I wrote, in "2025 wishes":

new Lorde album (but good this time)

#lorde #good ideas

almost!

commissioning a thinkpiece about how there's no "where are they now" for the guys who played the musical saw in the wonderwall music video unlike the nirvana baby or the blind melon bee girl and what that means about music criticism's obsession with youth

hey uhhhhhh this is great

on both the interviewers' and interviewee's side! Great job everyone?

realizing too late that the reason I like Sudan Archives' "My Type" is because it sounds like an uptempo version of "The Truth" by Handsome Boy Modeling School

two things can be true: Pink Pantheress's "Illegal", especially the Nia Archives remix, is possibly the biggest earworm of the summer for me,

and also,

"you're recommended to me by some people" is possibly the most TMBG-ass lyric to make it into a mainstream pop song in quite a while

This song/video is such a great encapsulation of the different talents within a given "movement" I see in any genre of music right now. It's from a little over a year ago so things might be different now (or in the future) BUT

Here's three and a half minutes of music billed to Latto but featuring Flo Milli, a slightly more gimmick-credited rapper, and Megan Thee Stallion, who is herself a kind of regulated, brand-safe version of Nicki Minaj. The breadth of their careers/statuses/talents is important here. Also Glorilla, ANOTHER trending female rapper, who has her own distinct place in the zeitgeist, is hanging out and does lip syncing at key moments in the video. She's not credited at all, she just wants to be around. It's a distinct cultural moment!!!

I am having complicated feelings about this just-barely-above-mid Latto single that is interpolating Aaliyah's "Are You That Somebody?"

Aesop Rock's "Get Out of the Car", the track that contains in its lyrics the title of the album it was on, is a tribute track to his friend and collaborator Camu Tao and a reflection on the extended period of time between Tao's death in 2008 and the album's release in 2016 during which Aes admitted to struggling with in terms of mental health and social connection. It's a beautiful song and a great video to accompany it.

Have I seriously not talked about Saving Connie on this blog? This is a YouTube channel by a producer/DJ/mashup artist/music influencer who does a variety of music-related things on his channel. One of them is called "Connie TV" and is a series of videos that are like a mashup DJ set of popular hip-hop infused with R&B/pop/indie music with well-curated video footage that mixes music videos and footage from the music's creators alongside some ~ good content ~, providing a sort of just-voicy-enough aesthetic that feels trend-chasing but also original at the same time. I'm not sure there's a vibier way to spend an hour or two than one of these compilations.