Listen Up
Genre-bending new music that fuses electro-pop, soul, alt-pop, indie and more
Yaeji: For Granted
Prolific producer Yaeji has been releasing music since 2016, on breakout EPs, as singles, remixes, collaborations and a full-length mixtape WHAT WE DREW 우리가 그려왔던. Now, the Queens-born artist is poised to release her debut album, With A Hammer (out 7 April), and shares its first single, “For Granted.” The song opens with a pop-leaning melody and sweet vocals that erupt into frenetic drum and bass. Accompanied by a self-directed music video, “For Granted” is a chill yet energetic listen, perfectly punctuated with off-kilter elements (including vocal sound effects).
Kali Uchis: I Wish You Roses
Since her second album Sin Miedo (del Amor y Otros Demonios) ∞ in 2020, Colombian American pop artist Kali Uchis has shared a few loosies and now releases “I Wish you Roses,” accompanied by a floral-themed video directed by Cho Gi-Seok. The track, produced by Dylan Wiggins and Josh Crocker, is about “that feeling of releasing people with love,” Uchis tells Zane Lowe. “And one of my biggest inspirations was this song I used to listen to since I was little, Joe Bataan, ‘I Wish You Love.’ And since I was little, I always thought it was such a beautiful thing because we hear so many songs about that, the bitterness or the anger or the feeling of wanting revenge or the feeling of wishing things had worked out and not having a resentful attachment to those feelings.”
boygenius: True Blue
boygenius—the indie-rock project from Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus—provides a taste of their upcoming debut full-length album, the record (out 31 March), with a trio of new singles: “$20,” “Emily I’m Sorry” and “True Blue.” The last track features Dacus on vocals that glide forward atop the group’s gentle harmonies, atmospheric percussion and tender, pinpoint lyrics.
Arlo Parks: Weightless
British singer-songwriter (and winner of The Mercury Prize) Arlo Parks announces her second album, My Soft Machine, with “Weightless.” The soulful, poetic track comes accompanied by a video directed by Marc Oller. Parks says, the song “surrounds the painful experience of caring deeply about someone who only gives you tiny breadcrumbs of affection. It’s about suddenly realizing that a person has dulled your edges and embarking on the slow journey back to being a brighter version of yourself.” The album reflects this deeply personal tale, and is introspective and tender. “This record is life through my lens, through my body,” the artist continues. “The mid-20s anxiety, the substance abuse of friends around me, the viscera of being in love for the first time, navigating PTSD and grief and self-sabotage and joy, moving through worlds with wonder and sensitivity—what it’s like to be trapped in this particular body.”
Amber Arcades: True Love
The third track to be shared from the upcoming album Barefoot On Diamond Road by Amber Arcades (aka Annelotte de Graaf), “True Love” showcases the Dutch musician’s talent for slinky dream-pop. The album comes five years after European Heartbreak, and sees the artist working once more with Uniform’s Ben Greenberg. The song was inspired by a weekend trip with a romantic interest, de Graaf says in a statement. “We put so much pressure on ourselves with regards to romantic love and all our wants and needs that we want it to fulfill,” she says. “I also strongly realized that weekend though that the things I value in a relationship have changed through the years, what’s important is more clear and things are simpler now in that way.”
Listen Up is published every Sunday and rounds up the new music we found throughout the week. Hear the year so far on our Spotify channel. Hero image courtesy of Arlo Parks
