Blackbear
blackbear Thrived This Year — and Probably Will Next Year
If you’re part of blackbear’s friends and family, you got a Balenciaga sweater for Christmas. “I’m like the Aunt Karen of the family,” bear — real name Matthew Musto — tells SPIN. “I get anxious because I’m like, ‘Who did I get a gift for? Who did I forget? Is so-and-so gonna fit in the sweater I got them?’” It’s a good holiday for the people in blackbear’s life. And it’s been a good year for him too, despite the obvious madness. “It’s my son’s first year on the planet,” he says. “[Midnight] has eight or nine teeth already, and they just keep growing,” he adds, laughing. “There’s never been a dull moment.” Lately, dull moments have been rare for the 30-year-old singer, songwriter and producer. With “hot girl bummer,” the lead single of his fifth studio album, everything means nothing, he h...
Pop-Punk and Hip-Hop: 2020’s Dynamic Duo
In October, Bad Boy Records’ Machine Gun Kelly topped the Billboard 200 for the first time with his fifth album, Tickets To My Downfall – charting higher with guitar-driven pop-punk songs than he ever had as an emcee. Two weeks later, the top spot on the Hot 100 was secured by “Mood,” a guitar-driven emo-rap song by 24kGoldn and Iann Dior, who have since ruled the chart for most of the last two months. But those feel like only the most prominent tipping points of an unlikely alliance between pop-punk and hip-hop — one that has been everywhere in 2020, bubbling up in recent years to finally reach the forefront of popular music. Once upon a time, hip-hop and punk bubbled out of New York City as parallel movements that intersected often, from Debbie Harry rhyming about Fab Five Fre...
Listen to the Marshmello-Produced “half alive” from blackbear’s New Album
Los Angeles-based rapper blackbear‘s long-awaited fifth album everything means nothing finally dropped this week, and his latest full-length record features a contribution from dance music heavyweight Marshmello. The masked artist produced the song “half alive,” which, upon first listen, is an immediate standout on the album carried by the spunk of punchy drums and driving pluck basses. It’s a particularly funky angle for the chart-topping producer, who underscores blackbear’s storytelling vocals with a dependable riff of shining guitar chords. The track aims for a rewarding grand finale, however, that puts the classic Marshmello sound straight in the driver’s seat with a euphoric synth solo that brings the party anthem to a satisfying co...
