New Music Friday: 5/16/25

Here are the rules: I listen to all 100 tracks of Spotify's New Music Friday playlist, except for anything that rhymes the n-word with itself more than three times, any screamo or screamo-adjacent stuff, any CCM that reveals its true intentions in time for me to hit the skip button, and any egregiously corny modern country music, typically performed by a dude with two first names. Having sifted through this week's playlist, here's what I actively enjoyed:

"RATHER BE," GIVĒON
It's really difficult to record a throwback soul cut that doesn't sound like it's trying way too hard to cop a classic feel, so let's all bow to Givēon (or GIVĒON, I guess, ugh) and give him massive props for recording something that sounds simultaneously new AND like a song that Al Green might have released at any point over the last 50 years. I have no idea who this guy is, but he has 25 million Spotify listeners, so that's definitely a me problem.

"Sola," Arca
Spotify artist bios tend to be fairly overheated in general, and Arca's is more overheated than most — I don't care what she's done, it doesn't warrant being described as "one of the world's most transformative musical talents." That being said, I'm generally a sucker for songs that contrast machine-driven beats with mile-high stacks of pillow-soft vocals, and "Sola" certainly drops into that bucket. You couldn't stab this thing with a fork, but it passes through the ears easily enough.