Following her Academy Award-nominated breakthrough role in the Coen Brothers' 2010 Western True Grit, Hailee Steinfeld spent the latter half of the decade maintaining both her screen success and a burgeoning career as a pop singer. A 2015 appearance in the film musical Pitch Perfect 2 coincided with the release of her debut EP, Haiz, which reached number 57 on the Billboard 200. A series of musical collaborations, soundtrack appearances, and stand-alone singles paved the road to Steinfeld's 2020 EP Half Written Story and singles like 2022's "Coast" featuring Anderson .Paak and 2023's "Sunkissing."

Born in Tarzana, California, and raised in Thousand Oaks, Steinfeld acted in several television commercials, TV show episodes, and short films as a child before her feature film debut in True Grit. Just 13 at the time, her critically lauded performance earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. That role led to screen appearances with the likes of Harrison Ford, Jessica Alba, Kristen Wiig, Anna Kendrick, and Kevin Costner while still in her teens.

In 2015, Steinfeld was featured in the music video for Taylor Swift's number one hit "Bad Blood," and on an acoustic version of Shawn Mendes' hit "Stitches." Her own pop single, the rousing "Love Myself," hit the Hot 100 that summer in addition to being a streaming and radio hit. Her debut EP, Haiz, arrived in November 2015, hitting the front half of the Billboard 200 and charting in Canada and Japan. The following July, she returned with "Starving," a collaboration with the EDM duo Grey and producer Zedd, which made a strong showing at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2017, Steinfeld released the solo single "Most Girls" and a collaboration with Alesso, Florida Georgia Line, and Andrew Watt titled "Let Me Go." The following year, she paired with BloodPop for the track "Capital Letters" off the Fifty Shades Freed soundtrack. In 2019, Steinfeld took on the starring role of poet Emily Dickinson in the series Dickinson, for which she also released the song "After Life."

Led by the singles "Wrong Direction" and "I Love You's," her sophomore LP, Half Written Story, appeared in May 2020. She then made her debut in the Marvel superhero universe starring in Disney's 2021 television series Hawkeye. Steinfeld returned to music in 2022, collaborating with Anderson .Paak on the track "Coast." The bright summertime anthem "Sunkissing" followed in early 2023. ~ Marcy Donelson

Anderson .Paak's career was already trending upward when the exuberant singer, rapper, songwriter, producer, and drummer was showcased more than any other vocalist on Dr. Dre's Compton. The fledgling artist had releases under the descriptive alias Breezy Lovejoy, plus Venice (2014), the first in a series of prismatic albums with hybrids of contemporary soul, funk, hip-hop, and left-field pop underpinning fantastical escapades and personal reflections related with a cutting sense of humor. The early promise displayed through Compton was fulfilled with Malibu (2016), a Top Ten R&B/hip-hop entry nominated for a Grammy in the urban contemporary field. Paak continued to grow with his two subsequent releases for Dre's Aftermath label, Oxnard (2018) and Ventura (2019), synchronously created LPs that earned him three Grammy Awards, including Best R&B Album for the latter. Also prolific as a featured artist, Paak counts supporters Shafiq Husayn, NxWorries, Chance the Rapper, Mac Miller, Bruno Mars, Silk Sonic, and Rapsody among those who have sought him out for collaborations.

As a teenager, Anderson .Paak, born Brandon Paak Anderson in Oxnard, California, played drums in his church band and got into bedroom music production. After he taught at a music school, he helped manage a marijuana farm up the coast in Santa Barbara, but an unexpected termination left him and his family homeless. Rebounding with help from Sa-Ra's Shafiq Husayn, who hired him as an assistant, Paak filled roles ranging from videographer to producer, and studio access enabled him to record his own material. From 2010 through 2012, under the name Breezy Lovejoy, he released the three-song Violets Are Blue and the concise full-lengths O.B.E., Vol. 1 and Lovejoy. During this period, he toured as the drummer for American Idol contestant Haley Reinhart and contributed to a handful of recordings, a small portion of which credited him as Anderson .Paak.

Paak settled on his performing name with the November 2013 release of the Cover Art EP, on which he creatively reworked rock songs by the likes of Neil Young, Toto, and the White Stripes. The following year, he was featured on Shafiq Husayn's "It's Better for You," co-produced Watsky's All You Can Do, and that October released the album Venice. His most substantial and farthest-reaching work to that point, it ventured stylistically into electro-pop, trap, and even footwork. Venice received a profile spike after Dr. Dre released his 2015 album Compton. Paak contributed to six songs on that album, a number two pop hit, and worked not only with Dre but with the likes of fellow featured artists Ice Cube, Eminem, Marsha Ambrosius, and Kendrick Lamar.

Only five months after Compton was released, Paak returned in January 2016 with his second proper album, Malibu. Featuring contributions from 9th Wonder, Rapsody, and Kaytranada, it debuted at number nine on the Billboard R&B/hip-hop chart and was followed nine months later by Yes Lawd!, a full-length recorded with producer Knxwledge under the alias NxWorries. Shortly thereafter, Malibu was nominated for a Grammy in the category of Best Urban Contemporary Album. Paak himself was up for Best New Artist. Kaytranada's 99.9%, Chance the Rapper's Best Rap Album-winning Coloring Book, ScHoolboy Q's Blank Face, Mac Miller's The Divine Feminine, and Rapsody's Laila's Wisdom were among the many releases on which he made guest appearances during this period.

As Malibu tracks were licensed to the films Everything, Everything, Pacific Rim Uprising, and Marvel's Iron Fist, Paak also expanded his discography as a featured artist with appearances on Chris Dave and the Drumhedz and Black Panther: The Album. Later in 2018, Paak issued the singles "Bubblin" and the Kendrick Lamar-assisted "Tints" through his long-simmering deal with Aftermath. The tracks preceded the November release of Oxnard, which entered the R&B/hip-hop chart at number six and narrowly missed the Top Ten of the Billboard 200. "Bubblin" won the 2018 Grammy for Best Rap Performance. The album's sessions were productive enough to necessitate the release of another full-length, Ventura, in April 2019. More R&B-oriented, Ventura went straight to number four on the Billboard 200. "Come Home," the lone track with a guest rap verse -- courtesy of André 3000 -- took that year's Grammy for Best R&B Performance, and Ventura won Best R&B Album. In 2020, Paak issued the singles "Lockdown," "JEWELZ," and "Cut Em In," the latter of which saw him collaborate with Rick Ross. He teamed up with Bruno Mars and Silk Sonic in 2021 for the singles "Leave the Door Open" and "Skate." ~ Andy Kellman