Alright I think this is a first. Correct me if I’m wrong but I believe Left at London is to date the only Vine musicians to breakthrough into conventional music success. Left at London, the stage name of musician and internet personality Nat Puff, has released her debut album after the viral success of her “Transgender Street Legend” EP series, and the song “Revolution Lover” in particular.
Puff first garnered attention for her viral parodies of Frank Ocean and Mitski, where she wrote full scale parody songs as a promotional mechanism. This new album features songwriting credits from Will Toledo of Car Seat Headrest and Laura Les of 100 gecs. These influences are a pretty good approximation of where Puff is at; She sits at the crossroads of various styles of “Bandcamp music.” Unlike a lot of indie, she has a strong hip-hop influence, which is evident in many of the production aesthetics, but the songwriting and structure owe more to rock. The music is a little too low energy to be Hyperpop but the overall noise level mirrors that genre.
From this rather trendy pedigree, Puff struggles a little to carve out an identity, but her unique songwriting choices and ear for production make up for a lack of definition. The songs trend in the direction of “far too long,” a la monsieur Toledo, but she restrains herself to around the five minute mark on all but the album opener. The album is lyrically driven as a rule, with some songs like “The Ballad of Marion Zioncheck,” bending over into folksy territory. Her lyrics are emotional, generally preoccupied with mental health and inner turmoil, but written with just enough pretension to maintain interest.
The auditory aesthetics are perhaps the most compelling aspect of the music. Puff blends noise into songs without abandoning the conventional structure, making her music edgy and a little experimental while remaining more accessible than pop contemporaries like Black Dresses. Her voice is an asset as well, hanging in an unusually feathery contralto register than many women sing in, which contrasts both the bass of the guitars and the screeching treble of some louder passages. The result is that her voice cuts through the muck of the songs, allowing you to follow the lyrics without distraction.
While “t.i.a.p.f.y.” is a debut album, and a rather messy one, the music still shows great developing talent, and it features many memorable songs. Left at London is definitely an artist to watch in indie pop at the moment, and hopefully, her star will continue to rise.
“Grey’s Anatomy” is a medical drama television series that has been running for 17 seasons now, and has made a pretty significant impact on American pop culture. Something I’ve found intriguing about the show is just how much of it is centered around music. For a medical drama, there are many elements of the show that relate to music, almost an uncanny amount.
THE MUSICAL EPISODE
Season 7 Episode 18 “Song Beneath the Song,” also known as the musical episode of “Grey’s Anatomy” is one of the most unequivocally beloved and hated episodes of the series. The episode contains tracks sung by the cast members ranging from the often-featured “How to Save a Life” by The Fray to “Breathe (2 AM)” by Anna Nalick. Without offering a full-fledged analysis of the episode, I will say that perhaps an episode where a character is on the brink of death is not the best timing for an episode with nine musical numbers.
EPISODE NAMES
Every single episode of “Grey’s Anatomy” (save for one) is named after a song. The first episode is named “A Hard Day’s Night” after the Beatles track and the most recent is named “Someone Saved My Life Tonight” after the Elton John track. The only exception is Season 14 Episode 9, titled “1-800-799-7233” after the domestic abuse hotline in the United States. They did this because of the topic being addressed in a plotline dealt with by one of the main characters.
There are a few songs that represent certain motifs within the show’s plot, the two most notable being “How to Save a Life” by The Fray and “Portions For Foxes” by Rilo Kiley.
“How to Save a Life” plays during the tragic moments on “Grey’s Anatomy”; if that track or “Chasing Cars” by Snow Patrol starts playing during an episode, you know you’re in for trouble. The episode named after “How to Save a Life” is the episode where Derek Shepherd, the title character’s husband (portrayed by Patrick Dempsey), meets his tragic ending.
As I’ve written about twicepreviously, “Portions For Foxes” by Rilo Kiley plays in the very first episode of the series, and is often used when the characters reminisce about their early years as interns at the hospital or for flashbacks to that time.
“SONGTAGES”
In a 2009 article in The Guardian, Mark Lawson credits “Grey’s Anatomy” for its popularization of the “songtage.” Lawson defines the “songtage” (a portmanteau of song and montage) as “the choice of an evocative tune to echo the emotions of the characters during a slow, silent section featuring the actors looking thoughtful or mournful.” The series is infamous for this type of scene, and it has been spoofed many times throughout the years by MADtv and others.
In my opinion, the tight and intertwined relationship that “Grey’s Anatomy” has with music is one of the main contributors to its success and sets it apart from similar medical procedural series’.
There’s nothing like turning on the radio and hearing one of your favorite songs, especially if said song is not a Top 40 hit or “Highway to Hell,” which for some reason seems to be the song that every commercial rock station loves to air every ten minutes. No wonder we turned to other ways of finding new music. It’s pretty hard to discover fresh artists when the same handful have been played on repeat since 1975.
Steaming services have completely dismantled and redefined the music industry. I wrote a blog about this phenomenon a while back, but algorithms have changed the way we pay artists, listen to music and even write songs. With thousands of curated playlists at the tips of our fingers, it’s beyond easy to find new music nowadays. But where’s the human aspect? That lovely, warm feeling of requesting a track and then hearing it played for thousands of people is impossible to recreate on Spotify. Heck, that feeling is why I decided to become a DJ at WKNC (and why I love getting phone-in requests during my show).
Independent radio has an incredibly rich history. WKNC (then WLAC) started in 1922 as an experiment in NC State’s Communications department. From there, it’s morphed into a hub of community engagement and one of the only public sources of alternative music in the Triangle. Other college radio stations, such as KALX 90.7 for the University of California and Ithaca’s WICB 91.7, have had similar impacts in their own communities. Non-commercial stations that aren’t affiliated with a college or university still remain popular, some of the most notable being those with NPR programming.
Although, when it comes to music, indie radio has seen a significant decline. Stations to the left of the dial are commercial, and most likely owned by one of the major broadcasting companies, such as iHeartMedia or Entercom. These for-profit stations air commercials very frequently and generally stick to playing Top 40 and classics, pandering to the widest audience possible to increase listenership. Many of these stations have forgone live DJs and opted for customized, pre-recorded air breaks instead to cut costs. Turning on the radio doesn’t really feel like turning on the radio anymore. What’s the point of listening to the same songs over and over (with commercials breaks at that), if that personal, human feeling is lost? These types of stations threaten the beauty of radio as we know it.
WKNC has remained one of the most popular stations in the Triangle because we’re keeping the ridiculous, unique fun of independent radio alive. Yes, you may tune in and hear a new (or experienced) DJ fumbling over their words. There might be random, brief silences when someone forgets to turn the “aux” button on. And yet, we all come together for the music. Never mind hearing the same song twice in one day, it’s almost impossible to hear the same song twice in one week. Each DJ is unique in their style and truly takes pride in their sets. We’re a random, silly hodgepodge of alt college kids, but you’ll always find something new on 88.1.
Carly Bogie is a TikToker, Spotify playlist curator, and music lover. I first stumbled across Carly on TikTok (@hahakcoolgtgbye), where she was showing her audience a playlist she had made. I’ve been following her for months as her following has increased and so has her quality of content. Carly has amassed over 66 thousand followers on TikTok, and her Spotify closely follows that number, clocking in at over 65 thousand followers. With over 200 public playlists, some with thousands of followers, encapsulating themes from Harry Potter houses, colors and enneagram placements, Carly has perfected the art of making playlists.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Carly and talking about all things music.
What inspired you to start making music TikToks? And what came first: your TikTok or your music Instagram?
I’ve always been someone who really loves music and I love talking about music and finding new artists… and sharing new music with my friends. And it kind of got to the point where I was like, I’m talking to my friends so much about music, like, they’re probably getting so annoyed, it’d be fun to have an outlet where I can… do that. And me and one of my friends were kind of joking around and being like, oh, like, let’s see, like, who can get famous on TikTok first, but then I started posting stuff about music and a few of them… kind of took off a little bit. And I was like, oh, there’s a place for this… I can start doing this more and people are… interested in what I have to say… So that was really cool. It kind of just came out of nowhere, like I wasn’t really expecting anything to come out of it. But it’s been…a super cool experience. […] And then yeah, my music Instagram kind of came… a few months into it. I think I just wanted… a place where I could talk more about it. And I think it was around the time where like, people were like, “Oh is TikTok going to be like taking down?…” And so I.. decided that like, the next step could be a music Instagram. And that’s been super nice. Because, like, I don’t know, I’d also been getting a lot of DMs from artists or people like you, who wanted to talk about music and stuff. So it’s nice to have a place on Instagram to do that.
I follow another music TikToker who has a Patreon, where you can pay to have her make a playlist for you. Would that be something you ever are interested in doing? Or has there been any other opportunities that have come from this that you haven’t expected? Or are you mainly just doing it for fun?
I guess the things that I’ve done that are more like, people ask me to do stuff… is more like promoting people’s music or… adding it to my playlist or talking about it on TikTok or Instagram or stuff like that. So yeah, that’s all been stuff I never expected… to come into. I’ve been approached by some record labels… who have asked to work with me. Like, that’s all been stuff I never expected. I never expected to be a part of the music industry in that way. It’s been a super cool experience.
So you go to college right, and what’s your major, is it related to the stuff you’re doing with music and TikTok?
I’m actually a chemical engineering major. So like, my major is completely outside of what I do with music and stuff. I guess music and making playlists, especially at first, was just kind of … a creative outlet. In high school, I did a lot more art along with the science and stuff. But in college, I hadn’t been able to do that as much. Making playlists is a way to like, have that creative outlet that I could do while still focusing on school and stuff. So it’s, yeah, it’s very much a separate part of what I’m studying. But now that I’ve gotten more into it, I have started to consider, like, career wise, this is something I could do. I have some opportunities within the music industry. Yeah, we’ll see.
Your Tik Tok blew up before your Spotify. Did you gain a lot of Spotify followers from this?
Yeah, I guess they kind of blew up around the same time. Like, from my TikTok people went straight to my Spotify because like that’s what it was all about.
Which of your own playlists do you like to listen to the most? I feel like a lot of what you do is you’re making things for like other people but what’s the one that you personally gravitate to more?
It really depends. I go through phases of liking different things. I have the main emoji ones (see below) which are ones I’ll normally turn on if I just, like, want something easy to listen to in the car or whatever. My playlist “song of the day” that’s not as much a curated playlist it’s more just the songs I really like at the moment. […] I really like to have ones that are for the specific moods I’m feeling.
Carly’s “emoji” playlists
Do you have any music like guilty pleasures?
I am a huge One Direction fan. Like, probably way too much. And it always makes me laugh because like, I … have like thousands of followers on Spotify who can see what I’m listening to… and I’m supposed to be like this cool indie music person. But I feel like half of the time I just shuffle One Direction.
How much time do you spend making TikToks and Spotify playlists?
It really depends. So normally, I just listen to music throughout the day. So, I’m constantly updating playlists, and listening to new stuff. So that’s the kind of stuff I do like, while I’m working at school or studying. And then I try to do TikTok stuff or Instagram stuff for about an hour. …Yeah, it really depends. On weekends I have more time to do stuff like that.
Your favorite band is Hippo Campus, what is your favorite song by them? I know there’s so many to choose from but are there any that stick out to you?
Yeah, the one I normally say is “Bambi.” I love that song a lot. The lyrics are just so good. And I have a lot of good memories associated with it. That’s probably my favorite. But I also like “Baseball” and “Golden” on occasion. Like sometimes I’ll say those but like, I feel like “Bambi” is the one that sticks with me the most.
I’ll be the first to admit it; I am not a big Jasiah listener. That being said, I love Denzel Curry and can get behind a lot of Rico Nasty’s discography, so when “Art of War” dropped on June 4th, I was intrigued. After listening many times and looking more into Jasiah’s other popular songs, I’ve formed my complete take on this track.
Simply put, everyone on this track goes in. “Art of War” is truly hard and the ZillaKami influence is clearly present. As a whole, the song brings a high power alarm-based beat with supporting instrumentals, many lyrics that pack a punch (or something a bit more serious), and the expected yelling from Jasiah.
Curry’s verse is perhaps my favorite on the track. From religious mythology to Dragon Ball, his references are bountiful. His signature fast-paced flow is clean and smooth and he was certainly the right choice for Verse One.
Rico Nasty plays a downright hater on her verse and she fully executes the role. She brings high energy, high vocals, and pure talent that really round out the song.
Jasiah is responsible for the intro with Curry, the pre-chorus, and the chorus. All three are enjoyable, though I do wish he’d had an additional verse to tack on after Curry and Rico’s verses. What is present on the song, however, is seamless and fun.
“Art of War” is a driving song, party track or generally hype play. Jasiah, Curry and Rico are a trio that fit well together and I look forward to the potential of hearing more from them. I’ll have to listen to more solo Jasiah, too.
The day that Lorde fans have been waiting for has finally arrived: new Lorde music. After nearly four years without any new music, and with her general absence from the internet, Lorde fans have been aching for any hint of a return. There was even a ruckus when she rebooted her onion rings review Instagram account.
There have been stirrings on the internet for a while that she might come back this summer, and the other day when the album cover was posted by Jack Antonoff (her producer and long-time collaborator) on Instagram, fans knew her return was imminent. With the title “Solar Power,” and Lorde’s connection to nature (see: her trip to Antarctica), there was an assumption that the song would come out on June 21st, the day of the summer solstice.
On Thursday, June 11th there began to be rumors that the song was coming out that day at 6pm EST. This caused a panic, and there were even a few short minutes where the song was available to stream on Amazon Music, Tidal and Apple Music multiple hours before the supposed release. The song was quickly removed, but leaks spread like wildfire because of this error.
With backing vocals from Claire Cottrill (better known as Clairo) and Phoebe Bridgers, Lorde has branched out in a lot of ways. The track is mellow and happy, distinguishing itself from her past work, which is often introspective and moody.
In an email to her mailing list, she told fans that “Solar Power” was also the name of the album. She described the upcoming album as a “celebration of the natural world.” She also said that fans should “look to the natural calendar for clues” about when she might drop her album. Immediately, fans began looking up when the next solar and lunar events were, scrambling to figure out when it may come.
If we know one thing, it’s that this Lorde era is going to be unlike anything she’s ever done before.
