The Best Songs of December 2024 // New Music Friday!

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"Open Wide" // Inhaler

The title track of Inhaler's upcoming album Open Wide is such a mesmerizing and hypnotic performance from the band. I love the psych rock elements incorporated throughout, it is truly one of their best songs yet and I cannot wait to hear the rest of their new album very soon!

"Dance The Night (Live from the Royal Albert Hall)" // Dua Lipa

At Dua Lipa's recent show at Royal Albert Hall, she performed "Dance The Night" live for the first time ever! I cannot think of a better debut live performance of this amazing song than with an entire orchestra at Royal Albert Hall! This song played a pivotal role in Barbie last year and she brought the glittering energy to life with this performance so well. The entire album is so amazing and magical - it may honestly be one of my favorite live albums ever! Every song is so masterfully performed by everyone involved. These arrangements completely elevated the perfection of the originals, I absolutely loved every single song. I hope to get to see her perform live soon, she is so talented and has made so much of my favorite music ever! ✨

"30 For 30" // SZA & Kendrick Lamar

Ahead of their 2025 joint tour, SZA and Kendrick have teamed up yet again with another great track to close out the year. "30 For 30" is a part of SZA's long-awaited deluxe release of SOS titled LANA and is such a great continuation of the original record. I fell in love with her music earlier this year, specifically SOS has been on repeat for months, and am always so happy to hear more from her! 

"Girl From The North County" // Timothée Chalamet & Monica Barbaro

I have heard so many great things about Timothée Chalamet's performance as Bob Dylan in the new biopic A Complete Unknown and the soundtrack is such a beautiful representation of the transformation he underwent to play this role. I love his performance of "Girl From The North County", a duet with Monica Barabaro, who is portraying Joan Baez. I haven't seen the film yet, but I am really looking forward to it!

"Sugar In The Tank" // Julien Baker & TORRES


It was announced recently that Julien Baker and Torres are teaming up to release a country album next year alongside their first single titled "Sugar In The Tank". This song is so introspective and emotional, yet so upbeat at the same time. I'm looking forward to hearing more from them soon! 

"Starting Line (Live) // Luke Hemmings 

This month, Luke Hemmings released a special solo live album recorded in Los Angeles earlier this year featuring songs from his 2021 debut album, as well as his new EP, boy. One of the best songs he ever made was the first solo song he ever released, "Starting Line". When Facing The Things We Turn Away From is such a stunning record, he takes the listener on such an introspective journey from beginning to end. The energy of this live version is so special, so much emotion radiates through this recording. 

"Merry Christmas Please Don't Call (Live at NYU Skirball - New York City) // Bleachers

Last month I named Bleachers' new song "Merry Christmas Please Don't Call" as one of their best they ever made and somehow they were able surpass it with this incredible live version! It was recorded earlier this month at their annual talent show in support of the Ally Coalition and they released this version just a few days later as a part of their ongoing live album. Bleachers has been putting out new songs freshly recorded at their From The Studio To The Stage Tour over the past year, which I absolutely love. If you have ever seen the band live, I'm sure you'll know the incredible energy their shows have. Truly nothing else compares to it and I love hearing how that magic translates into these recordings. I really hope they perform this song outside of the holiday season, it such a beautiful song that is somehow even better live! 

"All I Want For Christmas Is You - Live at the Cathedral of St. John The Divine" // Mariah Carey


To celebrate the 30th anniversary of her iconic holiday album, Mariah Carey released a special deluexe edition of Merry Christmas featuring remastered live versions recorded in New York City in December 1994. All of the performances are so beautiful live, but of course the classic "All I Want For Christmas" will forever be such a major highlight of any show Mariah performs!

Check out my full 30th anniversary review of Merry Christmas by Mariah Carey!


It's hard to believe this is already my very last New Music Friday post of the year! This now closes out the second year of this series and I am very excited to continue sharing some of my favorite new releases at the end of every month through 2025 and beyond. This was such a great year for new music and I have loved highlighting artists of all genres every single month. I have discovered so many new artists that I otherwise never would have found through the curation of these lists and I hope that you were able to as well. I really appreciate all of the support I have gotten this year, 2024 was by far my biggest year yet on my blog and I am truly so grateful to anyone who takes the time to read my work. I hope 2025 is going to be even better and I am really looking forward to continuing to share more music content in the years to come. 💓

Take a look back at some of my previous New Music Friday posts here to see some more new releases from throughout the year. I would also love for you to check out my last two posts to close out 2024, my favorite albums and my favorite songs of the year. Those are two of my favorite posts to curate and write every single year and honestly 2024 may have been the best yet! 

I wish you and your loved ones a very happy new year! 

-Melissa ♡


All credit to photo owners - header designed by Melissa Kacar


Related Posts:

Radical Optimism by Dua Lipa // Album Review

the record by boygenius // Album Review

the rest by boygenius // EP Review

boy by Luke Hemmings // EP Review













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