The 40 Best Songs of 2024 (So Far)

Enrique Iglesias and Yotuel, ‘Fría’

In “Fría” (“A Cold One”), the denials and excuses keep coming from Enrique Iglesias, singing, and Yotuel, rapping, over three chords and a perfectly infectious beat set up by lean percussion and rhythm guitar. “I only went out for a cold one,” Iglesias insists. “Your friends lied to you.” It’s so upbeat, they might get away with it. PARELES

Carin León and Kane Brown, ‘The One (Pero No Como Yo)’

Country and Mexican music have long been close neighbors across the Texas border. Here, the regional Mexican superstar Carin León welcomes the country singer Kane Brown for a bilingual duet that has León warning someone that no one will love her like him, while Brown proclaims, “Whatever you’re looking for in love/You know I’m the one.” It’s a lean, acoustic Mexican polka underpinned by a sousaphone. PARELES

Hello Mary, ‘0%’

Hello Mary, a three-woman New York City band, whipsaws through a raucous embrace of uncertainty that peaks with the drummer and singer Stella Wave screaming, “I don’t know! I don’t know!” But within less than three minutes the track also jumps amid spindly indie-rock guitar chords, a bruising one-note bass riff and an unexpected dip into folky picking joined by a plinking vibraphone — all while making a waltz sound feral. PARELES

Pearl Jam, ‘React, Respond’

Pearl Jam’s LP “Dark Matter” reinforces the band’s longtime strengths: ferocious hard-rock riffs, neo-psychedelic guitar tangles and Eddie Vedder’s urgent moral compass. “React, Respond” hurtles ahead, with guitars blasting in unison and then ricocheting in stereo, as Vedder calls for unified, purposeful action, insisting, “We could be fighting together/Instead of fighting ourselves.” PARELES

Willow, ‘Big Feelings’

Willow embraces her outsize emotions in the full-tilt finale of her new album, “Empathogen,” which veers from her old pop-punk into jazz and prog-rock. Her voice sails over choppy piano chords as she announces her “big feelings,” and when she sings, “Yes, I have problems, problems,” she turns “problems” into a six-syllable arpeggio. PARELES

Julia Holter, ‘Evening Mood’

​​Julia Holter displays a light touch on the celestial shape-shifter “Evening Mood.” Twinkling keys and Holter’s soft vocals are accompanied by subtle percussion which, in part, features the filtered sounds of her daughter’s heartbeat as recorded on an ultrasound. ZOLADZ