Back when Huey Lewis was still the news, I arrived in the Bay Area, a Midwestern boy on his own desperately seeking to crack the San Francisco code. It was hard out here for a newcomer, so I searched for local insights wherever I could find them.
Among my guides was Joel Selvin , the Chronicle's pop music writer, whose gig lasted from 1972 to 2009, a veritable boxed set retrospective of a career during the golden age of newspaper rock criticism.
In recent years, Selvin has stayed in the game, with acclaimed books about the Grateful Dead and the 1969 Altamont debacle . As those subjects would suggest, the Berkeley-born Selvin came across as a Bay Area classicist. Long before the mortal combat of online trolling, Selvin took incoming fire in the newspaper's letters section for his perceived provincial and retrograde tastes. No matter, I kept reading and learning.
Selvin goes deep, drilling down to the musical localism of individual high schools, most notably West L.A.'s University High, where Nancy Sinatra, among many celebrity offspring, attended. The Nelson Riddle Orchestra headlined Uni's 1958 prom, with appearances by Keely Smith and Frank Sinatra himself. Sammy Davis Jr. performed an Elvis impersonation.
It was an age of innocence, a time of Ampex tape recorders, groups like Froggy Landers and the Cough Drops, and such novelty hits as "Alley Oop" (of which multiple hijacked versions were released soon after the original). The darkness arrived later, though there were harbingers of what was to come: Jan Berry's recklessness, Brian Wilson's obsessiveness and the specter of all things Phil Spector.
Selvin describes Spector as a guitar-playing "acne-riddled punk" and as "a short, sullen producer … reeking of English Leather." But Selvin also gives him his due, describing the recording of the Crystals' "He's a Rebel" as "the big bang of Los Angeles music" and detailing what went into the session that birthed Ike and & Tina Turner's 1966 "River Deep — Mountain High." The image of an exhausted Tina Turner drenched in sweat after dozens of takes, then stripping down to her bra and asking to lower the studio lights before starting all over again, is unforgettable. A classic now, the song flopped back then, sending Spector spiraling into a tailspin.
In many ways, this is a jukebox musical of a book, less driven by a propulsive narrative than a collection of set pieces. In fact, the best way to appreciate “Hollywood Eden” is to keep a computer or a phone handy to hear the songs Selvin mentions and to consult the list included in the endnotes. You'll never quite listen to "These Boots Are Made for Walkin' " in the same way after reading producer Lee Hazlewood's unprintable direction for how Nancy Sinatra, the young woman he considered "the pope's daughter," should think of herself as she sang the song.
If Altamont marked the premature end of the 1960s, “Hollywood Eden” is the decade's origin story, capturing the lingering 1950s and the transition in Southern California music from surfing and hot rods to the singer-songwriters of the canyons.
Hollywood Eden: Electric Guitars, Fast Cars, and the Myth of the California Paradise
By Joel Selvin
(House of Anansi Press; 320 pages, $32.95)
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How regional pop in the Hindi heartland is using Holi to push the sexual envelope
"Where is my bhabhi ?" asks a bhang -stoned Maan in the beginning of the second chapter of Vikram Seth's novel A Suitable Boy as he sets out to get playful with his sister-in-law on Holi.
The novel is set in the early 1950s in the fictional city of Brahmpur – a place which could be imagined as somewhere located between Varanasi in eastern Uttar Pradesh and Patna in central Bihar, a region called Purva Pradesh in the novel. The narrative then unfolds telling how the regular banter between the bhabhi and her devar , or husband's younger brother, on Holi. It gets into the risqué realm of Maan's opportunist lechery, something Seth calls 'licentious attack'. Maan is described as "fondling her a bit… rubbed the moist powder on her kameez over her breasts" despite sister-in-law pleading against it and struggling to get away, a character thinks such audacity is possibly "the licence presumably provided by the day".
If devoid of contextual understanding, the pattern of social expectations from these relationships, within or without festivities, are as widely different as that of asexual affection, even of benign maternal or paternal care, or something bordering on constant sensual tease, if not sexual tension.
Of late, it's the latter – sexualised shades of these relations — that is providing notes on titillation to the annual Holi pop music numbers churned out in different dialects in Hindi heartland. Such risqué themes are replete in annual Holi pop numbers in Bhojpuri, targeted at people from west and south-west Bihar, and to a lesser extent as in Haryanvi and Rajasthani.
In the Bhojpuri pop circuit, for instance, the Holi numbers use this theme as frequently as the running thread of migrant workers and their waiting wives. In a piece about Bhojpuri Holi pop published four years ago, I had argued that despite its current bawdy distortions in the pop circuit, the theme of a missing migrant husband could even be seen in early strands of Bideshiya genre of Bhojpuri music and theatre. Last year, in wake of a controversy, the centuries-old migrant theme in regional music of the Bhojpuri was put in a different context . However, there is equally pervasive, if not more, presence of bhauji , the regional term for sister-in-law, and saali as subtexts to raunchy numbers and videos.
Besides Holi, even the round-the-year offerings from Bhojpuri pop industry have sexualized, and mostly lewd, portrayals, of sisters-in-law. This appears a stark point of departure from a stream of musical compositions which placed sisters-in-law in asexual roles, almost exuding maternal glow. Nadiya ke paar (1982), a hugely popular film in the poorvanchal region on which Awadhi, Bhojpuri and khari boli Hindi speakers can lay different degrees of claim, had a number heralding the sister-in-law with "my sister-in-law has come to the courtyard" before going on to exalt her as "embodiment of prosperity and maternal affection".
In a paper published early this century , historian Charu Gupta had argued that bhabhi-devar relationship could also be seen in the light of the fact that in certain structures, the newly-married woman turned to the devar-bhabhi bond is also formed by the fact because he is the only one with whom she doesn't have a subservient relationship in family. However, such explanation premised on patriarchal setting could also extend to the younger sister of the husband, the wife doesn't share a subservient relationship with her too. More significantly, it may be noted that even such absence of subservience doesn't intrinsically mean a space for sexual element in the relationship. This could still mean a relationship that could hinge on shades as varied as elderly affection and maternal presence to flirtatious banter and lure of forbidden-fruit encounters.
The lewd appropriation of banter-driven Holi revelries by regional pop industry in general, and Bhojpuri pop circuit in particular, is a reminder that titillation has become a genre itself. The overt sexualisation of sisters-in-law in Holi pop also suggest that given the choice between their asexual affection-driven presence and expectations of sexual tease, the regional pop is going to be a noisy mutilplier of the latter. In an age when consent has become the byword for different forms of physical contact, the regional Holi pop is out of sync with the cultural context of playful festivity as well as out of tune with a wider array of fun.
Nick Jonas' new pop album sheds light on his songwriting amidst the pandemic – The Maine
Nick Jonas, a pop singer well-known for his solo music and member of the band the Jonas Brothers, recently released "Spaceman" on March 12 as his fourth studio album. "Spaceman" is made up of 11 songs that capture the time he has spent at home during the pandemic, and serves as a great addition to his artistic repertoire. "Spaceman" is the first album Jonas has released since the reunion of the Jonas Brothers in 2019.
Listeners have considered the lyrics across the album to be inspired by Jonas' experience during the COVID-19 pandemic. During an interview with Zane Lowe, Jonas describes that the title of the album symbolizes his disconnection from the world, further explaining that he created this album while remaining at home for the past year, hoping for better days to come. Listeners can hear four themes in "Spaceman": distance, indulgence, euphoria and commitment.
Each song ranges from two to three minutes long, following a trend of pop and contemporary R&B beats. The album has a total run time of 35 minutes. Notable songs from "Spaceman" include "This Is Heaven," "Heights," "Don't Give Up On Us" and "If I Fall." The album was released through Island Records and the producer is Greg Kurstin.
Jonas is 28 years old and is from Dallas, Texas. As a solo artist, he has released three other studio albums, "Nicholas Jonas" (2005), "Nick Jonas" (2014) and "Last Year Was Complicated" (2016), aside from "Spaceman." As a member of the Jonas Brothers, he and his brothers released the five studio albums "It's About Time" (2006), "Jonas Brothers" (2007), "A Little Bit Longer" (2008), "Lines, Vines and Trying Times" (2009) and "Happiness Begins" (2019).
The Jonas Brothers, made up of Nick Jonas and his two brothers, Joe and Kevin Jonas, was formed in 2005. The pop-rock band gained popularity quickly, and were featured on a television show called "Jonas" on Disney Channel, as well as in the Disney Channel Original Movies "Camp Rock" and "Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam."
In 2008, the band was nominated for the best new artist award at the 51st Grammy Awards and the Jonas Brothers won the award for breakthrough artist at the American Music Awards. Eight years after the band was formed, the Jonas Brothers announced their break-up on Oct. 29, 2013. They then reunited in 2019 by releasing their song "Sucker" on March 1. Their fifth studio album, "Happiness Begins," was released on June 7, 2019, topping the U.S. Billboard 200.
Lil Nas X Makes a Coming-Out Statement, and 9 More New Songs - The New York Times
Every Friday, pop critics for The New York Times weigh in on the week's most notable new songs and videos. Just want the music? Listen to the Playlist on Spotify here (or find our profile: nytimes). Like what you hear? Let us know at theplaylist@nytimes.com and sign up for our Louder newsletter , a once-a-week blast of our pop music coverage.
The teenage Taylor Swift who wrote "You All Over Me" for her second album, the 2008 "Fearless," largely styled herself as a country singer. The original track was left as an outtake, still unreleased. But Swift probably wouldn't have opened it with the metronomic, Minimalistic blips that start her newly recorded version, which is part of her reclamation of the early catalog she lost to music-business machinations . "You All Over Me" was a precursor of Swift's many post-breakup songs. With what would become her trademark amalgam of everyday details, emotional declarations and terse, neat phrases, she laments that it's impossible to escape memories of how she "had you/got burned/held out/and held on/God knows/too long." Blips and all — she worked with Aaron Dessner, one of the producers of her 2020 albums "Folklore" and "Evermore" — the track stays largely in the realm of country-pop, with mandolin, harmonica and piano, while Maren Morris's harmony vocals provide understated sisterly support. It's hardly a throwaway song, and more than a decade later, its regrets can extend to her contracts as well as her romances. PARELES
Not enough has been said about the strain of sweetness running through one sector of contemporary hip-hop. Listen to Lil Mosey or Lil Tecca — not just the pitch of the voices, but the breathable anti-density of the cadences, and also how the subject matter rarely rises past mild irritation. It's cuddles all around. CARAMANICA
The return of Brockhampton after a quiet 2020 is top-notch chaos — a frenetic, nerve-racking stomper (featuring an elastic verse by Danny Brown) that nods to N.W.A., the Beastie Boys, the Pharcyde and beyond. CARAMANICA
"Under the Pepper Tree" is the latest album by Sara Watkins, from the lapidary acoustic bands Nickel Creek and I'm With Her, and it's a collection of children's songs, mostly from her own childhood. "Night Singing" is her own new song, two minutes of pure benevolent lullaby as she urges, "Rest your eyes, lay down your head," while the music unfolds from cozy acoustic guitar picking to halos of ascending, reverberating lead guitar. PARELES
The cellist Christopher Hoffman's unruly, unorthodox quartet — featuring the vibraphonist Bryan Carrott, the bassist Rashaan Carter and the drummer Craig Weinrib — moves around with its limbs loose, but its body held together. On "Discretionary," the odd-metered opening track from his new album, "Asp Nimbus," a backbeat is implied but always overridden or undermined; Henry Threadgill's Zooid , an avant-garde chamber ensemble in which Hoffman plays, might flutter to mind. Carrott's vibes make a web of harmony that Hoffman's bowed cello sometimes supports, and elsewhere cuts right through. RUSSONELLO
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How Cruz is Bridging the Gap Between Electronic and Latin Pop Music - EDM.com - The Latest
"At the early age of four, I had an ear for music and by five years old, I learned how to play the violin," Cruz told EDM.com . "I then realized I wanted to make music that would resonate worldwide."
The road to contemporary crossover linchpin was an unconventional one for the New York-based DJ and producer. While studying audio engineering in his early years in the industry, Cruz, who plays numerous instruments, began making music for a TV channel and found himself performing on weekends with a Top 40 cover band. However, the small venues and weddings at which he appeared were a far cry from the lavish NYC nightclubs he can be seen performing at today, such as LAVO, PHD, and Soho.
He eventually landed a gig as a tracking and mixing engineer in a recording studio in Venezuela, where he had the opportunity to compose a song for legendary Latin pop artist Paulina Rubio . The track, "Me Gustas Tanto," appeared on Rubio's 10th studio album Brava! and topped Billboard's Latin Pop Songs chart, leading to a BMI Award win for Cruz.
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Enter "My Baby Shot Me Down," Cruz's latest genre-bending masterwork that serves as a tour de force after years of workhorse-like growth. Considering the bright future of the crossover space, Cruz sees the new single as a launchpad to merge the worlds of Latin pop and electronic dance music.
"['My Baby Shot Me Down'] is the first of many other crossover friendly songs that I will be releasing throughout 2021," explained Cruz, who finds inspiration in musical legends Queen , Michael Jackson , and The Beatles . "My formula is simple, I collaborate with amazing mainstream and electronic artists, songwriters, musicians and producers to maintain its essence while sprinkling our Latin flavor and colorful fusions."
Cruz, Adam Nazar, and V of Vossae joined forces for "My Baby Shot Me Down," a massive Latin pop and electronic crossover.
The work of Cruz's collaborators here is not to be understated. The additional production provided by Nazar, a Miami-based musician and electro DJ, is stellar through the song's arrangement. V of Vossae also provides a stentorian vocal performance, which has a powerful yet slow-burning presence as it slithers along to the hypnotic sound design of the track's producers. "How talented Adam and Victoria are, they have something unique that everyone needs to know about," Cruz gushed. "Its like a feeling that you can hear in this song that makes it that special."
BLACKPINK's Rosé Rises To No.
"On The Ground" is the title track from Rosé's single album "R" and is a rock style song that showcases her powerful vocals. The meaningful lyrics are about realizing that what is really important is within oneself.
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Soompi Music Chart takes into account rankings by various major music charts in Korea as well as the hottest trending artists on Soompi, making it a unique chart that reflects what's going on in K-pop not only in Korea but around the world. Our chart is composed of the following sources:
Gaon Singles + Albums – 30%
Hanteo Singles + Albums – 20%
Billboard Korea – 20%
Soompi Airplay – 15%
YouTube K-pop Songs + Music Videos – 15%
All The Best New Pop Music From This Week
This week in the best new pop music saw the release of some anticipated LPs. Lana Del Rey dropped her long-awaited Chemtrails Over The Country Club , Justin Bieber debuted his album Justice , and J Balvin returned with a fiery new single.
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Lana Del Rey has been teasing Chemtrails Over The Country Club for months, and it’s finally here along with her fan favorite song “White Dress.” About the track, co-writer/producer Jack Antonoff says it’s one of his favorites on the album. “What I like about that song is that for all of its weirdness, when you get to the end of it, you understand exactly what it's about,” he said.
Other than getting hit with a cease and desist letter for his album’s logo, Justin Bieber’s Justice album rolled out this week without a hitch. The 16-track release dove deeper into his R&B sound, which can be heard on the song “Peaches,” featuring Daniel Caesar and Giveon. The track displayed Bieber’s positive lyricism over a snappy beat while offering an opportunity for his collaborator to show off their moving vocals.
J Balvin may have released his acclaimed album Colores just last year, but he’s showing no signs of slowing down since. The Colombian musician returned this week to debut his dark pop track "Tu Venemo,” where he sings of the addictive nature of a toxic relationship.
TikTok star Addison Rae was highest-paid person on the platform in 2020, and now she’s pivoting to her music career. Rae released her debut single “Obsessed” this week, which is a sparkling anthem about maintaining self worth.
Though he’s only been making music for about eight months, 16-year-old North Carolina native Glaive has already made a name for himself with his art-pop sound. Now, "I Wanna Slam My Head Against The Wall" marks Glaive’s latest release. The song offers another view into his psyche, this time contrasting relationship woes with upbeat instrumentals.
Up-and-coming pop songwriter Dasha released her shimmering debut EP $hiny Things this week, showing off her knack for catchy yet relatable tunes. In a statement about the project, Dasha said: “The mood of the entire project swings from crying on your birthday, to being so innocently in love with someone, to getting cheated on, to finally being the confident bitch you're supposed to be. This EP is the epitome of all the ups and downs I've felt over the past year.”
Best New Artist Grammy nominee Noah Cyrus released the folksy collaboration “You Belong To Somebody Else” with PJ Harding this week. The track arrives as another preview of the two songwriter’s joint EP People Don’t Change , which is slated for a release later this spring. "At heart, this is really a raw, homemade record," Harding stated about the song. "There's a strong folk tradition in Australia, which you can possibly feel. There's certainly a lot of Nashville in there too. I feel like Noah is really the guiding force here. She's the soul of this record."
Rising singer Madeline The Person offered a glimpse into her colorful world of pop with the euphoric single “As A Child.” “With my music, I’m trying to normalize the sad and hard and really gross stuff and make it more acceptable and less scary, because to me, as a person, I am all of those things combined. I’m super sad and also really happy and joyful and grateful. I have a lot of emotions and I don’t like to boil it down to just a few.”
Women in pop punk | Female artists in alternative music | Alternative Press
It’s well known that, historically, pop punk has been a bit of a boys’ club. But that just makes the continued influences of prominent women all the more impressive.
From setting genre foundations ( Gwen Stefani ) to pushing sonic boundaries ( Lynn Gunn ), women have catalyzed the growth of the scene for decades. Of course, we’re not going to let those efforts go unrecognized.
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We’re just going to go ahead and start this list strong right off the bat. There’s a good reason Avril Lavigne is widely considered the epitome of what women can accomplish in pop punk. Among the first wave of artists to find mainstream success in the genre, she hit celebrity status rapidly with her debut album, Let Go , in 2002. With such prominence, it’s no wonder that her angsty anthems have so greatly inspired the scene for decades.
If anything, Hey Monday ‘s Cassadee Pope proved that pop punk is multifaceted. The vocalist has her own unique brand of charisma, which undoubtedly contributed to her later success on The Voice and in her career as a country music star. During her time under the outfit, she graced the scene with the type of upbeat optimism that could outshine even the Warped Tour sun. It was this exact energy that ultimately informed the next generation of the genre.
We’ll diverge briefly from our list of vocalists to shout out an iconic woman who seldom stands centerstage. As a female drummer, Jess Bowen is a rarity in not just the pop-punk scene but the music industry at large. On top of performing under the Summer Set for a decade, she’s also provided percussion for prominent scene acts such as 3OH!3 and Nekokat .
Don’t think for one second that we were going to forget to mention Hayley Williams . The Paramore vocalist has been representing women in the pop-punk scene since the band debuted with All We Know Is Falling in 2005. Not only is she a beacon for aspiring young women, but she’s also been notably vocal about the toxicity and sexism posed by the male-dominated scene.
Who are some of your favorite women who have exerted influence on the pop-punk scene? Let us know in the comments!
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