June '24 Monthly Music Recap
As the first half of the year comes to a close, a summer of fantastic music is just getting started.
Between debates about the song of the summer and long-awaited albums from iconic artists, June ushered in the season with a bang. Here are the most iconic and underrated releases of the month to soundtrack your summer.
Sabrina Carpenter continues her pop princess summer with “Please Please Please”
Watch the "Please Please Please" music video on YouTube.
After exuding confidence on her hits “Feather” and “Espresso,” Sabrina Carpenter captured the feeling of desperation while maintaining her ever-satisfying upbeat sound on her latest single, “Please Please Please.”
The song, which dropped just three days after Carpenter announced her sixth studio album, discusses the concern over the potential of a new relationship going awry, reflecting her relationship with actor Barry Keoghan. Backed by a whimsical synth, Carpenter sings “Heartbreak is one thing, my ego’s another / I beg you, don’t embarrass me motherfucker,” emphasizing the extra fear that being in a relationship in the public eye brings. From the witty, movie-style music video to the immense success of the track, “Please Please Please” is certainly a June ear worm and sets the tone for her upcoming album, dropping Aug. 23.
“The girl, so confusing version with lorde” by Charli xcx and Lorde is the collab of the summer
If your social media feeds are anything like mine, they are filled with the narrow arial text overlaying a lime green background that has become synonymous with Charli xcx’s Brat. Since the British pop star released her sixth studio album earlier this month, the internet has not only been abuzz with praise, but also with speculation.
Fans’ suspicions about who track ten, “Girl, so confusing,” is about were confirmed when Charli announced the release of a remix featuring New Zealand pop star Lorde, an artist who Charli has been compared to since 2013 because of their uncanny resemblance. In a TikTok, Charli said songs on Brat — inferentially “Girl, so confusing” — are about the complexities of being “a female artist where you are pitted against your peers but also expected to be best friends with every single person.” In “The girl, so confusing version with lorde,” Lorde answers Charli’s “Yeah I don’t know if you like me / Sometimes I think you might hate me” with “You told me how you’d been feeling / Let’s work it out in the remix.” The lyrics take the rawness of girlhood and elevate it through the pop perfection of Charli’s club-like production mixed with Lorde’s heart-wrenching storytelling. “The girl, so confusing version with lorde” is nothing if not iconic.
Watch the music video for "mad girl's love song" on YouTube.
Under The Rug reinvents a Sylvia Plath classic with “mad girl’s love song”
Their first release in over a year, “mad girl’s love song” is Texas-based folk rock band Under The Rug’s nod to the legendary poet Sylvia Plath. As someone whose favorite book is “The Bell Jar,” I was immediately intrigued upon learning the main melody from the song — “I shut my eyes, love and all the world it drops dead” — is taken from Plath’s “Mad Girl’s Love Song” poem.
While a handful of the lyrics are changed from the original prose to fit the melodic line better, the song itself is still artful. The song starts like a classic folk rock song, with the strumming of a twangy guitar and entrance of soft drums, before the sound gets heavier as lead singer Casey Dayan sings “How could you truly know me?” With every section of the song having sonically unique elements, there is not a dull moment in “mad girl’s love song.” A key change and incessant snare hits close the track, leaving everything on the table before the release of their album, happiness is easy, in August.
Remi Wolf gets jazzy on “Motorcycle”
Watch the "Motorcycle" music video on YouTube.
In her latest single from her upcoming album, Remi Wolf settles fans into a bluesy dreamscape.
“Motorcycle” showcases the California native’s soulful voice, exhibiting her ability to craft a catchy melody no matter the tempo. Backed by clean guitar riffs and an easy drum shuffle, Wolf sings about her conflicting desires in life: “I could kiss your forehead, send you down the doorstep / Wave goodbye and get right on my motorcycle.” In an interview, Wolf said the motorcycle is a metaphor for riding away into a secret, independent life, separate from the domestic life she also wants.
The song is the forth single from Wolf’s album Big Ideas, dropping July 12, and has a music video starring herself and musicians Victoria Justice and Dora Jar. With images like living a 50s housewife life while wearing a lacy bodysuit, the music video compliments the theme of “Motorcycle” perfectly.
Staff Picks:
Amesha Tiwari - “A Tear In Space (Airlock)” by Glass Animals
Madison Avery - “New Way Out” by Poppy
Peyton Mott - “Lose My Wife” by Kehlani
Cece Faulkner - “Favourite” by Fontaines D.C.
Grace Moioli - “The only conscious being in the universe” by bar italia
Dany Mireles - “us. (feat. Taylor Swift)” by Gracie Abrams and Taylor Swift
Sullivan Jordan - “Normal Thing” by Gracie Abrams
Choose Kapoor - “Lemon” by Still Woozy
Seay Howell - “Crushed Velvet” by Valley James
Lucy Curtis - “Shame” by Philine Sonny and Miya Folick
Lorena Wilhelmi - “you wore it better” by Nemahsis
Kofi Owusu - “It’s All Soup Now” by King Krule
Mikayla Galaviz - “We Were Never Here” by Maybird
Reegan Johnson- “Any Girl” by Simone
July releases to look forward to:
7/1 - “Ever Seen” by beabadoobee
7/5 - Butu by Kokoko!
7/5 - The Keeper’s Tongue EP by Sumac
7/12 - My Light, My Destroyer by Cassandra Jenkins
7/12 - X’s by Cigarettes After Sex
7/12 - Charm by Clairo
7/12 - Big Ideas by Remi Wolf
7/12 - “Take It Or Leave It” by Coin
7/17 - BLOOD ON THE DRUMS by Ashton Irwin
7/19 - I Love you So Fucking Much by Glass Animals
7/26 - Y2K! by Ice Spice
7/26 - THE GOLDEN YEARS by Joshua Bassett
7/26 - biting my tongue by kenzie
7/26 - SMILE! :D by Porter Robinson