Looking for some motivation to help power you through the start of another work week? We feel you, and with some stellar new pop tunes, we’ve got you covered. These tracks from artists including Jorja Smith, Amy Shark, Tiësto and more will get you energized to take on the week.
It’s been quite a few weeks for fans of Asian pop music in the U.S., with the historic Billboard 200 bows of Stray Kids and Jimin’s respective projects this week (following the No. 2 debut of ENHYPEN’s new album the prior week), YG Entertainment’s announcement that 2NE1 will reunite for a world tour, and the return of KCON L.A. boasting a mix of new and veteran stars. There’s a lot of new music to appreciate now, and more to look forward to; let’s add XG’s high-velocity new single, “Something Ain’t Right,” and the J-pop girl group’s second mini-album, which is due out Nov. 8, to that list.
XG arrived in 2022 with a healthy amount of promise, as singles like “Tippy Toes” and “Mascara” demonstrated the Japanese collective’s ability to combine hip-hop, dance, pop and R&B in ways that recalled the modern K-pop superstars but felt specifically tailored to their singular skills. Cocona, Maya, Jurin and Harvey can rap their faces off as needed, and Juria, Chisa and Hinata possess the vocal power to trade off hooks and harmonies. “Shooting Star” and “Left Right” elevated XG (short for “Xtraordinary Girls”) ahead of their first mini-album, last year’s New DNA, and after a handful of stopgap singles in 2024, “Something Ain’t Right” announces the invigoration next iteration of the group’s identity.
The single nods toward garage and house music, but “Something Ain’t Right” most viscerally harkens back to late ‘90s rhythmic pop, with a beat that artists like Mya, 3LW and Blaque would have devoured back in the day. Instead, XG revamps that workout-ready bounce for a new take on “Say My Name”-esque relationship suspicions: “Something ain’t right/ You’ve been acting funny lately/ You ain’t gotta lie/ Got mе out here looking crazy!” Chisa wails, the final word spinning upward and out of her grasp.
“Something Ain’t Right” hits the gas early and glides through rolled-eyes rap verses and pleading bridges, efficient in its synthesis of romantic betrayal. Yet the strongest aspect of the track is how much more we understand XG, and the way that its seven members are deployed individually and collectively. After ramping up their streams and followers over the past two years, the group has returned with an established sense of self and an understanding of the pop mode in which they can best operate. It’s a crowded landscape, but XG is worth seeking out and appreciating.
Here are some more new pop songs worth checking out this week…
Jorja Smith has earned a wide audience by oscillating between soulful R&B and more uptempo dance fare; “High” is squarely in the latter category, an entrancing floor filler with breathless percussion and vocals that skitter and echo with passion.
Blink-182’s Tom DeLonge doesn’t drop by a ton of other artists’ tracks, but one listen to “My Only Friend,” — on which Australian singer-songwriter Amy Shark reaches out to a loved one who is struggling — is enough to understand why DeLonge hopped on an touching tribute with a finger-picked guitar lick.
Country-adjacent collaborations are all over the pop charts these days, and here legendary trance DJ Tiësto tries on a cowboy hat with “Hot Honey,” a thumping showcase for Alana Springsteen that kicks into high gear during the post-chorus and smartly never overshadows Springsteen’s vocal subtleties.
Need a new French bop to fully appreciate the Paris 2024 Olympics? The Knocks have provided such a gift by teaming up with Yelle on a track that blends languages, features a plinking synth run reminiscent of La Roux’s “Bulletproof” and successfully gets your head banging.