More Than the Numbers

Lizzo, an artist who flies well above the glamglare radar, is unhappy with the sales of her latest album, Bitch¹. An article in The Atlantic tries to put this in a broader context, recounting how Lizzo’s meteoric rise in the early 2010s was fueled by societal and technological forces that have since changed.

The article concludes, “Gatekeepers and institutional kingmakers have been so steadily undermined that they might as well not exist. The revolution has been won—the audience is in charge. And what the audience wants to do, at mass scale, is scroll.”

During a recent stroll through the Seaport, a flock of young tourists caught my attention. Without exception, every one of the girls was staring at her phone. Looking at them, I found myself agreeing. But I also noticed signals that many people, in particular young ones, want to engage with music more deeply than just through a small-screen video clip of a few seconds.²

However, it is refreshing that super-stardom is not necessarily a one-way ticket. Just because you made it into the 9-figure streams club doesn’t mean people will stay eager to listen to any new music you release.³ New artists and trends arrive, and your audience’s attention may swing away.

In any case, Lizzo cannot complain about her 10+ year run in the spotlight.

Meanwhile, Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Fenne Lily is still trying to catch up to her first-ever song, “Top to Toe.” In a heartfelt post⁴, she explains what it means – according to streaming numbers – to have peaked in her teens. But you have to accept that success is driven by many factors and cannot be repeated, even though your music arguably improves.

Last but not least, check out our new About page to learn more about the glamglare story. Keep the music coming, and please subscribe to our newsletters if you have not already.

Discovery of the Week: Kaktus Einarson and John Grant - Follow

John Grant is originally from Michigan but has lived in Reykjavík since 2013 and frequently works together with Icelandic musicians. The latest collaboration is the song and video “Follow” for the new album Factoid Happiness by Kaktus Einarsson, out on September 18 via One Little Independent Records.

Kaktus recalls:

This came from a real moment. I was walking home from preschool with my kids when we passed an American tourist live-streaming on our Pride-coloured street in Reykjavík, preaching homophobic ideas and blaming Iceland’s volcanic eruptions on our acceptance of queer people. She tried to involve me, assuming I was a straight man who’d agree with her. That didn’t go the way she expected.

He adds:

That moment stayed with me. Later, over an iced latte with my friend John Grant, I read him the lyrics and immediately knew his voice had to be part of the song. He’s someone who survived that exact environment and broke free from it.”

Cover Song of the Week: Kiki Holli & The Remedy - Don’t Change

Synthesizers, once clunky, fickle boxes that cost as much as a small car, became affordable, reliable, and ubiquitous in the 1980s. While that progress inspired plenty of exciting music, pop also became increasingly drenched in synthesizers.

INXS’s first international hit, “Don’t Change,” from 1982 reflects the production style of its era while already hinting at the guitar-driven rock sound the band would later refine. Kiki Holli & The Remedy strip the song back, letting its emotional core and strong songwriting shine.

This Week in glamglare history

1 Year Ago: Maddison Kate - More to Me

“More to Me” is a lively, slightly melancholic folk-pop song by Australian singer-songwriter Maddison Kate, featured on her 2025 debut EP.

5 Years Ago: The Slang - Nothing Lasts Forever

“Nothing Last Forever,” a song about addiction, is accompanied by a short film shot in New York City. It appears on the DC duo’s 2021 album Divide, which they followed with a string of singles, the last of which, Echo Echo, was released last Tuesday.

10 Years Ago: DANI - Love U More

“Love U More” is a dark pop song about a hopeless love amid addiction. The Toronto-based singer-songwriter DANI, who later went by Dani Le Rose, never released it on Spotify, but the SoundCloud and YouTube links still work. Her latest release is a self-titled EP from 2020.

Song Pick of the Day

Listen to all seven songs on YouTube, or follow our daily updated Song Pick playlists on YouTube, Apple Music, or Spotify.

• Frances Chang - Auratones of desire
• Hannah Cole - MMA
• Tilly Louise - Root Cause
• ANIQO - THE TURN
• Vacations - I See Myself In You
• Ruti - Flowers
• Elanor Moss - The Way That it Feels

We publish one Song Pick of the Day every day. You can subscribe to receive them by email.

Steel and Summer

This week took us from our terrace to the Guggenheim. We couldn’t wait to immerse ourselves in Carol Bove’s monumental sculptures, where massive sheets of steel seem to twist and dance with surprising grace. It felt especially meaningful to experience the work of a fellow New Yorker and someone from our generation. This one-of-a-kind exhibition runs through August 2, and we highly recommend it.

Aside from all things FIFA World Cup, we also celebrated our first tomato harvest of the season, along with a handful of fresh herbs from our terrace. The tarragon, in particular, survived the frosty winter and is thriving, much to our delight.

1. The unimaginative title might have something to do with it. ↩︎
2. This is a repeated theme in the excellent Price of Music podcast. ↩︎
3. The streaming economy favors back catalogs, so Lizzo is presumably still doing very well. ↩︎
4. She also says goodbye to a friend and mentor who encoraged her to record music ↩︎