The Five Best Songs Released This Past Week Pt. 52

It’s been a DAMN good week for new music!

Noteworthy album & EP releases:

Digital Dreamscape, ayokay
Dropout Boogie, The Black Keys
Preacher’s Daughter, Ethel Cain
So Far, So Good, The Chainsmokers
Dance Fever, Florence & The Machine
Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, Kendrick Lamar
This Is A Photograph, Kevin Morby
Birthdays In July, Leith
In Real Life, Mandy Moore
Adult, Sasha Sloan
In Bloom, Sofía Valdés

In chronological order:

“Adult” – Sasha Sloan
Release date – May 11

Recently, I’ve gotten super frustrated at the annoying things we have to do as adults, like taking our car to the DMV to get it registered and doing our taxes. So when I heard Sasha Sloan’s new song “Adult,” I felt #triggered. The side effects that come with growing up is such a universally understood concept, and they’re perfectly laid out in this track, which is off Sloan’s new album, I Blame The World.

While we have plenty of songs and feelings about the pressures of figuring out our careers in this lifetime, it doesn’t stop there. Want to go out drinking with friends? Get ready for a hangover after two drinks once you hit 25. If you want to adopt a pet, be sure you can even afford to feed it. You get my point…and Sasha does too.

“Girls Against God” – Florence + The Machine
Release date – May 13

Not only was I already convinced that I was going to love Florence’s new album after learning it was created with pop producer juggernaut Jack Antonoff himself, but I was even further convinced after seeing two songs on the project featured backup vocals from Maggie Rogers. One of those songs is “Girls Against God,” a song with minimal production value and focus on Florence’s vocals and the poignant lyrics. “What a thing to admit That when someone looks at me with real love, I don’t like it very much. Kinda makes me feel like I’m bein’ crushed” Nice.

“N95” – Kendrick Lamar
Release date – May 13

Disclaimer: I in no way feel qualified to speak on rap music, but I felt like it was absolutely essential to include a track off of Kendrick Lamar’s insanely anticipated album, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers. Though I haven’t had a chance to listen to he entire album yet, I’ve probably heard about 75% of it, and “N95” is a song that’s been sticking out in my head since I first heard it.

What seems to be a song that alludes to the (ongoing) COVID-19 pandemic, “N95” also refers to Lamar’s hit single “Swimming Pools” (“I’ve got problems and pools I can swim in my faith.“) and also takes a dig at the industry (“The market is crashin’, the industry wants N****s and b*****s to sleep in a box while they makin’ a mockery followin’ us.”) I’m sure there will be plenty of more discourse around the new album to come in the following weeks.

“Satellite” – Leith
Release date – May 13

“Who knew that 25 could be so f***** mean?” Who knew?! And didn’t tell us?! The sentiment behind the discussed-above “Adult” by Sasha Sloan carries over into Toronto-born Leith’s song “Satellite,” off of her brand new EP, Birthdays In July. Jessie Munro, who goes by her middle name Leith, moved to London before the pandemic hit, which influenced her sound immensely. “I hadn’t really figured out how to write an uptempo song at that point. I was so much more comfortable writing ballads and songs with a slow momentum,” she says in an interview with The Line of Best Fit.

“Satellite” is certainly uptempo, reminiscent of artists like Maggie Rogers and Sigrid. Leith’s work with producer and songwriter Jonah Summerfield and fellow Staged Haze favorite Dylan Fraser led to her debut EP, which dropped this past week.

“Fall In Love Alone” – Stacey Ryan
Release date – May 13

21-year-old TikTok star Stacey Ryan initially found mainstream success with her song “Don’t Text Me When You’re Drunk” this past March. Now she’s back with “Fall In Love Alone,” a song that effortlessly shows off Ryan’s incredible vocal range reminiscent of soul artists like Tori Kelly and Gracie Lawrence of the duo Lawrence. Ryan captures the emotions associated with the trials and tribulations of starting a romantic relationship, the anxiety of coming to terms with feelings and how pursuing something more than a platonic relationship can permanently change a dynamic.