( ꩜ ᯅ ꩜;) 𝔸᥅𝓉 ꠸𝓈𝓉 𝕤

Clairo

Artist

American indie luminary Clairo has spearheaded new pop conventions and upended them all the same. Her soft rock intimations, interwoven with tendrils of ‘70s soul and lush R&B, have spellbound listeners of all ages, and landed her on the stages of Coachella, the Newport Folk Festival and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Born Claire Cottrill in Atlanta, GA, the artist began self-recording songs and music videos at the age of 13, which amassed a huge fanbase on YouTube. Released in 2017, her lo-fi pop confessional “Pretty Girl” went viral, earning her a joint record deal with Fader Label. Since then, her albums Immunity (2019) and Sling (2021) have traversed the Billboard charts and garnered critical acclaim from Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, the New York Times and more. For each of her full-length projects Clairo collaborated on production with legendary names like Vampire Weekend artist Rostam Batmanglij (Immunity), Jack Antonoff (Sling), and now partners with Leon Michels for her new era. Her soul-baring third studio album, Charm, comes out July 12.

Gorillaz

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Arctic Monkeys

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Lana Del Rey

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Soda Stereo

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Dua Lipa

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Bebe Rexha

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Chase Atlantic

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Daft Punk

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Ariana Grande

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Sabrina Carpenter

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Megan Thee Stallion

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Black Eyed Peas

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L-Gante

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La Joaqui

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La Joaqui

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Bob Marley

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Lenny Kravitz

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Rock music in the 1980s had completely lost the gritty feel of earlier eras until Lenny Kravitz rediscovered the magic formula. Kravitz's sonic template combined good old-fashioned rock & roll with glam, soul, and psychedelia, making him a massive success. He made a splash straight out of the gate with his album Let Love Rule. After that, he de-emphasized the flower-power aspects of his music and began moving toward a heavier rock sound. This progression brought him such huge hits as "Are You Gonna Go My Way" and a hard-rocking cover of the Guess Who's "American Woman." Along the way, his flamboyant image, model-like looks, and frequent acting roles made him a fixture in pop music circles. Born in New York on May 26, 1964 (his mother was actress Roxie Roker, best known for her role as Helen Willis on the popular TV series The Jeffersons, and his father was a TV producer), Kravitz was raised in Los Angeles, where he found himself around countless musical giants as a youngster due to his parents' friendships with the likes of Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughan, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Bobby Short, and Miles Davis. Kravitz was a member of the California Boys Choir until his teenage years, when he decided to pursue rock & roll while in high school and under the heavily influence of funk-rocker Prince. Kravitz's admiration of the Purple One was so great that he at first patterned his style and approach directly after Prince and became known as "Romeo Blue" (complete with blue contact lenses), but failed to land a recording contract. In the late '80s, Kravitz relocated to New York City, where one of his roommates turned out to be actress Lisa Bonet (who played the part of Denise Huxtable on The Cosby Show); they eventually got married. During this time, Kravitz wisely discarded his Prince-like approach and looked back to such '60s/'70s classic rockers as Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Wonder, Curtis Mayfield, Bob Marley, and the Beatles for inspiration. Kravitz found a kindred spirit in engineer Henry Hirsch (who would stick by Kravitz throughout his career). With a back-to-basics approach, his style was quite refreshing in the humorously gaudy late '80s. He inked a recording contract with Virgin Records and issued his debut release, Let Love Rule, in 1989. Kravitz's debut proved to be a surprise hit due to the success of the title track, which became a hit single and oft-aired video. A few critics were quick to assume that Kravitz's retro look and sound were simply a shtick to get the public's attention, but come the '90s, it had become integrated into the mainstream (both musically and fashion-wise), proving that Kravitz was a bit of a trendsetter. It was around this time that Kravitz penned a major hit single, not for himself but for Madonna, who went to number one with the sultry track "Justify My Love." What should have been a time of happiness for Kravitz quickly turned sour as he and Bonet divorced in the early '90s. Kravitz's heartbreak was very evident in his sophomore effort, Mama Said, which was even stronger than its predecessor, highlighted by the Led Zep-like funk-rocker "Always on the Run" (a collaboration with Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash), as well as a mega-hit with the Curtis Mayfield-esque soul ballad "It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over," which confirmed that Kravitz's success was no fluke. But the best was yet to come. His third release overall, 1993's Are You Gonna Go My Way, is often considered to be the finest album front to back of his entire career, and with good reason: every single song was a winner, including the uptempo, anthemic title track, which turned out to be one of MTV's most-played videos that year. The album was a massive hit and Kravitz became an arena headliner stateside, as well as being featured on countless magazine covers. Despite an almost two-year gap between albums, Kravitz's fourth release, Circus, came off sounding unfocused and was a major letdown compared to his stellar previous few releases. Perhaps sensing that he needed to stir things up musically, Kravitz dabbled with electronics and trip-hop loops for his next album, 1998's 5. Although not a huge hit right off the bat, the album proved to have an incredibly long chart life, spawning the biggest hit of Kravitz's career, "Fly Away," almost a year after its original release. With the single's success, Virgin decided to cash in on the album's sudden rebirth by reissuing it around the same time with a pair of bonus tracks, one of which became another sizable hit single, a remake of the Guess Who's "American Woman" (which was used in the hit 1999 comedy Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me). Kravitz's first best-of set, the 15-track Greatest Hits, was issued as a stopgap release in 2000, while his sixth studio release overall, Lenny, was issued a year later. Baptism followed in 2004. After starting a residential, commercial, and product design company called Kravitz Design, he recorded a funky version of John Lennon's "Cold Turkey" for Amnesty International's 2007 benefit compilation Instant Karma. Before the end of the year it was announced that Kravitz would return in 2008 with a new album, It Is Time for a Love Revolution. The album arrived in February, accompanied by a brief tour. Kravitz made his acting debut in the Academy Award-nominated 2009 film Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire. As he was filming his next role -- a spot in the eagerly awaited adaptation of Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games -- he released his ninth album, Black and White America, in the summer of 2011. Reprising his role of Cinna in the second Hunger Games movie in 2013, Kravitz wouldn't return to the studio until the following year. He released his tenth studio album, Strut, in September of 2014; it was preceded by the disco-rock single "The Chamber." Strut debuted at 19 on the Billboard Top 200. After a four-year break, Kravitz returned in September 2018 with his 11th album, Raise Vibration. The single "Low" featured a posthumous vocal collaboration with Michael Jackson and yielded a deluxe remix collection later in the year. ~ Greg Prato

Billie Eilish

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LP

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Ricky Montgomery

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The Neighbourhood

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Imagine Dragons

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ABBA

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Michael Jackson

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Chappell Roan

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Lauv

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Tyler, The Creator

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Aerosmith

Artist

Specializing in raunchy, sleazy boogie and melodramatic ballads, Aerosmith were one of the biggest hard rock bands to emerge in the 1970s, shaping the sound and style of hard rock and metal in the decades to come. The Boston-based quintet found the middle ground between the menace of <a href="spotify:artist:22bE4uQ6baNwSHPVcDxLCe">the Rolling Stones</a> and the campy, sleazy flamboyance of <a href="spotify:artist:0WhGV9lzljq2QKJ8ipw6jx">the New York Dolls</a>, developing a lean, dirty riff-oriented boogie that was loose and swinging and as hard as a diamond. In the meantime, they developed a prototype for power ballads with "Dream On" using a piano orchestrated with strings and distorted guitars. Aerosmith's ability to pull off both ballads and rock & roll made them extremely popular during the mid-'70s, when they had a string of gold and platinum albums. By the early '80s, the group's audience had declined as the band fell prey to drug and alcohol abuse, setting the stage for one of the most remarkable comebacks in rock history. A cleaned-up Aerosmith happily adapted to an era of MTV and corporate rock without losing their cheerfully trashy essence, giving them a series of smashes in the late '80s and '90s that helped sustain their popularity into the 2020s, when they launched a farewell tour on their 50th anniversary. In 1970, the first incarnation of Aerosmith formed when vocalist <a href="spotify:artist:32zks9ovi0IExzUd1C7W6o">Steven Tyler</a> met guitarist <a href="spotify:artist:1SDxIHIJ3wvYiG22xckLKL">Joe Perry</a> while working at a Sunapee, New Hampshire, ice cream parlor. <a href="spotify:artist:32zks9ovi0IExzUd1C7W6o">Tyler</a>, who was originally a drummer, and <a href="spotify:artist:1SDxIHIJ3wvYiG22xckLKL">Perry</a> decided to form a power trio with bassist Tom Hamilton. The group soon expanded to a quartet, adding a second guitarist called Ray Tabano; he was quickly replaced by <a href="spotify:artist:3D52QQEgeo7m4YrnXXbJZY">Brad Whitford</a>, a former member of <a href="spotify:artist:4KU5GJthVXOLAZMzGxcv0l">Earth Inc.</a> With the addition of drummer <a href="spotify:artist:2ZOHHd0I9t0RkbwKp2j4lX">Joey Kramer</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:32zks9ovi0IExzUd1C7W6o">Tyler</a> became the full-time lead singer by the end of year. Aerosmith relocated to Boston at the end of 1970. After playing clubs in the Massachusetts and New York areas for two years, the group landed a record contract with Columbia in 1972. Aerosmith's self-titled debut album was released in the fall of 1973, climbing to number 166. "Dream On" was released as the first single and it was a minor hit, reaching number 59. The next year, the band built a fan base by touring America, supporting groups as diverse as <a href="spotify:artist:1SQRv42e4PjEYfPhS0Tk9E">the Kinks</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:3Ao7NH7lRyQAeKQg2mlTcO">Mahavishnu Orchestra</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2SmjZ060s1uBMud6afmImP">Sha Na Na</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:6ysQi6NI88X627t2srsWz6">Mott the Hoople</a>. The performance of Get Your Wings (1974), the group's second album and the first produced by Jack Douglas, benefited from their constant touring, spending a total of 86 weeks on the chart. Aerosmith's third effort, 1975's Toys in the Attic, was their breakthrough album both commercially and artistically. By the time it was recorded, the band's sound had developed into sleek, driving hard rock powered by simple, almost brutal, blues-based riffs. Many critics at the time labeled the group punk rockers, and it's easy to see why -- instead of adhering to the world music pretensions of <a href="spotify:artist:36QJpDe2go2KgaRleHCDTp">Led Zeppelin</a> or the prolonged gloomy mysticism of <a href="spotify:artist:5M52tdBnJaKSvOpJGz8mfZ">Black Sabbath</a>, Aerosmith stripped heavy metal to its basic core, spitting out spare riffs that not only rocked, but rolled. <a href="spotify:artist:32zks9ovi0IExzUd1C7W6o">Steven Tyler</a>'s lyrics were filled with double entendres and clever jokes, and the entire band had a streetwise charisma that separated them from the heavy, lumbering arena rockers of the era. Toys in the Attic captured the essence of the newly invigorated Aerosmith. "Sweet Emotion," the first single from Toys in the Attic, broke into the Top 40 in the summer of 1975, with the album reaching number 11 shortly afterward. Its success prompted the re-release of the power ballad "Dream On," which shot into the Top Ten in early 1976. Both Aerosmith and Get Your Wings climbed back up the charts in the wake of Toys in the Attic. "Walk This Way," the final single from Toys in the Attic, was released around the time of the group's new 1976 album, Rocks. Although it didn't feature a Top Ten hit like "Walk This Way," Rocks went platinum quickly, peaking at number three. In early 1977, Aerosmith took a break and prepared material for their fifth album. Released late in 1977, Draw the Line was another hit, climbing to number 11 on the U.S. charts, but it showed signs of exhaustion. In addition to another tour in 1978, the band appeared in the movie Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, performing "Come Together," which eventually became a number 23 hit. Live! Bootleg appeared late in 1978 and became another success, reaching number 13. Aerosmith recorded Night in the Ruts in 1979, releasing the record at the end of the year. By the time of its release, <a href="spotify:artist:1SDxIHIJ3wvYiG22xckLKL">Joe Perry</a> had left the band to form <a href="spotify:artist:2y3IS9koZz1AsxC1GfCcoO">the Joe Perry Project</a>. Night in the Ruts performed respectably, climbing to number 14 and going gold, yet it was the least successful Aerosmith record to date. <a href="spotify:artist:3D52QQEgeo7m4YrnXXbJZY">Brad Whitford</a> left the group in early 1980, forming <a href="spotify:artist:5A7giSLT4liBCjDWIf12am">the Whitsford-St. Holmes Band</a> with former <a href="spotify:artist:21ysNsPzHdqYN2fQ75ZswG">Ted Nugent</a> guitarist Derek St. Holmes. As Aerosmith regrouped with new guitarists <a href="spotify:artist:5LzC1THkCOLoOrrKPdHMQm">Jimmy Crespo</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:5r0KIIH77OmJodjzJaGxXt">Rick Dufay</a>, the band released Aerosmith's Greatest Hits in late 1980; the record would eventually sell over six million copies. The new lineup of Aerosmith released Rock in a Hard Place in 1982. Peaking at number 32, it failed to match the performance of Night in the Ruts. <a href="spotify:artist:1SDxIHIJ3wvYiG22xckLKL">Perry</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:3D52QQEgeo7m4YrnXXbJZY">Whitford</a> returned to the band in 1984 and the group began a reunion tour dubbed Back in the Saddle. Early in the tour, <a href="spotify:artist:32zks9ovi0IExzUd1C7W6o">Tyler</a> collapsed on-stage, offering proof that the bandmembers hadn't conquered their notorious drug and alcohol addictions. The following year, Aerosmith released Done with Mirrors, the original lineup's first record since 1979 and their first for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Geffen+Records%22">Geffen Records</a>. Although it didn't perform as well as Rock in a Hard Place, the album showed that the band was revitalized. After the release of Done with Mirrors, <a href="spotify:artist:32zks9ovi0IExzUd1C7W6o">Tyler</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:1SDxIHIJ3wvYiG22xckLKL">Perry</a> completed rehabilitation programs. In 1986, the pair appeared on <a href="spotify:artist:3CQIn7N5CuRDP8wEI7FiDA">Run-D.M.C.</a>'s cover of "Walk This Way," along with appearing in the video. "Walk This Way" became a hit, reaching number four and receiving saturation airplay on MTV. "Walk This Way" set the stage for the band's full-scale comeback effort, the Bruce Fairbairn-produced Permanent Vacation (1987). <a href="spotify:artist:32zks9ovi0IExzUd1C7W6o">Tyler</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:1SDxIHIJ3wvYiG22xckLKL">Perry</a> collaborated with professional hard rock songwriters like <a href="spotify:artist:1fgwMawRD6uZOERzG2SQto">Holly Knight</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:7KgW65389e5w4xWzaVOuCg">Desmond Child</a>, resulting in the hits "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)," "Rag Doll," and "Angel." Permanent Vacation peaked at number 11 and sold over three million copies. Pump, released in 1989, continued the band's winning streak, reaching number five, selling over four million copies, and spawning the Top Ten singles "Love in an Elevator," "Janie's Got a Gun," and "What It Takes." Aerosmith released Get a Grip in 1993. Like Permanent Vacation and Pump, Get a Grip was produced by Bruce Fairbairn and featured significant contributions by professional songwriters. The album was as successful as the band's previous two records, featuring the hit singles "Livin' on the Edge," "Cryin'," and "Amazing." In 1994, Aerosmith released Big Ones, a compilation of hits from their <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Geffen%22">Geffen</a> years that fulfilled their contract with the label; it went double platinum shortly after its release. While Aerosmith was at the height of their revitalized popularity in the early '90s, the group signed a lucrative multi-million-dollar contract with <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Columbia+Records%22">Columbia Records</a>, even though they still owed <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Geffen%22">Geffen</a> two albums. It wasn't until 1995 that the band was able to begin working on their first record under the new contract -- nearly five years after the contract was signed. The making of Aerosmith albums usually had been difficult affairs, but the recording of Nine Lives was plagued with bad luck. The band went through a number of producers and songwriters before settling on Kevin Shirley in 1996. More damaging, however, was the dismissal of the band's manager, Tim Collins, who'd been responsible for bringing the band back from the brink of addiction. Upon his firing, Collins insinuated that <a href="spotify:artist:32zks9ovi0IExzUd1C7W6o">Steven Tyler</a> was using hard drugs again, an allegation that Aerosmith adamantly denied. Under such circumstances, recording became quite difficult, and when Nine Lives finally appeared in the spring of 1997, it was greeted with great anticipation, yet the initial reviews were mixed and even though album debuted at number one, it quickly fell down the charts. The live A Little South of Sanity followed in 1998. Three years later, Aerosmith strutted their stuff on the Super Bowl halftime special on CBS with the likes of <a href="spotify:artist:1XkoF8ryArs86LZvFOkbyr">Mary J. Blige</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2gBjLmx6zQnFGQJCAQpRgw">Nelly</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6Ff53KvcvAj5U7Z1vojB5o">*NSYNC</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:26dSoYclwsYLMAKD3tpOr4">Britney Spears</a>, just prior to issuing their heart-stomping Just Push Play in March 2001. Next up for the band was a blues album, Honkin' on Bobo, released in 2004, along with two live albums/DVDs, You Gotta Move and Rockin' the Joint. Another greatest-hits collection, Devil's Got a New Disguise: The Very Best of Aerosmith arrived in 2006. From there, Aerosmith entered a period of volatility. A world tour followed in 2007 and the group attempted to record a new studio album with producer <a href="spotify:artist:0BG5aq4J5LuJV8kQcGJ336">Brendan O'Brien</a> but the sessions were never finalized. Instead, another tour followed in 2009, this time a supporting jaunt for Aerosmith's own special edition of the Guitar Hero video game. This tour proved to be ill-fated, with <a href="spotify:artist:32zks9ovi0IExzUd1C7W6o">Steven Tyler</a> suffering a leg injury in June, then falling off the stage in August, leading to the cancellation of the subsequent dates. As 2009 came to a close, <a href="spotify:artist:1SDxIHIJ3wvYiG22xckLKL">Joe Perry</a> released a solo album called Have Guitar, Will Travel as <a href="spotify:artist:32zks9ovi0IExzUd1C7W6o">Tyler</a> announced that he was planning on "working on the brand of myself," which included working on an autobiography and a solo album, along with a stint in rehab to wean himself off painkillers prescribed due to his stage injuries. Before <a href="spotify:artist:32zks9ovi0IExzUd1C7W6o">Tyler</a> embarked on solo projects, he returned to the band for a series of concerts in 2010, in the midst of which it was announced that the singer would be a new judge on the televised singing competition American Idol. <a href="spotify:artist:1SDxIHIJ3wvYiG22xckLKL">Perry</a> voiced his dissatisfaction in the press but <a href="spotify:artist:32zks9ovi0IExzUd1C7W6o">Tyler</a>'s time on American Idol helped raise the band's profile, while providing a platform for <a href="spotify:artist:32zks9ovi0IExzUd1C7W6o">Tyler</a>'s memoir, Does the Noise in My Head Bother You? The book performed better than his two solo singles -- 2010's "Love Lives" and 2011's "(It) Feels So Good" -- singles that did not wind up signaling his departure from Aerosmith. <a href="spotify:artist:32zks9ovi0IExzUd1C7W6o">Tyler</a> continued to tour with the band and in 2011 they recorded a new album with producer Jack Douglas, the man who helmed their classic '70s LPs. Originally scheduled for release in summer of 2012, Music from Another Dimension! wound up being pushed back to that year's holiday season, by which time <a href="spotify:artist:32zks9ovi0IExzUd1C7W6o">Tyler</a> had departed his judgeship on American Idol. Aerosmith stayed on the road through 2013 and 2014, releasing such live souvenirs as Rock for the Rising Sun and Aerosmith Rocks Donington during this period. Solo projects kept the various members of the band busy: <a href="spotify:artist:1SDxIHIJ3wvYiG22xckLKL">Joe Perry</a> published his memoir Rocks: My Life in and Out of Aerosmith in 2014 then turned his attention to <a href="spotify:artist:3k4YA0uPsWc2PuOQlJNpdH">Hollywood Vampires</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:32zks9ovi0IExzUd1C7W6o">Steven Tyler</a> released his country-tinged solo album We're All Somebody from Somewhere in 2016, while <a href="spotify:artist:2ZOHHd0I9t0RkbwKp2j4lX">Joey Kramer</a> concentrated on his coffee company, Rockin' & Roastin'. In 2015, several members floated the idea of a farewell tour, but those plans remained in an embryonic stage for a good spell while <a href="spotify:artist:1SDxIHIJ3wvYiG22xckLKL">Perry</a> continued to work in <a href="spotify:artist:3k4YA0uPsWc2PuOQlJNpdH">Hollywood Vampires</a> and released another solo album, Sweetzerland Manifesto, in 2018. That year, the band staged Aerosmith: Deuces are Wild, a Las Vegas residency that ran through 2019; it was postponed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During this period, <a href="spotify:artist:2ZOHHd0I9t0RkbwKp2j4lX">Joey Kramer</a> injured his shoulder. He managed to play the final dates in the Vegas residency but by the time the band returned to the road in 2022, it was announced that <a href="spotify:artist:2ZOHHd0I9t0RkbwKp2j4lX">Kramer</a> would not participate and wanted to focus on his family. After wrapping up their Vegas commitments and holding a long-delayed 50th anniversary concert at Fenway Park in 2022, Aerosmith launched Peace Out: The Farewell Tour in September 2023. After three dates, <a href="spotify:artist:32zks9ovi0IExzUd1C7W6o">Tyler</a> suffered bleeding vocal cords, leading the band to postpone several concert dates until 2024. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi