Review: Ledisi celebrates Black women on new song

Ledisi, ‘Blkwmn’

Ledisi praises the quiet strength and unheralded sacrifices of Black women in “Blkwmn,” singing “Being silent, barely a thank you for all she gave / She smiles, powering through her pain.” Sparse piano chords, a slow-blues structure, hovering orchestral arrangements and the cry within Ledisi’s voice all hark back to Nina Simone. But it’s a new song, a reminder of labor that continues through generations.

JON PARELES, New York Times

Tate McRae, ‘Revolving Door’

A lack of instantly recognizable, stylistically defining hits — aside from the slinky, irresistible 2023 smash “Greedy” — has somehow not stopped the 21-year-old singer and dancer McRae’s star from rising over the past few years. She dips into a more promising and vulnerable sound on the moody, pulsating “Revolving Door,” the latest single from her just-released third album, “So Close to What.” “I keep coming back like a revolving door,” she sings on a chorus that thumps like an anxious heartbeat, “saying I couldn’t want you less, but I just want you more.” A McRae single is still only as good as the choreography in its accompanying music video, and by that measure, it’s one of her strongest yet.

LINDSAY ZOLADZ, New York Times

Perfume Genius featuring Aldous Harding, ‘No Front Teeth’

Perfume Genius (Mike Hadreas) and Harding share “No Front Teeth,” a surreal excursion that seesaws between pretty folk-Baroque pop and noisy, neo-psychedelic rock. Perfume Genius sings about being shattered; Harding answers him with a high, angelic call for “better days.” The video just adds more layers to the conundrum.

JON PARELES, New York Times

Selena Gomez, Benny Blanco, Gracie Adams, ‘Call Me When You Break Up’

Gomez and Blanco invite a third onto their upcoming collaborative album, “I Said I Love You First,” with this breathy Abrams feature. Regardless of the fact that “Call Me When You Break Up” is a conceptually confusing sentiment for a record that seems to be celebrating the singer Gomez and the producer Blanco’s love story, Ariana Grande did it first, and with more attitude.

LINDSAY ZOLADZ, New York Times

Hurray for the Riff Raff, ‘Pyramid Scheme’

On this heartfelt one-off single, Alynda Segarra returns to the gentle folk-rock sound they honed on “The Past Is Still Alive,” the excellent album they released last year as Hurray for the Riff Raff. “This is not a scene, it’s a pyramid scheme,” they sing, pointing to a larger feeling of social collapse that, as the song progresses, dovetails with personal struggle. “I don’t know who you want me to be,” Segarra sings. “And I don’t know, and that terrifies me.”

LINDSAY ZOLADZ, New York Times

New releases

Lisa, “Alter Ego”

Banks, “Off with Her Head”