The Kid Laroi finally released the song his Erewhon smoothie was named after, so that’s obviously the headline of this week in pop. Elsewhere, Omar Apollo continued to showcase his range with his God Said No album, and Tinashe dropped a more-than-worthy follow-up to “Nasty.”
Check out all of that and more in Uproxx’s Best New Pop Music roundup below.
The Kid Laroi — “Girls”
The Kid Laroi has been teasing “Girls” for months on social media. The Australian supernova could have dropped “Girls” at the tail end of August, and it would still leapfrog to the top of the “summer anthem” rankings. This is the full-send Laroi pop boy crossover we’ve been awaiting, punctuated by the early 2000s-coded video starring Alix Earle.
Hailey Knox — “On Nothing”
Hailey Knox is building toward The Best, her EP due out on July 19. The R&B-infused single “On Nothing” follows “What Do You Need” and “Double Tragedy” and keeps in the vein of Knox recognizing her self-worth. “On Nothing” is her perhaps most confident offering yet, underlining the liberation found in hindsight in the incredibly catchy and impeccably produced chorus: “Does she treat you like I did? / Grant your every wish? / Gave you all you want, then why you comin’ back for something? / Shouldn’t have got involved, but I’m glad I did / I went through it all, to know I’m missin’ out on nothing.”
Omar Apollo — “Drifting”
It should be noted: “Pedro” earns honorable mention from Omar Apollo’s freshly released God Said No album because it is epic for “internet daddy” Pedro Pascal to dispense fatherly advice to Apollo in the penultimate track. However, “Drifting” stands out because it stands out sonically from Apollo’s usual slow-burning, silky R&B/ soul-pop (and sometimes jazzy?) pocket. At the very high-probability risk of being too on the nose, “Drifting” exemplifies Apollo’s ability to drift between genres, and the pulsating track helps the listener feel weightless as well. “Past life, oh, past life,” Apollo sings, as the song beautifully interpolates “Edge Of The Ocean” by Ivy. “Have we been here before?” The line is especially poignant because Apollo repurposed an indie-pop song from the turn of the century, and while it does feel like a satisfying taste from a past life, it also feels entirely fresh.
Sophie Feat. BC Kingdom & Kim Petras — “Reason Why”
Last week, the late Sophie’s family announced her forthcoming posthumously self-titled album, which will be the final Sophie album. “Reason Why” featuring BC Kingdom and Kim Petras is the album’s first single, and predictably, it’s a vibe. Of course, listening to a great new Sophie song surfaces an inherent pang of sadness because we have to live in a cruel reality where Sophie can’t create the sort of unique pop only she could. The silver lining? Sophie, due out on September 27, will feature “some of her most cherished collaborators” and enrich an already eternal legacy.
Tinashe — “Getting No Sleep”
Tinashe already left her mark on 2024 with “Nasty,” her biting Billboard Hot 100 charter asking, “Is somebody gonna match my freak?” With “Getting No Sleep,” Tinashe appears to have found a worthy (and “whipped”) candidate. “Not a dog, but it’s in me,” she softly sings with a flitting delivery. “Taking shots like I’m Lindsay / We ain’t getting no sleep, no no.” Tinashe also confirmed an August 16 release date for Quantum Baby, which will delve even further into “exploring who I am as a person and who I am as an artist,” as she said in a statement, according to Pitchfork. “I’ve never been one to be put into a box, so the name Quantum Baby encompasses all the different parts that make up who I am as a creative.”
Alexander 23 — “American Boy”
“Deleting all social media off my phone until I make the best album ever,” Alexander 23 posted on Instagram on Sunday, June 30. So, savor “American Boy,” his latest lovely, melodic, and lyrically driven single. “I’ll be your American boy,” he sings. “Blue jeans and a faded T-shirt, baby / Pick me up and down like a toy / Wear me like a cross when you need some saving.” Since Aftershock, his 2022 debut studio album, Alexander 23 has produced for some of America’s favorite girls — Olivia Rodrigo, Reneé Rapp — so the intrigue is high for his next solo effort.
Lisa — “Rockstar”
“Rockstar” is Lisa’s first solo release since 2021, and she made it count. Lisa doesn’t need to tell anyone that she’s a rockstar. She’s a member of the world-beating Blackpink, and she’ll join White Lotus for Season 3. Range. But that’s precisely the beauty of “Rockstar”: Lisa’s earned the right to spit such braggadocio (“Gold teeth sittin’ on the dash, she a rockstar / Make your favorite singer wanna rap, baby, la, la”). And through sonic osmosis, the electro-pop banger produced by and Sam Homaee (!) and Ryan Tedder (!!) will make listeners feel like Lisa-level rockstars, too.
Cat Burns — “Met Someone”
Emerging UK singer-songwriter Cat Burns is peak singer-songwriter on “Met Someone,” and I mean that as the utmost compliment. Burns’ ability to cram a rom-com’s worth of plot points into three minutes or less is impeccable. With “Met Someone,” Burns rolls out a lovely and all-too-relatable coming-of-age arc. From the outside looking in, strangers may roll their eyes at how love drunk she is, but she’s earned the right to “seem a little smug”: “Had my fair share of bullshit growing up / The constant rejections / Too many to mention / Been the ugly duckling for long enough / Right now, I’m doing just fine / And don’t hate me if I tell you why / ‘Cause I met someone.” Fittingly, Burns’ forthcoming debut album is entitled Early Twenties and will act as “a mirror reflecting the complexities and emotions of this exciting era of adulthood.”
Crash Adams — “Hotel Party”
About ten seconds into watching Crash Adams’ “Hotel Party” visualizer, I wondered, Wait, is this a trailer for another Neighbors movie? Where’s Zac Efron? Crash Adams’ Rafaele Massarelli and Vince Sasso don’t take themselves too seriously, and their admirable attitude bleeds into their enthusiastic pop. “Hotel Party” encourages everyone to shed self-consciousness in favor of fun. “We made this song with the McDonough brothers, along with Ryan Daly,” Crash Adams said in a statement. “As soon as you hear the opening lick, you know that you’re in for an amazing time — crowd surfing, beach balls, people just letting loose! ‘Hotel Party’ is about the ultimate party experience; the neighbors are either going to call the cops or join the party!” Go on. Add it to your Fourth Of July playlist.
Indy Yelich — “East Coast”
Indy Yelich pulled off the ultimate pop dichotomy: Assembling a song equally suitable for anyone wanting to dance and forget or anyone helplessly ruminating over a toxic ex-relationship. In a literal sense, “East Coast” depicts the New Zealanders’ “codependency across two coasts” in her past relationship and her decision to sacrifice “such a strong sense of identity in New York” to pursue her career in California. But more than that, it’s a vivid vignette into the mental gymnastics necessary to arrive at true fulfillment.
