Sparkle – ‘Easy’

You may remember Sparkle from her debut single, ‘Be Careful’, released by the Chicago Soul and R&B singer back in 1998. It was one of the year’s defining songs, and it hailed the arrival of a gorgeous new voice, finding its way to the top of Billboard’s “R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay” and charts all over the world. Sparkle followed this success with a number of other hits, including ‘Time to Move On’, ‘Lovin’ You’, and ‘What About’. The songs were sexy tunes, but they were also grown-up pop tracks, which addressed complicated relationships in direct, unsparing language. Sparkle could communicate intense passion and true sophistication at the same time, and people noticed.

Fresh Da Zoe – ‘No Sleep’

Born in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, but now in the US, Fresh Da Zoe doesn’t sound particularly menacing, or angry, or secretive on his new single, ‘No Sleep’. But with lyrics like, “If I want you dead, you won’t hear about it,” making the boast point-blank, almost cheerfully, utterly confident about his ability to eliminate rivals without breaking a sweat: that’s probably more frightening. He’s effortlessly lethal, yet at the same time he’s able to say the most remarkable and threatening things in an instantly approachable way.