This week has seen several more major artists delay their new music, but thankfully, plenty more are pressing ahead to keep us all entertained during lockdown. Below are some highlights from this week's New Music Friday - the full list appears at the bottom of the page.
- If you do one thing to help during the coronavirus crisis (on top of self-isolating, social distancing etc), download Matt Lucas’s Baked Potato song. It’s an old jingle of his that he’s rewritten with key messages to avoid spreading and catching Covid-19. All the money raised from the song goes to FeedNHS, which aims to get hot meals to NHS staff working around the clock at the moment.
- Drake has released a new song called Toosie Slide. Despite being released this New Music Friday (April 3), it’s already been a huge hit on TikTok. Are you keeping up?
- Troye Sivan is back with a new song this week which, judging by the title, you might think was written and recorded about a week ago. Take Yourself Home is less a command and, he explains, more of “a pep talk with yourself and the place you’re from. Grappling with your place in the world.”
- Tottenham rapper Headie One has released a new collaborative project with producer Fred Again. It's impressive set that finds him exploring a multitude of sounds, in particular on lead track Gang and on his collaborations with FKA Twigs, Jamie XX and Sampha.
- All Time Low have done something very clever with their new album Wake Up Sunshine. The band’s eighth album blends early 2000s pop-punk nostalgia with 2020 arena-rawk production, resulting in record that should hopefully please both new and long-time fans.
- There’s another double drop from Love Regenerator aka Calvin Harris!
- If you thought Matt Lucas releasing a single this week was surprising, you better sit down for this one. Boyzlife – a pop supergroup (okay, a duo) of Boyzone’s Keith Duffy and Westlife’s Brian McFadden have released a cover of You Needed Me. It was recorded with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (!), it’s set to feature on their forthcoming album (!) and it’s a proper, old-fashioned boyband ballad (!). Money raised from the single goes to Age UK to help those during the pandemic, so do the right thing and throw them a download.
