We all know that 2020 hasn’t been the best year (I’m putting it mildly because this is a family-friendly newsletter). And we could really use a pick-me-up.
Music soothes the savage beast, and this year has been the very definition of savage. So it would be great if we could get albums from some artists we, ahem, have been waiting on.
Folks like …
But a new album would be like a glass of cold lemonade in the hot mess that is 2020 right about now. Fingers crossed that Adele’s “SNL” gig is the kickoff to dropping new music — because “25” came out five years ago.
She’s well aware of our thirst, BTW. She responded in June to one of her many social media followers asking if new music was imminent.
Rihanna: She’s another artist who has long been fielding fan requests for new music.
Rihanna’s last album was “Anti” in 2016.
So, naturally, people are anxious for him to release his follow-up to 2017’s studio album “Damn.” He whetted our appetites by curating and performing on 2018’s “Black Panther” soundtrack. We’re ready for our next course.
Sade: Technically, Sade is the band whose lead singer goes professionally by Sade Adu.
She’s one of the few artists who can drop off the face of the Earth and return years later to just as much acclaim and love as before.
I had to include Sade because she has been on a 10-year cycle of giving us studio albums, with “Lovers Rock” in 2000 and “Soldier of Love” in 2010, so she’s due.
Kacey Musgraves: This country darling hasn’t made us wait as long as some others for new music, but given the critical success of 2018’s “Golden Hour,” which won the Grammy for album of the year, we miss her and it seems right for her to bless us beyond last year’s “The Kacey Musgraves Christmas Show.”
It seems like Musgraves feels our pain.
We could really use a rainbow hangin’ over our heads these days.
For your weekend
Three things to watch:
‘My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman’
Season three of David Letterman’s interview series features guests Dave Chappelle, Robert Downey Jr., Lizzo and Kim Kardashian West.
The new season is currently streaming on Netflix.
‘Once Upon a Snowman’
With the chill in the air, why not revisit one of “Frozen”‘s most beloved characters?
This spin-off short tells the origin story of Olaf, the innocent and insightful, summer-loving snowman from that franchise.
“Once Upon a Snowman” streams on Disney+ starting Friday.
‘Emily in Paris’
In it, Chicago marketing exec Emily Cooper, played by Lily Collins, moves to the City of Light, where she “embraces her adventurous new life while juggling work, friends and romance.”
“Emily in Paris” is currently streaming on Netflix.
Two things to listen to:
They’ve still got a right to party.
Surviving Beastie Boys members Michael “Mike D” Diamond and Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz are releasing a greatest hits album Friday.
“Beastie Boys Music” will include 20 of the hip-hop group’s classic tracks including “Paul Revere” and “No Sleep Till Brooklyn.”
It doesn’t get much funkier than Bootsy Collins.
His latest album, “The Power of the One,” includes collaborations with the likes of Snoop Dogg and saxophonist Branford Marsalis, though the pandemic is preventing jam sessions at the moment.
The album drops Friday.
One thing to talk about:
In watching shows like “The Voice” and “American Idol,” which have had to pivot to keep everyone safe, I’ve found them to be no less enjoyable. If anything, they seem MORE real because we all have had to change our way of working and being.
And as I sit safely in the house that I am blessed to call my home, I’m more grateful than ever that the show must and does go on.
Something to sip on
In watching the four-part docuseries “Seduced: Inside the Nxivm Cult” on Starz, I was reminded of how very human the human condition can be.
The series tells the story of the rise and eventual fall of the group that billed itself as a self-help organization through the eyes of former member India Oxenberg, getting at the heart of how thousands of people became involved with Nxivm.
Some of those in the series talk of simply wanting to find purpose and meaning in what ultimately turned into a nightmare for them.
Wanting to be better versions of ourselves and live in a better world is a quest I think many of us can relate to, and the series helped me see how easy it can be to lose our way.
We are all just trying to make it through, aren’t we?
Pop back here next Thursday for all the latest entertainment happenings that matter.