Los Angeles-based producer and songwriter Jim-E Stack is no stranger to collaboration. His second solo LP, EPHEMERA , released at the end of 2020, featured a running list of Stack's regulars—Charli XCX, Bon Iver, and Empress Of, among them. Indeed, since the 2014 release of his first LP, Tell Me I Belong , Stack has made a name for himself as a zelig-like musical virtuoso, racking up credits on tracks as diverse as Haim's electro-folksy "Want You Back" and Diplo's downtempo R&B groove "New Shapes," featuring Octavian. All that is to say, Stack, who was born James Harmon Stack, is an artist of many talents, but one who, self-admittedly, has found a new sense of freedom with EPHEMERA . Here, he speaks with long-time collaborator and partner, the musician Kacy Hill, discussing his creative process, the revelations made during the making of EPHEMERA , and a dream he had starring Kanye West.— JOSEPH AKEL
HILL: Yeah, it’s a pajama type of day. Sorry if Mochi [Hill's cat] jumps up, she’s right behind the computer. So, what do you think makes a Jim-E Stack song different from a song you might make for someone else’s project?
STACK: What makes it different is that it probably relies a little less on the vocal than a song would for another person’s project. I think a good chunk of my album, if not most of the songs, are basically only half-vocaled. And then, other parts just show off the instrumentation a bit more — like acoustics, guitar riffs, or that kind of stuff. But more than anything else, a song that's my project, is all about realizing my vision and having it be something I want to listen to. I'm the only decider for how it should come out. It’s completely self-indulgent in that way, whereas if it’s for your album or for someone like Justin [Vernon's] stuff or Laura Lee, I’m following their lead, so this is my one opportunity to do my thing exclusively.
HILL: Totally. Do you enjoy that level of control? Because, when you're making someone else’s album, even though it’s collaborative, you’re obviously in service of someone else’s vision.
HILL: Do you feel like this is liberating to be able to call the shots and not rely on someone else’s vision?
STACK: That part of it is nice, but I honestly don’t know if it’s liberating because it puts more pressure on me. Whereas, when I'm working on someone else’s stuff and there are decisions to be made in the production and writing of which I’m unsure, I can always defer to the person whose song it is to make that decision, and I don’t have to make a big call. That’s why my album ended up being pretty short and sweet and to the point, because each song is entirely up to me. Every little thing that’s done is my decision and I can be, as you know, someone who often takes a while to settle on deciding something, one way or another.
HILL: I love this album because well, number one, I've seen you from start to finish with it and heard a lot of [the songs] in their demo state. I think it’s such a good capsule for how you’ve defined your sound over the last three or four years. It feels like there’s such a distinct Jim-E Stack sound now. This album is just the perfect sampling of that.
STACK: I'm glad you think that because I think it’s turning into a big thing for me. Looking back maybe three years ago, I felt I was lacking in my own music a sense, I guess, of freedom. Or the looseness that comes with making music with a lot of players, guitarists, keyboard players, and whatever. And that came from me being a laptop producer or musician. I had just found I was like, "Oh, my god I can’t. How do I get to that level of freedom in the music where it feels like meandering in a great way?" That’s something you obviously do super well. The song "Told Me" on your album [ Is It Selfish If We Talk About Me Again ] and obviously Justin's stuff is like that. That was something I was really craving in my own music, and I was fortunate enough to collaborate with people like Justin [Vernon], and you, and Laura Lee on this album. It let me, for the first time, really get to that place of my music really feeling free, and human, and unencumbered.
HILL: Totally. That’s probably the gift of collaboration, right? Is that you’re ideally either learning something or utilizing someone’s skills who does some things so much better than you do. Neither of us are musicians or a good player, so to work with someone who genuinely is, brings it to another level. What do you think makes a successful collaboration for you? What’s the best feeling for you to come out of the studio with someone and be like, "Wow, I got this from that"?
Star 94′s unusual dance pop mélange bearing early fruit
Usually when a radio station changes format, it also changes its name, in part to erase its past and forge a new future.
The owners of Star 94 did something different last fall: they dumped its traditional adult pop format and started over with an unusual mix of dance-oriented, upbeat pop music covering five decades. But they kept the Star name.
The new slogan: "The Rhythm of Atlanta," with heavy use of phrases like "feel good" and "throwback."
The format itself is unusual in its intermingling of artists, genres and eras, from Barry White and Lou Rawls, to Jody Watley and UB40, from Britney Spears and Ja Rule to Maroon 5 and Ava Max. There isn't anything comparable nationwide.
In any given hour, you might hear the ridiculous 1992 one-hit wonder Right Said Fred's "I'm Too Sexy," Lizzo's 2019 monster rave "Good as Hell," the Emotions' 1977 disco classic "Best of My Love," 1982 New Wave standard "Situation" by Yaz and 1995 R&B hit "Freak Like Me" by Adina Howard, which the original Star never played 26 years ago.
The cumulative listening audience hit 584,500 last month, sixth highest in metro Atlanta and the most in more than a year. It's also higher than Q (480,100) or Power (518,400), according to Nielsen ratings.
"In the month of January, we popped," said program director Jerry McKenna. "I'm expecting the sound of the station and the feel-good vibe will be conducive for the spring and summer and we'll see a lot more growth."
"I added it back to my presets since day one of the new format," wrote Whitney Cook Martin. "Great variety, and the fun music just puts me in a good mood. I'm not a fan of any of the newer music so this is perfect mix for me."
Star has a legacy in this market going back to 1989 with a target audience heavily skewed to the suburban mom set. Its image over the years has been a bit vanilla but that worked during its heyday in the 1990s and early 2000s. For a time, with Steve & Vikki at the morning show helm, it was a massively profitable, powerhouse station.
25 pop hitmakers who should be your spring cleaning soundtrack | Yardbarker
Pop music is difficult to define and vast in nature, but at the most basic level: pop music is simply what music lovers dictate to be the most popular. Countless artists whose primary lanes are hip-hop, R&B, punk, or rock have inevitably merged into pop. More and more, as music's genre-bending landscape is perhaps as diverse as ever, there are new voices emerging seemingly every day and dominating the airwaves as if they've been here for decades. (See: Billie Eilish, for example.)
But there are iconic artists and songs that have stood the test of time, and they are who we will be leaning on for the sake of this list. Below are 25 proven pop hitmakers whose evergreen catalogs make for the perfect spring cleaning soundtrack.
(If you don't agree with our selections, that's fine. You can make your own playlist, but you're supposed to be cleaning anyway.)
Adele cleaned up at the 59th Grammy Awards with 25 , her third studio album, and its lead single "Hello"—collecting both album and record of the year—but the 32-year-old had said hello long before then and never looked back. Adele is a 15-time Grammy winner with anthems that inevitably ring around the world as soon as she releases them. It's also worth noting that the London native has worked extensively with pop songwriter extraordinaire Ryan Tedder, who earned his first of three Grammys when 21 was named album of the year in 2011.
The great debate of 1997: Backstreet Boys or *NSYNC? You can stan one or the other, but absolutely not both. For those who were (or are still) firmly on Team Backstreet Boy, the memory lane to stroll down while dusting is lined with bangers: "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)," "As Long As You Love Me," "I Want It That Way," "Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)," and so on. The best news is that AJ, Brian, Howie, Kevin, and Nick have way more recent material after dropping DNA in January 2019. That album landed the Backstreet Boys atop the Billboard 200 for the first time since 2000's Black & Blue .
Queen Bey needs no introduction. In fact, even writing a caption as short as this one is an insult because everybody everywhere should instinctually know Beyoncé Knowles-Carter's biography and discography from front to back. Alas, the most recent accomplishment that cemented the 39-year-old's place in music history came at March's 63rd Grammy Awards, becoming the winningest solo woman in the award show's history with 28. Beyoncé is a hip-hop/R&B goddess through and through—dating back to Destiny's Child, which should also definitely be in your rotation—but she is on this pop-centric list because you can't have a conversation about music without at least mentioning her.
Any time vintage Britney Spears comes on shuffle, it's impossible not to stop what you're doing and start dancing or (probably poorly) singing along. Wait, maybe including Brit isn't conducive to productively cleaning the house—whatever. Take your pick: "...Baby One More Time," "(You Drive Me) Crazy," "Oops!... I Did It Again," "Toxic," or "Womanizer."
Bruno Mars is gearing up to give us even more material with new funk/R&B duo Silk Sonic. which he formed with Anderson .Paak. Their debut single, "Leave The Door Open." has already made a chart-topping mark. But as a solo artist, Bruno has consistently been the standard since 2010. The 11-time Grammy winner has produced three stand-out studio albums: Doo-Wops & Hooligans (2010), Unorthodox Jukebox (2012) and 24K Magic (2016). Bruno has twice claimed record of the year, first in 2015 with "Uptown Funk" and again in 2017 with "24K Magic." The 60th Grammy Awards were monumental for him as 24K Magic won album of the year and "That's What I Like" racked up three Grammys, including song of the year.
There is one person who for sure won't agree with Cher's place on this list, and her name is Cher. "I'm not a Cher fan," the 74-year-old said on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in September 2018. "I'm really not." Cher then doubled down: "I don't want to listen to (my music). I don't wanna see it." Luckily for her, a significant swath of people have disagreed for decades. "Believe" (1999), "I Got You Babe" (1965), "Dark Lady" (1974), "Half Breed" (1973), and "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves" (1971) all topped the Billboard Hot 100—and that's before mentioning "If I Could Turn Back Time."
POP SUPERSTAR THE WEEKND CELEBRATED AS2021 SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR AT ASCAP POP MUSIC AWARDS -
Honoring pop music's hottest songwriters, producers and publishers, The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) today announces the winners of the 2021 ASCAP Pop Music Awards , which will be celebrated on @ASCAP social media through April 15. After a record-setting year following the release of his double platinum album After Hours , pop superstar Abel " The Weeknd" Tesfaye is named ASCAP Songwriter of the Year for the first time in his career.
Known for his signature alternative R&B sound, velvety voice and pitch-perfect falsetto, The Weeknd undeniably dominated the charts in 2020. Taking home the ASCAP Songwriter of the Year honor and two most-performed song awards for smash hits "Blinding Lights" and "Heartless," The Weeknd is now a 13-time ASCAP Awards winner. As the critical and commercial success of After Hours continues, "Blinding Lights" closes in on diamond-certified status, while becoming the first song in history to spend an entire year in the Billboard Hot 100's top 10.
ASCAP Pop Music Awards Song of the Year goes to Post Malone's megahit "Circles," honoring ASCAP hitmakers Louis Bell, Kaan Güneşberk and Billy Walsh alongside publishers Nyan King Music, Sony Music Publishing and Universal Music Publishing Group. The third single off the chart-topping album Hollywood's Bleeding , "Circles" spent 39 weeks in the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and marks the artist's first #1 hit as a solo billing.
ASCAP Chairman of the Board and President Paul Williams, Chief Executive Officer Elizabeth Matthews and Executive Vice President and Chief Creative Officer John Titta open the event with a special video introduction on @ASCAP social media.
The 2021 ASCAP Pop Music Awards recognize the songwriters and publishers of the most performed songs of the past year in pop music. Providing an unprecedented look at the music creators behind 2020's biggest hits, ASCAP will premiere exclusive winner video acceptance speeches, virtual studio tours, stories behind the songs and more on @ASCAP social media. Starting at 10 AM ET/ 7 AM PT on Tuesday, April 13 through Thursday, April 15, friends, fans and peers can tune in to the festivities via @ASCAP on Instagram , Twitter and Facebook , using the hashtag #ASCAPAwards.
Lady Gaga fans clamor for a second Artpop album: What to know - CNET
Back in 2013, Lady Gaga released Artpop, which debuted at No. 1 on the US Billboard 200 albums chart, and which became the ninth global best-selling album of the year, selling 2.3 million copies. Critical reaction was mixed, but fans took it to their hearts.
Gaga's talents have expanded to acting, too. She won a 2015 Golden Globe award for her role in American Horror Story: Hotel, and then moved on to star alongside Bradley Cooper in the remake of A Star is Born in 2018. The two partnered on the hit song Shallow, and that tune won an Academy Award, Golden Globe award, two Grammy Awards, a BAFTA award and a Critics' Choice Movie award.
On April 12, the singer tweeted that she was touched her fans were sending the album up the charts once again.
She followed up with, "I fell apart after I released this album. Thank you for celebrating something that once felt like destruction. We always believed it was ahead of its time. Years later turns out, sometimes, artists know. And so do little monsters. Paws up."
Marina unveils upcoming album Ancient Dreams In a Modern Land - Music News | Music-News.com
Brockhampton on cancel culture and the band's future - Los Angeles Times
"You just got to know when to let go," says the soft-spoken 24-year-old, who recently tweeted, "2 brockhampton albums in 2021 — these will be our last." Dressed in cozy athleisure wear, his hair dyed like a rainbow snow cone, Abstract is hanging with eight of his bandmates — Romil Hemnani, Merlyn Wood, Joba, Matt Champion, Dom McLennon, Bearface, Jabari Manwa and Kiko Merley, all in their mid- to late 20s — on a sunny afternoon at his rambling yet minimally furnished home on a bucolic residential street. (The group's remaining members, who handle nonmusical endeavors like photography and Brockhampton's digital presence, are Henock Sileshi, Robert Ontenient, Jon Nunes and Ashlan Grey.)
At the moment, though, the members are picking at delivery containers from McDonald's and Veggie Grill as Abstract explains that, timing be damned, he wants to "leave the group alone" to free everyone "to explore their own thing."
No act would welcome the trouble these connections have created. But it's especially uncomfortable for a group that talks about remaking the boy-band framework as a kind of safe space for inclusion and vulnerability.
"It's like when you're driving and the headlights pop up behind your car and you're not sure if you're being pulled over or it's the person next to you," he says.
Has it been painful to discover that people close to the band may not be who they appeared to be? Abstract sighs and says, "It's painful," before Bearface cuts him off.
Increased attention is certainly what Brockhampton is looking to draw with "Roadrunner," which features guest spots by Shawn Mendes and ASAP Rocky and delivers on the melodic potential that "Sugar" revealed.
"I'm trying to be like the Bee Gees, man — every part is a hook," says Hemnani, who co-produced most of the album's 13 tracks with Abstract and Manwa with occasional assists from outside collaborators such as Chad Hugo of the Neptunes.
Asked if Brockhampton might secretly be a Christian rap group — even some of "Roadrunner's" lighter tunes explore themes of faith and the search for meaning — the members smile and shake their heads.
"My family's Hindu," says Hemnani. Still, they acknowledge they're drawn to topics beyond pop's usual subject matter. "I don't know if people wanted to hear a gospel album from Justin Bieber," Hemnani adds of the latest from the former teen idol. (Turns out they did: "Justice" just logged a second week at No. 1.) "But I always appreciate someone who makes whatever they want even if it's not what people wanted to hear."
Make way for "MYRA" | Music | yesweekly.com
"I am not passive, baby, I get active," said the rapper and model—who, as they put it, "might be the next Madonna."
"My main motivation to make music is to create what I believe is missing from the current landscape," Chanel explained of their release, just in time for Aries season. "My main goal with developing my sound is to find the sweet spot of what I want to hear and what other people want to hear."
Chanel upholds a defined list of influential hip-hop artists, including Three 6 Mafia, La Chat, Soulja Boy, Missy Elliot, and Pharrell, while citing other influences in ways that more generally embrace the expanse of genres like darkwave, soul, and techno.
Straddling lines of pop and hip-hop, " MYRA " remains full of bops. "I make music for hot people," they said. "I try to push the boundaries of how pop music can be created through the lens of hip-hop while maintaining authenticity."
Echoing the words of Long Nail Goddess Maria Ortiz, as "a person meant to shine, not to blend in," Chanel doesn't intentionally channel icons—though "I've been told that I channel a lot of Kanye West energy," they said.
At its purest, " MYRA " plays more like a demo, with a polished package expected later in the year. "I just wanted to showcase my talent in a quick collection of songs," Chanel explained. "I recorded and mixed everything in my room. Everything was DIY and at the moment."
While Chanel flourishes at the moment, it's not without preparation. "When I make music, I have to get into character," they explained. "Even though I'm myself 24/7, when it comes to being Myra Chanel, it's like I have to fully embody who I am in my music," they continued. "I have to get dressed—do my makeup and my hair." It's a package intrinsic to their production. "Whether I'm mixing or recording, I have to be in the right physical and mental space to create, or else nothing will get done."
The slightly more hypnotic " Clear My Throat " serves as a personal hype anthem. "It's like my getting ready song," they said. "It'd be my theme music if I was a superhero."
Wielding determination like a superpower, Chanel's tenacity has fueled a connection to music communities despite " MYRA " coming in as a debut release. "I just try to give it my all no matter what I'm doing - show or studio," they noted, adding gratitude for opportunities thus far.
In Earshot: April 14 • The Tulane Hullabaloo
"In Earshot" is a column introducing you to the best new releases and artists you need to have on your radar. From glittery pop to gut-wrenching lyrics, these musicians should be in your rotation.
Annie DiRusso's music is made for being blared through a car stereo. Her songs feature infectiously garage-y guitar and drums that can be perfectly described as cathartic. Her lyrics are written from raw emotion — her song " Nine Months " was written about staying in an emotionally abusive relationship, and it's simultaneously rage-filled and pop-music catchy. She is a self-described indie rock artist blending the styles of her two cities, Nashville and New York City. DiRusso writes songs that feel universally relatable but just niche enough for it to still be her own — " Judgments From The World's Greatest Band " was written about having a one-night stand under a poster of The Beatles.
Maude Latour is giving her audience high-energy pop music filled to the brim with emotional glitter, disguising the heavy emotions that some of her songs surround. Comments on videos of Latour singing often note how similar her voice is to Lorde's — not only is Latour's music flawlessly produced and incredibly original on its own, but it can fill a Lorde-less void perfectly. Latour uses synths, transporting listeners into space in some songs, timeless bass lines on others and just unique enough sentiments in her lyrics for her songs to feel refreshing. Her latest release, " Walk Backwards ," is a love song to her friend and an ode to their extremely deep relationship.
New book traces the impact of Kiss, Aerosmith and more | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
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