Recent Tunes; October Earworms

Hellooo again! I wanted to come back this week and talk about what I've been listening to recently! Especially after my super long review of Taylor Swift's "The Life of a Showgirl" that I did last week, a post where I just get to talk about what music I enjoy looks very appealing right now (but if you do want to read that review, check it out here or look at the bottom of this post). Shameless plug out the way, let's get into the music!

TIT FOR TAT - Tate McRae

Cover for "TIT FOR TAT" by TateMcRae

"TIT FOR TAT" is Tate McRae's latest single, and it's already proving to be yet another successful hit for her. This song has a little bit more going for it in comparison to some of her older work in my opinion. To be honest, I've never been a super huge Tate fan, only really liking a couple of her popular songs. I listened to this one a little late after its release in September, but I haven't stopped listening since I pressed play for the first time. It's a simple breakup song; it doesn't take much to see what this song is talking about. That being said, the lyrics are written in a way that keeps the song feeling fresh despite the subject material being so simple. It's also meant to act a diss-track towards her ex-boyfriend The Kid Laroi, after he had written a song about Tate after their breakup. I don't have much to say about the drama of it all, but I will say that Tate managed to make a way more interesting song than the one she was responding too. I also really like the production, the energy is pretty high throughout the song, but it still captures a low-key vibe. This is easily now one of my favorite Tate songs to date.

Second Sleep - Magdalena Bay

Cover for "Second Sleep" by Magdalena Bay

Okay, so if you actually keep up with my blog (uhh which you should already be doing..), you'd know that I've actually already dedicated a whole post to this song. Because of that, I don't really have a lot to add onto what I've already said. For those who didn't already read my other post, I'll just give you the rundown of why this song is so good. This song is going in a different direction than Magdalena Bay's last album, "Imaginal Disk". While that album was amazing and easily one of my favorite albums of 2024, it's nice to see something new and refreshing. The production still has a lot of qualities that made the pop-duo great in the first place, but they play around with typical pop music convention in this song that lead to some interesting moments. The lyrics are a little cryptic at times, but this is absolutely one of those songs that you can just turn your brain off and just enjoy what you are listening to, even if you don't get the full picture. Definitely recommend giving this song a try if you haven't!

I got it bad - Addison Rae

Cover for "AR" by Addison Rae

Here's an older song that I've been revisiting a lot lately. Addison Rae is definitely within my top 20 artists at the moment, and she's still a relatively new artist. Because of that, she doesn't have a big back-catalog yet. She's got her debut EP "AR", which released in 2023, and her debut album "Addison", which released this past summer. Her debut album received some pretty good acclaim by pop fans because it follows a classic bulletproof-pop formula mixed with inspiration from artists like Brittney Spears and Lana Del Rey, to name a few. Her debut EP however, received a lot more panning by people online for being 'cringe'. Even at the time, I was also pretty unimpressed with this EP. It's also important to note that Addison Rae was still just "that girl from TikTok", so people weren't thrilled with the prospect of her releasing music. Now that I have a better idea of Addison's artistic vision, the goal that Addison had with this project is a lot more clear. It's a half-camp half-serious interpretation of stereotypical pop, and this went over most peoples heads (including mine). While I still maintain that some songs cross the line of what's considered camp or satire (which leads to cringeworthy moments), "I got it bad" is a track that I will defend with my whole heart. It's follows the same ethos of Addison's debut album, which gives it this referential or similar vibe to something you've heard before, but without feeling too derivative of anything in particular. It's hard to explain everything I like about this song, so maybe it's better to go and give it a listen to see what I'm talking about.

Who's the Clown? - Audrey Hobert

Cover for "Who's the Clown?" by Audrey Hobert

Let's get into some of the albums I've been streaming lately! This one's from an artist I've talked about before on the blog- Audrey Hobert. When I did my overall analysis on her, I was pretty positive and gave her a lot of praise for being a unique act among the boring singer/songwriter trope that has been done over and over again ever since the pandemic started. Not only do I continue to stand by my original opinion, but after spending more time with her debut album "Who's the Clown?", I would go so far as to say that Audrey is at the forefront of a completely new style of pop music. Some might take umbrage with that take, but when you really break down this album, you'll see exactly what I'm talking about. No, she's not creating a new sound or genre on this album. In fact, despite having moments of cool and interesting production, this album doesn't actually venture too far out from your typical pop/indie-pop affair. The key difference I'm talking about is the way these songs are presented to the listener. Audrey has a clear talent for songwriting, but she really excels at telling a story. Most of these songs sound like they are moments or ideas that were plucked straight out of her brain. Every song feels like a constant flow of thought, which keeps every verse, chorus, and bridge engaging. Speaking of song structure, this record loves to defy typical pop-conventions. Because these songs have such a continuous flow to them, you'll notice that most songs don't even have any discernable chorus. Occasionally she will jump back to a melody from earlier in the song, but the lyrics will typically be changed in order to offer a new perspective, which goes back to what I was saying before about each song being perpetually interesting throughout. I highly recommend you give this record a try. It might not be for everybody, but it's only about 30 minutes long so it's not a huge investment either way. I honestly love every single song on this record, it's probably one of the few albums where I can say it's truly skipless. That being said, my favorites are "Drive", "Thirst Trap", "Sex and the city", "Shooting Star", "Phoebe", and "Silver Jubilee". I just listed about half of the song from the album. And all of the other songs I didn't mention still get plenty of play-time by me. To close off my thoughts, I wanted to share how much I've streamed this album since listening to it for the first time (roughly a month ago). According to last.fm, I'm sitting at 1,082 minutes total. Do with that what you will.

The Life of a Showgirl - Taylor Swift

Cover for "The Life of a Showgirl" by Taylor Swift

Okay. I just did my biggest review of all-time on this album for last week's post. For reference, the average reading time for that review clocks in at around 11 minutes. So safe to say I've already said my peace when it comes to this album. It's been in my recent rotation nonetheless, so here it is. To summarize my thoughts (very, very briefly..), I found this album to be very inconsistent in quality. There's some pretty high-highs, but some very low-lows throughout the record. Taylor successfully toys with new ideas in songs like "Father Figure" and "Ruin The Friendship", where her songwriting skills really shine through in creating perspective-shifts that make the listening experience engaging and addictive. On the contrary, there are many moments on this album where she presents a unique/new idea but executes it poorly. Refer to "CANCELLED!" or "Eldest Daughter", for example. There are a couple of songs on this album that are pretty standard for the average Taylor pop-affair, like "The Fate of Ophelia" or "Opalite", but there aren't any songs that negate the issues on this album. If you'd like to hear more of my thoughts, check out my full review! You can find it here or at the end of this post.

Desire, I Want To Turn Into You - Caroline Polachek

Cover for "Desire, I Want To Turn Into You" by Caroline Polachek

Here's a modern classic. "Desire, I Want To Turn Into You" is an album that I frequently revisit. I love how unique Caroline Polachek's music can be. Her vocals are unreal and are nothing like you've ever heard before. This album is a couple years old at this point, so I won't dwell too long on it since it's kind of old news. I really like going back to this album during the fall months, I don't know why. It just always ends up being that way. Songs to take note of are "Welcome To My Island", "Bunny Is A Rider", and "Smoke", to name a few.

Willoughby Tucker, I'll Always Love You - Ethel Cain

Cover for "Willoughby Tucker, I'll Always Love You" by Ethel Cain

Finally, here we have Ethel Cain's latest album. It took me a while to really get into this album as it can really bring down your vibe if you aren't in the mood for it. That may be true, but it's because of this reason I've been able to fully sit back and enjoy it. When I find an album I like, I tend to just binge it. I listen over and over again until I eventually start to forget about it. Because I've been selective on when to listen to this album, it's had a lot more longevity in my library. Despite the fact that it's been 2 months since this released, every track still feels very new to me. I love that Ethel plays around with ambient tracks/interludes more than other artists, it helps the album curate a specific feeling when listening to it. Not only are Ethel's songwriting capabilities back and better than ever, the storyline/lore of her character is another really interesting aspect to her music. It makes it so you can enjoy both the story, and still be able to relate some of the characters experiences to your own. It's an interesting dynamic that I only see in Ethel's music at this time. In that respect, this truly is a proper sequel to "Preachers Daughter". There are a lot of comparisons you could draw between the two albums, but the similarity of these projects is absolutely not a bad thing. I mean, it's led to some very memorable songs like "F*ck Me Eyes", "Nettles", and one of my personal favorites is "Waco, Texas". This album hits hardest after a night-walk home from the library, which is usually when I press play on this album. Even though I need to be in the mood for this record, it's still very memorable and lives rent-free in my head.

Wrapping Up

There you have it! That's what I've been listening to as of late. I hope you will give some of these songs/projects a listen so you can see what I like so much about them. With that, I don't have much more to add other than thank you for reading! Have a good rest of the week!

Earworm ~-~-~o

Thanks for reading!

-Joey :)