Tate McRae's sporty blockbuster hit, and 4 more songs you need to hear this week

CBC

a day ago

Songs you need to hear is CBC Music's weekly list of hot new Canadian tracks.
Scroll down to discover the songs our producers are loving right now.
Just Keep Watching, Tate McRae
Tate McRae loves a motorsport theme: just listen to Sports Car or watch the 2 Hands music video to see how the pop star details life in the fast lane. She embraces the race track once again for her latest sultry bop, Just Keep Watching, from the upcoming F1 movie soundtrack. She brings her slick dance moves to a futuristic autobody shop in the music video as she sings about speeding through a steamy night with a love interest: "Goes like this, start with the track/ Eyes on me, archin' my back." Over a propulsive dance beat McRae repeats, "Just keep watching," as she twirls, crawls and flips her hair to the adrenaline-pumping rhythm. The song reunites McRae with producer/songwriter Ryan Tedder, who worked on Greedy, Revolving Door, I Know Love and more, and his polish is evident, particularly with the undeniably hook-y post-chorus.
The song has already climbed to No. 8 on the Billboard Global 200 and is now her highest debut single to date. It currently sits two spots ahead of the Morgan Wallen track she features on, What I Want, which became her first ever No. 1 song on the Billboard charts in May. — Natalie Harmsen
Oh Lala, Justine Skye and Kaytranada
No summer is complete without a Kaytranada dance floor heater and one has finally arrived for 2025. Part playful, part sultry, Oh Lala is Justine Skye at her best — and Kaytranada's swinging production showcases the New York singer's crystalline vocals phenomenally. Kaytranada is supremely adept at blending R&B vocals with dance music's frenetic energy (see: You're the One, Intimidated and of course, his remix of If by Janet Jackson) and on Oh Lala, the pulsing drum kick and punctuated synths sweep Skye into a frenzied exaltation: "Step one we cheers/ And then we dance/ And then we rinse/ And repeat all over again." Find a dance partner, blast this on high and prepare to work up a sweat. — Kelsey Adams
What Are You So Afraid Of?, Kaleah Lee
Fear holds us back from many things, but on Kaleah Lee's latest single, she starkly poses this question, to the listener and to herself: "What are you so afraid of?" Whether delivered as a pep talk or from the perspective of someone who has found the other side of fear, the Vancouver-born singer-songwriter is admittedly an anxious person who is deeply familiar with this feeling. Lee's delicate voice is a guiding light over gentle acoustics, expressing love and care around an emotion that can cause a lot of damage. But as her voice floats and soars over the course of almost five minutes, let it inspire us to also shed our doubts and take flight, too. — Melody Lau
White Sands, Raymond Sewell feat. Laura Roy
White Sands is meant for the open road, its chords arranged for gentle, dramatic effect as you roll the windows down and set out to chase the sun. Raymond Sewell, who hails from Pabineau First Nation in New Brunswick, wrote the song while at White Sands National Park in New Mexico, after "roaming around in the heat" of El Paso, Texas. His nomadic headspace seeps into the track, anchored by a rich feature from singer Laura Roy, whose last few years have counted work with Doja Cat (for which she's Grammy-nominated), Dua Lipa and Sabrina Carpenter. "New Mexico felt like a new beginning — being there in the morning on the cold sands," Sewell explained via email. "When I got back home to New Brunswick, I worked out the chords in my old shed." You'll find White Sands on Sewell's upcoming album, The Lone Soul Doctor, out June 20 via Musique Nomade. — Holly Gordon
Famous, Chippy Nonstop
Toronto-based producer and DJ Chippy Nonstop has kept herself quite busy in the four years since her last record (2021's self-titled co-pro with dj genderfluid): running her party series Pep Rally and DJing/production workshop series Intersessions, launching Sojourn, an electronic music festival, and touring internationally. The time away from releasing new music allowed for reflection and she's returned with an introduction to her new sonic voice with two-track single Famous/Talk Shit. "It's been a really hard few years — personally, creatively, emotionally. I've grown a lot and had to fight to find my voice again... These songs mark the start of a new era for me — louder and freer," she shared on Instagram.
Famous is high-octane party music, produced by Chippy Nonstop and production duo Fross Youth. Her signature devil-may-care irreverence and declarative lyricism ("It's just so hard being ahead of the times/ It's just so hard being fun and wild") meet clashing beats and ringing alarms on the adrenaline-bumping hardstyle track. Chippy Nonstop was a 365 party girl long before "brat summer" and her crown as Toronto's number one dance floor firestarter remains unshifted. — KA