2 Chainz is taking his talents online as the new host of Amazon Music Live, a new weekly live stream concert series premiering exclusively on Prime Video.
Airing each week after Thursday Night Football on Amazon, the show will see some of the biggest musical acts in the world hitting the stage to perform their most popular tracks and fan favorites. 2 Chainz will serve as host and MC, introducing each of the artists and interviewing them during the show.
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Amazon Music Live premieres October 27 with musical guest Lil Baby, who will perform cuts off his recently released album, It’s Only Me. Meghan Thee Stallion hits the Amazon stage on November 3, ahead of her LA3C Festival performance, and country star Kane Brown will treat fans to songs from his new album Different Man on November 10. More artists are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
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Filmed in front of a live audience, the concert is streaming exclusively for Amazon Prime Members, who will be able to watch it live or on-demand after each airing (an Amazon Prime membership costs $14.99/month but the site has a 30-day free trial offer that you can use to stream Amazon Music Live online free).
“Every Thursday night, I’m bringing the biggest and the brightest stars in music to the Amazon Music Live stage in Los Angeles,” 2 Chainz says, in a release. “We have the people that are influencing the culture and have carved their own unique path in music, like Lil Baby, Megan Thee Stallion, and Kane Brown. Amazon Music Live is the only place to be for the official Thursday turn up!”
Amazon says music and sports go hand in hand, and they’re betting on Amazon Music Live to find a big audience, especially when paired with Thursday Night Football.
“Whether you’re a sports fan waiting for the first football game of the week, or a music fan staying up late to hear the latest drop from your favorite artist, Thursday is the biggest night for entertainment,” says Kirdis Postelle, global head of artist marketing of Amazon Music. “With Amazon Music Live, we’ve created a new, can’t-miss series for fans to experience the most exciting new music together. For artists, this show represents a massive new stage to share their music with fans after Thursday Night Football—the biggest game of the week, airing live on Prime Video.”
This is the latest live music release from Amazon — the site is streaming Kendrick Lamar’s “Big Steppers Tour” show from Paris on-demand right now and Amazon is set to premiere Rihanna’s latest Savage x Fenty show next month.
Ye, the musician and mogul formerly known as Kanye West, rapped those words on 2013’s “I Am a God,” but in some ways they’ve served as a maxim for his entire career. Musically, the rapper and producer became famous for constantly evolving his style, beholden not to current trends but his own muse, even if he risked shedding fans along the way.
That philosophy always extended to his public persona — and has largely come to define it. He morphed from a hip-hop super-producer to world-conquering rapper, from tabloid staple to fashion world insurgent, from Grammy-nominated gospel artist to MAGA-touting presidential candidate, with the one constant that he was always brash, self-aggrandizing and always, most importantly, the center of attention. Despite countless controversies, Ye has also always been able to maintain his stature as a revered musician and cutting-edge tastemaker. But his standing as a figure in the greater culture has never felt more tenuous than the past two weeks, which have featured multiple instances of antisemitic statements.
Since debuting a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt at his Paris Fashion Week show in early October, Ye’s latest extended public outburst has caused ruptures that may never be repaired. He was briefly booted from Instagram and Twitter for making several antisemitic remarks, including one saying he would go “death con 3” on “JEWISH PEOPLE”; he appeared in a selectively edited interview with Fox News’s Tucker Carlson during which he ranted against Black Lives Matter and made the bizarre claim that professional child actors had been placed in his home to manipulate his children; he announced he was buying Parler, the right-wing social media site run by the husband of his recent confidante, conservative commentator Candace Owens.
It’s been the culmination of yet another very public spiral for Ye, who had spent much of the summer posting angry comments and threats on Instagram against his ex-wife Kim Kardashian, Vogue editor Gabriella Karefa-Johnson (who had called his T-shirts “pure violence”) and the comedian Pete Davidson.
The corporate partnerships that helped Ye ascend to billionaire status are diminishing on a seemingly daily basis. On Tuesday morning, Adidas announced it would stop working with him, putting an end to the lucrative Yeezy line of sneakers that became a cultural phenomenon. “Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech. … After a thorough review, the company has taken the decision to terminate the partnership with Ye immediately, end production of Yeezy branded products and stop all payments to Ye and his companies,” the company said in a statement, adding that “Adidas will stop the Adidas Yeezy business with immediate effect.”It’s a decision with major implications for Adidas, with Yeezy generating an estimated $2 billion a year, close to 10 percent of the company’s annual revenue, Morningstar analyst David Swartz said.
Last week, Balenciaga announced it was severing ties with Ye, who opened the opulent fashion house’s 2023 show. The brand’s creative director, Denma, had become one of Ye’s biggest allies in the fashion world, partnering with Ye on his Gap clothing line and the massive rollout of Ye’s Grammy-nominated album “Donda.” In September, Ye abruptly terminated his deal with the Gap. This week, his longtime talent agency, CAA, announced it was no longer working with Ye after his latest remarks.
Kim Kardashian rebuked her ex and the father of her four children on Monday, tweeting, “Hate speech is never OK or excusable. I stand together with the Jewish community and call on the terrible violence and hateful rhetoric towards them to come to an immediate end.”
“I’m exhausted to the point where I’m like maybe it’s just time to move on. He’s unpredictable in a way that I can’t gauge, so it’s not worth it,” said Panama Jackson, columnist for TheGrio, who now counts himself as a formerYe fan. “It’s hard for me to say I’m not fan, but I think the person I’m a fan of doesn’t exists anymore.”
Since he popped into the national consciousness with his 2004 debut album, Ye has been not just one of the central figures in American entertainment culture, but a defining character in the digital age’s attention economy. He’s become his own weather system, which follows a fairly predictable cycle: He basks in the culture’s adoration, then loses it by saying or doing something outrageous or downright offensive, then digs his heels in and makes things worse while fans attempt to excuse his behavior. Eventually, he finds some way to make a comeback, be it via apologizing or releasing a game-changing album.
But the cycle has taken increasingly volatile and dark turns. When he stormed the stage at the VMAs in 2009, President Barack Obama called Ye a “jackass”; his statements over the past few weeks have him now labeled an antisemite. The culture’s adoration is shrinking, and he’s not much for apologies these days. And, for what feels truly like the first time, he’s shedding fans in addition to key business partners.
“I don’t understand why it took people so long to get to this place. Where have they been?” asked political commentator Keith Boykin, who had to scroll back through his Twitter feed to figure out just when he broke with Ye. Was it around time he told TMZ that “slavery was a choice?” The Trump White House rant? Before that?
“There’s so much stuff,” he said. “This is the thing about Kanye, he wants all this attention.”
The moment Ye arguably learned how to garner attention outside of his music arrived in 2005, four days after Hurricane Katrina destroyed New Orleans and much of the surrounding Gulf Coast and three days after he released his sophomore album, “Late Registration.” Standing next to comedian Mike Myers on a live telethon carried by all major networks, Ye went off-script and blurted out, “George Bush doesn’t care about Black people.”
This incident made Ye something of a liberal hero, but it was never a status he sought nor one that particularly fit. While his earlier work sometimes veered toward social consciousness — with lyrics critical of racial profiling by law enforcement and the drug war — he was never aligned with a political party. Ye’s primary allegiance was always to himself.
If the Katrina moment brought Ye fully into the public eye, it was in 2009 that he became inescapable. At that year’s MTV Video Music Awards, 19-year-old Taylor Swift climbed onstage to accept the prize for female video of the year. Ye disagreed with this turn of events and, donning sunglasses, climbed onstage, grabbed her microphone and said, “Yo, Taylor, I’m really happy for you, I’mma let you finish. But Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time.” By the time he handed the mic back to a confused Swift, everything had changed.
Suddenly Ye was public enemy No. 1. Celebrities including Kelly Clarkson, Russell Brand and Katy Perry excoriated him. Along with Obama, former president Jimmy Carter weighed in, calling it “completely uncalled for.” Ye had the nation’s attention, but for the first time, he didn’t seem to like it.
Taylor & Kanye: How two superstars, four words and 15 seconds of TV influenced a decade of pop culture
“I’m just ashamed that my hurt caused someone else’s hurt,” he tearfully said on NBC’s “The Jay Leno Show,” after Leno asked how his late mother, Donda, would feel about his antics. Donda West, a professor who championed his career, was particularly close to Ye, and the depth of their relationship is shown in charming scenes from the recent Netflix documentary “Jeen-yuhs”; Ye debuted the song “Hey Mama” (“I wanna scream so loud for you/ ’Cause I’m so proud of you”) on Oprah’s daytime talk show with Donda present in 2005. Her 2007 death after a cosmetic surgery operation is often cited as the moment Ye became unmoored.
Ye promised to disappear from the spotlight for a while to “analyze how I’m going to make it through the rest of this life.” He opted for Oahu, Hawaii, where he got to work on his sprawling magnum opus, “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.” By the time it came out in November 2010, his image was well on its way to rehabilitation, but the album sped things up immeasurably. A star-studded affair featuring the likes of Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, John Legend and Elton John, “Twisted Fantasy” was a cultural sensation and remains one of the most acclaimed albums of the era.
The quick return to prominence didn’t surprise people who knew him growing up, like Terry Parker, who raps under the name Juice and knew Ye as he became an emerging force in the Chicago hip-hop scene. Ye was always bright, intensely competitive, and brilliant — people would “overlook the annoying things he’d say because they wanted his beats,” Parker said.
Ye’s undeniable talent had always been thick enough to smooth over some of his qualities that could rub people the wrong way. Parker saw it as a sort of unfiltered honesty — the kind that would later earn Ye a reputation as a provocateur and a troll.
“Not coming with a filter made him as honest as he could be. He didn’t worry about repercussions. He would say something, and then just deal with the scattered ashes,” Parker added. His talent served as armor and justification for his behavior.
So goes the thinking: He’s a musical genius who repeatedly changed the course of modern pop music, and all geniuses are all a little crazy, right? Boykin doesn’t buy it. “The phrase is used to exonerate people of other social responsibility. It’s a way of excusing their inappropriate behavior,” he said, adding that fans of R. Kelly use the same honorific. “But that’s not enough. You can’t be inspiring people on one day and then the next day talking about how much you love Trump and preaching anti-Blackness.”
After the universal acclaim of “Twisted Fantasy” and his Jay-Z collaboration/victory lap, “Watch the Throne,” Ye trained his sights on the fashion industry. Despite having no experience as a designer, he set out to conquer a famously insular world.
Over the rest of the decade, Ye collaborated with established labels and launched one-off capsules, but his collections tended to be coolly received by fashion critics. As The Post’s Robin Givhan wrote recently, his 2012 debut in Paris was “calamitous.”
Why can’t we quit Kanye West?
During his 2013 “Yeezus” tour, Ye spent a portion of nearly every concert airing his grievances in rambling soliloquies. “The CEO of Nike, Mark Parker, wouldn’t get on the phone with Kanye West for eight months!” he complained onstage in Washington that November. “They’ll tell you I’m insane,” he said later in the concert. “That’s because they’re scared of their own dreams.”
But in the latter half of the decade, Ye found massive success with his Yeezy show collaboration with Adidas. Those outsize and unrealistic expectations he had set for himself had actually come to fruition. Yeezy helped revitalize the sneaker industry and became a billion dollar brand unto itself. In interviews, he compared himself to Steve Jobs and Walt Disney, his self-confidence beginning to veer closer to a form of messianism that has evolved to encompass ventures such as a private school in Los Angeles and designs for massive dome dwellings at his compound in Wyoming.
“Everything he said he was going to do, he did it — like that he was going to take over fashion,” Juice said.
Ye also became tabloid fodder when he started dating his longtime friend, reality show phenom Kim Kardashian, in 2012. Their relationship seemed almost predestined, two celebrities for whom attention often seemed like the only goal.
Ye’s artistic credibility helped lend Kardashian, then primarily seen as a reality TV star, broader cultural legitimacy, while Kardashian’s TV franchise helped humanize the divisive rapper.
The family helped sand down his rougher edges and on TV, his persona transformed from bombastic superstar to an overwhelmed husband, appearing shy in the background around his wife’s boisterous family or helping Kardashian adjust to the news when her stepparent, Caitlyn Jenner, came out as transgender. His appearances were rare, but he once sat for an on-camera confessional.
“It was shocking to see him doing a talking head — we’re used to Housewives and Kardashians doing talking heads,” said Ryan Bailey, host of the reality TV podcast “So Bad It’s Good.” When Ye appeared on the show, he said, “There were actual moments of humanity in there that made me understand they were a real couple. Then, unfortunately, everything started going downhill.”
Ye’s provocations grew both stranger and more disjointed. Those onstage rants became a mainstay of the live experience, and 2016’s “The Life of Pablo” tour culminated in Ye delivering a stream-of-consciousness speech at a November show in Sacramento before storming offstage, canceling the rest of his concerts and being hospitalized for stress and exhaustion.
The rapper was unusually quiet until the following spring, when he surprised many longtime fans by announcing his admiration for President Donald Trump. Meanwhile, his friendship with young conservative activist Candace Owens began blooming.
He also publicly disclosed that he has bipolar disorder, saying he was diagnosed after his 2016 hospitalization and calling it his “superpower” in the 2018 song “Yikes,” which appeared on the album “Ye.” The cover art included the handwritten words, “I hate being Bi-Polar its awesome.” Ye’s openness in talking about his bipolar disorder has led some to claim it explains his behavior, and experts agree that people with the condition can behave erratically and may at times lose their “filter” and say or do socially inappropriate things.
Another turning point in Ye’s drift toward increasingly dangerous rhetoric came when he showed up at TMZ’s headquarters in May 2018, where he infamously suggested that slavery was a choice — on the part of the slaves. He was quickly rebuked by then-TMZ staffer Van Lathan. A former fan of the rapper’s music, Lathan told Ye on camera that he was done with him. That he could no longer separate the man from his music. But that wasn’t quite true. The two men communicated over email later that summer. Lathan reached out because he felt that Ye’s tendency to speak unfiltered was being exploited.
“The more I thought about it the more I thought, ‘Jesus, man everybody is pointing this guy into whatever direction they want to point him in. I’m thinking I took advantage of him [in that moment],” said Lathan, who added that Ye was a grown man, and he didn’t want to “infantilize him.”
Lathan thinks nothing productive came from that back and forth.
“I don’t think I feel any different than a majority of people who feel ambushed by him every six months when he says something grotesque,” he said. Last week, Lathan revealed on his podcast, “Higher Learning,” that Ye had praised Adolf Hitler and Nazis during that interview, but those inflammatory antisemitic comments did not make it on air.
“I’m done. It’s just like you’re hurting yourself at this point. In two years when he makes ‘F— MLK’ shirts I’m not going to bat an eye,” said Lathan. But he admitted that it’s still hard to ignore Ye.
“The cultural weapon that we give certain influential people? They don’t build it, we do,” said Lathan. “For years and years we gave [Ye] this enormous bazooka of cultural influence, and one day were looking down the barrel of it.”
With his full embrace of Trump in 2018 — he donned a red Make America Great Again hat in the Oval Office while telling the president he had given him a “Superman cape” — Ye found himself, once again, the target of public ire. (Though he also became increasingly popular with commentators and fans aligned with Trump.) The next iteration of Ye would swap politics for religion, a move he announced and cemented with a wholesale turn toward gospel music and by hosting a weekly musical Christian gathering he dubbed Sunday Service.
“The Sunday Service helped to rebrand him, helped to make people like him again,” said Joshua Wright, who teaches history at Trinity Washington University and wrote the recent book “‘Wake Up, Mr. West’: Kanye West and the Double Consciousness of Black Celebrity.”
It led to “Donda,” named after his mother and nominated for Grammy for Album of the Year. Netflix’s “Jeen-yuhs” docuseries was met with mostly critical acclaim. After another turbulent era, it seemed Ye would once again be accepted by the greater public, as he always had been. Ye himself felt untouchable even as the outrage grew this month.
“The thing about me and Adidas is like, I can literally say antisemitic s—, and they can’t drop me,” he said on the Drink Champs podcast on Oct. 16. “I can say antisemitic things, and Adidas can’t drop me. Now what? Now what?”
Helena Andrews-Dyer, Kim Bellware, Ashley Fetters Maloy, Chris Richards and Emily Yahr contributed to this report.
Olivia Rodrigo is on to another big hit with second single ‘deja vu’ 2021 might not yet have brought us a lot that we want to remember in a few years from now, but the meteoric rise of Olivia Rodrigo as a pop star is one of the few exciting things to happen. The Disney actress turned artist surprised the whole world right at the start of the year when her debut single ‘drivers license’ started to break records on streaming services and reached number 1 in almost all parts of the world. She has now announced that her debut album will be out in May and ‘deja vu’ is the second single taken from this record. Is Olivia Rodrigo a one hit wonder or did she just launch another big hit?
When you debut with such a massive hit, releasing a follow up is always tricky business, because it is virtually impossible to top your own success. Rodrigo might not top the numbers ‘drivers license’ did with ‘deja vu’, but I am convinced this song is only going to help her build her brand as a pop star. It was born in the same sonic universe as ‘drivers license’ was (she co-wrote it with Daniel Nigro again) with a similar build up and a vibe reminiscent of some of Lorde’s best work. The chorus is a big swaying one with Rodrigo’s emotive vocals belting away over a soaring melody I’m expecting to hear a lot over the coming months.
Rodrigo already showed how she can paint a vivid picture with her lyrics on ‘drivers license’ and she does the exact same on ‘deja vu’. In some ways, the story in ‘deja vu’ picks up where ‘drivers license’ left us. Rodrigo is trying to get over a break up and she now notices that her ex is doing all the same stuff with his new girlfriend. She would be lying if she said it didn’t bother her a little, but part of the process of getting over him is seeing how he is being completely unoriginal with his new lover. Very relatable, especially for her fellow teenagers out there.
I am fully expecting ‘deja vu’ to further cement her name as one of 2021’s main pop stars. The first signs are already there that this is going to be another major streaming hit.
Pop’s rollercoaster ride has been kind to Katy Perry. In the 11 years since her international breakthrough, two reliable constants have been central to her success: she has a magician’s touch when it comes to edging her winning formula on with each release, and a slick ability to conjure up a parade of memorable pop tunes. Her personal, warm charisma and obvious dedication to empowering themes of self-determination and collective responsibility have created an army of supporters that have remained committed fans through each new creative change. Such is Katy’s familiarity on pop’s central podium this past decade, it’s hard to believe that she has just four major studio albums to her name. As a master of the perfect pop single, however, the best Katy Perry songs have charted the evolution of pop music in the early 21st Century.
Listen to the best of Katy Perry on Apple Musicand Spotify.
20: The One That Got Away
If typical pop convention is to be followed, the sixth single from an album simply shouldn’t be this strong. Like Michael Jackson’s Thriller – and we don’t make that comparison lightly – Teenage Dream just seemed to be stuffed with potential smashes jostling for their place among the best Katy Perry songs. Mining it this deep and emerging with a gem like ‘The One That Got Away’ is a testament to the magic that Katy, Dr Luke and Max Martin were making at this early stage of her career. The poignant, midtempo ballad – supported with one of her typically strong videos – peaked again inside the US Top 3 and did well internationally. Inspired by a romantic relationship with Josh Groban that didn’t quite take flight, Katy had championed the cut and said she was pleased it revealed a rawer edge to her songwriting.
19: Waking Up In Vegas
Rock royalty Desmond Child and Swedish pop maestro Andreas Carlsson created this choppy return to form that gave her One Of The Boys album another boost. Hitting radio in April 2009, the Greg Wise production drew out the song’s central guitar riff with a rounded pop chorus that proved genuinely memorable. Another strong video, which was shot with Avatar’s Joel David Moore, helped place Katy back in the Billboard Top 10.
18: Con Calma (Remix) (Daddy Yankee and Katy Perry, featuring Snow)
The reggeaton smash, remixed with a guest appearance from Katy, hit radio in April 2019 and took its inspiration from one-hit wonder Snow’s 1992 global hit ‘Informer’. The Puerto Rican rapper says the Snow original is one of his favourite songs, and Katy’s contribution helped this hot homage gain airplay across mainstream pop stations around the world.
17: Birthday
It was time to pull on a pair of flares for ‘Birthday’, the melodic shuffle of which effortlessly transported you back to the glory days of 70s disco. Katy is famous for her outstanding videos, and this comedic standout is certainly among her best – even if its clever skits almost threaten to overwhelm the song itself. Drawn from the eclectic Prism, the song’s uncomplicated feel-good vibe demonstrates the impact of her lighter songwriting.
16: Rise
The aching charisma of this darker electronica cut was picked as one of the themes for US TV’s coverage of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games and scored strongly across the summer. Written with Savan Kotecha, Katy filmed performed the song for the US Democrats ahead of a bitter Presidential campaign.
15: Bon Appetit (featuring Migos)
This pop-trap hybrid, recorded with US hip-hop act Migos, was picked as the second single from Witness. Its knowing, sophisticated sexual satire was brilliantly brought to life in the accompanying video.
14: Unconditionally
Reported to be Katy’s favourite song from Prism, ‘Unconditionally’ takes some inspiration from Nashville, but is an accomplished power ballad that began to form after Katy had helped with a project for UNICEF. As one of the best Katy Perry songs of the 2010s, its themes are universal; the song cut through on radio and also boasted a striking costume-drama court-inspired promotional video.
13: Wide Awake
Widespread speculation focused on whether this 2012 song was Katy’s comment on the closing chapter of her relationship with Russell Brand; its message of how one must move on – however challenging the circumstances – certainly spoke to that. Longtime collaborator Bonnie McKee co-wrote the track with Katy (and Max Martin, Cirkut and Dr Luke) in support of the fly-on-the-wall/concert movie Katy Perry: Part Of Me. It was released as a single in May 2012 and peaked at No.2 in the US and No.9 in the UK.
12: 365 (Zedd and Katy Perry)
Supporting Katy on segments of her Witness: The Tour sparked a working partnership between Zedd and the singer that saw this standalone track issued as a single in February 2019. The Russian-born DJ-producer-songwriter has built an impressive CV of collaborations including Ariana Grande, Foxes and Selena Gomez, but there’s plenty to suggest this project with Katy could be the start of something very interesting. Katy seems keen to delve deeper into dance and electronica, while he proved a master at working with her compelling pop hooks.
11: Last Friday Night (TGIF)
A hangover following those parties we’d perhaps rather hadn’t been quite so much fun is comically brought to life in a standout video. Shaped as a floor-filling pop-dance anthem, ‘Last Friday Night (TGIF)’ earned its place among the best Katy Perry songs after it rewarded the singer with a place in the history books as the first woman to lift five US chart-toppers from a single album. Cameos from Glee’s Darren Criss, Hanson and 80s icons Debbie Gibson and Kenny G complete this video, inspired by the classic John Hughes movie Sixteen Candles, making it a clip that deserved repeat viewings. It was named Favourite Music Video at 2012’s People’s Choice Awards.
10: Hot N Cold
The track that proved Katy was no one-hit wonder, ‘Hot N Cold’ followed ‘I Kissed A Girl’ into the charts just a few months after the latter’s release, and has become a firm fan favourite. Benny Blanco joined Dr Luke and Max Martin on the creation of this track, his trademark synth-pop treatment undoubtedly glossing up a more naturally rockier core. ‘Hot N Cold’ advanced steadily up the Billboard Hot 100 to secure Katy a second consecutive US Top 3 success.
9: Dark Horse (featuring Juicy J)
Trailed as a promotional track for Prism, this strong cut was later picked as the album’s official third single in December 2013 and made it all the way to the top of the US charts. It was Katy’s most experimental single to date and the contribution with rapper Juicy J further developed the deeper urban direction her work was beginning to take. Sarah Hudson, the singer-songwriter behind UltraViolet Sound, co-wrote the song, which was the world’s second best-selling track of 2014.
8: Teenage Dream
At the start of Katy’s career, there was a tendency a to label her a talented but essentially kitsch artist reliant on kooky, charismatic performances. ‘Teenage Dream’ changed all that. Its insistent, romantic drive wrapped around a subtle nostalgic tone and euphoric melody simply let the music do the shouting, and the approach paid off handsomely. A regular on concert setlists to date, ‘Teenage Dream’ made the critics finally sit up and start to take notice, and will forever sit among the best Katy Perry songs of all time.
7: Swish Swish (featuring Nicki Minaj)
The third single lifted from Witness, ‘Swish Swish’ is the most ambitious dance track she has released to date and was almost completely overshadowed by her performance of it on Saturday Night Live, which saw Russell Horning (aka “The Backpack Kid”) showcase the floss dance to universal fascination. There are worse things for a song to be associated with, and the buzz helped the track, featuring Nicki Minaj, top the US dance charts.
6: ET (featuring Kanye West)
Kanye West’s contribution to the single release of this song from Teenage Dream (he didn’t feature on the original album cut) adds layers of drama to a song that’s already drenched in it. After the all-out pop of the album’s previous singles, this release marked a bold experimental manoeuvre that could so easily have backfired if urban radio programmers hadn’t embraced it. Crucially, the electro/hip-hop ballad, which again topped the charts, sounded great and earns its place among the best Katy Perry songs thanks to its crucial part in establishing Katy’s wider credibility beyond the core Top 40 market.
5: California Gurls (featuring Snoop Dogg)
Marketed at the start of the summer, ‘California Gurls’ was one of those records you just couldn’t escape in 2010. Following up a hit debut album is tricky, and Katy needed something special to make another strong impact. Teenage Dream was nearly complete, but Katy wasn’t convinced she had that final killer track until she developed the idea of creating a West Coast answer to ‘Empire State Of Mind’. ‘California Gurls’’ hooky energy was infectious; the guest billing for Snoop Dogg raised eyebrows and broadened the track; and the video pitched Katy’s larger-than-life persona into overdrive. It proved a highly effective mix, pushing all those rival summer anthems into the shade.
4: Roar
The plan for Prism was to create a darker record than anything that had come before. Echoes of that ambition remained in the eclectic nature of the album, but to launch Katy’s third major release, the boundless positivity of ‘Roar’ seemed compelling. It contains an anthemic chorus; is steeped in the positivity so central to Katy’s belief system; and, yes, that video treatment nicely delivered a cartoon narrative that had become something of an occasional trademark. ‘Roar’ was a huge success – a transatlantic chart-topper – and received scores of awards nominations acknowledging its place among the best Katy Perry songs.
3: I Kissed A Girl
The novelty of this track might have positioned Katy as an amusing one-hit wonder from the get-go. It had something interesting to say, but there wasn’t much space for subtlety. Sometimes that’s what you need to do to get a new artist noticed, and this Cathy Dennis co-composition established Katy as a worldwide sensation. Its seven-week run at the top of the US charts helped this new-wave power-pop gem become something of a challenge: how do you follow that? Katy’s response was simple: no panic or need to revisit it; just unleash strong songs built around broader themes. ‘I Kissed A Girl’ trod a fine line between knowing humour and crass controversy in a less-enlightened 2008, but it certainly did the trick.
2: Chained To The Rhythm (featuring Skip Marley)
Drawing on the uncertainty of the world in 2017, Katy’s first single from Witness showcases her craft at its melodic height. Sia had a hand in this song’s composition, helping to create a finely balanced blend of electro balladry and all-out pop. It worked well in the clubs, but absolutely soars on radio and remains in regular rotation today. Production support from the reliable Max Martin and Ali Payami shaped the song into a sizeable hit, while it was performed at the 2017 Brits and Grammy Awards and got perhaps the best video treatment in Katy’s impressive collection to date.
1: Firework
Now perhaps forever associated with its enduring role as the back-theme to myriad talent shows and triumph-over-tragedy true-life stories, this anthem of self-empowerment has sold more than 10 million copies in Katy’s homeland since its release in October 2010. Created with acclaimed songwriter Ester Dean and producers Stargate and Sandy Vee, ‘Firework’ was the third single from the staggeringly successful Teenage Dream album, and its place among the best Katy Perry songs is forever assured. It has already been covered by scores of other artists and remains perhaps Katy’s most established standard to date. The song was nominated for Record Of The Year at the Grammys, but its legacy is far from complete: this is a melody so strong it may yet re-emerge in a worldwide hit many years from now, from an artist maybe not yet even born. ‘Firework’ remains Katy’s first true classic.
Do our best Katy Perry songs match yours? Let us know in the comments section.
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uDiscover Music is operated by Universal Music Group (UMG). Some recording artists included in uDiscover Music articles are affiliated with UMG.
The music video for BLACKPINK’s “Pink Venom” has just become the first K-pop music video of 2022 to hit the 400 million mark!
On October 25 at approximately 9:30 p.m. KST, BLACKPINK’s music video for their hit pre-release single “Pink Venom” surpassed 400 million views on YouTube, making it their 10th full-group music video to do so after “As If It’s Your Last,” “DDU-DU DDU-DU,” “BOOMBAYAH,” “Kill This Love,” “Playing With Fire,” “Whistle,” “How You Like That,” “Ice Cream,” and “Lovesick Girls.”
“Pink Venom” is also the first K-pop music video released this year to surpass 400 million views. BLACKPINK originally dropped the music video for “Pink Venom” on August 19 at 1 p.m. KST, meaning that it took just over 67 days to reach the milestone.
Congratulations to BLACKPINK!
Watch the epic music video for “Pink Venom” again below:
Years & Years returns as solo act with fabulous new single ‘Starstruck’ Years & Years is back, but they are no longer a trio. The band announced earlier this year that from now on, Years & Years is Olly Alexander’s solo project as the upcoming album is his endeavor. This should not have come as a surprise for those who followed their career closely, as their most recent album Palo Santo (released in 2018) was mostly Olly’s work with other songwriters too. Now that we have that all sorted out, Olly is ready to do it all on his own with the new single ‘Starstruck’ and an album later this year. Did Years & Years maintain its sound when it’s just Olly?
‘Starstruck’, which Olly co-wrote with Clarence Coffee Jr., Mark Ralph and Nathaniel Ledwidge, is definitely not a massive departure from the sound Years & Years is known for. This is synth pop at its finest! The track picks up the pace right from the beginning and there is no stopping from then on. The seductive rhythm of the verses pulls you right in and the bright and shiny melody of the chorus is pop perfection. There is something so carefree and uplifting about the whole vibe of ‘Starstruck’, something we could all definitely use these days. The lyrics are all about falling in love and the joyous hook of the chorus perfectly gets this feeling across.
Olly explained in interviews how his role as an actor in the series It’s A Sin, about the AIDS epidemic in the UK of the 1980s, has inspired his music as well, so the new record will have loads of 80s influences. ‘Starstruck’ is definitely a good start and I’m perched to hear what more he has to offer. Until then, ‘Starstruck’ will be on heavy rotation here.
In my quest to own everything listed on Discogs for Matt Nathanson, I picked up the CD Promotional single for the song “Run”. It is off his 2011 album, ‘Modern Love’ and was released as a single, but only reached #53 on the Billboard Hot 100 which baffles me as it is probably my favorite song by him. Another cool thing about it is that the recording engineer on the album was my brother-in-law, Ryan; however, this was the one song he didn’t engineer. Bummer!
The song is not a country song even though Sugarland are on it. No! This is a sensual, oh so sexy, love song. The lyrics are dirty with lines like “You come in waves” and “Then Swallow me whole” as well as “And I watch it explode”. At the same time they are sexy with lines like “You pull me in close / And buckle my knees” and “You trace my lines / Stirring my soul”. And then they are heartwarming with a line like “I’m amazing when you’re beside me / I am so much more”. This song speaks to me and reminds me of my lovely bride and when I hear this song, I think of only her! Each and every time.
Now here is the problem. The song I think is more about an affair than love. The lyrics talk about running back to this person. The man says he knows that it’s wrong but he can’t help it and he always goes back to her. Personally, I ignore that part and think of it more as a passionate love affair with my wife. Either way, you can’t help but love the song.
“Run” is a beautifully crafted pop song, there is no doubt about that. Driven by a slow kick drum beat, a beautiful bass line and then filled with acoustic and electric guitars. There is a slow build to the music as if the sex was building as well. Vocally, both Matt and Jennifer dance back and forth with the lyrics and their voices compliment each other so well. When they join in together on the chorus it is pure and utter magic.
And there you have it. Another promotional single added to the collection. And I still have another one to show coming up soon as well. Now, before I leave I am going to leave you the version of the song Sugarland released as it is just as good…It really isn’t different. It is a live version…
Carly Rae Jepsen, “The Loneliest Time” (Interscope Records)
Dating in the 21st century might be a lonely time, but Carly Rae Jepsen has found a way to make an album around those experiences that’s as bright and hopeful as it is grounded. From the euphoric “Sideways” to the heartbreak of “Go Find Yourself or Whatever,” on her sixth studio album, “The Loneliest Time,” the 36-year-old makes one thing clear: It’s rough out there in the dating world.
While the themes of “The Loneliest Time” are timeless, there’s a specificity to the experiences that reflect the modern age. Jepsen’s second single from the album, “Beach House,” is the best example of this. The kitschy song mirrors the experience of endless scrolling on dating apps. After describing a myriad of bad dating experiences and pleading with men to not view dating as hunting season, male vocals join in with tongue-in-cheek promises that get more preposterous as they go, from “I’m probably gonna never call you” to “I’m probably gonna harvest your organs.” It’s a sure-to-be camp classic from the Canadian pop icon.
Carly Rae Jepsen performs on Day 1 of the Austin City Limits Music Festival on Friday, Oct. 7, 2022, in Austin, Texas.
– Associated Press
Despite what are certainly lows described on “Beach House,” Jepsen’s optimism on “Surrender My Heart” shows she hasn’t given up on love quite yet. A highlight of the album, the synth bop opener finds her embracing vulnerability.
Throughout the LP are disco and ’80s influences, heard most strongly on the title track and “Far Away.” The pop anthems for which Jepsen is known are not in short supply, with softer tracks like “Bends” and “Go Find Yourself or Whatever” sprinkled in between. “Go Find Yourself or Whatever” is endearing in its empathy, opening with an acoustic guitar and building to include an electric guitar, mandolin and sitar.
“The Loneliest Time” is a collection of songs that encompass the highs and lows of searching for love, a journey full of second chances, mistakes and elation. It can be lonely at times, but as she articulates on the opener, her past experiences haven’t stopped her from opening her heart: “I wanna be brave enough for everything.”
EAST LIVERPOOL – Heritage Thermal Services is sponsoring the inaugural Hungry Bowls to benefit the United Way and help hungry neighbors.
The Hungry Bowls is a joint effort between one business, Heritage Thermal Services, and two agencies, the United Way and the Salvation, to raise funds to combat local food insecurity issues.
The event will be held on Nov. 17 from 4 to 6:30 p.m. at the Salvation Army, 413 E. Fourth St., East Liverpool.
According to Raymond Wayne, public affairs specialist at Heritage, Hungry Bowls is the result of wanting to do something different to help with the hunger issues faced by local residents.
Wayne noted that for the past few years, Heritage has submitted food donations collected from their employees to be donated to United Way for distribution to local food pantries.
Wayne said that since a lot of other businesses were doing the same thing, he wanted to try something different and started kicking around the idea of a soup kitchen, because folks with food insecurities and those that are homeless go to soup kitchens for their meals.
Wayne did some research and looked at the Columbiana County Health Assessment Report to find facts relating to the hunger issues in East Liverpool.
Citing the report, Wayne said that in 2019, 16% of the county’s population experienced at least one issue related to food insecurity.
The question asking if residents ever cut, size or skip meals because of not enough money or food indicated that on a county wide level 7.9% of the respondents had an issue. In East Liverpool it was 10%.
The report noted that East Liverpool residents said the two or three most important issues that need to be addressed to improve health and the quality of life in East Liverpool were housing security as number one, food insecurity as number two and drugs and substance abuse was the third issue.
Based off of this, Wayne decided that Heritage would sponsor the Hungry Bowl Soup Kitchen, where for a $10 ticket, attendees will have the opportunity to select from approximately a dozen different soups, and get bread, crackers, a cookie and a bottle of water. Wayne noted this is basically a menu at a soup kitchen.
The soups will all be homemade and prepared by the board members at United Way.
In addition to the $10 ticket purchase, attendees are being asked to bring a non-perishable food item.
The event will also feature a Chinese Auction to help raise additional funds. All proceeds will go to benefit the three local food pantries in the United Way portfolio.
The Fiesta Ware Company will be donating 200 fiesta bowls to the event. So, the first 200 people to attend will go home with a fiesta bowl.
Save-a-Lot of Wellsville donated crackers, cookies and water for the event, and East Liverpool high school teacher Greg Harding will be providing ambient music for the event.
Tickets are on sale at the United Way office. Tickets can be purchased and donated to the Salvation Army who can designate somebody in need to go as well.
Candy Faloon, director of United Way of Southern Columbiana County, noted that she is in her office every day and has been heartbroken in the past few months by the number of people who call her or come by her office to say they need food.
Faloon said that probably 60% of the calls she receives or from people in need of food.
“I just want to let you know this economy and the inflation, how it really truly is affecting the people that just don’t have as much as everybody else,” Faloon said. “You think everybody is ok but they are really not.”
