Artists from Dua Lipa to Nia Archives are tapping the boisterous power of mid-90s music – and even embracing the union jack. Can they keep away from the style’s laddish lows?
For some, Britpop was a excessive point for British guitar music: that time when Blur, Pulp, Suede and Oasis thrilled the world with wit and brio. Others argue it has aged worse than Loaded journal: blokey, beery, conservative and nonetheless clogging up the charts. Certainly, there’s maybe something a bit dismal about the truth that James and Shed Seven have both had No 1 albums in 2024.
However, a crop of young artists are turning to the power and iconography of mid-90s Britain for inspiration. The jungle artist Nia Archives, 24, wears a stunning union jack on her tooth for the duvet of her debut album, Silence Is Loud. “No one’s actually making Britpop in the meanwhile,” she advised the Face in February, “but I've a sense 2024 is gonna be the yr.” Dua Lipa has stated she was “wanting by means of the music history of psychedelia, trip-hop and Britpop” while making her new album, Radical Optimism, adding that Britpop “has all the time felt so confidently optimistic to me, and that honesty and angle is a feeling I took into my recording periods” – though you’d be pushed to notice the affect on the new singles she has released to date.
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