Search results for ""maria mena""
Maria Mena – Not OK
I’ve always had a weak spot for Maria Mena. Five years after her album Growing Pains, she’s finally back with new music. Yes, it’s totally new, but thankfully, it’s totally trademark Maria Mena as well.
From the first piano notes, quickly followed by her characteristic vocals, it’s clear Not OK is a potential new classic. It’s strong, passionate, epic, honest, intense, empowering and beautiful. Just like her hits Just Hold Me, Miss You Love and All This Time.
I’m not sure this will get her new fans, but her admirers will be delighted by her return. I’m looking forward to her new album They Never Leave Their Wives, which will be out in the autumn!
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
Additions to the Carte Blanche Music playlist (week 10)
Not all, but only the *best* new music. Added this week (alphabetically):
- Milii Austin – Ultraviolet
indie | pop
- Caity Baser – Pretty Boys
pop
- Em Beihold – Roller Coasters Make Me Sad
pop
- Blondshell – Disappointment
indie | pop | rock
- Boxteles – Hindsight
indie | pop | rock
- Buckcherry – Good Time
indie | rock
- Edurne – Fresas Y Champán
indie | pop
- Hannah Grae – Propaganda
punk | rock
- Highwayves – Plastic
indie | rock
- Nabihah Iqbal – This World Couldn’t See Us
indie | pop
- Demi Lovato – Still Alive
pop | rock
- Mal De Mer – You Said
indie | pop | rock
- Maria Mena – Not Worth It
pop
- Modern Love Child – Diet Cokes
indie | pop
- Patio Gas – Digging Your Own Grave
indie | pop | rock
- Samskara Rad – Wake Up Snow White
indie | pop
- Dan San – The Unknown
indie | pop | rock
- Seaside – We’re On Fire
indie | rock
- Sego – Tandang
indie | pop
- Sunfruits – End Of The World
indie | pop | rock
- Suzi – At Least My Dog Still Loves Me [2023 Version]
indie | pop | rock
- Betty Taylor – Glitter
indie | pop
- Young Gun Silver Fox – Moonshine
indie | pop | soul
Check them all in the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music Spotify playlist.
Follow (click ‘♥’) to hear the best new music first.
Your ‘All-Time’ Favourites (2017-2022)
The last six years, starting in 2017, I posted 10 musical recommendations per week on this blog. A total of well over 3.000 tracks, mostly by upcoming – often female (fronted) – artists from all over the world. As I explained yesterday, Carte Blanche Music is entering a new era. One in which I’ll focus my efforts on my constantly updated Spotify playlist.
For sure, that doesn’t mean the blog is closing down. It’ll continue to be the home of my ‘best of’ collection (Werner’s Weekly) on Monday mornings (CET) and my favourite new track (the Carte Blanche Music Wildcard), every Wednesday morning. Also, I’ll post the latest additions to my playlist on Saturdays. For updates, follow me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
No better way to round up the last six years than by publishing the Your ‘All-Time’ Favourites, a chart compiling the 500 most popular (as in best-read) Carte Blanche Music recommendations from 2017 to 2022. You’ll find the Top 25 below, but click through for the full list. My original recommendations are behind the links. If you’re an artist, don’t be shy and search (Ctrl+F) to find out if you made the list. You might be surprised…
Enjoy and thanks for joining the ride so far. Follow the Carte Blanche Music playlist (click ‘♥’ in Spotify) for many more recommendations to come!
Your ‘All-Time’ Favourites (2017-2022)
- Videoclub – Roi
- Wildcard (week 7): Drew Sycamore – 45 Fahrenheit Girl
- Aili x Transistorcake – Dansu
- Wildcard (week 13): Placebo – The Prodigal
- Super db – Wait For Me
- Wildcard (week 12): Shanguy – Toukassé
- Japanese Breakfast – Paprika
- Saint Motel – A Good Song Never Dies
- IBE – Table Of Fools
- Angèle – La Loi De Murphy
- Wildcard (week 22): Håkan Hellström – Alla Drömmar Är Uppfyllda
- Rick Astley – Every One Of Us
- Friedberg – Go Wild
- Wildcard (week 26): Videoclub – En Nuit
- Agnes – Here Comes The Night
- a-ha feat. Ingrid Helene Håvik – The Sun Always Shines On TV (MTV Unplugged)
- Angèle – Libre
- Temples – Paraphernalia
- Lola Le Lann – Portofino
- Pixey – Free To Live In Colour
- Eliza & The Delusionals – Just Exist
- Videoclub – Enfance 80
- Izzy Bizu (feat. Chris Martin) – Someone That Loves You ’19
- Mina Okabe – Miss Those Days
- Just – Walk Slow Smile More Read More →
Your favourites (2020)
My container playlist Carte Blanche Music 2020 doesn’t only include all of the 994 songs I recommended last year. It also holds the 100 best tracks in my opinion, the Carte Blanche Music Top 2020, which I published yesterday. But that’s only my selection. Isn’t it more interesting to see which of my recommendations you read the most? In other words: what were your favourites in 2020?
I think it’s funny to see the Carte Blanche Music blog has a strong archive function. That’s apparent from the number of older posts you still like to visit (and which you find via search engines). A good example is the best read article this year: Toukassé by Shanguy. It stems from 2019, just like 24 other entries in the list below. Even more impressing is La Roi De Murphy, Belgian songstress Angèle’s debut single from 2017 (also her break-through), which is still among the 20 most read blogs in 2020.
Thank you for being such loyal visitors of Carte Blanche Music. Don’t miss a single recommendation by following me on Twitter, Facebook or, new for 2021, Instagram! I’ll do my best to make sure those accounts will soon be your favourites too, just like the tracks below:
- Shanguy – Toukassé (2019) (WC)
- Saint Motel – A Good Song Never Dies
- Dopha – The Game
- Rick Astley – Every One Of Us
- Lola Le Lann – Portofino
- Daði Freyr & Gagnamagnið – Think About Things
- Pyro – Come Back For You
- Rat Boy – Brave New World
- Håkan Hellström – Alla Drömmar Är Uppfyllda (WC)
- Gotts Street Park feat. Flikka – Favourite Kind Of Girl
- Raye – Natalie Don’t
- Liela Moss – Atoms At Me
- Friedberg – Go Wild (2019)
- Lola Lennox – Back At Wrong
- Fixkes – Dardennen
- Eliza & The Delusionals – Just Exist (2019)
- Angèle – La Loi De Murphy (2017)
- Just Jack (feat. Melissa Jo Heathcote) – Long Grass
- The Magic Gang – What Have You Got To Lose
- Videoclub – En Nuit (2019) (WC)
- Jealous Of The Birds – Something Holy
- Casey Lowry – Psycho
- IBE – Perfect Storm
- IBE – Table Of Fools (2019)
- Lilly Hiatt – Brightest Star
- Angèle – Balance Ton Quoi (2019)
- Izzy Bizu (feat. Chris Martin) – Someone That Loves You ’19 (2019)
- Saint Motel – Preach
- Videoclub – Enfance 80
- The Wannadies – Can’t Kill The Musikk
- Tout Va Bien – This Is How We Say Goodbye
- The Mountain Goats – Get Famous
- Izo FitzRoy – Red Line (WC)
- Temples – Paraphernalia
- Inhaler – My Honest Face (2019)
- Kristiane – Wish I Could Be Your Girl
- Miss Machine – Tout Autour
- Calby – Burnout (2019)
- Child Of The Parish – Relic Of The Past
- Zola – Crystal Floors (2019)
- Raffaella – Ballerina (2019)
- Gin Wigmore – HBIC
- Calby – The Everyday Bit (2019)
- Elsa Birgitta Bekman – All ‘bout Love
- Just – Dark Days
- Pixey – Free To Live In Colour
- boy pablo – 50 Souls And A Discobowl (2019) (WC)
- Merci, Mercy – Fucked Myself Up
- Royal & The Serpent – MMXX
- The Vices – In And Out
- The Radar Station – Subtle Science [2020 Version]
- Charles – Far Gone
- Semisonic – Basement Tapes
- Parov Stelar feat. Muddy Waters – Soul Fever Blues (2019)
- The Black Keys – Shine A Little Light (2019)
- Papooz – Theatrical State Of Mind (2019)
- Jaguar Jonze – Kill Me With Your Love (2019)
- Esteban – Suburban Paradise
- Pet Shop Boys – Monkey Business
- Sitting On Stacy – Chest Hair (2019)
- Grace Farriss – All The People (WC)
- Mélodie Lauret – À Quoi Tu Penses Quand Tu M’adores ?
- AKA George – Bad For You
- Joel Stoker (The Rifles) – Stuck Inside
- Ethel – Rubikscube (2019)
- The Big Moon – Barcelona
- Inge van Calkar – Spinning Around
- Lux Lyall – Mad With The Moon
- League Of Wolves – On The Run
- Charmless i – Superhero
- Maria Mena – Not OK
- Alex The Astronaut – Caught In The Middle
- Rhea – Under My Skin
- Helmut Fritz – Ça M’énerve [2020 Version]
- Don’t Bring Stacey – Waiting For It
- Nana Adjoa – She’s Stronger
- Stuck On Planet Earth – Ghosts On The Radio
- Sheppard – Kiss My Fat Ass (2019)
- The Man Who – Give Me Something (2019)
- Lead Pony – Soul Sucker (2019)
- a-ha feat. Ingrid Helene Håvik – The Sun Always Shines On TV (MTV Unplugged) (2019)
- Barry Moore – Hey Now (2019)
- Ellie Dixon – Space Out!
- Catherine Anne Davies & Bernard Butler – Sabotage (Looks So Easy)
- Gracie Abrams – Friend
- Roads To Roam – Firework
- Baxter Dury – I’m Not Your Dog
- Alfie Templeman – Things I Thought Were Mine
- Sunbather – Softly Spoken
- Eliza & The Delusionals – Swimming Pool
- Pyro – Your Love
- Aili x Transistorcake – Dansu
- Marble Waves – Caught In A Current
- Me & My Toothbrush – Funking Around
- Corine – Je Danse Le Mia (2019)
- Raye – Love Of Your Life
- Michelle David & The Gospel Sessions – Victory!
- Some Sprouts – At Full Capacity
- Papooz – Figs And Gorgonzola
- Fickle Friends – Pretty Great
(WC) ex Carte Blanche Music Wildcard
Werner’s Weekly (week 20)
This is Werner’s Weekly, your compass to the music that matters, containing the two most recent Carte Blanche Music Wildcards, and the best of the other new releases in alphabetical order:
- Shade – Morningmaker (Wildcard this week)
- MisterWives – Rock Bottom (Wildcard last week)
- Be Charlotte – Lights Off
- Chvrches – Forever [Separate But Together]
- Maria Mena – Not OK
- Razorlight – Burn, Camden, Burn
- White Denim – I Don’t Understand Rock And Roll
Click the links for more info and listen to each of the tracks via the Werner’s Weekly player below.
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist. Also added last week: The 1975, Blanche, Hayley Williams, and many more.
Werner’s Weekly (week 18)
This is Werner’s Weekly, your compass to the music that matters, containing the two most recent Carte Blanche Music Wildcards, and the best of the other new releases in alphabetical order:
- Grand Corps Malade – Effets Secondaires (Wildcard this week)
- Dive In – Give Me A Reason (Wildcard last week)
- Inge van Calkar – Spinning Around
- Julian Velard – Half Done
- Michelle David & The Gospel Sessions – Victory!
- Picture This – Troublemaker
- Smallpools x morgxn – Slowdown
Click the links for more info and listen to each of the tracks via the Werner’s Weekly player below.
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist. Also added last week: The 1975, Hayley Williams, Maria Mena, Pet Shop Boys, and many more.
Julia Michaels – Worst In Me
Julia Carin Cavazos is better known by her stage name Julia Michaels. She started writing songs for other artists in her late teens, until she wrote the track Issues. “It was the first time I’d written a song that sounded so much like myself that I couldn’t picture anyone else singing it,” she says about it. Although apparently many big name artists fought for the song, she decided to keep the song for herself. A good decision, for it kickstarted her own career, becoming a worldwide hit at the beginning of this year. It was such a huge hit, that her second single Uh Huh could hardly be expected to follow in its footsteps. Which it didn’t.
Both songs are on Michael’s debut EP Nervous System, where you’ll also find Worst In Me. A timeless track, that reminds me of Maria Mena, whose music I like a lot. This could be picked up by such a broad palette of radio stations and streaming playlists, that her second hit is undoubtedly on its way.