NEW Music Monday: Jan. Week 3

Alex Fountain
Jan 20, 2020
7 min read

Welcome to the third official NEW Music Monday --- Your one stop shop on what's happening in the music world and what Fire on the Fountain has to say about it.

This week we saw new releases from Chelsea Cutler, Jonas Brothers, Halsey, Big Gigantic, Tove Lo, The 1975, the much anticipated release of the post humous album by Mac Miller, and more. Week 3 of January also brought the announcement of the 2020 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees. Time to dive in.

2020 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

It is every musicians goal to make an impact, leave a legacy, and ultimately, to be recognized for their contribution to the music industry. Check out who made the cut for the Class of 2020 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Depėche Mode

Irving Azoff

Jon Landau

Nine Inch Nails

T. Rex

The Doobie Brothers

The Notorious B.I.G.

Whitney Houston

How To Be Human by Chelsea Cutler

For years Chelsea Cutler has been creating her own music as well as collaborating with artists including Quinn XCII, Louis The Child, Kasbo, and Kygo but she has finally delivered her debut album, How To Be Human. In 2019, Republic Records signed the EDM singer, songwriter, and producer.

"I Was In Heaven," "Lucky," “How To Be Human” and “You Are Losing Me” are four of the the pre-released singles so on Jan. 17 we received 11 new tracks. If you are even tempted in the slightest to sneak a peak of the album, these are the songs you HAVE to listen to.

"You Are Losing Me"

"I Should Let You Go"

"What Would It Take"

Overall, you can hear that Cutler put her all into this project as she wrote, recorded, and produced it herself. The album as a whole is raw and captivating as it sheds light on who she is as an artist.

Since How To Be Human is already projected to be a huge success for Cutler, she has released news of a corresponding national tour. The tour will kick off in early 2020 starting February in Dallas and continue to major music capitols including New York, Chicago, San Fransisco, Nashville, and more.

Circles by Mac Miller

Wow, okay. If you're a Mac Miller fan and as emotional as me, now's the time to grab the tissue box.

The project, Circles, is said to be the "companion album" of Mac Miller's album, Swimming, that was released in August of 2018 right before his tragic passing. Circles, had Mac been able to finish it himself, would have been his sixth studio album. Before his passing, Mac was working with Jon Brion on the production of Circles and the project was completed by Brion, who worked avidly to achieve Mac's vision.

Last week we received "Good News," the first and only single to be pre-released, which I personally loved. (Sidenote: There's nothing worse than being utterly excited for a new album and then going to it on the day of release and seeing that you've already heard half the album because it was pre-released.) Mac Miller fans have emotionally been all over the place since Circles and here's why I have been.

1. "Blue World"

To me, "Blue World" doesn't sound like anything I've ever heard before from Mac. It starts off very 80's jazz audio sample ("It's A Blue World" by Four Freshman) that dubs into an EDM loop that I can't get enough of. It was announced today that it was actually a beat that Miller collaborated with Disclosure to create.

Sidenote: If you follow EDM or are familiar with Ganja White Night, tell me that this wouldn't be a great remix mashup with "Champagne." Ganja, if you're reading this...I called it.

2. "Surf"

The unique guitar riff is what I absolutely love about this song and for some reason it gives me John Mayer vibes. "Surf" shows that hip-hop and rap were only few of Mac's tools in the musical toolbox.

3. "Complicated"

Similar to "Blue World," this is another track that speaks to the musical experimentation Miller was working on as it combines electronica with jazz while including signature hip-hop drums.

4. "Everybody"

This song speaks to Mac's true artistry and ear for the endless musical possibilities as he piggybacked off of "Everybody's Gotta Live" by Arthur Lee. Not only does it lyrically strike a cord but it speaks to his ability to take something of value to him and spin it into his own sound as he tries to communicate that the point of life is to love.

Overall, Circles went above and beyond my expectations. Of course I knew it would be one of Mac's greatest works, thanks to Jon Brion, but I didn't expect the sound we received. You can hear the inclusion and inspiration of so many decades of music while he single-handedly made each his own.

There has been no official announcement if there will be any other posthumous releases from Mac Miller but if this is the last work we receive from him, I only have one thing to say.

Thank you.

Manic by Halsey

Since being signed in 2014, Halsey has taken over the pop genre. With two released studio albums and a kick ass attitude towards life and her career, she is a force to be reckoned with. Her most famous feature, possibly the most exposure she's recieved, was with the The Chainsmokers in the hit song, "Closer." The exposure continued on the EDM scene when melodic DJ, Illenium, remixed her song "Without Me" while the original song was re-released with a feature from the late Juice Wrld.

Halsey also had probably one of the most memorable award show performances when she took the stage at the American Music Awards. She performed a very ~interpretive~ dance and to be honest, I'm not even sure if thats what you would call it. She appeared on stage originally in an all white ensemble and throughout the song her and her dancer on stage threw and splattered colorful paint everywhere (probably on the audience too) but nevertheless, a memorable performance. That same night she went on to win Favorite Song in the Pop/Rock category.

She has proven that she has what it takes to be a star and that she has the following to take her career to the top; however, the success of her third studio album, Manic, is crucial to her success as in independent and unique artist.

"What A Man Gotta Do" by Jonas Brothers

2019 was undoubtedly one of the most successful years for the Jonas Brothers. After almost a 10 year hiatus, they have returned and are back and better than ever.

I am 20 years old and my whole childhood consisted of riding in my moms car listening to Jonas Brothers and A Little Bit Longer, so consistently to the point where I knew which song was which number track on the CD along with every lyric backwards and forwards. I was obsessed to say the least. Oh, and I'll never forget (and neither will he) the day my dad bought me tickets to see the Jonas Brothers live. If you ask him, he still remembers my tween scream, even though he wore ear plugs the whole time.

Their most recent album, Happiness Begins, went viral and here's the thing about their return: The fanbase is unstoppable. You can group JoBro fans into a number of categories:

1. You've got the OG fans. This consists of the age group of girls who saw them live during childhood and obsessed over Camp Rock to the point where we argued with our friends who was gonna be Mitchie when we did karaoke of "This Is Me." Specifically, this would be us girls who are now women.

2. Then you have the parents of the OG fans. These are the mothers and fathers, much like mine, that were forced into chaperoning us on Burnin' Up Tour who; as much as they try to deny it, actually love them.

3. Following the parents comes the next-gen of fans, the fans who are at the age now that we were when the brothers first had their big break: kids, tweens, and teens. This group of fans are the ones whose first JoBro fever came after the 2019 release of "Sucker."

4. Moving on are the parents of those fans who were roped into taking their kids to the Happiness Begins Tour.

5. Like any fan following, as soon as a group reaches fame, there come the...drumroll please...bandwagoners. This group is the group of boyfriends, brothers, and girls who refused for so long to be a fan of a teen boyband but now say, "You know they really aren't so bad." Yep. Welcome to the fan club.

"What A Man Gotta Do" is the first Jonas Brothers single of 2020 and is hopefully signaling the release of a new album in the months to come. For now, we are just left to obsess over the release of this single, the sexy cover, and the nostalgic music video starring all three brothers and their wives (and yes... as crazy as it sounds, all three of them are married).

So you have to watch this music video for yourself because it has all the 70's and 80's rom-com references you could ever want. It starts with Nick sliding in Tom Hanks style and his portion of the video follows the Risky Business scene with Nick and Priyanka in their white button downs. The video continues to feature Joe in true John Travolta fashion as this scene re-enacts the dance competition from Grease. Kevin tops off the compilation by standing in front of his car outside of his heartthrobs house holding his, not working, boombox above his head as seen in Say Anything. The video is fun-loving just as the single and definitely didn't disappoint Jo-Bro fans.

Sticks and Stoned - EP by Cody Stageberg

Cody Stageberg is an up and coming singer/songwriter who somehow has the ability to take any song and make it his own. His unique sound will throttle him to success and even though I'm slightly biased (Cody is a friend who so generously played at my 20th birthday party and let me just say...by FAR the best birthday), I know that big things will soon be coming his way.

This Virginia Beach native's EP consists of 5 songs:

1. "Sticks and Stones"

2. "Mary (feat. Diamond)"

3. "I Want To (feat. Diamond)"

4. "Plastic Love"

5. "Sunshine Coast"

Check out some of the other music that was released this week.

"Burning Love (feat. Kidepo) by Big Gigantic"

"Bikini Porn" and "Passion and Pain Taste the Same When I'm Weak" by Tovelo

Fun fact: Both of these songs were produced by Finneas; Billie Eilish's brother, musician, producer, and co-performer.

"Moon Ride (feat. Wrabel)" by Jai Wolf

"We Are Born To Play (feat. Charli XCX) by Galantis