Top Song of the Week
Rap Song of the Week: Kendrick Lamar Is No “Savior”
Rap Song of the Week is a round-up of the hip-hop tracks you need to hear every Friday. Check out the full playlist here. Today, Kendrick Lamar returns with “Savior” off his new album, Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers. In the second half of Kendrick Lamar’s double album, Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers, he focuses on breaking free of other people’s expectations. Due to the Compton rapper’s position as a public figure, fans look to him to lead the conversation about racial and social issues, but just like Charles Barkley, Kendrick doesn’t want to be their role model — nor should he be. On “Savior,” Kendrick makes his case while pointing to other Black celebrities like J. Cole, Future, and LeBron James, who are also expected to shoulder the burdens of the Black community. Although each person...
Song of the Week: Taylor Swift Has Us Falling Into “This Love (Taylor’s Version)”
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, Taylor Swift seems to be signaling that a return to the 1989 era is imminent with her re-release of “This Love.” Sure, there’s no word yet on if we are officially re-entering the 1989 era — but in the meantime, Taylor Swift has shared the re-recorded version of one of the hidden treasures of her pop metamorphosis record. “This Love (Taylor’s Version)” joins “Wildest Dreams (Taylor’s Version)” as the latest 1989 (Taylor’s Version) preview. Featured in the trailer for the upcoming Prime Video series The Summ...
Rap Song of the Week: Doja Cat Gambles on Her Own Bars with “Vegas”
Rap Song of the Week rounds up the hip-hop tracks you need to hear every Friday. Check out the full playlist here. Today, Doja Cat drops her new single, “Vegas.” Recently, Remy Ma stirred the pot when she said Doja Cat isn’t a rapper during an episode of Drink Champs. The veteran Bronx MC added that although Doja makes “dope records,” she doesn’t belong in the rap category at the Grammys, either. It’s been a constant debate over the past several years as Doja has earned mainstream success, as detractors have labeled her a pop singer despite her background in the LA hip-hop underground scene. After a pair of sets at Coachella proving she’s more than capable of being a headliner, Doja Cat dropped her new single “Vegas” today. First previewed at the festival, it’s the lea...
Rap Song of the Week: Future and Drake “WAIT FOR U” on Latest Collaboration
Every Friday, Rap Song of the Week rounds up all the new hip-hop tracks you need to hear. Check out the full playlist here. Today, Future and Drake reunite on “WAIT FOR U.” After one of the longer breaks of his career, Future returned today with the declarative I Never Liked You, which naturally features a pair of appearances from his good friend Drake. “I’M ON ONE” — the second song Drake’s guested on with that exact title — is one of their more typical collaborations about the trappings of success, making the vulnerable “WAIT FOR U” the more compelling of the two tracks. It’s produced by Future’s frequent collaborator ATL Jacob, who sets the mood with a sample of “Higher” by rising Nigerian singer Tems. Stepping into his introspective Hendrix persona, Future raps about a woman ...
Song of the Week: Rammstein’s “Angst” Is a Metallic Crusher For Our Present Apocalypse
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, Rammstein’s maximalist banger “Angst” is worming its way into our brains. We’ve been jamming Rammstein’s new album Zeit, and one song in particular has stood out: “Angst.” It’s our Song of the Week. The German industrial metal icons just dropped a truly insane video for the track, featuring everything from manic cheerleaders to choreographed lawnmower pushing. It could only come from the minds of Rammstein, who never fail to deliver bombastic visuals to accompany their equally maximal songs. Advertisement “Angs...
Song of the Week: The Smile Embrace Dramatic Balladry on “Free In the Knowledge”
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 Smile unleash a devastating, melancholy rumination on living with the consequences of the world around us. It’s as if Thom Yorke decided about a decade ago to commit himself to releasing some of the most devastating music of his career — which is kind of like a Carolina Reaper deciding to be spicier, or the Mariana Trench deciding that it’s not quite deep enough. There’s “Dawn Chorus” from his 2019 solo record ANIMA, “Unmade” from the Suspiria soundtrack, and pretty much everything off of Radiohead’s ...
Song of the Week: Phoebe Bridgers Returns With “Sidelines”
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, Phoebe Bridgers more than delivers on her first solo release of 2022. For an artist whose discography is packed with piercingly sad lyrics, there is perhaps no line as nihilistic in Phoebe Bridgers‘ catalogue as the closer to her latest, “Sidelines”: “I used to think you could hear the ocean in a seashell/ What a childish thing.” Written for the upcoming Hulu adaptation of Sally Rooney’s Conversations with Friends, “Sidelines” is another slow, sad yee-haw from the indie singer-songwriter, the type for whi...
Rap Song of the Week: A$AP Rocky Channels “Frankenstein” on Swedish House Mafia Collab
Rap Song of the Week handpicks all the new hip-hop tracks you need to hear every Friday. Check out the full playlist here. Today, A$AP Rocky’s Swedish House Mafia collab “Frankenstein” has finally been officially released. At this point, it’s possible even A$AP Rocky doesn’t know if he’ll ever drop a follow-up to 2018’s Testing. Between older material like “Lost and Found Freestyle 2019” with Tyler, the Creator and features on songs by $not, Nigo, and Fivio Foreign, however, he’s kept fans fed this year. This week brings another new release with his long-awaited Swedish House Mafia collaboration “Frankenstein,” which appears on the dance supergroup’s new album Paradise Again. As A$AP Mob diehards might remember, “Frankenstein” has actually been floating around since the late Virg...
Song of the Week: Jack White Lets Loose on “What’s the Trick?”
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, Jack White lets loose on “What’s the Trick?” Jack White is nothing if not ambitious. The former frontman of The White Stripes has a penchant for the odd, the atonal, and the avant-garde — the man just likes to get weird with his music, at the end of the day. His new album, Fear of the Dawn, inhabits that same risky space that keeps listeners coming back to see what he’s trying next. While not every big swing leads to a payoff on the album, it’s hard to deny the raw energy of “What’s the Trick?” The track is anc...
Rap Song of the Week: ScHoolboy Q Proves He Isn’t Your Average “Soccer Dad”
Every Friday, our new music column Rap Song of the Week breaks down all the new hip-hop tracks you need to hear. Check out the full playlist here. This week, ScHoolboy Q made his grand return with “Soccer Dad.” Since dropping his first two albums in back-to-back years, ScHoolboy Q has slowed down his release pace. The TDE rapper’s last LP, 2019’s CrasH Talk, dropped after a three-year hiatus, and prior to Tuesday night, he hadn’t released any solo material since then. With the arrival of the triumphant “Soccer Dad,” however, it looks like a new project could be on the way. Fans of ScHoolboy Q are well-acquainted with his life as a soccer dad, having seen videos on the LA rapper’s Instagram Stories of him cheering from the sidelines while also bragging about his daughter’s accomplishments. ...
Song of the Week: Harry Styles Is Back, And Nothing Is the Same “As It Was”
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, Harry Styles gives us the first look inside the walls of Harry’s House. “Harry, you’re no good alone.” Artistically, that’s something we know isn’t true. It’s been years now since Harry Styles struck out on his own, re-inventing his public persona through vintage aesthetics and the devil-may-care creativity of a present-day rockstar. His art, both in his self-titled solo debut and the Grammy-winning Fine Line, has always pivoted between the achingly personal and intentionally coy. It might be easy to speculate ...
Rap Song of the Week: J.I.D and J. Cole Carry a Big “Stick” on New Gangsta Grillz Track
Every Friday, our new music column Rap Song of the Week breaks down all the new hip-hop tracks you need to hear. Check out the full playlist here. Today, J.I.D and J. Cole open D-Day: A Gangsta Grillz Mixtape with “Stick.” Earlier this week, J. Cole surprised Dreamville fans with the news that he teamed up with DJ Drama for a new Gangsta Grillz mixtape. The project doesn’t come entirely out of left field, since the mixtape king is performing a special set at Dreamville Festival this weekend (April 2nd-3rd) featuring Lil Wayne, T.I., and Jeezy, but it was still exciting to see two blog era veterans come together. Once Cole dropped the artwork, it was also apparent how seriously they took the project. With the entire Dreamville roster draped in dark clothing and Photoshopped in front of a wa...
