Spring '26 - Sad Sells

The mood of Pop Music tracks our cultural "zeitgeist" (thanks to Johann Gottfried Herder!) and the declining happiness of English-speaking nations. We can't all move to Iceland or Finland.

My Substack readers know that, at my advanced age, I have a tenuous connection with American Pop Culture. Most of the year it’s a complete disconnection. For example, I’m embarrassed to admit that I first heard this week the massive 2025 hit by Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars titled Die With A Smile. I read about it in of all places The Economist in a feature about the declining happiness of English-speaking nations. More on that subject in a future edition.

"Die With A Smile” by Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars was the anthem of 2025. The soppy ballad climbed charts in more than 30 countries and became the longest-running daily number-one song on Spotify, a streaming platform. Its appeal owes something to its mood: pop music has grown gloomier. Sad sells."

I spend hours each day streaming music from the Spotify site, but had no clue. We’re already in 2Q26 and I’m just hearing this now? Maybe it’s more proof that in the social media age we’re all in our own silos with bespoke algorithms filling us with a narrow band of content. We have full access to the World Wide Web, but actually live in our own provincial villages. See Gaga and Mars sing their hit in the video below.

It’s really a great song and performance and I’m glad to be hearing it now. Better late than never. Story of my life. The song expresses a deep pessimism about the state of the world, but an abiding faith in the power of love and our loved ones.

"If the world was ending, I'd wanna be next to you
If the party was over and our time on Earth was through
I'd wanna hold you just for a while and die with a smile
If the world was ending, I'd wanna be next to you"

I think it resonates with those who feel powerless to change our world for the better. We’re less than halfway through the Reign of Mad King Donald and watching him lead our democracy into slow motion suicide. We’re ceding global influence and our economic future to China and they must be laughing at us, along with Putin and the Iranian generals holding hostage 20% of the global oil output. We were brought here by the unforced errors of Old Uncle Joe, Kamala, the clueless Democratic Party, and about 77.3 million voters who bought into the con job and the grift.

Social statement that! Not to mention the approaching drumbeat of generative A.I. coming to undermine humanity and destroy the career prospects of our children. Back to the music!

I’ve always liked Bruno Mars, especially his ebullient Silk Sonic collaborations with Anderson.Paak. In my pre-Substack days, I featured their Leave The Door Open as my nominee for Song of Summer ‘21. See them perform it at the 2021 Grammy Awards, complete with vintage Motown stagecraft, in the video below.

I knew this song was a contender when Denise and I attended a backyard dinner party that summer up in Providence and heard it playing in multiple backyards.

In Die With A Smile Lady Gaga turns in another eccentric, incandescent and just plain funny performance. In her ascension to Pop Diva status many years ago, I wrongly wrote her off as just a neo Madonna or Cher act — and they grew tiresome by 1990. In Die she sits at the Fender Rhodes keyboard playing with a lit cigarette between her teeth (so transgressive these days) made up like Tammy Wynette with a towering hairdo I’d call a beehive mullet. She takes the cigarette out of her teeth to sing this verse.

"Ooh, lost, lost in the words that we scream
I don't even wanna do this anymore
'Cause you already know what you mean to me
And our love's the only war worth fighting for"

These are simple and direct emotions which resonate with millions of people, as did those of great American Songbook standards. Make no mistake —Die With A Smile is a great Pop Song and a balm to us in these complex and troubled times. That said, we all need to stay engaged in what’s going on around us in our government and culture. The war is being fought on so many fronts. Our nation’s foundation is eroding under our feet and many are not even aware of it.

What’s So Funny ‘Bout…

As we approach the Midterm elections in November and the 2028 Presidential election cycle starts like next year, I think about the Elvis Costello cover of Nick Lowe’s 1974 (What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding (always wondered why “?” was left off the song title). I featured it in my June 16, 2023 post (read here).

"And as I walk on through troubled times
My spirit gets so downhearted sometimes
So where are the strong, and who are the trusted?
And where is the harmony, sweet harmony?"  

We all need to start thinking hard about answering those questions. That includes Republicans, Democrats, Independents and the Disengaged. Where are the strong and who are the trusted? Let’s watch a reprise of young, nerdy, gap-toothed Elvis Costello and The Attractions singing it way back in 1979. It’s one of the great songs of the ‘70s or any decade.

Coming Next Time

I’m compiling a blockbuster Spring ‘26 playlist on Spotify that I may call Soul Station (with thanks to Hank Mobley). This monster killer playlist will debut at more than 1,000 tracks and grow from there. It will be an artisanal mix hand-picked from the green fields of Spotify.

Let’s go out with another Pop Diva that I wrongly wrote-off deep in the ‘70s. I was too locked into the band that preceded her, the taut British blues band that existed at the edge of darkness and ultimately imploded. Stevie Nicks sings Silver Springs with Fleetwood Mac in 1997.