#Soundcheck: Hasley Wants To Be "Alone," Arcade Fire Get The Message, & More

Halsey ft. Big Sean, Stefflon Don "Alone"

Mix Sunset Boulevard and the life story of Howard Hughes up until it's a song, and I bet you'd get Halsey's new track. I love that her brand has become "international pop star who will disappoint you if you get to know her as a person." It's brilliant persona-building based on only one aspect of Halsey's personality. I can just tell you this: you'll never hear another pop song that makes becoming a pop star sound so unappealing. It's almost unfair that this track also makes it so damn danceable.

Arcade Fire "Money + Love"

After their disastrous and, frankly, agitating launch for this album, I have to admit that I wrote Arcade Fire off. But, they seem to have found the right medium (it was not speaking to the press) by making a short film based around the concepts this album wants to explore: selling out, corporations running everything, the state of the relationship between artist and patron.Probably best to leave their notions about fake news out of it. They got the wonderful Toni Collette to star as the face of the evil empire they imagineered, Everything Now, and I send them kudos for even daring to dream that a woman could leverage power in a multi-national corporation; that's already one step further than the real world is statistically likely to go. This hellish Vegas dream of a video pretty much nails it with condemnations for everything I hate. Perhaps some ideas are too big and textured to be described in sound bites, eh Arcade Fire?

Kash Doll Feat. Natasha Mosley "Serious"

You'll like you should just play this song for 98% of the time in your day. It's only the fragment of a song, from Kash Doll's new mixtape, but damn, it's true. It feels like she's building on that SZA vibe of talking about real life and relationships from the woman point of view. If you're looking for an argument that we need more space for women in rap, please direct your attention to this track.

Ruth Koleva "Didn't I"

"Flaming Hot Cheetos" – Clairo

A bunch of human-sized Flaming Hot Cheetos take over Clairo's new minimal video. No complaints here!

We leave you here with these must-play-on-a-loop songs. Until next week then!