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Laufey
Laufey
“As a musician, my goal is to bring jazz and classical music to my generation,” declares GRAMMY-winning composer, singer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Laufey. In 2022, the Icelandic-Chinese artist’s trailblazing approach paid off, with a performance on Jimmy Kimmel LIVE! in support of her debut album Everything I Know About Love, sold out tours of North America, Asia, and Australia, and she was the most streamed jazz artist on Spotify. The Los Angeles-based Laufey (pronounced lāy-vāy) continued her story by writing and recording Bewitched, her second album. Inspired by jazz greats and classical masters while possessing a point of view that could only be conveyed by a 21st-century twentysomething, Bewitched represents an expansion of Laufey’s sonic palette. Tracks like the breezy bossa nova cut “From the Start” and the smoldering string-assisted ballad “Promise” have classic songcraft and intricate arrangements that make them feel instantly timeless, while Laufey’s conversational lyrics give her music a relatability to the next generation of jazz and classical aficionados. The album has gone on to break the record as the biggest debut for a jazz album on Spotify in history and earned a 2024 GRAMMY win for "Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album." Laufey’s self-assured musicianship and deeply felt lyrics take the idea of “classic” music, whether it’s slotted as classical or jazz—or even chart-topping pop—and humanize it, creating a deep-seated connection.
Gracie Abrams
Gracie Abrams
Shawn Mendes
Shawn Mendes
A Juno-winning and Grammy-nominated pop singer/songwriter who broke records with his debut single, Canada's Shawn Mendes became known to international audiences when he was just 15. His mix of <a href="spotify:artist:6eUKZXaKkcviH0Ku9w2n3V">Ed Sheeran</a>'s and <a href="spotify:artist:1uNFoZAHBGtllmzznpCI3s">Justin Bieber</a>'s styles was a hit from his first single, 2014's "Life of the Party," which made him the youngest artist to land a debut single in the Top 25 in the U.S. His full-length debut, 2015's Handwritten, went to number one in the U.S. and Canada, a feat repeated by releases including 2018's Shawn Mendes and 2020's Wonder. Mendes also found success with stand-alone singles like 2021's <a href="spotify:artist:0GM7qgcRCORpGnfcN2tCiB">Tainy</a> collaboration "Summer of Love" and his solo cut "It'll Be Okay." In 2022, he voiced the lead character and sang on the soundtrack to the musical film Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile. A year later, he offered the climate change-inspired single "What the Hell Are We Dying For?" Born and raised in Pickering, Ontario, in Greater Toronto, Shawn Peter Raul Mendes taught himself guitar at the age of 14. He also sang in his school's glee club and took acting lessons as a teen. After posting a series of cover songs to various video-sharing sites beginning in 2013, he earned a dedicated following. His version of <a href="spotify:artist:5xKp3UyavIBUsGy3DQdXeF">A Great Big World</a>'s "Say Something" won Ryan Seacrest's cover-song contest in April 2014, and Mendes signed to <a href="spotify:artist:1UqvcbBmsHw8rjIZe1WiZl">Island Records</a> a month later. That June, they released the then-15-year-old's debut single "Life of the Party." American radio initially ignored it, but the track entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number 24, making Mendes the youngest artist to land their first single in the Top 25. The song was also included on his four-track <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Island%22">Island</a> debut, The Shawn Mendes EP, which performed well, reaching number five on the Billboard charts and setting the stage for his full-length debut, 2015's Handwritten. Handwritten debuted at number one in the U.S., Canada, and Norway, also reaching the Top Ten in several other European countries. Meanwhile, Mendes had his first U.S. Top Ten hit with third single "Stitches," reaching number four while topping the singles chart in the U.K. In addition, his song "Believe" appeared on the soundtrack for the Disney Channel fantasy musical Descendants. While opening for <a href="spotify:artist:06HL4z0CvFAxyc27GXpf02">Taylor Swift</a> on the North American dates of her 1989 World Tour, Mendes and <a href="spotify:artist:1l8Fu6IkuTP0U5QetQJ5Xt">Fifth Harmony</a>'s <a href="spotify:artist:4nDoRrQiYLoBzwC5BhVJzF">Camila Cabello</a> collaborated on the song "I Know What You Did Last Summer," which was included on a deluxe version of Handwritten that arrived in November 2015. The song reached the Top 20 of the American and Canadian singles charts. Recorded in upstate New York and issued in September 2016, Mendes' second long-player, Illuminate, offered the Top Ten tracks "Treat You Better" and "There's Nothin' Holdin' Me Back." Featuring co-songwriting contributions from <a href="spotify:artist:1YIpZOfyHXMUgUaxxxgbaC">Teddy Geiger</a> and Scott Harris, the album debuted at number one in the U.S. and Canada, and "There's Nothing Holdin' Me Back" went on to win a Juno Award for Single of the Year. Illuminate was followed in December by the digital-only Live at Madison Square Garden. Mendes launched a massive world tour in April 2017, which included a live acoustic session for MTV Unplugged that was released in November. In April 2018, Mendes performed his song "In My Blood" at a concert for Queen Elizabeth II's 92nd birthday at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The track's lyrics explored the songwriter's struggles with anxiety disorder and was later released as the lead single for his third full-length, Shawn Mendes, which arrived in May of that year. Featuring collaborations with <a href="spotify:artist:1YIpZOfyHXMUgUaxxxgbaC">Geiger</a>, it debuted at number one in the U.S., Canada, and Australia and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Vocal Album alongside the lead single's nomination for Song of the Year. In Canada, the eponymous LP collected Juno Awards for Pop Album and Album of the Year, and Mendes won Artist and Songwriter of the Year. "In My Blood" earned him yet another Juno, his second for Single of the Year. A deluxe version of Shawn Mendes followed later in 2019 containing the hit singles "If I Can't Have You" and "Señorita." Again featuring <a href="spotify:artist:4nDoRrQiYLoBzwC5BhVJzF">Camila Cabello</a>, "Señorita" became a global chart-topper that picked up a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. "Wonder," the title track and first single from Mendes' fourth album, went to number 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 after its October 2020 release, while its sequel "Monster" -- a duet with <a href="spotify:artist:1uNFoZAHBGtllmzznpCI3s">Justin Bieber</a> -- peaked at eight. Wonder appeared on December 4, 2020, reaching number one in both the U.S. and Canada. A non-album collaboration with <a href="spotify:artist:0GM7qgcRCORpGnfcN2tCiB">Tainy</a>, "Summer of Love," arrived in August 2021, followed a few months later by the solo track "It'll Be Okay." The singles continued the following year with "When You're Gone." Mendes voiced the titular anthropomorphic saltwater crocodile in the family musical film Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile (2022), for which he also contributed the songs "Carried Away" and "Heartbeat," among others. In June 2023, Mendes issued the track "What the Hell Are We Dying For?" Written and recorded only days before its release, the song was centered around the effects of climate change, and its cover depicted the New York skyline through the orange haze smoke from devastating Canadian wildfires. ~ Marcy Donelson & David Jeffries, Rovi
Dua Lipa
Dua Lipa
Inspired by Dua’s own self-discovery, Radical Optimism (out May 3) is the third album from 3x GRAMMY and 7x BRIT Award-winning pop powerhouse Dua Lipa. Radical Optimism taps into the pure joy and happiness of having clarity in situations that once seemed impossible to face. The hard goodbyes and vulnerable beginnings that previously threatened to crush your soul, become milestones as you choose optimism and start to move with grace through the chaos. Rolling Stone has called the album “pop bliss,” while noting it is “uniquely and utterly Dua Lipa: confident dance pop full of witty Instagram-caption-ready one-liners.” Radical Optimism follows Dua' sophomore album Future Nostalgia, which solidified her position as both a critical and commercial success. The GRAMMY-winning record was the longest running top 10 album by a female artist on the Billboard 200 in 2021 and spawned multiple worldwide hit singles, with “Levitating” earning certified diamond status and the title of Billboard’s No. 1 Hot 100 Song of 2021. Dua’s eponymous 2017 debut album is certified platinum, spawned six platinum tracks, and made her the first female artist in BRIT Awards history to pick up five nominations in a single year. Dua has 10 GRAMMY nominations with three wins. Globally, she has amassed over 40 billion streams across platforms and has the top two most streamed albums by a female artist of all time on Spotify.
Olivia Rodrigo
Olivia Rodrigo
After shattering records with her chart-topping, 4x Platinum debut album SOUR – the fastest album in history to have all of its songs certified RIAA Platinum or higher – Olivia Rodrigo makes a monumental return with her new album GUTS, revealing newly heightened sophistication as a vocalist and lyricist. Produced by and co-written with Daniel Nigro (her main creative partner on SOUR), each song intensifies the emotional honesty that’s always imbued her storytelling. Rodrigo expands her expressive palette, uncovering entirely new dimensions of her artistry, as exemplified by lead single “vampire.” Hailed by Pitchfork as the “Best New Track” upon release, “vampire” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 – as did SOUR hits “drivers license” and “good 4 u,” making Rodrigo the first artist ever to debut the lead singles from two career-opening albums atop the prestigious chart. The 20-year-old is the youngest artist in Hot 100 history to debut three hits at No. 1. Named the #1 Album of 2021 by Rolling Stone and hailed as one of the Best Albums of 2021 by The New York Times, among others, SOUR is now triple Platinum in the U.S. and has sold over 16.8 million global album adjusted units with over 66 billion streams worldwide. She received seven GRAMMY® Award nominations—including nods in each of the Big Four categories—and took home awards for Best New Artist, Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Pop Solo Performance at the 64th GRAMMY® Awards.
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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Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift is that rarest of pop phenomena: a superstar who managed to completely cross over from country to the mainstream. Others have performed similar moves -- notably, <a href="spotify:artist:32vWCbZh0xZ4o9gkz4PsEU">Dolly Parton</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:5W5bDNCqJ1jbCgTxDD0Cb3">Willie Nelson</a> both became enduring pop culture icons based on their 1970s work -- but Swift shed her country roots like they were a second skin; it was a necessary molting to reveal she was perhaps the sharpest, savviest populist singer/songwriter of her generation, one who could harness the zeitgeist, make it personal and, just as impressively, perform the reverse. These skills were evident on her earliest hits, especially the neo-tribute "Tim McGraw," but her second album, 2008's Fearless, showcased a songwriter discovering who she was and, in the process, finding a mass audience. Fearless wound up having considerable legs not only in the U.S., where it racked up six platinum singles on the strength of the Top Ten hits "Love Story" and "You Belong with Me," but throughout the world, performing particularly well in the U.K., Canada, and Australia. Speak Now, delivered almost two years later, consolidated that success and moved Swift into the stratosphere of superstardom. Her popularity only increased over her next three albums -- Red (2012), 1989 (2014), Reputation (2017) -- and found her moving assuredly into a pop realm where she already belonged. Even when she scaled back her approach with 2020's stripped-down sibling releases folklore and Evermore, she remained atop the pop world, a position she maintained with re-recordings of her back catalog along with Midnights, a moody album released in 2022. This sense of confidence had been apparent in Taylor Swift since the beginning. The daughter of two bankers -- her father, Scott Kingsley Swift, worked at Merrill Lynch; her mother, Andrea, spent time as a mutual fund marketing executive -- Swift was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, and raised in suburban Wyomissing. She began to show interest in music at the age of nine, and <a href="spotify:artist:5e4Dhzv426EvQe3aDb64jL">Shania Twain</a> wound up as her biggest formative influence. Swift started to work regularly at local talent contests, eventually winning a chance to open for <a href="spotify:artist:6UpFUXmXvDV7Qj1SPymamh">Charlie Daniels</a>. Soon, she learned how to play guitar and began writing songs, signing a music management deal with Dan Dymtrow; her family relocated to Nashville with the intent of furthering her music career. She was just 14 years old but on the radar of the music industry, signing a development deal with <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22RCA+Records%22">RCA Records</a> in 2004. Swift sharpened her skills with a variety of professional songwriters, forming the strongest connections with <a href="spotify:artist:7pcKyVIatvXoHdZRr4Q3vT">Liz Rose</a>. Taylor's original songs earned her a deal with Sony/ATV Music Publishing, but not long after that 2004 deal she parted ways with Dymtrow and <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22RCA%22">RCA</a>, all with the intent of launching her recording career now, not later. Things started moving swiftly once Swift came to the attention of Scott Borchetta, a former <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22DreamWorks+Records%22">DreamWorks Records</a> exec about to launch <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Big+Machine+Records%22">Big Machine Records</a>. Borchetta saw Swift perform at a songwriters showcase at the Bluebird Cafe and he signed her to <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Big+Machine%22">Big Machine</a> in 2005; shortly afterward, she started work on her debut with producer Nathan Chapman, who'd previously helmed demos for Taylor. Boasting original song credits on every one of the record's 11 songs (she penned three on her own), Taylor Swift appeared in October 2006 to strong reviews and Swift made sure to work the album hard, appearing at every radio or television event offered and marshaling a burgeoning fan base through the use of MySpace. "Tim McGraw," the first song from the album, did well, but "Teardrops on My Guitar" and "Our Song" did better on both the pop and country charts, where she racked up five consecutive Top Ten singles. Other successes followed in the wake of the debut -- a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist (she lost to <a href="spotify:artist:6Q192DXotxtaysaqNPy5yR">Amy Winehouse</a>), stopgap EPs of Christmas songs -- but Swift concentrated on delivering her sophomore set, Fearless. Appearing in November 2008, Fearless was certified gold by the RIAA in its first week of release, and the record gained momentum throughout 2009, earning several platinum certifications as "Love Story," "White Horse," "You Belong with Me," "Fifteen," and "Fearless" all scaled the upper reaches of the country charts while "You Belong with Me" nearly topped Billboard's Hot 100. Along with the success came some headlines, first in the form of an infamous appearance at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards where her acceptance speech was interrupted by <a href="spotify:artist:5K4W6rqBFWDnAN6FQUkS6x">Kanye West</a>, who burst on-stage to declare that Swift's rival <a href="spotify:artist:6vWDO969PvNqNYHIOW5v0m">Beyoncé</a> deserved the award more, but her romances also started gaining attention, notably a liaison with Twilight star Taylor Lautner, who appeared with the singer in the 2009 film Valentine's Day. Her flirtation with the silver screen proved brief, as she then poured herself into her third album, Speak Now. Released in October 2010, Speak Now was another massive first-week smash that refused to lose momentum. Hit singles like "Mine" and "Mean," which won two Grammy Awards, played a big factor in its success not just on the country charts but on pop radio as well. Following a 2011 live album called World Tour Live: Speak Now, Swift turned toward following a pop path on her fourth album, hiring such mainstream musicians as <a href="spotify:artist:045EiHd7X7cCjlamF0LV2M">Dan Wilson</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:7qKoy46vPnmIxKCN6ewBG4">Butch Walker</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:26dSoYclwsYLMAKD3tpOr4">Britney Spears</a> producer <a href="spotify:artist:4e1KgW8FCqVytLFSzEYEKo">Max Martin</a>. This mainstream pulse was evident on "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together," the first single from Red. Upon its October 2012 release, Red shattered expectations by selling over a million copies in its first week, a notable achievement that was doubly impressive in an era of declining sales. Once again, Swift's album had legs: it was certified platinum four times in the U.S. and its international sales outstripped those of Speak Now. She supported Red with an international tour in 2013 and more hits came, including "I Knew You Were Trouble" and "22." As Swift geared up for the release of her fifth album in 2014, she made it clear that 1989 was designed as her first "documented, official" pop album and that there would be no country marketing push for the record. "Shake It Off," an ebullient dance-pop throwback, hit number one upon its August 2014 release. When 1989 appeared in late October 2014, it once again shot to number one and became her third straight album to sell one million copies in its first week (a new record for any artist). Swift gathered many awards during the subsequent year, including Billboard's Woman of the Year, the Award for Excellence at the American Music Awards, and a special 50th Anniversary Milestone Award from the CMAs. Her 1989 World Tour crossed Asia, North America, and Europe during the last half of 2015, and she won three Grammy Awards at the 2016 ceremonies, including Album of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Album, and Best Music Video for "Bad Blood." At the end of 2016, she released "I Don't Wanna Live Forever," a duet with ZAYN from the soundtrack for Fifty Shades Darker. The single reached the Top Five across the world. Swift returned with her sixth album, Reputation, in November 2017. Preceded by the number one hit single "Look What You Made Me Do," Reputation debuted at number one, and while it didn't replicate the success of 1989, the album did help underscore her popularity while also pushing her toward mature musicality. Reputation was Swift's final record for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Big+Machine%22">Big Machine</a>. In November 2018, she signed with <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Universal+Music+Group%22">Universal Music Group</a>, which distributed her new albums under its <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Republic+Records%22">Republic Records</a> banner. The first album in this contract was Lover. Released in August 2019, Lover was preceded by two singles, "Me!" and "You Need to Calm Down," which both reached number two on the Hot 100 and helped push the album to number one. The acclaimed LP and two of its singles received a total of three nominations at the 62nd Grammy Awards. Swift's plans to support Lover with a tour in 2020 were scrapped due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With some unexpected time on her hands, she wrote and recorded a new set of songs, many in collaboration with <a href="spotify:artist:2hSyEBc9TBb9j38FOCdkIf">Aaron Dessner</a> of <a href="spotify:artist:2cCUtGK9sDU2EoElnk0GNB">the National</a>; <a href="spotify:artist:4LEiUm1SRbFMgfqnQTwUbQ">Bon Iver</a> and longtime Swift associate <a href="spotify:artist:414TS3VqZf1XPCBixdmX9n">Jack Antonoff</a> also contributed. The resulting album, folklore, was released on July 24, 2020, and went straight to the top of the Billboard 200. Less than five months later, Swift released a companion album to folklore called Evermore. Featuring many of the same collaborators as its predecessor, the Grammy-nominated Evermore debuted at number one upon its December 11, 2020 release. Altogether, the sibling LPs planted Swift atop the U.S. charts for a combined 11 weeks, and folklore became the best-selling album of 2020. In 2021, she began the process of re-recording her back catalog after her <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Big+Machine%22">Big Machine</a> masters were sold off in 2019, starting with 2008's Fearless. The first of these tracks -- "Love Story (Taylor's Version)" -- arrived that February, with Fearless [Taylor's Version] arriving in April. The new version of Fearless contained cameos from <a href="spotify:artist:6aZyMrc4doVtZyKNilOmwu">Colbie Caillat</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0u2FHSq3ln94y5Q57xazwf">Keith Urban</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:6WY7D3jk8zTrHtmkqqo5GI">Maren Morris</a>, along with several previously unheard tunes originally written during the same time period; it debuted at number one on Billboard upon its release. Swift next revisited Red, releasing Red [Taylor's Version] in November 2021. This revamp of the 2012 album featured new duets with <a href="spotify:artist:1r1uxoy19fzMxunt3ONAkG">Phoebe Bridgers</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4YLtscXsxbVgi031ovDDdh">Chris Stapleton</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:6eUKZXaKkcviH0Ku9w2n3V">Ed Sheeran</a>, along with a ten-minute version of the ballad "All Too Well." Another re-recording, "This Love (Taylor's Version)" (originally off 1989), arrived in May 2022 and was included in the soundtrack to the coming-of-age drama The Summer I Turned Pretty. Swift opened up another chapter in her career with the October 2022 release of Midnights, an album co-produced by <a href="spotify:artist:414TS3VqZf1XPCBixdmX9n">Jack Antonoff</a> and featuring a duet with <a href="spotify:artist:00FQb4jTyendYWaN8pK0wa">Lana Del Rey</a> on "Snow on the Beach." ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Albums
Happier Than Ever
Album · Billie Eilish
Starboy
Album · The Weeknd
AM
Album · Arctic Monkeys
Midnights
Album · Taylor Swift
Harry's House
Album · Harry Styles
folklore
Album · Taylor Swift
Shawn Mendes (Deluxe)
Album · Shawn Mendes
SOUR
Album · Olivia Rodrigo
Future Nostalgia
Future Nostalgia
Dua Lipa
Dua Lipa
THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT
THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT
reputation
reputation
Favorites
Let It Happen
Let It Happen
Piece Of You
Piece Of You
About You
Song · The 1975
Billie Bossa Nova
Billie Bossa Nova
obsessed
obsessed
so american
so american
get him back!
get him back!
right where you left me
right where you left me
illicit affairs (the long pond studio sessions)
illicit affairs (the long pond studio sessions)
False God
False God
imgonnagetyouback
imgonnagetyouback
I Can See You (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault)
I Can See You (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault)
"Slut!" (Taylor's Version) (From The Vault)
"Slut!" (Taylor's Version) (From The Vault)
You Belong With Me (Taylor’s Version)
You Belong With Me (Taylor’s Version)
Glitch
Glitch
Dancing with Our Hands Tied
Dancing with Our Hands Tied
A Kiss
Song · THE DRIVER ERA
Live
Back To You
Song · THE DRIVER ERA
I Wish You Love
I Wish You Love
Let You Break My Heart Again
Track · Laufey, Philharmonia Orchestra
Sparks
Sparks
