Since last week you heard a lot about us, this week we wanted to have Quinn write more about some of our guests and their influences. She dives into the garage and DnB roots of PinkPantheress (whose episode is coming soon) and explores how Kate Bush has inspired countless artists, including Omar Apollo and The Last Dinner Party.

PinkPantheress Wants Her Fans to Discover the Classics

By Quinn Moreland

PinkPantheress did not necessarily intend to become a superstar. Unlike other musical sensations born of TikTok, she posted anonymously, her face hidden by large blocks of text (She still prefers to keep her given name private.) Her subtly intriguing musical clips typically clocked in under two-minutes, making them catnip for social media and quickly racking up thousands of views. 

Beyond easy digestibility, listeners were grabbed by PinkPantheress’ flair for mixing introspective lyrics with the sounds of dance music genres garage and drum and bass. Her music deftly utilized an encyclopedic knowledge of ’90s and early 2000s tracks: buzzy breakout tracks like “Pain” utilized the 2000 garage hit "Flowers" by Sweet Female Attitude and Sunship while “Break It Off” sampled Adam F’s 1997 drum and bass classic "Circles." 

Though PinkPantheress is no longer a TikTok darling—see the gigantic success of “Boys a Liar Pt. 2,” her collaboration with Ice Spice—her music continues to display a signature wistful nostalgia. Which leads us to a common, if misinformed, criticism of PinkPantheress: that her music is derivative, that she’s using past sounds to mislead people into thinking that she’s created a new genre. 

Music interpolation is currently as inescapable as Hollywood’s obsession with intellectual property, but PinkPantheress isn’t throwing samples into her songs in hopes of riding their coattails to success. She’s intricately reinterpreting various influences into her own unique vision, one that is deeply rooted in British culture. “I know I didn’t invent drum’n’bass or garage, but what I did do is create a very specific sound which I wanted to have for myself,” she told NME.

To her credit, PinkPantheress has consistently encouraged fans who may not be familiar with her musical influences to become crate diggers. “The first and foremost thing is if you like breakbeats and you like DnB, you need to tap into the British classics. Get a vinyl, go onto YouTube, type in Shy FX, type in Adam F, type in Sunship,” she told NPR. “I think if there's one thing I want people to know about me, it's that my music only scratches the surface of what real DnB is. Please take the dive that you need to do if you enjoy it and properly.”

Per PinkPantheress’ advice, try diving into the world of drum and bass. Emerging out of the U.K.’s underground rave scene in the ’90s, the sound has a subgenre for everyone: Jungle, drum and bass’ predecessor, is full of breakbeats and thick basslines; Liquid is atmospheric and influenced by jazz and soul; Halftime is, aptly enough, slowed-down; and ragga uses reggae samples. Some immediate classics include Goldie’s Timeless, High Contrast’s True Colours, Roni Size’s New Forms, and Photek’s Modus Operandi. Newer faces include Nia Archives, SHERELLE, the duo Piri & Tommy, and Special Request.

Kate Bush’s Endearing Sensuality

By Quinn Moreland

This year’s song of the summer will probably arrive courtesy of The Tortured Poets Department or Cowboy Carter—maybe with a shot of “Espresso” on the side. But remember two years ago when Stranger Things turned Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” into a mega hit? What a strange and delightful moment in time, when Jack Harlow’s “First Class” might segue into a gothic synth carrying a plea to “make a deal with God.”

Bush may not be topping the charts this summer but she remains as influential as ever. Omar Apollo (seen on Track Star here) recently told Rolling Stone that Bush inspired his upcoming record, though the first preview, “Spite,” sounds more Blonde than Hounds of Love. Chappell Roan echoes Bush’s soprano and sensuality on her latest single “Good Luck, Babe!” The teaser art for Dua Lipa’s “Houdini” cleverly nodded at the cover of Bush’s 1982 album The Dreaming, which features an image of a woman passing a key through a kiss, a scene that inspired the album’s own “Houdini.”

Elsewhere, the British rock group The Last Dinner Party are channeling Bush more directly (she even got a shoutout on their Track Star episode). Beyond the fivesome’s theatrical stage presence—flowy gowns, folklore and fairy tales—and habit of covering 1980’s “Army Dreamers,” their anthemic baroque pop captures a similar sense of emotional melodrama. “Burn Alive” off their 2024 debut Prelude to Ecstasy channels the sweeping synths and valiant percussion of “Running Up That Hill.” Meanwhile, that album’s swooning hit, “Nothing Matters” evokes 1978’s “Wuthering Heights” through a cinematic guitar solo and Abigail Morris’ elastic vocals. “My Lady of Mercy” is full of religious imagery including references to crucifixes, the Lord’s Day, arrows piercing the heart that feel of a piece with Bush’s more spiritual songs. Like Bush and her beloved Emily Brontë, The Last Dinner Party are unafraid to wholly embrace passion. There’s no cooler-than-thou energy in their decadent, maximalist ecstasy, only a beating heart and a vivid vision.

Listen to PinkPantheress and her DnB Influences 

1. PinkPantheress - Pain

2. Sweet Female Attitude and Sunship - Flowers

3. PinkPantheress - Break It Off

4. Adam F - Circles

5. PinkPantheress and Ice Spice - Boy’s a Liar Pt. 2

6. Goldie - Timeless

7. High Contrast - Return of Forever

8. Roni Size - Brown Paper Bag

9. Photek - Modus Operandi

10. SHY FX - Good Morning (feat. Kojey Radical & Nile Rodgers) 

11. Nia Archives - Cards On The Table

12. Piri & Tommy - on and on

Track Star Presents Covers

If you didn't know, we’re releasing individual videos of the covers on Track Star Presents. Show some support on YouTube, and hopefully we can release these on streaming platforms soon… 

Watch Them on Track Star

Play Along

Every Track Star Song

Click below to follow our playlist on Spotify or Apple Music and keep up with every song we play on the show.

Listen Here