Lil Wayne Gets Earnest With Bono, and 9 More New Songs

New York Times

06-06-2025

Every Friday, pop critics for The New York Times weigh in on the week's most notable new tracks. Listen to the Playlist on Spotify here (or find our profile: nytimes) and at Apple Music here, and sign up for The Amplifier, a twice-weekly guide to new and old songs.
Lil Wayne featuring Bono, 'The Days'
'I ain't gettin' younger, but I'm gettin' better,' Lil Wayne declares in 'The Days,' a rock anthem about survival and seizing the moment: 'If my days are numbered, treat every day like Day One.' None other than Bono shares the song, starting and ending it and singing about 'the days that tell you what life is for,' while the production emulates U2's grand marches. Elsewhere on his new album, 'Tha Carter VI,' Lil Wayne offers his usual punchlines and free associations; here, he's unabashedly earnest.
Water From Your Eyes, 'Life Signs'
The Brooklyn duo Water From Your Eyes revels in musical jump cuts and not-quite-sequiturs. 'I am coming apart / I'm becoming together, true to form,' Rachel Brown sings in 'Life Signs' from an album due in August. Nate Amos's guitars leap from wiry, hopscotching math-rock lines to brute-force distortion and back; Brown deadpans through monotone verses, but offers a wistful melody in the chorus. By the end of the song, somehow it all makes sense.
Sabrina Carpenter, 'Manchild'
Sabrina Carpenter lightheartedly and brutally dissects what might be called a himbo in 'Manchild.' In a track that starts as synth-pop and ends up as country-rock, she mock-appreciates how 'your brain just ain't there' with a guy who can't charge a phone, much less satisfy her. 'I like my men all incompetent,' she claims, barely suppressing a giggle.
Addison Rae, 'Fame Is a Gun'
Who could be better than Addison Rae, the TikTok sensation turned pop songwriter, to sing about craving attention, achieving the 'glamorous life' and dealing with all the parasocial fallout? 'I live for the appeal,' she sings, adding, 'It never was enough / I always wanted more.' Yet she also realizes, 'I'm your dream girl, but you're not my type.' The production cycles through its three chords with an insistent pulse that hints at the pressure to keep generating more content.
Sudan Archives, 'Dead'
Sudan Archives — the songwriter, violinist and producer Brittney Parks — powers through an identity crisis with the shape-shifting, maximalist, ultimately unstoppable track 'Dead.' She asks 'Where my old self at?' and 'Where my new self at?' and teases 'Did you miss me?' and 'Do you miss me?' In four minutes, the song morphs among quasi-orchestral string arrangements, spacey electronics and walloping dance beats, then merges them all in a triumphant closing stomp.
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