Gemma Cockrell and Kiah Tooke
Gemma and Kiah review the latest releases from Regard ft. Years and Years, ELIO, Tessa Violet and FLOWVERS.
Regard ft. Years & Years – Hallucination
Regard and Years & Years have joined forces for new dance anthem Hallucination. This follows Sweet Talker, Olly Alexander’s collaboration with Galantis from recent Number One album ‘Night Call’, which was one of his best tracks to date. Alexander clearly continues to venture into the dance world with this song.
Olly is showing no signs of stopping anytime soon
Regard said of the track, “I loved working with Years & Years on this new single. Olly’s voice brings the song to life and really captures the idea that the beauty of love is so similar to the fear of hallucinations.” He is correct that Olly’s vocals lend themselves incredibly well to this style of track, and for fans of ‘Night Call’ this will be an unexpected yet welcome release, extending the sounds of the album and demonstrating that Olly is showing no signs of stopping anytime soon. Gemma Cockrell
ELIO – Read The Room
Following Superimpose, one of my personal favourite pop tracks of 2021, ELIO is back with new single Read The Room. She has also announced alongside the release that she will be supporting Charli XCX on her upcoming EU tour dates. The track features dramatic vocal lines and crisp production, whilst ELIO tells the story of a negative experience that she had with a male producer who demeaned her writing and production skills during a studio session.
This unique and highly important lyrical topic emphasises just how difficult the music industry continues to be for female artists, and the battles that they have to fight to get their voices heard. However, ELIO successfully uses the track to own that narrative, refusing to confine herself to the box that others are trying to place her in and rebelling against what society expects her to be. Gemma Cockrell
Tessa Violet – YES MOM
a confident and self- assured anthem
Tessa Violet has finally released her long-awaited new single, YES MOM, after weeks of teasing snippets from the song on TikTok. YES MOM also marks Violet’s first solo release since her sophomore album ‘Bad Ideas’, having been featured on various songs in the meantime. The single has been used in transition videos by Violet and fans, allowing the single to gain traction and debut as Violet’s biggest release yet.
The single is a confident and self- assured anthem that uses synths and upbeat tempos to build up to the catchy chorus. YES MOM’s lyrics can also be seen to be inspired by Violet’s old YouTube career as Meekakitty, asserting her legacy of being popular online, despite the change in career path. The single’s release date was elaborately announced by Violet revealing the date secretly in the first letter of each of her tweets, which fans quickly caught on to. Kiah Tooke
FLOWVERS – When It Comes To It
Portsmouth four-piece band FLOWVERS have returned with their latest single When It Comes To It, a follow up from their previous single Flowers. The first release of 2022 for the band, the new single contains strong guitars riffs and offers a nostalgic sound with a heavily layered background that builds up to a crescendo of sound.
When discussing the new single, FLOWVERS shared insight into the creative process of the single and how it was ‘pondered from the time when we were still under some lockdown restrictions and had just started writing all together again’. FLOWVERS’ indie rock sound have seen them become regular features on BBC Introducing, showing promise in the development of their sound and dedication to music. Kiah Tooke
Gemma Cockrell and Kiah Tooke
Featured image courtesy of Nina via Flickr. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
In-article images courtesy of @yearsandyears via @instagram.com. No changes were made to these images.
To listen to all of these tracks, check out the New Releases Roundup playlist on Spotify.
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