Posts

TERMINAL 7

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TERMINAL 7 Album ∙ Hip-Hop/Rap ∙ 2025 Djadja & Dinaz

R.A.T

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R.A.T Album ∙ Hip-Hop/Rap ∙ 2025 La Mano 1.9

Elektrisch

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Elektrisch Album ∙ Pop/Rock ∙ 2025 Megawatt

Dirty Work (Apple Music Edition) - EP

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Dirty Work (Apple Music Edition) - EP Album ∙ K-Pop ∙ 2025 aespa Hear the remix with Flo Milli and watch a dance performance Shot on iPhone.

III

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III Album ∙ Rock ∙ 2025 Three Man Down

MAI ME

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MAI ME Album ∙ Pop/Rock ∙ 2025 Mirrr The duo’s second LP packs pop-R&B moods of melancholy and hope.

THE ART OF BEING A MESS

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THE ART OF BEING A MESS Album ∙ Pop ∙ 2025 Lauren Spencer Smith Lauren Spencer Smith’s sophomore album  THE ART OF BEING A MESS  is unapologetically unvarnished. The opening piano chords of “What a beautiful day” are so intimately recorded, the hammer hitting the strings and the frog-like croak of the pedals come across clearly. Lyrically, Spencer Smith is equally vulnerable, like on the aforementioned opener, where she rummages through her feelings to help explain why she feels so particularly shitty on such a gorgeous day. Her makeup is applied perfectly; not a hair is out of place. And yet? Sadness prevails. Spencer Smith spends the album finding ways to be okay while not being okay, like on the indie pop cut “bridesmaid.” Here, she reckons with the deterioration of a friendship, cleverly contextualizing such heartbreak by wishing her ex-bestie could be standing by her side on her wedding day, now that she’s “finally found the man that I adore.” On  THE ART OF BEING A ...

Tracks II: The Lost Albums

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Tracks II: The Lost Albums Album ∙ Rock ∙ 2025 Bruce Springsteen History gets harder and harder to make, but never in the long, weird history of popular music has there been an analogue for this. Doorstop box sets with troves of fan-coveted rarities are de rigueur for any legacy artist, very much including Bruce Springsteen, whose 1998 compilation  Tracks  dutifully assembled 66 of these—four and a half hours of alternate history to one of rock’s most vaunted narratives. Twenty-seven years later, its nominal sequel is composed of seven full and distinct stand-alone albums recorded between 1983 and 2018, largely unknown to even the most devout Springsteen cryptographers. That something so auspicious and audacious bears the modest title  Tracks II  is the slyest joke of his career. Individually, these albums demonstrate both logical extensions of his classic songwriting that manage to meet that impossible standard, as well as tantalizing, disciplined, and fully realize...

Prince of the Street

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Prince of the Street Album ∙ Afrobeats ∙ 2025 Ayo Maff “I grew up in the street of Somolu, Bariga,” emerging Afrobeats star Ayo Maff tells Apple Music. “That’s where I came from. And it’s just more to let the people know I am from them. Regardless of where people see me, I’m from the street, so that’s why they call me ‘Prince of the Street.’” On his debut album, the artist born Ayorinde Mafoluku Ayodele shares personal stories of his upbringing and how it shaped him. “It took me more than a year to record,” he explains, “so it’s very personal to me, because each song is talking about a different phase of my life. Growing up in Bariga allowed me to sing [about] the reality of where I’m from, and the genuine lifestyle. All the things I do sing about, people are also facing, so it’s all a reality check.” Sonically, the album pays homage to Maff’s roots, with nods to Olamide singles he grew up with (“Baddo’s Song”) and takes on modern fusions of Afrobeats and amapiano (“Igbalode”)—while st...

Summertime Sounds 2025 (DJ Mix)

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Summertime Sounds 2025 (DJ Mix) Album ∙ Dance ∙ 2025 Barry Can't Swim Producer and DJ Barry Can’t Swim is gearing up for a jam-packed summer with the release of his album  Loner , spinning hits at Glastonbury, and headlining All Points East festival in London. For his Summertime Sounds mix, Barry Can’t Swim delivers a mix filled with tracks he likes to play in his DJ sets. “It’s a mix of filter and French house, some disco, and tougher acidy bits,” he tells Apple Music. “I love that sound from the late ’90s and early 2000s. So many hidden gems and amazing producers from that era, like Kid Creme and Tim Deluxe.”

Parker McCollum

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Parker McCollum Album ∙ Country ∙ 2025 Parker McCollum A mid-career self-titled album is often an intentional statement, if not an outright reset. For Parker McCollum, attaching his name to his fifth studio album is something of a reintroduction, an hour-long tour of the Texas-born singer-songwriter’s expansive talents and a glimpse into his still immense potential. Co-produced by Music Row veteran Frank Liddell (Miranda Lambert, Lee Ann Womack), the collection finds McCollum pushing his artistry to new places, a feat aided by stepping back from longtime collaborator Jon Randall and jetting up to New York City to record the album’s 14 tracks. “This record that we made in New York is the record I always wondered if I was good enough to make,” McCollum tells Apple Music. “I always thought about a record like this, and I finally just feel like maybe I might’ve gotten close to something that could be that.” The LP opens with “My Blue,” a rootsy, near-folk song following a character named J...

Made In Paris

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Made In Paris Album ∙ Hip-Hop/Rap ∙ 2025 Pi’erre Bourne

MY FACE HURTS FROM SMILING

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MY FACE HURTS FROM SMILING Album ∙ Hip-Hop/Rap ∙ 2025 Lizzo The singing, rapping, flute-playing polymath spent the three years since 2022’s  Special  courting unexpected controversy and flirting in social media posts with quitting music entirely. After mostly laying low throughout the turbulence, Lizzo emerged in February 2025 with a rock-inspired new single and an announcement of her fifth album, both titled  Love in Real Life . But first, a bit of raucous, freewheeling fun: With three days’ notice in late June, she revealed a surprise 13-track mixtape whose artwork shows the singer grinning from ear to ear and flipping the double bird. The project came together just as spontaneously. “I did this shit in three motherfucking days, bitch!” she crows on “DITTO,” before adding: “You’re welcome!” From the jump,  MY FACE HURTS FROM SMILING  stands in stark contrast to the posi-vibes-only pop-rap that skyrocketed the 37-year-old singer into the mainstream circa 2019. ...

BEAUTIFUL CHAOS - EP

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BEAUTIFUL CHAOS - EP Album ∙ Pop ∙ 2025 KATSEYE

W!LD

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W!LD Album ∙ Hip-Hop/Rap ∙ 2025 Russ Wolves tend to pop up regularly on Russ’ album art, but the creature on the cover of  W!LD  is something more ambiguous—perhaps a kind of wolf-horse hybrid, looking wistfully over its shoulder. Breaking down the image and title of what he bills as his sixth album (though technically you could consider it his 17th) on social media, the 32-year-old rapper explained that after spending years single-mindedly focused on external success, he’d grown more interested in exploring the “wilderness” of self-discovery. Five years after completing his deal with Columbia Records and going fully independent, the rapper who was once known as a lightning rod for controversy seems to have chilled significantly, meditating on success, love, and his own unexpected trajectory over soulful self-produced beats. (“How’d I beat the game without looking at the user guide?” he marvels on the intro.) He has yet to chill on punny entendres that oscillate between cringe...