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Grammy Award-winning producer, songwriter, composer, and multi-instrumentalist Giles Martin joined Apple Music’s Zane Lowe

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Grammy Award-winning producer, songwriter, composer, and multi-instrumentalist Giles Martin joined Apple Music’s Zane Lowe for in-depth conversation about the arrival of The Beatles’ iconic ‘1’ album in Spatial Audio for the first time ever, in addition to “Strawberry Fields Forever” in celebration of the song’s 55th anniversary.

Martin shared unique insights and stories about the process of bringing immersive audio to a legendary body of work, how the new technology is transforming how music is created and enjoyed, honoring the legacy of his father and The Beatles, the implications for a new generation of artists, and more.

 

Key quotes from the conversation are below — feel free to use and credit Apple Music.

 

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Giles Martin on The Evolution of Sound…

My dad was, you know, was a futurist and loved technology… so he was always looking for a way of having great sound…And what happened was with The Beatles and my dad and other people around the world they went “OK, how do we create worlds that don’t exist?” And since Sgt. Pepper’s, you know, originally with Tomorrow Never Knows or Revolver, they start doing this thing with these aren’t live records. These are things you can only imagine in John Lennon’s head.He tried to capture what was in the head and put on a record. And that’s the evolution of sound. It’s not just technology, it’s imagination as well and that’s key.

 

Giles Martin on The Responsibility He Feels Remixing The Beatles For Spatial Audio…

I still find it hard to believe that that I get given this responsibility. I never thought in my life I’d be mixing or remixing Beatles stuff. And I realized that when I walk into a room at Abbey Road and I can get a four track, one inch tape and it has A Day in the Life in it or Paperback Writer or anything, and I can press play and I can hear it how lucky I am and how many people would want to do this? How many people would want to be in that position? I shouldn’t have this privilege, everyone should have this privilege.

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Giles Martin on The Journey of Bringing New Technology To The Beatles’ Catalog…

I think Sgt. Pepper’s the first Dolby Atmos record. We went back and redid it because technology changed, like it does. Paul and Ringo and Olivia and Yoko, and now, you know, the kids as well, they they look after this great legacy of music, and I just work for them basically. But Paul and Ringo are always going, “How can we push technology? How can we change the way?” So it made sense to me to do Sgt. Pepper’s, you know one of most famous albums of all time in new technology, because that’s what The Beatles want. Paul says, “I don’t want to be stuck in a museum. I don’t want to be under a glass case. I want, you know, people discover things. I want people to listen to stuff, old people to explore. I people have an opinion about things”. You know, it’s that and The Beatles don’t want to be the sort of on some mount going, “don’t touch it.” You know, like some people said to me, why would you go and do this? I go, ‘Because they asked me to’, and I don’t go do this work because, you know, I’m bored and there’s a cupboard of Beatles records I need to go look at.

 

Giles Martin on Spatial Audio Becoming More Accessible…

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I’ve been working in surround for a long time, you know. I did the Love show in Vegas, which has seven thousand speakers in a room and we did a surround sound record that which was very successful. But then you couldn’t hear it anywhere. You know, you couldn’t hear a — people don’t have surround sound unless they’re very niche. And it took a while, it took like a company like Apple to work out how to make it a consumer experience on a grand scale, you know? It’s all very well.I could put people in a room that I can build and go, “This is gonna be an amazing experience”, but how do you then have it so it’s easily accessible for people? You’re going to have more intimacy and then you’re going to you’re going to notice, hear it, you’re going to really listen to it and it’s going to touch you. And that’s what music is about. I don’t want people to listen to these mixes and go, this is a mix. I want people to listen to the song and go, “how does this make me feel? How does it make me feel?”You know, that’s that’s the key. It’s like kids who have never heard The Beatles, which which there’s lots of them. Well, you know, if it doesn’t have The Beatles or if it’s anyone, it doesn’t matter as long as they feel something when they listen to it.

 

Giles Martin on How Long It Takes To Remix a Track in Spatial Audio…

It does really vary. It can take, it can take half a day or three days or ages if you get it wrong, it’s as simple as that. And the reason was for a lot of lot of the stuff like the the early, early material we’ll go back into the Studio Two where their band recorded and we’ll find a way of rerecording the room. So you have the Studio Two around you when you listen to it. So that takes a while.So that’s the process, so we’re mixing not just the original tracks, but actually — Capturing ambiance of the room that they’re in to make it more real. So that’s a process that if you could add on to that and then once you got the tracks up, you know, I’d mix things incredibly quickly. And sometimes some tracks just take ages because you just think this is, this doesn’t feel right.

 

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Giles Martin on The Beatles Songs That Were Challenging To Remix in Spatial Audio…

There’s always a few troublemakers, and so it’s like, you know, you know in all honesty, Hard Day’s Night was was tough.Because, you know, the way it was done, it was, it’s got, I’m going to get this wrong. It’s got it, so it’s got John’s vocal, acoustic guitar, and congas on one track. Guitar, drums and bass, another track. John and Paul, another guitar, I think, another track. And it’s that balance, if you start splitting the Spatial Audio as opposed to mono, you going to, the levels change because of compression, so. There’s a lot of technical stuff that goes on.And to get the same feel was was tough with that. A Day in the Life was always tough. Day in the Life sounds really good in Spatial Audio. That was really tough just because it’s such an important song and it’s a song, these tracks, like Day in the Life, is a four track. And what I mean means that people, people listening is four track means you have essentially four things and you can’t separate them.So it’s it’s a acoustic guitar, piano, shakers and maracas, shakers and conga, sorry. And then there’s bass and drums and there’s a vocal track. And then there’s the strings, all the strings on one track and you’re thinking, that’s one of the biggest records ever. And it’s only got four things. So, you have to go, OK.And if people listen to that Spatial, they’ll hear the piano and acoustic guitar on this side of the shaker, and they’ll hear the bass and drums on the other side because you can only put them on, and the vocals in the middle, and the strings go around you. And it’s getting that balance, getting that feel right.

 

Giles Martin Says “Strawberry Fields” Was His Dad’s Proudest Work As a Producer and Explains How The Song Perfectly Showcases Spatial Audio…

It was my dad’s, I think, proudest work as a producer, you know, because it was two different takes, two different speeds, he put the strings, he did, he created this thing. And it’s a lovely story, he — John Lennon got in touch with him and they didn’t speak for a while for different reasons. John got in touch with him the month before he died. And my dad went to go see him in the Dakota building. And, John, you know, sort of —, they were thinking about working together again. And John said, “you know, I’d love to just go back and record everything again properly this time”. And my dad was like, “what??” And he goes “come on, we probably could do a lot better this time around.” My dad goes “what about Strawberry Fields?” and John went “especially Strawberry Fields” — so the so the legacy and the importance of that song for me personally is huge. And then you take the multitrack and you go “Okay, how do I make Spatial?”. And to me, that song kind of suits that world of Spatial Audio, it suits falling into…nothing is real. That’s that’s what the line says in the song. And so it suits it. When I was doing this work that was the one where I go…. I remember doing it and thinking and putting on putting that to my AirPods or the Max’s and going, “this really works. This really works. OK, listen, guys, this is the reason why this technology should exist.Strawberry Fields.The reason why this should exist”, you know, so that’s that’s it’s important.

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Giles Martin on Working with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, Continuing To Embrace Technology, and Paul Saying “We Were A Really Good Band” After Hearing Sgt. Pepper in Spatial Audio… 

It’s like a family and there’s pressure involved, but it’s not as though we have marketing meetings and we sit as a board that sits around, it’s like Paul and Ringo, and then there’s Olivia and Dhani, and then there’s Sean and Yoko. And you know, we communicate, we send, we send stuff around, we go, “listen to this” and they’ll make comments and they love the technology, they love the idea of people listening in different ways. and I know this from my dad as well. You know, they never thought 50 years time or 60 years or whatever people would be listening to this stuff. And actually, I was with Paul. We have an Atmos room here at Abbey Road and Paul came to listen to Sgt. Pepper. and we sat and we listened to it. We wandered around the room was like a big room because “we were a really good band”. I was like, “Yeah, you were”. He goes, “you know, we were we were really lucky to have your dad”. And I said, “Well, I think, you know, he was lucky.” And he goes “And we’re really lucky to have you” and I went “oh God no, come on, you know?I think about how lucky I am”. He goes “we’re all lucky then.” So yeah, he’s — there’s so much in all this, there’s so much love and passion and care attached that goes into this. And if I can make them happy, then you know, and then other people listen to it, they can hear the passion that goes into it, then that’s that’s job done worthy.

 

Giles Martin on How Spatial Audio Allows You To Time Travel…

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I remember when I walked into Abbey Road and… my dad, you know…he started to lose his hearing and didn’t tell anyone that I became his ears and that’s how I started doing what I’m doing. And he started working on the anthology project, and he hadn’t listened to The Beatles since they broke up. And I came in and I listened to A Day in the Life on a four track tape machine, and I was in a room upstairs and he pressed play and John was like talking to him, but obviously years old, and it was like he was in the room. It was like there was there was no hiss, there was no crackle, there was no like old…It was literally like he was coming to the speakers in the room. And I thought to myself, that is magical. records, don’t get old.We get old. We get old and records stay the same age. John Lennon is the same age now you know on that recording as he was in 1967, when he was saying those words. And with Spatial Audio and the work we do now at at Abbey Road, you can time travel. You could be there with the band, you know, with Dolby Atmos, you could be there with the band and be in the same space with them and you can just time travel. You could snap your fingers are just pressing play or finding something. Finding some new experience, You know, we get old, music stays the same age.

 

Giles Martin on the Legacy of Abbey Road Studios…

My mum started working at Abbey Road in 1948 and my dad started working at Abbey Road in 1950. And it took a long time for them to get together, but get together they did. And you know without Abbey Road they would never have met. Without Abbey Road I wouldn’t exist. I’m not the most important thing I think ever is produced, but I’m personally grateful that my parents met here. Listen, Abbey Road was the first studios that existed in the world, you know? I think, 1932 Abbey Road Studio One was built and, and it was the first purpose built studios in the world. And so it was the kind of home recording, if you like. And and from those days of Elgar, Glenn Miller, all that sort of stuff.And then eventually The Beatles, and then Pink Floyd…the walls are soaked with sound…You walk into that room and it’s like, you know, it you feel as though you’re in a magic place and you can’t design that. You know, that’s the great thing about the magic of music, it happens. And I think the the magic and grandioseness of somewhere like Abbey Road creates that performance space.

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The Boca Raton Museum of Art Presents Three Breakthrough Artists: Matthew Schreiber, Sari Dienes & Sri Prabha 


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The Boca Raton Museum of Art Presents Three Breakthrough Artists: Matthew Schreiber, Sari Dienes & Sri Prabha 


“Spirit lives in everything” ‒ This iconic quote by the late artist Sari Dienes serves as the entryway to the standout new exhibition by the Boca Raton Museum of Art of three breakthrough artists: Sari Dienes (1898-1992), Matthew Schreiber (b. 1967), and Sri Prabha (b. 1969). The work of each artist is showcased within its own gallery in this winning trifecta, across a panorama of art that encompasses the Museum’s first floor. All three spaces are curated by Kelli Bodle, the Associate Curator of the Museum (on view June 14 – October 22).

An inspiration to Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg, Sari Dienes was an important figure during the seminal decades of the Mid-Century art world in New York. Her exhibition, Incidental Nature, features three core elements of her six decades of artmaking: her 1950s street rubbings, works inspired by her time in Japan, and portraits of her famous circle of artists. Matthew Schreiber is one of the world’s foremost hologram and laser artists. Exploring Schreiber’s process more deeply than any previous showing of his work, his drawings and holograms in his exhibition, Orders of Light, include ephemeral images of spiritualist medium communities in Lily Dale, New York, and Cassadaga, Florida. His works on paper feature blind contour studies, peripheral view drawing, and lens-less photography. Sri Prabha masterminds a site-specific installation titled Resonator-Reanimator, fusing ideas from Vedic eastern philosophy and western science to explore our connection to the natural world. Melded together, they land the viewer within a psychedelic multiverse of saturated colors. 

Sari Dienes: Incidental Nature

The complete quote by Sari Dienes, in its entirety – “Spirit lives in everything. It has no age, no color,
no sex” – welcomes museumgoers as they enter the first-floor galleries. Celebrated as “the doyenne of the American avant-garde,” Dienes is finally receiving the national acclaim she deserves. Her work has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and The Whitney Museum of American Art, and is included in the permanent collections of many of the country’s leading museums (see more about her sixty years of artmaking at saridienes.org/life/exhibitions). Most of the works in this show are from the Sari Dienes Foundation, led by Barbara Pollitt who created the educational film about the artist: youtu.be/qKUr-l-EbJ0. One of the signature works in this exhibition is from the collection of Beth Rudin DeWoody. Dienes (1898-1992) was a descendant of Eastern European royalty, and her stature in the art world stretches back to the 1930s in Paris and London. She was born in Debrecen, Austria-Hungary and emigrated to the U.S. in 1939 at the age of 41. Dienes was an original member of the Neo-Dada movement of the 50s and 60s, and her impact upon Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns is undeniable. 

 

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In the early 1950s, her pioneering works prophesied what would later become the Pop Art movement. Her visionary use of found objects was years ahead of the curve. Dienes worked in a wide range of media, including painting, drawing, textile design, sculpture and ceramics. In her large-scale “Sidewalk Rubbings” of the 1950s and 1960s she created bold, graphic, geometrical compositions, via impressions of manhole covers, subway gratings and other elements of the urban streetscape. This she did often in the middle of the night to avoid pedestrians, accompanied by some of Manhattan’s most famous artist friends who helped her stretch her 30-foot-long fabric on the sidewalk. Dienes lived and worked alongside a stellar circle, including: Yoko Ono, the composer John Cage, the choreographer Merce Cunningham, experimental filmmaker Stan VanDerBeek, as well as Johns and Rauschenberg. A portion of this exhibition features her portraits and rubbings of some of her famous artist friends, including a large portrait of John Cage and bodily rubbings
of Ray Johnson’s arm. 

Dienes was known for making the exterior world her canvas, taking her materials out of the studio and into the streets. This central idea to her work, of making the exterior world her canvas, stemmed from Zen Buddhist philosophy, which she absorbed during her sojourn to Japan. A selection of works created in Japan will be on view in this new exhibition. She also created rubbings from ancient rock carvings known as petroglyphs. This exhibition features more than 50 works by Dienes, plus a singular collection of ephemera including a Polaroid portrait of the artist photographed by Andy Warhol, and photographs of iconic Bonwit Teller department store window displays from the 1950s that showcased some of America’s leading artists of the era. Learn more at saridienes.org. 


Matthew Schreiber: Orders of Light

The Brooklyn-based artist Matthew Schreiber was born in 1967, in Cleveland. He is recognized as one of the world’s foremost hologram artists, and is celebrated for his laser light sculptures. His Lab produces fine art holography on a curated and invited basis, and some of the Lab’s current artists include Paul McCarthy, Ed Ruscha, and Deana Lawson. Since childhood, Matthew Schreiber has had a dual interest in art and science. For this exhibition, the Museum selected more than 50 works, most never shown before, including works on paper, holograms, and photographs. Watch video of his holograms at vimeo.com/451650206.  

His interest in basic principles of nature has led to a deep and continued investigation of light. By maintaining an actual laboratory –the Schreiber Holography and Optical Laboratory, located in Brooklyn – he continues to feed and inspire his art. He worked as the chief lighting expert for the artist James Turrell (from 2000-2013), known for his work in the light and space movement. Schreiber first attempted to build his own laser as a child at the age of seven, inspired by science fiction, fantasy and novelty shops. At the age of fifteen, he made his first laser installation. Recurring themes in his work include a fascination with the occult, spiritualist traditions, and hauntings. In this show in Boca Raton, two of Schreiber’s holograms depict the realm of seances and psychic phenomena at the famous spiritualist communities of Lily Dale in New York, and Cassadaga in Florida. The results are fascinating, multi-dimensional imagery that expands our definition of what can be seen by the naked eye. See a video of his Cassadaga hologram series at vimeo.com/453452902.

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Hailed as “The Master of Light” by VICE’s Hayley Morgan, in her interview she quoted Schreiber about his other-worldly interests: “As humans, we can barely understand or perceive most of what surrounds us, so this belief in not knowing may be considered supernatural or metaphysical. I really wanted to clearly understand how my eyes work, how we see, so I studied some physics and it led to holography.” 

Many of the drawings in this show were created by Schreiber while he was in a trance-like state, altering the way he sees. This includes peripheral view drawing (holding his head to the side to use only the edges of his vision); adjusting his eyes to draw in near darkness; and blind-contour studies (without actually looking at the paper, fixing his view only on the outline and shapes of his subject while slowly drawing the contours in a continuous line). “My body becomes a filter for the resulting art that I make while altering my perception,” says Schreiber. Schreiber has exhibited at major museums and galleries, including: the Johnson Museum of Art (Cornell University); MIT Museum (Cambridge); Johannes Vogt Gallery (NY); Swiss Hall, the permanent installation at Herzog & de Meuron Residence in Basel, Switzerland; and a site-specific installation in the Miami Design District, curated by Ambra Medda, the co-founder and director of Design Miami. Schreiber’s holographic expertise was tapped by Deana Lawson for her exhibition at the Guggenheim in New York, where she was honored with the Hugo Boss Prize in 2020.

He received his MFA in Art and Technology and Experimental Film from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, with a specialization in holography from the Royal College of Art in 1994. He is one of the few artists in the world working in the field of real (wavefront-recording) holography, which he began as early as 1985 under the tutelage of WWII radar specialist Dr. S.S. Ballard at the University of Florida. Schreiber is known for co-founding C-Project in Miami from 1995-2000, one of the art world’s first-ever holographic production studios where he spearheaded collaborations with internationally renowned contemporary artists, including Richard Artschwager, John Baldessari, Louise Bourgeois, Roy Lichtenstein, Dorothea Rockburne, Robert Ryman and James Turrell. He also worked with John Perry of Holographics North, producing some of the largest holograms ever made. After relocating to Brooklyn, Schreiber created the C-Project Holography Archive, permanently acquired by the Getty Museum and the Getty Research Institute in 2018. Schreiber developed a working method to use laser light as a sculptural/architectural medium. His light experiments and projects with leading architects and designers include the London Mithraeum, within Bloomberg’s European Headquarters in London (winner of top international design and architectural lighting awards, including the Lumen Award of Excellence). Learn more at matthewschreiber.com.

Sri Prabha: Resonator – Reanimator

Sri Prabha is a multi-disciplinary artist based in South Florida. He was born in Hyderabad, India in 1969. His work emphasizes the artist’s keen interest in contemporary environmental issues, and how humans interact with the natural world. His installations aim for a co-mingling of Vedic eastern philosophies with western science, to tell a richer story. Prabha was recently selected as one of the winners of the 2022 Art Basel Miami Beach public art showcase by the City of Miami Beach, for a monumental installation Cosmic Occupancy
(see the video of his spectacular light projection orb for Art Basel at vimeo.com/777854294

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Doe Boy Presents much-anticipated full length album, ‘BEEZY’

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Doe Boy Presents much-anticipated full length album, 'BEEZY'

Making a statement as loudly as possible, critically acclaimed Cleveland hip-hop phenomenon Doe Boy proudly presents his anxiously awaited new project, BEEZY, today via Freebandz/Epic Records. Listen to BEEZY HERE.

The 16-track project unfolds as a rap blockbuster of the highest order. He attracted an A-list cohort of guests, including Future, G Herbo, and Roddy Ricch on the irresistible “TRY & SEE, Lily Yachty and Luh Tyler during the hilarious “KARDASHIANS, Lola Brooke on the punchy “DUMB,” EST GEE for the street anthem “PICK A SIDE, and Cleveland legends Krayzie Bone and Bizzy Bone on the haunting and hypnotic finale “GRIM REAPER.

Check out the full tracklisting below.

About the project, Doe Boy commented, “It tells my story, everything I’ve been through, all of the trials and tribulations I overcame, and where I’m at now. It’s all based on true stories. Nothing is fabricated. I’m going to give you everything. I’m elevated as a grown man now. I’m not a kid anymore. The way I move is bossed all the way up. I’ve come a long way from East Cleveland. BEEZY is my nickname, so this album is self-titled. It’s who I am today and all of the things that brought me here. This is all of my different moods all rolled up into one as BEEZY.

It also boasts the single “DEEP END” [feat. Don Toliver]. He just uncovered a cinematic music video for this melodic banger. Watch it HERE.

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He initially teased BEEZY with “WAY I WALK.It has just begun to gain steam at DSPs. HipHopDX plugged it, and Rap Radar proclaimed, “The Freebandz rapper does his killer step to Hendrix Smoke, John Luther, and Nick Mira’s groove while delivering his cutthroat lyrics.

“WAY I WALK” hinges on a head-nodding and nostalgic Jennifer Lopez sample as Doe Boylocks into a bouncy flow. His cadence instantly captivates as he struts towards one of his catchiest choruses to date, “This just the way I walk. The accompanying visual showcases just that as he and a group of friends groove, smoke, and turn up outside in their neighborhood.

Last year, Doe Boy continued his rapid rise with the CATCH ME IF YOU CAN EP. It tallied over 10 million streams and earned critical plugs from the likes of Complex and RapRadar who noted, Doe Boy is hard to kill.” Perhaps REVOLT put it best by proclaiming, “If you not hip to Doe Boy by now, shame on you.

It’s time to get to know BEEZY….

TRACKLISTING:

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1 RHUDE BOY

2 NONSENSE

3 WAY I WALK

4 NUMBER GAME FT. BABYFACE RAY

5 KARDASHIANS FT. LIL YACHTY & LUH TYLER

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6 TOP TAKER FT. BIG FLAME 8

7 RAN INTO A THUG

8 DEEP END FT. DON TOLIVER

9 TRY & SEE FT. FUTURE, G HERBO & RODDY RICCH

10 DEMON TIME

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11 DUMB FT. LOLA BROOKE

12 CLOUT CHASE FT. DABABY

13 FIRST 48 GANG

14 PICK A SIDE FT. EST GEE

15 MENACE FT FUTURE

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16 GRIM REAPER FT. KRAYZIE BONE & BIZZY BONE

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Sam Smith & Madonna out with “VULGAR,”

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Sam Smith & Madonna out with “VULGAR,”

In February 2023, Madonna introduced an arresting GRAMMY® Awards show performance by Sam Smith ft. Kim Petras. “Are you ready for some controversy?” she asked, before making a heartfelt speech. “If they call you shocking, scandalous, troublesome, problematic, provocative or dangerous,” she said, “You are definitely onto something.” The day after, with their fifth GRAMMY Award in hand, Sam headed into a Los Angeles studio with Madonna to record a fierce, unapologetic duet: “VULGAR.” Listen HERE. View the lyric video HERE.

 

A fearless, bold anthem, “VULGAR” honors every word of Madonna’s speech. It’s the celebratory sound of two artists conjoining in abandon, a meeting of wild minds, hooks and aesthetics, punctuated by an Eastern string break and bolstered by earth-shattering bass. It is a two-and-a-half minute slap-back to repression and a demand for respect. Released today by Capitol Records, the single was produced by ILYA for MXM Productions, Cirkut, Omer Fedi, Ryan Tedder, Jimmy Napes, Sam and Lauren D’elia, Madonna’s vocal producer and engineer.

 

Sam Smith is a multi-award-winning, multi-platinum-selling singer, songwriter and lightning rod for provocation. Their third studio album, Gloria, has sold over 40 million albums sold worldwide and been praised by Rolling Stone as “their deepest album yet.” Sam will launch the North American leg of GLORIA The Tour on July 25.

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Madonna, the best-selling female artist of all time, continues to push boundaries and transform culture. She will kick off her highly anticipated global Celebration Tour in July.

Together, they are S&M. Together, they are “VULGAR.”

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Niall Horan’s latest album, ‘The Show’ out now!

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Niall Horan's latest album, 'The Show' out now!

Chart-topping global superstar Niall Horan released The Show, his third studio album, via Capitol Records today. Revealing the immense growth and life experience he’s gained since 2020’s Heartbreak Weather – an album made in his early 20s – the result is a deeply felt and endlessly spellbinding statement on following your heart to its absolute truth. Download / stream The Show HERE.

Today, Horan shared the official video for the album’s title track. Directed by Connor Brashier(Kygo, Shawn Mendes), the video was shot at the Downtown Palace, a downtown Los Angeles theatre that dates back to the vaudeville era. As a crew rushes around preparing for the evening’s concert, Horan performs “The Show,” accompanying himself on piano. View the video HERE.

Set against a hypnotic backdrop of swooning strings and poignant piano work, “The Show” was the first song Horan worked on for the new album. The track reflects on the undeniably human desire to control the uncontrollable—then gently urges the listener to fully embrace life for all its messiness. He wrote it late one summer night in 2020, after his tour in support of Heartbreak Weather had been cancelled due to the pandemic. With most of his guitars stowed with his touring gear, he sat down at the piano and spontaneously composed a song that would come to define a whole new era of his career.

To celebrate the album’s release, Horan will perform today in New York City as part of the Citi Summer Concert Series on “TODAY.” After making his festival debut at Boston Calling last month, he will be playing festivals around the globe this summer. He’ll embark on a global headline tour next February. Due to the high demand for tickets – over half a million sold to date, resulting in numerous sold-out shows around the world – additional dates have been added to “THE SHOW” LIVE ON TOUR 2024, including a July 28, 2024 show at The Kia Forum in Inglewood, CA. See below for itinerary. Tickets are available at www.niallhoran.com.

Horan – who joined NBC’s The Voice” this season and logged his first win as a coach with contestant Gina Miles’ victory – recently performed “Meltdown,” another song from the album, on the show. View his performance HERE. Rolling Stone observed, “Unlike the optimistic pop songs that bury devastating lyrics beneath the sound of sunshine, ‘Meltdown’ keeps up an unrelenting pace that more so echos the heightened anxiety and panic Horan sings about.”

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In the making of The Show, Horan worked with a close-knit circle of collaborators, including Julian Bunetta (Thomas Rhett, SG Lewis), Amy Allen (Halsey, Sam Smith), Jamie Scott (Jessie Ware, Rag’n’Bone Man) and acclaimed producers John Ryan and Joel Little. Built on a lush and radiant form of alt-pop, the album draws much of its mesmerizing power from Horan’s ingenious use of harmonies—an element inspired by Crosby, Stills & Nash, Jackson Browne, and other members of the ’60s/’70s music scene in Laurel Canyon – the very same Los Angeles neighborhood in which he’s lived part-time for the past seven years.

A near-lifelong songwriter who taught himself to play guitar as a kid in Ireland – and who names attending an Eagles concert at age four as a pivotal moment in shaping his sensibilities – Horanhas sold over 80 million records and toured the globe multiple times as part of the iconic One Direction. In 2017, he made his full-length solo debut with Flicker, a Platinum-certified and chart-topping album featuring the triple-Platinum single “Slow Hands.” Heartbreak Weather followed in 2020 and topped the U.K.’s Official Albums chart and Billboard’s Top Album Sales tally.

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DJ Khaled Presents The First-Ever We The Best Foundation Golf Classic on Thursday July 20 in Miami Beach

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Does DJ Khaled use Autotune for bad singers

Hitting the fairway for a very good cause, GRAMMY® Award-winning, global megastar DJ Khaled excitedly presents the inaugural WE THE BEST FOUNDATION GOLF CLASSIC on Thursday July 20 in Miami, FL sponsored by Jordan brand. The perennial hitmaker will be joined by an A-list cohort of players, teeing off to support various charitable initiatives for a great cause. The proceeds will benefit the We The Best Foundation and their various endeavors in education, the arts, and so much more. This inaugural tournament will be an experience like no one other.

About the event, Khaled commented, “Just to be out on the golf course with close friends and family of mine is a blessing. Giving back makes it even better. I can’t wait to see you all at the first-ever WE THE BEST FOUNDATION GOLF CLASSIC. We’re starting something very special here while introducing the sport of golf to a wider community.”

The festivities commence on Wednesday July 19 when Khaled welcomes sponsors and guests.  Bright and early on the following morning July 20, registration and breakfast commence at 8am with celebrity intros at 9am. The tournament kicks off at 9:30am sharp followed by awards at 2:30pm.

 

For over two decades, the very mention of DJ Khaled has implied an elevated level of musical greatness, entrepreneurial excellence, and cultural impact. You’ve heard him across a GRAMMY® Award-winning multiplatinum catalog, seen him in blockbusters such as Bad Boys For Life, caught him on the cover of Rolling Stone, watched him on numerous television programs, and felt his presence from the streets all the way up to the Barack Obama White House. He has achieved dozens of multiplatinum and gold certifications, including the 9x multi-platinum Billboard Hot 100 #1 “I’m The One” [feat. Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance the Rapper, & Lil Wayne], 6x multi-platinum “Wild Thoughts” [feat. Rihanna & Bryson Tiller], double platinum “No Brainer” [feat. Justin Bieber, Chance the Rapper, & Quavo]. His 2019 album, Father of Asahd [We The Best Music Group/Epic Records], to the top of the charts. Not only did it garner a platinum certification, but it also became his third consecutive Top 2 debut on the Billboard Top 200 and emerged as the “#1 Most-Streamed Record” upon release. To date, he has moved over 20 million singles and 6 million albums in addition to gathering 4 billion-plus streams. The latter propelled his 2021 album, Khaled Khaled which boasts the 3x multi-platinum anthem “Every Chance That I Get” [feat. Lil Baby & Lil Durk].

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Not to mention, he launched We The Best Music Group—a record label, management, publishing, and production company and in-demand studio. As a committed philanthropist, he founded his 501(c)3 organization The We The Best Foundation. It uplifts individuals throughout underserved communities across the United States and supports various non-profits. He has supported the fight against COVID-19., U2 frontman Bono recruited him as the first social media ambassador for Project Red, and he serves as the national spokesperson for Get Schooled. Now, the power of this legacy defines his thirteenth full-length album—which bears the name—God Did, making it his fourth number #1 album to debut on the Billboard Top 200 chart. With a newly minted star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, DJ Khaled continues to soar and inspire. GOD DID!

We The Best Foundation is a 501c3 organization dedicated to enriching the lives of the next generation – from childhood to adulthood. We support non-profit organizations and individuals in underserved communities in efforts that aid them towards becoming the best version of themselves. To learn more or donate, visit www.WeTheBestFoundation.org

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Tupac’s sister Sekyiwa ‘Set’ Shakur cries during his posthumous Hollywood Walk Of Fame ceremony

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Tupac Shakur’s sister, Sekyiwa ‘Set’ Shakur got emotional during his posthumous Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony. (more…)

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