Following the October 2020 release of BLACKPINK’s record-breaking first full-length, THE ALBUM, the K-pop group’s Kiwi member Rosé has just released new solo work. Making her the second member to embark on a side project, it follows Jennie’s “SOLO” back in 2018. R is made up of two singles, “On the Ground” and “Gone”, the first of which comes with a truly explosive music video, which already has racked up 21 million views on YouTube in a matter of hours. In it, we join Rosé as she runs in action movie slow-mo through a burning world populated by fireworks and stretch limousines. Our protagonist retreats to a peaceful place where she floats, dreamlike, over a field of roses. Lyrically, Rosé really opens up here — reflecting on her meteoric rise to fame before concluding that what ultimately matters was right there all along, keeping her grounded.
23-year-old Raissa’s debut project is out today too. The LA-based pop angel, signed to Mark Ronson’s Zelig Records alongside King Princess, released HEROGIRL along with a visual for “Cold Feet”, which you’ll find in today’s playlist. The sci-fi inspired EP tracks a hero’s journey across six songs that Raissa told us recently are about her alter ego, after which the project is named. “She’s the best version of me, she’s who I was when I was a kid, she’s also a re-imagination of the heroines I grew up with”.
Brooklyn rapper Ms. Boogie, meanwhile, is back with the intimate late-night soundtrack that is “Dickscipline”. “It’s about the contrast between submission and dominance in sex,” she says of the track. “Keeping in mind the balance that it should hold in society… aka just because you’re a bottom doesn’t mean you’re not dominant or powerful”. Preach.
Also out this week is new music from Kele (Okereke, of Bloc Party) with “The Heart of the Wave” which apparently grew from a swirling guitar loop that brought calm during lockdown; dancehall track “Safe N Sound” by Chronixx, which lays out the dark reality of street life in Jamaica; and a whole new album of magic from actor, skater and rapper Na-Kel Smith.
Plus, we’ve been blessed with new sounds from Selena Gomez, Brent Faiyaz, Lucy Dacus, Vegyn, Kasai, Loraine James, Phoebe Bridgers and so much more.