Photo Credit: Juli Wright

New artist in the spotlight, Fetty Wap takes the stage at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ.

There are many new artists that are finding the spotlight and are making it into the big leagues. Artists such as Fetty Wap, I LOVE MAKONNEN 2, Alessia Cara, and Yellow Claw.These musicians have each made it onto the radio, and are showing people that they can keep up with bigger names.

Willie Maxwell II, better known as Fetty Wap, has been featured in songs with rappers such as Lil Durk, Lil Wayne, Jeremih. He was born on June 7th, 1991, in Paterson New Jersey. His first single ‘Trap Queen’ was released in 2014, and instantly made him a chart topper. And despite all of the rumors Maxwell likes to spread about what has happened to his left eye, the truth is that as a child her developed glaucoma in both eyes but could not save his left eye. Now an ocular prosthesis resides where his eye once did. He became the first male rapper to have three songs occupying the top twenty spots on the Billboard top one hundred list since Eminem in 2013. Later, after releasing his single ‘Again’ he became the first male rapper to have four songs in the top ten since Lil Wayne in 2011. His debut album was put in stores and on iTunes September 25th, 2015. It was ranked number one on the Billboard two hundred chart.

Alessia Caracciolo is a nineteen year old singer/songwriter who grew up in Ontario, Canada. She began her musical career by uploading acoustic videos of her singing on YouTube.com and by appearing on radio stations. At the age of eighteen she signed a record deal with Def Jam Recordings. Her debut single, ‘Here’ was said to be a “must hear song” by cosmopolitan. She has even performed that song on the tonight show starring Jimmy Fallon. Her debut album, ‘Know-It-All’ was just released on November 13th, 2015.

The DJ trio that is Yellow Claw consists of Leo Roelandschap, Jim Taihuttu, and Nils Rondhuis. Yellow Claw first gained some recognition in 2010 when they performed at one of the most famous clubs in Amsterdam. On Dutch and Belgian charts, they made it to the top with their songs, ‘Thunder’ and ‘Last Night Ever’. In 2013, Yellow Claw signed to Diplo’s Label. Their new album, ‘Blood for Mercy’ is becoming extremely popular in the U.S. featuring artists such as Becky G, TY Dolla $ign, Pusha T, and DJ Mustard.

Big albums have also been released including, Selena Gomez’s ‘Revival’, Carrie Underwood’s ‘Storyteller’, and Bryson Tiller’s ‘T R A P S O U L’.From a recently taken poll, 105 people of all ages and all genders filled out a google forms document and gave out their opinions.

Justin Bieber is making a huge come back with his new, top charting album, ‘Purpose’. The hit single, ‘What Do You Mean’ that came out on August 28th, 2015 set very high expectations for the album. Out of a list of eleven recently released albums, 27 out of 105 voters said that ‘Purpose’ was the best. It definitely lived up to its high expectations, selling 522,000 copies within the first week of it being released.

Drake and Future hit hard with ‘What a Time to be Alive’, their collaborated album that was released September 20th, 2015. Drake released the first picture of the album artwork along with the good news of the album on his instagram. The multi-talented Drake did do outstanding work on the album singing the chorus to songs such as ‘Big Rings’ and ‘Jumpman’, but Future is definitely the artist who sent the album to the top. Out of a list of eleven recently released albums, 24 out of 105 voters said that this album was their favorite.

Iron Maiden comes out with ‘The Book of Souls’ after 5 years of nothing. The album is a total of 92 minutes long with a single song that lasts 18 minutes long. Released on September 4th, 2015, it was the band’s first studio double album. Song’s such as ‘The Speed of Light’ and ‘Tears of a Clown’ are the highlight songs on each disc. The album did really well with critics and was overall a very successful comeback album.

Photo Credit: Juli Wright