Every week, Vulture highlights the best new music. If the song is worthy of your ears and attention, you will find it here. Read our picks below, share yours in the comments, and subscribe to the Vulture Playlist for a comprehensive guide to the year’s best music.
Usher ft. Young Thug, “No Limitâ€
A flawless new Usher song tends to come down the pipeline roughly every four years (2001’s “U Don’t Have to Call,†any old thing off 2004’s Confessions, 2008’s “Love in This Club,†2012’s “Climaxâ€), but after the spirited pump fake of 2014’s “Good Kisser,†I had started to worry that the glory days were gone, that Mr. Raymond was finally content to hang back from the biz and luxuriate in his money. Then came “No Limit,†a summer breeze that works references to Master P’s Louisiana record label into a bedroom setting without an ounce of shame. It’s Usher at his most impishly sensual, and what’s more, the guest verse in the back end is Young Thug at his most sentimental. If this doesn’t run the hot months it’ll be a crime. —Craig Jenkins (@CraigSJ)
Danny Brown, “When It Rainâ€
Danny Brown is back! Oh, it’s been too long. Three years ago, he gave us one of the most idiosyncratic, original rap albums of the decade with 2013’s Old. Since then, we’ve only heard his spastic, squawking wordplay on a handful of features. Now everyone’s favorite Detroit rap weirdo has returned with the first new song from his next album. What a reintroduction. Somehow, Danny has turned his ear to even stranger, left-field production (this one from Paul White). How he even manages to rap on beat here is just one of the many mysteries of Danny Brown. It’s an aural assault, pounding in both the skittering beat and Danny’s vicious tales of life in the hellish D (“living every day like it’s the endâ€). Yeah, that rain he’s alluding to is most definitely gunshots. Proceed with caution. —Dee Lockett (@Dee_Lockett)
Little Big Town, “Miracleâ€
As a lover of musical experiments that sound bizarre on paper but persist through sheer force of craft, I am in love with the new Little Big Town and Pharrell album, Wanderlust. My favorite cut changes by the day, but after hearing they dedicated the prayerful “Miracle†to the victims of the Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting at CMA Fest this past weekend, I keep coming back to it. The lyric is about being tired and torn and in search of respite you’re not even sure is coming, a sentiment a lot of us can relate to in a year that’s brought more senseless tragedy and political division than any of us could’ve imagined. For good measure, “Miracle†reunites Pharrell Williams with the other Neptune, Chad Hugo, and fits Little Big Town with a shimmering album rock shuffle equally indebted to ‘70s Fleetwood Mac and ‘80s Quincy Jones. The relief they’re asking for never comes; maybe the song itself was it after all. –CJ
Disclosure ft. Al Green, “Feel Like I Doâ€
Call it a sample or a remix, whatever. The way in which Disclosure pick apart, update, and give new life to Al Green’s “I’m Still in Love With You†on this song from the duo’s new EP captures the spirit and ethos of dance music to a T. No doubt inspired by Jamie xx, this is maybe Disclosure’s best use of someone else’s material since “When a Fire Starts to Burn.†–DL
Tituss Burgess, “Somewhere†(West Side Story cover)
There’s a timeless Bob Marley quote: “One good thing about music. When it hits you, you feel no pain.†I’m reminded of it in times of deep, unspeakable tragedy because, in those moments, all I have is music to carry me away. How do you make sense of a senseless massacre like the Orlando shooting? No one has the answers. All that makes sense and feels right to me is hearing the eternally joy-infused voice of Tituss Burgess belt out the heartbreaking ballad from West Side Story in front of the Stonewall Inn. I have to believe that, someday, we will find a new way of living. Maybe it just won’t be here in the America so perfectly skewered in this very musical. –DL
Clams Casino ft. Vince Staples, “All Niteâ€
Only Vince Staples can start a song with “woke up in another man’s main bitch†and get away with it. If you sunk your teeth into Vince’s debut album, then you already know he’s at his best when rapping over a Clams Casino original. (Look no further than “Norf Norf.â€) He’s now returned the favor for Clammy’s debut, on yet another day-in-the-life of Long Beach rap storytime over a deadly, clunky beat. This one’s essentially a testament to no matter how far you remove yourself from the street, that life will haunt you forever. Vince calls himself “anybody killer,†describes the same angel dust that scarred Kendrick Lamar for life as his father’s go-to way to roll a Swisher, and references the Poppy Street he’ll never be able to leave. If Vince’s sophomore album was produced solely by Clams, no one would complain. — DL
SG Lewis ft. Gallant, “Holding Backâ€
It’s a real blessing when a talented vocalist like Gallant aligns himself with a producer who just gets it. SG Lewis is an electronica producer out of Liverpool at work on his debut EP, but thanks to the internet, he and Gallant found each other. The production is understated yet soaring enough to work as the perfect machine over which Gallant can do what he does best: emote the fuck out of a song. It’s anything but holding back. —DL