The Despicable Me franchise epitomizes mainstream pop culture; thus, Pharrell’s “Double Life” from the Despicable Me 4 soundtrack automatically qualifies as pop. Elsewhere, Tanner Adell continued to break genre barriers, and Remi Wolf cruised closer to her Big Ideas album release.
Check out all of that and more in Uproxx’s Best New Pop Music roundup below.
Pharrell — “Double Life”
“Double Life” is the more mercurial sibling of “Happy.” The song may very well be for Despicable Me 4, cemented by a Gru name-check, but the lyrics have real-life application. Produced and written by Pharrell, Pharrell also sings about someone keeping secrets — yes, “the thrill of the double life” — and warning them about dirt coming to light (“You’re running out of time / Don’t you see that everything is on the line? / So, I’m sorry, but you have to choose a side / You’ll never know when it’s your time to go”). Actually, “Double Life” is pretty existential for an animated movie.
Remi Wolf — “Motorcycle”
Remi Wolf’s Big Ideas album is shaping up to be one of the richest albums of the year, and we’re still weeks away from its July 12 release. “Motorcycle” lingers in the mundane. She loves her motorcycle, water colors, and mariachi, and her assured contentment is emphasized by a pleasantly lackadaisical soundscape. But Remi Wolf has also bigger dreams — bigger ideas, if you will — as she sings, “Five in the morning / We could get a house, we could get a dog / When we’re waking up in the early morning / I could kiss your forehead / Send you down the doorstep / Say goodbye and get right on my motorcycle.”
Tanner Adell — “Too Easy”
Tanner Adell was a featured artist on Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter, so the surging country artist has every reason to be the utmost confident, and it oozes through the screen in her “Too Easy” video at a cowboy bar. Adell dances, rides a mechanical bull, and delivers flawless vocals: “Too easy, boys are too easy / Easy, got ya sippin’ my sweet tea.” The charged song is from Twisters: The Album, the soundtrack for the forthcoming movie starring Glen Powell. And in case anyone wonders whether Adell’s confidence in the video was an act, she posted, “Someone tell Glen Powell I’m coming to the premier.”
Tove Lo & SG Lewis — “Heat”
Tove Lo and SG Lewis released Heat, their four-track joint EP, and the title track is deserved of the title. “You’re staring at me,” Tove Lo sings in the scintillating dance-pop rager. “Staring is free / I already know / You can’t take the heat.” I mean, you have to verify your age before YouTube will allow you to watch the official “Heat” music video, so, as Paris Hilton once said, “That’s hot.”
Kygo & Plested — “Me Before You”
Kygo will release his self-titled album on Friday, June 21, which he shared he’d worked on for the past two years. The album promises to be reflective, considering Kygo waited a decade before indulging a self-titled moment. But “Me Before You” was a collaborative, outsourced effort. “[Mike Wise] & I literally wrote this song 6 weeks ago,” Plested wrote on Instagram. “I loved it so much that I posted the chorus here on [Instagram]. Kygo then messaged me asking to work on it and of course I said YES.” Plested is already teasing an acoustic version, which would officially qualify “Me Before You” as a first dance wedding song.
Jelly Roll — “I Am Not Okay”
Jelly Roll is decidedly country. “I Am Not Okay,” his latest acoustic-rooted ballad, does not deviate from his established country vein. But Jelly Roll has also undoubtedly entered the zeitgeist, so it’s not outside the realm of possibility that “I Am Not Okay” somehow gets pop airplay. The song is strikingly vulnerable, with Jelly Roll singing, “Some days, it ain’t all bad / Some days, it all gets worse / Some days I swear I’m better off / Layin’ in that dirt.” As the best songs do, “I Am Not Okay” bookends that vulnerability with a hopeful universal message: “I’m not okay / But it’s all gonna be alright.”
JORDY — “Sex With Myself”
Somehow, JORDY managed to be even more direct than Tove Lo and SG Lewis. “Sex With Myself” is the title track from the pop provocateur’s third studio album, and JORDY leaves absolutely nothing to the imagination, singing, “I’ll just have sex with myself / I’m obsessed with myself.” The accompanying video is even more unambiguous and unashamed — a video years in the making, in a roundabout way. “I’m exploring myself and my sexuality,” JORDY said in a statement. “It’s still JORDY, but these are subjects I wasn’t comfortable enough to tackle in the past.”
Leigh-Anne — “Nature”
Last month, Leigh-Anne introduced herself as a solo artist by releasing her debut EP, No Hard Feelings, which was co-written with Khris Riddick (Ariana Grande, SZA), Danja (Britney Spears, Mariah Carey), and Tayla Parx (Grande, Justin Bieber, Normani). The Little Mix member tacked on “Nature” last week, writing on Instagram, “As a thank you for all your love & support so far, I’m adding a BRAND NEW SONG to the project. It’s called ‘NATURE,’ and it’s available RIGHT NOW. Nothing beats performing it live for the first time at my first headline show last night. This is another really special song that came from my writing camp in Jamaica, and I’m super proud of it.” The Bajan and Jamaican influence is ripe, and it works. “Nature” should be played on a loop during a remote island vacation with a lover.
Flor — “Tethered”
Alt-pop darlings Flor have done the public service of releasing a song suited to supplement delusional, fantastical daydreaming during the drive home after a first date — preferably at dusk in the summer. “Surprise, surprise, another Flor love song,” Flor vocalist Zach Grace said in a statement. “It’s a good thing love has so many facets to discover and explore or else I wouldn’t have anything to write about. I love the imagery of being connected by a link, invisible or otherwise, to the person who is made for you. How every life and every timeline couldn’t separate you from the person you are meant to be with. It’s a comforting thought to me.”
Catty — “I Wish I Gave You Hell”
Catty will experience a slice of heaven by way of opening for Stevie Nicks at BST Hyde Park on July 12, but the London-based alt-pop singer-songwriter indulged the inverse reality on her latest single, “I Wish I Gave You Hell.” (Of course, it was inspired by Nicks.) The rock-charged, frenetic revenge song finds Catty venting about what she wished she’d done to “the worst damn person alive” who “did the things you said that you wouldn’t,” including (but not limited to) keying a card and exposing them on the internet.
