This week’s biggest news in new music actually had nothing to do with music, undoubtedly that was the news that spilled over Instagram that Beyoncé is pregnant, with twins no less! Let the celebrations reign, and to keep your spirits alive we have plenty of new music to keep you amped. Ariana Grande and John Legend took us back with the Beauty and the Beast theme song, Big Sean and Eminem teamed up for a 313 combo on No Favors, and Imagine Dragons has got a new one to make you a Believer.
All these track and oh so much more are yours for the taking on New Music Friday via Spotify. New music is not always the easiest to keep track of, that’s why we’ve complied New Music Friday All Stars to give you a refresher course for the last six months of new music.
10. If You Could Read My Mind by Henry Jamison
It a cover that made a whole lot of sense with Jamison’s style of music, to take Gordon Lightfoot’s 1970 easy listening classic and fill it with his quirky changes in keys. The song was a staple from the musician’s childhood, sharing with Crack in the Road recently that his dad recorded the original from the radio onto a cassette tape in the early 70s, and he listened to it while his dad ran track in his short shorts.
9. 4AM by The Mowgli’s
It’s our go-to stance that The Mowgli’s begs the question in the form of a classic line from Clueless “Is this a Noxzema commercial or what?” The carefree, loud, and dizzying sound always conjure an image of young things living carpe diem in the prime of their lives. That theme continues here on 4AM, but the lyrics hint that at 4AM the party is officially over and it’s time to go to bed.
8. When We Party by Faith Evan, Notorious BIG feat. Snoop Dogg
In a feat you don’t come across often, with the just released compilation The King & I Notorious BIG has now released more albums dead than alive since his death in 1997. We can’t help but think he’d approve of When We Party, a West Coast bombastic track layered over excerpts from Goin’ Back to Cali. It gives new meaning to the phrase ain’t no party like a West Coast party cos a West Coast party don’t stop.
7. Better Now – Acoustic by Cloves
For fans who are already familiar with Cloves’s original version of “Better Now” you’re bound to listen to the acoustic version and say “that’s it?” As the changes to the track are as minuscule as they get, taking the vibrations over the chorus of “woo hoos” from pounding to strumming. But as the young Australian is still relatively new on the scene, this version is a good starting part to become familiar with her catalog. The lyrics are an interpretation of the phrase cute but psycho, with the singer keeping her tongue firmly in cheek.
6. In The Air by Ten Fé
Giving us with their latest the things that indie dreams are made of, In The Air is a high note off of their just released album Hit The Light. It fills you with positive “light streaming in through the windows” positivity and closes the deal with zippy positive thoughts like “I’m not through with love, but I’m through the pain / Moving on the feeling in the air.”
5. Bomb Drop by Less Than Jake
Tell us that Bomb Drop was a forgotten tracks from any album of Less Than Jake;s from the nineties and we wouldn’t know any differently, as we still can’t get our heads around how similar the sound is to all their old classics. Harder than it looks for a band that’s been giving us power ska since 1992. Bomb Drop finds it home on the fast and furious CD Sound The Alarm with foreboding but fast paced lyrics like “We can’t keep on waiting for the bomb drop and hope that everything just stops.”
4. My Old Man by Mac Demarco
The subject of hereditary can often be a tender one, but as usual Mac Demarco treats the subject with a fair amount of chill. An examination in the mirror reveals the singer’s true self to himself, naturally, hauntingly giving us lines like “there’s a price tag hanging off of half of all that fun” and then concluding that it looks like there’s more of his old man in the reflection. It’s a perfect track for either completely zoning out OR thoroughly examining the deeper aspects of life.
3. I Don’t by Mariah Carey, YG
We squealed with delight when we saw the title of Mariah’s latest, thinking that she brought to life via song one of her most shady moments “I don’t know her” in response to Jennifer Lopez’s, well, existence. Turns out the themes here are more the standard R&B jam of “I used to love you, but I don’t.” Color us somewhat disappointed, but the song still has it high moments as a breakup anthem for women everywhere.
2. Love Is Mystical by Cold War Kids
Just in time for Valentine’s day when you’d like to treat the day honoring universal love instead of just romantic love, Cold War Kids have outfitted you with the just the song with their first release in three years. In typical fashion lead singer Nathan Willett pours his entire heart into the candor of the lyrics, knocking us down with the delivery of “light in darkness will show you the way / give you the power to believe again.”
1. Lions by Skip Marley
By now we’re familiar with Bob Marley’s iconic music living on through his sons Ziggy and Damian, but now as we’re all getting a little older, we’ve been introduced to Bob’s grandson Skip. Truthfully he’s been on the scene for awhile with tracks like Cry to Me, but Lions comes to us now with full force and power, a “Redemption Song” for modern times, singing “we are the movement, this generation, you better know who we are.” Can’t help but feel his grandfather would be massively proud of his work here.
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