Review: Newly discovered Queen single will rattle balconies

POP/ROCK

Queen, "Face It Alone"

Freddie Mercury packed drama into every syllable when he sang "Face It Alone," a track Queen rediscovered in 1988 session archives while preparing a much-expanded reissue of its 1989 album, "The Miracle," and has now rebuilt. It's a dirge about inevitable, existential loneliness, set to slow, bare-bones arpeggios and funereal drum thuds, and Mercury's voice expands it to arena scale as he moves between confidential croon and balcony-rattling rasp.

JON PARELES, New York Times

Blink-182, "Edging"

The pop-punk-reunion Mount Rushmore is finally complete — the essential (but not original) lineup of Blink-182 has reunited (again). Tom DeLonge is rejoining Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker for a tour next year; the announcement came with a new song, "Edging," which marks the first time this lineup has been in the studio together in a decade. It's familiar but uncanny, Botoxed tight but with none of the puerile joy that marked the group's breakout hits. Part of Blink's charm was the sense that it might unravel at any moment; this suggests it is content to remain contained.

JON CARAMANICA, New York Times

The 20-year-old established herself on TikTok with songs about pain, self-doubt and thoughts of death. The comic relief on her new debut album, "Young Forever," is "Tired of California," a sweet-voiced summation of the attractions, superficiality and ennui of aspiring to stardom in Los Angeles. "I get sick of sunshine on my perfect skin," she lilts, to a tune reminiscent of "Tom's Diner" by Suzanne Vega; then she contemplates death as a career move that would leave her "young forever": "You get more famous when you die." The production riffles through Los Angeles specialties: crunching EDM, orchestral bombast, hair-metal guitars and confessional piano chords. It's supremely self-conscious.

JON PARELES, New York Times

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