There's a specific kind of bleak bartering that happens at 2 AM, and Rusty Reid’s single “Piece of the Action” builds a whole four-minute economy around it. This isn't a song about the sweeping grandeur of romance; it’s a clinical look at turning “dissatisfaction” into “a transaction of love.” The language is deliberate, almost like a contract being signed on a napkin under a...

Livi Jacobs is the name that everyone knows as the heartbeat of modern pop music. She has recently released a new song called "Better That Way," which is a great example of how honest current music can be. Vienna, Austria, is a place with a lot of cultures where Livi was born and raised. When she was 10 years old, she wrote her first song. Since then,...