After a music year dominated by Taylor Swift, we’re now in store for… another music year dominated by Taylor Swift, with the next album of all-new material which she surprise-announced at the Grammy Awards in early February being released in the spring. We’re not sure if eighteen years it’s too soon to call 34-year-old Swift a “veteran… Read more
Photo Credit: Matty Vogel Since their early hardcore days, Massachusetts trio-turned-solo-project PVRIS have pivoted further and further towards electro-pop and pop-rock – and though the album art for their fourth LP, Evergreen, may initially suggest otherwise, this newest offering presents a continuation of this trend. Of course, as PVRIS moves further into pop territory, the prospect… Read more
Photo Credit: Beth Garrabrant Taylor Swift wrote her third album entirely on her own. This was partly a result of Swift getting her “best ideas at 3 am in Arkansas,” as she would tell Songwriter Universe, but it also served as a rebuttal to critics and other commentators who had previously doubted teenage Swift’s creative… Read more
Photo Credit: Julian Burgueño California quartet The Aces are part of a growing group of alt-pop artists using the genre to tell compelling female-led, unapologetically queer stories (see also: Carlie Hanson and Hayley Kiyoko). On their new album, I’ve Loved You For So Long, The Aces best showcase their strength in this area on the… Read more
Photo Credit: Samantha Harter Ever since 2018’s “Only One,” Wisconsin’s Carlie Hanson has felt like an indie cult star perpetually on the brink of a major breakout – the charms of her evocative, homespun indie-pop and pop-punk immediately obvious. Her sophomore album, which shares a name with her home state, might be too quiet and… Read more
In 2022, the indie music scene saw rising stars like Wet Leg, Ethel Cain, and rappers J.I.D. and Denzel Curry. However, in 2023, we can expect to see a surge of emerging R&B, pop, hip-hop, and much more with artists such as Ice Spice, Chlöe, and RAYE. Below are ten of the most exciting artists… Read more
Photo Credit: Neil Krug Did You Know There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd is Lana Del Rey’s version of the Beatles’ untitled “The White Album.” Like the Beatles had done the previous year with Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Lana Del Rey has already written her magnum opus. Norman F*cking Rockwell! was a fantastic album on so many… Read more
Photo Credit: Helen Kirbo Surely you haven’t heard a more ambitious album concept in 2022 than this: a 105-minute concept album – the first installment of a trilogy – that traces the journey of a character escaping a fundamentalist home only to meet a gruesome end at the hands of a cannibalistic psychopath. All of… Read more
Photo Credit: Kate Biel / Press Ari “Lauv” Leff has a pleasant voice – it’s not the most instantly recognizable, nor the most dynamic, but at its best, it effectively communicates the malaise of Lauv’s Gen-Z audience. I say this because, on his third studio album, Lauv seems adamant about submerging his voice in layers… Read more
Photo Credit: Ryan Allan Wisconsin’s Carlie Hanson had her big break when her song “Only One” was added to a playlist curated by Taylor Swift. The best moments on her debut album Tough Boy occur when she embraces a Swiftian style of songwriting; where small details are blown up to cinematic proportions – where being in love… Read more