New this week: Usher, classic Super Bowl commercials and lots of puppies

Usher’s first new solo album in eight years and the “Abbott Elementary” debuting its third season on ABC are some of the new television, movies, music and games headed to a device near you.

Also among the streaming offerings worth your time as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists: Justin Hartley of “This is Us” debuts his new CBS series “Tracker,” Sony’s new multiplayer military shooter Helldivers 2 and Celine Song’s “Past Lives,” an achingly tender film about making peace with the choices that shape our lives.

NEW MOVIES TO STREAM

• Celine Song’s “Past Lives” is an achingly tender film about making peace with the choices that shape our lives. Song’s directorial debut, which is nominated for best picture and best screenplay at the Academy Awards, is about a woman named Nora (Greta Lee) who, while married and living in New York, reconnects with a childhood friend (Teo Yoo) from Seoul. Though modest in scale, “Past Lives” gently reckons with existential quandaries that stretch across time and continents. In her review, AP’s Jocelyn Noveck called it “a gorgeous, achingly wistful feature debut.” Streaming on Paramount+ with Showtime.

• The mind of Charlie Kaufman has produced some of the most memorable films (“Eternal Sunshine

of the Spotless Mind,” “Synecdoch, New York”) of the last few decades. But even when Kaufman last scripted an animated film, (“Anomalisa”), you wouldn’t call the results child-friendly. But in “Orion and the Dark,” Kaufman adapts Emma Yarlett’s illustrated children’s book about a fifth-grader (voiced by Jacob Tremblay) who’s afraid of the dark, among other things. He’s forced to confront his fears when visited the actual Dark (voiced by Paul Walter Hauser). In his review, AP’s Mark Kennedy said director Sean Charmatz’s film “is about fear and overcoming … but has too much junk clogging up the vision.” Streaming on Netflix.

• Laura Chinn’s directorial debut “Suncoast,” which recently premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, draws from Chinn’s own experience growing up in Florida and caring for her ill brother. With a cast including Laura Linney and Woody Harrelson, newcomer Nico Parker stars as the high-schooler Doris in this coming-of-age drama. “Suncoast” streams Feb. 9 on Hulu.

NEW MUSIC TO STREAM

• It may very well be Usher’s world, and we’re just living in it. From an incredibly successful Las Vegas residency to scoring the 2024 Super Bowl halftime show, the “Confessions” singer is experiencing a well-deserved influx of attention — from a new and curious audience as well as those filled with nostalgia for his smooth ‘00s R&B.

There’s more great news: on Friday,

Feb. 9, just two days before he appears at Allegiant Stadium in Las

Vegas for Sin City’s inaugural Super Bowl, Usher will release “Coming Home,” his first new solo album in eight years. He hasn’t missed a beat — “Good Good,” the single with Summer Walker and 21 Savage

— is silky summertime R&B with some Atlanta bounce — a winning combination. Elsewhere on the album, Usher joins forces with Burna

Boy, Latto, The-Dream, H.E.R., BTS • “Abbott Elementary” aired member Jungkook and Pheelz. its season two finale last April “Stacked” is the word. and there are lingering questions

• Swedish pop singer Zara Larsson that need answers. Can Janine will release her fourth studio and Gregory (series creator album, “Venus,” on Feb. 9 — an album Quinta Brunson and Tyler James full of shimmery synth-pop Williams) remain platonic after almost and Euro dance-pop that burns stepping outside the friendzone bright, hot and fast like a Saturday on the field trip to the science night. “On My Love” with EDM museum? Did a summer at Harvard giant David Guetta proves it, but prompt Ava (Janelle James) Larsson’s commitment to feel-good to finally take her job as principal club bangers exists throughout: like seriously? And will Mrs. Howard on the strings of “End of Time,” (Sheryl Lee Ralph) finally learn which she said was inspired by Rihanna that Brian Tyree Henry’s name is and ABBA in equal parts. not Brian Austin Green? Answers Now that’s a combination. may be revealed Wednesday when

• If you frequent indie music corners school is back in session and “Abbott of the internet, you might’ve Elementary” debuts season seen the shirts released by Helado three on ABC. Episodes also stream Negro, the musical moniker of Roberto on Hulu. Carlos Lange, before you • Revisit popular Super Bowl ads heard his music: “Young and Latin from years past on “Super Bowl and Proud,” they read, a celebration Greatest Commercials XXIII: The of the South Florida native born to Ultimate Countdown,” on Wednesday Ecuadorian immigrants’ identity, on CBS. The show presents top but also the identity of many of his commercials from over the years listeners. It’s a great framework to from brands including Budweiser, consider Helado Negro’s latest al-* E-Trade and Coke. bum, “Phasor,” a day-dreamy collection of experimental pop (like on “Best For You and Me”), psych rock (“LFO (Lupe Finds Oliveros)”) and alternative rhythms and flutes (“I Just Want To Wake Up With You.”) It is a celebration of an incredible diversity of Latin music, including one that gets lost when listeners focus too closely on geography: atmospheric sounds.

NEW SHOWS TO STREAM