music
Adele Posts Photo Wearing Jamaican Flag Bikini, Bantu Knots and the Internet Is Not Happy
If not for the pandemic, today would have marked the start of Notting Hill Carnival, a celebration of West Indies culture in Britain that dates back to the 1960s. But while the coronavirus has cancelled those plans, Adele chose to participate anyway, with a picture of herself in a Jamaican flag bikini and a Bantu knot hairstyle. The Internet, which posses infinite judgment if not quite infinite wisdom, thought she looked even more strained than the roots of her honey-colored hair. Adele posted the flamboyant image to Instagram Sunday evening. She captioned the picture, “Happy what would be Notting Hill Carnival my beloved London,” and punctuated the remark with the British and Jamaican flags. The Twit wits quickly provided captions of their own. Comedian Jaboukie Young-White pretended to q...
Lady Gaga’s Mechanized Mask And Ariana Grande Sparkle In ‘Rain On Me’ Debut
Back in March, when Lady Gaga was gearing up to unveil her sixth album Chromatica to the world, she gave a clue about how the music would reach people. “I might sound silly,” she said at the time, “but I’m on it right now — I’m not on another planet. If you see and listen to Chromatica, and you want to live there too, you’re invited.” This year’s shutdown of the touring industry has largely made it so that the only way to experience Chromatica was via the album itself. But at the 2020 VMAs, Gaga set about changing that, bringing Chromatica to electricity-filled life on the largest stage possible for a nine-minute medley of some of its most affecting numbers. She began, as is the custom in 2020, at home — under a blanket and wearing a mask. Bu...
Lady Gaga Shares Inspiring Words Following Song Of The Year VMA Win
By Harron Walker Facing stiff competition from the likes of Billie Eilish, Doja Cat, Megan Thee Stallion, Post Malone, and Roddy Rich, Lady Gaga has been declared the winner of Song of the Year at the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards for “Rain on Me” with Ariana Grande. “Oh my gosh, everybody, thank you so much!” said Gaga when she accepted the Moonperson for Song of the Year — her second win of the night following Best Collaboration, also for the Chromatica track. “Me and Ariana appreciate this so, so much.” Wearing a billowing seafoam green gown made by the emerging designer Christopher John Rogers, which she paired with a quarantine-friendly face mask with tusks, the native New Yorker accepted the award live in her hometown. During her acceptance speech, Gaga gave VMA viewers a background lo...
Maluma’s “Hawái” Brings Tropical Vibes To A Socially Distant Drive-In
Hope you’re buckled up because Maluma is taking the 2020 Video Music Awards to the drive-in. In an interview with MTV leading up to the VMAs, the Colombian heartthrob teased his upcoming performance as being “electric” and “vintage”—and he stayed true to his word with the live debut of his song, “Hawái,” at a drive-in overlooking the New York City skyline. Surrounded by glittery purple palm trees and swimsuit-clad dancers, Maluma, sporting a sunny yellow suit, brought the tropical vibes of “Hawái” to the big city. Performing on a drive-in stage bathed in purple lights, as fans watched from their cars, the “Chantaje” singer made his way down and danced his way through the cars to a stage in the middle of the parking lot, endi...
BTS Wins Best Pop VMA, Proving There’s Literally Nothing They Can’t Do
By Lauren Rearick The record-breaking accolades for February’s Map of the Soul: 7, the newest studio album from BTS, continue. Tonight, the boys of BTS won the VMA for Best Pop, earning a moon person for Map single, “On.” The septuplet beat out other nominees in the Best Pop category including Halsey, the Jonas Brothers, Justin Bieber and Quavo, Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande, and Taylor Swift. Of course, the win wasn’t lost on members of ARMY, the always supportive BTS fanbase. Many took to social media, sharing messages of support, and a lot of emotions. “BTS WON BEST POP IM CRYING,” one fan tweeted. While another Twitter user noted that yep, the boys are in fact sweeping tonight’s awards. It has been a pretty busy night for the Bangtan Boys, as they started off the show with a win for Best...
Public Enemy Return to Def Jam for New Album
Public Enemy are returning to Def Jam Records for the release of a new studio album. Entitled What You Gonna Do When the Grid Goes Down and due out on the September 25th, the forthcoming album will mark Public Enemy’s first release with Def Jam in over two decades. Def Jam released Public Enemy’s first five studio albums, including 1988’s It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back and 1990’s Fear of a Black Planet, two of the most consequential records in the history of hip-hop. “For true fans of hip-hop all over the world, this is a historic moment,” said Def Jam GM & EVP Rich Isaacson in a statement. “Bringing Public Enemy home to Def Jam – in a time when their message is more necessary than ever – is a profound statement and a much-needed reunion. We are beyond excited to on...
Anarchist Punk Outfit Crass Reissuing Entire Catalog with Bonus Material
Christmas has come early for fans of anarchist punk group Crass. On October 2nd, One Little Independent Records will reissue all of the English band’s albums as part of a campaign called The Crassical Collection. These reissues will come packaged with previously unreleased bonus tracks, as well as new artwork from longtime associate Gee Vaucher. Each of the band’s first six albums — that’s Stations of the Crass (1979), Feeding of the Five Thousand (The Second Sitting) (1981), Penis Envy (1981), Christ – The Album (1982), Yes Sir, I Will (1983), and Ten Notes on a Summer’s Day (1986) — will be reissued across two CDs. The first disc will contain the original album remastered by Alex Gordon and Crass founder Penny Rimbaud at Abbey Road Studios, while the second will feature “a mixture of rar...
50 Reasons We Still Love Bob Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited
Gimme a Reason takes classic albums celebrating major anniversaries and breaks down song by song the reasons we still love them so many years later. This time we make like a rolling stone with Bob Dylan and Highway 61 Revisited. Highway 61 Revisited is unanimously considered not only one of Bob Dylan’s greatest albums, but also one of the most influential and enduring records of its genre and time. Released mere months after the highly controversial Bringing It All Back Home (whose focus on electric instrumentation and cryptic lyricism — punctuated by Dylan’s appearance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival — left many devotees feeling betrayed and incensed), the LP saw its creator delve further into those polarizing elements. The end result was a collection that brilliantly and bravely mixed ...
AG Club Tap A$AP Ferg and NLE Choppa for “Memphis (Pt. 2)”: Stream
Ever since Baby Boy, Loui, Mick Antony, and Jody Fontaine formed AG Club and released their debut album Halfway Off the Porch earlier this year, the alternative hip-hop group has been quietly drumming up some underground buzz. Now, they’re gearing up for a proper breakthrough with “Memphis (Pt. 2)”, their new song featuring NLE Choppa and A$AP Ferg. “Memphis (Pt. 2)” is from AG Club’s forthcoming sophomore album, FYE, which is due out later this year. Apparently the group decided to reach out to a few of their favorite rappers to see if they were interested in collaborating on new music, but weren’t totally sure if anyone would be down. Needless to say, the group was over the moon when they found out both NLE Choppa and A$AP Ferb were game to jump on this single. “We had to get Choppa on t...
St. Vincent Teams with Yoshiki for New Version of “New York”: Stream
Yoshiki and St. Vincent, photo via Twitter/@YoshikiOfficial St. Vincent has teamed with X Japan’s Yoshiki for a reimagining of her modern classic “New York”. This version of the MASSEDUCTION cut essentially takes what was already there and puts a more archetypal classical spin on things. (The lyric “only motherf*cker” is also changed to “only other sucker.”) Yoshiki expands on the song’s original string arrangements, while adding some of his own gorgeous piano to replace Thomas Bartlett’s original work. St. Vincent compared the new “New York” to “the way time or distance transform longtime friends or relationships: the original is still recognizable, but subtly and significantly altered.” In his own statement, Yoshiki explained how the collaboration came about: “As an artist, I admire...
FKA twigs Wields a Mighty Sword in New Video for “Sad Day”: Watch
Last year we saw FKA twigs master the art of pole dancing in her “Cellophane” video. In today’s newly unveiled clip for MAGDALENE single “Sad Day”, she shows off a newly acquired skill: sword fighting. Clocking in at over seven minutes, the visual follows twigs as she powerfully yet nimbly engages in sword combat with a dancer named Teake. Their duel begins in a restaurant before eventually spilling out into the dark and empty streets of London. At one point, the R&B singer is caught off guard and wounded, but then things take a dramatic sci-fi turn that we wouldn’t dare spoil. Watch below. The “Sad Day” video comes from director Hiro Murai, marking his first such project since Childish Gambino’s acclaimed “This is America”. He also worked with Donald Glover on the FX hit series A...
Grandaddy Announce The Sophtware Slump 20th Anniversary Box Set
California’s beloved indie rock group Grandaddy have announced a special box set reissue of their sophomore album, The Sophtware Slump, to celebrate its 20th anniversary. The 4xLP collection will be released on November 20th via Dangerbird Records. With four LPs’ worth of space, there’s a lot of special treats and songs tucked into the box set. There’s a remastered version of the original record, of course, but arguably the most exciting part of the reissue is a brand-new solo recording of the album that sees principal songwriter Jason Lytle playing the full tracklist on piano. That collection is aptly titled The Sophtware Slump….. on a wooden piano. Lytle apparently recorded the solo piano version of The Sophtware Slump in a similar environment to his initial setup over two decades ago. I...
