N.K Pop

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Well, it's the first time I've been given any award for songwriting at all. My first words when I got up to accept it were ‘I could have died, it's so late!’ And it's sort of true – I'd just turned 60 – so it meant a lot and it was really nice to experience it with the people I'm close to. In my Beautiful South days I would probably have just taken it in with a pinch of salt and said, ‘Thanks a lot, ta,’ and walked off, so I'm glad they waited because I appreciated it more. Same as having a No.1 whenever it was, 2020? That felt special as well.” Still, it was something of a belated correction for the way The Beautiful South – never a critics favourite – have been somewhat airbrushed out of the 90s music story. “It feels a little bit like history’s been rewritten,” Heaton says. “We’d never be in one of those 200 best albums of the 90s lists. But we didn’t particularly sound or look like bands that you associate with the 90s. And it can be quite helpful not to have a sound that dated. It can be limiting if you sound like a band from the 90s. It’s though you’re doing a permanent revival”. Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott perform at the Royal Albert Hall (Photo: Christie Goodwin/Redferns via Getty) For many people hitting the big six-o, like Heaton did in May this year, thoughts of mortality are omnipresent. But Paul clearly isn’t the sort to give into that kind of age-related gloom. In the 2018 Channel Four documentary Paul Heaton: From Hull To Heatongrad, its then fiftysomething subject confesses to fears that he’s run out of things to write about. Heaton It’s actually “especially the lies”. The jousting of the lyric is that they’re kidding themselves and each other about their bodies. He especially loves the way she doesn’t tell the truth about hers – he finds that shyness quite endearing.

The marriage of melancholy and twisted nocturnal synths on Grace suggests the 29-year-old has improved as a songwriter, as she powerfully concedes: “My aunt just died from cancer, don’t ask where my smile is / I’m still inside that furnace.” In the past the artist has felt a little distant, seemingly afraid to let people in. Yet here she wisely grounds her celestial rap persona in something more human and relatable. I have an ageing-related question regarding Perfect 10 . You sang you love “her body, especially the lines”. How do you feel about getting older? DaddyPig I found a tiny little football ground and wrote the lyrics and some of the tunes outside the bar there,” he reveals. “I think the locals were really quite bemused about what I was doing.”

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I know several people who’ve been radicalised by the right-wing press, against immigrants, against anybody on the left, against woke. It’s sad to see, because you can’t argue with them. That’s what the song’s about – if you go out looking for trouble, you’ll find it.” We started off with about 21, 22 songs for this album,” Heaton tells us, “but some of them didn’t sound right or they’ve been ignored because somebody in the band doesn’t like them, and then they drop away and you’re left with your favourites.” You’ve always been capable writing from unusual perspectives, but who are the lyricists you most admire yourself? Heaton That was Womad in 1989. We were quite a weird set of people and that was the first gig we played where we didn’t smash our gear up, so three of us rolled an enormous, 10ft wheel on stage during Pere Ubu’s set. They were screaming: “What are you doing?” We went “It’s part of the show!” Then suddenly we were ushered off [laughter]. I hadn’t liked them when they supported the Clash in 1978, so it was silent revenge.

Earlier this year, Heaton spoke to NME about how he and Abbott played a number of free gigs for NHS staff as a thank you for their efforts throughout the pandemic. It’s three in the morning, the sun’s up, and there’s all these beautiful people in this halcyon moment,” he recalled earlier this year. “People are laying on the grass, making out, drinking, smoking. It was an incredible moment. When the world stopped [for the pandemic], I had this moment to write in real time, to calculate. I was compelled by this vision, this anomaly, this memory, of being under the midnight sun.”While some of the songs slip into genericity, such as the forgettable There’s a First Time For Everything, others are 80s-inspired, synth-led earworms. Smells Like Me stands out as one of the album’s highlights, a masterclass in pop writing with an ultra-memorable hook. The opener That’s Hilarious serves an early reminder of just how good Puth is at writing ridiculously catchy hooks; how simple-but-effective his melodies are. I didn’t want to make it particularly about any stage in the birth or after – or even an infant, I just wanted to write about loss.” Heaton and Abbott have already previewed the forthcoming ‘N.K-Pop’ with the singles “Still” and “Too Much For One (Not Enough For Two)”. With the former song, the pair aimed to “raise awareness for folk who have lost a child, whether by miscarriage, stillbirth or in infancy”.

Abbott proves why she’s such a good counterpoint to Heaton – her voice perfectly meshes with him, and duets like You’re Too Much For One (Not Enough For Two) demonstrate their musical chemistry perfectly. Who Built The Pyramids is another highlight for Abbot, a big duet about unlikely romances. Baby It’s Cold Inside may derive its title from the rather problematic Christmas song from the 1940s but is actually an incisive takedown of sexual predators and serial harassers. Although he’s primarily a storyteller, Heaton does delve into more personal songs this time round, sometimes with devastating effects. Still is easily the highlight of the record, a beautiful ballad about miscarriages and still births. Lines like “still feel your heartbeat, the tiniest drop…your departure destroyed us but we’re so glad you could come” are stark, poignant and affecting.The production, courtesy of UK duo God Colony, is particularly great on Feel Alive, with the song’s sparkly synths towing the line between sugar trap and a casino-themed level on Sonic the Hedgehog. This beat inspires Flohio to wake up from a grief-driven slumber, as she tellingly pledges: “From the dead I have risen”. The night was a special occasion for Jacqui, who had never played in her hometown before (Pic: Dave Gillespie)

Great! I mean, I wouldn't say I'm outspoken, but certainly lyrically I've not reined it in much. There are never any editorial questions, they know what I'm like and I'm given an incredible amount of freedom. But then I suppose I've gained a little bit of the freedom through success. People don't really want to hear it - I think they want to paint the music industry as the devil, but everybody's all right from my experience.The Housemartins had been on the dole for two years. I think Hugh [Whitaker, drummer] had been on the dole for four years and we just wanted a wage and that's what we asked for. We didn't want big advances. I'm not making an album to buy a yacht, I'm making an album because I love music. And I've found gradually that more and more people I'm working with within the industry are doing the same.”

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Closing in on four full decades since his first hit, Heaton remains the go-to chronicler of the Everyman condition, but let’s not underplay Abbott’s vital contribution as both equal-billing foil and relatable conduit of female perspectives in these songs. Plays not just for today, but for weeks, months and years to come. Charlie Be Quiet brings the same comedy that has made Puth so endearing to his fans, giving himself a pep talk about coming on too strong: “You got to lower the noise a little bit now/ If she knows you're in love, she's gonna run away”. Throughout, his production is knowingly playful, too, from the light switch sound in Light Switch to the music panning from left to right speaker in Left and Right (Ft. Jung Kook of BTS). For the one-time Housemartin and former Beautiful Souther, milestones like this are something to be bear hugged. a b c Murphy, John (4 October 2022). "Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott – N.K. Pop". musicOMH . Retrieved 12 October 2022. What is your writing relationship? Does it come together in the studio or is it created elsewhere? karlcronin