Always pushing boundaries, you can expect the unexpected from alternative-pop artist MAGGIE ANDREW. Her signature sound meshes dreamy, synth-laden melodies together with edgy lyrics.
Inspiration can come from the most unpredictable places, like maybe when you’re trying on your first grill at the jeweller’s! Maggie’s bold and upbeat song, ‘Biting Ice Cream,’ came from that icy, white image of wearing a grill and thinking about getting ice cream on a hot California afternoon.
The track is 75% attitude and 25% sexy with bouncy 808s and playful melodies. Check out the official ‘Biting Ice Cream’ music video below…
Known for his role in Top Boy as Aaron, HOPE shares his single ‘Can’t Box Me’ and accompanied video, both released last Friday (19th May).
Hope says of his new single: “Can’t Box me explores the frustration of being ‘boxed’ into one medium and not taken seriously when branching out. Artistry can be expressed in multiple ways. For me I’m an actor who branched into music who can still be successful in both.”
Hope is a Rap/ R&B artist as well as an actor who is well known for his role in Top Boy as Aaron. His musical influences stem from the likes of Dave, Drake as well as 90’s/ 2000’s Hip Hop and R&B. Hope’s first single ‘Stop the Rain’, amassed an amazing 2,404,069 streams.
Can’t Box Me is the first single from his forthcoming, unannounced self-released EP, Mirror Man, out 8th September. Check out the video for the smooth single below…
Gearing up for the summer months ahead, South London’s very own PO PURPLE comes through with his charged-up single, ‘Control Alt & Delete’.
Housing production from Belgium producer Spxghett, ‘Control Alt & Delete’ is an eerie Drill track that boasts Po Purple’s raspy tone and skilful lyricism throughout. Filled from top to bottom with gimmicky punchlines and head-turning bars, Po Purple bares all in this unapologetic drop, “Get it out your system now / That’s control, alt and delete / But don’t ever get loud / Unless you’re smoking with me”, he raps. Proving his worth as an artist to watch, this wheel-up worthy listen will have everyone moving at the motive!
Paired alongside a set of jumpy visuals, we watch as Po Purple and his friends deliver a performance to remember. Staying true to his signature purple theme, his vibrant outfit and hue-lit effects sit centre stage amidst the streets of London. Speaking on the single Po Purple commented, ”I’ve always been a fan of fast flows on a fast bass and beat. When drill came along, I was immediately captured. This song was inspired by the road life that I grew up in, not to glorify it, but to give insight into the mind of young man who lost his way. Currently I’m on a roll creating dope song’s and continue to be inspired by everything around me!”
Check out the video for ‘Control Alt Delete’ below…
Danish, London based musician, producer and vocalist MARIE DAHLSTROM releases her highly anticipated second album ‘A Good Life’ via her own JFH Records label. The release of new album ‘A Good Life’ today arrives exactly three years to the day since the release of her debut album ‘Like Sand’ in 2020, and features collaborations with acts including Jay Prince, Kofi Stone, Cory McKenzie Tribbett and Delleile Ankrah.
Working with some of her closest musical allies across the album on its production, notably Young Poet/Ninja Tune signee Conor Albert and her partner Dan Diggas – who has previously lent his talents to the works of Mahalia and Central Cee; braiding together sun-kissed RnB, Nordic jazz, and resonant neo-soul, Dahlstrom strives to create a tapestry that presents life completely and truthfully, where leaning into moments of the dark and the light which make the days – and the music – all the richer.
Hers is a voice with the kind of divinity that could only be god-given. That sense of soulfulness – so hard to quantify but unmistakable to the ear – meant that Marie Dahlstrom went far beyond crafting sounds but rather singular worlds, where mood, ambience and emotion were instruments to be commanded like any other, pushing the parameters of what RnB is and can be.
Marie Dahlstrom contains multitudes, a thousand selves co-existing and contradicting at once. A singer-songwriter. A mother. A producer. A partner. “These different pockets of life also create friction,” she acknowledges.
The album is about dismantling the idea that your validity as an artist diminishes when it’s not the focal point of your life, that being a parent negates creativity. Marie went on to say:
“I’ve been figuring out where I belong, what I’m supposed to do and how I fit into all this – because I am so much more than an artist. When you have big dreams or goals and you see time being taken away from achieving them, and going towards something else – how do you make that a positive experience? There are always challenges, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a good life. A Good Life is based on reflections from a few years of my life with many changes and adjustments. It’s an album about human interaction in all its complexity.”
The scope of Marie’s ambition not only for herself, but those she admires, was something she once could explore with abandon – but the arrival of her son meant that she had to recalibrate the woman she had been with the mother she had become.
‘A Good Life’ is a testament to her determination to embrace every dimension of who she is without limitation, to hold onto her passions even when they are no longer the most salient priority in her life. “I wanted to make sure I kept my essence for him,” she insists – and so A Good Life was nurtured in the spare evenings when she put her son to bed, written during a transitional period lived out of boxes between London and Copenhagen as she and her partner sought to renovate their permanent home.
From the introspective RnB-kissed duet of resilience that was lead single ‘Clouds’ featuring MiC LOWRY’s Delleile Ankrah, and the understated grooves of ‘Make It Up To You’ featuring Birmingham-hailing rapper Kofi Stone, to the nocturnal piano-led ‘Too Much To Ask’ and the shuffling beat of the Jay Prince-featuring ‘Let Me In’, Marie Dahlstrom’s spectacular second album ‘A Good Life’ is an instinctive, spontaneous and arrestingly honest depiction of an era of her life – a snapshot in time.
Marie Dahlstrom is supported and praised widely at press by the likes of Billboard, NPR, Complex, The Line Of Best Fit, Mixtape Madness, NYLON, New Wave Magazine, Wonderland Magazine and more, as well as being listed as a ‘Sleeper Pick’ by Joe Budden (twice) on The Joe Budden Podcast (the most influential podcast in R&B and hip-hop globally). Marie Dahlstrom has also received substantial radio airplay from BBC 1Xtra DJ’s Jamz Supernova, DJ Target, Toddla T and Rinse FM’s Jyoty.
‘A Good Life’ was released on Monday (22nd May) via Marie’s own JFH Records label…have a listen below…
Must Listens: A Good Life,The World Feels A Little Better,If I Belong (Freestyle), On My Own
Pairing his signature acoustic-driven sound with lyrics that tug at the heartstrings, JONAH KAGEN‘s single, ’18’ (released via Arista Records) explores the trials and tribulations of young love.
He adds, “’18’ is a song that I never thought anyone in the world except myself would ever hear. It’s about falling in love as a kid and how that same love can go from absolutely everything to nothing in just a few minutes. I wrote this song from the deepest part of my being, and I hope you find your own story somewhere in the lyrics.”
The 23-year-old singer and songwriter grew up in Savannah, Georgia and took up guitar at the age of six, diving deep into the instrument’s technical aspects after his jazz musician grandfather showed him performance videos. He further found inspiration in the music of guitarist Andy McKee, whose finger-style technique lit a creative fire within. “He opened my eyes to what an acoustic guitar could be,” he recalls, as he dove deeper into creating music on his own. “If you can bring somebody something with your music that they can’t get anywhere else, there’s nothing better than that.”
’18’ follows Jonah’s debut EP, ‘georgia got colder,’ which was released in December 2022 on Arista Records. He’s already cut impressive figures with over 130+ million global streams, a US tour supporting Maisie Peters, nearly two million Spotify monthly listeners, and was included on Shazam’s 2023 predictions list. An exciting new voice bringing an undeniable energy and sincerity through his multifaceted sound, Jonah Kagen is undoubtedly an artist on the rise. Watch the video for ’18’ below…
New Lease Music 