As we approach the end of each year, we are usually bombed by well-wishing music of all genres, trying to instill the feeling that things will be better. This is particularly true if the year was bad, practically for everybody, something that rings so true as the COVID-19 pandemic still rages on.
 Yet, it is rare for such music to hit the right note, to combine the need to shed ourselves of so many bad things that happened, as they continue to do so, and still have the right spirit to forge on. For that to happen you really need not only to come up with some great music but also have a good sense of humor and often keep your tongue firmly behind your cheek.

To be able to do that, you just might need to be somebody like Grammy award-winning lyricist Macklemore who came with a brilliant example of how to do that with his latest single 'Next Year.' On it, he partners back up with longtime friend and collaborator, Ryan Lewis, for the first time in five years for a reflective and optimistic new single and video that features recording artist Windser.  

Macklemore is a man who obviously knows how to deal with the words, has a great sense of humor and on this track definitely keeps his tongue firmly in cheek. The man from Seattle (after all, he has to survive all that rain) does one of the hardest things around when you want to play with satire, be able to poke fun at yourself too,

Musically, Macklemore doesn't resort to beats this time around but uses a full-blown rock track as his backing as well as a rising Windser-led chorus that engrains in us that ‘Next year’s gonna be better than this!’ The video version of the track, directed by director Jason Koenig, one of Macklemore and Lewis' frequent collaborators, drives the key points of Macklemore’s lyrics straight home.

Talking about the track, Macklemore says “This is the first new music I've released in quite some time, and I got to work with my guy Ryan Lewis, on production again. Ryan first played this for me in his car, as a rough demo but it immediately stood out.  I then wrote a bunch of verses quickly and went down to LA to record. And with the time that had passed, I felt a little apprehension at first; however, once we started the creative process, it felt like we hadn’t skipped a day.”