3,2,1 – New Music Monday / 07-20-26

(3,2,1 New Music Monday Intro)

Welcome to Music That Matters with 3, 2, 1 New Music Monday.

This week, we’ve got new soul from Leon Bridges, post-breakthrough pop from Gracie Abrams, and Steve Lacy bringing the funk.

Plus, Kelly Clarkson gets Prince-inspired, Beck goes back toward Sea Change, and Jodeci brings a ’90s R&B classic back to vinyl.

(Countdown Video)

3 major album drops.

Leon Bridges is back with a 4-pack of songs labeled: Happiness Anytime: Part 1 – it’s the first taste of his new album coming in its entirety this September. It’s called . . . you guessed it – Happiness Anytime

(“Light The Way” clip)

That’s “Light The Way” – and from what I’m hearing, it sounds like classic Leon Bridges with a little extra groove.

Next up – this girl’s dad is responsible for offing my Star Wars favorite

(:05 to :08 of Han Solo death scene)

JJ Abrams – you made me tear up in front of my son AND daughter.

JJ’s got a daughter, too – named Gracie

(“Hit the Wall” clip)

This is Gracie Abrams dealing with what happens after her career got huge. Daughter From Hell is her 3rd studio album and was produced by The National’s Aaron Dessner. So, the sad pop sound remains intact

(“Look at My Life” clip)

Steve Lacy is back with Oh Yeah?, his first album since the breakout success of “Bad Habit.”

(“Bad Habit” clip)

It’s guitar-filled funk that’s definitely alt-R&B. Plus, it includes the song “Is It Cool?,” a new duet with SZA.

(“Is It Cool?” clip)

2 new singles.

Kelly Clarkson has new music with the song – “I’d Be Lyin’” – which is being described as a Prince-inspired track with pop verses and a pop-rock chorus

(“I’d Be Lyin’”)

And then we have Beck who is making that shift back toward Sea Change and Morning Phase. I’m cool with that.

(“In the Night” clip)

That’s “In the Night” – the 2nd single off Beck’s upcoming new album – Ride Lonesome – which arrives this September.

(Record Scratch video)

And finally, 1 vinyl –

Jodeci’s Forever My Lady is back for its 35th anniversary — a 2LP reissue of the debut album that helped shape ’90s R&B

(“Forever My Lady” clip)

That’s your 3 albums, 2 singles, and 1 vinyl for the week.

This has been 3, 2, 1 New Music Monday

Until next time.

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MUSIC THAT MATTERS – “Lyric of the Day”

(Music Cut #1)

Around this time in July of 1990…

this summertime sound was hard to escape.

Poison and “Unskinny Bop.”

(Music Cut #2)

“Unskinny Bop” sounds like it should mean something.

A dance?

A pickup line?

A something.

(Music Cut #3)

Nope.

C.C. DeVille came up

with “Unskinny Bop”

as a temporary placeholder

while the band

was working the song.

This was before Bret Michaels

had finished the lyrics.

The phrase meant nothing… but it sounded right.

So “Unskinny Bop” lived on.

(Music Cut #4)

LYRIC OF THE DAY:
“What’s right?
What’s wrong?
What’s left?
What the hell is going on?” – Poison

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MUSIC THAT MATTERS – “Lyric of the Day”

(Music Cut #1 – “Hold My Hand”)

Released on this day in 1994…

the song that introduced America
to Hootie & the Blowfish arrived:

“Hold My Hand.”

(Music Cut #2 – more “Hold My Hand”)

Most fans bought the CD
for songs like “Hold My Hand,”
“Let Her Cry,”
and “Only Wanna Be with You.”

(Music Cut #3 – “Only Wanna Be With You”)

But one of the band’s big fan favorites

wasn’t on the album – Cracked Rear View.

It was the B-side to “Hold My Hand” and

instead could be found on The Friends soundtrack –

That song “I Go Blind”

(Music Cut #4 – “I Go Blind”)

LYRIC OF THE DAY:
“Hold my hand
Maybe we can’t change the world but
I wanna love you the best that I can.” – Hootie & The Blowfish

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MUSIC THAT MATTERS – “Lyric of the Day”

(Music Cut #1)

On this date, July 17th, but back in 1995,

Hole released a song connected to someone

we talked about just 4 days ago.

The song: “Violet.”

(Music Cut #2)

“Violet” doesn’t just open

the album: Live Through This –

It kicks down the door.

And Courtney Love –

doesn’t really sound like she’s singing about heartbreak.

Instead, she sounds like she’s putting a curse on it.

(Music Cut #3)

When Hole performed the song on Later with Jools Holland,

Love introduced it as being about a jerk.

Most people took that as Billy Corgan.

But years later, she clarified:

“Violet” was not just about him…

but, other jerks, too, I guess.

(Music Cut #4)

LYRIC OF THE DAY:
“When they get what they want
And they never want it again.” – Hole

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MUSIC THAT MATTERS – “Lyric of the Day”

(Music Cut #1)

Released yesterday, back in 1991…

three words changed pop music forever.

Right Said Fred…

with “I’m Too Sexy.”

(Music Cut #2)

The song started

exactly where it sounds

like it should have started:

with a shirtless guy

joking

in front of a gym mirror.

(Music Cut #3)

But that one gym-mirror joke had a very long strut.

Decades later,

Taylor Swift used it

in “Look What You Made Me Do.”

Drake brought it back

for “Way 2 Sexy.”

And Beyoncé worked it

into “Alien Superstar.”

Right Said Fred made one joke in a gym mirror…

and pop music is still borrowing the strut.

(Music Cut #4)

LYRIC OF THE DAY:
“I’m too sexy for my shirt…” – Right Said Fred

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MUSIC THAT MATTERS – “Lyric of the Day”

(Music Cut #1)

Released on this day in 1996…

a humungous alternative-rock song of the ’90s

came from just two people

in one band.

Local H with “Bound for the Floor.”

(Music Cut #2)

Before The White Stripes and The Black Keys

made two-piece rock famous,

Local H were already just two guys:

Scott Lucas on guitar and vocals,

and Joe Daniels on drums.

(Music Cut #3)

Their biggest hook came from one simple word:

“copacetic.”

A word that means everything is fine,

dropped into a song where everything sounds

very much not so fine.

(Music Cut #4)

LYRIC OF THE DAY:
“And you just don’t get it, you keep it copacetic
And you learn to accept it, you know it’s so pathetic.” – Local H

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MUSIC THAT MATTERS – “Lyric of the Day”

(Music Cut #1)

On July 14th of 1998,

“Kiss Me” began

its radio life.

from Sixpence None the Richer.

(Music Cut #2)

“Kiss Me” didn’t just become a late-’90s teen-romance classic.

Years later, it became part of the origin story for a young songwriter who was just learning her way around a guitar.

(Music Cut #3)

Before the stadiums…

before the eras…

before the friendship bracelets…

she had Sixpence None the Richer.

Taylor Swift has said “Kiss Me” was the first song she learned to play on guitar.

(Music Cut #4)

LYRIC OF THE DAY:
“Lift your open hand, strike up the band
And make the fireflies dance, silver moon’s sparkling
So kiss me.” – Sixpence None the Richer

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MUSIC THAT MATTERS – “Lyric of the Day”

(Music Cut #1)

On July 13th of 1996…

this one reached its peak

on alternative radio.

The Smashing Pumpkins

with “Tonight, Tonight.”

(Music Cut #2)

The video for this song

was inspired by the 1902 silent film

A Trip to the Moon.

But, the man flying through space

had a very different future.

One day,

he would live

in a pineapple

under the sea.

(Music Cut #3)

Yes – that was Tom Kenny who became the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants

AND the woman beside him?

Jill Talley – who would later become the voice of Karen Plankton.

(Music Cut #4)

LYRIC OF THE DAY:
“We will never be the same
The more you change, the less you feel.” – The Smashing Pumpkins

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3,2,1 – New Music Monday / 07-13-26

(3,2,1 New Music Monday Intro)

Welcome to Music That Matters with 3, 2, 1 New Music Monday.

This week, we’ve got Jack White going full Jack White, Future showing us The Real Me, and The Rolling Stones somehow still rolling.

Plus, Beyoncé opens the B’Day vault, Alabama Shakes return with hope, and My Chemical Romance brings Danger Days back to vinyl.

(Countdown Video)

3 major album drops.

First up – Jack White’s seventh solo studio album has arrived – Frozen Charlotte

(“G.O.D. And The Broken Ribs” cut of “Microphone Check, One-Two, One-Two”)

And this is how excited I was about this album.

(flash vinyl copy)

I already got it on vinyl.

I truly believe that I’ve found one of my favorite albums of 2026.

It’s loud. It’s bluesy. It’s guitars ripping in all the right Jack White ways.

(“You’ll Never Fix Me” clip)

Next, we go from rock to rap with Future and his new album, The Real Me.

This album is a 22-track reminder that his fingerprints are still all over modern hip-hop.

(Future “Radio” clip)

And then, from rap to some original rock legends.

The Rolling Stones are back with Foreign Tongues.

(“In The Stars” clip)

Yes, in 2026, we are still talking about new music from Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Ronnie Wood.

By the way, Foreign Tongues is their 25th studio album, and it keeps that late-career Stones run moving.

(“Jealous Lover” clip)

2 new singles.

First up — Beyoncé with “Morning Dew (Donk).”

(“Morning Dew (Donk)” clip)

This is a surprise release from the vault, arriving as part of the countdown to the 20th anniversary edition of B’Day.

Also new this week — Alabama Shakes with “I Feel Hope Coming.”

(“I Feel Hope Coming” clip)

This is the first taste of I Must Be Dreaming, their first album in 11 years, arriving August 28th. I’m circling that date.

(Record Scratch video)

And finally, 1 vinyl pick.

When I was in the record store Friday buying my Jack White vinyl, I watched this album leave the bins twice – I had to go over and see what it was.

My Chemical Romance who are back with a 15th anniversary deluxe edition of Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys

(“Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)” clip)

That’s your 3 albums, 2 singles, and 1 vinyl for the week.

This has been 3, 2, 1 New Music Monday

Until next time.

Please subscribe on YouTube and spread the word wherever you can

MUSIC THAT MATTERS – “Lyric of the Day”

(Music Cut #1)

Released back in January of 1999…

by July 12th,

this one was still climbing

on rock radio.

Oleander

with “Why I’m Here.”

(Music Cut #2)

The band name

has a darker edge.

I mean — “Oleander”

might sound pretty…

but Google it,

it’s a poisonous plant

that lines highways

in Northern California.

(Music Cut #3)

By 1999,

that pretty-but-toxic

Sacramento band

was suddenly right in the middle

of late-’90s rock:

opening for Our Lady Peace

and Creed…

and playing Woodstock ’99.

(Music Cut #4)

LYRIC OF THE DAY:
“I don’t wanna
Be full of hate
For anybody
But it’s too late.” – Oleander

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