Taylor Swift has unveiled the music video for her song ‘willow’, the opening track from her surprise new album evermore. Watch the self-directed clip below.
Recorded at Long Pond Studios, ‘willow’ was produced by The National’s Aaron Dessner and features orchestration by Bryce Dessner. evermore, a companion album to July’s folklore, was announced just yesterday. “To put it plainly, we just couldn’t stop writing songs,” Swift explained on social media. “To try and put it more poetically, it feels like we were standing on the edge of the folklorian woods and had a choice: to turn and go back or to travel further into the forest of this music. We chose to wander deeper in.”
In this segment, we showcase the most notable albums out each week. Here are the albums out on December 11, 2020:
Taylor Swift, evermore
Announced just yesterday, Taylor Swift has released a companion album to July’s folklore titled evermore. The 15-track LP features contributions from HAIM, Bon Iver, and the National and, as with her previous album, was made in collaboration with Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner. “To put it plainly, we just couldn’t stop writing songs,” Swift explained on social media. “To try and put it more poetically, it feels like we were standing on the edge of the folklorian woods and had a choice: to turn and go back or to travel further into the forest of this music. We chose to wander deeper in.” She added: “In the past I’ve always treated albums as one-off eras and moved onto planning the next one after an album was released. There was something different with folklore. In making it, I felt less like I was departing and more like I was returning.” Downloads of the album will come with a digital booklet containing 16 photos, while the physical deluxe edition also includes two additional tracks not attached to the digital version.
The Avalanches, We Will Always Love You
The Avalanches have returned with a new album called We Will Always Love You, out now via Astralwerks. The group’s much-anticipated follow-up to 2016’s Wildflower was described by a press release as “an exploration of the vibrational relationship between light, sound, and spirit” and features collaborations with a wide range of artists including Blood Orange, Rivers Cuomo, Pink Siifu, Denzel Curry, Tricky, Sampa the Great, Leon Bridges, Johnny Marr, MGMT, Jamie xx, Karen O, Kurt Vile, Mick Jones, and more. The cover artwork features an image by Ann Druyan, who is the Creative Director of the Voyager Golden Record Project, and whose “cosmic love story inspired this music.”
Kid Cudi, Man On The Moon III: The Chosen
Kid Cudi has dropped a new album titled Man On The Moon III: The Chosen, out now via Republic. The third in his Man On The Moon series, the album was announced earlier this week and features guest appearances from Skepta and the late Pop Smoke, as well as Trippie Redd and Phoebe Bridgers. The album’s predecessor, The Legend of Mr. Rager, came out in 2010, a year after the Cleveland rapper’s studio debut, Man on the Moon: The End of Day.
Coco Reilly, Coco Reilly
Singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and film composer Coco Reilly has come through with her debut self-titled record via her own label Golden Wheel. Released this Wednesday (December 9), the album was recorded three different times in multiple locations but was finished over three years ago with Grammy award-winning engineer Jeremy Ferguson (Cage The Elephant) at Battle Tapes studio in Nashville. Produced alongside Jerry Bernhardt (Erin Rae, Andrew Combs), the 9-track LP features contributions from Dom Billett on drums, Ian Ferguson on guitar, and Will Brown on keys, while ‘Mirror’ was co-written and performed alongside rising folk artist Erin Rae.
Other albums out today:
Boris with Merzbow, 2R0I2P0; Rosie Carney, The Bends; Guided By Voices, Styles We Paid For.
Jon Hopkins has shared a piano rendition of Thom Yorke‘s ‘Dawn Chorus’. The song originally appeared on the Radiohead frontman’s most recent solo album Anima, which came out last year. Listen to Hopkins’ cover below.
“I felt such bliss the first time I heard this piece — it seemed so mysterious and hypnotic, oblique but warm,” Hopkins said of ‘Dawn Chorus’ in a statement. “I thought there was so much beauty in that chord sequence that there was room to explore it on the piano and see what grew from it. One day in early April when everything was particularly quiet and surreal outside, I went into my studio for the first time in weeks and ended up recording the whole thing in one take. I left it very raw and upfront, with just some sub bass and vocal drones in the background.”
Taylor Swift is releasing a new album called evermore tonight (December 10). It’s out at midnight Eastern, and it features contributions from Haim, Bon Iver, and the National. In a tweet, Swift described the album as a companion to July’s folklore, and indicated that, as with that album, Aaron Dessner and Jack Antonoff are both prominent collaborators.
“Ever since I was 13, I’ve been excited about turning 31 because it’s my lucky number backwards, which is why I wanted to surprise you with this now,” Swift wrote. You’ve all been so caring, supportive and thoughtful on my birthdays and so this time I thought I would give you something!”
She added: “I loved the escapism I found in these imaginary/not imaginary tales. I loved the ways you welcomed the dreamscapes and tragedies and epic tales of love lost and found into your lives. So I just kept writing them. And I loved creating these songs with Aaron Dessner, Jack Antonoff, WB, and Justin Vernon. We’ve also welcomed some new (and longtime) friends to our musical kitchen table this time around…”
Also tonight, Swift will be releasing a video for the album track ‘willow’.
Ever since I was 13, I’ve been excited about turning 31 because it’s my lucky number backwards, which is why I wanted to surprise you with this now. You’ve all been so caring, supportive and thoughtful on my birthdays and so this time I thought I would give you something! pic.twitter.com/wATiVSTpuV
King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard have shared a new track called ‘If Not Now, Then When?’. The prolific psych rockers’ latest arrives with an animated music video directed by Dr. D Foothead. Check it out below.
“The song made me consider how individual action or inaction affects the world,” the New Zealand-based director explained in a statement. “What happens when our repressed pain, darkness and confusion manifest and influence our surroundings and relationships? I wanted to explore the journey of a character who has neglected their inner shadow, and how this energy manifests physically and becomes a force of its own.”
‘If Not Now, Then When’ follows on from the release of the group’s most recent studio album KG, which came out last month. Also in November, King Gizzard released a live album called Live In San Francisco ’16 along with a companion concert film.
Chance the Rapper has released a new song called ‘The Return’. It’s one of two new tracks on the upcoming deluxe edition of his and Jeremih‘s mixtape Merry Christmas Lil’ Mama, which is out tomorrow (December 11). Listen to it below.
Merry Christmas Lil Mama: The Gift That Keeps on Giving serves as the follow-up to last year’s Re-Wrapped. It also includes the previously unreleased song ‘Who’s To Say’.
Last year, Chance the Rapper put out his last album The Big Day, which is partially the subject of a new lawsuit from the rapper’s former manager Pat Corcoran. Jeremih was recently released from hospital following a life-threatening battle with COVID-19.
Troye Sivan has enlisted Kacey Musgraves and Mark Ronson for a new version of his summer single ‘Easy’. The new version, co-written by Musgraves, arrives with an accompanying music video directed by Bardia Zeinali. Check it out below.
Sivan teased the collaboration in November, saying he had “maybeeeeeee” had worked with “two of my fave artists of all time.” ‘Easy’ originally appeared on Troye Sivan’s In a Dream EP, which came out in August. Kacey Musgraves’ most recent album was 2018’s Golden Hour, while Mark Ronson released his latest record Late Night Feelings last year.
Ariana Grande has announced a new Netflix film capturing her Sweetener tour. Called excuse me, i love you, the concert film is scheduled to hit the streaming service on December 21 – exactly one year after the tour ended. The film’s trailer is set to drop later today (December 10); for now, check out the poster below.
“I know this project only captures some of one tour (out of all the other hundreds of shows and moments we have shared over the past six or seven years… jesus lol) but I just wanted to thank u all for showing me more in this lifetime already than I ever dreamed of,” the pop singer wrote on Instagram.
Grande recently put out her most recent album Positions. Earlier this month, she joined forces with Mariah Carey and Jennifer Hudson for a new version of ‘Oh Santa!’.
Bartees Strange has shared a cover of Samia‘s ‘Pool’. It’s taken from the upcoming compilation The Baby Reimagined, which features covers and remixes of songs from Samia’s debut album The Baby. Listen to Bartees Strange’s take on ‘Pool’ below.
Hayley Williams is the latest musician to perform on NPR’s Tiny Desk (Home) Concert series. Accompanied by a full band, featuring Julien Baker on guitar, singer-songwriter Becca Mancari on keyboards and backing vocals, collaborator Joey Howard on bass, and Aaron Steele on drums, the Paramore singer performed three songs from her debut solo record Petals for Armor: ‘Pure Love’, ‘Taken’, and ‘Dead Horse’. Watch the full set below.
Petals for Armor was released back in May. Julien Baker sang backup vocals on the album track ‘Roses/Lotus/Violet/Iris’, which also features Baker’s boygenius bandmates Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus.
Announced just yesterday, 
Singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and film composer Coco Reilly has come through with her 
