Ladies and Gentlemen, Meet Chincilla

This is English singer/rapper/performer Chinchilla.  What's an up-and-coming pop star doing on my blog?  This young woman can SING, and I think she's got the talent and drive and the look to have one hell of a career.  That's why I'm sharing this, for any of you who haven't heard of her yet.  Listen to this song above, maybe she'll put a spell on you, too.

A little under a year ago, when this song, Ren's "Hi Ren," video was about a month old, and had 3 million or so views, I first watched it.  Alex Leech, a cool BMX rider I know from the 1990's, put it up on Facebook, saying this song blew his mind.  Alex plays music as well, so I checked it out, and "Hi Ren" is one of the most amazing music videos I've ever seen.  I dove down Ren's YouTube rabbit hole that night, and for the next several days, and became a big fan of Ren's work.  "Hi Ren" is overpowering, you can't listen to something that intense every day.  But I found a few songs of his, tagged "Ren X Chinchilla," including these below:

"Chalk Outlines"

"How to be me"

"Sexual Healing" (Marvin Gaye cover- live)

Last summer, after diving into Ren's music, which made me seriously rethink my own creative work, I started listening to Ren and Chinchilla's "Chalk Outlines" every single day, for at least two or three months.  "Chalk Outlines" and "How to be me" are great original songs.  They aren't good songs, they are both great songs, with Ren's minimalistic guitar playing.  He can really play the guitar, but didn't need to, these songs didn't require much backing music to be incredible duets.  So this is how I came to be aware of this singer in the U.K. named Chinchilla.  "Chalk Outlines" is still on my personal mental playlist, along with a few other of Ren's songs.  I listen to it on a regular basis.  

A couple months ago, I ran across the clip at the top, of Chinchilla on The Voice.  I thought, "Cool, Chinchilla is beginning to take off on her own, good for her."  Over the last couple of months, I've seen some more of her new stuff.  Today, while working on this blog post, I've been listening to her live set from Pink Pop 2024, which happened just about a month ago (late June 2024).  

This set really surprised me.  From the couple of her newer music videos I've seen, I expected her stuff to be more pop.  But this live set (link below) is a mix of rock, R&B, Soul, a bit of Hip Hop, and it's a damn solid set.  Am I predicting this her latest EP will go platinum?  No.  But for a new musician on the mainstream scene, still working to get her name out there and draw a fan base, now with some industry backing, it's good stuff.  

You know who this Pink Pop set reminds me of?  This is going to sound crazy.  Her energy and theatrical flair remind me of Meatloaf.  For real.  Anybody remember Meatloaf?  He had an incredible voice, and did live theater when young.  But it took him teaming up with the weird, crazy, and incredible songwriter Jim Steinman to really find his calling.  Then it clicked, and together they made a bunch of great music, starting with the Bat Out of Hell album.  

I think it may take Chinchilla a couple of albums to really find her creative voice, to figure out what kind of songs best suit her voice and style.  Maybe she will write the songs that will really take her global, or maybe someone else will.  But I think there's a lot more amazing music coming from this young woman in the future.  She's not a Britney Spears type, bubble gum pop artist, or a techno dance club singer.  She's the real deal, and I think has the potential for a long and amazing career.  So that's my take on the still up-and-coming singer, Chinchilla.  Here are more of her recent videos:

"Little Girl Gone" Live

"Fingers"

"1:5" Live

"Cold Water" Live

"Shut You Off" 

Pink Pop Festival 2024- Full 45 minute live set

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Greystoke... A magazine for the BMX lifers

Lifers...  A short documentary on the Old School BMXers from Belfast that are still riding

 today.

I first saw Will Smyth at the very first King of Dirt Jam, in Palmdale, California, in 1987.  I can't remember if I actually talked to him that day or not.  A few years later, in the early 1990's, after BMX "died," he stayed at our apartment while on holiday, on trips to the States.  I got to know him then.  When he started Dig BMX magazine, I was one of many who wrote some articles for those early issues.  Design-wise, Dig was the coolest BMX magazine since FREESTYLIN'.  Content wise, those early issues had the feel of a zine, but in a really cool, full color magazine, with killer layout and design.

I got contacted a couple months ago to contribute a little bit to one of the articles in a new magazine, aimed at the Old School BMX crowd... the lifers.  I was told the name, Greystoke.  It sounded like a cool idea.  I was more than happy to send in a bit of text on the subject.  Later on, I found it was Will Smyth, the crew from Dig BMX, along with lifelong rider and industry guy, Scott Towne, doing this project.  I knew this was going to be something special, and have been waiting for it to come out.  

Dennis McCoy, blowing minds at age 20 (he should have beat Woody), and more than three decades later at age 52, and at age 56.  He's got to be part alien, or part Yoda, or something.  Legend.  Lifer.

When I sat down to write this blog post, I looked for some old video of Will, or some of the other U.K. riders, from the early 90's.  Much to my surprise, I found the short documentary above.  Even better.  Far from sunny Southern California, across a continent and an ocean, in Belfast, lived a crew of BMX riders as hardcore as any guys, anywhere.  From the crew that brought us Dig BMX in the 1990's, now comes Greystoke, as the original Generation X BMXers ride through middle age, now in their 40's 50's, and even early 60's.  Once BMX gets ahold of you, it doesn't let go.  As we all learned decades ago, action sports are lifestyle sports.  Into today's 21st century world comes Greystoke BMX magazine.  Check it out, and pre-order here:  Greystoke BMX.*  They have some merch, too.

Blogger's note- 8/2/2023: I live a weirder life than most these days.  I had a few rough days before when I first sat down and wrote this blog post.  I wrote this post while in a really frustrated mood.  Last night, I kept thinking about it.  What I wrote just didn't sit well with me.  So I re-wrote the post this morning.  I wasn't trying to piss anyone off yesterday, I just wrote when I was in a bad place, when I was far more sarcastic than normal.  I haven't checked any comments yet, I just rewrote the post for my own reasons.  

* Not a paid link.

I'm doing a lot of my writing on Substack these days, check it out:

Steve Emig The White Bear's Substack