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 Ari Lennox come through with her long-awaited sophomore effort and Nav do Canadian hip-hop proud with a new 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.
Ari Lennox — “POF”
Lennox dropped her new album Age/Sex/Location last week and perhaps nobody was more excited about it than was J. Cole. Lennox’s labelmate went out of his way to publicly praise the album on multiple occasions, and he also offered some backing vocals on “POF.”
Nav and Don Toliver — “Flawless” Feat. Future
Nav’s new album Demons Protected By Angels is full of collabs, like ones with Lil Baby, Lil Durk, Lil Uzi Vert, RealestK, and Travis Scott (but not Drake). Now that the album’s out, so too is “Flawless,” a dreamy link-up with Don Toliver and Future
Willow — “Curious/Furious”
Despite initial pusback, Willow been fully invested in the rock space for a few years now and she’s thriving. Another fine example of that is last week’s “Curious/Furious,” which actually has some shades of her R&B beginnings if you listen closely enough.
Nicki Minaj — “Super Freaky Girl (Queen Mix)”
It’s been a minute since an all-female hip-hop posse cut but Nicki Minaj came through last week with the “Queen Mix” of “Super Freaky Girl.” She packed a lot of rappers into a four-minute tune, as it features Bia, JT, Katie Got Bandz, Akbar V and Maliibu Miitch.
Russ — “That Was Me”
Russ was supposed to be touring in Europe right now, but after the first show, he canceled the rest of the trek for mental health reasons. Still, fans on the other side of the pond can at least still enjoy last week’s new song “That Was Me,” a chill and vulnerable tune.
Coi Leray — “Fly Sh!t”
Leray blessed the first half of 2022 with her debut album, Trendsetter, and now she’s back with more new material, a song called “Fly Sh*t.” The track shows off Leray’s versatility, as Uproxx’s Armon Sadler notes, “The multi-talent weaves in and out of rapping and singing over the flute-laced, mid-tempo beat.”
Cordae and Hit-Boy — “Checkmate”
The Madden 23 soundtrack is full of new music, with a couple new songs debuting on the game after launch. One of those is a new one from Cordae and Hit-Boy, “Checkmate,” of which Uproxx’s Armon Sadler notes, “Hit-Boy laces him with thumping drums and powerful synths, and Cordae takes the hand-off all the way to the end zone, blending introspection and confidence.”
Rosalía — “La Kilié”
Last week brought Motomami +, a deluxe edition of Rosalía latest album that most notably adds four new songs. Of those, “La Kilié” is a standout, a quick hit with a nearly arrhythmic beat that engagingly pushes things forward while Rosalía idiosyncratic vocals are as captivating as ever.
Blood Orange — “Jesus Freak Lighter”
While Dev Hynes tends to keep busy, his last new song as Blood Orange actually came back in 2019. That was true until last week, when he dropped “Jesus Freak Lighter,” which Uproxx’s Danielle Chelosky dubbed “an oasis, a warm, safe spot detached from reality.” There’s more where this came from, too, as the track appears on Four Songs, an EP set to drop this week.
YG — “Alone”
I Got Issues, the latest YG album, is on the way later this month and he previewed it last week with the vulnerable single “Alone.” Uproxx’s Aaron Williams notes of the song’s introspective lyrical content, “YG takes stock of how his gangster habits — formed by the trauma of growing up in Compton — interfere with his current lifestyle. He’s got money, status, and safety now; he’s got to leave the streets alone.”
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.