New Music Friday: Roddy Ricch, Calvin Harris & More!

New Music Friday: June 4, 2021

Hello, everyone! Welcome to the first June edition of New Music Friday! I only have one quick announcement today and it's that event one of the Weekend Countdown Olympics will be announced soon, so if you haven't signed up already for that, you definitely should. Anyways, our New Music Friday this week is definitely more eventful than last week's (which did end up coming out by the way, just click the "New Music Friday" label, and you can see all past editions of this), as we had a bunch of big names release songs this week.

We'll kick things off with an artist that I really like, Roddy Ricch. You probably remember him from his past Hot 100 #1 hits, The Box and ROCKSTAR with DaBaby, but today he returns with his brand new song, Late At Night. Have a listen below.

Late At Night - Roddy Ricch

I've been a pretty big fan of what Roddy's brought us before, so I was pretty excited for this new song. I'm not disappointed. I think Roddy has good flow here and the hook is definitely good. While I don't think it's as good as the two singles that I mentioned earlier, as it doesn't have the same catchy, pop-friendly hook, it's definitely still good. My one and only issue with the song is that it's very short.

My Opinion: 4/5 = Good

So this next song actually wasn't released today, but rather this past Wednesday. I'm still counting it as being eligible though, as it wasn't around last week. This seems to be a trend with Billie Eilish, refraining from releasing on Fridays for whatever reason. Anyways, this is the fourth single from Billie's upcoming album, Happier Than Ever. It's called Lost Cause. Have a listen below.

Lost Cause - Billie Eilish

Well... I guess this is more interesting than Your Power? That's pretty much my only compliment for this song. This honestly just feels like a much less good version of all the good girls go to hell. It's just not that interesting, Billie doesn't sound fantastic and while the melody's interesting, the hook isn't too catchy.

My Opinion: 0/5 = Awful

Next up are two artists that Hits 1 have been liking a lot lately, blackbear and Tate McRae. They're collaborating on a song today called u love u. Have a listen below.

u love u - blackbear/Tate McRae

I've liked blackbear's stuff recently, but I'm not a ridiculous fan of Tate McRae, so I really wasn't sure what to expect when coming into this. It starts off as just a really solid blackbear song. When the hook hits, blackbear sounds really good and there's some really cool production. Then, Tate McRae comes in and she actually sounds decent. Her voice and blackbear's voice actually work pretty well together. I'd love to see this do well on Hits 1, because I really like it.

My Opinion: 5/5 = Great

So, Calvin Harris has delivered us a few songs recently, but none of them have been that memorable. Tom Grennan, on the other hand, has only had one song that's circulated pop radio. But today, they collaborate on By Your Side, which is gearing up to have the potential to be a hit. Have a listen below.

By Your Side - Calvin Harris/Tom Grennan

I've been really enjoying Little Bit of Love recently, so the fact that this might push it off of the radio makes me kind of sad. But it's okay, because based on first impressions, this song's pretty good. Tom Grennan sounds decent here and it almost seems like Calvin Harris is going back to what some of his older songs sounded like, which I definitely appreciate. The drop's alright and the hook is decently catchy. Overall, this is just a really solid song that might grow on me.

My Opinion: 4/5 = Good

That was a very solid New Music Friday! Y'know... aside from Billie Eilish. My favourite song has to go to blackbear and Tate McRae for u love u, though.

My picks of the week have been pretty all over the place, and today I'm continuing that trend. I'll be highlighting a song that's actually been circulating around pop radio lately. Could I end up reviewing this again tomorrow? It's definitely possible. Anyways, the song I've chosen today is the Dopamine Re-Edit of Friday by Riton, Nightcrawlers and Mufasa & Hypeman. Have a listen below.

Friday (Re-Edit) - Riton/Nightcrawlers/Mufasa & Hypeman/Dopamine

I've known about this song for a while now, but recently, I've really grown into it. This is honestly just a really solid EDM song. Whoever's singing does a really good job here and all of the people working on the production do really well with it. It's super upbeat and really just makes you want to dance. The hook is extremely catchy and the rest of the song is really fun too. I really love this song and I really want it to be on Hits 1 sooner rather than later.

Yeah! Hope you guys had fun in yet another edition of New Music Friday. Kwaheri, everybody and see you all in the next one.