Every Friday, we end the week on a good note with a selection of freshly released songs.
Here are our new #RecsFriday! (You can also find them on our Instagram and Twitter accounts)
From us to you. With love.
Stranger (for Now) – Matilda Mann
If the newest track by the London-based singer-songwriter sounds like something you’d hear in a montage sequence about a pairing in a movie or a TV show, it’s no coincidence. Matilda Mann found inspiration for this song in the American version of the series The Office (2005–2013). As she announced the release of Stranger (for Now), the musician went ahead and put together some bits and pieces from the show, set to her own music. The video features the characters of Jim (John Krasinski, way before his A Quiet Place days) and Pam (Jenna Fischer), whose relationship the lyrics are based on. They met at the office they work at, and kept having a not so good timing although their connection was clear to see from the very beginning. “It’s about knowing in the back of your mind, you know you’ve met the person you’re meant to be with. It’s all about waiting for the right time”, added Mann on Instagram. ⬪ Ahlem Khattab
Miss Understood – Little Simz
What’s most striking about this track off Little Simz’ freshly released album, Sometimes I Might Be Introvert —her “best work to date”, according to the artist herself— is how organic and natural it feels. She reflects on her beginnings, her relationship with fame, and how her career affected her ties with people, and ends up opening up about her sister, in particular. “Can’t believe the space I’m in with my older sister / I left the global empire and now she thinks I dissed her / It weren’t that, I just needed to explore shit on my own,” she raps. Despite the number of thoughts she goes through, the ironically-titled Miss Understood is governed by one theme, tying it all together: misunderstandings. ⬪ AK
Thank You – Maya Delilah
It takes a lot of self-reflection and growth to be thankful for a bad thing. Here, Maya Delilah addresses a message to an ex-partner, thanking them for “being the worst thing that’s happened to (her).” Even if she wasn’t the one who ended the relationship and it has taken her some time to accept it, she came to the realization that breaking up was the right call. On release day, the British singer-songwriter explained on Instagram that this song means a lot to her, lyrically. But also in its making-of. Fellow London-based artist Samm Henshaw (last mentioned in our July 23rd #RecsFriday) and producer Stephen Barnes co-wrote with her Thank You a year before, and ever since “it’s been being worked on the entire time,” she explained in an Instagram post where she shared glimpses of the different stages the track went through to become what it is. ⬪ AK
I Still Have Faith in You – ABBA
Who would’ve thought that, in the year 2021, a band that hadn’t been active for 40 years would make a comeback? ABBA, the Swedish band that was formed in 1972 and made music history, released this week two brand new songs and announced a whole album, set for a release on November 5th, as well as a hologram (yes, really) reunion concert. To be fair, this wasn’t an out-of-nowhere move. In 2018, the band shared with the world that they had recorded a couple of tracks together —the same two they just put out—, but they didn’t feel comfortable letting them out into the world just yet. But then time passed, nothing really happened publicly, and most people forgot about it all. And now here they are, singing “New spirit has arrived / The joy and the sorrow / We have a story / And it survived.” It did survive, indeed. And this new chapter feels like a classic already. ⬪ AK
Also:
I’ve Got You – Rosie Lowe
Give and Take – Joy Denalane
Devastating – Johnnyswim
Saute – Barbara Pravi
