Category: New Music
Be the first to discover the latest tracks and releases. New Music keeps you updated on the freshest sounds making waves in the music scene.
“No AI Needed”: Chaka Khan Reminds the Internet She Was Already There
As social media users turn to artificial intelligence to imagine themselves in the 1980s, Chaka Khan has responded with something better: the archive. The internet is busy imagining itself in the 1980s. Chaka Khan has receipts. Across social media, a new AI-driven nostalgia trend has users transforming present-day photographs into imagined portraits from the decade…
Afrobeats Heat Different: Young Jonn Leads a Week Where African Music Refuses One Sound
Afrobeats Heat Different continues to document what those sounds are doing while the map is still changing. From Young Jonn and Rema to Yemi Alade, FOLA, The Cavemen., Gyakie, Medikal, Octopizzo and a closing South African movement, this week’s 19-track Afrobeats Heat Different documents an African music ecosystem becoming increasingly difficult to contain within a…
Custodian Gems: KAESTYLE Leads 12 Records Worth Hearing Before Consensus Arrives
With KAESTYLE on the cover, this week’s Custodian Gems moves through 6uff, Kayode, Taene, Pabrymo, OluwaMillar, Ef Moon, Abefe, Sigag Lauren, Lil Frosh, Lasmid and Hunnyboy – a selection interested less in who already commands the conversation than in where attention might be moving next. Discovery becomes less useful when everybody has already agreed on…
Jua’s “Eshi” Finds Pan-African Connection Without Asking Africa to Sound the Same
Bringing together Maa, Swahili, Sesotho and Amharic alongside musical traditions stretching from Kenya and Ethiopia to Lesotho, Mozambique and North Africa, on Eshi, Jua’s latest CHIKKA experiment asks a more interesting question about Pan-African music: what if connection does not require sameness? Africa has spent generations being described through its differences. Different languages. Different borders….
Xenia Manasseh, Ukweli and Ywaya Tajiri Ask “AJE?” as Nairobi’s R&B Ecosystem Keeps Building Outward
The new collaboration AJE? arrives as one of the early releases emerging from Cinq Music and Nairobi-based Soul HQ’s developing relationship – bringing three distinct creative voices into a record whose significance extends beyond the song itself. There is something increasingly interesting happening around Nairobi’s contemporary music ecosystem. Not simply more releases. Not simply more…
Blaqbonez Leads a Borderless New Music Friday on Afrobeats Heat Different
From Blaqbonez and Seyi Vibez to KiDi, Sarkodie, Sofiya Nzau, Phyno and King Paluta, Music Custodian’s latest playlist update captures African music moving confidently across scenes, borders and generations. The final New Music Friday of August does not arrive with one dominant story. That might be its most interesting quality. This week’s Afrobeats Heat Different…
Victony Is 2FRESH as STARLIFE Leads This Week’s Afrobeats Heat Different
Afrobeats Heat Different returns with Victony at the centre of a 15-track New Music Friday edition that moves through Lagos street rap, contemporary Afropop, Afro-house, alternative experimentation and Francophone Africa. There is something particularly satisfying about watching an artist reach the point where experimentation no longer feels like risk. For Victony, STARLIFE appears to be…
Somi on African Women in Jazz, Grammy Nomination and Spotify’s EQUAL August Cover
Somi became the first African woman nominated in a Grammy jazz category when her live album Holy Room – Live at Alte Oper received a Best Jazz Vocal Album nomination in 2021. She also became the first Rwandan /Ugandan to receive a Grammy nomination. Now, Spotify has named Somi its EQUAL Africa Artist for August…
The Princes of Afrobeats Are Back
Every generation of Afrobeats eventually reaches a moment when its defining voices remind the world why they earned their place. This week’s edition of Afrobeats Heat Different captures exactly that moment. Every Friday, African music writes another chapter of its own story. Sometimes that chapter belongs to an emerging artist taking their first confident steps…
Ahead of BANGER BOY, CKay’s ‘Love Nwantiti’ Continues to Stand as One of African Music’s Greatest Streaming Success Stories
As CKay prepares to usher in a new chapter with his forthcoming album BANGER BOY, one of the defining records of his career is once again in the spotlight. Producer Tempoe recently shared images of a commemorative Spotify plaque recognizing “Love Nwantiti (Ah Ah Ah)” for surpassing one billion streams on the platform – a…