Photos by Amy Price and Steven Arroyo
As part of its aggressive push for curated content, Spotify has launched its new “Singles” series that will premiere new songs each Wednesday. The series takes its inspiration from vinyl singles and features artists who have paired an original track (the A-side) with a cover song of their choice (the B-side), both recorded live at Spotify’s studio in New York City.
The first batch of “Singles” debuted today and includes contributions from 21 artists. John Legend kicks off the playlist with a pairing of his original song “Love Me Now” and a cover of Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On”, and it only gets more eclectic from there. Local Natives pair their own “Fountain of Youth” with Kanye West’s “Ultralight Beam”, Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam pair “The Morning Star” with Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man”, and so on. Other artists contributing to the playlist include Tove Lo, Grouplove, and Andrew Bird.
Each Wednesday, Spotify’s latest batch of “Singles” will appear as a playlist in the app’s Browse section. The company plans on adding more than 100 “Singles” within the next year alone, and it’s also working on a “Live” series that will invite fans into the studio while artists record.
Listen in to the first “Singles” playlist below.
