73 Songs You Need In Your Life This Spring

    Lovable pop, rap, rock, reggae, electronic, and country for April, in no particular order.

    1. Drake tells Jennifer Lawrence she could really get it over a Lauryn Hill sample on "Draft Day."

    2. Then Drake brags that Erykah Badu made him tea once and talks about a girl that may be Rihanna on "Days in the East."

    3. "2 On," Tinashe's turnt up 2014 version of Cassie's "Me & U."

    4. Super-sparse percussion kisses acoustic guitar on Mapei's light-beaming "Don't Wait."

    5. Wu-Tang Clan return with a first taste of their $5 million album, "Keep Watch"

    6. The strings-and-bass jam that will be stuck in your head all summer, Clean Bandit's "Rather Be."

    7. Fatima Al Qadiri's "Szechuan" is a communique from the future; she should produce Kanye West's next album.

    8. Philly band War on Drugs' song for riding into the night, "Red Eyes."

    9. Lil Jon is miraculously relevant in 2014, with the DJ Snake-assisted pandemonium "Turn Down For What."

    10. Pharrell and Miley Cyrus' brilliantly titled hook-up duet, "Come Get It Bae."

    11. Angel-voiced, ascendant U.K. star Sam Smith gives it all for real love on tearjerker "Stay With Me."

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    12. Lil B remixes Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car" on "Real Based."

    13. Future suggests that he maybe wrote Beyoncé's "Drunk In Love" with "Good Morning."

    14. Cincinnati band Wussy crash guitars and nail girl/boy harmonies on "To the Lightning."

    15. "Nate," a vivid and heartbreaking story rap from L.A.'s wise-beyond-his-years Vince Staples.

    16. Bay Area rapper Kool John's clapping refutation of suckers, "Bang Bang Bang."

    17. "Floating Away," Atlanta soul singer India Shawn's breezy duet with longtime Justin Timberlake songwriter James Fauntleroy.

    18. Brooklyn R&B trio Wet's perfect, fuck-it, let's fall in love hymn, "You're The Best."

    19. Nicki Minaj raps in Spanglish with New York bachata king Romeo Santos on "Animales."

    20. The full-blown pop epic songwriter Sia could have given Katy Perry or Gaga, but kept for herself, "Chandelier."

    21. Ghana-via-Atlanta rapper Treasure blends Afro-pop singing with Georgia 808s on "Wonakobo."

    22. British DJ Duke Dumont transforms Whitney Houston's "My Love Is Your Love" into a sun-splashed water slide of happy, "I Got U."

    23. Oakland R&B heartthrob Adrian Marcel's perfectly simple hot-for-you jam, "2AM" featuring Sage The Gemini.

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    24. Allie X's spotless electro-pop bouncer, "Prime."

    25. Uptown NY rap trio RATKING's jazzy duet with Brit troubadour King Krule, "So Sick Stories."

    26. Peter Thomas and Australian pop diva Betty Who's you're impossible but whatever anthem, "All of You."

    27. As a producer, LA's DJ Mustard had six songs on the Hot 100 on April 1st; "Vato" is his own hit-worthy single.

    28. EMA's catchy grunge you can shriek along to, "So Blonde"

    29. Jamie xx's devastatingly plush lullaby "Sleep Sound" is what you'll hear when you get to heaven.

    30. "Stranger" is the maniacal future of pop radio, presented by Skrillex.

    31. Producer Dun Deal perfectly blends rap and EDM on "Trap Pop," a track for experimental Atlanta rapper Rome Fortune.

    32. French disco legend Cerrone takes Haim's "If I Could Change Your Mind" to St. Tropez.

    33. SZA, the first lady of Kendrick Lamar's label TDE, teams with Chance The Rapper for ethereal "Child's Play."

    34. Shredded guitars and echoed screams close in on themselves then liquify on Cloud Nothings' "Pattern Walks."

    35. "Everything Nice," a life-affirming club toast from dancehall singer Popcaan and Brooklyn producer Dubbel Dutch.

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    36. Machel Montano's carnival season march, "Ministry of Road."

    37. L.A. production duo Vindata's bubble-popping comedown song, "All I Really Need."

    38. Country guitarist Blake Mills' cover of heartbroken 1964 love song, "I Hope."

    39. Eric Church laments heartland decay over crisp handclaps on "Give Me Back My Hometown."

    40. Groovy soca monarch Kerwin Du Bois' body roller, "Too Real."

    41. Lilting Jersey band Real Estate grow up with sweet and achy "Had to Hear."

    42. Ellie Goulding's pulsing club ballad about survival, "Beating Heart."

    43. The Men's fast, whiskey-soaked "Different Days."

    44. Rave-friendly pop singer Tove Lo swears she's "Not On Drugs."

    45. British indie crew Fear of Men howl at the moon, quietly, on "Luna."

    46. Georgia rapper Kap G laments the profiling of Mexican-Americans by cops on "Fuck La Policia."

    47. Epically bad bitch CL, of 2NE1, asks "How painful is this life?" on "MTBD."

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    48. "Jealous," Chromeo's funky, self-effacing take on Katy Perry pop.

    49. Loud-as-hell band Nothing's "Endlessly" sounds like Built To Spill bruised up and melted into a puddle.

    50. Curl up in flannel on a rainy day for Speedy Ortiz's gnarly and introspective "Everything's Bigger."

    51. Emo bluegrass trio Nickel Creek's dark take on gospel, "21st of May."

    52. "Thank God," a bare-bones song that YG built from a video of collaborator Ty Dolla $ign's brother, TC, singing in jail.

    53. Tel Aviv trio Garden City's sleepy and sad breakup lullaby, "Move On."

    54. Norwegian producer Todd Terje and former Roxy Music singer Bryan Ferry slow down Robert Palmer's "Johnny and Mary."

    55. Emotional Baton Rouge rapper Kevin Gates gets real in "Movie," talking about watching his child's birth on FaceTime.

    56. Jennifer Lopez talks like the kids do on bubblegummy "I Luh Ya Papi."

    57. Jamaica's reggae revivalist Chronixxx employs a gospel chorus on "Rastaman Wheel Out."

    58. Young Thug moves through 12 different flows on "The Blanguage," a re-imagination of Drake's "The Language" produced by Metro Boomin.

    59. Violins sound both baroque and brutal on Arcade Fire collaborator Owen Pallet's "The Riverbed."

    60. Art pop experimenter Casey Dienel, known as White Hinterland, emerges as a big vocal belter on triumphant "Ring the Bell."

    61. Bart Davenport shows what Morrissey would have sounded like if he'd gone full-on pop in the '80s, "Dust in the Circuits."

    62. After traveling to his family's home country Trinidad for carnival, A$AP Ferg remixes soca star Bunji Garlin's "Carnival Tabanca" as "Petit Valley."

    63. Boston producer Saint Pepsi soundtracks tween-age longing with skittering "Disappearing."

    64. Animal Collective's Avey Tare sings confidently on his new project Slasher Flicks' very groovy "Strange Colores."

    65. BiS crown themselves Japan's most wonderfully insane girl group with "STUPiG."

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    66. Usually murky Austin rock trio Pure X take a breather for "Heaven," which sounds the way laying in the grass on a sunny day feels.

    67. Blake Shelton defers to his wife on "Doin' What She Likes."

    68. Natalia Kills' ode to being bad, "Trouble."

    69. Country diva Sara Evans' power ballad, "Slow Me Down."

    70. Kylie Minogue steps out on the prowl like she knows she's fine, "Sexy Love."

    71. Tough Atlanta-via-Jamaica rapper Zuse wails tenderly on "I Remember."

    72. Shakira and Rihanna try to make ska a thing, "Can't Remember To Forget You."

    73. How To Dress Well hits Mariah high notes on "Repeat Pleasure."