On 11 Might 2021, a minor pop schism occurred. It was the primary Brit awards within the pandemic, delayed just a few months from the ceremony’s ordinary February date. That night time, two younger stars who made their names in lockdown had large debuts: Olivia Rodrigo’s first-ever dwell efficiency, of “drivers license,” and the British pop songwriter Griff’s second ever, of the very Gotye-like “Black Gap.” Backstage, that yr’s International Icon winner Taylor Swift held courtroom in her dressing room, inviting the 2 self-proclaimed Swifties to share chips and take goofy selfies.
Not two months later, it emerged that Swift had been awarded 50% of the writing credit score for Rodrigo’s track “deja vu,” which had a faintly comparable bridge to her track “Merciless Summer season,” resulting in an apparent distancing between the 2. In the meantime Swift has continued to shout out Griff and invited her to help a latest Eras date in London, praising her from the stage as “so inventive on each single stage.” What’s curious concerning the continued help, given the obvious cause for the estrangement of Swift and Rodrigo, is how profoundly indebted Griff’s debut album, Vertigo, is to Swift’s sound.
This yr’s The Tortured Poets Division watered down the growth and sheen of Swift’s 2014 album 1989, which is additional diluted by the eminently tasteful pop songs of Vertigo. The racing pulses by no means danger inflicting alarm. The effervescent synths would barely disturb the floor of any pond. The martial drums are extra ceremonial than primed for battle. There’s a cavernous, momentous glow to the manufacturing that jogs my memory of how the 1989 portion of the Eras tour echoes across the stadium each night time. The quieter songs, like “Into the Partitions” and “Eternal,” instantly evoke the tenderly plucked strings and twig-snap beats of Folklore and Evermore.
Clearly none of that implies that Griff must be held chargeable for taking inspiration from a formative songwriting hero (she’s stated her earliest musical reminiscence is getting an iPod loaded with Fearless and taking part in it on repeat) or that creativity must be litigated that approach. It’s only one facet of how oddly by-product this long-gestating debut is. Tilt it this manner and also you hear the formal liturgies of London Grammar (soppy ballad “Astronaut,” piano courtesy of Chris Martin); that and the lengthy tail of the thrill over 2010s Scandi pop that by no means actually anointed any correct pop stars (the determined, cathartic splash of the interesting “Miss Me Too” has Robyn in its DNA). Right here’s somewhat MUNA (the gently punchy and ecstatic “Something”); right here’s various the 1975 (the snapping “Hiding Alone,” the surprisingly unfastened dance breaks of “Cycles”).
