THE PLAYLIST
Gramaphone Children/ Move Slowly
After giving us a slew of pastel-hued synth-pop singles over the last few years, Jaree Thanapura, aka Gramaphone Children, is finally dropping his full-length debut studio album Slice & Dice Vol 01. Lead single Move Slowly sees him linking up with up-and-coming songstress Pyra, whose seductive vocals previously appeared on Fire, her stellar collaboration with Comet Records. Sonically, the song is imbued with a strong vapourwave influence and perhaps the most sultry we’ve heard from Gramaphone Children.
Lady Gaga/ Million Reasons
The problem with making edgy pop music is that once you’ve reached peak edgy, it’s hard to determine where to go from there. You can either do a 180 and go back to basics or piggyback on whatever trend du jour and hope for the best. Lady Gaga has chosen the former with her latest single
Million Reasons. Taken from her just-released fifth studio album
Joanne, the song is a country-inspired rock ballad centred around the dissolution of a relationship. “I’ve got a hundred million reasons to walk away/But baby, I just need one good one to stay,” she sings in the chorus, accompanied by nothing more than a stripped down guitar.
The Rolling Stones/ Just Your Fool
While Lady Gaga’s comeback single is a bit of a shocking reinvention, the Rolling Stones’ first new song in over a decade finds the legendary musicians going straight back to their roots. Originally recorded by Buddy Johnson and His Orchestra in 1953, Just Your Fool features shuffling guitar riffs paired with plenty of harmonica, and it marks the first single from the group’s forthcoming studio effort Blue & Lonesome, a kind of concept album featuring a series of classic blues covers by artists such as Howlin’ Wolf, Willie Dixon, Jimmy Reed and Little Walter.
Death Cab For Cutie/ Million Dollar Loan
Death Cab for Cutie’s Million Dollar Loan is the first song from 30 Days, 30 Songs, the Dave Eggers-curated project “written and recorded by artists for a Trump-free America”. The song alludes to Mr Trump’s attempt to present himself as a self-made man while campaigning New Hampshire (“A million dollar loan/Nobody makes it on their own/Without a million dollar loan/You’ll reap what you’ve sown/From a million dollar loan/Call your father on the phone/And get that million dollar loan”). Featuring musicians like REM, Aimee Mann, Thao Nguyen and Bhi Bhiman, the project will continue to roll out a new song every day until Election Day next month.
John Legend/ Love Me Now
With the massive success of his 2013 maudlin love anthem All of Me, John Legend has firmly established himself as a king of piano ballads. Here, the Grammy and Oscar-winning R&B crooner returns with somewhat more of the same with Love Me Now, lead single off his forthcoming album Darkness and Light. “I don’t know who’s going to kiss you when I’m gone/So I’m gonna love you now like it’s all I have,” he sings over upbeat melody, still pretty much relishing every single second in a relationship.