Alessia Cara's long-distance love song, and 4 more songs you need to hear this week
Listen to new music from Liza, Lindsay Ell, T. Thomason and more
Songs you need to hear is CBC Music's weekly list of hot new Canadian tracks.
Scroll down to discover the songs our producers are loving right now.
'(Isn't It) Obvious,' Alessia Cara
Distance may make the heart grow fonder, but it can also create space for uncertainty and dread to slither in. On "(Isn't It) Obvious," Alessia Cara wants to squash any qualms her love interest may have during their time spent apart. The new track is the second single from her upcoming fourth album, Love & Hyperbole, fittingly out on Valentine's Day next year. As Cara's dulcet tones weave the verses and chorus together, she recognizes her partner's need for reassurance ("I see the cracks in the eyes/ without my hand to hold"), and she's happy to provide it ("if it's any consolation, you're my favourite/ it's you and I/ you gotta know that, right?"). "(Isn't It) Obvious" delicately calms any of those pre-existing woes, and rides off into a loved-up groove. A pleading, yearning guitar solo in the latter half of the song, played by John Mayer, is just icing. "As I was coming up with the lyrics I was pulling a lot of inspiration from singer-songwriters like John Mayer, so it's mind-blowing to me that he ended up actually playing on the song," she shared in a press release. — Kelsey Adams
'Simple Days,' Pale Jay feat. Jev
Los Angeles producer and soul artist Pale Jay brings a funky flair to "Simple Days," his first-ever track with Ottawa rapper Jev. It's a new direction for Pale Jay, who typically releases slow-grooving jams, such as "Under the Magnolia Tree" or "Dreaming in Slow Motion." But with Jev, he's unlocked new sounds and textures to create a song that embraces the joy of nostalgia: "Just tell me 'bout the simple days," he sings. On Instagram, Pale Jay wrote that he fell in love with hip-hop as a teen, and it has shaped how he creates music. Now, he's translating that love in a new way, by spotlighting an emerging rapper: "I couldn't be happier to be working with an incredible rapper like Jev," he wrote. "Not only do I love his flow, but he is also an overly humble and kind human." Jev's measured cadence is what ties the song together, and he shines while he reminisces about sweeter times: "Simple like making a way, simple like giving your mind a break," he raps, celebrating the warmth of the past. — Natalie Harmsen
'Pain Tolerance,' Lindsay Ell
Lindsay Ell moved from Canada to Nashville 15 years ago, but has never been comfortable with the country music genre box everyone tried to push her into. "I had a whole team that was just like, 'Lindsay you're not country enough. You're not country enough. You're not country enough.' And so I tried to fit myself in, but I'm like, 'I don't even like beer. Why should I write songs about it?'" she recently told People. Now with her new EP, Love Myself, Ell is co-producing for the first time and making the music that sounds right to her — and standout track "Pain Tolerance" is giving new-chapter energy. "If I got a little acknowledgement," she sings, "I wouldn't need a pretty high pain tolerance," she belts on the chorus, letting the verses simmer as quiet moments between realizations of her own worth. "Pain Tolerance" is a kiss-off song to emotional abuse and gaslighting — and it's really fun to sing. — Holly Gordon
'Tenderness,' T. Thomason
Take off my shirt, hold me in your arms
Touch me where the world has left its marks
Press me against you like we were meant to
Fall into this thing, following our stars.
It's been five years since Halifax-based singer-songwriter T. Thomason's last record. On his new album, Tenderness, T. is writing nuanced chamber pop about his truths — the triumphs and heartfelt moments as well as the challenges. In a recent interview with Tom Power about the new record, Thomason shared some of his struggles with transphobia and homophobia in the music industry. He also talked about the ways that queer and trans people are especially gifted at holding multiple truths simultaneously. "Tenderness," the title track, is the perfect example of a song that contains multitudes.
It starts off as shimmery, dreamy, and intimate and slowly builds into a pop-rock explosion of nostalgia and feelings: longing and gratitude, love and fear, determination and joy. That it also namechecks and features one of Canada's greatest indie-pop bands, Stars, is a delightful sonic Easter egg for music fans (Stars' own Torquil Campbell and Amy Milan also sing backing vocals on the track). The juxtaposition of Stars' iconic line, "Live through this and you won't look back," with Thomason's plaintive "I'm afraid, I'm afraid, I'm afraid to change again," is devastating and powerful. — Andrea Warner
'Brand New Eyes,' Liza
As Liza's "Brand New Eyes" begins, it seems like her typical fare: lush and languid neo-soul. But then a glitch pop beat kicks in and adds a little edge to her soulful vocals. The new song comes as part of a recently released deluxe edition of her EP, The Alternate Ending. "Brand New Eyes" plays with the tension of testing the waters in a relationship on the precipice of becoming something more, if both parties can just get aligned at the same time. In the song's final act, things mellow out again sonically, and Liza realizes that after all the evolutions she and her would-be beau have gone through, they're finally ready: "I think you just might be the one/ I'm seeing you with brand new eyes." — KA
To hear more about these standout songs, tune in to CBC Music Mornings every Thursday (Canada-wide) with producer Nathan Gill and host Damhnait Doyle, and Here and Now with Ramraajh Sharvendiran every Wednesday afternoon (in Toronto). Both are available via CBC Listen.