Emo is a rock music genre characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of hardcore punk and post-hardcore from the mid-1980s Washington, D.C., hardcore punk scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore. The bands Rites of Spring and Embrace, among others, pioneered the genre. In the early and mid 1990s, emo was adopted and reinvented by alternative rock, indie rock, punk rock, and pop punk bands, including Sunny Day Real Estate, Jawbreaker, Cap'n Jazz, and Jimmy Eat World. By the mid-1990s, Braid, The Promise Ring, and The Get Up Kids emerged from Midwest emo, and several independent record labels began to specialize in the genre. Meanwhile, screamo, a more aggressive style of emo using screamed vocals, also emerged, pioneered by the San Diego bands Heroin and Antioch Arrow. Screamo achieved mainstream success in the 2000s with bands like Hawthorne Heights, Silverstein, Story of the Year, Thursday, The Used, and Underoath.
Sum 41 is a Canadian rock band from Ajax, Ontario. The band was formed in 1996 and most recently consisted of Deryck Whibley, Dave "Brownsound" Baksh, Jason "Cone" McCaslin, Tom Thacker, and Frank Zummo.
Avril Ramona Lavigne is a Canadian singer and songwriter. At age 16, she signed a two-album recording contract with Arista Records. Her debut studio album, Let Go (2002), is the best-selling album of the 21st century by a Canadian artist. It yielded the successful singles "Complicated" and "Sk8er Boi", which emphasized a skate punk persona and earned her the title "Pop-Punk Queen" from music publications. She is considered a key musician in the development of pop-punk music, as she paved the way for female-driven, punk-influenced pop music in the early 2000s. Her second studio album, Under My Skin (2004), became Lavigne's first album to reach the top of the Billboard 200 chart in the United States, going on to sell 10 million copies worldwide.
Kelly Brianne, known professionally as Kelly Clarkson, is an American singer, songwriter, author and television personality. She rose to fame after winning the first season of American Idol in 2002, which earned her a record deal with RCA. Her debut single, "A Moment Like This", topped the US Billboard Hot 100, and became the country's best selling single of 2002. It was included on her debut studio album, Thankful (2003), which debuted atop the Billboard 200. Trying to reinvent her image, Clarkson parted ways with Idol management and shifted to pop rock for her second studio album, Breakaway (2004). Supported by four US top-ten singles – the title track, "Since U Been Gone", "Behind These Hazel Eyes", and "Because of You" – Breakaway sold over 12 million copies worldwide and won two Grammy Awards.
Purple Rain is the sixth studio album by American singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Prince. It was released on June 25, 1984, by Warner Bros. Records, as the soundtrack album to the 1984 film of the same name. Purple Rain was musically denser than Prince's previous albums, emphasizing full band performances, and multiple layers of guitars, keyboards, electronic synthesizer effects, drum machines, and other instruments.
Rise Against is an American punk rock band from Chicago, formed in 1999. The group's current line-up comprises vocalist/rhythm guitarist Tim McIlrath, lead guitarist Zach Blair, bassist Joe Principe and drummer Brandon Barnes. Rooted in hardcore punk and melodic hardcore, Rise Against's music emphasizes melody, catchy hooks, an aggressive sound and playstyle, and rapid tempos. Lyrically, the band is known for their outspoken social commentary, covering a wide range of topics such as political injustice, animal rights, humanitarianism, and environmentalism.
Contemporary R&B is a popular music genre that combines rhythm and blues with elements of pop, soul, funk, hip hop, and electronic music.
Taylor Alison Swift is an American singer-songwriter. Recognized for her songwriting, musical versatility, artistic reinventions, and influence on the music industry, she is a prominent cultural figure of the 21st century.
The Fame is the debut studio album by American singer Lady Gaga. It was released on August 19, 2008, by Interscope Records. After joining KonLive Distribution and Cherrytree Records in 2008, Gaga began working on the album with different producers, primarily RedOne, Martin Kierszenbaum, and Rob Fusari. Musically, The Fame is an electropop, synth-pop, and dance-pop record that displays influences from 1980s music. Lyrically, it visualizes Gaga's love of fame in general, while also dealing with subjects such as love, sex, money, drugs, and sexual identity. The album was primarily promoted through The Fame Ball Tour and multiple television appearances, and was reissued as a deluxe edition with The Fame Monster on November 18, 2009.
Strfkr, stylized in all caps, is an indie rock band from Portland, Oregon. It began in 2007 as a solo project of Joshua Hodges.
Harry Edward Styles is an English singer, songwriter, and actor. His musical career began in 2010 as part of One Direction, a boy band formed on the British music competition series The X Factor. Each member of the band had been eliminated from the solo contest. They became one of the best-selling boy groups of all time before going on an indefinite hiatus in 2016.
Fifth Harmony, often shortened to 5H, is an American girl group based in Miami, composed of Ally Brooke, Normani, Dinah Jane, Lauren Jauregui, and Camila Cabello until her departure from the group in December 2016. The group signed a joint record deal with Simon Cowell's label Syco Records and L.A. Reid's label Epic Records after forming and finishing third in the second season of the American singing competition series The X Factor in 2012.
"Young Girls" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bruno Mars. It was composed by Mars, Philip Lawrence and Ari Levine, a songwriting and record production trio known as the Smeezingtons, as well as Jeff Bhasker, and Emile Haynie, with additional songwriter credits by Mac Davis, for Mars's second studio album Unorthodox Jukebox (2012). It is a midtempo, doo-wop-influenced pop ballad that garnered comparisons to Mars's "It Will Rain" and Lana Del Rey's music. Its instrumentation includes drums, synths, piano and elements of electro music. The song was released as the first promotional single and later as the fifth overall single from Unorthodox Jukebox, being first serviced to contemporary hit radio in Australia on November 26, 2013.
Jessica Anne Newham, known by her stage name Betty Who, is an Australian-American musician, singer and songwriter. After independently releasing her debut single, "Somebody Loves You" (2012), and her debut extended play, The Movement (2013), she signed with RCA Records and later released her debut studio album, Take Me When You Go (2014). Her second studio album, The Valley (2017), saw the commercial success of her cover of "I Love You Always Forever", which peaked inside the top ten in Australia and reached the top of the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart in the United States.
Starfucker is the first studio album by the Portland-based indie rock band Starfucker, released on September 23, 2008 through Badman Recording Co.
Reflection is the debut studio album by American girl group Fifth Harmony. It was released on January 30, 2015, by Syco Music and Epic Records. Lyrically, the album discusses themes of female-empowerment, romance, heartbreak and confidence. Musically, Reflection is primarily a pop record and showcases synthpop, "grungy" hip hop and R&B sounds. The album features guest appearances by American rappers Kid Ink and Tyga, as well as American singer-songwriter Meghan Trainor, and collaborations with several producers including Ori Kaplan, Dr. Luke and Stargate.
1989 is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, released on October 27, 2014, by Big Machine Records. Inspired by 1980s synth-pop, Swift conceived 1989 to recalibrate her artistry to pop after critics disputed her status as a country musician when she released her fourth studio album, the cross-genre Red (2012), to country radio. She titled 1989 after her birth year to signify a symbolic artistic rebirth and enlisted Max Martin, who produced Red's electronic-influenced pop tracks, as co-executive producer.
Ashley Nicolette Frangipane, known professionally as Halsey, is an American singer and songwriter. Halsey was born and raised in New Jersey. Gaining attention from self-released music on social media platforms, she was signed by Astralwerks in 2014 and released her debut EP, Room 93, later that year. She released her debut studio album, Badlands, in 2015. The album was later certified Double Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), as were its tracks "Colors" and "Gasoline".
"Still Breathing" is a song by American rock band Green Day. It was released on November 12, 2016, as the second single from their twelfth studio album, Revolution Radio (2016). It is considered to be an emotionally dark song that explores the theme of individuals finding strength in the face of hardship and tough times. The song's music video – released on November 7, 2016 – reflected upon that theme.
Ashley McBryde is an American country music singer–songwriter. She grew up in Arkansas and she was drawn to various types of music from a young age. She also developed a passion for writing songs and later moved to Nashville to pursue a music career.
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