New Music Friday: The best albums out Oct. 2

NPR Music

NPR host Stephen Thompson teams up with network DJs and critics to review the best new albums released on October 2nd. The episode breaks do

Key takeaways

• Victoria Monét's 'Frequency Of Love' features 22 tracks with guests like Bruno Mars and SZA, weaving together 70s soul, Disney R&B, and modern pop production.
• Meshell Ndegeocello's 'Synonym' reimagines familiar covers from the 80s, 90s alt-rock, and classic R&B through avant-garde arrangements featuring Anohni and Moses Sumney.

Main topics

• New album reviews
• R&B and pop evolution

Notable quotes

"I think thinking of this record as a survey is a really smart way to look at it because there are songs that are referencing, you know, we talked about Stevie Wonder at the top of the show."

Conclusion

The episode delivers a curated, highly accessible guide to the week's standout releases, emphasizing how

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:00) This week on the NPR Politics Podcast, a vibe check on election security. With barely a month left until the midterms, we're talking about vote by mail, the possibility of ICE at polling stations, and what the Trump administration is doing in the name of preventing fraud, which we know is not a widespread problem. Plus, the latest on how voters are feeling about all of that. Listen now on the NPR Politics Podcast. Speaker 2 (0:30) Happy Friday, everyone, from NPR Music. It's New Music Friday. Every week on the show, we talk about the best albums out that week with members of the NPR Music Network. For today, October 2nd, we are talking about new records from Victoria Monet, the band Wishy, and more. To kick things off, I want to welcome to the show Ayana Contreras from station KUVO in Denver. Welcome back to the show, Ayana. Hello. Right up front, you know, before we get into these new records, there's some old music dropping this week that... I am excited to hear Stevie Wonder is back dropping new songs from the era of Songs in the Key of Life. Speaker 1 (1:09) Right. So I think the story is that he wrote dozens and dozens, maybe like 100 songs for that album. And they selected ultimately 21 songs for that effort, which if you think about it, 21 songs back then was ridiculous. That's two LPs plus a little EP, little 45 joint. So these are the songs that, some of the songs, four songs that did not make the cut, but they definitely feel of a piece. Speaker 2 (1:33) Boy, I mean, you know, as you said, these days, super, super long records can be, you know, are pretty common. We're going to lead off with a very, very long record. That's right. But this record, as epic as it was to begin with, with how much time has passed, this doesn't feel like overkill, right? I Speaker 1 (1:51) don't. think so. I think because that album was so important to so many people, really groundbreaking. I mean, having just a little more taste of that moment, I think, is actually such a gift to people. Speaker 6 (2:05) I'm in love. Speaker 6 (2:07) comes true Speaker 2 (2:17) Well, let's kick off the show with a supersized album, 22 songs long. It's Victoria Monet. Her new album is called Frequency of Love. Speaker 8 (2:47) Wanna feel how you I feel in the stars with your lips Speaker 8 (2:54) So let me know so I can take this body of ice. Speaker 8 (3:01) Let me know your ETA so our time aligns. Speaker 8 (3:09) No, so I. Speaker 8 (3:26) So Speaker 2 (3:26) Victoria Monet has been working in pop music and R &B for a really, really long time now. She's written songs. for Ariana Grande, Travis Scott, Coco Jones, Fifth Harmony. She's been a background singer. She's been like an industry lifer. But a few years ago, she finally had her own kind of major commercial breakthrough with a song called On My Mama. She won Best New Artist at the Grammys in 2024. And now she's back with kind of the follow-up to that breakthrough. And it really feels like just an almost overstuffed star turn, you know, filled with, you know, prominent guests like Bruno Mars and SZA and Leon Thomas and Lucky Day, Chloe of Chloe and Hallie. And you really get a sense in here of who she is as an artist. Yeah, Speaker 1 (4:13) absolutely. You know, it is, to your point, sort of a yearbook of today's R &B cream of the crop in a lot of ways, including Victoria. But then you also have all these loving references to... soul music and R &B music from days of yore. They're really important to people. Sometimes it almost sounds as though it's playing in the background. I mean, it's a really beautiful album and there's some really strong highlights throughout, including Say That, which is probably going to be a single, the Bruno Mars take. You mentioned he's on there, That's Why I Love You, which is another one that's kind of in his current bag of... Boleros. Yeah. It's just a lot of really beautiful music. Speaker 6 (5:00) I don't know how. Speaker 6 (5:05) Lost in your beauty Speaker 6 (5:09) Left and right. and down and Speaker 2 (5:32) I think thinking of this record as a survey is a really smart way to look at it because there are songs that are referencing, you know, we talked about Stevie Wonder at the top of the show. There are songs that are referencing kind of mini Ripperton era, 70s soul. There are songs that feel, you know, I wrote down in my notes a couple of times, Disney R &B, parentheses, laudatory. Speaker 2 (5:56) you know, where like the songs are evoking kind of Disney ballads of the 90s. You can really hear, listening to this record, how intertwined her sound and her kind of creative voice is with the career of Ariana Grande, you know, who has, who was tapped into a lot of like theater kid R &B in her own music. And you can really hear this record kind of in conversation with Ariana Grande's early work. And, you know, and you have, you know, these guests woven through. You have, as we said, you know, Bruno Mars kind of doing his thing. I think the song See You In My Dreams With SZA really feels like one of the most kind of commercial moments on this record. If you were looking for a song that's kind of going to duplicate the success or exceed the success of On My Mama, which was such a great song. Speaker 1 (7:06) I mean, there's also I Want You, which is like a really lovely thing that has sort of back to that radio reference of In My Bed by Drew Hill. It's kind of interwoven throughout it. But then there's an interlude that literally is referencing the Singers Unlimited, which was a vocal jazz group from like the 60s, 70s. So it's like a We Contain Multitudes approach to a soul record. It's really, really cool. Speaker 8 (7:36) I'm whispering your name. Speaker 8 (7:44) When my clothes laying on the floor I'm here with someone that I really wanted, but I want you. Speaker 2 (7:54) You know, when I talk about, you know, Disney R &B parentheses Laudatory, I also wanted to throw out reference to the song Care for Somebody, which feels like full on, you know, kind of theater kid Disney R &B strings, that kind of I wish emoting. But it's also like mixed with the vibe of like 40s Disney in a way where there's almost this like... you know, like pop songbook standard quality kind of bubbling underneath it. And it really gives you the sense with this record that this record is conversant with the last 80 years of popular music. And she's just so sure-footed in the way that she brings all those sounds together. Speaker 8 (8:37) Amen. Speaker 2 (8:58) So that is Victoria Monet. Her new album is called Frequency of Love. Next up, Michelle Ndegeocello is back with a new record. It's called Synonym. Speaker 6 (9:19) is a love Speaker 6 (9:37) that the chances Speaker 6 (9:44) to be careless Speaker 6 (9:47) Looking for the right thing Speaker 1 (10:16) So, Mashana Deguchelo has been out so long that she feels like she's... ingrained in my mind. One of those artists that I can't remember when she wasn't making music that made me rethink the world, right? From Plantation Lullabies all the way to just a few years ago, putting out Omnicord Real Book in 2023 and 2024's No More Water, the Gospel of James Baldwin, always intertwining her amazing bass with her singing and... with the poetry and with her ability to bring the best out in other people. You know, one of the albums that I actually really adore that did not necessarily do as well critically as I think it should have is Ventriloquism, which was her 2018 album, which was actually revisiting other people's compositions and really reimagining them in incredible ways. And this new album is sort of a return to that, but she adds in... guess that enhance these songs even further and every single