Image via Complex Original
Autumn is a time of transition, as leaves change color and temperatures slowly swing from the highs of summer to the lows of winter. Most people are either headed back into a new school year or focusing back on their jobs after some vacations or long weekends. But fall doesn’t have to be a chilly, depressing time of work and study. You just have to layer up, embrace the change in the air, and listen to some music that suits the mood of the season.
Miguel “Leaves”
Miguel Jontel Pimentel’s latest album, Wildheart, is something of a love letter to the R&B singer’s home of Southern California. And one of the album’s most emotional moments, the breakup song “Leaves,” hinges on the turns a relationship can take over the seasons, and how the leaves don’t change color in California to remind you about the passage of time. The wistful song’s main guitar riff bears an unintentional resemblance to “1979” by Smashing Pumpkins, which Miguel noticed and recently decided to acknowledge by giving Billy Corgan a songwriting credit.
Future Islands “Seasons (Waiting on You)”
Last year Future Islands—an offbeat indie band formed in North Carolina that built a major grassroots following after relocating to Baltimore—got a shot at its television debut on The Late Show With David Letterman. But the trio’s passionate, animated performance of the single “Seasons (Waiting On You),” had a galvanizing effect on their career, far beyond what a late night appearance usually does for a band. And while singer Samuel T. Herring’s unique stage moves had a lot to do with that viral popularity, the passion in his ruminations on the change of seasons were what made the performance resonate on such a large level.
Mary J. Blige “Whole Damn Year”
Mary J. Blige has built her long career on vulnerability and emotional honesty. But she’s never sounded more fragile and more broken than on the single from last year’s The London Sessions. “See winter took most of my heart/And spring punched me right in the stomach/Summer came lookin’ for blood/And by autumn I was left with nothin’/It took a whole damn year to repair my body.” In “Whole Damn Year,” fall is Blige’s lowest moment, but 12 months later autumn returns while she’s on the mend.
Tinashe “Far Side of the Moon”
“2 On” hitmaker Tinashe released her 2014 major label debut, Aquarius, in October last year, bringing one of the season’s best new releases that fitted the chilly mood and dropped temperatures perfectly. And “Far Side of the Moon” is one of the highlights of the album’s brooding second half, with a lush beat by Nigerian-born producer Osinachi Nwaneri (Wale, Ciara).
Lupe Fiasco f/ Rosy Timms “Fall”
Lupe Fiasco’s latest album, Tetsuo & Youth, is anchored by four tracks in which he doesn’t rap at all, ceding the spotlight to classically trained violinist Rosy Timms. Each of the tracks is named after one of the four seasons, and the 74-second “Fall” is the shortest and loveliest of them. Fiasco previously paid tribute to autumn on “Dear Fall,” a 2006 answer to Jay Z’s “Dear Summer.”
Drake “Jungle”
No rapper seems more tuned into the fall than Drake. His label, October’s Very Own, is a nod to his fall birthday, and he even posed in front of autumn foliage for the cover of his early mixtape Comeback Season. The most autumnal song on the rapper’s recent platinum-selling mixtape, If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late, is “Jungle,” the obligatory melancholy track in which he sings.
Rico Love “Days Go By”
Producer and songwriter Rico Love moves fluidly between love and loss in his debut album as a performer, Turn the Lights On. And “Days Go By” is the album’s centerpiece of heartbreak, where the nights are getting longer, possibly because the days are getting shorter in fall—or perhaps just because there’s nobody to share them with.
Donnie Trumpet and the Social Experiment f/ King Louie and Quavo “Familiar”
Chicago’s Chance the Rapper, the unofficial star of his band the Social Experiment’s acclaimed album, Surf, hasn’t been out of high school for more than a few years. And on songs like “Familiar,” where he cleverly mocks conformity, he sounds bemused by familiar faces—just like a kid who’s got mixed feelings about returning to school in the fall. That street-rap stars Quavo of Migos and King Louie fit so well in the lighthearted spirit of the song is a testament to the unpredictable charms of Surf.
Sevyn Streeter “4th Street”
Most of R&B singer Sevyn Streeter’s best-known songs are either frenetic dance tracks or smoldering ballads. But “4th Street,” a single released earlier this year, went sadly under the radar with its more sentimental mid-tempo sound. On the song the former RichGirl singer reminisces about where she grew up in Florida, and the people from there that she’ll forever remain cool with.
Pharrell Williams f/ Daft Punk “Gust of Wind”
A couple years ago Daft Punk and Pharrell Williams ruled the summer together with their blockbuster collaboration “Get Lucky.” When Williams returned in 2014 with his solo album, G I R L, he collaborated once again with the French dance duo. But the song felt less like a sequel than a low-key continuation of the same feel-good grooves and vocodered hooks. This time it came with a chillier theme that suited the red and yellow leaves Skateboard P dances among in the song’s video.
