Sound Off: 10 Songs You Need to Hear Now

Sound Off: 10 Songs You Need to Hear Now

By Shaad D'Souza
Jun 07, 2024

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.

Subscribe to our Sound Off Spotify playlist here and check out this week's tracks below

Charli XCX - "Everything is romantic"

The grand centerpiece of Charli XCX’s brilliant new album Brat is this cinematic baile funk/techno/power ballad hybrid, a wild chimera that only Charli could pull off.

Cola - "Pulling Quotes"

There’s an abundance of empty space on this beautiful new Cola single, a wistful rock ballad sanded down to its barest part.

Halsey - "The End"

Sorry, I buried the lede: Halsey made her new album with Alex G! Her first single from the project, “The End,” feels more Punisher than Trick, but it’s an affecting study of mortality and fear nonetheless.

bar italia - "The only conscious being in the universe"

This outtake from bar italia’s The Tw*ts is paranoid and surging but it’s also mighty theatrical, like post-punk as rendered for a twisted stage musical.

Sabrina Carpenter - "Please Please Please"

In a weird way, this country-reggae hybrid reminds me of “Purple Land,” from the new Amen Dunes album. This is not the first time Sabrina has recalled a middle-aged indie artist – check “skinny dipping,” which sounds like Sun Kil Moon as covered by first-album Taylor Swift – so I have to assume she’s a Stereogum reader. (Line two of this new song: “I know I have good taste.”)

Porter Robinson - "Russian Roulette"

“Russian Roulette” is dizzy and love-struck, appealingly juvenile in its effect – until Robinson mentions a Pitchfork report. And still makes it sound like fun!

beabadoobee - "Coming Home"

This sweet acoustic waltz reminds me of small-scale love songs by bands like The Kooks and The Maccabees, focused on tiny moments rather than the big ones.

illuminati hotties and Cavetown - "Didn't"

This single from Sarah Tudzin’s new illuminati hotties record draws a line between Weezery emo and Midwest emo, finding a delightfully sneery and discontented middle ground.

Orville Peck, Kylie Minogue and Diplo - “Midnight Ride”

Kylie Minogue is the saving grace of this collaboration — she's luminous even here.

Kaytranada and PinkPantheress - "Snap My Finger"

PinkPantheress dives and whirls easily around the bends of Kaytranada’s distinctive production style, adding mystery and levity to his laid-back house.

Photography: Harley Weir