Top Song of the Week
Song of the Week: The 1975 Make Romantic Desperation Sound Fun on “Oh Caroline”
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, The 1975 unravel the messiness of love with “Oh Caroline.” “I’ve been suicidal” is a hell of a way to open a song, but Matty Healy and The 1975 have never shied away from blunt honesty. It’s present in the group’s 2016 track “She’s American” (“If she says I’ve got to fix my teeth, then she’s so American”); it’s all over 2018’s “Be My Mistake” (“The smell of your hair reminds me of her feet”); and it’s tucked into various corners of the band’s latest album, Being Funny In A Foreign Language. The album is refresh...
Song of the Week: Fiona Apple Reads Tolkien Poetry on “Where the Shadows Lie”
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, Fiona Apple makes a fantastical return with “Where the Shadows Lie.” The music of Fiona Apple has a way of making itself feel suspended in time. From the straightforward, piano-heavy compositions of her 1996 debut Tidal to the raucous, ramshackle qualities of 2020’s Fetch the Bolt Cutters, the iconic musician might’ve been a spokesperson of turn-of-the-century doom — but her sound is void of a specific era. Really, it’s a trait that Apple shares with the Lord of the Rings franchise...
Rap Song of the Week: Quavo and Takeoff Move Forward as a Duo with “Two Infinity Links”
Rap Song of the Week breaks down all the hip-hop tracks you need to hear every Friday. Check out the full playlist here. This week, Migos members Quavo and Takeoff push on as a duo on “Two Infinity Links,” the opening track from their new album, Only Built for Infinity Links. After months of speculation, Quavo and Takeoff essentially admitted Migos are done (for now) earlier this week. During an appearance on DJ Scream’s Big Facts podcast, Quavo alluded to family loyalty and explained the situation was “something to do with the three brothers” rather than Offset’s recent label issues. Meanwhile, Takeoff left the door open for the return of Offset, mentioning they told him to fix “whatever ain’t right.” Regardless of what went down, Quavo and Takeoff are determined to prove their ...
Rap Song of the Week: Smino and J. Cole Light It Up on “90 Proof”
Rap Song of the Week runs down all the hip-hop tracks you need to hear every Friday. Check out the full playlist here. This week, Smino gears up for his upcoming album Luv 4 Rent with “90 Proof” featuring J. Cole. Since dropping “24-8” earlier this month, Smino’s been teasing his next album, Luv 4 Rent, with the hashtag “droptober.” To close out September, the St. Louis native has reunited with J. Cole for his confessional new single, “90 Proof.” Over a soulful groove co-produced by frequent collaborator monte booker and Groove, Smino uses a singsong flow to plead patience from a woman he hasn’t been able to commit to. Admitting he’s not “great at relationships,” Smino expresses his feelings the best way he knows how. In addition to opening up with lyrics like, “My heart start be...
Song of the Week: Paramore Gives Us a Reason to Leave the House with “This Is Why”
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, Paramore make a huge return with “This Is Why.” It’s been 20 years since Hayley Williams moved from Mississippi to Tennessee, met the Farro brothers, and began the story of Paramore, one of the most exciting bands of the new millennium. Paramore has outlived most of their contemporaries, not just by continuing to exist as an entity, but also in terms of their enduring cultural relevance. While many bands of the Warped Tour Era flamed out or carried on by catering to nostalgia, Paramore have managed to remain vi...
Song of the Week: Cardi B and GloRilla Fire Back at the Haters on “Tomorrow 2”
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, GloRilla and Cardi B join forces for a hard-hitting collab. Cardi B has always been a generous collaborator, and now she’s hopped on the remix for fast-rising Memphis rapper GloRilla’s hard-hitting track, “Tomorrow.” The two artists are a natural fit, with aggressive rapping styles and the ability to tear through sparse beats based on shit-talking and charisma alone. Produced by GloRilla’s frequent collaborator Macaroni Toni, “Tomorrow 2” brings out the best in both of them. GloRilla, who broke out with her vir...
Song of the Week: Carly Rae Jepsen Speaks for All of Us With “Talking To Yourself”
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, Carly Rae Jepsen tells it like it is with “Talking To Yourself.” Carly Rae Jepsen speaks for those of us who are delightfully unhinged. Following one of the most incredible lines in recent memory in last month’s “Beach House” — “I’m probably gonna harvest your organs,” she said with the same energy of a person sharing their dinner order — our Canadian pop princess is back with “Talking To Yourself.” Her fifth studio album, The Loneliest Time, is set for release on October 21st, and this wildly infectious new si...
Song of the Week: Phoenix and Ezra Koenig Hearken Back to the Golden Age of Indie-Pop with “Tonight”
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, Phoenix and Ezra Koenig unleash a delightful collab. Phoenix hearken back to the golden age of indie pop — an era they helped define in 2009 with their groundbreaking fourth album, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix — on their new song, “Tonight,” the second single from their upcoming album Alpha Zulu (out November 4th). “Tonight” not only features fellow indie icon Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend, but some signature Phoenix moves; the rousing hi-hat and tom drum line from “Lasso” returns, the escalating synths of “1901” ...
Rap Song of the Week: Sampa the Great Strikes Out for Herself on “Let Me Be Great”
Rap Song of the Week runs down all the hip-hop tracks you need to hear every Friday. Check out the full playlist here. This week, Sampa the Great shines on “Let Me Be Great,” a standout track from her sophomore album, AS ABOVE, SO BELOW. Like many people, Zambian-born poet and rapper Sampa the Great sought refuge at home during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Returning to her place of birth unexpectedly helped free Sampa of some of the heavy expectations she was carrying after the success of her debut album, The Return. “A beautiful thing happened where I got to relocate back home,” she told GRAMMY.com. “As uncertain and scary as it was, I got to work with artists I saw growing up. Then, I got to journey back to the young Sampa, who dreamed of being an artist, and revert to the re...
Song of the Week: Arctic Monkeys Return with the Melancholic, Delightfully Funny “There’d Better Be A Mirrorball”
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, Arctic Monkeys return with the lead single for their forthcoming album, The Car. After the downright silly Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino, Arctic Monkeys have returned with “There’d Better Be A Mirrorball,” the first single from their upcoming seventh studio album, The Car (out October 21st). Already, “There’d Better Be A Mirrorball” seems to pick up where Tranquility Base left off, guided by a piano (which has, of late, been Alex Turner’s primary songwriting instrument) and a slow burning trot from the re...
Rap Song of the Week: Nothing Is Ever “Too Much” for Freddie Gibbs
Rap Song of the Week rounds up and breaks down all the hip-hop tracks you need to hear. Check out the full playlist here. This week, Freddie Gibbs drops “Too Much,” the lead single from $oul $old $eparately. Freddie Gibbs has kept anticipations high for his follow-up to 2020’s Alfredo by teasing it with superstar collaborations like the ScHoolboy Q-assisted “Gang Signs” and “Black Illuminati,” a previous Rap Song of the Week featuring Jadakiss. After recruiting the standout MCs from LA and New York, respectively, the Gary, Indiana native has turned to Memphis for the lead single from his newly announced Warner Records debut $oul $old $eparately. Moneybagg Yo lends Gibbs a hand on “Too Much,” a celebration of excess and wealth. With a seemingly everlasting, unwinding flow that not...
Song of the Week: BLACKPINK Are Back with a Bite on “PINK VENOM”
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, BLACKPINK are razor-sharp on their comeback single. Ready or not, BLACKPINK are back. “PINK VENOM” arrived with a bang — the music video has already broken several records, most notably for the most-viewed K-pop music video in 2022 so far — and it’s proof of the power of BLACKPINK that the song is generating such a response. It’s been quite a while since BLINKs have been able to enjoy new music from the quartet as a complete unit. With “PINK VENOM,” BLACKPINK remain in a familiar sonic lane: the song is b...
