Category: Pop

Throwback: Happy Belated 39th Birthday, Lady Gaga!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms belatedly celebrates Lady Gaga’s 39th birthday.

New Audio: Zay’Marie Shares Lush “Open”

Zay’Marie is a Virginia Beach-born, Washington, DC-based artist, who has quickly established a sound that seamlessly fuses soul, R&B and pop rooted in raw emotion and undeniable energy.

The Virginia Beach-born, DC-based artist’s debut EP Natural was released earlier this month. Thematically, the EP’s material is a raw, authentic journey through love, embracing the highs, navigating the uncertainties while standing firm in self-worth and resilience.

EP single “Open” is a slickly produced track that strikes me as being a sleek mix of elements of Afrobeats, contemporary pop and R&B featuring skittering polyrhythm, atmospheric synths and a supple, sinuous bass line serving as an ethereal yet lush bed for Zay’Marie’s soulful, self-assured yet longing delivery. The result is a song that showcases a burgeoning talent, who can craft a hook-driven yet soulful tune.

New Audio: Baltimore’s Devin Nash Shares Swaggering and Strutting “Sounds Like Pain”

Devin Nash is a Baltimore-born and-based singer/songwriter and musician, who quickly established a sound that blends contemporary R&B and 80s synth pop with the release of his full-length debut, 2016’s Her

Her achieved commercial success with the album’s songs appearing on VH1’s Black Ink Crew Chicago and MTV’s Teen Mom â€” and he performed at the BET Awards. 

The Charm City-based artist released his latest EP Sounds Like Pain last month. “It is a soundtrack centered around love, relationships and heartbreak,” Nash explains.

EP single, title track and opening track “Sounds Like Pain” is a slickly produced, strutting bop anchored around a sinuous bass line, skittering cowbell-driven beats, atmospheric synths that serve as a lush bed for Nash’s yearning delivery singing lyrics about a love interest, who quickly proves to be cold-hearted and cruel — for no particular reason. But underneath the heartache are moments of self-reflection and pride, in which the song’s narrator realizes “Wait, what the fuck am I doing?”