The Academy’s mission statement states that their goal is to “recognize excellence in the recording arts and sciences,” yet they don’t define what “excellence” is. Is it commercial success or critical acclaim?

Before BabyJake — also known as Jake Herring — sat down with Student Life, his band’s soundcheck reverberated throughout the building: loud drums, crunchy guitar riffs, and, of course, his textured vocals.

TikTok dancer Addison Rae? Former member of the short-lived Hype House Addison Rae? Failed actress Addison Rae?  Yes, yes, and yes — it’s that Addison Rae. She’s here for pop domination.

BigSteppa Mori began working at Bear’s Den (BD) in early 2022, where she often prepared and distributed half-and-halfs or egg sandwiches alongside her father and sisters. She later moved to Collin’s Farms after it opened at the Law Café. She prepared lunchtime salads there with her two sisters. During the pandemic, Mori took up rapping as a way to pass the time. Now, her most popular song, “Westside Story,” has about 76,000 streams on Spotify, and the music video for the song has nearly 300,000 views on YouTube. She has also accumulated about 75,000 followers on Instagram.

Eliza McLamb’s bio on her social accounts is the phrase “renaissance woman,” and it’s a very fitting descriptor for an artist who does as much as she does. The singer-songwriter released her debut album “Going Through It” in January of 2024 and co-hosts the podcast “Binchtopia.” She also publishes short essays on Substack, an online platform for creators to publish newsletters and gain subscribers, with both free and paid content. A few hours before her Oct. 25 show in St. Louis, McLamb sat down with Student Life and detailed the process of creating her first album.

Tank and the Bangas has continuously redefined the line between music, poetry, and New Orleans sound. Their album “The Heart, The Mind,The Soul” is out on streaming platforms right now, with an expanded release with bonus content released on vinyl on Oct. 11. 

Sure, Sabrina Carpenter’s lyrics are not for everyone. They’re flippant and rather “horny on main,” as the author said, performing a kind of tongue-in-cheek reclamation of hyper-sexualization. Yes, many of her lyrics are entirely unserious. But that is the point.

We can admire artists from afar and definitely love their music, but we must recognize our place as fans and not friends. Artists do not owe fans anything, not even their art.

The Lemon Twigs, performing at Off Broadway STL on Oct. 22, are the most dynamic band I’ve ever heard. I discovered The Lemon Twigs through my Fiction 2 professor, Stephen Mortland. “They’re a mix of The Beach Boys and Greta Van Fleet,” Mortland said. 

Drummer Joe Russo has been synonymous with great musicianship for decades. Some know him as a drummer for Furthur, the band established by Bob Weir and Phil Lesh of The Grateful Dead. But most know Russo as the leader of Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, a The Grateful Dead cover band that continually redefines the way people listen to and play The Dead. Russo, who plays both drums and keyboard, took to the stage with his new band, the Selcouth Quartet, on Sept. 14 at the 2024 Music at the Intersection festival.