Best Songs We Heard This Week: Kyla La Grange, Drake, Matt and Kim + More
Happy Friday, PopCrush readers! At last, the weekend has come — a time to digest all of the new music we've been dealt. And between LEMONADE and Views, there's no shortage of tunes to digest.
But aside from pop's biggest heavy hitters, there were plenty more pop releases to love this week. As usual, the PopCrush editors rounded up their most played selections on this #NewMusicFriday, perfect for your weekend playlists.
Check out our picks below — and for more, be sure to subscribe to PopCrush on Apple Music.
Matt and Kim, "Please No More"
Where coffee and prescription amphetamines fail, Matt and Kim’s latest will give you a perfectly pleasant arrhythmia. “Please No More,” one of four new tracks from new We Were The Weirdos EP, was recorded in a sprint between the first and second Coachella weekends (yes, the festival that, like, just happened) and has quite clearly benefitted from the mania. A modern sister to Joan Jett’s “Bad Reputation,” the sub-two-minute effort collides undulating synth with ear-shattering hi-hat for a relentless buzz that Matt Johnson told Live Nation TV was exactly what the duo was aiming for. “Nothing puts the wind in your sails like a good show,” he said, and added: “We're leaving in the imperfections as much as we can.” — Matthew Donnelly
Princess Nokia, “Tomboy”
Beyonce and Drake may have dominated this week’s music conversation, but let it be known that Destiny Frasqueri, aka Princess Nokia, pulled up to the curb with a self esteem anthem of her own. The Saint-produced track pays homage to Missy Elliott’s “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)” with both revving sounds and a namecheck, and turns “my lil titties and my fat belly!” into a rallying cry. Seriously, who’s got the keys to the Jeep? Because I them to drive me around while I blast this with the windows rolled down. – Samantha Vincenty
Drake feat. Rihanna, “Too Good”
Drake and Rihanna are pop music’s most dynamic duo — they somehow manage to elevate each other past the point of no return, and the results are consistently fire. “Too Good,” the tropical-tinged dancehall cut on the rapper's latest, is no exception. It’s also probably the most Drake-themed track in his arsenal. “I’m way too good to you / You take my love for granted / I just don’t understand it,” he sings, deep in all his perma-friend feelings. Rihanna’s presence, meanwhile, is appropriately understated. She comes in with a breathless and resigned, “I don’t know how to talk to you” -- the only appropriate response to Drake’s perpetual moping. — Ali Szubiak
Kyla La Grange, "Hummingbird"
A heaping dose of sparkling electro-pop, Kyla La Grange’s latest, “Hummingbird,” is an adrenaline shot right to the heart. Shimmery synths, joyful new wave beats, and uplifting melodies flux and flow in sweet harmony, crashing together on the track’s chorus like the climax of a feel-good ‘80s teen movie. Describing the song on Facebook as being “for anyone who ever felt they were stagnating [or] bad at life,” the English songbird’s new single is like an overdue spring cleaning for your playlist, and mindset: It’s fresh, it’s light, and it makes you feel ready to let go of everything holding you back. – Erica Russell
Elohim, “Sensations"
The future’s literally looking bright for the Los Angeles synthpop artist – her debut EP, due out on May 20, will include a visual component a la Beyonce. And, with “Sensations” as its lead effort, there’s already plenty to show off – it’s peculiar but comforting, fanatical but skillfully controlled and offers the competing appeal of big, loud spectacles and more thoughtful, diminutive sets. It’s confidence. It’s reticence. It’s a ride for which you’d happily wait in line a second time. — Matthew Donnelly
SAY, "Monsters"
I discovered "Monsters" entirely by accident after I left Soundcloud autoplaying for, like, three hours. I have some thoughts: First, "SAY" is the least SEO-friendly name for an act ever, and I associate the word with Christina Aguilera because she likes to riff with that word while she's yelling. (See: "Your Body.") Secondly, this track is massive, especially for a debut single. Thirdly, I like monsters, and she looks like a vengeful Japanese ghost on the single cover. SAY is Swedish (of course, that explains everything) and her real name is Sanne, and she is at the very, very beginning of her career. But if the rest of her music is this big, there's no way she'll be SEO unfriendly for long. Here's hoping she totally Tove Lo-s over the course of the year. SAY! — Bradley Stern
Terror Jr, “Sugar”
Terror Jr are quietly proving to be the most enigmatic force of 2016 pop thus far. Thankfully, in addition to all the mystery surrounding their individual identities, the music’s been consistently good, too. The trio’s latest release, “Sugar,” is another infectious, mid-tempo synth-pop offering: Catchy, concise and chill, it’s an appropriate pre-summer release, just in time for lighter layers and laid-back day drinking. And, all right, so it’s probably not Kylie Jenner on modulated vocals after all, but thank god for that endorsement, right? — Ali Szubiak
Kevin Garrett, “Refuse”
When I first heard “Refuse” from singer-songwriter Garrett last fall, I checked to see if it was a James Blake song since the stunning, electro-tinged piano ballad is reminiscent of the “Retrograde” singer’s work. I revisited “Refuse” a lot this week when I wasn’t listening to Beyonce’s Lemonade — not least because that album’s perfect opening track, “Pray You Catch Me,” is a collaboration between (Roc Nation-managed) Garrett, Blake and Bey. “Refuse,” a song that starts with the declaration “I’m okay alone,” can be considered a forebear to “Pray You Catch Me,” and the track's haunting beauty lies both in Garrett’s vocals and its vulnerability. – Samantha Vincenty