Search results for "may-a"
single track, wildcardWildcard (week 34):
Wildcard (week 34):
May-a – ifyoulikeitlikethat
Last week was a good one for rock music. 90% of my favourite new tracks were guitar-based. But only one can be the best of the bunch. This time, for the second time in her career, I’ve chosen May-a’s new single as my ultimate recommendation.
I’ve been following Maya Cumming ever since she debuted in 2019. It’s great to watch her grow and grow. Her autobiographical songs get ever more confident and her music more mature.
Two years after her first EP Don’t Kiss Ur Friends, she’s about to release its follow-up. This EP, Analysis Paralysis, will be out on 1 September. It sees May-a continuing to explore and experiment with new sounds and experiences. The EP is already taking shape, with five out of its seven tracks being released already.
Ifyoulikeitlikethat is her brand-new single. A massive track, based around a driving drum rhythm. Combining ‘90s grunge elements with modern pop production, this sounds like a song that’ll do well live.
Ifyoulikeitlikethat by May-a is the new Carte Blanche Music Wildcard. This implies that it will be prominently displayed at the top of the blog for an entire week.
Recommended as well:
Central Station
Apricots
Green
Follow May-a on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
In the Wildcards 2023 playlist you’ll find all of this year’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcards so far.
single track, wildcardWildcard (week 32):
Wildcard (week 32):
May-a – Central Station
Maya Cumming is a self-made artist who started her career as an extremely successful YouTuber. Her videos often reached over a million views. Nevertheless, she deleted them following her decision to fully focus on her musical career. Attracting an impressive fanbase (once again) with her first, self-released songs, she recently signed to major label Atlantic.
May-a already worked with Baby Queen and Powfu, and just released her debut EP Don’t Kiss Ur Friends. “It follows the course of a relationship, a journey of queer discovery, and the growth from an adolescent to a young adult”, she explains. “Each song is a piece of the last four or five years of my life, the most recent track having been written last year and the earliest at 16. As the music developed, so did I. You can listen to me grow up, gain confidence and understand myself through the way I approach my relationships.”
Central Station is the 19-year-old Sydney-based singer-songwriter’s new single. She wrote is near the end of her relationship with the girl half the EP is about. The track starts off with Cumming sitting on a train talking to her girlfriend, while looking at this other person in the train. Bursting with self-awareness with a dash of cynicism, it outlines just how fast we can lose our feelings for those who were once the centre of our world.
As our new Wildcard, Central Station by May-a is the centre-piece of the Carte Blanche Music blog. It’ll feature here prominently for a whole week, before leaving from platform one.
Recommended as well:
May-a – Apricots
May-a – Green
Follow May-a on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
In the Wildcards 2021 playlist you’ll find all of this year’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcards so far.
single trackMay-a – Apricots
May-a – Apricots
19-year-old Sydney-based artist May-a’s been writing songs as long as she can remember. Yet, she only released her first single Fool’s Paradise 13 months ago. Apricots is her fourth single to date, and arguably the most overtly personal one thus far. It’s a cool, honest and nonchalant indie pop song about queer desire, which she wrote this time last year.
May-a says: “This song is super important to me because I wrote it around the time that I was coming to terms with my sexuality and realising I had feelings for a girl for the first time. I originally started writing it about a relationship, but as it evolved it became more about my current self talking to my past self. The song is ultimately a letter to my younger self, helping her come to terms with the fact that she is looking for something ‘she doesn’t even know she wants’ and letting her know that that’s ok.”
Recommended as well:
May-a – Green
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
single trackMay-a – Green
May-a – Green
18-year-old Maya Cumming is born in Byron, Australia, but currently based in Sydney. She writes her stage name as ‘May-a’ to point out the correct pronunciation to people who pronounce her name as ‘Myah’. Only three singles into her career, she’s already proven that she’s a song-writing force to be reckoned with.
About her new single, she says: “Green is an outlook on the way that validation fuels the way we live, especially in green teens. Young, impressionable and desperate to be accepted by people they don’t even like. I wrote it when I was 15 and bored by the hierarchy of high school. It paints a picture of the things that teenagers think are important until they realise they aren’t.”
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.
werner's weekly
Werner’s Weekly (week 36)
This is Werner’s Weekly, your guide to the best new music, containing the two most recent Carte Blanche Music Wildcards, and the best of the other new releases in alphabetical order:
- Brooke Alexx – Never Liked Your Name
(Wildcard this week) - May-a – ifyoulikeitlikethat
(Wildcard last week) - Magnus Bechmann – Feel For You
- Hoshi – Puis T’as Dansé Avec Moi
- Karis – Happy
- The Melodaze – Castles From The Moon
- The Young Man – This Little Town
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.
werner's weekly
Werner’s Weekly (week 35)
This is Werner’s Weekly, your guide to the best new music, containing the two most recent Carte Blanche Music Wildcards, and the best of the other new releases in alphabetical order:
- May-a – ifyoulikeitlikethat (Wildcard this week)
- Hoodzy – Mum Warned You (Wildcard last week)
- The Beaches – What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Paranoid
- Rye Catchers – Stupider
- The Darcys feat. Mae Martin – You Up?
- Glass Violet – Too Late To Come By
- Rio 18 & Young Gun Silver Fox – She’s In LA
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.
playlist
Additions to the Carte Blanche Music playlist (week 33)
Not all, but only the *best* new music. Added to the playlist this week (alphabetically):
- Cat Valley – Not Me indie | punk | rock
- Cold War Kids – Run Away With Me indie | pop | rock
- Devon Cole – Dickhead pop | rock
- The Covasettes – Say What You See indie | pop | rock
- May-a – ifyoulikeitlikethat pop | rock
- My Ugly Clementine – No
indie | rock - Red Rum Club – Black Cat indie | rock
- Saint Chaos feat. Royal Republic – Perfect Match
indie | pop | rock - Terra Rouge – Fuckboy indie | pop | rock
- Daria Zawiałow – Z Tobą Na Chacie
pop
Check them all in the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music Spotify playlist.
Follow (click ‘♥’) to hear the best new music first.
playlist
Additions to the Carte Blanche Music playlist (week 2)
Only the best new music from a truly massive release week (alphabetically):
- Archie X – Can’t Walk Away/If I Were You
pop - Holly Arrowsmith – Desert Dove
folk | indie | melancholic | pop - Belle & Sebastian – I Don’t Know What You See In Me indie | pop
- Blanko – Stop The Clock
indie | pop | rock - Circa Waves – Never Going Under indie | pop | rock
- Nena Daconte con Celia Becks – Tu Canción
indie | pop - Gaz Coombes – Turn The Car Around indie | pop
- Kate Davis – Monster Mash indie | pop | rock
- Dulcie – Test Drive indie | pop
- Lizzie Esau – Jellyfish indie | pop | rock
- Everything But The Girl – Nothing Left To Lose trip hop
- The Go! Team – Gemini hip hop | indie | pop
- Honeyboys – Mr. Daniels indie | pop | rock
- Kingfisher – Until I Lose My Mind
indie | pop | rock - The Lottery Winners – Worry indie | pop | rock
- Luude & Issey Cross (feat. Moby) – Oh My dance | drum & bass
- Måneskin (feat. Tom Morello) – Gossip rock
- May-a – Sweat You Out My System pop | rock
- Tom McGuire & The Brassholes – Unshakable funk | indie | pop | soul
- Liela Moss – Come And Find Me indie | pop
- Riku Rajamaa – Hold Me Close
indie | pop - The Reytons – One More Reason indie | rock
- Freya Ridings – Weekends pop
- Rori – Ma Place pop
- Rosemary’s Sons – The Ride indie | pop | rock
- Stacey Ryan – Over Tonight pop
- Spacey Jane (feat. Benee) – Lots Of Nothing indie | pop | rock
- Stace Cadet – Light Me Up dance
- Raine Stern – So Precarious funk | indie | pop | soul
- Tensnake & Drama – Rooftops indie | pop
- Young Gun Silver Fox – Still Got It Goin’ On indie | pop | soul
Check them all in the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music Spotify playlist.
Follow (click ‘♥’) to hear the best new music first.
single track, wildcardWildcard (week 25):
Wildcard (week 25):
Strawberry Swing feat. meadowhip – Bennie (Won’t Dance)
Australia-based indie-pop duo Strawberry Swing consists of Mark Griffin (from Down Under) and Iranian-born Nima Dehghani. With their 2021 debut EP Taste The Berry, they established themselves in the local scene. They already opened for artists like May-a, The Tin Knees, Tiarnie and Droves. For this year, they have even bigger plans. With their new single, they’re off to a good start.
Inspired by icons including Elton John, Billie Joel, David Bowie and The Beatles, Bennie (Won’t Dance) is a nod to classic rock songs with a modern indie twist. It’s a deliciously energetic song, driven by a dynamic indie-rock melody and jangly guitars. Of equal importance are the engaging vocals, provided by fellow musician/singer-songwriter Cara Walkam, a.k.a. meadowhip.
All in all, this is the ultimate feel-good tune. And to make that feeling even better, Strawberry Swing feat. meadowhip is the new Carte Blanche Music Wildcard. This means, it’ll feature prominently at the top of this blog for a whole week!
Follow Strawberry Swing on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
Follow meadowhip on Facebook | Instagram | Spotify
In the Wildcards 2022 playlist you’ll find all of this year’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcards so far.
chart, year-end chart
Carte Blanche Music Top 2021
Ahead of your favourites among this year’s Carte Blanche Music recommendations, which I’ll publish next week, these are my personal choices from the songs that came out in 2021. This list holds only 100 tracks, but you can find all of my 998 recommendations in my container playlist Carte Blanche Music 2021.
As always, I love to share some statistics about the Carte Blanche Music Top 2021. If there’s one – sad – common denominator to be found in this list, it’s that most of these songs have been criminally overlooked by radio stations outside the artist’s home countries. Radio playlists are growing more and more uniform, denying the diversity of the music available. Obviously, with over 60.000 new tracks added to Spotify every day the supply is kind of excessive, but more adventurous choices would be very welcome. Knowing this won’t happen, the best you can do is follow the Carte Blanche Music playlist, then I’ll keep you updated 😉. This is what you can expect, based on this year’s Top 2021:
- Mostly (young and) upcoming artists, many of whom release their music independently
- No less than 72% of the Top 2021 features female vocalists, up from 70% in our Top 2020 and 60% in the Top 2019
- We love pure pop songs, but with 40% guitar-based tracks, we’re more rock ‘n’ roll than average. According to Spotify Wrapped, our favourite genres last year were indie pop, modern alternative rock and dance pop, and we agree
- You can expect the best new tunes from all over the world, but even we have our preferences. We have extra warm feelings for music from countries like Australia, France, Canada and Denmark. Just so you know…
The Carte Blanche Music Top 2021 features 100 tracks, which are presented below in alphabetical order. You can listen to them all via the Spotify player. If you prefer another order, the shuffle button is your friend.
Meanwhile, you can read my original recommendations through the links below.
- Ali Barter – You Get In My Way
- Alice Merton – Island
- The Allergies – Move On Baby
- Ally Cribb – Bigger
- Alta Falls – The Fire
- Aly & AJ – Don’t Need Nothing
- Amy Shark – Baby Steps
- Angèle – Libre
- Anish Kumar & Barry Can’t Swim – Blackpool Boulevard
- Archie X – Fight Me
- Baby Queen – You Shaped Hole (WC)
- Bakermat (feat. LaShun Pace) – Ain’t Nobody
- Baxtr – In Pop We Trust (WC)
- beabadoobee – He Gets Me So High (*) (WC)
- Blu DeTiger – Blondes
- Buffalo Paradise – Buffalo Paradise
- bülow – Revolver
- Calogero – Centre Ville
- Camila Cabello – Don’t Go Yet
- Charlie Collins – Just My Luck
- Chloe Lilac – 19
- Clara Luciani – Respire Encore (WC)
- Clypso – On Our Way (WC)
- Coeur De Pirate – Tu Peux Crever Là-Bas (*)
- Cold War Kids – What You Say
- Coral Palms – Something In The Air (WC)
- Daði Freyr & Ásdís – Feel The Love
- Dead Anyway – Pigs In Blankets
- Drew Sycamore – 45 Fahrenheit Girl (WC)
- Dual – Wipe Your Tears Away
- Dua Lipa – Love Again (WC)
- Dubstar – Tectonic Plates
- Dylan Cartlidge – Hang My Head (WC)
- Eyjaa – Don’t Forget About Me
- Fear Of Tigers – Tiger Blood
- Foals – Wake Me Up (WC)
- Foo Fighters – Waiting On A War
- Foxes – Sister Ray (WC)
- Grand Corps Malade – Des Gens Beaux
- Haerts – Days Go By (WC)
- Halsey – Honey
- Harry Styles – Treat People With Kindness (WC)
- Hawke – Pinch Me (Am I Dreaming?) (WC)
- Hope Tala – Tiptoeing (WC)
- Jaguar Jonze – Who Died And Made You King? (WC)
- Japanese Breakfast – Paprika
- Jonas Brøg (feat. Lilian Vieira) – I’m Your Nr. 1 [Brazilian Version] (WC)
- Julie Zenatti – France Et Jojo
- Kacey Musgraves – There Is A Light
- King Stingray – Milkumana
- Kinishao – Always In My Head
- Laura Mac – Garage Full Of Dreams (WC)
- Lauran Hibberd – Bleugh (WC)
- Lights – Prodigal Daughter
- Lissie – Hey Boy (WC)
- Lizzie Esau – Bitter Weather
- Lou Hayter – Time Out Of Mind
- Lucy Spraggan – Heartbreak Suites (*)
- Madison Olds – If You Wanna
- mags – I Can’t Get Over You
- Maisie Peters – Psycho
- Marina – Purge The Poison (WC)
- May-a – Central Station (WC)
- Mazy – Flowers (WC)
- Mike Posner (feat. James Valentine & Jacob Scesney) – Amor Fati
- Miles Kane feat. Corinne Bailey Rae – Nothing’s Ever Gonna Be Good Enough (WC)
- Miss Machine – Regarder Les Choses
- Monowhales – He Said/She Said (I Wait) (WC)
- Montaigne – Technicolour
- Niko Rubio – You Could Be The One (WC)
- Olivia Rodrigo – Good 4 U
- Orla Gartland – You’re Not Special, Babe
- Palaye Royale – No Love In LA
- Parcels – Comingback (WC)
- Päter – Obstinate Brain
- Philippine – Bah Non. (WC)
- Placebo – Beautiful James
- The Ramona Flowers feat. Nile Rodgers – Up All Night
- Render Ghosts – Eye Rhyme
- RoseeLu – Playing Alone (WC)
- Saint Djuni – All Of My Friends (WC)
- Self Esteem – How Can I Help You (WC)
- Slothrust – Once More For The Ocean (WC)
- Smith & Thell – Pixie’s Parasol (WC)
- Stefanie Heinzmann – Labyrinth (WC)
- Super db – Wait For Me
- Telenova – Bones (WC)
- Thunder Fox – Not For Sale
- Torres – Thirstier (WC)
- Tove Styrke – Start Walking
- Troi Irons – She Loves Me Not
- Vistas – Start Again
- Who – Hey! Get Out The Way (WC)
- Who Parked The Car – Candle Dance
- Willow feat. Travis Barker – Transparent Soul
- Wilsn – You Know Better (WC)
- Wolf Alice – How Can I Make It OK?
- Yelle – Noir (WC)
- Youth Sector – Self Exile (WC)
- Yuke – Stranger Still (WC)
(WC) ex Carte Blanche Music Wildcard
(*) album track
