Canada’s Tate McRae tops the Billboard Emerging Artists chart. Forever known as the pandemic artist, meaning her song You Broke Me First was released during lockdowns while gaining traction. Before signing with RCA she was dancing competitively. Moving into the artist world, she began posting songs she wrote on her YouTube channel. As destiny would have it, the songs went viral.
Tate says, “I was like, really mad, wrote this random song in 20 minutes and I was like, ‘Here we’re putting it online. My family hated it. I hated it. We were just like, ‘O.K., put it out there. But then something unexpected happened. It ended up going viral overnight and it was super weird,” says Tate. “So after it hit, like, 30 million views, I was like, ‘I should do this again!'”She laughs, “So I kept on writing songs every week and signed with RCA [Records] and the transition slowly started to happen.”

Oslo’s indie pop artist CELIIN displays her vocal prowess in the new released track Marylin (Undressed). The first version of the song was woven with cinematic samples and loops whereas the new version has a vocal and piano. This is her third and final track from her love letter trilogy. You can check out the video here where she channels Marylin Monroe. Blending alternative with dark pop, CELIIN draws inspiration from BANKS to Lana Del Rey to Nothing But Thieves. Give it a stream.

We are dealing with covid, but we can’t forget the climate.  Coldplay frontman Chris Martin announced that the band will not be going on tour until they can offer carbon-neutral concerts.

Unfortunately, tours produce a sizable amount of carbon emissions with trucks moving people and equipment across the world.

Right now scientists are creating a model that will help touring artist reduce their contribution to climate change.

Things will ultimately change when everyone in the concert business demands a climate friendly concert. I’m a bit apprehensive as covid became the main focus and the climate has taken the backseat. As the pandemic ends, artists, managers, and agents will want to hit the road as fast as possible to pick up the lost revenue, but I’m nervous the climate will not be in mind and it will be business a usual.

Check out the track Better by the duo Internet Raised. You’ll like it, if you love different. Inspired from Lorde to Lauve,  BBC Radio dubbed them as one of the UK’s hottest Bedroom Indie-Pop duos. The duo says, “The track was written in the early days of lockdown 1.0, we were reflecting on mistakes we’ve made and trying to persuade ourselves we were able to do better when the track was made. It’s been such a difficult time for everyone, particularly people that struggle with mental health issues and we found it crucial to remain positive throughout”. Give it a stream on KOAR’s Indie Invaders Playlist.

Spotify jumped to $354.60 on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday, up 7% from Thursday.  Spotify’s value rose to roughly $66.1 billion. Why has the stock prices increased? Mainly because of podcasts and the launch of the controversial Joe Rogan Experience podcast. Spotify might raise prices, expanding its profitability.