October is gearing up to be a huge month for pop music. We’ve got Robyn’s first album in eight years, new records from indie darlings like Allie X, MØ, and Empress Of, and, of course, the A Star Is Born soundtrack.
October often brings some weirdo, unexpected pop hits. Hozier’s “Take Me To Church” hit hard in October 2014, and Lorde broke huge with “Royals” the previous fall. Just last October, a white kid from Texas hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 with a rap song about rock stardom.
Every week, Uproxx will round out the very best pop releases from the week before. It’s fitting to start this column with a bunch of big, album-launching, October-ready singles. Some of these songs have already made news headlines (hi, Robyn), but I guarantee you’ll be hearing a lot from the others soon.
Empress Of, “Love For Me”
The third single off Empress Of‘s upcoming sophomore record, Us, “Love For Me” is infectiously catchy electro-pop. Since its release on Wednesday, the song has been playing on a neverending loop in my head. The arrangement is light and bouncy, even as she’s singing about being unsure if this person even has genuine “love for her.”
Rita Ora, “Let You Love Me”
Robyn isn’t the only pop diva who’s releasing a long-awaited album this year. Rita Ora has been through it all — since her criminally under-appreciated debut album in 2012, Ora was forced to scrap most of the material from what would have been her follow-up (blame Calvin Harris for that one). “Girls,” a playful and inoffensive single released earlier this summer, sparked unfair scrutiny about Ora’s sexuality and backlash from other queer women in the pop community.
Ora is incredibly hardworking, constantly promoting singles and features and selling out tours in Europe (though she still has yet to tour North America.) Ora’s second album, coming later this fall, is fittingly titled Phoenix. “Let You Love Me” shows Ora rising from the ashes — and she’s singing and dancing while she’s doing it.
LEÓN, “Baby Don’t Talk”
Indie singer LEÓN is gearing up to release her first LP next year, and if “Baby Don’t Talk” is any indication, it’s gonna be killer. The album’s first single, is synth-driven and playful, a showcase for LEÓN’s unique alto (think BANKS meets Dua Lipa). LEÓN’s EPs have already gained her a devoted fanbase, and the infectious pop of “Baby Don’t Talk” could see her taking it mainstream.
Dinah Jane Feat. Ty Dolla $ign, “Bottled Up”
The last time Ty Dolla $ign sang with Dinah Jane, they were extolling the never-ending fun of being a professional freelance writer. Fifth Harmony’s “Work From Home” was a massive hit in 2016 — the band’s biggest single, and the perfect launching pad for the solo careers of the singers post-breakup.
Honestly, “Bottled Up” sounds a lot like “Work From Home.” (At one point, Jane even playfully sings, “Work from home, but he’s gon’ stay up with me.”) But there’s nothing wrong with borrowing from a song that’s already iconic. “Bottled Up” is Dinah Jane’s first single, but she already sounds confident and assured as a solo artist.
Shawn Mendes Feat. Zedd, “Lost in Japan” (Remix)
The original version of “Lost in Japan” is one of my favorite songs of the year so far. The song is bouncy and fun, with the hottest bassline since Charlie Puth asked if we just want attention. The production on the album version “Lost In Japan” is already impeccable. Did we need another version?
Not really, but Zedd is one of the best producers in dance-pop. His version of “Lost In Japan” is a lot busier musically, but has some fun touches — cooking-show audio effects after Mendes sings about cutting the tension with a knife, and a dreamy, dramatic ending. This version of “Lost In Japan” is club-ready and compulsively dance-able. Hopefully when I request Shawn Mendes next weekend, the DJ will listen to me this time.
Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper, “Shallow”
A year or two ago, if you were to tell me that I’d one day be writing a round-up of the best singles of the week and American Sniper star Bradley Cooper would be on it, I would have laughed in disbelief. But believe it — Cooper and Lady Gaga are stunning in this song. Gaga smashes it as always, and Cooper kind of sounds like Eddie Vedder. It’s the kind of anthemic song that’s going to make A Star Is Born an instant classic. I’ve already listened to it about 50 times.
MØ, “Imaginary Friend”
Danish pop singer MØ has been dropping singles from her upcoming album all summer, but “Imaginary Friend” might be my favorite of them. The song is sexy in a mechanical kind of way — a little dead-eyed and femme-bot, weird and danceable in that Pop 2 genre. The lyrics are a little uncanny and disembodied — “just watch me, watch me, watch me with your hands / Let my body, body, body, be your breath” — but grounded by MØ’s breathy vocals.
Allie X, “Little Things”
One Direction has a song called “Little Things” about how girls can be self-conscious, but the so-called “little things” that you hate about themselves are the parts that Harry, Zayn, and the rest of the gang love the best. Chubby thighs? The way your voice sounds when you’re transcribing interviews? Wrinkles by your eyes? They notice all of it, but they love it because they love you!
Allie X’s “Little Things” is the best song with that title. It’s got a similar theme — those little bits about yourself and little intrusive thoughts that burrow into your brain and won’t leave. It’s about those photos where you have a double chin, and then you spend the whole rest of the day wondering if that’s how you look to other people. It’s about the feeling of “death by a thousand cuts,” the banal stuff that adds up and won’t go away, no matter how sweetly Harry Styles sings about how none of it matters.
It’s hard to be a person. Allie X wrote a dance anthem to make it a little easier. “It’s so uncomfortable / Trying to fit into this skin, yeah / I put my head on my shoulders / Try to be someone, yeah.”
Robyn, “Honey”
I knew I loved “Honey” the first time I heard it, over a full year ago. Well, heard part of it. The penultimate episode of Girls featured a scene set to the song, and even in that minute of TV, I could tell the song would be iconic. It was the same dance-it-all-out disco pop I fell in love with on Body Talk back in 2010, but amplified. Chilled out, then turned all the way up.
Robyn spent years tweaking the song to make it perfect. It’s the centerpiece of her upcoming record; she even named the whole thing Honey in its honor. “Honey” lives up to the hype, and then transcends it.
