Weezer Covers Everyone; “Let It Go” Is An Anthem Of Acceptance

Plus, new songs from Vampire Weekend and Stella Donnelly's Tiny Desk

Courtesy of the artist Following the runaway success of its “Africa” cover, Weezer surprise-released an entire album of covers earlier this week. The “Teal” album, which includes takes on “Paranoid,” “Mr. Blue Sky” and “No Scrubs,” follows a long line of self-titled albums known by their cover color. Since the band’s already used Blue, Green, Red and White (with a “Black” album coming March 1), we humbly propose color schemes for future records: Purple: Could be a Prince tribute, which seems pretty sacrilegious, but also par for the course. Orange: Why not pay homage to our favorite classic Nickelodeon shows? Salmon or Nantucket red: Weezer goes full-on Vampire Weekend. Pink and blue: A gender-reveal party album! (Actually, don’t do that.) Say It Ain’t So, Marissa Lorusso and Lyndsey McKenna New Music We love Sharon Van Etten’s stunning new album, Remind Me Tomorrow. Listen to the whole album, with running commentary from Sharon, on this week’s episode of All Songs Considered. Vampire Weekend is back with two new songs and an album on the way. Singer Ezra Koenig discusses the new music and what he’s been up to since the last Vampire Weekend album in an interview with Bob Boilen. This week in our First Listen series: Folk-pop duo Mandolin Orange dispenses maximum comfort and the new album from Girlpool confronts the thorny, complex realities of growing up. Musically speaking, there’s a lot to look forward to in 2019. Here are five Latinx music releases we’re excited to hear in the next few months. To Read “Let It Go,” the breakout earworm from Disney's 2013 film Frozen, is anthemic in its own right (“The cold never bothered me anyway”), but its message of rejecting stigma holds special resonance for those with disabilities. Alvin Fielder and Joseph Jarman, founding members of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, died in early January; both artists, signature contributors to the jazz as we know it, continue to shape the state of sound. Tiny Desk Cameron Pollack/NPR Even when you work mere feet from Bob Boilen’s desk, you sometimes miss a Tiny Desk concert or two. That was the case for the newsletter editors when Stella Donnelly came to NPR — and the look of awe and heartache on the face of our colleagues after her performance made us wish we had skipped our meetings and watched this set of incisive, eviscerating songs from her forthcoming debut album. (It’s days like these we’re especially grateful for the Tiny Desk video team!) Incoming The date was January 30, 1969: the final Beatles concert. Ken Mansfield, then-U.S. manager of Apple Records was there, and he's written a new book about it. Next week on All Songs Considered, hear his conversation with Bob Boilen. One More Thing Overheard on the streets of Mumbai: Wait — is that Yo-Yo Ma?! ✏️ What do you think of today's email? We'd love to hear your thoughts, questions and feedback: nprmusic@npr.org 📬 Enjoying this newsletter? Forward to a friend! They can sign up here. 📧 Looking for more great content? Check out all of our newsletter offerings — including News, Politics, Health and more! 🎵 Need a new playlist? Follow NPR Music on Spotify! You received this message because you're subscribed to our NPR Music emails. |  Unsubscribe  |  Privacy Policy | NPR 1111 N. CAPITOL ST. NE WASHINGTON DC 20002