Jensen McRae - “Starting To Get To You”
Jensen hasn’t yet missed with any of her solo songs, and this is another great addition. Most of her songs are very soft, but this one has a slightly more upbeat tone to it. The upbeat drum and bass combination plays nicely off of the soft guitar line. The songwriting itself has always been Jensen’s strong suit, and it comes through again on here. Her voice and the lyrics help make this one memorable for a single. On the other hand, the runtime being under three minutes doesn’t quite make it the most memorable song, especially with the storytelling in her previous songs, but this song would make a good track in the middle of an album. In my opinion, “Immune” is a better single because of the story behind it and the traditional instrumental build towards the end, but “Starting To Get To You” is still a good sign for what’s to come with her debut album.
Listen: Spotify
Baby Keem - “No Sense”
Baby Keem is becoming one of the voices for this new generation of hip hop and this is another single leading up to whenever his next project comes out. This one's a bit softer and more subtle than his previous material, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad. He still comes through with a nice, entertaining ballad of a hip hop song. The beat still helps drive the song, but Baby Keem’s voice is the focal point. His voice is usually animated and almost at a yell, but this song features him almost singing at some points. His previous material that had singing in it had him trying way too hard to sound good, but he now knows to sing just enough for the song to work. The lyrics still aren’t special, but they don’t distract from the rest of the song. This is yet another quality single in the past few months from Keem, and hopefully the album comes sooner rather than later.
Listen: Spotify
Silk Sonic (Bruno Mars & Anderson Paak) - “Leave The Door Open”
When Bruno Mars and Anderson Paak announced they were releasing an album together, it initially threw me slightly off. I wasn’t sure how well their sounds would compliment each other, but this single exceeded all expectations. “Leave The Door Open” sounds like something directly out of 1970s R&B. Anderson Paak’s groove is immediately apparent, and he takes the vocals for the verses. His voice brings the soulful, playful feeling that coincides with the lyrics. Bruno takes the chorus and somehow makes it even smoother than before. The chord progression during the chorus is amazing, especially how they go from powerful to soft so effectively. The outro just builds on the chorus for the last couple minutes and features everything that one would want from these two. This song is easily one of the best of 2021 and puts the album as one of the most anticipated projects of 2021.
Listen: Spotify
Chance the Rapper - The Heart & The Tongue
There was only one direction that Chance could go after The Big Day, and this song is a step in the right direction. It’s not being promoted as a single, as it’s only being released on Youtube, but it shows that he can still write quality bars. The laid back production helps us focus on what Chance has to say, which is a positive in this case. There is still a plethora of religious lines, but there is also lots of Greek mythology on here as well, “And then, the fingertips, they twist up like Poseidon’s trident. Remember safety if you ever running from the tight end.” The track isn’t anything special, but hopefully it’s a good sign for what’s coming later from Chance. Even with The Big Day and the lawsuit with his former manager, I still hope Chance can turn his career around and truly be what he thinks he is.
Saba - “Ziplock” / “Rich Don’t Stop”
It’s been almost three years since Saba’s last album, but he’s been putting out a steady stream of content. This is his third dual-single release in the last six months, and might just be the best one yet. These songs don’t experiment with his sound that much, but I’m not sure if he’ll experiment with his sound anymore. Both of the songs are straightforward, introspective, and talk about his state of mind. “Ziplock” is the more introspective of the two with extremely personal lines like, “I got right back on my feet, I fell face first the first time I’ll admit I did. Took a couple years for me to feel like I did not fall upon all deaf ears.” “Rich Don’t Stop” is more aggressive, but still has those lines that show how poptent Saba can be, “She say the shit don’t stop. Tears don’t stop. At home scared so the fear don’t stop.” Each of these tracks would fit perfectly in his previous work, but they still don’t seem better than his previous best material. Either way, I suppose it’s still good that Saba’s dropping quality tracks, but hopefully he experiments a bit more with his next full length project.
Listen: Spotify
Luna Li - “Cherry Pit”
I thought I talked about her previous EP last month, but turns out I didn’t. Luna released an EP of her homemade jams she made during quarantine in her room. She plays the bass, guitar, harp, violin, drums, keyboard, and more in these videos. “Cherry Pit” is her new single and it’s a full length single after the minute long songs on the EP. It follows in the same groovy, indie-pop that’s becoming popular right now. Her vocals are a bit low in the mix and feel almost secondary to the music a lot of the time, but they still work for the track itself. The song does have a quality build throughout the four minute long runtime as well, climaxing in a fuzzy guitar solo likely done by Luna herself. I can’t say that this song is immediately one that will make her stand out from everyone else doing this sound, but combining the producing talent her EP showed with this single and I can see her having a bright future.
Listen: Spotify
Kenny Mason - “Pup”
This is Kenny’s second single to the Supercut of his 2020 incredible debut Angelic Hoodrat. As of now, the project still has no release date, but this single seems to have the official Supercut cover, so hopefully it’s coming out soon. “Pup” was teased months before it came out and frankly, I thought it was going to be one of his most generic songs yet. Instead, it ended up being likely his most unique song so far. He takes the rock elements up a notch and adds in some subtle electronic elements to this track. Each section of the song is driven by heavy guitar lines and Kenny doing some very melodic rapping. This is definitely a song that relies on a vibe heavier than it does the lyrics, which makes it slightly less appealing to me compared to his previous music. Either way, Kenny Mason continues to do something no one else in hip hop is doing and hopefully this Supercut helps raise his popularity levels to the place it should be.
Listen: Spotify
Jorja Smith - “Addicted”
Jorja Smith hasn’t released an album in almost three years. It’s a weird schedule for someone who was featured on Drake and Kendrick Lamar led projects, but I guess if the music ends up being good it’s all good. There have been new singles though, including the 2019 hit “Be Honest” and fantastic jazz oriented songs “Rose Rouge” and “By Any Means”, and this one falls slightly behind those three. Her voice fits perfectly for this mid tempo R&B tune and builds perfectly on the back end of the track. I’m not quite sure if it’s the best single, but it would be a perfect track for the middle of an album. The hook is immediately catchy and will be the reason why this one will stay in rotation for a while. I do hope that Jorja changes her style a bit for this next album, especially with the long wait time between her projects, but for now, I’m content with another good single and a great voice.
Listen: Spotify
Laura Les - “Haunted”
After 100 gecs has blown up in the past couple years, the possibility for solo music from Laura and Dylan has become smaller and smaller. After being a part of a couple live DJ shows by herself, fans started to clamour for some of the unreleased music that she played during those sets. Now four months after being teased at the A2B2 Night of Fire festival, Laura officially released her first new song in years. As expected, the song is an aggressive hyperpop-oriented banger. The only part that actually has understandable vocals is the verse, and even those are pitched up to 100 gecs normal levels. The chorus consists of something that sounds like wild screaming that’s pitched up even more than humanly possible, almost like an angry mosquito decided to start yelling. That unintelligible vocals do kind of hold the song back in terms of my personal replay value, but the production proves that Laura is still a really talented producer by herself. I’ll always be excited for new music by either Laura or Dylan, and this is a good one to start with.
Listen: Spotify
Giveon - “All To Me”
Giveon recently repackaged his two EPs together into an album, but he also released this new single to help promote it. I would also guess that it’s not a coincidence that it came out just two days before his Grammy nomination was being announced. “All To Me” isn’t much special, but another quality R&B song from someone with a really great voice. The melody during the chorus is one of his most instantly catchy, and it’s not surprising that he’s got some big names helping in the writing and producing of this one. The Weeknd innovator Illangelo is on here, as is Drake hitmaker Boi-1da, and even Victorious’s own Leon Thomas III who helped produce for his previous castmate Ariana Grande. Giveon is being heralded as the next huge star of R&B, and although I’m not on board with a large claim like that, there’s no denying that he’s making some quality R&B tunes.
Listen: Spotify
AG Club - “Truth” (Feat. Sam Truth & Redveil)
There aren’t many hip hop groups anymore, and AG Club is one of the up and coming groups that are helping maintain the collective feeling. “Truth” is another banger added to their small discography. The production is extremely hard-hitting and features a fantastic verse from Jody to start out the song. It transitions pretty seamlessly into Sam Truth’s more melodic chorus and bridge. The chorus of, “Speak in the light, speak in the dark” is a bit too repetitive, but it still transitions pretty well overall. Redveil gives an introspective feature over a fuzzed out guitar line that helps close the track. For being either 16 or 17 years old, Redveil’s introspection is really great and provides just something else to be excited about for the young teen. “Truth” definitely isn’t AG Club’s best single, but it’s another quality track on the way to their debut album coming out next week.
Listen: Spotify
Flo Milli - “Back Pack” (Flora The Explorer)
Yes, this song samples the iconic theme song from Dora. The chorus is taken directly from the original sample, and is likely the reason why this song won’t appear on any streaming service. It’s kind of hilarious that this track even exists, which I assume is the reason why it does. Flo Milli has become one of the most popular people on TikTok, and even though the premise is funny, it seems like something made just for the absurdity of it. She’s even dressing up like Dora in the video and is surrounded by Boots the monkey for most of it as well. Her lyrics and subject matter are just like her normal material, which is bragging and saying things for the listener to feel good about themselves. This song might be one of the worst tracks Flo Milli has ever released, but if this is one of the worst things you’ve released, then that means you’re on the right track because this is still entertaining for at least a short time.
Paris Texas - “Situations”
The duo that released the metal/hip-hop crossover “Heavy Metal” is back with their second single ever and it’s easily a step down. Instead of it being a hip hop or rock oriented track, this sounds like a demo of a synth-pop track. The chorus is the main saving grace for this track. Even though it’s extremely simple and a bit annoying, it does easily get stuck in your head. The instrumental outro with the guitar melody is a nice addition too. In a way, this sounds like if Childish Gambino’s album last year was worse. I know I loved that album more than most, but maybe while I heard a lot of great ideas executed well, other people heard stuff like this. Even with this single being lackluster comparatively, I’m still excited for how this group ends up sounding for a full project.
Listen: Spotify
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