Keeping up with new music can be exhausting, even impossible. From the weekly album releases to standalone singles dropping on a daily basis, the amount of music is so vast it’s easy for something to slip through the cracks. Even following along with the Uproxx recommendations on daily basis can be a lot to ask, so every Monday we’re offering up this rundown of the best music released in the last week.
This week, new music came back in a big way, particularly for song releases. Kehlani returned to the spotlight with a Ty Dolla Sign collab, Lana Del Rey continued her influx of new material, and Sharon Van Etten offered up an early pick for one of the best songs we’re likely to hear this year. Yeah, it was a pretty great week for new music. Check out the highlights below.
Kehlani — “Nights Like This”
Soon-to-be-mommy Kehlani is back with her highly anticipated return, and she’s got Ty Dolla Sign in tow. “Nights Like This” is accompanied by news of an impending mixtape and proper album, though there is no release date for either as of yet. The song is enough to hold fans over, as our Chloe Gilke notes, calling it a “breezy, brooding new track” with a “bouncy beat,” where “Kehlani waxes nostalgic about a former love.”
Lana Del Rey — “Hope Is A Dangerous Things For A Woman Like Me To Have — But I Have It”
Lana Del Rey has not been shy about sharing new music for this album cycle, with Norman F**king Rockwell still without an official release date. Still, the previews she’s giving us in each new song advance her narrative in their own way, with this verbose piano-ballad coming closer to her friend Father John Misty than she ever has before.
Sharon Van Etten — “Seventeen”
This is the best song of the year released so far. Full stop. On “Seventeen,” Van Etten is writing about the way that the places we used to know change over the years and the way that we change ourselves, doing so in a manner that is evocative and captivating. Van Etten has rarely worked in mid-tempo rockers like this before, looking back with the right blend of melancholy, longing, and wisdom. And when she breaks down and screams it all out by the song’s final verse, it’s enough to stop the world from spinning for a few seconds.
Gaeselfelstein and The Weeknd — “Lost In The Fire”
The Weeknd has never been an artist to hold back at the explicit sexual descriptions, but this one is enough to make most people blush. Among the highlights: “I wanna f*ck you slow with the lights on” (which is literally the first line of the song), “she can ride on top your face while I f*ck you straight,” and of course the possible Drake diss, “I just want a baby with the right one ’cause I could never be the one to hide one.” But despite the NC-17 nature of the tune, this Gaeselfelstein collab is also his most anthemic song since his Black Panther contribution last year, seemingly erasing his latest EP of slow-burning brooders.
Boogie — “Silent Ride”
Of all the hip-hop artists bracing for a big year, maybe none is more exciting than Boogie. In addition to announcing his new album, Everything’s For Sale, for this month, Boogie offered up a new track “Silent Ride,” which showcases his keen ability of observation on his generation, held together with a sharp melody and effortless flow. It’s the kind of song that jumps out at first listen, just the kind of tool that is crucial for an artist just starting to make headway.
Lauren Jauregui — “Expectations”
Following the success of Camila Cabello, the rest of the ladies from Fifth Harmony are right on her heels. This track from Lauren Jauregui, “Expectations,” finds the member of the pop group working with producer Kid Harpoon for a song that veers away from her electro-pop leanings in favor of this steamy guitar ballad. As our own Chloe Gilke notes, she sounds “more confident and comfortable than ever on her own.”
Hand Habits — “Placeholder”
If Hand Habits’ Meg Duffy seems familiar, you might know them for their work with Kevin Morby. But to hear the songs of Duffy is to know that they don’t need any credentials to make them stand out. “Placeholder” packs as much of a punch lyrically as it does aesthetically, with our Chloe Gilke noting that Duffy “writes with devastating acuity about the experience of feeling like a ‘placeholder’ — someone’s second choice, a seat warmer, ‘an exchange for what you had.'”
Ryan Adams — “Doylestown Girl”
It’s not going to be just one album from Ryan Adams this year. The songwriting great is promising three new records, a throwback to his 2005 that accomplished the same thing. But Adams’ music has been more consistently great over the past few years, making many think that this trio could top his previous attempt. First taste “Doylestown Girl” is the kind of warm song that can make you forget you are in the throngs of winter, at least for its brief few minutes.
Future — “Jumpin On A Jet”
Future season is approaching, but really, when isn’t it Future season. This week we got a Future doc as well as more information about his impending new album, The Wizrd. But maybe most importantly, Future offered up this new track that pays homage to the touring lifestyle that the rap star has chosen. It’s a brief number that finds Future giving his smooth melodic phrasing time to breathe, as if he knows the party is just getting started.
Girlpool — “What Chaos Is Imaginary”
Girlpool’s soon-to-be-released new album, What Chaos Is Imaginary, is a bold step forward for a duo that has already been turning heads. But that growth is audible on the title track, of which our own Leah Lu called a “stirring track, both in sound and in subject matter, and provides a compelling peek into what’s in store in the evolution of members Harmony Tividad and Cleo Tucker… it sounds like what it must feel like to float, to transcend your surroundings while still maintaining full, sharp awareness.”
