Music, News

Rina Sawayama, Blood Orange and more on New Music Friday

  

Rina Sawayama released her third studio album titled “Hold The Girl”.

Another Friday means another weekend full of new music to discover. This weekend especially, musicians from all over the world released quality albums and singles that prove the potential from new artists, as well as showing prolonged quality from well-known artists in the industry. 

   The Japanese-British pop star Rina Sawayama released her third studio album “Hold The Girl.” Sawayama released five singles before the album’s release which built anticipation for fans. After her critically acclaimed 2020 album “SAWAYAMA,” Sawayama honed in her pop-songwriting chops for an album full of bold production, catchy hooks, and stellar vocal performances. Sawayama continues to prove what makes her such an electric figure in the modern pop scene. 

   Alternative R&B artist Blood Orange followed last week’s single “Jesus Freak Lighter” with a four song EP, aptly titled “4 Songs.” Each song is produced solely by Blood Orange and is a short and sweet selection of somber songs that stay sonically consistent throughout. 

   Seventeen-year-old rapper KA$HDAMI’s newest project “WORLD DOMINATION” fits snugly into the underground rap scene with hard-hitting psychedelic beats and melodic rapping. Features from contemporaries such as midwxst, Slump6s and more keep the tracklist diverse over the thirteen songs and twenty-six minutes of material. 

   Many entertaining singles dropped this weekend as well. Top Dawg Entertainment signee Ab-Soul released his new song “Moonshooter.” This is only Soul’s fourth song as the lead artist in the past four years and contains an ambient beat and poignant bars that makes me hope he will soon be releasing his fifth studio album sooner rather than later. 

   California-based rapper and singer Jean Dawson has been blending the lines between hip-hop, rock, and indie for years and his new single “PIRATE RADIO*” takes a softer approach. The track focuses mostly on the lush string instrumentation and allows Dawson to show his vocal chops. This serves as the fourth single from his forthcoming album “CHAOS NOW*,” set to be released on Oct. 7. 

   Swedish pop-rapper and “Drain Gang” member Bladee announced his newest album “Spiderr” on Thursday with the lead single “DRAIN STORY.” With a trippy music video directed by frequent collaborator Ecco2k, “DRAIN STORY” features a glitchy beat with Bladee’s trademark autotuned crooning to match. While not an easily accessible track, fans’ anticipation could not be higher for his next release.  

   This was an exciting week for music listeners, and it will only get better as the year progresses and more artists release projects before the year’s end. Next weekend you can look forward to new albums from WILLOW, Alex G and more.