The Best Five Songs Released From This Past Week, Pt. 26

Happy Sunday! This week’s New Music Sunday post features music from all women-identifying artists (this was not done on purpose). Love to see it!

Noteworthy album & EP releases:
the debut farewell album, Avenue Beat
Puppies Forever, BLACKSTARKIDS
When I Close My Eyes, Chelsea Cutler
Music Of The Spheres, Coldplay
Optimist, Finneas
Fragile, Gracey
How Are You?, Jessia
Summer’s Over, Jordana & TV Girl
Faces, Mac Miller
to hell with it, PinkPantheress
JUNO, Remi Wolf
scared of everything, zeph

“Easy On Me” – Adele
Release date – October 14

If you thought this week’s post didn’t include Adele’s first new single in six years, you’re MISTAKEN! It’s been rumored for months now that Adele would be dropping a new album this fall. This release will be so massively relevant in the cultural zeitgeist that it (allegedly) caused Taylor Swift to release her re-recording of Red a week early so it wouldn’t directly compete with Adele’s new album, which is set to drop on November 19.

“Easy On Me” is likely the first of many songs to come that revolves around Adele’s divorce from Simon Konecki: they split in 2019. Though it’s certainly a track that could be taken for a standard breakup track, “Easy On Me” finds Adele apologizing to her nine-year-old for the emotional damage he may face in this situation.

“I just felt like I wanted to explain to him, when he’s in his twenties or thirties, who I am and why I voluntarily chose to dismantle his entire life in the pursuit of my own happiness,” she told British Vogue. “It made him really unhappy sometimes. And that’s a real wound for me that I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to heal.”

“Sad Song” – Gracey
Release date – October 15

23-year-old British musician Gracey may not be a household name in the US quite yet, but she’s making big moves over in Europe. At the age of 16, she was invited to join the production team Xenomania, an English songwriting and production team. In 2019, Gracey earned a co-writing credit on her first professionally-recorded song “By Your Side” by Jonas Blue and Rae. The song went on to be certified platinum in the UK. She’s also written songs for a handful of other Brit-pop artists.

“Sad Song” is definitely my favorite on the new four-track EP released this past Friday—it has a catchy guitar riff, solid beat, and lyrics about being sad: the three things that will make me like 99.9% of songs. I think the reason why I have such a meaningful relationship with music is because it allows me to understand how I’m feeling through words that are difficult for me to put together, and that’s exactly what the subject matter of this song is about. Of course I love it!

“But I Don’T” – Jessia
Release date – October 15

This is the first time I’ve heard of Jessia, a Canadian musician whose debut EP How Are You? dropped this past Friday, and I’m super glad I have her on my radar now (her biggest single “I’m not Pretty” has 81 million streams on Spotify – where have I been?)

Recently named Apple Music Canada’s UPNEXT artist of October, Jessia’s music exists in the same vein as artists like Selena Gomez, Julia Michaels, and Lennon Stella: sonically and lyrically. “But I Don’T” specifically reminds me SO much of the melody in Shawn Mendes’ “There’s Nothing’s Holding Me Back,” a song that to this day, I still don’t get sick of listening to. Be sure to listen for the hook: it’s so unbelievably catchy!

“Any Day Now” – Trousdale
Release date – October 15

I won’t say much on this new Trousdale track because we wrote about it here and Erin did a great job breaking down why it’s a fantastic song: but we love it so much, I thought it should get another spotlight. Folk-pop trio Trousdale has been releasing music since 2020, and though I’ve enjoyed what I’ve heard, I think it’s been leading up to the band releasing this track. I’m personally a huge fan of artists like Joseph, The Staves, and First Aid Kit: there’s something about multiple female voices harmonizing that hits me in a specific way that I find to be very moving.

Written by Erin: The lyrics, while bleak, lead up to a chorus that’s hopeful for a better future and a focus of making the best of the present moment. While the song’s lyrical content isn’t about a pandemic, instead the failure of a doomed relationship and the back-and-forth about the ups and downs of it, it’s hard not to want to sing along at the top of your lungs no matter what your relationship status is after the year and a half that we’ve collectively endured.

Trousdale is dropping an EP this November.

“scared of everything” – Zeph
Release date – October 15

Here we are with yet another artist I’ve never heard of: maybe I’m just showing my age or I need to step it up? After checking out Zeph on Instagram and then Googling her name, I realized that Zephani Jong has been making waves for awhile now: initially getting some internet traction several years ago for drawing Vines on post-it notes? Now I really am showing my age.

I’m not sure what her story is or how she got to be pretty successful on the internet, drawing over 150k followers on Instagram and half a million monthly listeners on Spotify, but I am excited to check out the rest of the EP she just dropped: the song above is giving me big early Clairo, DIY bedroom pop days.