Friday Five: Brockhampton's psychedelic terrain, Julia Michaels' message for your exes, and more

Every Friday, EW's music team runs down the five best songs of the week. In today's edition, Julia Michaels has all your exes in her crosshairs, Internet Money drops a song-of-the-summer contender, Mannequin Pussy's latest features a grunge-lacerating punk showdown, Danny Brown hops into Brockhampton's psychedelic landscape, and it's love or lust for 24kGoldn.

"All Your Exes" — Julia Michaels

What a deliciously wicked delight hearing Julia Michaels brainstorm ways she'd like to mind-wipe her partner — especially when that partner is JP Saxe, with whom she collaborated on the Grammy-nominated song "If the World Was Ending" and co-wrote this new single. Michaels has long proven herself a pop genius but continues to impress here in how she is able to seamlessly incorporate the garage rock sound from bands like Snail Mail and Beach Bunny into a certified earworm. —Marcus Jones

"Jetski" — Internet Money feat. Lil Mosey & Lil Tecca

If rappers are the new pop stars, then Internet Money is kind of the modern-day Cheiron Studios. Founder Taz Taylor and lead producer Nick Mira have found a way to wade through the junior rappers folks write off as sounding the same and identify the ones who have true hit-making potential. Here they squash a small 2019 beef between Mosey and Tecca (who hit it big with the songs "Blueberry Faygo" and "Ransom," respectively) to create a real contender for this year's summer anthem. —M.J.

"Love or Lust" — 24kGoldn

While some (most?) 24-year-olds have a hard time delineating between this slinky pop-rock track's namesake emotions, 24kGoldn makes the boundaries clear: "Would you walk 8,000 miles just to make me smile on a rainy Wednesday?/If so, then you gots to go, it ain't mutual and I'm not pretending." Sure "Love or Lust" doesn't have the same insatiable kick his chart-topping breakthrough "Mood" does, but those brief octave-jump notes at the end of each verse allow the song to stand on its own. —Alex Suskind

"Control" — Mannequin Pussy

Most Mannequin Pussy songs sound like a breaking point. The Philly band are down to a three-piece now, but their new single "Control" maintains the cathartic thrust of their greatest moments. It's a tug of war in every sense: crunchy grunge vs. lacerating punk, a durable melody vs. Missy Dabice's unbuckled wails, and her clenched grip on mental stability while the wood rots beneath her nails. It's a song that personifies a year's worth of constant splintering without the materials to properly mend. But like all Mannequin Pussy bangers, after the great shattering, they're ready to build themselves back up again. —Eli Enis

"Buzzcut" — Brockhampton feat. Danny Brown

When they came crashing onto the scene in 2017, Brockhampton's modus operandi was to overwhelm. Though they've been pretty quiet since 2019's Ginger, the hip-hop boy band's silence seems to have paid off. "Buzzcut" isn't any more focused than their past joints, but the arrangement is more interesting than awkward. Fellow experimental renegade Danny Brown also makes an appearance, but even he has trouble navigating the song's psychedelic landscape. That's not a diss to Danny, it's a testament to Brockhampton's singular sonic world. —E.E.

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