Keeping up with the best new music can be exhausting, even impossible. From the weekly album releases to standalone singles dropping on a daily basis, the amount of music is so vast it’s easy for something to slip through the cracks. Even following along with the Uproxx recommendations on a daily basis can be a lot to ask, so every Monday we’re offering up this rundown of the best new music this week.
This week saw Big Sean revisit a beloved mixtape and SZA drop her first new solo track in a good while. Yeah, it was a great week for new music. Check out the highlights below.
Big Sean — Detroit 2
Big Sean’s original DatPiff-crashing Detroit mixtape was a major success in 2012, and now Sean has dipped back into that well for his latest album, Detroit 2. Like its predecessor, Detroit 2 is packed full of guests: Making appearances are Eminem, Nipsey Hussle, Post Malone, Anderson .Paak, Ty Dolla Sign, Kanye West, Travis Scott, and many others.
SZA — “Hit Different” Feat. Ty Dolla Sign
It’s been a minute since the world got a new solo track from SZA, but last week brought “Hit Different,” her first solo release in three years (which she recorded at DJ Khaled’s house). This could be a sign that more is to come: She shared a snippet of more new music just hours after the song dropped, and not long after that, she teased her eclectic next project.
Lil Durk — “The Voice”
Lil Durk is just a few months removed from his fifth album, Just Cause Y’all Waited 2, and he’s already blessing fans with more new material. He dropped “The Voice” last week, and on the confident track, Durk compares himself to one of hip-hop’s great icons: “I’m Durkio, but I’m Chicago Jay-Z.”
Kevin Morby — “Campfire”
Morby departed Los Angeles for an empty house in his Kansas City hometown and, often joined by Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield, went ahead and recorded an album, Sundowner. The record quickly follows 2019’s Oh My God, and he heralded it with “Campfire,” a folk-leaning number with a nature-set visual to match.
Adrianne Lenker — “Anything”
Lenker is keeping up her stretch of productivity with yet another new project. Well, a pair of them, actually: The upcoming albums Songs and Instrumentals. Both were recorded after the pandemic shut down the world, and to announce them, she shared “Anything,” the type of delicate folk tune she has gorgeously pulled off time and time again.
Bill Callahan — Gold Record
Uproxx’s Steven Hyden wrote of Gold Record, “The meditative quality and low-key humor of Callahan’s recent work is endlessly fulfilling and inspiring. Gold Record moves me precisely because Bill Callahan shows you can eventually move in rhythm with life, rather than be ground down by it.”
Gus Dapperton — “Medicine”
Gus Dapperton is in the midst of an introspective shift for his upcoming album, Orca, which is evident on “Medicine.” Dapperton said of the piano ballad, “This track defines the album most explicitly. I wrote it as a song that would narrate my life. ‘Medicine’ is about someone who is self-destructive so that they can get high off of the process of healing. The hurting phase is of no concern to them.”
Finneas — “What They’ll Say About Us”
Finneas continues to prove he’s more than Billie Eilish’s brother on his latest solo effort, “What They’ll Say About Us,” a piano-pop ballad that Finneas dedicates “to all who have had to endure this year.” Indeed, the track is an appreciation of strength, as Finneas sings lyrics like, “You’re tired now, lie down / I’ll be waitin’ to give you the good news / It might take patience / And when you wake up, it won’t be over / So don’t you give up.”
G-Eazy — “Down” Feat. Mulatto
G-Eazy and Mulatto had a lot of fun for their “Down” video, which draws inspiration from the 1999 comedy Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo. Here, G-Eazy plays a prostitute posing as a front desk attendant at a hotel, earning money for his boss, Mulatto. The project seems to have an official stamp of approval, as they even got a Rob Schneider appearance in there.
Chloe x Halle — “Do It” Feat. Doja Cat, City Girls, and Mulatto
Chloe x Halle are two of R&B’s brightest young stars, and they recruited some of music’s other finest women for the “Do It” remix. Joined by Doja Cat, City Girls, and Mulatto (big week for her), everybody involved puts out confident party vibes wrapped in a silky smooth package.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.