讲解人 · Lala
原文
But it’s hard not to notice how similar they are thematically: a large swathe of the Guardian’s albums of the year seem consumed by loss.
There are straightforward explorations of failed relationships: for all its religious imagery, there’s a prosaic breakup at the heart of Rosalía’s Lux,
while West End Girl’s lurid detailing of the collapse of Lily Allen’s marriage kept the tabloids in headlines for weeks.
Death, collapsed relationships, the passing of youth and the inexorable passage of time: these are sombre themes that fit a quite spectacularly grim year.
But in the broader context of what’s happening to music, these albums about loss are, oddly, cause for optimism.
Among 2025’s panoply of reasons to be fearful for the future lurked the ongoing advance of AI: certainly, this was the year the technology really made an impact on popular music.
In July came the Velvet Sundown, a gently psychedelic Americana band that amassed millions of streams and were eventually revealed to be “a synthetic music project guided by human creative direction and composed, voiced and visualised with the support of artificial intelligence”.
The same month, an AI-generated facsimile of a Brazilian disco track, Predator de Perereca by Blow Records, went viral on TikTok, amassing nearly 50m streams.
This is all clearly the thin end of the wedge: there’s evidently plenty more to come.
But if AI can make a fair copy of an old disco track, or a country record or a Jorja Smith song, the one thing it can’t do is experience the kind of human emotions that power the albums above.
带着问题听讲解
- 如何理解 acclaimed 这个词？
- 2025 年最受好评的专辑都有哪些阴郁的主题？
- 2025 对于 AI 音乐来说意味着什么？
讲解
重点词汇
grief
/ɡriːf/
n. 悲伤；悲痛；忧伤
- 近义词：sadness; sorrow英文释义：very great sadness, especially at the death of someone例句：She couldn't cope with the grief she felt inside.
acclaimed
/əˈkleɪmd/
adj. 备受赞誉的；广受好评的
- 搭配短语：critically acclaimed搭配短语：highly acclaimed
make for
有助于；促成；导致
- 例句：The contradictions in his character make for a compelling story.
eclectic
/ɪˈklek.tɪk/
adj. 折衷的；兼收并蓄的；风格多样的
- 词根词缀：lect-（选择、采集）例句：My taste in music is quite eclectic.搭配短语：eclectic style
thematically
/θɪˈmæt.ɪ.kəl.i/
adv. 在主题上；从主题角度
- 例句：The pictures were arranged thematically.
swathe
/swɑːð/
n. 一长条；大片
- 例句：The storm destroyed a huge swathe of the forest.搭配短语：a large swathe of the population
prosaic
/proʊˈzeɪ.ɪk/
adj. 平淡乏味的；缺乏想象力的
- 英文释义：without interest, imagination, and excitement搭配短语：a prosaic life搭配短语：a prosaic explanation
lurid
/ˈlʊr.ɪd/
adj. 骇人的；耸人听闻的；色彩刺眼的
- 搭配短语：lurid headlines搭配短语：lurid details
tabloid
/ˈtæb.lɔɪd/
n. 小报；八卦媒体
inexorable
/ɪˈnek.sər.ə.bəl/
adj. 不可阻挡的；无情推进的
- 搭配短语：the inexorable passage of time搭配短语：the inexorable logic of history搭配短语：the inexorable rise of AI
sombre
/ˈsɑːm.bɚ/
adj. 阴沉的；严肃的；忧郁的
- 例句：This is a sombre occasion.
grim
/ɡrɪm/
adj. 严峻的；冷酷的；令人沮丧的
- 搭配短语：grim reality搭配短语：grim determination
panoply
/ˈpæn.ə.pli/
n. 全套；大量；一系列
- 搭配短语：a panoply of choices搭配短语：a panoply of stars
lurk
/lɝːk/
v. 潜伏；暗藏；悄然存在
- 例句：Someone was lurking in the shadows.
psychedelic
/ˌsaɪ.kəˈdel.ɪk/
adj. 迷幻的；致幻的；迷幻风格的
Americana
/əˌmer.ɪˈkɑː.nə/
n. 美国传统文化风格（尤指音乐、艺术）
amass
/əˈmæs/
v. 积累；聚集（大量）
- 搭配短语：amass a fortune搭配短语：amass evidence
facsimile
/fækˈsɪm.ə.li/
n. 复制品；摹本
- 搭配短语：a facsimile of the original manuscript缩写：fax
the thin end of the wedge
事态恶化的开端；危险趋势的开始
- 英文释义：the beginning of a harmful development例句：That feels like the thin end of the wedge.
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