Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The self-professed “bedroom writer/producer” and multi-instrumentalist Pixey — aka 29-year-old, Lancashire-born Elizabeth Hillesdon — is a smart self-starter with an ear for a snappy hook. Her bright, catchy tunes have yielded three EPs over the past five years and earned her numerous “one to watch” plaudits.Yet her blissed-out ingénue style belies the fact that her musical journey began from a darker place. As a student, she was hospitalised with a brain haemorrhage; when she recovered, she realised that she wanted to explore making music. So she downloaded a trial version of Ableton music software and taught herself to play guitar, before signing to the acclaimed independent label Chess Club Records (whose alumni have included Jungle and Wolf Alice) in 2020.Though Pixey did release a “mini-album” in 2022 — the jangly, jaunty Dreams, Pains & Paper Planes — Million Dollar Baby is billed as her debut studio album. Its mash-up of 1990s/’00s indie-rave influences will be familiar to fans, but the collection is also punchy enough to entice new audiences. The opening number, “Man Power”, blends Pixey’s swooning vocals with a Britpop swagger, big-beat rhythm and a crunchy guitar sample that evokes The Chemical Brothers’ anthem “Block Rockin’ Beats”. The album’s title track is its most immediate melody: a deliciously heady synth tune that’s reminiscent of Canadian pop star Carly Rae Jepsen. As she sings, “We only live for fame/But I don’t think it was made for me,” her sound is both confidently commercial and intriguingly rueful.There’s a crowd-rousing feel and a nostalgic trippiness here, from the woozy, feel-good serenade of “Best Friend” (“My days feel better with you”) to the brassy dancefloor groove of “Bring Back The Beat” (featuring co-producer Tom McFarland of Jungle). The moody strings on closing track “The War In My Mind” bring to mind The Verve’s influential “Bittersweet Symphony”. Elsewhere on the album, “Oxygen” hints at a promisingly headstrong mood. Pixey’s indie-pop pick’n’mix was always easy on the ears, but it sounds like she’s finding her own voice.★★★☆☆‘Million Dollar Baby’ is released by Chess Club Records
