The Plug’n Play: February (‘25)

March 3, 2025

Illustration by Malaaya Adams

You can listen to the full playlist on Apple Music or Spotify

On the cover: Chioke is a Philadelphia-based artist and singer-songwriter. A charismatic performer, Chioke’s music defies genre — Rock, R&B, or Indie would be too limiting — ultimately creating a sound of her own. On February 21st, Chioke released her debut LP, When In Doubt. You can listen to/purchase her album here.

If you’re looking for new music, this is the place for you! Each month, my friend, Kevin, and I select some of our favorite songs from the past month, compiling them into one playlist. While our tastes overlap in a lot of ways, they also diverge. Ultimately, these songs represent what has drawn us in, made us curious, or feel something.

Songs 1 - 14 were selected by Kevin. Songs 15 - 29 were selected by me, Stanley. We hope you find a song you like and check out the larger body of work, whether it’s an EP or an album. Below are a few words on some of my favorite songs from the month:

Too High to Die — Chioke

When In Doubt opens to the sound of Chioke hastily running up a flight of stairs (there’s an alarm and other sounds going in the background) as if she’s being chased. The listener is dropped into some scene of desperation. Shortly after, the listener hears the sound of a helicopter, and a voice over a loud speaker say: “this is the police, come out with your hands up.” A door creeks as Chioke exits the building, and the soundscape opens up. The listener can surmise she’s outside now after making it to the top of a flight of stairs, but, only to be in a stare down with the police. “We have you cornered Chioke,” says the voice over the loudspeaker. The wind from generated from the helicopter whistles in the air as the track fades.

Fittingly, Chioke’s described her music as cinematic. Her music — which spans R&B, Indie, Rock, Psychedelic — is often accentuated with skits and a host of sound effects; it’s the type of thing that keeps you on your toes. For me, part of what makes Chioke’s music exciting is how she uses her voice, its low, raspy-like timbre; how she sometimes sounds like she’s talking, reminiscent of how the great Rock singers and Rap vocalists use their voice. On Too High To Die, the second track from the album, Chioke effortlessly moves between sonic traditions: a strong backbeat from the drums, a smooth bass line, and whirling guitars and keyboards; all of which transform and become frenetic on the choruses.

Savannah Cristina — Worthy of Love

Before talking about Savannah Cristina’s new song, Worthy of Love, I wanted to tell a quick story. I first came to Savannah’s music in late 2023. Around that time, I was contacted by a friend — who’d been contacted by somebody on her team — stating that she’d be making a tour stop in Philadelphia and needed a band, a guitar player in my case. I agreed. For gigging musicians in this situation, the next step is listening to the music, learning the material. For me, I like listen for any “surprises” first — odd time signatures, key changes, etc. It’s a different type of listening than someone would do for pleasure, or even to form an opinion on whether they like the music or not. It can be a bit mechanical, because, as a person hired to play the music, you’re expected to play the parts and not much more. As I’m going through the songs on the list, I get to her song What You Won’t Do — an interpolation of Bobby Caldwell’s What You Won’t Do For Love — and immediately shout, “THAT’S SMYTHE!”

John Smythe — a now GRAMMY Award Winning producer who’s been featured on this site on a number of occasions — has such a distinct and recognizable sound, he’s one of my favorite producers working today. However, because Smythe has been making royalty free samples — essentially where music-makers can pay for, and subsequently download, song snippets to be used in a full composition — artists, or producers, rarely know the initial composer. You can imagine my excitement going into the rehearsals to let Savannah and her team know who made the original composition.

Fast forward about a year and a half, and Savannah Cristina and John Smythe have a [more] formal collaboration — Worthy of Love — and it’s beautiful. It’s got many of Smythe’s signature sounds: acoustic and electric guitars, staccato bass lines, and sitar. Worthy of Love also features lush string arrangement by Haeinsane. It’s a feel-good song reminiscent of Philly International Records and 70s Soul music. I’m hoping to see more collaborations between them!