Category: pop music

Motown Records has weathered major changes in the last year, not the least of which include the exit of chairwoman and CEO Ethiopia Habtemariam in March 2021, and is now is planning a restructuring that will bring it back into the fold of Capitol Music Group. With that, layoffs have been initiated, Variety has confirmed, with at least three high-ranking executives being impacted.

In a statement, first published by Billboard and obtained by Variety, a Motown spokesperson said: “As Motown returns to the Capitol family, certain positions that had been created when we became a stand-alone label have since become duplicative. These employees are leaving the company and our People, Inclusion and Culture department is helping them find new opportunities — either within or outside of UMG.”

Motown is home to such top-selling rap, hip-hop and R&B acts as Lil Baby, Lil Yachty, Migos, City Girls, Erykah Badu, Brandy and Ne-Yo. It was started in 1958 by Berry Gordy and went on to shape the sound of popular music throughout the 1960s and 1970s, and influence practically everything that came after. While it started as a standalone label, it’s had several corporate parents within Universal Music Group. Its latest iteration took shape in 2014, when Habtemariam took on the dual role of president of Motown along with her executive position at Universal Music Publishing Group. That same year, UMG dissolved the Island Def Jam Music Group and moved Motown to Los Angeles to operate out of the Capitol Tower.

Habtemariam’s leadership led to the signing of Motown’s partnership with Atlanta-based Quality Control, which brought Migos, Lil Baby, Lil Yachty, City Girls and others to the label. Quality Control was recently acquired by HYBE America in a $300 million-plus deal though its recordings remain within the UMG family.

Motown joins several media and music companies that have announced layoffs in the past few months. Among them, Showtime, Amazon, Vox Media and Disney have begun to trim jobs as a reaction to the economic global climate, and the challenges plaguing several sectors of the market.

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Pick up on these good vibrations.

A UK researcher is revealing the songs most likely to make listeners feel happy — and it all boils down to a simple formula.

Dr. Michael Bonshor, who teaches music psychology at the University of Sheffield, claims the winning combination for a joyful score is: A major key, 7th chords, 137 beats per minute, a strong beat, four beats in every bar, and a verse-chorus-verse-chorus structure.

It’s what reportedly makes “Good Vibrations” by the Beach Boys one of the world’s happiest songs, along with “I Got You” by James Brown, “Get the Party Started” by Pink, and “Uptown Girl” by Billy Joel.

“Previous studies have found songs are perceived as happy if they are in a major key, with a sweet spot of approximately 137 beats per minute,” Bonshor said in a statement to media outlets.

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Upbeat songs with a certain cadence and key are believed to elicit more joy.Getty Images/Maskot

“We like ‘7th chords’ as they add interest; regular chords use three notes, whereas ‘7th chords’ add an extra note which provides a sense of musical ‘tension’ and ‘relief.’”

The catchy tracks tend to be pop songs with repeated riffs, a strong beat and a bright tone.

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These cheesy ‘80s pop songs are the best for beating stress: study says

“We like high volume when it comes to how our happy songs are made, with notes played in a bright and bouncy way by instruments such as trumpets or electric guitars instead of mellower instruments,” Bonshor added. “Finally, a repetitive rhythm or guitar riff that people can latch onto and becomes memorable is the cherry on the cake.”

To put the happiness formula to the test, producers Jamie P and Oliver Price created an upbeat track called “The Lighter Note,” which was commissioned by UK yogurt brand Müllerlight. Available on Soundcloud, the lyric-less tune is bright, cheery and fast-paced — according to Bonshor, the perfect song to evoke happiness.

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Tunes such as “Good Vibrations” by the Beach Boys match the musical formula Dr. Michael Bonshor touts.Getty Images

In a Brit-based poll recently commissioned by Müllerlight, 71% of the 2,000 respondents revealed that music has a powerful impact on their overall mood, with 64% of people saying they use music to spark joy.

Past studies have linked music to influencing moods, behaviors and even concentration.

Research published last year showed that students who jam out while studying actually earned higher GPAs, while another 2022 study found that surgeons who listened to AC/DC in the operating room were quicker and more accurate.

“It is possible that music with high rhythmicity could provide a tempo to keep up the speed of the performance and thus enhance task performance,” German researcher Cui Yang, of Heidelberg University, noted in the journal Langenbeck’s Archives of Surgery.

The word “loser” — denoting someone unsuccessful in life — is in the title of Every Loser and the name of the band that plays on it. But does it describe Iggy Pop? Maybe, if the pop charts are what measure success, but artistically, Iggy’s anything but a loser. He has never had an album crack the top 10 or a single in the top 20, but he’s inarguably one of the most important and influential rock artists of all time. At age 75, it’s shocking that Iggy is not only still alive but also making surprisingly relevant music. This is his most consistent, fully realized album since Brick by Brick (1990). It’s maybe even his best in more than four decades since New Values was released in 1979.

Loser-winner and low-high dichotomies have defined Iggy throughout his career. He grew up in a trailer park but was the brilliant valedictorian of his high school. He smeared himself with peanut butter, cut himself with broken glass, abused drugs, was institutionalized, and hung out with his “Dum Dum” Stooges bandmates. At the same time, his records were produced by sophisticates like John Cale and David Bowie, and on his weekly BBC 6 radio show, he shows off his considerable musical erudition. He’s a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (2010), winner of a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (2020), and a recipient of the Polar Music Prize (2022).

Since 2003, when he reunited with the Asheton brothers, Iggy has been reliving — in chronological order — the various stages of his career. The remnants of the 1967-1970 Stooges came back together from 2003-2009. Following Ron Asheton’s death, what was left of the 1970-1974 Stooges reunited from 2009 to 2016. After that, Iggy revisited his Berlin period (1976-1978) with the help of Josh Homme on Post-Pop Depression. This new album skips over his 1980s artistic slump and goes right to the Iggy of Brick by Brick.

Like Brick by Brick, Every Loser features Duff McKagan of Guns N’ Roses on bass and is helmed by a super-producer (Don Was in that case; Andrew Watt in this one). Both records lie somewhere between Iggy’s rawest studio albums (Fun House and Raw Power) and his smoothest work (Blah Blah Blah).

That place between raw and smooth is where pop-punk lives, and it’s no coincidence that Iggy has collaborated with Green Day and Sum 41 in the past. Pop-punk is the topic of Every Loser’s most frenetic track, “Neo Punk”, which features Blink-182’s Travis Barker on drums. It’s fast and ferocious but goes down easy. It’s about the genre’s godfather outlasting many of the punks and keeping pace with the much younger musicians the punk movement inspired. Some of the lyrics are undoubtedly autobiographical: about driving a Rolls Royce, being a Gucci model, and getting rich off his songwriting royalties (thanks to Bowie). Other parts of the song are more aspirational — to date, Iggy hasn’t ever been “triple platinum” or had “a spot on The Voice” — but he deserves those things, and they sound great coming out of his mouth.

After “Neo Punk”, “All the Way Down” completes a powerful one-two punch in the album’s midsection. Following Stone Gossard’s fuzzy, hard-grooving guitar riff, Chad Smith’s frantic drumming carries the verses, and Watt’s muscular bass joins him in propelling the music forward on the choruses. A minute-plus coda featuring a wailing guitar solo by Watt carries the song to a satisfying conclusion. Iggy sings about fighting the high-and-mighty “gods in heaven” with their oil and gold, who put out “phony shit” like “foam rubber Hollywood breasts” to the rest of us, who “boil” in our changing climate and “get old”. 

The lead-off track and first single, “Frenzy”, is another of Every Loser’s appealing, uptempo rockers. Here, Iggy’s full of hate, telling off all the pricks, dicks, and douchebags, in a frenzy for attention, waiting for people to give him “a try” and “shut up and love” him before he’s dead and gone. The lyrics echo something Iggy told The New Yorker in 2019: “To spite those who don’t like me, I want to make 80.” Like “Neo Punk”, this song has a pop-punk edge with a clean sound and a singalong chorus. At its close, the staccato guitar riff builds to a climactic, wah-wah solo from Watt as Iggy repeatedly shrieks the song’s title. 

Aside from Iggy’s commentary about being unable to use drugs anymore, the fourth rocker on Every Loser, “Modern Day Ripoff”, is a throwaway, with a forgettable riff and keyboards aping “I Wanna Be Your Dog”. In a recent interview with Apple Music, Iggy explained that this song was recorded towards the end of the sessions for the album after he started to lose steam. 

In contrast, a number of Every Loser’s poppier, mid-tempo songs are more memorable. “Strung Out Johnny” recalls 1980s synth-driven new wave. Watt and Josh Klinghoffer’s keyboards lead the way, the full-on punk choruses provide extra wallop, and vocoder backing vocals shepherd the song to a smooth landing. The lyrics tell a classic, cautionary tale about drug addiction, one that has been told many times before, but they come off as knowing and meaningful, not trite.

“New Atlantis” is Iggy’s paean to Miami, his home since the 1990s. The city is “lying low” and “sinking slow”, but her “magic” is only growing stronger since people — from “Colombian pushers and murderers” to “American swindlers and Slavic thugs” — are all seeking “love and beauty” there. Like the soft pastels gracing the Art Deco buildings on South Beach, the smooth, melancholy parts of the song stand out: Iggy’s baritone, Klinghoffer’s piano, and Watt’s acoustic strumming and backing vocals. Complementing them are more energetic elements that keep the track moving: Watt’s electric guitar, Smith’s cowbell, and McKagan’s bass (which beautifully doubles Iggy’s vocals).

“Morning Show” wistfully expresses Iggy’s awareness of the loser-winner dynamic as he grows old. Though he has never been popular enough to sell a ton of records, he has always been famous and charismatic enough to appear regularly on talk shows. As Iggy gets ready to be interviewed again, he reflects on his aging and the popularity that has always eluded him. He puts up a front (he’ll “fix” his face before the broadcast and is “crispy on the outside”), but within, he’s in pain (he can’t hide the “hurt” on his face, and he’s “juicy” on the inside, where he cries). Because he’s so old, the future is “hopeless”, which makes each day he has left feel “delicious”. The “clown” he once was is dead, and now, he bleeds “red” on the inside, not the outside. It’s unusually vulnerable, touching stuff. 

Like “Morning Show”, “Comments” is a poignant reflection on Iggy’s career and aging. Again, he’s seeking approval from the public, viewing online comments about him, wondering whether they’re “right”, feeling “cold” as he scrolls through, and looking for a “soulmate” he knows he won’t find there. At the same time, selling his face to Hollywood is “paying good”, probably in a way that his recording career hasn’t. Iggy has appeared in many films over the decades and in advertisements (not just for Gucci but also for Paco Rabanne, Schweppes, Stumptown, Swiftcover, and Orcon).

“Comments” also includes the line that gives Every Loser its name — “every loser needs a bit of joy” — followed by the observation that winners know not to “look back”. Continuing to ponder his mortality, Iggy observes that the problem with life “is that it stops”. For a song filled with deep, dark sentiments, the instrumentation in its chorus is uncharacteristically uplifting, with 1980s synth lines from Klinghoffer buoyed by bright, hi-hat 16th notes played by the late Taylor Hawkins (someone Iggy surely assumed would outlive him).

Difficult to decipher but compelling nonetheless, “The Regency” concludes Every Loser. It’s one of the last-ever recordings featuring Taylor Hawkins, and his star shines brightly here. The guitar and bass are pure Smiths, which makes sense, considering the genesis of this album was Watt’s request for Iggy to guest on a Morrissey record. Regency generally refers to a period when someone other than a monarch is appointed to lead a country because the monarch isn’t able to, but Iggy doesn’t seem to be singing about that.

In the cartoon video for the song, The Regency is a hotel, but Iggy appears not to be singing about that. So, maybe this song is about something else entirely? “There’s a very interesting relationship between the parking business, the banks, and the stadium business,” Iggy told Apple Music in reference to this track. “The real money is in that parking lot. It’s a really big business.” Whatever the term “regency” means to Iggy, this song, like others on the album, addresses his longstanding fight against the powers that be. He battles the fakes and phonies: a “nose job”, a “con job”, a molester, those who fill “cold” stadium parking lots with “victims”, one girl sleeping with a rock star she doesn’t love, and another who “once believed” but now just “winks and spreads her knees.”

After more than 35 minutes of masterful music, does Iggy seem to be a winner, a loser, or somewhere between the two? Maybe his final words on the album provide an answer. “I fought them to a draw,” Iggy sings. “While I’m alive, uncompromised, I’m stepping out the door.” Perhaps Iggy has neither fully won nor entirely lost, but most importantly, he has remained — and will remain — true to himself right to the very end.

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pop music sleep

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When thinking about what kind of music might help you enter a deep, restful slumber, there’s a good chance soft, ambient, instrumental music might come to mind—and for good reason. Previous research suggests that slower, low-tempo music with non-danceable rhythms is most likely to aid with sleep, but a new study offers a different perspective. The study, conducted by researchers at Aarhus University in Denmark, found that more upbeat, catchy pop music and songs are often featured on playlists that people use to help them sleep at night.

The researchers analysed a total of 225,626 songs from 985 playlists on Spotify that are associated with sleep before separating the tracks into six distinct subcategories.

Three of the subcategories align with the typical characteristics of sleep music: slow, low-tempo, acoustic instruments, no lyrics, etc. The other three subcategories, however, feature music that is faster and higher-energy, including pop songs such as “Dynamite” by BTS—which appeared on the sleep playlists 245 times, the most of any song—and “lovely” by Billie Eilish and Khalid.

“It was surprising to see the degree of variation within the music that people use for sleep,” Kira Vibe Jespersen, PhD, a co-author of the study, told Verywell. “Based on previous studies, we were expecting the music to be from many different genres, but I had not anticipated that many variations in the music characteristics.” So does pop music really help you sleep better?

How can music help you fall asleep?

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According to Michael K. Scullin, PhD, an associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at Baylor University, one of the main reasons music might help someone fall asleep is fairly simple: it can help you relax.

“Music listening could serve as a distraction from internal thoughts and ruminations,” Scullin said. “[It can] fill your head with tunes rather than your worries. Some people also live with roommates or in noisy environments, and playing music could help to mask other noises that would keep someone awake.”

Tana Bao, FNP-BC, an expert in sleep medicine, told Verywell that music is also known to improve anxiety, which greatly impacts sleep.

One 2016 study found that music helped reduce stress and anxiety, and yielded better sleep quality for sleep-disturbed pregnant women. And a 2022 meta-analysis of 21 controlled studies showed that music listening had a significant effect on alleviating anxiety.

“People naturally feel happier when listening to music they enjoy, and these positive feelings subsequently set the stage for a better night’s sleep,” Bao said.

From a sleep hygiene perspective, it’s well established that maintaining a consistent bedtime routine is extremely important, she added, and incorporating music into said routine might help someone sustain their nightly regimen.

Why does pop music work better for some people?

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Image Credit: Fath/Unsplash

According to the study, while some may argue that music with high energy and danceability would be counterproductive for relaxation and sleep, research shows that the brain is better able to relax when it can predict what’s coming. If someone has heard a song repeatedly, as many people do with pop songs, listening to the track requires minimal focus and energy from the brain.

And if a song is very repetitive, as pop songs tend to be, it is predictable by nature and quickly becomes familiar, which could also facilitate relaxation, the study explains.

“If we think about music helping sleep because it distracts one from internal worries, masks outside noises, or is otherwise a comforting part of the bedtime routine, then it makes sense that one would listen to familiar music at bedtime,” Scullin said.

And, according to Bao, it might also simply come down to personal preference. The kind of music that might relax someone likely has a lot to do with whatever kind of music they genuinely enjoy listening to, she said.

Perhaps this is why studies that have tried to pin down the most effective genre for sleep have resulted in inconsistent findings: An Australian survey found that classical music was the most frequent genre mentioned as a sleep aid, while this new study found pop, ambient, and lo-fi to be the most popular among sleepers—with classical music ranking as the 7th on the list.

But if you’re experiencing insomnia, Scullin said listening to music shouldn’t necessarily be the first trick you try. Instead, it’s best to give stimulus control practices a shot.

“Put simply, only use the bed for sleep,” he said. “Any type of activity that is exciting, stressful, or otherwise counter to drowsiness should be kept to a different room. Smartphones and other technologies are great tools and sources of entertainment, but if you’re having difficulty sleeping, it’s best to keep them out of the bedroom.”

If that doesn’t work, however, you could always try incorporating music you enjoy into a consistent nightly routine.

“Optimising a sleep routine to help promote a routine at bedtime can, for many, likely be improved by adding music guided by personal preference into the mix,” Bao said.

If you’re having trouble sleeping at night, you should first try reserving your bed solely for sleep and removing all devices from your room. If that doesn’t work, you could try incorporating familiar music that you enjoy—regardless of genre—into a consistent bedtime routine.

This story first appeared on www.verywellhealth.com

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The Daily POP Crosswords is a daily puzzle game that challenges players to fill in the blanks of a crossword puzzle with words and phrases related to pop culture. Players can test their knowledge of current events, movies, music, and more while enjoying a classic word game format. The game is available online and can […]

The Daily POP Crosswords is a daily puzzle game that challenges players to fill in the blanks of a crossword puzzle with words and phrases related to pop culture. Players can test their knowledge of current events, movies, music, and more while enjoying a classic word game format. The game is available online and can be played anytime, anywhere, making it an accessible and convenient form of entertainment for crossword enthusiasts of all ages. Below, you’ll find the answers to the Daily Pop Crossword for February 14 2023 below!

There is a new puzzle to work through each day of the week. This crossword is considered to be balanced between being fun and engaging with some challenge but entirely solvable without tearing one’s hair out!

Daily Pop Crossword Solution Guide

Here are all of the answers for the Daily Pop Crossword Answers. The clues are in alphabetical order as we think that might be easier to find any specific clue you’re looking for.

Click/tap on the appropriate clue to get the answer. (We have done it this way so that if you’re just looking for a handful of clues, you won’t spoil other ones you’re working on!)

If you’ve enjoyed this crossword, consider playing one of the other popular crosswords we cover, including: New York Times Crossword (and Mini), Daily Themed Crossword (and Mini), LA Times Crossword, and USA Today Crossword.

The post Daily Pop Crossword February 14 2023 Answers (2/14/23) appeared first on Try Hard Guides.

Jangwon Lee‘s life in music began in typical Korean fashion. “All the kids in my generation grew up with the piano at some point in their lives,” Lee says over the phone from Seoul. His love of the instrument continued beyond childhood with a piano duo, The Serendipity, but has taken a back seat to serial entrepreneurism.

While studying business administration at Seoul National University, Lee co-founded Campusdal, a food delivery app. Then, after two years in the Korean air force, he founded Mapiacompany, a technology firm that operates three online platforms for independent musicians to sell digital sheet music. The experience set the stage for Lee’s remaking of Korea’s music intellectual property (IP) business.

“It gave me the legal knowledge that was necessary to start my new business — the publishing, the copyright laws, how to monetize, how to distribute the royalties,” Lee says.

Now, Lee is the CEO of two-year-old Beyond Music, a music investment firm with 26,000 copyrights and about $250 million under management. In 2021, Beyond Music created Asia’s first song fund with support from institutional investors including KB Securities, Base Investment and Maven Growth Partners. Last year, it added funding from the electronics and entertainment company Dreamus.

In 2022, Lee doubled down on Korean content by launching an exchange-traded fund focused on Korean entertainment companies, the KPOP and Korean Entertainment ETF. Prominent Korean music companies HYBE, SM Entertainment and JYP Entertainment are in its portfolio, but it also includes Studio Dragon, a TV studio; Naver, owner of messaging app Line; and Kakao, owner of Korea’s largest music subscription service, Melon.

In the West, investment money has been flowing heavily into music IP for more than a decade, especially in the last five years. It seems like the practice took root in Korea much later. Why do you think that is?

In 2017-18, when Hipgnosis started, there were very few precedents for Korean capital markets. You’ve got to understand the market, the nomenclature, the industry network. You have to know the nooks and crannies of the IP business. And also, you need to have a financial grasp, the understanding of capital markets, how to raise capital, how to structure the company, how to build, how to do tax-efficient modeling, IRR [internal rate of return] predictions, quantitative valuations. This is very much a quantitative business, whereas the understanding of the IP business is a relatively qualitative business. So, these are polar opposites in terms of business characteristics. In the past, I don’t think in Korea there was a team that really embodied these polar opposites.

We have people from PwC, KPMG, KKR and Morgan Stanley on our team. We have producers and someone who used to be a top-level executive of the largest music value chain company in Korea. I think that was why we were first to scale, to be able to build and raise funds from the very conservative institutional capital of Korean or Asian private equity and limited partner network.

Streaming is driving growth in global recorded music and publishing revenue, and that growth has helped attract new investors and more investment in general. Is streaming also the main factor behind increased investor interest in music IP in Korea?

Yes. I think it’s twofold. No. 1: streaming in the domestic market. Korea ranked [at] No. 6 in terms of market size for music globally. Japan is No. 2. Add Japan and Korea together, it almost equals the European Union. So it is a big market on its own, and local growth here is definitely driving part of it. Another part is Korean content’s market share in the global music industry. In the past, Korean music rights’ primary source of revenue was domestic usage, and therefore domestic growth was the only tailwind. But now we see the market share of Korean music growing exponentially year over year in other parts of Asia and moreover in Latin America, the Middle East and North Africa regions, Europe, North America. Not just BTS and BLACKPINK, but more midtier artists. You become fans of Korean music through those more hallmark artists, but you end up trickling down to other more long-tail or indie artists as well. And all the markets have been benefiting.

You have a large catalog. Do some of your less popular songs have commercial potential outside of Korea?

We have a mix of more global, more well-received catalogs and older, Korean-focused catalogs. The former obviously is a direct beneficiary of such a market growth trend. The latter, to a lesser degree, is also benefiting. It’s surprising that songs on Spotify that are not as famous as BTS at all are getting relative hype from other parts of Asia, and we see it for some of our older catalog as well. I don’t know how they were discovered, but on YouTube playlists, on YouTube comments, we see Spanish, we see French, we see it with Southeast Asian languages for songs we own that are 10 to 15 years old.

Multiples and valuations have risen a lot over the last few years. What’s the Korean market like right now? Is it as heated as other markets?

It is more heated than before, but to my knowledge, the blended multiple acquisition average used to be between 20 and 30 times. Now with the higher interest rate, multiples are still within the high teens, like 17, 18, 19, or at least like 15. But in Korea, or at least for us, our acquisition multiple, the blended average, is still below 10. So, we have been able to acquire very good assets. We think they are not lesser than their U.S. or U.K. counterparts at all. So, from a quantitative viewpoint, these don’t necessarily have to be valued at such a discrepancy. But I think it’s a newer market here, and therefore there’s less competition.

Is it safe to assume that you’ll encounter more competition in the coming years?

I’m hoping not. But from a reasonable standpoint, I do see that may be unavoidable. But it’s a good thing for us, because it will also help with our existing catalog valuing up.

What do you do to create additional value for the IP you purchase? Do you actively manage, market and promote the catalog — what Hipgnosis calls “song management”?

Whatever Hipgnosis is doing, we’re doing it essentially, whether it be synch, remixes, copyright, better revenue collection techniques. We put our methodologies into two main categories: active management and passive management. We define passive as collecting what was already ours but was somehow being lost due to Content ID not being perfectly managed by YouTube itself. So we employ additional music-pattern recognition — tech companies around the world — to do better collection for our existing catalog, which I know Hipgnosis is also doing. We try to find and mix a better lineup of distribution companies — intermediary publishers, etc. — to maximize our revenue while minimizing the middleman fee. For active, we’re doing remakes. We’ve already done a dozen remakes of our songs. I think two are now in the top 100 charts for Korean music. These are songs that were published 16 years ago, so after acquisition, we made remakes of the songs with new, up-and-rising artists in Korea. By remaking the songs, we hold the new assets as well as our existing assets. We’ve also worked with media channels in Korea to do music-related shows.

You recently purchased your first major U.S. acquisition: the catalog of producer-songwriter Greg Wells. To do this, you set up a U.S. subsidiary. Do you plan on creating subsidiaries in other countries to pursue acquisitions elsewhere?

Yes, for sure. The U.S. was a symbolic move for us. Our targets, however, lie toward lower-multiple opportunities. So, basically, Asia. We might set up subsidiaries. We might get direct acquisition from our Korean entity. But positioning ourselves as a more Asia-focused, Asia-Pacific music aggregator is our next step.

What might surprise people about the Korean music market?

The market size. For starters, it’s larger than most European countries — larger than Canada, Mexico or most Latin American countries, or even countries with more population like Indonesia. I think it’s bigger than Italy. Korea is really an advanced country. I can say that with more certainty now than I would have been able to seven or eight years ago.

How much of South Korea’s music market depends on the ability of K-pop to keep growing as much as it has in recent years?

That is a topic of interest for Korean media and Korean industry specialists as well — whether this is a one-hit wonder, a short-lived irregularity or a trend. People have been internally questioning, or doubting, the longevity of the trend. This issue has been raised for five, six years. Every year, there’s someone who says, “OK, you know, this cannot sustain. Maybe this is the peak. The next year, it might be difficult.” But the last five or six years have seen more growth every year, surpassing everyone’s expectation. This does have a kind of faith component, and I do have faith. I’m biased. But I think my bias stands with multiple consecutive years of a proven record. There’s no other country, outside of the U.S., that spends and reinvests as much money for better-quality music production as Korea. I’m very, very optimistic that this is not a one-time thing, but is a trend that will stick around at least for the next 10 years. 

• Donald Trump flung another insult at Rihanna after her performance at the Super Bowl on Sunday.
• Trump wrote that Rihanna gave “the single worst Halftime Show in Super Bowl history.”
• This is the second time in a week that Trump has tried to pick a fight with Rihanna.

Former President Donald Trump is going after pop icon Rihanna again, this time calling her Super Bowl halftime show the “worst” ever.

“EPIC FAIL: Rihanna gave, without question, the single worst Halftime Show in Super Bowl history,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday.

In the post, Trump accused the singer of using “foul and insulting” language, possibly in reference to the 2020 incident in which Rihanna was seen posing in front of a spray-painted art installation. The centerpiece of the installation was a car that had the words “Fuck Trump” painted on it.

Trump also criticized Rihanna’s fashion choices at the Super Bowl, writing: “Also, so much for her ‘Stylist!'”

This is the second time in a week that Trump has insulted Rihanna. In a Truth Social post on Thursday, Trump said Rihanna would be “NOTHING” without her stylist and claimed that the singer has “NO TALENT!”

While he did not call him out by name, Trump may have been referring to Jahleel Weaver, Rihanna’s creative director. Weaver has worked with Rihanna for more than a decade. 

Rihanna has been vocally anti-Trump. She called his rallies “tragic” in 2018 and asked that her music not be played at his events.

The singer performed a medley of 12 songs at the Super Bowl, including “Umbrella,” “Diamonds,” and “All of the Lights,” a Kanye West Song she featured on. 

During her 13-and-a-half minute set, she showed her baby bump under her bright-red outfit, revealing that she’s pregnant with her second child with A$AP Rocky. Rihanna’s publicist confirmed her pregnancy to The Hollywood Reporter.

Rihanna in her posts on Sunday night did not immediately respond to Trump’s insults. 

Representatives for Rihanna and Trump did not immediately respond to Insider’s requests for comment.

RIHANNA’s Super Bowl headline performance marks her much-anticipated popstar comeback after seven years off the stage.

And singing live in front of millions at the most coveted music event in the business means the 34-year-old mom will want to look her best.

Born in Barbados in 1988 as Robyn Rihanna Fenty, Riri, as she later became known, wasn’t always a glam world-famous style icon.

2005

She shot to fame in 2005 after being discovered by Jay-Z, when her star appeal was down to her voice and laidback, skinny tomboy looks.

Back then, Rihanna would be seen out wearing crop tops and low-cut jeans while sporting barely-there makeup.

Through those early years, as Rihanna started to mature as a performer, the music awards began to pour in.

Rihanna’s style and body transformation also kicked off, although little is known about how she started to achieve her curvy new shape and those finer more finessed facial looks.

“She definitely had a very youthful face with a natural physique, ” notes Dr. Daniel Barrett after analyzing photos of the pop star and ahead of her Super Bowl appearance.

“But it doesn’t appear she had any cosmetic enhancements until November 2007.”

2007

By 2007, Rihanna had already scooped her first Grammy Award for her hit single Umbrella.

As her pop career rocketed, Rhianna went on to cut her hair while experimenting with eye-catching, feminine dresses, and heavier makeup.

She also sported a fuller figure.

“This specific photo in the green dress shows fuller breasts and cleavage, ” adds Dr. Barrett, a board-certified plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills.

“This isn’t something she’s shown before and not something achieved without the help of a silicone implant in most cases.”

That year, Rihanna also met and started dating fellow singer Chris Brown.

2009

After the pair broke up amid assault allegations, Rihanna started to take more control of her career and image.

While transforming her music from pop to hip-hop/rock, she also began hitting the red carpet looking toned and changed up her looks.

“Through 2009 and 2010 Rihanna’s facial features appear more defined, ” says Dr. Barrett.

“But she also debuts a shorter haircut and different makeup looks which can oftentimes completely change the facial appearance.”

By the 2010 release of her 10th album Loud, Rihanna had finally emerged as a noticeably fashion-forward pop star.

Her newfound confidence saw her taking greater risks with her hair and makeup.

She said in an interview with Total Kiss: “Yeah, it’s loud.” 

“It’s really liberating,” she added, “Because it’s something so bold and you have to be fearless to do something like this.”

2010

After 2010, Rhianna’s natural affinity with the fashion and beauty space began to grow.

While collaborating with designers such as Armani and Puma in 2014, she also earned a fashion award at the CDFA.

The beauty business beckoned with the launch of her eponymous line, Fenty x Beauty.

As Rihanna’s entrepreneurial and fashion capabilities grew, she further honed her looks.

A glowy and soft feminine look appeared which aesthetically complemented her beloved Fenty brand.

2015

Collaborations with luxury lines followed such as Louis Vuitton in 2015.

But this time around, the Barbadian pop star stopped releasing music or touring.

Movie world beckoned, with Rihanna’s looks changing further and suiting more of a glam Hollywood star.

She appeared in Battleship followed by 017’s Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, as well as 2018’s Ocean’s 8.

“Throughout 2010 and towards 2015, Rihanna may have experienced slight weight fluctuations which is all very normal and natural,” notes Dr. Barrett.

“She debuted her cleavage once again in 2017 and this appears very natural in shape and size.

“The breasts appear full yet very natural in the way they sit.”

2017

Rihanna’s last biggest hit was in 2017 when she released Wild Thoughts in collaboration with DJ Khaled and Bryson Tiller.

Despite her love life taking off again, dating Drake on and off through 2016, true love finally arrived for Rihanna by 2019.

Rihanna had met A$AP Rocky several years earlier in 2013, but when they formally started their relationship, they kept things low-key.

2018

By November 2020, People confirmed that Rihanna and A$AP Rocky were officially together.

The pair soon began focusing on creating a family.

2022

Rihanna debuted her baby bump in January 2022, with the announcement they were expecting their first child together.

And just eight months later at the Wakanda movie premiere in California, the singer looked back in shape after giving birth that May.

“Rihanna is glowing as she appears pregnant,” Dr. Barrett told The U.S. Sun.

“Her face and body are natural and beautiful and she wears the pregnancy well and it suited her nicely.

“Overall though, I don’t believe she’s experienced much if any cosmetic procedures and surgeries.

“She’s definitely reinvented herself with hairstyles and color as well as a diverse wardrobe.

“In terms of her aesthetic, it appears she’s maintained a natural look and she’s had very normal expected changes over the years.”