Sound Off: 10 New Songs You Need to Hear Now
Music

Sound Off: 10 New Songs You Need to Hear Now

by Shaad D'Souza

It's impossible to be across all the new music out each Friday. Luckily, PAPER is here to help you out: each week, we round up 10 of our favorite new songs from artists — emerging and established — to soundtrack your life. From the surreal to the sublime, these songs cover every corner of the music world. The only criteria: they all have to absolutely rip.

Alice Longyu Gao — "100 Boyfriends"

Alice Longyu Gao and Dylan Brady's ongoing musical partnership continues to bear (totally unhinged) fruit: "100 Boyfriends" is two-odd minutes of Alice delivering weird, withering flexes over a beat that recalls Teriyaki Boyz's iconic "Tokyo Drift (Fast and Furious)."

Solo Career — "Sublover"

The glittering "Sublover," a highlight from Solo Career's new The Sentimentalist EP, drolly interrogates millennial miscommunication with wonderfully dry, disaffected panache.

Amaarae & Kali Uchis — "SAD GIRLZ LOVE MONEY (Remix)"

Ghanaian star Amaarae's "SAD GIRLZ LOVE MONEY" gets a glitzy upgrade with this remix featuring the one and only Kali Uchis, who adds her trademark narcotic croon to the song's icy dembow beat.

Lily Konigsberg — "Sweat Forever"

The new single from Lily Konigsberg's forthcoming debut album is a starry-eyed jangle-pop track that plays like Sixpence None The Richer's "Kiss Me" reinterpreted by Arthur Russell.

Tems — "Found (feat. Brent Faiyaz)"

Nigerian star Tems' gorgeous voice is front and centre on "Found," a collaboration with Brent Faiyaz from her new EP If Orange Was A Place. It's a low-key, but totally indelible showcase of her talents.

Lakou Mizik — "Sanba Yo Pran Pale (DJ Koze Remix)"

DJ Koze's first remix in two years is a doozy — a reworking of Lakou Mizik's "Sanba Yo Pran Pale" that evokes shimmering, hot summer nights and heaving dancefloors. It's a perfect symbiosis and a welcome end-of-summer treat.

Kehlani — "Altar"

"Altar," the beautiful first single from Kehlani's third album Blue Water Road, is as organic and free-flowing as the "nine cups of water" she's drinking in the song's opening verses. It's feel-good in the most elemental sense.

Hyd — "No Shadow"

The first single from Hyd — Los Angeles artist Hayden Dunham, formerly part of PC Music's QT project — is foreboding and huge, building to a dense "guitar" solo. Written with Caroline Polachek and A. G. Cook, it's a powerful re-emergence for Dunham and an intriguing taste of what's to come.

Snail Mail — "Valentine"

Lindsay Jordan is back, three years after the release of her beloved debut album, Lush, with "Valentine," the first single from an album of the same name. Building slowly to a wild head rush of a chorus, it's a more ornate, mature sound for Jordan, not least because of the new hoarseness of her voice, and a thrilling first look at Valentine.

Mac Miller — "Colors and Shapes"

Mac Miller'sFaces mixtape is finally coming to streaming services, and "Colors and Shapes" is a great reminder of the breadth and depth of the late rapper's artistry, combining synth ambiance and obtuse samples to gorgeous, uncanny effect.

Photo courtesy of Alice Longyu Gao