Recommended: Janelle Monáe, Jess Connelly, Mani Strings, Princess Nokia, Synapson

By in Features Music

In Rec­om­mend­ed today: Janelle Monáe and her posse have got the “Pynk”, Mani­la R&B singer Jess Con­nel­ly and French dance duo Synap­son gives us anoth­er rea­son to fall in love this spring, before Mani Strings takes things to the bed­room. Plus, idio­syn­crat­ic artist Princess Nokia gets your heart rac­ing in antic­i­pa­tion of change.

*** Lis­ten to even more new music on The Fresh List playlist ***

‘Pynk (feat. Grimes)’ by Janelle Monáe

The lat­est music video from cre­ative vision­ary and Won­da­land Arts Soci­ety leader, Janelle Monáe, is a cel­e­bra­tion of women, their bod­ies and queer love. And it’s gone viral. ‘Pynk’, which fea­tures vocals from Cana­di­an artist Grimes, is an exer­cise in sub­tly, as fin­gers click, drums bounce, and Monáe slow­ly nar­rates the things that excite her. Direct­ed by Emma West­en­berg, the video – or “emo­tion pic­ture” – fea­tures Monáe and her all-female posse cruis­ing down the boule­vard, enjoy­ing one another’s com­pa­ny, and per­form­ing a bow-legged dance in vagi­na-shaped pants. And, not for the first time with Monáe’s videos – all the per­form­ers look like they’re hav­ing the time of their life – it might not hap­pen any time soon, but we’re hold­ing out for a Lemon­ade-scale visu­al album from our favourite rule-break­ing pio­neer. Monáe’s forth­com­ing album, Dirty Com­put­er, is released April 27 on Bad Boy/WEA.

‘Mine’ by Jess Connelly

A spoon­ful of Jess Con­nel­ly’s sug­ary vocals sweet­ens your day. Hail­ing from Mani­la, Philip­pines, she gained atten­tion fol­low­ing the release of her How I Love EP in 2016. Her lat­est sin­gle – pro­duced by her long-time col­lab­o­ra­tor, Crwn – is a smooth and seduc­tive R&B song, which lovers of Jhené Aiko or Jor­ja Smith will adore.

‘Waterfall’ by Mani Strings

Mani Strings is a mul­ti­tal­ent­ed musi­cian and pro­duc­er based in Los Ange­les. Her goal, she says, is to “make music from the heart that con­nects to the lis­ten­er whether it’s a heart­felt love song or a club banger”. To that end, Mani’s released songs such as ‘Fast Ass Girl’, which has a sen­si­tive mes­sage about how tox­ic rela­tion­ships can lead to drug addic­tion and sui­cide. Shift­ing gears com­plete­ly, her recent sin­gle, ‘Water­falls’, pro­duced by Crxsh, is sen­su­al R&B for the bedroom.

‘Look Up Strings’ by Princess Nokia

Musi­cal rebel, Princess Nokia, released her lat­est mix­tape, A Girl Cried Red, last Fri­day. ‘Look Up Strings’ is an exhil­a­rat­ing blend of rock, melod­ic vocals and rhyth­mic urgency. Ter­rif­ic exer­cise music.

‘Hide Away (feat. Holly)’ by Synapson

Synap­son are a duo of French mul­ti-instru­men­tal­ists, Alexan­dre Chiere (key­board, sax, beats and vocals) and Paul Cucuron (drums, scratch­es, pro­duc­tion and mix­ing). Doused in euro-funk and dis­co, the duo’s sin­gle ‘Hide Away’, fea­tur­ing the vocals of Hol­ly Mar­tin, is a stim­u­lat­ing dance anthem for your sum­mer fes­ti­val playlist. Com­par­isons to Daft Punk are expect­ed, but, two albums in, this duo is up to more than mere imitation.

*** Lis­ten to even more new music on The Fresh List playlist ***

Image: cour­tesy of Janelle Monáe/Warner Music

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