Best New Music of November: Adele, Lorde and More
Including “sad girl fall” tracks and futuristic AI-themed numbers.
Slowly gearing up for the holiday season, musicians have rolled out everything from moody songs to futuristic tracks throughout the month of November. Adele finally released her new album 30, which birthed numerous “sad girl fall” memes, while Lorde added two new singles “Helen of Troy” and “Hold No Grudge” to Solar Power. Post Malone and The Weeknd teamed up on “One Right Now,” Anderson .Paak and Bruno Mars released their debut album as Silk Sonic, and Grimes launched her AI music group NPC with a collaboration with DJ Chris Lake. Other standouts include Little Mix, youra, LØREN, Tate McRae, ATARASHII GAKKO! and more.
Listen to our favorite tracks of the month below.
Lorde – “Helen of Troy” and “Hold No Grudge”
Lorde introduced two new tracks “Helen of Troy” and “Hold No Grudge” to her studio album Solar Power months after releasing the record. The singer explained the songs to be “fun explorations on the album journey,” adding that “they didn’t quite fit into the tracklist for whatever reason, but they’re both big tunes.” “Helen of Troy” is highlighted with layered harmonies atop a guitar sequence, while “Hold No Grudge” is a heartbreak track. “HNG is a sort of composite portrait of when relationships turn sour, being trapped in the ice but remembering the warmth,” the artist shared.
Post Malone – “One Right Now” ft. The Weeknd
Ahead of releasing his new album, Post Malone dropped “One Right Now” with The Weeknd. “Said you love me, but I don’t care/That I broke my hand on the same wall/That you told me that he f*cked you on,” the After Hours musician sings, followed by Posty: “Said you wanna have my babies, I f*cked you so good you should pay me/Don’t call me ‘baby’ when you did me so wrong.” In the accompanying music video, the two get involved in a bloody shooting battle.
Tate McRae – “feel like shit”
TikTok-viral artist Tate McRae unveiled the first single off her upcoming album slated to release in 2022. Titled “feel like shit,” the track is written by McRae herself alongside Russell Chell, Jacob Kasher Hindlin and Victoria Zaro. The musician delivers dynamic choreography in the music video. “I wrote this song about a very personal experience and then Michelle Dawley and I brought it to life in this music video,” she said. “I can’t explain how excited I am for you all to see this video and experience the ups and downs of a relationship in three minutes.”
ATARASHII GAKKO! – SNACKTIME
Loved for their chaotic music, J-pop group ATARASHII GAKKO! served up their third EP titled SNACKTIME shortly after performing at 88rising‘s Head In The Clouds Festival. The five-track record is led by “Free Your Mind,” a free-spirited punk number in which the four-member act sings: “Gotta dance, gotta sing, Yeah one more time!/Gotta dance, gotta sing, Yeah one more time!”
Chris Lake & NPC – “A Drug From God”
For those unaware, Grimes launched her very own “AI girl group” dubbed NPC. The virtual music act, which features infinite members that “can be voted in or out, except for core members such as the baby Warnymph,” made its debut with a collaborative track featuring Chris Lake. An official statement described NPC to be “a vehicle for experimentation in new technologies as they become available,” and allows Grimes to “create as other people in order to reduce the psychic pain of being in the public eye.”
Little Mix – “No”
For their latest single “No,” Little Mix’s Perrie Edwards, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Jade Thirlwall dress up as suburban moms in a vibrant, colorful music video. “I say, ‘No, no, no’/I say, ‘Yes’ too many times/Now it’s ‘No, no, no’/Told you, ‘I’m no longer under your control,’” the musicians sing as they flip through a “MAN-ual” to “reset” three men.
Silk Sonic – An Evening With Silk Sonic
Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak dropped their debut album as a duo dubbed Silk Sonic. The record follows up on their previous hits “Leave The Door Open,” “Skate” and “Smokin Out The Window,” and features five unreleased songs. Standing out from the tracklist is “Smokin Out The Window,” which went viral upon its music video release for Anderson .Paak’s “dropping dead” moment.
Adele – 30
After much anticipation, Adele finally released her 30 album, which features her single “Easy On Me.” The musician broke the internet with “sad girl fall” songs like “To Be Loved,” with fans flooding Twitter with memes. “Not Adele’s new album making me wanna get a divorce when I’m not even married,” one social media user wrote. For this particular album, Adele got Spotify to remove the Shuffle button to provide the best listening experience for both artists and fans.
youra – “Rawww”
Rising singer-songwriter youra dropped her latest single “Rawww.” The indie-rock track highlights the musicians’ unique sound while delivering lyrics inspired by her recent thoughts. “I can’t really remember what I was thinking or feeling when I wrote this song. I think it’s just a compilation of all the random notes I jotted down,” she shared in a press release, adding that she considers “Rawww” to be her song of hope.
LØREN – “All My Friends Are Turning Blue”
Singer-songwriter LØREN released his third single under YG Entertainment‘s THEBLACKLABEL. Titled “All My Friends Are Turning Blue,” the song is fully created by the rising star, from lyrics and production, to songwriting and instrumentation. In the ’00s-inspired music video, he sings: “She don’t like the way you hold her/Now it all seems far away/All the wet matches we break/Long complaints will dull our needle/Eyes out for greatness/Without shape or distance.”
