Top Song of the Week
Rap Song of the Week: Doechii and Rico Nasty Are “Swamp Bitches”
Rap Song of the Week breaks down your must-hear hip-hop tracks every Friday. Check out the full playlist here. This week, Doechii taps Rico Nasty for her new track “Swamp Bitches.” Doechii has been positioned to be the next one up from Top Dawg Entertainment after being chosen for the 2022 XXL Freshman Class. Boxing in the Tampa native as a rapper would be downplaying her talents, however, because she is just as comfortable with the flirtatious singing on tracks like her SZA collab “Persuasive” as she is with delivering hard-hitting bars on “Bitch I’m Nice.” Both tracks appear on Doechii’s new EP, she / her / black bitch, which opens with the Rico Nasty collaboration “Swamp Bitches.” In the most impressive display of her rapping skills to date, Doechii kicks the track off with snarling bar...
Song of the Week: Beyoncé Is in a Galaxy of Her Own on “ALIEN SUPERSTAR”
Song of the Week breaks down and talks about the song we just can’t get out of our head each week. Find these songs and more on our Spotify Top Songs playlist. For our favorite new songs from emerging artists, check out our Spotify New Sounds playlist. This week, Queen Bey takes us on a journey into outer space with “ALIEN SUPERSTAR.” Beyoncé‘s new album Renaissance is an entire listening experience. The songs flow into one another with such precise care that leaving one and entering another is sometimes unnoticeable, making it the kind of record best absorbed as a whole. This also makes it difficult to single out any one track as a standout among gems, but with “ALIEN SUPERSTAR,” Queen Bey reminds us exactly who she is. “I’m one of one, I’m number one, I’m the onl...
Song of the Week: Billie Eilish’s Storytelling Magic Shines on “The 30th”
Song of the Week breaks down and talks about the song we just can’t get out of our head each week. Find these songs and more on our Spotify Top Songs playlist. For our favorite new songs from emerging artists, check out our Spotify New Sounds playlist. This week, Billie Eilish stuns with surprise track “The 30th.” If Billie Eilish is going to do one thing, it’s give us a stellar bridge. This week, Eilish surprise-released a two-song EP, Guitar Songs, created alongside her brother, longtime co-writer, and expert producer FINNEAS. The second track, “The 30th,” highlights the balance of vulnerability, specificity, and utter relatability that has made Eilish a household name and so beloved across demographics. Here, she’s singing to somebody involved in a near-fa...
Rap Song of the Week: Megan Thee Stallion and Future Turn Up the Heat on “Pressurelicious”
On Fridays, Rap Song of the Week rounds up all the hip-hop tracks you need to hear. Check out the full playlist here. This week, Megan Thee Stallion recruits Future for her new single “Pressurelicious.” Though Megan Thee Stallion counts Future as one of her favorite rappers, the two superstars had somehow never connected on a track until her new single, “Pressurelicious.” Featuring a hypnotic beat from Hitkidd, the hard-hitting trap anthem should heat up strip clubs this summer. In a June interview with Rolling Stone, Meg said Future deserves his flowers for being “unapologetically himself” while dealing with constant online scrutiny “gracefully.” As someone who was put under a microscope long before Tory Lanez allegedly shot her, the Houston rapper can clearly relate to the immense p...
Song of the Week: Tegan and Sara Heal Wounds of the Past with “Yellow”
Song of the Week breaks down and talks about the song we just can’t get out of our head each week. Find these songs and more on our Spotify Top Songs playlist. For our favorite new songs from emerging artists, check out our Spotify New Sounds playlist. This week, Tegan and Sara are back with an ode to the music of Coldplay on “Yellow.” It’s been six (!) years since a full-length Tegan and Sara album. As the beloved sister duo gears up for the October 21st release of their tenth LP, Crybaby (via Mom + Pop Music), they’ve started rolling out previews of the new era, including their latest, “Yellow.” It’s no mistake that it bears the same name as one of the most famous love songs in recent decades — Coldplay’s “Yellow” — and is rather directly referencing it in the accompa...
Song of the Week: Cardi B Heats Up the Summer with “Hot Shit” Featuring Ye and Lil Durk
Song of the Week breaks down and talks about the song we just can’t get out of our head each week. Find these songs and more on our Spotify Top Songs playlist. For our favorite new songs from emerging artists, check out our Spotify New Sounds playlist. This week, Cardi B enlists Ye and Lil Durk for some “Hot Shit.” “I’m nervous. I’m so nervous. I don’t even know what’s going on,” Cardi B told Apple Music about her new song, “Hot Shit,” effectively capturing how just about everyone feels about… well, everything these days. Cardi B is beloved for a multitude of reasons, and her complete lack of filter and insistence on being wholly herself in any situation is definitely an important one. The lead single to her upcoming sophomore album might not be as much of an earw...
Rap Song of the Week: City Girls and Usher Get Freaky on “Good Love”
Each Friday, Rap Song of the Week rounds up the hip-hop tracks you need to hear. Check out the full playlist here. Today, City Girls return with “Good Love” featuring Usher. This year marks the 25th anniversary of Usher’s breakout album My Way, but the R&B legend is still capable of blowing minds, as demonstrated during his stunning 25-minute Tiny Desk concert to close out Black Music Month. In addition to maintaining his silky smooth voice through the years, Usher hasn’t lost his inner freak, either. His hook on City Girls’ new single “Good Love” confirms as much. “All the freaky things that I can do,” the 43-year-old boasts. “I can freak you ’til the mornin’/ Get on top and ride on it/ Eighty ways, I’ll keep you comin’.” After all, age ain’t nothing but a number and there’s...
Song of the Week: The Beyoncé Renaissance Has Begun With “BREAK MY SOUL”
Song of the Week breaks down and talks about the song we just can’t get out of our head each week. Find these songs and more on our Spotify Top Songs playlist. For our favorite new songs from emerging artists, check out our Spotify New Sounds playlist. This week, Beyoncé signals the arrival of her new era with “BREAK MY SOUL.” Beyoncé is not usually here to be relatable. She’s a world-class performer, the kind of artist who can redefine what it means to headline a festival or perform at the Super Bowl; she perfected the art of the surprise release, and is constantly open to exploring new stories, whether it be through a sprawling opus like Lemonade or a cinematic accompaniment like The Lion King: The Gift. She’s also quite a private person, one of the most famous ...
Rap Song of the Week: Flo Milli Is “Conceited” for Good Reason
Every Friday, Rap Song of the Week runs down the essential hip-hop tracks you need to hear. Check out the full playlist here. Today, Flo Milli drops “Conceited” ahead of her debut album, You Still Here, Ho ? At this point, Flo Milli is well on her way to being an established artist. After going TikTok viral with “Beef FloMix” back in 2019, the Alabama rapper proved she wasn’t a one-hit wonder with the follow-up “In the Party.” Her 2020 debut, Ho, why is you here ?, saw Flo Milli sharpening her measured, yet conversational flow and she stepped outside of the box with the SWV flip “Weak.” 20 years old at the time, it felt like Flo Milli was both confident in herself as an artist and had plenty of room to grow. Of course, the project was positioned as a mixtape, so now Flo Milli is readying h...
Rap Song of the Week: Eva B’s “Rozi” Is a Banger Without Borders
Rap Song of the Week is a Friday round-up of the hip-hop tracks you need to hear. Check out the full playlist here. Today, we highlight Pakastani rapper Eva B’s “Rozi,” which was featured in the premiere episode of Ms. Marvel. In music you can fake almost anything except urgency. Anger comes naturally, longing is as easy as yawning, but real urgency — a desperate need to get these thoughts out now — is so special it transcends language. “Rozi” may be rapped in Urdu, but its message resonates equally in English; a banger without borders. Eva B — not her real name — has been called Pakistan’s first female rapper, and the decision to keep her face and identity hidden has as much to do with safety as religious practice. “Lonely difficult times to cut alone,” she spits in a translation provided...
Song of the Week: “Run BTS,” You Gotta Run
Song of the Week breaks down and talks about the song we just can’t get out of our head each week. Find these songs and more on our Spotify Top Songs playlist. For our favorite new songs from emerging artists, check out our Spotify New Sounds playlist. This week, BTS return to their roots with the swaggering, confident “Run BTS.” “Okay, let’s go,” SUGA directs at the start of “Run BTS,” one of the new tracks on BTS’ anthology album, PROOF (out today, June 10th). The album is dense, 48 tracks pulled from the group’s nine years of activity so far. “Run BTS” is one of the brand new offerings, kicking off Disc 2 of the three-part collection. The title of the song has nothing to do with BTS’ longstanding variety show of the same name, and everything to do with the fact that ...
Rap Song of The Week: Denzel Curry Keeps on “Walkin” with Key Glock Remix
Every Friday, Rap Song of the Week rounds up the hip-hop tracks you need to hear. Check out the full playlist here. This week, Denzel Curry recruits Key Glock for the remix to “Walkin.” On the surface, Key Glock wouldn’t be an obvious choice to appear on the remix to the world-weary “Walkin,” but Denzel Curry reached out to the Memphis rapper after being impressed by Glock’s perseverance following the loss of his best friend and mentor Young Dolph. Having dealt with the brutal death of his own brother, Curry is well-acquainted with the pain of processing tragedy. “I reached out to Glock because I felt like he’s the perfect example of ‘Walkin,’” Curry explained in a statement. “Based on everything he been through and also being independent, it hasn’t stopped his grind. I’ve ...
