"I don't listen to albums, I just listen to songs... do people care about tracklisting?": PinkPantheress on why the order of an album's tracks doesn't matter anymore
PinkPantheress says that she's more concerned with the strength of individual songs than how they come together as an overall body of work
After sparking up debate on social media back in May by declaring that "a song doesn't need to be longer than 2 minutes 30", PinkPantheress has delivered another spicy take that has provoked fierce reactions amongst music fans.
Speaking to Kids Take Over, the artist and Billboard Producer of the Year award-winner questioned the importance of tracklisting on albums, telling the interviewer that she's more concerned with the strength of individual songs than how they come together as an overall body of work.
"I don't listen to albums, I just listen to songs," she says. "That's why when it came to my own album I was like, do people care about tracklisting? I couldn't believe it. "When I saw people review my album, some people were like, 'it's a great album but the tracklisting doesn't make sense'... just listen to the songs!"
PinkPantheress' statement prompted strong opinions on both sides across social media, with many accusing the British songwriter and producer of being a "TikTok artist". "I love this girl so much and I think she’s really talented but her opinions on music are trash," commented @Lwazi_Songo.
PinkPantheress reveals she doesn’t listen to albums in new Kids Take Over interview:“That’s why when it came to my own album, I was like, do people care about tracklisting?” pic.twitter.com/RB2444XSkIJuly 17, 2024
Many in the replies have also pointed to the rise of streaming services and playlists, which have fundamentally transformed the way that many fans consume music, threatening to render the concept of an album irrelevant in the modern age.
Elsewhere in the interview, PinkPantheress discusses winning Billboard's 2024 Women in Music Producer of the Year Award and says that she'd like to start working as a producer for other artists.
"If somebody wants to call me into a studio, I always think it'll be under the guise of doing production or writing," she says. "But at some point they'll be like: 'can you just jump on the song?' I would love to be more behind the scenes of other people's music."
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Watch the full interview below.
I'm MusicRadar's Tech Editor, working across everything from product news and gear-focused features to artist interviews and tech tutorials. I love electronic music and I'm perpetually fascinated by the tools we use to make it. When I'm not behind my laptop keyboard, you'll probably find me behind a MIDI keyboard, carefully crafting the beginnings of another project that I'll ultimately abandon to the creative graveyard that is my overstuffed hard drive.
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