And, yes, often about as stomach-churning as that combination sounds. At the heart of this series the female-focused follow-up to 2024's Boybands Forever is a lot of old ground. Viewers of a certain age will know the trajectories retraced here (the head-spinning arrival of Spice Girls, the scrappy ascent of Atomic Kitten, the existentially challenging lineup rotation of Sugababes, the talent-show conception of Little Mix) and the dominant themes (tabloid hell, merciless management, relentless touring, intraband resentments) like the backs of their faintly wrinkled hands.
Generative A.I., once an uncanny novelty, is now being used to create not only images and videos but entire "artists." Its boosters claim that the technology is merely a tool to facilitate human creativity; the major use cases we've seen thus far-and the money being poured into these projects-tell a different story. On this episode of Critics at Large, Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz discuss the output of Timbaland's A.I. rapper TaTa Taktumi and the synthetic actress Tilly Norwood.
In a blogpost announcing the agreement, Spotify referred pointedly to a move-fast-and-break-things approach to copyright in some parts of the tech industry. Some voices in the tech industry believe copyright should be abolished, said Spotify. We don't. Musicians' rights matter. Copyright is essential. If the music industry doesn't lead in this moment, AI-powered innovation will happen elsewhere, without rights, consent, or compensation.
They have sold out venues on both sides of the Atlantic. Their first-ever gig was opening for a former member of Arcade Fire. Their 2024 album has been acclaimed as sounding like a lost classic of 1970s rock. Their two top tracks, Bright and Masquerade, have notched up 700,000 streams on Spotify. In fact, by the numbers, they're having one of the most buzzy rock debuts of recent years. Yet they don't really exist. They don't even have a name.
Swift's twelfth album, The Life of a Showgirl, released 10 days ago, is unquestionably a commercial success. It broke streaming records on Spotify with more than 5 million pre-saves, as just one example. But that doesn't mean that everyone loves it. The reaction from music critics has been lukewarm and the reaction from fans is decidedly mixed, with some saying they adore the album and others saying they can't stand it.
But the masters rights for her first six albums - which means the actual recorded versions of her songs and music videos - belonged to her first label, Big Machine Records, as is standard in the music industry. This year, Swift finally struck a deal and reclaimed the master recordings from Shamrock Capitol, the private equity firm that acquired them in 2020.
She boards the subway in sweatpants, adopting the script of a down-on-her-luck mother of three selling CDs to get by like the enterprising teens and adults hawking wares to straphangers. It takes all the worst suggestions about the solvency of her career to the extreme. She's a millionaire cosplaying struggle, though maybe she views it as a peek at a timeline in which her music doesn't take off.
The atmosphere was exuberant on September 6, when six young women in tight outfits took to the stage in Istanbul's sold-out open-air venue Kucukciftlik Park: A cheer went up from the crowd of 12,000 people who had joined in the dancing to the beat in the late summer heat. The musicians Mina, Esin, Zeynep Sude, Emine Hilal, Lidya und Sueda are the members of Turkish girl band Manifest, which was formed in February following a talent show.
It would be considered a success for most artists, 100,000 albums in the first week, in an era when we don't sell physical music. But it's a failure in the context of the kind of success I've had previously. And that's the hardest part of having been a pop star once, because I'm not one anymore, and I'm being compared to people that I don't consider lateral to me.
The music industry has a mixed track record when it comes to altruism: For every Concert for Bangladesh, a thoughtful and timely project that has endured as a piece of era-defining art, there is a "Do They Know It's Christmas?," a song conceived by a handful of rich white musicians who seemed to assume the Christian-majority Ethiopia didn't know the most important Christian holiday.
As reported by Rolling Stone, the decision came to light on Monday, September 15th, after both parties filed a joint notice of settlement in a California district court. As of now, the exact terms of the settlement remain undisclosed (or "pending") as both parties finalize the arrangements and any last-minute details. That whole process can take up to 45 days (landing on Thursday, October 30th), at which point the terms and other details could be made available. (Or leaked, perhaps?)
Grammy Award-winning musician, composer, and producer Wyclef Jean says the music industry is broken, which is why he's now involved with a startup, OpenWav, that's looking to give the power back to the artists. Through the OpenWav app, launched over the summer, artists can drop new music and exclusives, connect directly with fans, sell merch, host concerts, pop-ups, and listening parties, and more. Later, the startup plans to offer more assistance to artists using AI tools.
It was [A&R rep] Guy [Oseary] who discovered us first, and then he and [Maverick co-founder] Freddy DeMann flew us from our base in Sacramento to Los Angeles, where we played a couple of songs for them in a little rehearsal space.
Then I saw Altman talk during my second and final year at Cambridge. That's when I realized there were maybe 10 years to get in on this whole AI startup thing, and I wanted to be on that wave. Music would be there for the next 50 years. Nearly every evening at Cambridge, I was at a talk or debate. They were one of my favourite things about student life there. Altman wasn't as famous as he is now when he gave the talk
When Michael Wynn, the president of a men's fashion house, rented a place on East 55th Street with a terrace, his fiancée, Alicia Sandra Fox, couldn't help fantasizing as she looked out at the buildings around her. Maybe after the wedding, they could move into a penthouse. She was ambitious by nature, a television executive at ABC who was one of the first women to sell advertising for the network,
If Tom Ripley lived in LA in 2018 and was really into lo-fi bedroom pop, he might look something like the main character of Lurker. The debut feature from Alex Russell, The Bear and Beef writer-producer, is an elegantly creepy thriller about one super-fan's scheme to become close to his musical idol, transposing Patricia Highsmith's two-man theme into a murkier grey territory, with parasitic attachment giving way to co-dependence that blooms into something that looks like a twisted kind of love.
Formed in Fife, Scotland in 1996, The Beta Band were recipients of one of those mega-major label deals, signing to Parlophone Records, which was then also home of Radiohead and Kylie Minogue. They had immediate early success with their debut, 1997's Champion Versions EP, which mixed folk, prog, hip hop, trip hop and the Manchester rave scene into a unique sound.
Time has been surprisingly kind to 50 Cent: Bulletproof, which is 20 this November. In this shooter, 50 Cent gets caught up in a shadowy underground network full of dodgy terrorists, racist biker gangs and mouthy mafia members.
Keithen Foster remembers the T-Mobile side-kick phone he used to text his mentor, longtime Brian McKnight bassist Chris Loftlin, while he was in high school. Touring kept Loftlin busy, but he made time for Foster, who was in awe of the experiences his mentor would share in their conversations. 'I remember him saying, 'yo I'll hit you back tomorrow, I'm about to hop on this flight and go to Tokyo,’” said Foster, reminiscing about the excitement of Loftlin’s touring life.
Chappell Roan's absence from VMA 2025 nominations is surprising given her recent success, including a BRIT Award win and being named Best New Artist last year.
Chappell Roan insists that despite releasing new music, a second album "doesn't exist yet". She explains how her first album and second album will probably share a similar creative process. "It took me five years to write the first one, and it's probably going to take at least five to write the next." Roan does not yield to industry pressure, stating that making good music requires authenticity and cannot be forced. She notes that even if she spent countless hours in the studio, it would not necessarily lead to an album any faster.
