Tell us what you're listening to this weekend

The music we’re listening to this weekend isn’t just new—it comes from the archives of all-time greats and the soundtracks of prestige TV. Here’s some of the new music on our radar this weekend—as always, let us know what you’re listening to in the comments down below.

Albums

Megan Thee Stallion – Megan

With singles that spawned a nasty (bad) beef with Nicki Minaj and a nasty (good) Jumanji-esque music video, the rollout for Megan Thee Stallion’s third studio album has been long. That said, the emcee has a lot to talk about since her last, 2022’s Traumazine. Now fully on the other side of her legal battle with Tory Lanez, Megan has embraced snake imagery, not in an ironic way, as Taylor Swift once did, but in a way to indicate personal growth—the shedding of one’s old skin.

Hiatus Kaiyote – Love Heart Cheat Code

Australian group Hiatus Kaiyote has been around the block for a while, earning a reputation as a favorite for music students and band directors (in this writer’s experience). But their funky stylings have also made them a favored sampling sandbox for hip-hop producers, with their instrumentals showing up on Kendrick Lamar, Jay-Z, and Drake tracks. The preview singles from their new album Love Heart Cheat Code don’t exactly sound like they’re going to reinvent the wheel, but hey, if it ain’t broke, no need to fix it.

Cupcakke – Dauntless Manifesto

Chicago rapper CupcakKe was at the forefront of the sexually explicit wave of female rap that has become extremely popular in recent years, but hasn’t released an album of her own since 2018’s Eden. Now, after six years of sporadic singles, CupcakKe is back with Dauntless Manifesto, featuring oh-so-her song titles like “Queef,” “Dementia,” and “Little Red Riding Good.” The new music isn’t on YouTube at the time of this writing, so keep that in mind if you wanna check it out.

Johnny Cash – Songwriter

Posthumous releases are often a coin flip, sometimes landing in the worst-case scenario of disrespecting a beloved artist for the sake of some cash. Lucky, then, that Songwriter, a posthumous release from Johnny Cash, has mostly avoided that problem if early reactions from Rolling Stone and The Guardian are any indication. Most of the tracks date to the early 90s, before Cash surged in popularity in the final years of his life.

Tracks

Geneva Jacuzzi – “Art Is Dangerous”

Synthpop musician and artist Geneva Jacuzzi is back with the creeping single “Art Is Dangerous,” the first from her upcoming third album Triple Fire, out August 23. While the title alone risks running trite, the chorus is a clever new, dark take on the cliché: “Art is dangerous, hang it on the wall.”

Tinashe – “Getting No Sleep”

Taking a page of out Sabrina Carpenter’s (and every other pop star’s) playbook, Tinashe is capitalizing on the still-growing momentum of “Nasty.” The next single from Quantum Baby, the follow-up to 2023’s BB/Ang3l, is here in “Getting No Sleep.” The song is as minimal and sultry as “Nasty,” but capitalizes on the Jersey Club Beat trend, as we saw from NewJeans just last week.

Camila Cabello – “B.O.A.T.”

Camila Cabello’s C,XOXO might be a bit of a mixed bag (you can read our full review here) but “B.O.A.T.” is an inarguable standout, a delicate and slightly goofy ballad built on a sample of Pitbull’s “Hotel Room Service.” At a press event earlier this month, the singer said that the sample for her is based on nostalgia for “2000s music;” as someone who heard Pitbull at many a middle school dance, this writer can unfortunately relate.

Adrienne Lenker – “No Machine” (via The Bear)

The Bear’s season 3 soundtrack features Weezer, Kate Bush, Carole King, and other greats, along with a stellar score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross in the premiere. While that entire playlist is currently on repeat, a standout needle drop is Adrianne Lenker’s “No Machine.” It plays during episode 7’s opening montage when flashes of their past haunt Carmy, Richie, and Sid. An excellent track from her sixth solo album Bright Future (which was released back in March), “No Machine” wins you over with its acoustic guitar, soothing harmonies, and lyrics as Lenker croons about wanting to be free and in love instead of being stuck in autopilot mode. It’s universally relatable but also fits perfectly in The Bear. [Saloni Gajjar]