Beabadoobee
Last Day on Earth
For someone born in the year 2000, Beabadoobee has an amazing ability to channel the 1990s. This sunny little number, about all the things we should have done before the eternal lockdown hit, lands somewhere between REM at their most earnest and the carefree bounce of Len’s Steal My Sunshine. You can tell that the 1975’s Matty Healy was very involved in the writing, but Beabadoobee really lives up to her name in the chorus, too, which is all “Shoo doo doo, doo doo be doo be doo”. You’ll want it on repeat for at least an hour.
Glaive
I Wanna Slam My Head Against the Wall
Wow, OK Glaive, that is a sentiment I think we can all get behind at this particular moment in time. At 16, the small-town teen already has the measure of the world, and he’s condensed it down into this easy-listening coffee advert soundtrack that suddenly morphs into a thumping hyper-pop panic attack.
King Kofi
White Boys
When Cleopatra and Madonna did it, taking a milk bath was for spurious skincare reasons. For King Kofi it’s a little more political: he takes the milky plunge in the video for this remarkably restrained song about racism in dating. Gentle and warm, the song is indeed like taking a long soak – but the topic is as sour and unpleasant as the curdled milk into which he sinks.
Rosé
On the Ground
A really likable debut solo single from Blackpink’s Rosé, who has apparently gone from owning nothing but a mattress (was she once a 21-year-old Tinder user in Clapton?) to being a member of one of the world’s biggest K-pop bands. There’s more than a bit of vintage Taylor Swift about it, with an acoustic guitar underlay giving way to sizeable synths and a strangely subservient beat.
KSI ft Yungblud and Polo G
Patience
One good thing about this boring meeting of minds is that you have absolutely no legal obligation to listen to it. Another good thing about it is that it’s only three minutes and two seconds long, so if the law ever changes, you will make it through.
