Melissa Kacar

"Telephone Busy" by 5 Seconds of Summer "Telephone Busy" is not only my new favorite song that 5 Seconds of Summer has ever released, but its easily one of my top favorites of the entire year as well. If this single is any indication of what's to come with the rest of EVERYONE'S A STAR! then it is going to be some of their best work yet. The chorus is insanely infectious, the hypnotic hook has been stuck in my head ever since I first listened to it and have had it on repeat constantly. I also just got tickets to see them live next year in New York City , which I am so excited for!! "Puddles" by Not For Radio The opening song off of María Zardoya's debut solo side project, titled Not For Radio , immediately pulls the listener into the world she creates within this music.  Melt   is such a gorgeous album and I cannot recommend listening to it enough, with "Puddles" beautifully setting the tone for the rest of what's to come with ...

"Be The One" is Dua Lipa 's debut single and one of the defining songs of her early career, marking the moment everything truly began for her. "For me, 'Be The One' is about self belief, perseverance, and fighting for what you want," she told NYLON in a 2015 interview. "In this instance, it's about a relationship but really, this is an attitude I try to bring into everything in my life." Released in October 2015, "Be The One" became the launching pad for everything that followed. She was only nineteen at the time, but she already carried herself with so much confidence in her sound, especially with her signature soulful voice that really sets her apart as an artist.  What makes the song even more interesting is that it was one of the only tracks on her 2017 self-titled debut album that she didn't write herself. When she was first approached with it by her collaborators, she wasn't sure she wanted to record it, but she im...

Red carries an incredibly impactful legacy, not just one as one of the defining albums of Taylor Swift 's career, but as a turning point that paved the way for so many artists that followed. It truly shaped a new generation of pop and country music in an insurmountable way. Largely seen as one of the most influential and successful country-pop crossovers in modern music, she redefined her signature sound and made a genre-defying statement that marked the beginning of her artistic transformation.  While she would go on fully embrace pop with 1989 two years later, the seeds of that shift were first planted here. During the creation of Red , Taylor worked with longtime collaborators Liz Rose and Nathan Chapman on tracks that leaned into her country and singer-songwriter roots. At the same time, she introduced new collaborators in the mix with pop producing legends Max Martin and Shellback , who ended up helping her craft some of the most iconic hits of her entire career.  R...

Originally released on his 2022 album Stick Season , Noah Kahan 's "Everywhere, Everything" is set against a looming apocalyptic backdrop, yet it still carries a distinct warmth and serves as a reminder that even if the world is falling apart, there's still something sacred about choosing to love anyway. "We didn't know that the sun was collapsing, 'til the seas rose and the buildings came crashing," he sings in the first pre-chorus. This song is grounded in Noah's signature folk sound, with such a sweet and nostalgic tone. It also holds an inherent sadness, but so much sincerity and hope at the same time. "Everywhere, everything, I wanna love you 'til we're food for the worms to eat," he sings in the chorus. "'Til our fingers decompose, keep my hands in yours". It's such a profound lament on life, love, and death. It captures both the fragility of being human, as well as the eternal strength of loving someone ...

Coming just a year after Short n' Sweet , Sabrina Carpenter is already back with a follow-up record and it's clear she's striking while the iron's hot. Man's Best Friend  feels like a playful extension of the persona she's been building, with a level of her signature humor and self-awareness that lies within each song. Much of the inspiration behind this album stems from her on-again-off-again relationship with her ex-boyfriend. It chronicles the emotional highs and lows she was experiencing in real time, and  Man's Best Friend  feels like it was a creative outlet born from that turbulence. It also became a space for her to experiment with sounds she hasn't explored before. Sabrina worked on the entirety of this album with her frequent collaborators, producers John Ryan and Jack Antonoff , as well as songwriter Amy Allen . Her previous releases were made with a much bigger team of songwriters and producers, but it's clear that this was a much more ...