Five new songs to take you into the weekend, including the latest single from The Chainsmokers, the lead track off The xx’s new album, and some orchestral pop courtesy of San Fermin. Plus: check out another hit from Atlanta rappers Migos, the “Beatles of this generation;” and discover Grace Mitchell’s grunge-pop ode to adolescence, “Kids (Ain’t All Right).”
“T-Shirt,” Migos
After Golden Globe winner Donald Glover called out Migos in his prize acceptance speech as the “Beatles of this generation,” the rapping trio from Atlanta is having a well-deserved moment in the spotlight, with single “Bad and Boujee” sitting pretty atop the week’s charts. But don’t sleep on newer track “T-Shirt,” a haunting, looping song driven by their signature staccato rhymes.
“Paris,” The Chainsmokers
A new year, a new track from hitmakers The Chainsmokers, this one a solo outing (with no featured female vocalist) and a slower, softer build. “We were staying in Paris / to get away from your parents,” it opens, “And I thought, ‘Wow, if I could take this in a shot right now / I don’t think that we could work this out.” In other words, their brand of moody pop is here to stay.
“Dangerous,” The xx
The eagerly awaited third album from The xx, I See You, delivers with an updated, slightly more upbeat take on the band’s woozy, dark electropop. “Dangerous” plays with horns and a muted beat to build an infectious track that xx fans and newcomers alike will keep coming back to.
“Bride,” San Fermin
An indie-pop ensemble, ambitious band San Fermin mixes layered, lilting composition with an unusual narrative of anxiety at a party in soaring new single “Bride.” As bandleader and composer Ellis Ludwig-Leone told TIME, “it’s about a moment when emotions you’ve been trying not to feel bubble up to the surface and take over.”
“KIDS (Ain’t All Right),” Grace Mitchell
Nineteen-year-old singer-songwriter Grace Mitchell comes out swinging with the gritty, punky single “KIDS (Ain’t All Right),” a song that refuses to apologize either for its youthful energy or its hard-edged bitterness.
“Why is everything so stupid now? I’ve been drinking my delusions down,” she riffs huskily over heavy guitars, keeping it contemporary with smart synth additions. Her debut album comes out this year and she has a Coachella performance on the horizon.
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Write to Raisa Bruner at raisa.bruner@time.com