The 5 Best Songs Of The Week

The gym can be scary. It can be menacing. On “Deadlift,” the latest single Chicago post-punk group Stuck, you can hear it in the visceral drum bangs and loose bass shifts. I hear the weights dropping in annoyance and relief. The tension in the air is thick with aggravation and endorphins. I hear the time pass at a frustrating pace. People in this place have an agreed understanding that it’s a necessary evil — something that doesn’t feel good until we’re halfway to the result. It’s all about build and anticipation, and that’s the triumph of “Deadlift.” It feels good even though it’s intimidating: "Headphones in/ Eyes locked on my figure a room full of men/ Ignoring each other." That’s some spooky mundanity! But Stuck know how to keep us wanting to come back, rep after rep. —Margaret

"Shouldn't the world end when I'm feeling down?" Hell yes! Of course! Obviously! It's one of the most childish, over-dramatic, and obviously awesome lyrical conceits in pop history. Skeeter Davis sang about the exact same thing on "The End Of The World" more than a half-century ago, and that ridiculous idea still hits, especially when it's delivered with just the right touch of romantic longing. Young Brighton musician Opal Mag hits that refrain on a beautifully bleary fuzz-pop gem that sounds like the '60s, '80s, and '90s all it once, by which I mostly mean that it sounds like the Dum Dum Girls. More things should sound like the Dum Dum Girls. —Tom

The groove is absolutely ridiculous, the kind of thing that can only possibly come out of musicians finding a deep connection in the studio. It sounds effortless, but you know it's not. The rigorous bass-pops and the tumbling drums sound like they're lost in conversation with one another. Over that groove, a few instruments just float — lazy psychedelic flutes, lonely guitar plucks. And then there's Yaya Bey, singing softly and reassuringly about finding some kind of perspective in your life even when your brain wants to fight it. I hear all those elements together, and I just drift off into bliss. It's not a rational response; it's the only response. —Tom

Moody and mischievous, "White Feather Hawk Tail Deer Hunter" is Lana Del Rey at her most intriguing and most controversial. "I love my daddy, of course we're still together," is the kind of line you'd find on 2012's Born To Die, immediately Tumblr-viral and stitched into tight tank tops. But a lot of time has passed since that record, and she's learned a lot. Leaning into idiosyncrasies pays off, like the random trap beat in 2023's "A&W" that easily could've been bad and instead made it one of the biggest songs of the year. "White Feather Hawk Tail Deer Hunter" is pure whimsy, full of Whoopsie-daisy's exclaimed in playful falsetto as well as whisper-raps about nicotine patches on asses and cherry-colored ribbons around necks. Whether you like it or not, the coquette aesthetic is here to stay. That may suck in a lot of ways, but "White Feather Hawk Tail Deer Hunter" is weird and awesome. —Danielle

"Virgin Soil" is the proper debut single from 1000 Rabbits, but the Suffolk art-rock band has had plenty of time to cultivate it, having performed early versions of the song live numerous times across London. You can feel that in-person immediacy on its studio version, which focuses just as much on its individual instruments — a pitter-pattering drum beat, searing violin, a memorable bass hook — as it does on the vocals, which feel mischievous, whimsical, and salacious all at once: "In your mouth/ There's a pill I would like." Later, "Virgin Soil" bursts into a contrasting punky outro, making sure you know 1000 Rabbits have arrived. —Abby