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.
“Pushing It Down and Praying” — Lizzy McApline ★★★★★
Singer-songwriter Lizzy McAlpine is only 24 years old and has already released three full length albums with no signs of stopping any time soon. You may recognize her from her viral song “ceilings.” Just five months after her third album, “older,” McAlpine is already releasing new music to show off the new era she’s moving into with the single “Pushing It Down and Praying”.
The song starts out slowly and with less urgency than McAlpine has been known to use in her previous compositions. The simple guitar strumming and vocals are a calming introduction and a stark contrast to the lyrics which talk of insecurity. About halfway through the song, the drums kick in and completely change the song. McAlpine does a great job of putting you in the moment by providing vivid lyrical descriptions along with intense guitar and drums.Immediately, I was reminded of McAlpine’s second album, “five seconds flat” which has a more aggressive sound and raw sounding vocals. Anyone who’s enjoyed McAlpine’s past work will also enjoy this song like I have.
“Honesty” — Nelly Furtado ★★★☆☆
You may know Nelly Furtado from her early 2000s success with songs such as “Maneater” and “Promiscuous.” She hasn’t released a full length album since “The Ride” in 2017, but she’s ended her break to release her latest album, “7.” This song has a fast tempo and a very upbeat, fun sound. The song is brief, only two minutes and 17 seconds, so a majority of the lyrics are in the chorus, which repeats three times. It bears some resemblance to the synthy nature of her popular songs from the 2000s, but her more mature voice doesn’t blend with sound as well as her vocals did when she was younger. The song contains a synth beat, which I found to be a little bit annoying by the end of the song due to its high pitched sound. I had not heard any of Furtado’s recent music until listening to this song and I have no particular desire to listen to the rest of the album. While the song may be fun to dance to, it lacks lyrical and instrumental complexity.
“South of France” — Future ft. Travis Scott ★★★★☆
After a two year wait, American rapper Future is once again releasing new solo music. Future was propelled into fame in the early 2010s with his albums “Pluto” and “Honest” and has continued to release new albums every one to two years since. The break between his last album, “I Never Liked You” and his new one, “Mixtape Pluto” is one of the longer pauses in solo releases that he’s had, so I was excited to listen to the new music he’d been working on.
On the surface, the song sounds like any old Future song: a steady beat with his classic, mumbled lyrics over it. While this is enjoyable, the addition of Travis Scott bumps the song up to the next level. Scott’s style compliments Future’s well and makes a cohesive, catchy product. I’ve never been an avid listener of Future or Travis Scott’s music, but I still liked the mesmerizing beat and quick tempo of the song combined with the background’s mystical sounding synth. If you’re a fan of Future and his recent music, I think you’d find this song fun like I did. I’m excited to hear more of what Future has to offer in his new album.
