Listening to Shotgun Driver’s new EP, “Jester Privileges”, is like finding a glitter bomb in a padded cell. The four songs present a disorienting, strangely compelling contradiction. On the surface, the alt-pop framework pulses with an upbeat, almost defiant energy; this is the slick, rock-tinged anxiety of a Machine Gun Kelly track built for open-road brooding. But beneath it, the narrative, carried by those...

That is the intended emotional response to music. When people relate to you on a deeper level, they are more likely to stick around for the trip. Rapper G4ZZA of the United Kingdom is back with another rap tune titled "On Reflection" that speaks to the universal truths and emotions that many people experience daily but find difficult to articulate. The intensity of this song, which...