Aimee Mann’s 1993 Whatever is one of the great debut records, a dazzling collection of smart, emotional pop songs. It began a three decades and counting run of wonderful output by one of music’s most underrated songwriters.
While this was Mann’s solo debut, it’s easy to draw a line to Whatever from ‘Til Tuesday’s final album, 1988’s Everything’s Different Now. That record, for which Mann wrote or co-wrote all but one track, has all the hallmarks of her solo work only in glossy New Wave packaging.
Mann is overdue for a new album. Her last proper release was 2017’s gorgeous Mental Illness, setting aside the minor soundtrack project Queens of the Summer Hotel in 2021.
Mann has spent recent years painting, posting cartoon sketches on Instagram and hosting a podcast, all worthy creative endeavors, but I’d sure love to hear some new music.
It’s so hard not to blame you
It’s hard not to put all the blame on you
‘Cause you knew from the start
There was one little part you would not let through
[Pre-Chorus]
I’m sure there were even moments when you thought
You might someday finish what you’d begun
But that could’ve been anyone
Could’ve been anyone
[Chorus]
I lost my place in the sun
Well, never mind
It could’ve been anyone
[Verse 2]
So we all make mistakes
It just figures you’d make me the biggest one
I was saving it up
Now it’s spent and I don’t know
What I spent it on
[Pre-Chorus]
But now I find if you try hard enough
You can wear it down ’til it’s just about gone
‘Til you could’ve been anyone
You could’ve been anyone
[Chorus]
You lost your place in the sun
Well, never mind
Could’ve been anyone
[Bridge]
Your pattern is different
From what it implies
The words may be true but
I realize
It isn’t description so much as disguise
[Pre-Chorus]
Don’t worry, you can learn to live without
You’ve got a lifetime of that to draw upon
And anyway
It could’ve been anyone
[Chorus]
You lost your place in the sun
Lost your place in the sun
Oh, you lost your place in the sun
Well, never mind
Never mind
It could’ve been anyone
Lost your place in the place
Never mind…
(Could’ve been anyone…)
(You lost you place in the sun)
(I think that’s enough now)
(You lost you place in the sun)
Meet Me In Montauk 
Could Mann be the exception to artists who have not really made great music for decades?