Lots of buzz around Brooklyn indie act Spirit Animal who just signed with New York City based Wind-up Records. The band created a buzz with their debut EP, This Is A Test, and the track “The Black Jack White” which garnered 1 million+ plays on Spotify followed by lots of blog love from NYLON, Bullett, Prefix, Consequence of Sound, and USA Today. The band will join the Swedish- Australian band Say Lou Lou and Phoebe Ryan at The Roxy Theatre on September 24th in Los Angeles. Other dates include Pop Shop at Brooklyn Bowl, New York on September 12th & All Things Gold Fall Classic Official Pre-party at U Street Music Hall, Washington DC on October 8th.
Wind-up Entertainment President Ed Vetri says “Every so often, you stumble upon a live show that makes you feel like you got hit by a thunderbolt, that’s the essence of Spirit Animal. Accompanied with powerful, melodic songs, Spirit Animal promises to rock our world!”
The former Pretenders lead singer Chrissie Hynde is pulling no punches when discussing the pop singers of today. During an interview on BBC’s Woman’s Hour the legendary singer says:
‘I don’t think sexual assault is a gender issue as such, I think it’s very much it’s all around us now.
‘It’s provoked by this pornography culture, it’s provoked by pop stars who call themselves feminists. Maybe they’re feminists on behalf of prostitutes – but they are no feminists on behalf of music, if they are selling their music by bumping and grinding and wearing their underwear in videos.
‘That’s a kind of feminism – but, you know, you’re a sex worker is what you are.
Many pop singers today wouldn’t disagree with Hynde. In fact Adele said ” I make music to be a musician not to be on the cover of Playboy”
Lana Del Ray is promoting her new album ’Honeymoon’, and up until this day, she is keeping her vintage fashion style. It works..
Lana Del Ray has successfully crafted her image as a retro 60’s songwriter that glorifies death, gloom, & suicide. Not bad for a millionaires daughter. We often her terms thrown around such as a manufactured & authentic. The manufactured artist is the creation by a machine such as a music company while authenticity is truthful in origin, not a copy, and genuine.
Is it possible to manufacture authenticity? Absolutely. “Starbucks decided to force/encourage their staff to request the names of customers when taking orders and then announce them when the drinks were ready. It was an attempt to manufacture authenticity — to artificially create the social bond that might naturally grow between a vendor and customer in a bygone era when local customers patronized local shops staffed by local employees where everybody was on a first name basis” (Kent Valentine)
“Pop artist Lana Del Rey has sold seven million copies of Born To Die Album. “Her rise to fame was flawless, in spite of constant probing about her authenticity, her penchant for being choked in her music videos and the strength of her voice.
“In 2010, she released one bland album under her own name, Lizzie Grant, before she wiped the slate clean, deleted her old material from iTunes and relaunched herself as a ‘gangsta Nancy Sinatra’ – a heartland bad girl in Daisy Duke shorts with a taste for bourbon and older men. Her music was cinematic, melancholic yet pretty catchy, propelled by 808 drumbeats and glossed with vintage Bond theme strings. She appeared a new cross-over force in pop: glamorous, artsy and ‘real’.
But when music hacks sniffed out her previous material, found out she was the daughter of a dot-com New York millionaire, clearly had major label backing, and, with one crushing Saturday Night Live performance, realised she was seemingly incapable of carrying a tune outside of the recording booth, they smelt a rat.
Del Rey went from blogosphere darling to heretic in a matter of weeks, her rise recast as a rouse to lure hapless musos into liking another manufactured pop princess. But does any of that really matter? From Motown to Madonna, some of the best pop music has been made by committee. And some of the greatest pop icons have built their legends on complete lies. Bob Dylan used to claim he ran away from the circus – he, in fact, dropped out of college. No one believed for a second that Michael Jackson really was ‘bad’. Whether or not Del Rey really did ride around in the back of an Al Camino with drug dealers is beside the point.” (Tom Slater)
Not living up to the hype is the biggest risk when manufacturing authenticity & of course you will always loose to authenticity.
Anyhow, if you attend to manufacture authenticity, these key points are worth considering:
Miley Cyrus ran around on Sunday’s MTV Video Music Awards nearly naked, and then flashing her nipple during a costume change.
As the camera panned backstage, Miley failed to cover up and the broadcast quickly cut away to the crowd while she continued to talk. She then said, “What’s happening? Oh, sorry.”
Throughout the show, she sang about smoking marijuana and during the final performance of the show – ok, lets stop here. The fact is, Miley and MTV are desperately looking for a scandal that will make Monday morning news.
It’s no secret that MTV is trying to reinvent itself to combat sinking ratings and disinterested teens. MTV primetime programming is reaching 40% fewer viewers in the 12-to-34 target demo than it did five years ago, according to Nielsen.
MTV hasn’t a big hit show in quiet some time. Interest in MTV’s reality shows that came to dominate MTV’s schedule is fading, and, at 23, The Real World is older than its target audience. “Big shows are once in a few years for any network,” says John Janedis, equity analyst at Jefferies. “It’s becoming harder to have smash hits.”
“It’s the perfect storm,” says a former MTV programming executive. “The audience is going digital, reality TV is running dry, there’s more competition for scripted programs. I feel for the executives there.”
Born on this day, August 29th, Michael Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records. He won Grammys, he influenced fashion, and invented dance moves that inspires artist today. He shook hands with presidents, prime ministers, & the heads of state. Michael Jackson is the legendary King of Pop.
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