Wolf Alice image by Laura Allard Fleischl; Shania Twain image by Mert & Marcus. Both via PR
The race between Wolf Alice and Shania Twain for the number 1 position on the UK albums chart is a difficult one for my heart to bear. It's closely contested – as of Monday, Wolf Alice's Visions of a Life was only 1,000 copies ahead of Shania's Now – and it appeals to warring but equally important parts of my music taste.Shania is responsible for some of the best pop songs (and, lest we forget, the resurgence of leopard print) of the last 25 years, but Wolf Alice represent some of the things that are best about UK music right now. Their second album Visions of a Life is a varied and genuinely interesting offering, and it doesn't hurt that it's cemented their frontwoman Ellie Rowsell as one of the best rockstars Britain's spat out in years.The two acts represent very different things, making this a fascinating chart race of the sort we see every now and then in the UK: while the US had the enormous gladiator match of "Look What You Made Me Do" vs. "Bodak Yellow," this is our (much less politically loaded) bit of fun. Wolf Alice tried to push back against Shania's heft with a Facebook post by drummer Joel Dilla, shared on the band's official Twitter account:
And while I don't necessarily endorse the comparison between Shania and Pennywise the clown, I do have to fall down on the side of Wolf Alice here (the "That Don't Impress Me Much"-loving part of my brain is sad to say it, though). Visions of a Life is the album that deserves the number 1. While Shania's album is better than most comeback efforts, it's the fresh, wide-ranging, British sound of Wolf Alice that should ultimately arise victorious. Go on, then.Follow Lauren on Twitter.