The first quarter of 2015 is already over (oh, how time flies) and the third month delivered us some great tunes as well. Take a look at what happened in pop music in March apart from Loreen’s comeback and Brandon Flowers’ new solo material.
Lucy Rose – Our Eyes
British singer Lucy Rose, who launched her debut album Like I Used To in 2012, is back with a new track called ‘Our Eyes’. This mildly electronic pop tune is catchy and radiofriendly and Lucy has quite an angelic voice. I hope to hear more of this sound on her new album Work It Out, which will be released in July. The video in which she lets dogs, birds and pony’s eat her outfit is also pretty entertaining.
Tobias Jesso Jr. – How Could You Babe
This heartbreaking ballad has been catching quite some attention on BBC Radio 1 as well as Dutch station 3FM. Tobias Jesso Jr. impresses with his soulful vocals and singer-songwriter from the 60s style. The honest message about losing the love of his life to another man is performed incredibly well in a chorus that does not leave you once you’ve heard it. It is crazy to hear that he only started playing the piano at the age of 27, while he is now 29 and released a piano based album called Goon. Natural talent that is.
Urban Cone – Come Back To Me (feat. Tove Lo)
This Swedish band consisting of five lads from Stockholm teamed up with hitmaker Tove Lo for their new single called ‘Come Back To Me’. The duet is a perfect pop song with a catchy chorus and highly contagious sound effects. Although the song is written in the style of the band, Tove’s raw vocals sound great on it. The track was released as a taste for what is to come when the guys release their second record Polaroid Memories in May. Oh by the way, the already premiered new songs ‘Robot Love’, ‘New York’ and ‘Sadness Disease’ sound really promising as well.
Darin – Ta Mig Tillbaka
More new music from Sweden. One of the country’s biggest pop stars Darin, famous for hit singles like ‘Breathing Your Love’, ‘Lovekiller’, ‘Step Up’ and ‘Nobody Knows’, plans to release his first Swedish languaged record, after the success of some covers he did in a television show. He launched the single ‘Ta Mig Tillbaka’ earlier this month. The style of the track is completely different from what we are used to when from Darin. Gone is the dance pop with urban influences as he now focuses on an acoustic sound with some country influences. It suits his gorgeous voice well and the serenity of the track about wanting to go back in time to experience the music history, is quite enchanting.
Conchita Wurst – You Are Unstoppable
Europe’s favourite drag queen Conchita Wurst released a new single this month which is called ‘You Are Unstoppable’. After her victory in Eurovision with ‘Rise Like A Phoenix’, she released the beautiful track ‘Heroes’. ‘You Are Unstoppable’ is not as good as the two previously mentioned, but still has strong chorus with an empowering message. In May, her debut album Conchita will be released.
Lenka – Blue Skies
You might remember this Australian pop star from her outstanding hit singles ‘The Show’, ‘Trouble Is A Friend’ and ‘Everything At Once’ (featured in a Windows 8 commercial). Her third album Shadows, released in 2013, was not as strong as her previous material, but in May she will be back with the new record The Bright Side. The first single ‘Blue Skies’ is a happy pop song with a hopeful message. In terms of style it is somewhat more electronic than her previous output, but her vocals and way of writing is still easily recognizable.
Years & Years – Worship
Years & Years is arguably the biggest new pop act of 2015 so far. After the huge success of singles ‘Desire’ and especially ‘King’ they announced their debut album Communion which will be released on 22 June. As a gift to everybody who pre-ordered they instantly premiered ‘Worship’, one of the album tracks. It is once again a great tune with an insanely catchy hook and the smooth voice of Olly. Maybe not as outstanding as ‘King’, but still good enough to get excited for the release of Communion.
Carly Rae Jepsen – I Really Like You
We all kind of expected Carly Rae Jepsen of ‘Call Me Maybe’ fame to be a one-hit-wonder, right? We might have been wrong about that one! After her overplayed hit in 2012 that was literally everywhere, she released some less successful songs of her second album Kiss and then disappeared from the spotlight. Now she is back with the new single ‘I Really Like You’ that is already doing quite well in the Billboard charts in the United States and on the British radio. ‘I Really Like You’ is the sweetest kind of bubblegum pop and although you don’t really want to like it, you can’t help but sing along. Don’t resist, just go with the insanely catchy hooks Carly offered you!
Make sure you also check the reviews on other March releases I already wrote:
Loreen – Paper Light
Lena – Traffic Lights
Brandon Flowers – Can’t Deny My Love
Florence + the Machine – St. Jude
Rihanna – Bitch Better Have My Money
Delta Goodrem – Only Human
Natalie Imbruglia – Instant Crush