Every Saturday in March, the Guardian has taken command of streaming station Beats 1 on Apple Music, with Breaking Good, a show where guests at the forefront of music have played tunes by artists they think are getting it really, really right, zooming in on breaking music trends around the world.
In the fourth and final Breaking Good, Kate Hutchinson is joined by Guardian music critic Harriet Gibsone and French pop firebrand Héloïse Letissier, otherwise known as Christine and the Queens, whose new album, Chaleur Humaine, and its accompanying live shows have received rave reviews in the US and UK. With silvery electronics, subtle R&B and hip-hop, and sparse, ravey synths, her sophisticated sound addresses gender and identity politics in a danceable way.
Letissier has been called – by last week’s Breaking Good guest, Metronomy’s Joe Mount – “the French Adele”, and the world is sitting up and taking notice. Even Madonna admitted to using Christine’s voguing dance routines as inspiration for her recent Grammys performance.
On Breaking Good, Letissier talks about creating her alter ego Christine with the help of some London drag queens, about being a bisexual woman in pop, why the Internet are the best thing on the internet, and how NYC’s Empress Of is the most underrated producer in recent memory. On top of that, there’s new music from Kendrick Lamar, British soul-pop newcomer Etta Bond, South by Southwest favourites Whitney and lush electronic beat-maker Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith. Guardian contributor Eve Barlow, meanwhile, homes in on the best new garage-pop music coming out of Los Angeles.
Breaking Good’s guests were:
• 7 March, with Andrew Weatherall and David Holmes
• 12 March, with Lady Leshurr and Sam Wolfson
• 19 March, with Joe Mount and Alexis Petridis
• Breaking Good is at 7pm GMT on Beats 1, Apple Music. All the shows will be available on demand.
