Some further thoughts about Grammy nominated songs and whether or not I played them at tonight's gig at Emmy Bar and most old farang don't want to hear newish music. Other than Thai songs, ladyboys prefer to hear English songs they've heard before either at bars or streaming.
Below are the songs nominated for Best Record and Best Song. Best record is geared more towards the artist and production. Best song more geared to the songwriter. 7 songs were nominated for both so there's a total of 9 songs.
Record/Song of the Year
“Abracadabra” — Lady Gaga
“Anxiety” — Doechii
“APT.” — Rosé & Bruno Mars
“DtMF” — Bad Bunny
“Luther” — Kendrick Lamar & SZA
“Manchild” — Sabrina Carpenter
“The Subway” — Chappell Roan
“Wildflower” — Billie Eilish“
Golden” (from “Kpop Demon Hunters”) — Huntr/x“Golden” (from “Kpop Demon Hunters”) — Huntr/x
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APT is the new song that gets the best reaction by far from both Thais and Farang. It's such a fun, well produced song. Crowd favorite and also a favorite of mine. I've played it at every gig since it came out except at a Northern Soul night at a Pattaya Soul Bar. Thais know it and farang have asked me the name of the song which rarely happens.
At the other extreme is Bad Bunny tunes which neither Thais or Expats are familiar with or will enjoy.
I like Lady Gaga but don't like Abracadabra. Bad Romance is the Gaga tune that I've played the most.
Luther is a song I've only played once when lots of hip hop fans were at one party. If I'm going to play Kendrick it's going to be Not Like Us.
I like Manchild but I didn't think the farangs tonight would be to familiar with. I did play Espresso which the girls are familiar with though.
Tonight no Chappell Roan but I've played Hot 2 Go before since I think the girls like it. It has Hollabeck Girl energy.
No Billie Eilish either tonight but I've played Lunch by her and also played Guess by Charliexxx and Eilish a few times.
I like Anxiety but rarely play it. I figure the Emmy Bar farang won't be too familiar with it and people want to hear what they know.
Golden is a monster hit with teenage girls and played it at previous gigs because some Thais like KPOP.
That covers the 9 songs above.
I did play So Easy by Olivia Dean. Kind of odd that she is one of the favorites to win Best New Artist but she doesn't have a Record or Song nominated.
I played Streets of Minneapolis since it was requested. Pretty sure the girls have never heard it. It was hastily written in less than a week so as to be topical. I'm sure it would be much slicker if The Boss had months to work on it. Figured I should seque into another protest song. There's an Irish singer/guitarist who made a mashup of Come Out Ye Black and Tans with NWA's Fuk Da Police and these three songs had a similar theme. To balance things out ideologically I played Who Let The Dogs Out by the Baha Men, and during short pauses in that song i spliced in audio of Trump saying, "in Springfield they're eating the dogs" Haven't seen any online DJs do this but think it works well.
That wraps up the new music. Played mostly rock though because that's what the crowd wanted to hear tonight.