Every Thursday, we here at Official Charts round up the biggest New Releases coming your way across music and home entertainment.
Coming in hot this week with the biggest album drop is American alt-rock super-group boygenius, comprised of three of the most talented singer-songwriters of their generation, Phoebe Bridgers (who you may well know from her own solo work, second album Punisher especially), Julian Baker and Lucy Dacus. Representing the trio's first studio album together and all three artists' major label debut, The Record is as confident in itself as its title suggests, weaving a narrative of the trio's friendship alongside tight melodies and lyrics that recall the best of Nirvana.
We follow this with the much-anticipated debut solo album of Chloe Bailey (part of the duo Chloe x Halle with her sister, soon to be seen as Ariel in the new live-action remake of Disney's The Little Mermaid) and Australian rockers DMA's first LP in three years, the slick and tightly focused How Many Dreams?
Friday also sees the release of Lancashire born British journalist, artist and activist Tom Rasmussen's debut album, Body Building. Speaking exclusively to OfficialCharts.com, Tom says that their record "asks complicated questions about what it means to be queer today, and not always provide the answers. I wanted to subvert usual pop song structure. And I wanted people who listen to it, who find it and maybe need it in some ways, to put it on when walking down the street and feel invincible. It’s a record to slay to!" And slay it does.
In terms of singles this week, one of OCC's absolute favourites Maisie Peters releases the strongest single yet (and one of the best pop songs of the year so far, full stop) in the form of the shimmering Lost The Breakup. Produced by WolfCousins member OzGo, Lost The Break Up is capital P-pop that trades the intelligent folk-pop of Maisie's last single Body Better for a scintillating synth backing that sees Maisie get over the boy that broke her heart (feel you, girl) by being the best version of herself. It's something of a cousin to John Hughes Movie (one of our favourite songs of 2021) and Maisie herself has said that, if you let it, this song will change your life. We're beginning to believe her.
Bebe Rexha, fresh off the release of the 70s disco-tinged Heart Wants What It Wants, feeds you the next single from her forthcoming third album Bebe. Call On Me is a brilliant mix of its parent albums Fleetwood Mac aesthetics with the Y2K Europop of I'm Good (Blue), as well as joining the ranks of songs like Lobe Myself by Hailee Steinfeld and Touch of my Hand by Britney Spears about...loving yourself. Read more about what Bebe told us about Call On Me here.
We also have the debut solo single from Talia Mar, Self-Portrait, out today - a departure from Talia's previous dance features with Sigala and Nathan Dawe, it's a perky mix of pop and hip-hop that wouldn't sound out of place of Ariana Grande's Thank U, Next.