Pop

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 10 tracks from artists including Cannons, Måneskin, King Mala and more will get you energized to take on the week. Pop any of these gems into your personal playlists — or scroll to the end of the post for a custom playlist of all 10.

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Cannons, “Heartbeat Highway”

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“Heartbeat Highway” — the title track of Cannon’s fourth album — sounds just as one would expect: like the steadying soundtrack to a windows-down highway cruise. Over its career, the dance-pop act has perfected the craft of mid-tempo, breezy songs that are irresistibly soothing — and sound equally at home blasting from a car or a festival stage. – Lyndsey Havens

Sheer Mag, “Playing Favorites”

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Philly rockers Sheer Mag recently announced its first album in four years, Playing Favorites, coming out this March on Third Man Records. “We put everything we’ve got into these songs and can say with confidence that it’s our best work yet,” reads an Instagram caption announcing the project. The title track is proof enough, with frontwoman Christina Halladay confidently declaring: “God it’s been such a long time / Since we laughed so hard that we cried.” – L.H.

Flowerovlove, “A Girl Like Me”

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South London teen Flowerovlove has cited Tame Impala, Frank Ocean and SZA has inspiration. And yet, her sound isn’t a copy paste of any one influence, as “A Girl Like Me” blends airy psych rock production with alt-pop melodies. But the song’s strength is in her writing, which not only asks a question every girl once has (“Would a boy like you like a girl like me?”) but happily carries on without any concern over what the answer may be. – L.H.

Måneskin, “Valentine”

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Italian rockers Måneskin started the year with the release of its third album Rush! and now, the band is closing the year with the release of an expanded edition titled Rush! (Are U Coming), which adds five new songs to the tracklist. The creeping, slow burn “Valentine” stands out for the way in which the entire song — from the vocals to the riffs to the tempo — seems to ache, putting a darker spin on the notion of a valentine. Classic Måneskin. – L.H.

Will Linley, “Magic”

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Will Linley is an emerging South African alt-pop artist who, at the age of 22, infuses his music with a contagious and youthful feel-good energy best heard on latest single “Magic.” On the song, he describes the magical chemistry felt with a love interest — singing of the “moonlight across your face” and how they “both missed the last train home” — painting a picture of young love that is both new and nostalgic all at once. – L.H.

Girli, “Nothing Hurts Like a Girl” 

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In Rita Mae Brown’s trailblazing 1973 book Rubyfruit Jungle, her protagonist likens switching from straight sex to lesbian sex as “the difference between a pair of roller skates and a Ferrari” — and the out-and-proud music of girli is very much a synth-pop celebration of that feeling. On “Nothing Hurts Like a Girl,” however, the London-based artist bemoans the fact that higher highs are followed by harder falls, and the “heart breaks harder” on a queer breakup. But with a throbbing bass line, crisp guitar riffs and a sparkling assortment of synths, girli is dancing the pain away on this preview of upcoming album Matriarchy (May 17). – Joe Lynch 

Alan Walker feat. Daya, “Heart Over Mind”

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Seven years ago, Daya scored the highest-charting hit of her career so far with “Don’t Let Me Down,” an EDM smash with The Chainsmokers; now, the pop star is back in the dance world playing muse to Norwegian producer Alan Walker on the sleek, glittery “Heart Over Mind.” While Walker brings some post-chorus fireworks with laser-beam synths, Daya controls the collaboration, her vulnerability in each verse blossoming into the siren cry of the chorus. – Jason Lipshutz

Rosie Darling, “The Longest Goodbye”

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“The Longest Goodbye” treads a similar piano-ballad path as “Boxes” from Rosie Darling’s recently released debut album, Lanterns, but the singer-songwriter sounds comfortably affecting in that pocket, allowing her voice to linger on phrases that help process post-breakup pain. “If all these walls could talk, you wouldn’t hear a thing / ‘Cuz all I do is cry, and no one’s listening,” Darling begins, the meter rising and falling with each dejected syllable. – J. Lipshutz

King Mala, “I Only Smoke to Feel Bad”

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While “I Only Smoke to Feel Bad” contains plenty of blurted-out confessions, jittery questions and defiant declarations that could power any number of TikTok trends, the standout track from King Mala’s new EP Spilt Milk also works as a snappy pop song, each hook all loose strums and handclaps. Don’t sleep on the production details, though — King Mala’s tucked-in ad-libs in particular help “I Only Smoke to Feel Bad” feel like a lived-in transmission. – J. Lipshutz

Alex Warren, “Yard Sale”

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One scene from the music video to Alex Warren’s new single “Yard Sale” finds the social media star hoarsely belting out the chorus while driving at dusk — purging the physical remnants of a breakup by spilling his guts from behind the wheel. With its oversized chorus and “hey!” punctuations, “Yard Sale” includes a strain of the early-2010s folk boom that make Warren’s latest a natural fit for alternative radio; this song sounds like it could be huge, and deserves to be. – J. Lipshutz