By Colin Joyce, Jaelani Turner-Williams, Kemet High, Peter A. Berry, and Vrinda Jagota of Third Bridge Creative This week’s column of rising artists shines a spotlight on the campy pop princess everyone is talking about, SoundCloud’s next generation of rage rap, the maturation of a Midwest R&B singer, Caribbean hip-hop fusion, and a stellar Jersey Club mix. Chappell Roan Chartmetric Artist Rank: 246 Genre: Pop Country: U.S. Clad in hot pink, feathers, and rhinestones, and wielding a voice that cascades octaves and relays yearning via a slight country twang, Chappell Roan is here to ..read more

As the first comprehensive pipeline and analytics platform for live events, RealCount begins at the basics: where, when, and how tickets are sold. In the first installment of our Figures in Music series, we chatted with RealCount founder and CEO, Diana Gremore about the power of unlocking artist ticket data. Covering everything from ticketing data collection to RealCount's comprehensive data services, we also touch on industry shifts, the importance of ticket sales metrics, and strategies for emerging artists. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. How did you get your star ..read more

Al pensar en música latina, los primeros géneros tendencia que vienen a la mente son reggaetón, trap y más recientemente, corridos tumbados. Sin embargo, la cumbia ha sido el género más omnipresente, unificador y característico en toda América Latina por casi un siglo. Ya sea que uno esté en Monterrey, en el vecindario Almagro de Buenos Aires, en el Centro de Lima o en el Este de L.A., es probable oír cumbia en los alrededores. La cumbia se originó en Colombia alrededor del fin del siglo 19 y desde entonces se esparció a través del continente. Está caracterizada por su distintivo ritmo, que i ..read more

Written by Jaelani Turner-Williams, a Third Bridge Creative contributor. Beyoncé’s CMA Awards takeover in 2016 appeared to be a power move, but behind the scenes, the 32-time Grammy winner didn’t exactly receive a warm welcome. Bey’s 2016 Lemonade track “Daddy Lessons” (110 million Spotify streams) tipped its hat to country, but its performance at the awards ceremony with The Chicks that year proved controversial. After an influx of racist comments, CMA later removed promotional posts at Bey’s request. Despite the moment being of cultural importance, a recent Vulture oral history of ..read more

By Leah Mandel, Jaelani Turner-Williams, Brandon Ousley, Michelle Hyun Kim, and Colin Joyce of Third Bridge Creative KNEECAP Chartmetric Artist Rank: 23,856 Genre: Hip-Hop/Rap Country: Ireland Belfast rap trio KNEECAP are heading for a U.S. crossover. The political Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap, and DJ Provaí, whose lyrics are mainly in Gaelic with a smattering of English, sold out almost every show on their recent American tour. In January, they’ll release a film that chronicles their formation — and also stars Michael Fassbender — in the first-ever Irish-language movie to debut at Sundance. Languag ..read more

When thinking about Latin American music, the first trendy genres that come to mind might be reggaeton, trap, and lately, corridos tumbados. Nevertheless, cumbia has been the most ubiquitous, unifying, and characteristic genre throughout Latin America for nearly a century. Whether you are in Monterrey, Buenos Aires’ Almagro neighborhood, the center of Lima, or East L.A., you are likely to hear some cumbia in the air.   Cumbia originated in Colombia around the end of the 19th century and has since spread across the continent. It's characterized by its distinctive rhythm, which often ..read more

Written by Peter A. Berry of Third Bridge Creative This is the third installment of our monthly column that looks back at key new releases from artists across the spectrum, from superstars to upstarts. We’ll break down what happened and why it mattered. For this edition, we take a look at releases from BossMan Dlow, Future & Metro Boomin (with Kendrick Lamar), Sexyy Red, Bladee & Yung Lean, and Hozier.  Kendrick Lamar’s Epic Guest Verse Helps Propel Future and Metro Boomin’s WE DON’T TRUST YOU Say what you want, but negativity sells, and Kendrick Lamar served up a heaping d ..read more

By Michelle Hyun Kim, Leah Mandel, Kemet High, Colin Joyce, and Will Schube of Third Bridge Creative This week’s column of rising artists shines a spotlight on an electronic artist paying tribute to his mother, a shoegaze act gaining buzz, a hip-hop savant taking inspiration from country music, a country-rock fusion band from Kentucky, and a former bedroom pop artist experimenting with new sounds. Bolis Pupul Chartmetric Artist Rank: 17,838 Genre: Electronic Country: Belgium Best known for his collaborations with Charlotte Adigery, Belgium-based producer/performer Bolis Pupul has found his s ..read more

The riot grrrl subculture is as synonymous with the city of Olympia, Washington as it is ear-shattering decibel levels, provocative underground fanzines, and pure unadulterated rage against the patriarchal machine. After all, it was there where Kathleen Hanna delivered the manifesto that defined the scene’s zine subculture, where the likes of Bikini Kill, Heavens to Betsy, and Bratmobile galvanized a generation of guitar-wielding third-wave feminists at the seminal International Pop Underground Convention, and where the deliberately misspelled term itself — designed to reclaim the patronizing ..read more

By Sarah Kloboves and Melina Raglin For American Gen Zers, the term “drum and bass” is most likely new to their vocabulary. The sound? Well, chances are they heard it for the first time as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, either on TikTok or sprinkled into an American house or dubstep set. As for Gen Zers in the U.K., drum and bass was the music a friend's brother played at house parties in high school. It’s nothing new - in fact, it’s what they grew up on. As two of the music industry’s largest markets, the export relationship between the U.K. and the U.S. is historically one of the strong ..read more