Hmmm: Ariana Grande, “No Tears Left to Cry” — She’s back, and she’s completely reverted to her incomprehensible lyric roots! (Remember the all-too-brief period when Grande explored enunciating and placed a human-level of emphasis on her consonants? On “No Tears Left to Cry,” she’s back to slurring her speech (she might be messing with us at this point). But at least the song is fun as hell—Pharrell’s production is clear, Grande belts, and, in the video, she even defies gravity and removes her ROBOT FACES (plural). It’s an unexpected joy, one I will listen to 100 more times today to try and lay down some lyrics that aren’t just “I’m pickin’ it up.” –Maria Sherman
Y: Janelle Monáe, “I Like That” — Another record from her future “emotion film,” this is sonically stark but continues the thread of depicting Monáe as a singular rebel since youth: “I’m always left of center/And that’s right where I belong,” she sings. –Clover Hope
Y: Janelle Monáe, “I Like That” — Another record from her future “emotion film,” this is sonically stark but continues the thread of depicting Monáe as a singular rebel since youth: “I’m always left of center/And that’s right where I belong,” she sings. –Clover Hope