RTL Today - Song 2

We are looking at a song that if you don’t enjoy, then you are simply lying to yourself because it is an absolute banger! Welcome back to another episode of the musical bible that is our podcast song 2 where we discuss the nature of the second song on an album being the best or the most important. By one of the most popular female R&B groups to have ever done it, Destiny’s Child and their song Survivor.

On today’s show we will be looking at one of the most exciting talents in the UK right now… …the one and only Little Simz and her inspiring song “Woman” off the album Sometimes I Might Be Introvert. She described it on her Tiny Desk performance as one of the best songs she has ever written. SO without further ado let’s take a look at what makes her and that song so special!

“The story I want to tell on an album is more about the overall adventure” We are a couple of days behind, but Poppy is a great guest on the Song 2 problem. Having worked with Bad Omens and Knocked Loose of late, the diverse star is adding more and more strings to their bow.

You are tuned in to Song 2, the podcast where we go by the doctrine that the second song is either the most important or the best on an LP. People are philistines and don’t listen to full albums as much anymore but we say long live the purists that know the importance of bands creating their own identities through storytelling and track listings. On today’s show we will be looking at one of the albums of 2023, namely Heavy Heavy by Young Fathers and their song “I Saw".

"Curating the journey of an album is everything to me. EVERYTHING" We interviewed Des Rocs earlier this year, being that we were super dialed into the raw riffs and the general appeal of this honest to goodness rock n roll. Check out the chat on RTL Play, here we ask the Song 2 q and we find that we are bang on the money… even if Des Rocs is not going to outstay his welcome, check it out.

On today’s episode we will look at the fantastic Kasabian, once described as The Stone Roses and Primal Scream with the swagger of Oasis... ..but they very much have their own style - which is exemplified in their fourth studio album Velociraptor!, released in 2011 and the second track on it is the lead single Days Are Forgotten.

Ahead of debut album Teething's release, I catch up with Nathan and Egg and see what they think about Second Songs Hey there and welcome to this week’s edition of Song 2… it’s the one you click on, and are immediately saying that this cannot be correct. You’ll have examples to hand and, just like Cliff becomes Cave, becomes Arch, becomes Stump, you realize that there is a wee bit of truth to it. Here, Nathan and Egg from the really rather good Porij do exactly this… Check out what they have to say, and while I have your attention, go ahead and pre-order Teething…it’s gonna be MEGA.

This week’s episode is all about Feeder… my favourite band ever. So, this one could get a little gushy... Oddly, though, we are covering one of my least favourite Feeder tracks, even though it is almost universally loved. It is the song you know by Feeder, even if you don’t know that you know Feeder, you know? And it has had millions of people screaming about drinking cider through a ruddy lemon for nearly 30 years. And to think, it was almost a song given to another band altogether.

“If the song 2 doesn’t grab you, you’re sunk BABY” This week’s guest Song 2-er (sic) is the always good value Keith Murray, of the prolifically great We Are Scientists… and while this intro may be longer than Keith’s response, it does not contain a now immortal phrase, that, if we could get the rights sorted, we would have on a limited run of Song 2 tees.

For this week’s episode of Song 2, we are looking at a 90’s staple, Sex & Candy from Marcy Playground. Even in this office, we have a 50/50 split of those that love the oddly louche lyrics, and those that hate it with a passion akin to the fires of hell. For me, this one was as ubiquitous as anything from Beck, Dando, Alexakis, Dulli et al.

In this week’s Friday episode we are taking Michelle of the Netherlands by the way of Brighton band CIEL over the SONG 2 coals. Needless to say, she’s one foot in, one foot out, but places a lot of importance on the influence of a producer. Check it out.

This week we are dialling the calendars all the way back to 1993 as we are revisiting Jame’s breakthrough album, Laid and their standout cut Sometimes. Yes, we all know that the 1990 single Sit Down is still a favourite in student unions and weddings, but Sit Down was not even on the track listing for the original release of Gold Mother… it was track 7 on the 1991 re-release and the opening track on the US version. Sometimes is about as full-throated a singalong as you can possibly get.

"There's a reason why there's an entrée and a main course, you know..." In this week’s Song 2, Clémentine Delauney of both Exit Eden AND Visions Of Atlantis offers up her view of where the second song lies in terms of prominence and importance. Exit Eden released their latest LP, Femme Fatale earlier this year, and Visions Of Atlantis have just announced Pirates II – Armada. Check out my interview with Clementine on RTL Play. Cheers.

We’ve held off for three seasons before breaking the emergency glass on this classic It took till the 5th record and a song written as a joke for blur to temporarily break America. Song 2 inspired this podcast and is, ironically or not, the quintessential Song 2 pudding prover.

"For me track listing is very specific to the album and from album to album, I never order things based on what I think a certain track number should be" What An Enormous Room by Torres (AKA Mackenzie Scott) came out earlier this year and is ace. Torres does not agree with Song 2... At. All. And my dreams are thus shattered.

In this week’s Song 2 Episode we are foregoing silly head wear and possibly ill-advised cultural appropriation There's always been the gnawing doubt that the flak Jay Kay got at the time of Jamiroquai’s was a little unfair. Sure, the headlines grabbed in the early 00’s were not great but Jamiroquai’s tunes stand up incredibly well. None more so than Too Young To Die, the second cut lifted from the 1993 album Emergency on Planet Earth.

"How do we hit them hard over the head...right off the bat... here's all our rage... and then, here's where we are crying about it?" Ill Peach’s LP, This Is Not An Exit, was one of my picks for 2023. Here, Jess and Pat are on the scenic route to a sort of, possibly, could be answer to Song 2. Track listing is important. Incredibly so. But tone and tempo are key drivers too.

This week we are taking a look at the beautiful, beguiling and breathy White Winter Hymnal from Seattle indie-folk band, Fleet Foxes. "White Winter Hymnal" is the first single from Fleet Foxes released by European label Bella Union on July 21, 2008 and arguably remains to this day the band’s best known song.

“I think anyone you will speak to you on this will tell you that very real blood, sweat and tears go into sequencing” Now that we can confirm that they are going to be hitting the Grand Duchy’s den Atelier on the 30th May, we can finally get to the dapper The Vaccines frontman Justin Young and his take on the Song 2 merry go round. Don’t forget to book tickets for the show on atelier.lu and listen to my two-part interview with Justin available on RTL Play.

On this week's Song 2, we’re taking a look at a rather emotional song that was a breakout for its star performer AND the precursor to a much bigger tune. Now, let’s be clear here, I am not the authority to speak on Juice WRLD, that honour would to my two teenage sons – who may yet be struck down with MEGA cringe upon hearing this – fortunately I have had some assistance in getting this piece but together by Maja (our clued-up intern).