Taylor Swift
“Out Of The Woods”
Big Machine/Republic
The vast chorus of Taylor Swift’s new single combusts like the closing sequence of a 1980s action movie, a muscular chant that finds Swift asking, “Are we out of the woods yet? Are we in the clear yet?” Kaleidoscopic synthesizers and stacked drums once again demonstrate how far Swift has strayed from her acoustic country roots. But her lyrical details are as evocative as ever, as she spins a story of tenuous romance that includes image of a car crash, a forgotten Polaroid and a decision “to move the furniture so we could dance.”–Jason Lipshutz
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Mila J Featuring Ty Dolla Sign
“My Main”
SP/Motown/IDJMG
A compelling account of ride-or-die friendship, “My Main” finds R&B singer Mila J (sister to Jhene Aiko) scooping up a crackerjack DJ Mustard beat and delivering lines like “I’m down for whatever when she’s by my side” with an invigorated sneer. But why Ty Dolla Sign invades this ladies-first anthem remains unclear.–Jason Lipshutz
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…And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead
“A Million Random Digits”
Superball Music
After announcing their ninth album, IX, with an online jigsaw puzzle, the Texas prog-rockers are back with the LP’s second single. “A Million Random Digits” buries barely discernible vocals beneath squealing guitars and machine-gun drums, recalling the ponderous grandeur of 2002’s seminal Source Tags & Codes.–Harley Brown
Bubbling Under: Marina & the Diamonds Shine
Marina and the Diamonds
“Froot”
Atlantic
“Good things come to those who wait,” sings Marina on her new single, “but I ain’t in a patient phase.” Subtlety’s not the aim of “Froot,” a sonically fresh but lyrically stale pop banger stocked with food-as-sex metaphors: “Baby, I’m plump and ripe,” she observes, elongating syllables for extra hamminess.–Ryan Reed
David Bowie Announces New Song ‘Sue’ for Career-Spanning Album Release
David Bowie
“Sue (Or In A Season of Crime)”
Columbia/Legacy
Bowie revisits his world-weary Heathen-period vocal style with a novel (for him) musical twist: a brass-, bass- and snare-heavy jazz accompaniment, courtesy of the Maria Schneider Orchestra, that conjures noirish images of desperate men and women walking the rain-slick, neon-lit streets of New York.–Frank DiGiacomo
Eric Church Scores Second No. 1 Album With ‘The Outsiders’
Eric Church
“Talladega”
EMI Nashville
The next single from Church’s blockbuster The Outsiders LP isn’t a NASCAR paean, but instead a rosy reflection on his wild youth. Like previous single, “Give Me Back My Hometown,” “Talladega” successfully focuses on details, whimsically recalling “shooting Roman candles at the man in the moon, until the Alabama sun was breaking.”–Jason Lipshutz
This article first appeared in the Oct. 25 issue of Billboard.