“It’s just too easy to hate,” says the London-based Sri Lankan.
“If you’re free to get over it, that’s inspiring.
And that’s kind of the message of the album.”
Earl Gibson III/WireImage; Christopher Polk/Getty Images; Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images; Paras Griffin/Getty Images
She means it: M.I.A.
made amends with ex-boyfriend and producer Diplo to collaborate on a remix of “Bird Song.”
The result is her best album since 2007’s game-changing Kala.
M.I.A., however, remains charmingly modest: “It sounds all right.”
But the Head and the Heart haven’t completely lost their heads.
The collection is their most electric and uplifting set yet.
Dave Mangels/Getty Images
“I wanted to make that f—ing record.”
–Madison Vain
For more onSigns of Light, seeEW’s in-depth interview.
“I didn’t know what I wanted.”
Joseph Okpako/WireImage
So she moved from London to Los Angeles and started working as a film composer.
“This [album] was more like who I was then,” she says.
“Carefree, unselfconscious, and writing music because I enjoyed it.”
Engelke/ullstein bild via Getty Images
–Nolan Feeney
For more onKIN, seeEW’s in-depth interview with Tunstall.
“There is an irony to it that I recognize,” says Against Me!
frontwoman Laura Jane Grace.
Douglas Mason/Getty Images
“Trans people should be able to fall in love and sing love songs too.”
“We always experiment and are just inspired by the day,” Francis says of their process.
“In the end, [those songs] happened to be the strongest.”
–Nolan Feeney
For more onI Remember, seeEW’s in-depth interview with AlunaGeorge.
For this project, he’s returning to his indie roots by teaming with former Walkmen singer Hamilton Leithauser.
“It was definitely a dream collaboration for me,” says Batmanglij.
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Says Leithauser: “We really sort of fell in together, and that just never happens.”
“I’m still learning my voice and my style,” Mendes says.
“From [age] 15 to 18, your whole view on life changes.”
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“I’ve been having my John Lennon moment,” the ex-Fugee says of his political extracurriculars.
“You know, where he leaves the Beatles and [tries to] change the world?”
(A full-length is due next summer.)
Josh Brasted/FilmMagic
Working with new talent helped him feel invigorated: “I got my mojo back.”
What have you been up to since your last album, 2013’sOld?
I bought a house.
Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images
I learned how to drive, got a car.
You had never driven before?
I used to be scared of it.
Richard Mcblane/Getty Images
That was a fear I had to overcome.
So now you’re more mobile than ever.
I wouldn’t say that, because I still like to drink and smoke a lot.
Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
I’m not the safest driver in the world, so I don’t drive that much.
How have you evolved since your last album?
I can pretty much rap over everything.
John Parra/Getty Images
I’m a pretty good rapper.
I didn’t care about what was happening with music today.
The new cut “Really Doe” features Kendrick Lamar, Ab-Soul, and Earl Sweatshirt.
Cameron Wittig & Crystal Quinn
How’d that happen?
The guys I looked at as competition are now my friends.
We’re like the Four Horsemen.
ILLUSTRATION by HSIAO-RON CHENG for EW
What influenced you during the sessions?
I’ve watchedHateful Eight, like, 50 times already.
I can just repeat lines verbatim.
Taylor Hill/Getty Images
People don’t want to watch it with me because I’m sitting there saying the whole movie!
“I was less afraid,” she says of working on this album.
“[But] all of these songs are new, even to me…. –Joey Nolfi
For more onRemember Us to Life, seeEW’s in-depth interview with Spektor.
Earl Gibson III/WireImage
1 when it was released in his native U.K. in June.
“I don’t have a religion,” he says.
“It sounds corny, but my faith is in human beings.”
Lorne Thomson/Redferns
“All those health issues are behind us,” says Cool.
For their 12th studio album, the guys “went down and dirty,” says Cool.
The sessions were top secret.
“We didn’t tell anybody that we were recording, except our wives,” says Cool.
“[That] took the pressure off.”
Cool says Armstrong wrote many of the lyrics prior to this year’s cartoonish presidential election.
Neilson Barnard/Getty Images
“I wish we could take credit for being supergeniuses and having crystal balls,” he jokes.
“But our balls are normal, like everyone else’s.”
“It’s fun to sit down real quick and just play,” she says.
ILLUSTRATION by HSIAO-RON CHENG for EW
“I just had so much fun playing piano.”
When it came to her lyrics, however, Jones drew from a not-so-fun source: the news.
“If you watch the news, you’re basically going to stay up all night worrying.”
Jonathan Leibson/Getty Images
“It’s true that you get inspired by darkness,” she says.
(That’d be the earworm that goes, “Where do the Good!
Hide awaaaaay?!")
Sipa via AP Images
“There’s less in-your-face pop, less driving beats,” she explains.
“It’s more chill.”
While the sonic vibe is easygoing, her lyrics still aim to empower.
Bob Barker/Newspix/Getty Images
“I write about growing up, youth, and development,” she says.
“I write about what I know.”
“With social media, it’s not the smartest thing,” he says.
Vincent Sandoval/Getty Images
“Anything can go south quick, and it can be documented.”
No genre is off-limits for Mr. Worldwide: “I’m always challenging myself and never getting comfortable.
Complacency is the cousin of death.”
Jimmy Marble
–Nolan Feeney
For more onClimate Change, seeEW’s in-depth interview with Pitbull.
Yet he’s still on an endless quest to find new sounds and ideas.
One highlight from the album is “Kids,” the band’s most anthemic song yet.
Kevin Winter/ACM2015/Getty Images
Was the change good?
There have been rifts between band members over the years, and you went on hiatus in 2011.
How are you all getting along now?
Amanda de Cadenet
We’re in the best place we’ve ever been.
We’re enjoying what we’re doing, and we have a great relationship outside of making music.
A lot of bands don’t make it this long, especially family bands.
Matt Jones
Right now we’re more excited than we’ve ever been to work.
Any challenges with recording?
Seven albums deep, you run into times where you’re like, “Where do we go?”
Todd Williamson/Getty Images
I’d think, “I can write about this, but should I?”
What goals did you guys have in making this album?
We’re trying to change people’s perception of [us].
Christopher Polk/Getty Images
Now we’re wanting to dive in.
How does that feel?
It’s f—ing scary!
ILLUSTRATION by HSIAO-RON CHENG for EW
You’re saying, “We’re not going to record in our studio.
We’re not going to use the same producer.
We’re going to fight and work hard and do s— that we’ve never done.”
Jeff Yeager/Metallica/Getty Images
Chesney says he wants to challenge his fans with tunes that are “fun but not dumb.”
He’s also teamed up with Pink on the heart-tugger “Setting the World on Fire.”
“[The album is] like every different stage of that rush.”
Paras Griffin/Getty Images
(“We speak the same language,” she says.
“‘Make that sound like a big blue whale coming in and looking for its partner!'")
Instead she decided to open up even further, filming aLemonade-style mini-movie.
Steven Taylor
She hopes theproject will kick-start her acting career.
“Buddha was revealed to me,” says multi-instrumentalist Nicholas Littlemore.
–Madison Vain
For more onTwo Vines, seeEW’s in-depth interview with Empire of the Sun.
ILLUSTRATION by HSIAO-RON CHENG for EW
“Quite literally 80,” he says.
“Probably more!”
“I didn’t know if I knew what I was doing,” says Adams.
Christopher Polk/Getty Images
–Kevin O’Donnell
For more on Ryan Adam’s new album, seeEW’s in-depth interview.
You recorded this album in less than four months.
Were you feeling extra motivated?
Theo Wargo/WireImage
I think you hear that.
On the tune “50,000,” you sing about the death of rock stars.
David Bowie went first and then Prince.
Catie Laffoon
It all seemed to topple on top of each other.
I think wisdom only comes when you could navigate both.
I’m getting philosophical.
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
[Laughs] It’s because I’m in Elsinore [Denmark].
Another major theme is climate change, and on “One Fine Day” you take on global-warming skeptics.
I pray that climate skeptics are right.
Shaun Botterill/Getty Images
[Laughs] I’d like the scientists to be wrong!
But I think it’s happening.
This is my ironic take on that whole thing.
Rick Diamond/Getty Images
Whenever you return to rock music, fans draw comparisons to your work with the Police.
Does that bum you out?
I was in a very successful rock band.
I’m never going to feel anything but pride about that.
What motivates you to keep creating after so many decades?
Just to have fun.
I don’t even admit to myself that I’m making a record.
“On the last record, some of the stuff got overly progressive,” he says.
Since then, we’ve been feeling more at ease with what’s in our DNA.”
“God, love, and blackness,” he says.
“There’s this beach vibe to the album,” Jonas says of the Max Martin-produced collection.
“It’s not anything too emotional or heavy.
The core is pretty loose.”
But the album does include a few “very personal” ballads, Jonas admits.
–Jessica Goodman
For more on DNCE’s debut album, seeEW’s in-depth interview with Jonas.
That wasn’t the case for Beck, who beat out favored nominee Beyonce in 2015 withMorning Phase.
“There was a bit of crossover there…. Each record is its own beast.
Some are a leisurely walk, some are like [climbing] a sheer rock face.
This was a combination.
But we did have the luxury of time to try and make everything better.”
(The previously released singles “Dreams” and “WOW” are also included.)
“This record is much more celebratory and hopefully uplifting,” says Beck.
I wanted to find some of that.”
Don’t believe him?
Just watchMars has been working with dubstep superstar Skrillex for an unspecified project.
It wasn’t broken, so it didn’t necessarily need fixing.”
“It’s a love letter from both sides,” Trotter explains.
–Isabella Biedenharn
For more on The Hamilton Mixtape, seeEW’s in-depth interview with Trotter.
