Earlier this week, 6LACK released a video for “Switch,” a song where the singer laments about being famous and constantly under scrutiny, and suggests a body switch so people could see how difficult his life is. This is all so confusing because 6LACK is not nearly a household name, but ah well. Ty Dolla $ign provides background vocals on the chorus and the beat sounds similar to Drake’s “That’s How You Feel.” Watch the video below.
Katy Perry covers the August issue of Vogue Australia, where she gives an in-depth interview about her career, her well-being and her love life. If you’re familiar with Katy Perry the interviewee, you know that she gives good talk, and this interview doesn’t disappoint.
Of all the things she discussed, what stood out was her mentioning of bouts of situational depression, which she said was a result of the tepid reaction to her 2017 album, Witness. Music audiences — particularly fans of contemporary music — are fickle and never stick around forever; this is perhaps because there’s always something newer, younger and fresher, or maybe because people stray from contemporary music as they get older, which makes it hard for artists in that format to hold onto fans. Who really knows.
Either way, Katy had a really good run, and quite frankly, few artists have been able to achieve such a long stretch of commercial success. This isn’t to say that her best days are behind her, but if they were, she has nothing to cry about. That being said, I’m struck by how hard she took her commercial “slump” (if we’re gonna call it that) because Katy is notorious for talking recklessly about other stars and their struggles. She poked fun at Britney Spears’ head-shaving incident for years, so it’s almost difficult to empathize with her; also, she once said Mariah Carey was “fabulous for a throwback,” which is now almost poetic as she moves full steam towards throwback status.
In the interview, Katy mentions attending a personal growth retreat, after which she was asked if she worried that it would impede her artistry. To that, she responded, “The biggest lie that we’ve ever been sold is that we as artists have to stay in pain to create.” I happen to agree with her wholeheartedly, and I think the notion that art needs to be cathartic for the artist is a prime example of twisted hipster logic that has gone unchecked for too long.
See more pictures from Katy’s Vogue Australia shoot below.
Ciara has dropped a new single titled “Level Up,” which is a reference to her controversial Pick-Me-esque tweet from a few months ago. The song, co-written by J.R. Rotem, samples DJ Telly Tellz’s “Fuck It Up Challenge” and is essentially a victory lap for all her good fortune as of late. The video is classic Ciara as she gives us moves that I’m sure I’ve seen in at least four other videos from her. At this point, I think CiCi has been out of juice for years, so I can’t truly claim to be disappointed. Peep the clip below.
We’re still in the thick of Bardi Season, with the rapper bagging 10 nominations at this 2018 MTV Video Music Awards, including Video of the Year and Song of the Year (both for her feature on Bruno Mars’ “Finesse”). Jay-Z and Beyoncé received eight nods apiece for their collaborative Everything Is Love project, while Childish Gambino, Drake and Ariana Grande also received multiple nominations.
The VMAs now have like 10 nominees per category, which cheapens the awards in my opinion, but ah well. It’s clear that MTV has given up on making the show as prestigious as it once was and are now fully committed to the Teen Choice approach (complete with online voting). You can see the full list of nominees and vote for videos here.
The 2018 MTV Video Music Awards will air live on August 20 at 9pm ET on MTV.
For the second time, Drake has dethroned himself on the Billboard Hot 100. Partially powered by the #InMyFeelingsChallenge, “In My Feelings” is now the No. 1 song in the US, replacing “Nice for What” (which fell to No. 4) and making Drake the rapper with the most No. 1 hits. Drake is only the fourth artist to dethrone himself twice — the Beatles, Usher and Justin Bieber are the first three musical acts to accomplish this.
Drake, Cardi B and Post Malone all have at least two songs in the top 10 right now, which is the first time three artists have taking up so much space region.
If you ever doubted that luck was a factor in all things, I’d like to present Tinashe to you. She is as beautiful and talented as they come, and even had a minor hit with her debut single, “2 On.” However, since then, none of her songs (besides features on other artists’ songs) have charted on the Billboard Hot 100; yes, the quality of her material took a sharp decline after her first album, but there are crappier songs out there charting and even reaching No. 1. I sincerely can’t call it.
Her new song, “Like I Used To,” is from an upcoming album titled Nashe. If you find yourself thinking, “Didn’t she just put out an album?” it is because she did. Her last album, Joyride, came out just three months ago. I suspect that her management isn’t the best in the business, but what do I know? Check the song out below.
Dave East is a stark reminder that you don’t have to be particularly talented to get a record deal. If I gave a sincere assessment of this song, it would read like a hatchet job, so I’m just going to keep it simple (for now) and give thanks for the fact that Rick Ross is on the song. Watch the video (featuring a cameo from nut-ass Adrien Broner) below.
Well that was fast. Just hours after the audio release of “God Is A Woman,” Ariana Grande dropped a video for the track. This is one of the times when a music video actually beats expectations. Female empowerment is the clear theme as Ariana is shown in a number of deific images (because, duh, God is a woman), and in one scene, she literally breaks a glass ceiling. It also features a voice cameo from Madonna, who recites one of Samuel L. Jackson’s famous lines from Pulp Fiction (a movie I still haven’t seen…judge your mother). Check the video out below.
I find Childish Gambino (gubment name Donald Glover) annoying because he is the hipster’s hipster and he also has problematic ways. He is a prime candidate for cancellation and I’m not even sure why I’m making this post, but I will reflect on that later over a plate of rice (#AllCarbSundays).
Anyway, a few days ago, he released two new songs called “Feels Like Summer” and “Summertime Magic.” I guess he has summer on his mind. “Feels Like Summer” is a snoozefest, but “Summertime Magic” is actually decent (i.e. I would like the song a whole lot more if a less annoying person made it). Check both tracks out below.
Today in 1998, Monica released her sophomore album, The Boy Is Mine, named after her iconic duet with Brandy. Deep down, I know Brandy hates the fact that Monica chose to name her album after their song, especially when you consider that it was technically a Brandy song first — she co-wrote, co-produced and even recorded the song before she had the idea of making it a duet. Brandy, being the petty woman she seems to have become, alluded to the song being hers at her Essence Fest performance last weekend.
But anyways, back to the album. With over two million copies sold in the US alone, The Boy Is Mine is Monica’s biggest commercial success to date. And while those sales figures aren’t particularly impressive (especially considering that this was in the late ’90s when people actually bought albums), it produced three No. 1 singles: the title track, “The First Night” and “Angel of Mine.”
Unlike Brandy, who got involved with songwriting from her very first album, Monica wasn’t a part of the creative process at this point in her career. However, with the help of Dallas Austin (credited on five of the album’s 13 tracks), Jermaine Dupri and Diane Warren, among others, she gave us an album so good that it’s hard to believe she was only 17 when it dropped.
My favorite song on The Boy Is Mine is her cover of Wilma Burgess’ “Misty Blue.” It was an album cut, so enjoy the audio below.