Another Friday another thousand songs being released. Some weeks are less than others, but it never ceases to amaze me just how many songs are released every week. Independent, major label, up and coming, first songs, and more all released each day competing for the same listeners on the same platforms, how anyone outside the top tier and/or popular artists gets any recognition is amazing.
Listeners have to do a deep dive every week to find the next up-and-coming stars in each genre. Luckily, each DSP has multiple playlists that showcase these up-and-coming artists in each genre, which makes it a little easier, but it is still a LA traffic jam for attention.
Starting next week I am going to be releasing a secondary article that showcases the rising talent because just like everyone else they deserve as much if not more shine as the popular artists who are getting the front pages on DSPs because the DSPs know that is where the clicks come from. It’s understandable, but I guess like the saying goes, “Life is unfair.”
For me this week was a little lighter on the music than the previous few weeks have been, but that didn’t stop great music from being released. I have decided to keep everything in this article positive going forward. This means that I will be still highlighting the releases of the week that didn’t make the top five, but unlike previous weeks I won’t be making my remarks about them necessarily. Not all music is for everyone and going through the litany of music each week leaves with inevitably some records that leave more to be desired for my taste.
I was taught growing up, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, say nothing at all,” and that is what I am choosing to do. I don’t think it is fair for me, some random person to most of you, to give my opinions on a song that I may not like and speak, “down,” about a song or project that an artist has put a lot of effort into for large amounts of time.
With that being said the records that came out this week include:
Slime Language 2 album – Young Stoner Life, Young Thug, Gunna
Life Has Changed single – K Camp ft PnB Rock
Not My Neighbor single – Niko Walters ft Kiana Lede
Pick Up The Pace single – Big K.R.I.T.
Pretty Summer Playlist: Season 1 EP – Saweetie
Shoot My Shot single – IDK ft Offset
What It Cost single – Toosii
Love Is Weird single – Julia Michaels
If you’re a fan of these artists go check these new releases as most of you will enjoy them.
This week there is one project and one single that makes the honorable mentions list…
Missunderstood was released last year and today she added six songs (one interlude) to an already good album. The single, “Set Him Up,” featuring Ari Lennox was released last week and would’ve been one of the songs on the honorable mentions list as well, but I dedicated last week to the legendary DMX. A female version of, “Same Girl,” it’s a good song and they sound good together.
Insecure, for me, is the stand-out of the new songs added. Speaking about having to learn to love yourself before you can love anyone else spoke directly to me and a recent past situation. Any song that brings up old feelings automatically makes my list every week regardless of how many times I may go back it the song. If you were a fan of, “Missunderstood,” you will be a fan of this. I’m not usually a fan of deluxe albums because it’s the same thing with just a few more songs, but when the songs are as good as these I don’t mind.
I have been a fan of Emotional Oranges since Rory first played them as a sleeper on the, “Joe Budden Podcast,” a few years ago. Their sound, their style, their lyrics are incredible to me. They create a vibe for every track and their aesthetic is awesome. Rory is doing a great job with them and they are killing it.
The only reason this song didn’t make the top five list this week is that this is exactly what I expect from them and with this being the second single to be released this year (or maybe since the end of last year) that means there is an album coming (or EP/mixtape volume 3 in their case). Either way, I am going to wait for their full project to put them on the top five list but this song is good enough to have made the list in previous weeks.
It makes a strong case to beat out K Michelle, but I am a sucker for R&B and K Michelle is one of my favorite R&B and female acts at the moment. Her song got me more emotional.
The top five this week genre-wise is a little all over the place, but that is the way I like it. I don’t like having four or five songs all from the same genre. To me, it takes away from the experience of you the reader because if you’re not a fan of that genre then the article for you was a waste that week. This week there is something for everyone.
K Michelle is at it again. Another good song, a sexual, R&B song that fits her voice perfectly.
“This man got me faded / I aint even smoking / I aint even drinking”
She is explicitly telling her man to come over and get in her bed. What guy doesn’t want to hear that? What man doesn’t love when his girl tells him that? If you don’t then as a man you might have a problem. Or maybe you’re cheating and don’t care bout the girl calling you.
Doesn’t matter, whatever the case when K Michelle calls you in this song you will come running. There is something about her voice, what she sings and how she sings that gets me every time. All fans of hers and R&B will love this song. My first thought was this was a better fall/winter song, but it is still great and one that I will be listening to.
“Why do I sabotage everything I love? / It’s always beautiful until I fuck it up”
Strong words to start a song. Especially over only a piano.
“Tell myself I’m safer lonely / with nobody else to break my heart…I’m my own worst enemy”
I know I have had this feeling before, and I think everyone at some point has felt like this as well. We have all at some point asked ourselves these exact questions and had these exact thoughts.
I wasn’t sure what to expect coming into a Rexha track because she has the versatility to give us so many different styles in different genres that I personally may not gravitate to. With a title like, “Sabotage,” I was even more skeptical because I was expecting a summer festival dance track which is not always my cup of tea.
However, this is a powerful pop/R&B track that I loved. It has aspects of a power ballad but the instruments and drums that come in for the second half take it out of that category for me, but it definitely gave me those types of vibes.
She does a great job delivering this song with strong vocals, passion, and emotion that capture you immediately. Fan of hers or not go listen to this song.
I am not sure that Iann Dior can miss. He is on the same level as 24KGoldn (yes I understand their song together is still charting and playing everywhere) when his album came out every song was amazing. Any time Iann drops his delivers.
This is just a 2-pack, which is better than I thought because based on the title I thought it was just a single, so seeing the second song already had me excited. However, I will say seeing Trippie Redd on the first song made me second guess my excitement. I am not the biggest Trippie fan and tend to steer clear of his music purely from a taste perspective but it’s Iann Dior so I had to listen anyway.
Both of these songs are dope. “Shots in the Dark,” I could have done without the feature from Trippie but fans of his and fans of this song are going to tell me I am crazy, but I am fine with that, we are all entitled to our own opinions. That is what this article is isn’t it?
Iann Dior is an incredible song maker with an incredible sound that is here to last. I know anytime I see his name on the recently released list or the new music list I am running to listen (figuratively of course). These two songs are worth the listen to whether you’re a fan or not and will definitely be played for a long time to come.
If you’re not a fan of his I would caution you to stay away from most radio stations and music shows for the foreseeable future.
If you’re a country fan you know who Thomas Rhett is. If you’re a fan of great music you know who Thomas Rhett is. And he shows you why you know who Thomas Rhett is with this short four-song EP.
Until maybe the last few years I didn’t know who Thomas Rhett was, then I heard his song, “Marry Me,” a few years ago and have been a fan ever since. I still play that song today and it makes me cry every time.
I saw this and got excited. I saw it said, “Side A,” and got even more excited because that means there is more to come, possibly soon. Then I saw four songs and was disappointed because I wanted more. Then I listened to the four songs…
I AM OK WITH JUST HAVING THESE FOUR SONGS FOR RIGHT NOW!
These are just country enough to be country, they are just pop enough to grab the fans who don’t always want to hear country music. These are songs for everybody. I mean of course if you’re a fan of hardcore metal or trap you probably won’t enjoy this, but anyone who enjoys great music and great-sounding music at that is going to have a field day.
“Growing Up,” and “What’s Your Country Song,” are the standouts here but out of four songs he has four good songs. He is getting back to his country roots (which he states in “Country Again”) and I love it. I wasn’t always the biggest fan of country but I am becoming more and more a fan as I listen to more artists (especially the up-and-coming ones) and Thomas Rhett is a big reason why.
Fans of his and country and country/pop are going to absolutely love this four-pack. Fans that are on the fence about him or the genre will come to the fan side after listening to this. Great sounding, great singing, great songs, great instruments (real live instruments at that) I don’t have a bad thing to say about any of this.
The only reason it didn’t make number one is that Conway surprised me with the latter half of his album and it was a whole complete album put together greatly. I almost had Thomas Rhett at the number one spot this week and honestly, up until I began writing this article, he was there. I just couldn’t pull the trigger because I have to give the nod to a whole complete good album over an EP of only four songs. Even though those four songs are fantastically great.
Let’s get to why this is number one. You have seen me write about his Griselda mate Benny upwards to five times since I started this weekly article. At the same time, you have seen me put Benny on the honorable mention list or in the bottom half of the top five each time. Sorry Benny there was just so much great R&B that kept being released the same day. Now I feel like a ref that made a bad call and on the next play have to do a make-up call. However, this isn’t necessarily a make-up call because this a great album.
I came into this half excited because as has been mentioned in previous articles I am a huge Griselda fan. However, as I have also stated due to their lyrical content I am not always a return customer after my first listen to the project or track.
When this first started I was having a similar feeling. The signature sound of Griselda came on. Sample with a drum loop pattern and little else. This isn’t bad but it is what to expect and the lyrics that come next are usually of content I don’t relate to which deters me a tiny bit. The first portion of this album was that way for me. Up until about song save (out of 11) I had the feeling that he can really rap and this sounds good but I don’t know how I feel about the replayability for me. Then the second half of the album started.
“KD,” sees Conway using a southern bounce I didn’t know he could do. I was more surprised than anything else. Don’t get me wrong, like the rest on the album, it is a good song but it more so showed me a versatility to Conway that I didn’t know was there and got me that much more excited for the rest of the album.
“Sister Abigail,” shows 7xvethegenius, a female artist I have never heard of, show off. She is rapping and snapping across the latter half of this track. I have to go back and listen again to make sure I caught all she was saying and have to go back and listen to her solo stuff because her verse made me want to know more about her.
The stand-out track for me is clear, “Scatter Brain,” featuring Ludacris and JID. All three go crazy on this track. The flows, the lyrics, the whole thing is great. It seemed like Conway stepped into the lane of JID, and it seemed like both of them stepped into the lane of Luda. The best track for me and probably the one I will revisit the most on this album.
Conway shows off on this album in every way, shape, and form. Lyrically, versatility, style, music, everything which is why it had to be number one for me after thinking about it logically. A great project that showed he can do more than just lyrically rap over samples with little instrumentation. Surprised me and I am sure will surprise the rest of his fan. Go listen to this you won’t be disappointed.
Comentarios