NME Radio Roundup 29 March 2021: Lana Del Rey, Beabadoobee and more

‘White Dress’ opens and sets the tone for Lana Del Rey’s latest album, ‘Chemtrails Over The Country Club’, which arrived earlier this month. The wistful song, about fame and the singer’s disregard of it, sees Del Rey reminisce about her pre-fame years when she was 19, working as a waitress and listening to Kings Of Leon. It’s a stunning and brutally honest musing from Del Rey’s sublime new record.

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Beabadoobee is back, and this time joined by Matty Healy and George Daniel of The 1975. She co-wrote her new song ‘Last Day On Earth’ with the two band members, who also worked on other tunes from her upcoming EP, ‘Our Extended Play’. “‘Last Day on Earth’ is about all the things I would have done had I known we were going into a lockdown and the world was going to change the way it has,” Beabadoobee has explained of the buoyant alt-pop belter. “It was written shortly after the first main lockdown and lyrically it’s me reflecting on how it would feel if we all knew ahead of time what was going to happen.”

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‘Juntos’ – which means ‘together’ in English – is one sparkling gem among many on Sofia Kourtesis’ latest EP ‘Fresia Magdalena’. From the hypnotising house beat to the twinkly keys and sentimental strings, it captures the Peruvian producer’s knack for intricate, emotive electronic music.

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British electro-soul duo Jungle have ushered in a brand-new era with ‘Keep Moving’, the first track from their upcoming third studio album, ‘Loving In Stereo’. ‘Keep Moving’, according to Jungle, was one of the first songs they had written for the LP. “We had the hook and it just wouldn’t go away,” they told NME. “But it was so infectious and we just kept coming back to it.”

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Get excited for Art School Girlfriend’s anticipated debut album with ‘In The Middle’, our first glimpse of the record. The first song Polly Mackey wrote and produced for her upcoming LP, ‘In The Middle’ immerses her hushed, emotive vocals in dark dance-floor ready synths. With its anxious bass and persistent drumline, it’s an ethereal beauty.

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‘Cigarette Packet’ is a whimsical taste of what North London’s Sorry have been working on during in lockdown. Their first new tune since their outstanding debut album ‘925’ last year is a fizzing earworm. Built around a relentless synth line, the cantering tune meshes pitch-altered backing vocals and a jangling cowbell with nervous lyrics, and it’s excellent.

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“Fuck you and your gentrification,” ENNY bites on ‘Same Old’, the stunning followup to her 2020 smash ‘Peng Black Girls’. The stellar tune sees the NME 100 alumni reflect on Brexit, complicated love and gentrification, her powerful lyricism accompanied by nostalgic beats and earworm hooks. Set to appear on her forthcoming debut EP, ‘Same Old’ was co-written by ENNY with Casper Miles, Joe Beard and Pascal Balletti. “There are so many beautiful moments and feelings attached to this track from the moment it was created,” she explained of the song in a statement. “I hope that anyone that listens to it is able to experience that energy when they hear it.”

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Calboy’s latest collaboration with Lil Wayne is more than just an homage to the great Lauryn Hill and her 1998 album, ‘The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill’. While the 21-year-old Chicago rapper does namedrop the former Fugees singer on the song (“Feed your soul like Lauryn Hill and some Wyclef”), ‘Miseducation’, for the most part, pays tribute to the friends he has lost in recent times. Over the OZ- and Austin Powerz-produced beat, Calboy sorrowfully reflects on the tragedies: “We was living way too fast but we ain’t know enough.”

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