This Week's Must-Hear New Music Round Up: Frank Ocean (kinda), Tove Lo and Blossoms

Obviously, Frank Ocean’s new album should take precedent in this intro. But, at the time of writing, it’s not here, and the four-year reign of pain continues. When will Boys Don't Cry come out? Who knows? (Frank Ocean knows.) So instead of complaining, let’s just get on with talking about the biggest songs and albums that have dropped this week, all of which are of varying quality (Tove Lo = great. Britney = not so great).

SINGLES

Noname ft. Raury & Cam O'bi - 'Diddy Bop'

Just one of many artists associated with the world’s happiest person, Chance the Rapper, Noname has hit a home run with this joyous, confident new track.

https://soundcloud.com/noname/03-diddy-bop-ft-raury-cam-obi

Tove Lo – ‘Cool Girl’

Unlike Britney’s new song, Tove Lo’s ‘Cool Girl’ is really good. One of the best this week.

Tove Lo came into our office this week to talk getting her bum out on Twitter, fellow Swedish superstar Zara Larsson and whether Nick Jonas is still mad at us for not nominating him for their 'Close' video. Stay tuned to MTV for everything Tove Lo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYi4jkFpRBA

Britney Spears – ‘Private Show’

This track is the second taken from her upcoming ninth album, Glory. If you recognise this, congratulations! Your Britney-senses are on point. The track was originally used in a perfume advert for Spears’ scent of the same name.

Frank Ocean – Instrumentals from his Apple Music stream

Is it a little silly to include these on the list? Of course not. The instrumentals from Frank Ocean’s Apple Music live stream have been (thanks to this Souncloud user) uploaded and I am so grateful. They are absolutely gorgeous, especially the strings on ‘frank 17’, but the euphoric guitars on ‘frank 16’ are the highlight. Please play this one. It will make you feel incredible. Also, you won’t find better music to work to anywhere.

“TAKE ME TO HEAVEN, FRANK.”

https://soundcloud.com/thisisallexperimental/frank-16

Afrojack Ft. Ty Dolla $ign – ‘Gone’

Dutch DJ Afrojack has recruited Ty Dolla $ign for this summer-ready new song, ‘Gone’. It’s quite bouncy. Wondering how this pair came together? They revealed all in an interview with The FADER:

“I’ve been keeping up with Ty for a while and have wanted to work with him since his last record dropped,” he explained. “I love pushing boundaries and Ty brings a unique style to the game. It was time for something new—collaborating with him did just that.”

Now you know. Listen to ‘Gone’ below:

Tiësto & Mike Williams - ‘I Want You’

Another one from a Dutch DJ for you this week. They’re being very productive those Dutch DJs aren’t they? Tijs Michiel Verwest – better known as your friendly neighbourhood Tiësto – has teamed up with 19-year-old Mike Williams for this new house track. Listen to it below, or don’t. We don’t mind. It’s more or less what you’d expect from Tiësto.

ALBUMS

Frank Ocean – Boys Don’t Cry

Yeah. Maybe we should’ve just deleted this entry. Onto the Suicide Squad soundtrack!

Various artists - Suicide Squad: The album

Eminem. Kehlani. twenty one pilots. There are a tonne of huge names (Skrillex, Rick Ross and Lil Wayne are also on there) who have come together for the original soundtrack to the new movie, which is also out today. It’s a pretty special line-up.

We’re particularly happy over at MTV that Grimes, who released one of last year’s best albums, Art Angels, was recruited to bring in the goods. Her new track, entitled ‘Medieval Warfare’, is fast, fiery and a lot of fun.

DJ Snake - Encore

France’s DJ Snake (yes, the DJ Snake from ‘Lean On’) has released his debut album. Featuring collaborations with Skrillex, Bipolar Sunshine and up-and-comer Justin Bieber, expect to see a lot of this record in the charts over the next few weeks.

Blossoms - Blossoms

This month’s MTV PUSH artists, Blossoms are one of Britain’s most exciting young pop bands. Selling out The Ritz in Manchester before they’d even been signed, this is a band doing things the old fashioned way and on their own terms.

FUN FACT: They even use bassist Charlie Salt’s granddad’s scrapyard as a rehearsal space.

Their single Charlemagne’ is on every good radio station, and looks likely to be just one of many big tunes from Stockport’s finest. Give them a chance.

Giggs - Landlord

Boasting appearances from Stormzy, Dubz, Donae’o and more, London’s Giggs has released his fourth studio album, the follow-up to 2013’s When Will It Stop.

Giggs was on Beats 1 recently, and he gave a personal interview about ‘On Da Grind’, which he made after he was released from jail. “That was that legendary emotional music," he says, "I remember when I made that song it was a mad time for me. I just came out of jail. I was super duper broke when I made that song, now it’s turned out to be one of the best songs in my life. I was driving around in a banger, just got my hands on some fresh whites, started moving that around and life got a bit better, I can’t lie. The music started turning up. That tune’s very emotional to me.”