Because we all struggle with the same things, we take it for granted that music will be easy to understand. A new song by Dre Carlan titled "Hope" was just released recently. In it, he recounts some of the more sensitive incidents that have occurred in his life. His parents struggled with their health while raising him as an only child, and it is the subject...

I confess, my first encounter with MAAME’s new single, “Daydreaming,” was one of deceptive serenity. Here is a track that slides into your awareness with such poise, a self-assured piece of modern R&B that knows its way around a groove. It’s only on the second pass that you realize the serene space it creates is filled with a low, anxious hum—the sound of a...