Planeta no - "Sol a Sol"

"Your enemies made you work from sun to sun to feed them. Now that the land is yours, work from sun to sun to vanquish them."

Planeta No gave us the early Dënver feels on 2014's cute but uneven Matucana. They sang sweetly about Japanese drawings, losing their virginity, soccer teams, essentially being called shameless señoritas and their squatted home.

Never has Chilean pop so clearly articulated a truly anti-authoritarian praxis: The stellar video for "Señorita" was all about empowering trans femininity (the transformation taking place in a beautiful, decaying mansion- presumably liberated from the logic of rent), burning things down like advertising and (violently) robbing yuppies- all while looking extra fly in retro jackets in Santiago- encapuchadxs status.

The band is making all the right moves on their latest offering, "Sol a Sol," sustaining their vision of cutting disco gems like Milton, while singing about depression and self destruction. The bright sounding title of the track is borrowed from a (featured above) super militant worker's liberation graphic posted on their Facebook account. The band also played the ongoing student occupation of the University of Chile with the likes of Gepe. Who said pop music and social liberation cannot coexist?

"Sol a Sol" is the first single from the "super punky" Odio- the band's forthcoming debut LP, scheduled for release on July 20th. 

Selena Gomez (feat. A$AP Rocky) - "Good For You"

Somewhere lost in my email drafts there's a half-finished review of 2013's Stars Dance that made a long-winded attempt to declare the record a near masterpiece. As other blockbuster albums that year settled on disparate imitations, exhaustive features, and an excess of advertising loanwords (2010-2013 radio was OBSESSED with some combination of "tonight" and "live my life"), Stars Dance held on to its dance pop vision with the perfect caliber to pull it off. It was club music for lovers. Skrillex meets Britney Spears. The pop equivalent of a 5 Gum commercial. None of it mattered in the end. Stars Dance practically flopped since 2013 was also the year la maili.

2015 brings us another chance for adult Selena Gomez to have her moment, this time free from Hollywood Records, the Disney imprint that gave us all four of her previous releases. Strangely enough, these were the exact conditions that Miley Cyrus was under when "We Can't Stop" was released. The fact that "Good For You" was produced by Hit-Boy and features A$AP Rocky adds to the peculiarity of the timing.

We don't even have a video yet, but it's unlikely that "Good For You" will break the internet as Miley's once did. Gomez isn't interested in espousing Instagram/Snapchat free spirit tag lines. Instead the song is affected with (PG-13) sensuality, frozen R&B, and a whispery, barely there performance. Admittedly, we've heard this done better this year through artists like Tinashe or Korean girl group Red Velvet. And A$AP Rocky's presence just comes across as extra and outdated. But the moment Gomez sings "Trust me, I can take you there" you can't help but believe it, even for a second.

First impressions on these type of songs are nothing to take seriously. It took us practically a year to recognize the genius of "6AM" or Becky G's "Shower." Just know our expectations are there, and we can't wait to meet Selena Gomez all over again.