Happy Friday! Back again with another edition of New Music Friday for May 29th, 2020. This week we have all new tunes from the talented Lady Gaga who joins K-Pop sensational girl group BLACKPINK and the legendary Sir Elton John in two dance-centric songs, the soulful Andra Day and the amazing Dolly Parton with their respective inspirational songs, and finally the EDM wizard himself, Kygo with rising artist Kim Petras in a collaborative effort that beckons your ears this week.
“Sour Candy” by Lady Gaga & BLACKPINK
Lady Gaga’s sixth studio album, Chromatica is finally here! This is the third and final promotional single to drop prior to today’s album’s release. She teams up with K-Pop girl group, BLACKPINK for a cool uptempo house song that warns one’s significant other that they may be sweet on the inside but if you double cross them or don’t agree with their flaws and force them to change, then the “sour candy” unleashes, a.k.a. their bad side will come out and you can kiss goodbye to the relationship!
This is the first time Lady Gaga has worked with the sensational girls of BLACKPINK. Coincidentally, they are label mates so it’s neat to see a collab come to fruition that you may not have matched together due to them being in different genres and boasting different styles.
Another interesting factoid is the use of the sample of “What They Say” by Maya Jane Coles. For those who don’t know, that was also used as a sample in Katy Perry & Nicki Minaj’s “Swish Swish” in 2017.
Overall, Lady Gaga’s vocals mesh really well with Jennie, Jisoo, Rosé and Lisa’s. Expect this to be played in the clubs and parties around the world once the lockdown restrictions lift.
You can download the new track, right here.
“Sine From Above” by Lady Gaga & Elton John
Continuing the Chromatica love this week is Lady Gaga’s collaboration with Sir Elton John. This song was also co-written by OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder by the way and produced by Bloodpop. It’s the third featured artist on LG6. The song, while also upbeat in sound like the aforementioned “Sour Candy,” is a departure from each other in theme.
This song feels like one of those tracks you play to feel spiritual as if you were attending a church service. It’s definitely one of those songs that will have you feeling all kinds of emotions after listening to it.
Personally, I hope this song gets selected as one of her upcoming singles down the line in this new era. It’s excellently crafted both lyrically and melodically. I like the creative usage of the word ‘sine,’ denoting a sound wave instead of ‘sign’ in the song’s title. While these words have different meanings, the wordplay fits perfectly here. The sound waves from above have healed her heart and soul through the process of making this album.
According to her recent interview for Zane Lowe on Apple Music’s “Beats 1,” she said “the symbol for Chromatica has a sine wave in it, which is the mathematical symbol for sound and it’s from what all sound is made from, and for me, sound is what healed me in my life, period. And it healed me again making this record, and that is really what Chromatica is all about.”
Lady Gaga thanked her mentor Elton John for being such an amazing supportive friend in her life and career and it really paid dividends with this cool collab. Hearing Elton John sing on an electronic dance song is an aural treat. Please listen to the song all the way through as the back end of the song really takes off surprisingly in a direction you wouldn’t think of! Crank that volume up!
Chromatica is out now wherever music is sold and streamed.
“Make Your Troubles Go Away” by Andra Day
Grammy-nominated R&B/soul singer-songwriter Andra Day has got another power ballad for us! She’s best known for her widely acclaimed hit single, “Rise Up” which has seen an uptick in streaming as of late due to the ongoing pandemic and being featured on the recent Robin Hood telethon event, “Rise Up New York.”
But now, with our world upside down and the racial injustices and obscene landscape of our country taking the unfortunate forefront, Day is here to provide some comfort and peace during these unprecedented times.
I love her vocal delivery of this song as she plays the soothing melody on the piano. If you need to feel chills to the core, please give this song a listen.
Download/stream Andra’s new song, right here. Proceeds from this song will go to GiveDirectly, whom will be providing relief to low-income families that have been affected by the COVID-19 crisis. Learn more about that, right here.
“When Life Is Good Again” by Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton simply cannot write a bad song! This song will bring you motivation and joy. It’s such an uplifting song from the 9x Grammy-winning country artist. Of course, like most artists nowadays, she wrote this song in quarantine. She hopes that everyone will come out of this isolation life to be a better human being for themselves and towards others.
Collectively, we need to re-evaluate and re-examine our livelihoods during this down time. There are definitely brighter days ahead of us. We just need to open our hearts, show more compassion to others, respect to others, and stop the senseless hate, violence, and cruelty to each other.
Listen to Parton’s inspirational new song, right here.
“Broken Glass” by Kygo & Kim Petras
EDM hitmaker Kygo just dropped his third album, Golden Hour today and it contains an hour long track list of a variety of collaborative efforts from OneRepublic, (“Lose Somebody”) Valerie Broussard (“The Truth”) & Oh Wonder (“How Would I Know”) just to name a few.
There’s one particular track he did with up-and-coming singer-songwriter Kim Petras that you should go and check out. This is a song for those who can relate to having a bad relationship. Like really bad! So destructive, that all you can do is laugh about it and celebrate and just dance on the proverbial broken glass. Hopefully it inspires you to move on in life and not let the past weigh you down anymore!!
Overall, Petras’ vocals flow seamlessly along the beats that Kygo lays down on this track. You can listen to this and the other 17 amazing songs the famous DJ superstar has to offer in his latest album, Golden Hour which is out now!
Well there you have it, these are my five picks this week that you should go check out! Let me know which song(s) catch your vibe. Leave a comment down below and share what you think. I’ll be back next Friday with another list of reccs for New Music Friday. Happy listening and stay safe!
Philip's Music Corner 