When Detroit techno producer Omar S thinks back on the early days of his label, FXHE, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, he sounds as down-to-earth as his inviting, party-oriented music suggests. “I was just working at my job and making tracks,” he recalls over Zoom. Before then, he’d …
Read More »An Oral History of Miguel's 'Sure Thing,' A Viral Success and Pop Radio Hit After 15 Years
Though R&B singer Miguel has been widely beloved in his genre since his major label debut thirteen years ago, the 37-year-old is besting himself in huge ways right now. “Sure Thing” — a contemporary classic that Miguel first wrote around 2007 and released as his first album’s second single in …
Read More »Otoboke Beaver: Loud, Misunderstood, and Loving It
Kyoto, Japan’s Otoboke Beaver are a force of nature onstage — four larger-than-life hardcore punks, blazing through sets with idiosyncratic wrath and sarcasm. But when they pop in for a translator-guided Zoom interview, they’re resting at their apartments between dates on a Japanese tour. Accorinrin, the band’s howling frontwoman, reclines …
Read More »Sudan Archives Is Rewriting the Rules From Her Basement Studio
If you’re looking for the future of music, you might want to check first in Sudan Archives’ L.A. basement. “I don’t really see myself being in anyone’s studio,” the singer says over Zoom while smoking on her living room couch. “You got to come to my house, you got to …
Read More »Tsumyoki: The Heartfelt Pop Artist Who's Proudly Representing Goa
2023 is a great year to be an artist from India. There’s a new-music boom happening all over the country, led by a crop of young pop, rap, and R&B musicians with a hunger to leap into something greater — artists like the 22-year-old rapper, singer-songwriter, and producer Nathan Mendes, …
Read More »Omar Courtz Worked at a Clothing Store For Reggaeton's Biggest Stars. Now He's Collaborating With Them
When the Puerto Rican singer Omar Courtz was a teenager, he spent some time working at a clothing store in the city of Carolina that became popular among reggaeton stars. He’d see some of his biggest inspirations coming in and out of the shop, which was called Change: people like …
Read More »Peso Pluma's Breakthrough Success Is Just the Beginning
Peso Pluma woke up one morning in April, still a little sleepy, and learned that “Ella Baila Sola” — the lovey-dovey sierreño collaboration he’d dropped with the Northern California band Eslabon Armado — was the biggest song in the world. The track shot up to the top of Spotify’s Global …
Read More »The Exhilaratingly Fast Rise of NewJeans
I n the short but exhilarating story of NewJeans, there’s one date that stands out above all the rest: July 22, 2022, the day they went from being unknown teens to one of the buzziest groups in the world. “I knew that it would be a date of excitement for …
Read More »Villano Antillano Knows Her Magic
A gentle blanket of clouds covers the sky in Piñones, Puerto Rico, and after Villano Antillano excuses herself to take a phone call, I ask if everything is OK. “Ay no,” she says with a resigned half-smile. “But I can’t solve this.” The day before, in a San Juan bar …
Read More »Welcome to Young Miko's World
Young Miko is relaxing on a Saturday afternoon when I reach her on Zoom. Given that she’s about to kick off her first-ever world tour in Guatemala later that night, it’s hardly a regular Saturday, though. “I’m resting as much as I can,” says the Puerto Rican artist, 24. “I’ve …
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