A few days only after the video of “deep end,” Swedish artist Lykke Li is back with the “hard rain” visuals. Both tracks are taken from her fourth album to be released early June. In the beautiful Anton Tammi-directed video, the artist is having a burning romance with pouring rain and idyllic sunsets in the background. It looks like all of her recent videos are completing each other and that love is a a central subject of her upcoming LP. Watch her new video below.

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Following up on “utopia” and “hard rain,” Swedish singer-songwriter Lykke Li has unveiled a brand new track off of her upcoming fourth album. The single, which was produced by Jeff Bhaskar, Malay, FrancisGotHeat and T-Minus, comes with DIY visuals entirely shot with an iPhone. Watch the video below.

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SZA (real name Solána Imani Rowe) deals with the way one’s own anxieties can affect a relationship and how not accepting one’s own flaws can lead to a refusal to believe that another person could ever accept those flaws. It’s a reminder that relationships can exacerbate your anxieties if you merely expect someone else to fix all of your problems without working on them on your own. ‘Supermodel’ opens the album with admissions so vulnerable they feel like therapy set to music. In the song, SZA writes a letter to an ex, telling him she slept with his friend and singing, ‘Why can’t I stay alone just by myself/ Wish I was comfortable just by myself/ But I need you’. With this, Rowe seems to acknowledge the complexities of a relationship in a way that is often missed; she acknowledges her own error while still managing to criticise her partner.

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At various points, SZA worries about how her clinginess and her body might lead to her partner seeking others. She sings, ‘I’m sorry I’m not more attractive/ I’m sorry I’m not more ladylike’. It’s a reminder that relationships often involve us trying to live up to society’s problematic version of how we should look or act. Struggles to attain your gender’s stereotype are magnified by relationships where we typically idealise a gender stereotype. Rowe sings of looking to be what her other wants: ‘I wish I was a normal girl/ how do I be your baby’. These are the sort of issues we can understand intellectually as problematic but still yearn to fit in. At least when you’re single you can face less responsibility for your inevitably problematic behaviour. It’s less likely to directly hurt anyone or to hang over you. Each member of a couple’s insecurities can rub up against the others in a relationship causing even greater friction.

Thematic analysis aside, SZA’s music has matured and come closer to rivalling the high bar set by her TDE labelmates (Kendrick, Schoolboy Q, etc.). Her vocal delivery throughout the album is brilliantly idiosyncratic. Her voice jumps to unusual intervals while she incorporates rap-like flows into her animated singing voice. She has progressed hugely since her mixtape ‘Z’, where she struggled to have a distinct identity. ‘Childs Play’, from that album, saw her outshined on her own track by Chance The Rapper (who, to be fair, is very hard to share a track with). She mostly struggled to break away from the anonymity of the world of the R&B hook singer. Since then, SZA has found a way to make herself stand out in an R&B world that has rarely been so full of unique talents. The beats are an enjoyable take on alt-R&Bs blend of up-to-date electronic and hip-hop textures with just a touch of older jazz or soul sounds. Muted late-night textures are generally left in favour of bright pop tones and major keys. A particular standout beat-wise in ‘Doves In The Wind’ with its 90s-ish breakbeat adorned by an off-kilter synth and a well-used sample from Redman’s ‘Let’s Get Dirty’.

While I do enjoy ‘CTRL’, I’d say much of it is merely strong. The pop direction of single ‘Drew Barrymore’ appeals less to me than the dreaminess of ‘Prom’ or the gospel-ish harmonies of ‘Weekend’. Surprisingly, the most successful of the guest rappers is not TDE labelmates Kendrick or Isaiah Rashad but Travi$ Scott, whose autotuned croon fits snugly into ‘Love Galore’.

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By an odd coincidence this piece has been written as my own anxieties have been flaring up. In the depressed states that often follow this lack of confidence, writing can seem like a pretty pointless process. The song that has hit closest to home for me has been ‘20 Something’, a song about the difficulties of figuring out your own life. It’s likely that after ‘Z’, SZA herself did a lot of soul-searching before reaching the point of greater maturity that this work represents. While your 20s are often romanticised by older people, they’re also incredibly difficult as your freedom becomes daunting rather than exciting and you yearn for a sense of stability. ‘Ctrl’ manages to be a remarkably vulnerable album in a genre that specialises in that openness.

Of course, having his song “Location” appear in Kylie Jenner’s Snapchat story didn’t hurt either. But, just the fact that Khalid’s music is compatible with the most mainstream of mainstream outlets says a lot about how skillfully he’s able to blend soulful R&B with clear-cut pop. It’s hard to find a single track out of the 15 on “American Teen” that doesn’t revolve around a catchy hook, and it’s equally tough to find a bad one. Khalid’s distinctive singing just never seems to hit any bumps along the way, always sounding right at home atop the album’s bright, somewhat vintage instrumentals, with tracks like “8TEEN” and “Young Dumb & Broke” rising to the top as highlights.

Khalid’s “American Teen” successfully captures the essence of its namesake – from the album’s breezy blitheness to its tendency toward tunnel vision.

Pick any song from “American Teen” at random, and there’s a good chance you’ll find yourself vibing to it. Pick another, and you might start noticing some similarities. Listen through all 54 minutes of the album and, well, it might all feel like one big blur. Themes of fleeting romance and lyrics along the lines of “Coaster”s, “As time passes I’m feeling high/You’re not the one I’m thinking of tonight” begin to pile on, while the lack of diversity in the production and in Khalid’s performances starts to become apparent as one youthful anthem gives way to the next.

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It’s the album’s closing track, “Angels”, that really seems to emphasize the potential of Khalid’s abilities beyond the collection of solid-yet-homogenous songs presented on this debut effort. Accompanied only by a piano, Khalid lets the full extent of his talent shine through here, with some of the album’s most pyrotechnic vocals, heartfelt lyrics, and memorable melodies all showing up on this one song.

So, while there’s a definite measure of tedium afflicting “American Teen”, the album’s artistic merit and commercial success still manage to set the narrative of a successful debut. Khalid has the chops and the imagination; all we can hope for next time is a bit more penchant for adventure.

As a genre, alternative-R&B can attract its fair share of less-than-original artists, who are more than happy to throw some moody verses over a watery instrumental and call it a day. So, when “Nightride” wastes no time making it unabashedly clear that it is beautifully unique and thoroughly creative, it’s, well, refreshing. “Lucid Dreaming”, the tape’s opening track, quickly sets the tone and expectations, with a beat that manages to be both deeply heavy and airily light in all the right places, and a vocal performance that’s simultaneously technically stunning and artistically meaningful. Tinashe’s voice is all her own, but there are certainly moments reminiscent of Beyoncé in the sultry low notes, and of Ariana Grande in the soaring highs on this track, as well as on others, such as “Sacrifices”. In fact, the incorporation of influences throughout “Nightride” is so subtly executed in such a way that, the second you’re about to pin down what other artist a moment on the tape reminds you of, the moment has already passed, leaving you to quietly wonder until the same thing happens again.

Tinashe‘s “Nightride” is fun while being brooding, dreamy while still slapping, and, overall, a great mixtape with these types of truly innovative paradoxes woven in.

Everything you need to know about Tinashe’s “Nightride” is right in the title… the mixtape is a gorgeous composite of different sounds within the same ethereal territory: the perfect soundtrack to the movie you like to pretend you’re in whenever midnight finds you alone in the car.

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With production credits including Metro Boomin’, Illangelo, and Boi-1da, the near-perfect atmospheres being set on “Nightride” shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise; but, Tinashe doesn’t use this as an excuse to slack lyrically. Themes of sex and love run throughout the project, but are explored from different angles. On “Sacrifices”, lines like “It’s not my M.O. to fall in love, but fucking around with me is dangerous. The lines are blurry now, this isn’t lust. But I like it, and you like it”, explore the experience of catching feelings in only two measures, while more salacious lyrics like “I got some party favors for you” on “Party Favors” are dirty and to the point. Some heavy streaks of experimentation underlie “Nightride” as well, whether it be through tinkering with pitching down vocals on songs like “C’est La Vie”, or the inclusion of a total curveball, like the 15-second long “Binaural Test”.

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“Nightride” is fun while being brooding, dreamy while still slapping, and, overall, a great mixtape with these types of truly innovative paradoxes woven in. While Tinashe’s previous projects like “In Case We Die” and “Aquarius” already helped establish her talents, both within and adjacent to the ‘confines’ of mainstream sound, “Nightride” is the realization of a substantial amount of the potential she’s built up. With “Joyride” set to join this mixtape as part of a double album in 2017, it’s encouraging to see Tinashe unleash her experimental and creative sides as she has done here.

Known for his craziness, David Bowie imagines himself behind in his bed blindfolded and then dancing like no one cares. Embracing his status as an icon, the artist shows another time how much of a genius he is, with a track that goes in between his rock roots with jazz experimentations. We can’t wait to be tomorrow and we wish to David an early Happy Birthday ! You can pre-order his album here

In this 6 minutes track, David Bowie shows the extent of his talent going from more rock influences to jazz and shoegaze. As said in Youtube, the video should be premiered the day before the release of the album so January 7 and it should follows his first amazing single “Blackstar” that took the 48th place in our top 100 of the best tracks of 2015. For now, you can check the photo he shared on Facebook to promote “Lazarus” with the lyrics below :

Look up here, I’m in heaven
I’ve got scars that can’t be seen
I’ve got drama, can’t be stolen
Everybody knows me now
Look up here, man, I’m in danger
I’ve got nothing left to lose
I’m so high it makes my brain whirl
Dropped my cell phone down below
Ain’t that just like me
By the time I got to New York
I was living like a king
Then I used up all my money
I was looking for your ass
This way or no way
You know, I’ll be free
Just like that bluebird
Now ain’t that just like me
Oh I’ll be free
Just like that bluebird
Oh I’ll be free
Ain’t that just like me