Britpop famously has that mix of swagger and melancholy that made the 90s London scene what it was. JW Paris, a three-piece featuring Gemma Clarke of Baby Shambles and Adam Ant fame alongside Danny Collins and Aaron Forde, understands that feeling. “Anything,” released in October, kicks off their 2025 EP with spiraling guitars and a driving rhythm that bottles the last days of a bittersweet British summer. The Elastica edge is there, the Blur charm is there, and coming off the heels of the Oasis summer tour, the timing couldn’t be better.
What makes the track work beyond the nostalgia is how it explores possibility and identity through absurdist undertones. “I could be anything, but everything is nothing” hits different when paired with that looping mantra of spinning “around and around.” It’s the dizzying rush of youth mixed with the claustrophobia of being trapped in someone else’s version of who you should be. The defiance in “Don’t try to bring me down” crashes into the isolation of “You’re just another face in the crowd,” and that tension creates something genuinely compelling.
The band’s been getting solid attention, nearly 100k Spotify streams and radio plays from Jack Saunders on BBC Radio 1, Steve Lamacq on 6 Music, and John Kennedy on Radio X. Chris Hawkins described them as “Joy Division, where gritty meets swaggery,” and that’s not far off. “Anything” proves JW Paris isn’t just recreating the 90s; they’re taking what worked about that era and filtering it through a modern lens that still searches for meaning in the chaos.
