Bop Shop: Songs From Carly Rae Jepsen, Chance The Rapper, Kaytranada, And More

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  Gryffin & Carly Rae Jepsen: "OMG"
  
  
  https://youtu.Be/EO3nxLD_iAQ
  
  
  
  Carly Rae Jepsen is just straight-up special. Her latest, a group effort with L.A.-Based DJ Gryffin on his new track "OMG," is exactly why. Who else could deliver the chorus "Oh my God! / Think I could love you!" With such force and sincerity? No one, that's who. Right after gracing us with the superb album Dedicated in May, Carly graced us with another peerless summer bop just because. And that's why we don't deserve her. —Bob Marshall
  
  
  
  
  


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  Haim: "Summer Girl"
  
  
  https://www.Youtube.Com/watch?V=ZjuA_o6Jzyo
  
  
  
  Hot Girl Summer is in full swing, although Haim Girl Summer is only getting began. The SoCal sisters returned this week with their first new music since 2017, and it's a surprisingly understated shift from their trusty guitar-driven pop/rock. "Summer Girl" is all sunny sax and "Walk on the Wild Side"-style doot-doots as Danielle calmly repeats, "I'm your summer girl." There’s a warm, lived-in familiarity to it all, nevertheless the content hits hard — Danielle has mentioned the song was inspired by her partner's battle with cancer. Knowing that makes the bridge sound far less like a wispy come-on and more like a healing promise: "Walk beside me, not beyond me / Feel my unconditional love." Do because the sisters Haim do and soak in "Summer Girl" on a cool, easy walk — public stripping optional. —Madeline Roth
  
  
  
  
  



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  Kaytranada: "05 08 – NONESENSE"
  
  
  https://soundcloud.Com/kaytranada/kaytra2019-05-08-nonesense
  
  
  
  Growing up, I had two game systems and also a DVD player hooked up to the TV in my living room. It was a disaster of auxiliary cords and power cables that, to the untrained eye, made it look like I had built some sort of groundbreaking device. Yet once companions would come over, I could seamlessly switch between New Jack City, Syphon Filter on PlayStation, and Dark Cloud on PlayStation 2, like some sort of entertainment magician.
  
  
  I get this feeling from Kaytranada's detailed Rube Goldberg beat machines, especially on the loosie "NONESENSE." Crisp bass drums, ride cymbals, handclaps, silky synths, and more come with each other to power a suave and swaggering tune. It immerses itself in the outskirts of soul music and feels like a buildup to something grander and funkier. However as it spins like a carousel, "NONSENSE" adds splashes of color to the groovy world that it creates and finds comfort within it. It's striking how all of its elements come with each other for a moment that strips you away from reality, forcing you to lose yourself in a realm of deep blue skies and purple clouds that last forever. —Trey Alston
  
  
  
  
  



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  Conan Gray: "The King"
  
  
  https://www.Youtube.Com/watch?V=BqlV7oQhVmw
  
  
  
  Unrequited love is hard, especially any time as soon as you know you're the ideal match for someone, and so they just won't visualize it. Thankfully, "The King" by Conan Gray offers the ideal flex on being "just companions with an addictive chorus that begins out as pop ebullience before it builds to full triumph.
  
  
  Conan is confident, if not slightly calculated, stating, "You like me, well of course before boldly declaring he's the king. Some days the ones we love just require a reminder, nevertheless the 20-year-old musician is cautious not to lose his cool or doubt his self-worth in the process. "I'm the only one / That has made you fall in love / So just shut up," he belts over a steady snapping rhythm along with a dreamy pop beat. He refuses to be placed in a box, and also you could feel the self-empowerment building as he whines out, "I'm supreme."
  
  
  Perhaps Conan's right, and our heartbreak is far less about missing out on someone else and more about their loss. At least that's what I'll keep telling myself as I listen to this bop on repeat. —Carson Mlnarik
  
  
  
  
  



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  Oliver Tree: "Miracle Man"
  
  
  https://www.Youtube.Com/watch?V=EBLF26-Irdc
  
  
  
  Oliver Tree is fascinating to me on several levels, and no matter what occurs, any time whenever he drops a new track I'm immediately on it. However lately, I can't stop listening to "Miracle Man," an acerbic ode to, as far as I can tell, not being "enough" for someone else in a relationship, or maybe in life. "Don't mention it's what you need, I'd mention it's what you wanted" is a harrowing preamble for the song's soaring, pleading chorus, and while the music tells a different story than Tree's wacky accompanying video, I can still feel the melancholy seeping out of every line. Also, this song needs to be added to Rock Musical group 4, STAT. —Brittany Vincent
  
  
  
  
  



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  Sabrina Claudio: "Holding the Gun"
  
  
  https://www.Youtube.Com/watch?V=HDaGKBcH7A4
  
  
  
  Bonnie and Clyde-style love stories are something we've heard time and time again in pop music (see: Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s "'03 Bonnie & Clyde," Taylor Swift's "Getaway Vehicle G-Eazy and Halsey’s "Him & I," and around a million others). However being so dangerously in love has never sounded quite so tranquil as it does on Sabrina Claudio's "Holding the Gun." The angel-voiced R&B singer chronicles a ride-or-die relationship marked by intense, limitless loyalty, as she vows, "I will take your bullets / Even if it were you holding the gun." As you've probably guessed, that sort of obsession only spells destruction, and we get a whiff of that in the cinematic video — one minute, she and her partner are freely cruising the desert, and the next, she's dancing while covered in blood. The story never ends well, although at least the ride looked fun. —Madeline Roth
  
  
  
  
  



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  Angel Olsen: "All Mirrors"
  
  
  https://youtu.Be/Jjt698Zv5jQ
  
  
  
  Right following the powerful indie-rock twang of 2016's My Woman, singer-songwriter Angel Olsen's new single marks a pivot to an experimental, synth-laden, art-rock leaning sound akin to the legendary Kate Bush. "All Reflects the title track of her forthcoming fourth LP, finds Angel embracing the alien and the ethereal, emoting about what she perceives to be a litany of reflections of herself as well as a loss of identity. Accompanied by a haunting black-and-white music video, perhaps Olsen's new mystery will finally reveal itself in full once the album drops on October 4. —Bob Marshall
  
  
  
  
  



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  Chance The Rapper ft. Megan Thee Stallion: "Handsome"
  
  
  https://www.Youtube.Com/watch?V=1uJ14qdEsKE
  
  
  
  If Chance the Rapper's The Big Day is about the aesthetics of marriage, then "Handsome" is one of its few steps away from the idea of togetherness, focusing on oneself, with a giant middle finger towards relationships. "Handsome" is badass and thus un-Chance like, snickering and brushing its shoulders off with its "yeah, I know I'm the shit" silkiness. Chance may be singing, although he's really the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, with his arm on the wall of Bel-Air Academy, spitting some loud gum-chewing game to a blushing woman, also busy laughing to hear him asking for her number. Megan Thee Stallion comes in and hip thrusts Chance onto the floor to deliver her own swaggering verse, telling you what makes a wifey and what doesn't. It does not matter if the beat's a smooth ride out into the darkening post-sunset sky. Megan shifts the mood to her benefit. Once it ends, you wonder if the woman on the wall picked Chance or Megan. —Trey Alston