New Music This Week: Kelly Clarkson Gets Her Revenge, Meet Snail Mail, & More

Clarkson dropped a new video for a track from her most recent album, and let's just say it's an Adele-style fuck you: elegant, but pointed. Classy. This is the kind of song Kelly Clarkson jumped from RCA/Sony to Atlantic to be able to release. Her longtime beef with the controlling exec, Clive Davis, comes through in the song's lyrics. He, in his own biography, revealed details on how he tried to dictate which songs she sang. The company pushed her into production with Dr. Luke, whom she famously did not get along with. Now Clarkson has a new home and a sense of self-confidence that lets her skip thinking about those who no longer matter. There's really nothing better than the sound of a free woman singing.

This week in hot shit that Pitchfork loves, but that is really good so you should listen to it is Snail Mail. The words "masterpiece" and "compelling" and "best new music" have been thrown around. Here's why: teen girls are finally getting their due. If I had been this talented and self-aware at 17, I would be ruling the world right now. Her vocal sound is a throwback to the golden era of '90s indie rock, sort of like Liz Phair but with less sex and more of an Emily Brontë by way of Degrassi vibe. The standout here, though, is her guitar skills, and that's no fluke: she studied with the iconic Mary Timony as well as taking classical training.

Hinds have made the exact inverse of the Go-Go's "Our Lips Are Sealed" video, and it's magnificent. The girl gang vibe is the same, but they took the low/no budget vibe of that '80s gem and plopped it down in a ski lodge instead of the Southern California sunshine. The camaraderie makes both groups everything I want in a girl band. That and the riffs.

Did you know you could write a whole song that is essentially based on the idea "what's good for the goose is good for the gander"? If you're thinking about it (see the video above to hear about it), you might want to get into therapy because your ideas about relationships are truly not healthy. That said, the whole idea makes for a fine jam when Kiana sings it.

This is one of those tracks that made me keep getting up to check my playlist and see what it was, every time it came up. Loyal viewers of The Voice may recognize Fenimore from her turn on Team Adam on season 13 (circa 2017). She didn't win the show, but she may just win the game of having an actual music career after the show if this is the kind of music she'll be making.