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4. Doja Cat: “Paint the City Pink”
Doja Cat mentioned what she mentioned. And I’m all ears. This 2023 observe from her fourth studio album, “Scarlet,” was her first No. 1 solo smash, and it’s simple to see why: the laid-back bravado, the sharp-edged verses, the ultracool supply and the killer pattern at its heart, from Dionne Warwick’s ethereal 1963 hit “Stroll on By.” Upon the music’s launch, Lindsay Zoladz, who usually writes this column, mentioned it greatest: “It’s the proper soundtrack for striding off into the sundown, leaving doubters within the mud.”
▶ Hear on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
5. Jessie Ware: “Start Once more”
Entrance to again, Jessie Ware’s 2023 album “That! Feels Good!” breathed new life into me. And this observe particularly, with its large, brassy horns and disco-meets-dreamy-darkness ambiance, has introduced me to tears in a great way. It’s additionally the “contact grass” dance anthem, so far as I’m involved: “Why does all of the purest love get filtered by way of machines?” Ware asks. “Gimme one thing good that’s even higher than it appears.”
▶ Hear on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
6. Sofi Tukker: “Jacaré”
Whereas the horns are horning, this horny observe from the electro-pop duo Sofi Tukker — Sophie Hawley-Weld and Tucker Halpern — pulsates with humidity, transporting me to a faraway seaside. A lot of Sofi Tukker’s music attracts on international dance sounds anchored within the pair’s love of Brazilian tradition and the Portuguese language. The phrase jacaré means alligator in Portuguese however, because the duo informed the music web site Northern Transmissions in 2023, it’s additionally used as a derogatory phrase for ladies who’re drawn to girls. “We needed to take the phrase and flip it into one thing optimistic and joyful quite than a time period used as an insult or menace,” the duo mentioned. An ideal choose for Satisfaction Month.
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7. Moist Leg: “Catch These Fists”
This British indie-rock group skyrocketed to fame in 2021 off the success of its bawdy single “Chaise Longue,” which is delivered with scary-cool deadpan confidence. This new observe off the band’s soon-to-be-released second album, “Moisturizer,” captures that temper with “bristling bass and guitar riffs and a beat that stomps its approach into the refrain,” as our chief pop music critic Jon Pareles put it. Its combative twist provides me that adrenaline I.V. I have to push up a hill or maintain my vitality up for a late-night bonfire. “Try to be cautious, do you catch my drift?” the lead singer Rhian Teasdale taunts. “’Trigger what I actually wanna know is are you able to catch these fists?”
▶ Hear on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
8. Girl Gaga: “Shadow of a Man”
Whereas the consensus appears to be that “Abracadabra” is the crown jewel on Girl Gaga’s newest album, “Mayhem” (I’m not disagreeing!), it’s this swagger-drenched electro-pop bop that I haven’t been capable of shake for even a minute. With its Michael Jackson-esque drip, sonic vitality and feverish peaks, I virtually spun into the fireplace pit dancing to it below the final full moon — so beware the “little monster” in you and I’ll do the identical.
▶ Hear on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
9. Billie Eilish: “Misplaced Trigger”
No music might have saved me from the poisonous relationships of my youth like this might need. Oh properly! I can reside vicariously now. From Billie Eilish’s second album, “Happier Than Ever,” this music about lastly seeing an ex because the flop they’ve at all times been is breezy but smoldering, jazzy but trendy and, better of all, studded with savage digs like, “Thought you’ll’ve grown ultimately, however you proved me flawed.” Play it as quickly because the solar has absolutely dipped and the darkness is increasing to domesticate a sultry and cheeky vibe.
