KANYE WEST ft. KENDRICK LAMAR
No More Parties in L.A. ★★★
Def Jam
"I'm a 38-year-old, eight-year-old with rich n***a problems," admits Kanye West in a rare moment of self awareness, on this track from his forthcoming Swish album. This is Yeezy's first fully fledged collaboration with the crown prince of hip-hop Kendrick Lamar and the elder statesman more than holds his own, firing off references to Outkast, Lauren Hill and reality TV. By the looks of things, Swish should be his most accessible offering since 2010's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.
GRIMES
Kill v Maim ★ ★ ★ ★
4D
Prior to the release of Art Angels last year, Claire Boucher revealed that new track Kill v Main was inspired by the character of Michael Corleone from The Godfather movies. "Except he's a vampire who can switch gender and travel through space," she added, somewhat confusingly. Now released as that album's second single, the Kill v Main video looks more like Aqua's Barbie Girl video recreated by the cast of Mad Max. If that clarifies anything.
NICKY BYRNE
Sunlight ★
"Touch who you wanna / Kiss who you gotta / Feel like we're winners / Dance like beginners...". Nicky Byrne is RTE's in-no-way-cynical choice to represent Ireland at this year's Eurovision. And if recent events in Cologne are anything to go by, the former Westlife man has had no difficulty tapping into the continental zeitgeist.
THE 1975
UGH! ★★
Interscope
Until now, the 1975's frontman Matty Healy has spoken about this struggle with cocaine addiction in the past tense. But the band's new single finds him pacing around a room, his gums numb and searching for a credit card. Which suggests that battle is not yet done and dusted. The Mancunians' forthcoming I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware already looks a nailed-on certainty for clunkiest, creepiest album title of 2016.
