Every Friday, pop critics for The New York Times weigh in on the week’s most notable new tracks. Listen to the Playlist on Spotify here (or find our profile: nytimes) and at Apple Music here, and sign up for The Amplifier, a twice-weekly guide to new and old songs.
Erykah Badu and the Alchemist, ‘Next to You’
Erykah Badu floats some companionable requests — “I wanna take walks with you,” “I wanna just talk with you,” “I can’t wait to see you after school” — in this leisurely, woozy, increasingly hypnotic track. The Alchemist’s production gathers countless layers of Badu’s vocals, with and without lyrics, but places most of them at a distance, for a happy tangle of inner voices.
Brittany Davis, ‘Sun and Moon’
Brittany Davis, a blind, nonbinary pianist, singer and songwriter based in Seattle, recorded their second album, “Black Thunder,” leading a classic jazz piano-bass-drums trio. “Sun and Moon” reaches back to Nina Simone for its husky, organic, bare-bones dynamics. This six-minute song rises ever so gradually, affirming everyday pleasures; “In the sun, my heart is full of joy and light,” Davis sings. “In the moonlight, I’m thankful for the blessings of the night.” The track has a jammy, improvisational feel, with serious purpose behind it.
Billie Marten, ‘Clover’
The English songwriter Billie Marten calmly savors tensions and contradictions in “Clover”: “You’re raining heavy, I’m almost dry / I’m only learning to love you right.” The tempo is relaxed; keyboards plink and twinkle through mild dissonances. It’s affectionate but watchful: “Don’t push me over, I’m half your size,” she admonishes.
Kehlani, ‘Folded’
Kehlani dramatizes the most reluctant of breakups in “Folded.” Yes, she’s waiting for her ex to “come pick up your clothes,” neatly folded. But this isn’t the door-closing scenario from Beyoncé’s “Irreplaceable.” Kehlani urges, “Meet me at my door while it’s still open” and notes, “It’s getting cold out but it’s not frozen.” Descending chords, a string section, little guitar licks and Kehlani’s voice all convey a world of regret and a chance to reunite.
Cari, ‘Luvhiii’
Cari Stewart-Josephs, an English songwriter, surrenders to infatuation in “Luvhiii,” from an EP due July 10. “You hit me like a truck,” she sings, “And I never will get enough.” A loping bass line, jazzy piano chords and a faraway but insistent tambourine arrive, enfolding Cari’s multilayered vocals in a trip-hop haze as she succumbs.
Amaarae, ‘S.M.O.’
Amaarae, a Ghanaian-American songwriter with a helium-high soprano, and her producers, Kyu Steed and Bnyx, deploy everything they’ve learned from decades of electronic pop — Michael Jackson, Donna Summer, Ghanaian highlife, Caribbean zouk — in a brisk, proudly synthetic, unabashedly carnal and irresistibly kinetic come-on. “S.M.O.” stands for “Slut me out,” and Amaarae defends her bluntness: “I hear you don’t like talking salacious / I understand, sex is a part of your nature.” The track zooms past any second thoughts.
Lorde, ‘Hammer’
Lorde’s slow-motion reveal of her new album continues with “Hammer.” “Some days I’m a woman / Some days I’m a man,” she chant-sings, before she promises, “I’ll send you a postcard from the edge.” The song is a rushing, beat-driven, propulsive confrontation of the ways private feelings meet pop-star exposure.
Benson Boone, ‘Mr Electric Blue’
The Benson Boone project, a team effort revolving around an ambitious individual, pulls together 1970s nostalgia and 21st-century tech firepower. Like Lady Gaga when she emerged, Boone has understood what pop ears had been missing and supplied it, embracing the uncool. He has the leaping voice, the muscles and the physical presence — all those acrobatics! — to show off. He has also thoroughly researched his riffs, lyrics and production. “Mr Electric Blue” brings together pumping keyboards like souped-up Supertramp, orchestral backing and massed voices as he sings about the guy he wants to be: “You got electric soul / You let the good times roll.” It’s vague, grand and entirely calculated.
Poor Creature, ‘All Smiles Tonight’
A song that has been a country standard goes both Celtic and electronic in the hands of the Irish group Poor Creature, which has members from the post-traditional bands Lankum and Landless. It’s a waltz that dates back to the 19th century, sung by a woman determined to put on a brave face when she sees her “true love” dancing with his new romance. The beat comes from the drum machine in a vintage electric organ, while cello and uillean pipes join a synthesizer drone as Ruth Clinton stoically vows, “Though my heart may break tomorrow, I’ll be all smiles tonight.”
Witch, ‘Nadi’
The Zambian band Witch — short for “We Intend to Cause Havoc” — created an ferocious Afro-psychedelic rock hybrid, known as Zamrock, in the 1970s. Its surviving original member, the singer Emmanuel (Jagari) Chanda, revived the band in the 2010s. With some European help — notably the psychedelia-loving Dutch producer Jacco Gardner — Witch has a new album, “Sogolo” (“Future”). “Nadi” is a hard-riffing, funky, fuzz-toned and wah-wah-ed track topped by pitch-shifted vocals from its lyricist, Theresa Ng’Ambi. She switches from Chichewa to English to update the band’s mission: “We intend to cause harmony / We intend to cause healing.”
Jon Pareles has been The Times’s chief pop music critic since 1988. He studied music, played in rock, jazz and classical groups and was a college-radio disc jockey. He was previously an editor at Rolling Stone and The Village Voice.
The post Erykah Badu’s Woozy Flirtation, and 9 More New Songs appeared first on New York Times.
