With a new year comes new music. Starting off a series of releases dropping this Friday, January 18, are projects put together by Toro y Moi, Future and James Blake. Ariana Grande also made her newest release Instagram official a week ago, with “7 Rings” album art that was very on brand for the artist. These new projects will lead us into a year of anticipated music and surprising releases to entertain the masses.
Let’s take a closer look on what 2019 has to offer in the beginning of the new year.
Toro y Moi’s “Outer Peace”
Chaz Bundick also known as Toro y Moi, released his last project “Boo Boo” in 2017. Towards the end of 2018, the producer and artist released his first single, “Freelance,” from his upcoming album, “Outer Peace.” Drawing inspiration from Daft Punk and the song’s name being a not so subtle hint to the dreadful art of freelancing, he said it is an ode to his relationship and connection with other creatives. “‘It's a fine line for someone like me who's trying to go into like a little bit of R&B world, as well as now and then trying to maintain my own lane, too,’" Toro said in an interview with NPR.
“Outer Peace” is set to drop on January 18, and features Awful Records signee, Abra and has production credits bouncing around from Toro himself to Philadelphia producer, Instupendo.
Ariana Grande’s “7 Rings”
After Mac Miller’s passing, and recent ending to her engagement Grande seemingly took over a large portion of our twitter feeds, and daily conversations. Her latest project, “Sweetener” that dropped last August, propelled her into the spotlight, as her hit-single “thank u, next” solidified that spot. After the singer name dropped four of her ex’s and paired the song with a 90’s film inspired video drawing much attention, “7 Rings” comes during the artists peak popularity to date.
Grande hasn’t said much about the single dropping on January 18, but rather has been deflecting guesses from fans assuming each of her tweets are in reference to the single, much like “Sweetener” and “thank u, next.”
Grande shared the story behind the song’s title on Twitter saying, “well ............. ‘twas a pretty rough day in nyc. my friends took me to tiffany’s. we had too much champagne. i bought us all rings. it was very insane and funny.”
Future’s “The WIZRD”
This Friday, Future will be dropping his latest album, 20-track album, “The WIZRD.” Future, also known as Nayvadius DeMun Wilburn, released his last album in October 2018, “Wrld on Drugs,” a collaborative mixtape with rapper Juice Wrld. Regarding the features set to appear on the Atlanta-born recording artist’s newest album, Travis Scott, Young Thug and Gunna are the few guests scheduled to make an appearance on this highly anticipated project.
On Jan. 4, Future released his single, “Crushed Up” and another single, “Jumpin on a Jet,” on Jan. 11. Both songs will be featured on, “The WIZRD.” Along with the album release, Future also released a documentary on Apple Music titled, “The Wizard.” 2019 could be yet another great year for Future’s craft.
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James Blake’s “Assume Form”
The London-based singer is set to release his fourth studio album, “Assume Form,” this Friday as well. Although releasing a single last June titled, “Don’t Miss It,” it has been three years since Blake has released a full studio album, since “The Colour In Anything” in 2016. However through his versatility with different music mediums has kept his name out there by producing and collaborating with popular artists such as Kendrick Lamar and Travis Scott.
“Assume Form,” will feature twelve new tracks from Blake, and guests set to appear on the album include: Travis Scott, Metro Boomin, Moses Sumney, Rosalía and André 3000. Along with this latest album release, Blake is also scheduled to perform at the NOS Primavera Sound music festival in Porto, Portugal this summer.
February Releases
On February 1, Cleo Tucker and Harmony Tividad comprising of the indie-rock band Girlpool is dropping their newest project. The album itself and the first single to be released from it go by the same name, “What Chaos Is Imaginary.”
Another February 1 release goes by the title of “Stuffed & Ready.” The project dropping in two weeks was created by the band, Cherry Glazerr, and has already been previewed with the release of the first single “Daddi.”
Shayla Cunico is the culture editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be contacted by email at culture@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @ShaylaCunico.
Macey Rose is a freelance reporter for the Daily Lobo. She can be contacted by email at culture@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @maceyrae9.
