Day in Pop Report for 02/10/2015
As the veteran singer took a break from rehearsing for his Grammy appearance, he spoke with the Los Angeles Times about his love of the classic songs, "I'm a big believer in the Great American Songbook. A lot of record companies call it 'old music' and I think that's absolutely ignorant. It's really the greatest music that ever came out of America." Bennett also offered his praise of Lady Gaga, "She's a very good singer. She's not a flash in the pan. That's why I had to do these great standards. And it's really paying off because the album's so big." He went on to break the news that they will be teaming up again to record a new album, "Now we're about to record an album of all Cole Porter songs. That'll be the second album." Read the report here.
During a red carpet interview with Ryan Seacrest at the 57th annual GRAMMY Awards, Perry explained how her faith helped her prepare for the massive halftime performance at this year's Super Bowl. "I overprepared myself and did a lot of prayer and meditation," she explained, adding, "It's funny, I was praying and I got a word from God and He says, 'You got this and I got you.' "And then I was on top of the lion and a guy, a random guy, just looked at me with a headset that I've never communicated with before and he just looked me straight in the eyes and said, 'You got this.' And I was like, 'Oh, this is God confirming I can do this." Read more here.
Sheeran will be kicking off his headline tour on May 6th in Austin, TX at the Frank Erwin Center and concluding the trek on July 2nd in Indianapolis, IN at the Klipsch Amphitheater. In addition to the headline shows, Sheeran will also perform at North American music festivals beginning with an appearance at this year's New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on May 2nd. He is also set to perform at the U.S. version of the Rock in Rio festival that is taking place in Las Vegas on May 15th, as well as this year's Milwaukee Summerfest on July 3rd. See the tour dates here.
That fact aside, the whole situation, as reported by Billboard, sounds pretty unfortunate. Essentially, Country Explosion is a big music festival in Utah that has had trouble paying its bills. Florida Georgia Line received half of their fee up front, but had their check bounce when they tried to cash the post-performance half. On top of that, the festival's owner, Darren Brady, went ahead and counter-sued Florida Georgia Line for defamation, claiming that the band was instructed to wait to cash the check so there would be sufficient funds to pay them. The fest is also claiming Florida Georgia Line breached their contract. Read more here.
In effort to flaunt how he and the pop star have made amends after Diplo dissed Swift's backside and then called her fans "the worst people in the world," the producer posted a very unflattering picture of Swift his Instagram account. The photo not only arrived with the strange caption, "@taylorswift vs taylor spliff#grammys2015," it also depicted Swift looking far from her best, as Gawker's Defamer points out. For one, she's mid-alcoholic drink and while she's well over the legal drinking at 25 years old, she has kept her image pretty clean when it comes to partying. So it's hard to imagine Swift would post this kind of photo on her own--and in fact she hasn't. Nor has she yet acknowledged it on any of her social media posts. Then there's the fact that Swift looks like she just walked off the dance floor after breaking a sweat. Her hair is disheveled and her makeup is smudged. See the post here.
We were sent this excerpt from the new book's forward, "Growing up on my grandparents farm in California gave me an appreciation for folks who worked hard and got by on very little. My grandparents lost their farm after government regulations prevented them from farming the more profitable fields. But they didn't question why it happened; they just started a new business. They believed no matter what difficulties we experienced, we would be okay because we were free. "America is still the greatest country on earth. As you sit reading the words of my song to your child or grandchild in my new book, it is my hope that young and old alike will feel tremendous pride in being citizens of the United States of America". The new book follows the release of his two previous books "Does God Still Bless The USA: A Plea For A Better America" (2012), and "God Bless The USA: Biography of A Song (1993)". You can see the cover and preorder the book here.
Chad explaining he found what his fate would be three episodes prior to the new episode, "That was plenty of time in one respect, but is there ever enough time to leave such a fantastic show�" Coleman saying filming his last episode was "exhausting," "Emotionally, physically, the whole shebang, I was so overwhelmed." He continued, "I was operating on so many different levels cause so many of the characters I love, admire, came back and were able to be in the scene with me so I was like a pinball machine inside." Walking Charissa through his last scene, "Here I am trying to extend myself to this young man, to help him heal�I'm overwhelmed but, wouldn't you know his twin brother who is now a walker chomps me on the arm so once that happens I start to bleed profusely, blood everywhere, I'm trying to hold it so that causes me to go somewhat into a state of delirium, I'm bouncing in and out of consciousness all of a sudden because of that, it's like people who had the most impact on my life start to come back at me, it's so real so visceral, it's like they're right there in front of me." The cast continuing their tradition of celebrating a character when they get killed off "A campfire deal at one of the producer's homes, it was exquisite�like the show itself, a homage to the man, that campfire gave it extra sentimentality." Chad taking a memento from set his signature weapon a hammer, "They gave me the plastic hammer." He laughed, "They were worried if I took a real one, they didn't know how I'd react to getting thrown off the show." Coleman saying he does not know who is next to go, "To be honest, I have no idea, you never know what these guys are gonna do, I just told you I had no idea that I was going." As for his next move, "Just wanna plug what I'm doing next, it's called "The Expanse" and it is on Syfy channel, Thomas Jane's one of the leads�Based on the best-selling novels of Leviathan Wakes, "The Expanse" and I get to play commander Fred Johnson." Watch video here.
Martin will be kicking off the fall tour on September 15th in Las Vegas, NV at the Axis At Planet Hollywood and concluding the trek on October 25th in Orlando, FL at the Amway Center. He has also announced a series of television appearances this week to coincide with the new album release including The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Wednesday (Feb. 11), The Today Show on Thursday (Feb. 12) and the Wendy Williams Show on Friday (Feb. 13). See the tour dates here.
He denied rumors that he'd been the victim of a stabbing: "Everybody knows I'm good. I'm chilling. We over here--we over here thugging it out, man. [Laughs.]" Shmurda also addressed his team's struggles to pay the $2 million bail. "We're trying, but right now I think the DA and the judge and everyone in the court is being biased," he said. "It's so crazy. The favoritism, yeah. They don't have no evidence, no nothing on me for the bill to be so high�They gave me a bill they know I can't pay. We can pay the 10 percent. And we tried to pay the 10 percent and they told us collateral. And every time we go for bail, it's something new." In fact, all he saw, he said, was that bias in the courtroom. "When I see the judge and the DA, I just see a bunch of people [who are] trying to take my life away for being blessed," he said. "That's what I look at when I look at them. It looks like a bunch of haters." Read more here.
The film, which is executive produced by Dre and Ice Cube, takes viewers into the early days of what was to become N.W.A. and the group's legacy. "[What] a lot of people don't know about N.W.A., it's nonviolent protest," says Ice Cube. "We put it all in the music, our frustration and anger." Dre agrees: "We let people know that it's OK for them to say what they want to say." The nearly four-minute trailer takes viewers into the studio, on the road and into the lives of N.W.A. It is directed by F. Gary Gray and stars O'Shea Jackson Jr. as his father Ice Cube, Corey Hawkins as Dr. Dre, Jason Mitchell as Eazy-E and Paul Giamatti as their manager, Jerry Heller. Watch it here.
The source of his release date for the new Wale album is none other than Rick Ross, who spilled the beans in an interview with Billboard on the GRAMMYs red carpet. And this wasn't the only album Ross was excited about. Ross also claimed that the new Meek Mill was something everyone should be looking forward to, now that the rapper is out of prison. "We are excited to see his level of excitement, see what he's doing in the studio, most importantly see him back with his family, spending time with his son," Ross said. Read more here.
When he arrived at the airport in New York City with Kim and North, West gave an impromptu and surprisingly friendly interview with Splash News, which TMZ posted online. First he cleared the air: "No I wasn't saying Beck--I was saying the GRAMMYs," he explained, implying that he holds a grudge against the awards association for Beyonce's loss, not Beck. Then West even proclaimed his love for the rock artist in a sort of back-handed compliment: "C'mon, I love Beck�but he didn't have [the] album of the year. Beck knows that Beyonce should have won." Read more here.
Azalea's feud with Papa John's naturally started when the rapper ordered a pizza. However, what's even more surprising than the fact she ordered a pizza from Papa John's (and loves their pizza) is that she used her real phone number when placing the order. Well, Iggy's delivery driver shared it with his family members. Once the text messages started rolling in on her phone, the rapper vented about her frustration on Twitter. She tweeted, "@PapaJohns was my favorite pizza but the drivers they use give out your personal phone number to their family members.- IGGY AZALEA (@IGGYAZALEA) February 08, 2015" Interestingly, Iggy also shared that she requested the store manager to do the very thing she was upset about: share personal information. Apparently she wanted them to share a picture of the invasive delivery driver and they refused. Read more here.
The Top Dawg Entertainment YouTube page linked to the song "The Blacker the Berry," apparently a song released after Taraji P. Henson, who she says has the album, was told she could select her favorite song on the album to premiere. Henson certainly has quite the taste in Lamar tunes. "The Blacker the Berry," fairly muscular at a five and a half-minute run time, finds Lamar rapping about his black heritage and calling himself "the biggest hypocrite in 2015″� that is, in case you were wondering whether this was an old track that had recently surfaced or a new recording. "The blacker the berry/ the sweeter the juice," comes a hushed voice before transitioning into sudden dancehall-esque vibes. The song features production from Boi-1da. Check it out here.
He was accompanied by a group of about a dozen affiliates, all wearing Rich Gang insignias. Reporters are swarming all around him, asking questions about the situation between his Cash Money label and Lil Wayne, who is currently suing Cash Money for $51 million. TMZ posted a video of the incident, and when the crew approaches the doors to the club, it becomes apparent that they won't get in. Birdman doesn't appear to press the issue, but the club security guards call LAPD for backup in case the situation escalates. As the group is leaving, a reporter asks Birdman why he didn't get in. "Club's closed, that's why," is his terse response. Read more and watch the video here.
According to Billboard, producer Noel Fisher, better known as Detail, hinted on the GRAMMYs red carpet that a joint album could be coming from the power couple as early as this year. "I'm working with a couple of new projects that I don't want to unveil, and then me and Beyonce and Jay Z are actually doing something together this year," Detail said. "When you think of Jay and Bey together, you think 'album.' You should already know." Read more here.
The new Netflix series is an original drama set in the Florida Keys about a coastal family's paradise lost. Created by the team behind FX's Damages, the narrative of Bloodline centers around a group of adult siblings, the Rayburns, whose world turns upside down when a long-departed outcast returns and causes trouble. In addition to Chandler, the series also stars Sissy Spacek, ER's Linda Cardellini and Australian character actor Ben Mendelsohn, all playing members of the Rayburn family. The promotional description for the show reads: "The Rayburns are hard-working pillars of their Florida Keys community. But when the black sheep son comes home for the 45th anniversary of his parents' hotel, he threatens to expose the Rayburns' dark secrets and shameful past, pushing his siblings to the limits of family loyalty." Beyond that, not many plot details have been revealed, although the trailer does promise lots of intrigue ("Sometimes, you know something's coming�you feel it in the air," Chandler says in the trailer as the music swells and tension rises). And, this being set on the coast, plenty of boating. Watch the trailer here.
Lamar's feel-good hit (and official NBA anthem) has just received another high-profiled endorsement--its very own Emojifried video. The brainchild of one Jesse Hill, Emojifried clips offer literal interpretations of hit songs such as Beyonce's "Drunk in Love" (another GRAMMY winning tune) and Rick Ross' "Santified" strictly through the use of emojis. Hill's Emojifried videos have proved to be quite popular, particularly the Beyonce clip, which has reached more than one million viewers thanks in large part to Bey herself sharing it on her Facebook page. "I wasn't even on Facebook and I reactivated my account to share with friends who might think it was funny and by that night Beyonce had shared it on her Facebook," Hill explained during an interview from last year. Watch it here.
I wrote "Work" because I work so goddamn hard. That part's probably obvious. I included this list of sh*t I do to drive my point home, but feel free to skip it if you trust me. � I built and run a recording studio called DirtyLife Studio in Queens NYC, and have a dozen or so artists who do most of their recordings/mixing/mastering with me. In other words, "I do not stop. I am the Juggernaut." When Tropic brought this track to me, I immediately loved how spazzed-out and turnt up it was. It's relentless, frantic, intense, and most importantly, it's what it feels like inside my ADHD-ass brain. I listen to Tropic's mixes at work at 5am getting ready for students, so his music is already my multi-tasking soundtrack. I wanted this song to be like snorting coke in a racecar. The other important concept for me in this song is AMBITION. We aren't signed to major labels, but we should be. So until we are, we have to be our own label. We have to find a way to take the scraps we have and turn them into massive productions. That's actually the reason behind the setting for the video. We shot it in Bushwick, BK, which is known for having reconverted warehouse spaces where artists throw crazy parties and give up normal lives in the pursuit of art. There was one street in particular where I loved the mix of brilliant graffiti and still-operational warehouses. As a lover of hip-hop culture, I can't get enough street art. Especially since New York, the one time epicenter of street art, is now one of the weakest displays of it (due mostly to the very strict laws and policing). But even as more and more galleries of street art are being demolished or removed (RIP 5 Pointz), Bushwick still flaunts amazing pieces. So, with the (art) work, and the (industrial) work, it was the ideal place to capture the theme. The cameos in the video were a no-brainer. I just reached out to artists who I work with at DirtyLife Studio and a bunch of them came out to support (In other words, "My Net Worth comes from my Network"). They too, are dope artists trying to make a million-dollar hit out of 15 cents (that might as well be the DirtyLife motto). And they all have day jobs. Sam Wise (of Ratchet by Nature) is a server at a restaurant. Apples (also of Ratchet by Nature) is a secretary at a high end art gallery. Jazzy works in website development and artist management. BS is a program advisor at NYU. Tropic is a commercial painter. Crimdella is a youth counselor at a night school program. I told them to wear their work clothes to the shoot. And to bring coffee. You know we put in #WORK. Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, watch the video here and grab the mixtape right here!
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