He’s a true phenomenon, Harry Styles that is. Broke off from a boy band, made a psychedelic rock album, and became the hottest artist of the summer. Who would’ve ever thought? Not me. Why? Because former members of boys bands generally have it rough. Although they achieve mainstream success and all the accolades that go with it, still, history doesn’t look favorably upon boy/girl bands. They are faced with a stigma of being manufactured – songs written by a committee of songwriters, image created by fashion consultants, and to top if off, the association with Simon Cowell’s The X Factor.
But Harry Styles pulled it off. His voice is superb, the songs are excellent, and he’s a born performer. Harry made a rock record and it’s huge, he’s played on every radio format, except for rock radio of course, speaking about backwards. Can someone give those guys Darwin Awards?

You are living in a cave if you haven’t heard The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights“. The song is breaking all kinds records having spent weeks at No 1 on radio. The Weeknd isn’t just for the weekend warrior, he’s for everybody. He makes music that has universal appeal that transcends all genres. Only a few artists can do that and he’s one of them.
Why did Blinding Lights take off? I don’t know, but it’s uptempo, has a great melody and it has an 80’s feel, similar to a-ha’s 1985 track ‘Take on Me.’ When a track is successful execs search for all kinds of answers like maybe people are feeling nostalgic or radio is taking less chances. Nobody knows, but one thing I do know is that great tracks rise to the top and buck the odds, and let’s not forget The Weeknd is a great performer and visualizer.

Miley Cyrus is back with a new single Midnight Sky. Following the current trend that The Weeknd and Dua Lipa set in motion, it’s a 80’s inspired track. That’s what Miley does, follow the trends. If opera came into fashion, she’d sample Mozart. But that’s ok, because Miley is pop and is the best karaoke singer in the room. She can sing anything and make it work. She’s also makes you believe the song is her’s. She does that with Midnight Sky. She channels Stevie Nicks and the cover queen sings it well. But it sounds awfully like Stevie’s “Edge of Seventeen” and I’m sure there was prior discussion of the similarities.
But with all this. Why bring back the 80’s now? It was such a fun time for music and artists and right now isn’t fun. Girls just wanna have fun but they can’t have fun now. You can’t even dance and shake your hips in the club unless it’s in your own isolated room wearing a mask and goggles – per doctor’s orders. Wait! Goggles? Yes, Fauci recommends eye wear as a protective measure against the pesky germ.
We should have brought back the sad 90’s which is more fitting, and after a decade when things return to normal, then the 80’s. It’s all backwards. Everything is backwards.

Lewis Capaldi said he won’t release any new music this year because people suffered enough. That’s pretty funny, but Capaldi is a really good artist and I can think of other artists that may want to spare people from new music (I shall not mention names).

Capaldi says:

“Hopefully I will release a new song and a new album next year,” he told the newspaper (via Radio X). “I won’t release another album this year or anything.
“I think people have suffered enough in 2020 – they don’t need another song from me.”
“So far we’ve written like 50 songs for it and like three or four of them are good, which is a good ratio I think,” he explained. “I am surprised at how productive I have been during lockdown as I thought I’d just sit in my pants all day and that would be it.”

Are shows coming back? Concerts are taking place all around the world that are attracting tens if not hundreds of thousands of people. The shows are being organized, promoted and people are showing up. Even smaller shows are being organized as with rapper Tech N9ne.
The rapper played a packed show on August 8th at the Regalia Hotel & Conference Center in Lake Ozark, Missouri with over 1,000 people in attendance.
By and large, Live Nation is taking a beating as revenues plunged by 98% in the last financial quarter.