Welcome to the last full week of November, or as I like to call it, “Not-Christmas.” Let’s take a look at the new albums coming out this Black Friday!
Pop
Trouble / Matt Terry
Matt Terry, 2016 winner of the X Factor UK, is poised to follow in the footsteps of his forbears Leona Lewis, Little Mix and James Arthur with his first album, Trouble. Fans of Latin music may recognize Terry’s voice from the Sean Paul remix of Enrique Iglesias’ summer jam “Súbeme la Radio”, which is included on the record along with “Sucker for You” (above), an instant bop reminiscent of Nick Jonas’ 2014 triple-platinum single “Jealous.” Add this to your dance playlist ASAP, and then check out the rest of Matt Terry’s catalogue!
PRETTYMUCH / PRETTYMUCH
Picture that one guy in middle school who had the luscious hair and the modeling contract. Suppose this guy stuck with his modeling and found four more friends with equally beautiful hair, and they started hanging out and taking videos on Instagram. Suppose Simon Cowell came across these five cute guys in their late teens to their early twenties and had an idea. That idea turned into PRETTYMUCH, and their music is pretty much what you’d expect! Listen to their Backstreet-esque single “Would You Mind” above.
Rock
Who Built the Moon? / Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds
Fans of grungy Britpop will be delighted to know that Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds is back with a third studio album. Formed in 2010 after Gallagher left Oasis (“anyway, here’s ‘Wonderwall'”), NGHFB is a little more psychedelic and a lot more modern. “Holy Mountain” (above) is a genuinely fun song, and you’ll want to listen to it over and over. And there’s more where this came from.Who Built the Moon? is out on November 24.
Björk
Utopia / Björk
How does one describe a Björk song? The Icelandic star has a genre all her own, and Utopia is an excellent addition to her unique discography. Genius describes “Blissing Me” (above) as “a subdued electronic ballad about ‘two music nerds’ falling in love via swapping music.” It is incredibly sweet, which explains why in contrast to last year’s Vulnicura, Björk herself compared making Utopia to paradise.
Go forth and discover, music nerds!
P.S.: If you don’t have time for music videos, here are all of the songs above in a Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/17limeboto/playlist/5iCLkiWH803oUTCS1Ij835