Jams of the Week: Doja Cat, Marian Hill, Banx & Ranx & Ella Eyre, Amara La Negra, Honeyfeet

By in Features Music

This week, we’re tast­ing Doja Cat’s sweet, sweet can­dy, going straight to voice­mail with Banx & Ranx, giv­ing exes the side eye with Mar­i­an Hill, and get­ting ready for car­ni­val with Ama­ra La Negra.

*** Lis­ten to even more new music on The Fresh List playlist ***

‘Candy’ by Doja Cat

LA native Doja Cat rev­els in mak­ing the kind of woozy, wavy R&B and hip hop that tempts you to drink to excess, chase sex like there’s no tomor­row, and gen­er­al­ly put your desire for Earthy enjoy­ment before every­thing else. It’s all a fan­ta­sy, of course. A fly, sexy fan­ta­sy that’s hard to stop replaying.

‘Can­dy’, pro­duced by Yeti and Budo, is the lat­est slice of sug­ar-coat­ed, ecsta­sy-induc­ing R&B from this con­fi­dent up-and-com­er. The song leads the way for the 22-year-old’s debut album, Amala, released today (March 30), via RCA Records.

Doja Cat first caught our ears with her 2014 sin­gle ‘So High’, itself an addi­tive inhale of drugs, sex and trap tones with a Far East­ern slant. Recent crib-to-club par­ty sin­gle ‘Roll with Us’ is anoth­er exam­ple of her thirst for sen­su­al R&B and rap. The brava­do of Nic­ki Minaj meets the smooth­ness of SZA: that’s Doja Cat. And this feline is def­i­nite­ly get­ting her cream.

‘Differently’ by Marian Hill

Philadel­phia duo Mar­i­an Hill – Jere­my Lloyd (pro­duc­tion, song­writ­ing) and Saman­tha Gongol (vocals, song­writ­ing) – are giv­ing you ammu­ni­tion for when your unwel­come exes poke their faces back in your life. Pro­duced by Mar­i­an Hill and Boi-1da, Gongol’s sassy teas­es bring Lorde to mind, while the impact­ful drum breaks back her up like the threat of poi­son kiss­es. The duo’s sec­ond album, Unusu­al, arrives on May 11.

‘Answerphone (feat. Yxng Bane)’ by Banx & Ranx & Ella Eyre

Banx & Ranx have made instant ear can­dy with ‘Answer­phone’: the wind­ing riff will run rings around you like an Olympic sprint­er, while Ella Eyre and Yxng Bane nar­rate a rela­tion­ship on hold with irre­sistible vigour. Get­ting pushed to voice­mail has nev­er sound­ed so satisfying.

‘What a Bam Bam’ by Amara La Negra

Here’s one for your car­ni­val hype playlist. Afro-Domini­can singer Ama­ra La Negra recent­ly shot to fame after her appear­ance on US real­i­ty TV show, Love & Hip Hop, where fel­low con­tes­tants, media types and view­ers all weighed in on her appear­ance and proud love of her African her­itage. Stand­ing firm in who she is, the 27-year-old faced down neg­a­tiv­i­ty and has sign­ing a mul­ti-album record deal. ‘What a Bam Bam’ is the lat­est hip-shak­er from this Span­ish-speak­ing won­der woman, and it sam­ples the reg­gae favourite by Sis­ter Nan­cy. Viva La Negra!

‘Whatever You Do’ by Honeyfeet

Hard to clas­si­fy, but eas­i­ly one of the most darn­ing songs you’ll hear this week is ‘What­ev­er You Do’ by Hon­eyfeet. Take a look the video – which itself is one of the most inven­tive stop-motion ani­ma­tions we’ve seen in ages – and get a taste of the group’s unusu­al mix of jazz-folk. Honeyfeet’s debut album is out today (March 30) on Wah Wah 45s.

*** Lis­ten to even more new music on The Fresh List playlist ***

Image: cour­tesy of Doja Cat/PR

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