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[Sour Candy]

The Guardian published "best music discovered this year" and...

Lady Gaga’s Chromatica, like many pop culture landmarks released in the long year that was 2020, initially passed me and my state of hermetic isolation by. Then came my birthday party this year, the first social event I had hosted since the pandemic. My early nerves were dissipated as the drinks began flowing, the dance floor filled up, and my laptop, perched next to a set of speakers, was quickly taken over by friends putting their favourites in the queue. I had prepared a playlist but quickly (re)learned that the secret to being a good host was knowing when to relinquish control. At 11pm, after a series of generationally beloved garage tracks that, apparently, defined British teen parties in the late 2000s – I didn’t grow up here, I wouldn’t know – came the sound: Gaga’s voice, brash, loud, sexy, set to ecstatic dance-pop beats. It was the perfect crescendo to an evening that made me remember why it felt so good to forget yourself in a sweaty crowd, filled with love, buoyed by the rhythm. Having missed out on cheaper tickets, I didn’t make it to the Chromatica Ball this year – instead, I danced to it alone in my iamspamspamami It was magnificent. Rebecca Liu

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/sep/...vered-this-year