New Music Friday: 8/1/25

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:

"The Subway," Chappell Roan
I haven't spent a ton of time with Chappell Roan's music, mainly because I'm self-aware enough to understand that Chappell Roan isn't really making music for people in my particular demographic. I like "The Subway" a lot, though — there's a vague sort of Sundays thing going on here, particularly in the chorus, and as has been demonstrated in this space on more than one occasion, I'm a pretty big sucker for anything that reminds me of the Sundays, even a little.

"Is It a Crime," Mariah the Scientist featuring Kali Uchis
I like the subtle tug of war between the vocal melody and the beat here, as well as the way the production adds layers, then peels them back. There aren't a lot of ways to make a modern R&B song about the vagaries of love sound fresh and interesting at this point, but "Is It a Crime" pulls it off.