LUX

"Lux", the fourth studio album from the Spanish performer, Rosalía, is clearly the true definition of world music. This collection of orchestral pop, which took almost three years to complete, boldly expresses ideas involving feminine transformation and spirituality through a variety of languages and musical styles. In the process, Rosalía has crafted an album that is cutting edge and rhythmically complex.

Before she even really began this project, Rosalía spent an extensive period of time learning how to properly sing in various dialects before using Google to help translate her lyrics into each of the fourteen specific languages while also utilizing professional translators. The eighteen tracks on "Lux" (which means "light" in Latin) are separated by four musical movements with many songs inspired by a female Saint.

Recorded in London, Barcelona, Seville, Saint-Rémy, Miami and Los Angeles while featuring production assistance from some of the current top producers working in pop music today like Caroline Shaw, Dylan Wiggins, Noah Goldstein, Pablo "El Guincho" Díaz-Reixa and Pharrell Williams, "Lux" is truly a transcendent work of art. In this era of largely disposable, facile pop music, what Rosalía accomplished with this progressive album through dedicated innovation and incredible endurance is an impressive feat, proving she is an artist on a completely different playing field.

The first single, "Berghain" (which contains lyrics in German, Spanish and English) is about losing one's self to a lover's toxic behavior and features the Icelandic pop artist, Björk and American musician, Yves Tumor. The song was well received, charting high on the pop charts throughout Europe and even appearing on the US chart. Rosalía has recently announced the Lux Tour which will begin in March and will have her traveling across the globe through September to promote the album.

RANDOM SIGHTS + SOUNDS

After being named the season six winner of "American Idol", Jordin Sparks began a whirlwind of a pop music career at only the age of seventeen. It started with a self-titled debut album in 2007, which sold over a million copies and featured two top-ten singles; "Tattoo" and "No Air", a duet with Chris Brown, to appearing on stage (co-starring in the Broadway musical, "In the Heights") and screen (making her film debut in "Sparkle", the 2012 musical remake that features Whitney Houston in her final film role).

Now at the age of thirty-three, Sparks is married and a mother of a five-year-old son. Her career might have cooled down a bit but she's certainly not out of the game. A new single has been released, "Call My Name" which is a mature, intimate r&b ballad, far removed from the sweet pop-soul from her early days. And the music video features a more sensual side of Sparks (who appears with her husband, Dana Isaiah in the steamy clip) than we have previously seen from the singer. This is the first preview of music from her upcoming fifth album which is due out early next year.



Here is some new music to put a spotlight on from social media personality, Jessie Woo; queer electro-pop artist, Bronze Avery; the legendary soul-hip-hip queen, Mary J. Blige; dance-pop star, Dua Lipa and a charity single from Björk featuring Rosalía with proceeds going to combat open-pen fish farming in Iceland.

It's been about eight years since Gossip, the indie rock band made up of Nathan Hondeshell, Hannah Blue and Beth Ditto, called it quits. But time can change perspectives and the trio reunited to do a tour to celebrate the tenth anniversary of their 2009 breakthrough album, "Music for Men". From that gathering on the road, Gossip began to explore the idea of working together again as a band. Enlisting their "Music for Men" producer, Rick Rubin, who encouraged the reunion, they went to on record from thirty to forty songs together. This has led to their sixth album, "Real Power" due out in March. The first single, "Crazy Again" picks up where Gossip left off, with a quirky, electro-pop ballad enhanced by Ditto's unusually muted yet controlled vocals.

And I'm sad to announce that Jean Knight, best known for the sassy, 1971 hit, "Mr. Big Stuff", passed away from natural causes on November 26th at the age of eighty. The New Orleans native began her career finding some local success with several recordings before attracting the attention of producer Wardell Quezergue in 1970. Knight recorded several songs (which included "Big Stuff") with him, but no major labels were initially interested in releasing these demos. But when King Floyd's song, "Groove Me" (also recorded during those sessions with Quezergue) became a number one soul hit in early 1971, a producer at Stax Records remembered another song that Knight had recorded from that time. "Mr. Big Stuff" also went to number one on the r&b chart and reached number two on the pop chart. The song sold over two million copies and Knight went on to receive a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Feamle Vocal Performance. Knight would record several well received albums following this success, but "Big Stuff" would remain the biggest hit of her career.

RANDOM SIGHTS + SOUNDS

After the global critical and commercial success of her dazzling, post-disco collection, "What's Your Pleasure?" from 2020 (which certainly helped us get through the pandemic), Jessie Ware is back with some new music. The British artist has just dropped "Free Yourself", another uplifting dance track with Ware teaming up with renowned electro-pop producer and DJ, Stuart Price (Madonna; Kylie Minogue; The Killers; Dua Lipa) for the first time. The music video for "Free Yourself" is set with Ware being a spiritual leader telling her queer congregation to open up and let their freak flag fly wild and proud. This appears to be the first single from Ware's upcoming fifth studio album although no details have been released. She will be in North America this fall on tour, opening up for Harry Styles on some dates and headlining her own concerts. Be sure to check this amazing artist out if you can.



Here are a few new songs with music videos that deliver the perfect summer vibe:

Built around Rick James' 1981 classic, "Super Freak", Nicki Minaj has released another single with "Super Freaky Girl", a slick, playful track that feels reminiscent of her sound from the early days of her career. This is the fourth song that Minaj has dropped this year (following "Do We Have a Problem?", "Bussin" and "We Go Up") yet there is still no word on when her fifth studio album will be released or if any of these songs will actually appear on this record. Two things we do know is that Minaj will be this year's recipient of the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards on August 28th which she will appear with a live performance. Minaj will also be a part of a six-part HBO Max docu-series about her life very soon although no exact date has been confirmed.

And finally to honor the memory of Lamont Dozier, one third of the songwriting team of Holland–Dozier–Holland, who passed away on August 8th at the age of eighty-one. Dozier, along with brothers Brian and Eddie Holland, was responsible for helping to shape the Motown sound by writing many of the songs for the soul music label that crossed over to become worldwide pop hits. The Detroit born and raised artist had begun his career as a performer yet didn't find much success. By 1962, he teamed up with The Hollands who also hadn't had much luck as singers to write for the local-based recording company. Their first top-ten pop hits were for Martha & The Vandellas with "Come and Get These Memories", "Heatwave", and "Quicksand". But it wasn't until 1964 when the team got their first number one song with "Where Did Our Love Go?" for a struggling girl group on Motown, The Supremes. Holland–Dozier–Holland would go on to write and produce nine more number one songs for the trio as well as for other artists on the label like Marvin Gaye, The Four Tops, the Miracles and The Isley Brothers, eventually amassing twenty-five number one songs during their career.

After the songwriting team left Motown in 1968 over a dispute about profit-sharing and royalties, they founded Invictus and Hot Wax Records which produced hits for acts like Freda Payne, Honey Cone, Chairmen of the Board, and 100 Proof Aged in Soul. Dozier left the Holland brothers in 1973 to work on his own projects, releasing several solo albums as a performer with his most popular charting song being "Trying to Hold on to My Woman" in 1974. He continued to work as a songwriter, returning to the pop charts in 1984 by writing "Invisible", the hit song for British singer, Alison Moyet. He also co-wrote several songs with the British soul group, Simply Red. Dozier teamed up with Phil Collins to write "Two Hearts" for the soundtrack for the 1988 movie, "Buster" (which starred Collins) that was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song. And Holland–Dozier–Holland were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1990. Here is a very small sample of the music co-created by Lamont Dozier:

NEW SOUNDS

ANITTA

Anitta, the trilingual pop star from Brazil, is poised to make her mark on the international stage with her fifth album, "Versions of Me". With one of the top American pop-music producers, Ryan Tedder on board as executive producer, the twenty-nine year old performer born Larissa de Macedo Machado covers a variety of sounds, ranging from reggaetón, alt r&b and electro-pop, to create songs that will certainly appeal to a world-wide audience.

This adventurous collection expertly displays Anitta's skill and versatility, moving comfortably to take us on a musical journey from Brazilian funk to Spanish reggae to English-language pop. To aid Anitta on her quest for pop-music domination, she has enlisted several guest artists from the worlds of hip-hop and r&b to appear on the album which includes Saweetie, Ty Dolla Sign, YG, Khalid and Cardi B.

And the album art of "Versions of Me", which features the singer in different stages before and after several plastic surgery procedures, has sparked a bit of controversy yet Anitta embraces the image, stating that while her face may have been altered, her insides remain the same.







ROSALIA

Another musician setting out to conquer the world is Rosalía. This Spanish pop artist's work is far more offbeat, merging flamenco, pop and reggaetón together in unexpected ways. Rosalia Tobella began her career in music formed in traditional flamenco, studying at the Catalonia College of Music as a teen. In 2016, she met musician and producer, Raul Refree who caught her during a live performance in Barcelona. Rosalía was signed to Universal Music with she and Refree going to work on her debut, "Los Ángeles", a concept album that featured death as it's central theme and used several forms of classic flamenco music. The album was well received and for the 2018 follow-up, "El Mal Querer", Rosalía teamed-up with musician, El Guincho on an album that was far more experimental in sound and concept yet helped take her to the next level of major success in Latin pop music.

Now for her third album, "Motomami", Rosalía has crafted what she says is her most personal album to date. Using reggaetón as a musical base, the singer mixes in unexpected musical elements like electro-beats, avant-jazz and rap while lyrically expressing themes involving love, sexuality and heartbreak. And while Rosalía has found great success with this album as a crossover artist, she has achieved this on her terms, not feeling compelled to perform her music in English. Even The Weeknd, who provides vocals on the track, "La Fama" sings in Spanish.