The best and worst of new music Friday: 24 February 2017

A vintage week if you like Coldplay and songs that go Wzrrp-worp. Not so much if you're into anything else at all. Sort it out, "the music industry".

Anyway, here's a rundown of the week's best new ones. And the Coldplay one, too.

1) Billie Eilish - Bellyache
Why put all the big artists at the top, when someone new could do with a leg up? California's Billie Eilish recently signed to Interscope, and has a great acousti-pop sound that'll appeal to fans of Ellie Goulding and Aurora.

She wrote her first song at the age of four, about falling into a black hole and being happy to be there. Her new single, Bellyache, finds her plotting revenge on her boyfriend for an undisclosed transgression. It's fair to say things don't go well for him: "Where's my mind? Maybe it's in the gutter, where I left my lover".





2) Calvin Harris ft Frank Ocean and Migos - Slide
Ladies and gentlemen, we are living in a post-chorus environment.





3) Zedd ft Alessia Cara - Stay
"Alessia and I first met at rehearsals for the HALO Awards, where Alessia, Daya and I performed together," writes Zedd. "I've loved her songs before but realised that she's an unbelievable talent when we started rehearsing together, so I asked her if she was interested in making music with me."

The answer was a resounding OF COURSE I DO and the result is the best of this week's onslaught of producer+vocalist collabs.




4) The Chainsmokers ft Coldplay - Something Just Like This
The title is clunky, the beats are generic, the melody is pedestrian. No-one is doing their best work here (except, perhaps, the team that animated the lyric video).




5) Lana Del Rey - Love
Already covered extensively on the blog, this is very much business as usual while managing to be one of Lana's strongest-ever singles.




6) Ed Sheeran ft Stormzy - Shape Of You
One of the highlights of Wednesday's Brit Awards, this collaboration got an official release today as part of a Ed Sheeran remix package. The guy has sold nearly 2 million singles over the last seven weeks. What does he think this is, 1994?




7) Thundercat ft Kendrick Lamar - Walk On By
Thundercat played bass on most of Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly album. Now the rapper repays the favour by adding a typically virtuoso verse to this melancholy R&B track. At the time of writing, its only got 2,000 views on YouTube. It deserves 100 times that.




8) The 1975 - By Your Side
A vocoderised cover of the Sade classic (Grammy-nominated for best vocal performance in 2002, but beaten by Nelly Furtado's I'm, Like, A Bird). Released in aid of War Child, this one of those rare charity singles that doesn't sound like it was knocked off in an afternoon.




9) Powers - Heavy
Powers are pop heavyweights Mike Del Rio and Crist Ru, whose credits include Kylie and Selena Gomez. They've just served up this calorific slice of pop that's equal parts Rocksteady-era No Doubt and Lady Gaga on a good day. Nice work.




2,000,002) Jason Derulo, Nicki Minaj and Ty Dolla Sign - Swalla
A song about cum.

Sorry about that last one, but I refuse to suffer alone. Sometimes I wonder what did we do to deserve Jason Derulo? Whatever it was, I'm sorry and we won't do it again.

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Songs you may have missed: The comeback edition

Woah - where did the last three weeks go?

Well, mostly I was in bed fighting off an horrific viral infection. Then it was the Brits (Adele won a few, you may have heard) and now I finally have some time to write my poor old neglected blog.

To make up for lost time, here's a mega "songs you may have missed" post, with six word synopses for every song. Buckle up and get ready.

1) Beyonce - Formation
Impressive visuals. Impressive lyrics. Underwhelming song.




2) Lorde - Life On Mars
Dignified and understated. A perfect tribute.





3) Rihanna ft Drake - Work
Rihanna's BOGOF offer. Warning: contains nipple.





4) Tinie Tempah - Girls Like (ft Zara Larsson)
"Tell JK that I'm still Rowling."




5) Dua Lipa - Last Dance
Is Dua Lipa Kosovan for "two lips"?




6) All Saints - One Strike
A genuinely perfect comeback single: 9/10





7) Pet Shop Boys - The Pop Kids
Nostalgia never sounded more contemporary.




8) Halsey - Colors
Stay tuned for the shock twist.





9) The 1975 - The Sound
Desperate, shallow, cringeworthy. Trying too hard.






10) Lissie - I Will Always Love You
Stop you in your tracks amazing.




11) Little May - Remind Me
Melodic indie direct from Sydney, Australia.




12) Little Mix - Black Magic (Brits performance)
They deserved to win best single.




13) Katy B, Craig David, Major Lazer - Who Am I
A ballad. A big, ballbusting ballad.




14) FKA Twigs - Good To Love
Rick-Nowels co-write. Possible breakthrough single?



15) Usher - Chains (ft Nas and Bibi Bourelly)
Unflinching, powerful call for police reform.





16) Charli XCX - Vroom Vroom EP
Harder, darker, dirtier. Welcome back, XCX.





17) Jake Bugg - On My One
Scratchy bluegrass from, er, Nottingham.





18) Icona Pop - I Want Someone Who Can Dance
"Not someone I can talk to."

Phew. Well done if you made it this far. And do let me know if there's anything I missed.

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PJ Harvey returns and 13 other songs you may have missed

A long-delayed return for a regular discopop feature, rounding up songs that have slipped under the radar in the last seven (or in this case 21) days.

Here we go, here we go, here we go now.

1) PJ Harvey - The Wheel
Four years after Let England Shake, PJ Harvey is still looking into the effects of war. This track was inspired by a visit to Kosovo, and references the thousands of children who disappeared during the conflict there. It opens with a squall of guitar and saxophone, but gives way to a lithe melody, underpinned by handclaps and a tribal drumbeat. Truly brilliant.




2) Grimes - Hate v Maim
Frankly, Grimes's squad looks a hell of a lot more intimidating than Taylor Swift's.




3) Spring King - Who Are You?
Manchester's Spring King were the first band to be played on Zane Lowe's Beats 1 show - and you can see why. This infectious, spritely indie-pop is the opening first track if you're making someone a mixtape this weekend.

Fun fact: The saxophone solo is played by the bassist's dad.




4) Laura Mvula - Overcome (ft Nile Rodgers)
Simply stunning. I can't recommend this highly enough.





5) Omarion - I Ain't Even Done (ft Ghostface Killah)
Silky rhymes and a laid-back flutestramental - this is a perfect throwback to the Wu Tang sound. Omarion calls it "high level vernacular" and "a generational victory". Well, quite.






6) Selena Gomez - Can't Keep My Hands To Myself
I mean I could but why would I want to?




7) Bryson Tiller - Don't
Kentucky-born Bryson Tiller recorded this bruising R&B jam in his living room, then watched it rack up 17 million Soundcloud plays in 10 months. Soon, Timbaland and Drake got on the phone and co-signed him to a record deal; and now the song is starting to get play on mainstream radio.

The lyrics see Bryson make an impassioned plea for a girl to leave an abusive relationship and settle down with him - but he rather undermines the gesture by singing about her "pussy" in the second verse.




8) Natalie Merchant - Tiny Desk Concert
A great big warm hug of a performance.





9) Låpsley - Love Is Blind
19-year-old Låpsley sounds older than her years on this mournful song "about someone being blind to the inevitability of a relationship ending". A gorgeous ballad, it showcases her husky contralto - and could easily be her breakout hit.




10) Rationale - Something For Nothing (Radio 1 Future Festival)
JUST LISTEN TO THAT VOICE.





11) Ekkah - Small Talk
I've been following Birmingham's Rebecca Wilson and Rebekah Pennington for a while now - and this vibrant synthpop banger is their first single after being signed to Sony / RCA. The video gives off a distinct Bananarama vibe - but the early, cool Bananarama, rather than the SAW-era cheese.





12) Ellie Goulding - Army
A touching ode to Ellie's best friend (and PA) Hannah. "The person who has seen me at my lowest and the first person I call in muffled sobs when something bad happens. We've been deliriously happy together, deliriously tired and deliriously sad together. I wanted to show our friendship for what it really is- honest, real, electric." Aw, bless.





13) The 1975 - The Sound
It's always a worry when a rock group "goes pop". Like dramatic actors trying their hand at comedy, they usually discover it's not as easy as it looks. (A case in point is Coldplay's new album - which is an excruciating exercise in forced jollity.) Luckily, The 1975 get it just right. The chunky 1990s piano sound and the ebullient arms-aloft chorus are designed to kick off at a hundred festivals this summer.




14) Adele - Carpool Karaoke
OK, you've probably seen this already - the YouTube count has reached 50 million in the space of a week - but it remains an absolute joy.

And that's your lot. Have a fantastic weekend!

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