the monday roundup
featuring Miley Cyrus, Addison Rae, Shura, and more!
Hi, happy Monday! Lots of new music in the last few weeks, including some notable pop releases:
Miley Cyrus’s new album, Something Beautiful, came out at the end of May. I’m a Miley agnostic (I used to be a straight up Miley hater, but I’ve learned and grown and wrestled with internalized misogyny and I’m sorry), but I respect that this seems like an album she wants to make and not what she thinks she needs to make. I feel like the commercial and critical success of “Flowers” freed Miley in some way, and now she’s just going to do what she wants (i.e. making an album full of tons of different references and sounds).
Sabrina Carpenter released a new song called, “Manchild.” Perhaps a direct response to “Please Please Please” which directly asked Barry Keoghan not to embarrass her? Sabrina has done a great job at branding her sound because I would 100000% know this was a Sabrina Carpenter song if I heard it out of context. It’s actually wild how much the opening synths on this sound like the opening synths on “Good Luck, Babe!,” but that’s something for the girls to sort out!
Addison Rae’s album, Addison, came out this past Friday. The opening track, “New York,” is doing the same work that “Welcome to New York” does on Taylor Swift’s 1989: letting you know she is Grown Up and Cool now. I think that evolution (from overly earnest TikTok famous to cool girl pop star) is really the entire point of this album. The first single, “Diet Pepsi,” came out last August and was one of my favorite songs of last year. I also think it’s the album highlight. Addison is fun, summery, and nostalgic (referencing Lana, Gaga, Britney, and Madonna), but, at least for me, it doesn’t completely live up to the promise of “Diet Pepsi.”
Also referencing Madonna: JADE released a cover of “Frozen.” JADE has released a bunch of great singles (including another favorite song of last year, “Angel of My Dreams”) off her forthcoming album, THAT’S SHOWBIZ BABY!, which for some reason is not out until September? I’m not an expert, but that feels like bad showbiz to wait over a year between the release of the lead single and the release of the album?
This week’s roundup mix includes songs referenced above as well as new releases from Shura, Indigo De Souza, Ethel Cain, Big Thief, Pulp, and more!
I do want to plug another newsletter, Dear Besties from All Things Go, because it is a great source of pop music news and releases (and because they are very graciously supporting Made You A Mix)! When you subscribe, their Top 10 playlist (updated weekly) gets sent straight to your inbox every Tuesday - you know I love a mix! You can subscribe here!
I'm not going to lie, I'm kind of glad to hear you don't *love* Addison Rae's new album. After liking Diet Pepsi, I had my hopes up for at the very least not not liking the album. But in listening this morning, I had to accept that the girls who get it, get it, and, in this instance, I am not a girl who gets it.
I still need to listen to Addison’s new album! Miley’s new one definitely needs a few more listens from me, tempted to see the pop opera film in cinema :)