9 Songs You Need In Your Life This Week

Tracks we love right now, and why they matter. In no particular order.

July 11, 2015
1. Majid Jordan f. Drake, "My Love"

Majid Jordan had the song of the summer a couple of years ago with Drake's "Hold On, We're Going Home," and OVO's resident pop duo is back with a new banger just in time for the mid-July heatwave. "My Love" is a creeping radio-ready jam with a hook that sounds like it was cribbed from some very sad iMessages. Why you wanna be my love? Is it just for show? asks a vulnerable, sweet-sounding Majid Al Maskati. You might get a little emotional by the time Drake shows up a minute-and-a-half in. — Rawiya Kameir

2. Micachu & The Shapes, “Oh Baby”

Mica Levi is a shape-shifter. Last we heard from her, she composed the terrifying score for Jonathan Glazer’s low-key body horror movie Under The Skin, but this week, it was announced that she’d be releasing a third studio album with her original scrappy partners-in-crime Raisa Khan and Marc Pell, aka The Shapes. Levi describes the upcoming record as the trio’s most “free,” and the first single “Oh Baby” is a meandering, mumbling sort-of love song that sloshes like the last bit of drink in the glass. —Aimee Cliff

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3. Fekky f. Skepta, "Way Too Much"

Fekky and Skepta's "Way Too Much" is low-key an ode to minimalism. The pair hop on a future-sounding grime beat and big themselves up by assessing the excesses of their lives. The money? Way too much. The drinks? Way too much. The general fleekiness? Way too much. The internet? Definitely way too much. Take this one-off line from Sekpta, for instance: If man are talking too much shit, fam, I switch the iPhone off. Same, tbh. — Rawiya Kameir

4. Cool Amerika, “Make Sum Shake”

I have to admit that Stone Mountain, Georgia’s own Cool America only just crossed my radar this week when it was reported in GQ’s deep-dive into famed Atlanta strip club Magic City that their latest single, “Make Sum Shake,” is getting lots of spins. It’s a pretty by-the-books twerker’s anthem, featuring earth-shaking 808s and lots of auto-tune, but if DJ Esco is playing it now you can be sure that you will be hearing it sometime in the near future. Consider this your warning. — Zara Golden

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5. Future Fambo, "Bloodclaute Song"

This is the dancehall song Busta Rhymes always wanted to make. "Bloodclaute Song" is simple, addictive, written around the best swear word in the (kind of) English language. The weirdest bits of the video hint that 43-year-old Future Fambo is in on the hilarity, but this would clearly go crazy at a party and is bubbling enough in the yards of Jamaica to have a mega-remix with Sean Paul, Beenie Man, and Demarco on the way. To sleep on it would be bloodclaute wrong. — Matthew Trammell

6. Royce Rizzy f. MADEINTYO, "The Check"

MADEINTYO snuck his way into obsessive repeats during my daily commute with a pair of blissful summer jams: "I Want" and "Uber Everywhere." But more details about the Atlanta-via-Tokyo producer/rapper are coming into focus: his crew is called Private Club, headed up by his older brother Royce Rizzy who's signed to Jermaine Dupri. MADEINTYO still steals the show on this 808 Mafia thumper: Sent the addy to a baddie, bought her Bape, now I'm daddy. His flow reminds me of Bang-era Chief Keef: bars that are more calculated than they sound, and a signature ad-lib you can't believe no one's used before. — Matthew Trammell

7. R. City f. Adam Levine, "Locked Away"

Adam Levine is on a dancehall song, for some reason! The lyrics are actually great, kinda "Trap Queen" Part 2: After Jail. — Naomi Zeichner

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8. Helen, "Motorcycle"

Helen is the sometimes-active dream rock band that counts Liz Harris aka Grouper as a member, and "Motorcycle" is our gorgeous first leak from their debut LP. At just under two minutes, it's exactly long enough to reel you in: a barely audible ambient opening gives way to a dreamy roar and murky layers of slippery, spaced-out vocals. Then, just when you're fully enveloped by its sweetly melodic noise, it disappears altogether. — Patrick D. McDermott

9. Alessia, "Bad Blood (Taylor Swift Cover)"

In a ranking of Taylor Swift's 1989 tracks, I would probably put "Bad Blood" in the bottom half. Which means that even though it's catchy as hell, I don't find it to be as emotionally astute or interesting as Tay's best songs. Alessia Cara's acoustic cover, which includes Kendrick's verse, is more attitude-y and dramatic. Whereas Taylor's sounds like it was crafted for stadium sing-a-long, Alessia's sounds more like a good scolding. — Zara Golden

9 Songs You Need In Your Life This Week