Harry Styles
Lights Up
When it came to his solo career, 1D’s smouldering satyr initially gave it a lot of huff and puff, sending worrying signals that everything he did would have to be draped in the art-directed maximalism of a capital-A Artist. So it is a relief that Lights Up – our first peek at what has been heavily trailed as a daring new Styles-goes-cosmic direction (AKA took mushrooms once) – actually feels so effortless and laid-back. It is a blissed-out track, never coming down from a higher state of consciousness, that occasionally goes a bit heavy on the phasing effects but otherwise burbles along like deluxe bubble bath.
Halsey
Graveyard
It’s mid-October and you know what that means: time to get S-P-O-O-K-Y. But also S-A-D. That’s the takeaway from Halsey’s latest moody-banger, now with added creepy funfair vid. It’s a poignant, spiralling snapshot of doomed romantic obsession that courts the goth vote (lots of references to loitering in graveyards) but gets severely marked down for the lyric “let that sink in”. It’s not Twitter, Halz.
Hayley Kiyoko
Demons
Kiyoko’s new ongoing musical project rejoices in the #relatable title I’m Too Sensitive for This Shit. With its ominous roaming bassline and nervy pizzicato strings, standout track Demons is another Halloween anthem-in-waiting, albeit one where the scary monsters are trapped within rather than roaming the streets. It is spidery, moreish ghost train music of the highest order.
Cher Lloyd
MIA
For one hot second, it looked like Mathangi Arulpragasam AKA MIA had recorded a song about indefatigable X Factor striver Cher Lloyd. But sadly it’s just Lloyd lobbying hard for a romantic bunk-off over some R&B-inflected beats and playground whoops. It might not be the superpowered song potent enough to transform her into a belated superstar but it still thrums with emphatic, if wildly misplaced, self-belief.
Maroon 5
Memories
Great news for fans of Pachelbel’s Classic FM staple Canon in D. Maroon 5’s soulful scarecrow Adam Levine has heard it, too, and believes that what Johann P’s memorably boomeranging chord sequence needed to unlock its true potential was some trite lyrics about how gallons of booze can reactivate bittersweet memories. Guitar-free, drum-free, fun-free dreck.
