Summer is in full swing now and the temperatures worldwide are hitting record–breaking numbers which is genuinely terrifying. It’s been pretty hot on the East Coast as well and almost every time I walk outside my body starts to profusely. I’ve been coping by staying in my apartment as much as possible with the AC at a reasonable temperature and staying wrapped in a blanket. Here’s a playlist for staying inside and growing increasingly Vitamin D deficient every day.
Bubblin- Anderson .Paak
Do you want to fake being a baller for 4 minutes? Listen to Anderson .Paak’s newest single, Bubblin. As someone who loves a good instrumental build, this song hits all the right notes. The song begins with some fast-paced percussion, trumpets (or some other horn, I don’t have the musical vocabulary to identify an instrument by sound alone), chanting, strings, and then a shout slowly increasing in volume brings the song into the first verse where the bass drops and Anderson .Paak lets loose. I don’t mind flexing anthems when they’re this fun and I would put this in the same sphere as DRAM’s equally fun jam Cash Machine.
Love Maze- BTS
I’ve only ever dabbled in Kpop lightly before. I’ve listened to some curated Spotify playlists of Kpop girl groups before and had a few songs in rotation for a bit but I’ve never gone full Kpop just because I’m terrified I’ll never leave. It ticks off all the boxes that I love in pop music: over the top music video aesthetics, coordinating outfits, synchronized choreography, and sugary pop production. Let Us Just Love by Apink and Russian Roulette by Red Velvet are the songs that always come to my mind. The former because it’s so catchy and the latter because it’s so catchy and the morbid visuals have been stuck in my head ever since I first saw the music video. Over the month, I dove back into Kpop for a bit to listen to BTS’s newest album Love Yourself: Tear.
Now I’m going in completely blind and having listened to nothing else by BTS. The half of the album that I enjoyed I really enjoyed but I feel just lukewarm about the rest. Overall, I think I just enjoy the lighter production that tends to come with Kpop girl groups more than the darker trap-influenced production that shows up here. The standouts were Paradise, Magic Shop, Airplane pt.2, Anpanman, and Love Maze, a song that I could not get off of repeat for an hour. The R&B style crooning that these guys are showcasing on this song sent me to another dimension. The members transition so smoothly between singing and rapping but also their different tones of voice. I’ve searched Youtube high and low and I don’t think they’ve performed this one live. When that happens, I will truly be inconsolable. CAN I PLEASE GET A LIVE VERSION OF LOVE MAZE????
Give Yourself A Try- The 1975
It’s been two years since The 1975 released their second album “I like it when you sleep for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it”, and since then The 1975 fans have been on edge to see what they’ll do next. The band has a penchant for being cryptic in their promotion so to get the inside knowledge on what they’re working on it pays to follow their socials closely. In May, the band wiped their social media layouts and posted cryptic photos that all had the words A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships. Stunts like these often feel a bit pretentious, so I ignored all of the cryptic nonsense and just tuned in when the actual music came out.
Instead of a retelling of a grimy romantic encounter that shows up often in The 1975’s lyrics, this song pivots inward towards some self-reflection. The lyrics almost feel like following a train of thought with Matty Healy singing about different topics like the lessons he’s learning as he grows up, a situation where a 16-year-old fan committed suicide and getting clean from an opioid addiction. The chorus repeats a plea to ‘give yourself a try’ and invites the listener to engage in their own self-reflection and discovery as opposed to the multitude of distractions that the world offers. The return of The 1975’s signature synths is a welcomed feature as well.
Charli XCX- Focus/No Angel
If Charli XCX didn’t want me to put her on a playlist every time she releases new music, she wouldn’t be releasing such good songs. I saw her vaguely mentioning on social media that she was just going to drop Focus/No Angel out of nowhere and I thought it was another mixtape. Thank god it wasn’t because I wouldn’t have been able to handle that but it’s a double single. No Angel was originally produced by longtime collaborator SOPHIE for her third album that has yet to see the light of day due to issues with her label. Focus is produced by Jack and Coke and another familiar face, A.G. Cook of PC Music. Both carry the same hallmarks of the bubbly pop production with Focus having more deep electronic warbling effects. If you’re any fan of Charli’s previous collaborations with these producers, check these out.
Honorable Mentions:
Come Over- The Internet
Dance To This- Troye Sivan ft. Ariana Grande
Playinwitme- KYLE ft. Kehlani
dani writes 