Best New Tracks — October & November 2018
October and November were low months in track releases, but there are still plenty of memorable tracks.
Shortly before the release of his sophomore album, Clarence Clarity another single off the album, “Adam & The Evil*”. Two weeks later, the eclectic experimental pop/electronic artist releases two more non-album tracks. These tracks exemplify his maximalist sound, dense with layers and layers of instruments. He knows better than to tire out the audience though, keeping them at a nice, digestible length of two and a half/three minutes, just enough to pack a punch.
Mean while, Charli XCX teams up with Troye Sivan on the fifth single teasing her new album (fourth one this year, including a double single). The two millennials revel in nostalgia, recalling the good old days of 1999. While it’s hard to actually imagine the two singers partying to “…Baby One More Time” like the lyrics, they really sold the song, and for a moment you forget that Sivan was only four and Aitchison was seven back in 1999. While it’s not as infectious as “Boys” or “No Angels”, this Eurodance track is definitely one of the more memorable tracks they have released this year.
Another memorable collaboration released in October is “Tints”, first single off Anderson .Paak’s third album released in mid-November. The track has great production and addictive melody, the rap verse by Kendrick Lamar’s not much more than satisfactory. Also promoting a November-release is The 1975 with “It’s Not Living (If It’s Not With You)”. Without much notice, you would think that this is just an uber-catchy song thanks to a hook that echoes the 1987 hit “Heaven Is a Place on Earth” (and some music/lyrical clichés), but The 1975 is smarter than that. Underneath the glistening bubbly poptimism are very dark lyrics about the band’s frontman battle with heroin addiction. Yes, it’s not some women “wearing beautiful shoes”, it’s an euphemism for needles. And yes, “you” in the title refers to heroin. It gets very dark very quickly.
November comes with a comeback single from Carly Rae Jepsen, “Party For One”. Though not a bullet-proof pop song like “Call Me Maybe”, “Run Away With Me”, or “Cut To the Feeling”, “Party For One” shows her ability to write killer hooks and command of song/melody structure. Whatever she has in store for us, we’re ready for it.
This November, Ariana Grande got her biggest hit and first number one single, “thank u, next”. Kiss-off songs are plenty, both good and bad ones. But despite the title, in this non-album track, Grande focuses on something more important: learning from the past and improving herself. Ariana Grande is growing stronger and stronger, both in her personal life and as an artist, and we’re happy for her.
Still, the best new release these two months, and easily one of the best tracks this year, arrived right at the end of the month: Grimes’s “We Appreciate Power”. Grimes is never one to be afraid of being wild and weird, pushing genres’ boundaries with some of the most impressive tracks of the decade. Her first single since 2015’s Art Angels is more straight-forward, but as impactful. The nu-metal track is hard-hitting, a head banger with warping guitar riffs, topped off with her signature feminine, eerie vocals. It sketches out a science fiction post-apocalyptic manga where AI is taking over humanity. It is dense, relentless, and unforgiving: after a third chorus she goes on to another refrain, before demanding humanity to submit. Grimes goes all in, and it pays off: the result is provoking, unsettling, and irresistible.
