Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
Each week, Vulture highlights the best new music.
If a song is worthy of your ears and attention, youll find it here.
Listen to them all.
Its lighter, its trippier, and its peak Abel.
It feels as if its the truest caricature of the Weeknd the brand.
Hes promoting on Instagram again, hes going crazyon late-night shows, Abels back, baby.
Who doesnt love to wallow in a particularly beautiful downer jam from time to time?
(By time to time I actually mean multiple times daily, or all day every day).
It shouldnt work, but it does.
What about me, what about me, what about me makes you lie right into my face.
Laying alone in your mistake.
Make it up to me someday.
No, Im gone.
Singer Channy Leaneagh builds her chorus one line at a time.
Her lyrics expose layers of frustration yet her delivery is (almost eerily) serene.
Sometimes theres no making good, theres just moving forward.
Policas expression is one of confidence and grace.
Its not really like that.
I just feel like if youre not adding value, youre polluting my space.
There you have it: Uchis has no time to waste and neither do you.
Think of Solita as your theme song for the new year.
Lilac is the bands first release after having just announced a deal with Secretly Canadian.
Eve Barlow
NoMBe, Paint California
NoMBe serves up a much-needed dose of vitamin C on Paint California.
The music video proves nothing more and nothing less.
Rippling synths and electric guitar color this Technicolor beat.
And in the morning when Im waking up / I swear youre the first thing that Im thinking of.
Its a song about love in all its forms …
I wanted it to sound like the last days of summer.
I wanted it to sound as wild and alive as new love feels, she said.
In other words, its the perfect antidote to your end-of-year blues.
Daise Bedolla
Tinashe, Link Up
In April 2018,I told you Tinashe wasnt a music-industry prisoner.
The distinction here is that, now, Tinashe answers to herself.
Give Tinashe her things!
(Their streak continues, but at least now the music and visuals enhance each other.)
Its so cruel and kind how tragedy and pain will bust pop pop the creative juices.
Sophie Allisons) future releases.
It is evaporating through our fingers.
Se acabo, por ti ya no siento nada.
Add this song to your breakup playlist, and pray you wont need it any time soon.
Lyrically, both tracks traffic in detachment, defeat, and impending doom.
The Algorithm Mix is a mind-numbing blend of softly layered synths and relaxed vocals.
Its about time you knew more about this London-based fourpiece, so let me tell you about them.
Theyre having fun with it all, too.
The Big Moon do.
Thats why theyre legends.
I tried to scream / But my head was underwater …
So what happens when you get everything you wanted, and youre still not happy?
Would you do it all over again?
At the end of the day, isnt unconditional love and support what were all after?
(No matter how you felt about the show, the scoreslaps.)
His latest release, Like a Movie, also has cinematic flair.
Labrinth braids dance-y pop formulas with quick-paced piano, bluesy strings, and a scat rendition.
If Diplo remixed aMichael Kiwanukasong, I imagine it would sound something like this.
Warning, the chorus This shit is like a movie.
I feel like Scorsese is bound to stick in your head.
In other words, he only makes hits like Benny Blanco and his bank account has the proof.
Its made to dance.
For all those feeling a little pensive as the winter kicks in.
Well, like everything with Diplo these days (and always?)
just go with it, I guess.
That sounds like a diss, but I can assure you its not!
Calvin Harris remixes always slap; Diplos are … hit or miss.
The lyrics are full of anxious requests, yet she seems content with any outcome.
Clare Palo
Rosalia, A Pale
Is Rosalia here to save humanity?
The question is on many peoples lips.
Its hard to imagine that the album only landed 12 months ago; such is her impact.
His latest YouTube release plucked from his tour is Hopelessly, a vulnerable ballad with a devastating vibe.
I just want to give this guy a big hug.
Listening to Two Dreamers feels like occupying the space between.Exitpostis the moniker of Japanese-American producer Ken Herman.
Born in Tokyo, Herman moved to New York at a young age.
Japanese vocalistUnmos delicate delivery of Japanese and English lyrics coddle the beat like a lullaby.
Around the 1:30 mark, a fluttering of synths disrupts the ethereal soundscape.
Ordinary images take on shapes and sounds: chopsticks pinch, pages ruffle, and legs elongate.
Well, that and the dynamic drums of this song.
Now such bands areexpectedto genre-hop.
Eve Barlow
Clams Casino, Rune
Clams Casinos instrumentals are pure texture.
Thats what Clams Casinos music sounds like.
Back with a disco bang (accent strings, a Chic-like bass line, etc.
Dua, wop that thing, girl.
It sounds absolutely terrifying, which is kind of her point.
Falling in love can be scary fear of the unknown, etc.
but Im now more curious about how Scott is so up on spelunking moves.
Stalagmites are cool, but that would be a real loss.
Across its 12 minutes, it moves seamlessly from strutting bar rock to long, almost dubbed-out piano vamps.
Collaborators include theiPhone 11 Pro, Billie Eilishs brother and collaboratorFinneas OConnell, andPantene.
Seriously, how does she get her hair so good???
Lyrics suggest this song is about an ex; it doesnt take a Selenator to detect which one.
Our culprit is newfoundWife GuyJustin Bieber.
Seen through this lens, the video is an exploration of the seven stages of grief.
Corinne Osnos
Destroyer, Crimson Tide
Is there a better songwriter than Dan Bejar?
Its a sentiment that more of us should be keeping in mind as we seamlessly enter and exit relationships.
(Side note: Did you hear the harp?!)
In July, it wasannouncedtheNegro Swanartist would produce the films score for the soundtrack, out November 15.
), really any of the above.
Ive already downloaded the video and played it repeatedly throughout the day when I needed some solace.
How long does Dev make chilling eye contact with his phone camera?
Its exactly one second, thanks for asking.
This score video is its own kind of music therapy.
She stunned everyone into a spellbound silence with her cover of REMs Everybody Hurts.
The way she tears a stage apart squares up to the muscle of any of her male ancestors too.
Think the winking clap back of a song like Sheryl Crows My Favorite Mistake.
Everyone will know her name soon enough.
Eve Barlow
Briston Maroney, Chattanooga
Briston Maroneys latest release kicks off with a confessional.
Doing things I know shouldnt be done.
This song is an anthem about two very unsexy topics: indecision and vulnerability.
Recorded in London with producer Jim Abbiss (Adele, Arctic Monkeys), Chattanooga bends toward the underdog.
Styles refuses to be defined.
Lights Up sets Styles in motion for an intriguing next chapter.
Eve Barlow
JoJo, Joanna
My teenage soul is singing.
She suggests that her revival was rushed, but she was adamant about coming back on her own terms.
Were so happy youre back, Joanna.
The tension is released on the chorus though, as they search for a breakthrough in seemingly eternal darkness.
At what point doesfringebecome infringement?
Revering your musical predecessors is one thing.
Profiting from the past is another.
Though aptly compared to the Allman Brothers, Marcus King is no anachronism.
(The Allman Brothers guitarist Warren Haynes is a mentor of Kings.)
When King howls, The good Lord give me that rock n roll, you believe him.
Dance like everybody is watching, were living in the age of hypersurveillance!
The Mans John Gourleys soulful, feline voice is a perfect trade-off with Creevys saccharine ennui.
Its guiding principle seems to be to have fun.
On Rushing Back, Australian collaborators Flume and Vera Blue bottle this feeling into a record.
Stripped of Flumes warped beats, Blues voice reads moreKacy Hillthan Ariana Grande.
Her voice carries emotional depth, but its Flumes production that infuses this track with urgency.
Sometimes I dream about going back, keeping all the things I left behind.
Say what you want about Flumesextracurricular activities, but this track packs an atmospheric punch.
Corinne Osnos
Friday, September 27
Tei Shi ft. Dee Lockett
Empress Of, Wild Girl
The Empress is back!
Turn this track up for the freaky Fall weekend.
Clare Palo
HAIM, Panini
Earlier this week, HAIM served up a genre-bender in the Live Lounge.
The sister band delivered a stripped-down rendition of Lil Nas Xs Panini.
If you listen closely to Lil Nas Xs version, youll notice the breakout artist samples Nirvanas In Bloom.
While making the record, Lil Nas Xsaidhe didnt realize he was using almost the exact same melody.
(Nirvanas late frontman Kurt Cobain is credited on the record.)
Thanks to dizzyingly clear audio from the BBC Radio 1 studio, lead singer Danielle Haim reaches new heights.
But Id bet on DaBaby to pull off the upset.
But all that aside, Eggs is Wiki at his best.
His voice spikes and stabs through Madlibs sloppy beat chop.
Its a harsh, prickly rasp that forces you to pay attention.
Hes not the kind of dude who everglidesover a song.
He is always bobbing just above the beat, barely staying afloat.
She writes about solitude, change, and wanting better connections.
I think Ive had enough of hard mornings, she sings delicately.
These days no ones bothering me bout nothing.
A Spanish guitar leads into a toothsome chorus that sees her questioning how to find something new.
If art truly imitates life, and vice versa, then her reinvigorated sound will hopefully reap dividends.
Im not sure frustration has ever sounded this good.
Sam Hockley-Smith
LIZ feat.
Everything that LIZ touches turns into glitter confetti and Im hooked on it like Phonics.
FYI, my new motto is officially You want it / Can you afford it?
/ Will you support it?
/ Let me extort it.
The mind is always buzzing, always overactive, always locked in its own internal dialogue.
Its a good thing, then, that Jhene Aiko has more homeopathic solutions to offer in the meantime.
This goes on for over six minutes and, reader, it is a dream state.
Polacheks voice gasps for oxygen as she tries to grapple with an insatiable object of affection.
Dont send me photos, youre making it worse!
she sings, while the track brims with 80s guitar and Fleetwood Mac synths.
Its a nostalgic John Hughes soundtrack for the key in of crush that reminds you of the first ones.
A hint of funk?
Its damn good and groovy is what it is.
Lets just all stop questioning it.
Its no Soulmate, but well take it.
Crazy how that works!
Dee Lockett
Brent Faiyaz, Rehab (Winter in Paris)
Welcome to Sad-Boy Fall.
And it makes him kind of jealous?
Only Brent Faiyaz can make If you aint nasty, dont at me sound kind of sweet?
Clare Palo
Okay Kaya, Ascend and have another go
Its been a weird couple of weeks.
All Ive wanted to do is dunk my head underwater and drown out all the noise pollution.
Blow your nose gently / You shouldnt ever feel pain, she sings in the songs opening verse.
You could try wiggling / You could try swallowing.
If only I could retreat to a hot spring as she does in the accompanying video.
Its as simple as that.
It works because its self-deprecating and because Brown is ultimately a charming guy.
Ariana ismost definitely the ringleaderto this corrupted, dark gang.
I had to fan myself to cool off.
So far, the tracks theyve unveiled have provided ample evidence to support their claims.
Sometimes a song can do that; help you recalibrate before you have to face the other music again.
Eve Barlow
Angel Olsen, Lark
I first became acquainted with Angel Olsens music via herStrange Cacticassette in 2010.
So what would happen if she made an actual, real-deal anthem?
Lark, it turns out, is that anthem.
), defined as the moment a couple decides to take their relationship to the next level.
Settling down isnt what it used to be.
I know youre with me, the 20-year-old pop artist sings, addressing a love interest.
The lyrics capture the threshold between significant and significant other.
Theres a softness to this track that reminds me of Liz Phair.
On Aint Together, the emotional resonance is in the undertow.
We feel our narrators resistance to her own desire to labelthe thing.
As if the act of labeling might asphyxiate this living, thrivingthingthats doing just fine on its own.
We say I love you, but we aint together, do you think labels make it taste better?
Commitment, you elusive beast.
In a jazzy Latin track, Camila asks us to continue our Hot Girl Summer shenanigans into the fall.
Heres to hoping we get a sexy performance of this songonSNLthis fall, horns and all.
Each story is more crushing than the last.
Played by outlaw-country elders in a commercial lull, it is a word about resilience.
These women just wanted to live, love, and be loved, but the planet couldnt handle that.
Furthering this premise, Violence is a fitting first release.
It introduces our characters, Miss_AnthropOcene and the Earth.
Listen if you like Taoism, Burning Man, and Arca.
Charli pleads, Hope you’re free to forgive the things Ive done.
But in the outro, things slow down, and the anxious determination for forgiveness goes soft.
Welcome Professional, a song thats playful and easy on the ears.
It features Brasstracks signature mix of jazzy horns and R&B stylings.
(Marss vocals do not.)
Let this feel-good track quell your end-of-summer woes.
Senseless cruelty is tough to grasp.
The letting go can be as bitter as the strike itself.
On that front, Forgot is a success.
Craig Jenkins
Charlie Puth, I Warned Myself
If you brokeCharlie Puths heart, square up!
It is a song about love and loss, secrets and lies basically a breakup.
But Charlie knew better, warned himself, and hooked up with this woman anyway!
I warned myself that I shouldnt play with fire, he sings.
Okay, butwho exactly is the reason why?
Was it his ex-girlfriend Halston Sage?
Was it his old We Dont Talk Anymore flame Selena Gomez?
Were then treated to a panoply of good old-fashioned Missy weirdness.
When you spend a whole afternoon streaming a song on loop, it changes you.
like bury me in the sand, Lana.
Sydney Gore
The 1975, People
Youth is a feeling most of us forget.
It gets ripped out from us as life becomes more about tasks, responsibilities, consumption, and capitalism.
We forget what its like to feel young.
We infantilize the idea of it.
We think they have it easy, that we know better.
shouts Matthew Healy, waking his younger self up, too.
The 1975 have often talked an angry game but theyve never sounded this angry.
They are so angry that theyve made a punk song.
Daise Bedolla
Brockhampton, SUGAR
Bless this beautiful Friday.
Don McLennon and Matt Champion spit two verses of unapologetic raps on an otherwise confused and melancholy song.
Its a fair question, bearface.
Theyre really hard to get, so we understand the fascination.
The band produces soundscapes: music that feels like an extension of nature.
Slide Away isnt vindictive or tabloid-y.
Its just about knowing when to cut your losses and move on.
The music suits Mileys voice, pushing her without overwhelming her.
But dont sleep on the song.
Its nostalgic simplicity is nostalgic in that way going back to the basics of the genre suits Normani well.
We see you.)
On that day in Long Beach, they played Not.
This just might be their finest song ever adding to their catalogue of near supernatural excellence.
The flirting continues in their lavish music video, directed by Cliqua, RJ Sanchez, and Pasqual Gutierrez.
Yo x Ti, Tu x Mi is a love song to lead you into the fall.
Shuras second record was written during a time in which she relocated from London to Brooklyn.
She also fell in love in that time.
This chorus is lyrically sparser than the rest of the record, but its all said in the instrumentation.
you’re able to hear her heart swell as the body of it builds.
Chill, sophisticated, high as a kite.
Their latest release, Stayaway, might be my favorite track to date.
If I see my old friends, well go out dancing.
If we go out dancing, then well go to the bar.
If we go to the bar, then theres gonna be drinking.
If I drink Ill want to see where you are.
Actually, now that Im thinking about it, I did most things to get to you.
Alex G, you got me again.
Alongside Ty Dolla Sign, theyve flipped City Girls Act Up into the song of the summer.
(Also: the incredible generosity of this trio to release it on my birthday.
Should I take your love?
Should I take that dick?
The result is Looking for America, continuing a streak of excellent songwriting from Lana.
Its not what America was or is; Lana sees what America can be.
I hope shes right.
Its her first statement, and a returning one at that, on her band The Big Moons comeback.
And significantly it apes the reach of the bands creative choices on this song.
Theyve put the instruments away that defined their initial success, for now.
The Big Moon are typically a twangy-based indie fourpiece from London.
The test for such bands is always in proving that they have more tricks up their sleeve.
On Its Easy Then they immediately throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Does it make you fall in love with me?
our protagonist asks, analyzing read receipts and blurred signals.
No, this isnt aBlack Mirrorepisode; its a music video.
At the Party is an evocapop anthem, fueled by icy synths and Vus dark lower register.
Her upcoming double EP,Nicole Kidman / Anne Hathaway,is out in October.
Well be here drowning in our feels until then.
Eldest sister Este studied Ethnomusicology at UCLA.
Middle sister Danielle only just graduated high school before going on the road with Julian Casablancass band.
In music, they find happiness.
In music, they escape indulging lifes suffering.
Its trickier to do happy sophisticated than sad.
So Haim turn to the masters.
This time its Lou Reed.
The lyrics tease: Walk beside me, not behind me.
The songs joy is also in its purposefulness.
Thats pops best power: It can lift the spirits.
It can provide a smile through struggle.
It can bring sun to gray skies.
It can reignite your faith in love when all you want to do is cry.
Gah, the minds of women are so powerful!
Sydney Gore
Alchemist and Schoolboy Q, W.Y.G.D.T.N.S
Rap music moves faster than we can process it.
Because of this perpetual forward movement, fans are always looking for the next thing.
Of course, he did not do that.
It would have been ridiculous and unnecessary.
At first, it feels like an outro, but it quickly becomes something more than a throwaway capstone.
In the video, lead singer Arrow de Wilde makes clown makeup great again while practicing her exorcist routine.
Usually this manifests in brightly colored videos, or moments of childlike exuberance.
Finally,finallyTaylor will let her guard down and rest fighting is so exhausting.
In the bridge, Taylor self-actualizes, They see right through me … Can you see right through me?
I see right through me.
This must have been a breakthrough during her therapeutic songwriting sessions, or at least we hope so.
Heres to hoping the rest of the album is as honest as The Archer.
Clare Palo
Chance the Rapper feat.
Yes, Ben Gibbard!
The song melts various memories into one long summer perhaps, even, 500 days of them?
Its the most powerful position.
He has a diverse captive audience at the bottom of his pulpit and hes not about to waste it.
Notes on a Conditional Formthen begins as all their other albums do with a track titled The 1975.
Except this time, the 1975 dont take the lead.
Greta Thunberg, a 15-year-old climate-change activist, does.
Theres work to do.
(RIP Mac Miller and Lil Peep.)
Theres no better time to pop swing open the dialogue; this subject is extremely relevant.
Sydney Gore
PJ Morton, Ready
Many people thought I was done.
Part of this documentary is to show everybody that Im not done.
Working on this new record in the mountains and its my best work.
Ive been so focused.
Especially purple, were going to touch a lot of the purples.
I think this is going to be a worldwide phenomenon.
So begins the spoken introduction to Ready before launching into tropical funk.
Girl let me take you on a journey, PJ Morton implores his love interest to go steady.
The New Orleans artist and songwriter passes the test with aplomb.
May you finish your summer with the same confidence.
Beyonce on MOOD 4 EVA is the mother I never had.
(To both my actual mother and Laurie Metcalf inLady Bird: like dont read this.)
She is the sister everybody would want.
She is the friend everybody deserves.
I dont know a better person.
studio album,Ode to Joy, is due out this fall.
Gone manages to capture the qualities of both artists without dwindling either.
Its an ideal marriage an ox of a song that serves to house and protect both of their struggles.
Its perhaps a comfort to them that they are aligned in this experience.
That adds to the tension and release of the tracks titanic production.
Its drums sound like fireworks being set off inside a closed steel container.
Van Morrison, at his best, writes wistful songs that feel almost vaporous.
You dont so much listen to his music as you do inhabit it.
Valleys (My Love) takes on a similar intangible but emotional quality.
Summer Rain features fellow Aussie rapper Kwame, who serves up mildly nonsensical, wholly delightful rhymes.
I saw you dancing in the summer rain.
You were looking weird, you were moving kinda strange.
Her intense, electro-acoustic compositions largely scoredEighth Grade, Bo Burnhams hilariously touching coming-of-tween-age comedy from last year.
Big Sound Festival, back in 2016.
She was based there at the time as a student by way of Botswana.
At first listen, Bieber doesnt quite belong on the track.
Part of the magic of Bad Guy is its dark undertones sung by Eilishs airy voice.
Justin Biebers feature doesnt quite give us that.
Still, the song is a win for both teams.
Biebers last album was released in 2015.
Eilish said it best, OMGFFFFGGG ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE MAN.
Its especially possible if youre Billie Eilish.
In the chorus, Dev criticizes his own naivete: Nothing lasts forever, and I told you.
Happens all the time, plus Im dark and handsome.
This song makes me feel like I came out of averyintense meditative therapy session with my psychiatrist.
Do your therapy homework yall or youll have to do it all in one hour!
Forget Hot Girl Summer; this is Sad Girl Summer.
Whatever the case may be, I appreciate the sentiment behind Chastity Belts new single Anns Jam.
Save the date for September 20!
Larry Fitzmaurice
Lillie Mae, Terlingua Girl
Upon first listen, I heard the lyrics as terra lingual.
As in, fluent in the land.
Lillie Mae is part of a new generation of country singers.
The milestones Mae sings of are murkier, more elusive, than first dates and Friday nights.
Terlingua Girl follows Youve Got Other Girls for That, Maes spellbinding meditation on cheating released earlier this summer.
Mae is a trained guitarist and pianist, but its the fiddle she plays with abandon.
Wonder why youre so afraid, wonder what youre running from.
You cant run out of this world, Terlingua girl.
The pair met through DJ Luian in 2016, and since then, both have built formidable careers.
The same is evident on CUIDADO POR AHI (Careful Around There).
The songs beat is eerie and heavy with anticipation.
Their voices are low, weaving around each other to the point where each individual artist is almost indiscernible.
Welcome to the Oasis.
Hearing thedepletionin his voice when he sings an antagonistic phrase like Big deal, so what?
like let me know when youve had enough will shock you to silence.
The performance is not the main attraction.
Instead, her voice is softened and distorted, melted into the free-form funk instrumentation.
And Im ready for whateverJaimehas in store.
Thats what happened to me when I listened to Chastitys new single, Sun Poisoning.
(Ill save you the time and confirm that it the release date is on Friday the 13th.)
Who is a whodunnit, kind of.
The chorus comes and singer Katie Gavin asks the same question youre asking: Who?!
Who are you singing about?!
with a frog still in her chest.
But also - as is Gavins way - theres a necessary lesson to be gleaned.
To be entirely frank Who is probably ten times the song it was written about.
EveBarlow
Lucy Dacus, Forever Half Mast
Political songs are hard to pull off.
Veer towards the experimental and you risk turning off mainstream listeners.
Rick Ross, Money in the Grave
Drakes new single has been stuck in my head this whole week.
It isnt his best from a lyrical perspective, but its still catchy and sometimes thats all you need.
Rick Rosss verse comes a bit later, and his voice is just as memorable as its always been.
Alexia LaFata
Florist, Time Is a Dark Feeling
Youve likely heard Emily Spragues music without even knowing it.
(Darker or less dark than drinking at the airport?)
Sometimes we peak early.
Most of the songs on the EP sound like they were microwaved a few seconds before release time.
Panini has been cooking for awhile, though, first debuted back in April.
(Ive even heard it played live twice since then.)
Plenty of bands go on hiatus, but with the Hold Steady it made a bit more sense.
The duo have released two new songs for the show.
Its about playing games.
Its some true fuckgirl behavior, honestly, but you wont catch me judging!
Now that were here, I need more!
Writing songs about feeling exhausted that sound decidedly unbothered.
That he collaborated with fellow Brit Tom Misch to serve up some sinister funk is almost too much.
On Money, Kiwanuka experiments with falsetto notes while YEBBA contributes backup vocals.
In an email exchange withFADER, Misch called out their common love for 808s and disco.
Though it rings bright and dancey, the songs lyrics issue a warning.
I want to use money to meet people and be around people that have a lot of it.
But as you listen closer, its actually about how too much love for money can be dangerous.
Oh God shes coming, dont look up!
go the lyrics, fizzing with the heart murmurs of an early stage crush.
Ill have another scoop just.
Time is the first song featuring Macs vocals since his death in September 2018.
In Pushas hands, its the sort of flow that could ruin Drakes summer.
In other words, hes a mercenary, which means that he and Pusha play well off each other.
I bought a house to live in / But youre the home Im missin, he croons.
Nothing good lasts forever / But nights with you are better.
He may have just landed himself, at No.
GoldLink, thank you for the perfect summer vibe.
I know even if I run from it Im still in it / I know in my heart.
And she comes at night just as the singer is about to give up and fall asleep.
This other person is loud and unpredictable.
Dont we all have a wild, wild woman inside of us?
If not, why not?
We damn well should.
This new single with Banks might be my favorite collaboration shes ever done?
You have my attention again, Jillian.
Im actually addicted to it, just send help!
A handful of critics, friends, and collaborators form a crescent around the 24-year-old Brit.
Some recline on velvet couches while others sit cross-legged on the floor.
Barely audible bird chirpings float on airy vocals that grow into bellows, easing the listener into Colliers world.
Nine minutes and 5,000 vocal parts later, the curtain drops.
It turns a staid lullaby into a living chorus that sticks with you long after its final note.
It builds into a cacophony of voices (144 in total) singing overlapping, elongated parts.
but BTS and Charli do nothing without intention.
They are, respectively, impossibly prolific and yet rarely sacrifice quality in saturating the global market.
Thats right,Randall Parkhas dropped the hottest song this week.
San Francisco local band that has exactly one hit.
The track, which was freshly released on the films soundtrack, features three (!)
Something about seeing Reeves asking to be hit is extremely delightful.
Lets hope Pauls back for goodby the sound of these new songs, we need him in our lives.
Gretel serves as a cautionary tale about the toxic nature of greed and overindulgence.
Oh my god, it says, with a sudden surprise.
Im your number one fan?!
With their second album confirmed for later this summer, 2019 is about to be theirs.
Eve Barlow
Bon Iver, Hey, Ma
What is Bon Iver up to?
While I never want them to depart for that long again, I fully respect their process.
Listen to this in the dark or anywhere else, really.
Larry Fitzmaurice
Katy Perry, Never Really Over
Justice forWitness!
This is quite possibly the best way to kick off Pride.
While we (the world) probably dont deserve this, we should be eternally grateful anyway.
Sydney Gore
Miley Cyrus, D.R.E.A.M.
Mileysnotdreaming on her new EP, but she is doing a collab with Ghostface Killah.
OnShe Is Coming, Miley sings about her loving relationship with drugz in D.R.E.A.M.
Sound like a lot?
Well the chorus is contagious, so watch out.
They hadnt released a record for four years.
St. Vincent had since continued to become one of the most versatile and vital gifts in alternative rock.
It also created a palpable thrill for what such a collaboration might sound like.
Eve Barlow
The Voidz, The Eternal Tao
Ready for a hot take?
Yup, sounds about right.
Eve Barlow
Burial, Claustro
Burial back!
Cue the King Princess drop-your-debut-album challenge.
The Puth co-wrote and co-produced the thing!
Certain moments vibe much harder than others.
One such track is solid standout Playground.
Lacy told Zane Lowe he was channeling Prince and the Dirty Projectors in this one.
On paper that sounds untenable, but in actuality its spot-on.
Its a wonder Prince didnt write a song that breezily compares sex to being in a playground?
And if youre an adult who follows the general trajectory of popular music?
In other words, another curveball from Clairo, and undoubtedly not the last, either.
On Rolling Into One, Jordan Rakei embraces the unpredictable.
(I was a philosophy major.
The ooh right around the 3:40 mark hits like a snare.
Dystopian, but make it disco.
I am still longing and seeking something more.
Who I am is not a place at which I can arrive.
They epitomized the SoCal vibe and made a genre and sound totally their own.
He say he hungry, this pussy the kitchen!
Thee Stallion always delivers, andFeveris some real hot-girl shit!
Lot to unpack here, so pull up a chair.
But Maluma and Ozunas Dispuesto stands above the rest.
Together, theyre showing that reggaeton is worthy of the big leagues.
If one song has drastically changed my mood, its this one.
Lets be present and enjoy this moment of musical bliss.
Tones and Is Cinderella story begins in a small town in Australia, where busking culture is particularly salient.
Dance Monkey is an infectious pop number that highlights Toness tangy vocals.
Its chorus lends itself to mass appeal much like her breakout hit Johnny Run Away.
Yet, in aVelazquiantwist, the songs lyrics reveal its creators own discomfort with her newfound fame.
No one feels the way I do, she sings, and havent we all felt that way?
Hasnt everyone felt like screaming at a picturesque sunset, angry that it doesnt reflect whats inside us?
The Others is a song that was written in response to the fall of the Grenfell Tower in London.
Go on and turn the news off, crying, screaming, shouting … sings Aoife Power.
Forget about it, drink up!
Also, its really good!
Craig Jenkins
Ari Lennox, Up Late
Ari Lennoxs silky voice is back and jazzier than ever.
Shes up late, again, crushin and real horny.
Cant relate at all.
Its a love-making mirage, as she anxiously awaits to devour that body like corn on a cob.
She even kindly offers to fake watch the news, if itll get her satisfied faster.
Ari knows what she wants, and just wants you to stay a little longer.
But theyre not exclusively male.
Us girls can be fuckboys too.
In fact, many of us wear the badge proudly.
The LA-based New Yorker is using her platform for great things: body positivity, queer visibility, humor!
But being public-facing good humans doesnt mean well always play nice.
In the months following her surgery, Lee experienced the temporary derailment of her music career.
I tried to make music and it was just garbage.
Dream Chorus is part of a 16-track collaborative album off Lees label Young Art.
Lo-fi, high impact.
Corinne Osnos
Gemma, Til We Lose the Feeling
None of Felicia Douglasss projects can seem to sit still.
Its a treat for the ears, full of restless energy that dissipates stress into the breeze.
Come on now, dont let this go/ Dont let my love fade away, Lila Ramani sings.
People come and people go, but I stay.
Despite those comforting words, I couldnt shake off the fact that letting go is a part of life.
Whereas her earlier albums center on the emotional toll of relationships gone awry, Gimme asserts newfound confidence.
Its a song about unapologetically taking what you want.
Her 2014 breakout albumGoddessis full of gut-wrenching lines coated with syrupy vocals.
(Too often, theres been some executives meddling in what youre seeing go viral.
Dont be fooled.)
I did not care about this song before I watched this child do her thing to it.
(This was originally gonna be a blurb about a different Q song, Floating.)
Now its all I can listen to, and a fucking 4-year-old put me on.
Rhyes entire discography is enough to prove my entire case, but their latest single further validates it.
Lost Without is their second single this year following a prior Robyn collab, Cry Everything.
I Dont Want To follows in a long punk tradition of complaining as a queer survival strategy.
If you havent been following Role Model, a.k.a.
Also, who even likes going to the club past the age of 22?
I dont know, man, sometimes facts are facts.
For Lizzo, loving herself is what keeps her alive and fulfilled.
Soulmate is not a song about not wanting anyone else; its about notneedinganyone but yourself.
Vulnerability has never sounded so powerful, I am shaken to the fucking core.
She has completely broken me, I am typing this from my grave!
Truly worth the wait.
Her snarling hell nah is just a meager hell no here.
Theres no sheen on the production yet either, just placeholder synths.
Neither version is superior to the other.
They merely represent Beyonce at different stages of grief.
It features licks so iconic, youll think youve heard them before.
Im not where you are, she sings, with nothing left to lose.
Singer/songwriter Lucy Dacus latest release My Mother and I is a poetic exploration of parenthood.
She delivers her lyrics slowly, purposefully, over simple guitar harmonies.
As in Night Shift and Me & My Dog, storytelling is at the heart of Dacus work.
In My Mother and I, her solemn poeticism really comes through.
But Drunk II, the first single from their forthcoming third LPPatience, is undoubtedly their best work.
Peach is a straight-up juicy jam that is sugary sweet on the ears.
Montagu, however, hasnt been compromised in her own vision and voice.
Temptation will cut to the core of anyone whos experienced unrequited love, its poetry direct and shattering.
I think about you daily, she sings.
Ives crafts poptronic music with an indie flare from her bedroom in Queens.
(Music production is a historically male-dominated industry.)
There is an addictive eclecticism to her sound.
Just, c’mon, dont fuck up the potato salad.
Dee Lockett
Madonna ft. Maluma, Medellin
You wonder what motivates Madonna after a bout of recently less-than-desirably-met LPs.
Medellin is her best lead single since that eras ABBA-referencing Hung Up.
Similarly, it takes advantage of a burgeoning sound while also harnessing a prior classic oeuvre of hers.
In the 2000s, she was riding the electro-clash trend.
Though his collaborators often receive more notoriety from their vocals, Ronson is paramount in the production world.
It leans into discotheque and away from pop tropes.
Title track Late Night Feelings is a song about voids you feel alone in the dark.
The sparse beat creates maximum feels.
Corinne Osnos
Anderson .Paak ft.
Brandy, Jet Black
The world didnt know it needed We peakin.
The California native made waves this week, from Indio to the internet.
It hasnt even been six months since .Paak releasedOxnard, an album that polarized fans and critics alike.
Over a high-energy beat, .Paak incorporates a seductive playfulness into the lyrics.
Notable stanzas include, Who gon love you when your love aint there?
For all the gripesOxnardproduced,Venturaproves that .Paak is far from reaching his peak.
But the bright, chintzy keys are the star of Lydia Ainsworths latest single.
The bass tone sounds like you could wring a full glass of orange juice out of it.
Tap Dancer merely cant exist without the music video.
When Coles eyes spring open at the beginning of the video, I also spring awake!
I didnt truly understand the song until Cole showed me what emotions look like in their most beautiful form.
This girl is begging to be featured in all of your hipster music videos.
Talk to Me is fresh off Lisss forthcomingSecondEP, which is due out on June 18.
Theres more at stake this time than being phony.
Hes on an even bolder quest of penetrating the deepest, most difficult sexual organ: the heart.
Were talking real grown folks business now,whew.
Once again, Steve Lacy just gets it.
Now, give us the debut album!
The title is an inversion of the Jeff Buckley song Everybody Here Wants You.
Its another perfect expose on the trappings of anxiety and self-loathing.
Everybody hurts, everybody breaks and everybody fades, she says, before a little chuckle.
Were gonna tell everyone its okay.
EveBarlow
Lil Uzi Vert, Sanguine Paradise
Is anyone else on the kind of run Uzi is right now?
Sanguine Paradise is but the latest evidence of that sensory phenomenon, and heres hoping he keeps it up.
Its experimentalism doesnt compromise its emotional resonance; gospel elements play into the overarching message of positivity.
You take me so seriously, they sing in unison, but Im pretty serious.
Then the guitars kick in because, hey, they mean business.
On the record, shes as effective as grabbing your attention.
TikTok savantLil Nas collaboratedwith our old friend Robby Ray Stewart to make the best country-rap song that ever existed.
As for Bill Rays resurgence, I have many questions.
Most importantly, do we think Tish Cyrus actually has a bad Fendi sports bras habit?
Clare Palo
Ariana Grande & Victoria Monet, Monopoly
Ariana Grande is never not working.
(Because, of course, Ari spends her off time still very muchon.)
Even her losses are a Goddamned win.
It feels familiar and new, like seeing the sun rise and marveling at the uniqueness of another day.
I can be a cynic sometimes.
This was really fun!
Besides, All the Young Dudes is also a terrific we need a crowd-pleaser of a song choice.
House music has taken on a new role for me in the past 18 months.
On January 1, 2018, I decided I was going to stop drinking.
House music can be sustenance, and Hot Chip have become masters of the craft.
Such clarity is fleeting and theyve grabbed it.
Eve Barlow
Khalid ft.
Safe, Dont Pretend
Khalid misses someone so much hes having phantom text syndrome.
They must … just be super busy, right?
The lyrical sentiment is all in the title, really sometimes, things are just simple that way.
Larry Fitzmaurice
Hatchie, Stay With Me
Finally, an Australian band to obsess over that isnt Tame Impala!
Stay with me / Why dont you stay with me, she sings in the chorus.
Cause Im not done / Ive come undone.
Nice Things is basically the antithesis toTaylor Swifts pop anthem.
The New Orleansbased groups sound is steeped in soul.
There is a genre-bending quality to their music I find irresistible (NPRagrees).
kindly forward to my future romantic prospects.
Go forth, bury me!
Sydney Gore
Lion Babe, Sexy c’mon
Lion Babe is back with an album brimming withslow jamz.
Looking for energy / Need a taste, fantasy, purrs Hervey, setting the mood for the track.
This song feels like awakening from a winter sojourn to find your sex drive intact (yay!).
Double-time drums and cascading piano notes are the lifeblood of this song.
Like most catchy things, its repetitive.
She was a muse.
She was an enigma.
She was an actor.
She was a recluse.
She was a fantastic pop star.
In luminaries like Debbie Harry and David Lynch, she found the greatest of champions.
And everybody has anticipated its follow-up since.
Now comes Downhill Lullaby, which reintroduces her with… a flurry of strings.
Its cinematic, its gothic, its elegant.
Deliciously interesting and well worth the wait.
Eve Barlow
Billie Eilish, my strange addiction
Billie Eilish sampledThe Officein a song!
The Soundcloud-born stars debut,WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?
It may sound gimmicky, but Eilish weaves it all together perfectly.
Just an instantly memorable moment onan album full of them.
Larry Fitzmaurice
MARINA, Orange Trees
Remember Marina & the Diamonds, light of our pop lives?
Dont insult me, of course you do.
Together, they have created Rosalias take on cross-regional reggaeton.
(With that said, Im mostly referring to stuff like going to Warped Tour.)
Open this pit up, yall.
Barnes is clearly keeping the dream alive.
This, from Harlem rapper/singer/flexer, is that.
(Im fuckin mental / No incidental / Speedin in the rental.)
You are that bitch.
I classify this genre as the social media spiritual and I want 1,000 more like it.
Where LP was a boy band masquerading as a punk band (rememberLil J?
), Windwaker feels different (MeetThe Pretty Reckless).
And for the punk faint of heart, this is one of the groups more palatable tracks.
Whispers loom before hard-hitting growls; the contrast is nothing short of magnetic.
TheseTriple J darlingsare worth keeping your ears on in 2019.
With Lizzo as Missys heir apparent, the two were destined to collaborate.
Its a womans work to self-represent to be seen.
Itsoundslike spring, and Lord knows we could all use a little more daylight these days.
Though I aim slow, my gods insane, he repeats.
The song finds Ainsworth revealing her desire to transcend the loneliness of the like.
Affecting strings and layered vocals hauntingly echo over frenetic chords.
Its a potent mix of synth-pop and existentialism, straight up.
Nothing quite as satisfying as a twist ending.
(You know, the opposite of camouflages intended purpose.)
As technology advanced, the necessity to trip adversaries up with M.C.
And I cant quit listening to it.
Maria Sherman
Lennon Stella, Bitch
Im a bitch.
Known for her starring role onNashville, Stella is one steamy upbeat pop vocalist to watch.
(Her other recognizable feat is her viral 2012 YouTube cover of Robyns Call Your Girlfriend.)
Theres no time for that, bitch.
Dont mind me drifting over here and drowning in a sea of my emotions.
This is a love, this is an emergency!
comes the chorus, narrating Shuras move to Brooklyn from London to be with her partner.
The final minute features a playful transition to an uptempo beat signifying her arrival Stateside.
It skips with glee toward new beginnings.
Does he tear up?
Does he sit there in silence, zipping up his hoodie?
Does Lukas Haas just point to the speaker and ask someone to skip the song?
Truly, I would love to know.
We spread ourselves into the devices we use daily.
The body, the home, the desktop computer, the iPhone they all form a living circuit.
Eternal tracks that flow.
(A sample song title: Weirdwordsworms.)
Larry Fitzmaurice
