Author: Glenn Fosbraey
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Will the Oasis reunion usher in a Britpop summer – or is it just a marketing ploy?
Glenn Fosbraey, University of Winchester The trend for naming summers has become something of a cultural phenomenon. Think for example of 2019, which was branded a “hot girl summer”, inspired by rapper Megan Thee Stallion’s song. In 2021 there was the much-ridiculed “white boy summer” (named after a song of the same name by Tom…
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The critical response to Miley Cyrus’s Something Beautiful exposes pop’s gender double standards
Glenn Fosbraey, University of Winchester and Sarah Shawcross, University of Winchester With her latest album Something Beautiful debuting at number four in the Billboard 200 and in contention to reach the top of the UK album charts, Miley Cyrus’s commercial appeal appears as strong as ever. Something Beautiful is Cyrus’s 9th studio album, described by…
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Four records that embody the joy of the double album – from the Beatles to Outkast
Glenn Fosbraey, University of Winchester In the summer of 1966, a race was on between two very different opponents. On one side was Bob Dylan, the established and bestselling folk artist. On the other was new act The Mothers of Invention, a genre- (and mind-) bending band led by avant garde composer Frank Zappa. The…
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Who Believes in Angels? by Elton John and Brandi Carlile shows the power of true collaboration
Glenn Fosbraey, University of Winchester Having collaborated with the likes of (deep breath) John Lennon, Aretha Franklin, George Michael, Rod Stewart, Little Richard, Luciano Pavarotti, Eminem and Leonard Cohen, it’s fair to say that Elton John likes to work with other artists. The news, then, that he has embarked on another joint musical project, this…
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Radiohead’s The Bends at 30: this fraught, compassionate, violently disturbed record remains one of their best
Glenn Fosbraey, University of Winchester There was a time in the early to mid-2000s when naming The Bends as your favourite Radiohead album was like opting for chicken korma from the takeaway menu, while the gourmands decided between the bangla shatkora and jhinga bahar. Thirty years after its release, and with such musical snobbery now…
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Obsessing over the ‘true’ meaning of lyrics misses the point of songwriting
Studio Romantic/Shutterstock Glenn Fosbraey, University of Winchester Many of us assume that everything a musician sings emerges from some autobiographical impulse. Pop music lyrics in particular are often read literally by fans as transparent disclosures about the singer’s life. For some reason, this seems to apply solely to lyrics. Writers from other media, such as…
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Three pop beefs that were more cutting than Matty Healy and Taylor Swift’s
Glenn Fosbraey, University of Winchester There has been a sharp intake of breath among Taylor Swift fans following reports that 1975 frontman and songwriter Matty Healy is soon to release a song addressing their public romance from 2023. The song in question, God Has Entered My Body, is reportedly the title track of an upcoming…
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Six covers of Bob Dylan songs that were better than the originals
Glenn Fosbraey, University of Winchester He may never have strayed far from the minds of many music fans, but with his biopic A Complete Unknown hitting UK cinemas on January 17 and heartthrob Timothée Chalamet in the lead role, Bob Dylan may be about to gain an entirely new audience. Considered by many to be…
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The ten best albums of 2024 – according to music experts
Alastair Gordon, De Montfort University; George Reid, Kingston University; Glenn Fosbraey, University of Winchester; Julia Toppin, University of Westminster; Katherine Schofield, King’s College London; Lillian Hingley, University of Oxford; Mykaell Riley, University of Westminster; Neil Cocks, University of Reading; Paul Stephen Adey, Nottingham Trent University, and Stephen Ryan, University of Limerick With Something Good, the…
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Glenn Fosbraey 