Social media was set ablaze with NFL’s Super Bowl Halftime show. The last couple of years, the slot was filled with artists like Adam Levine, Bruno Mars, and Lady Gaga, but this time they booked Shakira and J-LO that gave a ‘booty shaken’ Vegas style performance. It was Shakira that dominated the news by making noise with her tongue during the performance. Some have noted that it may have been a wink to her Lebanese roots. Some have called it the greatest moment in halftime history. The show didn’t end without controversy with critics saying the show was ‘sexual exploitation’.

Definitely check out the Sydney based Nick de la Hoyde. He just dropped the album A Beautiful Mess. One of my favorites is High. I don’t know why, maybe it reminds me of P. Malone. Mashing up genres like Pop, R&B, Hip-Hop, the singer-songwriter was added to the TikTok playlist on Spotify as well as Spotify’s New Music Friday and Indie Invaders.

Dua Lipa makes the top artist on Spotify’s New Music Friday with the new track Physical. The British pop singer finally released the 80’s inspired video after teasing it with trailers the last several days. The new album Future Nostalgia‘s is set for an April 3rd release date. Songwriter Max Martin and producer Jason Evigan make creative contributions to the release while photographer Hugo Comte shot the album’s cover. Dua says, “I remember that I was on my way to a radio show in Las Vegas thinking about the direction for this new record and I realised that what I wanted to make was something that felt nostalgic but had something fresh and futuristic about it too.”

Kings favorite and artist-to- watch Golda has released another really good track Under. The new single follows one of my favorite top of the year releases Wish I Was Someone Else. Influenced by the likes of Lorde, YEBBA and Phoebe Bridgers, the Los Angeles based artist has a really unique backstory as she grew up in both Chicago and San Diego to Ukrainian parents and honed on her songwriting skills while taking a trip to India. Give it a stream.

Can Amazon compete with Spotify? Nope. Amazon is the epitome of uncool like Wal-Mart. Amazon isn’t a brand, Spotify is. That’s why Spotify is the top digital streaming platform because it branded itself with artists. Amazon has not. Even though Amazon has created a bully brand running around with slogans like “We are the last company anyone wants to compete with”, it’s tough to compete with Spotify’s monthly active users that reached 248 million with total revenue at $1.7 billion. Plus, Spotify is ahead of the curve. The company started investing in podcast content. Spotify continues to do well and has little to worry about, even though Amazon is raising its fists claiming to be the new market leader.