It’s been one year since Carly Rae Jepsen dropped one of 2015’s best albums. Those who thought that the “Call Me Maybe” songstress was a one-trick-pony were sorely mistaken. E•MO•TION was an eclectic throwback to 80’s pop nirvana that showcased Jepsen’s sharp songwriting skills beyond just one infectious hook. On the contrary, the songs on this record do such an expert job at conveying feelings and snapshots of time that it’s impossible not to be transported.
With all of Nick Jonas’ unapologetic pandering to the gay community, sometimes it’s hard to remember that he actually makes music. No, really, all of his interviews these days seem to be more concerned with teasing and alluding to sexual encounters with men that may or may not have happened. Is he gay? I don’t think we’re any closer to finding out that answer. But hey! his third album Last Year Was Complicated is out.
By now you’ve definitely heard of Fifth Harmony. Even if you can’t name each member, you’ve chanted their undeniably catchy hit single “Worth It” at a party last summer, and for the past couple of months you’ve definitely been blasting “Work From Home” in your car on repeat. Maybe you’ve even heard their brassy “BOSS” or the electro-pop “Sledgehammer” playing in a store at one point. The girl group is certainly on the rise, and their latest album 7/27 is their foray into becoming superstars.
In the three years since Ariana Grande burst onto the scene with “The Way” in 2013, she’s become one of the most exciting up and coming talents. It’s hard to remember the last time someone who went from pop ingenue to one of the genre’s fixtures in such a short amount of time. Having already scored two #1 albums and a long line of hit singles (“Problem,” “Break Free,” “Love Me Harder…” the list goes on), while breaking (and making) new Billboard records in the process and being compared to Mariah Carey, it’s a no brainer that Grande has attained such a large level of success in such a short period of time.
That being said, Dangerous Woman, the pint-sized chanteuse’s third album marks a new stage in her career. Where Yours Truly introduced “the voice,” and My Everything skyrocketed her to superstardom, this album cements Grande’s place as pop’s reigning princess.
Update: Dr. Luke’s imprint Kemosabe Records has granted the ‘ok’ for Kesha to perform at Sunday’s Billboard Music Awards, after being reassured that “Kesha nor her supporters would use the performance as such a platform.”
Read the full story at Spin Magazine.
“I’m the shh, be quiet, I been on the no-hater diet,” Meghan Trainor proclaims on the opener to her second album, Thank You. “Watch Me Do” is a far cry from the cutesy, doo-wop sound that dominated much of Trainor’s debut album Title. When she sings, “I get all choked up, and see how much I made/ And I feel so good, like James Brown in his day,” it may shed some light onto Trainor’s state of mind following her meteoric rise to fame, but it also tells us a lot about the album itself. It’s funky, upbeat and sees the singer/songwriter exuding a confidence that was missing in her previous work. And while you may find yourself nodding along, you can’t help but notice the weak composition. There’s talk of “breastases” and “textes from exeses” which sounds as awkward as it reads. Trainor may have upgraded her sound, but her songwriting is still in need of some growth.
The list of people who worked on Beyoncé’s Lemonade is an extensive one, Diplo, Erza Koenig and Father John Misty among them. However there’s one person who’s boasting a close connection to B that’s sending even the most devoted Beyhive members for a loop. She calls herself Nana JJ.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that Beyoncé is back. On Saturday night, she dropped her stunning HBO special entitled Lemonade, based on the album of the same name. The album/short film is a continuation of B’s visual album release strategy she implemented with her self-titled fifth album released almost three years ago. Only with Lemonade, it is presented as a whole rather than separate music videos. Though thought to be released exclusively through TIDAL (the streaming service owned by husband Jay Z), the album has dropped on iTunes and, in typical Queen B fashion, is already tearing up the charts.
Mariah Carey does not get the respect she deserves.
You don’t have to look far to find someone on Twitter ready to catch her next vocal slip up. When she released Me. I Am. Mariah… The Elusive Chanteuse back in 2013, a tidal wave articles were published lambasting the singer for the album’s disappointing commercial performance (despite some pretty great reviews). But Mariah has been there, and done that. She’s played the game, set precedents, created trends within popular music and broke countless records along the way.
We are not worthy of Carly Rae Jepsen.
After gifting us one of the catchiest songs in recent history, the unforgettable “Call Me Maybe,” Jepsen dropped an entire album’s worth of bangers. The album that launched a thousand think pieces. I’m talking, of course, about last year’s pop gem E•MO•TION.
Jon On Film 