This summer featured a diverse outlet of music from various artists of all genres.
In rap, there were some huge releases, especially from some rappers who have not recently released music. Artists like Drake, Pierre Bourne and Tyler, the Creator all dropped new tracks this summer.
Joe Cammarota, a sophomore visual and sound media major, said he had mixed feelings with this summer’s rap releases. Cammarota added that this had potential to be one of the best summers for rap, and that he had high hopes for other artists to release music.
Students listened to a variety of new music released this past summer.
“I liked Young Thug’s album, Pierre’s album and Skepta’s album, but I was hoping we’d get Playboi Carti’s, Kanye’s or Uzi’s,” Cammarota said.
Wayne Vollweiler, professor in the College of Communications and the Arts, has a deep background in the music industry and provided some insight on how rap has conformed to our society and the music industry as a whole. Some believe that rap music is under the constant scrutiny of its repetitive beats and sound, but Vollweiler defended the generation who listen to it endlessly.
“Because of technology, music is not getting any more creative,” Vollweiler said. “It’s no different than any other generation; it’s all generational.”
Vollweiler brought to light the recent Tyler, the Creator album “Igor,” which has been dubbed by critics as one of the best releases of the year so far. He enjoyed the differences the album had compared to other recently released music.
“The first time I heard it, my head almost snapped around saying ‘what is this?’” Vollweiler said. “I can’t speak to everyone saying that it will be the album of the year, but there is something interesting going on musically that’s not being done by others.”
Rap was not the only genre with surprising releases. Pop music had its fair share of albums as well as releases. Faith Kessler, a junior communications major, shared her take on her favorite summer release, “Lover,” by Taylor Swift.
“The album as a whole is definitely better than the singles that were initially released,” Kessler said.
“Lover” is Swift’s first album since 2017. Kessler stated that her favorite genre is indie, but is fond of some of the components that make up the album.
Kessler said, “I love the dreamy pop production on the album, along with the stellar songwriting on tracks like ‘Cornelia Street,’ ‘Lover’ and ‘Cruel Summer.’”
Vollweiler praised Swift for mixing computerized sound with live music. He expressed that she managed to bring the sound to life and helped it stand out. This summer saw a number of new artists emerge, such as acts like Billie Eilish and Lil Nas X.
“We’ll see a bigger split between superstars and the ordinary,” Vollweiler said. “I think you’re going to see a smaller and smaller amount of artists like the Taylor Swift, and an increase of artists that hit a modest level of recognizability and who later fall off. It could become a cyclical thing.”
Ronald Castaneda can be reached at ronald.castaneda@ student.shu.edu.
