Top Song of the Week
Song of the Week: Bon Iver and Nicholas Britell’s Cinematic “Second Nature”
We’re taking a break from our Annual Report to highlight the Song of the Week. In this feature, we talk 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, Bon Iver shares a standout track from the soundtrack of Netflix’s Don’t Look Up. Despite the relatively mixed reviews pouring in, film lovers are definitely discussing Netflix’s incredibly star-studded Don’t Look Up. If the promise of Jennifer Lawrence’s return to the screen, Leonardo DiCaprio, Meryl Streep, Ariana Grande, and Timothee Chalamet (among many, many others) wasn’t enough, the music for the movie is worth taking a look at as well. The score for the film w...
Rap Song of the Week: Tierra Whack Embraces Her Inner Joker on “Stand Up”
Our recurring new music feature Rap Song of the Week breaks down the hip-hop tracks you need to hear at the end of every week. Check out the full playlist here. This week we highlight “Stand Up” off Tierra Whack’s new Rap? EP. In the three years since releasing her innovative debut Whack World, Tierra Whack has put out a steady stream of one-off singles that have kept her in the conversation as one of the most talented rappers in the game. The Philly native officially returned this week with her new EP Rap?, which is unfortunately only three tracks long. With the opener “Stand Up,” however, Whack serves up a reminder that she will never stop pushing forward. In an interview with Apple Music, Whack shared her love for the most recent Joker film and expressed her ambitions to ...
Song of the Week: Dave Grohl and Greg Kurstin Honor “Diamond Dreidel DLR” with a Hannukah Cover of Van Halen’s “Jump”
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, Dave Grohl and Greg Kurstin continue their Hanukkah covers celebration. Hanukkah is in full swing, and Dave Grohl and Greg Kurstin are keen on celebrating: each night of Hanukkah, the Foo Fighters frontman and super producer are uploading a new cover of a song by a prolific Jewish artist. For Night Four of the holiday, Kurstin and Grohl treated fans to a cover of Van Halen’s “Jump,” citing David Lee Roth as “quite possibly the loudest and proudest of hard rocking Jews.” (“He became a rockstar the day he became a man: Diamond Dreid...
Song of the Week: “Oh My God,” Adele’s Back!
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, Adele keeps us on our toes with the refreshing “Oh My God” from her new album 30. Adele is reliable. She knows how to unlock feelings authentically, often against the backdrop of a piano or forlorn strings. The promise of Sad Girl Autumn was realized when she dropped “Easy On Me” in October. There were certain expectations around 30, which is here in full today, November 19th, and Adele put them to rest with an album that is, in many places, surprising and sonically diverse. “I Drink Wine,” “Hold On,” and “To Be Loved” are all abs...
Rap Song of the Week: Freddie Gibbs Reconnects with Jadakiss on “Black Illuminati”
Our recurring new music feature Rap Song of the Week breaks down the hip-hop tracks you need to hear at the end of every week. Check out the full playlist here. This week, Freddie Gibbs reunites with Jadakiss on “Black Illuminati.” When Freddie Gibbs and Jadakiss last collaborated on Gibbs’ star-studded Baby Face Killa mixtape nine years ago, the Gary, Indiana rapper was about to exit his ill-fated deal with Young Jeezy’s CTE label. Given all the talent he’d displayed up to that point, it’s no surprise that Gibbs went on to become one of the most successful independent artists in the game, earning enough gravitas to ink his own partnership deals with major labels. After notching a Grammy nomination for Alfredo, Gibbs is mashing the gas pedal even harder for his follow-up, which h...
Song of the Week: Taylor Swift’s 10-Minute Version of “All Too Well” Is Lush Heartbreak, Extended
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 takes us down an emotional path that we know all too well. There’s no denying that “All Too Well” has always been the broken heart and mended soul of Taylor Swift’s Red. The song became an instant fan favorite when the album was released back in 2012 — its flashbacks of a romantic trip upstate with a lost love crystallized in amber and wrapped in a long-lost scarf, tucked away in a drawer for safekeeping. But in the months and years following the album’s release, whispered rumors began circulating within the annals of...
Rap Song of the Week: Rick Ross and 21 Savage Are “Outlawz”
Every week, our new music feature Rap Song of the Week breaks down the hip-hop tracks you need to hear. Check out the full playlist here. This week, Rick Ross kicks off his Richer Than I’ve Ever Been era with the 21 Savage-assisted “Outlawz.” Rick Ross is one of the most audacious characters in rap history, naming himself a notorious drug dealer and doubling down on his Mafia boss persona after photos of his previous stint as a correctional officer surfaced online. More than a decade after the minor controversy, the Florida rapper is living up to the title of his next album, Richer Than I’ve Ever Been, as a Wingstop franchisee and the owner of a fleet of luxury cars. First-time collaborator 21 Savage was also clowned after a bullshit ICE arrest revealed the Atlanta-based rapper was actuall...
Song of the Week: Radiohead Return to Their Roots with the Unearthed “Follow Me Around”
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, Radiohead dig out a fan favorite. Even if they’re been one of the most consistent rock bands to have emerged in the 1990s, you’d be hard-pressed to find a Radiohead fan who didn’t want even more Radiohead. Thom Yorke and company know they have hundreds and thousands of listeners wrapped around their finger, and rightfully so. “Follow Me Around,” a deep cut recorded during the band’s OK Computer sessions and officially released this week, only further evidences the alt-rock legends’ hot streak in the late ‘90s and early aught...
Rap Song of the Week: Travis Scott Hatches an “ESCAPE PLAN”
Every week, our new music feature Rap Song of the Week breaks down our favorite hip-hop tracks that dropped this week. Check out the full playlist here. This week, Travis Scott makes his grand return with “ESCAPE PLAN.” Fans were anticipating Travis Scott’s newest single, “ESCAPE PLAN,” for several months before it officially dropped today (November 5th). After it was first previewed back in June through a Spotify ad, then during a Cactus Jack for Dior fashion show, the superstar opened his sets at Rolling Loud Miami and Rolling Loud NYC with the track. Now it’s finally here, just in time for his own Astroworld Festival this weekend. Featuring a woozy, atmospheric beat by frequent collaborators Nik D and OZ, the sound of “ESCAPE PLAN” doesn’t stray from the formula that allowed Scott ...
Song of the Week: JAY-Z and Kid Cudi Hit the Mark with “Guns Go Bang”
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, JAY-Z teams up with Kid Cudi ahead of his Rock Hall induction. To accompany the release of Netflix’s upcoming Western The Harder They Fall — which boasts a stacked cast of Idris Elba, Regina King, LaKeith Stanfield, and the wonderful Jonathan Majors — an explosive soundtrack co-produced by JAY-Z has arrived today (October 29th). JAY-Z, whose hands are all over the project (he also produced the film), is featured on two tracks: “King Kong Riddim” with Jadakiss, Conway the Machine and BackRoad Gee, and “Guns Go Bang” alongside...
Rap Song of the Week: Maxo Kream Details Immeasurable Loss on “CRIPSTIAN”
Every week, our new music feature Rap Song of the Week breaks down our favorite hip-hop tracks of the week. Check out the full playlist here. This week, we highlight Maxo Kream’s WEIGHT OF THE WORLD opener “CRIPSTIAN.” The world has changed immeasurably in the two years since Maxo Kream released his standout project Brandon Banks, and the Houston rapper might be carrying more weight than anyone else. While still grieving the loss of his brother, Maxo’s grandmother was hospitalized due to COVID and he had a cousin die by suicide — not to mention a friend whose bail was set at a million dollars. Trauma is a theme explored throughout Maxo’s aptly titled new album WEIGHT OF THE WORLD, but the opening track “CRIPSTIAN” distills all his pain from the get-go. In addition to his dad and frien...
Song of the Week: Elton John and Eddie Vedder Go for a Wild Ride with “E-Ticket”
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, Elton John recruits Eddie Vedder for his lockdown sessions. Elton John really loves to collaborate: his new album The Lockdown Sessions features him joining forces with some of the biggest musicians around, from Dua Lipa to Stevie Wonder. With “E-Ticket,” his new track with none other than Eddie Vedder, John goes back to basics. It’s an undeniably fun, classic piano jam from the prolific pair, and Vedder’s presence makes it all the more riveting. Their husky voices sync and blend so well that at times, it’s hard to tell who is who...
