| For the longest time, I was trying to prove that I was just a country singer that loved country music. I was told to not even focus on the Black part of me, but that’s who I am. It’s not a pigeonhole at all to me, and I am trying to normalize it as much as possible... by opening the door for other Black women. |
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Thank you for your service, Pvt. Presley. And thank you for getting vaccinated. Kennedy Veterans Hospital, Memphis, March 1958.
(Don Cravens/The Chronicle Collection/Getty Images)
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“For the longest time, I was trying to prove that I was just a country singer that loved country music. I was told to not even focus on the Black part of me, but that’s who I am. It’s not a pigeonhole at all to me, and I am trying to normalize it as much as possible... by opening the door for other Black women.”
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Fault Lines
Less than a week after ASTROWORLD, is the live music industry already coalescing around a story that paints TRAVIS SCOTT as the principal culprit for the tragic crowd crush that led to eight deaths? "Many are placing the blame primarily on Scott," Variety's JEM ASWAD and CHRIS WILLMAN report in a story whose sources include an unnamed concert security veteran saying, "We, as an industry, failed here. But if anybody could have seen this coming, it’s Travis Scott.” That's your ugh quote of the day, and a bit of a self-own. Because if Travis Scott should have seen it coming, then so should any established promoter that books Travis Scott, any reputable security company that works with Travis Scott and any unnamed concert security veteran who claims to be paying attention to what's going on in the world of festivals in 2021. Such as the festival one week earlier in New York, ROLLING LOUD, that Travis Scott headlined and which didn't feature a fatal crowd crush. There's a *lot* to be looked at, scrutinized and investigated at Astroworld, and Scott, who was firing up the crowd before it happened (for years before it happened, in fact) and standing onstage while it happened, will deservedly get a good deal of that scrutiny. But others deserve it, too, from whoever drew up a security plan that didn't contemplate possible crowd surges (or include anything about managing the crowd in front of the stage), to whoever didn't give firefighters the communication tools they needed, to everyone in charge of the grounds and the production. It's Travis Scott's festival, and that matters. But as this smart and fair essay by Vulture's CRAIG JENKINS notes, there are a number of interconnected interests that all deserve shares of the mea culpa: "This isn't the first LIVE NATION event to have its safety protocols called into question. This isn't the first time fans have been injured in Scott's care; he has been arrested twice for attempting to incite riots at concerts. This isn't the first NRG [PARK, the venue] gig to see security quickly rushed and bypassed; a PLAYBOI CARTI show was canceled last month after fans made light work of one of the gates. It's nobody's first rodeo." Jenkins worries that the focus will turn away from structural issues and toward easier targets like hip-hop music and its fans. And, right on cue, WARPED TOUR founder and USC professor KEVIN LYMAN shows up in Variety wondering if hip-hop fans have enough experience attending festivals and if they know how to properly prepare for their time in the moshpit—as if they might be to blame for their own deaths. As if fans invited to pack into frightfully overcrowded pens are at fault for accepting the invitation. A final note about blaming fans, courtesy crowd science professor G. KEITH STILL, who I quoted in this space on Wednesday as well: "People don't die because they're panicking," Still says. "They panic because they're dying." In other words, it's the conditions, not the conditionees.
(Also of note: An Astroworld security guard was not injected with drugs. Texas Gov. GREG ABBOTT has set up a concert safety task force, to be led by TEXAS MUSIC OFFICE director BRENDON ANTHONY... Oops, DIOR.)
Just Between You and Me
There were some genuinely moving performances at Wednesday's CMA AWARDS, perhaps none more than New Artist of the Year nominee MICKEY GUYTON singing her Black pride anthem "LOVE MY HAIR" hand in hand with BRITTNEY SPENCER and MADELINE EDWARDS after being introduced by FAITH FENNIDY, the Louisiana schoolgirl who inspired the song. But this was one of those rare awards show where you came for the performances and stayed for the speeches. A surprised and overwhelmed CARLY PEARCE, a first-time Female Vocalist of the Year winner, broke down and couldn't get her speech started until fellow nominee ASHLEY MCBRYDE ran up onstage to rescue her. "What she meant to say," McBryde said, "was there's a lot of love, respect and admiration in this category." "It really does feel like love wins tonight," said TJ OSBORNE of the OSBORNE BROTHERS, perennial Vocal Duo of the Year winners who were collecting their first trophy since TJ came out as gay in February. He kissed his companion when the duo's name was announced, almost certainly a first in CMA history, or any major country awards show history. JIMMIE ALLEN was fighting sniffles and tears as he became the second Black artist ever to be named New Artist of the Year (DARIUS RUCKER was the first), but fight them he did to talk about using the last $100 in his pocket to see CHARLEY PRIDE perform five years ago. It was, if I'm not mistaken, the only time Pride's name was mentioned all night, a weird omission. Pride's last-ever performance, accompanied by Allen, was a year ago tonight during a tribute to him at last year's CMAs. He died a month later of Covid-19, and though it's unknown where he caught the virus, there have always been suspicions about that unmasked performance, indoors, near the height of the pandemic. An all-time great country singer and an inspiration to country's current generation of Black artists, he deserved a formal farewell this year, and he especially deserved it from the CMA. On the eve of Wednesday's awards, the civil rights group COLOR OF CHANGE announced a campaign to push the Country Music Association to diversify, through tools including a racial equity audit, an inclusion rider for the awards show and rules changes that would allow more artists to compete for awards. The CMA said it welcomed the input, but Color of Change said it actually had been rebuffed by the association. Either way, there will be pressure ahead. In the meantime Wednesday, CHRIS STAPLETON won roughly a million awards but not Entertainer of the Year, a strange outcome that my Nashville guru BRIAN MANSFIELD kindly explained for me. Also, BLAKE SHELTON sang a song whose chorus might as well have been "I wish MORGAN WALLEN were here." Thankfully, he was not.
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| Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator |
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Vulture |
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| There Won’t Be Easy Answers for This |
| by Craig Jenkins |
| The potential for the Astroworld tragedy to get charged to the game is very real. |
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Slate |
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| What Really Happened at Astroworld Is More Terrifying Than the Conspiracy Theories |
| by Zachary Siegel |
| Accounts from the night are disturbing and may not have a clear, single cause. |
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Grub Street |
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| Megan Thee Stallion and Fast Food’s Ongoing Pursuit of Black Buy-in |
| by Jordan Taliha McDonald |
| Can Hottie Sauce rise above the industry’s complicated past? |
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Asbury Park Press |
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| 'Born to Run': Here’s what the classic Bruce Springsteen album means to fans, song by song |
| by Chris Jordan, Jean Mikle, Mike Davis... |
| U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, the Boss' former manager Mike Appel and New Jersey musicians tell us why the music and lyrics still matter. |
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Crosscut |
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| Live music is back on in Seattle, but masks? Not always |
| by Charles R. Cross |
| At Nancy Wilson’s comeback show, a Northwest music writer re-discovers the joy of in-person concerts but questions unmasked audience members. |
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Music Business Worldwide |
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| Music’s rosy fitness story hits a speedbump, as Peloton reduces annual revenue forecast |
| by Murray Stassen |
| Company reduces annual forecast by up to $1 billion. |
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HuffPost |
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| Mickey Guyton Is Carving A Path For Black Women In Country Music |
| by Ruth Etiesit Samuel |
| The “Black Like Me” singer told HuffPost about creating space for Black women in country, her debut album and her journey to the CMA Awards stage. |
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The Tennessean |
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| CMA Awards: 6 defining moments from Luke Combs, Carly Pearce, Chris Stapleton and more |
| by Matthew Leimkuehler and Dave Paulson |
| The stars of country music were ecstatic to be back on familiar ground: a massive show at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena, complete with a live audience. "Fans!" Host Luke Bryan exclaimed as he first took the stage. "We have fans!" |
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The Guardian |
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| MPs and music industry bodies criticise pay of Universal head Lucian Grainge |
| by Ben Beaumont-Thomas |
| After a bonus payment, Grainge will earn more this year than all UK songwriters did from streaming and sales in 2019. |
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Lefsetz Letter |
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| Lucian’s Payday |
| by Bob Lefsetz |
| It's capitalism. |
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Slate |
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| I Have Achieved a Glorious Victory Against the Music Industry and Twitter |
| by Mark Joseph Stern |
| They took down my embarrassing childhood dance video. I fired back. |
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The New York Times |
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| The Skies Parted and My Future Was Decided |
| by Tom Morello |
| I had received a calling. I had no choice in the matter. My other interests retreated. I would be a guitarist. |
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Future |
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| The Overlooked Levels of the Creator Economy |
| by Dan Runcie |
| Are creator platforms enabling the 99 percent to chase their childhood dreams? Or are they helping the 0.1 percent expand their wealth? |
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NPR Music |
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| Spotify's 'Music + Talk' shows capture the magic of early podcasts |
| by Nicholas Quah |
| Critic Nick Quah says the streaming giant's foray into the music podcast field has been pleasantly experimental, with casual, compelling shows that sound lo-fi and intimate. |
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The Guardian |
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| Deluge of new albums by big artists has vinyl factories in a spin |
| by Nadia Khomami |
| Ed Sheeran says Adele had all the factories booked as big names compete for limited factory space. |
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VICE |
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| The Story Behind the 'First Ever Ecstasy Song' |
| by Daniel Dylan Wray |
| Recorded a decade before the explosion of acid house and rooted in NYC's gay clubs, Soft Cell's 'Memorabilia' is an early prelude to rave culture. |
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NPR Music |
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| Digging into the legacy of Chicago's Gramaphone Records |
| by Jesse De La Pena and Ayana Contreras |
| Jesse De La Pena of Chicago's Vocalo Radio dives into the cultural significance of Gramaphone Records for the store's 50th anniversary |
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Music Business Worldwide |
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| TikTok and social media’s explosion in music is only going to get louder |
| by Luka Zak |
| How short-form video and new social media platforms are transforming the industry. |
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The Sydney Morning Herald |
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| Why do more people choose Kylie over Tchaikovsky? |
| by John Shand |
| Much of the world’s most creative music is ignored in the rush to shroud ourselves in bubbles of the reassuringly familiar. |
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Sound Field |
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| In Defense of Auto-Tune |
| by Linda Diaz and Arthur Buckner |
| Hosts Linda Diaz and Arthur Buckner uncover how autotune became THE in-demand tool for recording studios, helped artists find their artistic selves, and evolved popular music. |
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| Music | Media | Sports | Fashion | Tech |
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“REDEF is dedicated to my mother, who nurtured and encouraged my interest in
everything and slightly regrets the day she taught me to always ask ‘why?’” |
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| Jason Hirschhorn |
| CEO & Chief Curator |
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