There’s no question that Spotify has revolutionised the way the world consumes music, and the streaming behemoth’s live playlist event, Front Left Live, is a testament to not only the ecosystem of music exchange that exists around Spotify, but the communities of music lovers that are emerging from its offerings.
Designed to spotlight off-kilter, genre-defying artists, and boasting a following of over 500k subscribers, Spotify’s Front Left playlist has helped artists from the AU/NZ market gain the attention they deserve beyond our borders, while giving us our new favourite artists to listen to in return.
Despite Spotify’s eminence as an industry game-changer, it was still difficult to process that a streaming service could draw a sold-out crown to Melbourne’s Forum Theatre, let alone summon a majestic lineup of some of the biggest local and international acts of now, from Swedish pop overlord Tove Lo, to first time visitor and Florida crooner Dominic Fike (who confided that he was disappointed to not have spotted a kangaroo on the way to the venue).
From a DJ tower flaunting a massive LED screen that simulated the Spotify user journey by switching to reflect the song being played over the speakers, to booming video reels preceding each act to highlighted the artist’s influence, the grand production that underscored Front Left Live stayed true to Spotify’s premium portfolio. Here are our key takeaways from one of Australia’s newest and biggest musical events on the calendar:
BENEE IS NEXT IN LINE UNDER LORDE’S POP DYNASTY
NZ pop prodigy BENEE’s debut EP ‘FIRE ON MARZZ’ has been completely flogged in my household since being released back in June. I had been counting down the days to seeing her perform, and though she was first up on the bill, the set she delivered could have easily closed off the evening. Her endearingly quirky yet down-to-earth exchanges with the audience, complete with an impressive tongue-in-cheek attempt at an Aussie accent, intercut a set every bit as magical as I’d expected.
Backed by her three-piece band, the Auckland local mesmerised audiences with her honeyed vocals and playful hooks. Chart-topping single “Soaked” drenched the crowd in pure bliss, while “Glitter” sparkled that extra bit more, having been preceded by her tale of a night out that ended in having a stranger pour glitter all over her. Unlike said glitter, we don’t want BENEE out of our hair anytime soon.
TONES AND I MANIA IS JUST KICKING OFF
Every day it seems that Byron Bay busker-turned-worldwide-star Tones and I has broken a new record. Her song “Dance Monkey” has been nominated for eight ARIAs, and is currently the #1 streamed single across the globe, and has . That’s a pretty damn big deal, especially as no other Aussie artist has ever achieved that. Fresh off the back of a spellbinding performance by Aboriginal Australian music duo Electric Fields, who brought an incredible merging of ancient culture with modern electronic soul, the audience was already swelling with pride for our Aussie exports; the second Tones and I stepped out, the room erupted.
You could have mistaken her set for a planned evening of karaoke – every word to every song was recited fervently, in catchy-as-hell solidarity. When she shared her intention behind writing ‘”Dance Monkey”, to write a song that people would want to dance to, the room made sure she knew she had more than succeeded.
SCANDINAVIAN SONGWRITING IS STILL SECOND-TO-NONE
Look, we’ve been saying this for years, but whatever is in Scandinavian water, we want it. Norway’s Marie Ulven Ringheim, aka girl in red, goes against the traditional pop grain with gritty indie-rock songwriting, proving what we feared the most — they are masters of all genres, not just pop, and are coming in HOT. Her up-tempo dark pop cut “dead girl in the pool.” had heads banging across the room, while the equally misleadingly upbeat “summer depression” won over a fresh legion of fans.
Wrapping up the night, Tove Lo, my girl crush for life, gave a masterclass in performance, Flanked by steamy and acid-fuelled visuals, her work, which has been praised for turning exploitative 2000s pop on it’s head with a feminist focus, had the room reeling. Her catalogue of straight-up bangers, from Flume collab “Say It” to her brand new Kylie Minogue collab “Really Don’t Like U”, teamed with her powerful vocals and sensual shape-cutting left everyone for dead. It’s settled, the Scandinavians win, and all we can do is take their minimalist approach to everything and rock the white flag.
Photos by Tim Lambert.