The economy is in shambles, public safety is at risk, and the future is uncertain than a MF.
Despite our ongoing fear of the unknown, we can always count on our faith and a bomb ass playlist to uplift our spirits and xoNecole has a list of bops that will help you overcome your mid-week slump with ease.
Whether you're on an Afrobeats vibe with Davido, Summer Walker, and Jidenna, or you're ready to get smooth and sultry with new heat from Ari Lennox and DVSN, we've got you covered, sis.
Scroll below for 8 songs to add to your mid-week playlist ASAP:
Megan Thee Stallion - Savage Remix (feat. Beyoncé)
Beyoncé knew our hearts when she hopped on Megan Thee Stallion's viral TikTok hit "Savage" for an H-Town Hottie remix that proved Queen Bey has bars for DAYS.
Wale - Sue Me (feat. Kelly Price)
"Sue Me" proves that Wale is a national treasure that must be protected at all costs. The DC rapper's latest collaboration with Pyer Moss creator and director, Kerby Jean-Raymond takes a look at life through an alternate lens that will give you all the feels.
Missy Elliott - Cool Off
It's been 20 years and Missy Elliott has yet to take her foot off our necks and her latest music video proves that this icon doesn't plan on letting up anytime soon. Featuring celebrity choreographer, Sean Bankhead, the visual has already inspired dancers across the internet to turn up for the #CoolOffChallenge.
SiR - John Redcorn
The King of the Hill reference brought me here. SiR made me stay. I must admit, I've been high-key sleeping on Inglewood-bred songwriter, singer, and producer, but his latest cartoon-inspired music video woke me up expeditiously.
Ari Lennox - BUSSIT (Official Music Video)
Ari Lennox can do no wrong and her vibrant new video for "BUSSIT" is everything that's right with the world. In a flick that makes us miss the beauty salon more than ever, Ari links up with her tribe for an epic girl's day-in.
Davido - D & G ft. Summer Walker
Nigerian singer Davido and Summer Walker just linked up for lux visual for his 2019 single, "D&G" and the aesthetics were everything. Davido, whose fiancée recently overcame a Coronavirus diagnosis, pledged to support the Dolce & Gabbana and Humanitas Together for Coronavirus Research fund with proceeds from the video.
dvsn - Between Us (feat. Snoh Aalegra)
Last week, R&B duo DVSN dropped their third studio album, A Muse in Her Feelings, featuring their collaboration with fellow Canadian songwriter, Snoh Aalegra and it will give you the wind-down energy you need to prepare for the weekend.
Victoria Monét - Dive
Victoria Monet needs to know what a man's head game is like and I really felt that. In a song about deep diving into deep conversations, Victoria Monet says what we're all thinking in "Dive".
Jidenna - Feng Shui
Insecure's soundtrack always proceeds to give us what we need and Season 4's playlist is no different. Jidenna, who even made a cameo in the show in 2016, debuted his latest single "Ferg Shui" in episode three.
Featured image by Giphy.
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Skylar sees things differently. At the time, she was shooting content on her iPhone. Temi came into the picture with a new perspective, an understanding of tech, and, eventually, a camera. “He doesn't give himself enough credit,” Skylar says. “He wasn't just my tripod. He wasn't just standing behind the camera and going ‘click.’ He was giving advice. He was giving me insight to how I could look at things from a different perspective. And I was like, 'Oh, he’s an artist.' I think it was maybe a heartbeat of that kind of energy of like, ‘Baby, can you take this picture?’ And it turned so quickly into, we're partners. We can work together in a way where we're advancing each other's creative thinking.”
The pair often says they’re two sides of the same coin. Skylar is an Aquarius. She attended art school, paints, and loves poetry. She’s more than happy to let the couple’s management firm and agency, Kensington Grey, handle their admin work. And, she loves to sleep in. Temi, on the other hand, wakes up early. He’s a Virgo. He loves a to-do list and regularly checks in on the couple’s brand partnerships spreadsheet to make sure everything is on track.
Because his storytelling was steeped in his love of technology, he didn’t always think of himself as a creative person. “Where I [am] the dreamer who wants to pluck things out of the sky and spend all day with my head in the clouds, Temi [is] so good at grounding me and helping me figure out how to make things make sense on paper. We just work together in such a complimentary way,” Skylar says.
It’s been more than six years since Brooklyn-based couple Temi and Skylar started dating, and nearly four since they cemented their working relationship. On TikTok and Instagram, the couple’s travel, fashion, and home content regularly rack up hundreds of thousands of views. They’ve worked with brands such as Coach, Aesop, Away, and Liquid IV, bringing their vibrant perspectives to every campaign they execute. Still, nearly two years since both Temi and Skylar committed to full-time content creation and creative directing, the couple says their romantic connection remains their priority.
“We told each other we would much rather go back to full-time jobs and preserve our relationship than to be full-time freelancers, barely getting a night's rest [and] barely kissing each other because we're so busy shooting,” Skylar says.
Working from home can make it hard to separate work from personal life for any entrepreneur. It can be even more challenging when your business partner is also your lover. Temi and Skylar had already used couples therapy as a tool to help them effectively communicate with one another. When they ran into challenges while working together, their therapist helped them set physical boundaries to help combat the issues.
"We told each other we would much rather go back to full-time jobs and preserve our relationship than to be full-time freelancers, barely getting a night's rest [and] barely kissing each other because we're so busy shooting."
“It actually took us doing very specific physical things to create boundaries between work and play in our relationship,” Skylar says. “So, for instance, we will only have conversations about work when we're out of bed or we're at the table or in the office. Initially, when we started, we had to light a candle to say that, 'Okay, this is a space where we're connecting, we’re not talking about work.' We needed really hard boundaries at the top. And then it became a little bit more organic.”
The boundaries have been crucial to implement, especially because the couple began working together so naturally. When the pair first met, Skylar was NY-based a social strategist for BuzzFeed and was using content creation to drive business to her lingerie company. She was shooting her own content. Temi was working for Microsoft in D.C. He’d recently traded in his DJing equipment for a camera. “I've always loved taking pictures,” he says. “Even when I was a kid, my African mother would wake me up at 3:00 a.m. [during a] party, and be like, 'Come take the family picture.'”
Growing up, Temi says he watched his parents support each other and be the true definition of partners. He knew he wanted the same for his own relationship. But, the couple also wanted to make sure they were being financially responsible. The pair didn’t quit their traditional jobs until they’d saved up two years' worth of their cost of living. And, Temi received his Master of Business Administration from New York University with the knowledge that it could either help him advance in his corporate career or be applicable to his business with Skylar.
Temi and SkylarCj Hart @hartbreakToday, they say their working relationship is more of a “quiet dance.” They still implement some of the boundaries they learned in therapy, but they also lean into their natural strengths and deep love for one another. When we speak, Temi has planned a date for the couple to see Princess Mononoke in 4K IMAX and added it to their Notion so they can factor it into their busy schedules. “I fully plan to date for the rest of my life,” he says.
Skylar says the couple doesn’t just wait for date nights to check in with one another, though. This often happens in the mornings, after Temi has made her peppermint tea and poured himself a cup of coffee. When they ask each other how they slept, she says, it’s not just a “nicety.” It’s a genuine question meant to foster connection.
“A lot of it happens during the day in the midst of work. We'll stop and we'll hug. Or we’ll slow dance in the kitchen,” she says. “Sometimes it's hard to set a whole date night when you have 7,000 things going on. So, we must grasp these moments and check in when we can. And I think it's become so organic to us that I actually didn't even realize how often we do it. But all day long, we're like, 'Are you good? I felt like your energy shifted,' because we're best friends, we just know. We just feel it happen.”
What’s better than being in love? Building wealth while doing it. Watch Making Cents here for real stories of couples who make money moves together.
Featured image by Cj Hart @hartbreak