#41 - Queen of LÉON 🌞

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Here's what we have queued up this week:

1. 🌶️ Review of Almost Healed by Lil Durk.

2. 💿 This Week in Music: Camp Flog Gnaw returns, ChurnUps, and better music metadata.

3. 🔀 Playlist Updates: Curly Savv, Arlo Parks, Emei, Purple Disco Machine.

4. 🎙️ LÉON is our artist of the week.

Rating Rationale: The streets have changed and so has Durk. If you haven’t read our newsletter featuring Durkio, we suggest you read that first for background. Fresh off last year’s mainstream success of 7220, Lil Durk approaches Almost Healed similarly to how Jack Harlow approached Jackman. It reveals a Durk that’s more vulnerable and focused on personal growth, evidenced by the “Therapy Session” Lil Durk has with Alicia Keys and chip-on-the-shoulder lead single, “All My Life” with J. Cole. We applaud Lil Durk’s evolution as an artist as he shows new range, variations in flow, and an unlikely friendship with Morgan Wallen. It’s real family energy, and Durk shines in his collaborative songs. Our primary critique would be that the album could have been approached with more cohesiveness between his “growth” songs and drill songs.

This Week in Music 💿

🏕️ Camp Flog Gnaw: BIG NEWS ALERT 🚨 Tyler, the Creator’s music festival is making a comeback to Dodger Stadium this year (it’s already sold out). Lineup details are to be released soon.

🍞🧈 bread & butter: If you’ve followed the YSL RICO case, then you probably know that the hip-hop community has labeled Gunna as a “snitch” for his controversial plea deal, limiting Young Thug’s chances of freedom. This week, Gunna drops “bread & butter” to address that he was misled by his lawyers to take the plea deal, while also taking shots at previous collaborator, Lil Baby.

❓ Who are the ChurnUps?: Glastonbury announced the final additions to their festival lineup, which include Rick Astley (you know where this link goes), Skepta, Caroline Polachek, Maisie Peters, The Chemical Brothers, Queens of the Stone Age, and most intriguing, the ChurnUps. Who are the ChurnUps? No one knows since they don’t have any online footprint, so we suspect a big-name surprise guest.

🧘‍♀️ Self-Care Girl Summer: Megan Thee Stallion is planning to take time off from music and spend more time on self-care.

🤟 Misery Business: On Wednesday, Hayley Williams brought out long-time superfan, Lil Uzi Vert, during Paramore’s show at Madison Square Garden. This was a big (and surprisingly shy) moment for Uzi, especially after Hayley passed on being a guest feature on one of Uzi’s songs back in 2020 because she didn’t want to get more famous (flex).

🔚 End of an Era: After 150 concerts, Billy Joel has finally decided to end his run at the iconic Madison Square Garden in July of 2024.

📺 You Gotta Watch This: Cross-genre country rap artist, Jelly Roll, might not be a household name yet, but he’s definitely on the rise. A model for positive change, his documentary depicts his journey from incarceration to chasing his dream and inspiring change:

🤑 You’ve Got Money: Independent music distributor, DistroKid, has (finally) released an app for artists to manage their music releases, see streaming statistics, and most importantly, get notifications every time money hits their bank account.

💽 Music Metadata Coalition: Key representatives from the UK music industry have agreed to a two-year pact under the UK government’s Intellectual Property Office to improve digital metadata for song recordings. This should help artists and rights holders be paid more fairly.

🔊 Smart Speaker: Google is on the hook for $32.5 million after losing a smart speaker patent infringement case to Sonos (ahem, Google Chromecast Audio).

☁️ SoundCloud Layoffs: Amid a continued tough macroeconomic environment, SoundCloud is laying off an additional 8% of their staff in hopes to reach profitability by the end of the year.

💰 Securing the Bag: A couple more APAC companies secured the bag this week. Tokyo-based virtual live music event platform, VARK, raised $7.2 million to expand its VR tooling and platform beyond Japan. Singapore-based digital audio workstation, BandLab, raised a $25 million Series B, valuing the company at $425 million.

💎 International Eras: Taylor Swift announced her first set of international dates that will be taking her to Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil, supported by Sabrina Carpenter.

👨‍🎤💃 Real Recognize Real: With Guns N’ Roses kicking off their first show in 2023 in Abu Dhabi this week, it’s a good time to remind everyone that Carrie Underwood is a superfan and that she’ll be opening for them during their Nashville stop. Yes, Carrie Underwood.

🕷️ Spider-Verse: Earlier this week, Metro Boomin revealed all of the artists that are dropping verses in the Multiverse.

🐍 DJ Snake is still in album mode and will soon be in tour mode. Maggie Rogers just wrapped up LP3! Album season also appears to be upon PinkPantheress with hints of a debut studio album soon. Saba and hip-hop producer, No I.D., will be dropping a collab project sometime this summer. Indie artist Becca Mancari will be dropping their upcoming junior album, Left Hand, which will feature Julien Baker of boygenius and Brittany Howard of Alabama Shakes.

🚌 Some notable tours were announced this week: Enrique Iglesias + Pitbull + Ricky Martin (a Latina woman’s dream?), Janelle Monae, Gorillaz, Royal Blood, and Three Days Grace + Chevelle.

🪩 Nelly Furtado releases her first song in five years with DJ and producer, Dom Dolla. Ty Dolla $ign, who plans on dropping an EP this summer, released his single, “Motion.” The Weeknd, Playboi Carti, and Madonna are pretty popular. Dave and Central Cee need a sprinter van for their partying habits. Finally, Cousins Baby Keem and Kendrick Lamar are “The Hillbillies” on Bon Iver sample, “PDLIF.” Check out the video below:

The Sunlighter Playlist 🔀

Artist of the Week: LÉON🎙️

Primer: This Swedish pop singer started in choirs, then was championed by Katy Perry as the “one to watch,” and now is a complete girl boss who runs and releases music through her own record label.

A Whole Lotta LÉON: Lotta Lindgren, professionally known as LÉON, came up with her namesake because she believed one day, if she had a son, she would name him Leon. While it’s still a possibility, for now, it’s her stage name, and she’s owning it.

Born and raised in Stockholm, Sweden, Lotta was raised in a musical family–her father, a composer, and her mother, a bass cellist. Her extended family continuously exposed her to various genres of music (see her influences below).

During high school, Lotta started her own band with a group of friends, which was her first experience writing music and lyrics. That experience prompted her to start creating music on her own. In 2015, she was signed to Columbia Records after her song “Tired of Talking” went viral on SoundCloud.

Current Label: Lotta originally signed and released a series of singles with Columbia Records, but she opted out of her contract in 2019 and partnered with Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) to start her own record label, LÉON Recordings. This gave her full creative control of when and how she releases music.

Genre: Pop

Influences: Motown, Norah Jones, Amy Winehouse, Stevie Nicks, ABBA, Gun-Marie Fredriksson, Janis Joplin, Etta James.

What’s Next?: Last August, LÉON wrapped her 31-stop Fade Into A Dream summer tour across Europe and North America. This upcoming weekend, you’ll find her performing at Gov Ball in New York City. For now, here’s a video of her singing one of our favorite tracks during a tour stop in Silver Spring, MD:

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See ya next Sunday 😎

Chris and Donya