Well, this is the good kind of surprise. The Danish musician Erika de Casier has a cool, atmospheric take on pop music, and she’s already made a powerful impact on actual global pop music rather than just the boutique, conceptual version of the stuff. A few years ago, de Casier helped write and produce a bunch of game-changing hits from the K-pop girl group NewJeans, which is now sadly on hiatus over some record-label bullshit. On her own, de Casier makes slinky, inviting studio-pop, and her album Still was one of our favorites of last year. She also teamed up with Nick León for the cult hit “Bikini.” I don’t think anyone was expecting Erika de Casier to drop another LP so quickly, but she’s back today with the surprise LP Lifetime.
