The Korea Music Content Association has filed an official complaint on behalf of a number of K-pop companies over an amendment being made to South Korean law that will allow male pop musicians in the country to defer their mandatory military service by two years. The organisation says that the criteria for benefitting from this rule change are so narrow that it will pretty much only apply to members of BTS, despite initially appearing to be a broader change in favour of K-pop stars as a whole.
In its objection, the KMCA says the amendment is “unrealistic and unfair”, according to Korea JoongAng Daily . The new rule allows any artist who has received a cultural merit from the country’s Ministry Of Culture, Sports And Tourism to defer their military service by two years. This basically means that they need to sign up to do that service before the age of 31, rather than age 29 like everyone else.
However, that cultural merit honour is only usually given to artists who have been active for fifteen years or more – the average age of recipients being 60. A rare exception was made to give the award to BTS in 2018 in recognition of their massive rise to global success.
This, says a spokesperson for the KMCA, “clearly means that no musicians [other than BTS members] will be eligible” to defer their military service under the new rules.
“If a male musician would want to meet the criteria before he turns 28, he has to begin his K-pop career when he’s thirteen years old at the latest”, they went on. “And that doesn’t even mean that they can defer their services. That’s only the requirement to apply for the merit. There’s a separate set of standards to see whether they actually get the chance to defer their services”.
The law that says that all able-bodied men in South Korea are required to enlist in the military before they turn 29, then serving for a minimum of two years, has become international news over the last year because BTS member Jin turned 28 in December.
This is, of course, an issue that has been faced by many other K-pop groups before. Indeed, other popular groups being forced into hiatus while members do their military service has arguably created a gap in the market for each new generation of groups, BTS included, to exploit.
Other acts have tried to keep things ticking along while certain members are doing that military service by having their bandmates embark on solo careers in the gap. But that does not guarantee that the group will simply be able to pick up where they left off when everyone eventually returns – fans having often moved on by then.
Usually this has not been a concern for South Korean politicians and military officials, who have generally been of the opinion that it’s just something that all K-pop stars have to deal with. However, in the case of BTS, the outfit’s global success has been so great that a sudden halt in their career could have a noticeable affect on the country’s economy.
Trip out to Kidä's stylish pop music, inspired by 70s Italian film scores | Dazed
"In order to rise/From its own ashes/A phoenix/First must burn," so says Octavia Butler in her novel Parable of the Talents – a story swirling with themes of spirituality, transcendence, and striving for personal and freedoms.
Burn to Make It Glow , Kidä's debut EP release, parallels that expansive message in both its title and inner guts – pull from your pain, and from it, emerge with wisdom and power. The record, an alchemical concoction of psychedelia, R&B, and retro, villainous-sounding Italian film scores, is a "spiritual release" for the Italian-Egyptian musician and producer. "The Garden" is an aching reflection on growth and goodbyes, the bravery in ending something – a relationship, a creative pursuit – for uncertain but exciting future joys. "Brother" is a ferocious track on the importance of solidarity and fighting for the people you hold dear. It's a surreal, pop astral projection. Though Kidä says assuredly this is nowhere near her final form, Burn to Make It Glow is testament to a dynamic artist's tendriled vision.
This record marks her debut, but Kidä's A Portal To Jump Through project has seen her create original scores for titans of the fashion world, traversing the industrial and psychedelic with Gucci and Prada , among others. Her visual world is a total trip, with hypnotic music videos in collaboration with Luke Jascz that nod to art-rock, The Factory, and B-movies.
Below, Kidä catches up with Dazed: on building her nostalgia-tinged but future-facing identity, her chameleonic personal style and how fashion influences her sound, and hustling a release as an independent artist.
Kidä: It's been odd. I feel like a caged animal. I just really want to take a vacation and swim in the sea.
How did you get into making music? You have a musical family right? When did it become something you wanted to seriously pursue?
My family has a bit of a musical legacy: Ruggero Leoncavallo who wrote the opera "Pagliacci" about a lovelorn clown. This opera is where the trope of the sad clown originated.
How does your work as a Portal to Jump Through intersect with Kidä, and where do the projects diverge?
Kidä: My sound design work under A Portal To Jump Through opened me up to a library of textures that naturally crossed over to Kidä world. But i think in all other ways they are massively different. Kidä World operates in the sensual realm of emotions and instincts, and AP2JT employs a much more strategic, almost utilitarian approach to creation.
Upcoming Pop Music Artist from Perth O'Neill Fernandes Releases Album 'Rock 'N
Artist O'Neill Fernandes hails Hank Marvin from The Shadows as his biggest inspiration that led to the tailoring of the album, 'Rock 'N Roll Is King…Ver.2' . He is currently working on a new project, 'Let's Dance…Vol.3' which is set as a dance album comprising of tracks across generations incorporating a number of genres. The album will contain 20 tracks and is set to enter post-production by the end of May 2021. Listen to the sundry of his exclusive music by following him on SoundCloud , Facebook and YouTube .
Rock 'N Roll Is King…Ver.2: https://soundcloud.com/oneill-fernandes/sets/rock-n-roll-is-kingver2
In Rina Sawayama, Elton John Found a Collaborator and a Friend - The New York Times
From left: RINA SAWAYAMA , singer, 30; and ELTON JOHN , singer, 74. Photographed at John's home in Old Windsor, England, on March 1, 2021.
Few albums last year did more to rewire the notion of what pop music's future might sound like than Rina Sawayama's debut, " Sawayama ." The touchstones were eclectic and invigorating: nu-metal, shiny 2000s megapop, glam club tracks, rap-rock and more. It was both audaciously theatrical and also deft at deploying theatrical modes as the foundation of a new sincerity, one somewhere out beyond camp or kitsch.
In this, it found obvious kinship with Elton John, who has been an exemplar of baroque pop for decades. More than any superstar of his generation — and even those that followed — John is also a curious and ravenous consumer of the new in pop. He hosts " Elton John's Rocket Hour ," a weekly radio show on Apple Music that plays up-and-coming artists alongside classics, and is a frequent on-record collaborator and behind-the-scenes encourager to a host of young performers. As soon as he came across Sawayama's music, John was smitten, and reached out to her to express his admiration.
John, 74, and Sawayama, 30, found they have much in common. During his breakout years in the early to mid 1970s, John was something of a pop heretic as well, a rock icon steeped in glam, psychedelia, blues, you name it. Both singers are outspoken about their politics and motivated by passion and care for the queer community. They also brandish imaginations global in scope. John has lately been agitating for government intervention on behalf of young British musicians left logistically stranded in the wake of Brexit. And recently, thanks to intense lobbying from Sawayama — who was born in Japan and raised in England — the British Phonogram Industry extended eligibility for the BRIT Awards and the Mercury Prize, the U.K.'s marquee music prizes, to artists who've resided in the United Kingdom for five years, expanding the frame of what it means to be British.
After getting to know each other over the phone during the pandemic, the two singers met for the first time, following strict safety protocols, in a London studio in December so that they could record a collaborative version of Sawayama's song " Chosen Family ," which will be released this month. In February, I joined them as they reconvened over Zoom — John in his music-filled home office in Old Windsor, Sawayama in London — and discussed everything from avoiding stylistic ruts to cosmopolitanism and the suffocations of heterosexual love songs. Below are excerpts from the conversation.
Rina Sawayama: Thank you. Wow. It came from me being really bored between songs I was writing. I didn't want to write only the same genre, because that wasn't my taste. My taste was varied. And I thought, this is the one time I can make my debut album, so I'll just do it how I like.
E.J.: You're so good. You don't need to bastardize it with anything else. You just keep your mind and write the stuff you do. That's the confidence she projects on this record. This woman, she's full of ideas. The videos, also. For " Bad Friend ," for sure. Now, I'm a huge photography collector. I have one of the biggest private collections in the world. And that video reminded me of a Brassaï photograph from Paris. Anyway, we were phone friends at first and then Rina asked me if I would like to record a version of "Chosen Family." And how could I say no?
R.S.: Those kinds of grand, genuine songs are quite hard to write as a new artist because, for lack of a better word, people think they're too cheesy. But I love cheese. To me it's the classic song. Can you write something that stripped down that still blossoms and takes you somewhere? And I felt like it was the perfect marriage with what Elton has been doing his whole career.
Tune-Yards' 'sketchy.' is indie pop for everyone – The Orion
Coming a few years after their last full-length album, the indie oddity Tune-Yards has returned with some of their most unabashedly fun music on "sketchy."
"sketchy." sees Merrill Garbus and Nate Brenner setting a clear goal for themselves: fun pop that innovates the sound they have already nailed in the past. African polyrhythm holds steady as a driving inspiration for the duo, weaving seamlessly into their own David Longstreth-like harmonies. But this new project has left most of the abrasive sonics that Tune-Yards has become renowned for in place of a much smoother and sunnier sound palate.
At a breezy 37 minutes, Garbus and Brenner made an album that may not be the quintessential Tune-Yards experience but rather serves as the perfect entry point for the curious onlookers.
Tune-Yards have never kept their politics a secret, and have produced plenty of ire from critics and fans alike — again, let's just try to forget "Colonizer." But "sketchy." tones down the grating lyricism without compromising the bite that Tune-Yards fans are accustomed to.
With such an abundance of qualities to gush over, there comes a few instances in which Garbus and Brenner could have spent more time fleshing out their ideas. The song "silence pt. 1 (when we say 'we')" is a great song, although I feel that the impact of the titular silence is undercut when "silence pt. 2 (who is 'we'?)" is relegated to its own separate track, resulting in a full minute of pure silence. When the two parts are separated, it comes off as a failure to commit to an unconventional idea, which is odd considering that Tune-Yards has never been opposed to unconventional ideas before.
"sometime" shifts between refrain and verse without missing a beat, despite the clashing of the two. The production is as smooth and vibrant as the rest of the album, but it does little to grow past the point at which it starts, stagnating by the end.
Despite these stumbles, "sketchy." contains some of the most accessible indie pop Tune-Yards have produced. "hypnotized" and "hold yourself." are, for all intents and purposes, pop bliss with an added layer of social commentary that give them the substance to keep me coming back again and again. Garbus and Brenner put together a tight and cohesive listen, making for an easy recommendation to pop music listeners of any and all kinds.
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MSU Opera Workshop students present 'Resurgence' | Mississippi State University
"Resurgence" poster featuring an original drawing by MSU senior music education major Kailyn Naquin of Lacombe, Louisiana
STARKVILLE, Miss.—The worlds of opera and pop music converge this Friday, April 16, when Mississippi State's Department of Music hosts a public performance of "Resurgence" on the Starkville campus.
Admission is free to the 7 p.m. outdoor performance at the amphitheater adjacent to Giles Hall. COVID-19 safety protocols will be followed.
Students in the MSU music department's Opera Workshop program have created "Resurgence" under the supervision of Roza Tulyaganova, MSU assistant professor of voice, and Jeanette Fontaine, MSU assistant professor of voice and voice area coordinator.
"'Resurgence' is about the fight for freedom, and our students were involved in the creation of this production on every level," she said.
Student assistant conductors Megan Kundel of Starkville and Tavion M. McCorvey of Alabaster, Alabama, led some rehearsals and conducted scenes. Boozer, along with Jaylen S. Stowers of Belton, South Carolina, provided choreography for the show's dance numbers.
"In addition to our student assistants, every student in the show brings their creativity and talent to the production," said Fontaine, who is serving as music director. "This show mixes musical styles into a unified work, which allows us to introduce 'boring opera' to the new generation in a unique way."
For more information, contact Fontaine at jfontaine@colled.msstate.edu or Tulyaganova at rozat@colled.msstate.edu .
Learn more about MSU's College of Education and its Department of Music at www.educ.msstate.edu and www.music.msstate.edu .
Mothica On TikTok Fame, New Music & Turning Pain Into Art
Get to know more about Mothica — including her love of Hayley Williams (she's still waiting for Paramore to drop their punk album) — in her Bustle Booth questionnaire below.
I just binged The One on Netflix which is incredible if you like shows like Black Mirror . I'm impatiently waiting for the next season.
I joke about wanting to be the first tattooed Bachelorette, but actually I'd rather pitch my bad app ideas to Shark Tank .
Latin music sensation Bad Bunny follows up Wrestlemania win with announcement of Orlando show in
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Top 25 R&B albums of 2020: #5-1 | The Stanford Daily
"F*ck The World" is the toxic R&B masterpiece of 2020. Despite ridiculously smooth and incredible vocals, the content of "F*ck The World" is mostly cold and heartless. Brent Faiyaz elaborates on many of the same concepts of "DS2"-era Future (toxicity, swagger, womanizing), but with a heavenly voice and an elegant delivery. It's almost as though Brent is just what Future would be if he had been born with world-class vocals. Destructive behaviors, ignoring consequences and disregarding feelings are just some of the constants in Brent's music — but he makes them sound incredible. The vocal performances throughout are close to flawless, and the songwriting is consistently solid. The production, though pretty minimalist and not very complex, is likewise solid and complementary. Beyond providing many toxic one-line Instagram captions, the music on "F*ck The World" showcases a reflective and introspective side of Brent at a handful of points. With a voice and unwavering swagger like Brent's, it is hard to create an album that is not great — and "F*ck The World" proves just that.
Favorite Songs: "Clouded," "F*ck The World (Summer in London)," "Lost Kids Get Money," "Been Away," "Let Me Know"
Chloe x Halle immediately asserted themselves as a prominent duo in modern R&B and pop music with the release of "Ungodly Hour," an incredible expression of maturing emotions and artistry. The rise to prominence for the Atlanta duo has been rapid, and the past few years have positioned them into pop icons who are only going to get bigger. Both Chloe and Halle Bailey began their rise to fame with minor acting roles, music covers posted on the internet and Disney Channel appearances. In the present, this has grown into prominent acting roles, a co-sign and support from Beyoncé herself and a studio album with mass acclaim. This album displays elite versatility and innovative twists on contemporary R&B all throughout. The vocal performances of both are consistently great, and the diversity of styles and sounds keep the album entertaining. Chloe and Halle both show that they are more than just musicians, with incredible thematics and an array of elaborate music videos such as " Forgive Me ," " Ungodly Hour ," and " Do It ." "Ungodly Hour" is an album with finesse and precision way beyond the age of the fantastic duo, and an effortless display of incredible talent from both Chloe and Halle that shows they are more than ready to be in the spotlight of pop culture.
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