10 Songs You Need In Your Life This Week

Popcaan picks up where Chief Keef left off with "Never Sober," and it couldn't have been timed better considering absolutely no one in the office is sober today. Popcaan is smoothing out his patois on here like he did on "Everything Nice," and we expect this will crossover into the summer with the same broad appeal. "No time!" is my favorite adlib of the year behind "skrr." Does Popcaan drive? Yes, he does. — Matthew Trammell

Much has been made of the fact that Londoner Georgia started out drumming for other artists, and it’s true that you can hear that urgent quality and focus on complex rhythm in her productions. But more and more, the 25-year-old is showing her teeth as a songwriter and as a frontwoman. On “Nothing Solutions,” the second single from her upcoming debut album on Domino, she has a menacing howl, falling somewhere between riot grrrl and radio popstar. — Aimee Cliff

Here's something that's always on my mind, and maybe on yours, too: Whats gonna happen to all the viral rappers we've loved once the radio spins slow and the club DJs move on? Bobby Shmurda's months deep into a jail stay, while Fetty Wap seems to be making a very real case for longevity. What, then, of O.T. Genasis? My guess is the Atlanta rapper will end up somewhere in between, if his brand new "Do It" is anything to go by. The smooth, Maxwell-sampling track, which features a sweet verse from Lil Wayne, couldn't be further from last year's cocaine-slinging "CoCo." He might never be able to match the magnitude of his first single, but it's nice to see him try something different. — Rawiya Kameir

U.K. pop trio Years & Years aren’t necessarily the most innovative to be doing it right now, but their latest single “Shine” is pretty undeniable. Gossamer and with just a hint of groove, it's buoyed by a big ole’ anthemic chorus—It’s you that I’ve been waiting to find—sung by Olly Alexander at the top of his range. Plus, it’s something to bond with your little cousins over at the next family cookout. — Zara Golden

Some amazing but not entirely unexpected news: Katie Dey’s mesmerizing first album is being released by still-unbeatable New York label Orchid Tapes. Also not surprising: the first run of pale green cassettes has already sold out. Earlier this week, the New Zealand artist put out an animated video for "Unkillable," one of asdfasdf's layered pop songs. With a caffeine-rush melody and lyrics you can almost decipher, this is maybe the collection’s most accessible moment, even with Dey's berserk vocals stretching and screeching ’til the end. If you blinked and missed the first pressing, there’s violet tapes too. For now, anyway. — Patrick D. McDermott

There's something about the way Thundercat say's he's a heartless broken mess that really makes you believe him. For the most part, "Them Changes" is straightforward funk built on comfort-food drums, but certain lyrics pop up and pull you out of the groove and into the Los Angeles bassists' mind. Nobody move, there's blood on the floor—feel you dogs. — Matthew Trammell

Abra might be the most melodic and sweet-sounding member of the Awful crew, but everything she does seems to contain a quiet threat. That’s why I love her music—because I feel like I can never quite get the measure of her. Take “Fruit,” an unassuming and pretty tune from her new full-length project Rose. Halfway through the song, it’s like a screen drops to reveal that you and Abra are the only ones here. She’s staring you down as she asks you: are you really gonna stand there staring at me all the way from across the room? — Aimee Cliff

Stick with Prada Mane's "You" for the second verse, where the sad-sack single wakes up like gold streaks through overcast. He's funny, a RISD kid in Brooklyn signed to Himanshu's Greedhead label who's coming with as much dizzying irony and self-obsession as his label boss. He's got a tape coming, and it's probably gonna bum me out. I'm looking forward to it. — Matthew Trammell

Props to Bankroll Fresh for turning the “Hot Boy” remix into an excuse to stage an actual—and actually good—Hot Boy reunion. Wayne opens his hungry verse by declaring Come through looking like the old me, before passing the torch to Turk and Juve, who make equally strong showings. B.G. is still in jail, but his presence is felt with shoutouts like Free B.Gizzle, that's still my big brother , from Wayne and I still free B.G.!, from Turk. — Zara Golden

Life fucking sucks, but sometimes it just takes a single song to turn things around. Ms. Lauryn Hill's righteous cover of Nina Simone's "Feeling Good," which will appear on a forthcoming tribute album, Nina Revisited: A Tribute to Nina Simone, felt like a healing after a tough week: Dragonfly out in the sun, you know what I mean, don't you know/ Butterflies are all havin' fun, you know what I mean/ Sleep in peace when day is done/ And this old world is a new world and a bold world for me. Yes. — Rawiya Kameir