5 Poetry Pairings for this Summer’s Hottest New Albums

Today is a big day in music, with nine exciting albums dropping all at once. For the poetry fans who love music just as much, we’ve selected five poetry collections to read while you listen to this summer’s hottest new music. So find a nice shady spot to sink into while you discover new music and poetry pairings. 

Amanda Shires: Take It Like a Man

“Take it Like A Man” is the title track on Americana singer-songwriter Amanda Shires’ upcoming album. This album is anticipated to be unlike anything the Grammy-award-winner has released in the past. Poetic, intense, and ruminating, this upcoming album shows the world what turning 40 looks like from her eyes. Pair this album with Carol Ann Duffy’s 2005 collection Feminine Gospels. The highly awarded poet blends the mythical with the confessional in this powerful rendering of female identity. 

Beyoncé: Renaissance 

This will be Queen Bey’s seventh studio album. In an interview with Harper’s Bazaar, the artist stated, “with all the isolation and injustice over the past year, I think we are all ready to escape, travel, love, and laugh again. I feel a renaissance emerging, and I want to be part of nurturing that escape in any way possible.” Pair this highly anticipated new album with a copy of MissSettl by Kamden Hilliard. Released in April of this year, MissSettl takes a vibrant, playful, and experimental approach to strategizing a resistance to life under white supremacist capitalism. 

Florist: Florist 

Brooklyn-based indie folk band Florist comes out with their fourth album today. This self-titled album is a culmination of the band members’ decade-long history of friendship and collaboration. Known for their soft ambient sound, Florist will paint a lovely soundscape for Franny Choi’s 2019 collection Soft Science. This poetic exploration of identity and consciousness will send you on a journey of thoughtful introspection. 

King Princess: Hold On Baby 

Singer, songwriter, and producer King Princess will be dropping her sophomore album today, In a statement, the artist said, “I want this album to give you all some strength in accepting ourselves; as chaotic as we can be . . . That’s what King Princess has always been about at its core. Making a home for us to feel safe and weird and messy and imperfect. You are not alone in your feelings. I bet you I feel and have felt the same. This album is for anyone who needs a sanctuary to be vulnerable.” This comforting and accepting album makes a great companion to Shelley Wong’s As She Appears, released in May of this year. This collection embodies the expanse of desire and self-love, drawing on the natural world, art, and beauty.  

Maggie Rogers: Surrender

Another sophomore studio release today comes from the Grammy-nominated Maggie Rogers. Her 2019 debut, Heard It in a Past Life, took the music industry by storm, and now Rogers is ready to add another layer to her career. Surrender is anticipated to examine cultural consciousness, spirituality, and the ethics of pop power through danceable, hypnotic beats. “Joy with teeth” is what Rogers called it in an interview with The New York Times. This combination of gravity and lightness pairs perfectly with Patricia Lockwood’s 2014 collection Motherland Fatherland Homelandsexuals, in which the Booker Prize finalist creates a colloquial and incantatory examination of political, sexual, and social norms.