“I stepped off the stage with nothing left,” Shawn Mendes sings, referencing his headline-generating 2022 decision to cancel a scheduled world tour and focus on his mental health. The stomping, acoustic-guitar driven “Why Why Why,” from his forthcoming album “Shawn,” represents a new level of candor and pathos from the 26-year-old pop star, who has returned to the spotlight but admits he still doesn’t have all the answers: “I don’t know why, why, why, why,” he croons as the instrumentation builds around him, offering fleeting catharsis in the form of a folksy, singalong chorus. LINDSAY ZOLADZ
Leon Bridges, the singer and songwriter based in Texas, sets aside past troubles to enjoy unexpected contentment in “Peaceful Place.” His recent collaborations with Khruangbin have moved him away from soul revivalism toward hybrid, open-ended grooves. “Peaceful Place” hints at funk and Nigerian Afrobeat, with a steady-ticking beat and a hopping bass line as he reassures everyone, “I found something no one can take away.” JON PARELES
Ravyn Lenae, ‘Genius’
“It’s all right, never mind what we said last night,” Ravyn Lenae coos in “Genius,” a negotiation over a peppy beat and four chords. She’s holding on to a brief but pleasing liaison; the beat is old-school soul, while the attitude is open-ended. “What’s wrong with getting wild?” she inquires. PARELES
Latto, ‘H&M’
“H&M” stands, cleverly, for “hurt and miserable” on this zesty kiss-off from the Atlanta rapper Latto’s new album “Sugar Honey Iced Tea.” “Y’all be out here trauma bonding, misery love company,” she spits, while a glinting, sing-songy track winks and taunts those unwise enough to doubt her. ZOLADZ
“Teach me how to love you better,” Jamila Woods sings — not to a partner, but to the Earth itself, as the source of healing and sustenance. It’s a benefit single for the Sudanese American Physician’s Association’s Sudan Food Donation Program. “How can we slow, slow down?” she sings. “Can we spread the harvest around?” The producer Zach Henderson (a.k.a. oddCouple) enfolds her in a track that seems lurching and ramshackle at first, but blossoms with electronic shimmers, harp and choral voices, a rising benediction. PARELES
The Smile, ‘Don’t Get Me Started’
A loping, stereo-bouncing synthesizer riff leads into “Don’t Get Me Started,” which has a sullen Thom Yorke fending off accusations and connections: “I’m not the villain/Choose someone else,” he warns. Double-time beats and thickening chords underline his defensiveness, then fall away for a section of pulsing, hovering Minimalism that could be a homage to analog synthesizer pioneers like Terry Riley and Laurie Spiegel. After a final taunt — “You don’t get me” — the track skulks away. PARELES
Kelsea Ballerini, ‘Sorry Mom’
Kelsea Ballerini has a long list of apologies in “Sorry Mom,” from missing a birthday to dropping out of college to premarital sex. “It took a little tough love to become the woman that you’re proud of,” she admits. The reconciliation is set to easy-strummed soft rock, with no apology for setting three-chord country music aside. PARELES
“Once a Bunch,” a bonus track from Adrianne Lenker’s solo album “Bright Future,” is a homey waltz that could easily be a homage to John Prine. Acoustic guitars and fiddle accompany Lenker’s paradoxes and wordplay as she sings about a relationship that starts out shaky — “I was leaving before I’d arrived” — but turns out OK. “You see all the good stuff I seem to have forgot,” she realizes. She also has an entire verse of breakfast puns. PARELES
Ellen Reid featuring Shabaka Hutchings, ‘Spiritual Sun’
Ellen Reid, a composer who won the Pulitzer Prize in 2019, is about to release “Big Majestic,” an album drawn from music she made for public park soundscapes. “Spiritual Sun” is both ambient and active. The English jazz musician Shabaka Hutchings multitracks phrases of shakuhachi, the Japanese bamboo flute, over Reid’s synthesizer drones and flutters. The track is by turns contemplative, restive and resonant; the shakuhachi reveals every breath as the electronics open deep spaces. PARELES
Read More: Shawn Mendes Returns Full of Questions, and 8 More New Songs
