“Comeback.” Gallant 2021 Enchanted Solitude Entertainment / EMPIRE
Even when there’s not necessarily a bunch of brand new music in my rotation, there sure have been plenty of live recorded performances to endlessly queue on YouTube, and that’s only continued during the pandemic. And there certainly were lots of great performances at the 2021 inauguration: John Legend gave a stellar rendition of the Nina Simone classic “Feeling Good,” Black Pumas perform their hit “Colors,” a “Better Days” duet from Justin Timberlake and Ant Clemons, Andra Day performs “Rise Up” while Kaitlyn Saunders skates. Here are three new releases that might put some extra shine on your improving mood.
“Sugar Man,” Black Pumas
In another round of Spotify singles that includes yet another version of Black Pumas’ hit “Colors,” the Texas outfit also dropped a cover of the 1998 track “Sugar Man” by Detroit singer-songwriter Rodriguez. (If you’re like me and had not heard the original before, it’s a case of being put on to the song’s original performer, Sixto Rodriguez, and eventually being led down a rabbit hole to watch the Oscar-winning documentary, Searching for Sugar Man, which tells the almost unbelievable story of a Mexican-American songwriter whose two early ’70s albums bombed in America, but who wound up finding a huge fanbase in Apartheid-era South Africa.) But in this recording, Black Pumas singer Eric Burton’s vintage-sounding vocals lay nicely on the track, making for a seriously stunning cover.
“34+35 Remix” feat. Doja Cat and Megan THEE Stallion
On January 15, Ariana Grande dropped a remix of “34+35,” a horny track from her latest album Positions. At the jump of the song, Ari sings “You might think I’m crazy/The way I’ve been cravin’/If I put it quite plainly/Just gimme them babies!” The new remix features a verse from both Doja Cat and Megan THEE Stallion, with Doja up first: “Can we stay up all night? Fuck a jet lag/You bring your fine ass and overnight bag/Add up the numbers or get behind that/Play and rewind that, listen, you’ll find that/I want that six-nine without Tekashi/And I want your body and I make it obvious/Wake up the neighbors, we got an audience/They hear the clapping, but we not applauding ’em.” Megan’s verse is bar-for-bar fantastic: “Rock you like a baby, but you know I’m ’bout to keep you up/Welcome to my channel, and today I’m ’bout to teach you something,” she begins. “I can make you pop, legs up like a Cancan/Wake the neighbors up, make it sound like the band playing.” Check out the lyric video to learn all the raunchy words.
“Comeback.” Gallant
Also on January 15, neo soul singer Gallant dropped the first single, “Comeback.” off of his forthcoming EP dubbed Neptune. The song has a hint of nostalgia, with Gallant demonstrating his astute vocal ability. There’s also a fun new music video for the romantic single, that sees Gallant repeatedly trying to win back a fed-up lover, popping up to sing at her in all her TV commercials, as a bobble head in her car, and then crooning to her from her private pool. Watch the cute and silly video below.