Alessia Cara, Dilly Dally, Killy and more: songs you need to hear this week

Here at CBC Music, we're always on high alert for new songs by Canadian artists.

This week, we're listening to new tracks from Alessia Cara, Homeshake and Jessy Lanza, Dilly Dally, Killy and A Tribe Called Red featuring Odario, Haviah Mighty and Chippewa Travellers. Scroll down to find out why you need to hear them, too.

What new Canadian tunes are you currently obsessed with? Share them with us on Twitter @CBCMusic.

'Rooting for You,' Alessia Cara

"Did you go and bump your head?," asks Alessia Cara, rhetorically, of her ex in this new song from her forthcoming EP, This Summer. "I see you're having so much fun with everyone you had so much fun making fun of," she elucidates over a prominent bassline and punchy drums, while an alto sax mirrors her eye-roll. Phony behaviour is such a let-down, especially in somebody you're "rooting for," post-breakup. But Cara doesn't dwell on it. "I'm not even broken-hearted," she sings in the bridge, "I'm just a little disappointed." Lucky for us, she has channelled that disappointment into a concise, catchy song that's eminently fun to sing along with.

— Robert Rowat

'Like Mariah (Jessy Lanza remix),' Homeshake

"Like Mariah," off Montreal act Homeshake's latest album Helium, is a bit of a blank slate. Anchored by a single bassline, floating synths and singer Peter Sagar's wandering vocals, the track failed to take off over its three and a half minute run. Enter electronic artist Jessy Lanza. Using the foundational elements of the song, Lanza (who worked on this remix with Junior Boys' Jeremy Greenspan) creates something technicolour and vibrantly new with her remix. Taking over the reins on vocals, Lanza isn't afraid to attempt Mariah Carey-level notes while singing the chorus, "Oh, if I only could sing like Mariah." Her effort here shows and it's utterly infectious over the song's updated prismatic dance beat. While this remix may satiate fans who are craving new Lanza material, we can't help but wonder when we'll get a full-length follow-up to her 2016 album, Oh No. 

— Melody Lau 

'Ba Na Na,' A Tribe Called Red feat. Odario, Haviah Mighty, Chippewa Travellers

Summer might be closing out, but A Tribe Called Red won't let it end without a new addition. The duo infuse the free-spirited vibes of Caribana in their latest track, combining the powerful drumming of Chippewa Travellers with energetic verses from Odario and Haviah Mighty, who are sure to get you jumping. The single isn't just a party track though, as A Tribe Called Red's Bear Witness notes: "This song is for the people who are working hard to make the world a better place then the one they were left with. This is for the fighters and the defenders." Let "Ba Na Na" move you to dance and act today.

— Natasha Ramoutar

'Gender Role,' Dilly Dally

If you've seen Dilly Dally live over the past couple of years, you may be familiar with "Gender Role." A longtime staple on the Toronto rock band's live setlist, "Gender Role" is a track that, as the band explains on Instagram, is a "stream of thought fantasies that make no sense, all to express a frustration with gender." A blaring two-and-a-half-minute number where flurries of riffs, pounding drums and singer Katie Monks' shredding vocals all coalesce into a whirlwind anthem that'll launch bodies into a vicious mosh pit. "Gender Role" is nexus of everything that makes Dilly Dally such a blazing act live and on record. — ML

'Destiny,' KILLY

Directed by Adrian Bellaire, Killy's latest visual is more akin to a movie than a music video — pariring the dark, infectious song with eerie visuals. After the release of the project, Killy went from being independent to signing with major label Epic Records. In an interview with Billboard, he said that he chose Epic because they "really supported what I'm doing... They'd let me be the artist I want to be." With this cinematic video for "Destiny," we can tell that's true. — NR