Justin Timberlake joins Romeo Santos, former member of Aventura, a boy band with Dominican roots, as his own stadium act to spice up the quintessential plea bachata. Both are sophisticated high tenors who always sound eager for romance. Both know what it’s like to sing in response to an ecstatic scream. “Sin Fin” (“Endless”) is a bilingual pop promise with a stalking undercurrent. Timberlake sings, “You can’t escape love.” It opens with cathedral choir harmonies and underpins syncopated guitars of bongos and bachata with pop synths and hip-hop hypeman cheers. Amalgamation of bachata and power his ballads, this song seeks love with high drama.John Pareles
Eva Max “Million Dollar Baby”
Ava Max partying like it’s 2000 When The 2004 hit “Million Dollar Baby” confirmed the name of Clint Eastwood’s Best Picture winner and Leanne Rimes’ once-inevitable “Coyote Ugly” theme song “Can’t Fight the Moonlight.” A sophisticated and flexible pop song with (Who said Y2K nostalgia was dead!) Max hasn’t carved out a distinct persona in the pop world yet, but she’s found herself a satisfying practitioner of naughty pop pastiche. Prove it. on the bridge. “She was freed from her chains,” Max sings of her famous diamond-encrusted heroine, who “turned fire into rain.”Lindsay Zoraz
Alex Lahey “Congratulations”
Australian singer-songwriter Alex Lahey tries to handle the news of his ex-boyfriend getting married on his rising power pop track “Complication.” During the verse, her voice is mournful — “If you don’t mind, why am I always thinking about you?” — but the chorus is volcanic, cathartic, and Lahey ‘s gigantic guitar tones swell like a sudden surge of inner power.Zoraz
‘Peri-peri, too hot to handle’ London-based Shygirl boasts cool confidence on ‘Nike,’ the latest single from her debut album ‘Nymph.’ Whereas her previous releases on the record were glitchy and ethereal—think she crossed hyper-pop with Visions-era Grimes—”Nike” was all spotlighted with annoying low-end. It’s a swagger. “He tells me, ‘Nike, just do it,'” Shygirl inflates on the track (produced by British electronic her artist, Mura Masa), and winks and fills her with sensual charisma. present a singing voice.Zoraz
Horse Lord, “Meth Mend”
Baltimore band Horse Rose’s instrumental “Mess Mend” opens crookedly — slightly detuned piano chords strike unevenly offbeat — from there it’s a tricky 7/4 meter with its guitar melody, a gradual degeneration into non-Euclidean hoodowns and funky electronic drones, not to mention the twist at the end. It’s a smart lark.pareles
VDA, “Mogo Kere”
VDA (short for Voix des Anges) is a vocal duo from Ivory Coast who have been consistent hitmakers in the Ivory Coast pop style called zugrou. Over his fast six-beat rhythm of “Môgô Kélé”—drums, marimba, flute, call-and-response his vocal’s hyper-vigorous mesh—VOA sings about relieving the tension that’s been mounting lately. . Between Mali and Ivory Coast, citing their long-standing historical connection. The video shows imprisoned soldiers. The background of the VDA also features the national flags of both countries and words such as ‘la paix’, ‘fraternité’ and ‘union’, while the music sparkles and moves forward.pareles
Daniel Ponder “Only the Lonely”
“Love is lost and I must go,” says Daniel Ponder, “You don’t love me, you’re just lonely.” Along with the ghosts of Billie Holiday and Nina Simone, Ponder’s voice opens to reveal its bluesy power, and finally she finds herself almost alone again.
Calm ‘More and More’ featuring Eddie Brickell
CJ Camereri, who records as Carm, plays brass in the contemporary chamber music ensemble yMusic, which he co-founded. He also endorses Bon Iver and Paul Simon. In his own music, he often multitracks trumpets and French his horns to his brass choruses. It’s the same with “More and More,” a top-liner collaboration with Eddie Brickell. She sings almost shyly of love in a sustained swell of brass and strings. Electronic drum beats and echoing trumpet clangs build tension, but only melt them in the rippling warmth of Carm’s orchestration.pareles
Wild Pink “Hold My Hand” Featuring Julian Baker
Wild Pink’s John Ross underwent extensive cancer treatment between the band’s 2021 debut album and upcoming album ILYSM. He explains that “Hold My Hand” was born from the moment “I was laying on the operating table and a member of the surgical team was holding my hand just before I collapsed”. Joined by the sensitive and loving Julian Baker as he sings in a whisper and asks, “Will you be there when I come over?” I promise only.pareles
Dawn Richard and Spencer Zahn, “Vantablack”
The ever-evolving Dawn Richard once again presents a new side of himself in the first movement of his collaborative album Pigment with experimentalist Spencer Zahn. Each track on the album is named after a particular hue. ‘Coral’, ‘Sandstone’, ‘Indigo’ and ‘Vantablack’ make up ‘Movement 1’ and the pair was released in full this week. The culmination, “Vantablack,” is a quiet, abstract, and oh-so-gorgeous contemporary her classic, filled with lilting clarinets, Zahn’s airy bass playing, and most of all, Richard’s fluttering vocals. It’s a soundscape, professing a deep, radical comfort in her own skin.Zoraz
Steve Liman and Serebione “Poesie I”
In the hip-hop, jazz, avant, and electro-acoustic group Sélébéyone (Wolof, a West African word for “crossroads”), saxophonist, composer and producer Steve Lehman collaborates with New York City rapper (HPrizm of Antipop Consortium). Working with the Dakar rapper. (Gaston Bandimic), Paris-born saxophonist (Maciek Lasserre), and Brooklyn-based drummer (Damion Reid). The group’s second album, ‘Xaybu: the Unseen’, furthers previous ambitions. “Poesie I” smashes the rhythm with clusters of piano, drumming that keeps the downbeat moving, hopping sax lines, and his HPrizm rap that keeps switching the tide. Break the edge,” he declares.pareles