{"id":2228664,"date":"2026-01-09T18:28:53","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T18:28:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2228664"},"modified":"2026-01-09T18:28:53","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T18:28:53","slug":"the-best-and-worst-new-music-of-the-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/the-best-and-worst-new-music-of-the-week\/","title":{"rendered":"The best and worst new music of the week"},"content":{"rendered":"

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H<\/span>ere is a round-up of the new music our rock and pop critics for The Times and The Sunday Times have been listening to this week. With albums from Australian rap\/pop to Kate Bush-like music from Norfolk and Noughties boy band nostalgia, the choices are varied. Make sure to follow our playlist, which is updated weekly with our picks of the latest tracks too.<\/p>\n

Which new albums and tracks have you been listening to? Do you agree with our verdicts? Let us know in the comments<\/i><\/p>\n

Before I Forget <\/b>
Sony<\/i>
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Perhaps the self-pitying Canadian superstar Drake is to blame but for the past few years a remarkable number of male rappers and pop stars have spent of a lot of time moaning about hurt feelings. The latest to climb on board the whingeing train is the Kid Laroi, aka Charlton Howard, a 22-year-old Australian rapper\/singer beloved of Elton John and Justin Bieber whose present misery appears to be caused by a split from another pop star, the Canadian singer Tate McRae. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Howard is a big deal. Signed to Sony at 14, in 2021 he became the first Indigenous Australian solo artist to top the US Billboard Hot 100 with his single Stay<\/i>. A year later he was blessed with his own limited edition McDonald\u2019s meal (it featured chicken McNuggets and a cheeseburger with no pickles). He\u2019s at the heart of the Gen Z pop mainstream and the message he has chosen to share with the world is that love has really messed him up. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou used to wake up beside me. Now you post shit just to spite me,\u201d he gripes on Me + You<\/i>, a break-up ballad delivered in the phone-addicted teen vernacular while alluding to a lifestyle the average teenager will never get to experience, such as his former girlfriend driving across Los Angeles in her flash new car to meet him. Over the laid-back R&B of July<\/i> he\u2019s begging her to \u201cjust be real\u201d, whatever that means, and for the falsetto-laden acoustic ballad Back When You Were Mine<\/i> he\u2019s reminiscing on the good old days when he spent all his money and time on the object of his affections.<\/p>\n

What went wrong? He doesn\u2019t tell us but now she\u2019s \u201csittin\u2019 back at home \u2026 feelin\u2019 all alone\u201d. Coming to the Kid Laroi for poetic insight into the mysteries of love is clearly a fool\u2019s game but the young man\u2019s anguish and the strained feeling he puts into his melancholic delivery is authentic. It\u2019s just a shame the lyrics are so trite and the music so pedestrian, with its familiar blend of trap beats and pop melodies.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s really lacking is any of the lightness and humour the average 22-year-old uses to get through the day. You would think a song called A Cold Play<\/i> might poke fun at the stadium-filling lords of inoffensive niceness but no \u2014 it\u2019s just another soppy ballad. \u201cIt\u2019ll always be easy to blame you, but it\u2019s my fault for thinking I could fix you,\u201d Howard sings. <\/p>\n

There is one upbeat electro moment in I\u2019m So in Love with You<\/i>, but for the most part this is an album of slow to mid-tempo break-up songs of very little imagination. Howard is a charismatic figure and a pop phenomenon but after listening to him go on about his hurt feelings for 40 minutes you cannot help but wonder: aren\u2019t there other things to sing about?<\/p>\n

Blue <\/h2>\n
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Reflections<\/b>
Cooking Vinyl<\/i>
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All boy bands must grow up sooner or later. Now Blue have joined Take That and Westlife as middle-aged men traversing the rocky road of adulthood while still clinging onto their youthful glory days. \u201cWe cannot go changing back to the days of when we were in our youth,\u201d they accept on Find that Feeling<\/i> but you get the impression they would really like to. \u201cBlue\u2019s in the house so it\u2019s party time,\u201d they announce on Souls of the Underground<\/i>, and it sounds like a party in a branch of Welcome Break, while the acoustic guitar ballad Candlelight Fades<\/i> recalls the days of clean-cut lads sitting on little stools on Saturday night television, singing for the mums and dads. The Robbie Williams-like epic The Vow<\/i> proves there is life after boy bands yet, but for the most part Blue\u2019s return makes you think of the most popular kids at school, wishing the good times never ended.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Read more music reviews, interviews and guides on what to listen to next<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

Jenny on Holiday<\/h2>\n
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Quicksand Heart <\/b>
Transgressive<\/i>
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Jenny Hollingworth started out as one half of Let\u2019s Eat Grandma, teenage friends from Norfolk whose uncanny dream pop sounded like the musical equivalent of the film Picnic at Hanging Rock<\/i>. Hollingworth\u2019s debut solo album isn\u2019t quite so arresting but there\u2019s a lot of charm in her Kate Bush-like off-kilter approach. Dolphins<\/i> is a highlight, with a repeated note over which Hollingworth captures the feeling of seeing the bigger picture after being wrapped up in her troubles, while Groundskeeping<\/i> is a terribly sad country rock tune in which gardening becomes a way of dealing with grief, and the Cocteau Twins-like Good Intentions<\/i> shimmers with bittersweet romance. Quietly uplifting, this is a smart pop album that wears its lyrical depths and musical eccentricities lightly. <\/p>\n

Sleaford Mods<\/h2>\n
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The Demise of Planet X<\/b>
Rough Trade<\/i>
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It is a sign of just how far an unlikely blend of surreal rants and unchanging electronic beats has brought this Nottingham duo that the screen star Gwendoline Christie has signed on for their latest album. \u201cLike everybody else alive I think there\u2019s only this pain in me!\u201d Christie screams on The Good Life<\/i>, a treatise from the singer\/ranter Jason Williamson on the realities of perceived success. Elsewhere the Mods take on social media (Shoving the Images<\/i>), Williamson\u2019s memories of being taunted by girls about the size of his genitalia (Gina Was<\/i>) and war footage being reduced to another doomscrolling diversion (Megaton<\/i>), with plenty of pub humour and self-laceration thrown in. It isn\u2019t all about the worst of life but the overall impression is of someone scrabbling about in the dirt and using whatever he finds down there for creative fuel. The result is totally captivating; a vision of everyday British absurdity in songs that are as catchy as they are disturbing.<\/p>\n

The Cribs<\/h2>\n
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Selling a Vibe <\/b>
PIAS<\/i>
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The Cribs, aka the three indie-rocking Jarman brothers from Wakefield, were commissioned to write a song called Never the Same <\/i>for the former One Direction pop star Louis Tomlinson. But they decided to make it a cheery highlight of their own album instead, underlining the fact that the Cribs specialise in catchy pop tunes, albeit ones couched in scuzzy guitar rock. Their latest is a typically economical affair, with 12 short songs about being in a band with your siblings (Brothers Won\u2019t Break<\/i>), making bad decisions (Looking for the Wrong Guy<\/i>) and the way life unfolds in general (If Our Paths Never Crossed<\/i>). A lot has happened in the 20 years since the Cribs\u2019 breakout hit Hey Scenesters! <\/i>but the Jarmans have stuck to their guns, retaining a fealty to classic indie. <\/p>\n

Best new tracks<\/h2>\n

By Blanca Schofield<\/i><\/p>\n

Robyn<\/h3>\n

Sexistential<\/i><\/p>\n

The most awaited album in the next couple of months (for me anyway) is the Swedish star Robyn\u2019s \u2014 she of the perfect pop anthem, Dancing on My Own<\/i> \u2014 Sexistential <\/i>on March 27. The first exhilarating single, Dopamine<\/i>, released towards the end of last year, was as welcome as a break in these interminable clouds. Now she\u2019s dropped two more: this title track, a burst of minimalist electro rap about sexuality as a single mum in your forties, and Talk to Me<\/i>, a Max Martin-produced number that will satisfy any synthy needs.<\/p>\n

Father John Misty<\/h3>\n

The Old Law<\/i><\/p>\n

Joshua Tillman of Rockville, Maryland, rarely puts a foot wrong in his blend of romantic musicality and often satirical lyrics. His latest is a fan favourite formerly known as God\u2019s Trash<\/i> when he would perform it live \u2014 why the name change? Nonetheless listen out for hints of Sgt Pepper.<\/p>\n

Bruno Mars <\/h3>\n

I Just Might <\/i><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a sign of the Hawaiian tenor pop crooner\u2019s immense enduring popularity that within six hours of releasing his Sixties variety show music video for his first new solo music in ten years, it already had more than a million views. A future radio staple, it marks a big year for Mars, who has also announced a stadium tour.<\/p>\n

Doechii & SZA<\/h3>\n

Girl, Get Up<\/i><\/p>\n

In the space of less than a year, the Floridan rapper DJ has become many rap lovers\u2019 favourite artist thanks in part to her flawless Glastonbury set \u2014 and only the third woman to win the Grammy for best rap album with Alligator Bites Never Heal<\/i>. Now she teams up for the second time with R&B superstar SZA (see their first collab Persuasive<\/i>) on a piece looking back at all this success and the impact on other dark-skinned women like her.<\/p>\n

Mumford and Sons <\/h3>\n

The Banjo Song <\/i><\/p>\n

The clue is in the name: expect plenty of banjo on the London folk rockers\u2019 new single from their upcoming album Prizefighter<\/i>. They are clearly experiencing a creativity boom after Winston Marshall\u2019s departure as this is their second album in a year, following on from Rushmere<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Morrissey <\/h3>\n

Make-Up Is a Lie<\/i><\/p>\n

The controversial former Smiths frontman is back with his first new single in four years, a haunting tale of boredom and Parisian jaunts. A new album of the same name is coming next month with a cover of Roxy Music\u2019s Amazona<\/i>, which he will no doubt perform at his O2 arena headline show on February 28.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.thetimes.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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