Pigeons & Planes' Best Songs of the Week

With so much good music steadily coming through, it's easy to miss some of the best. To help prevent this, we've rounded up the best new songs of the week. Here are the songs you can't afford to skip, in no particular order.

Of all the standout moments on Brockhampton's third album of the year, Saturation III, "Bleach" might be the most immediate. Overall, the album has some of the hardest verses and poppiest hooks the boyband has produced so far, and "Bleach," with its absolutely gorgeous hook, manages to combine both. There's so much feeling in each verse, cemented by delightfully colorful production that twists and warps beneath the vocals. It's not a full indication of what they're capable of, but it definitely leaves an impression.—Joe Price

Jeezy returned this week with Pressure, and among the album's many collaborators are J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar—on the same track. Is this a sign that we'll get the Cole/Kendrick collab album of legend? Probably not. But "American Dream" is good enough to restart the rumor mill.

It's great to hear Jeezy belting out hooks over soul samples again, and Lamar's little melody at the end has been knocking against my skull all day. Strong performances all around from some hip-hop heavyweights, and King Kendrick has yet to mail in a feature.—Graham Corrigan

The rise of Lil Skies has been swift even by SoundCloud standards, but with tracks like “Lust” it’s easy to see why. The Pennsylvania rhymer teams with producer of the moment CashMoneyAP (Migos, Young Thug, G Herbo), and his nimble flow sits perfectly atop the airy synths and bouncy percussion. Skies, who we talked to for our video show Trending Topics, has a keen ear for Swae Lee-esque melodies and is clearly on the precipice of something colossal with his Life of a Dark Rose project due out in January.—Grant Rindner

Billie Eilish is one of the best new artists of 2017, and at only 15 years old she's established herself as an exciting new voice in pop. She's a talented songwriter with an edge, and the sweeping choruses and spacious production give her songs a fresh feel that's different from most tracks that are this immediate and catchy. "Watch" was one of these songs, but for the new alternate version, she got Vince Staples for a verse and reworked it under a new title, "&burn." It's a surprising move that pays off, and it's an exciting sign that Billie Eilish is an artist who's going to take risks and stray from the formula, even when it's working.—Jacob Moore

Sybyr, fka Syringe, remains one of the internet's most interesting characters. His music ranges from off-putting to gorgeous, but he's also more than capable of producing a straight to the point rap banger every now and then. His latest EP, Sybyr, is full of punk-length tracks that get to the center of his appeal. "Hoover Hotbox" is one of his best so far, with its hypnotic chant making it an easy repeat listen. The eerie Landfill production, which both thuds and provides a foggy atmosphere, is the perfect backing track for Sybyr at his most precise.—Joe Price

This remix makes so much sense. British rapper/singer J Hus mixed rap, grime, dancehall, and Afrobeats on his debut album Common Sense while Popcaan has already been bringing dancehall to new audiences through collaborations with artists like Drake and Jamie xx. Credit to producer/DJ/Mixpak founder Dre Skull, too, who has consistently helped connect the dots between Caribbean, British, and American music

Both Hus and Popcaan make authentic music that has catchy melodic moments, and, as expected, they sound great together. This is what I hope the future of pop music sounds like.—Alex Gardner

Maybe this is just a biased opinion, but everything Smino does is exciting. Hearing that his latest release is a collaboration with Terrace Martin only makes news of new music from Smino even more intriguing. The two recently linked up as part of Adidas Originals and Yours Truly's Songs from Scratch series to create a new track titled "Pecans."

Terrace Martin delivers the jazzy instrumentals at the foundation of their collaboration to set the tone, while Smino swoops in to effortlessly float over the melody as he usually does. The result is as sweet and comforting as a long-awaited warm slice of pecan pie during the cold holiday season, a thought that comes to mind thanks to the title but also feels incredibly fitting. —Adrienne Black

DRAM's rise has been meteoric. From grinding in Virginia to a Beyonce cosign, work with Rick Rubin and Neil Young, and a Top 10 Billboard hit with "Broccoli," the past three years have been a whirlwind. "Campfire," which is part of the soundtrack for the movie Bright, is a curious mish-mash of styles, but as always, DRAM pulls it off with his charisma and versatility.—Alex Gardner

Just when you thought the 2017 surprises were finished and the year was about to settle down and fade away Charli XCX's Pop 2 came to crash the end-of-year party. The whole mixtape is comprised of collaborations with global music sensations, but the opening track is a gem that really sets the bar. Charli and Carly are both queens of pop in their own rights so it's a treat to see them merge lanes.

"Backseat" marks their first song together, and it's essentially about driving solo in the fast lane toward fame despite the fact that it's all a facade. Everybody knows it's lonely at the top, and nobody understands that better than a pop star.—Sydney Gore

There's a lot of things happening on N.E.R.D's new album. No One Ever Really Dies reaches into every crevice of modern music, but one of the most immediate successes is the Gucci Mane/Wale collab "Voilà." Vintage N.E.R.D dance vibes pair perfectly with Gucci's laid-back delivery ("They think I'm a magician/They think I know magic," he muses) and Pharrell joins on the hook to bring it home.—Graham Corrigan

The best boy band in the world is back, and it's sounding like a celebration on "Boogie." Huge saxophones and sirens set the stage for one of their loudest, wildest, and most confident singles—then they start rapping, and the energy explodes. The song, which was released as a first taste of Saturation III just earlier this week, sounds unlike anything on their previous two albums. It's an indication of the collective's impressive range, and a warning shot that this album might just be the best of the bunch. "Boogie" is a great reminder of the incredible year Brockhampton had, and clearly deserved.—Joyce