Witch, poet, artist, activist and now actress — her big-screen debut Angelfish is out next week — Princess Nokia released her new single “Balenciaga” today. The furiously anti-hypebeast track is an ode to thrifting and dressing for herself, with lyrics like “looking like a milli but it only cost 20” and “if I dress broke, it’s cause I don’t give a fuck”. Same, Destiny… same.
Also in this week’s BEST NEW MUSIC playlist, we’ve got Norwegian New Yorker Okay Kaya’s “Baby Little Tween” which muses on the all too relatable numbing effect of her prescription pills. Like it? You’ll be pleased to hear that she’s got a new album on the way — Watch This Liquid Pour Itself — out 24 January. Billie Eilish’s latest offering, “everything i wanted” is there too, obviously. It’s a beautiful confessional about the 17-year-old’s experiences over the past year. “It’s not me shitting on fame,” she just told Zane Lowe on Apple Music’s Beats 1. “It’s me talking about how sometimes everything you wanted is not what you actually should. You know what I mean? It might not be exactly how you dreamed it because it is a dream.”
Elsewhere, there’s “We tried, we tried” from Ama Lou’s new EP, which is cleverly titled Ama, who? It chronicles the end of a relationship, only positively, for once. So mature for one so young. Tokyo-based Friday Night Plans have a new EP out today too. Named Complex, we selected the cold, gloomy, jazz-afflicted “Nameless” for the playlist because we liked how it sounds like how getting caught in the rain at night feels. Then there’s S.T Manville, former frontman of your fave early noughties northern mathcore band Blakfish, with the latest in his series of emo throwbacks. Here he has teamed up with Katie Malco on a beautiful cover of 1999 Counting Crows hit “Colorblond”. Yes, the one from Cruel Intentions. Yes, it’ll make you cry.
Like that wasn’t already enough, the playlist also boasts new magic from the likes of Rachel Chinouriri, ALA.NI in collaboration with Iggy Pop, Cola Boy, Miink, Grimes (omg yes!), Daughters of Reykjavik fka Reykjavikurdaetur, Emma-Jean Thackray, Sons of Raphael, Andras, TOY, Ryan Beatty and plenty more. You’re welcome.