Paula’s pop week: Touch me there in Gelsenkirchen

It had been nice, the calm in some places. But certain parts of certain cities are now filling up again, because the merger is over… Zombies are running around all over the trendy districts looking for a little serotonin. But while your irradiated roommate is nagging you about that one special vibe of that one set that you just can’t imagine unless you were there, I threw myself back into the realms of the shallow madness called POP, because there was a lot going on.

Updates of the week: The Idol, Barbenheimer and Taylor Swift

Before I can devote myself to other things, first something about my negative obsessions with the current biggest pop hypes:

The Idol (you know, that series by The Weeknd and Sam “Euphoria” Levinson starring Lily-Rose Depp) has now had a finale. With the fifth episode, this shit show ended even more shitty than one could have guessed. Actually, there should be at least one more episode, but they were merciful and closed the bag earlier. Thanks! But now for the resolution. I’m not putting a spoiler warning here because you don’t want to see it if you don’t already have it. It turns out in the end that the young woman (Depp) is the real manipulator and Tedros (The Weeknd) couldn’t help but exploit people, especially young women, he’s just a genius (why???). All violence against women that was discussed turns out to be a lie. Set photos of the originally planned “The Idol” are now circulating on the net when Amy Seimetz was supposed to be the director and it wasn’t taken over by these creepy men yet. It’s more reminiscent of the story of Britney than this cringen soft porn nonsense.

Meanwhile, the fear of the “Barbie” film and its effects is getting bigger and bigger. But now there’s something funny again: Barbenheimer. The fact is that on July 21st not only “Barbie” will be in the cinemas, but also J. Robert Oppenheimer, the inventor of the atomic bomb. So “Oppenheimer” and “Barbie” are now in direct competition and the internet has great memes about them. Everything about it really might not be 2023.

Oh yes, and: Taylor Swift has added more dates to her tour and is now simply three nights in a row in GELSENKIRCHEN. The anticipation of hearing them say “Gelsenkirchen” is immeasurable. And of course you ask yourself: will she spend three days in Gelsenkirchen? How will she get through the time there? Will she fall in love there? Will there ever be the Gelsenkirchen tapes?

Revival of the week: Eurodance

It’s not a new phenomenon, as there’s been a revival (is that a word?) of 90s Eurodance songs here and there for the past ten years or so. But for three or four years they’ve really been everywhere. And now it happened that last weekend I was in a place where pop music was played and like a high-flyer I kept thinking: Wait a minute, I know that and I know that and I know that! And then even: man, that used to be better! So that you stay up to date and don’t get as scared as I did, please listen to the most important current revival tracks. You’re welcome.

Not hard to spot and therefore kinda awesome, here’s “Blue (Da Ba Dee)” covered by Eiffel 65:

Here ATB even took part in the spoiling of his beautiful piece “9 PM (Till I Come)”:

Here, too, I can only cry. At least one remembers Robert Miles (RIP) and his “Children”:

Haddaway’s “What Is Love” was made into this (I won’t say anything):

Two classics have already been re-released for the Barbie movie, first, perhaps the best 90s eurodance track, “Better Off Alone” by Alice DeeJay (on the soundtrack in the form of “Alone” by Kim Petras and Nicki Minaj) and second, “Barbie Girl” by Aqua, in a version starring Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice:

Album of the week: Kim Petras – FEED THE BEAST

… speaking of 90s dance, blonde women, self-mockery and all that. The boss of all these things is probably Kim Petras. It probably won’t get more consistent than with her and her latest album FEED THE BEAST. I don’t think any album could fit this summer better, there are more more or less clever words from me in the review. Aside from “Coconuts” (which could actually be a homage to Aqua as well), my favorite track is this one:

Song of the Week: TEARS – “Stubborn Stupid Heart”

TRÄNEN are new and consist of Gwen Dolyn and Steffen Israel, both of whom you already know from various other projects. Now, after vague hints long ago, they finally released their first song together plus a very nice video. And as you can see and hear, it could all get very cool in the future, with this sound somewhere between Indie, Neue Deutsche Welle and Schlager. An album has already been announced, it is said to have the excellent name HAARE ​​Eines Hundes.

We’re going in:

Friendship of the week: Wham!

The Netflix documentary about Wham! is really the wholesomest in a long time. First and foremost, the story of the very touching, lifelong friendship between George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley is told: How they met at school, became friends, wrote music, recorded, how they were rejected everywhere at first, how it then worked out, how George came out to his friend, how he ventured out of Andrew’s shadow and then became a superstar. And how Andrew had to let him go and let go with love. It’s all very cute, and to this day Ridgeley speaks highly of Michael. For example, out of respect for him, you only hear him speak during the whole documentary, you never see what he looks like today because his friend is no longer there today and that would be unfair. But you can also hear Michael talking about the time together, thanks to old interviews. The documentary focuses on the short Wham! time and accordingly ends with the dissolution in 1986, when the two were just 25 years old. Despite this, George Michael does not come across as holy. For example, he embarrassedly recounts how vain he was at the time and how badly he wanted “Last Christmas” to hit number one in 1984 instead of the charity single “Do They Know It’s Christmas.” But it only came in second place.

Live Moments of the Week: Throwing Actions, Boygenius and Rina Sawayama

Somehow the worm was inside or outside lately. Objects were thrown at several artists during their concerts, including Bebe Rexha (cell phone), Lil Nas X (sex toys) and Pink (ashes from a fan’s mother). So I really don’t want to know what “comes” next. In any case, Adele fired “back” prophylactically and blasted shirts into the audience with a T-shirt cannon.

Also, it happened that Boygenius performed in drag at their concert in Nashville, Tennessee, in protest of Gov. Bill Lee’s anti-drag law of course, and they looked adorable:

But the biggest middle finger on stage went from Rina Sawayama to the most annoying, overrated guy of our time. Of course it’s about Matty Healy from The 1975. And Sawayama is really very angry. On the one hand because of his stupid racist statements and on the other hand because he was boss of the label that still has masterings from her.

Kindness suggestion: Nashville will be the hometown of Matty Healy and his band, so if you like throwing things on a stage, please go there.

What happened until now? Here is an overview of all pop column texts.