TRACK OF THE WEEK
Charli XCX ft Lil Yachty
After The Afterparty
Remember when Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson were plucked out of the murky waters of their own careers and thrown together for a drama about two unlikely detectives, which shouldn’t have worked and yet had a profound influence on both television writing and pop culture at large? This is like that, but in a single outrageous pop song about getting smashed.
Usher ft Young Thug
No Limit
A Young Thug verse lands like a brick on the gas pedal of almost any song. His voice is as versatile as his fashion sense, a one-man fiesta of controlled unpredictability. In this case, he helps Usher return to the pop firmament with what is – thanks to the club-ready bass and polished minimalism that defines Drake’s Views – one of the most 2016 singles of 2016. Meanwhile, Usher has aged like a pair of well-fitting jeans. His croon delivers each lyric with finesse, even when they are “Got that Master P”, “Give you that ghetto D”, which manages to pay respects to the discography of rapper Master P while also making bold statements about his wealth and penis size respectively.
Goo Goo Dolls
Over And Over
Goo Goo Dolls may have peaked a solid 18 years ago, but there are still plenty of people willing to pay good money to sway through an hour of radio-friendly alt-rock just to cry-shout to Iris, phone aloft, recording the entire experience to their ex’s voicemail. Conversely, this is a paint-by-numbers arena anthem that could’ve been released by anybody. It sounds like Coldplay covering Bon Jovi, and not in a perhaps-this-could-be-good-ironically way.
Emily Reo
Spell
Brooklyn’s Emily Reo must be sick of being compared to Imogen Heap or Bon Iver, thanks to their shared interest in largely a cappella songs sung through a vocoder. But Reo’s hypnotic electronic pop is in a world of its own. Although her lyrics focus on nature, Spell sounds blissfully extraterrestrial, like something WALL-E would sing himself to get to sleep.
Le Tigre
I’m With Her
Well, here it is: the first new Le Tigre song in over a decade. Given the band are as famed for championing LGBT and women’s rights as much as crafting brazen lo-fi pop, it makes sense that they’d reunite in the dusk of the presidential race to pledge their support for Hillary Clinton. It’s enjoyable, even if some of the lyrics do sound like cheerleading chants from a hell governed by Amy Schumer.
