JesusfreakHideout.com: Highlighting 2015 Part One -- Looking Ahead To New Music In The First Half of 2015

For our 9th annual Highlighting feature, we split the year into TWO pieces -- January to June and July to December. Each list contains 15 artists/releases for a total of 30 in total for 2015. So, without further ado, we give you Highlighting First-Half 2015!

11 of 15

#11. TobyMac
untitled

Release Date: May 2015

Trending more and more towards bright, shiny, pop with each release, I find myself too tempted to play down my anticipation for this album. But, come on! It's TobyMac! A lot would need to go wrong before this guy gave us something that wasn't a worthwhile listen! Right?
- Mark Rice

Fans of TobyMac have always had a weird relationship with his music. They like it. It's good. But many still want DC Talk back. This release changes everything. DC Talk released six studio albums. This will be TobyMac's seventh. It's been almost 15 years since everyone's favorite CCM trio broke up. It may be finally time to admit that TobyMac isn't just talented, he's flat-out good.
- John "Flip" Choquette

27 years is a long career for a musician and TobyMac shows no signs of slowing down. What is even more outstanding is how relevant he is--he can still engage youth and adults alike. The new single "Beyond Me" isn't particularly exciting, but it has hardly affected my optimism for another solid release from this dc Talker.
- Christopher Smith

It's hard to believe that Mr. McKeehan just turned 50 years old. That's old enough to have shed just a few musical skins (rapper, grunge-rocker, agro-rocker, hip-hopper, recent dropper of club beats and EDM dabbler) in his time, and one wonders where his sound will find a home this time around. Current single "Beyond Me" is a bit lackluster, but there is no doubt TobyMac has a few more surprises in his bag of musical tricks.
- Alex "Tincan" Caldwell

When is TobyMac going to hang up the mic for good? Well, he turned 50 years old last year, so who knows? Everything from him here on out is gravy. While his new single "Beyond Me" isn't terribly inventive, I'm still intrigued to hear what I predict will be Toby's final solo album. With a long and impressive career behind him, he's still an industry icon worth celebrating.
- Roger Gelwicks

Most artists would have only captured the adult music industry at TobyMac's point in life, but after releasing one of his most commercially successful albums, Eye On It, he continues to be a commanding force in the music industry with the youth after almost 30 years as a solo artist and with dc Talk. I have no doubt that this will be a release that will surprise us again.
- Wayne Myatt

Visit our TobyMac page for more information about them...

2015 Countdown:

15 | 14 | 13 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1