Keeping up with new music can be exhausting, even impossible. From the weekly album releases to standalone singles dropping on a daily basis, the amount of music is so vast it’s easy for something to slip through the cracks. Even following along with the Uproxx recommendations on a daily basis can be a lot to ask, so every Monday we’re offering up this rundown of the best new music this week.
This week saw Lil Yachty make a left turn and Chlöe pivot away from revenge. Yeah, it was a great week for new music. Check out the highlights below.
For more music recommendations, check out our Listen To This section, as well as our Indie Mixtape and Pop Life newsletters. Also find our Uproxx HQ Spotify playlist, which is updated weekly with the best new music, at the end of this post.
Lil Yachty shocked the music world last week (despite a warning from over a year ago) with Let’s Start Here, a new album that sees Yachty going in a new-to-him psychedelic rock direction. He mirrored that vibe in his appropriately trippy video for “Say Something.”
Chlöe made some noise by announcing In Pieces recently, and then continued the rollout with “Pray It Away.” Uproxx’s Alex Gonzalez notes of the track, “On the first piece of In Pieces, Chlöe recovers from a broken heart by getting in touch with her spirituality. Initially, she is angry and vengeful over a man who did her dirty. But instead of exacting revenge, she chooses to pray the hurt and the heartache away.”
Rosalía takes an organic approach on “LLYLM,” which is propelled along with handclap-driven percussion. She even busts out some English here, too, singing on the hook, “I don’t need honesty / Baby, lie like you love me, lie like you love me / Cover me in a dream, I’ll be yours or fantasy / Who needs the honesty?”
Cordae and .Paak apparently recorded enough songs together for an EP. Who knows if all that music will ever surface, but some of it has. Last week, the pair dropped “Two Tens,” a smooth new tune that sees the pair going back and forth in a most delightful way.
Sam Smith found an ally in Kim Petras, who helped him land a No. 1 single recently with “Unholy.” In other areas of his life, though, he doesn’t need anybody else, as he declared on a song that borrows its title from the mouths of countless reality show contestants, “I’m Not Here To Make Friends” (although Calvin Harris, presumably at least an acquaintance, co-wrote this one).
A couple weeks ago, Bryan put some pressure on the Philadelphia Eagles: He declared that if the team beat the New York Giants in the NFL playoffs, he’d drop “Dawns,” a fan-favorite that hadn’t yet been given an official release. Well, the birds pulled through, and sure enough, Bryan released the Maggie Rogers-featuring tune, a heartbreaking rock ballad.
Rich Brian is in movie star mode right now, as his film Jamojaya recently debuted at Sundance. Music is part of the equation, too, though, as much like himself IRL, in the movie, he plays an up-and-coming Indonesian rapper. So, to coincide with the film, he dropped “Sundance Freestyle” last week, a quick-hitter accompanied by a comedic video.
Laroi will continue to establish himself as a star with The First Time, his upcoming album. He continued teasing the LP last week with “Love Again,” an acoustic guiter-driven track, on which he wonders whether a past love will find their way back into his life.
Gorillaz are on a productive streak and it’s set to culminate next month with Cracker Island, a new album. On the new “Silent Running,” Uproxx’s Alex Gonzalez says the band “recalls a hypnotic love, as they fall through an intoxicating wormhole in their mind,” adding, “Adeleye Omotayo adds some smooth, seductive vocals to the song, glistening the background, and giving it a magical touch.”
Diamonds & Dancefloors tragically leaked last year, months before its release date, but fans who honored Max’s intentions and waited for the album to drop were treated to its official release last week. Max also dropped a visual for “One Of Us,” a driving pop banger on which Max contrasts her passion with the relative lack of it from the other half of a relationship.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
