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  • Remi Wolf Blows the Doors Off White Oak Music Hall

    Remi Wolf Blows the Doors Off White Oak Music Hall

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    A peek at videos on social media of the Austin City Limits Festival last weekend can quickly demonstrate the power of this new generation of female pop singers. Chappell Roan played to a massive sea of people who all seemed to know the words to her songs.

    Remi Wolf may not have the massive stage show, backup dancers and costumes of Roan or Sabrina Carpenter or Renee Rapp, but man, does she have the pipes to stand toe-to-toe with any of them. And the energy. She brought both to White Oak Music Hall Thursday night in front of an absolutely jam packed crowd (mostly women) who knew Wolf’s material like the ACL crowd knew Roan’s “Hot to Go!”

    Originally, the show was scheduled for the lawn and with temperatures in the 70s, that seemed like a great plan. But, for reasons unknown, we all crammed inside instead. In truth, everyone was better for it. The intimacy it provided seemed almost tailor made for Wolf’s entire vibe.

    I first encountered Wolf, 28, the way most people find music now: on TikTok. It was a raucous, insanely energetic live version of her song “Quiet on Set” from her debut full-length album, Juno released in 2021. Her music is a quirky mix of modern pop, funk and indie rock, and her voice ranges from an almost cloying affected Betty Boop cuteness (she wore a Boop T-shirt this night) to upper register wailing worthy of Janis Joplin or Freddie Mercury. On record, all of her music education (she attended the USC Thornton School of Music) shines with modern production and tight musicianship (think indie rock Lizzo with a side of Prince). On stage, she is a tiny blur of loud, frenetic energy, a rock star with pop songs that everyone wants to dance to.

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    Remi Wolf at White Oak Music Hall.

    Photo by Violeta Alvarez

    In a near constant haze of fog machine smoke, Wolf twirled and gyrated her way through an electric set of songs heavily weighted towards her July release Big Ideas. Standing on the edge of the stage, she said that this recent album was very personal, written in a short time after a long stretch of touring. “Alone in Miami,” she explained, was written about a week she spent with “crypto bros” in Florida, partying and “wearing Gucci head to toe.”

    Lyrically, she is incredibly frank, wildly clever, and pretty damn funny. Performing, she is a dynamo, constantly bouncing and dancing across the stage yet not once having that exertion compromise her jaw dropping vocals. Several songs in, she asked the crowd to perform a series of exercises with her designed to connect her and the audience. I wondered if maybe she just needed to warm up because the stamina one would need to get through this performance was remarkable.

    Backed up by a relatively simple setup of drums, percussion, bass, keys and a pair of guitars, it felt positively pedestrian compared to other artists of her genre. But, it was that simplicity that made it so refreshing. Sans huge light shows and carefully choreographed dance moves, the band just dug in and rocked complete with (shock) extended guitar solos and the occasional funny pre-planned moments — at one point bassist Maddie Jay joined Wolf at the front of the stage to shake their booties in unison directly in the faces of breathlessly screaming fans.

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    Remi Wolf (left) at White Oak Music Hall.

    Photo by Violeta Alvarez

    The energetic peak of the show was “Sexy Villain” followed by a delightful cover of Tom Cochrane’s “Life is a Highway.” Then came an improvisational moment for the band when Wolf asked the audience for a word they could use to create a song on the spot. She recently was forced to sing a song about “Poo” in Atlanta, apparently.

    Well, if only H-Town had chosen poo. At first, someone shouted “Houston” to which the audience rightfully booed. The next request, however, nailed it: foreskin. So, Wolf and bandmates put together a song roughly called “Foreskin in Houston” featuring Wolf singing the lyric “it is nasty and it’s your fault” while pointing at the offending party who gave her the idea. After her foray into foreskin, Wolf probably wishes she could go back to poo.

    By the time she reached some of her more well-known tunes like crowd favorite “Disco Man” and pop anthem “Soup,” the audience was in a full dance party frenzy. The singing and cheers were deafening, easily as loud as the band, and Wolf was enthralled.

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    Remi Wolf (right) at White Oak Music Hall.

    Photo by Violeta Alvarez

    So often, pop singers are so carefully crafted that the fun can be missing. Not for Wolf. If there was one defining feature of her performance, it was the smiling, from her band to her crowd to her own face. It was a goddamn party and, for one night, we were all invited.

    Her next stop is Austin for ACL this weekend and a date with an outdoor stage (this time for real). Roan, Carpenter and others found massive followings after seminal performances at festivals like Austin’s annual Zilker Park extravaganza. This could be Wolf’s moment. She certainly deserves it. If you are going, do yourself a favor and pile in front of the stage for Wolf’s slot, Saturday night before Rapp, Houston’s own Khruangbin, and headliner Dua Lipa.

    It will absolutely not disappoint.

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    Jeff Balke

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  • Jojo Siwa Was Right – Gay Pop is Here … It’s Just Not Her

    Jojo Siwa Was Right – Gay Pop is Here … It’s Just Not Her

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    In the words of Renee Rapp: “Can a gay girl get an amen?”


    In the song “Not My Fault,”
    Renee Rapp teamed up with Megan Thee Stallion on an unapologetically gay anthem for the major motion picture, Mean Girls: The Musical. The song starts with the now-iconic clip from the original movie in which Cadie confronts Janice with the accusation: “It’s not my fault you’re like, in love with me or something.”

    Since
    Mean Girls dropped in 2004, there have been many think pieces about Janice’s role as forming the caricature of early-2000s red-scare lesbian panic. That was the year after Madonna and Britney shocked the world by kissing on the VMAs stage. It was four years before Katy Perry solidified her stardom with her hit “I Kissed A Girl.”

    Sapphic stars had, of course, achieved fame and success before — in the 90s, having a k.d. Lang poster in your room was the equivalent of listening to
    Girl in Red (we’ll get to that) — but queerness was still othered. For better or worse, Glee wouldn’t toxify our airwaves until 2009. And queerness was something to be whispered about, especially sapphic relationships — which went either ignored or fetishized.

    Now, in 2024, having an explicitly queer song leading a major studio film shows a seismic sapphic shift. Janice is no longer at the fringes of the film’s plot. And the implications of having a lesbian play Regina George? Yes, a gay girl can get an amen from me.

    Renee Rapp is just one of the young, sapphic popstars gracing the airwaves today. In those toxic early-2000s, a popstar’s success depended on how well their sexuality could be marketed by and to men. Hindsight has us reckoning with the
    egregious objectification of Britney Spears and her peers in recent years. But now, with social media, the biggest popstars have more control over their image and have achieved success by unapologetically marketing to women — 2023 wasn’t the year of the girl for nothing.

    The biggest stars in the world are leveraging predominantly female audiences —
    Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, and even male pop giants like Harry Styles. And now the queer girls are taking over by singing not just about girlhood, but explicitly about sapphic desire. Within this zeitgeist, they’re remaking what it means to be a girl for everyone. No longer is it about appealing to the male gaze, it’s about identifying with people who make you feel seen and follow your interests unapologetically. This message is resonating with the straights and sapphics alike. Particularly on TikTok, it’s causing some to realize they’re not as straight as they thought.

    From Gay-Famous to Mainstream-Famous

    There’s long been a category of celebs who are irrefutable icons in the queer space but who go largely ignored by the mainstream music crowd. Think Troye Sivan. He’s been gaymous since his first album,
    Blue Neighborhood. Close to a decade later, he’s finally broken through to the mainstream. Traversing from queer subculture to mainstream pop culture usually takes years. What’s exciting about the latest class of girls who like girls is that they’re starting their careers with mainstream recognition — and a lot of that is thanks to TikTok.

    From young artists coming out in the past few years to emerging artists branding themselves as queer from the get-go, queerness is no longer relegated to the sidelines.

    However, niche queer music communities are alive and well. It’s how “do you listen to
    Girl In Red” became code for asking if a girl was queer. And it’s why, on TikTok, algorithms are leading individuals to queer content creators and suddenly realizing they, too, are queer. “If TikTok is showing you this, you might be gay,” read a wave of videos during the pandemic. And for many people, TikTok was right. Perhaps this surge of sexual awakenings has something to do with a new generation looking for queer representation in music. And finally, finally, it’s here.

    Perhaps this is what Jojo Siwa was talking about when she declared in her now-notorious interview that she was the harbinger of “gay pop.” When she said in an interview that she “wanted to start a new genre … called ‘gay pop,’” she might have been onto something. She later clarified that she didn’t mean she invented the genre, but wanted to be part of brining it mainstream. “There’s so many gay pop artists … but I think that those gay pop artists do deserve a bigger home than what they have right now,” she said.

    Fortunately for Jojo Siwa, she’s getting what she wanted — gay pop artists are getting way bigger platforms. Unfortunately for Jojo Siwa, it’s not her.

    Femininomenons

    Take Coachella 2024. It might as well have been Pride. One of the hottest queer moments was the rise of Chappel Roan. Bard of bisexuals everywhere, Chappell Roan has been giving gay girls infectious pop hits since 2020, with “
    Pink Pony Club,” the lead single of her debut album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess.

    After her Coachella set and her viral summer single “Good, Luck Babe!” — a song about a queer girl who leaves the singer for a man — Chappell is one of the biggest rising stars to emerge from the desert, the people’s princess. Roan’s album is full of soaring pop bangers that put queerness at the center. The opening track, “Femininomenon” is a neologism Chappell created that combines “feminine” and “phenomenon.” The songs that follow are about coming of age, coming into one’s queerness, and discovering one’s whole self — themes that have earned her a cultish fanbase and a viral
    Tiny Desk Concert, the hallmark of any true indie artist.

    Other
    femininomenons are shaking up the industry scene across all genres — both on and off stage. Billie Eilish has been a global megastar since she was only a teenager. After coming out as bisexual in 2023, Billie made headlines at Coachella for her undeniable queer energy. Having a Grammy-winning pop superstar be openly queer is a sure sign that the tide is changing. Especially since, after penning the song that defined girlhood last year — “What Was I Made For?”, which won Song of the Year at the Grammys for Barbie — her new album, HIT ME HARD AND SOFT, features songs like “Lunch” about queer desire.

    Billie isn’t the only established young female singer to explore queer themes in their music and videos. Singers like Madison Beer, who was discovered in 2012 at the age of 13, has since come out as bisexual and talked about songs on her new album that are inspired by relationships with women. And these go beyond the lyrics.

    Her newest single, “Make You Mine,” is accompanied by visuals inspired by emblematic bisexual film,
    Jennifer’s Body. Her other single, “Sweet Relief,” features a trans model as the love interest — which should not be revolutionary in 2024, but in the mainstream pop world, it still is.

    Then there are the bevy of alternative and rock artists who have become queer icons. From Phoebe Bridgers and Boygenius to MUNA and Remi Wolf, Gen Z favorites are here, queer, and soon everyone will be talking about them.

    The industry and mainstream audiences are finally feeling the heat from these female stars and paying attention in a huge way. In the words of Chappell Roan herself: “You’d have to stop the world just to stop the feeling.”

    Here are the young, queer popstars singing about sapphic love:

    Renee Rapp

    Our media-untrained princess is a loud and proud lesbian force. After declaring “a huge thank you to every man that helped make me realize that I was a lesbian” at the GLAAD Media Awards, I’m excited to see where her music and personality take her next.

    Chappell Roan

    This Midwest princess launched the gay pop hit of the summer with “Good Luck, Babe!” We’ve been massive Chappell fans for
    years, and we love watching her finally get the attention she deserves. Sapphic sleeper hits from her debut album include “Naked in Manhattan.” Stream The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess now!

    Billie Eilish

    Billie’s latest era promises to be her most authentic yet. She has always been known for her daring fashion and unconventional approach to popstardom — traits that many have read as signals of her queerness — and it’s thrilling to see her step into her new album bringing an unapologetic vibe to everything she does. Stream “Lunch” now.

    Victoria Monét

    After winning Best New Artist at the 2024 Grammy Awards, Victoria Monét’s career is primed to to hit the stratosphere. A songwriter and frequent collaborator with big names like Ariana Grande, Monét has been behind the scenes for years. But now her own songs are poised to take over the airwaves. She’s also confirmed her bisexuality and how coming out freed her as an artist — perhaps allowing her to earn her a Grammy.

    “In songwriting, I stopped writing pronouns that weren’t accurate,” she told Em Rata on
    High Low. “It was really freeing, and it opened up another window of creativity where I could say whatever I actually feel and be true.”

    Phoebe Bridgers

    Phoebe Bridgers has been the unchallenged giant of the confessional indie singers since her debut album
    Stranger in the Alps. Collaborations with artists like MUNA, she has confirmed her queerness in her music and in everything from Sapphic sartorial choices and of course, her work with Boygenius. At this year’s Grammys, Bridgers issued a direct FU to the straight male gatekeepers of the industry, using her way with words to say: “the ex-president of the Recording Academy, Neil Portnow, said that if women want to be nominated and win Grammys, that they should “step up” … To him, I’d like to say, ‘I know you’re not dead yet, but when you are, rot in piss.’”

    Boygenius

    Comprised of Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, and Julien Baker, Boygenius is a collaborative project of Sapphic singers singing rock bangers. The 2024 Grammys saw them winning in traditionally male categories such as best rock song and best rock performance for their single “Not Strong Enough,” as well as best alternative album for their debut studio album,
    The Record.

    Ethel Cain

    Another for the sad, ex-Tumblr girls, Ethel Cain’s melancholy melodies are finally gaining mainstream attention. Ethel Cain’s character says Southern gothic fantasy of Hayden Anhedönia, a 24-year-old artist whose stage persona is much like character-based singers of yore — think Marina and the Diamonds. The world she creates in
    Preacher’s Daughter and her other work is similar to the dark fantasies of Lana Del Rey. And similarly, this world is about chasing freedom above all else.

    “I want some variation for the trans experience as depicted in trans art,” Anhedönia told
    Billboard in 2022. “Ethel Cain the character is trans, but I didn’t make it a big part of the story because to me, being transgender is kind of boring. It’s like, ‘I have brown hair, I’m transgender’ — it’s very ‘whatever,’ you know? Ultimately, it’s not about the identity itself, it’s about the freedom to be whatever you are.”

    MUNA

    MUNA is an indie-pop comprised of Katie Gavin, Josette Maskin, and Naomi McPherson who have been gaymous since their

    debut album in 2017. Thanks to collaborations like “Silk Chiffon” with Phoebe Bridgers and features in queer films like
    Alex Strangelove, they’ve been reaching an increasingly mainstream audience with their infectious gay pop bangers.

    Remi Wolf

    With multiple viral hits under her belt and one of the most impressive voices on the pop scene, Remi Wolf is the coolest Gen Z stars out there. Her eclectic style, genre-bending sound, and energetic stage presence make her a certified superstar. And her indiscriminate use of pronouns in her music solidifies her as a bisexual superstar.

    Girl in Red

    Girl in Red used to be an IYKYK niche music act known pretty much only by girls who like girls. If she came up on your Spotify algorithm, it was trying to tell you something. But she has since exploded and become an indie-pop darling — even collaborating with pop princess, Sabrina Carpenter on “ You Need Me Now?”

    Madison Beer

    Like Billie, Madison’s latest phase feels more herself and unrestrained. A child of the Tumblr days, it’s no surprise that she’s drawn to queer ephemera like Jennifer’s Body. As she blossoms as a musician, let’s hope we hear more sapphic themes in her lyrics.

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    LKC

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  • Live at Lorem: Remi Wolf on Frank Ocean, 70’s Funk, Going on Tour, and Gen Z’s Favorite Spotify Playlist

    Live at Lorem: Remi Wolf on Frank Ocean, 70’s Funk, Going on Tour, and Gen Z’s Favorite Spotify Playlist

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    If you know, you know.

    There’s nothing like the feeling of being in the know, in the club. Especially when there’s no barrier to entry but good taste. And as Gen Z carves out their identity, both individually and as a generation, they’re creating digital communities by the minute.


    There are small monuments: a microtrend that perfectly captures one part of your aesthetic, a viral video that captivates the world like a flash in the pan, or a show/movie that dominates pop culture for its brief moment in the sun.

    Some cultural artifacts persist. From celebrity icons to slang terms, what is a generation but the ephemera they cling to? And for Gen Z, the things that define them are reflective of their resistance to being defined at all.

    Therefore, their cultural landmarks have to be as fluid, expansive, and even as chaotic as they are. That’s why their social media of choice is TikTok. Why their most successful celebrities are messy oversharers (in the best way) like Olivia Rodrigo. And why Spotify’s Lorem playlist is their soundtrack.

    What exactly is Lorem?

    Eclectic and esoteric, Spotify’s Lorem playlist manages to be wildly popular (it currently has over 1.1 Million likes) while still feeling deeply personal.

    Spotify is Gen Z’s music streaming service of choice. Spotify’s 2022 Culture Next Report showed that 18-24-year-olds played more than 578bn minutes of music on Spotify in 2021 — 16 billion more minutes than Millennials. Most of them didn’t grow up paying for music (or illegally downloading it from Limewire) and so the entire history of their music taste is cataloged on Spotify.

    One thing that draws them in and keeps them hooked? The ability to discover new music through the carefully curated, constantly updated playlists. Popular playlists include: Rap Caviar for Hip Hop fans, B.A.E for R&B listeners, and even the recent Tailgate Party playlist inspired by Taylor Swift’s sudden love of the Kansas City Chiefs.

    And since its inception in 2019, Spotify’s Lorem playlist has become Gen Z canon.

    What kind of music is on the Lorem playlist?

    Lorem blends bedroom pop, mainstream pop, and up-and-coming indie into one of Spotify’s most popular “genreless” playlists. Instead of compiling the top tracks of a specific genre, Lorem embraces Gen Z’s resistance to genre as a concept.

    Lorem isn’t one particular sound, it’s a feeling. A really good vibe. It’s made for playing in the car and at parties just as much as plugging in your headphones. Its genius curation blends familiar songs from mainstream artists — think, Olivia Rodrigo’s GUTS — with less ubiquitous artists who often end up skyrocketing in popularity. It’s no wonder many artists featured on Lorem have become Gen Z icons.

    How many times have I heard someone say they discovered an artist on Lorem? Oh, if I had a nickel for each one. That feeling of community makes the Lorem playlist feel like a digital third space. And last night in Los Angeles, many of the artists featured on Lorem made that community literal at an intimate Spotify event featuring a performance by Remi Wolf and a special appearance by Norah Jones.

    Remi Wolf and Norah Jones at Spotify’s Lorem & Friends event in LACourtesy of Spotify

    Inside the Lorem & Friends Party:

    In a house in West Hollywood, some of the most exciting musicians and creators gathered for a night of good music, good company, and good vibes curated by Spotify. The Lorem & Friends event featured a performance by Remi Wolf, who was joined on stage by special guest, Norah Jones.

    Remi, who’s currently the cover star of the Lorem playlist, sang hits such as “Liquor Store,” and “Liz,” as well as new songs like “Shawty,” “Soup,” and even a cover of Frank Ocean’s “Pink + White” (which she had previously recorded a version of at the legendary Electric Lady).

    She even serenaded the crowd with a duet version of “Don’t Know Why” with Norah Jones.

    “Lorem & Friends is not only a celebration of the playlist, but of the incredible community of creatives that it’s attracted,” said Lisa Ritchey, Pop, Dance, Indie, Artist Partnerships at Spotify. “We wanted to bring everyone together in person to showcase the level of love and respect that these fans and artists have for each other. Watching Remi Wolf and Norah Jones collaborate in front of our eyes is the biggest proof point — music brings people together, and Lorem is a special place both on and off our platform.”

    Remi Wolf was the perfect artist to showcase the cultural truth at the heart of Lorem: the kids aren’t just alright. They have really good taste.

    Remi Wolf behind the scenes at Spotify’s Lorem & Friends event in LA (featuring a Cake with marachino cherries … IYKYK)Courtesy of Spotify

    We got a chance to talk to Remi about cultivating her own sound, trusting her taste, and trusting her audience. Check it out below!

    POPDUST: You have such a distinct sound. How have you managed to stay true to your own vision throughout your journey, within collaborations, and in the industry?

    Remi Wolf: Big question. I think that I as a person have always been very decisive. I know what I like. And I know what I don’t when I see it. And I think that I carry that around with me in every kind of sense of my life. And in crafting my musical identity, I’m just always following the sounds that I like. It’s a lot of gut intuition. I can’t necessarily tell you why or what, but I know it when I hear it.

    And I have enough musical vocabulary to describe the feeling I want to go for and I’m lucky to have people around me whose taste and intuition I also trust. I like to surround myself with people who also have a strong sense of taste. And that generally makes the art better and the experience better and more fun. Like, less second-guessing, and more just like, let’s do this thing because we liked it.

    POPDUST: Have you always been like that? So trusting of your taste?

    Remi Wolf: Yeah, I think so. I can’t really remember a time when I wasn’t, except for maybe in middle school. When everybody’s wearing Abercrombie and at a certain point, you’re like, Well, fuck, I have to get some Abercrombie. So that’s just confusing, right? But once I was around 15, or 16 I think that’s when something really clicked inside of me, and I was kind of just on my own little wave.

    POPDUST: What albums do you think helped hone your taste?

    Remi Wolf: When I was in high school, I think one really enlightening album for me was 2 by Mac DeMarco. For people my age, that felt very revolutionary. Like, fuck, we’re smoking weed in the park and this is so trippy or whatever, and you kind of start having psychedelic thoughts. He’s amazing. He’s such a free musician and so singular in the sense that I don’t think he pays attention to anything that’s really going on in the rest of the industry. And because of that, I like it. And of course, Frank Ocean. Channel Orange.

    POPDUST: Channel Orange more than Blonde?

    Remi Wolf: Definitely. Great fucking album. I love Blonde too. But Channel Orange is so soulful with a lot of jazz influences. And he’s just an incredible songwriter, incredible lyricist. So creative. And then I also fuck with The Beatles. I fuck with Stevie Wonder. Michael Jackson. Lots of funk. Red Hot Chili Peppers were huge.

    So kind of a mishmash of a lot of different things. I started playing music and in bands when I was 15. So all of that music that I was playing — which was a lot of just like classics, right? — just sunk in totally and created a monster.

    POPDUST: Thank god for that monster. What about now? Is there that’s been inspiring you lately?

    Remi Wolf: I’ve been listening to a lot of Solange. I love her. A Seat At The Table and When I Get Home are both kind of in constant rotation for me. I have also been listening to a lot of 70s funk stuff. And I can’t tell you really exactly what, but I’ve just been consuming a lot of it. There’s just one song called “Love Come Down” by Evelyn “Champagne” King. So fucking good. Also, Wings, which is like Paul McCartney’s band. I mean, Paul McCartney is an amazing songwriter. So, so good. Current things, I love Big Thief. And I did listen to the Olivia Rodrigo album. And it’s great.

    POPDUST: When you’re writing, how much are you thinking about audience? Does that influence you at all?

    Remi Wolf: Oh, that’s an interesting question. I feel like I think about audience through my own lens of like, do I want to play this at a show, right? And would this translate to a crowd? Because like I performing is like one of my main my main shebang. So I always have that in my mind. But it’s less so about like, oh no, what are they gonna think? Because you can never figure that out. All you can do is make sure that you like it. And I think I trusted myself enough to know that, hopefully, if I like it, somebody else will like it, too. So that’s more of my barometer, right? And I think about the show but not really from their perspective, more from like, is this something I want to perform? Or would this be something that would make me happy to say? And just trusting that’s enough.

    POPDUST: Has your relationship with any songs changed after performing them?

    Remi Wolf: [Laughter] I mean, yeah. You get so tired of your own songs. I’m certain I’ve sung “Photo ID” probably over 1000 times. And I would probably be happy not performing that song for like a year or two.

    POPDUST: Do you ever change it up?

    Remi Wolf: I do, yeah. I change the setlist pretty frequently, actually. But there are certain staples you gotta hit, right? But, new music soon. New Shows.

    POPDUST: New songs to get tired of.

    Remi Wolf: Exactly. That’s the beautiful thing about an album cycle. That it just keeps going.

    Listen to Remi and friends on the Spotify Lorem playlist here:

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    Langa

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  • Your Weekend Playlist: New Music To Listen To This Week

    Your Weekend Playlist: New Music To Listen To This Week

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    We’re back with another edition of your Weekend Playlist…a segment where I round up all of the best music released this week and share it from my ears to yours. It’s essentially a better version of Spotify’s New Music Friday because I’ve actually listened to the songs.


    Since we are getting into the thick of May, artists are slowly releasing their singles to contend for Song Of The Summer. A coveted title awarded to one song relentlessly played on both TikTok and the radio, effortlessly catchy and upbeat enough for the tone of the season. We’ve previously seen winners in Harry Styles’ “Watermelon Sugar” and DJ Khaled’s “Wild Thoughts”, so there are naturally big shoes to fill.

    After sitting down and poring through new music releases this fine Friday, I’m hearing a bunch of songs setting us up for a great summer. Because, let’s face it, it’s not a memorable summer without a few anthems to get us through. Like how summer ‘16 will always be Drake’s Views album.

    Will the week of May 12 bring us our summer anthem finally? Let’s find out.

    The Album – The Jonas Brothers 

    They need no introduction, the Jo Bros are back with 12 new tracks produced by hitmaker Jon Bellion. With hit singles like “Wings” and “Waffle House”, this album includes their classic vocals mixed with electric guitar and soft acoustics. They’re kicking off this era with TODAY’s 2023 Citi Concert Series to perform songs off The Album and are set to headline a stadium tour this summer starting at Yankee Stadium.

    “Prescription” – Remi Wolf

    Remi Wolf is back with her first single of 2023 with “Prescription,” written for Boots Riley’s new Amazon Prime show, I’m a Virgo. Wolf is known for her nostalgic-sounding tunes, defying genres and blending them in a way that makes music worth listening to for everyone. She has notes of jazz and pop and everything in between, powerful vocals that know how to deliver a note at just the right time. “Prescription” is Remi’s return this year, and it’s every bit as good as expected.

    RICHE$T OPP – YoungBoy Never Broke Again

    YoungBoy Never Broke Again is one of the hottest rappers out there right now. Coming off a flaming 2022, RICHE$T OPP is his newest mixtape to show off his insane ability to make a beat. The Louisiana rapper just released his sixth studio album, Don’t Try This At Home, which was #1 on Apple Music, and was the third most listened to artist in the US last year behind Taylor Swift and Drake.

    “Side Effects” – Becky Hill

    If there’s one thing guaranteed about Becky Hill: it’s that she will make a dance club banger. You’ll want to dance all night long to “Side Effects,” a pop-dance fusion track about being unable to move on from a relationship. The two time BRIT winner hasn’t released a record in over a year, but this comeback isn’t one to miss.

    “To Da Moon” – Party@4 & Toosii 

    Up-and-coming artist Party@4 caught the attention of Toosii with his track “To Da Moon,” it was so catchy that Toosii hopped on himself. The Milwaukee native is making a name for himself in the music industry with this track that perfectly captures the essence of partying and having a good time.

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    Jai Phillips

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