NEW SOUNDS

I have always had a take or leave attitude towards Miley Cyrus, usually leave in most cases. However with the recently dropped single from the twenty-seven year old performer, "Midnight Sky", I really loved the song after the first listen. This sparkling dance-pop track utilizes classic disco (and samples "Edge of Seventeen" from Stevie Nicks) to tell a story about finding inner strength and self-love through challenging times. This is the first single from "She is Miley Cyrus", the long-delayed seventh studio album from the singer which had been postponed due to some personal struggles including her marriage and separation with actor, Liam Hemsworth and the shutdown of the world due to the Coronavirus. There is no exact release date yet for the album.



While Dua Lipa's latest album, "Future Nostalgia" was already dance-floor ready, the British singer decided to take it up another notch. And that has lead to "Club Future Nostalgia", a remix collection of songs from the record that takes them in some interesting new directions. This mixtape forges 1990's house with 2020 pop music and a splash of 1980's soul. The first single released is "Levitating" which was remixed by the DJ, The Blessed Madonna and features Missy Elliott and the Queen of Pop, Madonna. It's been revealed that Mark Ronson will take on the song, "Physical" with Gwen Stefani but no additional info on other tracks has been made available at this time. But the album will be out on August 28th.



Alicia Keys has released another song from her forthcoming album simply called, "Alicia". "So Gone" is a guitar-driven ballad that teams the singer with the young alt-r&b artist, Khalid which results in a thrilling meeting of classic and contemporary soul. I love the music video which features actress, Sasha Lane. The clip, which takes place at a prom with Keys and Khalid as the live entertainment, humorously looks at our youth's obsession with their phones and creating social media content instead of interacting with the people right next to them.



Finally we have another generational musical pairing but this time in country music. The rising alt-country artist from Canada, Orville Peck comes together with fellow Canadian, the legendary, Shaina Twain on the new song, "Legends Never Die". This is the latest track from Peck's recently released EP, "Show Pony" which pays tribute to the style of country music he grew-up listening to and also features a cover of Bobbie Gentry's 1970 classic, "Fancy". The music video cleverly uses social distancing with Peck and Twain performing the song at a drive-in. I love seeing these two over-the-top performers, who never fitted comfortably in the traditional country music format, come together on this great track.