New Music Friday: 5/17/24

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:

"LUNCH," Billie Eilish
I've never had anything against Billie Eilish, but I've also always held her music at arm's length. I thought her early singles were fine — just fine! — and the rapturous response they received made me feel like I had to be bearing witness to an artist whose work was simply not aimed at my demographic. That's probably 100 percent accurate, and yet "LUNCH" is undeniable — this is a swaggering pop strutter whose relatively sparse production reflects utter (and earned) confidence in the ruthless efficiency of the hook. No matter how old you get, one of the biggest pleasures of listening to pop music is hearing A plus B equaling C — when you know every component of the formula by heart, but it works anyway. This is a perfect example of that principle in action.