Winter Music Preview

2015 was a tumultuous yet exciting year for music and pop culture, with Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar, Adele and The Weeknd dominating the charts and musicians such as Frank Ocean and Zayn Malik breaking hearts with an absentee album and his departure from One Direction, respectively. Daily Bruin A&E assesses the promise of this winter season, with releases by artists including David Bowie and Sia and tentative albums from Katy Perry, Kanye West and Drake.

“Blackstar”

David Bowie

ISO Records

Jan. 8

David Bowie, blindfolded with a bandage, croons with his signature baritone voice over a musical collage of free jazz in the music video for his newest single, “Blackstar.”

The single’s chord voicings and odd time signatures signify an unexpected sonic shift from the straight-ahead rock sound of Bowie’s 2013 album “The Next Day” to “Blackstar’s” ethereal jazz.

Taking inspiration from Kendrick Lamar and Maria Schneider, “Blackstar” is a musical experiment that places the rock star into the free-form world of jazz.

The desire to experiment with modern jazz led Bowie to designate some of the genre’s leading names as session players, most notably saxophonist Donny McCaslin, guitarist Ben Monder and keyboardist Jason Lindner.

The tracks “Lazarus” and “Sue (Or In a Season of Crime)” show that Bowie’s iconic rock ‘n’ roll voice oddly complements the jazz inflections of his session musicians.

While we have yet to hear Bowie’s comfort in his newfound jazz skin, “Blackstar” offers us another reinvented David Bowie, from Ziggy Stardust to jazz enthusiast.

– Sean Lee

“This is Acting”

Sia

RCA Records

Jan. 29

While Sia often chooses to hide her face from the public eye, her versatile sound never fails to expose itself.

After the triumph of her two singles “Chandelier” and “Elastic Heart” from her 2014 album “1000 Forms of Fear,” Sia is returning with her seventh studio album, “This is Acting.” Initially written by Sia for other artists, the songs on the album lack personal reflection and instead take on outside perspectives, lending the album a layer of impersonality reflected in its title.

Her released singles from the new album, including “Alive,” “Bird Set Free” and “Cheap Thrills,” hint at an optimistic and empowering tone for the album. Both “Alive” and “Bird Set Free” begin with gentle piano melodies supporting lyrics of dealing with life’s struggles, which eventually lead into a bright, pop chorus that exposes powerful liberation from these hardships. “Cheap Thrills” exhibits Sia’s iconic electro pop sound, with a potential to serve as the next ode-to-the-weekend track with lyrics like “Baby I don’t need dollar bills to have fun tonight/ But I don’t need no money/ As long as I can feel the beat.”

While “Alive” and “Bird Set Free” were intended for Adele and “Cheap Thrills” for Rihanna, audiences will be able to imagine Sia employing her flexible musical capabilities in “This is Acting.” Sia’s ability to undertake a wide range of sounds will allow her to capture the styles of at least two of today’s most popular artists in a new light.

– Sarah Ahern

Album Title TBA

Katy Perry

Label TBA

Release TBA

Katy Perry surrounded herself with blown-up emojis, glow-in-the-dark jump ropes and mechanical animals during her Prismatic World Tour in 2014.

However, the “Roar” singer last released her fourth album, “Prism,” in Oct. 2013, so she’s certainly due for her next album.

Perry’s manager Steven Jensen said she plans to release her next record by 2016. Well, the New Year is here and I’m ready to plug in and hear her belt out her trademark cheesy lyrics, assuming she replicates the sounds of prior singles “Firework” and “Teenage Dream.”

Some music lovers doubt the seriousness of Perry and her “Katy Kat” fans, but listeners got a taste of her true musical abilities when she sang “By the Grace of God” with simple instrumentals during her twinkling concert. Hopefully the vocals on her upcoming album, whose title and date are complete mysteries, follow the path of sincerity and simplicity without the synthesized veneer of her hits.

Even during a year when she didn’t create new music, Perry was 2015’s highest paid musician with $135 million. The future album should just add to her image as one of this generation’s most prominent pop stars.

– Lindsay Weinberg

“Swish”

Kanye West

Label TBA

Release TBA

Kanye West’s album, previously titled “So Help Me God,” was supposed to drop in 2014. It’s 2016 now, which speaks more to West’s almost supernatural ability to keep fans and rabid haters at bay for almost two years.

Tentatively titled “Swish,” the new album allegedly sounds like a “sonic painting,” suggesting West’s loyalty to a more experimental form of hip-hop production established in 2013’s “Yeezus.” West, however, released a single titled “Facts” New Year’s Eve, which sounds less like the rough-edged tracks on “Yeezus” and more like a mild Drake spin-off.

Hopefully, Yeezy hasn’t grown soft and sentimental in the years between albums. The rapper has many fans, but just as many haters, leaving little room for error in releasing and promoting “Swish.”

Just as importantly, hopefully West doesn’t pull a Frank Ocean and simply forget to release his album.

– Shreya Aiyar

“Views From the 6”

Drake

OVO Sound

Release TBA

Drake took a break from making his upcoming album “Views From the 6” during last year’s highly publicized beef with rapper Meek Mill. Now, it seems he’s ready to go back to that.

2015 was a productive year for the Canadian rapper, with “If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late” and “What a Time To Be Alive” topping the Billboard 200 and “Hotline Bling” spreading like wildfire through the Internet. After all that success, it’s no surprise his apparently cryptic messages in Instagram posts and hints that a release date is coming soon are causing fans to go crazy, calling for more from the artist that dominated 2015.

Based on the title, “Views From the 6” looks to be an ode to Drake’s hometown of Toronto and the result of another collaboration with longtime producer Noah “40” Shebib. Listeners can expect more hit-making potential with “Views,” a fitting album to ring in the new year.

– Shreya Aiyar