Bop Shop: Songs From The Cars, Charli XCX, Princess Nokia, And More

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  Caroline Polachek: "So Hot You're Hurting My Feelings"
  
  
  https://www.Youtube.Com/watch?V=8NTUY-jP47I
  
  
  
  you might remember Caroline Polachek as one-third of indie-pop musical group Chairlift (who you also may remember from their catchy tune "Bruises" immediately after it was featured in an iPod Nano commercial in 2008). Since dissolving Chairlift in 2016, Caroline has gone solo, and if the masterfully titled "So Hot You're Hurting My Feelings" is any indication, her forthcoming album is something to look forward to. Over a '80s beat that wouldn't sound out of place in a John Hughes movie, Polachek yearns for a recently lost love whose photographs make the breakup sting that much more. Anyone who's accidentally had recent ex come across their Instagram feed will no doubt know exactly where she's coming from.
  
  
  While it isn't spelled out in the track's accompanying lyric video, it definitely sounds like the bridge goes "Show me your banana / nana nana." And if that's not the case, I would honestly prefer not knowing. Caroline's new album Pang, her first recorded under her own name, is out October 18. —Bob Marshall
  
  
  
  
  



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  The Cars: "Coming Up You Again"
  
  
  https://www.Youtube.Com/watch?V=43qoCYvO1Aw
  
  
  
  Soon after Cars co-founder and songwriter Ric Ocasek died this week, I immediately reached for his band's flawless first two albums, reveling in the quick energy and pure melodic pleasure of "Just What I required and "Lust for Kicks." Then I went deeper. On 1987's "Coming Up You," fellow vocalist Benjamin Orr sells the glossy pop drama Ocasek penned with precision. Although on the song's lonely 1981 demo, it's Ocasek by himself, stretching his wounded voice across a squiggly panoply of synthesized noises. This singular document displays how wonderfully aching Ocasek would make a melody work for him. And for us. —Patrick Hosken
  
  
  
  
  



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  Charli XCX: "White Mercedes"
  
  
  https://www.Youtube.Com/watch?V=CRYYBDG1b4Y
  
  
  
  Charli XCX's third studio album, Charli, is more introspective and true to her own personal experiences than her previous releases. Without sacrificing the poppy, digitized production she's become known for, the singer's enhanced her art by trial and error with lyrics that not only let people in, however that truly resonate. "White Mercedes," a track about not being able to return the passion that she's so readily been given, is proof.
  
  
  "Like a white Mercedes / Routinely been running also fast," Charli sings on the chorus, weaving in and out of angelic falsetto. As soon as your heart is breaking, you keep on taking me back." Full of warnings, the song toggles between professing love for a partner while pleading to pump the breaks. With lines like "Hurting you feels like I'm hurting as well" and "You're chasing immediately after something that you'll never catch," Charli understands she's undeserving. Although the song's self-awareness is what sets it apart. "One day I'll pull through and I'll be good enough," she sings on the bridge. Sadly, today's not that day. —Jordyn Tilchen
  
  
  
  
  



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  Blu DeTiger: "Tangerine"
  
  
  https://www.Youtube.Com/watch?V=cgjKlTHbE0k&feature=youtu.Be
  
  
  
  Being cool is painlessly easy for 21-year-old Blu DeTiger. It takes just the effortless initial line of "Tangerine" – "The crown look good on me, don't it" – and you're in the palm of her hand. A bumping retro-pop track comes in, simultaneously psychedelic and atmospheric, nevertheless with a throbbing bass to hold you down. "Show me love deeper than your bedroom / I wanna write my name on your wall," she sings. It's your walk-into-the-room anthem as much as it's your self-love washroom reflect solo.
  
  
  The song and visual evoke the titular fruit with a hodgepodge of sounds, scratches, and synths, as Blu parades through a mindscape of hip apartments, parties, and poses. By the end, you want nothing more than to take a bite of her unique brand of badassery, which she cautiously balances with airy lyrics like "This would be your new preference song." Indeed, it might would be. —Carson Mlnarik
  
  
  
  
  



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  Princess Nokia: "Sugar Honey Iced Tea (S.H.I.T)"
  
  
  https://youtu.Be/B7o8EGUTqwI
  
  
  
  Oh yes. New York hip-hop hero and public transit protector Princess Nokia is back in a big way with a very specific list of people who'd better look out for her. On "Sugar Honey Iced Tea (S.H.I.T.)," Nokia demonstrates that she isn't afraid to create delineations between offenders. Haters on Instagram? Please, she couldn't care far less. Nevertheless racists, as she famously demonstrated in 2017, will get a face full of soup. While we don't know nevertheless if "Sugar Honey" will be segment of a forthcoming album, we do know that she released it with a good Ball Culture-inspired video that depicts her entering and, of course, winning an aesthetics pageant. Watch the complete thing to be able to see Nokia bestow her winning tiara on a young admirer. —Bob Marshall
  
  
  
  
  



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  Slayyyter: "Tattoo"
  
  
  https://www.Youtube.Com/watch?V=yi6UxT8azhc
  
  
  
  Charli XCX isn't the only one conjuring high-gloss, next-level pop these days. Slayyyter's eponymous mixtape arrived this week with the vigor of a chainsaw dipped in glitter, packed with chaotic, clubby calamities in the vein of Blackout-era Britney and The Fame-era Gaga. "Tattoo," nevertheless, stands out because of its unbridled buoyancy — Slayyyter wastes minimal time arriving at the sticky-sweet hook, belting, "Baby, do you like me also? / I can be your new tattoo." Throw in some subtle saxophone, and you've got a bubblegum bop that sounds and feels like a EMOTION outtake. In case you know, you know. —Madeline Roth
  
  
  
  
  



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  Hue: "Over East"
  
  
  https://soundcloud.Com/cloudhue/overeast
  
  
  
  Out of Portsmouth, Virginia, yet recently relocated to New York, Hue is a boom box-toting wizard trapped in a twentysomething's body. His latest nostalgic release is "Over East," the equivalent of a sunrise over the East River that smiles to Brooklyn's inhabitants who grumble as they skittle to subway stations. Drumsticks smack snares like crackling whips, faint voices repeat "ey," and warmth spreads the song into a blossoming tulip. It's a delicate, mellow atmosphere that would be extinguished without a deft touch. Yet, Hue slinks in, whispering between pursed lips as if he's telling you a secret in the middle of the night, softly singing about what makes him able to "put it down."
  
  
  while he tiptoes out of the chorus, his voice grows wider, deeper, and he glides into his verses, bringing simple, nostalgic melodies that remind you of Kofi hats, Enyce jeans, and Coogi sweaters. The nostalgia washes in like waves. If you're also young, this is what back then sounded and felt like. Play this for your parents. They'll turn to you, smile, close their eyes, nod their heads, and pat their thighs. —Trey Alston
  
  
  
  
  



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  The Cars: "Moving in Stereo"
  
  
  https://www.Youtube.Com/watch?V=nu8fDs0YFoI
  
  
  
  I still can't believe Ric Ocasek is gone. It was just last year I watched his efficiency while in The Cars's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction with my father, chatting about the "good old days," reminiscing on our preference oldies. I suspected he wasn't well then, nevertheless he blew through his greatest hits on stage with ease. Though my main go to album has to be Candy-O, I still have a special place in my heart for this electro-banger, which amps me up for just about any event that I'm feeling not-so-confident about. How can you not feel like a veritable badass any time slowing your walk to this swaggering strut of a song? This particular tune isn't sung by Ocasek, however it was case in point co-written by him moreover to keyboard player Greg Hawkes — and it's addictive in a way that only certain classic-rock tunes can truly be. I'll be blaring it over and over again this week in honor of the man himself. —Brittany Vincent