Our The Songs of the Week column highlights great new songs and discusses notable releases. Find our new favorites and more in our spotify best songs playlist and other great songs from emerging artists, check out our Spotify new sounds Playlist. This week, the sounds of summer branch off into two different paths.
What's new and new:
Two paths open before me: one takes me to an MJ Lenderman-esque summer, a season characterized by long walks, wondering why the golden hour of 6 p.m. makes you miss your childhood, and opening a cold beer with your friends. The other is a Golf club summer, featuring hyperpop chaos, ugly crop tops that look cute on the right day, hot boyfriends, and general debauchery. Traveler, which path will you take? Choose wisely.
Many artists are strengthening our uptempo pop playlists… but not Camila Cabello
As the dust continues to settle from the aforementioned Charli Tove Lo and his collaborator SG Lewis raised the temperature with their joint HEAT EP, which they describe as a perfect complement to a leading lady moment at a queer nightclub. There's also the more underground option of Underscores, who released a deluxe version of their excellent, overwhelming 2023 project Plugwith this expanded LP marked as her Director's Cut.
But at the other end of the spectrum is Camila Cabello, whose foray into hyperpop has a bit of the energy of an identity crisis. She has the budget to nail the aesthetic, but C,XOXO It’s hyperpop in the same way that as a pre-teen, playing dress-up in my older, cooler cousin’s clothes, I became an artist in Boston. Even if you set aside the fact that the album includes not one, but two collaborations with Drake in a moment like this, the tone of the project often overshadows Cabello’s signature breathy vocals. There are moments here that work — “pretty when i cry” is much closer to her strike zone — but this turn might not be one that lasts. Maria Siroky
Meanwhile, MJ Lenderman ushers in Porch Beers summer
As noted, for some, this summer will be full of hyperpop hits, clubs that play Challengers score immediately followed by Charli XCX's Golf cluband the infectious bops of Sabrina Carpenter. For others, however, it will surely be a season of porch walks, discount beer, and the sweet, dependable sounds of one Mr. MJ Lenderman.
Rising artist and Wednesday guitarist has just announced a new album, Manning fireworksand the record's newest single, “She's Leaving You,” is already well on its way to becoming a future fan favorite — and rightfully so. Short of a sports reference, the tune is about as MJ Lenderman-esque as it gets: The lyrics are forthright and intensely singable, the guitar work is rootsy and rocking, and there's even an appearance by her Wednesday bandmate Karly Hartzman, for boot.
The next few months will no doubt feature plenty of sweaty dance parties and tennis-based love triangles, but there will also be time to shoot pool at the local bar, watch the sunset from a lawn chair, and blast a Neil Young song on a six-string. At such times, put on “She’s Leaving You.” Jonas Krueger
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