Posts by Robyn Gallagher
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Hard News: Public Address Word of the…, in reply to Hilary Stace,
Has anyone mentioned the very positive ‘twitteraunties’?
FYI, #8 on last year's list.
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To be fair, "Lorde" was buzzier in 2013. Another word should get a shot this year.
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Hard News: Public Address Word of the…, in reply to Lilith __,
Lorde
The word on everybody’s dark-lipsticked lips.
FYI, it was the #7 word in last year's poll.
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Len Brown might think he's cool but he's not. There are two secret hidden sex doors in the Oval Office, both of which lead to secret hidden sex dungeons where various American presidents have engaged in secret hidden sex, sometimes with each other. Auckland is strictly in the minor league.
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Also: here's something from my fave new band, Years & Years. They were nominated for the Critics' Choice Award at the 2015 BRIT Awards (the winner of which was announced yesterday, for some reason). Their sound is like electronica, '90s R&B, and pop, which is just fine by me. This is their saucy song "Take Shelter", performed live for a Critics' Choice showcase:
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Remember about 10 years ago when novelty mashups were a thing? Well, they still exist. Every year a laptop owner called DJ Earworm makes a mashup of the year's top tracks. This is his one for 2014:
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The Czech Republic is entering Eurovision next year, after previously having entered in 2007.
This is interesting because as Eastern Europe opened up, the free (and sometimes new) countries used the competition to showcase themselves to the rest of Europe. Except the Czech Republic didn't enter until 2007 (compare with Slovakia who first entered in 1993). The theory is that the Czech Republic was generally a lot stronger and more confident than other former communist countries (all the cool kids were in Prague already!) so it didn't feel the need to do the Eurovision thing until 2007, when the country was under political scrutiny.
So now they're back again, in time for the competition's 60th anniversary. I wonder what is behind the decision this time.
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The other thing that happens today in the local music business is that for the first time, the official New Zealand singles charts will include audio streaming data alongside retail sales.
I just had a look at this week's chart and there are no big surprises.
* There are four new songs, but they're all new releases from popular artists.
* There are three reentries, and they're all songs that have recently been in the charts.
* There's a new number one, but it's a new release from Six60 who are hugely popular.So nothing unusual. No weird old songs suddenly recharting after 25 years (that happened a couple of weeks ago with "Ice Ice Baby" - the result of a media campaign).
At a glance, it looks pretty much like a top 40 that's logically following on from last week's one, though I'm sure there are subtle differences in chart positions. I guess this means what people are listening to is roughly the same as what people are buying.
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He joked to me that he was thinking of turning his exquisitely-crafted Excel doc into an “interactive rock star accountant” – you put in the contract terms and it spits out net income. I reckon there’s a video game in that.
As long as it doesn't end up like the painfully awful NZ Music Manager game.
Earnings ... are comparable with her winning Lotto’s Powerball last year, and then guaranteeing a first division prize annually.
This was the best part of the article. $11 million is a lot of money, but it suddenly becomes real when put in big-money terms that average NZers can relate to - it's like winning Lotto, every year.
BTW, an article like this is going to trigger all sorts of people wanting Lorde to pay for their mortgage/medical procedure/perpetual motion machine, as if Lorde just has a bank account with $11 idly sitting in it.
But who cares about money, honey, when the "Yellow Flicker Beat" video is so good. Because I am a music video nerd, I counted eight different locations (all beautifully shot by Emily Kai Bock) and 50 extras. Not many (if any) NZ music videos have that, unless the extras are all friends and fans doing it for free. It is super to see Lorde's creative vision continuing to thrive.
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In this post-Lorde year, all three finalists were solo artists with minimal or no accompaniment.
About five years ago, when Lady Gaga was at her peak, pop became very extravagant, all about lavish costumes and complex performances. Now it seems to be going the other way, fully embracing minimalism, both sonically and visually. Kanye West went for that style on his Yeezus album (he didn’t invent it, though), and that style continues with Pure Heroine and Lorde’s performance style. And as well as being on trend, it’s always going to be a lot cheaper touring with a two-piece band than a giant entourage.