Leon Thomas and Halle get together to perform the duet “Rather Be Alone.” The single feels like it belongs in the yacht rock family with its continuous folk guitar and their R&B vocals. They make a serious statement about relationships, admitting that being solo is much better than trying to hold on to a dead romance. Thomas’s most recent output comes as he is still riding on the success of his sophomore album, MUTT, which made 2024 his breakout year. The title track went viral and attracted a remix with Freddie Gibbs. He also went to the Grammys and took one home for his production work with Babyface on SZA’s “Snooze.” Thomas is not resting on the success of MUTT, as his creativity keeps going and “Rather Be Alone” is something new for those who heard the album and were waiting for more. If you haven’t seen him live yet, his NPR Tiny Desk show is a must-see. 

Watch Ari Lennox cheer for her “Soft Girl Era” in the official video. Jermaine Dupri and Bryan-Michael Cox produced “Soft Girl Era,” and they have given it a throwback feel with a sample of The New Birth’s “You Are What I’m All About,” famously sampled in the Junior Mafia’s “Players Anthem.” Video director Chris Robinson taps into that energy with a visual of Lennox surrounded by her team of dancers, all of them in colors that pop and change, reminiscent of Lil Kim’s “Crush On You” video. Lennox was just seen performing at the Dreamville Festival. Lennox announced “Soft Girl Era” back in February on her Instagram page when she was in the studio recording it and she also revealed that an album to follow Age/Sex/Location is on the way. 

SZA has announced her NOT BEAUTY brand lip collection. The singer is introducing the line exclusively at pop-up stores during her Grand National Tour with Kendrick Lamar. She is starting with three signature colors: In The Flesh, Strawberry Jelly, and Quartz. The full lineup will include lip stains, lip glosses, lip liners, and lip creams. NOT BEAUTY is inspired by nature, is vegan, cruelty-free, and gluten-free. The nature theme is reflected in the packaging, which looks like the outdoors with plants and bugs for the imagery. SZA decided to create NOT BEAUTY to fill a void, as she stated in a press release,

“NOT BEAUTY wasn’t about me trying to enter the beauty market; it’s about me filling a need; it’s about me needing something that lasted as long as my show, as long as my conversation, as long as my date.  There was nothing that existed that did that for me and also made me feel moisturized. I don’t know much about much, but I know a lot about lips, and I feel like NOT BEAUTY is not beauty. It is just something that I wanted to share that worked for me and I hope works for you. It’s really well made. It’s awesome.”

The NOT BEAUTY pop-ups are available to all ticket holders. 

Watch Doechii live out true feelings of uneasiness in her video for “Anxiety.” She confronts several different triggers and manages to survive them all. Her twin sisters are in the clip that references the video for the song’s “Somebody I Used To Know” sample by Goyte, and there are extras done up in the same look as the Goyte video. Doechii originally released “Anxiety” in 2019 with a different video but the song went viral on TikTok and has a new video. Doechii continues to gain momentum in her breakout year that had her onstage with Lauryn Hill. Her tour kicks off in July to support Alligator Bites Never Heal and she just made the cover of Cosmopolitan.