NEW SOUNDS

NORMANI

After this former Fifth Harmony member has been contributing her vocals to several successful singles for other artists, Normani has just dropped her first solo single, "Motivation". As the first taste of her long-awaited debut album, this track (co-written with Ariana Grande and producers, Max Martin and Ilya Salmanzadeh who produced this song) is taking us back with a slick, hip-hop flavored soul vibe that ruled the charts back in the '90's. And the music video for "Motivation" continues the homage with a tribute to the dance videos by some of the female artists who reigned in the 1990's.



MISSY ELLIOTT

Missy Elliott, one of the most unique and influential voices in hip-hop has finally returned with some new music. "Iconology" is the forty-eight year old rap legend's first collection of songs in fourteen years. With her long-time collaborator, Timbaland and Will Hendrix assisting her with production on this EP, Elliott has delivered four genre-bending songs that perfectly pick-up where she left off. The timing of this release is probably no coincidence since Elliott will be honored on Monday, August 26th with the Video Vanguard Award during the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards. Check out the ballad, "Why I Still Love You" and the video for "Throw it Back" which displays Elliott's eccentric style and visual innovation that helped earn her this award:

And we close with Ariana Grande who has somehow manged to become even bigger this year. The twenty-six year old pop sensation has yet another smash hit single with "boyfriend" that she has teamed up with Michael "Mikey" Foster and Charles "Scootie" Anderson of the production team and musical duo, Social House. This woozy pop-r&b jam is about not trying to label a relationship and redefine the concept of a romantic partnership. "boyfriend" is from Social House's debut extended play, "Everything Changed..." and the song could possibly be hitting close to home with rumors floating around that Grande is dating Foster.

THE 100 BEST SONGS OF 1969

Woodstock. The Manson Family murders. The Apollo 11 moon landing. The Stonewall riots. These were just some of the life-changing, mind-altering and Earth-shaking events that occurred fifty years ago this year. And this was the year when we began to see a shift in popular music. The era of factory-written, easy-listening expressions of life and love was being pushed away by singer/songwriters who were pushing the envelope to fuse together musical genres and communicate with unconventional ideas.

The staff of Billboard magazine have put together a list of the best one hundred songs that were released and charted in the year of 1969. As I went through the list (and I was a seven year old during this year), I found many songs that I loved and some that I had never heard of before. But what they all have in common is that they are all inventive and creative songs that helped shape and define a generation.

Click below to read the article:

The 100 Best Songs of 1969

And here are a few songs from this list that are my all-time favorites:

99. Friends of Distinction - "Grazing in the Grass"



89. Cass Elliot - "Make Your Own Kind of Music"



67. Blood, Sweat & Tears - "Spinning Wheel"



56. Tommy James and the Shondells - "Crystal Blue Persuasion"



44. Laura Nyro - "Save the Country"



24. The Foundations - "Build Me Up Buttercup"



5. Isaac Hayes - "Walk on By"

THE NEW ANTI-POP STAR

One of the hottest performers to have emerged this year is Billie Eilish, a seventeen year old Los Angeles native who just reached number one on the Billboard Pop Songs Airplay chart with her hit, "bad guy". She began her music career in the modern way by posting a song on social media that progressively helped build a following. In 2015, a fourteen year old Eilish recorded "Ocean Eyes", an atmospheric ballad written by her musician brother, Finneas O'Connell (who also co-wrote and produced her debut album, "When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?"), which found modest international success. More singles and an EP followed which lead to Eilish being signed to Interscope Records and her first album was dropped last March which reached number one of the Billboard Album chart.

Eilish refreshingly has no interest in falling in line with what is expected of a pop star, particularly a female vocalist. Dark, brooding and offbeat, she often wears oversized clothing, wildly colored hair and toys with goth imagery. And her music features provocative and confrontational lyrics paired with bold, distinctive beats. While the young singer does bring to mind Lorde and Lana Del Rey with her quirky and ethereal vocals, Eilish is far edgier and delivers her own singular style. Here are a few of Eilish's singles including "lovely", her duet with Khalid and the video for breakout single, "Ocean Eyes":

SUMMER GIRL

While it would seem late in the season to release a song about summer, this terrific new single by the sister act, Haim is not exactly referring to the weather. "Summer Girl" was actually inspired by the band's producer Ariel Rechtshaid (who is also Danielle Haim's boyfriend) and his early-stage cancer diagnosis. She wanted to be his "summer girl" to bring him hope and light when he was feeling down during treatment and a song was created. The sisters enlisted musician, Rostam Batmanglij (formerly of Vampire Weekend) for help on the track and he contributed the distinctive saxophone part. Although they later felt it was a little too similar to the sound of Lou Reed's "Walk On The Wild Side", Haim resolved that by giving the late rocker a songwriting credit. And Rechtshaid himself added a few touches to complete the track. Take a look at the whimsical music video for "Summer Girl" directed by filmmaker, Paul Thomas Anderson and was shot at some sites familiar to L.A. residents at the New Beverly Cinema, Canter's Deli and on Ventura Blvd: