“RealLife Rock Top Ten” is a monthly column by cultural critic and RS contributing editorGreil Marcus. 1. Dirty Denim, “Meant to Be,” from Dirty Denim Demo Tape (7″ EP). This is the most arresting thing I’ve heard come out of the radio — in this case, KALX, the University of …
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As music streaming has become widespread, global attention has become fixed on Spanish-language performers, and rightly so: That language fueled eight of the ten most-viewed music videos on YouTube in 2018. But music with lyrics in Portuguese has also experienced a major boost — the baile funk hit “Bum Bum …
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“I found myself,” Maggie Rogers sings on her major-label debut, “when I was going everywhere.”In 2016, Rogers played her song “Alaska” for Pharrell Williams at an NYU undergraduate seminar. A video of the performance went viral, resulting in a major-label deal, an EP and a sold-out headlining tour all within …
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Bad Bunny performs his single “Mia” while marching through the streets of Old San Juan, Puerto Rico in a pre-filmed segment from Tuesday’s Tonight Show. Jimmy Fallon and the Roots‘ Black Thought and Questlove join the rapper, banging around on timbale sticks, maracas and a tambourine. The piece opens with …
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Chance the Rapper has removed his 2015 collaboration with R. Kelly, “Somewhere in Paradise,” from most digital streaming platforms including Spotify, Apple Music and Tidal, Pitchfork reports. The decision to pull the song comes after Chance appeared in the Lifetime docuseries, Surviving R. Kelly, which delves into the accusations of …
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In the spring of 2003, Steve Gunn spent two months drawing lines on a wall in Beacon, New York. He was in his twenties at the time, not long out of college and still years away from his current life as a highly respected singer-guitarist. The lines were part of …
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The 1975, Florence + The Machine, Jorja Smith and Dua Lipa each received multiple nominations for the 2019 Brit Awards, which honors music both released in the United Kingdom and worldwide. Ariana Grande, Drake, Eminem, Cardi B and Travis Scott were among the North American acts to receive nods ahead …
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R&B veteran Tank casually catalogs a sweaty night in his new single “Dirty.” This is a skeletal track, barely there at times: A few piano chords, a smattering of drums. The sparse instrumental puts all the focus on Tank’s erotic lyrics. But as the action heats up, the singer’s tone …
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Normani has no problem being honest. In a new interview, she doesn’t shy away from the hurdles she faced being a black woman in the world’s most successful girl group. At one point the “Love Lies” singer shares that she would cry during certain sessions, naming “No Way” as an …
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Jennifer and Sarah Hart, 38, were a married pair of crunchy white liberals who, by all outside appearances, seemed like dedicated mothers to their six adopted black children: Markis, Hannah, Abigail, Devonte, Jeremiah and Ciera. They moved around the country with their home-schooled brood, but in2017 they settled — for …
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