New Music Sunday: The 5 Best Songs Released This Past Week Pt. 20

Happy Labor Day weekend! We hope you enjoy the extra time off 🙂

Notable Album & EP Releases:

The Yearbook, Baby Queen
Certified Lover Boy, Drake
Mercury – Act 1, Imagine Dragons
Divison, Jenevieve
Dawn of Chromatica, Lady Gaga
Sometimes I’m An Introvert, Little Simz
Evening Road (Special Edition), Tom Grennan

“Your Love” – Fanclubwallet
Release date – September 1

The song “Your Love” was a smash it way back in the mid 80s: but I’m not going to lie, I definitely had to Google who actually released it back in the day, and when I realize it’s a band called The Outfield, I (sadly) laughed because it’s hard to believe that I couldn’t name the band of a song I’ve probably known since I was a toddler. I am super into fanclubwallet’s cover of “Your Love,” and when I first clicked play on Spotify to listen to it, I figured it was a new song that she had written. But I quickly recognize the lyrics, though this tempo is a little bit different than the original and isn’t as playful, I still enjoyed it. We featured fanclubwallet a few months ago: check out the interview here.

“I Still Have Faith in You” – ABBA
Release date – September 2

Yes: you’re reading this correctly. ABBA is back! They are planning on releasing their first album together in over 40 years later this year. Whether this has been a long time coming, or a side effect of seeing some of their songs go viral on TikTok, (I’d assume it’s been a project in the making for awhile, but you never actually know), this is a big deal for the band and I’m super excited to hear what’s next. The album drops this November.

“Narcissist” – Baby Queen
Release date – September 3

I know we just reviewed Baby Queen’s new mixtape a couple days ago, so I won’t go into too much detail because I elaborated a lot in that post. But I feel like this artist and song deserves so much hype! “Narcissist” has absolutely been on repeat for me over the past week or so (we got the album in advance to review), and now that it’s finally out, I can scream to the rooftops about how much I love it!

While “Internet Religion,” Baby Queen’s debut single, flirts with the chaos of the internet in an influencer-driven world, “Narcissist” goes a lot deeper: instead of flirting with the idea that we actually like ourselves on the internet and our obsession with materialism, the song exemplifies the way that it’s (arguably) more toxic than not. 

“Free Woman” – Lady Gaga, Rina Sawayama, Clarence Clarity
Release date – September 3

I truly can’t think of a better artist to be included in the remix album of Lady Gaga’s 2020 album, Chromatica than Rina Sawayama, one of our favorite breakout artists of 2020. While I haven’t listen to most of the tracks yet, I made a beeline to “Free Woman,” the remix featuring Sawayama and producer Clarence Clarity. I’m sure I’m not the first person, who has noticed how much Rina’s voice sounds like Gaga’s, I still feel like she was really able to showcase the uniqueness of her voice in this cover. I’m not one to go crazy over remixes, especially when it’s an entire album remixed, like when Dua Lipa released Club Future Nostalgia, but whatever reason, I am really excited to listen to the rest of this new version.

“No Sympathy” – Jenevieve
Release date – September 3

Miami native Jenevieve just dropped a new album, and after hearing “No Sympathy” on this week’s New Music Friday playlist, you better believe I plan on listening to that album! “No Sympathy” dabbles between R&B and pop: a low-key, relaxed sound that reminds me of SZA but if she were releasing music in the ’80s. I am super excited to see what comes from Jenevieve next.