Fall Female Pop Vocalist Fashion 2026

 

Fall Female Pop Vocalist Fashion 2026

Damn, all of a sudden there’s way too much to cover out there in the women’s angsty-but-dancy pop category. Items that have made my playlist have been listed below, not necessarily best to weakest, but more with an eye to what sticks with me.

Carly Rae Jepsen, Day and Night  -- While Jepsen likes to fiddle with thematic opposites that are released a few months apart from each other, the new one drops the super-sized burrito on the table all at once, 24 tracks on two discs, a tactic that suggests an inevitable over-production on too many songs. Guess what? She dodged that bullet, with each song optimizing its own engineering and arrangement, and Carly Rae adopting styles ranging from Imogen Heap to Maria Muldaur. Some people might find a track or two that doesn’t work for them, but the amazing part about this new release is how many songs hit the mark, bringing to mind Tori Amos’s massive American Doll Posse

Caroline Rose, Gentling the Horse at the Walt Whitman Mall – If you’ve made “Yip Yip Yow” your song of the summer, you already know what to expect. This album only has been released as a “Mystery Album” LP so far, but its contents bring together elements of all of Caroline Rose’s multiplicity of personalities and bad jokes. A rip-roaring good time.

Blondshell, Violins – Sabrina Teitelbaum’s third album as Blondshell continues with that slightly jaded Liz Phair version of a 1990s tough riot grrrl, but it somehow sizzles and locks in place more than anything that preceded it.

Beabadobee, Pylon – The Filipino-Brit singer Beatrice Laus probably knows as well as anyone that she needed to expand beyond the squeaky-voiced vulnerability of earlier works, so Beabadobee went the Olivia Rodrigo route of adding more and louder electric guitars. It works, most of the time. This sounds like heavier indie rock, only occasionally falling into stereotyped delivery.

Miley (Cyrus), Bass Persuades – At least give Miley credit for not moving into the loony territories she explored a decade ago with Flaming Lips and other artists. This is a good solid dance album, not always rising above the noise, but making an effort to grow old with what might be panache.

Squirrel Flower, Say a Prayer to the Gods of Getting Going – At this point, you’re either on or off the Squirrel Flower bus, and it’s OK to be late to the party. The new one is a fine entry point, though her two previous albums and live EP also would be good starters. An artist for the ages.

Julia Jacklin, The Gem – The move to Melbourne made Jacklin a wee bit wispier in delivery, but the songs hang together more than anything else she’s done.

Tove Lo, Estrus – I used to think of Lo as too much sex and not enough content, which works well on the dance floor for about three songs max. Lo has polished the act enough to glorify sexuality better than Robyn in her comeback, without the sarcasm of Peaches. Whenever I think I didn’t give Lo enough credit, I remember that for the very early Charli XCX albums, I similarly thought of her as all sex and no content. And this year Charli XCX hit us up with a Wuthering Heights soundtrack and the epic Music Fashion Film album. Hey, I can be wrong. A lot of the time.