So many songs on the charts these days are built on big recognizable samples of R&B hits from the '90s and 2000s, so it's been interesting to see some younger R&B stars move towards working with the writers and producers from that era. Sean Garrett and The Neptunes worked on the new Summer Walker album, and Jermaine Dupri and Bryan-Michael Cox produced this new Ari Lennox single. And it's just fantastic, makes perfect use of her voice, and digs back a little past the '90s for the sample, Shirley Brown's 1977 hit "Blessed Is The Woman" (the sample is basically turned into a mondegreen here because the backing vocals are really saying "blessed," not "pressure"). Here's the 2021 singles Spotify playlist I've added 10 songs to every month this year, but tomorrow I'll begin posting my proper year-end singles lists. 

It feels like there's this whole big network of minor international pop figures constantly working together and trying to stumble on that one hit that lifts all their careers, and "Better Days" feels like potentially one of those songs. A Swedish production collective, a British singer who's been releasing music on a major label for years without a hit, and ascendant Chicago rapper Polo G seem like the most random grab bag of people to make a hit, but it all comes together and works, even Polo G's kind of bored melodic flow is a surprisingly good fit for a chill Europop song. 

It's not an uncommon thing these days, but perhaps more than any other modern rap star, Gunna is someone who has a lot of collaborative hits and arguably no solo hits -- his biggest songs are from collaborative albums with Lil Baby or the rest of the YSL roster, and to the extend that his solo albums have been successful it's rarely been for songs without features (the biggest purely solo Gunna song is, I don't know, "Speed It Up" or "Drip Or Drown"?). But I think it works for him, Gunna doesn't have a strong personality but he can sound good with someone to bounce off of, and Future is a good counterpoint here. I will never get used to the fact that one of Young Thug and Gunna's go-to producers is named Wheezy, the hook "it's young Wunna and young W(h)eezy, man this shit too easy" always sounds to me like there's gonna be a Lil Wayne verse on the song. 

I liked Silk Sonic's underperforming second single "Skate," but as the most uptempo track on the album it certainly wasn't the kind of bombastic "Uptown Funk" or "24K Magic"-type thing that I assumed Bruno had tucked away to really sell the project. But the third single restored their momentum with some another smooth midtempo track that's kind of like the angry breakup track after the seduction of "Leave the Door Open." I have a limited tolerance for retro R&B as it is, and Silk Sonic's schtick is borderline Oran "Juice" Jones, especially on this song, so I don't think I'll return to the album much, but I'm cool with this being on the radio for the next month, it's really entertaining and well constructed. 

The idea of Snoop, Ice Cube, Too $hort, and E-40 starting a west coast supergroup sounds great on paper, although in practice there are enough sonic differences between L.A. rap and Bay Area rap that it could be hard to pick beats that won't be right at home for 2 of them but a less natural fit for the other two. Their first single is produced by Virginia's Kato On The Track but has a vaguely Bay vibe, and the odd man out on the song is Ice Cube, who has arguably the best albums catalog of the quartet but has been the least musically relevant in the last 20 years, and has a subpar verse where he rhymes "big titty hooker" with "I'm up in it like a booger." I think the first time I heard a DJ drop this into a radio set he actually skipped the Cube verse, but I mean, it's a hot song with or without him. 

The original "Thinking 'Bout You" on Dustin Lynch's Tullahoma featured Lauren Alaina, but when he decided to release it as the album's 4th single, Alaina's label balked because she had another duet with Jon Pardi out as a single. So MacKenzie Porter, a Canadian singer who has multiple country #1s in her own country, got her first American hit sort of by accident. And I do like the Porter version more than the Alaina one, it all worked out well. 

The Heart portion of Eric Church's Heart & Soul kicks off with "Heart On Fire" and "Heart Of The Night," which is kind of thematic overkill, but they're good songs, I'm happy with the former becoming a radio hit. 

I think "Heartbreak Anniversary" is still head and shoulders over Giveon's other songs, but this is a solid follow-up single. 

I have spoken out on multiple occasions about the litigious climate in which musicians lose lawsuits or willingly give up songwriting credit to other artists based on a song having the 'sound' or 'vibe' of an old hit (Robin Thicke and Marvin Gaye, Olivia Rodrigo and Paramore, etc.). That said, it kind of shocked me that Andre 3000 didn't get a cut of "That's What I Want," it feels so deliberately made to sound as much like "Hey Ya" as possible. 

The latest edgy teen song that will probably be a huge hit soon, which I'm dreading, and will probably get compared to "Good 4 U" a lot but isn't a fraction as good. 

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