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Five on it: Victoria Monét is making soft-focus pop magic

With new music from Victoria Monét, Brent Faiyaz, Pongo, Kida Kudz and newcomer Jasmine Jethwa, here's this week's five on it.

Tara Joshi

07 Feb 2020

Five on it photography credit: Dana Trippe

The sun is softly out, the days are slightly longer, daffodils are quietly shooting up from beneath the ground – the more hubristic among us would say that spring is here. I am way more pessimistic though and don’t want to curse us with snow and a return to constant darkness.

However, I will say that we do seem to be at a point where music is springing up again – there have been so many releases this past week. It also feels like there’s so much music drama – be it pertaining to the Superbowl (no, I did not watch the halftime show); Nicki and Meek; Katy Perry for some reason being British Asian now? Anyway, I digress.

More to the point, some great tunes have been put out into the world this week. So without further overly-caffeinated ramblings, here’s your five on it.

Victoria Monét – ‘Moment’

Everything about this is so lush and dreamy – those gilded flourishes of glossy strings, that honey-smooth voice. This is some soft-focus, yearning pop magic.

Brent Faiyaz – Fuck The World

The excellent singer is back with this delicious EP of swoony R&B that seems to effortlessly meld older school with the new. Full of impressively silky vocals and salacious lyrics that gently glide over plush instrumentals, it’s a really gorgeous set of songs.

Pongo – UWA

This Angolan-Portuguese artist honestly brings the sunshine with her music (metaphorically, obviously) – this is an EP of joy and dancing, melding bold and brash electronics with fast-paced song and rap.

Kida Kudz – Nasty

The debut mixtape from the “Afroswank” artist has landed, and it’s full of the warm grooves and cold bars you’d expect of an artist with roots in both Nigeria and London.