postcard playlist no. 8: early summer
finally! new music!
It’s summer again, finally. The sun is shining on a consistent basis, and artists are releasing music again, so you have mail! On this postcard, I’m getting into the new releases I’m loving from old favorite artists and some of the older tracks I’ve been obsessed with over the last few months. Lorde is releasing new music, Conan Gray is winning me back over, and I’m obsessed with the new girl in red track.
“Man of the Year” by Lorde
When Lorde finally returned with “What Was That,” it warranted its own mail. Now, I’m writing this with one Lorde ticket in Dublin in my back pocket (the product of three days straight of consistent effort and all the Ticketmaster savvy I picked up as a 16-year-old) and another Lorde song on my playlists ahead of the June 27th release of Virgin. She’s definitely making waves with the increased press she’s doing for this record—ruffling some feathers—and is very much back online. While I’m still attempting to “throw my cellular device in the water,” I’m also very much here for this new, messy era of thinking less, saying more, and living boldly.
To the song itself, it doesn’t quite sink its claws in as hard as Melodrama, but I can’t stop listening to it. She starts acapella for the first verse before plunging into a haunting, spine chilling second chorus that feels full of ghosts as she asks, “Who’s gonna love me like this?” While Lorde’s alluded to this song being based in her questions around her gender identity, it’s a roomy song that leaves plenty of space to fill in your own personal connection. She also traces over themes of heartbreak and navigating a break-up, which feels like a consistent thread on the record. Her refrain of “Let’s hear it for the man of the year,” feels almost mocking of this past partner at the end of the song. I’ve grown attached to it as an anthem for those moments of ugly change in life where you’re moving from one version of yourself to another and everything around you doesn’t quite fit right anymore.
“This Song” by Conan Gray
Conan Gray’s album Kid Krow defined my teenage years, and I found his successive projects increasingly disappointing. His last record Found Heaven completely lost me at the first single as everything about his artist project grew artificial and false. I didn’t think I could be won back over on this particular artist, but Conan has done a complete 180 back to his roots with the announcement of his new album, Wishbone. He’s back to cinematic music videos, honestly written songs about yearning, hand drawn art, allusions to his suburban childhood in Texas, and stripping it back without the self conscious decorations of a Pop Star. Having come up as a YouTuber and peddled authenticity and access as his main selling features, he’s obviously struggled with growing up in the spotlight and navigating increasing fame, but he seems to finally be coming back around, and I’ll take my seat again if the rest of the album feels like “This Song.”
I feel like Conan’s best lane is being a voice for those of us who never quite fit in, who didn’t get the conventional high school or college experiences and therefore are finding coming of age moments through our twenties. He tackles the insecurity of never having been explicitly “liked back” and the emotional rollercoaster of being an intense crusher, a romantic at heart. That’s all encapsulated on “This Song,” where the triumphant chorus declares, “I wrote this song about you / something I wish you knew / something I’ve tried to say / but now I’ll say it straight / I wrote this song about you.” As a creative person that draws inspiration from life, I relate to the tongue-tied feeling of having so many words in your art but no words to properly communicate (can you see why I’m obsessed with normal people? side note: there’s a song on the album track list called “Connell” that can only possibly be an allusion to the book and is the song I’m claiming now).
Conan pulls on all my favorite trappings. Wishbones are a symbol I’ve been so obsessed with I’ll likely get one tattooed on my body one day; they show up all the time in my art. I’m the world’s foremost 11:11 wisher, so when he declares in the first verse, “11:11s, they all hear your name,” I knew I was done for. But what truly breaks me every time I hear this song is the short coda of a bridge where he sings, “You know that I love you / Is it dumb believing you might love me too?” Ouch. As the one who always falls harder, this one hurt. Again, this feels like a total right song for the right moment for me personally. I relate too much…
As for the rest of the album, dropping in mid-August, I’m surprisingly hopeful. Conan has returned to all of his best collaborators from Dillon with the album art to Dan Nigro, an integral collaborator to Conan that was absent from his last disastrous record. Conan’s billing this as the project he didn’t want to create but found undeniable, and I’m intrigued by where this return to form will lead.
“Hemingway” by girl in red
I only listened to this one because YouTube suggested it after Conan’s video among the new releases of the night, but I went from casually checking it out to listening on repeat immediately. While the first verse is pretty quintessential Girl in Red sonically, the chorus gives me an undeniable, obsessive chill. The melody of “goddamn baby you drink like Hemingway” is utterly spectacular. It’s one of those chill songs that still makes you want to turn the volume all the way up and scream it in the car. Lyrically, the song is written from a fascinating perspective of the narrator being confronted about her drinking by a partner and her shrugging and basically saying, “you’re probably right.” The lyrics are harsh and confrontational, and she’s just taking it all onboard. Also, fantastic use of a literary allusion.
“Diet Pepsi” & “Headphones On” by Addison Rae
You know, I never thought that I’d admit to listening to the music of TikToker Addison Rae, but it wouldn’t be fair to deny how good “Diet Pepsi” is. I couldn’t after I saw her perform it with Troye and Charli in a YouTube video. Like, it should be a candidate for song of the summer. It’s just one of those tracks that feels good, perfectly interpolating those early 2000s vibes. I hate the say it, but Addison seems to be doing a better version of what Tate McRae’s team wants her to do and selling it more authentically. I also like “Headphones On,” but mostly for the melody on that chorus hook.
new to me
“Some Protector” by Role Model
There’s a Role Model song or two on every album that I latch on to, and we can thank that brief period in May I was back on TikTok for my obsession with this country-inflected track. Having been somewhat familiar with his very public relationship with Emma Chamberlain, this one stabs a bit harder, but it’s just generally such a fascinating perspective to take on a break-up song.
The track is written from a somewhat ambiguous place where it’s hard to tell if the narrator is the reason the relationship ended or not but detailing the feelings that still linger and a protective sense that remains. The best part, though, is, of course, the viral bit of the bridge where the tone of the song shifts and gathers an electric charge as he directly reflects back on the relationship in a near word-vomit, “Am I guilty / Am I sorry / Do I miss you at the party / Am I dragging this forever / Am I thinking bout September / Am I wrecking reputation while you’re making reservations / Am I lying to my mother that some day I’ll find another?” He concludes this with another round of the chorus, a mournful howl of, “Yes I am and I always will” as the regrets keep spilling out. This is one of those songs that gains a toe-hold in its pure honesty and does a good job of relaying how multi-faceted the conclusion of a relationship can be.
“The Steps” by HAIM
I was half won-over by their new songs “Relationships” and “Everybody’s trying to figure me out” to start paying more attention to HAIM. Also, Louis on the Pop Pantheon podcast has talked about them a lot lately, and I heard a clip of the chorus of this song and found it pretty infectious.
“Juno” by Sabrina Carpenter
I’m fully obsessed with Sabrina Carpenter. Her album is perfect for summer and for crush season and just being in a silly, goofy mood embracing being a walking heart-eye emoji. She captures those sweet, giddy feelings in such a perfect way on top of being super witty in her lyrics. While Julia Michaels doesn’t do this quite as well in her solo music anymore, the entire album feels like it shares DNA with Julia’s first few EPs.
Noah Kahan
There is something undeniable about Noah Kahan and a Wyoming summer. He just sounds right on the car radio driving home from work down the highway to soundtrack my existential spiral about my hometown and leaving it and growing up and life. The songs are so well-written that there are always new avenues to explore through the storytelling. They just don’t get old. Lately, it’s been “You’re Gonna Go Far,” “Orange Juice,” “Growing Sideways,” and “Carlo’s Song” on repeat.