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The Contenders, Vol. 15: The songs we can't stop playing this week

The Peter Cat Recording Co.
Salihah Saadiq
/
Courtesy of the artist
The Peter Cat Recording Co.

This week we check back in on our running list of the year's best songs — they're contenders for a spot on the inevitable best-of 2024 lists we'll post at the end of the year. Our latest update includes some pro-tips for staying engaged with life as we get older, how to be happy in a world you can't control, the art of letting go and more from Arooj Aftab, Great Grandpa, Japandroids and more.

We've also got a slightly less-dystopian single from The Smile, the shape-shifting sounds of Delhi's Peter Cat Recording Co. and the blood-slowing music of fingerstyle guitarist Yasmin Williams.

Featured artists and songs:

1. Arooj Aftab: "Raat Ki Rani," from Night Reign
2. The Smile: "Don't Get Me Started" (Single)
3. Japandroids: "D&T," from Fate & Alcohol
4. Peter Cat Recording Co.: "I Deny Me," from Beta
5. Great Grandpa: "Kid" (Single)
6. Yasmin Williams: "Virga (feat. Darlingside)," from Acadia

Copyright 2024 NPR

Robin Hilton is a producer and co-host of the popular NPR Music show All Songs Considered.
Stephen Thompson is a writer, editor and reviewer for NPR Music, where he speaks into any microphone that will have him and appears as a frequent panelist on All Songs Considered. Since 2010, Thompson has been a fixture on the NPR roundtable podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour, which he created and developed with NPR correspondent Linda Holmes. In 2008, he and Bob Boilen created the NPR Music video series Tiny Desk Concerts, in which musicians perform at Boilen's desk. (To be more specific, Thompson had the idea, which took seconds, while Boilen created the series, which took years. Thompson will insist upon equal billing until the day he dies.)