It’s October, 2024, and I can’t believe my last music mix was posted back in January this year. To make up for that, let me give you a new mix based on nearly three dozen tracks I’ve been listening to over the past few months. No doubt some of my readers have heard some of these tracks already, but if you’ve heard of all of them, I’ll be impressed. Last.fm tells me my listening habits are far from mainstream.
A word of warning: Some of the following music videos contain adult language.
Ella Eyre – domino szn
Ella Eyre has been releasing music for over a decade, and she’s so underrated. Her most popular song, We Don’t Have to Take Our Clothes Off, was one of her earliest released tracks. Her voice sounded a bit more scratchy to me back then than it does now, and it was that scratchiness that initially made me notice her work. Maybe it’s still prominent and I’ve just become more accustomed to it. Whatever. I enjoy her latest release, domino szn, but any scratchiness I might hear isn’t the only thing that attracts me to it… I love its groove.
Feels like domino season
Writer(s): Ella Mary McMahon, Simon Jonasson, Albin Mattias Tengblad, Sinai Negussie
Think I fell in that deep end
Can I see you soon?
I like how I feel with you
Kimbra – Back to You / Honeycomb (feat. Candy Crush Saga)
Long-time fan of Kimbra here. She’s one of the few people I follow on substack. She’s such a kind, creative, spiritual soul. I commented on one of her posts, and she liked it and commented back, which made me feel even more strongly connected to her. That doesn’t mean I’m automatically crazy about her latest album, Idols and Vices (Vol. 1). It’s loaded with songs that feature guest artists… some of whom, sad to say, simply ruin the tracks for me. So it’s no surprise that the track I like best from the album is Back to You, which features no guest artist.
Try go clear my vision but all I can see is you
Lyrics: Kimbra
Even if I don’t want to
My second favorite track from Idols and Vices has a “featured artist,” but it’s not like most of the other such tracks. The featured artist on the track Honeycomb doesn’t have the same distracting, jarring effect I experience with so many of the others. Maybe Kimbra was aiming for a distracting, jarring effect with the majority of songs on the album, and if so, then she nailed it. But I won’t be spending much time listening to them. I don’t mind listening to songs on repeat if I really like them, which is why Top of the World by Kimbra is my all-time #3 song as tracked by Last.fm. It’s just that Idols and Vices (Vol. 1) for the most part doesn’t do it for me… and that’s okay. I’d never want to discourage anyone from following their creative dreams and trying new things. I have no doubt that some people like Kimbra’s new stuff. It’s kinda like how Grimes changed her style with the release of Art Angels. Not all Grimes fans appreciated the change… but I did. And even though I don’t care much for Kimbra’s latest album release as a whole, I’ll still be eager to see what she does next.
Find yourself but don’t forget about me
Lyrics: Kimbra
Even the galaxies die eventually
The Yves – Bloom / Beautiful World
I’m still a huge fan of Stevie Scott’s voice. I’m referring to Stevie Scott the model and female vocalist who was once a contestant on American Idol. She was lead singer for a band called machineheart for a while, and now she’s lead singer for The Yves, a project Stevie formed with fellow machineheart band member, Jake Randle. The Yves has released a goodly number of tracks, the latest being Bloom.
Another recent track from The Yves is Beautiful World. Stevie Scott’s voice was once described by Paula Abdul as ethereal, and the description still applies today. I’d also describe it as angelic.
Chlöe – FYS
If you know this song, then you should know what FYS stands for. Heck, maybe you know what it stands for and never heard the song. I don’t keep up with all the latest acronyms. I’m lucky to know what TTYL means. But the F in FYS stands for a naughty word, and you can guess which one. FYS is quite the soulful tune, which is what captured my ears and had me adding it to playlists.
Note, the lyrics I found online for this song spelled faze as phase, and so that’s what you’re seeing in the quote below. Don’t blame me for the poor spelling… or the bad grammar.
Money, cars, and the diamonds don’t phase me, I been had it
Songwriters: Chloe Bailey / Uforo Ebong
Grace VanderWaal – Call It What You Want / What’s Left of Me
The 12-year-old girl playing the ukulele on America’s Got Talent has come a long way. Her music and videos over time have depicted her going through different life phases, some endearing and some rebellious. With her latest release, Call It What You Want, she’s back to endearing… but now she’s all grown up… and still with a bit of that rebel attitude, even if it’s not so in your face as it was with Don’t Assume What You Don’t Know.
And if they see us from the street in your window
Written by Grace VanderWaal & John Samuel Gerhart
You can tell them they’re wrong
Just as long as I’m your favorite stranger
I’ll play along
What’s Left of Me is another recent release from Grace VanderWaal, this one exploring the vulnerability involved with romantic relationships.
You are my hands, my lips, my cheek
Lyricists: Grace VanderWaal, John Bookhout Riley, Tiffany Stringer
Robbing me every time I speak
The marks that you left still crawl on me
What’s left of me?
Madison Beer – 15 Minutes
I first discovered Madison Beer back in 2018, listening to her songs Dead and Say It To My Face. Immediately hooked, I’ve been following her work ever since, with an average of about a hundred plays of her songs every year, or about two every week. While her music could easily be categorized as pop, there’s always more to her songs that draws me in. I don’t know that I could say her songs have more substance than most pop songs, but there’s an esoteric quality to them that speaks to me. It doesn’t hurt that her music videos are so cinematic in nature.
Madison Beer’s latest, 15 Minutes, features electronic beats that grab me every time I hear them. They hit me the hardest right before the 2:20 mark.
15 minutes ago, I was layin’ in bed
Songwriters: Leroy Clampitt, Madison Beer, Pete Rycroft, Lucy Healey
Then I had a crazy thought in my head
So I took the keys and got in the car
Don’t know how I got here, but baby, here we are
Milck – This Skin
The artist Milck has released a number of songs with a social conscience, captivating both in their art and their message. I Don’t Belong To You is one of my favorites. Quiet is another good example. Milck’s latest release, This Skin, is a song of self affirmation.
How delicious to want what I got
Lyrics: Autumn Rowe, Ben Antelis, Bruce Wiegner, Connie Kimberly Lim, Stefan Litrownik
To leave behind the chasing of something I’m not
I am the flower of my ancestor’s dreams
Stare at the mirror, cuz I like what I see
tiLLie – kooL aiD mAn / jeLLiefish aPocaLypsE / pray t0 god
Tillie (sometimes stylized as tiLLie and sometimes not) is another artist who has been around for about a decade but is still underrated. I can appreciate artists who keep after what they want no matter how hard the struggle, and I’m glad to give her my support now that I’ve learned of her. She appears to be something of an eccentric, which isn’t a bad thing, because, admittedly, so am I, and that may be why I like her so much. Kindred spirits and all that, eh? See what you think of the Tillie song I’ve played the most: kooL aiD mAn.
[Update: 10/12/2024] I must add this related anecdote. I was sitting on the couch, not watching TV or looking at any type of device, but just chilling. My wife noticed me bopping my head and commented about it, comparing my activity to someone bouncing their leg to rid themselves of nervous energy and wondering if my head-bopping was something similar. I told her I had a tune running through my head, and that was explanation enough, but then she wanted to know which song it was.
I couldn’t think of the name of the song or the artist who performed it, but I knew enough of the words and knew I’d recently written about it. I searched this post and found it. Ha, you guessed it, it was this song.
My wife was curious to hear the tune that had my head bopping, and I tried and failed to get Alexa to play it via first my paid-for Amazon Prime subscription and then my paid-for Tidal subscription. I’ve used Alexa in the past to play music from my Tidal account, but it wasn’t having it this time. Alexa is not very bright when it comes to music, and can be so infuriating at times. Even when I paid for Amazon Music Unlimited in the past, using Alexa to play what I wanted was beyond aggravating. So… I brought up the Tidal app on the TV and played the song there.
I kinda figured kooL aiD mAn wouldn’t be my wife’s kind of music. She sometimes listens to pop music or rock ‘n’ roll on the radio, but she’s more into classical music, and that ain’t this. To her credit, my wife listened to kooL aiD mAn all the way through. And, yeah, I was right about it not being her kind of music. But ya know, bless her heart, she doesn’t think any less of me for this being my kind of music. I’ve got my tastes and she has hers… we’re different, but we still get along, and have been getting along for over twenty years now. I think maybe I still love her and maybe the feeling is still mutual.
[End Update]
Every time you put your hand on her
Composers: Asia Whiteacre, Grace Kelly, Kyle Shearer, Samuel Brandt
I feel like breaking it
But honestly, you deserve much worse
Like a cease and desist (From life)
Tillie’s latest album, tilLLieverse, is full of random fun, including the above-mentioned track, kooL aiD mAn, and a couple other favorites, one being jeLLiefish aPocaLypsE. I listen to these songs and let Tillie’s perky voice carry me away to another world where I can forget about my worries for a while… until I pay attention to the lyrics: Laughing like we’ll never die, but wait, we always die. Bummer.
You don’t really care about how it ends
Composers: Charles Robert Nelsen, Grace Kelly
We’re going down, down, down, so jump right in
I played the album tiLLieverse enough times since it was released, I want to include one more of its tracks, pray t0 god. The second word in the title is spelled with a zero, not a capital O, in case you want to search for it somewhere for some reason. Despite the perky voice and pop sound, pray t0 god has some pretty serious lyrics.
I pray to God every night, he takes you in your sleep
Composers: Inverness, St Patrick, Tillie
You can call me a sinner, but it brings me peace
Knowing this might be the last time
You’ll ever make me cry
Tinashe – Nasty
A soulful, hip-hop track, Nasty, by Tinashe, first caught my attention in my recommended songs list. I don’t often pay attention to my recommendations, because, historically, they typically miss the mark… by a wide margin. But in this case, I listened and I liked… and I added it to a playlist. The music video for Nasty on YouTube at the time of this writing only has 33M views… so chances are you’ve already seen it, if you’re into soulful hip-hop. If you haven’t seen it, or if you just feel like watching it again, here’s your chance….
If you keep up with me
Lyricists: Eric Frederic, Tinashe Kachingwe
I’ll keep on coming back
If you do it too good
I’m gonna get attached
‘Cause it feels like heaven when it hurts so bad
Delilah Bon – I Wish a Bitch Would / The Internet
A relative newcomer on the music scene, Delilah Bon is a self-described brat punk screamin’ rapper making music to empower women and the LGTBQ+. Somehow I find myself enjoying listening to her music, even though I’m not especially in her target audience. Or maybe an old, straight, white male is the kind of person she hopes to reach. Nah, I doubt it. But she did reach me, I’m listening, and here I am, helping to spread the words she has to say.
The Delilah Bon track I’ve played the most since discovering her a couple of months ago is I Wish a Bitch Would, one of those tracks that makes Delilah Bon a brat punk screamin’ rapper. There’s some serious shit in this song, so it deserves being screamed.
Today I woke up wish I didn’t
Wanna break somebody’s face
I read the news another story
Of a girl murdered and rapedComposer: Lauren Tate
The Internet by Delilah Bon is another song on a serious topic. We kinda all know the internet is evil, so this song isn’t telling us anything new. Okay, maybe some of you don’t agree the internet is evil, but will you at least agree it is occasionally used for malicious reasons?
I speak my mind, you’re offended, I don’t like where it’s headed
Composer: Lauren Tate
The people speaking louder than the other are the ones that get the credit
Doesn’t matter if technically there’s no evidence to prove
Ain’t no way you’re ever gonna get a word in with this dude
Dezi – Love Me or Not
Still relatively unknown and underrated, Dezi has been in the music business for over a decade. I’d never heard of her before this year, when she popped up in my recommendations list. I was looking for artists I might like and had never listened to. So now I’ve got Dezi and her recent release, Love Me or Not, in a playlist. While researching for this post, I discovered Dezi has released a couple more tracks since Love Me or Not. I’ll have to give them a listen, too.
And when life gets a little too tame
Composers: Gabi Gotts, Libby Larkin, Matt Ferree, Taylor DEZI Fernandez
I’m skipping my meds and kissing my friends
Snowblood – Exploding with Power
Sometimes when I’m browsing on Last.fm, I’ll check the songs being played by my friends and followers. That’s how I discovered Snowblood and their song Exploding with Power, from the 2024 album, III. This track strikes me like Grimes doing heavy metal, and I like it.
I’m stronger than a god inside
Writer: Dani Artaud
Exploding with power
DeathByRomy – I Feel Like a God / XXXhibitionist
I’ve been listening to DeathByRomy off and on since 2018. While recently searching the plays of other Last.fm members, I was reminded of her music and started playing it again. The song I Feel Like a God was released a few years ago, and I’ve listened to it in the past, but not as much as it deserved, so I’ve been giving it more playtime lately. Now that I’ve got her back on my radar, I’ll be checking out her other tracks, too, especially her more recent releases.
Welcome to my contradiction
Lyricists: Alec Henderson, Andrew Rosen, Romy Flores
I’m soft, but I like the friction
I’m scared, yeah, it’s an addiction
I scream the whispers in my brain
I drain the secrets from my veins
They sleep, but I bring the pain
In fact, I might as well get the ball rolling on listening to more DeathByRomy songs by starting with her latest, XXXhibitionist.
I wanna die when the cameras flashing
Lyricists: Away, Chaz Trehame, Omri Efrat, Romy Flores, Slush Puppy
I’ll do anything just call action
ZZ Ward – My Baby Left Me / Mother / I Have No One
I love the bluesy rock of ZZ Ward, and her new releases always make me happy. Her most recent album release, Mother, contains a number of bluesy tracks, including the relatively short track, My Baby Left Me, a cover of a song originally recorded by Arthur Crudup back in 1950, and later covered by Elvis Presley in 1956, according to Wikipedia.
My baby left me
Lyricist: Arthur Crudup
Never said a word
It was nothin’ I had done
Was only stuff he heard
The title track from ZZ Ward’s album, Mother, is an original one. When I first saw the title for this song, I couldn’t help but think of the Danzig tune of the same name. The two songs aren’t anything alike, ha.
If you had no escape
Lyricists: Ryan Spraker, Zsuzsanna Ward
Maybe you could relate to the brand new mother in mе
My favorite track from the album is the sad tune I Have No One. Blues songs are often sad, eh. I’m glad I do have someone.
Oh I need somebody
Lyricists: John Lee Hamilton, Leroy Lloyd
To take me by the hand
I said I need somebody
To say, “Baby, I understand”
Asiahn – IJS
As you can see, IJS, by Asiahn, is another soulful tune with an acronym as its title. In this case, the acronym doesn’t contain any naughty words, I’m just saying. I started listening to Asiahn in 2018 and have been listening to her music only sporadically since then. I’ll make more of an effort to seek out her music now, to give this underrated artist more support.
Love how you walk in a room and take charge
Songwriters: Asia Bryant, Delfino Mack, Dijon Rasboro, Jahmori Dejon Simmons, Jerod Morton, Kelvin Brown, Patrick Hayes
You can change the air everywhere that you go
Somethin’ serene, you’re a grand work of art
I breathe you in and my soul overloads
beabadoobee – Coming Home
A British singer-songwriter, born in the Philippines as Beatrice Laus, the singer going by the quirky name beabadoobee gained enough cred to become an opening act for Taylor Swift on the Eras Tour. I started listening to her music back in 2020, with the release of her debut studio album, Fake It Flowers. Her third studio album, This is How Tomorrow Moves, was released in August 2024, and got me listening to her again. My favorite track from her third studio album is Coming Home, a carefully crafted, gentle tune.
I’m waking up to the gap on my blinds
Writer: Beatrice Laus
Peeking sunlight
I’d do anything just to be with you
To sit and watch you slowly wake
And I’m sorry, if I’m coming home too late
Ebony Riley – Deuce Deuce
Also known as the fashion model Riley Montana, Ebony Riley started her music career in 2022, releasing her debut EP, ebony, in 2023. Since then, she’s released a few additional tracks, but she’s really still getting her music career off the ground. She’s got a great voice for R&B music, and while I knew nothing of her in her modeling career, I’m all behind her for her singing.
You had me gassed for a little bit
Lyricists: Darrius Coleman, Ebony Riley, Jadah Blue, Kameron Cole
For a little bit boy
I made my bed, gotta lay in it
Gotta lay in it now
Can’t say what I shoulda, coulda, woulda did
Too late for the coulda been
‘Cause the damage is done, and my trust is already gone
Hey Violet – trainwreck
I’m so sad Hey Violet broke up, but it happens, ya know. Nothing is forever. Hey, I was upset that Cherri Bomb broke up, too. I look forward to whatever these kids do next musically, in whatever form it may take. In the meantime, I’ll enjoy the songs of Aftertaste, their last album as Hey Violet. My fav from the album is appropriately called trainwreck, ’cause that’s kinda how their breakup makes me feel.
I’m a trainwreck, they say
But you can’t turn away
Love the taste of me crashing
Kehlahni – After Hours
The R&B artist Kehlahni is more well known than many of the other artists in this post. The track, After Hours, is from the 2024 album, Crash. Since then, she’s also released another 2024 album, While We Wait 2. Releasing two albums in one year isn’t something a lot of musicians can pull off, and these are full-length albums, not simply EPs. Between the two albums, After Hours is my fav track, perhaps partly due to the accompanying video, which has over 17M views on YouTube at the time of this writing.
We ain’t gotta check the time
Songwriters: Alex Goldblatt, Cordel Burrell, Daniel Upchurch, Diovanna Frazier, Kehlani Parrish, Khris Riddick-Tynes
Even when it ends, it’s still you, and I
We ain’t even know they turned on the lights
We missed the last call ridin’ on a high
Mystic Marley – Energy
Some songs just resonate so much with one’s inner being, and this is one of those for me. On the outside, I’m not an energetic person. But spiritually and creatively, I feel it. The positive Energy of this track by Mystic Marley uplifts me every time I listen.
I wake up in the morning
Lyricists: Brian Soko, Darhyl Camper, Liana Banks, Mystic Marley, Nicholaus Joseph Williams
Get to stretching and yawning
You the first one I be calling
Baby
Enny – Charge It
Wow. Enny’s 2023 track, Charge It, from the album, We Go Again, is an auditory wonder. The words flow together, so smooth and melodic, they hardly sound like rap. I love it.
Cause my mother didn’t raise a fool
Lyricist: Enitan Adepitan
But I do act one on the occasional
Cause I’m trying to stay a float like sailor do
But I’m fighting for my life like I’m Sailor Moon
Who told you to play yourself
Pyrce – Totally Freaking Out
Pyrce is the stage name for Julia Pierce, former member of the band Cherri Bomb, who broke up over artistic differences, some of whom went on to form the band Hey Violet. Compare Hey Violet’s trainwreck track, embedded earlier in this post, with Pyrce’s 2024 track, Totally Freaking Out. Yeah, there’s a big difference between them, and I can understand why the members of Cherri Bomb would decide to part ways, given the kinds of music the individuals wanted to do.
I just went to get my coffee
Lyricists: Gerardo Wackenhut, Julia Pierce
And they got my order wrong
Yeah, and they didn’t even spell my name right
And now I’m totally freaking out
Scene Queen – Pink Panther
The track Pink Panther from Scene Queen was released a couple years ago, but somehow I missed it back then. It’s not like anyone marketing this tune would even consider me as part of the target audience, given the song’s subject matter, but, hey, I can appreciate someone else celebrating how they feel, even when I could never ever have the lifestyle suggested by the song. That would be impossible, eh? The music video has over 1M views. Scene Queen’s voice reminds me of Ke$ha. What do you think?
Girl on girl in an all pink drop-top
Composers: Hannah Collins, Ronald Ish, Zach Jones
No pants, no shoes, no crop top
Got my pictures saved on her laptop
I just wanna see her face when her back drop
zeph – are you?
Are you? by zeph is yet another song released some years ago that I’m just discovering in 2024. It’s a peppy little tune that stuck in my head and demanded I put it on a playlist.
Say what you mean, don’t confuse me, are you sick of me or not?
Writer: Zephani Jong
Have you not messaged me ’cause you’re busy or because you forgot
L Devine – Worship
L Devine released Growing Pains, an EP with 5 tracks, back in 2017, so she’s been at the music biz for a while. In 2024, she released her latest album, Digital Heartifacts, which includes 12 tracks. One of the tracks, Worship, caught my ear as I played some random playlist on my streaming service, Tidal, due in part to the punch of the word, Worship, in some of the lyrics. While you might think this is some gospel tune, it ain’t talking about the worship of a deity. It’s more obsession with a person, to the point it becomes worship. That’s really not a good place to be in.
I know you’re just a person (know you’re just a person) but
Composers: Jay Flew, Neave Applebaum, Olivia Devine, Sam O’Neil
I hold you so high (hold you so high)
I don’t think I deserve you, and
I don’t know why
I promised nearly three dozen tracks in this post, and we’re over thirty, so I’ll call it quits for now. Maybe I’ll make another post eventually that lists the other three dozen or so tracks I still would have liked to include here. Catch you later.
Any thoughts?