448 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
(02/07/20 8:49pm)
by Jack Gillespie
A record like 2017’s Rainbow was not able to exist—or even be enjoyed fully—within a vacuum. Not only was the record a stunning shift in sound from the dirty, raw electropop of past projects like Animal and Warrior to heavy influences from country and rock music, but much of the record is a strong, emotionally potent response to the legal battle with former producer—and Kesha’s accused sexual abuser—Dr. Luke. And while there are not any moments where Luke is mentioned by name on Rainbow, tracks like “Praying” are about as direct of a response as Kesha could possibly make without doing so.
Now in 2020, we've got a new record, High Road. While there are definitely moments and aspects where the history of Kesha’s career could definitely add more meaning, High Road does not require the listener to be well-educated on the Kesha narrative like its predecessor. It honestly seems deliberate; the lead single “Raising Hell” saw a return to the larger-than-life, fun-loving Kesha we saw on those first two records and the following single. “My Own Dance” is a direct response to people who dare to put her into any boxes as just a party girl or a victim. "You're the party girl, you're the tragedy / But the funny thing's I'm f*cking everything” Kesha sings before the hook busts in. Even the name of the record suggests that she is looking to move on from the trauma that she faced head-on all over Rainbow.
The hints of moving on are, for the most part, quite true. High Road sees a full return to the off-the-wall dance-pop of her earlier work. The opener of the record, “Tonight,” sets this tone quite effectively; after a short piano intro, the listener is met with a fake-out, a reintroduction of the party-animal Kesha that we haven’t heard from since she was Ke$ha. She rapped bars about getting drunk and high, losing your phone, not seeing your boyfriend for months and the like.
It’s definitely an attention-grabbing intro, but not really for all of the best reasons. Kesha is still great at embodying the free-spirited party girl, but messy, overblown production and incomprehensible mixing buries all of that charisma and turns the track into a muddled fever dream of a song. For a song that is trying to contrast between two radically different musical styles, this is a death sentence.
(02/04/20 7:18pm)
by Arianna Sergio
Halsey, released her third studio album Manic on Jan. 17, 2020. This album was drawn from multiple personal experiences that helped her create a glimpse into her life, some of those experiences being her tumultuous on-again off-again relationship with G-Eazy, her love and appreciation for movies, and accepting her identity being bisexual, biracial, and bipolar. She takes us inside the mind of Ashley Frangipane, not Halsey. She is more honest and raw on this album than on any of her projects in the past. This gives her listeners a front row ticket to the chaotic, lovely, and bustling life that is her reality.
(01/31/20 8:04pm)
by Baylie Clevenger
In 2012, One Direction entered my world and absolutely rocked it. I was obsessed. I had posters, necklaces, albums, and t-shirts galore… and Harry was always my favorite.
I remember pretending on Twitter that Louis was my favorite because at the time liking Harry the most was frowned upon for fear of being labeled a “fake fan.”
The moral of the story is that I have loved Harry Styles for a long time and I have listened to every piece of music that features him… and I got to thinking about how much that has changed since I was 13 years old with posters plastered on my wall.
(01/29/20 9:09pm)
[embed]https://soundcloud.com/user-519363288/remixed-s5e2-grammys-2020[/embed]
Welcome back to another episode of Remixed! Records were broke and controversies continued. In this exciting new episode, we discussed the ongoing drama regarding the Recording Academy and the overall quality of the Grammy's. How did the academy controversy impact the Grammy's this year? What performances stood out? Were the award decisions valid? Find this all out and more on Remixed!
Hosted by: Jack Gillespie and Kellyn Harrison
Edited by: Kellyn Harrison
Graphic by: Malia Hutton
(01/29/20 9:11pm)
Welcome back to another episode of Remixed! Records were broke and controversies continued. In this exciting new episode, we discussed the ongoing drama regarding the Recording Academy and the overall quality of the Grammy's. How did the academy controversy impact the Grammy's this year? What performances stood out? Were the award decisions valid? Find this all out and more on Remixed!
(01/28/20 9:36pm)
by Brandon Carson
(01/28/20 6:14pm)
(01/24/20 9:35pm)
by Baylie Clevenger
I love music that I can feel. I love music that is authentic, raw, and intentional. And I have always loved Mac Miller’s music.
When I was 13, I met my now best friend of eight years. One of the pillars of our young friendship was Miller’s Blue Slide Park. I even remember the first time I heard “Frick Park Market” at midnight while my friend and I were sitting on my family computer watching music videos and being far too loud. We even had matching Mac Miller T-shirts. It’s the sweetest little memories like those that are tied to Miller’s music.
I know I am not alone in saying that Miller has always provided that authentic sound that I crave. Beyond loving his sound, I bonded with my best friend over his lyrics. That’s why in 2018 when he passed, I was devastated. Somewhere in my heart I knew that we may never feel that feeling of listening to one of his new tracks again.
I will be real and say that as my music taste evolved and changed in my teens, I had a moment where I fell away from his music, but I always found my way back and I always loved him not only for his music but for his unique place in the industry. And on Jan. 17, 2020, I found my way back once again to his posthumous album, Circles. This album worked out to be a beautiful, meaningful send-off for a lovely man.
(01/24/20 6:57pm)
by Olivia Weinzapfel
On Jan. 17, 2020, Mac Miller’s posthumous album was released, a little over a year after his sudden and tragic death. The album, Circles, was produced and finished by Jon Brion, per the request of Mac’s family. Brion, who had helped Mac work on the project before his passing, released it on his behalf as his last album and last piece of work for the world to hear.
Karen Meyers, Mac’s mother, published an Instagram post on Jan. 8 announcing the album’s release date and gave a brief overview of the conceptualities and significance behind it. The two-paragraph exposition revealed that not only was Mac working on another project before his untimely death, but it was to be completed by his visionary companion Brion, and set to release just a week later. Circles would be a conceptual counterpart to Mac’s last LP, Swimming. As mentioned in the post, the spirit alluded to by the parallels was the idea of “Swimming in Circles.”
Jon Brion, a songwriter, movie composer, and producer, worked closely with Mac and his visions for both Swimming and Circles. Brion is credited with co-producing over half of the tracks on Swimming, and was expected to amount about the same contribution to Circles. Mac had his solidified vision for the latter, and Brion was to help sharpen the divination of everything it was to become, from the lyrics to the overall sound.
“There were supposed to be three albums: the first, Swimming,was sort of the hybridization of going between hip-hop and song form. The second, which he’d already decided would be called Circles, would be song-based. And I believe the third one would have been just a pure hip-hop record. I think he wanted to tell people, “I still love this, I still do this.””— Jon Brion, in an interview with The New York Times.
Swimming, which was released on Aug. 3, 2018—just a month before Mac’s death— is a full-body, stream of consciousness work that is extremely introspective and induces the purest forms of emotional vulnerability for the active listener. As Brion mentioned, Swimming is more hip-hop based—which is what really gives it that stream-of-consciousness component. The album is subjectively melancholy, bringing Mac’s mental tribulations to the forefront of the musical conversation. For many, this album hit harder following his death, namely because he presented himself as very vulnerable, and we were essentially left with this image of him as someone who was in the midst of trying to overcome his psychological distress; however, his time was cut short in trying to break through that wall of adversity. This dismal awareness was heavy, and echoed in the hearts of many fans and admirers every time they listened to “Wings” or “Come Back to Earth.” While this was the reality of the situation, Circles transcended this idea, and offered us a little bit more closure from the artist.
Circles, although not an embodiment of a mental breakthrough, still breaks the downbeat pattern of the previous album. In Circles, Mac’s perspectives seem to shift, transgressing and focusing more on the world and his relationship with everything around him in a slightly more positive light, rather than being so inner-focused, as in Swimming. Circles is everything that the word bittersweet means; it’s a somber experience to listen to new music from a beloved artist that was so soon taken from us, but it’s beautiful to have this last piece of his voice and expressions that repaves our idea of him as he conveyed himself in Swimming. In a way, it really acted as a last goodbye and final accomplishment.
As a precursor to Circles, the posthumous single, “Good News,” was released on Jan. 9th. This earnest song set a great precedent for the rest of the album, since it still confronts a bleak subject but takes on a new optimistic undertone. The rest of the songs in Circles match this idiosyncrasy, shifting the attitude on certain subjects to a more light-hearted side of the conversation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIHF7u9Wwiw
The album, to no one’s surprise, is a masterpiece in itself. As Brion said, it takes on more of a song-based tracklist, and compared to Mac’s previous recordings it deems itself slightly experimental. The entrancing funk embedded in almost every song makes it every bit as infectious as Swimming was, but in its own respects. It is perfectly curated and beams with Mac’s talented artistry. Brion, to his credit, also— in the most honorable way—finished producing the album all while upholding Mac’s vision and preserving his sound. Most of the tracks on Circles are more song-like than we’re used to from our beloved rapper, and a decent majority of them are noticeably more upbeat. But even with this in mind, a lot of lyrics still hit a little too close to home, most notably one of the lines from “Good News,” in which Mac sings, “There’s a whole lot more for me waitin’ on the other side.”
As a complementary bonus to the album itself, music videos were released for every song on the day of the album’s release. The videos were distributed by DatPiff and organized into a playlist on Youtube; they were also featured as video covers for the songs on Spotify. Each one complements its song perfectly, translating each individual track into a visual aesthetic. This only further solidifies the album as a finished body of work, and as Mac’s last piece of art for all of us to indulge in.
On the day of Circles’ release, all social media platforms were flooded with comments of emotion and praise, all induced by the album’s impact. The effect that Mac and his music had/has on us and how this final album was the perfect point of closure was the main focal point of the public mind. This posthumous album gave us a perfect goodbye from an artist who not only made a large generational impact, but who we all felt like we knew on a personal level. From those who simply enjoyed his music to those who credit his music for helping them through the toughest of times, Mac reached and touched everyone individually. Circles was like an ambient parting, and it all felt just as personal as his music has always been in the hearts of his fans.
With Circles, Mac reminds us all to live in the present and make the most that we can out of the life we’re given. In the song “Everybody,” he leaves us with, “Everybody’s gotta live// And everybody’s gonna die// Everybody’s gotta live// I think you know the reason why.”
(01/21/20 8:17pm)
[embed]https://soundcloud.com/user-519363288/remixed-s5e1-new-music-from-mac-miller-and-eminem[/embed]
Welcome back everybody to a new season of Remixed! In this week's episode, we talk about concerning trends regarding the journalism industry and some albums recently released last week by Mac Miller, Halsey, Eminem, etc. How does music journalism impact our history and why are these trends so concerning? How does Eminem's album compare to his older music and create controversy? Does Mac Miller's new album give justice to his legacy? Find all this out and more in this week's episode of Remixed!
Hosted by: Jack Gillespie and Baylie Clevenger
Edited by: Kellyn Harrison
Graphic by: Katherine Simon
(01/21/20 8:14pm)
(01/19/20 9:36pm)
by Jack Gillespie
The story of the character Poppy is one critical of the fake, manipulative, toxic culture of celebrity. For years, the character of Poppy was built up as a robotic, detached shell of a human-like being whose attempts to relate to the common person as a fellow normal human exposed exactly what is at the core of the character. If you remove all of the insane, complex lore that built up as the unsettling atmosphere of an average video from the pop star/Youtuber/method actress grew larger and larger, the same message came through; the celebrities and pop culture figures we look up too as inspiration are all fake. So how the story of Poppy the person, AKA Moriah Pereira, unfolded turned out to be a sickeningly poignant case of irony.
The first domino fell when Mars Argo, a former collaborator with and girlfriend of Titanic Sinclair, the creative director behind a lot of the Poppy project, came out with a lawsuit that accused Sinclair of copying her identity and artistry with Poppy, as well as accusations of physical and mental abuse. The evidence was damning, and it became more and more obvious that the history of Sinclair and Argo was one of manipulation and artistic control on Sinclair’s part. So when Poppy announced her split from Sinclair as collaborators and shared similar stories to Argo’s of Sinclair's manipulation just weeks before the release of ‘I Disagree,’ the future of what the project that is Poppy would be had never been more simultaneously clear and mysterious since the lawsuit. Now that Poppy had separated from someone who had a huge role in her success, what next? She ended her statement with this: “I am happier than I have ever been and I am excited to move forward.”
(01/18/20 8:55pm)
by Conner Tighe
After five years, Selena Gomez has returned to the music world with her latest album, Rare. This new album was inspired by several events that helped shape who she is; for instance, her rocky relationship with Justin Bieber and her battle with Lupus. Despite these struggles, she is now finishing out the low chapter in her life. To start 2020 on a high note, Gomez has released her latest album. And what a high note it is.
Since there’s a bit of a gap since her last album, Revival, it’s important to understand what overall message she is expressing this time around. “I found this healing, and I saw something bigger than what I thought that I was,” Gomez told Spotify in a recent interview. The message is original and hits differently compared to past works. Each song feels unique and has its own exclusive vibe, which is rare today, given the pop culture era we are all living in. Therefore, the originality that Gomez provides makes her a standout in the music industry. Pop culture gets a bad rap a lot these days; however, it can be used in a way that is “healing” like Gomez stated. Musicians can express both public and personal issues within their art, and Gomez did the latter. Pop culture is incorporated into several marketing techniques that draw in money, but for Gomez, that’s not what it was about. She just wanted to share this now two-year journey with her fans.
(01/14/20 5:08pm)
by Jack Gillespie
The '10s have finally passed, after what seemed like a never-ending decade, and the landscape of popular music has seen countless shifts in that time. The way music is marketed, made, consumed, released, and even popularized is leagued differently than it was in 2009. Many phases and waves have come and gone as well: the EDM boom, the renaissance of the modern pop divas à la Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Beyoncé, Rihanna, etc., dancehall, tropical house, and the ascension of rap as the nation’s dominant musical genre.
One way one can get a good idea of what music defined the decade is to look at the biggest songs of the decades. What tracks caught the attention of the country in a way few tracks can? And a more important question: which of those tracks were actually worthy of the platform? This list has the best that the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart had to offer in the ‘10s, as well as the worst. In order to fully understand the past, you need to take a look at both the trash and treasure.
(01/08/20 4:30pm)
by Katherine Simon
The early 2000s was arguably the peak of emo music’s popularity. While the origins of emo date as far back as the mid-1980s; the start of the millennium would be when the genre entered mainstream popularity, and the emo subculture as we know it today would be formed. This was due in part to the success of emo bands like Paramore, All-American Rejects, and arguably the face of the whole emo subculture: My Chemical Romance.
Formed in 2002 by lead singer/songwriter Gerard Way and drummer Matt Pelisser, MCR went on to become one of the most prominent emo bands of the 2000s, and is probably the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of the genre. If you were an angsty, hormonal teenager like me, chances are you spent a lot of time listening to their music and ended up resonating with their brand of angsty songwriting with surprisingly hopeful and positive messages. With the band recently reunited, I thought it would be a good idea to look back on their discography and see what made them stand out from the crowd.
(12/24/19 4:30pm)
by Trevor Sheffield
Disclaimer: The following review of Cats is of the original release of the film. Current Cats screenings contain “enhanced special effects” which are not reflected upon in this review.
In 1982, a man named Andrew Lloyd Webber opened a musical called Cats on Broadway. Based on author T.S. Eliot’s poetry collection entitled Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, the show follows a gaggle of audacious felines as they effectively debate over who deserves reincarnation. It’s gone on to completely revolutionize musical theater as we know it, and became Webber’s most iconic work, which lives on in infamy to this day.
In 2019, a man named Tom Hooper (of Les Misérables “fame”) directed a film adaptation of Mr. Webber’s production, and I’d dare argue that it is the single-most horrifying film this year has to offer—and it doesn’t even have a body count.
(12/22/19 7:00pm)
by Trevor Sheffield
With 2019 starting to wind down and some of its final films coming to the big screen, it’s worth noting the various accomplishments mainstream cinema has managed to achieve over the course of these last few months. Disney and Marvel released Avengers: Endgame, which went on to become the highest grossing film of all time. Disney and Pixar released Toy Story 4 to great critical acclaim and capped off the Toy Story saga (for now). Perhaps most importantly, Disney acquired 20th Century Fox and all of its entertainment assets, assimilating studios like Blue Sky and Fox Searchlight into the fold. This also brought the not-so-quiet cracking down of repeat screenings of older Fox films to give more space to things like The Lion King (2019) and Aladdin (2019), to the detriment of non-chain theaters across the country.
But for all the morally-questionable victories won this year, there’s another side of the coin. 2019 made itself home to four of the biggest bombs in cinematic history: Laika’s Missing Link, STX’s Uglydolls, and AMBI’s Arctic Dogs all made headlines for flopping in their widespread theatrical releases, each progressively worse than the last.
At least their U.S. releases weren’t delayed as a result of distributors going bankrupt, only for it to hit American theaters six months after being released overseas—at half the ticket price of their competitors. If I had to encapsulate everything wrong with the films I’ve seen this year into one neat, convenient package, it would be— without a doubt—Playmobil: The Movie.
(12/18/19 9:07pm)
by Baylie Clevenger
I have to admit that I used to run a One Direction fan account. I loved them, and they grew with me through my adolescent years; I genuinely appreciated them as a band. But, nothing from their era could ever compare to Harry Styles’ solo career—after all, he was always my favorite. Apparently I’m not the only one, since Styles’ following has stayed strong after the One Direction days, which cannot be said for the rest of his bandmates.
After releasing his self-titled debut solo album in 2017, Styles took it easier than he had in his One Direction days and kept things pretty lowkey. That being said, he has dropped back in full force with his newest album, Fine Line, which was released on Dec. 13.
Strap in, because this album is a wild ride of bangers, emotional sad-boy songs, and sounds that can only be compared to actual sunshine.
(12/16/19 5:00pm)
by Conner Tighe
Cuban-American singer Camila Cabello has dazzled America this year with several song additions and her relationship with singer Shawn Mendes. After receiving her latest award for “Collaboration of the Year,” she has now released her latest album Romance.
Romance features several works that Cabello has released throughout 2019 while also supplying some new works. The album features 14 tracks that appeal to the sensuality that Cabello always seems to show. It shows the promise and effort that she has put into it. It details a messy journey of love from hurt to healing. Cabello's fans out there will appreciate her latest work but expect little new content here.
(11/21/19 8:11pm)
by Tt Shinkan
Power metal, a subgenre of metal in which a band sings about fantasy, mythology, emotions, personal struggles, and even war and death. Most of the time, a story is told throughout a song, teaching listeners about a mythological god, a historical event, or the band’s personal theme.
Learning from Lyrics is a biweekly column that will choose a band and one of their songs, then break down the lyrics to fully understand the story they’re trying to tell.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1gvNaC17B4
Sabaton is a Swedish power metal band whose main lyrical themes are historical battles or acts of heroism throughout history. Every song they produce has some sort of historical significance.
Their song “Lion From The North” comes from their sixth studio album, Carolus Rex, a concept album detailing the rise and fall of the Swedish Empire from 1611 to 1721. The song is about Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden. Adolphus was the king of Sweden from 1611 until his death in 1632. The song focuses on his time during the Thirty Years’ War.