FKA twigs – ‘Eusexua’
“What is eusexua to you?” FKA twigs asked her fans ahead of her highly-anticipated comeback. To the star, the term refers to a feeling of “momentary transcendence” and the title track from her upcoming third album fits the bill perfectly. Over a backing of noirish sci-fi synths and a pulsating beat, the star soars high above the world, offering out a hand for us to take and join her. “Do you feel alone?” she asks gently. “You’re not alone.”
Soccer Mommy – ‘Driver’
“I’m a five-foot-four engine waiting to move / I’m a test of his patience with all that I do,” begins Soccer Mommy’s Sophie Allison on ‘Driver’, the latest jagged cut from her upcoming album ‘Evergreen’. It might seem like the opening lines of a darker tale of heartbreak but, instead, she turns it into a celebration of an unconditional love that “puts up with my moods” and accepts her flaws, as well as her strengths.
Victoria Canal – ‘Cake’
Hedonism fuels ‘Cake’, the latest track from Victoria Canal’s debut album ‘Slowly, It Dawns’, but we find the artist in the woozy, wobbly final throes of a big night out – the point where the sun is starting to appear on the horizon and you’re trying to shut it out and keep the carefree party going. “Let’s go straight to the vodka,” she suggests, a bottle of Smirnoff the perfect antidote to thinking “about the cracks in the machine” of real life and responsibilities.
The Linda Lindas – ‘No Obligation’
The Linda Lindas open their upcoming second album ‘No Obligation’ in defiant, ferocious form. The title track surges on a battering ram riff and the roared vocals of Eloise Wong, refusing to conform to the world’s expectations of her. “You’d like me better if I grew out my hair / You’d like me better if I wasn’t a mess / “You’d like me better if I put on a dress,” she growls in a way that makes it clear she won’t be changing for anyone.
Charli XCX – ‘Talk Talk’ featuring Troye Sivan
Another ‘brat’ cut gets a makeover courtesy of Troye Sivan, heralding the announcement that the whole album is getting a remix version. Charli XCX might have waved goodbye to brat summer, but the brat phenomenon is clearly far from over. The fact that this glitchy new take on ‘Talk Talk’ features a subtle Dua Lipa cameo – speaking French and Spanish, of course – also means we should prepare for ‘brat’’s star power to get even more stratospheric.