If you were ever searching for John Legend’s hit single “All of Me” on YouTube, you may have come across YouTubber Luciana Zogbi. Her version of the song has garnered 75 million streams on her YouTube channel. Still her most popular video online, she has posted other several other videos that has clocked millions including Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud”, Sam Smith’s “I’m Not The Only One” and Adele’s “Hello”. Now, with one million subscribers and with 200 million+ combined views, yes, she can make a living directly from YouTube.

Her latest track Where We Belong has the global flavor appeal, blending the most popular sounds from all the countries. Of course with this being her first recorded original track, she’s still finding her sound. When Kings asked Luciana the transition from a cover artist to an original artist she notes, “the crossover from covers to originals came pretty organically to me. I’ve always composed and dreamed of one day being able to share my message to the world. My followers were also always asking for original content so the whole transition was very natural”. Give it a stream!
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Kings favorite Color Palette releases the uptempo atmospheric track Sunburn. The band tells Kings, “The blueprint of ‘Sunburn’ was written in about 15 minutes; it was written while I was at the beach with my friends, after a day of getting completely sunburned. I was thinking about a love interest at the time, picked up a guitar, and the line in the chorus – ‘stick to me like sunburn’ – came to mind; I ended up building the entire song around that line.” The DC-based indie-rock outfit has captured praise from the likes of NME Magazine, USA Today, and NPR while sharing the stage with Charli XCX, The Naked and Famous, and Spirit Animal. The band has been gigging and releasing records for a few years and I think the latest track will take them to the next level.

Brighton UK 4 piece Drip Gloss dropped their debut  track Fame and a video. Drawing influences from Mavi Phoenix, MØ/Diplo, and Blood Orange, the latest track delves into the topic of self absorption.  Born Music notes, “some of the electronics sound like they could have been pulled directly from an old-school Nintendo game”. The track was helmed by Dave McCracken who is known for his work with Depeche Mode and East-London based Dreamtrak. Having gigged alongside Bad Sounds and Boy Pablo, the band will perform tonight with The Magic Gang at a sold out gig at Concorde 2.  Give it a stream!

New Yorkers Friends At The Falls dropped a new track Graffiti. The band makes a distinction between indie and alternative, and they consider themselves alternative. Musically, they want to capture  the essence of pioneers like The Killers, Coldplay, Bruce Springsteen, and U2. You can hear this in their music and production. Especially in the latest track which is free from loops and over-use of samples that’s been overly exploited. With a stripped down production means a band has to rely on the overall strength of its players. The band will get to reveal their live chops at Bowery Ballroom in NYC on 10/13.

Madonna: The Rolling Stone Interview
“Feeling regret is really destructive. I’ve learned a lot from my marriage – mostly about myself.”

Here we learned everything about Madonna in the 1989 interview with Rolling Stone Magazine. We learned about her marriage, regrets, sleeping habits and run-ins with the police. It was transparent, at least we believe it was honest. It was a good read though, especially for fans of Madonna. Moreover, the biggest female celebrity in the world had a chance to show her human side talking about insecurities and fears.

Today, artists control the narrative. In many cases, the biggest artists won’t even engage in tell-all interviews. Taylor Swift won’t. Drake dropped out from giving any substantial interviews. Here is the difference. In 1989, celebrity journalism made a significant impact in the lives of artists. Consequently, social media replaced it.  Artists are in 100% control of the narrative. Instead of talking with their audience in an interview setting, they “talk-at” their audience by means of scheduled social media posts. Which means? The death of celebrity press.  CONTINUE READING