Just Jaded Weekly

April 30th, 2021

Written By: Joanna Serrano

New Music Monday: The Weeknd with Ariana Grande

The Weeknd with Ariana Grande is always a win in my book! This week for New Music Monday I had to touch on yet another amazing collaboration by this dynamic duo on a remix of The Weeknd’s hit single “Save Your Tears”, which was released on Friday, April 23, 2021.

Although this is their first collaboration on one of The Weeknd's singles, this is the duo's third collaboration. The first of these being on Grande's 2014 hit single from her second studio album, My Everything, "Love Me Harder". The next was the breathtaking ballad on her most recent 2020 studio album, Positions, "Off The Table".

What fans know and love about these two is how much they contribute as both song writers and vocalists to their collaborations. Unlike many collabs nowadays, which mainly only hold one verse from the featured artist and occasionally an adlib or two, Grande and The Weeknd equally share vocals within their tracks. This can be seen through the 2014 duet, “Love Me Harder”, which was mainly written by The Weeknd, and shares an equal amount of vocals from both artists. Both The Weeknd and Grande, however, did their fair share of writing on the 2020 track, “Off The Table”, which Grande mentioned in her 2020 interview with Zach Sang on “The Zach Sang Show”. She described their virtual, and separate, writing process during the COVID-19 pandemic where he listened to Grande’s portion of the track, and sent back his interpretation of the story that the song portrays, which she loved. This work dynamic between the two reigns true in this remix where the original second verse was scrapped and replaced with new lyrics written by Grande, which displays their attention and care towards their craft.

Moving on, what isn't there to love about this remix? If there’s one thing we know and love about a collab by these two, it is that they will never fail to provide amazing layering and harmonies, which is seen all throughout this track. What adds another level to this 80’s inspired tune is the addition of Grande’s gentle background vocals on top of the instrumentals. This simple touch gives the track more dimension and almost makes you forget the song wasn’t intended to include them in the first place.

Again, there is so much to say about this amazing remix to “Save Your Tears”. A collab by The Weeknd and Ariana Grande never fails to deliver! What’s been your favorite they’ve done? Let us know!

Artist Rec Friday:

Happy Friday Jaded babes! We’ve got yet another amazing artist to show you all on this lovely Artist Rec Friday, and her name is GRAE!

Are you a fan of artists like Lana Del Rey, Clairo, and Halsey? Then be sure to check out GRAE! GRAE is a 22 year old Canadian-based artist whose chill, bedroom-pop sound is exactly what you want to be blasting on your next road trip this summer! Her most recent single, “Spinning”, which was released on April 7th of this year, is filled with new age meets 80’s pop influences and will have you obsessed! Need something SOFTer to listen to? Then check out her other latest single, “Soft”, which was released on February 10th of this year! Both of these tracks surround the theme of young love; how it makes you feel warm inside and move in a positive direction.

Now, let’s not leave out GRAE’s amazing 2020 track, “Permanent Maniac”, which created buzz for the artist on the popular social media platform TikTok from fans of The Cure. GRAE has never been shy to mention her love for the band, particularly the lead vocalist and guitarist, Robert Smith. In fact, this song has been labelled as her “love letter” to the rock artist. This lighthearted and fun love song definitely created some buzz for her, and her sophomore EP by the same name, Permanent Manic.

GRAE’s first release was her debut EP titled New Girl, which was released in 2019. Although the artist has yet to release a full-length studio album, her two EP’s and latest single give us a taste of the talent we can expect when she does release one (hopefully soon)!

Be sure to stay updated with GRAE on her musical journey, I know I will!

May Releases - Three Debuts We’re Eager to Hear

Summer is coming up, which means summer playlists, road trip playlists, and plenty of time on our hands to soak up all the new music we can get! The month of May has some exciting releases that we can't wait for, including three highly anticipated debut albums!

First off, this upcoming month is supplying us with some amazing debut albums. The first being released today, the same day this blog will be posted, April 30th. Now, this technically does not count as a May release but I had to include it because you know we are Julia Michaels stans here at Jaded! Michaels will be releasing her first full length studio album today titled Not In Chronological Order. The project has a total of ten tracks, two of which being her already released singles, “Lie Like This” and “All Your Exes”, and her recently released track, “Love is Weird”. If you haven’t already checked out our previous blog post on Michaels, where we featured her as our Artist Rec Friday, you definitely should!

Next up, we have Ashe! The indie-pop singer will be releasing her debut album, Ashlyn, on May 7th, which includes her already released track “When I’m Older” and her smash duet “Till Forever Falls Apart” with FINNEAS. Ashe has previously released three EP’s, including her 2018 debut EP, The Rabbit Hole. She received much more hype in the media after her single, “Moral of the Story”, was featured in the hit 2020 Netflix film To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before: P.S. I Still Love You, so much so that our favorite, Irish One Direction heartthrob, Niall Horan, decided to join her on the track with a feature later that year. Speaking of collabs, don’t forget to check out our previous blog post, “Dynamic Duos”, where we discussed Ashe and her epic collab with FINNEAS!

Last but certainly not least, we must discuss our Disney+ princess, Olivia Rodrigo. Rodrigo will be releasing her debut album Sour on May 21st and we are beaming! The album contains eleven tracks, including her two hit singles, “Drivers License” and “Deja Vu”. During her recent interview on the “Zach Sang Show”, Rodrigo disclosed that her original intention was to go the traditional route and release a debut EP rather than an album, but the overwhelming success of her debut single, “Drivers License”, clearly showed her that her fans were hungry for her music. It was then that she and her team decided to jump the gun and release a full album instead, and we are here for it! If you haven’t read our previous blog post on Rodrigio’s hit track “Deja Vu”, where we featured her as our New Music Monday, make sure to check it out!

Thanks for tuning in for another week of “Just Jaded Weekly”! Any other debut albums we might have missed? Let us know!