Alfie Templeman
Wait, I Lied
He only turned 18 this year but chirpy urchin Alfie T has already proven himself an artful musical magpie with a feel for funk, like Bedfordshire’s answer to Bruno Mars. His buttery, popcorn-addictive latest vamps and twirls but it is all in service to a truly fantastic bassline; resounding proof that you don’t have to reinvent the pop wheel if you know how to grease it.
Pink
All I Know So Far
Pink has a new tour film on Amazon Prime Video so she’d better get the PR started. And what better way to promote the doc than a title track that neatly nutshells her indomitable appeal? This rousing stomp-along is framed as hard-won life advice for her young daughter and, like the artist, sounds battle-scarred but ballsy.
Saweetie
Fast (Motion)
Football rarely features in OTT R&B videos, but Saweetie’s sports-themed visual sees the insouciant rapper making a mazy midfield run before rattling in an absurd overhead kick. It all chimes with the central argument of Fast (Motion): that she is the best (at everything). In fairness, this brash club bop with a snake-charming hook makes a convincing case.
Coldplay
Higher Power
Ground control to major hubris: Coldplay briefly commandeered the orbiting ISS to launch their comeback single. But now that the space dust has settled, is it any cop? Some shimmery 1980s production from Max Martin ensures it lands pretty high in the top five of fast Chris Martin songs, but Chvrches can do this sort of synthy euphoria in their sleep.
Martina Topley-Bird
Pure Heart
Want to hear something that genuinely sounds like it could have been beamed down to Earth from some distant star? The new track from Topley-Bird – comet-like solo artist and the defining voice of trip-hop after her work with Tricky – is cosmically good. The low guitar thrum and doom-laden organ sound Stygian AF but the vocal is extra-terrestrially pure, enunciating “I’m not afraid” with laser precision.
