Best Songs: Week of June 15–21, 2026
Longing, half-open doors, and guitar music refusing to stay buried - this week's list cuts close.
Mid-June 2026 found guitar music quietly reasserting itself in a pop landscape that spent years insisting it was dead. Holding Absence kept the Welsh post-hardcore scene punching above its weight, Zebrahead reminded everyone that pop-punk still has a pulse when it stops caring too hard about being cool, and Hoobastank’s return felt less like nostalgia bait and more like a genuinely curious moment, turns out some of those early-2000s bands actually had more to say. The week also belonged to a cluster of artists doing deeply personal work: Kelela, Fousheé, Julia Jacklin, and Squirrel Flower all released songs that felt lived-in rather than constructed. That is not an accident.
What this list actually reveals is a listenership in a complicated emotional place. Half these songs are about wanting to leave something – a feeling, a person, a moment – and not quite being able to. Kelela is outta time, BOUNDARIES are begging pain to stay because at least pain is honest, and Julia Jacklin is holding the door open with one foot already out. Even the hopeful ones, like Holding Absence, arrive drenched in longing. The one genuine outlier is daine’s PQC, which feels like it landed from a slightly different emotional universe and is better for it. Listeners right now want catharsis but they are not ready to wrap it up neatly, and this week’s picks know better than to try.
1. Holding Absence - "Lucid Love"
Holding Absence write songs that feel like standing in the rain by choice. 'Lucid Love' is the kind of track that makes their cult following make complete sense - huge, aching, and emotionally precise in a way that a lot of heavier bands fumble.
Read Lucid Love by Holding Absence analysis on whisp.fm →2. Kelsey Lu - "852"
Kelsey Lu operates in a space where R&B, classical, and something genuinely uncategorizable collide. '852' is hypnotic and a little unsettling in the best way, like a song that knows something you haven't figured out yet.
Read 852 by Kelsey Lu analysis on whisp.fm →3. Zebrahead - "A Perfect Life Is Such a Bore"
Nobody was asking for a new Zebrahead song but here it is and honestly it slaps. They have always been better when they are being ridiculous, and 'A Perfect Life Is Such a Bore' leans into the absurdity with the confidence of a band that stopped caring about trends around 2003.
Read A Perfect Life Is Such a Bore by Zebrahead analysis on whisp.fm →4. Kelela - "outta time"
Kelela has spent years making music that feels like late nights and emotional ambiguity, and 'outta time' continues that thread with a precision that is genuinely unsettling. The production sits in a space between tender and claustrophobic and it works completely.
Read outta time by Kelela analysis on whisp.fm →5. BOUNDARIES - "May this pain never leave"
BOUNDARIES write hardcore that actually hurts. 'May this pain never leave' is the kind of title that should be overwrought but somehow is not - the delivery earns it, and the release feels like it is aimed at people who have tried very hard to feel nothing.
Read May this pain never leave by BOUNDARIES analysis on whisp.fm →6. Hoobastank - "How Do You Sleep?"
Hoobastank releasing new music in 2026 is the kind of thing that sounds like a joke until you actually hear it. 'How Do You Sleep?' is sharp, direct, and more emotionally coherent than anyone had a right to expect. A genuine surprise.
Read How Do You Sleep? by Hoobastank analysis on whisp.fm →7. Julia Jacklin - "Get Away From Me (I Think I'll Love You Soon)"
Julia Jacklin writes breakup-adjacent songs better than almost anyone working right now. 'Get Away From Me (I Think I'll Love You Soon)' is an incredible title and the song earns it - ambivalent, wry, and devastatingly real about the chaos of wanting contradictory things at once.
Read Get Away From Me (I Think I'll Love You Soon) by Julia Jacklin analysis on whisp.fm →8. Fousheé - "Drive"
Fousheé has a voice that can carry almost anything and 'Drive' uses it well. The song has a late-night, window-down energy that feels less like a production exercise and more like a memory someone is trying to preserve.
Read Drive by Fousheé analysis on whisp.fm →9. Squirrel Flower - "Reelin"
Squirrel Flower makes folk music that is quiet in volume but not in weight. 'Reelin' has the kind of stillness that takes real craft to achieve - it does not try to grab you, it just waits, and that patience is its own kind of confidence.
Read Reelin by Squirrel Flower analysis on whisp.fm →10. daine - "PQC"
daine exists somewhere between hyperpop, metal, and whatever genre gets invented next, and 'PQC' is a reminder that the most interesting music right now often comes from artists who refused to pick a lane. Chaotic, precise, and genuinely unlike most things on this list.
Read PQC by daine analysis on whisp.fm →
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