Beyoncé, Chezka, Coeli, and All the Songs You Need to Know

Gauzy folk with a soulful twist

Clairo’s Charm has daughters, and that’s not a bad thing, as flimsy hi-hats and vocal layering abound in Filipino singer-songwriter Chezka’s latest single, “Amoeba.” The track’s production is lush with the deployment of synthesizers that complement more acoustic elements like guitars and drums, a synth lead trailing Chezka’s vocalizing in the song’s outro. There’s a fuzzy quality to “Amoeba” that makes it feel lived-in, even though it was just released on July 10. —Pie Gonzaga

Acoustic pop with nostalgic steel guitars galore

American singer Ryan Beatty returns with his honest, country-fied acoustic pop on the album Sweet Fortune, a more raw follow-up to 2023’s Calico. Its second track, “White Lightning,” is gorgeously arranged, with strings and a piano under which Beatty sings about pulling away and coming back. He even amps up the nostalgia with a steel guitar (and I love a weepy steel guitar) and a harmonica solo. I hate using the word “yearning” these days, but if there’s any song that encapsulates it, it’s “White Lightning.” —Pie Gonzaga

Spacious, damp, guitar-driven downtempo

Much of downtempo music is marked by electronic or synthetic instrumentation, but German producer RIP Swirl and American singer Mother Soki join forces to create something more guitar-driven in “Be My.” Mother Soki’s vocals and the guitars are drenched in just enough reverb to bring out a velvety quality in an otherwise minimalistic track. Danish musician ML Buch, a cult favorite, was definitely on the moodboard. —Pie Gonzaga

The queen is back and she’s feeling seductive

Queen Bee is back to her R&B roots in the surprise single “MORNING DEW (DONK).” After releasing back-to-back albums Renaissance in 2022 and Cowboy Carter in 2024, each with its own distinct sound palette — house music for the former and country for the latter — the latest single was, according to Billboard, unfortunately leaked back in 2021. However, hip-hop and R&B song leakers were caught lacking for not seeing this one coming. The complete and official release of “MORNING DEW (DONK)” is finally here in all its glory.

In the latest single, Beyoncé returns to her luxurious brand of R&B, yearning for a partner to sip champagne with while watching Purple Rain and experiencing butterflies as they play their little seductive games.  —Elijah Pareño

Emotional wreckage with a cello

Folk singer-songwriter Coeli and her trusty cello return with “Once Aligned.” Arguably one of the most overlooked artists in the scene, her latest single ups the ante with even more honest lyricism. Lyrics like “Please don’t buy me a drink / Please buy me time” and “The last time we found rest in us and ’til we grew apart / But I still call it love” are heart-sinking lines that make you want to sing out of spite.

Coeli plays with the concept of cooling off from a former partner and accepting that moving on is normally an emotional wreck of an experience. The singer outdoes herself emotionally and technically, weaving in cello lines exactly when the song needs that gut punch. We need some more of that, please.  —Elijah Pareño

Drum n’ bass, shoegaze, and everything in between

The latest offering from Philadelphia shoegaze titans Nothing is nothing short of amazing and boundary-pushing. One of the biggest highlights from their latest album a short history of decay, “cannibal world” paints a world rotting from the inside while taking a peek into lead vocalist Domenic Palermo’s twisted world-building.

If you listen closely, the “cannibal world” that Palermo’s is looking for is a dimension filled with fuzzy guitars, breakbeats, and a vocal performance akin to My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields, if he had been born in the 2020s and leaned more into the Amen break. Nothing never misses. —Elijah Pareño