Tate McRae's sporty blockbuster hit, and 4 more songs you need to hear this week
Scroll down to discover the songs our producers are loving right now.
Just Keep Watching, Tate McRae
Tate McRae loves a motorsport theme: just listen to Sports Car or watch the 2 Hands music video to see how the pop star details life in the fast lane. She embraces the race track once again for her latest sultry bop, Just Keep Watching, from the upcoming F1 movie soundtrack. She brings her slick dance moves to a futuristic autobody shop in the music video as she sings about speeding through a steamy night with a love interest: "Goes like this, start with the track/ Eyes on me, archin' my back." Over a propulsive dance beat McRae repeats, "Just keep watching," as she twirls, crawls and flips her hair to the adrenaline-pumping rhythm. The song reunites McRae with producer/songwriter Ryan Tedder, who worked on Greedy, Revolving Door, I Know Love and more, and his polish is evident, particularly with the undeniably hook-y post-chorus.
The song has already climbed to No. 8 on the Billboard Global 200 and is now her highest debut single to date. It currently sits two spots ahead of the Morgan Wallen track she features on, What I Want, which became her first ever No. 1 song on the Billboard charts in May. — Natalie Harmsen
Oh Lala, Justine Skye and Kaytranada
No summer is complete without a Kaytranada dance floor heater and one has finally arrived for 2025. Part playful, part sultry, Oh Lala is Justine Skye at her best — and Kaytranada's swinging production showcases the New York singer's crystalline vocals phenomenally. Kaytranada is supremely adept at blending R&B vocals with dance music's frenetic energy (see: You're the One, Intimidated and of course, his remix of If by Janet Jackson) and on Oh Lala, the pulsing drum kick and punctuated synths sweep Skye into a frenzied exaltation: "Step one we cheers/ And then we dance/ And then we rinse/ And repeat all over again." Find a dance partner, blast this on high and prepare to work up a sweat. — Kelsey Adams
What Are You So Afraid Of?, Kaleah Lee
Fear holds us back from many things, but on Kaleah Lee's latest single, she starkly poses this question, to the listener and to herself: "What are you so afraid of?" Whether delivered as a pep talk or from the perspective of someone who has found the other side of fear, the Vancouver-born singer-songwriter is admittedly an anxious person who is deeply familiar with this feeling. Lee's delicate voice is a guiding light over gentle acoustics, expressing love and care around an emotion that can cause a lot of damage. But as her voice floats and soars over the course of almost five minutes, let it inspire us to also shed our doubts and take flight, too. — Melody Lau
White Sands, Raymond Sewell feat. Laura Roy
White Sands is meant for the open road, its chords arranged for gentle, dramatic effect as you roll the windows down and set out to chase the sun. Raymond Sewell, who hails from Pabineau First Nation in New Brunswick, wrote the song while at White Sands National Park in New Mexico, after "roaming around in the heat" of El Paso, Texas. His nomadic headspace seeps into the track, anchored by a rich feature from singer Laura Roy, whose last few years have counted work with Doja Cat (for which she's Grammy-nominated), Dua Lipa and Sabrina Carpenter. "New Mexico felt like a new beginning — being there in the morning on the cold sands," Sewell explained via email. "When I got back home to New Brunswick, I worked out the chords in my old shed." You'll find White Sands on Sewell's upcoming album, The Lone Soul Doctor, out June 20 via Musique Nomade. — Holly Gordon
Famous, Chippy Nonstop
Toronto-based producer and DJ Chippy Nonstop has kept herself quite busy in the four years since her last record (2021's self-titled co-pro with dj genderfluid): running her party series Pep Rally and DJing/production workshop series Intersessions, launching Sojourn, an electronic music festival, and touring internationally. The time away from releasing new music allowed for reflection and she's returned with an introduction to her new sonic voice with two-track single Famous/Talk Shit. "It's been a really hard few years — personally, creatively, emotionally. I've grown a lot and had to fight to find my voice again... These songs mark the start of a new era for me — louder and freer," she shared on Instagram.
Famous is high-octane party music, produced by Chippy Nonstop and production duo Fross Youth. Her signature devil-may-care irreverence and declarative lyricism ("It's just so hard being ahead of the times/ It's just so hard being fun and wild") meet clashing beats and ringing alarms on the adrenaline-bumping hardstyle track. Chippy Nonstop was a 365 party girl long before "brat summer" and her crown as Toronto's number one dance floor firestarter remains unshifted. — KA
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CTV News
25 minutes ago
- CTV News
Mandryk on Mandryk: A retrospective of 43 years of opinion at the Regina Leader-Post
Editorial note: Hallee Mandryk is a video journalist for CTV News, and the daughter of Murray Mandryk. Murray did not want to do this interview. But thanks to the fact that Hallee has spent the last 24 years practicing the art of the arguing with Murray, he has begrudgingly agreed to participate in this editorial. After 43 years of igniting debate and discourse with the people of Saskatchewan, Leader-Post columnist Murray Mandryk has arrived at his well-deserved retirement. This means that it's now time to share his worst kept secret: Murray didn't care if you agreed with the perspectives in his columns. His goal was to get you to be critical of the world around you. 'Politics is so important to Saskatchewan and Regina and it was just something I kind of gravitated towards for reasons I'm not sure,' he recalled. 'I wasn't a political animal or had the political bug or anything else. It just seemed an important thing to do, I guess that's kind of why I went in that direction, because it seemed to have the most purpose.' The youngest of six children, Murray was born to a pair of hard-working dairy farmers and grew up just outside of Grandview, a one-horse town on the road to Dauphin, Man. Murray admits he was no scholar (and still struggles with dyslexia) but he decided he'd try to make a career from his writing. 'I just always like to write, even if I wasn't all that s*** hot at it,' he said. Murray Mandryk (Courtesy: Hallee Mandryk) His first jobs bounced him from Winnipeg, to Fort McMurray, to Portage La Prairie, until he eventually landed at the Regina Leader-Post. 'That was all within basically a year and a half period,' he explained. 'I went to Regina thinking I'd be there for a couple of years, and then I met a girl.' That girl, Shawna, was out of Murray's league, and he knew it. For their first date, they went to see the film Romancing the Stone. However, Murray had secretly went to the theatre the day before, to ensure Shawna would like the movie, and the rest is history. Four eventful decades Throughout the 43 years he spent writing about provincial politics, Murray had a front row seat to some of Saskatchewan's most historic moments. When asked about the most notable topics, he cited his time covering the murder of JoAnn Wilson, the ex-wife of then MLA and Cabinet Minister Colin Thatcher in the early 1980's. 'Every newspaper literally in the country of consequence ... every TV station of consequence sent a reporter,' he said. Thatcher was eventually convicted of first-degree murder in Wilson's death. 'It was the last great thing where it was, from a journalistic standpoint, both competitive to cover and absolutely spellbinding and thrilling. So, I guess that would probably be the answer that everybody would expect to hear,' Murray said. Colin Thatcher Saskatchewan MLA Colin Thatcher is escourted by police into the Regina Provincial Courthouse June 25, 1984 for the preliminary hearing for the murder charge he faces. Thatcher was arrested May 7 for the murder of his ex-wife Joanne Wilson in 1983. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Lorne McClinton The columnist went on to note that while that story shaped Saskatchewan's history, it wasn't necessarily his career highlight. 'It's the job itself. Its a million little things, a million little stories that you get to cover that just add up in time. It's a cumulative business as opposed to sort of one great event,' he added. Haters gonna hate Murray quickly got used to the backlash that comes along with professionally sharing his political opinions. It takes much more than the occasional death threat in the mail to frighten him, although he was far from oblivious to the criticism. 'We're human, negative feedback obviously irritates the hell out of people and probably irritates journalists more than they kind of let on,' Murray said. Over the years, many of his colleagues have found Murray's handling of hate mail to be a great source of entertainment. One of his favourite methods being to highlight all of the spelling and grammar mistakes and send the mail back to the disgruntled reader. Murray Mandryk (Courtesy: Hallee Mandryk) But contrary to popular belief, the 'Tin Man' does in fact have a heart – and this heart would occasionally make some days on the job more difficult than others. 'Where it kind of bothered me is when I was writing something crappy about somebody I truly liked, or truly thought was a good person or a good politician, and they just messed up or something happened where the circumstances got beyond their control,' Murray said. He went on to say that the responsibility of his position ultimately outweighed any personal feelings, but not without tugging on his heartstrings. 'You had to write that they screwed up and you had to live with the consequences that writing about them screwing up was going to be a big part of how they became defined ... sometimes that bothered me because it appears to me there was always a sense of unfairness about it,' Murray said. A tough old bird People as iron-willed as Murray are hard to come by. But he has kept writing through the deaths of many loved ones (including his beloved Shawna), and the difficult emotions that followed those losses. Throughout the seemingly never-ending chaos, journalism and the folks who dedicate their lives to it have remained the one constant in Murray's life. 'I'm pretty grateful that I've been able to work with all of them,' Murray said. While many arguments he ignited inside the walls of the Saskatchewan legislature were legendary, they paled in comparison to the debates within the walls of his home when another four legged creature was brought home. The stereotype of grumpy fathers falling in love with the pets they didn't want is supported by Murray's best friendship with a fluffy orange cat named Lola. Murray Mandryk Murray with the pets he didn't want but learned to love, Lola (Left) and Juno (Right). His desire to debate and talk about journalism extends far beyond ink on paper. It reaches his kitchen table, which is often occupied by an assortment of strays who show up for the promise of a home cooked meal – and who stay for the entertaining dinner conversation. 'I've always maintained the last few years of my life, I'm working with kids that are younger, smarter and more educated than I was when I started the business. But they're probably better technically at it than I am right now in a lot of aspects and they just don't know it,' he noted. The world keeps turning While Murray has witnessed a lot of change in the industry, the famously pessimistic old man has some optimism for the future of journalism. 'The people that are coming along now are really good. It's smaller, it's more condensed. And that's a problem' he said. 'But … I look at the people I worked with at the newspaper right now ... and I can't honestly say that I have anything to do with it, other than the fact that they're really talented people.' The political landscape has undoubtedly changed over the last four decades. Now, without Murray to spark the debates, it will fall to the public, to the people, to keep those conversations going. 'Your social media accounts … all you get is hits that basically reconfirm your own perspectives and biases. That's why I think, not only is it important to question your leadership, it's important to question all leaders,' Murray said. Murray Mandryk (Courtesy: Hallee Mandryk) 'No particular political party or government is ever 100 per cent wrong on 100 per cent of the things. Sometimes some of the things that that you think they're right about is not even in your best interest and is certainly not in the collective interests of what's going on in the world today.' Throughout his career, Murray's dedication to asking the hard questions remained as unchanged as his haircut. Now as he enters retirement, the path he has paved within the journalistic community is admired and followed by many, including the author of this article. 'Talented people just get into this business and they just grow. That's why it continues to survive and why it's needed, and there is some success to it. I just wish people would understand that better. I wish people understood how good these people really are,' Murray said. I've been lucky enough to learn many lessons from my dad. Watching his career has instilled a particular lesson that many journalists are already familiar with, but it's worth sharing to anyone who will listen. It can be scary to be disliked, but you should fear nothing more than the person you'll become if you let the unjust words and actions of others go unchecked.
Cision Canada
an hour ago
- Cision Canada
Abu Dhabi Celebrates its Starring Role in F1: The Movie at Yas Marina Circuit
ABU DHABI, UAE, July 3, 2025 /CNW/ -- Following the regional premiere of F1: The Movie which took place in a showstopping setting at Yas Marina Circuit, a special "Making Of" video has been released, with highlights and cast and crew comments on how some of the most adrenaline-charged scenes were captured during the 2024 Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Celebrating Abu Dhabi's starring role in the film's creation and bringing the story full circle, the footage and images follows a red-carpet premiere event which was held on a custom-built cinema set directly on the circuit, transporting guests into the heart of the film, a real-life location that served as both a key filming ground and a central narrative backdrop. Newly released behind-the-scenes images and footage reveal the scale and ambition of the Abu Dhabi shoot, featuring exclusive interviews with director Joseph Kosinski, producer Jerry Bruckheimer, and lead actor Brad Pitt as they reflect on their experience filming in the UAE capital. Kosinski described it as a "privilege to film in Abu Dhabi," citing its stunning locations, unwavering support, and the warmth of the people as key factors that made it a special place to create. Bruckheimer praised the "phenomenal cooperation" from local partners and expressed deep appreciation for the effort that brought the film's vision to life. Pitt added simply, "Abu Dhabi is so awesome," capturing the cast's appreciation for the unique setting and experience. F1: The Movie, which is showing in cinemas now, was shot in Abu Dhabi on three separate occasions, totalling 29 filming days across iconic sites including Yas Marina Circuit, Zayed International Airport, and twofour54 Studios. Key racing sequences were shot live during the Grand Prix, a cinematic first showcasing and a testament to city's ability to enable groundbreaking storytelling. The project was made possible through the close collaboration of the Creative Media Authority (CMA), Abu Dhabi Film Commission (ADFC), and local production partner Epic Films. More than 280 local crew members supported the shoot, alongside 15 UAE-based interns, who were embedded within the international production team to gain hands-on experience. The production further underscores Abu Dhabi's growing reputation as a world-class hub for cinematic storytelling. With its iconic architecture, seamless production support, infrastructure, and production rebates, the Emirate has already attracted major global franchises including Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One and Dune: Part Two and continues to rise as a destination of choice for international filmmakers. Mohamed Dobay, Acting Director General of the Creative Media Authority, commented:"From production to premiere, Abu Dhabi has played a signature role in bringing this story to life. This project is a milestone for our filmmaking ecosystem, from the scale of the collaboration to the depth of local talent involved. Hosting the premiere on the circuit is a proud moment for the Emirate." Sameer Al Jaberi, Head of Abu Dhabi Film Commission, added:"This film demonstrates the full scope of what Abu Dhabi offers as a global production destination. From live Grand Prix shoots to seamless logistics and a deeply skilled local crew, F1: The Movie is a prime example of how our rebate programme and ecosystem can support world-class filmmaking from start to finish." The Abu Dhabi premiere experience featured a specially curated guest journey, including Formula 1 racing simulators, a close-up viewing of the official APXGP car, and exclusive access to props from the film, such as the helmet and racing suit featured on screen, further transporting attendees into the world of F1: The Movie. The event marked the conclusion the film's global rollout, marking a full-circle moment at one of its most iconic filming locations. F1: The Movie was produced by Apple Studios in collaboration with Formula 1 Management, the FIA, and all 10 Formula 1 teams, and is distributed globally by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film is now screening in cinemas worldwide.
CBC
2 hours ago
- CBC
The first-ever course on Punjabi music is coming to Canada
The TMU course will be mostly devoted to the Indian singer and actor Diljit Dosanjh Students at Toronto Metropolitan University will have the chance to learn more about the growth of Punjabi music next fall. A new course will mainly focus on Diljit Dosanjh, an Indian singer, actor and film producer who works in Punjabi and Hindi cinema. He has more than 14 studio albums and 50 songs under his belt, and was the first Punjabi artist to play at Coachella in 2023. Last year, he broke a world record by giving the biggest concert by a Punjabi artist outside India, which was held in Vancouver, with over 55,000 tickets sold. This year, he became the first Punjabi artist to attend the Met Gala. Charlie Wall-Andrews, assistant professor in creative industries at TMU, says Dosanjh is a perfect case study for understanding the rise of Punjabi music worldwide. "He elevated the genre and the culture on a global scale. He's truly such a trailblazer for helping Punjabi music rise," said Wall-Andrews. In the course, students will explore the branding, marketing and touring strategies that led to Dosanjh's success. The course will also delve into the origins of Punjabi music. "Looking at things like oral traditions, post-colonial legacies, early icons. We'll also look at how music is a form of protest, resistance and how censorship has occurred," said Wall-Andrews. Embracing a different route to success Apart from studying Dosanjh's career, the course also aims to highlight the exponential growth of Punjabi music worldwide. "It's not unusual that universities offer elective courses pertaining to certain superstars. We've seen many schools in the U.S. offer courses on Taylor Swift or Beyoncé," said Wall-Andrews. "Given Canada's diversity, this seemed like a different take on a superstar that isn't from the Western world, per se." [Dosanjh] hasn't adapted to the industry, the industry has adapted to him. - Mo Ghoneim, Billboard Canada president Mo Ghoneim, president of Billboard Canada, thinks that by studying Dosanjh, students can learn more about alternative routes to success. "Diljit has really shifted the centre of gravity without diluting who he is. He built a global fan base rooted in his culture first, and then the West came to him. So, he hasn't adapted to the industry, the industry has adapted to him," said Ghoneim. Wall-Andrews hopes that students who take the class will learn to embrace their authenticity. "It should encourage people to tap into their own identity and their own community, because people want to be able to see themselves in the culture," said Wall-Andrews. "It can turn into sustainable business opportunities that have enormous cultural and economic impact." An accomplishment for the community Manveer Singh, a fourth-year professional music student at TMU and Punjabi music producer, feels inspired by the announcement of the new course. "It just feels like a big achievement. Our people are making it," said Singh, who plans to take the course next year if he has the opportunity. He also agrees with his school's choice to profile Dosanjh. "Every person that grew up in a Punjabi household knows him. When you think of a Punjabi artist, you think of Diljit Dosanjh. He is one of the greatest artists of all time," said Singh.
