Category: pop music

South Korean K-Pop girl group TWICE has a Vancouver connection.

The group, which has nine members, just made history for being the first female K-Pop artists to land three albums in the Billboard top 10. This week will also mark their eighth week with multiple albums on the Billboard top 200, which is another record.

The pop stars have over 26 million fans worldwide (and that’s just on Instagram) but back in 2017 when they filmed the music video for the single “Likey” off their first studio album, they used spots all over Vancouver including a now-iconic SkyTrain car.

On SkyTrain car 153, Momo, Sana, Jihyo, Nayeon, Mina, and Tzuyu danced and Dahyun and Chaeyoung rapped and it has become a fun little Easter egg for visitors and locals to find when on Vancouver’s public transit.

One Vancouver musician made a series of TikToks expressing his excitement to be in the same space earlier this week. He says it’s a little game he likes to play on his commute home.

The SkyTrain car is part of the Expo line and admittedly looked a lot newer and shinier in the video. So if you’re hopping on from Granville or Stadium-Chinatown, look out.

Other sites in the video include the painted Alley Oop between Granville and Seymour, the Seawall, and the Hotel Europe in Gastown.

Scroll naar beneden voor Nederlands.

Jeangu Macrooy represents host country The Netherlands with ‘Birth Of A New Age’
The Netherlands was supposed to host the Eurovision Song Contest in 2020 after winning in 2019, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the whole thing got cancelled. Host city Rotterdam gets another chance in 2021 and so does Jeangu Macrooy, who was supposed to represent the host country last year with his ballad ‘Grow’. This year, he will do so with the upbeat anthem ‘Birth Of A New Age’.

Like with last year’s ‘Grow’, Jeangu Macrooy worked on ‘Birth Of A New Age’ with producer Perquisite. They took quite an opposite approach to last year’s slow burning entry. This year’s song is just as soulful, but swings a lot more. The track is upbeat from the first notes on and goes from there with a gospel like choir and very obvious references to the rhythms of his Surinamese roots. The chorus, in which Macrooy declares that you can’t break him, is sung in Sranan Tongo, a language in Suriname. He explained that the song is all about resilience, self respect and living an authentic life. The lyrics are full of supportive chants to remind the listener that they should stand up for themselves and let no one take away their faith or voice.

‘Birth Of A New Age’ is a lot more instantly catchy than last year’s effort. The repetition of the line ‘your rhythm is rebellion’ grabs the attention right in the first verse and the infectious chants of the chorus take over from there. Where ‘Grow’ had more of a slow build up, ‘Birth Of A New Age’ shows all its cards quite early on and repeats after that. It might all be too repetitive for some, but there is a certain hopefulness in both the lyrics and the melodies and the uplifting vibe is certainly contagious, also thanks to Macrooy’s radiant personality and performance.

I don’t expect the Netherlands to be a contender for another win as I don’t think the song will be universally appealing enough to bring in big numbers from all around Europe, but Macrooy serves an entry the Dutch can certainly be proud of once more. His voice and stage presence will definitely lighten up the living rooms around Europe with a swinging message of hope.

MORE EUROVISION 2021 REVIEWS: BELGIUM – CYPRUS – CZECH REPUBLIC – FRANCE – ISRAEL – LITHUANIA

Jeangu Macrooy vertegenwoordigt Nederland met het hoopvolle ‘Birth Of A New Age’
Nederland zou vorig jaar het Eurovisie Songfestival organiseren na de winst in 2019, maar daar stak de coronapandemie een stokje voor. De organiserende stad Rotterdam krijgt dit jaar echter nog een kans en hetzelfde geldt voor Jeangu Macrooy, die Nederland vorig jaar zou vertegenwoordigen met zijn ballad ‘Grow’. Dit jaar pakt hij het anders aan en zingt hij in mei namens ons land het nummer ‘Birth Of A New Age’.

Ook dit jaar werkte Macrooy samen met producer Perquisite aan zijn Songfestivalinzending. De twee kozen dit keer echter voor een totaal andere aanpak dan de langzaam op gang komende ballad van vorig jaar. Het soulvolle is nog steeds aanwezig, maar dit keer met een swingender ritme. Het nummer begint energiek en Jeangu krijgt direct bijval van een gospelkoortje. Macrooy omschreef het nummer als een ode aan zijn Surinaamse roots en dat is in het ritme van het nummer duidelijk te horen. Het refrein, waarin hij zingt dat niemand hem kan breken, wordt tevens in Sranan Tongo, een taal van Suriname, vertolkt. Volgens Macrooy gaat het nummer over veerkracht, zelfrespect en het leven van een authentiek leven. Het nummer is haast een strijdlied te noemen met teksten die de luisteraar steun toe roepen en ze aanmoedigen niemand hen hun stem of geloof af te laten nemen.

‘Birth Of A New Age’ is op het eerste gehoor een stuk pakkender dan zijn voorganger. Het herhalen van de zin ‘your rhythm is rebellion’ in het eerste couplet valt gelijk op en de pakkende leus van het refrein neemt het al snel over. Waar ‘Grow’ een langzame opbouw had, barst ‘Birth Of A New Age’ meteen los en leunt daarna op een herhaling van zetten. Het zal voor sommigen wat te repetitief zijn, maar de hoop die zowel uit de tekst als de melodieën straalt is aanstekelijk, ook dankzij Macrooy’s warme persoonlijkheid en overtuigende optreden.

Het zou me verbazen als Nederland dit jaar weer mee gaat doen voor de winst, gezien ik niet verwacht dat dit nummer heel Europa zal aanspreken en zo vrachten met punten binnen zal halen, maar Macrooy levert wederom een nummer af waar Nederland trots op mag zijn. Zijn stem en uitstraling op het podium zullen zeker wat huiskamers in Europa oplichten met een swingende, hoopvolle boodschap.

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Another month gone by which is good news because it means more Vinyl, CDs, books and even a DVD have been added the collection. And we are kicking this month off a very pleasant surprise from a good friend of 2 Loud 2 Old Music. Mr. Books himself, Aaron, from KeepsMeAlive.com has sent yet another care package. The man believes in giving! This time around we got 2 books and 2 CDs all the way from the Great White North. Be careful what you say in the comments on his site as you are bound to wind up with it. Aaron knows my love for Idol and I have made comments before about the other 3 items…and now I have them. Thanks Aaron…and yes, he left a little note as usual!!

Now to start the month out, during labor day weekend, 2nd & Charles had their buy 5 get 5 free sale and so I hit up the CDs section and stuck to the 5 and 5 rule. Here is the 5 I bought…

And the five I got for free…or vice versa, however you want to look at it…

Then I hit a local record show and picked up a few vinyl and singles. Now, only one single was relatively old. Everything else was fairly new and all three albums were still sealed. Well, they aren’t anymore…

The singles…

I got a couple new releases this month as well. First is the 4th in the Off the Soundboard Series for Kiss and might be best one yet. It is from 1977, the classic years…

And then was a new Robbie Williams album celebrating his 25 years as a solo artist. It is a re-imagined/orchestrated collection of his biggest songs. This it the 2 CD deluxe edition that is a little book as well…

I also bought something off eBay…or did I win it…not sure as it makes me feel like I won it but it cost a fortune so not sure what it really is. But I do love it. It is the Cybernauts Live 2 CD set. Very rare, very hard to find. It is Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott and Phil Collens with some of the Spiders from Mars guys. Cool stuff…

Then it was ad money spend time. I picked up several items. On vinyl is Blue Murder’s debut album which is freaking awesome. It is the gold-stamp promo edition with the hype sticker…

I also picked up a couple more Promo CD singles for Matt Nathanson like I said I was doing last month. 2 more to the collection…

And believe it or not, there are still things for Jeff Scott Soto I am still finding. Here is a 2 DVD set of live shows for his band Talisman which is one of my favorite bands he’s been in, if not my favorite…

There was one other thing I bought on vinyl. It was Winger’s Pull…well…it showed it up broken…I got my money back, but haven’t figured out what to get instead. Here’s the broken record…

And that isn’t all…I left something off from last month (or maybe the month prior). I know I got it sometime this Summer, but missed it when doing the post. It is a Garth Brooks CD Box Set of his first 6 albums. I like Garth, I’ll take it…

And I believe that is everything…well, not really…here is everything…

Thanks for hanging around and visiting the site. I hope you all have a great day!!

Source: Mauricio Santana / Getty

The Rihanna music drought is coming to an end. The pop princess is finally ending her music hiatus and using the epic moment of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever to mark her return.

Tuesday evening, October 26, 2022, following an announcement that Marvel Studios is giving fans a special look at the highly-anticipated film ahead of the film’s world premiere, the Disney-owned studio also hinted at Rihanna premiering new music for the film’s soundtrack.

The Marvel Studios Twitter account dropped a teaser that features the Wakanda Forever title transition to an R confirming reports that the Barbadian multi-hyphenate did create new music for the film.

According to Hypebeast’s reporting, the “Umbrella” crafter recorded two songs for Wakanda Forever.

Is Rihanna Using Black Panther: Wakanda Forever As A Launching Pad?

Rumors hit the internet claiming Rihanna has gotten back in the studio to work on her new album, but she has never confirmed that to be the case.

This latest development is the first time any music-related news associated with Rihanna has been confirmed. Does this mean that this new Rihanna song from Wakanda Forever is just a taste of what’s to come? The Navy, Rihanna’s loyal fanbase, sure does hope so.

Since the announcement of Rihanna’s return, fans have taken to Twitter to express their excitement about the new tune from the Bajan sensation.

“I knew having a kid was too expensive when I realized Rihanna went back to work too,” one Twitter user hilariously wrote. 

“I HAVE WAITED SO LONG FOR THIS MOMENT LORDDDDD RIHANNA IS BACKKKKKKK,” DJ Amorphous tweeted. 

Oh, and there is also the Apple Music Super Bowl LVII halftime show performance we can also look forward to.

It’s been six long years, but she is finally back.

You can peep more reactions to the news in the gallery below.

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Photo: Mauricio Santana / Getty

While Ye’s presence on the radio has faded over the last month — from an average of about 2,300 plays of his songs a week to 1,800 last week, with many stations now dropping him entirely — streaming may provide a safety net. His stockpile of hits remains steadily popular there, drawing nearly 4 billion plays so far this year in the United States alone. On Spotify, he has 51 million monthly listeners around the world, making him the 19th most popular artist on that platform.

Over the last month, Ye’s streaming numbers have slipped a bit, declining by about 6 percent to 88 million on-demand clicks in the United States. But those totals are well within his usual range at this point in his career, and are even up slightly since the beginning of 2022, according to Luminate. The number of user playlists on Spotify with songs by Ye has also shot up in recent weeks to nearly 1.3 million, according to Chartmetric, a company that tracks streaming and social media.

Those numbers suggest some combination of fan loyalty and user curiosity that may be driven by attention in the news media. “Most music consumers probably just care about whether they like the music or not, so any negative press coverage about an artist might just remind them to listen to their music,” said Rutger Rosenborg, the marketing manager of Chartmetric. “And maybe Kanye is banking on that.”

That phenomenon has played out numerous times in recent years. Many fans of R. Kelly stuck with him in their private listening habits, even as the singer was accused — and convicted — of racketeering and sex trafficking. Last year, after the country star Morgan Wallen was caught on video using a racial slur, radio stations removed his songs for a time, and streaming platforms temporarily took him off official playlists. But fans rallied behind him, and Wallen has ended up with the longest Top 10 streak on Billboard’s album chart in nearly 60 years.

Artists like Chris Brown, XXXTentacion and Michael Jackson, who have also been accused of misconduct, have held strong on streaming services. Those platforms have usually been reluctant to remove content, viewing their role as neutral protectors of speech. Kelly’s music, for example, remains widely available, even if it is not promoted heavily.

Daniel Ek, Spotify’s chief executive, told Reuters on Tuesday that Ye’s “awful comments” would warrant removal from the service only if they were included on a recorded song or podcast. “His music doesn’t violate our policy,” Ek said. “It’s up to his label, if they want to take action or not.”

Hooverphonic switched singers but still goes to Eurovision with ‘The Wrong Place’
After last year’s cancellation of Eurovision, a lot of countries opted to keep the same artist for 2021. In Belgium, they gave the band Hooverphonic another shot, but founding members Alex Callier and Raymond Geerts decided to change singers. 20-year-old Luka Cruysberghs, who was supposed to sing last year’s Eurovision entry ‘Release Me‘, saw her chances of performing at the contest vanish into thin air, when she was replaced by Geike Arnaert, who was the band’s lead singer from 1997 to 2008. With Arnaert on vocals, they hope to bring Belgium back to the finals for the first time since 2017 with their song ‘The Wrong Place’.

‘The Wrong Place’ was written by Callier, in collaboration with Charlotte Foret. The lyrics of the song are describing a “one night stand gone wrong” and the dark and moody vibe underlines that. The cinematic signature sound of Hooverphonic is there, but in a slightly more contemporary and exciting way than last year’s entry. The somewhat ominous instrumentation and Geike’s vocals bring layers of mystery that add to the atmosphere the ‘The Wrong Place’ paints in its lyrics (“Don’t you еver dare to wear my Johnny Cash t-shirt” is a line I never thought I would hear at Eurovision by the way.)

The track does not completely unfold on first listen. The chorus takes a little time to find its way into the mind, but once its there, it keeps on singing. The soaring melody gets just a little bit better with every spin. Now as we all know, this is not ideal for Eurovision, as most viewers will only have heard the songs once when they decide who to vote for, but an appropriate staging that underlines the mood of the song could surely make it more instantly memorable. The intriguing music video as a mood board would be a good start.

Either way I think Belgium has a good shot with the juries this year. ‘The Wrong Place’ is a strong composition that oozes quality and experience and I think Geike will be able to pull off the same on stage. It might not be instantly hit worthy enough to win the contest, but a place in the final and a decent result there should be well within reach for Hooverphonic.

MORE EUROVISION 2021 REVIEWS: CYPRUS – CZECH REPUBLIC – FRANCE – ISRAEL – LITHUANIA – THE NETHERLANDS

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