Taken from this week’s Future Pop mailer. Click here to subscribe.
I spent the Christmas holidays listening to two very different albums: Art Angels by Grimes and Untamed by Cam. Both highly enjoyable, the former is obnoxious and ridiculous, while the latter is classy and uplifting. The songs on Untamed show many of the different sides of current country-pop, from the sassy Country Ain’t Never Been Pretty to the jaunty sing-along Hungover on Heartache. It was one of the album’s more sombre moments that recently gave Cam her breakout hit in the US, Burning House, but it’s another ballad that became an instant favourite on my first listen. Village is a sweet, heartfelt message of support from Cam to her childhood best friend, Claire, at a time of tragedy in her life. One of the reasons I enjoy country-pop is the specificity of the lyrics, the vivid imagery and the original way of expressing popular themes. Village is a great example of this. Just don’t listen to it if you’re feeling emotional!
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kqQ_xd5Qoc]