The Best of New Music Friday:
Wallice – The Jester
It’s been a joy to watch Wallice transform as an artist. Her brand of guitar playing pop has progressed throughout this decade. On her first full length record The Jester, this now pushing 25 year-old singer no longer talks about turning 23. She’s talking about life on the road as an often “opening act” slot musician in a way that suits her candid lyrical style. Wallice has never strayed away from the whitty verses. She’s now grown into a larger-than-life studio sound and has brought the best parts of her talent into the big recording studio room. The Jester is a milestone moment for a pop performer whose career starts off like many aspiring stars. The Jester is the galaxy she’s landed upon.
On her new LP, Wallice digs into the idea of being a career opener. She plays on a stage to a crowd that doesn’t know her name. The only people in attendance showed up an hour later than the venue website advertised doors and now they’re watching someone they’ve never heard of at 7:30 p.m. on a Thursday. Wallice knows this feeling, she’s opened in Asia for The 1975 and in clubs across the US with JAWNY and Still Woozy. By the end of The Jester’s first track “The Opener,” Wallice crescendos into a fuller sound that her first few EPs weren’t capable of producing. Wallice knows this and quick-whits her way through the album.
Wallice is the sort of pop artist who empowers herself through sound and storytelling. She’s okay with leaving the backflips, light displays and sexuality out of her tracks. Her lyrics are slightly self-disparaging but she’ll always come back to be her own hero by the end of the song. In “The Clown,” Wallice touches on opportunities she’s taken but in hindsight rather wouldn’t have. “You see, that for clowns like me, there’s no guarantee you won’t get hurt // When you kiss the dirt // When you’re doing it all for free,” she sings.
Wallice’s also works hard. She began putting out singles in 2020, followed by the 2021 six song EP Off The Rails, which came complete with electric cowboy vibes, relatable lyrics about boys with generic names, post-college grad blues and a Spotify billboard in Times Square. Wallice went deeper into the studio pop sound on her next EP 90s American Superstar in 2022 and released Mr Big Shot in 2023. Now she’s got a fresh 45 minute album with 14 more new songs.
After touring with major acts and developing a catalog’s worth of music in a few years, Wallice still won’t turn in the clown makeup. She’ll gladly brush it on and play for those 7:30 p.m. earlybirds, Instagram live viewers and soon rooms filled with her own fans as she headlines a 2025 North American Tour. Who knew Jesters had so much character arc?
The Best of New Music Friday:
Chelsea Wolfe: Unbound EP [Loma Vista]
Denzel Curry: King of the Mischievous South [Loma Vista]
Flo: Access All Areas [Republic]
John Cale: The Academy in Peril [Domino]
John Cale: Paris 1919 (Deluxe Edition) [Domino]
Linkin Park: From Zero [Warner]
MF Doom: Mm..Food (20th Anniversary Edition) [Rhymesayers Entertainment]
Pa Salieu: Afrikan Alien [Warner]
Sofie Royer: Young-Girl Forever [Stones Throw]
St. Vincent: Todos Nacen Gritando [Total Pleasure]
Warmduscher: Too Cool To Hold [Strap Originals]
Which of these tracks from New Music Friday will you add to your favorite playlists today? Any we missed? Let us know in the comments or on Instagram!
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