Abby J Hall, who turned 21 last month, is a Canadian singer-songwriter from Burlington Ontario. Taylor Swift, Julia Michaels, Alec Benjamin and Maggie Rogers are some of her musical influences. She started writing music when she was 11, and plays the guitar, keys and ukulele.

This year, after spending most of 2019 in the studio, she started releasing the new music she recorded. All I Wanted is her third single of 2020.

Abby describes the song as ‘an emotional plea to go deep and be vulnerable with someone you care about’. She further explains: “Sometimes it’s not the outcome that is the most important, but having the courage to say what needs to be said. All I Wanted encourages rolling your sleeves up and getting to the heart of past issues to rectify a relationship that you feel is worth rectifying. Tough conversations can lead to deeper friendship. (…) Life is short. If you’ve been feeling for a while like you need to tell someone something, tell them. But life is also long enough to spend the time with those who really matter to you. Let your guard down.”

For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.

Lucas Hamming is a Dutch artist who is slowly but surely gaining ground in his homeland. As far as I’m concerned, his new single Falling has the potential to score abroad as well.

At the start of the song’s video, Hamming explains that, for him, 2020 is the year of pushing boundaries. “It feels like taking a leap of faith, so why not doing that for real?” Next, we see him jump from a plane. With a parachute, luckily.

The change the singer-songwriter talks about, is a shift from indie-pop to melodic pop/rock. “Production-wise this feels like the segment that used to be dominated by Robbie Williams and Maroon 5, and where Harry Styles is king nowadays. But as always, I add a bit of nineties Britpop bravado.”

For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.

New York native Stix Bones is an arranger, jazz drummer, and producer. He worked with the likes of De La Soul, Rahzel The Godfather of Noise and poet Jessica Care Moore before. Now, he shares a new collaboration with Imani Coppola.

Coppola, of course, is best known for her song Legend Of A Cowgirl. If you were even born in 1997, that is 😉. If not, you may remember her being the front-woman of musical duo Little Jackie. They should have gained worldwide fame for their single The World Should Revolve Around Me in 2008. Last year, after another 11-year cycle, she came back with her album New Protagonist.

Built around a light synth, laidback handclaps, amped up bass and restrained tambourine, Stix’ and Imani’s collaborative single is an old-school party-jam. But one with an important message. Breakin’ The Dance Floor is here to remind black people that revolution cannot come at the expense of joy. The message is delivered as a quarantine metaphor: it encourages music lovers locked in their homes to do something fun, such as dancing the stress away. Either way, the song urges people to embrace the blessings we have in each moment and not get pulled down by the negativity that’s all around us.

Recommended as well:
Imani Coppola – Lying To My Therapist
Imani Coppola – Rattle

For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.