New Music Friday: 3/22/24

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:

"Pretending," FLETCHER
I've had a casual appreciation for FLETCHER's deal since I heard "Undrunk" five years ago — they aren't an artist who knocks me out with every new release, but the stuff I like, I tend to really like. I'm not sure "Pretending" is in the upper deck on my personal FLETCHER playlist, but this is a solidly mature, pleasantly anthemic sound that feels like growth. Slick, radio-ready growth, but still.