This week in music, many highly anticipated albums were released, shocking announcements were made, diss tracks were released and Kanye West said some wild things.
1. Metro Boomin released his newest album, “Not All Heroes Wear Capes,” seven months after announcing his retirement from rap music. The 13-track album features many popular artists including Drake, Travis Scott, Young Thug, Gucci Mane, 21 Savage, Offset, Swae Lee, Kodak Black, Gunna, J Balvin and others. The album was very highly anticipated and didn’t seem to disappoint.
Critics have referred to the album as the perfect comeback for an artist who took almost a year off to perfect his craft. Fans have enjoyed listening and debating over which featured artist made the best cameo.
“Metro Boomin delivered a very fine piece of music which has really inspired me to work harder to achieve my goals in life,” said CSUN student Duke Wearherspoon.
2. Ariana Grande dropped a surprise single Saturday titled “Thank U, Next,” a song perceived as a diss track towards her most recent ex, Pete Davidson. The song opened with a brief recap of her relationships with Big Sean, Ricky Alvarez, Mac Miller and Pete Davidson. Lyrics include tributes to Miller such as, “Even almost got married / And for Pete, I’m so thankful / Wish I could say thank you to Malcolm / Cause he was an angel.”
Grande first teased the song in a tweet directed towards Davidson in which she called him out for using their breakup for publicity.
“I like Ariana Grande’s new song because she was firing back at Pete Davidson because he keeps talking about their breakup,” said CSUN student Guadalupe Aguirre. “I also like that she mentioned Mac Miller.”
3. Kanye West recently announced he was going to start keeping his political opinions to himself from now on. West has received heaps of backlash in the recent past for his outlandish political views, claiming slavery was a choice and that the 14th Amendment should be abolished. Most recently West created waves during an appearance on Saturday Night Live when he went on a pro-Trump political rant while wearing a MAGA hat. He also visited the White House and had a televised conversation with President Donald Trump.
West now claims to have been used by the political party to spread a message he does not believe in.
“I’m definitely not a big Kanye fan so my opinions on him are pretty negative,” said CSUN student Vanessa Mendoza. “Him saying that doesn’t make much sense since he had been so involved up until now.”
4. The band Kiss announced the first tour dates to “End of the Road,” their final world tour together as a band. The foursome has been playing together for 45 years, but have called it quits at least once before. In 2000 frontman Gene Simmons stated they wanted to end on a high note and announced the end of the Kiss era. Two years later they were back.
This time, however, seems as if it really will be the end. In a statement released by the band, they called the upcoming tour the “ultimate celebration for those who’ve seen (them)” stating they’ll “go out the same way (they) came in … unapologetic and unstoppable.”
“I think that its just another example of how that generation of rock bands have officially died,” said CSUN student Tro Aschian. “Bands like Twisted Sister and Kiss don’t have that same audience as they did 40 years ago.”