Popdust

The Harry Styles-Jenny Lewis-King Princess-Koffee Tour Proves Genre Is Nonexistent

Good luck getting tickets, though.

Jenny Lewis (Opening for Harry Styles) - Love On Tour - Atlanta, GA - 10/28/21 - State Farm Arena

www.youtube.com

If there's one thing that could be said of our modern era, it's that nothing exists in isolation.

One could even say that nothing goes in just one direction anymore—instead, things are moving in multiple directions, operating in loops, often meeting at crossroads. For a long time, at least in the music industry, things appeared to be stratified, separated by genre, linear visions, and arbitrary categories. Rock artists toured with rock artists; indie stars opened for indie stars. Patrician music lovers looked down on pop-lovers, and pop-lovers bullied indieheads. Success could be purchased with a record deal and marked by a position on a top chart. Gender was divided between a man and a woman. Feminism was disconnected from race and class.

Times are changing. Pop, like fashion, has become fluid and multidimensional. Elton John can collaborate with Young Thug. Lady Gaga can ricochet from electronica to folk and back. Harry Styles has become a bisexual icon and a truly great songwriter, capable of drawing from multiple genres to create nuanced and political pop music.

And now he's going on tour with Jenny Lewis, Koffee, and King Princess. They'll all be opening for him on different stops on his 2020 "Love on Tour" tour, which will begin in April.

A little background: Jenny Lewis is an iconic songwriter who fronted the band Rilo Kiley before creating a body of intensely powerful solo work. Koffee is a singer-songwriter, rapper, and musician from Jamaica who's generated a huge amount of buzz in a short time by putting a fresh and experimental spin on reggae. King Princess is a dream pop star who may or may not be capitalizing on queer aesthetics but still embodies an inspiringly out and proud image.

Styles' choice of openers is brilliant because it brings together so many different devoted and passionate fan-bases. Queer fans will relish the chance to dance along to King Princess, while indie traditionalists and older millennials will come for Jenny Lewis, and Gen-Z fans of cutting-edge music will show up for Koffee. All these musicians are bound together by one common thread: Their music is really, really good. And isn't that what matters in the end?

Rilo Kiley - A Better Son/Daughterwww.youtube.com

King Princess - 1950www.youtube.com

Koffee - Toast (Official Video)www.youtube.com

Unfortunately, the existing tickets sold out with stunning speed and cost an exorbitant amount of money, sadly prohibiting many of Styles' fans from enjoying the experience. (Many of them feel scammed). If Styles were to truly embrace the ethos of his commitment to breaking down all genres and boundaries, he'd make his concerts free, but alas, one can only dream... Until then, let us keep listening to our descriptively titled crossover Spotify playlists (shoutout to "Creamy" and "Pollen"), saying "okay" to Boomers who insist that there are only two genders, checking Co-Star for evidence of discernible meaning, and praying for the day when everything and everyone will truly be free.

Harry Styles - Sign of the Times (Video)www.youtube.com

From Your Site Articles

RISING STAR | Mona On The Radio Debuts 'Hi, I'm Mona'

Mona On The Radio has it going on

mona on the radio - Hi, I'm Mona [Official Music Video]

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Mona On The Radio just released his debut single and music video, called "Hi, I'm Mona," basically an introduction to Mona, who says the project came about "to cheer myself up after I told this girl I loved her but she didn't say it back."

Imagine, if you will, Post Malone channeling the musical aesthetic of Liberace and you'll have an inkling of Mona's stylistic slant. It's pure, unadulterated bubblegum hip-hop, meaning equal parts pop, R&B, and hip-hop flavored with comic book melodic influences and a Hubba Bubba trap beat pulsing on a subterranean bassline and a Thor-like kick drum.

Sounds blasphemous, right? Like Jesus rapping about guns, drugs, and bitches. Nope! Actually, it's off the chain excellent. Mona's delivery, cadence, and content are beyond awesome. His soft, affluent tones ooze the perfect amount of laconicism and nastily tight droll timbres.

"Hi, I'm Mona" opens with tinkling nursery rhyme synths leading into a throbbing trap groove. The synths shimmer, ascending and descending in gauzy wisps of penetrating colors, as Mona's indulgent voice raps overhead. Juxtaposing aromas of trap muscularity and glittery bubblegum permeate the tune with totally antithetical textures that, somehow, fuse into an infectious hip-hop sound, nuanced, decorative, yet thrumming with delicious energy.

Shot in beau coup shades of pink because, as Mona says, "I realllyyyyy like penne rose," the video was directed by Mona's little sister, Alexia. Explaining the video, Mona says, "I hired a bunch of dancers for the video, but never really had an idea so I just asked my little sister what she would do because she's weird and I'm weird. I kept the dancers because they were already paid for, lol."

Frankly, Alexia has it going on as a director. A montage of shots ranging from family portraits to gyrating dancers to Mona covered in whipped cream imbues the video with intimacy, remarkable charm, and quaint eccentricity.

"Hi, I'm Mona" has it all: flamboyance, a smooth, contagious hip-hop vibe, and of course, Mona. The music and the video are cap-a-pie lit.

Follow Mona On The Radio SOUNDCLOUD | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM

Randy Radic is a Left Coast author and writer. Author of numerous true crime books written under the pen-name of John Lee Brook. Former music contributor at Huff Post.

Bright Eyes Make a Welcome Return with "Persona Non Grata"

It's the indie rock trio's first new song in nearly a decade.

After nearly a decade of silence, a new song from Bright Eyes has landed.