As August comes to a close, I’m making an effort to really appreciate some of the music released within the past four months that really defined my summer. These three recent releases are not only some of my favorites of this season, but of the entire year.
"Lost Weekend" by Phoebe Bridgers
I can't recall the last time I was more excited for a new release than I was for Phoebe Bridgers' "Lost Weekend." Released Aug. 14, I had six years since her last album for my anticipation to build, and believe me when I say the album exceeded my expectations. Amid innovative sonic touches left by collaborators Jack Antonoff and Alex G, this album showcases some of Bridgers' most poignant and evocative songwriting.
A few distinctive themes run throughout this album. One of which seems to be Bridgers' innate urge to shy away from the spotlight to protect her inner life, which is most evident in "Haunted" and "The Outside." These songs sound as though she is singing them as she pokes her head out from an isolated cave for just long enough to say what she's feeling before ducking back inside, shutting out the rest of the world.
"Bobby," an upbeat, jaunty love song, emulates another core feeling captured on this album, which is being so in love you let yourself be hopeful without caring about public perception; "This could be the end of wanting," she sings so earnestly it's almost startling.
And then there is profound grief. The 2023 death of Bridgers' father and her ensuing grief is the emotional centerpiece of the album. Throughout the tracks, she reflects on the complicated anguish of grieving someone who hurt her while he was alive, leaving behind an ache of loss and dulled anger after he died. In "Still Standing," she wrestles with these conflicting feelings: "I can't imagine you dead / But you are every day / Thank you for everything." She grapples with accepting that loss in "Lost Weekend (Reprise)," where she realizes her father isn't coming back as a bird or in the stars; he's gone, and her grief is eternal and ever-evolving.
"Detour" by Kim Petras
Released May 29, "Detour" is Kim Petras' first full-length release since publicly requesting to be dropped from her record label in January due to feeling a lack of control over her career. I'd never really resonated with Petras' prior work; it felt flashy but ultimately vacuous to me. This album, though, unites her signature eccentric personality with a new level of brash honesty and creativity I found refreshing.
"This is the beginning of the end / Everything before was just pretend," Petras declares on the title track; it's a bold way to open an album, and one that promises to deliver a roller coaster of hedonistic hyperpop full of both intimacy and personality. One of my favorite tracks is "Need for Speed," which features endearing playfulness and an undeniably catchy hook. Another great moment on the record is "DTLA," which begins as a gritty, abrasive track about the self-indulgence of the downtown Los Angeles party scene and evolves into a lament on the fleeting nature of pop stardom, ending in Petras confessing from the top of a penthouse that "It's such a long way down / My tears don't touch the ground."
But the highlight of this album is "Brutalist," which uses the metaphor of a demolished Brutalist building to reflect on Petras' childhood gender transition and the criticism she faced when she shared her experience pursuing gender-affirming care. It's an emotional rumination on identity, trauma and faded memories that gives the album a tender edge.
"brand new chanel$" by Slayyyter
All summer I've waited for a new release to blow me away so much that it undeniably cements itself as my song of the summer. While there have been songs I've loved recently, nothing has made me feel as excited about music as Slayyyter's "brand new chanel$." Like a North Star, this song came into the world July 31 and secured that title as soon as I heard it.
This song details Slayyyter's experience discovering she had been cheated on shortly before her Coachella set, and that anguish is conveyed through every note she sings. After its verses set the tone of emotional betrayal, the drums kick in, signaling a chorus so cathartic it feels impossible not to scream along to it every time. This song also really shows off Slayyyter's soaring vocal capabilities, which in much of her music often feels distorted by abrasive production.
"brand new chanel$" takes "BEAT UP CHANEL$," a track from her March album, "WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA," and tonally flips it, both sonically and emotionally. "BEAT UP CHANEL$" is unabashedly abrasive in conveying desire for connection and chaos; it's the kind of song you listen to during the pregame. "brand new chanel$" is for the ride home after the party, when you're staring out the window letting all your feelings come to you at once. But regardless of which one you listen to, both sister songs give depth and variety to Slayyyter's growing musical catalogue.
