Last year, Denzel Curry and Kenny Beats teamed up for their Unlocked project, which they released with little to no announcement for fans. The 8-track effort was an entirely solo release from the pairing, but it will soon receive a sweet update with the help of a strong cast of collaborators. However, before that arrives, the duo unleashes a brand new remix of “Cosmic. m4a” featuring Joey Badass and The Alchemist. Thanks to new production from the latter, the updated version comes with a more raucous beat and brash verse from Joey.
The reconstructed “Cosmic.m4a” track arrives a week after Denzel and Kenny called on Smino and Robert Glasper to remix “So.Incredible.Pkg” Both songs will appear on Unlocked 1.5, a re-release of the duo’s Unlocked that they announced last week. The news was shared through a trailer with appearances from Glasper, Alchemist, and Georgia Anne Muldrow, who all jumped on a call to discuss the new project. According to the video, fans can expect features from Arlo Parks, Benny The Butcher, Charlie Heat, Kenny Mason, Jay Versace, Sango, and more on Unlocked 1.5.
The new version of “Cosmic.m4a” comes after Denzel recently collaborated with Snot and JID on “Sangria” and “Bruuuh (Remix)” respectively. Kenny Beats has also been active this year as he produced Flo Milli’s latest single, “Roaring 20s.”
Keeping up with new music can be exhausting, even impossible. From the weekly album releases to standalone singles dropping on a daily basis, the amount of music is so vast it’s easy for something to slip through the cracks. Even following along with the Uproxx recommendations on a daily basis can be a lot to ask, so every Monday we’re offering up this rundown of the best new music this week.
This week saw a Taylor Swift/Haim reunion and Ariana Grande expanding her latest beloved album. Yeah, it was a great week for new music. Check out the highlights below.
Haim — “Gasoline” Feat. Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift and Haim have a healthy professional relationship, which they extended last week with a Swift-featuring version of “Gasoline.” The collaboration was enough for Swift to proclaim herself the fourth Haim sister, so she has apparently snatched the title from Bernie Sanders.
Ariana Grande — Positions (Deluxe)
Deluxe editions of albums took on a new level of prominence in 2020 and Grande is keeping that going in 2021 with an expanded release of her own. Grande’s new deluxe version of Positions adds five new tracks, including her star-studded remix of “34+35” that features Doja Cat and Megan Thee Stallion.
Wild Pink — A Billion Little Lights
The band’s John Ross recently spoke with Uproxx about his new album, saying of the just-released effort, “I wanted to have something very lush and just bigger than anything that I’d done before. And I got to play with amazing players, that was my favorite part.”
The Hold Steady — Open Door Policy
The veteran indie rockers recently sat down with Uproxx to review all of their albums, and Craig Finn told us of his band’s latest, “I’m super excited about it, but I’ve struggled to tell people what’s different about it. I think there’s been a continuation of figuring out this six-piece line-up and where everything goes and I think that that’s a huge part of the story. It’s allowed us to be more expansive musically than maybe we have in the past. There’s maybe a little bit more of headphone moments. There’s this weird scraping of guitars, some weird little noises that brought something we haven’t done before.”
Another Michael — New Music And Big Pop
Another Michael’s Nick Sebastiano recently told Uproxx of the band’s free-wheeling new album, “I look back upon it as one work that’s like a big pizza: One song was like the cheese, another song was like the bread. And then we only saw it as that for a while.”
Kaytranada — “Caution”
Kaytranada and TikTok linked up to celebrate Black History Month with the groovy new single “Caution.” Elsewhere this month, TikTok is also set to drop a cover of 1971 gospel song “Like A Ship” by Leon Bridges, as well as a live concert featuring Saweetie, Snoop Dogg, and Tyga.
Curry and Beats highlighted 2020 with their collaborative project Unlocked, and now they’re getting ready to expand upon that effort for 2021. This year will bring a reworked version of the album titled Unlocked 1.5, which they previewed with a new version of “So.Incredible” with Smino and Robert Glasper.
CJ — Loyalty Over Royalty
Staten Island rapper CJ got a major taste of music industry success recently when his single “Whoopty” managed to crack the top ten of the Hot 100 chart. Now he’s dropped his debut project and he builds on his momentum by going at it totally feature-free save for a guest spot from French Montana.
Conan Gray — “Overdrive”
After a breakout 2020, Conan Gray has re-emerged in 2021 with “Overdrive.” Uproxx’s Caitlin White described the track well, calling it “classic, blockbuster pop with huge guitar riffs, soaring vocals, and the kind of chorus that makes you want to roll the windows down and scream it out into the night.”
