Melissa Kacar

"Starting Line", Luke Hemmings ' debut single released in 2021 , perfectly captures just how introspective and emotionally raw the rest of his solo work would go on to become. It serves as such a powerful reintroduction to who Luke is as an artist outside of his work with his band, 5 Seconds of Summer . With this song and the rest of his debut solo album, When Facing The Things We Turn Away From , he stepped into a new space musically that allowed him to explore new influences in a way that is completely unguarded and all his own - often circling themes of feeling paralyzed by the bittersweet passage of time while entering adulthood. The song starts off as a beautiful ballad, immediately highlighting what an incredible vocalist he is. This may even be one of his top performances ever. "In and out of focus, moments that I keep, something for the pain and something so I sleep, won't you comfort me? Warm the air that I breathe?" he sings in the opening lines. ...

Simmer down, simmer down! It's hard to believe that it has already been ten years since 5 Seconds of Summer released their self-titled debut album! They have been one of my favorite bands for so many years and I have the most amazing memories attached to this music. I have loved hearing all of the ways their sound evolved and matured with each new release to follow. 5 Seconds of Summer made history as the first debut album by an Australian band to reach number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 - what a cool accomplishment for four teenagers to achieve! Their debut album also spawned a few of the biggest hits of their career. The lead single, "She Looks So Perfect" is still among their most recognizable hits, which is also how I first discovered them too. They released a few EPs and singles prior to that song, but "She Looks So Perfect" was their first massive international hit. I was immediately hooked! It is still such a great song and will never get old for me. ...

5 Seconds of Summer 's fourth album, CALM ,  serves as an important reflection of the band's evolution from where they started and where they're going as both artistically and personally.  CALM  was the follow-up to their biggest album to date,   Youngblood , which first introduced this more mature and developed alternative rock sound for the band. It is the foundation that all of the music they released after is built upon, both collectively as a band and as solo artists. Much of it is made up of a blend of influences, pairing it with both emotional depth and layered instrumentation.  The album's title is derived from an acronym of the member's first initials, Calum, Ashton, Luke and Michael. "And it's also a nod to our fans that coined us that name in our early days," lead singer Luke Hemmings said in an interview with New York Post . "They've been using that acronym for a long time. It kind of just sums up we're a little bit older and a...

"Never Felt So Alone" // Labrinth & Billie Eilish Labrinth's new song, "Never Felt So Alone" was previewed in the second season of Euphoria and was now officially released as a single leading up to his newest album. It also has an uncredited Billie Eilish feature, which made such a powerful addition to the second half of the song. Labrinth and Billie are both immensely talented and creative geniuses when it comes to their music innovations, so this collaboration is the perfect match. I also loved their Coachella performance , the live version elevated all of the emotions of this song to a new level - Billie's vocals were particularly some of the best I have ever heard from her. "Chemical" // Post Malone I always love hearing Post Malone 's growth and evolution as an artist, "Chemical" is an upbeat pop song that I can see being a big hit this summer. His vocals are so strong and the chorus is infectious. It reminds me of some of...

"Mr. Mountebank" by Djo The Crux (Deluxe) gives so much more insight into the journey Djo took while writing this album and all of the different directions he could've taken with it narratively. It's more than just a regular deluxe album, it's more so a companion project of twelve songs that were written during the same creative period as The Crux , but didn't make the initial cut. That said, they don't feel like leftovers. Each track truly feels like a natural expansion of the time in his life that inspired this music, and collectively, they feel like a culmination of some of the more unhinged parts of himself that he had to work through to arrive at the final version of The Crux . "Mr. Mountebank" is one of my many favorites, he goes fully Djo XCX on it, diving into a wild and abrasive hyperpop sound that's completely different from anything he's made before. It offers a sharp commentary on fame and virality, especially in the wake of ...