Big City Thoughts - Issue #7

ISSUE #7 | MARCH

SPRING FEVER WITH

Christina Grimmie Jack & Jack, Maggie Rose, Hoodie Allen + More

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Table of Contents Staff Editor & Founder Acacia Evans Editor-in-Chief Grace Gonzalez Design Alyson Coletta Andi Rogers Photographers Alyson Coletta Acacia Evans Dominique Goncalves Writers Hayley Augustus Lexy Fields Ian Kendall Niki Major Kaitlyn Midgett

12

Rozes

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facebook.com/bigcitythoughts

Email: acaciaevanspr@yahoo.com

20 Interview with Andra Day BIG CITY THOUGHTS | 2

14

Up Close & Personal with Christina Grimmie

22

{

38

Shanna Henderson

Live Photos: The Word Alive

28

Maggie Rose

04 - The Morrison Brothers

28 - Maggie Rose

08 - Jack & Jack

30 - Live Photos: Rachel Platten

12 - Rozes

32 - Live Photos: Jukebox the Ghost

14 - Up Close & Personal with Christina Grimmie

34 - Live Photos: Hoodie Allen

20 - Andra Day

38 - Live Photos: The Word Alive

22 - Shanna Henderson 26 - Ask Maura:

36 - Live Photos: Daya 40 - Live Photos: Alessia Cara 42 - Live Photos: Melanie Martinez

}

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THE morrison

brothers

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In the melting pot of Country-Pop-Rock, it’s hard to stand out above the noise. Many successful artists settle for a watered down concoction of pop hooks over four-chord patterns—effectively selling out to sell units.

However, if one band can blend all the essential elements of these three flirtatious genres into a succinct, potent lovechild, the sky might be the limit.

Enter the Morrison Brothers Band. What began as a spontaneous introduction at a music festival has grown over many years to yield a string of releases— most recently, a kickass LP named State of the Union.

State of the Union, the band’s most recent record, showcases a set of highly diverse tunes crafted by a crew of adept musicians. The record’s batteneddown production shines with just the right amount of headroom, with each song capturing a unique set of emotions.

Lead singer Willie Morrison’s voice comes through crisp and warm. The rhythm section is locked in tightly, with some neat syncopation thrown in at just the right moments.

The album’s lead guitar work is formidable: solos span from playful to soulful, all revolving around that quintessential Telecaster tone.

The strongest guitar work appears on “Ain’t No Stoppin’ You”, a groovy sleeper on the B-side with a mean breakdown. The Brothers and Company unquestionably outplay much of what can be found on run-of-the-mill, overly-radio-friendly country offerings.

The band’s immediate plans revolve around their upcoming EP. It’s been in the works for the last six months, and will be rolled out in April. The record will be produced by Maggie Rose, at which the band is “starstruck”. Of the songs themselves, the band claims, “the vibe is different, the material is different. The bar keeps getting set so everything has to improve.”

In this exclusive interview, BCT chronicles the Brothers’ journey so far, before finding out exactly what’s next for these fiery up-and-comers.

How did you guys find each other?

Well, my brother and I grew up in Maryland and they grew up in D.C. proper, but the first time we met each other was in New Orleans. I was going to school down there and everybody was down just to watch Jazz Fest. Through a mutual friend, we met at Jazz fest. We kind of kept in touch after that, then moved back to DC from Los Angeles that summer.

We wanted to keep the band going, so that’s kind of how it worked out.

How did you guys end up here from where you were?

We always did our best to keep things moving forward. Every year we stayed together, we got better as a group. We got better about being serious about being a band. We got better opportunities, that sort of thing. Eventually we started opening for people. We got the chance to open up for Maggie Rose three times in a couple of years. We got to know them and they started introducing us around town. She was the one that really sold us on Nashville.

So Maggie produced your album. You guys released State of the Union in 2013. What do you think the difference is going to be between that album and this album?

I think that we honed in our sound. I think it’s continuing to grow and is more sophisticated. I think we’ve sort of identified who we are a little bit more clearly on this album. I think who we are comes across a little bit clearer on this one than the last one. We’re very proud of the last one.

We had things on different ends of the spectrum which we did intentionally. We kind of did whatever we wanted to on the last one. Not like we didn’t this time, it’s just a little more focused and the songwriting’s probably better. I think we got more evolved and put together. This is the first time we’ve recorded songs that we haven’t written. But yeah, we’re proud of it. We’re excited. The process has changed a lot for us because we’ve grown up as writers.

Do you all write?

Yeah! For State of the Union we probably picked ten songs of that record out of a pool of fifteen songs.

This one for a seven song EP. Either four to seven songs. We’re not sure how many we want to get.

We’ll write twenty songs just to come up with

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five to seven. That’s just because of the volume and the quality of what’s being written and the other writers that we now know to have access to other material. I think we write a much higher volume of stuff that we’re proud of than we used to.

So, those extra songs that aren’t going to be on the album: are you going to save those?

We might put them on another EP down the road. We might pitch them for other people to play. There’s always the possibility that we’ll write something else better and these songs will just get shelved.

Since there’s five of you, what is the writing process like?

MBB: It’s totally different every single time. I mean, there’s been similar situations that we’ve had. Every once in a while the four of us will just sit down in a room and say “okay, let’s write” and just go from scratch. Generally speaking, I think we each have a bit of our own process.

When it comes to writing, how do you first spark an idea for a song?

Certain ones you can sit down and force and it just comes to you. It might take six months to actually write the thing. It might just take a few hours. For me, sometimes you’ll read two interesting words together and it’ll sound like a good idea for a song.

He’s really good at coming up with melodies, he’s a great guitar player who’s really good with chords, he’s good with lyrics.

What is your favorite city to play in?

It’s between D.C., New Orleans, and New York.

We’re going to New York City again next week. It’s been a while since we’ve played there. We love playing in DC. It always feels like home when we play there. For as little recognition as the music scene actually gets there, there’s actually some really amazing places to play in DC. We’ve gotten to do some really awesome things over the years that we’re really proud of. Just the culture in New York, Nashville, and New Orleans. Those cities just eat, sleep, and breathe music 24/7 and they’re really different feeling and sounding so it’s cool that we get to play all three of them on a regular basis. A couple times a year.

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You guys play with Maggie Rose a lot. What is your relationship like with her? Do you ever write music together?

We haven’t yet but I’m sure that we will really soon.

It’s been so hectic trying to finish the EP. We’re never free at the same time. We’re usually in the studio trying to tweak things. She’s just been here longer than us and she showed us a lot of the ropes when we got here.

What are your plans going forwards? Are you planning on touring after your release?

We’re planning on touring after the release and playing as many places as we can. We’d like to open up for some more people and try to get our name and our face out there to as big of an audience as possible. And then we’ll probably start working on the next record. Writing can sometimes be frustrating but an exciting part of the process. If you spread it out over a long period of time like we’ve done, there’s probably five or six more songs that we plan on recording very soon.

Does that ever get overwhelming?

Sometimes you just get excited and you’re like “wow I should be focused on getting this thing out” but you’ve gotta start on the next thing. You’ve gotta slow down and focus and make sure that you do as best as you can on everything. It’s really easy to get excited about new music.

So if you guys had a dream show, and you were able to play with three other bands or artists, who would they be?

I think that pretty much, our artists would be the same. The Black Crows would have to come out of retirement, but it’s all hypothetical. The Black Crows, Little Feet, and Band of Heathens. That would be crazy.

Do you have any final words for your fans?

“There’s only so much we can do playing to ourselves every night. It doesn’t really pay the bills or make us happy. Thank you!”

INTRO BY IAN KENDALL INTERVIEW BY KAITLYN MIDGETT PHOTOS BY ACACIA EVANS

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JACK & JACK words by hayley augustus, photos by acacia evans

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Jack and Jack met in kindergarten, wearing the same shirt, and have remained friends since then. These two friends started on YouTube many years before Vine took off with the username MotherFalconQuagmire (if you want to see Jack & Jack in their early days).

Jack Johnson and Jack Gilinsky started doing comedy Vines in the Summer of 2013, and as their popularity on Vine grew, viewers got to see familiar faces, and one of them happened to be Josh Peck.

After some time on Vine, Jack and Jack started focusing more on music than the comedy that they were giving viewers. Their musical talent helped them gain more and more popularity.

When asked about what their experience was like growing up in the Vine world, and if it has affected how they have grown into fame, Jack and Jack responded by saying that their experience was really cool. “At the time, Vine was at the peak of its game. We caught the right wave, I think. We hopped on Vine when all eyeballs were on it, for the most part,” says Johnson. It does seem like their timing on the widely known app was a valuable part of how they got to where they are now.

With Jack and Jack’s career taking off, we asked them what they thought of people in the spotlight promoting and contributing to charities and non-profits and if they were involved in any charity work themselves. They recently worked on a safe driving campaign with Michelin to get their fans to take into account their tire pressure, oil levels, and other aspects of driving that new drivers may not pay much

attention to. They said that the age group of their target audience focused primarily on those who were just getting their licenses.

Jack and Jack have also been part of the T.J. Martell Foundation where they participated in the Family Day event that took place in New York. This event helped spread awareness for AIDS research, Leukemia research, and also research for other cancers. Johnson explains, “If you find something you’re passionate about and you know that you can just help raise awareness, why would you not do it? Why would you not use your influence for good?”

A fan on Twitter asked what is was like to hear that they have changed someone’s life. “At first it kind of caught me off guard. We had never really met fans in person. Before this whole Internet thing, we would only see that kind of stuff online. Then we went to our first event and there were fans who told us ‘You helped me stop cutting’ or ‘You helped me get out of this dark spot in my life’.” Gilinsky said that it was hard to comprehend, at first, how they could have so much influence on their fans lives in a positive way. Now that they do know what kind of influence they have on those lives, they have their fans’ backs and they are their to brighten their days, “…just try to make them laugh or smile, whatever it may be,” says Johnson. Just being online and showing fans that they care is a major factor in how they interact with people they can’t necessarily meet in person.

While talking about influences for Calibraska, they said that they try to refrain from comparing

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their sound to another artists or song, while they are working, because they don’t want what they are working on to sound too much like anyone else. They did say that they gained their influence from the experiences that they have gone through within the past few years. With all of the traveling back and forth from Omaha to Los Angeles, and then their final move to LA, the boys were able to go through some experiences that they said had some influence on their music. As for how they wanted to sound, they said that they just wanted to make the music that they wanted to hear.

The tracks on their EP sound different from one another and all have their “own lane,” but they are what they wanted to hear in that moment in time.

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When asked if they had anything to say to their fans, Jack and Jack

said that they wanted to give their fans a huge thank you to those who have been there since the beginning, and another thank you to all of the new fans that came after the release of their EP Calibraska. They stated that they appreciate the newer fans just as much as the fans who have supported them since the beginning. They gave a shout out to those who were able to see them live, and thanked them as well. “Don’t be scared. Visit in person.

I know you see us on the internet all the time, but I’m telling you, live shows are so much fun.

And they’re only getting better. We love all you guys, thank you,” the boys say together.

asked their fans to be patient, but to expect their debut album this summer. As of right now, their EP Calibraska is out if you need something to hold you over until then!

Now as for what is coming in their future, they

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W

ith pop, alternative, and electronic all wrapped into one unique sound, 23 year old Rozes is having some major success for such a short amount of time. Rozes was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

She has been singing and playing piano nearly her entire life in addition to playing seven other instruments. Growing up, she was in jazz band and her school’s choir. With all of these musical influences, it’s no surprise that Rozes began writing music when she was only in the eighth grade.

So, how did Rozes come about? Well, about a year ago, she wrote a song for the DJ Just A Gent. The song gained major popularity in the EDM world which ended up being how the Chainsmokers discovered her! They followed her on Twitter and sent her a direct message.

Rozes recalls, “I was in the grocery store about to faint, like is this real life?” The Chainsmokers sent Rozes a couple of tracks that she admits she wasn’t really digging. She was more intrigued by the idea of getting into the studio with the Chainsmokers and creating a track together from scratch.

“It still doesn’t feel too real,” Rozes explained when asked how it felt to have a hit song on the charts. She recalled, “I got in an Uber the other day and it came on and I was like, THIS IS MY SONG . . . he’s like dancing along with me and I’m like that’s me singing!” That feeling is something that she still hasn’t gotten used to.

According to Rozes, she still feels the same as when she didn’t have a hit song on the charts.

Unlike a lot of artists and writers today, Rozes vowed to only write songs about life events she has been through and understands. This way people can really relate to the music.

Rozes opened up saying, “I went through a really bad depression and anxiety phase, like most girls do… I feel like music was the only thing I understood and that seemed to understand me because it was the only thing

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that was constant in my life.” She decided to write for the girls who didn’t have the guts to say the things they wanted to say. Because Rozes has such a unique sound, we had to ask her who her influences were. She responded with household names such as Ella Fitzgerald, Amy Winehouse, and Gwen Stefani.

From here on out, Rozes predicts that the hardest thing for her is going to be getting on the radio without being a featured artist.

She said, “One of my biggest goals for this year is to have one of my own songs on the radio.” When asked her future plans, she didn’t hesitate to say she wants to tour, gain more publicity, sign to a label, and release some music. Rozes comically mentioned, “I just released an EP on February 14th… Who wouldn’t want to listen to heart breaking songs on Valentine’s Day?” Lastly, Rozes wants everybody who listens to her music to know that it is perfectly acceptable to be emotional.

She explained, “You start to cry and people say, don’t cry, don’t cry. WHY? Why can’t I cry? It’s your emotions, you feel it, do it.” We can really resonate with her there and I bet a lot of you can as well.

We hope to see one of Rozes’ own songs on the radio in the near future! For now, we will keep bumping her killer song with The Chainsmokers, “Roses.”

WORDS BY NIKI MAJOR PHOTO BY ACACIA EVANS

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CHRISTINA GRIMMIE words by hayley augustus - photos by acacia evans

After taking over YouTube with millions of views on cover songs, then winning the hearts of the nationwide audience of The Voice, Christina Grimmie has been working hard for many years making name for herself. We were able to sit down with Christina recently to talk about the exciting journey she is on in the music industry. Christina started posting covers years ago on YouTube.

However, we wanted to know more about her musical background and her life before YouTube shot her into the eye of the public. It is not surprising that we found out Christina grew up with a piano in the house. Nor is it a big shock that this talented YouTube sensation was reportedly singing before she spoke, according to Mama Grimmie.

Due to her career beginning on YouTube and The Voice, we were curious to learn more about this nontraditional, yet increasingly popular, route of success.

Christina insightfully explained that YouTube is a little different than most platforms. When an artist is first starting their musical career, people may not take you seriously if you say that you started on YouTube. Christina offered her own optimistic spin on things, saying, “It’s all about how you grow from that point, if you prove yourself.” Christina is most definitely proving herself.

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Another fascinating aspect of starting a music career on YouTube is transitioning from cover songs to original songs. Christina’s covers on YouTube are what birthed Team Grimmie, but we asked if she would prefer to put out original music. Although Christina enjoys covering songs and making people happy, she does long to show her fans that she can write her own music. She said, “I want people to see what I can do as well!” One thing is for sure. The passion that Christina has for her fans was evident throughout the interview process. Every time they were mentioned, she became very animated. She is, clearly, very proud of her fans, and loves them for how much they have supported her on her journey. Unlike artists who pursue music the traditional way, YouTube and other internetmade stars tend to have a closer bond with their fans because the fans are not only fans, but have been closely involved on the journey

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to success.

We also asked Christina about her time spent on The Voice. We found out that Christina’s audition was anything but planned. It was more of a last minute decision used as means to prove to herself that she could succeed in a show as selective as The Voice. A major factor as to why she auditioned was the wellknown, nondiscriminatory audition process.

She loved that they judge solely based on the singer’s talent. For that reason, she had decided early on that if she would participate in any singing competition, it would be The Voice.

Christina had a lot of insight regarding the relationship between a college education and a career as an artist in the music industry.

Christina said, “If you’re in school, that’s great. Especially if you’re in school to learn

“If you’re in school, that’s great. Especially if you’re in school to learn more about music, whether it’s theory, or just experience with a band.

I think it’s good to have that under your belt.”

more about music, whether it’s theory, or just experience with a band. I think it’s good to have that under your belt.” Despite being an advocate for pursuing an education if you truly enjoy it, Christina believes that school is not necessary, by any means, in order to become a successful musician. She used herself as an example for those who do not think that you can succeed unless you go to school, stating, “I didn’t even go

to college.” She also brought up how many artists don’t go to school, and are still able to make a name for themselves. The road to professional artistry without college is most definitely not an easy one, but neither is paying back years of college debt in order to obtain a degree that isn’t necessarily a must anymore.

On another note, Christina gave us a tip on

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how to tell if different labels and companies are the right fit for you. She suggests asking them tough questions in order to tell who is genuinely interested in helping with your career and who has ulterior motives. Learning about the people you would be working with is key to Christina. She also recommends spending a lot of time with the people you are potentially signing a binding contract with. It is important to develop a relationship that spans more than the first twenty-four to forty-eight hours that you have met them.

She doesn’t recommend signing a deal within that time frame, no matter how amazing the offer may seem. Regarding ulterior motives, she concluded, “Truly, you’re never really going to know.

But be as blunt as you can.”

On the subject of current projects, Christina’s EP Side A was released this past February. When asked about her biggest influences for the EP, Christina said that she didn’t really have any. She wrote and produced three out of the four songs on the EP which were songs on her laptop that she apparently “thought would never see the light of day.” Christina cannot wait for her fans to see her writing style. As for this rising artist’s future, “Hopefully from here, I just kind of go up.” Christina wants to continue touring for the duration of her career. She also wants to keep releasing new, original, music, and she hopes to keep in touch with her fans, which are evidently very important to her.

Speaking of Christina’s future, we asked her which artists she would bring along if she could headline her own tour. Staying true to her start, she said that she would love to bring some of her YouTube friends. She started listing off names like Megan Nicole, and Kurt Schneider. We are sure that many of her fans would appreciate this YouTube power team tour.

Christina parted with a message to her fans, saying, “Team Grimmie, you guys are awesome. I love you. I have new music on the way for you, Side B. If you don’t know what Side A is, go check that out now. Please do.” It’s safe to say that there is much more in store for Christina Grimmie. With a dedicated fan base and the talent she has, we expect to hear great things from her.

PHOTO BY ACACIA EVANS

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words by kaitlyn midgett

ANDRA DAY

photos by myriam santos / courtesy of warner brothers

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A

ndra Day has always been a West Coast girl — she grew up in Spokane, Washington and relocated to San Diego for school at the School of Creative and Performing Arts. It was here where Andra became inspired by other genres of music, especially jazz.

What she learned at SCPA is influencing her music even now. And all that inspiration and hard work paid off — thirteen years after her musical journey in Spokane began, she signed with Warner Bros.

Andra’s first record, Cheers to the Fall was released in August 2015. Its songs are autobiographical and reveal the most personal parts of Andra’s life, like breaking hearts and having her heart broken. It was her faith that helped her cope, move on, and tell the truth about these situations. “Cheers to the Fall tells that story and also talks about moving forward in freedom and not being afraid of the truth. Whether it’s telling the truth about something you’ve done, or whether it’s pursuing who you are truly meant to be. It’s about not being trapped by the fear of criticism and failure.”

Grammy’s.

Ellie Goulding and Andra Day’s performance was the brainchild of Ken Ehrlich who suggested putting the songs “Love Me Like You Do” and “Rise Up” together. At first, Ellie and Andra were skeptical because both songs are so different musically, but Greg Philinganes, an incredible music director and composer, mashed the songs up nicely.

On performing with Ellie, Andra said “First of all, her talent speaks for itself — she’s incredible. On top of that, her character and her personality are just lovely to be around. There was camaraderie on stage that was very natural.”

For the rest of the year, Andra will be busy touring and performing at festivals like Sasquatch, Bonnaroo, and Essence.

This month, she’s finishing up her headlining tour in the US. Then, she’s out on the road in Europe with Leon Bridges this April. That tour will finish up in the US in May. Andra is looking forward to all of these experiences, and we’re excited to see what’s to come.

For her first touring experience, Andra Day opened up for Lenny Kravitz, which she playfully calls “almost an unfair advantage.” And with two Grammy nominations under her belt after it had only been out for three months, we’re sure that she’ll have the chance to tour with even more outstanding artists. Andra says that she would love to tour with other soulful artists like Kendrick Lamar, Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu, Adele, J. Cole, Hiatus Kaiyote and Ellie Goulding, who she has already performed with at the

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shanna HenderSon

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S

hanna Henderson may hail from a small town in Alabama, but her dreams are anything but miniscule. From a young age, she felt inclined to break the stereotypes that she observed around her. One of the first ways she created her own norm was by being one of the few females to take up tuba in her school band. Shanna may not be thought of as a tuba player by most, but she is planning on incorporating the instruments’ brassy presence into her future sets.

In addition to practicing tuba, Shanna split her time between sports, choir, and various clubs which helped mold her into the vibrant person she is today. In fact, Shanna’s upbeat and perky enthusiasm in person was much like her character on “The Glee Project”. After being accepted into the TV show, she moved out to Los Angeles.

Shanna did the opposite of putting off her musical theatre degree. Inspired by the proximity of her dreams, she worked overtime in LA by writing and performing a one-woman show for her final project.

When asked how she handled it all, she responded saying, “The show was the biggest learning lesson I had in theater”.

After being eliminated from the show, Shanna was lost on where to go to really launch her music career. She thought the idea of Los Angeles was appealing but it was difficult to find that underlying bustle she needed in a city. New York, on the other hand, was the opposite; a whirlwind of fast paces and passing faces.

Luckily, Shanna found Nashville which has proven to be the perfect compromise. Once the decision was made, she embarked on her adventure and quickly these children need to know their worth gained a manager who fully supported her and her and break the boundaries that society has put on them; much like how she broke her career. small town boundaries.

Shanna informed us that on the side of pursuing music in Nashville, she also dedicates her time to assisting others. Not only does she mentor college theater majors, she also speaks out to children who are in foster homes or whose parents are incarcerated. It was clear that she is passionate that

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Another exciting Nashville happening in Shanna’s life is working with Nashville Hall of Fame writer, Pat Alger. This friendship helped her in earning a spot on the CMT Discovery Artist Campaign in the past September. She also recently signed a

contract with a company called Collab who is dedicated to helping in the process of branding creative artists. We were glad to hear that she is working on her new EP. Overall, one of the most defining qualities of this up and coming star is her clear dedication to supporting her fellow females. Shanna exclaimed, “Most of my team is consisted of females – I’m all about empowerment!”

After getting to talk to Shanna for a little bit,

I was more than impressed. Not only is she phenomenally talented, Shanna truly does care about and resonate with the charity work that she does. With a title like CMT gifted her, it’s no wonder that Shanna is taking over the female country role.

WORDS BY LEXY FIELDS PHOTOS BY ACACIA EVANS

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IN THE NAME OF FEMINISM:

MUSIC SEXUAL DRAWS ATTENTION TO

ABUSE

by maura mazurowski

...WOMEN ARE BEING KILLED BY “FATHERS, BROTHERS, STEPFATHERS… THE VERY PEOPLE WHO ARE SUPPOSED TO CARE FOR US.”

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Get ready female music lovers, writers, performers and more – times are changing.

The role of women in the music industry has become an increasingly present topic as the double X chromosome continues to flourish in this male-saturated business.

However female artists are doing more than taking over the spotlight; they’re using their work to draw attention to social issues that must be addressed.

Let’s talk about Rebecca Lane. A Guatemalan hip-hop artist, Lane drops beats in the name of feminism by using her music to discuss sexism and the abuse that women face in her country. She touches on topics that range from the more reclusive, like catcalling, to the more extreme, such as the alarmingly high murder rates in Guatemala.

In an interview with Al Jazeera – a Dohabased broadcaster owned by the Al Jazeera Media Network – Lane said that “Guatemala is a country that has one of the highest femicide rates in the world and also [has] very high rates of intra-familial and domestic violence.”

Lane, who also spoke to BBC in December, told the British news outlet that Guatemalan women are being killed by “fathers, brothers, stepfathers… The very people who are supposed to care for us.”

According to the Guatemalan Human Rights Commission, over 5,000 women have been killed in the Central American country since

2000. Lane went on to tell BBC she had been in a relationship with an older man at the age of 15. As a result, she too became a victim of sexual and physical abuse.

Lane learned to try and heal from her experiences through her music. She began to record rap songs in 2012 and has begun to use her work to callout the inequality that female hip-hop artists face in this genre.

Lane isn’t the only one drawing attention to the issue of sexual abuse. At the 88th Academy Awards, Lady Gaga gave an emotional performance that shined a light on the Obama administration’s “It’s On Us” campaign, a movement challenging pledgetakers to commit to help end the nationwide epidemic of sexual assault on college campuses.

On the Oscars red carpet, Gaga (a Best Original Song nominee) discussed the importance of bringing awareness to sexual assault.

“It’s something that is deeply connected to my heart. I am, myself, a survivor,” Gaga said. “We’re here tonight very grateful to the Academy for giving us this world stage to reward survivors for being brave and coming forward.”

Sexism is a real issue both in and outside of the music industry. However if artists like Lane and Gaga continue to use art as a means of lessening this inequality, women across the world will begin to feel a change.

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a Maggie Rose

M

aggie Rose might have been featured on CMT’s website, but that doesn’t mean that country music is the only genre she is singing. Maggie values the lack of consistency in artists like Madonna because she is constantly reinventing herself. Her new EP will be broken into two different parts — The Variety Show and The Variety Show 2.

Maggie found inspiration for the title of these projects from the fact that both EPs will feature vastly different sounds. It’s because of these differentiating sounds that the release is split into two — Maggie doesn’t want to give her fans too much change all at once. The second EP will take a bigger leap towards what her current sound will be like. The new sound is certainly a more accurate representation of where she is now in her life.

A lot of different things inspired this genre change, namely Maggie’s attempt to distance herself from her focus of making it onto country radio. Maggie explained, “I identify with the [country] genre but I don’t identify all the time with what country radio portrays as the genre. I don’t think country music and country radio is the same.” She lists Jason Isbell, Kacey Musgraves, and Chris Stapleton as artists who have really honed in on the country music sound. Up until recently, none of these artists were played on the radio. But don’t think that Maggie Rose is knocking the radio industry — she says that she has met a lot of valuable friends and people to bounce ideas off of during the radio process.

Being in Nashville has definitely helped with meeting people as well. Maggie recommends making the Nashville move to all of her artist friends, including The Morrison Brothers. If you’re an artist that ends up moving here, or an artist already in Nashville, Maggie suggests one thing: networking. She jokes, “If you want to win the lottery, you have to buy a ticket.”

In Nashville, Maggie has not only encountered the opportunity to meet people, she has built up her song catalogue as well. Maggie also had the chance to dive into one of the most unique aspects that Nashville has to offer; writers of all different genres.

Since Maggie harbors a love for all genres, the variety of co-writes is a plus. However, it also makes her more critical of what she’s putting out for the fans to listen to. “It’s a balance between doing what makes me happy and highlighting what musical strengths I have,” she says. Maggie uses these strengths to give her listeners a safe place to go. “Music is the most affordable resort that anybody can escape to,” she told us. We couldn’t agree more.

WORDS BY: KAITLYN MIDGETT PHOTO BY: ACACIA EVANS

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rachel

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platten

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jukebox

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the ghost

PHOTOS BY DOMINIQUE GONCALVES

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hoodie

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PHOTOS BY DOMINIQUE GONCALVES

allen

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Daya

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THE WORD ALIVE

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PHOTOS BY ALYSON COLETTA

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PHOTOS BY ACACIA EVANS

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Alessia Cara

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Melanie Martinez

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PHOTOS BY ACACIA EVANS

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