Nashville electro pop artist Stef released two new songs Jane Doe and Allison Wonderland.  Many artists are walking down the lonely road and writing melancholic songs but Stef is vibrant and writing and releasing up-tempo energetic songs. To be honest, listening to the 20 year old singer-songwriter is a nice break from hearing the hundreds of artists writing songs about social distancing and live-streaming with face masks. Stream the track on Indie Invaders Playlist and you can stream Jane Doe on Spotify’s Fresh Finds.

Who else believes artists should stand on their own foundation rather than leeching off of other artists? How many celebrity collaborations do we need to see? I’m not souring on collaborations because I personally love some of them, especially if it’s birthed from true passion and an artistic motive. The pairing of Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello was fantastic and Sam Smith & Normani was quite good as well.
With Zoom now at the forefront, many of the collaborations are simply arranged  for “audience reach” and “eyeballs”. There is simply no synergy and connection between the artists. I’m not the only one who thinks celebrity pairing is overplayed, many industry insiders have noted that the specialness has been lost from the overabundance of artist collaborations. When the pairing goes wrong, both artists are effected. I won’t mention names, but there are plenty of circumstances when collaborations did not benefit either artist. Let’s get back to art and play smart.

I really like the track Pandoras Box by London based artist Grace Sees. It’s different, refreshing, and I think honest. She describes her music as Baroque Pop because she loves classical harmonies, organs and drummers of classical music. She has been played on BBC Introducing Essex and playlisted on Spotify Fresh Finds. Give it a stream.

I couldn’t forget to mention the latest release Hard To Say from the promising new artist GRAACE. I really like her silky vocal tone, the vibe, and pretty much everything else. You can watch the video here. The Australian songwriter spent 2019 bouncing around and touring Europe supporting Tom Walker.  She also played shows in London, Los Angeles and New York.  Give the song a stream on Indie Invaders Playlist.

The Canadian streaming king was immune to COV19. The Weeknd had an explosive week despite around the clock media coverage on the pandemic.  His new album After Hours (Republic)  moved 400k+ units.

It worked for The Weeknd but it may not work for everybody. One may think it’s easy to go unnoticed when the media has grasped the public’s attention with social distancing and self-quarantine measures. For instance, French singer Thomas Dutronc, who has Iggy Pop on his new album has delayed the release.
Is it a good time to release music?  Established artists with expectations should probably wait until the seas calm down. They certainly won’t get the eyeballs they are looking for. Also, tours are postponed indefinitely.
In times of hardship, people want to explore new terrain and leave the familiar. Lets call it the new normal.  Lesser known artists without a huge fan base and promo runs will benefit.  People seek out new artists, new ideas, and new reads in a crisis because they want solutions and new experiences. New artists should release lots of new music now. Artists are living through history. This history will produce a new crop of artists that will spark generational change.
New artists could even garner that much more attention if they could get those ‘Pre-COV19’ artists to stop diverting attention on themselves with silly live streaming shenanigans.