Beth Ray Writes

It’s the last few days of October which means next month we will start to see our social media filled with everyones Spotify Wrapped results. It’s incoming and I can’t wait because i’m a nosey bitch and i’ll admit it.
In the meantime there is so much good music being released right now I wanted to share what i’ve been listening to.

The Rebecca Black Boiler Room
I am OBSESSED. Rebecca Black is showing all the viral girlies from ten years ago that you can still be cool even when your hit song wasn’t ever considered a serious pop tune. Her set from the Boiler Room a few weeks ago has gained lots of attention particularly for her remix with a Charli XCX track at the end. If you haven’t got the time to watch the whole set skip to 55 minutes in to watch the last track. It’s a pop culture full circle moment.

ROSÉ & Bruno Mars – APT.
ROSÉ has released her first solo single with Bruno Mars and the harmonies send me into over-drive. YES the beginning sounds very similar to the intro of The Ting Tings ‘That’s Not My Name’ but I think any drum beat can sound similar to it. The melody and harmonies on ‘APT’ with the mixture of ROSÉ’s and Bruno’s vocals create this insanely catchy debut track. I am a sucker for a love song and a drum beat which this song serves to us on a plate. This will be on repeat for the foreseeable.

JADE- Fantasy
Did we all see JADE on Jools Holland last week? This woman has mapped out her solo career for all our inner child dreams of becoming a pop star. From providing another pop hit after ‘Angel Of My Dreams’ to working with iconic pop music video director David LaChapelle (He directed ‘Everytime’ for Britney and ‘Dirrty’ for Christina Aguilera) this woman is pulling out all of the iconic pop diva moments we like to see and eat up. I won’t be surprised if JADE will be my top Spotify artist for 2024 with how much I’m listening to her solo hits. We need an album release date pronto.

Remi Wolf- Soup
This song is such a beautiful, upbeat pop track which makes me feel all of the emotions. It makes me want to go on a road trip in my car, playing this song full blast with it on repeat whilst driving into the sunset. It’s a gorgeous love song and I loved it so much I’ve bought tickets to her tour in December. If that doesn’t tell you how much I think you should listen to this track then I don’t know what else to say (other than I love an impromptu gig purchase).

Ariana Grande- we can’t be friends (wait for your love) (live version)
Ariana has released a deluxe/ live version of her album “Eternal Sunshine” and I’m really enjoying her live tracks. Her voice is so powerful, tender at the quieter moments and stronger when needed to carry the emotions across. I have really soaked up this album and I think Ariana has taken control of her narrative, at the beginning of the year she was written about negatively regarding her love life and she’s taken the discourse and written about it in the album. Which I can’t imagine was easy to achieve but somehow she’s done it. I’ve definitely got a few more weeks of listening to the album now i’ve got a few more live tracks to add to my playlists.

Blossoms – Nightclub
I have had Blossoms’ latest album ‘Gary’ on repeat since it was released in September. The album in it’s entirety is only 30minutes and 27 seconds which I personally believe most albums should look to achieve. My favourite track is ‘Nightclub’ as I love how lead singer Tom narrates the listener to his experience of trying to get inside this nightclub, from explaining ‘fuck waiting half an hour just to get inside‘ to saying they should ‘split into twos our chances of getting in will greatly improve’. The 70’s vibe to the song really sets a groove and I just love this sound for Blossoms. Give it a listen.

Damiano David- Born With A Broken Heart
The lead singer of MÅNESKIN has released another solo single and this one has taken my attention mainly because of the music video. It’s cinematography, choreography, costumes it’s so hard not to sit and watch the whole 4 minutes of it. The song is pretty good too, it’s growing on me the more I listen to it and for any frontman’s solo departure it’s a great start. I’m interested to see where he goes from here.

So they are my current tracks, let me know what you have been listening to and any recommendations you may have.

Beth x