Yeah. It has all kinds of singers - some idols, but lots of non-idol singers as well.

If you like Kang Seungyoon's voice, he's in a group called Winner, but the majority of their songs don't really make the best use of his voice. This one does, We Were from their recent album: [link] Winner also covered an old rock ballad recently on Sugarman 2 that Eve and I both love: [link] Seungyoon initally got famous for this ballad cover when he was 17: [link]

He does have an excellent voice. I'll give those a listen when I get home.

Last summer the album I enjoyed most was Shawn Mendes' Illumination, particularly "There's Nothing Holding Me Back." There wasn't much I was fond of though, as a whole the summer had nothing on the previous year when Pink, Calvin Harris & Rhianna, Sia, and Adele all had songs I liked a lot.

Shawn Mendes has a new album out this week! I mentioned him to my coworker the other day, and he was like, "Who's that?" and I said, "He's sort of like Justin Bieber, but not sleazy. Yet. And tall."

ION, I am really stunned by this - Angelique Kidjo's version of Talking Heads' album Remain in Light: [link]

I'll add that Mendes recognizes (so far) that his talents lay in pop, and (unlike Bieber) he isn't trying to be a serious R&B singer.

My French cousin has requested classic American roadtrip music for our next cross-country odyssey. So I want to put together a playlist that is at least a couple of hours. Preferably from stuff I have or can easily get from the library. Ideas for specific songs that fit that bill?

The Modern Lovers—"Roadrunner"

Tom Scola, that was my very first thought, too!!

Note: Songs do not have to have "driving" as a theme, just a beat and something you could sing along to (though we won't actually be singing). Like the first thing I thought of was "New York Groove" though I suppose that does talk about driving now that I think about it.

Kraftwerk - Autobahn. That's over 20 minutes right there. ;)