Freshly Squeezed, Vol. 42: Carrie Underwood, Alexx Mack, Madelin & more

Welcome to Freshly Squeezed, a weekly new music playlist: spanning country, pop, EDM and urban, mainstream and other.

Carrie Underwood has rarely been as vulnerable as she is with “Cry Pretty,” her first single for UMG. Most of her catalog has been built on inhabiting the storyteller role, from murderous tales like “Two Black Cadillacs” and “Church Bells” to such honest, widely-accessible narratives as “Something in the Water,” “Smoke Break” and “See You Again.” But on “Cry Pretty,” she takes naysayers to task who might have a problem with her earnest and guarded public persona. She steps out from behind that mask and not only shares her personal insecurities but those of all women, targeting society’s archaic obsession with needing women to always be polished and poised. So much pain and loneliness can come from baring that cross 24/7, and Underwood is here to set the record straight.

As the anchor to a new well-dressed playlist, “Cry Pretty” leads the charge to some pretty empowering artists this week, which include Madelin, Alexx Mack, Amy Shark, Sigrid, Lainey Wilson and Laura Veirs. Youngr gives us the perfect summer-splashed jam with “Drive”; duo Sugarland inject the country format with a necessary lesson in never keeping quiet with “Bigger,” the titular cut to their forthcoming comeback album; Pentatonix have got a few “Issues,” even if they do excel at it; Bebe Rexha compares herself to a fiery “Ferrari”; and Devin Kennedy sharpens his tongue with “Waste of Time.” With the weather finally melting into spring, you’ll want to spin this one obsessively heading into the weekend ahead.

In all, we’ve got 54 new songs to spin into the morning’s wee, boozy hours.

Each playlist will be refreshed every Friday morning/afternoon. We reserve the right to update anytime during the week, so make sure you bookmark this page.

Take a spin:

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