3 songs and 3 albums to check out this weekend

Lucy Dacus offers more from Forever Is A Feeling while Macy Rodman finally debuts her fourth album.

By A.V. Club Staff  |  October 10, 2025 | 4:00pm
Images: Geffen, Drake Carr, Better Noise Music
Music Features 3 new songs and 3 new albums
3 songs and 3 albums to check out this weekend

Welcome to our weekly music post, where we spotlight our favorite new songs and albums. Hop in the comments and tell us: What new music are you listening to?

The Format, “Holy Roller”

“I’d fake my death / If it weren’t such a mess,” Nate Ruess opens “Holy Roller,” the first single off of The Format’s newly announced LP, Boycott Heaven. It’s an interesting sentiment to kick off this new era. Despite Ruess’ professed desire for obscurity, this is the most activity we’ve seen from the indie pop duo (made up of Ruess and multi-instrumentalist Sam Means) in years. The band was finally able to go on that mini-reunion tour they initially announced in 2020 (it was postponed for obvious reasons), and Boycott Heaven, which is currently slated for a 2026 release, will be their first album in two decades. The single itself is polished, upbeat, and catchy, and heralds a more than welcome return to form for the group. [Emma Keates]

Magdalene, “Tough Love” 

Like many talents of her generation, Magdalene (the stage name of Madeline Boyd) clearly has a fixation on the seedy, blowout elements of Y2K pop. “Tough Love,” which she described on Instagram as the “final song of this era,” features a Britney Spears-like melody built over shredding synths and snapping drums. The track owes some of its smack to Cole Haden, the Model/Actriz frontman who injects some of the band’s experimental rock energy and helps make a familiar era feel fresh. [Drew Gillis]  

Lucy Dacus, “Losing”

Earlier this year, Lucy Dacus got meditative on Forever Is A Feeling, her fourth studio album and major label debut. Now she’s back with Forever Is A Feeling: The Archives, a companion record featuring some new and acoustic versions of old Forever tracks as well as a few previously unreleased songs. One of those new songs is “Losing,” a gorgeous little number that finds Dacus in the mode of “Limerence” and “Lost Time,” as her unimpeachable vocals intertwine with a lush, languid instrumentation. “I’m losing myself / Into anyone else,” she sings, but the song is Dacus through and through. [EK]

Macy Rodman, SCALD

Macy Rodman’s fourth album has been four years in the making and seems like it could be her most polished and self-assured yet. If her last album, 2021’s excellent Unbelievable Animals, earned comparisons to Courtney Love and Liz Phair, SCALD‘s advance singles have leaned into Berlin-by-way-of-Brooklyn synths while maintaining that alternative 90s edge and blow-out guitar texture. SCALD also continues Rodman’s vocal love of film; “Kim Novak” comes after opening track “Stairwell,” a jam that includes the lyric “I wish I could just press rewind / Like Haneke plot device.” [DG] 

Yellowcard, Better Days 

Yellowcard is back in the mix with Better Days, the Florida rockers’ first full-length release since 2016. “I started the record as one version of myself and came out the other side changed,” said frontman Ryan Key in a statement, in which he also shared that writing songs for this record made him feel like he was 19 again. You can hear how rejuvenated the band sounds on fast-paced, optimistic bops like “honestly i” and title track “Better Days.” And yet their sound has also matured with them, thanks in part to the contributions of blink-182’s Travis Barker, who produced the record and drums on every track. Better Days also features collaborations with Avril Lavigne and Alkaline Trio’s Matt Skiba. [EK]

PinkPantheress, Fancy Some More?

PinkPantheress’ latest mixtape, Fancy That, was a delectable little treat this summer, and the British musician has remixed that tape with seemingly every single act who conceivably influenced it. Seriously; Basement Jaxx, The Sugababes, JT (of the City Girls fame), Bladee, Rachel Chinouriri, and Kylie Minogue are all here, and that’s not even half the list. Pink has already been willing to reimagine her own music (her notably non-autotuned Tiny Desk performance comes to mind) so it’ll be interesting to hear what she comes up with with this roster. [DG]

 
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