Dubai-based international popstar Lisa Scott-Lee tells Arabian Business how understanding the business side of the industry allowed her and her Steps band members to thrive
Dubai-based international popstar Lisa Scott-Lee has revealed that understanding the business side of her UK-based band Steps has gone a long way to ensuring its longevity.
Scott-Lee has been a business owner in her own right since forming the successful Dubai Performing Arts Academy (DPA) in 2014 with her husband Johnny, a former dancer with Steps and singer with pop group Hear'Say, who went on to star in London's West End as one of the lead roles in Footloose as well as other musicals.
But it was coming to terms with the behemoth that is the music industry, which has arguably been one of her greatest lessons in a career with Steps which began back in the late 1990s and remains as strong as ever today.
She told Arabian Business: "Other bands around us like Five and shortly afterwards Westlife, people like that and the Spice Girls, they were signed by album deals. Steps was only signed by a one-single deal which meant we really had to prove ourselves.
"The single '5, 6, 7, 8' spent 14 weeks in the top 20, which was a record then, so I think quickly the record company saw there was a lot of potential in Steps and then we renegotiated a fantastic three-album deal.
"It was really interesting to see the change because we had our record company, we had management, we had a whole team. There's no manual for being a pop star. I went to stage school, I trained and became a qualified teacher of dance, which is why I can do what I'm doing now with DPA, but back then you entered the industry not knowing, you're blind really, and you learn quickly. "It's a tough industry, it's cut-throat. You wonder who you can trust. It really isn't easy, we were all 19 or 20 and we had to learn quickly."
After 27 singles, six studio albums, seven video albums and well over 20 million records sold, the group has released their latest single, Heartbreak in the City, for which Scott-Lee filmed her parts amid the stunning backdrop of Dubai Marina.
But it's a far cry from the beginnings of pop superstardom as Scott-Lee explained: "In the early days we'd be on a club tour and we'd perform for 50 pounds-a-show and you're splitting that five ways and there's the management cut as well. We toured the whole country up and down. It was tiring but we were so passionate, we were so enthusiastic and we believed that we had something special and we were going to do some great things within the music industry.
REVIEW: Girls5eva Is a Clever Pop Music Parody From Producer Tina Fey
If Girls5eva were a real pop group from the late '90s/early '00s heyday of acts like the Spice Girls and the Pussycat Dolls, they'd probably have no trouble getting booked on the nostalgia circuit, even though they only ever scored a single hit. But it's much more entertaining to watch them struggle, as they do on this funny Peacock comedy. Produced by Tina Fey and Robert Carlock and created by longtime Fey/Carlock collaborator Meredith Scardino, Girls5eva fits in perfectly with previous Fey/Carlock productions, including 30 Rock , Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt , Great News and the recent Mr. Mayor .
The other three are a little more broadly drawn, but they all get their own heartfelt character arcs, no matter how ridiculous they seem at first. The bond among the women feels authentic, even as they enter into increasingly far-fetched situations. Like other Fey/Carlock productions, Girls5eva is full of elaborate running jokes, and it returns to the New York City of 30 Rock and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt , with a keen sense of the city's unique absurdities. It wouldn't be a surprise to see any of these characters run into Liz Lemon or Kimmy Schmidt on the street.
That inevitably means that some of the humor is familiar, and Summer's vapidity and Wickie's vanity both recall characters played by Jane Krakowski. As Dawn's boorish brother, Dean Winters essentially reprises his 30 Rock role of Liz Lemon's dirtbag ex-boyfriend Dennis Duffy. The cut-rate stage musical version of The Mask that Wickie stars in could easily be a Titus Andromedon project.
At the same time, Scardino finds distinctive satirical targets in the pop music of the boy band/girl group era, and Girls5eva 's vintage music videos capture the tackiness of second-string acts like Dream or O-Town. Scardino engages with the uncomfortable aspects of the pop-star machine while affectionately paying tribute to the music. There's no way you won't have the Girls5eva theme song stuck in your head after watching just a single episode.
Professional singers Bareilles and Goldsberry (a Broadway veteran who was part of Hamilton 's original cast) contribute to the music's authenticity, but Pell and Philipps hold their own in the performance scenes, and Pell -- who's spent most of her career behind the camera as a writer -- especially seems to be having fun.
That sense of enthusiasm, despite potential audience indifference, makes Girls5eva endearing, and Scardino is never laughing at the main characters, no matter how meager their professional accomplishments are. The softer, good-natured tone of Mr. Mayor took some of the bite out of its humor, but Girls5eva remains sharp while also remaining sympathetic. It's a worthy addition to the Fey/Carlock canon.
Starring Sara Bareilles, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Busy Philipps and Paula Pell, the eight-episode first season of Girls5eva debuts Thursday, May 6 on Peacock .
Josh Bell is a freelance writer and movie/TV critic based in Las Vegas. He's the former film editor of Las Vegas Weekly and has written about movies and pop culture for Syfy Wire, Polygon, Inverse, Film Racket, Crooked Marquee and more. With comedian Jason Harris, he co-hosts the podcast Awesome Movie Year.
Houston thief takes off with limited edition NCT 127 K-pop album valued more than $500 - ABC13
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'Latest Record Project: Volume 1' by Van Morrison Review: Songs in the Key of Conspiracy - WSJ
We got a hint that something strange was going on with late-era Van Morrison when he called a 2015 release "Duets: Re-Working the Catalogue." It found the Northern Irish singer-songwriter revisiting deep cuts from earlier in his career with partners like Steve Winwood and George Benson, but the album's title sounded like something scribbled at the top of a recording executive's marketing memo. It was as if Mr. Morrison was acknowledging that his records were merely contractual obligations. But while the record's name suggested a lack of inspiration, his actual performances on the collection—and on the six albums he's put out since—are impassioned and committed. Even when he seems to be going through the motions, his voice, which has held up astonishingly well for someone who is 75 years old, keeps the distinctive spark heard on legendary songs like "Brown Eyed Girl," "Moondance" and " Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile)."
On Friday, Mr. Morrison releases another offering with a less-than-creative title: "Latest Record Project: Volume 1" (Exile BMG) is his 42nd studio LP. Befitting the perfunctory appellation, it comes packaged with a cover whose bland geometric design could easily have graced a package of blank CD-Rs in 2005. It follows a trio of songs he issued in 2020, all of which decried government lockdowns in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic. Those aren't included here, but most of this material has a similarly ill-tempered spirit.
The lyrics on "Latest Record Project"—an epically long collection, with 28 tracks that stretch for over two hours—are filled with bile, and much of his ire has a conspiratorial tone. For those who don't get enough of people complaining about such things on social media platforms, now we have a Van Morrison album that lays out perceived injustices, large and small, in song.
Mr. Morrison has long been attuned to slights, so there's nothing especially new about him airing grievances in music—he did, after all, open his spiritually minded 1991 LP "Hymns to the Silence" with a number called "Professional Jealousy," directed at those whom he perceived were envious of his success. But here, almost everything except outrage has fallen away, and we're left only with a laundry list of complaints.
Musically, the record features Mr. Morrison's typical mélange of R&B, jazz and folk, but blues is the predominant mode, and about half the tracks hew to 12-bar form. His band is solid and professional, with a blend of guitar, piano, organ and backing vocalists, but "Latest Recording Project" sounds strange. Whether because of Covid-19 restrictions or some other reason, the arrangements are so low-key they often sound preprogrammed. However, despite the cheap and sour lyrical content and rinky-dink sonics, Mr. Morrison sings remarkably well. But his virtuosity as a vocalist puts the album's other shortcomings in sharper relief. Hearing his legendary tenor on clunky lines like "Can we say that you're clinically insane / Can you still even use your brain" in "Psychoanalysts' Ball" drives home just how trite these songs are.
The final section of "Latest Record Project" is its most depressing stretch. After the cranky "Stop Bitching, Do Something," Mr. Morrison touches on the fall of "Western Man" ("While he was dreaming, others were scheming / Doing deals behind his back") and offers parting thoughts on the role of the information industry in our current misery with "They Own the Media" and "Why Are You on Facebook?" He ends with "Jealousy," wherein he calls out those who envy him because, in his words, "I'm not a slave to the system like you." As this set mercifully comes to a close, dedicated Van Morrison fans are forced to confront the ominous implications of the "Volume 1" subtitle: "There are 28 tracks here, but I recorded over 50," he says in a press note. "I'll probably put out another double album after this one." In lieu of exploring this hopefully brief phase of his career, we might instead ponder the silence Mr. Morrison once exalted.
The Quietus | Reviews | Yukika
Japanese-born K-pop star Yukika accelerates the sonics of late 70s disco towards thrilling new zones, finds Verónica A. Bastardo
Developing her Asian 80s sound, 2020's Soul Lady was a solid debut album sound-wise thanks to a combination of glittering synths evoking Japanese city pop with a touch of future house's energy and the cheesiness of mellow ballads – a necessarily gentle corrective to the dance-focused k-pop scene of last year. However, it was a missed opportunity to tell a solid story since only about 3 songs follow the "young women in a new city" storyline. Timeabout fixes that.
Signalling a step further in Yukika's brand as the contemporary city-pop princess, Timeabout is a clear example of a commitment to fulfil a convincing romantic music concept. In the intro, 'Leap forward', composer Memme takes off from the tiny bit of narrative Soul Lady had, recreating a car journey through the empty streets of a city by via pure instrumentals with a high-key note progression over a hushed sound that only increases its speed after some electro-drums. There's a touch of glimmering old video game-like samples and a big band drop with trumpets and a funky bass (if you catch some of 'Sparkles' by Tatsuro Yamashita influence… I didn't say anything). Suddenly, all the neon lights have powered up and the night has just begun.
This imagery all makes sense when you listen to the next track, 'Insomnia', where Yukika sings about an endless night. But the delightful part comes with its grooviness, surprisingly, from the hi-hat beats in combination with Yukika's mellow lullaby-like voice. The work of the composers and producers, 임수호 (Im Sooho), 웅킴 (Woong Kim) & N!ko is remarkable when you take a look at the text-painting details – like the slightly wavy echoed filters the song has, giving it this sense of a never-ending dream state.
You'll find more of this text-painting thing in '별방울 (PUNG!)' (roughly translated to 'drop of stars'). It lacks in development, since it's rather a repetitive melody over and over again, but the compensation comes with little details like the pause just before the "poof!" ("펑" or "pung" in the lyrics), recreating that flicker of an explosion someone feels when meeting "the right one", and – once again – those hush sample sounds are here during the whole song, only this time around they have the effect of inducting you into a floating space vibe.
So, following the retro 70s/80s pop trend, Timeabout tells a cheesy soulmate-like love story performed by Yukika's honeyed voice, whose tenderness and shyness gives the narrative the right amount of innocence to achieve a perfect sweet-girl-next-door sound. It also makes the most of the nostalgic and intimate feeling from sparkly disco beats and soft-rock, with a touch of today's intensity through faster tempos and intricate mixes. A great showcase for the dynamism of K-pop producers who aren't afraid of blending many different genres to come up with power bop tracks full of musical details.
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ITZY On Mini Album 'Guess Who' And Embracing A Bold New Sound
Even the members of ITZY were surprised by the powerful and trap-inflected direction of their latest single, " 마.피.아 In the Morning ," from their new mini album Guess Who . "We thought it was really unique for a K-pop girl group," says Ryujin, the charismatic performer who tearily turned 20 last week. She tells NYLON over Zoom that both the song and its hard-hitting performance show off the team's "foxy and sassy" sides. "I like that," she says, smiling.
In the crowded Korean pop music landscape, being different is the key to success, and the global demand for ITZY has never been higher. ITZY's Yeji, Lia, Ryujin, Chaeryeong, and Yuna have been confidently strutting to the beat of their own bedazzled drum since 2019, when they burst onto the scene with the anthemic earworm " Dalla Dalla ," meaning "different" in Korean. At the time, the colorful visual became the fastest K-pop debut music video to reach 100 million views on YouTube. Last year's viral hit " Wannabe " championed their individuality. "I don't wanna be somebody," they sing. "Just wanna be me."
Out now, Guess Who taps into this signature ethos, but it also propels them forward into uncharted territory. "Shoot!" finds ITZY flirting with Latin trap, while "Tennis (0:0)" is refreshing acoustic pop. True to their name — a play on the Korean words "to have it all" — ITZY refuses to be defined by one sound. They're both confident and vulnerable, dangerous and dexterous, and now they're ready to show the full spectrum of their charms.
Below, NYLON caught up with ITZY to discuss Guess Who , trying new things, learning from challenges, and the struggle of outdoing themselves with every comeback.
When I listened to "마.피.아 In the Morning" for the first time, I was really surprised. It's a new sound for ITZY. Did it feel different for you as well?
Lia: I wouldn't say it's totally different, but, yeah, we tried to show another side of us. We're glad that you were surprised because that's one of the reactions we want our fans to have when they listen to our music. We've all kind of grown, and our concept got a little more dark and intense. The performance is way more complex. There's a lot more to it.
Ryujin: For "마.피.아 In the Morning," the mafia doesn't mean the real mafia in Italy. [Laughs.] It's about the party game Mafia in Korea. So we are portraying the mafia role in this song. We're concealing ourselves in the morning but taking someone's heart in the night. We wanted to show the two sides of us. Also, we're being a little foxy and sassy, and I like that.
What can you tell me about the performance? I feel like your choreography gets more difficult with every comeback.
Lia: I guess it became our thing. Performance is definitely something that we can't take out of ITZY, and it's something that our fans expect from us. That's one of the things we really work hard on when we get ready for a comeback. So for "마.피.아 In the Morning," our performance is quite difficult. We would say that it's the most difficult [choreography] we've done, but that's what we say every time! Because as you said, we always come back with something even harder.
From TWICE's I Can't Stop Me to TXT's Blue Hour; 5 K pop music videos that gave new meaning to
Keke Palmer and Pete Davidson play corporate assassins in Hit Job
My Teenage Band has a brilliantly straightforward premise: host Nick Taylor talks to various artists and creatives of all sorts about their time playing in bands as teenagers. Taylor has a wonderful ability to allow his guests to explore their past freely; following along with their nostalgic recollections, he prompts with questions that help unfold memories of formative experiences they had while chasing adolescent dreams of rock stardom. This episode, Taylor interviews comedian Josie Long, who tracks her interest in music across various instruments and into a number of different bands. Listening to Long reflect on teen bandmates, various band names (Dead Call Girl and Brain Gandhi, to name a few), and the influence of '90s music offers a warm glance at the past from a present-day perspective. It's obvious that Taylor and Long both have a tenderness for their teen years. Adulthood often makes us forget the passions of those years—a period known for the struggle of figuring out who you are and needing to express it—but luckily, My Teenage Band offers a glance back, and a nice reminder to appreciate the boldness of youth. [Jose Nateras]
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