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Associated Press
12-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
Justin Bieber releases ‘Swag,' his long-awaited seventh album: Hear the best songs
NEW YORK (AP) — Never say never! Justin Bieber surprised fans Friday by releasing 'Swag,' his seventh studio album, hours after he teased it on billboards and social media posts. It is his first album since 2021's 'Justice' and his first since becoming a father last year. 'Inspired by his devotion as a husband and father, this new era of music has fueled a deeper perspective and more reflective sound, resulting in some of his most personal music yet,' Def Jam Recordings said of the 21-track album. Billboards depicting Bieber were found by fans Thursday in Reykjavik, Iceland, and Los Angeles. The singer also shared images of billboards on his official Instagram account along with a tracklist that included song names like 'All I Can Take,' 'Walking Away,' 'Dadz Love' and 'Forgiveness.' Recommendations for an intimate new album There's a lot to love across the 21-tracks of the intimate 'Swag.' Here are a few choice cuts. 1. 'Daises' — The second track on the album may very well be its strongest; an exemplar in Bieber's slow-burn brand of alternative R&B-pop, now anchored with lo-fi guitar. Here, his sweet voice is pronounced — exactly what his most dedicated fans want to hear. 2. 'Devotion' ft. Dijon — Dijon is a rising R&B voice; some fans might be familiar with his 2021 debut album 'Absolutely' or his contribution to Bon Iver's 'SABLE, fABLE' from earlier this year. He makes for a standout collaboration on 'Swag,' a sweet song about deepening affection. 3. 'Go Baby' - Bieber married the model Hailey Bieber (nee Baldwin) in 2018; she's long been source material for his most loving tracks. 'Go Baby' is a standout for that reason. 'That's my baby, she's iconic,' he opens the track, 'iPhone case, lip gloss on it,' referencing her Rhode skincare and beauty brand, which sold to Elf Beauty in a $1 billion deal. 4. 'Walking Away' - Marriage isn't easy; that's clear on 'Walking Away,' a slightly-more-uptempo track where Bieber makes his dedication evident. It's the perfect song for dancing in the kitchen with your partner. 5. 'All I Can Take' - The throwback opener 'All I Can Take' has a vintage groove — echoes of Beiber's early work, now matured to reflect his current adult reality. He sounds as sweet as ever in the pre-chorus, his declaration of 'Ooh, baby, don't it feel good? Baby, don't it feel nice? / Ooh, baby, don't it feel good? You don't have to think twice.' Bieber before 'Swag' Bieber, the two-time Grammy Award winning singer and Canadian pop idol who revolutionized teen pop and social media fame, is best known for his silky R&B pop lyric tenor, demonstrated on the diamond-selling 'Baby,' 'Sorry,' and 'Stay' with the Kid Laroi. At the beginning of his career, and as a tween, Bieber began working with Usher and the influential music manager Scooter Braun. In 2023, Bieber — all six of his albums, including hits like 'Sorry' and 'Baby' — to Hipgnosis, a U.K-based music investment company. The deal's financial details were not disclosed, but Billboard Magazine reports that the sale was worth an estimated $200 million.
UAE Moments
02-07-2025
- Health
- UAE Moments
Daily Affirmation for July 3, 2025 to Kickstart Your Vibe
✨ Today's Affirmation: 'I am grounded, even when life feels chaotic. I carry calm within me.' 💫 Vibe Check: Your group chats are buzzing, your to-do list is overflowing, and your brain feels like 34 tabs open on Chrome. When life spins a little too fast, this is your gentle reminder: calm isn't out there, it's inside you. Even in the mess, you can center yourself. You are not the storm — you're the anchor. 🧘♀️ Why This Works: This affirmation helps you reclaim control in a world that thrives on speed and noise. It reminds your nervous system that it's safe to slow down. Calm isn't a luxury — it's a skill. One breath at a time, you can return to stillness. 🌿 Your Mini Mission: Anchor into calm today, even if just for five minutes: – Close your eyes and say: 'I don't have to chase peace. I am peace.' – Take a screen-free walk or stretch for five minutes. No music. No scrolling. – Text a friend and say, 'Hey, just checking in. How's your headspace today?' (Sometimes grounding is connection.) 🎧 Nervous System-Soothing Playlist: Vibes for slowing down and exhaling: – 'Holocene' – Bon Iver – 'Slow Dancing in a Burning Room' – John Mayer – 'Motion Sickness' – Phoebe Bridgers – 'Coffee' – beabadoobee – 'Light On' – Maggie Rogers 🔮 Bonus Energy Tip: Hold or wear black tourmaline today. This grounding stone protects your energy and helps clear out mental clutter. As you hold it, say: 'I am safe, centered, and calm — no matter what's around me.'
UAE Moments
01-07-2025
- Health
- UAE Moments
Daily Affirmation for July 1, 2025 to Kickstart Your Vibe
✨ Today's Affirmation: 'I give myself permission to rest without guilt.' 💫 Vibe Check: Burnout sneaks in quietly — like answering emails with one eye open or convincing yourself that your to-do list is more important than your sanity. If you've been running on low battery and still pushing like it's a race, this one's for you. Today's vibe says: pause is not weakness. Rest is not laziness. You're allowed to be tired. You're allowed to stop. 🧘♀️ Why This Works: Our culture glorifies grind, but real power comes from knowing when to recharge. This affirmation gives your nervous system a hall pass — to slow down, to breathe, to just be. Guilt-free. 🌿 Your Mini Mission: Let yourself actually rest today: – Say out loud: 'My worth is not measured by productivity.' – Take a nap or lie down with no phone, no plan, no pressure. – Cancel one non-essential thing — seriously, it can wait. 🎧 Power Down Playlist: Soothing tracks for full-body exhale vibes: – 'Holocene' – Bon Iver – 'Slow Dancing in a Burning Room' – John Mayer – 'Motion Sickness' – Phoebe Bridgers – 'Retrograde' – James Blake – 'Night Owl' – Galimatias 🔮 Bonus Energy Tip: Reach for amethyst today. This crystal helps calm your mind, ease stress, and reconnect you with your inner stillness. Hold it close and remind yourself: 'Rest is my right. And I don't need to earn it.'
ABC News
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- ABC News
The 20 best albums of 2025 so far
It's been another year of brilliant new album releases. The team at Double J have done a lot of listening and, after plenty of friendly arguments, have settled on their 20 best albums of the year so far. The final list is a thrilling mix of fine local talent, international favourites, a few exciting new voices you might not know, and some big hitters you definitely will. Here are their picks, in their own words. Tap the box to read more about each album. Ball Park Music — Like Love Every album Ball Park Music has released is a special encapsulation of time. Like Love doesn't just show the band maturing but a levelling up of their sound and confidence. They've gone through their pop and experimental phase like The Beatles, so call Like Love their Abbey Road — but hopefully there are more albums to come like this beauty from the Brissy Beatles. Listen: Please Don't Move To Melbourne Nick Gerber Bon Iver — Sable Fable 'From great suffering comes great art' is an age-old saying, and Bon Iver's Justin Vernon proves it wrong in turning over a new leaf. He emerges like a slow-jam butterfly from the depths of sadness saying 'enough!', and his bloom is all heartfelt, hands-in-the-air and brilliant collaborations with music's most exciting new voices. Listen: Everything Is Peaceful Love Zan Rowe Chasing Ghosts — Therapy Thungutti man Jimmy Kyle delivers straight from the heart on one of this year's best heavy albums. Therapy tackles mental health, intergenerational trauma and Australia's dark colonial history across 10 anthemic, fist-pumping songs. It might make you cry, it might make you recognise something in yourself or a loved one, and it will definitely stick in your head long after you first hear it. Listen: My Bingayi Caitlin Nienaber Close Counters — Lovers Dance Academy Melbourne-via-Tassie duo Close Counters are clearly deep into their 10,000 hours on the tools. More than a decade of collaboration has sharpened their signature blend of house, broken beat, soul, jazz, and more. We hear all of this across Lovers Dance Academy. A warm, rhythmic journey through connection, movement and love. Built for both the heart and the dancefloor. Listen: Freedom We're Needing Dylan Saville Ela Minus — DÍA Colombian Ela Minus has made a creatively free album that veers between ecstasy and apocalypse. She used to be a drummer and a punk, then got obsessed with synthesisers and eventually crow-barred her punk sensibility into Berklee College of Music. The agony of that forced discipline can be heard here. She's f***in cool. If you sometimes want to set fire to your life, this could be the soundtrack. Listen: Broken Yumi Stynes FKA Twigs — EUSEXUA FKA Twigs's first album in years is a dazzling display of her future-pop brilliance. ( ) 'When a girl feels good, it makes the world go 'round,' sings UK polymath FKA twigs. And the exhilaration of her thrilling third record is highly contagious. It's as deeply sensuous and completely exuberant as an interstellar dancefloor experience can get. Listen: Eusexua Caz Tran Floodlights — Underneath Naarm/Melbourne's Floodlights have steadily built up a following with spikes around their word-of-mouth performances. They've hit their stride with their third album, creating ambitious, world-class rock that feels honest and stays grounded. If success is measured in the ability to connect, there's truly something bubbling under the surface here. Listen: The Light Won't Shine Forever Dorothy Markek Ruby Gill — Some Kind of Control The magic of Ruby Gill's second long player is her astute use of space. It creates room for her voice to move and drift, for melodies to hang in the air then sink under your skin. It makes me feel like a cat perched on a sunny sill; her melancholy, mirth and ruminations draped over me like a favourite blanket. Listen: The Flood Caz Tran Little Simz — Lotus As the London rapper emerges from tumultuous times, the lotus flower proves a powerful metaphor. Six albums into a decade-long career, wherever Simz goes, I'm along for the ride. Uncompromising from the outset and devoted to pushing boundaries, Little Simz sits safely among hip hop's elite. Comfortable but never complacent. Listen: Flood Dorothy Markek Obongjayar — Paradise Now Despite loving Obongjayar's scene-stealing features with Little Simz, Fred Again.. and Danny Brown, I was criminally late to the Nigerian-bred, London-based artist's debut album. You can bet I wasn't making that mistake a second time. Paradise Now is an auspicious showcase of his shapeshifting talents, both vocally and sonically, on approachable songs that are impossible to pigeonhole but easy to admire. Listen: Holy Mountain Al Newstead Panda Bear — Sinister Grift On his eighth solo album, Panda Bear explores the intense emotions that come with a break-up, while revelling in some of his warmest, lush-sounding songs so far. Working with Animal Collective band mate Deakin, he's served up a feast of sound, embracing breezy rhythms, psych-pop, reggae and sad ballads. But it's Panda Bear's incredible ear for melody and layered, Beach Boys-style harmonies around his signature happy/sad vocals that is the star of the show. And has me coming back again and again. Listen: Praise Karen Leng Press Club — To All The Ones That I Love Everything I've loved about Press Club is still here on their brilliant fourth album. But somehow the hooks are hookier, the melodies are bolder, the riffs are more emotional and the lyrics are an even harder punch in the heart. This Melbourne/Naarm band have really levelled up, delivering what could be the best local rock album of 2025. Listen: To All The Ones That I Love Ryan Egan Skeleten — Mentalized Warmth is the anchor that roots the sonic eclecticism of Skeleten's second album, Mentalized. Trip hop, house, electronica and indie pop collide in a melting pot of genre, where the secret ingredient is Skeleten's genuine love for the music that's shaped him. It's that love that translates into the warmth we hear and feel, which makes Mentalized such an enjoyable listen. Listen: Deep Scene Stephen Goodhew Liz Stringer — The Second High It's so easy to dive into The Second High — you'll be fully immersed from its first seconds. You can tell this was recorded in the backstreets of Brixton. Many songs channel some of the UK's most hypnotic music from the past few decades, all the while perfectly intersecting with the empathy and curiosity of one of our country's finest contemporary songwriters. Listen: Coming Home Henry Wagons Surprise Chef — Superb Many will use the new album from Melbourne funk world-beaters Surprise Chef as a sleek and luscious background soundtrack. Nothing wrong with that. Lean in, however, and the experience becomes imminently richer. One of the country's most adept bands channel the taut funk of Stax and imbue psychedelic, cinematic touches that keep us wondering where their sound will go next. Listen: Bully Ball Dan Condon Antony Szmierek — Service Station at the End of the Universe The poetic debut album from Manchester's Antony Szmierek has a retro-futuristic scope. There's redolence in his words, and a pressing vitality to the beats and synths that couch them. The Streets is the obvious point of comparison, but Szmierek's somewhat more cerebral approach and clubbier instincts show he's operating on a different track. Listen: Rafters Dan Condon Julien Baker and Torres — Send a Prayer My Way Big riffs and big heart; this joint album is raw in a way that feels like a hug, or a punch. Classic country tones come intuitively to Baker and Torres, intimate without indulgence. 'Sugar in the Tank' is an especially furious-yet-graceful belter. This album is joyous, banjo-filled, flamingly queer, and easy to love. Listen: Sugar In The Tank Steph Hughes Viagra Boys — viagr aboys The magic of Viagra Boys' fourth album lies in the dynamic between its visceral and putrescent slacker punk energy, and its moments of genuine and tender lyrical poignancy. It's the magnetism between these opposing poles that keeps the album grounded and relatable; a valuable counterpoint to its Ren and Stimpy-esque intensity. Listen: Man Made of Meat Stephen Goodhew Marlon Williams — Te Whare Tīwekaweka I bought this album for my mum and myself as we have recently started exploring our Māori heritage. Marlon makes us feel invited into this journey with this gorgeous album. Learning language is the portal into understanding a culture. I'm also learning songs from this with my kids to keep this journey alive for the next generation. Listen to it all. Be emotional. This album is good for your soul, whatever journey you are on. Listen: Rere Mai Ngā Rau Dylan Lewis Wretch 32 — Home? Home? is an apt title for this album. Not because I've lived in the UK, nor lived the Black Brit experience, but because the lyrics and production feel super comfortable and familiar, and it warms your heart with each listen. Maybe it's because Wretch — seven albums and 17 years into his career — is now stepping into elder-statesman territory and knows exactly who he is and how he wants to present himself? Either way, it's such a dope and well-crafted album. Listen: Home Sweet Home
Hindustan Times
28-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Best albums of 2025 (so far): Lady Gaga, Bon Iver, Bad Bunny and more
We're only halfway through 2025, but the music's already been unforgettable. Some artists made big comebacks. Others tried something completely new. A few just gave us what they do best and nailed it. If you're still looking for what to play this summer, or just want to catch up, start here. These 12 albums are the ones everyone's been talking about, according to Variety. Lady Gaga's studio album Mayhem released on March 7, 2025,(AFP) 1. Addison Rae – Addison The TikTok star leans fully into dance-pop with slick production and playful lyrics. Tracks like Fame Is a Gun and Diet Pepsi showcase Rae's evolving musical sensibilities. 2. Bad Bunny – Debí Tirar Más Fotos It is a genre-spanning record full of live instrumentation, nostalgia and political commentary. Bad Bunny's early 2025 release remains one of the year's richest. 3. Bon Iver – Sable, Fable A two-part album that begins in hushed isolation and ends in soulful R&B. Bon Iver fans will find new depth and emotion in this comeback. 4. FKA Twigs – Eusexua Inspired by '90s club beats, this record brings Twigs closer to pop while keeping her signature edge. Girl Feels Good is a standout. 5. Jason Isbell – Foxes in the Snow A stripped-back, acoustic reflection on personal and political themes. Isbell's writing remains razor-sharp. 6. Kali Uchis – Sincerely, With lush orchestration and emotional depth, this is one of Uchis' most personal works yet. It touches on themes of motherhood and grief. Also read: Taylor Swift's epic 'Love Story' performance with Travis Kelce and George Kittle goes viral: Watch 7. Karol G – Tropicoqueta A lively tribute to Latin genres, from merengue to ranchera. The title track and Ese Hombre Es Malo show Karol at her boldest. 8. Moonchild Sanelly – Full Moon South Africa's genre-defying star shines in a vibrant, sex-positive album full of bold beats and melodies. 9. PinkPantheress – Fancy That The album features short, punchy tracks that balance innovation with pop sensibility. Tonight and Illegal are the highlights of this compact mixtape. 10. Rose Gray – Louder, Please An electro-pop celebration that pays tribute to Gray's inspirations like Kylie Minogue and Annie. Party People is a mission statement. 11. Lady Gaga – Mayhem Gaga's seventh album proves why she's one of the most recognized artistes in the world. Abracadabra, Blade of Grass and The Garden of Eden are standout tracks. 12. The Weeknd – Hurry Up Tomorrow A sprawling, 22-track project that could mark the end of The Weeknd persona. It features collaborators like Lana Del Rey and Florence + the Machine. FAQs Who has the best album of 2025? Lady Gaga's Mayhem and Bad Bunny's Debí Tirar Más Fotos are among the most acclaimed so far. Who is releasing albums in 2025? Artists like Bon Iver, Karol G, The Weeknd, and FKA Twigs have released major albums this year. What album is #1 of all time? According to many rankings, Michael Jackson's Thriller remains the best-selling and most influential album ever. What is the highest debut album of 2025? So far, So Close to What by Tate McRae and Addison by Addison Rae have had standout debut performances.
