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Steven Van Zandt was 14 years old when the Beatles played The Ed Sullivan Show. It was a day that inspired millions of people, many of whom went on to buy and learn to play guitars. But while Van Zandt was in awe of the Mop Tops, his fingers already had experience noodling with a six-string. By then, Van Zandt’s grandfather had shown the aspiring musician songs from his family’s native Calabria, Italy. Van Zandt began to play the guitar to spend more time and bond with his grandfather, whom he loved dearly. The two got along well, strumming tunes. Then the Beatles landed and the musical “British Invasion” followed.

Van Zandt, who came of age in the ’60s, was bitten by the rock and roll bug immediately. The genre sunk its teeth into the young man. Later in life, he learned about Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, and the stars of the ’50s. But at the moment, he found himself enamored with the Rolling Stones, the Kinks, the Animals, and many others.

These and many others are the stories in Van Zandt’s recently released New York Times best-selling memoir, Unrequited Infatuations. (And perhaps what he reminisces over while preparing his new line of wellness-focused cannabis products, Little Steven’s Underground Apothecary.)

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It may not be obvious at first blush, but the Tulsa, Oklahoma-born band Hanson has been making music for just about three decades. The group, which achieved a No. 1 single in 1997 with the track, “MMMBop,” is comprised of three brothers—Isaac, Taylor, and Zac. And ever since their hit found the airwaves in the late ‘90s, it seems like everyone has an opinion about the band. If there’s no such thing as a bad headline, then Hanson has been happily staying in the public consciousness for decades. But, in reality, the roller-coaster ride of fame for the brother band hasn’t always been smooth. That’s why a major theme for the trio these days is the idea of perseverance. The theme of overcoming odds, of succeeding despite an underdog mentality, is all over Hanson’s newest LP, Against The World, which is out today (November 5).

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Los Angeles-via-Seattle-based songwriter and performer Parisalexa is one of the hardest working musicians in the business. She’s one of those people who has two albums in the can whenever she releases her next project. She dips and dives between genres and she’s seemingly always about to go into or come out of a recording studio (her social media is always full of words of wisdom, too). But this work ethic doesn’t just suddenly come to somebody; at least, that’s not how it happened for Paris.

It’s something that began early and was fostered from a young age by her parents. It’s something Paris invests in daily and has ever since summer music camps and after-school theater rehearsals. Now, for the diligent 23-year-old, the work is paying off in spades; she’s making a name for herself on the west coast and beyond. So, it’s no wonder that the fast-moving artist’s latest EP Finishline, which is set for release Friday November 12, is, well, racecar-themed.

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Los Angeles-born musician and producer Terrace Martin remembers being at the White House. It was near the end of former President Obama’s final term in office and he’d been invited to dinner with the POTUS, Michelle, and a few other folks, including musicians Herbie Hancock, Robert Glasper, and Chick Corea. At one point Glasper introduced Martin to Barack and told him Martin was the one who produced Kendrick Lamar’s 2018 song, “How Much a Dollar Cost.” It was then Barack called over to Michelle from across the room, expressing joy, wanting to share it. Barack told Martin how he’s used that song in dialogue with his political colleagues to elucidate to them more clearly the Black American experience. These are the moments, Martin says, that he lives for. This is the purpose he pours into his music, and the artist’s latest example, Drones, which features names like Lamar, SZA, Snoop Dogg, Leon Bridges, and Ty Dolla Sign, is out Friday (November 5).

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Australian-born musician, Jules Crommelin, started early. The future co-founder of the Byron Bay-born and Berlin-based band Parcels says it’s one of the things about which he’s most proud and happy, that he found his love of music by six years old. And because of an early investment in the craft, he’s now adept and innovative with the art form now.

Growing up, Crommelin’s mother and her then-husband had a big vinyl record collection and the music would spill out into all the rooms of the house from the various speakers set up for total surround sound—everything from Steely Dan to David Bowie to Al Green and Rodriguez. Today, his band’s new forthcoming LP reflects both a wide taste in music and a deep love for songwriting. The double album, Day/Night, drops Friday, November 5.

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At any given point in time, it’s easy to think right now is the most important moment of your life. It’s empowering to think you’re always at the center of your story, that now is your narrative’s crucial time. After all, we’re only as ever old as we’ve ever been, as experienced as we ever have been in this moment. Why wouldn’t we tend to think that life is at its peak in this very second?

But after a few years, we also tend to gain a different perspective. We can see how young we were back then—silly, even. The British-born band, FUR, knows this well. In fact, they’ve poured it into song. Over its lifespan, the band has experienced the emotional and creative highs and lows that come with these transitions of age and eras. Collectively, the band members have chosen to express as much on their riveting forthcoming new LP, When You Walk Away, which is out Friday (November 5).

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Argentinian songwriter and performer Nicki Nicole remembers seeing the movie Ray. The film, which starred the multi-talented actor and musician Jamie Foxx portrayed the nuanced and tumultuous life of famed soul singer Ray Charles. Foxx won the Oscar Award for Best Actor for his performance. But when the movie made its way to the city of Rosario, which is the third-largest in Argentina, Nicole realized something important that she hadn’t noticed before.

Like many, she was already a fan of Charles. First and foremost, she says, she’s loved his music. But the award-winning movie showed in detail Charles’ life story, too. It wasn’t just the hits and the big stages and vast applause. It was also the darkness, the drugs, the recovery, versatility, and the triumph. This enlightened Nicole near the outset of her own musical journey and has since helped to inspire the diverse work of the burgeoning star, who released her latest LP, Parte De Mi, on Friday.

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What’s the word for someone who is an actor, singer, writer, and performer? Is it multi-hyphenate? Is it an artist? It’s unclear, really. One who sings is a singer. One who writes is a writer. But what do you call someone who has as many lanes as a roadmap? Whatever the word is, it’s what describes the Georgia-born Katelyn Tarver.

To some, it may sound appealing to have as many options at your fingertips as ideas in your head. But like Sylvia Plath’s fig tree, it can be paralyzing too. What if, on top of this hefty wealth, your past is a fractured bouquet? Rich with history, stories, opportunities, accomplishments, but also somehow competing against itself as oil and water might. It’s a lot to wrap your mind around, I know. So does Tarver, who is set to release her latest album, Subject to Change, on November 12.

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Lindsey Jordan, the frontwoman for the compelling rock band, Snail Mail, is trying to figure everything out. Which is an admittedly odd thing to say for someone who has achieved so much success before they’re legally allowed to drink in a bar. Jordan, who is only now 22 years old, earned thousands of fans, prestigious media writeups, and big attention by the time she was a teenager. And all of that can be great. It can be the breeze upon which you fly even higher. But it can also create doubt. When good things happen to a person at an early age, it’s easy to wonder: well, how did that happen? And can I do it again?

These are some of the natural and important questions Jordan finds herself wrestling with these days. And despite their severity, she seems to be winning, pinning doubt on its shoulders, even if painstakingly so. For Jordan, it’s part of the road of self-discovery and success. And that road continues with Snail Mail’s forthcoming new “breakup” record, Valentine, which is out Friday (November 5).

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Madison, Wisconsin-born rapper Brother Ali lives in Istanbul, Turkey. When asked, the acclaimed musician and lyricist said there are a number of reasons for his transition from where he and his wife were living in the Twin Cities region of Minnesota to the historic city in the Mediterranean, from religious to financial to personal.

Both Ali and his wife are Muslim converts and she had visited the region in 2014 to study. Upon her return, she predicted that they’d one day find themselves there but they thought it would be around retirement age. Yet, the shift happened more recently due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions it put on Ali’s career as a touring musician. They began to rethink what life could be. So, they moved. The new surroundings have given Ali the first occasion in his life to think about who he was and what he wanted from a longer-term perspective, which has both contributed to new music he released recently—like his new Brother Minutester record—and to the way he thinks about his place in the world.

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Artist Thao Nguyen doesn’t mean to repeat herself, but she can’t help it. She’s happy. Or, more precisely, she’s relieved. Nguyen, who until quite recently fronted the project Thao & The Get Down Stay Down has since shed the extra words and is prepared to forge ahead as a musician under her own name. The change, which she posted about recently on social media, is both an essential subtraction and a symbol of larger shifts in Nguyen’s creative and personal life.

As much as any artist since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Nguyen has undergone new pages and chapters in her life, which have required deep self-investigation and public acknowledgment of her identity as a queer person. Nguyen married her wife in 2019. These aspects of identity are important to identify inwardly and outwardly. They are the threads of our personal tapestry. And this is what was on Nguyen’s mind as she reimagined the extra tracks on her new release, the deluxe edition of her acclaimed 2020 album, Temple, which is out today (October 29).

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Like many, Caneyville, Kentucky-born Elvie Shane grew up singing in church. But now, unlike many, Shane is singing around the world in front of thousands. The way Shane tells the story is that he was born on a Sunday and by the following week, his mother had him wrapped in a hymnal in a tiny church in his small hometown. But even before then, Shane was likely first introduced to music from the ‘90s country radio station in the car ride home from the hospital after he’d first arrived on earth.

Ever since, Shane has been singing hymns with his mother and listening to country music on the radio, especially on those occasions he’d join his dad, a professional mechanic, on jobs around the state. He remembers Steve Earle, Otis Redding, Dwight Yoakam. And it’s all this and more that binds the stories and songs on Shane’s newest LP, Backslider, which is out today (October 29).

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Drag has changed the world, especially recently. The centuries-old tradition has, of late, earned a significant number of eyeballs thanks to the surging popularity of the Emmy Award-winning television show RuPaul’s Drag Race. The program has made stars of dozens of drag queens since its inception in 2009. As such, the show has not only changed the world but it’s changed the lives of its annual crop of protagonists, many of whom have become globally known with millions of social media followers.

One of those famous drag queens is Alaska Thunderfuck (born Justin Andrew Honard), who distinguished herself on the show with elegant makeup, a regal persona, and wry humor. Now, though, Alaska is making a name for herself in new formats. She has a memoir out on November 9 and a new single, “Red,” out last month. The track portends both a new LP and music tour in 2022. Indeed, Alaska is involved in much, but it’s all sewn together by her love for the art of drag.

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