September Tunes

Hello and welcome to the end of another month and being one step closer to the end of another year. To be frank, I’m happy to get this over and done with, let’s kindly skip to 2021 and hope it’s an improvement.

That said, my favourite part of every month is here, it arrives 12 times a year – my monthly tunes!

I listened to a lot in September. It’s a reoccurring theme this year, but with all this time spent in the house, under lockdown rules and stuck with not a lot to do, what else do you expect from me?

Here’s what I was listening to in September. If you’d like to check out the playlist for yourself, as well as have a listen to all the other tunes I’ve been loving during 2020, feel free to scan the code below!

PLUS! I’d love to know what you were listening to during September. Let me know in the comments!

356 // 2020

Worry About A Thing – Tori Kelly: It doesn’t get much better than Tori Kelly covering Stevie Wonder to be honest. Arguably the best song from the entire Sing movie soundtrack.

Ultralight Beam – Kanye West: This song popped up on shuffle during a workout and reminded me how much I loved this track. So much to unpack here, truly. The sampling, the synths, Chance the Rapper, Kanye delivering incredible lyricism amidst insane dynamics.

LITTLE BUM – Agung Mango: Always keen to share some new Australian music. Ever since seeing Agung at Laneway Festival earlier this year, I’ve had an eye on the rapper and have keenly awaited any new music. This release has been celebrated quite widely around the country, and Agung just keeps growing and growing. Very excited to see what he has in store.

blind – ROLE MODEL: This track makes my little indie-pop heart sing. Such a sweet and simple ode to internet love and I think in the current state of pandemic that we’re in at the moment – so easy to connect to. It’s got a groovy drum beat, catchy guitar riffs and a chorus that’s stupidly easy to sing along to, which makes it a winner around here.

Pray For Me – The Weeknd, Kendrick Lamar: This song was added to my playlist by pure chance and fate. It just happened to come up on shuffle while I was in the car, driving to the store for the first time in ages since lockdown, the day Chadwick Boseman passed away. Being one of my favourite actors ever, not just from Black Panther, but from the many films in which he displayed such a strong performance of black excellence and talent, and being my favourite song from the entire soundtrack, it seemed very fitting to add as my song of the day.

That Girl – Justin Timberlake: A throwback, if you can call 2013 a throwback. Such an underrated JT song, so I’m glad someone decided to make a smooth as heck dance to it and post it on TikTok, because I’m hearing it all over there now, which I’m not mad about.

Circles – Yuto., Luna May: Another release by some Aussie talent. Yuto. are a duo of brothers living in Melbourne and I’ve been all over their releases since they first popped up on the Melbourne-music scene. If you love a bit of electronic pop, with sprinklings of RnB, definitely check out Yuto. This collaboration with Luna May is probably my favourite, so far …

Butterflies – Michael Jackson: This song. Give this song some love please. I recently rediscovered it while doing a mass clean-out of the Spotify account (linked below), and I immediately fell in love with it again. Such a beautiful, smooth track.

Birthday – Disclosure, Kehlani, Syd: Disclosure + Kehlani + Syd? Please. What a collaboration, and it all comes together so seamlessly.

Hit Different – SZA, The Neptunes, Pharrell Williams, Ty Dolla $ign: This song is a recent, long awaited release from SZA, and gal delivered. I’ve been entranced by this song since it came out, the structure, the lyrics, the music video, everything about this is exactly what we were all waiting for from SZA. I love how the men who feature on the track take over for the chorus while SZA holds down the verses and pre-choruses, a flip on the usual structure and model for RnB tracks like this. Love everything about it.

Real Games – Lucky Daye: I can’t wait for Lucky Daye to take off even more than he already has. This song is just super slanky and smooth, major Vulfpeck vibes with the synths and bass lines that tie this track together. I truly love the vibe he’s created.

Confess – CVIRO, GXNXVS: Another Australian track, we love to see it! Singer CVIRO comes through with maybe one of my favourite vocal tones of 2020, and producer GXNXVS (pronounced genius) brings it all together with a soundscape that just throws you back to RnB tracks of the late 90’s and early 2000’s, yet still sounds so current and relevant right now. This track excites me so much because I haven’t heard a lot music in this pocket, especially coming out of Australia, in a while. Can’t wait for more.

Bad Girl – Usher: Another classic, resurrected thanks to TikTok. It’s like my foryoupage just dips into the deepest recesses of my memory and plucks songs from there to give back to me and I’m not mad.

YOU’RE THE ONE – KAYTRANADA, Syd: Between KAYTRANADA and Disclosure, Syd really got a good run on my playlists this month. This is my favourite track from the 99.9% album, and it’s everything I love about KAYTRANADA all wrapped up into one.

Good Fit – Billy Reeves: Billy Reeves is a Melbourne rapper, originally from New Zealand (remember how I keep going on about NZ talent…) and he recently released this track, which I’m in love with. It’s such a chilled out, breezy tune, and it switches up towards the end, giving you some Chance The Rapper or Anderson. Paak energy that’s very much appreciated.

Dibble – Sycco: You’re getting a great fix of Australian artists this month. Sycco is an 18-year old artists from QLD, and I’ve been mildly obsessed with this track since I first heard it. She’s received a great spin on Triple J, a much loved radio station for discovering new and amazing talent, and for great reason.

Dreams, Fairytales, Fantasies – A$AP Ferg, Brent Faiyaz, Salaam Remi: Honestly, at this point you could throw Brent Faiyaz on any track and I’ll enjoy it. That said, A$AP Ferg and Salaam Remi really tie this track together as a really strong RnB collaboration. If you’re after some old school style rapping and smooth, sultry vocals, this tune will have you covered.

Kiss U Right Now – Duckwrth: Did you catch my review of Duckwrth’s debut album SuperGood? If not, you can get yourself caught up HERE. This is the tune that kicked it all off for me, and it still does it for me.

What You Know Bout Love – Pop Smoke: Pop Smoke sadly passed away earlier this year and unfortunately that’s what led me to checking out his music. Straight away, this song became my favourite. It’s everything I love about hip hop and RnB, and it makes me feel super nostalgic for my childhood when rap tracks had these beautiful little piano melodies and synth riffs in the background.

Thoughts – NUNU.: I couldn’t tell you the first thing about NUNU. because I don’t even know how this song came to be on my playlist. All I know is that I love it. It’s just some more hip hop and RnB. I’m not sure what you’ve come to expect at this point.

Daisy Chain – BOY SODA, Tentendo: How good is Australian music??? This good!!! I did a lil write-up on Tentendo a few years ago, and he’s featured on some of my playlists a couple times since then. That said, BOY SODA truly is the standout on this single, and Tentendo brings it all together beautiful. BOY SODA marries RnB and pop so beautifully, especially on this track, making it a really exciting single from the Central Coast artist. I can’t wait for more, potentially an EP from the sounds of things.

Crazy – Bazzi: Every now and then Bazzi releases a track that makes me question why I’m not listening to him more. This is one of those tracks. He released it back in August, so I’m a little late, but I’m here and I’m loving this latest single. The bass drives this track home, and his falsetto contrasts it so well.

Dead Man Walking – Brent Faiyaz: Snippets of this song have been floating around the internet for a little while, but apparently all we needed to do was blow it up on SoundCloud and TikTok and Brent went ahead and dropped it. So ethereal and atmospheric. You’ve got these beautifully plucked strings that build the perfect percussive layer for his voice to just dance over. I think Brent may just be one of my favourite artists of 2020.

You Sad – Tkay Maidza: You’re sick of me saying it, I know, but Australian artists need the hype. They need so much more recognition, it’s insane. Tkay is kinda like royalty in my mind, and this track from her album Last Year Was Weird, Vol.2 is so bloody cute. Love everything about it. Could not recommend enough.

Insecure – Jazmine Sullivan, Bryson Tiller: Jazmine Sullivan is a queen in my books. She’s on that Yebba, type of level in my eyes. The vocals in this song? Insanity. They should be illegal. She kills it and leaves nothing. I highly recommend listening to the entire track first, but for some real spice, head to 3:07. Jaw on the floor.

And that’s it team!

As always, you can find all of these songs, as well as every other track from my Monthly Tunes series, on my Spotify, linked below, or for your convenience, head straight to my 365//2020 playlist HERE.

x

Priya

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