All tagged reviews

By now, everyone's heard "Uma Thurman" by Fallout Boy from American Beauty/American Psycho, and everyone probably knows it too. The song doesn't sound anything like most mainstream pop, maintaining a distinct rock pop sound, full of grunge and energy. The song was released January 13, 2015 and a music video to match was released on April 17, 2015. It features a fan who won a sweepstakes to be Fall Out Boy's assistant for 24 hours. In the video, Sarah and the band romp around and have fun.

"Can't Feel My Face" comes from The Weeknd's upcoming album Chapter III and is a synthy, poppy dance-esque track with some of the rhythm and soul of an R&B jam. The song was produced by Max Martin of Taylor Swift fame, and is a departure from Abel Tesfaye's (Weeknd's real name) usual style which is generally overtly R&B. (Think of his "Earned It" from Fifty Shades of Grey and of his "The Hills," which both feature the slow methodical melodies associated with R&B.) More than those songs, "Can't Feel My Face" seems a direct appeal to mainstream pop.

5 Seconds of Summer began on YouTube and was the opening band for One Direction in a 2013 tour, but now the music has taken on a life of its own (including a 7.4M Twitter following). The band consists of Luke Hemmings, Michael Clifford, Calum Hood , and Ashton Irwin, all of whom are 21 years-old or younger. The band bases its music on a whining, punk, almost-90's feel that helps them promote a "we're young and we don't care" message that fans seem to love. According to Daily Mail, "She's Kinda Hot" was the most shared song on Twitter on Tuesday.

Demi Lovato is a 22 year-old former Disney Pop Princess who launched a pop career that's found special success among the club/dance crowd; her followers call themselves "Lovatics." Beginning her career on Barney & Friends, Lovato moved on to Camp Rock in 2008 and finally was the star in Sonny with a Chance. After Disney, she focused primarily on her musical career. She entered rehab in 2010 following a litany of problems including alcohol abuse, cocaine use, assault, and bulimia. According to Wikipedia, Lovato describes herself as a Christian and advocates heavily for gay rights.

Adam Young, of Owl City fame, just came out with another song from his album Mobile Orchestra, which will be released July 10th. The song is "Unbelievable (ft. Hanson)." The other band, according to Wikipedia, is "best know for the 1997 hit song 'MMMBop' from their major label debut album Middle of Nowhere, which earned three Grammy nominations." And like Hanson, "Unbelievable" feels strongly of the 90's. And, of course, this makes Hanson the perfect band to collaborate with. In an interview with EWAdam Young says, "Hanson was a total dream collaboration for me . . . I was born in the mid-’80s but grew up in the ’90s, so I am around the same age as those guys, and we connected on a lot of the subjects in the song ‘Unbelievable.’ I just reached out to them, sent them the song, introduced myself and said I’d be thrilled to work with them if they might find the idea appealing at all. They wrote back and said they were down to do it. They wrote Verse 2, added some additional production and just kind of did what felt natural to them, all of which I loved. So imagine me, someone who grew up loving this band, to suddenly have the chance to collaborate on a song of my own was totally surreal. They were the nicest, easiest guys to work with."

Adam Young is putting out Mobile Orchestra, his newest album on July 10th, and the singles are starting to fly thick and fast. Last year, he put out "This Isn't the End," and this year he's already released "Verge," "You're Not Alone (ft. Britt Nicole)," and now "My Everything." I've been working through Of Monsters and Men's new album Beneath the Skin this and next week but when Owl City put out this song, I had to switch gears. I love Owl City, and I love this song. I think you'll enjoy it too.