New Music Friday - 31/10/2025

Albums/EPs:

• Cat Burns - How to Be Human
• Eli - Stage Girl
• Florence + the Machine - Everybody Scream
• Oklou - choke enough (Deluxe)

Singles: 

• COBRAH - Torn
• Ella Rosa - Nails  
• Freya Ridings - Wicker Woman 
• flowerovlove - shady
• Magdalena Bay - Black-Eyed Susan Climb:
• Magdalena Bay -  Unoriginal 
• MAY-A - (I'm here for the) GIRLS 
• MIKA - Modern Times 
• Omar Rudberg - Malandro  
• Orville Peck - Drift Away 
• Pale Waves - Zombie 
• ROSALÍA, Björk and Yves Tumor - Berghain
• Sophie Powers - spiderwebs

Cat Burns - How To Be Human

Come Home: Emotional and strong start, wow. I liked this. It was a powerful song honestly. Like, almost made me cry. Really liked it! Not the sample of the voice too! 8/10

Can Time Move Faster?: Okay, we're crying now. Yikes. Is this all song? Decent song, though I'm not a major fan of the vocals for a lot of it. Still, decent. 6/10

I Hope It's Me: A cute guitar focused song! It wasn't my favourite but I enjoyed it, for sure. 6/10

Small Talk: Well, it was a bit of a boring guitar focused song by contrast. Just didn't feel it. 5/10

Sad Forever: Definitely a more boppy song, but not really my favourite. I liked the message of it though. Cute. 6/10

All This Love: Awww, sad and cute start. It was a nice song again, I enjoyed it, good stuff. The hook of the song was good. 7/10

I Love You, But: It was a perfectly nice song, I enjoyed it. I think that will be the theme of a lot of this album. 6/10

Today: Another nice song, and I appreciate its placement, though the style of music is just not really my favourite. 6/10

Gemini: This better not be about the AI! Better than that fraud thankfully. It was an enjoyable, more boppy song again, but it does feel a bit typical for the genre. 7/10

GIRLS!: Can't relate but also it's a good song, and I get the energy for men, so hell yeah. 7/10

There's Just Something About Her: This is another fun, boppy song, and I love that for Cat. Hell yeah. 7/10

Lavender: This is probably my favourite section of the album, which makes sense, as it is more uplifting both in message and in production (well, mostly). I liked this song too. Boppy! 7/10

Please Don't Hate Me: This is sweet too. We love moving on (even if it's very difficult). Although I really do hope I never have to experience it again because it sucks big time! Anyway, I liked this song. 7/10

I Wish You Well: Again, kinda boppy, and I enjoyed it. Some nice production and vocals here. 7/10

When I'm With You: Very sweet message again, I liked it, even with the guitar focus. 7/10

How To Be Human: A really nice ending to the album! I think it really works as an ending song. Really liked the end of the song too. It's a nice title track! Good ending. 7/10

Overall Verdict: An album I very much did enjoy listening to, though I don't know if I would return to it necessarily? The last part was definitely the stronger part for me, although maybe that's partially because I'm often biased towards boppier and happier songs (though I do love a good cry dance ballad!). A lot of the first half wasn't as much for me. However, it was touching still -- you can really feel the love Cat around her bereavement and also her breakup, and how hard it hit her. And the album definitely has a narrative and structure to it, which is also good. So I enjoyed this album, I think it's a decent album, but I'm not sure I'd listen to it again myself. It's not *quite* good enough for me for that. Maybe a bit too long too? 

Eli - Stage Girl

Stars (Lullabye): This feels like a cringe KidsBopz type of song. But we'll see! Or maybe it kinda gives K-pop sorta? You know what, I like it. 7/10

Girl of Your Dreams: Sorta similar in that it's alright, but not really my favourite. Decent enough voice, decent enough production. 6/10

Marianne: Nothing really special, it's pretty typical moody-ish pop of the genre, but I enjoyed it. Nice voice. 6/10

Falsetto: Kinda boppy, do like the vocals, nothing really special though. I liked the talking bridge. 6/10

I Wish I Was a Girl: Okay let's crack that egg! Pretty nice song honestly. I enjoyed it. I think the problem I may have with this project is that it's a bit too high in places? Almost gives me 'goofy' vibes and I shouldn't be feeling that, especially with the messages. 6/10

Sunny: Well, that was rather short. A pretty nice, good, chill short song though. I liked it. 7/10

Like a Girl: Sue me for feeling Troye Sivan here! But again, I liked it. Nice song. I like the vocals and the production. Cool contrast between the spoken and singing parts in the outro. 7/10

All at Once: Good, boppy song, pretty enjoyable honestly. 7/10

iTouch (Da Da): A piano! Uh oh! Actually, it turned out to be quite a boppy song that I enjoyed, though I'm not sure I liked the fade out at the end and the minor switchup. Still, good! 7/10

Somebody I'm Not: A good final song! It's boppy, fun, I feel like it sums up the message of the project, the egg has been cracked! 7/10

Overall Verdict: I liked this! Some songs were better than others, but all of it was to some degree enjoyable. I really liked the exploration of gender, that was pretty cool, as it's not done too often with pop songs and albums, and I think it was done pretty decently. It's always nice when pop tackles serious topics in a good way. It can definitely be something that's difficult to do so I appreciate it. Anyway, this was a boppy album, and I could definitely see myself listening to Eli more in the future. 

Florence + the Machine - Everybody Scream

Everybody Scream: Okay, stop screaming, it's only me. Surprisingly, I enjoyed a fair bit of this, though I feel it lost its momentum a bit. I like Florence's vocals. Some of the chanting parts were a bit of a miss. Anyway, decent alt rock type song. 6/10

One of the Greats: It is nice to be a man and make boring music just because I can! Anyway, this is just a bit boring for me. There's some great vocals but it just does nothing for me at all. 5/10

Witch Dance: Fantastic vocals yet again, just a bit bland I think. Does kinda give spooky a bit. Should have submitted this for the Halloween round of Music League! Actually, I'll be honest, not just boring, but it's annoying me a bit too. Maybe not the best submission from me after all! I think it's the production annoying me. Cool sound effects at the end though! 4/10

Sympathy Magic: Started boring, but production got a lot more interesting. It was the vocals I didn't feel as much here, but I did like the production. Definitely the highlight here. Kinda a bop, somewhat! 6/10

Perfume and Milk: Don't tell Thatcher! Anyway, here I think I prefer the vocals again, they really stand out in a good way. Afraid to report that was just a bit boring though. 5/10

Buckle: It's the guitar, run!! Just a bit boring in the end, though it got a bit more interesting as it progressed. Definitely not my genre of music. 5/10

Kraken: Was more interesting, I'll give it that, but also it annoyed me a bit again. Not really my stuff. 4/10

The Old Religion: Not the Mandatory Ballad with the piano. To be fair, it got more interesting with the production. A lot more dramatic. Still not really for me though. 5/10

Drink Deep: Okay weird start. Vocals were kinda catchy throughout, but again, it's just not really a song for me. 5/10

Music by Men: What's compromise? Anyway, this was a bit boring but also I did enjoy it more, it was more just a pleasant listen. Good vocals again. Surprisingly liked the guitar! Ew, if you're giving music by men a try, not the 1975, please! 6/10

You Can Have It All: Normally, when a song progresses to a big explosion, I like it more, but not sure I did here. I really do like Florence's vocals (mostly), but I'm just not a major fan of these songs. Not the screaming again! 5/10

And Love: Some cool sound effects towards the end again, but I feel pretty much the same as the rest of the album, it's just not really for me, and it's a bit bland. 5/10

Overall Verdict: This was very much not for me. I don't think it was actively bad, but I found it very bland and boring throughout, probably because this type of music just does not speak to me at all. The sorta indie folk and rock does not really work for me. I really do like the vocals of Florence, she can sing and that is a highlight, but honestly, not a good album for me. Doesn't mean I think it's a bad album for everyone though, I'm sure plenty of people will love it! 

Oklou - choke enough (Deluxe)

viscus (feat. FKA twigs): Cool start with the production. Okay, this is really nice with the production. I really like it. The vocals are good, the combo is good, it's lowkey boppy (and also kinda atmospheric). 8/10

what's good: This was pretty, just like a lot of the base album was, it feels like it fits the vibe well. I liked it. It has the moody atmospheric vibe, and it's just good. Good vocals, good to listen to. 7/10

the fishsong unplugged: Look, it has the evil guitar, but I still enjoyed it. It again fits the vibe well, but it wasn't my favourite. 6/10

dance 2: Well, it delivers on the name, which is good! It's boppy, and still fits the vibe. Good stuff! 7/10

Overall Verdict: This was a good deluxe. It didn't feel like anything was unnecessarily tacked on, and it added a few songs that were an expansion of the original project and felt like they fit. Just like the base album, they're good songs! They're just very nice to listen to honestly. 

Singles:

COBRAH - Torn: Take me into space. The production is kinda weirdly a bit spooky but also really interesting! Definitely not just a Bop Bop, but it's a very interesting song and I liked it! 7/10

Ella Rosa - Nails: Has the boppy, electronic production I like. It's like minor hyperpop-y. So it's good! 7/10

Freya Ridings - Wicker Woman: More dramatic than I expected honestly! Like okay dramatic. Grand stuff. I like the vocals especially. Good song! 7/10

flowerovlove - shady: This is pretty typical, but honestly, I still liked it. I'm clearly in a good mood today for some reason. 7/10

Magdalena Bay - Black-Eyed Susan Climb: Wow, me liking a Magdalena Bay song. Something is truly wrong. Anyway, as ever, the vocals are the main thing that are a bit annoying to me, but I did like this! Oh, that's a fun wacky outro. 7/10

Magdalena Bay -  Unoriginal: What is happening? Magdalena Bay can actually make good music? Am I okay? I keep enjoying their most recent songs. Maybe I kinda get it! Anyway, in a sense it was goofy, but it was also good. 7/10

MAY-A - (I'm here for the) GIRLS: Okay, this is boppy. Nice! I enjoyed it. It's kinda typical but it's good! 7/10

MIKA - Modern Times: Good, boppy stuff again. Some of the talking parts I wasn't really as much of a fan of but it's still good! 7/10

Omar Rudberg - Malandro: This does give me a bit of K-Pop, I can't lie. Anyway, it is boppy, and fun, can't really complain about that. Good song! Vocals are a bit annoying but mostly fine. Probably the bits with just the background vocals is the worst part sadly. 7/10

Orville Peck - Drift Away:  Kinda a dramatic country-ish song. I actually liked this. Probably because it's not too country in the traditional sense. 7/10

Pale Waves - Zombie: I actually did enjoy this! Sometimes I can enjoy the pop indie rockish stuff. Probably help that it feels 'dark', if that makes sense? Well, and mentions of bombs and guns... 7/10

ROSALÍA, Björk and Yves Tumor - Berghain: Okay, we're starting dramatic and FAST! Very dramatic throughout. It's giving some type of opera type thing. I liked it. The combination of artists work well too. Not something I was expecting honestly but I liked it! Uhm, okay, I got the message about fucking me. 7/10

Sophie Powers - spiderwebs: More cunty than I was expecting honestly. Fun! Like the electronic production. Good stuff! 7/10