Two years after Jamie xx dropped his last solo single – the frenetic ‘Idontknow’ – the producer is back with ‘Let’s Do It Again’. A cut of pure euphoria, this floor-filling anthem was a must add to the NME Radio playlists this week. Also new to NME Radio we’ve got Camila Cabello’s stellar collaboration with Willow, and what may be Phoebe Bridgers’ only new release of 2022.
They join a disco banger by Lizzo, the latest haunting single by The Smile and an anxious earworm by young Canadian artist Fanclubwallet.
Here’s what we’ve added to NME 1 & 2 this week:
On the A List:
Jamie xx
‘Let’s Do It Again’
Centering on the euphoric vocal of “I get higher and higher… Let’s do it again”, this new heater by Jamie xx is a shoo-in for all your party playlists this summer. Hopefully it also means the follow-up to ‘In Colour’ – released a lifetime ago in 2015 – is in the works. – Karen Gwee
Listen: Spotify | Apple Music
Lizzo
‘About Damn Time’
“It’s bad bitch o’clock, yeah, it’s thick thirty,” Lizzo declares on her new single ‘About Damn Time’, a disco tune that urges carefree celebration. Come for the slyly infectious chorus and stay for the flute-fueled bridge, which should occasion more flute-twerking at Lizzo’s live shows. – KG
Listen: Spotify | Apple Music
bbno$
‘Mathematics’
The cultural pendulum has swung back to drum ’n’ bass, jungle and UK garage, and bbno$ has been listening. The rapper coasts on a fleet-footed beat on ‘Mathematics’, in the first preview of his new album out this year. It’s a far cry from ‘Edamame’, his viral 2021 single featuring Rich Brian, but it’s no less fun to listen to. – KG
Listen: Spotify | Apple Music
On the B List:
Camila Cabello
‘Psychofreak’ featuring Willow
On ‘Psychofreak’ from new album ‘Familia’, Camila Cabello joins forces with Willow Smith, who injects urgency into the hook – and opens up on the pressures she’s been under. On its second verse, she even alludes to the implosion of her former girl group Fifth Harmony: “Everybody says they miss the old me / I been on this ride since I was 15 / I don’t blame the girls for how it went down, down.” – KG
Listen: Spotify | Apple Music
Fanclubwallet
‘Trying To Be Nice’
Fanclubwallet is the 22-year-old Ottawa-based musician Hannah Judge. On this earworm from her debut album ‘You Have Got To Be Kidding Me’, Judge questions her identity and articulates her self-doubt. “I’m playing admiration games / An empty mind, a lot to try / and not enough time to try it,” she confesses. – KG
Listen: Spotify | Apple Music
Fontaines D.C.
‘Roman Holiday’
Fontaines D.C. are a band unmoored on ‘Skinty Fia’, their five-star new album released just last Friday. No longer living in Dublin, the band examine their own Irish identity on this record, including on ‘Roman Holiday’. “I don’t wanna see the Queen / I already sing her song,” Grian Chatten sings. – KG
Listen: Spotify | Apple Music
The Smile
‘Free In The Knowledge’
It’s finally here: confirmation of a new album by The Smile, the trio of Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood and Sons of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner. The latest preview of ‘A Light For Attracting Attention’ is the sparse single ‘Free In The Knowledge’, which spotlights those haunting vocals of Yorke’s that can send shivers down the spines of thousands. – KG
Listen: Spotify | Apple Music
On the C List:
Phoebe Bridgers
‘Sidelines’
‘Sidelines’ is Phoebe Bridgers’ first new song of 2022 – and possibly her only. Bridgers sings in her own melancholy way about someone who changes the stakes of her life, making her bolder and braver than she thought possible. It’ll appear in the Hulu adaptation of Sally Rooney’s Conversations With Friends, out next month. – KG
Listen: Spotify | Apple Music
Hot Chip
‘Down’
Get ‘Down’ to Hot Chip’s latest single, the first track they worked on for their new album ‘Freakout/Release’. Centered on a looping sample of Chicago disco outfit Universal Togetherness Band’s ‘More Than Enough’, ‘Down’ will sound electric Hot Chip’s live shows this year. – KG
Listen: Spotify | Apple Music
Omar Apollo
‘Talk’
Omar Apollo can’t help himself. On the Strokes-indebted song ‘Talk’, from his debut album ‘Ivory’, he’s in a state over someone he’s fallen in love with. “I really like you in the morning / These feelings got me talking too much / And I’ll be here till Sunday / I’ll see you again someday,” he croons in the chorus. – KG
Listen: Spotify | Apple Music
Matilda Mann
‘Nice’
“‘Nice’ is my dating rule,” Matilda Mann says of her new single. “If I go on a date and the only word I can think to describe it is “nice”, it’s not worth another date.” Wise words from the singer-songwriter who earlier this month was nominated for the 2022 Ivor Novello ‘Rising Star Award. – KG
Listen: Spotify | Apple Music