Billie Eilish dropped Hit Me Hard And Soft, and each of the album’s ten songs hits like an astral grand slam. In fact, visceral songs were a theme this week, from Zayn’s Room Under The Stairs tracklist to Omar Apollo’s “Dispose Of Me.”
Check out those and more in Uproxx’s Best New Pop Music roundup below.
Billie Eilish — “LUNCH”
Hit Me Hard And Soft, Billie Eilish’s newly released third studio album, elevates the various elements of Eilish’s well-established artistic genius — her controlled, pristine vocals delivering brutally honest lyrics complemented by Finneas’ atmospheric production. Most of the album offers fresh perspective on familiar Eilish subject matter, such as navigating the negative byproducts (intrusiveness, heightened scrutiny, loneliness) of her intense fame or complicated romantic pursuits, but “LUNCH” marks the first time Eilish has explicitly sung about a woman. And, as evidenced by her self-directed video, she appears to feel freer than ever doing so.
Zayn — “Stardust”
Zayn teamed up with Nashville-based producer Dave Cobb for his newly released fourth solo studio album, Room Under The Stairs, resulting in Zayn’s raspy voice soaring atop live instrumentation and perhaps the most textured sonic palette of his career. “Stardust” epitomizes Zayn’s successful foray into country, pop-adjacent territory, and the song’s video vividly captures him in his natural habitat.
Saweetie — “Nani”
“We gon’ fkkk up the summer,” Saweetie declared in an Instagram post teasing “Nani” last week, and her confidence is well-founded after listening to the bubbly, confident single. The Chandler Lass-directed video captures Saweetie commanding a pool party and rapping about her never-ending escapades. “Got that nani, nani, nani,” she sings in the chorus. “How she walk through swingin’ that body / Yellin’, ‘Who gon’ stop me?’” No one is stopping you, Saweetie. Drop the album!
Hailey Knox — “Double Tragedy”
I caught up with Hailey Knox in March, around her release of “11th Hour.” Since then, Knox dropped “What Do You Need.” Both singles revealed Knox as a keen songwriter, dynamic producer, and show-stopping vocalist. Add “Double Tragedy” to the mounting evidence pile. The single finds Knox ruthlessly calling out someone for taking her for granted, while calling out herself for continuing to subject herself to such treatment (“I know it’s bad for me / Like it when you mad at me / It’s a double tragedy / Keep comin’ back to ya”).
Omar Apollo — “Dispose Of Me”
Last week, Omar Apollo announced the impending release of his God Said No album on June 28, and he dropped “Dispose Of Me” the following day. “Y’all said you were ready to cry so here you go,” Apollo wrote about the song. I will neither confirm nor deny whether tears fell while watching Apollo, surrounded by swelling live instrumentation, flawlessly sing, “It don’t matter if it’s twenty-five years, twenty-five months / It don’t matter if it’s twenty-five days, it was real love / We got too much history / So don’t just dispose of me.” But I can confirm the following: Apollo’s artistry is indispensable, “Spite” and “Dispose Of Me” forecast that we’re in for an emotionally seismic album, and I hope whoever hurt Apollo has the day they deserve.
Bebe Rexha — “Chase It (Mmm Da Da Da)”
Last summer, Bebe Rexha suffered a brutal black eye after a coward, who was subsequently charged with assault and harassment, threw his phone at her while she was performing in New York City. Then, she confirmed to another crowd at O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London that she’d just gone through a tumultuous breakup. “Chase It (Mmm Da Da Da),” Rexha’s latest single, finds the four-time Grammy nominee manifesting the summer she deserves. Rexha debuted the charged dance-pop bop during what Uproxx deemed as one of the best performances from Coachella 2024, and every club this side of Mars should be racing to add it to the summer playlist.
Joshua Bassett — “The Golden Years”
“The Golden Years” is Joshua Bassett’s first release since last September. More importantly, it serves as the lead single and title track for Bassett’s debut album, due out on July 26. “The Golden Years” is as wistful as could be. Bassett captures the overwhelming (“Funny, I’d rather be fighting with you / Than alone in the city we knew”) and often inevitably fleeting nature (“We were young till we weren’t it was fun till it hurt / Now I’m terrified that I’ll never find love like yours”) of young love.
Lyn Lapid & Mxmtoon — “Back From The Dead”
Lyn Lapid wisely recruited Mxmtoon for “Back From The Dead,” and they make for a much better pair than whatever exes they’re gleefully leaving behind. The song is delightfully oxymoronic, with an airy soundscape ventilating empowered (“Your sweet words might’ve worked once, but news flash / No longer hold authority over me”) and vindictive (“Could’ve sworn that I was seeing a ghost / Almost nothing left of you to grieve”) lyrics.
The Band Camino — “Someone Who’s Trying”
The Band Camino’s three-song EP Bruises is efficiently evocative. “Someone Who’s Trying” encourages plunging into living imperfectly (“If I don’t lose, how can I learn? / Can’t heal unless your heart hurts”) because attempting to get through life unscathed is a fallacy (“I’m sorry I / Let you down this time / Hope you still see me / As someone who’s trying”). The song should be a cathartic, communally belted moment in The Band Camino’s setlist during their headlining The Taking Shape Tour across the U.S. this summer.
Daydreamers — “Beach House”
If you want to get a head start on nostalgia for all of the summer memories you’re yet to make, listen to Daydreamers’ breezy “Beach House.” Riley, lead singer of the London-based alt-pop four-piece, described the song as capturing “the feeling of looking back on a memory of summer romance through rose-tinted glasses. You want to live in the moment that you’ve idealized in your head, but you know it’ll never last forever.” Contrastingly, Daydreamers display the potential to resonate indefinitely.