It has been quite the year for former Disney Channel star Sabrina Carpenter. In late 2023 and early 2024, Carpenter opened for sections of Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour” in Latin America and Asia. This earned her a career boost that would push her popularity to heights beyond the expectations of the music executives representing her. Since Carpenter’s rapid popularity growth, three of her singles have reached the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, with “Please Please Please” snatching the No. 1 spot back in June. Most impressively, “Short n’ Sweet” earned over 350,000 sales units in its first week of release, nearly 20 times the individual sales of her 2022 album “emails i can’t send.” “Short n’ Sweet” is an all-around victory for Carpenter – and the compressed and consistent quality of the album makes it deserving of every unit sold.

The summer of 2024 has been a significant period for music in the 2020s. Many of the world’s top pop stars released their highly anticipated albums, with “brat summer” taking over following the release of Charli xcx’s album “BRAT,” and Sabrina Carpenter rising in popularity with a career breakthrough for the ages. Billie Eilish’s third studio album, “HIT ME HARD AND SOFT,” stood out for its songwriting, impeccable vocal performances and uniqueness within the musical production.

Benson Boone’s debut studio pop-rock album, titled “Fireworks & Rollerblades,” was released on Friday, April 5. The 21-year-old upstart has risen to prominence over the past year with notable songs such as “Ghost Town” and “In the Stars.” As his following continued to grow on platforms such as TikTok, his first album received more anticipation than he could’ve ever hoped for.

Week one of the famous music festival, Coachella, started with many iconic performances and collaborations, from Lana Del Rey sharing the stage with Billie Eilish to Will Smith getting on stage with J. Balvin. The first day of the festival took place on Friday, April 12, in Coachella Valley, California.

Out with one era, in with another: once again, mega-popstar Taylor Swift has returned with a new installment to her discography. Poignantly titled “THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT,” Swift’s 11th studio album is a carefully curated look into a shattered heart following the end of a passionate relationship. This time, she’s letting listeners hear more about her life than ever before (which, in comparison to Swift’s previous work, is quite the statement in itself). 

The song “End of Beginning” by Djo has become the latest TikTok-turned-real-world hit. The song has taken the social media platform and the charts by storm. The identity behind Djo (pronounced “Joe”) is a name that might sound familiar – Joe Keery, who plays Steve Harrington in Netflix’s hit show “Stranger Things.” That’s not the only thing listed on Keery’s resume, which also includes 10 films, eight television shows and five albums.

The term “renaissance” refers to a rebirth: a time of transition and transformation that involves artistic and cultural revival. As the COVID-19 lockdown began to end, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter felt a renaissance emerging, and she wanted to be a nurturing part of it. Beyoncé’s album “Renaissance” was born to share love, confidence and joy and is part of a three-act musical project. 

Brynn Cartelli, winner of Season 14 of “The Voice,” released her debut album “OUT OF THE BLUE” on Friday, March 1. To celebrate her debut, she curated an art exhibit for the album that was open only for the release date in New York. The event ran from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. in the Lower East Side. It contained over 30 pieces of artwork, mostly created by young female artists based in New York. 

Imagine yourself sitting in the back seat of your dad’s car on the way home from school –Nickelback is playing on his CD player radio. He asks you who sings this song and you have no idea, even though you’ve heard it a million times.

The 66th Annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 4, was a televised triumph for Taylor Swift and her fans. By the end of the night, Swift strutted out of the Crypto.com Arena with two Grammys in hand. One of those awards was for Album of the Year, which brought Swift from three to four of the same award, breaking the record for the number of wins.

Record labels are discussing a big change in the world of rerecording albums as the success of Taylor Swift’s “Taylor’s Version” releases increase. With Swift’s fourth re-recorded album released on Oct. 27, “1989 (Taylor’s Version),” record labels are discussing adding a clause to contracts for new signees to ensure that they do not rerecord albums for 10 to 30 years after they depart from the label. In some cases, labels are not allowing for artists to rerecord albums at all.