Mad fer it! The young musicians flying the flag for Britpop

Artists from Dua Lipa to Nia Archives are tapping the boisterous power of mid-90s music – and even embracing the union jack. Can they keep away from the style’s laddish lows?

For some, Britpop was a high point for British guitar music: that point when Blur, Pulp, Suede and Oasis thrilled the world with wit and brio. Others argue it has aged worse than Loaded magazine: blokey, beery, conservative and nonetheless clogging up the charts. Indeed, there’s perhaps one thing a bit dismal about the fact that James and Shed Seven have each had No 1 albums in 2024.

However, a crop of young artists are turning to the power and iconography of mid-90s Britain for inspiration. The jungle artist Nia Archives, 24, wears a stunning union jack on her tooth for the duvet of her debut album, Silence Is Loud. “No one’s actually making Britpop in the intervening time,” she advised the Face in February, “however I have a feeling 2024 is gonna be the yr.” Dua Lipa has stated she was “wanting by means of the music history of psychedelia, trip-hop and Britpop” while making her new album, Radical Optimism, including that Britpop “has all the time felt so confidently optimistic to me, and that honesty and angle is a sense I took into my recording periods” – though you’d be pushed to notice the affect on the brand new singles she has released to date.