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.

Lil Nas X — "MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)"

Lil Nas X's long-awaited new single is a track that sends his 14-year-old self "love from the future." Lovelorn but confident, romantic but not sappy, it's a powerful message of self-possession.

Studio Killers — "Jenny (feat. Kim Petras)"

Kim Petras pulls Studio Killers' iconic 2010s queer weird cartoon band anthem into the 2020s, and it's unbelievably iconic.

Major Lazer — "Titans (feat. Sia & Labrinth)"

This impromptu reunion of Diplo, Sia and Labrinth's LSD project is a canny reminder of just how good — and underrated — that band was. The Major Lazer-y twist "Titans" provides suggests there's a bit more life waiting in that project.

BROCKHAMPTON — "BUZZCUT (feat. Danny Brown)"

BROCKHAMPTON is back! Finally! With Danny Brown! Need any more be said?

The Knocks & Mallrat — "R U HIGH"

Mallrat promised "R U HIGH" would be a smash on Twitter, and boy oh boy, she wasn't lying — "R U HIGH" is the kind of songs that will surely soundtrack teen daydreams and romances for years and years to come.

Ashnikko — "Deal With It (feat. Kelis) — Mykki Blanco Remix"

This Kelis-sampling Ashnikko track was already minorly iconic — it takes guts to sample Kelis' "Caught Out There" — and this Mykki Blanco Remix pulls it up a level, the rapper and activist lending even more starpower.

Metronomy — "The Look – MGMT Remix"

I kinda refuse to admit that Metronomy's The English Riviera is a decade old, considering that it was one of the first indie albums I ever loved, but if it means more rarities and interesting extra materials like this remix of the band's calling-card single "The Look," I guess I can manage.

Taylor Swift — "You All Over Me (feat. Maren Morris)"

This recreation of a song that was cut from Fearless is beautiful, and proves just how good Taylor was all those years ago.

Genesis Owusu and Mick Jenkins — "Don’t Need You - Remix"

Genesis Owusu has been going from one high to another throughout his Smiling With No Teeth album rollout, and this collaboration with Chicago rapper Mick Jenkins pulls him even higher.

Babe Rainbow and Jaden Smith — "Your Imagination"

There are few collaborations more bizarre than this, between Jaden Smith and Australia's psych rock band Babe Rainbow. Even more bizarre: it works pretty damn well.

Photo courtesy of Filip Custic

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