Keeping up with 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 the clock strike Midnights and Carly Rae Jepsen also come through with a strong pop LP. Yeah, it was a great week for new music. Check out the highlights below.
For more music recommendations, check out our Listen To This section, as well as our Indie Mixtape and Pop Life newsletters. Also find our Uproxx HQ Spotify playlist, which is updated weekly with the best new music, at the end of this post.
Taylor Swift — “Anti-Hero”
Despite a solid lineup of new releases last week, this past Friday’s slate of fresh music was very much all about Taylor Swift and her new Midnights album. “Anti-Hero” is the lead single and it sees Swift returning to a more pop-oriented sound in one of her most vulnerable tracks to date.
Carly Rae Jepsen — “Bends”
Swift of course highlighted the week in terms of new albums, but don’t sleep on CRJ’s latest that came out on the same day, The Loneliest Time. In her review of the album, Uproxx’s Courtney E. Smith notes, “Jepsen comes as close as she’ll get to a sense of mourning with ‘Joshua Tree,’ ‘Far Away,’ and ‘Bends,’ which sound like remembrances of people and places that are rendered not unpleasant and a little nostalgic thanks to the ’80s-inspired soundscapes she incorporates into most of the album. The latter song, in particular, uses minor chords and the minor third (aka the saddest musical interval) to evoke a heavy feeling”
Arctic Monkeys — “The Car”
In his review of The Car, Uproxx’s Steven Hyden says of the title track, “There is no sense of uplift on the title track, the album’s best song, in which cloudy orchestral folk flourishes give way to a tortured guitar solo. But it does function as The Car‘s emotional center.”
Roddy Ricch — “Aston Martin Truck”
Signs have been pointing to a new Ricch album in the near future, including last week’s single “Aston Martin Truck.” He later revealed that indeed, a fresh project is forthcoming, as Feed Tha Streets 3 is set to drop on November 18.
NxWorries — “Where I Go” Feat. HER
Silk Sonic had a massive 2021, but here in 2022, Anderson .Paak is focusing on his other two-man group: NxWorries. He and Knxwledge have officially returned with their first new music in years, a smooth new song called “Where I Go” that gets a boost from a HER feature.
Fred Again.. — “Delilah (Pull Me Out Of This)”
Fred is prepping to drop Actual Life 3 (January 1 – September 9, 2022), his third project in the past 18 months, at the end of the week. He’s been gradually rolling it out with new songs and last week brought “Delilah (Pull Me Out Of This),” an upbeat club thumper featuring vocals from Delilah Montagu.
Dry Cleaning — “Hot Penny Day”
In a recent interview with Uproxx, Dry Cleaning guitarist Tom Dowse said of “Hot Penny Day,” “For a long time, that song was literally just the middle section. We were trying to play it really slow and groovy at first. And then Lewis [Maynard, bassist] just started doing this wild bass part, and we wrote it from that. That was two weeks before we went to the studio. We played a bit of it to John [Parish] when we did a process of two rehearsals in Bristol, and John came and the engineer came. They listened to everything, and he’d say, ‘I like it, but you need to make it into something else.’ Some of the songs we adjusted a bit more in the studio, so that was definitely one.”
Caroline Polachek — “Sunset”
Polachek says of her latest solo tune, “Resolution is so rare in life, but music is unnaturally full of it. A sunset is the biggest pop cliche ever, because it’s a perfect resolution. Ennio Morricone passed away a few months before Salvador (Sega Bodega) and I started ‘Sunset’, and the folkloric, epic tone of the spaghetti western sunset played on my mind.”
Smino — “Matinee”
Luv 4 Rent is now just a few days away and Smino previewed his upcoming album last week with “Matinee.” It’s a smooth tune on which Smino is clear about what he wants: “I wanna take you to the crib, I wanna own it / I wanna hone it, I wanna bone, damn.”
Lil Uzi Vert — “Just Wanna Rock”
At this point, it’s hard to say when the much-anticipated The Pink Tape is dropping. Uzi’s still delivering new music, though, like last week’s “Just Wanna Rock,” of which Uproxx’s Aaron Williams notes, “Employing a Jersey club beat with a stinging synth, the song has already become a TikTok favorite due to a snippet that has soundtracked hundreds of videos since mid-September.”
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.