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A May 28 concert by Roger Waters that was slated to take place in Frankfurt, Germany that was canceled after city council members called the former Pink Floyd singer/bassist âone of the worldâs most well-known antisemitesâ is not slated to go on as scheduled.
German public broadcast outlet Deutsche Welle reported on Monday that an administrative court in Frankfurt ruled that neither the city nor the state of Hesse had the right to cancel the show at the Frankfurt Festhalle. As owners of the concertâs promoter, Messe Frankfurt, the court said the state and city were obligated to âmake it possible for Waters to stage the concertâ as contractually agreed, despite their concerns over Rogersâ previous public statements about Israel.
âThe court on Monday said that although Watersâ show obviously borrows symbolism linked to National Socialism, it could not see that he was glorifying or qualifying Nazi deeds or identifying with Nazi racial ideology,â Welle reported. âNor was there any indication that he would be using any type of Nazi propaganda during the concert.â It is against the law in Germany to display Nazi symbols or memorabilia.
The court said that to deny Waters access to the site â on the spot of what was a Jewish detention camp during WWII, where 3,000 Jewish men were held on Kristallnacht (âNight of the Broken Glassâ) in Nov. 1938 before being sent to their deaths â would infringe on his free speech rights.
At press time a spokesperson for Waters had not returned a request for additional comment.
âThe background to the cancellation is the persistent anti-Israel behavior of the former Pink Floyd frontman, who is considered one of the most widely spread antisemites in the world,â the city council said at the time of the cancelation in a statement. âHe repeatedly called for a cultural boycott of Israel and drew comparisons to the apartheid regime in South Africa and put pressure on artists to cancel events in Israel.â Waters has denied that he is an antisemite.
The JTA reported that the city of Frankfurt made reference to the historic significance of the concert hall â which it partly owns â and said it was cancelling the show over Watersâ support of the controversial BDS movement (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions). BDS is a Palestinian-led movement that calls for a boycott of Israel to force the nationâs government to change its policies toward Palestinians.
The JFA additionally noted at the time that Waters concerts have featured a flying pig balloon featuring a Star of David (as well as a number of other corporate logos and symbols) and that heâs compared the actions of the Israeli government to that of South Africa under apartheid and Nazi Germany as well as questioning Israelâs right to exist.
The court conceded that it might be in âespecially poor tasteâ to allow Waters, 79, to perform on the sacred site, but concluded that such a show would ânot be injurious to the human dignity of those people.â
In Sept., Waters canceled planned shows in Krakow, Poland amid similar outrage over his stance on Russiaâs unprovoked, yearlong war in Ukraine, which he has said was the fault of Ukraine and NATO.
Metallicaâs 72 Seasons debuts atop multiple Billboard charts dated April 29, including the Top Rock & Alternative Albums survey.
In its first tracking week (April 14-20), Seasons earned 146,000 equivalent album units, according to Luminate. Of that sum, 134,000 units were via album sales.
Itâs Metallicaâs fifth No. 1 on Top Rock & Alternative Albums, which began in 2006. The rockers first ruled with Death Magnetic in 2008 and then with 2016âs Hardwired⌠to Self-Destruct (the bandâs last proper LP prior to Seasons) and 2020âs S&M2 with the San Francisco Symphony, along with a first week at No. 1 in 2021 for 1991âs Metallica upon its 30th anniversary.
The new setâs 146,000-unit start marks the best single-week sum on Top Rock & Alternative Albums this decade. Itâs the biggest since Toolâs Fear Inoculum soared in with 270,000 units on the Sept. 14, 2019, ranking.
Seasons is also Metallicaâs fifth No. 1 on both Top Rock Albums and Top Hard Rock Albums.
The set bows at No. 1 on Top Album Sales with its 134,000-unit sales count, becoming Metallicaâs eighth leader dating to 1991âs self-titled album. On Vinyl Albums, itâs likewise No. 1 thanks to 43,000 first-week vinyl copies sold, marking the groupâs sixth champ, tying the band with The Beatles and Jack White for the second-most, after Taylor Swift with nine.
On the all-genre, mult-metric Billboard 200, Seasons debuts at No. 2, behind Morgan Wallenâs One Thing at a Time, which earned 166,000 units. The band adds its 12th top 10 on the chart, a run that began with âŚAnd Justice for All in 1988.
Concurrently, multiple songs from Seasons reach Billboard song charts, with the entire albumâs tracklist infusing Hot Hard Rock Songs. Itâs led by the title track and current radio single, which leaps 12-2 thanks to 2.7 million radio audience impressions, 2.4 million official U.S. streams and 1,000 downloads sold. âShadows Followâ is next at No. 6 (1.8 million streams).
Twelve songs at once on Hot Hard Rock Songs is the most since the chartâs 2020 inception, surpassing Deftonesâ 10 songs on the Oct. 10, 2020, ranking.
â72 Seasonsâ jumps 8-6 on the latest Mainstream Rock Airplay survey. Itâs Metallicaâs 26th top 10, placing the Rock & Roll Hall of Famers in a tie with Van Halen for the sixth-most since the chart began in 1981. Preceding single âLux Ăternaâ reigned for 11 weeks beginning in December, while fellow teaser song âScreaming Suicideâ (not promoted to radio) spent one week on the tally at No. 40 in February.
The Project
Blondshell arrived April 7 on Partisan via Knitting Factory. and included the artistâs 2022 debut single âOlympus.â
The Origin
Sabrina Teitelbaum wanted to be a singer since she was a kid growing up in Manhattan. In 2015, she moved to Los Angeles to attend the University of Southern Californiaâs Popular Music Program, and eventually launched a solo pop project called Baum. But it wasnât until she wrote the broody and slow-burning âOlympusâ that her career clicked, and Blondshell was born. Producer Yves Rothman encouraged her to write more songs in the same raw and rock-inspired style, which she recalls felt âintimidatingâ at first. But the songs, most of which make up Blondshell, tumbled out quickly. âIt was just obvious to me that this stuff was more who I am,â she says now.
The Sound
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Teitelbaum was raised on rock greats like The Rolling Stones and is a big fan of The National (she says the bandâs black-and-white album art for Trouble Will Find Me inspired her own debut cover). At the same time, having grown up in the 2000s, she was listening to pop icons like Christina Aguilera, Kelly Clarkson, Gwen Stefani, âand all these people who had higher belting ranges,â she recalls â adding that for a long time, she thought that she had to sing that way, too.Â
It took a song like the confessional âSepsis,â one of her favorite songs to perform live, to make her rethink that approach. âItâs just in a good place for my voice,â she says of the track. âAnd when I started writing the album, particularly with âSepsis,â I was like, âOh, I donât have to do that. Iâm just gonna sing in the most comfortable part of my voice.â Itâs fun to sing that one because itâs just easy.â
The Record
Blondshell had a ârelaxing celebrationâ when her album arrived, performing at Amoeba on release night and heading to the beach the following day. Blondshell debuted at No. 88 on Billboardâs Top Current Album Sales chart, becoming her first entry on any tally. Of signing with an indie label, she says âI didnât wanna press that button that was like, âThis is exactly who Iâm gonna be for the rest of my career.â I really wanted the freedom to change that up ⌠Iâve been thinking about, âWhat did I bring in as references for this album?â And it was a lot of 90s guitar driven music. I am always gonna have that as a reference, because thatâs the music that I love.â
The Breakthrough
Though Blondshell only debuted in 2022, the artist says getting to this point â where in recent months sheâs played her favorite venue The Fonda and made her late night television debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon â has required years of work: âFirst [it was], âHow do I even get on Spotify? How do I meet producers and how do I go to sessions?â Just years of step-by-step. And then, âWhat do I wanna sound like as a performer? What do I want my show to look like?â
âI was getting kind of scared the last couple years because I was like, âI donât know what I would do in a long term kind of way if it wasnât music,’â she recalls. âI think people put so much pressure on musicians, especially women, to know exactly who you are as an artist at such a young age, and to find success and all these ideas â like, âIf youâre not having success by the time youâre like 25, then itâs not gonna happen.â All these messages that got sent while I was growing up were kind of freaking me out for a period of time.âÂ
The moment that started to shift, she says, was when she played her first show as Blondshell last summer: âThat felt like a big moment, because I put âOlympusâ out and I think people hadnât heard that kind of music [from me]. Some of my friends hadnât heard it, people I had worked with. And then I got to be like, âSee, Iâve been working really hard at this thing and getting this live show ready,â and I got to show people.â
The Future
Blondshell is already excited for her next album, on which she wants to be more experimental, while still rooted in rock. She cites PJ Harvey as an artist whoâs released successful but âweirder, progressivelyâ indie-rock albums over the course of her career. âI wanna just play around with different structures and stuff like that,â she says.
Sheâs also taking note of who she believes to be stellar vocalists. âI feel like thereâs a lot of artists right now that are really good live,â she says. âThatâs the thing Iâm looking at in other artists who are ahead of me or further along in their career.â She mentions Ethel Cain and Willow in particular, whose Coachella performances she keeps seeing clips of online. She also mentions a superstar she has been inspired by since she was a kid: Miley Cyrus. âI love her,â says Blondshell. âI was just watching videos of her singing yesterday and it takes so much work to sound that good and to be that consistent.â
The Piece of Advice Every New Indie Artist Needs to Hear
âWhile youâre in the process of making the music, donât think about how youâre gonna put it out. Donât bring the business parts of it into the actual writing. I would say leave those elements â and also leave your expectations about whether or not people will connect to it â outside.â
The Indie Artist/Band Youâre Currently Obsessed With
âI like Wednesday a lot. Listen to âFormula One.’â
The Most Exciting Thing In Music Right Now
âI see a lot of singer-songwriters making indie feel more mainstream right now. And I think guitar music becoming popular again is sort of part of that. I also feel like itâs kind of like, indie sleaze is back. I think people are craving that energy. But I donât know, I just feel like thereâs more space for different kinds of music to be popular on a more mainstream level right now.
But more importantly, there being more room for other types of music than just three genres. And [knowing] your references can be very different. I think people might be surprised that I absolutely love Miley Cyrus. Thereâs a lot of very indie artists who love her. I saw her on the street once, I had my sisterâs dog and she said, âCan I say âhiâ to the dog?â And I was like, âYouâre Miley Cyrus.â I was with my family and my dad was like, âWho is that? Youâre blushing.â I was like, âAre you fâking serious? Itâs Miley Cyrus, and yeah, Iâm blushing. You donât have to call me out.â It was kind of iconic of him, actually.â
The latest edition of the Nu-Metal Madness 2 tour featuring Crazy Town and (hed)p.e. was thrown into chaos this week after Crazy Town singer Seth âShifty Shellshockâ Binzer and guitarist/singer Bobby Reeves came to blows following a show in Myrtle Beach, CA over the weekend. As seen in a viral video, the band members who were touring as Crazy Town X, got into a bloody brawl after their show at The Boathouse on Saturday night.
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The fight was reportedly sparked by Binzer not coming out until the final song of the âButterflyâ groupâs set. A YouTube video (warning: clip contains threats of sexual and physical violence) of the purported scuffle shows Binzer punching and kicking Reeves as the guitarist lays on the ground attempting to shield his face as an agitated Binzer shouts, âwho has it, who has it?⌠youâll give me my money or youâre never gonna fâking⌠youâre gonna steal my money? You robbed me!â
Reeves, his face bloodied, attempts to tell Binzer that he doesnât have his money and at one point Binzer extends his hand to the guitarist to help him up as the two men square off face-to-face and Reeves makes a series of escalating violent threats against Binzerâs family. The guitarist then punches Binzer in the face as the pair exchange kicks and blows while Binzer repeatedly tells Reeves he loves him while demanding his guarantee for the gig.
While a spokesperson for the band could not be reached at press time, Reeves posted an Instagram Story on Tuesday (April 24) from Houston in which he sported cuts and bruising on his face and said, âme and Shifty got in a little scuffle, but itâs all good, weâre brothers,â lifting up his dark glasses to reveal two swollen black eyes. âNo big deal,â he adds. âLove you Shifty too.â
The Myrtle Beach Sun-News reported that Boathouse management declined to comment on the altercation. But (hed)p.e. singer Jared Gomes released a video statement on Tuesday in which he said Crazy Town had been booted off the tour following the incident. â[We] Had to kick Crazy Town off the tour. Weâre not saints, by any means, and (hed)p.e. has done some crazy sât,â he said. âIâm not passing judgement on Crazy Town or Seth or anything like that. But whatever has gone on with us, weâve always tried to come with a good rock show.â
Gomes added, âBecause of whatâs going on with Seth and Crazy Town right now â Seth needs help. We canât just sit by while heâs on the road, battling demons to the death. He needs to get off the road and deal with that sât. Youâve seen the video. If it was just a fistfight between band members, maybe I could be the first one to mediate some sât like that. But this is a lot deeper.â
The next stop on the tour is slated to take place tonight (April 26) at The Vixen in McHenry, IL.
See Gomesâ statement below.
Freddie Mercury was a man of extravagant tastes and gestures whose private, off-stage life was a mystery to most during his lifetime. But this fall Sothebyâs will pull back the curtain on the late Queen singerâs private oasis, his sumptuous Kensington, West London home Garden Lodge during a series of exhibitions and auctions displaying its glittering contents.
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Freddie Mercury: A World of His Own will give fans a first look at the starâs never-before-seen private collection of stage costumes, handwritten lyrics, fine art, precious objects and personal effects in touring exhibitions that will hit New York, Los Angeles and Hong Kong in June and then a full takeover of Sothebyâs London galleries in August, followed by six auctions in September.
Among the one-of-a-kind items slated for auction are Mercuryâs crown, a replica of St. Edwardâs Crown â which will be worn by King Charles III at his upcoming coronation â as well as his fake fur, red velvet and rhinestone cloak worn for the finale rendition of âGod Save the Queenâ during his last tour with Queen in 1986. Bidders can also take a shot at Mercuryâs unseen handwritten manuscript for the working lyrics to âWe Are The Champions,â as well as the handwritten working lyrics to âKiller Queenâ and a lavish military-style black silk and velvet Sgt. Pepper-ish jacket created for the singerâs legendary 39th birthday party drag ball in 1985.
âOn acquiring Garden Lodge in 1980 â a beautiful, light-filled Georgian-style brick villa originally built for an artist and his sculptor wife in the early 20th century â Mercury set about creating a home that was at once grand and intimate, full of theatre and richly furnished with beautiful works of art,â reads a description. âIt was a place wholly of his own making, a home to which he could retreat, and where â surrounded by the abundant art and objects he carefully sought out over the course of years â he could entertain and create in a way that only he knew how.â
For three decades, the Lodge has been left almost exactly as Mercury left it when he died in Nov. 1991 at age 45, filled with Victorian paintings, as well as works on paper, glass art and luxurious fabrics he acquired on the road in Japan. Among the other items up for auction are a tiny Tiffany silver mustache comb, pink star-shaped glasses similar to the ones he wore in the âWe Will Rock Youâ video, several notebooks of his drawings, the 1975 Martin acoustic guitar used to write and record âCrazy Little Thing Called Loveâ and works of art by Tissot, Picasso and Matisse.
The month-long Sothebyâs exhibit in London will take over 16,000 square feet of gallery space, filling it with more than 1,500 items lovingly curated by one of Mercuryâs closest friends, Mary Austin. âFor many years now, I have had the joy and privilege of living surrounded by all the wonderful things that Freddie sought out and so loved,â she said in a statement about the effects that will be displayed in a series of immersive galleries devoted to different aspects of Mercuryâs life.
âBut the years have passed, and the time has come for me to take the difficult decision to close this very special chapter in my life. It was important to me to do this in a way that I felt Freddie would have loved, and there was nothing he loved more than an auction,â she added about the display that will open on August 4 and close on Sept. 5, which would have been the singerâs 77th birthday. âFreddie was an incredible and intelligent collector who showed us that there is beauty and fun and conversation to be found in everything; I hope this will be an opportunity to share all the many facets of Freddie, both public and private, and for the world to understand more about, and celebrate, his unique and beautiful spirit.â
The London show will be followed by six dedicated auctions and a live evening sale on Sept. 6, where a cross-section of the most significant items will be offered; that will be followed on Sept. 7 and 8 with two more live auctions, one focused on Mercury âOn Stageâ and another to his life âAt Home.â A portion of the funds raised will go to the Elton John AIDS Foundation and the Mercury Phoenix Trust.
You can see the full catalog, the collection book and dates of the exhibitions and auctions here.
Kelly Clarkson made quite the statement on Tuesdayâs (April 25) episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show with her Kellyoke cover of RagânâBone Manâs âHuman.â
âMaybe Iâm foolish/ Maybe Iâm blind/ Thinking I can see through this/ And see whatâs behind/ Got no way to prove it/ So maybe Iâm lyinâ/ But Iâm only human after all/ Iâm only human after all/ Donât put your blame on me/ Donât put your blame on me,â she growled while wearing a printed dress in shades of navy, burnt orange and maroon.
âHumanâ was RagânâBone Manâs first hit single from his 2017 debut album of the same name. While the song gave the British singer his first entry on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 74, it was a much more substantial chart heavyweight in his native U.K., landing at No. 2 on the Official Singles Chart. (The single also became a top five hit on both Billboardâs Hot Rock & Alternative Songs and Hot Rock Airplay charts.)
During the episode, the coach of The Voice welcomed Meghan Trainor and her husband Daryl Sabara to reveal the âMotherâ singer is expecting another boy, just a couple of years after they shared the sex of their older son Riley on the show as well.
Recently, Clarkson has used her ever-popular Kellyoke segment to debut a live performance of her new single âmineâ from her forthcoming 10th studio album Chemistry. Other song selections have included Coldplayâs âMagic,â Journeyâs âFaithfully,â Dionne Farrisâ âI Know,â Ritchie Valensâ âLa Bambaâ and more.
Watch Clarkson perform RagânâBone Manâs âHumanâ below.
U2 announced the dates for their upcoming residency at Las Vegasâ Sphere at the Venetian venue on Monday morning (April 24). The veteran UK Rock and Roll Hall of Famers will kick off the U2: UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere run on Sept. 29, marking their first live run of gigs in four years.
The band first revealed that they would be performing at the cutting-edge building during a Super Bowl commercial in February, with singer Bono and guitarist The Edge peeling back the creative process behind the run in a new interview with Apple Musicâs Zane Lowe. The Sphere gigs will take place on Sept. 29, Sept. 30, Oct. 6, 7 and 8.
In the interview, the pair roll up to the enormous rounded building, the largest free-standing structure on the Las Vegas Strip as Lowe describes the venue as a new Wonder of the World. âThereâs nothing like it, itâs light years ahead of everything thatâs out there,â Edge says as he shakes hands with the team finishing work on the arena, the only place where the group will perform songs from 1991âs Achtung Baby.
The allure, according to Bono, is that unlike most arenas and stadiums major bands play, the Sphere is built for music and art, not rowdy sports contests, complete with a photo-real highest-possible resolution series of screens that will envelop attendees. âSo this building was built for immersive experiences in cinema and performance,â he says, with Edge noting that the sound has been designed as a priority from day one. In fact, unlike most arena shows, when you go see a gig at the Sphere there are no speakers, Bono says, because the entire building is a speaker that Edge notes envelops you in a âcompletely immersiveâ sound.
âDepending on where you are in the venue youâll get your own very unique show,â the Edge promises, describing how the venue will allow the band to deliver Atmos-level sound in a live setting.
Fans can register now for the Verified Fan presale here; fans who previously signed up for Verified Fan for UW are automatically registered for the chance to join the presale. Registration for Verified Fan will close on Wednesday (April 26) at 10 a.m. ET. Fans selected to get an access code will be able to participate in Verified Fan presale starting on Thursday (April 27). Ticket prices begin at $140 and will reflect all-in pricing, which means the listed price is the full out-of-pocket cost including taxes and feeds. According to a release, the large capacity of the Sphere will allow for 60% of tickets to be priced under $300.
In a statement, Bono, Edge and bassist Adam Clayton â drummer Larry Mullen Jr. is sitting out the dates, with Bram van den Berg filling in â said, âU2 hasnât played live since December 2019 and we need to get back on stage and see the faces of our fans again. And what a unique stage theyâre building for us out there in the desert⌠Weâre the right band, ACHTUNG BABY the right album, and Sphere the right venue to take the live experience of music to the next level⌠Thatâs what U2âs been trying to do all along with our satellite stages and video installations, most memorably on the ZOO TV Tour, which ended in Tokyo 30 years ago this fall.â
Guitarist The Edge added that the Sphere â which includes such futuristic technology as a 16K x 16K LED display inside the main venue bowl that wraps up, over and around the audience to create a fully immersive experience â is more than just a new venue, but also a âgallery,â with U2âs music slated to be projected all over the walls.
âThe beauty of Sphere is not only the ground-breaking technology that will make it so unique, with the worldâs most advanced audio system, integrated into a structure which is designed with sound quality as a priority; itâs also the possibilities around immersive experience in real and imaginary landscapes,â Edge said of the 17,500-capacity building with multi-sensory 4D video technology. âIn short, itâs a canvas of an unparalleled scale and image resolution and a once-in-a-generation opportunity. We all thought about it and decided weâd be mad not to accept the invitation.â
For now, the band has only announced the initial run of shows. But in speaking to Lowe, Bono suggested that depending on the audienceâs reaction and their experience on stage, âI think itâs going to be hard to get us out of here.â
The U2.com presale is open now through Wednesday at 10 a.m. ET, while the general onsale (if any tickets remain) will begin on Friday (April 28) at 10 a.m. ET on Ticketmaster.
Watch the trailer for the Sphere shows and the Lowe interview below.
This story is part of Billboardâs K-pop Issue.
As one of the few non-English-speaking students at an American international academy in Singapore, the artist born Lee Seung-joo rarely talked to his peers, and he would often skip lunch to avoid eating alone in the cafeteria. Even his stage name is an anagram for âloner,â and his Instagram handle is âlorenisaloneâ â but as he laughs over Zoom through coughs of smoke while puffing on an orange vape in his Seoul studio at 1 a.m. local time, he says that listeners shouldnât take those gestures seriously. âSome people DM me like, âYouâre not alone.â And Iâm like, âYeah, itâs just my Instagram ID.â â
Still, LĂREN says being dragged to the academy âkicking and screamingâ by his parents â and having to learn English â planted the seed for becoming a global star. âI think being miserable at school is not a necessity,â he explains, âbut I feel like if I had been very happy, I wouldnât have been so eager to make something of myself.â
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Instead of playing basketball and beer pong with his more popular peers, LĂREN spent his time learning to play instruments in the band room and listening to Green Day and Red Hot Chili Peppers. Too shy to form a band of his own, after graduation in 2013, he forged a more insular musical path: making beats as an EDM producer. He soon connected with other musicians by DJâing on the Seoul nightclub circuit and found mentors within The Black Label, an associate company of YG Entertainment, founded by producer Teddy Park. With his help, LĂREN leveraged a career as an in-demand producer-songwriter, scoring major credits with K-pop sensation BLACKPINK on tracks like âLovesick Girlsâ and âPretty Savage.â
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Ssam Kim
But his attention kept drifting back to rock music. âIt kind of got tiring for me,â he says of his start in EDM. âNot that I donât like [that music], but I grew up so heavily on rock, there was dissonance between what I created and what I really liked. I had an epiphany: Being a frontman of a band doing rock music has been my dream all my life.â
In 2021, he launched his solo career with a pair of singles: the bilingual, early-2000s-inspired rock tracks âNEED (ooo-eee)â and âEmpty Trash,â followed by the more pop-facing âAll My Friends Are Turning Blue.â LĂREN self-released the three songs on his independent label, Fire Exit Records, in partnership with The Black Label.
Now, at 28 years old, the artist is committing to his vision. He signed a record deal with 88Rising earlier this year (still in partnership with The Black Label), saying he knew he needed to be on its roster, which is full of Asian artists with global reach like Joji, NIKI, Rich Brian and more. âI like how their artists, you can just tell theyâre doing their own thing without being pressured to create something they donât fâk with,â he says.
But none occupy the punk-rock lane like LĂREN. As he points out, the genre isnât as popular in South Korea as it is in the United States â and, in a previous interview, went as far as to call rock âdeadâ in his home country. He now admits that might have been a slight overstatement, though heâs eager to lean on 88Risingâs expertise in finding a larger audience to connect with.
After discovering LĂRENâs string of singles, 88Rising executive vp John Yang knew the multi-instrumentalist would fill a sonic gap on the labelâs lineup. He says he wasnât even aware of LĂRENâs work with BLACKPINK until after the deal was done. âWhen we sign artists, we always vibe out with them. What really matters is the person, their personality,â says Yang. âWeâre not in this business just to become big or make money out of it. Weâre here because we love music, and we want other people to enjoy music, too. LĂRENâs character, his storytelling and his passion really got us into him.â
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Ssam Kim
LĂRENâs first 88Rising release, the raucous five-track EP Put Up a Fight, was finished by the time he signed his contract. After polishing touches and strategy talks, the project arrived March 24 â and heâs already looking ahead. He has âfive or sixâ tracks completed for his upcoming full-length and is in the throes of practicing something entirely new: playing with other people, for other people.
One of 88Risingâs first orders of business for LĂREN was to book a series of U.S. shows, including sets at Coachella and Head in the Clouds, a two-day label-curated festival in New York. He has been hard at work translating his songs for the stage with a band of close friends, which he reveals can be difficult at times, given he records every guitar and drum line on his songs without writing anything down. âSometimes [my guitarist] asks me, âHow did you come up with this sound? What pedal did you use?â Iâm just like, âI donât know, dude,â â he says with a grin.
But even as everything around him â from his team to his band to his fan base â grows, the inward focus that shaped LĂREN early on keeps him grounded. He holds out his hands, nails chipped with black polish, seemingly visualizing the vastness of his future: âIâm a musician at the end of the day,â he continues. âI just want to put out as much music as I can in my lifetime, literally until I die.âÂ
Ssam Kim
This story originally appeared in the April 22, 2023 issue of Billboard.
The 1975 singer Matty Healy has issued an apology for controversial comments he made about rapper Ice Spice on The Adam Friedland Show in February.
âI just feel a bit bad, and Iâm kind of a bit sorry if Iâve offended you,â Healy said during a recent 1975 show in Auckland, New Zealand as a kind of blanket apology for his series of odd or offensive actions in the spotlight, according to a fan video of the mea culpa. âIce Spice, Iâm sorry. Itâs not because Iâm annoyed that me joking got misconstrued. Itâs because I donât want Ice Spice to think Iâm a dâk. I love you, Ice Spice. Iâm so sorry. I donât want it to be misconstrued as mean. I donât mind being a bit of a joker⌠but I am genuinely sorry if Iâve upset them because I fâking love them,â he added while cradling a half-drunk bottle of wine.
In the Friedland bit earlier this year, the showâs hosts played a clip of the âMunchâ rapper talking about her love of alternative music, including Coldplay and The 1975 from an Elle interview in January.
The hosts and Healy then begin speculating on Spiceâs ethnicity, with jokes about her sounding like an âInuit Spice Girl,â a âchubby Chinese ladyâ and one of them saying, ââYeah, I rap and make musicâ Do they talk like that? Do Inuits talk like that?â The audio of the podcast then found Healy and the hosts imitating Chinese and Hawaiian accents as they laughed out loud and joked about what Healy should have said when he slipped into Ice Spiceâs DMs.
After one of the men suggested Healy should have asked about her ethnic background while dropping an Inuit ethnic slur, Healy called Ice Spice âdumb.â The offensive episode was pulled from Apple and Spotify earlier this month but can still be heard on Youtube.
The rambling chat also included Healy and the hosts chuckling about âgay song parodiesâ of hits by Daniel Bedingfield and Dobie Gray in which NSFW lyrics were swapped in for the original. Healy also opined that âI donât think the gays really like itâ in reference to what the hosts termed the âpassâ Harry Stylesâ has gotten from the queer community. âItâs young girls that think itâs a new thing that are like, âOh my God,’â Healy said of Stylesâ inclusive, gender-fluid sensibility. âMaybe itâs not all gay guys but itâs a lot of them,â he added.
At the time, Yungblud took the trio to task for their offensive comments, tweeting, âLove listening to three privileged white dudes sit around and objectify a young black female artist whoâs blowing up⌠Welcome to your 30âs I guessâŚâ Healy responded at the time with an Instagram Story video mocking Yungbludâs activism and support for âunderrated youth.â
Earlier this month Healy said he was quitting social media again saying âthe era of me being a fâking arsehole is coming to an end. Iâve had enough.â
The enduring trick of Kelly Clarksonâs daily Kellyoke segment on her eponymous daytime talk show is that the singer always finds a way to make her carefully curated covers feel brand new in her hands.
Take Clarksonâs s simmering version of Coldplayâs âMagic,â which she performed on Fridayâs (April 21) Kelly Clarkson Show. The already pretty mellow original â which appeared on the bandâs 2014 Ghost Stories album â bops along at a medium pace, fueled by singer Chris Martinâs keening âooh-ooh-oohâ vocalizations, a spare, muffled snare beat and spacey guitars.
Clarksonâs version borrowed the same hypnotic bass strum and spare beat, but amped up the heartache with her signature yearning vocals and flawless runs. âAnd if you were to ask me/ After all weâve been through/ âStill believe in magic?â Oh yes, I do,â she sang in her higher register, repeating the last line for devastating emotional emphasis.
The three-time Grammy winner confirmed last week that her anticipated post-divorce record, the 14-track Chemistry, is due out on June 23 and will be split into two sides, âMineâ and âMe.â She also revealed that there are two very unique guests joining her on the collection, actor/comedian/banjo player Steve Martin (on âi hate loveâ) and legendary percussionist/singer Sheila E. (on âthatâs right.â)
âHaving chemistry with someone is an incredible, and overwhelming, feeling,â Clarkson said about the record in a statement. âItâs like you have no choice in the matter. You are just drawn to each other. This can be good and bad. This album takes you down every path that chemistry could lead you down. There are many stages of grief and loss on this album. Each song is a different stage and emotional state.â
Watch Clarksonâs Kellyoke cover of âMagicâ below.