2026 Mix 25: Songs & Words midyear recap, plus Debbii Dawson’s strong melodies, the return of Rye Rye, the real O-Rod(s), and Azerbaijani pop with tigers and horses and elephants oh my
I really like Debbii Dawson!! I think her lyrics are kinda holding her back—like your title song, with "I'm not woke I'm just tired / there's bills to pay and a genocide" or however it goes. But I love everything else.
This is a bit of a trade off sometimes even though it shouldn’t be — more words in less melody lets you focus on the words but you could also just…do both
yeah I think the tradeoff for now is just to do the words very simply—but it's kind of funny because the reason the lyrics stand out is because she does everything else so well and also like… enunciates…
It’s hard having had my pop awakening during what turned out to be a renaissance of good words and strong melodies from many different places. Listened to “My December” the other day and was kind of marveling at how she threads the needle
I really like Debbii Dawson!! I think her lyrics are kinda holding her back—like your title song, with "I'm not woke I'm just tired / there's bills to pay and a genocide" or however it goes. But I love everything else.
This is a bit of a trade off sometimes even though it shouldn’t be — more words in less melody lets you focus on the words but you could also just…do both
Exhibit A https://open.spotify.com/album/7pHSdajr1DZKpsGKTKgVvr?si=Adon7LqdRb6O_ilmaisUzQ
Thank you linking this I’d never heard it and I love it
yeah I think the tradeoff for now is just to do the words very simply—but it's kind of funny because the reason the lyrics stand out is because she does everything else so well and also like… enunciates…
It’s hard having had my pop awakening during what turned out to be a renaissance of good words and strong melodies from many different places. Listened to “My December” the other day and was kind of marveling at how she threads the needle
also now I'm listening to that Leyla Ebrahimi song and enjoying it