The successful “ driver’s license ”, a possible answer and 7 new additional songs

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The most important thing about Olivia Rodrigo’s new single, “Drivers License,” released last week, isn’t that it now holds the one-day (non-vacation) streaming record on Spotify, or that it has practically flooded TikTok in recent days, or that it would have been inspired by a romantic fallout with Joshua Bassett, his co-star of the Disney + show “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series” . What matters most is that he manages to balance a dark but crisp melodrama with a bold melody, a softly pointed song with crisp imagery: “You said forever, now I walk past your street alone.” The song’s construction is slow, almost agonizing, and even when it breaks through, it never gets a full howl, shifting in place of a multitrack chorus that borders on the spiritual. It is, in all respects, a modern and successful pop song. But it’s also buddy to the Disneyologists, who now have a backing track to play it against: Bassett’s new single, “Lie Lie Lie,” a chipper song about retribution, and a harmless guitar-pop post. -Shawn Mendes: “You ‘I’m so innocent, like I’m the one to blame / You lied to yourself. Even though Disney devotees have unearthed clips of Bassett performing a version of it as early as 2019, he finds himself in ostentatious dialogue with Rodrigo’s song. Like gossip, now is the right time. As songcraft, it’s a losing battle. JON CARAMANICA

Like many of Lana Del Rey’s songs, “Chemtrails Over the Country Club” – the title track from her upcoming album – begins as a melancholy reverie haunted by something quietly wrong. To a lullaby tune, she sings about a complacent suburban life: swimming pools, jewelry, her little red sports car. But she also sings about being ‘on the run’ and ‘weird and wild’, of wanting someone, and then there are those sinister chemtrails above too. In the audio version of the song, Del Rey’s voice is gradually overwhelmed by strings and echoes until it completely disappears, leaving producer Jack Antonoff’s drumbeat for a long and ominous outro. The video version (spoiler alert) is even messier: halfway, the music melts and Del Rey is swept away like Dorothy via a tornado in a horror movie about wolves. The suburbs have never been like this. JON PARELES

Lost Horizons is the project of Simon Raymonde of Cocteau Twins and Richie Thomas of Dif Juz, joined by various singers on their album “In Quiet Moments”. Their guest on the title track is 82-year-old R&B singer Ural Thomas. Over jazzy backbeat, serene vamp bass, methodical piano chords and stealthy guitar curlicues, Thomas sings with otherworldly patience about desires, immensities and unanswered questions. PARELES

Here’s an example of a choice so obvious it’s astounding it’s never been rolled out by a hip-hop star before: “If I Were a Rich Man,” from the original Broadway Cast recording of ” Fiddler on the Roof ”, sung by Zero Mostel. Enter Flo Milli and producer Kenny Beats, who rely on this source material for a cheeky trash-talk session that goes on almost absurdly. It’s smart and cheerful, but maybe not as smooth as the song that made the best use of the same inspiration: “Rich Girl,” the timeless reggae standard of Louchie Lou & Michie One (later roughed up by Gwen Stefani and Eve). CARAMANIC

Blippy synths, major chords, giant martial drums – that must be a happy song, right? Well no. “Listen!!!” is a call to a partner who is unconscious or worse: “I feel like a hostage here,” Aly and AJ sing amid the sonorous jubilation. “I might be lost, but I know how to get out of it. They see an emergency exit; the song’s jarring ending doesn’t guarantee they’ve found it. PARELES

The rich soul of Memphis – organ chords, deliberate triplet drums, sharp guitars – carries a deep existential uncertainty in Drive-By Truckers’ latest song, rooted in the pandemic and looking beyond. “You wonder where has been all the time / Cut yourself off from everything you held close.” It’s disastrous but determined: “Take what you have to believe / there’s something more to hold on to,” sings Patterson Hood, in a voice as downcast and exhausted as anyone who has lived in 2020. PARELES

“Te Quiero Olvidar” means “I want to forget you”. Salt Cathedral, the duo of Juli and Nico (Juliana Ronderos and Nicolas Losada) – from Colombia, now based in Brooklyn – released the song last year in insinuating and sparse reggaeton pop form, with Juli’s panting voice hovering overhead. often just a beat and a single keyboard note. The new version, with Juli joined by Mexican singer Ximena Sariñana, adds many layers of vocals, which intertwine and persist as overly lingering memories. PARELES

Eager to make a professional recording while respecting pandemic protocols, pianist Jason Moran captured all 12 tracks of “The Sound Will Tell You” last week in a Brooklyn studio, working alone with a small team of engineers. On “Spoken in Two (Tear)”, the heartache of this slowly descending chord progression – in equal parts romanticism, minimalism and soul music – is enough to reduce the listener’s defenses. He employs digital effects which give his notes what he calls “a shadow”, but most striking is his touch gently suspended over the keyboard as he uses notes of grace to give a boost of rhythm to his harmonies. crowded but neat. “The Sound Will Tell You” is Moran’s third solo album and his latest in a series of self-released recordings on his Bandcamp over the past five years that have come to represent a chapter of his career on their own. GIOVANNI RUSSONELLO

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