Songs You Need In Your Life: April 9, 2025

Each week, The FADER staff rounds up the songs we can’t get enough of. Here they are, in no particular order. Listen on our Spotify and Apple Music playlists, or hear them all below.

The sequel to the pair’s excellent collaborative track “Sorry Not Sorry” sees their chemistry so volatile, the test tubes are fit to burst. It’s split into a flexy diptych: one side is chipmunk-drill, the other Knight Rider-flavored Michigan rap. Trading their verses back and forth, both rappers shine together but Yachty seems especially invigorated by Veeze’s presence, pushing his bars to meet the place that Veeze arrives to so easily. It’s more than just a good effort, it’s a success. —Jordan Darville

As much a therapy appointment as a new rap single, “Palms Over My Face” finds Tenkay seamlessly blend authority with fragility. He’s “swerving through my city with a felony in my glove compartment,” bemoaning the people who have let him down in the past and are trying to use him right now. It’s hard to imagine clout parasites not being drawn to the talent he showcases here, stuffing the song with whip-smart lines and keenly pulling from the most melodic strains of cloud rap and drill. —JD

I’m addicted to the 808s that tear through “Down Bad,” a slick and sexy R&B anthem about wanting to get matching tattoos with someone who won’t even call you back. The yearning in our latest GEN F star’s voice is palpable, even when it’s hidden under an armor of self-deprecation: “I’m down bad, ain’t it sad.” —Steffanee Wang

Hotline TNT is the NYC-based shoegaze project of Will Anderson, and the band’s new album, Raspberry Moon, is the first where he’s joined by a full band in the studio and writing process. Lead cut “Julia’s War,” charmingly dedicated to the Philly record label run by They Are Gutting a Body of Water, is a typical Hotline joint full of sun-kissed melodies and distorted guitars that shine in the noisy chaos. Add some infectious “na-na-nas” to create the perfect cocktail of satisfying noise pop. —Cady Siregar

Elazy’s debut album, Elazy Does It!, is a refreshingly warped record that harkens back to the early days of hypnagogic pop but avoids mimicry. “Creepy Friends” begins with a Weezerian guitar lick, crackling drums, and chorused, deep-fried cooing. “Your mother says watch your mouth,” Elazy begins, continuing semi-comprehensibly as the song slides further into limbo. —Raphael Helfand

Hayden Pedigo describes I’ll Be Waving As You Drive Away, announced today as the follow-up to 2023’s The Happiest Times I’ll Ever Ignore, as “a micro-dose psychedelic album… as if somebody had cut up a tab of LSD and put on a Fahey record.” Its first single, “Long Pond Lily,” sees the fingerstyle guitarist adding maximalist electric flourishes to his rich acoustic playing to create a song that ripples across the spectrum of guitar sound. —RH

Sextile have been urgently chic for the past decade. Arriving ahead of the L.A. duo’s fourth studio LP, yes please., “Kids” sees singer Brady Keehn jogging coolly on a treadmill of pulsing techno drums provided by Melissa Scaduto. “Now you’re just another faded one,” Keehn sings as the beat climaxes, dissipates, then ramps up for another crescendo. —RH

Merriam-Webster could release a dictionary with all the delightfully unhinged new phrases Sexyy Red has introduced to the world, including the phrase at the center of her rambunctious new single. —SW

How do you follow up receiving an Oscar nomination for your work on the Poor Things score? If you’re Jerskin Fendrix the answer is a verbose and freewheeling freestyle like this. The beat is dissonant and skronk-filled, leaving ample space for Fendrix to rap in self-aggrandizing terms. At one point he spells out his name, practically winking as he points out that the J is for Jesus. It’s hard to determine precisely how serious it all is (not very at all, you suspect), but it’s even harder to tear yourself away. —David Renshaw

Lifeguard, like their fellow Chicago indie rockers Horsegirl, make music that could’ve conceivably appeared on a compilation by ’80s post-punk label Flying Nun. There is more going on with this trio than a devotion to period detail, though. “It Will Get Worse”is packed with youthful energy, from the Asher Case and Kai Slater’s duelling guitar and bass combos, to Isaac Lowenstein’s galloping drums. Lifeguard may conjure sounds of the past but crucially, they make the future seem more exciting for their existence. —DR

Deer Park, the NYC-based musician whose production credits include work with fakemink, quietly released Terra Infirma last week. The solo album is a mix of Bar Italia-style coruscated guitar music and more ambient soundscapes, with guests including jackzebra and Chanel Beads. It is “Pharmacy,” perhaps the most overtly pop moment on the project, that I have had on repeat. Vocalist Ivy Knight breathes air into a song about missed connections and blurred identities, turning a moment of confusion into a scuzzy and lovestruck duet. —DR