Following the release of her brand new single 'Hades', we caught up with boundary artist Grace Amulet to find out more about the music she loves and why! Check out her picks below and if you're a fan, you're sure to enjoy her latest offering.
1. Lipstick Lover - Janelle Monáe
It’s hard to choose a favorite Janelle Monáe song. The video is definitely a factor here. For me, Janelle is a reminder of the meaning of art in modern culture. Art under capitalism is a brutal thing, and I often find myself questioning the purpose of it. Artists like Janelle Monáe help it make sense. They are a chameleon and bounce between warning and soothing. There’s cultural critique but mostly there’s beauty. This album is called The Age of Pleasure, which feels amazingly radical. The lyrics are like so many classic R&B songs, but perfectly inverted, coming from a very female gaze.
2. In My Feelings - Lana Del Rey
I love a performer who commits to a character. I have always loved Lana for this reason, and this song is my favorite side of that character. The way she sings ‘get that cigarette smoke out of my face’- feminine, catlike, annoyed- makes me feel like I’m watching a play. It reminds me of one of the first musical mentors I had, who told me to always write lyrics and melodies in the same way that I would speak them. The way the melody is laid out in this song, the way the story is told, is just perfect. Lana Del Rey helped me realize that femininity and softness are not weaknesses. In songs like these she is so in control of her own lyrical voice, so cutting, so powerful.
3. Youth - Ben Khan
This is an older song, but it’s a song that feels hopeful, tortured, in-love, and I heard it when I was hopeful, tortured, in-love - and completely fell in love with it. It holds so many things at once. It’s wistful, playful, nostalgic, crackling with early-twenties charge. I remember blasting it in the car when I lived in LA, miserable and love-sick, driving to a job I hated on Abbott Kinney. I was a total mess, but I felt how the song felt - young, free and joyful in the midst of it all. This was also the first Brthr music video I ever saw, and it’s perfect.
4. Emily, I’m Sorry - Boygenius
There’s a lot to love about this song. Phoebe Bridgers has the voice of an angel. Her lyrics make me feel less lonely. The supergroup energy of Boygenius. The lyrics, ‘I’m 27 and I don’t know who I am’, and ‘you know how I get when I’m wrong’. I think the thing I really love about this song is how many songs like it I heard growing up, sung by boybands, emo bands, pop-punk bands. ‘Emily’ or ‘Delilah’, ‘Helena’, ‘Ophelia’ - there’s something so simple and charming about hearing a love-song for an Emily from Boygenius. It's relaxing. Like the cultural bonds of rigid heterosexuality have eased.
5. I’m Just Ken - Barbie Movie
Hear me out. Maybe it’s because I saw the Barbie movie last night and am still on a high. The song on its own is not a musical triumph. But I have never been a music snob, and an incredible performer will always ensnare me. The commitment here. I have always loved all things pop - complex themes swathed in bright colors and silly humor. Like a spoonful of sugar to make the medicine go down. The commentary about gender roles, which this song represents, was brilliant. To laugh with delight about a cultural power struggle we all suffer constantly, was genuinely wonderful. I left with compassion for everyone and I felt lighter. That’s art.
Listen to 'Hades' below: