Throughout the week, we update our Best New Songs playlist with the new releases that caught our attention the most, be it a single leading up to the release of an album or a newly unveiled deep cut. And each Monday, we round up the best new songs released over the past week (the eligibility period begins on Monday and ends Sunday night) in this best new music segment.
On this week’s list, we have Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Mother I Sober’, the longest and most resonant song on his new album, a heart-wrenching meditation on collective trauma that slowly builds intensity, over somber pianos and with gentle accompaniment from Portishead’s Beth Gibbons; the tenderly devastating new track from Bartees Strange, ‘Hold the Line’, which was inspired by George Floyd’s daughter, Gianna; ‘Welcome to Hell’, the nightmarish, shape-shifting lead single from black midi’s third album; Julia Jacklin’s sparse and meditative ‘Lydia Wears a Cross’, which leads her upcoming LP PRE PLEASURE; ‘Thin Thing’, a captivating, jazzy highlight off the Smile’s debut album; Stella Donnelly’s danceable yet lyrically complex ‘Lungs’, the opening track off her recently announced LP Flood; and ‘Ptolemaea’, a horrific, Chelsea Wolfe-esque standout from Ethel Cain’s debut album that sets distorted vocals against thrashing guitars.
Best New Songs: May 16, 2022
Song of the Week: Kendrick Lamar feat. Beth Gibbons, ‘Mother I Sober’
Bartees Strange, ‘Hold the Line’
black midi, ‘Welcome to Hell’
The Smile, ‘Thin Thing’
Julia Jacklin, ‘Lydia Wears a Cross’
Stella Donnelly, ‘Lungs’
Ethel Cain, ‘Ptolemaea’
