Following her worldwide 2023 hit “Water,” the South African songwriter Tyla has now released her self-titled debut album, merging African rhythms with English lyrics and R&B delivery. The album’s songs toggle between approach — like “Water” — and avoidance. In “Safer,” Tyla pulls away from temptation. The song harnesses the
Tag: Songs
Becky G’s Rowdy Obsession and 8 More New Songs
Becky G knows better than to keep returning, like a boomerang, to a liar who doesn’t love her — but she can’t resist. And the ingenious, rhythm-forward production of “Boomerang” makes her obsession sound like a village-wide celebration, with the plink of a thumb piano, flamenco-like handclaps, a thudding reggaeton
9 Sunny Songs for Springing Ahead
▶ Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube 3. Silver Jews: “People” “It’s sunny and 75, it feels so good just being alive,” sings the late, great poet and songwriter David Berman on this standout from “American Water,” the 1998 album by his band the Silver Jews. This song is,
Kamasi Washington’s Ecstatic Return, and 9 More New Songs
“Prologue” is actually the final track on Kamasi Washington’s coming album, “Fearless Movement,” and it’s dense and bustling. Double time drumming, frenetic percussion and hyperactive keyboard counterpoint roil around a melody that rises resolutely over descending chords, while breakneck solos from Dontae Winslow on trumpet and Washington on saxophone exult
11 Essential Kim Gordon Songs
▶ Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube 8. Sonic Youth: “Tunic (Song for Karen)” Gordon’s epic 1990 tribute to Karen Carpenter is unlike anything else in Sonic Youth’s discography — or, really, in all of popular music. Over a chiming squall of guitar, she narrates Carpenter’s ultimately fatal battle
St. Vincent Channels Nine Inch Nails, and 11 More New Songs
“I can hold my arms wide open/but I need you to drive the nail,” St. Vincent — the songwriter and guitarist Annie Clark — sings in “Broken Man.” It’s a volcanic buildup of a song, from the sparsest ticking electronics to a hard-rock stomp to a full-scale pileup of guitars,
Faye Webster Hates Attention. But Her Songs Keep Getting Bigger.
That attention has grown steadily since 2013, when Webster, then 16, self-released her debut album, “Run and Tell,” a folksy whirl of slide guitar and twang. She grew up in Atlanta, where she still lives, listening to her mother play Allison Krauss records and bluegrass fiddle songs, an aesthetic she
SZA’s ‘Saturn,’ and 8 More New Songs
The song SZA introduced in a commercial during the Grammy Awards, “Saturn,” has now been separated from its credit-card plug and released to streaming services in multiple versions; one, the sped-up version, brings out its clear pop structure. But the real-time version is better. The song is about a longing
9 New Songs You Should Hear Now
▶ Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube 4. Angélica Garcia: “Juanita” A tip of my cap to Jon Pareles for putting this striking track on a recent Friday playlist: I am now anxiously awaiting whatever the California-based musician Angélica Garcia puts out next. “Juanita” prances with a cumbia-inspired rhythm,
7 Stellar Songs for a Saturn Return
2. No Doubt: “Artificial Sweetener” “The return of Saturn,” Gwen Stefani sings on this angsty new-wave-y rocker, which perfectly encapsulates a cosmic identity crisis. “Assessing my life, second-guessing.” ▶ Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube 3. R.E.M.: “Saturn Return” A year after No Doubt’s “Return of Saturn,” R.E.M. released