Rihanna
“Bitch Better Have My Money”
★★½
“FourFiveSeconds” was the Rihanna song — with Kanye West and Paul McCartney — that Grandma could hum before church. But this follow-up is what the gangstas will sing before hitting the club. This latest, trap-influenced tease from her as-yet-unnamed eighth album is deliberately rough around the edges, right down to the cracked vocals and expletive-strewn verses. As a grasp for street cred, the track doesn’t wholly convince, but it’s a relief to hear the good girl can still go bad when she wants.
Death Cab for Cutie
“Black Sun”
★★½
Heartbreak has always been high up in the Death Cab For Cutie list of song topics. And after singer Ben Gibbard’s divorce from Zooey Deschanel in 2012, it’s even more prominent in the Washington state indie group’s new album, “Kintsugi.” “How could something so fair be so cruel?” he asks during this melancholic lead single, which is cut up with a beautifully fractured guitar solo that aptly fits the mood.
Ludacris
“Come and See Me” feat. Big K.R.I.T.
★★½
He was a hip-hop hit machine in the ’00s, and on his new album, “Ludaversal” (his first in five years), Ludacris is obviously trying to keep up with the kids. On this hard-nosed album track produced by Mike WiLL Made-It, the Atlanta rapper exchanges impressively fierce verses with fellow Southerner Big K.R.I.T. and shows he isn’t quite ready to be a heritage act yet.
Sufjan Stevens
“Should Have Known Better”
★★★
Following the death of Sufjan Stevens’ estranged mother in 2012, the Brooklyn-based indie-folk singer pieces his feelings together on his latest album, “Carrie & Lowell,” and the results often leave you breathless. Regrets, sadness — and snatched memories of being left at a video store as a child — run through this fragile song, and the sound of Stevens reconciling his emotions so beautifully is hard to shake off.
The Prodigy
“Wild Frontier”
★
The various subsets of modern dance music have long eclipsed the Prodigy’s pioneering ’90s work, but the Brits are still trying to cling to relevance with new album “The Day Is My Enemy.” The force of “Wild Frontier” is undeniable, but the mix of barked lyrics, tinny breaks and bleeps that sound like they were lifted from a busted Atari is pitiful. It’s a blustering mess that suggests the Prodigy’s real enemy is time.