Pop and Rock Music

Subterms

    More stories

    • 100 Shares149 Views

      in Music

      Why Do Pop’s Biggest Stars Adore Michael Uzowuru?

      by

      The producer has helped A-listers including Donald Glover, SZA, Halsey and Frank Ocean to elevate their craft. How much longer can he avoid the spotlight?Shortly into a Monday morning piano lesson, Michael Uzowuru came alive. Seated at a black grand piano in a long, sunlit room, he warmed up with finger exercises and scales before his instructor, Riko Weimer, asked him to improvise a composition using diminished chords as a foundation. Closing his eyes, he kneaded his way into a languid, contemplative melody, his head bent gently over the keys.“I generally have a lesson plan,” Weimer said when Uzowuru stopped, “but then he digests it in one try.”Uzowuru, 32, sipped from a porcelain cup of espresso, rolled the sleeves of his bright pink sweater to his elbows and resumed playing. Four mornings a week, he drives 20 minutes from the Los Angeles home he shares with his girlfriend and son to Weimer’s Atwater Village studio. When he isn’t intensely working on his craft — “It almost hurts, the distance I feel between where I am and where I want to be,” he later lamented — he is helping some of the most influential figures in pop music spark their own imaginations.Uzowuru may not have the name recognition of Jack Antonoff or Rick Rubin, but his work with artists including Beyoncé, FKA twigs, Frank Ocean, Halsey, Rosalía and SZA has solidified him as a collaborator that A-list artists seek out to sharpen and elevate their craft. His reputation for concocting elegant, distinctive pop songs — like Ocean’s “Nights,” or twigs’s “Cellophane” — has made him one of contemporary music’s most respected producers even as he remains absent from the public eye.On Friday, his latest high-profile collaboration — “Bando Stone & the New World,” the sixth album from Donald Glover, a.k.a. Childish Gambino — arrives, 17 songs filled with dramatic rock, clever rap and silky R&B that were driven by a concept for a film: an artist recording his masterwork on a remote island as civilization collapses around him.“For a while I thought he was some sort of shady character,” Glover said in a phone interview, with a laugh. “He works with Frank and that whole camp, and they’re very mysterious. I was intimidated.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 125 Shares119 Views

      in Theater

      Kennedy Center Honorees Include Francis Ford Coppola and the Apollo

      by

      The renowned Harlem theater will be the first institution to receive the honor. Artists being recognized are Bonnie Raitt, Arturo Sandoval and the Grateful Dead.When Bonnie Raitt heard she had been chosen as a Kennedy Center honoree, she kept asking her manager: Are they sure?Raitt, whose song “Just Like That …” beat out higher-charting pop acts last year to win the Grammy for song of the year, said the honor was a surprise because after years of recognition mostly confined to blues and Americana spaces, she did not consider herself a mainstream artist.“I don’t live by the validation of either commercial success or getting awards,” Raitt, 74, said. “But because this is such an esteemed weekend and event and process, I don’t think there will ever be anything that I receive that is as important.”“I don’t think there will ever be anything that I receive that is as important,” Bonnie Raitt said of the Kennedy Center Honors.Peter Fisher for The New York TimesRaitt will receive a lifetime artistic achievement award at the 47th Kennedy Center Honors on Dec. 8 along with the filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, the beloved rock band the Grateful Dead, the Cuban American jazz trumpeter and composer Arturo Sandoval and the Harlem landmark the Apollo Theater.The Kennedy Center Honors will be broadcast on Dec. 23 by CBS and streamed on Paramount Plus.In the past, entities such as “Sesame Street” and “Hamilton,” have been honored, but the Apollo will be the first institution to be recognized. The theater is renowned for its history as a debut venue for many Black performers at its famed amateur nights, including Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 150 Shares199 Views

      in Music

      Dave Loggins, Who Wrote Hits for Himself and Others, Dies at 76

      by

      After tasting fame with “Please Come to Boston” in 1974, he became a major Nashville songwriter. He also wrote the theme to the Masters golf tournament.Dave Loggins, a chart-topping Nashville songwriter for the likes of Kenny Rogers and the Oak Ridge Boys who also notched his own Top 10 pop hit with the wistful “Please Come to Boston” and wrote the enduring theme for the Masters golf tournament, died on July 10 in Nashville. He was 76.His death, in a hospice facility, was confirmed by his son Kyle, who did not specify the cause.Mr. Loggins, a second cousin of the pop star Kenny Loggins, released five albums as a solo artist in the 1970s, but he scored only one hit single himself.“Please Come to Boston,” a soft-rock weeper about a rambling man trying to woo a lover to follow him as he chases his dreams in one city after another, climbed to No. 1 on Billboard’s easy listening chart and No. 5 on the magazine’s Hot 100 in 1974. It was nominated for a Grammy Award for best pop vocal performance by a male artist — the first of Mr. Loggins’s four Grammy nominations.For Mr. Loggins, the song almost seemed to have divine origins. In a 2021 interview with the singer-songwriter and vocal coach Judy Rodman on the podcast “All Things Vocal,” he said he wrote the song early in his career “with chords I had never even played before.”“There was this beautiful, glowing feeling that came over me,” he added, “a godlike feeling, that said, ‘Here, go ahead and play, I’ll move your fingers.’”While “Please Come to Boston” was his only mainstream hit, Mr. Loggins was considered anything but a one-hit wonder in country music circles: He wrote hits for Willie Nelson, Tanya Tucker, Wynonna Judd and Toby Keith, among others.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 138 Shares99 Views

      in Movies

      What Fancams Get Right About Our Love of Movies (and Stars)

      by

      When I first saw “Anatomy of a Fall” back at the Cannes Film Festival in 2023, I expected that the courtroom drama would be critically acclaimed. I could even imagine an Oscar win. What I did not foresee was the fancams.These vertical video edits of clips focus on a celebrity or character, usually set to pop music. If you want to nitpick, you can also call them fan edits, especially if they involve multiple people onscreen. The fancam phenomenon grew out of the world of K-pop, where enthusiasts often make videos focusing solely on one member of a large band.These days, my feeds are full of film and TV fancams, which I have come to love and seek out. But perhaps the most notable one was from last year and focused on Swann Arlaud in his role as the defense attorney Vincent Renzi in “Anatomy of a Fall.” Set to Rina Sawayama’s song “Comme Des Garçons (Like the Boys),” he runs his fingers through his hair, he lights a cigarette, he stares intensely, he sighs. The music is timed to begin on the lyric “I’m so confident,” thus signaling that Vincent is a bit of a badass. Suddenly, through a savvy bit of editing, a character actor in a serious French drama got the same treatment as a pop heartthrob.There are other “Anatomy of a Fall” fancams, including ones dedicated to Sandra Hüller, who plays the author on trial for the death of her husband, and the sassy prosecutor trying to convict her. But there’s something, dare I say, brilliant about the Arlaud fancam. For one, it’s a little subversive in the way it applies the language of pop music to art cinema. It’s also just an example of good editing in the way it matches Arlaud’s glances and movements to the beat of the song, the lyrics of which further present him as a swaggering star — with a touch of irony, given that he’s a humble, often stressed-out lawyer in the context of the movie.The best fancams have at least some of these qualities. They feature clever, surprising uses of music, highlight films or stars you wouldn’t necessarily expect to get this kind of treatment, and are energetically put together. In that way, the fancam itself has become its own art form and a great platform for cinephiles to show their ardent devotion.The Parisian creator of the Arlaud fancam, who goes by @ginafancam and asked not to share her full name, told me over email: “It’s my way to pay tribute to the film. Some prefer to tell their love of cinema by writing a review, for example, but I prefer to do it by editing.” She added that she was happy that her creation “encouraged people from all over the world to watch a French auteur film.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 75 Shares189 Views

      in Music

      Italian Pop Discoveries From My Vacation

      by

      Hear songs from Angelina Mango, Patty Pravo and an unexpected hit by Conan Gray.Angelina Mango.Jessica Gow/EPA, via ShutterstockDear listeners,I’m back! Thank you to my editor, Caryn Ganz, for filling in for me for the past two weeks while I was on vacation visiting a friend in Italy. I was mostly in and around Florence, but I also made some excursions to Siena, Bologna and Rome. As relaxing as that sounds, know that my ears weren’t completely on vacation. As always, I was constantly discovering new music, and I’m going to share some of those finds with you in today’s playlist.I confess that, going into this trip, I didn’t know much about Italian pop music — minus Giorgio Moroder or the odd Italo disco track I’d downloaded over the years — and even after digging in a bit more deeply, I’m still far from an expert. But those circumstances sometimes make for the most honest and exciting discoveries. I don’t know which of the artists whose music I connected with are particularly “cool,” and I can’t quite trace all the cultural references that put them into a larger context. All I know is that something about each of these songs resonated with me when I heard them — and sometimes it really is that simple.What follows is a collection of nine songs that I encountered while browsing record stores, watching one of several music video channels that still exist on Italian TV, or sitting in a cafe and hearing something that piqued my curiosity enough to open up Shazam. It includes new artists like Italy’s most recent Eurovision representative Angelina Mango, national legends like Patty Pravo, and a three-song detour into the country’s ’80s new-wave underground. It also includes one recent American pop song that — I was surprised to learn — is unexpectedly big in Italy. Divertiti!Ciao,LindsayListen along while you read.1. Patty Pravo: “La Bambola”Patty Pravo was an unfamiliar name I kept seeing in used record store bins, and I’m glad I looked her up after I got home. Now 76, the Venice-born Pravo is a smoky-voiced chanteuse who has had a long and eclectic career. Her breakout hit “La Bambola” (“The Doll”) topped the Italian pop charts for nine weeks in 1968 and is still one of her signature songs.▶ Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTubeWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 150 Shares199 Views

      in Music

      Jack Black Ends Tenacious D Tour After Bandmate Jokes About Trump Shooting

      by

      At a concert in Australia, Kyle Gass made a comment suggesting that he wished the shooter had not missed former President Trump during an assassination attempt.Tenacious D, the American comedy-rock duo that includes the movie star Jack Black, announced on Tuesday that the remainder of its tour would be canceled and that all future plans were on pause after the band’s other member, Kyle Gass, made an offhand comment onstage about the assassination attempt on former President Donald J. Trump.A representative for the duo confirmed that Black had brought out a cake at the ICC Sydney Theater in Australia on Sunday to celebrate Gass’s 64th birthday. When Black asked Gass to “make a wish,” Gass responded, “Don’t miss Trump next time.” Videos of the moment were circulated widely online.In a statement posted to social media on Tuesday, Black, known for “School of Rock” and “King Kong,” said he “was blindsided by what was said at the show,” adding, “I would never condone hate speech or encourage political violence in any form.”“After much reflection,” he continued, “I no longer feel it is appropriate to continue the Tenacious D tour, and all future creative plans are on hold. I am grateful to the fans for their support and understanding.” In June, Black, 54, attended a star-studded fund-raiser for President Biden, at which he gave a speech in American flag-themed overalls.Gass posted an apology to social media on Tuesday morning, stating that “the line I improvised onstage Sunday night in Sydney was highly inappropriate, dangerous and a terrible mistake.”“I don’t condone violence of any kind, in any form, against anyone,” he wrote. “What happened was a tragedy, and I’m incredibly sorry for my severe lack of judgment. I profoundly apologize to those I’ve let down and truly regret any pain I’ve caused.”Michael Greene said on Tuesday that Greene Talent, Gass’s talent agency, had parted ways with him.Shortly before the announcement that the entire tour was canceled, the band, which has been active since 1994, postponed its Tuesday date in Broadmeadow, Australia.In the wake of Gass’s onstage remarks, Senator Ralph Babet of the center-right United Australia party called for the duo to be deported. In a lengthy statement posted online, he said, “Tenacious D should be immediately removed from the country after wishing for the assassination of Donald Trump at their Sydney concert.”During a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, a man fired shots toward the stage while the former president was speaking. One spectator was killed, and Trump was rushed off, blood visible around his right ear. The shooter was killed by the Secret Service, and his motive remains unclear.It is not the first time a celebrity has faced fallout from a joke about Trump. In May 2017, Kathy Griffin’s career was put on ice after she posed for a photograph holding a severed-head Halloween mask of Trump, who was then the president, doused in blood-like ketchup. More

    • 163 Shares179 Views

      in Music

      Taylor Swift Breaks Her Own Record With a 12th Week at No. 1

      by

      Facing a tight battle with Zach Bryan, the pop superstar benefited from the release of three new versions of “The Tortured Poets Department” and shipments of CDs.This week Taylor Swift sets a personal chart record with her album “The Tortured Poets Department” after fending off the latest challenger: the singer-songwriter Zach Bryan.With 12 weeks at No. 1, “Tortured Poets” is now the longest-running chart-topper of Swift’s career, exceeding the 11-week totals she had for “Fearless” (2008) and “1989” (2014). It is the first album to rack up a dozen consecutive times at the top since Morgan Wallen’s “One Thing at a Time,” which did so last year, and Swift joins rare company in the 68-year history of the Billboard 200 chart.In the elite group of albums that not only had long consecutive runs at No. 1, but did so from the very first week they came out, “Tortured Poets” now surpasses Whitney Houston’s 1987 LP “Whitney” — featuring enduring hits like “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)” and “So Emotional” — which spent its first 11 weeks at No. 1, and is just shy of Stevie Wonder’s 13 for “Songs in the Key of Life” in 1976 and 1977.In its most recent week out, “Tortured Poets” had the equivalent of 163,000 sales in the United States, including 95 million streams and 90,000 copies sold as a complete package, according to the tracking service Luminate. Since its release in April, the full 31-track album has logged three billion streams and had the equivalent of just under five million sales in the United States.“The Great American Bar Scene,” the new album by Bryan, whose style has been described as Americana, folk, rock and country, was Swift’s latest competitor for the top spot. And the race seemed close, with both artists unleashing some chart-goosing weapons in the closing hours of the tracking period last week. Bryan offered his album at a discounted price, while Swift released another three variants of “Tortured Poets” as digital downloads.But Swift triumphed, while “The Great American Bar Scene” lands at No. 2 with the equivalent of 137,000 sales.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 150 Shares99 Views

      in Music

      Are Games Like the Euro 2024 Final the Riskiest Gig in Music?

      by

      Performing before a major match like the Euro 2024 final offers priceless visibility, and the nonzero chance that you’ll be booed.Even to some of the most glittering names in music, the pitch is compelling.There is a gig. It is a very short gig: a tight six minutes or so. It is also unpaid. In exchange, though, the offer promises exposure that borders on priceless: a live crowd numbering somewhere around 70,000, and a captive television audience in the hundreds of millions.The appeal of serving as the pregame entertainment at one of European soccer’s twin showpieces — the finals of the Champions League and the European Championship — is so obvious, and the benefits of that brief performance so extravagant, that the likes of Camila Cabello, Alicia Keys and the Black Eyed Peas (albeit without Fergie) have signed up to do it.There is, however, a catch. For most, what is likely to be one of the most high-profile gigs of their career might also be the riskiest booking in music, one that comes with a nonzero chance of being loudly, unapologetically, unremittingly booed.Regret is not a guarantee, of course. There are acts that look back on their brush with soccer fondly, artists who serve as beacons of hope for the (somewhat unwieldy) trio that is scheduled to play just before the final of Euro 2024 on Sunday in Berlin. That lineup — the Italian dance act Meduza, the German singer Leony and the American rock band OneRepublic — have presumably chosen to focus on the more positive precedents.Dua Lipa was such a hit at the 2018 Champions League final that she has subsequently suggested she now considers herself an honorary Liverpool fan. Oceana, a German singer who performed at the final of the 2012 European Championship, remembers it as one of the highlights of her career. “The whole stadium was singing,” she said in an interview last week.Dua Lipa’s performance at the 2018 Champions League final forged a lasting connection with Liverpool and its fans. Kai Pfaffenbach/ReutersWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More