New Music Friday - 5/13/2022

Today is a banner day for new music. I’m featuring Kendrick Lamar, Valerie June, Amythyst Kiah and Waterparks.

Let’s get to the reviews - Here’s why I’m digging what I’m digging this week:

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Singles of the Week:

“Funeral Grey” by Waterparks

Formed in Houston in 2011, the pop punk favorites have a catchy new single out. Shimmering guitars and a tight drum beat kicks off the track while lead singer Awsten Knight delivers bubble-gum pop vocals with heartfelt poetry filling your ears. It’s an infectious tune that you’ll be bopping your head to all weekend long.

“Fade Into You” by Valerie June

If anyone was meant to cover this song, it’s Valerie June. Her tender balance of modern and traditional sonic influences create something between the original version and a southern-gothic version. It’s a perfect cover the reinterprets enough to make it her own and one to put on when you need a track this weekend to settle you.

“Sugar” by Amythyst Kiah

Another cover, this one a total rework of the original. Kiah, a singer-songwriter out of Tennessee takes a crack at this Tori Amos song. Covering a song from one or your great mentors is a bit daunting, but Kiah creates a powerful anthem. She takes the moody, atmospheric song and turns it into a rustic rocker.

Album of the Week:

Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers by Kendrick Lamar

There’s a lot going on here with Lamar’s latest. He’s tackling fatherhood, materialism, infidelity, addiction, queerness, sexual assault, and cancel culture (that’s just a few). Lamar has always had his finger and lyrics on the pulse of the world we live in. The new release is different from previous releases in that it’s not full of songs you’ll be listening to this summer while hanging by the pool. It’s very personal for Lamar. His lyrics on songs like “N95” and “Mother I Sober” are like he’s singing to himself in a mirror. Did he make this for himself? Maybe. But we’re now on the front line of listening to his stories and thoughts. On “Savior” he takes on the Charles Barkley motto - basketball players, rappers, actors, etc. shouldn’t be role models. Don’t ask too much of your favorite artists. They’ll eventually let you down.

The standout track is “Auntie Diaries”. One of Lamar’s great strengths as a rapper is his ability to acknowledge and criticize his own biases and prejudices and not place himself above the people he’s singling out. Kendrick begins “my auntie is a man now”, and then delivers a loving soliloquy to two of his trans relatives. He speaks of his challenges with it but primarily concludes that he loves his family and defends it to his friends. It may well emerge as one of the most moving and important songs that his genre has produced. While some have already criticized Lamar’s choices of language, others argued that he intentionally used misgendering, deadnaming and hateful slurs to illustrate how he wrestled with prejudice in his past to move towards acceptance.

Kendrick Lamar continues to create insightful, thought-provoking music that I will listen to anytime he puts something out.