Reviewing every track on Spotify's New Music Friday
An exercise in patience, grace, and ...idk maybe this is bad idea.
Yes, it’s five hours of music.
Yes, it’s mostly built to service major label overlords.
I’m not here to dunk or just snark on everything - this is a 100 song look at what Spotify considers what we should listen to, and I’m just taking that intention extremely seriously.
So let’s dive into the dollar bins of tomorrow, so let’s dig in: I’m reviewing every track on Spotify’s New Music Friday playlist.
I’ll update live as I get through it a few tracks at a time, so feel free to listen along.
Here we go!
Drake, 21 Savage, Travis Scott - Pussy & Millions
Absolute cruise control for Drake, but the private jet strut is a compelling backdrop for 21 and Travis. Your worst friends will use this chorus in their TikToks. And a Lil Yachty production credit!
Selena Gomez - My Mind & Me
Once you hear how this sounds like a bizarro Pixies song, you can’t unhear it. I hope whoever wrote the little piano riff gets paid.
Joji - Die For You
Listening to “Die For You” b2b with the Selena single reveals how much major label verses lean hard into the one corkscrew post-Taylor confessional vibe to build tension to choruses. Thankfully, the latest from Joji finds more assured and charming territory by the prechorus, smeary with Tame Impala-esque soft focus synth.
Tiesto, Tate McRae - 10:35
I was big on Tiësto’s Charli XCX collab “Hot In It” earlier this year, but this feels like a moderately strong country FM single grafted onto a beat. I almost guarantee we’ll hear an acoustic version on the radio before the end of the year.
P!nk - Never Gonna Not Dance Again
P!nk hops on the soft-disco pop trend, but it’s Max Martin so the parts work. It’s not a *new* rollercoaster but that doesn’t mean it’s not a fun ride. The requisite Nile Rodgers guitar is there, the dramatic pre-chorus - I’m not mad at it, but it did overstay its welcome halfway through.
Drake & 21 Savage - Major Distribution
A much, much funnier chorus than “Pussy & Millions” but again convinced they made this record for the least likeable guys in the world. 21 laps Drake in listenability and tension, again.
A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie - Ballin
Lyrics like “Ballin like LeBron” add to the feeling that this song could have been released at any point in the last 10 years, and not in the classic way.
BROCKHAMPTON - Big Pussy
“Big Pussy” opens hard with a distorted upright bass groove and furious rhymes precisely recall the Beastie Boys’ “Check Your Head” era and it looks great on the Brockhampton fellas. The mid-song shift to 70’s strings and strut still work, but I kept hoping for an abrupt shift to the confrontational energy of “Big Pussy’s” opening minutes.
hemlocke springs - girlfriend
Hemlocke Springs uses dozens of different voices in this track - vocal fry intimacy, Grimes slither, Cyndi Lauper yelps - and it all works over a bubbling, cheery stomp. Pitchfork compared it to Phoenix, but the song’s playfulness reminds me more of Metronomy’s play with classic FM pop in the name of silly intimacy and wink-wink groove.
Phoenix - After Midnight
I really can’t wait to spend a lot of time listening to “Alpha Zulu,” Phoenix’s new record in five years. The band doesn’t settle for nostalgia, but their self-assured use of their classic sound and signifiers still makes it a comforting, warm listen. “After Midnight” follows a streak of strong pre-album singles, and it might be the most immediate and fun of the bunch.
Gryffin & Matt Maeson - Lose Your Love
Meaningful XX guitars! Big post-chorus drop! Faux-country croon! “I had to lose your love / to know I couldn’t live without it” is perfectly fine, but unfortunately perfectly indicates the level of personality you’ll find here.
Jessie Murph - If I Died Last Night
It’s jarring hearing a mostly acoustic story-song amidst NMF’s much larger tracks - Murph’s almost-Joanna Newsom croon isn’t for everyone, but the chorus is surging, strange, and unlike “Lose Your Love,” memorable.
Russell Dickerson - Sorry
Massive FM country, down to the Mutt Lange snares, mandolins and violins. If you want to feel like you’re dropped in the end credits of a Nashville-based rom com, “Sorry” is perfect.
Sleepy Hallow - Marie
The second dose of XX guitars on the playlist - Romy Madley Croft needs to start getting royalties - but in service of sing-rap earnesty. Is this what Ja Rule would be doing if he came up in 2022? He wouldn’t be above lines like “I want you to get all in your feels every time that they play this” either.
Drake & 21 Savage - Privileged Rappers
After my third helping of Her Loss I think I get the pattern - we open with a seemingly cast-off chorus from Drake to set up 21 for his verse. It works enough where I’m not mad at it the third go-round.
Masego - Say You Want Me
An extremely smooth and charming bounce from Masego. It goes down a little too easy, but the song seems less about delivering you from a verse to a chorus than keeping you held down in a heavy vibe, and it works - this is one of the first songs on NMF I wasn’t pressing skip halfway through.
Q - Today
Extreme quiet storm vibes all over this song - which I’m all here for - but the chords were eerily reminiscent of “Dreaming of You” up top? The Head Hunters-style bass drop in the middle lavishes the song in fur-lined squelch, but I was really thirsting for ice-cold 80s soprano sax and Linndrum, but the vocal performance is so strong nothing here feels costume-y.
Jason Derulo & Shouse - Never Let You Go
Huge 2010’s style EDM? In this economy???
Avril Lavigne & YUNGBLUD - I’m A Mess
Hot Topic Classic Rock! Vocally, Avril still knows her brand, knows her lane, and thrives in it. The mall-punk sneer of “HEEERE” before she hits the chorus is an artist flexing her toolkit. The chorus works as well today as it would have in 2002, and though YUNGBLUD’s verse is less compelling, the teenage angst is still palpable, especially on the massive, string-laden bridge.
FLETCHER - Suckerpunch
XX guitars again. The whiplash between the melancholy of the verse and the driving synth fist-pump of the chorus almost works, if each section didn’t lean so hard into well-trodden sounds.
Dean Lewis - All For You
Big, trembling balladry from Australian singer-songwriter Dean Lewis. The song has a light touch as it builds, avoiding huge drops in favor of a slow build. It’s all a little Ed Sheeran in the big moments, but I’m sure there are teens getting absolutely shredded by this song right now.
Saint Harison - why did you call???
Big Partridge Family ballad energy here. A lot of major label ballads feel like big 70’s Captain and Tenille piano ballads rewrapped in ~meaningful instrumentation~ and honestly, someone needs to re-do “Do That To Me One More Time” ASAP.
SG Lewis - Lifetime
Lewis delivered two of the best tracks on Tove Lo’s Dirt Femme - “Call On Me” and “Pineapple Slice,” and I’m surprised that there’s less of that gritting, hi-NRG vibe on his solo tracks. It’s a little Sob Rock, but also that’s a move! The choruses feel like big washes of light, and everything is effortless, catered - they have tuna tartare? Might as well try all the canapes!
Toby Nwigwe, Fat Nwigwe - They Want It, But No
Urgent, racing beats under rhymes from Texas rappers Tobe and Fat Nwigwe clearly built for a massive action movie.
NLE Choppa - Ice Spice
“Bad bitch look like Ice Spice” is the only lyric mentioning the NY rapper by name in the latest from this Memphis rapper. Is this the rap version of SEO gaming? I guess the tactic already worked - but in execution, it feels cheap.
ThxSoMch - SPIT IN MY FACE!
Part of what makes reviewing MNF tracks is you occasionally find a bizarre song that’s *already* a hit - this track already has two million plays on Spotify! The hook is exactly what you’d expect, buoyed by a pure pop-punk bassline. “It don’t phase me”
Cavetown - heart attack
The first “indie rock” offering on the chart! Needling guitars, self-conscious lyricism? I’m in! The spiraling guitar outro is a nice break from NMF’s verse-chorus-verse rigidity but the song has the same thrift store softness to its lyrics as the other ballads on the track, so it’s less a breath of fresh air as it is a new colorway.
Stephen Sanchez & Ashe - Missing You (with Ashe)
Musical theater kids! Vocal training! I cannot wait for these two to show up in an episode of the Bachelor.
Olivia O’Brien - Never Be The One
This song actually has stronger Max Martin vibes than the *actual* Max Martin track on this week’s NMF - the shift to the chorus is seamless, the details in the verses are spot-on, the lifting-yet-driving arrangement is buoyant and spotless.
DJ Snake - Nightbird
The vocal-and-bass intro is properly dumb, but unfortunately leads to an anodyne drop. The intro is the whole world of Paranoid London, and I wish this song stayed there for the whole track.
Gorillaz - Baby Queen
An elegiac groover from Damon Albarn and co. I’ve found the recent slew of Gorillaz singles - “Cracker Island” especially - pretty tuneful and captivating in a way their last albums haven’t been. Mostly I’m just always happy to hear Albarn croon, so this one’s good by me.
Mora - DOMINGO DE BOTE
A solid dose of reggaeton from Puerto Rican artist Mora. Functional low-pass transitions and sweeping, sidechained synths give some color to the song’s relentless beat - Mora occasionally doesn’t rise above the beat, but there’s no way you’d be mad hearing this at any function.
Elmiene - Why (Spare Me Tears)
Big Shuggie Otis vibes from Elmiene’s lowkey pocket here. The song elegantly drifts into space for its second half, but the dense, dry groove up front is what had me wanting to go back for a second listen.
Luke Bryan - Prayin’ In A Deer Stand
“Heard I read somewhere in the good book-” Sometimes hearing big country tracks is like hearing an AI write about what it thinks America is. “Me and God in a corn field?” Is Luke Bryan doing a Tennessee version of Kierkegaard’s existential church? Every detail of this song feels like it’s from an alternate reality but it sort of bangs so I’m still in.
Teddy Swims - The Plan
The first waltz on the playlist?? More post-Sheeran balladry, but far more personality than most imitators, thanks to the unusual (for major label releases) drum tones and lyrical detail.
First Aid Kit - Palomino
Ramshackle indie-country that expertly uses a spiralling harmony vocal to splash into a sweet, warm refrain.
MorMor - Here It Goes Again
A sweet chorus pinned to a brooding, indie-funk verse - very 70s FM rock via Kevin Parker.
Quevedo - Punto G
Woozy, molasses-slow reggaeton beats underpin the latest from Spain’s Quevedo. The extra space is a great fit for Quevedo’s unctuous sense of timing, as he dances around the lurching rhythm with energetic command.
David Guetta, MORTEN, RAYE - You Can’t Change Me
Exactly what you’d expect from a Guetta collab. No reason to listen to this outside of a spin class.
Nelly & Chris Lane - Birthday Girl
An ode to girls going out for their birthday. Somehow even more ham-fisted and cloying than you’d think.
Madeleine Edwards - Mama, Dolly, Jesus
Enjoyable novelty-adjacent country stomp about…well yeah, exactly what the song says it’s about. Leans heavy on the Dolly, which more than works for me.
Anson Seabra - Hard To Be Human
Imagine deeply feeling these feelings, picking up a pen, and then writing the world’s most generic lyrics. Maybe the first track I really couldn’t finish on this playlist.
quinnie - itch
The first song on this playlist that never went where I expected it to - part Grizzly Bear, part Phoebe Bridgers, part Execution of all Things, “itch” stomps, zooms, fawns, preens, but mostly just wonders out loud to itself about wanting more, not knowing if it’s what you need.
Arden Jones - not afraid at all
There’s a strain of gen Z rap-rock that throws in a heavy dash of Foster The People to the usual mix of emo and Juice WRLD. “not afraid at all” has a friendly CA bounce on top of the normal emotional theatrics - a healthy dose of sunshine to wash down the angst.
Zai1k - Drive Me Crazy
Zai1k is 17, and he sounds it. There’s a youthful sunshine that makes the more emotional moments a little unbelievable, but there’s an early Bieber earnestness that makes this hard to dislike.
Scribz Riley - Satisfied
This song is frictionless to the point where I forgot it was on. Sometimes smoothness is the enemy!
Lecrae - Still In America
Lecrae leans into all of the signifiers of an Important Rap Song About America, from the choir pads, sneakily hopeful choruses into menacing verses, and including “America” in the name. There’s very little the song reveals outside of the opening 30s about America, or for that matter, Lecrae.
Sam Fischer - Carry It Well
An oddly effective big, slightly Oasis-y track about not quite doing as well as you’d like in your life - if Elton John knew what #adulting was, he might have written this.
Two Friends & Bryce Vine - Graduated
I had a hard time keeping focus on anything in this song ostensibly about loving good girls when you’re a bad guy? I would not see this rom com.
John Summit & Hannah Boleyn - Show Me
Extremely 1999 big room house, straight outta the soundtrack to “The Saint.” Something about the trance-y synths throw me back to a simpler time when electronica seemed big, wild and cool. I’ll take it.