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When the onset of the pandemic brought about the dissolution of the band he’d fronted since eighth grade, Joe P found himself in isolation with time to step out and experiment on his own. From the refuge of his New Jersey basement studio, he threw himself into writing, recording and producing his most personal material to date. Posting homegrown ideas to TikTok, Joe P watched as his raw acoustic videos drew millions of views and over 300K followers in just a few months. Among those new fans was Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, who kicked Joe’s career into hyperdrive by duetting alongside his self-made “Fighting In The Car” video. 

A deal with Neon Gold/Atlantic was quickly followed by the release of Joe P’s acclaimed debut EP, Emily Can’t Sing, highlighted by the viral hit single “Off My Mind,” which spent 2 weeks at #1 at Triple A Radio, followed by “All Day I Dream About (first introduced as “Adidases” in a hugely popular TikTok teaser).

Joe P released his seven-song project French Blonde in October 2022. The official live performance video for “French Blonde” also serves as the opening scene of Joe P’s short horror film, “If We Run,” starring Michael Gandolfini (The Many Saints of Newark), which won the award for Best Homegrown Short at the 2023 Garden State Film Festival. The 2023 Single “Don’t Wanna Love You” saw Joe P earn his second top 10 spot in 2 years at Triple A radio.

Having spent much of 2022 on the road, including dates with beabadoobee, Middle Kids, Spacey Jane, and Joywave –Joe embarked on his debut headline tour in 2023, with sold out dates all over the US.  2024 saw Joe open for Cold War Kids and Rainbow Kitten Surprise, and appearances at Tree Fort Fest and The Great Escape, with performances at Sea Hear Now and ACL Fest (and more yet to be announced dates) still to come. His debut album, Garden State Vampire, will be released on August 23.

Anna Shoemaker’s sophomore album, Someone Should Stop Her, opens with a hard-earned truth. “You could say that I’m officially cutting ties with the way I used to be,” she sings over the strummed guitar of “Real Life Baby.” In the two years since the Brooklyn-based pop confessionalist released her genre-spanning debut album, Everything Is Fine (I’m Only On Fire), she honed a new sound and resettled her roots (albeit temporarily, for now) in Los Angeles. It’s been a season of shedding bad habits and learning to trust her instincts, with Someone Should Stop Her showcasing the most self-assured music of her career. “The most freeing thing has been following my gut,” she says of her journey making the record. “Even if it's hard - the right thing to do isn't necessarily the easy road.”

Like with many great transformations, it began with a road trip. It was fall 2023, and she was in the middle of a U.S. tour with Portland singer Aidan Bissett where she began to find a new sense of confidence. Far away from the defined NYC circles she’d established, she was discovering “who I am without anyone,” she says. During one late-night session, alone for the first time in months after tour was over she penned “Back Again,” on the floor of her parents home in Idaho and experienced a breakthrough: the windows-down, guitar-driven ode felt synonymous with the independence she was experiencing. She and producer Constantine Anastasakis decided to use that track as their North Star. In January, she hit the road again, driving 12 hours to Nashville with Anastasakis to finish the album. All the while, in the background, her life in New York City was falling apart. 

For Anna, the Nashville sessions were at once breaking new ground and a return to her roots. Gone were the synths and electronics she was used to. She and Anastasakis prioritized natural instrumentals like pedal steel, and just her and her guitar, taking her back to her early bar-playing days. The result is 12 tracks that sound as wide-open and wild as the fields she drove by to get there. “The most important parts of this album are about running away,” she says. “‘Who am I if I'm not in New York? Who am I if I'm not with my boyfriend? I don't want to be so reliant on these [identifiers].” 

In May 2024 she went through a breakup and the other big story of the record revealed itself. Anna looked back and noticed the pattern: her songwriting had also traced a rift waiting to crack open.

In that regard, Someone Should Stop Her is foremost a breakup album, built around Anna’s visceral songwriting that demands to be shouted along to. Over the folk-y swing of “Iced Coffee,” Anna belts that she’s leaving him, before doubling back to declare, “I’m lying, I love you more than money.” “Horse Girl,” a galloping ballad, cleverly and devastatingly positions Anna as a cowboy’s ever-returning steed. Her feelings are messy, contradictory, and torn straight from her diary. “I throw away what I write/ in case it turns out I might mean the things that I’m venting/ genuinely pretending,” she openly admits on “Close To The Sun.” 

But between the lines there is another story: of Anna re-finding herself as a musician. On the happy-go-lucky “Gas Station Parking Lot,” she’s crying but only because she’s in mourning — she’s finally chosen herself over someone else. “I feel like all my 20s, I was willing to bend so much for men. Suddenly, I felt like I snapped out of it. I don't wanna do any of this shit. I really don't wanna compromise at all,” she says. With her voice floating atop the breezy production, you get the sense this is how she always wanted to sound. It just took her two road trips to get there.