New Music Friday: Olivia Rodrigo, Katy Perry & More!

New Music Friday: May 14, 2021

Hey guys! I'm back with another edition of New Music Friday. Last week, I featured four brand new songs and my pick of the week, so today, I'll be doing that again. Once again, the song titles are links to the songs themselves on YouTube.

Our first new song comes from Olivia Rodrigo, who's debut album, SOUR will be released next Friday. She's already brought us two singles from that album, drivers license and deja vu, and now she's releasing the third single, good 4 u. Have a listen below.

good 4 u - Olivia Rodrigo

I really wasn't sure what to expect with another song from Olivia, as deja vu was pretty different from drivers license. But I definitely wasn't expecting this. This song is full-on pop-punk. Yeah, you read that right. I read somewhere that her album is gonna be a mix of folk, pop-punk and pop, which just makes me 10% more intrigued to hear the album. Anyways, I've always been a fan of pop-rock and pop-punk and this is definitely no exception. Her voice fits so well with the production, which is something I never expected. The writing here is incredible as always and you can really hear the emotion in her voice in the verses. The chorus is super catchy too. Ah, I just love this song. I have no doubts that it'll debut in the top 10 on the Hot 100.

My Opinion: 5/5 = Great

I wasn't entirely sure which songs I wanted to pick for these next two features, because I choose the songs before listening to them, so that I get a good variety of songs. I'm pretty confident in my choices though, as they're coming from some pretty big names that I tend to like. This next one is actually a remix of a pre-existing song by Weezer. AJR have gone on to remix Weezer's song All My Favorite Songs. Have a listen below.

All My Favorite Songs - Weezer/AJR

So this actually isn't the first time AJR and Weezer have associated themselves with each other, as Rivers Cuomo, the lead singer of Weezer featured on AJR's song Sober Up. I really love that song, so I had pretty high expectations for this. I had heard the original, so I knew what I was in for, but I had no clue that they would AJR-ify the production. It's just slightly more blown-up and definitely less chill. I like both Rivers Cuomo and Jack Met's voices and I think they work well together here. I don't have much else to say here, as the song's just a little boring, but this is still good.

My Opinion: 4/5 = Good

This next song is by Tones And I, who broke out with her song Dance Monkey and has had a few non-hits that were on Hits 1 since then. But now she returns with her new song, Won't Sleep. Have a listen below.

Won't Sleep - Tones And I

This song strays from Tones And I's usual formula, the bouncy and light piano line. It's actually quite dark and brooding. There's some really weird pitch-shifting that happens in the intro and in the chorus and I really don't like it. I don't think it fits very well with the song. I feel like there could've been more substance in the production, as there's really not much going on. On top of that, Tones And I's voice is her usual weird voice, so I'm not so sure I like this one.

My Opinion: 0/5 = Awful

A few months ago, we got the very first song associated with the 25th anniversary of Pokémon. It was a cover of a Hootie & The Blowfish song, Only Wanna Be With You by Post Malone. Today, we get the second song from that album, Electric by Katy Perry. Have a listen below.

Electric - Katy Perry

Katy Perry's recent songs haven't exactly been my favourite, but this song's solid. It's pretty chill and the production doesn't have much going on in it, but Katy Perry sounds good and the song's decently catchy. Yeah, I don't really have much else to say about this one, it's just fine. I think it'll have a run on pop radio, but I'm not so sure it'll be a fantastic run.

My Opinion: 4/5 = Good

Well, that was a pretty decent New Music Friday. 3/4 of the songs were good, but my favourite definitely has to go to Olivia Rodrigo with good 4 u and I'm excited to listen to that one more.

Now it's time for my pick of the week. One problem with me picking the songs I want to feature here before I hear them is that occasionally I'll skip over a really good song. That's definitely the case this week, as Bebe Rexha released an album last Friday called Better Mistakes and the newest single from it, Break My Heart Myself featuring Travis Barker is really good, so I'm featuring it here today. Have a listen below.

Break My Heart Myself - Bebe Rexha/Travis Barker

The first two singles from this album, Baby, I'm Jealous and Sacrifice were only good, which is probably why I skipped over this last week. But this is really good. Bebe sounds really great here and Travis Barker handles the production pretty well. The song's pretty catchy and I like the chorus in particular. Overall, this is just a solid little song and I would recommend it.

Well, I hope you guys had a good time with the second edition of New Music Friday. I certainly did, and I had a blast writing it and listening to the songs.

Kwaheri, everybody! See you all in the next one.