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betterversion--ofme · 4 years

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Rebecca Black's Search for Identity

Rebecca Black's unabashedly sapphic bop 'Girlfriend' came onto my radar recently. "Holy shit," I thought to myself, thrilled, "She's grown up and got a Carly Rae Jepsen meets Katy Perry sound? I need to hear more of this!"

Well, not exactly... 'Girlfriend' is that, but Rebecca Black isn’t that. Not yet, at least - out of a dozen or more releases, it’s just that one song.

The truth is, Rebecca has been trickling out songs for years, throwing things at the wall, looking for the style that will make her take off.

As I hopped from song to song in the Youtube recommended links, each song was different. They could have each been from a different singer. I was so excited after hearing Girlfriend, but each song I listened to left me more confused.

Skipping past the series of regrettable cash-ins while she was under management of Debra Baum right after 'Friday', then a handful of forgettable EDM pop tracks, are a few more recent interesting songs with -wildly- different vibes. So who IS Rebecca Black?

Welcome Back (she never left)

Every piece of press that Rebecca gets has the same lede: Remember the Friday girl? Well she’s BACK, she’s GROWN UP, and she’s a REAL MUSICIAN now!

But apart from a 3-year hiatus between 'Saturday' and 'The Great Divide', Rebecca has actually been consistently releasing music every year since 'Friday'. There's no comeback to speak of, she's always been around, just not gathering much attention.

It's the kind of PR move that works once and only once: that was then, this is now, and then you stand on the quality of your work and move forward. But every bit of press I could find, at the release of every song coming out almost every year, has taken this stance, not even mentioning the prior songs. She keeps trying to break out, but the viral fame is too comfy to leave behind.

The lead single off her one and only EP ‘RE/BL’, 'Heart Full of Scars', feels like an intentional callback to her viral phase and the cyberbulling she experienced. And I don't doubt that the bullying and harassment she went through left some deep marks. And the biggest thing that’s put her in the headlines lately, of course, is a new version of Friday.

So on the one hand she is trying to move forward with a pop career, but on the other hand she keeps leaning on her prior name recognition and winking back at the past.

She also has a pretty large presence on Youtube. I admit, I have not done a deep dive of her Youtube, Tiktok, and other social media presence. As I understand it, she is friends with a group of LGBTQ Youtubers and makes appearances in their work as well. Most of the recent vlogs on her channel, though, once again are themed around 13-year-old Rebecca.

I mean, those viral-fame-milking videos have double or more the amount of views compared to her other videos, so I guess do what the algorithm commands you to do, girl.

A short history of Rebecca Black the artist

I want to start out by saying I'm not going to consider 'Friday' as part of her career. I want to judge her current work on its own merits: would I be listening to it, if it didn't have any name recognition?

Directly after 'Friday', Rebecca was signed to DB Entertainment and released a string of awkward songs and videos. The less said about them, the better. Then was 'Saturday', dipping from the one-hit-wonder sequel song well with the best of them (see Kung Fu Fighting's Dance the Kung Fu, and The Devil Comes Back to Georgia).

The one cohesive work she has released is the EP ‘RE/BL’ in 2017. Other than that, everything has been released in one-off singles or pairs.

She’s got very safe EDM pop in Foolish and Anyway. She’s got some sweet but dark, Melanie Martinez vibes in Sweetheart and Do You. (She’s even worked with Billie Eilish’s brother Finneas on Satellite). Every time she seems to be heading in a certain direction, she releases something completely different.

As of yet, though, she hasn't settled on any genre or general identity that I would expect from a pop artist. Not that I'm expecting every song she puts out to be the same, or that I don't love some experimentation, but the things she has put out simply don't feel cohesive, and it's like each song is aimed at a different audience.

Who Is Her Base?

So, having listened to all the songs she’s put out to date, I’m at a loss with how to describe Rebecca Black as a pop artist.

Is she a mainstream pop idol? Is she retro-inspired and glittery?

Is she cute but a little dark and edgy? Or a boundary-pushing hyperpop queen?

She's a chameleon, becoming a different artist each time she works with a new collaborator. And I think this is hurting her chances at building a devoted base of fans.

February was big PR moment for our girl Rebecca. Just a week after 'Girlfriend' dropped, so did the hyperpop remix of Friday.

Unfortunately, hearing the phrase 'Friday hyperpop remix' gives you just about everything you need to know, and you barely need to listen to the song. I'm not saying that because of any distaste for hyperpop - Simply, the actual execution of the idea was unsurprising and unexciting (IMO).

It's not completely out of left field, though, as Rebecca is honestly dipping her toe into hyperpop. She had a feature on Dorian Electra's latest album, and her main 2020 release "Closer" has some light Sophie/Charli-esque touches (albeit in a much safer and chiller way than the Dorian track). Her Fantano interview does imply this is something she’s interested in pursuing further.

If Rebecca goes full hyperpop, I am totally behind that. It's a ripe niche, people will appreciate her meme appeal rather than be driven away, and 'hyperpop star' is a rather more achievable goal than 'mainstream pop star'. If she can do that and do it well, it could be the perfect career move for her.

I do hope Rebecca finds her identity as a musician. It’s a tough step for any artist deemed a “one-hit wonder”, and doubly difficult for her unique situation. I think she’s got a lot of potential, and someday we’ll stop saying “Oh, the Friday girl?” and start saying things like “Oh, I loved her latest album!”

#rebecca black #hyperpop #dorian electra #friday #bubblegum bass #i only want good things for her #and i also want a whole album of songs like girlfriend haaha i am very biased

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grimelords · 4 years

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So since the last time I posted one of these the entire world has changed dramatically and hopefully 4 hours of music will tide you over in quarantine for a bit longer. Strangely I’ve been busier than ever, and what started as a personal challenge to listen to a new album every day in February turned into me listening to 116 new albums in March and 124 in April. I’ve got a stacked google doc full of star ratings and dates now and it’s really been a lot of fun, I highly recommend trying it yourself. This is my March playlist, because I accidentally took a month off, and I’m thinking of either switching these playlists to weekly to make them a little more digestible or just dropping them whenever. Who knows. Let me know what you think and drop album recommendations in the comments please.

Listen here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0k1JjT8fXcUFO6VpM3kaez?si=gWSv88vdShKSnHhLJ_80pQ

If you’d like to receive these playlists in a more digestible email format, please subscribe to my tinyletter here: http://tinyletter.com/grimelords

On A Slow Boat To China - Bing Crosby & Peggy Lee: Ok first off it’s amazing this song isn’t more racist. I don't remember now how or why I came across this. I think I was just thinking about crooners and how as a genre it's now existed in common popularity as a nostalgic idyll of a mytholigised past far longer than it was ever actually popular which is interesting. The origin of this song, according to wikipedia, is also one of the most 40s ideas I've ever read: "I'd like to get you on a slow boat to China" was a well-known phrase among poker players, referring to a person who lost steadily and handsomely. The idea being that a "slow boat to China" was the longest trip one could imagine. Loesser moved the phrase to a more romantic setting, yet it eventually entered general parlance to mean anything that takes an extremely long time".

Fight Night - Migos: I saw that Offset had some new show on Quibi the extremely fake sounding streaming service and I thought "how did Migos get so world conqueringly large that they get to make 10 minute shows nobody will watch for a $2 billion venture capital funded app that will never make any money?" They seem to have this massive reputation without having much to back it up. The last thing I remember everyone talking about was how Culure II was two hours long in order to game streaming numbers and was simply not good. They seemed to have sort of settled into making background music for scrolling instagram. But then I remembered Fight Night and I thought: "oh wait, that's right, Migos are fucking great". Where their other big hits like Bad And Boujee and Walk It Talk It have this sort of laid back vibe where they've comfortably nailed the formula and relax onto it, Fight Night commands your attention. StackboyTwan killed the beat - it has this propulsive momentum where it feels like it's constantly ramping up, moving up from the sidesick and bassline in the verse, up to the claps on the beat, and the big gang chants on the offbeat once the full instrumentation kicks in - then it just goes around and around and around with the constant bassline the whole tim. It's a perfect all-rise production because it never actually explodes, it's all building tension held down by an unchanging bassline.

Do It Puritan! - El Hombre Trajeado & Sue Tompkins: I am extremely delighted to announce that Sue Tompkins of one of my all time favourite single album bands Life Without Buildings has broken a nearly 20 year musical hiatus to appear on this song by El Hombre Trajeado. It is so nice to hear how her voice has changed and her approach has stayed the same. Her style is so unique and so good and I don't think I'll ever get tired of it.

5 8 6 - New Order: Before 'the incident' I had tickets to see New Order at the end of March and so I embarked on a big listen through of their discography, which has now unfortunately made it feel even worse that live music is cancelled indefinitely.

Oom Sha La La - Haley Heynderickx: First of all I love songs where they talking about how they're writing a song halfway through. And I love songs that seem like a pretty normal singer songwriter indie thing where someone just starts screaming near the end. I love this song. A great staring at the wall and absolutely losing your mind because you haven't done anything with your whole life anthem.

Elektrobank - The Chemical Brothers: Can you believe I've never listening to a full Chemical Brothers album before this month? Can you believe big beat ever went our of style? It feels insane that we ever swapped this sort of energy for the beige algorithm of EDM. I think there's a real triumph in this album, and in this track especially of replicating the live feeling in studio. Giving it this much space to grow and change and get very hairy near the end is amazing, it feels like it was just recorded live.

My Mind's A Ship (That's Going Down) - Katie Pruitt: It feels very rare to me that this sort of extremely smooth Nashville prduction actually makes a song better. It has a habit of strangling the life out of a song and making it blend into a boring paste of soundalikes, but with Katie Pruitt it works amazingly. Her songwriting is so distinct and clear and her voice, especially near the end where it punches hole in the sky, is so strong and so her own that it doesn't need anything else.

Water - Ohmme: "What if Tegan And Sara were a noise band instead?" is a question I didn't know I needed an answer to. I love any band that has the guts to write songs like this that sound like pop from an alternate history, so off kilter and odd and noisy but with this undeniable pop heart that the duo vocals make sound like schoolyard clapping chants remixed by Lightning Bolt.

Lions, Tigers and Bears - SLIFT: A friend put me on to Slift and described them as French King Gizz and really, I'm inclined to agree. This is the traditional long last song at the end of their new album, and as usual I am advocating that every song should be the long last song at the end of the album. I love this style of jam where everyone else goes to space but the rhythm section just digs in and works hard as fuck for ten minutes. Then the whole last 3 minutes of the song are just fat drone riffs. This song's got everything.

The Pines - 070 Shake: This 070 Shake album is unbeleivably good and it warms my heart to see the dark energy of The Pines live on through another century in yet another permutation. I have more to say about it later in the Jackson C Frank version coming up but it feels like this 070 Shake album kind of came and went but I implore you to listen, it’s an aoty contender for sure.

Standing On The Verge Of Getting It On - Funkadelic: If you can stop thinking about the intro, which I certainly can’t (Hey lady won’t you be my dog and I’ll be your tree and you can pee on me.) there is so much goodness in this song. For a while now I’ve been thinking about how, for lack of a better word, ‘positive’ music is consistently underrated in the critical canon. Dance music, disco and funk especially are derided as empty sugar music, while every cookie cutter metal band absolutely demands to be taken seriously. In dance music this manifests as genres like tech house sucking all the fun and individuality out of music until it’s just an endless parade of producers working to a schematic of the barest essentials. It feels like you can’t have fun and be taken seriously at the same time, which feels like an obvious contradiction but shouldn’t be!

Spoils - Dry Cleaning: Dry Cleaning are my Lock Of The Month Band To Watch In The Future Because They’re Gonna Go Off. They have such a great sound and I’m desperate for an album because I just need more. This song absolutely knocked me down when I first heard it. I love any band where it sounds like the singer has just wandered in while the rest of them were rehearsing. There’s a very good talking-songs movement happening in the UK right now between these guys, Do Nothing and Fontaines D.C and i’m excited to see where it progresses. I might put together a playlist a little later to show you what I mean.

As - Stevie Wonder: I finally listened to Songs In The Key Of Life this month, which is an experience I would recommend to everyone. This shit goes for 21 songs over 105 minutes and absolute bangs the whole way. The original release of this album was a double LP plus a 7", which is yet another reason I am grateful for streaming that I don't have to buy a damn box set to hear this thing.

Sleep Now In The Fire - Rage Against The Machine: I am working on a very niche playlist called Songs Where The Guitar Amp Accidentally Picks Up A Nearby Radio Station For A Couple Of Seconds and it's only 3 songs so far. A Man A Plan A Canal Panama by The Fall Of Troy, Melody 4 by Tera Melos and Sleep Now In The Fire by Rage Against The Machine. In every single one of those songs it feels like a critical component even though it's just an accident that's been left in because it sounds good. Here it's the perfect ending as the rage dies down and the commercial world fades back in. Anyway, my other question about this song is about the great Michael Moore directed video where they famously shut down Wall Street for an afternoon. There's a shot of a guy for a second holding a sign that says Donald Trump For President in 1999. Which is odd but not out of the question, he's been famous for a long time and there's always been freaks. My question is why the fuck did he have that sign that day? Was he amongst the Rage Against The Machine Fans that showed up? A counter protestor? Was he, perhaps most chillingly of all, just walking idly around Wall Street with his Donald Trump For President sign like usual and stumbled upon this whole hoo-haa accidentally?

Applause (Purity Ring Remix) - Lady Gaga: Did you fucking know that Purity Ring did a remix of Applause? If there’s something I’d love to know more about and it’s Purity Ring’s forays into pop production. After their first album they did some production for rappers like Danny Brown in the great track 25 Bucks, which is a good fit really - their sound is witch house with the tempo pushed back up, witch house of course just being chopped and screwed reinvented by tumblr users. So it’s a natural fit to take that new perspective back into the world of hip hop. They also did this fantastic remix of Applause after their first album. Then, after their second album they produced 3 songs for Katy Perry’s Witness album, and one Katy Perry song for a Final Fantasy mobile game soundtrack (?) and feel like the long silence and delay between their second and third albums is because of more behind the scenes pop production work - but if that’s true, where is it? Is it, as I suspect, part of my own personal Pepe Silvia, Katy Perry’s scrapped 2019 album that has vanished into thin air? Or is it part of Chromatica? I think Purity Ring have solidified an interesting place in pop, paving the way for Billie Eilish and Kim Petras’ dark anti-pop and so i’m excited to see where they go after this new album now that they’re the architects of the new wave.

React/Revolt - Drahla: The smartest thing you can do is add a saxophone to your band. The whole first half of this song could go for 20 minutes of growling screaming saxophone post-punk and I wouldn't mind. Then when the second half of the song kicks in it's fantastic in the way this whole Drahla album is: it's tight and sprawling post-punk at the same time with a complicated structure that seems to just pile onto itself instead of ever circling back.

And I Was Like - Porridge Radio: I'm seemingly having a real thing this month for songs that open with a bizzare acapella chant. Between this and the Funkadelic one it's a genre I'm very interested in hearing more of. Isaac Newton was a virgin and it's important to recognise that. The thing I love about this song is how it's in 3 distinc sections: Isaac Newton was a virgin, she's a birthday girl in a birthday world, and mum no please it's grunge, and they all feel like the concentrated energy of a 14 year old's thoughts. She sounds like she's almost crying when she sings 'she's a birthday girl in a birthday world'. The concentrated confusing teenaged energy of this song is just overwhelming.

Dirty Mattresses - Mama's Broke: So much of contemporary 'traditional folk' either exists as pure nostalgia music or as music that's trying too hard to be 'authentic' and evoke a mythology of a bygone time, but Mama's Broke manage to make it feel new and modern but honest and authentic at the same time. The super close harmonies and modern approach remind me of House And Land who I also love, but the songwriting is in another class entirely.

Building A House - CHOPCHOP: I don't know if you've ever seen Bad Boy Bubby but CHOPCHOP feels a little like the band that he ends up joining at the end. A musical ensemble built to enable the will of a very strange man. I think the band is from the UK and I'm not sure where the singer is from, but he has this incredible deeply accented voice that brings such a gravity to everything he sings in the way that anyone speaking english as a second language accidentally brings new weight to common turns of phrase.

Universal Soldier - Jay Electronica: It feels fitting, looking back, that Jay Electronica finally released his album right before the world ended. It was literally now or never. Some how Jay-Z is the breakout star of this album for me. He's got some of his best verses in years on here and he's a great opposition to Electronica's flow when they trade verses. I would also, as an aside, like to know the origin of the kids cheering sample throughout this, because it's the same one from AM//Radio by Earl Sweatshirt and Wish You Were Gay by Billie Eilish. So what's that about.

Sticky Hulks - Thee Oh Sees: I've been very slowly getting into Oh Sees and I love them a lot so far. Their unweildy, huge discography spread across a lot of variations of the same name makes digging into them very rewarding as well. There's a great line on their wiki detailing all the times they've changed their name that goes: Orinoka Crash Suite (1997–2003), OCS (2003–2005, 2017), Orange County Sound (2005), The Ohsees (2006), The Oh Sees (2006–2008), Thee Oh Sees (2008–2017), Oh Sees (2017–2019) Osees (2019) to give you some idea of what we're working with here. Basically it's just everything you could want from a pychedelic band like this: a history and discography as shaggy as the songs themselves.

Knife On The Platter - BODEGA: In reading about Bodega I learned that they don't have a drummer in the traditional sense. They have someone credited as a 'stand up percussionist', and in listening back I realised that's they key to the groove in their music. He's not playing a kit he's just slamming at a tom and a snare on a rack, while one of the singers plays hi-hat here and there. So all the drumming has this barebones caveman feel to it and I absolutely love it. The band feels a lot like The Fashion, and that whole mid-2000s dance-punk movement that I've been desparate to come back so naturally I love it a lot.

Against Gravity - Horse Lords: Horse Lords are one of the most incredible bands I've heard in a long time. Somewhere between a more analogue Battles and Laddio Bolocko, they make a kind of churning math-jazz that sounds like huge intersecting squares of rhythm slowly overlapping. It feels like there's an infinite depth in these songs, you can listen and focus on a single instrument and see it shifting in and out of place with everyone else, before you lose it again and it retreats back into the swirling mass.

Plain To See Plainsman - Colter Wall: I've been listening to this Colter Wall album a lot, and it's really beginning to rank among my all time favourites. I grew up around the flattest place in the southern hemisphere, so I love the plains and it's very nice to have a cowboy song I can relate to like that.

The Nail - Sarah Shook & The Disarmers: Sarah Shook has so much character in her voice I completely love it. She is also a fantastic songwriter that manages to make outlaw country punk that sounds authentic and doesn't have the rockabilly posturing that a lot of the genre suffers from.

Inner Reaches 慾望的暗角二 - Gong Gong Gong 工工工: The best thing about Gong Gong Gong is you can listen to this whole song before you realise they don't have a drummer. They're a guitar and bass duo that play and sing with such a layered rhythmic intensity between the two of them that they really don't need one. A drummer would just clutter the space already taken up by their ferocious rhythm.

Country Pie - Bob Dylan: I'm a big fan of Bob Dylan's dumb songs. He has a lot where if it's the first song you ever heard from him you would be mad at whoever told you he was the greatest songwriter to ever live for trying to trick you like this. What I especially love about this song is how abruptly it ends, like dad just came home and everyone panicked cause they're know they're not supposed to be staying up that late.

You Did It Yourself - Arthur Russell: It seems hard to believe that I've only just found out about Arthur Russel. He seems to be a mainstay of Music Guy lists and somehow I've only heard of him this month. I've been obsessing over the Iowa Dream album, which is a compilation of a lot of different (mostly extremely high quality) demos from the late 70s to mid 80s and what really shines through other than the singular strength of his songwriting is how readily and easily he bends from country style folk to romantic piano ballads, to groovy post-punk like this. What I love so much about this song is it's a great lesson in songwriting: sometimes a song can just be a vague review of a middling movie and still have emotional resonance. Incredible. There's a great NPR article about Arthur Russel and the process of assembling half-takes and demos into complete recordings that you should read if you're interested. https://www.npr.org/2019/11/20/779721417/which-arthur-russell-are-we-getting-on-iowa-dream

The Dogs Outside Are Barking - Arthur Russell: I love this song because it's such a perfect distillation of a teenaged moment: trying to find a moment alone with someone when you have no freedom at all to create one. The song cycles through potential situations but leaves the problem unresolved, existing in the moment of nervous romantic tension preceding an unasked question and it's just beautiful.

Men For Miles - Ought: I love the vocal melody in the verse here so much. Spiking up unnaturally at the end of the lines like a nervous and strange version of The Strokes. Even the way he cramps his words in in the chorus is so good, switching registers randomly like he's impersonating someone else.

Mister Soweto - Lizzy Mercier Descloux: https://pitchfork.com/features/from-the-pitchfork-review/9828-lizzy-mercier-descloux-behind-the-muse/ Pitchfork has a great article about Lizzy Mercier Descloux detailing how she is continually undervalued and underappreciated. I found her though my Discover Weekly and became immediately obsessed with this album - a perfect mix of off-kilter 80s bass and brass that is so colourful and seems to move in a million directions at once like the songs can't even catch up with themselves sometimes. I'm excited to dig into her discography more and try to understand her more because she has a truly unique approach that I can't get enough of.

Sweden - Marilyn Crispell: I've been looking for a while for other pianists of Cecil Taylor's calibre, rare type that it is and I am so glad to have finally found out about Marilyn Crispell. She plays free jazz like Taylor, but in much less percussive and disonnant style. There's a New York Times quote that seems to follow her that says "Hearing Marilyn Crispell play solo piano is like monitoring an active volcano. She is one of a very few pianists who rise to the challenge of free jazz." and it's really very apt. She will move with seemingly no warning at all from mediative, colourful stokes to a mad descent unto uncertainty and beyond, then back again without a moments hesitation. Her music moves like a dream, linking a stream of unlinked images with an ease that only seems incongruous on reflection.

Twins - Gem Club: I have loved this song for a very long time and I come back to it over and over and appreciate it anew. What I appreciate about on listening to it this time is the strangeness of it's structure, following up the verse with an instrumental break, and then a long instrumental intro to the chorus gives it so much space to spread out and breathe, giving the beautiful gravity of the song even more weight. Then after the chorus it moves straight to a bridge and then the intro and first verse again. It's a fantastic song that makes it's small parts so large, where another songwriter or another producer would pare them down.

Grand Central - Paul Cauthen: Something I've learned in listening to a lot of cowboy music is that the number one thing that cowboys hate and fear is getting hanged. They hate it worse than cats hate getting sprayed with water. I found out about Paul Cauthen combing through Colter Wall's similar artists looking for more of this brand of new old fashioned country and I really found it here. Paul Cauthen comes from four generations of preachers and left the church to pursue country music instead, which feels like an extremely old fashioned position to be in here in 2020 but I guess lots of people in Texas still live like that, and thank god they do or we wouldn't have Paul Cauthen's big mournful Elvis voice to sing us songs about the railway.

Serafina - BAMBARA: I love this sort of spoken word leather jacket rock and roll. It's so extremely Cool in an old fashioned way. Like a more rock and roll version of Enablers.

So 4 Real - The Hecks: I love love love this song that sounds like a sped up Prince demo. The strange thinness of the mix and the way the vocals are buried just makes it sound so strange and great, like it was put together on some ancient 4 track recorder that can't handle the pure energy of the song.

In The Pines (Version 2) - Jackson C. Frank: There's a very good 3 hour compilation of Jackson C. Frank recordings that came out a few years called Remastered And Unreleased that I listened through the other day. It's just magnificent. This version of In The Pines is one of my favourite I've ever heard, the mournful vocals coupled with his churning rhythm guitar really brings out the darkness of it in a way I've never heard.

(Tumble) In The Wind (Version 1) - Jackson C. Frank: Another favourite from this compilation that is slightly hard to listen to. I don't know if there's a date on it but I'd guess this was recorded near the end of his life. It is so beautiful, but you can hear in his voice and breathing that he's unwell. In Horseshoe Crabs by Hopalong she sings a story from his perspective this song really seems to fit in the second half of that. "Woke from the dream and I was old / Staring at the ass crack of dawn / Walked these streets up and down / Looking for Paul Simon / All I found was myself, lost in time / I tried singing my songs / But I lost my mind"

Sludge - Squid: I'm thinking of putting together a playlist of all the great Black Midi-adjacent bands I've found out about recently and Squid is at the top of the list. This new breed of art-punk is so fantastic and goes in a million different directions. I'm just so excited it exists.

Straight Shot - Quelle Chris: I love this song and Guns is a phenomenal album but there’s one thing bothering me. The ‘who are you, what are you’ part at the end sounds so incredibly familiar to me and I can’t figure out why. As far as I can tell it’s not a sample, but googling reveals that the english voice on it is fucking James Acaster the standup comedian. So what’s going on? Quelle Chris himself is less than helpful: “Straight Shot is one of those ideas that reached out to me, we got along and I simply showed it around town. The chorus, poem at the end and basic piano progression literally came to me in two separate dreams”. Who knows. Great song though.

Levitation - Dua Lipa: What I really like about this song is that she says sugarboo. This whole album bangs and Dua is really reaping the benefits of being the only pop star with the guts to release an album while everyone’s in lockdown I also have a half-baked theory about the way this song is almost interpolating Blame It On The Boogie in the ‘moonlight, starlight’ part as a sort of aggressive takeover of Michael Jackson’s cancelled legacy. Which is smart really. The same way Taylor Swift is re-recording her albums, let’s just get The Weeknd in the studio for a couple of days and give the world back it’s bangers.

Another Crashed Car - Nine Inch Nails: I am so glad Trent Reznor put out another two volumes of Ghosts. Ghosts I-IV from 2008 seems to have been the bridge from his Nine Inch Nails work to his film score work, and now that he’s had such success with that it’s nice to hear him writing in this style without telling anyone else’s story again. It’s also interesting for him to go back to this project now that Ghosts I-IV has paid dividends in the form of the sample at the centre of Old Town Road but that’s neither here nor there. It’s hard to pick and individual track from these, because they work so effectively as long form albums and not individual tracks, but I chose this one because I put the album on as background ambient while I was doing some boring data entry at work and this track is the point at which I realised I was going out of my mind with stress from doing the simplest tasks because of Trent’s Damned Chords.

Lilacs - Waxahatchee: This is a perfect song. It makes me want to like, draw charts about it and go through it bar by bar to figure out how she did it. It’s perfectly put together. It feels like she uses every trick in the book and it just comes together flawlessly in 3 minutes. Amazing.

Cool Water - Hank Williams: I decided to properly listen to Hank Williams because his shadow stretches over so much of country music, and while a lot of his music really alienated or bored me, and a lot of his songs feel like they would read as novelty songs today (like Hey Good Looking), this is the song that made me understand why he’s so revered.

In My Bones (feat. Kimbra and Tank And The Bangas) - Jacob Collier: Jacob Collier generally irks me. He makes brain music for redditors that lose their mind when someone shows them chord inversions or odd time signatures. Youtubers whose whole personality is ‘y’all heard Giant Steps?’ But he killed it on this song. It’s great despite him. There’s still a lot of corniness to work through, mostly in the big yuck funky lyrics, but structurally it’s a kaleidoscope and a big chunk of its success I’m putting down to Kimbra and Tank who understand that performance is a bigger part of a song than composition in a way Collier maybe doesn’t yet. He can overload the bassline and stop-start the rhythms as much as he likes but without actual personalities driving it it’ll just sound like a Peter Gabriel midi played at 200%.

Earthquake - Graham Central Station: I learned something wonderful in researching this band. The leader, Larry Graham, who was in Sly And The Family Stone is credited with inventing slap bass. He himself refers to the technique as "thumpin' and pluckin' ".

Quand Les Larmes D’un Ange Font Danser La Neige - Melody’s Echo Chamber: Once again furious that I’ve known of Melody’s Echo Chamber for years but never listened to them until now. I have been missing out. This is a perfect sprawling psychedelic jam punctuated with a bizzare cut-up recording about shitting yourself when you die and being declared brain dead in the vatican. It’s got everything. I had to look up who the drummer was on this song because he’s just nailing it, and it turns out it’s Johan Holmegaard from Dungen which is really a perfect fit.

Murder Most Foul - Bob Dylan: I was thinking the other day about how Bob Dylan is doing in quarantine. The man who hasn’t stopped moving his whole life and who’s been on a never ending tour since the 70s is now, I assume, just pacing a hole in a hotel carpet somewhere and jabbering to himself. The strangest part of Bob dropping this 17 minute song about JFK out of nowhere is that he hasn’t put out any original music since 2012. So a gigantic song like this is an even bigger surprise. I, already a huge fan of gigantic songs and Bob Dylan, unsurprisingly love it. I love the slow stirring of the instrumentation, like he hired Dirty Three as a backing band and I love that nearly the entire second half is just listing good songs that he knows. It’s a remarkable song and unlike anything i’ve heard before from Dylan or anyone else. It’s interesting to hear Bob Dylan step into being the great chronicler of the 60s like he’s been told he already was his entire life almost 50 years later, finally accepting the fate foisted on him. The other thing I love about this song is the line when he for some reason praises Lee Harvey Oswald’s shooting “Greatest magic trick ever under the sun / Perfectly executed, skillfully done”

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0k1JjT8fXcUFO6VpM3kaez?si=gWSv88vdShKSnHhLJ_80pQ

#playlists

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nikonothere · 4 years

Note

music ask: 4,5,6

Thank you sweet @tinnike for the ask

4: A song that reminds you of someone you would rather forget about:

Ah, this is a good one. And by good I mean "old obscure and forgotten music from highschool" good (PS the music video is horrific and I apologize in advance; just try to listen to the melody). The band is And Then There Were None, with the song Thank the Watchmaker.

https://youtu.be/0AovIxAXUk8

youtube

5: A song that needs to be played LOUD

This needs no explanation-- BANG BANG!!!

https://youtu.be/ZkW-K5RQdzo

youtube

6: A song that makes you want to dance

Well, I don't dance, so it takes something REALLY powerful for me to want to despite that. I'll give the first two that came to mind right away because they're intertwined and both amazing.

TWRP (TupperWare Remix Party) have a very special connection to me, and the funk is inescapable. This is the song they opened with during their tour for the album Together Through Time, which I was fortunate enough to bum around on a few concert dates with. Kickass band with even more kickass people, and this song was so peppy and always had me dancing right away. The bassist (Commander Meouch) also inspired me to take up bass. I am still sadly nowhere near his funk levels. The man (beast) is incredible. The song is Head up High.

https://youtu.be/Dp5t2-vZzWU

youtube

Second/tied for first is this Scatman John song. This is the song TWRP played at the end of each of their concerts while they cleaned/packed up, and EVERY single time I'd say about 75% of the people there stayed to dance to it. I have so many fond memories of being an exhausted, sweaty, sleep deprived mess at the end of their concerts summoning a second wind to dance and laugh with strangers when this song kicked in and the lights came on. They're probably some of my all time favorite memories, bar none. Song is Scatman, by Scatman John.

https://youtu.be/Hy8kmNEo1i8

youtube

#music asks #music #memories

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bleuhour · 4 years

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2,3,17 for the playlist asks !

2 - Make a 5 song playlist of guilty pleasure songs

music, music everywhere! - jake gyllenhaal & the sack lunch bunch ( what can i say, it’s the jake gyllenhaal effect )

jessica - major lazer ft. ezra koenig ( idk what this song makes me feel but it’s something )

ayy macarena - tyga

anything kesha from her ke$ha era, especially the remixes from I Am The Dance Commander + I Command You to Dance: Remix Album

oh and i listened to a lot of old town road by lil nas x during the song’s golden era djksjksdjks

3- What are 5 songs you would do a lip sync to?

hannah hunt by vampire weekend, i’ve been singing this all day tbh bc mood

glory by bastille

agnes by glass animals ( insert tears here )

adeline by alt-J

princess of china by coldplay ft. rihanna

17 - What are your top 5 “Oldies” jams?

escape (the pina colada song) by rupert holmes

my prayer by the platters

dancing queen by abba

this is the day by the the ( out of context info but this is one of the favorite songs of my favorite actress ever imogen poots )

twin peaks theme by angelo badalamenti

bless u for sending me these n ilysm. <3 :’ )

SEND ME MUSIC ASKS <3

#the pineapple is talking.#glassanmals

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ponchis · 6 years

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ACL 2018 from the perspective of 26-year old ponchis

(Credit: ACL Festival Flickr)

ACL Band Reviews:

Day 1:

Jungle:

Jungle had so much hype coming into the festival. A large amount of people that I know seemingly fell in love with the band and have been hyping them up on social media and in person for a few months now. These guys were great and it was totally up my alley. Playing some solid dance/disco tracks with a great vibe and had everyone around us dancing. I don’t know any of their songs at all but I was sold on them by the first track I heard. Good stuff.

4/5

Khalid:

I saw Khalid earlier this year at SXSW and actually had a great time! Unfortunately I’m not the biggest Khalid fan so the second time around it actually felt like a huge bummer lmao. I’m not saying he was terrible but he was switching from happy go lucky vibes to sad vibes. Ultimately, its not for me but he’s still a great performer.

3/5

Brockhampton:

They lived up to the hype and commanded a crowd better than most acts the entire weekend. There is a reason why Brockhampton recently hit #1 and it's just through good records. Honestly there is not much else to say, they fucking played SWAMP which is the first Brockhampton track I ever heard and they killed it. They killed the entire set. Basically I felt that TEXAS pride because these dudes are from San Marcos/Austin. Good homecoming

5/5

Paul McCartney:

I mean cmon man, you have to see this dude live if you ever fucked with literally anything Beatles period. Just a fantastic and long show, Paul had a lot of anecdotes and looked/sounded amazing (especially for his age). He’s still got it. Its mad corny but the feelings I got when he played I’ve got a feeling, Something, and Hey Jude were next level. Like I felt some type of way on that hey jude sing-a-long you know what I mean and in a good way. It was just wild and felt like I watched one of the best performers of our time.

5/5

Day 2

Rhye:

Another band I had heard of but never really listened to them at all. It was very chill at times and very vibey. They did have some solid dance tracks too. All in all: Not bad! Will I listen to them or see them again? Probably not! Generally not the type of music I listen to and didn’t grab me as much as it did others. BUT it was still good and I had a great time.

3/5

Blood Orange:

Cmon man, its Dev motherfucking HYNES. This man is a legend. All I’m gonna say is that yes he is god like, he performs at a high level and everything sounded amazing.

5/5 will MOST DEFINITELY see him live again in a smaller venue I hope.

Chvrches:

Second time I see Chvrches and it was great! They have a drummer now which gives some of their older tracks a more tangible feel to them that I really enjoyed. Unfortunately, I’m not the biggest fan of their latest album at all as they decided to hit a more mainstream produced sound that I’m just not really feeling at all. But everything they played from their first two albums went mad hard and I loved it.

4/5

Sylvan Esso:

Honestly I don’t know these guys and it felt like background music to me while we waited for Justice. It wasn’t bad but I just didn’t really pay attention to it. Sorry.

Review score: N/A

Justice:

Lmao goddammit JUSTICE man. I am on the record as only really loving their first album (its a goddamn masterpiece). Everything else they have done was ok to pretty bad at best (AVD got some killer tracks, but Woman is just in general boring, check my review if you want my thoughts on that album on this blog as I have detailed why I don’t like it and honestly I still stand by what I said when I published that). But goddamn man they know how to do a show. Its crazy how solid they are live. Remixing all of their new material with older material and sprucing it up is the type of energy they needed for their albums but thankfully they still kill it live. There’s nothing like listening to the opening bars of STRESS, or PHANTOM, or D.A.N.C.E, or Genesis, or Waters of Nazareth. The list goes on, CROSS is still perfect 10 years later. They had everyone off their feet and just going off dancing and having a damn blast. I would definitely see them again. Now please make a good album again!!!!

5/5

Metallica (Last 3 songs):

Low key embarrassing to hear and sort of depressing but Enter Sandman at least sounded good. I’m happy I watched Justice instead.

Review Score: Depressing N/A

Day 3

Amber Mark:

Surprise of the festival. She fucking killed it with the first set of the day. Just fantastic dance music and a Sade cover as well. Pretty damn awesome.

4/5

Amen Dunes:

It's hard for chill bands I never heard of to make an impression on me, but Amen Dunes actually made me pay attention. Its wild, but I just felt the vibe and really enjoyed this band, enough to download their album and check them out some more. Pretty good! They would be amazing in a smaller venue for sure.

3.9/5

A R I Z O N A:

Alright another confession. Even though I enjoyed what I saw, the only part that I actually truly enjoyed from this show was when they covered Passionfruit by Drake. Otherwise I don’t really remember much else aside from the Mexican flag on the guitarist’s mic stand and them just sounding good but nothing mind blowing.

2.5/5

Parquet Courts:

Great band and great energy live. I had to leave mid set so I can’t really dive deep into why I liked these guys (definitely have to try to see them again sometime). Their newest album was fantastic though.

3.5/5 (probably 4 if I stayed for the whole thing)

Janelle Monae:

You hear a lot about Janelle Monae over the years, especially with the fantastic albums she drops time and time again proving she’s a forced to be reckoned with. But goddamn, its wild just how good her live show is. Even if you are not a fan, she will win you over. This is the trait of a good performer. She’s got great charisma and just a goddamn fantastic show.

5/5

Tinashe:

Second time I see Tinashe and loved it. Extremely underrated. She’s just a great performer and got some dope songs. Cmon man 2 ON????????? Yes

5/5

Vince Staples:

It has been a long time coming but I finally saw Vince live and it was 100% worth it. Probably one of my favorite musicians in this day and age. Enough for me to own Summertime 06 on vinyl and I still want Big Fish Theory on vinyl as well and I don’t even own a record player. He’s made some of the most impacting music I’ve heard in the last few years and the show lived up to my own hype. Vince Staples keeps it real and even taunts his own audience and honestly, it’s great. I don’t know I was really into it and the mosh started and it was a lot of fun.

5/5

Travis Scott:

This was the tale of two headliners and two different generations and types of people. Arctic Monkeys played on the other side of the park and offered a solid rock show, BUT Travis Scott pulled all of the hardcore ragers in the park to his side. We waited for an hour and 45 minutes+ for Travis to start and missed out on St. Vincent (low key bummed out but whatever) and it was completely worth it. This is what a headliner looks like, he is a certified modern day “Rockstar” and the show proves it. Coming off one of the most fun albums of the year with Astroworld, the live show went off. It just went so fucking hard. This was truly a show where you could feel everyone feed off each other’s energy. Almost like Justice in a sense, but instead of dancing hard and vibing together as one, this was like a warzone in the mud with everyone jumping, moshing and more. In fact this one of the shows (along with Vince Staples as well) where you can make some good friends in the crowd because you’re all on the same page and just want to go crazy. This is the type of energy release I look for in shows and Day 3 provided it in spades and we capped it off with just an amazing show that left me with bruises. Worth it.

5/5

~ Lets get Deep ~

Let's get this out of the way: I love music. I love it so much that I’ve made it a mission from when I was a teenager to seek out and experience as much live music as I can. Growing up in the border you don’t get almost any chances to meet your musical heroes, and when you do many people will not want to travel with you because they are not as passionate as you are. That is the situation I found myself in back then and have struggled to find a way to express my frustration on people who aren’t as passionate as I am. Thankfully over the years I have found a group of people I can rely on to not only go to shows with, but have a ton of fun with it as well. My regular group of friends aren’t as into music as I am or even into the same types of artists I enjoy the most, which can cause friction sometimes. I’ve come to learn to accept that not everyone is like me and that is ok. I’m often asked why I’m so into the music that I’m into or why I care so much and it is because of the power a great album can hold, whether it be a release of anger or in general healing. I don’t have much musical ability to express myself so I find the music that will have elements of what I currently feel at the time.

So when I go into a big festival such as Austin City Limits, I come in with all of these thoughts in mind. Who am I going to see? But most importantly what does my group of friends want to see? There is a conflict there since we are an eclectic group of people with very differing tastes in music. What they might think sucks, could be something I very much enjoy. So there is compromise with that. And as we head more into the future and I grow older, I think about a lot of the newer artists appearing on the big stages of the festival compared to the older acts. What compels young people to go see Metallica for example? I don’t really know. I’m 26 now but in some sense I still feel like I am 22 or 23, just eager to quench my hunger to rage at a concert. Part of me thinks is because I still live in Austin which for all intents and purposes will always feel like a city filled with students. But the more I think about it the more I realize that a sea change has definitely arrived and a new generation is ready for their time.

ACL 2018 is what I would categorize as the generational shift in a microcosm spread across three days. On one stage you have Arctic Monkeys, and on the other side of the park you have Travis Scott — just two incredibly different types of artists with different types of fans. For example, I don’t and probably won’t ever understand why someone would rather see Odesza over Paul McCartney. At the end of the day, its fine, as long as you had your own fun and were able to enjoy yourself. After seeing many live videos of Metallica before the weekend began, I decided I didn’t have to see them because of the quality of their live show. That and I would be surrounded by a lot of people who would place a different kind of energy to that live show. From what I could tell the crowd for Metallica was generally very chill with some light thrashing around, but nothing on the level of what Travis Scott or even Brockhampton brought to the stage. I didn’t go see Shawn Mendes because not only is his music just literally not for me, I have no personal connection to it whatsoever since I don’t listen to him at all. I’m sure he’s a great performer and I’m glad my friends all got to see him. I went to Vince Staples instead and had a blast of my own. I’m going on a rant here about this generational divide because I feel it's happening in real time. After the second day, I played my friends some Sheck Wes and they had not heard of him, but while waiting for Travis Scott everyone around me knew the song. I’m usually trying to find new music and what connects with myself and sometimes its the anthem of a specific culture or age group.

As I read comments on youtube or reddit (always a GREAT thing to do and NEVER a bad idea lmfao) I notice so many people just out of touch with not just the culture but reality. Mosh pits are now cool again, especially at rap and pop shows, and a certain type of person will just never be about it. But you can’t stop the kids from going off, they need to let this energy go. Before I used to hate on ACL in my time, the crowds were just never hyped enough, never had a specific energy I wanted, or gave me the outlet I needed to release my own energy, but this year I felt the shift happen. The line-up this year seemed split in half of what the younger generation wanted to experience and what an older generation wanted to see. You’re not going to find people raging at Paul McCartney but you will find them going hard for Brockhampton or many of the EDM shows at the festival. I’m all for letting people just rock with whatever they want to see, and I was very happy to see some good concert etiquette (picking people up if they fell down, holding up personal items and asking around who’s they are, people saying sorry to each other, just in general people being very nice to each other).

As for the artists I saw, I’m pretty happy with who I got to see with my group. Usually there is a divide between what I want to see and who my friends want to see but thankfully this year was mostly a group effort and we all got to see many things together (except for the last day when I decided I had to see Vince / Travis up close and in the pit).

In conclusion: This was basically my favorite full 3 day ACL experience thanks to the group of friends I went with. Every other year there were either many regrets or problems rose up as the days went by. The artists we saw were great, the energy we had was amazing and all around it was just an amazing time and it got me sad when it was over. I hadn’t felt that way since Fun Fun Fun Fest (or SOS Fest). Previous years of ACL sometimes would frustrate me because either I was just not feeling the vibe or the people around me just had no energy (and in some cases huge disagreements would be had which would lead to more frustration). This year though, everything fell into a surprising rhythm for me. Just a grand ol TIME. The people around us had a different sort of energy previous years I attended did not have and it was very refreshing.

ADDENDUM:

Quick Bonus Album Reviews:

Sheck Wes - MUDBOY

Top 3 albums of the year. The last time I connected with an album this hard was with Veteran from JPEGMAFIA. Yes, Mo Bamba goes mad hard, but you know what else does? The rest of the album. Its insanely impressive. No features. HARD RECOMMEND.

Blood Orange - Negro Swan

Its beautiful man, I just love this album.

Fromis_9 - To. Day / From.9

The homie @pokecapn, hit me up on twitter to let me know he was going to KCON NY and he was going to take video and told me the groups he was going to see. Fromis_9 was one of the groups he listed, and I had heard of them only because of their name. Look at that name, it has a damn underscore in it, it stands out: “From Idol School” and there are 9 members. This is some grade-A classic Kpop insanity just from the name alone. Then my friend Seungyoun, reminded me that Koreans pronounce the F as a P so the name sounds like “Promise_9” when said out loud which is just hilarious to me on so many levels. But how is the music?

I goddamn can’t stop listening to it. The producers this group scored just go off. I love the percussion on the EP and on the Single. The songs are all fast paced and incredibly addicting. Its just really goddamn good and feels like comfort food to me. Just some really solid and enjoyable KPOP.

Albums I’m still listening to:

Nine Inch Nails - Bad Witch

How the fuck does Trent Reznor still sound good and come up with these musical ideas, I’ll never know. He’s so damn good and this album is fucking awesome.

JPEGMAFIA - Veteran

As far as I’m concerned, its the album of the year. I keep finding new reasons why I love this album and I’ve been listening to it since February. DAAAAAAAAAAAAMN PEGYYYYYYY

Lil Peep - Come Over When You’re Sober Pt. 1

This has had a longer lasting power than I first initially thought (even before his death). I just can’t stop listening to it. RIP PEEP

Travis Scott - Astroworld: It still slaps

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neohowphinktams · 3 years

Audio

OooOooO

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christiansuxx · 8 months

Text

Kesha / Ke$ha - ERAS

Design by me

ANIMAL • CANNIBAL • I AM THE DANCE COMMANDER + I COMMAND YOU TO DANCE: THE REMIX ALBUM • WARRIOR • DECONSTRUCTED • RAINBOW • HIGH ROAD • GAG ORDER • GAG ORDER (LIVE ACOUSTIC EP FROM SPACE)

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pavlovers · 6 years

Note

music asks: 5, 9, 10, 14, 17, 20, 25, 32, 35, 41, 43, 49, 50, 56

5. what do you think the best popular song of the year is so far?

i rarely listen to top 40 anymore but uhh i thought the finesse remix with cardi b and bruno mars was really good. oh and this is america by childish gambino is easily one of the best songs of the year so far.

(apparently humility by gorillaz also charted on the hot 100 so that too i guess)

9. album of the year?

hard to say yet but contenders include: virtue - the voidz, isolation - kali uchis, tranquility base hotel and casino - arctic monkeys, always ascending - franz ferdinand, dirty computer - janelle monae, and 7 - beach house

10. what are the best songs your parents have gotten you into?

really the extent of my parents’ knowledge of music is cambodian music that they never remember the name of and my dad’s love for old 80s hits so: sweet dreams - eurythmics, just be good to me - sos band, little lies - fleetwood mac, the tide is high - blondie, and hungry like the wolf - duran duran

14. if someone asks you what music they should check out, what are your go-to recommendations?

it really depends on what im feeling at the moment and what i know about the other person’s music taste. i usually don’t like, casually recommend someone to listen to one of my favorite bands of all time or something unless they ask specifically about it or im confident that they’d like it because like idk i guess i find sharing stuff like that to be very vulnerable.

17. what are your favorite songs that have ever been popular?

somebody told me - the killers

someday - the strokes

friday im in love - the cure

common people - pulp

blue monday - new order

20. what was your first concert? if you haven’t been to one, what do you want your first concert to be?

it was the 1975 at mohegan sun arena on november 5, 2016, which was the day after my fourteenth birthday. i cant remember much from it now but it was a ton of fun, god the light set up was phenomenal and my mother seemed to enjoy matt healy’s dancing a lot.

25. what is your singing voice like? what singers do you remind yourself of?

oof i kinda hate my singing voice so uhh idk. i usually like making my voice as loud and commanding and bright as possible so i tend to sing a lot more in a chest voice when im alone. idk i think i sound very much like what your average 15 year old girl who happens to not be tone deaf would sound like. i guess make of that what u will because to compare myself to other singers would be doing a huge disservice to them.

32. how do you feel about musicals?

oh i definitely used to be a musical person. i very much used to be that 13 year old who was into heathers the musical and hamilton and stuff like that. i guess ive grown out of being so invested in them, and i havent really properly listened to one in quite a while but im definitely not like against them or anything.

35. what are your favorite songs/soundtracks from movies?

i dont watch movies too often and my memory’s the worst so all i can think of is the trainspotting soundtrack. the best songs off of that imo are sing by blur, temptation by new order, and 2:1 by elastica.

41. do you prefer songs that have good melodies or songs that have good lyrics?

i mean ideally i’d like both of course, but i guess lately ive been kind of finding myself more invested in the sonic side of things. if a song that has a great hook has some mediocre lyrics, i’ll more often than not let it slide i guess. which doesnt mean i dont care at all about lyrics or dont appreciate them, it’s just as ive been consuming more and more music my overall enjoyment of a song has started to depend less and less on whether a song has the most quality lyrics or not.

43. name five songs you like that were released at least 50 years ago.

the night before - the beatles

venus in furs - velvet underground

this guy’s in love with you - herb alpert and the tijuana brass

the times they are a changin’ - bob dylan

hush - deep purple

49. what are your favorite album covers?

pretty odd, wpsiamtwin, definitely maybe, sgt peppers

50. any cover versions that you think are better than the original?

katy on a mission - arctic monkeys

start today - fall out boy

hallelujah - jeff buckley

i am the walrus - oasis

56. if you had a stage name, what would it be?

actually my full name’s relatively short and simple (it’s the same # of syllables as something like “sandra dee”) so i always figured that if i ever decided to become famous i probably wouldnt have to do anything to it

#ask #thanks diana for puttin up w me taking forever

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fameinhistory · 4 years

Text

Seyi Shay

Seyi Shay is a Nigerian-based singer, songwriter and actress. She wrote and produced three songs for the soundtrack to Konami's video game Crime Life: Gang Wars (2005). Background information Full Name: Oluwaseyi Odedere Born: 21 December 1985 Birth place: Tottenham, London, United Kingdom Genres: Afropop, R&B, reggae Famous as: Singer, songwriter, performer, actress Years active: 2001 – present Labels: Stargurl, Island (former) Website: iamseyishay.com Movies: Lara and the Beat Albums: Seyi or Shay, Summer Vibe, Lara & The Beat (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) Awards: The Headies Award for Best R&B Single

Biographical and educational history Seyi Shay was born and raised in Tottenham, London, England, to Nigerian parents. Her mother was from Northern Nigeria and her father is a native of Ife. She has two elder brothers and an elder sister. She and her siblings were raised by their single mother. Seyi Shay grew up in a religious setting and felt like a single child during her adolescence. She started visiting Nigeria when she was two years old, and eventually attended the Command High School in Maryland, Lagos. She went back to London to complete her undergraduate studies. Her interest in music was influenced by members of her household. Her late mother was a chorister and her sister used to compose songs for TV. Moreover, her brother was a radio and club disc jockey. Seyi Shay joined her secondary school choir and started performing at the age of 6. She performed for the London Community Gospel Choir during their world tour, which included 13 cities in Japan. Seyi Shay was applauded for her performances in Japan. She studied music at a local UK college and went on to study business management at the University of East London. In an interview with Lanre Odukoya of Thisday, Shay said that her mother wasn't a staunch supporter of her musical ambitions. Moreover, her mother wanted her to become a doctor or lawyer. Prior to departing the Earth, her mother told her to focus on her music career and put God first. Also Read About: Genevieve Nnaji

Music career Seyi Shay music career took an upswing when she signed her first ever record deal with No Apology, a record company affiliated with George Martin (commonly referred to as the "Fifth Beatle"). In 2006, Seyi Shay formed a girl band in the UK called Boadicea; they were managed by Ron Tom, the founder and manager of All Saints and Sugababes. The band separated after two years, and Shay decided to partake in the From Above UK singing audition. After the conclusion of the audition, she emerged as the lead vocalist for the now defunct girl group From Above. The group inked a record deal with Mathew Knowles' management company after performing for him. They were taken to Houston to undergo energetic vocal and dance trainings. The group supported Beyoncé while she was in the UK for her I Am... World Tour. They presented an award at the 2011 MTV Europe Music Awards and had their own MTV reality show called Breaking From Above, which aired in over 166 countries around the world. The group later disassembled and Shay had an opportunity to continue her management deal with Mathew Knowles, as well as secure a recording contract with Sony. Instead, she made a decision to join Flytime Music after getting an offer from them. Seyi Shay has worked with a number of musicians, including Justin Timberlake, Brian Michael Cox, Darey, Bilal, Michelle Williams, Chip, Rob Knoxx, H-Money, and Cameron Wallace. She also wrote "You Will See", a song that was included on Melanie C's third studio album Beautiful Intentions (2005). Shay wrote "White Lies", a song from Chip's Transition album. In November 2013, Shay signed an endorsement deal with telecommunications service provider Etisalat. In July 2015, she signed a record deal with Island Records.

Flytime Music Seyi Shay was introduced to Sound Sultan during his visit to London in 2011. After listening to some of her demos, Sultan convinced her to relocate to Nigeria and pursue her musical career there. In addition to meeting Sultan, Shay was introduced to Cecil Hammond of Flytime Promotions. Hammond signed her to his record label Flytime Music and decided to launch her solo career in Nigeria. In 2013, Shay left Flytime Music and told Vanguard newspaper that she had joined the label to promote her brand. She also said that while signed to the record label, she was very much in control of her brand. Moreover, she said she still has a relationship with the label.

Music style and role models Although her musical style is primarily a combination of Afropop and R&B, Shay doesn't conform to a particular genre of music. She believes that her musical prowess covers different genres, and has stated that her music draws from things that inspire her. Shay has cited her mother, Mathew Knowles, 2face Idibia, Beyoncé, Tina Turner, Sound Sultan, Wizkid, and Omawumi as mentors.

Notable performances Seyi Shay performed at the 2013 COSON song awards. In July 2013, she performed at one of Big Brother Africa 8's live eviction shows. On 20 July 2013, she performed in Asaba for the 2013 edition of Star Music Trek. On 27 September 2013, Shay graced the stage at the Sisters with Soul concert, which was headlined by Mary J. Blige. On 20 November 2013, she performed "Bad" with Wale at the Johnnie Walker Step Up to VIP Lifestyle Launch event (held at the Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos). Shay was a supporting act on the 2013 Hennessy Artistry 2013 Club. In December 2013, she performed at the Harp Rhythm Unplugged concert. On 15 February 2014, Shay performed with Kelly Rowland, D'banj, Tiwa Savage, Mo' Eazy, Zaina, Timi Dakolo, Waje, Muna, JJC and Eva Alordiah at Darey's Love Like A Movie concert.

Seyi Shay music release and albums

Shay released her debut studio album Seyi or Shay in November 2015. Work on the album started as early as 2011. Shay worked with several producers in Nigeria, including Jay Sleek, Tee Y Mix, Del B and Cobhams Asuquo. On 11 August 2011, she released "Loving Your Way" and "No Le Le", two promotional singles that helped launched her singing career in Nigeria. On 27 July 2012, Shay released "Irawo" as the album's lead single. The song was produced by Del B and was originally titled "Erawo". During the aforementioned interview with Ajose, Shay said she wrote "Irawo" to inspire her colleagues and workmates to pull together. The music video for the song was shot and directed in Nigeria by Clarence Peters. It was uploaded onto YouTube on 3 June 2013, at a total length of 3 minutes and 47 seconds. The remix of "Irawo" features rap verses from Vector and was released on 6 December 2012. In August 2013, Shay released the album's second single "Killin' Me Softly", featuring Nigerian singer Timaya. The song was written and produced by Del B. Shay told Ajose she felt in love with the song when she first heard it. Moreover, she reached out to Timaya for a verse because she wanted a different vibe on the song. On 6 October 2013, Shay released "Ragga Ragga" and "Chairman" as the third and fourth singles from the album. The songs were produced by Del B. The latter features vocals from Kcee, a recording artist who was present during the song's composition. Prior to releasing the singles, Shay signed a partnership deal with the international talent company J-Management. On 8 January 2014, Shay released the music video for "Ragga Ragga"; it was shot and directed in Lagos by Peters. "Ragga Ragga" peaked at number 7 on MTV Base's Official Naija Top 10 chart from 15 March through 19 March 2014. In May 2013, Shay told Lanre Odukoya of This Day she recorded a single with Olamide. She said that working with him was easy because of their work ethic. She also told Odukoya the song was written by Olamide and would be released in 2014. Seyi Shay has been featured on the records of several promising artists, including Praiz, Mr. Walz, Yung Grey C and Amir. On 1 April 2014, Shay released the Dokta Frabz-produced single "Murda". The song features additional vocals from Patoranking and Shaydee. Aribaba of Jaguda gave the song 9 out 10 stars, stating: "The use of familiar lyrics don't know what you've got till it's gone makes the first time listening experience even more enjoyable." On 11 May 2014, the music video for "Murda" was uploaded onto Vevo. It was directed by Meji Alabi for JM Films. In March 2019, Shay announced on Instagram that she had been given a concert residency in the United Kingdom. The 2-night residency at the Biosdale of Canary Wharf in London was billed to hold on 29 and 30 May 2019. Reference: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seyi_Shay Read the full article

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winterlong · 7 years

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grimelords · 6 years

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Hello I’ve finished my February playlist for you. There’s no timeline on these things anymore they just come out whenever they come out it seems. A good mix, and I’m sure there’ll be at least one thing in here you’ve never heard before that you’ll like.

Doncamatic (feat. Daley) - Gorillaz: This song is extremely traumatic for me because they released it after Plastic Beach as a standalone single and Damon Albarn said they had a whole other album worth of songs from the Plastic Beach sessions that they were thinking about releasing with Doncamatic as the lead single that just never materialised, and the idea of Plastic Beach 2 sitting on a hard drive while we get The Now Now (The Fall 2) instead is maddening.

Portait Of A Man (live) - Marlon Williams: I feel like I've used The Secret to bring this album into existence. It's exactly what I wanted from him - no studio artifice or weird genre pigeonholing and his huge voice on full display. It's incredible and long as hell and this is definitely the highlight.

Houdini Crush - Buke & Gase: I'm in love with the structure of this song. It takes SO long to get back to the chorus. It takes about three different sections in the middle and then finally gets back there and it's so satisfying because of it. You could edit this song into a tight indie pop piece but instead it has the space to go wild and jam and it's great.

AE_LIVE_KRAKOW_200914 - Autechre: Sorry but Autechre finally put all their live albums on spotify and they're very VERY good. Not the sort of thing that you want to listen to as part of a playlist exactly cause they go for an hour each but a very nice reminder nonetheless.

Sheet Metal Girl - Pig Destroyer: I think Pig Destroyer is one of the best band names I've ever heard. I found out later they meant pigs like cops which is still good but the idea of absolutely eviscerating a hog for no reason is very palpably metal. Just looked up the lyrics and this song seems to literally about having sex with a girl made out of sheet metal. Good!

Horizon - Aldous Harding: I absolutely love this song and the way she says 'babe' lights my brain up like a christmas tree. Every now and then I think about when you’ll die baaaaabe.

Born Slippy (Nux) - Underworld: There's a good bit on the Genius page for this song that says "Lots of 1990s acts helped popularize techno, but in Karl Hyde, Underworld had something that was the exclusive province of rock bands: a totally full-of-it frontman who sounded cool." and it's interesting that Underworld and The Prodigy are the biggest names to survive that time and still be at least slightly relevant now. No matter how much you put into your instrumentals nothing can really compare to just having an insane guy yell a bunch of garbage over it.

A Change Is Going To Come - Baby Huey & The Baby Sitters: This is like all good all normal and then he does that huge squeal at 2 minutes in and you're rocked to your core and then it only gets bigger and bigger and better from there. Also maybe one of the best mid song monologues I've ever heard.

No Signal (feat. Roy Woods) - 24hrs: The whole thing of emo rap mirroring mid 2000s emo is still so strange because it's not just the mindset and content being repurposed it's the literal melodic conventions. Change the instrumentation of this song and it's melodically just an emo song. Very strange, but this song is great regardless.

De Aqui No Sales - Cap.4: Disputa - Rosalia: Rosalia rocks and I only just found out El Guincho co-produced this album which is very exciting to me. I love the way this song feels like it never really gets to the big build up it's promising. It has a big intro for about half the song and then when it feels like it's about to blow up when the handclaps come in it just sits in that groove for a while and ends. I also feel like I should mention the video for this song because it's like the platonic ideal of a music video. It's got everything you could ask for. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvGt2BcDl_g

Glass Jar - Gang Gang Dance: Here's how good brains are: I had a sudden urge to listen to this album the other day but couldn't remember what it was called or who it was by, only the album cover, but for some reason locked away in my brain was the fact that it was from 2011 so I just looked through Pitchfork's Best Of 2011 list until I recognised it. Incredible. Anyway I'm so glad I did because I ended up having a huge phase with this album. They walk the fine line of psychedelic jammy bands like this of taking up a lot of space with atmospherics but it never feeling like it's lost momentum. Even when this song takes fully half of its 11 minute runtime to properly get started it never feels like wasted time somehow, it's always moving somewhere.

Heavyweight - Infected Mushroom: It's unbelievable that this song's good because it absolutely shouldn't be. The unholy mix of goa trance and metal usually reserved for Command And Conquer soundtracks is so unbelievably naff that it's come all the way around again and I absolutely love it.

Black Static - Health: I'm still absolutely furious about Pitchfork giving this album a 3 and not particularly for the score but because it's some of the worst Pitchfork Writing I've seen in a quite a while. They tried to cancel them for calling the album Slaves Of Fear I think: "The “we,” it seems, refers to the slaves, the slaves of fear, and if I try any harder to connect the dual sensation of edginess and laziness with slavery, the all-American institution that killed and brutalized millions of people for hundreds of years, I am going to have to take a long walk into the sun." Not sure about that. Anyway this song's great sorry for talking about a review instead of the song!

Burn Bridges - The Grates: Twee pop is an underrated genre and The Grates are an underrated band because they brought so much attitude and power to it it's hardly twee at all. It's huge and it rocks!

Girlfriend (feat. Lil Mama) - Dr. Luke Mix - Avril Lavigne: Sorry for putting Dr Luke on your dash in 2019 but this is mostly for Lil Mama. Removing Avril's verses and replacing them with Lil Mama but keeping the chorus and big guitars makes it sound like a lost Girl Talk song and it's so, so much better than the original. There's also a good bit in this where she really puts a lot of emphasis on saying 'Jennifer Hudson' and the weird harmony vocals in the background mirror it which I like a lot.

Panic Switch - Silversun Pickups: It seems like Silversun Pickups had no lasting impact beyond being one hit wonders for Lazy Eye which is so strange to me because their first two albums were absolutely solid. This is also a good example of totally nonsense lyrics feeling like they have meaning because the melody it so good.

3 - Seekae: It's very strange now to think that Alex Cameron was in Seekae. But that's not important. What is important is how good this song is. In the extremely narrow genre of Mount Kimbie-ites +Dome really stood out to me as album from guys who really got it. It's extremely catchy music but it still sounds like nothing you've ever heard before which when you think about it sounds like it should be impossible.

Shooting Stars - Bag Raiders: Bag Raiders did a little Song Exploder thing for Triple J about this song a little while ago and pointed out something I'd never noticed before which is that this song has the extremely strange structure of 1 really long verse, breakdown, 1 really long chorus, end. Which is.... completely amazing. And also that this song blew up and charted higher than it ever had before via memes like 6 years after it came out is still bizarre. Remember when it was in the video for Swish Swish by Katy Perry? God I hope they got paid a million dollars for that.

Romantic Rights (Erol Alkan's Love From Below Re-Edit) - Death From Above 1979: Huge fan of this remix that seems to just drop the full song unedited right in the middle. The perfect way to remix an already great song - just make it longer.

Dwa Serduszka - Joanna Kulig: I saw Cold War and subsequently couldn't get this song out of my head. I loved that movie so much but I also extremely agreed when @cyborgbree said the ending was like a Simpsons parody or foreign movies.

Holes - Mercury Rev: This song gives me depression and makes me feel like I'm sorting through old records and merch from my old band that tried really hard but never got anywhere even though I've never even been in a band. That's the power of music!

It's Never Over (Hey Orpheus) - Arcade Fire: Reflektor is a great and underrated album and to this day I am still finding new things to love about it! Namely this song which I've never paid much attention to before but massively jumped out at me last time I listened. It's a 3 note riff but it's absolutely amazing.

Dance Your Life Away - Audiobooks: Huge fan of having the gall to name your band Audiobooks and a huge fan of this song! It sounds like if Life Without Buildings was a dance band, which is a theoretically perfect idea. It sounds like she's just making the words up on the spot and she probably is and it's absolutely great.

Everything (Deathless) - JW Ridley: I'm so glad that War On Drugs brought heartland rock back for the masses and finally gave us back extended guitar solos outside of a metal or prog context. It is so inspiring what you can do with two chords and a propulsive groove.

Unmarked Helicopters - Soul Coughing: Sorry for continually putting Soul Coughing in these playlists but check out how good this song they did for the X Files movie soundtrack was. 'check out this Soul Coughing song they did for the X Files movie soundtrack' is a very specific kind of 90s sentence. Anyway the 'black black black black and blacker' part with the distortion on the vocals is so good, love it lots.

Don't Sit Down Cause I've Moved Your Chair - Arctic Monkeys: I saw Arctic Monkeys a couple of weeks ago and it was amazing but also extra good because they played this song that I'd completely forgotten about and it went off. The Josh Homme produced Arctic Monkeys albums are very good because his fingerprints are all over them and they sound like Queens Of The Stone Age covers.

What Can I Do If The Fire Goes Out? - Gang Of Youths: It's fucked up how good this song is. I listened to it the other day and was like 'what the fuck how come I never listened to Gang Of Youths second album that much? But then I kept going and realised it was 70 minutes long and had about five interlude tracks on it. I love Gang Of Youths but they need a producer that will yell at them until they make a 40 minute album. Fuck this song's good though. So good I'm mad I haven't seen it live yet.

Shark Smile - Big Thief: I don't even know the words to this song or what it's about but it makes me cry anyway. I'm very glad I found out about Big Thief this month, like two years after everyone else. Their description on Bandcamp says "Listening to Big Thief is like the feeling of looking at a dog and suddenly marvelling that it is like you but very not like you; when you are accustomed to looking at a dog and thinking 'dog', watching Big Thief is like forgetting the word 'dog' and looking at that naked animal and getting much closer to it and how different it is to you" which is a certainly a way to feel.

Inhaler - Foals: I don't know how I've avoided it but I've never really gotten much into Foals even though they have multiple songs that I really really love, this one being one of them. I think it's an amazing piece of recording simply for how huge it gets. This song swells to about ten times its original size as the chorus hits before totally deflating again. Also a huge fan of anyone that can make a Battles riff work in a conventional song like this does.

Red Bull & Hennessy - Jenny Lewis: Another fantastic song in the long pantheon of great songs about getting twisted and being horny. The isolated 'ohh' after 'all we've been through' feels like a real Shania Twain piece of production and I love it. Also the drums on this song are absolutely massive for some reason which is very cool.

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archivewr · 5 years

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TeenSpeak Interview

At the age of 18, Wade Robson has already done more than most people dream about doing in a lifetime. His insight into the music world has commanded the respect and attention of Britney Spears, N'Sync, Tyrese, Michael Jackson, Paula Adbul, Janet Jackson...just to name a few. This rising star is quickly becoming an explosive force on our pop scene, having proven his weight in gold time after time. Having just directed and choreographed Britney Spear's and N'Sync's dynamite performance on the MTV music awards, Wade Robson is making all of the right moves to being the most sought after choreographer, director, and recognized artist for his own music.TeenSpeak had the opportunity to catch up with Wade to learn that this 18 year old is involved in writing his own music, in the midst of writing songs with N'Sync's Justin Timerberlake, and, hoping to revive interest in the musical by writing one of his own. While he paraphrased Andy Warhol's "Every-body will be famous for 15 minutes, and I think that's scary and it's so true," Robson seems to be doing everything right to insure himself a spotlight that makes a lasting impression.Born with a "gifted talent," Wade seems to have the ability to predict just what is happening in the "popular" industry, and he admits that some of what's happening is not all good. He says, "Before you had your Princes and your Madonnas and your Michael Jackson superstars...but it's hard to do that now. Musically, the thing that has been bothering me is that a record label will find their artist, and then, the first thing they will do is go to every huge producer. This is fine, but each producer is going to do what they do, so this album becomes this conglomeration of all of these producers' visions of the artist, and it's no longer the artist's vision anymore."Dedicated to his own artistic feelings, "It's really just a feel, and I just go with whatever the music makes me do," Wade also admitted that artists, like N'Sync will remain popular if they grow with their fans and the times. "The times are always changing... each generation that comes is brought up with a different sort of music, so you are going to have to change with it. If you don't change, you'll be gone in a minute."Born in Brisbane, Australia, Wade began dancing at the age of 3. When he was a mere 5 year old, he was sharing the dance floor with such stars as Michael Jackson, Paula Adbul and Debbie Allen. In a feature article in Rolling Stone Magazine, Wade was lauded as the "hottest choreographer.""Sometimes it's hard for people to take instructions from me because of my age, but they eventually give in," Wade pronounced with a chuckle. Wade's young age has certainly not hindered his ability to maintain a substantial status in the entertainment world. At age 11, he signed with Sony Music as a member of the Rap group Quo. He has also landed guest appearances on "Full House," "Pacific Blue," Nothing Sacred," Picket Fences," and a role in the movie, "Ed TV."A consumate entertainer of the 21st century, Wade is a brilliant star in the entertainment industry, and his "fifteen minutes of fame" are far from over. What follows is TeenSpeak's interview.

TeenSpeak: Where do you think that the music industry is going?

Robson: You start off with a bang! Obviously pop is really strong right now, as we all know. But I think pop is definitely changing a lot. I think pop is going into an electronica sort of vibe. Things like techno and electronic is sort of becoming more mainstream. Even N'Sync's last album, had some electronica elements -- all musicians are kind of going towards that. Also, I pretty much think that everything is starting to come together. Pop is using a lot of R&B, now too. It's funny because we forget what pop means. Pop comes from popular, so, if the people like it, it's pop. Everything is just starting to come together, it's starting to broaden -- maybe things won't be so specified.

TeenSpeak: Where is your music taking you?

Robson: My stuff is real dance oriented, and it actually has some rock elements in it too, because I have always really loved rock. It comes from the base of hip hop and the pop audience, but there are some rock influences and R&B influences in it. It's definitely something new that no one has heard before, but it's not going to scare anyone because it's not too different.

TeenSpeak: How much harder is it to be a music star today than ever before?

Robson: It's funny I was driving along Sunset yesterday and I saw this quote that this friend of mine had brought up a while ago. It's a quote from Andy Warhol that basically says, in the future, everybody will be famous for 15 minutes. And, I think that's scary, but it's so true. There's so much of everything now. Things are so specialized. There are so many of each thing that it's really hard to be famous.

There really aren't that many mega-stars or super-stars -- there's very few of them now. You had your Princes and your Madonnas and your Michael Jacksons superstars, and it's hard to do that now. Also, and I may be going off the question a little bit, but musically the thing that has been bothering me is that a record label will find their artist, and then the first thing they will do is go to every huge producer. This is fine, but each producer is going to do what they do. So, this album becomes this conglomeration of all of these producers visions of the artist. It's not the artist's vision anymore. So, to me, there can't be artists anymore. I think it's hard for the fans. How can you really like an artist when, I'm not saying that they are not talented, but you have got all of these other people around them doing their thing. You may like one vein to the picture, but the whole package doesn't always make sense. Before, when an artist would make an album, they would have one main producer, or one group of producers who would together figure out what the vein of the album was going to be together. Today, we get all of these random songs that don't go together and don't make sense. It's hard for the fans to know what the artist represents.

TeenSpeak: How long do you think that the real popular stars of today are going to last?

Robson: It depends. Artists must grow because the times are always changing, and the cycle has been here before with the pop thing. The thing that didn't happen before is that the artists didn't grow. I think that N'Sync has a chance because they are changing. Artists have to think that their fans get older so either they want to grow with their fans, or they want to keep the same age group. But, even if they do want to keep that same demographic of fans, each generation that comes is brought up with a different sort of music, so artists are going to have to change with it. If they don't change, they'll be gone in a minute, any of these artists that are out right now.

TeenSpeak: What accounts for the popularity of groups like N'Sync and solo artists, like Britney Spears?

Robson: I think part of it is that kids feel that that could be them up there. They are pretty much regular people. Especially when N'Sync started -- and it bothered me at first because when I think of somebody who is an artist and on stage, I want them to look really elaborate, with cool costumes. They were always up on stage in street clothes. Then I realized that was what made them so popular. The fans could see them up on stage, and then they could go and buy what they were wearing at the store down the street. They felt like they were close to them. They were regular guys, so that could be them up on stage. They feel a part of the music scene. That's part of the reason why they are so big.

TeenSpeak: When you are choreographing, how do you match dance movement with different music styles?

Robson: It's really just a feel, and I just go with whatever the music makes me do. I am lucky, or blessed with the talent to do music too. Pretty much all of the choreography work that I have done has involved a complete redo the music myself. Like all of the stuff I have done with N'Sync and Britney and IMAX and whoever, I have always remixed their songs -- which is great because it goes different ways. Sometimes I will do the music first and then choreograph to it, or sometimes I'll start choreography first and then build the music around the choreography. That's what's so cool. You will watch it and you can't tell what came first, the music or the choreography, because they go so well, hand in hand. The way I'm just feeling it, it's whatever it makes you do. As far as the movement, I don't like to think about it too much. When it comes to staging and concepts, obviously, it's different.

TeenSpeak: So Rap music doesn't cause you to do more hard edged moves...

Robson: Oh, definitely, whatever the song is -- if it's a harder song, and a darker subject, my movement is going to be a lot darker and gothic. If it's a happier song, my movement is going to be happier and jumpier and more like a party.

TeenSpeak: Do you think that pure creativity is squashed in an effort to give the public something that they can comprehend?

Robson: Yeah, to a certain extent, but I think the artists today are talented.

TeenSpeak: Who do you think is an example of a pure creative talent?

Robson: Lauren Hill, D'Angelo -- these people who are really self contained artists. But I think that if you are talented, even if you are packaged by the labels, your talent will eventually shine through no matter what. It's the strongest thing. People will begin to recognize it. But if it is just not there, or the drive is not there in you, then anything that happens to you, you let happen to you. If you say you got caught in a bad deal, well, you signed the bad deal.

TeenSpeak: What do you think about some of these stars who are dressing in a certain way, and in so doing, encouraging young girls to copy them? A lot of people started to criticize Britney Spears, for example, for going from a sweet look to something more expository.

Robson: I will have to say that a lot of that is my fault too! But, it's a hard situation, and obviously Britney is a role model, and she has got to be aware of that. At the same time, she has got to be her. It's hard. I don't think it's too bad, because I think she always does it in a way that is respectful. If she does it, it is because she wants to, not because anybody else tells her to do it. I think it's empowering, and it may not be what certain people like, but you are always going to have some of the people love you, and some of the people hate you. That's the way it is. At least you are doing it and this is who you are.

Teenspeak: We learned that you are interested in reviving the musical. Can you tell us a little about that?

Robson: I have always loved musicals, but there was always something that bothered me about the way they were done. Even the simplest things, it may sound silly, bothered me. Like, when someone was walking on the street, they would go into a song. Where did that music come from? Things like that always bothered me. I always wanted there to be a reason for the song. I don't like meaningless songs. I don't mean to say that everything has to be practical and realistic -- of course not. It is afterall, a dreamland, but if a song is supposed to be in the character's head, I want someone to explain that, so the audience will understand why this is the music that they are hearing. These things just weren't explained, and this was a little cheesy to me. But also, filmed musicals are something that I want to do a little later in my life -- it's something I definitely want to do, but I want to bring them up to date with things that go on in our lives today. I wrote one, actually, that had to do with the stock market -- it was a musical, and I brought in different elements, taking it to a different level.

TeenSpeak: Why do you think that the musical has failed? We really haven't seen one since West Side story.

Robson: The same thing -- times change, and musicals weren't changing with the times. They were a little cheesy. People were becoming more political, and people didn't want to see this hunky dorry stuff. The musical didn't consider the issues of the day.

TeenSpeak: What do you think about music telling a story or having a message? Is that occuring a lot?

Robson: No I don't think it's happening enough. There is a way to do it. To me, sending a message is a hard thing to do without being corny. There is a way you have got to figure out how to do it. I think it's hard, and that's why it doesn't happen that often. But, I think it's important. It's something that I always try to do. I always try to put some sort of story line in, or a message in, but you have got to find a cool way to do it. It's something that you will definitely notice about my music when it starts popping.

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avaliveradio · 6 years

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FlashBack Friday Indie Music Playlist and Music Business News

Revisit some of your favorite indie artist tunes from 1 year ago today on this special Flashback Friday. Hosted by JACQUELINE JAX.

Listen to the show :

The Anchor Fm page: https://anchor.fm/ava-live-radio/episodes/FlashBack-Friday-Indie-Music-Playlist-and-Music-Business-News-e2rdsk

iHeartRadio station page : https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-AVA-Live-Radio-Musi-29336730/

The Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2toX0f3dPmI8gmUSOKZicx

FEATURING

A Wild Frontier – Almost Time For Christmas Rock, Alternative Rock, Indie Rock A Wild Frontier is excited to share their new Holiday single, “Almost Time For Christmas” with everyone. Following the release of their debut record earlier this Spring, they have released an acoustic EP, and now this Holiday treat. For fans of Weezer and early 2000’s alternative pop, A Wild Frontier delivers a fun, uplifting song about the holidays. They are currently finishing recording their follow up record and plan on releasing it in early 2018, stay tuned! LINKS: https://www.reverbnation.com/awildfrontier/song/28700225-almost-time-for-christmas https://open.spotify.com/album/4gvdtwisW5QNyoM47FSZoD http://www.twitter.com/AWildFrontier http://www.facebook.com/AWildFrontier http://www.instagram.com/AWildFrontier

Tim Johnson- Gone I started playing guitar in 1989. Wrote my first song “The Direction That I Took” in 1995 when I was only thirteen years old. After that, the songs started pouring out of me. I lost count somewhere around 300. I am now 34 years old and I have developed a style. I fit about 15 originals into my list of favorites. Starting with my first single “Gone”. My style is a blend of Rock, Southern Rock, Alternative, and Country. Some of my influences include, Cole Swindell, Jason Aldean, Seether, Chris Cornell, and Alice n Chains to name a few. https://www.reverbnation.com/timjohnson5/song/27856407-tim-johnson-gone-mastered-28mar17

Juneyt – Tesla Since moving to Canada from Turkey, Juneyt has built a large, dedicated following through his regular, electric performances throughout the Kitchener-Waterloo GTA area and beyond. https://www.reverbnation.com/juneyt/song/10638460-tesla

TODD BARROW – Outlaw In Me Genre: Country/Alternative Country The artist was discovered by his close Sonny Burgess (CMA) who was mentored by Charlie Pride and other legends. This led to working with winners circle music publishing with over 80 songwriters around the world. Since that time he continues to perform for many big shows and events. He works hard to produce the highest quality country music out there! Now get ready to listen to his new country release, “Outlaw In Me.” LINKS: : https://open.spotify.com/album/OD8pEnXiP9Ghkq0q1 https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/album/outlaw-in-me/1318561219?i=1318561851&mt=1&app=music http://www.twitter.com/barrowtodd http://www.facebook.com/cowboyrockandroll http://www.instagram.com/ToddWayneBarrow

Tiona Campbell – Jesus and Coffee Genre / Sub-genre : Singer – songwriter Small Town girl,Tiona Campbell, was born and raised in East Texas. She grew up listening to Amy Grant, Mariah Carey and all kinds of country music. She loved to sing and spent a lot of time singing in her room, her daddy’s pick up truck and church. After she graduated High School she immediately got married at the age of 18, had kids and put music to the side. About 17 years later now living in Houston, TX she heard the Holy Spirit say ” write a song ” This lead her to Sarah Kelly, 2 time Grammy nominee, music school in Sept 2015. She learned how to write songs, play piano, and record demos. Only 1 year later she released her first single “Irrevocable ” on iTunes and Spotify in August 2016. The Holy Spirit told her to also share her journey and within 1 year she had over 8,000 followers on Instagram. She has played all over the Houston area such as Dossey Doe, Red Brick Tavern, Huti’s and is a worship leader at her home church Champion Life Center. She also performed her new song “Jesus and coffee ” t his August 2017 on Ealing Broadway street in London, UK. Tiona has performed in front of : -Brad O’Donnell, head of A&R of Capital Christian Music Group -Mike Clink, American record producer -Tobyn Hyman, talent producer for the show The Voice She had a LIVE interview with AVA Live Radio and her single “Irrevocable ” was featured on AVA Live radio as well. Her brand new EP “One of a kind” was just released Aug 1, 2017 on iTunes and Spotify. So what happens when you relinquish all control, step out in faith and obediently follow the Holy Spirit on a completely different path for your life? What does it truly mean to put yourself out there and try something new, despite feeling foolish, in order to see where God is leading you? Join her on this crazy ride and together let’s find out what happens when you surrender to the Holy Spirit and discover Gods plan for your life. https://youtu.be/4KTG_2GIwQc www.twitter.com/tionashari www.facebook.com/TionaCampbell www.instagram.com/tiona_music_journey_ www.tionacampbell.com

Lovey James – Tricks Master Pop Dance Fresh off of being a Top 20 Contestant on FOX’s American Idol, Lovey James continues to shine as one of America’s premier young performers. At a very early age of 6 years old, she was already performing for audiences in her hometown, Portland, OR, and all over the U.S. Now at 18 years old, Lovey continues to command the stage with her contagious upbeat energy and powerhouse vocals.She is currently wrapping up her first self-titled album with reputable music producer, Steve Sundholm who has worked with many A-list talent artists like Carrie Underwood and Hall & Oats. Her album launches this upcoming April and she is beyond excited to share it with friends and family alike. It bridges classic dance pop with vibrant soul. https://www.reverbnation.com/loveyjames/song/28166473-tricks

Dar.Ra – Phenomenal Genre / Sub-genre : Rock Dar.Ra is a really unique songwriter and producer who makes an Amazing blend of Rock and Soul Music (21st Artists Hollywood) Dar.Ra has been in the industry for a while with hits in the UK and Australia, signed to EMI,Festival and various dance labels over the years, remixing Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Tears 4 Fears, Savage Garden, and writing for Rachel Brown (Faithless, Groove Armada) plus having music on various Hollywood films like ‘Snakes on Planes’ films starring Hilary Duff on ABC TV, Match Of Day (BBC TV) and US Documentary City Of Hope. His first solo album Soul Hours was released in 2010 and made album of the week of Spain’s Heart FM, as well as received support from BBC Radio, playing to over 1 million people on air within a live show. He also has a well received book out called ‘Road Tales’ which has been getting brilliant reviews and is based on people Dar.Ra met while being the road from the late 1990’s to 2008.

https://youtu.be/y84XieBPrew www.kushadeep.co.uk www.facebook.com/kushadeepmusic www.twitter.com/kushadeepmusic

DOCTOR G & FUNKFUSION – VICTIM OF THE SYSTEM Genre: FUNK,HIP HOP New release from Doctor G raising awareness to an important issue that is occurring in our society today. The artist has gained recognition for past controversial song releases such as “Don’t call me Nigga” and is known for his honesty and promotion of social change. SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/album/1QCkOZUw3oTj2VKFIfIFbI?si=BEfqZVGwRxGWNKcwmRD24A SOUNDCLOUD: https://soundcloud.com/doctor-g-funkfusion/victim-of-the-system BAND SITE: http://doctorjsg.wixsite.com/greathouserecordsinc FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Doctor-G-FunkFusion/125424470831273?ref=hl INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/doctorgfunkfusion/ TWITTER: https://twitter.com/FunkFusionBand

Ricky Davila – Insanity Genre: Pop/R&B/Soul Ricky Davila is a Singer-songwriter and Recording Artist from Philadelphia, PA best known for his powerful vocals and soothing timbre. Ricky’s first ever recorded and written song ‘Insanity’ is a about a love that goes passed its breaking point and is also the lead single of his debut EP ‘Brain Activity’. Let his voice take you on a journey. Let his voice be your guide. Reverbnation link: https://www.reverbnation.com/rickydavila/song/25087719-ricky-davila-insanity Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/track/5F8Z6Dtr3g4pu5znReUUY7 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RickyDavilaOfficial Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rickydavila\ Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/TheRickyDavila

#Ricky Davila #popmusic #flashback friday #DOCTOR G & FUNKFUSION #Dar.Ra #hip hop music #Rock Music #Lovey James #pop music #Tiona Campbell #singer songwriter #TODD BARROW #country music #Juneyt #Tim Johnson #A Wild Frontier #Alternative Rock

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