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.
Violet Chachki & Allie X — "Mistress Violet"
Violet Chachki's cocky new collaboration with Allie X is swaggering and wild — a leather-and-lace team-up between two of pop's supreme weirdos.
Billie Eilish — "I Didn’t Change My Number"
My personal highlight of Billie Eilish's second album, Happier Than Ever, is this piquant, lushly produced breakup track — a low-key (and low-key savage) piece of balladry.
Sycco — "Best Before"
The opener of Sycco's First EP is a bombastic, ostentatious introduction to the young pop star — a sweet, technicolor blast.
Miss Madeline — "Bad Girls"
Miss Madeline's "Bad Girls" is a wild, rave-y ride that recalls iconic pop in the vein of Cobra Starship's "Good Girls Go Bad (feat. Leighton Meester)."
Angel Olsen — "Safety Dance"
Another classic song flipped on its head by Angel Olsen. Here, she turns "Safety Dance" into a breathy, exploratory dirge — one that evokes Chromatics and '80s film scores in equal measure.
GFOTY — "HARD KING"
I'm obsessed with this chaotic, dembow-inflected song from GFOTY, which is slathered in noodling electric guitar and features, I'm pretty sure, her singing backwards.
Skepta & J Balvin — "Nirvana"
Grime king Skepta links up with J Balvin, undeniably the biggest Reggaeton star in the world. It makes for a sleek but surprisingly chill collaboration — an understated affair that lets the pair's combined power stay implicit.
Mark Ronson & King Princess — "You’ll Go Crazy"
Minimalism is a chaotic, incredibly fun look for both Mark Ronson and King Princess. This song is like a camp '80s pop track stripped back to its barest bones, all held together by Ronson and King Princess' alchemical connection.
Amyl and the Sniffers — "Security"
This goofy Amyl and the Sniffers track is so weird and incredibly fun, presented as a monologue delivered to a security guard that has surprising depth and morality.
Nao — "And Then Life Was Beautiful"
Nao's new song is gorgeous and sweeping — naturalistic in its production, but suffused with undeniable pop chops.
Photo courtesy of Violet Chachki/ Allie X