Melissa Kacar

"Camera" by Charli xcx Charli xcx has officially released not one, but two of my very favorite albums of the year - first with the stunning Wuthering Heights concept album / soundtrack, and now with the all‑time career highlight Music Fashion Film . It was also impossible to highlight just one song from this album ("2007" and the closer "No One Lasts Forever" being very close contenders as my monthly favorites too), but "Camera" felt like the most indicative of the entire ethos of what this music represents as a whole. It is such a deeply thought‑provoking examination of what it means to pursue a life of art and stardom in the modern age; while framing the question of legacy and what an artist leaves behind (or doesn't). Closing out the trifecta of singles for music ( "Rock Music" ), fashion ( "SS26" ), and film ("Camera"), it is fully representative of who she is as an artist and what her mission is with this ...

Take The Sadness Out of Saturday Night  is an album built on its contradictions; the divide between wanting a big life and wanting a secret life, finding ways to live alongside simultaneous hurt and hope, going from the shadow to the city and back again, and most of all, the desire to move forward while still feeling tied to all that has come before. With this album, Jack Antonoff sets out to make a project that is largely an examination of joy and the need for it, but also the doubt that comes with not understanding why you can't seem to hold onto it. As so many Bleachers records do, this album approaches those feelings in a way that shows how they shift and evolve through time. It is shaped by the angst and fears of that moment, but also by what he called the "unearned hope" he was feeling at the time - with all of it wrapped up in the collective consciousness of that particular point in history.  With this music, Jack isn't necessarily setting out to solve all of ...

When looking back at Billie Eilish 's career thus far, her sophomore release Happier Than Ever  served as a pivotal stepping stone in her evolution. It is almost an impossible feat for any artist to be able to follow up a massive debut like Billie had with WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP WHERE DO WE GO? , Happier Than Ever stands out as a moment of artistic progression and experimentation in numerous ways.  The historic Grammys sweep that came for her debut album intensified the pressures and attention placed on her, often in ways that obviously would overwhelm anyone, nonetheless a teenage girl who just a couple of years prior just started making music with her brother, Finneas , in their childhood home. The level of scrutiny and high expectations that were placed upon her, for better or worse, greatly shaped the experience of creating this second album. "There are things we are super proud of on Happier Than Ever , but I know from thinking back and thinking about the year we made th...

The Terrible Thrills project was created as a concept by Jack Antonoff and his collaborators in 2010 to reimagine his band's music through the voices of a wide range of incredibly talented female artists. It began with Volume 1, with a collection of Steel Train songs reinterpreted and reshaped by some of the band's personal favorite musicians. The tradition continued with Bleachers for Volume 2, which featured new versions of Strange Desire in its entirety (which is so underrated), expanding the idea into this new chapter of his artistry.  In 2019, the project evolved again into a new format as an exclusive vinyl club series. Four songs were reimagined by incredible artists, paired with demos and alternate versions of tracks from Gone Now . It became such a unique, ever‑changing concept - one that grew over nearly a decade, adapting to each album cycle in its own way. On the band's webstore, they wrote; "The concept behind Terrible Thrills is to create a final vers...