Category: Music

BANKS isn’t very analytical about this stuff. She’s a conduit and the music flows through her. We’re catching up over Zoom ahead of the release of her next studio album, Off With Her Head. Knockout singles have included the fantastic “I Hate Your Ex-Girlfriend,” featuring PAPER cover star and recent Grammy winner Doechii. She’s also coming off the 10th anniversary of her debut Goddess, which pierced Billboard charts and became an instant classic amongst my generational cohort. I ask her … Continue reading “Banks Is Out of Her Head”

Ashe Kilbourne is loving “uncomfortably empty” soundscapes. The hardcore queen, who’s been a staple of New York’s underground for years, gives her signature industrial bend this sense of restraint on the seven-track album If Not to Give a Fantasy. Out on her own label Hammerhead Records, Kilbourne’s latest project interrogates listeners’ relationships to the artists they love, encouraging a more spiritual connection that transcends quick hit, modern club music. Whether it’s the solemn bird song of “Loon Call” that rattles … Continue reading “Hardcore Queen Kilbourne Talks With Hannah Baer”

Raven Valentine’s album title Everybody Loves Raven is a manifestation of her relationship with the world to come. Today, the rising artist is known — and beloved — in the queer underground, but her debut project has legs to move her well beyond the community that raised her. Over 13 tracks, the rapper reckons with feeling “alone and hopeless at times,” having navigated death, homelessness, drug addiction and more along her journey as a trans woman. “But still we are … Continue reading “Raven Valentine's Debut Album in Her Own Words”

Billy The GOAT is celebrating love in all forms with his latest release, “Saturday Love.” On it, the queer DC emcee samples Cherrelle and Alexander O’Neal’s 1985 hit of the same name, which makes for a nostalgic foundation for him to freestyle on. “If loving you is wrong, then I don’t want to be right,” Billy raps, gliding effortlessly over a Young Yanabu-produced beat which he says recreates “that same feel good vibe” of the original decades later. The accompanying … Continue reading “Billy The GOAT's 'Saturday Love' Video Stars Lola Gorgeous Gucci”

It’s impossible to be across all the new music out each Friday. Luckily, PAPER is here to help you out: each week, we round up 10 of our favorite new songs from artists — emerging and established — to soundtrack your life. From the surreal to the sublime, these songs cover every corner of the music world. The only criteria: they all have to absolutely rip. Subscribe to our Sound Off Spotify playlist here and check out this week’s tracks, … Continue reading “Sound Off: 10 Songs You Need to Hear Now”

Grace VanderWaal is all grown up. The 21-year-old singer-songwriter and actress, who first captured our hearts as a ukulele-wielding prodigy on America’s Got Talent, is embracing her bratty, carefree side with her latest single, “Babydoll” — a sassy, unapologetic pop track featuring internet It Girl, Aliyah’s Interlude. It’s a playful, high-energy follow-up to her last release, the introspective “What’s Left of Me,” and a sign that VanderWaal is ready to let it all loose in this new chapter of her … Continue reading “Grace VanderWaal and Aliyah's Interlude Share 'Babydoll'”

Alex Porat is taking down all previous lovers who’ve wasted her time. The Toronto-based singer shares today “Face Like Yours,” the cathartic lead single off her forthcoming crushed! EP, due out June 27. “You’re so original for leaving me on read,” she sings on the guitar-pop track, at once tongue-in-cheek and scathing. “Know you peaked in high school, but it still goes to your head.” “Face Like Yours” is a “funny take on a bad situationship,” Porat tells PAPER. “It’s … Continue reading “Alex Porat Takes Down a Situationship With 'Face Like Yours'”

I’ve been there, done that, got the t-shirt (and the trauma) — Anna Shoemaker‘s new album Someone Should Stop Her is (unfortunately) preaching to the heartbroken choir. Recorded in Nashville and followed by the once NYC-based singer-songwriter’s move to sunnier pastures in LA, Shoemaker’s latest album enlists alt-pop melodies to bring us along for the sometimes volatile, always heartfelt ride. Lucky for us, all things, including post-love despair, must come to an end — so, after releasing her album last … Continue reading “Anna Shoemaker's Post-Break-Up Glow-Up Guide”

Rebecca Black has a gun, and she’s pointing it squarely at the pop zeitgeist. The cult pop folk heroine is back with her second full-length project, Salvation, on the heels of 2023’s Let Her Burn. The aforementioned gun can be seen in the album art for Salvation, and again in the lyric video for “Sugar Water Cyanide,” and again in the energetic presence of the album itself. Lusciously produced and piercingly evocative with its lyrical flourishes, the latest single offers … Continue reading “Rebecca Black Fires Back at Pop With 'Salvation'”

If you don’t know DoloRRes and Cherry Chola — two unconventional, norm-defying artists from Australia’s neo-club scene — here’s your chance to get familiar. Today, they announce JACUZZI, a mixtape of cross-cultural, rave-y reggaeton set to be released on March 13 via TRACKWORK. In the meantime, to satiate us as we await the tape, they’re premiering “Clandestina” on PAPER. The lead single to their mixtape, which also features Chilean-Australian artist Khya, delves into drugs, parasocial online tristes and “being slutty … Continue reading “DoloRRes and Cherry Chola Drop Digitally Damaged Club Track”