Weekly Report No. 16 🫡🎶

Fred again.. & Anderson .Paak & CHIKA, Tove Lo & SG Lewis, The Grass Roots, Cara Rose | MC #86

Hi there,

Let’s say hello to Summer in the Northern Hemisphere! 👋🌞 Some say each season Earth pauses to catch her breath. So why don’t we do the same? 😮‍💨 From the dawn of the new season let’s try to be more kind, caring, and playful to ourselves and others. How about we cut ourselves some more slack, and catch some wind in our hair?

With that in mind, let’s dive into today’s set of songs!

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*If you’d like to skip reading go ahead and check out the updated Weekly Report Playlist, which you can follow / hit ♡ button (Save to Your Library) on Spotify:

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▶️ Fred again.. & Anderson .Paak & CHIKA - "places to be"

What an epic collab! How is it that these creative souls don’t ever miss and each of their own releases is always so dope? It’s so visible that they live and breathe music. The energy here is absolutely infectious! Let yourself get hypnotized by watching them combine different sounds, having fun in the creative process, and radiating pure joy!! ☺︎

Listen on Spotify

Since I first heard "Kyle (I found you)" during the 2020 pandemic, I’m always excited for anything new by Fred again.. 🫶. Over 80 issues ago, in Midweek Crisis #1, I recommended Fred’s second, and still one of his most popular tracks "Marea (we’ve lost dancing)".

Midweek Crisis #1

If you have less than 15 minutes of spare time, take a look at this super-short documentary about Fred’s phenomenon. I believe you won’t be disappointed.

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▶️ Tove Lo & SG Lewis - "HEAT"

Another song, another awesome collab! It looks like Tove Lo and SG Lewis created an instant banger, and something too hot to handle that needs age-limiting 🔞🥵🔥. The timing is on point, this month is Pride Month after all! 🏳️‍🌈

Listen on Spotify

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▶️ The Grass Roots - "Wait A Million Years"

I love how "Pachinko" trailers are unskippable and one-of-a-kind! This time creators of this Apple TV+ series didn’t use "Let’s Live For Today" by The Grass Roots, but a different song of the group - "Wait A Million Years". Both are awesome and perfectly selected 👌.

This epic drama uses 3 different languages - Korean, Japanese, and English, and cleverly hops back and forth in time revealing the story little by little, touching you to the core, and doesn’t bore you at any point. You can expect 1 hour long, less than 10 episodes of a fascinating family saga served without any sugarcoating. I strongly suggest you catch up on this show if you haven’t heard about it and haven’t seen it already, because the global premiere of season 2 is happening this August!*

*Option for the bookworms - read a book by Min Jin Lee of the same title, that this show is based on!

Listen on Spotify

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▶️ Cara Rose - "Romanticising"

"Exceptional" is the word that perfectly sums up what I think about Cara Rose! Last week I accidentally stumbled upon her music on YouTube. Somehow I haven’t heard about this phenomenal Glasgow singer and songwriter before. Her voice is powerful in Amy Winehouse-like and Adele-ish way (btw, check out her cover of "Easy On Me"). It’s deep, nasally, and crazy-ranged. Each of the songs I got to hear instantly calmed my nerves making me feel like someone was petting my brain through the ears. It was a tough one to pick only one favorite! "Romanticising", "Learn To Speak", and "Into The Blue" - these 3 ex aequo blew my mind vocally, and lyrically. I keep my fingers crossed for this gal to achieve global recognition and the attention she deserves! 🌟

Listen on Spotify

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Now, let’s take a vote:

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Read Of The Week*

*Inspired by

Michał Poczwardowski

and the structure of his great newsletter

Perspectiveship

, I decided to add a new section to the Weekly Report format.

▷ Seven Questions with Fog Chaser

The thing that moved me to the core this week was this new, insanely powerful interview by Ryan Egan, artist, songwriter, and music producer from organizing an accident with musician and composer Matt Evans, who writes

Fog Chaser

, one of my favorite newsletters on Substack. With full openness and heart-wrenching honesty, Matt reveals the most tragic bits of his life, and how they shaped his creative journey.

”I lost the ability to listen to music. The ability to read. Two things that have always been vital to me. I was afraid I would never get those back. Maybe more than anything, I was afraid that I would never feel lightness again. That my hyper-vigilance would follow me forever, everywhere, and prevent me from ever just relaxing, letting go, and being the person I used to be. 

The person I used to be. It’s funny, because that guy is definitely gone. It’s kind of sad to me still. And I think it’s hard for those around me. But today I’m just a different person.”

Hypervigilant, tense, and unlike my old self - that’s how I usually feel since February. The curious, social, and bubbly parts of my personality shrank drastically, and I rarely feel at ease. What used to be my favorite forms of relaxing and brain-detoxifying no longer works that well. Even searching for new music does not taste the same.

Don’t get me wrong, the streaks of good days filled with smiles, and inspiration still happen. But I also easily get frustrated, distracted, unpleasantly surprised with myself, and “afraid that I would never feel lightness again”. Possibly, I’m trying too hard to return to the old version of myself, trying too many different methods to "get better". Maybe I simultaneously block my new self from unfolding. Whether I like it or not, the new identity forms after traumatic events, and fighting this change is nothing else than tilting at windmills, right?

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And that would be all for today. Thanks for stopping by to read and listen 🫶

Today is a special day. We gather with the whole family to celebrate a couple of events: Father’s Day, my Dad’s birthday, my Grandpa’s 93rd birthday, and his name day 🎂🥳🎉. I skipped the previous family get-together on Easter, so this time I’m double excited for this chaotic, loud, and filled with laughter, and delicious bites event. And what are your plans for this weekend?

Have a great start to Summer!

Until next time,