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Music

Dev Hynes Co-Wrote a Song for Blondie and It's Peak Blondie

How dare a band in their fifth decade be this good?
Lauren O'Neill
London, GB

Blondie are actually rude. Let me explain. First they announced that they were doing a new album called Pollinator, which will be released on 5 May, and we were all like, "aw that's cute, it's nice when heritage acts stick around, and Debbie Harry is cool so despite the fact that these things are usually bad. I suppose I am here for it!"

Then, alongside that album announcement, they released a new song called "Fun" and we were all, "meh I guess one listen won't hurt, hope it's not bad lol!" And then, to our shock, "Fun" was extremely not bad. "Fun" was actually very good indeed, because it sounds not unlike a disco remix of "Heart of Glass." This, a legacy act coming back on such strong form, was almost disconcerting. But it wasn't over.

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Imagine our reactions when we heard "Long Time," a song co-written for Blondie by both Debbie Harry and musical auteur Dev Hynes (one of a number of contemporary collaborators on Pollinator, which also includes contributions from Charli XCX and Sia). This is a song that manages to be a perfect Blondie track and a perfect Dev Hynes track at once. The signature sound of both artists rumbles in there – Blondie's driving drums and bass, Harry's lyrical purr; Hynes' mournful synths – and it makes for an unexpectedly lovely meeting of minds, from which the only real takeaways are that Dev Hynes is a genius and Blondie are probably immortal.

Listen below:

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(Image via YouTube)