New Music Friday: 1/24/25

Here are the rules: I listen to all 100 tracks of Spotify's New Music Friday playlist, except for anything that rhymes the n-word with itself more than three times, any screamo or screamo-adjacent stuff, any CCM that reveals its true intentions in time for me to hit the skip button, and any egregiously corny modern country music, typically performed by a dude with two first names. Having sifted through this week's playlist, here's what I actively enjoyed:

"Basic Being Basic," Djo
Every so often, something will come along to remind me that it's been too long since we got a full-on rainbow-colored pop explosion from Mika, and I'm always glad to get (and/or a little frustrated by) the reminder. Djo's "Basic Being Basic" is the latest song to do this, and if you know Mika's music, you know what that means: It's a tart little nugget of bouncy, supremely catchy songcraft.

"Childlike Things," FKA twigs featuring North West
Yes, that North West. I'm not really sure how I feel about Kanye's 11-year-old kid making her recorded debut — or rapping in Japanese, for that matter — but I'm not going to argue with results, especially when they're this much fun.