Though not known for having many releases each year, March was a huge month for music. Despite the many A-List albums in March, there was a wide array of music released this month.

One of the biggest albums that came out this month was Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter, which came out on March 29th. A few other big albums and EPs that came out were Eternal Sunshine by Ariana Grande, Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran by Shakira, GUTS (spilled) by Olivia Rodrigo, Fine Ho, Stay by Flo Milli, Dirty Nachos, a collaborative album by Chief Keef and Mike WiLL Made-It, Unheard by Hozier and Deeper Well by Kacey Musgraves, which you can read more about here.

As well as album releases, there were many promotional singles for albums coming out soon. “Club classics” and “B2b” by Charli XCX, promoting BRAT, “I Guess” by Lizzy McAlpine, promoting Older, “All in Good Time” by Iron & Wine (feat. Fiona Apple), promoting Light Verse, and “Dark” by Maya Hawke, promoting Chaos Angel.

A few other, less popular album releases last month were Bright Future by Adrianne Lenker, Tigers Blood by Waxahatchee, Visions by Norah Jones, Bleachers by Bleachers, In The Search of The Antidote by Fletcher and For Your Consideration by Empress Of.

My personal top ten out of last month’s music releases are:

• Wildflower and Barley – Hozier (Feat. Allison Russell). The rest of Unheard is overlooked because of “Too Sweet”, but this song, in my opinion, is the best out of the deluxe tracks. It has that same wandering-forest-fairy vibe that Hozier goes for in a lot of his songs that I really enjoy.
• Girl I’ve Always Been – Olivia Rodrigo. Like many Olivia Rodrigo fans, I’ve been listening to podcast versions of the deluxe tracks on this album for months. However, this one is the one I was most surprised by and really enjoyed. Personally, I really enjoy the country direction that she went in with this song while still keeping her upbeat, poppy style and I always love a happy(-ish) Olivia song.
• Real House – Adrianne Lenker. As someone who has been a fan of Big Thief as well as Adrianne Lenker for a while, this album has been long awaited for me. Adrianne Lenker’s music is very important to me (naturally, my cat’s middle name is Ingydar), so as soon as I woke up on March 22nd, I immediately listened to her new album. As this is the first track, this song stuck with me.
• Take Me To The River – Lorde. The recent releases from the upcoming Talking Heads tribute album, Stop Making Sense, have been on repeat for me; after Paramore’s cover of “Burning Down The House”, I was hooked and this one is not an exception. Of course I love every single thing Lorde comes out with and this cover is on that same level of incredible that I hear in all of her work. According to Variety, the other artists that will be featured on this album are ​​Girl in Red, The National, Teezo Touchdown, Kevin Abstract, BadBadNotGood, Toro y Moi, Blondshell, DJ Tunez, Jean Dawson, Chicano Batman, The Linda Lindas, El Mató and The Cavemen.
• I Guess – Lizzy McAlpine. Lizzy McAlpine’s discography has been on repeat for me this spring, so it was perfect timing when she released her latest album and singles for said album in that time. The simplicity of this song really drew me in after hearing it come out as a single and this same acoustic nature of the song is shown in the rest of her album, contrasting from her previous album five seconds flat, but very similar to her 2020 album, Give Me A Minute. 
• Docket – Blondshell (Feat. Bully). I’ve been listening to both Blondshell and Bully for a while, so this collaboration was an absolute dream and definitely lived up to my expectations. If you need new artists to listen to, especially if you’re looking for rock, these would be two I’d suggest. 
• YA YA – Beyoncé. Beyoncé’s turn to country has been very controversial; some people hate it, some people love it. However, I think this bold step was incredible. “YA YA” has amazing production and even better lyrics, with lines like “Are you tired workin’ time and time and a half for half the pay” and “Life is comin’ at me fast, keep my Bible on the dash/This pistol in my seat in case I gotta blast” that showcase her experienced artistry in a unique way.
• Deeper Well – Kacey Musgraves. Personally, I’m not the biggest fan of country (with the exception of Cowboy Carter, obviously), but Kacey Musgraves’ newest album vears away from what we hear in popular modern country and keeps more of a folksy sound, instead of a poppy one. The title track, “Deeper Well”, is my favorite example of this; its simplistic, acoustic style is shown in the rest of the album, as a good title track should.
• Evil Spawn – Waxahatchee. This song is another good country release from last month. Waxatchee, an alt-country artist from Kansas City, just released her latest album that contains elements of country and indie rock. “Evil Spawn” is a great example of this since it includes both sides of the album.
• Club classics – Charli XCX. I find myself having this song stuck in my head constantly. Charli XCX is a queen of hyperpop and I wholeheartedly believe that everything she releases is amazing, so her latest single have been nothing below perfect to me.

For more of my top picks, click here.