#like you don’t get a participation award because you decided to release music at the same time as someone you KNOW is more popular than you

[allamericanb-tch]

no girl taylor isn’t blocking you from the chart maybe your music just isn’t as good and you aren’t as popular?

[21secondsofchristoph]

Here is a full translation of the interview featured in Max Magazine.

Original text by Andreas Wrede

This was a lot of work so PLEASE don’t post this elsewhere without credit. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This story with and about Christoph Waltz is a story coming full circle. A little more than 3 decades ago, a small group of editors and photojournalists, graphic artists and authors started developing the pilot for the first German issue of MAX, made possible by Dirk Manthey, the publisher from Hamburg’s Milchstraße, who knew the magazine from Italy, France and Greece. And who made me the founding-editor in chief. Three decades later, the derivative is released, thanks to publisher Max Iannucci. In 1990, Christoph Waltz was in an episode of “Der Alte”, among other things before he played the torn schlager music star Roy Black in “Du bist nicht allein – Die Roy Black Story” – but we will get to that later.

Now Christoph Waltz is an award-winning, internationally known actor, who won two Oscars for best supporting actor. That is unique for a German-speaking actor. Born in Vienna in 1956, he now lives in Los Angeles – if you want to play a role in Hollywood, literally, you must be present in Los Angeles. And during our conversation in a red, furry saloon of the legendary hotel Sacher in Vienna, he emphasizes, “Hollywood is always the goal”.  

The place is very fitting, considering Christoph Waltz grew up in Vienna, in a family that cultivated a great affinity for the work on stage for two generations. He says laconically, “You grow into a thing, you grow up with it, and thus, you acquire a familiarity early on, which you’d otherwise have to conquer with a lot more effort.” He often went to the movies from an early age on, but he spent even more time at the opera. “When I had time and had finished my homework, I enjoyed going to the opera.” Back then, a standing room ticket cost about ten Schilling, just a few cents in today’s currency. Little Christoph loved smuggling into the fascinating, secretive opera house.

Later he attended famous acting schools like the Max Reinhardt Seminar or Lee Strasberg’s Actors Studio with significantly less pleasure. “I didn’t like attending acting schools. They didn’t exactly broaden my horizon.” Christoph Waltz hardly found them inspiring. And when he received offers for movies and theater, he accepted them “instead of dealing and struggling with teachers”. He says this with few gestures and in an almost reporting tone, he has always trusted the energies inherent in him. He had his TV debut in “Der Einstand”, where he played a teenage delinquent. That was fitting, considering he continued playing roles which were different, unexpected, and specific, or roles he filled differently, unexpectedly, and specifically.

Christoph Waltz remembers his beginnings as an actor in the 70s a little wistfully. “There were still movies on TV, which were made as movies for television, as one dramatic entity.” Or when there used to be directors like the great Federico Fellini, who was “very, very specifically Italian in everything he did.” Christoph Waltz continues: “And because of this specificity he was able to reach so many people.” A phenomenon like Fellini is marked by obstinacy, nonconformity, and distinct individuality. However, some significant conditions also irritated Christoph Waltz, for instance, when he was hired for the Krzysztof-Zanussi-film “Leben für Leben” in 1991. “I wasn’t adequately informed about the conditions and backgrounds. And so, I found myself – surpsised – in front of a camera in Auschwitz.” How does one react to something like that? “Today, I would know how to react”, he stresses thoughtfully, “but today, that would be due to the self-confidence I acquired over the past years. Back then I felt: Now I’ve been hired for this film.” Alright, he adds, one grows through experience, some conflicts are worth going through. “It helps building character.”

Was the decision to play Roy Black a crystal clear one? Not at all, he responds smiling and closes his eyes for a second. “When my agent called me about it, my spontaneous reaction was: Complete humbug, and I can’t even listen to this music for three seconds.” It only became interesting for him when he learned that Roy Black originally wanted to play Rock ‘n’ Roll. Then he became interested in the tragedy of this character. And the thought that Roy Black’s wish was the desire for freedom and wildness, a wish many Germans shared, “which was inherent in the promising American machinery.” Although this freedom and wildness had always existed in Germany, lived out by people like Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, or Kandinsky.

“The film itself was great, but the marketing-weisenheimers managed to break this film. It would be a great cine film, but they advertised it as a sob story for television. Consequently, the real Roy-Black fans were disappointed, while the people who might have been interested in the movie judged: Leave me alone with this sob story twerp. Well, the weisenheimers are the weisenheimers, what can you do”, deems Christoph Waltz with a beautiful touch of Viennese sarcasm and barely noticeable risen eyebrows. One does not always have to instrumentalize the entire acting equipment with him. A few little cues are enough.

Many more films follow before someone calls from Hollywood and say he is supposed to participate in Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds. In our interview he calls this his “Quentin-jump”, where he is at eye level with Diane Kruger, Brad Pitt and Michael Fassbender in front of the camera. “Tarantino, we mentioned this before, stands for specificity and authenticity, he has an eye for both.” Did Christoph Waltz go into this production with a lot of respect? “With great respect.” He remembers an encounter with Sylvester Groth in front of a theatre in Babelsberg. “Every Thursday, Quentin showed movies during preparation. Once, Sylvester and I stood in front of the theatre and we both said: Imagine this, now we’ve been doing this for so long and suddenly we find ourselves here.” Then we paused for a few moments and kept going: Yes, and despite everything, we’re doing what we’ve always done – what we do, because that is what we do.”

Before Tarantino’s office could call again, other international projects followed, like The Green Hornet (with Cameron Diaz, Tom Wilkinson, James Franco) or Carnage (with Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, John C. Reilly). Then Django Unchained (with Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio, Samuel L. Jackson). For his role in Django Unchained, Christoph Waltz wins his second Oscar for best supporting actor in 2013 and Quentin wins another one for best original screenplay. But Christoph Waltz remains humble: “The opportunities presented to someone for personal growth always come to you through other people.” Although the actor always makes a binary decision. “Yes or no. Am I going to do it or not.”

Can one also make the wrong decision? “You decide for one or the other and from that other possibilities develop, but neither is better or worse.” That was not any different for Quentin Tarantino or for his first film and its director Reinhard Schwabenitzky, who saw him in acting school. Christoph Waltz leans forward and says confidentially: “The essential chances and opportunities were those which were presented to me by another mind, by a great talent, through a vision, which came from another person.” Nothing more, nothing less.

Yes, humility is a virtue. But we do not want to conceal the fact that Christoph Waltz was the first German-speaking host on Saturday Night Live and that he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (No. 2536, 6667 Hollywood Boulevard). The quote: “And Hollywood is always the goal.” Is correct, “like others say their goal is to get into heaven.” Hollywood, heaven: “I don’t mean to compare the two goals, but the setting of these goals. Especially Hollywood has been mythologized into more than it deserves credit for.” In this respect, as a myth, it is always the goal. Please don't tell anyone Christoph Waltz is over-the-top - the opposite is the case.

During our exchange in the Sacher, I mention one of my favorite books on film. It is Peter Biskind’s Easy Riders, Raging Bulls – How the Sex-Drugs-And-Rock’n’roll Generation saved Hollywood. It says: „There is no worse career move in Hollywood than dying. Hal Ashby is now largely forgotten, because he had the misfortune to die at the end of the 80’s, but he had the most remarkable run of any ’70 director. After ‚The Landlord‘, in 1970, he made ‚Harold and Maude‘, ‚The Last Detail‘, ‚Shampoo‘, ‚Bound for Glory‘, ‚Coming Home‘ and ‚Being there‘ in 1979, before his career disappeared into the dark tunnel of post-‘70’s, Me Decade Drugs and paranoia.“

It can be assumed that this won’t happen to Christoph Waltz? “That is a good example for the mythologizing I was referring to”, he responds. “I would claim that a legend like James Dean probably wouldn’t have developed at all, had he not driven himself to death in his Porsche at such a young age. Who knows what would have become of Marilyn Monroe, had she not put an early end to her complicated life.” And parallel to Hal Ashby, there probably were thousands of directors, who would have been happy to pay their next rent – by working in their profession. It is therefor about comparativeness.

Onto another career step, the James Bond movie Spectre, in which Christoph Waltz portrays the dark Blofeld, a character, who appeared in previous Bond movies. How do we have to imagine that? One sunny day the agent comes along and says: “You’re on the list for the next Bond movie”? Christoph Waltz knows there are no rules to this, especially when it is something like James Bond. A series that has been at the peak of possibilities for more than 50 years.” The producers have a lot to lose, they have to look very closely. Not only to keep up the standard, they also want to be ahead of their time.

Was it intriguing to play this bad boy a second time? Is it about an additional nuance of expertly irony; is it about the myth that is Bond? “This was another unique opportunity for me”, says Christoph Waltz, “a unique opportunity to include myself into such an incredibly successful series.”  Now after Spectre, for the second time in No Time To Die – a title that can offer a bit of comfort in times of the world wide covid pandemic. And Christoph Waltz is in the Bond movie that will be Daniel Craig’s final Bond. “It’s his fourth Bond movie”, he counts, “the actors change but the role remains the same. Of course, the role acquires a different profile and thus, different facets.” But it remains James Bond. “And when a new actor gets the role, he has to fit into the role, not the other way around.” Once again, we will have to wait for this Bond movie. It will probably hit theatres in spring 2021.

It reminds one of Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida – we’ve seen it a dozen times but keep going to see it again. Nowadays you go to see the production, in the past you went to see whosit faithless. Speaking of productions: Are the demands towards a Bond director more extensive compared to other film projects? “Surely there are more things to keep an eye on compared to a low budget movie or an independent film. In productions like that, you often have to use the tools you have. In Denmark they had demands referring to this “, Christoph Waltz comments in a slightly mocking undertone. He means the group around Lars von Trier? “Precisely, they called it Dogma for fun, and the world took them seriously.” But that is part of it, right, part of the business.

Anyway, every little detail is carefully manufactured for a Bond movie.  And that takes, apart from a lot of money, a great level of expertise and many employees, which combine into a story on film. “Legions of people work on every pixel, not to mention the light and the meaning of the music.” With all this in mind, it’s understandable how appealing it is to be in a movie like No Time To Die. Christoph Waltz has a lot of praise for the director, Cary Fukanaga: “He always knew exactly what he was doing and we knew exactly, why he did this or that”. Audiences were able to see this in previous projects, like the brilliant first season of True Detective, where he directed all eight episodes.

Christoph Waltz wouldn’t be Christoph Waltz if he didn’t show his extraordinary talents in unconventional projects as well, like the show Most Dangerous Game (with Liam Hemsworth, produced for Quibi). “What interested me there? The new dramatic form, it’s a story in 16 sections, each section only eight minutes long. We’re dealing with a new form of storytelling.” Does it remind him of the continuous comics that used to be in US-newspapers a few decades ago?

“Yes, it’s connected to that – but it also reminds me of Charles Dickens, who published many of his novels as newspaper installments. In Most Dangerous Game the great story arch is not lost, the suspense is carried from one episode into the next. “That is a sleight of hand.” And for that he received an Emmy nomination, and it wouldn’t be surprising if he was to win the prestigious award one day. But he pulled off other sleight of hands in the past. Or how the New York Times says in a headline: “Christoph Waltz directing Opera, moves from Tarantino to Verdi.” Adding his old comment to this: “The full-blooded, juicy movie experience has a lot of operatic qualities. I’m not talking about the film music, but about the rhythm and color and phrasing.” After “Der Rosenkavalier” (Music: Richard Strauss, Libretto: Hugo von Hofmannsthal), which he staged at the Antwerp Opera, came Giuseppe Verdi’s “Falstaff”, his second opera there.

“I’m not a fan of the never-seen-before concept”, says Christoph Waltz. He agrees with Susan Sontag’s essay Against Interpretation – in opera, there is a fix story, and the music is the central transmitter of this story. Over-interpretations can quickly become “dangerous sliding tackles.” Waltz wants to avoid those. “I want to show what the composers and authors meant.” He stayed true to Sontag’s principle in all three of his opera productions, the third on being Beethoven’s only opera “Fidelio”.

He is self-critical enough, “to personally take the risk of failing.” What would be the alternative?

“I’m just an actor, now what do the music critics, who take themselves so seriously say? Some foam at the mouth and brawl ‘the movie-bod is interfering in the opera’.” He prefers the critics that are capable of formulating things between the lines. “When I read elsewhere, that the very thing I was trying to convey can be seen in detail, then I’m quietly happy about it.” Sadly, the live performances of Fidelio fell victim to the covid-crisis, but there was a TV-screening on ORF, which can certainly be called presentable with 11% of the market-share.  “During ‘Fidelio’ I first realized physically that music is a spatial experience.” Here fits another Waltz-quote: “Strip away anything that us unnecessary.” Ergo: Reduce the action to the interaction between the characters. That is an art he mastered to perfection in acting.”

For once, I could surprise the cleaned up, chatty, well-tempered Christoph Waltz with a little research.

In his birthyear, 1956, his fellow countryman Walter Felsenstein, founder and artistic director of the “Komische Oper” in Berlin filmed a version of “Fidelio”. To this day, it remains the only film adaptation of the opera. Probably because – so the actor quotes Felsenstein – “this opera technically is impossible to stage”, he says with aplomb, an attitude that suits him. In ballet an aplomb describes the ability to absorb a movement, the balance.

Christoph Waltz not only shoots a lot of movies, but he also enjoys reading one particular movie critic: Anthony Lane of the New Yorker. Surely one of the most sharpened critics, who outtalks someone or rubs the reader’s nose into his alleged ignorance. We start talking about Lane via a new movie by the fabulous Agnieszka Holland, “Mr. Jones” – referring to Gareth Jones, advisor to the former British Prime Minister Lloyd George. Jones uncovers that the devastating hunger crisis in the Ukraine in 1932/33 was exclusively due to Stalin’s exploiting politics. Anthony Lane writes in inimitable fashion: „Is it conceivable that Holland’s bleak, murky, and instructive film could prompt a change of heart in the current Russian establishment, or even a confession of crimes past? Not a chance.“ Greetings from Belarus.

And of course, we also talk about COVID, what does an actor do who can’t act during these times? Is he reading Robert Musil’s novel The Man Without Qualities, which has more than 1000 pages? “Oh, I’ve already attempted to read this three times. The first time, I got to page 200, the second time I got to page 400, the third time I put it away after 100 pages.” But he doesn’t fully abandon the idea of finishing it one day. “But that would really be a true accomplishment of discipline”, he underlines, allusively smiling. Less amusing is the current stagnancy in Hollywood, where Christoph Waltz lives with his wife and daughter for the most part. “It will be illuminating once things pick up again”, he ponders “will a reforming spirit take over, or will everything fall back into the old, ignorant patterns, or even cause worse?” The temporary dysfunctionality of Hollywood is comparable to a dysfunctional family, which mechanisms become especially clear during crisis. Now he visited his mother here in Vienna. I allow myself the question, “Is Vienna your home?” “Vienna is my home, home is something you can’t choose, like your parents. Everything else can become your center of living, all that is willingly moveable – but home, home cannot be changed at will.”

[unknownkhhgirls]

UNKNOWN FEMALE KHH KRNB ARTISTS THAT DESERVE BETTER: 2020 EDITION

DOYILEE

- she's an independent artist - she was born and raised in Saipan, March 3rd 1994 - she attended college in Iowa and then moved to Chicago - she moved in Korea in July 2019 - her brother is in the military - although she's very fluent in english, her parents used to speak korean around the household so she ended up being fluent in both languages - she studied Studio Art in College out boredom and lack of choices while picking a major - her fav color is pink - she used sing in middle school, she also joined a choir in College so she got introduced to music since she was very young - she has a youtube channel where she posts vlogs and song/rap covers - after he "face tattoo" vlog blew up, people started asking for the music in the background and so she decided to take her own music seriously and become a professional - her muses/role models are Dean and Jvcki wai - she's a very meditative/reflective person, she also mentioned "thinking" as her hobby - she dislikes pickled food such as pickled radish or cucumber - she mentioned self improvement as her permanent goal - she mentioned working different part time jobs while living in Chicago such as nail salon receptionist, customer service representative and a graphic designer assistant

JCLEF

- she was born in January 10, 1993 - she studied Chemical and Biomolecular Technology at Sogang University - before studying at Sogang University she failed three times to get into a Music based college. - before fame she was tutoring and was a Maths and Science teacher part time for a living while living in an underground studio - she wasn't necessarily good at school in other subjects, but always wanted to be great in Maths and Science - despite her passion for singing and music her parents were opposed to her becoming a musician - likes to watch netflix, reading books and play games on her free time - she realized she wanted to make music while preparing for a performance with her music club in college, she didn't want it to be a one time experience - she debuted with her first Mixtape "Canyon" released in February 22, 2016 - she composes and writes lyrics in all her tracks - her first album is "[flaw,flaw]" released in  August 14, 2018 - her musical genre is mainly R&B - she would like to try jazz or groovy music genre next - she joined and was announced as a new artist of CraftandJun in March 19, 2019 - she's part of Biscuit Haus Crew - she's a big fan of Choi LB, in fact, the song Dive In Island is supposed to be a remix of Choi LB's song with the same title - she featured on Choi LB's album and also participated in arranging the songs from his album [오리엔테이션] - in 2019 she was nominated for Rookie of the Year, Best R&B and Soul Album, Best R&B and Soul Song at the Korean Music Award and won the Best R&B and Soul Album Award - her first album [fla,flaw] received excellent reviews from Music critics ending with the highest score for an R&B album with a 4.5/5 - she got praised from a lot KHH artists such as: Giriboy, Paloalto, Changmo, Simon Dominic, Khundi Panda, Chaboom etc... - she's close friend with singers Hoody and Sumin - she featured in Giriboy song "Why are we so tired" released in June 10, 2019 - her last release was the single "mama, see" came out in July 26, 2019

YERI (MIXXXD BY)

- female dj and independent singer/producer of MIXXXD BY - she dropped out of elementary school to join Rappercussion (Rapercussion is a band founded in 2008 and has more than 120 musician members from different ages and background), although she was a minor at the time, the director of Rappercussion let her in, she played Caixa for about 4 years while being part of Rappercussion marching band - she has no regrets regarding dropping out of school and joining Rappercussion - thanks to an intensive research on Soundcloud and Instagram she formed the crew MIXXXD BY together with Fremuse (Visual Director) and Noz2cat (Producer) and others, they later found out they all attended the same school - MIXXXD BY concept is collaborating with various artists in order to create synergy, while music visuals express what music can't do on its own - she prefers working with others over working on her own - she's so dedicated about performing and making music that once after being sick and had gotten an IV shot at the hospital she went straight back on stage - even though she's a producer, she always thought of singing as something very interesting and exciting, she uses her voice a lot while producing, according to her, voices makes each individual unique because they are somehow hard to completely mimic not matter how hard someone tries

LUCIGANG

- she was born in 1996 - independent artist - her name was inspired from Kendrick Lamar "Pimp To A Butterfly" Album where refers to Lucifer as Lucy she later added Gang as a way to make the name less feminine - released her first EP on July 4, 2018 called LOVE SCARS - she writes and produces almost all of her songs - she started making music when she was 22 - Dakshood taught her how to make beats - she's friend with High School rapper participant Young Kay who has been supporting her since debut - close friend (boyfriend?) with underground rapper Lucky Bando, she often features on his tracks - Lucky bando and Luci gang are also a duo called Newtown Bangers - she made the pixel art for her music video LET ME GIVE YOU A HUG - most of her musical references are US Rappers - her faveourite rappers are Tyler The creator and Asap Rocky - she enjoys games, reading comics and watching movies since she was a young student, she used to play League of Legends all throughout her high school years and also played Overwatch, she likes horror movies but nowadays she feels as if she became  a bit too sensitive to keep watching - she used to live out of the box since very young, she later struggled with mental health in her 20s - She released her very first album "Lucifer's Therapy" which actually explain all her past struggles she has endured, like a sort of "self therapy" story telling. - she can be pretty blunt so people who don't know her can take things personal - Luckybando is indeed Luci Gang boyfriend (lmao) - she would like to collab with BROCKHAMPTON - she is planning to release YouTube content that shows New Town Bangers' process of making an EP, in fact they are planning to release an EP in 2021 - when asked how she defines herself in one sentence she said "An Old Man"

BAMSEM & HYEMINSONG

- both were born in the year 2000 - they are an independent duo - bamsem is the singer while hyeminsong is the producer - hyeminsong used to listen to Tablo Podcast a lot - bamsem dropped out of SOPA - although bamsem english pronunciation is good she admitted giving up on it at school - they first met on soundcloud, they were both 17 at the time and bamsem decided to reach out to hyeminsong, bamsem went all the way to Daegu to meet hyeminsong for the first time - they used to live together but they currently live in the same neighbourhood independently 2 minutes away from each other - even though they live 2 minutes apart, hyeminsong gets lazy to go visit bamsem - bamsem is a great cook and sometimes invites hyeminsong to eat with her - they released their first full album the 30th August 2020 which also includes their first pre-released single "Harue" - their album is titled "STRONG" but each song focuses on weakness aiming to become a stronger person - they both don't regret pursuing a career in music - they both sometimes wished they were under a record label - bamsem sometimes pretends to understand hyeminsong's jokes - bamsem is also Boytello's friend, they used to support each others music, now she sees him more as a "neighbourhood brother" - bamsem wrote "If you" for a "special someone" that now belongs to the past - when they don't agree on an idea they fight - bamsem featured on GEMma track "11:44"

[tswiftdaily]

In the 2010s, she went from country superstar to pop titan and broke records with chart-topping albums and blockbuster tours. Now Swift is using her industry clout to fight for artists’ rights and foster the musical community she wished she had coming up.

One evening in late-October, before she performed at a benefit concert at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, Taylor Swift’s dressing room became -- as it often does -- an impromptu summit of music’s biggest names. Swift was there to take part in the American Cancer Society’s annual We Can Survive concert alongside Billie Eilish, Lizzo, Camila Cabello and others, and a few of the artists on the lineup came by to visit.

Eilish, along with her mother and her brother/collaborator, Finneas O’Connell, popped in to say hello -- the first time she and Swift had met. Later, Swift joined the exclusive club of people who have seen Marshmello without his signature helmet when the EDM star and his manager stopped by.

“Two dudes walked in -- I didn’t know which one was him,” recalls Swift a few weeks later, sitting on a lounge chair in the backyard of a private Beverly Hills residence following a photo shoot. Her momentary confusion turned into a pang of envy. “It’s really smart! Because he’s got a life, and he can get a house that doesn’t have to have a paparazzi-proof entrance.” She stops to adjust her gray sweatshirt dress and lets out a clipped laugh.

Swift, who will celebrate her 30th birthday on Dec. 13, has been impossibly famous for nearly half of her lifetime. She was 16 when she released her self-titled debut album in 2006, and 20 when her second album, Fearless, won the Grammy Award for album of the year in 2010, making her the youngest artist to ever receive the honor. As the decade comes to a close, Swift is one of the most accomplished musical acts of all time: 37.3 million albums sold, according to Nielsen Music; 95 entries on the Billboard Hot 100 (including five No. 1s); 23 Billboard Music Awards; 12 Country Music Association Awards; 10 Grammys; and five world tours.

She also finishes the decade in a totally different realm of the music world from where she started. Swift’s crossover from country to pop -- hinted at on 2012’s Red and fully embraced on 2014’s 1989 -- reflected a mainstream era in which genres were blended with little abandon, where artists with roots in country, folk and trap music could join forces without anyone raising eyebrows. (See: Swift’s top 20 hit “End Game,” from 2017’s reputation, which featured Ed Sheeran and Future.)

Swift’s new album, Lover, released in August, is both a warm break from the darkness of reputation -- which was created during a wave of negative press generated by Swift’s public clash with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian-West -- as well as an amalgam of all her stylistic explorations through the years, from dreamy synth-pop to hushed country. “The skies were opening up in my life,” says Swift of the album, which garnered three Grammy nominations, including song of the year for the title track.

She recorded Lover after the Reputation Stadium Tour broke the record for the highest-grossing U.S. tour late last year. In 2020, Swift will embark on Lover Fest, a run of stadium dates that will feature a hand-picked lineup of artists (as yet unannounced) and allow Swift more time off from the road. “This is a year where I have to be there for my family -- there’s a lot of question marks throughout the next year, so I wanted to make sure that I could go home,” says Swift, likely referencing her mother’s cancer diagnosis, which inspired the Lover heart-wrencher “Soon You’ll Get Better.”

Now, however, Swift finds herself in a different highly publicized dispute. This time it’s with Scott Borchetta, the head of her former label, Big Machine Records, and Scooter Braun, the manager-mogul whose Ithaca Holdings acquired Big Machine Label Group and its master recordings, which include Swift’s six pre-Lover albums, in June. Upon news of the sale, Swift wrote in a Tumblr post that it was her “worst case scenario,” accusing Braun of “bullying” her throughout her career due to his connections with West. She maintains today that she was never given the opportunity to buy her masters outright. (On Tumblr, she wrote that she was offered the chance to “earn” back the masters to one of her albums for each new album she turned in if she re-signed with Big Machine; Borchetta disputed this characterization, saying she had the opportunity to acquire her masters in exchange for re-signing with the label for a “length of time” -- 10 more years, according to screenshots of legal documents posted on the Big Machine website.)

Swift has said that she intends to rerecord her first six albums next year -- starting next November, when she says she’s contractually able to -- in order to regain control of her recordings. But the back-and-forth appears to be nowhere near over: Last month, Swift alleged that Borchetta and Braun were blocking her from performing her past hits at the American Music Awards or using them in an upcoming Netflix documentary -- claims Big Machine characterized as “false information” in a response that did not get into specifics. (Swift ultimately performed the medley she had planned.) In the weeks following this interview, Braun said he was open to “all possibilities” in finding a “resolution,” and Billboard sources say that includes negotiating a sale. Swift remains interested in buying her masters, though the price could be a sticking point, given her rerecording plans, the control she has over the licensing of her music for film and TV, and the market growth since Braun’s acquisition.

However it plays out, the battle over her masters is the latest in a series of moves that has turned Swift into something of an advocate for artists’ rights -- and made her a cause that everyone from Halsey to Elizabeth Warren has rallied behind. From 2014 to 2017, Swift withheld her catalog from Spotify to protest the streaming company’s compensation rates, saying in a 2014 interview, “There should be an inherent value placed on art. I didn’t see that happening, perception-wise, when I put my music on Spotify.” In 2015, ahead of the launch of Apple Music, Swift wrote an open letter criticizing Apple for its plan to not pay royalties during the three-month free trial it was set to offer listeners; the company announced a new policy within 24 hours. Most recently, when she signed a new global deal with Universal Music Group in 2018, Swift (who is now on Republic Records) said one of the conditions of her contract was that UMG share proceeds from any sale of its Spotify equity with its roster of artists -- and make them nonrecoupable against those artists’ earnings.

During a wide-ranging conversation, Billboard’s Woman of the Decade expresses hope that she can help make the lives of creators a little easier in the years to come -- and a belief that her behind-the-scenes strides will be as integral to her legacy as her biggest singles. “New artists and producers and writers need work, and they need to be likable and get booked in sessions, and they can’t make noise -- but if I can, then I’m going to,” promises Swift. This is where being impossibly famous can be a very good thing. “I know that it seems like I’m very loud about this,” she says, “but it’s because someone has to be.”

While watching some of your performances this year -- like Saturday Night Live and NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert -- I was struck by how focused you seemed, like there were no distractions getting in the way of what you were trying to say.

That’s a really wonderful way of looking at this phase of my life and my music. I’ve spent a lot of time recalibrating my life to make it feel manageable. Because there were some years there where I felt like I didn’t quite know what exactly to give people and what to hold back, what to share and what to protect. I think a lot of people go through that, especially in the last decade. I broke through pre-social media, and then there was this phase where social media felt fun and casual and quirky and safe. And then it got to the point where everyone has to evaluate their relationship with social media. So I decided that the best thing I have to offer people is my music. I’m not really here to influence their fashion or their social lives. That has bled through into the live part of what I do.

Meanwhile, you’ve found a way to interact with your fans in this very pure way -- on your Tumblr page.

Tumblr is the last place on the internet where I feel like I can still make a joke because it feels small, like a neighborhood rather than an entire continent. We can kid around -- they literally drag me. It’s fun. That’s a real comfort zone for me. And just like anything else, I need breaks from it sometimes. But when I do participate in that space, it’s always in a very inside-joke, friend vibe. Sometimes, when I open Twitter, I get so overwhelmed that I just immediately close it. I haven’t had Twitter on my phone in a while because I don’t like to have too much news. Like, I follow politics, and that’s it. But I don’t like to follow who has broken up with who, or who wore an interesting pair of shoes. There’s only so much bandwidth my brain can really have.

You’ve spoken in recent interviews about the general expectations you’ve faced, using phrases like “They’ve wanted to see this” and “They hated me for this.” Who is “they”? Is it social media or disparaging think pieces or --

It’s sort of an amalgamation of all of it. People who aren’t active fans of your music, who like one song but love to hear who has been canceled on Twitter. I’ve had several upheavals of somehow not being what I should be. And this happens to women in music way more than men. That’s why I get so many phone calls from new artists out of the blue -- like, “Hey, I’m getting my first wave of bad press, I’m freaking out, can I talk to you?” And the answer is always yes! I’m talking about more than 20 people who have randomly reached out to me. I take it as a compliment because it means that they see what has happened over the course of my career, over and over again.

Did you have someone like that to reach out to?

Not really, because my career has existed in lots of different neighborhoods of music. I had so many mentors in country music. Faith Hill was wonderful. She would reach out to me and invite me over and take me on tour, and I knew that I could talk to her. Crossing over to pop is a completely different world. Country music is a real community, and in pop I didn’t see that community as much. Now there is a bit of one between the girls in pop -- we all have each other’s numbers and text each other -- but when I first started out in pop it was very much you versus you versus you. We didn’t have a network, which is weird because we can help each other through these moments when you just feel completely isolated.

Do you feel like those barriers are actively being broken down now?

God, I hope so. I also hope people can call it out, [like] if you see a Grammy prediction article, and it’s just two women’s faces next to each other and feels a bit gratuitous. No one’s going to start out being perfectly educated on the intricacies of gender politics. The key is that people are trying to learn, and that’s great. No one’s going to get it perfect, but, God, please try.

At this point, who is your sounding board, creatively and professionally?

From a creative standpoint, I’ve been writing alone a lot more. I’m good with being alone, with thinking alone. When I come up with a marketing idea for the Lover tour, the album launch, the merch, I’ll go right to my management company that I’ve put together. I think a team is the best way to be managed. Just from my experience, I don’t think that this overarching, one-person-handles-my-career thing was ever going to work for me. Because that person ends up kind of being me who comes up with most of the ideas, and then I have an amazing team that facilitates those ideas.

The behind-the-scenes work is different for every phase of my career that I’m in. Putting together the festival shows that we’re doing for Lover is completely different than putting together the Reputation Stadium Tour. Putting together the reputation launch was so different than putting together the 1989 launch. So we really do attack things case by case, where the creative first informs everything else.

You’ve spoken before about how meaningful the reputation tour’s success was. What did it represent?

That tour was something that I wanted to immortalize in the Netflix special that we did because the album was a story, but it almost was like a story that wasn’t fully realized until you saw it live. It was so cool to hear people leaving the show being like, “I understand it now. I fully get it now.” There are a lot of red herrings and bait-and-switches in the choices that I’ll make with albums, because I want people to go and explore the body of work. You can never express how you feel over the course of an album in a single, so why try?

That seems especially true of your last three albums or so.

“Shake It Off” is nothing like the rest of 1989. It’s almost like I feel so much pressure with a first single that I don’t want the first single to be something that makes you feel like you’ve figured out what I’ve made on the rest of the project. I still truly believe in albums, whatever form you consume them in -- if you want to stream them or buy them or listen to them on vinyl. And I don’t think that makes me a staunch purist. I think that that is a strong feeling throughout the music industry. We’re running really fast toward a singles industry, but you got to believe in something. I still believe that albums are important.

The music industry has become increasingly global during the past decade. Is reaching new markets something you think about?

Yeah, and I’m always trying to learn. I’m learning from everyone. I’m learning when I go see Bruce Springsteen or Madonna do a theater show. And I’m learning from new artists who are coming out right now, just seeing what they’re doing and thinking, “That’s really cool.” You need to keep your influences broad and wide-ranging, and my favorite people who make music have always done that. I got to work with Andrew Lloyd Webber on the Cats movie, and Andrew will walk through the door and be like, “I’ve just seen this amazing thing on TikTok!” And I’m like, “You are it! You are it!” Because you cannot look at what quote-unquote “the kids are doing” and roll your eyes. You have to learn.

Have you explored TikTok at all?

I only see them when they’re posted to Tumblr, but I love them! I think that they’re hilarious and amazing. Andrew says that they’ve made musicals cool again, because there’s a huge musical facet to TikTok. [He’s] like, “Any way we can do that is good.”

How do you see your involvement in the business side of your career progressing in the next decade? You seem like someone who could eventually start a label or be more hands-on with signing artists.

I do think about it every once in a while, but if I was going to do it, I would need to do it with all of my energy. I know how important that is, when you’ve got someone else’s career in your hands, and I know how it feels when someone isn’t generous.

You’ve served as an ambassador of sorts for artists, especially recently -- staring down streaming services over payouts, increasing public awareness about the terms of record deals.

We have a long way to go. I think that we’re working off of an antiquated contractual system. We’re galloping toward a new industry but not thinking about recalibrating financial structures and compensation rates, taking care of producers and writers.

We need to think about how we handle master recordings, because this isn’t it. When I stood up and talked about this, I saw a lot of fans saying, “Wait, the creators of this work do not own their work, ever?” I spent 10 years of my life trying rigorously to purchase my masters outright and was then denied that opportunity, and I just don’t want that to happen to another artist if I can help it. I want to at least raise my hand and say, “This is something that an artist should be able to earn back over the course of their deal -- not as a renegotiation ploy -- and something that artists should maybe have the first right of refusal to buy.” God, I would have paid so much for them! Anything to own my work that was an actual sale option, but it wasn’t given to me.

Thankfully, there’s power in writing your music. Every week, we get a dozen synch requests to use “Shake It Off” in some advertisement or “Blank Space” in some movie trailer, and we say no to every single one of them. And the reason I’m rerecording my music next year is because I do want my music to live on. I do want it to be in movies, I do want it to be in commercials. But I only want that if I own it.

Do you know how long that rerecording process will take?

I don’t know! But it’s going to be fun, because it’ll feel like regaining a freedom and taking back what’s mine. When I created [these songs], I didn’t know what they would grow up to be. Going back in and knowing that it meant something to people is actually a really beautiful way to celebrate what the fans have done for my music.

Ten years ago, on the brink of the 2010s, you were about to turn 20. What advice would you give yourself if you could go back in time?

Oh, God -- I wouldn’t give myself any advice. I would have done everything exactly the same way. Because even the really tough things I’ve gone through taught me things that I never would have learned any other way. I really appreciate my experience, the ups and downs. And maybe that seems ridiculously Zen, but … I’ve got my friends, who like me for the right reasons. I’ve got my family. I’ve got my boyfriend. I’ve got my fans. I’ve got my cats.

[fmdsunghee]

prompts. restructuring task 001.

+10 ecp points

assuming your muse has changed in some way, be it internally or as a result of a change of the external factors around them, how is your muse different? these can be as small as an opinion on a song they hadn’t released previously or as big as a major change in their background.

Probably the most significant change is the fact that now Sunghee is slightly younger and also the maknae of Catalyst. Before, they were already part of the maknae line, which naturally made them one of the youngest in the group, but now they are the absolute youngest, currently even the baby of Gold Star, which has considerably changed the way people treat them. It’s not something Sunghee is used to, because they are used to being the older sibling, but now as the maknae they are the one being babied. They don’t… particularly care for it? The insistence that others pay for shit when they go out together or the treatment they usually get for it are both things that make them slightly annoyed. 

Another change is perhaps in their image. Not so much a change per se as a bigger focus on it than before? Now there’s an actual effort from Gold Star to sell Sunghee as this like… almost perfect little brother. It was mentioned in their app that Sunghee got the position as an MC because of an interview they did where people kept gushing about how polite and sweet they were, and they easily managed to make people fall in love with them because of this approachable, welcoming and kind personality of theirs, which is a considerable contrast to the group’s image overall. Sunghee feels an extra pressure to present themselves as a pleasant person all the time, which can be very draining. 

Something small that changed is putting more focus on their lighthearted personality. Sunghee was turning out to be too quiet and too serious for who they actually are, and lost some of the playfulness that they were supposed to carry and that’s going to be more prevalent moving forward. (wc 296)

what does your muse think of their company and their group?

Sunghee’s opinion about Catalyst is about the same as they had about Unity. They enjoy the type of music they release, mostly, and the music they don’t enjoy they just don’t go back to. They are thankful that they weren’t stuck in a group with a concept like Cloud because Sunghee knew they would be even more babied than they already are, and as much as they don’t mind being the playful maknae, they wouldn’t want to be restricted by Cloud’s image. And they are also thankful Catalyst is not too conceptual the way Quantum is because they would struggle with sticking with that perfect idol group formula. 

The biggest issue Sunghee has with Gold Star is the absurd emphasis on personality. Might seem like a contradiction, considering that most of their fame they currently have is a result of their personality being used as a bargaining chip to sell them, but it’s precisely because of that Sunghee feels as if they are not allowed to ever do anything wrong. Which is very stifling to someone who can’t always control the way they will react to things. It’s very overwhelming to be constantly aware not only of the performance you’re putting on but also the way you present yourself — their personality that is sold to the public is very close to who Sunghee truly is, but they are made to feel as if there is no wiggle room and that’s daunting. (wc 242)

is your muse on their first contract or their second? if they’ve renewed, what were their feelings around that at the time and what were their hopes for their second contract? if they haven’t renewed, what are their current thoughts on the end of their eventual first contract?

As Catalyst is still a very recent group, they are still on their third year together, Sunghee is obviously still in their first contract. For now, they don’t think there’s anything that would push them to not want to sign with the company again. Sunghee would prefer if the group stayed the way it is because they do enjoy the experience of being in a group and it wouldn’t be as fun to be an idol if they were by themselves — hence why for solo music promotions they don’t enjoy doing a lot and prefer only doing the basics — but they also sometimes think about whether the increase in their fandom is going to affect the way they feel about the group eventually. Catalyst is one of the biggest groups fandom wise, so it’s something that scares them a little bit. 

Going into contract renewals eventually probably one of the things Sunghee is going to ask for the most is more creative control of group related music. Not that they wanted to work on a lot of things, and so far they’ve been given some level of creative freedom to write lyrics and whatnot, but Sunghee would like to participate more in other creative aspects. Another thing they will probably try to negotiate when time comes is more freedom to decide what things they have to do, solo promotions wise. (wc 232)

what are your muse’s goals and motivations?

Being a musician was always Sunghee’s first and main goal. Becoming an idol was a short-term, almost impulsive goal of theirs that they had when they were a teenager, and somehow they managed to make that come true. Working with music was something that Sunghee decided on at a very young age, even before they considered becoming an idol, and they genuinely feel very blessed that they get to do that. They don’t really have ambitions for awards or recognition beyond what they already have, especially because the fans give them a lot of the reassurance they used to seek from people in their lives. So now Sunghee is trying to focus on other short-term goals, related to things that interest them. Participating on a cooking show, for instance, is a goal for them. Learning new recipes that they can actually enjoy eating is also a goal for them. Having a radio show of their own, develop a career in hosting which is something they realised they really enjoy — things in the realm of idoldom that don’t necessarily have to do with music. If anything, their only long term goal music wise is to work with Chinese artists eventually, but they’d like to do that more behind the scenes, as a producer or a songwriter, than anything. 

Sunghee would never admit to this out loud but two things motivate them the most. The first is trying to make their family proud. They know whatever they do is going to make their mother proud, but they specifically would like to make their step-father proud of them. That’s probably the hardest thing to do, but they are not giving up on that anytime soon. The other is spite. But in a healthy, non toxic water sign way. Sunghee just kinda wants to prove to anyone who ever doubted they couldn’t do it that they are very capable of doing anything they set their mind to. The world is not built with them in mind, which means they are often exhausting themselves in a way other people don’t have to, but Sunghee is nothing if not motivated to keep going. (wc 358)

what is one conflict, internal or external, that your muse is currently dealing with, has recently dealt with, or will need to deal with in the future?

The eternal source of conflict for Sunghee is the fact that being an idol is exhausting beyond a normal level of exhaustion for them. Not only being constantly aware when they are performing so they won’t forget lyrics or choreography, but also being constantly aware whenever cameras are around since they can’t, as it was mentioned, even let a bit of the less enticing aspects of their personality slip. They are on, on, on, pretty much whenever they are not home, and while Sunghee is still managing to handle that, it’s truly a mystery how things are going to develop moving forward. There’s a real possibility that they might take time off at one point, which is also something they hate even the mere thought of since it feels like admitting defeat.

Something more external is the inevitable questioning of where their “alliances” lie? I’m not planning on going too deeply into it since it involves far too many political things for comfort, but there’s a section of both Catalyst’s fandom as well as people who follow idols in general that question whether being raised in China by a Chinese step-father makes Sunghee too, I guess, China friendly? Again, this is not something that is going to be explored too in depth, but it’s something that inevitably impacts who Sunghee is as a person and might keep them from being able to do a few things they’d like to do. (wc 240)

if your muse has established career claims, what are their thoughts on their career so far? if they do not, how do they feel about not having individual activities yet? what would they like to do in the future, if anything? if they don’t have ambitions for individual activities, explain why.

Most of Sunghee’s established career claims are for credits in Catalyst’s music. Something that was kinda pushed into them from an early age is the thought that rappers should write their own verses. It’s not something they get to do as often when it comes to Catalyst’s discography, especially because Gold Star is still a company that is worried about the quality of the music being released and they trust the idols just as far as they can throw them, and Sunghee is not even that big of a senior, not to mention being the maknae. So they definitely would like to work more on Catalyst’s music in the future, applying themselves more to it is something that they would like to be given a chance to do. 

The other established career claim they have has to do with hosting, which is that they hosted the Gayo Daejejeon in 2020. It’s a bit of an extension to their Music Core hosting gig, since it felt like a natural progression for them to host MBC’s end of the year show as they already host their weekly music show. Hosting is definitely one of those things about idol life that Sunghee is very surprised to enjoy as much as they do, and it’s something they want to do more of. Their Music Core gig is ending soon, which is going to be very bittersweet for them, but they would like to work on radio as well as variety shows in general, as they truly do enjoy everything that comes with this hosting path. (wc 261)

[path-of-my-childhood]

Billboard Woman of the Decade Taylor Swift: 'I Do Want My Music to Live On'

By: Jason Lipshutz for Billboard Magazine Date: December 14th issue

In the 2010s, she went from country superstar to pop titan and broke records with chart-topping albums and blockbuster tours. Now Swift is using her industry clout to fight for artists’ rights and foster the musical community she wished she had coming up.

One evening in late October, before she performed at a benefit concert at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, Taylor Swift’s dressing room became - as it often does - an impromptu summit of music’s biggest names. Swift was there to take part in the American Cancer Society’s annual We Can Survive concert alongside Billie Eilish, Lizzo, Camila Cabello and others, and a few of the artists on the lineup came by to visit.

Eilish, along with her mother and her brother/collaborator, Finneas O’Connell, popped in to say hello - the first time she and Swift had met. Later, Swift joined the exclusive club of people who have seen Marshmello without his signature helmet when the EDM star and his manager stopped by.

“Two dudes walked in - I didn’t know which one was him,” recalls Swift a few weeks later, sitting on a lounge chair in the backyard of a private Beverly Hills residence following a photo shoot. Her momentary confusion turned into a pang of envy. “It’s really smart! Because he’s got a life, and he can get a house that doesn’t have to have a paparazzi-proof entrance.” She stops to adjust her gray sweatshirt dress and lets out a clipped laugh.

Swift, who will celebrate her 30th birthday on Dec. 13, has been impossibly famous for nearly half of her lifetime. She was 16 when she released her self-titled debut album in 2006, and 20 when her second album, Fearless, won the Grammy Award for album of the year in 2010, making her the youngest artist to ever receive the honor. As the decade comes to a close, Swift is one of the most accomplished musical acts of all time: 37.3 million albums sold, according to Nielsen Music; 95 entries on the Billboard Hot 100 (including five No. 1s); 23 Billboard Music Awards; 12 Country Music Association Awards; 10 Grammys; and five world tours.

She also finishes the decade in a totally different realm of the music world from where she started. Swift’s crossover from country to pop - hinted at on 2012’s Red and fully embraced on 2014’s 1989 - reflected a mainstream era in which genres were blended with little abandon, where artists with roots in country, folk and trap music could join forces without anyone raising eyebrows. (See: Swift’s top 20 hit “End Game,” from 2017’s reputation, which featured Ed Sheeran and Future.)

Swift’s new album, Lover, released in August, is both a warm break from the darkness of reputation - which was created during a wave of negative press generated by Swift’s public clash with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian-West - as well as an amalgam of all her stylistic explorations through the years, from dreamy synth-pop to hushed country. “The skies were opening up in my life,” says Swift of the album, which garnered three Grammy nominations, including song of the year for the title track.

She recorded Lover after the Reputation Stadium Tour broke the record for the highest-grossing U.S. tour late last year. In 2020, Swift will embark on Lover Fest, a run of stadium dates that will feature a hand-picked lineup of artists (as yet unannounced) and allow Swift more time off from the road. “This is a year where I have to be there for my family - there’s a lot of question marks throughout the next year, so I wanted to make sure that I could go home,” says Swift, likely referencing her mother’s cancer diagnosis, which inspired the Lover heart-wrencher “Soon You’ll Get Better.”

Now, however, Swift finds herself in a different highly publicized dispute. This time it’s with Scott Borchetta, the head of her former label, Big Machine Records, and Scooter Braun, the manager-mogul whose Ithaca Holdings acquired Big Machine Label Group and its master recordings, which include Swift’s six pre-Lover albums, in June. Upon news of the sale, Swift wrote in a Tumblr post that it was her “worst case scenario,” accusing Braun of “bullying” her throughout her career due to his connections with West. She maintains today that she was never given the opportunity to buy her masters outright. (On Tumblr, she wrote that she was offered the chance to “earn” back the masters to one of her albums for each new album she turned in if she re-signed with Big Machine; Borchetta disputed this characterization, saying she had the opportunity to acquire her masters in exchange for re-signing with the label for a “length of time” - 10 more years, according to screenshots of legal documents posted on the Big Machine website.)

Swift has said that she intends to rerecord her first six albums next year, starting next November, when she says she’s contractually able to - in order to regain control of her recordings. But the back-and-forth appears to be nowhere near over: Last month, Swift alleged that Borchetta and Braun were blocking her from performing her past hits at the American Music Awards or using them in an upcoming Netflix documentary - claims Big Machine characterized as “false information” in a response that did not get into specifics. (Swift ultimately performed the medley she had planned.) In the weeks following this interview, Braun said he was open to “all possibilities” in finding a “resolution,” and Billboard sources say that includes negotiating a sale. Swift remains interested in buying her masters, though the price could be a sticking point, given her rerecording plans, the control she has over the licensing of her music for film and TV, and the market growth since Braun’s acquisition.

However it plays out, the battle over her masters is the latest in a series of moves that has turned Swift into something of an advocate for artists’ rights, and made her a cause that everyone from Halsey to Elizabeth Warren has rallied behind. From 2014 to 2017, Swift withheld her catalog from Spotify to protest the streaming company’s compensation rates, saying in a 2014 interview, “There should be an inherent value placed on art. I didn’t see that happening, perception-wise, when I put my music on Spotify.” In 2015, ahead of the launch of Apple Music, Swift wrote an open letter criticizing Apple for its plan to not pay royalties during the three-month free trial it was set to offer listeners; the company announced a new policy within 24 hours. Most recently, when she signed a new global deal with Universal Music Group in 2018, Swift (who is now on Republic Records) said one of the conditions of her contract was that UMG share proceeds from any sale of its Spotify equity with its roster of artists - and make them non-recoupable against those artists’ earnings.

During a wide-ranging conversation, Billboard’s Woman of the Decade expresses hope that she can help make the lives of creators a little easier in the years to come - and a belief that her behind-the-scenes strides will be as integral to her legacy as her biggest singles. “New artists and producers and writers need work, and they need to be likable and get booked in sessions, and they can’t make noise - but if I can, then I’m going to,” promises Swift. This is where being impossibly famous can be a very good thing. “I know that it seems like I’m very loud about this,” she says, “but it’s because someone has to be.”

While watching some of your performances this year - like SNL and NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert - I was struck by how focused you seemed, like there were no distractions getting in the way of what you were trying to say. That’s a really wonderful way of looking at this phase of my life and my music. I’ve spent a lot of time re-calibrating my life to make it feel manageable. Because there were some years there where I felt like I didn’t quite know what exactly to give people and what to hold back, what to share and what to protect. I think a lot of people go through that, especially in the last decade. I broke through pre-social media, and then there was this phase where social media felt fun and casual and quirky and safe. And then it got to the point where everyone has to evaluate their relationship with social media. So I decided that the best thing I have to offer people is my music. I’m not really here to influence their fashion or their social lives. That has bled through into the live part of what I do.

Meanwhile, you’ve found a way to interact with your fans in this very pure way - on your Tumblr page. Tumblr is the last place on the internet where I feel like I can still make a joke because it feels small, like a neighborhood rather than an entire continent. We can kid around - they literally drag me. It’s fun. That’s a real comfort zone for me. And just like anything else, I need breaks from it sometimes. But when I do participate in that space, it’s always in a very inside-joke, friend vibe. Sometimes, when I open Twitter, I get so overwhelmed that I just immediately close it. I haven’t had Twitter on my phone in a while because I don’t like to have too much news. Like, I follow politics, and that’s it. But I don’t like to follow who has broken up with who, or who wore an interesting pair of shoes. There’s only so much bandwidth my brain can really have.

You’ve spoken in recent interviews about the general expectations you’ve faced, using phrases like “They’ve wanted to see this” and “They hated me for this.” Who is “they”? Is it social media or disparaging think pieces or... It’s sort of an amalgamation of all of it. People who aren’t active fans of your music, who like one song but love to hear who has been canceled on Twitter. I’ve had several upheavals of somehow not being what I should be. And this happens to women in music way more than men. That’s why I get so many phone calls from new artists out of the blue - like, “Hey, I’m getting my first wave of bad press, I’m freaking out, can I talk to you?” And the answer is always yes! I’m talking about more than 20 people who have randomly reached out to me. I take it as a compliment because it means that they see what has happened over the course of my career, over and over again.

Did you have someone like that to reach out to? Not really, because my career has existed in lots of different neighborhoods of music. I had so many mentors in country music. Faith Hill was wonderful. She would reach out to me and invite me over and take me on tour, and I knew that I could talk to her. Crossing over to pop is a completely different world. Country music is a real community, and in pop I didn’t see that community as much. Now there is a bit of one between the girls in pop - we all have each other’s numbers and text each other - but when I first started out in pop it was very much you versus you versus you. We didn’t have a network, which is weird because we can help each other through these moments when you just feel completely isolated.

Do you feel like those barriers are actively being broken down now? God, I hope so. I also hope people can call it out, [like] if you see a Grammy prediction article, and it’s just two women’s faces next to each other and feels a bit gratuitous. No one’s going to start out being perfectly educated on the intricacies of gender politics. The key is that people are trying to learn, and that’s great. No one’s going to get it perfect, but, God, please try.

At this point, who is your sounding board, creatively and professionally From a creative standpoint, I’ve been writing alone a lot more. I’m good with being alone, with thinking alone. When I come up with a marketing idea for the Lover tour, the album launch, the merch, I’ll go right to my management company that I’ve put together. I think a team is the best way to be managed. Just from my experience, I don’t think that this overarching, one-person-handles-my-career thing was ever going to work for me. Because that person ends up kind of being me who comes up with most of the ideas, and then I have an amazing team that facilitates those ideas. The behind-the-scenes work is different for every phase of my career that I’m in. Putting together the festival shows that we’re doing for Lover is completely different than putting together the Reputation Stadium Tour. Putting together the reputation launch was so different than putting together the 1989 launch. So we really do attack things case by case, where the creative first informs everything else.

You’ve spoken before about how meaningful the reputation tour’s success was. What did it represent? That tour was something that I wanted to immortalize in the Netflix special that we did because the album was a story, but it almost was like a story that wasn’t fully realized until you saw it live. It was so cool to hear people leaving the show being like, “I understand it now. I fully get it now.” There are a lot of red herrings and bait-and-switches in the choices that I’ll make with albums, because I want people to go and explore the body of work. You can never express how you feel over the course of an album in a single, so why try?

That seems especially true of your last three albums or so. “Shake It Off” is nothing like the rest of 1989. It’s almost like I feel so much pressure with a first single that I don’t want the first single to be something that makes you feel like you’ve figured out what I’ve made on the rest of the project. I still truly believe in albums, whatever form you consume them in - if you want to stream them or buy them or listen to them on vinyl. And I don’t think that makes me a staunch purist. I think that that is a strong feeling throughout the music industry. We’re running really fast toward a singles industry, but you got to believe in something. I still believe that albums are important.

The music industry has become increasingly global during the past decade. Is reaching new markets something you think about? Yeah, and I’m always trying to learn. I’m learning from everyone. I’m learning when I go see Bruce Springsteen or Madonna do a theater show. And I’m learning from new artists who are coming out right now, just seeing what they’re doing and thinking, “That’s really cool.” You need to keep your influences broad and wide-ranging, and my favorite people who make music have always done that. I got to work with Andrew Lloyd Webber on the Cats movie, and Andrew will walk through the door and be like, “I’ve just seen this amazing thing on TikTok!” And I’m like, “You are it! You are it!” Because you cannot look at what quote-unquote “the kids are doing” and roll your eyes. You have to learn.

Have you explored TikTok at all? I only see them when they’re posted to Tumblr, but I love them! I think that they’re hilarious and amazing. Andrew says that they’ve made musicals cool again, because there’s a huge musical facet to TikTok. [He’s] like, “Any way we can do that is good.”

How do you see your involvement in the business side of your career progressing in the next decade? You seem like someone who could eventually start a label or be more hands-on with signing artists. I do think about it every once in a while, but if I was going to do it, I would need to do it with all of my energy. I know how important that is, when you’ve got someone else’s career in your hands, and I know how it feels when someone isn’t generous.

You’ve served as an ambassador of sorts for artists, especially recently - staring down streaming services over payouts, increasing public awareness about the terms of record deals. We have a long way to go. I think that we’re working off of an antiquated contractual system. We’re galloping toward a new industry but not thinking about re-calibrating financial structures and compensation rates, taking care of producers and writers. We need to think about how we handle master recordings, because this isn’t it. When I stood up and talked about this, I saw a lot of fans saying, “Wait, the creators of this work do not own their work, ever?” I spent 10 years of my life trying rigorously to purchase my masters outright and was then denied that opportunity, and I just don’t want that to happen to another artist if I can help it. I want to at least raise my hand and say, “This is something that an artist should be able to earn back over the course of their deal - not as a renegotiation ploy - and something that artists should maybe have the first right of refusal to buy.” God, I would have paid so much for them! Anything to own my work that was an actual sale option, but it wasn’t given to me. Thankfully, there’s power in writing your music. Every week, we get a dozen synch requests to use “Shake It Off” in some advertisement or “Blank Space” in some movie trailer, and we say no to every single one of them. And the reason I’m rerecording my music next year is because I do want my music to live on. I do want it to be in movies, I do want it to be in commercials. But I only want that if I own it.

Do you know how long that rerecording process will take? I don’t know! But it’s going to be fun, because it’ll feel like regaining a freedom and taking back what’s mine. When I created [these songs], I didn’t know what they would grow up to be. Going back in and knowing that it meant something to people is actually a really beautiful way to celebrate what the fans have done for my music.

Ten years ago, on the brink of the 2010s, you were about to turn 20. What advice would you give yourself if you could go back in time? Oh, God - I wouldn’t give myself any advice. I would have done everything exactly the same way. Because even the really tough things I’ve gone through taught me things that I never would have learned any other way. I really appreciate my experience, the ups and downs. And maybe that seems ridiculously Zen, but... I’ve got my friends, who like me for the right reasons. I’ve got my family. I’ve got my boyfriend. I’ve got my fans. I’ve got my cats.

Taylor Swift Discusses 'The Man' & 'It's Nice To Have a Friend' In Cover Story Outtakes

Billboard // by Jason Lipshutz // December 12th 2019

During her cover story interview for Billboard’s Women In Music issue, Taylor Swift discussed several aspects of her mega-selling seventh studio album Lover, including its creation after a personal “recalibrating” period, her stripped-down performances of its songs and her plans to showcase the full-length live with her Lover Fest shows next year. In two moments from the extended conversation that did not make the print story, Billboard’s Woman of the Decade also touched upon two of the album’s highlights, which double as a pair of the more interesting songs in her discography: “The Man” and “It’s Nice To Have A Friend.” 

“The Man” imagines how Swift’s experience as a person, artist and figure within the music industry would have been different had she been a man, highlighting how much harder women have to work in order to succeed (“I’m so sick of running as fast as I can / Wondering if I’d get there quicker if I was a man,” she sings in the chorus). The song has become a fan favorite since the release of Lover, and Swift recently opened a career-spanning medley with the song at the 2019 American Music Awards.

When asked about “The Man,” Swift pointed out specific double standards that exist in everyday life and explained why she wanted to turn that frustration into a pop single. Read Swift’s full thoughts on “The Man” below:

“It was a song that I wrote from my personal experience, but also from a general experience that I’ve heard from women in all parts of our industry. And I think that, the more we can talk about it in a song like that, the better off we’ll be in a place to call it out when it’s happening. So many of these things are ingrained in even women, these perceptions, and it’s really about re-training your own brain to be less critical of women when we are not criticizing men for the same things. So many things that men do, you know, can be phoned-in that cannot be phoned-in for us. We have to really — God, we have to curate and cater everything, but we have to make it look like an accident. Because if we make a mistake, that’s our fault, but if we strategize so that we won’t make a mistake, we’re calculating.

“There is a bit of a damned-if-we-do, damned-if-we-don’t thing happening in music, and that’s why when I can, like, sit and talk and be like ‘Yeah, this sucks for me too,’ that feels good. When I go online and hear the stories of my fans talking about their experience in the working world, or even at school — the more we talk about it, the better off we’ll be. And I wanted to make it catchy for a reason — so that it would get stuck in people’s heads, [so] they would end up with a song about gender inequality stuck in their heads. And for me, that’s a good day.”

Meanwhile, the penultimate song on Lover, “It’s Nice To Have A Friend,” sounds unlike anything in Swift’s catalog thanks to its elliptical structure, lullaby-like tone and incorporation of steel drums and brass. When asked about the song, Swift talked about experimenting with her songwriting, as well as capturing a different angle of the emotional themes at the heart of Lover. Read Swift’s full thoughts on “It’s Nice To Have A Friend” below:

“It was fun to write a song that was just verses, because my whole body and soul wants to make a chorus — every time I sit down to write a song, I’m like, ‘Okay, chorus time, let’s get the chorus done.’ But with that song, it was more of like a poem, and a story and a vibe and a feeling of... I love metaphors that kind of have more than one meaning, and I think I loved the idea that, on an album called Lover, we all want love, we all want to find somebody to see our sights with and hear things with and experience things with.

“But at the end of the day we’ve been searching for that since we were kids! When you had a friend when you were nine years old, and that friend was all you talked about, and you wanted to have sleepovers and you wanted to walk down the street together and sit there drawing pictures together or be silent together, or be talking all night. We’re just looking for that, but endless sparks, as adults.”

Read the full Taylor Swift cover story here, and click here for more info on Billboard’s 2019 Women In Music event, during which Swift will be presented with the first-ever Woman of the Decade award.

[link to this tweet]

Was there ever a part of you that was like, “Oh shit, I like this darker vibe, let’s go even further down that path?” I really Loved Reputation because it felt like a rock opera, or a musical, doing it live. Doing that stadium show was so fun because it was so theatrical and so exciting to perform that, because it’s really cathartic! But I have to follow whatever direction my life is going in emotionally... The skies were opening up in my life. That’s what happened. But in a way that felt like a pink sky, a pink and purple sky, after a storm, and now it looks even more beautiful because it looked so stormy before. And that’s just like, I couldn't stop writing. I’ve never had an album with 18 songs on it before, and a lot of what I do is based on intuition. So, you know, I try not to overthink it. Who knows, there may be another dark album. I plan on doing lots of experimentation over the course of my career. Who knows? But it was a blast, I really loved it.

I mean, look, a Taylor Swift screamo album? I’ll be first in line. I’m so happy to hear that, because I think you might be the only one. Ha! I have a terrible scream. It’s obnoxious.

Why Taylor Swift's Lover Fest Will Be Her Next Big Step

Billboard // by Jason Lipshutz // December 11th 2019 - [Excerpt]

On why she chose to put together Lover fest: “I haven’t really done festivals in years - not since I was a teenager. That’s something that [the fans] don’t expect from me, so that’s why I wanted to do it. I want to challenge myself with new things and at the same time keep giving my fans something to connect to.”

[newagesispage]

                                                                        MAY                 2021

The Rib Page

*****

George Takei is sweatin’ with the oldies. He stars in a fitness app for gay seniors, Bar Belles. It was his April Fool’s day joke.

*****

Fox will bring us Crime Scene Kitchen on May 26 with host Joel McHale.

*****

Joel Hodgson has launched a new kick starter to create a new independent season of MTS3K, The goal is $2mil.

*****

Bob Odenkirk will release: Comedy, comedy, comedy, drama: A Memoir on Jan. 18 2022

*****

Leslie Jones will host the 2021 MTV Awards.

*****

$3 mil was raised for Next for Autism with help from Conan, Kimmel, Charlize, Chris Rock, Jack Black and Sarah Silverman.

*****

Have ya noticed that Gayle King looks great in yellow.

*****

Some people are not too happy that Elon Musk will host SNL on May 8. Miley Cyrus is the musical guest.** Musk tweeted: Let’s find out just how live SNL really is. Cast member Bowen Yang tweeted back, : What the Fuck does this even mean?

*****

Oh Seth Meyers: Every time I see the sea captain on your show, I miss him so much!!

*****

There is a spotlight on Foxconn which made a big splash for Trump at the start of his presidency. The company has done a lot of nothing but still gets tax cuts. Homes were demolished, roads were widened to nowhere and money was spent. Wisconsinites are upset that this big business is just folly and a big glass orb.

*****

Mike Lindell is a kook but he did try to appear to be a good sport on Kimmel.

*****

When will weed be legal on a federal level? When will drug testing for employment be illegal? We hear so much about personal rights with the gun laws and vaccines and masks. What about the right to do what we want with our bodies when we are not at work. Think of the administrative costs that could be saved if we just removed drug testing. Our experience and work ethic should mean more that what we do with our free time. This is not a problem at all companies. There are places in this country where it is near impossible anywhere in your area to get hired without a drug screening. One joint on a random Saturday night could keep someone from a great opportunity. A person in pain who reaches for an edible might miss out on the job that saves their lives.

*****

NASA sent the first flight to another planet. The Mars flight made history with the 30 sec feat.

*****

What? The Menendez brothers are popular again? From the Ramsey case to the Manson murders or Bundy, it all comes back around again.

*****

The Lizzie Borden house just sold for $2mil to Lance Zaal of U. S. Ghost Adventures.

*****

Quarantine and so much television et al proves one thing, the pharmaceutical and insurance companies have way too much $.

*****

Trump told everyone to boycott Coke and is later seen drinking diet Coke.** Trump sent out a statement about how bad the Oscars are. They threw it right back in his face. ** Federal agents have searched Giuliani’s Manhattan apartment. It stems from the 2 year investigation into activities in Ukraine.

*****

X-VP Pence is said to have pressured the Navy to reinstate former Mo. Gov. Eric Greitens. Greitens was accused of tying up, blindfolding, taking explicit photos of and blackmailing a woman.

*****

There is a crisis in schools with the lack of civics and history being taught.

*****

Hulk Hogan was hit with a chorus of Boo’s at his latest event.

*****

The latest sexual harassment news: Matt Gaetz  is being looked into for sex with a minor and sex trafficking.  Bill Barr opened the investigation.** Tom Reed has been accused of sexual misconduct by former lobbyist, Nicolette Davis.** Marilyn Manson has been sued by Game of Thrones, Esme Bianco for sexual abuse.

*****

What is going on with Bank of America? I am hearing from multiple people that often they do not get their statement in the mail. Is this a bad Postal service? Is this bad business practice? How many late fees had to be paid because of this? Not everybody wants to pay their bills online.

*****

Jack Hanna has revealed that he has dementia.

*****

Tiny Tim : King for a day is a new doc I must see. The film contains footage shot from Warhol’s Factory. There are excerpts from Tim’s diary read by Weird Al Yankovic and the story of how Tiny’s friend, Bob Dylan wanted to make a film with him.

*****

Lindsay Lohan’s Father, Michael has been charged with 5 counts patient brokering and 1 count of attempted patient brokering. This is an apparent scam of steering addicts into rehab for cash.

*****

Aaron Sorkin and Paulina Porizkova are dating. Pete Davidson and Phoebe Dynevor are dating.

*****

JB Smoove has a new podcast brought to you by TeamCoco.

*****

Hey.. People working on the new Law and Order: Organized Crime….. TOO MUCH MELONI!!

*****

*****

Zach Avery, actor, was arrested for his participation in a $690 mil Ponzi scheme.

*****

President Biden has restored aid to the Palestinians.

*****

MLB put up a wall in Georgia but the Masters stayed.

*****

Hank Azaria has brought Brockmire to a new podcast.

*****

Tommy Chong isn’t allowed on FB because of his weed posts but they allow an imposter to use his name to sell weed.

Pennsylvania is trying to push thru 14 voter suppression bills.

*****

Joe Manchin. Ugh!!** Marjorie Taylor- Greene has let go of her America First caucus.** Ted Cruz has allegedly used $154, 000 of his campaign funds to buy up copies of his book to boost sales. This is an old trick but still illegal.

*****

For the first time, The Carter Center became involved in a U.S. election. They published videos and live webcasts as well as deploying observers across Georgia.

*****

Most health programs in Uganda, Nigeria and Ethiopia have resumed after Covid.** Tom Vilsack from the Dept. of Agriculture has announced the USDA will provide assistance to 30 million kids.** It is sad to me that we have to entice people to vaccinate. Football games, Church’s and shot for shot in bars?? Really? Saving the lives of others should be enough. WTF?

*****

Alec Baldwin, Alec Mapa and Kelsey Grammer are shopping around a new comedy that ABC decided to pass on.

*****

Chauvin was found guilty.

*****

Days alert: C’mon Ben, calm the fuck down! Don’t prove how out of control you are like everybody thinks. ** Xander is so funny right now.** How many people will Kristen be and how many times can one person melt down?? **Bring Carrie back!! **Jackee’ seemed a bit nervous in the beginning but she is fitting right in. More!

*****

The SAG awards came and went. With the Trial of the Chicago 7 winning best ensemble, Michael Keaton is the first person to be in 3 best casts for SAG’s.** Other winners include Viola Davis, Chadwick Boseman, Daniel Kaluuta, Youn Yuh-Jung, Mark Ruffalo, Anya Taylor- Joy, Jason Bateman, Catherine O’Hara, Schitt’s Creek and The Crown.

*****

The Oscars were held on April 25. It was a bit of a yawner and why would a show set themselves up for an awkward end?? There was a commercial from P&G right before the broadcast that stated, “ Widen the screen so we can widen our view.” Nice sentiment.  Mank had so many noms and only 2 wins. People looking their best to me were Leslie Odom Jr., Glenn Close, Riz Ahmed, LaKeith Stanfield, Colman Domingo, John Batiste, Mia Neal, Questlove (gold crocs and a mask!), Desmond Roe, Travon Free, Trish Summerville, Marlee Matlin, The Lucas Brothers, Andra Day, Carey Mulligan, Amanda Seyfried, Nicolette Robinson, Regina King and Margot Robbie. Laura Dern looked like Big Bird, there were just too many feathers. Tiara Thomas had feathers but they looked great.  Angela Bassett had some power sleeves and Tyer Perry looked like a little boy.  Hooray for Emerald Fennell for her win for original screenplay but not sure about the dress. And Viola Davis?? Dana Murray?? Ashley Fox?? Hmm?? Winners seemed to have trouble getting to the stage. They often refused the steps or the walkway and sort of climbed up the side. I did love the intimate setting and it did remind me of the old clips of years before. Sound of metal and Ma Rainey both won. Tyler Perry and for the first time, an organization, the motion picture and television fund, took home the humanitarian award. I was thrilled to see My Octopus Teacher win for Doc. I loved Crip Camp too, that was a hard category.  The acting winners went in all directions.  Many critics complained that the films were real downers . Nomadland won best picture. Michael Moore put it best I think. Of the films this year, he said, “They force you to look backward with 2021 eyes.”

*****

Why the Fuck do we need a militarized police force?

*****

R.I.P. victims of the multiple mass shootings, victims of police shootings, the crush in Israel, Cosette Brown, Midwin Charles, DMX, Paul Ritter, Ethel Gabriel, G. Gordon Liddy, Buddy Peppenschmidt,  Prince Philip, Anne Beatts, Diane Adler, Vartan Gregorian, Monte Hellman, Jim Steinman, Michael Collins, Michael wolf Snyder, Johnny Crawford, Eli Broad and Walter Mondale.

[tcm]

The Short Lived Career of Kay Kendall by Susan King

The 60th anniversary of the brilliant comic actress Kay Kendall’s death in September came and went very quietly. It saddened me. Kendall was a real breath of fresh air. A British version of Carole Lombard, Kendall was a beautiful, sophisticated and capable dramatic actress who turned into a slapstick goofball with the right material. And just like Lombard, who was 33 when she died in a plane crash in 1942, Kendall died young at just 32, after succumbing to myeloid leukemia.

“Miss Kendall was that stage and screen rarity, a beautiful clown,” the New York Times obit stated. “The talents of a superb comedienne are so seldom conjoined with statuesque, classic beauty that producers along with Miss Kendall’s hard road to the top tended to distrust her qualities as mutually exclusive.”

In fact, the self-deprecating, often insecure Kendall proclaimed after the release of her best film, 1957’s LES GIRLS, that she looked like a “female impersonator with these long skinny legs. I’m 5 feet [sic] 9. I eat like a horse and I couldn’t become a ballet dancer because I got too big. When I rose up on my toes, I was 10 feet 6 and my feet collapsed.”

Kendall affected those whom she knew and worked with including Mitzi Gaynor, who starred with her in LES GIRLS. In 2018, I was doing a Q&A with Gaynor at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood for the 60th anniversary of SOUTH PACIFIC and asked her about Kendall. She started to gush about how great Kendall was, but started getting misty-eyed thinking about her, so I quickly went back to the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical.

And I recall one time during an interview, a rather prickly Stanley Donen became effusive when I brought up Kendall, whom he directed in her last film ONCE MORE, WITH FEELING! (’60).

Kendall, who appeared in revues and variety shows as a teenager, got her first big movie role in 1946’s lavish LONDON TOWN, which was one of the British film industry's most expensive flops of the time. She was told by a film executive that she was “ugly, you have no talent. You’re too tall and you photograph badly. Go marry some nice man, settle down and have a nice family.”

She finally got the perfect role in the classic award-winning comedy GENEVIEVE, which was released in England in 1953. The comedy revolved around two young couples who participate annually in a vintage car rally from London to Brighton. John Gregson and Dinah Sheridan were the main stars with Kenneth More and Kendall as the supporting players.

Kendall stole the whole film as Rosalind Peters, More’s high-fashioned overly coiffed model girlfriend who is accompanied by her St. Bernard named Susie. The inventiveness of Kendall's performance, especially when a drunk Rosalind plays a trumpet at a nightclub, is as fresh and funny it was 66 years ago.

Her life changed forever when she made THE CONSTANT HUSBAND with Rex Harrison and released in 1955. And of course, there was a scandal. Though Harrison was married to Lili Palmer at the time, he had a notorious reputation as a womanizer (his affair with Carole Landis in the late 1940s lead to her committing suicide). But the two married in 1957 shortly after Harrison learned from Kendall’s doctor that she had two years to live. Harrison decided not to tell her she was dying, giving her the excuse that she had anemia. Kendall’s own prognosis was never revealed to her, as was common with patients of mortal illnesses in the 1950s. Harrison did tell some of her friends, however, but did not tell her family.

Kendall came to Hollywood to make the Cole Porter musical LES GIRLS, directed by George Cukor and starring Gene Kelly, Gaynor and Taina Elg. Kendall won a Golden Globe for her hysterical performance as the British performer who is being sued for libel by another chorus girl. Kendall and Harrison then starred together in a delightful bit of fluff, THE RELUCTANT DEBUTANTE (’58), directed by Vincente Minnelli. Though sometimes real-life couples have no chemistry together on screen, that wasn’t the case with Kendall and Harrison. Not only do they have chemistry to spare, Harrison even seems to take a back seat in the proceedings and let his wife shine.

In the biography, The Brief, Madcap Life of Kay Kendall by Eve Golden and Kim Kendall, Minnelli’s wife Lee remembered that Kendall and Harrison “were wonderful together. He adored her. You could see when he looked at her, his eyes lit up. They balanced each other perfectly – they played off of each together.” She also noted, “if [Kay] came into a room, she had all laughing in five minutes. Even if you felt a little down, you talked to Kay and by the time you left you were floating, you were up in the air.” 

According to the book, by 1958 Kendall was “finding it more difficult to play innocent about her physical condition…Kay was not a stupid woman, and no one can be that sick for that long without knowing something is seriously wrong.” She even told her good friend Dirk Bogarde, who knew she was ill. “Diggy, I think I am dying. I've some terrible disease and they won’t tell me. I think I’ve got cancer.” Bogarde kept his promise to Harrison and tried to laugh off her fears.

By the time she filmed ONCE MORE, WITH FEELING! with Yul Brynner, she was frail. She eventually collapsed during filming and was hospitalized, with Harrison stating that she had a lung infection and anemia. After she sufficiently recovered, Kendall managed to finish the film. After going on a vacation with Harrison, she returned to London and entered a clinic where she died a week later. Even on her death bed, Harrison never told of the leukemia. According to to her biography, Kendall looked at Harrison and asked, “Mousey, you would tell me if I was dying?” To which he replied, “Don’t be stupid, of course I would. You’re not dying.” Shortly after, she sank into a coma. The press account of her last moments was highly romantic, with Kay sighing to Harrison, “’I love you very much, darling’ with her last breath.” ONCE MORE, WITH FEELING! opened in February 1960. And Bosley Crowther in the New York Times was disappointed Kendall’s swan song wasn’t better. “As for poor Miss Kendall (who has died since this picture was made), she works hard to be disagreeable, to virtually no avail. She screeches and fluffs up her feathers, throws things and breaks television sets, but only succeeds in being feverish. Lacking that obvious essential, she is merely fragile and sad. It is certainly too bad her last picture has to be as vapid as this.” But nearly 60 years after the film release, Kendall’s performance still has traces of manic brilliance and leaves you wondering what she would have done had she had lived.

[blackkudos]

M. C. Hammer

Stanley Kirk Burrell (born March 30, 1962), better known by his stage name MC Hammer (or simply Hammer), is an American rapper, dancer, record producer and entrepreneur. He had his greatest commercial success and popularity from the late 1980s until the early 1990s. Remembered for his rapid rise to fame, Hammer is known for hit records (such as "U Can't Touch This" and "2 Legit 2 Quit"), flashy dance movements, choreography and eponymous Hammer pants.

A multi-award winner, M.C. Hammer is considered a "forefather/pioneer" and innovator of pop-rap (incorporating elements of freestyle music), and is the first hip hop artist to achieve diamond status for an album. BET ranked Hammer as the No. 7 "Best Dancer Of All Time". Vibe's "The Best Rapper Ever Tournament" declared him the 17th favorite of all-time during the first round.

Burrell became a preacher during the late 1990s with a Christian ministry program on TBN called M.C. Hammer and Friends. Additionally, he starred in a Saturday-morning cartoon called Hammerman in 1991, and was executive producer of his own reality show called Hammertime, which aired on the A&E Network during the summer of 2009. Hammer was also a television show host and dance judge on Dance Fever in 2003, was co-creator of a dance website called DanceJam.com, and is a record label CEO while still performing concerts at music venues and assisting with other social media, ministry and outreach functions. Prior to becoming ordained, Hammer signed with Suge Knight's Death Row Records by 1995.

Throughout his career, Hammer has managed his own recording business. As a result, he has created and produced his own acts including Ho Frat Hoo!, Oaktown's 3.5.7, Special Generation, Analise, DRS, B Angie B, and Gentry Kozia. A part of additional record labels, he has associated, collaborated and recorded with Psy, VMF, Tupac Shakur, Teddy Riley, Felton Pilate, Tha Dogg Pound, The Whole 9, The Hines Brother, Deion Sanders, Big Daddy Kane, BeBe & CeCe Winans and Jon Gibson.

Early life and education

Stanley Kirk Burrell was born on March 30, 1962 in Oakland, California. His father was a professional poker player and gambling casino manager (at Oaks Card Club's cardroom), as well as warehouse supervisor. He grew up poor with his mother (a secretary) and eight siblings in a small apartment in East Oakland. He recalled that six children were crammed into a three-bedroom housing project apartment. The Burrells would also frequent thoroughbred horse races, eventually becoming owners and winners of several graded stakes.

In the Oakland Coliseum parking lot the young Burrell would sell stray baseballs and dance accompanied by a beatboxer. Oakland A's team owner Charles O. Finley saw the 11-year-old doing splits and hired him as a clubhouse assistant and batboy as a result of his energy and flair. Burrell served as a "batboy" with the team from 1973 to 1980. In 2010, Hammer discussed his lifelong involvement with athletes on ESPN's First Take as well as explained that his brother Louis Burrell Jr. (who would later become Hammer's business manager) was actually the batboy while his job was to take calls and do "play-by-plays" for the A's absentee owner during every summer game. The colorful Finley, who lived in Chicago, used the child as his "eyes and ears." Reggie Jackson, in describing Burrell's role for Finley, took credit for his nickname:

Hell, our chief executive, the guy that ran our team, uh, that communicated [with] Charlie Finley, the top man there, was a 13-year old kid. I nicknamed him "Hammer," because he looked like Hank Aaron [whose nickname was "The Hammer"].

Team players, including Milwaukee Brewers second baseman Pedro Garcia, also dubbed Burrell "Little Hammer" due to his resemblance to Aaron. Ron Bergman, at the time an Oakland Tribune writer who covered the A's, recalled that:

He was an informant in the clubhouse, an informant for Charlie, and he got the nickname "Pipeline."

According to Hammer:

Charlie said, "I'm getting you a new hat. I don't want you to have a hat that says "A's" on it. I'm getting you a hat that says 'Ex VP,' that says 'Executive Vice President.' You're running the joint around here." ... Every time I come down to the clubhouse, you know, Rollie would yell out "Oh, everybody be quiet! Here comes Pipeline!"

He acquired the nickname "M.C." for being a "Master of Ceremonies" which he used when he began performing at various clubs while on the road with the A's, and eventually in the military. Hammer, who played second base in high school, dreamed of being a professional baseball player but did not make the final cut at a San Francisco Giants tryout. However, he has been a participant/player in the annual Taco Bell All-Star Legends and Celebrity Softball Game wearing an A's cap to represent Oakland (American League).

Burrell went on to graduate from McClymonds High School in Oakland and took undergraduate classes in communications. Discouraged by his studies at a local college and failing to win a place in a professional baseball organization. He joined the United States Navy for three years, serving with PATRON (Patrol Squadron) FOUR SEVEN (VP-47) of NAS Moffett Field in Mountain View, CA as a Petty Officer Third Class Aviation Store Keeper (AK3) until his honorable discharge.

Music and entertainment career

Before Hammer's successful music career (with his mainstream popularity lasting approximately between 1988 and 1998) and his "rags-to-riches-to-rags-and-back saga", Burrell formed a Christian rap music group with CCM's Jon Gibson (or "J.G.") called Holy Ghost Boys. Some songs produced were called "Word" and "B-Boy Chill". "The Wall", featuring Burrell (it was originally within the lyrics of this song he first identified himself as K.B. and then eventually M.C. Hammer once it was produced), was later released on Gibson's album Change of Heart (1988). This was Contemporary Christian music's first rap hit ever. Burrell also produced "Son of the King" at that time, releasing it on his debut album. "Son of the King" showed up on Hammer's debut album Feel My Power (1987), as well as the re-released version Let's Get It Started (1988).

With exception to later remixes of early releases, Hammer produced and recorded many rap songs that were never made public, yet are now available on the Internet. Via his record labels such as Bust It Records, Oaktown Records and Full Blast, Hammer has introduced, signed and produced new talent including Oaktown's 3.5.7, Ho Frat Hoo!, the vocal quintet Special Generation, Analise, James Greer, One Cause One Effect, B Angie B, The Stooge Playaz, DASIT (as seen on ego trip's The (White) Rapper Show), Teabag, Common Unity, Geeman and Pleasure Ellis; both collaborating with him and producing music of their own during his career.

At about the age of 12, Oakland native Keyshia Cole recorded with Hammer and sought career advice from him.

Feel My Power (1986)

In the mid-1980s while rapping in small venues and after a record deal went sour, Hammer borrowed US$20,000 each from former Oakland A's players Mike Davis and Dwayne Murphy to start a record label business called Bust It Productions. He kept the company going by selling records from his basement and car. Bust It spawned Bustin' Records, the independent label of which Hammer was CEO. Together, the companies had more than 100 employees. Recording singles and selling them out of the trunk of his car, he marketed himself relentlessly. Coupled with his dance abilities, Hammer's style was unique at the time.

Now billing himself as "M.C. Hammer", he recorded his debut album, Feel My Power, which was produced between 1986 and 1987 and released independently in 1987 on his Oaktown Records label (Bustin'). It was produced by Felton Pilate (of Con Funk Shun). It sold over 60,000 copies and was distributed by City Hall Records. In the spring of 1988, Tony Valera, a 107.7 KSOL Radio DJ, played the track "Let's Get It Started" in his mix-shows—a song in which Hammer declared he was "second to none, from Doug E. Fresh, LL Cool J, or DJ Run"—after which the track began to gain popularity in clubs. (He would continue to call out other East Coast rappers in future projects as well.)

Hammer also released a single called "Ring 'Em", and largely on the strength of tireless street marketing by Hammer and his wife, plus continued radio mix-show play, it achieved considerable popularity at dance clubs in the San Francisco Bay Area. Heartened by his rising prospects, Hammer launched into seven-day-a-week rehearsals with the growing troupe of dancers, musicians, and backup vocalists he had hired. It was Hammer's stage show, and his infectious stage presence, that led to his big break in 1988 while performing in an Oakland club. There he impressed a record executive who "didn't know who he was, but knew he was somebody", according to the New Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll.

M.C.Hammer had received several offers from major record labels before (which he initially declined due to his personal success), but after the successful release of this independent album and elaborate live dance show amazed the Capitol Records executive, Hammer agreed to sign a record deal soon after. Hammer took home a US$1,750,000 advance and a multi-album contract. It didn't take long for Capitol to recoup its investment.

Let's Get It Started (1988)

Once signed to Capitol Records, Hammer re-issued his first record (a revised version of Feel My Power) with additional tracks added and sold over 2 million copies. "Pump It Up" (also performed during Showtime at the Apollo on September 16, 1989), "Turn This Mutha Out", "Let's Get It Started" and "They Put Me in the Mix" were the most popular singles from this album, all of which charted. Not entirely satisfied with this first multi-platinum success, Hammer's music underwent a metamorphosis, shifting from the standard rap format in his upcoming album. "I decided the next album would be more musical," he says. Purists chastised him for being more dancer than rapper. Sitting in a leopard-print bodysuit before a concert, he defended his style: "People were ready for something different from the traditional rap style. The fact that the record has reached this level indicates the genre is growing."

M.C. Hammer was very good friends with Arsenio Hall (as well as a then-unknown teen named Robert Van Winkle, aka Vanilla Ice, despite later rumors that there was a "beef" between the two rappers which was addressed during the height of both their careers on Hall's show, and who he would later reunite with in a 2009 concert in Salt Lake City, Utah), and as such, Hammer was first invited to perform the song "U Can't Touch This", prior to its release, on The Arsenio Hall Show in 1989. He also performed "Dancing Machine" in a version that appeared in the same-titled movie.

Hammer used some of the proceeds from this album to install a rolling recording studio in the back of his tour bus, where he recorded much of his second album.

In 1989, Hammer was featured on "You've Got Me Dancing" (with Glen Goldsmith), which appeared on the Glen Goldsmith album Don't Turn This Groove Around (RCA Records). The track was Hammer's first release in the UK. Hammer also appeared in Glen Goldsmith's music video for this song. The single failed to chart.

Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em (1990)

Notorious for dissing rappers in his previous recordings, Hammer appropriately titled his third album (and second major-label release) Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em, which was released February 12, 1990 (with an original release date of January 1, 1990). It included the successful single "U Can't Touch This" (which sampled Rick James' "Super Freak"). It was produced, recorded, and mixed by Felton Pilate and James Earley on a modified tour bus while on tour in 1989. Despite heavy airplay and a No. 27 chart debut, "U Can't Touch This" stopped at No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart because it was released only as a twelve-inch single. However, the album was a No. 1 success for 21 weeks, due primarily to this single, the first time ever for a recording on the pop charts. The song has been and continues to be used in many filmmaking and television shows to date, and appears on soundtrack/compilation albums as well.

Follow-up successes included a cover of the Chi-Lites' "Have You Seen Her" and "Pray" (a beat sampled from Prince's "When Doves Cry" and Faith No More's "We Care a Lot"), which was his biggest hit in the US, peaking at No. 2. "Pray" was also a major UK success, peaking at No. 8. The album went on to become the first hip-hop album to earn diamond status, selling more than 18 million units to date. During 1990, Hammer toured extensively in Europe which included a sold-out concert at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham. With the sponsorship of PepsiCo International, Pepsi CEO Christopher A. Sinclair went on tour with him during 1991.

The album was notable for sampling other high-profile artists and gave some of these artists a new fanbase. "Dancin' Machine" sampled The Jackson 5, "Help the Children" (also the name of an outreach foundation Hammer started) interpolates Marvin Gaye's "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)", and "She's Soft and Wet" also sampled Prince's "Soft and Wet". All of these songs proved to be successful on radio and video television, with "U Can't Touch This," "Pray" (most successful), "Have You Seen Her," "Here Comes the Hammer," and "Yo!! Sweetness" (UK only) all charting. The album increased the popularity of hip-hop music. It remains the genre's all-time best-selling album.

A movie also accompanied the album and was produced in 1990, called Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em: The Movie (with portions of his music videos included within the movie). At the same time, he also appeared in The West Coast Rap All-Stars posse cut "We're All in the Same Gang." Music videos from this album and the previous albums began to receive much airplay on MTV and VH1.

M.C. Hammer also contributed a track, "This is What We Do", on the 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie soundtrack on SBK Records.

A critical backlash began over the repetitive nature of his lyrics, his clean-cut image, and his perceived over-reliance on sampling others' entire hooks for the basis of his singles—criticisms also directed to his contemporary, Vanilla Ice. He was mocked in music videos by 3rd Bass (including a rap battle with MC Serch), The D.O.C., DJ Debranz, and Ice Cube. Oakland hip-hop group Digital Underground criticized him in the CD insert of their Sex Packets album by placing Hammer's picture in it and referring to him as an unknown derelict. Q Tip criticized him in "Check the Rhyme," asking, "What you say Hammer? Proper. Rap is not pop, if you call it that then stop." LL Cool J dissed him in "To tha Break of Dawn" (from the Mama Said Knock You Out album), calling Hammer an "amateur, swinging a Hammer from a bodybag [his pants]," and saying, "My old gym teacher ain't supposed to rap.", though this could have been seen as a response to Hammer calling him out in "Let's Get it Started", when he was mentioned along with Run-DMC and Doug E. Fresh as rappers that Hammer claimed to be better than. (LL Cool J would later compliment and commend Hammer's abilities/talents on VH-1's 100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop, which aired in 2008). However, Ice-T came to his defense on his 1991 album O.G. Original Gangster: "A special shout out to my man M.C. Hammer: a lot of people dis you, man, but they just jealous." Ice-T later explained that he had nothing against people who were pop-rap from the start, as Hammer had been, but only against emcees who switch from being hardcore or dirty to being pop-rap so that they can sell more records.

Despite the criticisms, Hammer's career continued to be highly successful including tours in Asia, Europe, Australia, and Russia. Soon after, M.C. Hammer Mattel dolls, lunchboxes, and other merchandise were marketed. He was also given his own Saturday morning cartoon, called Hammerman, which he hosted and voiced.

Too Legit to Quit (1991)

After publicly dropping the "M.C." from his stage name, Hammer released Too Legit to Quit (also produced by Felton Pilate) in 1991. Hammer answered his critics within certain songs from the album. Sales were strong (over five million copies), with the title track being the biggest hit single from this record. The album peaked in the Top 5 of the Billboard 200. Another hit came soon after, with "Addams Groove" (which appeared on both The Addams Family motion picture soundtrack and the vinyl and cassette versions of 2 Legit 2 Quit), reaching No. 7 in the U.S. and No. 4 in the UK. His video for the song appeared after the movie.

Hammer set out on a tour for this album, with a stage show which had become as grandiose and lavish as his lifestyle ⁠— ⁠loaded with singers, dancers, and backup musicians, the supporting concert tour was too expensive for the album's sales to finance, and it was canceled partway through. In 1992, Boyz II Men joined Hammer's high-profile 2 Legit 2 Quit tour as an opening act. While traveling the country, their tour manager Khalil Roundtree was murdered in Chicago, and the group's future performances of "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday" were dedicated to him. As a result of this unfortunate experience, the song would help advance their success.

Music videos were produced for all four singles released from this album (including "Do Not Pass Me By" and "This Is The Way We Roll"), all which charted.The "2 Legit 2 Quit" video featured many celebrity appearances. It's been ranked as one of the most expensive videos ever made. The hand motions used within the song and video also became very popular. The song proved to be successful in the U.S., peaking in the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, at #5. Despite the album's multi-platinum certification, the sales were one-third of Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em.

At the end of the "2 Legit 2 Quit" video, after James Brown enlists Hammer to get the famous glove of Michael Jackson, a silver-white sequined glove is shown on the hand of a Michael Jackson look-alike doing the "2 Legit 2 Quit" hand gesture. In a related story, M.C. Hammer appeared on The Wendy Williams Show (July 27, 2009) and talked about his hit reality show Hammertime on A&E, his marriage, his role as a dad and the reasons he eventually went bankrupt. He told an amusing story about a phone call he received from "M.J.", regarding the portion of the "2 Legit 2 Quit" video that included a fake Michael Jackson, giving his approval and inclusion of it. He explained how Michael had seen the video and liked it, and both expressed they were fans of one another. Hammer and Jackson would later appear, speak and/or perform at the funeral service for James Brown in 2006.

The artwork featured in the album was created by James B. Young and accompanying studios.

During 1991, Hammer was featured on the single "The Blood" from the BeBe & CeCe Winans album, Different Lifestyles. In 1992, the song peaked at No. 8 on the Christian charts.

New venture with Oaktown/Giant Records (1992–1993)

In 1992, after a four-year hiatus, Doug E. Fresh signed with Hammer's label, Bust It Records and issued one album, Doin' What I Gotta Do, which (despite some minor acclaim for his single "Bustin' Out (On Funk)" which sampled the Rick James 1979 single "Bustin' Out") was a commercial failure.

Prior to Hammer's next album, The Funky Headhunter, rumors from critics and fans began claiming Hammer had quit the music/entertainment business or had suffered a financial downfall (since a couple of years were passing between his two records), which Hammer denied. Hammer claimed rumors falsely heralded his downfall were most likely a result of the fact he turned over his "trimmed-down" Bust It Records to his brother and manager Louis Burrell Jr., and his horse racing interests to his brother Chris and their father, Louis Burrell Sr.

During his hiatus between albums, Hammer consequently signed a multimillion-dollar deal with a new record company. He said there were a lot of bidders, but "not too many of them could afford Hammer". Therefore, Hammer parted ways with Felton Pilate (who had previously worked with the successful vocal group Con Funk Shun) and switched record labels to Giant Records, taking his Oaktown label with him. Hammer was eventually sued by Pilate. Additionally, Hammer launched a new enterprise, called Roll Wit It Entertainment & Sports Management, with clients such as Evander Holyfield, Deion Sanders and Reggie Brooks. In 1993, his production company released a hit rap song by DRS.

By this time, he also parted ways with his only female executive, music business administration consultant and songwriter, Linda Lou McCall (who previously worked with The Delfonics and her husband Louis A. McCall, Sr.'s band Con Funk Shun). She went on to work with artists such as Puff Daddy, Faith Evans, Notorious B.I.G., Mýa, Black Eyed Peas and Eminem. A music industry vet who attended Howard University's College of Fine Arts and the University of California-Davis School of Law, McCall was hired by Hammer's brother and manager, Louis K. Burrell, in 1990 to help set up his corporate operations and administration at Bust It Management and Productions Inc. in Oakland, California. She later became Vice President of Hammer's talent management company, overseeing artists like Heavy D, B Angie B and Ralph Tresvant. While at Bust It, she and her husband Louis A. McCall, Sr. brought their artist Keith Martin to Felton's attention who hired him as a backup musician and vocalist for Hammer's Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em and Too Legit to Quit world tours. In 1993 and 1994, Linda Lou was also involved in several lawsuits against Hammer which were eventually settled out of court.

With a new home and daughter, a new record soon to be released, and his new business, Hammer claimed he was happy and far from being broke during a tour of his mansion for Ebony. "Today there is a more aggressive Hammer, because the '90s require you to be more aggressive", Hammer said of his music style. "There is a harder edge, but I'm no gang member. Hammer in the '90s is on the offense, on the move, on the attack. And it's all good".

The Funky Headhunter and Prime Time (1994)

In 1993, Hammer began recording his fifth official album. To adapt to the changing landscape of hip-hop, this album was a more aggressive sounding album entitled The Funky Headhunter. He co-produced this record with funky rapper and producer, Stefan Adamek. While Hammer's appearance changed to keep up with the gangsta rap audience, his lyrics still remained honest and somewhat clean with minor profanity. Yet, as with previous records, Hammer would continue to call out and disrespect other rappers on this album. As with some earlier songs such as "Crime Story" (from the album Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em), the content and reality about "street life" remained somewhat the same, but the sound was different, resulting in Hammer losing favor with fans. Nonetheless, this harder-edged, more aggressive record went gold, but failed to win him a new audience among hardcore hip-hop fans.

In another appearance on The Arsenio Hall Show during the mid-1990s, Hammer debuted the video for "Pumps and a Bump". Talk show host Arsenio Hall said to M.C. Hammer, "Women in the audience want to know, what's in your speedos in the 'Pumps and a Bump' video?" A clip from the video was then shown, to much approval from the audience. Hammer didn't give a direct answer, but instead laughed. Arsenio then said, "I guess that's why they call you 'Hammer.' It ain't got nothin' to do with Hank Aaron."

The accompanying video to the album's first single, "Pumps and a Bump", was banned from heavy rotation on MTV with censors claiming that the depiction of Hammer in Speedos (and with what appeared to be an erection) was too graphic. This led to an alternative video being filmed (with Hammer fully clothed) that was directed by Bay Area native Craig S. Brooks.

"It's All Good" was the second single released, which would become a pop culture phrase as a result of its success. It was also the most successful song by this title.Within this album, Hammer disses rappers such as A Tribe Called Quest (Q-Tip), Redman and Run DMC for previous attacks they made against him on wax. This quite possibly led to a decrease in his popularity after this record responded to his critics.

On December 20, 1994, Deion Sanders released Prime Time, a rap album on Hammer's Bust It Records label which featured the minor hit "Must Be The Money". "Prime Time Keeps on Tickin'" was also released as a single. Sanders, a friend of Hammer's, had previously appeared in his "Too Legit to Quit" music video, and his alter-ego "Prime Time" is also used in Hammer's "Pumps and a Bump" video.

The song "Help Lord (Won't You Come)" appeared in Kingdom Come.This album peaked at number two on the R&B charts and remained in the Top 30 midway through the year. To date, it has managed to become certified platinum.

Inside Out, Death Row Records and Too Tight (1995–1996)

In 1995, Hammer released the album Inside Out V (or inside out V). The album sold poorly compared to previous records (peaking at 119 on the Billboard Charts) and Giant Records dropped him and Oaktown Records from their roster. Songs "Going Up Yonder" and "Sultry Funk" managed to get moderate radio play (even charting on national radio station countdowns).

Along with a fickle public, Hammer would go on to explain in this album that he felt many of his so-called friends he helped staff, used and betrayed him which contributed to a majority of his financial loss (best explained in the song "Keep On" and the bio from this album). He would also hint about this again in interviews, including The Ellen DeGeneres Show in 2009.

In 1995, Hammer released "Straight to My Feet" (with Deion Sanders) from the Street Fighter soundtrack (released in December 1994). The song charted No. 57 in the UK.

Hammer's relationship with Suge Knight dates back to 1988. Hammer signed with Death Row Records by 1995, then home to Snoop Dogg and his close friend, Tupac Shakur. The label did not release the album of Hammer's music (titled Too Tight) while he had a career with them, although he did release versions of some tracks on his next album. However, Burrell did record tracks with Shakur and others, most notably the song "Too Late Playa" (along with Big Daddy Kane and Danny Boy). After the death of Shakur in 1996, Burrell left the record company. He later explained his concern about this circumstance in an interview on Trinity Broadcasting Network since he was in Las Vegas with Tupac the night of his death.

Return to EMI and Family Affair (1996–1998)

In October 1996, Burrell and Oaktown signed with EMI, which saw the release of a compilation album of Hammer's chart topping songs prior to The Funky Headhunter. The album, titled Greatest Hits, featured 12 former hits. In 1998, another "greatest hits" album, called Back 2 Back Hits, was produced and released by CEMA. (Another compilation version of Back 2 Back was later released by Capitol Records in 2006.) As Hammer's empire began to collapse when his last album failed to match the sales of its predecessors, and since he unsuccessfully attempted to recast himself in the "streetwise/hardcore rap" mold of the day, Hammer turned to a gospel-friendly audience.

In 1998, MC Hammer released his first album in his new deal with EMI, titled Family Affair, because it was to introduce the world to the artists he had signed to his Oaktown Records (Geeman, Teabag, and Common Unity) as they made their recording debut. Technically his seventh album since his debut EP, this record was highly promoted on Trinity Broadcasting Network (performing a more gospel version of "Keep On" from his album Inside Out V), yet featured no charting singles and selling about 1,000 copies worldwide.

The album also features a song written for Hammer by 2Pac called "Unconditional Love". Hammer would later dance and read the lyrics to this song on the first VH1 Hip Hop Honors in 2004.

A double album mostly about faith and family values, additional tracks from Family Affair are: "Put It Down", "Put Some Stop in Your Game", "Big Man", "Set Me Free", "Our God", "Responsible Father Shout", "He Brought Me Out", (Geeman Intro), "Eye's Like Mine", "Never Without You", "Praise Dance Theme Song", "Shame of the Name", (Smoothout Intro), (Teabag Intro), "Silly Heart", "I Wish U Were Free", (Common Unity Intro), "Someone to Hold to You", "Pray" (1998), "Let's Get It Started" (1998), and with "Hammer Music/Shouts/Tour Info" announcements between songs. The compact disks are also "PC Ready" with interactive features.

After this album, new projects were rumored to be in the works, including an album (War Chest: Turn of the Century) and a soundtrack to the film Return to Glory: The Powerful Stirring of the Black Man, but neither appeared.

The Hits and Active Duty (2000–2001)

In 2000, another compilation album was released, titled The Hits. It contains 17 tracks from his first four albums.

Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, M.C. Hammer released his 8th studio album, Active Duty, on his own World Hit Music Group label (the musical enterprise under his Hammertime Holdings Inc. umbrella) to pay homage to the ones lost in the terrorist attacks. The album followed that theme, and featured two singles (with accompanying videos), "No Stoppin' Us (USA)" and "Pop Yo Collar" (featuring Wee Wee) which demonstrates "The Phat Daddy Pop", "In Pop Nito", "River Pop", "Deliver The Pop" and "Pop'n It Up" dance moves. The album, like its predecessor, failed to chart and would not sell as many copies as previous projects. Hammer did however promote it on such shows as The View and produced a video for both singles.

This patriotic album, originally planned to be titled The Autobiography Of M.C. Hammer, donated portions of the proceeds to 9/11 charities. Hammer shot a video for the anthem "No Stoppin' Us (USA)" in Washington, D.C., with several members of the United States Congress, who sang in the song and danced in the video. Present members of the United States House of Representatives included J. C. Watts, Eddie Bernice Johnson, Thomas M. Davis, Earl Hilliard, Alcee Hastings, Rep. Diane Watson (D-Calif.), Rep. Corrine Brown (D-Fla.) and Jesse Jackson, Jr.

Full Blast (2004)

After leaving Capitol Records and EMI for the second time in his career, M.C. Hammer decided to move his Oaktown imprint to an independent distributor and released his ninth studio album, Full Blast (which was completed in late 2003 and released as a complete album in early 2004). The album would feature no charting singles and was not certified by the RIAA. A video was produced for "Full Blast", a song that attacks Eminem and Busta Rhymes for previous disrespect towards him.

Some of the original songs didn't end up making the final album release. Guest artists included The Stooge Playaz, Pleasure, Rain, JD Greer and DasIt.

Look Look Look and Platinum MC Hammer (2006–2008)

After going independent, Hammer decided to create a digital label to release his tenth studio album, Look Look Look. The album was released in February 2006 and featured production from Scott Storch. The album featured the title-track single (Look Look Look) and a music video. It would sell much better than his previous release (300,000 copies worldwide).

"YAY" was produced by Lil Jon. "What Happened to Our Hood?" (featuring Sam Logan) was originally from Active Duty. "I Got It From The Town" was used in the movie but is only present in one scene instead of the originally planned two on The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (soundtrack).

Between 2006 and 2007, Hammer released a military-inspired rap song with a political message to President George W. Bush about sending American troops back home from war, called "Bring Our Brothers Home". The video was filmed at the Santa Monica Pier.

In 2008, Platinum MC Hammer was released by EMI Records. The compilation consists of 12 tracks from Hammer's previous albums, with a similar playlist as former "greatest hits" records (with the exception of including a remix of "Hammer Hammer, They Put Me In A Mix" which includes rap lyrics that "They Put Me In A Mix" originally did not). An import was released by Capitol Records.

DanceJamtheMusic (2008–2009)

Since his 2006 album, Hammer continued to produce music and released several other raps that appeared on his social websites (such as Myspace and Dancejam.com) or in commercials, with another album announced to be launched in late 2008 (via his own record label Fullblast Playhouse). Talks of the tour and a new album were expected in 2009.

"Getting Back to Hetton" was made public in 2008 as a digital single. It was a departure for Hammer, bringing in funky deep soul and mixing it with a more house style. Released through licence on Whippet Digital Recordings, media reviews were said to be "disappointing". However, the song "I Got Gigs" from this album was used in a 2009 ESPN commercial and performed during Hammertime (as well as played while he danced just prior to introducing Soulja Boy during YouTube Live on November 22, 2008).

Other tracks and videos from the album included: "I Go" (produced by Lil Jon), "Keep It In Vegas", "Lookin' Out The Window", "Dem Jeans" (by DASIT), "Stooge Karma Sutra" (by The Stooge Playaz) and "Tried to Luv U" (by DASIT featuring Pleasure Ellis).

In March 2009, M.C. Hammer and Vanilla Ice had a one-off concert at the McKay Events Center in Orem, Utah. This concert aided in the promotion of Hammer's new music and television show. During the concert (as shown during an episode of Hammertime), it was mentioned between the two rappers that this was their first headline show together in nearly 20 years, since the time when they were touring together at the peak of their hip-hop careers. Hammer said: "Contrary to popular belief, Ice and I are not only cool with each other, we are like long lost friends. I've known him since he was 16, before he had a record contract and before I had a record contract. It is a great reunion." Vanilla Ice, real name Robert Van Winkle, said: "It's like no time has passed at all. We set the world on fire back in the day - it gives me goose bumps to think about. The concert wouldn't have been so packed if it wasn't us together. I'm so happy right now, the magic is here."

Most recent releases (2010–present)

Hammer has occasionally released singles over the past few years. Below are the most publicized:

"Better Run Run" (2010)

M.C. Hammer promised to release a track (expected on October 31, 2010) responding to a song by Kanye West featuring Jay-Z which attacked him. On the "So Appalled" track, which features Swizz Beatz and RZA, Jay-Z raps a verse targeting Hammer about his financial dilemma in the 1990s. On it Jay says: 'Hammer went broke so you know I'm more focused / I lost 30 mil' so I spent another 30 / 'Cause unlike Hammer 30 million can't hurt me'. Hammer addressed his displeasure about the diss on Twitter, claiming he will react to Jay-Z on Halloween.

Hammer released a sample of his "beef" with Jay-Z (aka 'Hell Boy' according to Hammer) in a brief teaser trailer called "Better Run Run" by 'King Hammer'. At one point, it was uncertain if his reaction would be a film video, a music video or a combination of both. Regardless, he claimed he would show evidence that 'Jigga worships the devil'. It's possible that Jay-Z was offended by an analogy Hammer was conveying in an earlier interview in response to "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)" on AllHipHop.

On November 1, Hammer's song with video called "Better Run Run!" hit the web in retaliation to Jay-Z's September 2010 diss towards him. M.C. accuses Jigga of being in league (and in the studio) with Satan—and then Hammer defeats the devil and forces Jay to be baptized. Speaking on the video, Jacob O'Gara of Ethos Magazine wrote: "What's more likely is that this feud is the last chapter in the tragic cautionary tale of M.C. Hammer, a tale that serves as a warning to all present and future kings of hip-hop. Keep your balance on the pedestal and wear the crown strong or you'll have the Devil to pay."

In an interview with BBC's DJ Semtex, Jay said he didn't mean the verses as a personal attack. "I didn't know that [Hammer's financial status] wasn't on the table for discussion!" he said. "I didn't know I was the first person ever to say that..." He continued, "When I say things, I think people believe me so much that they take it a different way — it's, like, not rap anymore at that point. I say some great things about him in the book I have coming out [Decoded] — that wasn't a cheap plug," he laughed. "He's gonna be embarrassed, I said some really great things about him and people's perception of him. But it is what it is, he took it that wrong way, and I didn't know I said anything wrong!"

"See Her Face" (2011)

On February 3, 2011, M.C. Hammer appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show premiering the track "See Her Face" via Flipboard. It was the first time Flipboard included music in the application.

"Raider Nation" and "All In My Mind" (2013–2014)

Among other singles, Hammer released "Raider Nation (Oakland Raiders Anthem)" along with a video in late 2013 and "All In My Mind" (which samples "Summer Breeze" by The Isley Brothers) in early 2014 with his newly formed group called Oakland Fight Club featuring Mistah F.A.B.

"Help the Children" (2017)

Hammer released an updated version of his 1990 charting song with a short film video in late 2017.

Additional business ventures

In 1991, M.C. Hammer established Oaktown Stable that would eventually have nineteen Thoroughbred racehorses. That year, his outstanding filly Lite Light won several Grade I stakes races including the prestigious Kentucky Oaks. His D. Wayne Lukas-trained colt Dance Floor won the Grade II Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes and the Breeders' Futurity Stakes in 1991, then the following year won the Fountain of Youth Stakes and finished 3rd in the 1992 Kentucky Derby. He continues to attend shows as well as many sporting events alongside celebrities.

In the late 1990s into the early 2000s, along with a new clothing line called "J Slick", Hammer began creating and working on M.C. Hammer USA, an interactive online portal.

In 2002, Hammer signed a book contract with publishing company Simon & Schuster which called for a release the following year. However, a manuscript for an inspirational book called Enemies of the Father: Messages from the Heart on Being a Family Man (addressing the situation of African American men), for which Hammer received advance money to write, was never submitted in 2003. This resulted in Hammer being sued by the book company over claims that he never finished the book as promised. The company's March 2009 lawsuit sought return of the US$61,000 advance given to Hammer for the unwritten book about fatherhood.

Hammer was a popular web mogul and activist, becoming involved in several Internet projects (including TechCrunch40 conferences). In 2007, Hammer was co-founder and chief strategy officer of Menlo Park-based (Silicon Valley) DanceJam.com along with Geoffrey Arone. The community site (valued at $4.5 million) was exclusively dedicated to dancing video competitions, techniques and styles which Hammer sometimes judged or rated. After receiving $4.5 million in total equity funding, the site closed on January 1, 2011.

In July 2010, Hammer started a mixed martial arts management company to manage, market, promote, and brand-build for fighters such as Nate Marquardt, Tim F. Kennedy, and Vladimir Matyushenko, among others. According to MMAWeekly.com and Bizjournals, his new company is Alchemist Management in Los Angeles. It now manages 10 fighters. That same month, Hammer also announced his latest venture called Alchemist Clothing. The brand described as a colorful new lifestyle clothing line debuted during an Ultimate Fighting Championship fight in Austin. Middleweight fighter Nate "The Great" Marquardt wore an Alchemist shirt as he walked out to the ring. Hammer has shown an interest in boxing throughout his career.

On September 28, 2010, M.C. Hammer headlined at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference for an official after-hours party.

Hammer appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show in February 2011 to discuss his tech-media-mogul status, as well as his creation, demonstration and consulting of social applications/sites/media (such as having an involvement with the Internet since 1994 including YouTube and Twitter), and devices such as iPad and ZAGGmate. He also explained how employing/helping so many people in the past never really caused him to be broke in terms of the average person, as the media made it seem, nor would he have changed any experiences that has led him to where he is today. During the "Whatever Happened to M.C. Hammer" episode, he discussed his current home, family and work life as well.

In October 2011, Hammer announced a new internet venture called WireDoo - a "deep search engine" that planned to compete with the major search engines including Google and Bing. With the motto, "Search once and see what's related", Hammer's team planned to eventually open up the site to a select number of beta testers. Wiredoo failed, having never left beta testing, and officially went offline in early 2012.

Television and film career

M.C. Hammer produced and starred in his own movie, Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em: The Movie (1990). The film is about a rapper returning to his hometown who defeats a drug lord using kids to traffic his product. For this project, Hammer earned a Grammy Award for Best Long Form Music Video at the 33rd Grammy Awards (having been nominated for two). He later produced MC Hammer: 2 Legit (The Videos), which included many actors and athletes.

Hammer appeared in major marketing campaigns for companies such as Pepsi, KFC, Toshiba, British Knights and Taco Bell during the height of his career.

In 1991, Hammer hosted, sang/rapped and voiced a Saturday-morning cartoon called Hammerman. That same year, he and Bust It Productions (including B Angie B, Special Generation and Ho Frat Hoo!) appeared in concert from New Orleans on BET

Hammer has made cameos and/or performed on many television shows such as Saturday Night Live (as host and musical guest), Amen and Martin. He also made a cameo in the 1993 Arnold Schwarzenegger film Last Action Hero. Hammer would also go on to appear as himself on The History of Rock 'N' Roll, Vol. 5 (1995). Additionally, he has been involved in movies as an actor such as, One Tough Bastard (1996), Reggie's Prayer (1996), the Showtime film The Right Connections (1997), Deadly Rhapsody (2001), Finishing the Game (2007) and 1040 (2010), as well as a television and movie producer.

Despite public attacks about his financial status, after meeting at the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas in April 2001, it was Hammer (credited as a producer) who provided the much needed funding to filmmaker Justin Lin for Better Luck Tomorrow (2002). In its first ever film acquisition, MTV Films eventually acquired Better Luck Tomorrow after it debuted at The Sundance Film Festival. The director said, "Out of desperation, I called up MC Hammer because he had read the script and liked it. Two hours later, he wired the money we needed into a bank account and saved us."

Hammer appeared in two cable television movies. At the age of 39, he was one of the producers for the VH1 movie Too Legit: The M.C. Hammer Story, starring Romany Malco and Tangi Miller as his wife, which aired on December 19, 2001. The film is a biopic which chronicles the rise and fall of the artist. "2 Legit To Quit: The Life Story of M.C. Hammer" became the second highest-rated original movie in the history of VH1 and broadcast simultaneously on BET. "The whole script came from me," says Hammer, "I sat down with a writer and gave him all the information."

In 2003, Hammer appeared on The WB's first season of The Surreal Life, a reality show known for assembling an eclectic mix of celebrities to live together. He was also a dance judge on the 2003 ABC Family TV series Dance Fever. Additionally, he appeared on VH1's And You Don't Stop: 30 Years of Hip-Hop (2004) as well as in 100 Greatest Songs of the 90s (2008), a countdown which he was also commentator on. His eldest child, A'Keiba Burrell, was a contestant on MTV's Rock the Cradle in April 2008 (which Hammer also made appearances on).

Hammer had shown an interest in having his own reality show with specific television networks at one point. Already being a part of shows for VH1 and The WB (I Married... M.C. Hammer and The Surreal Life), it was later confirmed he would appear in Hammertime on A&E Network in the summer of 2009. This reality show was about his personal, business and family life. The following year, Hammer appeared on Live with Regis and Kelly June 3, 2009 to promote his show which began June 14, 2009 at 10 PM EST.

In August 2008, a new ESPN ad featured Hammer in it, showcasing his single "I Got Gigs'" (from his DanceJamtheMusic album). The commercial was for Monday Night Football's upcoming football season. This is not the first commercial in more recent years that Hammer has been in, or his songs/raps/dancing was used for and included in such as Lay's, Hallmark Cards, Purell, Lysol, Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, Citibank, etc. On February 1, 2009, Hammer and Ed McMahon were featured in a Super Bowl XLIII commercial for Cash4Gold.

In addition to appearing in television commercials, M.C. Hammer's music has also been used in television shows and movies, especially "U Can't Touch This" during The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990), Hot Shots! (1990), The Super (1991), Doogie Howser, M.D. (1992), Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood (1996), Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003), Into the Wild (2007), Tropic Thunder (2008), Dancing with the Stars (2009), Glee (2010) and many more. Additionally, "This Is What We Do" was a 1990 track by Hammer (featuring B Angie B) for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film and soundtrack. Tracks "That's What I Said" and "Feel My Power" were used for the Rocky V film and soundtrack. Some examples of other raps by Hammer used in movies and television were "Addams Groove" (The Addams Family), "Pray" (License to Wed), "2 Legit 2 Quit" (Hot Rod), "I Got It From The Town" (The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift), "Help Lord, Won't You Come" (Kingdom Come), "Let's Go Deeper" (Beverly Hills, 90210) and "Straight to My Feet" (Street Fighter), among others.

Along with Betty White, Hammer was a voice actor on the September 17, 2010 episode of Glenn Martin, DDS called "Step-brother". In 2016, MC Hammer appeared as himself in an episode of Uncle Grandpa on Cartoon Network.

Hammer has most recently been a spokesman for 3M Command Strips and Starburst.

Dancer, choreographer and entertainer

M.C. Hammer's dance style not only helped pave the way for the Bay Area movement called Hyphy, but also helped to bring hip-hop and rap to the Bay Area. His dancing skills are still taught to this day. With his popular trademark Hammer Pants, one phenomenal difference from Hammer versus other performers during his heyday was that he was an entertainer, both during live shows and in music videos. His flamboyant dancing was as much a part of his performances as rapping and musical instruments were. With high-energy dance routines, he is often considered one of the greatest dancers. While adding his own techniques, Hammer adopted styles from James Brown and The Nicholas Brothers such as the splits, and feverish choreographed dance routines including leaps and slides, most notably. His creation of such dances as "Hammer Dance" (or the "Typewriter Dance"), "The Bump" (from "U Can't Touch This") and the use of "The Running Man" and the "Butterfly," among others, made his flashy and creative dance skills unlike any others at the time.

Hammer's showmanship and elaborate stage choreography, involving fifteen dancers, twelve backup singers, seven live musicians and two disc jockeys, gave him a powerful visual appeal. Hammer was the first rap artist to put together a choreographed show of this type, and his visual flair attracted heavy airplay for his videos on MTV, which at the time had a predominantly white viewership that had aired little rap music before Hammer.

During a 1990 visit from M.C. Hammer (accompanied by his friend Fab Five Freddy) on Yo! MTV Raps, one of the dancers whom Hammer was holding auditions for was a then-unknown Jennifer Lopez.

At the height of his career, Hammer had his legs insured for a substantial amount of money (into the millions), as mentioned in an interview by Maria Shriver in the early 1990s. He later suffered an injury to his knee that halted his dancing career for a period of time. Eventually, BET ranked Hammer as the 7th Best Dancer Of All Time. Some of Hammer's entourage, or "posse" as he called them, were also trained/skilled dancers (including Tiffany Patterson). They participated in videos and at concerts, yet too many dancers and band members eventually contributed to Hammer's downfall, proving to be too much for him to finance.

Hammer stayed active in the dance media/genre, both on television shows and as co-founder of DanceJam.com (which showcased dance competitions and instructional videos on all the latest dance styles) until he and his partner Geoffrey Arone sold it to Grind Networks. Well known for bringing choreography to hip-hop, many of his dancing skills can still be seen on dance-focused and social networking sites. "Dance is unlike any other social medium. It's the core of our culture", Burrell told Wired News.

In addition to his websites and other Internet appearances, Hammer has also appeared demonstrating much of his dancing abilities on talk shows such as The Arsenio Hall Show, Soul Train, Late Night with Conan O'Brien (performing O'Brien's famous "string dance" together as well), The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The View and was a dance judge on Dance Fever. On June 3, 2009, he performed the "Hammer dance" on Live with Regis and Kelly with Will Ferrell as co-host.

While Hammer may have challenged and competed with Michael Jackson during the height of his career, they were friends, proven by a phone call Hammer had with Jackson about his "Too Legit to Quit" video which he shared on The Wendy Williams Show (July 2009). Hammer wanted to ensure he was not offended by the ending of the video where a purported Michael Jackson (seen only from behind) does the "2 Legit 2 Quit" hand gesture with his famous glove. They also appeared together at the funeral service for James Brown in 2006, where Hammer danced in honor of The Godfather of Soul. After Jackson's death, Hammer posted his remembrance and sympathy of the superstar on Twitter. Michael's friend and fellow pop culture icon Hammer told Spinner that, "now that the King of Pop has passed, it's the duty of his fans and loved ones to carry Jackson's creative torch." He went on to say, "Michael Jackson lit the fuse that ignited the spirit of dance in us all. He gave us a song and a sweet melody that will never die. Now we all carry his legacy with joy and pride."

Personal life

At the time of his first album, M.C. Hammer opened his own music management firm. As a result of the success of his third album, Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em, Hammer had amassed approximately US$33 million. US$12 million was used to build his Xanadu-like home in Fremont, California, 30 miles (50 km) south of where he grew up. Jet reported Hammer once employed 200 people, with an annual payroll of US$6.8 million. The estate was sold for $5.3 million after Hammer lived in it for six years.

Hammer currently resides in a large ranch-style abode situated on a two-acre corner lot in Tracy, California with his wife Stephanie of over 30 years (whom he met at a church revival meeting and married December 21, 1985). They have five children: three boys (Bobby, Jeremiah, Sammy) and two girls (Sarah, A'keiba), along with a nephew (Jamaris) and cousin (Marv) having lived with them. It was reported in July 2012, that Hammer was encouraged to marry Whitney Houston by her father at the Super Bowl in 1991.

Hammer frequently posts about his life and activities on his blog "Look Look Look", as well as other social websites such as Facebook, Myspace and Twitter (being one of the earliest celebrities to contribute and join). A self-described "super geek" who's presently consulting for or investing in eight technology companies, Hammer claims to spend 10–12 hours daily working on his technology projects, and tweets 30-40 times a day.

Hammer was an endorser of the SAFE California Act, which if passed in November 2012, would have replaced the death penalty. However, the proposition was defeated.

Bankruptcy, lawsuits and media reaction

Contrary to public rumor, Hammer claimed he was really never "down-and-out" as reported by the media (eventually expressed on The Opie & Anthony Show and The Ellen DeGeneres Show in 2009). Originally having an estimated net worth of over $33 million according to Forbes magazine, speculations about Hammer's status first emerged during delays between albums Too Legit to Quit and The Funky Headhunter, with Hammer having spent much of his money on staff and personal luxuries. In addition to excessive spending while supporting friends and family, Hammer ultimately became $13 million in debt. With dwindling album sales, unpaid loans, a large payroll, and a lavish lifestyle, Hammer eventually filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Oakland, California on April 1, 1996. The case was converted to Chapter 7 on September 23, 1998, but Hammer was denied a bankruptcy discharge on April 23, 2002.

Hammer's mansion was sold for a fraction of its former price. "My priorities were out of order," he told Ebony. He claimed, "My priorities should have always been God, family, community, and then business. Instead they had been business, business, and business." Along with Felton Pilate and other group members, Rick James sued Hammer for infringement of copyright, but the suit was settled out of court when Hammer agreed to credit James as co-composer, effectively cutting James in on the millions of dollars the record was earning. By the late 1990s, though, Hammer seemed to stabilize himself and made himself ready to undertake new projects.

In 1992, Hammer had admitted in depositions and court documents to getting the idea for the song "Here Comes the Hammer" from a Christian recording artist in Dallas named Kevin Christian. Christian had filed a 16 million dollar lawsuit against Hammer for copyright infringement of his song entitled "Oh-Oh, You Got the Shing". This fact, compounded with witness testimony from both Hammer's and Christian's entourages, and other evidence (including photos), brought about a settlement with Capitol Records in 1994. The terms of the settlement remain sealed. Hammer settled with Christian the following year.

In 1997, just prior to beginning his ministry, M.C. Hammer (who by that time had re-adopted "M.C.") was the subject of an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show and the VH1 series Behind the Music (music from his album Inside Out V was featured in this documentary). In these appearances, Burrell admitted "that [he] had already used up most of [his] fortune of over $20 million, proving that money is nothing if it doesn't bring peace and if priorities are wrong". He would go on to express a similar point in other interviews as well.

During numerous interviews on radio stations and television channels throughout the years, Hammer was constantly questioned about his bankruptcy. During an interview by WKQI-FM (95.5) for the promotion of his "Pioneers Of Hip Hop 2009" gig at the Fox Theatre in Detroit, which featured 2 Live Crew, Naughty by Nature, Too Short, Biz Markie, and Roxanne Shanté, Hammer was asked about his finances by the Mojo in the Morning host. Hammer responded on Twitter that Mojo was a "coward" and threatened to cancel commercials for his upcoming show.

On November 21, 2011, the U.S. government filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court in California against Hammer to obtain a court judgment on his unpaid taxes for years 1996 and 1997. In December 2011, this litigation was reported in the media. Hammer owed $779,585 in back taxes from his earnings dating back to 1996–1997 - during the years Hammer was believed to be facing his worst financial problems. After years of public and media ridicule regarding his financial problem, Hammer tried to assure fans and "naysayers" via Twitter, claiming that he had proof he had already taken care of his debt with the IRS. "700k … Don't get too excited .. I paid them already and kept my receipt. Stamped by a US Federal Judge", Hammer tweeted from his account @MCHammer. However, the District Court ruled against Hammer. He appealed but, on December 17, 2015, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rejected Hammer's argument that because the government had not listed those taxes in the government's proof of claim filed with the Bankruptcy Court, the government should be stopped from collecting the taxes. According to a 2017 episode of the Reelz TV series Broke & Famous, the situation was eventually resolved. As of the making of the aforementioned Broke & Famous episode, Hammer had a reported net worth of $1.5 million.

Obstruction charges

M.C. Hammer was arrested in 2013 in Dublin, California for allegedly obstructing an officer in the performance of his duties and resisting an officer (according to "stop and identify" statutes). Hammer claims he was a victim of racial profiling by the police, stating an officer pulled out his gun and randomly asked him: "Are you on parole or probation?" Hammer stated that as he handed over his ID, the officer reached inside the car and tried to pull him out. Police in Dublin, east of Oakland, said Hammer was "blasting music" in a vehicle with expired registration and he was not the registered owner. "After asking Hammer who the registered owner was, he became very argumentative and refused to answer the officer's questions," police spokesman Herb Walters typed in an e-mail to CNN. Hammer was booked and released from Santa Rita Jail in Dublin. A court date was scheduled, however, all charges were dropped in early March. Hammer tweeted that he was not bitter and considered what happened "a teachable moment."

Christian beliefs and pastoral ministry

In 1984, Burrell began attending Bible studies, joined a street ministry and formed a gospel rap group known as Holy Ghost Boys featuring Jon Gibson. In 1986, Burrell along with Tramaine Hawkins, performed with Gibson's band doing several concerts at various venues such as the Beverly Theatre in Beverly Hills and recorded several rap songs. They collaborated on a song for Gibson's 1988 album (Change of Heart) called "The Wall", prior to M.C. Hammer's mainstream success. This was Contemporary Christian music's first rap hit ever. Burrell also produced "Son of the King" at that time, releasing it on his debut album.

Raised Pentecostal, Hammer strayed from his Christian faith during his success, before returning to ministry. His awareness of this can be found in a film he wrote and starred in called Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em: The Movie (1990), in which he also plays the charismatic preacher character named "Reverend Pressure". Nonetheless, as a tribute to his faith, Hammer vowed/promised to dedicate at least one song on each album to God.

During 1991, Hammer was featured on the single "The Blood" from the BeBe & CeCe Winans album, Different Lifestyles. In 1992, the song peaked at No. 8 on the Christian charts.

Hammer later reaffirmed his beliefs in October 1997, and began a television ministry called M.C. Hammer and Friends on the Trinity Broadcasting Network, as well as appearing on Praise the Lord programs where he went public about his devotion to ministry as an ordained minister. Hammer officiated at the celebrity weddings of actor Corey Feldman and Susie Sprague on October 30, 2002 (as seen on VH1's The Surreal Life), and also at Mötley Crüe's Vince Neil and Lia Gerardini's wedding in January 2005.

During an interview on TBN (between 1997 and 1998), Hammer claimed he adopted the "M.C." back into his name which now stood for 'Man of Christ'. Hammer continued to preach while still making music, running a social media business and television show, and devotes time to prison and youth ministries.

From 2009 to 2010, Hammer joined Jaeson Ma at a crusade in Asia. Minister and mentor to Ma for more than a decade, Hammer assisted and co-starred in his documentary film 1040, which explores the spread of Christianity throughout Asia.

Legacy and pop culture fame

Widely considered the first "mainstream" rapper, Hammer continues to entertain while sharing his legacy with other rappers (as cited on BET.com). Hammer became a fixture of the television airwaves and the big screen, with his music being used in many popular shows, movies and commercials still to this day. Hammer appeared in major marketing campaigns for companies to the point that he was criticized as a "sellout", including commercials for British Knights during the height of his career. The shoe company signed him to a $138 million deal.

Hammer's impression on the music industry appeared almost instantaneous, as Digital Underground's rap "The Humpty Dance," which was released when Hammer was still early in his career, included the lyrics "People say ya look like M.C. Hammer on crack, Humpty!", boasting about Hammer's showmanship versus Humpty Hump (Shock G)'s inability to match it in dance. Additionally, Hammer had several costly videos, two in particular were "Too Legit to Quit" or "2 Legit 2 Quit" (in which many celebrities appeared) and "Here Comes the Hammer".

Hammer is well-known for his fashion style during the late 80s and early 90s. Hammer would tour, perform and record with his hype man 2 Bigg MC or Too Big (releasing a song in which he claimed "He's the King of the Hype"). This duo introduced the "shiny suit" and popularized Hammer pants to mainstream America, as seen in videos such as "(Hammer Hammer) They Put Me In A Mix", in which Hammer also claimed Too Big was the "King of Hype" and in an unspoken competition with Flavor Flav (hype man for Public Enemy) during the height of their careers.

Hammer also established a children's foundation, which first started in Hammer's own community, called Help The Children (HTC was named after and based on his song by the same name which included a music video with a storyline from his film Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em: The Movie).

A Sesame Street segment features Elmo taking on the persona of MC Hammer; nicknaming himself "MC Elmo" and along with two backup singers they rap a song about the number five called "Five Jive".

In 1994, British TV presenter Mark Lamarr interrupted Hammer repeatedly with Hammer's catch phrase ("Stop! Hammer Time!") in an interview filmed for The Word, which he took in good humour. He claimed Hammer was a "living legend". It was also within this interview that Hammer explained the truth about his relationship with "gangsta rap" and that he was merely changing with the times, not holding onto his old image nor becoming a "hardcore gangsta". By some accounts, this change contributed to his decline in popularity.

In 2005, Hammer appeared in a commercial for Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company which made a humorous reference to his career. First he is shown in his distinctive clothing with his dance troupe performing "U Can't Touch This" in front of a mansion representative of his former house with a monogram H on the gable. Then there is silence and a screen card saying "Fifteen Minutes Later" appears with a view of Hammer sadly sitting on the curb in front of the same house as a crane removes the monogram H and tow trucks pull away sports cars that were parked in front. After a large "Foreclosed" sign appears, the voiceover said "Life comes at you fast. Be ready with Nationwide!"

In 2006, M.C. Hammer's music catalog (approximately 40,000 songs) was sold to the music company Evergreen/BMG for nearly $3 million. Evergreen explained that the collection was "some of the best-selling and most popular rap songs of all time." Speaking for Evergreen Copyrights, David Schulhof stated the songs "will emerge as a perfect fit for licensing in movies, television shows, and corporate advertising." According to VH1, "Hammer was on the money. Hit singles and videos like "U Can't Touch This" and "Too Legit To Quit" created a template of lavish performance values that many rap artists still follow today."

In March 2009, Ellen DeGeneres made plans for Hammer to be on her show (The Ellen DeGeneres Show) after he contacted her via Twitter.

Hammer continues to give media interviews, such as being a guest on Chelsea Lately (June 16, 2009), where he discussed his relationship with Vanilla Ice, his stint on The Surreal Life, his show Hammertime, his family, his mansion, about him being in shape, his positive financial status and other "colorful topics" (subliminal jokes) regarding his baggy pants.

In 2010, Rick Ross released "MC Hammer" from the Teflon Don album which samples Hammer's "2 Legit 2 Quit".

To celebrate Hammer's 50th birthday, San Francisco game maker Zynga offered up some recent player's Draw Something drawings from his fans. Other sources/services offered "props" on behalf of his special occasion and to show appreciation for his memorable persona/gimmicks used during the peak of his career.

In 2012, Slaughterhouse released a single called "Hammer Dance", along with a video. "Hammer Dance" was the lead single from the Welcome to: Our House album.

During the 2013 Oakland Athletics season, the "2 Legit 2 Quit" music video played on the Diamond Vision in between innings, usually during the middle of the 8th inning. The video featured prominent players from the San Francisco Bay Area's sports championships, such as former A's players Jose Canseco and hall of fame inductee Rickey Henderson.

Influences and effect

M.C. Hammer's career in rap and entertainment has influenced and been influenced by such artists as: Kool Moe Dee, Big Daddy Kane, James Brown, Prince, Michael Jackson, Kurtis Blow, Earth, Wind & Fire, Rick James, Doug E. Fresh (who joined Hammer's Bust It Records label in 1992 and issued the album Doin' What I Gotta Do with the track "Bustin' Out (On Funk)" sampling the Rick James single "Bustin' Out") & The Get Fresh Crew (Barry Bee and Chill Will), Run-DMC and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.

Hammer was followed by related musicians: Will Smith, dc Talk, BB Jay, Diddy (aka "Puffy" or "Puff Daddy"), Young MC, B Angie B, M.C. Brains, MC Breed, Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, C+C Music Factory, Mystikal, Bell Biv DeVoe, Kris Kross, Ho Frat Hoo! and Oaktown's 357.

Hammer also influenced the music industry with pop culture catchphrases and slang.

Some critics complained of a lack of originality in Hammer's early productions. Entertainment Weekly described "U Can't Touch This" as 'shamelessly copying its propulsive riff from Rick James ("Super Freak"). Hammer admits, "When I look at Puffy with a choir, I say, 'Sure that's a take-off of what I do."

Notable feuds/beefs Hammer had with other rappers include: LL Cool J, Vanilla Ice, Too Short, Redman, 3rd Bass, Jay-Z, Eminem, A Tribe Called Quest and Run-DMC. Several diss tracks were featured on The Funky Headhunter.

Award recipient, appearances and recognition

Throughout the years, Hammer has been awarded for his music, videos and choreography. He has sold more than 50 million records worldwide. He has won three Grammy Awards (one with Rick James and Alonzo Miller) for Best Rhythm and Blues Song (1990), Best Rap Solo (1990) and Best Music Video: Long Form (1990) taken from Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em: The Movie. He also received eight American Music Awards, a People's Choice Award, an NAACP Image Awards and the Billboard Diamond Award (the first for a hip hop artist).

The International Album of the Year validated Hammer's talent as a world-class entertainer. Additionally, Hammer was also honored with a Soul Train Music Award (Sammy Davis, Jr. Award for Entertainer of the Year) in 1991. He has also been a presenter/performer at Soul Train's Music Awards several times, including The 5th Annual Soul Train Music Awards (1991), The 9th Annual Soul Train Music Awards (1995) and Soul Train's 25th Anniversary (1995).

Hammer appeared on gospel music's Stellar Awards show in 1997 and spoke of his renewed commitment to God. In the same interview, he promised to unveil the "second leg" of his career.

In the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards, Hammer made a surprise appearance in the middle of the show with best friend Jermaine Jackson.

On June 12, 2008, Hammer gave his support to Warren Beatty by attending the 36th AFI Life Achievement Awards. In August 2008, at the World Hip Hop Dance Championships, Hammer won a Living Legends of Hip Hop Award from Hip Hop International in Las Vegas.

Hammer, Gary Vaynerchuk, Shaquille O'Neal and Rick Sanchez (host) celebrated the Best of Twitter in Brooklyn at the first Shorty Awards on February 11, 2009, which honored the top short-form content creators on Twitter. In September 2009, Hammer made the "accomplishment appearance" in Zombie Apocalypse for the downloadable Smash TV/Left 4 Dead hybrid for the Xbox 360. Hammer attended the 2009 Soul Train Music Awards which aired on BET November 29, 2009.

On January 5, 2010, Hammer (along with Alyssa Milano and others) was a member of panel judges for the Real-Time Academy of Short Form Arts & Sciences at the Second Annual Shorty Awards. On October 2 (televised October 12), Hammer opened the 2010 BET Hip Hop Awards performing "2 Legit 2 Quit" in Atlanta along with Rick Ross, Diddy and DJ Khaled (all performing together during "MC Hammer" from the Teflon Don album as well).

With over 2.6 million Twitter followers in 2010, his contribution to social media and as a co-founder of his own Internet businesses (such as DanceJam.com), Hammer was announced as the recipient of the first Gravity Summit Social Media Marketer of the Year Award. The award was presented to him at the 3rd Annual Gravity Summit on February 22, 2011 at the UCLA Covel Commons.

At the 40th American Music Awards in November 2012, Hammer danced to a mashup of "Gangnam Style" and "2 Legit 2 Quit" along with South Korean pop star Psy, both wearing his signature Hammer pants. The collaboration was released on iTunes. The performance idea with Hammer came from Psy's management. They both performed it together again on December 31, 2012 during Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest.

Hammer received the George and Ira Gershwin Award for Lifetime Musical Achievement (not to be mistaken for the Gershwin Prize), presented during the UCLA Spring Sing in Pauley Pavilion on May 17, 2013.

Tours and concerts

Notable tours and concerts include: A Spring Affair Tour (1989), Summer Jam '89 (1989), Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em World Tour (1990 & 1991), Lawlor Events Center at University of Nevada, Reno (1990-2017), Too Legit World Tour (1992), Red, White, and Boom (2003), The Bamboozle Festival (2007), Hardly Strictly Bluegrass (2008–2013), McKay Events Center with Vanilla Ice (2009), Illinois State Fair with Boyz II Men (2011), MusicFest (2012), Jack's Seventh Show at Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre (2012), Kool & the Gang Superjam at Outside Lands (2014) and Hammer's All-star House Party Tour (2019).

Discography

Feel My Power (1986)

Let's Get It Started (1988)

Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em (1990)

Too Legit to Quit (1991)

The Funky Headhunter (1994)

Inside Out (1995)

Family Affair (1998)

Active Duty (2001)

Full Blast (2004)

Look Look Look (2006)

DanceJamtheMusic (2009)

[caselottiscastle]

2. Pinocchio (1940)

A Little About the Film

After the great success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Walt Disney decided to make another adaptation, Pinocchio, based on the children’s book The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. Walt recruited more famous voices for the characters in his second film, such as Cliff Edwards (Jiminy Cricket), Dickie Jones (Pinocchio), and Evelyn Venable (the Blue Fairy). Although it seemed that all factors pointed in the right direction, it took years before the film won popular approval, tanking at the box office but winning two Academy Awards for its music. The film benefited from a re-release in 1945 that saw more audiences coming out to see the picture. Today, it has a 100 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes and it is still ever-present in Disney culture.

Plot Summary 

Like the first Disney picture Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the film begins on a shot of hands opening a storybook. (This is a direct homage to the fact that the following story is an adaptation, and it also sets you up for that child-like feeling of being enshrined in a book. Fun fact: the books surrounding the Pinocchio book are Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan!)

A cricket named Jiminy Cricket takes us into the story, and then takes himself into the quaint cottage of Geppetto, a woodcarver. Jiminy’s technically not supposed to be there, but he makes himself cozy in the house anyway. Geppetto lives with his cat, Figaro, and his goldfish, Cleo. They are happy together, but you can tell that Geppetto wants another companion– a child of his own. Geppetto is putting the finishing touches on his latest wooden creation, a puppet named Pinocchio when he remarks “wouldn’t it be nice if he were a real boy.” His cat and fish, in their adorably loyal jealousy, don’t seem to think so.

As Jiminy Cricket settles down in a cigar box, Geppetto and Figaro settle in for the night– and then a shooting star passes. Geppetto wishes for a real boy. He falls back asleep, and the Blue Fairy comes and gives Pinocchio sentience– (he is still a puppet outwardly, but he can walk and talk like a human). The Blue Fairy tells Pinocchio that in order to become a real boy, he must prove himself to be “brave, truthful, and unselfish.” She also tells him that he must learn to choose between right and wrong, and that his conscience will always help him do that. Jiminy Cricket, who we know by now eavesdrops on everyone’s business, basically volunteers himself to be Pinocchio’s conscience. Geppetto wakes up to Pinocchio and is shocked and delighted to be able to interact with him.

The next day, Geppetto sends Pinocchio to school. While Pinocchio is on his way, he is spotted by a fox named Honest John and his ditzy cat sidekick. Honest John, in search of cash, seeks to enter Pinocchio into Stromboli’s puppet show. He manipulates Pinocchio, telling him that he can show him the “easy road to success.” As Honest John steers Pinocchio away from the path to school, Jiminy Cricket awakes to the horror that he has slept in late. He rushes to find Pinocchio with Honest John, but cannot save him in time. When he cannot convince Pinocchio to go to school, he gets frustrated and leaves.

Pinocchio performs in Stromboli’s show to great success. But when he wants to go home, Stromboli locks him in a cage and Stromboli’s true colors are revealed (although it is pretty clear from first glance that he is bad news). Luckily, our not-so-perfect conscience Jiminy Cricket decides to check in on Pinocchio after sensing danger. He isn’t able to help him get out of the cage, but the Blue Fairy appears. She questions why he didn’t go to school, and Pinocchio lies. With each lie, his nose grows longer and longer. Panicked, Pinocchio promises that he won’t tell any more lies. The Blue Fairy warns him that she won’t be able to help him after this time, and helps him escape.

Honest John and his sidekick aren’t done scheming yet. They strike a deal with a coachman to find young “naughty” boys to bring to a place called Pleasure Island. Because this movie needs to get darker and darker, they run into Pinocchio again and decide to target him.

Again, Honest John is able to convince Pinocchio to listen to him. Pinocchio arrives at Pleasure Island, a place with an eerie carnival vibe and zero rules. Pinocchio and his new friend, a little punk named Lampwick, participate in smoking, drinking, vandalizing, and gambling. At this point in the story, Jiminy Cricket can do nothing but watch in distress.

Adult fun with zero adult supervision? To many of the kids, the place seems like heaven, although Pinocchio isn’t completely comfortable with it all. 

After a while, the island’s secret is revealed: the boys will be turned into donkeys and sold into slavery. Pinocchio witnesses Lampwick turn into a donkey and begins to transform as well. With the help of Jiminy, he escapes the island before becoming a full donkey.

When they return to the village, they find Geppetto’s cottage empty. They are informed that Geppetto sent out to save Pinocchio from Pleasure Island but was swallowed by a sperm whale in travelling there. Pinocchio and Jiminy swim in the sea and get swallowed by the sperm whale and find Geppetto  on a makeshift boat in the whale’s belly.

Source

(Side comment: the whole concept of this is so cool. It might be my favorite part of the movie. Geppetto’s boat is fully loaded with his daily essentials and kitchenware, which is so unrealistic but very cute. His pets Figaro and Cleo are with him on the boat too).

Geppetto and Pinocchio have a heartwarming reunion, and they plot to get out of the whale by making it sneeze. Their plan succeeds, but just when you think the ending is near, the whale decides to chase them. (This scene is just so hokey unnecessary in my opinion. There is no reason why they should survive, going up against a speeding sperm whale, but they do, and they make it to shore.)

On shore, Geppetto, Jiminy, Figaro, and Cleo are dismayed to find that Pinocchio is dead. (Apparently a wood puppet and the ocean don’t mix). But because the Blue Fairy thinks that Pinocchio proved himself to be a “real boy,” she brings him back to life in the form of a fully human child.

The Re-Watch

My first thoughts on the re-watch were “well, I guess I know why I didn’t watch this one too many times as a kid.”

Pinocchio is really dark and not just in the sense that bad things happen… there is an air of eeriness surrounding this entire movie. For me, it’s there the whole time, even during the happy parts. This could be for several reasons. Many of the characters look uncanny to me– Pinocchio, Geppetto, and especially Lampwick.

And aside from the many distressing points of the story, the most discomforting part of the whole story is the sense of enduring evil.

Unlike in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, where the loose ends are tied up and the Wicked Queen is defeated, there is not a sense of defeated evil in Pinocchio. None of the film’s villains are stopped; they all accomplish their goals in one way or another and get away unscathed. Stromboli, Honest John, and the Coachmen are free to keep doing whatever they please.

I think this is a really strong point of the story, and it is by far the most realistic. In the real world, people who do bad things go on living, often without ever getting caught or changing the error of their ways. If I remember correctly, this idea is also present in other classic Disney films such as Dumbo and Bambi, but way more subtly. In those films, the animals must put up with and try to overcome the deeds of humans, but there is no sense of total victory, only continuous struggle.

Now that I think about it, this idea might be one reason classic Disney films are known to be much darker. Nowadays, we see villains conquered or “enlightened” all the time (think Incredibles 2 or Moana), which is the far more cheerful, but way less realistic outcome.

This is all not to say that Pinocchio is the most nitty-gritty story. There is a lot of signature Disney fluff, beginning with the successful wishing upon a star in the opening of the film. (Fun fact: The song “When you Wish Upon a Star” debuted here.)

There is also a lot of rhetoric for the kids, whom this film is clearly targeted at– all the “don’t talk to strangers, don’t steal, don’t drink or smoke or vandalize or skip school, listen to your conscience, be truthful, and make sure to be optimistic” makes it clear that Walt Disney specifically wanted Pinocchio to be a cautionary tale to children–and a hit with the parents.

Pinocchio’s rhetoric follows in the trend of the children’s literature at this time of the 20th century, which looked to moralizing more often than it did actual storytelling. Given this, it is cool that Pinocchio seamlessly blends the two to give a pretty entertaining story.

Overall, Pinocchio is a very interesting follow-up to Snow White- interesting because of the different tone it takes on, going deeper and darker in its portrayal of evil while dosing out more rhetoric for the kiddies. A neat connection between the two stories is that both of the title characters share the same hamartia: gullibility. (Pinocchio’s other main flaw is lying, but we can see that his very first issue is being manipulated easily). I wonder how far we’ll see this hamartia in Disney films…just kidding, I already know it’ll happen a lot, haha.

Thank you for reading! Next up is a hybrid film of live-action and animation, Fantasia! See ya then

[fmdjoosungarchive]

location: gold star studio

date: july,, smth,,,

word count: 1572

tldr; audition for our songs. sung decides to do a remix cover of artist by seyeon(rip) npc and answer questions as he goes. mentions of @fmdjoohwan @eunahfmd @fmdtaeyong @fmdsooyeon @fmdxsuji @fmdbyul (whoops forgot to add those mentions in before)

when sung first heard base was launching two new shows, he wasn’t surprised that gold star staff came to him saying he ought to send in auditions. he’d looked over the prompts, and while both of the show concepts seemed interesting, what really grabbed his attention was ‘our songs’.

it shouldn’t have. he knew that. he was already so busy, and trying to write songs for his own album, and for element, and for other friends who requested music from him. if this show was like what he’d heard from others of the same type, he’d have to be writing songs regularly while on the show, for the show, no matter what he was doing behind the scenes as well. and yet, even knowing all of that, he impatiently waited until he had some time alone in one of gold star’s studios to film his questions and record his cover.

the producers of the show might look favorably on him using a studio to film this, he thought, which in turn made him sigh internally at himself for trying to appeal to the casting directors like he was.

in his slivers of time between schedules, sung thought often of what cover he might want to do. although there were so many artists he admired that he’d love to cover, most of the artists he liked were singers, and sung wasn’t sure if the show was looking for him to dip outside of the rap zone. it wasn’t show me the money, but gold star didn’t let him sing as much as he wanted, so the show probably wouldn’t either.

he contemplated options for a long while, before landing on artist, a song he’d written with a friend in mind. it would show his previous songwriting, and give him the opportunity to show what else he could do with a song, at once. and, bonus, he had the track dissected already since he wrote the composition himself.

it was this composition he loaded into a computer in the studio, as his phone ran a video of him off to the side. he greeted the camera warmly, introduced himself, and explained that he was going to be working on the composition of his cover while he answered questions.

as his chair swiveled back to face the computer, he immediately started off by removing elements from the song. although he liked the mess of sounds he’d ended up with when writing the song, it wasn’t him. the goal was to scale back, and keep the bright tone, while slowing everything down into more of the ‘beats to relax and study to’ vibe. at his current place in songwriting, that’s where he felt his heart most. of the small amount of his next album he’d written, that was the only sound he’d managed to fish out for himself.

working bit by bit, listening to what he’d done through the one side of his headphones cupped over his ear, he looked off to the side to check out what the first question was. “anything i come across can inspire me. this song, for example, it started because when i was at the company building, someone was going to throw away a coffee can, and for some reason, i was struck with inspiration to use it as percussion. most of the time what ends up inspiring me, is the people close to me. my element members, or friends, a lot of the songs that are released by them that i wrote were written with them in mind. my friends are very inspiring as people and artists.”

he paused his answering, then, to explain what he’d done with the composition, and show the camera a work-in-progress version of what he had so far. “i’m hoping to get a basis of a few of the elements i recorded for it, and re-record everything so it’s accurately concise.” the phone was replaced back on its spot, while he kept working more, speaking up now and again to explain if he’d done something important.

then, “my favorite song, ah, i’m not sure. i have quite a lot of love for hello tutorial, which origin’s joohwan and 7rophy’s eunah performed, because it was my first composition that was released outside of element. but, i feel a bit more particularly proud of one of my own songs from my first album, in sensitivity. the intro, it’s called sad memories. i’d spent such a long time trying to rework it to be the best it could be that i was pushing my due date. it’d gotten to the point the company was telling me if i didn’t finish it all myself, it wouldn’t be on the album. but i’d really wanted to challenge myself to make a piano piece i could feel proud of. i ended up doing that, in the end. i think it’s a really beautiful addition to my album, and i’m glad i was able to finish it well.”

by that point, the composition had been stripped down enough for sung to work with it. he wasn’t planning on touching the coffee can percussion, as he told the camera, because that was the original beginning of the song that he wanted to preserve, but everything else was going to be reworked. despite the tonality of his words, he still sat at the computer, using his digital landscape to give him a rough idea of what he was going to re-record or record for the first time, so that when it came to the recording, it could be swift, in little soundbytes for whichever gold star employee edited this to work through.

in the meantime, he decided to answer the next question. “um, yeah, there are a lot of songwriters i admire. many that aren’t idols, but in terms of idols, byul sunbaenim is one of my all-time biggest idols. i’ve been blessed enough to be in the same company as her, and have been around for the majority of her career, to see her grow and blossom as an artist. the songs she writes and performs are so healing to me, as well. she’s definitely someone i look after when i’m writing music for myself. i also particularly admire idols like knight’s taeyong, wish’s vivienne, and fuse’s suji who have such strong solo careers that they’ve participated in, despite having such busy group schedules.”

the composition didn’t sound great at this point. sung wasn’t really planning on sharing this portion of it with the camera, though he continued to point out details as he went. re-recording was the best choice here, that much he knew. although, it was coming to a close, something he could work with and base his recordings off of, so he answered the second to last question. “it may seem small, but my goal as a songwriter is to simply make music people enjoy. i’ve never been one to hold too much towards awards, or chart numbers. what matters most to me is that i make music that i enjoy, that people i make music for enjoy what i’ve made, and that their fans and mine enjoy it as well.” he finished, then, and turned to the camera to finish his answer, “in general, i’d like to write for all different kinds of genres, and become better at more instruments so i can more easily make songs.” and with that, sung clapped and told the camera he was going to be recording now.

he started with the piano piece, which ended up sounding more reminiscent of the original version than what ended up in the final product. something more personal to him. next was the guitar lines, then some secondary percussion.

for the simplistic version, that was enough. he moved his phone then setting it up in a different space to watch him as he did recordings. he started with the main melody lyrics, going through that a few times, padding back to the computer to realign what he’d done. usually, he’d take longer to solidify the base before adding adlibs and harmonies, but here, he went back to the microphone quickly, so there wasn’t much dead air. he spoke as he went, telling the camera about every step of the way, why he did things the way he did.

after recording, he set the phone back up on the desk, facing him again from an angle, and decided to wait on finalizing the production of the track until he finished this vlog. the last question stumped him, a little. he told the camera as much, with a small laugh following. “hm, uh, i think, there’s so much to gain from being around other songwriters. i’d like to learn from them, for us all to feed off of one another. it would give me more connections, give me other people to write with in the future, show me methods and thought processes i wouldn’t have thought of before. i write most often on my own, so i don’t often get to see those sorts of things. i hope, mainly, to become a better songwriter. that’s always my goal, every time i sit in a place like this. and i hope you’ll all want me on your show. thank you for listening and watching all of this. have a good day.” and with that, he reached forward to turn the video off, and start working on the cover’s production.

[x--daughters-of-darkness--x]

LINDSAY SCHOOLCRAFT – An Interview with the Artist

Hi Lindsay, welcome to Femme Metal Webzine, how are you and how life is treating you right now?

I’m good, thank you. Life is going pretty well. Really really well, actually.

The last time I interviewed you was back with Mary and the Black Lamb, we can totally affirm that a lot of water is passed under the bridge, so, considering that this band is part of your musical background, how Mary and the Black Lamb show up in your debut full-length “Martyr”?

Oh my gosh! [Laughs] Wow, what? It has been 11 years since we released the album “The City Sleeps”. Unfortunately, Mary and the Black Lamb is no longer a band and that is ok. But it’s just crazy to look back and think about it. When I came to that project, I was one of the main songwriters and I was writing “Martyr” as a solo artist and I felt that the song “Stranger” from Mary and the Black Lamb would fit the sound of this album. So, that song was written between me and the keyboard player Matt Kelley  and I got his permission, of course I treated him really fair and I made sure that he received his royalties. We went ahead and we brought it to Rocky and my producer Tyler and we just worked on it. I’m so happy how it did come out and so, it’s Matt. I’ve been slowly pushing to my solo album and I think it will be the last album on which I’ll do recreation of old songs but I want to do songs like “Stay Away” because I really love it. However, I’ll try and if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. I’ll take maybe two more songs from Mary and the Black Lamb because I feel like those songs deserve an update and it might work very well and if they don’t work, it’s ok. At least, I can say to myself that I did try. My songs are like my babies and I always feel like they deserve a fair chance, you know? [laughs] And they have to grow up with me [laughs].

So, we have talked about Mary and the Black Lamb and I’m gonna focus on the production of your debut album “Martyr”: how was it? When did you start collecting the first ideas and planning for it?

Oh man, well, we actually started making it without a plan. Unfortunately, next time we will have it and everything started at the beginning of June 2016 when Rocky Gray contacted me with the serious intent to collaborate together. So, we worked on the first two songs: the first was The Cure‘s cover of b and it did turn out really good, we are really proud of it and then  “Warn Me” and “Remember” followed. Back than, both songs sounded quite differently from now. At the beginning, they were just simple ideas but I like that because Rocky sends it like that  and then, you have room to build the melody and the lyrics. I love working with him and he’s on board for the next album too, which is good. In the end, there was no plan and we kept on writing together and then I took my old phone into the night from my first DP. At one point, probably at the end of 2017, we had 17 songs and we took the decision to stop because it turned out to be too much and we had just to pick 13 songs which includes 2 bonus tracks and went ahead to finish this album. It was intense because there were other people involved like Spencer Creaghan who played the strings and also, he wrote the strings sections for songs that may or may not be on the album. We didn’t want to waste anyone’s time cuz’ we are all very busy people. So, at the end we strategically decided to adapt everything and finish with the guest vocals on which different singers have participated. That was it. It was concluded and mastered at the beginning of 2018 but due to my commitments with Cradle of Filth and not finding a record label, there are a lot of delays. It’s fine because I make it work anyway. However, it was a long process and I’m hoping that, for the next album it won’t be long as between the beginning (the production). I think this time we’ll have a clear plan and we’ll just focus on the 13 songs that we have and just that. For sure, we won’t waste any time and it was a big learning curve for me, for my producer Tyler and all my team. Now that we know how we work together, we also have a system and it should not go as long as before.

You have been recently nominated as a Juno Award artist. How does it feel to have reached such a milestone? And how this event will reflect on you and your music?

It’s a dream come true. I was not expecting it. I didn’t know that was going to happen but it did and when I found out, I just couldn’t stop crying. I was so happy, I’ve been through a lot in the past months. Not necessarily good things, that’s ok, they come and go and when this happened, it was such a huge honour because I had been dreaming of it since I was a teenager. I didn’t want to win but just get a nomination and the fact that happened is totally unreal to me.

Beside being an amazing vocalist, you are also an amazing harpist. Now, I would like to focus on your musical background: considering that you enrolled at the Royal Academy, how much did your academic upbringing impact your music?

I started singing when I was a little kid and a big influence on me was Disney, well a 90s child that is going to happen and I was also singing in a choir at school. The first time I learned about harmony was very interesting and I was such a young child. I didn’t start taking serious music until High School and at the time, I was in a punk band and I was taking bass lessons and singing too, even if not so very well. Then, I decided at the age of 21 to start taking music seriously and that when I found about the Royal Conservatory of Music where I went studying classical piano, classical voice and I was learning my theory and I did for about 3 – 4 years while in the meantime I reached a certain level. After, I was considering the option of going back to University at the age of 25, though I did my final application when I was 26. I got into University and I did my first semester and I was chosen for the minor “Classical composition and conducting for orchestra” and my major was “Opera Singing” but it got cut short because I was called by Cradle of Filth. Eventually, one day I may go back to my education. Nevertheless, for now, I’m taking the time to learn the harp from a few people and I would love to go back to study theory. On the other hand, the business and other things in my life have been very intense. I’m on the right path, so, once business is settled maybe I’ll come back to learn more about theory which I would love to do. It’s still a goal of mine in life.

“Martyr” was released via Cyber Proxy Independent. Does it have to be considered your own imprint or are you taking in consideration other external deals?

So, it’s my own little record label composed by me and my laptop in my corner of my room. [Laughs] it’s nothing crazier, still it feels nice that I have that. The reason that happened was because there were a lot of things I was going through like getting distribution, getting the CDs in the European and North American stores, filing the royalties and there’s even more that I do independently with my assistant. All these actions justified a label’s name, so we did come that. Actually, the origin of the name is due to the fact I’m a huge fan of cyberpunk and my favourite anime is Ergo Proxy. I know, the name was just last-minute and we didn’t put a lot of thought into it [laughs] and we just made up the name. Simply, that was it. We were kinda like “We’re Cyber Proxy Independent which is literally me and my assistant in my bedroom named after all my favourite anime” and we just kept going and that’s that. Anyway, it’s just a name in order that people have something to refer to my music, I guess.

You know, if we talk about distribution and licensing, will you consider some external deals?

Yes, what I have to do is that I have to wait until the end of Juno‘s because with a nomination there’s a lot of opportunities for me of which I’m very happy. For example, I have a better chance to have my music featured in movies and TV and it does represent one of my biggest dreams and I would love to do that. Whoever if I win, I don’t care if I win or not, if Kobra and the Lotus, if The Agonist or The Striker and the Single Mother, I’m happy for whoever wins. I’ve always kept the attitude that in the heavy metal world community we always support each other. If I win, owning the title completely changes everything and I’ll have increased opportunity to reach out to a wide audience. In the end, I’m just waiting to see what happens and I’m just being smart.

I think that being appointed just a nominee changes because the name is out, they know how you are and people start raising their heads…

Oh yeah, Canada is a big deal and because of that I gained a few fans. It’s crazy.

Yeah, I know because at the time back in the 80s artists like Alannah Myles, Rush, Autograph and Bryan Adams…

Oh, I love Alannah! Yeah, oh man, I don’t know if Bryan Adams‘s gonna be there and I hope, he’s and I would love to meet him. I hope that Billie Eilish and The Weeknd show up because I love them both. It’s crazy. it’s just crazy. So, this year at the Juno’s is the 49th edition and Jenn Arden, who has been an huge influence on me as a singer-songwriter, of course she’s one of those dark folky types of music really famous in Canada, she’s getting inducted in the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and that’s simply huge. Also, the Canadian musical legend Ann Murray is getting inducted. I think my dad is more excited for that than I am [laughs]. Well, my dad has met Jenn Arden and I really hope to meet her too. There are a lot of women in the Canadian music industry like Sarah McLachlan, Avril Lavigne, Chantal Kreviazuk. They all proved to be such an inspiration that they pushed me forward towards my artistic percorse as a singer-songwriter. Even if it was a bit stressful to get ready with the outfit for the red carpet, I’m just so honoured. We’ll make it there and we’ll make it work. [Laughs]

We know that we have recently split up with Cradle of Filth and the intent of this question isn’t delving into the situation, per se but what did you learn about this experience and how did you improve you as an artist?

What I’ve learned while I was in Cradle of Filth is that it totally pushed me on a more professional level when it comes to handling the touring and the business side of things. It was an amazing opportunity and I’m so grateful that it did happen. I still have so much love and respect the band and the boys. You know, we’re still friends and it’s good. On a final note, it taught me which are my strengths and my weaknesses, so in this case I know where I should improve. Unfortunately, it’s not an easy industry and in my case I’m very lucky because I have a group of good friends who are in the industry and we all understand what’s going on. Although, when it comes to mental health in this industry, I don’t think there’s enough support and respect towards people who suffer from it. Sadly, this industry has taught me too, whatever the situation a lot of good things happened and one of them for sure is to live honestly, to live the truth and to be truthful to what I believe in and to what I want to put into the world. I think I’m ok and I’m grateful for that experience, so to say.

Now all this mental health issue raises a question: in which way, we can start spreading awareness in this industry? Because you know I like writing, I like doing interviews and both you and me, we share a similar history. From an artistic point of view, what can we do?

What we can do is be kinder to each other and when a person in a band, in a community is suffering, it’s nice to reach out and support one another. I think it’s something that can save lives by acknowledging that we are only humans and we are not money music machines. We’re not robots and recognizing that comprehension when we reach a limit because you have been working too hard and you need a break is important. Nowadays, we live in a period and age where there are a lot of expectations towards the touring musicians and where it is required to hold from 3 to 5 different job titles. It’s not healthy and it’s not fair. Fine, it saves money and in the beginning, you have to do it for a few years after that, please consider the mental health and wellbeing of the other band members too because if you don’t start hiring people for these positions, there’s an enormous chance for a burn out. It’s a terrible experience and lately, it comes down to respect and kindness. Naturally, this industry is stressful but we are all in it together and we should all take care of each other. If we lose that idea, we just lose one another.

It sounds really good but tangibly speaking, what can we do for example starting spreading information? It’s something that is really interesting but how can we be much more proactive towards it?

There’s now a hotline for musicians in the United Kingdom where they call in if they’re having mental health problems. I think we need more support like that. Recently, I have read this article about this girl that is actively fighting for women’s equality at Download when it comes to the woman being on the stage and I don’t necessarily think that is needed because there are plenty of women working there. However, what is really needed for example is having a tent in the backstage where women can go when they don’t feel safe or what we should have access to is counselling. I think festivals should start offering a private tent with counselling and if someone needs to go talk about their problems, grieve, cry or have a safe space. Surely, that would make the biggest difference and save lives because touring is not so easy. You miss weddings, you miss funerals and there’s so much that happens to touring musicians and they are just expected to suck it up, carry on and deal with it. It’s wrong because it’s time to start providing more services to musicians to have a place to go. It’s time to put the business aside and acknowledge their feelings. It’s time to be heard and know that they are cared about, all this will make a huge difference.

Well, it’s something interesting, if you ask me, we can join forces together and see if that can work out because it’s something that no one has ever thought about and I find quite frustrating…

I agree. We have lost so many lives lately in the metal community. Some due to health and some other due to some related circumstances, but part of it is because of the drug and alcohol abuse to numb the pain while you have to work. I think if we just start to be kinder and respectful to one another while we set in motion to help everyone’s suffering, we can save a lot of lives so they don’t continue down the dark path and they don’t feel unseen and unheard. I bet what don’t have that this possible to achieve.

This was a complicated question and it does make it difficult to change topic. However, I had a question about your upcoming project Antiqva with Ne Obliscaris‘s Xenoyr. How did it come together and which are the latest updates?

Oh man, that was a drunk decision [laughs]. In 2015, we started to talk about the fact that I would like to do something musically different that wasn’t neither Ne Obliscaris nor Cradle of Filth. But, however something along the lines of traditional black metal that meets the classical sound with strings, choirs and Gregorian chantries. Oh my god, the whole massive idea and I was already composing some stuff which at the end it wouldn’t work out for Cradle of Filth at all. He is just Mr.Darkness like Dark Aestical all the time, always incredibly writing poetry into his lyrics, he’s such a creative source. Definitely, he’s one of my muses. We have just started working on things. Oh man, when I wrote these first demoes, I sent them straight away even though they were so bad. At the time, I was just working with what I had and now, it turned into such a massive project. I’m very grateful because the relationship that I have with the other two songwriters Justine Ethier  which she plays drums and we collaborate together on the orchestrations; and Fabian who’s known as Urzom from Negator which he plays the guitar and he collaborated on the writing and arrangements). Between the three of us, we have such a deep connection and friendship. It’s such a beautiful experience and I never really believed in the spiritual aspect of that gathering together and having the magic among other musicians when you write, however, we have definitely that. It’s really amazing and I feel really grateful to have that. Instead about the latest updates, It’s going good and we have to finish writing a few more songs to have a full album . Then, we are going into the studio in April to record the first single and all this, it’s just for getting the things started which is exciting. I’m really looking forward to it, I love the single, I love the songs we chose. The fans are already excited even though they have listened to anything and they have so much faith in us. I know what I want and I already have the ideas quite clear about the whole plan. It’s good that we’re starting with one song and surely, we will be included on the new album. By then I hope to have more funding to record a live string section and hire the required musicians. We’re just so excited and it has been challenging ‘cuz all the members all over the world and we have to keep up on communication and organisation. We do that very well and of course, they have me and Cyber Proxy. Now that I have established this label, I’ll take care of this band in the best way possible through the help of my team too. I think Antiqva has a good start and I’m happy for that opportunity. I love everyone in the band and I love working with them. They are so talented and they are such good people. So, I think that hopefully by 2022 all the engines will be set in motion for the album and playing festivals, everything depends on how quickly we get through the single [laughs]. But, I don’t wanna rush it, it’s a project of passion, it’s definitely a calling in life. I love doing my solo work, I’m so proud of it and whatever comes from “Murder” I enjoyed. It’s like my baby, my first child while with Antiqva is something that I wanted to do since I was a little kid because at the time I used to write classical music in my head but I didn’t have neither the knowledge nor the tools on how to translate out my mind in a tangible way. Now, I do and I have so much dark classical music in my head that I just want to give to the world. I think we are doing an OK job because I showed to some friends what we have written and they just burst into tears. So far so good but it’s a very slow process and I don’t like how slow it is. I feel like I’m waiting and waiting but I have definitely taken the initiative with the band to super plan our future and to do the best in keeping up with the tour deadlines and to take care of one another. You know, we have been all through a hard time in the industry and we’re not treated very well. This band also represents a brand new start because we’ll set our boundaries and we’ll get treated in the way we deserve. We’ll always try to take care of eachother and always do that, I love this because that can be a huge motivation for longevity with this project. You know, I’m approaching all this with a lot of optimism and positivity, even though I know that a black metal is about [laughs].

My last question is about your next plans: in order to promote your solo album, do you have any concert planned for 2020?

So, the problem is that touring these days is very expensive and it costs a lot of money. We’ve been trying to get some opportunities but how much it costs to go, it’s an insane amount of money and as a record label, I’m trying to be realistic about finances. However, it has been an opportunity for me to tour with just my harp and I love doing those harp tours and those acoustic tours because they are my favourite. I’ll announce some information on that later while right now, what I’m doing is celebrating my 10th as a solo artist by recording an ambient harp album and with that I’ll cover my entire catalog. I’m aiming to release this special full-length this summer. I’m looking forward to it, it will be a little different and it’s not gonna be like on “Murder” on which I dedicated a lot of promotion and I featured a lot of extras. It’ll be quite a soft launch and it’s something I want to do for my fans. Then, from there we’ll start working on the second album, there’s no schedule or deadline for that. But, I think once we dedicate the right amount of time, it’ll go very quickly because a lot of the music has already been composed. So, I have just to fix some lyrics and change some parts in the songs. It’s gonna be amazing because I’ll work with my team again, they are such talented and fun people. Also, I brought with me my guitarist Cody Johnston because it’s a really good songwriter and hopefully, he’ll have much more space on the album. Once again it will be a big project but we’ll start before Christmas. More than anything, the focus of this year is to make myself happy and take care of my health which so far, it’s going good. I just hope to continue.

This was my last question. Please be free to say hi your fans and our readers. Lindsay, I really thank you for this interview. It was a real pleasure. This is your space.

Thank you. That’s amazing that you gave me my first writing job in the industry. How long was that? Maybe 12 years ago and I thank you, because it all started with you, thank you I found my way to Eve’s Apple, because of Eve’s Apple I found my way in Cradle of Filth. You have been so supportive of my career from day 1. Thank you to you and Femme Metal Webzine. Also, I would like to send you a quick thank you to my team that helped you to launch my album. Last but not the least, I want to say thank you to my FANS who didn’t give up on me and they are still supporting my career despite my departure from Cradle of Filth. The fact that people want to stick around and see what I’ll do next that just means so much and I’ll promise that I’ll work very hard and I won’t let you down.

[theydontknowaboutusimagines]

Outside the Rain - Harry Styles Series (Part 1)

“Love is a word I’ve been trying to find” 

The closer you got to the venue, the higher your nerves got. There was a churn in your stomach as the driver pulled into the back parking lot to drop you off at the stage doors. That night you had a performance, something you’ve done practically you’re whole entire life. You’ve been surrounded by the tour life and musicians ever since before you could walk. Performing up on stage in front of an audience was something you lived for.

Nothing in the world made you happier than standing up on stage and singing your music. So, why were you about to blow chunks over this particular one? Well, because it wasn’t any performance. It was an elite and special performance. You were performing at the Rock ‘N Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony with none other than Stevie Nicks. 

Or as you like to call her Aunt Stevie. 

See, your father plays the drums in Stevie’s band, which means you’ve grown up with her being in your life and plus she’s your Godmother. Being the daughter of musicians, you were constantly on tour with someone. Whenever Stevie was touring with Fleetwood Mac or not touring, your father was touring with other bands. 

However, you didn’t really connect with anyone else the way you did with her. 

The bond you two shared was indescribable. She helped you through so much, especially in your teenage years. Your first heartbreak, your first experience of puppy love, etc. Hell, she was basically the reason you were where you were in your life. 

At the age of three, the first time you can remember a show, is when you decided you wanted to be on stage. In fact, you actually did just that. You were standing at the side of the stage during one of Stevie’s shows. It was a smaller venue because it was more of a pop up show than a full on tour. Your mother was talking to someone else backstage, while you were staring at your Aunt Stevie the entire time. 

You didn’t even acknowledge your own father at the drums even though he was at a closer vantage point. At this point, Stevie was talking to the crowd about the next song, and as soon as the opening of the song started playing, you found yourself going out on stage. It was like your feet just sort of took over before the rest of you could react, but then again you were only three. 

The song was ‘Edge of Seventeen’ and you started dancing alongside of her and as soon as she noticed you, pulled you closer and the rest was history. Anytime you were at a show with her, you would come out and perform that song with her. 

And tonight wouldn’t be any different. Except, it was very different. It wasn’t just  a show in front of Stevie Nicks fan, although you were sure everyone in that building would technically be her fan. But it was also in front of a mountain of legends, Rock legends... and well, you were far from a rock legend. 

You started a career in the music industry at the age of fifteen with a group of your closest friends back home. You four formed a popular girl band that was super successful. You traveled all over the world, met tons of new people, sold millions of copies of each of your four records. 

But then it got to be to much, so you each decided on taking a break back in 2013. 

And it was a much needed break. 

However, being surrounded by music your whole life, you couldn’t get it out of you. You tried doing other projects like working with brands and designers and doing a few acting jobs, but nothing gave you the same feeling as music. 

So, then you decided on adventuring on your own. And since then, you’ve produced two solo records, slightly different from one another. Your debut album was a mix of both pop and rock. While it was perfect for radio play, there was definitely some rock and alternative undertones mixed in. And your second album, that you released last year was a little more folky/country inspired with a little pop mixed in. 

Both of your albums went number one and you had very successful tours and you loved having all of the creative input on your music, but you did miss having your girls around. You missed putting on a huge performance, with dance breaks and just having a great ass time. 

Which is one reason you all were thinking about getting back together, something not even your families really new yet. 

But you couldn’t think about that right now because you had a huge, huge performance, oh and speech, to worry about. Yeah, so not only were you performing, but you were also giving a speech to officially induct Stevie into the Hall of Fame. Writing the speech was easy. Like super easy, it’s the telling it part that you were nervous about. 

And it sort of didn’t help that you would be teaming up with someone else as well. When you found out that you would be presenting the award with Harry Styles, you didn’t know how to feel about it. You knew your Aunt was really close to him because she had talked about him quite a bit over the last few years, in fact, she’s actually tried to introduce the two of you countless times since she’s met him, but it never really worked out. 

The first time you would meet him would be at rehearsals and you had no idea how long or what he included in his speech, so hopefully you two would have time to compare before the show tonight. 

“There you are,” a loud voice came over the speakers from the stage. 

You looked up, seeing your godmother, smirking at you. 

“I got a little distracted on the way in,” you said taking your guitar out of it’s case. 

“Y/N, you’re going to do great. I don’t understand why you’re nervous,” she said walking over to you. 

“Yeah, we’ll of course you’d say that because your fucking Stevie Nicks,” you rolled your eyes. “Plus, this your night. A night you’ve earned.” 

“And you’re fucking Y/N and this is just as much your night as is it mine,” she said. “Besides this isn’t just my song now, it’s our song. It wouldn’t be right to perform it without you.” 

“Well, then what are we standing around talking for,” you joked. 

**

Harry was scrolling through his phone in the car as he was on his way to the venue. He still couldn’t get over the fact that he was not only performing with Stevie Nicks in front of countless rock legends, but that he also had the honor of presenting the award to her. That was an honor in itself. 

Harry was always looking forward to performing, but he still got nervous, especially over this one. He still had a lot to prove in regards to him being a rock musician. A lot of people still viewed him as Harry Styles from One Direction, which was fine, but he wanted people to take him and his music seriously. 

When he got to the venue, he could hear rehearsals had already started. The familiar sound of Edge of Seventeen coursed through backstage. He smiled as he took his guitar and headed straight to the stage doors. Harry wasn’t set for rehearsals for another half hour, but he couldn’t pass up this chance. 

Harry sat his guitar case down as he bobbed his head to he beat and quietly sang along. His gaze went straight to Stevie on stage, but it quickly adverted to the person next to her. 

Y/N. 

When it came to Y/N, he was quite the fan. He remembered dancing around with his sister Gemma to your music from your girl group and seeing them in concert at one of their shows in Manchester. There were plenty of times you both were present at the same award shows, especially when One Direction were in their prime, but he never got the chance to meet you. 

The day Stevie had asked him about performing and being the one to induct her, she also mentioned that she was having you participate as well. He would be lying if he didn’t feel himself blush at the mention of you being there. He knew how close you and Stevie were because she had always talked about you  in conversations. 

Seeing you up on stage, during the rehearsals, he could see just how close you two were and how amazing you. He couldn't wait to see the actual performance later that night. 

**

Once you were finished, you felt a little more relieved because rehearsals went great. As you were taking your guitar off, you noticed someone walking up onto the stage. You knew exactly who it was, Harry Styles. He and Stevie embraced and you sort of awkwardly stood to the side. 

“Y/N, come over here, I think it’s time for you and Harry to finally meet,” she laughed. 

You got up from putting your guitar back in its case and walked over. You held out your hand. 

“Nice to finally meet you,” you smiled. “She talks about you nonstop.” 

“Same here,” Harry smiled taking your hand. “And she talks about you as well.” 

“Lovely,” you joked. 

“You two sounded great,” he added. “I’m looking forward to seeing it tonight.” 

“Thank you,” you smiled. “Well, I uh better let you two get to your rehearsal. But uh, Harry, I don’t know if you have any plans after, but I uh, I was wondering if you maybe wanted to do a run through of our speeches?” 

“Yeah, sure. I’ll uh come find you once we’re done?” He asked. 

“Sounds good,” you smiled picking up your case and walking off the stage. 

**

Harry made his way to your dressing room backstage once he finished his own rehearsals. He was more than ready to get up on stage for this once in a lifetime opportunity, but he didn’t want to rush it either. He wanted to make sure he savored every minute, so while he couldn’t wait to get on stage, he was glad the show was still a few hours away. 

When he got to the door that had the printed sign with your name on it, he knocked softly before he heard a soft “Come in,” from the other side. He turned the doorknob pushing the door open. 

“Hey, is uh, this a good time?” He asked. 

“Perfect, I was just looking over what I wrote,” you smiled. “How did rehearsals go?” 

“It was fun. We sounded good and everything went smoothly. I hope tonight goes the same way,” he said. 

“I know exactly how you feel,” you said. “but if it helps, my Aunt Stevie thinks we belong on that stage next to her, even if we feel like we don’t. And honestly, I’m trying to tell myself that’s the only approval I need.” 

He laughed, “I’m telling myself that very thing. It doesn’t help that we’re both the youngest people here it seems like.” 

“True,” you laughed. “But luckily tonight’s not about us... so that helps take  little pressure off.” 

“Just a smidge,” he joked. 

You laughed, “Um, here have a seat. I have my speech written out. I know we have to give it to the producers before showtime so they can put it on the teleprompter, but I wanted to maybe compare in case we have some similar parts, so we’re not repeating each other.” 

“Oh, yeah, good idea,” he nodded walking over to sit next to you on the small red couch. 

“So, basically um, I start off with some personal memories and moments...” you said. “Uh... actually if you want, you could just uh read it...”

“Oh, okay, yeah, sure,” he said. 

You handed him your journal and he read over it. Sitting there while he read it, you instantly regretted it because you were feeling super awkward. 

“Wow, that’s... amazing,” he said. “I’m a little self-conscious about my own speech now.”

“Sorry...” you laughed. 

“In comparison to my speech, I think they’re going to fit well together,” he said. “Yours is from a more personal side, which makes sense and mine, while there are some personal aspects to it, it’s more so talking about her as an artist and her career achievements. I have it on my phone, if you want to read mine.” 

Before you could answer, he took his phone out of his pocket holding it out in your direction. You nodded, taking it in your hand and looking it over. 

“Did your mom really say that?” You laughed once you were finished. 

“Still does, actually. All the time,” he joked. 

**

This was it. The performance was less than twenty minutes away. You were in your dressing room waiting for them to call you to the stage. You would be opening up the show with Stevie, which you knew the whole time, but now that it was time for it to happen, your nerves were back. It also didn’t help that you watch the stupid live-stream of the red carpet while you were getting your hair and makeup done seeing exactly who was going to be in the audience. 

Yes, it didn’t really matter, but that didn’t help your nerves at all. There was a knock on your door before it opened it. You looked up in the mirror to see your Aunt standing there. 

“I figured I’d find you in here,” she said. 

“Because you knew I’d be freaking the fuck out?” You mumbled. 

“Yes, because you’ve always done this,” she said. “Before any big show, you always second guess yourself and your talent. You constantly reassure yourself, you’re fine, but you’re not.” 

“You’re right, I’m not,” you groaned. 

“Okay, sit down. I’ve got work to do,” she said. 

You sighed sitting down on the couch and looking at her. 

“When they told me I was being inducted, they told me to chose which songs I wanted to perform. Out of all of my songs, I chose Edge of Seventeen as the first song, do you know why?” She asked. 

“Because it’s a great song...” you said.

“No, because that song reminds me of you. Ever since you walked out on the stage as a three year old little girl, that became your song for me. I know it was quite a few years ago, but do you remember how you felt that night on the stage?” She asked. 

You nodded, “I didn’t really have a care in the world. I just wanted to be on stage next to you.” 

“Exactly, so take that feeling up with you on stage tonight,” she smiled. “Along with this...” 

She grabbed the bag, you didn’t realize she had, and took out a black hat.

“Is that-” you asked. 

“I want you to have it,” she smiled. “And I’m glad it goes perfectly with your outfit.” 

Your lips pulled into a smile as you wrapped your arms around her, “I love you.” 

“I love you, too,” she smiled. 

**

Since Stevie was opening the show, Harry stood side stage to watch the performances before he was due on stage. The audience went wild as soon as the opening notes started playing and Stevie appeared on stage. You were standing next to her, playing guitar and singing along. You were wearing a black velvet blazer with a lace bralette underneath, paired with matching flared pants with a light pink accent inside the flares and black heeled boots.

 You were also wearing a black hat, something Harry instantly recognized. He couldn’t take his eyes off of you as you performed. There was a smile across your face the entire performance and even though he had his own performance in less than ten minutes, he was a little sad when the song was over. 

Stevie quickly embraced you at the end of the performance, kissing your cheek. You smiled pulling away and clapping for her before making your way off the stage. When you came down the steps, you saw Harry standing there in a bright blue velvet suit. 

“You fucking killed it,” he said. “Wow. I think I should have gone first, you’re a bloody natural.” 

“Thank you,” you smiled taking a sip of water. “But don’t worry, you’ll get it done.” 

He smiled and the two of stood side by side while you watched the other performance. 

**

When it was time for Harry to go up on stage, you watched the whole thing. You were blown away. You knew the two of them had performed together previously, but this was the first time you were witnessing it first hand. 

After his performance, Harry joined you backstage again. He took a few gulps of water while you two waited for your speeches. 

“I think Tom Petty would be proud,” you stated. “You really did a great job honoring him.” 

A pink tint flushed his cheeks, “T-thank you,” he smiled. 

“Y/N, Harry, you’re on in five minutes,” one of the producers said. 

You both nodded, “Ready to do this?” You asked. 

“More than ready,” he smiled. 

You both were standing backstage waiting for your cue. When it was time, Harry offered his arm to you, you smiled wrapping your hand around it before the two of you walked out on stage. 

“First I would like to say, what an honor it is to be here tonight. To celebrate this amazing achievement for the one and only Stevie Nicks. But she isn’t just Stevie Nicks to me. She’s Aunt Stephanie. I’ve had the honor and blessing to grow up with her by my side. Because of her, I’m not only the person I am today, but also the musician I am today. 

It was at one of her shows, that I discovered that this is where I wanted to be, up on stage in front of thousands of people, telling a story through music. Because that’s exactly what she did and still does, I might add. She was more than just apart of my family, she was also a friend. Someone I could always go to whenever I needed someone. 

The very first song I learned on guitar was Landslide. I remember when I played it for her after hours and weeks of practice, I was so excited, yet nervous because I wanted her to like. I wanted her to have faith in me. So, I played it for her around bonfire we were having in the backyard of my parents house. I was seven years old, holding a guitar that was bigger than me. 

When I was finished, I quickly looked to her for approval and her exact words were, “It was okay, but you could do better.” Now, I know what you all are probably thinking, but it wasn’t meant in that way. She meant that I needed to make the song my own. Yes, she wrote it and it was her song, but if I was going to sing it, I needed to make it my own. 

Of course, at seven years old I had no clue what that meant exactly, but I was determined to figure it out. So, everyday for the next few weeks, I locked myself in my room and did everything I could to “make it my own.” 

And I never did. Not until she told me to stop worrying about what she thought or just focus on what I felt when I heard the song. 

See that’s the thing with my Aunt Stevie, she was never one to focus on herself. She always tries to help others find their best self. She taught me so many things, not just with music, but in life and how the two coincide together. 

When I wrote my first song, I remember she told me that you want to tell a story. You want to give the song a meaning. You want to touch not only other people who listen to your music, but also yourself because if you don’t love and feel a connection with your creation, then nothing else matters. 

And she said the same thing to me tonight. I won’t lie to you and say that being here tonight isn’t scary or a little daunting. And hell, tonight isn’t even about me, but she made sure I was okay. She made sure that I knew I was good enough to be standing next to her. 

So, yeah, all the amazing things she’s done over her career may have gotten her this amazing honor, but she’s more than just musician. She’s an absolute fucking legend, both as a musician and a person. 

Aunt Stephanie, I, along with everyone else Welcome you to the Rock ‘N Roll Hall of Fame for the second time,” you smiled. 

Applause took over the room. Harry walked up to the microphone and laughed, “Um, I think I’m just gonna go after that one,” he joked. 

You laughed standing back a bit while Harry gave his speech. The audience was captivated the entire time and laughed at the bit about his mother. When his speech was over, Stevie walked over and you both handed her the award. She smiled hugging both of you tightly before walking over to the microphone, while you and Harry stood to the side to give her, her moment. 

**

Backstage there were tons of press and interviews, you had do, once that was over, you went back to your dressing room. You took off the hat and drank some water, when heard someone knocking on your door. 

“It’s open,” you said turning to face the door. 

Harry poked his head, “Hey, sorry to bother you, but uh, I uh... I was going to grab some dinner with some friends in a bit and I wanted to uh, give you an invitation if you would like to join.” 

“Oh, uh, um, sure, give me like ten minutes?” You asked. 

“Perfect,” he smiled before leaving. 

You looked back in the mirror and touched up your makeup and hair before grabbing your things and heading out. 

“There’s my girl!” You heard your dad say when you walked out of the room. 

“Hey, Dad,” you smiled hugging him. “You still good? You’re not gonna like pass out or anything?” 

He rolled his eyes, “I’ve been doing this before you were even born.”

“Exactly,” you laughed. 

“So, I was thinking we could grab a bite to eat before heading back to the hotel. Stevie’s coming, she’ll be ready in a bit,” he said. 

“Um, actually, I have plans,” you said. 

“Oh, you do?” He sounded surprised. 

“Um, yeah, Harry, invited me out to dinner with some of his friends,” you said. 

“He did... I didn’t know you knew him,” he said. 

“Well, I mean, tonight’s the first night I’ve met him,” you said. 

“And he’s already asking you out for dinner,” he raised an eyebrow. 

“Oh my god, it’s not like that,” you rolled your eyes. 

“Let her go, Y/Dad’s/Name,” Stevie said from behind him. “It’s just dinner besides they need some time to talk, get to know each other.. you know.” 

Both you and your dad looked at her. 

“What?” She asked. 

“Are you trying to play matchmaker with my daughter?” Your dad asked. 

“Go have a good time, Y/N. Now, let’s go, I’m starving,” she said walking past you and your father without answering the question. 

“Just let me know when you get back to the hotel,” he said. 

You laughed nodding, shaking you head before going to find Harry. 

**

On the ride to the restaurant, you two talked about the events of the night and other little small talk conversation topics. When you got there, you both walked in and saw a table with a quite a few people. The only two chairs that were left, were right next to each other, so you and Harry sat down. 

“Hey, everyone, this is Y/N. Y/N, these are my friends,” Harry smiled. 

“We have names,“ Jeff smirked. 

You laughed, “Nice to meet you,” you smiled. 

You took the menu and skimmed over it before deciding on what to order. Everyone at the table was having their own conversations, so you looked over at Harry. 

“So, I feel like I should probably tell you this, but I have a feeling my Aunt is trying to hook us up,” you laughed. 

“You got that feeling too?” He laughed. 

“She basically admitted to it,” you laughed. “And when I saw admitted, it was more of by omission. She changed the subject when my Dad brought it up.” 

He laughed, “Just so you know that’s not why I invite you here tonight. I did that on my own accord.” 

“You did, did you?” You smirked causing him to blush. 

“I did,” he nodded. 

You smiled tucking a strand of hair behind your ear. “Are you staying in New York long?” 

“Just another day. I’m flying out the day after next,” he said. “You?” 

“Actually, staying a few more days. I have some meetings,” you said. 

“Oh, are you working on a new album?” He asked. 

“Sort of,” you laughed. “There’s a little bit a discussion going on.” 

“That sounds.. interesting,” he said. 

“I’d give you more details, but I don’t have them myself,” you laughed. 

Harry was just about to say something when you heard a familiar voice call out your name. You looked up, past Harry and saw one of your closest friends, who actually was also your ex-boyfriend from when you were a teenager. 

“Joe?” You smiled. 

You stood up from the table, walking over to him. “What are you doing here?” 

“Me and Sophie were just having dinner, when I saw you. Thought I’d come by and say hi,” he said. 

“I’m glad you did,” you smiled hugging him. 

“Hey, the Hall of Fame thing was tonight, right? How’d that go?” he asked. 

“It went,” you laughed. “It was fucking everything, at least I think so.” 

“Well, you kill it every time,” he smiled. 

“Oh, let me introduce you,” you said. “Joe this is Harry Styles, Harry this is Joe Jonas.” 

“Oh, hey man,” Joe said holding out his hand. 

“Hey,” Harry nodded shaking his hand. 

Joe looked over at you smirking, “Fuck off,” you mumbled. 

He laughed, “Anyway, I’ll let you get back to your date... I mean dinner. Text me later?” 

“I hate you,” you rolled your eyes. 

“If only,” he joked. “Bye,” he waved to Harry before walking away. 

“Sorry about that,” you said sitting back down. 

“No, it’s okay,” he smiled. “Their new record’s pretty good.” 

“Yeah, I’m glad they’re back,” you smiled. “I think they’re doing a show tomorrow night, would you want to go with me?” 

“Um, sure, I don’t think I’ve got anything planned,” he said. 

“Okay, I’ll send you the details later,” you smiled. 

“Is that your way of asking me for my number?” He smirked. 

“Damn, you got me,” you giggled. 

He laughed, “Hand me your phone?” 

You took it out of your purse and handed it to him. He quickly added himself as a contact in your phone before handing it back to you. You smiled opening up  new message and sending him a smiling face emoji. 

“There now we both have each other’s numbers,” you smiled. 

**

Over an hour had passed from getting your food and finishing it. You didn’t realize how long you all had been at the restaurant until you got a text from your dad. 

Still Alive? 

Are any of us really alive?

Drunk?

On a scale of sober to Mom at Bradley and Max’s wedding, I’m like somewhere in the middle. 

So, you’re like normal drunk. 

Sure. Let’s go with that. 

Do I need to come get you? 

Dad, I’m joking! I’ve only had like one drink and I didn’t even finish it. We’re finishing up here, I’ll be back at the hotel soon. Promise. 

His hotel or your hotel. 

SERIOUSLY. CAN YOU NOT. 

Hey, I’m just asking questions here. 

Questions you don’t need to know the answers too. But if you must know. MY hotel. 

Good answer. I’m going to bed. Good night and I love you. 

Oh and I’m proud of you tonight. Good job.

Thanks Dad. I’ll see you at breakfast in the morning. Goodnight. 

“Everything okay?” Harry asked. 

“Oh, yeah, but I should probably get going. I didn’t realize how late it was getting and I’ve got a meeting in the morning,” you said. 

“Of course, let me get you car,” he said. 

“Oh, no that’s okay. I can get it,” you said. 

“It’s fine, I need to get one too anyway,” he smiled. 

“Okay,” you agreed. “But I’ll get you one for tomorrow night.” 

He laughed,”Sounds good.” 

 After a few more minutes, your cars had arrived outside of the building. You two both headed out the door, when you saw that there were not only paparazzi there, but also fans waiting outside. They all screamed when they saw both you and Harry, so you both walked over to them. 

You each took a few photos and signed some things before heading saying goodbye and heading out to your cars. Harry gave you quick hug before opening the door for you and getting in his own car. As few moments after your car had pulled away, you got an alert on your phone. 

I had a really great time tonight. Looking forward to seeing you again, H.

You bit your lip trying to hide the smile threatening to cross your lips. You didn’t want to jinx it or say anything too quickly, but it appeared that Aunt Stevie just might get her wish granted. 

**

Thoughts? 

Should I continue?

What are some things you want to see happen? 

Also, do you like the voting idea, where every now and then I’ll ask for you all to decide what happens next and then surprise you with the outcome? 

Let me know! :) 

[takemealivelh]

Ahadskalajsh I just read the Mikey blurb and now I want one too except could you please make it with Ashton andddd you could do the same concept of enemies to lovers cause I live for that stuff lol❤️❤️

JAIDA I’M FINALLY HERE WITH YOUR BLURB

To be honest, this is a fic okay? I really enjoyed writing this story and you know what? There’s going to be a part 2. I promise.

I present to you…

BATTLE OF THE BANDS

2.6k | Enemies to Lovers | Mentions of alcohol and sex | FEEDBACK IS ENCOURAGED AND APPRECIATED

Thank you so much to @5sosnsfw and @angelbabylu for helping me edit this, I love you so much

Battle of the Bands Pt. 2

The new 5 Seconds of Summer single had been climbing up the charts, positioning itself in number 10 in the third week of its release. The members were happy with how well it was doing, they’d worked so hard on it, pouring their hearts out in the lyrics and the performance. Luke’s voice transitioned from heartfelt head voice verses into belting notes in the chorus, Calum’s baseline was a funky reminiscence of Duran Duran’s Come Undone, Michael’s guitar riff gave it a whole new depth with a chockfull overdrive. It was Ashton’s drums that really glued the piece together, a steady 4/4 beat and consistent open hi-hat flow with several well-calculated fills. Their best song to date.

Midnight Street was a new upcoming band that no one expected to blow up so quickly. Their rock-pop sound with heavy piano riffs was a refreshing addition to the public’s ears, and they found themselves escalating the numbers as well with their new single. Critics described it as a ‘whimsical and skittish track, an intriguing take on the classic pop verse-pre-chorus-chorus formula that deconstructs its way towards the end, but blends into a homogenous anthem by vocalist JJ’s performance’.

It wasn’t until Billboard hosted a party to announce their list of nominees that these two bands finally met face to face.

“I think I might throw up, I’m so excited.”

Ashton’s smile glowed through the candle-lit table he was sitting in with his bandmates. The stage displayed a wide screen with the list of nominees for Top Rock Song. He felt his heart gurgle in his chest, the feeling of pride about to spurt out of his veins.

“This is it,”

He whispered to himself, “this is what we deserve.”

The room remained a buzz to the band’s ears. Only when they were announced and a round of applause exploded around them they allowed themselves to celebrate by clinking their glasses of wine. They didn’t pay attention to much else until the ceremony was over and the party started.

“You might win this one,” They were told by producers and managers that approached their table to congratulate them.“I would only be worried about that new band- Midnight Street, they’re doing pretty good as well.”

Ashton nodded the warnings off, he didn’t need to be concerned about a bunch of kids that had only started to understand the highs and lows of the music industry. In his eyes, they weren’t a threat. Sure, he and Calum had gone to a few Midnight Street shows, they were good. They were passionate. But they still had a long road to walk to get to the place he and his bandmates had paved for themselves. Ashton wasn’t worried. Especially when the new band showed up to showcase their admiration to all the work 5SOS had done.

“We’re big fans, it’s just an honour to be put into the same league as you guys.”

Michael and Calum engaged in conversation with the drummer and bassist of the band, two chunky guys with short hair and green jackets. Luke quickly found common grounds with the lead guitarist and vocalist JJ, a love for Nickelback and eccentric cowboys. It was Jaida that caught Ashton’s eye, the pianist of the band. He liked that she actually played a vertical W. Hoffmann onstage instead of the classic Korg keyboard he had seen over and over again at every single live show he went to. He liked the fact that she was the responsible one for making Midnight Street the novelty they were. Didn’t hurt that she was gorgeous and flaunted it, a well-tailored deep emerald suit with a plunging neckline was always a good fashion choice in his eyes.

“We’re contenders now. If you give me any advice tonight, I won’t take it seriously. You might just be trying to mess with my head.”

Jaida’s lips curved into a smirk behind her glass of mojito.

He liked her confidence, her presence was strong enough to keep him interested.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Ashton let out a small laugh, setting his now empty glass on the table and leaning towards her. “You don’t look like someone who takes advice from anyone anyways.” His tone was flirty, his eyes lingered on her lips for more than a brief moment and his knees barely touch hers. She noticed his lustful behaviour, it wasn’t the first time another musician had taken an interest in her.

Jaida had had her fair share of one-night stands, knowing that she couldn’t hold a relationship because of the band’s schedule. In that sense, she and Ashton were on the same page. He was a sexual being, a man who liked to have fun without many responsibilities, his rockstar status made his fantasies easy to come to life. She was no different, and she knew just how to get a guy’s attention with the right gestures.

“I caught your performance last week in LA, it was a wild one.”

Jaida crossed a leg on top of the other and placed her elbow on it, the fabric of her satin pants slightly riding up as she teased Ashton’s leg. The expression of amusement in his eyes was obvious and she licked her lower lip before leaning forward, resting her chin on her hand, knowing Ashton would get a better view at her cleavage. He wasn’t subtle about the new view he was granted.

“Thank you.”

Ashton had a hard time focusing his eyes on hers, they seemed to travel down her neck every instant.

“We love putting our entire energy in our shows. I’m always soaked after playing the set, but I like it. If you don’t believe in your music, no one will, ya know?”

He laid an arm on the table, his long fingers brushing against the fabric that covered her arms, “I think you know,” he chuckled to himself, growing excited by how Jaida’s lashes seemed to frame the same lust he held in his eyes.

“I’ve seen you play once or twice.”

Ashton nodded and in one swift movement, he propelled his body forward, lips hovering her ear.

“I like the way you move.”

Her skin visibly bristled and he smirked against it. Jaida dropped her gaze and turned her head to engage in the most intense staring contest she had ever participated in.

“And that’s only onstage.”

Her teasing grin was enough for Ashton to decide this was the girl he wanted to take back to his place that night.

-

“You’re leaving already?”

Ashton called her from his spot on the bed. The black suit he’d worn to the party laid on the floor, his red hair was plastered all over his forehead. He watched Jaida collect her things from the dresser next to his bedroom door, and put on the heels she had eagerly discarded the night before when he pushed her down onto his mattress.

“You don’t want me here, Ashton. Especially after you check your phone,”

She laughed and ran a hand through her tangled hair. His eyebrows knitted together, curiously staring at her triumphant smile.

“I’m gonna go.”

Jaida laughed and pulled out her phone, scrolling down whatever was displaying on the screen, “I know my way out. Have fun today.” She didn’t even wave goodbye when she left his bedroom. Moments later, he heard the front door.

The sound of the cars driving up and down the street grew louder as the clock got closer to 9 am. Ashton pushed his hair back and looked over at the mess he and Jaida had made. He remembered her lips on his skin, her moans when he pushed inside her, the mark he’d left on her right hipbone. He looked down at his bare chest and found one of her works as well, a red lipstick-stained lovebite under his sternum. “Wow,” he breathed out before getting out of bed and hopping into the shower.

-

Twenty minutes before the radio interview would begin, Ashton stared at his phone screen blankly. He would refresh the page every ten seconds but the numbers didn’t change. 5 Seconds of Summer was number 6, Midnight Street was number 3.

“How did this happen?”

They weren’t sure. Luke and Michael were pacing back and forth, discussing ideas of how they could promo the single, how they could get back up on top. Calum was outside smoking a cigarette. Their team was nervous about the interview, Midnight Street beating them on the charts had definitely staggered their confidence.

In some kind of irrational train of thought, Ashton remembered Jaida’s comment and he felt angry. He had fallen into her spell and now he was paying the price. And for what? A squirming body under his touch? Red lips trailing wet kisses down his torso at an excruciatingly slow pace? A high-pitched whimper when he hooked her knees over his shoulders? He heard his name being called from inside of the studio.  

“5 Seconds of Summer is here! We have Luke, Calum, Ashton and Michael to talk about their new single and their upcoming performance on the Billboard Awards next month. How are you guys? Excited?”

The band talked about the creation of their new track and the inspiration behind it, but no one had prepared them for the next question.

“New band Midnight Street has just beat you on the charts with their first ever single, how do you feel about that?”

Like a dropkick on the groin.

Ashton could feel the blood flush his face. He had worked so hard for his pride to be stomped on by a band that had never even had a world tour. So what he had fucked the pianist? So what? He didn’t owe her anything.

“You know, I don’t mind them. Yeah, their song is good, but that’s it. Nothing inventive.”

Lie. “Nothing that really caught my ears.” Lie. “They’re not gonna be around for long, I’m tellin’ ya. So I’m not worried.”

The look on his bandmates’ faces was either pure rage or unhidden disgust, washed over by a thin layer of astonishment.

-

“Ash, what the fuck was that?” Luke poked the redhead’s shoulder. He had disappointed him, had disappointed all of them.

He hadn’t been the bigger person.

It didn’t take long for Ashton to receive hundreds of notifications on his phone. Angry management, inquisitive journalists, confused fans… his Twitter and Instagram feed was full. Buried between a DM of his producer and a link to an article, there was a text from Jaida.

Fuck you, Irwin.

The temptation was too much, he loved his doses of masochism and assholery. He knew it wouldn’t lead him anywhere, that it was just playing with fire. For a moment, the thought of being the bad boy in other’s eyes was too fascinating. It felt powerful.

Fuck you right back.

He shoved his phone deep into his jacket pocket and waved his team goodbye. He had dropped a bomb and was now heading out for an iced coffee like it was nothing.

The flashes caught his face immediately, all of them yelling at him. Questions came right and left, but he didn’t stop to address them.

Only when he turned his TV on later that night, he knew what kind of trouble he had gotten himself into.

“Midnight Street is the new upcoming band….”

Ashton rolled his eyes when he saw Jaida’s tense body at the end of the couch, squished between the drummer and the vocalist/guitarist. Now they were getting more press because of his comment. This was exactly the opposite of what he wanted.

“I just want to say.,”

Jaida’s voice pierced through the speakers of Ashton’s sound system and travelled to his ears, unpleasant, like nails on a chalkboard.

“… To the drummer of 5SOS, thank you for getting us to number two with your comment.”

She was facing the camera directly now. Ashton hated himself for thinking she looked hot with another power suit that complimented her skin tone. “You dug your grave yourself, you’d think you’d be wiser than that. I was wrong.”

His blood was boiling, his ears matched his hair colour. Ashton turned off the TV, immediately pulling out his phone to look for Jaida’s contact information. Oh, she was going to hear him.

-

The insistent bell rings were enough of a clue to know who it was. Jaida had gotten to her place only a few hours ago, stripping from the suit and heels and throwing a ratty old t-shirt on. She had expected some kind of response from Ashton; a text, a voice message, a callout on Twitter. Something.

Had she not learned that with him it was either go big or go home?

It was almost 2 am.

“What are you doing here?”

Jaida’s voice was stern, she didn’t want her surprise to show.

“Are you coming to insult me in my own place? That’s mature of you.”

Ashton’s lips were pursed together in a flat line, jaw jutting forward, muscles rigid.

She drove him completely insane. Everything from the tone in her voice, the few strands of hair out of place from her ponytail, locked knees in display thanks to an Arctic Monkeys tee… He wanted to yell at her, then bend her over and have her right there on the front door.

“Aren’t you gonna invite me inside? You’re being a rude hostess, doll.”

The raspy voice was the quickest way to remind her of how he’d absolutely wrecked her the night before. The hot skin against her own, the bites on her shoulders and collarbones, his breathy groans when she sucked him off. She stepped aside to let him in, eyes quickly glued to his ass when he passed her, that same ass she had eagerly squeezed not 24 hours ago. Angry sex was the best kind of sex in her opinion, she was not going to let this fuel go to waste.

Jaida closed the door behind her and leaned against it, rotating her ankles one at a time on the welcome rug.

“Had I known I was having visitors, I would’ve put on some pants and opened a bottle of wine.”

She grinned, amused. Watching Ashton peruse around her apartment was like observing a deer in unknown territory. Her territory. His face was still unreadable, but his movements were hesitant and discerning.

Ashton browsed the collection of books and CDs she had on a shelf next to her widescreen TV, kept himself busy by counting the number of awards she had put on her living room table, not all recognizable, but a large amount of them. He didn’t bother to look at her, knowing that he’d most likely get a boner from the tension in the air alone.

She kept talking.

“I guess I’ll get the beers from the fridge.”

A sigh escaped her lips as she pushed herself off the door and made her way to the kitchen. Jaida could feel the shift of his attention, now completely focused on the way she moved.

“Stop drooling over my legs. ” her lips broke into a smirk.

This kind of power she liked, knowing she could make a man turn his head in under two seconds. She had them eating from the palm of her hand.

Ashton had been intense and passionate under the sheets, his tight grip all over her body, he knew what he wanted and how he could get it. Not a shy minute while he ravaged her, and Jaida had liked that. He got a good peek at how her concert tee slipped up her bum as she bent down to pick two bottles of lager from the bottom of the fridge. Her thighs felt like they were on fire, as if Ashton was burning holes through them with his eyes.

-

To be continued.

TAG LIST

@brown-eyedshell @thew0rldneedsmcreycghurt @myloverboyash @hopeless-renassianceluke @dukesnumber1@rip-lukes-balsamic @angelbabylu @cal-pal-cuddles ​ @ashtons-favorite ​ @1dthewantedlove ​  @problematicprincessa ​@heartbreak-5sos ​ @bloodmoonashton ​ @lilacsos ​ @irwinkitten ​ @singt0mecalum ​ @sublimehood ​ @sugarcoated-pain ​ @5sosnsfw ​ @cal-puddies ​ @lashtoncurls @dweebluke @rosecoloredash @hotmessmichael ​ @calumspeachy @ashtonsunshine @wonderland-irwin @irwinkitten​ @ashtonandcalslefthand

[lou20orellana]

Serj Tankian: A Virtuoso Man

Hi guys!

I hope everyone is safe and are finding ways to distract yourself from the pandemic that’s going on outside. Since I know most of us are in quarantine right now and are probably getting bored of staying indoors, I wanted to create this blog and talk about the musician Serj Tankian.

I am aware that many people will not know who he is or have not even heard of the band System of a Down. If you’re one of them, that’s fine. I’m going to share 5 facts about Serj that I thought were interesting and good-to-know if this is your first-time hearing about him. So, get comfortable, relax, and enjoy the blog!

#5. Tankian Receives Metal by the Prime Minister

While Serj Tankian was in Armenia for a concert, he received an award from the Prime Minister, Tigran Sargsyan, for his contribution of recognizing the Armenian Genocide. The Prime Minister pointed out Serj’s support for developing rock music in the Republic of Armenia, since the music was uniting other Armenian rock bands in the country. 

Now, I don’t know many artists that are awarded a medal for their rock music by the Prime Minister, but I personally thought that was really cool. 

#4. He’s One of the Greatest Vocalists in Metal History

In Hit Parader magazine, Serj was ranked number 26 on the top 100 Heavy Vocalists list. Which I agree with because his vocals are very unique and distinctive. If you guys haven’t heard any of his songs I will recommend some at the end of this blog!

#3. Activism for Human Rights

Some of the things that Serj has been passionate about have been human rights, social justice, and recognizing genocides. If you have been a long time listener like I have, you can say that his passions are what have influenced his style of lyrics, and what have inspired him to cover many important issues in his songs. 

For example, he address issues on war on terror, genocide, overpopulation, the American prison system, and other environmental issues. His passions have also motivated him to organize and participate in protests along with American musician, Tom Morello. 

#2. Solo Career

As a solo artist, Serj released five solo albums between 2007- 2013. Here is where Serj gets unique and creative with his albums, because he decided to mix up this style of music as a solo artist, and focus on other genres instead of just rock. In his album Orca Symphony No.1, it took the form of a classical symphony and he added orchestras in his music, saying “I want the orchestra to be the electric guitar. I want to make an orchestra do what it has never done before….”He also included jazz and some electronic music to his work, making these albums more instrumental and less vocal. 

#1. System of a Down

Lastly... System of a Down. One of my favorite bands of all time. You can say they’re part of my childhood since I started listening to them at the age of 6. 

Now, where to begin...? 

Back in the day, in 1994 to be more exact, Serj along with Daron Malakian, Shavo Odadjian, and John Dolmayan, formed the band most of us know today, as System of a Down. The name actually came from a poem that Malakian had written called, “Victims of a Down”, but since they wanted to appeal to a much greater audience, they decided to change victims into system, pretty smart if you ask me.

The band had a successful start to their career and accomplished to release five studio albums. Three of those albums debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, and the band was also nominated for four Grammy Awards, with their song “B.Y.O.B.” winning the Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance in 2006.

However, that same year the band went on hiatus, giving Serj time to work on some solo projects. The band hasn’t officially broken up, since in 2010-2015 they reunited to do some live performances but let’s hope we get some new material in the near future.

With that being said, lets also hope they make a North American Tour and come to…oh, I don’t know…maybe a city called Houston located in Texas, so that we (meaning I) can see this great band perform live.  

So if you guys know how to make that happen… lets make it happen then!

Well, since by now you might be a little bit more curious to hear some System of a Down songs, and might be looking for something to do after reading this blog,  I’m going to recommend my top 10 favorite songs by them.

Aerials

Toxicity

Chop Suey!

Spiders

Question!

B.Y.O.B

Forest

Prison Song

Psycho

Lost In Hollywood

If you guys made it to the end, I would like to say...Thank You...for reading my first ever blog! And if you guys get a chance to listen to the songs I listed above, I would love hear which ones you guys liked best. 

Thank you! 

Lou

[bleachlists2]

Live Tweets from the Shinigami-Human-Quincy-Arrancar-Fullbringer Dinner

By Mod Serenity

Technical Author’s Choice, but also requested by @innersuperhero, @aestheticbleach101, and @shadowfaery7 :)

So, because I made those lists about what various groups of Bleach characters would wear for a formal event, I’ve decided to create a list of this joint formal event as a live-tweeting! So, without further ado, here are the live-tweets from the Shinigami-Human-Quincy-Arrancar-Fullbringer Formal Dinner, held in Karakura Town!

1) Ichigo

“Apparently, there’s a formal dinner tonight with the Gotei 13. And the Espada and Arrancars. And the Quincy. And the Fullbringers. And other Karakura Town people.”

#this is probably gonna end in disaster #especially if Karakura Town is the venue! #not only that #my dad and sisters have been invited as well #I should get ready now

2) Yumichika

“I can’t wait to see what everyone is dressed up in. They’re all going to look wonderful!”

#I love parties #so many pretty clothes to see

3) Rukia

”Okay, we just got to the venue, and apparently there’s some kind of fashion show that we all gotta participate in.”

#the Gotei 13 is going after the Karakura people though #Squad 0 are the judges too #I can’t wait to see what they’re all wearing #especially Inoue #she’s gonna be gorgeous!

4) Shutara

“Kurosaki Ichigo looks pretty fine in that tux. Inoue Orihime looks just like a princess in that gown.”

#well I already know who the winners of the Karakura people are gonna be

5) Sentoki

“Well, the humans and Karakura people are done. Time for the Gotei 13!”

#they’d better look good!

6) Ichigo

“Squad 6 is coming on now. Byakuya and Renji are both in black-tie tuxedos.”

#and Renji’s hair is actually down #he looks so good! #seriously #he should wear his hair down all the time!

7) Renji

“@ flower-noble: I guess wearing my hair down was a good idea, huh? Thanks for telling me that in advance.”

#we both look pretty classy tonight #I can feel Ichigo’s eyes on me actually

8) Byakuya

"Who would’ve thought that Zaraki Kenpachi would actually keep his suit clean tonight?

#I suppose even Squad 11 knows how to keep it classy

9) Ishida

“...WTAF is Kurotsuchi wearing??”

#are those... accordion pants?? #WTAF #the moment Kurotsuchi walked down the catwalk everyone was silent #seriously though #what is up with that outfit?? #especially since Nemu looks normal next to him 

10) Orihime

"OMG, Kuchiki-san looks lovely! @ dancing-snow-bunny: I love your dress!”

#so classy and elegant! #and so cute as well!

11) Rukia

“@ robot-princess: YOUR DRESS IS PERFECTION YOU LOOK JUST LIKE A PRINCESS OMG”

#seriously though #that dress was made for you! #so beautiful!

12) Sentoki

“And now for the Espada, Hueco Mundo Crew, and Fracciónes!”

13) Gin

“@ beautifulshopper10: Rangiku, you look simply radiant tonight.”

#she is perfection itself #I wouldn’t mind spending some time with her tonight

14) Yumichika

"Halibel and Nelliel look simply stunning! BUT WTF IS THAT CHARLOTTE GUY EVEN WEARING

#HE LOOKS LIKE A DRAG QUEEN OMG #but Halibel looks like an actual queen!

15) Grimmjow

“@ strawberryprotector15: I can feel your eyes on me, Kurosaki. Admit it, I look good, don’t I?”

#yeah I know how to dress up #I can be classy whenever I want to be

16) Sentoki

“Now the Fullbringers are next!”

17) Orihime

“@ pinkcutie: Omg, Riruka! Your dress is so gorgeous and cute!”

#pink and a ballgown! #we match! #yaaaayyyy!!!

18) Riruka

“@ robot-princess: Why are you so excited over matching...?”

#you look really cute though

19) Renji

“@ coffee-boots: I gotta say, you look fine as hell tonight!”

#I’m serious #that’s such a nice dress you’re wearing

20) Jackie

“@ stray-dog-06: I appreciate your compliments. And you look just as handsome tonight.”

#you really are a good man

21) Oetsu

“Finally, it’s time for the Sternritter!”

22) Byakuya 

“Jugram Haschwalth’s hair is a thing of beauty. It practically rivals Ukitake’s hair. @ thebalancer: will you tell me how you get it like that?”

#I must know your secret

23) Haschwalth

“@ flower-noble: You wish to know the secret behind my hair? I’d be glad to tell you. Besides, your hair is also quite lovely.”

#I’d love to share my secret with you #if you’ll tell me the secret behind your hair as well

24) Renji

- “I gotta say, Bazz-B has one nice-looking tux!”

#looks kinda punk #but it’s totally awesome!

25) Bazz-B

“You look pretty cool yourself, @ stray-dog-06!”

#nice eyebrows too! #and your hair!! #I’m so jealous!

26) Rukia

“... As Nodt is wearing a blood-splattered tuxedo. And Gerard is in a Thor costume.”

#I seriously hope that’s not real blood #WTAF are the Quincies anyways?!

27) Hikifune

"It’s time for dinner now! While we decide on the winners, I hope you enjoy my home cooking!

#I made it all especially for tonight! #all of my best recipes are the main course for dinner!

28) Orihime

"OMG, the food is soooooo good!! I’m gonna cry, this is so delicious!!”

#Hikifune: BEST CHEF EVER

29) Nelliel

“This is the best food I’ve ever eaten in my whole life!!”

#Soul Society chefs: way better than Hueco Mundo meals!

30) Tousen

"Soul Society may be a corrupt place, yet Hikifune’s meals are full of purity and goodness that I cannot complain.”

#Hikifune’s meals #perhaps the only good thing about Soul Society

31) Halibel

“I sure hope Aizen-sama told Aaroniero not to release in the hall here.”

#I would like to be able to eat my dinner without seeing a tentacled monster eating the food

32) Riruka

“OMG, what the actual hell is that thing at the Espada table?!”

#a giant tentacled monster!! #omg that’s so gross!

33) Rukia

“Well, now I know what’s gonna be haunting my dreams for the rest of my life.”

#I have to see Aaroniero release again?? #and this time for eating?? #oh god I did not want to know how a tentacled monster consumes its dinner

34) Aizen

“@ tentacles-09: I thought I told you to wait until we got back to Hueco Mundo to eat your dinner?? Just for that, I’m raising my spiritual pressure until you go out of release.”

#maybe Gillian Espada weren’t such a good idea #had I known that Aaroniero would be a tentacled monster I would not have used the Hogyoku on him #I need to think these things through from now on

35) Ukitake

“That’s the Espada that Kuchiki fought against? The one who impersonated Kaien?”

#poor Kaien #he must be weeping

36) Liltotto

“Well... that was a thing...”

#anyways #I can eat anyone else’s meal if they don’t want it

37) Bambietta

“@ quincy-glutton: Touch my food and you die.”

#I mean it

38) Ichibe

“It’s time for the awards to be presented, so listen up, everyone!”

39) Rukia

“Best Dressed Human Female goes to: Inoue!”

#I knew it! #I knew she would win! #if she didn’t I would riot #that dress is just too gorgeous!

40) Ishida

“Best Dressed Human Male goes to Ichigo?!”

#dammit how does Kurosaki have a better fashion sense than me?!

41) Kurotsuchi

"I cannot believe that Kuchiki Byakuya won ‘Best Dressed Male Captain’ over me.”

#you fools just don’t understand fashion at all

42) Byakuya

“And Unohana won Best Dressed Female Captain.”

#I’m not sure how to feel about that

43) Renji

“Hell yeah! I won the Best Dressed Male Lieutenant!”

#I knew wearing my hair down was a great idea! #Squad 6 baby! #we know how to look good!

44) Hisagi

“Best Dressed Female Lieutenant goes to Rangiku!”

#I knew she’d win that award! #Rangiku always looks good no matter what she wears!

45) Grimmjow

"Hell yeah, I’m the king! Won Best Dressed Male Espada! And Nelliel won Best Dressed Female Espada!”

#wow Nnoitra’s pissed off #he just screeched and tried to fight me #Aizen reiatsu-slammed him into sitting back down tho #nice! #eat it spoon-hood!

46) Yumichika

“So Best Dressed Female Fracción went to Sung-Sun. BUT HOW COME BEST DRESSED MALE FRACCION WENT TO CHARLOTTE??”

#he looked so ugly!

47) Tsukishima

“Of course I’d win Best Dressed Male Fullbringer. And of course Riruka would win the Best Dressed Female Fullbringer.”

#we look just perfect don’t we?

48) Kyoraku

“So Haschwalth wins Best Dressed Male Sternritter?”

#must be the hair #of course #his hair is as wonderful as Jushiro’s hair!

49) Bambietta

"That’s right, everyone! The Best Dressed Female Sternritter is me! So eat it, all of you!”

#Haschwalth and I are the king and queen now!

50) Ichigo

“Whoa, whoa, nobody told me there was dancing at this thing!”

#apparently all winners of the fashion contest have to dance with each other?? #that means Inoue and I are dancing together #god I hope I don’t step on her feet #I’m bad at dancing!

51) Tatsuki

“@ strawberryprotector15: You step on Orihime’s feet, I’ll punch you!”

#don’t you dare mess this up for her!

52) Chad

"Ichigo and Inoue are dancing now. Reminds me of Beauty and the Beast.”

#it’s actually very beautiful

53) Yoruichi

“Finally Ichigo does something right!”

#nice to see he’s careful not to step on Orihime’s toes!

54) Rukia

“Unohana-taichou and Nii-sama dancing: possibly the most graceful and elegant thing I’ve ever seen!”

#Nii-sama looks dignified as ever! #as expected of him!

55) Kira

“Whoa, Abarai and Grimmjow sure have some awesome moves!”

#I’m serious #the music changed to something more club-like #those two are killing it on the dance floor #Matsumoto and Nelliel are speechless #so is everyone else #looks like the Sexta Espada and Sixth Lieutenant have hit it off pretty well

56) Orihime

“I danced with Kurosaki-kun. And I managed not to mess it up! It was absolutely magical!”

#I feel like dancing all night now! 

57) Unohana

“Looks like the dinner is over. It was truly a wonderful evening.”

#we definitely should do it again

58) Urahara

“Looks like Byakuya and Haschwalth are now talking about hair. And Abarai, Grimmjow, and Bazz-B are bonding.”

#unexpected friendships #the power of fancy dinners??

59) Yamamoto

“This was indeed quite a success.”

#everything worked out #and surprisingly #nothing was destroyed

60) Ichigo

“This... actually went way better than I thought it would. Maybe we should do this again next year!”

#unexpected success #let’s do this again shall we??