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 a 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 saw the Lil Nas X collaboration hip-hop has been waiting for, and another hint that another full-length Drake and Future collaborative project might be coming. Yeah, it was a great week for new music. Check out the highlights below.
Lil Nas X — “Rodeo (Remix)” Feat. Nas
For his Grammys performance, Lil Nas X had a number of announced guests, but he was joined on stage by the biggest surprise of the night: Nas. The legendary rapper and his namesake took the stage together for the first time, on a new remix of “Rodeo.” Sure enough, the pair shared the studio version of the track following the performance, and Lil Nas X has officially added the most appropriate possible person to his lengthy list of collaborators.
Drake and Future — “Desires”
Drake and Future haven’t officially announced a follow-up to their 2015 joint mixtape What A Time To Be Alive, but the signs certainly seem to suggest one is on the way. In early January, they dropped a collaborative track, “Life Is Good.” Now, they’ve partnered up again on “Desires,” which are exactly what they’ve aroused in their fans who want to see more of them together.
Lil Wayne — Funeral
Lil Wayne took a decidedly new-school approach to his latest album by dropping it just a week after announcing its existence. On the 24-track record, Weezy took the opportunity to honor the recently deceased Kobe Bryant, by including a 24-second moment of silence on “Bing James,” the eighth track on the album.
Taylor Swift — “Only The Young”
Taylor Swift’s extremely personal Netflix documentary Miss Americana came out this weekend, and along with it, so did a new song, “Only The Young.” On the track, Swift makes a hopeful political statement, singing, “The game was rigged, the ref got tricked / The wrong ones think they’re right / You were outnumbered — this time.” The track was inspired by recent political elections, as Swift said of it, “I was really upset about Tennessee going the way that it did, obviously. And so I just wanted to write a song about it.”
Meek Mill — “Letter To Nipsey” Feat. Roddy Ricch
Lil Nas X wasn’t the only one with an immediate post-Grammys release: Meek Mill and Roddy Ricch linked up for a tribute to Nipsey Hussle during the ceremony, and they dropped the full song from their performance shortly after. On “Letter To Nipsey,” Meek raps, “I just left your viewing at the Staples Center / Obama wrote you a letter, yeah, you made it, n**** / I even heard you had some plans to come to Vegas with us / And them suckers could never kill you, it only made you bigger.”
Dua Lipa — “Physical”
Dua Lipa has been killing it as she kicks off her new album. Following “Future Nostalgia” and “Don’t Start Now,” Lipa is back with another exciting new single, “Physical.” The driving, synth-led track is yet another jam kicked out by Dua, and one more reason to be super excited for Future Nostalgia.
Phony Ppl — “Fkn Around” Feat. Megan Thee Stallion
This one has been a long time coming: In October, Megan Thee Stallion and Phony Ppl linked up for a performance at NPR’s Tiny Desk Festival, where they debuted a new song. Now, months later, “Fkn Around” is here, and it hits hard. The track brings all of the soul and funk, and Megan’s verse is a perfect complement to the track’s infectious rhythm.
Hayley Williams — “Leave It Alone”
Hayley Williams is ready for a life aside from Paramore, as she kicked off her full-fledged solo career last month with “Simmer.” She followed that up with “Leave It Alone,” an introspective cut on which the musician deals with the loss of loved ones: “Don’t nobody tell me / That God don’t have a sense of humor / ‘Cause now that I want to live / Well, everybody around me is dying.”
Demi Lovato — “Anyone”
Demi Lovato’s comeback officially launched in a big way during the Grammys, when she made her return to the stage with “Anyone,” a powerful song that she absolutely belted out. Lovato quickly released a studio version of the song as well. She wrote the track just days before entering rehab, and she poured the entirety of her heart into the emotional piano ballad.
Destroyer — Have We Met
Dan Bejar has returned with his first Destroyer album since 2017, Have We Met, and it’s quite the ride. He recorded the album in his kitchen, but there’s far more depth to it than an average home recording, thanks to the additional synth and rhythm parts from collaborator John Collins. The album includes singles like “Cue Synthesizer,” which Bejar called “maybe the most audacious piece of music Destroyer’s laid to tape.”
Drive-By Truckers — The Unraveling
Drive By Truckers’ Patterson Hood told Uproxx that while this album may seem political in its surface, so him, it’s more personal than anything: “This one is so personal, probably more to me than it might appear to other people. So much of it was inspired by conversations with my kids over the last few years, as we’re living through all this sh*t.”
Read our interview with Drive-By Truckers here.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. .
