Anja Kotar’s first single from her forthcoming album NOMAD deals with a perennial issue, the one at the heart of young lives across the globe, the one that determines the hierarchy of all our formative years, the issue flagged up in the title, the issue of How To Be Cool. Not that she needs to worry as the song itself is one of the coolest things to happen in pop for a long time and is all the better for the attitude that drives it. For this track isn’t acting as some sort of blueprint, a fast track to popularity, far from it. Rather it questions the whole notion of what being cool is and why you would even subscribe to such an idea in the first place.
A wonderful irony lies in the fact that whilst raising that question, she has blended some eighties vibes, contemporary lyricism and forward thinking dance grooves into the coolest of tunes and the perfect calling card for NOMAD, her musical exploration of the pressures of today’s generation growing up in America. The album is full of infectious tunes and though provoking ideas and unintentionally begs a whole different question. Why be cool when you can be smart?
Words: Dave Franklin