Start your week right with a selection of some of the best new tracks, released within the last seven days.
This week we’ve got songs from the likes of Baby Queen, dodie, Shaé Universe & Kojey Radical, Dolapo and Pale Waves. Enjoy.
Baby Queen – Raw Thoughts
South Africa-born, London-based singer-songwriter Baby Queen has just released a band new indie-pop banger in the shape of the incredibly catchy Raw Thoughts.
‘Raw Thoughts is probably the most important song I’ve released to date because it’s actually the song that catalysed what has become the sound of Baby Queen,’ she explains.
‘I wrote it near the beginning of 2018 (earlier than any Baby Queen song that has been, or most likely ever will be released) and it sort of came to me like a gift from heaven. I had been on one of the biggest nights out of my entire life and had woken up dreadfully hungover. I think up until that very point in my life, I didn’t know what partying was. I was incredibly innocent and naïve, and this was the moment everything changed for me. I had been going through a terrible breakup, and discovering partying was like discovering freedom. I was going to places my ex had never been, I was meeting people they would never meet and doing things that would make their skin crawl. I think I fell in love with the danger of it. I had realized that I could do or be whoever I wanted to be, even though the only thing I wanted was to be loved by them again.’
Watch the video below.
dodie – Hate Myself
Ahead of the release of her debut album, singer songwriter and YouTube sensation dodie has unveiled I Hate Myself, along with an accompanying video directed by Sammy Paul.
‘Hate Myself is an inner monologue of someone who seems to find themselves in relationships of any kind with people who deal with their feelings internally - unfortunately resulting in assuming the issue is with them,’ dodie explains.
The album, Build A Problem, is due out in March.
Shaé Universe & Kojey Radical – Royalty
Shae Universe returned at the tail end of last week with Royalty; her first release of 2021.
The track, which sees her join forces with Kojey Radical, Royalty is the first track to be lifted from Shaé’s debut album.
Discussing her forthcoming record, Shaé states: ‘This song was written for my tribe around the world. It’s an anthem for all kings and queens to empower themselves with. It took me a long time to comfortably sit in my own worth for a multitude of reasons, many of which were subconscious influences that I was completely oblivious to until recent years, and I know many other people have experienced the same or are still somewhere in that unlearning process. This song is a reminder that you’ve got this and you’re worthy.’
Pale Waves – Easy
Manchester indie-pop four-piece Pale Waves have shared their latest single Easy, the third release to come from their highly, highly, anticipated sophomore album Who Am I?
‘Love can change your whole perspective, not only of yourself but of life too,’ says frontman Heather Baron-Gracie. ‘It’s the most heartfelt moment throughout the album and it is a genuine, feel-good love song. Originally, Easy was a piano ballad but I wanted to put more energy behind the instrumentation to enhance how love can uplift, drive, and inspire you hence the dramatic musical change.’
Who Am I? is set for release on 12 February via Dirty Hit.
Dolapo, Ms Banks, Oxlade – Interest
Premiered by DJ Target on BBC 1XTRA’s Target Embargo, British Nigerian singer songwriter Dolapo has just dropped her latest single Interest.
Dopalo enlisted Nigerian artist Oxlade and legendary Ms Banks for the collab, which was released alongside a video directed by Capone. Watch it below.
