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Tag: homesick

  • Your Weekend Playlist: New Music To Listen To

    Your Weekend Playlist: New Music To Listen To

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    It feels like it’s been a minute since the last Weekend Playlist…hasn’t it? I hope everyone enjoyed their holidays and maybe took some much needed time off work and socials. Unfortunately, we are in the dead of winter, which means I’m losing steam quickly.


    Call it seasonal depression, winter blues, you name it…I have it. But the one thing that keeps me going day after day is new music. I’ve been going through my Spotify Daylist lately- which continuously keeps calling me a writer, and I’m wondering how it knows – and wracking through old songs that are new to my ears. The good news? It’s Friday.

    I’m sure absence has made the heart grow vastly fonder, which is why I’m back with another week’s work of music. New music releases make the world go round. The one constant in life is that every Friday, someone somewhere is releasing some sort of music.

    This week is no different…so as always, let’s get listening!

    Noah Kahan, Sam Fender- “Homesick” 

    If this were the Avengers, Noah Kahan would be Thanos- except his Infinity Stones are ultimate collaborations on his album and the goal were giving listeners music they deserve. This time, he hits a home run with Sam Fender, who puts his own spin on what it means for him to feel homesick. It’s both the yearning to leave and the need to go back that holds us hostage to our hometowns, and they nail it with this duet. About the collab, Fender says,

    “I was told Noah wanted us to work together, and I’d heard the tune ‘Homesick’and thought it was a lush song. We then spoke on the phone and immediately hit it off. I lovedthe idea of the song being a transatlantic call-and-response between two young kids desperateto escape their hometowns. The ‘running away’ theme has been done to death by myself, andmany other artists over the last 50 years, but it’s relatable.”

    Becky Hill, Sonny Fodera- “Never Be Alone” 

    I spoke to Becky Hill a few months ago about her upcoming music, which she promised to be your essential club vibe that pays homage to the beats you love partying to. Now, here we are with her newest single, “Never Be Alone”, and it’s a certified banger. If you want a song that makes you want to drink, dance, and be merry with your friends…let me introduce you to Becky.

    She’s someone who’s always understood the assignment: be true to your music, to the sound that drives you and made you fall in love with the art, and deliver your twist on it. “Never Be Alone” sets up the Year of Becky Hill: a soloist in her own right, whose vocal power eclipses the production beat behind it.

    Bleachers- “Tiny Moves” 

    Jack Antonoff and Mikey Freedom Hart’s band, Bleachers, is known for their indie-beach rock sound. Both relaxing and introspective, Bleachers constantly gives us an alternative sound that scratches an itch we didn’t know we had. With an ethereal, coming-of-age sound, “Tiny Moves” is a love song that feels straight out of a movie.

    Bleachers sings about that feeling when every move your partner makes feels special and ground-shattering, how your love for them can feel all-consuming. It’s an all-encompassing song: chill in the right places, melancholic and lovesick in others.

    David Kushner- “Skin and Bones” 

    The next Hozier, David Kushner has perfected the soulful, gospel-esque dark academia vibe that is quintessential winter. His voice is haunting, with echos that make it sound as if he were singing just to you- “Skin and Bones” takes everything you love about David Kushner’s sound and transforms it into a religious experience.

    “Skin and Bones” continues to prove to us that the pop-folk genre made popular by names like The Lumineers and Bon Iver has room to expand and can be taken to new heights everyday.

    Pharrell, Mumford & Sons- “Good People” 

    Soulful, stomp-and-holler, a collaboration you didn’t know we needed…Mumford & Sons and ultimate producer-singer-songwriter Pharrell have your classic soulful tune. “Good People” welcomes you to the revelation with your ultimate blend of rock, folk, and a harmonious concoction of vocals and callbacks that make you want to simply stomp your feet and holler along.

    There truly is nothing in the world like a Mumford & Sons harmony behind a strong Pharrell sound…which is why “Good People” is one of the best songs on the playlist today.

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    Jai Phillips

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  • Your Weekend Playlist: New Music To Listen To

    Your Weekend Playlist: New Music To Listen To

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    It’s a week before Thanksgiving, which means we have been thrust into the holiday season whether we were ready or not. While you’re gearing up to see your family and friends for your obligatory annual catch-up conversations, we need new music now more than ever. Because there are travels to be completed, and soothing is needed.


    And as I previously mentioned, it’s holiday season- which means many artists will be releasing holiday tracks to get you in the spirit. Compiling songs from Spotify’s New Music Friday playlist, the countless press releases flooding my email, and doing my own investigations, we have yet another week’s worth of new music ready!

    That’s right, I’ve got a fresh playlist of songs you didn’t know you needed in your life. Whether you have Friendsgivings to attend, clubs to dance in, or are just staying in on this lovely November Friday, there’s always a good time to find new tunes.

    We’ve got no time to spare, so let’s get listening!

    Lauren Spencer Smith- “Santa Baby” 

    Lauren Spencer Smith is one of the most exciting rising stars in pop music right now. She can spin any track into gold, whether it be a ballad, or a rock-inspired pop dance tune. Now, she’s here with a taste of the holidays for us with a rendition of “Santa Baby”- her clear, concise vocals are flawless, haunting, and flirty.

    She’s fully in holiday season…releasing a cover of “Hallelujah” earlier this month and releasing “Broke Christmas” alongside her “Santa Baby” cover. It begs the question: is there anything she can’t do?

    Sabrina Carpenter- fruitcake 


    Another woman in the music industry having a massive year is Sabrina Carpenter, who went viral on TikTok for her “Nonsense” outros on tour, both her own and opening for Taylor Swift. Coming off her fifth studio album with emails i can’t send in 2022, Carpenter is establishing herself as the “next big popstar.”

    She’s here with her holiday EP, fruitcake, with six festive songs that are uniquely Carpenter. You can get tired of the same old holiday cheer songs over and over, but Sabrina Carpenter’s fruitcake proves there’s still ground to be broken in the holiday song category.

    Jimmy Fallon, Meghan Trainor- “Wrap Me Up” 


    Jimmy Fallon and Meghan Trainor team up for a light-hearted track during the gifting season. Begging for you to “wrap me up” because she’s the “whole damn package”, you get the classic Meghan Trainor sound and vibe. Plus, any track adding Jimmy Fallon is guaranteed to be instantaneously exciting.

    What I love about Meghan Trainor’s music is that it truly is all about having fun and feeling your best. It’s an infectious, often viral method that gets everyone dancing whether they wanted to or not. “Wrap Me Up” is no exception , which is no surprise.

    Chloe Stroll, “Homesick” 


    Chloe Stroll is one of Popdust’s favorites for a good reason: she has an honest approach to making quality music that is both relatable and easy to listen to. Her new single, “Homesick”, is proof that she is willing to work hard to create these borderline perfect tracks and shows her growth as a new artist in the industry. She sings about yearning for someone’s love, being homesick for them.

    It’s a pop sound with synths and, of course, a hint of piano. It exhibits her vocal range and you can hear the emotion through each chorus as she launches in. If you need an introduction to Chloe Stroll, this is the song for you.

    Elle Darlington- “christmas is you”  

    Elle Darlington has a soulful, ethereal tone that is reminiscent of pop divas we know and love. You wonder if there is a note she can’t hit as she effortlessly glides through “christmas is you”. She delivers a dreamy bedroom pop Christmas song that makes you want to go out in the snow and romanticize your holiday season. Darlington says,

    “Christmas has always been my favorite time of year. This songreflects the thing I love most about Christmas – being with my family and friends. So many of my idols including Mariah & Ariana have been the soundtrack to my favorite festive memories; so it’s super exciting that ‘christmas is you’ could play a part in making those memories for other people.”

    DRAMA- “As I Am”  


    “As I Am” is the latest single off of DRAMA’s Til We Die EP that offers high energy and otherworldly sound, sending you straight to the club dance floor. Til We Die is one of DRAMA’s best bodies of work to date, and “As I Am” perfectly encapsulates all the album has to offer. It’s like stepping into a haze in the best way possible, listening feels like the ultimate escape.

    DRAMA delivers electronic R&B that includes thought-provoking lyrics and refreshing beats…melding into catchy club tracks that make you want to go out all night long. “As I Am” is a peek into a tortured love affair, masked by a celestial, entrancing sound.

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    Jai Phillips

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  • Barbie, Baby!

    Barbie, Baby!

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    Growing up as a girl, I played with all sorts of dolls: American Girl, Bratz, Polly Pocket, and of course, Barbies. I had the Dream House, the Dream Car, the color changing mermaid, and don’t forget about Ken. But as I aged, Barbie became a bit more problematic.

    Suddenly, we grew up and realized that Barbie wasn’t representing diversity (by any means) very well. She was dimensionally impossible, but she grew up as our role model! How could we spend our lives aspiring for blonde-haired, cinched-waisted, pink-loving Barbie if the girl selling the dream was unattainable?

    And then there were the controversial Barbies…1965 Slumber Party Barbie had a scale set to 110 pounds and a dieting book titled “How To Lose Weight” with the advice “Don’t Eat!” Not our role model promoting eating disorder culture!

    1965 Slumber Party Barbie

    Daily Mail

    Mattel was failing to realize that by making Barbie a doctor, lawyer, homeowner, extraordinaire, she truly was our role model as little girls. We were looking at these dolls potentially seeing what our future could look like. And if it meant being 110 pounds to have the Dream Car, that sends the opposite message.

    But there is no one I have more faith in than Greta Gerwig to do the injustices of Barbie justice. We have just under one month until Gerwig’s
    Barbie movie releases into theaters…on the same day as Christopher Nolan’s polar opposite Oppenheimer, which has started its own collection of memes for a double-header day.

    Barbie has already stolen the hearts of social media with perhaps the best marketing we’ve seen for a movie in a long time (barring the accidental chaos marketing of Don’t Worry Darling). We’ve gotten picturesque stills of BarbieLand, the Architectural Digest tour of the Dream House, hilarious trailers, and of course the iconic movie posters. The main message of the posters? Barbie (Margot Robbie) is everything, and he’s just Ken (Ryan Gosling).



    From the trailer we can tell that Barbie lives in her pink world with other Barbies and Kens, like Dua Lipa being Mermaid Barbie. But one day when Barbie throws her party (complete with synchronized dance and bespoke song), she lets a thought out:
    “Do you guys ever think about dying?” Party halts.

    Now that she’s contempating her mortality, things for Barbie become less than perfect: her heels touch the ground (gag) and she falls off her roof (gasp)..So she’s given a choice: return to her world (presented as a high heel) or go to the Real World and figure out what life’s really about (presented as a worn out Birkenstock). Unfortunately for Barbie, she has to choose the latter.

    In BarbieLand, she explains, “
    Basically everything men do in your world, women do in ours.” As for the Kens? “I honestly don’t know.” If you can tell the theme of this film so far, it’s that women are running the show.

    But what Greta Gerwig gets right with
    Barbie so far is that BarbieLand is impractical. In the Architectural Digest tour, Margot Robbie shows us how the pool is fake because there are no elements in Barbie’s world. She showers without water, has a fridge filled with decal food, and a lot, she admits with a laugh, is “not super practical, but nothing is for Barbie.”

    The success of the movie already is proving to be major. With Ryan Gosling’s fierce dedication to being Ken, you find it hard
    not to root for this movie in the box office. He’s given us quotes like “If you really cared about Ken, you would know that nobody cared about Ken” and coined the term “Ken-ergy.”

    On Jimmy Fallon, Gosling likened Ken to an un-cool accessory, saying that nobody really ever played with a Ken doll. “
    I was surprised how…some people were clutching their pearls about my Ken, as though they ever thought about Ken for a second. They never played with Ken! Nobody ever plays with Ken.”



    And we’ve already seen the blazing hot pink merchandise that has scattered stores. You can buy Barbie-inspired satin pillowcases, Barbie glassware, Barbie cookware. Our lives are suddenly immersed in our picturesque Barbie DreamWorld,
    but this time with a grown-up twist.

    We’re no longer emulating the Barbie look, per-se…but the Barbie Dream. It’s about female empowerment and uplifting others, becoming successful in your own way, and loving the color pink always. It’s more of the Barbie mindset than the Barbie body.

    With a star-studded cast consisting of Will Ferrell, Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Simu Liu, Emma Mackey, Kate McKinnon, and more…and an equally studded soundtrack with features from Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice, Dua Lipa, Ava Max, Charli XCX, Khalid, Lizzo, etc. This movie radiates power.

    As a lover of all things pink, I’m here for the Barbie collabs. Here are my faves to get you ready for the movie of the summer:

    Kitsch x Barbie

    Homesick Barbie Dreamhouse Candle

    Barbie x Barbie

    Bloomingdales Barbie The Movie Popup Shop

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    Jai Phillips

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