#79 - Scatterbrain 🌞

Happy Sunlighter Sunday! Coming to you live, a little later than usual–thanks, Daylight Savings. Hope the anticipation of the countless new albums coming this week (check our Calendar section below for the full list) helps make your Sundays less scary.

Rating Rationale: From Dolly Parton releasing a rock album to the return of Blink-182, it’s become clear in the last six months that the resurgence of rock is more than just a temporary trend. This year, we’ve covered The Smile’s latest album, and today, we’re spotlighting IDLES, a British rock band returning with their fifth studio album, TANGK. The album’s namesake is what Partisan Records calls, “an onomatopoeic reference to the lashing way the band imagined their guitars sounding,” and the album delivers exactly this. From an angelic piano cadence in the introductory track to an even mix of indie rock ballads, this album is a cohesive blend for indie rock lovers everywhere. Look out for the LCD Soundsystem collaboration, but the standout track is “Gift Horse.”

Shawn Mendes returns to live performances, festival season in full swing

Pop and Shawn Mendes fans, rejoice. Earlier this week, he announced his return to the big stage at this year’s Rock In Rio 2024 festival. Aside from a few performances with friends on tour (Ed Sheeran, Niall Horan), this will mark Shawn’s first live performance since he canceled his 2022 world tour in support of his most recent album, Wonder.

For those interested in rock, alternative, and country music, New Jersey’s Sea.Hear.Now features headliners, Bruce Springsteen and Noah Kahan, Ireland's All Together Now Festival boasts headliners, The National and Jorja Smith, Portland’s Project Pabst lineup includes The Strokes and The War on Drugs, and London's BST Hyde Park will showcase a variety of genres within its lineup across three weeks, including country star Morgan Wallen, who will be headlining the July 4th show.

For hip-hop and R&B fans, J. Cole’s Dreamville Festival will include headliners SZA, Nicki Minaj, and Chris Brown.

In the electronic dance music (EDM) category, Hard Summer will feature exciting collaborative shows that include REZZMAU5 and FISHER + Chris Lake: Under Construction.

Drake extends tour with Lil Wayne, Ice Spice’s Y2K is done, Zayn Malik teases new single Friday

Drake and Lil Wayne announced final tour dates for their highly anticipated Big As the What? tour, marking a significant collaboration between the hip-hop icons. Ice Spice confirmed the completion of her Y2K album, but we’re still waiting on a release date. Finally, Zayn Malik teased his upcoming single, “What I Am,” with a mysterious trailer, building anticipation among fans eager for new music from the former One Direction member.

Lauren Mayberry releases another single, girl in red teases upcoming sophomore album

Lauren Mayberry, lead vocalist of CHVRCHES, released a new solo single titled "Change Shapes," showcasing her versatility and artistry outside of the band's sound. Meanwhile, indie pop artist girl in red dropped her latest single "DOING IT AGAIN BABY" from her upcoming second album, offering fans a glimpse into the highly anticipated project.

Emei

Primer: Raised in New Jersey by immigrant parents, Chinese-American singer, Emei (Emily Li), started her singing career at the early age of nine before catapulting to a third-place finish on Chinese Idol six years later. After gaining momentum overseas in China, she began developing her American fanbase while writing and releasing her purposefully raw, angst-filled music during the pandemic. Reminiscent of Olivia Rodrigo’s emotions-on-her-sleeve lyricism, we expect Emei to continue leveraging her self-proclaimed perfectionism to help her move toward the forefront of the Gen-Z alt-pop movement.

Genre: Pop

Influences: Taylor Swift, Sara Bareilles, Ingrid Michaelson, Amy Winehouse

Current Label: Amuse

Audience: ~2.43 million monthly listeners on Spotify

What’s Next: After releasing her debut album, Scatterbrain, last October, Emei will be wrapping up her shows in the U.S. on April 14th before playing six shows in Europe. However, touring hasn’t stopped her from releasing new music; in February, she dropped her first single of the year, “Love Me Not.”

🍎 Anti-Competitive Fines: Apple has been fined $1.95 billion by the EU for alleged anti-competitive practices related to its App Store rules for music streaming services. Spurring from a complaint issued by Spotify in 2019, Apple has claimed Spotify is the biggest beneficiary of its App Store, so it plans to appeal the fine. In the meantime, check out Spotify CEO Daniel Ek’s take on the decision here.

🌊 The Tide Is High: Tidal has consolidated its HiFi and HiFi Plus subscription tiers into a single $11 per month plan. This move aims to simplify Tidal's subscription options and provide users with access to high-fidelity audio at a more affordable price point, potentially attracting a broader audience to its platform.

✂️ Splice Up Your Life: Splice, a music creation platform, has launched a new mobile app experience powered by AI technology, aiming to provide users with more intuitive and efficient music-making tools. The app offers features such as automatic sample key detection, tempo detection, and chord analysis, allowing musicians to streamline their creative process and produce high-quality music directly from their smartphones.

👾 Not Oculus, But: Opulous has introduced a new tool called "Driven" designed to simplify music royalties calculation by leveraging AI technology. The tool aims to streamline royalty processes for music creators by automating calculations based on streaming revenue, sync placements, and performance royalties, ultimately providing artists with more accurate and efficient royalty tracking and payment solutions.

🌐 Web3 Updates: Coachella tests the waters with NFTs, this time with OpenSea. Rock band Interpol launched a fan club on Medallion. Privy is now supporting on-chain music developers by helping them onboard via Spotify.

📉 Decline of Hipgnosis: The valuation of Hipgnosis Songs Fund's assets has decreased by $690 million, representing a substantial decline, which could attract interest from investors like Blackstone looking for potential acquisitions or investment opportunities in the music industry.

💰 AIMP Takes a Stand: The Association of Independent Music Publishers (AIMP) released a statement expressing apprehension regarding TikTok's licensing practices concerning independent publishers. AIMP urged TikTok to ensure fair and transparent licensing agreements that adequately compensate independent publishers for their music on the platform.

💸 Invest in Royalties: The music royalties trading platform JKBX has launched with approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), enabling investors to trade music royalties as financial assets. JKBX aims to provide a regulated marketplace for buying and selling music royalties, offering a new avenue for investors to participate in the music industry's revenue streams. We spy a direct Royal competitor…

❤️ Romantic Success: d4vd showcases BandLab’s successful music lifecycle by surpassing 1 billion Spotify streams with “Romantic Homicide,” a song that was fully recorded, mastered, and published on the BandLab mobile app. 

💰 Securing the Bag: A mysterious entity, known only as "Company X," is prompting speculation about its identity and intentions within the industry as it gears up to go head-to-head with investment firms EQT and TCV to purchase Believe. Meanwhile, HYBE, the South Korean entertainment company behind BTS, acquired a $78 million stake in SM Entertainment from K-pop pioneer Lee Soo-man, further solidifying HYBE's position in the competitive K-pop market. Finally, music AI startup Hook has expanded its seed funding round to $3.5 million and formed an advisory board as it enters its private beta phase.

TWICE and LE SSERAFIM lead K-Pop chart takeover

📈 K-Pop continues to show its fan strength within the United States. The nine-woman K-Pop group, TWICE, dominated the charts this week, achieving their first #1 on the Billboard 200 with EP, With YOU-th, along with a blockbuster sales week, selling more than 90,000 equivalent units, almost double Usher’s 2024 sales record for his album, Coming Home. LE SSERAFIM ranked second in album sales this week with their EP, EASY.

Busy album release week: Justin Timberlake, Kacey Musgraves, Tierra Whack, and others

📅 For upcoming albums, tours, and festivals access our comprehensive music calendar here.

📣 Album Announcements: to be honest, Tenille Arts’ upcoming album will drop on May 2. Scotty McCreery says his fifth studio album, Rise and Fall, will also arrive this May.

⏩ Here are album releases to look out for this week: 

1. Justin Timberlake, Everything I Thought It Was

2. Kacey Musgraves, Deeper Well

3. Tierra Whack, WORLD WIDE WHACK

4. Holly Humberstone, work in progress

5. Four Tet, Three

6. ZHU, GRACE

7. Kenny Mason, 9

8. Rezz, CAN YOU SEE ME?

9. Lenny Kravitz, Blue ElectricLight

10. Yung Lean, Psykos

11. Germ, EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY

12. The Dandy Warhols, Rockmaker

13. DragonForce, Warp Speed Warriors

The Merch Table

• 📕 Quest for Hip-Hop: Questlove has announced the release date for his upcoming book, "Hip-Hop is History," promising an insightful exploration of the genre's evolution and cultural impact.

• 👟 Ye Kicks Return: Adidas has quietly resumed sales of its popular Yeezy sneakers after temporarily suspending them.

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See ya next Sunday 😎

Chris and Donya