FEATURE:
One for the Record Collection!
IN THIS PHOTO: Addison Rae/PHOTO CREDIT: Ellen Von Unwerth for Elle
is a busy one for new albums, so I will waste as little time as possible getting to them. Quite a few to cover off and spotlight. There are five incredible albums out on 6th June that you may want to invest in. I am starting out with Cynthia Erivo’s I Forgive You. Many might not have known that the incredible actor has an album coming out. I would advise everyone to pre-order it, as it is going to be an eclectic and powerful statement from a huge talent. I am looking forward to hearing what she provides us on her hugely anticipated new album:
“Allow Cynthia Erivo to reintroduce herself. The multifaceted Grammy®, Emmy®, and Tony® Award- winner and 3x Academy Award® nominated actress, singer, author, and producer bares her soul on her sophomore album I Forgive You.
Tenderly blending the sounds of pop, R&B, folk, Britpop, yodeling, wailing, and gospel, Cynthia leaps headfirst into a bold new chapter of her artistry. Impassioned and warm, heartbreaking and vulnerable, I Forgive You is a soft testimony, a haunting plea to be witnessed with an open heart.
With each track on I Forgive You, Cynthia hopes “that people see the human in me. When you're in the public eye, people forget that you are human because they see you as an entity, but not actually flesh and bone, just like everybody else.”
The music, her story, is a braised reminder that we’re all just flesh and bone. The good and the bad – and everything in between – make up the stories of our lives, and Cynthia Erivo is a sight to behold”.
Another album out on 6th June that is worth your time and money is Addison Rae’s Addison. Many people might have heard of the artist but not really dived into her work. It is a debut album that I have been looking forward to. Having followed her career for a while now, this album is going to be terrific. There are not that many details available about it. I would encourage people to pre-order the album. I am going to bring in a bit of an interview from Elle from April. Whilst some might think of her as purely a TikTok star, Rae is definitely a Pop star. One with the talent and drive to go all the way:
“Making the transition from social media to pop stardom was always going to be an uphill battle. In March of 2021, she released the squeaky-clean track “Obsessed”—“I’m obsessed with me-e-e as much as you”—which was widely panned by critics. It was a blow to her nascent music career, and she considered giving up on the idea altogether. But eventually, she went back into the studio to work on more songs, which were unceremoniously leaked online the following year. She has said she has no idea how the songs got out, and was crushed, but then something amazing happened: The tracks became sleeper hits online. Charli XCX even contacted her to feature on the song “2 Die 4.”
Her creative team on the debut album includes songwriter-producer duo Luka Kloser and Elvira Anderfjärd of MXM studios, the publishing company founded by Grammy-winning Swedish songwriter Max Martin, who is also one of modern pop’s biggest queen-makers. Their first song together became Rae’s first Billboard Hot 100 hit, 2024’s “Diet Pepsi.” The method to their magic, say the duo, is girl talk. “Half of these songs are just picking up our conversations about life,” Anderfjärd says. “It’s us giggling—we’re like, ‘No way we can say that.’ And then we’re like, ‘Just do it!’ ”
Arca, the Venezuelan producer and musician, says over email that Rae is “fluent in the language of connecting with the collective through pop. But she also embraces the darker, more textural, experimental and avant-garde transgressions that pop allows—just as much as she loves its euphoric, luminous side.” Arca remixed Rae’s 2024 single “Aquamarine” by stripping it down to its sultry vocal tracks, then adorned them with a spectral echo of a dembow rhythm. This became what they eventually dubbed “Arcamarine.” “I feel an almost sisterly urge to be there for her, without expecting anything in return, just because of the bravery she’s shown,” Arca adds. “To fly in the face of judgment, to be bold enough to experiment, play, and build.”
When it comes to the music she wants to create, Rae’s not so much married to a genre, but to the level of joie de vivre she can articulate in a song. “Growing up as a dancer was such a natural transition into that sound,” Rae says. “I was interested in how that music made you feel, and how it made your body move. I think music is mind control—it opens up this portal of energy.”
She devises her dance moves with creative consultant Lexee Smith, whom she flagged down at a party two years ago. “It was like, bestie at first sight,” says Smith, who’s often seen undulating and contorting in edgy poses with Rae on social media. She also helps Rae conceptualize her visuals, down to the edits of her music videos—they practice meditating on a vision to make it come to life. “When we first met, Addison was showing me moodboards for the album,” Smith says. “She is the Pinterest queen. Now everything has come true. It’s so weird. It keeps happening. We’re like little fairies.”
Rae’s hit “High Fashion” began with a Pinterest post that made her laugh: “It was like, ‘Fuck cocaine—let’s get high on fashion!’” she recalls. “It was like, ‘I don’t need your drugs.’ As in, ‘I don’t need this person’s addictive energy in my life, I’d rather have high fashion,’” Rae explains. She shot the video for the song in her home state of Louisiana. “It was really important for me to film in Louisiana, because I feel like it’s a reflection of the way I felt growing up and then moving to L.A.—you know, the Wizard of Oz of it all,” Rae says. “I just felt like a fish out of water, in a way. But I always knew I wanted to be famous, to be a movie star, to be a singer—to just be a performer. That was always something I wanted—the glamour and the fashion. It’s almost like I’m convincing myself in this song, like, ‘No, I don’t want this—I want the fashion, I want the childhood dreams, I want that life. Don’t forget, don’t fall in love—you’d rather get these dreams accomplished”.
Three more from 6th June before moving on. The next one I want to recommend is Little Simz’s Lotus. A new Little Simz album is always a wonderful thing. Her upcoming release will sit alongside her absolute best. This is going to be one of the most acclaimed and celebration albums of the year. You will not want to miss out on it. If you need some more details before pre-ordering, than here is what you need to know:
“Little Simz is a boundary-breaking musician and cultural curator, recognised as one of the UK’s most captivating and visionary artists. A multi-award winner - collecting Brit Awards, Mobos, and an Ivor Novello - across mixtapes, EPs, and five critically acclaimed albums, Simz’s music documents her story, her journey, her becoming - and in turn, her generation.
Little Simz returns with her 6th Lotus.. The record marks an exciting new chapter in her artistic journey, drawing from an expansive palette of musical influences including punk, jazz, afrobeat and more. True to form, Simz continues to push boundaries and defy genre constraints, creating a sound that's both innovative and distinctly her own”.
6th June is one where three potential best-of-2025 albums are released. The next one is Marina’s Princess of Power. The moniker of Marina Diamandis, her sixth studio album is shaping up to be a gem that you will want to add to your collection! Go and pre-order the album. Again, precious little is written about it. I am grabbing from Wikipedia when it comes to the themes and sounds of the upcoming Princess of Power:
“Butterfly", the following track and lead single morphs into a house-infused chamber pop song that is later identified as "an after-hours dancefloor anthem." The lyricism of the record finds Marina exploring spiritual rebirth and personal growth, which cross-references its biological process of metamorphosis for the insect of the same name. "Cuntissimo" was described as a dreamy electro and techno-pop melodic track that draws inspiration from various women who embodied strength and independence as they are "enjoying their lives without judgment." Marina reflects the central theme for the song is pleasure as she believes women have been denied from it due to patriarchal pressures and now is against from its societal constraints.
"Cupid's Girl", the fifth track is a strong and empowered synth-pop song with fewer elements highlighting new rave and darkwave. This songwriting opens with commentary based on playful or seductive romance which displays "[Marina's] self-awareness and yearning, singing about love's complexities with both humor and depth”.
An album that so many people are looking forward to, Pulp bring us More on 6th June. You will want to pre-order it. There was such a buzz and moment of excitement when Pulp announced they had a new album recorded. Many did not think we would ever hear that news! Now that it is a matter of days away, ensure that you order a copy. It is going to be one of the biggest albums of this year:
“This is the first Pulp album since We Love Life in 2001. Yes: the first Pulp album for almost 24 years.
How did that happen?
Well: when we started touring again in 2023, we practiced a new song called “Hymn of the North” during soundchecks and eventually played it at the end of our second night at Sheffield Arena. This seemed to open the floodgates: we came up with the rest of the songs on this album during the first half of 2024. A couple are revivals of ideas from last century. The music for one song was written by Richard Hawley. The music for another was written by Jason Buckle. The Eno family sing backing vocals on a song. There are string arrangements written by Richard Jones and played by the Elysian Collective.
The album was recorded over 3 weeks by James Ford in Walthamstow, London, starting on November 18th, 2024. This is the shortest amount of time a Pulp album has ever taken to record. It was obviously ready to happen.
These are the facts.
We hope you enjoy the music. It was written and performed by four human beings from the North of England, aided and abetted by five other human beings from various locations in the British Isles. No A.I. was involved during the process.
This album is dedicated to Steve Mackey.
This is the best that we can do.
Thanks for listening”.
There are a couple of albums from 13th June that I think are worthy of spotlighting. AJ Tracey’s Don’t Die Before You’re Dead is worth pre-ordering. I am acquainted with his music but I am aware that some might not be. This is going to be an incredible album. I think that this album is going to be really intriguing. Well worth exploring. If you need some more details then Rough Trade have it covered:
“Don’t Die Before You’re Dead, the anticipated new third album from AJ Tracey, via his own label, Revenge Records. The record, which has been in the making for over three years, marks a major moment in AJ’s career—his return from a self-imposed hiatus and a reaffirmation of his place at the pinnacle of UK music. AJ Tracey stands as one of the most influential voices in the UK music scene. His commitment to artistic innovation and authenticity has garnered him a dedicated global fanbase.
With a title as bold as Don’t Die Before You’re Dead, the album delves into themes of ambition, resilience, and living life to the fullest—core values that have defined AJ’s journey from Ladbroke Grove to the top of the UK rap scene. It’s a matured sound from the West London-hailing creative, and lyrically, a moment for AJ to show his growth and development over his career.
It's a body of work that not only showcases his evolution as an artist but also continues to push the boundaries of UK music. The album features last year’s viral hit ‘Joga Bonito’ and ‘Crush’ featuring Jorja Smith, which swiftly climbed the UK charts. The track, a nostalgic ode to young love and British culture, reintroduced AJ’s signature genre-blurring style and further cemented his status as a pioneering force in UK rap. AJ Tracey has numerous Brit Award nominations, a prime-time performance on Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage, and a catalogue of chart-topping hits under his belt. His triple-platinum single Ladbroke Grove became the top-selling independent single of 2019, and his versatility has been showcased in collaborations with the likes of Jorja Smith, Stormzy, Headie One, and Aitch. Known for his relentless innovation and ability to shape UK music culture, AJ Tracey continues to define what it means to be an independent artist at the highest level”.
Out on 13th June, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard release Phantom Island. Not a band to slack off or leave too much time between albums, this is evolution and step forwards from the Australian crew. I would encourage people to pre-order the tremendous Phantom Island. Here is some more information about the new album from one of the most prolific bands ever:
“The roots of the album can be traced back to the group’s show at the Hollywood Bowl in June 2023. King Gizzard met some members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic backstage who urged them to take part in an annual series where the orchestra plays alongside rock and pop acts.
The results of the sessions that yielded that 2024's Aria-nominated Flight b741 also yielded ten further songs that didn’t quite fit the Flight b741 vibe, and which, Mackenzie says, “were harder to finish. Musically, they needed a little more time and space and thought.” Quickly, the group’s collective mind leapt to the LA Philharmonic.
“The songs felt like they needed this other energy and colour, that we needed to splash some different paint on the canvas,” Mackenzie says. He reached out to friend, British historical keyboardist, conductor and arranger Chad Kelly. “He brings this wealth of musical awareness to his chameleon-like arrangements," Mackenzie says. “We come from such different worlds – he plays Mozart and Bach and uses the same harpsichords they did, and tunes them the exact same way. But he's obsessed with microtonal music, too, and all this nerdy stuff like me.”
There’s a wiser, more mature, more sensitive Gizz at play here, questioning their place within the universe, their responsibilities, the ties that bind. “When I was younger, I was just interested in freaking people out,” admits Mackenzie, “but as I get older, I'm much more interested in connecting with people”.
Six more albums to cover before rounding things off. Let’s move to 20th June. There are some great albums out this week. Another album that will sit alongside the best of this year is HAIM’s I quit. The American sibling group are always incredible. I think that their new album is going to be one you will be foolish to miss out on. Here is where you can pre-order the album. Another sublime release from Danielle, Alana and Este:
“Haim's new 15-track album, I quit, was written primarily by Haim and Rostam Batmanglij, with production by Batmanglij and Danielle Haim. The album radiates the raw energy of seasoned performers whose deep reverence for classic rock shapes songs that are built for live performance.
The album features previously released album tracks “Relationships” and “Everybody’s trying to figure me out,” which were both met with critical praise. Pitchfork noted “what’s that sound? Is it the first song of the summer?” while Vulture raved, “Haim is back… they’re not taking anything too seriously except for the quality of what they put out into the world,” and Stereogum hailed it as, “a return to the sleek genre-hybrid sounds of classic Haim.”
I quit is the first new album since the band’s 2020 album Women In Music, Pt. III, which earned them a Brit Award for International Group. Women In Music, Pt. III received two Grammy Award nominations, including the prestigious “Album of the Year” recognition. With this nomination, HAIM became the first all-female rock group to be included in the Grammy’s top category”.
Three more from 20th June I want to cover off. The first is Loyle Carner’s hopefully !. You can pre-order the album here. I want to bring in part of an interview that Loyle Carner was involved with from April. Billboard chatted about how hitting thirty and fatherhood affected and shaped his fourth studio album. Another remarkable work from the London rapper. One of our best and most essential voices:
“hopefully ! is something of a departure for Carner. More in tune with his love for alternative and indie music, his hip-hop stylings make way for inspiration by Irish rockers Fontaines D.C., cult star Mk.gee, Big Thief, Idles and more. The band he assembled for hugo’s live shows followed him into the studio to bring new textures to his compositions.
“It’s a lot of pressure to step out singularly as a rapper. And I’m not even, like, a ‘rapper.’ I just make music, and people like to put me in that box,” he says. “I loved the anonymity of being in a band. I wanted to be around when the magic is happening and to not just be sent a beat after all the fun parts had already happened. I wanted to move away from the words being all that I can contribute.”
Carner’s pen is still mighty, but in a different way. Since his earliest releases, his words have been what has carried him forward and provided renewed inspiration. On 2019’s “Still,” which he described as his “favourite-ever song” during its performance at the Royal Albert Hall, he speaks about his insecurities with a disarming honesty. The rhyming couplets on hugo’s “Nobody Knows (Ladas Road)” and “Homerton” show remarkable dexterity. He knows when to build tension, but also when to let the words breathe. It’s a skill he learned from his poet heroes like Agard and the late, great Benjamin Zephaniah, the man Carner was named after.
PHOTO CREDIT: Lily Brown
As his family has grown, Carner’s techniques and influences have changed. He describes his son as his muse, and his presence is felt throughout the album. hopefully !’s artwork features a snap of Carner and his son, with colorful scrawls and additions only a child can make with such purpose. His voice babbles away throughout the record and his mischievous personality shines. Words could not contain the emotions Carner feels toward him, so the songs became looser, less literal but still emotionally resonant, and with a greater focus on capturing his son’s “melodic” personality in his songwriting structures.
On one album highlight, Carner speaks of the transition of becoming a father and notes that he’s “falling asleep in a chair I used to write in.” Later, he speaks directly to his son, saying, “You give me hope in humankind.” He has learned to embrace sonic imperfections and to capture a feeling, letting broad brushstrokes stand proudly. There’s a childlike wonder to the rawness of these songs; from snatches of phrases to choruses that linger in your head long after music has ended.
“If you try and color around something or touch it up… you always f–k it up,” Carner says. “That’s what I love about my son’s paintings. It might even be just one line across the page, but the simplicity of how he works and moves on. That’s how I feel now.”
Carner used the opportunity to embrace his role as a producer-curator. “As a rapper, the insecurity is that I don’t have any musical talent or whatever, so I’m like, ‘F–k, I better fill every gap so people know that I was there, too.’ But now I don’t mind people hearing a song and I’m barely on it, because I’m so across from everything else [in the creative process].”
He sings much of what’s on hopefully !; singing with his son on his bike, in the car and at home encouraged him to let his voice shine. “He never says, ‘Dad you’re way out of tune,’ even if I know that I am.” Here, Carner’s voice has an intimate quality, like he’s caught singing under his breath without a thought as to who might hear it.
He adds: “It’s fearless, but I’m not embarrassed about it and I don’t care because that’s the truth of how I felt. It’s that kind of bravery to me that is a reflection of what it was like to be a man. This living, breathing, feeling, flawed, emotional person that is willing to turn over heavy stones and be accountable for failing”.
The penultimate album from 20th June I would encourage people to seek out is U.S. Girls’ Scratch It. You can pre-order the album here. U.S. Girls is an artist I have known about for years and followed. I have heard a bit from her upcoming album. It is sounding amazing. Even if you have not heard her music before, I would say it is something you need to do. A tremendous songwriter and distinct lyrical voice. Scratch’s title suggests something back to basics. Creating something from scratch but keeping it relaxed and simple. That sounds like the experience that led to the album’s creation and finalisation:
“Toronto-based producer, film composer, and author Meg Remy announces a new U.S. Girls album, Scratch It.
Co-written with Edwin de Goeji, ‘Bookends’ is the heart of Scratch It. The sprawling ballad pays tribute to Remy’s late friend and former Power Trip frontman Riley Gale, through the lens of Remy’s own reading of John Carey’s Eyewitness To History, a historical collection of 300+ eyewitness accounts spanning twenty-four centuries. In consuming these first-hand accounts of human history, she began to ponder the thought, “there is not a hierarchy to suffering, and death is the great equaliser.”
Remy was asked to play a festival in Hot Springs, Arkansas — over one thousand miles away from her Toronto home — it was instinct that led her to enlist guitarist friend Dillon Watson (D. Watusi, Savoy Motel, Jack Name) to assemble a one-time Nashville-based band for the occasion. The performance went so well that she decided to ride that energy right back to where the impromptu band had initially rehearsed, in Music City itself, kickstarting the journey toward Scratch It.
In just ten days, Remy and the band — Watson on guitar, Jack Lawrence (The Dead Weather, The Raconteurs, Loretta Lynn) on bass, Domo Donoho on drums, and both Jo Schornikow and Tina Norwood on keys, as well as harmonica legend Charlie McCoy (Elvis, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison) — recorded Scratch It live off the floor with minimal overdubs, mixed to tape. Closeness and ease emanate from this core band with Remy’s singular voice sparkling on top of every tune, the most relaxed it has ever been.
Scratch It weaves together country, gospel, garage rock, soul, disco, folk balladry, and more, with Remy’s masterful songwriting threaded throughout. Her choice to discard the computer-based production of previous albums in favour of two-inch tape serves the songs well, introducing an element of sonic shapeshifting expected from an artist nearly twenty years into making records. If instinct was an instrument, Remy would be a virtuoso. Scratch It and see”.
Actually, I think I am going to wrap up with two albums from 27th June and that will be enough. Released through Bella Union, BC Camplight’s A Sober Conversation is an album that everyone needs to hear. Because he is such a compelling artist whose music is instantly memorable and incredible. The lyrics that dig deep. In terms of their honesty and humour. The way he delivers his songs. The alter ego of Brian Christinzio, if you do not know about this remarkable artist, then please do some reading. Here is where you can pre-order his latest album:
“Every BC Camplight album has a backstory every bit as compelling as its music.
A Sober Conversation is no different, as virtuoso songwriter and pianist Brian Christinzio documents the last two years of his life, finally confronting a shocking childhood trauma while embracing sobriety, to create his bravest and most revealing record. It's an enthralling, sometimes haunting quasi- concept record marked by ruthless tragic- comedic purging and sublime, intricate melody, knitting lyrical screenplays to dazzling arrangements.
It is BC Camplight at the height of his remarkable powers”.
Maybe this year’s most anticipated album is Lorde’s Virgin. Do make sure you go and pre-order this album. One of the world’s biggest artists, there has been so much talk around the album. I cannot wait to hear what Lorde has been up to and what inspires her newest work. Rather than provide information about the album in general, there is an article from Variety, where they reacted to a recent Rolling Stone interview with Lorde. One where gender fluidity and identity was touched on:
“Lorde has discussed her gender identity in a new in-depth Rolling Stone interview with Brittany Spanos.
In the story, Spanos reveals that the lyrics to the opening track of Lorde’s upcoming album “Virgin” include “Some days I’m a woman / Some days I’m a man,” and inquires how the words reflect her personal life.
“I ask her how she identifies now, what it means and what’s changed,” Spanos writes. “'[Chappell Roan] asked me this,’ Lorde recalls. The pair have become close friends over the past year. ‘She was like, “So, are you nonbinary now?” And I was like, “I’m a woman except for the days when I’m a man.” I know that’s not a very satisfying answer, but there’s a part of me that is really resistant to boxing it up.'”
“Though Lorde still calls herself a cis woman and her pronouns remain unchanged, she describes herself as ‘in the middle gender-wise,’ a person more comfortable with the fluidity of her expression,” the story reads. “In some ways, she feels like her teenage self again, back when her friends were mostly boys and there was a looseness in how she dressed and acted.”
Lorde also points to one specific exchange with “Virgin” producer and writer Jim-E Stack which inspired much of her thought process around gender and how it influenced her music”.
If you need other suggestions regarding albums out this month, then this website is pretty handy. I have highlighted those that I think are particularly impressive and must-own - though people will have their own thoughts. I do hope that the above is of some guidance and use. Plenty of variety in there! Some terrific albums from this month that…
YOU’LL want to own.