Music

Shawn Mendes' fireside folk number, and 4 more songs you need to hear this week

Listen to fresh new tracks from Jayda G, Imposer, Bambii, and more.

Listen to fresh new tracks from Jayda G, Imposer, Bambii, and more

A close up image of Shawn mendes (a white man) singing on stage. He is wearing a khaki button up with a white shirt underneath. The CBC Music logo and the words: Songs You Need to Hear, appear in the lower right hand corner of the image
Shawn mendes' 'Why Why Why' is a song you need to hear this week. (Amy Sussman/Getty Images for Audacy; graphic by CBC Music)

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.


'Why Why Why,' Shawn Mendes

After a cancelled world tour and no album since 2020's Wonder, Shawn Mendes is back — and entering his Noah Kahan era. On "Why Why Why," the singer trades bright pop anthems for bouncing folk, creating a song that is tailor-made for singing around a campfire — which he does in the accompanying music video. Armed with an acoustic guitar, Mendes reflects on his break from music and a past relationship that crumbled: "I stepped off the stage with nothin' left/ all the lights were f--kin' with my head/ but here I am, singin' songs again." He strings together his setbacks, twisting them into a loop. As his anxious thoughts bounce in his head like an echo chamber (Mendes' mental health is something he's spoken about at length) he reveals a daunting development on the bridge: "I thought I was about to be a father/ Shook me to the core, I'm still a kid." Juggling the possibility of parenthood, his career and love life, the track illuminates how Mendes is teetering on the precipice of finding himself. Listeners will find out if he finally has, when his upcoming album, Shawn, drops on Oct. 18. — Natalie Harmsen


'Feeling Alive,' Jayda G

On Jayda G's last album, 2023's Guy, the Vancouver DJ/producer explored loss and grief, but through that process also found joy in celebrating life as she did on the track "Sapphires of Gold" where she repeats the refrain: "I have fallen in love with living." Her latest single, "Feeling Alive" builds on that euphoric feeling, leaning into a more upbeat dance sound as she gives us a new motto to live by — to "lose yourself tonight." As we enter the final days of summer in the coming weeks, there's no better time to surrender to the night and embrace the "allure of the world" than now. — Melody Lau


'Contref--k,' Maggie Savoie and Arthur Comeau

Arthur Comeau and Maggie Savoie come from seemingly disparate backgrounds: Comeau is a producer, DJ and rapper (formerly of Radio Radio) from Southwest Nova Scotia, and Savoie sits at the intersection of folk, blues and rock with her songwriting and guitar playing, hailing from northern New Brunswick. But when the two met in 2021 at an Édith Butler show, it led to a collaboration between the Acadian artists that now feels destined. It's hard to put your finger on exactly what "Contref--k" is, but there's no doubt that it's a real vibe. Comeau asked Savoie for stems of her guitar playing —  "I heard Maggie's guitar playing and her whole style and was captivating," he wrote via email — and he remixed them, added his own vocals and chopped hers up a bit. Savoie's moody, bluesy guitar sets the tone for the song, as Comeau and Savoie's vocals stretch and snap in and out. When explaining the song's title, Comeau wrote that "Contref--k is "a positive, anti-resistance concept: freedom of expression."  — Holly Gordon


'Spit,' Bambii feat. Beam and Lady Lykez

Bambii is on a roll. On the third single since the release of her Polaris-shortlisted EP, Infinity Club, the Toronto DJ and producer is just getting started flexing her skills. Enlisting the help of Beam and Lady Lykez (both featured on Infinity Club), Bambii gets raunchy and feral on "Spit." The primal urges that both vocalists are alluding to in their verses are echoed by the immediacy and urgency of the production: the synths ring out like sirens, the drums hit at hyperspeed and the reverberated bass creates a nocturnal atmosphere. There is so much going on it takes repeat listens to fully take in the layers of the production, and with each new listen, you'll feel more and more uninhibited.— KA


'Totally Perfect,' Imposer

If putting a song on repeat and scream-singing through a breakup is the standard, new Calgary duo, and former couple, Imposer said: "Hold my beer." After the end of a 12-year relationship, they went a step further and decided to write an album about their breakup. "Totally Perfect," their second single, earnestly delves into some capital T truths about the emotional damage two people can inflict on each other: "I didn't know I'd be a witness / To what would become a perfect crime / Committed by people with equal propensities for violence." The driving arrangement elevates the brutally honest lyricism, crafting a song that makes you feel, viscerally, but that you can also bop along to. With high energy and raw emotion, "Totally Perfect" takes the breakup song to a place of shared accountability over the demise, which actually sounds healthy. Maybe more of us should consider writing songs with our exes. — Vanessa Conley


To hear more about these standout songs, tune in to CBC Music Mornings every Thursday (Canada-wide) with producer Ryan Chung and host Saroja Coelho, and Here and Now with Gill Deacon every Wednesday afternoon (in Toronto). Both are available via CBC Listen.