Teenage Fanclub: Do Not Dare to Dream [Merge]
Nearly four decades in, Norman Blake and Raymond McGinley still live and breathe the purifying air of power-pop, albeit the sort that swaps melodic brute force for softer power: jangly ditties that mosey into the dark and always find their way home. Despite excursions into autumnal folk and wintry kosmische, Do Not Dare to Dream primarily invests in their timeworn tropes of pillowy tone, dreamy harmony, and a sense of intra-band play that suggests their ’60s pop sandbox remains a haven from torpor and cynicism. —JM
Tinashe: Popstar [Atlantic]
For any other artist, titling your eighth studio album Popstar would be laying it on a little thick. But Tinashe’s allowed: In addition to practically setting the blueprint for contemporary K-pop, her new record exudes star quality. Popstar is half-recreation, half-reimagining of the last decade’s biggest pop blockbusters, and it nails all the details: the acoustic closing number (“Heavy Weight”); the rock&b ballad (“I’d Rather Be Alone,” just in case you forgot Tinashe almost had a song on Anti); even the dalliance with stadium country (“Nobody Want to Dance Anymore.”) Armed with an arsenal of beats that channel Metro Boomin, Missy-Timbaland, and Mike Will Made-It, ‘Nashe can’t help but make it all sound, well, “Too Easy.” —WG
Troye Sivan: She’s the Best [Tokky’s Music/Interscope]
If Troye Sivan’s last house-pop album, Something to Give Each Other, captured post-pandemic euphoria and post-breakup mania, She’s the Best is the comedown after. Written in the solitude of endless tour nights following the release of Something, his fourth album exists in the liminal space between pop stardom and the quiet solitude of a hotel room on tour. To transport us to this emotionally sticky place, the Melbourne singer transitions into a syrupy, mature sound, entangling some of his most reflective lyrics to date with ’90s house, trip-hop, shoegaze, and touches of drum ‘n’ bass. —KM
Twisted Teens: The Holy Cross Tigers [Subpop]
Focusing on Twisted Teens’ relentless output in 2026 misses the point. Instead, track the fluidity of their strut through garage rock, country, and traditional folk; on The Holy Cross Tigers, that effortless sway of hypnotic steel guitar over shuffling drums presents like an old jukebox standard that you’re hearing for the first time. Place your trust in that timelessness. Caspian Hollywell and RJ Santos steer their New Orleans band like a pontoon boat: balanced, unadorned, and old-school in that it reinforces only the bare-bones necessities required for a good time. –NC
Victoria Monét: Frequency of Love [Lovett/RCA]
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jen rosensteinphotographer
On the genre-expansive Frequency of Love, Victoria Monét wants you to know she’s single, plotting for someone to take her home, and fantasizing about what a prospective lover’s lips will feel like. Slow jams like “Come Back to You” and “I Want You” are laden with unshakable desire, while the Kaytranada-produced single “Reach Out” takes that same yearning and dances it out over retro house. She even manages to embody the classical whimsy of a Disney princess on “Care for Somebody.” —KM
