Imagine Dragons: rock resistance on the Friday of the queens of rap
On the one hand, Imagine Dragons, one of the biggest rock bands – in terms of numbers – of recent years, who will send their new album “Loom” to stores and platforms on Friday.
On the other, Anna and Megan Thee Stallion, the queen of Italian female rap and the superstar of American female rap, who release their respective new albums, “Vera Baddie” and “Megan”. Helping Dan Reynolds and his associates to hold the rock flag high on New Music Friday this Friday, June 28th, will be Neil Young and his Crazy Horses and the ghost of Johnny Cash: the Canadian singer-songwriter releases “Early Daze”, while Cash’s voice lives again thanks to the posthumous album “Songwriter”. Here, in detail, are the most anticipated albums coming out this week.
Imagine Dragons – “Loom”
Sixth studio album by the band led by Dan Reynolds, “Loom” arrives two years after the “Mercury” diptych.
The album contains nine songs, including the singles “Eyes closed” and “Nice to meet you”. It is the first that the group behind “Radioactive”, “Demons” and “Believer” – which alone have 7 billion plays on Spotify – releases without drummer Daniel Platzman. Last year the drummer took a break from the group in the middle of the tour: “I haven’t been well. I can’t tell you the deep regret I feel for disappointing our incredible South American fans and my bandmates, but I need to take some time to focus on my health,” the musician said. Yet the sound of the group should always be the same, between arena rock, pop and electronic: after all, even on this tour Imagine Dragons collaborated with the Swedish duo composed of Mattias Per Larsson and Robin Lennart Fredriksson, or Mattman & Robin, at alongside Reynolds and his companions for years.
Camila Cabello – “C,XOXO”
Two years after “Familia”, the former Fifth Harmony singer, who has become one of the most successful pop stars of her generation, returns with fourteen new songs which – she promises – will mark a clear turning point in her career. Camila asked for help from El Guincho, real name Pablo Díaz-Reixa, a Spanish producer born in 1983 known to most for his work with Björk and Rosalía. Among the guests on the album are Playboi Carti (in “I luv it”), Lil Nas X (in “He knows”) and even Drake (in “Hot uptown”).
Megan Thee Stallion – “Megan”
In Italy she was talked about more for gossip than for music.
In 2020, ex Tory Lanez shot her in the foot after a party, ordering her to dance sensually against her will: Megan Thee Stallion dragged him to court, where the man was sentenced to ten years in prison. Last year, then, she was spotted in the company of the Giallorossi striker Romelu Lukaku at the wedding of Lautaro Martinez, the Belgian’s teammate at Inter at the time, on Lake Como. The femcee and the attacker spent the whole evening next to each other. But there is more than gossip. In recent years, Megan Thee Stallion has established herself as a true queen of female rap in the USA: it was 2020 when together with Cardi B she released “Wap” (acronym for “Wet-Ass Pussy”), 530 million views on YouTube for the official video clip and 1.3 billion plays on Spotify. “Megan” is her third album: it contains 18 tracks with which, between sharp rhymes and explosive charisma, she confirms once and for all that rap is not just for men. She and she has it for her co-workers too: “All you bitches are weak,” she raps on “Hiss.” .
Lil Yachty and James Blak – “Bad cameo”
The cover itself is a spectacle. One shot immortalizes a double breakfast: two worlds, two opposites that mix. On one side a typical English breakfast with tea and leftover beans, on the other a glass containing a purple mush with ice, a reference to purple drunk, a syrup-based drug used by trappers to get high. The American rapper (and not only now) Lil Yachty and the English singer and producer James Blake will release their joint album “Bad Cameo” on June 28th, a project that has the declared aim of embracing the eclectic styles of two of the most innovative artists in the music industry.
Anna – “Real baddie”
The rapper from La Spezia is ready to test her first album, after the publication of her first EP in 2022 “Lista 47”.
The young woman also spoke about one of the project’s launch singles, a song with a summer atmosphere: “’30°C’ represents that desire for the sea and escape that comes over you when it’s dying of heat outside. The sound of the waves, a good cocktail, the sand under your feet and you already feel much better. It’s also a hymn to feeling good and at ease, showing self-confidence.” To date he has almost 5 million monthly listeners on Spotify and has accumulated over 1.5 billion of total streams, 17 Platinum records and 5 Gold records, numbers that have attracted attention even overseas. It is no coincidence that Republic Records, home of artists such as Nicki Minaj, Drake and Taylor Swift, decided at the beginning of the year to represent. the project in the United States.
Omar Apollo – “God said no”
He went from working at McDonald’s to being nominated for a Grammy (last year for “Best New Artist”). Now Omar Apollo, over 300 million streams with the hit “Evergreen (You didn’t deserve me at all)”, aims to confirm himself with the new album “God said no”. The new American R&B star relies on Blake Shatkin, already alongside Justin Bieber, Lil Nas
