It has happened. We have finally reached the end of the semester. In honor of summer’s emergence and finals season coming to a close soon, here is this semester’s final installment of Push Play Monday. Hopefully it will get you in the mood for the change of scenery. Just push play, friends.
1)”Lights” by Jessame
Jessame Berry took the moniker Jessame over a year ago when he started putting out music. Originally from Los Angeles, his music is part of the wave on new era R&B slipping off the hills of California. His mellow and smooth tones in this song are the perfect to vibe to.
2)”Drunk on the Mic” by Mickey Shiloh
This track is nothing short of raw. The lyrics are so genuine and honest that the song will likely give you goose bumps, especially when Mickey Shiloh hits those high notes. Born Michaela Shiloh in San Mateo, California, she was originally a songwriter for modern music legends like Jennifer Lopez, Janet Jackson and Britney Spears. This is her first solo track as a recording artist, and it blew up after Kylie Jenner posted a Snapchat video featuring it.
3)”Cool Me Down” by Margaret
Twenty-four-year-old Polish pop singer Margaret’s real name is Małgorzata Jamroży. Although she has three studio albums and one EP, “Cool Me Down” is only her second international single. Earlier this year, she competed in Krajowe Eliminacje 2016, which is Poland’s national final for the Eurovision Song Contest 2016. She competed with this track and finished in second place.
4)”This Is What You Came For” by Calvin Harris feat. Rihanna
The duo is back at it. Calvin Harris and Rihanna have teamed up a few times in the past to create summer bangers, including “We Found Love” and “Where Have You Been.” However, this track marks their first collaboration in five years. Will it be as popular as their previous work together? Rihanna’s icy vocals over Harris’s 80’s-inspired house instrumental seem to say “yes.”
5)”True Colors” by Zedd feat. Kesha
The release of this song confused a lot of people late Thursday. As you may recall, pop artist Kesha has been entangled in an ongoing legal battle over her release from her recording contract with producer Dr. Luke’s Kemosabe Records, owned by Sony, after coming forward with allegations of emotional and physical abuse. However, by some miracle, Zedd tweeted out that “Kemosabe / RCA gave us permission to release this song!” The lyrics are a very obvious attack against Dr. Luke, and they are empowering on a whole new level for Kesha.
6)”Mom” by Meghan Trainor feat. Kelli Trainor
The timing of this track couldn’t be better. With Mother’s Day right around the corner (yes, it’s this Sunday), Meghan Trainor, the vocals of ever-popular “All About That Bass”, dropped this song just in time to honor mothers for the coming holiday. She even gave credit to her mom, Kelli Trainor, who features on the track as a sample of a phone call during which Kelli and Meghan express their love for each other. It is about as cute as cute gets.
7)”Honey, Fire (Alt)” by Aaron Krause
Aaron Krause first started performing as a singer in his choir at church. It was there that he also developed an understanding of instrumental composition, allowing him to learn the piano, drums and bass. He performed all throughout his childhood into high school, at which point he began to write his own music. He then relocated to Nashville, Tennessee, where he wrote and recorded his debut album Holding on to Love, and then a five-track EP, Jade.
8)”On My Mind” by Moxie Raia feat. Pusha T
The featuring artists on Moxie Raia’s debut mixtape, 931 — Post Malone, GoldLink, Pusha T and more — are pretty stellar for someone so new to the scene. Born and raised in Red Bank, New Jersey, Raia would end up moving out to at age 13 to live with her older sister in New York City. There she attended Professional Children’s School, where she developed her passion for music in order to study jazz at Columbia University. After relocating again to Los Angeles and finally honing in on her sound, her mixtape is here and it is fire track after fire track.
9)”Sober” by CVIRO & GXNXVS
Let’s just get the pronunciations out of the way, shall we? CVIRO is pronounced “Cairo” and GXNXVS is pronounced “Genius.” Now that that is clarified, let’s talk about the fact that this song is one of many collaborations these two guys have together. Every single one has over 300,000 plays on Soundcloud, which only speaks to how incredible their teamwork really is.
10)”Don’t Mind” by Kent Jones
This signee to DJ Khaled’s We the Best Music Group record label dropped his debut mixtape, Tours, last summer, but this single from the mixtape just made it to Spotify. Originally from South Florida, Kent Jones has had a passion for music since his childhood, but it is doubtful that he imagined many years later he would working with veteran producers like Fat Joe, and Miami producers Cool & Dre .
Enjoy this final playlist and I will see you this fall to brighten up your first syllabus week of the new school year.
