We’ve been anticipating Gunna‘s sophomore album Wunna since the release of its single “Skybox,” and it’s finally here. Wunna serves as the follow up to his No. 3 debuting 2019 studio album Drip or Drown 2.
The album artwork is pretty funny, but don’t judge the album by its cover. It’s a computer-generated image of Gunna where he adopts the pose of the Vitruvian Man from Leonardo da Vinci’s famous 1490 drawing.
Wunna is an effective collection of minimal, psychedelic production and sneakily effective melodies. It’s a woozy and soothing album that boasts features from Travis Scott, Roddy Rich, Young Thug, and of course Lil Baby.
“This album was created off of love, positive people, good energy, and different sceneries,” Gunna says regarding his project’s inspiration. “This was also created off of women — nasty women and beautiful women. It’s just a vibe. We made it one big album and I think this is going to be one of my best albums.”
Lady Gaga has released her latest Chromatica single “Rain On Me,” which she collaborated on with fellow pop diva Ariana Grande. The song which dropped today (May 22), pulsates with joyful energy through its shimmering house production.
“One time I met a woman who knew the same pain I did,” Grande tweeted about Gaga. The songs lyrics reveal how both women use the motion of music to process their pain. “…who cried as much as I did, drank as much wine as I did, ate as much pasta as I did and [whose] heart was bigger than her whole body. She immediately felt like a sister to me.”
Gaga revealed in an interview earlier this year that the pair had connected over their shred traumas and had used that energy to create “Rain On Me.” “I sat there and we talked about our lives,” Gaga told Paper Magazine. “It’s two women having a conversation about how to keep going and how to be grateful.”
Grande shared her thanks in an Instagram post captioned: “She then held my hand and invited me into the beautiful world of Chromatica and together, we got to express how beautiful and healing it feels to mothaf*ckinnnn cry! I hope this makes u all feel as uplifted as it does for us both. i love u @ladygaga, u stunning superwoman!”
Thank you for reminding me I’m strong, I’m super emotional and love you so very much, I cherish you @ArianaGrande and little monsters without you I don’t know how I would survive. I’d rather be dry, but at least I’m alive.
Shortly after the track’s release a post-apocalyptic dance mania music video was released to accompany it. The video is a choreo showdown between the two and their team of dancers, with Gaga sporting a smeared yellow body suit and Grande in a metallic mini skirt with butterfly wings. We also see Gaga get stabbed in the leg after a storm of knives pours from the sky.
“Rain On Me” will appear on Lady Gaga’s Chromatica, which is due to drop next Friday (May 29). This will be the follow up to her 2016 LP Joanne. Stream “Rain On Me” below.
On Tuesday (May 21), Lorde sent out a long newsletter to her fans to inform them about the status of her new music. In the letter she tells us that it “is so f*cking good,” and that she is “truly jazzed” for us to hear it in the near future.
She also took the time out to inform us about how her home country of New Zealand is doing amidst the pandemic, and then went on to to talk about her grief since the passing of her dog Pearl. Pearl’s death last year has had a negative impact on her creative process of making music.
“It was summer, a time of year which is usually so clarifying and special to me, but I was grieving hard for Pearl, carrying it everywhere with me,” she wrote, according to Billboard. “I found a note in my phone from November which said: I eat a grief sandwich / I wear a grief coat / I see a grief film.” Back in November she told fans that her grief had messed with the timetable for her next album, but it appears that the time off has done her some good.
“I started going back to the studio again in December, just for something to do, and to my surprise, good things came out. Happy, playful things,” she continued. “I felt my melodic muscles flexing and strengthening.”
It seems that she also seems to be back in the studio with Jack Antonoff, who collaborated with her on her 2017 album Melodrama. “It flowed. A thing started to take shape. And then, of course, the world shut down,” she shared. “We’re still working away—Jack and I FaceTimed for over an hour this morning going over everything. But it’ll take a while longer.”
She then tells her fans to appreciate the wait because the creative process cannot be rushed.
“Waiting, the thing that felt so pointless and annoying when I was young, is now this kind of delicious activity. In my opinion, the greatest treat I can give you is work that will last ten, twenty, thirty years. And that kind of work takes time. So if you can, I’d like for you to try tuning in to the time spent waiting for something of the highest quality to arrive,” she wrote.
We can only imagine how amazing her next project will be.
It’s been almost three years since the release of Jaden‘s 2017 album SYRE, and he’s back with an eight minute music video for his hit “Ninety.” Here he titles it as “NINETY: A Poem By SYRE.”
The opening credits states, “This is a twisted love story.” The cinematography features Jaden’s typical signature sunset gradient of pinkish blue throughout. Halfway through we see Jaden get teary eyed after a relationship doesn’t turn out the way he has planned. “Come here, mama, I know you want me/ Food from the soul, I know you’re hungry/ Gave you my two cents, ain’t got money, but/ I’ll take you somewhere fun and tell you something funny, hey/ It’s something funny, baby,” he sings in the opening lines, only to want to remain friends later on in the narrative.
He announced the music video’s premiere on his Instagram.
Doja Cat is back with what will probably be another No. 1 remix. After dropping the “Say So” remix with Nicki Minaj, Doja has now hopped onto The Weeknd‘s “In Your Eyes” track.
The two artists teased their fans about the collaboration earlier this week in a series of tweets.
Which one of these artists have I collaborated with and will be releasing the song to very soon?
The Weeknd allows Doja to shine on the song’s second verse, where she combs her way through the song with her feathery croons before switching into rap mode. “I can’t stop staring at you / It’s like I forgot that staring is rude / And that’s what five shots could turn me into / But you’ve done most things that gentlemens do” she raps.
Fans can expect more starry collaborations from Doja as she and Ariana Grande also have a record on the way. “I’m obsessed with her. I love her,” Grande told Zane Lowe earlier this month.
“I was able to work with her earlier this year on this song that I want to save for whenever it’s time again, to drop,” Grande revealed. “I love her personality. I love what she brings to the table musically. She’s just such a breath of fresh air. I think she’s brilliant and so talented. … We did this song together towards the end of last year and I love it so much. I remember when I first wrote it and sent it to her, she was in the shower and she was like, ‘B—h, I love this. I’m in the shower.’ And I was like, ‘Shower. You can call me back.'”
“In Your Eyes’ appeared on The Weeknd’s 2020 No. 1 album After Hours. The track dropped shortly after he announced the postponement of his After Hours Tour to next summer.
