«This is Hell », d’Elvis Costello, tiré de l’album « Brutal Youth » sorti en 1994, brosse un tableau anticonformiste de l’enfer, effrayant mais teinté d’humour noir. On n’y trouve ni démons ni flammes (celles-ci sont mentionnées, mais seulement in absentia), qui sont remplacés par des visions évoquant à la fois des souvenirs humiliants, le…

“This is Hell”, by Elvis Costello, from the “Brutal Youth” album of 1994, paints an unconventional, chilling yet darkly humorous picture of hell. Devils and flames are nowhere to be found (flames are  mentioned, but only in absentia) and are replaced by visions evocative of humiliating memories, kitsch, and flamboyant bad taste.  All of these…

For many born after 1990, Kate Bush may have remained an unfamiliar name—until her 1985 hit Running Up That Hill surged back into the spotlight nearly four decades later. Featured in a pivotal 2022 episode of Netflix’s Stranger Things, the song found new life and climbed the charts again, reintroducing Bush’s singular artistry to a…

« Too Sweet » de Hozier, malgré son ton léger – surtout comparé avec ses autres chansons – est une véritable leçon de songwriting, tant chaque ligne fourmille de sens et de métaphores ingénieuses. Les images sont saisissantes, et insufflent une dynamique parfaitement cohérente à toute la chanson. Hozier – ou le personnage qu’il incarne…

“Glenn Tipton” is a prime example of Mark Kozelek’s nostalgic, intimate, and subtly unsettling songwriting. Known for his work with Sun Kil Moon and Red House Painters, Kozelek crafts melancholic, Americana-infused narratives that blur the line between confession and storytelling. The song begins with an unexpected inventory of cultural figures—boxers, rock guitarists, and crooners—presented in an almost dispassionate list. The choices seem…

Hozier’s “Too Sweet”, while light-hearted in tone, especially in comparison to some of his other songs, is a masterclass in songwriting, as almost every line is packed with significance and clever metaphors, creating vivid images and a dynamic coherence to the whole lyrics. Hozier – or his “persona”, makes a slightly humorous but earnest and…

Qu’on l’ait découverte dans la version interprétée par les Fugees ou dans l’une de ses versions originales, Killing Me Softly, rendue célèbre par Roberta Flack, est l’une des chansons les plus attachantes de la fin des années 70. On la retrouve dans la setlist d’innombrables groupes de reprises, et même les voix les moins assurées…

Robert Flack’s Killing Me Softly is one of the best-loved songs of the late ’70s. It possesses a special kind of tenderness and vulnerability that transcends generations and cultures, and it remains her biggest—if not only—international hit. It is unusual in that, rather than adhering to the typical conventions of a ballad—which often revolve around…

Instagram and marketing gurus repeat endlessly that if you want even to register on the overcrowded global map of social media, you must produce quality personal content regularly—if not constantly. The rationale behind this is that people need to identify with, or at least sympathize with, you—not so much as an artist, but as a…

Glenn Tipton est un excellent exemple de la plume nostalgique, intime, et décalée de  Mark Kozelek, le songwriter génial et controversé qui se cache, à peine, derrière le projet Sun Kil Moon. Mark Kozelek est également connu pour Red House Painters, un formation plus rock mais où l’on retrouve aussi cette couleur Americana désolée et…