The Singles Jukebox, 2024: April

Not a great month, but a couple of good R&B tracks and a stupidly booming soccer anthem mean it’s not a total wash.

Djo - End of Beginning
Owl City 2024. [2]

Future and Metro Boomin ft. Kendrick Lamar - Like That
I can't, and won't, with Future's gun-glorifying, misogynist lyrics. And Metro's Barry White-sampling track is just lazy. [0]

Cardi B - Enough (Miami)
I want and expect more from Cardi at this point than just endless boasting. [5]

Shakira and Cardi B - Puntería
A mildly sexy empty-calories jam that I can't remember I heard five minutes later. [6]

Muni Long - Made for Me
An elegant, piano-led R&B ballad reminiscent of Toni Braxton's Imperial Phase work with Babyface, this is incredibly lovely. [8]

Kane Brown - I Can Feel It
Theoretically this fusion of banjo, big-ass drums, and an interpolation of Phil Collins' most iconic song should be a lot of fun -- and Brown's winking voice would seem to be the right fit for it. But it all feels awfully forced, especially when Brown actually sings that he "can feel it coming in the air tonight" in the bridge. It's too obvious by half, not remotely country save for that banjo (which would be fine except that it's being billed as, y'know, country), and even though it's a clever idea, never fully gels. [4]

$OHO BANI & Herbert Groenemeyer - Zeit, Dass Sich Was Dreht
A big-ass 2006 German World Cup anthem featuring Amadou & Mariam gets spun on its head to create a big-ass 2024 stadium hip-hop record, equally suitable for football matches. The key here is that producer Ericson keeps the drama in, with that giant chanted chorus, and pumps up the drums; I can't imagine this won't be playing across Europe all year. Works much better than it should. [7]

Tyla - ART
A fresh-sounding blend of amapiano and smooth R&B that's subtly hip-shaking but also pretty damned sexy (though not as much so as "Water," which I wish I'd blurbed, an easy [9] for me). Pray that Tyla sticks with this groove and doesn't get sucked into the UK dance music machine, because this is where she belongs. [7]