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New York-based singer/songwriter Ari Leff, aka Lauv, makes yearning, electronic-based, R&B-influenced pop. Regarding himself foremost as a storyteller, in addition to being a producer and musician, he's known for his catchy tunes about heartbreak, loneliness, and the complexities of growing up. He broke through with his 2017 worldwide hit "I Like Me Better," which was included on I Met You When I Was 18, a playlist of his early singles. Lauv's 2020 full-length debut, How I'm Feeling, featured guests like Troye Sivan, BTS, and Alessia Cara, and reached the Top 20 in several countries. Anchored by the single "26," Lauv's sophomore album, 2022's All 4 Nothing, hit number nine on the Top Independent Albums chart. His song "Steal the Show" arrived in 2023 as part of the Disney/Pixar film Elemental, and over the next year he kept releasing singles like "Potential" and "First Heartbreak."

Interested in music from a young age, the San Francisco-born Leff took piano and viola lessons as a child before picking up the guitar around age 11. During high school, he played in several bands and studied jazz before discovering electronic music production. However, it was while attending NYU as a music tech major in 2014 that a bad breakup found him on his own and digging deep into his writing and recording process. Out of this period came the song "The Other," co-written with songwriter/instrumentalist Michael Matosic. Released under Leff's stage name Lauv (inspired by the Latvian "lauve," or lion), the song went viral after gaining blog attention and peaked at number three on blog aggregator Hype Machine. In 2015, he returned with his debut EP, Lost in the Light, which featured "The Other."

More tracks followed, including 2015's "Reforget" and 2016's "Question" featuring Travis Mills. In 2017, Lauv headed his own Late Nights, Deep Talks tour and premiered the official video for "The Other," along with a series of remixes. Released in May of that year, Lauv's single "I Like Me Better" became a breakout international hit and was later featured on his self-titled second EP that October. The single was also included on his 2018 "playlist" compilation I Met You When I Was 18, which also featured the singles "Paranoid" and "Bracelet." The track "Drugs and the Internet" and hit collaborations with Troye Sivan ("I'm So Tired...") and Anne-Marie ("Fuck, I'm Lonely") carried him into 2019. Both songs were included on his debut studio full-length, 2020's How I'm Feeling, which also featured guest appearances by LANY, Sofia Reyes, BTS, and Alessia Cara. The album debuted at number 16 on the Billboard 200 and number nine in the U.K. An EP titled Without You appeared shortly after.

Lauv welcomed in the new year on December 31 with the uplifting track "2021." He then guested on DallasK's single "Try Again." In January 2022, he announced the completion of his second album and released the single "26." All 4 Nothing arrived in August and charted in the Top 100 of the Billboard 200 and at number nine on the Top Independent Albums chart. In 2023, he contributed the song "Steal the Show" to the soundtrack to the Disney/Pixar film Elemental. He also released several singles, including "Love U Like That" and "Crush" with Bella Poarch. Lauv kept the singles coming throughout 2024 with solo tracks like "Potential" and the ballad "First Heartbreak" as well as the three-way collaboration "Cozy" with Jeremy Zucker and Alexander 23. ~ Matt Collar & Paul Simpson

Los Angeles' Julia Michaels is a singer and songwriter with a bent toward R&B-inflected, dance-oriented pop. Before launching her performing career, Michaels had composed songs for Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez, Ed Sheeran, Shakira, and many others. She then transitioned to feature roles, appearing on Jason Derulo's "Trade Hearts" and Kygo's "Carry Me." Michaels released her debut solo single "Issues" in 2017, which promptly went multi-platinum in the U.S., Australia, and Norway. Her first EP, Nervous System, arrived later that year, cracking the Top 50 of the Billboard 200. She also co-wrote and sang on Clean Bandit's hit single "I Miss You," which charted around the globe. Following a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist, she issued a series of EPs titled Inner Monologue in 2019. She then earned a 2020 Grammy nomination for Song of the Year for her duet with JP Saxe, "If the World Was Ending." On the heels of that feat, Michaels released her debut full-length, Not in Chronological Order, in 2021. Hollywood took notice, and she teamed up with Benjamin Rice to write songs for the 2023 Disney animated musical Wish. After collaborations with artists like Maren Morris and Joe Jonas, she offered up the 2025 solo track "Scissors."

Born Julia Carin Cavazos in Davenport, Iowa, in 1993 she grew up in Santa Clarita, California, where she began singing and performing around age 12. By her teens, she had adopted the stage name Julia Michaels and was collaborating on music with professional songwriters Joleen Belle and Lindy Robbins. Along with Belle and Robbins, Michaels composed songs for such artists as Demi Lovato, Fifth Harmony, Selena Gomez, Ed Sheeran, Shakira, Linkin Park, and many others. She also launched her own career, appearing on songs like Jason Derulo's "Trade Hearts," Zedd's "Straight Into the Fire," and Kygo's "Carry Me," which she performed at the closing ceremony of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Michaels released her debut solo single, "Issues," in 2017. The song became a hit on charts around the world, going multi-platinum in the U.S., Australia, and Norway. "Issues" also appeared on her debut EP, Nervous System, which arrived in the summer of 2017 on Republic. The seven-song set peaked in the Top 50 on the Billboard 200 and earned Michaels Grammy nominations for Best New Artist and Song of the Year for "Issues." In late 2017, she co-wrote and sang on U.K. electronic act Clean Bandit's hit single "I Miss You," which charted around the globe. The following year, she collaborated with American rapper Trippie Redd on her single "Jump."

In 2019, Michaels issued the first in a series of EPs titled Inner Monologue, which included the tracks "Anxiety" featuring Selena Gomez and "What a Time" featuring Niall Horan. The second volume followed in June, with eight songs written by Michaels. That same year, she scored another hit in the romantic JP Saxe duet "If the World Was Ending," which also picked up Grammy nomination for Song of the Year. In January 2020, she joined Diplo and Morgan Wallen for a re-recorded version of their song "Heartless." Her own single, "Lie Like This," appeared a few months later.

In April 2021, Michaels' delivered her debut full-length, Not in Chronological Order, which featured production by the Monsters & Strangerz, G Koop, German, and others. Along with "Lie Like This," the Billboard 200-charting album included the rock-driven single "All Your Exes." More singles followed, including 2021's "Only One" with Khea, Becky G, and Di Genius, and 2023's "In a Perfect World" with Dean Lewis. In the meantime, she collected another pair of Grammy nominations, for her songwriting contributions to H.E.R.'s Back of My Mind (2022 Album of the Year nominee) and Maren Morris' "Circles Around This Town" (2023 Best Country Song nominee). 2023 also saw the release of the Disney animated musical Wish, which featured seven original songs by Michaels and Benjamin Rice (Lady Gaga, Jonas Brothers, Norah Jones). Michaels herself sang the end credits song "A Wish Worth Making." The soundtrack album cracked the Billboard 200 while peaking at number four on the Top Soundtracks chart. Her output over the next year consisted largely of collaborations between country and pop. She joined Nashville's Maren Morris on "Cut!" and Canadian country singer Josh Ross on "Want This Beer," then teamed up with Joe Jonas on Norwegian DJ Alan Walker's track "Thick of It All." She also recorded some solo singles, kicking off 2025 with "Scissors." ~ Matt Collar