Selective Listening | Robert Robert, Sabrina Carpenter and Berlam

Every week, our music journalists add songs to the playlist of The Press on Spotify. Here are three recent titles that are in our selection.

Listen to our playlist

Breathe on meRobertRobert

We can always count on Robert Robert, former DJ turned singer-songwriter, to offer us songs with summer flavors. One year after the release of his second album Welcome to the countryhere is Arthur Gaumont-Marchand again with Breathe on me, a sultry dance-pop song that, with its funky bassline, thumping house beat and sparkling trumpet bursts, has high dance potential. It’s deliberately catchy and light and it’s perfect that way, and it should set the festival stages where Robert Robert will be performing this summer on fire.

Josée Lapointe, The Press

EspressoSabrina Carpenter

Summer has found its first anthem. Espresso condenses the pleasure of the film barbie without the metadiscourse that accompanied it: on an instrumental track fusing reggae and disco, the singer enjoys the despair of a man she has bewitched, playing with words as if they were modeling clay (“I know I Mountain Dew it for ya”). An undeniable hit, which has the potential to bring out of the anteroom of pop pretenders the “Blonde Girl” to which Olivia Rodrigo referred in Drivers License.

Frederic Murphy, The Press

Along the riverBerlam

Fans of vaporous R&B with electro accents, Berlam is probably for you. After releasing the trilogy of microalbums Energiesin recent years, the artist launched his first album on Friday, LILA. Composed of 13 songs, the work bursts with love, hope and dreams. It is punctuated by various young producers, including HEBi and Gaudz. Along the river, which reminds us of pieces by James Blake, is a luminous jazzy composition by MESSINA. Rappers KaMa, Young Rose and SeinsSucrer add variety to the microphone. Berlam will be performing in Montreal on May 17, at the Ministère, as well as in Quebec on May 23, at L’Anti Bar, then in Paris on May 30.

Pascal LeBlanc, The Press