music
Dave Grohl and Greg Kurstin Cover Drake’s “Hotline Bling”: Watch
It’s night two of Dave Grohl and Greg Kurstin’s Hanukkah song series, and that can only mean one thing: they’ve covered Drake’s “Hotline Bling”. In a tweet posted to Foo Fighters’ Twitter account, the duo wrote: “You might be surprised to learn that this superstar is… Canadian. He’s never hidden the fact that he was M.O.T. so a generation of Jewish parents could tell their kids ‘if @Drake took the time to study for HIS Bar Mitzvah, you can too.’ Twitterverse, challah at your boy!” In a nod to Drake’s “Hotline Bling” video, the pre-recorded performance was interspersed with a few scenes of Grohl dancing. Watch it below. Grohl and Kurstin, who helmed Foo Fighters’ 2017 album Concrete and Gold, are celebrating Hanukkah with covers of songs by eight prominent Jewish artists...
Taylor Swift’s Evermore Has A Song For Every Mood
By Carson Mlnarik Surprise — again! After dropping her record-breaking eighth album, Folklore, on a whim back in July, Taylor Swift repeated her antics today (December 11) with the release of her Evermore. Folklore’s sister record further mines Swift’s whimsical storytelling perspective alongside producers Jack Antonoff and The National’s Aaron Dessner, two great minds who helped hone her folksy alt-pop sound the last go-around. Evermore is an equally experimental sequel, as the pop singer weaves scenes of heartbreak and outlaws on the run. “Champagne Problems” depicts the aftermath of turning down a proposal over sparse piano keys, while the Haim-assisted “No Body, No Crime” is a contemporary riff on a vintage murder ballad boasting plenty harmonicas. Even in her most escapist moments, Sw...
Grimes Drops Shares New Song “Delicate Weapon” from Cyberpunk 2077: Stream
Cyberpunk 2077, one of the most hyped video games of the year, finally came out this week, which means gamers can interact with the character Lizzy Wizzy, a fictional alt-pop star voiced by the very real alt-pop star Grimes. To celebrate the game’s release, Grimes is sharing a new song she wrote for the soundtrack called “Delicate Weapon”, which you can stream below. The first volume of the Cyberpunk 2077 soundtrack is out today and features Grimes’ previously released single “4ÆM”, but the second volume — which includes “Delicate Weapon” — won’t be out until December 18th. Grimes must have been too excited to keep it quiet because she debuted the contribution early today on an Apple Music mix. Musically, “Delicate Weapon” sounds like a spacious early Grimes cut that could have appeared on...
Blue Ivy Carter Retroactively Nominated for Grammy
At just eight years old, Blue Ivy Carter has landed her first-ever Grammy nomination. The eldest daughter of Jay-Z and Beyoncé is nominated alongside her mother in the category of Best Music Video for “Brown Skinned Girl”. As TMZ reports, Blue’s name was left off the list of nominations when they were revealed on November 24th, but the Recording Academy has since rectified the omission and added her as one of the eligible contenders. (Looks like mom and dad made a phone call.) If “Brown Skinned Girl” is to win Best Music Video (and that seems like a pretty safe bet), Blue Ivy would become the second youngest artist to ever win a Grammy. The current record holder is Leah Peasall, who was eight years old when the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack took home Album of the Year in ...
Rick Rubin Charged with Breaking Hawaii’s COVID-19 Quarantine Protocols
Famed producer Rick Rubin has been charged with violating Hawaii’s COVID-19 quarantine protocols, according to the local Kauai newspaper The Garden Island. His next court date is February 9th, 2021. Kauai County and the state of Hawaii require off-island visitors to quarantine for 14 days. But on September 2nd, Rubin was spotted walking along Anini Beach near his resort before his two-week isolation had ended. The beach was empty, and Rubin was alone except for a member of the paparazzi that had reportedly been following him since his arrival on the island. A passerby took a cell phone video and reported Rubin to the authorities. The infraction carries a maximum fine of $5,000 and potential jail time. Since Rubin was strolling on a deserted beach, and not hosting superspreader parties...
A New Side Of Taylor Swift, A Crackling Rico Nasty, And More Songs We Love
Ovy on the Drums ft. Karol G & Danny Ocean: “Miedito o Que?” O-O-Ovy on the Drums! The Latin Grammy-nominated reggaeton producer is back with a new single to round out another wildly successful year for the genre. “Miedito o Que?” can only be described as sonic sunshine, so tangible you can almost feel the warmth on your skin. On this perfect summertime hit, Ovy is accompanied by longtime collaborator Karol G, whose brings her signature style and flair, as well as Venezuelan artist Danny Ocean. “Miedito o Que?” transports you to an alternate reality of the summer that couldn’t be, reminding listeners of the good times yet to be had in swimming pools and under palm trees. There’s something interesting about listening to a summer bop in the dead of winter, but if anyone can convince you ...
Mulatto’s Drive Brought Her Here. She’s Not Slowing Down
By D’Shonda Brown To say Mulatto had a good year would be one of the biggest understatements in the music industry. Despite a pandemic, unprecedented political unease, and racial unrest for the Black community at the height of the Black Lives Matter movement, the Georgia-bred rapper used quarantine and stay-at-home orders to grind and make 2020 her bitch. She appeared in Megan Thee Stallion and Cardi B’s internet-breaking “WAP” music video and collaborated with fellow Georgian 2 Chainz for the song on everyone’s lockdown playlist, “Quarantine Thick.” When she finally released her debut studio album, Queen of Da Souf, in August, under her new home at RCA Records, Mulatto had become more than a buzzing name, even at the young age of 21. The accolades are impressive: After she teamed up...
The Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne on the Band’s Space Bubble Shows: “It’s Safer Than Going to the Grocery Store”
As our Annual Report continues, we’ll be taking several looks at how live music changed in a year where most of the world was in lockdown. Today, we share our conversation with Wayne Coyne about his current plans for space bubble shows. A year ago, no one could have predicted that a trip to the grocery store could be life-threatening and dangerous. But here we are at a time where buying vegetables can be anxiety-inducing and unsafe. Concerts mostly apply, as well, but Flaming Lips vocalist Wayne Coyne devised a way to transform live music into a safe process. Coyne is no stranger to performing in what he calls a space bubble. He’s famous for rolling out into crowds, but the thought of putting the entire band and audience in their own respective bubbles was a thought that came to him at the...
Griselda Records Announce Conflicted Feature Film and Soundtrack
Griselda Records is breaking into the movie business. The hip-hop collective and record label has announced that a debut feature film called Conflicted is on the way, as is the stacked soundtrack that will accompany it. Check out the official trailer below. According to a press release, Conflicted is an “urban tale” depicting Benny the Butcher as a Buffalo gangster named Hunter who struggles to do right after being released from prison. Faced with the dilemmas of his fresh start, Hunter declares he will never to go back to the game that cost him his freedom. In the process of getting back on track, though, he falls in love and is inevitably confronted with the demons of his past. All of this leaves Butcher feeling — wait for it — conflicted. Conflicted is directed by AK Reed, written by De...
Kanye West Being Sued for Unchristian Treatment of Christian Opera Workers
Kanye West is facing two different class-action lawsuits over the alleged poor treatment of workers on his Christian opera Nebuchadnezzar, as Vice reports. Because while Jesus said, “Sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.” Yeezus said misclassify your employees as independent contractors, deny them overtime, and keep them waiting months for checks, and you will be a billionaire on Earth. The ill-fated performance of Nebuchadnezzar took place on November 24th at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. It came on the heels of his execrable album Jesus Is King, and was announced only a week before it bowed. The mess began long before curtain — West put the wrong emperor on his invitations — and afterwards it was panned by critics. The show, such...
Megan Thee Stallion Performs “Savage Remix” and “Body” on Corden: Watch
Last month, Megan Thee Stallion dropped her heavily anticipated debut album, Good News, to rave reviews. To celebrate with one last victory lap before the year’s end, she stopped by the Late Late Show with James Corden on Thursday to perform “Savage Remix” and “Body”, which you can watch below. Before the performance began, Megan Thee Stallion joined the host for a brief interview about rapping as a child, her love of horror movies like Evil Dead, and her recent Grammy nominations, the latter of which took her by surprise far more than it did her relatives. “Literally every time something happened to me, I was always in shock. Like who, me? Megan?” the rapper laughs. “Then I called my grandma like, ‘Grandma, guess what! I got nominated for like four Grammys!’ and she was like, ‘Well, ...
Willie Nelson Announces Frank Sinatra-Inspired Album That’s Life
Ol’ Blue Eyes and the Red Headed Stranger are together again. Two years after Willie Nelson released the Frank Sinatra tribute album My Way, the legendary singer is once again honoring his musical hero with 11 new covers on That’s Life. It’s out February 26th via Legacy Recordings. These classics and standards were recorded at Capitol Studios in Hollywood, where Sinatra was famously the first artist to step up to the mic. Afterwards, the final dotting of I’s and crossing of T’s took place at Pedernales Studios in Austin, Texas. Buddy Cannon and Matt Rollings produced, and while Nelson sings solo on ten of the songs, he’s joined by Grammy-winning vocalist Diana Krall for a duet of “I Won’t Dance”. Nelson and Sinatra were close friends for many years. In the 1980s Sinatra opened for Nelson a...
