Tomorrow x Together, Snoh Aalegra ft. Tyler the Creator, & More Best New Music Friday

Prep your Halloween playlists!
The five members of South Korean group TXT  in a promotion poster for their firstever solo concert ACT BOY.
Courtesy of BIGHIT MUSIC.

We’re sending you into Halloween weekend with a bevy of great new listens. TXT (Tomorrow x Together) dropped a thrilling visualizer for their trap-based hyperpop single, "Frost,” and Snoh Alaegra and Tyler the Creator took a futuristic approach in the music video for their ‘90s-inspired groove track, “Neon Peach.” Meanwhile, Black Party delivered a two-song bundle titled, “Birds & Bees” and Cody Frost unveiled the Halloween-themed visuals for “Berlin.” Plus, The Marias rolled through with a reimagined version of Bad Bunny’s “Dakiti” via the Spotify Singles series. Also, new this week is Lizzy McAlpine’s “Doomsday,” Kiana’s “Strangers,” and Abi Ocia’s “LTWYLM.” All three singers travel to sometimes dark places as they explore matters of the heart.

Ready your Halloween playlists. Here are our picks for Best New Music Friday.

Tomorrow x Together, “Frost”

Fresh off of their latest studio album, The Chaos Chapter: Freeze, Tomorrow x Together released a music video for their latest single, “Frost.” The whimsical visualizer opens with the K-pop band fleeing an oncoming snowstorm and then exiting a subway station through a magical portal upon learning of a giant sinkhole in Seoul. The hyperpop track precedes the release of the band’s first Japanese EP, Chaotic Wonderland, slated for release on November 10.

Snoh Aalegra ft. Tyler the Creator, “Neon Peach”

Snoh Aalegra dropped the visualizer for “Neon Peach” – a vibey collaboration featuring Tyler the Creator and his signature flow. It’s impossible not to groove along the ‘90s-feeling track as the Swedish singer croons about a relationship that has been damaged beyond repair. For the visualizer, Snoh and Tyler, who also produced the single, are literally placed under a microscope as they appear in multiple petri dishes inside of a pink laboratory. “Neon Peach'' is another single pulled from Snoh’s latest full-length album, Temporary Highs in Violet Skies.

Black Party, “Birds & Bees”

Black Party pushed through this week with a two-song bundle dubbed “Birds & Bees.” “Birds & Bees is a nod to our basic urges, and perfectly sums up the full spectrum of romance that you’ll find in this pair of songs,” Black said in a press statement. “There’s a hint to my next album in there if you know where to look.”

The two-for-one features a remake of the singer’s previously released track, “Lay” as well as a flirty groove track titled, “Soakin’.” “This version of Lay is the purest iteration of the record that eventually was featured on my album, ‘Endless Summer,’ Black went on to explain. “it’s the original demo that Mac of Fisticuffs and I made several years back. It’s been given new life by a very special friend, keep your ears open for it on the final season of my favorite show.”

Cody Frost, “Berlin”

Cody Frost kicked off Halloween weekend with a spooky Naomi Kane-directed visualizer for “Berlin,” which features an assembly of frightening characters in masks that eventually take off running after Cody. Throughout the dark track, the English singer belts out words that ooze vulnerability. “A lot of the lyrics are just intensely angry,” Cody says of the single, according to Total Entertainment. “In Berlin, I had some problems with my throat, so I wasn’t allowed to smoke or drink, which are habits that a lot of people struggle with. And during the pandemic the lyric, ‘How many can you underpay?’ was expressing my anger at the government underpaying NHS workers.”

Kiana, “Strangers”

Kiana delivered the eerie and chilling “Strangers,” a soulful R&B track that encapsulated the haunting emotions felt by estranged lovers. The ballad opens with a simple piano arrangement before percussion sounds emerge as the heartbeat of the track. “It’s ultimately a sad title, but it’s probably the most common human thought and experience,” the Toronto-based singer says of the track in a press statement. “I know everyone who reads the title will think about the time they experienced that thought too and will think about that person - who could at the time be a stranger, a lover, or somewhere in between.”

Whether you’ve experienced this kind of loss or not, Kiana’s haunting voice is sure to conjure a flurry of emotions. The single comes from Kiana’s new EP, If We Turn To Strangers, out today.

Abi Ocia, “LTWYLM”

UK-based singer Abi Ocia broke a years-long hiatus while painting a vivid portrait of love and its complexities on “LTWYLM,” short for “Love the Way You Love Me.” The visualizer toggles back and forth between an impassioned Abi and her lover dancing sensually on a red-hued dance floor and a cooler-toned scene of the couple sharing space and embracing under a bright blue sky. The sharp contrast between the clips reflects the juxtaposing ideas presented in the song’s lyrics, while the fast-moving scenes flash between shots of the pair together and apart. “I am increasingly willing to take creative risks,” explains Abi in a statement shared with Teen Vogue. “I had a strong sense of this while working on the video for ‘LTWYLM.’”

Lizzy McAlpine, “Doomsday”

Lizzy McAlpine used death as a metaphor for impending heartbreak on “Doomsday.” The guitar-guided track addresses a narcissistic lover who is incapable of compassion. “Pull the plug, make it painless / I don’t want a violent end / Don’t say you’ll always love me because you know I’d bleed myself dry for you over and over,” the Philadelphia-based songstress charges on the dark, mid-tempo track. “I don’t get a choice in the matter/ Why would I?/It’s only the death of me,” she goes on.

“This song is about being in a relationship that is so toxic that you know it’s doomed and preparing yourself for that eventuality,” Lizzy expounds on the song’s meaning in a press statement.. “It’s heavy in funeral metaphors because heartbreak to me is like a death and that’s where I got the concept for the skeleton look in the music video. This song also starts a new phase for me and my sound and it’s extremely exciting to be able to break out of the ‘Give Me A Minute’ box and step into a more mature version of myself as an artist.” At the top of 2022, Lizzy is confirmed for a series of North American tour dates with Dodie.

The Marias, “Dakiti” and “Hush”

This week, The Marias dropped their inaugural contributions to the Spotify Singles series, which reaches beyond 600 recordings to date. For their portion, the LA-based band delivered a reimagined cover of Bad Bunny’s “Dakiti” as well as a hip-swaying, sped-up version of their single, “Hush.”

"I’ve been a fan of reggaeton since I was little, and listening to it is a nostalgic experience that takes me back to my beloved island of Puerto Rico,” says María Zardoya of The Marías in a media statement. “We wanted to explore those rhythms with this new take of ‘Hush’ and with the ‘Dakiti’ cover.”

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