Ella Enchanted

I'm just going to go with "ye olde carnival music" as a description and hope no one comes for me (besides Miramax). I've been slowly, inadvertently accumulating more and more medieval/18th century pop music as I go and it is winning me over. This is not my usual aesthetic, but I thoroughly enjoy the music and visuals of all these artists.

girlyPopp.com Episode 7 - Ella Enchanted by Justin Danger on Apple Music

Playlist · 16 Songs

Apple Music - Web Player

Mollie Elizabeth

Starting with the latest, this song just came out and was my introduction to her a couple weeks before the release. It absolutely will not leave my head and has such a great chorus. There is a slight flicker of Emily Deahl's "Ew" in there somewhere and the delivery on "Oh! Forgive me lord!" is sooo good.

She has two other releases, "Dog Eat Dog" and "The Mirror", from this year which also fit with the theme of this post.

Haute & Freddy

Continuing in reverse order, we have the very prolific artists behind Haute & Freddy bringing a literal 18th century carnival/circus aesthetic for their 80s style synthe poppe. Their videos are incredible and I can't imagine the network of amazing people they have to be able to produce so many of them.

My first intro to them was "Shy Girl" followed later by "Sophie" and "Scantily Clad". While the music does hint at what the visual aesthetic might be, it doesn't prepare you fully for their amazing videos.

Some of my other favorites are "Symphony for a Queen", "Freaks", and "Femme Hysteria" which are on their first full length album released earlier this month. It features 13 songs including the previously released singles.

hemlocke springs

This artist effortlessly transitions from ethereal to bubbly pop and back and first got my attention with "enknee1" and "girlfriend". Her other renn fare (I'll see myself out) includes "sever the blight" which is also on her current full length album "the apple tree under the sea".

There are reminders of Passion Pit/Friendly Fires/Chvrches to be found in some of her music, but she definitely has a style of her own. My favorites from the new album are "head, shoulders, knees and ankles", "sense is (prelude)" / "sense (is)", and the 90s vibes of "set me free" that has a fantastic bubble sound effect throughout.

We Did It Girl!

Hopefully most of you have worked through your childhood trauma around carnivals and circuses and enjoy this week's selection. I'm still not sold on clowns, but I think I have a handle on the rest (depending on the context) thanks in no small part to Haute & Freddy. Now I'm going to finish watching Ella. 💜