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Dua Saleh: Of Earth & Wires
New album: This eclectic, experimental second LP by the Minneapolis-based Sudanese-American non-binary singer and actor features Bon Iver (aka Justin Vernon) on three tracks, and plays with deconstructions of indie, R&B, electronic pop dance, baile funk and Sudanese folk, themed around home, identity and difficult relationship in the shadow of climate change and AI’s advancement
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RAYE: This Music May Contain Hope
New album: A highly entertaining, exuberantly stylish, cross-genre 17-track, 73-minute odyssey by the London popstar, with a huge musical show of a second LP, spanning swing-era jazz to soul, R&B, house music, pop, dance, gospel, classical and the full kitchen sink, with orchestral band, family members, Hans Zimmer, and even Al Green
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Robyn: Sexistential
New album: After a break of seven years, the hugely influential 46-year-old Swedish pop star returns with a new burst of alternative, electro-pop bangers, in this ninth LP, now subverting themes of romantic love in another context since having gone through having IVF and becoming a single parent
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Ego Ella May - Good Intentions
New album: Beautifully crafted but effortlessly performed, a wonderful release of delicious, classy, smooth and smoky soul, jazz and RnB by the London singer-songwriter who has vocal and stylistic qualities reminiscent of Erykah Badu and Sade
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ELIZA: The Darkening Green
New album: The London artist Eliza Caird (formerly under the mainstream pop moniker Eliza Doolittle) returns with more of the cool, slow, sensual, gentle, sophisticated experimental soul-funk style evolving from her 2022 album A Sky Without Stars, here with particularly polished, silky, stripped back grooves and vocals
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waterbaby: Memory Be A Blade
New album: A delicate, experimental, understated soulful chamber pop debut by the pure-voiced Stockholm-born singer-songwriter (aka Kendra Egerbladh) in 25-minute, eight-track release of lo-fi, lyrically semi-improvised numbers about heartbreak and self-renewal in a world of gorgeous musical sensations
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Fruitfully back together: CeeLo Green and Danger Mouse
New album: Finally, after an 18-year gap since their last collaboration in the heady days of the hit Crazy, with the St Elsewhere and The Odd Couple LPs a third and supposedly final album from fabulous singer CeeLo Green and producer and musician aka Brian Burton with a mix of soaring soul, hip-hop, pop and RnB with songs filled with vivid lyrical memories and strong, emotive melodies
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Jill Scott: To Whom This May Concern
New album: After a decade away, a welcome, warm return by the revered, charismatic, golden-voiced neo-soul and R&B singer, songwriter, actress, and poet from Philadelphia, with a new full-hour collection of smooth, jazzy, funky, heartfelt, positive, defiant and uplifting numbers and a selection of guests
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Part Two favourite albums of 2025 collage
Welcome to the second part of Song Bar favourite albums of 2025. There is also a first part and a third part this week. There is no countdown nor describing these necessarily as “best” albums of the year, but they are chosen by their quality, originality and reader popularity
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First selection of 25 favourite albums in no particular order …
Welcome to the first part of Song Bar favourite albums of 2025. There will also be a second and third part this week. There is no countdown nor describing these necessarily as “best” albums of the year, but they are chosen by their quality, originality and reader popularity
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Devotion & The Black Divine by anaiis
New album: Following a summer Song of the Day - Deus Deus, a review of the autumn release and third LP by the London-based French-Senegalese singer-songwriter of resonantly beautiful, dynamic, sensual soul, gospel, R&B and experimental and chamber pop, with themes of new motherhood, uncertainty, religion, self-love and acceptance
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Yazmin Lacey: Teal Dreams
New album: A classy, colourful, beautiful and emotionally intelligent second album by the London-born artist following the acclaimed 2023 debut Voice Notes, her rich vocal tones blending soul with jazz, ska, reggae, lover’s rock, R&B and and pop
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Sudan Archives: The BPM
New album: Following 2022’s Natural Brown Prom Queen, the American violinist and innovative singer-songwriter Brittney Denise Parks returns with a more electronica-based and hip-hop LP with eclectic beats and beeps, RnB and soul, presenting here the alter-ego of Gadget Girl, a sexualised tech-augmented avatar
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Joy Crookes: Juniper
New album: With a style that’s sometimes stripped back, but always silky and smoky, the hugely talented, golden-voiced artist from Lambeth of a Bangladeshi and Irish heritage returns with her first LP since the acclaimed 2021 debut Skin, with smart, emotional, classy, beautiful soulful songs about heartbreak and other life struggles
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Sabrina Carpenter: Man's Best Friend
New album: Mischievous, provocative, satirical, saucy, sexy, intimate, explicit, shiny, cleverly catchy relationship songs, packed with naughty whip-smart wordplay pop, musical echoes of 80s and Madonna, to Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, all by the US singer-songwriter, and expertly produced across a range of funky to country styles by Jack Antonoff
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Léa Sen: LEVELS
New album: A classy, cool, effortlessly stylish, soulful, experimental electro-pop, R'n'B, and trip-hop debut LP by the south London-based French singer, songwriter and producer, whose vocal delivery has a warm, woozy, mellifluous style, with a smudged, muted and soft guitar sound, scattered, subtle electronics, jittering percussion and nuanced, philosophical lyrics
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Bon Iver: SABLE, fABLE
New album: Wisconsin’s Justin Vernon returns with his fifth album, a sparse, tender, sometimes world-weary, but also often beautiful, distinctive fusion of folk, indie, R&B, soul, country, and a dash of soft rock, all wrapped in celebration of the salmon pink - “the colour of life”
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Moonchild Sanelly: Full Moon
New album: Always infectiously fun and effervescently charismatic, the blue-haired South African star’s third LP bursts with witty, sex-positive braggadocio, sung in Xhosa and English, and spanning the rhythms and sounds of Johannesburg and Durban with electro-pop and cross-genre dance
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The second part of our favourite albums of 2024
Favourite albums of 2024: Welcome to The Song Bar’s favourite albums of 2024 Part 2. Part 1 can be found here. There’s no such thing as ‘best of’ and everything is subjective, but please dig into this rich seam of originality and quality, and even suggest more of your own
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This year’s selections include some returning veterans at the top of their game as well as some fabulous newcomers
Favourite albums of 2024: Welcome to The Song Bar’s favourite albums of 2024 Part 1. There’s no such thing as ‘best of’ and everything is subjective, but rich seams of originality and quality are certainly here to be enjoyed. Peruse away …
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