Now Listen to This: New music from Hayley Williams, VC Pines, emir taha and spotlight artist Priya Ragu

Welcome again to the Now Listen to This playlist. I cannot assure it’ll be as entertaining as The Weeknd’s Super Bowl halftime demonstrate, but I’ll do my best.

Let’s dive in. Hayley Williams has dropped a surprise 14-keep track of album (thanks Hayley), Vases for Bouquets, which follows on from 2020’s great Petals for Armor. At first pay attention it’s a great file, considerably stripped-again in comparison to its predecessor. Most tracks are created on smooth piano melodies and acoustic guitar – I enjoy the rocking rhythms of “Over All those Hills”, and the sensitive textures of “Asystole”. We all know Williams has an incredible voice, but on Vases for Flowers she pares issues back. The result is just as moving.

London-based artist VC Pines (Jack Mercer) has just released “Smoke Devoid of Fire”, a soulful blast of sax, squidgy synths and an specially groovy guitar line redolent of the a person on “Use Me” by Monthly bill Withers. The track arrives from his forthcoming EP, Concrete, which you ought to absolutely retain an eye out for. Singer Tulliah, from Victoria, Australia, is back with mesmerising new single “Distant Dreams”, and Brixton-based Turkish artist emir taha has dropped “Kendi Yoluna” (translating to “everyone goes their way”), whole of conventional instrumentation and taha’s alluring voice, which undoubtedly has a Justin Timberlake vibe to it.

Buying up wherever her sultry, hypersexual undertaking Jaguar left off, Victoria Monet has introduced the using tobacco sluggish-jam “F.U.C.K” (“Friend U Can Keep”). Of system, there’s Cardi B’s observe “Up”, the sister to 2020’s tune of the yr, “WAP”. “Up” shares the no-nonsense tone of “WAP” – super assertive, with a few playful times. I definitely really like the new audio Ghetts has been sharing more than the previous couple of months from his forthcoming album Conflict of Interest, out 19 February. This time he’s teamed up with BBC Seem Of 2021 winner Pa Salieu – it is a match produced in heaven. A new discover (for me at the very least) is Sean Target, a Zimbabwe-born, Edinburgh-dependent artist and producer, whose monitor “Mullholland Drive” tells the tale of his dreaming of a superior lifetime.

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The Staves have launched their new album, Great Lady – you can go through my colleague Rachel Brodsky’s assessment of that here, and also Annabel Nugent’s wonderful job interview with them here. Also in album testimonials this 7 days, I wasn’t as enamoured by Black Nation, New Road as other critics. I’m a huge admirer of the new one particular from Ben Howard, “Crowhurst’s Meme”, even if I do not really realize the title. Lots of crunchy guitars and a stark piano motif Howard is releasing his new album, Collections from the Whiteout, in March. British-Iranian producer Hiatus has shared his solitary “Your Place is Empty”, which brings in the elegant voice of Iranian singer Malahat.

Top marks for newcomer Sophie Morgan and her audio video clip for “Always”, also for Ayron Jones and his rock-large “Mercy”, and for Flyte with their new single “Under the Skin”.

My highlight artist this 7 days is Priya Ragu, a Tamil-Swiss rapper and singer fusing R&B with regular South Indian instrumentation.

“I preferred to problem the stereotypes of Sri Lankan men and women primarily becoming limited to cooks, cleaners or shop staff,” she says of the themes in her tunes. “People who are appeared down upon. Folks who are rarely envied or sought after. I’m happy of who I am and my audio celebrates that.”

Look at out my Q&A with her beneath, and absolutely enjoy her incredible video for new one “Chicken Lemon Rice”.

– Hey Priya, how’s your 2021 so significantly?

The year started off off with a whole lot of snow right here in Switzerland and soon right after there was yet another Lockdown and it’s nevertheless ongoing right up until conclude of Feburary 2021. In the course of the full thirty day period of January, I was eagerly seeking ahead to release my subsequent solitary ‘Chicken Lemon Rice’. It’s last but not least time!

– Tell me about your epic track Chicken Lemon Rice

Some cooks adhere to the recipes very exactly and then there are some others that like to cook dinner by heart and place their very own spin to it and appear up with a new development.

Which is we did with this track – by fusing African rhythms jointly with Indian talas and sprinkling that tamil twang on it. The tune is about celebrating unity and range. It is right here to commemorate all the gorgeous cultures of the planet. The world is not black and white, it’s colourful. We can occur with each other and nonetheless be ourselves while celebrating distinctive heritages and learning from just about every other.

– The video clip is terrific and so colourful – it feels like a celebration. How did it appear about and what form of themes did you want to include?

The video was shot in an deserted hotel in London and was directed by the unbelievable Dumas Haddad and his superb staff. It only took us a number of Zoom calls to get aligned with the eyesight we experienced for this Movie. Representation and selected things from my culture was essential to me and Dumas has capture it in a genuinely one of a kind way.

– What else do you have lined up for this 12 months?

Some truly dope singles that are expensive to my coronary heart, remarkable visuals and a great deal of good ragu wavy frequencies!