Week of May 29th, 2026
Credit: Billboard
Friday, May 29th belonged almost entirely to Ariana Grande, whose “hate that i made you love me” arrived as the first real signal of what her upcoming eighth album, Petal, is going to sound like. And, in something of a happy accident, Julia Wolf’s “Deep End” dropped this same week, providing the week with two vastly different flavors of self-examination to sit with. Ravyn Lenae rounds things out, having quietly set the table a few days earlier with “Handle,” the lead single off her forthcoming Blue Island (out August 7th via Atlantic Records).
1. Most Streamed Song of the Week – “hate that i made you love me” by Ariana Grande (8.75/10)
“hate that i made you love me” was released May 29th as the lead single off Petal (Grande’s eighth studio album), and notably her first release through her own imprint, Babydoll Music, under exclusive license to Republic Records. The obvious attraction of this song? It sounds unlike almost anything else in her catalog. Evidently, this lead single can be described as one of Grande’s most self-reflective songs she’s ever put her name on: rather than positioning herself as the wronged party (a lane she’s occupied plenty of times before), she turns the lens inward, sitting with the discomfort of being the cause of someone else’s pain. Yet, she still doesn’t deny the pain that she caused herself, regardless of it being from her own self-doing. It’s a striking evolution when you trace the line back to the prior beginnings of now 33-year-old artist (from 2019’s “break up with your girlfriend, i’m bored” through the growing maturity of “positions”, then “eternal sunshine”, and now to whatever “Petal” turns out to be).
The song is also sung in a noticeably lower register, which feels less like a vocal flex (obviously, she has a lot of octaves and areas to experiment with) and more like a deliberate choice. Considerably, it’s a more grounded voice for a more grounded sense of identity. At times, though, the song does seem to question who the victim of the story truly is. While modern romances can be complex, it seems that the main character doesn’t always have to be the tortured underdog? There’s a layer of ambivalence that is still questionable within the song and is worth noting here.
2. Lyrical Standout – “Deep End” by Julia Wolf (7.5/10)
“Deep End” marks a new continuation for Julia Wolf’s growing catalog of saying very specific, very online things in ways that somehow still sound like poetry. The obvious hook of this lyrical standout? The recurring image of doing “handstands in the deep end of her own mind” (what a creative way to describe the specific flavor of overthinking she explores throughout the song!). At 30 years old, the classically-trained-pianist-turnedalt-pop-producer leans less on some grand central metaphor and more on the small stuff: she opens the song describing her press-ons popping off while she’s assembling IKEA furniture on the living room floor (a mundane, oddly specific image that, somehow, lands as more emotional than it has any right to). That’s the whole appeal of Wolf’s writing—she takes the chaotic, distinctly Gen-Z texture of daily life and folds it into something that reads as genuinely introspective rather than gimmicky. Considerably, it doesn’t fully separate itself from her other work sonically (“Good Thing We Stayed” and “Pressure” both mined similar territory), which keeps this from being a genre-redefining moment. Still, Wolf is a growing, just-recently “niche” artist who is finally getting her flowers: it’s not the worst thing that she’s staying business savvy and consistently providing music her fanbase might enjoy. The question is just whether or not there’s a time limit to neglecting change.
3. Sonic Standout – “Handle” by Ravyn Lenae (8/10)
“Handle” arrived just ahead of the official announcement of Ravyn Lenae’s third album, “Blue Island,” and it’s a sultry, rock-leaning left turn that folds R&B, soul, and something closer to alt-rock into a single, cohesive identity. The obvious draw of this sonic standout? It’s the kind of genre-blurring a lot of artists attempt. But very few can actually pull it off without the seams showing. Evidently, this single can be described as further proof that the Chicago native is one of the more genuinely inventive vocalists working right now. Unfortunately, she works quietly (and seemingly by no fault of her own), and probably too quietly for her own commercial good. The song even comes with her first choreographed music video, which feels like a small but pointed signal that she’s building out a fuller artistic atmosphere consistent with her artistic identity and brand. It’s not just a one-off single.
Considerably, what’s frustrating is that this level of vision still hasn’t translated into the mainstream attention it deserves (she remains, unfairly, filed under one-hit-wonder views in a lot of casual listeners’ minds off the strength of “Love Me Not” alone). But cheers to Ravyn for continuing to be true to her own artistic methodology rather than obviously conforming to “algorithm-idealizing” her music or selling out to profits and creating a soulless 2.0 of “Love Me Not” (but yes, I’d say “Genius” is a great contender for “Love Me Not” 2.0 but in a very very soulful way.)
