The 4.5 Songs You Need to Hear This Week

Somehow, the shortest weeks (shout-out...presidents?) end up delivering even more songs than a regular workweek would. This week, we've got the return of Cardi B doing what she does best (everything), Tierra Whack bringing the fire on a full-length track, the best song named "Butterfly" since Kacey Musgraves's, by K-pop all-stars LOONA, and more for your listening pleasure.

LOONA, "Butterfly"

Full disclosure: It takes "Butterfly" a full 45 or so seconds to properly get going, but once it does, it never lets up. The song showcases the K-pop dozen (yeah, 12 members in LOONA, all other groups are shaking) at their finest—lush vocals, distorted synthesizers, and some Mariah-indebted trills and high notes that'll make your head spin.—Brennan Carley, associate editor

Tierra Whack, "Only Child"

I am not entirely sure what we did to deserve a full-on, four-minute Tierra Whack song, but here we are: I’ll take my blessings and go. It’s a spellbinding murmur of an inner monologue, one we all have with ourselves after realizing we gave far too much to a person who gave so little in return. "I don't want to work it out, so cancel our gym membership," Whack mutters, but the real gag is: Do you know how long it takes to cancel a gym membership?—Megan Tatem, visual designer

Cardi B & Bruno Mars, "Please Me"

This is the second attempt at a #TBT from Cardi and Bruno, following up last year's "Finesse," which was also a banger, whether or not you're ready to admit it. Mars doesn't typically take a backseat to other artists, but he cedes the floor here for good reason: His slow-jam pining is a perfect supplement to Cardi bars that fall somewhere between "playfully making fun of '90s hits" and "wait, this is incredible." There were plenty of borderline absurd verses on baby-making jams of decades past, but no one else can match Cardi's accomplishment of comparing basura to horchata in such a, uh, colorful way. —Alex Shultz, editorial assistant

Freddie Gibbs & Madlib, "Flat Tummy Tea"

Freddie Gibbs continues his unprecedented reign with this one, reuniting with legendary producer Madlib for the first time since 2014’s instant classic Piñata. The duo dish up a scorching two-minute track that somehow feels more fully realized than most albums. The only thing I have left to say is: Please, for the love of all things holy, drop the whole album.—Gabe Conte, digital producer

And our .5 of the week...

Satoshi Ashikawa, "Still Space"

“Still Space” is a classic example of the Japanese genre kankyō ongaku (environmental music). Fresh off a new compilation of reissues from Light in the Attic Records, this track (and the whole comp, really) is just what you need at the end of the week, whether it’s your Friday office grind or your lazy Sunday morning.—Colin Groundwater, assistant to the editor in chief