Welcome to “Cut Through the Noise,” an entertainment column from the St. Louis Park Echo covering new music releases. Every week, a different Echo staffer takes on the role as writer, reviewing recent single releases from a variety of artists.

Girl in red — ‘October Passed Me By’ ★★★★★

Girl in red, a well-known singer who is beloved by many, released her latest single “October Passed Me By” this past Friday. The sequel to her 2018 song, “we fell in love in october,” was predicted to be a banger and did not disappoint. Similar to “we fell in love in october,” this song also has a slow yet vibrant pace. The pace of the song aids in making the lyrics sink in, and helps the listeners resonate more with the music. The lyrics are unique and clearly thought out and the background music fits perfectly with the words, which talk about remembering someone who makes you feel like yourself. This song is also about love, but it’s different because it is has a more nostalgic feel, and is more about remembering the love. I was not disappointed at all with this track and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoyed previous songs by this artist, or any Wallows lovers, as this Indie pop song is similar to Wallows Indie rock music.

Joshua Bassett — ‘SHE SAID HE SAID SHE SAID’ ★★★☆☆

Joshua Bassett, an American actor, singer and songwriter released his latest single “SHE SAID HE SAID SHE SAID,” following the single he released last week, “Would You Love Me Now.” This song, similar to the one released last week, deals with heartbreak. Though,, “SHE SAID HE SAID SHE SAID” is much more upbeat. It is catchy and the background music and drums make it flow together nicely. Despite the upbeat tune, the song was quite repetitive and the lyrics did not change too much each verse. I couldn’t decide if I liked it or not. While it’s catchy and something that I wouldn’t skip on a playlist, I wouldn’t go out of my way to listen to this song due to its repetition. ”SHE SAID HE SAID SHE SAID” didn’t interest me because of what it is about, which is just rumors, lies and relationships being complicated.

Marshmello, Juice WRLD — ‘Bye Bye’ ★★★☆☆

Marshmello, a singer who earned his popularity back in 2016 when he released his debut single “Keep it Mellow.” His latest song, “Bye Bye” was written by not only him but also by Juice WRLD, a close friend of his who died in December, 2021. Juice WRLD and Marshmello created this song the first night they met each other and Marshmello released the same version the two worked on when Juice WRLD was alive. While Marshmello produces electric dance music with heavy bass and groov-oriented tracks, Juice WRLD was known for his “emo” rap music. It was interesting to see these artists create a song together, because you can see a combination of both the styles. —  Juice WRLD’s rapping and Marshmello’s electric beats in the background. The song, while being upbeat carries a sad message, repeatedly saying, “I’m out of pills and you’re out of lies,” talking about relationships, addiction and lies. Although this song had a nice beat, I found it very repetitive, with little lyric variation and not too much creativity with the writing. With the message of the song, there would have been better lyric choices to get the message across, but by choosing such repetitive ones the song can get boring after the first verse.