Ariana Grande was the highest paid female musician in 2020 according to Forbes which isn’t bad for a girl that started her career in musical theatre. Ariana was eager to start a career in music and began posting covers on YouTube. She had powerful voice that caught the attention of execs, the word got out and Republic signed the singer in the early stages of her career in 2010. The 27 year old singer went to release 5 albums and has become one of the hottest pop stars. Grande also has stayed out of any major controversy. Success and hard work runs in the Grande family. Her mother, Joan Grande is the CEO of Hose-McCann Communications. Forbes has Ariana raking in 72 million.

I love movements. I love activism. I love BLM. I love the Animal rights movement, I love the Feminist movement, I love Health freedom movement, I love the Counterculture movement, and I love the Earth First! movement. What I don’t like is bad people hijacking movements. It’s terrible because it undermines the movement and the cause.

What’s the point of defacing Elvis Presley’s Graceland? Absolutely nothing. I really do believe that most people are good but it’s a few that create havoc.
Fans of Elvis were outraged to see the landmark defaced and I can see why.
Bill Stanley, Elvis’ stepbrother said:‘This is totally uncalled for,’ said Stanley. ‘One of the saddest days of my life. I mean, besides the day that Elvis passed away, this right here is right up next to it.’

For the last several years, MTV’s Video Music Awards (now the mask awards) has been trying to bolster its viewership and recapture the glory it once had over the public. The execs were hoping they would announce a spike in audience viewership, instead they walked away with a 5% drop. In fact, only 1.3 million watched on the MTV channel. To put this in perspective, America has a population of 330+ million people. The other channels (MTV2, Country Music TV) that broadcasted the award show averaged around 222,000 viewers.
The show was very predictable with no surprises. It barely made headlines, not uncommon for the times we are in now. The acts that performed got the trophies which makes sense. I can’t blame them, I would want a trophy, if I’m going to rehearse, hire some choreographers, a stylist, and a makeup artist. Lastly, the show had no effect on the music charts, but that’s not to say the artists didn’t benefit. Just the fact that some parts of the show with Gaga wearing a mask was a Twitter trending topic makes it all worth it. I suppose…

Wellness apps are a hot ticket right now and they’re getting artists to partner up. What made them so popular? Hmmm…maybe hurricanes, natural disasters, pandemic, political polarization, 24 around the clock negative news? Yeah, that’s it.

So the meditation business has turned into cash cow with millions of subscribers and streams. The Calm app made deals with Atlantic, Capitol and Interscope. For instance, Harry Styles partnered with the meditation app and talks through a 40-minute sleep story titled “Dream With Me.” Sam Smith recorded an hour-long “Sleep Combine” of their hit “How Do You Sleep?”.

Of course not everyone is sold on the idea of mega stars putting them to sleep.
Do you want a bad boy Harry Styles putting you to sleep having you imagine holding hands and snuggling on a raft?

Or what about this line?
“Flanked by fields of sunflowers, hand in hand we walk, as the gentle sound of nature, surrounds us while we talk”

I like the portrait of Harry Styles that lives on radio and the videos. I’m not sure about his voice putting me to sleep.
Listen, I’m all about artists cashing in, but sometimes it’s good to say no. I would probably say no to this.

Legendary artist Van Morrison came out swinging the way the government is handling covid. You’re probably like, “Who is this guy”? He’s the singer-songwriter that sings Brown Eyed Girl. So the guy that wrote the song that will live on radio forever had enough of covid and is rallying musicians in a campaign to restore live music concerts with full capacity audiences.

The 74-year-old singer based in Ireland launched a campaign to “save live music” saying socially distanced gigs were not economically viable. “I call on my fellow singers, musicians, writers, producers, promoters and others in the industry to fight with me on this. Come forward, stand up, fight the pseudo-science and speak up,” he said.
Morrison will play socially distanced gigs in England next month, but says this isn’t a long term strategy.
“This is not a sign of compliance or acceptance of the current state of affairs, this is to get my band up and running and out of the doldrums. This is also not the answer going forward. We need to be playing to full capacity audiences going forward.”
Did you see the that The UK held its first socially distant concert? People were placed in chicken-styled pens hoisted by a metal platform. Check out to here.