Beyond Bad Bunny’s record-smashing album, we check out must-hear releases from Loreen, PNAU w/Empire of the Sun, Paloma Faith, The Vaccines, Zack Tabudlo w/ Violette Wautier and more
Just one week after Drake’s latest oversized album For All The Dogs dropped, another superstar drops his own oversized album. Yup, Bad Bunny gives us Nadie sabe lo que va a pasar manana. While the album is missing big-name collabs (and reggaeton!), it isn’t missing a slew of potential hits.
Bad Bunny is truly the first global Spanish megastar, not compromising or pandering at least sonically to his musical vision. Kendall Jenner may be his plus 1 but the tracks here are as ethnically authentic as is possible and it’s amazing that for once, an artist hasn’t needed any “English” cred to reach this level. Sure trap beats and house rhythms help but for once, I’m glad the guaranteed hit isn’t just playing it safe, Bunny is really hitting it out of the park.
Highlight tracks include “Los Pits,” “Fina,” “Baby Neuva” and “Monaco.”
Speaking of hits, Ice Spice is a lock for a Best New Artist Grammy nomination and she teams up with another likely nominee Rema – they come together for “Pretty Girl,” quite possibly Spice’s best shot at a smash where she isn’t just the guest or the lesser-known star. Sure Rema’s “Calm Down” has been one of the biggest hits of the last two years but here, Ice Spice does the heavy lifting and finally proves her Top 40 mantle wasn’t just a fluke.
Of course, there are many other tracks that deserve our attention this week – the SHOULD-BE hits if you will. Here are this week’s #HitsOfTomorrow.
Empire Of The Sun has been dormant for quite some time (six years!) but that doesn’t mean bandmates Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore haven’t been busy. Steele released his debut solo LP last year while Littlemore has been one-third of the very successful PNAU, giving us Top 40 dance pop like it’s 1999. Thankfully the two independent worlds of the bandmates come together in this PNAU meets Empire Of The Sun collab “AEIOU.” The track definitely feels like an extension of the EOTS sound but with the PNAU groove we’ve so become fond of lately. The track is dreamy, kitschy and everything we’d expect and more from the Aussie duo and we are here for it. Here’s hoping this time around the twosome get their hit with the release and not years later thanks to commercials! L-O-V-E!
Leave it to two-time Eurovision-winning Loreen to follow up her global smash “Tattoo” with an equally anthemic and dare I say even more cinematic smash-in-the-making “Is It Love.” The track is instantly memorable and feels like a surefire hit but Loreen, despite her notoriety and an upcoming sold-out European tour, isn’t the household pop artist name she deserves to be. The track is reminiscent of some of Sia’s best choruses and here’s hoping that inspiration proves to be the lucky charm required to give Loreen a truly global, multi-continental appreciation. Smash!
You don’t get more personal than this. Paloma Faith has been many things – a vocal talent with an instantly recognizable voice, an underrated performer, often caught in the shadow of bigger stars, a hit machine in her native land but in no way close to having the same name recognition in most other parts of the world. But a viral TikTok campaign of her Diane Warren-penned single “Only Love Can Hurt Like This” brought her back to the forefront last year and much like that emotional ballad, “How You Leave A Man,” while deeply personal, feels like the perfect follow-up on a global scale for the artist who delivers some of the most real verses you’ll hear in 2023 with this gem. Faith deserves her due and I love it when art comes from pain and introspection. Get this viral now!
Filipino singer-songwriter Zack Tabudlo comes together with Violette Wautier for one of the best duets I’ve heard since, well the other Zach (Bryan, in case you were wondering) released his duet with Kacey Musgraves a few weeks back “I Remember Everything.” Here’s hoping these two have the same luck the latter two had and score a major global hit with this one. There is simply far too much great music releasing around the world today that there is absolutely no reason why this single should not reach the Top 10 of every Western market. These two talents are so undeniably spectacular on the single, you really hope it makes a dent beyond just the Asian markets where both have found success. Seriously programmers, this is epic!
Set to be the opening track of their sixth LP Pick-Up Full of Pink Carnations, The Vaccines give us “Sometimes, I Swear,” a perfect first record for the new era. The band has always kept it real but here the song feels even more heartfelt and tender than usual as frontman Justin Young makes us really understand the struggle when we’re at odds with the world. The band hasn’t achieved the kind of Top 40 love their many discography tracks deserve but if any single were to do the trick, it would have to be this one. Here’s hoping, that happens. If not, I swear…
Even More Hits!
Listen To #HITSOFTOMORROW Playlist on Spotify!
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