Tag: music
Riders in the Sky perform Christmas show Dec. 2 at Birthplace of Country Music | Arts & Entertainment
A Little Left of Center: I love country music: Three of the reasons why | Columns
Yep, I am a country music lover.
It was Johnny Cash who said, “Of emotions, of love, of breakup, of love and hate and death and dying, mama, apple pie, and the whole thing. It covers a lot of territory, country music does.”
Country is my favorite genre of music. Largely to blame are Morgan Wallen, Hardy, and Ernest. I have long referred to these country hitmakers as the great trifecta of modern country music. These three friends have been blowing up the scene for a while now. I was fortunate to see them all perform live and feel comfortable writing this piece based on those experiences. I am here to proclaim with good authority that this trio is fun to watch. These guys are multifaceted and versatile. With a little something for everyone, let’s break down how these good ol’ southern boys have turned many, including myself, on to today’s country music.
Morgan Wallen
Morgan Wallen is the epitome of the Southern pretty boy. His true talent, however, is his ability to not only sing a great song, but to get his audience to really “feel” his joy of performing. Wallen has said that after seeing Eric Church perform, it left such a profound impact on him because, as he puts it, “you could feel what Eric Church was singing.” It’s apparent that Wallen also sets out to do just that when he performs. Having seen both Wallen and Church perform live, I concur. Wallen’s music also blends a variety of genres. From “Broadway Girls” featuring rapper, Lil Durk, to his collaboration with Ernest on “Flower Shops” (nod to traditional country music with steel guitar embedded throughout), his range and musicality is what makes him so appealing to country music lovers and those like me, who are still fairly new to the country music scene.
Ernest
I have found that many Ernest Smith (he goes by only his first name, professionally) fans don’t know that his first released song was a rap single, “Dopeman.” It is a catchy joint with a smooth beat that showcases that he definitely has an affinity for rap, yet personifies versatility when you discover he has written songs for the likes of FGL, Kane Brown, his buddy Morgan Wallen, and others. Ernest has a number of hit songs under his belt including “More than my Hometown,” a single on Wallen’s “Double Album.” He also did a beautiful remake of “Islands in the Stream” by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton with new and rising female artist Hailey Whitters. Not only is the song awesome, but the cheesy, ‘70s throwback video is a nostalgic delight. If those things didn’t make him appealing enough, add to his talents a cool podcast titled “Just being Ernest.” He interviews friends and other celebrities in this entertaining series that only adds to his versatility as an entertainer.
Hardy
To round off this musical trifecta, you cannot forget Michael Hardy, who goes by only his last name. The energy and vibe he brings to his live performances is unparalleled. To put it bluntly, his shows kick butt. A high energy load of fun is what you’ll get at a Hardy show. I would best describe his style as modern country rock. One of my favorite songs is “He went to Jared.” It’s a fun sing-along jam about a hardworking blue collar dude who lost his girl to a prestigious fella who went to the Harvard of the south — Ole Miss. It was the first Hardy song I ever heard and I immediately liked it. Seeing him perform live had me hooked for good. He is truly on that stage to party and have a good time. If you want to hear an emotional country song that tells a raw story of domestic abuse and outlaw justice, check out his latest duet with Lainey Wilson, “Wait in the Truck.”
Regular dudes
Honestly, the appeal of these three is that they seem like regular folks — unpretentious bros who enjoy entertaining and having fun — they are the guys you just wanna sit down and have a beer with — or in my case — go fishing with. Having met Wallen as a VIP guest at a concert this past summer, I can tell you he is the real deal — humble and down to earth. Ernest is, too. In fact he’s known for driving around Nashville in his 1966 Cadillac, and I’ve met him briefly at a concert last summer. I haven’t met Hardy, but hope to someday. We’ll see him next February in New York City. A girl can dream…
MUSIC SPOTLIGHT: Local music producer plays ‘whatever needs to be played’ | News
Christopher Espinosa considers himself to be more of an independent music producer than a musician.
“Reason being is I produce albums of my own compositions, and I play whatever needs to be played – whatever sounds I hear in my head,” said Espinosa.
He doesn’t always play regular gigs, as he prefers to seek out and collaborate with other musicians to record. When he does do regular shows, Espinosa likes to play a mixture of his own work and cover songs. While Espinosa enjoys performing old-school rock ‘n’ roll, he also plays soul, folk, and Americana music to cover all his bases at gigs.
Espinosa is guitar player for the band Ragdoll Willies and Suncast, a band he and his stepbrother formed in high school around 2004.
He said he continues to perform sometimes, as he has grown accustomed to the feeling of making others happy, and he likes to create a certain atmosphere for audience members and add to their experience.
“I like to be able to make a sonic space, whether it be at a venue or a bar or restaurant or whatever,” said Espinosa. “I like to have that where everybody is vibing and everybody is feeling good, and like, ‘Oh, I love this song,’ or ‘Oh, wow. That’s a really emotional projection of his voice,’ or ‘That’s a really wild guitar part. I’ve never heard that before.’”
He said another reason he likes to perform is just to be able to play an instrument.
“I always tell people, ‘Imagine if you could jump like 20 feet. Wouldn’t you go do it every once in a while, just to show people you can do it?’” said Espinosa.
Espinosa has produced three of his own albums so far, and several for other musicians. He doesn’t just hear music, but he hears everything else others might miss, such as the small clicks of a drumstick.
The independent music producer got his start with a harmonica when he was about 3 or 4 years old. Espinosa said his grandma had his great-grandma’s harmonica in a junk drawer, when he stumbled upon it and started to learn how to play it. He would later press for a guitar, until he was finally able to get one from his family.
Going to church inspired Espinosa to want to learn how to play musical instruments because of the enjoyment he received from watching others perform.
“I went to church for the music more than anything,” said Espinosa.
Espinosa not only plays the guitar and harmonica but the piano, bass, drums, and ukelele, among others. When performing with others, he likes to be as useful as possible, whether that is working behind a soundboard or playing an instrument that suits the context.
“I’m not going to show up with my banjo to a place with a bunch of world-class banjo players. I’ll bring a guitar, or if there are 15 guitar players, I’ll bring a harmonica,” said Espinosa.
Check it out
Espinosa’s most recent gig was at Kroner and Baer Nov. 25; he does not have any current shows set to take place. He will be releasing a remastered version of his second album, “Some Aim Backward: Kathmandu Sessions,” in December at a to-be-determined date on Spotify.
New musical brings high-energy world of K-pop to Broadway
NEW YORK (AP) — There are some familiar storylines in a new musical opening on Broadway — a singer and her relationship with the mentor who guided her; a newcomer trying to find his place; young women chasing their dreams.
But they’ve never sounded quite like this.
The global sensation that is Korean pop music is coming to center stage in “KPOP,” opening Sunday at the Circle in the Square Theatre.
With an almost entirely Asian American and Asian cast, many of whom are making their Broadway debuts, the musical is set as a backstage look at some K-pop performers as they get ready for their debut show in New York City. Conflicts break out and get resolved, ending in a concert-like performance.
The show’s Broadway arrival has been a long time coming for playwright Jason Kim, who first conceived of a play around K-pop about a decade ago and staged an off-Broadway version in 2017, with music and lyrics composed by Helen Park and Max Vernon.
Born in South Korea, Kim came to the United States as a child, settling with his family in the Midwest. K-pop has been a fixture in his life, as have Korean television dramas. He also loved musical theater, especially shows like “A Chorus Line” and “Dreamgirls” where the story is about what’s happening behind the scenes.
“I love backstage shows,” he said. “Is there fighting going on in-between everybody? Do they all love each other? These are the questions that I asked myself.”
In the initial stage version of the show, Kim was introducing the machine of K-pop to an American audience largely unfamiliar with it; five years later, it’s been rewritten for a world where K-pop musical heavy-hitters like BTS and Blackpink are pop chart mainstays, amid a slew of other Korean entertainment in movies and television like “Squid Games” becoming more popular in the U.S. as well.
Back then, America “didn’t really know what K-pop was, and so there was a lot of explaining that I had to do. … This time around, I didn’t have to really take the stance of having to apologize for anything or having to explain anything, and just let the story unfold,” said Kim, a writer in television and film.
He called the timing “really serendipitous.”
“It’s been really profound and moving actually to watch the world shift in this way.”
A Broadway musical showcasing the sounds of K-pop is a sign of how “the U.S. is finally catching up with what was already going on around the world,” said Robert Ji-Song Ku, an associate professor of Asian American studies at Binghamton University.
K-pop has been growing in popularity globally for the last 20 years, even though other attempts to break into the American market over the years haven’t met with the same success until recently, he said.
“If there’s a spectrum of universality, K-pop is engineered to be as universal as possible,” he said.
Casting the show took about two years, Kim said, with open calls both in the U.S. and South Korea. Some of those in the show have K-pop backgrounds, including Luna, a former member of the group f(x), who plays the central character of MwE, a singer who has spent years working toward her dreams and has come to a crossroads.
It’s a step forward for Asian American representation on Broadway, which matters a great deal to Kim.
“That talent exists, and they just need a platform,” he said. “So it was really important to me to put these Asian people on stage and see them not playing the typical roles that they play, but playing rock stars, playing pop stars, dancing their faces off and acting their faces off and just being spectacular.”
For her part, Park called the experience an honor.
“K-pop and Broadway have both been my passion for a long time; K-pop has been like comfort food for me, and Broadway was my seemingly unattainable dream, given there haven’t been many Asian composers, let alone Asian female composers that I can see and dream to be like,” she said in an email. “To be able to bring something that feels like home to me, to my dream stage, Broadway, feels like the most miraculous gift that I’ll cherish for a lifetime.”
Kim said it was also important that the show includes some Korean interspersed among the English, both in the songs and the dialogue.
It’s “a way to be really authentic to the experience of K-pop idols and Korean people,” Kim said, pointing out that “when I speak to my mom, I’m switching back and forth all the time, depending on what we’re talking about.”
“The design of the bilingual nature of the show was very intentional.”
Clearly, a musical built around K-pop has a built-in base of potential audience members. But Kim says there’s something for everyone, even those who have never heard a K-pop tune.
“Hopefully if we do our jobs right, you’re watching a fun musical with a bunch of great K-pop songs,” he said. “But really what you’re getting as you leave the theater is a universal story.”
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Hajela is a member of the AP’s team covering race and ethnicity. She’s on Twitter at twitter.com/dhajela
Kapono, Hawaiian music icons fundraise for music scholarships at Windward CC
Henry Kapono, Jeff Peterson, Raiatea Helm and Kamuela Kimokeo will share the gift of music—and music education—in a concert at Windward Community College’s Palikū Theatre on December 5, 6–8:30 p.m. The concert will be hosted by Davey D and Mele Apana.
Proceeds from the concert will support the Henry Kapono Music scholarships at Windward CC.
“The Henry Kapono Foundation is committed to making music education accessible, whether it is for teachers who want to use music in their classrooms, parents who want to teach their families music, or those who are seeking a career in music performance,” said Kimokeo, Hawaiʻi Music Institute director. “What better way to demonstrate this commitment than with music!”
Kapono and Kimokeo would often discuss the idea of holding a fundraiser concert for scholarships while backstage at various performances. Kapono finally said, “Enough talking, let’s get to work and make it happen.”
Tickets for the concert are $15 (students), $30 (general) $75 (VIP—special seating, pre-show meet and greet, and photo opportunity with the artist). Tickets for live streaming are also available ($15). A portion of general and VIP tickets are tax-deductible.
Tickets are limited and available at palikutheatre.com.
Hawaiian music studies at Windward CC
Helm and Peterson are among the lineup of professional musicians teaching Hawaiian music at Windward CC. The groundbreaking Kaʻohekani Hawaiian music one-year certificate is taught in a series of eight-week online classes by Kimokeo (Hawaiian music), Kawaikapuokalani Frank Hewett (Hawaiian language, hula/composition), Helm (Hawaiian singing) and Kapena DeLima (digital music production). The academic offering from Windward CC is immersive, accelerated and cohort based.
The Kaʻohekani Hawaiian music online certificate can be applied to an associate of arts degree in liberal arts. For information about Kaʻohekani, visit https://windward.hawaii.edu/programs-of-study/kaohekani/.
Kimokeo teaches ʻukulele and slack key guitar. He also performs with Jerry Santos and his own Nā Hōkū Hanohano award-winning group Hiʻikua. Hewett is a legendary kumu hula, songwriter and recent judge in the Merrie Monarch hula competition. Peterson is a grammy award-winning slack key guitar master. Nā Hōkū Hanohano award-winning and grammy nominated Helm is known for her powerful vocals. DeLima is part of the group Kapena and is an award-winning sound engineer and producer.
“This scholarship from the Henry Kapono Foundation will really help students have access to a formal music education while connecting them to our own excellent local talent, many who are legendary Hawaiian music artists,” said Kimokeo.
For more information about music programs at Windward CC, contact Kimokeo at kamuelam@hawaii.edu.
Cuban singer-songwriter Pablo Milanés dies at 79
HAVANA (AP) — Pablo Milanés, the Latin Grammy-winning balladeer who helped found Cuba’s “nueva trova” movement and toured the world as a cultural ambassador for Fidel Castro’s revolution, has died in Spain, where he had been under treatment for blood cancer. He was 79.
One of the most internationally famous Cuban singer-songwriters, he recorded dozens of albums and hits like “Yolanda,” “Yo Me Quedo” (I’m Staying) and “Amo Esta Isla” (I Love This Island) during a career that lasted more than five decades.
“The culture in Cuba is in mourning for the death of Pablo Milanes,” Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz tweeted Monday night.
Milanés’ representatives issued a statement saying he had died early Tuesday in Madrid.
In early November, he announced he was being hospitalized and canceled concerts.
Pablo Milanés was born Feb. 24, 1943, in the eastern city of Bayamo, in what was then Oriente province, the youngest of five siblings born to working-class parents. His musical career began with him singing in, and often winning, local TV and radio contests.
His family moved to the capital and he studied for a time at the Havana Musical Conservatory during the 1950s, but he credited neighborhood musicians rather than formal training for his early inspiration, along with trends from the United States and other countries.
In the early ’60s he was in several groups including Cuarteto del Rey (the King’s Quartet), composing his first song in 1963: “Tu Mi Desengano,” (You, My Disillusion), which spoke of moving on from a lost love.
“Your kisses don’t matter to me because I have a new love/to whom I promise you I will give my life,” the tune goes.
In 1970 he wrote the seminal Latin American love song “Yolanda,” which is still an enduring favorite everywhere from Old Havana’s tourist cafes to Mexico City cantinas.
Spanish newspaper El Pais asked Milanés in 2003 how many women he had flirted with by saying they inspired the song. “None,” he responded, laughing. “But many have told me: ‘My child is the product of ‘Yolanda.’”
Milanés supported the 1959 Cuban Revolution but was nevertheless targeted by authorities during the early years of Fidel Castro’s government, when all manner of “alternative” expression was highly suspect. Milanés was reportedly harassed for wearing his hair in an afro, and was given compulsory work detail for his interest in foreign music.
Those experiences did not dampen his revolutionary fervor, however, and he began to incorporate politics into his songwriting, collaborating with musicians such as Silvio Rodríguez and Noel Nicola.
The three are considered the founders of the Cuban “nueva trova,” a usually guitar-based musical style tracing to the ballads that troubadours composed during the island’s wars of independence. Infused with the spirit of 1960s American protest songs, the nueva trova uses musical storytelling to highlight social problems.
Milanés and Rodríguez in particular became close, touring the world’s stages as cultural ambassadors for the Cuban Revolution, and bonding during boozy sessions.
“If Silvio Rodríguez and I got together, the rum was always there,” Milanés told El Pais in 2003. “We were always three, not two.”
Milanés was friendly with Castro, critical of U.S. foreign policy and for a time even a member of the communist government’s parliament. He considered himself loyal to the revolution and spoke of his pride at serving Cuba.
“I am a worker who labors with songs, doing in my own way what I know best, like any other Cuban worker,” Milanés once said, according to The New York Times. “I am faithful to my reality, to my revolution and the way in which I have been brought up.”
In 1973, Milanés recorded “Versos Sencillos,” which turned poems by Cuban Independence hero José Martí into songs. Another composition became a kind of rallying call for the political left of the Americas: “Song for Latin American Unity,” which praised Castro as the heir of Martí and South American liberation hero Simon Bolívar, and cast the Cuban Revolution as a model for other nations.
In 2006, when Castro stepped down as president due to a life-threatening illness, Milanés joined other prominent artists and intellectuals in voicing their support for the government. He promised to represent Castro and Cuba “as this moment deserves: with unity and courage in the presence of any threat or provocation.”
Yet he was unafraid to speak his mind and occasionally advocated publicly for more freedom on the island.
In 2010 he backed a dissident hunger striker who was demanding the release of political prisoners. Cuba’s aging leaders “are stuck in time,” Milanés told Spanish newspaper El Mundo. “History should advance with new ideas and new men.”
The following year, as the island was enacting economic changes that would allow greater free-market activity, he lobbied for President Raul Castro to do more. “These freedoms have been seen in small doses, and we hope that with time they will grow,” Milanés told The Associated Press.
Milanés disagreed without dissenting, prodded without pushing, hewing to Fidel Castro’s notorious 1961 warning to Cuba’s intellectual class: “Within the Revolution, everything; outside the Revolution, nothing.”
“I disagree with many things in Cuba, and everyone knows it,” Milanés once said.
Ever political even when his bushy afro had given way to more conservatively trimmed, gray, thinning locks, in 2006 he contributed the song “Exodo” (Exodus), about missing friends who have departed for other lands, to the album “Somos Americans” (We Are Americans), a compilation of U.S. and Latin American artists’ songs about immigration.
Rodríguez and Milanés had a falling out in the 1980s for reasons that were unclear and were barely on speaking terms, though they maintained a mutual respect and Rodríguez collaborated musically with Milanés’ daughter.
Milanés sang in the 1980′s album “Amo esta isla” that “I am from the Caribbean and could never walk on terra firma;” nevertheless, he divided most of his time between Spain and Mexico in later years.
By his own count he underwent more than 20 leg surgeries.
Milanés won two Latin Grammys in 2006 — best singer-songwriter album for “Como un Campo de Maiz” (Like a Cornfield) and best traditional tropical album for “AM/PM, Lineas Paralelas” (AM/PM, Parallel lines), a collaboration with Puerto Rican salsa singer Andy Montanez.
He also won numerous Cuban honors including the Alejo Carpentier medal in 1982 and the National Music Prize in 2005, and the 2007 Haydee Santamaria medal from the Casa de las Americas for his contributions to Latin American culture.
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Associated Press writer Peter Orsi contributed to this story.
15 Best K-Pop Girl Group Songs Of 2022
While I’m as much of a boy group stan as the next girl, it’s undeniable: 2022 was the year for girl groups. Even if you’re a casual K-pop listener you can tell this by your playlists — delivering bops year-round, both beloved veterans like TWICE and rookies like LE SSERAFIM peaked in their success and creativity when releasing new songs for fans. Think viral choreographies, start-off-with-a-bang debuts and the comeback of beloved concepts when it comes to the best K-pop girl group songs of 2022.
And, as the end of the year nears and strings out speculations of which group will take the Song of the Year (SOTY) award home, the debate is more heated than ever on who will become the successor of notorious tracks like aespa’s “Next Level,” the winner of Korean Music Awards’ SOTY last year, and BTS’ quintessential chart-topper “Butter.”
The stakes are high, but so is the possibility that a female group could take the prize home — even after boy groups made themselves comfortable in the spot. Boy groups have been the winners of Melon Music Award for Song of The Year for five consecutive years and have been honored with the MAMA Award for Song of the Year since 2019.
Having that in mind, here is a list of 15 contenders that ran 2022 and stood out among the K-pop tracks released this year.
Under the wing of HYBE — the same company that manages K-pop titans BTS — NewJeans entered the industry unannounced, and yet made a big noise with their debut song “Attention.” Part of their self-titled EP, the single tackles R&B and early 2000s groove and counts on minimal instrumentation to give the spotlight to the catchy vocals and verses. With a unique and playful aesthetic, the group was instantaneously popular and placed this single among this year’s most memorable K-pop moments.
Smash hit “TOMBOY” took the K-pop world by storm since it was released. Recorded for their first studio album I Never Die, the iconic “yeah, I’m a tomboy” fits into a fierce instrumental and electric guitar full of personality. There’s no need to say that the single was catchy — it stayed not only in my mind, but also at the top of the charts, debuting at No. 2 on Gaon’s digital charts.
(G)I-dle completely upped their game in 2022, and that’s why they deserve two songs in the list. There, I said it.
“Nxde,” unlike “Tomboy,” has its charms based on the single’s bold message and string instrumentals as it was dropped near the end of this year. The cabaret-inspired concept draws on different musical textures to announce the edgy verses like “now I draw a luxury nude” and the Marilyn Monroe and Bansky-inspired visuals.
Considered “rookie of the year” by some, Starship Entertainment’s IVE is an undeniable fourth generation success.
Ever since their debut with “Eleven,” the group has been conquering ears all over the world due to their energetic sound and charismatic performances. And with “Love Dive” — a strong contender for this year’s SOTY — the sextet expands on their atmospheric songs and delivers a true, well, dive into their talents. With different tempos and siren-like vocals, verses like Wonyoung’s “narcissistic, my god I love it” stick around even after the song is gone.
While BLACKPINK’s long-awaited comeback brought hits like “Pink Venom” and the Born Pink album to match, “Shut Down” reestablished the group’s place as one of K-pop’s greatest after almost two years of hiatus.
The powerful single brings groove and the slick announcement of a, well, shut down while highlighting BLACKPINK’s strongest traits: charged musical production and the sweet blend between traditional South Korean instruments and hip-hop influences.
Leave it to Red Velvet to deliver a stunning performance of both energetic raps and delicate melodies. “Feel My Rhythm,” released as part of the mini-album The ReVe Festival 2022 — Feel My Rhythm, references their more carnaval-esque side, as it’s an energetic synth-pop song.
Similar to their 2019 hit “Psycho,” the production is atmospheric and matched with a creative concept and dream-like visuals.
After successes like “ASAP,” “SO BAD,” and “STEREOTYPE,” STAYC has proven that they don’t miss. “RUN2U” is no different: With a heavy synth chorus, this song reaffirms their recognizable pop sound and tells a story of good girls gone bad.
Powerhouse TWICE couldn’t be left out of this year’s list, just like they haven’t been out of the charts for the past seven years.
With hits in their discography like “FANCY,” “TT,” and “The Feels” (among countless others), the nine-member group released “Talk That Talk” this August. It’s described as a retro pop song that aims to throw it back to the early 2000s. With a Y2K-inspired MV, the track follows TWICE’s tendency to coin addictive lyrics and brings their star power as strong as ever.
What you looking at indeed. This year, rookie girl group LE SSERAFIM gave netizens much to talk about, sweeping the charts with the single “FEARLESS,” which dropped in the first half of 2022.
Following HYBE’s brand of elaborate productions, the lead single is a funky dance pop track and was part of their highly-anticipated debut. Like their name — which is an anagram for “I’m Fearless,” by the way — this song hints at their strength and their message of (and I quote), “I don’t give a sh*t.”
Yup, another one.
Part of the same EP as “Attention,” NewJeans’ “Hype Boy” has also been met with praise from fans. Reimagining the 2000s sound, this single stays true to the group’s trademark of intoxicating melodies and a minimalistic yet atmospheric soundscape.
Recorded for Kep1er’s first comeback, “Up!” brings out a more sonically mature and laid-back side to the rookies we saw performing “WA DA DA” earlier this year. Combining punk and house music, the title song is energetic, groovy, and deliciously summery. Just as the verse goes, this track will cast a spell on you and ask you to follow them up, up, up. The volume’s going up, alright.
![[MV] tripleS(트리플에스) _ Generation](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/0tvTAo2UhdY/hqdefault.jpg)
Even though it’s part of a pre-debut project, tripleS’ single “Generation” is woven with nostalgia. From its addictive la la las to the groovy guitar and cheery trumpets, the track is reminiscent of the 2016 to 2018 K-pop scene — at least to older listeners like me — and is part of the mini-album Acid Angel from Asia, sung by a subunit of the 24-member group.
Set to debut in 2023, the group is under the label MODHAUS and has been revealing its members for the past year, with two subunits announced so far.
Brought together as a part of the supergroup Got the Beat, familiar (and, well, insanely popular) voices like BoA, Taeyeon, Seulgi, Karina and more sing one of 2022’s most remarkable tracks: “Step Back.”
An experimentation with R&B and hip-hop, the single is built on instrumental variations and, as expected, unique vocals. Although it was met with mixed reviews from critics due to its controversial and stereotypical lyrics, the union of these iconic women in a subunit sure made an impact.
With “GingaMingaYo (the strange world),” girl group Billlie sure was no stranger to K-pop listeners this year. But despite entering the Gaon chart in the first half of the year, the lead single was not the only time the rookie artists would sneak their way into playlists in 2022. Take “Ring ma Bell (what a wonderful world),” for example.
Even though it’s not their most popular release, this daring song relies on rock n’ roll to present a new side to the fourth generation group, one much bolder and angstier. It also shows how Billlie is still in the process of creating themselves.
One thing is for sure: NMIXX worked hard this year. Since their debut in February, the JYP girl group entered the charts with first single “O.O” and hit the mark with their later release “DICE,” known for its challenging choreography and unique jazz backdrop. Don’t let it fool you, though: Incorporating hip hop and trap into the classical instrument mix, the track is bold, and more musically complex than their energetic debut.
Tuning In: Popular tunes even infiltrated ‘pure’ classical music | ETC
We received multiple complaints from listeners recently when we broadcast music performed by the Vitamin String Quartet. They’re a standard string quartet in terms of instrumentation, but they play their own arrangements of pop songs.
Interlochen Arts Academy’s popular music ensemble was giving a concert that week featuring arena rock songs, so we thought we’d help promote the event by playing classical versions of songs by Queen and Bon Jovi.
Another listener was very upset that IPR broadcast a story about Lizzo playing James Madison’s flute during a recent concert in Washington, D.C.
Lizzo is a pop artist, sure, but she’s also a classically trained flutist who had spent the day of the concert at the Library of Congress exploring a curated collection of historical flutes.
What these two strong, negative responses have in common is the sense of separation that people want to maintain between popular music and classical music.
The smarty pants in me wonders if that means classical music has to be unpopular.
The historian in me knows that the Vitamin String Quartet is just one example in a long line of classical musicians drawing on popular music favorites.
The distance between “popular” and “classical” music isn’t nearly as spacious as I think some people wish it was — that’s true now, and it’s true historically.
Beethoven composed more than 20 sets of piano variations (also called theme and variations), the vast majority of which used a popular song of the time as the theme. It’s akin to writing a set of variations on the latest trending Taylor Swift or, yes, Lizzo song.
Brahms jammed his Academic Festival Overture full of melodies from popular drinking songs of the era like “Gaudeamus Igitur,” or “Therefore, let us be merry.”
Renaissance composers frequently wrote masses whose melodies were based on popular songs of the day. Dozens of composers wrote masses — performed in churches — based on “L’homme armé,” a French secular tune that was a favorite of Charles the Bold.
There’s plenty of historical precedent for overlap between “popular” and classical (unpopular?) music.
So why do people find it so off-putting when Classical IPR has the occasional pop tune or artist on the air performed with classical instrumentation?
Someone asked me recently why Classical IPR had stopped playing “pure” classical music in recent years. I wasn’t quite sure how to respond.
The smarty pants in me wanted to say, “Puri? Like the choral composer Stefan Puri?”
The historian in me wanted to raise the alarm about the terrible things that have happened in American and global history in the name of keeping institutions, music, art and populations “pure.”
Instead, I said, “What do you mean by ‘pure’ classical?”
They responded, “You know, Beethoven and Brahms.”
The smarty pants in me wanted to say, “Oh, like, Beethoven’s variations on the song ‘Es war einmal ein alter Mann,’ or ‘Once upon a time there was an old man’?”
Instead, I said, “Thanks for your feedback.”
Weyes Blood is the voice of her generation, Nickelback sound heinous – the week’s albums
Weyes Blood, And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow ★★★★★
Natalie Mering, who goes by the name Weyes Blood, laments that “we have all become strangers, even to ourselves” on the opening track of her beautiful new album, And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow – a woozy daydream from a hauntingly romantic balladeer whose music offers comfort to the loneliest souls.
At 34, with songs about solitude, the natural world, the power and fragility of women and how technology has shaped modern romance, Mering become a critical darling with a cult following. Sitting somewhere between Joan Baez’s 70s social justice-fuelled folk and Olivia Newton-John’s hyper-feminine 80s pop, Mering’s exquisite, timeless voice and hymnal harmonies hold a nostalgic appeal that unites the Spotify generation and their parents alike. She describes herself as a “nostalgic futurist”.
Mering grew up within a staunchly Pentecostal Christian family in Santa Monica and began making music as a teen – adopting the moniker Wise Blood in reference to Flannery O’Connor’s 1952 collection of stories. She may not have observed the strict morality of her God-fearing parents, both musicians, but her voice and compositions pay homage to the songs she heard in childhood: gospel and hymnal paeans.
Since then, Mering’s compositions have leaned into glorious baroque madrigals, tenderly layering melodies and harmonies as if she were adorning a human body with pearls, coats and scarves.
In the Darkness, Heart Aglow is Mering’s fifth album, and the second in a trilogy dedicated to the fallout from climate change (beginning with 2019 album Titanic Rising). Her lyrics pine for the natural world, with Mering believing that our collective destruction of forests, land and sources of water have fostered division and alienation. Titanic Rising was met with rave reviews, but this record – which spans steely indie-rock and strummed country ballads – might just be her magnum opus.
On the epic, multi-layered harmonies of Children of the Empire, she reimagines a Beach Boys/Shangri Las doo-wop fantasy that is gorgeous when it could have so easily become overwrought. The luscious orchestral compositions (tuba, sax, organ, multiple violins and cellos), riddled with brief interludes of manic keyboards, stormy strings and thundering piano chords, build empires and shatter them within minutes.
Titanic Rising addressed the transient beauty of nature, doomed to human sabotage. It troubles her still, and there is an existential fear and surrender within her lyrics, clear on the ambient beauty of God Turn Me Into a Flower, which puts Mering’s angelic voice under the spotlight.
The song examines how our desire to appear as the flawless creature we curate on social media fights a higher power. What if, in our imperfect present, we are exactly as God intended us? “You see the reflection/ And you want it more than the truth/ You yearn to be that dream you could never get to,” Mering sings. “Cause the person on the other side has always just been you/ Oh, God, turn me into a flower”. Like our planet, this album is a rare thing of wonder. Cat Woods