Charli XCX Has a Tame Girl's Night, and DJ Khaled Drops Another Love Actually-Style Video
EntertainmentMusic
Nah: Charli XCX, “Girls Night Out” – I’m a Charli AND a SOPHIE Stan (who produced this track) but the “no boys, no boys, no boys!” chorus and overall sound is giving me Sophia Grace flashbacks, by which I mean I’d think I’d sooner hear this on Disney radio than Zane Lowe. Sorry gals! —Hazel Cills
No thanks, mostly: Bhad Bhabie, “Trust Me” feat. Ty Dolla $ign (video) – This might be the first Bhad Bhabie single (that I’ve heard, so, that isn’t “Hi Bich” and “I Got It”) that doesn’t bang! Bummer. Ballads aren’t her territory, clearly, but I will give props to the video. In it, the bad baby herself, Danielle Bregoli, murders a child predator with some help from BELLA THORNE. I couldn’t make this shit up if I tried. —Maria Sherman
Y: Rosalía, “Pienso En Tu Mirá” – Her music, unique in the Spanish space, is a refreshing, modern twist to an original, old flamenco sound. Her latest song and video dropped earlier this week, and serves as a testament to how multidimensional she is—both are a painfully beautiful depiction of love and a tormented mind. The video also gives us a preview of Rosalía’s acting skills, which she’ll fully display in Pedro Almodovar’s next film. —Ecleen Caraballo
Y: Quay Dash, “U.A.F.W.M.” – New York’s least bothered rapper returns with “U.A.F.W.M.,” a three-minute declaration of utter superiority in which Quay counts all the ways “you ain’t fucking with me.” She’s on top (“Middle fingers up to the cops”), she’s a queen (“Don’t you see my crown?”), she’s real beyond real (“Never had to mone”), and she’s in demand (“Got your man all on my cock”). She wins, she argues, and her case is airtight. One of the biggest draws here, as on last year’s SOPHIE-produced “Bossed Up” and Penacho collab “Decline Him,” is in Quay’s signature steely delivery, amplified by the muted frenzy of Sega Bodega’s buzzing, swarm-like production. Her lyrics are intense and her flow is pummeling, but she’s calm, cool, and collected as she goes in for the kill. —Harron Walker
Y: DJ Khaled, “No Brainer” feat. Justin Bieber, Chance the Rapper and Quavo – Do you remember when all of those movies based on specific holidays kept coming out, all trying to ride on the magic of Love, Actually? Movies like New Years Day, Valentine’s Day, or Mother’s Day, which were packed to the gills with gorgeous celebs, whose stories were sort of scattered across a city or country? I feel like DJ Khaled’s videos are the musical equivalent of those movies. It’s always him, a handful of cool pop stars and rappers, dancing and singing in some beautiful location to a catchy bop. There’s no inventing the wheel, it’s just a fun time, and that’s why I like his latest “No Brainer.” Extra points for featuring Justin Bieber on the heartthrob chorus because it’s nice to know he’s getting outside of his mega church these days! —HC
YES: The 1975, “Love It If We Made It” – There is no better song, currently, than “Love It If We Made It.” I say this as someone who, until last week, could not wrap my head around why the 1975—a British synth-pop-punk band that, on the surface, looks to be in the same neighborhood as… The Neighbourhood—were causing half the music critics I follow on Twitter to lose their marbles. Let the record show: I was missing the fuck out. With a more-than-passing resemblance to ’80s sophistipop jams like “In the Air Tonight” or “Higher Love,” “Love It If We Made It” is an anthem that begins with the line, “Fucking in a car/shooting heroin,” and somehow ramps up the intensity the whole way through, covering everything from mass incarceration to Lil Peep’s death to the surveillance state to “poison me daddy” to the absurdist diatribes of our Commander of Cheese. Rather than defensively claiming that he didn’t start the fire, frontman Matt Healy howls like he’s being burned alive. But the end result is something way more exquisite than cynical: “Love It If We Made It” is a twinkling call-to-arms for waiting out a hurricane, and it’s perfect. —Claire Shaffer
Oh yeah: Jessie Reyez, “Apple Juice” (video) – If Jessie Reyez’s latest single is all about a love interest who’s kind of helpless in matters of the heart, then the music video for “Apple Juice” is like the extended version of an Instagram flex. Reyez poses in open-air balconies, smokes hookah, sails a boat, and more as she sings about heartbreak and loss. I respect it, even if the old-school grainy photo filter miss the mark. Speaking of old school, the song and her hair reminds me greatly of Joss Stone, which is a compliment. Girl’s got pipes, and she’s not afraid to show off. —Frida Garza
No thanks, mostly: Bhad Bhabie, “Trust Me” feat. Ty Dolla $ign (video) – This might be the first Bhad Bhabie single (that I’ve heard, so, that isn’t “Hi Bich” and “I Got It”) that doesn’t bang! Bummer. Ballads aren’t her territory, clearly, but I will give props to the video. In it, the bad baby herself, Danielle Bregoli, murders a child predator with some help from BELLA THORNE. I couldn’t make this shit up if I tried. —Maria Sherman
Y: Rosalía, “Pienso En Tu Mirá” – Her music, unique in the Spanish space, is a refreshing, modern twist to an original, old flamenco sound. Her latest song and video dropped earlier this week, and serves as a testament to how multidimensional she is—both are a painfully beautiful depiction of love and a tormented mind. The video also gives us a preview of Rosalía’s acting skills, which she’ll fully display in Pedro Almodovar’s next film. —Ecleen Caraballo
Y: Quay Dash, “U.A.F.W.M.” – New York’s least bothered rapper returns with “U.A.F.W.M.,” a three-minute declaration of utter superiority in which Quay counts all the ways “you ain’t fucking with me.” She’s on top (“Middle fingers up to the cops”), she’s a queen (“Don’t you see my crown?”), she’s real beyond real (“Never had to mone”), and she’s in demand (“Got your man all on my cock”). She wins, she argues, and her case is airtight. One of the biggest draws here, as on last year’s SOPHIE-produced “Bossed Up” and Penacho collab “Decline Him,” is in Quay’s signature steely delivery, amplified by the muted frenzy of Sega Bodega’s buzzing, swarm-like production. Her lyrics are intense and her flow is pummeling, but she’s calm, cool, and collected as she goes in for the kill. —Harron Walker
Y: DJ Khaled, “No Brainer” feat. Justin Bieber, Chance the Rapper and Quavo – Do you remember when all of those movies based on specific holidays kept coming out, all trying to ride on the magic of Love, Actually? Movies like New Years Day, Valentine’s Day, or Mother’s Day, which were packed to the gills with gorgeous celebs, whose stories were sort of scattered across a city or country? I feel like DJ Khaled’s videos are the musical equivalent of those movies. It’s always him, a handful of cool pop stars and rappers, dancing and singing in some beautiful location to a catchy bop. There’s no inventing the wheel, it’s just a fun time, and that’s why I like his latest “No Brainer.” Extra points for featuring Justin Bieber on the heartthrob chorus because it’s nice to know he’s getting outside of his mega church these days! —HC
YES: The 1975, “Love It If We Made It” – There is no better song, currently, than “Love It If We Made It.” I say this as someone who, until last week, could not wrap my head around why the 1975—a British synth-pop-punk band that, on the surface, looks to be in the same neighborhood as… The Neighbourhood—were causing half the music critics I follow on Twitter to lose their marbles. Let the record show: I was missing the fuck out. With a more-than-passing resemblance to ’80s sophistipop jams like “In the Air Tonight” or “Higher Love,” “Love It If We Made It” is an anthem that begins with the line, “Fucking in a car/shooting heroin,” and somehow ramps up the intensity the whole way through, covering everything from mass incarceration to Lil Peep’s death to the surveillance state to “poison me daddy” to the absurdist diatribes of our Commander of Cheese. Rather than defensively claiming that he didn’t start the fire, frontman Matt Healy howls like he’s being burned alive. But the end result is something way more exquisite than cynical: “Love It If We Made It” is a twinkling call-to-arms for waiting out a hurricane, and it’s perfect. —Claire Shaffer
Oh yeah: Jessie Reyez, “Apple Juice” (video) – If Jessie Reyez’s latest single is all about a love interest who’s kind of helpless in matters of the heart, then the music video for “Apple Juice” is like the extended version of an Instagram flex. Reyez poses in open-air balconies, smokes hookah, sails a boat, and more as she sings about heartbreak and loss. I respect it, even if the old-school grainy photo filter miss the mark. Speaking of old school, the song and her hair reminds me greatly of Joss Stone, which is a compliment. Girl’s got pipes, and she’s not afraid to show off. —Frida Garza
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