Music 1 Hour – The Best New Music 1 Hour Ever
1. Maroon 5 – “Sugar”
If there’s one band that understands the art of the pop bops, it’s Maroon 5. Adam Levine and company have built their empire on a steady diet of infectious dance, funk and R&B with some help from big names like Juice WRLD and late rapper Nipsey Hussle.
“Sugar,” the third single from the album V, is a disco, funk-pop and soul song featuring percussion, additional keyboards and guitars. The production has a retro feel to it and features a mix of authentically crashed weddings and staged ones shot by director David Dobkin.
The track’s lyrics evoke feelings of romance and desire, but it never gets overly sentimental. It’s the kind of hit that’s perfect for the radio, and its infectious nature makes it hard to resist singing along.
3. Behati Prinsloo – “Sugar”
Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine’s wife, Victoria’s Secret angel Behati Prinsloo, is the star of their latest video for “Sugar,” a song that has been hailed as one of the band’s best. The video has a sweet vibe and shows the couple crashing several weddings.
The song itself has a moderate groove and is written in the key of D-flat major,[14] with a melodic range of one octave higher. Levine’s vocals on this track are impressive and he hits some falsetto notes as well. [14]
Musically, the song is described as disco,[15] funk-pop and soul. It was written by PJ Morton, Jesse Carmichael and Dr. Luke, with guitars by James Valentine and drums by Mickey Madden.
4. Clean Bandit – “Rather Be”
Having already created two music videos with the element of transport – the stop motion animation for Mozart’s House and the Japanese Yamanote Line commuter train for Dust Clears – Cambridge based electronic band Clean Bandit continue the trend with Rather Be. Co-penned with Jimmy Napes (who helped craft Disclosure’s Latch), this new single sees classically inspired violin infused with uplifting dance beats.
As Haruka rides her scooter, the four band members appear from behind her, before vanishing once again. She then runs out onto a busy street, where she spots an Easter egg of the band’s logo on one of their earlier music videos. Suddenly, she finds herself being lifted around the crowds of a concert hall as Jess Glynne sings her heart out.
5. Madonna – “Charlie Bit Me”
Throughout her storied career, Madonna balanced an insubordinate streak with a drive for high achievement. She was a straight-A student, cheerleader and disciplined dancer who graduated from high school a semester ahead of her peers. She later trained at the University of Michigan and at New York’s prestigious Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
But the Queen of Pop was also a shrewd assimilator of cutting-edge musical styles, evident from her first hit album Like A Virgin (released in 1985) to Hard Candy (2008) and her Grammy-winning homage to 1960s psychedelia, MDNA (2012).
Known as much for her sexual provocation and contemporary boasting as for her artistic achievements, she remains one of music’s most versatile artists. (Though her studio album Rebel Heart was leaked in 2015.) She recently announced her 14th full-length, Madame X, is due this year.