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Tag: music

  • Meghan Trainor reveals what inspired her new song ‘Remind Me’ | CNN

    Meghan Trainor reveals what inspired her new song ‘Remind Me’ | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Meghan Trainor sat down with CNN to discuss life after “All About That Bass,” her new album and the importance of self-love.

    The American singer-songwriter joined CNN’s “Who’s Talking To Chris Wallace?” this week to discuss her fifth studio album, “Takin’ It Back,” which was released on Friday.

    The album is full of upbeat pop songs like “Made You Look.” But throughout the album, Trainor also touches on difficult topics, like her shifting relationship with her body and self-esteem after becoming a mother.

    “I noticed the first few songs were kind of heartbreaking. They were sad at first,” she said. “And I was like, no, I’m happier than I’ve ever been. Why am I sad?”

    “Remind Me,” the 15th track on the album, started as a meditation on how “it’s really hard being covered in scars,” said Trainor. The musician welcomed the birth of her first child via Caesarean section in February 2021.

    “And it’s me singing to my husband, because he tells me all the time, I’m pretty and I’m like, I feel like with the stretch marks and the C-section, I feel like I’ve been ripped apart. And it took me a while to like myself again and to be able to look at my body after all that scarring,” she said.

    The album also touches on “mom guilt” and the difference between social media and reality, like in the song “Don’t I Make It Look Easy.”

    “My first songs were like about being a mom and about like, don’t I make this look easy,” Trainor said. “I’m exhausted. And I’m a working mom and I have mom guilt. And I tried to make them relatable and put them in every song.”

    Trainor has historically been a “melody queen,” starting each song with a melody, she says. But on this album, she focused more on the lyrics and message behind each tune.

    “I would sit on my piano a lot before the songwriting session, I would do homework, and I would have an idea,” she said. “And, luckily, it worked every single time, but I was like, I’ll do a chorus and then I’ll let the songwriters come in and we’ll craft.”

    Self-love is a recurring theme throughout the 16 songs on the album.

    “It’s the hardest thing, and that’s why I write all these self love songs because I’m like, believe in yourself,” she said. “You’re amazing.”

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  • Online creators hit with IP and copyright lawsuits | CNN Business

    Online creators hit with IP and copyright lawsuits | CNN Business

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    New York
    Business
     — 

    It’s weird when wrestling superstar Randy Orton, Netflix’s romance “Bridgerton,” TikTok, a tattoo artist, Instagram, NFTs and Andy Warhol’s portrait of Prince all show up in the same law school textbook.

    A series of hot-button lawsuits have linked all those unlikely creators and platforms in litigation that goes as high as the US Supreme Court. The litigation deals with issues of intellectual property, copyright infringement and fair use in a rapidly changing new-media landscape.

    For decades, so-called “copycat” lawsuits boiled down to ‘you stole my song/book/idea.’ Now, as the number of platforms to showcase artistic content have multiplied, these court cases are testing the rights of fans, creators and rivals to reinterpret other people’s intellectual property.

    At issue, particularly in social media or new technology, is exactly how much you have to transform something to profit and get credit for it, literally, to make it your business.

    Three weeks ago, in a first-of-its-kind case, a jury in an Illinois federal court ruled that tattoo artist Catherine Alexander’s copyright was violated when the likeness of her client, World Wrestling Entertainment star Randy Orton, was depicted in a video game. Alexander has tattooed Orton’s arms from his shoulders to his wrists.

    She won, but not much: $3,750, because the court ruled that, though her copyright had been violated, her tattoos didn’t impact game profits. Nonetheless, it set a precedent.

    The ruling calls into question the abilities of people with tattoos “to control the right to make or license realistic depictions of their own likenesses,” said Aaron J. Moss, a Hollywood litigation attorney specializing in copyright matters.

    Blame the rise of remix culture. For most of the twentieth century, mass content was created and distributed by professionals,” said Moss. “Individuals were consumers. Legal issues were pretty straightforward. But, now, most of the time, the content is being repurposed, remixed or repackaged.”

    “It’s all new and it’s all a mess,” said Victor Wiener, a fine-art appraiser who’s consulted for Lloyd’s of London and serves as an expert witness in art-valuation court cases. Over the past several decades, the distinctions between professionals and amateurs, artists and copycats and between production and consumption have blurred. In such gray areas, said Wiener, “it can come down to who the judge, or the tryer of fact, believes.”

    Streaming service Netflix late last month settled a copyright lawsuit against fans of their Regency romance “Bridgerton” who wrote and workshopped an “Unofficial Bridgerton Musical” on TikTok.

    In January 2021, a month after the Netflix show premiered, singer Abigail Barlow teamed up with musician Emily Bear to create their own interpretation of the hit series. In a souped-up version of fan fiction, the two women began to write and to perform songs they had written, often using exact dialogue from the series.

    It was a huge hit on TikTok, in part because the duo invited feedback and participation, making it a crowd-sourced artwork.

    At first Netflix applauded the effort and even okayed the recording of an album of songs. But when the creators took their show on the road and sold tickets, Netflix sued.

    Producer and series creator Shondra Rhimes, in a statement released when the suit was filed in July, said “what started as a fun celebration by [fans] on social media has turned into the blatant taking of intellectual property.”

    Cases like this turn on “fair use,” matters such as how much of another work someone appropriates. Or whether it dents the original creator’s ability to profit. In the case of “Bridgerton,” neither side has commented on the resolution of the suit, but a planned performance of the musical at Royal Albert Hall scheduled for last month was cancelled.

    Uncontrolled misappropriation is particularly common in the relatively new NFT art field.

    “Today, a 15-year-old can copy your work and spread it across the Internet like feral cat pee at no cost and with little effort. The intellectual capital of an artist can be appropriated on a massive, global scale unimaginable by the people who wrote copyright laws,” said John Wolpert, co-founder of the IBM blockchain and of several blockchain projects.

    And the relatively new phenomenon of trading art NFTs with cryptocurrency “has created a perverse new incentive to misappropriate an artist’s work and to claim it as your own and charge people to purchase it,” he added.

    In one of several NFT suits finding their way to the courts, fashion giant Hermes sued L.A. artist Mason Rothschild after he created 100 NFT’s that depicted Hermes Birkin bags wrapped in fake fur.

    Hermes filed a lawsuit in January in the court of the Southern District in New York charging trademark infringement and injury to business reputation, not to mention “rip off,” with Hermes requesting a quick summary judgment.

    But in the past, courts have often bent over backward to give an artist leeway in critique and parody. Rebecca Tushnet, a Harvard Law professor and expert on copyright and trademark law who represents the artist, has argued his “MetaBirkins” art project is essentially protected as it comments on the relationship between consumerism and the value of art.

    Last month, the Central District court of California ruled on a doozy of a copyright lawsuit that arose via Instagram: Carlos Vila v. Deadly Doll.

    In 2020, the photographer had taken an image of model Irina Shayk. She was wearing sweatpants from fashion company Deadly Doll that featured a large illustration of a woman carrying a skull. The photographer subsequently licensed his image of the model for reproduction. Deadly Doll posted Vila’s photo on their Instagram account and he sued. They counter-sued, arguing he was the infringer. The suit, detailed by litigator Moss in his Copyright Lately blog, is moving forward in California.

    Perhaps the most important case has nothing to do with new media – it concerns Andy Warhol’s altered photograph of the late artist Prince that ran in Vanity Fair magazine years ago. But it is expected to set a precedent.

    Right now, the US Supreme Court is hearing this landmark case regarding Warhol’s alleged misappropriation of photographer Lynn Goldsmith’s work in his silkscreens of Prince. The court is set to determine how, and how much, an artist or creator must transform a work to make it their own – guidelines that will surely create as much of a buzz as the intellectual property itself.

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  • Saturday Sessions: Muna performs

    Saturday Sessions: Muna performs

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    Saturday Sessions: Muna performs “Kind of Girl”Saturday Sessions: Muna performs “Kind of Girl” – CBS News


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    In 2013, three students at the University of Southern California began performing together. Now known as Muna, the trio has since toured the world, opened for pop superstars Harry Styles and Kacey Musgraves, and released three albums. For Saturday Sessions, Muna performs “Kind of Girl.”

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  • Cardi B Wins Legal Battle Over Mixtape Cover: ‘I’m Beyond Grateful’

    Cardi B Wins Legal Battle Over Mixtape Cover: ‘I’m Beyond Grateful’

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    By Sarah Curran.
    Published:
    Last updated:

    Cardi B has come out on top in a trial over the artwork that appears on the cover of her 2016 mixtape, Gangsta Bitch Music Vol. 1.

    A federal court jury in Santa Ana, Calif. ruled in favour of the “WAP” rapper on all counts, according to Law and Crime News senior reporter Meghann Cuniff.


    READ MORE:
    How Cardi B Made History And Partied Large On Her 30th Birthday

    Kevin “Mike” Brophy accused Cardi of unconsensually using his photo of a man with a tiger tattoo on his back for her mixtape cover, which shows the Grammy winner receiving cunnilingus. 

    Brophy claimed that the use of the image negatively impacted his marriage, career and his kids’ perception of him, despite the photo being of someone else.


    READ MORE:
    Lawyer: Cardi B ‘Humiliated’ Man With Racy Image On Mixtape

    “There is not one evidence where people believe it’s actually him,” Cardi testified on Wednesday, per XXL magazine. “He hasn’t gotten fired from his job. He hasn’t gotten a divorce. How has he suffered? … Please tell me how he’s suffered.”

    Lawyers for Cardi argued that that the image falls under First Amendment protection. 

    The Grammy-winner took to Twitter after the ruling on Friday, Oct. 21.

    “I just won this lawsuit …Im soo emotional right now,” she wrote. “I wanna kiss Gods feet right now …..IM BEYOND GRATEFUL.”

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    Sarah Curran

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  • Balenciaga fashion house cuts ties with Ye, report says

    Balenciaga fashion house cuts ties with Ye, report says

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    PARIS — The Balenciaga fashion house has cut ties with Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, according to a news report.

    The move came after several offensive comments from Ye, including antisemitic posts that earned him suspensions from Twitter and Instagram.

    “Balenciaga has no longer any relationship nor any plans for future projects related to this artist,” parent company Kering told Women’s Wear Daily in response to a query Friday without elaborating.

    The company did not respond to multiple emails and calls from The Associated Press requesting comment. A representative for Ye also did not respond to a request for comment.

    Ye had collaborated in several areas with Balenciaga and its artistic director, Demna Gvasalia. The label has also had an active relationship with Kim Kardashian, Ye’s ex-wife, who has appeared in their advertising campaigns and credits her former husband with introducing her to the brand.

    Ye was recently blocked from posting on Twitter and Instagram over antisemitic posts that the social networks said violated their policies. He has also suggested slavery was a choice and called the COVID-19 vaccine the “mark of the beast.”

    After getting locked out of the social media platforms, he’s offered to buy right-wing-friendly social network Parler.

    During Paris Fashion Week, the rapper walked as a model in Balenciaga’s ready-to-wear show — what designer Gvasalia at the time called an “iconic moment.” He was then seen at Givenchy’s collection wearing a Balenciaga-branded black tooth brace.

    Ye was also criticized that week for wearing a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt to his Yeezy collection show in Paris and the shirt made an appearance on the runway itself. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, White Lives Matter is a neo-Nazi group.

    In recent weeks, Ye has ended Yeezy’s association with Gap and has told Bloomberg that he plans to cut ties with his corporate suppliers. Adidas has placed its sneaker deal with Ye under review, and JPMorganChase and Ye have ended their business relationship — although the banking breakup was in the works even before Ye’s antisemitic comments.

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  • Taylor Swift drops ‘3am’ edition of ‘Midnights,’ music video

    Taylor Swift drops ‘3am’ edition of ‘Midnights,’ music video

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    NEW YORK — Taylor Swift has said “Midnights” was inspired by certain key sleepless nights — something many of her fans undoubtedly experienced as the singer-songwriter dropped seven bonus tracks and a music video just hours after the album’s release Friday.

    “Midnights” was released at, well, midnight Eastern time and had become Spotify’s most-streamed album in a single day by 6:15 p.m. With a runtime of around 44 minutes, listeners would have had the opportunity to play the album four times before Swift unleashed “Midnights (3am Edition).”

    “Surprise! I think of Midnights as a complete concept album, with those 13 songs forming a full picture of the intensities of that mystifying, mad hour,” she wrote on Instagram. “However! There were other songs we wrote on our journey to find that magic 13.”

    The bonus tracks fit tonally with the rest of the darkly electric and moody album, beginning with “The Great War,” sweeping across “Paris” and exploring “High Infidelity” before ending with “Dear Reader.” In all, the seven additional songs — added to the end of the original “Midnights” track listing, encompass about 25 additional minutes.

    Swift is the sole credited performer on the bonus tracks — the only person to get a featured credit on any “Midnights” track is Lana Del Rey. The extra songs are primarily written by Swift, Jack Antonoff — her “co pilot” on the album — and Aaron Dessner, a founding member of The National and another frequent Swift collaborator who was otherwise absent from “Midnights.”

    And five hours after “Midnights (3am Edition),” Swift treated fans to a visual feast with a muted but lush music video for “Anti-Hero.”

    Written and directed by Swift herself, reunited with “All Too Well” cinematographer Rina Yang, the video sees the singer be chased by chintzy sheet ghosts and do shots with a glammed-up double who instructs her: “Everyone will betray you.” Dark glitter oozes from the yolks she cuts into at the breakfast table, her wound from an arrow and her mouth after one too many shots.

    “Watch my nightmare scenarios and intrusive thoughts play out in real time,” Swift posted on Instagram.

    The video includes references to Swift’s eating disorder, which she revealed in a documentary, and pokes fun at herself with a cutscene that breaks in midway. It features Mike Birbiglia, John Early and Mary Elizabeth Ellis playing her heirs (Preston, Chad and Kimber) who discover she’s left them only 13 cents in her will (Swift’s favorite number is famously 13).

    “There’s probably a secret encoded message that means something else!” Early exclaims in character, referencing the field of cryptology Swift has created over the years.

    “P.S. There is no secret encoded message that means something else. Love, Taylor,” Birbiglia reads seconds later.

    The “Anti-Hero” video racked up more than 9,700,000 views in the first 13 hours (apt) of its release and spawned the #TSAntiHeroChallenge. Swift is encouraging people to upload to YouTube Shorts a video of themselves sharing the traits that would make them an antihero. According to a blog post on YouTube, the challenge is “all about acknowledging and celebrating the traits that make each of us truly unique and showcasing one’s true self in a FUN way.”

    “An anti-heroic trait could be as simple as always grabbing the last slice of pizza, clapping at the end of movies, always putting your feet on the car dashboard, using the same word to start your daily Wordle, leaving your clean laundry in the basket until the next time you do it, pretending you didn’t already watch the next episode of the series you watch with your pals, or even treating your cat like a human,” the post said. Swift chose that last one for her own submission.

    While the challenge adds levity to the release cycle, Swift is clear on the tone she’s going for with the album and its associated projects.

    “Midnights is a collage of intensity, highs and lows and ebbs and flows,” Swift posted on Instagram when the original album dropped. “Life can be dark, starry, cloudy, terrifying, electrifying, hot, cold, romantic or lonely. Just like Midnights.”

    ———

    Associated Press journalists Sophia Rosenbaum and Christina Paciolla contributed to this report.

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  • Cardi B absolved in racy mixtape artwork lawsuit

    Cardi B absolved in racy mixtape artwork lawsuit

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    SANTA ANA, Calif. — A jury sided with Cardi B on Friday in a copyright infringement case involving a man who claimed the Grammy-winning rapper misused his back tattoos for her sexually suggestive 2016 mixtape cover art.

    The federal jury in Southern California ruled Kevin Michael Brophy did not prove Cardi B misappropriated his likeness. After the jury forewoman read the verdict, the rapper hugged her attorneys and appeared joyful.

    Cardi B thanked the jurors, admitting she was “pretty nervous” before hearing the verdict.

    “I wasn’t sure if I was going to lose or not,” she said after leaving the courthouse. She was swarmed by several reporters, photographers and more than 40 high schoolers who chanted her name. One fan held up a sign asking if she could take him to his homecoming dance, to which she replied “Yes, I’ll see what I can do.”

    “I told myself if I win, I was going to cuss Mr. Brophy out. But I don’t have it in my heart to cuss him out,” she said. In the courtroom, Cardi B had a brief, cordial conversation with Brophy and shook his hand.

    Brophy filed the lawsuit a year after the rapper’s 2016 mixtape was released. He called himself a “family man with minor children” and said he was caused “ distress and humiliation ” by the artwork – which showed a tattooed man from behind with his head between the rapper’s legs inside a limousine. The man’s face cannot be seen.

    “At the end of the day, I do respect you as an artist,” Brophy said to Cardi B.

    Brophy’s lawyer, A. Barry Cappello, said photo-editing software was used to put the back tattoo, which has appeared in tattoo magazines, onto the male model featured on the mixtape cover.

    But Cardi B, whose real name is Belcalis Almanzar, disputed the allegations during her testimony earlier in the week — and had such an intense exchange with Cappello that the trial was briefly halted by U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney.

    Cardi B said she felt Brophy hadn’t suffered any consequences as a result of the artwork. She said Brophy has harassed her legally for five year – and even at one point said she missed the “first step” of her youngest child because of the trial.

    Cardi B delivered pointed answers to several of Cappello’s questions. The lawyer once asked her to calm down, but she sharply pushed back at his contention that she knew about the altered image.

    Their heated exchange prompted the judge to send jurors out of the Santa Ana, California, courtroom and told both sides that he was considering a mistrial. After a short break, he called the arguing “unprofessional” and “not productive” but allowed questioning to resume, then placed new restrictions for both sides.

    Cardi B said an artist used only a “small portion” of the tattoos without her knowledge. She had previously said the cover art – created by Timm Gooden – was transformative fair use of Brophy’s likeness.

    Cappello said Gooden was paid $50 to create a design, but was told to find another tattoo after he turned in an initial draft. He said Gooden googled “back tattoos” before he found an image and pasted it on the cover.

    Cardi B’s lawyer, Peter Anderson, said Brophy and the mixtape image are unrelated, noting the model did not have neck tattoos – which Brophy does.

    “It’s not your client’s back,” Cardi B said about the image, which featured a Black model. Brophy is white. The rapper pointed out that she posted a photo of the “famous Canadian model” on her social media.

    “It’s not him,” she continued. “To me, it doesn’t look like his back at all. The tattoo was modified, which is protected by the First Amendment.”

    Cardi B said the image hasn’t hindered Brophy’s employment with a popular surf and skate apparel brand or his ability to travel the world for opportunities.

    “He hasn’t gotten fired from his job,” said the rapper, who implied that the mixtape was not a lucrative one for her. “He hasn’t gotten a divorce. How has he suffered? He’s still in a surf shop at this job. Please tell me how he’s suffered.”

    Last month, Cardi B pleaded guilty to a criminal case stemming from a pair of brawls at New York City strip clubs that required her to perform 15 days of community service. Earlier this year, the rapper was awarded $1.25 million in a defamation lawsuit against a celebrity news blogger who posted videos falsely stating she used cocaine, had contracted herpes and engaged in prostitution.

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  • Cardi B absolved in racy mixtape artwork lawsuit

    Cardi B absolved in racy mixtape artwork lawsuit

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    SANTA ANA, Calif. — A jury sided with Cardi B on Friday in a copyright infringement case involving a man who claimed the Grammy-winning rapper misused his back tattoos for her sexually suggestive 2016 mixtape cover art.

    The federal jury in Southern California ruled Kevin Michael Brophy did not prove Cardi B misappropriated his likeness. After the jury forewoman read the verdict, the rapper hugged her attorneys and appeared joyful.

    Cardi B thanked the jurors, admitting she was “pretty nervous” before hearing the verdict.

    “I wasn’t sure if I was going to lose or not,” she said after leaving the courthouse. She was swarmed by several reporters, photographers and more than 40 high schoolers who chanted her name. One fan held up a sign asking if she could take him to his homecoming dance, to which she replied “Yes, I’ll see what I can do.”

    “I told myself if I win, I was going to cuss Mr. Brophy out. But I don’t have it in my heart to cuss him out,” she said. In the courtroom, Cardi B had a brief, cordial conversation with Brophy and shook his hand.

    Brophy filed the lawsuit a year after the rapper’s 2016 mixtape was released. He called himself a “family man with minor children” and said he was caused “ distress and humiliation ” by the artwork – which showed a tattooed man from behind with his head between the rapper’s legs inside a limousine. The man’s face cannot be seen.

    “At the end of the day, I do respect you as an artist,” Brophy said to Cardi B.

    Brophy’s lawyer, A. Barry Cappello, said photo-editing software was used to put the back tattoo, which has appeared in tattoo magazines, onto the male model featured on the mixtape cover.

    But Cardi B, whose real name is Belcalis Almanzar, disputed the allegations during her testimony earlier in the week — and had such an intense exchange with Cappello that the trial was briefly halted by U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney.

    Cardi B said she felt Brophy hadn’t suffered any consequences as a result of the artwork. She said Brophy has harassed her legally for five year – and even at one point said she missed the “first step” of her youngest child because of the trial.

    Cardi B delivered pointed answers to several of Cappello’s questions. The lawyer once asked her to calm down, but she sharply pushed back at his contention that she knew about the altered image.

    Their heated exchange prompted the judge to send jurors out of the Santa Ana, California, courtroom and told both sides that he was considering a mistrial. After a short break, he called the arguing “unprofessional” and “not productive” but allowed questioning to resume, then placed new restrictions for both sides.

    Cardi B said an artist used only a “small portion” of the tattoos without her knowledge. She had previously said the cover art – created by Timm Gooden – was transformative fair use of Brophy’s likeness.

    Cappello said Gooden was paid $50 to create a design, but was told to find another tattoo after he turned in an initial draft. He said Gooden googled “back tattoos” before he found an image and pasted it on the cover.

    Cardi B’s lawyer, Peter Anderson, said Brophy and the mixtape image are unrelated, noting the model did not have neck tattoos – which Brophy does.

    “It’s not your client’s back,” Cardi B said about the image, which featured a Black model. Brophy is white. The rapper pointed out that she posted a photo of the “famous Canadian model” on her social media.

    “It’s not him,” she continued. “To me, it doesn’t look like his back at all. The tattoo was modified, which is protected by the First Amendment.”

    Cardi B said the image hasn’t hindered Brophy’s employment with a popular surf and skate apparel brand or his ability to travel the world for opportunities.

    “He hasn’t gotten fired from his job,” said the rapper, who implied that the mixtape was not a lucrative one for her. “He hasn’t gotten a divorce. How has he suffered? He’s still in a surf shop at this job. Please tell me how he’s suffered.”

    Last month, Cardi B pleaded guilty to a criminal case stemming from a pair of brawls at New York City strip clubs that required her to perform 15 days of community service. Earlier this year, the rapper was awarded $1.25 million in a defamation lawsuit against a celebrity news blogger who posted videos falsely stating she used cocaine, had contracted herpes and engaged in prostitution.

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  • Taylor Swift’s newest album causes online frenzy

    Taylor Swift’s newest album causes online frenzy

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    Taylor Swift’s newest album causes online frenzy – CBS News


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    Taylor Swift’s latest album, “Midnights,” has become the most-streamed album in a single day in Spotify history. The singer-songwriter’s 10th studio album was so popular, it briefly crashed the music service. Jamie Yuccas reports.

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  • Taylor Swift drops “3am edition” of “Midnights” 3 hours after album’s 12 a.m. release

    Taylor Swift drops “3am edition” of “Midnights” 3 hours after album’s 12 a.m. release

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    Taylor Swift has said “Midnights” was inspired by certain key sleepless nights — something many of her fans undoubtedly experienced as the singer-songwriter dropped seven bonus tracks and a music video just hours after the album’s release Friday.

    “Midnights” was released at, well, midnight Eastern time. With a runtime of around 44 minutes, listeners would have had the opportunity to play the album four times before Swift unleashed “Midnights (3am Edition).”

    “Surprise! I think of Midnights as a complete concept album, with those 13 songs forming a full picture of the intensities of that mystifying, mad hour,” she wrote on Instagram. “However! There were other songs we wrote on our journey to find that magic 13.”

    The bonus tracks fit tonally with the rest of the darkly electric and moody album, beginning with “The Great War,” sweeping across “Paris” and exploring “High Infidelity” before ending with “Dear Reader.” In all, the seven additional songs — added to the end of the original “Midnights” track listing, encompass about 25 additional minutes.

    Swift is the sole credited performer on the bonus tracks — the only person to get a featured credit on any “Midnights” track is Lana Del Rey. The extra songs are primarily written by Swift, Jack Antonoff — her “co pilot” on the album — and Aaron Dessner, a founding member of The National and another frequent Swift collaborator who was otherwise absent from “Midnights.”

    “Watch my nightmare scenarios”

    And five hours after “Midnights (3am Edition),” Swift treated fans to a visual feast with a muted but lush music video for “Anti-Hero.”

    Written and directed by Swift herself, reunited with “All Too Well” cinematographer Rina Yang, the video sees the singer be chased by chintzy sheet ghosts and do shots with a glammed-up double who instructs her: “Everyone will betray you.” Dark glitter oozes from the yolks she cuts into at the breakfast table, her wound from an arrow and her mouth after one too many shots.

    “Watch my nightmare scenarios and intrusive thoughts play out in real time,” Swift posted on Instagram.

    The video includes references to Swift’s eating disorder, which she revealed in a documentary, and pokes fun at herself with a cutscene that breaks in midway. It features Mike Birbiglia, John Early and Mary Elizabeth Ellis playing her heirs (Preston, Chad and Kimber) who discover she’s left them only 13 cents in her will (Swift’s favorite number is famously 13).

    “There’s probably a secret encoded message that means something else!” Early exclaims in character, referencing the field of cryptology Swift has created over the years.

    “P.S. There is no secret encoded message that means something else. Love, Taylor,” Birbiglia reads seconds later.

    The “Anti-Hero” video racked up more than 2 million views in the first three hours of its release and spawned the #TSAntiHeroChallenge. Swift is encouraging people to upload to YouTube Shorts a video of themselves sharing the traits that would make them an antihero. According to a blog post on YouTube, the challenge is “all about acknowledging and celebrating the traits that make each of us truly unique and showcasing one’s true self in a FUN way.”


    Taylor Swift delivers NYU commencement address

    00:54

    “An anti-heroic trait could be as simple as always grabbing the last slice of pizza, clapping at the end of movies, always putting your feet on the car dashboard, using the same word to start your daily Wordle, leaving your clean laundry in the basket until the next time you do it, pretending you didn’t already watch the next episode of the series you watch with your pals, or even treating your cat like a human,” the post said. Swift chose that last one for her own submission.

    While the challenge adds levity to the release cycle, Swift is clear on the tone she’s going for with the album and its associated projects.

    “Midnights is a collage of intensity, highs and lows and ebbs and flows,” Swift posted on Instagram when the original album dropped. “Life can be dark, starry, cloudy, terrifying, electrifying, hot, cold, romantic or lonely. Just like Midnights.”

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  • Photos: Pop superstar Taylor Swift | CNN

    Photos: Pop superstar Taylor Swift | CNN

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    Taylor Swift performs at the Staples Center in Los Angeles in 2015.

    Christopher Polk/TAS/Getty Images

    Updated 4:45 PM EDT, Fri October 21, 2022

    Taylor Swift unveiled her 10th studio album, “Midnights,” on Friday, October 21.

    It’s her first original album in two years. The 11-time Grammy Award winner is currently in the midst of revisiting her early albums in a bid to regain ownership of the work she released under her former label Big Machine Records.

    Born in 1989, Swift launched her country music career at age 16. Her debut self-titled album was released in 2006. She went on to become one of the most successful recording artists of all time — earning legions of loyal fans known as “Swifties.”

    Her 2014 album, “1989,” was her first purely pop album. Known for her songwriting, she took on a folk-rock sound on her 2020 albums, “Folklore” and “Evermore.”

    Swift has broken a number of records throughout her career. In 2021, she became the first woman to win the Grammy for album of the year three times. She was also the first woman to ever score three new number one albums in less than a year.

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  • Taylor Swift’s ‘Midnights’ album is out. So, what’s the verdict? | CNN

    Taylor Swift’s ‘Midnights’ album is out. So, what’s the verdict? | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Taylor Swift is endorsing late nights with her first original album in two years.

    The 11-time Grammy Award winner unveiled her 10th studio album, “Midnights,” on Friday, following a surprise announcement at this year’s MTV Video Music Awards.

    Swift, who is currently in the midst of revisiting her early albums in a bid to regain ownership of the work she released under her former label Big Machine Records, has pivoted from the folk-rock sound of 2020’s “Folklore” and “Evermore” to something more mainstream.

    “Midnights is a collage of intensity, highs and lows and ebbs and flows,” she told fans on social media following the release. “Life can be dark, starry, cloudy, terrifying, electrifying, hot, cold, romantic or lonely. Just like Midnights. Which is out now.”

    As “Swifties” rushed to Spotify to listen to the record at midnight, the streaming giant experienced overwhelming traffic and users reported outages worldwide.

    But despite the initial tech issues, the 13-track album, almost entirely written, produced and performed with Swift’s long-time collaborator Jack Antonoff, is already a hit with fans.

    “Can’t stop listening Midnights. This entire Album is amazing! You’re so genius, @taylorswift13!” one fan wrote on Twitter.

    Another said: “Taylor Swift mothered so hard with Midnights no one will ever come close to her level of prodigiousness. This woman is not just a talented writer but also a clever musician. I never doubted her.”

    Music critics were just as enthusiastic about the album, though some noted its subdued tone.

    Awarding “Midnights” a five-star rating, the Guardian’s Alexis Petridis describes the sound as “pop rich with self-loathing and stereotype-smashing” and “misty, atmospheric and tastefully subdued.”

    He adds that: “Midnights delivers her firmly from what she called the ‘folklorian woods’ of her last two albums back to electronic pop.”

    Petridis also noted that Swift’s much talked about Lana Del Rey collaboration, “Snow on the Beach,” is “beautifully done – a perfect gene-splice between their two musical styles with a gorgeous melody – but it’s a long way from a grandstanding summit between two pop icons: there’s a striking lightness of touch about it, a restrained melding of their voices.”

    According to Rolling Stone writer Brittany Spanos, Swift’s new album “picks up where the pure pop triptych of 1989, Reputation, and Lover left off, a dazzling bath of synths complementing lyrics caught between a love story and a revenge plot.”

    For LA Times pop critic Mikael Wood, the song-writing and vocal performances in “Midnights” carry the album.

    “She’s playing with cadence and emphasizing the grain of her voice like never before … eventually you stop caring what’s drawn directly from Swift’s real life and what’s not,” he writes.

    Giving “Midnights” 8 out of 10, website Clash Music’s Matthew Neale writes that the album “feels both voyeuristic in its exposition and brash in its execution.”

    “Defined by dark nights of the soul and cast in the same bluish-purple hues, ‘Midnights’ offers little of revelatory purpose to those who have yet to succumb to Swift’s charms,” he explained. “For those already swayed by her craft, however, it may reasonably go on to be recognized as her best album to date.”

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  • Lana Del Rey says laptop containing her new album was stolen | CNN

    Lana Del Rey says laptop containing her new album was stolen | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Lana Del Rey says she was robbed of a backpack that contained her laptop, which had her new album on it.

    The singer said along with the computer, multiple hard drives and a camera were also stolen.

    “A few months ago, I parked my car on Melrose Place — actually Melrose Ave. in Los Angeles — and I stepped away for a minute,” she said on Instagram. “And the one time I left my backpack inside my car, someone broke all the windows and took it.”

    Del Rey added that another project, a book she is working on, was stolen as well.

    “I had to remotely wipe the computer that had my 200-page book for Simon and Schuster—which I didn’t have backed up on the cloud,” Del Rey said. And despite that, people are still able to remotely access my phone and leak our songs and personal photos. I loved the book that I lost with all of my heart and put a lot of passion into it.”

    The artist asked her fans to not to listen to any leaked music, and said she will continue to work on new music.

    “I just want to mention that despite all of this happening, I am confident in the record to come, despite so many safety factors at so many different levels. I really want to persist and make the best record I can,” she said. “Please don’t listen to the music if you hear it, because it’s not coming out yet,” she said.

    Del Rey concluded: “Obviously I won’t ever leave anything in the car again, even if it’s just for a moment. But we’ve had the same issues at the house, and it is a constant thing. And although I’m so grateful to be able to share all of the good stuff, I just also want to share that it has been a challenge.”

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  • Review: Taylor Swift plays dark, electric on ‘Midnights’

    Review: Taylor Swift plays dark, electric on ‘Midnights’

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    Taylor Swift “Midnights,” (Republic Records)

    “All of me changed like midnight,” Taylor Swift confesses halfway through her latest album, the aptly named and moody “Midnights.” It’s a moment on the electric “Midnight Rain” that finds lyricist Swift at her best, reminding you of her unparalleled ability to make any emotion feel universal.

    The song’s chorus begins: “He was sunshine, I was midnight rain.” And continues: “He wanted it comfortable, I wanted that pain. He wanted a bride, I was making my own name. Chasing that fame. He stayed the same.” Then, that lyric: “All of me changed like midnight.” The sound feels experimental for Swift, opening with her own vocals artificially pitched down to an almost-unrecognizable tone. It’s among the album’s most sonically interesting, an indie-pop beat that feels reminiscent of her producer Jack Antonoff’s work on Lorde’s “Melodrama,” but also fresh and captivating.

    The song’s words, by Swift and Antonoff, are steady and detailed, but not distracting — allowing you to sink into the rhythm, flowing and feeling it with her.

    On the 13 tracks of “Midnights,” a self-aware Swift shows off her ability to evolve again. For her 10th original album, the 32-year-old pop star approaches the themes she’s grown up writing about — love, loss, childhood, fame — with a maturity that comes through in sharpened vocals and lyrics focused more on her inner-life than external persona.

    “Midnight Rain” could be a thesis statement for the project she’s described as “songs written during 13 sleepless nights,” an appropriate approach to the concept album for someone who has long had a lyrical appreciation for late nights (think “Style”: “midnight, you come and pick me up, no headlights…”). Of course, she’s centered her work around themes before — on “Red,” an ode to the color and the emotions it stands for, “reputation,” a vindictive reconfiguring of her own, and most recently on “folklore” and “evermore,” quarantine albums that expressed vulnerability in ways only isolation could.

    But Swift presents “Midnights” as something different: a collection of songs that don’t necessarily have to go together, but fit together because she has declared them products of late night inspiration. Positioning listeners situationally — in the quiet but thoughtful darkness of night — instead of thematically, feels like a natural creative experiment for a songwriter so prolific that her albums have become synonymous with the pop culture zeitgeist.

    And with that, comes a tone that is just a little darker, a little more experimental, and always electric.

    Track one, “Lavender Haze,” pairs a muffled club beat and high-pitched backing vocals from Antonoff with stand-out, beckoning melody from Swift. “Maroon” is a grown-up and weathered version of “Red,” a dive into lost love with rich descriptions of rust, spilled wine, red lipstick — images Swift is reconjuring with more bite.

    “Labyrinth” makes clear she’s carried the best of her previous pop experiments with her — the synth of “1989” and the softer alternative sounds of “folklore” — as she admits as only a songwriter can that a heartbreak “only feels this raw right now, lost in the labyrinth of my mind,” on top of a track featuring Bon Iver-esque electronic trills.

    Swift shines when she is able to marry her signature lyrical musings with this new arena of electronic beats. And while this isn’t another album of acoustic indie sounds like “folklore,” it is clear that Swift has taken a step forward in the indie-pop genre — even if it’s a step in a different direction.

    The album’s weaker moments are the ones where that balance feels off. “Bejeweled” is a bit too candy sweet, with lyrics that feel like an updated, glittery take on “Me!” The much anticipated “Snow On The Beach,” featuring Lana Del Rey, is poetic, pretty, and at times cheeky, but not as emotionally deep as the lyricists’ combined power suggests it could be.

    Even in those moments, “Midnights” finds Swift comfortable in her musical skin, revealing the strengths of a sharp and ever-evolving artist who can wink through always-cryptic allusions to her very public life or subtle self-owns dispersed amidst lyrical confessions (see: “Anti-Hero” and “Mastermind”) and hook even the casual listener with an alluring, and maybe surprising, beat.

    But like the love-soaked “Lover,” and intimate “folklore” and “evermore,” “Midnights” feels like both a confessional and a playground, crafted by all the versions of Taylor Swift we’ve gotten to know so far for a new Taylor Swift to shine. And like always, we’re just along for the thrilling late-night ride.

    ——

    For more recent album reviews, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/music-reviews

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  • Renowned pianist Fats Domino has street renamed in his honor

    Renowned pianist Fats Domino has street renamed in his honor

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    NEW ORLEANS — The New Orleans street where one of the founders of rock ‘n’ roll spent most of his life is being renamed in his honor.

    A community-wide Second line and Musical Celebration begins at 11 a.m. Saturday at the longtime home of Antoine “Fats” Domino on Caffin Avenue, which will now be known as Antoine “Fats” Domino Avenue. Led by the Stooges Brass Band, the second line will proceed down the renamed street to Oliver Bush Park, where musical tributes to Domino will occur.

    Domino sold more than 110 million records, with hits including “Blueberry Hill,” ″Ain’t That a Shame” — originally titled “Ain’t It A Shame”— and other standards of rock ‘n’ roll. Saturday’s free celebration will feature performances by Kermit Ruffin, Al “Carnival Time” Johnson, Al “Little Fats” Jackson and Domino’s grandson, Antonio Domino Jr.

    Rev. Willie Calhoun, who has lived in the Lower 9 his whole life and is one of the celebration’s organizers, said the recognition for Domino is a long-time coming.

    “Fats never left the city and he’s never really been celebrated, even though he chose to stay in New Orleans and to raise his family in the Lower 9,” Calhoun said. “He had a choice to live anywhere he wanted and he made the choice to live right here.

    “I think this event will help bring some life and recognition to the neighborhood. The Lower 9 has gotten so much negative press, we wanted to bring people back to the area and show them the reason why Fats stayed. He stayed because this is a valuable and viable community.”

    Domino died Oct. 24, 2017, of natural causes at the age of 89. He survived the massive flooding that followed Hurricane Katrina’s landfall on Aug. 29, 2005, but had to be rescued by boat from his home, where he tried to ride out the storm. Storm surge flood waters poured into the Lower 9th Ward, knocking many homes off their foundations. A large barge was swept by flood waters into the neighborhood, leveling homes beneath it. The area was flooded again by Hurricane Rita a month later.

    ———

    This story was first published Oct. 13, 2022. It was updated Oct. 20, 2022, to correct the spelling of Domino’s grandson’s first name. It is Antonio, not Antoine.

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  • Kane Brown opens up about his “crazy childhood,” first experience of racism and what it’s like to sing a duet with his wife

    Kane Brown opens up about his “crazy childhood,” first experience of racism and what it’s like to sing a duet with his wife

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    Since 2016, country singer Kane Brown has gone from opening act to headliner. Brown just concluded his Blessed and Free tour, which included stops at every NBA arena in the country. 

    Despite his success, Brown remains grounded. Raised near the Tennessee-Georgia border, Brown says when he was a kid, music helped him escape from problems from his “crazy childhood.” 

    “Had to grow up a lot faster than a normal person… Just, you know, moving around a lot. And then no father figure. Child abuse,” Brown said. 

    Brown said he was beaten a lot as a child. He described in detail one of the incidents of abuse where he said one of his stepdads shaved his head.

    “One of my stepdads for my punishment shaved my head bald and put aftershave on me. Made me, like, physically eat half a bar of soap, not just bite into it. I had to physically eat it and swallow it. So all kinds of crazy things,” he said.

    At school, Brown first dealt with racism when he was in middle school. 

    “It was, like, my first, like, actual girlfriend. You know, we were on the bus. And she was about to get dropped off and then she was, like, ‘I can’t talk to you anymore.’ And I was, like, ‘What do you mean?’ And she was, like, ‘My dad said you’re Black,’” he recalled. 

    Moments like that have stuck with Brown his entire life. But when it comes to being a Black country artist, he believes his talent should speak for itself. 

    “I shouldn’t have to say anything, you know? I’m up there in front of everybody as a Black artist. I’m selling out arenas,” he said. “I’m on the radio. I’m doing all this stuff. Right there should tell you that, you know country music’s getting better. And people should be opening up.” 

    His most recent hit single is one of his most personal. “Thank God” is a duet Brown sings with his wife, Katelyn. The pair first bonded over their love of music when they met.  

    Brown said his wife was nervous to do the song, but he knew instantly that the song was going to be a “smash.” Katelyn said doing a duet together has been six years in the making. But the pair felt now was the right time to do it so they could show their two daughters, 10-month-old Kodi Jane and two-year-old Kingsley Rose. 

    “It’s so different than before. We didn’t have kids. I was, like, ‘How cool for our daughters to one day listen to mom and dad?” Katelyn said. 

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  • Vilcek Foundation Awards $600,000 in Prizes to Immigrant Scientists and Musicians

    Vilcek Foundation Awards $600,000 in Prizes to Immigrant Scientists and Musicians

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    Prizes awarded in honor of immigrant leaders in the arts and sciences, including musicians Du Yun and Angélique Kidjo, and scientist Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado


    NEW YORK, October 18, 2022 (Newswire.com)
    –
    The Vilcek Foundation announces the recipients of the 2023 Vilcek Foundation Prizes. Awarded annually in the arts and sciences, the prizes recognize and celebrate immigrant contributions to the arts, culture, and society, and build awareness of how important immigration is for intellectual and cultural life in the United States.

    Since 2006, the Vilcek Foundation has awarded prizes each year in biomedical science and in rotating categories in the arts and humanities. In 2023, the arts and humanities prizes are awarded in music. The foundation awards two primary types of prizes in each category: the Vilcek Prizes, and the Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise.

    The Vilcek Prizes are $100,000 awards bestowed on immigrant professionals whose career achievements represent a legacy of major accomplishments in their field. The Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise honor immigrant professionals whose early-career work demonstrates a singular innovation or represents a significant contribution to their field. Recipients of the Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise each receive an unrestricted cash award of $50,000. 

    The Vilcek Foundation typically awards one Vilcek Prize and three Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in each category every year. In 2023, the Vilcek Foundation is awarding two Vilcek Prizes in Music. 

    The Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science

    The 2023 Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science is awarded to Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado, executive director and chief scientific officer of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Sánchez Alvarado receives the Vilcek Prize for his contributions to the field of regeneration—from the identification of genes that control regeneration in living organisms to the potential for regenerative medicine to revolutionize how we treat disease in humans. 

    “Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado has devoted his career to understanding the fundamental molecular and cellular bases of regeneration, from the specific genes responsible for regeneration to epigenetic regulators that compel the expression of these genes,” said Vilcek Foundation Chairman and CEO Jan Vilcek. “Using a freshwater flatworm—an organism called Schmidtea mediterranea—as a powerful experimental tool to study the molecular mechanisms of tissue regeneration, he has pioneered and expanded the field of regeneration. His work has broad applications for our understanding of the pathology of degenerative disease.”

    The Vilcek Prize in Music

    The Vilcek Foundation has made the decision to award two Vilcek Prizes in Music in 2023 to Du Yun and to Angélique Kidjo. Each will receive a cash award of $100,000 and a commemorative trophy.

    “Music transcends language,” said Vilcek Foundation Cofounder, Vice Chair, and Secretary Marica Vilcek. “It defies borders and boundaries, and has a unique power to resonate with people across cultures. Rhythm, melody, and harmony are critical parts of how we communicate with one another as humans.” She continued, “With this year’s prizes, we wanted to honor the range of impact that immigrants have on this expansive art form. As such, we made the decision to award two Vilcek Prizes in Music this year, to Du Yun and Angélique Kidjo.”

    Says Vilcek Foundation President Rick Kinsel, “The sheer scope of Du Yun and Angélique Kidjo’s work defies any easy categorization. Du Yun’s virtuosic range and arresting compositions expand the horizons of contemporary and classical music. Kidjo’s resonant songwriting and engaging performances have captivated audiences globally, and introduced generations of audiences to Afropop, Afrobeat, and traditional West African music. These distinctions convey the breadth of music as an art form, as well as the broad impact immigrants have on culture and society.” 

    Du Yun receives the Vilcek Prize in Music for her open approach to composition, which subverts the boundaries of traditional classical music by incorporating influences from punk, electronic, and experimental music, and for the virtuosity of her Pulitzer Prize-winning opera, Angel’s Bone. Born in Shanghai, China, Du Yun began studying piano at the age of four and began attending the Preparatory Divisions of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music at age six. She came to the United States to pursue higher education in music, earning her bachelor’s at Oberlin Conservatory and her Ph.D. in Music Composition at Harvard University. In 2001, Du Yun co-founded the International Contemporary Ensemble with the goal of advancing the genre of experimental music through collaborations, commissions, and performances.

    Angélique Kidjo receives the Vilcek Prize in Music in recognition of her exceptional range as a singer-songwriter, and for her artistic leadership through her performances, albums, and collaborations. Born in Ouidah, Benin, Kidjo had her musical debut with the album Pretty in 1981. She rose to international fame in the 1990s with albums like Logozo, Ayé, and Fifa. In 1997, Kidjo immigrated to the United States, moving to Brooklyn, New York. Since then, she has continued to write, record, and tour extensively, while undertaking humanitarian work as an international Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF and with the Batonga Foundation, which she founded in 2006. 

    The Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science

    The recipients of the 2023 Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science are Edward Chouchani (b. Canada), Biyu J. He (b. China), and Shixin Liu (b. China).

    Edward Chouchani receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science for his work to decipher the molecular mechanisms that drive metabolic disease, with the aim of developing therapeutic interventions targeted at the molecular drivers of metabolism within cells. 

    Biyu J. He receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science for her leadership in the field of cognitive neuroscience, and for her groundbreaking discoveries on the biological bases of perceptual cognition and subjective experience.

    Shixin Liu receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise for applying cutting-edge biophysical tools to directly visualize, manipulate, and understand the physiological function of nanometer-scale biomolecular machines including DNA replication and transcription complexes at the single-molecule level.

    The Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Music

    The 2023 Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Music are awarded to Arooj Aftab (b. Saudi Arabia, to Pakistani parents) Juan Pablo Contreras (b. Mexico), and Ruby Ibarra (b. the Philippines).

    Arooj Aftab receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Music for her evocative songs and compositions that incorporate a range of influences from semi-classical Pakistani music and Urdu poetry, to jazz harmonies and experimental music. 

    Juan Pablo Contreras receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Music for his work as a composer and conductor of orchestral music that draws on his Mexican heritage, and for his leadership in founding the Orquesta Latino Mexicana. 

    Ruby Ibarra receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Music for her hip-hop and spoken word performances that center her experience as a Filipina American woman, and for her powerful lyrics that address colonialism, immigration, colorism, and misogyny.

    The Vilcek Foundation

    The Vilcek Foundation raises awareness of immigrant contributions in the United States and fosters appreciation for the arts and sciences. The foundation was established in 2000 by Jan and Marica Vilcek, immigrants from the former Czechoslovakia. The mission of the foundation was inspired by the couple’s respective careers in biomedical science and art history. Since 2000, the foundation has awarded over $7 million in prizes to foreign-born individuals and has supported organizations with over $5.8 million in grants.

    The Vilcek Foundation is a private operating foundation, a federally tax-exempt nonprofit organization under IRS Section 501(c)(3). To learn more, please visit vilcek.org. 

    Source: The Vilcek Foundation

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  • Vilcek Foundation Prizes Celebrate Immigrant Musicians With $350,000 in Awards

    Vilcek Foundation Prizes Celebrate Immigrant Musicians With $350,000 in Awards

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    Du Yun, Angélique Kidjo, Arooj Aftab, Juan Pablo Contreras, and Ruby Ibarra are recipients of the 2023 Vilcek Foundation Prizes in Music


    NEW YORK, October 18, 2022 (Newswire.com)
    –
    The Vilcek Foundation announces the recipients of the 2023 Vilcek Foundation Prizes in the Arts and Humanities, a part of the Vilcek Foundation Prizes Program. Awarded annually in a rotating category, the Vilcek Foundation Prizes in the Arts and Humanities recognize and celebrate immigrants’ contributions to intellectual and cultural life in the United States and highlight the value of immigration for a robust society. 

    In 2023, the Vilcek Foundation Prizes in the Arts and Humanities are awarded in music. The foundation is awarding five prizes, totaling $350,000 in awards. Two main prizes—the Vilcek Prizes in Music—each include a cash award of $100,000. Three additional awards—the Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Music—each include a cash award of $50,000. 

    The Vilcek Prizes in Music

    The 2023 Vilcek Prizes in Music are awarded to Du Yun and Angélique Kidjo. Vilcek Foundation Cofounder, Vice Chair, and Secretary Marica Vilcek elaborated on the decision to award two prizes.

    “With the 2023 Vilcek Prizes in Music, it was important to us to recognize a range of musicians: from those in the halls of classical music to the songwriters and performers whose music vibrates across the airwaves around the world,” said Vilcek. “Music transcends language, borders, and boundaries. Du Yun and Angélique Kidjo’s work exemplify this, from Du Yun’s arresting operas and electrifying postmodern compositions to Kidjo’s charismatic presence on the global stage over the past four decades.”

    Vilcek Foundation President Rick Kinsel shared similar sentiments. “The sheer scope of Du Yun’s and Angélique Kidjo’s work defies any easy categorization,” he said. “Du Yun’s virtuosic range is evidenced from her operas to her avant-garde projects like Shark in You and A Cockroach’s Tarantella—her work bridges sound art and classical composition. Kidjo’s prolific songwriting, albums, and collaborations have brought African music to the mainstream, while also introducing generations of listeners to Afropop, Afrobeat, and traditional West African music.” He continued, “Both artists’ respective influence exemplifies the broad impact immigrants have on culture and society.”

    Du Yun receives the Vilcek Prize in Music for her open approach to composition, which subverts the boundaries of traditional classical music by incorporating influences from punk, electronic, and experimental music, and for the virtuosity of her Pulitzer Prize-winning opera, Angel’s Bone.

    Born in Shanghai, China, Du Yun began studying piano at the age of four and began attending the Preparatory Divisions of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music at age six. She came to the United States to pursue higher education in music, earning her bachelor’s at Oberlin Conservatory and her Ph.D. in Music Composition at Harvard University. In 2001, Du Yun co-founded the International Contemporary Ensemble with the goal of advancing the genre of experimental music through collaborations, commissions, and performances. 

    Angélique Kidjo receives the Vilcek Prize in Music in recognition of her exceptional range as a singer-songwriter and for bringing African music to the global stage through her performances, albums, and collaborations. Born in Ouidah, Benin, Kidjo made her musical debut with the album Pretty in 1981. She rose to international fame in the 1990s with albums like Logozo, Ayé, and Fifa. In 1997, Kidjo immigrated to the United States, moving to Brooklyn, New York. Since then, she has continued to write, record, and tour extensively, while undertaking humanitarian work as an international Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF and with the Batonga Foundation, which she founded in 2006. 

    The Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Music

    The Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Music are awarded to early- and mid-career immigrant musicians, composers, and music producers living and working in the United States. Recipients are selected for the professional and creative quality of their work: musical compositions and performances that represent important contributions to their genres, and that resonate and inspire both performers and audiences. 

    The Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Music are awarded to Arooj Aftab, Juan Pablo Contreras, and Ruby Ibarra.

    Arooj Aftab receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Music for her evocative songs and compositions that incorporate a range of influences from semi-classical Pakistani music and Urdu poetry, to jazz harmonies and experimental music. Her blend of ancient traditions and contemporary style has earned her mainstream recognition, including a 2022 Grammy nomination for Best New Artist, and a 2022 Grammy for Best Global Performance for Mohabbat. Born in Saudi Arabia to Pakistani parents, Aftab found music as an outlet for self-identification and discovery. She immigrated to the United States in 2005 to pursue studies in music composition and engineering at the Berklee College of Music. 

    Juan Pablo Contreras receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Music for his work as a composer and conductor of orchestral music that draws on his Mexican heritage, and for his leadership in founding the Orquesta Latino Mexicana. Contreras’ compositions tell stories about Mexico from an immigrant perspective. A dedicated teacher and mentor, Contreras seeks to empower the next generation of musicians and to foster equity and inclusion in orchestral programming and seeks to expand classical music curriculum beyond its traditionally Eurocentric focus. Born in Guadalajara, Mexico, Contreras immigrated to the United States in 2006. He holds degrees from the California Institute of the Arts (BFA), the Manhattan School of Music (MM), and the University of Southern California (DMA). 

    Ruby Ibarra receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Music for her personal and evocative hip-hop and spoken word performances that center her experiences as a Filipina American woman, and as an immigrant growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area. Born in Tacloban City in the Philippines, Ibarra immigrated to the United States with her family in 1991. Her debut mixtape, Lost in Translation, and her 2017 album, CIRCA91, explore themes including immigration, colorism, and misogyny. In addition to her music, Ibarra is a dedicated activist, and in 2018 she founded the Pinays Rising Scholarship program. 

    The Vilcek Foundation

    The Vilcek Foundation raises awareness of immigrant contributions in the United States and fosters appreciation for the arts and sciences. The foundation was established in 2000 by Jan and Marica Vilcek, immigrants from the former Czechoslovakia. The mission of the foundation was inspired by the couple’s respective careers in biomedical science and art history. Since 2000, the foundation has awarded over $7 million in prizes to foreign-born individuals and has supported organizations with over $5.8 million in grants.

    The Vilcek Foundation is a private operating foundation, a federally tax-exempt nonprofit organization under IRS Section 501(c)(3). To learn more, please visit vilcek.org. 

    Source: The Vilcek Foundation

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  • Singer Noah Kahan on highly-anticipated album

    Singer Noah Kahan on highly-anticipated album

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    Singer Noah Kahan on highly-anticipated album “Stick Season” – CBS News


    Watch CBS News



    Singer-songwriter Noah Kahan is out with a new album. The album, “Stick Season,” was written and recorded in Vermont. Jan Crawford traveled to Vermont to talk to Kahan about his new music and why it’s resonating with so many people.

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  • Mikaben, Haitian Singer Who Inspired A Generation, Dies Onstage In Paris

    Mikaben, Haitian Singer Who Inspired A Generation, Dies Onstage In Paris

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    Haitian singer Mikaben, whose real name was Michael Benjamin, died from a suspected heart attack or cardiac arrest Saturday after suddenly collapsing onstage during a performance in Paris, according to The Guardian. He was 41 years old.

    Mikaben was performing as a guest of Haitian konpa group CaRiMi at the 20,000-seat Accor Arena when social media footage showed him attempting to walk offstage and collapsing.

    “End of the concert,” CaRiMi singer Mickael Guirand told the crowd, some of whom fainted after the incident, per The Miami Herald. “It’s very complicated. We need prayers.”

    The venue tweeted Sunday, according to a Twitter translation, that Mikaben “died following a malaise onstage and despite the intervention of the emergency services. The entire Accor Arena team is terribly affected and sends all its support to his family and loved ones in this painful ordeal.”

    “I’m in no condition to talk,” the singer’s wife, who is pregnant, told The Guardian. “I lost my other half and have no words.”

    His website described Mikaben as a rare artist who was prodigious in all genres, from Haitian konpa music and the Antillean Zouk to Jamaican reggae and R&B. Born in Haiti’s capital of Port-au-Prince in 1981, he spoke four languages and played several instruments.

    Mikaben started singing at 15 but fully established himself as a performer in Montreal during his later studies. He began touring Canada’s music festivals in the mid-2000s, but returned to Haiti following the 2010 earthquake with a galvanizing song titled “Yon Ti Souf You Ayiti” (or “A Little Breath for Haiti”).

    “This is a shock,” Wyclef Jean of The Fugees, who was born in Haiti, told the Herald. “All I could remember was his smile. This is one of the most influential and inspirational young artists of our generation.”

    Tributes for Mikaben, who is survived by his wife Vanessa, poured in from peers, politicians and fans around the globe. Haiti’s prime minister, Ariel Henry, tweeted he was “devastated by the news of the sudden death” and that Haiti “lost a beautiful soul.”

    “I’m in disbelief,” Haitian singer Roberto Martino told The Miami Herald. “This is somebody I was working with for years and considered a brother, a good friend. We talked almost everyday. We have a chat together. He was so happy. He couldn’t wait to get on that stage with CaRiMi.”

    Mikaben had uploaded an Instagram video from inside the Accor Arena mere hours before the doors opened for attendees, thanking his fans for their endless support.

    “It was one of his biggest accomplishments,” added Martino. “It’s a band he idolized. I’m at a lost for words. I’m broken.”

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