This Week In Music
Welcome back to Sound Bite! With summer officially over things have slowed down quite a bit in the music scene, but there is still plenty to cover in this first back-to-basics Sound Bite of Fall Quarter!
Hip-Hop has had a couple good releases this past week, but I’d like to highlight the latest album released by Tee Grizzley for this issue of Sound Bite. “Post Traumatic” is a surprisingly introspective and well thought out album from the Detroit rapper, covering his life’s darker sides and how he chose to address them. It’s a promising sign for the future of the industry that deeper projects like these are becoming more and more normalized. It also helps that the album is assisted by amazing features from the likes of Future, J. Cole, G Herbo and more.
The Weeknd is also gearing up for a major release, his self described “grand conclusion” to the trilogy of albums featuring “After Hours” and “Dawn FM.” The last album will be titled “Hurry Up Tomorrow” and is already showing insane promise. His latest two singles, “Timeless” and “Dancing in the Flames” have proven once again that there is nobody more deserving of the top spot on Spotify that he currently holds. His range and technical ability are second to none, and you can clearly see him display both of those skills in all his latest singles.
In other major recent headlines Linkin Park made a chain of swift announcements that left many fans excited, some fans shocked and some fans questioning the integrity of the group. Emily Armstrong was recently announced as the new lead singer for Linkin Park. Separate from her as a person, I have to say that I find the new music really pretty great. Their latest album “Heavy Is the Crown,” which features her exclusively as the lead vocalist, is a strong display of what makes Linkin Park classic, with a good number of new sounds provided by her exciting vocals.
However, the news was not without controversy. There have been many rumors, and I have to stress rumors, about her potential ties with the religious group of Scientology. She herself has put out a statement to help distance herself from the rumors, but some fans find it hard to look past. Personally, until there is concrete proof either way, I don’t really see it affecting the group in the long term. They are currently planning to go on tour and are seemingly doing just fine selling tickets. All I would say is, be careful what you believe on the internet, people like to take rumors and run with them.
And lastly, a short blurb about market manipulation. It seems like everyone is putting out deluxe albums these days, but one genre of music produces them like no other. Within mainstream pop there is this growing trend of deluxe releases being produced at an abnormally rapid rate. Within the past week Ariana Grande put out a “slightly deluxe but also live” version of her latest album, “Eternal Sunshine” which is not to be confused with her already rereleased “slightly deluxe” version.
In the past few months Taylor Swift has put out 34 different variations of her latest album “The Tortured Poets Department.” This growing trend of blatant cash grabs becomes increasingly egregious when you consider the ramifications for smaller artists. By constantly releasing the same project with minor changes these huge artists are making it almost impossible for smaller up and coming artists to get any radio hits, a defining factor in a musician’s early career. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with releasing one or two deluxe albums, but it seems like these past few months they just won’t stop coming.
