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New Music Friday: Mollie King at the top, boyband pointlessness at the bottom, various songs in between

  • September 1, 2017
  • Popjustice

Song of the week:
Mollie King — 'Hair Down'

Wrongs of the week:
Why Don't We — 'These Girls'
In Real Life — 'Eyes Closed'

Boybands are amazing. Boybands are important. Boybands are necessary. None of those three facts excuse what's on offer this week — the latest effort from Why Don't We and the first release from In Real Life, the boyband who've come about as a result of US show Boy Band. A good reminder that for every One Direction shifting the para­met­ers of boy­band­ism there have always been a dozen oppor­tun­istic, will-this-do creations that undo any good work done by the better boybands, jus­ti­fy­ing and rein­for­cing the scep­ti­cism with which boybands are generally regarded. In Real Life's 'Eyes Closed' is par­tic­u­larly egregious when you take into account the resources on offer. OH WELL!!!

Additional notes:

  • 'Already There', the new song from ARY, is an all-out triumph which, along with Ingrid's '1234', presents alternate-universe ideas of what a Mollie King solo career might have sounded like.
  • NONONO's 'Masterpiece' is strange and wonderful.
  • It's nice to have Paloma Faith back isn't it?
  • Ditto Jessie Ware.
  • The fizz has pretty much gone out of Galantis these days which is a sad but not irre­vers­ible scenario.

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  • Galantis
  • In Real Life
  • Jessie Ware
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  • Why Don't We
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Further reading
  • 1
    Congratulations to Charli XCX and Lorde: winners of the 2024 Popjustice Twenty Quid Music Prize
  • 2
    The 2024 Twenty Quid Music Prize: Shortlist
  • 3
    The 2023 Popjustice Twenty Quid Music Prize: Shortlist
  • 4
    Fine, let's do a Substack then.
  • 5
    The 2022 Popjustice Twenty Quid Music Prize: shortlist
  • 6
    2021 Popjustice Twenty Quid Music Prize: Laura Mvula wins
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