Welcome to #StillWorthListeningToOnMonday, a round-up of the week’s best releases and #NewMusicFriday standouts you’ll still care about after the weekend ends. Don’t waste your valuable stream worth a fraction of a cent.
Like Aquaria and Miz Cracker, Jesus Christ and I have been relentlessly compared throughout our careers. And, wouldn’t you know, the same day that I miraculously start to bounce back from the flu, she decides to pull a stunt and come back to life – and we’re both doing the same eyebrows. Whatever.
I’ve missed a lot of the #NewMusicFriday hoopla because I was busy having 6 AM panic attacks and fever dreams about Toni Basil (true story), but I’m starting to somewhat feel like myself again.
And so, here are some of the music releases worth listening to well beyond this Holy Weekend coming to an end.
The Kacey Musgraves Album
Miss Kacey decided to start some drama by reposting (and then deleting) a Golden Hour-is-the-new-E•MO•TION For Gays meme, which was a bold move, fanning the homosexual flames on Twitter and ATRL. I don’t know about all that, but one thing I can say for sure is that in a world of Most Personal Album To Date country-pop efforts (thanks once again, Joanne), this is the only album I’m willing to wholly accept into my life. I’m still digging my spurs into the songs, but so far “Slow Burn,” “Oh, What A World” and “Happy & Sad” stick out as early favorites – beyond the obvious “High Horse,” which remains the album’s shining standout. Yeehaw, indeed.
The Hayley Kiyoko Album
Pop music is already gay…and it keeps getting gayer. Hayley’s unabashedly Sapphic brand of pop has already afforded her a loyal following, and now that the album’s finally out, she’s about to win over even more fans. From “Curious” to “Feelings,” a standout from last year, Expectations is a blend of catchy, pulsating modern pop and unabashedly queer lyricism and visuals. Between Hayley and LOOΠΔ and future New York Governor Cynthia Nixon, the lesbians are taking over – thank God.
Welcome, Olivia Hye
Speaking of LOOΠΔ, the Best Girl Group of 2018 That Hasn’t Even Debuted Yet, Still, we finally met Olivia Hye, the group’s twelfth and final member over the weekend in the form of “Egoist.” The song’s a Wig Snatcher™, which is no surprise – but it’s the easter egg-filled (fitting!) music video that has the LOOΠΔverse truly shaking with the slightest split-second tease of the group’s third sub-unit, as well as an incredible full-circle moment with the group’s first member, HeeJin. I’m speaking a foreign language to those who haven’t been formally inducted into the LOOΠΔverse, I know, but to those who’ve been following along with the fan theories and narrative crafted by BlockBerry Creative, this group has already provided more excitement to pop than any other group in years. (Also, the B-side, “Rosy,” is amazing too.)
Third Time’s a Charm
Kylie‘s country-pop jaunt is (mostly) not my cup of tea thus far, but she’s finally do-si-doed somewhere much closer to that classic KM sound with the third offering from Golden: “Raining Glitter.” (I mean, one would hope with a title like that.) As some people have pointed out, the track feels like a fun, campy cut circa Light Years/Fever, with the slightest twang. That’s more like it. Woop!
The Weeknd Album
It’s a mini-album, actually. And it’s kind of a return-to-roots! Not in a Justin Timberlake-wearing-flannel way, but rather in the sense that this collection of dark-and-stormy, sad-and-horny bops is reminiscent of The Weeknd‘s pre-superstardom mixtapes. Like Lana Del Rey, Abel certainly has an aesthetic. This particularly collection feels less focused on penetrating Top 40 radio, and more about letting him feel his emo oats again. The Weeknd: for fucking, then having an existential crisis afterward.
Tinashe Revs Her Engine Again
Sometimes, Tinashe’s superstar potential makes me want to scream. The music video for “Me So Bad,” the latest serving from the forthcoming Joyride, is further evidence of a young queen on the brink of something huge. Everyone’s got an opinion on where Tinashe’s coming from sonically, as she’s tried just about everything since Aquarius – she truly is a Vers queen, after all. To me, she’s at her best when she’s in her late-night and moody zone, as with Nightride, but she’s fully equipped to serve up some radio-friendly mainstream bops, like this tropical-tinged, familiar-sounding jam. What should she be doing? I honestly don’t have an answer at this point – I don’t think anybody does. I just want her to win.
Todrick Hall & RuPaul
I don’t know what I was expecting…but Todrick just out-served most of the girls right now. This chorus? I’m so into voguing right now.
Miss Vanjie
Miss Vanjie. Miss Vanjie. Miss…Vanjie.
My early favorite became the first to get the boot (unjustly), and is now the most beloved first eliminated queen in the show’s history. If she doesn’t get her proper Ru-demption, there will be hell to pay. Give us our goddamn cookies back, RuPaul.
That’s all I’ve got for now. Time for more soup. Happy Easter and Chag Sameach!
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Photo credit: MCA Nashville / BlockBerry Creative / Atlantic