Update: Dr. Luke’s imprint Kemosabe Records has granted the ‘ok’ for Kesha to perform at Sunday’s Billboard Music Awards, after being reassured that “Kesha nor her supporters would use the performance as such a platform.”
Read the full story at Spin Magazine.
“Lavish imagery and a daring soundtrack set this film apart from most period dramas; in fact, style takes precedence over plot and character development in Coppola’s vision of the doomed queen.”
– Rotten Tomatoes’ consensus of Marie Antoinette.
“I’m the shh, be quiet, I been on the no-hater diet,” Meghan Trainor proclaims on the opener to her second album, Thank You. “Watch Me Do” is a far cry from the cutesy, doo-wop sound that dominated much of Trainor’s debut album Title. When she sings, “I get all choked up, and see how much I made/ And I feel so good, like James Brown in his day,” it may shed some light onto Trainor’s state of mind following her meteoric rise to fame, but it also tells us a lot about the album itself. It’s funky, upbeat and sees the singer/songwriter exuding a confidence that was missing in her previous work. And while you may find yourself nodding along, you can’t help but notice the weak composition. There’s talk of “breastases” and “textes from exeses” which sounds as awkward as it reads. Trainor may have upgraded her sound, but her songwriting is still in need of some growth.
Trust me, I know we’re all still recovering from last year’s dreadful slate of Academy Award winners/nominees (I’m of course not talking about Mad Max Fury Road winning several trophies, but of course another crop of all white acting nominees and the inclusion of films like JOY and The Revenant). That being said, any news on the Best Actress category, in my opinion, is worth discussing. Especially when it concerns Viola Davis.
That’s right. The beloved actress could not only score her third career nomination (and the second in this particular category) but maybe even her first win.
The list of people who worked on Beyoncé’s Lemonade is an extensive one, Diplo, Erza Koenig and Father John Misty among them. However there’s one person who’s boasting a close connection to B that’s sending even the most devoted Beyhive members for a loop. She calls herself Nana JJ.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that Beyoncé is back. On Saturday night, she dropped her stunning HBO special entitled Lemonade, based on the album of the same name. The album/short film is a continuation of B’s visual album release strategy she implemented with her self-titled fifth album released almost three years ago. Only with Lemonade, it is presented as a whole rather than separate music videos. Though thought to be released exclusively through TIDAL (the streaming service owned by husband Jay Z), the album has dropped on iTunes and, in typical Queen B fashion, is already tearing up the charts.
Mariah Carey does not get the respect she deserves.
You don’t have to look far to find someone on Twitter ready to catch her next vocal slip up. When she released Me. I Am. Mariah… The Elusive Chanteuse back in 2013, a tidal wave articles were published lambasting the singer for the album’s disappointing commercial performance (despite some pretty great reviews). But Mariah has been there, and done that. She’s played the game, set precedents, created trends within popular music and broke countless records along the way.
We are not worthy of Carly Rae Jepsen.
After gifting us one of the catchiest songs in recent history, the unforgettable “Call Me Maybe,” Jepsen dropped an entire album’s worth of bangers. The album that launched a thousand think pieces. I’m talking, of course, about last year’s pop gem E•MO•TION.
I finally caught up with Batman Vs. Superman late last night, days after its premiere and a tidal wave of bad press and reviews. Even some of the biggest die hard comic book fans have lambasted the film. It’s hard to keep an open, unbiased mind when there’s been such a strong reaction to something like this, but I gave it my best shot.
The nicest thing I can say about Batman Vs. Superman is that it’s a movie.
There is always the designated “star” of any high profile group that is destined for a solo career. Perhaps the best examples of that theory are Beyoncé Knowles and Justin Timberlake. With emphasis on Beyoncé, the two have established themselves as two of the top recording artists working in the industry today, truly establishing themselves as solo artists. Zayn Malik looks to continue that trend.
Jon On Film 