Posthumous rap albums can often feel opportunistic: indiscriminate grab bags cobbled together for one last payday. But <i>Balloonerism</i>—the second album from the beloved musician since his death in 2018, released two days ahead of what would have been his 33rd birthday—is far from an assemblage of cutting-room floor scraps. Culled from a single week of extended jam sessions (according to close collaborators), the album is considered to be Mac Miller’s “lost project,” recorded between his 2013 album <i>Watching Movies with the Sound Off</i> and his 2014 mixtape <i>Faces</i>—arguably the most pivotal year of his creative evolution. “It is a project that was of great importance to Malcolm, to the extent that he commissioned artwork for it,” read a statement from Miller’s estate confirming the official release in fall 2024, noting the unofficial bootleg versions that have circulated through the years.

There’s only one voice besides Miller’s across <i>Balloonerism</i>’s 14 deep and dreamy tracks—that of SZA, his longtime friend, who appears on “DJ’s Chord Organ,” a heady track credited to Miller’s production alter ego Larry Fisherman that borrows a chord organ once belonging to lo-fi folk hero Daniel Johnston. Otherwise, Miller goes his own way, probing life’s great mysteries with modesty and good humor. The rattle of a tambourine echoes through the album, produced in part by Thundercat, as do Miller’s preoccupations with death as a concept, a puzzle, a voyeuristic spectacle, and, finally, life’s ultimate trip. “What does death feel like?” he wonders repeatedly on “Rick’s Piano,” believed to have been recorded at Rick Rubin’s Shangri-La studio. And on the hushed and haunting epic “Tomorrow Will Never Know,” he looks down at himself from a distant God’s-eye view and arrives at the enlightened conclusion: “Living and dying are one and the same.”

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Sweetly smitten, starry-eyed love songs with a rose-tinted, retro twist.

A feast of fan favorites and new songs from the UK’s indie-pop riser.

The Ivor Novello-winning talent turns in a mellow, contemplative pop debut.

After several years building a following on YouTube with his inventive cover songs (as well as a viral <i>America’s Got Talent</i> appearance alongside Journey’s Neal Schon), Georgia-hailing singer-songwriter Teddy Swims burst onto the global pop scene in 2023 with <i>I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy (Part 1)</i>, which featured the chart-topping single “Lose Control” and showcased his innovative blend of country’s open-hearted melodicism and the soulful textures of vintage R&B. The sequel to that record finds Swims diving headlong into the latter genre more than ever before, with a few guests to accentuate his loverboy stylings; GIVĒON lends his impressive lower range to the slow jam “Are You Even Real,” while Coco Jones and GloRilla make for perfect foils on the swaggering, low-slung “She Got It?”

But as with its predecessor, <i>ITEBT (Part 2)</i> is above all a testament to Swims’ adventurousness; single “Bad Dreams” combines modern-production touches with a retro-rock sound favored by contemporaries like Black Pumas and Leon Bridges, while the sweeping chorus of “Guilty” finds Swims tipping a cowboy hat towards his recent work with artists like Thomas Rhett and Luke Bryan. Swims’ wide-ranging approach continues to ensure that there’s something for everyone in his music, even as he retains his sense of self throughout.

Jaten Collin Dimsdale, known by his stage name Teddy Swims, is an American singer-songwriter, who blends genres including R&B, soul, country, and pop. Originally attracting fans through his cover performances on his YouTube channel, Swims went on to release his debut major label single in January 2020.

“Here’s what I know: I’ve never been good at playing games, but I’m great at telling the truth,” Joanna “JoJo” Levesque writes in the introduction to her 2024 memoir, <i>Over the Influence</i>. She underlines that assertion on her energetic fourth EP, where she takes stock of her last two-plus decades in the pop spotlight and shows how her versatile soprano can take on any beat thrown at it.

JoJo made a splash in 2004 with the petulant “Leave (Get Out),” an airy pop-R&B cut that showcased her preternatural ability to deliver real-talking lyrics in a candy-sweet fashion. In the 20-plus years since, through professional and personal struggles, the Massachusetts singer has only sharpened that talent, as this eight-track release appealingly proves. “Nobody,” the groove-forward track that opens <i>NGL</i>, is defiant, with JoJo declaring, “Nobody gon’ love me like me/Settlin’ don’t make no sense” over synth horns and a beat that recalls the most bounce-minded new jack swing cuts.

<i>NGL</i> finds JoJo unbound by others’ expectations; the anxiety-riddled “Too Much to Say” frames her declarations of being “imperfect but a real thing” in insistent guitar licks, while on the skittering “Porcelain” she explores her voice’s highest reaches as she notes how any troubles she’s had in the past have only made her more resilient in the present. The EP’s genre-shifting, which includes a stripped-down piano reimagining of “Porcelain,” shows how they’ve also made her more curious and confident as an artist. Once tied up in label red tape, she’s now free to use her voice in any context she deems appropriate, whether it’s the <i>TRL</i>-era throwback confection “Ready to Love” or the stretched-out sunshine-soul cut “One Last Time.” On <i>NGL</i>, JoJo is calling the shots with intention and honesty—as well as the pop savvy she displayed as a young teen on the come-up.

A thrilling and honest exercise in alt-pop from a musical disruptor.

Since debuting in 2020, Nessa Barrett has crafted evocative and deeply personal songs about topics like mental illness, trauma, and the struggles of young womanhood, drawing listeners in with her catchy hooks and mesmerizing, fragile timbre. The alt-pop artist wrote her first album, 2022’s <i>young forever</i>, during what she called the worst year of her life. But as Barrett sifted through her recent experiences to inspire her follow-up, she realized she wasn’t sad anymore. This epiphany spurred a new creative approach, one in which she could channel her energy into creating a character instead of resurfacing her own pain.

On <i>AFTERCARE</i>, Barrett immerses herself in dark, moody soundscapes as she transforms into an empowered woman who owns her sexuality while remaining vulnerable. It opens with the hazy title track, where the question “You love the chase, but will you stay when it ends?” sets the tone for an exploration of love, sex, and the often messy aftermath. Barrett purrs her carnal desires on the provocative “PORNSTAR,” and makes that physicality feel as essential as oxygen on the howling “HEARTBEAT.” On the cinematic ballad “RUSSIAN ROULETTE” she bets it all on love, and on the haunting “EDWARD SCISSORHANDS” she confronts the fallout: “Whenever you touch me/You cut me to pieces.” But as defiant closing tracks “STAY ALIVE” and “DIRTY LITTLE SECRET” show, Barrett emerges stronger and wiser—and ready to dive in all over again.