Stapleton took home awards for Male Vocalist Of The Year, Album of the Year (Traveler), New Male Vocalist Of The Year, and Song Of The Year for "Nobody To Blame".
Other top prize winners included Jason Aldean for Entertainer Of The Year, Miranda Lambert for Female Vocal Of The Year, Little Big Town for Vocal Group Of The Year, Florida Georgia Line for Vocal Duo Of The Year and Thomas Rhett's "Die A Happy Man" won Single Of The Year.
Kelsea Ballerini took home the award for New Female Vocalist of the Year and Old Dominion won the New Vocal Duo or Group of the Year honors. See the full list of winners here.
Here is what they had to say about the track, "So basically we discovered Charlee through our buddy Adrian Lux. We asked him to put us in touch and we really hit it off. She had such an incredible voice and we didnt even know about her song writing yet. We sent her a demo called Halo we had done and within a week she had sent us back one of the most dark and emotional toplines we have yet received.
"Side story she actually was in NYC and we had finished the song, but unfortunately a few weeks later our computer crashed and we lost everything. (IF YOU ARE READING THIS BACK UP YOUR STUFF NOW) Good news was we were better producers and the new version kicks ass!
"Its rare you find a partner like Charlee to work with, someone who is saw raw and authentic as an artist we are working on a bunch of other stuff wit her as well she just inspires us in a way a lot of music doesn't. For us that inspiration is super important because its very fleeting so it was a real pleasure working with this gal.
"So yeah we hope you loved the track and we are gonna be working on some other stuff of hers, as its looking like she will be the first artist we will ever be producing for that isn't a chainsmokers single. She is just that dope in our opinion." Stream the new song here.
In a new ad for Apple Music, the singer confidently begins her workout to Drake and Future's "Jumpman," and things go terribly awry. In a feat of physical comedy (and likely, very good stunt editing), Swift abruptly face-plants onto her treadmill.
Swift's endorsement of the streaming service feels like the finale of a long arc that began when she penned an open letter to Apple last summer. Dissatisfied with the payment and royalty model, she took the service to task for extending free trials to users at the expense of artists. Apple adapted its rollout of the new platform to answer some of Swift's concerns, which other artists echoed at the time.
Watch Taylor's Drake-fueled workout take an ugly, silly turn here.
"Now my beloved Britain has been a leader in nearly every genre of music, however there is one genre that has never quite made its way across the pond. And that is country music," explained Corden.
"So, tonight I've enlisted the help of two country stars to change that by writing Britain's first ever country music hit." Check out video of their performance here.
"Being on stage is why I do what I do, it's all I've ever wanted to do," said Aldean. "This song is all about that rush you can only get from stepping on stage and listening to fans sing along to every word.
"It's about throwing the biggest party from the floor to the top of the rafters for all those people who spent their paycheck to come see us." Check out the new song here.
"I loved the idea of having a song about a breakup that wasn't some dramatic cheating or scandal moment. It's the kind of thing where one person just can't emotionally match the other, and that's a sad kind of ending and heartbreak � and that's what I wanted this song and video to capture," shares Ballerini.
"Sometimes the thrills of life or youth overrule the thrill of love until someone is truly ready to be in a relationship. This was a fun way to show that side in the video." Watch the video here.
"Standing in the cold in the frozen wind/ I'm leaving you behind but it's not the end/ No, no, no/ Walking on a plane as I hold my breath/ It's going to be weeks 'til I breathe again/ No, no, no," go the opening measures. The chorus builds into a ballad-esque feel with a piano swerving around the big beat. It's an EDM take on love.
"Raging" marks the sixth song Kygo has shared ahead of his album's release date. Fans who pre-order Cloud Nine will receive all six tracks, which include "Raging" alongside "Fragile," "Firestone," "Stole The Show," "Nothing Left" and "Stay" as instant downloads. Stream the new song here.
From the track's opening melody and beat, it reveals a moody vibe. "She's trying to tell me the world is mine/ I know that ain't true/ And even though I want it all/ I'm young, man, and I got everything to lose," A$AP Ferg rap-sings on the chorus, repeating the last line several times.
In a genre that rests squarely on big egos and boastful talent, A$AP Ferg offers listeners a more confessional nature of rapping, and he seems to be working through a lot based on his new album's first two tracks.
A$AP Ferg also announced a tour with Tory Lanez. The two will kick things off on May 18th in Philadelphia and wrap them up on June 24th in Boston. C
Always Strive and Prosper will be released on April 22nd. Listen to "World Is Mine" and check out Ferg's upcoming dates here.
In Episode one, "I'll Be The Moon" explores a love triangle powered by destructive secrets. The storyline and video treatment will leave you looking forward to the next installment.
"It never works out all nice and neat. It's a little more mysterious than that," Dierks Bentley told Rolling Stone, of his theory on love. Black, is a "relationship record," he explains. "'I'll Be The Moon' is a pivotal part of the flow of this record and is where the storyline of the couple in this series begins," said Bentley. "We first recorded it just me, but the song looks at a relationship from a different angle, where the girl is instigating the deceit. So, I felt like it needed a female voice, and I started to hear it more as a duet. I love the perspective Maren (Morris) adds, there's weight to her voice." Read more and preview the first episode here.
Ultimately, Waves is about letting go of insecurities that will hold you back in life. Whether they show up in a relationship, or are holding you back in accomplishing a goal you have, or a passion that you want to fallow. The waves (emotions, fears, bad circumstances, people, etc..) bring me down, they bring you down, f*** the waves. You got this!
This is what I take from the song as the writer, but on a different day in a year, or ten years, I might find another meaning in my own song and I really want my listeners to do the same. I would like them not just to take my perspective of the song, but for them to put themselves into the music and find their own meaning so it becomes personal to them. Here is my personal story, which lead me to writing Waves:
I was in a relationship that wasn't really going anywhere. We broke up all the time and it was kind of a mess. Things would settle and then eventually arose another fight. At the same time I was trying to get this new music project, Chnnll, off the ground and it was something I have been wanting to do for so long that I just needed to do it, to put all my energy into this new project and to be blind to whatever subconscious insecurities were holding me back.
Before this project I was mainly a jazz drummer and was successful at it. I didn't make the switch to Chnnll because my jazz career wasn't going anywhere. It was just that I really wanted to write my own music and I didn't feel like the jazz idiom was the best vehicle for that. I still love playing jazz, but it is not my main focus at the moment.
Not only was I feeling stuck creatively, but I was feeling stuck in this relationship and decided it was done. Hence the lyric, "And with you it will always be the same, and I know a sunny days gonna bring the rain on down." Meaning: every time things started going well in this relationship, some argument, or something would always fallow.
Then there is the lyric in Waves, "You're way too scared of nothing, I know I can see you shed your skin". This is really me speaking to myself, saying, "Don't concern yourself with the what if's and whatever other negative scenarios of why you shouldn't switch to this new project. You want to do it, so just do it!"
Most of the time I will write down lyrics with out fully even understanding what the song is about. I have a general idea, but the meaning is never pinned down completely. Then weeks, months, even years later I will look back at my lyrics, or listen to the track and be like, "damn� So that's what was going down at that time in my life." Or, "That's what this song is about"! So right now, while I am writing this, is probably the point that I understand the song and myself the most so far.
An emotion triggers a thought and then you write it down. So the lyric really reflects you and your subconscious at that specific time and unless you give what you have written some time to breathe, you may not fully understand what it's about. At least that's how I work.
I am constantly writing down single words, phrases and sentences that describe what I am feeling, or observing and they are all geared towards writing a lyric(s). So when I look back on what I have written after a while, it really gives me some insight into what was going on with me at the time.
On the Sunday morning I wrote this song, I went out to get a coffee and on the way home I had a bass line in my head. Once I was home I immediately went to the piano and started playing the bass line. I then started writing down the lyrics. Some of the lyrics I already had written down weeks before I had the idea for the bass line and they didn't have a home yet, but most of them were completely new lyrics for that bass line and I just kind of Frankensteined them together. I worked on them after that day, but for the most part all of the lyrics were written then and there. I think you especially have to get the lyrics and melody out fast, or you forget the original intention that lead you to write that song and it becomes flat.
After I wrote the melody and lyrics I spent some time practicing phrasing them with the melody over the bass line. Once that was good I added a pulse in my left foot, started slapping a 6/8 rhythm on my right leg and played the bass line with my left hand, so that I could perform it live on my own.
When I finally went into the studio to record the song I was thinking of going in that direction, a more acoustic version with the 6/8 rhythm that would be played by the bass, drums and percussion. Emulating the foot tapping and knee slapping that was going on when I was performing it solo. But then, after weeks of performing that song in it's original version, I turned away from that whole feel and recorded the drums more simple and made the whole tune more electronic and dark by using a heavy synth bass, which I immediately loved, along with some other darker elements.
I discovered this new instrumental direction after recording the song with my original, more acoustic instrumentation, but something didn't feel right, so I took everything out of the track except the vocals. I then played the vocal track on it's own and started writing a different bass rhythm underneath with a Moog synthesizer and that's how I got Waves!
Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself here and learn more about Chnnll right here!
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