Taylor Swift & Big Red Machine, Rico Nasty, and LOONA: Best New Music
This week's best new music features releases from Big Red Machine and Taylor Swift, LOONA, Rico Nasty, and more.
Big Red Machine feat. Taylor Swift, “Renegade”
Building off the energy of their teamwork on folklore and evermore, Aaron Dessner and Justin Vernon's Big Red Machine teamed up with Taylor Swift once more on the clever, poignant “Renegade.” The track features Taylor as the primary vocalist, with Justin joining for harmonies during parts of the song. Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield noted that the song feels in conversation with “this is me trying,” while other fans tied it to “champagne problems” — both songs that have narrators who reckon with baggage and anxiety and how it can be defeating. “Renegade” features an opposite point of view, someone who is dealing with a partner's mental health struggles. It's empathetic and striking, with lyrics that speak to fears on both sides of the relationship. “If I would've known how many pieces you had crumbled into, I might have let them lay,” the narrator admits, before giving voice to a deep fear: "Is it really your anxiety that stops you from giving me everything? Or do you just not want to?"
Rico Nasty, "Magic"
Ahead of her next mixtape, Rx, planned for later this summer, genre-defying innovator Rico Nasty returns with new single, “Magic.” In the song, Rico flexes a different kind of musical muscle, gifting fans with a summery, persuasive love song. “I get to see the side you don't show no one,” Rico raps atop a gentle flute melody contrasted with a tapping beat. “I can make you feel the magic.”
Shaolinn, “Heavy Heart”
20-year-old Virginia Beach native Shaolinn is ready to break your heart with her new song, which muses on insecurities, self-harm, and fear. “Heavy Heart” is built on jazz and R&B, with Shaolinn plaintively singing about growing up with a heaviness to her soul — made worse by critical classmates and societal pressure. It ends on a hopeful, yearning note: “I just want to be free.”
Maisie Peters, “Psycho”
In a very “Blank Space”-y red lip and banged lob, British rising star Maisie Peters calls out a cheating lover who dares to call her names and insult her “silly little songs.” She tackles the track with an almost nursery rhyme cadence, really driving home the effects of his gaslighting. “‘Psycho’ tells a dramatic story of someone whose lies catch up to them, and who seem to feel very little when they hurt other people," she shared in a statement. "I think this is something near enough everyone in the world can relate to, myself included.”
LOONA, “Dance On My Own”
LOONA's latest EP & is full of gems, especially on B-side “Dance on My Own." While it's well-trodden pop ground to sing of dancing alone and feeling yourself, LOONA's vocals and charisma make a simple message irresistible. A power-pop hit that will be on repeat, it's always refreshing to hear lines like “Gonna make a little room for my mental health” and “I don't need someone to feel something.”
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