Welcome to “Cut Through the Noise” an entertainment column from the St. Louis Park Echo covering new music releases. Every week, a different Echo staffer takes on the role of writer, reviewing recent single releases from various artists.
“NOKIA” – Drake & PARTYNEXTDOOR ★★★★★
The Valentine’s Day album, “$ome $exy $ongs 4 U,” was knocked out of the park by this duo of Canadian artists. The whole album was fantastic and screams club music. The clear fan favorite so far has been “NOKIA.” This song is flat-out amazing. This is the ultimate club song with the fast and electronic-esque beat and the easy-to-remember lyrics making it so everyone can sing along. It was clear that the artists had a lot of fun making this song in the playful chorus “Who’s calling my phone?” and the upbeat vibe. Drake dominates the first half of this song with his classic straightforward style of rap. Right in the middle of the song, the beat slows down and PARTYNEXTDOOR’S verse begins, making a masterpiece as they begin to go verse for verse. They both delivered on this song in terms of enjoyability and replayability. I would recommend this song to anyone who is a fan of both these artists seeing as this is some of their best work.
“Fire” — Alessia Cara ★★★★☆
The Canadian singer and songwriter is mostly known for her outstanding vocals on a bevy of different pop songs. However, with her newest studio album, “Love & Hyperbole,” she has definitely flipped her genre of music. This whole album shows Cara trying her hand at pop-country music. The headliner of this album, “Fire,” really encompasses her new approach to her music. The song is slower-paced with a nice and steady drum and guitar tandem. She is telling a story of finding the stereotypical perfect country guy who’s a “golden boy in dirty jeans.” I feel like Cara did a great job branching off into a new area of music without being too tacky or just not sounding right in general. The song reminded me much of Taylor Swift’s early albums. The way Cara can tie in her stunning vocals with this different style of music is really impressive. She was able to slow down and almost lower the pitch of her voice to match the country aspects of the melody. I really enjoy listening to artists try new styles of music, and Cara did not disappoint. I would recommend this song to fans of more modern country music.
“Set You Free” — Jack Harlow ★★★☆☆
Jack Harlow has stayed pretty quiet as of late and he breaks that trend by dropping the single “Set You Free.” This is Harlow’s second single of 2025, and he continues to experiment with the type of music he wants to create. This song has a huge emphasis on the fast-paced guitar track in the background and creates a new feel with Harlow’s quick-tempoed rap over it. In my opinion, this song is not one of his best, but I believe that he is really starting to find his “sound” when it comes to the type of music he is making. Harlow definitely strikes me as more of an alternative rapper in terms of his flow and beats. The beat of this song definitely rang similar chords to his more popular songs like “Lovin on Me” and “Nail Tech.” The song is telling a story about Harlow needing to break up with someone. Storytelling and clearly enunciated lyrics is Jack Harlow’s specialty, and the song doesn’t fall short in this aspect, but it just felt like it was missing one thing. One more verse or maybe a beat switch up could have elevated this song to the level of his previous work, but overall the song is a good stepping stone for Harlow and the type of music he wants to create. I would recommend this to fans of Jack Harlow’s unique style of rap.
