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Perhaps no album from a band in recent months has been as anticipated as Paramore‘s sixth studio set, This Is Why. The group, which currently consists of lead vocalist Hayley Williams, guitarist Taylor York and drummer Zac Farro, released their poppier, ’80s-tinged LP After Laughter in 2017 and later, took a break that resulted in the trio trading the sadness behind their rose-colored glasses for anger — and for what feels like the first time, political discontent.
“Everything is political, and it’s either politicized to a degree that maybe isn’t fair or it just inherently is political,” Williams said in the group’s recently Billboard cover story. “Even if I tried to not say one word about anything political [on the album], I think it was just in the DNA. It was in every conversation.”
And the group tackles the issues seamlessly, albeit with a new groove that sounds equal parts fresh and familiar to new and old fans alike. This Is Why‘s title track (also the first on the record) establishes the band’s mission statement, critiquing society’s lack of empathy and the human tendency to be unyielding with our beliefs. Follow up singles “The News” and “C’est Comme Ça” expands, with the former heaving an exasperated sigh at current events and the latter taking the aftermath with a resigned shrug of the shoulders. The preliminary songs the band offered — and the album as a whole — cut the weight of their themes with a danceable, punk leaning edge.
While there are no definite skips on the album, certain tracks of the group’s newest offering in years do stand out a bit more than others. Here is a preliminary opinion on every song that appears on Paramore’s This Is Why.
Want more on Paramore’s new album? Click here to read Billboard’s cover story with the band, in which they talk at length about This Is Why.
Billboard’s First Stream serves as a handy guide to this Friday’s most essential releases — the key music that everyone will be talking about today, and that will be dominating playlists this weekend and beyond.
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This week, Paramore unveils its first album in six years, Lizzo taps SZA for a “Special” rework, and Taylor Swift hits the dance floor. Check out all of this week’s First Stream picks below:
Paramore, This Is Why
There’s a difference between surviving and thriving, and while Paramore should be given credit for enduring through several lineups, rock generations and music industry iterations, they deserve even more for continuously evolving in smart, exciting ways. Hayley Williams, Taylor York and Zac Farro could have used long-awaited new album This Is Why to dive back into the synth-heavy new wave of 2017’s After Laughter, or returned to the pop-punk of their beginnings as the sound receives a revival; instead, the new project brims with hopped-up post-punk, as Williams further prods at the anxieties of the outside world and within herself. This Is Why is expertly conceived and stands apart from everything in the band’s catalog… just like every album from Paramore, a band that captures fascinating moments in time and then keeps moving forward.
Lizzo feat. SZA, “Special (Remix)”
Talk about a special week for both Lizzo and SZA: days after the former won the record of the year Grammy for her No. 1 smash “About Damn Time,” the latter has been named Billboard’s Woman of the Year as her blockbuster sophomore album, SOS, potentially returns to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. To celebrate their various successes, the two A-listers have teamed up on a remix of Lizzo’s Special title track, with SZA refusing to be pigeonholed by her peers: “Woke up this mornin’ to somebody judgin’ me,” she sings, “No surprise they judgin’ me, don’t know who I’m ‘posed to be / I’m just actin’ up, I’m crass as f–k, and never sayin’ sorry.”
Taylor Swift, “Lavender Haze (Felix Jaehn Remix)”
From the opening coo of “Meet me at midnight,” Taylor Swift’s “Lavender Haze” possesses a shimmying groove that’s perfect for a head knock or shoulder wiggle; this newly released official remix of the rising Midnights hit, courtesy of German producer Felix Jaehn (best known in the States for “Cheerleader,” his No. 1 smash with Omi from 2015), turns that subtle movement into a blown-out club force. The tempo ramps up, the synthesizers pile, the chorus goes double-time, and Jaehn remakes “Lavender Haze” with an inventive dance approach.
Dove Cameron & Khalid, “We Go Down Together”
As a duet, “We Go Down Together” exists in an intimate emotional space shared by Dove Cameron and Khalid — the instrumentation here is unobtrusive enough that, as they sing about their co-dependency and roller-coaster relationship, the two artists sound wholly alone with each other in the song’s shared universe. Cameron, fresh off of a breakthrough year, continues showcasing the fragile beauty of her voice, while Khalid demonstrates the soulfulness that made him an arena-headlining star (and, hopefully, will explore in more music this year).
Luke Combs, “Love You Anyway”
Everything clicks into place on Luke Combs’ “Love You Anyway,” the latest offering from the country star’s upcoming Gettin’ Old album: the sincerity in Combs’ devotion is captured by the sturdiness of the slide guitar, the chorus swells with a graceful touch, and while the song is rife with metaphors, they all land with invested feeling (“If your touch shattered me like glass / I’d be in pieces trying to make the breaking last,” Combs declares). “Love You Anyway” is not the flashiest Combs track, even by the standard of his love ballads — still, it immediately sounds like one of his strongest to date.
D4vd, “Placebo Effect”
With “Romantic Homicide” and “Here With Me,” D4vd has watched two lovelorn, genre-defying singles go viral and then sustain their momentum to become chart-conquering hits. New single “Placebo Effect” represents both an attempt for the teen singer-songwriter to go three-for-three, as well as a refinement of his sound and point of view: still heartsick after confusing a fizzling relationship for real love, D4vd operates over stray guitar licks and lets his voice crack through his clipped pleas, for maximum emotional devastation.
Twenty years after the release of Meteora, Linkin Park is revisiting their mega-selling sophomore album: Meteora 20th Anniversary Edition will be released through Warner Records on Apr. 7, the band announced on Friday (Feb. 10), and will include multiple previously unreleased songs in addition to several other fan-friendly collectibles.
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One of those unreleased songs, “Lost,” arrives today as a fleshed-out, fully realized showcase for the band’s Chester Bennington, who passed away in 2017. Linkin Park recorded “Lost” for Meteora but the track didn’t make the final track list; while scavenging through hard drives for the 20th anniversary of the album, the group rediscovered the song and Bennington’s intensely riveting vocals that serve as its highlight.
“Finding this track was like finding a favorite photo you had forgotten you’d taken, like it was waiting for the right moment to reveal itself,” the band’s Mike Shinoda says in a press statement. “For years, fans have been asking us to release something with Chester’s voice, and I’m thrilled we’ve been able to make that happen in such a special way. I think they’re going to be floored when they hear and see all the incredible unreleased songs and video footage in Meteora 20.”
“Lost” will be among six unreleased songs on Meteora 20, in addition to demos, live shows, B-sides and previously unaired footage with the band. The project will be available in multiple variations, including a limited edition super deluxe box set, deluxe vinyl box set, deluxe 3-CD and digital download.
The 20th anniversary reissue of Meteora follows the 2020 release of Hybrid Theory: 20th Anniversary Edition, which toasted Linkin Park’s diamond-selling 2000 debut. “It’s a nice time to pause and think and focus on what it took to make that record, the impact it had, and the opportunity it allowed us to continue with our careers,” the band’s Joe Hahn told Billboard at the time. “For me, it’s a testament to the camaraderie between all the guys in the band, to our friendship, to our work ethic, to the values in how we approached not just making music, but the business of making music, and the way we interact with our fans.”
Released in March 2003, Meteora includes some of Linkin Park’s most enduring hits, from “Numb” to “Breaking the Habit” to “Faint” to “Somewhere I Belong” to “Lying From You” — all of which topped Billboard’s Alternative Songs chart — as well as essential fan favorites like “Nobody’s Listening” and “Easier to Run.” Meteora has earned 8.5 million equivalent album units to date, of which 6.5 million are in traditional album sales, according to Luminate.
To celebrate the Meteora 20 announcement and the release of “Lost,” Linkin Park will relaunch their official Discord on Friday, with a Q&A on the Discord Stage. The band is also teasing “more surprises” leading up to the April release.
Watch the official video for “Lost” — which was produced and animated by by pplpleasr and Maciej Kuciara’s Web3 studio, Shibuya — below:
Billboard’s First Stream serves as a handy guide to this Friday’s most essential releases — the key music that everyone will be talking about today, and that will be dominating playlists this weekend and beyond.
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This week, GloRilla feeds the “Trolls,” Shania Twain is ready to come back over, and Morgan Wallen previews a huge new release. Check out all of this week’s First Stream picks below:
GloRilla, “Internet Trolls”
After breaking through last year with the Hitkidd team-up “F.N.F. (Let’s Go)” and proceeding to establish herself as a riveting new voice in hip-hop, GloRilla takes aim at those who have hid behind keyboards and tried to tear her down, with Hitkidd back to provide the soundtrack. “Internet Trolls” is a relatively short but dramatically rendered check-in, with GloRilla sneering, “They don’t wanna clap for you, they just want you to clap back,” while simultaneously proving those same haters wrong.
Shania Twain, Queen of Me
While Shania Twain has plenty of hits to enshrine her legacy and bring in packed audiences whenever she heads out on the road, Queen of Me, her new album and second since kicking off a comeback with 2017’s Now, continues to forge ahead with rollicking country-pop and a seasoned perspective. More than any one song on Queen of Me, Twain’s sense of perspective and determination shines through: the album offers more cup-hoisting anthems that recall her Come On Over days, but their fabric is time-honored, and their sense of joy is hard-earned.
Morgan Wallen, “Last Night” / “Everything I Love” / “I Wrote the Book”
A press release for Morgan Wallen’s forthcoming One Thing at a Time previews the 36-song effort as a “deeply personal album that combines Wallen’s musical influences — country, alternative and hip-hop.” And while the gargantuan LP will no doubt take some stylistic detours, this three-pack of songs ahead of its release finds Wallen in the crowd-pleasing modern country sphere that he’s become a force within: “Last Night” in particular sounds like it will be inescapable for months, its snappy rhythm and warbled harmonies ripe for endless country radio replays.
Karol G & Romeo Santos, “X Si Volvemos”
“X Si Volvemos” is a breakup song, with both Karol G and Romeo Santos acknowledging that lingering physical temptations bring complications to a clean split — and while both artists understand how to deliver wide-reaching choruses, the nuances of their vocal deliveries make this collaboration shine. Both artists’ vocals ache over Ovy On The Drums’ scintillating production, as they try to move on from a fractured reality but their tones keep circling back toward each other.
RAYE, My 21st Century Blues
To describe RAYE’s debut album “long-awaited” would be an understatement: the pop singer-songwriter tried for years to get her former record label to give the project a release date to no avail, eventually turned independent, and fortunately for her, scored a top 40 smash in “Escapism” to lead into My 21st Century Blues. Although her path has been winding, RAYE’s ambition has never wavered: the album soars with genre explorations (“Oscar Winning Tears” is a top-notch R&B showcase) and intimate songwriting (“Body Dysmorphia” is as harrowing as its title suggests), as she makes the most of her opportunity to finally share her story.
Billboard’s First Stream serves as a handy guide to this Friday’s most essential releases — the key music that everyone will be talking about today, and that will be dominating playlists this weekend and beyond.
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This week, Sam Smith continues a hot streak, Rosalía is down for fake love and The Kid LAROI brings things back to basics. Check out all of this week’s First Stream picks below:
Sam Smith, Gloria
Sam Smith has scored several hits over the course of their career, but “Unholy,” his team-up with Kim Petras that became their first No. 1 single, sounded like none of them when it was released last year; the smash not only revitalized Smith’s voice at top 40 radio, but suggested a major shift in sonic approach. Gloria, their fourth studio album, sports a level of freedom rarely heard in Smith’s past oeuvre of precisely drawn pop: their vocal gifts are positioned toward sweaty, sexually liberated dance floor anthems like “I’m Not Here to Make Friends” as well as fearless midtempo confessionals like “Perfect,” with Smith sounding more relaxed in every mode on the album.
Rosalía, “LLYLM”
“I don’t need honesty / Baby, lie like you love me, lie like you love me,” Rosalía pleads on new single “LLYLM,” switching over to English and soaring into a falsetto as she explores the theme of fake affection. “LLYLM” is not a complicated single — created in part with Max Martin, the song’s handclaps and muted synthesizers eventually evaporate for a sparse, guitar-led interlude — but Rosalía remains one of the most magnetic vocal presences in music today, and powers “LLYLM” with technical skill and unadulterated emotion.
The Kid LAROI, “Love Again”
Anticipation is high for The Kid LAROI’s first full-length album, and the release of lead single “Love Again” was preceded by a lead-in intro track, “Can’t Go Back to the Way It Was,” last week, and is being paired with a one-of-a-kind Fortnite experience. Yet LAROI wisely decided not to one-up that rollout with an overly grandiose song: “Love Again” recalls the raw acoustic nerve that his breakout hit, “Without You,” touched to make LAROI a star, and this time he offers clipped, unflinching rhetorical questions while trying to find resolution in a relationship.
Chlöe, “Pray It Away”
After years of readying her solo debut, Chlöe’s first album will arrive in March, and “Pray It Away,” an ode to heading to church to shake off the energy of a romantic mistake, displays a greater confidence in personal craft that should excite longtime believers in the powerhouse vocalist. The harmonies on “Pray It Away” are downright gorgeous, even as Chlöe admits to unsavory thoughts and decisions — a gleeful juxtaposition of soulful R&B and pissed-off exclamations that the singer handles masterfully.
Zach Bryan feat. Maggie Rogers, “Dawns”
With his epic project American Heartbreak last year, Zach Bryan enjoyed the type of breakthrough year that Maggie Rogers, who issued her sophomore album Surrender, experienced three years earlier with her debut LP Heard It In a Past Life; the artists may be at slightly different chapters in their respective stories, but as two supremely gifted songwriters, a collaboration was always going to yield an interesting product. “Dawns” is delightfully haunted, a broken howl of a duet on which Bryan sounds lost as he navigates a breakup, and Rogers steadies his hand and centers the song’s intensity.
Lil Yachty, Let’s Start Here.
Let’s start here: Lil Yachty’s new album is not a rap project, even slightly. Those expecting the veteran hip-hop star to follow up his recent viral rap single “Poland” with a mainstream victory lap will be upended by this freaky, fuzzed-out psychedelic rock album, which Yachty created with a host of guitar-toting collaborators in an effort to capture his love of Pink Floyd. Somehow, the full-throttle detour completely works: Yachty’s warbling sounds natural over the swirling ‘70s-indebted production, and even when the instruments pile up, Let’s Start Here. never implodes, or bores the listener.
XG, the seven-member Japanese girl group that debuted last year, has unveiled the music video for its dynamic third single, “Shooting Star,” on Wednesday (Jan. 25). “Shooting Star” marks the group’s first single of 2023 and was premiered along with a bonus track, “Left Right,” with a live performance of both songs broadcast prior to their release.
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Both songs express an elevated determination for the group, which launched under the XGALX label last January. “‘Shooting Star’ is about our desire to become a world-class group, and ‘Left Right’ is about our commitment to move forward, the only direction we know,” XG’s Jurin tells Billboard in an exclusive statement. “I personally believe that believing in yourself and becoming the person you want to be are keywords that apply to everyone and are the purpose of life. I also think that we were able to express a new side of XG with these two songs. … I hope we inspire courage in everyone!”
The group’s Harvey adds, “In the part I sing in verse 1, there is a line, ‘We a movement / Never losin’ / Making moves, stay poppin.’’ When I hear this line, I think of someone strong that can’t be beaten by anyone. I really like the lyrics, since they express the desire to keep chasing a dream with a strong foundation, no matter how uncertain things may be! I feel very strong when I sing this part!”
Composed of members Jurin, Chisa, Hinata, Harvey, Juria, Maya and Cocona, XG (short for ‘Xtraordinary Girls’) debuted last year with the hip-hop-inspired rhythmic pop single “Tippy Toes,” followed by the combustible, dance-ready “Mascara.” The latter reached No. 14 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 last year.
For “Shooting Star,” Chisa says, “Each part of this track has a different vibe, rhythm, and melody, allowing us to bring out more of our individuality. When recording my part, I really tried to picture the atmosphere in my head and visualized what Chisa would be like for this particular song.”
Check out the “Shooting Star” visual above, and listen to “Left Right” below:
From a surprise album release from Trippie Redd to a hypnotic new single from genre-bending star Kali Uchis and the first look at The Kid LAROI‘s debut studio album are among the new music that arrived on Jan. 20. Those are some pretty impressive offerings, but which is your favorite?
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Redd dropped Mansion Musick — an ode to Chief Keef’s 2018 mixtape Mansion Musick — and brought in a host of heavy hitters to assist him on the project, with features including (but not limited to) Future, Lil Baby, Travis Scott, Juice WRLD and more, with Keef executive producing the album. Distorted guitars and trap beats decorate the tracks, which sees Redd rapping of his super star status to anyone who dares to doubt him.
Kali Uchis has yet again proven that her lush production and vocal delivery never fails with new track “I Wish You Roses.” Uchis bids her subject a fond farewell, all while showcasing her power as a masterful hook creator and proving that this year may be when she firmly steps into the spotlight of mainstream pop — that is, if her billing on this year’s Coachella lineup wasn’t already an indicator.
Meanwhile, “Stay” hitmaker The Kid LAROI is gearing up to release his debut LP, and shared new single “I Can’t Go Back to the Way It Was (Intro)” to give fans a first taste. The melancholic track sees Laroi sharing intimate details about his life, such as his relationship with his parents, and the difficulties that life often holds. The 19-year-old also struggles to keep up with the fast pace of his existence, and feels bad for the bridges he’s burned in the process — a subject complemented by thumping drum work and gossamer-like harmonies.
Ice Spice, Måneskin, Kim Petras and Mac DeMarco also return this week with new music.
Which new release is your favorite? Vote in our poll below.
Billboard’s First Stream serves as a handy guide to this Friday’s most essential releases — the key music that everyone will be talking about today, and that will be dominating playlists this weekend and beyond.
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This week, Trippie Redd drops back in with a surprise, Kali Uchis gives us a kiss-off and The Kid LAROI introduces a new era. Check out all of this week’s First Stream picks below:
Trippie Redd, Mansion Musik
If the title of Trippie Redd’s new surprise album is familiar, that’s because it’s one letter removed from Chief Keef’s fiercely beloved 2018 mixtape Mansion Musick; Keef serves as the executive producer, as well as something of a spiritual forefather, to Trippie’s latest opus, which boasts 76 minutes of unhinged energy and A-list guest stars. Mansion Musik begins with a zonked-out burst — Future, Lil Baby, Juice WRLD and Keef himself are all featured within the first five songs — never really lets up, with Trippie Redd flexing over distorted guitars, trap beats and anyone who doubts his ferocious power.
Kali Uchis, “I Wish You Roses”
Kali Uchis’ placement on the 2023 Coachella lineup — the third most prominent name on Sunday’s bill, right behind Frank Ocean and Björk — is a subtle indication for the perceived potential of the genre-blending singer-songwriter following a pair of beguiling albums and the viral sensation of “Telepatía.” “I Wish You Roses” delivers on that promise, a swaying, luxurious vocal showcase that acts as a fond farewell to someone circling out of one’s life and another showcase of Uchis’ power as a hook creator; her ability to conjure lush choruses and sing them with verve and tenacity nods to the artist stepping more into the mainstream this year.
The Kid LAROI, “I Can’t Go Back to The Way It Was (Intro)”
“I Can’t Go Back to The Way It Was (Intro)” may represent the soft launch of The Kid LAROI’s return: as the first song released from long-awaited full-length The First Time, its short run time and parenthetical note suggest that “Love Again,” which arrives next week, will more closely resemble a proper single. Yet that doesn’t mean the 95-second track isn’t full of intrigue: although “I Can’t Go Back” features LAROI’s brand of warbled melancholy, the pounding drums and ghostly harmonies hint at an expansion of his sound, which has yielded some major hits thus far but could be ballooning into something on a grander scale.
Måneskin, Rush!
Although Måneskin has taken a highly unorthodox path toward international fame — the Italian rock quartet blew up thanks in part to a years-old cover of a Four Seasons song being scooped up on TikTok and crossing over to streaming platforms — the group isn’t going anywhere now that they’ve arrived. Rush!, their first full-length since their global boom, capitalizes on the brighter spotlight with limitless hooks (some of which are courtesy of Max Martin) and clean, radio-ready guitar hooks; Måneskin is adept at pivoting to the mainstream without shedding any of their ostentatious personality or rock tenacity, which makes the album both a solid introduction as well as a logical next step.
Kim Petras, “Brrr”
Kim Petras is wasting no time harnessing the momentum of “Unholy,” her enormous No. 1 hit with Sam Smith: after ending the year with the single “If Jesus Was a Rockstar,” Petras quickly returns with “Brrr,” a hypnotic hyperpop track that more closely resembles the seductive swirl of “Unholy.” Petras has long been adept at tossing out double entendres and sinking her teeth into synth-pop refrains, but with newfound top 40 juice, a crackling song like “Brrr” could help translate a chart-topping assist into a major solo moment.
Mac DeMarco, Five Easy Hot Dogs
Last year, Mac DeMarco challenged himself to start driving and not return home until he had created a new album. “Maybe it’s the last couple of years, or maybe it’s my age now, but the idea of forgoing any sort of normalcy or comfort and making my entire life, for a segment of time, completely insane feels very inspiring to me,” he explains in a press release. “I stayed out on the road doing this for almost four months.” He came back with Five Easy Hot Dogs, a charming instrumental exercise that plays out in the order of his trip, and feels like a sumptuous conversation with a curious soul who happens to be an acclaimed, still-evolving indie singer-songwriter.
After five years of wishing, hoping and praying for new music from Boygenius — the indie rock supergroup comprised of Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker — fans finally have cause to rejoice. On Wednesday (Jan. 18), the trio dropped three surprise new songs and, at last, announced their upcoming debut album via Interscope, a highly anticipated follow-up to their beloved 2018 self-titled EP.
None of the three musicians gave fans any sort of heads-up leading up to their comeback, nor had they given any hint that a full-length album was in the works. (The only indication that something was brewing was an announcement a week prior that they’d be performing together for the first time in years at Coachella 2023.) Instead, Bridgers, Dacus and Baker simply posted Spotify links to the new singles — titled “$20,” “Emily I’m Sorry” and “True Blue” — on Instagram Stories.
News of Boygenius’ return was also run in a Rolling Stone article, which revealed The Record‘s track list and release date: March 31. The article also revealed that Bridgers had initiated a band reunion right after her 2020 sophomore solo record, Punisher, was released.
According to the publication, she’d sent Dacus and Baker “Emily I’m Sorry” after writing it alone, asking them, “Can we be a band again?”
“We were all nervous to bring it up,” Bridgers said. “We all thought that we were more excited than the other person.”
The track list for The Record is as follows:
“Without You Without Them”
“Emily I’m Sorry”
“True Blue”
“Cool About It”
“Not Strong Enough”
“Revolution 0”
“Leonard Cohen”
“Satanist”
“We’re in Love”
“Anti-Curse”
“Letter to an Old Poet”
Listen to “$20,” “Emily I’m Sorry” and “True Blue” below:
Billboard’s First Stream serves as a handy guide to this Friday’s most essential releases — the key music that everyone will be talking about today, and that will be dominating playlists this weekend and beyond.
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This week, Miley Cyrus grows with “Flowers,” Shakira doesn’t hold anything back alongside Bizarrap, and Sam Smith recruits two pals to keep evolving. Check out all of this week’s First Stream picks below:
Miley Cyrus, “Flowers”
Throughout her career, Miley Cyrus has remade her image and sound at the start of a new album era, from the grown-up synth-pop of Can’t Be Tamed to the audacious hip-hop influence of Bangerz to the pensive country-pop of Younger Now to the homage-paying guitar-rock of Plastic Hearts. As a sleek, disco-adjacent midtempo pop track, “Flowers,” the first taste of upcoming album Endless Summer Vacation, doesn’t tip its hand and reveal a radical sonic reinvention for Cyrus — but that lack of transformation actually benefits the superstar, who sings of changing course and finding self-fulfillment after a breakup, in this context. Singing with wisdom and a steady sense of space on “Flowers,” Cyrus shows that she can still conjure pop magic, but can also feel comfortable in her own skin.
Bizarrap & Shakira, “Shakira: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53”
“This is for you to be mortified, to chew and swallow, swallow and chew,” Shakira declares on volume 53 of Bizarrap’s acclaimed (and increasingly popular) music sessions — and indeed, the collaboration is intended as an evisceration, with several haymakers directed at Shakira’s ex-husband, soccer star Gerard Piqué, already making the rounds on social media. However, don’t let the tabloid fodder outshine Shakira’s most vibrant single in years: “Shakira: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53” is rich with hooks, beat changes and invigorated singing, as if dunking on her ex has unlocked the most dazzling version of an all-time superstar.
Sam Smith feat. Koffee & Jessie Reyez, “Gimme”
The Sam Smith Renaissance continues with “Gimme,” a lush dancehall riff on which the singer-songwriter, having recently tinkered with their microphone persona on the sweaty hyperpop smash “Unholy,” downplays their crooning for a more subtle, sensual delivery, to great effect. Instead of sacrificing the intimacy of a sexually charged song like “Gimme,” guest stars Koffee and Jessie Reyez switch up the song’s chemistry and make every second of the track, from the chiming refrain to the bumping second verse, as impactful as possible.
Moneybagg Yo & GloRilla, “On Wat U On”
Give Moneybagg Yo and GloRilla, two rock-solid Memphis rappers increasingly crucial to mainstream hip-hop, a bass-heavy beat with a menacing piano line, and the results are probably going to be stellar. Yet “On Wat U On” represents more than a reliable head-knocker from the CMG label mates: as the pair justify their kiss-offs while cosplaying in an unstable relationship, they form a symbiotic relationship of loners who know what they want and can toss in the right ad-libs to demonstrate as much (GloRilla earns extra points for dropping “Hate yo’ ass!” to punctuate a line).
Margo Price, Strays
In the summer of 2020, during the throes of the pandemic, Margo Price and her husband/collaborator Jeremy Ivey spent six days in South Carolina taking a ton of hallucinogenic mushrooms and furiously penning the album that would eventually become Strays; that backstory explains the inhibited songwriting at the heart of the country-folk mainstay’s fourth album, but also underscores how nuanced the album can be in between more free-wheeling moments. Tracks like the kicky “Been to the Mountain” are balanced out with “County Road,” a poignant message to a young victim of a car accident, and “Lydia,” a powerhouse ballad about abortion that stands among Price’s best work.
PartyNextDoor, “Her Old Friends”
About 95 seconds into new single “Her Old Friends,” PartyNextDoor locks into a groove that reminds casual fans why he’s still such an exciting presence in popular R&B: his voice floats up then twists back down, and stacked vocals circle in and out of harmonizing, as if a ghostly chorus can’t decided whether or not to support him. The new track follows singles like “Sex in the Porsche” and “No Fuss,” hinting at the first PND full-length since 2020… but regardless of when that arrives, moments like that in the middle of “Her Old Friends” are worth savoring.