In the four years leading up to their 2020 debut album, Blackpink — Jennie, Jisoo, Lisa and Rosé — became one of K-pop’s biggest global success stories. The first single from the group’s upcoming sophomore album, “Born Pink” (out next month), has an anarchy feel to it. Every four bars it introduces a new approach: familiar K-pop elasticity, loose Middle Eastern themes, gaudy rock and West Coast rap. It exists where maximalism moves beyond philosophy into aesthetics.John Caramanica
Madonna, “Get Together” (Jacques Lou Comte Vocal Edit)
Released Friday, Madonna’s remix of “Finally Enough Love: 50 Number Ones” begins with 1983’s single “Holiday” and ends with “I Don’t,” a dance floor tribute to the pop superstar. It highlights a deep connection. Search I Find’ is a glorious house standout from her latest studio album Madame X (its lyrics give the collection its name). As a complete work, Madonna’s 2005 LP Confessions on a Dance Floor represents her most powerful love letter to this form, and her Jacques Lu Cont The Vocal Edit remix is available digitally for the first time. A refreshing break from her pounds at the 4 a.m. club that marks most of the set (still great!). Replacing oozing synths with meandering guitar riffs, the track rides like an indie rock song, eventually breaking down and finding its way home again.Karin Ganz
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This garbled is another name for innovative electronic music producer Kieran Hebden (also known as Four Tet). His fleeting, sassy new material is influenced by sensual garage and raucous house.Caramanica
Zedd, Maren Morris, Bose “Made You Say”
Like previous collaborations between Zedd and Maren Morris, the inevitable pop smashes ‘The Middle’ and ‘Make You Say’ are the professionally engineered product of an entire cadre of collaborators. and Thirst Trap enthusiast Charlie Puth. Throughout, Morris hops with agility over Zedd’s syncopated arrangements and song-like melodies, but it’s the contrast between the gritty texture of her voice and the smooth surface of Zedd’s production that really tears her apart. When this song is at its best. “You put her arm around her when you go to bed,” she tightened her belt with charming cheekiness.Lindsay Zoraz
Isabella Love Story “Sexo Amor Dinero”
An industrial post-reggaeton thumper about sweat at the intersection of money and sex.Caramanica
Chloe Moriondo “Fruity”
The ever-evolving Chloe Moriondo — basically a young musician coming of age on her YouTube channel — takes a refreshing turn into hyperpop with “Fruity,” the first single from her upcoming album Sucker Punch. to hold. The song begins with Moriondo singing in her signature, sweetly mumbling registers over bright, pulsing synths, but as the intensity builds, her vocals become more and more urgent, like melted plastic. It starts to distort like “So close, you can almost taste it,” she sings of the “fresh and fruity” crush, comparing it to a ton of sugary treats, building towards a deliciously hysterical and relentlessly catchy chorus. Zoraz
Toronto tuneful grunge pop band Pony’s name turned out to be quite apt. Earlier this year, vocalist and guitarist Sam Bielanski announced a new gig for voicing a character in the animated My Little Pony. The charismatic charm of Bielanski’s vocals is on full display on the group’s newer, his ’90s alt-rock nod single “Peach.” “Imagine beach salt,” Bielanski sang in the chorus, and as a sort of personal reminder, “because I don’t want to drown in this peach flavor.”Zoraz
Blake Shelton “No Body”
A bold splash of early ’90s power country revival from Blake Shelton. Here, he resurrects his once-rowsy sound with a nod to Brooks & Dunn (“I don’t want to scoot my boots with anyone”) — an imitation as convincing as ever.Caramanica
Nick Hakim “Happen”
Brooklyn-based indie musician Nick Hakim’s “Happen” is a hypnotizing, melancholic, romantic ballad that also contains flashes of melancholic darkness. The muted, muddy acoustic guitar reminds me of Elliott Smith. Slightly reminiscent of the softer side of Deftones. But its overcast sound is balanced by the open nature of Hakim’s lyrics, which are almost devotional in their portrayal of transformative love. “The sweetest angel has fallen into my world,” he sings. “She gives me reasons. She’s been lost for a long time.” Zoraz