"Heart of Glass" is a song by the American new wave band Blondie, written by singer Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. It was featured on the band's third studio album, Parallel Lines (1978), and was released as the album's third single in January 1979 and reached number one on the charts in several countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom.
"The Light" is the Grammy-nominated second single from Common's 2000 album Like Water for Chocolate. It was produced by Jay Dee and features keyboards performed by James Poyser. It samples "Open Your Eyes" as performed by Bobby Caldwell and the drums from "You're Gettin' a Little Too Smart" by The Detroit Emeralds. Framed as a love letter, it is a confession of Common's love for a woman – specifically, his girlfriend at the time, Erykah Badu. Cynthia Fuchs of PopMatters describes it as a "charming, tender, and undeniably soulful declaration of affection and respect." The music video features Common, Erykah Badu and "recognizable sensual delights" including "a homemade Minnie Riperton cassette, a mango, a pink lava lamp [and] a deeply green water-beaded leaf."
The Reminder is the third studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Feist. It was released on April 23, 2007 in countries outside of North America, and May 1, 2007 in the United States and Canada.
Neon Indian is an American electronic music band from Denton, Texas. The music is composed by Mexican-born Alan Palomo, who is also known for his work with the band Ghosthustler, and as the solo artist VEGA. The project has been characterized as defining the 2010s music genre chillwave.
"Dancing On My Own" is a song by Swedish singer-songwriter Robyn, released on 20 April 2010 as the lead single from her fifth studio album, Body Talk Pt. 1 (2010), the first in her Body Talk series. "Dancing On My Own" was produced by Patrik Berger, co-produced by Robyn, and mixed by Niklas Flyckt, with Robyn and Patrik sharing writing credits. The song's stark mid-tempo electropop version from her album was the first version of the single released followed by a layered mid-tempo synth-pop edit designed for radio and a downtempo piano ballad recording for Radio 1's Live Lounge – Volume 5 later that year. It depicts a female protagonist in a crowded club just before last call who is dancing on her own while watching her ex-boyfriend who she sought out dancing with and embracing another woman, pondering confronting him for the last time before her time runs out. The song was inspired by situations Robyn observed while on her previous tour then clubbing throughout Stockholm, her favorite "inherently sad gay disco anthems", and the dissolution of her engagement.
Michael Alden Hadreas, better known by his stage name Perfume Genius, is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. Hadreas's music explores topics including sexuality, his personal struggle with Crohn's disease, domestic abuse, and the dangers faced by gay men in contemporary society.
Darren J. Cunningham is a British electronic musician, who uses the pseudonym Actress. His albums include Hazyville (2008), Splazsh (2010), R.I.P. (2012), Ghettoville (2014), AZD (2017), LAGEOS, 88 (2020), and Karma & Desire (2020); released on Ninja Tune, Honest Jon's Records, and Werkdiscs, a label he co-founded in 2004. Splazsh was named best album of the year by The Wire.
Too Bright is the third album by American singer Perfume Genius, released on September 23, 2014.
No Shape is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Perfume Genius, released on May 5, 2017, through Matador Records as the follow-up to Too Bright (2014).
Chromatica is the sixth studio album by American singer Lady Gaga, released on May 29, 2020, by Interscope Records and subsidiary Streamline. Gaga supervised the production with longtime collaborator BloodPop and a variety of other producers to create a concept album returning to her dance-pop roots, eschewing the stripped-down style of its predecessors Joanne (2016) and A Star Is Born (2018). Chromatica draws inspiration from early 1990s house music, seeing Gaga adopt a cyberpunk-inspired persona.
American musician Perfume Genius has released six studio albums, one extended play, 13 singles and 13 music videos to date. Mike Hadreas began his music career under the Perfume Genius moniker in 2008 when he set up his MySpace page. Two years later, he released his debut album, Learning. He has released four albums since; Put Your Back N 2 It in 2012, Too Bright in 2014, No Shape in 2017, and Set My Heart on Fire Immediately in 2020. All of his albums have been released by Matador Records and received critical acclaim according to Metacritic. No Shape and the song "Queen" have both appeared in Pitchfork's decade-end lists for the 2010s. In 2020, he had his first song to chart on the Adult Alternative Songs chart with "On the Floor".
"Lover" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, taken from her seventh studio album of the same name (2019). Aiming to create a timeless love song, Swift wrote the track about an intimate and committed relationship. The way that newlywed couples customize their marriage vows inspired the bridge, which draws on the bridal rhyme "Something old". Produced alongside Jack Antonoff, the song combines country and indie folk over a waltz tempo. It has an acoustic-guitar-driven, retro-influenced balladic production consisting of snare drums, piano, pizzicato strings, and vocals saturated in reverberation.
Miss Anthropocene is the fifth studio album by Canadian musician Grimes, released on February 21, 2020. It marked her first album in over four years, after the release of 2015's Art Angels. The album was officially announced on March 19, 2019. The name of the album is a pun on the feminine title "Miss", and the words "misanthrope" and "Anthropocene", a neologism popularised in the year 2000 by Paul J. Crutzen that was proposed to denote the current geological age the Earth is in. The album is a loose concept album about an "anthropomorphic goddess of climate change" inspired by Roman mythology and villainy. Miss Anthropocene is Grimes' final album on record label 4AD, to which she has been signed since 2012. The album is darker in style than Grimes' 2015 album Art Angels, containing inspiration from the sounds of industrial music.
Future Nostalgia is the second studio album by English and Albanian singer Dua Lipa, released on 27 March 2020 by Warner Records. Lipa enlisted writers and producers such as Jeff Bhasker, Ian Kirkpatrick, Stuart Price, the Monsters & Strangerz, and Koz to create a "nostalgic" pop and disco record with influences from dance-pop and electronic music, inspired by the music that Lipa enjoyed during her childhood.
"Break My Heart" is a song by English-Albanian singer Dua Lipa from her second studio album, Future Nostalgia (2020). The song was written by Lipa, Ali Tamposi, Stefan Johnson, Jordan K. Johnson, and Andrew Watt, while the production was handled by Watt alongside the Monsters & Strangerz. Due to a similarity to the guitar riff in INXS's 1987 song "Need You Tonight", band members Andrew Farriss and Michael Hutchence are also credited as writers, and the similarity is credited as an interpolation. The song was released for digital download and streaming through Warner Records as the third single from Future Nostalgia on 25 March 2020. It is a retro-futuristic dance-pop and disco-funk song with elements of house and 1980s music that is set to a Europop beat. A vulnerable song, it sees Lipa questioning whether a new love will leave her broken-hearted.
"Sine from Above" is a song by American singer Lady Gaga and English musician Elton John from the former's sixth studio album, Chromatica (2020). It is included as the album's fourteenth track, and is preceded by a string arrangement, "Chromatica III", which leads right into the beginning of the song. It was produced by BloodPop, Burns, Axwell, Liohn and Johannes Klahr, and had a wide array of songwriters involved. It is an electronica-influenced electropop song with a drum n' bass breakdown, and lyrically it talks about the healing power of music.
Good News is the debut studio album by American rapper Megan Thee Stallion. It was released on November 20, 2020, by 300 Entertainment and 1501 Certified. The album features guest appearances from DaBaby, City Girls, Lil Durk, SZA, Popcaan, Mustard, Big Sean, 2 Chainz, Young Thug, and Beyoncé. The music was written and produced with a host of musicians, including D.A Got That Dope, LilJuMadeDaBeat, Juicy J, J. White Did It, and Scott Storch.
"Good Ones" is a song by English singer Charli XCX, released as the lead single from her fifth studio album, Crash (2022). The song was released on 2 September 2021. It is a synthwave, electropop, dance, and synth-pop song that discusses the singer's incapacity to maintain healthy relationships, instead being drawn inexorably back to the dysfunctional and destructive. It received critical acclaim from critics who praised its production and Charli's vocal performance, while also lamenting its short run-time.
"Message in a Bottle" is a song by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, taken from her second re-recorded album, Red (2021). She wrote the song with Max Martin and Shellback. Produced by Shellback and Elvira Anderfjärd, "Message in a Bottle" is a dance-pop and electropop tune with a 1980s-influenced production featuring synthesizers and a pulsating bass. Republic Records sent the song to US radio stations as a single in November 2021.
Ugly Season is the sixth studio album by American singer-songwriter Perfume Genius, released June 17, 2022, by Matador Records. The album was originally composed as a musical accompaniment for choreographer Kate Wallich's contemporary dance piece The Sun Still Burns Here.
