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 Kanye West finally drop Donda and one his Ye’s adversaries team up with one of his collaborators. 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.
Kanye West — “Hurricane”
Kanye West was reaching a point where, given all the delays, nobody was putting much stock in any potential Donda release date. Finally, though, West dropped the album, and it’s a 26-track, near-two-hour odyssey. Among the highlights is “Hurricane,” which, aside from featuring DaBaby, is the first collaboration between West and The Weeknd in half a decade.
Big Red Machine — “Birch” Feat. Taylor Swift
This is one on both the same and opposite ends of the spectrum as West: Taylor Swift and the rapper of course have their disagreements, but Big Red Machine’s Justin Vernon has collaborated with West on a number of occasions. Whatever the case, “Birch” is one of two Swift-featuring songs from the new Big Red Machine album, and here, Swift leans into a support role and does her job perfectly.
Baby Keem and Kendrick Lamar — “Family Ties”
The biggest Kendrick Lamar news of recent days is the fact that he’s currently working on what will be his final album for his longtime label, TDE. He’s also been working on some collaborations outside of that, as last week saw him and Baby Keem drop “Family Ties,” the title of which makes sense since the rappers are actually cousins.
Halsey — “Honey”
Halsey has oven leaned into alternative-influenced music over the years, but she takes it to a new level on her latest album, If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power, which she made with Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. They’re not the only collaborators who appear on the album, though, as Lindsay Buckingham contributed guitars to “Darling” and Dave Grohl got behind the drum kit for “Honey.”
Gorillaz — “Jimmy Jimmy” Feat. AJ Tracey
Damon Albarn hasn’t given himself much rest in recent years, as he’s rolling out a solo album right now and Gorillaz have also been busy. After last year’s Song Machine series, Gorillaz have returned with a surprise new EP, Meanwhile, a succinct three-track effort that features collaborations with Jelani Blackman, Barrington Levy, AJ Tracey, and Alicaì Harley.
BTS — “Butter” Feat. Megan Thee Stallion
BTS’ “Butter” doesn’t need any help, as it did a fine job remaining at the top of the charts for multiple weeks. Regardless, it got a breath of new life from Megan Thee Stallion, who contributes to a new remix of the track. She’s actually the one who needed help, as it took a judge’s ruling for the song to get released.
Meek Mill — “Sharing Locations” Feat. Lil Baby and Lil Durk
Lil Baby and Lil Durk are just months removed from their collaborative album, Voice Of The Heroes. The pair has already reconvened, though, this time joining Meek Mill on “Sharing Locations.” As for Meek, the song is hopefully a look at his next album, which would follow 2018’s Championships.
Chvrches — “California”
Chvrches just dropped Screen Violence, and Lauren Mayberry told Uproxx of it, “It’s not about horror movies, but it was more like we can build a backdrop and a landscape that you can tell personal stories through. Once we’ve written a few songs and I had a few things under our belt and especially with the aesthetics and the visuals, it was more about the role of women in those stories and the role of women in horror. How can you take those tropes and ideas and use those to tell your stories? And what about being a woman feels horrific? What about it feels violent? How do you live in and around that violence, how can you live through it? What do you do with it when you live in this space? I think that’s been really fun to play with, especially like with the imagery on the record and the imagery in terms of the album artwork and the videos and the visuals. How can you take that genre and bend it to tell your stories?”
Kacey Musgraves — “Justified”
Kacey Musgraves is ready to follow up 2018’s Golden Hour, the album that fully transformed her into a crossover star. The Star-Crossed era has already begun, and she continued it last week with “Justified.” Uproxx’s Caitlin White notes that on the track, Musgraves “details the myriad of reactions that come after a breakup, tracing the journey from numbness, anger and sadness, to trying to connect with someone new, and even recounting some of what went wrong with the relationship.”
Griff — “One Night”
Griff has established herself as one of the UK’s brightest pop up-and-comers, and she continued to add to her resume last week with “One Night.” The track would feel right at home on top-40 radio, as it’s a catchy and anthemic pop tune with the sort of big retro- and dance-inspired hook that both plays well right now and is impossible to not get into.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.