Check out the new uptempo track Friends released by singer-songwriter Lima. Think Jessie J meets Cher Lloyd. Lisa Maria goes under the moniker of Lima and hails from Vienna, Austria. She notes, “For me, the new song is an absolute mood-maker. In quarantine, I looked for motivation and inspiration. Give the track a stream.

Imagine getting a call from Taylor Swift? That’s what happened to Zoe Jordan, the 19 year old from South London. She was inspired to pursue music after Taylor Swift reached out to her during a rough time a school. She just released the debut track What Are We? which was co-written with Brendan Cleary, (Tim Van Werd, Wideboys, Alice Merton) and Lisa Sanchez and produced by Sanchez with Chris Hewitt (Ed Sheeran, Newton Faulkner, Calvin Harris)

Look out for Matt Taylor and the new track The Breath Within Your Chest which made it on Spotify’s New Music Friday. I like it, it’s different and definitely catchy and that was the goal for the 21 year old Brighton based singer songwriter – to write catchy tracks. The Irish singer is influenced by Julia Michaels, Tove Styrke and Max Martin and he has written for Ariana Grande and Charli XCX. Give it a stream on our Indie Invaders Playlist.

I rarely listen to rock but I kinda of like the track Bulletproof by Canada’s Sierra Pilot. I read that they blurs lines between hard rock and emotive pop music. I’m fine with that. Even though modern rock lost its footing in pop culture it still has the most loyal fans across the world of any major genre by a wide margin. If you’re a 90’s die hard rock fan you’ll like this alt rock act.

So you heard that Republic Records has cancelled the word Urban. It will “remove ‘urban’ from the label’s verbiage in describing departments, employee titles and music genres. Oddly, Latin categories including the term were excluded from reconsideration.

Gail Mitchell, executive director of R&B and hip-hop at Billboard says she’s on the fence about losing “urban” as an umbrella term, because it may erase the historical legacy of Black music.

Also, top black executives at parent company Universal Music said the move was taken without their endorsement. Senior Universal executives Jeff Harleston and Ethiopia Habtemariam who lead an internal task force on diversity, took issue with the decision.
Will Warner Music cancel Urban? According to sources they are talking with employees who hold a wide range of views and no decision has been made.

Removing the urban departments from labels carry a cost. Urban departments are funded and stacked with employees that find and develop their own artists. What happens to these departments?
Mr Harleston chief executive of Def Jam says, “If you’re a group of people at an urban department, and you sign and develop an artist that goes on to be one of the biggest . . . you’re proud. That’s something the urban department did. There is ownership that goes with it.”

Ms Habtemariam, president of Motown records, said: “People kind of jumped the gun in throwing it out there, more as a headline in my opinion, and not really understanding the real implications.”
In 2018, Mark Pitts President of RCA Urban Music Department and who managed the The Notorious B.I.G. defended the use and said, “I put on urban as a badge of honor”.