Kendrick, Calvin, Selena and the rest of #NewMusicFriday

Last week's New Music Friday was so underwhelming I didn't bother writing a post (memo to Zayn and Drake: stop mumbling). This week, however, things have turned around completely. There's stonking new tunes from Kendrick Lamar, Selena Gomez and Oh Wonder, to mention just a few. Scroll down for the best - and worst - of the week's new releases.

Kendrick Lamar - Humble
"Wicked or weakness, you gotta see this," raps Kendrick on this, the first proper single from his fourth album. He's not wrong.

The track, which attacks some of hip-hop's most tiresome tropes (bragging about money, improbably proportioned video girls) while asserting Kendrick's position as the best rapper in the game. "Sit down, bitch, be humble," he says, while sitting in Jesus' position at The Last Supper. Well, quite.




A Tribe Called Quest - Dis Generation
The best track on ATCQ's recent album (it samples Pass The Dutchie!!) gets a proper single release, with a gorgeous black-and-white video that shows Q-Tip, Jarobi and Busta Rhymes trading lines, and dancing whenever the voice of the late Phife Dawg pops up. Brilliant stuff.




Calvin Harris - Heatwave (ft Pharrell, Ariana Grande and Young Thug)
Less than the sum of its parts, this star-studded single feels a bit aimless - but the loping groove and Ariana's sugar-sweet B chorus provide enough highlights to keep your attention.




Bleachers - Don't Take The Money
Jack Antonoff helped Lorde put together her new album, and she's repaid the favour by co-writing this single for his band, Bleachers (she also sings backing vocals, deep, deep down in the mix). Radio 1 are going to be all over this one.




Selena Gomez - Only You
A hauntingly sombre cover of the Yazoo classic, taken from the soundtrack to the new Netflix series 13 Reasons Why. I like this a lot.




Kwaye - Cool Kids
I was amazed to discover this caramel-smooth soul jam emanated from London - but there it is, Kwaye is a 22-year-old, Zimbabwe-born, London-based singer-songwriter. His debut video is a celebration and declaration of diversity. Highly recommended.




British Sea Power - International Space Station
British Sea Power said their sixth album (out today) would be their most musically direct record - and they certainly keep that promise. International Space Station is my personal highlight, with a soaring chorus and what can only be described as an indie musician's version of a cheerleader chant in the middle 8.




Becky Hill - Rude Love
Written with MNEK, this is a distinctly odd and deliberately obtuse pop single. Naturally, it is quite excellent.




Oh Wonder - Ultralife
A welcome return for DIY alt-pop duo Josephine Vander Gucht and Anthony West. Their doubled-up vocals are instantly recognisable on this joyous, uplifting single. Not a massive progression from their debut, but just different enough to raise interest for the new album.




Alt-J - In Cold Blood
Intricate but accessible; awkward but danceable. Alt-J at their best. Will sound great in a field near you this summer.




Billie Eilish - Bored
Another scene-grabbing slice of pop melodrama from the precociously talented teenager. An ode to boredom that manages to be anything but.




Vanessa White - Running Wild
The former Saturday has had her attempts at launching a solo career frustrated by legal problems with her old management. But with those hurdles overcome, she's back with EP2 (three years after EP1), which further exemplifies her deft touch with a classic R&B harmony. Beguiling stuff.



Catherine McGrath - When I'm Older
Imagine if Natalie Imbruglia did a country makeover of Torn, and you have a good idea of how Catherine McGrath's new single sounds. The 19-year-old, who hails from the rural outskirts of Belfast (NB: All the outskirts of Belfast are rural), grew up surrounded by music - her parents run the Fiddler's Green Festival - and cites Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift as her influences.

This song captures the joys of youth ("these are going to be the good old days some day"), with an earnest, uplifting acoustic strum. A total breath of fresh air.



Mary J Blige - Love Yourself (feat Kanye West)
After flirting with UK house on her last album, Mary J Blige's latest sees her retreating to safe ground. You've heard a hundred variations of this song before.





Cheat Codes - No Promises (feat Demi Lovato)
Totally generic Primark pop.



The Chainsmokers - The One
Not the one.

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Mrs White did it in the bathroom with the knife

When Wonderland Magazine reviewed Vanessa White's new solo material and said: "we can’t wait to hear Vanessa’s next move" they probably didn't expect her to be revealed as a serial killer. Yet that's exactly what's happened in the video for her new single, Lipstick Kisses.

The clip sees her clearing up copious amounts of blood, wiping her fingerprints off a knife and making a clean getaway. It's a far cry from The Saturdays videos, where the plotline tended to be "five girls prance around in their bra".

What the story has to do with the song is anyone's guess. The risqué lyrics are mainly concerned with make-up sex, with Vanessa claiming "I'm naughty by nature, freaky by choice". At no point does she sing, "I am the Zodiac Killer". Maybe if you play it backwards?

Anyway, the music is fantastic - wonky, woozy R&B with a suitably sensual vocal performance. Watch / listen below.

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The reinvention of Vanessa White

When The Saturdays went on hiatus, did anyone notice (apart from, maybe, the talent bookers on Sunday Brunch)? Somehow, we ended up in a situation where Britain's biggest girlband were also Britain's most forgettable girlband, thanks to a series of underwhelming singles and bizarre stylistic switches.

So I don't think anyone was expecting much from their solo careers. Not even the band's label - who appear not to have optioned singer Vanessa White (aka Shorty Saturday) for any future releases. They're going to regret that - because the 26-year-old's solo material is surprisingly good.

White has eschewed the gaudy pop of her former band for a sophisticated brand of neo-soul. You can tell its sophisticated because all the press shots are in black and white.

"It's actually quite nice to do something a little different, she told Schön magazine. "I've always been a fan of that type of music anyway."

Unusually for a British artist, her take on R&B doesn't feel like a cheap or plasticky counterfeit of a US original. Vanessa has the vocal chops to carry it off, and with glitchy beats from the likes of Future Cut and Snakehips, her music sounds contemporary and cutting-edge.

Early tracks Relationship Goals and Don't Wanna Be Your Lover have been playlisted on Beats 1, where her latest single Nostalgia has just premiered.


Ok. We're not talking about Justin Bieber levels of redemptive astonishment here - but that's a good song, don't you agree?

Nostalgia features on Vanessa's new EP, Chapter One, which also includes Relationship Goals and the Wretch 32 collaboration Lipstick Kisses. The stunning video was created by visual director and animator Rob Heppell - famed for his work with Crystal Fighters and New Pharaohs - while the song was written by Vanessa herself with the help of former Saturdays writer Thomas Eriksen and Little Mix tunesmith Iain James.

The EP is out on 19th February, fact fans.

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Vanessa from the Saturdays has a really good solo single, you know

Here's a surprising development: Vanessa White of The Saturdays (aka Diet Girls Aloud) has released a sophisticated, mature, sensuous R&B song as her first solo single.

Don't Wanna Be Your Lover sounds like vintage Aaliyah or Mary J, although Vanessa's chocolatey vocals are more understated than either of those US powerhouses.

"I was really worried about The Sats fans hearing my new stuff," she told Wonderland, which premiered the song last night. "I was unsure whether... it would translate as it’s so different to The Sats music. Luckily they have all been so supportive with their feedback and they are into it which makes me really happy."

Listen below. It's luscious.




UPDATE 13/11/15: There is now a video of Vanessa singing the song and looking sultry.

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