Zara Larsson
Ruin My Life
Phenomenal sad banger from Larsson, filled with trappy, reverb-drenched nostalgia for a destructive relationship. The chorus has such a pleasing rhythm that it almost makes you want to hook up with an emotionally unavailable partner just so you have an excuse to sing it. Plus, at this point in 2018 it’s nice to hear a song that doesn’t sound as if Ed Sheeran was involved at all.
Cher Lloyd
None of My Business
Sorry that pop stars are having so much trouble getting over people this week, but all this hung-up-edness is delivering songs bubbling over with sass. A sing-songy nursery rhyme feel and breezy delivery don’t hide the cutting tone that will be very familiar to anyone who’s spent an hour scrolling through an ex’s Insta feed before sending 600 screengrabs to the group chat and composing a text that, thankfully, didn’t get sent.
Ellie Goulding ft Swae Lee
Close to Me
It’s been all quiet on the Goulding front this year (unless you can remember her cameo on Sean Paul’s EP, in which case: wow), but now she’s back with this horny, Diplo-produced, Swae Lee-featuring lust song. As well as rhyming “body” with “body” – which we’ll forgive because, hey, rhyming is hard – it’s got an almost churchy sway to the title line. Which is pleasing, since the main thrust of the song is that Ellie is so into her significant other that she wants to rut like dogs in the street.
Mariah Carey ft Ty Dolla $ign and Skrillex
The Distance
I don’t really approve of gambling but I do wish, at the height of Skrillex fever in 2014, I’d put money on him collaborating with Mariah Carey. I could probably retire at this point and not have to finish writing this piece. Not that we’re not all having a lovely time. Anyway, as enjoyable as this may be, I can’t help but feel that it’s a waste for Mariah Carey to sing this small, repetitive and quite personality-free melody. She’s Mariah Actual Carey – she has the range.
Friendly Fires
Heaven Let Me In
This song will come as a pleasant surprise if, like someone I know who definitely isn’t me, you had previously not listened to Friendly Fires because you thought they were actually Fleet Foxes. Here, they’re trying to get into the good place via the medium of whispery vocals, George Michael melody lines and punchy synths. I’d probably let them in. As long as they don’t try to smuggle Fleet Foxes in with them.
