Every Friday, The New York Times’ pop critics evaluate the week’s most notable new songs and videos. You just want the music? Listen to the playlist on Spotify here (or find our profile: nytimes). Like you heard? Report to us [email protected] and Sign up for our Louder newsletter is a weekly explosion of our pop music coverage.
Flo, ‘Carton Box (Live Acoustic)’
A stunning introduction to the litany of left-to-left kissing anthems, Flo’s “Cardboard Box” is cheeky, confident, and a little rightfully vulgar than usual. Flo – Jorja Douglas, Renée Downer and Stella Quaresma – a hugely talented British R&B girl group that released a few strong songs last year, but this one was the most striking, the frown layoffs, self-love affirmations and this acoustic commentary conveying happiness in the midst of decadence. sweet harmonies: “You won’t change boy / What’s the point of stringing me a-loh-ohngggg?” JON CARAMANICA
Becky G and Karol G, ‘Mamiii’
This blockbuster 2022 hit – the inevitable collaboration between two “real G”s, Becky (American grandson of Mexican immigrants) and Karol (from Colombia) – tries to be the ultimate kiss of a toxic ex. “I gave you my heart,” accuses Becky G as the song begins, but she definitely got her heart back by changing her phone number and comparing her ex to a rat and a venereal disease. With the leap of a reggaeton rhythm, with fraternal harmonies, separation becomes an experience of female bonding: angry, playful, unforgiving. JON PARLES
The Beast and the Great Pack, ‘Cappin’
The most obvious response to the recent increase in the use of rap lyrics in court cases is this: Rappers – like all artists – lie. Of course they do. Rap is history and reportage, and it’s also embellishment and fantasy. Placing an unreasonable truth value in a series of words, perhaps based on real experience, but also presented in a rhyming and narrative coherence and entertainingly – it’s a game of fools. Thus, “Cappin,” a song by rappers Monster and Big Flock, is a song made under the assumption of surveillance. Everything they rap? Lies, they insist. If you’re listening for evidence, look elsewhere. “Why are you so serious?” Monster raps. “Can’t I play?/I don’t have a gun, these accessories/I pretend to be in the mix but I’m not.” It’s a clever trick that reminds you that what appears in a song isn’t necessarily true, and so many real things never appear in any song. KARAMANICA
Fally Ipupa, ‘Formula 7’
Congolese songwriter, singer, guitarist and producer Fally Ipupa has been exploring new and old styles, releasing an album each year since 2016. rather, it is like a highlight reel that navigates through the many eras, configurations and rhythms of Congolese music. Six-beat drumming, interlocking guitars, synthesizer and accordion obligatos, call-and-response vocals, singing and rapping cheerfully highlight an entire continuum of ideas. PARLES
Ela Minus and DJ Python, ‘Kiss You’
The clicks, glitches and muffled drums in DJ Python’s production reflect the persistent yearning for which Ela Minus sings on “Kiss You.” Constant chords and twitchy electronic beats come and go, insisting on a certain balance – “I don’t hold / I don’t let go” -. It is stagnation as a tense balance of competing forces, all virtual and subject to change at all times. PARLES
Manuel Turizo, ‘La Bachata’
One of the biggest bachata songs of the year came not from Romeo Santos, the long-standing king of the genre, but instead from Colombian singer Manuel Turizo. “La Bachata” is both intimate and assertively modern – Turizo has a relatively subtle voice, but the vibrancy of modern production supports it. Santos can sing with a coquetry that sometimes feels impossibly dreamy, but less-than-traditional Turizo pushes the restless interlude to push the beat. KARAMANICA
Mabe Fratti, ‘Cada Musculo’
Mabe Fratti from Guatemala adds maximum emotion to the Minimalist structures she creates from her vocals and the bold riffs she plays on the cello. In “Cada Músculo” (“Every Muscle”), “Every muscle has a voice,” she insists, incorporating her cello and electronics into her orchestra. The tension – muscular and psychological – only grows. PARLES