Month: January 2023

Cleveland Public Theatre shines the spotlight on artists’ works in progress

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It’s every playwright’s dream: Acquiring the keys to a theater and the wherewithal to tweak a script and showcase it during workshop productions in front of audiences.

Cleveland Public Theatre (CPT) is making that possible with Test Flight 2023—an annual opportunity that grants playwrights from around the country access to the James Levin Theatre, where they choose casts and directors and design their show’s artwork. The playwrights also receive assistance from production staff and stage managers, marketing and advertising support, and a small percentage of box office revenue.

“I believe Cleveland Public Theatre is dedicated to spotlighting new work more than any other theater in the nation,” says Kim Furganson, CPT’s director of audience engagement and marketing. “The reality for many new writers is that it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack to get their work noticed unless they know someone in the business or already have a reputation.”

The call for 2023 submissions took place last summer. Selections were based on criteria that included the project’s potential and whether the work is truly production-ready and aligned with CPT’s mission of producing groundbreaking performances.

“Test Flight is a critical piece of the spectrum of opportunities we have created,” says Raymond Bobgan, CPT’s executive artistic director. “The idea behind this series is to nurture artists who are on their way to full production and need support in the pre-production phase to create a workshop production.”

Bobgan adds that the experience of staging their works in progress can be both helpful to the artists and entertaining and enlightening for the audience.

“Artists can utilize Test Flight to beta test their nearly finished work,” he explains. “New work celebrates one of the most essential elements of theater—it is immediately present and live. And that means it is also a special experience for audiences to get in on the ground floor and witness a critical and extraordinary side of theater.”

This year’s Test Flight runs from this Thursday, Jan. 19 through Saturday, Feb. 25, with six productions chosen to take centerstage over the next five weeks.

Here is a rundown of the six plays taking flight this year

Jaiie Dayo AliyaWeek 1, Jan. 19-21: “Our Lady of Common Sorrows”
Written and directed by Jaiie Dayo Aliya.

A woman recently released from prison, and her loved ones, experience a crisis of faith when her 15-year-old daughter becomes pregnant under mysterious, and perhaps miraculous, circumstances.

About the playwright: Jaiie Dayo Aliya is an Akron Arts Alive and Knight Arts Challenge award-winning playwright, actor, and musician. They studied at Kent State University where they majored in theater arts and Pan-African studies. Aliya is artistic director of Ma’Sue Productions, which has produced eight plays in the last nine years.

Jeanne MadisonWeek 2, Jan. 26–28: “Showin’ Up Black”
Written by Jeanne Madison and directed by Michael Oatman.

On the eve of their daughter’s cotillion, the Hopegoodes, an affluent African American family, see their plans for the perfect debutante ball collide with a Black Lives Matter protest. And that’s not all that collides—their secrets and competing desires get shaken loose by the nearness of the protest and tear at the fabric of this family, challenging what, exactly, it is to be Black.

About the Playwright: Jeanne Madison is a member of the Dramatist Guild. Her plays have been performed at CPT and the Ensemble Theatre, where she is a member of Stagewrights. Favorite roles include the PBS broadcast of “Greenwood: An American Dream Destroyed,” “The Velocity of Autumn” at Karamu House, “Picnic” at Oberlin Theater, and Left In Ink at Cleveland Public Theatre. Her on-camera work includes numerous television commercials and films, including Netflix’s “White Noise.”

Tania BenitesWeek 3, Feb. 9­–11: “Alter”
Written by Tania Benites, directed by Kari Barclay, and co-produced by Teatro Público de Cleveland.

Using a self-help book “Hypnosis for Self-Confidence,” customer service representative Maria seeks ultimate self-improvement to succeed in the corporate world. However, she soon discovers that the best version of herself may be her worst enemy.

About the Playwright: Benites is a Peruvian-born and Cleveland-raised theater artist. As an actress, Tania has worked at many theaters in Northeast Ohio, including Cleveland Public Theatre, Teatro Público de Cleveland, Talespinner Children’s Theatre, Ensemble Theatre, LatinUs Theater Company, Clague Playhouse, and Rubber City Theatre. As a playwright, Benites’ work has been featured in ¡Obras en Evolución!, a festival of new play readings by Teatro Público de Cleveland in 2017 and 2018, where the beginnings of “Alter” were formed.

Dave TabarWeek 4, Feb. 16–18: “Anna of Mariupol—Act 1” and “Gray Space” will be shown on the same bill.

“Anna of Mariupol—Act 1” (a short rock opera set in present-day Ukraine), is written and produced by David C. Tabar and directed by Christina Dupre.

An innocent, young Anna finds family and friends caught up in sudden military conflict and seeks comfort from a higher order.

About the Playwright: Tabar once played keyboard in Westlake’s rock band The Color while playing trumpet throughout his school years. Today he’s best known for music that he composes, produces, and releases on Blackpool Records, including rock, Classical, and Jazz/Blues/Gospel. Tabar also co-wrote and co-produced the 2018 film and music production, “Angel in a Foxhole,” in a collaboration with Dean Love Films in New York.

Missy Crum“Gray Space,” is written by Melissa T. Crum and Ananias Dixon and directed by Chennelle Bryant-Harris.

Two strangers meet in an abstract environment. Through the shapeshifting of identity and setting, the pair explore how to have difficult conversations in real time.

Ananias DixonAbout the Playwrights: Crum is a Cleveland-based director, writer, performer, educator, and meaning maker, who holds the position of artistic and education associate at Cleveland Public Theatre. She and co-writer/composer Caitlin Lewins developed “Everything is Okay (and other helpful lies),” a dark musical comedy that received a reading at the New York Musical Festival in 2019.

Dixon, a theater teacher and coach at Cleveland School of the Arts, has credits that include productions at Cleveland Public Theater; Dobama Theatre, Karamu House, and Cleveland Play House, as well as many popular national television series and films.

Obediya Jones-DarrellWeek 5, February 23­–25: “Jacket of Blue”
Written, composed and music-directed by Obediya Jones-Darrell and directed by Tara Taylor.

Set in the golden era of rail, “Jacket of Blue” is a play with music about the struggles faced by Black train porters in the 1920s. With original music inspired by Ragtime, Jazz, Folk, Gospel, and Broadway traditions, the story follows a dignified and conflicted porter who must face the best and worst humanity has to offer during a journey across generations that transcends culture.

Jones-Darrell is an award-winning multidisciplinary artist, producer, filmmaker, playwright, music composer, sound designer, and lyricist of Canadian origin and African descent. While he spent his formative years in Nova Scotia and British Columbia, Cleveland is now the place he calls home. Over the past three years, his work has been performed internationally in theater and film festivals on five continents. In 2019, he was selected as one of Canada’s 20 emerging diverse filmmakers by Toronto’s Reel World Film Festival.

All Test Flight ticket prices fall under CPT’s Choose What You Pay program. All shows start at 7:30 p.m. For more information about Test Flight 2023, call (216) 631-2727 or visit the CPT website.

K-Pop group aespa becomes the first to perform at the Governors Ball Festival in New York

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aespa:

aespa, who ranked 3rd on the Billboard 200 main album chart in the US, is appearing at various local festivals. In April 2022, they successfully completed their first live stage in the country through the largest outdoor music festival in the US, ‘Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival‘. In addition, they became the first K-pop girl group to appear in the outdoor concert ‘GMA 2022 Summer Concert Series 2022’ hosted by ABC’s representative morning show ‘Good Morning America’ (GMA) every summer.  

aespa also participated in a branding campaign with the message of ‘sustainable travel’ in celebration of the New Year. Following Stray Kids and Lee Jun-ho, on the 27th, the third episode of the ‘LDF Original Series’ was released for the first time, aespa’s edition is a short drama titled ‘Melody of the Stars’, and contains a total of 3 episodes of aespa’s sustainable travel story. It is a story about aespa members sympathizing with the preciousness of the earth while going on a stargazing trip to Australia. The title of this short drama, ‘Melody of the Stars’, was taken from the title of the song ‘Melody of the Stars’, which was used as the background music along with the beautiful shooting star video in the drama. ‘Melody of the Stars’ expresses the color and brightness of stars with sound. 

About aespa: 

In the last episode, which will be released on January 9th, aespa members deliver messages about ‘sustainable travel’ and ‘protecting the earth’ in four languages, respectively Korean, English, Chinese, and Japanese. Behind the growth of K-POP as an industry, there was a system of domestic entertainment companies that systematized the process from artist development to performance planning and marketing. However, it was not an achievement achieved only by the power of the system. The rapid growth of K-POP in recent years is because there were attractive artists who could satisfy hundreds of millions of global fandoms around the world.

Unfortunately, the period from 2020 to 2022, the period of the global corona pandemic, was a time when many next-generation talented K-pop groups appeared. During this period, groups that stood out and were loved by fandoms around the world were especially female groups. SM Entertainment’s ‘aespa’, which introduced the metaverse worldview storytelling called ‘Wilderness’ and the ‘Hyper POP’ genre, which twisted the grammar of existing pop music, into the album, marked the beginning of the next generation of K-POP. It was an informed group. aespa, which debuted in November 2020, was evaluated as “unique” by conveying a different feeling from typical SM style groups by putting the “difficulty” of the metaverse worldview as one concept. In addition, with each member’s overwhelming visuals and corresponding singing and performance skills, aespa almost monopolized the popularity of the K-POP industry in 2021 with popular songs such as ‘Next Level’ and ‘Savage’.

aespa’s uniqueness received favorable reviews from unexpected media. ‘Forbes’, an American economic media, reported that aespa’s first mini-album ‘Savage’ ranked Billboard’s ‘Top Album Sales’ ranking of the 100 best-selling albums in the United States.’ Regarding their second place on the chart, they praised, “This 4-member group’s first album is a very important and tremendous victory compared to the records of all female singers in Korea.”

aespa’s Synk Road: 

The group aespa foreshadowed a variety of charms with its first solo reality show. As it is the first trip among the members, all four members are excited and excited, saying that they showed high tension. In the car leaving for Gangwon-do, Super Junior‘s Shindong, a ‘entertainment senior’, made a surprise appearance on the VCR and generously introduced ‘reality essential car games’ to the aespa members, such as high-pitched battles, holding back laughter games, and song endings, and passed on the know-hows of the trip.

The members who returned after carrying out thrilling activity missions in the beautiful nature of Gangwon-do brought laughter with cute reactions, saying, “We are back alive!” and “We will live kindly.” The question is amplified whether aespa succeeded in the mission and obtained the first ae-key safely.

ALSO READ: Sweet Home’s Song Kang and 20th Century Girl’s Kim Yoo Jung to lead a new fantasy drama? Find Out

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What do you think of the achievement? Let us know in the comments below. 

Kelela Drops “Contact” Single | 2DOPEBOYZ

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On February 10, Kelela will release her sophomore album RAVEN. Her first full-length project since her 2017 debut album Take Me Apart, the eclectic songstress shares her latest focus track “Contact.”

“‘Contact’ has a little bit of something for every part of the night. It’s a soundtrack for pre-gaming,” Kelela says about the track. “It’s also the interior club experience: the heat that envelops you when you walk into a packed rave. All this culminates in a very naughty, psychedelic moment in the back of the club with a lover.”

Kelela Drops “Contact” Single was last modified: January 17th, 2023 by Meka



Album Review: Alaskan Tapes – Who Tends A Garden

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Toronto-based producer Alaskan Tapes released his full-length album last week, and after sinking our ears into the narrative of this 9-track body of work, we had to put our thoughts down in writing. 

Most ambient albums can often be hard to review, as they too commonly are a collection of soundscapes and ambiance strung together without rhyme or reason (both literally and figuratively). But the soft arrangements, more complex instrumentation, and masterful works of sonic engineering that Alaskan Tapes was able to bend his sound into for this album are second to none.

We are so enamored by the album itself that we are even hosting a contest with the label and artist, providing you an exclusive opportunity to win one of two copies of the album on vinyl! Just provide some extra information so we can contact you in case you win before diving into the comprehensive review of Who Tends A Garden.

‘Of Woods and Seas’

The album’s opening song sets the tone with lush and ambient pacing, with delicate synth pads and delicate textures slowly building to an inevitable something. As these textures cascade upwards, they reach their apex before fading to silence, and Alaskan Tapes’ signature piano style is there to replace them.

The halfway point of this leading record marks the end of the prelude and the true start to the body of work overall. And while, throughout the rest of the song, the textures continue to ebb and flow as they do, the piano does its best to remain the steady constant. 

‘Who Tends a Garden

The second track starts with a similar. soundscape texture, derived from a more acoustic-sounding source, evokes a greater sense of authenticity and connection between the artist, the music, and the listener. From this bed of texture and sounds, Alaksan Tapes’ keys can be heard but faintly in the backdrop of the music. 

The arrangement slowly drifts and evolves behind it without a clear direction. The song’s wandering journey and narrative arc leave new details to be discovered upon each listen, begging repeat after repeat! 

‘Everending’

with more foley and natural-sounding details used as the foundation for this track, ‘Everending’ lives in a far more realistic space than the previous songs on the album. Gongs and chimes create the primary melodic foundation of the track, and Alaskan Tapes’ signature atmospheres continue to develop from there. 

Added delays and more intricate effects slowly wash over the chimes, creating an ethereal and hyper-real quality in the sole hook of the track, allowing us to get lost in the sounds and music. 

‘Then’

Without the complex layering and nuances of the previous tracks, the straightforward simplicity of the fourth track on the record speaks for itself. String lines form the primary foundation of the track, with slow-evolving, plucks of a dulcimer-like instrument playing off the sweeping strings.  

Sometimes, the harmonies and chord progressions drift to a halt, giving time for reflection and peace before the plucks enter into the mix and bagpipe whispers keep each section fresh and lively. 

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‘Library Fields’

This track is where the album takes a more playful turn in its overarching narrative. Far more rapid-paced pianos give a defined melodic structure, whereas before, the album was based on soundscapes and textures more than singular melodies and motifs.

With a sparser arrangement, more attention is left to direct all of the focus upon the felt pianos, allowing us to hear every action and stroke the hammer’s play perfectly. 

‘Still Diving and Diving Still’

Another track that creates its foundation on the authentic recording and textures of the natural world, ocean ways and delicate keys create a world of their own where ghost-like vocals drift and chime their way around. 

Much like the waves beneath the music, the melodies and harmonies ebb and flow without ever reaching their apex. Reversed atmospheres and melodic make the primary motifs of the song ephemeral, making the track lack any form of distinction and never finding its center – only further proving the point of made in the title.

‘A Long Line of Violet Hills’ 

Listening to ‘A Long Line of Violet Hills,’ it’s easy to see how the album in its entirety has lead up to this moment. Like a restrained orchestra, strings and woodwinds create anthemic-and-blissful moments that feel larger than life while simultaneously as if they are playing just for you. 

As the track waxes toward its climax, delicate guitar lines and subtle and supplementary meldoic textures work their way into the mix without detracting from the core idea. 

‘Swimming and Dancing and Floating in Circles’ 

 By far the longest track on the album, ‘Swiming and Dancing and Floating in Circles’ tells a vast story of small scope. The expansive textures and clever use of the stereo field create a scene and backdrop that feels as if you could reach out, grab it, and store it in the thimble. The textures and harmonies brush against each other in fluid motion, drifting to and back in a seamless echo. 

As the album looks towards its ending, this track reflects where we’ve been throughout the journey and gives us solace in knowing that we can return. 

‘W(e) ave’

One of the shorter tracks on the album, this track has a haunting quality that transports the listener to a new place to view the album as a whole in a new light. The heavenly textures and supple nuances of the track allow us to view the album with new perspectives and leave us with a completely different emotional draw than many of the tracks on the album that came before it. 

Fading to silence a full fifteen seconds before the official end of the track, the music airs on the side of finality and fades to white upon its leaving.

7-Eleven owner blasts classical music to discourage homeless people

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Music to his ears.

The owner of a Texas 7-Eleven has come up with a way to discourage homeless people from hanging out near his store.

Jagat Patel, who owns a location in Austin, plays classical music and opera blaring from speakers to stop those individuals who he says are harassing customers.

“A lot of my female customers and my young customers are scared to come here, because there are people constantly hanging out in the parking lot soliciting for money,” he told KTBC.

Patel has also had to hire a company to clean up needles left around the store, while others who work in the area say they’ve been attacked.

“I have to carry this big old knife with me just to defend myself,” a nearby worker told the outlet. “It’s sad that you have to do that.”

Patel’s scheme has gotten mixed reviews from patrons who either support Patel’s choice or are annoyed by the loud music, the outlet reported.

The city said they have received eight noise complaints at that location since Jan. 1, stating that they respond if the noise complaints are ongoing (which Patel’s “noise” is).

They will also issue a verbal warning and if they have to return within a certain amount of time from the warning, a citation could be issued.

Patel, however, said he hasn’t received a visit.

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Local residents, however, don’t love it.

“I believe, just talk to them, and ask them not to hang around, or not to live around, whatever, I think that’s the best solution,” Frederick Carter, who lives nearby, said, adding that he will go to a quieter 7-Eleven for his needs.

For now, the music will play on — but at a lower level.

“We are in the process of turning it down, because people who live across the parking lot are also my customers, and we don’t want to make their life difficult,” Patel clarified.

“Studies have shown that the classical music is annoying. Opera is annoying, and I’m assuming they are correct because it’s working,” Patel said, adding that other stores in the area inspired him to do it.

“Now since they’ve had this music going on, we have less traffic down with the homeless out here.”

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Country superstar Lee Brice is coming to Badlands Festival this summer

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One of Country music’s biggest names is bringing his new cross-Canada tour to Calgary this summer.

Grammy-nominated artist Lee Brice announced that Beer Drinking Opportunity Tour will be part of the huge Badlands Music Festival on Monday, July 10.

The multi-platinum-selling star is also stopping in Edmonton, Lethbridge, Ottawa, and other Canadian cities. Tickets go on sale through Badlands on Friday, January 20 at 10 am.

Brice joins a stacked festival lineup that includes Skrillex, Loud Luxury, and more to be announced. Fans will be able to hear his hits like, “A Woman Like You,” “Hard to Love,” “Rumor,” “Memory I Don’t Mess With,” and more.

The South Carolina-born artist is a Country Music Association and Academy of Country Music award winner and has had his music streamed over three billion times. He also has a Number 1 hit and 10 Top-10 songs on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart.

Brice has performed on NBC’s Today show, ABC’s The Bachelor, NBC’s The Voice, and FOX’s Miss USA. He also performed during the 2020 celebration of the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song honouring Garth Brooks.

Lee Brice at Badlands Music Festival

When: July 10, 2023
Where: Badlands Music Festival
Cost: Various prices. Tickets go on sale on Friday, January 20 at 10 am



Vandy fight song creator honored with TN music marker in Dickson

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The Tennessee Department of Tourist Development unveiled a Tennessee Music Pathways marker honoring Francis Craig in Downtown Dickson on Jan. 11

Craig, a Dickson native, was honored for his musical contributions that include writing and recording Nashville’s first chart-topping song and Vanderbilt University’s most well-known fight song as well as decades leading his own jazz band.

It is the second Tennessee Music Pathways marker installed in Holland Park after country music singer and Dickson County resident Craig Morgan was honored in October.

Dickson Mayor Don Weiss Jr., Dickson County Mayor Bob Rial, Dickson County Chamber President Jennie Wagner, Clement Railroad Hotel Museum Director Zach Kinslow and Department of Tourist Development Middle Tennessee Division Manager Ashley DeRossett joined descendants of Craig in a ceremony at the museum before unveiling the marker in the city park next door.

“The City of Dickson’s connection to the music industry goes back as far as the beginning of the city,” said Weiss. “As part of Middle Tennessee and a neighbor to Music City USA, this area has been home and host to many of country music’s brightest stars. But the musical connections of the Dickson area also have included early rock and roll influences, gospel, southern rock, blues, jazz and one of the early leaders of the big band era, who we honor today.”

A Vanderbilt season ticket holder and fan, Rial welcomed family members of Craig, who wrote one of the university’s fight songs, “Dynamite!”

“I was telling the family earlier, I can never get all the lyrics right, but I can hum that song from the beginning as well as anybody in this room,” Rial said.

The son of a Methodist minister assigned to Dickson, Craig was born Sept. 10, 1900, less than a year after the town was incorporated. He showed early signs of inheriting the talents of a pianist mother and was playing piano by ear by the age of 10.

While a student at Vanderbilt University, Craig formed his own jazz orchestra called the Vanderbilt Jazz Band, gaining popularity playing dances in the region. When the school’s chancellor told Craig he would have to change the band’s name, he left college and soon was the bandleader at the iconic Hermitage Hotel in Nashville.

During his 25 years there, he helped launch the careers of stars like Dinah Shore, Snooky Lanson and Kitty Kallen.Craig would direct the first studio band at Nashville’s most famous radio station WSM when it began broadcasting in 1925 and also would be a deejay at Chicago’s WGN in 1940 and host “Sunday Down South” on the NBC radio network for 12 years.

Craig’s 1947 recording of his composition “Near You” sold more than 3 million copies and was the first record produced in Nashville to hit number one on the Billboard magazine Honor Roll of Hits list, where it remained for 17 consecutive weeks, a record that stood until “Old Town Road” topped the chart for 19 consecutive weeks 72 years later. “Near You” would be recorded by legends such as Jerry Lee Lewis, Nat King Cole, Andy Williams, Pat Boone, The Andrews Sisters and George Jones and Tammy Wynette.

‘Dynamite!’ fight song origin

Before Vanderbilt was to face the 4th-ranked Tennessee Volunteers in a 1938 football game, Craig composed and debuted “Dynamite!” as a university fight song. While Tennessee won that game 14-0 on the way to winning the school’s first National Championship, “Dynamite!” has since become Vanderbilt University’s most popular fight song and 85 years later still is played at Commodore football games, basketball games and other sporting events.Craig died in Sewanee in 1966.

“While not as well known today as some of the other music stars who are connected to Dickson, Francis Craig has a legacy that endures today more than a century after being born here,” Weiss said. “The City of Dickson is pleased to honor native son Francis Craig by hosting the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development’s Tennessee Music Pathway marker in his honor here in Holland Park as a tour stop on the Soundtrack of America.”

DeRossett said a third marker is currently planned for Holland Park, which will honor former Dickson resident John Rich, formerly of Lonestar and half of the country duo Big and Rich.

Launched by the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development in 2018, Tennessee Music Pathways is an online planning guide that connects visitors to the state’s rich musical heritage at tnmusicpathways.com. From the largest cities to the smallest communities, Tennessee Music Pathways stretches across all 95 counties and features hundreds of landmarks from the seven genres of music that call Tennessee home.

What makes pop songs so catchy?

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Dr. Timothy Byron. Credit: Paul Jones

“Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy… But here’s my number, so call me, maybe.”

These wise and catchy words are those of Canadian singer-songwriter Carly Rae Jepsen from her 2012 hit “Call Me Maybe.” The song topped the music charts across the world, including in the United States, Canada and Australia.

But what was it about that song that made it so popular? Why, 10 years later, is it still so memorable? What makes any song stand out and be easily remembered?

These questions are just some of many that are explored in “Hooks in Popular Music” (Palgrave McMillan 2022)—a new book co-authored by University of Wollongong (UOW) researcher Dr. Timothy Byron and Dr. Jadey O’Regan (Sydney Conservatorium of Music).

It’s the first book-length study of hooks in popular music that attempts to explain why some songs get stuck in our heads and why these “hooks” are the guiding principle of modern popular music.

Dr. Byron from UOW’s School of Psychology said the book defines a hook as a musical moment or musical phrase that stands out and is easily remembered. These are the bits of songs that are more likely to end up as “earworms,” the elements of the songs that become stuck in our head.

“Hooks are deeply personal—what is a devastatingly effective hook for one person, might slide right past another person unnoticed,” Dr. Byron said.

“Hooks can be a rhythm, a timbre, or a melody and they’re not something that’s added on top, they really are the defining fabric of pop music.

“That’s not to say other genres don’t use hooks, you see hooks in the riff in rock music, but for pop music itself, we just think it’s the core of what makes it pop.”

The book gives a range of examples of hooks in popular songs from the last 30 years, including the catchy chorus of the 2001 hit “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head” by Kylie Minogue, Third Eye Blind’s 1997 song “Semi Charmed Life” and this 2022’s memorable hit “As It Was” by Harry Styles.

Dr. Byron said hooks are important for modern pop music because artists want their songs to stand out.

“It’s been said in radio that if people hear a song they don’t know, they’ll wait about seven seconds before changing the station and it’s probably the same for modern streaming services,” Dr. Byron said.

“Pop songs have to make an impact quickly and to stand out to the listener, they need to have a hook.

Dr. Byron adds that the concept of a hook is not new.

“Through our research we found the term hook being used to refer to a subsection of a piece of popular music that is notable in some way has occurred since at least the 1960s.”

The authors are both musicians but had different motivations for writing the book. Dr. Byron’s expertise lies in music psychology, and in particular the way that music interacts with memory. While Dr. O’Regan focuses on teaching music at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

“I am very interested in the psychology of what makes a song stand out and why some songs are easy to remember and I wanted to explore that in this book,” Dr. Byron said.

“For me as a psychologist, it’s intriguing for something to be remembered because there are lots of things we don’t remember at all. We barely remembered what we did a week ago, so for people to remember anything at all, there must be something special about it..

“If a bit of a song is getting our attention, if there is a bit of a song that we’re remembering, then it’s doing something right and it’s almost exploiting the specifics of how our memory and attention works.”

For Dr. O’Regan the impetus for the book came from her teaching background and experience.

“I teach contemporary music and a lot of my students are songwriters, producers and performers and in class we often talk about this idea of ear candy,” Dr. O’Regan said.

“Students would ask me where they could go to learn more about these concepts, and I realized there wasn’t really anywhere I could send them.

“And then I realized we really needed to write something.”

The end result was a 459-page online textbook that covers everything from the psychology of memorability to the role of the study of hooks in popular musicology.

“Hooks in Popular Music” is a comprehensive piece of work that fills a gap in the literature discussing the importance of what makes a song catchy, and as Alanis Morissette memorably said in 1995, it’s the kind of stuff “You Oughta Know.”

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These Stars Are Headlining 2023’s Biggest Music Festivals

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Topline

The lineups for this year’s biggest musical festivals have started to be announced, and headliners include repeat acts like Lizzo, Kendrick Lamar, Odesza and the Foo Fighters and groundbreaking performances by Bad Bunny and BLACKPINK.

Key Facts

Governors Ball (June 9-11): Lizzo is the main event Friday in NYC, along with Lil Uzi Vert, Haim and Diplo; Saturday is led by Odesza, with performances also by Lil Baby, Aespa and Sawayama; Kendrick Lamar headlines Sunday, along with Lil Nas X, Giveon and Sofi Tukker.

Coachella (April 14-16, 21-23): Bad Bunny will headline the Friday sets, and K-Pop girl group BLACKPINK will helm Saturday—the acts are the first Latino and K-Pop headliners in the festival’s 24-year history— while Frank Ocean, who was supposed to headline the 2020 festival before it was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic, is leading the Sunday shows.

Stagecoach (April 28-30): Country superstars Luke Bryan, Kane Brown and Chris Stapleton are set to headline this Indio, Calif., festival.

Boston Calling (May 26-28): The Foo Fighters and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs (Friday), the Lumineers and Alanis Morissette (Saturday) and Paramore and Queens Of The Stage (Sunday) will all take center stage in Beantown.

Bonnaroo (June 15-18): Zeds Dead and Liquid Stranger share headlining duties on Thursday in Manchester, Tennessee; Kendrick Lamar leads Friday, followed by Odesza on Saturday and the Foo Fighters on Sunday.

New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (April 28 to May 7): Major performers include Dead & Company, Ed Sheeran, Lizzo, Mumford & Sons, the Lumineers, Santana, Jon Batiste and Jill Scott.

Rolling Loud (March 3-5): Playboi Carti, Travis Scott, Future and Lil Wayne will lead this Los Angeles music fest.

What To Watch For

The lineups for Chicago’s Lollapalooza, Texas’ Austin City Limits, and NYC’s Afropunk have not yet been announced. Delaware’s Firefly Music Festival will not be happening in 2023.

Key Background

Bad Bunny was one of the most successful acts of 2022 with the release of his album Un Verano Sin Ti, which was the biggest album of the year. Lizzo made a special appearance at Coachella last year when she joined Harry Styles on stage during his headlining set.

Further Reading

Bad Bunny’s Record-Breaking Year: ‘Un Verano Sin Ti’ Took Huge Share Of Streaming Music Traffic In 2022 (Forbes)

Sky Ferreira Says New Music Delay Due to Her Being Deemed ‘Difficult’

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American singer, songwriter, model, and actress, Sky Tonia – Credit: Diogo Baptista/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

Sky Ferreira has opened up about the delay in the release of her new music. The singer took to Instagram to explain that the holdup between music releases “is not my fault & it’s not a conspiracy.” She alleges that unspecified people have deemed her “difficult,” which has apparently held the release of her songs and long-awaited album back.

On Saturday, Ferreira shared a clip of a song and wrote, “I WANT TO PUT THIS OUT.” On her Instagram Stories, she pointed out that the song was from 2019. “I TRIED TO PUT THIS SONG OUT FOREVER AGO. This is not my fault & it’s not a conspiracy or whatever.”

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The singer has not released a follow-up album to her 2013 debut, Night Time, My Time, though she has been teasing her upcoming sophomore LP, Masochism, for years. Ferreira dropped the ambient “Downhill Lullaby” in 2019, which appeared to signal that a new album would follow shortly, but it did not come. Last year, she dropped “Don’t Forget,” which again pointed to the possibility that her second set was forthcoming, but it has yet to arrive.

“I am not a hysterical/lying/lazy lunatic. I can pull up performances from 2014 of unreleased singles too. This is beyond fucked up. I am so frustrated & over it,” she added in her Stories.

She also implied that her allegedly being deemed “difficult” by unnamed people was one of the reasons for her music not having been released yet.

“Being ‘difficult’ or ‘high strung’ doesn’t give people the right to damage & stall my career. I am in a DIFFICULT situation & I have to be ‘difficult’ to get through it,” she wrote. “I have to protect my work & myself somehow? A lot of it is not being allowed to say or do anything I want/need without it being dismissed. The thing I actively tried to avoid happens & it somehow gets reversed.”

Reps for Ferreira did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone’s requests for comment.

“I can’t think of a time in the last 7 years where I’ve been able to just focus on what I’m supposed to do & my work being presented the way I want it to or my shows being the way one needs it to be to be perform & play well,” she continued. “Despite having to basically sacrifice every aspect of my life to make sure it happens & the amount of time/work I put into everything beforehand. It’s not okay. If I’m not allowed to say something without consequence & the people who are supposed to do their job refuse to look out for me… How am I not going to be ‘difficult’?!?”

While her solo single releases have been sporadic during the delay and her new album has yet to have a drop date, Ferreira has made guest appearances on songs by Charli XCX (“Cross You Out“) and Primal Scream. She has also been acting, appearing in the television reboots of Twin Peaks and Twilight Zone as well as Edgar Wright’s film Baby Driver.

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