The Muse Mixx Vol. 10: Sexy Dancing in the Mirror

Happy Music Monday Muses! It’s hot down here in Alabama already and can you also believe we are blazing through the month of June already? It’s like the summer wants to get the hell up out of here almost as bad as we want the heat gone.

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The only thing hotter than an Alabama summer is the music I’m sharing this week. This week’s playlist is centered around music that makes you want to sexy dance in the mirror, ya know, like Holli Would.

via GIPHY

To me, there’s nothing better than having that playlist that makes you feel on top of the world when you’re in a funk, getting ready to go out, or if you just need it.

So, here’s what’s been having me dancing:

“Woman” by Doja Cat
“Sexy Back” by Justin Timberlake featuring Timbaland
“No Diggity” by Blackstreet featuring Dr. Dre and Queen Pen
“Oops (Oh My)” by Tweet featuring Missy Elliott
“No Angel” by Beyonce
“Marvin & Chardonnay” by Big Sean featuring Kanye West and Roscoe Dash
“I Know What You Want” by Busta Rhymes featuring Mariah Carey and Flipmode Squad
“Gimme More” by Britney Spears
“Buttons” by The Pussycat Dolls
“Temperature” by Sean Paul
“Need to Know” by Doja Cat
“Please Me” by Cardi B and Bruno Mars
“Dangerous Woman” by Ariana Grande
“Lady Marmalade” by Christina Aguilera, Lil Kim, Mya, & P!nk
“All Hands on Deck” by Tinashe
“Never Lose Me” by Flo Milli
“House of Balloons/Glass Table Girls” by The Weeknd
“Diamonds” by Rihanna
“Streets” by Doja Cat
“borderline” by Ariana Grande featuring Missy Elliott
“Miss Independent” by Ne-Yo
“Company” by Tinashe
“Bad Girl” by Usher
“Just A Lil Bit” by 50 Cent
“Feenin” by Lyrica Anderson featuring Kevin Gates
“Party Favors” by Tinashe featuring Young Thug
“Promiscuous” by Nelly Furtado
“Essence” by WizKid featuring Tems
“Lost” by Frank Ocean
“Your Body” by Christina Aguilera
“PLASTIC OFF THE SOFA” by Beyonce
“Whatever She Wants” by Bryson Tiller
“Control Myself” by LL Cool J featuring Jennifer Lopez
“She Got Her Own” by Ne-Yo featuring Jaime Foxx and Fabolous
“Candy Shop” by 50 Cent featuring Olivia
“Don’t Cha” by The Pussycat Dolls
“MILLION DOLLAR BABY” by Tommy Richman
“Maneater” by Nelly Furtado
“Nasty Dancer” by Flo Milli
“Feels Like” by Lucky Daye
“Moonlight” by Kali Uchis
“Luxurious” by Gwen Stefani
“Baby Boy” by Beyonce featuring Sean Paul
“Alright” by Victoria Monet
“Best Time” by Brent Faiyaz
“What Them Girls Like” by Ludacris featuring Chris Brown and Sean Garrett

The inspiration for this playlist really came from both the gif and seeing a playlist called this on Spotify and it was the perfect date night, get ready vibe for me at the time. But, that’s not the only thing I got for ya’ll this week.

The D-Sides

So, the other week, I made a playlist that I talked about primarily in my little Instagram community, The Palace of Muses, and I didn’t talk about it on here. You can follow me and join the community if you want to here, but, that playlist was full of my guilty pleasure songs. I really wanted to spotlight some of those songs too.

The tracklist for the Guilty Pleasures D-Sides goes a little like this:

“Decode” by Paramore
“All Mine” by Never Shout Never
“BomBom” by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring The Teaching
“All I Ever Wanted” by Kelly Clarkson
“So Happy I Could Die” by Lady Gaga
“Problem” by Natalia Kills
“Did It Ever Cross Your Mind” by Vanessa Hudgens
“I Don’t Wanna Be In Love (Dance Floor Anthem)” by Good Charlotte
“You Got It (The Right Stuff)” by New Kids On the Block
“Trainwreck” by Demi Lovato
“I Gotta Get You” by Christian Milan
“Say You’ll Be There” by The Spice Girls
“Right Where You Want Me” by Jesse McCartney
“Company” by Justin Bieber
“Disco Heaven” by Lady Gaga
“Love You Like A Love Song” by Selena Gomez & The Scene
“Fallin” by Bazzi featuring 6LACK
“Say I” by Christina Milan featuring Jeezy

If you want to listen to the full “Guilty Pleasure” playlist on Spotify, you can here.

Last Muse Mixx (Muse Mixx Vol. 9)

Speaking of summer earlier in the blog post, I did a playlist of Summer jump off songs that I never got to fully share with you all. So, you can listen to it on Spotify! It includes Beyonce, Tinashe, Saweetie, Kendrick Lamar, Sabrina Carpenter, Lil Kim, and Jungle.

Hottest Visuals

I miss the era of waiting for music videos to drop. I know there are still fans who do (millions even) however, the culture surrounding waiting for artists to curate and create eras and moments through music videos isn’t the same as it was when I was growing up. We have whole channels dedicated to music videos all day long. I remember the countdown shows like 106 & Park, TRL, Sucker Free Countdown, Fuse Top 20 Countdown, etc. I feel like that gave artists something to look forward to putting their art out for. However, there are some artists who are BRINGING the visuals and fun lately and I got to give them their flowers.

Victoria Monet

Victoria recently released the music video for “Alright,” and it is everything and more. With multiple nods to Michael & Janet Jackson, choreography for days, and just the stunning visuals that live in your head rent free; it’s giving everything it’s supposed to give. I’ve watched the video a couple times a day since it released. Victoria is a true student of music; you can tell she does her homework, she researches the legends, her references/samples are intentional, and she is more than just another artist. She’s a musical visionary. She also recently announced/released a song for Star Wars: The Acolyte.

Megan Thee Stallion

As we countdown to the release of her new album, Megan, coming out on Friday, she’s released three videos as an independent artist. Each of them unique in their own way in terms of imagery and still staying true to her vision as an artist to be more authentic to her metamorphic journey seeing as how she is now independent. Cobra, HISS, & BOA; have all been both stunning and fun to watch. I think the one I’ve watched the most as been Hiss. Megan is also having the time of her life on tour right now with Glo Rilla and it is so good to see her get her flowers and receive the love she’s been receiving on tour. It’s also awesome to see the chemistry between her and Glo Rilla then between the two of them along with Latto and Flo Milli. Meg, Latto, & Flo even released a remix to Latto’s song “Sunday Service.”

Doja Cat

Say what you want about her, Doja’s a performer and that’s not just on stage. Doja’s live sets have been enjoyable to watch but also her music videos have given budget, creativity, and dedication to whatever era she’s in with her music. I still think one of the apexes of her career was when she showed how versatile she can be with performing one song. When her label had her performing and pushing “Say So” heavy, she switched up her sound continuously across different performances exploring different genre arrangements for the hit. Hot Pink was arguably my favorite era of hers.

The Weeknd

Ya’ll know I was going to put Abel on this list, if you didn’t, do ya’ll REALLY know me? The Weeknd is someone who truly connects and commits to the musical eras he creates. There’s something beautiful about the continuity that you can see and feel from era to era of his. Word around the interwebs is that we are about to step into a new era.

Tinashe

While I’m extremely happy for Tinashe, it’s crazy that she’s just now getting the recognition as an artist as she deserves. Tinashe has been giving us quality music and quality videos. Tinashe incorporates tantalizing overall visuals with her choreography extremely well. They also tend to perfectly compliment the audio of the tracks.

Tyla

One of the things that I appreciate the most about Tyla’s artistry is that her sound is hers. Like when you hear a song you know it’s her. I appreciate the dedication to her sound that we used to have back in the day. Her and Tems have done this extremely well with their sounds. Their songs sound similar but still different from each other but you know who you’re hearing when the songs start. Tyla’s recent video release, “Jump” was one that complimented the track extremely well.

Kali Uchis

Kali’s music videos are so dreamy to me. It’s her vocals of course, but it’s also just the imagery that she pairs with her vocals that make them dreamy. She’s also been directing her videos as well.

Ariana Grande

Ariana has definitely been in the game long enough to bring it when it comes to her music videos. I genuinely have been enjoying her music videos since the sweetener era (which ya’ll unfortunately continue to play in her face with for some reason, I have a theory but that’s for another day.) She brings visuals, fashion, and her powerhouse vocals. In her latest video for “the boy is mine,” she ups the anty again playing a stalker to her city’s mayor, played by Penn Badgley. Which is hilarious to those who watch or have heard of the show You. Also, the cameo with Monica and Brandy seeing as how many thought that Ariana’s song was a rendition of Monica & Brandy’s collab. However, I loved seeing those beauties on screen.

Kehlani

Kehlani is long since shown that she is a multifaceted artist and her latest work the past couple of years has been no exception. I’ve been obsessed with her music videos since the While We Wait era and she has kept it going. First, with “After Hours” and now with “Next 2 U.” Another thing that in my opinion puts Kehlani in a league of all her own is how she is never afraid to use her platform to do the right thing and urge others to do so. She unapologetically a badass.

More Videos I’ve Been Loving

Josh Levi

We as a society moved on from this TOO fast. I’m newer to Josh Levi’s artistry and even I can see the star quality so far. He’s proving with each new song I hear that he’s here to stay. Might as well be ready.

Sabrina Carpenter

I’m not even going to lie to you, it’s crazy to me seeing Sabrina mature and grow her sound sonically after meeting her (through the screen of course) on Girl Meets World all them years ago. Sabrina’s music seems to get better each time and between this single and “Espresso,” I think it’s safe to say her music will be in rotation this summer.

Megan Thee Stallion

Yeah, yeah, yeah; Megan is on here twice but I’m LOVING the video’s she’s putting together as an independent artist.

GloRilla

An Ode to Black Music Month: The Muse Mixx Vol. 11

Glo really has made a fan out of me with her recent singles and performances. She’s really growing as an artist as well and I’m loving to see it.

Saweetie

I really believe that this is Saweetie’s lane: Pretty B*tch Music. I’m not even trying to be funny. Saweetie drops a fun, summer girlie bop and it’s going to smash everytime. I like how she has fun and she really doesn’t give two about the over criticism about her music.

Kehlani

Like I said previously, Kehlani has been killing it! I love everything about this video from the choreo to the song itself. Also, did anyone else peep the “Liberian Girl” by Michael Jackson sample? If you did, I love you.

Dua Lipa

Dua Lipa has grown tremendously as an artist since I first heard of you. She’s always had a voice that I liked but the thing that impresses me the most is how her stage presence and visuals have grown with her as an artist. Unrelated, I quite enjoyed her cameo in the movie, Argylle.

Flo Milli

Look, I love my girls from Alabama, okay? Flo Milli’s project trilogy has been heavy in my “Get Ready” and confidence playlists. Flo Milli’s whole sound to me not only is authentic but just solely her. There’s no mistaking her for anyone else when I here a Flo Milli song get started.

NPR’s Tiny Desk

NPR has again been killing the Tiny Desk’s lately. Not that I’m complaining. We’ve had Willow, Ne-Yo, Sean Paul, Nelly Furtado, Tierra Whack, Tems, Chaka Khan, and Kierra Sheard with Flo Milli and SWV to come for Black Music Month.

The Return of Album Breakdowns and Spotlight

We have a lot of new music to look forward to, so I’m going to resume doing my album blog rollouts like I used to back in the day. I never stopped doing my listening parties when they released (that much) the only thing that changed was my blogs on them. But, we’re about to kick that back up. Be on the lookout for later today when I release my first one in a while on Normani’s debut album, Dopamine. After Dopamine, I’m also going to have a review of Kaytranada’s new album, TIMELESS. Ya’ll got a two for one special today! To get caught up, I’m going to do one for recent releases and new albums weekly! I hope you’re ready, if you’re an OG, you know how I’m coming.

I hope this starts your Monday off right! Stay tuned for more!