To listen to Stevie Hawkins’ take on "A Song For You" is to have a conversation with a ghost in a dimly lit room after the show has ended. Hawkins, long the rhythmic engine for the song's originator Leon Russell, steps from behind the drum kit to the microphone, and the space between these two roles compresses decades into four and a half minutes....

Raquel Ramos really mixes it up on her single "Advice," drawing from what feels like a whole generational Rolodex of music. You've got that 90s alt-rock edge, some pure pop earnestness, and hints of R&B soul woven through it. And the song itself (from Ramos, who used to be Sirena Sol) doesn't hit you softly; it feels more like the surprise of finding a...