Top Song of the Week
Rap Song of the Week: Latto Pops a “Wheelie” with 21 Savage
Rap Song of the Week is a new music column breaking down the essential hip-hop tracks you need to hear. Check out the full playlist here. This week, Latto previews her upcoming album with the 21 Savage collaboration “Wheelie.” After winning Lifetime’s reality series The Rap Game back in 2016, the former Miss Mulatto bet on herself, turning down a recording contract on Jermaine Dupri’s So So Def Records in favor of going independent. Six years later, our 2022 Rising Artist to Watch is on the verge of her mainstream breakout. After earning her first Top 40 hit last year with the pop-leaning “Big Energy,” it’s time for Latto to aim even bigger with her upcoming album 777, which drops on March 25th. As Latto’s new single “Wheelie” proves, however, she’s hardly left hip-hop behind. A ...
Song of the Week: Belle and Sebastian Are Leaving “Unnecessary Drama” Behind
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, Belle and Sebastian mark their comeback with one of their rowdiest entries ever. There’s something about the lucky number seven for Belle and Sebastian lately. The seven-piece act is returning with a new album for the first time in seven years, and their latest single “Unnecessary Drama” is offering the first look. It’s a more boisterous entry from the band, featuring a can’t-miss harmonica riff and propulsive energy. “The song is about a young person experimenting in being a human again after a forced hiatus,” frontman Stuart Mur...
Rap Song of the Week: Baby Tate Teaches You How to “Sl*t Him Out Again”
Rap Song of the Week is a new music feature breaking down the essential hip-hop tracks you need to hear. Check out the full playlist here. This week, Baby Tate shares her ode to sexual freedom, “Sl*t Him Out Again.” Nicki Minaj, Cardi B, and Megan Thee Stallion are three of the biggest names in music, but being a woman in hip-hop hasn’t gotten much easier. Just ask the ass-kicking Rico Nasty, who was treated disrespectfully by fans while opening for Playboi Carti without any support from the headliner. Unfortunately, chances are fellow rising star Baby Tate will have to deal with a similar disappointment at some point, but on paper at least, the Georgia native is well acquainted with self-affirmation, as heard on her late 2020 breakout “I Am.” Advertisement And with songs like “Sl*t Him Ou...
Song of the Week: All Hail Florence + The Machine’s “King,” a Complicated Coronation Anthem
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, Florence + the Machine assume their rightful place on the throne. Florence Welch has assumed a wide range of identities over the past 15 years. Since she first formed Florence + The Machine in 2007, Welch has been a punchy indie rocker; an empowerment anthem siren; a beguiling chanteuse; a dancefloor diva; a witchy woman; a poet. Like David Bowie before her and contemporaries like St. Vincent, Welch isn’t only writing and recording music with Florence + The Machine — she’s developing personae complete with richly-imagined aestheti...
Rap Song of the Week: Conway the Machine Brings Out the Best in Lil Wayne and Rick Ross on “Tear Gas”
Our new music feature Rap Song of the Week breaks down the essential hip-hop tracks you need to hear. Check out the full playlist here. This week, Conway the Machine links up with Lil Wayne and Rick Ross on “Tear Gas” from his long-awaited Shady debut, God Don’t Make Mistakes. Conway the Machine’s tenure on Shady Records has been the latest case study for exactly what a major label can provide for a rapper who was already well-respected and making good money from merch and touring. Back in 2017, our former Artist of the Month signed on to make Eminem his ostensible boss as part of a package deal for Griselda, the label and collective founded by his brother Westside Gunn. In the five years since then, both rappers (along with Benny the Butcher) have continued to operate outside of the lines...
Song of the Week: Troye Sivan and Jay Som Step Into the Sun with “Trouble”
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, Troye Sivan and Jay Som provide the first look into the music for the upcoming film Three Months. Troye Sivan has been creating dreamy, addictive pop music for the better part of a decade. He expanded into the on-camera world when he appeared in the 2018 film Boy Erased in a supporting role, and has now stepped into leading man territory for the upcoming Paramount+ original Three Months. The trailer for the film gives a first look at Sivan as the focal point of a coming-of-age narrative and promises original songs from the artist....
Song of the Week: Doja Cat Manages to Make a Taco Bell Collaboration Genuinely Great with a Hole Cover
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, Doja Cat elevates what could have been a forgettable Super Bowl team-up and makes it a must-hear cover. Ahead of Super Bowl Sunday, Doja Cat has *checks notes* teamed up with Taco Bell for a cover of “Celebrity Skin” by Hole. No, it’s not an edition of pop culture Mad Libs — it’s somehow a really great cover, and boasts some reworked lyrics in partnership with Courtney Love herself. The thing is, if anyone knows how to Live Más, it’s Doja Cat. Let’s not forget that her first breakthrough into the zeitgeist was “Moo,” a completely ...
Rap Song of the Week: Pusha T Makes His Triumphant Return with “Diet Coke”
Our new music feature Rap Song of the Week runs down the hip-hop tracks you need to hear every Friday. Check out the full playlist here. This week, Pusha T shares “Diet Coke,” the lead single from his upcoming fourth album. In recent interviews, Pusha T has been talking up his fourth studio LP, reportedly titled It’s Not Dry Yet, as “the album of the motherfucking year.” It’s a pretty standard boast for any upper echelon MC, but he’s added fuel to the fire by describing it as “one thousand percent rap superhero shit.” Whatever that actually means, the drug rap king is back with a vengeance after taking roughly two years off to spend time with his son. Despite running in circles with the likes of Pharrell and Kanye West while having been long considered one of the best rappers alive, King P...
Rap Song of the Week: Actually, Megan Thee Stallion’s Branded Cheetos Song “Flamin’ Hottie” Is Kind of Good
Our recurring feature Rap Song of the Week breaks down the hip-hop songs you need to hear every Friday. Check out the full playlist here. This week, Megan Thee Stallion secures the bag with “Flamin’ Hottie.” Considering Megan Thee Stallion’s complicated record label situation, the H-Town Hottie is hardly bringing in the money that she should be for an artist of her stature. So no one begrudged her for teaming up with Popeyes last year, and now she’s partnered with Frito-Lay to promote Flamin’ Hot Cheetos (leaving Lil Xan in shambles) and Doritos. Later this month, Meg will be starring in a Super Bowl commercial alongside Charlie Puth, but today she’s given fans an idea of what to expect with “Flamin’ Hottie.” Meg at least put in more than a minimal effort into making the branded track...
Song of the Week: Red Hot Chili Peppers Welcome Us To a “Black Summer”
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 Red Hot Chili Peppers signal the arrival of their new era with the triumphant “Black Summer.” From the first warm tones of the guitar, two things are clear: Red Hot Chili Peppers are back, and John Frusciante has rejoined the legendary rockers. “Black Summer” marks the Chili Peppers’ first single since 2016’s lackluster The Gateway, and with Frusciante back, they sound renewed and refreshed. His signature guitar sound is heavily highlighted on “Black Summer,” linking perfectly with Flea’s energetic bass work and stepping out f...
Song of the Week: Charli XCX and Rina Sawayama Aren’t Going to “Beg For You”
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, Charli XCX and Rina Sawayama put their pop powers together in their first collaboration after years of friendship. There’s a strong chance Charli XCX and Rina Sawayama have dropped the first big bop of 2022. Maybe they were also feeling the void in explosive dance hall tracks — how long it’s been since we had the cathartic joy of “Rain On Me” — and came to the rescue. “Beg For You” is fine-tuned, almost to a fault (the song is barely over two and a half minutes) but it’s a worthy collaboration between two artists who know what pop...
Rap Song of the Week: Benny the Butcher Recruits J. Cole for “Johnny P’s Caddy”
Our new music feature Rap Song of the Week breaks down the hip-hop tracks you need to hear every Friday. Check out the full playlist here. This week, Benny the Butcher recruits J. Cole for his new single, “Johnny P’s Caddy.” Hip-hop fans who haven’t been paying attention might be surprised to hear Benny the Butcher landed a J. Cole feature on his latest single, “Johnny P’s Caddy,” but they’ve actually known each other for nearly three years. The Buffalo rhymer was one of the artists hand-picked by Cole for the mythical Revenge of the Dreamers III sessions, and he clearly made a strong impression despite not making the final cut. It was part of the formerly insular North Carolina MC stepping outside his inner circle by handing out rare features to trap rappers like 21 Savage, Offset, a...
