The 2024 Maxies Part Two
An Ode to Remi Wolf & Medium Build + My Song, Album, and Artist of the Year!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! And welcome back to Max’s Music Mondays. A music discovery newsletter. Typically, I spend these few hundred words yammering about two special songs I’ve found by artists you should know. But not this time! No, no, no! This is Part Two of The Maxies. Highlighting the music that meant the most to me this year.
If you missed part one you can find it here:
One crucial thing I gotta repeat from last week? My sincere plea to help keep MMM running, growing, and being the best it can be.
This is a one man show over here, where essentially every subscription dollar goes back to musicians in one form or another. Your contributions are literally fueling the work I do and helping so many artists at the same time. This year we paid out nearly $1,300 from the newsletter alone! Not to mention the shows, the cassettes, and more to come. All of it possible thanks to the support of paid subscribers.
If this newsletter has brought you some value, it’d be so massive if you’d be generous enough to invest a little bit of that back in.
Everything I do comes out of my pockets, and without a job at the moment, it’s a… tough situation. Each subscription helps make these projects happen and truly makes them better. And as the newsletter gets better, the impact it has on musicians gets stronger and stronger! It’s meaningful to everyone involved.
Next year, I’ll be focusing on additional posts for paid subscribers, and delivering as much as I can to make sure it’s meaningful to you too.
Thank you again, I don’t take anyone’s time and support for granted, so so deeply grateful to all of you <3 Sending my best to you and yours this new year.
Quick bit of business!!
Los Angeles Readers! I’m so proud to be presenting the Maddie Jay album release show on January 18th at Scribble. It’s the biggest show I’ve put on yet, would be so special to share the night with you.
Now, back to The Maxies!
An Ode to Remi Wolf and Medium Build
Ok, here’s the thing. Remi Wolf and Medium Build keep winning all the Maxies every year and I just wanted to make some space for a few other artists to win too. So I’m hereby formally disqualifying them from any Album of the Year, Artist of the Year, or Song of the Year consideration.
Instead, humbly offering them both The Maxie for Distinguished Achievement And The Achievement is Making Music Max Loves Oh So Much. Congratulations to you both <3 <3
I feel like I’ve written these kinds of essays about both of these artists so many times already but they both really do make music that shapes who I am. I have to say something about it.
The Maxie for DAATAIMMMLOSM goes to Remi Wolf
This year was another massive one for the ascending star. She kicked off the year of Big Ideas supporting Olivia Rodrigo on a slew of European dates. Stuck around for a big Glasto performance, before releasing her second album in July. Toured that record around North America and the UK, including major slots at ACL, All Things Go, and Capital Hill Block Party. She’s absolutely incredible and everyone is in agreement.
I think what draws me to Remi is what draws me to so many of my favorite artists. She’s someone who is just doing exactly what they’re meant to be doing. And no one else could, tbh.
Her sound continues to evolve and elevate, but the ethos of a Remi song remains the same. These songs are all so goofy, heartfelt, funky, timeless, brand new, bold, weird, and exciting.
I’m forever inspired by her ability to do it all. The album, Big Ideas, flies through so many genres, so many eras, so many influences. Pouring them all into a massive pot of sum-greater-than-its-parts Remi Wolf bangers.
Side One sports the singles. A unbeatable list of capital H Hits. Toro, of course my most played this year is fucking sick as can be. From my 2024 Wrapped recap: Yeah, obviously. I was and am obsessed with this song. It’s so hot, it’s so bold, and the motorcycle roar at 0:50 is the most genius sound used in a song this year. Holy moly, good luck not listening to it 100 times. Truly gnarly.
Cinderella with the unforgettable Me and the boys in the hotel lobby x Whistle moments. Soup’s larger than life arena-sized chorus. Motorcycle’s oozing beat and sultry vocals, it’s delicious optimism in We could get a house / we could get a dog. I just eat this shit up. (and one of two mentions of Berkeley, a street very close to me, this year - Medium Build with the other… hmmmm) Alone in Miami’s ennui x depression x is-this-what-life-is-supposed-to-be-ness. It’s a unbelievable stretch of songs.
We flip over to Side Two and meet a bunch of new tunes. Cherries & Cream settles into a guitar riff and drum pattern the Beatles wish they wrote. With Wolf’s voice pushing bigger and bigger, exploring all sides of her insane range. And a major shout out to the Empty Bottle in Chicago! We love a midwest specific. This one is a movie. Kangaroo feels vintage Remi, dancey and bright and fun! With the perfect This Cabernet will save us all. Slide into the instantly electric Pitiful, a gorgeous heartbreaker. The Yuck!’s a sweet connection to Charli’s Yuck from Crash.
Wave holds some of my favorite writing on the album. So honest and hard, navigating relationships and crescendoing into this chorus that you KNOW is sending fireworks over the stage. Explosive and exciting. To peak there and settle right into the When I Thought of You is so crazy. Co-produced by Porches, it’s dark and moody and personal and thrilling. I wanna watch you win / and I wanna watch you cry. Come on!!!! That one closes and we immediately hear a chorus of frogs. Wolf continuing to let this thing be different and weird and fun. The guitar on this track (Frog Rock) is soooo wonderful. Nostalgic and of the future at the same time. It’s a ride and it rocks so much. Closing out with Just the Start, a sweet little lullaby to wrap it all up (with the fun false start). It’s a record that I’ve really grown close to. There’s something for every moment and every mood.
Her music just makes me FEEL. Can’t help but sing along, dance along, want to move my body and feel good in my body. A friendly reminder that music (and all art) can be fun sometimes!! Even in the heaviness of life, the anxieties and fears, it can still be fun. It’s all inspiring, continuing to be herself and make music (and shows) that reflect it. I know I mentioned in the live show awards, but seeing her crushing at the Greek was such a special treat.
Her live shows are so beyond special. I feel like seeing an artist live is the quickest way to become a fan, and seeing Remi is the ultimate version of that. Her vocals are unbelievable. Her voice doing things in person that you don’t always hear on the record. Her band delivers. So much love and joy being shared on stage. And she creates an environment for everyone to live a little!! So comfortable, so welcoming, so communal, even at somewhere like the Greek. Even at a festival. Cannot wait for the next chance to see her play. Wherever and whenever that might be, you know I’ll be there, and I hope you’ll join me.
Beyond the music, getting to watch a star ascend has been a huge privilege and something I am constantly motivated and inspired by. Remi is such a singular artist it’s so exciting to see her develop and grow and shine. I can’t wait for whatever’s next.
The Maxie for DAATAIMMMLOSM goes to Medium Build too!
I’m not too sure what to say here. It sounds so cliché, or maybe sounds like hyperbole. But this music has genuinely cracked me wide open, it has changed my life. It’s brought me closer to my friends, it’s brought me closer to my partner, it’s brought me closer to me. Closer to the little kid Max trying so hard to be good, to be loved. Closer to future me, as I realize in real time who I really am and who I want to become. I’m so grateful for all of it.
This year, similar to Remi, brought countless shows, major opening slots, a new album, and now a new EP to close out the year, and close out this era of Medium Build. And I’ve loved every second.
We’ve already talked a bit about the live shows, so I’ll keep that portion brief. If you ever have the chance to see Medium Build live, see Medium Build live.
It’s really the best way in. When you’re there, look around. See the faces of the people in the crowd. How so many are in tears from song number one (me included). How so many are arm in arm with loved ones. How so many are completely under the spell of what’s happening in front of them. How so many are screaming along even though you know they’re shy as hell irl (read: me). I feel so lucky every time I see him play. Even more so when the band is there too, these songs unfurling in new and beautiful ways.
A Medium Build show really is a place where everyone is welcome to be themselves. To let loose. To FEEL. I could genuinely go on forever but I will wrap it up here. There’s something happening at these shows, this energy, that you just don’t feel often. I hope you get to experience it too.
Beyond shows, there was a lot of new music. Opening the year with singles, Crying Over U, Cutting Thru The Country, & Knowing U Exist. All wonderful. These songs open up memories for me, and clearly for so many others too. MB taking these stories and finding the common emotional experiences between us. Knowing U Exist gets me in the damn gut every time. And yes, that includes when I just cried in my partner’s arms listening to it about 20 mins ago. It’s in songs like this that I can’t help but feel everything I’m feeling. Appreciating the love I have, hearing my own insecurities/anxieties, seeing the beauty in the little moments when things feels so big and scary beyond them. Distilling these feelings with such ease, it’s amazing.
Then the album drops in April and I can’t listen to anything else. I’ve already written a lot about the record (which you can read here). So I’ll share a couple of notes on some stand-outs beyond the singles.
Hey Sandra - MB sings through a letter to an old lover, he plays a character, but it’s one he knows well. One a lot of us do. Someone who is trying his best, has love in his heart, but sometimes gets in his own way. The memories and visions of the future both feel so lived in, so deeply real, I again must be mad at him as I start tearing up. I hear my own dad in this song. I feel like a fool to be sobbing when I hear someone say “slushy puppies” but I can’t help it… A masterful touch at 1:45, that little guitar riff somehow sounding like this promised car’s engine starting up. In the final third, we finally start to see the reality clearer. Hard times ahead, he’s scared, he’s afraid, and he’s just hoping his love might be enough. </3 a dang dagger.
Can’t Be Cool Forever - After that, I need to let loose a little. This song offers just that. I got to see him play this song live last fall (Oct ‘23), and wouldn’t have expected this sound in the final version. Pulsing organ, chugging drums, guitars that want to take the energy even further. Reminiscent of Petey, taking on these big questions, these heavy feelings with gusto. Leaning into the emotion to get through, realizing that staying alive is a feat unto itself, and one to be proud of. The rest will fall into place however it’s meant to.
Stick Around - Verse two has maybe my favorite lyric of the record with When you told me I didn’t have to be someone / well, I cried like a homesick child / ‘Cause I’m SO IN LOVE / and I’m SO DAMN TIRED. This is screaming along in the car music if I’ve ever heard it. The piano returns, building the song up from the ground. And as his wishes come true, so do mine - this is what I love in a song. As the ‘Oh my little, little lie’ section ends, the sax is back and strong as hell. Bravely coloring this bridge sick little runs all over the place. The song climaxes as the refrain returns, and again I love it. The repetition giving time to get weird with it, new melodies, sneaky harmonies, his delivery ebbing and flowing, it’s so sick!!!
The record really has held me this year. I think one of the most beautiful parts of life, of growing up, is discovering more parts of yourself. Learning what you love, learning what pain you carry. In the highs and the lows, these songs speak to me and show me possibility. They’ve kept me sane and they’ve brought me to tears.
To close out the year, we also get the Marietta EP featuring:
Triple Marathon - this came out in October and still made it to #13 on my most played this year… clearly it’s made an impact. I love to scream to this one.
John & Lydia - A thoughtful exploration of our relationships with our parents. Daring to see them for the people they are, beyond just ‘our parents’. It’s something I think about a lot.
Yoke ft. Julien Baker - Can’t believe these two have known each other for as long as they have. A beautiful treatise on their shared religious experiences.
Dad’s 4Runner - this is like if Nick was the lead singer of the Strokes imo. I just see them singing this in a basement club, tossing that mic stand around.
Faded Blue - a tender little tune, I don’t know what Love is but I love this. Mhm me too, me too. The vocals all stacked up, a choir pouring out, it’s so warm.
I can spill out paragraphs and paragraphs, and it’s still so hard to really articulate why I feel so strongly about these songs and this artist. When a Medium Build song comes on in the car, my partner and I race to say “not this mf’er again”, knowing if we don’t skip it we’ll both be crying by the end of the song. This dastardly mix of the music, the performances, the memories they’ve helped me create, the feelings they’ve helped me understand, and the optimism they give me, all hitting me at just the right times in just the right ways. Becoming a Medium Build fan has helped me become more of a Max Himelhoch fan too. It’s a showing me a new version of being “a man” complete with its dynamic queerness, its emotional vulnerability, its imperfections. Giving me a blueprint to better understand my own sexuality and my own masculinity. Its exploring the hard feelings in ways that invite me in to realize I’m struggling with them too. Its offering candid flaws, and ways to work through them. I’ve just learned so much through all this, I feel so lucky.
Whew ok.
Now we move on to our grand finale. The Major Three as it were.
Song of the Year.
Album of the Year.
Artist of the Year.
These are the Maxies that everyone is clamoring for. This year, Sabrina Carpenter put up a FYC billboard in my bedroom to try and angle in for one of these awards. Billie Eilish has called me on the phone every single day for the past month ‘inconspicuously’ asking “How’re the Maxies going?” Billie. I know what you’re doing. But I don’t blame either of them. This has been a massive year for music, and to take home a 2024 Maxie will certainly be in their bios for decades to come.
So let’s dive in!! First up:
The Maxie for Song of the Year
And the Maxie goe— wait. Hold on.
No.
Is that—?
Are you—?
Sorry folks, I’m getting some information fed to me right now. It seems as though something unexpected has happened.
Can we double ch—?
Right. Ok. This has been quadruple confirmed by four different vote-tallying partners.
I am SO excited to announce, the winner of Song of the Year….
has also won Album of the Year, and Artist of the Year!!! The Maxies Triple Crown I don’t think this has ever happened before.
Congratulations to the one, the only…
Charli xcx!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you’re a true MMM-head, this is probably the most build up possible for the least surprising result, but my god what a deserving win.
I’ve been a Charli fan for as long as I can remember. The Vroom Vroom EP was probably the moment I was converted to lifelong stan. Trophy is still one of the coolest songs to exist. Vroom Vroom obviously has become a true cult classic, dance-floor-filler. Felt like she was making music from the future, sending it back to us lucky listeners.
Boys was a staple on my running playlist from 2017 - 2019. And 2017’s Pop 2 was one of the most eye-opening, taste-shifting albums I ever heard. Broke my ~innocent~ little brain. Backseat ft. Carly Rae… idk this one just does things to me. Porsche with MØ is crazy, Track 10, I mean it’s just all so wild and amazing.
It all teed me up for 2019’s Charli. This one FUCKED ME UP. Again, teaching me sounds and structures I didn’t even know I liked but now can’t live without. Looking at you Shake It. Gone is still one of the best songs every made.
Her Covid-era How I’m Feeling Now was another life-changer. Thoughtful bangers just when I needed them. Then 2022’s Crash showed off another side of her music, it’s like Charli’s version of Future Nostalgia, which I say with the utmost love for both Dua Lipa and for Crash. I know some of y’all might read that as dragging both, but genuinely I loved this album. Selfish Girl is so underrated.
Anyways, I write all this to say, Charli has been DOING IT for a long time, and while I knew this new record would be cool as hell I never expected it to take over like it has.
But let’s get into it.
The BRAT era kicked off with Von dutch in February, and this was like everything we needed to know about what was to come. The music is visceral, it’s brutalist, it’s so simple and so beautiful and so hard. To return a month later with this AG Cook x Addison Rae remix? What a fucking thrill. Here’s someone doing things totally off script, just putting out great music, working with (and getting the best out of…) a surprising collaborator, it’s truly “give the people what they want” vibes and she’s delivering and then some. She’s earned herself a rabid fan base over the years, and clearly knows them very very well. The scream!!! An iconic music moment of the year.
Club classics and B2b were next. Cc sampling herself from a video/interview in 11 years ago is crazy and brilliant. She ends the old video saying “just kinda get my stuff heard, and just be, being me and not be like changing what I’m doing. I just - I wanna be successful, but I wanna do it on my own terms” and folks, she’s doing exactly that. A true club hit, it’s so fucking cool to shout out all of your friends in your music. It’s weird and fun and hot and heavy. B2b is catchy as hell, a big theme on this album, repeating lyrics endlessly. It’s magnetic. She hits us with another Von dutch remix but no time to spend there sorry.
Because next is that damn wall. The BRAT wall is born, premiering for Charli’s May 2nd DJ set in Brooklyn. Home to all future Charli News, the BRAT wall was a real moment of brilliance. It, again, is all things BRAT. In the sense that it is deeply annoying (making a random wall this shade of green, and making it a modern Abbey Road crosswalk where every single gay person in NY needed to visit and take a selfie) but also undeniably cool in a “why didn’t we think of that?” way. And doing something so big like this in a way that ONLY Charli could pull off. If anyone else does this, the scales of corny/cool shift and it’s a total flop. A week later, the first lyric of the next single gets painted, and the BRAT era is in full swing.
360 is special. That opening riff hits and I can’t help but feel like I’ve known this song my life. I’m so Julia, this is truly the ethos of BRAT. A lyric that taps into the interests and attitudes of any “cool” person, really exploding this thing’s popularity. We also get the Robyn & Yung Lean remix, again the cool kids getting their fantasies handed to them. While both artists are big in their own right, they are also “small” in this if you know you know way. This vicious cycle of wanting to be in on something cool and therefore making it more popular and more cool. It’s inviting but also exclusive. Incredible.
It’d be the final release before the album finally arrived on June 7th. But what’s that? The BRAT wall is white now?? Just like when Pitchfork Fest (RIP) painted their lineup in piecemeal fashion in 2018, I couldn’t resist watching the live stream. Knowing nothing was gonna happen. Knowing I was literally watching paint dry. But it was irresistible.
Just two days later, she announces the deluxe version. Again, being so fucking cool, but also if anyone else did it it’d be corny “brat and it’s the same but there’s three more songs so it’s not”. That’s genius!!! I’m sorry!!! Literally no one else can do that now!! Forever! She did it!
I gotta dig into these songs really quick before the saga continues. The non-singles on the album:
Sympathy is a knife - Brutal synths, sweet song. The drop is pure ecstasy every time. Songwriting is wild. And this chorus is legendary for me.
I might say something stupid - A taste of what’s to come, in terms of a willingness to experiment. Slowing things down for a weird meandering ballad. Showing that this album can be, and is, a little of everything. The voice break in that last and I don’t know. Oof.
Talk talk - ok get your ass back on the dance floor we have WORK to do. A way too relatable story, a perfect dancey chorus, and the iconic “Talk to me in french / talk to me in spanish / talk to me in your own made up language, doesn’t matter if I understand it”.
Everything is romantic - A truly bold and unique arrangement. Stunning orchestral intro slides into Charli painting masterpieces with perfectly specific lyrics. Crashes home with those drums, the lyrics’ repetition become mesmerizing. They whip by furiously and you just kind of relent to it and let it swirl you around.
Rewind - omg. genius production, crazy vocal layers. brilliant writing yet again. really cracking the code on this reflecting on self-image stuff.
So I - The SOPHIE song. You know I’ve cried to this!!! An earnest look at friendship and collaboration and getting in our own way sometimes.
Girl, so confusing - I will never forget how fucking amped I was hearing Charli talk about this on las culturistas. It lived up to the hype and then some. What a juicy song.
Apple - of course we are doing the dance!!! I love how different and pop-forward this one is, just smiling and boogieing. she loves to mention the airport. Underrated bridge on this one too.
Mean girls - does what it says on the tin. love the bluntness, LOVE the piano.
I think about it all the time 🏆 SONG OF THE YEAR 🏆 -
This is it. Our Song of the Year. Yes, it’s an album cut. Yes, it has fewer plays (by 5 million) than any other song on the album. And yes, that makes this is a very me thing to do. BUT. That’s all happenstance. I love this song so deeply.
For many of us it is ~that time~ in our lives. Late twenties to early thirties, friends getting married, having children, capital L Life taking shape in front of our eyes. Wondering what shape ours will take. This song is so tender, coming off the back of Mean girls only makes it that much more special to me.
I, too, think about it all the time. Such a human experience in this chorus. As someone who does want kids, you see the countless steps ahead of you and it can be overwhelming. But the heart in that “But I finally met my baby / and a baby might be mine” really gets me. That this big thing might actually be possible for you in a way you didn’t know it could be. So sweet.
The verses take a unique form, Charli kind of just wandering. It reads like a diary entry, recounting a specific memory, inserting commentary in the margins. It’s the most “charli” charli we hear on the record, no autotune in sight. Charli lays eyes on her friend, totally the same but now with a baby, and the song swerves into this stacked vocoder moment. A realization suddenly revealed to herself. “And now they both know these things that I don’t” is a CRUSHER. The song lingering as it lands.
From this moment on, we’re in true Crying in the Club hours. Fighting back wet eyes as I bounce around. The beat bolstered with new elements in the production, it’s so swirling and special and the mmmm section really works. Right at the moment when I can’t open my mouth or I will start to bawl. Very generous of them to relent.
The second verse is brief but life changing. Considering it all, trying to understand where she really fits into The World and what she wants. This one is so fucking good!! Song of the Year!!! <3 <3 <3
365 - The 360 reprise! Such a fun bookend to the album. Not the first time Charli has done this (1999/2099, Click/c2.0) but this one is the most effective. Ends the record at the rave, it’s a thrill.
Hello goodbye - Onto the three more songs, it’s 90 seconds of “what is this gonna be” and then two minutes of “oh yes, this is lovely”. Love the little synth melody as we move into the back half. The last minute is major.
Guess - This came out the day I flew to Tennessee for bonnaroo. I got off the plane, hit play on this and literally soared threw the airport. I have never floated/ran in pure disbelief from a first listen. Makes me feel sexy, makes me feel electric.
Spring breakers - 4, 3, 2, 1 See you later / crazy girl shit gonna go spring breakers. We get a Vroom Vroom mention. A boom clap mention. This one is dark and delightful as Charli rebels against any ‘pop star’ rules.
And that’s that. What an album!!! Seriously something for everyone here. And if the rollout ended there I would still be writing this as AOTY. So many highs, so many brilliant and courageous decisions. She’s continuing to define a vision, define a sound, and execute it at the highest possible level. Like every Charli album tbh. But this album sees her push out into weirder edges and even better, more dialed in execution. A true feat.
But it doesn’t end there!!! Pre-album we got the Von dutch and 360 remixes, and we all knew there’d be more. After the dust settled from bonus songs, there was instantly chatter of more remixes to come. I was hearing from unnamed sources some incredible things, not all of them believable tbh. And then the most unbelievable of all happened first. Lorde jumping on the Girl, so confusing remix. Like…. folks, they really did it. This actually happened. A moment in history (for me). Rare that it feels like everyone is listening to the same song at once but this was one of those moments. The girl with same hair comes through with the verse of a lifetime. Not only does Lorde put herself out there by joining the remix, she delivers beyond my wildest dreams. They worked it out on the remix :’)
In August, they follow this up with a Guess remix ft. Billie Eilish…………………….. At this point I have nothing else to say. September offers Talk talk with Troye ahead of their SWEAT tour. And on October 10th we complete the rollout with the entire remix album. Each song a complete reimagining of the record featuring Ariana Grande, Caroline Polachek, Bladee, The Japanese House, Jilian Casablancas, Bon Iver, Kesha, Shygirl!! This really is the project of a lifetime, this entire year an incredible effort. Each step, each piece of the puzzle is so genius, the stars aligning at every turn.
Music-wise, I of course love the Everything is romantic remix with Polachek. But I think Sympathy with Ariana is my fav. So exciting to see the other places and sounds these songs could have taken. Really feels lucky to see so many iterations and ideas presented like this.
Her and Troye’s SWEAT tour went off like crazy. Dramatic set design, thrilling light show, live feed camera, unbelievable guests. Charli just continuing to deliver!! It’s clear she knows her power, she knows how defining and special this moment is, and she (and her team, clearly) have brought such intention and brilliance and effort to every moment. It’s so fucking admirable and as a fan, the juiciest gift you could ever offer.
Who knows where she’ll go from here. The only certainty is she will stay true to her vision and stay true to herself. Her authenticity, even behind the ‘character’, is deeply effective. There’s no one doing it like Charli xcx.
In the end, this music just feels good to me. Makes me want to move my body. She, like Remi, like Medium Build, helps me feel like myself, understand myself, get in better touch with myself. It rules, and I’m so honored to award her with The Maxies for Song of the Year, Album of the Year, and Artist of the Year. A special year, a special artist. <3 <3
We did it. We made it through 2024 and we made it to the end of The Maxies. Thank you all for the support and kind words, makes this work so fulfilling. I’ll see you next week for our regularly scheduled programming of two deeply special songs from artists you’ve never heard of.
Until then, happy new years, your friend,
Max