A Song to Remember: beabadoobee and Laufey
By Claire Kim
Bedroom-pop singer beabadoobee and jazz icon Laufey had a long-awaited collab with their recent single: “A Night to Remember.” Both singers have over a billion streams and chart-placing albums, so the anticipation for the song was high, yet the artists still managed to surprise us.
The snappy bossa nova beat from Bea’s electric guitar paired with Laufey’s soft piano notes creates a catchy beat that sounds alluring and mysterious. Laufey starts the song with her smooth, sultry vocals singing, “Swore I’d seen you before,” describing an intimate first meeting of two strangers on the street. Bea continues to narrate the encounter with her soft, lulling voice before the two sing the chorus together, blending their unique styles to complete the rest of the strangers’ romantic evening.
The song also has a music video which perfectly captures the song’s playful and romantic yet mysterious vibe. It features two strangers dancing in the dark city streets; at first, they are cautious and dance around each other, but eventually listen to their curiosity as they dance together under the street lights. A masterful blend of music genres, heavenly vocals, and an enchanting music video reminiscent of La La Land, “A Night to Remember” is a 10/10 must-listen, and truly a song to remember.
A Great Chaos: Ken Carson
By Aarya Gupta
Member of Playboi Carti’s Opium record label, Atlanta rapper Ken Carson is back with a new groundbreaking record, A Great Chaos, and is currently making waves in the music industry. The album did insane numbers, selling 45 thousand copies in its first week, and even receiving a co-sign from Drake. The lead single “Fighting Demons” blew up on TikTok and shot Carson into hip-hop stardom. The song is currently sitting at 19 million streams on Spotify, doubling Carson’s monthly listeners by 3.5 million. The album is an ideal length, containing 18 tracks and clocking in at 47 minutes.
The melodies and instruments create this mind-bending sound that’s new and fresh—unlike anything in the rap scene. The gritty synths and snappy drums create this dark, psychedelic punk-rap music that is incredibly pleasing to the ear. Ken Carson floats on the beats with a repetitive, hoarse vocal style that complements the instrumentals amazingly. The album feels like a perfect moshpit record and will cause earthquakes during live concerts. Despite his time spent underground before this album was released, Ken Carson will be a name that surfaces up more frequently in the next couple of years. Overall, this album is nearly perfect with no skips. I would give it a 9.7/10 and recommend it to any rap fan.
An Up and Coming Artist: Jess Glynne
By Julia Marcinkowski
Perhaps you are hearing of Jess Glynne for the first time, maybe the name sounds familiar already, or you simply know her appearance by her fiery auburn curls and sea-green eyes. Jess Glynne is a 24-year-old music artist who mostly dabbles in the Pop R&B genre, rising to fame in 2015 with her collaboration with Clean Bandit on the Grammy-award winning song “Rather Be.” Although this may be considered her breakthrough, she has much more talent than just being a one hit wonder.
A few years back at the peak of career, Glynne chose to go on break due to voice exhaustion and grieving the death of a close friend, but within this past year, she has made a spectacular comeback with her 2023 release of “Silly Me.” Her most unique feature as a talent is her raw, strong voice that compliments her lyricism well. Some other songs that I recommend you check out are “Hold My Hand” and “I’ll Be There”; these two are my absolute favorite because they have an upbeat and catchy rhythm and display her beautiful voice. Personally, I rate Jess Glynne’s music a 9/10 as she has become one of my favorite artists out there who is definitely worth a listen.