Wonderland.
WONDERLIST
All the songs we’ve loved this week.
Rex Orange County – “New House”
British singer/songwriter Rex Orange County released his first original record since 2017 this week, a new song for Valentine’s Day entitled “New House”. The song sees Rex’s dreamy vocals characteristically effusing over a lighthearted piano instrumental, and was released with an additional thank you to his fans: “I want to say thank you to everyone that is here for the now and to those who are still here from before.” Awwww!
Annika Zee – “Fantasy”
Having announced her debut album Factory Pageant last year, Annika Zee returns with the project’s second single: “Fantasy”. Heavy guitar mixes with wonderfully confident, vintage vocals to produce a track oozing with the laid-backness of a Sunday afternoon, it’s echoing final refrain – “They can’t take our fantasies away” – markedly relevant amid the unstable nature of the world today. If this is anything to go by, we can’t wait for Zee’s full project to drop later this year.
IAMDDB – “Wokeuptoflexxx (W.U.T.F)”
Urban jazz trailblazer IAMDDB released her new single “Wokeuptoflexxx (W.U.T.F)” this week on Union IV recordings, a beautifully defiant new offering from one of Manchester’s finest young artists. Taken from her eagerly anticipated fifth EP ‘SWERVVVVV.5’, which will be out on the 22nd February, and is produced by Londoner Drae Da Skimask. The song opens with the characteristically bold statement “Fuck ‘em all yeah, we don’t give a fuck”, sung in IAMDDB’s signature jazzy style over a swagged out beat. the melody re-introducing urban jazz, while also mixing old school energy and grimy sounds to create something unmistakeably ‘IAMDDB’. Have a listen.
FLETCHER – “Undrunk”
One-to-watch Pop artist FLETCHER released the much-anticipated “Undrunk” this week, a song that is simultaneously heart-wrenching and infectious, perfectly capturing the post-breakup yearning for a do-over, and the realisation that “Some things you can’t undo / and one of them’s you.” Coming as a retrospective of emotions from FLETCHER’s NYU college days, “Undrunk” is a candid portrayal of just how bad it feels to have your heart broken – a perfect anti-Valentine tune that will inevitably give us fodder for texts to exes for years to come. Thanks FLETCHER!
Santino Le Saint – “Feel Like Drugs”
Raised in Brixton, 21 year-old rising R&B artist Santino Le Saint has released the first offering from his upcoming EP, in the form of the explosive new track “Feel Like Drugs”. Having been in the studio recently with the likes of 070 BeHeard and House of Pharaohs’ Sam Wise, Santino re-emerges here with an incendiary track, blending emotion and frankness with his inimitable blend of styles. Speaking on the track, Santino states: “Feel Like Drugs” is a true story about infatuation and love feeling like being drugged up, before experiencing withdrawal-like symptoms from losing something you once had. Me and the Cloud X team filmed the visual with filmmaker Harry Lindley – it was inspired classic drug scenes from “Trainspotting” and Gaspar Noé’s “Into the Void”. Enjoy.
Dennis Lloyd – “Never Go Back”
Coming off the back of worldwide acclaim and nearly 1 billion on-demand streams, Dennis Lloyd released his brand new single “Never Go Back” this week, the song coming as the direct sequel and lyrical bookend to last year’s smash “Nevermind”. Here, the Israeli global singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist gifts us a swooning and soulful anthem, underscored by handclaps, hummable guitar, English and Spanish bars, and a whole trumpet solo. Yep, a trumpet solo. Blurring the lines between pop, R&B, rock, and reggae, Lloyd said that he wrote the song after a break-up, “during a really lonely time when I felt depressed. If I don’t feel anything, I don’t write music. But I wrote and recorded this in 45 minutes. The song is a dialogue between her and me. It’s part of a group of four songs that tells the whole story.” A real present post Valentine’s day, you can thank us later.