N.K Pop

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That’s what’s nice about going away, you can talk to anybody and ask them what they’ve been up to. There are some weird, amazing stories out there.” That 60th birthday thing was a chance to celebrate and tell people I’m 60 ’cause I’m sort of proud!” he laughs. “Forty was a bit more murky because I was drinking a lot. Fifty was brilliant because I did the cycle tour all the way around Britain and Ireland.” 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.” It's always been my ambition to have a football song adopted [on the terraces] and Rotterdam was adopted by Liverpool fans originally, I think. So I like that, it’s good fun. I always say to my daughter, ‘Ooh, I'm on telly!’ when the football is on. I refer to football in my songs occasionally, but I wouldn't write a football song. I wouldn't know what to write about really. But maybe if Sheffield United got to Wembley in April…”

I’m really inspired by everyday people,” he says. “I know it sounds corny, but I’m just naturally inquisitive about people. I like stopping and talking, especially to older people, because they often won’t know who I am. I find it interesting sharing stories. After Jacqui thanked the crowd for coming down and withstanding the rain, it was apt that the band finished their set with 'Good as Gold (Stupid as Mud)' as tens of thousands chanted they will "carry on regardless". Unsurprisingly, this received rapturous applause from Jacqui's home crowd and marked a special moment for the Sutton Heath singer - whose family and friends were all in attendance. So I wrote it as a memoriam, to make sure I remembered what she was about in a positive way. It wasn’t so much therapeutic but more: bang, this is what she was about. No, absolutely never. I would say that’s because I'm writing... not all the time, but I just wander around and ideas come into my head and I write them down, so I'm fortunate in that way. I would perhaps argue there's been a fallow period where the tunes haven't been brilliant, or perhaps have been weakly produced and haven't blossomed properly, like maybe Acid Country – the tunes were all right, but we never worked properly on trying to get them to sound like singles. Maybe also [2008 LP] The Cross Eyed Rambler. But there hasn’t been a period when it's gone dry, so to speak.”

Well, we gave the label the LP and said we think this, this and this could be a single,” he explains. “I preferred I Drove Her Away With My Tears because it’s quite immediate and it’s always sounded good in my head. But also When The World Would Actually Listen. It’s a kind of handicap race.” Abbott is very much the junior partner in their double act. Heaton himself has a beautiful plangent voice, to which Abbott’s lovely tone and timbre is perfectly matched, so that she effectively sounds like a female version of the frontman. They harmonise delightfully, and occasionally Abbott takes the lead, or provides a second character for split narrator interactions. This approach shines on Baby It’s Cold Inside, a punchy zinger about sexual harassment, but proves confusing on Too Much for One (Not Enough for Two), a song written from a singular perspective then artificially divided in two.

Despite this, his first two albums received mixed receptions, which is perhaps why Puth’s third, Charlie, feels so much like a statement of intent. Out today and entirely self-produced, the 30-year-old calls it “my most personal body of work”. “I’ve been doing this for eight years, but Charlie is finally me,” has said Puth. “For a long time, I was trying to be ‘the cool guy’.” Not a lot, really, but there’s quite often one scene in my mind and it spreads from there. On this one, I had a really vivid image of a pub with a fireplace, and I fleshed it out by having a conversation with myself. I thought about what might have happened there, and the landlord running the place on his own after his wife has gone. Sometimes I think of a song as an unfinished crossword puzzle and it’s my job 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. Bushell, Garry (29 September 2022). "Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbot – N.K-Pop album review". Daily Express . Retrieved 12 October 2022. Earlier this year Heaton spoke to NME about how he and Abbott had played a number of free concerts for NHS staff as a thank you for their efforts throughout the COVID pandemic. He also discussed giving away free pints at 60 UK pubs to mark his 60th birthday, and why he thinks the British Royal Family should be privatized.

The colours in his music are as vibrant and multi-hued as they were three decades ago and, despite confessing that sometimes he “bends down for something, but then can’t get up”, he seems genuinely unfazed by his newly sexagenarian status. Heaton I still prefer to put it in songs or the odd humorous comment on stage. Social media is like Speakers’ Corner, everyone shouting at each other. You’ve always been capable writing from unusual perspectives, but who are the lyricists you most admire yourself? Heaton seems remarkably unmoved by money and success: he lives a modest, neighbourly existence with his wife in a terraced house in Withington, Manchester. “I’m determined that money won’t rule my decisions. Because money is controlling, and it’s incredibly discomforting for some people. And it can be for me. So I try not to let it control me. So what probably comes across as socialist, is I actually get quite angry about how much I’m paid, and think I want to do something about it. And what I do is try to make other people happy with what I’ve received. It sounds a bit corny and cliched. But it’s a more positive thought about what you can do with your money.”

Paul, have you ever thought of reforming the Housemartins, just for a giggle and maybe charity? Mikeollier John Murphy of musicOMH found that "While much of N.K. Pop is firmly in the tradition of radio-friendly pop, it's the lyrics that give these songs their extra dimension", concluding that "There are songs on N.K. Pop that stand squarely alongside some of Heaton's best" and that the "famous fire of his shows no sign of being extinguished". [3] Reviewing the album for Record Collector, Terry Staunton opined that there is "wry humour throughout" the album and that "Heaton remains the go-to chronicler of the Everyman condition" with Abbott providing "a vital contribution as both equal-billing foil and relatable conduit of female perspectives in these songs". [7]

Reviews

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). 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. I'd be concerned that my music would be... I never allow it to be used in adverts or films or anything like that. It's just not what they were meant to be. I sold them once, I'm not selling them again. If somebody's bought my record, I don't expect them to hear it then on an advert for a bank or a deodorant or something like that. That cheapens it, doesn't it? I suppose in the right place I might consider it, but certainly not on adverts to get more money out of people. That's just pathetic.”

I once saw the Beautiful South support Pere Ubu on Morecambe Bay. Any chance of playing live on sand again? LeeBirch 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. 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.Sometimes we don’t even record them but we start rehearsing them for the next album and realise, actually I can remember why I didn’t particularly like them. It might be an awkward key change into the chorus.