Songs you may have missed: The Duffy comeback edition

Songs You May Have Missed is a semi-regular round-up of music that's slipped through my fingers over the last seven days. This week's candidates include Duffy (yes, that Duffy) and all these other goodies:

1) Selena Gomez - Same Old Love
This Charli XCX cast off riffs on Gotye's Somebody That I Used To Know, and was apparently intended for Rihanna before Selena nabbed it. It's Rihanna's loss. And Charli's. Gotye will be seeing the lot of them in court.





2) ZHU ft AlunaGeorge - Automatic
You might not recognise the name, but Zhu's Faded was one of the biggest club crossovers of last year (you'll probably recognise the hook - "baby, I'm wasted, all I wanna do is drive home to you...").

His new track enlists the Aluna half of AlunaGeorge for a similarly dark take on deep house. Stick around for the sax solo at the end. Very INXS.




3) Hailee Stanfield - Love Myself (acoustic)
A competently delivered performance of one of the year's toppermost pop songs.





4) Roman GianArthur - No Surprises (ft Janelle Monae)
Roman GianArthur is a member of Janelle Monee's Wondaland Arts Society, whatever that means. He's just released an EP of Radiohead covers (listen here) of which this is the absolute standout.

It takes the original's depiction of anaesthetised suburban life and turns it into an irresistible nu-soul duet. Radiohead fans may hate it but - judging by the time I saw Thom Yorke grooving away to Mary J Blige - he'd give it the seal of approval.





5) Aquilo - Good Girl
Aquilo are Ben Fletcher and Tom Higham, two neighbours from the Lake District who have previously specialised in tasetful, ambient electronica. But they seem to have found the emergency chorus button on their laptop, with this slinky little single, which is out on Island records imminently.





6) Rachel Platten - Stand By You
I was surprised to find out that Rachel Platten was 34. Not that there's anything wrong with that - it's just that I can't remember the last time a record label signed a pop artist who predated YouTube.

This song follows up to the UK number one Fight Song, and is a similarly percussion-driven arms-akimbo pop stomper. "It's a love song at its core," says Rachel "and it's about being the hands to catch someone if they need to fall. I'm honestly obsessed with this song. Is that okay to say?"





7) XY Constant - Do It Well ft Tom Aspaul
Falmouth-based producer XY Constant plays out the summer with this chiming and catchy - if somewhat undemanding - tropical dance track. As every blog under the sun has noted, it sounds exactly like Years & Years.






8) Duffy - Whole Lot of Love
Eagle-eyed cinemagoers may have spotted Duffy popping up in the new Tom Hardy movie, Legend, when it came out last weekend. The Welsh warbler cameos as US singer Timi Yuro in the Kray twins biopic - and this tambourine-tanged track is one of the soundtrack's standouts.

It'll be interesting to see if Duffy can orchestrate a proper comeback off the back of it... And if you're wondering where the Rockferry singer has been for the last six years, this article on Music Business Worldwide tells a cautionary tale for anyone entering the music business.





9) Halsey - Maida Vale session
Pop's shootingest star descended on the BBC's legendary Maida Vale studios last night to perform a couple of songs from her 4-star debut album, Badlands. You can hear Hurricane and New Americana at the start of this 28-minute segment - but stick around to the end for a rather astonishing mash-up of three songs: Her own Young God, The Weekend’s Often, and Justin Bieber's What Do You Mean?




10) Kendrick Lamar - Album medley (live on Stephen Colbert)
Kendrick Lamar was the final performer on Comedy Central's Colbert Report last December. On Wednesday night, he became the first musical guest on Stephen Colberts new show - The Late Show - on CBS.

It's a masterclass in how to perform rap live. Energetic but controlled, with a pin-sharp live band, Lamar runs through four tracks from his To Pimp A Butterfly album in just six minutes.

If you watch nothing else in this megapost, make it this.

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