By now, we’ve all heard about Kanye West’s VMAs acceptance speech. In a timespan of 13 minutes, West went from recounting how he first met Taylor Swift at a supermarket to announcing his wishes to run for President in 2020. Good luck to whoever wants to run against him because Kanye fans are lining up to vote.
Funny and clever as the speech already was, David Elmaleh has decided to take things one step further. He has cut out different parts of the speech, added a laughing track, a few cuts to the audience and re-imagined it as a stand-up comedy set. The video, which was probably inspired by the line “I still don’t understand award shows”, has given us a new take on one of the most talked about moments of the award show.
In true Seinfeld fashion, he dove into a rant of what he doesn’t understand about award shows. The video goes to make the line “I don’t understand” somewhat iconic and even includes his quip about smoking something before he went up.
Maybe if the whole running for President thing doesn’t work out, he can give stand-up a try. He sure has a way with words, so why not?
Let’s put aside issues of race. Let’s put aside issues of body shaming. Nicki Minaj’s rant about being snubbed by the MTV VMA panel for ‘Video of the Year’ is a case of petulance, pure and simple. After Taylor Swift offered to ‘share the stage’ with Minaj, she retorted, “trust me. I’ll be on that stage to collect my awards for vid of the year”. This is about a culture of entitlement, and a complete lack of grace and sportsmanship amongst artists. I don’t expect people like Nicki Minaj and Kanye West to be role models. I do expect them to be adults. Whining when you don’t win an award is ugly, childish and embarrassing.
The fact that this outrage is directed at the MTV Video Music Awards makes the whole thing evern more farcical. Wait, you’re saying that MTV is not a paragon of virtue committed to the highest ideals of equity and artistic truth? You’re telling me that the network responsible for Engaged and Underage, 16 and Pregnant and Jersey Shore isn’t a champion of artistic merit, and is really just pursuing the lowest common denominator for their exclusively preteen and stoner audience? This is an outrage. There needs to be a Congressional Inquiry. There couldn’t be a contest of less prestige. The VMAs never have, or never will be, a barometer of artistic achievement. Complaining about losing at the VMA’s would be like Halle Berry wrestling Sandra Bullock for her Razzie. Or Nick Cannon spear-tackling Cody Simpson, so that he can soak up that sweet self-assuring slime from the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards. Or when a dad flips out at the Auskick presentation night when his sprocket only comes runner-up in the under 6’s least improved category. Nicki Minaj has been recognized time and time again for her achievements. Chucking a hissy fit over losing out on this most vacuous of awards demonstrates that she is a brat plain and simple.
The VMA’s have a long and proud history as an institution of good taste and discernment.
Notice how these artists are quick to point out when they (or their closest friends) are cheated, but don’t feel compelled to speak up for smaller, independent acts that get looked over. They claim to “respect artistry” but what they really respect is themselves. They’re never indignant when someone with whom they have no association is robbed. There’s a real argument that Sia’s Elastic Heart video was the best pop video of the year, after her Chandelier clip lost to Miley Cyrus’ Wrecking Ball in 2014. But no one is in Sia’s corner, because they’re only in their own corner. Or what about FKA Twigs’ Glass & Patron clip? If Kanye West respected artistry he would be bum-rushing the stage saying that FKA Twigs was robbed.
I’ll agree that whilst Minaj’s Anaconda clip is completely asinine, it is iconic; but is there not the possibility, the smallest chance, that despite its iconic status, that a rational person could still subjectively believe that it was not in the top 5 videos of the year? Is there even a modicum of chance that this isn’t a conspiracy, but just someones subjective and honestly held belief? Ed Sheeran’s Thinking Out Loud and Bruno Mars’ Uptown Funk videos were both extremely memorable. Isn’t there a chance that maybe Nicki Minaj didn’t make the top 5 because she just had strong competition?
I find it difficult to believe the snub is due to larger issues of body shaming and racism. For a start, it’s clear that MTV are not involved in some viscous campaign to destroy Minaj’s career. She’s been nominated 10 times for the VMA’s, and has won twice for Best Hip Hop Video and Best Female Video. So they can’t be totally opposed to her image and appearance. Arguably MTV in 2015 are more attuned to black issues than ever before – nominating Kendrick Lamar’s powerful and controversial video for Alright. The video has an important message about black resilience in the face of white oppression. This is a truly commendable move by MTV, given the song is not commercial and not radio friendly. It’s arguable the most progressive video ever been nominated, both in terms of music and message. And if you want to talk about sidelining important social issues, it would have been even more divisive to ignore Taylor Swift’s Bad Blood clip, with it’s feminist undercurrent and message of empowerment.
I don’t think it’s fair to accuse MTV of ignoring social issues for choosing not to give its highest honour to a video that contains the actual lyric “he tossed my salad like his name Romain,” and even more simply and honestly, “I’m on some dumb shit.”
Look at this man. Look at his twisted, pained expression.
This is the face of a man who has become literally bloated on disappointment. A man who’s been spurned so often by the artistic community, that he was forced to bravely find solace in the sexual embrace of international supermodels. This poor man has been let down more times than he can possibly count. When he lost out to that guy from How To Lose a Guy In 10 Days, he had the good grace to suck up that tide of emotions, put on a brave face for the cameras and then vent in private. He suffered in silence. Can you image the Leonardo tweet?: “if your movie celebrates AIDS stricken men with near skeletal bodies, you will win best actor #dallasbulimiaclub #realmenhavedadbods.” No. You couldn’t. because Leo is from a generation and profession that appreciates good humour, grace and humility.
Congratulating Minaj on her ‘stand’ encourages a culture of petulance. It says: if things don’t go your way, make a scene. It says when bad things happen to good people, it must be a conspiracy. It’s like those facile Facebook customer complaints that are carefully engineered so that they go viral. Someone chasing likes by uploading a picture of a slippery floor with a funny rant, because they know the public relations team has been hamstrung from acting with any level of reasonableness in such a public forum. In the world of art you don’t deserve anything. In a totally subjective profession there is no such thing as ‘being robbed’ – because there is no means by which it can be said that one piece of art is quantifiably superior to any other another. There’s no lack of self-belief in the entertainment industry, but part of being a true champion is knowing how to lose graciously.
By now you will have no doubt heard that Taylor Swift has penned an open letter to Apple, saving the day for all independent musicians of the world. While they predictably ignored please from the likes of Anton Newcombe and Bon Iver, the power of Swifty prevails. In a rare moment of humility, Apple backed down on a frankly ridiculous contract that withheld all royalties from artists during the first three months of their contracts with Apple Music.
However, Taylor Swift is now being accused of being a hypocrite due to the brutal contract that her concert photographers must allegedly sign. This was brought to attention by photographer Jason Sheldon, who published his own open letter to Swift on the issue. He accused Swift of a complete rights grab, as the contract restricts any photograph taken to a single use, denying photographers the ability to sell their work to several publications, as is convention. In addition, the contract demands that Swift have full and unlimited use of the material, essentially providing marketing material for free.
“You say in your letter to Apple that “Three months is a long time to go unpaid”. But you seem happy to restrict us to being paid once, and never being able to earn from our work ever again, while granting you the rights to exploit our work for your benefit for all eternity.”
As it happens though, this contract was itself out-dated. And it only gets more extreme.
The current contract states that those who violate the contract may have their property containing the files destroyed on the spot.
The full contract can be seen here:
The point in question:
“If you fail to fully comply with this Authorization, authorized agents of FEI, the Artist or the Related Entities may confiscate and/or destroy the technology or devices that contain the master files of the Photographs and other images, including, but not limited to, cell phones and memory cards, and the Photographs and any other images.”
While we are right to applaud Swift for her stance on Apple Music, it does seem unfair to impose such strict guidelines on artists who are trying to make a living at her concerts, albeit in a different form. As Jason Sheldon reflected in his open letter, many photographers are not paid per show, but rather whether the photos are used by their publication. By disallowing him from selling on photos, the single use means that he can barely cover the expenses of attending the show.
It’s not the first time Swift has pulled something like this either – her controlling antics on full display as she trademarked phrases such as “this sick beat” and “could show you incredible things”, while also purchasing a bunch of website names, including porn domains.
So although I, like many others, would enjoy seeing Swift wield a hammer and single headedly obliterate a camera on the spot at one of her concerts, the heavy handed contract is hardly comical.
In a move that is demonstrative of the enormous amount of influence and power that Taylor Swift wields in the music world, Apple’s Eddy Cue has just announced via Twitter that Apple Music will alter its three-month free trial plan to now include royalties for artists.
We recently looked at the way some independent artists have criticised Apple’s decision to not pay artists for that period, but it now looks as though the power of the voice (Swift’s voice, anyway) has actually led to real change.
The swift decision (no pun intended) was made after the Shake It Off singer threatened to pull her latest album, 1989, from Apple’s start-up streaming service. In an epic essay posted on Swift’s Tumblr page, she details exactly why she refuses to let Apple stream her album.
However, far from being about not being fairly compensated herself for the album, who after her fifth album can, “can support myself, my band, crew, and entire management team by playing live shows”, the popstrel instead complains about all the struggling up-and-coming artists and songwriters who will not make a dime during the three-month free trial offered by Apple to new users, which she finds, “shocking, disappointing, and completely unlike this historically progressive and generous company”.
She stresses that the move is not about herself, rather:
“This is about the new artist or band that has just released their first single and will not be paid for its success. This is about the young songwriter who just got his or her first cut and thought that the royalties from that would get them out of debt… but will not get paid for a quarter of a year’s worth of plays on his or her songs.”
The move seems to have worked, because Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue posted these reassuring messages on twitter just earlier today:
Apple will always make sure that artist are paid #iTunes #AppleMusic
— Eddy Cue (@cue) June 22, 2015
#AppleMusic will pay artist for streaming, even during customer’s free trial period
— Eddy Cue (@cue) June 22, 2015
We hear you @taylorswift13 and indie artists. Love, Apple
— Eddy Cue (@cue) June 22, 2015
Swift’s actions mean that thousands of artists will now be compensated for their work and is the perfect example of when influential people use their power for the good of other people.
It’s not the first time either that the singer has pulled music from other music services. She pulled her music catalogue from Spotify in November over similar complaints of unfair compensation and that her, “Music is art, and art is important and rare. Important, rare things are valuable. Valuable things should be paid for.”
Swift’s decision is an important one, especially in regards to the Apple iTunes, which holds a virtual monopoly over all the world’s legal digital downloads, with an estimated share of around 80% to 85% of music downloads world-wide.
The company is hoping to translate its huge pre-existing user base into a thriving streaming service to rival that of Spotify or Pandora. It will charge around $10 a month for its service.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1zs0uHHoSw&w=560&h=315]
The inevitable teaser trailer for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 has just come out and we are as stoked as any Hunger Games fans to see what the final installation has in store for us.
The eternal struggle between Katniss and President Snow continues in the finale of the epic film series, which features an all ensemble cast of actors like Jennifer Lawrence, Julianne Moore, Liam Hemsworth and the late Philip Seymour Hoffman. This last instalment of the franchise will also feature Game of Thrones actress Gwendoline Christie, who will appear as Commander Lyme.
But just as good as the film and franchise itself is the epic and custom-made soundtracks that the film series has spawned over its run, including the likes of Taylor Swift, Arcade Fire, Maroon 5, Coldplay, Sia, Phantogram, Charli XCX, Bat for Lashes and CHVRCHES.
Mockingjay – Part 1 earned praise for its especially excellent soundtrack – one curated by non other than Lorde herself, whose hit Yellow Flicker Beat peaked at 34 on the Billboard Hot 100. The New Zealander helped to assemble an all-star collection of singers to help create the soundtrack.
Even Jennifer Lawrence’s surprise hit The Hanging Tree (as sung by Katniss in the film) was added to the extended version of the soundtrack. Hell, even Kanye West got on board, remixing (or reworking) Lorde’s song into a track called Flicker.
Let’s hope the soundtrack for Mockingjay Part 2 will be just as star-studded as the last!
Check out the trailer here:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmYNkasYthg&w=560&h=315]
The release date for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 is November 19.
It’s been an incredibly good week for Taylor Swift. At this year’s Billboard Awards, she scooped up a solid eight awards, she released last year’s best pop album and to top it all off, has now put Hollywood to shame with her blockbuster video clip for her latest single Bad Blood.
While most artists do invest a lot of time into the production of a music video, one of this high quality hasn’t been seen since Kanye’s epic 30 minute Runaway film which was released in anticipation for My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Taylor has amassed every A-Grade celebrity she could find, including; Selena Gomez, Lena Dunham and of course, Compton’s greatest export since N.W.A., Kendrick Lamar.
However despite the incredibly high production quality on the video clip, that’s not the thing we’re most excited about. No, that would be the fact that Kendrick Lamar has continue his run of musical gold and released a sensationally awesome remix of Swifty’s latest single. While hardcore Kendrick fans may dismiss this concept as ‘selling out’, we can assure you its not. While the beat may have been geared towards the Top 40 spectrum, Kendrick’s poetic ability continues to shine through, with him even referencing some of his earlier material. If you don’t believe us, check out both the music video and Kendrick‘s version below.
I often wonder the type of power that some of the biggest musicians of the day yield. This is slowly being answered as a star-studded cast is continuing to be rolled out in preparation for Taylor Swift’s new music video for Bad Blood. It seems Swift sees herself as a Nick Fury figure of the Avengers, except instead of recruiting superheroes to save the world, she’s recruiting celebrities to boost sales. Perhaps not quite as noble, but probably just as likely to work.
Until now, the cast of the video was reserved for her female BFFs such as Hayley Williams, Ellie Goulding, Gigi Hadid, Lily Aldridge and Zendaya. However, it has been revealed that Swift has even managed to recruit some real firepower in Kendrick Lamar who will star as Welvin Da Great (clearly chose the name himself). Along with the announcement of Kendrick, comes with even more unexpected ones of renowned comedian and feminist Lena Dunham and former superhero herself Jessica Alba of the Fantastic Four.
Nothing in this news disproves my theory that at a certain stage of fame, you received a phone book of all other famous people to use at your own discretion.
The new video is due to arrive at Sunday’s Billboard Music Awards. The song came to attention previously, as it appeared to be a Katy Perry diss track. Perhaps the video will see the all star cast team up against Katy Perry in an ultimate showdown.
We can only hope.
If you’re dream is to actually live in a Taylor Swift song, then your time may actually have arrived. With Swift’s new phone app, hardcore obsession isn’t just limited to watching her songs on repeat and singing along, we can now rapidly text segments of her lyrics as well.
Taytect uses a predictive function that lets you fill your SMS with lyrics from Taytay’s songs via keyboard. Similar to how you would use autocorrect to complete a word, or insert an emoji, you can squeeze in a couple of Swift’s lyrics to complete your message.
The app has over 300 lyrics from more than 60 songs, so hopefully there will be a line to suit every occasion. Drake has also had his own version of the function out for a while now, so hop on that too if you’re interested.
Here’s an example to get the ball rolling:
Yesterday, Henry Rollins got us thinking about musicians who have also dabbled in acting. While we could just write an entire post about the muso guest stars who, alongside Rollins, appeared in Sons of Anarchy (Courtney Love, Dave Navarro and Marilyn Manson to name a few,) we thought we’d mix it up a little and present to you some of the other Slashies who have made the successful (or not to successful) transition onto screen.
Aaliyah
Before her death in 2001, Aaliyah had started filming scenes as Zee in The Matrix Reloaded (the role then went to Nona Gaye and was re-shot.) Prior to being approached by The Matrix franchise, the late R&B songstress starred in vampire flick Queen of the Damned, as well as Romeo Must Die. While the film was poorly received, Aaliyah’s acting chops were highly praised.
David Bowie
While he might be credited as himself in a number of movies including Zoolander and Disney abomination Bandslam, Bowie holds a special place in the hearts of many as Jareth The Goblin King in Jim Henson’s The Labyrinth. He’s cheeky, creepy, and dons a gravity-defying hairstyle.
Debbie Harry
Best known as the front-woman of Blondie, new-wave punk icon Debbie Harry has at least a dozen film and television titles to her name. As well as appearing in the pilot episode of Sabrina, The Teenage Witch, she played Velma Von Tussel in John Waters’ 1988 version of Hairspray.
Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop has a pretty extensive filmography, including Blood Oranges, which is set to be realised this year, and the film adaptation of German horror short story, Der Sandmann, or The Sandman. One of his earlier (and stranger) roles saw him star in the John Waters-directed Cry Baby, alongside Johnny Depp.
Jennifer Hudson
Jennifer Hudson won the Academy Award for best supporting actress in her role in Dreamgirls: the same film that earned Beyoncé some serious film cred and also featured Jamie Foxx. Two years later the former American Idol contestant played Carrie Bradshaw’s sassy as fuck assistant in the Sex And The City movie with the single best line of the entire film; “ain’t nothin’ in there for you.”
Meatloaf
In The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Meatloaf’s character Eddie pretty much rides in, sings Hot Patootie (Bless My Soul) and is murdered. In Fight Club, he still takes a bashing but gets the luxury of a little extra screen time as former body builder, steroids abuser and testicular-cancer survivor Bob.
Mos Def
He’s credited as playing “himself” in Talladega Nights and has appeared in a handful of documentaries, but Mos Def has also acted in a number a number of films. His roles span a versatile range of genres including Ford Perfect in The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Monster’s Ball alongside Sean “P-Diddy/Puff-Daddy/Diddy” Combs, while Be Kind Rewind had him sharing the screen with Jack Black.
Rihanna
A movie about a board game. A pretty shitty board game at that. Unless you’re playing against someone who doesn’t realise their entire fleet of ships is displayed in the window reflection behind them, playing Battleship is the board-game equivalent of watching paint dry. Unfortunately, Rihanna’s mundane performance in Battleship does not rescue this snore fest.
Taylor Swift
Not the movies one might hope to find at taylorswift.porn, but T-Swizz did play a terrifying loved-up teenager in Valentine’s Day alongside her then-beau Taylor Lautner. She also appeared in an episode of New Girl and voiced Audrey in The Lorax.
Will Smith
Let’s just call it how it is: Will Smith might just be the most successful contemporary musician-turned-actor…Turned musician/actor. We still fondly remember the days when a Will Smith film would be accompanied by a cheesy Smith performed theme song (hello Wild Wild West and Men In Black)