Chance the Rapper feat. Shawn Mendes, Ebhoni, Conro and more: songs you need to hear this week
Looking for new tunes? Here are five fresh tracks from Canadian artists
As fans and supporters of Canadian musicians, we're always on the lookout for new songs, whether they're from established artists or newcomers to the scene.
This week, Chance the Rapper featuring Shawn Mendes, Majid Jordan featuring Khalid, Tegan and Sara, Ebhoni and Conro grabbed our attention with new music in a variety of genres. Scroll down to find out why.
And hit us up on Twitter to let us know about the new Canadian music that's got you excited this week.
'Ballin Flossin,' Chance the Rapper feat. Shawn Mendes
Chance the Rapper's latest release, The Big Day, features some surprising guests, from Death Cab For Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard on "Do You Remember" to Randy Newman's contribution to "5 Year Plan." One of the most pleasant surprises comes in the form of Canadian pop star Shawn Mendes' satisfying hook on "Ballin Flossin." The track, which transforms a sample of Brandy's 1994 hit "I Wanna Be Down" into a grooving dance number, finds Mendes flexing his sensual falsetto against Chance the Rapper's brisk verses. It's a collaboration that neither artist planned — Chance says Mendes stopped by his Chicago studio while he was on tour and ended up liking the song's beat so much that he wrote and recorded his part on the spot — but the results are electrifying and a highlight among the album's 22 tracks.
— Melody Lau
'Thrill of It,' Conro
Conro continues his string of polished house-pop successes on the Monstercat label with "Thrill of It," the title track from a new five-song EP that dropped on July 19. This is an upbeat, glass-half-full meditation about love on a budget. "My car don't look like a Phantom/ I don't own that house in the Hamptons," he admits at the outset before deducing, "you don't need that at all" to experience love's thrills. But there's nothing cut-rate about the song's production. Between the synth-pop verses and the full-on funky house vibe of the choruses, you'll find an oasis of tight vocal harmonies, acoustic guitar and finger-snaps in the pre-chorus — a well-constructed and, above all, catchy pop song for any price point.
— Robert Rowat
'Cook Song,' Ebhoni
Toronto R&B singer Ebhoni has had it with zero-commitment partners on "Cook Food," and she's refreshingly direct about it. "You say you love me like 'Cook Food,' but only when you in a good mood," she sings, kicking off a resilient, stand-up-for-yourself mood set to ominous bells and a heavy backbeat. The third single of Ebhoni's this year, "Cook Food" gets us ever closer to her promised fall release.
— Holly Gordon
'I'll be Back Someday,' Tegan and Sara
Tegan and Sara have spent the past two decades experimenting and evolving their sound, from the folk-rock beginnings of their earliest releases to the polished synth-pop that they've perfected on more recent albums Heartthrob and Love You to Death. But the one constant has always been the sister duo's ability to pen an irresistible melody. Their latest, "I'll be Back Someday," is proof of this in many ways. The song, from their upcoming album, Hey, I'm Just Like You, was written when Tegan and Sara were teenagers sharing a home and an electric guitar, eager to strum out all their ideas. The revisited and re-recorded version that we hear now combines their old hooks with a sleek new coat of production that maintains its pop-rock nucleus — something that wouldn't be entirely out of place next to a So Jealous-era track like "Speak Slow" — while pushing the duo's sound forward. — ML
'Caught Up,' Majid Jordan feat. Khalid
Majid Jordan is lost in the sauce — no, really. In the playful new video for the duo's latest single, "Caught Up," singer Majid Al Maskati and producer Jordan Ullman go on a psychedelic trip after eating tacos topped with a special hot sauce. What ensues is a bizarre adventure featuring a rodeo, aliens and more before they reunite with Khalid. Al Maskati told Billboard that the track is about their impermanent relationship with Los Angeles. "It's that gorgeous scenery and culture mixed with the parties," he said. "The people and the glamour that leave you caught up and drifting away from home and the ones you love the most." Velvety smooth and catchy as ever, "Caught Up" is a song you definitely need to hear.
— Natasha Ramoutar