I can’t help but think listening to the songs I’ve pulled together this week that a few of them probably wouldn’t have made it to the list in a better week, but who knows maybe all nine of these will be on my year end list in December.

I listened to a really interesting podcast episode from Jon Caramanica’s Popcast over the weekend about album sales and the charts and how they’ve changed and what they actually mean, which for someone who is obsessive over seeing how well songs and artists perform was really interesting, and how the likes of T.Swift and Madonna etc. reach their number one and ‘fastest selling2 albums etc. because the official sales records include merch bundles and album that are lumped in with tour tickets. I’d highly recommend that episode to anyone who’s interested in chart performance, the link to it is here.

Anyway, time to listen up: here are nine new songs for you to consider listening to and a lil word about why I liked em.

Click here for the Spotify playlist

 

Alessia Cara – Ready

I’m still waiting for another big song from Cara, her second album was mostly lackluster and save for Not Today, and I’m not saying Ready is it, but it is a nice easy listen with a breezy island vibe that hasn’t been a difficult one to play on loop.

Best bit: the chorus is a bit of nice

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Bishop Briggs – Tattooed on my Heart

There are a lot of cheesy lyrics in here, the whole concept of tattoos on your heart is a bit Tmblr, and the melody is pretty basic, but I can easily imagine this as one of those crowd-sing-along songs at a concert and it’s probably the catchiest song this week.

Best bit: the easy-to-remember chorus

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DJ Shadow – Rocket Fuel (feat. De La Soul)

I’m by no means an authoritative or even knowledgeable voice on hip hop old or new, but this is an old school style banger and it’s nice to hear from De La Soul properly in the year 2019. The kind of song that will undoubtedly background one of those scenes in an action movie where the weapons/tech person shows them the big arsenal of cool weapons and cars and they get all suited and booted and then do that thing where they walk toward the camera in formation. It also kinda makes me want to rewatch Chuck.

Best bit: That low “na-na-na” in the intro

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JNR WILLIAMS – Our Days

I straight up thought this was James Bay and/or JP Cooper, y;know that guy-with-a-good-upper-range thing, soulfully trained, knows how to really S I N G. I don’t have an awful lot to say about it but I like his, voice which makes the song worth a listen imo.

Best bit: The vocal

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NF – Leave Me Alone

So many rappers get lost for me because I’m not tuned into paying attention to their voices, but NF here really knows how to sell passion and he does it so well in Leave Me Alone – a song of frustration at the need to keep fans engaged via social media etc and a general fuck off to the business side of being a famous recording artist. There’s a lot of a good lyrics in here and his flow is so slick I could listen to him for hours.

Best bit: When he sings with his managers/labels voice “I hate when they debate if we’re underrated/We’re so overlooked that they’re looking over our numbers, Nathan (leave me alone)/We don’t do enough interviews or go out in public lately/We don’t post enough on our socials”

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Six60 – The Greatest

This song has a cool vibe and it made me smile 🙂

Best bit: the chorus of voices in the chorus

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Taylor Swift – The Archer

Any other week I would’ve kicked this to the kerb but I was light on songs so here she is again. The Archer by my reckoning is a later-in-the-album album track that  has been released because they need to release something but don’t want to go for a big tune to have it miss out on number one to Old Town Road again. It’s ambient and nice, I think it’ll work nicely in context. As a standalone it’s kinda forgettable and the big chorus moment that it kinda builds to doesn’t materialise, but as a fan I like it.

Best bit: That  echoey bridge

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Tegan and Sara – I’ll Be Back Someday

This is very Avril Lavigne punk-rock kinda stuff, I like that it’s nice n upbeat and I appreciate Tegan and Sara for always doing something different.

Best bit: The way the opening “Sit and watch my TV set” resonates

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The 1975 – The 1975

Look, I know this isn’t going to make it on to your playlists or mine, and I know it feels a little  something you would hear at an exhibit at Dynamic Earth, but the message is the message and if this does anything to further work  against the Climate Crisis then it’s done it’s job.

Best bit: The message

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