This Week in Music 

Welcome to this week’s issue of Sound Bite! The biggest news of the week is the release of Taylor Swift’s latest album “THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT: THE ANTHOLOGY.” The release has been long awaited by fans, which makes the extra 15 songs included on the album an even bigger surprise. At this point, it’s hard to gather a general consensus on the album as reactions seem to be all over the place. Regardless, the album is on track to be the largest release of the year.

There have been a few major developments in the Kendrick and Drake beef. Recently Drake officially released his leaked diss “Push Ups” on streaming platforms. On top of this, he just released an extremely controversial follow-up freestyle on his Instagram entitled “Taylor Made Freestyle” in which he inexplicably uses AI to mimic both Tupac and Snoop Dogg to attack Kendrick. While the diss is more of a rush track to encourage Kendrick than anything else, the use of AI is the real controversy. People are debating whether or not it’s morally acceptable, or if it takes credibility from Drake as some people are labeling him a “Culture Vampire.”

Although J. Cole removed himself from the beef after publicly apologizing to Kendrick, it seems the rest of the community isn’t done with him. Ye (the artist formerly known as Kanye West) recently released a remixed version of “Like That” by Future and Metro Boomin in which he levels even more at shots at Drake and J. Cole. Although his politics are extremely controversial there is still a diehard sect of rap culture that worships Ye and his music, so his coming out against Drake and J. Cole is a huge development in the drama.

On top of this, Chris Brown just started his own beef against Quavo in an effort to seemingly revitalize his career. His diss is extremely personal, pointed and aggressive in a manner far more real than Drake and Kendrick’s surface-level battle. It very much promises violence if the two ever see each other, and levels extremely heavy accusations towards Quavo.

In other news, it’s that time of year when artists start dropping singles with the hopes of becoming the ever-exclusive song of the summer. A front runner in the race for radio hit is “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter which is the latest single by the Disney star turned pop star. In other pop news, Dua Lipa has a new album coming out on May 3 which could be a strong competitor for the largest summer hit. Either way, it’s promising to be a great next few months for music.

Snack Size Samples

Isaac Dobmeier

Columnist

This week I’m delivering a curated series of ethereal, sparkling, enigmatic spring songs for my ethereal, sparkling, enigmatic spring mood. 

“Treehouse” – Marlon Dubois

This is what Gandalf would listen to if he was a 19-year-old white boy who really likes cloud rap.

“Let Me Go – Eeera Remix” – Eliproperr, Eera

I’m floating. Eli and Eera send me skyward with their rave-adjacent ambient-adjacent production.

“Ef” – Chanel Beads

I got put on “Ef” a few days ago and have been bumping it ever since. Beautiful lyrics, beautiful vocal performance. This track was made for laying in the grass and basking in the sun.