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When Josh Ross peaked at No. 2 with “Single Again” on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart dated July 26, it marked his first appearance in the top 5. Now he’s back with a single, again, and the lyric finds his character single. Again. Explore See latest videos, charts and news And it comes with a title, “Hate How You Look,” that appears to be something it’s not. It’s kind of like an online headline that entices people to read the story, only to find out the contents aren’t quite what the title suggested. Ross bristles at the comparison. “It’s nothing like clickbait,” Ross says. “That does not work.” True that. Clickbait annoys readers once it’s clear they’ve been duped. But with “Hate The Way You Look,” the “dupe” is the whole point, and the listener is likely to appreciate it once it’s obvious. “You wonder,” Ross says, “is it actually just going to be a mean song? Like, ‘I just hate how you look.’ And then you listen to it, you realize that it’s a guy that’s like, ‘Dang, she looks good,’ and you’re actually kind of complimenting her. I’m a fan of titles like that.” The title comes compliments of songwriter Christian Yancey, who brought it to an appointment at Nashville’s Combustion Music with Nick Sainato, Chris McKenna and Jessica Farren in February 2024. “Hate How You Look” was intriguing – “It’s kind of an abrasive title,” Farren notes – but it was also a title that might make a consumer click “Play” when it appeared on a Spotify screen. “Especially with the Nashville flip,” Farren says, “it’s like, how can the title make you think something when you see it that is completely the opposite of what it means? And we were like, ‘Oh, that feels like money.’” Sainato developed a rock-leaning guitar background that seemed appropriate, then brought the whole session to a brief halt when he choked on Sour Patch candies. “I was sweating so bad,” Sainato recalls. “I texted my wife immediately” ‘I literally almost choked!’ And then we went and wrote the rest of the song.” They focused initially on the chorus, starting most of the lines with the word “hate” to tie in with the “I hate how you look moving on” hook. The first line was a doozy: “Hate how you look in that one, that you know I love red dress.” Even reading the lyric sheet, it’s arguably confusing. “My favorite songs have lines like that,” McKenna says. “Like, ‘What did he just say?’ Or, ‘Why did he say it that way?’ I think that’s kind of one of those lines. It almost doesn’t sound like perfect English.” Perfect punctuation helps. The lyric makes more sense if it’s presented, “Hate how you look in that one-that-you-know-I-love red dress.” It’s a mouthful to sing, but the words all fit sonically with the phrasing, which matters more than how it looks on a screen. “We’re all kind of syllable Nazis,” Farren quips, “like, making sure the words fit that perfectly and not compromising.” They constructed a relentlessly melodic chorus, each phrase built with a series of singable, stair-step notes. “I’m not really a great singer,” Sainato says. “So whenever you get to a chorus and I can sing it, I’m like, ‘That’s something. This feels like something real.’” In the middle of that chorus, the melody took a short breather, and they inserted what’s arguably the hookiest part of the song – the word “I” stretched into two syllables – before the lines kick back into their original relentless pace. When they turned to the verses, they pitched them an octave lower, which makes the chorus seem even more energetic. And in that smokier tone, they fashioned several vignettes of the woman coaxing attention in the room. Unusually, they left the setting a mystery until they developed a bridge, finally informing the listener that the song occurs in a bar. “I don’t think we really knew until we wrote that line,” Farren says, “that it was just the moment in time.” Yancey sang lead on the demo, which used a banjo with a Keith Urban vibe. Yancey pitched it to Ross, and he took to it right away, putting it on a playlist of potential new songs he could listen to periodically and play for others. “That was one that just kind of kept sticking itself out,” Ross says. Producer Matt Geroux (Matthew West, Chris Housman) thought highly of it, too, though no one from Ross’ team responded when they sent it. Subsequently, Geroux used artificial intelligence to replace Yancey’s voice on the demo with a semblance of Ross’ sound. The writers were a tad surprised when they heard the revision. “I’ve never had a label or a team send back a version of A.I. with their own artist on it like that,” McKenna says. “I feel like that can get a lot of songs across the finish line.” It certainly helped with “Hate How You Look.” The team thought it could be a hit, though Ross and Geroux determined they should segue from the demo’s Urban vibe to something harder. They cut the instrumental tracks in Geroux’s studio, toughening up the supporting instrumentation as they built it. “Even the guitar riff, I just doubled that and found a unique sound,” Geroux says. “I did a 12-string guitar patch and just fucked it up as much as I could – put it out of tune and put a warble effect on it.” They tried an obvious electric guitar solo, but opted instead for Justin Schipper’s atypical steel. “I think that’s the coolest part about that song,” Ross says. “It really rocks and moves along, but then the solo is a pedal steel solo, and it kind of all blends together in a perfect balance.” The A.I. vocal on the revised demo presented a small problem – Ross got used to that sound and instinctively emulated it when he cut his final vocal. Geroux

It’s another “Golden” week on the U.K.’s Singles Chart as the KPop Demon Hunters’ hit notches a sixth non-consecutive week at No. 1 on Friday (Sept. 12). The hit song from the Netflix animated film is the most successful K-pop song ever on the U.K. charts, and only the second No. 1 single following PSY’s “Gangnam Style.” “Golden” is credited to HUNTR/X, and is sung by EJAE, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami. The song is now in its fourth week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Two further songs from the film also appear in the top 10, with Saja Boys’ “Soda Pop” and “Your Idol” both bumping two spots at No. 4 and No. 7, respectively. Olivia Dean’s “Man I Need” holds strong at No. 2, her highest ever position on the U.K. Singles Chart. The song currently sits at No. 55 on the Hot 100, up 27 places week-on-week. Sabrina Carpenter’s “Tears” is a non-mover at No. 3, and Disco Lines and Tinashe’s “No Broke Boys” closes the week at No. 5. There’s new entries in the top 40 for Carpenter’s “When Did You Get Hot?” at No. 9, and Lady Gaga’s “The Dead Dance” from Netflix’s Wednesday season two at No. 13.  Vintage hits from a number of big names have made the most of viral moments, with Coldplay’s 2000 song “Sparks” rising to a new peak of No. 18, Gorillaz’ “Feel Good Inc” rising three spots to No. 27 and Rihanna’s 2008 song “Breakin’ Dishes” lifting one spot to No. 30. Get weekly rundowns straight to your inbox Sign Up Source link

Sabrina Carpenter’s Man’s Best Friend is No. 1 for a second consecutive week on the U.K.’s Official Albums Chart dated Sept. 12. The “Manchild” singer’s seventh studio album is her second LP to hit the top spot following 2024’s Short n’ Sweet. Man’s Best Friend also currently reigns atop the Billboard 200, with single “Tears” landing at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. Carpenter performed “Tears” at the MTV VMAs in New Jersey on Sept. 7. During her slot, she honored ballroom icons and displayed messages showing support for the trans and LGBTQ communities. Explore See latest videos, charts and news After leading in the midweeks, Britpop icon Suede eventually land at No. 2 with its new LP Antidepressants. The group has topped the charts three times in the past with debut LP Suede (1993), Coming Up (1996) and Head Music (1999). It’s the group’s 10th top 10 appearance on the U.K. Official Albums Chart.  Oasis’ singles collection Time Flies… 1994-2009 holds its place in the top five, ending the week at No. 3 following a dominant summer on the charts. In the build-up to his new album Play, Ed Sheeran’s +–=÷× (Tour Collection) closes at No. 4; Fleetwood Mac’s greatest hits 50 Years: Don’t Stop rounds out the top five. There are new entries for Merseyside band Red Rum Club’s BUCK (No. 7), Saint Etienne’s International (No. 8), Tom Odell’s A Wonderful Life (No. 12) and Faithless’ Champion Sound (No. 15). Following the surprise release of a sequel to the No. 1 album of the same name, Justin Bieber’s SWAG rebounds 77 places to No. 10. Get weekly rundowns straight to your inbox Sign Up Source link

This week, Billboard’s New Music Latin roundup and playlist — curated by Billboard Latin and Billboard Español editors — features fresh new music, including releases by GALE, Rauw Alejandro, Yami Safdie and Kapo in collaboration with Camilo, to name a few. Puerto Rican singer-songwriter GALE offers the rebellious and honest “Ciao!,” a synth-pop track she described in a statement as “fun and sexy.” She added, “‘Ciao!’ is about stepping out of the gray area with someone, putting down the ultimatum and saying, ‘Either you decide now … or ciao!’ Sonically it’s my synth-pop throwback anthem, made to dance, let go and show off all your weird moves. It’s also unapologetically direct.” Meanwhile, Rauw Alejandro offers “GuabanSexxx,” an advance track from his upcoming album, Cosa Nuestra: Capítulo 0. The new song is a riveting fusion of house, bomba and plena — a continuation of the superstar’s tropical flair. Other new releases this week include Siddartha’s “Tú y Yo y Tú,” Kapo and Camilo’s collab “Esta Es Tu Casa Nena” and Los Plebes del Rancho de Ariel Camacho team up with Peso Pluma for “Haciendo Memoria.” In the Sept. 5 poll, Melanie Santiler and Cimafunk’s “Ese Besito” won with more than 86% of the vote. Which release this week do you think is best? Give these new releases a spin and vote for your favorite new Latin music release below: Editor’s Note: The results of the weekly New Music Latin poll will be posted if the poll generates more than 1,000 votes. This poll closes at 7:30 a.m. ET on Monday, Sept. 15. Get weekly rundowns straight to your inbox Sign Up Source link

Sublime has its first No. 1 on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart in close to 30 years, crowning the Sept. 20-dated tally with “Ensenada.” The song is the act’s second ruler and first sung by Jakob Nowell, son of late frontman Bradley Nowell. The band previously led in 1996 with “What I Got,” which crowned the ranking five months after Bradley Nowell’s overdose death that May. Sublime’s wait of 28 years and 10 months between No. 1s is the lengthiest in the Alternative Airplay chart’s 37-year history, surpassing Sum 41’s 22 years, six months and three weeks between “Fat Lip” in 2001 and “Landmines” in 2024. In between “What I Got” and “Ensenada,” Sublime reached Alternative Airplay with four tracks, paced by a pair of No. 3 peaks in “Santeria” and “Wrong Way,” both in 1997. Additionally, the band Sublime With Rome, which at first featured the surviving Sublime members plus frontman Rome Ramirez, hit the chart with four songs in 2011-19. Explore See latest videos, charts and news “Ensenada” concurrently reaches No. 1 on the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart, marking Sublime’s first leader since the ranking began in 2009. In the week ending Sept. 11, it surged 51% to 4.1 million audience impressions, according to Luminate. “Ensenada” became Sublime’s first entry on Mainstream Rock Airplay in almost 29 years when it debuted at No. 38 on the Aug. 23 tally; it places at No. 40 on the latest survey. “Ensenada” previews Sublime’s next album, for which a release date has not been announced. It’s the band’s first LP since 1996’s self-titled release, which has accumulated 10.9 million equivalent album units to date. All Billboard charts dated Sept. 20 will update Tuesday, Sept. 16, on Billboard.com. It’s free Billboard charts month! Through Sept. 30, subscribers to Billboard’s Chart Beat newsletter, emailed each Friday, can unlock access to Billboard’s weekly and historical charts, artist chart histories and all Chart Beat stories simply by visiting the newly redesigned Billboard.com through any story link in the newsletter. Not a Chart Beat subscriber? Sign up for free here. Source link

This year finds artists quenching fans’ thirst for pop hits, literally. On the latest, Sept. 20-dated Adult Alternative Airplay chart, St. Paul & the Broken Bones make a fizzy lift to No. 10 with “Sushi & Coca-Cola.” (It’s the act’s third top 10 on the tally and first since 2018.) In February, Addison Rae earned her first top 10 on a Billboard radio chart — fittingly, Pop Airplay — with “Diet Pepsi.” Meanwhile, Saja Boys’ addictive confection “Soda Pop,” from Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters, has spent the last four weeks bubbling in the Billboard Hot 100’s top 10, reaching No. 5. A year after Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” became a buzzy smash, hitting No. 3 on the Hot 100, listeners’ musical tastes have segued to carbonated caffeinated treats. Historically, other artists have had the moxie to make such hits. In 1945, the Andrews Sisters enjoyed one of their biggest songs, the pre-rock era track “Rum and Coca-Cola.” (Coca-Cola hit the marketplace in 1886; notably, eight years before Billboard, whose own tag line in the 2000s was “Experience the Buzz.”) The Beatles’ 1969 Hot 100 No. 1 “Come Together” includes Coca-Cola in its lyrics (though with a quite different accepted meaning). Perhaps most famously, the New Seekers and the Hillside Singers poured concurrent hits on the Hot 100 in 1971-72 with “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing,” with their versions climbing to Nos. 7 and 13, respectively. The song originated as a beloved Coca-Cola jingle “Buy the World a Coke,” sung by the Hillside Singers. In 1979, Mel Tillis’ “Coca Cola Cowboy” chugged to No. 1 on Hot Country Songs. In 1988-89, R.E.M. uncapped an Alternative Airplay No. 1 with “Orange Crush” (also not just about the drink). Britney Spears’ debut LP, 1999’s …Baby One More Time, which ruled the Billboard 200 for six weeks, begins with three hit singles — the Hot 100 No. 1 title cut, “(You Drive Me) Crazy” and “Sometimes” — before fans were further introduced to her with her own “Soda Pop.” By 2023, EXO’s “Cream Soda” added a sweet vanilla flavor to the Billboard Global 200, Billboard Global Excl. U.S. and World Digital Song Sales charts. Plus, “If You Could Only See” hit No. 1 on Mainstream Rock Airplay and the top 10 on Adult Pop Airplay in 1997, becoming the signature song for (who else?) Tonic. All charts dated Sept. 20 will update Tuesday, Sept. 16, on Billboard.com. It’s free Billboard charts month! Through Sept. 30, subscribers to Billboard’s Chart Beat newsletter, emailed each Friday, can unlock access to Billboard’s weekly and historical charts, artist chart histories and all Chart Beat stories simply by visiting the newly redesigned Billboard.com through any story link in the newsletter. Not a Chart Beat subscriber? Sign up for free here. Source link

Back when Sarah McLachlan launched the Lilith Fair in 1997, the festival landscape was, well, very dude-centric. From the often male-heavy grandaddy of American touring festivals, Lollapalooza, to the jammy H.O.R.D.E. outing, the hip-hop-focused Smokin’ Grooves and testosterone-charged OzzFest, there were often few slots available for female-fronted acts. Explore See latest videos, charts and news McLachlan flipped that script by launching Lilith, whose first iteration featured a rotating roster of incredible acts including Fiona Apple, The Cardigans, Tracy Chapman, Paula Cole, Sheryl Crow, Indigo Girls, Emmylou Harris, Jewel, Dido, Pat Benatar, Beth Orton and many more on three stages. “This was the first time you’d see anything like it,” Crow can be heard in voiceover at the top of the two-and-a-half minute trailer for Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery – The Untold Story, the documentary that will drop on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ on Sept. 21. Featuring archival footage and new interviews, the film will chronicle the birth and success of the joyful gathering that made history thanks to an all-female-focused lineup on the initial 35-date outing that raked in $16 million, making it 1997’s top-grossing U.S. festival tour. “Finding out that all my favorite artists had played at this event I was in disbelief that I’d never heard of it before,” says Olivia Rodrigo, who was born six years after the first Lilith outing and is among the new generation of artists who pay homage to their festival foremothers in the trailer. “Women singer-songwriters of the ’90s, I’m constantly look to them for inspiration,” Rodrigo adds over footage of her jamming with Crow. “They’re my northern stars.” McLachlan recalls the pushback she got from promoters at the time, who told her “‘you can’t put two women on the same bill, people won’t come,’” a macho stance that she gleefully proved wrong over the course of that summer. “That’s complete bulls–t, and it put a huge fire under my butt to prove them wrong,” she says in the trailer that also details the anger from some religious leaders over the biblically-inspired name and bomb threats that attempted to derail the juggernaut. Crow adds, “There wasn’t a lot of support for women. We weren’t able to do what it was we knew we could do.” Getting emotional at the memory of it all, former 10,000 Maniacs singer Natalie Merchant says through happy tears, “I’ve waited my whole life for this… is this the camera I look into when I cry?” Lilith returned in 1998 for another successful run, with McLachlan performing alongside Raitt, Cowboy Junkies, Des’ree, Erykah Badu, Joan Osborne, Lisa Loeb, Liz Phair, Sinead O’Connor, Missy Elliott, Queen Latifah, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Neneh Cherry, Lucinda Williams and many more. After a 1999 outing Lilith called it a day until a star-crossed 2010 revival featuring Brandi Carlile, Cat Power, Heart, Janella Monae, Mary J. Blige, Tegan and Sara and others that fizzled out after a dozen or so dates due to poor ticket sales, forcing the cancellation of 13 shows. The film directed by Ally Pankiw and inspired by a 2019 Vanity Fair oral history of the festival will contain interviews with a number of the acts who performed on Lilith in its heyday, including Raitt, Badu, Cole, Jewel, Phair, Mya, Indigo Girls, Harris and more. Watch the trailer for Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery — The Untold Story below. Source link

Are you ready to press Play? As fall unofficially starts and the kids settle back into their school routines and studies, musicians from across the spectrum of genres have dropped new music this Friday (Sept. 12) to help soundtrack the new season and year in academics. Among them are four-time Grammy winner Ed Sheeran, who has released his eighth studio album, Play. The 13-track release, which marks the start of a new project series after he wrapped the five-album Mathematics collection, includes lead single “Azizam” (which debuted and peaked at No. 28 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April) and “Old Phone” (No. 89). The album finds the musician exploring global sounds (as on the first single) as well as nostalgia (the aforementioned “Phone” as well as “Heaven”). “Play was an album that was made as a direct response to the darkest period of my life,” Sheeran explained on social media ahead of the album’s release. “Coming out of all of that I just wanted to create joy and technicolour, and explore cultures in the countries I was touring. It’s a real rollercoaster of emotions from start to finish” Like Sheeran, Drake also finds himself going back in time, in a way. In his new track “Dog House” featuring Yeat and Julia Wolf, the rapper not only rhymes about money, sex and power, but also references the chorus of his Hot 100 10-week No. 1 hit “One Dance” in his verse: “Just like Drizzy said, I just need one dance, baby.” The megastars of pop and hip-hop weren’t the only ones to release new music this week. Alt-rock band Twenty One Pilots offered up new album Breach, while Colombian-American artist Kali Uchis teamed up with Billboard‘s 2025 R&B Rookie of the Year Ravyn Lenae for “Cry About It!,” while dance Star John Summit delivered emotional head-bopper “Crystallized” with Inéz, and Little Mix’s Jade Thirlwall offered up her debut solo album, That’s Showbiz Baby! Which new music release this week is your favorite? Vote in our poll below! Get weekly rundowns straight to your inbox Sign Up Source link

Rap music is probably the most unique genre in the music business. There’s a whole culture attached to it, a way of life, a way of talking, a way of walking, a way of dressing, a way of dancing, a way of making art. Many aspiring rappers come from places that have their own way of doing things; neighborhoods that have their own norms, customs, and rituals, and you can go to almost any one of these neighborhoods and see that they all have similar rules and parameters. And as these aspiring rappers claw their way to the top of these here charts in this very magazine, they often find themselves trying to keep their off-the-court drama from creeping into this new life that they’re trying to make for themselves. This is the predicament Young Thug currently finds himself in. Explore See latest videos, charts and news The Nas song “Star Wars” explains this very situation. “It’s shockin’ you thinkin’, ‘Naw, it’s just rhymin”/ But all this time it’s like organized crimin’,” he raps. “For instance, there was a time when there was a line between streets and business, but now peep how it’s mixed in the beef is now sickenin’, everybody got paper/ Words of power, because of it the cops hate ya/ The government watchin’ all of those who thuggin’ it/ They wanna lock us up ’cause they kids are lovin’ it.” According to Thug, Lil Woody mistakenly breaking into Donovan “Nut” Thomas’ car was the domino that led to YSL’s highly publicized RICO trial. “This whole beef started because of you,” a frustrated Young Thug told Big Bank in an emotional interview this past weekend. “The whole s—t started because of Lil Woody. How the f—k you gonna tell? This whole s—t started because of you. The whole case. This s—t happened because of you, my boy. The whole case because of Woody, some sucka s—t he did to Nut and them. Some sucka s—t.” Thugger went on to say that Woody found jewelry in the car and when realizing they belonged to Nut, he took jewels back and told Nut that some kids stole them and brought them to him. Apparently, Nut had no issues with Woody afterwards and was willing to move past it, but the people around him weren’t as open to letting the transgression slide — just as Nas rapped on “Star Wars” when he said, “Maybe the words get disrespectful, now your n—as check you/ ‘You ‘gon let that n—a play you? You know we ‘gon rep you.’ Donovan “Nut” Thomas would eventually lose his life. Thug maintains that these chain of events led to what eventually became the state of Georgia’s longest trial. “We just being some real n—as and your brothers and standing behind you, f—k that,” he said. “You did some sucka ass s—t. Now you got Shannon, Yak, me, Duke, and everybody else on the outside…You got all of us going through s—t because of your own actions that you did on your own time, and you folded and you told. You did the worst. I rather you tell the opps where I live, than tell the police. We go to prison forever. Man, I rather die than go to prison. What the f—k you mean, ‘Move forward’?”  As Young Thug sat in jail for the past three years, he had a lot of time to kill, and some of that time was spent on the phone talking to people like his girlfriend Mariah the Scientist and his friend and collaborator 21 Savage. These jail calls, that all parties involved assumed were private, have now been making their way onto social media and causing a bunch of little fires that forced the YSL founder to sit down with Big Bank for three hours and try to put them out. He went even further by releasing a seven-minute song named “Man, I Miss My Dawgs” last night apologizing for some of the things he said over the phone about people close to him like Mariah, Future, and Gucci Mane. In some of those calls, he referred to Future as “r—rded,” called Gucci “soft,” commented on GloRilla’s looks, criticized Drake for reaching out to Metro Boomin to clear a song as he was mourning his mother’s death, and talked to other women behind his girlfriend’s back. These same calls were obtained by fans through open records requests by way of the Cobb County Sheriff, and shared all over the Internet, largely as part of an attempt to smear Thug’s reputation in retaliation for constantly referring to Gunna as a snitch for taking a plea deal during the early days of the YSL RICO trial, something that Thug refuses to change his stance on and has clearly affected him emotionally. “Because I just don’t got my twin, bro,” he replied tearfully to Bank after being asked why he hasn’t really much music since coming home last Halloween. “Bro, I don’t got my friends, bro. I’m just f—ked up, Bank. I’m f—ked up, bruh. The n—a I be with every day, I don’t got ‘em no more, bro. I’m f—ked up, bruh. I’m f—ked up, bro, I don’t know. I don’t know what to do.” He added that he still feels betrayed by Gunna decision to take a plea deal: “And I didn’t lose no n—a to nothing tragic, I lost a n—a to betrayal,” he said. “You signing that one piece of paper, signing your initials on this one piece of paper could get me a life sentence, my nig n—a. Just cause you trying to get home fast or you just trying to get to a hoe or you just doing a certain thing, bruh. And you already betrayed a n—a before, bruh. A piece of paper. You gonna let a piece of paper end all this s—t? N—a, we men. We brothers, n—a. Ain’t no n—a in the world make me go against Gunna. No n—a.” He then moved on to Yak and Duke’s situation, saying that

New Music Latin is a compilation of the best new Latin songs and albums recommended by Billboard and Billboard Español editors. Check out this week’s picks below. Explore See latest videos, charts and news Ke Personajes & J Balvin, “Celosa” (Sueños Globales/Capitol Records) Argentina’s Ke Personajes and Colombia’s J Balvin join forces for the first time in “Celosa,” which translates to “jealous girl.” Produced by Luis Barrera Jr., the song starts off with a 40-second soft rock melody before smoothly transitioning into a riveting cumbia melody — staying true to Ke Personaje’s sound. Meanwhile, Balvin, who recently teamed up with Gilberto Santa Rosa for the captivating salsa “Misterio,” continues on his experimenting streak. Lyrically, “Celosa” is just that, an ode to those who overthink and are jealous. For reassurance, the artists sing in the chorus: “I blocked my ex for you, so you can relax/ even if you’re jealous, I still want you in my life/ I gave you my passwords to my social media, so you can remove those you don’t want me to follow.” The vibrant music video was directed by Fernando Lugo in Tijuana, Mexico. — JESSICA ROIZ GALE, “Ciao!” (Sony Music Latin) There’s a bluntness to GALE’s lyrics that makes her music refreshingly relatable. The Puerto Rican artist’s “Ciao!” is no exception and on this ’80s-influenced synth-pop anthem, she knows exactly what she she wants and isn’t afraid to ask for it, setting an ultimatum for that indecisive significant other. “If you’re unsure, then I’d rather say ciao,” she sings decisively. Powered by that rebellious tone that is signature to GALE’s music, the track follows a handful of singles the singer-songwriter has released since dropping her 2023 debut album Lo Que No Te Dije. — GRISELDA FLORES Grupo Cañaveral & Grupo Niche “Mi Mundo al Revés” (FONO) Two giants of tropical music come together for this majestic fusion of salsa and cumbia at the highest level. The rhythmic beat takes us on a love story full of sensuality, something that these Colombian and Colombian-Mexican groups handle perfectly. “Mi Mundo al Revés” is the first single from volume 2 of Tributo a Una Leyenda Humberto Pabón, a compilation that pays tribute to the founder of Grupo Cañaveral and his great contribution to Latin music. — TERE AGUILERA Yami Safdie, “Luis” (WEA Latina) Yamie Safdie delivers a bold response to haters in “Luis,” a folk song driven by rhythmic guitar riffs in which she gives a fictitious name to those who do nothing but criticize from the comfort their cell phones. Transforming the trolls’ hatred into empowerment, the Argentine artist sweetly sings biting verses like: “Make up any movie you want/ And paint me any color/ Dress me up and make me a villain/ But that doesn’t change a thing/ You’re still alone on your couch.” The music video, starring popular Argentine streamer Martín Cirio, is full of humor and cultural references taken directly from the web. — SIGAL RATNER-ARIAS Siddartha, “Tú y Yo y Tú” With bossa nova-tinged flourishes and hints of psych-rock, Siddartha’s “Tú y Yo y Tú” captures the fiery intimacy of two souls colliding. Co-produced by Didi Gutman, Alejandro Pérez, Rul Velázquez and the artist himself, the track feels like a lush, moonlit dance of passion wrapped in warm, cinematic soundscapes. The music video pairs tribal ritualism with coastal dreaminess, leading viewers through a cabin lit by candlelight and a beach after sunset. A faint radio tune at the opening of the visual hints at a future song by him, according to a statement, creating anticipation for what the Mexican singer-songwriter has in store. — ISABELA RAYGOZA Sofia Monroy, “Alma Dividida” (Veo Sonora) With “Alma Dividida,” Sofía Monroy puts into words a feeling shared by many immigrants: the difficulty of fitting completely into one place or identity. Over a Latin pop base marked by enveloping percussion and strings, the Mexican-born, Swedish-raised singer-songwriter sings about what it means to belong to two worlds at the same time. “If I’m from here and also from there/ I’ve never understood why pointing out/ who belongs to any place/ The things of having a double identity / Because my soul is a divided soul,” the chorus concludes honestly. — LUISA CALLE Check out more Latin recommendations this week below: Source link