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 Beyoncé officially enter her country era and Dua Lipa exit “training season.” 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.
Beyoncé — “Texas Hold ‘Em”
Beyoncé hijacked the Super Bowl with her commercial that teased a new country era for her. She launched it shortly after with two new singles, “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages,” which indeed have more of a country-fried sound than Beyoncé’s previous work. Of course, Beyoncé knows what she’s doing and operates confidently in this new genre space.
Dua Lipa — “Training Season”
Dua Lipa was all-in on disco for the Future Nostalgia era, and while she’s in a different aesthetic place lately, she’s still delivering funky, dance-ready tunes. Such is the case with last week’s “Training Season,” which sees her exhausted by fruitless romantic situations.
Ariana Grande and Mariah Carey — “Yes, And?”
Grande and Carey are perhaps the two most technically revered singers of their respective generations, so finally getting them on the same track is a pretty big deal. They deliver on a new “Yes, And?” remix, with Carey delivering a new verse that slots perfectly into the self-confident banger.
Schoolboy Q — “Yeern 101”
Schoolboy Q’s Blue Lips is one of the most-anticipated hip-hop releases of Q1 2024, and it’s now just a couple weeks away. He teased it a few days ago with “Yeern 101,” on which he eschews a hook and gets into his rap bag with some rapid-fire bars.
Karol G and Tiësto — “Contigo”
Tiësto had to pull out of his gig as in-game DJ at the Super Bowl, but he returned last week with a new Karol G collab, “Contigo.” Built on an interpolation of Leona Lewis’ “Bleeding Love,” the romantic tune was perfectly timed for a release on Valentine’s Day, which was also Karol’s birthday,
Vampire Weekend — “Gen-X Cops”
For the first time in five years, Vampire Weekend is back with new music. On “Capricorn” and “Gen-X Cops,” the band storms back with a relatively raw sound that’s enough of a stylistic departure from Father Of The Bride to keep things interesting without straying too far from the reliable path.
Waxahatchee — “Bored”
Katie Crutchfield is gearing up to drop Tigers Blood in about a month, but she shared “Bored” last week. She described the writing process as a “challenge” for her, but she sounds fantastic and self-assured on the twangy folk-rocker.
Tierra Whack — “27 Club”
The “27 Club” features celebrities like Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain, and Amy Winehouse who faced premature deaths at 27 years old. This concept is the inspiration between Whack’s tune of the same name, which sees the rapper (who’s 28, by the way) getting vulnerable and introspective.
Gunna — “Bittersweet”
After a strong 2023, Gunna is back in 2024 with last week’s “Bittersweet.” Uproxx’s Aaron Williams notes of the track, “Over a slow-simmering guitar riff from producers Dystinkt Beats and 1SRAEL, Gunna laments the bumps in the road he’s experienced and warns listeners of the pitfalls that face anyone pursuing similar goals.”
Idles — “Roy”
UK rock favorites Idles have returned with Tangk, which arrives two years and change after its predecessor, late 2021’s Crawler. It sees the group continuing to push their aesthetic boundaries, like on the smoldering, effects-laden “Roy.”
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.