word fragment from Patti Smith.
“Berghain”: (Featuring Björk and Yves Tumor) is a total head-fuck in the best way possible—a club track that feels like it’s being performed in a cathedral.

The Anti-Dopamine Manifesto.

Crucially, Rosalía has been very vocal about how she wants us to consume this record. In a direct response to the “commoditisation of the hook”—where 15-second snippets are engineered specifically for social media virality — she has described LUX as an anti-dopamine hit.

To help … this is the best place I’ve found to read the lyrics in original and translated form;
https://strommeninc.com/rosalia-lux-full-lyrics-with-translations/

She isn’t interested in making background music for your morning commute or soundtracking a scroll through your feed. Her advice? Sit in a darkened room with the lyrics and their translations in front of you. This is not “easy listening,” and it wasn’t intended to be. It’s an album that demands total, undistracted attention. It’s a challenge to the modern listener to slow down and sit with the discomfort of silence and the weight of an orchestra.

Whether she’s successfully fought back against the TikTok-ification of music or simply created something beautifully inaccessible is exactly what we’re going to get into in the podcast.

Album of the Month, Music chat, New Albums, podcast, Spin it or Bin It

Podcast EP.61 | Blood Orange | Essex Honey

Posted on October 6, 2025October 17, 2025 by misterstory

EP. 69 | Lykke Li | The Afterparty – This Is Not Happening – An Album Of The Month Podcast

Welcome to Episode 61 of This Is Not Happening, a monthly music podcast.

In Part 1, we review and Album of the Month. This month it’s Joey’s choice and he’s picked Essex Honey, the latest release from Blood Orange, UK born and raised, New York based creative force.

In Part 2, we play Spin It or Bin It, we pick a theme and all pick songs that represent that theme. This month the theme is ‘Colours’

—– Part 1 | Blood Orange | Essex Honey —–

Devonté Hynes, AKA Blood Orange, is a Grammy-nominated English singer, songwriter, record producer, composer, and director based in New York City. Devonté is a talented human being, playing multiple instruments, he is a consummate songwriter and an incredible producer.

His latest album, Essex Honey is quite something. We all agree that this is very intelligent, impressive album created by a unique artist. But that doesn’t mean that we all like it. We get stuck right into that in this episode. Have a listen and let us know what you think.

Listen to the album … HERE
Watch some great videos … HERE
Buy some stuff … HERE

—– Part 2 | Spin It or Bin It | ‘Colours’ —–

Sometimes the simplest themes are the best, songs with colours in the title. The 4 tracks we chose and the 16 track playlist we created are belters!

David chose – ‘Grey Day’ by Zoot Woman.
Guy chose – ‘Brown Paper Bag’ by Roni Size.
Joey chose – ’99 Red Balloons’ by Nena
Nolan chose – ‘Redbone’ by Childish Gambio

We all chose 4 tracks as a shortlist which we combine into a belter of a 16 track playlist, listen to that bad boy HERE.

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