The Brit awards bored everyone silly …
Despite the fact that viewing figures were up a massive 1m on last year, the Brit awards were no more exciting than previous ceremonies - what with the many industry celebrating speeches, a well behaved Ant and Dec and a lot of Ed Sheeran airtime. Take a quick trip to the comments section below our Brits 2015 live blog to see the negativity in action.
… Until Madonna’s fall became the night’s biggest moment
As Guardian pop critic Alexis Petridis pointed out in his report, it’s certainly a sad state of affairs when one woman losing her footing on some stairs becomes the main headline at an entertainment event. Madonna recovered pretty well, but the internet’s latest gift to her will be a legacy of shaky Vine videos replaying her tumble in an endless six-second loop.
Album release dates will be synched up globally
Ever noticed how music blogs and record-label websites tend to write about album releases on Mondays in the UK and on Tuesdays in the US? That’s all set to change this summer, when everyone will shuffle over to Friday, apparently to counter music piracy. So much for indie label and bricks-and-mortar record-shop owners’ hopes for a Monday global release day.
Kanye West cried on BBC Radio 1 with Zane Lowe
For someone who used to rarely give interviews, West has recently thrust himself back into the public eye. We promise we’ve not signed a West-coverage advertorial contract in which we’re made to write at least two news stories about him per week, but the follow-up to his fiery and candid 2013 Lowe interview was too good not to mention. He cried, expressed his opinion on class and race and sighed a lot.
Björk withholds Vulnicura from Spotify
The Icelandic producer and musician has joined ranks with pop star Taylor Swift – not a sentence I thought I’d write this week – and kept her latest album, Vulnicura, off music-streaming service Spotify. Unlike Swift, Björk’s left the rest of her back catalogue on Spotify – for now, at least.
Jodeci announced a comeback
For fans of their slick, new jack swing-era R&B, this is big news. For anyone else who would write “Who?” in the comments section below, don’t worry your pretty little heads about it.
Scarlett Johansson formed a band called the Singles …
Johansson joined forces with bassist Este Haim, solo artist Holly Miranda, singer-songwriter Kendra Morris and guitarist Julia Haltigan to form synthpop band the Singles (who some are branding a supergroup, but come on). On 20 February they released the single, Candy, produced by TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek, and were generally well-received by music blogs.
… But now they might need to change their name
What’s that? The sound of this dream dying almost immediately? Days after Candy surfaced, Johansson and co were served with a cease-and-desist demand, citing trademark infringements by LA band the Singles. Yup. That name’s taken, ladies. Back to the drawing board, perhaps.
Bobby Shmurda’s in jail and feeling neglected by his label
The New York rapper behind the lyrics “about a week ago” from single Hot Nigga, which have been turned into real-life memes, is currently being held in jail on drugs, conspiracy and gun charges. And according to interviews he gave the New York Times and Billboard, his label, Epic Records, hasn’t stepped in to assist him with bail. Shmurda is none too happy.
Women barely featured on Reading and Leeds festival lineups
On 24 February, music blog Crack in the Road tweeted an image of what this year’s Reading and Leeds festival posters would look like if wiped clean of any all-male acts. Cue the stampede of Twitter users rushing to defend the festival – “ok but there are less current bands with female members??? It’s not like r&l have done it deliberately to be sexist” – and those sighing and shrugging in complete non-surprise.
How it would look if the Reading / Leeds line-up only included the acts that have a female musician in the band. pic.twitter.com/xpEgI0gNUB
— Crack In The Road (@crackintheroad) February 24, 2015
The Brits now = vapid pop rubbish. Sorry fans.