Sound Off: 10 New Songs You Need to Hear Now

Alice Longyu Gao — "Make U 3 Me"

Alice Longyu Gao translates the inscrutability and impossibility of having a crush into appropriately crushing metal-pop. It’s brutally relatable.

Kelela — "Washed Away"

Kelela breaks her deafening silence with the gorgeous ambient-leaning track, “Washed Away" — a serene and fluid showcase of her sorely missed voice.

Madonna & Tokischa — "Hung Up on Tokischa"

Madonna continues her series of forward-thinking catalog updates with "Hung Up on Tokischa" — a redo of the still-impeccable "Hung Up" that features a sublimely formidable Tokischa verse.

Bladee — "Drain Story"

Bladee channels Playboi Carti on this halting, woody trap track — a tense and unusually forthright taste of the Drain Gang leader's new LP.

Daphni — "Arrow"

The rollout for the forthcoming new Daphni record continues to delight and tantalise. "Arrow" is a glowing piece of ketamine-house that’s exhilarating, but deeply minimal.

Angel Olsen & Sturgill Simpson — "Big Time"

It’s hard to believe that Angel Olsen and Sturgill Simpson haven’t ever duetted before. Their voices sound gorgeous together, both soaked in pathos and charm.

BLACKPINK — "Shut Down"

Built around an insistent violin sample, "Shut Down" is BLACKPINK at their most menacing — a gorgeously braggadocious track that embodies the light/dark duality of their name.

Mura Masa & slowthai — "up all week"

Mura Masa and slowthai’s third collaboration is just as brilliant and driving as the first two — the kind of driving, glitchy rap track that could have appeared in an episode of Skins.

Weyes Blood — "It’s Not Me, It’s Everybody"

Natalie Mering returns as serene, witty and empathic as ever, drawing on the themes of her last album, Titanic Rising, while adding a new sense of resigned optimism.

Björk — "Ovule"

Although not as dark as "Atopos," the first single from Björk’sForossa, "Ovule" is still a fantastically earthy entry point to the Icelandic musician’s new world.

Photo courtesy of Alice Longyu Gao