What we're listening to: Bad Bunny, The Weeknd, FKA twigs and more

Yahoo

22-02-2025

In What We're Listening To, Engadget editors and writers discuss the new music we can't get enough of.
You don't need me to tell you to go listen to Bad Bunny's DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS — if you're on the internet enough, you've been told to do so already. But I'll add to the pile-on and say that this is Bad Bunny's most personal work yet. It showcases how modern pop, rap and R&B can be seamlessly combined with old-school, traditional sounds from different cultures (in this case, Puerto Rico) in a way that celebrates both camps. Bad Bunny has always been deeply connected to his island home and it's come through in his music, but DTMF is on a whole other level.
For me, there are no skips on this album — but if you're going to listen to just one song, make it the salsa hit 'BAILE INoLVIDABLE.' Aside from that, my favorites are 'NUEVAYoL' (if you live in the five boroughs, be prepared to hear this all summer long), 'KETU TeCRÉ,' 'CAFé CON RON' and 'EoO.' — Valentina Palladino, Deputy Editor, Buying Advice
The Weeknd is certainly going out with a bang with Hurry Up Tomorrow. Supposedly the pop star's final record under his current pseudonym, Hurry Up Tomorrow also completes the trilogy that started with 2020's After Hours and continued with 2022's Dawn FM. It's a massive (literally, at 22 tracks), cinematic album that serves as The Weeknd's magnus opus, and without a doubt, his most personal project yet. His attitudes toward fame, legacy, suicide, past substance abuse, the fear of being alone and much more are all laid bare for listeners to hear, but in typical Weeknd fashion, he disguises it all in moody synths, thumping bass and top-tier vocals.
The first things I noticed during my initial listen were the transitions: they're beyond smooth on this album, and they're one of the reasons why the first five tracks make up one of the most energizing sequences I've heard start an album recently. I'd personally extend that to include the next two tracks, the final of which is 'Open Hearts,' a song that's cut from a similar cloth as 'Blinding Lights' and will, no doubt, be a standout single from the record. My other top tracks are 'Wake Me Up,' 'Cry for Me,' 'São Paulo,' and 'Niagara Falls.' — V.P.
FKA twigs is truly in a league of her own. I've been mentally prepared to be changed by the new album ever since she released the genuinely jaw-dropping 'Eusexua' music video back in September (which features two tracks, 'Drums of Death' and 'Eusexua'), but it's even more magnificent than I was ready for. FKA twigs has described the state of 'eusexua' as 'pure presence. It's a moment of nothingness. Or it's the moment before a really incredible idea… it's this ego-less presence which is just filled with this kind of tingling clarity.' Call me corny, but listening to this album is a spiritual experience every time.
Eusexua ebbs and flows over the course of its 11 tracks, starting out almost angelic with the title track before transporting you right onto a throbbing, disorienting club dance floor with 'Drums of Death' and 'Room of Fools,' then back down to a softer, emotionally raw place with 'Sticky.' 'Childlike Things' feels like the onset of unexpected joy, almost out of place in between 'Keep It, Hold It' and 'Striptease' but in a way that's really grown on me.
'Perfect Stranger,' toward the beginning, and the penultimate song '24hr Dog' almost feel like two sides of the same coin, the latter hitting like the vulnerable comedown from the former. I love every song on this album, but I especially can't stop listening to 'Girl Feels Good,' which sounds like it's been transplanted into 2025 from the '90s and hits me in just the right way. Eusexua has kind of taken over my personality for the time being. — Cheyenne MacDonald, Weekend Editor
Honorable mentions: A bunch of singles have come out lately that have me so hyped for albums we're going to see later this winter and spring. I'm apologizing in advance for the person I'll become when Lady Gaga's Mayhem drops, because 'Abracadabra' has reawakened something in me. On the opposite end of the spectrum, I've been obsessively listening to Bria Salmena's brooding indie track, 'Stretch the Struggle,' ahead of her debut album's release at the end of March, along with 'Sugar in the Tank' by Julien Baker and Torres, who have a country-leaning collaboration album coming out in April that I cannot wait for. All of the new SZA from SOS Deluxe: Lana (Deluxe?) has been a real treat too. — C.M.