Songs You Need In Your Life This Week
Tracks we love right now, in no particular order.
WILLOW’s “play” and the best new songs right now Photo credits: Courtesy of Willow, Mary Kang, skaiwater

Each week, The FADER staff rounds up the songs we can't get enough of. Here they are, in no particular order.
Spotify and Apple Music playlists, or hear them all below.

ADVERTISEMENT

WILLOW, “play” feat. Kamasi Washington

Willow has returned to stake her territory in the experimental jazz world. For “play,” she tapped Kamasi Washington to finish off the track with a dizzying saxophone solo. The result is as triumphant as it is mystifying. — Hajin Yoo

Grace Ives, “Stupid Bitches”

Grace Ives is my favorite purveyor of crying-in-the-stadium pop music. Her newest single, “Stupid Bitches” revolves around a string sample that reminds me of “Bittersweet Symphony” and hits with that song’s same level of grandeur and heartedness. — Tobias Hess

ADVERTISEMENT
Jorja Smith, “Don’t Leave”

Hearing this felt like discovering Jorja Smith all over again, goosebumps included. It’s like “Blue Lights” reimagined over a soulful boom-bap beat, providing the Jorja fix you’ve probably been needing. – Kylah Williams

Operelly, “Under My Bed”

deadAir records signee Operelly makes music that feels both digital and hand stitched. "Under My Bed” is a quilt of warm acoustic guitar, synth glitches and Operelly's soft and stirring vocals. The song's production is all just garnish for Operelly's really smart, concise songwriting (“Who did I pull under my bed with me? / I'm through tugging and tearing”). — TH

skaiwater, “blink twice” [prod. North West]

North West has to have Anamanaguchi on her moodboard, right next to Molly Santana’s fitpics and the cover of REST IN BASS. On “blink twice,” her first placement since signing to Gamma, she flips a chiptune snippet of Hatsune Miku into a ghostly backdrop for skaiwater to fall in love in the club. – Vivian Medithi

Denzel Curry, Ferg, TiaCorine, "THE SCYTHE"

Everyone brings their A-game on this Three 6 Mafia-sampling mosh anthem. Ferg gives one of his best verses in a minute, TiaCorine proves again why she's one of the most skilled women in rap, and Denzel Curry warns: “We take from the rich and give to ourself / What's the point of me Robin Hood?” Nobody can fuck with “The Scythe.” — KW

smush, “don’t know why” (Norah Jones cover)

Brooklyn shoegaze duo traded jazz piano for fuzzed guitars in this charming cover of the Norah Jones classic that’s a delicious reminder of just how timeless the 2002 hit’s melody is. — TH

gianna, “Shadow of a Bird.”

Some of the best pop songs I’ve heard lately have come from London. Add “Shadow of a Bird” to that list, a warm exhalation of a tune by 23-year-old Albanian-British singer gianna. If you’re a fan of the sunshine-y early-aughts resurgence, press play on this. —Steffanee Wang

ADVERTISEMENT
HappyDranker & Evilgiane, “SNEAKY”

This song is like ASMR to me. Philly rapper Happy Dranker loves a sludgy instrumental, but here his vocals dissolve into EvilGiane’s beat, his lyrics less like words than rasped groans. — VM

Naïka, "ALL MY LIFE"

Naika is a lover girl at her core. Her French-Haitian sound brings back giddy memories of being 18, on vacation somewhere in the Caribbean, with an ex I totally thought I’d marry. The thudding drums pair perfectly with Naika’s yearning, “I’ve been waiting all my life for someone like you looking at me looking like this.” —KW

Quiet Light, “Berlin”

Quiet Light’s time must come and I’m pinning my hopes on the arrival of her upcoming album in April. The first single, “Berlin,” is stunning, burnished electronic pop with a draping of Auto-Tune. Not enough to hide the pure emotion of her lyrics: “I need you to know you’re the love in my house / I need you when the floorboards are sinking down.” —SW

WILLOW’s “play” and the best new songs right now