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Review: Gracie Abrams's The Secret of Us gets served up as a special edition here and it marks her most expansive album yet. This ambitious project shows her growth as both a songwriter and vocalist and adds in already assured fan favourites like 'That's So True' and 'I Love You, I'm Sorry (Live From Vevo).' The record finds Abrams collaborating once again with Aaron Dessner and she also worked with her best friend Audrey Hobert on several tracks. Together they reflect the urgency of recounting a meaningful night to a close friend with live experiences over the past year shaping its narrative and sound. A nuanced pop album with plenty to explore.

Review: Over the course of her last few albums, Lana Del Ray has evolved into a significant chronicler of 21st century American life, with sharper-then-ever lyrics accompanied by fittingly haunting, downbeat and bittersweet musical arrangements. Blue Bannisters, which like so many albums released this year was written and recorded during lockdown, continues in a similar vein to its predecessors, with Del Ray's fragile, melancholic vocals being accompanied by ghostly synthesizer chords, striking piano motifs, drowsy aural textures, simmering strings, gentle guitars and occasional rhythmic nods to trip-hop. It's more bittersweet than intense, but undeniably a creative response to the most testing of times. Considered in those terms, it's a hugely impactful and entertaining album.

Review: Following 2020's acclaimed Women In Music Pt. III, which earned GRAMMY and BRIT nods, the LA-based American rock trio and sisters HAIM return with their bold fourth studio album on Polydor. Produced by Danielle Haim and Rostam Batmanglij, 15-tracker I Quit leans confidently into their noted classic rock influences while introducing fresh textures, including warped samples and stripped-back ballads. It's a record made for the stage as it is raw, dynamic and deeply rooted in their chemistry as live performers. The record reaffirms HAIM's place as modern rock trailblazers and is familiar yet evolving, so it will appeal to old fans and new ears with its fine balance of swagger and soul.

Review: Rebecca Taylor arrives at third album A Complicated Woman in a very different place to where she was before the release of her previous full-length, the Mercury Prize-nominated Prioritise Pleasure. Now a bona-fide pop star, the South Yorkshire chanteuse now has to deal with heightened expectations and her own experience of fame. By the sound of A Complicated Woman, she's handling both with aplomb. That's not to say that the lyrics avoid difficult subjects - her own worries remain front and centre - but the delightfully grandiose production, extensive use of choirs and orchestras, and Taylor's own penchant for penning stadium-sized sing-alongs deliver a maximal pop gem fitting her genuine star status. Rotherham's finest has never sounded so good (or, it should be added, explicit - there are some genuinely adult themes on display).

Review: One of the most startling aspects of Todd Philips' Joker sequel - aside from the creepy, claustrophobic, horror-leaning moodiness of Hildur Guonadottir's original score - was the director's decision to get its lead character to belt out cover versions of well-known songs, jukebox musical style. It's that aspect of the film's soundtrack that's showcased on this release, rather than Guonadottir's incredible score. Joaquim Phoenix and Lady Gaga, then, are the undoubted stars of the show, belting out - individually or collectively - such familiar favourites as 'That's Entertainment', 'That's Life', 'When You're Smiling (The World Smiles With You)' and 'To Love Somebody'.