music blog
Stormzy Announces New Album This Is What I Mean
Stormzy has announced that his third studio album will arrive later this year. This Is What I Mean is due out November 25 (via 0207 Def Jam/Interscope). The 12-track release, according to a press release, was mostly written during a retreat to Osea Island, a small island in the Blackwater Estuary that’s accessible by car for only a few hours each day due to the rising tide. In a statement describing the recording process, Stormzy said: When you hear about music camps, they always sound intense and somber. People saying, “We need to make an album.” “We need to make some hit records.” But this felt beautifully free. We’re all musicians, but we weren’t always doing music. Some days we played football or walked around taking pictures. And the byproduct to that was very beautiful music. Because...
Tim Heidecker and Gregg Turkington Announce New Season of On Cinema
Tim Heidecker and Gregg Turkington have announced that their online TV series On Cinema is coming back for its 13th season, beginning October 26 on Hei Network. Instead of the usual On Cinema at the Cinema billing, however, the new season will be called On Cinema and More in the Morning, which a press release describes as “a morning show geared towards a wide range of entertainment news.” The world surrounding Heidecker and Turkington’s On Cinema has become increasingly complicated, with feuds and storylines that stretch beyond the confines of the show. There is also additional programming, such as Deck of Cards, a 45-minute special that, in the On Cinema universe, was conceived by Turkington’s fictionalized character but usurped and completed by Heidecker’s fictionalized character. The tw...
Jury Orders Alex Jones to Pay Nearly $1 Billion for Sandy Hook Lies
Alex Jones is a huckster, a conspiracy theorist, one of the worst people ever to work in media (and that’s saying something), and, perhaps soon, a negative billionaire. A Connecticut jury ruled on October 12th that the InfoWars founder must pay out $965 million for defamation after he spent a decade spreading lies about the 2012 school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary. As reported by Reuters, CNN, Variety, and more, the case had 15 plaintiffs, including family members of eight victims of the shooting, plus a former FBI agent. Jones has repeatedly and falsely claimed that the shooting never happened — that 28 people, including 20 children didn’t die — and that anyone claiming otherwise was a paid actor for a government plot to unlawfully confiscate American’s guns. Jones called the ma...
Fan Chant: A Stray Kids MAXIDENT Breakdown and Beyond
Welcome to Fan Chant, a weekly column for K-pop fans, stans, and newbies alike. Each week, I’ll be rolling out interviews, lists, and all kinds of content to keep you in the loop on the latest and greatest from our friends in Seoul and beyond. Also, make sure to subscribe to my companion newsletter! It’s been a busy past week for STAY, as Stray Kids dropped their latest mini-album, MAXIDENT, and plenty of content has been rolling out around the eight-piece act. This, of course, includes our own interview with the group — in case you missed it, I sat down with Stray Kids recently to chat about the album, their ongoing world tour, and how they’ve been filling their time lately. You can find the full interview here! This is the second time I’ve had the joy of speaking with Stray Kids (wa...
Local Natives Share Sleek New Single “Just Before the Morning”: Stream
Local Natives are continuing to keep themselves busy between albums, and today, they’ve shared a new single called “Just Before the Morning.” While “Just Before the Morning” teeters more towards the pop end of the scale for the indie rock veterans, it still feels quintessentially Local Natives: Taylor Rice’s lead vocals are gorgeous as ever, and there’s no shortage of their distinct sweeping harmonies. With its sleek production, “Just Before the Morning” evokes the effortless cool of the band’s Los Angeles home base, recalling the heavy haze of a peculiarly warm autumn night. “‘Just Before the Morning’ came from a burst of creativity after we finally reconnected in the studio,” the band explains in a press release. “The song explores the cyclical nature of life and the many ways in which w...
Armageddon Time Review: James Gray’s Coming-of-Age ’80s Drama Proves Unsatisfying
This review is part of our coverage of the 2022 New York Film Festival. The Pitch: James Gray, an experienced outer-borough tour guide, brings us closer to his own Queens past in Armageddon Time, a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age drama (though he says he wasn’t aiming for that genre; more on that later). The film follows 12-year-old aspiring artist Paul Graff (Banks Repeta) as he struggles with school, makes a friend in his classmate Johnny (Jaylin Webb), clashes with his parents Irving (Jeremy Strong) and Esther (Anne Hathaway), and takes solace in the love of his grandfather (Anthony Hopkins). The 1980 presidential contest looms in the background; at one point, kids at a posh private school start an impromptu chant for Reagan at the mere mention of elections, just before an assembly ...
VIDEO: Iyanya – One Side
Men Made Music artist, Iyanya drops a fresh new visual for his song titled – One Side. Iyanya delivers the official music video for his song that was produced by Shugavybz titled One Side, released about a month ago. The new visual is lovely and interesting to watch. It was shot and directed by Olu The Wave. TOP PICKS FOR YOU: Watch and share Iyanya – One Side below. [embedded content]
J-Hope Says Featuring on ‘Rush Hour’ Was an ‘Important Step in My Career’
BTS ARMY, get up! There’s more behind-the-scenes content from Crush and J-Hope‘s video for “Rush Hour” to devour. BTS’ official YouTube page shared a video on Wednesday (Oct. 12) about J-Hope’s experience filming the visual. The video starts off with a few snippets of the BTS rapper on set, before showing him in the green room. “‘You are my Hope.’ Crush prepared this for me. He decorated my green room so beautifully, with flowers and a handwritten letter too. How touching!” J-Hope said with a smile. “That’s right, today! It’s my first time featuring. It’s my first solo featuring song. This is an important step for my career as well. It’s the day of the music video shoot.” In between scenes of Hope expertly hitting choreography alongside dancers in the video’s New York City, urban-inspired ...
Lizzo Shares Release Date for ‘Love, Lizzo’ HBO Max Documentary
Lizzo‘s upcoming HBO Max documentary will be out just in time to enjoy around the holidays. The “About Damn Time” star took to Instagram on Wednesday (Oct. 12) to reveal the name and release date for the film. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “Finally telling my story, My Way. Love, Lizzo coming November 24th [purple heart emoji] only on @hbomax,” Lizzo captioned a photo of the documentary poster, which finds the singer smiling wide against a lavender-colored background. An official press release about the forthcoming documentary says the film will explore “the journey of a trailblazing superstar who has become the movement the world desperately needed just by being herself. The HBO Max documentary shares the inspirational story beh...
How a Leaked Album Changed Feid’s Fate — and Led to a Sold-Out Tour
Feid was getting ready to take a well-earned day off after his three consecutive sold-out shows at Medellín’s fabled Plaza de Toros La Macarena. It never happened. Instead, his day turned rather hectic when his new album — set to come out later this year — was leaked online. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “I called everyone — my producers, my manager — on our day off that Monday because I had to rush to the studio to finish the album quickly and not give the leaked version many hours out on the street,” the Colombian singer-songwriter tells Billboard during a Zoom interview. “I told them that we had to take advantage of what had happened. Whether that person who leaked it did it in good or bad faith, it didn’t matter. It was in God’s h...
Chris Colfer Throws Some Serious Shade at Lea Michele’s ‘Funny Girl’
Not exactly gleeful. Chris Colfer didn’t mince words when it came to whether he plans on seeing Lea Michele in Broadway’s Funny Girl. In a Tuesday (Oct. 11) appearance on Michelle Collins’ SiriusXM radio show, the host excitedly told him she had tickets for the musical that very night and invited him along. “Oh no, are you seeing Funny Girl?” Colfer retorted before snarking, “Oh … My day suddenly just got so full.” When Collins then countered that she had seen the show when Beanie Feldstein starred as Fanny Brice, so it was “only right” that she also see Colfer’s former co-star in the lead, he attempted to change the subject by pointing out he had seen the Broadway musical Six the night before. “So you’re not seeing it, is my guess, while you’re in town,” Collins concluded. Colfer replied,...
An Insider’s Guide to Creamfields North 2023
After celebrating its 25th event in 2022, it’s tough to question the power of Creamfields, whose organizers seem to further separate the festival from its contemporaries each year. A giant in its own right, Creamfields was there at the explosion of the U.K.’s rave scene, which dates back roughly 30 years ago. They’ve since captured the hearts of the electronic dance music community at large—and haven’t let go. Creamfields takes pride in curating a diverse lineup each year, covering the electronic music spectrum in a way few festivals are able to. From hard-hitting techno and high-energy house music to uplifting trance and frenetic drum & bass, Creamfields’ annual lineups have something for everyone. And the festival’s stages are equally as impressive, with the m...
