Every year is a new opportunity for artists to put strange or curious titles to their albums. It could be counted from 0 to infinity remembering numerical discs titles in history, which necessarily implies Adele, but lately also Nelly Furtado, Julieta or Katy Perry. Combining letters and numbers, the titles of FKA Twigs and Liam Payne debuts come to mind: both were called ‘LP1’, although Payne won because those letters were also the acronym of his name.
Special mention deserve those titles that stalk and that cannot be more Creepy, such as ‘I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful Yet So Uninde of It’ (2016) of The 1975 or its Spanish analogue, ‘What I told you while you were sleeping’ (2003) of Van Gogh’s ear. Shivers.
But the best are those who play reverse psychology. Recently it has transpired that Ava Max’s new album will bear the name of ‘Don’t Click Play’. With this name, Ava Max seems to be responding to the haters that accuse her of getting little original, decaffeinated and samples based. A “if you don’t like it, don’t listen to it.” Ironically, that negative imperative produces the opposite effect: desire to give play. Ed Sheeran’s order is opposite: his album is called ‘play’. Thank you for the notice? Besides, Moby already did before. Sometimes, simply giving orders does not work: George Michael knew when he encouraged us to listen to his album “without prejudice.” And when Lasso said ‘Do not listen to this song’, the public pays attention.
When Haim calls his album ‘i quit’, that is, “I leave it,” they refer to a series of toxic behaviors that seek to leave behind. We just hope it is not a premonitory title as was that of that Zayn album called ‘Nobody is listening’ that, indeed, nobody listened. Dolores O’Rordan was more prudent asking ‘Are You Listening?’ (2007) in his not very successful solo debut.
Inverse psychology can give results. One of Daughters’s most successful albums anticipates in his title that, in him, “you will not find what you are looking for.” Well, many people found, indeed, what I was looking for in ‘You Won’t Get What You Want’ (2018). P! Nk came out of what looked like an era flop with ‘i’m not dead’ (2006) announcing that “it was not dead.” Would that say someone who is not dead? But the public believed it and revived his career until he gave him eternal life.
Some titles seem defensive before discovering the content of their letters: it is the case of ‘no Thank You’ by Little Simz (saying “no” is very important, Meghan Trainor knows). Lola Young, Picada, knew what she was by titling her second album Just who has ended up sheltering his greatest hit. In any case, all of them invite you to look beyond what they offer with the naked eye and, above all, to understand that literalness is not everything. That, behind a simple title, there is much more.
