Roséwave returns: new playlists for your summer getaway

Plus, Belle and Sebastian at the Tiny Desk. [View this email online]( [NPR Music]( July 9, 2022 by [Marissa Lorusso]( This week, we’re sharing new updates to our summer playlist series — plus, the best new albums out this week. [Roséwave is light and breezy, but not necessarily unsophisticated]( Vanessa Leroy/NPR When the days start getting longer and the first hints of summer heat arrive, my colleague Lars Gotrich starts to make a playlist. To be fair, Lars is making playlists all year long — you can hear weekly updates on [Viking’s Choice]( and read about some of his song recommendations on the [#NowPlaying blog](. But this playlist is different. This one is [roséwave](. “Roséwave is a one-word joke I made on Twitter that was less about a genre (that does not exist) and more a lifestyle (that very much exists),” [Lars wrote back in 2017](. He defined the genre-slash-lifestyle like this: “Without thinking too hard, y'all can probably think of five pop songs one might tipsily shout along to, whether at karaoke, in the back of a cab, out with your besties spilling a little bit of the pink drink on your new shoes.” Roséwave is genre-agnostic, but prioritizes mixed-company, feel-good crowd pleasers, where Lizzo, HAIM, Donna Summer, Carly Rae Jepsen and Marvin Gaye all share space. Rosé is in the name, but any song that pairs sweetly with a cool beverage — may we also recommend seltzer, a cucumber water or maybe some iced tea? — and simple singalongs is the goal. Every year since the inaugural edition, Lars (with an assist from friends across NPR, including my colleague Lyndsey McKenna and me) has grown roséwave into a series of playlists and essays that evoke the memories, moods and feels of summer. This year, he kicked off the season with a [110-song playlist to soundtrack your summer getaway]( — wherever that may take you. It features Blondie and Beyoncé, Maggie Rogers and Harry Styles, Dire Straits and Steely Dan and much more. And for the latest addition to the roséwave canon, writer Kathleen Tarrant made a playlist called [Hunky Punky Poolboy]( filled with power ballads and pop-punk bops, dedicated to summer studs. Over the next couple months, we’ll be sharing even more roséwave playlists — but for now, as Lars puts it, “hit play and vibe all day.” --------------------------------------------------------------- Newsletter continues after sponsor message --------------------------------------------------------------- New Music - This week on [New Music Friday]( from All Songs Considered: a deeply pensive new album from R&B singer Brent Faiyaz, a stirring release from rock band Metric, a meditative instrumental record from producer Apollo Brown and more great new albums out July 8. - I first fell for the music of Abby Hwong, who performs as NoSo, when they entered the 2019 Tiny Desk Contest with a song that showed off their impressive guitar skills. This week, the Los Angeles songwriter released their compelling debut record, Stay Proud of Me. Hwong spoke to my colleague Elle Mannion about [learning to be vulnerable in their songwriting]( and how their music has been a place to process their evolving relationship with their nonbinary gender identity. - Laura Veirs’ new record, Found Light, is her first release written since she divorced her longtime partner and musical producer, Tucker Martine. It’s a beautiful album with a “[hyper-alert, naturalistic sensuality]( says writer Laura Snapes, one that surveys “the balance between the bitter weight of experience and the rewards that might come from remaining attuned to wonder.” - Colombia’s Andean music is going through a renaissance. Played on three string instruments, this music was the country's soundtrack from the turn of the 20th century to the 1940s. By elegantly folding in influences like Led Zeppelin and Queen, the band Itinerante has quickly moved towards the center stage of this burgeoning scene. According to Paulo Sánchez, director of the Bogotá venue Teatro Colsubsidio, the group is “[bringing back the trio format to a superlative level]( - July 5, 1997, was the opening night of the groundbreaking all-women music festival [Lilith Fair](. Sarah McLachlan, who founded the festival, described Lilith Fair’s goals this way: “to create an environment where everybody gets to be seen and heard and valued.” Twenty-five years after the festival’s debut, musicians who participated in Lilith Fair and journalists who covered it reflected on the festival's importance in interviews with Morning Edition. - This week, our friends at member station KAFM shared a video of a live performance by reggae musician [Mighty Mystic](. Tiny Desk [Belle and Sebastian's Tiny Desk concert]( NPR Now that Tiny Desk concerts are once again happening behind Bob Boilen’s actual desk in NPR’s headquarters, Bob says he’s excited to get to “witness that nervous energy surrounding most artists who are about to perform in an office, in daylight, with fans just a few feet away.” That was certainly true of [Belle and Sebastian]( who — despite the challenges the setting presents — managed to fit its eight members behind the Desk to put on a charming and magnificent performance. Also this week: [the first digital avatar to ever perform a Tiny Desk (home) concert]( came courtesy of musician Maylee Todd; we also shared a performance from [multi-instrumentalist FKJ]( which my colleague Nisha Venkat says feels like witnessing “a game of musical Tetris.” One More Thing Orville Peck talks [cowboy culture](. --------------------------------------------------------------- Listen to your local NPR station. 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