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.

Peach PRC — "Josh"

TikTok darling Peach PRC's debut single for Republic Records is as much of an event as you'd want it to be. Tricked out with a spicy voice memo intro and a call to arms to all the girls who have dated terrible Joshes, it's a bombastic first look for the freshly minted pop star that sacrifices none of the chaotic whimsy that endeared fans to her in the first place.

Chloe x Halle — "Hazy"

Chloe Bailey produced both the new songs on the just-released Chrome Edition of Chloe X Halle's Ungodly Hour, and, true to form, both are absolutely magnificent. "Hazy", with its unexpected and thrilling drum and bass outro already feels like essential CxH canon, and shows that there are still surprises in store for Chloe's production career.

Slayyyter — "Clouds"

"Clouds" is a glamorous, glittering '90s/2000s throwback for Slayyyter, and the look works perfectly. While "Throatzilla" and "Self Destruct" showed how well she can handle abrasion, the latest cuts from her forthcoming debut prove her pure pop bonafides.

Zara Larsson — "Look What You’ve Done"

The ever-excellent Zara Larsson returns with this ultra melodic, ABBA-indebted kiss-off. The Swedes just know how to do it right, hey?

Noname — "Rainforest"

Noname only released the scorching, essential "Song 33" in 2020, but it was enough to whet appetites for more. "Rainforest" lives up to its predecessor, its ingratiating bossa nova groove belying the fearsome anticapitalist message of its lyrics.

Alice Longyu Gao, Mura Masa & bülow — "She Abunai"

Alice Longyu Gao referenced Charli XCX and SOPHIE's immortal "Vroom Vroom", which turns five years old today, in her Notes app screenshot upon "She Abunai's" release, and the hat-tip is apt: "She Abunai," with its wild sense of propulsion and constant shape-shifting, honors that track while carrying on its legacy in weird, exciting ways.

Deuce — "Antipodes"

The first single from Melbourne-based duo Deuce is spectral and gorgeous — a laid-back, lovelorn hot weather song that sounds good at any temperature.

Smerz — "Flashing"

Smerz's Believer is one of the first great records of this young year, and "Flashing" is its jaw-dropping, romantic centerpiece — an R&B song that feels like it's layered over the bare bones of a '90s trance track. Smerz's vocals shine in this moment of canny restraint.

Kero Kero Bonito — "The Princess and the Clock"

As always, listening to Kero Kero Bonito's latest single feels like falling through a series of successive trap doors. There's something newly big about "The Princess and the Clock" though, a kind of real-world patina that adds thrilling new dimension.

Jorja Smith and OBOY — "Come Over (Remix)"

Nobody knows how to remix a song like Jorja Smith. While the logic of most pop remixing is that you should just leave the song as is and be done with it, any remix Jorja is involved with — most notably the Ms. Banks remix of her track "Be Honest" and her own remix of ENNY's "Peng Black Girls" — is basically an entirely new song from its original. "Come Over (Remix)" is another one in the bag, the addition of OBOY adding new depth to her slow-burn single.

Photo courtesy of Imogen Wilson