with all due respect
with all due respect Album ∙ R&B/Soul ∙ 2025 kwn A diaristic EP of alt-R&B from the East Londoner.
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I quit
I quit Album ∙ Alternative ∙ 2025 HAIM Even though HAIM named their fourth studio album—and first since 2020’s Women in Music, Pt. III — I quit , the trio of sisters aren’t quitters. “Quitting can be looked at as giving up in normal circumstances,” bassist/vocalist Este Haim tells Apple Music. “We look at it as a new beginning and betting on yourself. We quit things that don’t serve us anymore.” The follow-up to their Grammy-nominated opus takes its name from a scene in 1996’s That Thing You Do! where the band’s leader announces his departure by snapping his fingers and sing-talking the words “I quit”—a move the women use regularly as an inside joke. “One day, we were checking the mic and we did it again,” Este adds. “We were like, ‘Wait, should we name our album I quit ? Say that again.’ ‘Wait a minute. Should we?’ It took on a life of its own.” Produced by Rostam and lead vocalist/guitarist Danielle Haim, the band’s latest takes parting shots at the peop...
Fine Dining
Fine Dining Album ∙ Hip-Hop ∙ 2025 Dave East & Young Chris In the roughly two years since his Def Jam return Fortune Favors the Bold , Dave East opted to build as an independent with some choice collaborators. A good deal of this came as proper projects co-headlined by AraabMUZIK, Cruch Calhoun, and Scram Jones, among others. Arriving mere months after The Final Call , his joint album with Ransom, he links here in similar fashion with Roc-A-Fella Records alumnus Young Chris. Those who remember Philly duo Young Gunz and the adjacent State Property collective know how well Chris works with others, and Fine Dining demonstrates that he’s only gotten better at it with time. Most of the beats come from East’s go-to Triple A, who lays down rugged and soulful instrumentals like “Pablo & Gunner” and “Ain’t Adding Up” for the formidable pair to get their seasoned streetwise bars off. Their insular guest list reflects the respect they deservedly g...
Five Forever (Deluxe)
Five Forever (Deluxe) Album ∙ Hip-Hop/Rap ∙ 2025 PlaqueBoyMax No one would accuse PlaqueBoyMax of lacking creativity. The internet celebrity turned hip-hop curator made his first two EPs, 2025’s LONDON and ATLANTA , by traveling to those cities, recruiting local stars, and recording the entire projects during livestream events. Five Forever , his debut mixtape, strips away all the excess and attention-grabbing approaches to making an album. Without any features, Max takes center stage for the very first time, retiring his role as master of ceremonies and approaching the mic with the confidence of someone who’s been co-signed by many of the biggest names in the game. It’s clear that PlaqueBoy is heavily influenced by boundary-pushing rappers like Playboi Carti and Yeat, even embracing their use of clever one-liners and bass-heavy beats accented by glimmering, blown-out synths. On “Layflat,” he raps, “I only fly if it’s first class/I only fly if it’s lay-fla...
KPop Demon Hunters (Soundtrack from the Netflix Film)
KPop Demon Hunters (Soundtrack from the Netflix Film) Album ∙ K-Pop ∙ 2025 KPop Demon Hunters Cast , HUNTRX & Saja Boys The animated feature gets an action-packed, high-key K-pop soundtrack.
Tropicoqueta
Tropicoqueta Album ∙ Latin ∙ 2025 KAROL G With every album since 2017’s Unstoppable , KAROL G progressively moved beyond expectations. Clearly not content with being the top reggaetonera on the scene, the Colombian singer refined and repositioned herself with each new full-length, from the beach dreaminess of OCEAN through the diverse sides of her MAÑANA SERÁ BONITO era. Her unapologetic eagerness to cross genre lines while still building with longtime allies like Ovy On the Drums grew her global fanbase exponentially, outpacing just about everyone else in Latin music who emerged during the mid-2010s boom. Now fully vested in the trappings of megastardom, she offers what is easily her most ambitious album to date in Tropicoqueta , its titular portmanteau a marked pivot that reflects how reggaetón’s baddest bichota successfully evolved into one of the world’s biggest pop artists. Among the album’s triumphs is just how at ease KAROL sounds on these 20 s...
Idols
Idols Album ∙ Alternative ∙ 2025 YUNGBLUD “Would this be the album you would expect me to make next?” Dominic Harrison, better known as perky pop punk YUNGBLUD, asks Apple Music. “Fuck no.” Idols is an ambitious, swaggering affair, from the nine-minute-long opener “Hello Heaven, Hello” to the heart-on-a-ripped-open-sleeve opus “Supermoon.” YUNGBLUD actually started making Idols , his fourth studio album, after his second, 2020’s weird! , but the timing wasn’t right. So he made 2022’s YUNGBLUD instead. Now, it’s time for Idols . “This is not an album for your head, it’s an album for your chest,” he says. “It’s five-dimensional. Limitless. Everyone’s had a lot of opinions about YUNGBLUD, which I think is beautiful, good and bad, because that means my art’s doing something to people. But I really want to show that I could orchestrate and I have imagination to use horns, brass, strings, and classical elements.” Idols swings from big, bold stadium ro...
