🎵 Weekly Music Newsletter: The 1975 Sound an Awful lot Like Bon Iver

The 1975 return. Kanye & Cardi B collab. Ed Sheeran tries afrobeats. Usher & City Girls duet. Imagine Dragons album.

We were off last week for the Fourth of July, so today’s newsletter is a bit longer than usual.

R. Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison for racketeering and sex trafficking.

Three tracks from Michael Jackson’s posthumous 2010 album Michael were removed from streaming platforms amid claims that the vocals aren’t his.

Click here for a Spotify playlist with the songs mentioned in this article.

The 50 Best Songs of 2022 (So Far) 🎉

We’ve officially passed the mid-year point of 2022, so here’s a list of our top 50 songs from the first half of this year. The complete list can be found on Spotify, but here’s a few of our favorites.

48. Maggie Rogers, That’s Where I Am (Pop Rock)

34. ROSALÍA, SAOKO (Neoperreo)

22. The Weeknd, Sacrifice (Synth Funk)

10. Florence + The Machine, Free (Pop Rock)

5. Denzel Curry, Walkin (Conscious Hip Hop)

Check out the full list here.

BIGGEST Songs of the Week 📈

The 1975 have clearly been listening to a lot of Bon Iver lately, maybe some Vampire Weekend and Coldplay as well. In the past, the band previewed each of their albums with a brash lead single. Ahead of 2020’s Notes On A Conditional Form, there was the post-hardcore track People. 2018’s A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships began with the punk revival song Give Yourself A Try. And prior to 2016’s I like it when you sleep, the group dropped the funky new wave single Love Me.

However, for their latest chapter, The 1975 have chosen to change pace. Part Of The Band, the first preview of being funny in a foreign language, out October 14, is a delicate, folksy rock tune with a buoyant, string-laden arrangement. The band says goodbye to their electro and emo influences, while ushering in baroque and chamber sounds. Considering indie wunderkind Jack Antonoff co-produced the track and Japanese Breakfast provided…