Spin Magazine by SarahC

TURNING HEARTBREAK INTO GOLD

This week on the music charts, Maroon 5 opens with the No. 1 album and Meghan Trainor’s ode to a healthysize derriere is the new No. 1 single. Maroon 5’s latest, “V” (222/ Interscope), sold 164,000 copies in its first week out, according to Nielsen SoundScan, taking the veteran pop-rock band to No. 1 for the second time in its career. The rapper Jeezy — you last knew him as Young Jeezy — is No. 2 with his new album, “Seen It All: The Autobiography” (Def Jam), which sold 121,000. Disney’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” soundtrack is No. 3 with 53,000, and Ariana Grande’s “My Everything” (Republic), last week’s No. 1, fell three spots to No. 4 with 42,000 sales, a 75 percent drop. The biggest music news of this week was U2’s surprise release of its new album, “Songs of Innocence,”

through a deal with Apple that instantly delivered the album free to what the company said were up to 500 million iTunes customers around the world.

excluding albums priced under $3.49 in their first month of release. U2’s new album also cannot win a Grammy Award next year. The eligibility period for As impressive as this method of the Grammys ends Sept. 30, release is, however, as far as and that window applies only Billboard and SoundScan are to the full commercial release concerned it does not count as of a record, not any advance sales — so as a result “Songs promotional appearance, of Innocence” will not appear Billboard reported. on Billboard’s charts until after the album is commercially Also on the chart this week, released, on Oct. 14. week, Bob Marley’s “Legend” (Island), a hits collection from Billboard has changed its chart 1984 that is one of the bestpolicies various times over the selling catalog albums ever, years as the music industry reached the Top 10 for the has devised clever ways to first time. It rose 95 spots to generate insta-hits. In 2004, No. 5 this week with 41,000 for example, after Prince gave sales, helped by a 99-cent away copies of his album promotion on Google’s Play “Musicology” with concert store. (The week before, tickets, the music industry bible “Legend” sold just over 3,000 ruled that such giveaways copies.) And Counting Crows’ would count only if consumers new album, “Somewhere were given a choice about Under Wonderland” (Capitol), receiving the music. opened at No. 6 with 32,000 sales. And a few years ago, after Amazon sold Lady Gaga’s On the singles chart, after album “Born This Way” for 99 a two-week reign by Taylor cents, a rule was introduced Swift’s “Shake It Off,” Ms.

TURNING HEARTBREAK INTO GOLD

through a deal with Apple that instantly delivered the album free to what the company said were up to 500 million iTunes customers around the world.

Trainor’s “All About That Bass” reaches No. 1. A positive-body-image dance hit about having “all the right junk in all the right places,” the song had 312,000 downloads and 13.1 million streams. Just 24 hours after Maroon 5 surprised fans with another catchy tune from their upcoming sixth album, Adam Levine and Co. gave their live debut of “Cold” on The Ellen DeGeneres Show Wednesday (Feb. 15). Although the track features Future, the rapper didn’t make it to the Ellen appearance. But even without their song’s guest star, Maroon 5 sounded almost exactly like the studio version their new tune about a love that has grown chilly. It’s the second new track from the gang in four months, following on the heels of their hit “Don’t Wanna Know” with Kendrick Lamar. In classic Ellen fashion, of course, the talk show host grilled Levine about details on the next LP. Unfortunately for fans, though, Levine didn’t seem to have too much information to share. “Like in a few months,” Levine told DeGeneres about when the new album is due. “I don’t know exactly when so I’m going to be as vague as possible.” He also said he didn’t really know what it will be called.

“I never got down with conveying a largerthan-life vibe.”

-Adam Levine

Despite the equivocal response, DeGeneres had some album title suggestions lined up for the Maroon 5 frontman. “Songs About Ellen,” “NPAI” (which stands for “Nude Pics Of Adam Inside” and got the crowd riled up) and a play on the alternative facts trend, “Alternative Tracks.” Levine also discussed the drug-trip music video for “Cold,” which Maroon 5 previewed early Wednesday morning. Maroon 5 are one of the hottest bands on the planet. So hot, in fact, that when tickets for their Hong Kong gig went on sale in May, all tickets to the massive show at AsiaWorldArena on September 4 sold out in less than two hours. By registering you agree to our T&Cs & Privacy Policy The Hong Kong appearance is part of the band’s 13-month world tour which has also taken

in London’s Wembley Arena in May and will visit Las Vegas at the end of the year before wrapping up next March in South America. The story of the band, led by frontman Adam Levine, is a classic high school to high life one. Their first incarnation was in 1994 as a grunge band named Kara’s Flowers. The group broke up, but came back in 2001 and renamed themselves Maroon 5.

huge part of the band’s success and not just because he can sing. People magazine crowned him the “sexiest man alive” in 2013 and he has a hardcore base of young female fans who want to know everything imaginable about the Los Angeles-born rocker. Yes, everything - even that he credits yoga and spinning classes for his hot bod. Especially that.

lots of people,” Valentine said in another interview. While 36-year-old Levine’s good looks have certainly helped the band’s popularity, their real success has come from their ability to stay relevant for more than 10 years and continuing to clock up No 1 hits.

In 2002, they released Songs About Jane and everything changed. “It opened us up to so many experiences. I remember waking up every day and feeling totally stoked. I think it resonated with people because it did reflect the times. It combined stuff no one was putting together,” guitarist James Valentine said in a recent interview.

“As a musician you have fantasies that you want to win Grammys, but I didn’t really think that this was on the table,” Levine told People on hearing of the sexiestman title. While the band continued to pump out the hits, Levine came to even wider attention when he took up a spot as a mentor and judge on the hit TV singing competition The Voice.

I always feel proud when we get to have more success the older we get,” Levine has said.Their current world tour is to promote their fifth album, V, which was released in September last year and went straight to the No 1 spot on the US charts in its first week.

Songs About Jane was a slow-burning success. Five singles ended up hitting the charts, including Harder to Breathe, This Love and She Will Be Loved. It was rereleased in 2003 and by the end of the following year the album, packed with relatable break-up lyrics, was in the top 10 of the US Billboard charts.

He has proved to be quite comfortable in front of the camera - in 2013, he made his big-screen acting debut staring alongside Keira Knightley in the romcom Begin Again. And all this exposure has broadened the band’s fan base.

“Lyrics have been a big part of why people have stuck around, but it’s also that Adam is super cute,” guitarist Jesse Carmichael told Mashable. Levine is without doubt a

“We have had some hardcore fans from the very beginning, since the club dates. Then there’s a new generation since Adam has been on TV that have come along, you could call them more casual fans, and it’s great to play for them too. It’s more fun to play for

“We do feel old. We’re not old, but we are in the context of pop music.

The band’s key influences - Prince, Sting and Stevie Wonder - are front and centre, and the album doesn’t stray far from Maroon 5’s tried-and-tested formula of singing about falling in and out of love. And this is something the band members know a fair bit about. Levine declared that his playboy days were over and he was finally ready for commitment when he married Victoria’s Secret model Behati Prinsloo in July 2014. Prinsloo had a wedding ring tattooed on her finger to prove her devotion. But a year on, the cracks

are already showing and the tabloids are already predicting a split. Perhaps material for a sixth album? So what’s the Maroon 5 secret to staying relevant after more than a decade in the spotlight? Constantly reinventing themselves, they say. “For us, we like to try new things. We like collaborating with these younger new producers. It seems to be more interesting to be part of the dialogue of what’s going on today, rather than being stuck in the past,” Valentine said. V lists some of the industry’s hottest names as producers Australian singer, songwriter and video producer Sia; American songwriter and OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder; and fun.’s Nate Ruess. Even Gwen Stefani features on one track, My Heart is Open, one of the band’s few collaborations. “We don’t like to go with the current ‘feature artist’ and prefer to pick someone a bit more out of the box,” Levine said of the Stefani collaboration. Still, the brooding and yearning about love and relationships that made the first four albums such a success are also present on the fifth, and will ensure that their Hong Kong gig doesn’t

“I never got down with conveying a largerthan-life vibe.”

-Adam Levine

“Lyrics have been a big part of why people have stuck around, but it’s also that Adam is super cute,” guitarist Jesse Carmichael told Mashable. Levine is without doubt a

“We do feel old. We’re not old, but we are in the context of pop music.

Everybody’s fun is different. reacting as a kid sometimes – Mine is not drinking. I drink I would hurt myself and they casually, from time to time. would expect me not to cry. Kendrick Lamar has a lot going on right now, but you’d never know it. Backstage in Duluth, Georgia, a few hours before his latest sold-out arena show, he’s radiating unearthly levels of cleareyed serenity from his perch on a dressing-room couch. He’s wearing a peach sweatsuit and white Nikes, and carrying a plastic cup of green juice – “a little kale, apple, spinach. Shit good.” The fuel must work: He has a Number One pop hit with “HUMBLE.,” an elaborate video with Rihanna about to drop, a couple of dozen tour dates left to go. Kendrick lamar the humble king rolling stone cover Freakish things keep happening in 2017, most of them awful, but at least one anomaly is for the better. Popular music’s most exciting and innovative young artist – the best rapper of his generation, and that’s just the start –

has somehow become one of its biggest. And Lamar landed there without compromise, after releasing three classic albums in a row. His major-label debut, 2012’s good kid, m.A.A.d city, was vivid autobiography, a virtuosic deconstruction of gangsta rap centered around tales of a childhood in Compton, where many of his friends were gangbangers and police harassment was a constant threat. The follow-up, 2015’s To Pimp a Butterfly, was a dense, cerebral, jazzy, dazzling meditation on race in America that spawned one of the decade’s most important songs, the Black Lives Matter anthem “Alright” – but no radio smashes. On his latest, this year’s DAMN., he switched lanes, managing to make an LP that’s just as smart and conceptual, budisappoint fans.

Lamar, 30, is pleased with his recent commercial triumphs, but says it’s not the goal: “If I can make one person – or 10 million people – feel a certain type of euphoria in my music, that’s the whole point.”

I like to get people from my neighborhood, someone that’s fresh out of prison for five years, and see their faces when they go to New York, when they go out of the country. Shit, that’s fun for me.

You rapped about teenage dreams of “livin’ life like rappers do” – but your own life as a rapper has turned out to be pretty sedate. What are your vices at this point?

You see it through their eyes and you see ‘em light up. People treat you like you’re a saint or a monk, which must be weird. But the people closest to me really know who I am. They get all of the versions.

My biggest vice is being addicted to the chase of what I’m doing. It turns into a vice when I shut off people that actually care for me, because I’m so indulged spreading this word. Being on that stage, knowing that you’re changing people’s lives, that’s a high. Sometimes, when you’re pressing so much to get something across to a stranger, you forget people that are closer to you. That’s a vice. Do you ever feel like you should be having more fun?

Is there maybe something of the monk about you, though? I guess that can go back to when I was a kid. It felt like I was always in my own head. I still got that nature. I’m always thinking. I’m always meditating on the present or the future.

That put a lot of responsibility on me, got me ready for the responsibility my fans put upon me. I ended up getting tough skin, too, even with criticism. My first time in the studio, [label chief] Top Dawg was like, “Man, that shit wack.” Other artists around couldn’t handle that. But it made me go back in the booth and go

Was there a sense that you were special as a kid? From what my family tells me, I carried myself as a man – that’s why they called me “Man Man.” It put a stigma on the idea of me

You rapped about teenage dreams of “livin’ life like rappers do” – but your own life as a rapper has turned out to be pretty sedate. What are your vices at this point?

Was there a sense that you were special as a kid? From what my family tells me, I carried myself as a man – that’s why they called me “Man Man.” It put a stigma on the idea of me

Where did all that maturity come from?

What makes you lose your temper?

It just came from being around older motherfuckers, man. I was seven years old playing tackle football with 14-year-olds. Anybody my older cousins was hanging with, that’s who I wanted to hang with. I’ve always been short [chuckles]. Everybody was always bigger and older than me.

People that are around me that are energy-suckers or someone that is not driven the same way I’m driven. Can’t have that around me. Life is too short.

It gave me insight on people. You’ve said you were one of the only ones among your friends with a dad around – and at the end of the new album you suggest that may have saved your life. How so? It taught me how to deal with [pauses] ... emotions. Better than a lot of my peers. When you see kids doing things that the world calls harmful or a threat, it’s because they don’t know how to deal with their emotions. When you have a father in your life, you do something, he’ll look at you and say, “What the fuck is you doing?” Putting you in your place. Making you feel this small. That was a privilege for me. My peers, their mothers and grandmothers may have taught them the love and the care, but they couldn’t teach them that

You have that line “Shit I’ve been through probably offend you,” and you do that rundown of “murder, conviction, burners. ...” I can’t tell you the shit that I’ve been through without telling you the shit that I’ve

Well, you know, it was also just a lot of mothafuckin’ parties and a lot of humor, which sometimes blocks the fucked-up shit that I’ve seen. All of the funny shit with my crazy-ass uncles and my pops – he’s funny as fuck. My mom’s a crazy-asfuck, funny, loving person. These things countered the negative shit, helped me to be able to understand tragedy, but not break from it. What makes you laugh now? Shit, everything makes me laugh. Everything. This guy right here [points to his videographer]? He got something under his hat that makes me bust up laughing every time he takes it off. I didn’t even know God invented hairlines like that.

been through. I’m gonna say, “I know murder, conviction, burners, boosters, burglars, dead, redemption, scholars, fathers dead.” I’m-a give you a breakdown of my life from the time I was born all the way till I was 21. There’s a certain amount of trauma implicit in the stories you tell – you witnessed murders, even as a little kid. How much have you grappled with it as an adult?

That shit is terrible [laughs]! I always say that the best entertainers have to have the most wickedest sense of humor, to be able to take pain and change it into laughter. Other than a few lyrics, you’ve been quiet about Donald Trump. Why? I mean, it’s like beating a dead horse. We already know what it is. Are we gonna keep talking about it or are we gonna take action? You just get to a point where you’re tired of talking

Where did all that maturity come from?

What makes you lose your temper?

People that are around me that are energy-suckers or someone that is not driven the same way I’m driven. Can’t have that around me. Life is too short.

about it. It weighs you down and it drains your energy when you’re speaking about something or someone that’s completely ridiculous. So, on and off the album, I took it upon myself to take action in my own community. On the record, I made an action to not speak about what’s going on in the world or the places they put us in. Speak on self; reflection of self first. That’s where the initial change will start from. In your mock interview with Tupac on “Mortal Man,” you asked him how he kept his sanity in the face of success. What’s your answer to that question? Things could be worse. That’s how I look at it. I always go back to that – food stamps and welfare and being evicted out of house rentals. I still got family that go through hard times, and I have to look out for them. Think of it like this: This lifestyle I live now has only been, what, five years. Since 2012. Before that, it was a whole two decades of not knowing what’s next to come. I still have that embedded in me. So I can’t let my career get the best of me. On “ELEMENT.” you make that funny distinction between “black artists and wack artists.” What, to you,

defines a wack artist? I love that question. How would I define a wack artist?

for us. It’s for the person driving to their 9-to-5 that don’t feel like they wanna go to work that morning.

A wack artist uses other people’s music for their approval. We’re talking about someone that is scared to make their own voice, chases somebody else’s success and their thing, but runs away from their own thing. That’s what keeps the game watereddown.

Is it ever OK for a rapper to have a ghostwriter? You’ve obviously written verses for Dr. Dre yourself.

Everybody’s not going to be able to be a Kendrick Lamar. I’m not telling you to rap like me. Be you. Simple as that. I watch a lot of good artists go down like that because you’re so focused on what numbers this guy has done, and it dampers your own creativity. Which ultimately dampers the listener, because at the end of the day, it’s not

It depends on what arena you’re putting yourself in. I called myself the best rapper. I cannot call myself the best rapper if I have a ghostwriter. If you’re saying you’re a different type of artist and you don’t really care about the art form of being the best rapper, then so be it. Make great music. But the title, it won’t be there. If it turned out that you somehow had a ghostwriter, people would really want to meet that guy. [Laughs] You’re right. Every time you open your mouth to rhyme, you have to uphold that reputation, live up to your own boasts. How do you deal with that? Well, that’s the challenge that keeps me going. Can I outdo myself again? Can I make a better rhyme than I made last time? That’s the whole chase. If that wasn’t there, then I’d have stopped after good kid, after I had my first platinum album. But, you know, you see Jay-Z [chuckles]. He’s a

defines a wack artist? I love that question. How would I define a wack artist?

for us. It’s for the person driving to their 9-to-5 that don’t feel like they wanna go to work that morning.

Is it ever OK for a rapper to have a ghostwriter? You’ve obviously written verses for Dr. Dre yourself.

billionaire. You see Dr. Dre. Jay is still on his pen game, because it’s always a chase to see if you’re not only still true to the culture, but still can generate a creative process that’s organic for you, that can challenge yourself. Do you ever worry about running out of words? Nah, man. I can’t even think about that. Not now. Not right now. Definitely not. How did Bono end up on the song “XXX.”? We had a [different] record we were supposed to be doing together. He sent it over, I laid some ideas to it, and we didn’t know where it was going. I just happened to have an album coming out, so I just asked him, like, “Yo, would you do me this honor of letting me use this record, use this idea that I want to put together because I’m hearing a certain type of 808, a certain drum to it.” And he was open to it. So you kind of cannibalized an existing song and stuck it in, which you do from time to time. I can do that. It just has to make sense. There’s a lot of great records and great features that the world probably will never hear, because it just didn’t feel right, no matter how big the

“To still be able to carry out a message and socially move your people from inside that cell, you just gotta be a strong individual.”

name was on it. But Bono has so much wisdom and so much knowledge, in music and in life. Sitting on the phone with him, I could talk to him for hours. The things he’s doing around the world, of just helping people, is inspiring. Your own trip to Africa, you said, was a really big deal for you. Why? It just felt like a place where I belonged. It was as simple as that. You hear about the land and you hear untold truths about it, and now you’re old enough to witness it yourself. It just gave me a whole other perspective on where I’m from. What we’re doing in the city of Compton and how the world is just so much bigger than the city of Compton. It just followed me back to the studio. It felt weird when we had to leave and get back on that flight. We all said the same thing, like, “Damn, we gonna go back to the city. This is home, for real.” In South Africa, you went to the prison where Nelson Mandela was jailed, right? We sat inside the actual cell. We saw the stones that they had to dig up day to day. That was crazy. You could feel their spirits there, basically saying, “Take a piece of the story back to your community.”

“To still be able to carry out a message and socially move your people from inside that cell, you just gotta be a strong individual.”

Anderson .Paak is multitasking. He and his collaborators are spread across several rooms in Hollywood Sound Studio. A drummer and a keyboard player are improvising somewhere, and .Paak is hunting for rolling papers. The bustle inside the studio is not so different from how .Paak’s career comes across: bright, busy, varied. In the last 18 months, he has been featured (heavily) on Dr. Dre’s Compton; released a second album, Malibu, under his own name; and put out the first full-length from NxWorries, his project with producer Knxwledge. It was Compton that brought the Oxnard, Calif., native into wider public consciousness, but .Paak managed to pull the focus back to his work. Malibu was nominated for best urban contemporary album, and .Paak is nominated for best new artist. No overnight success is anything like overnight; .Paak

has appeared on recordings under various names since 2009. Since then, he has paid the bills by doing everything from harvesting weed to touring as American Idol contestant Haley Rhinehart’s drummer. With his own band, The Free Nationals, .Paak takes multitasking to its logical extreme, drumming, rapping, singing and bouncing around the stage. “With the new generation of R&B, the influences are starting to change,” says .Paak. “I do soul music, but there are a lot of outside influences -- indie rock, electro, dance.” His vision of R&B is less quiet storm, more rainbow tornado. “This generation truly benefits from a talent as diverse as his,” says Tip “T.I.” Harris, who rapped on .Paak’s song “Come Down.” “I wish him the best of luck, though I don’t think he’ll need it much.” A few weeks from turning 30, .Paak can easily present

as one of several people. Though he’s wiry and boyish, he’s a veteran. He and his wife, Hey Oun, have been together for 10 years, six of them married. They have a 6-year-old son named Soul, who is fond of Wiz Khalifa’s 2011 hit “Black and Yellow” (and some of his dad’s music). When .Paak returns from his journey around the studio, papers in hand, he exclaims, “Thank you, Lord!,” settles into his chair and starts rolling. His manager, Adrian Miller, pops his head in to ask if the drumming is too loud. .Paak smiles and shakes his head. “No, no. It’s a good vibe.” How does it feel to be nominated? It means a lot to me, especially because Malibu didn’t blow up on radio or become some huge commercial smash. I’m new to the Grammys in a few ways. I didn’t know until a couple of years ago who was doing the voting — other

artists and producers and people making records. When those people neglect their duty to vote, that’s when things go haywire. We need to make sure the right people are being nominated. But whether they got it wrong or right, I’m just happy to be in the building. It’s not going to be the end of the world if I don’t win.

feel good, but I need to reflect the times and keep my ear to the street. We need to help everyone get over the hump. It’s an obligation.

What will you do if you do win? The whole family will be in the building. I think I’ll just get blackout drunk. What has the past year been like for you and your family? Even though it was the biggest year of my career, we took a vacation, all of us. We went to the Disney resort in Hawaii for a whole week. I don’t know if we’d ever had that much concentrated time together. I was always doing sessions, never sitting still. It was awesome to just be with each other, nothing interrupting us.

Frank is like punk rock. He’s a brave artist. In R&B, we came up under people like Destiny’s Child, R. Kelly, Usher, Jodeci, Teddy Riley. When you have someone coming up under that gospel-blues base who also has influences like Radiohead and Beck, that’s when you start to get this real creative burst in R&B.

How did it feel to break through in 2016? It was a fairly intense year, to put it mildly. It’s crazy, man. One of my best years was one of the worst years for the country. And, to be clear, it’s not like the last eight years was daisies for everyone. People were getting killed by cops; all kinds of things happened. I am optimistic, but I am affected by my surroundings, and the music is going to show that. I make songs to dance to, to make people

The artists who seem to be pushing pop music now are coming out of R&B: Frank Ocean, Beyoncé, FKA Twigs. How do you see this whole lineage?

Where do you see yourself fitting in? I’m a singer-songwriter. I’m not some artist that was signed when he was 9 years old, so I had to make pop records or stay to some protocol. All I’ve ever had to do is just f—ing do whatever I want. And now it’s gotten all the attention. What else are you excited by? I really f—ed with Solange’s album. And the thing about Adele and Beyoncé that I like is that they are two women making music that isn’t demeaning to them: “We do what we do, and we’re not here selling some bullshit.” That makes me excited about the industry, still. Major props to Adele. There’s no flutes or

whistles on [25]. It’s her voice and a f—ing piano. What is next for you? We’re touring now with Bruno Mars. He’s one of the last entertainers; he’s got the whole nine. And Q-Tip is one of my favorites. I’m about to take a red-eye tonight just to work with him. Anderson .Paak’s persistence has begun to pay dividends in the currency that matters most to him—creative freedom. The 31-year-old musician (né Brandon Park Anderson) who seemed to be everywhere last year didn’t just appear out of nowhere. He has been developing his stew of neosoul, funk, R&B, and hiphop since he moved to Los Angeles from the suburbs of Ventura County, California, a decade ago with a vague notion of pursuing a career in music. His experiences during those years—as a struggling young musician with a wife and child; as a protégé of Shafiq Husayn of the hip-hop group Sa-Ra Creative Partners; as an emerging talent in L.A.’s underground hip-hop/soul scene with his band the Free Nationals-all led him to the point where his artistry was solid enough to attract the attention of the godfather of West Coast rap, Dr. Dre. Paak was featured on six songs on 2014’s Compton, Dre’s first album in 16 years. With this, Paak broke through, receiving national attention

feel good, but I need to reflect the times and keep my ear to the street. We need to help everyone get over the hump. It’s an obligation.

The artists who seem to be pushing pop music now are coming out of R&B: Frank Ocean, Beyoncé, FKA Twigs. How do you see this whole lineage?

Justin Bieber hasn’t put out a solo single in over a year but the last 365 days have been his, with two No. 1 singles bearing his name, and two others hitting the top five. Those songs have all felt kinda novel, too. He sounds appropriately vulnerable on the plunging EDM of Major Lazer’s “Cold Water” (peak: No. 2), while DJ Snake’s “Let

Kendrick Lamar’s new single “HUMBLE.” zigzags constantly. It shifts from retellings of his humble beginnings to world-conquering boasts in a few beats. The song is a hardnosed G check of his lessers, that pivots into imperfect critiques of beauty standards. But what it makes clear is his supremacy: when trapped in the long shadow he casts, his

Demi Lovato takes gleeful revenge on a callous ex in new track “Sorry Not Sorry,” a muscular mid-tempo number full of bass and electronic handclaps. Collaborative single debuted on the Hot 100 this week Lovato is joyously unforgiving from the opening seconds here. “Being so bad got me feelin’ so good/ Showing you up like I knew that I

Niall Horan delivered his second solo single, “Slow Hands,” on Thursday (May 4), and it’s already taking over the iTunes and Billboard + Twitter Trending Top 140 charts. Sure, this is largely due to him having been one-fourth of One Direction, but at least part of the instant success comes from the song being great -- so great, it’s arguably even better

After spending weeks tantalizing fans with snippets from his titillating video for “Rake It Up,” Yo Gotti unveiled the visual in full today (Aug. 21) on TIDAL. The strip-club anthem features a sea of bodacious women showcasing their curves all while trying to rake up $100 bills. Me Love You” (peak: No. 4) is the flip, a ballad of quiet strength.

You could argue that Childish Gambino became a great hip-hop artist when he stopped rapping, but that would be unfair. Over the course of two albums and a handful of mixtapes, the artist also known as actor and screenwriter Donald Glover has proven himself a decent lyricist. owever, his best moments on his 2011 debut Camp arrived

It had been over two years since Sam Hunt had broken out with his Montevallo debut LP when the singer-songwriter returned with “Body Like a Back Road” this February, but that break didn’t have a negative impact on the success of his first post-Montevallo single n fact, “Body Like a Back Road” soon became Hunt’s highest-charting hit on the Billboard

Ed Sheeran is back with two new songs, “Castle on the Hill” and “Shape of You.” After a yearlong hiatus from social media, he took to Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat to tease the songs before releasing them around midnight on Friday morning. The Weeknd, Justin Bieber and more On Sheeran’s “Shape of You,” which he

DJ Khaled is riding high, not that he knows any other way, but especially so lately with the success of the Justin Bieber-Chance the Rapper-Quavo-Lil Wayne-featuring “I’m the One.” The song debuted at #1 last month, and it’s still hanging on at #3 this week. How do you convince four music A-listers to appear on your track, particularly

When the 2016 XXL Freshman Class was revealed to the world in June of last year, one of the most unfamiliar faces to grace the cover was likely 21 Savage. Mainstream hip-hop fans were surely in the know when it came to picks like Anderson .Paak, Desiigner and Lil Dicky, but 21 was a much more under the radar pick. However, if these 12 months

This week, a veteran superstar—a hit-maker longer than all of the above pop and rap idols—sneaks under the radar and into the Hot 100’s No. 1 spot. The song is “That’s What I Like,” and its co-writer and recording artist is Bruno Mars, who, at 31, is not actually all that old. The most consistent male pop star of the 2010s, Mars first topped the

“White Iverson” is not a foundational brick; it is a sandcastle on a windy day with a high tide. No one who appreciated the breezy distraction of a radio song in 2015 wanted to hear nearly 70 minutes of Post Malone a year later. There are new one-hit wonders to enjoy; there are pop icons making important works; there’s probably a book somewhere worth

Liam Payne celebrates his freedom from One Direction on debut solo single “Strip That Down,” featuring Migos rapper Quavo. “You know, I used to be in 1D – now I’m out free,” he croons over pulsating synth-bass and chants that recall DJ Mustard’s minimalist production style. “People want me for one thing/ That’s not me.”

Shawn Mendes isn’t holding back his new material. The 18-year-old dropped his latest single, “There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Back,” on Thursday (April 20). The track is part of Mendes’ deluxe edition of Illuminate, which he re-released to include the new single. The song’s sound falls right in line with the guitar-laced goodness he brought on his

After 11 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, French Montana’s latest single has become a force to be reckoned with. Peaking this week at No. 16, his “Unforgettable” marks the highest position the New York rapper has ever achieved on the singles charts. With a guest appearance by Swae Lee of hip-hop duo Rae Sremmurd, Montana’s hit also holds

DJ Khaled isn’t discreet about his quest for success. Over the past decade or so, he has turned his unbridled lust for life into a brand whose value appreciates through memeable infamy. Most remarkable is his transformation into hip-hop’s great unifier, who seemingly has on speed dial just about everyone making waves in music today. Upcoming studio

Charlie Puth is back better than ever with his latest single ‘Attention’. This is the first single from his upcoming sophomore album, titled VoiceNotes, and it’s unlike anything the Grammy-nominated singer has released before. His vocals are rawer, the lyrics are more honest and most importantly, the song pushes his sound in a more credible

By the time Justin Bieber hopped on a remix of Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s sexy, catchy “Despacito,” the song was already well en route to becoming the song of the summer. In the 97 days following its release, it became the second fastest YouTube video to reach a billion views, beat only by Adele’s “Hello.” In the wake of Bieber’s magic touch, the

In previewing album number three, the Imagine Dragons have come out with an upbeat and spellbinding new style. “Believer”, delivered by lead vocalist, Dan Reynolds, celebrates life’s pain for making him a believer in his own endeavors. The invitational marching rhythm of the drum introduces Reynolds’s message of wanting to

“Bodak Yellow” is a great, extraordinarily catchy record. The hook, the beat, her lyrics: it all works. Cardi sounds so sure of herself, it’s difficult not to believe and rap along with every word. Her shit feels like early Lil’ Kim, the way the fellas react to her bars. That beat drops and people go nuts.

With 2017 coming to a close, we’ve already recapped the best and worst of the year in just about every way we could think of. All that remains now is to look forward to the year to come, and with the release calendar already starting to fill up for the first few months of 2017, it seems like a good time to get excited for what’s on the horizon. So let’s take a look at 40 of the albums we’re most anticipating for 2017 -- some with set titles and dates, some still whispers in the wind without official confirmation, but all reasons that 2017 should be just as big as 2016. Won’t be long until we’re reminiscing fondly about some of these albums, too. One of punk’s biggest and best crossover acts of the ‘00s has been