Songs You Need In Your Life: February 19, 2025

Tracks we love right now, in no particular order.  

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.

Avalon Emerson, “Don’t Be Seen With Me”

Avalan Emerson marks a return to the dancefloor, following her 2023 dream pop album Avalon Emerson & The Charm, with a cover of Oppenheimer Analysis’ synth-pop song “Don’t Be Seen With Me.” There is a runaway energy to Emerson’s version, as if she recorded it while tumbling down a steep hill and is trying to stay upright. That balancing act makes for a thrilling and addictive listen. —David Renshaw

Maria Somerville, “Garden”

Maria Somerville’s early morning NTS show is essential listening for those who need a wave of calm in order to tune into the frequency of the day. Her own music vibes with her serene radio playlists, with “Garden” being the latest single from her upcoming album Luster, due on April 25. The dreamy track flirts with the womb-like sensations of shoegaze but Somerville’s voice is never lost in the hum. “It’s all I know,” she sings, stripping away the noise and making everything feel clear for just a moment. —DR

LISA, “Born Again (feat. Doja Cat, RAYE)

LISA lost me for a little with her last few singles but I’m fully back and locked in after hearing “Born Again,” a furious disco pop banger that features Doja Cat and RAYE. The BLACKPINK rapper isn’t known to have the strongest vocals, but she surprisingly holds her own against the two powerhouse singers. As always, Doja is magnetic, and RAYE, no notes. —Steffanee Wang

Jensen McRae, “Praying For Your Downfall”

This is just a pleasant, country-tinged pop song for anyone going through a particularly difficult breakup but are finally coming out the other side. Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Jensen McRae’s strength lies in simplicity: her uncomplicated songs go down easy; her voice so familiar it sounds like an echo of your own. —SW

SoFTT, “Cerca al Cielo”

“Cerca al Cielo” means “close to heaven,” and that’s exactly where I imagine this thumping track by the Miami producer-singer duo SoFTT will take you if played in the club. Kablito’s digitized angelic Spanish vocals ride a pummeling beat that slowly blooms upward over the course of the song’s five euphoric minutes — a journey to parallel the Molly-induced chemical climb in your brain. —SW

Feng, “XY”

The new London underground is churning out hot rappers at a ceaseless pace, and you can count Feng among their ranks. His sound is a bit indie sleaze, a bit blog rap — in both lyrical content and sound, Feng sounds like he’s channeling the U.K. version of Skins with the naughtiest bits cut out. His tales of mindless partying and indiscretion are strictly PG-13 and powered by a teenager’s urgent chase for catharsis before real life takes over forever. “XY” is the most lovesick track on his new EP, What the Feng, rage synths glistening over hyper-compressed drums as Feng lyrically paces back and forth, stuck between the unthinkable prospect of calling her back and the hellish idea of never speaking again. —Jordan Darville

Nazar, “Anticipate”

It’s understandable if you missed Nazar’s 2020 debut Guerilla: Two days prior to its release, the World Health Organization officially declared COVID-19 a pandemic. A pity, because the project’s brutal industrial textures, Nazar’s own bespoke variant of kuduro, are quite unlike anything else. The title of his upcoming album, Demilitarize, hints at the change in sonics indicated by its lead single “Anticipate.” It opens with aqueous, deconstructed club melodies sashaying about as Nazar repeats a weary refrain of “Oh my days,” his voice tuned and morphed into a mutant two-step vocalist’s. The song’s dysmorphic approach to genre means that, although it has a far more gentle sound than any song on Guerilla, “Anticipate” loses none of the horror that made Nazar so intriguing. —JD

Jackzebra, “蒙脸”

jackzebra · 蒙脸 (prod. chinapoet)

Jackzebra has gathered a wave of stateside attention thanks in part to dull memes, but the Chengdu-based rapper makes music for the parts of your brain not rotted by the infinite scroll. Above & Beyond is his most sedate project yet, tweaking the plugg and pluggnb-inspired sounds of previous releases into something even more insular and alienated. That loneliness peaks on “蒙脸,” a song that opens with piano keys falling like teardrops against a wailing hurdy-gurdy. It’s a desolate backdrop for Jackzebra’s fraught existential reckoning, a trial that will never escape the four walls of his bedroom. —JD