The Biggest Music Stories of 2017 (So Far)

Somehow, 2017 is on pace to top 2016 in terms of amazing releases, with artists like Future, Drake, and Kendrick putting out great projects.

biggest music stories 2017 so far
Image via Complex Original
biggest music stories 2017 so far

Speaking about music, 2016 was a beautiful, bountiful year. It's not often that you have almost every titan in pop music let loose full-length projects, and watch so many new promising rookies emerge. So, logic would suggest that 2017 would have to be quiet. But, if anything, things have ramped up. 

There are a few possible reasons for this. Some of this year's excellence is the result of the streaming economy, which is still coming into its own and undeniably quickening the metabolism of the music industry. (See: Calvin Harris, who has tried to take advantage of this.) Some are personal, like Drake's return to form in the wake of the record-breaking but artistically disappointing leviathan that was Views. Or Future's calculated run of dominance following his thrilling double release. Some are just timing, like the return of Kendrick Lamar, who was right on schedule for a new album—an album that just happens to be the best of the year.

Now, at the midpoint of the year, we're looking at the biggest music stories of 2017. Here's what's been happening. 

Migos Move 'Culture'

migos

2017, for a few months anyway, was the year of the Migos. The Atlanta trio entered the hearts and minds of Americans across the country, thanks to a well-deserved shoutout from Donald Glover at the Golden Globes, in January, and the chart-topping single “Bad and Boujee,” and next thing you know, they're at the Met Gala. 

Of course, the year hasn’t been without its hiccups. In a Rolling Stone profile of the group, they made homophobic comments about iloveMakonnen, who recently came out. Their attempts to clarify the statements did not pass woke muster; in an interview with Billboard, Quavo offered, “I got a record with Frank Ocean. That closes my case.” It’s the “I’ve got gay friends” argument...for an artist who has never openly claimed that label. Still, “Bad and Boujee” will ring off for the remainder of the year, alongside “T-Shirt” and “Kelly Price” and “Out Yo Way”—all great songs from Culture, the concise, elegant album they put out at the end of January. —Ross Scarano

Beyoncé's Iconic Duo

beyonce

The Artist Currently Known as Future

future

If you’re asking, Future has my favorite album of the year. The crystallized growth and sense of artistry evident on Hndrxx, the care in the songwriting and the ambitious, vocal-stretching production, asks you to reconsider Future’s entire career. And the conclusion former Complex music editor Damien Scott and I have come to is that Future is some sort of mastermind. (Pair it with the unrepentant and coarse self-titled album, and you have an emotional epic of a double disc.)

Hndrxx joins the ranks of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill and The Love Below on the shortlist of hip-hop albums concerned exclusively with love, and the results are unmistakably Future. He's not trying for pop success, like he did on Honest. It’s a bitter, soul-baring experience that captures the lows of betrayal and heartache without neglecting the soaring heights of love and infatuation. It feels like taking Vicodin tonight. It sounds incredible. —Ross Scarano

Sheeran Gonna Sheeran

Ed Sheeran

2017 was the year you either gave up on your Ed Sheeran hate, or doubled, tripled, quadrupled down on it. "Shape of You" is the year's most inescapable hit—12 non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, thank you very much. And also it's most unlikely: A dancehall-inspired song about really really loving your body, written by Kandi Burruss, Tameka "Tiny" Cottle, and Kevin "She'kspere" Briggs, the guy who last made noise in the late '90s with beats for Destiny's Child that blatantly bit Timbaland? And Ed Sheeran is the guy singing it? 2017 is weird, and it's also Ed Sheeran's.

The other single "Castle on the Hill" is set to be another huge hit from his album, ÷, which has sold hundreds of thousands of copies while simultaneously making writers everywhere furious because none of us knew how to type a division sign. Now we know, and like it or not, we better get used to it. —Alex Gale

Frank Ocean Didn't Disappear (Again)

blonded

As I wrote in April, "the most surprising thing about Frank Ocean’s return is that it hasn’t ended." Thanks to his radio show with Beats 1, we've had more new Frank Ocean songs than in all the years that passed between Channel Orange and Endless put together. Three of the songs—"Chanel," "Biking," and "Lens"—are essential. The other, a posse cut about fashion called "Raf," not so much. But regardless, it feels like we can relax and get used to something like regular access to Frank's creativity.

But this doesn't mean you'll get to see him in person, necessarily. He's canceled more live dates than he's performed this year, though hopefully his recent appearance in Denmark is a definitive change in that trend. We can't bear to watch you walk out the door again, Frank. —Ross Scarano

Calvin Harris Is Cool Now

Calvin Harris

In just a few months, Calvin Harris has achieved the unexpected: he became cool.

While never a true punching bag, the Scottish producer, singer, and songwriter has remained good-naturedly corny—making festival EDM and moonlighting as a pop architect. He has massive hits and, apart from his high profile relationship with Taylor Swift and a few modeling campaigns here and there, has flown largely under the radar as a public figure. He’s always been wildly competent, serving a large fanbase with hooks and drops, but now he’s doing something a little different.

At the top the year, Harris planned to release ten singles—no album—in an attempt to capitalize on the streaming economy and also, apparently, brighten everyone’s spirits every six weeks. Then his plan changed, and now he's in full album-rollout mode, in preparation for Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 1, which arrives on June 30. It's less innovative but the music still sounds hot. Just watch this parrot—Brendan Klinkenberg

Rick Ross Is Disappointed

rick ross

Whenever Rick Ross has an issue with someone, we all win. His beef with 50 Cent has been dormant for years and yet we're still eating off amazing quotes in interviews from not too long ago. No one communicates sentiments of distaste quite like Ross, from the phrasing to the delivery. So hearing him clutch his chest upon realizing Birdman's watch was fake, alongside lines like "You took them boys publishing and bought a foreclosure," is a true highlight on a thoroughly great album.

Rather You Than Me marked a mostly full return to form for Renzel, it's only right that in his comeback he feel emboldened to take on a new opponent as well. This is deeper than rap beef on wax—who among us is actually anticipating response bars from Birdman?—it's Ross anointing himself as the person big enough to call attention to the fuckshit all of his peers have been witness to. The initiative to take a hit and talk that shit for the greater good? Real boss shit. A fitting return from the Biggest. —Frazier Tharpe

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Nicki Minaj vs. Remy Ma

remy

Beef is beautiful. Hip-hop is a contact sport, and the expectation that such competition will eventually boil over into conflict is baked into the genre's DNA. It's a thrill to watch, provided it stays in the booth. Rap fans are the most bloodthirsty of any music genre, which can make this era of rampant passive-aggression so damn frustrating. Fuck a thinly veiled sub, name names amirite? God bless Remy Ma for shifting gears from her menacing turns on songs like Phresher's "Wait a Minute" and launching a full-on assault on Nicki Minaj for 7-minutes so viciously that she single-handedly inspired an update to The Best Diss Songs of All Time.

Unfortunately, misguided attempts to ape the "Back to Back" approach tripped up both MCs. Remy tried to go for a 1-2 punch with a horrible song; Nicki did everything to make sure her response would bang in the clubs except make sure it was, you know, a memorable record. "No Frauds" came and went, and with it, the interest in this beef. Then it reignited this month, with Nicki accusing Papoose of ghostwriting "Shether," and then Remy Ma celebrating multiple generations of women in hip-hop at Summer Jam—a nod to the criticism that Nicki hasn't embraced her female peers. We'll see what's next. —Frazier Tharpe

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Drake Returns to Form

more life

The pressure was on. Drake, disappointed with the critical maligning of Views—his most commercially successful project to date—wanted another hit. Another album that would own the charts, yes, but also reaffirm that he's not just the most marketable, but also in conversation for the best doing it. So, he announced a "playlist," called More Life. Then he delayed it. And delayed it again. And again.

By the time 2017 rolled around, the anticipation had curdled into a sort of morbid fascination—the rumors coming out were vague at best, unpromising at worst. Delays are never a good sign. Then, on his OVO Sound show on Beats 1 in March, Drake unleashed More Life.

The result is a sprawling epic of an album (sorry, playlist). Equal parts gorgeous and menacing, Drake pulled sounds and styles from around the globe to make a collection of music that isn't cohesive in any way, shape, or form, but does prove that Drake is a chameleon; no matter what he tries his hand at, he's more likely than anyone else in the world to succeed at it. On "Do Not Disturb," Drake gets personal, then lets us in on his plans—the 6 God is taking a break (thought not one that involves sitting out the upcoming DJ Khaled album). He'll likely own the year with this record, but we won't be getting more music out of him. See you in 2018. —Brendan Klinkenberg

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The Ruler's Back

lorde

On March 2, the Australian Queen of the Teens gave us the green light to reacquaint ourselves with those adolescent exuberances. (I’m old now.) After a four-year hiatus, the singer-songwriter who topped the charts with “Royals” in 2013, is returning with a new album, Melodrama (out now). (The great painting of Lorde that serves as the artwork is from Brooklyn artist Sam McKinnis; he’s rad.) For this LP, she’s working with Jack Antonoff, of fun. and bleachers, and they’re drawing energy from adult contemporary god Don Henley. I’m in. —Ross Scarano

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Kendrick, the GOAT?

kendrick

Kendrick teased us with an album release date in a song where he went for Big Sean’s neck (and maybe threw some subs Drake’s way), effectively shifting the conversation from More Life to Lamar’s then-forthcoming album. We were supposed to get it on April 7, or at least that’s when Kenny told us to get our shit together by. Then he dropped the lead single “Humble,” attached to one of the most creative videos in recent memory, bringing the anticipation to a fever pitch. The album didn’t arrive then, though, just a preorder link. No title. No album art. No tracklist.

When Lamar released the tracklist, album art, and title, it led to much speculation. Damn delivered on all counts; it's the best album of the year, not to mention the second-best release in Kendrick's overall body of work. Now the conversation is, where does Kendrick rank among the best to ever do it? —Angel Diaz

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Chance the Philanthropist

chance

Back in March, Chicago native Chance the Rapper donated $1 million to the Chicago Public Schools system. The donation was in response to the city's ongoing budget crisis, and followed a less-than-productive meeting with Illionois Governor Bruce Rauner. Chance has since donated to support the city public schools’ arts and after-school education programming; he himself benefited from the programs growing up. Chance’s March donation went towards “The New Chance Arts & Literature Fund” that hopes to ensure that “more students have access to arts and enrichment education.” He hoped that the donation would incite action among Chicago city officials to work harder to come up with solutions while easing a little bit of the city’s deficit. 

Complex's David Drake was on the scene for Chance's first donation, and wrote:


What was most interesting about Chance's stunt wasn't the money he put forward—as many have pointed out, plenty of celebrities have donated money to various causes in the past in an effort to help Chicago kids—but the way he did it. Chance is, I have long maintained, a canny political operator, despite his performance of relative naïveté. For an artist whose father works in politics, and whose origins in Chicago's activist poetry scene draw directly upon principles from grassroots organizers like Saul Alinsky, the actual money he's donating isn't the point, nor is it merely measurable in PR value. The money is there to back up his wider purpose. He's putting his full weight behind the issue in an effort to genuinely make a difference in a political morass—and to enjoin others to put up as well.

Charitable Chance didn’t stop there; in April, Chano celebrated his birthday by throwing a huge benefit party. The rapper rang in his 24th by raising $100,000 for his charity, SocialWorks. SocialWorks was established in order to empower youth through, "the arts, education, and civic engagement."

Out of all of Chance’s endearing qualities, his dedication to giving back to his community is most admirable. He recognizes that his situation could have likely been a very different one were it not for some of the after-school programs and poetry workshops he participated in as a teen. Because of this, he has chosen to use his current platform to ensure that the community that raised him continues to uplift and support the children in the Chicago Public School system. When the praises go up, the blessings come down. —Nora-Grayce Orosz

Generation SoundCloud

XXXTentacion mug shot

Fyre Fest Is 2017's Biggest Disaster

Tents at the disastrous Fyre Festival.

L.A. Reid Is Out

This is a photo of LA Reid.

Lil Yachty's Disappointing Debut

yachty

Miley Is Country

miley cyrus

Ariana Grande and Manchester

ariana

Witness Katy Perry Imploding

Katy Perry

What's Jay Z Doing?

4:44 ad in Times Square

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