First Out: New Music From Tove Lo, 070 Shake, Wrabel & More
As the weather is heating up, so are the new singles from your favorite queer artists. Billboard Pride is proud to present the latest edition of First Out, our weekly roundup of some of the best new music releases from LGBTQ artists.
From Tove Lo’s stunning return to 070 Shake’s ethereal new track, check out just a few of our favorite releases from this week below.
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Tove Lo, “No One Dies From Love”
Just because heartbreak isn’t fatal doesn’t mean it can’t feel like it is. That’s the spirit Tove Lo embraces on her new single “No One Dies From Love,” an ’80s-tinged heartbreak anthem. With glittering synths backing her up and a vocoder breakdown bringing in the irresistible chorus, “No One Dies For Love” finds the pop vet in a vulnerable state where she succumbs to the pain of her breakup and decides to dance that pain away. “No one dies from love/ Guess I’ll be the first,” she sings.”Will you remember us?/ Or are the memories too stained with blood now?”
070 Shake, “Web”
For her latest single off of her upcoming album You Can’t Kill Me, 070 Shake is making one thing clear — she’s sick of small talk. As an eerie voice poses an inane question throughout the track (“What is your favorite flower? I wanna know”), the singer gets progressively more upset at the nature of this kind of conversation while a series of beats and synth pianos twinkle around her. Eventually, she bursts, letting the person on the receiving end know what she actually wants to do: “Don’t wanna get caught up/ Lookin’ at your skin,” she says. “And don’t you go get caught up/ In that spiderweb.”
Wrabel, “Closure”
Usually when pop singer-songwriter Wrabel sings about heartbreak, he’s the one being broken up with. “Closure” offers a confident, disco-fueled change of pace for the artist, as he stands up for himself and ends things before they get worse. As he grooves to a classic four-on-the-floor beat and driving bass line, the singer lets his love know that the magic is gone and they need to move on. “One of us gotta man up, one of us gotta stand up,” he wails on the pre-chorus. “And say something, tell the truth.”
Tove Styrke, “YouYouYou”
Ok, so we’ve got a lot of heartbreak anthems this week — why not take a dive into pure romantics? Tove Styrke’s new single “YouYouYou” is about nothing more than having someone who you cannot get out of your head no matter what. With a glitching backing melody and some truly out-of-this-world vocals, Styrke wails at her lover, wondering why she can’t stop thinking about them. “‘Cause anyone can come and sweep me off my feet, but/ It’s you you you on my mind,” she sings.
Alaska feat. Ts Madison, “I Am Her (She Is Me)”
Drag Race winner Alaska has never shied away from taking on new musical genres — so her new single “I Am Her (She Is Me)” suddenly leaning into a slick ’90s R&B vibe is certainly no surprise. Guest starring the iconic Ts Madison, “I Am Her (She Is Me)” quickly goes from being a single about finding your drag persona to a battle cry of female empowerment (in a time when we absolutely need it). It also helps that the song is catchy as hell, with Alaska crooning, “Anything you can imagine/ I can make it happen/ Tell myself that I’m her, she is me.”