Sorry to say yes: The Weeknd, “Hardest to Love” – Look, we’re all in this together, which means giving people more consideration than you otherwise might under normal circumstances. So I sampled the Weeknd’s new album After Hours this morning and landed on its third track, “Hardest to Love,” a dulcet slice of pop-jungle that probably would have taken the U.K. by storm in the mid-’90s. Let Abel Tesfaye’s bittersweet crooning over frenetic breaks whisk you back to a time of shiny low rise pants and plastic wraparounds with painted silver frames. This reminds me a little of the gentle drum ’n bass that Everything but the Girl dabbled with on Walking Wounded. How could I do anything with this but love it to pieces? —Rich Juzwiak
Y: Miranda Lambert, “Bluebird” – What prophetic potion has Miranda Lambert been drinking? It’s almost as if she knew it was time to release something life-affirming—any bit of levity, I’ll take it. On “Bluebird,” she somehow makes singing about having a bird in your heart sound empowering? If it’s a resilient country song you’re after in time’s like these, you’ve found it. —Maria Sherman
Y: Miranda Lambert, “Bluebird” – What prophetic potion has Miranda Lambert been drinking? It’s almost as if she knew it was time to release something life-affirming—any bit of levity, I’ll take it. On “Bluebird,” she somehow makes singing about having a bird in your heart sound empowering? If it’s a resilient country song you’re after in time’s like these, you’ve found it. —Maria Sherman