If you’re looking to move and groove more, let these hype tracks pump you up!
Healer
Grouplove's fourth album, 2020's Healer, starts with a blast of a song called "Deleter." Grounded by a maniacal piano riff and a dissonant screech of guitars, it's a punk-infused tirade about wishing you could erase certain memories à la Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It's an incredibly catchy song, and it perfectly sets the tone for what is to come. Healer follows 2016's Big Mess and finds the band in an exuberant headspace, searching for moments of cathartic release after an extended period of difficulty.
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Now That’s What I Call Music 65
The first quarterly installment of 2018 for the long-running series, Now That's What I Call Music! 65 collects some of the biggest mainstream pop tracks that made gains in the charts in the U.S. in late 2017 and early 2018. Released just months after Now 64, Now 65 includes Top Ten hits like Taylor Swift's "...Ready for It?," Demi Lovato's "Sorry Not Sorry," and Camila Cabello's "No Rap Version" of "Havana," which removes Young Thug from the mix. Rappers who are allowed to stay include G-Eazy on his A$AP Rocky and Cardi B collaborative hit "No Limit" and NF with his Christian chart-topping "Let You Down."
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Dedicated
Carly Rae Jepsen may not be the most prolific pop star, but when she releases an album, she makes it count. On 2015's E-MO-TION, she proved just how much more there was to her music than "Call Me Maybe" as she expanded the sugar rush of 2012's Kiss into pop songs that were equally joyous and introspective. Four years after E-MO-TION, she makes another leap forward with Dedicated, an album that reflects her growing maturity as a songwriter as well as the pop music trends of its time. Jepsen trades E-MO-TION's deep dive into '80s nostalgia for a more streamlined approach on "No Drug Like Me" and "Automatically in Love," where swelling synths and loping beats nod to tropical pop while adding sophistication to her swooning lyrics.
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Essentials
Electronic trio Major Lazer celebrates their decade-long run as club kings with the 25-track compilation Essentials. Showcasing the combined DJ and production skills of Diplo, Jillionaire, and Walshy Fire, as well as original member Switch, the collection showcases the group's dynamic, globe-trotting sound, combining high-energy house music, dancehall, moombahton, and other styles. Included on Essentials are many of the group's biggest tracks, including "Blow That Smoke" featuring Tove Lo, "Lean On" with MØ and DJ Snake, "Pon De Floor," with Vybz Kartel, and more.
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Ocean Eyes
Filled with bubbling electronics and light, G-rated club anthems, Ocean Eyes sets its sights on the MySpace generation, targeting the younger siblings of those who bought the Postal Service's Give Up six years earlier. This is computerized pop music, replete with programmed drum loops, digital symphonies, and all the amenities of modern recording software. Only Adam Young's vocals carry a hint of human presence, and his fanciful lyrics -- which turn even the most mundane content (see "Dental Care," a good ol' fashioned ode to oral hygiene) into whimsy -- serve to strengthen the album's escapist appeal. Such syrupy sweetness builds to a feverish pitch throughout the album's 12 tracks, peaking during the viral sensation "Hello Seattle" and its sonic cousin, "On the Wing."
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Top Pop Vol. 1
The sequel to the 2017 Classics EP finds Pentatonix spending a full album singing the big hits of the day -- a move that isn't all that dissimilar to easy listening albums of the '60s and '70s, where Bacharach/David and Lennon/McCartney songs were given smooth arrangements designed for the adult contemporary charts. Pentatonix aren't so fusty. They do a medley of "Despacito" and "Shape of You" and cover Kesha, Demi Lovato, and Zedd, while never relying on old a cappella tricks. Make no mistake, they are still proudly the children of Glee, but that's also the ace up their sleeve: they're flashy about their hip attributes, which helps disguise how this album is -- at its core -- music by a very good music theater troupe.
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Translation
On top of the music world for much of the 2000s, pop-rap group Black Eyed Peas impacted the global charts and became an indelible part of the mainstream with their crowd-pleasing electro-hip-pop hybrid anthems that would provide the soundtrack to school dances, weddings, and sporting events for years to come.
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Violator
n a word, stunning. Perhaps an odd word to use given that Violator continued in the general vein of the previous two studio efforts by Depeche Mode: Martin Gore's upfront lyrical emotional extremism and knack for a catchy hook filtered through Alan Wilder's ear for perfect arrangements, ably assisted by top English producer Flood. Yet the idea that this record would both dominate worldwide charts, while song for song being simply the best, most consistent effort yet from the band could only have been the wildest fantasy before its release.
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Shakira
Like many eponymous albums, Shakira's self-titled 2014 set marks a new beginning: a new album for a new label after she got a new job. The new job was as a co-host on the hit American televised musical contest The Voice, the new label was RCA, and the new album was her first full-fledged pop album since She Wolf, the rather brilliant, hard electronic dance record that stiffed in 2009. She bounced back in 2010 with Sale el Sol, but that album wasn't made with the U.S. market in mind, something that certainly can't be said of Shakira. Opening up with a duet with Rihanna, and later finding space for her Voice co-host Blake Shelton, Shakira is determined to appeal to all audiences here.
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In Time: the Best of REM
"Alternative pop-rock/college rock/jangle pop/American underground rock" songs. Disc 1. Man on the moon -- Great beyond -- Bad day -- What's the frequency, Kenneth? -- All the way to Reno (you're gonna be a star) -- Losing my religion -- E-bow the letter -- Orange Crush -- Imitation of life -- Daysleeper -- Animal -- Sidewinder sleeps tonite -- Stand -- Electrolite -- All the right friends -- Everybody hurts -- At my most beautiful -- Nightswimming. Disc 2: rarities and B-sides. Pop song '89 -- Turn you inside-out -- Fretless -- Chance -- It's a free world baby -- Drive -- Star me kitten -- Revolution -- Leave -- Why not smile -- Lifting -- Beat a drum -- JN -- One I love -- Country feedback.
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Poptronica Sci-Fi
Buddha's Poptronica series boasts a title that's a play on the prevalent term for techno in the '90s, electronica. In the early '80s, however, synth pop was often called techno -- something that the compilers of Poptronica remembered when it came time to assemble a three-disc series of synth pop hits from the '80s. Though Poptronica has a bit of a jokey title, the discs themselves are excellent new wave retrospectives. Sci-Fi focuses on new wave songs about science -- or at least songs that sound like the product of mad scientists. Indeed, it may be hard to discern what the theme of the compilation is without glancing at the title, but it's actually the most cohesive of the three Poptronica discs.
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