Tag: Lina Iris Viktor

NEWS ROUNDUP: Sade, The BRITs & More

  • The Return of Sade!

    It’s been eight years since Sade released Soldier of Love, but on Tuesday the sultry singer’s return to music was revealed in a very 2018 way – via Twitter! Movie director Ava DuVernay announced that the British-Nigerian musician and her eponymous band wrote a song for her upcoming movie, A Wrinkle In Time. The track, “Flower of the Universe,” will be included on the official soundtrack, along with songs from DJ Khaled, Demi Lovato, Sia and Kehlani. Composer Ramin Djawadi will write the original score for the film.

     

    Although Sade’s fans are always pining for her return, the singer gives good reason to back up the long breaks that she takes between albums. She previously explained to The Guardian’s Adrienne Gibbs, “If I were forever in the music machine or on the road, doing TV and in that sort of commercial world, I don’t believe I would be able to step back and write the songs that I did.”

    View the trailer for A Wrinkle In Time below. The film comes out in the United States on March 9th.

  • The 2018 BRIT Awards 

    On Wednesday, The BRIT Awards schooled The Grammys when it came to gender representation, diversity, and political relevance. Dua Lipa took home the award for best British breakthrough act and female solo artist and Lorde won the trophy for international female solo artist while Kendrick Lamar won in the male counterpart to the category. Gorillaz took the title for Best British Group; during their acceptance speech, Damon Albarn took a stand against Brexit. Stormzy came out on top, winning the award for best male solo artist as well as album of the year for Gang Signs & Prayer. The Grime MC closed out the show with an intense performance (rain literally fell on his head the whole time) of “Blinded By Your Grace.” For the BRITs, he added a freestyle verse criticizing Prime Minister Theresa May for her handling of the Grenfell Tower Fire, a massive fire that consumed a public housing project last June leaving seventy-one people dead. Stormzy rapped:

    “Yo, Theresa May, where’s that money for Grenfell? What, you thought we just forgot about Grenfell? You criminals, and you got the cheek to call us savages. You should do some jail time, you should pay some damages, we should burn your house down and see if you can manage this.”

    American performers, take note.

  • New Claims of Harassment Against Charlie Walk Surface

    A Rolling Stone investigation into the misbehavior of former Republic Records head Charlie Walk has uncovered new accusations. This adds to claims made earlier this year by record executive Tristan Coopersmith and three anonymous women, which resulted in his removal from Fox’s music competition show The Four, where he was a judge, as well as his dismissal from the label, whose roster includes The Weeknd, Ariana Grande, Lorde, Florence + the Machine, Phantogram, Drake, Nicki Minaj, Black Sabbath, and James Blake among others.

  • Other Highlights

    In an update to last week’s stories, artist Lina Iris Viktor is going to court with SZA and Kendrick Lamar over imagery used in their “All The Stars” video; she is suing for copyright violation. Quincy Jones has issued a public apology for calling the Beatles “the worst musicians in the world” as well as some other controversial comments he made earlier this month.

    Producer Boyd Jarvis, a house music pioneer, passed away this week at the age of 59 following a battle with cancer. His legendary career included projects with Madonna, Prince, and Herbie Hancock.  Black Moth Super Rainbow return with their first new material in four years. “Mr No One” will appear on their upcoming album, Panic Blooms, out May 4th; the band comes to Music Hall of Williamsburg on June 2nd. Twin Shadow debuted two tracks this week. His next album is due April 27th. Janelle Monáe also did a dual release – on Thursday she premiered the videos for new tracks “Django Jane” and “Make Me Feel.” Car Seat Headrest gave us the unexpected this week with a cover of Smash Mouth’s “Fallen Horses.” Drake’s newest video is going to make it a lot harder to diss the Canadian rapper; in his new clip for “God’s Plan” he does good deeds in Miami to the tune of almost one million dollars. Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor also debuted a new video this week. “Beautiful Thing” is the title track off of his upcoming LP, out April 1. Bon Iver manager Kyle Frenette is aiming for political office, hoping to unseat Republican Sean Duffy in a bid to win a House seat representing Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District. The lineup for FORM Arcosanti is out and will bring Beach House, serpentwithfeet, Blood Orange, Chance The Rapper, Courtney Barnett, Daniel Caesar, Fleet Foxes and many more to the Arizona desert from May 11th to 13th. Last but certainly not least, Young Thug would now liked to be called “SEX.”

NEWS ROUNDUP: Black Panther, The Recording Academy & More

  • Black Panther Controversy

    Black Panther doesn’t hit American screens until today, but Kendrick Lamar’s soundtrack for the film is already dominating music news for its star-studded collaborations and a copyright controversy. The album, which will soon be released on vinyl and cassette, features SZA, Vince Staples, the Weeknd, Schoolboy Q, James Blake, and many more. Yesterday, Jay Rock released the video for “King’s Dead,” his Black Panther track with Lamar, Future, and Blake. This latest single follows the debut of lead single “All the Stars” (featuring SZA), which has been the main source of the controversy; the creators behind its video have recently been accused of plagiarizing the work of British-Liberian visual artist Lina Iris Viktor for the clip’s imagery. She and her lawyer say that her painting series, “Constellation,” which features gold patterns and black female figures, was copied for a section of the video. The comparisons do seem too similar to be a coincidence, and in fact, Viktor alleges she was contacted by the “All the Stars” team about using her work but she declined to give permission – not once, but twice. The issue opens up a multi-layered debate about artistic license and usage (remember “Hotline Bling” and James Turrell?). Viktor told the New York Times, “It’s an ethical issue, because what the whole film purports is that it’s about black empowerment, African excellence — that’s the whole concept of the story. And at the same time they’re stealing from African artists.”

    Check out Lina Iris Viktor’s work below and then hit the three-minute mark in the video to compare.

  • Congratulations On Your Efforts… Not!

    In an attempt to make themselves look slightly better, the Recording Academy have given another lackluster response to the lack of female representation at The Grammys. In a letter to members, they present a challenge to USC Annenberg’s findings on gender disparity in the music industry. The study noted that among major categories in the Grammy’s between 2012-2017, only 9.3 percent of nominees were female. The Academy points out that these numbers only included Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best New Artist, and Non-Classical Producer of the Year. If you take all of the Grammy categories into account then the percentage of women is a whopping seventeen percent!

  • Other Highlights

    Borns plays Terminal 5 tonight. Beach House released a new song this week; “Lemon Glow” will appear on their next album, which is slated for a springtime release. Frank Ocean also has a new track release, but it’s an oldie. Listen to his cover of “Moon River” below. “Black Kennedy” is the latest from mega-group August Greene (featuring Common, Robert Glasper, and Karriem Riggens). Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds will release a documentary film of a Copenhagen concert. Distant Sky will have a one-time screening around the world on April 12th. The next day, Brazilian Girls will release Let’s Make Love, their first album in a decade! They recently unveiled the video for “Pirates.” The band will embark on a short US tour, starting with Williamsburg Hall of Music on May 5th. Sleigh Bells are staying busy! On Tuesday, they played at Brooklyn Steel. They’ll return to New York in July for opening slots on an upcoming tour with Weezer and the Pixies. The Smashing Pumpkins are celebrating their 30th anniversary with a North American summer tour. Kook Keith’s alter-ego, Dr. Octoagon, is back after more than two decades! He reunites with DJ Qbert and Dan the Automator for the song, “Octagon Octagon.” Zola Jesus and Yves Tumor play an immersive performance at House of Vans next week on February 23rd. On Valentine’s Day, Kanye West reactivated his Instagram account by posting many, many pictures of celebrity couples. He’s since deleted that account and bid farewell to social media again.