Hook & Reel: 10 songs for your spring pop playlist
Take a bite into songs by Fickle Friends, Clairo, Louisa and more!
Welcome to Hook & Reel, a series showcasing music that’s guaranteed to catch your ear.
Though “Into It” doesn’t quite have the instant appeal that made “Havana” such a global tour de force, it still highlights a lot of what made Camila Cabello’s transition to becoming a solo star so seamless, from her masterful delivery of the weightless falsetto in the pre-chorus to the painless way she captures the playful, understated cheekiness of the chorus.
Khalid and Swae Lee make a great pair tackling one of the many phenomenal tracks from the Black Panther Soundtrack ⎯⎯ the two genre-hopping stars swooning over a proud and strong woman with a sun-kissed hook and an effortlessly breezy beat.
New Zealand pop newcomer Robinson creates a blossoming pop song with a hands in the air, sing-song chorus that’s wonderfully Lorde-esque in its cathartic yet world-weary delivery.
Christina Aguilera’s eternally delayed comeback seems rather dubious at this point, but X-Factor winner Lousia Johnson, newly re-minted as just Louisa, is more than filling the void with this brawny, sexy, sassy soon-to-be hit.
Major Lazer and Cashmere Cat teamed up and sampled the chorus from Palmistry’s “Lifted,” one of the strangest yet most endearing pop songs of 2016, bringing in R&B prodigy Tory Lanez to trill his way across the blurry, neon-painted production.
Charli XCX and Post Precious teamed up to flip Wolf Alice’s dreamy, early aughts-inspired synth-rock standout “Don’t Delete The Kisses” into a strictly electro-pop affair, elevating the track into the cosmos and making Wolf Alice frontwoman Ellie Roswell’s breathless, spoken-word bridge downright celestial.
Ariel Beesley gives The Killers a run for their money with her debut single “Slower Than Usual,” replete with thrumming, guitar-flecked verses, not one, but TWO soaring choruses, and the kind of vocal work that sounds like light refracting off of a disco ball.
Jesse Saint John cut his teeth penning powerful pop songs for the likes of Britney Spears, Brooke Candy and Camilla Cabello, but his breakout as a solo star surges with a strength all its own, wrought with ridiculously rambunctious hooks and backed by a funky blog-house beat.
Danny L. Harle takes a sidestep from his well-known brand of high-octane, cavity-inducing dance music with his new record “Blue Angel,” enlisting bedroom pop singer Clairo and creating a slice of subzero synth-pop that sounds like it could soundtrack space travel.
There’s anger, and then there’s the way Fickle Friends’ front woman Natassja Shiner tears through the refrain in “Wake Me Up,” unflinchingly honest as she damns her train-wreck relationship even among the buoyant beat and spiritedly synthesizers.
Follow B-Sides & Badlands on our socials: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
