The Nicholist #8

Face down, 🍑 up, this the music that really f-ck!

Welcome to The Nicholist! My weekly list of pop culture where I gush on everything that’s got me obsessed.

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“Ya Ya” by Dinah Jane

My Santa Ana sis Dinah Jane released her first single in three years, and it's a banger! Since her days as the best vocalist and only AAPI member of Fifth Harmony, she's released no-skip Y2K-nostalgic R&B bops. But all that was halted during the pandemic when all you hoes paid her dust, and she took a break to "find herself." Dinah triumphantly returns with "Ya Ya," serving a sultry island sound inspired by her Polynesian roots.

Favorite Lyric:
"Me, bubble wine, pussy tight
Perfect time, pass the light, body high
Yeah, yeah, yeah"

Can't wait for more—and maybe she'll even drop an album before, the source of my trust issues, Normani?

AR by Addison Rae

Addison Rae has the most emotionally starved singing voice I've heard in recent memory—so much so she makes Selena Gomez sound like Adele—still, this EP is one of my favorite collections of songs I've heard all year. With songwriting and producing assists from Lady Gaga, Charli XCX, and Leland, AR serves cunt and cult. Addison's vocals may be thin, but her taste in pop is gluttonous. Do we have a future Whisper Queen

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on our hands?

“Face Down” by City Girls

Face Down? More like letdown. City Girls dropped another rando track this week—and it comes in at a stunted 2:07. After dropping “I Need at Thug” (1:57) and “Piñata” (2:13) earlier this summer, I'm kinda over these quick-nut tracks. Give us 32-bar verses! Give us bridges! Give us a song that attempts to engage us and not race us to the end. That said—I really really like this song, and I will wear it the fuck out. 

Favorite Yung Miami Lyric:
Face down, ass up, slut me out
He know this pussy stay wet in the middle of droughts
I make him face me, nasty, squirt in his mouth

Favorite JT Lyric:
Bitches that be hatin' on me really ain't got no room
I mean literally, no house bitch, no room

“Bleeding On The Floor” by Jarrod Allen

This croony-swoony-moody ballad entices with a slinky guitar lick at the top before a gut-punch lyrical scheme of someone down on himself and not feeling worthy of the love he is given. 

“Sometimes you keep playing
With me I don't know why and
These days they get harder
I don't know what day it is
You've been up and down
I've been side to side
Why do you keep trying
To bother with me”

A soulfully groovy and lyrically layered track that will get you in your groove and in your feels. Also, check out my other Jarrod Allen fave, “Can’t Be Alone.”

Close to the Sun by Public Library Commute

In the grand tradition of having a weird-obscure band name despite being a solo act

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, Public Library Commute delivers sweet ear candy of ethereal pop in Close to the Sun. The music has a colorful simplicity that I love and reminds me of one of my favorite bands growing up, Daphne Loves Derby.

This recommendation comes thanks to

ZAN! The Newsletter

, which put me on to Public Library Commute.

Rebecca Ericson-Hua

has impeccable music taste, and you should check out her recent newsletter for even more music recommendations.

I Dropped Everything For These Three Fantastic New Albums (ZAN! #9)

1. A pop girlie with lackluster vocals who only knows how to release pristine pop music (e.g., Carly Rae Jepsen, Selena Gomez, Hilary Duff).

2. E.g., Perfume Genius, Toro y Moi, Lightspeed Champion