Best Songs of the Week

The best new music from the past week.

P&P Original

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Best Songs of the Week May 4 2018

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 month. Here are the songs you can't afford to skip, in no particular order.

Valee ft. Jeremih - “Womp Womp”

valee

Valee and Jeremih revel in their success on “Womp Womp,” a gloriously over-the-top stunting anthem. Rapping atop what sounds like a gritty reboot of a classic Neptunes beat by producer Cássio, the two vocalists trade escalating boasts; Valee’s handing out Chanel while Jeremih’s clowning a girl for wearing Pumas.

Valee and Jeremih first connected on “Are U Live” from the latter’s Christmas project with Chance the Rapper, and “Womp Womp” proves that the Chicagoans are perfectly suited collaborators who hopefully have many more cuts in the pipeline.—Grant Rindner

Future ft. PARTYNEXTDOOR - "No Shame"

Future

Atlanta rapper Future is producing the 2018 Superfly remake and curating the soundtrack, following in the footsteps of Curtis Mayfield, whose soundtrack for the 1972 original is a classic. "No Shame" is the first single from the new soundtrack, and Future floats over guitar heavy production from watt and Happy Perez, with an assist from PARTYNEXTDOOR on the hook. Party anthem Future is fun, but debauched, crooning, voice cracking Future is peak Future, and that's what we get here.

So forget Future Hendrix, let's talk about Future Mayfield.—Alex Gardner

Rae Sremmurd ft. The Weeknd - "Bedtime Stories"

Rae Sremmurd

When Rae Sremmurd first announced that they would be releasing a triple disc album, it seemed like it could be too much to consume. But there's nothing Swae Lee and Jxmmi love more than proving everyone wrong. Their album SR3MM features a joint album as well as each of their solo efforts which gives a clear look at what both of them bring to the table each time they create another hit.

One of the early standouts is their collab with The Weeknd, "Bedtime Stories." This track showcases all three of their unique styles: The Weeknd delivers a mesmerizing hook, Jxmmi dances between rapping and singing with a dialed-downed version of his usual energy, and Swae Lee completes it all with his usual harmonizing. The end result is an incredibly catchy single that deserves to be on repeat.—Adrienne Black

Jessie Reyez - "Body Count"

jessie reyez toronto

Jessie Reyez is a master at doing more with less. Some of her best tracks are just acoustic guitar and voice, and while "Body Count" adds a drum pad to the mix, it's still a valuable lesson in sparse songwriting. The Toronto singer is disparaging all of those caught in their feelings on this one, reminding a partner that she "dodges dick on the daily" and suggesting they take prophylactic precautions in case of heartbreak.

"The luxury of not getting judged for "loving" who you want to love should be given to everyone—including women," Jessie said in a statement. "I feel like so often we're encouraged to keep our 'body count' low, where as men get high fives for a high number; which is cool, do you, but I think the double standard is wack and women should get high fives too lol. I'm not saying go f*** the world—I'm saying f*** the unfair judgement."—Graham Corrigan

BlocBoy JB - "Outro"

BlocBoy JB

BlocBoy JB's Simi mixtape gets straight to the point. From "Turnt Up" on, it's packed with the Memphis rapper's commanding voice and simple but effective flows. The last song on the 18-song project employs that same approach, but it does so over a slowed down and pitched up "O-o-h Child" sample, with BlocBoy more reflective than usual. It's in line with BlocBoy's other soulful mixtape outros, and the trick still isn't getting old.—Jacob Moore

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Leon Bridges - "Shy"

leon bridges getty

It's been three years since Leon Bridges dropped Coming Home, a breakout album that helped usher in a wave of early rock nostalgia. Bridges, in his fedoras and cardigans, was perfectly suited to play the part. That voice didn't hurt, either—but three years is time for an artist to step back and think hard about their next move, and it was time well spent for Bridges. 

Good Thing is the follow-up—the previously released singles were an indication Leon was heading in new directions, but we couldn't have predicted how many directions. He's writing  songs for heartbreak on the dance floor ("Forgive You") and fusing his blues roots with Frank Ocean-esque vocal melodies ("Mrs."), but the silky, sample-driven "Shy" has the most repeat listens thus far. Bridges has graduated from classic to cool, and proved himself capable of a great many genres in the process.—Graham Corrigan


Swae Lee ft. Young Thug - "Offshore"

This is a photo of Swae Lee.

With the amount of music Rae Sremmurd gave us today, it can be intimidating to pick just one track from each of the three discs. The finest moment on Swae Lee's portion of the album, however, is immediately evident. Young Thug, in a show-stealing appearance, completely dominates "Offshore." Swae definitely holds his own, but there are few things in this world as beautiful as Thug singing, "I'll slap the shit outta Donald Trump any day."—Joe Price

Zilo - "Don't Waste My Time"

zilo

Zilo is a 24-year-old singer from London whose love of painting, poetry, and writing has evolved into music. "I was never really confident enough to write songs," she admits, until, inspired by instrumentals from the producer/vocalist Dream Koala, she started applying what she loved about poetry to music. "Don't Waste My Time" is her third release, a spacious, soulful song with a classic feel and honest, personal lyrics.—Alex Gardner

Learn more about Zilo here.

Tove Styrke - "Sway"

Tove Styrke

Swedish singer Tove Styrke just wrapped up her U.S. tour with Lorde and dropped her new album Sway, and it's sounding like her best work yet. The Lorde connection makes perfect sense—Styrke is perfectly capable of writing immediate, insanely catchy pop songs, but she consistently pushes her music into interesting new territory. While "On The Low" is a cautious, vulnerable song about the hazards of a casual relationship, title track "Sway" is a sweeping, feel-good take on love. "'Sway' to me, is one of the most romantic songs on the album," Styke told Zane Lowe. "The album is like a collection of little love stories, and some of them are like not romantic at all because life’s like that, you know? And some of them are really like, pink and like, everything is good, it’s just like nice and in love and that’s one of those songs, I love it so much." Same.—Jacob Moore

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Gallant - "Doesn't Matter"

gallant moag

The rollout for Gallant's second album began earlier this month with "Gentleman," but the Mind of a Genius signee took things to another level this week with "Doesn't Matter." It's his biggest, catchiest song since "Weight In Gold," the kind of alt-pop hit that will be in curated playlists everywhere by month's end. Gallant has been biding his time, and it's about to pay off.—Graham Corrigan

Xavier Wulf - "Request Refused"

xavier wulf

Memphis-born rapper Xavier Wulf's versatility should not be underestimated. He's influenced by rock, punk, and skating as much as much as Three 6 Mafia, and he's really put in the time on the underground circuit to get where he is today. "Request Refused" is his latest single, produced by Tay Keith (BlocBoy JB and Drake's "Look Alive"), and it will appear on upcoming mixtape East Memphis Maniac.

“I ain't trying to be nobody’s father, but if a young man listens to my music, I’m going to tell him something that he can use to survive,” the 25-year-old told us of his approach. “I don't want to scream some stupid ass, dumb ass, ignorant hook in his ear the whole time about nothing.”—Alex Gardner

Read our interview with Xavier Wulf here.

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