 Photo by Malaika Astorga, design by Ciele Beau Just when you think you’ve found the right box to place songstress Maryze in, she eludes your grasp once again, her sultry voice slipping through the fingers of Pop, into R&B, and then into EDM. Like Moons is impressively diverse. The EP opens with ‘Safe’, a slow-tempo track that lulls the listener into a false sense of security. It is immersive, and easily allows you to drift away in the midst of the atmospheric production and Maryze’s ethereal, uplifting vocals about self-love. ‘B.O.Y’, which stands for ‘Because of You’, is another slow-jam, a synth driven track, with Maryze crooning wistfully before she leaves the catchy riff to breathe. It sums up the vibe so far - the lulling background provides the soft bed upon which the listener can just sit back and relax, while Maryze cuts through the haze with insightful musings. ‘Their Hearts’ and ‘Dis-Moi’ are earworms that stand side by side on the record, and highlight Maryze’s ability to amp up the drama. Her mystical, light voice invokes comparisons to Jhené Aiko, another fan of creating a dreamy ambience in her music. ‘Dis-Moi’, however, sang in French, is the song that makes you stop and really listen. For the first time we hear an edge, the frantic synth that rises up behind Maryze’s hook, mirroring the increasing tension and desperation in her voice, pleading the song’s subject to ‘Talk to me’. ‘Dis-Moi’ shifts Maryze from being really good, but perhaps flirting with predictability, to being truly dynamic and exciting. It sounds like the kind of track that could have been written for The Weeknd, and the bassline contrasts perfectly with Maryze’s high range vocals. Maryze cuts through the haze with insightful musings  Photo by Emily Neill The album finishes to a slower beat, with ‘Special’ taking us back to the calmer terrain of the opening tracks. It completes the EP beautifully, with each song showcasing Maryze’s strengths and her versatility to move across genres, while staying true to her core sound. You get a clear sense of Maryze’s openness in expressing her emotions, and this vulnerability allows the listener in. She encourages you to lower your own walls, as you experience her removing hers. This is a project about being honest to yourself and others - an apt message in an era where how you appear outwardly, whether you are a celebrity or simply a social media user, for example, seems to matter more than how you really feel on the inside. Like Moons is a meditative, tranquil 5-course-meal, throughout which invigorating flavours and warming notes create a soothing balance, the result being an undoubtedly whetted appetite for Marzye’s next release. Maxim Mower
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 George Ezra, Get Away “It's never been this way before Shut down by anxiety" George Ezra acknowledged in 2018 that he had been suffering with anxiety, and ‘Get Away’ tackles this issue head on. However, the overall message is an optimistic one, and highlights how when we step back and stop for a moment, we can often realise that our worries are not as significant as we once thought. “He's dreaming of a blacked out car, screaming: "Move over!”” This line really resonates with me, because being at Uni it often feels like we’re expected to step straight onto the treadmill of suits, chai lattes, and office desk plants without giving it a second thought. Ezra contrasts the work-based aspirations of the character driving in a tinted car, with the screaming of ‘Move over!’ hinting at the more fast-paced and stressed out lifestyle this can entail. He contrasts this with the following line, “He’ll be flying through the sugar canes, screaming: “Move over!” While the line is almost the same, the picture it paints is of a much more carefree person, out in nature, and the ‘Move over!’ sounds more like a child that is keen to continue their race through the fields. “And I'm running down a mountain side when I close my eyes And I'm a leader of a big brass band when I close my eyes” Ezra continues to provide more fun and wide-eyed fantasies, showing us the scope of his imagination. This links back to his idea that modern generations can become ‘shut down by anxiety’. It is interesting looking at this from a student's perspective, because often I'll devote a lot of my day-to-day thinking time to degree-related worries, such as 'Am I going to get this essay finished?', 'Have I read enough?', 'Does my tutor think I'm stupid?' But then as soon as the weekend hits, and I have a day or two off, there's a really weird feeling of confusion. During the week there's been all these small, work-related distractions, so when I stop working and these distractions disappear, all the bigger, existential questions start flooding into my head. 'What am I going to do with my life after Uni?'... 'Am I really happy studying like this?'... 'What do my friends think of me?'... Then, because these questions are uncomfortable, I inevitably start filling my mind with the smaller distractions again, and the cycle continues. "You better get away, boy You better get away" I feel like George Ezra isn't just talking about taking a vacation (although that often helps!), he means stepping back from the hustle and bustle of our daily lives, and finding time to just be present, to be in the moment. It's the constant chasing our tails and finding distractions that leads to the feeling I mentioned earlier, where when all the distractions are gone, we're not really sure what to do with ourselves, and we feel a bit empty. I guess for me personally, the message I receive from these lyrics is to stop trying to find distractions, and just appreciate each moment. And confront the uncomfortable questions. Don't run from them, tackle them head on and see how they can be dealt with - if there is nothing we can do about it right now, then it's irrelevant. If there is a solution, then make a plan for attaining that solution. How to Worry Less #1 - Confront your problems, know your enemy In 'The Art of Happiness', the Dalai Lama likens training your mind to deal with problems to preparing an army for battle. If you confront the enemy, learn their strengths, their weaknesses, and their tactics, then you are in a much better position to defeat them. By contrast, if you bury your head in the sand and simply hope the enemy will be defeated, you are in a much less advantageous position. Know your enemy - and know your problems. "Any boy can dream, dream of anything Just like you" Like I said before, George Ezra's overarching message is one of optimism. It seems the way we are told to look at the world, our careers, our lives, makes us forget to open our minds to the more wondrous possibilities out there. We are told to look at the options as being A, B, and C, where for example, A is University, B is an Internship, and C is an Apprenticeship. But sometimes looking at life in this fixed way, and looking through the lens that society has nudged us in front of, we miss a whole host of possibilities. Who says that the only routes we can take are A, B, and C. What about X, Y, and Z? Or 1, 2, and 3? I feel like George Ezra’s message here is to keep your mind open, and don’t get bogged down in worrying about the little things, like what car you’re driving or how late you are for that 9am meeting. Life is obviously about more than that. How to Worry Less #2 - Keep your mind open When you close your eyes, are you driving the blacked out car, or flying through the sugar canes? Yours sincerely, but not too seriously, Max.i’m  Source: chanceraps.com Has record label-rejecting, humanitarian and activist Chance the Rapper gone commercial with his new album? It seems ludicrous to even pose the question. Throughout Chance’s entire career, despite the fairly widespread fame he accumulated after releasing just one mixtape, 10 Days, which was written during a period of expulsion from his school, he has steadfastly rejected the advances of record label CEOs. His second mixtape, Acid Rap, brought him into the mainstream musical consciousness, before Coloring Book and a coveted feature on Kanye West’s The Life Of Pablo propelled him into rapstar status. All still while Chance was independent. Since then Chance has become a major humanitarian figure, earning praise from world-leaders such as Barack Obama, donating $1million to Chicago Public Schools, and being actively involved in tackling gun violence, homelessness and racial equality in Chicago. When he broke onto the scene, his brand of conscious rap was heralded as the antithesis to the Chief Keef instigated drill movement, which was characterised by its aggressive and nihilistic lyrics. In today’s LA-fuelled music industry, where artists’ eyes seem to be clouded by dollar signs, Instagram followers and merch sales, Chance the Rapper serves as the stereotype subverting superhero (wow, that was a mouthful) who has charged onto the scene in the name of art and philanthropy. How could anyone doubt his motives as being anything but pure and incredibly refreshing? The only reason anyone would have to think such a thing, is that Chance recently released all of his projects onto streaming services. Along with this, he has an online store newly stocked up with clothing, vinyls and hats publicising all of his projects, the purchases of which includes the download of his upcoming album. This linking of an album download with merchandise is a well-known marketing strategy, perfected last year by Travis Scott. His use of the technique was famously criticised by Nicki Minaj, who claimed it was the reason he beat her to Number 1. DJ Khaled, Quavo and many others have employed the tactic, and it seems to have become the strategic norm in boosting record sales.  The fact that Chance has maintained such a squeaky clean persona over his career so far, might have led fans to presume he would not get involved in such PR methods, and would simply let the music do the talking. Does the fact that he has succumbed to this temptation, mean he has gone back on the principles that made him such a beloved, sunny feature in hip hop’s increasingly murky landscape? I really don’t think so. While critics may suggest otherwise, in my opinion this is simply a man who wants to try his best to get his album to Number 1. He has spoken in the past of his slight frustration that, because he has not released his projects to regular, paid streaming services, he hasn’t always received the recognition he deserves. This might sound odd coming from someone with three Grammys, but I wouldn’t say this is vanity. I think Chance just wants the credit where it’s due, and if he has to play by the rules of label-style advertising and marketing in order to get this, then so be it. It must feel a bit weird to be an artist of the status of Chance the Rapper, and to not yet have had a Number 1 album. The consensus is fairly unanimous in saying that if Coloring Book hadn’t been released as a streaming-only project, it would have done far better than the Number 8 spot it climbed to on the Billboard charts. And if a unanimous consensus wasn’t enough, then surely this glowing review on my old blog was…! Despite some people viewing a Number 1 single with disdain nowadays, and many of them do end up being mere flashes in the pan, a Number 1 album is still a highly revered feat. So regardless of the financial benefits, which are obviously aplenty, it is incredibly prestigious. At the very least, it’s a pretty darn cool story to tell the grandchildren. So let’s not view Chance the Rapper through the same eye as we would another, more commercially minded artist (DJ Khaled shouting ‘Still in the Meeting!’ on yet another Instagram post springs to mind), and respect Chance’s wishes to make his album do as well as it possibly can. We all like a bit of praise and appreciation every now and then. Does it make Chance any less of a good person if he simply wants the same? Yours sincerely, but not too seriously, Max.i’m  The Critic: Jaden Smith seems to occupy a peculiar space in modern Hip-Hop. Most people have heard of him, but almost none have actually heard him. He has inevitably so far stood in the megastar-sized shadow of his father, Will Smith, and the mediocre success he has enjoyed is, perhaps unfairly, dismissed by cynics as being a result of Will. On ‘ERYS’, Jaden makes a mockery of them. It is heavily experimental, and the plot of Jaden being some kind of futuristic drug dealer who sells a mind controlling substance called ‘Pink’ to the world, and everyone subsequently degenerates into masses of zombies, is wacky to say the least. It’s interesting, but I wouldn’t say that when I listen to the album, it’s a story that can be easily gleaned from the obtuse lyrics. The opening track is peppered with left-field musings such as, “The gold and diamonds could dissolve his pride”. It’s the sort of whimsical statement I put in my University philosophy essays to try and con my tutors into thinking I’m cleverer than I actually am. But Jaden never comes across as someone who is trying to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes. As a whole, his plot makes sense, and he deserves respect for providing us with often witty lyrics that do not succumb to the Hip Hop stereotypes of sex, money and drugs. Of course, such references make their appearances, but as a whole this album plays with a higher purpose than merely flexing and impressing the listener.  It is deep, but also kind of accessible. The spacey production, vocal distortions and mercurial features come together to form a project packed full of beautiful moments, with each off-kilter idea improving the overall effect of the album. Some artists experiment for the sake of experimenting, and even use this to hide their actual lack of originality, with the only result being music that is nigh impossible to make any sense of. Jaden is not one of these artists. Admittedly, it could be argued that his auto-tuned, emo rap style is heavily derivative of Kid Cudi and Travis Scott. There are definitely moments, particularly when rapping alongside Cudi on ‘On My Own’, where it is apparent where Jaden gets a lot of his inspiration from. His outlandish, self-assured antics coupled with the twitchy, euphoric nature of some ‘ERYS’ tracks provoke easy comparisons with Kanye West. Equally, Jaden’s move to regularly opt for soul-baring laments over braggadocious bars could render him a student of the Drake school of Hip Hop. But what is this really to say? Quite frankly, 80% of rappers in today’s charts have drawn stylistic influences from at least one of Kid Cudi, Kanye and Drake. Jaden is in his own lane, and that lane sounds pretty darn good. Some artists experiment for the sake of experimenting...Jaden is not one of these artists The Fan: My favourite three rappers are undoubtedly Kanye, Travis Scott and Drake, so to see Jaden combining numerous strands of these artists’ styles, and then putting his own stamp on the resulting concoction obviously plays right into my hands (or my ears, I guess…). I love experimentation in rap, but often artists such as Tyler, the Creator, Daniel Caesar and Frank Ocean are a little too introspective and cryptic for me to really get on their wavelength. I feel like Jaden strikes the perfect balance here between being innovative and being intelligible to the listener. Oh, and there’s also the small matter of it sounding awesome - you can turn up to the electric, hard-hitting rhymes of some songs, and then wallow in the fragile sorrow of other tracks. Standout Track: ‘Summertime in Paris’ Hidden Diamond: ‘K’ Yours sincerely, but not too seriously, Maxim  I don’t know about you, but whenever I listen to new music, there are two voices in my head. Considering there is usually just the one, and that one voice is more often than not preoccupied with repeating the phrase ‘I’m hungry’ all day, this struck me as odd. When I’m there with my headphones or speaker playing out the latest track from a hip hop heavyweight, or perhaps a country megastar, the first voice is always my initial reaction. This is ‘The Fan’ in me, who is a sucker for an electrifying beat and a blistering hook. Preferably, if it’s hip hop, I like a good helping of auto-tuned emo-rap, or if it’s something more poppy or country, then just a simple earworm of a chorus and some warm, nostalgic lyrics will do the job nicely. ‘The Fan’ knows exactly what he likes, and can usually tell within the first few lines of a song whether it fits the bill or not. Then there’s the second voice - ‘The Critic’. Obviously in running this blog, and in having worked as Music Editor for various student newspapers, if I let ‘The Fan’ do all the talking, then it would result in some very biased reviews. ‘The Critic’ is that voice inside us that we all have whenever we make a decision or judgement call. It’s the voice that coughs a little disapproving ‘ahem’ whenever we reach for that tenth chocolate bar, or that sighs as we opt to watch yet another episode of Black Mirror instead of working on that essay due in for tomorrow. It might seem strange that this voice pops up when I’m listening to music, as surely there is no real right or wrong in terms of what we listen to - if you enjoy it, go for it, if you don’t, then feel free to steer clear, right? But donning the prestigious title of ‘Music Writer’ (I swear they should give me some letters after my name for that) generally means adhering to the assumption that there is some objective standard of which music is good and which is not so good. Otherwise, why should anyone take any notice as to whether the New York Times’ top Music Writer says a new album is great, or that it’s terrible? Having said this, personally I think music is clearly subjective, and I think most would agree with this. How else can you explain the fervent adulation given by some fanbases to Kanye West, and of others to AC/DC? Of course, certain artists such as The Beatles or Elvis Presley are generally accepted to have made ‘good music’, and few would contend with this. So it’s a bit of a murky picture - which voice should I listen to more? ‘The Fan’ who immediately streams anything that Travis Scott so much as breathes on, or ‘The Critic’, who hears ‘The Fan’’s snap judgment, but asks, ‘You might like it, but is it actually good?’ I’m undecided. So from now on I’m going to split some of my reviews into two sections. The first part will be ‘The Critic’ speaking, and will generally be how I would go to write a standard article. The second part will be space for ‘The Fan’ to let his opinions run wild. I’ll leave it up to you to decide whose tastes you prefer, and whether we should generally listen to ‘The Fan’ within us, or ‘The Critic’… Stay tuned for my next review, on Jaden’s ‘ERYS’, which will be posted in the next few days. Yours sincerely, but not too seriously, Max.i’m 
This morning Ed dropped the album we’ve been waiting on since ‘I Don’t Care’ with Justin Bieber set up camp at number one. There was an incredible amount of hype and promo, something Ed usually doubles down on, letting the music do the talking. Did this and the star studded line up mean Ed was finally succumbing to the temptations of being a more commercial, and less authentic artist?
Well rest assured you can suspend any worries about this being an album merely riding a wave of publicity - in fact, suspend all worries altogether. Just sit back, relax, and embrace the hits. Because that’s what this album is, it’s basically 15 number ones jam-packed into a single project. I’ll be surprised if ‘South of the Border’, which features Camilla Cabello and Cardi B, isn’t atop the charts come the end of the day. Yes, this could probably happen on the basis of the star-studded credits alone, but don’t let this take away from how good a song this is. It’s an ear worm that will wriggle its way in and stay there for the whole day. All the tracks on this project are Ed Sheeran masterclasses in how to write the perfect hit song - and apparently, there are 15 different ways to do this. ‘Antisocial’ is a personal favourite, with Ed’s golden melodies combining forces with Travis Scott’s mercurial rhrymes, producing an alloy that is somehow both icy cold and blisteringly hot at the same time. This was confirmed to be the next single, and the hilarious video dropped earlier today. This project is eclectically beautiful Despite all the glitz and glamour of the cast-list, there is a refreshing theme of rejecting fame’s traditional values. On ‘Beautiful People’, Ed presents the Hollywood lifestyle in a negative light, crooning ‘Pre-nups and broken homes/Surrounded, but still alone/Let’s leave the party’. Similarly, on ‘I Don’t Care’, he muses, ‘Don’t think I fit in at this party/Everyone’s got so much to say’. I listened to this expecting a reel of hits, and to some extent that is what I got. However there is definitely a darker undertone that is threaded through the bouncy tracks, covering themes of insecurity and loneliness that one perhaps wouldn’t assume the world-dominating Ed Sheeran would struggle with. This is what makes it all the more moving though, with ‘Best Part of Me’ with YEBBA being an emotional highlight. He confesses, ‘I bite my nails and tell the truth, I go from thin to overweight/Day to day it fluctuates’, before asking his lover, ‘Why the hell do you love me? ‘Cause I don’t even love myself’. Ed has obviously had his fair share of touching, soul-baring tracks in the past, such as ‘Lego House’ and ‘Small Bump’. But now that he is more associated with the upbeat party-starters, epitomised by his more recent hits ‘Sing’, ‘Shape of You’ and ‘Galway Girl’, the open fragility on this album is accentuated. This project is eclectically beautiful, making you want to jump up and dance one minute, then the next minute it has you reaching for a box of tissues. 
‘Remember the Name’ is an old school Hip Hop anthem, with Ed Sheeran excitedly professing his wish for a song with 50 Cent and Eminem in the first verse. What follows? A song with 50 Cent and Eminem, and an instant classic at that.
Hip Hop and R&B weave in and out of the album, and compliment Ed Sheeran’s energetic vocals brilliantly. On ‘Take Me Back to London’, the UK hit maker shows off his rapping skills, going bar for bar with London’s primary grime export, Stormzy. His lightning quick rhymes and witty lyrics put the mumble rapping Lil Pumps and Lil Uzis of today’s charts to shame. But what’s great about this album is it doesn’t feel like Ed is in competition with anyone, nor has anything to prove. It feels totally free, and plays like a passion project that he genuinely really wanted to make. The interviews he’s done suggest the ‘No.6 Collaborations Project’ is just that. It’s Ed and his friends doing what they love - making music. I guess it’s fortunate for us listeners (and for his record label) that Ed Sheeran’s friendship circle happens to resemble an illustrious musical pantheon. Commercial success aside, this is easily one of my favourite Ed Sheeran albums already, and it’s only been out for a few hours. On it, he reminds us why he is not only the best hit maker out there right now, but that he is also the best emoter and storyteller. Maxim Mower Stream Ed Sheeran's new album on all services, or purchase the CD below this article was originally published at phaser.com
Posthumous albums are always a tricky business. It is so difficult to get the sentiment right, to make sure the intentions are clearly to honour the artist, and not just to achieve material gain. There is even a question as to whether this music should be released at all.
It is clear from reading interviews with the likes of Vargas & Lagola, Aloe Blacc, and Carl Falk, all of whom worked together to complete Avicii’s TIM, just how much they cared about their late Swedish superstar and friend. Songs from TIM are difficult to listen to now, they say, and the nature of the songs on the new album make it evident why this is so. It would be easy to read TIM as heavily foreshadowing the DJ’s passing. It is pervaded by darkness, with the first track, ‘Peace of Mind’, opening with the lyrics, Dear Society, Bad Reputation tells the tragic story of someone hiding their depression (“I don't want to be seen in this shape I'm in/I don't want you to see how depressed I've been”), while ‘SOS’ pleads for a lover to come save them from their insomnia (“I get robbed of all my sleep/As my thoughts begin to bleed”). Having said this, it’s strange reading through the lyrics of TIM, because on the basis of them alone it’s hard to view the album as anything but a suicide note from Avicii. However, listening to the album is an entirely different experience. The melodies are often tinged with sadness, and Carl Falk explains that Avicii would combine major and minor chords in the same line, the latter giving the songs a feeling of wistfulness. But there is an energy about each track, a sense that Avicii hadn’t lost his feeling of wonder and inspiration that shines through so prominently on his Stories hit, ‘The Nights’. ‘Never Leave Me’ is a boisterous, euphoric ode to a loved one, continuing the theme from SOS with the lyrics, She knows how I’m feeling, 
'Heaven’, his collaboration with Chris Martin, is undoubtedly the standout track, and one that fans have been waiting for since it was teased in 2014. It is overwhelmingly uplifting and positive, and initially it seems a little odd that it is positioned as the second track on TIM, as it could have provided a concluding note of happiness as the album closer. But then you remember the most tragic aspect of this album - it’s a tribute to a story that didn’t end happily. The track that was chosen to finish TIM, ‘Fades Away’, epitomises how perfectly the sentiment of the album was judged. It references the ‘troubled times’ and the ‘trials to find somewhere we belong’ that have coloured the preceding eleven songs, but ends on a note of optimism, All I know is that with you I’m moving on 
This album carries such an emotional weight with it, that it was always going to be tough to find the balance between tones of positivity and regret. TIM finds this middle ground in a way that few other posthumous albums succeed in doing, and in my view, this is Avicii’s best work to date. His collaborators spoke with sadness about how it felt like he was on the brink of something massive musically, and how he would never get to execute this vision. TIM is as close as we can get to the perfect tribute, and the perfect reminder of how influential and talented Avicii was. I think it is easy to underestimate the impact Avicii has had on music, and people, around the world. The testimonial message board on his website is evidence of this, with tributes being posted from a whole range of nationalities - there are few artists whose music has touched so many people. We all remember when ‘Levels’ broke into the charts back in 2011, and essentially set the tempo for a decade that would be dominated by House/Pop fusions from EDM titans such as Calvin Harris, David Guetta, Martin Garrix and The Chainsmokers. Avicii’s crossovers into Folk, Rock and Country music broke down genre walls and introduced many new artists to fans that would not normally be interested in these kinds of music. On a more personal note, it seems apt that I’m writing this review in the lead-up to Father’s Day. Zac Brown Band is my father and I’s favourite band, and we always have one of their CDs loaded into the car stereo, ready for our road trip sing-a-longs. The paths of our music tastes don’t often meet, but this is a great instance where we can really share our love of music with one another. And the only reason I ever heard about Zac Brown Band, was because they were featured on the Avicii song ‘Broken Arrows’, and I thought hey, why not give them a try. Equally, I remember playing my dad Avicii’s ‘The Nights’, and he fell in love with the carpe diem spirit of the hook, He said, one day you’ll leave this world behind, 
Before any big event in my life, my dad will still text me the words, ‘Remember, these are the nights!’, just as a reminder to make the most of every moment. It seems a bit trivial to call an EDM song my favourite song, but because of the meaning associated with it, ‘The Nights’ is definitely up there for me. Avicii has had a much bigger impact on me that I would have ever imagined. While the album is heavily tinged with grief, TIM is also the perfect celebration of Avicii’s talent in creating music that resonates with his listeners. Despite the pained lyrics and the tragic context, TIM has at its heart the message Avicii always tried his best to convey - one of hope. Maxim Mower Get this amazing album on CD or Vinyl below Originally published at phaser.com There is a unique quality that only the upper, upper echelon of artists ever have. I’m not talking about the way their melodies are strung together, the way their charisma shines through on the track, or the way their lyrics shake you to your core. Of course, these are qualities that great artists possess. But only a handful of artists reach a point in their career where you don’t listen to see if the album or single is any good. You know it’s going to be good, so you just relax, and enjoy it. Surprisingly, not many of today’s musical icons seem to possess this quality. Drake, who keeps breaking record after record after record, even ones held by The Beatles, still brings out an album to hesitant ears. ‘Will it be as good as the last one?’, they ask. The same is true of Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, Post Malone - most of today’s musical heavyweights still turn up with a sense of something to prove. Ed Sheeran literally has nothing to prove. Every album he’s ever brought out has been a smash hit, and every single he drops is draped with a VIP pass to Number One before anyone’s even listened to it. A significant number of your favourite songs were probably written by him, with his writing credits stretching all the way from The Weeknd to One Direction via Justin Bieber. And what’s more, he seems like the nicest guy to set foot in the music industry. He recently announced his upcoming No.6 Collaborations Project, following on from the No.5 that he released before he’d even been signed to a label. The two lead singles feature Justin Bieber, Chance the Rapper and PnB Rock, and are - surprise surprise - currently sitting on top of the charts. Like I said, Ed Sheeran is one of those artists you can’t help but sit back and appreciate. He said he had a bucket list of artists he really wanted to work with, so that’s what he’s going to do. And why not? He’s one of the most successful artists of all time, so why not tick off those collaborations he’s been wishing for. What do you have left to strive for when you’re the best? In Ed Sheeran’s book, it’s to simply enjoy yourself.  This album should definitely be regarded as a complete love project, with Ed simply following his heart and working with the people he genuinely wants to work with, and not just names on a list handed to him by his record label. However, while we shouldn’t overanalyse it, it could also end up being one of his most interesting albums yet. The only slight criticism that people can possibly muster against Halifax’s most prized export, is that his music is at times a little derivative. Chance the Rapper and PnB Rock are certainly not features we could ever expect on a ‘standard’ Ed Sheeran album, so maybe this is his way of answering that final question as to how versatile he really is? To be honest, I really don’t think this has crossed his mind. No.6 looks set to simply be a fun, eclectic journey through a whole host of musical styles and genres, one that is enjoyed just as much by the artist as it is by the listener. Who can we expect on the guest-list? Ed has made no secret of his love for Hip Hop, with the ‘favourite song’ referenced in the go-to wedding track of this generation, ‘Perfect’, being revealed to be Future’s hard-hitting gangster anthem ‘March Madness’. He also worked with Future on Taylor Swift’s ‘End Game’, so an appearance from the Atlanta rapper can perhaps be presumed. Travis Scott is almost certainly on there too, with a collaboration between Scott and Sheeran leaking earlier this year, and judging by the lyrics, seems to be Track 7 on the project, called ‘Antisocial’. There will undoubtedly be some curveballs thrown at us, but all the more reason to look forward to No. 6’s release. This is a guy at the peak of his powers, nothing to prove, and just enjoying the artistic freedom his success has brought about. Is there any pressure on Ed Sheeran to deliver us another blockbusting, record-breaking smash hit of an album? 100% not. But are we expecting one? Absolutely. No. 6 Collaborations Project is out on July 12th, and is available to Pre-Add on all streaming platforms now. Maxim Mower Shorter version of this interview published at phaser.comExciting new R&B duo THEMXXNLIGHT, comprising of identical twins Akash and Krish Chandani, made waves in the music industry when Wiz Khalifa featured them on three tracks off his 2018 album, Rolling Papers 2. On 20th April, a few hours after the release of a new Wiz Khalifa album, which contains two more THEMXXNLIGHT features, I sat down to chat with the 22-year olds about what’s been an unforgettable year for them...  Well, this is really the perfect time to talk to you guys, because you’ve pretty much come full circle! This time last year, Wiz Khalifa had you all over Rolling Papers 2, and then just today his latest project, Fly Times, Vol. 1: The Good Fly Young, drops and you have a big presence on it once again. How are you guys feeling after such an amazing year? “We’re feeling good, it’s pretty crazy. The feedback last time was similar, but they were mainly newer people that never knew about us. This time it was more like, ‘You did it once again!’” How was the process different this time around, working with Wiz a year on? “Well, the first time was through Sledgen [Taylor Gang’s in-house producer]. We had about eight songs, he probably just took three of them for the album. This time we actually went to Club Nightingale in LA, and then Wiz comes up to us and says, ‘Yo I need you to come to my house to record.’ We go to his house, and then we’re there for like twelve hours, we record like five songs, some with Chevy Woods. It was crazy because that was the first time in the studio with him. He was writing his verses in front of us. We just wrote something for the hooks pretty fast, just recorded it, both songs were on repeat the whole time. It was really different, a lot of the Taylor Gang were there, it felt like more of a family.” Could you clarify, because there’s been a lot of speculation online, are you signed to the Taylor Gang label, or are you still independent? “No, we’re not signed to Taylor Gang, but we are signed to Will Dzombak, who’s the CEO and founder of Taylor Gang Entertainment. He’s also Wiz’ manager” There’s a new EP, XX, on the way, as well as the full length album, MOOD. Any word on when we can expect those to drop? “XX is going to be first, we want to drop that in the next couple of months. Then MOOD will hopefully come out later in the year.”  I wanted to ask you about the origin of your name, THEMXXNLIGHT, and the reasoning behind switching the O’s out for X’s. “So in Hindi our last name means ‘the moonlight’. And then we just felt spelling it with the X’s made it more mysterious, as well as being symbolic of us being twins.” A year before you secured the Rolling Papers 2 features, you were recording in your dorm room on the 2004 version of GarageBand. I wish it could make me sound like that! Have you upgraded your kit since then? “(laughing) No! It’s still hella old, a really, really old version of GarageBand. I think it’s the 2007 version.” You rejected offers to play basketball at MIT and California State, and instead ended up graduating from RPI in New York with an engineering degree. A lot of readers will be at that point in their lives where they are having to choose between what they’re being told they’re supposed to do, i.e. get a degree, get a Masters, get a secure job, etc., and their hobbies. What made you take that leap of faith and opt for music over engineering and sport? “That’s a good question! Somehow it worked out perfectly with the timing. At first, we imagined we’d play basketball for four years while doing our degrees. But within the first two or three months, we just didn’t feel a connection with the coach. It was a new coach, as the coach that recruited us had left. So we decided to drop from the team. Initially, we just made songs for fun, but by the tenth song, Wiz discovered us! That was two and a half years into making music. We graduated, then Rolling Papers 2 dropped in July. So it didn’t really involve any leap of faith before then, it was after that album released that our parents were like, ‘Ok, you can take some time away and focus on music’. It was a family decision, it wasn’t a rebellious, 'We’re running away from home’ kind of thing. Our parents said, ‘We’ll support you, and you guys can pursue this, and see how it goes’. You’ve spoken in the past about how your sound has been heavily influenced by one of your favourite artists, The Weeknd. What drew you to his style of R&B? “In high school, we were kind of shower singers. We always took instrumental lessons, but we were never trained vocally, and we still haven’t been, even though we do want to be. We were kind of singing around campus, and then we first heard ‘The Zone’ by The Weeknd one morning before getting dropped off at school. We just thought, ‘Yo, he sounds super unique, he sounds like an angel.’ He’s Ethiopian too, and his music actually has close tie-ins with Indian music, so immediately we felt very accustomed to his sound. We did a few The Weeknd covers and put them out on Soundcloud. They got shared by a couple of OVO and The Weeknd fan pages. It was crazy, it felt like our idols were slowly turning into our reality.” Speaking of Drake’s OVO label, you recently shared a photo with Roy Woods on your Instagram. What features can we expect from the upcoming EP and album? So we have one song with Chevy Woods, that’s going to be on his album in the summer, we can’t say what it’s called just yet. Then for our own projects, yeah, we have Roy Woods and Ye Ali. We've also worked with Megan Thee Stallion, she hit us up after the Wiz songs. She sent us a song which had two verses, but the hooks were blank. We recorded something, and she replied saying, ‘Yo, my mum loves it, my whole team loves it’. To be on her album would be a major honour, she’s an amazing female artist doing great things right now. Also TM88 is producing his album sometime this year, we have a song on there that’s co-produced by Sledgren. Also, Roy Woods has a full EP in the works. We have a collab project with him too that we’re excited about.” Wow, so a lot to look forward to! I wanted to talk to you about your Indian heritage, and how big a part that plays in your music. “It definitely plays a big part. Jay Sean inspired us a lot, it feels like the entire world still doesn’t know he’s British Indian. Obviously, NAV with XO, signed to The Weeknd, we would love to be a part of that. It’s clear that The Weeknd supports artists no matter what their culture is. Him putting on NAV was pretty crazy, and a great step for our community. Again, NAV paved the path for South Asian artists to really make it in genres other than Bollywood music.”  How does it feel to be role models for minority groups pursuing careers in music, particularly Indian Americans, because apart from NAV, there aren’t many in the game at the moment? “There is a lot of pressure to please the community, because we can’t do a lot of the same things. Obviously there are a lot of drug influences in NAV’s music and videos, his background is more from Rexdale from Toronto. So it’s hard to find the balance for us. Based on feedback from the community, I think we can be good role models. Local high schoolers come up to us like, ‘Yo, you guys are legends, you’re the biggest inspiration for the Indian community’. We wish we’d have had an Indian rapper come to us and say, “Yo, you should pursue music’, then we would have been way more inspired from a younger age. What’s great as well is that people from all over India are also noticing us.” You mentioned how NAV has the freedom to make a lot of drug references in his music, and modern R&B as a genre definitely contains numerous themes of drug use, with The Weeknd, for example, also following this trend. Do you feel, as artists that are just coming into R&B and are perhaps still seen as outsiders, that there is a pressure on you to conform to these stereotypes of R&B music? “Yeah, good question. Not really, it’s kind of the theme of R&B to be on a druggy vibe, to put you in a high mood. We don’t feel pressure to do any of that stuff. Obviously singing about it makes sense because that’s the style of music, R&B is typically very sensual. If you want to do drugs, if doing drugs helps you in listening to that kind of music, then we’re not going to judge anyone for what they want to do. But there’s no pressure for us to partake in that. Our music is not heavily drug themed, there are very, very few references to drug abuse. We focus more on passion, and love story type stuff. There are some references, because like I said, it comes with the territory, but generally that’s not what we aim to sing about.” Finally, for my blog I have this concept called Self-Help Songs, where I pick certain lyrics that people can learn something from, and I thought it could be cool to ask you about some lyrics from one of your newest Wiz features, ‘All For You’. Your chorus reads, “If you need someone to treat you right/If you need someone to talk to, call me/I’ll do anything you like/I wanna do it all for, all for, all for you”. What was the inspiration behind these lines? “Yeah, so it’s kind of the beat that carried it. We heard it and it had that really reminiscing, slow jam R&B vibe. But we could also imagine Wiz going crazy hard on it. We thought we could make something that pleases both R&B and Rap fans. In terms of what inspired the lyrics, we came up with this story. We were kind of imaging a scenario where one of us was with a girl, maybe taking her around a shopping mall, treating her right kind of thing. Basically it means using your success in the music industry, to give back to your girl, and being unselfish, like ‘Everything I do, I’ll do for you’. Both songs are kind of about greatness, and giving back, and reminiscing.” Interview by Maxim Mower Hear THEMXXNLIGHT on Wiz Khalifa’s latest album, Fly Times, Vol.1: The Good Fly Young, and stream their brand new single, ‘Good Things’.  After the immense success of the Migos’ debut album, Culture, and their smash hit 'Bad and Boujee’, you would have thought they’d earned the right to be taken seriously. But they are talked of as something of a novelty, and a lot of people claim their popularity is merely the result of the ease with which they are turned into memes.
This seems a tad unfair, but regardless, the decision for each of the trio to release solo projects this year has provided Quavo, Takeoff and Offset, respectively, with the opportunity to show why they should be held in higher esteem, both collectively and as individual artists. However, Quavo’s solo album was disappointing, lacking the vocal innovation and melody that has made him such a sought-after feature, despite containing a handful of highlights. Takeoff’s project came and went without so much as a ripple in the unusually calm waters of the charts. So the onus was on Offset to redeem the rap group, and prevent critics from scratching their heads and wondering why they ever thought these solo experiments would be worth the risk. Did he deliver? Well, he definitely succeeds in distancing himself from the typical style of the Migos, as well as the standard subject matter. There seems less self-assurance in Offset’s voice, as for the first time on a Migos album the loud posturing is replaced by hushed honesty. The title track, ‘Father of 4’, sets the mood for the rest of the project. After a very philosophical and perhaps overly poetic intro from Big Rube, Offset spares no time getting on topic - “I was 17 years old when I had you/ Trying to find my soul when I had you”. He names all his children, and unravels the layers of his relationship with them, opening up to the listener about how he perceives his identity as a father. While other rappers have often cited their offspring as their central motivation, these tributes can often sound trite, as the expression of love is enshrouded in trivial lyrics about Gucci belts and diamond chains. Offset makes it clear this is not going to be one of those albums, with the artist being incredibly candid, often painfully so, about his personal life throughout Father of 4. ‘North Star’ is an emotional wade through Offset’s mental struggles, with the funk-oriented Cee-Lo Green seeming an odd choice at first, but ends up combining well for an outro that adds sentiment to the track. ‘After Dark’ is not catchy at all, but the chorus is uttered so statically that it gives you time to chew over each line, something unusual for Migos tracks, where the verses rattle along at such a speed that there is no time to think, or to stop and digest what is actually being said (albeit it normally not very much). ‘After Dark’ epitomises Offset’s move away from the typical tone and themes of his group. He balances the melodies well with the quick fire bars that he has become renowned for, but Migos fanatics will inevitably ask where the celebratory anthems and triplet-fuelled explosiveness has gone. The attempts to satisfy this expectation are there, with ‘On Fleek’, ‘Clout’ and ‘Legacy’ all threatening as firecrackers, but ultimately lacking the necessary spark. On the whole, though, Father of 4 is a pleasantly surprising listen, with Offset removing his Saint Laurent mask and baring his soul to the world, spinning the Migos blueprint on its head. When he rose to stardom and married Cardi B, Offset became one of the golden boys of Hip Hop. On Father of 4, he walks with the 24-carat necklace dangling as a heavy weight on his shoulders, rather than a symbol of his success. Maxim Mower |
AuthorHello! I'm currently studying Philosophy & Theology at Oxford University, UK. Having always loved writing and music in equal measure, and having always hated decision-making, I figured hey, why do I need to choose between the two? Archives
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