38. Kick-off of the election campaign
I.
Spotify Wrapped is back online, officially kicking off the annual list-making season. I’ll save my summary of all the great stuff for a few more weeks (these were my highlights of 2022), but I do want to take a moment to reflect on Wrapped.
Usually, my list of top artists looks something like this: Bob Dylan at 1, Radiohead at 2, Nick Cave at 3. But this time, The National are at the top. They’ve had the wind in their sails this year, with two new albums and a fantastic show at the Ziggo Dome. Next comes Lana del Rey, whose album Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd I was absolutely hooked on for a while. Her concert was unforgettable for all sorts of reasons.
Of course, Bob Dylan and Radiohead are just below them, followed by Wilco (another great album released in 2023!). Then I’m missing Nick Cave, but he’s releasing new work next year. So we’ll add that to the 2024 Wrapped.
There’s an article on It’s Nice That about the design of this year’s Spotify Wrapped. The colourful chaos it has turned into was inspired by the nostalgia and expressiveness of the early internet, says Spotify’s head of design.
And then there was that Wrapped screen where you could see which city your musical taste most closely matched. Nothing international for me, just Nijmegen. “There are lots of fans of Spinvis, Sef and Abel living there,” says Wrapped. I haven’t seen any other Dutch cities pop up yet, so it’s possible that Nijmegen was the only Spotify Sound Town. And that you’ll naturally end up there if you play some Dutch-language tracks now and then.
Over 1,300 cities around the world were designated as Sound Towns. According to Spotify, listeners are linked to the cities that best match their musical taste. This is based on the most-streamed artists of the past year and how often these artists were streamed in other cities (few people abroad are likely to listen to Spinvis). Spotify told Time that this concept is “purely driven by people’s listening history”. And that it is available to all users with at least three top artists who over-index in a particular city.
II.
The Pogues singer Shane MacGowan has died. He did manage to reach the age of 65, as you often read online. In a way, it really is a miracle. Online, you can find videos of a young MacGowan in which you see him staggering on stage, clinging to a microphone stand, until he is dragged off the stage by a band member. There are similar images of Amy Winehouse, and she didn’t even make it to 30.
Addictions to drugs and alcohol. In recent years, there was little left of MacGowan. He looked terrible, could barely speak and was confined to a wheelchair. The Guardian visited him last year and wrote a wonderful feature. Are you enjoying life, the writer asked. “I’m working on it,” was the reply.
Nick Cave calls MacGowan “the best songwriter of his generation”, but also emphasises in his latest Red Hand Files the love of the audience. “That was so powerful and deep,” writes Cave. “It was something I’d never felt before.” (And he certainly can’t complain about the reception at his own concerts.)
This Christmas, his biggest hit, Fairytale of New York, will once again be blaring through many living rooms. The grandiose, emotional, flawed, off-key Fairytale of New York. One of the best Christmas songs, precisely because it’s so raw and stripped of all glitter. “It is a wonderful gift to the outcasts, the unhappy and the broken-hearted,” writes Cave.
---III.
You can make anything with LEGO, but you can do the same with artificial intelligence. Your St Nicholas poems, for example. I didn’t write about the best way to write such a poem, but about whether we should even want to do this. Remy Gieling from Sinterklaasgedichten.ai says that you still have to think about your message yourself, but that the AI does lend a hand with the wording. “It’s a sort of e-bike for Sinterklaas poems,” he told me. “It takes a bit less effort, but you still have to pedal yourself.”
The ever-eloquent Dutch language expert Marc van Oostendorp said that you might as well order a present for yourself, have a poem generated for yourself and just stay at home. It’s not about the fact that there’s a poem, but that the recipient feels seen by the other person, says Van Oostendorp. “The fact that a poem is a bit clumsy and doesn’t quite add up is all part of the charm. So, my family has been warned.”
PS.
Tim den Besten and Nicolaas Veul have previously spent 100 days at a school and in a psychiatric ward. In the new series 100 days in the forgotten neighbourhood, they immerse themselves in the Laak neighbourhood of The Hague. There, they examine not only the Netherlands’ social safety net, but also their own social engagement. The first episode already puts a few things into perspective. In a country ruled by fearmongers who play the division card, we should be grateful for what we have. Cherish that whilst watching 100 Days in the Forgotten Neighbourhood.
---Fortnite has wrapped up another chapter, and that’s always celebrated with a special event. This time there’s a Big Bang, lots of LEGO and a performance by Eminem. (I’ll be back next season, because Solid Snake is a playable character.)
---A TV series based on the Fallout game series is coming. Amazon has released the first trailer. The games never quite click with me, though I’m always intrigued by the post-apocalyptic world. Coming in April.
---Draw fast is an online tool that instantly converts your doodles into AI art. Fun to experiment with.
Lana Del Rey performs Unchained Melody during Christmas on Graceland. Various artists came together to honour Elvis Presley from his home. How could this woman be missing from your Wrapped playlist?
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