If you’re looking for some new,
recently released music to add to
your playlists, then this section is
for you.
For those who might not know, every
Thursday night at 11 p.m. CST there’s al-
ways a new song or album released by some
artist or another. The last two weeks have
been full of exciting new content for music
listeners far and wide because several popu-
lar artists dropped new music on the same
night for their fans to enjoy.
On Aug. 25, artists from pop, R&B and
hip-hop genres all released new songs. In
the pop music world, three ex-acts releases
were all pop fans could talk about. First,
Ariana Grande released a 10th Anniversary
Edition of her debut album “Yours Truly”
which included six never-before-heard live
performances of hit songs from the album
that Grande recorded in London. This marks
Grande’s first solo music release since “Po-
sitions Deluxe” in 2021 and her second mu-
sic release of the year after being featured
on The Weeknd’s “Die For You.” Although
it was slightly disappointing that Grande
didn’t release six new tracks for the album
re-release since she has released scrapped
songs and had songs leaked recently, it was
refreshing to hear her singing voice after
so long. I liked her revitalized takes on the
re-recorded songs with her matured voice,
which was simultaneously a nostalgic expe-
rience to hear Grande sing those old child-
hood songs 10 years later.
Miley Cyrus also released a ballad titled
“Used To Be Young,” which was coinciden-
tally released on the 10-year anniversary of
her song “Wrecking Ball.” I found the song
to be a beautiful ballad looking back on her
juvenile hijinks of yesterday paired with her
signature deep and raspy vocals, perfect for
a long car drive or gazing at the sunset.
Lastly, in the pop scene, Selena Gomez
released a song called “Single Soon,” her
first music release since her song “My Mind
& Me” which was released on Nov. 22,
2022. While the beat seems straight out of
the 2015-2016 pop scene and is a lot more
upbeat than Gomez’s more recent work, it
feels extremely lackluster and vocally weak.
In the hip-hop realm, City Girls released
their single “Face Down” which they had
previously teased in March of this year.
While the song is the perfect twerk anthem
for partying in the club or a college dorm,
the song was too short at only a few seconds
over two minutes long. It left more to be de-
sired and was not worth the five month wait.
In the R&B genre, Victoria Monét, a
close friend and frequent collaborator of
Grande, released “Jaguar 2,” a long-awaited
sequel to her “Jaguar” EP in 2020. Defi-
nitely a must-listen-to album, alongside
the original “Jaguar” EP, and a highlight to
the release night. Every song on the album
is great but my favorite song is a 4-way tie
between “Party Girls,” “Alright,” “Cadillac
(A Pimp’s Anthem)” and “On My Mama”
which all have a sultry yet dance-able feel
to them.
As eventful as Aug. 25 was in the music
world, Sept.1 was just as eventful for mu-
sic releases. Doja Cat released a new single
titled “Demons” from her upcoming album
“Scarlet” expected to drop on Sep. 22 with
Christina Ricci guest starring in the horror
movie-esque music video. The song has
such a dark and hard-hitting chorus paired
with a beat that will send chills up your
spine. Lyrically, however, the first verse
sounds basic and meme-worthy at best; ex-
tremely disappointing considering Doja Cat
has harder raps on less conventional beats,
but she definitely redeems herself in the sec-
ond verse of the song.
Baby Tate, a rapper most known for her
song “Hey Mickey” dropped a new song
titled “Jersey.” The title is a play on how the
song itself is a Jersey club song. The song
has a very crying-in-the-club vibe as the
chorus repeats with Tate sing-rapping about
feeling heartbroken with a dance-able beat
behind it, definitely would recommend lis-
tening to.
Timbaland, Nelly Furtado and Justin
Timberlake, the hitmakers of the 2000s, re-
united for a song titled “Keep Going Up.”
An amazing song that sounds straight out of
the 2000s in the best way possible, proving
that the three acts definitely still have the
ability to make hits years after their prime.
To add to the list of dance-party tracks,
Troye Sivan released a remix to his grow-
ing-popular song “Rush” featuring “Boy’s A
Liar” singer PinkPantheress and Hyunjin, a
member from the K-Pop band Stray Kids.
PinkPantheress’ verse was the standout of
the song with lines that hit your ear in just
the right way, adding an intriguing female
perspective to the song. Although Hyunjin
didn’t add anything to the song aside from
singing the pre-chorus and chorus.
Nicki Minaj also dropped a new song
“Last Time I Saw You” ahead of her fifth
album “Pink Friday 2” expected to drop on
Nov. 17. A very good song and a surprising
direction for Nicki musically, as the song
features Nicki mainly singing over a slower
pop beat with her only rapping over the first
verse.
Feel free to check out some or all of these
songs for yourself. Some upcoming mu-
sic to stay on the lookout for: the popular
SZA song “Snooze” is expected to receive
a remix featuring Justin Bieber, independent
R&B singer Tinashe is expected to release
a 7-track EP titled “BB/ANG3L” on Sep. 8
and pop singer Madison Beer is expected to
release her album “Silence Between Songs”
on Sep. 15. Demi Lovato is also expected to
release an EP of rock versions of some of
her most popular songs on Sep. 15.
