RECENT RELEASES

by Nicola O’Connell

With there being a load of cracking new releases lately I thought it’d be fun to catch us up with some bite-size reviews. I’m pretty impressed with the level of good songs charting at once. For some years I feel as though I went through a stage of struggling to like the majority of chart music, but currently it’s popping off and I’m living for it.

So what’s your favourite new release? Or, what songs are you looking forward to that are being teased currently? Hit us up across social media and share your thoughts.

Sabrina Carpenter:
‘Please Please Please’

Sabrina Carpenter has me in a respectful choke-hold with her current releases. When you think you’re ready to stop singing “I’m working late ‘cause I’m a singer” she hit’s us with the “Heartbreak is one thing, my ego’s another. I beg you, don’t embarrass me, motherfucker.”

Following her recent hit “Espresso”, Sabrina dropped “Please Please Please” with a fantastic music video with a Quentin Tarantino vibe starring actor boyfriend Barry Keoghan. I cannot stop listening to it, it scratches a specific part of my brain. I live for the pop/synth/country elements. Obviously produced by the fantastic Jack Antonoff. That man creates a lot of gold in music lately.

From her recently released album titled ‘BRAT’, Charli XCX brings us “Talk talk’. With her staple electro/dance-pop style, she just hits us with club style anthems making us English folk yearn for the return of that summer sun we’re missing out on.

Charli XCX has said the song is written about her now fiancé in the time before they started seeing each other. “We’ve been talking for months. But never in the same room. And now I wanna approach ya, but we’ve been keeping this a secret”. The song explains how the two are clearly interested in one another but haven’t properly made a move and she just wishes they would finally talk.

You can always rely on Charli XCX to casually release a good, fun hit.

Billie Eilish has truly suckered me back in with her latest album. Her song BIRDS OF A FEATHER has been pummelled at me by TikTok too and I’m actually not angry about it. I love it. It’s a lovely song and it sounds so beautiful. I love Billie’s vocal switch ups between softer, breathy singing to the more beltier sounds. It’s a fantastically chill song, I’m obsessed with the sheer amount of layers that build up in the song, especially with the vocals. I look forward to bingeing the rest of the album. Being someone who doesn’t usually listen to Billie Eilish and only knows her for ‘all the good girls go to hell’ ‘bury a friend’ and ‘you should see me in a crown’, BIRDS OF A FEATHER is definitely a different direction. It’s cool, I enjoy it.

This one’s for the bisexuals. Thank you, to Beth McCarthy for hitting back at the biphobia with ‘Good Bi’. The song touches on how invalidated you can be as a bisexual because you’re either “greedy” “not gay enough” or “going through a phase”.
”The girls hate girls who date boys
The boys like girls who like girls
As long as they get to watch
And if I fall for a girl, the boys will call it a phase
If I fall for a boy, the girls are calling me fake”. The lyrics explain this so well. And the song is great in general. It’s so catchy and up-beat, despite the topic it’s talking on it’s not some complete downer, it’s actually a great bi-anthem. To some it may seem silly but there’s a lot of people who will appreciate this song for sticking up for our corner of the LGBTQ+ community. Love it.