2018: A Space Odyssey - How sci-fi ruled the Radio 1 playlist
By El Hunt, 13 June 2018
From the TV resurgence of Margaret Atwood’s dystopian staple The Handmaid’s Tale, to the android-inspired music currently dominating the airwaves, science fiction is suddenly everywhere.
Even though we’re now surrounded by many of the otherworldly inventions that the genre once predicted many years ago - self-driving cars, gigs performed by holograms, parcels delivered by flying drones - our biggest stars are still finding innovative ways to reinvent a classic.
In the last few months alone, Years & Years have taken us to the fictional planet of Palo Santo, while Arctic Monkeys have built a luxury hotel at the site of the 1966 lunar landing. Chvrches' latest video for Graffiti - set in the middle of a slow-motion riot - sees singer Lauren Mayberry witnessing the end of the world, while much of St. Vincent's recent album MASSEDUCTION examines modern life’s fixation with celebrity. Move over 1984, 2018 is proving to be sci-fi's prime year.
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In a recent interview with Pitchfork, Arctic Monkeys' frontman Alex Turner mused on his sudden sci-fi love affair, and in doing so, pinpointed a large factor behind why so many artists are turning to fantastical, futuristic worlds. "Science fiction creates these other worlds within which we can explore our own," he said.
Perhaps, in a world that often seems politically fragmented and divided, imagining an alternative universe with a different rulebook when it comes to gender, sexuality or race can seem like a tempting outlet for escapism.
The Radio 1 playlist has been inundated with such sci-fi themed jams so far this year, and here are the biggest stars who have been dabbling with the futuristic genre.
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"It’s a whole fantasy place," Years & Years’ frontman Olly Alexander said earlier this year, talking to Radio 1’s very own Annie Mac about his band’s second record Palo Santo.
It felt too monumental, hard or depressing to set everything in our real worldOlly Alexander, Years & Years
He wasn’t exaggerating, either. The electro-pop group returned with a logic-bending set of music videos set on another planet where dancing humans are collected like trophies - it became clear that Years & Years were using the science fiction format to dissect gender and sexuality, envisioning the possibility of a future utopia in the process.
"It felt too monumental, hard or depressing to set everything in our real world," Alexander told DIY magazine, speaking about his decidedly intergalactic approach.
"I thought a lot about where I could make a place where we take out all the rules surrounding gender identity and sexuality. I thought, well, why don’t we just have everybody be androids?"
Ariana Grande
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Ariana Grande's music video for Break Free back in 2014 was a neat beginner's guide to science fiction, starting with the Star Wars-esque titles in the opening seconds, the pop star later takes a trip to the pristine white corridor from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, beams up in tribute to Star Trek, and makes multiple references to Jane Fonda’s fashion looks in the '68 flick Barbarella.
Returning four years later with No Tears Left To Cry - a defiant anthem that comes in the wake of last year’s tragic Manchester attack - the influence remains, this time in the shape of bleak cityscapes as well as another subtle pointer towards 2001: A Space Odyssey. In her music video, Grande mimics the film’s physics-defying air stewardess by walking effortlessly across the ceiling, and also hints towards Netflix’s hit series Stranger Things by disappearing through a wall, and entering a new, hidden world.
Ending with a single worker bee flying away - a poignant reference to one of Manchester’s best known symbols - Ariana Grande’s latest venture into the world of sci-fi sees her exploring great tragedy and stresses the resilience of humankind.
Arctic Monkeys
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When you’re a band of such legendary status like Arctic Monkeys, it takes an almighty hairpin bend in creative direction to truly shake expectations loose. For example - a complete curveball like writing a lounge-jazzy, piano-led concept sixth album, and setting it in a fictional hotel and casino built on the moon’s Tranquility Base landing station. That should do the trick...
Science fiction creates these other worlds within which we can explore our ownAlex Turner, Arctic Monkeys
Often adopting the voice of a jaded rock star, and poking fun at the myth of rock stardom in the process, the Sheffield band's new album Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino also delves into the extent to which consumerism, technology, and a hunger to be constantly entertained has taken over our lives.
"Technological advances really bloody get me in the mood," Alex Turner sings on the title-track, his words drenched in sarcasm. "What do you mean you’ve never seen Blade Runner?" he asks elsewhere on Star Treatment, referencing the iconic Ridley Scott-directed classic film. Using the exaggerated world of science fiction to poke fun at the outside world’s expectations of a real-life rock band, Arctic Monkeys’ glammy, tongue-in-cheek look at modern pop culture is truly out of this world.
Janelle Monáe
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Janelle Monáe has long been inspired by science fiction; using robotic alter-egos and afro-futurism to highlight inequalities since her debut EP Metropolis: Suite I (The Chase) back in 2007. She’s always been clear that her sci-fi obsession provides new windows into examining oppression in the real world.
The android represents the new 'Other'Janelle Monáe
"I speak about androids because I think the android represents the new 'Other',” she told The Evening Standard in 2011. “You can compare it to being a lesbian or being a gay man or being a black woman... what I want is for people who feel oppressed or feel like the 'Other' to connect with the music and to feel like, 'She represents who I am.'"
With her latest album Dirty Computer, Monáe switches it up, and examines her inner hard-drive instead. Embracing the corrupt files and short-circuiting parts that make us all unique, it’s a glossy, pop-packed utopia, and an allegory for being a human with differences and flaws.
