Casey McQuillen’s single “Better” arrives not with a bang, but with the quiet, decisive click of a well-made lock securing a door. It’s pop music, certainly, groomed and gleaming, yet beneath the surface bubbles a fierce kind of self-possession that’s less about demanding attention and more about curating who gets past the velvet rope of your own contentment. Coming from someone known for empowerment...

Muse L'Artiste came up at a time when the R&B industry had become stale, injecting it with a new dose of genuine passion and Cameroonian soul. Muse is not just a musical powerhouse, but a symbol of female agency in the traditionally male-dominated field of music production, since they are at the forefront of the all-female label Powher Sound. Muse is a GRAMMY-member band whose music...