Observation, comment, and all the things usually filed under “miscellaneous”.
Yes, there is a part eight to this. I was surprised to see more interest than expected on this seven-week series on Nordic pop, and I got a message from the folks at Nordic Music Review looking if they can contribute. Why not? Now, to wrap up this series nicely, that blog’s editor, Andy Worsey, breaks down just how Nordic music has made an impression around the world.
I am writing this from a hotel room in Hong Kong. It’s cool outside, but it will be cooler in the coming days, or so the weather forecast I’ve been keeping an eye on suggests. As expected there is little to nothing on television, so I am watching the BBC. On the ticker below, a headline scrolls about Pixar co-founder John Lassetter, and how he’s taken a leave after allegations of improper behavior. Specifically, the line was, in quotes, “unwanted hugs”.
We’ve done this for the past two years: a seven-week series looking at a music scene of a particular country. We don’t do it particularly well, but we feel we provide a good idea nonetheless. This year we go bigger: we look at five countries. Well, arguably it makes things easier, because we’ll go one country a week in a couple of weeks, but on the other hand we’re diving into a region that has provided a lot to popular music around the world, and a region which we’ve dipped our toes into occasionally over the five and a half years of this blog. Welcome to the north. Welcome to the Norden.
Tomorrow, Taylor Swift drops the first single from her upcoming album, Reputation. If this is the first time you’ve heard of it, then lucky you.
I was not a Linkin Park fan, but my sister was.
