Now that we’re in that slightly surreal period of the year between Christmas and New Year’s Day, two things are for certain – those people who are off work probably can’t remember what day it is, and everyone’s now fed up of looking at turkey carcass each time they open their fridge.
Thoughts for some of you might now be turning towards the next big traditional celebration in the calendar – the one welcoming people into the next year. As usual, there are either plenty of options or none whatsoever depending on where you live – but there are, of course, options wherever you are.
Because this year, Apple Music has hired Peggy Gou, Honey Dijon, and Kaytranada to do a live stream on New Year’s Eve to say farewell to 2023 and hello to 2024. From what we understand, Kaytranada will start the evening by taking things in “a house direction” before Dijon takes over and Gou concludes the evening.
But the real highlight of Apple’s press statement announcing the event? A truly masterful statement from Peggy Gou that somehow manages to say absolutely nothing in 24 words, commenting that “I don’t really like to talk about what to expect or what not to expect, so my fans should expect the unexpected in 2024.”.
A more surprising inclusion on the lineup, however, is Honey Dijon. Just a few weeks ago, Dijon – real name Honey Redmond – gave a tone-deaf interview where she condemned the influence of capitalism on the dance music industry. Because, let’s face it, there are few bigger beneficiaries of dance music capitalism right now than Redmond.
After all, it’s Honey Redmond who has been commanding five-figure remix fees for her work on material by the likes of David Bowie, Madonna, and Beyoncé Knowles. It’s Honey Redmond who did production work on Knowles’s own album “Renaissance”.
And it’s Honey Redmond who is now such a vocal critic of capitalism in dance music that she’s now accepted a gig for one of the biggest corporations on the entire planet. Yes, Gou and Kaytranada might also be directly benefitting from Apple’s money – but at least they’re not doing nauseating, hypocritical interviews complaining about it at the same time.
We wonder whether talking about “the colour and the queerness being stripped out of house music” and “house music being capitalised upon” whilst being a symbol of both will continue to be a form of online currency for much longer.
Oh, and if you are amongst those who can’t remember what day it is, it’s Wednesday. You’re welcome…
