Best New Music Releases

For those of us who consider ourselves to be avid music fans, it was quite the overwhelming weekend for new releases.

As we already know (and I already wrote about), Lorde came out from hiding and released her first new material since 2014, “Green Light,” on Thursday afternoon, officially announcing her second album, Melodrama, was on the way.

As if that wasn’t a big enough deal in itself, brand new music also came from a handful of other artists. Below is a rundown of some of the best music released this weekend:

Khalid: American Teen

Release Date: Friday, March 3

Genre: R&B Pop

Key Tracks: “American Teen,” “Another Sad Love song,” “Young, Dumb & Broke”

Khalid, this unbelievably talented 18-year-old from El Paso, Texas, just released his debut album, American Teen, as an independent artist. He has received widespread acclaim from all over the world and has created quite the internet following: his Spotify streams boast 50 million+ streams. Did I mention he’s 18? With no future tour plans in sight (at least visible to the public), it’ll be very interesting to see where 2017 takes him.

Ed Sheeran: Divide (%)  

Release Date: Friday, March 3

Genre: Pop

Key Tracks: “What Do I Know?”  “New Man,” “Barcelona”

After taking a break from the internet for a year, Ed Sheeran is back with his third album, Divide. After the release of his first two singles off the album, “Shape of You” and “Castle on the Hill,” he was up for the task of following his previous successful releases, + (2011) and x (2014). While I have only listened to the album a couple times, I have come to the conclusion that it is more of an album to show off Sheeran’s wide range talents, including nods to R&B, acoustic, soul and even other genres. If you’re looking for a cohesive body of work, this album may not be the one for you.

 

Léon: For You

Release Date: Friday, March 3

Genre: Indie Pop

Key Tracks: “For You,” “Sleep Deprived”

Although seeing that Léon released a new EP was initially very exciting, I was a little disappointed to see it only included one new song and three previously released tunes. With that being said, it’s nice to see these four songs released as a body of work and I think that deserves to be recognized. When I saw Léon last month at Schuba’s, she had sang “For You” for the first time live and it was really cool to hear a preview of this new track and I think it’s a great addition to the rest of her discography.

 

LANY: Good Girls 

Release Date: Friday, March 3

Genre: Pop

Exciting news for LANY fans, the band has just announced the release of their debut album along with a new single, Good Girls. The album, which drops June 30, will feature 14 new songs, an impressive addition to their already large collection of released music on various EPs. The song seems to put LANY in their element, with pop synths and lyrics rivaling those of previous heartthrobs like the Backstreet Boys. Although LANY does not perform with synchronized dance moves like a variety of their predecessors, their boyband sound, intense fandom of screaming girls and good looks, they can easily be on the way to making way to becoming the next big boyband.

 

All of these tracks are available to stream on Spotify.

– Kristin