New (to me) Music Friday - 4/4/25

2025 has been a year of discovery and re-discovery so far, which sounds deep but really I just mean I've finally been listening to older music that I feel pressure to already be familiar with by now. I've been trying to reinvigorate my love for music as a hobby by going back to works that paved the way for what I enjoy now, and along the way get myself excited for new releases again. So, this week, I'll be showcasing some albums and songs that are either new releases or new to me in some way.

Ariana Grande - eternal sunshine deluxe: brighter days ahead

Ariana Grande is an artist I started out listening to often when she debuted in 2011 after her time with Nickelodeon, but then grew away from during 2016 to 2019. However, positions roped me right back in, and she had my full attention for eternal sunshine. The deluxe tracks are an ethereal extension of the initial album, and I really love the direction she took. My favorites from the album as a whole are:

• supernatural

• imperfect for you

• ordinary things

• past life

Miley Cyrus - Something Beautiful singles

Miley Cyrus released "Prelude", "Something Beautiful", and "End of the World" last week on March 31st ahead of her forthcoming album "Something Beautiful". A lot of people I talk to seem to not especially like her music, but I really enjoy her persona and vocals these days, especially Plastic Hearts. She gives bedazzled-rockstar-freak, and I eat it up. These new singles are synth-y and gritty, and I cannot wait for the full album in May.

Michael Clifford - "cool"

Ever since Ashton and Luke debuted their solo work outside of 5 Seconds of Summer, I've been hoping for Michael and Calum to follow suit. Upon hearing Michael's plans to release a solo single, my anticipation for some angsty pop punk was high. And what do you know, Calum is credited as a writer on the song! I'll be honest: the debut solo single "Cool" didn't quite hit the mark sonically for me at first. And that's okay! As I listen more, it's growing on me despite having hoped for something heavier, and I appreciate the reflective lyrics that follow punk themes. The chorus stuck in my head, and the references to 5sos' "Catch Fire" made me smile. Even though he may have come off more alternative and "emo" -- I write with deep understanding of the nuance and connotation of the word-- in 2014, that doesn't mean his modern sound will reflect his tastes at 19 years old. I'm stoked that he's releasing solo work, regardless. We don't yet know a release date for the full album, titled Sidequest, but I'm super excited to see how the entire album sounds.

UK Hip Hop/EDM - my favorites right now

One essential thing to know about me is that I have an odd fixation on UK pop culture. The Sidemen shaped my adolescence, and I've followed their ventures super closely for the past decade-plus. One thing I overlooked, though, is KSI's music career. Within UK YouTube culture, it's kind of a meme to poke fun at his music, and I feel like that's a common theme for other YouTubers who embrace branching off into music, too. So, as he began releasing singles and albums, I never wound up checking them out for whatever reason -- whether because I didn't take it seriously or because I was too wrapped up in my own music studies to have energy for something new and unfamiliar. Here's what I'm dipping my toes into right now, from grime to hip hop to pop in the UK scene:

• "Really Love" - KSI, Digital Farm Animals, Craig David

• "Lose" - KSI, Lil Wayne

• "Patience" - KSI, YUNGBLUD, Polo G

• "Big City Life" - Luude, Mattafix

• "Skip To The Good Bit" - Rizzle Kicks

• "Man Don't Care" - Jme

• "Ladbroke Grove" - AJ Tracey (also loved his halftime appearance at the Sidemen Charity Match 2025)

• "Green Light" and "Head Down" - Cher Lloyd (She's returned with a rebrand! Sticks and Stones and Sorry I'm Late made up a good chunk of the soundtrack to my middle school years.)

Grunge, postpunk, new wave, and alternative rock

Think Nirvana, Depeche Mode, The Cure, Radiohead, The Strokes, Arctic Monkeys, RHCP. All big and loved names from the 80s to the 2000s that somehow I've managed to neglect for this long. As much as I like to think I'm open-minded when it comes to music, I'm also not known to go out of my way to dive deeper into artists or genres, even if I already like a few songs. My Spotify is a revolving door of my favorites from my teen years, and, as you can gather from the opening paragraph, I'm trying to change that in 2025. These artists and genres, in a way, shaped the generational culture that I grew up in, yet I know next to nothing about this musical period. So, here are a few tracks I already knew I liked that I'm using as a catalyst for diving deeper.

• "Something In The Way" - Nirvana

• "No Surprises" - Radiohead

• "Karma Police" - Radiohead

• "People are People" - Depeche Mode

• "Ghosts Again" - Depeche Mode

• "505" - Arctic Monkeys

• "Snap Out Of It" - Arctic Monkeys

• "Just Like Heaven" - The Cure

• "Last Nite" - The Strokes

Billboard Hot 100 and closing thoughts

It's so easy to remain in an echo chamber these days. I definitely have been caught up in my own echo chamber of music to the point where I have little idea what's new or popular. Following the theme of discovery, I've been checking out the Billboard Hot 100 songs lately for this reason. I don't necessarily believe that a song is automatically "good" if it's on the Hot 100, but I do want to start keeping abreast with what's all the rage in music right now.