Casey McQuillen’s single “Better” arrives not with a bang, but with the quiet, decisive click of a well-made lock securing a door. It’s pop music, certainly, groomed and gleaming, yet beneath the surface bubbles a fierce kind of self-possession that’s less about demanding attention and more about curating who gets past the velvet rope of your own contentment. Coming from someone known for empowerment...

To take on a song so woven into the cultural fabric requires a certain nerve, but Annika Bellamy’s new single, a remake of "Come and Get Your Love," feels less like a cover and more like an inheritance. With her uncle, T-Bone Bellamy, having been the lightning-rod guitarist for Redbone, and founding member Pat Vegas sanctioning this version, the track arrives with a heavy,...