Ariana Grande wrapped up her wildly successful 2019 Sweetener World Tour with a live album “K Bye for Now” (Republic).  Her nine month run ended in December with a final show at LA’s Forum. It was a big production show with 40 trucks and a 70 person crew. Ariana has been non-stop for nearly two years having released two albums back to back that scored top 10 hits as well as Grammy nods. After years of hard work, then comes exhaustion and reflection which is why she probably broke down in tears during her last performance.

Harry Styles is back with a No. 1 album after a two year hiatus. His new album Fine Line on Columbia bowed at No. 1 with 478,000 equivalent units giving him the third-largest opening week of 2019. The One Direction singer just wrapped up a sold-out crowd at L.A.’s Forum where he was joined by Stevie Nicks for a duet on Landslide.

The Hit Power of a Heartbreak Song: Although Lewis Capaldi doesn’t think his success will last very long, he shouldn’t count himself out yet. Power ballads today are more prominent on adult contemporary and don’t normally cross over from that space. Capaldi proved otherwise with his massive crossover smash Someone You Loved. Spotify in Germany played in role in the 23 year old developing artist before before he set the world ablaze.  Capaldi is up for a Grammy and majors are on the lookout for another crooner that can deliver a heartbreak song. Although a Capaldi cannot be reassembled, the billion streamed superstar opened the eyes to execs to a massive market that generally is ignored. UK and the U.S. loves heartbreak songs.

Look out for Manchester based pop artist LUCY.   She just dropped the first single ‘it’s cool’ which comes off her forthcoming EP.  Sonically, think Ariana meets Normani.  The track received BBC Introducing support and was premiered by BBC Radio Stoke. She popped on the scene in 2019 with her debut track one night which landed on Spotify’s New Music Friday, New Pop Revolution and Fresh Finds. Give it a listen.

Out With The Old, In With The New // Data Mining & Talent Discovery: If there is one thing that always changes, it’s the process of discovering new artists, both for consumers and music executives. With instant data access, the role of A&R is changing. Yes, everybody is drunk on data but that has become a serious challenge to the older A&R executive getting paid hefty figures to drum up hit songs and artists. Data driven artists like Ant Saunders, Arizona Zervas and REI AMI who all scored label deal changes the game. Spotify is more than ever in the artist discovery business and they get the credit for jumpstarting artists whether its Arizona, Tones and I, and let’s throw in Lewis Capaldi. Yes, Capaldi achieved massive success via radio but it was the playlists that gave ‘Bruises’ life, eventually giving birth to ‘Someone You Loved’. Right now, it’s all eyes on Spotify. Of course, the video-sharing social sites like Tok Tok deserves some credit for laying the groundwork for Lil Nas X and other tracks. One thing is for sure. Music and social sites will continue to co-exist with each other.  Names Making Noise: Dua Saleh, maye, Lee Cole, Nina Chuba, and Kelsy Karter.