By: Edna Batengas, Neil MacAlister, Courtney Miller, Natasha Tar
“No Peace” – Sam Smith, YEBBA
Edna Batengas: Sam Smith, constantly dropping romantic ballads. Love this one, downloading it as I type. I approve!
Neil MacAlister: I’ve heard nothing but good things about this new Sam Smith album, and honestly I’m pretty impressed by this. I couldn’t stand his old music, but this is beautiful.
Courtney Miller: Ew, Sam Smith. But YEBBA is chill, can we get just YEBBA?
Natasha Tar: Sappy garbage. I’m snoring.
“AIWA” – MC Solaar
EB: It has such a catchy beat. I mean, c’mon, who doesn’t love French music?
NM: Alright, this is actually a lot of fun. I’m into it.
CM: I mean if I have to listen to rap, this is better than most, but also general pass because of the weird breathy creepiness.
NT: It sounds a bit like a French-dubbed Batman monologue set to a generic beat.
“Garage Palace” – Gorillaz, Little Simz
EB: I was super excited when this song first came out, but after repeatedly listening to it, it’s not really my cup of tea, but it’s OK.
NM: This song’s pretty dope, honestly. One of the best things I’ve heard from Little Simz. I don’t know why Damon’s vocals are so absent from Gorillaz lately, though. It’s not the same without him.
CM: “Time is of the essence” so don’t waste it on this song. The beat is fairly chill, but it’s not enough to make me OK about listening to this whole thing.
NT: Did AI hijack this song? Everything about it is super stiff.
“I’m on Fire” – Ria Mae
EB: Nothing really new or special here. NEXT.
NM: This is fine. It’s a pretty chill song.
CM: I’m not going to add this to my personal Spotify collection, but as far as New Music Friday goes, this is pretty good for the first 30-ish seconds. Then it gets kind of boring.
NT: Good voice, but it sounds like four gazillion other songs I’ve heard before. The lyrics suck, too.
“Rap Saved Me” – 21 Savage, Offset, Metro Boomin, Quavo
EB: I mean, I have nothing against 21 Savage but I never understood the hype with him.
NM: This whole tape is excellent. There are far better songs on it, but this one is still pretty dope. Quavo can always bring a good chorus. 21 and Offset are such an unexpectedly amazing duo.
CM: The title is a lie. I’m further gone than ever. Also I really don’t like Quavo’s style so having him as the chorus is like the worst thing to happen to me today.
NT: Rap definitely is never ever going to save me.
“Santa’s Coming For Us” – SIA
EB: Eeeeppp, I downloaded this the minute Halloween ended. CHRISTMAS JAMS ALL DAY, EVERY DAY. Yes, yes, yes.
NM: Shoutout to SIA, but it’s still too early for Christmas music. Keep this away from me.
CM: I agree: it’s too early for Christmas music. But as far as Christmas music goes, I can dig it — once it’s December 22.
NT: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Gross, gross, gross. Also, the cover for it is terrifying.
“Ghost Ride” – Skepta, A$AP Rocky, A$AP Nast
EB: Such vulgar and juvenile lyrics. This song has MEME written all over it!
NM: I’ve been bumping since it dropped, this new Skepta EP is fantastic, and Rocky absolutely demolishes this song.
CM: Edna’s got this song down: vulgar and juvenile with no redeeming qualities. Skip it.
NT: Blah, blah, blah. Random fast talking and sounds. Big whoop.
“Customz” – Little Simz, Bibi Bourelly
EB: I don’t know how I feel about this one. I’ll be Switzerland here, I guess I’m neutral.
NM: Little Simz is honestly pretty dope, I really need to get around to listening to this album. I’m glad Bibi Bourelly is getting more placements, too.
CM: Nope.
NT: My favourite part was the airport sounds interlude.
“Broken” – Haley Smalls
EB: Meh, boring break up song. I haven’t heard this before . . .
NM: This is pretty generic, honestly. Nothing new here.
CM: Yeah, this is pretty boring from the melody to the track so I’m out.
NT: Is she saying “lozenge” or am I just imagining things? Is this a song about cough medicine?
“Lemon” – N.E.R.D, Rihanna
EB: RiRi rapping in this song just gave me life! I’ve got it playing on repeat already. How can you not love this song? “Lemon” all the way!
NM: This is one of my favourite songs right now. This is vintage N.E.R.D. Their new album is going to be legendary, and Rihanna absolutely goes in. She’s such an underrated rapper.
CM: Hey! I’m not a fan! Hey! It’s repetitive! Hey! Sorry RiRi, can’t do it. Hey!
NT: Waiting for Rihanna… Still waiting… waiting… WAITING… oh. OK then.
“Bazi Asklar Yarim Kalmali” – Irem Derici
EB: I’m alright with this one. Don’t know what she’s saying, but she sounds like a goddess.
NM: This sounds like what I imagine Turkish musicals must sound like.
CM: I’m enjoying the Spanish soap opera vibes from these strings. Dancing with the Stars take note: this’ll be a good song to use.
NT: I love it. Sign me up, I’m going to Turkey.
“Kenya” – Fakear, Jain
EB: This was really weird. Hard to get through . . .
NM: I like the production on this more than anything else, but it’s all fairly underwhelming.
CM: Popcorn! The vocals are jazzy which is cool, but it morphs into something weird with the backtrack and I don’t want to listen to it anymore.
NT: I mean, I like the voice, but the beat is so boring.
