“JoJo is only 26 years old, but her musical career was almost over before it really started. After scoring TV time as a preternaturally talented singer at 7 years old, she signed a record deal at 12 and had a No. 1 pop song by 13, seemingly ready to pick up the big-voiced teen pop baton from recently “Stripped” Christina Aguilera. And then, nothing: JoJo (born Joanna Levesque) spent nearly a decade locked in a battle with her record label that prevented her from releasing new music.”
Alina Baraz makes music that washes over you. Fittingly, her lyrics dip their toes into aquatic themes, as well. On her breakthrough single, “Fantasy,” she sings, “Listen to the waves, let them wash away your pain.”
“The history of rock music is littered with bands who didn’t make it. There are the ephemeral experiments that burned up like flash paper; influential acts remembered only by genre die-hards; and provincial projects that never left home. And then there are bands like The Manikins, a Perth punk outfit that existed for a handful of years in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, who fall into all three of those categories.”
“Tears in the Club is – if anything – an evocative album title. Are those tears of joy, an outpouring of emotion in a safe space; a state of ecstasy, chemically assisted or not? Or are they tears of pain, when that safe space becomes violent and dangerous, or when those substances turn our body chemistry sour? That duality has long been key to Kingdom’s music, where pneumatic beats and metallic synths coalesce into icy soundscapes shattered by sultry R&B vocals. Depending on his mood, he’s been able to push his tracks either towards agony or ecstasy: hearing ‘Stalker Ha’ at the peak hour is a drastically darker experience than hearing the Kelela-assisted ‘Bank Head’.”
“On her single “Into You,” Ariana Grande tells her paramour that she wants something “a little bit dangerous” and “a little bit scandalous,” perhaps with “a little less conversation.” On the recording, it’s another cutesy come-on in an album full of them. But on Monday night at Verizon Center, those lyrics doubled as shorthand for what the 23-year-old pop star delivered in concert.”
“I’m a very reserved person,” Chicago rapper Noname told the magazine the Fader last year. “I typically like to be in the background.” Despite her desires, the 25-year-old talent, born Fatimah Warner, keeps making her way to the foreground. It began with a scene-stealing verse on Chance the Rapper’s 2013 breakthrough mix tape, “Acid Rap,” and continued on a handful of features alongside Chance, whom she met at a teen program through a public library, and other up-and-comers in the Chicago underground.
“When Cashmere Cat emerged at the beginning of the decade with his scintillating remixes of songs by Lana Del Rey and Miguel, there wasn’t much known about the Norwegian producer: His real name wasn’t public, and he tended to cover his face in photos. That wasn’t unusual in the underground world of electronic dance music in which he traveled, among other producers who uploaded remixes and originals to SoundCloud and built up an alluring aura with their anonymity.”
“It’s a weird time to be in D.C. The usual winter gloom has been paired with an unusual pall as Donald Trump blusters his way through the first few weeks of his still surreal presidency. The city has already hosted a record-breaking Women’s March and an impromptu protest against Trump’s Muslim ban; more marches and protests are sure to follow. But what is a protest movement without protest music?”
“When members of musical groups go solo, armchair critics use it as an opportunity to figure out who was the bigger talent all along. Sometimes it’s easy (Destiny’s Child); other times more contentious (OutKast). But on their debut solo albums, the founding members of The Internet – Syd (née Bennett) and Matt Martians – have refused to play into that game, defying expectations and easy classifications as they have their entire careers.”
“For Sevyn Streeter, “Girl Disrupted” is the perfect title for her tour and forthcoming debut album. After spending her teens and early 20s in mostly forgotten girl groups, stepping behind the curtain to write songs for Chris Brown and Ariana Grande and quietly building her own buzz with a pair of solo EPs, the R&B singer-songwriter took the stage at the Howard Theatre with something to prove.”
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