I hate the red tape analytics of dropping anything—it’s so stressful. I definitely have heard [the term ‘digital service provider’] more this week and last week than I have ever. I don’t like the way it sounds—it sounds stressful and like something that requires a lot of attention and maneuvering. Open in browser Friday December 09, 2022 SZA at the Global Citizen Festival, Accra, Ghana, Sept. 24, 2022. (Jemal Countess/Getty Images) quote of the day “I hate the red tape analytics of dropping anything—it’s so stressful. I definitely have heard [the term ‘digital service provider’] more this week and last week than I have ever. I don’t like the way it sounds—it sounds stressful and like something that requires a lot of attention and maneuvering.” - SZA, whose "SOS" is out today on Top Dawg/RCA rantnrave:// Sending an SOS to the World It's Friday, and we’ve reached the last surviving space in the calendar where the ever-increasing deluge of new music slows down at least a little, giving us some breathing room to catch up on everything else that came out this year. Or at least everything that came out last week. Or maybe not, because it’s a slim week but a good week for new music, topped by the SZA album the world’s been begging for since about three hours after she released her blockbuster debut five and a half years ago. Not quite RIHANNA levels of waiting for a followup, but close. The lead single came out two years ago. “I don't have any deadlines,” SZA said in October, “because at the end of the day, when my s*** comes out, it comes out.” She makes what you might call conversational emo R&B, with a compositional style that’s proved both influential and nearly impossible to mimic (you can try, though). She has supreme self-assurance, even within the deep anxiety she readily admits to. And her s**** has now come out. SOS is 23 songs long, with cameos from PHOEBE BRIDGERS, TRAVIS SCOTT, DON TOLIVER and, via sampling, OL’ DIRTY BASTARD. (She planned on more features, she said earlier this week, but other would-be guests ghosted her. Stars, they really are just like us.) “It's about heartbreak, it's about being lost, it's about being pissed,” she told People. To wit, she tells us, in a catchy mid-tempo ballad named for a QUENTIN TARANTINO movie, she’s thinking of killing her ex, and also possibly his new girlfriend. Alternatively, she’ll just be sleeping around a bit (her language is more blunt than that) “’cause I really miss you,” according to another one that has a kind of AVRIL LAVIGNE energy at about the same tempo. Options. These, anyway, are some of the lines that jump out on a first listen while writing a short Friday morning rant because you’ve got new music to listen to. Also today: Albums and EP from Mount Westmore (debut from the supergroup of Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, E-40 and Too Short), Raw Poetic, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, ††† (Crosses) (side project of Deftones’ Chino Moreno and Far’s Shaun Lopez), María Becerra, Icewear Vezzo, Sha EK, Mercury, French Montana, Bun B. & Statik Selektah, Nina Hagen, Satoko Fuji (Japanese jazz pianist/composer’s 100th album as a leader, with a band that includes Wadada Leo Smith, Sara Schoenbeck and Ikue Mori), Photay With Carlos Niño, Dylan Henner, Nathan Salsburg, Leland Whitty (of BadBadNotGood), Donald Nally/The Crossing, the Sound of Animals Fighting, and Taken by Trees (EP of Colin Blunstone covers). Closing Time "KPOP" has been canceled—on Broadway that is, where the K-pop musical will close this weekend after just 17 performances (and one dust-up between the producers and the New York Times). "I don't feel defeated, I feel angry," composer HELEN PARK tells the Los Angeles Times in a thoughtful and emotional exit interview... FOX's country music drama MONARCH has been canceled after one season of so-so ratings. Rest in Peace JET BLACK, founding drummer of the Stranglers. - Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator good days Billboard What Happens to Songwriters When AI Can Generate Music? By Kristin Robinson As the emerging class of generative AI companies matures, can their technology transform the way songs are written? Slate Taylor Swift and Ticketmaster Messed With the Wrong People: Data Analysts By Shannon Palus and Kaiser Fung Swifties are convinced a ticket sale screwed them over. Bring out the charts. No Depression Artists Push Back to Keep Their Merch Table Money By Stacy Chandler Merch splits are more prevalent in the post-lockdown touring landscape, but they’ve been a common practice for decades. Los Angeles Times Broadway’s ‘KPOP’ musical is abruptly closing. What went wrong? By Ashley Lee The creative team behind the ambitious spectacle discuss its sudden end and potential future: 'We never got a fair chance.' BuzzFeed News How Anitta Became The Queen Of Latinx Music By Alessa Dominguez The Brazilian star has redefined what it means to be a woman in Latinx music. She’s a sign of how the industry has changed -- and how it hasn’t. Music Business Worldwide The Steve Cooper exit interview: ‘All successful companies get to a point where they’d benefit from fresh eyes’ By Tim Ingham In his last public interview as CEO of Warner Music Group, Steve Cooper talks achievements, fears. Song Exploder Song Exploder: Son Lux (feat. Mitski & David Byrne) – 'This Is a Life' By Hrishikesh Hirway, Ryan Lott, Son Lux... In addition to composing the score for directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert's "Everything Everywhere All at Once," the band Son Lux also made the original song for the film’s end credits: “This is a Life,” featuring two prestigious guest vocalists: Mitski and David Byrne of Talking Heads. Billboard The Real Bad Bunny: Offstage and Personal With the Biggest Artist of 2022 By Leila Cobo With over a quarter-billion grossed on the road and one of the biggest albums of the last decade, he dominated the year - singing in Spanish and redefining global stardom. The Guardian ‘You don’t have to be Bono or Bruce’: the business behind the current glut of music books By Michael Hann In 2022, you can’t budge for new music memoirs and scene histories. But who’s reading them, where’s the quality control - and the diversity? Tidal Morris Day Interview: On ‘Last Call,’ Snoop, Prince & More By Brad Farberman The incomparable singer and songwriter talks about his star-filled final solo album, dreaming big with Prince, clapping back at P-Funk, Minneapolis weather and why it’s important to be funny. drew barrymore Chicago Reader The reinvention of indie music, chapter one By Bruce Adams An excerpt from the book "You’re With Stupid," by Kranky label cofounder Bruce Adams. Kerrang! ††† (Crosses): 'There were two options: either we don’t do this band at all, or we try it with just us two. We chose the latter' By George Garner This month, ††† (Crosses) -- the musical brainchild of Deftones icon Chino Moreno and Far prodigy Shaun Lopez -- return with "PERMANENT.RADIANT," a six-track collection that’s going to blow people away. But, as Kerrang! finds out, it’s taken a lifetime of friendship and challenges to get to this point. Los Angeles Times Destination or gentrification? A sleek new arena opens in the Coachella Valley By August Brown Palm Desert's Acrisure Arena is the first venue of its size in the Coachella Valley. Local officials, wary of gentrification, say 'the pros outweigh the cons.' Departures A Dinner Date With Michael Stipe By T. Cole Rachel Over a meal at one of his favorite restaurants in New York City, the former R.E.M. front man dishes on creativity, vulnerability, and his love of food. The Sydney Morning Herald The big life question glam rock legend Brian Eno has an answer for By David Marchese At 74, and with a new album out, the man behind some of music’s most mind-altering moments is still sniffing the winds of cultural change. Billboard Hipgnosis Songs‘ Mid-Year Results Report 7.5% Rise In Revenues Despite ‘Challenging Environment’ By Richard Smirke At an investor presentation in London, founder Merck Mercuriadis said the company’s current share price “fundamentally undervalues the company.” Texas Monthly Making an Album Is Throwing Marc Rebillet for a Loop By Jeff Gage The Dallas-raised electronic musician is filling venues with his raucous, half-naked, almost fully improvised shows. Can he settle down just once and make a serious album? From The Basement From The Basement: Nilüfer Yanya Full Set By Nilüfer Yanya This set includes recordings of tracks from Nilüfer Yanya's album "Painless." what we're into Music of the day “Kill Bill” SZA From "SOS." Video of the day “John Waite: The Hard Way” Mike J. Nichols Documentary on the Babys/Bad English/"Missing You" singer drops today at various streaming sites. 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