Ed Sheeran announces new single ‘Bad Habits’ that will drop later this month. “I’ve been working away in the studio over recent months and I can’t wait for you to hear Bad Habits,” Sheeran said.“I always aim to push myself and my music in new directions and hopefully you’ll hear that on the new single. Feels great to be back!”

Also, Lorde surprised everybody with a new track release “Solar Power”. The song was written by Lorde with longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff. The song has been compared to George Michael’s “Freedom 90”. It’s been nearly 4 years since Lorde released music.

Chelsea Blythe exits Columbia Records and moves to Def Jam as Senior VP, A&R. Blythe began her career at Interscope Records, where she contributed to such projects as Kendrick Lamar, ScHoolboy Q, Mike WiLL Made-it and Rae Sremmurd’s. Chelsea moved to Columbia Records in 2016, where she contributed to the label’s successful run of breakthrough acts including Polo G, The Kid LAROI and Baby Keem.

Look out for Love Somebody by ANTi.  You’ll like if you love Charlie Puth and The Weeknd or in the mood for smooth melodies. It would fit nicely on Spotify’s Soft Pop Hits or Apple’s Unwind.

“This song is a big piece of me to put out into the universe, one that unexpectedly pulled me back into the joy and freedom and reward of creating and made me feel like myself again” shares ANTi.

Prior to releasing originals, the Nashville-based pop artist/producer played “Purple Rain” and Jonny Lang covers. ANTi has racked up hundreds of thousands of streams as a producer and co-writer. He also is the better half of electro-pop duo The Love Elektrik, co-founded with Victor Brodén.

DoItYourself rapper Tom MacDonald has made it. He’s flying high under the radar. He cut through the noise and did it himself with no one to thank but his fans. He is self managed and directs his videos. He probably etches his own tattoos.

He took the internet by surprise when he purchased Eminem’s NFT for 100k and made a single called Dear Slim in which he praises Eminem.

His track Snowflakes reached #1 on the iTunes Charts. Heck, he has 17 songs in the 200 iTunes Hip Hop Charts including Fake Woke, White Boy, Clown World, Best Rapper Ever, Sober, and Everybody Hates Me.

Right now, the Canadian rapper, singer, songwriter, and former professional wrestler is the biggest independent rapper.

But where are the music labels? In normal circumstances the majors would be enticing MacDonald with a million dollar signing bonus. He’s proven with several songs on the charts with little promotion, and he comes with a fanbase. He is also popular with conservative influencers.

It could be the majors are afraid to touch the controversial rapper with songs like Fake Woke and Snowflakes. Right now, companies are fearful of cancel culture and are treading carefully.

Like ‘Em, Love ‘Em, Or Hate ‘Em – MacDonald is breaking the internet.

Post pandemic events are going to be big. “We’re just seeing massive, pent-up demand for concerts globally,” said Live Nation president. “Our festivals have been selling out faster than ever before. Our amphitheater business is ramping up quickly and leading into this fall and ’22, we expect to be our largest years ever,” added Berchtold.

Dua Lipa was the most played artist of 2020. Her mega tracks dominated radio and TikTok. With all that success, she couldn’t tour because of the pandemic. Lots of money left on the table.

Times they are changing, and so is culture. Marketeers and artists have come under attack with accusation of “queerbaiting” . The term refers to using allusions to LGBTQ romance in order to gain fans or viewers can come in any form of media, including advertising, social media, TV shows, film and pop music. Several artists have dropped recent videos and have been accused of queerbaiting.

Billboards supporting Morgan Wallen pop up in Nashville right before CMT Music Awards. Yep, the country singer stays.

I’m really liking Unlove You by the songwriter John Adams. Reminiscent of Justin Bieber’s Lonely, you’ll like if you’re sucker for piano ballads. Think James Morrison, Damien Rice and Passenger. The track would fit nicely on Spotify’s Broken Heart Playlist.

The South Wales singer garnered 600,000 monthly listeners on Spotify and has become a BBC favorite. His debut album landed on a top spot on the iTunes Chart leading to festival gigs including The Isle of Wight Festival, Great Escape and Victorious Festival. Give it a stream on KOAR’s Indie Invaders Playlist.