Generally, pop music takes great care of language. Although lately there some artists and composers have taken many freedoms, because the truth, should not be so important if the things that are said are congruent with what is meant and already. But the industry keeps certain standards since it wants to reach a wider audience and thus increase its sales. Therefore, the curses are a little more on the side of the music of bad boys: rock, punk, rap, and hip-hop among others. Somehow, these rougher styles are aimed at audiences who already know what they are going to hear, while pop is always related to younger people and perhaps very guarded by their parents, so an error in what it is said, is made or shown, can be decisive with the future of the artist or the sales of the song – That's why Lauv's song caught my attention: “f*ck, I'm lonely (with Anne-Marie)”, which with a lot of naturalness and good rhythm, includes the most Satanized 'F' word in the English-speaking world. I don't know why it's something so serious; however, I lived the experience in a job (where English was spoken) in which the simple fact that they heard you say that word was a reason to be fired without the right to defend the point. Either way. I do not know if this is the case everywhere where English is spoken, but the truth is that in Mexico and perhaps throughout the Spanish-speaking world, things are a bit more relaxed with the use of language, which for me is a relief since sometimes I am very foul-mouthed – Anyway, for me, it is quite an enigma what will happen with the song of Lauv and Anne-Marie. The parents of the younger fans of these singers are probably not very happy and as is common around music, there is always a scandal where there isn't. Freedom of expression is a right and the meaning (strong or light) of the words that come from people's mouths, is given by those who hear it. It is the recipients who give it weight or naturally take the words of those who pronounce them – For now, let's watch for reactions to a song that is very good and harmless to me even though I include the ‘F’ word in the main chorus. Or it will be that they simply publish a version with the famous ‘beep’ and fix the matter, which would be pathetic.

“Since Take Care, I’ve been caretakin’.” – Drake “Redemption”Drake, similar to the likes of JAY-Z, Lil Wayne and Method Man, in regard to the consecutive quality of his albums, reeks with legendary status. His climb to fame, although over a decade in the making, began with one of his first and most notable releases Take Care. Everyone has a favorite Drake album and mine happens to be Take Care. Drizzy creates music in a generation that has a short attention span yet he can curate an album with over 15 records on it and everyone listens from beginning to end. Most musicians produce some of their best music during the infancy of their careers and although Drake has only improved overtime, there's something so classic and raw about this album. I enjoy listening to artists that were born to create music. There's nothing forced about Drake's delivery - ever. It's his effortless approach to music that gifts his records stuck-on-repeat trends. Take Care boasts with 19 records amid features from Lil Wayne, Andre 3000, Nicki Minaj and Kendrick Lamar to name a few. Each feature on this album comes from an artist that's already a legend or a legend in the making. Think about it, artists like The Weeknd, Rihanna and Kendrick Lamar truly began to flourish after this album's release. Now let's be clear, I'm not saying this album kicked off any of the aforementioned artists careers, but I will say that it was a healthy boost. Furthermore, each of the featured artists on this album were noteworthy additives not mere meaningless, poppycock verses or pitchy hooks. Drake's genius was apparent from the beginning and his relentlessness and slightly petty antics over the years have shaped him into the mogul and character we know him as today. From Degrassi to the Grammy’s, he’s a true chameleon in the best way. In my opinion Drake created a new genre of music.

DaBaby finally makes his Interscope Records debut. His top-charting album Baby on Baby solidifies his mark in the music industry. Unlike the thousands of fans who’ve known the name for quite some time, he’s a new voice to my ears, one I had chosen to lollygag about. My brother raved about the North Carolina native MC and insisted on my listening to his latest body of work. I brushed it off but one day while I was scrolling through Tidal, the Baby On Baby project popped up on my list of ‘Suggested New Albums.’ I was at the gym and I figured, “Why not take a listen,” and I freaking loved it. He truly has a sound all his own. It’s infused with hip-hop and trap but there’s something about his flow that’s undeniably unique. This generation tends to replicate sounds amid simultaneously trying to call it a sound they “created.” However, DaBaby truly does have his own sound. I listened to every song on this album because I fell in love with his energy from the opening hype anthem “Taking It Out” to bouncy closing acts like “Walker Texas Ranger.” He has a crazy flow and a high level of marketability that’s catapulted him to international acclaim – The album opens with his hit single “Suge” that’s amassed millions of streams and over 80 million views on YouTube. There’s something about that record, that’s just absolutely infectious. He found the pocket of the production and flowed over it perfectly thus giving this track stuck-on-repeat tendencies. The record listens and views like a Suge Knight parody riddled with truths about the slave-like nature of the music industry. “Suge” also boasts with his witty, playful and charismatic personality. DaBaby raps, “The first n** play, I'ma body a n** (Ha) I just checked my balance / I'll probably pull up to your hood and come buy me a n**** (No cap)”

Nicki Minaj’s Pink Print proved to be one truly stellar album, from the awards to the number of albums sold – she shifted the industry on its axis. The album debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 with 244,000 album units sold in its first week, of which 198,000 were pure sales. More than just a female rapper, she’s a trendsetter and record breaker. In 2018, Onika became the first female rapper ever to sell at least five million copies of each of her albums, which includes Pink Friday, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded – The Re-Up and of course, The Pink Print. The Pink Print solidified Nicki as an artist not just a rapper. She even created a mini-film to accompany the album – that’s epic. She’s an undeniable MC, no doubt, and this album boasted with hits like “The Crying Game,” featuring Jessie Ware, “Only” featuring Drake, Lil Wayne and Chris Brown and “Feeling Myself” featuring the one and only Beyoncé. When an artist organically creates music, tells their narrative and incubates in their creative process, the music hearkens as such. Nicki, at the time of this album’s release in 2014, hit what I’ve deemed as the “Drake” faze of her career. The “Drake” faze is that untouchable moment in your music career where everything you touch literally turns to gold, hence the fact that we know that every song Drake features on turns into a top charting record – you get the point. Everyone knew her name and everyone adored her music but she didn’t have any real competition. Remy Ma was still incarcerated, Lil Kim wasn’t releasing music, Trina took a break etc. thus she was really only competing with herself. Her only task at hand was to out-do her previous works which she did with the Pink Print, however, if we roll into present day, four years later, she releases the Queen album. Queen laced in 19 tracks amid features from Lil Wayne, The Weeknd and Foxy Brown, to name a few is a valiant effort but falls shy of my expectations. Overall, sonically speaking it is a solid body of work but not an impressive one in my opinion. Rappers lose that “It” factor when they start “trying” to be rappers. The grit she possessed in The Pink Print with records like “Four Door Aventador” where she raps, “I'm in the V like a widow's peak / It's just me and my Rolls Royce pillow seats / Why they staring at me? I brung MacLaren with me /Yo, matter of fact, I think I'ma bring Donna Karan with me.” She loves a good name-drop. Her wordplay gets even crazier as she goes on to rap, “And you my son, I don't know, it's just the parent in me / I am the best, I am the queen, it's so apparent it me.” Her witty pen game thus transcended her into the revered artist she is today but her gifted bars set an expectation that we expected her to fulfill.

Avril Lavigne music has been the soundtrack for part of my life, since her debut album. From the time I was a 12-year-old "Sk8er Boy" who just wanted to revolt against the system, whose life was "Complicated" for a young man. Who was trying to find himself in the world, thinking to himself, where do I belong? Dedicating the song "I'm with you" to himself. Her music resonated all the way to her sophomore album when life seemed to be as dark as her album. When my sister handed me a note stating, "I want to kill myself." The lyrics of "No Body Home," hit home. It was the only song that could make me associate to what she was feeling. I always say, where words falter, music vocalises. When she sang: “She wants to go home, but nobody's home. That's where she lies. Broken inside with no place to go. No place to go to dry her eyes! Broken inside! Her feelings she hides, her dreams she can't find. She's losing her mind, she's falling behind she can't find her place, she's losing her faith, she’s falling from grace, she's all over the place, yeah." – Avril. The lyrics will forever be hunting, and it made me realise that suicide is no fool and must be taking earnestly. My skin still crawls, and I want to jump out of my skin every single time I listen to this song. Still makes me shake, and it scares me to death to even think how much pain one must be in. The feeling of despair in Avril voice would match the despair I was feeling. Wondering what I could do to make this situation better. Still, the song gives you a bit of hope. Being both angelic and cryptic, it's like a California sunset joining the blue ocean waves in the middle of an Eclipse. Drawing in on sorrows in a dark place but trying to find peace. A beautiful song but yet emotional and frightening all at the same time.

It was Aug 31, 1987, when Michael Jackson released an album that made history. Bad soon became the second best-selling album at the times (the first was and still is Thriller, always by… Michael Jackson!). After Off the wall and Thriller the King leveraged for the third and last time the collaboration of Quincy Jones. Hard to say whether it’s better Thriller or this new album; the albums are quite different, Michael himself was a different person after 5 years, grown and changed both from an artistical and personal perspective, in a pop world that he contributed to create with Thriller, and that now featured new stars like Madonna and Prince, in the US, and with all the Brit pop of Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, and others. Moreover, in 1982 Thriller just needed to fill the 40 minutes of a vinyl record, while this album had to fill also the 70 minutes of a cd. Anyway, it’s a fact that Bad entered in history as well, and it’s still one of the key albums (and videos) of the 80s

It's Iggy Iggs! Does it sound familiar to you? Surely, a very popular phrase during 2014-2015, when we were all fans of Iggy Azalea. Listening to this slogan typical of the Australian rapper in a song was synonymous with top of the charts. Today, five years later, for many it is synonymous with… meh. The reason? Let's review what is for me one of the greatest musical injustices of this decade: Iggy appeared in our lives with a spectacular mixtape, Ignorant Art, in 2011. This project, headed by the amazing “My world”, full of powerful and fresh sounds discovered a vivacious, ambitious, badly spoken and aggressive rapper. It was clear that she was very clear about what she wanted and that her goal was to succeed. And she got it. Launched incredible themes like “Work”, un “Bounce” and “Change your life”, Iggy was introduced to the world, achieving success in her native Australia and UK. Azalea offered unusual sounds in the world of female rap: originals, which exploded in the chorus and penetrated the brain. I already lived totally in love with this rapper, but it was impossible not to bend down to her with every single that she released. Her accent was catchy, a mixture of the American South and the Australian desert, and within her rudeness I found some brilliance and great authenticity. The popularity of this blonde began to rise like foam, becoming a reference in the rrss. And “Fancy” arrived. Along with Charli XCX, Iggy presented a hybrid between pop and hip-hop, resurrecting the formula ‘’sung chorus/rapped stanza’’, and the world surrendered at her. The success was resounding. In a scenario dominated by Nicki Minaj, Azalea ran as her successor. And the Australian took care of even the smallest detail: video clips played a crucial role in her career. They often told stories, were worked and were inspired by films of yesteryear: From Clueless in “Fancy” to Kill Bill in “Black Widow”, her second success. The Azalea universe was at the top and with her debut The New Classic, Iggy showed her true value. Offering a whirlwind of sounds that intermingled like the colors of her fabulous cover, this project mixed rap and hip-hop with reggae, pop and trap. So, so good. But in the competitive world of rap not many people were happy that a white blonde could hold the title of queen. Her appearance didn’t fit in this world, and this was reason enough to accuse her of cultural appropriation. After her debut, the controversies won the ground to music. Our rapper was the victim of a kind of unfair voodoo that made her career downhill. After the bullying received by other “partners” who only managed to get attention through problems, Iggy fell into a spiral of misfortunes that made her lose the favor of the general public. Far from throwing in the towel, the rapper returned to the studio and released “Team” as a preview of her second album, Digital Distorsion. But the damage caused by third parties was enough for Iggy to lose popularity and this single and those that came later (“Switch”, a great song that was leaked and therefore suspended from promotion and “Mo Bounce”) didn’t get much impact. Digital Distorsion was canceled, and Iggy vomited all her rage in the EP Surviving the summer, where she became dark and aggressive because of the injustices experienced. Nor did “Savior”, with its radio-friendly environment, get the luck of “Fancy”. But far from giving up, Iggy has always shown herself as a powerful warrior who has a hard time keeping her mouth shut and under her own independent label has finally released her second album: In My Defense. Iggy Azalea, after all, has only that left: defend herself.

Burna Boy sealed his position at the Zenith of the Afrobeat and Afropop genres with this album, African Giant. This release follows major achievements this year alone; winning the Listener’s Choice, Song of The Year, Best Male MVP, and African Artiste of the Year categories at the 2019 SoundCity MVP Awards Festival. Then going on to win the Best International Act category at the 2019 BET Awards, and finally having a solo track on Beyoncé’s The Lion King: The Gift soundtrack album for the Disney classic animation remake, The Lion King. The features on the album were also rich as he excluded A-List artiste in the Nigerian industry, for reasons best known to him. For an album titled African Giant, he didn’t bother adding African and internationally known artiste, but went ahead to add the likes of Damian ‘Jr. Gong’ Marley, multiple Grammy nominated and winner Angélique Kidjo, Future, YG and so on. The 19-track album was full of hits and genre mixtures that made a perfect blend, with him trying different flows, ranges, and topics on the tracks. The basic thing lacking majorly in the Nigerian Music Industry is Content. Artistes with content in Nigeria suffer proper recognition. The most popular and successful artistes are the Afropop artistes, these artistes former 99% of the A-List group, the remaining 1% are mostly from the Rap, Alternative music, Afrobeat, R&B and Soul genres. These 99% percent of these 99% lack contents or have slowly dropped the ball somewhere along the line during their career and just churn out beats and vibes that has zero contents and meaning. Between 2013 and 2019, the amount of songs without concepts and meaning content have the most rotations on the Radio, and TV, and the artistes get the endorsement deals. This fluke has made great songwriters dumb down their lyrics for the sake of popularity and recognition. They forget that gifted can’t do a great job being mediocre, like a mediocre would originally do. Long story short, Burna Boy is our very own Content Rich Afropop and Afrobeat artiste to get international recognition without being overrated.

After breaking up for a while, the Jonas Brothers got back together to put out a new album, Happiness Begins. While the band decidedly falls into top 40-pop for the most part, this album does have some fun lyrics and melodies, and interesting harmonies in a few places. The lyrics are fairly simplistic, but they suit the genre perfectly. Perhaps the best thing about this album is that it has a lot of positive, sweet love songs that defy the focus on break-ups, lost love, and internal struggles that seems common in current pop music.

So I’ve apparently decided that this is the sword I’m gonna die on. For the past five or so months, I’ve been preaching to anyone who will listen about the phenomenon that is Youngblood. Cumulatively, I’ve probably spent a week of my life talking about the record. It’s that fucking epic – As per friggin usual, I’m late to the party once more in that I’m just now discovering that there’s a fucking acoustic version of the titular track. And now I’m fucking dying all over again. In all seriousness—who the fuck gave these guys permission to fuck my life up this poetically? – Let’s just dive in why don’t we… First off, it’s taken me way too fucking long to figure out how to adequately describe this rendition of what I believed to be an already perfect track, and it’s really starting to bother me. Also full disclosure: I can’t tell who the fuck is singing what part. I can confidently declare that Hemmings takes the lead throughout the song (as is to be expected for a mf lead singer), but other than that I have no fucking idea. So bear with me..

I want to get us started off by nothing that this is officially my favorite newly-released album at this particular moment. Now this comes after my glorious experience at 5 Seconds Of Summer’s live set at the Toyota Pavillion in Irving a few weeks back, so the way I feel about this record now is absolutely not what my first impressions were. This took some time, thought, and a few dozen (hundred) listens to really get a sense of the personality of this album. So without any further ado, let’s unpack the wonder that is Youngblood.

I have so many thoughts, I don’t even know where to begin, y’all. I swear if 5 Seconds Of Summer releases one more track that’s this caliber of genuine perfection, I’m committing myself to an insane asylum. Diagnosis: clinically obsessed.

Simi does not need an introduction in the Nigerian music space, because she has built an empire for herself in the industry. In an industry that had hitherto been led by the male folk, it was a major feat for Simi to break into it and still hold sway many years after – The release of the “Simisola” album is a major factor that brought to the fore once more, the amazing personality called Simi. It is important to note that the album shouldn’t be passed off as a mere work of art because it was a “no bare” musical output that further let us into the world of one of the greatest songstress of our time, Simi. Interestingly, she chose to use her name “Simisola” as the title, which further buttresses the fact that she was intentional about the album – Simisola is the second studio album from Simi and comes nearly a decade after her first album. Simi had released her debut album “Ogaju” and made a major comeback into the Nigerian music space nine years later when she released her second album, “Simisola” on September 8, 2017. Oscar, Sess, Vtek, and SeyiKeyz produced the album. It was nominated for Album of the Year in the 2018 edition of the Nigerian Entertainment Awards and went on to win the Album of the Year in the 2018 edition of The Headies.

Huge cities, dirty and polluted, full of faceless people, people who do not talk to you and do not see you, people who would not do anything for you if you were lying in the middle of the street suffering a heart attack. Noise, noise, noise everywhere and at all hours. Background noise that accompanies us even in our dreams. The city never stops, never keeps silent, people have stopped appreciating the calm, we are altered, we want to get first to anywhere, although that place is nowhere. We do not mind pushing, crushing. We believe that we do not need peace, we believe that the states of anguish and anxiety are normal and inherent to the human being and we are very wrong. We rush to the office in the morning and we only went through a café (of the fashion brand, because otherwise, we would be as weird) the women put on makeup behind the wheel, the men drive as if they were playing a football game, and time to eat? No way! If there is no time, we do not go out to eat because the work requires commitment to one hundred percent and we want the promotion at all costs, no matter hours, friends, family, health, nothing, what matters is success in business. Then, at the end of our life, we will realize that little or nothing was worth all that time invested in a company in which you were only a number, that there was never any appreciation for what you did and gave, not for the way in which you sacrificed time for your family. In the afternoon, already very late, you leave the office exhausted and in a bad mood. Maybe it's a good idea to go to the bar for a couple of beers or something a little stronger. But you're tired and you know you might find yourself with more noise and maybe with unpleasant people, besides, tomorrow you have to start the routine again; and life? life is postponed for a better time, a moment that will hardly come if we do not look for it ourselves. Peace, has anyone said peace? Well, no. Most of us who are in the middle of this chaos that is modern life have forgotten the moments of peace, those that give us the tranquility of enjoying the countryside, of pleasant music, far from the noise and the absurd objectives of the job. The moments of being with whom you love the most and most love you. To enjoy your pet, that will always be for you, unconditionally. To be in the place where you know you are safe, away from those who hurt you or just want to take advantage of you. Being on an island, the island that forms in your mind and the most endearing places for you, to find peace amid all this chaos. The chaos that represents this road that tires, that sometimes throws you to the ground and where nobody raises you.

With not much more than a few dollars and his demos on him, Frank Ocean took the trip to Los Angeles that many dream of from his home of Louisiana to pursue a career in music. It was partly because LA is where things happen, but also partly because Hurricane Katrina had destroyed his recording space in New Orleans. The trip was intended to be six weeks long, but lasted for years. When in LA, he started writing music for the likes of Justin Bieber and Beyoncé, what many would call living the dream. But he wasn’t satisfied. “It might have been comfy to continue to do that and enjoy that income stream and the anonymity but that’s not why I moved away from school and away from family.” After getting close with Odd Future, he met Tricky Stewart, producer and A&R for Island/Def Jam, in late 2009. Tricky was amazed by Frank’s singing and songwriting and signed him. But soon after the signing, Stewart ended up leaving and Frank was left with a label who, as the producer and A&R put it, “didn’t give him the respect that I thought he deserved.” He was shelved. This was a time where Frank’s affiliation with Odd Future, who was steadily growing a dedicated fanbase, did him favours. Using the initiative that he saw took them so far, he put together a project called nostalgia, ULTRA and put it out for free with no assistance from Def Jam. In fact, it was put out despite Def Jam. “i. did. this. not ISLAND DEF JAM” he tweeted. “fuck DEF JAM & any company that goes the length of signing a kid with dreams & talent w/ no intention of following through.” The tape garnered very respectable buzz and Def Jam took note immediately. They pushed some songs from it as singles and though this might’ve benefitted Frank, it was understood that this was mainly self-serving and so that they could make money off of it where possible. They wanted to help bring his debut album to the shelves and the relationship was temporarily mended, like putting a mirror back together with cheap glue. Fast forward to the release of channel ORANGE in 2012 and that went as well as the label could have hoped, spawning a Billboard Top 100 charter in “Thinkin Bout You” and turning Frank into a star. But the damage was done, and the battle was on.

After never hearing about Joyner Lucas before, I decided to give his album, 508-507-2209, a listen. I am not sure what I expected, I didn’t expect anything but a rap album, but I was given an album that seems to follow him becoming famous and losing his friends. The album is weaved together with a voicemail at the end of nearly every track and while listening to the album I was confused by this; however, it seems to me that the voicemails use the album to portray how easy it is to get caught up in a new fast lifestyle and lose not only yourself but your friends and family. Despite not being a fan of his voice, I am a fan of the voicemail concept- that is if I am anywhere close to right...

Maggie Rogers released her first full length album back in January of this year. Heard it in a Past Life is an album that takes us on a full exploration of her sound journey as we begin with folk inspired tunes to full out electronic/ pop bops, and she writes music about her personal experiences, in some cases with the help of her friends. It is an album that I did not like at first because I did not listen to its entirety, but once I did, I saw how good it is.

Ayo (English: Joy) is the self-titled second studio album by Nigerian singer Wizkid. Wizkid Ayo Balogun, Nigeria’s biggest music star and probably one of the most talented artiste in the music industry released his second album AYO three years after his first album “Superstar” which I believe revolutionized pop music in the Nigerian music scene. This album record simply shows how Wizkid is grateful for where he has gotten to in his music career remembering where he started as an upcoming act in Surulere. After going down memory lane, he calls out the people in his old hood to come and enjoy his musical success. It also expressed his unending love for the street (his supporters and die-hard fans that are always there for him). If you listen’s to this album closely you will know that Wizkid is a mama's boy because you will hear several lines dedicated to his mother Mrs. Balogun all over the album. The album AYO received so many critic review but believe me it created that momentum which he needed for his music career, if you can check the album you would be able to count 10 hits out of 18 song released on the album which is actually hard for one to call such an album a failure even though the album might have somehow lacked direction. For me the album started on a bright note but fizzled out towards the end, with the exception of a few well-written songs and the hits we’ve heard from him in the past. Between all these Wizkid was able to establish the fact that he is a good vocalist with perfect vibes and mind-blowing melody. No wonder he has continuously remained relevant over the past Decade. He has remained so much relevant in the music industry being the first African to bag seven Billboard Nominations, the Youngest African Artiste to get a Grammy nomination, he is the first African Pop Star To Perform/sell out Royal Albert Hall in London and he is the only Nigerian musician who not only made the number one spot on the iTunes Wo
Where the Joy Residesrld Chart but maintained that spot for over a week. He is the only Nigerian Artiste with the most award nominations. . Well with the release of this album, I already knew Wizkid would become a force to reckon with in the music industry which he has already accomplished.
He started recording the album after the release of the compilation album, Empire Mates State of Mind (2012). The long-awaited album was released on September 17, 2014, by Starboy Entertainment and Empire Mates Entertainment after it was postponed twice due to difficulty in track selection. I must reveal that this was one album I definitely was curious how it would play out after a long time of waiting because it was his last bodywork under Empire Mates Entertainment before he started his own record label Starboy Entertainment. The 71 minutes Album was produced by Segun Demuren, Banky Wellington, Sarz, Shizzi, Uhuru, Maleek Berry, Legendary Beatz and Spellz.

It’s quite common for us to dispute about who was the first worldwide star in a specific period. For example, the first top artist in the third millennium, or, in the next period, who will be the shining star of the 20s. But if I should say who was the last pop queen of the second millennium, the girl who, with her songs and videos, introduced us to the 2000s, well, there is no doubt. Britney Spears broke down full speed into the world of pop in late 1998 with her first song and video. Her success was so huge that her debut album, released at the end of 1999, topped the charts in many many countries, and her fantastic career definitely skyrocketed. Britney Spears was only 16, and she played the role of the attractive teenage girl, always balancing between being innocent and being attractive, a continuous teasing game of moves and gazes. She was not the first, of course; Lio and Elli Medeiros in France during the early 80, Madonna and her “Like a Virgin” look in the States, Sabrina Salerno with her “Boys” in Italy, Patsy Kensit of Eighth Wonder and Kylie Minogue were teenage icons of beauty and joy of life in the UK during the late 80’s. Many of them are still active, and few of them have been able to remain faithful to their character, and also to evolve during the years. Britney Spears did all of this. I can’t think of any Britney’s hit during all the years, that would not perfectly fit also in the early Britney character ad attitude. It’s a sort of, how to say, everlasting Britneyism!

Kim Petras has 26 years behind her back, that is, she was born in 1992. So when she was about 6 years old, she would listen for the first time to ''…Baby one more time'' by Britney Spears, and then her world would change forever. This is just a guess, whether it was Christina Aguilera and ''Genie in a bottle'', ''Wannabe'' of the Spice Girls, or simply paying attention to the latest public scandal of Paris Hilton. The point is that our protagonist developed a romantic and passionate relationship with the pop culture of the 2000’s. From her distant native Cologne (Germany), the young lady watched the American teen scene and began to collect pop idols like Gwen Stefani or Mariah Carey, while facing a difficult reality. Since she was very young, she felt like a girl, and thanks to the support of her parents she was one of the youngest people to undergo gender reassignment surgery. Petras anchored to this golden age of gum pink color, and decorated her folders with cuts of her favorite stars, to which she added powerful figures of the 80s like Madonna and Cindy Lauper; as well as maximum representatives of LGTBI music such as Boy George or Freddie Mercury. This overflowing river of influences made this young woman a nerd of the aesthetic and bubblegum pop sound, something that in itself seems the coolest. But far from having lived through that time, where Kim had undoubtedly stood out and turned into a mass idol, she had the great idea of ​​combining all this with modern life dominated by social networks. Turned into a cybernetic LGTBI queen, Kim Petras began to gain popularity on the internet thanks to her music, her graceful aesthetics and way of being. Determined to become a fav among the gay public, Kim combines all the characteristics that this audience adores: starting with her pop sound from the diva of 2000 era, going through the attitude of a coquettish and spoiled blonde, to which she is joined by an urban-sweet-boyish (and slightly anime) style in pastel colors and board skirts. In short, salvation (or reincarnation, depending on how you look at it, has always remained alive in the memory and admiration of many) of this subgenre of pop. Kim personifies the meme 'I'm gonna give the gays everything they want' (you know what I mean, right?). Being more than intelligent, Kim introduces herself to the world by releasing single after single since 2017 dedicating herself to a genre that is loved by many, but nothing exploited. With ''I Don’t want it at all'', she presented herself with force to the world: a young aspiring co-star The Simple Life, eager to hunt the coveted sugar daddy, sang a kind of ode to ''whimsy'', luxury consumerism and signatures and brands. With an ending that culminated with the appearance of Paris Hilton, Kim rose in a short time as a Scream Queen more, and was followed by thousands of fans who admired her nerve and flirt. It was with ''Heart to break'' when the German showed that not only had celebrity wood, but also as a singer and songwriter, offering one of the best songs of 2018, and the best of her career so far. From these, a string of singles were laced every so often. With these songs, Kim showed pop mastery, a sweet voice at the same time flexible and themes that mixed anxiety, problems, joy and desire (is not the world teen a drama? Well that), establishing herself as a quality artist. After a brilliant and cartoony EP, Turn Off the Light, Vol. 1, dedicated to the American Halloween, Kim presents her first album: Clarity.

There is a popular saying that life is in phases and men are in sizes. Cher must have definitely seen all the phases that were in existence before she released the album. The pop diva has always had a love for trying new things no matter how bad they sounded. "Not.com.mercial" was one of the musical experiments by the artist. Although it was written, recorded and rejected by her record label in 1994, the songstress still kept the album for six years and in the year 2000 she finally released the album on the Internet only. The album portrayed a very different and probably unheard version of Cher, little wonder it meant a lot to her as she was bent on releasing it even after its rejection six years earlier, although she ended up releasing it only on the Internet. She didn’t want it to seem as though she was forcing anyone to listen to her track. The album was filled with really personal stories of the musician’s life plus she probably felt insulted by the fact that the label rejected the album when she recorded it initially. She claimed that she had no expectations but in truth she expected the album to fail hence, the name and she also hoped that the album succeeded. On her twenty-second album "Believe", the artist used auto tunes on her tracks and to be honest the adjustment was a bit much. It completely changed the voice of the pop diva. Although the label wanted to take out the auto tunes, she insisted that it was released without any alteration. The label eventually agreed with her and after its release, the sound the label criticized was celebrated worldwide. My point is it was the success that followed after her rebellion that persuaded her to rebel a second time. Sadly, her second rebelled album did not have as much success as her first. According to stats, the album was not a success but I really admire the guts of the star and the fact that this album meant so much to her was the reason I searched it out in the first place.

J. Cole returns after a 2-year break since his 2014 Forest Hill Drive album with another and his second Solo, feature-less album. This time, he kept the track list to just 10 songs and touched topics ranging from racial discrimination, mass incarceration, love, fatherhood, depression, and Gang Violence that is common in the African American Community. A Dreamville source, according to genius confirmed that the storyline in the entire album was a true story and that James (not his real name), the name of the character in the album was a real person and that he changed in the name for the sake of privacy. J. Cole’s storytelling was also evident in this album and it was at its best in this album, as he told a story all the way from the situations surrounding the community and circumstances James was raised in, to selling crack, all the way to him falling in love to him becoming a father, then passing away. It turns out that the entire 4 Your Eyez Only was a memoir for his young daughter to remember him by. The drama before the release of the album was something else; J. Cole had earlier hinted at retirements on two occasions. The first being on DJ Khalid’s Major Key, released in July of 2016, he featured on a track titled “Jermaine’s Interlude”, he hinted at retirement with the lines “Niggas murkin' each other in murky water, Ias try and swim. How the fuck do I look when I brag to you 'bout some diamond? Said all that I could say now I play with thoughts of retirement”. The second time was at an October concert in 2016 where he announced that that particular performance would be his last for a while. That was discombobulating for a lot of fans as regards the status of his career, only for him release a pre-order on iTunes on December 9th, 2016. Like the 2014 Forest Hill Drive, the album didn’t enjoy any marketing; listening party, social media hype, interviews and the whole nine yards. The album had its first single, “Déjà vu”, released Thirty-one days after the release the album; yet, the album sold three hundred and sixty three thousand (363,000) copies on the first week, making it his fourth consecutive number-one album in the United States. As usual, J. Cole didn’t get a Grammy nomination, but got nominations from Billboard and BET. By January 2017, the album was certified Gold, and was certified Platinum by April. 4 Your Eyez Only remains the most controversial album of J. Cole so far and he didn’t bother to address any of the controversy and let people contemplate until it died out.

Maren Morris is redesigning the future of Country music by releasing an album that follows her own rules and no one else’s. Maren’s sophomore album GIRL was a highly anticipated release in Country Music. After Maren’s previous debut album HERO which sky rocketed her career, fans were eager to see where the star would take her career next. HERO earned Maren a Grammy, CMA, and many other notable career milestones. Since HERO, Maren ventured out of Country Music with her career blazing collaboration with ZEDD “The Middle”. Following recognition for that Billboard Hit she toured and collaborated with former One Direction member Niall Horan. All eyes were on Maren to see what direction she would take this album. Maren did not disappoint. Known for always being true to herself she delivered an album that was full of her own mix of Country and Pop. Every song brings along new meaning to the listener and is one everyone can easily relate to. Taking her recent life experiences such as being a newly wed, rising in stardom etc. Maren brings us along for all of it in this new album. This album has the potential to not only earn Maren more recognition in the Country Music scene but also in the Pop scene. Whatever Maren’s next move is in the music industry she has definitely proved herself with GIRL once again showing the world she is a force to be reckoned with.

There's a saying that goes "To whom much is given, much is expected". That saying is golden and true in most cases. But it becomes scary and terrifying when there's a lot of pressure to deliver, a lot of pressure to do better than you did the last time. At that point, you may be left with no choice than to think outside the box, to do the extraordinary. And when you succeed in doing that, then it will have been worth the whole effort. When Ngerian Banku Music singer, Mr Eazi, first came into limelight, he came with a kind of music with a different kind of vibe. While the majority of Africa was vibing to music made majorly with fast-paced or up-tempo beats, Mr Eazi was busy perfecting the Banku music style which is mostly characterized by mid-tempo beats and some form of Ghanaian synths. Before long, that pattern of music began to gain momentum among African millenials, and right now it has become a well established sound in Africa. Mr Eazi used that sound to create his first album "Life is Eazi, Vol. 1 - Accra To Lagos" mixtape, but after that it was as if that sound was waning. That sound which everyone has now accepted and are now vibing to, and which Mr Eazi is championing was finally beginning to wane and lose momentum. What would Mr Eazi do now? Heck! He was just starting his music career and couldn't afford to go down with his signature sound. He had to think outside the box and do the extraordinary. What would that be? Damn! It would be to take that sound to a new clime and repeat the process. And so Mr Eazi took his sound to London and named that body of work "Life is Eazi, Vol. 2 - Lagos To London" mixtape. How brilliant! So on Friday, 9th November, 2018, he gave all music lovers a gift by way of a new body of work. It was the release of his sophomore album. That mixtape boasts of features from Simi, Burna Boy, 2Baba, Diplo, Lady Donli, Distruction Boyz, Maleek Berry, Giggs, among others and it comes after his "Life is Eazi, Vol. 1 - Accra To Lagos" mixtape, released in February, 2017.

No matter how many changes and experiments the artist does on her music, she always returned to her first love “rock” and this album is one of such albums. "Cher" was the second self-titled album by the artist. The name of the first album was changed to Gypsies, tramps and thieves as a means of ensuring that it was successful commercially. After experimenting with a long series of disco and pop tracks, she finally produced a rock themed album and It was as though her fans and quite a number of radio stations had been anticipating her return. The album caused the artist to top the charts once more. As usual, the tracks on the album’s playlist were written by multiple artists. Whenever I think about the fact that the songs were not actually written by the songstress but yet she always made a perfect delivery it always blows my mind away. The playlist included a brand-new version of her song “Bang bang (My baby shot me down)” which made it clear that the artist was obviously not content with the makeup of the earlier version. It is a good thing the artist had producers work with her all through her career because of the things she accepted musically ended not performing well in the musical world. Despite the friendly reception the song enjoyed from her fans and radio stations, the song ended up not doing too well commercially. According to statistics, the album did not get to the top three of any chart but its tracks were just hanging in the balance between #11 and #47.

I love Michael Jackson because he is a legend. A freakin’ legend! But even legends should not get automatic passes for everything that they put out. All legends are susceptible to creative misses, or sometimes even being out of touch with the ‘times.’ To the best of my knowledge, Michael Jackson’s 2001 album Invincible was his last album that had all-original music. Of course, a more recent album like 2014’s XSCAPE does have re-done recordings (that were basically old unproduced songs that were remixed for the production), but he wasn’t alive when this was released, so it is a little bit of a different situation. With Invincible, the album is not unlistenable, yet suffers from not offering much more than it’s few singles, such as “You Rock My World”, “Cry”, and “Butterflies.” Yes, these singles, especially “You Rock My World” and “Butterflies”, are actually classics today. Whenever these songs come on, I can’t help but start rocking my shoulders, or when I am really feeling it, doing my best Michael Jackson impersonation. But many of the other songs I feel just either sound too similar to one another, or severely lack that ‘hit’ factor. Such a shame, because look at the timing: this album came out in 2001. Meaning, in the 10 years between this album and MJ’s death, he didn’t add anything that I know of to his catalogue. Yes – it is sort of frustrating. But thank god for his ‘eternal’ catalogue – always there for fans like me.

Already as a little girl I admired the series, in which she appeared on a well-known television program, popular mainly among children and teenagers - Nickelodeon. Even then, I had the opportunity to admire Ariana Grande (initially) acting, for example in the well-known series "Victorious". As her huge fan I started following her also as I grew up and it lasts until now. I was in love with her every album. I love the music she creates and the message that often moves me. Following her journey for such a long time, I can express my opinion about what she creates. She has gone a huge way to become who she is now. I must admit that I look at her with admiration every day because of how much she has achieved over the years. Her latest album thank u, next, I consider to be one of the best, if not the best. The album contains great pop songs that are catchy. This is typical contemporary music that most people like listening to. Surely, the greatest hits were "thank u, next" (like the name of the album), "7 rings", "breathin" and "break up with your girlfriend, i'm bored.” They definitely made the biggest sensation. To this list I could also easily add the song "bloodline", which is also incredibly catchy and fantastic “fake smile" or "ghostin" are (in my point of view) songs with a larger message. There is, of course, also a list of songs that are of great importance to the artist, such as the already previously mentioned song "ghostin.” I must say that I am very happy that I have had such a great journey with her that I continue to lead. I am also very excited because for the first time in many years I have the pleasure to go on tour (“Sweetener World Tour"), which I am waiting for impatiently. I know that I will experience amazing moments there and I will be able to feel all those amazing emotions flowing straight from my heart for a moment. It must be an amazing feeling to have an opportunity to see your idol, who until now could only be seen on television or in social media.

Sia Kate Isobelle Furler was born on 18 December 1975 in Adelaide, South Australia. Her father, Phil Colson, is a musician, and her mother, Loene Furler, is an art lecturer. Sia is the niece of actor-singer Kevin Colson. She said that as a child she imitated the performing style of Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder and Sting, whom she cites as early influences. She attended Adelaide High School. In the mid-1990s, Sia started a career as a singer in the local acid jazz band Crisp. She collaborated with the band and contributed vocals to their album Word and the Deal (1995) and EP Delirium (1997). In 1997 Crisp disbanded, and Sia released her debut studio album, OnlySee, on Flavoured Records, in Australia, on 23 December. The album sold about 1,200 copies. Unlike her later albums, OnlySee was marketed under her full name, Sia Furler. It was produced by Jesse Flavell. She moved to London, England, and provided lead vocals for the British duo Zero 7. In 2000, Sia released her second studio album, Healing Is Difficult, on the Columbia label the following year, and her third studio album, Colour the Small One, in 2004, but all of these struggled to connect with a mainstream audience. Sia relocated to New York City in 2005 and toured in the United States. Her fourth and fifth studio albums, Some People Have Real Problems and We Are Born, were released in 2008 and 2010, respectively. Each was certified gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association and attracted wider notice than her earlier albums. Uncomfortable with her growing fame, Sia took a hiatus from performing, during which she focused on songwriting for other artists, producing successful collaborations "Titanium" (with David Guetta), "Diamonds" (with Rihanna) and "Wild Ones" (with Flo Rida). In 2014, Sia finally broke through as a solo recording artist when her sixth studio album, 1000 Forms of Fear, debuted at No 1 in the U.S. Billboard 200 and generated the top-ten single "Chandelier" and a trilogy of music videos starring child dancer Maddie Ziegler. In an interview published by NME in February 2015, Furler revealed that the album as a contractual obligation: “Basically, I put this out to get out of my publishing deal. I was planning to be a pop song writer for other artists. But my publishing deal was as an artist, so I had to put one more album out. I didn’t want to get famous, so I kept all the songs I wanted and had fun making it.”

I don’t judge people on what they say or their opinions. I judge people based on the effect they have on others. When Eminem says anything, the world stops. He grew a beard and it made actual news – A lot of people say Eminem is the best rapper of alive. I don’t agree with those people, but they have a legitimate argument. Saying Eminem is the best rapper alive is understandable, but lazy. Rappers are weird because they don’t age like Athletes as much as they age like wrestlers. As long as the charisma is still there their character can still be believable. So with that said Eminem is like the Stone Cold Steve Austin of Rap, he was amazing at his peak but to call him the best wrestler today wouldn’t be fair to AJ Styles or Seth Rollins. If that analogy is too nerdy, Eminem is like The Simpsons of Rap, great at their peak, but calling it the best show on TV in 2019 is insane. This is why it’s so frustrating to have real conversations about Eminem because his legacy outshines his current state. Plus, I’m almost 80 percent sure Eminem fans aren’t rap fans because the things they love about him today aren’t what make rap good. “Oh he rhymes words really fast” “ok but what was the song about” “DID YOU SEE HOW MANY WORDS HE RHYMED” “but I don’t know what he’s talking abo-“ “HE CAN RHYME ANYTHING, HE RHYMED THE WORD ORANGE, HE’S KEEPING HIPHOP AL-” you get the picture. It’s tiring. So with that said let’s get into the surprise album Kamikaze

‘Rap’ a genre so powerful yet so underutilized. A good rap can give you goosebumps, it has that quality of being revolutionary and a bad rap can take your faith away from this whole style. We have always admired rapper from the other side of the globe be it Eminem, NAS, Tupac or countless others who spoke their reality through their rhymes. Of course it was before rap became all about big booties, hot chicks, drugs and sex. Gully boy revived my faith in rap scene in South Asia. It basically showed me why people rap, from where it comes to how it explodes when performed in the right way. Gully Boy is inspired from the life of youngsters living in Mumbai slums and how their difficulties and hardships makes for great rap verses.

The Weeknd is like the Harriet Tubman of OVO. After helping create a new sound and my favorite Drake album “Take Care”, he realized that he was worth more than a potential owl tattoo and a pat on the back from Drake. Through his own cunning and sheer determination, he escaped the OVO sweatshop with the overseer known as Drake and lived to tell the tale. He tried to take PartyNextDoor and DVSN with him, but they didn’t know they were slaves to OVO. He ran off on Drake and built a career all his own with nothing besides cocaine and heartbreak. You can tell that I Love Makonnen thought he would make the same moves but unfortunately, he watched his biggest single become another one of Drake’s. The Weeknd climbed out of the prison like Bruce Wayne in Rises and immediately got to work. Abel is one of the few artists who can announce music and completely shift everyone's mood. He’s like a summer thunderstorm when you’re at Six Flags, all you can do is stop and wait for him to pass before you walk through a much damper world. The Weeknd really is just like a storm except instead of Thunder strikes you hear strange yodeling. The minute you start press play on a Weeknd song things just get Dark and stay there; he's like the Winter Solstice. He’s comparable to the Night King from Game Of Thrones if instead of killing the living to create skeleton monsters, he just made you want to do drugs and have unprotected sex with strangers who take their Instagram photos exclusively with the X-Pro II filter. It goes without saying that people LOVE The Weeknd the way they love their antidepressants. I never got into him because I was well adjusted and was going through a legendary dry spell, so I had no chance to have depressing sex. However, I’ve since caught up and lived a semi sad couple of years, so when I saw that he had a tape literally called “My Dear Melancholy” coming out, I was ready to prepare myself for the pain. I put on a faded black hoodie on over a slightly less faded black tee and a new dad hat (the saddest outfit) and pressed play.

If you ever wonder where the term bro-country came from, all you have to do is check out Florida Georgia Line (FGL). Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard introduced us to this style of mainstream modern country that is filled with elements of rock, hip hop and country all smashed together to create catchy tunes that climb the charts. They’ve collaborated with Luke Bryan, Ziggy Marley, Bebe Rexha, and Nelly just to name a few. Bro-country is fun music. It’s ideal for driving down back roads, hanging at the lake and bonfires with your buddies. Dig Your Roots is the third FGL studio album and in my opinion, it’s one of the best. I am a fan and have loved listening to the guys for several years, but this album just blew me away.

Gucci Mane is like the Brock Lesnar of rap. Brock Lesnar used to legitimately beat the shit out of people in the UFC, however now he's settled into fak-I mean "predetermined" fights in the WWE. No matter how “predetermined” these fights are, Brock still looks intimidating and is very terrifying. There was a point where Gucci Mane was legitimately trapping and rapping at the same time. He was rapping about selling drugs and getting away with murder as he was legitimately selling drugs and murdering people. His career was PROLIFIC as everyone knew he was really about that life. However, as he got older he decided to leave the gangsta shit behind. Actually, it was less of a decision and more of a mandated Prison sentence, but I digress. Gucci Mane, like Brock Lesnar, isn't living the life he's portraying, but he is still scary because it is clear that he could go back to that life at any given time. I can go on and on about Post Prison Gucci, but this is about the music and not about the man. So let’s talk” El Gato The Human Glacier”.

For anyone who’s main interest in life is music (everyone hanging out here at Vibbidi, I suppose) I recommend giving ex-Black Flag singer Henry Rollins’ three books “Before the chop” a read. The books compile his chronicles in L.A. Weekly and many of them are centered around his constant search for new music and new artists in every genre possible. The man is an absolute maniac as far as that goes. You can expect him to recommend just about anything, from classic albums (the first Suicide album is an absolute must-have in every record collection) to unknown bands from every corner of the world (Chicos De Nazca from Chile has become a favorite band of mine – thanks, Henry!). One quote from the first book that has been stuck in my mind ever since I first read it was “Music is humanity’s finest hour”. I’m sure you can all agree. And I’m also sure that Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Pat Smear, Chris Shiflett and Nate Mendel – Foo Fighters – agree. Otherwise, “Sonic highways” would probably not exist. Because it is nothing short of an amazing love letter to the wonder that is music.

Continuing on in this saga of Lil Uzi Vert’s Luv is Rage series is the sequel to his 2016 mixtape Luv is Rage, Luv is Rage 2. Fans and critics alike anticipated this moment, in what felt like a century but really only a year of idling, and they were gifted with his debut studio album. During this sizzling period of Lil Uzi gaining followers like a social media savant, a hive of sorts formed for the Philly rapper. He made his rounds onto festival stages, every radio station, graced TV screens, and developed a lovable internet persona that ultimately paid off for his music’s likeability. The charismatic, spit-fire of a rapper played upon fans’ patience, having the album be delayed for months on end, when eventually he released an unofficial EP Luv is Rage 1.5 before the album was set to release later that year in 2017, including 4 tracks that teased fans more so than anything. Fast forward to summer’s end, Luv is Rage 2 was finally out. And we loved it.

If at this point in time you haven’t heard of Young Thug, then I don’t know what to tell you. If by chance you have the time and patience to get caught up on the whole package, this is a great start. Back in 2016, Young Thug caught fans by surprise announcing that he shall from now on be referred to as Jeffrey, his government name, and teased the world with his forthcoming mixtape JEFFREY. It was originally slated to be billed as No, My Name is Jeffrey, but the alien himself decided on being concise. Getting to the point has always been Thug’s m.o. On the cover, he’s positioned in a modeling pose, brandishing a feminine dress by designer Alessandro Trincone. Wait, what? Yeah, you read that right. A dress. Thug has carved out his own lane in the oversaturated Hip-Hop market, by simply being himself. The term ‘alien’ has been used numerous times when discussing Young Thug’s music, because it sounds like nothing else. He even goes as far as naming nearly all the tracks on the mixtape after an artist or celebrity. In this piece, I imagine what a hangout sesh would look like between the alien and some of the artists that uses as track titles.

One of the most favorite singers especially of the youth, Jahseh Dwayne Ricardo Onfroy being the real name of the musical sensation XXXtentacion, was born in Florida. The artist had started his journey in the music industry through Soundcloud which is a platform for all the people interested in spreading their love for music. Having a great and huge number of fanbase, the artist was able to rise above all the bounds in his past life and touched the hearts of millions of youth. One of the most unfortunate and sad part about the artist was his death when he was shot by a group of four people in a robbery which left his fans disheartened and in shock. The twenty years old artist had left the world, but his songs always lingered all around making his musical journey successful even after his death. Making his debut in the huge English musical industry was the song “LOOK AT ME” which was at first regarded popular in an average rate but secured a great appreciation later when this song was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. SKINS, the album released in the year 2018, was the third studio album by the artist. The rapper and the songwriter’s last album before death, SKINS has received a large popularity and love. The most popular track of the album was “BAD” which was his fifth posthumous single and his third posthumous single to go to platinum. The album’s first release was in the artist’s Instagram profile where he sang first line of the song. The music video became extremely popular with time when it reached over more than 30 million views. The late artist had taken out many anime- styled video clips along with the song and it got many votes and much love from the fans all over the world. The album was made in collaboration with American rapper Kanye West who later also released some snippets from X’s album that had also made many more fans. Taking from the song videos to just the tunes and the lyrics, the album was at the top of the US Billboard 200. It was unfortunate and ill-fated that after 3 months from the release of the album, the artist was shot dead.

I took Take The Crown as an example only because it seems to me that it is what most eloquently describes the career of an artist that baffles me. A record that is not from here, nor from there, that pretends to be everywhere and in none at the same time. In the beginning, as many in the UK and much of Europe know, Robbie Williams belonged to the most famous Boy Band of the time in the British Isles, Take That, and because of the outstanding attention that fans of the band put about Robbie, the idea inside his mind about leaving the band and starting a solo career began to germinate. You know, the artists' ego is huge as the Universe itself and the temptation to shine with their own light and not share credits or reflectors with the rest of the band members is very big. It is not the first, nor will it be the last. Throughout the history of the twentieth century and so far in the twenty-first we can make a long list of artists who have abandoned the original band members or, even, have caused enough problems within their groups to cause the break and thus get the goal of starting a solo career. The way in which Robbie behaved when recording his videos and in the live presentations attracted a lot of attention. Perhaps his unusual facial features and the energy he put into everything he did with the rest of the band, made him stand out from the others and that should also have captivated the executives of the record labels. The conditions to start a solo adventure were given after several very successful albums with Take That and, what had to happen, happened. Robbie Williams announced his departure from the band and one of his main goals was to go to the conquest of the great music consumer market: The United States. The artist moved to Los Angeles to be concentrated one hundred percent and have all possible contact with the industry and the public. At the time of announcing his retirement and releasing his first solo album, he had a great response in Europe (where he was already an idol) however, I believe that the American continent did not have so much enthusiasm. The signs, from the point of view of the business, were clear: we should be very careful in the next attempt and, if things in the United States were not given as intended, we should return to take care of the market that was already held captive and not cause a cooling of it, because the risk of going into oblivion very soon in a market that was not receiving attention, was very large. I think the obsession with the American market was what led to Robbie Williams' ship drifting, however many attempts he made, things never got better on this side of the Pacific Ocean.

I’ve had the album on repeat all day. Before the album was released I always wondered the inspiration behind ‘Omo Charlie Champagne’ Now I know and I am absolutely blown away. The album was released to commemorate her late father Engineer Charles Oladele Ogunleye who passed away in 2014. Charlie is a popular nickname for people named Charles hence Omo Charlie Champagne (Daughter of Charlie Champagne). May his Soul Rest In Peace. Simi blessed her fans with a new album “Omo Charlie Champagne Vol. 1” the day which also marks her 31st birthday. This new album, “Omo Charlie Champagne Vol. 1” is Simi’s third studio project after “Ogaju” in 2008 and “Simisola” in 2017. Not every artist drops an album on his or her birthday, it takes careful planning to bring about a thing like that. On Friday, April 19, 2019, talented singer Simi dropped her third studio album Omo Charlie Champagne. The album name had a ring to it and I was immediately fascinated by it. Simi is easily one of the most gifted voices we have in the Nigerian music industry. She has two studio albums Ogaju and Simisola to her credit. Before the album dropped, she had released three different singles including Ayo, Mind Your Bizness featuring Falz. The album contains 13 tracks, spanning across different genres like contemporary R&B, Ballad, Afro-fusion, Afropop, Dancehall. Simi shows her vocal dexterity on this album. She proves that her sound is constantly evolving while one thing remains: making quality music is her forte.

KOD, which can pass as Kids On Drug/Kill Our Demons/King OverDosed, is J. Cole’s fifth album and the third our in a row to be without a feature, with 2014 Forest Hill Drive and For Your Eyez Only being the first two in the no feature album series. Like the ones before him, the album didn’t enjoy proper marketing before it’s release. He just had two listening parties for this one which was on a first come first serve basis at the venue; no vip or special treatments, just show up, if there’s still an unoccupied seat, you get it. What a guy! KOD focused on the main problem of the society, young and old one kind of problem, Drugs. He preaches the evil drugs alone cause, dreams destroy by drugs, lives cut short because of drugs, the celebration of drug use and actually use of drugs in the music video by new Generation rappers or Trappers or Mumble rappers, as they prefer to be called. He addresses their loss of focus and direction as the drug usage keeps pushing them to make avoidable mistakes and reckless decisions. He addresses personal issues that hit home with his mom’s addiction also. The only feature on the album was his alter ego kiLL edward, a low pitched version of himself, which is believe to be his stepfather’s name and the fact that he thinks of killing his expresses how he feels about the abuse he, his younger brother and his mother suffered from him, which was a major factor that led to his mother’s addiction to alcohol. He also addressed greed in “ATM”, showcasing the extent folks will go just to make a dollar; losing dignity and integrity just to keep up appearances. It also addressed taxation by the Government and how much its weigh people that it could be a factor behind the addiction and he didn’t forget to touch depression. The album still had the Timbaland bass line, but this time J. Cole incorporated a Jazz feel into his sound and he has really grown into a wonderful producer over the years as the sound was a lot smoother and clearer than other song, and the use of bass guitar in a few of the songs shouldn’t be overlooked as well, probably it’s a new style he’s trying to cultivate for himself to make his own. The album was released on 4/20, which is a code associated with marijuana and that in itself is a statement. The album clocked 397,000 copies in the first week, making it his fifth album to clock number one, and it also went on to be certified Platinum in December 2018.

Jason Mraz is an amazing singer, in the popular media, there’ve been countless instances of underdogs facing insurmountable odds to change public opinion of a certain genre, from Trap instrumentation invading all manner of music to become the hottest sound in the industry to once-sidelined pre-teen musicians suddenly ruling the market with an iron fist in the internet age, proving you’re never too young to leave your mark on this world in a big way, but perhaps the most astonishing curveball was how quickly Country music erased its stereotypical redneck image in the early-teens to become one of the most profitable & critically-acclaimed genres of the modern era. For what must’ve been decades, Country existed as this niche genre you only listened to if you were born on a farm or lived in the red-belt of America, every Tom, Dick & Nancy who claimed to be an open-minded audiophile confidently stating ‘I listen to every genre of music…well, except Country, of course’ as if that somehow gained them entry to the cool-kids club; I mean, I can distinctly remember driving with friends on exceptionally long car rides through the more rural parts of California where acceptable radio stations were few & far-between, said companions willingly deciding to listen to the Regional Mexican radio channels if their only other choices were Country or static, illustrating how vehemently people in the noughties kept their distance from the genre for fear of looking like an inbred simpleton who supported the Republican party. All of this changed: KNOW is the sixth studio Album. The album was released on August 10,2018 by Atlantic Records. The albums lead single “Have it all” was released on April 27,2018, accompanied by a video filmed with performing art students from his hometown of Richmond

Reputation was released on November 10, 2017, and is the sixth studio album by Taylor Swift. The album mostly received positive reviews and was the second best-selling album of 2017 worldwide, and the US best-selling album of 2017. Reputation lead single “Look What You Made Me Do” was released on September 2 and it broke a string of records, including the record for the most plays in a single day on Spotify and more. Some of the other song this album include are “Ready For It”, “Gorgeous”, and “Call It What You Want” which also received many positive reviews from the critics – The album contains parts of the Pop, electropops, ynth-pop. Much the same as the album's title suggests a considerable lot of its lyrical themes, for example, dealing with fame and media coverage of celebrities. Greg Kot, from Chicago Tribune, described the album as "another shift, this time into electronic pop". Taylor Swift said several of the reputation songs were inspired by the epic fantasy TV series ‘Game of Thrones’. Entertainment wrote "she says, 'At the time, I was making reputation and I didn’t talk about it in interviews, so I didn’t reveal that a lot of the songs were influenced by the show.'”. Taylor Swift also added that the album ended up transforming into a split album, one end being the weaponized songs about revenge, and the other about hoping to discover love “something sacred throughout all the battle cries”. “These songs were half based on what I was going through, but seeing them through a Game of Thrones filter,” Swift says – The cover art also portrays these themes, which showcases Swift over a background of a tabloid publication. The title of the album is also derived from some of the song’s lyrics like from the “End Game” lyrics 'Big reputation, big reputation, ooh, you and me we got big reputations, Big reputation, big reputation, Ooh you and me would be a big conversation', and from the “Delicate” lyrics 'My reputation's never been worse'.

Sharon Van Etten is always recognized by the tremendous usage of ‘harmonious’. Public review of Sharon tells us that her songs remind people the esthetic romance of folk era. Her poetry does not contain so many sophisticated words. The words that are used in his songs are so plain and simple. You can say her poetry is very heartfelt even for a common person who do not know much about the manipulation of words in literature. The most beautiful thing is her magnified voice that contains a blend of sorrow, rasp, love and hope. Her melodious throat is enough to bring listeners to their soulful and purest thoughts. Her Album “I Don’t Want to Let You Down’’ is composed of the collection of songs that demands high level of peaceful and pure atmosphere to listen. I love the way she exhibits the real essence of striving for self-recognition and soulfulness.

Life seemed more difficult after the Flower boy era for Tyler, The Creator. A native of Los Angeles, this versatile artist has been put on the very high bar and he has to work hard and try to overcome this project. But there seems to be nothing impossible for this striking genius of music. At 28, the evolution that this artist has offered in his musical career seems to be taken from a book that mix the genre of science fiction with a typical story of self-improvement. He introduced himself to the world with his band Odd Future, where he presented himself as a sinister warrior, it was a long time ago and not many people remember these times. It was with his album Goblin, already solitary at the beginning of this decade, when the attention of the whole world was made and he presents himself as a young and violent visionary. After this album they followed Wolf (2013) and Cherry Bomb (2015), where the bases are dense and the aggressive darkness reigned. But Tyler was going to sprout little by little, and evolved in each album, improving in terms of sounds and musical styles without abandoning his essence and path. The culmination of his flowering was, right, with Flower boy (nice metaphor), a fair and sincere work. This album went a step further, a medal in excellence for himself. He offered original production tricks, new sounds, letters and rhymes on projections and the demonstration that this young man was capable of doing magic by reinventing himself. And not only that, we can see a clear personal evolution into tolerance: a measure he launched his projects, he opened his mind, both musical and socially speaking, moving from homophobia to play with sexual fluency in Flower boy. Tyler turned from a boy to a man (yes ..., weird, falsely infantile and original man) with this album, which is presented as the best of his career and very difficult to beat. Well, The Creator has put all the meat in the spit to create IGOR, an album care for detail that raises to unsuspected levels all the good and remarkable of his previous work. No, I'm not exaggerating, I promise. Tyler has overcome even more if possible and presents a project inspired by a love break up and the sentimental process experienced by our protagonist. Pain gives us strength, that is understandable, but, how does such an enigmatic being perceives pain? This is what is presented to us in IGOR, a project as crazy as full of nuances, where the singer is multidisciplinary, delving into new styles that merge with each other and showing more personal than ever. Continuing with his more experimental phase, Tyler will continue rapping but will dare to sing his first notes in this project dyed pastel pink.

What are the most suitable ideas to breath new life into your music career and to make sure you are building a foundation for long term music industry success. Know your Goals, Find your team and Get yourself together – Bebe Rexha is an American singer and songwriter. After signing with Warner Bros. Records in 2013, Rexha received songwriting credits on Eminem and Rihanna's single "The Monster" (which later received the Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Performance) and has also contributed songwriting to songs recorded by Shinee, Selena Gomez and Nick Jonas. Rexha released her debut extended play in 2015, I Don't Wanna Grow Up, which saw the moderate commercial success of the single "I'm Gonna Show You Crazy" – The way she creates the music is adorable. She Express the actual feelings that other people hide due to their image expression.But she know that real life is more interesting than the reel life and she work on it and get the biggest distinctions.Rexha released two additional extended plays in 2017, All Your Fault: Pt. 1 and All Your Fault: Pt. 2, which again saw the moderate success of the singles "I Got You" and "The Way I Are (Dance With Somebody)" – Rexha has also seen success with several collaborations including "Me, Myself & I" with G-Eazy, "In the Name of Love" with Martin Garrix, and "Meant to Be" with Florida Georgia Line, the latter of which seeing large success as a country crossover single, peaking at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States – Rexha know that how to catch the attraction of audience and how public ll love her music and she did that and always prove herself with her words and performance.She gave us a real image of reel love life and real love misconceptions.Rexha's debut studio album Expectations (2018) reached number 13 on the Billboard 200 chart in the United States and saw the success of its lead single "I'm A Mess", and brought Rexha two nominations for Best New Artist and Best Country Duo/Group Performance at the 61st Grammy Awards.She Express the real feelings of love and the real feel of relationships and people love to see the reality and words and she got her reward.

"The mystery is a metaphor for who I am, or who was at the time of creating the project ... I feel like oftentimes we do not like to be open as people about our emotions or things that we are going through.'’ These are some words that our well-known H.E.R. said for an article in Blavity. Always wrapped in a mysterious halo, the no longer so anonymous artist and composer used her EPs to show us little by little her world, which was shown encrypted. It seemed that, like many young people, the singer had raised a series of defensive walls to protect her intimacy. And many of us know that those walls, once built, are difficult to tear down. As she showed her many abilities, she also opened her heart to us, in a kind of emotional joke. With I used to know her: The prelude, we met a straightforward H.E.R. , that dared to experiment with light electronic rhythms that merged with the neosoul of yesteryears. The singer, who presented herself as a modern Lauryn Hill, gracefully slipped her voice between rap and soul while echoing the social injustices that she and the women lived. With Part 2, the continuation of I used to know her, the singer returns to her origins in an improved way, seeking the correct natural evolution of her sounds, while combining her essence with real instruments, creating more personal and moving sounds, which fit perfectly in her style. Wilson continues with the game of giving us small gifts and surprises about her facet as an artist and person, this time, focusing more on herself, offering a more melancholic and introspective project, giving an idea of ​​the artist's mind. The puzzle is almost complete, we already know who the physical person of H.E.R. is, but we don’t know 100% who she is, who thinks, who feels. With Part 2, the singer helps us to put the last pieces of her own puzzle. The message is clear: she is increasingly prepared to rebel against everything.

While he was working on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Kanye West took to Twitter to reveal that he and JAY-Z were going to release a five track EP called Watch The Throne. Songs like “So Appalled”, “Monster” and the remix to “Power” came out shortly thereafter with both of them on which led fans to believe they were from the forthcoming project, but instead the first two appeared on West’s solo album while the third remains a loosie. A couple of months after the original announcement, he revealed in an interview with Sway at MTV that the pair had decided to extend it to a full length album and were going to be recording it in the South of France. This was something that fans had been asking for for years now and it was finally coming to fruition. In the same interview with Sway, Ye said “we’ll probably be done with the album in a day”. He’s got a mind different to any other human so it’s possible that he believed this when he said it but it was of course, not the case. The album wouldn’t be released until August of 2011 for a multitude of reasons.

With Unapologetic Rihanna really put a good, well-crafted album together from up-pace to down-pace and I feel with this album she really proved herself as an Artist that is here to push things to new levels, although with albums before like A Girl Like Me, Good Girl Gone Bad, and Loud, I’m not signifying they didn’t feel thoroughly developed either way by. The amazing Unapologetic Queen, I seriously just loved this album as I was invited by her team to Jay-Z's 40/40 Club for the Album Party in New York City. I was still a newbie in NYC so it was such a huge experience and I just remember hugging her by the end of the night after her security guards had hemmed me up to a corner so she could walk pass as everyone that was at the club had mostly left by that time and it was just a few of us still chilling at the bar. I said to Rihanna "I Love you Baby," all super sensual and if I was white my face would've probably been bloodshot red. Rihanna shrugged her head back in such a familiar way if you'd seen it, kind of "yea right" looking or "ha, look at you" but still flirty and yes for me it felt a little romantic, I couldn't stop thinking about her for days. The first thing that I loved about this era was that there was a symbolic 7 that was marked all around it making it such a significant number at the time that it truly always keep my mind wondering and churning. Rihanna won a Grammy for ‘Best Urban Contemporary Album’ for this album in 2014 and it was her first mega successful album to do something like having a best-selling debut week and a number one album. Rihanna definitely enlisted a powerhouse of producers for this project including Labrinth, David Guetta, The Dream, Mike Will Made-It, Parker Ighile, and StarGate. One thing that also really inspired me about this album was the 777 Tour that Rihanna embarked on where she took 150 journalists to promote her seventh studio album by giving their personal experiences of what it was like to travel with the mega star we know as Rihanna and also giving their experiences on the challenges that they witnessed going on behind the scenes first hand. Like the continuation of flights, and having to carry around all that luggage everywhere, the journalists even gave what they thought about her shows she did on her tour stops and how she performed in them. Rihanna pulled through in the documentary that aired and gave a window inside the experience, as you could see how the tour stops wore everyone’s energy out and they didn’t have ideal things like beds to sleep in but definitely had plenty of liquor and Rihanna would be the one having to go on stage and still sing and perform entertaining everyone. I don’t think she would drink until after the performances but all in all it really gave an additional spirit to the album Unapologetic.

It’s a pity Kylie Minogue publicly said in an interview that she will never do a similarly styled Impossible Princess album again. It would’ve been perfect, at this point in her career, to make one, because most of her younger fans would not be familiar with the work she did in this album. This was released way back in 1997 – and even I, who was already musically active at that time, didn’t quite notice the album, mainly because it wasn’t pushed hard enough by her record company here in the Philippines. Though the songs in the album are not the usual Kylie Minogue songs that one is accustomed to listening to, especially that her output these past two decades have largely been dance-inspired albums, another one of this type of this album late in her career, would definitely get her fans talking – and hopefully see her from another perspective. Yes, her Golden album was in itself a very personal album, it wasn’t as adventurous as this one. For this album, it was like Kylie Minogue said to her production team – “Fuck it, let’s do something different, something I’ve never done before, vocally, something that I don’t usually do, something that would make my fans do a double take – when they hear the songs from this album on the radio”. Incidentally, Kylie Minogue, had songwriting credits in almost all the songs in this album, produced some of the tracks and worked with different producers whose previous work verged more on rock, trip hop and electronic music – and the results are quite evident in the songs from this album. Yes, the dance influence is still there – I don’t think you can totally eradicate that from any Kylie Minogue album – but the tracks have veered away from it – and it is one of those rare instances that you can hear her in a rock-inspired ditty.

Julia Michaels’ Inner Monologue Part 2 is an “I” record. There are records about other people, there are records about the state of the world, and there are records about the person writing the record. Julia Michaels has never been the type of writer that writes about anything but herself and her own emotions. This isn’t a hit on her – that’s a totally valid kind of songwriting. But this isn’t just a record about herself; this is a self-reflective record, a record in which she acknowledges her faults and accepts that she’s not perfect – what I like to call an “I” record. These kind of records are by definition self-obsessed, but the self-awareness of these kind of records make them incredibly helpful to other people. Julia Michaels writes about herself, but in that, she’s writing about everyone who is like her. We’re all human, we all feel similar kinds of emotions. Inner Monologue Part Two is Michaels’ internal conversations and feelings, but it’s also all of ours.