By Jess Santacroce
Music Writer, Phoenix Radio

On November 19, 1990. Milli Vanilli had their Grammy revoked, as it had been revealed that the people in the duo were not singing, but only lip-syncing to vocals provided by others people. Thirty-five years later, the fake musician hoax has only gotten worse, as today’s fake singers are fake in every sense of the word. That is, they are AI generated people singing AI generated songs.

 At least one AI generated musician is the project of a real human artist. Xania Monet, famous for songs such as “How was I supposed to know” and “She ain’t supposed to matter” is the AI avatar of poet Telisha “Nikki” Jones. In order to create Xania Monet and her songs, Jones started with her own real poetry. She uses the poetry as Xania Monet’s lyrics, relying on AI software to prompt a bot to form the background music, the voice, and the musican herself. 

Other artists who have been revealed to be AI generated in recent months are completely AI. While somebody had to have prompted a bot to create them, nothing else about them is human-generated. When “Walk my Walk” by someone using the stage name “Breaking Rust” topped the Billboard Country Digital Songs Chart, it was later revealed to be an AI generated artist prompted by Aubiere Rivaldo Taylor, someone who is often listed as a “songwriter” by AI-generated search results, but does not appear to have done more than use AI to generate songs. Another “new country singer” revealed to be AI generated, Cain Walker, does not even have anyone stepping forward to claim him as of the writing of this article. 

Most musicians and others who love and value music want to support their fellow artists rather than seeing their work ignored in favor of singing virtual robots. Since the technology is both new and growing increasingly sophisticated at an alarming rate, it can be difficult to tell if that “new artist” you’re listening to is a real person or not, but there are some signs to watch out for. 

Lyrics and images return high “AI generated” scores

Looking for signs that something is AI generated may seem pointless when you can just run things through AI content detectors. AI content detectors can be used for song lyrics, but something coming back with a high “AI generated” score is a sign that it’s AI generated, not proof. Running lyrics you suspect of being created by AI through a detector and getting a high score  means that you likely found something written by a bot, but it is not definitive proof, and it does not prove that the musician was also created by AI. While you can certainly run anything that seems “off” for any reason through one of these detector tools, look for other signs before you conclude that you have found the latest “fake musician” hoax. 

The artist appears from nowhere to the extreme

We often think musicians achieve national, or even local, fame suddenly “came out of nowhere.” But anyone who has ever even attempted to play music or sing, or knows somebody who has, is aware that you do not just jump up one day at random and become a musician. Everybody who plays or sings in front of others, online or offline, is going to have some type of career or practice history, often one spanning years or even decades. Even somebody who has been singing alone in their basement their entire life, and just got up the nerve to sing in front of people for the first time yesterday will have their name on a sign up sheet at the open mic, a friend or family member who used to hear them sing years ago, or an account on whatever platform they posted that first clip. AI-generated musicians go from nothing to a finished, produced, final cut of a track or even a video. 

Every photo or video of the musician shows signs of being AI generated

Despite growing more and more realistic, AI generated images and videos still have a bit of a “cartoonish” quality to them. Textures may be too smooth, giving skin and hair a “painted” look. AI is particularly bad at creating human hands. If you look closely at the photos of Cain Walker on his lyric videos, you can see that his fingers are oddly long and square shaped. Breaking Rust features a singer with much better produced hands, but his jaw movements when he’s shown singing are noticeably robotic. 

While it would be possible for a real artist to use AI to create their photos and videos, it becomes a red flag when every photo or video of an artist or band appears to be AI generated. 

Lyrics and music sound technically correct, but are bland or full of over-used phrasing, words, or themes

Clearly, whether something is “good music” or not is subjective. Plenty of people must have liked Breaking Rust’s “Walk My Walk,” or it wouldn’t have been downloaded enough to top a digital downloads chart. But even if you love the song, there’s no denying that it hits on more than a few rather tired country music stereotypes. The imagery centers around mud on clothes, rocks, boots and a worn hat. It rhymes “eyes” and “rise.” The theme appears to be that others can dislike the narrator, but they’re tough so they’re going to keep going, making it about the millionth country song to be about somebody being tough and keeping going. Other songs on the “artist’s” YouTube channel similarly heavily feature being scarred, getting up, and dust and dirt. 


The lead vocals are sung correctly, but by somebody with an emotionless or flat voice

Real singers have quirks and flaws in their voices, no matter how good of a singer they might be. They also experience human emotions that will be reflected in some way in the song. AI generated voices, like the one used for “Breaking Rust” can be programmed to be gravelly and deep, but they can never reflect a genuine reaction to what they’re singing. This is especially noticeable when listening to Xania Monet. The voice gets a bit more forceful on certain words and phrases, but never truly changes in any way, never breaks, never shows any sign of intensifying or shifting emotion, even when the lyrics, a real poet’s poetry, shift and change. 

There is no evidence of the musician doing anything but playing or singing on recorded tracks and filming videos. 

Keeping your personal page separate from your business page on social media is common, and is in fact a good business practice and safety measure, not a sign of being AI generated. There is also nothing wrong with, and nothing suspicious about someone choosing to only use social media, or even the internet overall, for their career and avoid it for anything personal. 

Still, the person must have done something in their life sometime other than record themselves singing or playing. If you type the name of a real local  musician into a search engine, the first several things that come up will likely be the pages where you can purchase their music, but you will also get links to interviews they’ve sat for, photos and/or of them performing live at various venues, and pictures of them from the social media pages of family and friends, at the very least. If audio and video recordings of their music appear to be all that exists of the person, they might be because they do not actually exist. 
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Stumbling across bands and solo artists you’ve never heard of before is great. Just make sure to do a  bit of research into anyone who displays any of these warning signs. And don’t forget to support local musicians you see performing and promoted in your hometown and places you visit offline too. 

By Jess Santacroce
Music Writer, Phoenix Radio

It’s no secret music can be political, or that our favorite musical artists often have and express strong opinions about politics, both through their art and in interviews and statements made on social media and other outlets. But what about our elected officials’ connection to music? What are the people we put in power listening to? And are any of them musicians themselves? 

New York City Mayor Elect Zohran Mamdani can rap...and some of his work is controversial

Before entering the field of politics, Zohran Mamdani enjoyed a brief career as a rapper. Under the stage names “Young Cardamon” and later “Mr. Cardamom,” Mamdani performed and released songs reflecting his life and the culture he grew up in. 

In “Nani,” a song posted six years ago to the YouTube channel of “Mr. Cardamom,” Mamdani raps from the point of view of an eighty-five year-old grandmother who has had more than enough of her family, particularly her grandson, talking down to her and treating her poorly. The main character in the song is angry enough to cuss people out and demand respect, something the song teaches that she deserves. 

Other songs are not so heartwarming. In 2017, Mamdani released a song titled “Salaam” in which the narrator praises the “Holy Land Five,” a group of people who were convicted of funneling millions to terror group Hamas. Of course, everything a character in a song, or any other piece of performance art, says or does is not reflective of the views of the writer. The sentiments could be that of a character Mamdani created, views he does not share. This song still remains controversial, concerning to many because Mamdani refuses to state that this is not his own view, often sidestepping questions about support for Hamas by quickly changing the subject. 

Several U.S. Presidents have been amateur musicians

As of 2025, America has never elected someone who has made all or at least an important part of their living in music. We have, however, had some presidents who were skilled musicians as a hobby. Multiple sources report that Thomas Jefferson could play both the violin and the cello. John Quincy Adams played the flute. John Tyler played violin. Truman could play the piano. And while most people who were around in the 1990’s remember Clinton playing the saxophone, most Americans forget that Nixon could also play the sax, along with the piano, clarinet, and accordion, and that Obama can sing. 

President Donald Trump is known for liking a wide variety of musical genres

Whether you are a dedicated “Trumper,” a Republican gradually growing ready for new leadership, or a participant in a “No Kings” rally, support for the arts and artists is not something you think of when you think of Donald Trump. He strongly advocates for cutting funding for the arts, and makes a regular habit of calling for the censoring of any artist who expresses disagreement with him or mocks him in any way, going so far as to suggest that Seth Green’s performance mocking him is “probably illegal.” 

It isn’t, but someone with the belief that it is, or even that it should be, illegal to create art that expresses certain beliefs would be expected to have very narrow tastes in art, including music. Surprisingly, the release of Trump’s playlist to the press over the years has revealed his tastes to be quite varied. He seems to listen to a little bit of everything, from Sinatra to tunes from Broadway musicals to classic rock, classic country, and metal. 



Former Representative (D-Texas) / current political activist Beto O’Rourke was in a punk band in the 1990s

Beto O’Rourke served in the House of Representatives from 2013-2019. Although he was defeated by Republican Ted Cruz in 2018, O’Rourke’s time in the House was notable, as it is rare for a Democrat to be so successful in such a heavily Republican state as Texas. According to interviews given to major media outlets such as CBS and The Hill, O’Rourke is undecided as to whether he will run for public office again, and is currently focused on helping other Democrats and progressive causes behind the scenes. 

Regardless of the specific roles he takes on, O’Rourke remains known in American politics as someone who is willing to loudly speak out against things he does not believe in, going so far as to interrupt press conferences and use commencement addresses to speak out against the Trump administration. 

Previously, O’Rourke expressed himself forcefully in a slightly different way, as a member of the post-hardcore punk band Foss. O’Rourke sang and played bass and guitar in the band from 1993-1995. Today their music is a bit difficult to find, but is listed on Discogs, with some clips, including a song titled “Rise” available on YouTube. 

Virginia has the lead singer of a thrash metal band in their state senate 

Danica Roem (D) has served in the state senate in her home state of Virginia since 2024. Previously, she served in the House of Delegates in the same state. Roem most often gains attention from the national media for being openly transgender, formerly known as “Dan.” Roem is one of only three transgender individuals elected to public office as of 2025, and the first in her state. 

Media attention to Roem’s gender identity shifts the focus from a trait that is even rarer to find in politics, one that as of November 2025, is completely unique to Danica Roem. She is the only lead singer of a thrash metal band ever to be elected to public office. 

 Roem’s band, Cab Ride Home, was active between 2006 and 2017. Their music can be found on the website band camp, with clips of performances from 16 years ago available on YouTube. 


Music is indeed a part of nearly everyone’s lives, sometimes in ways we might least expect. 

By Jess Santacroce
Music Writer, Phoenix Radio 

Tales involving twists of fate can serve as both an inspiration and a warning. We hear of someone being upset with their spouse for not waking them up early enough on the day of a big meeting or job interview, only to later learn that a tragedy occurred on what would have been their route. Or their roommate kept asking silly questions as they tried to get out the door, it made them forget their umbrella, and when they ducked into a coffee shop to get out of the rain, they met the love of their life or their new best friend. A few of these tales circulate among music fans. Some are absolutely true. Others turn out to be nothing more than debunked urban legends. Still others cannot be proven, but there is also no proof they didn’t happen. 

True: Country legend Waylon Jennings missed dying in a plane crash at age twenty-one by switching rides with the Big Bopper

Waylon Jennings passed away at a very young age by today’s standards, dying in 2002 at only sixty-four years old. However, he would have only made it to twenty-one had he not done what he believed at the time to be a simple act of kindness for another musician back on February 3, 1959. 

Now often referred to as “the day the music died,” this day refers to a tragedy in the early days of rock music. Buddy Holly, J.P. Richardson, Jr (known professionally as The Big Bopper) and Richie Valens were all killed when the small plane intended to be a more comfortable ride than the freezing tour bus they had available, crashed. 

As the musicians discussed and bickered and bartered to decide where to put everyone between the bus and the plane, Jennings realized that Richardson was already sick from spending time on the bus with a broken heater. He gave up his seat on the plane so that Richardson would not get any sicker, and took his place on the cold bus. The plane would later crash, killing everyone on board. Jennings’ choice of taking the bus over taking the plane saved his life that day. 

Unverifiable: Someone was prevented from ending their own life because a John Denver song began playing in their room.

According to the urban legend, John Denver’s by then ex-wife, Annie Martell, worked as a mental health counselor. During one session, a young woman asked her if she had been married to John Denver. When Martell said that yes, she had been, but then reminded the young woman that it was important to focus on herself during  her counseling session, the woman explained that this story was about her. She had been planning to end her own life when a John Denver song began playing on a record player or radio in her room. The music was so sweet, so loving, and so hopeful, the woman knew she had to stick around in a world that contained such gentleness.

There was once an entire tumblr page devoted to John Denver and how much he meant to his fans, but this particular story has never been verified. Current searches for Annie Martell generate vague answers about her profession, with some referring to her as being “in education,” or “in tv” and not even a counselor at all. Phrasing the question differently only results in an AI generated “Yes” indicating the story is true, backed up by a link to an article that does not even mention Martell as a counselor or anything of this nature happening. This is of course the result of AI being programmed to tell people what it reads them as wanting to hear rather than evidence that the events in the story actually did occur. 

While this story cannot be proven, it does not mean John Denver’s music did not have such a profound and beneficial impact on one or more fans. It is entirely possible that something similar to this story did in fact happen, and the person simply chose not to publicize it, or to come forward as the inspiration for the debunked urban legend. 

False: The Ohio Players’ song “Love roller coaster” just happens to contain a real scream from someone in serious distress. 

It would not be at all unusual for a song that uses a roller coaster as a metaphor to feature a scream as a sound effect. People do after all sometimes scream when things feel like roller coasters in their lives, and they often scream when riding on an actual roller coaster. Hiring a backup singer to scream at a certain time during the recording of a song called “Love roller coaster” would not be at all odd, not a twist of fate at all. 

However, during an interview, a DJ pointed out that the scream on the record sounded particularly anguished, and particularly high-pitched and feminine, and made a crack about someone being deliberately harmed to produce the sound. 

This led to speculation that the person screaming was a woman, and that the woman was in great genuine distress. The exact nature of the distress varied, with some versions being especially gruesome. Regardless of the details, the story began to circulate that the band just happened to have recorded the song somewhere near a horrible incident, and instead of stopping, finding the victim, and rendering aid, they simply kept recording, since it fit in well with the song.

Nothing even remotely like this actually happened. There was no woman in distress anywhere near the band when the song was recorded. There wasn’t even a female vocalist hired to make it sound like they’d recorded someone screaming. The scream on the song is actually a screech made by keyboard player Billy Beck. 

Twists of fate certainly can occur in music. Some, like  the story of Buddy Holly, J.P. Richardson, Jr, and Richie Valens, are real and tragic. Others just might be life-saving or life-changing, even if there is no public record to prove they happened. Still others will be wild urban legends, with the only twist being the off-hand comment that launched them coming at the right time to inspire an urban legend. 

By Jess Santacroce
Music Writer, Phoenix Radio
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 The Bible teaches that “God helps those who help themselves.” It’s impossible for adult English speakers to learn another language. In order to stay hydrated, you have to drink eight full glasses of water every day. Many people would insist these are all pieces of common knowledge, yet none of them are true.“God helps those who help themselves” is a quote from Benjamin Franklin, and is the opposite of Jesus’ teachings in the Bible. Language learning is possible at any age, from any starting language. And the eight glasses of water refers to eight cups, making a drinking glass about two glasses of water or more. Other drinks, such as milk, juice, even coffee, also count toward daily water intake.

In music, we find even more of these pieces of conventional wisdom or common knowledge that just aren’t true.

"Every Breath You Take” by The Police is a love song about knowing everything about your partner.

When you’re in love with someone, the little things about them become important to you. A girlfriend notices that her boyfriend uses exactly three products from a men’s skincare line every morning and always puts on a white shirt when he has a business meeting. The boyfriend notes that his girlfriend drinks hot tea instead of coffee in the morning, and that she likes it with just half a teaspoon of real sugar. A husband and wife each know which tv shows their spouse will put on in the evening. For many, these are signs of real love, and “Every Breath You Take” is chosen as their song in celebration of those sentiments.

This lasts until someone points out that the song is actually about stalking. The main character/narrator in “Every Breath You Take” isn’t in love with the person he’s talking to. They were once in a relationship, or at least were in each others’ lives, but their paths no longer intersect. He’s now obsessed with tracking her every move, noting that he will pay attention to things that are far from charming details and are in fact angering, such as “every bond you break” and “every game you play.”

Contemporary Christian music is always upbeat and happy.

Think of the stereotype of a Christian today, and the traits you list are likely going to be conservative politics, a startlingly conventional appearance, and a demeanor that is always perky and wholesome.

Walk into any church that embraces modern worship music, and you can expect to hear a lot of music that does little to discourage people from forming this image. Most of it is indeed pop music with Christian lyrical themes. This picture of contemporary Christian music is most strongly promoted by the Christian radio station K-Love, with its tagline of “positive, encouraging K-Love” and constant playlist of the latest in Christian pop.

But just as there are Christians with liberal politics, their own sense of style, and a wide variety of moods and interests, there is contemporary Christian music with somber, even dark themes. It is just much less popular and a little more difficult to find than the kind of music you hear on K-Love.

Searches for “Christian music with darker themes” or “dark Christian music” generate more than thirty Spotify playlists, many of which tend toward metal and hardcore styles. The band “Wovenhand,” fronted by David Eugene Edwards, would fit into many punk/alternative playlists. Their song “Dirty Blue,” reflects on the despair of people finding comfort in a world fallen away from God, and sadness at having to live in such a world.

Punk music disappeared in the 1980s

Ask someone to make you a 1980’s playlist, and the person is likely to come back with a collection of songs by Madonna, Rick Springfield, Debbie Gibson, Air Supply, and a series of one-hit wonders with a similar sound. Tack the very early 1990’s on to that, and they’ll tack on some of the first pop bands to be called “boy bands.”

Many people don’t realize that punk and alternative existed and continued to grow throughout the 1980s, especially in larger cities. Minneapolis in particular was home to a thriving and important punk/alternative scene during the decade. Clubs such as First Avenue, 7th Street Entry, and The Longhorn hosted bands that would play a pivotal role in shaping not only the punk music scene, but would pave the way for the 1990’s alternative and grunge music that seemed to steer the world away from 1980’s pop.

Next time you make a 1980’s playlist, fill it with bands such as Husker Du, The Suicide Commandos, Babes in Toyland, and the Replacements.

The lyrics of “In the Air Tonight” by Phil Collins are a true story about someone watching another person drown but neglecting to help them

The Police’s “Every Breath You Take” is a dark song about doing something horrible to another person that people mistakenly believe is a love song. “In the Air Tonight” is the subject of the same common misconception, just in reverse.

Lines like “Well if you told me you were drowning, I would not lend a hand” and “Well I was there and I saw what you did” have been latched onto and taken literally by several listeners, who then concluded that the song must have been written from the perspective of a person who saw somebody refuse to help a drowning victim. As the urban legend grew, it began to be reported that the story told by the lyrics was not only about a drowning death, it was nonfiction.

While the song does indeed tell a true story, it is not about somebody allowing another person to perish in the water. “In the Air Tonight” is a love song, in particular, a “love gone wrong” song. It was written by Collins about his divorce from his first wife.

Song lyrics are poetry

Song lyrics and poems are both art forms that use, and often rhyme, words. Because both song lyrics and poetry often rely on rhyming while other art forms that use words, such as novels, plays, movies, and various forms of creative nonfiction typically do not use rhyming, some people conclude that the two art forms are the same.

While there are some songs whose lyrics can be easily read as a poem, and some poems that may be able to double as lyrics, this is very rare. Song lyrics and poetry are actually distinct art forms with important differences.

Because song lyrics are designed to be sung, or in the case of rap, spoken to music, they are written to a melody and include the structural pieces of a song, such as verses, choruses, and bridges. Poems are structured differently, as they are designed to be recited alone.

Challenge the next person who claims that song lyrics are poetry to a perfectly safe, ethical experiment. Have the person, or the nearest person who can sing, try to sing a poem. Then try to recite the last song you listened to as a poem. You’ll find that neither one quite works out.


Did you believe any of these common music myths and misconceptions? What do you know about music that just might not be true?

By Jess Santacroce
Music Writer, 955 The Heat, Phoenix Radio

On July 22, 2025, music fans mourned the loss of Ozzy Osbourne. One of the most important figures in the heavy metal genre, Osbourne passed away at just 76 years of age, much earlier than expected for his generation, following a battle with Parkinson’s disease and emphysema. Osbourne leaves behind a legacy that includes not only heavy metal music as we know it today, but a profound impact on several other genres of music, including some most music fans would never connect to Ozzy, Black Sabbath, or metal in general. 

Clear connections: Punk, alternative, and grunge 

Most would not be surprised to learn that Ozzy and Black Sabbath had a profound influence on punk music. While the website “This vs. that” lists key differences between the two genres in every category from lyrics to fashion aesthetics, it notes that they share a “loud, aggressive sound” and “rebellious spirit.” More importantly, punk artists have long noted the influence metal, and in particular Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath, have had on their music.  

Henry Rollins of Black Flag has been widely reported to be heavily influenced by Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath. Just four days ago, on July 25, 2025, writer Jack Whatley posted his article “The Black Sabbath Album that Changed Henry Rollins’ Life” from the vault of “Far Out,” a UK-based magazine. In 2011, Rollins spoke to Artisan News about the history of Black Sabbath, noting that Black Sabbath “defined Heavy Metal,” describing them as a band who “took the Blues into Heavy Metal” and first realizing that his “life had soundtrack” when he first heard Black Sabbath (Artisan News Service, 2011) 

Other genres widely known to be heavily influenced by Ozzy’s music and stage presence include alternative and grunge, with members of Pearl Jam and Nirvana noted as lifelong fans. 

Breaking stereotypes and blending: Pop music

Watch any movie or television show filmed or set in the 1980s to early 1990s, and you will likely leave with the impression that pop music of the time and metal music did not mix. The “good” kids, defined by pop culture as the ones in the popular crowds, listened to pop music. Black Sabbath and other metal bands were for for the “bad” kids, the ones who only went to school to meet up so they could smoke behind the building, crudely criticize everyone else, and plan wild parties. 

While there was a distinct teen subculture based around Heavy Metal music during the 1980’s and early 1990’s, many pop music fans and pop music artists are also big fans of Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath. As tributes from a variety of celebrities poured in following the news of Osbourne’s passing, one of the most surprising may have been from Elton John, who was reportedly not only a friend of Osbourne’s but a fan of his music. 

Beyond unexpected fans, Ozzy’s influence on music reaches into modern pop music overall. Plenty of perky, happy, lighthearted pop music certainly still exists, but Ozzy’s dark lyrics and image invited darker, more introspective themes into popular music overall. Today, it is not at all unusual for pop music, even that with a seemingly happy or hopeful beat or melody, to address deeper or even morose themes in the lyrics. There is even a subgenre of pop music today known as “dark pop,” in which the sounds of pop music are blended with the more introspective, morose, or even depressing or frightening themes Ozzy brought to the mainstream. 

Billie Eilish, Lorde, and Lana DelRay are among the most often mentioned “dark pop” artists. 

Completely unexpected: Hip-hop and country 

Hip-hop and country fans may be tempted to think Ozzy had no impact on their favorite music at all, as the styles, lyrical content, and aesthetics of each of these musical genres are not only typically quite different from each other, they are noticeably different from anything we associate with Ozzy or Black Sabbath. 

Hip-hop fans may be surprised to learn that many of their favorite tunes contain samples of Black Sabbath songs. The “Black Sabbath” page on the music sampling listing website “Who Sampled” lists 259 songs that sampled Black Sabbath lyrics, a large number of them Hip-hop or Rap songs. The list for “Ozzy Osbourne” lists 79 more. 

“Let’s Go,” a 2004 song by Trick Daddy, featuring Twista and Lil’ Jon is perhaps the most famous example of this blending of Ozzy’s music and Hip-Hop, as “Crazy Train,” seems to echo in the background of the entire Rap song. 

As artists from rock and other genres began experimenting with country crossovers, multiple news articles reported Ozzy as having no interest in doing so himself. Yet while Ozzy had no direct connection with country music, both Carrie Underwood and Jelly Roll have performed crossoever covers of his songs, and Dolly Parton participated in the farewell tribute following the final Black Sabbath concert just weeks before Ozzy’s death. 

His passing has left countless fans and fans of those influenced by his music, behind. 





Works cited:

Artisan News Service You Tube channel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwuhurXyOSc

By Jess Santacroce
Music Writer, 955 The Heat, Phoenix Radio

Social media and other online spaces have become a sea of aesthetics over the last several years. Visit any site where people can easily log in and communicate, and you will see users promoting curated sets of tastes, styles, and behaviors. “Clean girl aesthetic,” demands a sleek, minimalist wardrobe, simple beauty routines, and fresh, natural food and hygiene products. “Academia” aesthetics center around the worlds of prep school or college and university life, and involve dressing like a prep school student, college instructor or professor or librarian, and indulging in the expected foods and activities such as reading poetry and drinking coffee or tea. Some pages devoted to understanding modern aesthetics list more than fifty, while others offer thirteen pages of thirty-two each. While each aesthetic may include musical genres or bands that fit the clothing, décor, and lifestyle, this contemporary method of categorizing things has most directly impacted music through the increasing popularity of micro genres. Fans and musicians alike may find music increasingly categorized into micro genres, as more and more music is offered and accessed online. Narrowing things down into the smallest subcategory possible can make it more likely to draw the attention of the anticipated audience. 

Smaller than a sub-genre, a micro genre has its own distinct characteristics not found in the wider sub-genre or the larger genre. A micro genre also differs from a sub-genre and from fusion in that, like an aesthetic, a micro genre is designed to cater to specific themes or tastes. Just like their fashion, décor, and food and activity counterparts, music micro genres are numerous enough to devote entire websites to the topic, but three stand out as the most accessible, the most startling, and the most obscure music micro genres. 

Most Accessible: Christian Rap, Pop, or Country 

Contemporary Christian music is described by some as its own genre. Others argue that because it does not have a distinct sound all its own, it is a sub-genre of whatever style of music is being played. However, each specific type of modern Christian music is often considered a micro genre, because it is written, produced, and marketed to appeal to very specific themes and tastes in music. 

Christian Rap is created to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as is all Christian music. But it is also created for and by people who love Rap music. Someone who accepted Jesus and their Lord and Savior, but did not enjoy the sound of Rap music at all would not be a Christian Rapper or a fan of Christian Rap. The same holds true for Christian Pop and Christian Country. It is this focus on a narrow category of listeners that qualifies each form of modern Christian music as a sub-genre for many. 

Rap fans who never thought to listen to Christian Rap before might want to try Lecrae. His song “Graced up,” performed with Miles Minnick, was released in May 2025, and sends a message of the blessing of the grace of Jesus Christ on a person’s life. Christian Pop is perhaps best exemplified today by Brandon Lake, particularly “Hard fought hallelujah,” a catchy song about being willing to go through trials in life to glorify God. “Deeper still,” by Ben Fuller is likely to appeal to Christians who love country music, as it sounds like a more traditional-leaning modern country song, but the lyrics center around finding Jesus “at the end of myself,” and a desire to know Him and His love deeper. 

Christian micro genres are easy to find, with entire stations, numerous playlists on streaming services, and whole sections of music stores devoted to Christian music. While aimed at Christians who enjoy each type of music, those who are not Christian may still like some Christian music in their favorite genre, as it basically sounds the same as what they are already into. 



Most Startling: Horrorcore

“Horrorcore” might best be defined as “Hip hop music for people who love horror movies, paranormal or horror fiction, and/or true crime.” The genre is Hip-hop, and some people call “Horrorcore,” a sub genre rather than a micro genre, but it qualifies as a micro genre because the themes in Horrorcore music are especially dark, even when compared to some of the grittier themes and lyrics of mainstream Rap and Hip Hop music. 

The most well-known Horrorcore artists may be the Hip-Hop duo Insane Clown Posse. Some of their song titles themselves are explicit, but like much of Horrorcore, even the most mundane sounding titles or choruses are woven around graphic, scary stories. “Prom Queen,” with its chorus beginning “Won’t you be my prom queen?” sounds like a typical teen crush tune, but listen closely and it is clear that the song is actually about a young man who is planning to murder someone at his prom. Similarly, Razakel’s “Cherry Red,” blends Hip-Hop with pop and sounds like it should be a dance song, but the lyrics reveal it to be written from the perspective of a murderer threatening a potential victim. 

Although the lyrics of Horrorcore music can be disturbing, it is important to remember that the artists are doing the same thing with their music that Stephen King does with his fiction or Wes Craven with film, that is, telling a fictional story to an audience who wants to enjoy that type of story. 


Most Obscure: Zeuhl

Even if you do not listen to them yourself, there is a good chance you know somebody into Christian Rap, Christian Pop, or Christian Country music. You may even know someone who listens to Horrorcore. But you probably do not know anybody who listens to one of the most obscure music micro genres, Zeuhl. 

This micro genre was formed in 1969. It is often described as a blend of Jazz, Progressive Rock, Classical Music, and other styles. Free Jazz is noted as a particular influence. Musically, this makes Zeuhl an extreme form of fusion music, but it is the lyrics that push it into micro genre territory. 

Zeuhl was founded by the French band Magma, but rather than writing and singing their songs in French, Magma’s music is almost entirely in a language called Kobaian, a language that was invented by the band’s drummer, Christian Vander. It may not be possible to find a genre more “micro” than “type of music that was founded in a language invented by a single individual for that genre.” 

Magma is not the only Zeuhl band. In a 2020 bandcamp article titled, “There is no prog, only Zeuhl: A guide to one of Rock’s most imaginative subgenres,” writer Jim Allen lists twelve bands he defines as “Zeuhl,” while the wikipedia entry for “Zeuhl” lists twenty-four. 

The easiest way to hear what “Zeuhl” sounds like is to search YouTube for videos of Magma. 

For more information about micro genres, vist….the entire internet. Then come back a few months later and search all over again. Just as some lifestyle aesthetics seem to be here forever, while others are fads that fade in a season, some music micro genres have been around for more than fifty years, while others may have lasted only a few years and then faded away, with new ones forming and categories shifting over time. 

By Jess Santacroce
Music Writer, 955 The Heat, Phoenix Radio

Whatever your favorite type of music, it depends on other genres of music to exist. Anytime you listen to music, you are listening to influence, blending, and borrowing from at least one other type of music.

Country music fans wouldn’t have the music they love today if not for African music

Pretty much all music we listen to today has roots in Africa. Samba, Salsa, Gospel, Hip-Hop, Reggae, Rap, Jazz, Blues, and R&B are commonly known to have developed from African people moving into other parts of the world and taking their music with them, even if that was the only thing they got to keep.
Most of us think that country music is an exception, that it grew entirely from immigrants from Europe bringing their folk music to the new nation. Country music would indeed not exist as we know it today if not for immigrants from Europe, but it also would not exist without the influence of music from Africa.
Many of the instruments closely associated with country music, such as banjos, fiddles, and harmonicas, are based on African instruments. Lyrically, country music directly borrows from the music brought to the United States by those who were made to come here in the slave trade. As would be expected, much of this music centered on themes of misfortune and despair, both common themes in country music, especially country music from the 1950s-1970s (Stoia 2021).
Over the past twenty years, these similarities between country music and musical genres more directly associated with the music brought over from Africa has even evolved into country-rap fusion music. In 2004, Country singer Tim McGraw and Rapper Nelly teamed up for “Over and Over.”
In the 2020’s, Moran Wallen regularly blends country with rap via collaborations with rap artists. In 2022, he teamed up with Rapper Lil Durk for “Broadway Girls.” In 2025, he released “Miami,” a song in which he raps about being a “redneck” and having “sand in my boots” against the backdrop of Hip-Hop music and background vocals.

Blues fans have a connection to Greek folk music

American Blues is completely American. Most sources trace it back to the 1860s in the south, where it began as the music of Black Americans during Reconstruction and Jim Crow laws. Music termed “Blues” in other countries is not exactly the same, unless of course, it is American Blues being performed overseas. But other countries and cultures do have their own versions of Blues music, including Greece.
When hearing Greek music for the first time, most Americans unfamiliar with the culture would expect to either hear folk music or pop music sung in Greek. Both of those things do exist, and are the first things that come up when you search for Greek music on streaming platforms today. Finding Greek Blues takes a bit more digging, but even if you cannot understand the lyrics, the differences between Greek pop, Greek folk music, and the distinctive style of music that is the Greek version of the Blues, Rebetiko stand out.
Rebetiko, often called “outlaw blues”, developed between the turn of the century and the 1950’s in Greece. Like American Blues, it was born out of the voice of those with the least power in society, in this case the poorest people in Greece.
The music will likely make many American listeners think of folk music at first, as Rebetiko uses many of the same instruments. However, Rebetiko’s status as underground music of the lower classes, the vocal stylings, and the lyrics’ emphasis on topics like substance abuse, unrequited love, death, exile, and loss of love bring it firmly back into the Blues category (Athens Insider, 2020).
Although some sources seem to suggest that Rebetiko died out in the 1950’s, travel and vacation websites devoted to exploring Athens occasionally feature articles directing tourists to current places to find genuine Rebetiko musicians.

Jazz and Reggae both had a strong influence on Punk music

Most people miss the connection between Jazz and Punk, but that is only because so many have a narrow definition of “Jazz,” limiting it to swing and big band era legends like Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald, or Cool Jazz artists like Chet Baker and Dave Brubeck. Writing for the website “Musician Wave” in 2021, writer Brian Clark’s article “Fifteen different types of Jazz music,” details fifteen distinct forms of Jazz, including the Free Jazz that most strongly influenced Punk music.
Lou Reed was particularly influenced by Free Jazz, primarily Ornette Coleman. Reed was such a fan of Coleman, he would attend his concerts even when he couldn’t afford to go inside, and listen to what he could hear from outside the building. Coleman’s music had an immense impact on Reed’s music, with “Lonely Woman” often mentioned as the one song that Reed would continuously listen to.
Reggae and Punk share a focus on issues of social class and race, with many Punk artists being big Reggae fans. Bassist Paul Simonon of The Clash was particularly noted for bringing Reggae-infused sound into his band’s music. Several of the band’s songs can be described as “Reggae-inspired,” with one song, “Police and Thieves” a Punk cover of a Reggae song.
The intermingling of these two genres has lead to a subgenre of Punk known as “Reggae Punk.” with bands such as “Bearin Peace” a 2010s band that layered Reggae style vocals over Punk guitar with a Reggae beat, and West Swell, a California based band that seems to completely blend both styles, along with elements of Rock and Alternative music.
​
Next time you listen to an old favorite band or song, listen for the presence of other types of music. You just might hear something different this time.


























Works Cited: Please visit these sites for more detailed information about some of the topics covered:


Athens Insider (2020). Rebetiko: Music of the outlaws.
https://www.athensinsider.com/rebetiko-music-of-the-outlaws/
June 17, 2025


Clark, B. (2021). 15 different types of Jazz music. Musician Wave.
https://www.musicianwave.com/types-of-jazz-music-styles-subgenres/
June 17, 2025


Stoia, N. (2021). Blues lyrics formulas in early country music, rhythm and blues and rock and roll. Music Theory Online
https://www.mtosmt.org/ojs/index.php/mto/article/view/657
June 17, 2025

By Jess Santacroce
Music Writer, 955 the Heat, Phoenix Radio 
​
 Music fans know that music itself is vital to our lives. We use it for everything from marking our happiest moments in life to helping us through the worst, expressing our opinions, or even just setting a mood or providing entertainment. We even know that music has permeated our language, with expressions such as “like a broken record,” describing someone who talks about the same thing all the time or repeats the same information, or “music to my ears,” to refer to hearing something you wanted to hear. But there are a few words or phrases even the most devoted music fans may not realize stem from or at least were heavily popularized by music.

Pull out all the stops

Although this one isn’t used quite as much these days, saying that you “pulled out all the stops,” means that you did all you could to reach a goal, that you made every effort possible to get something done. If the web page you’re reading right now goes down, and everyone here on “the heat squad” calls everyone we know with any background in computers until the page is up and running again, we can say we “pulled out all the stops” to fix the page.
The wording of the phrase may sound like it has something to do with transportation, with stopping at every stop, or like it may refer to “stopping what you’re doing,” repeatedly, but neither of those things are accurate. The “stops” in “pull out all the stops” are the “stops” on an organ. When you pull out all the stops, the organ does the most it can do, as it produces the loudest sound the instrument can possibly make.

Your forte

Your “forte” is your strength, or something you are particularly good at. When “not” is added to it, as in “not my forte,” it then refers to something you are especially bad at doing. If I am good enough to make my living as a writer, I can say, “Writing is my forte.” If I am also aware that I would struggle to pass a high school math class at fifty years old, I would say “Math is not my forte,” or even “Math is very much not my forte.”

While the term actually originates from fencing, that pronunciation is actually “fort,” with a very soft “t” sound. The way we pronounce the word when we say something is “our forte” or “not our forte” as “four-tay,” comes from the Italian for “strong,” and is most commonly associated with music.
As anyone who plays and/or reads music knows, “forte” refers to playing in a very forceful, loud, or strong manner.

Bling

“Bling” is a relatively recent slang word, first widely heard in the 1990s. It of course refers to very flashy and expensive jewelry, usually diamonds and gold, though any necklace, ring, bracelet, earring, pin, or chain can be described as “bling” if it stands out as costing a lot of money. Some people use the term “bling” to describe any shiny jewelry or accessory, such as saying a pair of shoes or a dress accented with rhinestones has “some bling” or “a little bling,” but most “bling” costs or is worth a lot of money.

In the 2000’s the term took a derogatory turn, as it became associated with showing off to a criminal degree….literally. “The bling ring,” was a nickname given to a group of middle class and moderately wealthy kids living in Calabasas in 2008-2009. Although none of these kids were anywhere near poor, they were not as wealthy as most of their peers in this most exclusive neighborhood of Los Angeles. Rather than getting jobs and saving up for what they wanted, these kids decided that breaking into celebrities’ homes and stealing their designer clothes and bags, cash, and jewelry was a better way to show off for their classmates. The term may always be associated with these individuals now, but this is not where it originated. Before the widely publicized case, the word “bling,” was used in song lyrics to describe expensive jewelry.

Rapper B.G. of Cash Money Millionaires is credited with coining the phrase in 1999 in the song “Bling Bling.” The song features several lines that start with “bling bling,” including one about a “pinky ring worth about fifty.”

YOLO

This one quickly went from catchy and cute to annoying to something to be avoided. Today, “YOLO,” meaning “you only live once” is often used as an excuse for making poor choices. One of the more recent sightings of YOLO was on the YouTube channel, “Social Symone,” a platform the host, Symone, uses to call attention to and critique many of the poor financial decisions people make today.

Her May 17, 2025 video titled “You scream YOLO but you’re broke,” features a woman who refuses to save money, budget, or pay that much attention to her bills because she wants to spend in order to live her best life now, arguing that “you only live once...yolo.”
Of course, people have been saying “You only live once,” to both make excuses and encourage beneficial choices others are reluctant to make, for many years. However, expressing it verbally using the acronym YOLO comes not from excuse-makers on social media, but from music.

Canadian rapper Drake first voiced the classic phrase “you only live once” as “YOLO” on his 2011 song “The Motto.”
​
Let’s see what words music will give us next. 

by Jess Santacroce 
 Music Writer, 95.5 The Heat: Phoenix Radio

Over the past several weeks, protests against the policies of the Trump administration have cropped up across the country. While some took to social media to speak out against the protests, others expressed support, or even attended or helped plan a local rally. Regardless of your views on Trump or the protests, most people notice something missing: new protest music. Where is today’s protest music, and where did it come from?

The first protest song

Define “protest song” as “Any song meant to raise awareness of an issue or inspire some type of action” and protest songs have existed throughout history. In the United States, protest songs began before the country itself, and were part of the unrest that would result in the American Revolution. Fast forward to the last one hundred years, and there is still no one definitive point in history that protest music began, or a single song that all reputable historians would agree was the first protest song, but many would name Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit,” first performed in 1939.

“Strange Fruit” was written in the 1930s by a New York teacher and poet named Abel Meeropol. The song’s title and lyrics refer to the mangled bodies of Black people seen hanging from trees in lynching photographs. Meeropol himself was not in danger of being lynched, as lynching specifically targeted Black people, and Meeropol was not Black. However, the photos that he would have seen at the time were not censored or blurred as many photos of lynchings are today, and provided a clear view of this evil practice. One such photo, depicting the 1930 lynching of J. Thomas Shipp and Abraham S. Smith in Indiana, inspired Meeropol to write the song.

Photographs like the one that inspired “Strange Fruit” were not universally condemned as horrific. While a modern-day content creator would be roundly criticized and even lose much of their fan base for depicting images of anyone’s violent death, those who created and published lynching photographs in the 1890s-1920s and beyond were often seen as simply warning Black people of what could happen to them should they displease the wrong person. Many lynching photographs were kept as souvenirs, or family keepsakes. Some were even printed up as postcards.

Strange Fruit” speaks out against both the violence depicted in these photographs and the racism that drives it.

As with the protest music that would follow it, “Strange Fruit” was a dissenting voice from both Meeropol when he wrote it and Billie Holiday when she sang it. The song had an impact, and made people think, but it was far from universally praised or accepted.
From 1940-1942 in New York state, the Rapp-Coudert Committee formed with the stated goal to “examine the extent of subversive activities in New York state schools and colleges.” A sort of precursor to the House UnAmerican Activities Committee, Rapp-Coudert sought to seek out and eradicate all extremism in New York schools, both right-wing and left-wing. Meeropol was brought before this committee and asked if the communist party had paid him to write “Strange Fruit.” They didn’t. “Strange Fruit” was a genuine protest song.

Protest music grows

If you were asked to plan a 1950’s themed event, protest music would probably be the last thing you would think to include. In the popular imagination, Americans of the 1950s had nothing to protest. It was all sock hops, drive-ins, and hanging out at the diner having burgers and shakes if you were a teen, going off to your dignified, well-paying job and coming home to a hot dinner and your newspaper and tv if you were an adult man, and reveling in your status as a housewife if you were an adult woman. Life may may have been at least somewhat like that for some people, but this view of the 1950’s is actually an aesthetic, or image, based on the idealized life of a white middle to upper-middle class family, not a thorough and accurate picture of real history.

Life for people who were not white, not middle class or richer, disabled, gay, or in any other way different from the popular image was not so idyllic. Even many of those who seemed to live up to that image struggled with things like abuse, addiction, and illness. It just wasn’t talked about or dealt with in the open.

Protest music written between the late 1940’s through the 1950’s tended to reflect the experience of being excluded from this pretty picture, particularly due to race and socioeconomic class.

In 1955, Johnny Cash released “Folsom Prison Blues.” While the narrator does not protest being in prison, and in fact admits to deserving to be there, as he “shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die,” the song does bring awareness to the experience of being a prisoner, and hints at Cash’s later activism on the issue of prison reform.

Other protest songs were written during the late 1940s and 1950s. Some would become anthems of the protest movements of the 1960s-early 1970s. The song commonly sung today as “We Shall Overcome,” was published in 1947 as “We Will Overcome” by Pete Seeger. His song “If I Had a Hammer,” written with Lee Hays, was written in 1949 in support of the labor movement.

Despite the focus on the disenfranchised in protest music from this period, there was still the occasional song protesting an issue that impacted everyone. “We Will All Go Together When We Go,” released in 1959 by satirist Tom Lehrer, struck a goofy tone, but spoke out against the very serious dangers of nuclear weapons.

As America entered the mid 1960s through the early 1970’s, protest music seemed to reach its peak. Protest songs were an integral part of the fights for women’s equality, racial equality and civil rights, and of course, an end to the Vietnam war.

Vietnam war protest songs would grow so plentiful, they leave behind entire “top twenty” lists and about ten different Spotify playlists devoted to them alone. While some of these lists’ creators seem to misunderstand the term “protest song,” and have simply added anything written in the 1960’s, and others have protest songs that were not written in that decade despite the list’s title, there are still dozens of 1960’s-early 1970s protest songs still available today. “Blowin’ In The Wind” and “The Times They Are a Changin’” by Bob Dylan and Creedance Clearwater Revival’s 1968 “Fortunate Son” are just three of the most commonly featured songs on these lists, along with John Lennon’s “Give Peace a Chance (1969) and Marvin Gaye’s 1971 hit “What’s Going On.”

Protest music appears to fade away...but a way is paved

Like the 1940s and 1950s, the late 1970s through the 1990s is a time we don’t immediately associate with protest music. We think of the late 1970s as a time of hedonism, fueled by disco party tunes.

Pop tunes about partying, crushes and romance and techno music about more partying is what many people mean when they say “1980s music,” though this was not really the case. Although it may not have been strictly protest music, alternative music existed in larger cities like New York City and Minneapolis during this decade. This music would continue into the following decades, and pave the way for the grunge scene the 1990s would become known for. Grunge, along with Rap and Hip-Hop, regularly protested social ills.

In 1980, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five released “The Message” in protest of policies that led to the conditions of poverty. Much Rap music of this time was criticized for glorifying violence, but in some cases, the songs were written and performed not to celebrate the violence the artists saw around them, but to protest the conditions that led to it. In the late 1980’s, NWA’s “F- The Police” (1988) and Public Enemy’s 1989 song “Fight the Power” are just two of the most memorable examples.

In alternative/grunge, protest songs were playing, they were just not immediately recognized as protest songs. Many American fans did not realize that the 1994 Cranberrries song “Zombie” was a protest song about the killing of children by the Irish Republican Army. The 1992 Hole album “Live Through This” featured a strong theme of protesting against violence perpetuated upon women. “Jennifer’s Body” does this by telling the story of a woman who was kidnapped, tortured and murdered.

Protest music of the last 25 years

“Boy bands” is likely one of the first terms that springs to mind when the topic of early 2000’s-2010’s music comes up. These manufactured groups offered up a slightly less technology-enhanced version of the pop music most people associate with the 1980’s. Once boy bands arrived on the scene, protest music appeared to shift from merely hidden and not quite as popular to gone. This was not quite what happened.

Writing for Forbes magazine in January of 2017, former contributor Danny Ross details his picks for eight protest songs between 2000 and the year the article was written. His title “8 Protest Songs That Inspired Change (All the Way to The Bank)” seems to imply that nobody wrote sincere protest music during this time, and only sought to cash in on social issues to make money.

Despite that implication, the article does indeed list eight protest songs written in those first seventeen years of the 2000s, though that list is obviously much smaller than those devoted to protest songs from the 1960’s. At this point in time, protest music did appear to be slowly fading away. Only Green Day’s 2004 “American Idiot,” a protest against the George W. Bush administration, is both mentioned in this article and regularly mentioned in other articles and lists about protest music in this time period.

Even the website “The Ongoing History of Protest Music,” an online space devoted entirely to protest music and broken down by decade and then year, relies heavily on music that was not well-known in the United States.

This all began to shift in 2013, as the Black Lives Matter movement was founded and gained momentum. While the cause always focused on the fact that the vast majority of targets of extreme police violence and brutality are Black, the 2020 murder of George Floyd by a police officer named Derek Chauvin inspired nationwide protests. Some of the protest music from 2020 and later was written in direct response to this incident.

“I Can’t Breathe” by H.E.R. refers directly to the last words uttered by Floyd as Chauvin knelt on his windpipe. The end of the song features a spoken word verse that directly refers back to “Strange Fruit” with a reference to the “strange fruit on my family tree.”
“The Bigger Picture” by Lil Baby protests police brutality directed at Black people in general, an issue described as “bigger than black and white. It’s a problem with the whole way of life.” The song was released accompanied by a video featuring scenes from the Black Lives Matter protests.

Rapper and Phoenix Radio DJ J Easy’s song “Black Lives Matter” also speaks out against racism and brutality directed at Black people, assuring listeners that the movement is not suggesting that other lives do not matter, only that everyone else is not speaking up for the loss of Black life.

Rather than quoting snippets of lyrics, readers are encouraged to to click on the link on the main page and listen to the entire song.

Anti-Trump protest music

While no known songs were written specifically for the “Hands Off” or “No Kings” rallies of April 2025, the anti-Trump movement does appear to be renewing interest in protest music as a whole. On April 1, writer Robbin Warner published an article on the website “The Grassroots Connector” urging readers to choose from a selection of signs, social media graphics, and songs.

There are even a few anti-Trump songs out there. Mackelmore’s “Wednesday Morning” was reportedly written in direct response to Trump’s first election as president. On February 21, 2017, the official website of Rolling Stone magazine featured an article by Jon Dolan, Hank Schteamer, and Suzy Exposito titled “13 Great Anti-Trump Protest Songs.” The piece goes on to describe a series of songs that had either been written or revised in response to Trump’s first term in office.

The next crop of protest songs are currently being written by people who see the wrong in the world and feel called to use their musical gifts and their voices in service of others.




















Works Referenced in this article:

Baker, CJ The ongoing history of protest music. https://www.ongoinghistoryofprotestsongs.com
April 22, 2025

Dolan, J. Schteamer, H, and Exposito, S. (2017) 13 Great anti-Trump protest songs. Rolling Stone.
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/13-great-anti-trump-protest-songs-197009/
April 22, 2025

Ross, D. (2017).8 Protest songs since 2000 that inspired change (all the way to the bank). Forbes https://www.forbes.com/sites/dannyross1/2017/01/30/8-protest-songs-since-2000-that-inspired-change-all-the-way-to-the-bank/
April 22, 2025

Warner, R. (2025) Preparing for April 5: Songs, signs and socials. Grassroots Connector. https://grassrootsconnector.substack.com/p/preparing-for-april-5-songs-signs?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share
April 22, 2025