I care about crossing over, but in the opposite way. I want to come here and cross you over to where I am. Because where I am is the actual home of the beginning. | | | | Got a bottle of tequila, feeling good as hell: Lizzo at the VMAs, Newark, N.J., Aug. 26, 2019.
(John Shearer/Getty Images) | | | | |  | “I care about crossing over, but in the opposite way. I want to come here and cross you over to where I am. Because where I am is the actual home of the beginning.”
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| | rantnrave:// Pop sounds diverse, deep, rich and fun in this last year of this second decade of the 2000s. And other thoughts on MTV's VIDEO MUSIC AWARDS... There were nods over the course of the night to immigration politics, LGBT politics, environmental politics and more, but the most political statement of the show was the prevalence of Latinx performers onstage. It's not what you say, it's what you do. Respect to both MTV and pop itself for that... MILEY CYRUS has something to say and she can sing, as in really really sing. LIZZO has something to say and she can sing and she can rap and she's tired of the bulls*** and, all due respect to the great MISSY ELLIOTT, Lizzo had the most entertaining dance crew of the night... Which doesn't mean Missy Elliott doesn't still rule... Next year's GRAMMYS could do worse than having a Best New Artist competition that comes down to BILLIE EILISH and Lizzo. Eilish won the MTV version, voted on by fans, who are not dumb... The Video of the Year award (TAYLOR SWIFT, "YOU NEED TO CALM DOWN") was given out exactly halfway through the show. There were still 90 minutes left... MTV and sponsor PEPSI both called it the "Video Vanguard Award." Missy Elliott called it the "MICHAEL JACKSON Video Vanguard Award" in her acceptance speech. She also performed "PASS THAT DUTCH," with its mocking MJ reference. There are 3,000-word thinkpieces to be written about this if anyone's game... Host SEBASTIAN MANISCALCO was playing to a different demo than pretty much everybody else on the broadcast. There's a good 3,000-word thinkpiece in there, too... Everything H.E.R. has ever done on live television is gold... If you told me Taylor Swift executive produced the show, I'd believe you... The show was held in Newark and overdosed on New Jersey references, from BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN (Maniscalco: "Jersey has had one influencer for the past 40 years...") to the STONE PONY to a motley crew of SOPRANOS alumni to more NEW JERSEY DEVILS shoutouts than you're likely to hear during any episode of SPORTSCENTER to QUEEN LATIFAH, NAUGHTY BY NATURE and the rest of the Garden State hip-hop influencers who closed the show. But JON BON JOVI did not show up to sing "on a steel horse I ride till I can't no more" with LIL NAS X, so what even was the point?... In unrelated news, BTS and BIG HIT ENTERTAINMENT, you need to calm down... Do dogs like "OLD TOWN ROAD"? University professors discuss... Fare thee well, KFOG. | | | - Matty Karas, curator |
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 | The New Yorker |
| An inventor of punk rock on his long career, the future, and swimming in Miami. | | |
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 | Dazed Digital |
| Gaming could present a lucrative source of revenue for artists, but it’s likely to only be the richest that benefit from it. | | |
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 | Billboard |
| Conventional wisdom in the music business is that Taylor Swift’s quest to re-record her Big Machine releases is at least partly about generating attention for her new album. Now she either needs to follow through with an arduous re-recording process or find a way to save face. | | |
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 | InsideHook |
| Bryan Ferry's band brought a breath of fresh air to a self-serious genre, and their choices in vinyl art were no different. | | |
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 | The FADER |
| The 2019 VMAs weren’t groundbreaking, but at least they weren’t a total disaster, too. | | |
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 | Variety |
| Grammy-winner Jeff Bhasker recently closed on a $60 million-plus deal for his production points. | | |
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| The FADER |
| In a new interview, Burna Boy sits down to talk about his 'African Giant' album, the importance of connecting the African diaspora, and rethinking the idea of crossing over. | | |
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 | The Tennessean |
| Ken Burns' 16-hour "Country Music" documentary will begin airing at 7 p.m. Central time Sept. 15 on PBS. | | |
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 | NPR Music |
| If 1960s rock icon Jimi Hendrix and 18th century composer George Frideric Handel were alive at the same time, they would have been next door neighbors in London. | | |
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 | Daily Dot |
| Music podcasts are rapidly becoming a popular way for fans to get the latest news, interviews, and criticism. Here are the 10 best music podcasts for 2019. | | |
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| Billboard |
| Less than four months after Aranda took runner-up on Idol’s May 19 finale, he's already selling out 2000-person venues around the country under his artist name, Scarypoolparty. He chats with Billboard about his instant success, facing anxiety on and off the show, and how he hopes to inspire other artists with his authenticity. | | |
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 | Rolling Stone |
| Riding shotgun with the former boy-band hero as he opens up about sex, psychedelics, and becoming a 21st-century rock star. | | |
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 | Global News |
| Licensing rules prohibit podcasters from including full songs in their productions. There has, however, been some progress -- sort of. | | |
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 | The Associated Press |
| Event organizers hoping to eliminate ticket scams and huge markups in the secondary market are increasingly turning to companies that use technology to allow fans to buy and resell their tickets while putting caps on prices. | | |
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 | British GQ |
| Purists beware. You may be alarmed and offended. | | |
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 | Longreads |
| I’m experiencing some deep angst about this essay. That anxious feeling where you’re standing on the edge of a cliff on a perfect day -- no wind, no sound, no bird of prey -- and you’re almost certain you’ll throw yourself off. Every time I email a black critic for this article, it’s even worse because I can’t even tell if I’ve jumped or not. | | |
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 | Pitchfork |
| Chris L. Terry’s "Black Card" captures a deep desire to belong, in the era just before identity politics. | | |
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 | Los Angeles Times |
| Despite the accusations he faces in America, or perhaps because of them, Placido Domingo is lavished with cheers at the Salzburg Festival in Austria. | | |
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 | WIRED |
| Alex Zhang is shredding on the piano. He sits at a shiny black Steinway grand and rocks back and forth as his fingers fly across the keys, a flurry of blurred digits that leap from one end of the keyboard to the other. | | |
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 | Afropunk |
| Afropunk Brooklyn takes place just 10 minutes by foot from where I’ve lived for over 15 years. For 51 weekends a year, it’s a park with a field that’s used for adult softball and youth football and soccer. But one weekend a year Commodore Barry Park transforms into a separate place, a peaceful, magical little slice of Wakanda. | | |
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 | YouTube |
| | | | | | "We're not 17 / I'm not who I used to be." |
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