Line Lingerie

Lóki?, released in 1974, was the first solo effort of former Os Mutantes member Arnaldo Baptista. Probably reflecting Baptista's own mood and feelings at the time, this album is decidedly slower, darker, and more melancholic than the Os Mutantes albums ever were. The lyrics are often quite sad and confused, though it has to be said that on several occasions Baptista shows that he had preserved his sense of humor from the Os Mutantes years. Musically, Lóki? is dominated by Baptista's typical way of singing and his excellent piano playing (similar to Elton John during his glory years in the '70s). Six out of the first seven tracks are really good…

With powerhouse pipes, razor-sharp wit, and a tireless commitment to self-love and self-care, Lizzo is the fearless pop star we needed. Born Melissa Jefferson in Detroit, the singer and classically trained flautist discovered an early gift for music (“It chose me,” she tells Apple Music) and began recording in Minneapolis shortly after high school. But her trademark self-confidence came less naturally. “I had to look deep down inside myself to a really dark place to discover it,” she says. Perhaps that’s why her third album, Cuz I Love You, sounds so triumphant, with explosive horns (“Cuz I Love You”), club drums (“Tempo” featuring Missy Elliott), and swaggering diva attitude (“No, I'm not a snack at all/Look, baby, I’m the whole damn meal,” she howls on the instant hit “Juice"). But her brand is about more than mic-drop zingers and big-budget features. On songs like “Better in Color”—a stomping, woke plea for people of all stripes to get together—she offers an important message: It’s not enough to love ourselves, we also have to love each other.

The cinematic ambitions of Chilly Gonzales were not previously well known, although very few forms fit his intentions to cycle between solo piano and throwback dance music quite like an original score. (Of course, if he'd tried to fit both piano meditations and funky house on a proper album, the cries of "Unity!" would have gone up immediately from outraged music fans.) Ivory Tower, the soundtrack to an "existentialist sports comedy about chess and success," was apparently recorded before the movie was filmed, so the filming could be arranged around the album; it's true that this sounds more like an album than a soundtrack. The piano lines are simplistic and repetitive, and the rest of the production is sunny, breezy house music the way they made it in New York during the mid-'90s, similar to Gonzales' Soft Power from 2008 - but without the attention-grabbing retro qualities…