Ariana
Grande pulls her own face off in her new music video and Janelle Monae sings
about vaginas. This week has it all…
THE
BEST:
‘Sooner’ – Soft Science
Shoegazey guitars, dreamy vocals and groovy bass come together in this new shiny single from Californian indie act Soft Science. Most of these dreampop/shoegaze/dreamgaze/postgaze bands (I’m not sure what the correct genre label is here) rely on atmosphere over catchiness, but this single feels both atmospheric and immediately catchy.
‘Bad
Faith’ – Dove House
These
Brighton lads have one of the more exciting sounds I’ve heard in indie rock
recently. ‘Bad Faith’ comes off their new EP Teeth and is a stripped back mix of groovy bass, punchy drums and a
explosion of guitar during the chorus, topped with slick and infectious vocals.
‘Trust
Me Baby/In Dreams’ – Empress Of
LA
artist Lorely Rodriguez (AKA Empress Of) is back with some more sophisticated electropop,
this time featuring bilingual lyrics that switch between English and Spanish. Unlike
her previous material which has all been self-produced,
this tracks sees her teaming up with beatsmith Cole MGN – although it still
feels distinctly like her type of production.
‘No Tears Left To Cry’ - Ariana Grande
‘No
Tears Left To Cry’ is a response to the tragic bombing that took place at Ariana’s
Manchester concert last year. I was expecting a mournful slow ballad – but this
single is anything but. Spiky synth chords and uptempo drums kick in and make
way for a defiantly feelgood dance-pop anthem about recovering and staying positive,
topped off with an infectious hook ‘so I’m
picking it up, I’m picking it up/I’m loving, I’m living, I’m picking it up’.
It comes accompanied by a trippy music video, which sees Ariana dancing atop
skyscrapers in a Blade-Runner-esque metropolis and pulling off her face.
THE WORST:
‘PYNK’ – Janelle Monae
I don’t
really have an issue with the subject matter and imagery, but for someone’s whose music is
usually so eclectic in sound this feels very generic. If it wasn’t about vaginas, it could
be a Fifth Harmony song.