From Aarhus, Denmark
Recommended if you like Caroline Polachek, Zara Larsson, Grimes
Up next Debut project coming later this year

You could hardly make a better professional songwriting debut than co-writing nine 10ths of a moment-defining album – namely Zara Larsson’s Midnight Sun – then getting a Grammy nod for it. It’s an enviable springboard for the relaunch of Helena Gao’s solo career. Over the past few years, the Chinese-Danish artist has released a handful of singles and EPs – standout God’s Favourite split the difference between NewJeans and R&B, and comes with an excellent Sims-referencing video – but her new music feels like a real flourishing, sidelining her older sweetness for a freakier braid of heavy bass, stuttering trance and a pitch-bending falsetto to rival that of Caroline Polachek, singing in English and Mandarin.

You can trace her evolution in tracks released just a few years apart. When Gao put out Pretty Please in 2023, the glittering, new-agey rhapsody was laced with innuendo: “I’m a bit of a prude,” she said, conscious of her parents hearing her lyrics. But the first taste of her new era, Lao Shi 老师, translates to “teacher”; its iridescent synths blossoming like flowers as she contemplates “new positions” and “optimising pleasure”. It’s more innocent than it sounds, she’s said, written “during a period of personal awakening” that mirrors her “reconnecting with my Chinese identity”.

Born in Aarhus to a Chinese mother and Danish father, Gao moved to Copenhagen, learned classical jazz and studied – where else – at the Rhythmic Music Conservatory that produces all Denmark’s boundary-breaking pop stars, before moving to split her time between London and Shanghai, and immersing herself in both cities’ club scenes. It all reverberates through a formally wild forthcoming project that should truly make Gao’s name. Laura Snapes

This week’s best new tracks

A font of fortifying wisdom … Saul Williams. Photograph: Sam Lee

Saul Williams – Conspiracy (ft Moor Mother and Gonjasufi)
“You may choose a desire to belong ...” A riveting return for the great performance poet, dispensing fortifying wisdom as if to a group of freshly minted revolutionaries, over an amapiano beat. BBT

Lily Seabird – Election Day
As ultimatums go, “Love me or leave me the fuck alone” is a pretty good one – especially when screamed among squalling alt-country guitar by a songwriter primed for a 2026 breakout. LS

Yushh – Petty Vengeance
With bass made for coursing through the bodywork of an aggressively souped-up hatchback, the West Country dance producer puts together an almighty secret weapon for festival season. BBT

case/lang/veirs – Accidental Tattoo
Marking a decade since Neko Case, kd lang and Laura Veirs united for a one-off album, this devotional, groovy bonus track from those sessions is beyond heavenly. C’mon ladies, give us a Vol 2. LS

Fimiguerrero – Skywalker (ft Fakemink)
Taken from Fimiguerrero’s pained, emo-leaning new EP The Statue of a Fool, he links with another star of the UK rap underground to mope about a clingy girlfriend over a dissonantly sweet-natured Wraith9 beat. BBT

Jordan Patterson – Cinderella
The LA songwriter’s music is getting weirder in the best way possible: her vocal vibrato builds texture like impasto, summoning gruff and tinkling piano and burbling synths to her shimmering acoustic reverie. LS

Tierra Whack – Candle Wax
Sat amid gorgeous boom-bap soul-sampling hip-hop on new mixtape Whack’s Museum, Whack uses a tight, repeated vocal melody to evoke a downbeat yet tenacious mood: brilliant craft. BBT

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