Review: Jazmine Sullivan gets courageous and Charlie Puth gets chirpy on new singles

POP/ROCK

Jazmine Sullivan, "Stand Up"

"Stand Up," from the soundtrack to the film "Till," captures an awakening sense of courage and purpose with a melody that expands upward and rhythms that coalesce from a tentative waltz to an insistent 6/8. Sullivan's voice is grainy, improvisatory and increasingly determined; at the end, it becomes a choir of solidarity, declaring, "Someone's counting on you."

JON PARELES, New York Times

Charlie Puth, "Marks on My Neck"

If the songs on "Charlie," Puth's new album, sound familiar, it's because no pop star shows their drafts quite like Puth does, revealing both his personality and his process. "Marks on My Neck" began as a TikTok in November 2021 — Puth, his hair bouncing, told a lightly intimate story, and showed off the early stages of putting together a song about what had happened to him. The final product is chirpy in a way the sentiment isn't, but it's in keeping with Puth's recent turn to the saccharine, his zest for process sometimes outstripping his appetite for pain.

JON CARAMANICA, New York Times

Pure fondness peals from "Thinkin' on You," a song with an unambiguous sentiment about a temporary separation. "While you're away, I'll be thinkin' on you," Andrews sings in a grandly retro production that stacks folk-rock guitars, pedal steel curlicues and a string-section arrangement over a girl-group beat. She sings "Ooh, ooh," with a cowgirl yip, fully confident of an impending reunion.

JON PARELES, New York Times

HIP-HOP

Lil Yachty, "Poland"

"Poland" is a wobbly sound experiment from one of hip-hop's most flexible performers. Here Lil Yachty leans into a digitized warble, delivering a dreamlike incantation with an undercurrent of silliness. Is it a song? An idea? A demo? A joke? It no longer matters — those are yesterday's distinctions.

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