Add to playlist: Natanya’s amazingly beguiling music and this week’s best new songs | music

from London
Recommend if you like Rochelle Jordan, Rags Original, Sailor
the next New music is scheduled to be released later this year

Natanya tears down literary genres and reconstructs them in her own image. Its drums swing loosely and energetically over heavy 80s music. The synths drift in dreamily before gravitating into bold guitar riffs. Writing, producing and arranging all of her own work, she weaves together the silkiness of neo-soul, R&B groove, indie edge, and flashes of grunge, all carried by a buttery falsetto that nods to Aaliyah, Amy Winehouse, Janet Jackson, and early Destiny’s Child.

Born in northwest London to a Nigerian father who grew up on Motown and gospel, and an Indian-Trinidadian mother who spun calypso and funk, Natanya began learning classical piano at the age of four. She grew up absorbing church bands, the fruits of YouTube rabbit holes, wrestling entrance themes, and late-night bedroom tunes made with whatever equipment she could get her hands on.

Her 2023 debut EP Sorrow at Sunrise reads like the pages of a tattered diary, full of raw heartache and individual life confessions piled atop lush experimental production. In 2025, she rocked harder with Feline’s Return and the second act extension, combining bolder pop instincts with emotional depth.

Signs from SZA, Tyler, The Creator, Doechii and Janet Jackson show her turning heads as she forges her own path. With a short break planned to allow her to reset herself for the rest of 2026, Netanya has a growing fan base (known as The Cats) wrapped around her finger. Sik Fridas

The best new songs of the week

Mae Simmons – Koneko (with Liana Flores)
With lyrics in three languages, and the same rhythmic movement as a prog band or a math rock band, Simons and Flores craft a stunningly beautiful song rooted in classic Brazilian bossa nova. BPT

Roy Montgomery – Romantic Thinking
The great New Zealand guitarist recorded a song called Guitars Infernal in 2016 against many personal sorrows, but he waited until this hellish moment to release it: revel in its static-splitting euphoria. (Only available on Bandcamp.) L.S

Knocked Loose – Hive Mind (featuring Denzel Curry)
Rap rock gets a bad rap, but this connection shows just how exciting it can be, with Denzel Curry unpacking Ratatat lyrics as he races between Knocked Loose’s explosive groove metal beats. BPT

Obsamy and Valentina Magaletti – superimposed
The Dutch producer and Italian drummer combine for the first taste of the new album, as shearing chime, glassy tingling, percussion-filled and bits of childish chatter vibrate as a kinetic whole. L.S

Molina – golden brown sugar
Much of the shoegaze revival has been an unimaginable reinvention, but this innovative Danish-Chilean musician makes the genre’s dense guitars sound distorted and choked against her serpentine vocal melody. L.S

Galcher Lostwerk – Shorty out
Very little in this life is as satisfying as the rhythmic, subtly melodic vocal flow of Lustwerk’s hip-house: it’s comforting yet wrapped in anticipation, measured here with a steady beat over warm chords. BPT

Sir Spyro – Qatari
Ten years after his grime-dubstep crossover classic Topper Top, Sir Spyro returns to the Deep Medi label with his new EP 2nd Sq. This is a high point, all airy pulsating bass and simple swing. BPT

Subscribe to the Guardian’s Rolling Add to Playlist picks on Spotify – or transfer them to Apple, Tidal or other services