Pink Friday 2 by Nicki Minaj

Friday 2.December 8, 2023 22 Songs, 1 hour, 10 minutes Young Money; ℗ 2023 Republic Records, a division of UMG Recordings, Inc.

Submarine by The Marías

LA-based alt-pop quartet The Marías explore pain, isolation, and the strength it takes to get better on their 2024 LP Submarine. The album, which follows their 2021 breakthrough debut CINEMA, finds the band expanding their sound to include underground dance music, disco, jazz, and more—all while pursuing melodic gold thanks to singer María Zardoya. Take the album’s second track, “Hamptons,” which blends garage drum grooves with whimsical synths and a textural tension that recalls trip-hop pioneers Portishead. Or, on “Real Life,” the group conjures up lounge jazz, managing to practically capture the heavy smoke that often fills those ambiance-heavy rooms. It’s sleek and sexy, a glowing encapsulation of the band’s mission to achieve mood with subtly complex compositions. On “Paranoia,” many of the album’s lyrical themes cohere. Zardoya takes aim at an untrusting lover, illustrating how a communication breakdown can result in total isolation: “Why do you think I have another/When you have always been the one/Your paranoia is annoying/Now all I wanna do is run away.”

C,XOXO (Magic City Edition) by Camila Cabello

The first sign that a new era had arrived was Camila Cabello’s platinum blonde locks. Then came “I LUV IT,” the shake-up of a lead single for the Miami native’s fourth studio album—loud, brash, and diamond-hard, with a hook that interpolates a 2009 Gucci Mane classic (“Lemonade”) and an expressionistic verse from Playboi Carti. Speaking […]

Genesis. – EP by RAYE

June 7, 2024 5 Songs, 21 minutes ℗ 2024 RAYE under exclusive license to Human Re Sources