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 10 of our favorite emerging and established artists.
Everyone’s making disco these days, but Lizzo’s “Everybody’s Gay” — outside of its celebratory, no-brainer message — sounds naturally fit for the genre’s heart-palpitating energy. (YouTube)
Like Corinne Bailey Rae’s smooth ‘90s guitar pop amped up to 100, beabadoobee’s “the perfect pair” is at once familiar and a sonic mesh of new ideas. (YouTube)
Quirky K-pop group ITZY adds another cute anthem to the musical canon of pop songs about sneakers, a clearly powerful clothing item! (YouTube)
Santigold’s music has always been spiritual, but her latest, “Nothing,” breeches hypnosis as she interrogates an aggressor in circles: “Won’t you tell me what you mean yeah?” (YouTube)
A somber but ground-shaking ballad from Grace VanderWaal that reveals a bold new side to the singer. (YouTube)
Rico Nasty has been experimenting with her emo, trip-hop sound. On “Skullflower,” she pushes it to the extreme with its smiley beat and squeaky, pitched-up vocals. (YouTube)
Steve Lacy’s “Sunshine,” featuring hazy vocals from Fousheé, is the guitarist-turned-star at peak artistry, vision, and charisma. (YouTube)
Gen Z emo princess Daine’s “Dragging” will immediately send you to a rainy windowsill to brood about your latest heartbreak. (YouTube)
Hyd’s elegant and serpentine new pop song, “Afar,” was co-written and produced by Caroline Polachek — and sounds like it, too. (YouTube)
We get tastes of Paramore from Pool Kids’ “Arm’s Length,” but the band’s keen, nihilistic musings are wholly its own. (YouTube)