2021 week 5 | oil of every pearl's un-insides by SOPHIE

I’ve been meaning to give SOPHIE and this album, in particular, a listen for a while now, and sadly I’m arriving at the party under rather heart-breaking circumstances. the experimental and revolutionary artist/producer tragically passed on january 30th 2020. while sophie was rather mysterious and reclusive in identity for a long time, this album was sophie’s debut as a solo artist in 2018, but sophie’s legacy lives on in the music of so many others, charlie xcx, vince staples, kim petras, madonna. not only was sophie an unmatched original, the artist broke boundaries for the trans community through music, grammy nominations, and so much more. i can’t wait to learn more about sophie and keep the art alive through her brilliance.

2021 week 2 | arlo parks

This week, I went into the handy-dandy “songs you might have missed” Spotify playlist and clicked randomly on “green eyes” by Arlo Parks. I was very immediately struck. I then began to notice her and her name on a lot of indie lists, her songs all over best-of lists and indie playlists I had definitely listened to before. There is no definitive album of hers on Spotify, so I just listened to the “This Is Arlo Parks” playlist. And what an artist, phenomenal melodic intention, such moving lyricism, the perfect backdrop to any chill dinner party or afternoon lounging in a sun-filled room. “Hurt” and “Caroline” and not to mention, I just found a small series of videos of her and Phoebe Bridgers collaborating on Radio 1. What a dream. Listen to this artist. Now.