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voodoochili · 5 years

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My Favorite Albums of 2019

As we bid adieu to a decade and a year that many of us would like to forget, let’s take the time to run through some albums that deserve to stay in our rotations at least until the onset of the imminent apocalypse. It’s a cliche, and we say it every year, but as bad as 2019 might have been in the real world, it was an excellent year for music. I listened to at least 300 albums this year and found at least 150 that I liked! Here’s the stuff that made me think, made me happy, and made me drop my jaw last year.

Some themes I found in my listening--I really like rap music from L.A. and Detroit; A few artists who I admired more than loved in the past came out with albums that I completely adored; the nebulous genre often called “afrobeats” or “afropop” has the highest hit percentage of any international scene since dub/reggae in the 1970s (the African Heat playlist on Spotify might be my actual album of the year); a lot of my favorite albums this year came from people who are clearly the product of music schools; my top four contains two excellent bedroom pop albums, and two excellent treatises on race relations in the USA.

I made a Spotify playlist with highlights from my albums list: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6S9kSm5xG3U1vPxhVyBpQc?si=0PHLV0-XQOyNY3XAVRzzAA

And in case you missed it, here’s my list of the year’s best songs: https://voodoochili.tumblr.com/post/189890284724/my-favorite-songs-of-2019

THE BEST:

10. glass beach - the first glass beach album - the first glass beach album combines chiptune synths, frayed emo vocals, jazz piano, and suite-like song structure into an exhilaratingly chaotic mishmash. Mix it with a strong dose of theater-kid earnestness and the result is the most ambitious debut album of the year and possibly of the decade, providing a peek into an alternate dimension where Los Campesinos! wrote the La La Land soundtrack. It sounds like it shouldn’t work, and it wouldn’t if glass beach didn’t buttress their boundless invention with well-crafted songs, like “classic j dies and goes to hell part 1,” the suitably bonkers intro, the prog-pop opus “bedroom community,” and “cold weather,” which shifts from ska-punk to math rock and back in 2 minutes and 20 seconds.

9. Jenny Lewis - On The Line - Long one of indie’s pre-eminent songsmiths, Jenny Lewis’s On The Line is her most personal album yet, digging deep into her childhood trauma and emerging out the other side with pearls of cheeky wisdom. Jenny’s lived more lives than most, enduring an entire career as an in-demand child star before ever even picking up a guitar; when she reached her teenage years, she learned most of her earnings fed directly into her mother’s heroin habit. Some songs like “Wasted Youth” and “Little White Dove” confront it directly (“Wasted Youth” takes the form of a conversaqtion between Lewis and her sister about their late mother), while other songs like “On The Line” and “Rabbit Hole” are testaments to the strength Lewis gained after fending for herself for so long. Appropriately for an album so focused on the past, Lewis enlists the help of rock legends like Ringo Starr, Don Was, and Benmont Tench, whose organ lends a lush poignancy throughout the album, and transforms opener “Heads Gonna Roll” from a pretty ballad to a genuine tearjerker.

8. Burna Boy - African Giant - West African music continued its quest for global hegemony in 2019, flooding the airwaves with passionate, uptempo party music. Though it was a massive year for artists like Mr Eazi, Zlatan, and do-everything superstar Wizkid, the year belonged to Burna Boy of Nigeria, his sonorous deep voice lending authority to each extravagant boast. Following up last year’s promising Outside, African Giant unleashes Burna’s full potential, drawing a through-line between Africa’s past and present--his use of multilingual lyrics, outspoken politics, and supernatural sense of rhythm updates the famous formula of Afrobeat founding father Fela Kuti for the new era. Aided by frequent collaborator and unheralded genius Kel-P, whose lush and genre-bending beats perfectly complement Burna’s melodic strengths, African Giant was 2019’s most reliable mood booster, presenting standout singles like the irresistible “Anybody,” the ambitious and easygoing “Dangote,” and the romantic club anthem “Secret,” before taking time to explain the history of colonialism in Nigeria on “Another Story.”

7. The Comet Is Coming - Trust In The Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery/The Afterlife - With a long list of collaborators and an even longer list of influences, London-born saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings’ musical ambitions can’t be confined to a single form or style. While his work with Sons of Kemet emphasizes percussion-heavy Caribbean influences and radical spoken word poetry, Hutchings aims squarely for the stratosphere with his The Comet Is Coming project, which continued its progressive jazz odyssey with two worthy albums in 2019. Elevated by the interplay between Hutchings (calling himself King Shabaka), synth wizard Danalogue, and drummer Betamax, Trust In The Lifeforce of Deep Mystery is a mesmerizing cycle of songs. Boasting titles like “The Universe Wakes Up” and “Super Zodiac,” each song searches for (and finds) a trance-like groove, transporting listeners to the far-flung locales of the song titles before reaching an emotional conclusion. A more contemplative, but still ceaselessly propulsive follow-up, The Afterlife is music for the “stargate” sequence from 2001: A Space Odyssey, providing a more optimistic counterpoint to Trust while refining the trio’s unique group dynamic. Together, the two works make an immensely satisfying head trip, offering a thrilling soundtrack for the end of the universe and whatever comes next.

6. Moodymann - Sinner - “I don’t even know what you need, but I’ll provide,” grunts Moodymann on Sinner’s simmering opener “I’ll Provide,” “Cause I got something for all your dirty nasty needs.” Possibly the most singular and beloved figure in a Detroit electronic scene overflowing with singular and beloved figures, Moodymann is known for sublimely tasteful DJ sets and sprawling solo works that fuse house music with elements of R&B, gospel, blues, and funk. By his standards, Sinner is slight, spanning only 7 tracks and 44 minutes, but it benefits from a tight focus, showcasing Moodymann’s effortless creativity. Throughout the project, the artist born Kenny Dixon approaches familiar elements from odd angles: jazzy changes and burbling Fender Rhodes invade an intoxicating two-chord vamp on “Downtown”; fellow Detroiter Amp Fiddler adds soulful auto-tune to the blissful “Got Me Coming Back Right Now.” He even manages to find a fresh way to incorporate Camille Yarbrough’s “Take Yo’ Praise,” most famously sampled by Fatboy Slim, into one of the album’s hardest-charging tracks.

5. Polo G - Die A Legend - Way back in 2011, long before he became rap’s first Pulitzer Prize winner, Kendrick Lamar took a moment to explain his ethos on the outro to his breakthrough Section.80 tape: “I'm not on the outside looking in/I'm not on the inside looking out/I'm in the dead fucking center, looking around.” It was a bold statement, but one that Kendrick’s managed to live up to, and finally we’ve found another artist with the ability to achieve all-seeing perspective on record: Chicago 20-year-old Polo G.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been blown away by a new rapper like I was by Polo G in 2019. He possesses a rare combination of melodic mastery and writerly observation, painting a vivid (if bleak) picture of his life on the South Side. His debut project Die A Legend is packed with unflinching observations about the reality of his situation, he touches on his former pill addiction on “Battle Cry” and he reminisces about talking to his younger sister through a prison phone on “Through Da Storm.” As dark as the subject matter can get, Polo never crumbles under the pressures of poverty or fame, staying afloat with crisp melodies that mix the emotional honesty of Lil Durk with the radio-ready slickness of Wiz Khalifa. He’s already mastered the art of the rap ballad, and I can’t wait to see what’s next.

4. Helado Negro - This Is How You Smile - This Is How You Smile overflows with warmth, inspiring a feeling I don’t often get from music. Listening to it feels like a long-awaited return to a physical place of comfort--a childhood bedroom, perhaps, or a reading nook in a favorite library. Our tour guide is Roberto Carlos Lange, an expert sound designer whose plainspoken, pleasantly nasal voice might be the friendliest sound in music today. The album is comforting, yet unpredictable, with songs that range from synth folk to bedroom pop to ambient field recordings, and feature lyrics that vacillate between English and Spanish. Highlights include the bouncy “Seen My Aura,” calling to mind a collaboration between The Brothers Johnson and Ariel Pink, the sweeping and mesmerizing “Running,” combining trap drums and Budd/Eno piano, and my favorite, the devastating acoustic ballad “Todo lo que me falta.”

3. Jamila Woods - LEGACY, LEGACY! - Jamila Woods has a gift for expressing complex intellectual and musical ideas in deceptively simple ways. Her melodies are like nursery rhymes, her lyrics are cutting and conversational, and with LEGACY, LEGACY! she delivers a fiery blend of artistry and activism that rivals peak Gil Scott-Heron. These songs are bold and truthful, tackling heavy subject matter with a delicate touch, commenting on cultural appropriation on “MUDDY” (“They can study my fingers/They can mirror my pose/They can talk your good ear off/On what they think they know”), sexual assault in “SONIA” (“I remember saying no to things that happened anyway/ things that happened/I remember feeling low the mirror took my face away”), and the value of protest on “OCTAVIA” (“It used to be the worst crime to write a line/Our great great greats risked their lives, learned letters fireside/Like a seat on a bus, like heel in a march/Like we holdin' a torch, it's our inheritance”). With songs named after her artistic heroes (a convention that has become a bit trendy, as Rapsody and Sons of Kemet have pulled similar tricks for their recent projects), LEGACY! LEGACY! Is Woods’ audacious attempt to establish herself as an heir to that formidable tradition--one that succeeds without reservation.

2. Raphael Saadiq - Jimmy Lee - A force of nature with one of the most underrated back catalogs in the game (he made hits with Toni, Tony, Tone in the 80s, was a major force behind Neosoul in the 90s and 00s, and produced Solange’s A Seat At The Table in 2015), Raphael Saadiq’s latest is his most powerful effort yet, inspired by the tragic tale of his older brother Jimmy Lee, a heroin addict who died of HIV. Jimmy Lee tries to find the universal through the personal, taking a deep look into how drug addiction can tear a family apart. Throughout the project, Saadiq approaches his brother’s illness with radical empathy, singing from his perspective on the dangerously alluring “Something Keeps Calling,” and the zonked out “I’m Feeling Love.” He uses his personal tragedy as a springboard to talk about larger issues on the twinkling, self-explanatory “This World Is Drunk,” and the seething spiritual “Rikers Island.” The album veers from style to style, connected with a sound effect that mimics a channel changing on an analog TV, encompassing Prince-like grooves, languid quiet storm, simmering funk in the late Sly Stone mold, and taking detours into hip-hop and traditional gospel. Connecting it all is Saadiq’s raw passion, echoing the pain of everyone who’s lost someone to substance abuse, and singing as if his tenor is the only weapon powerful enough to end the epidemic.

1. Yves Jarvis - The Same But By Different Means - There’s a song on The Same But By Different Means called “Constant Change,” in which Jean-Sebastian Audet layers his voice into a cacophonous symphony and repeats the title phrase for 30 seconds til he reaches an abrupt crescendo. In his first project under the name Yves Jarvis (the 22-year Montreal native used to record under the name Un Blonde), “Constant Change” is his animating philosophy, guiding each second of the most surprising masterpiece of the year. A thrilling and unpredictable effort, The Same But By Different Means overflows with sonic and melodic ideas, shifting and beguiling with unexpected shifts and sounds. The album gets its power from this fluidity--sounds burst into the mix and fade away without notice; songs mutate from one genre to another (traces of freak-folk, tropicalía, funk, and a lot more) within the span of 2 or 3 minutes. It’s a hazy, dream-like collage, at times evoking the likes of Nick Drake, Joni Mitchell, and Nicolas Jaar; the least expected sound-a-like occurs on “That Don’t Make It So,” which could easily be mistaken for an outtake from D’Angelo’s Voodoo. No hour of music in 2019 was more calming, yet more invigorating than this one--an eclectic and restless monument to Audet’s creativity and an addicting, absorbing soundscape. I listened to hundreds of albums this year, but none of them hit me quite like this one.

THE REST:

11. Cate Le Bon - Reward 12. Big Thief - U.F.O.F./Two Hands 13. Vampire Weekend - Father Of The Bride 14. Jay Som - Anak Ko 15. Raveena - Lucid 16. American Football - American Football 17. Purple Mountains - Purple Mountains 18. Kelsey Lu - Blood 19. Pivot Gang - You Can’t Sit With Us 20. Gunna - Drip Or Drown 2 21. Great Grandpa - Four Of Arrows 22. G.S. Schray - First Appearance 23. Bandgang Lonnie Bands - KOD 24. Marika Hackman - Any Human Friend 25. Mavi - Let The Sun In 26. Spellling - Mazy Fly 27. SAULT - 5 / 7 28. Juan Wauters - La Onda De Juan Pablo 29. 75 Dollar Bill - I Was Real 30. Maxo Kream - Brandon Banks 31. Brittany Howard - Jaime 32. J Balvin & Bad Bunny - Oasis 33. Rio Da Yung OG - 2 Faced 34. Desperate Journalist - In Search Of The Miraculous 35. Angel Olsen - All Mirrors 36. 03 Greedo - Netflix & Deal/Still Summer In The Projects 37. Doja Cat - Hot Pink 38. Lambchop - This (Is What I Wanted To Tell You) 39. Sada Baby - Bartier Bounty 40. Rucci - Tako’s Son 41. Floating Points - Crush 42. Bat For Lashes - Lost Girls 43. Young Thug - So Much Fun 44. Samthing Soweto - Isphithiphithi 45. Kim Gordon - No Home Record 46. Sandro Perri - Soft Landing 47. Anthony Naples - Fog FM 48. Quelle Chris - Guns 49. Sleater-Kinney - The Center Won’t Hold 50. Tyler, The Creator - IGOR

Honorable Mentions:

Billy Woods & Kenny Segal - Hiding Places Caroline Shaw & The Attaca Quartet - Orange Leo Svirsky - River Without Banks Martha - Love Keeps Kicking Nilüfer Yanya - Miss Universe Drego & Beno - Sorry For The Get Off The Japanese House - Good At Falling Tree & Vic Spencer - Nothing IS Something Spielbergs - This Is Not The End Fireboy DML - Laughter, Tears & Goosebumps Dee Watkins - Problem Child Daniel Norgren - Wooh Dang

TOO MANY MORE TO NAME--could’ve listed up to 80

#Burna Boy #polo g #yves jarvis #glass beach #raphael saadiq #jamila woods #helado negro #moodymann #jenny lewis #the comet is coming #shabaka hutchings

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youngandhungryent · 5 years

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Wiz Khalifa Releases New Project ‘It’s Only Weed Bro’

Source: Taylor Gang / Taylor Gang

As his fans wait for his next official album Wiz Khalifa is still catering to their needs. The Pittsburgh rapper has just dropped a new project that keeps things simple yet effective.

The Marijuana marvel teased at dropping some new tunes last week. On Saturday, February 8 he alerted his followers on Twitter that he will be making good on the missed promise.

Roll something and get the day started. Bout to drop a project on Soundcloud. Gimme a sec

— Wiz Khalifa (@wizkhalifa) February 8, 2020

The result was It’s Only Weed Bro. This seven-song drop finds the Taylor Gang boss man flossing his signature flows over some classic samples. Included in the throwback vibes are Mobb Deep’s “Survival of the Fittest”, Weldon Irvine’s “Morning Sunrise” which was famously used for Jay-Z’s “Dear Summer”, and Atlantic Starr’s “Silver Shadow”.

In terms of delivery and bars Wiz is right in pocket with his signature mix of weed, women and wanderlust. On “Smoking Section”, which borrows Common’s “The 6th Sense”, he reminds the Taylors he hasn’t missed a step. “You might think I got time to kill cuz I’m so real / a lot of ni***s I could checked this year but I’ma chill / I don’t have to say they fake in time they will / when it come to being certified I’m signed and sealed”.

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LINK IN BIO

#taylorgang

A post shared by Wiz Khalifa (@wizkhalifa) on Feb 10, 2020 at 10:51pm PST

The seven-track EP is a lead up to his yet to be titled eighth album due out this year. You can download It’s Only Weed Bro here.

Photo: Bernard Smalls

source https://hiphopwired.com/838940/wiz-khalifa-only-weed-bro/

#fucu #fucul #young and hungry ent #boss of bosses #instrumental type beat free

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junker-town · 5 years

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The 25 biggest game-day bangers of the decade, ranked

We asked 27 arena and stadium DJs around the country which songs defined the decade.

When you reflect on your favorite sports moments of the decade, your first thought probably isn’t about what song was playing when they happened. After all, “jock jams” (which are a specific ESPN-branded thing, and thus not a wholly effective universal term) are corny and dated, right?

Obviously the answer to that question is subjective, but there are plenty of DJs working overtime to try to get you pumped AND jacked — whether you’re a fan or an athlete yourself. SB Nation polled 27 of them from universities and clubs around the country to try to get a sense of which tracks released from 2010-19 were making the biggest impact in arenas and stadiums. Not the best songs, mind you, but the ones they played the most often.

Some of them were unimpressed by the options. “We have played all these songs a lot of times in the past, but we rarely play any of these in ATL now (they’re all old),” wrote legendary Hawks organist and DJ Sir Foster. “Now we play ‘Hot’ by Young Thug.” It’s tricky for anyone trying to chronicle the genre to pin down one set of criteria for a jock jam: some are upbeat and danceable, or well suited for kids of all ages (think “Jump Around”), and then some that are aggressive and intense and make you want to run headfirst into a brick wall. Plus, there’s just about everything in between — as hip-hop has gotten more laidback, so have the songs deemed pump-up worthy by players and fans. How can you separate the trends from the songs that will still be played in 20 years?

The DJs gave their takes, and with some editorializing (the list does not exactly reflect the poll results, but overall it tracks and aberrations are noted) SB Nation has narrowed down the field to 25 essentials.

25. “Timber” by Pitbull featuring Ke$ha (2013)

Pitbull singing about do-si-dos is an admittedly odd formula for a pop song, but it worked — and teams latched on to the upbeat pace and promises that lay in “It’s going down” (“it” being, probably, a victory).

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24. “Big Rings” by Drake and Future (2015)

What A Time To Be Alive, the messy, bombastic joint mixtape that Drake and Future released in 2015, was essentially designed as a sports soundtrack. It’s not making a dent on any critics’ end-of-decade lists, but the message — “I got a really big team, they need some really big rings” — endures, as does the hard-edged, shimmering beat, perfectly suited for highlight reels of more literal ring-chasers.

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23. “Hard In Da Paint” by Waka Flocka Flame (2010)

It might seem overly literal, but just listen to the first 30 seconds of “Hard In Da Paint” and try to do anything but go ... well, hard in the paint. Lex Luger has a doctorate in turning orchestral might into unfriendly, relentless and yet entirely undeniable beats; Flocka balances the impulse to yell over the beat’s perfect chaos with swaggy nonchalance. Who would ever want to hear anything else as they walk on the court?

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22. “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)” by Silentó (2015)

The viral dance craze was an integral part of arena and stadium soundtracks in the 2010s, and Silentó created something of the viral dance crazy with “Watch Me” — simultaneously, he created fodder for in-game fan participation for years to come. (I am intentionally ignoring Katy Perry’s “Swish Swish” in hopes that it goes away.)

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21. “Work (Remix)” by A$AP Ferg (2013)

This is the rare tune that is as serviceable as a turn-up anthem as it is a pregame pump-up jam (or fodder for postgame celebration). Its central theme — the titular “work” — is obviously relevant to sports, especially when delivered in Ferg’s trademark growl. But it’s more about getting hyped up in the grand scheme than keeping one’s nose to the grindstone, the perfect reminder to athletes that this is supposed to be fun. Plus they’re playing basketball in the video ...

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20. “Can’t Stop The Feeling” by Justin Timberlake (2016)/”Uptown Funk” by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars (2014)

Both of these songs exist in the jock jams twilight zone: they’re upbeat and inoffensive enough to get regular spins inside arenas and stadiums, but don’t exactly convey beatdown-level intensity or walking-out-to-the-hardwood swagger. Also, they are functionally the same (and not particularly memorable as a result).

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19. “We Dem Boyz” by Wiz Khalifa (2014)

“I like ‘We Dem Boyz’ as the first single because of the energy,” Khalifa told Billboard in 2014. “It reaches so many audiences other than just a rap audience. It’s kind of like how ‘Black and Yellow’ was — a big sports song to get everybody riled. It’s more of an anthem.” “Black and Yellow,” of course, is the Pittsburgh native’s Steelers-themed hit; with “Dem Boyz,” Khalifa found a team-agnostic expression of the same sentiment. “Hold up, we dem boyz/hold up, we makin’ noise” — if you read “boyz” as not being gender-specific (it is 2019 after all), it’s about as universal a sports fan sentiment as exists.

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18. “Jumpman” by Drake and Future (2015)

Essentially a lesser “March Madness” knock-off, the undeniably sporty WATTBA track nevertheless endures in arenas and basketball mixtapes everywhere.

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17. “March Madness” by Future (2015)

Built atop one of the single best beats of the decade, “March Madness” doesn’t really feel like a typical jock jam — but that’s what makes it so special. The practically baroque combination of strings and keyboards is propulsive and fresh, and Future drops the requisite sports references to pay off the title (“We’re ballin’ like March Madness”/“Livin’ lavish, like I’m playing for the Mavericks”). “On behalf of the Dallas Mavericks, I would just like to thank Future so much for the mention in ‘March Madness,’” says the Mavericks’ DJ Poison Ivy. “I know not too many things rhyme with Mavericks!”

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16. “Let’s Go” by Calvin Harris featuring Ne-Yo (2012)

“Let’s go, make no excuses now” — OK, we get it, this song was built to be played on the treadmill. Amongst the pinnacles of the EDM-fueled pregame pump-up genre, “Let’s Go” is aggressively generic in ways that are pitch-perfect for the purposes of sports and exercising. As such, it still gets played a lot — after all, who among us can resist a good drop?

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15. “Can’t Hold Us” by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis featuring Ray Dalton (2011)

Do I want this to be on the list? Not particularly. But the DJs have spoken (12 of them) and so I begrudgingly acknowledge Macklemore’s early-decade pop-rap dominance. People still play this song frequently, and though I understand why in theory, I still can’t in good conscience support it. Are we sure we can’t listen to Waka Flocka instead?

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14. “Going Bad” by Meek Mill featuring Drake (2018)

I mean, the album is called Championships — though in Meek’s case, it was more about his long-overdue release from prison than a title (even though the Eagles had chosen his music as their official soundtrack en route to winning the Super Bowl). There’s a bit of recency bias with this one, but the irresistible beat and (again) requisite sports references (shout out to Seattle’s own Jason Terry) make it seem like it will last in arenas even once the sheen wears off. “There was a Lakers game the day or two after Meek Mill released the Championships album, and it was such a moment that I played at least three songs from the album during warmups,” says the Lakers’ DJ Roueche. “‘Going Bad’ is still, and probably always will be, in heavy rotation in my DJ sets.”

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13. “Party Rock Anthem” by LMFAO featuring Lauren Bennett and GoonRock (2011)

Any song that features someone named GoonRock demands a certain degree of respect, just for its sheer audacity. In this case, Mr. Rock helped produce one of the most enduring artifacts of the EDM era — a song that only those with truly blackened hearts would profess not to find at least a little tiny bit festive. It’s a “Sandstorm” for the next generation, absurd and corny and yet extremely hard to ignore.

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12. “Mo Bamba” by Sheck Wes (2017)

A song about a top-tier — but not ubiquitous — NBA Draft pick that is more than a little rough around the edges might not be the most obvious choice for one of the decade’s top jock jams. But the doomy track has become a cathartic favorite in locker rooms and on fields alike — its mosh-pit vibes make it good for celebratory thrashing. “I’ll never forget the first time I played ‘Mo Bamba’ at a Steelers game,” says DJ Digital Dave, who DJs for the Steelers as well as Pitt football and basketball games. “I approached my producer the week before the 2018 Patriots game and said ‘I know this song will probably sound awful to you but it’s huge right now.’ He gave me the green light, and we played it as our defense walked onto the field to shut down Tom Brady’s final drive of the game. The stadium just erupted.”

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11. “HUMBLE.” by Kendrick Lamar (2017)

Being humble is a classic sports cliche — demanding the same of your opponents, not so much. But that’s one of the reasons this variation on a classic theme works, as is its 2K-ready beat. Kendrick doesn’t really do arena-sized as a rule, so it seems like sports DJs tend to grade his music on a curve as far as its in-game usefulness given his massive popularity.

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10. “Levels” by Avicii (2011)

When you have one song to get an entire stadium on its feet, it’s hard to to imagine a better pick than “Levels.” Arguably the biggest hits of the EDM era, it’s straightforward and to the point: move your person. Handclaps, synths, an Etta James sample and (obviously) a litany of drops make it perfect for pushing people to the next level (get it!?) of playing or cheering or celebrating or whatever it is they’re doing. “The EDM bubble of the early to mid 2010’s was the closest thing to commercial Jocks Jams in the past 20 years,” says Andrew Rivas, DJ for the San Jose Sharks. “‘Levels’ is this decade’s ‘Get Ready For This.’” RIP Tim Bergling.

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9. “All The Way Up” by Fat Joe and Remy Ma featuring French Montana and InfaRed (2016)

The Remy Ma freedom tour was a great moment for popular rap, mostly thanks to this track — the ultimate soundtrack to any dunk. New York is back baby! (Kidding, kidding ...) Centering a slick sax hook and an easily sung hook, the song was more or less money in the bank.

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8. “Win” by Jay Rock (2018)

This is the rare jock jam that should get played more than it is: aesthetically, the prepares-you-to-run-through-a-wall quotient is through the roof (pun intended), and thematically it’s centered on winning which is ... fairly central to sports. Whether you’re struggling to get off your couch or getting ready for the game of your life, this song feels pitch-perfect.

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7. “Boneless” by Steve Aoki, Chris Lake and Tujamo (2013)

Not the kind of song you’ve probably sought out for casual listening, but perhaps one that makes it onto your gym playlist if you’re very hardcore. It has become an in-game go-to, though, with its pump-it-up ready synth riff and background “hey-hey-heys” well-suited to getting the people going, to paraphrase Blades Of Glory. (Oh, hey, sports again!) It’s also relatively big in gymnastics, apparently:

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6. “SICKO MODE” by Travis Scott featuring Drake (2018)

Here is where the “rap that people like” and “jock jam” categories truly get blurred: “SICKO MODE” was mostly just a massive song, without many specific characteristics that make it uniquely suited to soundtracking sporting events. BUT it was one of the most popular tracks among our DJs, and is more or less inescapable among athletes — so who’s to say taking half the recommended dose of a prescription medication isn’t motivational? Also there’s the pick and roll line, and the Liz Cambage reference (!)...

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5. “Dreams & Nightmares (Intro)” by Meek Mill (2012)

Calling an audible on this one: it was not among the top picks by our DJs (a paltry six votes), but there is no way to listen to this song without feeling ready to hit something or run really fast or just yell. Not since the “Rocky” theme has Philly spawned such a transcendent us-against-the-world anthem — and better yet, the song itself is an underdog. It wasn’t a single, and it doesn’t sound like one. But the number of people — Meek Mill fans and otherwise — who know every word to the emotional, vivid, often tragic song speaks to its impact. “I had to grind like that to shine like this” is the ethos of just about every athlete from high school to the pros (much like “It was time to marry the game and I said, “Yeah, I do”). Then, the beat drops — it’s Meek in all his yelling glory, personally goading you to get on his level.

It’s no wonder that the Eagles adopted it as their own during their Super Bowl run, as have athletes of all stripes. “Meek Mill’s ‘Dreams & Nightmares’ will always remind me of the Mystics’ championship run,” says DJ Heat, who spins for the Mystics and the Wizards. “Natasha Cloud wanted to hear it every game. There were times where she sent one of the ball girls up to me to let me know to play it while the team was warming up — and of course I played it while the team was celebrating their championship win on the court.”

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4. “POWER” by Kanye West (2012)

It’s become increasingly easy to forget that there was a point at which Kanye had hits — but he did, obviously, and “POWER” is is one product of what might in retrospect be seen as his zenith (though I’m a Yeezus girl myself — “Black Skinhead,” or at least the beat, is also still in heavy rotation). There’s something about leaving a little space at the beginning of a song that just builds anticipation — who has ever heard more than the first 30 seconds of “Crazy Train” at a sporting event? — and the intro to “POWER” follows this rule to a T. After the first 30 seconds it loses much of its heft, but does that even matter when you start that strong?

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3. “24K Magic” by Bruno Mars (2016)

This falls into the “family-friendly dance music” category of in-game songs. Is it getting anyone particularly pumped? Probably not, but it’s also not not getting them pumped. If anything, the endurance of this particular track on in-game playlists (it got the highest number of votes) speaks to its overall impact — you’re as likely to hear it at a wedding, which can’t necessarily be said for most of the songs on this list. Also trophies and rings are often gold, so that is something!

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2. “All I Do Is Win” - DJ Khaled featuring T-Pain, Ludacris, Snoop Dogg and Rick Ross (2010)

Did you just win? Better yet, is your team undefeated? More trivially, did your team just win a challenge? Boom, DJ Khaled has a song for you. What for some of us might be indelibly linked to tragic college parties has become a stadium staple for obvious reasons: who among us does not want to exclusively win? It’s a holdover from the gaudy, gloriously Autotuned rap of the late aughts and early 2010s, built for sports primarily by T-Pain and his remarkable gift for hooks. There’s prompts for audience participation, Snoop repping the U — basically if Shakira and J.Lo don’t bring the whole crew out for halftime, it will be a serious lost opportunity to rep Florida.

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1. “Turn Down For What” by DJ Snake and Lil Jon (2013)

It’s the pinnacle of pump-up music in the 2010s: EDM and party rap, combined. You just cannot listen to this song without losing your mind — it’s science. The build, the Lil Jon, the drops. So many drops. Mechanized handclaps, distorted hooks, the “ays,” and still more drops. Under “getting hype” in the dictionary (work with me here), there’s a copy of this song. I’m sure that the New York Seahawks bar is one of about five zillion places that played this song after every touchdown, and somehow the impact of all those drops never dulled. Look at how excited these figure skating fans are. “‘Turn Down For What’ is so perfect for arena use that it’s almost too easy,” says Grubes, DJ for the Dallas Stars and the Texas Rangers. “When deployed at the proper moment (typically after a scoring run that puts the game away), it has never failed to get everyone going nuts!”

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Editor’s pick:

“Flex (Ooh, Ooh, Ooh)” by Rich Homie Quan

Flexing is a thing athletes do, this song is great, and as a bonus I heard it once at Seahawks training camp right before I interviewed Christine Michael — it was a very special moment.

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Many thanks to all the DJs who participated:

Andrew Rivas (@andrewrivasdj): San Jose Sharks, US Open, Santa Cruz Warriors, San Jose Barracuda

Ben Bruud (@benbruud): Auburn University football and basketball

DJ Cmix (@DJCmix_): LSU

DJ Digital Dave (@djdigitaldave1): Pittsburgh Steelers, Pitt Panthers football and basketball

DJ Dior (@_djdior): George Washington University basketball (men’s and women’s)

DJ EJ (@itsDJEJ): Dallas Cowboys, among others

DJ Flipside (djflipside33): Chicago Bulls

DJ Heat (@djheatdc): Washington Mystics and Washington Wizards

DJ Hek Yeh (@DJHekYeh): Wake Forest University football and basketball

DJ Kay Cali (@DJKayCali): Austin Spurs

DJ Mad Mardigan (@DJMadMardigan): Timberwolves, Lynx, Vikings, United, Gophers

DJ Mel (@djmel): University of Texas football and men’s basketball

DJ Poizon Ivy (@poizonivythedj): Dallas Mavericks

DJ Premonition (Djpremonition): Washington Redskins

DJ Questionmark (Djquestionmark1): University of North Texas Athletics

DJ Roueche (DJRoueche): Los Angeles Lakers and AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour

DJ SupaSam (@djsupasam): Seattle Seahawks, UW Huskies football

DJ Triple T (@theDJtripleT): Denver Broncos and Colorado Avalanche

DJ Yoshi (djyoshi): B1G Ten Football

DJ Zimbo (@zimbothedj): Colorado State University, Air Force Academy, University of Wyoming athletics

DJay Jung (@_djayjung_): Brooklyn Nets

DJSC (@DJSCMUSIC): Dallas Cowboys and Pro Football Hall of Fame

DJ Dudley D (@nomusicnoparty): Minnesota Timberwolves, Lynx, Gophers men’s basketball, and United FC

GLOtron (@theglotron): Mississippi State men’s and women’s basketball

Grubes (@tweetgrubes): Dallas Stars and Texas Rangers

PJ Krolak (DJPJ) (@pjkrolak5): Toledo Mud Hens, Toledo Walleye, University of Toledo

Sir Foster (@sirfoster): Atlanta Hawks and Georgia Bulldogs

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thejakeformerlyknownasprince · 8 years

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Playlist: 54. The Beginning

Since this is a book with six narrators who have six very different stories—and diverge into six different directions as the war ends—Cates and I ended up picking a song for each of the main characters to sum up what happens to them throughout this book.

Rachel: “Take Me Out” by Franz Ferdinand

“I’m just a cross hair I’m just a shot, then we can die I know I won’t be leaving here with you I say don’t you know You say you don’t know I say, take me out!”

I was still not completely morphed when someone shrieked. “Animorph!”

After all these years of the Yeerks thinking we were Andalites, always yelling “Andalite!” whenever they saw a morph. It was strangely gratifying that at last they knew who we were.

I said, <That’s right, genius: Animorph.>

I did what I do better than anyone. What Jake counted on me to do.

I attacked.

This song has two meanings: one is a guy on a date with a girl, the other is the assassin who killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand acknowledging that he (the assassin) is going to die but stepping up and doing what he believes needs to be done anyways. Rachel’s final battle is so perfect, and this song seemed to fit because it’s basically a warrior saying ‘Come at me, bro. Neither of us is walking out of here alive.’

Jake: “See You Again” by Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth

“How can we not talk about family when family’s all that we got? Everything I went through you were standing there by my side And now you gon’ be with me for the last ride It’s been a long day without you, my friend And I’ll tell you all about it when I see you again We’ve come a long way from where we began Oh, I’ll tell you all about it when I see you again”

"So what do we call her?" Marco wondered.

<She's beautiful,> Tobias said. <She's beautiful and dangerous and exciting.>

I turned in surprise to look at Tobias. He stared back at me with his eternally fierce hawk's gaze.

Marco laughed, realizing what we were thinking. "She would love it. A scary, deadly, cool- looking Yeerk ship on a doomed, suicidal, crazy mission that no one can ever know about? She would love it."

So it was that we went aboard the Rachel.

This song BREAKS MY HEART. It’s so subtle in its grief and longing for someone who’s died too young. The other thing that strikes me in this song is the sense of history between the singers and the person they’re addressing. A sort of self-deprecating, self-congratulatory, holy-shit-look-how-far-we’ve-come. This song makes me think so strongly of Jake and Rachel’s relationship, especially how Jake thinks of Rachel after her death.

Marco: “Us” by Regina Spektor

“They made a statue of us And put it on a mountain top Now tourists come and stare at us The sculptor's marble sends regards... Our noses have begun to rust We're living in a den of thieves Rummaging for answers in the pages”

My career was going pretty well. I was past the point of being a fad, anyway. I'd done seven appearances total on Letterman and Leno, plus several times each on Jon Stewart and Conan….

I got a gig as ‘technical advisor’ to a Spielberg movie about us. Animorph. Come on, you gotta love that. I did all the shows to plug that deal. Sample dialog: ‘I loved working with Steven, he is absolutely devoted to accuracy, and I knew he was the man who could be trusted with our story.’

This song is all about amusement at one’s own legacy—and especially the sense that it has been blown out of proportion—but also about new uncertainty in light of the old stories being so oversimplified. Marco is pretty much the only one to embrace the Animorphs’ legacy after the war ends, but when Jake later says that Marco was “bored to tears” in that life, Marco agrees.

Tobias: “Possession” by Sarah McLachlan

“Through this world I’ve stumbled So many times betrayed Trying to find an honest word To find the truth enslaved Oh, you speak to me in riddles and You speak to me in rhymes My body aches to breathe your breath, Your words keep me alive”

I knew why Jake had sent Rachel to Tom. I agreed with his thinking. But then, I wasn't in love with Rachel. I wasn't some lonely kid trapped in a hawk's body, half in one world, half in another with only Rachel's love tying me to my humanity.

Maybe Tobias would eventually accept what Jake did. Maybe not.

I gotta be honest: I hate Tobias’s fate in the last book. I think it sells him and his friends short to imply that he has no reason to connect to humanity once Rachel dies, and to suggest that he just survives day to day but doesn’t really live. That being said, I think this song captures perfectly the idea of being haunted by a loved one who’s no longer there and feeling like you can’t live without them beside you. It’s sad, but it’s also bitter.

Ax: “Leave My Body” by Florence and the Machine

“And I don't need the birds, let them fly away And I don't want the clouds, they never seem to stay I don't want no future, I don't need no past One bright moment is all I ask”

This sort of mission wasn't supposed to be performed by me. The captain generally stays on the bridge. The T.O. normally led boarding parties. But I was bored. And I knew the T.O. wouldn't argue: I wasn't just the captain or a prince, I was Aximili of Earth. The Aximili. A living legend.

I couldn't complain about being bored, of course… The Intrepid was just about the only ship out ‘looking for trouble,’ as Marco might have put it.

This song is about dying for glory, of course, and I originally jotted it down as having to do with Rachel. The thing is that, although people don’t comment on it nearly as often, Ax has just as much of a thirst for battle as Rachel does. He survives the war, at first anyway, but then he gets himself and most of his crew killed because he’s “bored” and so goes charging into an unknown situation aboard the Blade ship hoping for battle.

Cassie: “White Houses” by Vanessa Carlton

“Crashed on the floor when I moved in This little bungalow with some strange new friends Stay up too late, and I’m too thin We promise each other it’s til the end Now we’re spinning empty bottles It’s the five of us With pretty-eyed boys girls die to trust... I’m gone as the day is fading on white houses I lie, put my injuries all in the dust In my heart it’s the five of us In white houses”

Jake nodded. "Yeah. I know. But Ax was his friend. So are all of us, even if he doesn't want it that way. So tell me how to find him."

A few minutes later, after watching Jake morph and fly away, I climbed up to where Ronnie waited.

I knew I had said goodbye to Jake forever.

Cassie is the last surviving Animorph, and is therefore the keeper of their memories, stories, and histories. This is a song about first love, about intense friendships, about living in the moment, about being young and careless and reckless and passionate, and about looking back on one’s younger self with affection, embarrassment, and longing. As Gordie says in Stand By Me, “I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?”

(full playlist)

#ultimate animorphs playlist #the beginning #54 #animorphs #animorphs spoilers

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londonmcauley · 5 years

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Wiz Khalifa - Bammer

Wiz Khalifa Debuts New Mustard-Produced Track "Bammer"

Wiz Khalifa and Mustard come together on “Bammer.”

As promised, Wiz Khalifa has delivered on his “Bammer” single alongside producer Mustard.

Notably, the duo flips RBL Posse’s “Don’t Give Me No Bammer” track as Mustard pulls from the Marvin Gaye’s “Intro Theme,” sampled in the original production while Wiz takes the crew’s famed hook and adds a twist of his own: “Don’t give me that bammer weed/We…

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#wiz khalifa

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ricardosousalemos · 7 years

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Snoop Dogg: Neva Left

Like frat parties and Razor scooters, rapping is for the young. Braggadocio, especially when it’s based on how many girls you’re fucking, guns you’re holding, and pounds of coke you’re moving, doesn't look good on older men. And just like a dad trying to hold court in his old football locker room, it comes off as desperate to keep reliving your glory days or, even worse, rap like you’re still on the come-up when it’s well-reported you’ve been tucked away in a mansion for years. With varying degrees of success, rappers nearing middle age have tried to talk about wives and art collections and other facets of adulting, but few of their longtime fans want to be reminded that they’re not 22 anymore. If rap is your means of artistic expression and your way to make a living, what’s a rapper nearing middle age to do?

Snoop Dogg is one of the lucky ones. He’s savvy, maneuvering his career with shows like “Snoop Dogg’s Father Hood” and the endearing documentary series “Coach Snoop” so that his image now reflects a family man who has been married nearly 20 years and is a compassionate role model for the kids in his peewee football league. He adopted Wiz Khalifa early in the fellow weed aficionado’s career, re-upping his relevance and sealing his status as a legend with a new generation. With the launch of his cannabis-centered lifestyle site Merry Jane in fall 2015, he shifted from stoner to a champion of legalized marijuana. He’s so universally adored that Kylie Jenner hasn’t been excoriated for using “Kylizzlemynizzl,” a riff on his popular slang, as her Snapchat name.

Despite those endeavors, the title of his very enjoyable latest album, Neva Left, is accurate. Snoop Dogg really hasn’t ever taken a break from music. In fact, he’s been something of a machine, cranking out almost two dozen records in as many years since the 1993 debut of his bona fide classic Doggystyle.

Happily, on Neva Left, Snoop hasn’t become a grumpy old man, nor is he trying to keep up with the kids. Snoop’s gift is two-pronged: a penchant for always dropping into the pocket and his low, smoky growl of a voice, which curls and stretches words in such a distinctive way no one has ever mimicked it successfully. “Trash Bags”—produced by Atlanta-based Musik MajorX, featuring an Uncle Luke sample and K Camp’s pleasingly detached hook—is the closest Snoop comes to trying on a new style. “Lavender,” produced by BADBADNOTGOOD and Kaytranada, is a gorgeously trippy track, but it’s the foreign entity in a game of “one of these things is not like the other.” Mostly, though, Snoop keeps the features and production within his era—Battlecat, Rick Rock, Devin the Dude, Too $hort.

And why not? It might not always be on trend, but on his 15th studio album, Snoop sounds in great shape and like he’s having the time of his life. “Moment I Feared” features him slipping into double time as nimbly as any young whippersnapper, and just try not to get “Swivel” stuck in your head. Lots of nods to classic records—J-Massive’s “Bacc in da Dayz” samples “Check the Rhime,” “Promise You This” interpolates Too $hort’s (or One Way’s, depending on how you look at it) “Don’t Fight the Feeling”—let old fans reminisce and new ones discover.

Snoop’s other strategy is simply pointing out the obvious instead of trying to be the cool dad, acknowledging his age and offering advice like the OG he is. On “Go On,” an instant cruising classic that indulges his abiding love for slick ’80s R&B, he mentions riding bikes with his grandson in the park. The one dent in his armor is hitting on a girl literally young enough to be his daughter on the fun, degrading (some things haven’t changed) bop “Toss It”: “She say she went to school with my young son … told me that her daddy was a Eight Tray Crip, I did time with the nigga.”

Still, letting go of the good ol’ days is harder the older you get. On “Neva Left,” the album opener, the first words out of Snoop’s mouth are, “I gang bang to the fullest.” The last are shout outs to Crip sets across L.A. and Long Beach. Like Bruce Springsteen sings on “Glory Days,” “I hope when I get old I don’t sit around thinking about it—but I probably will.”

#reviews-albums

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trendingnewsb · 7 years

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What Harry Styles and Zayn can tell us about life after boy bands

One Direction is accidentally the best named boy band in the history of coordinated turtlenecks. Legend has it that Harry Styles picked it on a whim because it sounded cool after Simon Cowell gave the five boys a second chance to compete on X Factor if they were willing to go at it as a team.

For about five years, it worked remarkably well, and then the tears fell.

There’s a line in Zadie Smith’s The Autograph Man, a book about the the trappings of idolization published when Harry Styles was eight years old, that seems oddly prescient for the current situaton. Just after a line that happens to be about a character’s ruffled shift, Smith writes, “All fandom is a form of tunnel vision: warm and dark and infinite in one direction.”

And yes, there are plenty of horribly original “different directions” jokes to be made about the lads’ respective solo careers. But the truth of the matter, is that separating was the only way they could all head upwards.

Before 1D, the *NSYNC model was the best case scenario for life after a boy band’s prime years. Justin Timberlake was the one who got to keep the music career, and lives happily ever after in the A-List while the rest are relegated to TV hosting gigs. Joey Fatone’s Live Well Network show, My Family Recipe Rocks, is delightful, but it can’t be what he envisioned for himself. Or you have the Backstreet Boys, tethered together for eternity in Las Vegas playing the old hits. Harry Styles’ solo debut, out today, makes it clear that it doesn’t have to be that way anymore.

SEE ALSO: Harry Styles hasn’t quite mastered the stage dive yet, but his solo music sparkles live

Zayn Malik was, of course, the first to go. He exited the group in flames with some comments about wanting to be a normal 22-year-old but quickly came back with bold promises of #realmusic, as opposed to whatever he considered One Direction.

ZaYn

Image: MIKE WINDLE/GETTY

Malik wasn’t content to fall into traditional boy band roles and be “the shy one” when he was actually experiencing severe anxiety. Plus, he favored R&B over the classic rock influences that were beginning to dominate One Direction and he has the voice for it, so he left the band to make music that was more his speed, working with M.I.A., PartyNextDoor, and even Styles’ ex, Taylor Swift.

It’s no surprise that fans, despite some very harsh words on Twitter when he split, responded positively to the new music. One Direction was the first major boy band to treat young women with respect as music fans instead of just assuming they want washboard abs and a Max Martin hook, as great and necessary as those things can be to young fans coming of age.

When Styles was recently on the cover of Rolling Stone, Styles explained as much to Cameron Crowe, who just happened to be profiling him.

“Who’s to say that young girls who like pop music short for popular, right? have worse musical taste than a 30-year-old hipster guy? That’s not up to you to say. Music is something that’s always changing. There’s no goal posts,” he said. “Young girls like the Beatles. You gonna tell me they’re not serious? How can you say young girls don’t get it? They’re our future. Our future doctors, lawyers, mothers, presidents, they kind of keep the world going. Teenage-girl fans they don’t lie. If they like you, they’re there. They don’t act ‘too cool.’ They like you, and they tell you. Which is sick.”

Malik echoed the sentiment in his book. (Oh yeah, he has a book, some fashion collaborations and a TV show on the way, NBD.) “I think we need more women in positions of power across the world,” he wrote. “I think a lot of the world’s problems could be solved if we allowed more contribution from women.”

Instead of making the music they thought girls wanted to hear, they put a little faith in their fans and tried to make the best music they could. It paid off.

For Louis Tomlinson, that meant the sunny “Just Hold On” with DJ Steve Aoki, and if there is anything that’s a fairly sure bet, it’s a handsome boy with a devout social media following dipping his toes into EDM. Sometimes, I imagine I’m in a The Graduate situation, at pool party. Instead giving the tip “plastics” to a lost boy unsure what to do with his potential, I whisper, “EDM” into his ear. While Aoki is a veteran of the scene at this point, “Just Hold On” is actually his highest charting single in both the UK and the USA, where the song hit #2 and #52, respectively.

Liam Payne, meanwhile, signed a record deal with Republic in 2016. Like Tomlinson, his ambition has some EDM leanings, but he’s got his eye on hip hop, as well. He previously released a single with Juicy J and Wiz Khalifa and has a new single with Migos’ Quavo out on May 19.

Niall Horan and Styles were always the most likely to hit the ground running with One Direction’s ’70s rock influence. Horan, the guitar-wielding Irish man, was the most involved in the group’s songwriting process and Styles baked a damn carrot cake for Stevie Nicks on her birthday. Horan beat Styles to the punch releasing his first solo single, the sweet acoustic number “This Town,” but Styles’ solo album came first.

A good suit.

Image: mike coppola/Getty Images

He considered calling it Pink, because The Clash’s Paul Simonon once said that, “Pink is the only true rock & roll color.” Nearly every review of Harry Styles has focused on Harry Styles, the rock star, in an age when the form is limp. “Sign of the Times,” the lead single, is a bold statement of intention to fill that void. Styles announced the Bowie-channeling tune exactly 20 years after the Prince album the song borrows its name from was released.

But he ended up simply going with Harry Styles instead, and it’s a fitting choice. In interviews, he’s wants to make it clear how honest the lyrics are as he avoids getting into details about just about everything. “I didn’t want to write ‘stories,'” he told Rolling Stone. “I wanted to write my stories, things that happened to me. The number-one thing was I wanted to be honest. I hadn’t done that before.” Styles knows he’s not reinventing the wheel, but what he can offer that no one else can is a direct line into his psyche.

“Mature” details of the album will inevitably be sensationalized, sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll were never really absent from One Direction (sample lyric: “waking up beside you, I’m a loaded gun.”) The main difference is that now it doesn’t have to be sung with a wink.

Communication, or lack thereof, is the album’s focus. Styles desperately wants people to say what they mean. “Tell me something I don’t already know,” he begs and begs on “Ever Since New York.” Hell, he doesn’t even use emoji, as he confessed to the crowd at his very first solo show.

At his most confessional, the soft, Eliott Smith-indebted, “From the Dining Table,” Styles begs for resolution. “Woke up alone in this hotel room. Played with myself, where were you? Fell back to sleep, I got drunk by noon,” he confesses. “I’ve never felt less cool.”

The mumbling masturbator is, of course, not a traditional boy band archetype, and definitely not what would be expected of “the cute one.” But thanks in large part to the infinite feedback loop of fandom online, it’s what we know fans needed to hear. The boy they worship (and the subject of their own erotic fan fiction) gets lonely, too.

It’s too early to tell what the longevity of the One Direction boys solo careers will be, but they’re already tipping towards a higher success rate than any previous boy band. Their increasingly web-savvy fans seem poised to ensure a decent run.

Pop groups are no longer a survival of the fittest. They’re better prepared to service the passions and desires of their young, predominately female fanbase better than ever and even grow up with them after they grow up and start running the world.