Women in Music 👩🏻🎤
Shuffle Sundays #60 • Fiona Apple, HAIM, Kelly Lee Owens, Lianne La Havas, Phoebe Bridgers, Rina Sawayama, Rosalía, and more.
Greetings from New York City!
🎶 In celebration of Women's History Month and International Women's Day, similar to what I did last year here and here, this will be a special issue where I’m recommending 7 incredible albums released by women in the last few years, focusing on artists I haven’t talked much about it here before, or whose albums I haven’t recommended yet. It’s a bit different than what I bring here every week, so I hope you enjoy this format too!
💽 » Fiona Apple - Fetch The Bolt Cutters
art-pop, alternative • 13 songs • 52 minutes
Fetch the Bolt Cutters may be one of the best examples of a homemade album of all time. Known for taking a long time in between albums, Fiona Apple didn’t spare any efforts to release what would become the best album of 2020 in almost every list across the internet. Listening to Fetch the Bolt Cutters is not an easy task, but oh it’s such a rewarding one, once you get past the estrangement caused by some of the lyrics and the homemade production, which ends up being one of the strong things about the album.
💽 » HAIM - Something to Tell You
soft-rock, pop • 11 songs • 43 minutes
You may now recognize the last name Haim from Paul Thomas Anderson’s recent film Licorice Pizza, where Alana Haim plays the lead character. But long before that she was already rocking the industry with the trio HAIM, next to her sisters Este and Danielle. For me it was love at first listen, with their debut Days Are Gone (2013), but their sophomore album, Something to Tell You, was the proof that they were here to stay. It’s fun, groovy, and nostalgic at the same time, preparing for what would come four years later in Women in Music Pt III.
💽 » Kelly Lee Owens - Inner Song
electronic • 10 songs • 50 minutes
An electronic album that opens with a cover of Radiohead’s instrumental track Arpeggi deserves everybody’s attention right away. Luckily, what comes afterward is even more powerful and impressive than the opening cut. Inner Songs is an album written after lots of loss and sorrow, feelings that can easily be felt throughout the subsequent 9 songs, on both lyrical and instrumental content.
💽 » Lianne La Havas - Lianne La Havas
r&b, soul • 11 songs • 48 minutes
And speaking of Radiohead covers… what Lianne La Havas delivers with her version of Weird Fishes is absolutely incredible. In her third studio album, self-titled, La Havas goes even deeper into the R&B and Soul universe, creating compositions that are able to be both intimate and otherworldly at the same time, to be played in a person’s headphones, or in an arena for thousands of people.
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💽 » Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher
alternative, indie • 11 songs • 41 minutes
Two years ago it was impossible not to hear or read the name Phoebe Bridgers anywhere you went, all thanks to the release of her second solo album. Punisher is such a powerful work, that it’s hard to believe that’s only her second one. But while the album is a great listening experience back to back, for me it’s the closing track I Know the End that absolutely steals the show, with its 5+ minutes that begin intimate and explodes in an epic masterpiece, something similar to what Billie Eilish was going to do a year later in Happier Than Ever.
💽 » Rina Sawayama - SAWAYAMA
pop, alternative • 13 songs • 44 minutes
Can you imagine what would happen if you mix early 2000s pop with a touch of new metal guitars? The answer can be found in Rina Sawayama’s sophomore album named after her last name, and my introduction to her music. An incredible journey through a melting pot of genres and references that is able to sound nostalgic and completely fresh and original at the same time.
💽 » Rosalía - El Mal Querer
flamenco, pop • 11 songs • 30 minutes
Rosalía may be one of the most featured artists in this publication, but this is the first time I’m recommending a full album, rather than singles or collaborations. El Mal Querer is one of the most unique albums I’ve ever listened to, as it blends traditional flamenco music with contemporary pop in such a precise and incredible way that may never be repeated again, as her newest songs are pointing her in a completely different direction already. The album was inspired by an anonymous 13th-century novel, where every song on the album was conceived as a chapter of the book, and it served as her baccalaureate project from college.
🎶 » New Music
this week’s new albums I'm curious to check out
Also, new singles from Oliver Sim, Florence + The Machine, Omar Apollo, Imagine Dragons, The Black Keys, Alanis Morissette, and many more. If you’re curious to hear some of these songs and more, make sure to follow my 2022 playlist on Spotify, updated weekly with new releases:
I jumped right on the Fiona Apple and I liked it. I like things that are homemade... that was some pretty advanced homemade, but really cool. Thanks! H
Haim was "love at first listen" for me too. I heard them while on a plane of all places and wound up listening to them for the rest of the flight.