Sega Bodega & Låpsley

Make U Stay

I once got into an argument with Låpsley on Twitter and, honestly, I’ve been wary of her ever since. However, enough water has flowed under that particular bridge for even me to appreciate how perfectly doomy this collab is: a trance murder track for burning an enemy’s shit down. Hmm … preferably one who isn’t a music journalist you once got into an argument with on Twitter.

Pale Waves

Change

Eyeliner aficionados Pale Waves are back with a banger. Gone is the reverb-heavy heartachery, replaced with some pristine pop-grunge heartachery complete with the phenomenal pre-chorus of “Now you act like I’m nobody / But you still wanna go down on me.” This honestly wouldn’t be out of place on a mixtape made in 1998, AKA the ultimate teen angst box tick.

Yard Act

Peanuts

I cannot imagine anything worse than attending a dinner party thrown by the vocalist from Yard Act, as detailed in this song, which bores on about – what? Mental health? Some lonely woman who gets a dog? Ever so clever wordplay meant to impress a certain kind of performative good guy over uninspiring no-wave bass. It’s tedious, self-congratulatory negging. Keep it.

Bree Runway ft Missy Elliott

ATM

Like the No Scrubs of 2020, this track is an instantly enjoyable earworm about the instant allure of the financially solvent. It also – control yourselves – contains Missy Elliott’s first decent guest verse since records began, with Missy relishing the opportunity to chat about her Birkin collection. Guarantee you won’t be able to hit up Barclays without chanting that chorus from here on out.

Elio

Hurts 2 Hate Somebody

Scandipop lady-in-waiting Elio is doing hating people wrong; you can get a lot of joy out of a good hate sesh, in my experience (see above re: Yard Act). But this song is a gentle reflection on being the bigger person with a great singalong chorus that includes the line “so sick of feeling salty” – which doesn’t make sense to me either, because feeling salty is a great feeling and one should relish it at every opportunity.