Tiara Thomas, the Grammy and Oscar-winning singer-songwriter, returns with “A Hug,” a raw, emotionally charged R&B track that captures the duality of her artistry. Known for co-writing modern classics like H.E.R.’s “Damage” and “Intimidated,” Tiara continues carving out her own lane with music that is equal parts vulnerable and unapologetically bold.
“A Hug” blends smooth, soulful vocals with sharp, rhythmic flows as Tiara pivots seamlessly between singing and rapping, showcasing the full scope of her talent. A moody counterpoint to the sweetness of her previous single “Kiss Me,” the track channels anger, vulnerability, and emotional exhaustion, offering a darker glimpse into the rollercoaster of feelings that will shape her upcoming album.
“This song came from a real place of frustration,” Tiara says. “It’s about when you’re tired of love being complicated, when all you really want is something as simple as a hug, but the emotions underneath are messy, raw, and sometimes petty. I wanted that duality to come through in both the lyrics and delivery.”
Following her 2023 single “Hit You Right Back” featuring Tone Stith and 2024’s lighthearted “Kiss Me,” “A Hug” signals a striking new chapter in Tiara’s evolution, one where honesty and emotional complexity take center stage.
Montreal-based audiovisual duo Planet Zyha return with their second single on Grand Alliance Music, “Name of the Game,” a cinematic bass anthem created in collaboration with Denver, CO producer/DJ Bass Temple and Las Vegas, NV conscious lyricist REN3GADE. Out September 5th via next-wave bass music imprint Grand Alliance Music, the track blends space bass, leftfield dubstep, and electrifying verses into a powerful celebration of creativity as a divine force.
The roots of this release trace back years. Planet Zyha first connected with Bass Temple through her track “Power Shift” nearly four years ago, a moment that planted the seed for this collaboration. Meeting REN3GADE at Manafest Festival in Costa Rica later sparked the lyrical fire that completes the track. The result is pure alchemy: cinematic basslines, spiritual energy, and a message that resonates with both festival crowds and seekers of deeper meaning.
Running at 145 BPM, “Name of the Game” is a soaring, inspiring cut described as powerful, uplifting, spiritual, cinematic, and inspiring. Drawing comparisons to CloZee, LSDream, Liquid Stranger, Apashe, and Zen Selekta, the track bridges genres while standing firmly in its own lane.
Lyrics like “Through dark tunnels I see a light / And I find hope when I grip the mic” highlight REN3GADE’s conscious flow, woven seamlessly into Planet Zyha’s interstellar production and Bass Temple’s high-vibrational sound design.
Industrial-electronic artist Staytus unveils her latest single, “Heart Attack,” now available on all major digital streaming platforms. Produced by acclaimed music producer Sean Beavan (Nine Inch Nails, 8mm), “Heart Attack” surges with raw vulnerability and biting defiance, blending bruising industrial textures with haunting melodic layers.
Driven by sharp lyrical imagery—“nothing will heal that gaping hole in my chest” and “goodbye my idol”—the track confronts betrayal, disillusionment, and the painful collapse of once-revered ideals. Staytus delivers an unflinching narrative of loss and severance, wrapped in a cinematic storm of sound.
This release continues Staytus’ signature fusion of industrial, electronic, and nu-metal influences, crafting immersive soundscapes that resonate with themes of personal reckoning and resilience.
Staytus is an emerging force in the industrial-electronic scene, recognized for her emotionally charged compositions and boundary-pushing productions. Working with legendary producers like Sean Beavan and Matt McJunkins, she fuses elements of horror, gaming, and lived experience into powerful soundscapes that resonate with fans of dark, alternative music.
A great song can travel: from one legend’s pen to another’s voice, taking on new life. These 20 all-time tracks prove that the right pairing of writer and interpreter can etch a song into history.
“A World Without Love” — Written by Paul McCartney; made iconic by Peter & Gordon. A Beatles tune handed off, it became a British Invasion #1 for the duo.
“All Along the Watchtower” — Written by Bob Dylan; made iconic by Jimi Hendrix. Dylan’s stark ballad turned into a psychedelic storm with Hendrix at the helm.
“All the Young Dudes” — Written by David Bowie; made iconic by Mott the Hoople. Bowie gifted them a glam-rock anthem that saved the band from breakup.
“Because the Night” — Written by Bruce Springsteen; made iconic by Patti Smith. Springsteen’s unfinished draft became a blazing love song through Smith’s rewrite.
“Black Magic Woman” — Written by Peter Green; made iconic by Santana. Fleetwood Mac’s blues roots became Latin-rock fire in Santana’s hands.
“Both Sides Now” — Written by Joni Mitchell; made iconic by Judy Collins. Collins gave Mitchell’s reflection on clouds and life its first hit wings.
“City of New Orleans” — Written by Steve Goodman; made iconic by Arlo Guthrie. Goodman’s rail ode became a folk classic in Guthrie’s warm delivery.
“Crazy” — Written by Willie Nelson; made iconic by Patsy Cline. Heartbreak immortalized in Cline’s velvet phrasing.
“Girls Just Want to Have Fun” — Written by Robert Hazard; made iconic by Cyndi Lauper. Hazard’s rough demo became Lauper’s neon-bright feminist anthem.
“Hallelujah” — Written by Leonard Cohen; made iconic by Jeff Buckley. Cohen’s hymn of doubt soared into eternity with Buckley’s fragile voice.
“I Will Always Love You” — Written by Dolly Parton; made iconic by Whitney Houston. Parton’s tender farewell became Houston’s blockbuster torch song.
“I’m a Believer” — Written by Neil Diamond; made iconic by The Monkees. Diamond’s knack for melody exploded into Monkeemania.
“Killing Me Softly with His Song” — Written by Charles Fox & Norman Gimbel; made iconic by Roberta Flack. A delicate ballad reborn with Flack’s soulful intimacy.
“Mama Told Me Not to Come” — Written by Randy Newman; made iconic by Three Dog Night. Newman’s wry party satire became a funky hit machine.
“Me and Bobby McGee” — Written by Kris Kristofferson; made iconic by Janis Joplin. Kristofferson’s road ballad became Joplin’s posthumous anthem.
“Nothing Compares 2 U” — Written by Prince; made iconic by Sinéad O’Connor. Prince’s words of loss reached raw perfection through O’Connor’s delivery.
“Respect” — Written by Otis Redding; made iconic by Aretha Franklin. Aretha turned a plea into a demand and an anthem of empowerment.
“Take It Easy” — Written by Jackson Browne & Glenn Frey; made iconic by Eagles. A breezy collaboration that opened the Eagles’ career and defined SoCal rock.
“The First Cut Is the Deepest” — Written by Cat Stevens; made iconic by Rod Stewart. Stevens’ melancholy melody became Stewart’s soulful lament.
“Without You” — Written by Pete Ham & Tom Evans (Badfinger); made iconic by Harry Nilsson. A power ballad perfected with Nilsson’s aching vocal.
Every artist faces the tension between creative vision and business realities. Managers who’ve worked across genres agree: the artists who last are the ones who protect their art while still playing the long game. Here are five lessons drawn from those conversations and experiences.
1. Protect the Core Vision
Managers often stress that an artist’s identity is non-negotiable. Labels, agents, and even fans may push for changes, but a career is built on authenticity. Protecting the vision first ensures everything else falls into place.
2. Translate Creativity Into Strategy
A brilliant demo means little if no one hears it. Good managers find the right producer, time the rollout, and create opportunities like sync placements to amplify the vision. Creativity drives the work, but strategy gets it heard.
3. Build Momentum Without Oversaturation
The industry loves quick returns, but constant releases can dilute impact. Managers often recommend pacing: tour smartly, drop EPs between albums, and give songs room to breathe. Careers built slowly tend to last longest.
4. Use Data, But Trust Instinct
Streams, likes, and algorithmic trends provide useful signals, but they aren’t the whole story. Some of the biggest hits ignored conventional wisdom. Managers remind artists that instinct, not spreadsheets, often produces timeless work.
5. Let Business Serve the Art
When money and exposure come with strings attached, authenticity can get lost. The best managers know when to say no — declining deals that compromise lyrics, image, or values. Fans connect with honesty more than sponsorships.
The message from veteran managers is clear: art comes first, but business matters too. The real craft lies in keeping them balanced, so that vision leads the way and strategy builds a career that lasts.
“I Want It All” was released in 1989 as the lead single from Queen’s album The Miracle, written by Brian May and produced by David Richards. The song became a global hit, reaching top 10 in multiple countries and serving as an anti-apartheid anthem in South Africa. Freddie Mercury never performed it live, but Queen revived it at the 1992 Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert with Roger Daltrey on vocals and Tony Iommi on guitar.
OK Go has teamed up with Blender Studio, BAFTA-winning filmmaker and animator Will Anderson, and acclaimed designer and artist Lucas Zanotto to bring their track “Impulse Purchase” to life in a spectacular new visual.
Crafted entirely in Blender, a free, open-source software for creating 3D art, the “Impulse Purchase” visual combines Will Anderson’s signature fun and quirky animation style with Lucas Zanotto’s iconic design language. OK Go frontman Damian Kulash controlled the main character in real time via face-capture; unlike the careful determinism of traditional animation, this system captures a live performance.
“It began with my love of Lucas Zanatto’s short animated loops – they’re so inventive, so full of joy, always delivering little doses of the kind of wonder we’re always searching for in our own videos. So I thought the universe flowing from his brain might be the perfect setting for a lyric video, but when I reached out to him, he had a more ambitious project to propose: a ‘live performance’ with me AS one of his characters. Suddenly it was a much weirder, more wonderful project than what I’d envisioned,” shares OK Go frontman and video director, Damian Kulash.
The pair teamed up with Will Anderson to design a dynamic procedural system in Blender for puppeting a digital character via face-capture software that anyone can use. The clip released today features a performance tracking Damian’s face, but, like all Blender Studio projects, the source files for “Impulse Purchase” are free for all to use and adapt, and the Blenderheads have already started going wild with them.
All of the necessary files, tools, and documentation, are available for download here. The project aims to share both the file and the process behind it, so users can not only interact with the main character from the video, but also learn how to create their own interactive animations.
“Blender Studio is all about exploring technical and artistic solutions for creative challenges, and this project is a perfect example. We are proud to support and partner with these talented artists, who share Blender’s values of creating and sharing knowledge with the world,” adds Blender COO, Francesco Siddi.
“Impulse Purchase” appears on OK Go’s latest studio album And the Adjacent Possible which was released earlier this year. Produced by OK Go and longtime collaborator Dave Fridmann (The Flaming Lips, Spoon, Tame Impala, MGMT)
Nashville-based singer/songwriter Jack Schneider releases “Crying In The Rain,” the latest single from his upcoming LP Streets Of September, which will come out on September 19. Schneider turns the Carole King cut originally performed by the Everly Brothers into a soft folk song with a gentle sound that evokes ’70s troubadours and is elevated by vocal harmonies from Wendy Moten (who has sung with folks like Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, Vince Gill and Bonnie Tyler).
On the new song, Schneider shares: “When I was eleven or twelve years old, my mom took me to see James Taylor and Carole King together on their reunion tour, and I vividly remember hearing this song in particular for the first time. It has haunted me since then, and despite digging through every version officially released, I’ve been unable to find a recording that encapsulated the spirit of that song the way I heard it for the first time. The version I recorded turned out differently, of course; but I included it on this record because there is magic in the song itself, and because it’s important to me to carry on songs I love from past generations to the next, to breathe life into them so that they can continue to grow beyond the places they came from.”
Following years on the road as Vince Gill’s rhythm guitarist, Schneider just wrapped a series of shows with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band ahead of his AMERICANAFEST debut next week on Sept. 10 at the Analog and a Nashville album release show at the bluegrass mainstay The Station Inn on Sept. 23. He will also support Marty Stuart later this year before heading out with Australian guitar wiz Tommy Emmanuel on his extensive tour next April.
Last month, Schneider announced the new LP with the release of the warm, rootsy “Stone’s Throw Away,” which Atwood Magazine lauded as “a triumph of Jack Schneider’s own artistry – a dreamy, enchanting revelation full of heart, humility, and a whole lot of soul.” Produced by Matt Andrews (Gillian Welch, Old Crow Medicine Show, Dawes), the new album finds Schneider reflecting on his experience battling a mysterious life-threatening illness and reaffirms the enduring power of storytelling in the face of loss and transcendence. Serving as both a personal reflection and a tribute to the people and places that shaped him, Streets Of September features a mixture of profoundly honest original material and revelatory interpretations. The album also includes a co-write with Gill: the bittersweet first single “How In The World.”
Serendipity is a word that surrounds Schneider and everyone in his orbit. In fact, he wasn’t even supposed to be making a new record, but when a friend cancelled a recording session he was scheduled to produce, he figured it was a sign to use the studio time to record another LP. In addition, Schneider was even able to pay the ultimate tribute to his late mentor Steve Weisberg, who played on his favorite album of all time An Evening with John Denver, by playing the same guitar Weisberg used on the album on what turned out to be 50 years to the day it was recorded.
Streets Of September was recorded live to tape at Burns Sound in Burns, TN with an all-star band of Nashville’s finest including Dom Billett, Jared Manzo, Tony Harrell, Andrea Zonn and Eddy Dunlap. It follows his critically-acclaimed debut LP Best Be On My Way, which featured Gill along with Stuart Duncan among others. Over the course of the last 10 years, he’s also shared the stage with folks like Emmylou Harris, the Eagles, Chris Stapleton and Sting, recorded songs with wildly diverse artists from Camila Cabello and FLETCHER to David Rawlings, and toured with Americana mainstays like The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. His prowess as a guitarist and musician has long been proven, now he’s ready to be seen as an artist in his own right, and the universe seems to agree.
Streets Of September Tracklist 1. Streets Of September 2. Footprints In The Sand 3. Crying In The Rain 4. How In The World 5. Stone’s Throw Away 6. Renee 7. Bright Eyes 8. Gulf of Mexico
Tour Dates September 10 – Nashville, TN – AMERICANAFEST @ Analog at Hutton Hotel September 11 – Dallas, TX – Longhorn Ballroom ^ September 12 – Austin, TX – The Paramount Theater ^ September 20 – Decatur, AL – Princess Theatre # September 23 – Nashville, TN – The Station Inn September 28 – Decatur, GA – Eddie’s Attic October 28 – Nashville, TN – The Station Inn November 15 – Decatur, AL – Princess Theater ^ April 8 – Kansas City, MO – Uptown Theater * April 10 – Denver, CO – Paramount Theatre * April 12 – Boise, ID – The Egyptian Theatre * April 15 – Bend, OR – Tower Theatre * April 17 – Seattle, WA – Moore Theatre * April 21 – Redding, CA – Cascade Theatre * April 22 – Sacramento, CA – Crest Theater * April 23 – Santa Cruz, CA – Rio Theater * April 24 – San Francisco, CA – Palace Of Fine Arts Theatre * April 25 – Anaheim, CA – City National Grove of Anaheim * April 26 – San Luis Obispo, CA – Fremont Theater * April 28 – El Cajon, CA – The Magnolia * April 29 – Mesa, AZ – Mesa Arts Center* April 30 – Tucson, AZ – Fox Tucson Theatre * May 1 – Albuquerque, NM – KiMO Theatre * May 3 – Tulsa, OK – Cox Business Convention Center *
^ supporting Marty Stuart # supporting Ricky Skaggs * supporting Tommy Emmanuel
Tame Impala (Kevin Parker) unveils “Loser,” the second song of this new era. The track continues Parker’s fearless exploration of rhythm, texture, and sonic experimentation, building on the meticulous studio approach that has defined his career. The single is accompanied by a music video directed by KRISTOFSKI, and starring actor/musician Joe Keery (Stranger Things, Fargo).
Prior to today’s release, Parker gave fans a taste of what’s to come with the release of his sprawling, drum-beat heavy “End of Summer.” It drew listeners back to the acid house summer of ’89, free parties of the mid-90s, and Australia’s bush doofs in outback paddocks.
“Loser” continues Parker’s journey into new sonic territory, layering hypnotic rhythms and textures that push Tame Impala’s sound ever forward. Drawing from a rich history of dance music, his work transforms the imagined past into a sound that feels both present and eternal, reaffirming Tame Impala as one of modern music’s most visionary acts.
Today, Nicki Bluhm has shared her new single “Tumbleweed,” the next preview of her forthcoming album Rancho Deluxe, out October 3. Featuring infectious guitar riffs courtesy of American Aquarium’s Shane Boeker, the new song is about embracing life’s unpredictable twists and turns and was inspired by the memories of Bluhm’s rafting trip through the Grand Canyon. Atwood Magazine praised the track, calling it “a song of sweet surrender, celebrating the beauty and wonder of being fully present.”
About the new song, Bluhm says: “The guitar riff and tone by absolute shredder Shane Boeker (American Aquarium) kicks this song off and just puts a huge smile on my face, makes me wanna turn it up. Lyrically, ‘Tumbleweed’ is about letting go and trusting in what you cannot see. When I was writing, I had strong images of my time floating down the Grand Canyon. The overhanging cliffs are so imposing and the blind bends in the river are so vast, all you can do is wait and see what is revealed around each turn. You are at the mercy of nature’s pace; the wind, the current, the weather. There is no use in worrying or trying to control the situation, you surrender and appreciate the ride.”
“Tumbleweed” follows the stomping “Cumberland Banks” and the feel-good “Simple Side of Me”, which had Magnet Magazine raving that it “embodies all that’s refreshing about the new Nashville.” A musical patchwork quilt that captures Nashville’s collaborative spirit, Rancho Deluxe finds her reflecting on well-earned lessons from nearly two decades in the music business. Joined by her co-writer, producer and partner Jesse Noah Wilson and other first-rate musicians like Kai Welch (Kacey Musgraves), Jess Nolan (Jenny Lewis) and Cameron Neal (Elle King, Shakey Graves), they pulled from a swirl of influences, including folk-rock, western psychedelia and ‘60s West Coast soul. The end result features songs that are rooted in resilience, relaxation and the relationships she’s built with like-minded collaborators.
Rancho Deluxe arrives after Bluhm’s 2023 Cher tribute album, The Beat Goes On, and her 2022 original LP Avondale Drive which was met with acclaim from Relix, PopMatters, The Bluegrass Situation and Americana UK who raved, “Nicki Bluhm might have invented a whole new genre of music with her latest solo album.”
Over the years, the San Francisco native has toured with the likes of Phil Lesh and Bob Weir, sharing the stage with the same icons who have helped inspire her trademark mix of rock, California country and hippie soul. Full of that independent spirit, Rancho Deluxe ultimately shows that Bluhm couldn’t be any less interested in the rat race of the music industry these days. “I’m growing, I’m reflecting, and I’m recalibrating,” she says. “I’m forging ahead in a new way, but doing it on my own terms this time.”
Bluhm is currently on the road including a stop at Nashville’s AmericanaFest on September 10 at The 5 Spot. In October, she’ll be performing at NPR’s Mountain Stage in Charleston, WV – see below for a full list of dates or visit her website.
Rancho Deluxe: 1. Bay Laurel Leaves 2. Falling Out Of Dreams 3. Tumbleweed 4. Keep On Growing 5. Cumberland Banks 6. Change The Channel 7. Simple Side Of Me 8. Trying To Survive 9. Taking Chances 10. Long Time To Make Old Friends
Tour Dates: September 10 – Nashville, TN @ AmericanaFest – The 5 Spot September 12-14 – Jackson, WY @ Horseshoe Music Festival October 4 – Madison, TN @ Lockeland Strings * October 12 – Charleston, WV @ Mountain Stage November 16 – Nashville, TN @ Skinny Dennis November 21 – Felton, CA @ Felton Music Hall November 22 – Mill Valley, CA @ Sweetwater Music Hall
* with Courtney Marie Andrews, The Kernal and Lydia Luce
