Lana Del Rey released her sixth album Norman Fucking Rockwell! at the end of August via Interscope Records and has once again proven herself to be an insightful, eloquent songwriter. Del Rey offers up her unapologetic observations on love, the maze that is human emotion and the communication breakdown that everyone seems to have on a daily basis. One track in particular that grabs your attention is “Cinnamon Girl”, which details the cycle of a caring, but unhealthy relationship. The delicate piano kicks things off and softly rings as Lana’s melodic, longing voice begins to build before you’re engulfed in pools of light, cinematic layers of synth. She poignantly recaps her desire to connect, “All the pills that you did / Violet, blue, green, red to keep me / At arm's length don't work / You try to push me out / But I just find my way back in.” As the song comes to an end, we get a dose of swirling instrumentation—leaving room to conclude that maybe Del Rey has found some sort of closure. There’s no sugarcoating or beating around the bush, which is a consistent element of the album as a whole.

AURORA is back with her chimerical and soothing vibes in “The River,” her third single this year. The 22-year-old Norwegian singer has been introducing the new era of her music in bits ahead of A Different Kind of Human, the second half of her two-part album project. The first part of the project was Infections of a Different Kind, an EP that came out in 2018. “The River” is the second to last single, and it continues the trend of songs directly linked to nature while talking about sensations that are intrinsically human. The track tackles themes of sadness, solitude, and desperation while remembering that our tears are made of the same elements that construct rivers and rains. “The River” reminds us that life comes in flows and calls us to not forget who we are and what our souls are made of—all while maintaining the sonic spirit of a cavernous river, somewhat characteristic of AURORA's sound. A Different Kind of Human comes out Friday, June 7th.

Australian artist Alex Lahey's "Unspoken History" prettily describes holding onto a relationship despite its troubled past. It can be hard to detangle yourself from people who have become essential characters in your life, and sometimes it doesn’t feel like it is worth the trouble. Even if the relationships are proving to be more detrimental than uplifting. The echo of the piano adds a softness to the track that we don't often hear from Lahey as strings come in to fill the space in-between. It is full of softness with very little dead space as she sings, “We couldn't play the roles we were assigned / wasn't any space with everything on your mind.” She managed to make a light and airy song with a gloomy message—leaving someone behind when you aren’t completely ready to let go of all the good that came with knowing that person. It’s sad, but her intonation and the brightness of the arrangement makes it a hopeful sadness. It’s sparse compared to the rest of her discography, but it hits just as hard. "Unspoken History" is the third and final single off Lahey’s sophomore LP The Best of Luck Club released via Dead Oceans on May 18th.

There’s a heartbreaking scene somewhere in the middle of (500) Days of Summer that follows Joseph Gordon-Levitt through two parallel parties, one labeled “expectation,” the other “reality.” In one version of the party, he’s the charming hero he wants to be, but in the latter, his jokes don’t land and he is reminded just how over his relationship is. When going well, it’s hard not to see the different parts of relationships as one, but faltering relationships often have two very different sides, a phenomenon played out by Fake Dad in their new single, “Can U B My Home?” Like a dreamy, polite version of Gotye’s inescapable “Somebody That I Used To Know,” the track features one lonely, heartsick mess (“Sometimes it feels like you hold / The better half of me”), as well as the breaker-upper wearing 20-20 hindsight goggles (“Everybody’s asking if you need help / But there’s no shame in trying to do it yourself / Just take my masterpieces off of your shelf”). The letdown itself is gentle in a way that reminds us that a breakup isn’t necessarily malicious, and the production of the track, with its ethereal piano chords and hip-hop-influenced beat, places Fake Dad squarely in the world of a genre-bending band like Glass Animals, but it was clearly of the utmost importance to make it all seem effortless. With the song’s feel-good summer vibes, it would be easy enough to forget its subject matter entirely. Fake Dad says it right there in the band bio, their mission statement reading loud and clear: “They want you to know that everything is going to be okay.”

Sidney Gish’s single “Somebody’s Baby” throws a contemporary spin on Jackson Browne’s 1982 original. The instrumentals blend synthetic and natural sounds in a delightful fusion of old and new. Gish’s cool vocals immerse the listener in the universal story Browne penned in the original—overcoming doubt to pursue a crush. This track is filled with infatuation and butterflies in the stomach. Through calm and mellow music, Sidney Gish’s bold artistry shines through.

“Kinfolk” is the second track off L.A. based singer-songwriter, rapper, and producer Mereba's debut album. In The Jungle Is The Only Way Out, Mereba gives us a break-up album that flips break-up album expectations on their head and showcases her unique folk-R&B hybrid style. The 13 tracks leave out the typical pining and wallowing and instead focus on getting up, moving on, and appreciating the moment. In “Kinfolk,” Mereba exalts the power of spending time with the people you love and reminds us not to take our kin for granted with lines like “Don’t you see we got what no money could measure.” The track opens with haunting, mellow guitar riffs that pave the way for Mereba’s smooth, gliding vocals. The melody is joined by a sultry bass line and eerie choir-like echo that pick up in the chorus to highlight the delightful range of her voice. The track has no patience for planning for tomorrow as Mereba sings bluntly “not gon’ save my love for no rainy day, I’ll never find no peace that way.” “Kinfolk” focuses on the present and is just one of the many wisdom-filled, genre-bending songs on a break-up album unlike any that came before it.