Sound Off: 10 Songs You Need to Hear Now

Sound Off: 10 Songs You Need to Hear Now

By Shaad D'Souza
Apr 18, 2025

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.

Song of the Week: "Mysterious Girl"

The first taste of Neggy Gemmy’s new album She Comes From Nowhere, due out in June, splits the difference between the coquette vaporwave of 2018’s Bad Baby and the ‘00s-coded occasionally Balearic-leaning grooves of her superlative 2023 album CBD Reiki Moonbeam. As a song, it’s as light and as sweet as cotton candy, although Neggy Gemmy's acerbic edge remains.

HiTech, George Riley - "Take Yo Panties Off"


HiTech have been rampaging through 2025, and this new collaboration with George Riley feels like a match made in heaven, her sultry vocals ducking and weaving through the Detroit trio’s.

The Hellp - "Hazel"

Wistful and raging at the same time, “Hazel” feels like a long-lost track from The Teenagers’ Reality Check.

Lana Del Rey - "Bluebird"

Two Lana songs in two weeks has to be some kind of record – “Bluebird” co-written, like “Henry, come on” by Nashville stalwart Luke Laird, begins in a sad, subtle mode before swelling to a chorus that feels positively Norman-era.

Addison Rae - "Headphones"

"Headphones On” is another fantastic single from Addison Rae’s as-yet untitled debut album, set for June 6. Slipping into a groove straight out of Bedtime Stories, Rae sings about overcoming strife with grace and a substantial wink.

Yumi Zouma - "Bashville on the Sugar"


Underrated New Zealand band Yumi Zouma return with this frantic, Kraut-y new single, a surprising but welcome pivot from the yacht rock sheen of their last record.

Fontaines D.C. "Before You I Just Forget"


This track from Romance (Deluxe) is crunchy and rich, a strut-ready grunge track that’s catchy and totally hypnotic.

Deb Never - "Know Me Better"

Deb Never’s latest single feels like a Gen Z take on John Mayer (complimentary) with its cresting guitar lines and slightly R&B-indebted vocal.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - "Deadstick"


Sticking with the ‘70s blues-rock tip they’ve been on for a minute, King Gizzard rampage through “Deadstick,” adding horns and a call-and-response middle-eight for an extra kick.

Beirut - "Villa Sacchetti"

This highlight from Beirut’s new album is spare and delicate, highlighting Zach Condon’s warbling falsetto.

Photography: Bella Newman