1. Lockdown by Anderson .Paak, JID, Noname, Jay Rock
The past several months have been loaded with protest anthems coming from artists everywhere, and especially Black artists in America. (I recently wrote about one, Leon Bridges and Terrace Martin’s Sweeter, here.) Among them was Anderson .Paak’s powerful track Lockdown, released for Juneteenth and laden with sharp lyrics about the experience of racism in the U.S.
Two months later Paak recruited Jay Rock, JID and Noname for a funky remix of the single, and the collab is (expectedly) phenomenal. Jay Rock’s verse does take a bit of a weird turn with some COVID conspiracy – “Know the difference from a pan- and a plan-demic… Big B.G. used to sell microchips / Now he out here pushing vaccines.” But the preceding verses of JID and Noname more than distract from any of that nonsense, and both add so much flavour to the song.
2. Flip Phones by Sjowgren
Despite a Scandinavian-sounding moniker and style, Sjowgren is actually a trio of friends from California. The three band members try to maintain some sense of anonymity and approach their music with an appetite for creativity over fame. They debuted with a series of demos in 2015, followed by their breakthrough single Seventeen the following year, and returned this past February with a new EP win’20.
Three of the four tracks on the EP are pretty forgettable but Flip Phones certainly isn't, an idle guitar-driven reflection on the millennial experience (“Oh how did they do it before the flip phone hit / and a generation lost its shit”).
3. FEEL SOMETHING DIFFERENT by Bea Miller, Aminé
If you’re a TikTok user, you’ve probably heard some tidbits of Bea Miller’s 2019 emo-bop feel something many times, likely as the sound of a Euphoria Makeup Challenge.
But Aminé’s latest remix flips the track on its head, taking the heavy honesty of the original but energizing it with a fun beat and a slick rap verse. In true Aminé style, his lines are whacky and random enough while still tossing in the occasional serious line to remain true to theme (“I just took a pill so that I could really feel”).
4. Why Don’t You be Cleo Sol
It only took one good listen of Why Don't You to make me fall in love with the cool dignity with which Cleo Sol sings. Her verses play through like a train of thought, coming across both as a conversation and an inner monologue/meditative pep talk (“Sometimes I still doubt myself / but at least now I love myself”). There's such a natural flow to the song, a perfect ambiance setter as the singer reminds us (and herself) to relax, refocus and keep going.
Listen on Spotify to all 'Songs of the Week' here.
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