Danyel Smith's "Black Girl Songbook" is one of several music-focused podcasts introduced recently on Spotify that take a novel approach to one of the industry's oldest problems. Credit... Phylicia J.L. Munn for The New York Times
Danyel Smith used to make a podcast in her kitchen. Smith, an author, journalist and former editor in chief of Vibe magazine, recorded it with her husband, Elliott Wilson, a fellow journalist and the founder of Rap Radar, between the sink and a bowl of fruit.
As one might expect of a show hosted by longtime music journalists, the podcast, " Relationship Goals ," which ran from 2015 to 2016, featured lots of music — in between playfully adversarial banter about domestic and professional headlines. The song placements, like the show itself, were done off the cuff — without much forethought, professional assistance or official permission.
"It was a little bit of pirate podcasting," Smith said. "We weren't a part of a network, and this was before podcasting had become super popular. We would just sit at our little kitchen table and play music and talk about it."
In its lack of authorized music, "Relationship Goals" wasn't unusual — the process of licensing music from official rights holders often takes resources that many independent podcast publishers don't have. But when Smith decided to start a new podcast last year, inspired by her work on a coming book about the history of Black women in pop music, she knew she wanted to do things differently.
" Black Girl Songbook ," Smith's new podcast, is one of several music-focused shows introduced on the platform in the last year that take a novel approach to one of the industry's oldest problems. It uses a hybrid format, which Spotify calls "shows with music" or "music and talk," that allows creators to incorporate full songs from the service's vast catalog into their podcasts free of charge. (Spotify takes a 30 percent cut of ads set up through the service.) The format gives podcasters easy access to music that would be difficult or too costly to attain on their own and presents listeners with a seamless interface for learning more about a song or adding it to their library.
"Full songs are where the magic is," Smith said. "There's nothing like teeing up a song that means so much to me and that I know will mean so much to others if they just have the opportunity to hear it."
Deborah Mannis-Gardner, a music clearance expert — she has worked on the podcasts "Broken Record" with Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell and Bruce Headlam; and "The Midnight Miracle," with Dave Chappelle, Yasiin Bey and Talib Kweli — said she has seen an uptick in inquiries from D.I.Y. creators.
"They have to determine how important the music is to them, how relevant it is to the podcast and whether or not that's worth the few dollars they have in their budget," Mannis-Gardner said. "I always tell people, 'If you just want something that sounds cool, have a composer do a work-for-hire or use a music library.'"
Slayyyter's Inferno: In Conversation with the Pop Starlet
Pop music is in limbo. A night out to pretty much any metropolitan gay bar (ground zero for flirty, girly earworms preparing to squirm into the psyche of the public) suggests that pop music simply hasn't existed in 10 years — or at least, not in any way that matters. The biggest stars of the early 2020's skirt the pop definition slightly, from Billie Eilish 's subdued and gothy approach to Ariana Grande 's rap-inflected posturing. Those acts who've stuck to the pure pop sound are CVS Pharmacy fodder, bastardizing the sounds that once dominated clubs and radios to the most boring possible ends, appealing to the lowest common denominator, shirking fun entirely to churn out glorified Hulu ad jingles.
The only songs that still send gay dancefloors into a screeching, yaaaas- ing frenzy are practically breaching on oldies status: "Womanizer”, "Teenage Dream”, "Hollaback Girl”. All signs point to a bitter reality: pop music, in all it's bubblegum-flavored, bleach-blonde, champagne-soaked, bikini-clad glory, has been driven underground.
St. Louis-born, Los Angeles-based singer and songwriter Slayyyter knows this and plans to bring it back to the surface with her debut album, Troubled Paradise. It's her first release on the FADER Label and the follow-up to her widely beloved self-titled mixtape. The spirits of Britney, Gwen, and Gaga speak through her, and thank God she speaks to me.
I've always felt like the most impressive thing about you as an artist is how quickly people started talking about you in the same breath as Gaga and Britney and all these pop powerhouses. Even before you had an album out, you entered the conversation about real pop stars super quickly, and I feel like that has to do with the fact that you just clearly really love pop music. Who did you have in mind when you started shaping your idea of your artistry?
It was always women in pop that did it for me the most. I grew up with Britney Spears, Madonna, Fergie, Avril Lavigne, Gwen Stefani. Gwen Stefani was my style icon. I thought she was so cool. She's probably the reason I dyed my hair so platinum when I first started music. There were a few male influences, too. I loved listening to stuff my mom grew up on– I loved Michael Jackson, I loved Prince– but even when I'd have phases with other genres, I always came back to pop.
The photo is always done in my brain way before it ever comes to fruition. The Wizard of Oz concept, I was like: "I know this sounds weird, but I can see it in my head: there's like a rainbow over me, I'm in a weird Dorothy dress that's kind of slutty… and I'm on a hill, I'm on like a small hill, " and everyone's like "Uhh, we'll try our best."
Yeah, it stands out so much against this inarguably tackier approach to visuals that so many other artists are doing right now. This Urban-Outfitters-ready album cover style where they're too afraid to look insane.
Totally. Plus, at the time when you first started, it seemed like nobody was doing what you were doing because pop music had somehow become really serious. It wasn't so much straight-up pop anymore either, but this sort of R&B or rap-inflected pop. Did you sense that void?
Definitely! I feel like things were shifting toward more of an indie sound or at least less traditional styles of singing. At first, I was like, "The way that I sing and the way that I like to write is soooo 2010, nobody is going to like it." But I think it was missing so much from music that people really glommed on to that pop traditionalist approach. I feel like music is just like fashion, where trends cycle every ten years. Pop music has been absent for so long that pure female pop music is going to come back as the next reigning genre. It's slowly trickling back, but I think we're about to see it be more culturally relevant than just one-off streaming songs that people don't really think about. I feel like that Doja Cat song "Kiss Me More" is a sign that it's already starting to surge again.
Nicki Minaj Reunites With Lil Wayne and Drake, and 13 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 third single from Olivia Rodrigo's forthcoming debut album, "Sour," tells a story that will be familiar to anyone who's heard her first single, "Driver's License" : A former flame moves on too quickly after a breakup, leaving Rodrigo alone with all her feelings. But this time the 18-year-old Disney actress refracts it through a different lens and a whole new sonic palette. Though it starts off quiet, by the chorus "Good 4 U" explodes into a kind of "You Oughta Know" for the TikTok era, all righteous anger and pop-punky, primal-scream rage: "Good for you, you're doing great out there without me — like a damn sociopath!" ZOLADZ
The rising tenor saxophonist María Grand wrote the tunes that appear on "Reciprocity," her new LP, in the middle of a pregnancy, while reading spiritual texts and paying close attention to the bond she was building with her not-yet-born child. (The album's liner notes include her written reflections on becoming a mother, and how this found its way into the music.) The album, featuring Kanoa Mendenhall on bass and Savannah Harris on drums, is also a testament to the constant regeneration that becomes possible within a close musical partnership; on track after track, Grand dances nimbly over Harris's subtly shifting patterns, and Mendenhall stubbornly insists on never repeating herself. "Now, Take, Your, Day" begins with all three members singing the song's title in harmony, before the rhythm section lays down a loosely funky beat and Grand introduces the song's downward-slanting melody on saxophone. GIOVANNI RUSSONELLO
Like many TikTok stars , Bella Poarch is making a move into her own music. "Build a Bitch" comes across cute and furious. Tinkly toy-piano sounds and perky la-las accompany her as she points out that women aren't consumer products. "You don't get to pick and choose/Different ass and bigger boobs," she coos. "If you need perfect, I'm not built for you." A post-"Westworld" video set in an android factory ends, inevitably, in mayhem. PARELES
The forthcoming, self-produced Sleater-Kinney album "Path of Wellness" will be the first the Portland band releases as a duo, since its longtime power-drummer Janet Weiss departed in 2019 , and her absence certainly makes the song feel a bit muted and minor. But there's still a familiar pleasure in hearing Carrie Brownstein's snaking guitar riffs and staccato vocals intertwine with Corin Tucker's, as they sing of a long-term togetherness that's provided comfort in good times and bad: "If I'm gonna mess up," they avow, "I'm gonna mess up with you." ZOLADZ
The official 2020 UEFA European Football Championship song is exactly what you'd expect from a soccer anthem by a big-room EDM D.J. collaborating with half of U2: a grand, thumping march with pinging guitars, vast synthesizer swells and determinedly inspirational lyrics. "You've faith and no fear for the fight," Bono sings, "You pull hope from defeat in the night." The song uses familiar tools for stadium-scale uplift, but they can still work. PARELES
Regrets and reverb both loom large on Holly Macve's second album, "Not the Girl," a set of country-rooted ballads that place her reedy voice — determinedly sustained through countless breaks and quavers — in wide-screen, retro arrangements. "You Can Do Better" is a stately, swaying waltz, a breakup-and-makeup scenario that builds up to dramatic questions, swirling across voices and strings: "Is it so wrong to love you?/Is it so wrong to care?" PARELES
L'Rain — the songwriter, musician and producer Taja Cheek — opens an ever-widening, ever more disorienting sonic vortex in "Blame Me," from her second album, "Fatigue," due June 25. Sparse guitars pick fragments of chords that fall, then rise, as L'Rain muses cryptically on mortality and remorse. Soon, they're enveloped by a ghostly orchestra and distant voices intoning, "Waste away now, make my way down"; as the track ends, she's still in a lush harmonic and emotional limbo. PARELES
Elaine is from South Africa, where she already has a large audience. But her sound bespeaks international R&B ambitions, with programmed trap drum sounds and an American accent. In "Right Now," she tries to juggle a damaged relationship against a burgeoning career. "I cannot continue carrying all your insecurities/I got more priorities," she sings, quietly but adamantly. Her alto is low, intimate and flexible; with her priorities, she's not about to indulge a cheating ex, even if she's tempted. PARELES
Listener-Friendly Depresso Pop - SF Weekly
Glenn Donaldson is prolific. Maybe not quite Robert Pollard or R. Stevie Moore prolific, but the man records and releases a lot of music. The Skygreen Leopards, his psych-folk collaboration with fellow multi-instrumentalist Donovan Quinn, put out seven albums in eight years, plus another in 2014. Another duo, The Art Museums, featured Donaldson working with The Skygreen Leopards' Josh Alper; that project released an album and three EPs in the space of just over a year. Donaldson has also appeared on records by Woods, Thuja, The Fresh & Onlys and at least a dozen others.
But along the way, the Bay Area musician and composer has found the time to launch and sustain a solo project as well: the "DIY kitchen pop" of The Reds, Pinks and Purples. Between September 2019 and now, he's recorded three full-length albums and an EP under that name. Released in April, Uncommon Weather is the latest from The Reds, Pinks and Purples. And there's plenty more where that came from.
"I record more than I release," Donaldson says with a chuckle. "I'm kind of pulling stuff from far in the past [along with] brand new stuff. I'll tend to revisit old ideas and say, 'Can I do something with this?'" Quite often the answer is a resounding yes .
But The Reds, Pinks and Purples don't display a great deal of the fuzzed-out proto-grunge of Crazy Horse. Instead, Donaldson's solo work under that moniker feels more connected to the jangling sounds of '80s college rock, particularly the "paisley underground" vibe of bands like Green on Red, The Rain Parade, and the Dream Syndicate.
"I grew up in the '80s in Southern California," Donaldson says. "So I was aware of the paisley underground. Some of my favorite music was The Three O'Clock and The Rain Parade." He recalls seeing an MTV special on R.E.M., one that featured Roger McGuinn (The Byrds) and John Sebastian (The Lovin' Spoonful). "From a very early age, I caught onto that '60s-meets-new-wave' sound," he says. But later bands like Dinosaur Jr. and Guided by Voices influenced his own songwriting to a similar degree.
"I'm a student of songwriting," Donaldson says. And with The Reds, Pinks and Purples, he seeks to make music that is accessible. "I was really thoughtful about making the songs relatable," he says, "so that maybe instead of just being called 'indie pop,' they could actually be pop music." In his world, pop is not an epithet. "I've done my time in the sub-underground," he says with a laugh. "I don't mind being on the radio. There's nothing wrong with it!"
Donaldson says that despite his best efforts — The Reds, Pinks and Purples recordings sport a uniformly high production quality — his solo releases still get described by radio deejays as lo-fi. "Which is fine," he says. "But it's meant for a broad audience."
But in the meantime, Donaldson continues to pursue The Reds, Pinks and Purples as a studio endeavor. "For this project, I really focus on the songwriting," he says. "And I'm pretty versed in using the studio as an instrument." He describes his method of recording in his kitchen as "a search for the sound along with the song. The hard part is getting the song written. Then, the fun part is just splashing colors on when I record." And he emphasizes the listener-friendly nature of the music. "I wanted to make it a little more accessible and listenable for people who didn't have a taste for the esoteric music that I come from."
At the same time that Donaldson plays up the tuneful nature of his solo project, he labels it "depresso pop."
15 pop songs you didn't know were inspired by J.S. Bach - Classic FM
From The Beatles to Eminem and Lady Gaga, here are all the times Bach's music unexpectedly appeared in chart-topping pop, rock and rap.
As a composer Bach was a master of repurposing his music, and (shall we say...) sampling his favourite musical material in many different works and musical contexts.
So we're sure he would have loved to know that 300 years on, his notes and ideas are still finding their way into the world's most popular music.
Brazilian rapper MC Fioti also loves his Bach solo Partitas. His hit Bum Bum Tam Tam , and all its 1.6 billion YouTube views, samples Bach's Partita in A minor for solo flute , BWV1013. That's a lot of people enjoying the magic of J.S. Bach's solo flute, and not a bum note in sight.
Johann Sebastian joins the American rapper in this 2013 outing. From 43 seconds in, you can catch Slim Shady rapping alongside the fugue subject from Bach's famous Toccata and Fugue in D minor .
There's more Toccata and Fugue-ing from the late heavy metal guitar maestro Eddie Van Halen, in this instrumental epic.
Interestingly, the pioneers of heavy metal guitar studied Baroque, Classical and Romantic violin and virtuoso repertoire, and it went on to influence much of their style and technique. So never be surprised when you hear a Bach riff erupting from an epic Marshall stack like it does here.
Here's a vocalisation of the Prelude in F minor from Book Two of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier – loud and clear, perfectly placed, and absolutely beautiful.
Bach's deeply beautiful four-part chorale 'O sacred head now wounded' lies behind one of pop's abiding hits. Hear Paul Simon, of Simon and Garfunkel, in 1970 as he sits on a chat show and talks through the compositional process of Bridge over Troubled Water . Catch the Bachian fascination from six minutes in.
Paul Weller – Fat Pop (Volume 1) | UNCUT
Now into his seventh decade, Paul Weller has resisted any and all invitations to write his memoir. At the last count six biographies bearing his name have been published, but ever the modernist, Weller views his creative past rather like a motorist might look in the rear-view mirror – foot on the pedal, in constant forward motion.
Let's look at what Weller has to say about The Jam's second No 1 single "Start!": "I was thinking about the power of music and the power of a pop song, how two or three minutes could say so much to so many. And what's it always meant to me. I was stripping words back to the bare minimum at the time, just getting to the point. Pop music, for want of a better term, is the only art form that can communicate directly and emotionally on that level."
It almost certainly wouldn't have occurred to Weller as he alighted upon the title of his new album that 40 years had elapsed since "Start!"; a proper modernist doesn't dwell too long on these things. But the rest of us are not bound by those rules. And so it's oddly touching to see the title track on his 16th solo album worshipping at the same thematic altar as its distant predecessor, albeit with a lolloping funk gate, the occasional smoke plume of woodwind and garnish of G-funk keyboard, with space between those constituent parts for Weller to navigate a familiar line of inquiry: "Who raised the game when the game was poor/And sent our heads in search of more/Made you question all you'd learnt before?/Ah, Fat – Pop!"
BMI Celebrates the 2021 Pop Awards
"It is an honor and a privilege to represent some of the best pop music creators in the world," said Barbara Cane , Vice President, Worldwide Creative . "Their songs are groundbreaking, dynamic and inspiring, and we celebrate their dedication to craft, discipline and success. Music is today's greatest communicator uniting us, uplifting us, and shaping our most intimate and defining memories. Today as always, BMI applauds the creativity and artistry of these remarkable songwriters."
Song of the Year was awarded to " The Bones ," co-written by BMI songwriters Laura Veltz and Maren Morris , who also performed the genre-crossing sensation. A metaphor for the importance of a strong foundation in a relationship, the chart-topping single appeared on her sophomore album, Girl, and steadily climbed to the number 12 spot on Billboard' s Hot 100. The melody could be heard on pop, country and alternative radio, fueling its massive success and becoming the biggest hit of Morris' career to-date. In 2020, the song received a GRAMMY nomination, Morris' twelfth and Veltz's second, for Best Country Song and won both Single of the Year and Song of the Year at the Country Music Association Awards. This is the first BMI Pop Award for the pair, who already have a combined total of 14 BMI Country Awards between them.
As Publisher of the Year , Sony Music Publishing received the distinction for the ninth time having represented 24 of the top 50 award-winning BMI Pop songs including "3 Nights," "Boyfriend," " My Oh My ," "Roses," and "The Man."
BMI also honored the songwriters, publishers and administrators of the 50 most-performed pop songs of the previous year. This year's class of recipients included a record 59 first-time Pop award winners such as BENEE, Edgar Barrera , Doja Cat, Trevor Daniel , Metro Boomin, Noah Cyrus , Roddy Ricch, SAINt JHN, JP Saxe and more. Well-known hits like "10,000 Hours" co-written by Jessie Jo Dillon and Shay Mooney , "Bang!" written and performed by AJR, Dua Lipa's infectious dance anthem "Don't Start Now" co-written by Caroline Ailin and Ian Kirkpatrick , and Taylor Swift's "Lover" were also among the songs being recognized.
Review: St. Vincent Looks Through the Past Darkly on 'Daddy's Home' - Rolling Stone
Annie Clark has framed her frenetic and unabashedly retro new album Daddy’s Home as a kind of reckoning. Her father has returned home from prison, where he served 12 years for his involvement in a multi-million-dollar stock manipulation scheme; in the meantime, Clark radically transformed her St. Vincent music persona, evolving from a small-time indie artist with a cult following to a self-proclaimed “near-future cult leader” within pop music. While her last album Masseduction peered at her newfound fame through an electro-pop funhouse mirror, Daddy’s Home looks backwards, examining Clark’s relationship with her father – and her own self-discovery with “becoming Daddy,” as she’s put it – through the funky stylings of Sly Stone, Pink Floyd, and other artists of the mid-Seventies.
The best moments on Daddy’s Home highlight those jagged borders and contradictions. Clark’s howling vocals and delightfully angular synths on “Pay Your Way in Pain” make it one of the strongest album openings of the year. Elsewhere on the album, she transcends her well-established guitar prowess with sitar solos and lap steel detours, played over soaring gospel vocals supplied by backup singers Lynne Fiddmont and Kenya Hathaway (daughter of the late Donny Hathaway). Nowhere does it all come together so perfectly as on the groovy “Down,” which is just a perfect pop track.
UK's Newman hopes to lift spirits with upbeat Eurovision song | Reuters
After years of writing songs for the likes of DJ Calvin Harris and band Rudimental, James Newman is finally going to perform on a stage like no other - the Eurovision Song Contest.
The 35-year-old singer-songwriter will represent the United Kingdom at next week's contest, to be held in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam.
Newman, whose brother is singer John Newman, will perform his track "Embers", a song he wrote before the COVID-19 pandemic but hopes will lift people's spirits after a difficult year.
"I wanted to do something that felt like a party, that was just fun and something that people could feel like they were coming back out of a really rubbish time," Newman told Reuters.
"I've been writing songs for other people for like seven years now. But there's always that thing inside me that wants to get on stage and do it for myself."
Newman had been due to take part in last year's contest, which was cancelled due to the pandemic. He also caught the virus.
Known for its kitsch pop music and flamboyant costumes, the annual Eurovision Song Contest usually draws a television audience of around 200 million.
Dutch singer-songwriter Duncan Laurence won the 2019 competition, meaning the 65th edition is being held in The Netherlands. Participants from 39 countries will take part.
About 3,500 socially-distanced audience members will be able to attend each of nine performances at the Ahoy arena. Most will be from The Netherlands and they will all have to pass a COVID test within 24 hours of the show.
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