NOW That’s What I Call Music! 63 brings more hits and highlights five emerging artists and rock veterans Mutemath
The NOW series of compilations has made it to NOW That’s What I Call Music! 63 that includes 15 hits from summer ’17, Ed Sheeran‘s “Castle On The Hill,” which has been out since January, and six singles from new artists in the latest NOW What’s Next series. Well, five new artists actually. The sixth are New Orleans rockers Mutemath who have been together as a band since 2002, and whose lead singer and keyboardist Paul Meany at 41 years old is easily the most senior among the NOW What’s Next acts. @mutemath has existed in obscurity with its peak coming in 2008 when single “Spotlight” was included on the first Twilight soundtrack. Nine years later, NOW 63 gives us “Hit Parade,” a psychedelic track most remarkable for some trippy spoken words at its end. And while the song will not suddenly make @mutemath a household name, it will help sell a few copies of their new, fifth album Play Dead.
Mutemath’s long career got them more Instagram followers than four of the five Now What’s Next 63 artists
The hit parade of Now What’s Next 63 continues with Quinn XCII (pronounced Quinn 92), a singer-rapper in the style of Travie McCoy and Mike Posner who unfortunately keeps the Travie McCoy/Mike Posner style alive in 2017 with “Straightjacket,” a song that unsuccessfully tries to find humor in a crazy girlfriend who cannot be constrained by a straightjacket. Jeremy Zucker, another youngster with a subdued voice, does better with “Keep My Head Afloat,” a pleasant pop-EDM ditty that could qualify him to be an anonymous male voice on the next Zedd album. The other male contender this go-round is Chord Overstreet, a former Glee actor and singer who, amazingly, started his Glee career in 2010 singing the Bruno Mars part on a cover of Travie McCoy’s “Billionaire.” @chordoverstreet is now 28 years old and has rebranded himself as a pop-adult top 40 crooner with single “Hold On” that got him on the Tonight Show a few weeks ago. With a million Instagram followers from his Glee days, @chordover has the biggest social media audience to help him succeed in his fledgling career.
Chord Overstreet’s father Paul Overstreet had a long career as a country music singer and songwriter, winning two Grammys
Finally we have the female voices of NOW What’s Next 63, starting with Elley Duhé, whose early single “Can You Touch,” lands somewhere between Daya and Lorde. However, that space does not allow @elleyduhe to distinguish herself, especially in a year filled with mysterious voices of more successful newcomers such as Halsey, Julia Michaels, and Kiiara. On the rock end there is the Arizona band The Foxies, which hearken back to Blondie with spunky lead singer Julia Lauren backed by a male squad. “Wander In Lust” is a high-energy dash reminiscent of Tegan and Sara. Check out the video for the song below and buy, download, or stream NOW 63 today.