Moses Sumney, “Worth It”
Moses Sumney’s vocals really take front and center on this track. They’re layered and stretched and pitch-shifted. They soar, and squeal, and sink. And since they’re only up against the thump of a drum and the snap of two fingers — the kind of beat kids bang out on a lunchroom’s table — they’re all you can really focus on—bewitching, even. Kind of like the video.—Danielle Cheesman
Ty Dolla $ign, “Zaddy”
This one is for the ladies (obviously). Lyrics like “I give her the D, I give her the D / She callin’ me Zaddy” signify what time it is. Ty is great at making melodic records where he rap/sings over beats to body roll to, and this one is just a shout-out to some good ol’ ratchet love. If he’s spoiling a woman and breaking the bank on her, he wants to be called “Zaddy.” It’s simple.—Driadonna Roland
Dua Lipa, “Blow Your Mind (MWAH)”
Based on the title of this song, I knew Dua Lipa had something up her sleeve. It was too aggressively in-your-face for the song to keep the slow pace that it begins with. Backed by ethereal synths, Dua’s hypnotic on the verses, but that’s before some commanding tribal-esque drums introduce a change in the soundscape. Suddenly, she’s punk-levels of sassy over a drilling electro beat and delivering the kind of unapologetic lyrics the title promised: “If you don’t like the way I talk, then why am I on your mind? / If you don’t like the way I rock, then finish your glass of wine / We fight and we argue, you’ll still love me blind / If we don’t fuck this whole thing up / Guaranteed, I can blow your mind.”
Usher, “Missin U”
Thank goodness for patience because if I had turned this song off, like I wanted to, after the intro (in which you can almost hear Usher creepily licking his lips as he describes the kind of woman he likes), I wouldn’t have been able to really appreciate how unique it is, or how much of an ever-evolving artist Usher still is after nearly 20 years. If you think this song could be categorized as trap-&-B, wait until the 1:07 mark when an entirely new beat drops (an entirely new song, really) and the track morphs into the kind of the classic, horn-backed croon that would make Michael Jackson proud. It’s a trip.—D.C.