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12 Best New Songs of the Week

Every week, members of the Vulture staff will highlight their favorite new songs. They might be loud, quiet, long, short, dance-y, rawkin’, hip, square, rap, punk, jazz, some sort of jazz-punk-rap fusion — whatever works for the given person in that given week. Read our picks below and please tell us yours in the comments.

Action Bronson featuring Chance the Rapper, “Baby Blue”
I’m so glad that Action Bronson left his career as a chef to pursue music. If he hadn’t, we wouldn’t have this dope collab between Mr. Wonderful and Chance the Rapper. “Baby Blue” has a little bit of doo-wop, a little bit of R&B, and a whole lot of two-step along with memorable lines like this one: “I’m not exactly flawless, but I’m gorgeous, just like a horse is.” If Action Bronson ever decides to leave music, perhaps he should consider taking up poetry. —Lauretta Charlton (@laurettaland)

Antony & Cleopatra, “Sirens”
Anita Blay or CocknBullKid is now Cleopatra in Antony & Cleopatra, and it truly doesn’t matter what she calls herself at this point (but Cleopatra is waaay better than “CocknBullKid”), because she sounds incredible. Her partner-in-crime is Arkadia’s Alex Burnett and “Sirens” is bumping, thumping, ultimately soul-soothing deep house hit. —Lindsey Weber (@LindseyWeber)

Courtney Barnett, “Depreston”
There’s something so genuine about Courtney Barnett’s songwriting. It’s both personal and prescient (there’s a particularly stinging line in “Depreston” about police), in a way that makes you want to know everything and nothing about her all at once. But this song, the latest from her upcoming debut album, just makes me want to go house hunting around Australia with her — no matter how much of a drag she wants us to think the experience might be. —Dee Lockett (@Dee_Lockett)

Leon Bridges, “Coming Home”
For those of us waiting for the next Michael Kiwanuka single, Leon Bridges seems to have picked up where the soul singer left off with “Coming Home”. It’s a sweet, sad song reminiscent of Sam Cooke in all the good ways. —LW

Cashmere Cat featuring Ariana Grande, “Adore”
This song doesn’t do much to separate Grande from her adult baby image, especially since it sounds like she is “screaming mama,” but her and Cashmere Cat are a proven match. Their last collaboration, “Be My Baby,” is arguably the best song on My Everything, and this song has the exact hypnotic quality that made that special. —Marcus Jones (@MarcusJonesNY)

Coldplay, “Fix You” (Four Tet Remix)
Here’s a bit of insider info: “Fix You” has been a running joke at Vulture for a while now. At least since this 2012 video we did. The song is just so schmaltzy and overused. I thought I’d never want to hear it ever again, but then Lindsey put this version in our internal chat room. And you know I love a Four Tet remix. A lot of the pathos remains, but Four Tet’s minimal beat strips the song of its manipulative crescendo. If you want to cry (like I did, this morning, when I made up this scenario), imagine you are watching a hospital scene, in which a husband is looking at his newborn daughter in the arms of his wife, but then he looks up at the doorway to see his father, whom he hasn’t seen in years. The husband gets up and faces his father. They look at each other. The husband puts out his hand. His father looks at his hand, grabs it, and pulls him in. They hug. Tears stream down your face.Jesse David Fox (@JesseDavidFox)

Jack Ü featuring Kai, “Mind”
Forget everything you think you know about Diplo and Skrillex, who, on their first collaborative album, have created some of the best work they’ve ever done. Because if you’ve ever dismissed the two as one-trick bass-dropping ponies, then that criticism is no less condescending than what Carly Rae Jepsen has endured all these years. It’s also incorrect. With “Mind,” my early contender for Song of the Summer, they’re practically flushing EDM down the toilet. And if this new phase of electronic music involves Skrillex singing again, well, then I’m allll here for it. —DL

Kelela, “A Message”
Hallelujah, Kelela’s back! I thought she was trolling when she announced a deluxe edition of Cut 4 Me, her stunning 2013 debut mixtape, with no sign of new music. Luckily, she’s also set to release a new EP and our first taste is the gut-punch that is “A Message.” Produced by Arca and BOOTS, it’s a sexy-but-devestating account of the breakdown of a relationship that sounds like a cross between FKA twigs and Erykah Badu. So, in other words, your new obsession. —DL

Moon Duo, “Animal”
Shadow of the Sun is just as weird and psychedelic as Moon Duo’s last album, Circles, and will be especially awesome to fans of Wood Shjips’ Riply Johnson, who is one half of the band. For me, though, I’m just glad Moon Duo is back to remind me that this everlasting winter will come to an end and eventually I’ll be able to sit outside, drink beer, and watch bros like Richie Jackson shred stuff on their skateboards. —LC

Purity Ring, “heartsigh”
Purity Ring’s terrific new album, another eternity, came out today. In three years, all pop music will sound like this and CHVRCHES. You might as well start getting used to it. —JDF

Skepta, “Shutdown”
If there are two people in rap you want on your side right now, they are Drake and Kanye West. Who has shouted out Skepta and thanked him in the past month? Drake and Kanye West. Here is the London grime rapper’s newest single, with a special sample of Drake speaking his best Patois. —MJ

Kanye West featuring Paul McCartney, Theophilus London, and Allan Kingdom, “All Day”
Songs like “All Day” are what Genius, the music-annotating site, was made for. Already music sites have pored over the song’s credits — which include Kendrick Lamar, Diddy, French Montana, and many, many others — while other blogs have speculated about its origins (which may just be an obscure old McCartney demo). Theories aside, what makes “All Day” such a fascinating banger is how it speaks to the current state of Kanye’s sound: a fusion of his “Don’t Like” remix anger and grime-influenced grit with, of all things, Macca’s whimsical whistling and guitar work in that glorious last minute. It sounds exactly like what I imagine a before-and-after photograph of Chicago’s south side looks like in ‘Ye’s mind. —DL

Best New Music of the Week