Pop Loser: It’s Not Right But It’s Okay That I Didn’t Get Anything From the Whitney Houston Auction

Welcome back to Pop Loser! This week, I’ll share my wishlist from the latest Whitney Houston auction and pay tribute to Ray of Light producer William Orbit. A$AP Rocky claims that Rihanna is back in the studio, but I’ll believe it when I see it. Plus, I’ll be on vacation for the next three weeks, so expect an alternate-universe version of Pop Loser written by Dave Segal. (Thanks, Dave!)

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This Week in Music: 

This week in Strangerland, the August print issue hit the stands, which means there is a new calendar of music events that’ll keep you busy all month long. I interviewed Mount Eerie’s Phil Elverum about turning grief into art. Plus, Capitol Hill Block Party was last weekend, and we covered everything from festival garb to window-shaking live music. As Janey Wong put it, “In true Seattle fashion, there were a lot of hot people at Tinashe’s set, but not enough of them were shaking ass.”

I’m going on vacation next week, and Dave Segal will be filling in for the next three Pop Losers. I’ll be celebrating my 30th birthday in Greece, sipping ouzo, eating blocks of feta, and trekking to Leonard Cohen’s former home on the carless island of Hydra. 

Speaking of my birthday, a bunch of Whitney Houston’s possessions went up for auction this week. The Julien’s Auctions lot included gems like a personalized lavender bomber jacket, bedazzled Marc Bouwer mini dress, a bottle of her beloved “Je Reviens by Worth” perfume, and—my personal favorite—a framed photo of her dog playing the piano and looking cool as hell. 

RIP William Orbit. It was announced on Friday that the electronic musician and visionary producer died on July 23 at the age of 69. Orbit’s production on Blur’s 13, All Saints’s Saints & Sinners, Madonna’s Ray of Light, and Music was pivotal in shaping the sound of the late 1990s. Madonna shared a lengthy ode to Orbit on Instagram, writing, “I had an epiphany when I met you and started working with you. I realized that music did not have to fit into categories or genres. So we created our own. You pressed a magic button inside of me and I fell into a galaxy of unrealized dreams. Your music gave me a magic carpet to fly on and I visited many places.” 

I’ll believe it when I see it. According to A$AP Rocky, Rihanna—who hasn’t released an album since 2016’s Anti—is back in the studio working on new music. The rapper revealed the news to the Jason Lee Podcast on Wednesday, adding, “Yeah, I said it. Sorry, babe,” and later, “She cooking, bro. No funny shit.” 

Speaking of things I want to happen but are hard to believe, Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean told the BBC on Thursday that there will “absolutely” be new music from the Fugees in the future. This came right before the pair reunited at England’s Diaspora Calling! Festival in honor of the 30th anniversary of The Score.

This is NOT what dreams are made of. Good Charlotte joined Hilary Duff’s sold-out Madison Square Garden show on Wednesday, for what’s been called a “cool collab” (Rolling Stone) and “a night for ’90s kids” (Harper’s Bazaar), but let’s call it what it really is: creepy and pathetic. Creepy, because guitarist/vocalist Benji Madden formerly dated Duff when he was 25 and she was 16. Pathetic, because the Madden brothers are the founders of Veeps, which laid off nearly all editorial staff at BrooklynVegan, Alternative Press, Revolver, and Goldmine just the day before.

Now, take a deep breath and enjoy a collection of personal ads by music lovers from the 1960s–1990s. 

Music Events Worth Your Hard-Earned Money This Week:

Audrey Hobert: The Staircase to Stardom Aug 12, Paramount Theatre, 8pm, all ages

TV Star, Lightheaded, Research Vessel Aug 12, Sunset Tavern, 8pm, 21+

Corinne Bailey Rae Aug 13, Moore Theatre, 8pm, all ages

Seattle Collaboration Society Presents: Lori Goldston (Improvisation Workshop) Aug 13, Woodlawn Theater, 7pm, 18+

Thunderpussy Aug 14, Vera Project, 7pm, all ages

Belltown Blast Aug 15, Bell St & 2nd Ave, Belltown, 12pm–2am, all ages, free

Carson Daniel, Black Velvet, Daughters of Venus Aug 15, Black Lodge, 7pm, all ages

Built to Spill, Courtney Barnett, Zoh Amba Aug 18, Woodland Park Zoo, 5pm, all ages

The Songs That Keep Me Up at Night:

“Feed Me” by XOË 

Last weekend was Den Fest, and I had the pleasure of seeing one of Den Tape’s newest signees, XOË. The four-piece band is an unlikely combination of jazz, R&B, and metal, and can go from sounding like Blossom Dearie to PJ Harvey, or Erykah Badu to Portishead, in a matter of seconds. Frontwoman Zoe (whose last name I can’t track down) has the vocal chops and charisma of Amy Winehouse. At one point during the set, I heard someone exclaim, “Who is this chick!?” to which she responded coolly, “It’s me.” 

“Like a Star” by Corinne Bailey Rae 

If you were glued to the TV every morning in the early 2000s like I was, watching music videos, then you probably first saw Corinne Bailey Rae as a VH1 “You Oughta Know” artist, riding her bike around a scenic park in the video for her 2006 summertime hit “Put Your Records On,” which turned her into an overnight success. I was 10 years old when I first heard it, and I immediately begged my dad to drive me to Target so that I could get her self-titled CD—the first album I ever bought with my own money. I played this album to death for the next several years, floating around my room and lip-syncing in the mirror. To this day, I put on the album when I’m feeling untethered and need to remember who I am. This month, I’m turning 30, Bailey Rae’s debut album is turning 20, and I feel like the stars have aligned. See her celebrate the album anniversary at the Moore this Thursday.

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