Do you remember the viral video that had Andrea Bocelli singing in an empty cathedral? I do, I watched it in the spring when Italy was in the news. It was pretty intense. Here is the video if you haven’t watched it. Anyway, he made some news again. The singer said he felt violated during Italy’s lockdown and that he felt ‘humiliated and offended’.

Here is what he said:

“I looked at reality and I saw that things were not as we were being told. When I started to express doubts about the seriousness of this so-called pandemic, the first to attack me were my children who told me to think about Tosca, because you don’t understand viruses.
He also was diagnosed with covid, but instead of following protocol, he spent time outdoors and took vitamin D and fully recovered with no issues.

He saved most of his outrage for the Italian government approach to reopening schools.
“I have an 8-year-old daughter and it’s unthinkable that these children will have to go to school divided by a piece of plexiglass and hidden behind a mask”.

“It’s unthinkable that schools were closed so quickly, and with the same speed nightclubs were reopened, where young people go not to learn, but to disperse their brains.”
“[My intent] was to send a message of hope for a near future in which – children first and foremost – can find a sense of normality again and hope to live ‘as children’, playing with and hugging one another, as they should at their age, and to be able to grow up happy and healthy.”

Billie Eilish released a new slow track titled “My Future“. It’s actually a bit a of departure of her previous material. She holds a longer note, more singing, less whispering, but still delivers that atmospheric listening experience. She is a true phenomena in this day and age when everybody is waiting for an instant hook.

She spoke to Apple’s Zane Low about the track.
“As much ‘my future’ is a song about personal growth and being content, it’s now, more than ever, I listen to it; I’m like, ‘Wow, this is actually is super relevant to right now.’ And our future as a world and as a people and I… It’s crazy when you can get to a point in life where hope itself feels hopeless,” she said. “It feels hopeless to hope for stuff. Should you even be wishing? Should you even be hopeful? It’s like, is it even worth it? That’s insane, but that’s where we are at this point. We can’t… We need the music. We need the hope.”

If the pandemic wasn’t bad enough for touring artists now we could be losing another great promotional avenue. It’s Ellen DeGeneres who is in the middle of a PR storm.

Warner launched an investigation into “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” after the release of a Buzzfeed News article. Other media outlets such as the LA Times and The NY Times also picked up the story which had staffers assert that the atmosphere of the daytime talk show behind the scenes is one of racism, fear, and intimidation.
You see folks, it’s a tough time for high profile figures. More and more we have to be self aware of our actions as well as our staffers. Social media leaves a digital foot print that can’t be erased. We have people that will take a blurb a soundbite and spin their own narrative. If it picks up steam then the dam breaks. The flurry of negative press begins and the A-list pals will desert you. They don’t want to be caught in a storm and it becomes everyone for themselves. It becomes the soldier die alone scenario.

A slew of artists signed off on a letter that is demanding politicians refrain from using their songs during campaign rallies.

Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler, Lionel Richie, Sia, Mick Jagger, and Lorde are demanding that politicians seek “consent” from artists and songwriters before using their songs in a campaign.
“Being dragged unwillingly into politics in this way can compromise an artist’s personal values while disappointing and alienating fans — with great moral and economic cost. For artists that do choose to engage politically in campaigns or other contexts, this kind of unauthorized public use confuses their message and undermines their effectiveness,” the letter said. “Like all other citizens, artists have the fundamental right to control their work and make free choices regarding their political expression and participation. Using their work for political purposes without their consent fundamentally breaches those rights – an invasion of the most hallowed, even sacred personal interests.”
It’s a crazy world. It’s a strange world. The environment is becoming more poisonous by the day. Music will prevail.

Many artists were making lots of moolah through touring but are now caught in a pickle. With touring off the table for 1 to 2 years or even longer, artists now have no choice but to write music and release songs. Usually a tour follows a new album but what can you do? With that, Billie Eilish will release a new song, ‘My Future,’ next week. While there isn’t a whole lot of information, she did mention in January that she would be recording a new album in 2020.