Each week, The FADER staff rounds up the songs we can't get enough of. Here they are, in no particular order. Listen on our Spotify and Apple Music playlists, or hear them all below.
Jane Remover, “JRJRJR”
Continuing their excavation of post-rage aesthetics that began with “Flash in the Pan,” Jane Remover follows up one of our favorite songs of 2024 with a single meant to set the tone for the new year. “I been whatever the fuck,” they screech through layers of AutoTune, a declaration that is as much a reference to her consistently unpredictable genre collisions as the messy personal life they detail in the song’s lyrics. Change is more of a lifeforce than a mere M.O. for Jane Remover, its exciting possibilities influencing their views on love and the future while running up against the realities of their career which find them “rehearsing songs I hate in Silver Lake / Trying not to cry.” It’s a remarkably successful bottling of the ambivalence that fuels Jane Remover’s music. —Jordan Darville
Skiifall featuring Jorja Smith, "Her World"
Skiifall and Jorja Smith come together on a lovers rock track produced by Kenny Beats that shows two different sides to an argument. Montreal-based Skiifall is the more confused of the pair, singing sweetly about being left alone in the club. Jorja, meanwhile, explains her Irish exit, calling him out for a lack of honesty. This charged back-and-forth plays out over a beautifully sun-kissed beat that just about masks the hurt inspiring both sides. —David Renshaw
Hyldon & Adrian Younge, "O Caçador de Estrelas"
Hyldon, a stalwart Brazilian singer since the late ’60s and a prominent figure in the Black Rio Movement, is teaming up with the ascendant Los Angeles curatorial force Jazz Is Dead for an album of original tunes recorded in label co-founder Adrian Younge’s studio. The record’s first single, “O Caçador de Estrelas,” is a sleekening of Hyldon’s classic sounds, placing his lovely tenor over tasty bass licks, sparkling keys, and ’70s synths. It’s a portal back to a more hopeful time, when studio budgets soared, session musicians enjoyed comfortable careers, and all signs pointed to unfettered success for an industry whose breath now sounds more like a death rattle every day. —Raphael Helfand
SPELLLING, "Portrait of My Heart"
SPELLLING’s anthemic “Portrait of My Heart” accesses that specifically childlike angst of feeling out of place and wanting escape. Sitting in her childhood bedroom surrounded by drawings and posters in its nostalgic music video, the Bay Area artist passionately belts “I don’t belong here” as a portal opens up in front of her. It’s what everyone might’ve wished could’ve happened while growing up, a plainly universal experience made cinematically big through SPELLLING’s unforgettable voice. —Steffanee Wang
Destroyer (feat. Fiver), “Bologna”
Dan Bejar, a master of creating strange and compelling characters within his songs as Destroyer, takes an unusual step for his new song “Bologna:” a duet. The first voice we hear belongs to the Toronto singer-songwriter Simone Schmidt a.k.a. Fiver; amongst the sound of pop-addled cabana jazz filtered through tube radio, we hear classic Bejar-ian irony in Schmidt’s strong, woodsy tone: “There’s an outside chance you’ll never see me again.” The contrast between Schmidt and Bejar’s voice, coiled and impenetrable like an old dirt road, offers new perspective on Bejar’s long-running project. —JD
Cryogeyser, “Stargirl”
The latest track from shoegaze-adjacent Los Angeles rockers Cryogeyser, released alongside news of a forthcoming self-titled LP, is a heavy waltz that sounds three-parts Nirvana and two-parts American Football with singer-guitarist Shawn Marom’s tuneful but volatile vocals crashing in over the top. “Try to turn my back on it, sucks me back in it’s so fucked up,” they sing as the song’s slow simmer rises to a boil, backing their own vocal with a shout for emphasis. Five years after the release of their debut album, Glitch, Cryogeyser have coalesced into something much more than the sum of their influences. —RH
Youth Lagoon, “Speed Freak”
Arriving with the announcement of Youth Lagoon’s next album, Rarely Do I Dream, “Speed Freak” is a U-turn from the wistful piano music of the reclusive singer-songwriter's previous project, Idaho Alien, and the several singles he’s released since. Over a spiky drum-machine groove, a crunchy bass lick, and a synth that drops us in the middle of a ’90s trip-hop set, he sings about being set upon by stray dogs, making friends with bullfrogs, and being an all-around weirdo. Youth Lagoon has always been a bit odd, but this is the first time he’s shown us this side of his freak and asked us to match it. —RH
Japanese Breakfast, "Orlando In Love"
"Orlando In Love" is the first taste of Michelle Zauner's upcoming album For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women). The mournful song riffs on “Orlando Innamorato,” an epic poem from the Italian Renaissance. If you can't flex your literary credentials after writing a NYT-bestseller, when can you? Zauner's indie rock roots shine through regardless, with a chugging guitar girding the ache in her vocals and sending the whole thing stratospheric. —DR
Sarafina The Great, "DJ Sara Freestyle"
Sarafina The Great is currently blowing up with two tracks she dropped in late December. “DJ Sara Freestyle” is my favorite of the pair (but do check out “Approach Me,” too). It's a breathless and confident introduction to the self-styled “Queen of the Coast” who reps her Ivorian roots, while chasing either money or your man. Consider it a new year's resolution to be more Sara. —DR