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Ariana Grande
Ariana Grande
Armed with a mesmerizing, nimble soprano—and a vocal register often likened to Mariah Carey’s and Christina Aguilera’s—Ariana Grande began her career as a child star on Broadway and Nickelodeon before transforming into a pop and R&B powerhouse. Instantly recognizable thanks to her signature ponytail, cat ears, babydoll dresses, and breezy self-confidence, her slyly sexual personal brand has, like that of the Spice Girls before her, become an iconic image of young female power. But Grande is more than a symbol: Over the course of several albums and scores of hit singles—beginning with 2013’s “The Way” (featuring Mac Miler) through The Weeknd-assisted “Love Me Harder” and “Break Free” (featuring Zedd)—she has consistently outshined her male collaborators and deftly parlayed her stardom into activism. An LGBTQ advocate and outspoken feminist (“I’m tired of living in a world where women are mostly referred to as a man’s past, present, or future PROPERTY,” she tweeted in 2016), she uses her platform to confront issues like misogyny, sexism, homophobia, and bullying, spreading a message of love over all. Nowhere was this more clear than in May 2017: After terrorists attacked her concert in Manchester, England, killing 22 and injuring hundreds, Grande continued her tour. "Perspective changes your life,” she told Beats 1’s Ebro Darden. "You want to stay in the moment and try not to give into fear, because obviously the whole point of finishing the tour was being there for my fans. You want to set the same example and keep going.” And that she did: Her Max Martin-produced smash “No Tears Left to Cry,” an escapist dance-floor triumph released a year after the attack, sends a message of hope and healing, with a dose of hear-me-roar attitude.
Cigarettes After Sex
Cigarettes After Sex
Ten years ago Greg Gonzalez was having a really rough Valentine’s Day. Freshly heartbroken with no hope of reconciliation, he spent two hours driving from his hometown El Paso to play a show, and he listened to Sade’s “By Your Side” on repeat both ways. “The experience that day stuck in my bones—it was an idea that I couldn’t forget,” says Gonzalez, the frontman of Cigarettes After Sex. “I thought, how do I make a record that feels like that?” With each record—the initial 2012 EP, 2017’s eponymous debut album, and 2019’s Cry— Gonzalez has been faithful to his muse: love. In raw, imagistic vignettes set to entrancing, slow-burn pop songs, Gonzalez captures every emotion a romantic arc inspires. But where previous albums have drawn from an amalgam of relationships, for the most part, their third, eagerly anticipated LP, X’s, centralises on just one relationship that spanned four years.
Billie Eilish
Billie Eilish
Billie Eilish remains one of the biggest stars to emerge in the 21st century. Her third studio album, HIT ME HARD AND SOFT features 10 tracks written and recorded in her hometown of Los Angeles, with her brother and producer FINNEAS. In 2019, her debut album WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? debuted at No. 1 in 18 countries, and was the most streamed album of that year. In 2021, her sophomore album 'Happier Than Ever’ debuted at #1 in 20 countries. Both albums were critically acclaimed worldwide and were written, produced, and recorded entirely by Billie Eilish and FINNEAS. 9-time GRAMMY® Award-winning Billie Eilish has made history as the youngest artist to receive nominations and win in all the major GRAMMY® categories, receiving an award for Best New Artist, Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Vocal Album, and is the youngest artist to write and record an official James Bond theme song, ‘No Time To Die,’ which won an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2022. In 2023, Eilish also wrote and released the critically acclaimed song “What Was I Made For?” for the Greta Gerwig-directed motion picture Barbie, which also won Academy and Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song, two GRAMMY® Awards for Song of the Year and Best Song Written For Visual Media, and has solidified Billie Eilish yet again in the history books as the youngest person ever to win two Academy Awards.
Lana Del Rey
Lana Del Rey
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