#can't wait to get into SZAs new album

[haushinkaisarealgirl]

I'm in a winter mood, dreaming of spring now

I'm burning myself down

Burning myself down

Burning

[covenists]

✦ ALL COVERED, L. NORRIS

nobody knows about the relationship between lando and the famous cooking influencer is real, not until george and himself (accidentally) spoil it.

fc: tess maylo

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yourusername

liked by selenagomez, haileybieber, emmawatson, and 340,187 more

yourusername fresh from the oven! ❤️ see you on my next live with another mysterious guest!

view all 29,561 comments...

username okay we got brie larson and sean evans, i'm waiting for an unexpected guest rn.

username it must be that good selena and hailey are in one like

maxfewtrell 🤫🤫

⤷ username if you really are the guest, then you shouldn't be here and spoiling it

⤷ username landonorris look

⤷ landonorris sorry in advance, he left his brain home.

chloestroll can't wait for next week!

username what is max doing?????????💀💀

⤷ username who's max and lando?

⤷ username f1 driver and his wife

username i want to make it but dang it if i do it i'll probably will burn the house down

emmawatson those cookies are amazing!

username is she the rumored girl with lando?

⤷ username apparently yes

username what kind of cookies is that

⤷ username that button cookies

lilymhe ooh i want it sm🥹😞 alex_albon

⤷ alex_albon why me though?

selenagomez i'm loving the recipe, it came out so gooooodd

username how does she look so amazing when she cooks

username yeah, like i'm probably will get dirty in a minute

yourusername

liked by calamawy, karengillan, maxverstappen1, and 150,143 more

yourusername record store is my favorite 📼💿

view all 10,781 comments...

username are you moving on from cooking?

⤷ yourusername no, i'm not taking a break from cooking, nor moving on from it. this just me making a new hobby:)

⤷ username you scare me right there

⤷ username can't a girl get a new hobby?

username but i can't lie she looks so pretty

⤷ username ofc she is i mean there's tons of men that waiting in line to be with her

⤷ username look at her live comments. there's even someone proposing to her

username what album are you choosing?

⤷ yourusername in the end it's always been taylor swift😉

⤷ username folklore is the best for cooking fr

username i loooove the jacket it's so cool

logansargeant why didn't you call me?

⤷ yourusername do you wanna shop some records?

⤷ logansargeant yes i do

⤷ yourusername then why didn't you ask?

⤷ username wait they know each other?

⤷ username idk bro i just know

⤷ username bruh same💀

yourusername

liked by honeymoon, sza, zendaya and 210,319 more

yourusername ta-da! slightly burnt and super sweet fruit cake is ready!! see you next week loves<3

view all 11,700 comments...

yourusername you can see my face at the burnt sight, but it's okay. you just have to bake it on a low heat for 25 minutes (and don't forget it)

⤷ username what makes her forget about her her baking? she never do this before

⤷ username she's texting and smiling then getting out of the frame for idk how many minutes i logged off

⤷ username i think that's that

⤷ username WITH WHO

carlossainz55 it should be 25, you did it for 34

⤷ yourusername 😐😬 sorry...

username but see her face; she still smiling while her cake is quite a disaster

username hm wondering who's with her to make her to be all smiley and forgoting abt her cake like this

⤷ username idk but i'm thinking of that logan guy

⤷ username who is he?

⤷ username a driver? he looks american

⤷ username he is💀

⤷ username nah but i'm thinking lando

⤷ username and who is he again?

⤷ username again, an f1 driver

⤷ username HER TASTE IS A DRIVER?????

⤷ username pretty girl love man in car<3

yourusername

liked by landonorris, georgerussell63, maxfewtrell, and 460,911 more

yourusername 2 b-day 4 u

view all 5 comments...

username happy birthday!!

username idk but her fit is always be so good

username spill the recipe bestie

username whose birthday is that?

⤷ yourusername my bf<3

comments has been limited

yourusername

liked by ellefanning, lailahasanovic, isahernaez, and 612,948 more

yourusername winter baking❄️ see you next timeeee

view all 10,501 comments...

username she's so cute

username thank god she remembered her cookies

username does she have tiktok or something else other than instagram?

⤷ username she has discord and twitter

georgerussell63 where's lando

this comment has been deleted

oscarpiastri fuck

maxfewtrell new guess who's back now

⤷ username MAX NO😭😭😭

username george what the hell

⤷ username wait

⤷ username OH SHIT WHAt the

username they'll be like "george when i catch you george, when i catch you george, when i catch you-"

⤷ username i know he's screwed

⤷ sabrinacarpenter omg

⤷ carlossainz55 georgerussell63 i wish you the best for now

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landonorris

liked by mclaren, carlossainz55, alex_albon, and 23,400 more

landonorris rodeo-ing

view all 2,319 comments...

oscarpiastri mate it's not on your private

oscarpiastri hello??

carlossainz55 the hell is the caption

carlossainz55 oh shit we are in trouble

georgerussell63 fuck fuck we are fucked

mclaren oops

username i didn't expect this but i'm not surprised

charles_leclerc he's drunk

lilymhe yourusername yourusername

maxverstappen1 oh crap

username OH WHAT THE FUUUCKKK

username it's not y/n her hair's different

⤷ username girl wym it's obviously y/n

username it's him being drunk or is he just hard launching

username LANDO???? Y/N????? WAIT HOLD ON WAIT A MINUTE

username oh so it's him who makes her forgot about her baking

⤷ carlossainz55 sorry in advance, he left his brain home

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landonorris added to their story!

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yourusername added to their story!

caption: gala tonight💌

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f1updates

liked by maxverstappen1, username, and 32,590 more

f1updates mclaren driver, lando norris is seen sharing a sweet kiss in the middle of busy brooklyn street with a cooking influencer, y/n l/n. many sources said that they've dated since a couple months ago, with this is their private date in y/n's house in brooklyn.

click the link in our bio to read more of our stories!

view all 1,802 comments...

username i mean with lando's ACCIDENTAL story and post and he do it TWICE LIKE GIRL PLS JUST POST HER FACE ALREADY

⤷ username yeah like bfr

username bro what??? PRIVATE DATE?? but if it's private how do yall get the pics?

username there's a lot of hidden paps around

username the tea's so good max is already liking this

⤷ username max is us tho

username HELP Y/N IS NOT LIVESTREAMING TOO💀💀💀

⤷ username what the hell is it really???

username just respect their privacy pls

yourusername added to their story!

caption: our last bake for the season! see you soon next season

yourusername and landonorris

liked by maxverstappen1, landonorris, mclaren, and 1,285,610 more

yourusername it's all covered until it's not. i love you so much my lovely<333

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[v6quewrlds]

PLEASE HEAR ME OUT; we saw the stream of tee listention to bmf by sza; so an imagine request could be; reader in her universe or wtv wrote that bc yk her and tee are together. and tee didn't know, and she just randomly posted new song out go enjoy, and when its released let's see tee is on stream and everyone's saying like tee reader dropped a new songs and he goes huh and so he calls her and is like did you just drop a song and she goes maybe and he goes to listen to and is like wait, is this about me and then gets really cute and excited that its about him

imagine writing a song about tee.

Tee was bored out of his mind.

The quietness of the off-season was usually a welcome reprieve from the chaos of football, but today, it felt like a prison sentence. His eyes darted from the TV playing the Notre Dame game to his phone and back again, searching for anything to fill the void. That's when he decided to set up his chair, pop his headset on, and start up his Twitch, hoping the time would fly by.

"Yo, what's good," Tee greeted his viewers with his usual enthusiasm. His screen flickered to life, displaying his face and the den behind him. The chatter in the chat grew as fans typed away, eager to interact with the star wide receiver.

Mid-game, the notifications started pouring in. "YOUR GIRL SURPRISE DROPPED," one fan exclaimed. "It's trending on Twitter," added another. Tee's heart skipped a beat. He paused the game and leaned in closer to the camera, his eyes searching the chat for more information. He hadn't heard a peep from you about this. You were in New York, tucked away upstate to finish recording your third album.

"Fuck is y'all talkin' about? My girl dropped?" Tee said into the mic, his eyes darting between the chat and his phone. He sent you a text, his thumbs moving at the speed of light. "Nobody told me nothing," he muttered under his breath. The notifications on his phone went wild, with fans sending links to Spotify and Apple Music.

After deciding you were taking too long to answer his text, he dialed your number, putting the call on speaker. It rang twice before you picked up, your voice as smooth as honey. "Hi, baby," you drawled out, playing it cool.

"Don't 'hi, baby' me," Tee said, trying to keep his own cool. "Did you really drop a new song?"

You giggled, the sound echoing through the room. "Maybe," you hummed coyly.

Tee rolled his eyes. "You playing with me?"

Your laughter grew. "I don't know. I miss you though."

Tee felt a tug at his heart. "Miss you too, but tell me about this song," he urged, trying to ignore the flutters in his chest.

"Why don't you play it and see?" you suggested, your voice dripping with mischief.

Tee's heart was racing. He pulled up Spotify on his other screen and searched for the new release. Sure enough, there it was: "BMF". He hit play and put the phone back on speaker. The song started off pleasant before the beat dropped, and your velvety voice filled the room.

Young and fine and dark and handsome The boy from Tennessee keeps bossing And I can't keep my panties from dropping

Tee's hand came down to press pause before the rest of the verse could reach his ears. "Hold on, is this about me?" He was grinning wide, a laugh bubbling up from his chest in disbelief.

Your giggles grew louder over the phone. "You're supposed to play it, listen with your ears, baby," you teased, your voice full of excitement and a hint of nerves.

Tee's smile was uncontainable as he hit play again. He leaned back into his chair, eyes on the lyrics scrolling by. The song continued as Tee continued smiling wide. He listened intently as the words painted a picture of your feelings for him. The fans in his chat went wild, posting heart-eye emojis and shouting out their love for the couple.

Know my baby packing, why I'm stuck That's why he my man

He couldn't help but press pause again, rising out of his chair to do a little victory dance. "Chat, y'all hearing this shit? This is about me!" The room was alive with the energy of his laughter and the thumping bass of the track. "Baby girl, you out here talking crazy. Goddamn!"

Your giggles turned into full-blown laughter. "I had to," you said, the sweetness in your voice contrasting with the explicit nature of the lyrics. "Just finish the song."

By the time the song wrapped up, Tee couldn't help but feel over the moon. He had heard rumors about artists writing songs for their significant others, but never thought it would happen to him. His cheeks were sore from smiling so much. He sat back down, his eyes gleaming with pride and love.

"So, what do you think?" You asked.

Tee looked at the screen, his mind racing with thoughts. "Baby girl, that shit is fire. Like, for real," he said, nodding his head in time with the beat that he decided to loop for a second play.

"You like it?" Your voice was a mix of relief and excitement.

"Like it?" Tee scoffed, his laughter still echoing in the room. "I love it, baby. You went off, baby, damn." His chest puffed out a bit, unable to contain his pride. The fans in the chat were going crazy, sending love to the couple and praising the song. Tee read some of the comments out loud, his smile growing wider with each one.

Your laugh was music to his ears. "Thank you, baby. I wanted to surprise you."

Tee leaned in closer to the mic. "Surprise? You could've just called me to tell me this. You ain't have to go and make a whole song about it," he joked, winking at the camera.

"Mute yourself for a second?" you said, your voice taking on a more sweet tone. Tee's eyes widened, and he quickly muted the stream before you could say anything more.

[catherinnn]

"Can you kiss me again?"

just a little blurb bc I was bored and I can't get this boy out of my head.

It was late in the afternoon, the sun setting on its sunset hours—or golden hour, as Kie called it—you were all at the château after a day of surfing and swimming in the ocean. The guys with Cleo were playing a game of poker, Sarah with Kie and I weren’t paying much attention since we weren’t really good at it, so we just stick to chatting among ourselves right next to all of them like a happy family—just like JJ always said.

“I’m out” Pope sighed and threw his cards on the table.

“Nah, I’m all in” John B. confirmed moving some of the poker chips on the table. “JJ?”

“I’m in, bro” he did the same.

“I didn’t listen to his new album yet, is it good?” Sarah talked with Kie.

“It’s amazing, one of his bests so far. Did you listen to it?” Kie asked you.

“A few songs, not all of it yet. But I liked it so far”

“I think you win this one, I’m out” Cleo continued with the game.

“But what about SZA’s new album, I’ve only listened to Kill Bill because of tik tok, but I’m kind of obsessed with it” Sarah commented.

“Oh my god, It’s amazing, I’ve had it on repeat since it came out” Cleo ignored the guys while they kept playing and joined our conversation.

“Yeah, me too, especially Kill Bill, like you said, Sarah”

“I know, it’s so good right-“

“Wait! No! That’s cheating!” Sarah was cut off by a screaming JJ, who suddenly started jumping on his seat next to you on the couch.

“That’s not cheating! What are you talking about?” John B. defended his move.

“Pope, check if it is cheating, help me out here” JJ demanded.

“It’s not cheating man, he’s right, he won” Pope confirmed.

“Oh, come on man!” he complained.

“You’re just a sore loser, deal with it JJ” John B. grinned.

“That’s so not true,” JJ started again, leaning back on the couch and resting his head on your shoulder, “They’re cheating”

“What happened, J?” you asked in a sweet voice as if he was a baby.

“My cards were higher than his, they’re just complotting against me ‘cause they don’t like when I win”

“Oh, don’t pout like that!” you were dying ‘cause of how cute he was right now. Your hand started stroking his hair to make him feel better, which was working because he just loved your attention on him.

“I’m not pouting” he lied.

“Yes, you are” you told him. You realized you needed something more to make him feel better again, and the best idea popped into your head. “Come here” he looked at you again and the hand that was on his hair came down to his cheek, you leaned closer—more than you already were—and you left soft kisses on his other cheek, moving closer and closer to his lips. One, two, three, four kisses. Until your lips touched his, not yet kissing, you teased a little, touching them with yours for a moment. As you realized he didn’t complain to this, he just stayed there accepting and enjoying your every touch, you dared—without thinking twice—and started kissing him, very slowly, very softly.

He moved his lips just the way you were doing it, like he was following your moves. You moves away, making it a short kiss—after all, this was your first kiss together. He opened his eyes and looked at you as if you were something magical, he was completely mesmerized.

Suddenly, you were brought back from your own little world when you heard hysterical laughing from the boys sat in front of you. JJ happened to be thinking the same because of the way he looked at them, frowning and the little smile he had before long gone.

“Did you see his face?” Pope managed to say in between all of his laughs.

“Was that your first kiss ever, dude?” John B. mocked him.

“That, or he clearly just fell in love” Kie joined in in the mocking.

“Shut up” JJ said. You smirked. After they calmed down a bit, they asked for a round two.

“You wanna play again?” John B. asked picking the cards up from the table.

“No” he simply answered him, later to move his head towards you. “Can you kiss me again?”

You smiled. “All of the kisses you want”

“Oh, he’s gonna be so whipped now” Pope complained.

“Now? You’ve clearly never noticed before” Sarah commented.

“Yeah, he’s been whipped long before that kiss” Kiara confirmed.

“Could you shut up and continue without me?” JJ shut them up and turned to you again, “Now, where were we?”

The evening continued with Pope and John B. trying to teach the girls how to play while you both ignored them, coming back to your own little world together, sharing more kisses with little comments and laughs between you two.

a/n: idk anything about poker so if you do and you read this, I'm sorry lol.

[heyftinally]

It’s very hilarious because age wise Taylor Swift’s literally in the same age range as Adele, Beyoncé, SZA, Hozier… and Taylor’s discography is so juvenile. It’s like she’s so out of touch with reality that the only problems she can master in songwriting are romantic relationships. Her music as a teenager had more weight than the music she makes as a grown woman. And this isn’t even by the fact that she doesn’t have kids - SZA is right there!

Her latest albums sounds like it was made by a 19 years old. Which would be Olivia Rodrigo, Tate McRae, etc, like this woman is 34 years old and it’s talking about wanting to be touched by the hands of a gamer… be for real. And the “I’m having his kids, not I didn’t” is so corny that it produced me second hand embarrassment. And might you this song is about a racist she dated for like 2 months… And one of her songs being an exact concept of get him back by Olivia Rodrigo, who was 19 when she made that… I need her fans to be for real. this album is garbage.

Honestly, it's not even just this album. Like, you're 100% right, but let's go back even further.

"Look what you made me do" - it literally sounds like a child blaming someone else for their own mistakes. "You made me late to practice!!" says the child who refused to do their mandatory chores earlier, or didn't remember to give their parent the note about an extra practice. Because emotionally intelligent and mature adults recognize that it's a very rare situation that someone truly MAKES you do anything. And I find it VERY hard to believe that anyone truly MADE - as in FORCED - Taylor Swift to do anything.

"Bad Blood" - is quite literally about Taylor Swift throwing a tantrum because Katy Perry hired her dancers. Let me give you an insider look at how commercial dance works as a career. Let's call our fake dancer Katie. Katie auditions for Taylor Swift's tour and gets selected - she now has employment secured for the next 12 months. Anywhere between 3 and 6 months before the end of that contract, Katie will begin looking for her next audition/contract. Why? Because dancers are freelancers, so if you aren't working, you aren't getting paid. So if Taylor Swift wants Katie to be in her next project, she needs to have that contract ready to present as soon as she makes that decision, and the longer she waits, the less chance there is that Katie will not yet have signed a new contract. If Katy Perry reaches out to Katie's agent at the 6mo mark with an offer, and Taylor Swift hasn't offered anything after her tour, Katie is faced with this dilemma: take the Katy Perry offer - a guaranteed job - or decline and HOPE that something else comes along quickly. Dancers can't afford to gamble their livelihood like that, so Katie takes the Katy Perry job. If Taylor comes to Katie three months later wanting to offer a new contract, she's out of luck. Not because Katie was "stolen", but because she made an intelligent financial decision for her life and career.

"Better Than Revenge" - I don't care that she changed the mattress line, she was still a grown ass adult when she wrote it, and frankly the fact that she spends the entire song referring to the hypothetical guy as a "toy" is creepy and gross.

"What Doesn't Kill Me Makes Me Want You More" - literally sounds like an obsessive teenager in a toxic relationship. So if he beats you bloody, you still want to be with him? No, seek help.

And the list goes on. SO MANY of her songs are these pedantic little 8th grade diary takes coming out of a mid-30's woman. Just compare Adel's "Someone Like You" to literally any Taylor Swift song. Has Taylor EVER wished her ex's "nothing but the best, just please don't forget me"? Because if memory serves, it's always either "I want you back wah poor me" or "fuck you you're a toxic piece of shit".

One of my favorite adult artists is Hilary Duff. She's been releasing albums since the early 2000's as a teenager, so she's roughly in the same situation as Taylor. However, Hilary's work very clearly aged with her. From one of her early albums, Metamorphosis, she has songs like Sweet Sixteen, Metamorphosis, and Working it Out, all of which are about different experiences of being young, recognizing you're still growing and becoming yourself, and the excitement confusion that often comes along with that. None of those three songs are about a boy, but do mention them as *part* of her life. As a young 20-something, Hilary released Reach Out, which is a spicy, suggestive party song. It conjures up images of dark rooms, loud music, and roaming hands. "It's like the prey playing games with the hunter, nowhere to run boy, time to surrender". It's notably more mature and suggestive than anything she sang at 16/17. Then several years later, in her 30s, we got songs like Confetti and My Kind, which are about finding people - romantically or platonically - that are "our kind" of people or who will "catch" us. Looking for stability and authenticity, people who are real and want to stick with you for the long haul because they like you for who you really are. No more flings and hook ups from her 20s, she's a grown adult who wants the people around her to be real, even when it's not what she wants to hear.

We don't see this kind of growth or change with Taylor Swift. She's still writing the same angry breakup songs we was writing at 17, and her lyricism hasn't even improved. If anything, I think it got worse.

Anyway, this got really long, but oh well. You're so right, anon, and it's WILD.

[spacedewey]

2024: The Year In Music by Some Guy

Unlike most outlets, I wait til the year is actually over to discuss what happened, because despite the conventional wisdom that no one drops anything of note in December, you never know when SZA is going to wait until the week before Christmas to release an album. Again. And it's officially the same album the 2nd time, but with an entire new 15-track album bolted onto the front for cynical streaming financials-based reasons. But you know. You can't count out December anymore.

As always, I make a list of my favorite albums, rather than a "best of" list. Best of lists are stupid. There are as many "best of" lists are there are people with ears, and they're all correct. Better to frame it as things I enjoyed the most, I think. More rambling and an actual list below the cut.

2024 was a weird music year for me. It's a year mostly characterized by artists I love releasing records I didn't really connect with. In the past, you'd've heard me raving about the likes of Cassandra Jenkins, Allegra Krieger, Iress, Erik the Architect, Charlotte Day Wilson, Lucy Rose, Touché Amore, Delta Sleep, Middle Kids, Brother Ali, Latto, St. Vincent and so on, but this year... I don't know that any of them made a bad album, but none of them made something I had to listen to over and over.

A lot of the albums that didn't do much for me were huge critical successes, too. Critics raved that Nilufer Yanya had found her groove on 3rd album My Method Actor, which apparently means they've been clamoring for her to make a record where all the songs kind of sound the same, but not me. Nick Cave finally crawled out from under the totally understandable grief from all the loss in his life the last 10 years and produced the worst album of his career, an album so bad I struck it from my memory and forgot to even mention it here on my first draft, released to thunderous applause. English Teacher's debut EP was one of my favorites in 2022, but while I found this year's This Must Be Texas just fine, they've been showered with a truly insane amount of praise and awards for such a new band. Happy for them, tho! I think they're great.

Even Kendrick Lamar, by the time GNX managed to finally come out and make the whole Drake beef feel like an extended marketing campaign, presented his least ambitious project since 2005, fully half of which sounded like inferior versions of "Not Like Us." Is it bad? No. Is it great? Definitely also no, but you wouldn't know that from its rapturous reception. I really hate finding myself agreeing with Pitchfork, but they were basically the only people saying, "Hey, this is actually not so great," and it's true. It's not bad. It's got a couple pretty great songs on it. But it's pretty dumb, and from an artist who's always seemed to put so much thought and care into his work, even when he was young and unknown and had a much smaller budget, that feels tossed off to me. Yelling "mustard" is funny, but GNX had me kind of missing the wildly problematic and overwrought Mr. Morale, even. That album was mostly pretty bad and proudly platformed a serial abuser as its co-star,* but it was very ambitious. GNX is both only ok and not very ambitious, and I think that may be worse. But, I guess, as Andre 3000, he of last year's most overrated, emperor's-new-clothes-ass album, once said, "kinda sour cuz my favorite group ain't comin wit it, but I'm witcha cuz you probably goin thru it, anyway." There's always next time.

*Which sure didn't help Kendrick in the beef once things got personal, in my view, but no one actually cared as long as they saw Drake getting slammed... You can say "Drake is a pedophile" all you want, and he probably is, but Kodak Black is definitely a rapist and a violent lunatic who can't go 2 weeks without getting arrested, and Kendrick apparently loves that guy, so... Some of us have been waiting to hear Kendrick and Drake go at it since 2013, and we got 1 shot from each artist before things devolved into mudslinging based on highly personal accusations both camps would later claim were based on fake information they fed the other side, and it really made things less fun very fast to me. The best rapper vs. the biggest rapper should have been the World Series of beef, and instead it turned into a bunch of bullshit, in the end. Kendrick won, and he was always going to win. I wanted to enjoy the exhibition. End tangent.

On the other hand, Pearl Jam and Opeth released late career shockers better than anything they'd done in ages. Pearl Jam's Dark Matter bests anything they've made in 24 years, at least, and Opeth's The Last Will And Testament is their first real success since 2008, and in both cases, I never expected it, and it was very cool. And to my earlier point, is The Last Will And Testament the best album of 2024? Almost certainly not. Was I so happy to hear a beloved group I'd basically counted out make something great that I was listening to it every day, sometimes more than once? I sure was! And that's how the ranking works. The Cure and Dark Tranquillity released solid additions to their storied catalogs, Heems made a welcome return to rap with not one, but two good records, Moses Sumney was singing in the rain in a video, he brought R&B back!, it certainly wasn't all bad for people I already liked.

As is increasingly common, new and new-to-me artists ranked very high on my list. The Last Dinner Party, Rosie Tucker, Nadine Shah, Charm of Finches, Flyana Boss, RiTchie, Muchi, GloRilla, Upon Stone and Baby Rose all put out really remarkable records, to me, at least. I only checked out Katy Kirby because she was touring with Allegra Krieger, and her Blue Raspberry was my favorite of 2024 for most of the year.

Hip hop was once again the most represented genre in my collection, as it tends to be. Cakes da Killa continued the movement in hip hop to reclaim house music as black music with huge success on one of the most fun albums of the year. JPEGMafia made literally all the most insane beats of 2024, all in one album. As a rapper he's pretty good, but as a beat maker, he is in a class by himself, weird, abrasive, shocking and hilarious. A December entry by the always welcome Smino further proves you shouldn't release your "best of" list in November. I was surprised to enjoy Future & Metro Boomin's ludicrously bloated 2nd hatin'-ass album in 3 months more than the first. When Tyler, The Creator released CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST 3 years ago, I saw a reaction (I think at AV Club?) that went something like "This album is as great as Tyler fans tried to tell you all his previous albums were." Harsh, but fair. Tyler has always been a lot of promise and charisma waiting for a good album, and it finally happened. This year's CHROMAKOPIA is not as good, but it's still very good. A lot was going on.

Big year for Kendrick's former labelmates at TDE. Ab-Soul and Schoolboy Q turned around downswings on Soulburger and Blue Lips, respectively. Doechii's first full-length was worth the wait. SZA's Lana wasn't as good as SOS, but it was still really good. SiR continues to not really do anything for me, but no record label can have a perfect roster.

(I hit the image limit)

What a pleasure for Heems to return to rapping. After the collapse of Das Racist, he seemed to struggle some, though most of his solo projects were excellent, and then he quit. But to hear him back, making great music and sounding like he was having fun doing it twice in one year was really cool.

But the big winner in hip hop for me was Denzel Curry. His King of the Mischievous South, Vol. 2 was as fun as rap got this year. Adding 5 songs and re-releasing it as KING OF THE MISCHIEVOUS SOUTH was weird, but I liked the songs. But also, he was everywhere, stealing songs on records by JPEG Mafia, Your Old Droog, Powers Pleasant, Kid Cudi, Jasiah, Maxo Kream and PlayThatBoiZay. Stellar year for Curry fans.

I don't know what constitutes "rock" music anymore, but for music with guitars that isn't metal or country or folk, there was a lot to like this year. Honeyglaze! Their 2nd full-length, Real Deal, was a pretty dramatic departure from their excellent 2022 debut, but in a good way, taking them down new musical paths and upping the energy. Similarly, Lightning Bug followed 2021's dreamy A Color of the Sky with a much more raucous album on No Paradise, and yet it worked perfectly. Rosie Tucker's UTOPIA NOW! had some of the best commentary on living in this era I've ever heard, bar after bar that made me go "oh shit." But nothing was topping Katy Kirby's Blue Raspberry for me. Delicate, intricate, with themes and lyrics that repeat through the songs, a really rewarding album experience.

Almost every year, it seems like the mainstream music press get together in some room somewhere and decide which metal release to heap praise on while ignoring literally everything else in the genre. Sometimes they at least pick a good one, as when the whole world shouted the praises of Deafheaven's Sunbather in 2013. This year's selection, Blood Incantation's Absolute Elsewhere, is a pretty unremarkable blend of prog noodling and riffs that sound like other bands, and I don't get it. Also, this year, Rolling Stone missed the meeting, choosing Kerry King's widely panned, I Can't Believe It's Not Slayer-sounding "solo debut" as the only metal album on their best of list, seeming even more out of touch than usual.

Sort of a less interesting year in metal, to me, despite a few big hits. Charcoal Grace is Caligula's Horse's best album, and a pretty stunning portrait of a family torn apart by someone getting lost to antivaxxer-type conspiracies, which I don't think a lot of people would expect from a metal album. Similarly, Dark Tranquillity's Endtime Signals is a record essentially about most governments failing their people in 2020, and what better topic than that is there to write angry music about? "Unforgivable betrayal in the hour of our need, no quarter for this treachery, no mercy for the lost." Fuckin' tell em, boys. Upon Stone's pitch perfect impression of the 90s melodic death metal style Dark Tranquillity pioneered continues a revival of that style I am loving. Beyond that, a lot of good albums, but not really great ones. It's the theme of the year.

What is it with BADBADNOTGOOD where their records have gotten less and less interesting, but their joint projects with others have stayed high quality? Their EP with Baby Rose this year was phenomenal, but their own Mid Spiral project was pretty forgettable. The only way you can get what you want out of them is if another artist asks for you.

Nadine Shah's Filthy Underneath initially hit for me as a fun, unpredictable album driven by a wry wit, so finding out it's all about her cracking up and going to a mental institution was kind of shocking. The album cover depicts the story of the song "Greatest Dancer," which sounds like a lot of fun and is about sitting alone in your dark home, crying your eyes out over a TV dance competition because your emotions are out of control. I don't think there's been such a jarring content-to-sound relationship since Elvis Costello's prime material.

I read in some article that the Last Dinner Party was getting hype as "the next Wet Leg" before they dropped Prelude to Ecstasy, and that sounds utterly insane to me, given how different the groups are. Their sort of baroque, ornate, dramatic sound couldn't be much more different from Wet Leg's (excellent) sneering punk sarcasm, but it also really charmed me, and the songs are top notch.

I think Better Lovers' debut EP was better than this year's Highly Irresponsible, honestly, but it's still a supergroup that truly lives up to the name, and they still put out a fun hardcore record. Will Putney continues to bring new flavors to the music of most of the former members of Every Time I Die, and it's easily Greg Puciato's most enjoyable post-Dillinger Escape Plan project. I need to see them live. I don't know if my ancient body would survive the mosh pit, but I'd be in there.

Is A LA SALSA a pretty safe album after the more experimental Mordecai for Khruangbin? I mean, yeah. But if you're into the thing they do, they really do it. I accidentally saw them twice this year, when they added a a make-up show near me after I'd seen them elsewhere, and it was great both times.

Another supergroup that really did it for me was Les Amazons De Afrique, an assemblage of great female singers from around the continent doing music in a variety of sounds. That was one of the most fun albums of the year to me.

That seems like a reasonable segue to mentioning Meklit's long-awaited return with Ethio Blue. It doesn't have the upbeat, celebratory feel of her incredible 2017 When The People Move, The Music Moves Too, but it retains the joy and the soul of that album, and it's just great to hear her again after so long.

So many artists over the years have seemed to follow a delirious, fun, upbeat first album with a downer 2nd one, and so it was with Remi Wolf's Big Ideas. I like it, but the wildness of Juno is replaced with an audible hurt and disaffectedness that just doesn't scratch the same itch.

Asake's 3rd album in 3 years was a real surprise. His previous album was basically just more of the same after his first, but on Lungu Boy, he's trying a bunch of new sounds and styles outside of the amapiano world he's been taking over, and they all work. A crew of international guest stars add still more unique flavors, and you get an album as unpredictable as it is enjoyable.

Charm of Finches was new to me this year, but the sisters' perfect harmonies over intimate, spare music really works. It kept bringing me back as the year rolled on.

What else? Swamp Dogg's Blackgrass was his 4th album in a 4th different genre in 8 years, and that's amazing at 81. I wish Cowboy Carter had been about half as long, it would've been a lot better without all that "for streaming" filler. Becky G's 3-album transition from pop music to traditional Mexican music across the last 3 years, ending with this year's ENCUENTROS, was really something to hear, that album is great. No idea what she'll do next. Seems like every year there's a band trying on the shoegaze thing that works for me, and this year it was From Indian Lakes. Foreign Hands' note-perfect copy of the early 2000s hardcore sound might not be groundbreaking, but I'm a sucker for that shit and I love it. Flyana Boss have a vibe like a cross between Beastie Boys and early Cool Kids, just super fun. I just really enjoyed hearing Latto rhyme "Georgia peach" and "gorgeous beach" this year. Every outlet that talked about Cassandra Jenkins' album mentioned the Clams Casino lyric, and they were right to do so. I wish I'd been more excited about Beth Gibbons' solo debut. I liked it, but I only liked it. I can't believe I listened to two different albums released in 2024 that contained covers of "Wicked Game" by Chris Isaac, but it happened. I could keep rambling indefinitely, probably. I think I'll stop there. Here's the actual list.

Opeth, The Last Will And Testament Katy Kirby, Blue Raspberry The Last Dinner Party, Prelude to Ecstasy Denzel Curry, King of the Mischievous South, Vol. 2 Upon Stone, Dead Mother Moon Baby Rose & BADBADNOTGOOD, Slow Burn EP Nadine Shah, Filthy Underneath JPEG MAFIA, I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR YOU Honeyglaze, Real Deal Charm of Finches, Marlinchen In The Snow Lightning Bug, No Paradise Asake, Lungu Boy Ab-Soul, Soul Burger Doechii, Alligator Bites Never Heal Better Lovers, Highly Irresponsible Pearl Jam, Dark Matter Schoolboy Q, BLUE LIPS Cakes da Killa, Black Sheep Caligula's Horse, Charcoal Grace Rosie Tucker, Utopia Now Dark Tranquility, Endtime Signals Foreign Hands, What's Left Unsaid Smino, Maybe In Nirvana Moses Sumney, Sophcore From Indian Lakes, Head Void Tyler, The Creator, Khromakopia Heems & Lapgan, LAFANDAR Kendrick Lamar, GNX Remi Wolf, Big Ideas Flyana Boss, This Ain't The Album Les Amazones d'Afrique, Musow Dance Meklit, Ethio Blue EP Swamp Dogg, Blackgrass Khruangbin, A LA SALSA English Teacher, This Could Be Texas Beyonce, Cowboy Carter LOMA, How Will I Live Without A Body? Becky G, ENCUENTROS Nilufer Yanya, My Method Actor Lucy Rose, This Ain't The Way You Go Out Rema, HEIS Kali Uchis, ORQUIDEAS Muchi, YOU DON'T LOOK SO GOOD Wheel, Charismatic Leaders Oak, Ash & Thorn, Our Grief Is Thus

[komediebrvte]

10 songs on your playlist right now!

rules: you can usually tell a lot about a person by the type of music they listen to. put your playlist on shuffle and list the first ten songs, and then tag ten people. no skipping!

gonna shuffle my liked songs bc most of my playlists r kinda specific lmao.

yeahhh!! good song. recommended to me by my dear friend jack <3

this song goes so hard, and the video is really fun too. I genuinely think chase petra could AND should be the "next big thing" in indie alt/rock/pop

idkhow !! a staple for me :]

SOUL PUNK !!!! I love this album sm. makes me wanna shake ass .

SO PACK YOURSELF A PAIR OF SOCKS AND GET INSIDE YOUR SPACESHIP!!! (songs abt getting older. Yeah.)

obv Hayley was gonna show up in Some Way at Some Point. anyway,, why is this song not on any of ur ship playlists. u should all be ASHAMED.

remember when this song was a trend lol

it still goes hard tho. also religious trauma teehee

before TIW came out this was like the only album I would listen to. most of the songs play on a loop in some channel of my brain- like they're just constantly THERE. not complaining tho.

oh look!! another song about getting older!!!!! (I have a lot of them ok.) love love bowling shoes, esp this album. can't wait for their new record hehe

last, but not least, my favs!!

who would I be if Paramore weren't on here?? the band I always come back to. they r so important to me, and they're how I met my mutual (best friend of 7 years) @chinzhillababy!!! ty for tagging me :D <333

tagging @rooklikesbooks & @nerdyhuntress !

[trashbending]

the ones i listen to the most

rosalía. i appreciate that even tho she's an international superstar she still makes music that's weird as shit. her vocal talent shines on the flamenco stuff but she seems like a real student & lover of all the other genres she pulls from, she comes w the concepts & visuals, & she's also rly hot

bad bunny. also an international superstar that's rly versatile. i also appreciate the ally shit he does (the apagón video, yo perreo sola, the shirt he wore on fallon)

frank ocean. new album when!!

charli xcx. i'm sure u gays already know this but she makes impeccable pop music & she's also rly hot

kali uchis. she's literally never missed for the past 10 yrs & i'm so glad she finally got famous-famous w telepatía. red moon in venus just dropped & it's also rly good

tobe nwigwe. rapper from houston, he's rly prolific in posting music videos that have this cool v specific aesthetic, beyonce gave him a co-sign. also acts in mo on netflix

doechii. rapper, she's on the same label as sza, can't wait for more bops. i feel like i hear her song crazy a lot in movie trailers

yaeji. she makes rly cool house music. korean-american

kaytranada. his production is v recognizable & it's great on his solo stuff, all his collabs (anderson paak etc), all his remixes

burna boy. nigerian singer, also internationally famous. i think last last & ye are his most famous songs but he's also p prolific

sudan archives. she's rly talented- she sings, produces, plays violin & a bunch of other instruments. natural brown prom queen is great

bjork. the weirdgirl legend

when u want to feel like a bad bitch

doechii

shenseea. famous dancehall artist

glorilla. she did fnf and tomorrow ft cardi

flo milli. you've probably heard her beef remix

latto. idk she has that song on the radio that samples the same song as mariah carey fantasy

some of these u probably do know somehow

foushee. she did deep end & she also co-wrote some songs for steve lacy on his last album, including bad habit

070 shake. she co-wrote alien superstar for beyonce and escapism w raye, she has a singular sound. she was also in the video for kehlani's melt (rip)

metro boomin. goated producer tbh. mask off, father stretch my hands (unfortunately), etc

kenny beats. also a great producer, did stuff for rico nasty, vince staples, denzel curry, etc. i like watching his show the cave on youtube where he makes beats rly quickly for guests (doja, etc)

mura masa. co-produced some stuff for pinkpantheress, including boy's a liar, i think he did a song for ariana, etc

jai paul. btstu is so good & you've probably heard it sampled somewhere

marc rebillet. he's in the genre of funky white boys who make viral jokey songs that are way more catchy than they should be

pierre bourne. produced magnolia, pissy pamper. i love those beats

pusha t. if u don't know clipse grindin u probably at least know justin timberlake? idk i'm old

other notable acts

nia archives. i used to get her confused w sudan archives but she's the one who makes drum n bass music. & she rly lives it she’s not on some trendy nostalgia wave

saba. rapper from chicago. care for me is a great album about loss & death but he makes fun stuff too

noname. she raps, runs in the same circles as chance the rapper etc, runs a community library so that's the vibe

ethel cain. she's also p versatile, i think her most known song is american teenager which is this pop americana anthem, but i like ptolemaea which sounds like doom & gloom. also she's trans

remi wolf. idk she has a quirkygirl vibe. i like the song quiet on set

the linda lindas. punk teenage girls. went kinda viral w racist sexist boy (they're chinese/mexican/salvadoran)

since the 2020 version is back on my dash here is this year’s poster 

(i’m 67 apparantly)

[beansbitch]

rating every song on the spotify today's top hits playlist (12th july 2024) for funsies

1. Please Please Please - Sabrina Carpenter

She's gotten a lot of mileage out of being a silly goofy girl. 7/10

3. BIRDS OF A FEATHER - Billie Eilish

2. Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido - KAROL G

It's a vibe. 6/10

This new album is great, would definitely recommend. 8/10

5. A Bar Song (Tipsy) - Shaboozey

4. Good Luck, Babe! Chappell Roan

It's good luck babe by chappell roan. 10/10

I actually kinda dig this, I think it works really well. 7/10

6. Not Like Us - Kendrick Lamar

Physical manifestation of the phrase "get dunked on", and it's just fun to listen to. 10/10

7. MILLION DOLLAR BABY - Tommy Richman

The VHS version is better. 9/10

8. Too Sweet - Hozier

Hozier. 10/10

9. Beautiful Things - Benson Boone

Oh, objectively bad song, they could never make me hate you <3. 6/10

10. I Had Some Help - Post Malone, Morgan Wallen

Eh. 4/10

11. Espresso - Sabrina Carpenter

Once again, silly goofy. 7/10

12. i like the way you kiss me - Artemas

It's my understanding that all of the vocals in this are the same one dude and that's kinda impressive actually. 8/10

13. Stargazing - Myles Smith

Could go way harder. 6/10

14. LUNCH - Billie Eilish

Did not anticipate her preferred style of flirting to be "goofy" but you know what, it works. 9/10

15. End of Beginning - Djo

you take the man out of the city not the city out the man you take the man out of the city not the city out the man you- 8/10

16. we can't be friends (wait for your love) - Ariana Grande

Song that exists. 6/10

18. Tough - Quavo, Lana Del Rey

17. Lose Control - Teddy Swims

Got through this whole post without realizing I hadn't written anything for this song until the very end and. yeah, pretty much. 7/10

Weird collab, but okay. 7/10

19. Austin - Dasha

I'm still not entirely sure how boots could "stop working". 7/10

20. I Can Do It With a Broken Heart - Taylor Swift

Should've been the single instead of Fortnight. 6/10

21. Houdini - Eminem

This is so dated that when I first heard it I had to go check if it was a "Tiktok making a 20 year old song popular" thing, but no, it's just that cringe. 1/10

22. Nasty - Tinashe

Eh. 5/10

23. Belong Together - Mark Ambor

This one makes my skin crawl for some reason. 3/10

24. Slow It Down - Benson Boone

I have no idea what to do with this. 5/10

25. HOT TO GO! - Chappell Roan

H-O-T-T-O-G-O YOU CAN TAKE ME HOT TO GO!! 9/10

26. GIRLS - The Kid LAROI

is it bad that i think this direction kinda works for this guy? 5/10

27. greedy - Tate McRae

I forget who said it first, but song is a lot better if you interpret it as a semi-ominous warning. 7/10

28. Move - Adam Port, Stryv, Keinemusik, Orso, Malachiii

wow that's a lot of artist credits (I say that because I have nothing else to say about this song). 6/10

29. Fortnight - Taylor Swift, Post Malone

"i love you, it's ruining my life" would be a good all lowercase AO3 title. 4/10

30. Saturn - SZA

Amen, sister, there's gotta be a better life somewhere. 10/10

31. 28 - Zach Bryan

It's good but not in a way where there's much to discuss. 8/10

32. Close To You - Gracie Abrams

Eh, I don't get the hate, this is perfectly serviceable white girl music. 5/10

33. the boy is mine - Ariana Grande

That record skip effect on "divine" gets me every time. 10/10

34. Stick Season - Noah Kahan

Why is this still here. 9/10

35. I Don't Wanna Wait - David Guetta, OneRepublic

STOP. 1/10

36. Smeraldo Garden Marching Band - Jimin, Loco

Would I get killed for saying this sounds kind of cluttered and disjointed? 5/10

37. Stumblin' In - CYRIL

I feel like this shouldn't work as well as it does, but I can't put my finger on why... 8/10

38. 360 Charli xcx

I don't get the hype. 5/10

39. Rockstar - LISA

The beat carries this one for me but to be fair, it's a pretty good beat. 7/10

40. One of The Girls - The Weeknd, JENNIE, Lily-Rose Depp:

This gives literally nothing but unfortunately I have and will always be a sucker for this vibe in music. 6/10

41. Scared to Start - Micheal Marcagi:

The chorus of this is a callout post to me specifically. 9/10

42. Lies Lies Lies - Morgan Wallen

I just listened to this two minutes ago and I already forgot everything about it. 3/10

43. feelslikeimfallinginlove - Coldplay

Yeah this is what Coldplay sounds like. 7/10

44. Parking Lot - Mustard, Travis Scott

Pretty okay. 5/10

45. Gata Only - FloyyMenor, Cris Mj

I can't understand a single word of this. 7/10

46. BAND4BAND - Central Cee, Lil Baby

This kinda goes hard actually. 8/10

47. Santa - Rvssian, Rauw Alejandro, Ayra Starr

Have a negative amount of words to say about this one somehow. 6/10

48. Magnetic - ILLIT

Certified banger. 7/10

49. Water - Tyla

What if I said 10/10. What would you be able to do about that.

50. Illusion - Dua Lipa

I would like this more if she hadn't made some variation of this song like half a dozen times. 6/12

[popmusic101]

We Can't Be Friends (Wait For Your Love) - Ariana Grande

18th March 2024

Somewhat surprisingly we have a new #1. Beyonce's 'Texas Hold Em' has dropped down to #5 and Ariana Grande has debuted in the top spot with her latest single 'We Can't Be Friends (Wait For Your Love)'

I'm not surprised to see Beyonce drop from the top spot to be honest. 'Texas Hold Em' is a fun song, but it's a little on the slight side, and even the visualiser style music video seems to recognise that with a 20 second clip of Beyonce just looping repeatedly for the song's runtime. However, I am surprised that Ariana came out of nowhere to get the #1. Benson Boone, Djo, Teddy Swims, Noah Kahan, and SZA have all been putting in the work in the charts, hoping to get that #1 and the fact that 'We Can't Be Friends' just appeared suddenly to claim the top spot seems a little suspiciously manufactured if you ask me.

It's not even that good a song? Like, it's fine and there's nothing bad about it, but it doesn't particularly excite me either. Surely this won't stick around at #1 long? I'm not as enamoured with Grande as I was back in 2018 and 19 when she was dropping hit after hit. Nowdays, even putting her personal issues aside I find her a bit boring.

"You got me misunderstood, but at least I look this good"

is just a particularly anemic line. Ariana can do better. We've seen it.

And why is Evan Peters here? He seems a little too big of a star for this, but I guess maybe they went with him because of the connection to Kate Winslet (through Mare of Eastown), since Ariana appears to be pretty obsessed with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind as seen in the music video and with her album title. I can't shade her for that though, Eternal Sunshine's a great movie and if this leads to some of Ariana's fans seeking it out, then that's only a good thing.

'We Can't Be Friends' is Grande's sixth #1 in NZ and I'm sure it won't be her last. I just hope any future songs are a little more interesting than this one is.

[idontneednofuckinhug]

Isaiah Rashad - seeing the world through the eyes of a hurt idealist

Isaiah Rashad has been my favourite artist through the years, ever since I originally heard 4r da Squaw in 2016 I fell in love with all of his music. Him sharing a zodiac sign with me was a huge influence on why I also related with a majority of his discography, as Rashad is a very deep and personal rapper, with both his official projects, Cilvia Demo and The Sun's Tirade and his unofficial mixtape "Pieces of a Kid" all sharing the common theme, with him refering to issues with his upbringing, suicidal thoughts, substance abuse and emotional trauma, leading to the person who he's grown up to be at the current moment. He's clearly a disciple of Outkast and he's referenced Andre 3000 as his greatest influence multiple times and you can hear that in his music and he even references the southern group in a few of his songs, being from the South himself.

Rashad is a rapper who mostly talks about the motions you go through every day in life, and has referced that his music might not be "turn-up party music", labeling it as music for the vibers, the people who are just going through life, having to struggle with their demons, enjoying every positive moment to it's fullest and just living in their own headspace - something that Zay has shown to do on more than one occassion, as he not only talks about these things in his music, but also in his social media posts, showing that he's always flying in his own world and doing his own things, a quality which has also caused issues for his rap career, as in 2015-16 he was addicted to benzoids and alcohol and was nearly thrown out of TDE (Top Dawg Entertainment) due to not being able to get his substance abuse under control and has not officially released any music since his 2016 Album, with him delaying his latest project "The House is Burning" for over a year now, saying that it's nearly complete every time. A common theme for Rashad's music is his very mellow and jazzy beats, with him sometimes mixing it up with more upbeat flutes and piano sounds.

His first released project was an unofficial one, where fans took all his songs released in Soundcloud and combined them into a project called Pieces of a kid or Welcome to the Game, having production from people like Flying Lotus, The Alchemist and the Antydote. In these songs Rashad is still a very raw young person, in his late teens and early 20's, but he's already referencing his substance abuse and not being scared of dying, as his only goal is to leave something meaningful in the world, rather than just exist. In this project, he references his dad not being there for him in songs like Mani Lux, him having to grow up in difficult situations and believing he won't make it in the world, due to being too deep, rather than common, which he references in songs such as Hurt Cobaine and 2x Pills. This album also showcases his emotional, loving side, where in a song he talks to his then girlfriend whilst drunk and singing in autotune, telling her how much he cares about her and not getting his friends who just mislead girls.

After signing for TDE in late 2013, in 2014 he released his first official project, Cilvia Demo, which he called an EP, although people mostly look at it as a mixtape. This project is basically the one to one you get with Rashad and where you learn what kind of person he is. Most of his hardcore fans reference this album as the reason why they love him as an artist as well, as the personality and topics in this tape are very overwhelming. In the EP he'll reference all the issues he has with himself, the lack of his father in his life, the depression and suicidal thoughts he has had daily, the lust for love, the hunger for success, social commentary on all the fake people and the search for inner harmony. Cilvia Demo starts off with a very slow and depressing jam in "Hereditary" which sets the tone for the whole project - the song talks about Isaiah's alcoholism, drug abuse and has lyrics such as "My daddy taught me how to drink the pain away, my daddy taught me you don't need nobody". The project continues with Rashad referencing his love for women - he already has 2 children from 2 separate women - his lust for success, where in RIP Kevin Miller he'll straight up say his legacy is already straight and will reference that emotionally, he's good for life.

The tape gets progressively deeper, where in the next few songs Rashad admit on how lonely he feels, wanting the best for him and his people, the perennial search for love always ending in great memories, but depression and hurt feelings afterwards, where in songs like West Savannah he'll admit to things such as "At least we fell in love with something greater than debating suicide" or on Menthol where his feature, Jean Deaux asks if she can borrow the person she's calling's heart, after she's had a few drinks and is clearly feeling herself a bit. The project then goes into Rashad's deepest, darkest moments as in Heavenly Father he gets very deep in him admitting how suicidal he has been and how he's been scared to sleep with his door locked, needing guidance in where he's going in life and that he's hoping he even makes it to 25, when he was 23 whilst this song was originally released.

Cilvia Demo was sadly not just a personal diary and was the reality of his life, as Rashad fell deeper into depression and isolation after this project, admitting that whilst touring for Schoolboy Q's Oxymoron tour, he was heavily addicted to Xanax and Cognac, not recalling multiple days. This personal crisis he experiened is what led to his next project The Sun's Tirade and a few singles in "I Mean", "Nelly" and "Smile".

The Sun's Tirade for me personally was a project where Rashad finally "came of age" and matured as an artist and a person, as the project is very conceptual, with the whole album giving the feeling you get when you're just having a really long-ass day. The album is now talking about his recent experiences he had during his addiction and is showing a much more mature version of him. The album starts off with Rashad talking about the new-found freedom he has as a person and the realization of finding out that money, drugs and women don't bring you happiness in any way, rather the small things in life and people around you making it worthwhile to work on oneself. In the first part of the album Isaiah very much focuses with different topics on the self-realization he's had that all these substances were ruining him as a person and he grew out of them, instead focusing on the lessons he's learned along the way, as well as the love he's found for all people around him. The first part of the album culminates for me in the song "Stuck in the Mud", which is a 7 minute jam split into two pieces with SZA as a feature and a beat-switch in the middle. The first part of the song references "hoes and dreamers, stuck in the mud", with him metaphorically saying that the people who are idealising a better world are really the ones who are having issues with life. The second part of the song is the outcome of being "stuck in the mud" with the chorus changing to "Pop a Xanny, make your problems go away, I can handle, make the bottle go away", with this being a showcase of what it was like being depressed and addicted to Xanax, not seeing a point on living a normal life.

The second part of the album starts off with A lot, a song dedicated to Zay's success and him realizing he's made it as a person and artist. The common topic until the end of the album is him giving a social commentary on the current youth, who although having lots of potential, is stuck trying to imitate others, trying to be rappers and dealers and living under a false dream in songs like "Dressed like Rappers" and Isaiah speaking about the lessons that resonate with him in life now, such as in "Brenda" where he reminisces of his grandmother telling him "You can't save them all", telling a young version of himself that he has to focus on his own personbeing and that everyone faces their inner demons. The project finishes off with an upbeat jazzy flute where Rashad admits he's now happy with himself, although he's still very confused deep within, as his homies "Want him to finally find a topic" whereas Rashad says "You're my favourite topic" to an unknown person, maybe himself or a woman in his life.

We're currently in the middle of waiting for Isaiah Rashad to release his 3rd official project, with the expectancy of this being a very matured and self-care focused album.

Zay's music is very much focused on the self, as we fight our inner demons and try to better ourselves as people, he makes himself extremely relatable to all the issues a young, confused person is facing. A lot of his songs I've directly lived through and have listened to on repeat whilst I've had the exact same issues and thoughts as him. His music might not be for everyone, as not everyone lives with their problems as internally and deeply as he or I do, but if you do like his music, you're very likely to find yourself binging all his albums and start talking about him as one of your favourite artists, due to the emotional nature of his songs.