I do a lot of walking around campus and commuting to and from school, so I have a LOT of time to listen to music. For some reason, I have found myself listening to one or two albums at a time on repeat until I get bored and pick another. There are a few albums that I’ve been binging that are very different from each other, but I highly recommend each one of them. Some of the albums are older and I’ve only just become addicted to, while others were released relatively recently.
- GUTS by Olivia Rodrigo
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I started listening to Olivia Rodrigo in 2021 after her hit song “Driver’s License.” Shortly after, she released SOUR and I became OBSESSED. I remember when the album first came out, my top songs were “favorite crime” and “traitor,” though I also really like “brutal” and “1 step forward, 3 steps back.” I’ve been listening to GUTS a ton recently as I have grown to enjoy more pop-punk. My favorites from GUTS are “all-american ****,” “vampire,” “lacy,” and “the grudge.” I am excited to listen to her upcoming album, you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love, releasing June 12th.
- Submarine by The Marías
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This album was released in 2024, but I only listened to it fully for the first time earlier this week. I initially heard snippets of the song in trending audios, but then I saw an Instagram reel of the lead singer María Zardoya’s live performance of the song Sienna. When I looked in the comments and read that it was about a hypothetical unborn child between María and her ex-partner/bandmate, I was drawn in. The performance was hauntingly beautiful and so was the concept of mourning the hypothetical existence of a child with someone you used to love. Since I loved the song so much, I listened to the rest of the album, and I loved them all just as much. The album is amazing and very melancholic, making it perfect to play in the background while doing homework. My personal favorites aside from “Sienna” are “Echo,” “If Only,” and “No One Noticed.”
- Midnight Sun by Zara Larsson
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There is not much to say about this album other than Zara ALWAYS serves. Her vocals, dancing, aesthetic, everything—she is a phenomenal artist. I remember singing Zara’s most popular hits since 2017 from her album So Good as well as other singles she has released since then. However, I didn’t become a diehard fan until I heard her remix of “Stateside” with PinkPantheress. I decided that I needed more of THAT so I played her most recent album Midnight Sun. Midnight Sun is the PERFECT upbeat summer album; I am sooo excited to blast the deluxe version, which is soon to be released on May 1st, while driving in the nice weather this summer. My top songs from the album are “Eurosummer,” “Midnight Sun,” and “Saturn’s Return.”
- Locket by Madison Beer
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I’ll be honest, I listen to Madison very sporadically. Some of my favorite songs that exposed me initially to her are “Reckless,” “Selfish,” and “Good in Goodbye.” When I saw she released her new album Locket, I decided to give it a try, and I’m so glad I did. It has no skips and I listened to it nonstop for at least a couple weeks. Some songs that I recommend are “angel wings,” “bad enough,” and “you’re still everything.”
- The Fall-Off by J. Cole
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Lastly, this album is perhaps the most different from the others as it is not pop. The Fall-Off is rapper J. Cole’s most recent—and allegedly last—album that he is making before he retires. Cole has not released his own album since The Off-Season in 2021. While he has released a couple mixtapes, D-Day and Might Delete Later, they were not official solo albums. Cole’s return has been highly anticipated especially since he claimed it would be his last before retirement, so Cole fans knew he was going to deliver. And deliver he did because The Fall-Off is a masterpiece and widely regarded as one of his best projects by his fans. The album is a lengthy 1 hour and 41 minutes long and consists of 2 discs with 12 songs each. I have been a fan of Cole since high school around 2021, so when I heard I was planning on retiring after this amazing album, I knew I had to get tickets to his tour. I am incredibly excited to hear my favorites from The Fall-Off live this July, including “SAFETY,” “WHO TF IZ U,” “39 Intro,” and “Old Dog.”