Every week, we bring you #SOUNDCHECK — your destination for the best new music that hit the web over the course of the week. Because you should always be prepared when someone passes you that AUX cord. This week's roundup features 11 of our favorite emerging and established artists.
Rosalía’s “Candy” is one of the more delicate ballads of her arresting new album, Motomami, and tells a piercing and melancholy love story. (YouTube)
One of the most dynamic tracks off Charli XCX’s Crash, “Lightning” hits like a pop 18-wheeler, its propulsive, pounding production as hair-raising as the weather event its named after. (YouTube)
Normani’s latest positions her as a captivating vocalist alongside being the whole entertainer package, slowing things down with rippling melodies and vocal runs. (YouTube)
Gayle, Upsahl and Blue DeTiger deliver the punchy Gen Z anthem of the ages with “e-z,” touching on everything from posturing on social media, isolation, and oversharing. (YouTube)
Syd and Lucky Daye glide over cosmic, psychedelic production on “CYBAH,” a slick and smooth hypnosis asking for security in a relationship. (YouTube)
This endlessly bouncy and bright bop from Muna encapsulates their uncanny ability to make any kind of heartbreak worth dancing to. (YouTube)
Doechii flaunts another shade of her chameleonic abilities with the excellent single “Persuasive,” sounding like a mix of early-aughts Timbaland and the sleekest lounge music you’ve ever heard. (YouTube)
Joyce Wrice and Kaytranda are a powerful singer-producer duo on the crisp and invigorating “Iced Tea,” which mesmerizes from its first tinkering notes. (YouTube)
Alex G, Philly’s cult favorite polymath, debuts the haunting and cutting “End Song,” a track from his first film score We’re All Going To The World’s Fair. (YouTube)
Canadian-Japanese song-maker Saya Gray is the latest signee to London label Dirty Hit and arrives with the amorphous and ambitious song-collage, “If There’s No Seat In The Sky (Will You Forgive Me???).” (YouTube)