The pandemic proved to be a productive time for Andrew Hozier-Byrne as a songwriter. The uncertainty and turbulence provided a muse, prompting him to shape his third album, 2023’s *Unreal Unearth*, around Dante’s *Inferno*, his reflections on the world and his own life rendered as descents into the 14th-century epic’s nine circles of Hell. After the frustration of lockdown’s enforced isolation, he also found joy and inspiration in collaboration as restrictions lifted. “I was able to travel again, to work with people again,” he told Apple Music at the album’s release. “That was a really new energy and it became a very intensely productive and intensely creative time…to just make music with people for the enjoyment of making it. I would take those jams, and then work out what the song needed to be, how we could use that to make the music.” The result was more songs than Hozier knew what to do with—even while finding room for 16 tracks on *Unreal Unearth*, he had to leave some music behind. This EP rescues four songs from the cutting room floor, and it’s an entirely justified venture with the tracks sharing the album’s compelling sense of musical adventure. With its ticking rhythm and gnarled bassline, “Too Sweet” (originally considered for the album’s circle of gluttony) tips into late-night funk, “Empire Now” (violence) pairs a sighing slide guitar with a grinding digital beat, and “Fare Well” (the ascent out of Hell) is busy, lifting folk pop. The outstanding highlight though is “Wildflower and Barley” (a contender for limbo), a gliding and swooping pastoral soul duet with Grammy-winning folk adventurer Allison Russell.
When Jennifer Lopez went back into the studio to make what would become *This Is Me...Now*—the follow-up to her 2002 album that was inspired, in part, by her then-new romance with Ben Affleck—she went back to the original source material: a collection of love letters that he had held on to after they broke up and given to her after they reconciled nearly two decades later. “He\'s a writer, so he writes long, beautiful, poetic letters,” Lopez tells Apple Music\'s Zane Lowe. “I brought them in there, and that really set the tone for everybody \[working on the album\] to understand what the mission was. We\'re going to \[capture\] this feeling of this journey, and what I\'ve learned about love, which I\'ve been searching for my whole life. What is it? What does it mean? Does it exist? We all get sold this bill of goods, like these magical things don\'t exist in life, and they do. Magic is out there.” That’s not to say *This Is Me...Now* is all loving affirmations and “happy, sunshiny hearts and flowers,” as she puts it—like “Can’t Get Enough,” the album’s flirtatious first single—and fond looks back at the past. “Broken Like Me,” which was inspired by the dissolution of their relationship back in 2004, was particularly difficult for Affleck to hear while she was recording it. In the years they spent apart, Lopez and Affleck found love again, started families, weathered painful breakups, and worked on themselves before they found each other again in different seasons of their lives. “The whole story has to do with how you get there, and the difficult, really challenging things we have to go through as people to understand ourselves, and to get to a place where we can do the thing that human beings are meant to do in this life, which is love,” she says. “That\'s the big mission; that\'s the goal. You get to the end of your life, you go, ‘I love somebody, and they loved me, too.’”
Operating at an exceptionally high level in the past few years made Rauw Alejandro a bona fide Latin music superstar. His proverbial star shone brightly on 2023’s *SATURNO* and the corresponding *PLAYA SATURNO*, each showing how innovative the one-time R&B reggaetonero had become. Given the retro-futurist musical vision executed on that pair of projects, his decision to open his subsequent album *Cosa Nuestra* with the Afro-Cuban song stylings of its title track feels all the more bold in intention. Indeed, just as he’s explored and expanded upon sounds beyond the reggaetón and trap that earned him early acclaim, he appears eager to broaden and mature further at this notable stage in his career. Those concerned that *Cosa Nuestra* would prove a strictly old-school affair have no need to worry. Apart from a fairly faithful rendition of salsa romántica staple “Tú Con Él”—its lyrical theme echoing the romantic ones he regularly delivers—Alejandro is chiefly interested in progression as opposed to nostalgia. As suggested by early singles “Déjame Entrar” and the poppy pair “Pasaporte” and “Touching The Sky,” his heart and his sweat exclusively belong to the dance floor and the boudoir. That translates to the feverish club hybrid “Mil Mujeres,” the polished trap of “IL Capo,” and the refreshingly intimate “Amar De Nuevo.” Whether reuniting with his “Party” pal Bad Bunny on “Qué Pasaría...” or making a new friend in Pharrell Williams via the bilingual tropicalia of “Committed,” Alejandro engages in some truly marvelous world-building here. In particular, the collaborative moments reflect his evident love for both past and present, drawing in seminal reggaetón duo Alexis & Fido for the rugged throwback “Baja Pa’ Acá” one minute and grooving with bachata king Romeo Santos on the atmospheric slow jam “Khé?” Refining a technique that previously served him well, he frequently shape-shifts along with the beat. This comes through in inventive ways on the deceptively silky “Espresso Martini” with guests Marconi Impara and Yan Block, as well as the springy pop-rock of “2:12 AM” with LATIN MAFIA. By the time listeners reach the closer “SEXXXMACHINE,” they’ll assuredly be wondering where he could possibly take them next.
There’s something playful about *Visions*, Norah Jones’ ninth album, even in the sadder moments—the way that novel guitar and keyboard timbres swirl around over simple beats and basslines, with Jones musing on life in her distinctive laidback delivery. While her 2020 album, *Pick Me Up Off the Floor*, co-produced by Jeff Tweedy, involved a larger cast of characters, *Visions* revolves around just a few, notably co-producer and multi-instrumentalist Leon Michels of El Michels Affair. The first half is just Jones and Michels, playing everything, bathed in a sparse retro-soul sound associated with Daptone and Truth & Soul Records, which is Michels’ pedigree. The second half, apart from the duo tracks “On My Way” and “That’s Life,” expands a bit to feature the pair with trumpeter Dave Guy, bassist Jesse Murphy, and drummers Homer Steinweiss or Brian Blade, all of whom played a role on *Pick Me Up* as well.
“Say goodbye to the past/Leave it all with a laugh,” ZAYN reflects on his single “Alienated” from his fourth solo LP *ROOM UNDER THE STAIRS*. The British Pakistani singer is learning now how time heals wounds. It was nearly a decade ago that he left One Direction and forged on alone, releasing three albums while bearing the public scrutiny of fame, high-profile relationships, breakups, and in recent years becoming a father. Decamping to a farm in rural Pennsylvania provided a sanctuary from the noise, where, through nurturing his daughter, as well as animals and a garden, he learned his own ways of self-care. *ROOM UNDER THE STAIRS* refers to the space where ZAYN recorded the album: an actual shoe cupboard in his home. From familiar surroundings, he steps into largely unexplored territory, submerging himself in the stripped-back, country-inspired sounds he’d touched upon at the tail end of his third album *Nobody Is Listening* in 2021. Assisted by renowned Nashville producer Dave Cobb (Chris Stapleton, Brandi Carlile), ZAYN’s voice and lyrical vulnerability here are as raw and resonant as the acoustic instrumentation, with a weary soulfulness fit for the questions—about life, love, growth, and parenthood—that emerge in the stillness of solitude. “I’ve been needing something else/I’ll know what it is when I see it,” he sings on album opener “Dreamin.” On the bittersweet \"What I Am,” he sets boundaries and asks for acceptance, while reverberating guitars, cinematic strings, and background croons create a vast soundscape for live-and-learn revelations on “Grateful.” Healing isn’t always linear, as the twinkling, wide-eyed love of “Stardust” whiplashes into “Gates of Hell,” which seethes with loathing. But it’s “The Time,” a song about the joy his daughter brings to his life, that shows ZAYN’s hard-won maturity.
Five years after their debut, TOMORROW X TOGETHER takes the time to reflect back on their journey so far. From a short, Morse-code-only track that calls back to the iconic opening of debut single “CROWN” to a song called “I’ll See You There Tomorrow” to another about connecting with their past selves, *minisode 3: TOMORROW* is the K-pop quintet’s most self-referential album to date. Imagined as mini-album interludes between chapters of a larger musical story, TXT’s “minisode” series began with 2020’s *minisode1 : Blue Hour*, a breezy five-track pop album written during the initial phases of the pandemic that tells the story of a teen boy struggling to ground himself in a changing world. The story got more intense with 2022’s *minisode 2: Thursday’s Child*, a five-track exploration of the feelings of grief, anger, and denial that can come with someone’s first breakup. *minisode 3: TOMORROW* takes as its theme the promises we make to ourselves as we grow. In lead single “Deja Vu,” Yeonjun, Soobin, Beomgyu, Taehyun, and HueningKai sing to their past selves, comforting the versions of themselves who first dreamed of success. Designed as an optimistic progression from TXT’s previous release, 2023 studio album *The Name Chapter: FREEFALL*, *minisode 3: TOMORROW* is ultimately about finding courage and comfort in an uncertain world: “There’ll be no more sorrow/I’ll see you there tomorrow.” Here is what Yeonjun, Soobin, Beomgyu, Taehyun, and HueningKai had to say about each of the tracks: **“I’ll See You There Tomorrow”** Beomgyu: “This song will instantly make you feel better with its catchy chorus melody. I think it really captures the sleek freshness of our sound.” **“- --- -- --- ·-· ·-· --- ·–”** Soobin: “There’s a title that’ll catch people’s attention—it’s Morse code for ‘tomorrow.’” **“Deja Vu”** Yeonjun: “This one features our heartfelt vocals, with lyrics that will remind you of our earlier stuff. We’re also bringing something a bit different to this song—I hope you find it as exciting as we do!” **“Miracle”** HueningKai: “The lyrics on this song are so warm and tender. It’s about how every moment spent with you is like a miracle. It’s also got a moving melody that will get you right in the feels. ❤️” **“The Killa (I Belong to You)”** Soobin: “This is the first track from our hyung line unit. It’s got a sultry, sexy vibe to it.” Yeonjun: “This groovy track is packed with pure hyungaz sexiness!” **“Quarter Life”** Beomgyu: “This song has great lyrics. The more you pay attention to the words, the more you’ll get into this track.” Taehyun: “The theme here was to spread consolation and empathy for everyone in our generation today. That sentiment really comes across in the chorus where we’re shouting.” HueningKai: “The song is about the things we feel—the worries and anxieties—as we hit the quarter mark in our lives. I hope many listeners find it relatable and uplifting.” **“Deja Vu (Anemoia Remix)”** Taehyun: “In this version, we toned down some of the bold flashiness of the original, so that you can focus more on the song’s emotional side. It has its own little charm that I hope many will appreciate.”
Known as a “self-producing” idol group for the active role they play in writing their own songs, (G)I-DLE makes hits that hit a bit different. Seventh mini album *I SWAY* is no exception. Though the EP is slim at only four tracks, the members were active in writing all of them. Soyeon, the group’s rapper-leader and most prolific producer, oversees lead single “Klaxon,” a summer bop explicitly designed to be played in the car with the windows down: “How about driving in an open car?/Play ‘Wannabe’ by Spice Girls and say okay?” Opening with laughter and horns, the track builds on the execution of its “So hit the klaxon/Hon, hon, hon, hon, hon, honk” hook, bringing the feel-good song to a layered, liberatory climax. *I SWAY* is the first (G)I-DLE album that doesn’t have Soyeon credited on multiple songs. Instead, vocalist Minnie led composition on “Bloom,” a dreamy synth-pop love song (“Feelin’ them butterflies/When you look into my eyes/Only you can make me bloom”). And Yuqi, the group’s Chinese dancer and vocalist, penned sentimental pop tracks “Last Forever” and, along with member Miyeon, “Neverland.” While the latter is a fan song (named after the group’s fandom), the former is perhaps better at communicating the group’s commitment to their art, six years after their debut and in the lead-up to contract negotiations: “Stay here/Don\'t sway, seek dreams/I wanna make my passion last forever.”
Xtraordinary Girls, aka XG, emerged from the post-pandemic K-pop boom as a musical entity distinct from other fourth-generation groups: Though XG is based in Seoul and was launched within the K-pop system, the hip-hop and R&B septet is composed entirely of Japanese members who rap and sing almost exclusively in English. *AWE*, XG’s second mini album, continues to blur the cultural, linguistic, and musical boundaries of the global pop scene. “What is it? K-pop or J-pop? Or they not? Or they rap?/Please know that/We give thanks to hip-hop,” Japanese artist Awich raps on the previously released cypher “WOKE UP REMIXX,” which notably does not include any of the XG members but rather a who’s who of Korean and Japanese hip-hop stars. When Jurin, Chisa, Hinata, Harvey, Juria, Maya, and Cocona are front and center on the eight-track album, it’s often to lean further into the wolf imagery also at the thematic core of their first world tour. “So don\'t play with us/Could be dangerous,” lead single “HOWLING” warns as it simultaneously welcomes listeners in with an “ah-woo” and a rubbery bass. “So run if you hear the sound/’Cause that\'s how we howl.”
During the long and idle months of the pandemic, Gwen Stefani spent more time than usual at her now-husband Blake Shelton’s ranch. “During COVID, we were there so much that we actually got to see the seasons,” she tells Apple Music’s Zane Lowe. “We started seeing the wildflowers, seeing what was in Oklahoma that we never saw before.” Transplanting hundreds of irises they found on the ranch that year was a project she would normally be too busy for, but now they were doing it as a family. The pop-rock queen had felt the itch to write new music for years, but had struggled to find a sound that reflected where she was now. Then came “Purple Irises,” a sweet pop-country duet with Shelton that lets go of insecurities and goes all in on love. The seed was planted for *Bouquet*, Stefani’s fifth solo album. While making the warm and unabashedly enamored *Bouquet*, Stefani found herself echoing the music she grew up on in the ’70s. “I always picture myself in the back of the station wagon and my parents driving to church, and all the great soft rock that was on,” she says. “Anything from Hall & Oates to Chicago to Fleetwood Mac.” Garden symbolism abounds: Tears of past heartbreaks water the soil, yielding fields of late-blooming flowers. Despite the cowboy hat she dons on the cover, it’s not quite a country album, but some nods to ranch life sneak in. “I drive you crazy, you drive the truck,” she sings on the title track, and on “Marigolds,” she recalls dressing like a cowgirl to catch Shelton’s eye upon first meeting. It’s been nearly three decades since her band, No Doubt, became a household name with their third album, *Tragic Kingdom*, but the process of writing *Bouquet* brought Stefani back to the feeling of taking a leap of faith to find her voice. Naturally, she’s got a flower metaphor for that. “Every time you plant that seed, you have this hope, but you don’t know if it’s going to bloom,” she said. “You don’t really have control. All you can do is everything you can to help.”
Chlöe Bailey’s 2023 debut album *In Pieces* delved into the difficulties of relationships, exploring the delicate balance between her emotional, sexual, and romantic desires and the heartache that follows. However, her sophomore effort, *Trouble in Paradise*, embraces a more carefree persona, offering glimpses into her romantic journey—whether she’s falling in love or navigating the uncertainties that come with that. Just like on *In Pieces*, Chlöe is liberated and entirely in control, whether she’s disillusioned about her relationship and contemplating forgiveness (“Redemption”), candid about the freedom found within fleeting singlehood (“Temporarily Single”), or leaning into her sexuality while offering up on-brand zingers (“Rose,” “Nice Girls Finish Last”). The album levels up sonically from its predecessor, as the studio\'s Saint Lucia locale provided inspiration and collaborators like Anderson .Paak, Jeremih, YG Marley, and sister Halle Bailey add their touch. Chlöe delivers melodic verses over a multitude of genres across the album’s 16 tracks—from pop (“Boy Bye,” “Strawberry Lemonade”) to Afrobeats (“Never Let You Go”) and moody R&B (“FYS,” “Same Lingerie”).
NCT DREAM’s 2024 mini album continues chronicling the K-pop sub-group’s journey into adulthood. Originally debuting as the teen-only unit of SM supergroup NCT in 2016, NCT DREAM has since settled on a fixed, seven-member composition. With *DREAM( )SCAPE*, members Mark, Renjun, Jeno, Haechan, Jaemin, Chenle, and Jisung use six tracks to express the various moods and feelings of life as early twentysomething K-pop stars. Continuing the unofficial K-pop tradition of naming songs after beverages, hip-hop dance track “Smoothie” steers with swagger. The lead single uses whispers, shouts, repeating chants, and the occasional sipping sound over an 808 bassline to rap about blending criticisms into something they can “sip… down like \[a\] smoothie.” Elsewhere on the mini album, hypnotic intro track “icantfeelanything” sets the mood, beckoning listeners—both in the context of the project and in life: “I might\'ve been afraid to be brave, come on/A place I\'ve never been to, an unfamiliar way, come on.” “BOX” is a song of escape “from the restraints of yesterday.” While the hip-hop track’s message of breaking out of the expectations that can bind us could apply to many situations, lyrics like “I’m a drummer boy/And I play with the rhythms” mark the song as an industry proclamation. In upbeat banger “Carat Cake,” NCT DREAM explores the seductiveness of exorbitant wealth, singing: “Got you saying/ Wow, wow, wow, wow/That’s a Carat Cake.” “UNKNOWN” is the emotional heart of the album, slowing things down for a song of comfort and support for fans, known as 7DREAM: “Don\'t change, let go/Be brave, be strong/But take it easy, no rush/I know you got it.” Finally, “Breathing” is an anguished plea of a love song, asking someone to stay: “You’re my last chance/I don’t have any air without you/I know I\'m no good without you, baby/Can you stay all night?”
When the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame extended an invitation to Dolly Parton in early 2022, the preternaturally unshy megastar demurred. While Parton knows she’s forever changed the country music genre with her historic career, she admitted that she didn’t feel it was appropriate for her to accept one of the biggest honors in rock music, as she’d never made rock music of her own. With a little convincing, Parton eventually accepted the honor—but she wanted to put out an actual rock ’n’ roll album to prove her bona fides and make her enshrinement feel more legit. With *Rockstar* she does just that, enlisting the help of some of the genre’s biggest artists for creative reimaginings of classics. Guests include Elton John, Ann Wilson, Stevie Nicks, Lizzo, Paul McCartney, and many more—proof that Parton’s Rolodex alone justified her Hall induction. John, a true rock star if there ever was one, tells Apple Music he had a remarkable time joining Parton on “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me,” an updated version of the song John originally made famous on his 1974 album *Caribou* and which later grew more popular as a duet with the late George Michael. “She\'s always led by example,” John tells Apple Music of Parton. “I duet with her, and it\'s the first time I\'ve really ever sang with her. It was just the most incredible experience. So I think she\'s quite a remarkable woman. She\'s in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, thank god.” Parton tackles a number of eras and styles of rock music—and hosts a number of legendary guests—across *Rockstar*’s ambitious 30 tracks. Among the other luminaries are none other than Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr (“Let It Be”), Stevie Nicks (“What Has Rock and Roll Ever Done for You,” a previously unreleased cut from Nicks’ 1985 solo album *Rock a Little*), Heart’s Ann Wilson (“Magic Man”), and former Journey singer Steve Perry (“Open Arms”). Miley Cyrus and Chris Stapleton are also on hand to represent the current class of stars with Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball” and a version of Bob Seger’s “Night Moves,” respectively. Though the Rock Hall induction is certainly a prominent new feather in Parton’s cap, she tells Apple Music’s Kelleigh Bannen that she hopes her legacy extends beyond her musical accomplishments to include the philanthropic efforts she’s spent so much of her life pursuing. “I do hope, more than anything, that I\'ve been an inspiration, that I can be an inspiration for all the days that I\'m living and even long after I\'m gone, that I can leave something behind, maybe something I\'ve said or something I\'ve done that might make some difference, maybe sometimes big difference,” she says. “And just to say, ‘Well, if she did it, I can do it. She was just a poor girl from the mountains.’”
Jimin returns with his sophomore solo album, *MUSE*, released while the BTS vocalist and dancer was in mandatory military service. The seven-track check-in is more lighthearted and lyrical than Jimin’s debut. Where *FACE* was stormy and cathartic, an intentional effort to accept and express the darker feelings evoked by the pandemic, superstardom, and life in general, *MUSE* hews more closely to a specific, familiar theme: the search for a “good love, real love,” as Jimin calls it on “Rebirth (Intro),” and the inspiration it can bring. In lead single “Who,” an energetic, Jon Bellion-produced pop track that lets Jimin’s emotive vocals loose, the artist is on the lookout for love: “We never met but she’s all I see at night/Never met but she’s always on my mind/Wanna give her the world/And so much more/Who is my heart waiting for?” “Who” is the only *MUSE* track on which Jimin does not have a writing credit, though Ghstloop and Pdogg, two of Jimin’s frequent collaborators, do. Along with Evan, the four songwriters make up the Smeraldo Garden Marching Band, a fictional band named after a fictional flower from BTS lore. The album’s third track, a *Sgt. Pepper’s*-inspired song featuring marching-band percussion and a rap from Korean artist Loco, takes its name from the Big Hit production team. “Be Mine,” with its Spanish guitar and unabashed sensuality (“Movin\', comin\', lovin\', yeah, yeah, yeah/I want you to be mine”), feels like a spiritual successor to Jimin’s 2020 BTS solo track “Filter,” while the lilting R&B tune “Slow Dance” featuring Sofia Carson offers “a warm melody/Relax your mind to that rhythm.” The album comes to a close with “Closer Than This,” a gift to fans released after the singer left for the military in December 2023: “\'Cause anytime you want me (I\'ll be)/Right here where you call me (I\'ll be)/I could never let you go.” In *MUSE*, it’s all inspiration. Here, the search for love is not arduous, but whimsical, warm, and occasionally a bop—always a yearning worth singing about.
In late 2024, TOMORROW X TOGETHER (aka TXT) released their seventh mini album. *The Star Chapter: SANCTUARY* marks the launch of the fourth “chapter” for the fourth-generation K-pop group, known for a discography that broadly follows the growing pains from boyhood to adulthood. In *SANCTUARY*, members Soobin, Yeonjun, Beomgyu, Taehyun, and Hueningkai call on the “language of the stars” to tell the story of a lofty love. In the smooth album opener “Heaven,” the twentysomething members sing of a love that transforms their lives into something euphoric (“Heaven is not far away now/The moment we kissed”), while lead single “Over the Moon” continues the sky-high metaphor to depict a divine connection (“Over the moon/Over the stars/Fly up when you\'re in my arms”). Groovy “Danger” brings attraction back down to visceral earth with the husky hook “What you doin’ to me?” while “Resist (Not Gonna Run Away)” uses reggaetón and evocative falsettos to explore a push-and-pull attraction. Coming of age is filled with its ups and downs, and TXT has leaned into a fair degree of emo expression in their exploration of the theme. But—in *The Star Chapter: SANCTUARY*, at least—TXT’s ongoing story of emerging adulthood is more dizzy delight than darkness.
Meghan Trainor is back, just in time. “I survived two C-sections, period—I\'m alive,” she tells Apple Music\'s Zane Lowe. “And a week after the C-section, I started in the studio immediately because I\'m a workaholic and I really love this album. Babies bring inspiration and they make me want to be the best human being I can try to be.” Her sixth studio effort *Timeless* is a mix of vintage Trainor with a few twists, which she points out is intentional. “My fans love when I do pure pop,” she says. “And then a lot of the world likes when I do just the doo-wop stuff. So I try to make everybody happy, and so I tried to blend it together and was like, let\'s make a weird new genre that\'s different or something, or I haven\'t heard that in a while. And I love when that happens.” “To the Moon” certainly fits that bill, with a sound that meshes “All About That Bass” with circa-2006 Justin Timberlake. And “Been Like This,” a duet with T-Pain, starts with an old-timey jazz riff but transforms into a bouncy back-and-forth between the two singers, with Trainor’s signature sassiness in the lyrics (“Ain’t nothin’ new, still that bitch”). T-Pain, who also appears on “Love on Hold,” isn’t the album’s only special guest. The pop-soul sibling duo Lawrence add their stylings to “Crushin’,” and “I Wanna Thank Me” features a snippet of Niecy Nash’s 2024 Emmys speech as well as the actor, her daughter, and her wife Jessica Betts on backing vocals. “I was like, ‘Please, I want you to feature on it, have publishing, because you inspired it, you\'re all over the song,” Trainor says. “And then I want your daughters and your wife to come sing background with you. Come over and we\'ll do the chorus together.\' And we did.”
Fousheé has never been known to box herself into one genre of music. Since she burst onto the music scene in 2020 with her viral breakout hit “Deep End,” the singer-songwriter has cemented herself as an artist to watch as she seamlessly bounces from alt-R&B to folk to punk and rap within her projects and features. Where Fousheé’s second full-length *softCORE* mashes up pop-punk grit with airy R&B, the Up Next alum’s latest effort *Pointy Heights* broadens her palette and paints an entirely new sound. Dedicated to her grandfather, who founded and owned a stretch of land in Jamaica, *Pointy Heights* is an autobiographical love letter to her roots. Fousheé invites listeners into a world shaped by her home, where old-school reggae, dance-friendly rhythms, and melodies run free. It is rich with sounds of crackling basslines and sharp and lively drum sounds that are anchored by Fousheé’s honest and vulnerable songwriting, which tackles issues of acceptance (“still around”), love (“closer”), and heartache (“flowers,” “loversland”) and pays homage to the people around her (“feel like home”). She looks for peace and tranquility on the groove-driven track “war,” while on the Steve Lacy-co-produced track “100 bux,” Fousheé details her recovery from a lousy hangover over an interpolation of Musical Youth’s 1982 reggae classic “Pass the Dutchie.”
