Music

Listen Up: The best songs of the week

Charlie XCX flips the roles for the boys; Haim do Shania Twain, Julia Micheals goes solo; Bob Dylan duets with Sam Shepard

That don’t impress us much: Haim

Eoin Butler's face
Eoin Butler
Thu Aug 3 2017 - 07:12

CHARLI XCX
Boys ★★★★

Asylum Records

On Charlie XCX’s latest

[ self-directed music video ]

, the English singer handpicked 60 male heartthrobs (including Diplo, Mark Ronson, Stormzy, Wiz Khalifa and Lorde’s producer Jack Antonoff) and filmed them performing the sorts of ludicrous “sexy” antics female pop stars are routinely expected to perform in videos: cuddling teddy bears, staging pillow fighting and washing a car with suds. “No boys were hurt in the making of this video,” the singer assures us. Oh yeah, Charli? What about the boys you didn’t ask? (Sob, sob...)

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HAIM
That Don't Impress Me Much (Live @ Triple J) ★★★
When Haim agreed to perform Shania Twain's 1997 smash hit live in studio for Australian radio recently, its unclear whether they slowed the tempo down because they felt it suited the song or because they hadn't had sufficient time to rehearse. Either way, the new rendition mostly highlights just how risible the song's lyrics are. It inspired some friends and I to spend almost an entire evening improvising new "Okay, so you're..." verses. These starred, among others, Marty Morrissey, the Loch Ness Monster and newly minted Whitehouse chief-of-staff General John Kelly. ("That don't impress me much / So you fired the Mooch, but have you got the touch?" was the rejoinder there, naturally.) It was funny at the time. Okay?

JULIA MICHEALS
Worst in Me ★★★

Republic

The 23-year-old songwriter behind Selina Gomez’

Hands to Myself

, Justin Bieber’s

Sorry

and Hailee Steinfeld’s

Love Myself

went solo this week with her own

Nervous System

EP.

[ This is her own pick ]

of its seven tracks.


BOB DYLAN
Brownsville Girl ★★★★★
Colombia
The great Sam Shepard died this week. Although it appeared on possibly Dylan's worst ever album, this song he co-wrote with the great man is a breathtaking, cinematic masterpiece.