Each week, ourSongs of the Week column highlights the best new tracks from the last seven days. Find our new favorites on our Top Songs playlist, and for more great songs from emerging artists, listen to our New Sounds playlist. This week, Chappell Roan returns to ballad mode with her new song, “The Subway.”
Though always unified by her stunning vocals, Chappell Roan seems to oscillate between two modes: the winking, provocative, camp-ridden persona, often unfathomably horny and a touch bit reckless (see: “HOT TO GO!” and her recent song “The Giver”), and the earnest, deeply sincere, cards-on-the-table balladeer, with main character energy and a biting, occasionally self-deprecating edge (see: “Casual,” “California”).
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“The Subway,” Roan’s new song, is her latest addition to the latter category, tracing the sting of a breakup with more passionate, majestic songwriting. That passion was fully on display throughout 2024 as Roan began sneaking “The Subway” into her various festival sets; in retrospect, Roan was going through a lot, and performing an unreleased song that allowed her to live presently in her knottiest feelings seems more like a favor to herself than a tease for her growing legion of fans.
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Though Roan has admitted to having moved on and is dating someone new in real life, “The Subway” certainly arrives from a period of being totally in the throes of a breakup. The catalyst is a lightly traumatic run-in while in transit, which causes Roan to almost have a breakdown; soon, she’s leaving the room because she smelled her ex’s perfume on someone else, she’s struggling not to say her name during foreplay, and she’s in so deep that she honestly might have to leave the country (“Well fuck this city, I’m moving to Saskatchewan,” goes one particularly great line).
In fact, Roan nearly takes us through all five stages of grief. There’s denial (“It’s not over ’til it’s over/ It’s never over”), anger (“Made you the villain/ Just for moving on”), bargaining (“I made a promise, if in four months this feeling ain’t gone… I’m moving to Saskatchewan”), depression (“It almost killed me/ I had to leave the room”), and, eventually, acceptance (“She’s got a way/ She got away”).
Where “The Giver” aimed to appropriate bro-country aesthetics for a Shania-esque detour, “The Subway” feels much more like the dawning of a new era for Chappell. Producer Dan Nigro once again floods her vocals with space and reverb and lets a clean electric guitar do a lot of the talking; it’s less of the ’80s pop pastiche found in “Good Luck, Babe!” and none of the contemporary, Gaga-esque pomp from songs like “Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl” or “My Kink Is Karma.” Instead, “The Subway” and its dreamy, yearning hues feels much closer to an early ’90s cut, half a degree away from Lilith Fair-core and recalling bands like The Cranberries, The Sundays, and Sixpence None the Richer.
But as you’d expect from an artist as in command as Roan, everything comes together in sublime fashion. Her vivid depiction of this kind of post-breakup misery is relatable, sure, but it’s also rendered with more subtlety and space than Roan usually goes for. She and Nigro employ a slight bit of distance to these powerful, consuming feelings; she chooses to leave her pent-up angst at the door, focusing less on how frustrating the present moment is and instead putting her eggs in the “I will eventually be liberated from this” basket.
“The Subway” finds Roan at her most emotionally sophisticated, transforming the mundane trauma of running into an ex on public transit into an opportunity for transcendence. The way she tells it, Saskatchewan sounds pretty nice.
—Paolo Ragusa
Live Music Editor
crushed — “cwtch”
Indie duo crushed are back with another sublime new track, “cwtch,” the latest offering from their upcoming debut LP, no scope. Shaun Durkan takes the lead on vocals this time, but his soft attack on the mic serves as a perfect companion to his bandmate Bre Morell’s usual performances; they combine with an intuitive warmth which feels like a lost memory and spins a pair of energetic trip-hop beats into a silky spider web. As usual with crushed, they’ve nailed these nostalgic stylistic touch points while also sounding wholly original and endearingly tender. — P. Ragusa
Del Water Gap — “How to Live”
Just days before taking the Lollapalooza stage, Del Water Gap released what’s sure to be a cathartic moment during his set: new single “How to Live.” The track serves as the first new music from S. Holden Jaffe since 2023’s I Miss You Already + I Haven’t Left Yet and finds the Brooklyn artist looking for peace in the uncertainty of… well, everything. The world is, as ever, an overwhelming place to exist, but Jaffe actually finds a bit of peace in acknowledging that, even as he sings, “And I’m a man with a thimble fighting a flood/ Still figuring out how to live.” — Ben Kaye
Frost Children — “WHAT IS FOREVER FOR”
There are a lot of takes on “Recession Pop” right now — specifically songs that channel the hedonistic, abrasive tenor found in pop music during Obama’s first term — but no one is doing it quite like Frost Children. The NYC duo’s new song “WHAT IS FOREVER FOR” is brash and lightly chaotic, but it’s also coated with sugary melodies and a pop-punk sneer from siblings Angel and Lulu Prost. It’s a track meant for hyperbolic scenarios; like the hours between 2:00 and 4:00 a.m., where the abstract concept of “infinity” somehow feels within grasp. It’s a bit daunting, but “WHAT IS FOREVER FOR” is an outstanding reminder that Frost Children are well equipped in the hit-making department. —P. Ragusa
Ghostface Killah — “Rap Kingpin”
After years of algorithmic influence, the authentic essence of hip-hop is (finally!) back in full effect. The recent resurgence of real rap is due in part to Nas’ Mass Appeal record label, which promised to deliver seven new albums from “iconic acts,” including Ghostface Killah’s long-rumoredSupreme Clientele 2. “Rap Kingpin,” the first single from that elusive album, is Ghost’s opportunity to wake hip-hop heads the fuck up — this is not a drill. Built on samples of Ghost’s own “Mighty Healthy” (from the firstSupreme Clientele) and Eric B. & Rakim’s classic B-side “My Melody,” “Rap Kingpin” sees Ghostface Killah reminding us of exactly who he is: “Ghost is global/ Classic soul food/ Teddy Pendergrass on wax with the nasty vocals.” —Kiana Fitzgerald
Geese — “Trinidad”
In this week’s “songs not to play while picking your kids up from school,” Geese have released “Trinidad,” the second taste of their hotly anticipated new album Getting Killed. Frontman Cameron Winter “leaked” the track via Instagram while the group was at Newport Folk Festival over the weekend (perhaps as a make-good after the band’s set was cut super short due to weather?), but now the chaotic roar is available for all. Produced by Kenny Beats, the track is a cacophony of contemporary madness with the screamed chorus, “There’s a bomb in my car!” Listen loud — but again, maybe not near a crowded public place.— B. Kaye
Joyer — “Cure”
East Coast indie rock outfit Joyer just announced their newest album — On the Other End of the Line…, out October 24th via They Are Gutting a Body of Water’s label Julia’s War — and as a first taste, the act has shared the breezy new tune “Cure.” Featuring laid-back vocals, shimmering guitars, and a trotting pace, the cut is easy to listen to and even easier to fall in love with. With a heartfelt closing guitar solo to boot, “Cure” is a pretty damn killer lead single for Joyer’s next phase. — Jonah Krueger
Metro Boomin — “Butterflies (Right Now)”
Metro Boomin kicked off his 2024 by producing “Like That,” which was home to Kendrick Lamar’s initial Drake diss. The Atlanta producer stirred the pot further with inflammatory tweets and outright allegations (“BBL Drizzy,” anyone?), but after getting the spat out of his system, Metro has re-dedicated himself to his craft. His latest project,Metro Boomin Presents: A Futuristic Summa (Hosted by DJ Spinz), is deceptively titled, as the beatmaker is actually reaching back to the past for motivation. “Butterflies (Right Now),” one of the album’s standouts, is directly inspired by the infectious Atlanta bass of the late ’80s and ’90s. With peacocky vocal contributions from modern rap frontrunner Quavo and Roscoe Dash, who rose to popularity in the 2010s, Metro Boomin continues blending the past with the present in his quest to construct the future. —K. Fitzgerald
NoSo — “Who Made You This Sweet?”
“Who Made You So Sweet?” is directed at a person who showed NoSo true tenderness, but the question could just as well be posed to the Korean-American singer-songwriter’s voice. Vulnerable as any song you’ll hear this week, the track is built on NoSo’s layered vocals, fingerpicked guitar, and a subtle, dreamy synth. There’s a twittering bird at the start, though even that doesn’t compete with NoSo’s own lovely notes. Previous single “Don’t Hurt Me, I’m Trying” had more funky grit on it, so this second listen at the upcoming When Are You Leaving(October 10th via Partisan) hints NoSo will show intriguing range on his sophomore effort. — B. Kaye
Sir Chloe — “Passenger”
Ahead of her upcoming sophomore album, Swallow the Knife (out August 22nd), Sir Chloe has shared “Passenger.” A grunge-y grind of self-flagellation, the new single finds Dana Foote confronting the dark remains of an emotional injury. The trigger for the song was a “friend” proving to be more fair-weather than faithful (“Frankly, I’d rather go through another terrible horrible no good very bad thing than hear my friend call me crazy for calling it what it is,” Foote said in a press statement), but the target is that faceless figure sitting on your back, banging on your head to remind you of just how much you hurt. —B. Kaye
Yves Tumor and NINA — “WE DONT COUNT”
In 2023, we named Yves Tumor’sPraise a Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simple, Hot Between Worlds) as the best album of the year. This week, the genre-expiramentalist returned with “WE DONT COUNT,” a post-punky collaboration with NINA (also of bar italia). As the two trade vocal duties, propulsive bass lines and Interpol-esque guitar stabs manifest into a dark but danceable sonic hallucination. We certainly wouldn’t hate if the two had more of this in store… — J. Krueger