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The Best Time To Post On Instagram In 2024

Our Culture Mag & Partners
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The Best Time To Post On Instagram In 2024

In 2024, knowing the best times to post on Instagram is crucial for getting more likes and reaching more people. Instagram’s rules for showing posts keep changing, so it’s essential to determine when your followers are most active.

To find the best times, think about who follows you, where they live, and when they usually use Instagram. This includes considering their daily routines and when they’re likely to check their feed.

By understanding these patterns, you can ensure that your posts are seen by more people. This guide will help you figure out the correct times to post to get the most out of your Instagram presence in 2024.

In the ever-evolving social media outlook, mastering the art of posting at the right time can significantly impact your Instagram engagement. As we navigate through 2024, understanding the best times to share your content on this popular platform remains crucial for maximizing reach and interaction.

Why Timing Matters In Posting On Instagram?

Understanding Instagram’s feed algorithm is critical to maximizing your post visibility 2024. The algorithm favors recent and relevant content, meaning your posts’ timing can significantly impact their reach. Strategic planning increases your chances of appearing on your followers’ feeds when they will most likely be online and engaged. While some consider buying Instagram followers to boost visibility, this approach can be beneficial to increase visibility, as in sometimes it will automatically start giving you authentic followers.

Timing your posts to coincide with your audience’s peak activity periods enhances the likelihood of engagement. Factors such as time zones, daily routines, and typical usage patterns should be considered to optimize visibility. For instance, posting during lunch breaks or in the evening when people are winding down can increase interaction rates.

Moreover, staying updated on algorithm changes or trends that influence when content is most visible is crucial. This proactive approach ensures your posts align with Instagram’s current priorities and user behaviors, maximizing their potential impact. By adapting your posting schedule based on these insights, you can enhance engagement, reach a broader audience, and ultimately achieve tremendous success on the platform.

Factors Influencing Post-Timing Of Instagram

Determining the optimal times to post on Instagram involves considering several key factors that influence audience engagement and visibility:

Audience Demographics

Understanding your audience’s demographics is crucial. Factors such as their geographic location, time zone differences, and daily routines significantly impact when they are active on Instagram. For instance, if your audience spans multiple time zones, you must schedule posts to reach them during peak activity hours.

Platform Insights

Instagram Insights provides valuable data on your audience’s online behavior. This tool offers insights into when your followers are most active throughout the day and week. Analyzing these patterns allows you to schedule your posts to maximize visibility and engagement. Adjusting your posting times based on these insights ensures that your content appears when your audience is most likely to interact with it.

Industry Trends

Trends within your industry or niche can significantly influence the optimal times to post on Instagram. By observing when competitors and influencers in your field share their content, you can gain valuable insights into when your target audience is most active. For instance, if your niche is fitness, posting during early morning or evening hours when people are most likely to be working out can result in higher engagement rates. 

Additionally, some users contemplate purchasing Instagram followers to boost engagement. Although not widely adopted, those who have tried it often see an immediate increase in followers, which might attract real followers and enhance their reach.

Seasonal and Cultural Events

Consider seasonal or cultural events that may influence user activity on Instagram. Holidays, festivals, or significant events can shift user behavior and impact optimal posting times. Aligning your content with these events can enhance relevance and increase the likelihood of engagement.

Testing and Iteration

Finding the best posting times may require experimentation and iteration. Test different posting schedules based on audience insights and observe how engagement metrics fluctuate. Over time, you can refine your strategy to deliver content that resonates most with your audience consistently.

By incorporating these factors into your Instagram strategy, you can optimize your posting schedule to enhance your content’s visibility, engagement, and overall effectiveness in reaching and resonating with your target audience.

Some General Guidelines For Posting Times

While specific optimal times can vary based on your unique audience, industry, and location, several general guidelines can help you determine when to schedule your Instagram posts:

  • Weekdays vs. Weekends: Weekdays generally see higher engagement levels than weekends, as many users check social media during work breaks or commutes. However, weekends may also present opportunities, depending on your audience’s habits.
  • Morning and Evening Peaks: Mornings between 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM and evenings from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM often witness peak engagement. These times coincide with when users wake up, commute, or relax after work, making them ideal for reaching a broad audience.
  • Lunchtime Lulls: Avoid posting during typical lunch hours (12:00 PM to 1:00 PM) when engagement decreases as people take breaks from their screens.
  • Experimentation and Adjustment: The best posting times are not set in stone and may require experimentation. Regularly reviewing your Instagram Insights and adjusting your posting schedule based on performance metrics can optimize your strategy.

Tailoring Your Post Strategy For Instagram

To refine your Instagram posting strategy for 2024:

  • Test Different Times: Conduct A/B testing by scheduling posts at various times to identify peak engagement periods for your specific audience.
  • Utilize Scheduling Tools: Use Instagram’s scheduling features or third-party tools to plan and automate posts, ensuring consistency even during off-peak hours.
  • Engage with Analytics: Continuously monitor and analyze your posts’ performance metrics to refine your strategy and capitalize on trends.

Final Thoughts: Best Times To Post On Instagram In 2024

In 2024, mastering the timing of your Instagram posts is crucial for maximizing engagement and expanding your reach. Key strategies include understanding your audience demographics, utilizing data-driven insights from tools like Instagram Insights, and staying attuned to industry trends. 

By aligning your posting schedule with when your audience is most active and receptive, you can optimize visibility and increase interaction with your content. This strategic approach not only enhances engagement but also helps maintain relevance and capture your target audience’s attention effectively on this influential platform.

Chvrches’ Iain Cook Remixes the Cranberries’ ‘Linger’

Konstantinos Pappis
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Chvrches’ Iain Cook Remixes the Cranberries’ ‘Linger’

Chvrches’ Iain Cook has reimagined the Cranberries’ 1993 single ‘Linger’. Listen to the remix below.

“When I got the stems, the first thing I did was listen to Dolores’ vocal tracks in isolation,” Cook explained in a statement. “Hearing those for the first time was magical; I was shocked by the intimacy and emotion in her performance. The first thing I did was to sit with the vocals on their own and rework the chords on piano. I often find that this is a great starting point with remixes as it helps you to shake off some associations that you have with the song, and this is a song which I’ve known and loved for over 30 years.”

Cranberries drummer Fergal Lawler commented: “Iain did an outstanding job in remixing ‘Linger.’ He reimagined the song completely, creating a fresh and upbeat version of this classic.” He added, “Dolores’s original vocal is retained and sounds so beautiful and vulnerable at times. I’m sure she would have loved it.”

Indy Yelich Unveils New Single ‘East Coast’

Konstantinos Pappis
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Indy Yelich Unveils New Single ‘East Coast’

Indy Yelich has returned with a new single, ‘East Coast’. It marks her first new music since her 2023 debut EP Threads. According to a press release, the songs finds the New Zealand-born singer-songwriter drawing inspiration from none other than her sister, Lorde. Listen to it below.

“I wrote East Coast after a toxic on-and-off relationship finally came to an end,” Yelich explained in a statement. “I had been traveling back and forth from NY to LA every couple of weeks, and it was taking a toll on me. Arguments over the phone, codependency across two coasts, and I just had this moment where I was driving along the PCH with friends and I was getting all these long text messages, and I just felt like throwing my phone out the window. I was in my early twenties, but he wanted me to be such a grownup, and I just wanted to be free and to create music that I love.”

“While I have such a strong sense of identity in New York, I’m sacrificing that peace to go to California consistently to pursue a career,” she added. “East Coast is an ode to saying goodbye to something that no longer serves you.”

Album Review: Mabe Fratti, ‘Sentir que no sabes’

Konstantinos Pappis
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Album Review: Mabe Fratti, ‘Sentir que no sabes’

Mabe Fratti understands improvisation as part of human nature, a conduit to our chaotic inner lives. “With myself, I sometimes can be very neurotic in my everyday life, but there are moments where I feel extremely fluent and that’s when I feel extremely comfortable,” the Guatemalan cellist told us in 2021, and this flow naturally extends to her playing. “I see improvisation as a means to understand yourself better, or even enrich or nourish yourself.” As much as it burrows reflexively inwards, her music exists and arises as a product of deliberation and communication – on a purely technical level, her latest album, Sentir que no sabes, was built around conversations with her partner and Titanic bandmate Hector Tosta (aka I. La Católica), which would last “until things became inevitable.” Through it, the boundaries of the mind and its surroundings become elastic, but rather than creating a gap between the artist and the listener, Fratti’s fertile imagination acts as the bridge. The results are raw, startling, and liberating.

n press materials, Fratti is quick to identify the quality that differentiates Sentir que no sabes – her fourth solo record in the span of five years – from her previous material: groove. But it’s not an upbeat kind of groove, or one denoting a shift towards pop, but rather the throb of that neurotic awareness. Under a different headspace, the opener ‘Kravitz’ might have loomed into view with a shadowy crawl, but as Fratti transforms her plucked cello into a thundersome instrument, it pummels and stabs – fitting for a song expressing fear about someone listening not just on the other side of the wall, but inside it. A more interpersonal kind of anxiety powers another single, ‘Enfrente’, which, along with one of the most dynamic arrangements on the album, also puts forward its most memorable refrain, though one whose lyrical interiority is aptly represented in the lyric sheet through parentheses. The rhythm here is once again one of trepidation, but Fratti and Tosta are keen to switch things up, driving the song home with some actual drum and bass.

There’s a dance, here, between the nervous emotion in these songs and the musicians’ in-your-face confidence. What jabs at you in Fratti’s music is usually a deft instrumental decision, but ‘Quieras o no’ does so through the introduction of a vocoder that wraps a noose around her voice – a warbled, deeper yearning that tiptoes into a delicate melody. The effect is repurposed on ‘Alarmas olvidadas’, where the house itself is granted a line of dialogue, The song slowly tumbles into the sky before falling into an elegiac conclusion; it should sound like defeat, but it’s almost like a revelation. There’s no lesson other than to understand that everything was a mess, Fratti sings on ‘Pantalla azull’, yet she’s capable of making the whole mess sound like a relief. That’s not to say there’s no ambivalence: on ‘Intento fallido’, she makes her demands clear – I don’t want you around me anymore – before the music, her own instrument, taunts her back. “Y me deshago ante tí.” And I fall apart before you.

Lyrically, Fratti is becoming more expressive and exacting in her songs, which also comes as result of Tosta asking about their meaning. Rather than getting lost in the tangle of words, their heightened vulnerability bleeds into her performance. Two minutes into another lurching song, the closer ‘Angel nuevo’, her soft background vocals are superimposed with a radiant bellow, unlike most anything an experimental artist not named Björk would dare put in a track. Fratti is intensely conscious of how ideas morph and grow throughout the making and duration of a song, a process for which ‘Alivios inventados’ serves as a metaphor: “Acelero enloquecida/ Busco refugio en el cielo/ Que no importa si no existe/ Si lo puedes inventar,” Fratti sings. (“I accelerate madly/ I seek refuge in heaven/ It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t exist/ If you can invent it.”) It’s this proposition she believes in most fervently, this mad hunt that makes the confusion in her music not just bright, but incandescent.

Air Join Remy Bond on New Single ‘Summer Song’

Konstantinos Pappis
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Air Join Remy Bond on New Single ‘Summer Song’

19 year-old singer-songwriter Remy Bond has released a new single, ‘Summer Song’. Air’s Jean-Benoît Dunckel co-wrote the song, and both members of the band perform on it. the Virgin Suicides-inspired track was produced by Suki Waterhouse collaborator Jules Apollinaire. Check it out via the accompanying video below.

“It’s very much an American song lyrically, reminiscing on the essence of the late ’60s and early ’70s,” Bond said of ‘Summer Song’ in a press release. “I have endless love for Sharon Tate & the American sweethearts of the time, but I didn’t want it to be so super apple pie, so I reached out to Air, which bought in rich new elements and sounds, as well as my British producers, who really brought a seasoned perspective to the project.”

Interview Wenqi Zou

Abbie Wilson
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Interview Wenqi Zou

Wenqi is a visual artist and researcher whose practice and studies focus on issues of female identity politics and public health care. After graduating from Royal College of Arts, she attempt to inspire these forgotten objects and methods used in witchcraft and legends for medical purposes, to create a generous, generative space infused with female energy, and to evoke these stigmatized non-traditional healing models and practices.  She tries to reassemble these liminal elements by incorporating personal experiences and speculative common gestures while reattempting to refine these past narratives of women’s healthcare.

Your sculpture series is based on FEMINIST NEW MATERIALIST and QUEER BOTANY, could you elaborate on their specific meanings and your understanding of these two topics?

In the practical framework of FEMINIST NEW MATERIALIST, material is considered to be the emergence of relations in a constant shifting and dynamic intertwining, rather than a property of the thing itself. It is active, self-generated, unstable, and has the potential for pluralism and infinite openness. At the same time, this notion of overthrowing convention in favor of chaos, breaking down many existing barriers and boundaries, and confronting the interdependence between the body and the material (including materiality or the body itself) is what is perceived as feminist in character. My sculptural practice is deeply inspired by this concept. I see these experiences as a process of re-creating sensory and perceptual pathways, both in terms of the imagery presented by the narrative of plants themselves, and in choosing to work with materials that match the ethos of such narrative. I have been attempting to enable these artworks to generate a spacious, healing and resilient space of feminine energy that allows illness to rearrange the emotional and physical embodiment in unpredictable ways.

Meanwhile, the idea that QUEER ECOLOGY challenges heterogeneous ecology from a non-normative and gendered stance echoes my understanding of the historical narratives behind these herbs used for therapy purposes. Namely, these narratives were born out of an established historical script, generated under perspectives that include and are not limited to, for example, anthropocentrism, heterosexuality, cisgender masculinity. Thus we can clearly see how natural and marginalized social groups have been historically exploited. I try to draw on these stories while subverting and resisting the prejudices and categorizations that these stories and interpretations produce through the means of practice and “making things”. QUEER ECOLOGY offers a new way of rethinking how I see myself, my relationship to nature and my ability to relate to it, and to move away from human cultural assumptions about how nature should be interpreted.

Untitled，2023
Resin, Wool, Silicone, Glass
91.4cmx80.6cmx31cm

I noticed that some of your research is related to people with chronic diseases. What motivated you to focus on issues related to people with chronic diseases and body perception?

It started simply because I am a patient with chronic illness myself. My years of experience in the clinic made me realize that a large number of women are facing the same dilemma as I was. The status quo of failure to be cured, and the experience of failed visits, left these women passively gaining control and agency over their illnesses by opting out and withdrawing from the healthcare system. Even though chronic illness is particularly prevalent among women, the gender-unequalized medical environment often leads physicians to regard women’s symptoms as the product of anxiety, depression, or being “all in their heads”.

I believe it is important for this group to be able to identify and voice the pain associated with illness, as well as to validate and re-narrate the existence of chronic illnesses through art outside the healthcare field, thus allowing this group to reclaim their identity. This vision has led me to practice and work in this context in recent years.

Untitled，2023
Epoksi Resin, Glass, Illuminator for X-ray
58.2cmx28.5cmx13.2cm

Your work is inspired by Silphium, how did you learn about this plant? And why do you use it as a model for your work?

My interest in herbs originated when I was treated with a lot of herbs for my condition, which inspired me to learn more about herbs for women’s ailments. I then researched numerous records and stories from around the world. I traced the possible presence of estrogens in plant species of the past and examined their interactions with women and social culture. Among them, Silphium, as a herb that only existed in Roman times, its juice caused uterine contractions or damaged the endometrium, and was used as an aphrodisiac or for “purifying the uterus” by people of the time. Its rumored effects led to the use of its seed shape to refer to love, the product of sex and affection, in the form of the heart symbol that is widely used today. The composite narrative and mythic associations that have been given to Silphium are, in my opinion, a good example of the need to reevaluate our understanding of the plant today and re-examine the links between plant biology and cultural practice models through the eyes of the underprivileged.

Untitled，2023
Resin, Wool, Silicone, Glass
80cmx48cmx41cm

You work across a wide range of mediums, which medium is your favorite or the one you rely on the most and why?

I enjoy the experience of “making things” that sculpture gives me, and the feeling of giving new narratives and life to the objects. During the process of creation I fully allow my physical perception of the material to guide my thinking and consideration of the work, and often I can’t predict the final visual effect of the material experimentation. This is an experiential process and state that is difficult to achieve when using digital medium.

As a research-oriented art practitioner, sculpture is a medium that allows me to circumvent the limitations of language and theory during research. The power of sculpture allows me to better explore and feel artistry and experiential perception itself on the practical path

In your statement, you wrote that “herbs with estrogenic components have often been given a specific patriarchal colonial capitalist narrative”. What do you think is the reason for this phenomenon and how does it affect your creative direction and research thinking?

The fact is that not only herbs used for healing, histories and narratives related to women’s care around the world have been characterized in this way. In the past, whether rooted in science or supernature, women have always been a central player in healing. Therefore healthcare has always been our heritage and history as women and part of our birthright. Traditional female midwives, plants, and the medical artifacts they used were even considered witchcraft at times. These female therapists saw the life of plants and textiles as something with information and intention, transcending patriarchal colonial capitalism’s assertion of the merely material, and in the process finding space to reimagine the human experience. It was not even until the early 1970s that feminists began to realize the many ways in which the modern medical system mistreated or treated female therapists and caregivers unjustly. These historical backgrounds and contexts are rooted in the direction and path of my work. In the future, I will expand my work beyond plants to include discussions of natural energies, objects, rituals, and other related elements.

Punctum，2023
Photography Installation

Okay Kaya Announces New Album, Unveils New Single ‘Undulation Days’

Konstantinos Pappis
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Okay Kaya Announces New Album, Unveils New Single ‘Undulation Days’

Okay Kaya has shared the details of her fourth LP, Oh My God – that’s so me, along with the single ‘Undulation Days’. The follow-up to 2022’s SAP will be out September 8, and it includes the recent single ‘The Groke’. Check out the animated video for ‘Undulation Days’, directed by Daniel Zvereff, and find the album cover (courtesy of Colby Sadeghi) and tracklist below.

After moving to a new island home last year, Kaya handled much of the composition and production of the new album herself. “Only accessible by boat, the island created a set of limitations, from collaboration opportunities to access to mainland activities, that became a tool for the creation of the record,” according to a press release. “Alone-time enabled her to abstract concepts of multi-platform existence and the reality of navigating the make-believe in art.”

Oh My God – that’s so me Cover Artwork:

Oh My God – that’s so me Tracklist:

1. The Wannabe
2. Picture This
3. Check Your Face
4. Oh Minutiae
5. Undulation Days
6. Help, I’ve Been Put Into Context!
7. And I Have a Blessed Life
8. My Berenice
9. Spacegirl (Shirley’s)
10. The Groke
11. Den Samme Jodlen
12. The Art of Poetry

Desire Release New Single ‘Dangerous Drug’

Konstantinos Pappis
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Desire Release New Single ‘Dangerous Drug’

Desire have dropped a new single, ‘Dangerous Drug’, which will appear on their upcoming album Games People Play – our October 2 via Italians Do It Better. It follows the previously released singles ‘Vampire’, ‘Human Nature’, and ‘Darkside’. Listen to it below.

Albums Out Today: Megan Thee Stallion, Loma, Sour Widows, Mabe Fratti, and More

Konstantinos Pappis
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Albums Out Today: Megan Thee Stallion, Loma, Sour Widows, Mabe Fratti, and More

In this segment, we showcase the most notable albums out each week. Here are the albums out on June 28, 2024:

Megan Thee Stallion, MEGAN

Megan Thee Stallion is back with a new album. MEGAN, the follow-up to 2022’s Traumazine, was promoted with the singles ‘Cobra’, ‘Hiss’, and ‘Boa’.” I was inspired to create this album about rebirth because I feel I am becoming a new person physically and mentally,” the rapper told, Women’s Health. “[Snakes are] feared, misunderstood, respected, healing.” And in a teaser, she said, “Just as a snake sheds it skin, we must shed our past, over and over again.”

Loma, How Will I Live Without a Body?

Loma have released their third LP, How Will I Live Without A Body?, via via Sub Pop. The follow-up to 2020’s Don’t Shy Away was preceded by the singles ‘How It Starts’, ‘Pink Sky’, and ‘Affinity’. Speaking about the album’s elusive lyrical perspective, the band’s Emily Cross said in our Artist Spotlight interview: “I don’t think I have a clear picture of who Loma lady is. I just know that she’s different from me. She would do things slightly differently than I would. But she still has aspects of my personality because there are things that I definitely have opinions about that I won’t budge on, and that’s definitely coming from me. But I think it’s just about her living within the Loma world, and we usually have a pretty clear picture of what that world is.”

Sour Widows, Revival of a Friend

Bay Area band Sour Widows have dropped their debut LP, Revival of a Friend, which is due June 28 on Exploding in Sound. The trio cited Joni Mitchell, Duster, Bedhead, and Slint as some of the influences behind the LP, which was previewed by the tracks ‘Witness’, ‘I-90’, ‘Cherish’, ‘Staring into Heaven/Shining’, and ‘Big Dogs’. “I started struggling with my mental health in my late teens, and the loss of my partner at age 21 – as well as the tumult of our relationship – exacerbated those issues,” Maia Sinaiko explained in a statement about ‘Cherish’. “I was a very angry person, and I went through several years of being emotionally volatile. Both wanting to connect and be seen while being enraged at the state of my life, I would lash out just to make contact with someone, even if that contact was hurtful. To cherish something is to love it for all that it is.”

Mabe Fratti, Sentir que no sabes

Mabe Fratti has issued her latest album, Sentir que no sabes, via Unheard of Hope. The follow-up to 2022’s Se Ve Desde Aquí includes the previously unveiled tracks ‘Enfrente’, ‘Kravitz’, ‘Pantalla azul’, and ‘Quieras o no’. The LP was written and recorded with her partner, multi-instrumentalist, and co-composer Héctor Tosta, with whom Fratti released a collaborative LP, Vidrio, under the name Titanic in 2023. “We talked and talked, and discussed ways of playing and recording, until things became inevitable,” Fratti explained in press materials. “We recorded a bunch of demos at our home studio and that meant we had a lot of time to re-edit and experiment. We really dug in. We were super focused on detail.”

Camila Cabello, C,XOXO

Camila Cabello has dropped her fourth studio LP, C,XOXO. The pop singer offered an early taste of the album with the singles ‘I Luv It’ featuring Playboi Carti, ‘He Knows’ with Lil Nas X, and ‘Chanel No.5’. “It’s really sitting in the discomfort of things and realizing there’s not gonna be a neat, in-a-box answer,” Cabello said of the record on the Call Her Daddy podcast. “”I feel strong in these ways, weak in these ways, and there’s no real clear answer here. But the album process has been such a journey. It started out with me having that intention of going back to how it started for me, which was just sitting with myself and really getting back to that first passion of songwriting. Nerding out over references and artists and poetry — whatever — and really tapping into that.” Read our review of C,XOXO.

MILLY, Your Own Becoming

Los Angeles quartet MILLY have come out with their sophomore album, Your Own Becoming, via Dangerbird. It was produced by Sonny DiPerri and features the advance tracks ‘Drip From the Fountain’, ‘Spilling Ink’, ‘Bittersweet Mary’, and ‘Running the Madness’. “We wanted to make something really special and really big,” the band’s Brendan Dyer said in a press release. “We wanted to kind of just elevate everything as much as possible. I grew up on slowcore but for this record, I just wanted to make things super-straightforward. No convoluted parts, no bullshit. I just wanted to make something that would explode.”

The Folk Implosion, Walk Thru Me

The Folk Implosion – the duo of Lou Barlow and John Davis – have returned with their first album in over two decades. Out now via Joyful Noise, Walk Thru Me was promoted with the singles ‘My Little Lamb’, ‘Bobblehead Doll’, and ‘Moonlit Kind’. Barlow and Davis worked on the album remotely, with help from producer Scott Solter. “Because we’re so separate, part of this album is me desperately trying to telepathically communicate to John and Scott, who are 700 miles away from me,” Barlow explained in a statement. “A big part of what I consider to be the Folk Implosion is taking disparate things and turning them into pop.”

Channel Tres, Head Rush

Channel Tres’s long-awaited debut LP, Head Rush, has arrived. It boasts features from Barnery Bones, Estelle, Ravyn Lenae, Teezo Touchdown, Thundercat, Toro Y Moi, Ty Dolla Sign, and Watr. “I’m older now, and the things that I’ve accomplished tell me I’m ready to do this,” the artist said in a press release. “You’ve worked your whole life for this, you’ve been able to do these shows and walk into these rooms and make these songs. There’s no reason you have to live by the same insecurity that you had to use in years past.” The singles ‘Berghain’ and ‘Cactus Water’ preceded the album.

Queen of Jeans, All Again

Philadelphia’s Queen of Jeans have put out their latest LP, All Again, via Memory Music. Following 2019’s if you’re not afraid, I’m not afraid and 2022’s Hiding in Place EP, the album finds the group once again working with Grammy-nominated producer Will Yip. It’s also their first with drummer Patrick Wall and bassist Andrew Nitz on the lineup.

Previous Industries, Service Merchandise

Previous Industries – the project of frequent collaborators Open Mike Eagle, Video Dave, and Still Rift – have dropped their debut full-length, Service Merchandise, through Merge Records. The majority of the LP was produced by Child Actor, with the exception of two songs produced by Quelle Chris and one by Smoke Bonito. The album, which revolves around the subject of defunct American retail chains, also features guest verses from Queen Herawin on ‘Montgomery Ward’ and Quelle Chris on ‘Dominick’s’.

Omar Apollo, God Said No

Omar Apollo has released his new album, God Said No, via Warner Records. The album follows his 2022 debut album Ivory and features the early singles ‘Spite’, ‘Less Of You’, ‘Dispose of Me’. It boasts guest contributions from Mustafa on ‘Plane Trees’ and actor Pedro Pascal on ‘Pedro’. Apollo worked on the new record at London’s Abbey Road Studios with producers Teo Halm, Carter Lang, and Blake Slatki. It was then refined across studios in Los Angeles, New York, and Miami towards the end of 2023.

Lil Yachty and James Blake, Bad Cameo

Lil Yachty and James Blake have joined forces for a new LP, Bad Cameo. “I think what people might not know about this record is that most of the songs started by me playing him a piece of beatless ambience and then him literally just writing a song in about under 20 seconds,” Blake said in a recent Apple Music interview. “It was crazy. I think that’s something that people might not realize about [Yachty] is that yes, he can come out and rage and the whole, you can see some of his shows, the energy of his shows is insane, but also you put a different style of music in front of him and he’ll just write the most beautiful song you’ve ever heard.”

Other albums out today:

Dirty Three, Love Changes Everything; Washed Out, Notes From a Quiet Life; Asher White, Home Constellation Study; Guided By Voices, Strut of Kings; Hiatus Kaiyote, Love Heart Cheat Code; Headie One, The Last One; Cornelius, Ethereal Essence; Prefuse 73, New Strategies For Modern Crime Vol. 2; Imagine Dragons, LOOM; Joy Again, Song and Dance; Laughing, Because It’s True; Silverada, Silverada; Lupe Fiasco, Samurai; Boldy James & Conductor Williams, Across the Tracks; Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, South of Here; Still Woozy, Loveseat; 200 Stab Wounds, Manual Manic Procedures; BODYSYNC, Nutty; Gabriel Birnbaum, Patron Saint of Tireless Losers; Aaron Frazer, Into the Blue; Oh Hiroshima, All Things Shining; Homeshake, Horsie; Suss, Birds & Beasts; Liana Flores, Flowers of the Soul; Frances Forever, Lockjaw; Conny Frischauf, Kenne Keine Töne; Bartosz Kruczyński, Dreams & Whispers.

Album Review: Camila Cabello, ‘C,XOXO’

Otis Robinson
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Album Review: Camila Cabello, ‘C,XOXO’

Negative discourse suffocated Camila Cabello’s fourth output, C,XOXO, from the get-go. The ex-Fifth Harmony member – the most divisive figure from the cohort – had always existed in perpetuity among the tumultuous valleys of online fandom (where die-hard accolade battles despairing dissenters), even despite the near-critical acclaim of her first three records. This time around was no different. Watched by an arguably harsher gaze than her mainstream peers, it’s no surprise that C,XOXO – this, her most modern and interesting attempt yet – was steeped in criticism well before the record hit shelves.

It did at least make a little sense as to why: a stark careening to hyperpop was the first cataclysm for Cabello. In March 2024, album lead ‘I LUV IT’ (featuring Playboi Carti) was teased across social media, subsequently dropping into incensed controversy among listeners. Undoubtedly inspired – its visual and sonic similarities to Charli XCX’s ‘I Got It’ were the primary cause for conflagration – purveyors of hyperpop branded Cabello inauthentic and the track an audacious attempt by a mainstream artist to ride the well-established underground coattails of the experimental PC Music-born sub-genre. Not only this, but audiences decreed the track a brazen attempt to shadow this year’s cool girl, XCX, whose apparent jabs against Cabello further fanned the flames of public opinion. Amid trolling and critical panning, Cabello persisted. The track was at the very least exciting: its icy futurism and alt-pop approach indeed an intriguing path for the well-established Cabello to turn to.

But this new direction confused angered audiences. “Not sure if I should be hyped or scared that Camila is adopting the hyperpop aesthetic, doesn’t feel genuine. Feels like gentrification but like… I wanna hear the music,” one X user tweeted prior to the roll-out. Later singles ‘HE KNOWS (feat. Lil Nas X)’ and ‘Chanel No. 5’ did not improve perceptions of her foray into the genre, stamped as worse than her first try. And yet, for all this discourse, the record is not nearly the hyperpop effort it became known to be: aside that infamous cut, with all its overt Charli XCX copycatting and its loosely inspired follow-ups, there’s actually very little in the way of true hyperpop across C,XOXO. A confused mix of erratic and digitally affected alt-pop, pop rap and, strangely, reggaeton, yes; a bandwagon ride atop trending sonics, yes; but anything that closely resembles a Charli XCX record, no. That’s not to say C,XOXO isn’t steeped in awkward performance.

Largely, what’s missing from C,XOXO isn’t a wealth of modern ideas – they’re, impressively, very present, from the strange off-piste Poor Things-esque piano and overworked autotune on ‘Chanel No.5’, to the vibrant infusion of reggaeton with those too-few signs of makeshift hyperpop – but a consistent adhesion to one idea. Without it, C,XOXO slugs and sprints sonically from one atmospheric tone to the next, its highs and lows too close to one another to make any sense, genres slapped against the wall to see what sticks. Then, that reggaeton second act – assertive and fun – is confused by insincerity. Between, ‘Koshi XOXO’ sees rapper BLP KOSHER confess over airy synths the impact of Camila’s music during periods of heartache and grief, a 47-second concussive testimonial that distastefully insists upon Cabello’s emotional and sonic gratification. Immediately after, two out-of-place Drake features feel more like his own rejects than Cabello tracks, and her sense of identity becomes awash among the unrealised ideas of other artists and their voices, her own daydreamy impression of the record’s cultural impact alienating the listener completely.

But C,XOXO is never too explicitly uncool in its tireless efforts to be so – in fact, some career highlights lie here, immortalised in controversial and uncertain direction, suffocating under audience despair, hidden from the limelight. Not since ‘Never Be the Same’ has Cabello displayed such melodic prowess than on album closer ‘June Gloom’, yet it’s uncertain the track’s edge can break the surface of the discourse which drowns it – and its lyricism is largely, well, entirely uncool. Had Cabello’s fourth stuck to its initial promise – an elusive, divisive hyperpop imitation record – there’d be a longer rope to cling to: at the record’s best, where the genre’s experimental influence shines through (see the twangy post-country of ‘Twentysomethings’, the strangely subversive and affecting sampling of Pitbull’s ‘Hotel Room Service’ on ‘B.O.A.T’, or aforementioned career highlight ‘June Gloom’) so too does Cabello. But, as the sum of its parts, there’s the impression C,XOXO was tugged by one-too-many ideas; here, Cabello appears uncertain whose voice to imitate, too caught up in becoming the it-girl than being her. C,XOXO, its surface only lightly wetted by the digital pop freedom that clearly inspired it, certainly offers enough critical intrigue and zeitgeisty pop to be notable – and will undeniably appease devoted fans – but in treading new waters and casting a wider net, Cabello’s artistry at times becomes lost in translation.

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