Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (born 16 February 1990), known professionally as The Weeknd (pronounced "the weekend"), is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and record producer.^[1] In late 2010, Tesfaye anonymously uploaded several songs to YouTube under the name "The Weeknd". He released three nine-track mixtapes throughout 2011: House of Balloons, Thursday, and Echoes of Silence, which were critically acclaimed.^[2] The following year, he released a compilation album Trilogy, thirty tracks consisting of the remastered mixtapes and three additional songs. It was released under Republic Records and his own label XO.

In 2013, he released his debut studio album Kiss Land, which was supported by the singles "Kiss Land" and "Live For". His second album, Beauty Behind the Madness, which became his first number one album on the US Billboard 200, included the top-three single "Earned It" and produced the number-one singles "The Hills" and "Can't Feel My Face". The songs have simultaneously held the top three spots on the Billboard Hot R&B Songs chart, making him the first artist in history to achieve this.^[3] The Weeknd has won two Grammy Awards and has been nominated for an Academy Award.^[4] In September 2016, the release of the third album, Starboy was announced, along with the release of the single "Starboy" which subsequently reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100.^[5]

Cage the Elephant is an American rock band from Bowling Green, Kentucky, that formed in 2006 and relocated to London, England in 2008 before their first album was released. The band currently consists of vocalist Matthew Shultz, rhythm guitarist Brad Shultz, drummer Jared Champion and bassist Daniel Tichenor, as well as touring keyboardist/guitarist Matthan Minster and touring lead guitarist Nick Bockrath.^[1] Lincoln Parish served as the band's lead guitarist from their formation in 2006 until December 2013, when he left on good terms to pursue a career in producing. The band's first album, Cage the Elephant, was released in 2008 to much success, spawning several successful radio singles and gained the band a large following in both the United States and the United Kingdom.

Cage the Elephant are known for energetic live performances and for possessing an eclectic sound. The band's first album is influenced by classic rock, funk, and blues music. However, the band's second album, Thank You, Happy Birthday, displayed heavy influence by punk rock and bands such as the Pixies and Nirvana, while Melophobia was a concerted effort by the band to find its own distinct musical identity, and earned them a Grammy Award nomination in 2015 for Best Alternative Music Album. Cage the Elephant's fourth album, Tell Me I'm Pretty, produced by Dan Auerbach, was released on December 18, 2015.

Arcade Fire is a Canadian indie rock band based in Montreal, Quebec,^[1][3]consisting of husband and wife Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, along with Win's younger brother William Butler, Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury and Jeremy Gara. The band's current touring line-up also includes former core member Sarah Neufeld, frequent collaborator Owen Pallett, two additional percussionists, Diol Edmond and Tiwill Duprate, and saxophonists Matt Bauder and Stuart Bogie.

Founded in 2001 by friends and classmates Win Butler and Josh Deu, the band came to prominence in 2004 with the release of their critically acclaimed debut album Funeral. Their second studio album, Neon Bible, won them the 2008 Meteor Music Award for Best International Album and the 2008 Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year. Their third studio album, The Suburbs, was released in 2010 to critical acclaim and commercial success.^[4] It received many accolades, including the 2011 Grammy for Album of the Year, the 2011 Juno Award for Album of the Year, and the 2011 Brit Award for Best International Album. In 2013, Arcade Fire released their fourth album, Reflektor, and scored the feature film Her, for which band members William Butler and Owen Pallett were nominated in the Best Original Score category at the 86th Academy Awards. All four of their studio albums have received nominations for the Best Alternative Music Album Grammy; the band's work has also been named three times as a shortlist nominee for the Polaris Music Prize: in 2007 for Neon Bible, in 2011 for The Suburbs and in 2014 for Reflektor, winning the award for The Suburbs.

The band plays guitar, drums, bass guitar, piano, violin, viola, cello, double bass, xylophone, glockenspiel, keyboard, synthesizer, French horn, accordion, harp, mandolin, and hurdy-gurdy, and takes most of these instruments on tour; the multi-instrumentalist band members switch duties throughout shows.