Introduced to the world as a bubbly TikTok influencer, the singer/dancer/actor spent 2024 pulling off what looked like a total reinvention—screaming over the remix of mentor Charli xcx’s “Von dutch” remix, then releasing the steamy “Diet Pepsi,” a single charming enough to seduce even the doubters. In fact, Addison Rae was just reintroducing herself. “I always knew that I wanted to make music, I knew I wanted to perform,” Rae tells Apple Music’s Zane Lowe. “That was something that was really obvious to me since I was a little girl.” And TikTok was the best way for a teenager from Lafayette, Louisiana, to catapult herself into the seemingly inaccessible world of showbiz. Pursuing her pop-star dreams in LA studio sessions to write the songs that would become her first EP (2023’s polarizing *AR*), Rae found herself deferring to the professionals. “When I moved here and started doing sessions, I was like, ‘I need as much guidance as possible,’” she says. “Then, over time, I really started to lean on myself. I really started to lean on my abilities.” In February 2024, Rae met songwriter/producers Elvira Anderfjärd and Luka Kloser (both part of the publishing camp of Swedish pop powerhouse Max Martin) and wrote the effervescent hook of “Diet Pepsi” that same day. “\[‘Diet Pepsi’\] was such a natural beginning to all of this,” says Rae. “I think it was a perfect introduction in so many ways.” Cue a string of curveball singles, each one presenting an unexpected new facet, from the moody, minor-key “High Fashion” to the Björk-inspired “Headphones On.” It feels apt, then, that her debut album drops the “Rae” and simply goes by *Addison*—a collection of dreamy, intense pop songs that sound like self-discovery, tied together less by genre than by mood. Tracks like “Fame Is a Gun” and “Money Is Everything” expertly straddle camp and sincerity: “You’ve got a front-row seat, and I/I got a taste of the glamorous life!” she winks on the former, a dizzy synth-pop number on the perils of hitting the big time. The songs on *Addison* are not exactly club bangers, though they’re informed by Rae’s childhood as a dancer; nor are any of them obvious hits. But Rae relished the opportunity to let her creative instincts run wild. “Once you start playing it safe, feeling like, ‘Okay, I’m going to respond with what people want,’ you lose all your freedom,” she says. “You lose all desire for the whole purpose of starting it, and feeling like it’s a form of expression and a reflection. It’s more scary to let that go and give people exactly what they think they want.” As for what Rae learned in the process of writing the album? “Let yourself play. Let yourself have fun, let yourself mess up,” she says. “I’m not saying, ‘All right, this is the real me now.’ No—it’s always been the real me, and those experiences have completely guided and shaped me to where I am now. It is about arrival—arrival to who I feel like I’ve become, and who has experienced all these ups and downs, to now land here, in this person that I am now.”
The cover art for *Virgin*—an X-ray of a pelvis with a visible IUD—was a far cry from that of Lorde’s bright, beachy third album, 2021’s *Solar Power*, whose sun-soaked, jasmine-scented songs drew from Laurel Canyon folk and Y2K soft rock. Looking back, that album’s free-spirited imagery was a bit idealistic—a projection of how the New Zealand native turned New Yorker wished she could be. Her fourth album, as she told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, is a portrait of the 28-year-old singer as she is, without edits or apologies: “Kind of like a photo of yourself that you don’t love, but captures something true about you.” The resulting songs, written between 2023 and 2025, are forthcoming and visceral, trading *Solar Power*’s New Age-chill for beats you can feel in your gut. (It’s her first album since her 2013 debut not co-written and -produced by Jack Antonoff; instead, she shared production duties with the LA-based electronic musician Jim-E Stack.) Surrealist introspection gives way to throbbing bass on opening track “Hammer,” where a walk down Canal Street ripples with psychedelic visions. “I had just come off my birth control, and I could not believe how I was feeling,” Lorde told Lowe about the song’s inception. “Everything was pure possibility. That first sound feels like it’s coming from a very guttural place in the body. My sister said, ‘It sounds like it’s coming from your womb.’” Cue the aura readings, 3 am cigarettes, broken mirrors, pregnancy tests, ego death. On “Man of the Year” and “Favourite Daughter,” questions beget more questions on the subject of what it means to be a woman, and moreover, a woman who’s now been famous for nearly half her life. The latter is at once a love letter to her mother and a meditation on being a teenager thrust into global pop stardom. “There’s been this dynamic for the last 10 to 12 years—and then further back—of wanting so badly to be loved, and to get this approval, and to be the favorite,” she told Lowe. “And it was really moving to me how, even as I was singing this song about my foremost idol and the person who I think is the most amazing in the world, I was also singing about what a crazy thing it is to have happened to you, what happened to me at 16.” Now the superstar finds freedom in the freefall: “I’ve been up on the pedestal/But tonight I just want to fall,” she sings on the shuffling “Shapeshifter.” “I still don’t know what happens when you put out a record that is like this,” she admitted about the unfiltered portrait *Virgin* presents. But in its full transparency, she arrives at something like peace.
The Toronto producer/DJ dropped her first *INFINITY CLUB* EP in the dog days of summer 2023—perfect timing for a sweaty, sultry blast of jungle, dancehall, and R&B that channeled the feeling of a packed club at peak hour. (Fitting, as the Jamaican Canadian artist, born Kirsten Azan, has spent the last decade-plus establishing herself as one of Canada’s most respected DJs, having helmed the annual JERK rave series since 2013.) Like its predecessor, *INFINITY CLUB II* plays out more like a DJ mix than a buttoned-up EP, its freewheeling fusion of techno, garage, R&B, and Caribbean-centric music of the diaspora as much a rebuttal of electronic music’s whitewashing as it is a good time. Vocalists like Aluna and Lady Lykez pop in to reprise their roles on the EP’s first edition, plus new cameos from Ravyn Lenae, BEAM, Jessy Lanza, and Yaeji; the latter two appear on “Mirror,” which envisions a universe in which a Police song comes with airhorns, breakbeats, and ad-libs in Korean.
Freshly tossed out of Hawkwind, Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister struck out on his own, abandoning his former band’s psychedelic histrionics for a meaner, leaner type of rock ’n’ roll. After a few false starts, Motörhead began in earnest in August 1976, when the classic Three Amigos lineup—Lemmy on bass and vocals, “Fast” Eddie Clarke on guitar, and “Philthy Animal” Phil Taylor on drums—began rehearsing at Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s Manticore Studios in London. Set up in the auditorium of the converted movie house, the legendary lineup ran through the staples of Motörhead’s early sets—stripped-down versions of Lemmy-penned Hawkwind tunes “Motörhead” and “The Watcher” plus Eddie Holland’s “Leavin’ Here” alongside originals that would surface on the band’s 1977 debut: “Vibrator,” “Keep Us on the Road,” and “Iron Horse/Born to Lose.” Nearly 50 years on, the tapes have been dredged up from the vaults of history, complete with Lemmy’s inimitable between-song banter.
It’s hard not to see this first installment in Óscar Maydon’s intended *Rico o Muerto* series as an existential ultimatum. Though the get-rich-or-die-trying ethos hardly originates here, already a thematic staple of rappers galore, the way the música mexicana singer unites so many of his peers for these dozen songs turns that sentiment into a collective Latin exclamation. Heavy hitters in the contemporary corridos scene, such as Junior H, Neton Vega, and Tito Double P, actively build with him here. Whether resigned to the prospect of immeasurable loss with Fuerza Regida on “Tu Boda” or playing as brash Clydes in search of baddie Bonnies with Peso Pluma on “Asquerosamente Rico,” he demonstrates an ability to both excel and lead. Elsewhere, he erodes intra-genre boundaries by hosting both Gabito Ballesteros and Luis R Conriquez for the evocative “Fina Con Los Valentinos” and reaches further than that by bringing Latin trap star Anuel AA into the fold for the beat-switching “Tuxxxi.” That latter vibe resurfaces toward the end, with “Mejores Jordans” rapper Victor Mendivil in tow for “ZAZA.”
Given his decades in the game, Wisin might technically qualify for elder-statesman status among reggaetoneros, yet he continues to be one of the more reliable reps for his generation and beyond. As should be expected, his latest album *EL SOBREVIVIENTE WWW* includes the polished reggaetón that characterizes some of his biggest hits, with cuts like “Laguna” and “De Antes” closely resembling fan favorites. Yet his tenure in the genre means his range includes room for homage, executed faithfully on “Duro Pal Piso” and especially “Quiere Perreo” with fellow genre vet Sir Speedy. His collaborative powers remain strong as well, building with Zion on “Carita” and flexing with Jory Boy and Brray on the throwback-laden “Dale Baby.” Naturally, he’s inclined to experiment with other styles as well, something his guests are all too happy to assist with. Beéle brings tropical fusion to their breezy “¿Qué Pasó Bebe?,” while an energized Farruko lets his dancehall reggae flag fly on “Sí o No.” Proudly on the Latin Afrobeats wave, Wisin links with Kapo for the lustrous “Luna.”
“Since 2018, I brought life to the game. From the M-Town, Europe, States, even Zante. Cooking up with Sheeran, on stage with Ashanti,” Aitch raps on “STRAIGHT RHYMEZ 2.” That’s one of many typically confident bars that Aitch—born Harrison Armstrong—spits on his second album, *4*. The Mancunian rapper has seen a shift in the landscape since 2022’s *Close to Home*, and *4* reflects that. “Music’s changed a lot since album one and I think I tried to find the balance of not trying to look like the sickest rapper in the world, but then over-confusing people,” he tells Apple Music’s Dotty. “I’ve found the middle ground of making a three-and-a-half-minute song into a two-minute song, also getting my point across.” It’s an efficiency that extends to the largely sinewy beats that back his verses across the album. Aitch sees *4* as a move away from more heartfelt, personal tracks of the past like “My G,” his Ed Sheeran-assisted tribute to his little sister. This is the sound of a man who’s given away a lot and is now reaping the rewards and having fun with it. “I feel like my last album was a little bit more vulnerable, you got a side to me that no one knew. Before, I was that guy that was just rapping about partying all the time and I was sick of being that person. So then I made *Close to Home* with the thought process of: ‘Let people get to know Harrison, maybe do the “My G” tune.’ This one now is like: ‘Here’s a load of sick rap tunes. See you later,’” he says. With such an accomplished album—and linkups with AJ Tracey (“TEST”), Tamera (“LOCKED IN”), and Anne-Marie (“LUV?”)—it’s hard to believe Aitch still has anything left to prove. “I’ve always believed in my little sauce,” he says. “I wanted to just channel a little bit of that old-school energy and kind of give people a feeling of rap and hip-hop. I’ve never really doubted myself.”
A mid-career self-titled album is often an intentional statement, if not an outright reset. For Parker McCollum, attaching his name to his fifth studio album is something of a reintroduction, an hour-long tour of the Texas-born singer-songwriter’s expansive talents and a glimpse into his still immense potential. Co-produced by Music Row veteran Frank Liddell (Miranda Lambert, Lee Ann Womack), the collection finds McCollum pushing his artistry to new places, a feat aided by stepping back from longtime collaborator Jon Randall and jetting up to New York City to record the album’s 14 tracks. “This record that we made in New York is the record I always wondered if I was good enough to make,” McCollum tells Apple Music. “I always thought about a record like this, and I finally just feel like maybe I might’ve gotten close to something that could be that.” The LP opens with “My Blue,” a rootsy, near-folk song following a character named Jackie whose life is marked by loss and hardship. That song, with its emphasis on narrative songwriting and traditional instrumentation, immediately announces *Parker McCollum* as an outlier among recent releases from McCollum’s peers, and shows him to have more in common with genre outsiders like Jason Isbell or Tyler Childers than the current crop of country stars. “Solid Country Gold,” with its chiming piano and crunchy guitar, recalls the hardscrabble twang of fellow Texan Hayes Carll, name-checking John Prine at the chorus for good measure. Below, McCollum shares insight into several key tracks. **“My Blue”** “I knew I wanted ‘My Blue’ to be the first song on the record, because I knew if you heard that song and you didn’t get it and it didn’t do it for you, then this record’s not for you. My agent the other day joked, ‘Well, if you like cocaine and suicide, this record’s for you.’ But I wasn’t trying to put them in any chronological order or get from one place to another. Anytime I sequence an album, I’m just like, ‘I just want you to go somewhere else each song.’ And I think that works. I think that’s not an easy way, but a commonly effective way to lay out the tracks for a record.’” **“Killin’ Me”** “It’s pretty different from how I wrote it, especially the scene change in the solo. You’re going to a whole other place for that solo, and then you come right back to where you were. I don’t think the band heard any of the songs on the record before we were recording them. I would just start playing them and everybody would just fall in. And everybody was really encouraged and told very sternly like, ‘Hey, play whatever the hell you want to play. Mess up, play wrong notes. If you think it’s dumb, wrong—just play and play.’” **“Good Time Charlie’s Got the Blues” (feat. Cody Johnson)** “Cody’s a lot better than I am. We ain’t even playing the same game. But I’ve just always been such a fan, and it was selfish of me to have him on that song, because I’ve always listened to that song and wanted to hear him sing it. I think he’s one of the best singers that I’ve ever heard. And his voice is so unique and it’s so true, and I believe every bit of it. I just always wanted to hear him sing that song, and so I mustered up the courage one day to text him. And then, about four months later, I was like, ‘Man, I should not have done that. I’m probably a pain in his ass. And he probably complained to his management that he’s got to sing on this dumb Parker song.’ And thank you—shout-out Cody for doing it again. But I listened to it after he’d sang it, and I was just like, ‘Damn, I was so right.’” **“New York Is on Fire”** “I had wanted to go to New York in the late fall. I wanted to catch it when that first cool, crisp air was rolling in. I just wanted to set it up and pretend like I was in my own movie for a week. And when we were flying in, the trees were electric. And I said out loud to Charlie, my keys player who was with me, I said, ‘Dude, it looks like New York is on fire.’ Then we were in the studio the first day, and we were just messing around between takes around lunchtime. I started singing, ‘New York is on fire’ over and over and over again. And Frank was just buzzed in. He was the only one in the control room listening. And he was like, ‘Hey, whatever that is, keep doing that.’”
Hip-hop loves a franchise, and arguably none deserves more of that adoration than Lil Wayne’s *Tha Carter*. Plenty of rappers have gone the sequels route in the hopes of recapturing a vibe or reinvigorating a fanbase, but the first four installments of the Young Money impresario’s album series hit the culture like monumental events. The exhaustive way in which this quartet was discussed, dissected, ranked, and re-ranked by listeners and critics alike almost eclipsed their chart successes, securing Weezy’s spot in the G.O.A.T. debate forever. The seven-year gap between the fourth and fifth volumes felt like an eternity, especially as focus shifted towards fresh stars and new sounds. Yet even that wait came with a massive payoff—not rebooting the saga to suit the times but continuing his story in a way only he could. Another seven years may have passed, with a handful of mixtapes in between, yet this sixth volume proves well worth the wait. After the brief albeit maximalist opener “King Carter,” those who’ve missed his powerful punchlines and rich rhyme schemes are immediately rewarded with the triumphant “Welcome to Tha Carter.” As should be expected this deep into his storied career, his proverbial pen prevails on “Banned from NO” and “Peanuts 2 N Elephant,” just two examples of his devotion to the MC craft. Longtime fans will rejoice over the Mannie Fresh team-up “Bein Myself,” while those unsure of how a fortysomething Wayne fits into the contemporary mix will be corrected swiftly on the Wheezy-produced “Rari.” Though some vocally resisted his literal rock-star tendencies on records like 2010’s *Rebirth*, he remains committed to that side of his artistry. Starting with the opening moments of “Bells,” he reminds everyone listening that rap and rock share genetic material before wrapping his wordplay around an ’80s-informed flow. Mixing Weezy with Weezer, the inventive interpolation “Island Holiday” starts out like a faithful cover song until he swaps out the “hip hip” with “sip sip” and proceeds to make it his own. After a ruthless two-and-a-half-minute streak of bars, “Loki’s Theme” drops an unexpected swell of guitar soloing, leading directly into the acoustic balladry of “If I Played Guitar.” Considering his guest list includes Bono and Jelly Roll alongside Big Sean and BigXthaPlug, not to mention operatic pop icon Andrea Bocelli, clearly no one genre can contain the force that is Lil Wayne.
