Music you should be listening to over fall break
Elena Hernandez - Music Editor
Rochelle Jordan - Play with the Changes (Experimental R&B Album)
Released in 2021, Play with the Changes is a “time capsule of moody 2010s R&B,” all while sounding like it came from 302, somehow. The record opens with “Love U Good,” rich with quick, snappy drumbeats. Rochelle Jordan sings in the first few lines: “A little strange, a little guarded / A little closed off, but open-hearted / I look at you looking at me, I read your mind / What you keep / I feel the same, same indeed.”
The next track, “Next 2 You,” is a sensual song that begs to be danced to. My personal favorite is “Count It”, where Jordan describes keeping a “f*ck-you fund” in case she and her partner “don’t see eye and eye.” In the R&B dance track, she sings: “I put some cash to the side…Whatever happens, I’ma stay fly / Hope you ain’t gotta problem with that / Come around homie put the band on this cash.”
FKA Twigs - Eusexua (Dance/Electronic single)
Some Twitter users have said goodbye to “Brat summer” and have said hello to “Eusexua” autumn. “Do you feel alone? / You’re not alone / And if they ask you, say you feel it / But don’t call it love / Eusexua,” FKA Twigs sings on her first single since her 2022 mixtape Caprisongs. Twigs created the word “Eusexua,” defining it in interviews as “a feeling of momentary transcendence…a state of being.”
The track builds from a pumping beat, much like a human heartbeat, into a rhythmic techno experience that leaves you yearning for more. Twigs revealed that “Eusexua” is the titular track of her next studio album of the same name slated for release on January 24, 2025.
Coco & Clair Clair - Girl (Cloud Pop/Rap Album)
“F*ck all of the b*tches who wanna f*ck on my boyfriend / I make him lose his mind every day and every weekend,” indie cloud pop-duo Coco & Clair Clair rap on “Kate Spade,” the second promotional single for their latest record. Girl is the duo's follow-up to their 2022 album Sexy.
The catchiest part of “Kate Spade,” though, is without a doubt Clair’s smooth third verse, where she sings: “I’m a bad b*tch I’ll kill the both of us / Vodka Diet Coke, I’m not doin’ any drugs / Write a hit song then I read a big book / I’m all about the lovin’ you can call me bell hooks.” The album’s closer “Aggy” is a dreamy track for every fall playlist. “I’m all about love, I don’t mean to be aggy / It’s all good vibes, where’s the party? / Drop the addy … you bring the boys, I’ll bring the girls / Have a couple drinks, forget about the world / All I know is I don’t wanna miss you anymore.”
Anything from Björk’s discography, really.
Recently I’ve loved various songs from Icelandic singer and composer, Björk. Her music is normally experimental; no one genre can describe her work. Her 1993’s Debut gave us the whimsical tracks “Venus as a Boy,” “Big Time Sensuality,” and “Come to Me.”
Her 1995 follow-up, Post, experiments with jazz on “It’s Oh So Quiet.” This sophomore record also features “Army of Me,” a song that sounds like it could be the soundtrack to a Call of Duty game. My personal favorite comes from Vespertine (2001) called “Pagan Poetry.” The song ends with Björk lamenting: “I love him, I love him, I love him, I love him…I’m gonna keep me all to myself,” when she finally cries out, “But he makes me want to hand myself over.” If you have an open mind to bodies of music, then definitely check out some of Björk’s work over fall break.