It’s actually only 11pm from where I’m sitting now, eagerly waiting with thousands of others to watch the music video premiere of Miley Cyrus’s new single “Midnight Sky.” Regardless, we’re saying it’s midnight, and 12am is the perfect setting to listen to this song.
I was hoping that this single would be in the same vein as Cyrus’s last EP “SHE IS COMING,” but I’d put it more similar to “Nothing Breaks Like a Heart.” Which, honestly, I’m more than okay with! So let’s get into it.
The groovy video starts off with a proclamation that it was directed by Miley herself, and she had announced that ahead of time, too. I was expecting the same sort of boring, low-quality music videos we’ve been seeing put out by artists during the pandemic (and I can’t blame them,) but “Midnight Sky” is full of fun scenes, eye-catching props, and Miley’s bright red lipstick, so it fully kept my attention.
And the song itself? You’ll be at least mentally screaming “I don’t need to be loved by you” along with MC by the end! The lyrics are reminiscent of “Can’t Be Tamed” with lines like “I was born to run / I don’t belong to anyone,” as Miley sings to us about getting out of a relationship of many years. Fortunately, she reminds us that she’s good on her own.
Carly Shea is definitely an artist to watch. Though only in the beginnings of her career, she’s certainly not inexperienced. We had the opportunity to have a video call with Carly and talk about her latest single, the music video, and her plans for more music this year. Read on!
CROWDSURFER MAG: You just released “Waste My Time!” It’s your third single of this year, how does it feel to be putting out all the music?
CARLY SHEA: The first singles I released was more the excitement of releasing, but now I’m just like, I need to do this for myself to have something positive. But it’s been good! I want to do a release every month if I can.
CSM: Where did the inspiration for “Waste My Time” come from?
CARLY: The song itself is the first thing I made in New York City. I just wanted to make this fun, upbeat, vapid pop song. It started out with a melody idea, and I really wanted the producer to take this scale of British schoolchildren singing and manipulate it. It turned into this fun, quirky, dance-pop track.
CSM: I really enjoyed watching the music video as well. Of course, I’m partial to anything set in NYC. What was it like shooting the video?
CARLY: It was one of the most hectic and fun experiences ever. The guy running a pinball arcade yelled at me, we got rained on… It was wild!
Photos by Draco Mansion
CSM: What can you tell us about your previous singles?
CARLY: “Lemonade” is a track that I think is closer to what I’m going to be releasing in the future in terms of the sound. I have two different types of tracks I’m going to be releasing moving forward that are pretty different from “Waste My Time,” “Forever,” and even my next single “Feel.” One is more dark pop and the other is pretty soulful but weird. Hopefully it works!
CSM: Tell us about “Feel!”
CARLY: It’s also an older track, and it’s a track I wasn’t even sure I wanted to release originally. But I relistened to “Feel,” and even though it’s an extremely old song, the meaning to me reminded me of everything that I’ve been going through and that I’m sure that everyone has been going to in quarantine.
CSM: When does “Feel” come out?
CARLY: July 30th!
CSM: Other than releasing music every month, do you have more plans for this year?
CARLY: I’m going to challenge myself to improve. I have a hard time writing stuff that always makes sense, so I want to work on my songwriting and making it more cohesive. I want to keep pushing my stuff, continuing with voice lessons, and I want to just get better!
CSM: So, you’ve only recently began your career as an artist. What do you want people to know about you?
CARLY: I think that I would like people to know that I hope that however they connect with the music is my goal. It’s important to me that you can take something away from it. And that I want to create music and art that is true to myself. Sometimes it will be super fun, upbeat nights out, and sometimes it will be about traumatic experiences. I want people to know I don’t want to shy away from what makes life life.
Photos by Draco Mansion
CSM: Last question: If you could tour with anyone, who would they be?
CARLY: That’s a really good question! Part of me says it should be relevant genre-wise, so I’d say it’d be really cool to tour with Dorian Electra or someone like that. But deep down if I could tour with anyone it would be Hall & Oats or Steely Dan… that would be the dream!
“Waste My Time” is out now and you can watch the music video here!
You probably know The Unlikely Candidates from their hit song “Novocaine,” which just topped Billboard’s Alternative Songs chart in March. We got to talk with lead vocalist Kyle Morris about their latest single “High Low” as well as making music and staying creative during this pandemic.
CROWDSURFER: It’s been about a month since “High Low” came out, and I wanted to say I absolutely can connect with it. Where did the inspiration for this song come from?
KYLE MORRIS: The song is about growing up, really. I think the older you get, the more people kind of spread out and do their own thing. I wrote this about coming home from tour and realizing that this has kind of happened even more. But I wrote it a week before quarantine happened, and then I rewrote it during quarantine. It took on a new life because the whole thing takes place in a guy’s apartment where he has nothing to do but think about his friends.
CS: You were in tour when things shut down, right?
KM: Yeah, it really sucked. As we were touring, we would hear that the last venue we were at was closing. We were like, this is catching up really fast. Then we played in the middle of nowhere Wyoming and there was a blizzard. So we stayed there in a cabin, completely snowed in, and we had to make the decision to leave tour. It kind of felt like the end of the world.
CS: Was the process of making this song different because of restrictions of the pandemic?
KM: Usually I’ll go and track the vocals at my producer’s studio, but we couldn’t do that. So, I basically had my producer on Facetime and he would help me, but I was just in my closet at home. So that song was recorded in my closet! Like the old days.
CS: We’re all working from home, even in the music industry! Speaking of, what has it been like for you during this odd and difficult time for the industry?
KM: It’s been rough because we had a #1 single, and this was the year that we were supposed to harvest the fruits of our labor. And we didn’t really get to do that. So we started Flatten the Hump Day, our weekly stream, to give people something to do. We’re coming up on our 16th week of doing it which is absolutely insane.
CS: I’m so impressed by that!
KM: Yeah, I think we’re doing it to stay sane at this point! We’re running out of ideas though. We only have so many songs, but we’ve been trying to mix it up. One week we did emo week and covered our favorite emo songs. We all dressed up with black wigs and fingerless gloves, it was pretty ridiculous.
CS: Well, I definitely want to watch the emo week one.
KM: The emo week one was pretty good. Not gonna lie, it was a little rough to sing. Those voices are pretty high!
CS: I realize it might be hard to answer this question, but what’s next for The Unlikely Candidates?
KM: Just trying to write as many cool songs as possible. Last year I didn’t get to write that much because we spent a lot of time promoting “Novocaine.”
CS: Do you think you’ll be able to get out to LA for recording or will there be more closet songs?
KM: It’s basically all closet stuff. But it’s pretty dope! I’ve had people ask me if I’m going to keep doing this afterwards, and I’m like yeah. I think that this works just as well.
CS: Anything else you want us to know?
KM: We have a video coming up for “High Low.” And stay tuned for Hump Days 19-55! Maybe a drive-in theater, too. I’ve been trying to set one of those up.
CS: We’re fans of drive-in concerts, so I hope you get to play one! Thanks for taking time to talk today!
KM: Thank you! Keep watching Flatten the Hump Day at 3PM central!
“High Low” is out now, and you can listen to it here.
You might know electronic duo NOTD from their songs “I Wanna Know” featuring Beat Miller or “So Close” featuring Georgia Ku, which came out in 2018. NOTD continues to prove that they can create hit after hit with their latest single called “I Don’t Know Why.”
The song, released today, features Astrid S. Her ethereal vocals complement the upbeat track, resulting in a mix that will make you want to dance and sing along with her. We dare you to try to not break out any dance moves during the chorus! Catchy from beginning to end, you’ll find this song stuck in your head. Even if you don’t know any other words than “I don’t know why / oh, I don’t know why,” we bet you’ll be humming the tune throughout the day.
Images provided by Island Records
Take a listen here, watch the official video here, and be sure to keep your eyes and ears on NOTD! We sure will be!
PUBLIC released a new single today titled “Honey In The Summer,” following up their hit “Make You Mine,” which you’ve most definitely heard on TikTok. And if you’ve been searching for the perfect anthem for this summer, look no further! You might not think that such a song could exist for a season tainted with coronavirus, but PUBLIC succeeded regardless.
“Honey In The Summer” proves that we can do this social distancing thing and still have a great time. “But I don’t have a sweetheart to hold when I’m alone / So I just grab my keys and snag my favorite CD / Cruisin’ and it’s just me in the front seat” sings lead vocalist John Vaughan, reminding us that listening to this song at full blast, windows down, and an open road ahead is all we really need.
Photos provided by Island Records
But don’t just listen to the song! You should also check out the lyric video. Giving us a lovely mix of live action and graphics, our animated band cruises down the road in a bright yellow SUV. It makes you want to hop in the car with PUBLIC as a cute little animated version of yourself and belt out the lyrics alongside them!
So what are you waiting for? Go listen to “Honey In The Summer,” watch the video, and then head out to your car to welcome the summer season!
Let’s be honest, I haven’t really known of Chelsea Cutler’s music besides her features with Quinn XCII, and Jeremy Zucker. But after tonight’s show, I can definitely say that I am a bigger fan than when I walked into Terminal 5. The whole point of a tour for a performer is to put on a good show, and for the fans, it is to enjoy it. Knowing all the lyrics and songs is up to the audience. Regardless of my lack of prior knowledge in Cutler’s music, I genuinely enjoyed the music and from the looks of it, so did everyone else.
There were already high expectations as it was her second sold-out show in New York City at Terminal 5. Along with her phenomenal openers, X Lovers, and Alexander 23, Cutler definitely did not disappoint. Visually, her use of lights, colors, and visual pieces made it all the better. The backgrounds painted a beautiful picture for her to be captured in and really kept the audience honed in on her performance, whether it be a ballad or dance anthem. Sonically, her vocals were so perfect live that it didn’t even feel real. Her tone and texture in her voice remained the same all throughout the show. No cracks, no weak points, it was just spot-on which is incredibly impressive for a vocalist to have that strength and control.
From the beginning of her performance to the end, we’d moved several locations to get a decent spot as the place was packed. And each time, fans everywhere were singing and dancing, lyric by lyric, note by note. It was inspiring to be surrounded by people so in awe from the performance that Cutler exhibited, and we couldn’t get enough. Overall, this performance was raw, fun, engaging, and nothing short of magic. Until the next show!
Tove Lo headlined two sold out nights at Brooklyn Steel and unfortunately fractured her ankle during the first one. But the show must go on, so she gave us an equally stunning performance on February 13, 2020 with a bedazzled boot from a velvet throne. Tove Lo had us all dancing to some sexy beats and then brought tears to our eyes when she slowed down the show to sing “Moments,” accompanied only by the piano. She brought out ALMA to sing “Bad As The Boys” and Sean Paul to sing their new single “Calling On Me,” and showed us all that rocking a concert from a chair is no problem!
ALMA opened at Brooklyn Steel on February 13th for the second sold out night in a row and gave us a taste of her upcoming album. And, of course, she came out to sing “Bad As The Boys” with Tove Lo. Take a look at the gallery below for some images from the concert.
Molly Lovette is an up-and-coming country pop artist. She’s making big moves this year and so enlisted the help of our own Lauren Hayes to make a video to kick off 2020!
Shot in her hometown in Missouri, Molly showcases her voice, guitar skills, and a wardrobe with just enough sparkle (which we love). We’ll be keeping our eyes on this lady as she’s sure to be releasing new music soon.
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