Lana Del Rey evokes a vintage cartoon on White Feather Hawk Tail Deer Hunter

There’s loads of music out there, and sometimes it’s hard to keep up.

Rather than letting the algorithm dictate your music taste, you can listen to Rated by THE FACE – a playlist that’s lovingly curated and updated by our (human) editorial team every week.

skaiwater – blink twice

Back in 2020, North West charmed the world by grabbing the mic and rapping at her dad’s Yeezy show at Paris Fashion Week. Beyond the adorable novelty factor, North is showing signs of legit music talent. She provided moments of much-needed light on Ye and Ty Dolla $ign’s Vultures albums, and she dropped a verse on FKA twigs’ joyful single Childlike Things. Now, the 12-year-old is credited as the producer on this addictive track by Nottingham-raised rap experimentalist skaiwater. North’s restless beat throws Jersey club together with epic video game synths and a chipmunked Hastune Miku sample, smothering it with a thick layer of distortion. Even if you were unaware of the celebrity producer, blink twice is one of the tracks you’d want to run back on skaiwater’s new album wonderful. DR

Baby Keem – $ex Appeal ft. Too $hort

When the tracklist was revealed for Baby Keem’s new album Ca$ino, at first I was a little surprised to see that one of the record’s few guests is Oakland’s veteran horndog Too $hort. But then again, Kendrick Lamar’s last album GNX was packed with references to West Coast rap history, and so it makes sense that now his little cousin and mentee is following suit with this hyphy tribute track. On $ex Appeal, both rappers bounce off a squidgy bassline that’s decorated with silky piano strokes, and Keem also pulls off a pretty boy R&B hook. Too $hort, who’s almost 35 years Keem’s senior, takes this opportunity to reassure us that middle age hasn’t depleted his libido. DR

Max Winter – Candlelight ft. Asha Lorenz, Will Lister & Rael

It’s a good day for fans of London’s alt-indie scene, as some of its brightest minds have come together on Max Winter’s new song, Candlelight. On top of being Nourished by Time’s bassist, Max is also part of the excellent band thredd. This is technically a solo release, though he’s enlisted Sorry frontwoman Asha Lorenz and her haunting vocals to hop on the track, as well as fellow thredd member Will Lister and elusive South London rapper Rael. The latter brings proper power and energy to Candlelight, which seamlessly blends jazz with electronica and trip-hop. Max has described the song as a collage that he’s tried to weave together – we reckon he’s achieved that and then some. JW

gianna – Shadow of a Bird

gianna is 23-years-old. But on Shadow of a Bird, the North West Londoner sounds as though she’s been rummaging around a glove compartment from a year or two before she was born, soaking in inspiration from the downtempo trip-hop sway found on CDs by Texas, Morcheeba and All Saints. Lyrically, Shadow of a Bird is inspired from a recent experience in her parents’ country of Kosovo. ​“I was lying in our sunny garden with my eyes closed, and every so often a shadow passed over my face,” she says in the press material. ​“For a second, it felt like something was falling onto me, but when I opened my eyes, it was just a bird flying past. It became a reminder about how easily fear can grow when we refuse to face it, and how small it becomes when we finally do.” Let that blissfully feeling sink in. DR

Lana Del Rey – White Feather Hawk Tail Deer Hunter

The upcoming Lana album has cycled through many titles and even more delays. Starting with Lasso, the artist’s 10^th album was initially set to be released in September 2024, before it became The Right Person Will Stay,which she said would come on 21^st May 2025. Almost a year on, we’re now in the Stove era which Lana claims will drop ​“soon”. Though I won’t be holding my breath, the latest single has got me excited, with Lana taking a cinematic turn on White Feather Hawk Tail Deer Hunter. Opening with some menacing keys, the track soon mellows into muted acoustics, strings and a warm crackle that wouldn’t feel out of place in a vintage cartoon. Citing her references, Lana thanked her collaborator Drew Erickson for ​“lining [the songs] with a little Glen Campbell and Disney” last week and attributed the song’s title to her husband, Jeremy and ​“his little hawk tail hair”. If you want to catch a glimpse of it, he makes a small feature in the accompanying music video that feels like something your parents would make you watch at Christmas on VHS (minus the head in the oven part, obviously). TL