MUSIC

I recently watched (again) “The Beach”, the 2000 film directed by Danny Boyle and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Virginie Ledoyen, Guillame Canet and Tilda Swinton. I don’t know if you saw it but there’s a scene, when DiCaprio, Ledoyen and Canet arrived at the beach where DiCaprio looks at that (apparently) heavenly place and there’s “Porcelain” by Moby as background music.

I found out A$AP Rocky sampled the song for his “A$AP Forever”. I don’t particularly like rap so to me, A$AP is most of all the cool guy in Lana Del Rey’s video of “National Anthem”, even if I obviously know  he’s one of the most relevant and coolest singers of the music business.

The video of “A$AP Forever” has been directed by Dexter Navy and I find it kind of mesmerizing. The visual effects are amazing.

If you haven’t listened to “Porcelain” by Moby, please do!

I listen to music many hours a day and I love listening to the radio. Right now, “IDGAF” by Dua Lipa is on the air many times a day and I totally love this song.

At the beginning I didn’t pay attention to the lyrics so it sounded quite happy to me. Then I decided to watch the video, which I find pretty cool, and then I focused on what Dua Lipa sings, realizing it’s a song about the “I’m moving on and I feel fine” stage which comes after a painful breakup.

The lyrics of “IDGAF” makes me think “finally a song that it’s not about being desperate and wanting somebody back at any cost“. What a breath of fresh air/music!

The video, directed by Henry Scholfield, is definitely to watch more than once because the moves and the choreography are so interesting. Pay attention from minute 0:30, when the two Dua Lipa sing “I’ve been done/I’ve been movin’ on/since we said goodbye/I cut you off/I don’t need your love”. I love the way these words are accompanied by the movements.

Beautiful video, beautiful art direction (by Scholfield and creative label Mosaert) and beautiful song.

I found “Just Friends” by Morgan Saint a bit by chance (that is to say browsing from song to song) on YouTube and I think it’s such a relaxing song. The musician released her first EP, titled “17 Hero”, last year. It contains five songs, which I find perfect to listen to while calmly getting dressed or doing the makeup. Do you have a “getting dressed/doing my makeup song”? I have some favorite ones.

Anyway, the video of “Just Friends”, directed by Morgan Saint herself (her real last name is Gildersleeve) and Nathan Crooker, is relaxing, too. The lightening is beautiful and, talking about fashion, Morgan Saint has a pretty interesting style, most of all when it comes to jewelry. Kate Branch wrote an article about her for Vogue last year so you may like to read it.

But first, listen to “Just Friends”.

If you love both fashion and music from the ’90s, you probably know that one of the steamiest videos of that decade is “Wicked Game”. The video, shot in Hawaii and directed by Herb Ritts, features singer Chris Isaak and super model Helena Christensen spending time on the beach, rarely taking hands off each other. Compared to what we’re used to see now, the video is almost chaste but I guess there’s a reason why it’s still considered beautiful and sexy.

“Wicked Game” is a beautiful ballad about unrequited love. Isaak sings “what a wicked game you played to make me feel this way/what a wicked thing to do to let me dream of you”. The song is part of Isaak album “Heart Shaped World”, which wasn’t successful at all when it was released in 1989. Then, after David Lynch used an instrumental version for his 1990 film “Wild at Heart”, starring Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern, the song became a hit.

Few days ago I found a beautiful cover of “Wicked Game”, sung by London Grammar. It’s sweeter and, maybe, even more melancholic. If you watch “Peaky Blinders” you may know it as it’s been used in the trailer of season 4.

A beautiful song is timeless. “Wicked Game” is, for sure.

In case you haven’t seen the video with Isaak and Christensen, here it is. When music and super models were a perfect match.

“List of Demands (Reparations)” by The Kills is such a great song and I’m listening to it on repeat! It’s a cover of a 2008 song by Saul Williams but, since I’m a rock n’ roll girl, I obviously prefer this version.

I discovered The Kills years ago thanks to “True Blood”. I heard one of their songs, “Future Starts Slow”, in the trailer of an episode of the HBO series but I didn’t have Shazam so I searched for it googling the lyrics! And so I discovered this cool band formed by Alison Mosshart and Jamie Hince.

Enjoy the song and the video, directed by Ben Strebel.

“Lost in Translation” is one of my favorite films. I love its soundtrack and “Just Like Honey”, by The Jesus And Mary Chain, always makes me think of the final scenes of the film, which always move me (that is to say always make me cry).

So, “Just Like Honey” is the song of the week. Just another great song from the ’80s (what a decade for music!).

Are Lana Del Rey and BØRNS a match made in music heaven? I think they are! The two singers recorded “God Save Our Young Blood” for BØRNS second album,”Blue Madonna”, which was released last January.

Unfortunately they didn’t make a video (yet?) for this song. I’m sure it would be great and they would look amazing, possibly both dressed in Gucci. The singer said that he always had Lana Del Rey in his mind when recording “God Save Our Young Blood”. For “Blue Madonna” BØRNS also collaborated with Del Rey’s sister, Caroline “Chuck” Grant, who shot all the photographs for the album. And then the collaboration with Lana happened, too.

The song is beautiful, so Lana Del Rey-esque, dreamy and kind of mesmerizing.

The song of the week is “Across The Universe”, one of my favorite songs by The Beatles, sung by Fiona Apple. I like her version even more than the Fab Four’s. It’s part of the soundtrack of “Pleasantville”, a 1998 film directed by Gary Ross with Reese Witherspoon and Tobey Maguire.

You probably know that Stephen Hawking, “cosmologist, space traveller and hero” (as he’s described on his website) died three days ago. Obviously, socials mourned and celebrated him with some of his famous quotes. Who doesn’t like to remember somebody (and get likes) with some inspirational words?

Anyway, in 2008, on occasion of the 40th anniversary of “Across The Universe”, NASA beamed it into the galaxy. So, I thought that Hawking probably liked this beautiful song.

And among his beautiful words, some of my favorite ones are certainly less poetic than those about stars and universe, but for sure more practical. “People won’t have time for you if you’re always angry or complaining”. So true.

Enjoy this beautiful song performed by an amazing singer.

Wolf Alice recently released the video of another beautiful song from their second album, “Visions Of A Life”. “Sadboy”, like other songs of the English band, is a bit sad, a bit dark and sweet at the same time.

The video show one of the band’s night out at a party but then things go pretty creepy because front woman Ellie Roswell throws up a black liquid, ending up in a dark, Stranger Things-esque place where she cannot reach anymore people around her.

How cool is “Make Me Feel”, the new song of Janelle Monáe? It’s been love at first listen! The singer/actress will release her third album, “Dirty Computer”, on April 27. Meanwhile, we can listen to two singles, “Django Jane” and “Make Me Feel”.

The sound of “Make Me Feel”, with its funky rhythm and synth line, clearly reminds of Prince, which was involved in the making of the song. I love when Monáe sings “It’s like I’m powerful with a little bit of tender, an emotional sexual bender”. She even reminds of Prince in some dance movements.

The video was directed by Alan Ferguson and styled by Maeve Reilly. It’s pretty opulent and colorful (with a sequence of purple lighting). Obviously, Janelle Monáe sports some cool outfits and many designer pieces.

I particularly like the striped sequined jacket, but the pieces that probably steal the show are the Swarovski crystals veil by House of Emmanuele (Monáe also wears it on the cover of the album) and the see-through rose-embroidered Adam Selman jeans. I’m sure somebody loves The Lace by Tatyana crystal bralette, too. For those who can’t sport such statement pieces… colored tights are definitely back!