NME’s latest star of The Cover, Underscores, has compiled an exclusive playlist to accompany the story’s launch – check it out below.
The US hyperpop star is on this week’s (March 17) edition of The Cover, a weekly manifestation of NME’s commitment to supporting emerging talent across the globe on a weekly basis. Every week, a rising artist will feature on The Cover – you can read the profile of Underscores here, written by Otis Robinson and featuring photography by Alexa Viscius.
To accompany The Cover, Underscores has put together an exclusive playlist for NME, titled ‘The Golden Key’. Featuring tracks by Justin Bieber, 2PM, Oklou, Hilary Duff, Effie and more, she explains she “can only really listen to music in this key anymore”. Listen to the full playlist on Spotify below and on Apple Music.
In The Cover, Underscores – real name April Harper Grey – speaks to NME ahead of her slot at Coachella 2025, and dives into her breakthrough album ‘Wallsocket’. The record is built around the eponymous fictional town and follows three suburban girls coming of age and reckoning with religion, violence, class dissonance and feminine rage, using their experiences as a vehicle to critique the tensions of Middle America. “Exploring those little pockets of frustration is important,” Grey asserts. “I was thinking a lot about the cards that are dealt in America.”
The artist also discusses how she’s moving on from ‘Wallsocket’, which was first released 2023 and received a deluxe version last year. “Everything was way too intentional [on ‘Wallsocket’],” she explains. “[Now], everything is: ‘fuck it’. It’s way more ‘brain off’ right now than it’s ever been.”
Find out more about Underscores in the full Cover story here and see who else has been on The Cover here.
English (US) · 