Cassandra Maze, "Superstars". Two words. Say them out loud and they already feel like a declaration. The Vancouver singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist released this self-produced single and it carries the kind of quiet authority that only comes from an artist who has spent years earning it. No label machinery. No outside producers. Just one woman, her home studio, and a message she clearly needed to put...

Nobody wants a neighbour who scripts their smile. Monique Maion puts that pressure at the centre of “Karen”, a Portuguese-language single. The Brazilian singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist takes the familiar Karen persona, shaped by political debate and social media, and shrinks it back to the size of a real conflict: one person trying to dictate another person’s manners. It is a smart dismissal with baião at...