This Week In Music - Rock n Roll Hall Of Fame Nominees, New Kings Of Leon, Dua Lipa, Kevin Gates, Phife Dog, Greta Van Fleet, Quinn XCII, Maren Morris, and a New Playlist
Back with another motherload of all the new music that dropped in the past week. Broken down genre by genre.
Also have a belated Valentine's Playlist on Spotify and Apple Music. Apologies. Jeter blog took forever and threw everything else off.
POP
- The big news in pop music last week was Taylor Swift heat checking everybody with her re-release of "Love Story" (Taylor's Version). I did an extensive blog on the song and upcoming re-release of Fearless. In summary, she and her producers nailed it.
- Phoebe Bridgers was the musical guest on the sinking ship that is Saturday Night Live.
I fuckin loved her on Kid Cudi's "Lovin Me". But she tried way too hard on SNL by awkwardly destroying her guitar during her SNL debut. She performed songs "Kyoto"
and "I Know the End."
- Olivia Rodrigo’s “Drivers License” topped the Billboard Hot 100 for the fourth week in a row. This song isn't going anywhere and just continues to pick up more and more steam.
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- The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced its 2021 nominees:
Mary J. Blige, Kate Bush, Devo, Foo Fighters, The Go-Go's, Iron Maiden, Jay-Z, Chaka Khan, Carole King, Fela Kuti, LL Cool J, New York Dolls, Rage Against the Machine, Todd Rundgren, Tina Turner and Dionne Warwick are all on the 2021 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ballot, per the Feb. 10 announcement from The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
- Ariana Grande shared a music video for her “34+35 (Remix)” featuring Megan Thee Stallion and Doja Cat and its exactly what you'd expect.
- My #1 Dua Lipa unveiled a deluxe edition of her 2020 album featuring eight new tracks including previously unreleased B-sides, Future Nostalgia: The Moonlight Edition
- Mary Wilson, the founding member of The Supremes died at the age of 76.
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- Quinn XCII dropped a new track, "My Wife & 2 Dogs"
CoS- According to her publicist, Wilson passed away suddenly on Monday evening (February 8th) at her home in Henderson, Nevada. A cause of death was not immediately disclosed.
In 1959, Wilson auditioned and was accepted into a singing group called The Primettes, pairing with three other then-unknown vocalists: Florence Ballard, Diana Ross, and Betty McGlown. By 1962, the group had downsized to a trio (McGlown left to get married), signed with Motown Records, and changed their name to The Supremes. Within a year, they scored their first No. 1 hit with “Where Did Our Love Go”
Between 1964 and 1969, The Supremes earned 12 No. 1 singles in total — a record for the most chart-topping songs among American groups. Among their most notable hits: “Baby Love”, “Come See About Me”, “Stop! In the Name of Love”, “Back in My Arms Again”, and “You Can’t Hurry Love”.
RAP
- Judas and the Black Messiah soundtrack to the highly anticipated Fred Hampton biopic is a must-hear.. It includes a Nipsey Hussle and Jay-Z collab.
The East Coast hip-hop heavyweight and late West Coast legend's first-ever collaboration, "What It Feels Like," dropped Friday (Feb. 12) as part of the Judas and the Black Messiah: The Inspired Album in tandem with the film's premiere on HBO Max. The soundtrack's executive producers Aaron "Dash" Sherrod and Hit-Boy told Billboard about how one of the most special contributions of the album came to life and the connection between Hussle and the biopic's central character Fred Hampton.
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- Two of the softest rappers alive, Tekashi 6ix9ine and Meek Mill got into a war of words outside a club over the weekend in Miami.
In video footage compiled by TMZ, the disgraced rat and Philly rap hero can be seen hurling insults at one another while their respective security squads hold them back. It’s unclear what the actual impetus of the skirmish was, but the two have been beefing since 6ix9ine sold out his former Nine Trey Bloods associates to get a reduced sentence, and it appears that their conflict hasn’t been resolved.
Meek said it was 6ix9ine was the one who was working with law enforcement that night. “The feds sent him to take me out wtf,” he wrote in a now-deleted Instagram post (via Complex). “[I] had to spit on him so he retreated lol he really waited outside the club for me. I thought I was dreaming wtf we almost smoked him lol he posed a lil threat popping up in the parking lot waiting for me.”
Shortly after 3 a.m., Meek continued to tell his side of the story on Twitter. “69 waited out side the club for me they tryna get usssssss wtf,” he wrote in one tweet. “We did not run into eachother I was getting in my car he just popped out ….we almost was smoking on that 69 pack for the love of a viral moment ….. he tryna get something locked up no cap lol,” he said in another.
So far there isn’t any proof that either rapper was working with the fuzz that night, and fortunately the conflict didn’t escalate to actual violence. But clearly the TattleTales rapper just can’t help but continue to stir the pot.
- Megan Thee Stallion dropped a new Juicy J produced track “Southside Forever Freestyle”
- Louisiana rapper, and Chap's guy, Kevin Gates just surprise-released a new single called “Plug Daughter 2” and an accompanying music video that sees him soaking up the sun in Puerto Rico.
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- JPEGMAFIA is back with a new release EP2!.
- A new posthumous album from Phife Dawg, the late co-founder of A Tribe Called Quest, is on the way. Entitled Forever, the collection will be released later this year. The first single, “Nutshell PART 2”, features Busta Rhymes and Redman, and serves as the sequel to the J Dilla produced "Nutshell".
- Speaking of J Dilla, a fan submitted a great tribute video he made celebrating his life on the 15 year anniversary of his death.
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ROCK
- Kings of Leon are in the process of rolling out their first new album in five years, When You See Yourself. The full record arrives next month, and they released another single off it titled “Echoing”.
- Wolfgang Van Halen performed “Distance” on Kimmel as a tribute to his late father, Eddie Van Halen
- Chick Corea, Legendary Jazz keyboardist and fusionist passed away at the age of 79.
- Liz Phair released her first new song in two years “Hey Lou”, a touching ode to Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson, taken from her upcoming album Soberish
- Greta Van Fleet dropped a new inspirational song, “Heat Above” off their upcoming album due out in April.
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You can hate on these kids all you want, knock them for sounding like Led Zeppelin like that's a bad thing, but you're hating. Like White Sox Dave does. (sidebar- I bring this up passively-aggressively because a few months ago Dave asked me if I'd be interested in doing a music podcast with him and his guitar teacher that plays in a dope jam band out of Philly. I couldn't say yes fast enough. He said he'd have more details for me. Fast forward to the new year and their podcast is flying and I'm left in the dust. I think I have no other choice than to start my own? Even though the last thing the world needs is another podcast? I'm on the fence. And yes, clearly very bitter.)
- The Internet's Syd dropped her first solo record in 4 years and its called "Missing Out"
COUNTRY
- Hailey Whitters teamed up with one of her childhood idols, Trisha Yearwood, on her new song "How Far Can It Go?"
- Lanco's latest release, "Near Mrs.," is a rock-inflected look back at the love interests who were almost - but not quite - the one.
The country hipsters are gonna hate me for admitting this but I fucking love Lanco. I know they're "pop country" but good music is good music and their songs are catchy as hell and I'm a sucker for happy music.
"Near Mrs." checks both those boxes.
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- Kameron Marlowe, of The Voice fame, dropped his debut single, "Sober as a Drunk."
- married couple Maren Morris and Ryan Hurd's released their first official duet, "Chasing After You,"
- a new unreleased song from Chris Young surfaced, called "Rescue Me,"
- Less than a year after Sam Hunt dropped his sophomore project, Southside, the singer is teasing more new music on the horizon. He posted a shot of himself in the studio to Instagram, along with the brief caption, "New songs coming soon."